Luna was getting angry.
She and Celestia had spent the last few hours or so combing the destroyed remains of Mount Canterhorn for any survivors, but hadn't found a single one. All they had found was ruin and ash.
So much ash.
Luna had made sure to pay attention to her sister during their search, and she didn't like what she saw. On the surface it seemed as though her emotions were under control and her determination to find her little ponies was unwavering, but the midnight blue alicorn knew better.
She may have been trapped within the Moon for a thousand years, but her ability to read Celestia like a book hadn't faltered in the slightest. Through all the effort, all the sweat, and all the grim faced stoicism, Princess Celestia was hurting.
With each hour that went by -- each destroyed and empty ruin they came across -- the light in Celestia's eyes seemed to die a little more.
For some reason all that seemed to do was make Luna angry and she couldn't really explain why.
She wanted to say it was because Celestia was slowly but surely giving up and accepting the fact that her ponies were all gone -- mere ash scattered across the mountainside.
She wanted to say that she herself hadn't given up hope and was certain they'd find somepony else that had survived the destruction of Canterlot and what was most likely the rest of Equestria.
She found herself wanting to call her sister weak and pathetic for losing faith in her subjects.
But she couldn't.
Not when she was starting to feel the same.
So why all the anger then?
Was she just being stubborn?
No.
She knew what it was.
She wasn't angry at Celestia, she was angry at herself. She could feel it, plain as the dead land and crumbling mountain around her.
The helplessness.
The weakness.
The self hatred.
And these weren't even new emotions she had been dealing with. Ever since Twilight Sparkle and her friends had used the Elements of Harmony to free her from her madness, she had been quietly clinging to these emotions.
Then the beast -- no, the demon came and had lain waste to her and her sister's entire kingdom as though it was foal's play. It didn't even acknowledge any of them.
It just destroyed the capital and vanished like a breath on the wind.
She didn't show it to any of the others, but the event itself had left Luna shaken. She had never seen that kind of power before -- not in all of her several thousands of years alive on this planet.
Needless to say, it had only made the negative emotions that much worse.
So the only thing she felt she could now was mask her weakness and self-loathing with righteous anger and determination.
"Luna."
The midnight blue alicorn snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see her sister touch down next to her. She folded her wings and shook the constantly flowing prismatic mane out of her face before addressing her.
"Have you had any luck on your end?" she asked.
Luna felt a spike of irritation rise in her gut at the hopeful look her sister gave her.
"You know I haven't sister," she answered with a shake of her head, "I would've already contacted you had I found anypony else."
"Right," Celestia replied with a melancholy sigh, "forgive me, sister, I just... I don't know what to do anymore. I haven't been able to find a single living pony on this mountain... not one."
There it was.
Luna could hear it in her voice.
Her sister was breaking.
"We've searched for miles, Luna," Celestia continued, "hundreds and hundreds of miles, and the only thing we've seen is the dry dead land that used to be our vibrant, colorful home."
"I'm aware, Celestia," Luna said with a scowl, "I did conduct my own search of the land."
"Have you..." the snow white alicorn hesitated for the briefest of moments before continuing, "did you search the Realm of Dreams?"
Luna winced and turned away.
This was the one thing she had hoped her sister wouldn't ask. Luna had always counted her ability to travel the Realm of Dreams at her leisure as an honor and a blessing. Being the guardian of her subjects dreams was a duty she took great pride in as the Princess of the Night.
But now?
Now it was a curse.
Now the Dream Realm was the last place she wanted to be.
She couldn't meet Celestia eyes and she couldn't answer her question. It wasn't as though she had gone to the Realm of Dreams and hadn't found any dreams to enter.
It was more that she hadn't even bothered to check.
She had meant to the moment she realized how far the damage had reached, but she found she couldn't. The idea that she would arrive to find the Realm of Dreams completely vacant -- that she would only find an empty black void...
It absolutely terrified her.
"Luna?" Celestia pressed -- a more desperate edge in her voice, "did you search the Realm of Dreams?"
Luna bit her lip and didn't say anything.
"Luna!"
"NO I HAVEN'T!"
Celestia reeled back in surprise, but Luna ignored the action as she continued.
"I haven't searched the Dream Realm because I'm afraid of what I'll find if I do!" Luna clenched her teeth angrily before falling to her haunches and burying her face in her hooves, "I'm too afraid of what I won't find."
"Luna, I--"
"I'm nothing but a coward, Tia," Luna said in a shaky whisper, "a coward and a failure. Our precious subjects and our glorious kingdom -- ruined in an instant while we all stood by and did nothing."
Celestia's surprised gaze softened and she trotted over to her sister.
"That's not fair, Lulu," Celestia said as she sat down and wrapped a comforting wing around Luna, "there was nothing any of us could've done to stop that... abomination from destroying our city and everything around it."
Her voice hitched and she paused a moment before speaking again in a clearer tone.
"I flew and teleported as far as Equestria's borders and, while I saw only more ruin beyond, I didn't check anything past that."
She took a step back and guided her sister's face with a hoof so that they were looking into each other's eyes, "the world is a big place, Lulu. There has to be somepony else alive out there, we just have to keep looking until we find them."
Luna silently stared at her sister for a moment, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
"I hope you're right dear sister," Luna replied, blinking away her tears as she stood up, "I just... I'm just angry, Tia," she shook her head and scowled at her hooves, "I'm angry at myself. I had a chance to reconnect with our subjects -- to show them the true Princess of the Night."
She looked up at the eclipse and frowned.
"I had a chance to show them that I wasn't just some ponytale monster that haunted their worst nightmares, and I wasted it," she looked back to Celestia, "rather than be the Princess our subjects deserved, I hid myself away with all my fears and insecurities."
"What about your trip to Ponyville during Nightmare Night?" Celestia asked, "from what you and Twilight told me, it turned out just fine in the end and the townsponies--"
"Feared me, sister," Luna finished, "even at the end, they saw me as neither their Princess nor a friend. Just some... boogeymare meant to frighten them during Nightmare Night -- all but Twilight Sparkle."
"I'm quite sure that wasn't the case at all, sister," Celestia argued.
"Does it matter, Celestia?" Luna retorted with a snort, "the village is most likely gone and I had yet to interact with anypony else outside of that little town."
She trotted over to a nearby cliffside and sat down once again. After a minute of silence, Celestia trotted over and joined her and together stared out at the dark, empty land below. They took another few moments to reflect on their bleak situation before Luna spoke once more.
"Now that this demon has all but burned away our kingdom and its ponies, I may never get a chance to atone for what I've done."
Celestia sighed and turned to Luna with a sad frown.
"Lulu, you have to forgive yourself at some point," she said, putting a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, "you can't just..."
Something was watching them.
Luna's eyes widened in shock.
She felt her sister stiffen beside her and they both slowly turned to each other.
"Sister..." Celestia whipered, "you can feel it too, can you not?"
Luna gave a small nod but didn't respond.
She felt like some great weight was pressing down upon her and she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being sized up for a meal. She suddenly found it difficult to breath and looking at her sister, she could see a hint of fear in her eyes and a nervous sweat running down her brow.
Luna had no doubt she looked much the same.
The feeling passed a minute later and the two sisters let out a gasp and panted heavily as the weight lifted from their shoulders.
"A presence... of some sort?" Luna panted, "could it be... the demon?"
"I... don't know, Luna," Celestia replied, "but we should... probably make sure... Twilight and Cadence are okay."
They both took a moment more to catch their breath before Celestia lit her horn.
"Twilight! Cadence! Are you two okay?"
Luna sighed with relief when she heard Twilight's response. She was about to speak when she felt a nagging sensation tug at the back of her neck.
Though the heavy ominous feeling had passed, it felt as though somepony was still watching her. She looked around briefly before turning her gaze to the sky -- specifically the lunar eclipse.
The building anger Celestia had managed to quell only moments ago flared back to life like her sister's burning Sun.
Only this time, it was directed at the giant black and white eye dominating the sky where the Moon was supposed to be.
"FOUL DEMON! YOU HAVE LAIN WASTE TO OUR FAIR KINGDOM AND COMMITTED GENOCIDE AGAINST OUR PRECIOUS SUBJECTS! NOW YOU DARE TO DISTURB THE SANCTITY OF MY MOON?!"
In her fury, the midnight alicorn had shouted both out loud and mentally without realizing it.
"L-Luna?" Celestia cried, stumbling back in surprise, "what are you--"
Luna was already spreading her wings as she spoke.
"It won't get away this time, sister!" she growled -- her eyes burning white and her horn sparking dangerously, "I'll make sure of it!"
With that, she crouched low and shot off the mountain with the force of a cannon -- the ground beneath her shattering in the wake of her takeoff.
Celestia lifted herself off the ground and turned towards her sister, spotting the massive eye in the process.
"Sweet Mother..." she muttered in horror.
Further into the sky, the angry midnight blue alicorn rocketed towards the eye staring down at the land beneath it.
Drowning her fear in rage, Luna accelerated faster and faster -- not even stopping as it shifted its gaze in her direction. The dark blue glow of her horn intensified and she prepared to fire a blast of raw magical energy at her target.
Focused as she was, Luna didn't notice as the large eye prepared to fire its own attack at her.
"LUNA! YOU HAVE TO MOVE!" Celestia cried desperately, "THAT THING IS ABOUT TO ATTACK AND WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S CAPA--"
Luna's world exploded in a mass of light and pain and she was thrown backwards out of her reckless charge.
Before she could get too far, she felt a displacement of air to her left followed by a brief bout of vertigo as she was yanked through space and time. She cried out in pain as she suddenly felt herself hit the ground hard and was tossed about like a tumbleweed.
She was only vaguely aware of her surroundings -- the still building magic in her horn taking up most of her attention. Dazed, confused, and in pain, Luna did the only thing she could think of...
She cast the most powerful Static Barrier spell her magic would allow.
The barrier stopped her momentum abruptly and she grunted as she hit the dark blue wall of magical energy. She lay there, panting and gasping for breath as she felt the passive drain of her magical reserves.
She blinked rapidly and shook her head, trying to regain her faculties. It took several moments, but she began to think clearly once again. She took note of the sudden silence and tried to peer through the dark blue tinted barrier.
"What in our Mother's name happened to me?" Luna muttered as she tried to stand, "and what--"
Her barrier suddenly gave out with a loud pop and she fell back to the ground, clutching her horn in agony. It sparked and sputtered pitifully before dying completely.
She lay there on the ground for a moment, occasionally flinching from the magic feedback she was suffering. Eventually she took a deep breath and pulled herself back to her hooves. She took stock of her situation and frowned before her brow shot up in realization.
"Where's Celestia?" she asked aloud.
She turned to her right and froze.
Mount Canterhorn was gone.
It was as though somepony had gouge it out of the earth and all that was left was a massive crater.
No, not somepony.
A demon.
Luna grit her teeth as tears began to run down her face. She tried to lift herself off the ground and cried out from the attempt. She turned and saw that her wings were horribly mangled and in no shape to let her fly.
She knew from experience that it was a temporary thing and so ignored it as she half trotted, half limped over to the crater.
She needed to find her sister -- needed to make sure she was okay.
Alicorns by their very nature were biologically immortal, and while they had all managed to survive the demon's first attack, there was no telling what else that monster had up its sleeve.
She and her sister hadn't survived all these years by being careless enough to completely rely on their immortality, that's for certain.
Before she got too much farther however, she was stopped by a distant voice. Her ear twitched and she turned her gaze skyward and to her right. She could just make out a shape flying overhead in the distance, and as it got closer, her eyes widened in surprise and she smiled in relief.
She winced in pain once more before raising a hoof and waving up at the incoming pink and lavender shapes.
She couldn't see them too well and one appeared to be supporting the other, but it at least looked like they were both physically okay.
"Twilight! Cadence! Down here!"
She she lowered her hoof and her relieved smile turned to a worried frown as they fully came into view.
Something was wrong.