A Never-ending Night
The sun was completely hidden, giving way to the expected night of the celebration, and while that was happening, the small group of five mares and a colt had finished walking down the path to the library. The trot from Sugarcube Corner to Golden Oak wasn’t very long, so after a quick walk, with the restless looks between the five mares and the confused look of Dusk, the six ponies finally arrived at their destination.
Once Dusk approached the library door, he was hampered by the five mares, who to his surprise quickly interposed between him and the door.
"Not so fast." Applejack said, stopping him with a determined look.
"What's going on?" Asked Dusk confused.
"Well..." Applejack replied nervously, looking at her friends for someone to help her respond.
"Oh, look! The Moon! The moon has already appeared!" Said Pinkie Pie exalted, pointing back at Dusk.
Then Dusk turned and saw the moon, which in his opinion was bigger and brighter than any other time, but other than that it was nothing special, so he didn't understand why Pinkie Pie had been so excited.
"Yes, it's the moon, and that-" Dusk said, turning back to answer Pinkie Pie, but stopped talking to see that neither she nor the other four mares were there.
Dusk glanced around, a little surprised by the sudden disappearing act the mares had done without him noticing. Finally Dusk sighed, thinking how relieved he was to not be surrounded by those five mares that for some reason always led him into some trouble, but at the same time feeling that his heart was tightening a little to see that they had gone so suddenly.
Then Dusk walked over to the library door, opened it, and entered the dark room.
"HAPPY WELCOME PARTY!!" A crowd of ponies suddenly shouted, which were inside the library, and that before Dusk had lit his horn, they had lit the hall and had come out screaming happily and throwing confetti.
Dusk gave a small jump at the huge surprise, shocked and frightened, so much so that on reflex almost teleported away from there. It took him a few seconds to calm down, but he didn’t stop feeling tense, he looked everywhere, seeing the faces of many ponies he did not know or had seen, everypony smiling looking at him and approaching him. Dusk did not understand who they were or what they were doing there.
The anxiety of being surrounded by a multitude of ponies he didn’t know and being the center of attention was making him extremely nervous, and it didn't allow himself to get out of the state of alert he was in.
"Calm down, give him some space." Said a familiar voice from below, to the relief of Dusk, the voice of his brother Spike. "If you don't do it, he may blow up the library, haha." Spike finished talking, laughing and coming up to his brother.
"W-What is all this?" Dusk asked as he emerged from shock.
"Well, it's your welcome party, what didn't you hear?" Said Rainbow Dash, who had also approached, along with her four friends.
As soon as Dusk saw that the five mares were near him, his muscles finally ceased to be tense. When he saw in that sea of unknown ponies the faces of those mares with which he was already familiar, his heart reassured, but that didn't last long because his mind immediately reminded him that he was still surrounded by other unknown ponies, so his mind stirred again, working quickly to try and understand everything before losing control of the situation and fleeing from the social anxiety that he suffered from.
"B-But I thought the pre-party we had at the bakery was to celebrate my welcome?" Dusk questioned nervously, looking at Pinkie Pie.
"Of course not, I told you that was to celebrate the farewell of my ‘sick me'." Pinkie Pie replied smiling. "Welcome parties are much more important and much bigger!"
Dusk looked around, the room was fully decorated, the bookshelves had streamers and balloons stuck to them, there were also balloons floating on the ceiling, plus several tables that had different cakes, sandwiches, and soda, in a nutshell: the library was a mess! Something that would, of course, horrify Dusk, yet his mind remained fixed on the ponies, dozens of them surrounding him and looking at him.
"Who're they?" Dusk asked nervously, pointing his eyes at the other ponies.
"Huh?" Pinkie Pie asked confused, looking back at the other ponies and then looking back at Dusk. "Oh! They are the majority of the village ponies, I told you we would hold the party for the eve celebration here, so I thought I would invite them all a little earlier to take advantage of the occasion and celebrate your welcome party at the same time, so you can make lots of friends!"
Then all the ponies who heard the words of Pinkie Pie smiled and began to move closer to Dusk.
"NO!!" Dusk shouted suddenly, closing his eyes and screaming in fear. That made them all get scared and look confused at Dusk.
Instantly Dusk opened his eyes and realized that he had frightened everyone with his cry.
"I... I'm sorry..." Dusk apologized, looking at everyone, especially the five mares, who were looking at him with a worried look. "It's... it's just that I'm very tired... yesterday I didn't sleep all night, I think I'm exhausted. I'm sorry, but I'm going to rest for a while."
Then Dusk avoided everyone's eyes and walked quickly to the library stairs and up to his room. As the ponies in the hall, who were still surprised by Dusk's shout, began to murmur among them, all confused by the strange attitude of the purple unicorn.
"Spike... it true what Dusk said? Is he just tired?" Applejack asked, looking worriedly at the dragon.
"Yeah... it's true that he didn't sleep yesterday so he might be tired." Spike replied sadly staring up the stairs. "But I don't think that's the problem..."
Meanwhile, Dusk gone fast upstairs to his room and closed the door behind him even faster, then he leaned against the door and sighed heavily. He felt so embarrassed to have shouted that way in front of everyone, it was not something he wanted, it was purely instinctive! As soon as Pinkie Pie said that the ponies that were there were to meet him and become his friends, while everyone looked at him and approached him, Dusk could only scream in fear.
"Pinkie is wrong, friends aren't easy to do, I... I didn't come looking for friends, I... I don't need friends..." Dusk said to himself, again remembering his past and thinking sadly of the failed friendship he had had with a pony from his past.
Then Dusk put a hoof on his head and felt his sweat, he was still nervous, that social anxiety was always happening when he was surrounded by unknown ponies while he was the center of attention, ponies that could speak ill of him, ponies that could make fun of him, ponies that could betray him, ponies that were not his friends... Dusk felt a chill just to remind himself to him being surrounded by all those ponies, nevertheless as soon as he did that he notices one detail.
"I... Why didn't I feel that way when I was surrounded by the girls?" Dusk wondered himself, thinking aloud. "In fact... I felt comforted when I saw them..."
Dusk had to admit that, for some reason, those mares made him feel good. He had gone through several situations with them, and although at first he had been suspicious of being with each of them, now he realized that if he had not been forced to socialize with them, he wouldn't have discovered the good ponies that they were nor their great virtues. All this served as a contrast to Dusk to realize that perhaps knowing new ponies was not the end of the world, in fact, it was likely that in all that group of ponies that were in the hall, there would be more ponies with good intentions and kind personalities, just as they had the five mares he already knew.
"It's true..." Dusk said aloud after thinking all that and remembering another great detail. "I still haven't asked if they want to be my friends..."
As soon as Dusk said those words, the bad memory that followed him whenever he mentioned the word 'friends' began to appear again: the shadow of a filly who looked at him with hatred, however, this time Dusk shook his head so that memory wouldn't reappear.
"Don't! I must do it, it's what the princess asked me to do, and I... I want it that way too!" Dusk said to himself almost in a scream, achieving for the first time in a long time, to vanish completely that bad memory.
After banishing that memory, Dusk took a deep breath and slowly began to smile as his heart filled with joy at the revelation he just had.
"It's true, I want to be their friend!" Dusk said, raising his head and smiling cheerfully.
Dusk stood smiling for a while until he realized what he had to do, then he touched the knob of the door and prepared to open it to go down to the hall and meet again with the five mares, but as soon as he did, he blushed with embarrassment when he realized that they must all be very confused after seeing him scream in the way he did, so Dusk let go of the knob and only sighed.
"It would be very embarrassing to come down immediately after that spectacle, I think I'll wait a moment." Dusk told himself with an ashamed smile, turning around to move through the room.
The young unicorn stood observing the room since, unlike Spike, he hadn't seen this room yet. In the room, there was a bed and a desk, but what most drew attention to Dusk was that even there, like in the whole central hall, there were many shelves to put books, which were already arranged there, it seemed that Spike had managed to order all the books even before Pinkie Pie had arrived to decorate the party.
Dusk walked over to the shelves and glanced at the titles of the books, after all, if he was to wait in that room, there was no better way to spend time than reading, and perhaps on those shelves Spike would have left the book he had taken away him that morning. But not matter how hard Dusk searched, he could not find the book he wanted. Even more, it seemed as if Spike had been ahead of what Dusk would do, and all the books in the room belonged to the children's section, books such as basic spells for unicorns, books to learn how to read and write, or tales for foals, so Dusk finally gave up and just went to bed to sit awhile. As soon as he did, he couldn't help but feel how soft and comfortable the bed was, so he stretched his head back and dropped it on the pillow.
"How odd..." Dusk said uncomfortably as he leaned his head and felt that unlike the mattress, the pillow was very uncomfortable and hard.
Then Dusk got up and lifted the pillow.
The unicorn couldn't help but be surprised to see that under the pillow was the book he had just been looking for.
"Heh, clever dragon." Dusk smirked as he realized that Spike had hidden the book in a good hiding place, but for the dragon's misfortune, Dusk had been able to find it thanks to luck.
Then Dusk lay back down again, lit his horn and with the book in his hooves began to read it, specifically the section that talked about the elements of harmony. Dusk read the few pages that spoke about these magical elements over and over again, just as he had done that morning, believing he could actually find some hidden meaning behind its paragraphs, yet it was a maze with no way out, the book only mentioned six magical objects and somepony or something called Nightmare Moon, but nothing more. Dusk was annoyed that there was so little information about that, so even though Dusk several times wanted to continue reading the book on other magical objects, he always returned to the 'elements of harmony' section.
"Nightmare Moon... I know I've heard that name before..." Dusk said thinking aloud as his eyes slowly closed without his noticing.
Finally all the factors had come together: the lack of sleep, the tiredness of the hectic day that he had run from one side to the other, and the comfortable bed; all that made Dusk sleepy, causing the young unicorn to fall asleep while still holding the book and murmured: 'Nightmare Moon...'
And so Dusk Shine fell asleep, not knowing what the future of that night would bring him, while his mind unconsciously found the answer to that doubt that bothered him, in his past, in a distant memory of his childhood...
'Dusk Shine's Flashback.'
A young Dusk Shine was running happily down the halls of the castle, not long ago he had been selected and recommended to enter the most prestigious school of magic in Canterlot, he had even been personally chosen by the very Princess Celestia to receive some private lessons with her, therefore, there was no colt in the world happier than Dusk at that time, and besides, like every little pony, he was full of energy, and knowing that he had almost unlimited permission to go through the halls of the royal castle, he ran smiling for them, marveling at the enormous corridors and majestic halls, something that particularly surprised him, since unlike many ponies who visited the castle, Dusk came from a humble family, with a dignified military lineage but that had never stood out much in comparison with the noble families of Canterlot.
So Dusk kept running with his little legs at full speed, amazed with every new thing he saw, stopping once in awhile at a stained glass here and there but quickly resuming his path, after all, he had a mission to fulfill, he had to meet with Princess Celestia, and he could not be late to those important meetings with his beloved teacher.
Finally, Dusk crossed the last door and arrived at the private courtyard of the castle, a large and beautiful garden that was behind the castle and that was the place chosen by the princess for their meeting. A place not chosen at random by the highest authority of Equestria, for she wanted that cheerful and tender little colt to see her as a figure which he could approach, not an unattainable and untouchable figure who was like most ponies saw her in reality.
When Dusk arrived, he smiled at the tall white figure of the princess, with her back to him. Then the princess turned as she noticed his presence and smiled at him.
"Hello, little Dusk, you're here early." Said the elegant and solemn voice of Princess Celestia.
"Yes, um... your majesty." Dusk said ceremoniously, giving a great bow so much that he almost fell on his head.
Princess Celestia could not help smiling at the tender little colt.
"Little Dusk, it’s not necessary for you to kneel so much, in fact, I would prefer that you don’t bow down to me." The princess said kindly, approaching the colt.
"But my mommy says a gentlecolt should always greet politely a lady, and I must be extra courteous with you." Dusk replied somewhat confused.
Celestia thought for a moment to insist, but it would not be right to contradict what Dusk's mother had taught him, even though she wanted to shorten that emotional distance between them.
"It's true, you must always be a gentlecolt." The princess said, affectionately touching Dusk's face. "But at least stop calling me 'your majesty’."
Dusk looked at the princess's friendly face and gave her a big smile.
"All right, Princess!" Dusk smiled happily.
The princess smiled back as she felt a great warmth in her heart, every time the little colt smiled at her she was glad, and although she knew that as regent and protector of the kingdom she could not have favoritism in front of her subjects, she could not help feeling a maternal affection towards that little unicorn.
Finally, the princess got up again and began to walk in the garden, followed by little Dusk.
"And how was your day?" Asked the princess walking, looking Dusk smiling.
"Very good! I'm learning a lot! Even when the teacher tells us to read, my classmates let me study alone, so I can concentrate better and learn more!" Dusk said cheerfully.
Princess Celestia listened attentively to Dusk's words and smiled sadly at the naive words of the unicorn, poor Dusk did not realize that his companions were leaving him alone because they didn't like Dusk. The truth was that many noble and wealthy families did not like it when the princess interceded for her 'young talent' and sent Dusk to the same school of magic that studied their own children, jealousy shared with their children and so they separated Dusk from the group, this was something that the princess would have liked to solve, but she did not want to continue interfering and that the others families thought that Dusk was being too privileged, nevertheless she had promised herself that she would find some way to remedy it.
"And what class did you have today?" Asked the princess.
"History! Today I started reading 'Hooras, the Historian'." Dusk said excitedly.
"But that's ancient history, you shouldn't learn that for the next two years." Said the princess somewhat confused. "First you must learn modern history, that of the last eight hundred years."
"It's just... I read all the books of modern history..." Dusk said a little embarrassed, thinking that he had made the princess angry.
"It's fine, don’t worry." Said the princess kindly, as if she had read Dusk's mind. "It's okay to make progress in your studies, but I think it would be best if you follow the class, tell me, why don't you try forming a study group with your classmates? You'll see that it's much more entertaining to study in a group rather alone, and thus they'll see that you are like them."
"I... I'll try." Dusk answered a little unsure.
So the two ponies continued walking, turning in some corners, heading toward the center of the garden.
"What a horrible statue!" Dusk said as they passed a strange statue.
The princess glanced at the statue Dusk had looked at and gave it a penetrating glance.
"You can't imagine how horrible it can be..." The princess said in a whisper, continuing her walk, not wanting to stop at the statue of the strange draconequus.
"Was that statue in the old castle?" Dusk asked, leaving the statue behind and catching up with the princess.
The princess was a little surprised at this question, but then she remembered that the little unicorn had just said he'd read a book of ancient history.
"That's right." Replied the princess, smiling. "So you already learned that Canterlot was not always the capital of Equestria and that I used to live in another castle before?"
"Yep! The book said that before moving the capital to Canterlot, you lived in the old castle, which was in the Everfree forest." Dusk replied excitedly to see that the princess had realized that he knew that. "But when I read I had a question... Why was the old castle called 'The Castle of the Two Sisters'?" Dusk asked naively.
At that sudden question, Celestia stopped walking as a shadow of pain passed over her face, something she corrected quickly, closing her eyes and smiling again to keep Dusk from seeing the grief she felt at that moment.
"Well... That's because I lived in that castle with my sister, Princess Luna." The princess replied with a smile that hid her sadness.
"You had a sister!?" Dusk asked in surprise.
"That's right, they'll teach you that in ancient history, because she... disappeared more than a thousand years ago." Replied the princess, still with the same sad smile.
"But... What happened to Princess Luna?" Dusk asked innocently.
Princess Celestia fell silent a few seconds before answering.
"A thousand years ago a great evil struck Equestria, threatening to leave everything in complete darkness... It was that great evil that destroyed Luna." The princess said, looking away so that Dusk couldn't see her sad face, walking again to try to leave the subject behind.
"And why doesn't anyone mention Princess Luna?" Dusk insisted, walking again and catching up with the princess.
Princess Celestia realized that she could not escape Dusk's childish curiosity, so she stopped and decided to face the questions.
"No one mentions my sister because of me." Said the princess sadly. "I ordered that the name of that evil that destroyed my sister be erased from the records, so that everyone would forget that awful being and only remembered the great legacy left by Luna, so there are several books that mention Luna, but very few books mention the name of that evil. However it's one thing what books say and another thing what the ponies say and how they feel, love is easily forgotten while fear can be eternal... Despite what's written in the books, ponies forgot what my sister did for them, and her figure was only a forgotten ghost of history, but the name of that wickedness continues to be remembered even in this days and they continue to fear it."
Princess Celestia closed her eyes and sighed to relax before she lost her temperance.
"But I don't remember anypony mentioning anything about that." Dusk said confused.
"Yes, you did, you have probably read about it and you haven't noticed, just like thousands of ponies nowadays, they even celebrate a party in its honor, although over time the purpose and origin of that party have been forgotten." Princess Celestia replied, more calmly. "Tell me Dusk, have you ever read the story of 'The Mare in the Moon'?"
'End of Flashback.'
Suddenly Dusk awoke from his sleep, remembering every part of the dream, though more than a dream it had been a vivid memory forgotten of his childhood.
"It can't be." Dusk said with his eyes wide open with surprise.
Immediately Dusk stood up from the bed and went to the bookshelf that was in the room, as he did so he remembered what was going on in that memory, but all he remembered was that afterwards the princess had changed the subject and they had gone on with his normal magic lessons, and Dusk hadn't given more importance to that talk, not until today, when he finally understood the sad smile of the princess and that speech that he hadn't been able to fully understand as a child.
Finally Dusk found the book he was looking for: 'Fables and tales for foals,' then he flipped through the book and reached the page he was looking for, which told the story of 'The mare in the moon'.
Dusk read the story, just as he had done at other times as a child, but this time he was much more focused as he hoped to find some clue that would guide him to solve that mystery that was hanging over his head. While Dusk was doing that he realized that the story was just as he remembered it: "A long time ago a powerful mare threatened to bring the eternal night to the ponies, filling them with fear in their lives and nightmares in their dreams, until from the shadows came a light of hope. The evil mare was banished to the moon, and peace and harmony returned to Equestria. However, on moonlit nights, you can still see the figure of a mare watching from the moon, it’s The Mare in the Moon! Watching from above the ponies who behave badly, hoping that harmony will abandon them to consummate her vengeance, waiting for her imprisonment of a thousand years to end! That's why the ponies should behave well, especially on the moonlit nights, to show the wicked mare that peace and harmony will never leave Equestria."
After reading the story, Dusk realized that it was just a simple story and that any pony would take it as such, however now that he had read about the elements of harmony and about Nightmare Moon, and he contrasted it with the story of 'The mare in the moon', he could realize that there were many things that related both stories that seemed more than simple coincidence. He had never noticed it before, but the story mentioned the word 'harmony' a lot, being that it could have replaced by a more adequate word, it was as if the author wanted that the word 'harmony' shouldn't be forgotten, besides, that light that defeated that evil mare... what if all that was a clear reference to the elements of harmony? And another big coincidence was the names! The history book mentioned a 'Nightmare Moon' that brought darkness to Equestria, while the storybook spoke of a 'Mare in the Moon', a wicked mare who sought to bring eternal night; Mare in the moon... night. mare. moon. night-mare moon... And if everything was just a play on words!? What if the history book said 'darkness' as something literal referring to the eternal night of the story!?
Dusk looked at the bed and levitated the history book toward him and then, next to it, levitated the storybook.
"Could it be that the story is an allegory of something that really happened?" Dusk wondered with a worried face. "And if so..."
Then Dusk opened the history book and reviewed the part that talked about the elements of harmony, specifically the date, which was in ancient date, that is to say before the foundation of Canterlot like great capital of Equestria and before the present solar calendar, but taking a quick calculation he could transform the date, doing so Dusk could only be astonished to see that the date in which the elements had been used last, just to destroy that darkness that struck Equestria, it had been precisely a thousand years ago.
"This... this has to be a bad joke." Dusk said nervously, looking again at the storybook and reading the part that said that ‘the mare in the moon’ hoped that her thousand-year imprisonment would end to consummate her revenge on the ponies being they had misbehaved.
Dusk stared in fear both books for a long time as a cold sweat ran down his back.
"It's ridiculous! It's just a foal's story!!" Dusk said startled, closing both books and dropping them. "It's just a silly coincidence, it can't be true, the prophecies don't exist! And if it's true, it can't be that only I have noticed something so obvious! Not even the princess-"
Then Dusk was stood still, completely silent, suddenly realizing something important. If the mare in the moon was just a story, why did the princess mention it to him when he was a little colt? She said it because somehow it was related to the death of her sister Luna, all that had happened in the old castle, even the disappearance of Princess Luna coincided with the date indicated in the book of when was the last time the elements of harmony were used!
While Dusk's head was still agitated with all those terrifying thoughts, he put a hoof on his face and closed his eyes, he needed to calm down, organize his thoughts, and find a rational solution to everything that went through his head. Then, as he calmed down, a bright idea came to mind, it was not an answer he would have expected to find, but if he could not find an answer, he could ask someone who did.
"Princess Celestia!" Dusk said abruptly, opening his eyes. "I'm making a storm in a teacup! Princess Celestia lived a thousand years ago and she can tell me if there really is a relationship between Nightmare Moon and the story of The Mare in the Moon!"
Then Dusk finally lifted his head, already calmer, with a small smile of satisfaction at the knowledge that soon he would have the answers he needed. Then he looked surprised in all directions.
"Have I been talking to myself this whole time?" Dusk asked looking around, distressed that no one had been with him listening to all his brilliant deductions.
Suddenly the door was burst wide open, to show off an 'overly festive' Spike, who had streamers and a lamp shade over his head.
"Where is my brotheeeeer...?!? Where's Hic! my brooo...?" Spike said smiling silly, almost screaming, with a very particular hiccup.
Dusk was surprised by how noisy his brother was, and he approached him.
"Spike, are you okay?" Dusk asked, a little worried about his brother's strange behavior.
"There you are!" Spike said cheerfully, staggering up to his brother and hugging him. "You-You’re the best brooo... Hic!"
As soon as Spike hugged Dusk and exhaled a hiccup, the unicorn could smell a peculiar odor.
"What have you been drinking?" Dusk asked, worried but unable to help himself to laugh a little at the state in which his brother was.
"Just the tastiest fruit punch I ever tasted... Hic!" Spike replied, with his cheeks red and a silly smile on his face.
"Well, I think you've had enough ‘fruit punch’ for one night." Dusk said, taking Spike by the shoulders to get out of the embrace and thinking that despite the funny thing about that situation, he would have to speak seriously with Pinkie Pie for giving Spike such spirit drinks. "Changing the topic, are the girls still down there?" Dusk asked, remembering that he still had something important to talk to them before the big celebration began.
"No, they left a little while ago..." Spike said, staggering. "They... Hic! they ran as soon as I showed them this... Hic! They said they needed to get everything ready for the celebration before her arrival." Then Spike showed Dusk a small scroll he held in his claw.
Dusk quickly took the scroll and read it:
"Dear Dusk.
I'm on my way to Ponyville, I'll arrive a little before the celebration starts, so we can talk quietly and you can tell me about all your adventures, in addition to introducing me to your new friends.
Yours truly, Princess Celestia."
Dusk was stunned after reading the letter.
"Why didn't you show this to me as soon as it arrived? And how long ago did it arrive!?" Dusk asked worried.
"A couple hours ago." Spike said, smiling silly.
Suddenly a shadow passed outside the window of Dusk's room, he turned and walked quickly to the window to see what that shadow had been.
As soon as Dusk approached the window he saw that the shadow had been produced by the royal carriage of the princess, which had been flying out of the library on its landing and had settled on the outskirts of the Town Hall. Then Dusk noticed something else, that there were many ponies outside, all of them heading toward the great hall of the Town Hall.
"It can't be... What time is it!?" Dusk asked, startled.
"Well... it's almost time for the celebration, that's why I came here Hic! to wake you up." Spike replied, staggering.
Dusk froze at the revelation that he had slept through the night and now he was arriving late to the big celebration, and more importantly, if he did not hurry he would not have a chance to ask the five mares he had met if they wanted to be his friends before he met the princess! Then Dusk raised the dizzy Spike to his back, who was still holding the lamp shade on his head, and Dusk went down the stairs running quickly to go to the Town Hall.
As Dusk ran through the streets of Ponyville, he noticed how clear the streets were in spite of being at night, then he looked up and saw the huge full moon that lit up the night, bigger and brighter than he ever remembered seeing it, and in the center of this moon was a particular shadow, which marked the supposed figure of a mare in the moon, a mark that could be seen especially on moonlit nights, like tonight. Then, as he continued to run, and his mind again started to fill with all the doubts that overwhelmed him a few moments ago, he tried to discard those irrational thoughts.
"It's true, the story is only a legend that seeks to explain that particular mark on the moon, it can't be related to-" Dusk began to speak, trying to calm down for a logical explanation, but he couldn't finish speaking because while he did that it seemed that the figure of the mare in the moon disappeared slowly.
Then Dusk stopped dead, looking stunned at the event, then he rubbed his eyes and looked back at the moon, but no matter how he looked, he couldn't find the silhouette of the mare in the moon.
"Thi... This is not real..." Dusk said worried, trying to calm down. "It's... it's just that I'm very tired, that's why I can't see it well... Can you see it Spike? The silhouette of the mare in the moon."
However, the only response of the dragon was a silly smile and a small hiccup.
Dusk began to hyperventilate again, but then he closed his eyes, sighed, and exhaled heavily.
"The princess will solve it, she'll tell me that everything is a silly coincidence, she'll tell me that it has only been a bad joke of my imagination." Dusk told himself to calm down and continued running towards the Town Hall, having as a new priority to resolve his doubts on this subject with the princess.
The main hall of the town hall was filled with ponies, everypony chatting, eating and laughing together, waiting for the long awaited sunrise. The hall itself was more beautiful than Dusk remembered, Rarity's finishing touches had really given a touch of elegance to that hall, in addition he could see the tables with the banquet, full of apple based desserts made by the Apple family. There was the atmosphere and there were ponies, only missing the protagonist of the party, the sun, which would soon be raised by the alicorn magic of Princess Celestia.
Once Dusk and Spike crossed the door of the great hall, the young unicorn looked at the large group of ponies in the room, he could see the pegasi of the weather patrol, Applejack’s family (which worried him for a second), the ponies of the flower shop, Derpy, Bulk Biceps, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, even the little Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, they were all there, plus many other ponies, however his wandering eyes stopped when he saw that close from the snacks table were the five mares with whom he hoped to meet, talking cheerfully among them. Dusk smiled and took a couple of steps in their direction, but as soon as he did his peripheral gaze made his attention focused on something else, in the other corner of the room, there were two royal guards guarding a corridor that connected the great hall, both of them standing firmly in their golden armor as they always were; and if they were there it could only mean one thing, that Princess Celestia was sheltered behind them.
"Spike, you can join the others, I'll go in a second but before that I have to deal with a major issue" Dusk said looking at his back, where Spike was almost on the verge of falling asleep.
"Sure... Hic! No problem..." Spike said, getting off the back of Dusk with great difficulty, as his lack of balance prevented him from standing upright.
As soon as Spike got down from his brother's back, Dusk began to walk towards the guards, while Spike shook the serpentines that still hung of him, fixed his 'lamp hat' elegantly and he went walking staggering with a silly smile towards the snacks table, which was a very amusing image to see, as if a small lamp were lost in a sea of ponies.
As the little dragon headed toward the snack table, the five mares looked somewhat surprised as their scaly friend came stumbling toward them with a dumb expression and red cheeks.
"I know you asked me to bring a couple of bottles of cider with 'extra-spicy' to the party, but I didn't think you'd put them on the fruit punch!" Applejack said, whispering to Pinkie Pie, concerned about the little dragon's ethylic state. "Look at how the little Spike is!"
"I hoped it was Dusk who got drunk." Pinkie Pie smiled, sticking out her tongue with a guilty expression.
"Hello everypony!" Spike shouted once he reached the five mares, looking at each one but pausing at Rarity. "And a greetings to you, my dear." Spike finished, looking at Rarity, with a flirtatious look, adjusting his 'hat' elegantly and giving her a gallant smile, feeling the most attractive being of Equestria. Although of course, that was not what the others saw, the only thing the mares saw was Spike giving Rarity a strange look, wobbling from side to side trying to keep his balance before fixing the silly lamp on his head without success, and then smiling like an idiot, making the poor dragon look even more ridiculous.
"Oh! More fruit punch!" Spike added when he noticed that there was a punch-bowl on the snack table.
"Hold it right there casanova, I think enough fruit punch for one night." said Rainbow Dash, taking the punch-bowl and taking it out of reach of Spike's claws, although that fruit punch did not have the 'special cider' from Applejack, it was better to prevent.
"By the way, Spike." Fluttershy added, remembering something she'd forgotten to tell Dusk that afternoon, and now that she'd gone to get her birds home, she'd brought it with her. "I think this is yours, you left it in my house the last time you stayed to sleep."
Then Fluttershy handed a small yellow book to Spike.
"What...?" Spike said, taking the book and reading the cover. "HAHAHA! I had forgotten, but no, this Hic! This book is from Dusk, not mine." Spike finished saying, returning the book to the yellow pegasus.
"'How to make friends, for dummies'?" Rarity read the title of the book, taking it before Fluttershy did.
"HAHAHA! Yes, Hic! It's a funny story..." Spike said smiling silly, not realizing what he was really about to tell.
For his part, Dusk had already arrived where the royal guards and had stopped in front of them.
"Excuse me, can I go in?" Dusk asked gently looking at one of the guards, trying to recognize him in vain, since for him all the royal guards looked the same.
"I'm sorry, no one can go in." One of the guards said, as both pegasi stretched out their wings to block Dusk's way.
"Oh, come on! I'm Dusk, Dusk Shine! The pupil of Princess Celestia! You must have seen me in the castle more than once." Dusk said something annoying, since even in the castle itself the guards always did the same to him.
"Dusk?" Said a voice behind the guards, the unmistakable voice of Princess Celestia.
Then the princess appeared behind the guards and smiled, as both guards lowered their wings to allow the stallion to pass, who advanced and approached the princess. The princess was very glad to see Dusk again, feeling like every mother who had been hard at heart to separate her beloved son, she approached Dusk with the desire to embrace him, but that would have to wait, since she must to keep up appearances while she was in front others ponies.
"It's good to see you again, Dusk." The princess said smiling.
"It's also a pleasure to see you again, Princess." Dusk replied ceremoniously, but deep down he also felt like the princess and he just wanted to hug her like he did when he was little colt.
Then the princess came to Dusk's ear and whispered.
"I haven't played one of my jokes to you for a long time, you don't know how anxious I am to get my favorite toy back." The princess smiled darkly in her usual poker expression, causing a chill to run down Dusk's back as soon as he heard those words. Of course the princess was not serious, but she loved to have fun with Dusk and she missed seeing his cute scared little foal's face.
"Princess?" Said a third voice, interrupting that moment.
Then, appearing along the same corridor that the princess had appeared, the Mayor of Ponyville appeared.
"Oh! I'm sorry Mrs. Mayor." The princess said looking at the Mayor and then talking to Dusk again. "I have to talk to the Mayor about some business, then we'll meet before the sun rises."
"Will you go out into the hall before the sun rises?" Dusk asked curiously.
"Of course, I want you to tell me everything that has happened to you these days, and of course, I want you to introduce me to your new friends before I raise the sun." The princess smiled before turning and meeting again Mayor Mare.
As soon as Dusk was alone, he realized how useless it had all been, he had met the princess but he had no chance to ask her any of the questions he had wanted to ask her about 'Nightmare Moon', and worse, only in a few moments she would go to check if Dusk had managed to fulfill the task that she had entrusted to him, to make friends.
Immediately Dusk turned and returned to the main hall, now he had another priority, to warn the five mares he knew and who he hoped they would accept his proposal of friendship, that in a few minutes the princess would go and talk to them!
Dusk looked around until he found the five colorful manes of those mares he was looking for, and headed there.
"Hello girls, sorry for the delay, and... sorry for falling asleep at my welcome party." Dusk said with a small smile of regret once he reached where the mares were. "Listen, there's something very important that I have to ask you, I wasn't really sure if I must to did that, but-" Dusk continued, scratching his head uncertainly, somewhat shy and embarrassed to know that in a few seconds he would ask them if they wanted to be his friends. However, he stopped when seeing that none of them looked into his eyes.
Immediately Dusk realized that the atmosphere seemed tense, the five mares looked serious, annoyed, even worried, including Spike, who Dusk could tell from his flushed cheeks that he was still slightly dizzy from the punch, but for some reason he looked nervous, glancing sideways at Dusk.
"Is something wrong?" Dusk finally asked, puzzled.
"Spike... told us everything." Fluttershy said timidly, with sadness in her voice. "The real reason why you are in Ponyville."
Dusk looked at Fluttershy in surprise, then looked at Spike, who looked away in embarrassment.
"What are we to you, Dusk? Just a few experiments?" Rainbow Dash asked in frustration, throwing at Dusk's hooves the book: 'HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS, for dummies'. "So that's why you approached us? To see if one of those stupid books you read worked!?"
Dusk looked at the book and swallowed nervously as his breath began to altered and the bad memories of his past slowly surfaced in his mind.
"No... you don't understand, it's... it's just a misunderstanding." Dusk replied nervously.
"Did you approach us just because it was an obligation?" Applejack asked in annoyance, showing one of the scrolls that had fallen from the book when they checked it, which indicated the royal decree. "It says here that you are obliged to make friends or you'll be expelled from Canterlot, then you only did it so that you can return to your castle?"
Dusk's mouth was drying, he wanted to respond, to deny everything and explain the truth! But he couldn’t, his mind did not let him think clearly, the only thing he could think of was that he had done something wrong and now they would hate him, just as it had happened with his old childhood friend, a memory that only made him became more and more distressed every second.
"Be-before... I..." Dusk began to babble totally nervous, until he managed to articulate a few ideas. "That was before... before I knew you, before I knew how you really were or how dedicated you were in your jobs, or..."
"'Feign interest in that pony and their activities. Pretend that I enjoy his/her company. Convince him/her that I'm his/her friend. Show him/her to Celestia. Discard the false friendship. Back to Canterlot.'" Pinkie Pie's voice was heard when she began to read the other scroll that had fallen from the book, the one on which Dusk had written what he intended to do when he had barely reached Ponyville. "Is this what you did to us? Did you just feign? And now... were you just going to discard us?" Finished speaking Pinkie Pie, with a sad look in her eyes.
"... No... I..." Dusk said in a whisper with a look of terror on his face, his mind was clouded while the only thing he could see was the silhouette of his old friend, the pony that had left him when he more needed her, all that because he had done something wrong against her, something she never forgave him, a sensation that Dusk felt again at that moment and overflowed him, he knew that situation was repeating again, now the five mares would hate him and abandon him, leaving him alone again.
"Dusk... Please say something! Tell us the truth, or is it true that you only used us?" Rarity asked worriedly with glassy eyes. "Do we matter to you? ...even a little?"
The five mares looked sadly at Dusk, waiting for the colt's response, but though Dusk looked at them, his mind was lost, reliving that fateful moment he had lived a few years ago that had led him to isolate himself and make himself the promise that he would never return to have a friend. However the mares could not know what was going on in Dusk's tormented mind, so they took his silence as an acceptance that everything they had asked and said was true, so the mares looked at each other sadly, they turned around and left Dusk alone, with a huge grief in their hearts.
As the mares retreated, Dusk's eyes came back to life and he saw how the mares that he had begun to cherish and that he had begun to feel that he wanted them to be his friends, they left him alone. His heart began to squeeze into a great pain, so much so that Dusk lowered his head, trying to resist the emotional pain he was feeling from that situation added to all the bad memories that hovered in his head.
"Dusk, I... I didn't want this to happen... I'll fix it, I'll talk to them and I'll explain everything!" Spike said worriedly, that seeing all that situation, his fear and concern for his brother finally made him wake up and see the reality.
"Go away..." Dusk said head down, as the sadness and pain in his heart began to give way to anger. "You were the one who ruined everything! I don't want to see you again! GO AWAY!" Dusk shouted, pointing angrily his hoof toward the door.
The little dragon was frightened, he had never seen Dusk so angry, in addition that he already felt guilty with himself for having talked with the girls about Dusk’s reason why he came here, he simply lowered his head while his eyes were dripping a pair of tears and ran towards the front door of the hall.
As soon as Dusk saw his little brother cry and saw him run, a new terrible feeling added to the storm of emotions Dusk felt in that minute, guilt.
Dusk slammed the floor hard as he closed his eyes tightly, trying unsuccessfully to avoid feeling all those emotions. His chest ached as he breathed, he felt that his head was going to explode because of how hard he closed his eyes, however hard he tried, he could not get out of his head the sad looks of the five mares or the great pain that he had felt when his old friend had left him, that great pain was the same as he felt at that precise moment and was the cause that Dusk had promised himself not to have friends again, he had told himself he would never wanted to experience such pain again, yet there he was, feeling it again, just for trying to have friends again.
So immersed was Dusk in his thoughts that he didn't hear when the great majority of the ponies made sounds of wonder and excitement as Princess Celestia walked through the great hall, heading towards her faithful student.
"I finally found you, dear Dusk, tell me, will you introduce me to your new friends?" Said the princess, smiling solemnly as she always did, not knowing that she was sinking her hoof into the wound.
As soon as Dusk heard the princess's voice behind him, for the first time since he had known her, he did not turn to greet her, he just stayed as he was, he kept turning his back on her with his eyes closed, head down.
"I don't have any friends..." Dusk said, clenching his teeth hard.
"What?" The princess asked concerned, surprised by Dusk's response and attitude, even though she could not see his face.
"I said I have no friends, I made no friends on this trip, I... I don't need friends." Dusk answered bitterly.
"Dusk, I thought you had made friends, I was hoping that if I told you to make friends and you thought it was a task then you would fulfill it and you would know the importance of friendship." The Princess said worried.
"Well, I didn't, so now what, are you not going to let me return to Canterlot? will I not be able to continue my studies?" Dusk asked trying to suppress his anger and sadness in vain. "Is not it enough for you to force me to open an old wound and to suffer the same pain again? Now you will also take away what I most want!?"
"Dusk, why are you upset?" The princess asked insightfully, realizing immediately that something was wrong and that her poor pupil needed to vent.
"Because I have no friends! I'm all alone!" Shouted Dusk, turning to look at the princess, showing tears in his eyes. "I tried to do as you ask and make friends, but I couldn’t! I betrayed them! At first I didn't want to make any, but then I met five wonderful ponies, they helped me realize that I could be their friend, I actually wanted to be their friend too! But the truth is, I couldn’t! I'm just an untrusting fool, who doesn't know how to express himself and can’t tell others how important they are to him!!" Dusk finished screaming releasing a few tears, however once he let out his grief and frustration, the only thing left to vent was his anger.
"You forced me to this!!" Dusk shouted glaring at the princess, who had listened calmly with her poker face all her student's speech, knowing that he needed to vent all those negative emotions. "You took me away from my room, my books, my studies! You took everything from me! You forced me to come to this town only to see me suffer and make fun of me like you always do! You forced me to feel this unrelenting sorrow that I feel in my chest! Everypony thinks you are kind and benevolent, but that’s not true! You are perverse and manipulative, and I don't know how I didn't see it before! I... I HATE YOU!!!" Dusk finished with a huge scream that kept the room in complete silence.
All the ponies in the hall had heard Dusk's screams, they watched with horror as that young colt had confronted the majestic princess. They just covered their mouths with horror, all frozen without knowing how to react, not even the royal guards standing behind Celestia knew what to do, they had never in their lives had seen anyone shout at the princess that way.
Meanwhile, the princess had listened attentively and patiently to Dusk's entire speech, her wisdom gained by hundreds of years of experience had told her that it was best to calmly listen to Dusk, wait for him to vent and then talk to him with a cool head. And so the princess had listened, imperturbably, to all of Dusk's monologue until he gave that great cry of hatred against her, that cry of truth surprised her, she had been criticized many times and had heard many times that others shouted at her, even she had fought great battles with ferocious enemies, in which she had received several wounds of war, nevertheless, to hear those words come from her beloved student, they really hurt more than any wound. Every time she saw Dusk, no matter how much Dusk grew, she still saw the tender little colt who smiled every time she taught him something new, but now that same image had been destroyed and now she just could see to Dusk staring at her with deep hatred in his heart, that made for the first time that night the princess could not keep up her poker-faced facade, and she narrowed her eyes sadly as her eyes gleamed with a touch of tears about to come out.
"Dusk..." The princess began to speak, lifting her hoof to caress Dusk.
"Bwahaha! What happened? Did the great princess of the sun lose her temperance?" A dark voice laughed, filling the room.
That voice had not been heard in Equestria for a thousand years, so none of the ponies knew who it was, no pony but one, the only existing pony that had lived for more than a thousand years and that was precisely who faced the owner of that voice a thousand years ago. Instantly, Princess Celestia turned with a startled face, staring at the balcony, which was where the voice had come from.
A great shadow formed on the balcony, just where the Mayor of Ponyville stood, who was frozen in terror watching as the huge shadow began to take shape until the image of a huge dark mare appeared, with black coat like night, a huge unicorn horn and large pointed wings, her tail and mane were blue and purple, without form, only floating like clouds around her, she wore a sky blue armor and had a cutie mark of a crescent moon on her flank, however the most terrifying were her eyes, huge and sharp calypso eyes that looked with hatred all over the room.
As soon as the great shadow took shape in the dark mare, she took the Mayor by the neck and stared at her with a malevolent smile.
"Guards!" Cried Princess Celestia quickly, causing the two pegasus of the royal guard to immediately leap over the unknown mare, but as soon as they flew towards the dark mare, they passed through her, as if she was only a great shadow.
"Hahaha! Do you think your guards can stop me?" Said the dark mare laughing, looking at Celestia. "That will be difficult..."
"Because I'm really here." Said the voice of the dark mare, behind Celestia, as the figure on the balcony disappeared.
As soon as the princess turned, she saw with terror that the dark mare was in front of her, but threatening another pony, this time she held Dusk's neck tightly, looking with a sinister smile at the princess.
"Hello Celestia, long time no see." Said the dark mare, not letting Dusk. "Come, join our fun." Said the mare, tightening her grip on Dusk's neck.
"Don't hurt him!" Said the princess in anguish.
"Hahaha! What is the problem? You recently did not hesitate to send your guards, do you really care so much about this colt?" The dark mare laughed.
"Lun-" said Princess Celestia trying to mention a name, but she was immediately interrupted by the dark mare.
"Don't you dare say that name! Say my real name! Strong and clear for all to hear! I want everyone to know who I am and that your lies come to light!" Said the dark mare in a scream.
Princess Celestia stood for a moment in silence, undecided, looking at the dark mare, until finally she looked at Dusk being hanged and her doubts disappeared.
"You are... Nightmare Moon... The mare in the moon..." The princess said slowly, then the voices of surprise and horror of the ponies emerged in the great hall.
"That's right, you wanted to erase me from the history, hide who I really was, now you'll tell everyone how you sacrificed your own sister and everyone will see who the real monster is!" Nightmare Moon shouted, laughing mockingly.
The princess sighed, closed her eyes and lowered her head sadly.
"I did it... because of me, my sister died... and this abomination was born..." Said the princess, closing her eyes sadly, before the attentive and astonished eyes of all the ponies in the room.
"That's right..." Nightmare Moon said, smiling victoriously. "But don't worry, I will not hold a grudge, in fact I'll return from whence I came." She said, bringing her face closer to Dusk. "I'll just take this pony with me as a trophy, what do you say to that? I’ll take him with me and you’ll be able to seal us again on the moon, so in the end you’ll save your kingdom and your precious ponies. After all, what is the life of a single pony compared to the safety and welfare of your whole kingdom? Hahaha!" Nightmare Moon mocked, wanting to see the princess humiliated, savoring what she was sure would happen.
Meanwhile, Dusk moved in vain trying to break free, he had even tried to use his magic, but a shadow covered his horn and prevented him from using his magic, but as soon as he heard the proposal of Nightmare Moon, he stopped trying to break free and just looked to the princess. What Nightmare Moon offered was an irreproachable offer, she was right! What was his life compared to that of thousands of ponies living in the kingdom!? After all, he was only the student of the princess, in thousands of years she had to have had tens, but hundreds of students, her life was not worth so much.
"Accept it, princess!" Dusk said with effort as Nightmare Moon continued to hang him. "I'll be fine, I-" However, Dusk couldn't continue to speak, as he, like all the ponies in the great hall, was silent in the face of what they saw.
In front of them, Princess Celestia had bowed, almost prostrate, before Nightmare Moon. None of the ponies could give credit to what they saw, never in history the princess regent of the kingdom had prostrated before someone else, that was an unprecedented fact in history!
"BWAHAHA! Here is your proud princess, bowing before me! HAHAHA!" Nightmare Moon mocked.
"Please release Dusk, take me instead." Princess Celestia said, her head almost touching the ground. "If you promise not to harm Dusk or anyone else, I will do as you ask."
Nightmare Moon looked suspiciously at Celestia and came up, still holding Dusk's neck.
"Your! Who took her own sister into the eternal darkness, are you willing to sacrifice yourself for an ordinary pony?" Nightmare Moon said as her horn lit up, with a look of contempt at the princess.
"He... He's not an ordinary pony..." The princess replied, looking at Dusk tenderly, as if she were saying goodbye to her precious son.
"Then so be it." Nightmare Moon said, with a huge ball of energy on her horn. Then she released Dusk, who almost fell faint to the ground, and she threw the ball of energy to the princess. "Goodbye forever, Celestia."
As soon as the energy ball touched the princess, everything burned with a brilliant white flame that blinded all the nearby ponies, with a huge flare that covered all around the princess. Finally, when the flames became less bright, the ponies could see where the princess was while the flames went out, until everyone could see that the princess had disappeared, in the place that she had been, only remained her golden royal decorations, her crown and a little ash, while all the ground that had been under the flames was charred, still fuming.
"Ponies, remember this night!" Nightmare Moon screamed as she lost her shape and turned into a huge dark cloud rising to the ceiling. "Because tonight begins the reign of Nightmare Moon! And my first order is for this to be an eternal night! BWAHAHAHA!" Then there was a whirlwind that slammed open all the windows of the hall as the cloud of darkness quickly left the place.
Nothing in the great hall was heard, no one moved, no one breathed, it seemed that the hearts of all the ponies had stopped for a second, everypony with expressions of terror, without their minds still able to process the horror they had just see.
The first pony to react was Dusk Shine, who, regaining his strength, approached dragging, trembling, to the remains that had remained of where the princess had been, she had been destroyed, she had sacrificed herself to save him, and the last thing he had told her had been that he hated her.
Tears began to sprout and run down Dusk's cheeks.
# End of Chapter 15