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// The Things We Sacrifice 
// Story: The Things We Sacrifice 
// by SpectralFury 
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There was nothing I wouldn’t do for my subjects.
I stared straight forward as I walked down the basement corridor to her room. Flanking me were two of my guards, ever stoic and loyal. They insisted on accompanying me, despite the chaos that ruled outside, and despite the fact that should she have managed to break her bonds, they would have been nothing more than gnats against her power.
    I ignored my imagination as to what horrors befell the ponies outside my castle, a beacon of normality that he granted as an insult to us all. I had a job to do, and I would do it, no matter what the ultimate cost was.
    We finally reached the door to her chambers. Calling it a door was an understatement, of course. It was better described as a portcullis, made from electrum plated steel and enchanted with every legal and borderline ward I could think of, and a few that crossed the line. She alone would never be able to breach it. The perfect prison, one that would stand as long as I was alive and willing to keep it closed.
    “Open it,” I commanded.
    My guards moved to the two stations flanking the barrier, and tapped their horns against it. One by one, the wards dropped, and with metallic thuds and clanks the locks disengaged. Slowly and with slight squeaking, it slid sideways into the wall, revealing the antechamber and interior door.
    Without a word I walked in, and couldn’t help but flatten my ears as the door behind me squealed shut. It would need to be oiled if we ended up victorious. I knew the wards had gone back up by the absolute smothering I felt descend over my entire being. There was nothing upon me but my own magic, but it felt as if I had been buried alive under rock and soil.
    Each time, it made me hope that I could convince her to see through her affliction. She had served her exile already for her crimes; I did not enjoy forcing her to stay here any more than she did.
    But I had to, to keep my subjects safe.
    With a similar sequence of events, the interior door slid open, this one protesting much more loudly as it slid aside. A testament to the corruption that filled the room within.
    Luna didn’t respond as I walked in, sprawled out upon her bed with a book held in her magic. Each time I saw my baby sister with that pitch black coat, my heart twisted in grief for the gentle soul that she once was. At least we had locked away that horrible armor of hers. Without it, she looked almost normal, if a bit deviant in her appearance.
    “Luna.” She flinched. She always flinched the first time I called her that during my visits. At least she didn’t snarl and scream anymore, not like the months after I captured her.
    “Sister,” she coldly greeted, still not looking up. “It isn’t Moonday yet. Why are you here?”
    I tried innocence. “I need an excuse to see my baby sister?” I hoped that my smile was enough to convince her.
    Her snort told me it wasn’t. “I am not one of your pathetic pawns, sister. You can’t lie to the Mistress of Shadows.”
    I sighed. “No, I suppose I can’t.” I looked around the room, stalling for time to think. Her furniture was immaculate and perfectly arranged, as always. She hadn’t yet bothered to send her food tray back up to the kitchen, a sign that she was engrossed in whatever she was reading. By the pile of books I saw stacked in her ‘finished’ crate I noted that it would be time to cycle her material again soon.
    “There is a problem. What is it?” she asked. Her voice was soft, gentle, and held only a hint of steel behind it. So much like she used to be. So unlike the mad screams she sounded after her return. I looked back at her and met her eyes- those horrid eyes, and saw something unfamiliar in them.
    Concern. It was well hidden, but it was there.
    I licked my lips in preparation. I needed to handle this properly, delicately, or the price I would have to pay would be too great.
    “He’s returned.” I saw her eyes flick back and forth in thought for a moment.
    “We’ve defeated several enemies that are male, sister. You’ll have to be a little more specific.”
    I opened my mouth to clarify, but found his name stuck in my throat.
    “It wouldn’t be any of the minor ones,” she mused, tapping at her chin. Slowly, she rolled onto her belly and gave me a calculating stare. “It would have to be somepony of real threat for you to be desperate enough to come to me for help. Who is it? Sombra? Has the Crystal Empire and its slave army returned?”
    My throat seized with the truth, so all I could do was shake my head.
    Her eyes widened at my fear, and I noted her wings twitching slightly in response. Hopefully she understood. “I see. Somepony worse, then. Grogar? His body was never found, yes? Do you face a wave of undead from the Necramancer? How many cities have already fallen while you kept your power locked away?”
    I felt my legs trembling, but forced it away as best I could. My mouth opened again, and a pained croak came from my throat. I felt like a foal trying to tell their mother about the monsters under their bed. Unfortunately, mine were very, very real.
    Luna frowned and stood up from her bed. “Well, out with it! What creature that we have defeated once before would terrify you so?”
    I took a deep breath and tried to call upon the mask I used to announce his presence only hours ago to my subjects. A shield, one to help keep my own despair from infecting them all.
    I failed.
    “Discord,” I whispered. Even after all this time, even after his promise to leave me be as long as I remained within the castle’s perimeter, I still had trouble speaking his name. It was an old fear, one ingrained by his decades of torment, that speaking his name would draw his attention.
    I felt his talons lightly rake my withers in response to my utterance, and flinched before turning, only to find air.
    There was silence for a moment before Luna said, “I see.” It was so casual, so flippant, as if we were speaking about an unscheduled storm. She walked over to her kitchenette and brought out the bottle I had allowed her. She poured two glasses and set them down on her two-pony table, gesturing for me to sit. It was a quiet enjoyment she had only recently allowed, having dinner together. A silent thing, but still pleasant.
    She brought the red liquid to her lips for a moment, savoring the taste, and then looked at me with a soft, confident, smile.
    I felt my heart drop out of my chest, only to be replaced with a familiar and hated flicker.
    “You need my help,” she stated. She didn’t even need to ask.
    “I need your help,” I confirmed. I took a drink of my own, hoping that it would take the edge off and drown that flicker. It would not pay to get angry if my request was denied, or the required cost too great. Luna always handled the problems that my words couldn’t. Where I had my words, she had her weapons. I was used to looking down at the silly nobles that tried to maneuver for power, their honeyed words trying to poison me as they begged-but-didn’t for concessions and favors.
    I wasn’t used to being on the other end.
    “You defeated me two years ago,” she said, taking another sip. “While I won’t dismiss his power offhoof, either one of us has the ability to defeat him should we unleash all we have available.”
    She sipped at her drink with a knowing look, and I couldn’t help but remember the fire that consumed my vision that day. The fire that I swore to never unleash again, not unless I had no choice.
    “But at what cost?” I asked.
    “What cost?” she mocked. “There is no cost outside of the fatigue of battle. If anything, you will only gain by doing so.”
    “It’s too dangerous-”
    She snorted again, rolling her eyes. “It’s only dangerous to those that lack mental fortitude.”
    My jaw clenched. I couldn’t help myself. “You mean like you?” I snapped. I may have winced after that. I may have not. The way she glared at me if slapped was a guilty pleasure I reserved. Poking holes in her rationalizations was always fun, even if detrimental to what remained of our relationship. A kind of victory against the demon that plagued my nightmares for a century.
    She swirled the drink for several seconds, her sneer gradually facing away to passive contemplation. “I admit that the time after my fall wasn’t my best.”
    I managed to suppress the incredulous laugh at the understatement. Mostly. My mouth twitched upward in amusement. Now was not the time for mockery, however. “And you now claim to be free of your madness?”
    She tilted her head for a moment. “Eternal night was a foolish idea.” Her voice was so soft, for a moment I thought I could hear my baby sister again. It had been pulling teeth trying to convince her to drop her genocidal plan, and for a moment I held hope, but then realized something very important.
    I needed her dark power.
    “But you didn’t come here to continue your delusions of ‘reforming’ me.” She finished her glass, sat it down, and then smiled at me cruelly. “You’re here to use me.”
    “Luna-”
    “Don’t deny it, sister. If you thought that you could defeat...him...alone, you would have already done so. You didn’t have the Elements when you confronted me, and so I doubt that you have them now. Even in concert, we couldn’t defeat him without the Elements. That means you are here to bargain for my assistance. So why don’t we get to the point so you can stop mewling and trying to figure out how to adapt your court persona to work on me?”
    My lips were pressed together halfway through her tirade. She was right. She was right and she knew it, and I knew it, and I hated it. I hated being wrong. I hated being called out. I hated not having control of a situation. I was the Princess of Equestria. The sun graced the world by my power. Other nations bowed to me at best, or remained neutral at worst. It was almost always because of stupidity or arrogance that another came to me with such attitude. The only times it wasn’t was when I faced an adversary I couldn’t cow or make veiled threats towards.
    Like now. Luna had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
    “Fine,” I spat, and threw back the rest of the liquor down my throat. “I need your help to defeat him.”
    She shrugged. “Not interested.”
    The flicker flared slightly. “You- You’re- WHAT.”
    “Why should I help you?” she asked, smirking. “Let’s look at the situation, hmm? I’m a prisoner. I currently have nothing you’re willing to take away. The populace despises me. You technically never stripped me of my title, but I have no power. I’m a princess only in name. Why should I care about Equestria when it doesn’t care about me?”
    I just stared at her for a moment, unbelieving at how callous she could be at the whole situation. I couldn’t believe that my baby sister would be that cold. That cruel. That absolutely unredeem-
    I noticed the tips of my mane and tail turning orange, and took a deep breath. No. It served nopony to allow that to consume me again. Never again.
    “It’s in your best interest,” I said as evenly as I could.
    “Oh?”
    “Discord will eventually grow bored of me staying here, and rescind my sanctuary. What do you think he will do to you then?”
    “Try and torture me,” she said calmly. I just stared at her, slack jawed in wonder at how she couldn’t care less about becoming his plaything again.
    She must have read my thoughts, as she clarified. “I spent one thousand years on the moon, Celestia. I had nothing to do except make crude buildings from moon rock and dust. I can’t tell you how many times I went so mad that I came back around to sanity purely out of boredom. I crave something- anything! Anything to alleviate the dull sameness that had dominated my life for so long. Even these books are more than enough, but if he were to free me and try to use me for his own antics? Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up enjoying it.”
    My eyes were watering, and the joyless smile she gave me only twisted the knife. I slumped down onto the table and broke down as the realization finally took full root.
    I had driven my sister insane.
    “There there,” she said, patting my back. I hadn’t even noticed her moving, and couldn’t stop myself from leaning into her gentle hug. “It’s okay, sister. You were only doing what was necessary.”
    “I...I’m sorry.”
    She tsked several times. “No you’re not. Sorry is for ponies who wouldn’t repeat their actions. I was a threat, and if I threaten Equestria like that again, you will do it again. After all,” She leaned in next to my ear and whispered, “You’re willing to do anything for your subjects.”
    My sobbing only got worse as I realized that she was right. That, if I had to, I would subject her to the same torture and torment for another millenium if she ever threatened Equestria like that again.
    “Am I right?”
    I hesitated, but inevitably nodded.
    “Anything? Anything at all?”
    To my shame, I confirmed what she had said once again.
    “Alright.” Her voice was almost fey in how it sounded. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll help you for the price of anything.”
    My breath hitched and I looked up, my mind briefly wondering if I had made a terrible mistake, that my sister had somehow been replaced by a faery and just gotten a blank check out of me. But no. No fey creature would have looked upon me with such pity and compassion at that moment.
    “Name your price,” I said in defeat.
    “Freedom, of course.”
    I managed to pull my face from the table. “You have to promise to never stand against Equestria.”
    Luna looked at me flatly. “That doesn’t sound like anything, sister.”
    I pulled away from her and walked a few steps, keeping my back turned as I fought the flaring fire within me, fueled by how she so easily manipulated me into such grief and sorrow. A ploy, then, to get me to cave to her desires. It wouldn't happen.
“I have a duty to Equestria. You’re a threat.”
    “Until I’m not,” she corrected.
    I turned, a faint hope blossoming, but her cocky smile brought forth the familiar crushing paranoia. That was the look of a schemer. “You would give up your dark power?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
    She rolled her eyes, but played along. “Of course not. It is a power that should be embraced. Power to better serve as leaders of ponykind.”
    “It’s vile and corruptive!” I spat. “It brings only destruction and disharmony!”
    “And you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you sister?” she mocked. “After all, Equestria’s been turned into a fire pit since you chose to risk it to defeat me, is it not?” She smiled. “Go on, tell me about how you went on a rampage and murdered the ponies that look up to you so! Tell me about the evil and vile things it made you do.”
    I kept silent, and simply glared at her.
    “What was that?” She leaned forward, a hoof to her ear. “I can’t hear you. Nothing? You mean that-” she gasped, “-you didn’t go mad with power after you defeated me? Why that’s...that’s unheard of! How is it possible?” Her faux shocked expression flipped to an unimpressed frown. “I have told you for centuries, Celestia. Dark magic isn’t corruptive. Ponies that succumb to such ‘afflictions’ do it to themselves.”
    She smiled, and stepped closer to me. “And you’ve always hated that.”
    “Luna.”
    “Hated the thought that it was possible for such creatures of harmony to go bad on their own.”
    “Be silent!” I hissed.
    “Hated the fact that at the end of the day, there is nothing separating ponykind from those like Sombra, Tirek, or Discord! Just a choice.”
    My words devolved into mindless growls as I ground my teeth together.
    “That you’re no different than them! No different than me! That for all your control, for all your porcelain smiles and gentle words, it’s all a lie. You’re no goddess, not the one that they think you are. You’re just another scared pony trying to keep her life under control.”
    Flames burst forth from my mane and tail, and a red glow slammed Luna through the table and into the wall. She grunted from the pain, but didn’t yelp. Didn’t beg. Didn’t fight. She just looked up from her spot on the floor and smiled at me.
    I stepped forward with a glare, an orange glow filling the room. The fire had returned. The warm, comfortable, lively fire had returned. It was always there, ready to spring forth at the barest hint of fuel. It was my gift, my curse, and I was its bearer and jailor. It lashed out, seeking retribution for not only the fresh pain, but the old scars given to me a millenia ago.
    “It feels nice, doesn’t it?” Luna asked.
    The sincerity I heard in her voice made me stop short and think. Cleared the haze just enough to realize what dark thoughts had been running through my mind.
    I took a breath and started to push it away, but in an instant she was in front of me, pressing against and nuzzling my side. “Don’t turn away, sister. Feel it. Take it. It’s your magic, your power. It can’t do anything to you.”
    We met eyes, and for some reason, I listened. Her look was so pure, so sincere, that I couldn’t help myself but feel like I was protected. Like I was back as a filly and trying out a new spell under my mentor’s guidance.
I cracked open the door to my molten core and just let the heat slowly creep out onto me. It was hot, but not burning, vicious, but not mindless, powerful, but not overwhelming. It was safety. It was security. It loved me in a way that only I could ever know.
    I tore off the door before I could stop myself, and let the fire wash over me. I felt its power roaring in my chest, ready, willing, but contained. I felt every ward that was once over me burned away, leaving the barest hint that I was still under them. I had crawled out of the suffocating pit I had thrown over my sister and myself, and now only tolerated its presence because I wanted to.
I could destroy him with this power, I could stop anything that threatened my little ponies, I could make sure that every other nation on this world bowed-
    I gasped and stepped back, shocked at the thoughts going through my mind. What was I doing? Why was I thinking this way?
    “What have you done to me?!” I demanded.
    Slowly, Luna got to her hooves. “I’ve finally, finally made you see, sister. I’ve lifted the veil that you so willingly set over your eyes. The veil that convinced you that I was some madmare, possessed by a parasite or demon.” She scoffed. “As if I would willingly allow myself to be shackled so.” She laughed, something somewhere between joy and sadism. “My gift to you, for showing me mercy after my time as a mindless murderess.”
    I stood there and stared as she bowed her head.
    “All this time, here in the cell? You wanted me to fall to power?” Even as the words left my mouth, I tried to pull away from the heat within, but couldn’t. It was too comfortable, too familiar, too right to have it in my grasp. Pulling away from it felt like pulling away from life itself.
    She snorted and looked up. “Well I don’t need any more power. Power is for ponies who think they’re in the right!” A smile pulled at her lips. “And nopony thinks they’re more righteous than you.”
    Her words were like swallowing ice water. Memories and visions of my past decisions flashed in front of me. Times I had shown cruelty and mercy for what I believed was best for Equestria. Assassinations, pardons, carefully worded laws, veiled threats. The early days, before Luna’s banishment, I used her as an enforcer to cow those that tried to call me out on what they saw as being arbitrary.
    I stepped back away from Luna, from whatever she was doing to me. I tried desperately to pull away from the power that was flowing through me, and for a moment I felt it recede. If only Luna hadn’t stepped forward and yanked at me with her magic, shocking me into inaction.
    “Give a good mare the power to make change, and she’ll never run out of problems to solve!”
    “I don’t want power!”
    Luna laughed, something boisterous and full. “Stop lying to yourself! Yes you do! You’ve always wanted power! Ever since we were fillies I saw it in your eyes. Hungry, always looking at father’s crown and waiting for your turn. Always wanting to take the shortest  and simplest path to success. Now you can! Remember those ponies trapped within the changeling hives? Now you can save them. Every time a tyrant conquers their neighbor? Go and become a liberator!”
    I sneered, baring my teeth. “Nopony should have that kind of power!”
    Luna frowned and snarled. “You will, because you don’t have a choice. Without the Elements of Harmony there’s only one way to get rid of evil of his caliber forever- conquer the world, Celestia! Make evil rue the day it thought it could stand against you!”
    She smiled and bowed, just like any of her other subjects. “Show your little sister how it’s done.”
    I fell to the floor and stared at her, my mouth bobbing like a fish. Was this really my sister? Was this truly the filly I had grown up with? Had she truly been planning this all along? Wearing down my defenses by feigning madness, slowly making me hope that there was somepony of kindness beneath the darkness, only to prey on my trust, wrestle me to the ground and force me in front of a mirror?
    In a blinding moment of realization, I knew that she had. For she was the Mistress of Shadows. It was she that engineered the quiet downfall of my enemies while I stood in the light. It was exactly what she always did. But it didn’t answer one question.
    “Why are you doing this?” I screamed. It didn’t make any sense. She was supposed to be a fallen pony of darkness, completely selfish and concerned only with the power she could accrue. I was always more powerful than her, so why would she risk herself so by tricking me into this state?
    “I just want you to see that we’re not any different!” She took a breath and quietly pleaded, “I need my sister back.”
    I felt my heart stop as I stared into her eyes and knew that she had forgiven me. There was no hate. Not any longer. Instead there was sorrow and loneliness, and I had forced it on her. Not only through her exile, but in the years leading up to it. As I focused more and more on my duties, I ignored her growing isolation and bitterness.
    Luna put her hooves around my neck and hugged me. “All I want is for us to be together again, but that would never happen without you opening your eyes. And this time, we can do all those things we always wanted to do. Every problem. Every villain. We’ll stop it all together.”
    Could we? Could she be right? Was it really that simple? Was Luna right? Was power only corruptive if one allows it to be?
“I...I don’t know if I-”
    “If there’s anypony I trust with this kind of power, it’s you, sister.”
    Did she? It was getting hard to think. It was so warm and comfortable with the door open. I looked over to the mirror on the wall, and myself. My mane and tail were aflame. My eyes had taken on an orange color, and their pupils were jagged slits. I gingerly pulled my lips back to reveal the sharp teeth I had been running my tongue over. I was a Nightmare with a capital N. A pony that willingly let darkness and power into their hearts. I was a monster through and through.
    And yet…
    I didn’t feel any different. Not at my core, at least. I didn’t feel like conquering the world, or bringing about eternal day, or causing wanton destruction.
    I looked at Luna, at myself, and saw that we were the same. Two alicorns. Two sisters. Two Nightmares. Hugging each other.
    And deep within my heart cried out in joy, for I had finally gotten what I truly wanted. To be with my sister again. To have her close to me. To have the one being that truly understood me at my side.
    And now I understood her, too.
    “Okay,” I whispered.
    “Tia?”
    I hugged her tighter. “Oh, Lulu. I missed you.”
    “I missed you too.”
    We held each other for who knew how long, but all good things must come to an end, naturally, and I let her go.
    “Thank you.”
    She smiled in return.
    “Do you want to help?”
    She smiled, something eager and predatory, and I knew that I had a similar expression.
    “I would love to.”
    The two of us walked to the door, and I pressed at the communication crystal. “Guards, open the doors.”
    The crystal hummed, a signal that they had the channel open, but at first there was nothing coming from it. “Er, I’m sorry Princess, but your orders were to keep you in there if something like this happened.”
    Luna looked at me in disappointment, and I gently facehooved. “I understand,” I said.
    “What are you doing?” Luna hissed. “We need to get out of here, go kill him, and save Equestria!”
    “They’re just doing their jobs, Luna. There’s no need to be angry at them. This won’t be a problem. I designed this cell myself, after all. It was built to contain a fallen alicorn.”
    “Then what do we do?”
    “I built it to contain Nightmare Moon, not me.” I winked. Her jaw dropped.
    “You...you mean you had planned for-”
    I grinned. “I wasn’t planning on doing this, no, but I wasn’t about to hand my country over to the nobility, no matter what. They’d run it into the ground within a decade.” I smiled and giggled at Luna’s expression. My horn flared, and with my backdoor in place, everything collapsed within seconds. The screeching metal of the opening doors filled the room, but I didn’t mind it. As soon as my path was clear I stepped out, eyeing the terrified guards that were levelling their spears at me.
    “Stand aside,” I commanded gently. “There’s only one being that needs it’s blood shed, today, and it isn’t either of you.”
    The two looked at each other before taking off upstairs, likely to warn the captain of my decision. Silly guards. I loved my little ponies with all my heart. I’d never do anything to hurt them unduely. Only my enemies. Especially my enemies. I’d make sure that anycreature that dared harm my little ponies wouldn’t be able to regret it once I was through with them.
    After all, there was nothing I wouldn’t do for my subjects.