//------------------------------//
// Chapter 51: O Brave New World 
// Story: Favorable Alignment 
// by Ice Star 
//------------------------------//


Nightmare Moon:


A summer breeze warmed my face as I burst from the collapsing remains of Umbra's pocket dimension. Niflhel was gone for good, I was all that escaped. Well, not entirely. The wisps of pale purple whooshed outward and spilled from the tear in the sky, slipping under me like a kind of enchanting sea foam. Warmth rushed all over me, and I could not doubt that it was summer in this part of the world. Heat touched my skin through my fuzzy coat and breezes stroked my neck and teased my mane. This weather made me feel a bit heavier, but then I saw a curious sight.

Below me, and on the deck of a metal ship adrift in the air one that I felt to be Pink Sunset three figures looked up at me with pure terror.

The red light of the prolonged eclipse made them all look darker or paler, accentuating their fear and the blanket of clouds across the sky, now as dark as blood created dancing shadows that were in crooked and warped shapes, almost as though they were absorbing the crews.

I could breathe with ease here, and each breath I drew from the vast outer world was fresh and clean.

My curved horn glowed with dark purple aura and reached out. With a different circumstance like this, and a form that while not that of the goddess who usually raises and lowers the moon, was just like the shadows: not a change, but a different whole. This only meant the connection and magic were a bit different, nevertheless the moon was lowered.

Sunlight assaulted everything quickly, and my dark form felt out of place, highlighted in its harsh glare and making the sharp shape of my wings known. Scoffing, I rolled my eyes away from the sight and glided with lazy, but bold entitlement down to Pink Sunset's deck, where I touched down, bare hooves finding the metal surface to be slightly chilly - yes, I felt the cold where part of me couldn't and was numb to the sensation. Standing tall, I gave my companions a sweeping look of disinterest and tossed my mane, privately enjoying the subtle sparkles that came with the gesture.

"I know I'm a sight to behold, but can't you three even pretend that you have something better to do then gape at me like that?" I flashed them a mad grin, fangs exposed to let them know that I didn't mind in the slightest, except for the fact that we weren't going anywhere.

"Luna...?" The male Ali- Noctus, whom I felt a very faint connection to, despite myself, said. His voice was soft and cautious, like he thought I might bite him. "S-Sombra? What-"

"It's a very long story," I said dryly, frowning in his direction before glancing at the other two. 

Glitter Armor, I think he was called was trying to keep a face as straight as he was, but was unable to even manage something that looked bored. His blue eyes could not stare straight and his legs shook with terror, but still he tried to look dauntless. Perhaps there was somepony who found merit in what was foolishness attempting to pass as resolve - something I knew deeply - but it was not me. He was the next to speak, and yet it was clear he thought himself the first. A follower who saw themselves as a leader. Shining Sprinkle was undoubtedly an omega, if I was fishing for terms of social rank.

Cady was an oddball. Hers was not a face of fear, but a rather dopey look. She looked in my direction, her curls in slight disarray and purple eyes not focused, and didn't see me. I didn't need to guess at what she had been doing earlier, and was tempted to roll my eyes again.

She had to tilt her head up to look at me, and stuck her lower lip out in confusion, blinking slowly and looking at me with all the clarity she could manage. "So, uh, Nightmare Moon."

My mouth twitched into a faint scowl and I glanced down at her in greeting. To be called that struck such an unfavorable chord with me... it was my name, I guess, but if felt so sour to hear it.

Noctus looked like he was about to say something. I caught him mouthing a question, but Shining Armor risked looking away from me to offer a look suggesting explanations would be later.

I promptly returned my attention to my niece. "Yes, Cady? You may speak."

"I kinda expected you to be taller?"

I gave her a flat look. "I am not the same Nightmare Moon that I am so sure you know and love."

Cady's muzzle crinkled in confusion. "I've never met you before."

"Shush. Now, is that all you wished to say?"

"Your eyes are purple-ish."

The deck rocked slightly and I pricked my ears to hear the sound of the ocean raging below. Like Niflhel, the Isle's äerint spire would collapse shortly. Speeding up this conversation would be for the best. "Really? Thank you for enlightening me on this."

"They're also kinda reddish right now. Did you find something really good in there? Oh, oh!" She smiles broadly. "You shared it with Sombra and Luna, right? Where are they?"

Narrowing my eyes, I press my muzzle right up to Cady's and hissed: "I am them."

Cady blinked and her smile slowly grew wider. "Aww, sorry for missing that. Hiya, Uncle Sombra, Aunt Luna." 

Cady's confusion clouded her mirth again as her unfocused eyes looked me over. "Anuncle Lunbra? Is that a thing? How was it physically possible to say that? Is this too weird?"

I was promptly robbed of any chance to answer because dearest pink one had wrapped her forehooves around me in a careless but possibly appreciated embrace. 

"You're so pretty!" she cooed. "Shiny," she mumbled from within the hug while I cursed myself for being unable to stifle an uncomfortable expression. "Don't you think that they're so pretty? Look at that mane! Gosh, I wonder how much conditioner I'd have to go through to get it too look that nice, and don't even get me started on the natural wave to it. Sure, it's kinda shaggy but - Oh Celestia can I touch it? Please?"

I grumbled something that was not denial of confirmation and lowered my head for the sole purpose of shooting a harsh glare, icy disdain boring into the fearful blue of Shimmer Sparkle, who pursed his lip and found the ground to be of interest. Once the embrace had gone on long enough and Cady had the chance to touch my mane, I ran my tongue over my fangs in irritation and pushed the pink mare away with a haughty snort. Ponies flinging their hooves over me was not something I could find any enjoyment in.

"We need to get moving. Sombra is the endling, and all has been saved. You two-" My imposing stare found Glitter Sprinkle and Cady. "The both of you have a home to return to and families who have been mewling over your disappearance. Despite this, the services of you both have been nothing but appreciated. Glitter Sprinkle, you have lived up to the spinelessness Sombra knows you to have by doing nothing more than flying a ship and dying within, and for that I thank you - or, at least the part of me that cares sees fit to acknowledge this. Consider yourself a hero, if such a worthless fantasy entertains you."

Glitter Armor gazed to the apathetic heavens for existence. It was a remarkably un-poetic evening as well. "Your Sombra really is showing," he mumbled. "But I'll just pretend you said something nice. I'm sure the princess would've."

He was rewarded with a sound of disdain in the back of my throat before I gave Cady my attention once more, and allowed a little regality to take over the harshness I have shown up until now.

"Cadance." 

Her eyes found mine quickly, and I could see greater clarity in them now. "Yes?"

"Thank you for trusting all of me. Whether it was as a goddess fished from time at a dance she'd rather not have attended, you said the first 'hello' to somepony other than 'Celestia's sister' and that was me. Or, it was at the time. Thank you again for giving me even an inkling of trust and keeping my secrets even when I was a dangerous wanderer who would stop at nothing to live. Regardless of his augmented and immortal memory, he's never going to forget his first friend."

Cady swallowed awkwardly and sniffled. "H-Hey Sombra? Or the Sombra in your head? You can hear me, can't you?"

"He can."

"You're such a huge sap, you know that?" She grinned whole-heartedly and smiled up at me with a couple tears of joy pooling in her eyes and expressing what her currently clumsy tone could not.

"Cady?" I said softly, and unsmiling.

She nodded absentmindedly at the mention of her name and looked at me, purple eyes wide innocent anticipation. "Yes?" she whispered breathlessly, and just loud enough to be heard.

"Do remember who just demolished an entire pocket dimension and is a fused force of dual divinity and capable of magical cataclysms that could haunt your kind for the rest of this planet's life if I chose to remain in this form and practice all that I have within me. Just because I'm a 'last resort' as of now doesn't mean I must remain so, hmm?"

She gulped again and adopted a straighter posture. "Yes ma'am."

"I'm genderless," I deadpanned, "Or can you not see the demon horn sticking out of my skull? I'd think it's rather obvious. However, I suppose that I can respond to such needless titles. They only irk me so much."

She chuckled nervously and mumbled a quick, awkward apology. Glitter joined her, briefly. I saw fit to remind him with a destroyer god's glare that this ship still needed somepony to fly it, and that pony was him. Out of the corner of my eyes, Noctus looked to the ocean, thought of Niflhel as a cool wind swept by, and shuddered at the thought of everything I'd never know.



...



The moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the dark waves that churned below. Pink Sunset was moving steadily toward the northern continent - and toward Equestria.

To feel the chill of a summer night and the cold of the ocean air with occasional moments of warmth combing through my coat pleasantly was odd. It wasn't as strong as the moon, but the sensation registered oddly. I barely shivered, and on the occasion that I did, it felt hollow and even a little surreal. Was I supposed to feel this? I didn't think so, but I did and had, in my fight. Before my magic swarmed, the cold would have been vivid if I focused on it, but still not as brutal as the moon or ice.

I wondered how long it would last. What was awaiting all of us back in Equestria? 

Misunderstanding, accusations, reunions, questions - not much that would make me eager, and part of me agreed knowingly. She was all he had to look forward to. That I had to look forward to.

Sighing, I sat down upon the deck and let one bare hoof prop up my head as I watched the expanse of the ocean that was delightfully empty of others spread before me. The sight almost made me smile. I heard myself sigh again and ran a forehoof through my thick purple mane, tousling it, and hummed. Not having to sense so much magic all the time was lovely. Somepony might think it was a claustrophobic feeling, but it really wasn't. 

Nothing was free from that feeling. The subtlety of such a feeling varied, and no two creatures felt exactly alike, even if they would've never known that. The feeling of Umbra was beyond just repulsive. To have it expunged from the physical world is a wonder that I will take nothing but the greatest pride in being responsible for, yet I couldn't forget it. I didn't want to. I literally could not. The only magical presence I enjoy is my own, but that isn't hard to believe. 

Flicking my eyes up to the sky, I look up at the array of stars twinkling there, and can't shake the memory of the wisps that followed me here. They too had a peculiar feel to them, one I never liked or disliked, but made me curious all the same. I knew that they were out there while everypony else on this ship let the thought of them fade. Occasionally, the sound of laughter came from inside Pink Sunset. Shining Sprinkle appeared to finally be getting a chance to be anything other than the but of a joke.

I growled softly. Noctus mingled with those two surprisingly well, and had donned the guise of a pony so he could fit inside the ship. I was presently drained magically - anything beyond levitation, teleportation, and anything that wasn't second nature to me was an exhausting feat. Raising the moon was something the lunar goddess could do without thinking. I struggled not with it, but did not move it with total ease. Did Celestia sense that in distant Canterlot?

I was glad to be out here, and brushed off any suggestion I be with the others, no matter how slight. How was I to refuse a sky full of stars? Every bit of me just wanted to forsake Pink Sunset and leap into the dark and feel the wind racing past me as I broke through it, and the cold air against me at full speed, not as a buffeting and teasing breeze.

So many questions had been given more than fitting answers, but there were other things that must and had to be asked still. All I needed to do was arrive to where they might be answered, and would that require nothing short of another adventure?

Sighs kept escaping me. The world only seemed greater to those two with every new quest, and they yearned to see it, alone but together. I too held their desires, at least in part. Out there was somepony who held more answers and the unshakable thought of those wisps. I knew with every part of me and more that they lurked nearby. Was I not part clairvoyant?

I had to follow them.

"Luna?" an anticipated voice calls, "And Sombra too? Do you mind if I call you Nightmare Moon, or is that a name you do not hold in favor?"

"Presently, it is the only name I have. Is there something you needed to say?" 

"Yes," Noctus' voice ventured cautiously. 

I waited until he stood near my side, but not at it. Currently, he chose to appear in the form of a silver earth pony stallion with a mane and tail of pale blue streaked with white. His eyes were unaltered, his height reduced greatly, but his stockier build and regal air were unshakable. I caught his expression easily in the dark - a conversational smile that looked almost natural than something... something I might've seen before, I would think. This was either the shadow of a smile I was familiar with, or a version of something more whole that I might have seen. I imagine it must be both. I am not made of liars.

"What is it you wish to do, Noctus?"

He tried to hide that he found it awkward for me to address him as such, but was too transparent to me to hide anything. Had he even been trying?

"Well," he managed, not looking at me in the eye. Or at me at all. "I cannot expect to reclaim my position of High King of the Pantheon for a few millennia, or centuries at the least." He looked down. "And there is the matter of the empty throne beside it... your moth- Lumina is in no way replaceable. Perhaps Ellie would share the throne. She has always been a trusted mentor, and I have never discounted her judgement."

None of us needed to say he spoke more to himself than any other right now, but there was a part of me that felt concerned, even if I maintained something between curiosity at the night and partial disinterest in what he was saying. "Is there anything else? The world isn't what you remember, and there's no telling how long it would take to adjust to something like this."

For him, this wasn't a thousand years and finding that ponies have grown up a little. Noctus viewing the world would be looking at ponies who might as well be living exclusively in caves and walking around the world with blindfolds at their eyes for how they would appear to him. Not all names would have the same meanings, or any at all to these ponies. Entire civilizations were dust, and knowledge with it. The maps had been redrawn.

Noctus stared at the deck, seeing everything but what was in front of him and his smile evaporated. "My mind... oh, Luna," he swallowed and his eyes clouded over with a father's grief in tandem with a ruler's, "I do know that my mind is not the same, and will not be as it was. 'Fixed' would be far too strong a word. To even attempt to heal that, I would need nothing short of centuries of solitude from whatever infant societies that you and naive mortals have constructed in an attempt to begin anew. I think I should like a retreat, and would announce this to the Pantheon."

"Oh? You don't suspect any spat will result from this?" Something like a joking smile appears, just long enough for him to see.

Noctus smiles reluctantly. "Gods forbid that would happen," he says with a wink and practiced laughter that dies quickly. "These mortal friends you have a certainly something! That colt has the makings of a great leader about him and his wife is quite friendly. It would be hard to know any sadness in their presence, not matter how reclusive a creature you and your demon are, Luna." 

Kicking a hoof, he gives the stars a small glance before looking elsewhere. "I have always loved the company of others, Luna. You and your sister know how little your mother and I could be around. She had to be the crown, and it suited her, for if she had not mastered queenship and let it rule her she would have failed. Lumina was for the world and the throne - she had always been, and I was for the ponies in ways that she had difficulties with. You know..." He dared to raise his muzzle to look upon me, searching for the parts he wanted to see - his daughter - but still had trouble finding. "Luna you and Cellie are more than old enough to hear the stories now, and that includes the tales of the original demons and all of the world you never got to see. If I am to have a retreat, I would allow few guests, but you and your sister would always be welcome, as would your stubborn husband, regardless of how rude he is."

I looked down upon him with a straight face, but cocked my head to the side. "If it is Sombra you speak of, he is not Luna's husband."

While I was surprised by Noctus' wide, confused eyes and a small gasp, I did not let it show. 

"You are notmarried? But the way you two acted-" He shook his head. "Ah, regardless of that, I am certain you two will be wed soon. Now it is a city called 'Canterlot' that we must return this ship to? Young Cadance and Shining Armor mention it frequently."

I rolled my eyes and stared out into the splendid night. "Yes, it is Celestia's city of Canterlot that we must stop in. From there, it's the Pantheon..." Once more, I couldn't shake the thought of wisps like stardust, dancing across the sky...

Noctus regarded me curiously and experience in his eyes. "I know not when I will be running out of questions, and still have many to ask Princess Cadance and her prince about how Celestia has been doing in all these years, or at the very least how she is presently. If you wish to be chasing things into the night, I can tell them that you wish to depart. There is little you need within, correct? Princess Cadance appears to be managing a creature and has knowledge of a pocket realm that belongs to Sombra, but nothing else of importance is within? I know full well that the both of you are not social creatures - especially that demon - so speak now, and I shall relay anything on your behalf."

I shake my head. "No, there isn't anything. Just be sure that Cady doesn't mess with my stuff and locates the bottled Sky Scraper. That will have to be returned. And... how did you know I wanted to leave?"

There was a small, but authentic smile from Noctus - and a wistful one as well. "I am the husband of a prophet, I know when they must be off on their endeavor, Nova."

"Nova?" I questioned, and not without a suspicious edge in my tone. "What is the meaning of this label?"

"You were not fond of 'Nightmare Moon' were you? I thought you might not mind a name all your own instead of being addressed as 'Nightmare Moon' or that bizarre contraction that Cadance proposed. It bears a familiar sound to both your names, too. Luna and Sombra. Would you not think that makes it easy to respond to?"

"I suppose I could accept it..." Raising an eyebrow, I flash a contrary smirk to Noctus before remembering that I have visible fangs and returning to a scowl.

Noctus chuckles tiredly and looks to the stars earnestly. "I know that is you, Sombra. All of your kind have something about you that I could never stop doubting..."

"Are we really going to do this again?" I growl, glowering down at him.

Exhaling calmly, Noctus had the nerve to hold up a forehoof. "...Yet, I doubt nothing about your relationship with my daughter, Sombra. In that, you seem to be quite sincere, and surprisingly so."

Wait for it...

"I trust you enough. I would be willing to get to know you a little more, but I know that you most likely are not interested in knowing much about me. Despite this, I know we will likely be seeing more of one another. You are amazingly sincere, for a demon."

And there it is... I give an annoyed sigh and shoot a mild dirty look in his direction, and Noctus laughs softly.

"You are most certainly an enigma, Sombra - and Nova too, I still do not feel I understand you that much... or ever could. Demons are... well, not a species I ever hope to have too much dealings with in the future. I shall see you two at the Pantheon, then? Go, fly off into your brave new world as you are compelled to."

Against myself, I made a smile that only looked so much like a grimace and jumped into the night with nothing to catch me but the wind below my wings and soared away, Pink Sunset farther from myself and my thoughts with each wing beat as wanderlust set in. Such a feeling was as welcome as the stars above.