//------------------------------//
// Beneath A Moonless Sky 
// Story: Once Upon Another Time 
// by Undome Tinwe 
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Night fell upon the Crystal Palace.

The Crystal Faire was still going strong, the sounds of drunken revelry echoing all the way up to the roof where Luna sat, staring up at the stars she'd put out tonight. The same stars she'd painted the skies with for millennia, on the same canvas that had looked down on them when...

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. It was all over now. The day had been won, thanks to a change of heart by Sombra. After his victory, he had used the power of the Crystal Heart to banish the Umbrum at the cost of his own life. Such a noble sacrifice, one that had inspired such love that he'd been brought back and given a second chance as a normal stallion.

A normal stallion just as Radiant Hope was a normal mare. They were a storybook couple, and Luna wanted nothing more than to close the book on this chapter of her life.

"I should have known that you'd be here."

It seemed that fate was not done spinning its tale yet, however. Luna turned towards the sound of that familiar, wonderful voice, finding the object of her obsession standing by the staircase, pulling the brown cloak she wore tighter to keep out the cold up where they were.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then, Luna broke the silence between them, keeping her voice neutral and hiding the storm of emotions swirling within her soul. "Should you not be partaking in the festivities below?"

Radiant Hope snorted. "It's a little hard to enjoy it when I'm the one whose defeat they're celebrating."

That, at least, got a smile from Luna. "I know that sentiment far too well."

"I suppose you would." Another awkward pause. This time, it was Hope who spoke first. "I also wanted to speak with you. To apologize."

Luna's breath caught in her throat. "You and Sombra already apologized and were forgiven. It is not our pasts that define us, but how we choose to move forward." The words were practiced, rote, and completely irrelevant to what she knew Hope was truly referring to.

Her companion knew it too. "That's not what I wanted to apologize for."

"Oh?" It was petty of her to feign ignorance, but Luna wasn't feeling very charitable at the moment. "And what is it you wished to make amends for?"

"Luna, please..."

"Ten years," Luna hissed, the dam finally breaking. "For ten years I believed your death was our story's end, that your life was beyond recall. And now you've come back to invade my life, to side against me with him."

"I'm sorry." The contrition in Hope's voice almost broke Luna, but her anger remained strong. "I swear to you, I didn't return to this world until last year, and by then, the Umbrum had filled my head with lies."

"I'm sure it was easy enough for you to believe them." With a growl, Luna turned away from the mare she had once loved with all her heart. "After all, they promised you that your precious Sombra wasn't a monster."

Hope's eyes narrowed. "He isn't a monster. I know you're hurting, but that's no excuse to lash out at him."

Pettiness flared up in Luna at her words. "You are correct, of course," she said coolly. "It was not Sombra who caused me the gravest injury, in the end."

"No, it wasn't." The smaller mare walked up to her with a grim determination that made Luna tense. "This place, the home that I betrayed, it's from a different time. The same time you and I are from. A less... lenient time."

Radiant Hope bowed her head. "Name your penance for my sins."

The darkest parts of Luna whispered in her ear, tempting her to do her worst, to lash out and make Radiant Hope hurt as she had. "If you could only know the pain I'd known, then methinks you would not have made that offer so freely."

She stalked towards the unicorn, cold fire burning her soul with every step. "I remember that night as if it were yesterday. I knew you were going to leave, locked myself deep in the catacombs to mourn. And yet, you came and found where I hid."

To her credit, Hope's voice did not waver as she replied. "I strode to your side, to tell you I must go."

"And when I begged you not to, begged you to stay with me, you swore to me you would." Pain and betrayal ravaged her heart as Luna's voice was caught between a whisper and a shout. "And I believed you. Like a fool, I thought you would keep your word."

"I meant to." Tears brimmed in Hope's eyes, and Luna felt her own eyes water in kind. "Please, believe me when I say, I was yours that one brief night long ago. Beneath that moonless sky, when it was so dark that I couldn't see your face, yet gazed into your soul."

"As I gazed into yours," Luna replied. "And what I saw was pure and whole and suddenly, I felt no longer scared."

"And I felt no longer shy," Hope added.

"And then we kissed." Even now, the memories were fresh, raw, an unyielding, fiery presence in her mind. "And the world around us fell away. We were but two mares, with a need too urgent to deny. Nothing mattered then, except for you and I and the ravishing refrains you sang, which made me tremble even as I was brought to my knees again and then again."

They both shivered at the memory. "We said things we never dared to say." Hope shook her head. "Would that I had the courage to hold on to those words when I had awoken."

"I never had the comfort of saying good-bye," Luna whispered.

"I was ashamed," Hope admitted. "I felt as if I had betrayed him, and I was afraid. Afraid that if I looked into your eyes, those eyes so full of love, I would not have the conviction to do what I believed I must. I stood while you slept and whispered my good-bye, and slipped into the dark beneath that moonless sky."

"I loved you." Rage bubbled in Luna's heart once again at the confession. "I'd have followed anywhere you led. I woke to swear my love once again, and found you gone instead!"

"And that was why I had to leave under the cloak of night!" The words were shouted, hoarse, ringing with desperation. "I couldn't take you away from your people, and I had to find out for myself if my home could be restored! I thought you would move on!"

"I could never!" What madness had consumed her to even suggest such a thing? "You condemned me to an eternity of misery, of thinking you dead while I was trapped on the moon!"

"I'm sorry!" Hope sobbed. "Tell me what I must do to make this right!"

This time, when Luna approached and raised a hoof, Hope flinched. And in that subtle motion, Luna's heart was pierced anew. Radiant Hope was scared of her. That was not acceptable. "I want you to remember," she said softly, softly stroking her former lover's cheek. It was soft and warm, just as it had been all those years ago. "Remember that moonless night, when you were mine in every way.

"And when you leave with Sombra on your quest, when you spend the night with him beneath the stars, I want you to remember this."

Before she could regain her wits, Luna leaned in and captured Hope's lips with her own. And when Hope returned the kiss with a familiar fervor, Luna knew she'd chosen her vengeance well. Too well, perhaps, for now this memory would haunt her for the rest of her days.

"That is the price of my forgiveness." She turned away from the mare who had broken her heart and driven her soul to despair. "Now go, and return to your stallion, and never speak of this again."

Without another word, Hope left, leaving Luna alone in her silence once more.

A silence that would never again be broken by the singing of her Radiant beauty.