It was a cold, complete, and unnatural darkness. It permeated the world down to the most microscopic level. The darkness was so total that not even a trace of a shadow could be cast. Creatures of the night ran wild, creatures of the day cowered, and yet all was quiet under the suffocating cold.
She marveled at it. It was everything she wanted, everything she was owed. If anything suffered for it, then so be it. She looked at the stars through the broken windows of her haunted palace and gave a wicked grin. Her ethereal mane, which glimmered like starlight with it's purple hue, danced against her neck and jet-black coat as the winds whipped around her. The rush of power jolted her and tensed her muscles. She was victorious, she stood alone, she was Nightmare Moon.
"Most wondrous night eternal!" She cried to the heavens with delight. "My sister banished, my subjects mine alone, and nothing will sway me again."
"That's enough!" The mare of darkness turned quickly to face her challengers as they charged up the court to face her. Her eye twitched. Princess Twilight lead the other elements and took a defiant stance. "You must lower the moon!"
"Never," Nightmare hissed. "Not this time! Your foolish attempts to change me meant nothing. This is what I am, what I will always be!" There was a burning sensation when it left her lips.
Twilight's eyes narrowed in determination. "No, you're not."
Nightmare's eyes widened. "What?" That wasn't the line. She knew how this scenario was supposed to go. The line is supposed to be "then you leave us no choice." Something was wrong.
Twilight focused her magic and her element of harmony glowed. Her friends followed one by one and the all levitated off the ground. The rainbow of light erupted from them as it had before and came crashing down on Nightmare Moon. The sensation was familiar, but different. It was forceful, reaching down to her very soul as it's purifying power took hold, but it was so much warmer this time. It was the difference between a bandage being ripped off and a warm sponge wiping away a stain. The darkness simply melted off of her and she began to shrink to her normal size. She was Luna again. The rainbow dispersed and the Princess of Magic beamed. "You're okay!"
"I'm okay?" Luna looked herself over in bewilderment. "No. No, this isn't..." She was interrupted by Twilight wrapping her hooves around her.
Twilight gently caressed Luna's mane. "I'm so happy you're back." She kissed the confused night princess.
Luna broke away from the kiss. "This isn't right. I'm not...Twilight, please..." The lavender alicorn was giving her little pecks up the side of her neck. "What's going on, where's the...oh no." A dark purple haze drifted along the floor in the background. It seemed to scan the room before retreating to a corner in the back. A tendril of darkness reached out and began to tear a hole in the wall that bled a blinding white light. The Tantabus was loose. Luna tried to break from Twilight's affectionate grasp. She had to stop it from escaping. However, it only advanced an inch on the tear before the haze was violently seized. Something big breached through the crack with a vicious roar. Luna went wide eyed as the head of a reptilian monstrosity shook the Tantabus around like a dog shakes a toy and, with one mighty yank, pulled it through the hole into the dream realm.
Twilight affectionately nuzzled Luna and purred in her ear. "Oh, my love, take me now!"
Luna shrank away from her. Half because the task at hoof was more important, and half because the dream Twilight was going too out-of-character for comfort. The night princess spread her wings and soared toward the opening and through the blinding light. The realm of dreams had always been a vast and intimidating enigma. A cascade of starlight and colors that swirled the mixing moods of all of Equestria's dreamers. Roads of light outlined the terrain, connecting the doorways into each dreamscape. At first, Luna was troubled as the Tantabus and it's assailant seemed to vanish, but the sound of battle echoed through the unconscious plain. Luna flew in circles and loops, yet never passed the same spot twice as she weaved through the doors. She came across a hill overlooking an ocean of mist. She landed to get a better vantage point, but soon found a clash of titans erupting before her eyes. The Tantabus had grown to frightening height, now taking the shape of a giant ethereal unicorn.
"No! It's too powerful, it'll escape into the real world!" Luna felt her heart skip as she primed herself for battle, but stopped short when the terrain beneath her began to tremble. Opposite of the Tantabus, it's attacker rose from the mist. It's long tail whipped the air like a crack of thunder and it's reptilian hiss resonated throughout the realm. "A dragon?" Luna pondered, until the creature began to stand. It rose on two hind legs and outstretched two winged forelimbs, all of which were adorned with razor sharp claws. "No, a wyvern." The wyvern seemed to be made of pure darkness, it's snake-like neck stretching and recoiling as it positioned its stance, and it's muscular torso heaving with enraged breath. Atop it's head were three curved horns, the center one glowing blood red, which matched the wyvern's eyes and the inside of its mouth. The outline of rows of dagger teeth could be seen through the plumes of smoke falling from its mouth. Luna took a few steps back as the wyvern let loose a powerful roar. "By the stars. What sort of monstrosity is this?"
As if to answer her, the wyvern charged the Tantabus. The ethereal unicorn was certainly quick to react, moving like a living mist and swiping at the winged beast with dark tendrils. The wyvern took the lashing, unfazed, and lunged for the Tantabus. To Luna's surprise, the wyvern was able to seize the nightmare, tearing into it with it's terrible claws. The tears began to burn and widen, as if the touch of the wyvern was eating away at it. The tantalus tried to free itself, but soon found the wyvern's jaws around its throat. The wyvern lifted it's enemy into the air and slammed it into the mist field with a thunderous crash. The haze erupted in a column that enshrouded the two. Luna could barely see the shape of the wyvern rearing back, before a jet of blood red flame erupted from its mouth to finish its opponent. Still hidden by the mist, the wyvern lifted it's wings and roared again before lowering out of sight.
Luna was struggling to comprehend what she had seen. The Tantabus was a nightmare of her own creation. A jailer to punish her for her crimes as Nightmare Moon, it was meant to never be overcome. Before she could make the pronouncement herself, a voice behind her took her out of her trance. "It's gone now." Luna spun to face her her guest, still on edge from the occurrence, and her eyes widened. There, looking quite worried himself, was Uriah. "It can't hurt you anymore."
The night princess felt the words catch in her throat. "You?" She tried to shake the confusion from her head. "Nephew, you did this?"
Uriah took two steps toward her, stopped, and smiled. He fought back tears as he spoke. "I've been waiting...so long to finally meet you. I mean really meet you away from mother, all the posturing and drama." Before she could respond, he had her wrapped in a tight embrace, his wings draped around her. "Aunt Luna."
Luna's wing's bristled at the sudden contact. Her first instinct was to pull away, but, as he held her, she relaxed. There was something about how held her, with gentleness, but also with urgency, as if she could be pulled away at any moment. She sensed fear in him. "Well...that's certainly a greeting."
Uriah pulled back with an awkward smile. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out." He nervously brushed his wing. "It's just that I've been waiting such a very long time and then I saw that thing giving you a nightmare and I just..." His words cut short as Luna gave him an embrace of her own. It was warm, comforting, like something out of a dream. A single tear fell from his eyes and a bittersweet sigh left his lips. "I always knew you'd be kind."
"I try to be. At the very least I don't yell as much." She gently brushed a wing along his back. "You've been in a lot of pain, dear nephew."
"Agonizing." He could feel the air leave his lungs with the tension. It hadn't occurred to him how much it was building up. "I spent so much time screaming how I'd been wronged. I never thought to just sit down and just say...I'm hurt...it hurts." He gritted his teeth and she squeezed him tighter.
Luna just sat there, holding him, until he caught his breath. "I wish you'd come home. Your mother..."
Uriah's voice came back on a reflex. "Will only make things worse." He let go and sat back to look her in the eye. "I hadn't seen her in five hundred years and the first thing she does when I get back is lie to every pony and try to demonize me. Make it easier to be rid of me rather than give me a chance."
The azure mare's expression softened. "She just wasn't ready. Now that she's had time to clear her head, and with Twilight's urging, she's willing to talk things out. She's seen first-hoof that your heart is still true and just when you fought off Discord's plunder-vines..."
The pale stallion's eyes narrowed. "Wait, so he was behind the vines?"
She nodded. "Apparently it was a failsafe plan from when Celestia and I first turned him to stone. The tree of harmony had kept them dormant since then and he neglected to mention them."
He rolled his eyes. "Huh. I'll have to remember to inflict violence on him the next time I see him." Uriah stood and started to head back toward the crossroads. "Walk with me?"
The night princess was a bit taken aback by her nephew's sudden shifts in mood, but, either through concern or curiosity, felt compelled to follow him. The road before them grew out from the hillside to keep pace with Uriah's step. Luminescent, solid and fluid at the same time, and the particles coming off of the dream matter drifted around them. Uriah casually cut a line through them with his wing. Luna noted the almost zen quality to him and decide to press. "How is it you came to be here, nephew? I always thought I was the only one who could freely travel in the dream realm."
Uriah kept looking ahead, a calm smile still comfortably set on his face. "It wasn't easy, I can tell you that much. It took almost a year of study and meditation just move my consciousness outside of my own mind and another few months to be able to channel my magic from my physical self to my mental."
Luna smirked. "An impressive feat. I must say I'm quite proud."
He beamed. "Thank you. I just found it absolutely fascinating, to think there was an entire realm, bridging the minds of every pony in Equestria, just sitting there unattended. I figured some pony had to at least try to check in on it. Celestia certainly wasn't going to do it, she always thought it was enough to raise and lower the moon. I, for one, felt your work deserved a little more respect."
When Discord returned and subsequently became a regular feature in Equestria, Luna had to prepare herself for any attempts at manipulation. While she couldn't feel any deception in her nephew's words, his attempts to build himself up while tearing Celestia down were less than subtle. "I'm flattered and, frankly quite relieved. It's not often I hear appreciation for what I do."
"Well, I admired you." Uriah slowed his pace to walk by her side. "I must have been about six years old hen I first found out about you. It had been a particularly overwhelming day or perhaps it was a lot of days piling on top of each other. So many classes; magic, flying, etiquette, and all these expectations from every pony. Judgement too. A foal born out of wedlock, sired by a guard captain who got out of his responsibilities by being killed the night I was born." The twinge of pain in his voice drew sympathy from Luna's eyes. "Until I started saving them, the elite class I was born into proved to be rather cruel. I had had enough and decided I would run away. I knew Celestia would have all of Equestria looking for me, so my tiny logic told me to go where Equestria ended. I went to the Everfree Forest. Sure I heard the stories, but I was the crowned prince. I was surely smarter and tougher than any wild beast."
Luna smiled at his confidence. "So how long until you panicked?"
"Like five minutes into the thick of it." The two shared a laugh as the road began to spiral upward. "I was running, I was crying, my nose was running, it was just an awful mess. It's a miracle I didn't run into a cockatrice, but I found myself at the entrance to this old abandoned castle." He took note of the knowing look in his aunt's eyes. "I just kind of sat in the throne room and cried for a bit. It stopped being about being scared and mostly because I was alone...all the time. I sniffled, accidentally pressed a button, and the next thing I know I'm sliding down a trap door chute into someone's old bedroom where I found an old journal..."
"I was wondering where that went." Luna having an accusatory smirk.
"Well, it's not like you were using it." The two stopped with the road, then flew into a cloud of starlight. Uriah's wing cutting through the colors like a boat on water. "Imagine my shock when it first made reference to "my sister Celestia.""
Luna looked a bit hurt. She didn't want to ask, but the circumstances of Uriah's return begged the question. "Did she...did she never tell you about me?"
"Not once," He answered flatly. "and I imagine, if I never found the old palace, I could have gone my whole life with her never saying a word. When she did come for me she fussed like you'd expect, but, once she realized where we were, she sat me down and told me your story. At least, her version of it." Uriah took in a breath and gave Luna a remorseful look. "I'm sorry for what you went through. The loneliness, being taken for granted. You deserved so much better."
"Or perhaps I should have appreciated what I had." Luna felt a lump in her throat, which dissipated when she remembered how far she'd come. "I resigned myself to misery because I assumed every pony rejected me and my night. If I had done more to reach out, perhaps stayed after saving them from there nightmares, as I have learned to do now."
Uriah slightly grimaced as she blamed herself and seized a chance to change the subject. "Speaking of nightmares, what was that back there? It was like some kind of parasite feeding on fear, anger, and self-loafing."
"The Tantabus." The night princess hung her head. "I...created it. I used it to give myself the same nightmare every night. One where I become Nightmare Moon again and destroy everything I love, so I never forget what a monster I can be...the suffering I caused and could cause again."
"Land. Now." His tone was sharp and direct. When Uriah dove town to a materializing plane, she followed. They touched down and, before she knew it, He had her in another tight embrace. "Never again. You understand? You are more than the mistakes you made in the past, you are loved more than you could possibly know, and I never want you to even think about hurting yourself like that ever again. Okay?"
She trembled a bit, but hugged him back. She managed to choke out a reply through tears. "Okay." Perhaps it was that their dream-selves could not hide their emotions or perhaps the night princess had needed to here those words more than she realized. She let herself weep on his shoulder for a moment before speaking to him again. "I've got to remember to talk to Twilight after this."
Uriah patted her on the back. "She's good for you. You're good for each other. In the two of you, a sense a bond I have not felt since my own true love." A smirk slowly crept over his face. "Besides I caught that bit at the end of your dream you naughty naughty thing you."
Luna practically choked on her own laugh as she pushed him off. "Oh, you cheeky devil."
He raised an eyebrow. "Don't look at me, your dirty mind was the one that almost had her throwing you down by the fire place. I mean meow."
The night princess's azure cheeks were turning a beat red. "Am I still dreaming? I'm going to turn around and be in a house of mirrors and it's all going to be images of my girlfriend's butt?"
The two cackled like mad ponies for a bit, then Uriah sat up. "To laugh is to live. Of course, that would mean I've been dead for five hundred years, but what can you do?"
Luna dried her eyes. "Thank you for this. Coming to to help me and keeping me company. It's nice."
"I'm a nice pony." The pale alicorn fell back to lay on the soft, translucent, terrain. He smiled at the amorphic wisps drifting in the void above them. "Besides, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you or Twilight. Otherwise I'd run fresh out of family." His eyes took on a more forlorn look. "It's not like I've got anypony else left who cares..."
The night princess settled herself reverse parallel to him. She let her head rest next to his and followed his gaze to the imagined sky. "Well, you didn't here it from me, but Pinkie Pie definitely cares."
Uriah tilted his head with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "What, did she say something?"
Luna smirked at her nephew's excitement. "You left quite an impression on her. She sees you how you truly are, beyond the hatred and revenge." Luna gently set her wing on her nephew's shoulder. "She's worried about you...about where your mind goes when you're alone."
"It goes where it always does." He sat up again and stood. A great stillness came over the realm around them. "That there is no "beyond the hatred and revenge," that those things are just a part of me now."
Luna stood up in response. Her stance stiffened, and her eyes narrowed in expectation of the answer to what she was about to ask. "Uriah...what destroyed the Tantabus?"
The pale alicorn flared his wings a little and hung his head. A dry chuckle escaped his lips before he answered. "I was wondering when we'd get to that." He straightened himself and started to walk in a slow circle. "That is the Wyvern. It's how I saw myself on that day...when I did it." In the corner of his eye, he could see the stunned look on his aunt's face. "In that moment, in my rage, I conjured my Black Sun spell and drew it into myself. With every fiber of my being, I needed something that would eradicate the basilisks as painfully and as without remorse as possible, something that would inflict terror and death on them, just as they had done to our people. I needed a being who was capable of doing what I intended to do. It presented me a vision of the outcome and the choice to break the spell to prevent it...and I accepted the shape of the monster."
Luna felt a chill run down her spine at the realization. "It's your Nightmare Moon." She shook her head and stepped forward with a pleading look of sympathy. "Twilight, Pinkie and the girls, they freed me from my curse and they can free you too."
"I am free!" He snapped. "The Wyvern is not some affliction that can be willed away, it's who I am." This made Luna go almost pale. "I never wanted to be that, but I'm not about to be ashamed of it. Somepony has to be it, to be willing to cross that line, because, frankly, no one else has the nerve. We rightfully pride ourselves on the ideals of friendship as the ultimate power, but those who would destroy us do not have the same moral high ground to dull their fangs. I sharpened mine to make sure those who deserve it get it for once!" A feint red glow ignited in his eyes.
Luna gave him an incredulous look. "Like me? Had I returned five hundred years earlier, would you have slain me as you did the basilisks?"
Uriah's eyes widened in shock and hurt, then hardened in anger. "How could you say that?!" He flared his wings and specks of black started to form on the tips of his feathers and slowly seep from the corners of his eyes. "You were never the enemy, you were the victim! The world turned away from you and you wanted the love that was owed you!"
"Love?!" She spat it out like poison on her tongue. "Back then I wouldn't have known love if it hit me in the face. I didn't know what I wanted so I tried to take everything and destroy anypony who got in my way!" As Luna grit her teeth, a set of fangs began to grow and her coat began to darken.
"Because Celestia made you think you were alone!" Uriah growled as he hunched over. As the darkness spread over his body, his spine began to pop as it lengthened out. His eyes became solid red. "Rrragh, if she cared even a little bit, you never would have become Nightmare Moon, but she didn't. It's why she never wanted to tell me about you, why she never told Twilight about you, why she never told either of you about me!" A thick red haze poured from his mouth and enshrouded his form. His voice, becoming more monstrous, echoed through the dream realm. "It was so it would be easier to lie, like I said before. It's always about her and her perfect little world. You think you'd do anything because you wanted it all? Well she has it all and will do anything to keep it! Trouble is, every pony is too blinded by her light to notice it!"
His bellowing served as the backdrop for a cocoon of darkness that had formed around Luna. It spun with increasing speed until it burst outward to reveal the armored visage of Nightmare Moon. She glared at Uriah's glowing eyes through the red mist. "You think I hadn't thought of that? How easy it would be to just blame her for what happened?" She stood unfazed as the Wyvern parted the dark red cloud with his massive wings. He came crashing down on all fours to meet her stare. "What would it accomplish, but a self-fulfilling prophecy? Make me as alone as I thought I was. When she came to me, I shut her out! I wanted to wallow in my darkness."
The Wyvern gave a low growl. "No. You. Didn't!" He opened his jaws and struck at her like a snake. Nightmare was quick to react and took to the sky to avoid the attack. The Wyvern stood and flapped his wings, causing a tremendous gust of wind that lifted him off the ground. Once they were both in the air, a deadly dance began. They began exchanging blows, the Wyvern alternating between bites, claw-swipes, and bursts of red fire, while Nightmare Moon fired bolts of dark magic and charged horn first. The two seemed evenly matched, either avoiding or only grazing each other, but the force of the battle created a maelstrom of dark energy that started to consume the dream terrain. The Wyvern lunged and grabbed Nightmare in one of his hind claws, slamming her to the ground and pinning her. "All you wanted was to be more than a footnote in Equestria's history, but that clashed with her pretty little picture of the world. She threw you away, her baby sister, for a thousand years!"
"She didn't have a choice!" Nightmare fired a bolt of magic in the Wyvern's eye, causing him to howl in pain and release her.
He shook it off and hissed as she stood her ground. "And we did?" The reptilian terror turned sharply and brought his tail down like a whip. Nightmare narrowly avoided it as it demolished what little ground they stood on and the battle returned to the air. "Never mind our people were being slaughtered around me, never mind you were emotionally isolated. At least we had a choice!" The sarcasm practically oozed from his maw, inciting her anger.
Nightmare charged at him, knocking them both out of the vortex of malevolence. The Wyvern rolled a bit before regaining his footing before the dark alicorn. She shook off the impact just in time to catch one of his hind claws as he stopped down. It was like watching an eagle try to crush a particularly strong egg. The deep purple barrier held the black talons back, but the strain was causing Nightmare to buckle. "Stop it! Just stop it, okay! Why do you insist on trying to justify everything I hate about myself?!"
The Wyvern's eyes widened and he roared in reply. "I just want you to stop blaming yourself, because I looked up to you, you're my family, and I love you!"
"I love you too, you vast idiot," She screamed with a glare.
"Then why are we trying to hurt each other?!" He bellowed.
They both panted for a few seconds and it seemed to hit them at the same time. Both Nightmare's eyes and those of the Wyvern changed back to those of the alicorn's they once were, reflecting deep confusion and regret. The dark alicorn was to speak, her voice softening as she did. "By the stars...what am I doing?"
The form of the Wyvern began to dissolve and Luna released her barrier as the shadow melted off her azure coat. When the last of the darkness left him, Uriah was left standing in a sorry state, his ears drooping and his wings fallen to the ground. "We truly are broken, aren't we, Aunty?"
Luna let out a deep sigh, trying and failing to find a way to disagree. "It appears so, dear nephew." They both seemed lost for a moment, but settled into another hug. Luna squeezed just a bit tighter. "Please tell me where you are so I can come bring you back to us, where you belong."
"Except I don't belong there anymore." His voice was weak, but resolute. "You do. You belong with Twilight in a world of happiness the two of you will make together. Maybe, one day, there will be a place for me again, but first I must deal with Celestia on my own terms." He let her go, gave her one last nuzzle, then started to vanish from the dream realm as he returned to his waking form. "Just remember to ask yourself, why is it that she has the convenience of not having a choice? Why should we just let her say there was no other option when she could have, very easily, just put in the extra effort to make you feel loved or try to make the world work with me in it, instead of just...erasing us." Before she could respond, he was gone. Luna stood in silence for a moment, observing the once enchanting realm, reduced to a desolate void. The night princess took a breath to collect herself and returned to the real world as well.
Luna's eyes opened slowly and she gently lifted her head to take in the surroundings she fell asleep in. She was in a simple wood-framed bed in a library lost, tucked in comfortably with a nighttime themed blanket set she found rather adorable. She looked to her side and found Twilight snuggled up against her, still in a deep slumber. Luna gently nudged the back of Twilight's ear with her nose, soft enough not to disturb her, but enough of a touch to confirm Luna did in fact wake up. Luna gave her sleeping love a light kiss on the cheek and nestled back in next to her, comfortable in acknowledging that Uriah was right about one thing. She did belong there.
Uriah sat up as soon as he had awoken. He was comfortable at the head of a luxuriously large, stone-framed, bed with plain black bedding. The cool air of the caves and the white-noise of goblins digging told the king he had successfully returned. He was, however, surprised to see a certain blue unicorn curled up at the foot of his bed, wrapped in some blanket that she had pulled from the corner. Earlier that day, Trixie had asked him to have her wagon brought down to goblin town. Uriah figured she must have wandered in looking for a place to sleep while the Goblins found room. He didn't say a word. He got up from the bed, gently lifted her in his magic, and tucked her into his spot. With a listless look, Uriah left his bedchamber and made for his throne room. He approached with a trance-like step, brushing Scrivvler's gravestone with his wing, and took his seat. With a heavy sigh, he leaned back against the hard stone of the throne, and his horn began to glow. He projected a window into the dreamscape of a certain pink pony. She was dreaming about a chorus line of pastries and a chocolate milk waterfall. A calm smile crept across Uriah's face.