The courtyard of Canterlot Castle was abuzz with ponies, young and old, rich and poor, waiting anxiously for what was to come. None of them knew what to expect. All they knew was that the Princess had called out, saying an announcement was imminent, and that the castle had been closed to everypony since dawn. No civilians, no guards, not even Princess Twilight had been allowed inside. That was enough to leave all of Canterlot on edge.
It wasn’t helped by the fact that nopony seemed to be able to leave the castle, either. All day, the massive, imposing doors leading inside had only opened twice. Once to let a single pony outside, and once more to let her back in.
That pony was a guard, tall, commanding, and suited in armor most ponies in Equestria had never actually seen in use. In stark contrast to the glittering gold of most guards, her armor was dark, so dark that you had to focus to even see the hint of blue that gave it color. Even then that blue was nebulous, like it was only blue where your eyes weren’t, and any spot you were looking at was just a dark void of nothing. The metal was polished to perfection, and every piece of armor had jagged, irregular edges, making it sharp and sleek. Finally, to finish the ensemble, her wings had been enchanted to make them thin and wiry, losing their feathers in favor of an unsettling batlike appearance that the pegasus wore with pride.
The pony, who some recognized to be Amber Dusk, only came outside for a few moments. She passed her orders along to the nearest trustworthy guard, then ducked back inside as quietly as she could. That wasn’t enough to keep her from being seen, though, and as soon as one pony knew there was no stopping the news. They told others, and those ponies told more, and soon all of Canterlot knew that Nightmare Moon was recruiting guards again.
Ponies easily feared the worst, and nervous chatter quickly spread those fears throughout the crowd. Was there an attack? Had somepony died? Anything was possible, and everything was assumed.
At the front of the crowd, Twilight stared up at the balcony where the Princess would soon appear. She was sitting on the ground, less for comfort and more to keep her legs from shaking, and she was gnawing on the end of a pencil that she seemed to have brought just for that.
Beside her stood Applejack, straightfaced and stoic. She had told Twilight all she knew, of course, but that wasn’t enough to actually know what was going on. If anything, it was only enough to worry more.
The crowd fell silent as two figures walked onto the balcony. Not Nightmare Moon, although the dark armor made it seem that way at first, but rather her guards. Amber Dusk walked out, plain for all to see, by the side of Seabeam, her fellow guard still dressed in the traditional garb. Neither of them regarded the crowd; they simply walked to either side of the balcony and stood at attention, looking straight ahead.
All around the crowd, cameras flashed as reporters fought for pictures. Around them, ponies grew less tense, and gossip and chatter started to rise throughout the courtyard. Soon it was louder than ever before, with ponies openly speculating about what any of this could mean.
The crowd grew so rowdy, in fact, that even when Nightmare Moon did make her appearance, not all of them quieted down.
The Princess stood in silence for a moment, waiting for the crowd to silence themselves. They didn’t. Cameras kept snapping pictures, talkative ponies hardly noticed her, and here and there some ponies even yelled out in support or protest.
She quickly grew frustrated with the noise. Frowning, she rose her leg into the air, then stomped as hard as she could on the floor of the balcony. The sound was tremendous, like being mere feet from a thunderclap, and it snuffed out any thought of noisiness amongst the crowd. All the ponies in attendance snapped their heads toward her, and soon she had their full attention.
Nightmare Moon cleared her throat, then spoke in her booming royal voice. “Ponies of Canterlot and beyond, the news I bring you today is quite distressing. I am going to ask, first and foremost, that you approach the coming days calmly. Do not allow your fears to run rampant.”
She paused for a moment. Around the courtyard, ponies looked at each other nervously. Twilight glanced at Applejack, but Applejack could only shrug.
“I believe it necessary to also reiterate that I am, and always will be, invested in the betterment of my subjects’ lives. You all believe many things about me, some warranted, some not, but I can assure you that the events of a thousand years past are not a sign of things to come. In the interest of that assurance…”
Nightmare Moon closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and relaxed as she dropped the mask of anger she wore and became Luna once again.
“I will be giving the remainder of this speech as Princess Luna.”
A murmur spread through the crowd. Applejack jumped with a start, and Twilight looked over to her. “What’s wrong?”
“She is not supposed to do that,” Applejack whispered back.
“Please, settle down,” Luna said, her voice still booming. Gradually, everypony stopped talking again. “Thank you. Now, I can get right to the announcement. I will tell you all this plainly; Princess Celestia has been banished.”
The crowd erupted. Ponies talked frantically, reporters shot photos nonstop, and several more ponies yelled out against Princess Luna.
Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Please tell me she didn’t just say what I think she said,” she whispered to Applejack.
“‘Fraid I can’t do that,” Applejack replied.
“Please, everypony, let me finish,” Luna called out.
The crowd stayed in an uproar.
Anger flashed across Luna’s face. “Silence!” she yelled, and that was enough. It still took a moment, but soon the courtyard was once more focused on her.
She cleared her throat. “I apologize for that,” she said, “but I need to finish. I’ve no intention of keeping my sister away for a thousand years. I promise you all, I will work to fix this. However, I shall not release her until I deem it safe to do so. She has acted against me, and made it clear that she would keep us both from ruling rather than allow me to step out from under her shadow.”
Luna paused for a moment to take another slow, deep breath.
“I am no longer content hiding in the shadows. From this day forward, my sister and I are equals. I hope you can all come to see me as such.” Voices started rising in the crowd again. “That is all,” Luna said quickly, and she turned and walked back into the castle.
As soon as she was gone, the uproar returned. Ponies started running around, finding others they wanted to talk to.
Before she could get swarmed by reporters, Twilight lit up her horn and sent herself and Applejack up onto the balcony.
Immediately, the guards closed in, blocking the way inside.
“Oh, come on,” Twilight groaned. “Just let us in.”
The guards looked at each other, and Seabeam shrugged awkwardly. Then, they stepped aside, and Twilight and Applejack dashed in after Luna.
They found her in the throne room, making her way to the thrones. They ran up until they were right behind her, then slowed to match her speed.
“Luna!” Twilight said. “What in the world is going on?”
Luna stopped walking, but didn’t turn to face them. “Exactly what I said, Twilight.”
“You banished Celestia? That’s…” Twilight paused. “That’s insane!”
“I did what I had to.”
“Luna, are you sure about this?” Applejack asked. While Twilight sounded anxious and afraid, Applejack’s voice was full of concern. “This ain’t anything we talked about happening.”
Luna sighed and looked down at the ground. “I tried, Applejack. She won’t even acknowledge me as her sister if I’m not cowering in fear and drowning in regret.”
“You can’t just banish somepony because things get rough,” Twilight said.
“Why not?” Luna looked over her shoulder at Twilight and narrowed her eyes. “It’s precisely what she did to me!”
“So, what?” Twilight asked. “You want to just make her feel all the pain you’ve ever felt?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Luna spun around to face them, and by the time she was done she was back to Nightmare Moon. “She didn’t get these lectures! She got to spend a thousand years as the hero who saved Equestria, and all that time she made me out to be a villain. What mercy is she owed from me?”
“Woah, hey,” Applejack said. “Listen to yourself, Moonlight. This ain’t you!”
“And what if it is? What if this is how I truly feel? Would you then despise me, like all the others?”
“It ain’t,” Applejack repeated. “I mean, think about what you just asked me. Do you really think that after spendin so much time with you, with Nightmare Moon, that I’d suddenly believe you’re bad enough to hate?”
“I-” Nightmare Moon turned away from them. “No. You wouldn’t.”
Applejack stepped closer and put a hoof on her shoulder. “You’re all out of sorts. Let’s talk, get you outta your head.”
“...If you insist.”
Twilight walked up beside Applejack. “Hey, uh, it looks like you’ve got this,” she said. “I think I’m gonna leave you two alone and go have a talk with Celestia.”
“Alright, Twilight,” Applejack said.
“Have fun,” Nightmare Moon said dryly. She flicked a hoof through the air, and Twilight was engulfed in flames. A second later, she was gone.
“Uh, I think she coulda gone there without being banished,” Applejack said.
“Any proper ruler needs one or two banishments in their time,” Nightmare Moon said.
The two of them decided to go into Luna’s bedroom to talk. They kept the lights off and closed the curtains, so only faint slivers of light lit the room around them. Together, they sat on the bed, and Applejack leaned up against Nightmare Moon.
“You gonna stay like that, then?” Applejack asked.
“Do you think I should not?”
Applejack thought for a moment. “Nah, stay like that. I think it’ll help.”
“Alright,” Nightmare Moon said. “Where would you like to begin, then?”
“Good question,” Applejack replied. “Do you really think you had to banish her?”
“Perhaps not, but I do not regret it. I may not be entirely in the right, but I don’t believe it was wrong of me to be upset that she turned our teacher against me and sent me back to the moon.”
“Wait, you mean Star Swirl?”
Nightmare Moon nodded. “She must have convinced him I could not be reasoned with.”
“D-Did you banish him too?”
“What? No!” Nightmare Moon looked at Applejack incredulously. “I simply told him to leave.”
Applejack sighed. “Alright. Well, I ain’t gonna tell you to feel bad. That’s your prerogative.”
There was a pause before Nightmare Moon asked “are you angry with me?”
Applejack pursed her lips and thought. “Mmm… Nah. I mean, I can’t help but feel like there must’ve been a better way, but feelings are feelings, y’know?”
“Alright.”
There was another pause.
“So, now what?” Applejack asked.
“I talk to her until she listens, I suppose.”
“What about?”
Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean? The same thing as always, about how many ponies despise me.”
“You’ve been at this a couple days now, though,” Applejack said. “It ain’t like there’s been a revolution. You still think they despise you?”
“What are you getting at?”
“I just started thinkin about it after I saw that guard all done up in your colors,” Applejack told her. “She ain’t wearin those out of hate, so either you forced her to, or you made an impression.”
“Alright, so now, including you, there are two ponies who don’t despise me.”
“Ponies don’t quit hatin somepony that fast,” Applejack said. “I think she already liked you, you just couldn’t see it cuz all you ever see is nightmares ponies have.”
Nightmare Moon thought for a moment. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“So, maybe you don’t need to make ponies like you more, you just gotta be able to see that they like you now. Heck, even as Nightmare Moon they like you.”
“So…”
“Well, the plan you said before still works.” Applejack chuckled. “Just start workin in the daytime and get Celestia off your back.”
“Ah. Well, that was a long talk just to say ‘keep it up.’”
“The talk was just to make you feel better,” Applejack said. “Like I said, get you outta your head. It’s a lot harder to believe all that awful stuff you tell yourself if you gotta say it to another pony.”
Nightmare Moon smiled at her. “Thank you, my Princess.”
Applejack nuzzled her affectionately. “Any time, Moonlight.”
“There is one change I’d like to make to the plan, though.”
“What’s that?”
Nightmare Moon wrapped a leg around Applejack. “I want my Princess by my side.”
“Mm…” Applejack thought hard. “I mean, we’re way past the big harvests, so… Yeah, okay. I think I can take some time off from the farm.”
“Excellent.” Nightmare Moon kissed Applejack’s forehead. “I’ll get started right away on making you an official Princess.”
“Wait, what?”