It was fantasy. Wishful thinking that Luna held on to as a way of briefly escaping the collapsing realities of the consequences she faced on a daily basis. "What if this happened? What if this didn't happen?" Questions like those were the closest thing to dreams that the princess of the night entertained. Daydreams, but perhaps dreams nonetheless.
Being the princess of the night, and the governess of dreams themselves, Luna was Tireless. For her, her spirit would never tire, and thus, she would never fall into the deep slumbers of those who passed on. This came with certain fringe benefits, and perhaps a few downsides as well. A tireless spirit is one that requires no sleep, and thus, her body and mind were eternally vital as well. Her ponies in the modern era joked about how much coffee she must have consumed, being seen both day and night performing her duties, but the truth was simpler.
Luna didn't require sleep, and when she did, it was to govern her realm in the dreaming world. No sleep meant no dreams of her own, and the void that this caused was filled with idle fantasies. More than a few tomes of fiction were authored by her alone in pursuit of this desire for whimsy, of course, but those were for entertainment. Now she faced an ancient fantasy of hers that seemed determined to make her question reality. "What if the Shadow Realm wasn't truly destroyed?"
Carrying Weiss's sleeping form, and Celestia's own pummeled self as well, Nightmare belligerently carried them back to New Canterlot, while Moon did the work of processing those feelings in the corner of their mind. Something Nightmare loathed doing, as she still held an inordinate disgust towards the unicorn. If it hadn't been for his fervent begging for her to not take him to them right away, Nightmare would have simply thrown him into the middle of the confused, slowly awakening ponies, and left him to awkwardly explain the past millennia to them himself.
"Well, one thing is absolutely certain, your precious Weiss clearly didn't know as much about dark magic as he liked to prattle on about," Nightmare Moon muttered to herself, making Celestia grin in her magical aura, even with the sun-diarch's eyes closed and body suffering as it slowly healed.
She saw her own point. Luna had considered posing the possibility to Weiss before, in times past, but with how deep he had thrown himself into his magic of choice, she trusted his judgement when he told her to drop it. And if not trust, then perhaps she feared what he might do if she insisted on trying to give him hope, when he insisted that there was no way they could have survived. And how could she have disbelieved him?
He showed her the tests. Dipped his arm in a pool of liquid love that the Windego had managed to congeal for him. It was a sight that stuck with her for many decades afterwards.
It didn't matter what spell he used, after that night, his body, he claimed, had partially been transmuted into an ashy, hateful substance, and whether it was Weiss's clever inventions trying to protect them, or even Luna's alicorn magics, he had seemingly proven without a doubt that nothing could hold pure love back from destroying pure hate, as many of his discarded synthetic limbs had proven when they turned to ash in the tanks of love.
So what she once held as possible theories had decayed under his brutally simple demonstrations, until they were nothing but whimsical fantasies she kept to herself. The idle daydreaming was biting her now, certainly, now that reality seemed stranger than the fiction itself.
As she looked back to where her sensory magics could still detect the uncountable volume of life-signs, she couldn't help but agree with the Nightmare. Somehow, in his studies, he must have missed some critical detail. After all, he was wrong. He was wrong for a thousand years, and they had indeed survived.
Celestia's bruised face refused to stop smirking. Her rivalry with and loathing of Weiss ensured no end of teasing, Moon was certain, once everything settled down and the wounds weren't quite so fresh, a few decades from now.
Nightmare Moon noticed Weiss stirring. "Oh dear. We better take care of this before continuing the rest of our internal monologue," they mused, watching as the icy wastes of the frozen north gave way to the endless green fields of Equestria.
Her sister waited patiently while Nightmare Moon continued to fly through the air in a bubble that kept the worst of the winds from slapping the trio midflight. She waited in a way that only an immortal could have, a practiced manner that required the utmost precision, an in-depth knowledge of both psychology and biology, and above all else, a quick wit.
Weiss groaned, and at the exact moment his mind could process words, Celestia released a pulse of healing magic that made her sister frown at the waste as it healed her lungs, her broken ribs, and her vocal chords in time.
"Aww, is the sleepy baby awake?" Celestia had expended magic sufficient to heal the most intense and grievous of mortal wounds in order to say.
"Sister please,"/"Fuck you," Nightmare Moon and Weiss said at the same time. In a way, she was grateful for her sister's snide remark. It awoke some of the fire in Weiss that perhaps kept him from falling apart again upon awakening. Better to see him ranting and cursing, than the alternative of him moping and stewing, as her sister insisted time and time again.
By now, the cold had long since been left behind them, and Nightmare Moon landed with silent hoofsteps on the pavestones of New Canterlot, her charges floating helplessly in her grip.
"Weiss. You're finally awake. We told you we would wait to hear your answer, and now, we think we would like one. Your friends, your very family have been returned to you, and you do not wish to see them," the princess of the night said, lowering the two bruised ponies to the ground. Celestia, who summoned a pillow beneath her healing form, and Weiss, who stood defiantly on his own bruised hooves.
When Weiss doesn't answer, even as panicked doctors and royal guards swarm over the injured Celestia like well-meaning gnats, Nightmare Moon continues. "We understand if you are not ready yet. If we must, we can inform them of what has occurred while you prepare yourself. It has been a very long time, we know. We won't blame a short delay."
Weiss shakes his head. "No, it isn't that. I'm not going to prepare myself to see them, because I won't be going to see them. What I've become is vile, irredeemable. I can't face them, knowing that they will learn what I did without them. They'll be better off without me," he explains sadly.
"What I am in the dark is- Luna, why are you looking at me like that," Weiss says, watching as her eyebrows raise, and her expression grows increasingly unamused.
He takes a step back nervously. "Luna," he says warningly.
"Let me go! I told you I don't want this!" I shout, kicking and thrashing under Nightmare Moon's wing as she teleports to the edges of the Crystal Egg Zone and begins calmly walking into the middle of the city.
"Weiss, we have been very patient with you, but I've had just about enough of that sort of nonsense. We're not obligated to give you what you want, and to be frank, part of us feels some very potent schadenfreude towards what we're about to do to you right now. Besides, if you won't even bother calling us our edgy original-character name "Nightmare Moon", then we see no reason to play along with your edgy character motivation-slash-backstory."
I feel intense regret for ever introducing to her any of the phrases she just said to me as I try to muster up dark magic, rapidly cycling through spells to figure out one that I can cast without my emotions surging up to shatter the entire mess.
If the feelings were stagnant, then Dark Magic could change them semi-permanently, and yet, here I am, proving once again that strong, incorrect, new emotions can shatter a dark spell, as with every flaming pony I spot milling around in confusion among the decaying shards of what I recognize as the Merciful Bulwark, fresh new lightning shoots through the core of my being.
"I will literally explode if you do not let me go right now!" I threaten. Damn it, less than an hour ago I was strong enough to break unicorn horn, but now it's like she's made out of iron, for all I can manage.
She pauses and looks down at me. "Hmm. Fear, guilt, nervousness, and dare I say, a bit of relief and happiness... No, I don't believe I detect any hatred or greed. I daresay we're in no danger of you really doing anything impressive right now, one way or the other," she muses, fangs peeking out as she smirks.
"Luna wouldn't do this, she's always respected my wishes," I attempt, making the alicorn bark out a laugh.
"Part of me loves watching you squirm in fear. Another part loves helping you heal and reunite with your loved ones. We are in complete agreement, when it comes to defying your self-destructive wishes."
My heart is pounding, my breath refuses to come, and damn it all, she will not let me go! I have to get out of here!
"Your Nightmare is showing," I snarl, trying to reach for my talent, trying to strike at her where she's weakest. A moment of distraction, and I can make a break for one of the Arcana Janus gateways, slip into the underground.
She doesn't frown as I predicted, instead, Nightmare Moon leers at me with satisfaction. "For once, we believe that to be a good thing. You are overdue for somepony to take issue with your petty flight from redemption."
I open my mouth to retort, only for the alicorn to throw me bodily to the ground, dust flying as I scramble to my hooves.
"You-!" I begin.
I see ponies around us, ones awaiting the news of what happened after the evacuation. Something that, to them, happened today, as far as they knew.
I see in front of me a group that seem to have been trying to calm and inform the populous of what little they knew.
The leading scientists and engineers, the two senior captains of the guard, and... and...
"Alright everypony! As far as we can tell, we've been transported somehow, and what few systems are reporting at all tell us that there are no longer any signs of love magic or changeling activity in the Crystal Egg Zone! We haven't gotten signals from the surrounding zones, but if you'll all remain calm, we can work on getting facilities up shortly!" Fair Cut, Weiss's personal mathematician tries to explain.
He couldn't really remember much when he awoke, other than the confusion and slight panic he felt when he woke up inside a shell of crystal. Thankfully, Eclipse Flash and her friend had been going around freeing ponies and windego alike, and he was among the first.
When ordered to check the status of the various systems keeping the Shadow Realm running, he was shocked, and more than a little afraid when he discovered the huge swathes of damage done to... Everything. All of the systems that relied on dark magic were completely fried, and all outgoing and incoming signals had cut out completely. That left almost nothing other than basic Dream Crystal functionality, and some parts of the Arcana Liber's communication systems.
His peer, Dr. Absolutely Real Homeopathy, had professed similar issues on the medical side of things. Black Flame Respirators, which were needed for ensuring a supply of clean air for ponies with resperatory issues, Corrupt Crystal circlets, used for keeping mind-controlled ponies asleep and not attacking anypony else, several materia that held dark magic spells required for destroying failed experiments, all of it was defunct after the love blast.
Glitter Miss Priss and Eclipse were critical for keeping ponies calm and gathering them up. Priss's talent towards taunting had helped keep the crowd focused, while Eclipse's utter mastery of the Shadow Realm's systems and spells helped with getting basic facilities up and running, and more importantly, helping to explain why they weren't running in the first place.
There was no signs of Weiss, and ponies were, for lack of a better word, concerned. Last anypony had seen, he was fighting for his life. Now he wasn't, and none of the zones were responding to anything sent out.
As Fair Cut thought about this, Eclipse took the stage.
"I know you're all confused. Scared, even! I am too. Things are confusing, and answers seem determined to evade us... But we're going to be alright! Not because things are fine. Not because things have been fine. But because we will make it so! When we don't like the way the world works, we change it! We aren't defined by violence alone, but by our passion! That's what makes us strong, and it's why we'll make it through this together."
For a moment, she hears the applause start to build up, but before it can properly reach a fever-pitch, Princess Luna trots forward, carrying a screaming load pinned to her barrel with a single immutable wing, and, with a throw that is entirely too rough for what ponies remembered of the calm, collected princess, she flings Weiss into the middle of the crowd, right in front of her and Priss.
"This one was trying to make a run for it," The princess said smoothly, but was ignored by the ponies who knew their lord well enough to be transfixed by his appearance. Eclipse Flash was stunned at the sight.
He looked awful.
She saw the bruises, Weiss had been in a full body cast before, and then, his complaints were minimal, but here, he seemed utterly beaten in the way he failed to stand tall in front of them.
She saw the bags under his eyes. He had pushed himself too far countless times in the past, through the false sleep of the dream crystals he used constantly, but here, he looked as if he hadn't experienced a restful sleep in weeks, months, maybe.
She saw his disheveled and unkempt coat, and the way his hairfire flickered and sputtered in a way that implied he hadn't touched a liquid bath in a very long time, whether it was water or the molten salt baths that Longma found themselves using frequently in recent times, in fact, he looked as though he hadn't tended to hygiene at all beyond bathing in filth-erasing flames from time to time.
That, perhaps, struck her as the most odd. Ever since Weiss obtained his draconic limbs, his unique expression of greed left him fastidious. Obsessed with aesthetic and appearance, priding himself on his white-scaled 'dress-limbs', on the purple accents of whatever it was he decided to wear, or, in his case, grow ex nihilo over himself.
It was perhaps inaccurate to call Weiss vain, he didn't seem to care about looking good, merely dramatic, obsessed with his own style, perhaps even especially when it looked tacky, and yet, here, the Lord of the Shadow Realm looked less like a master of dark magic, in smug, playful control of the world around him, and more like a scared wild animal.
Had she ever once, in her entire life, seen him look afraid of her? Afraid of any longma?
Iron Diamond was the first to break the silence, walking up to the sage slowly, so as to not spook them.
The crowd waited with baited breath as Iron Diamond started to raise his flesh-and-blood hoof to extend it towards the sage, intent on comforting the tense unicorn.
He looked at the limb dumbfounded for a moment, before suddenly, Iron Diamond whipped his hoof forwards and punched at Lord Weiss.
The crowd gasped as the duo's flames whipped out behind them at the wind from the blow. Weiss's arms held up in an instinctive block that made Captain Iron Diamond's eyebrow raise.
Soon, the two were fighting in earnest, Iron Diamond trying to get in position to buck Weiss through something, anything at all, and Weiss using his six arms to grapple and punch in equal measure as he strafed around the longma-pony.
It didn't take long after that, for the cheering to start, as the respectful silence ponies had for the poignant speech Eclipse had been trying to give devolved into loud raucous cheering, and bets being placed as the Sage of Darkness and the Captain of the Shadow Guard brawled in the streets like a pair of drunkards.
Weiss was crying again as he spit out a tooth after a kick finally caught him in the face, but he did so with a smile.
In Equestria, Celestia's explanation to Cadence about how the events had played out left her aimless. She wanted to fly right away, straight to the Shadow Realm, her parents were there, for love's sake! And yet, something kept her at bay. Something held her back, and she found herself instead wandering to the temporary cell of the Changeling Queen. She saw it prudent to inform the queen of what had happened, and negotiate the terms of her surrender into Equestrian custody.
However, as she approached the guarded tent that the queen was held in, she heard her talking with the stoic drone she kept at her side, and, after a moment, raised a hoof to shush the guards standing by as she approached, and began to listen.
"-don't understand, my queen. What are you saying?"
A bitter laugh rang out. "I'm talking about the twilight of the changeling race, Squiggles. I felt it. The return of that hateful kingdom."
"So that's it? We just lay down and wait for the end?"
"I swore to you all that we would never again fight ponies. Ever."
She sighs. "Perhaps, you don't understand. Your predecessors did not either. Do you suppose I made that decree out of the fear that we might lose? No. I did it because I learned on that day that we will lose. If the world hates changeling kind, we will die, and now, the very heart of hatred has returned from the war we waged on them."
Cadence listens with rapt attention as the queen makes quiet noises, somewhere between chittering and coughing.
"I hoped that if we abandoned the world, and hid from it, then we would be forgotten. Now, the kingdom which tenderly cultivates the hatred of the world has awoken, and it has no surviving enemy but us. Soon they will spread hatred. Not of Sombra, but of us. The Longma do not forgive what has harmed them.
"Isn't that right, Princess Cadence?"
Darn. Busted.
Cadence sweeps into the tent regally, staring at the queen, the mantle of the Crystal Heart still attached to her.
"I think you're wrong about us. Perhaps the Shadow Realm you knew lacked mercy, but I promise you, the one that raised me still had it in their hearts. Weiss can't extinguish that, even if he cannot regain his sanity," she says.
"You seem to believe that strongly. But I have lived through the rise of the Anathema, Princess," Chrysalis responds.
"Don't you mean his fall?" She retorts.
The queen grins an empty grin. "That you believe that demonstrates full well how much of your knowledge comes from books, rather than experience. Do you really think that the loss of his loved ones was the start of his fall from power? The start of his fall from grace, in the eyes of those he governed?
"He was better than King Sombra when it came to poisoning minds, because his thralls were willing. He was so good at it, he even poisoned his own."
Princess Cadence didn't know how to respond to that.