//------------------------------//
// Chapter Three: Mileage 
// Story: Both of the Four of Us 
// by TwinkieSpy 
//------------------------------//


Both of the Four of Us
Chapter Three: Mileage


Luna had just cleared the last forested vestiges of Everfree when the sun cleared the horizon, prompting her descent. Pinkie, who had been sleeping on and off since the two travelers' departure, raised her head up as the alicorn collided with the ground, her landing surprisingly ungraceful for such a regal pony. Pinkie Pie tightened her hooves' hold on the alicorn's neck until they came to a stop, at which point she rolled off of her winged companion and dug herself happily into the grass. "Aww, I missed the ground," she sighed, yawning.

Luna returned in kind, but where Pinkie Pie had only just awoken, the princess could tell by the light of the dawn that it was time for her to sleep. "Good," she responded curtly, rolling onto her back as well. "For we must take a rest. We are able to easily navigate with the direction of our stars, but in the day, it is more difficult. We would recommend that you try to uphold a nocturnal sleeping schedule, if thou canst."

"Aww, but I just woke up!" protested Pinkie, her hair puffier than usual in the morning. Luna rolled her head over and used Pinkie Pie's mane as a pillow until she identified what she was resting on and rolled her body away from the pink pony. "Can it wait?"

"By all means, but do not stray too far, and be back by nightfall," Luna felt like she was speaking to a child. A pink, surprisingly intelligent child with nigh-boundless untapped powers, but a child nonetheless. "Now, if you will excuse us, we must rest."

With that, the alicorn closed her eyes and folded all four legs under her, letting out a final exhalation before disappearing into the void of sleep. Pinkie Pie smiled at the sight; the juxtaposition of the intimidating and commandeering princess with her vulnerable, almost childlike pose was equal parts amusing and illuminating. Luna thought of Pinkie as an emotionally fragile child, but perhaps they weren't so different after all. 

Putting such heavy thoughts behind her, the earth pony turned her back on Luna and took a few hoof steps forward, towards the edge of the Everfree Forest. She had only seen the Ponyville entrance to Everfree, which was a good bit more foreboding than this one. From this point of view, it looked more like a normal, innocent forest; there were no signs of unnatural plant growth, self-determining weather, or even a malformed monster or two. "Oh, but I know better," Pinkie said out loud to the forest. "You're evil, and you're just trying to trick me, aren't you? Well, it won't work!"

Everfree didn't respond.

Pinkie sighed, swinging her head around to get a glimpse at Luna again. The alicorn hadn't moved, still fast asleep on the grass. She wished Luna had warned her earlier that the two would need to sync up their sleeping habits; Pinkie Pie didn't want to be virtually alone all day! She turned back to glare at the forest appraisingly, one eyebrow raised. "So. Looks like it's just you and me, huh?"

When Everfree again kept silent, Pinkie Pie moaned and fell on all four hooves, rolling around in the grass in an aggravated attempt to expend her surplus energy. "Won't you at least try to tempt me with your foresty wiles or something?!" she insisted, jabbing a hoof forward angrily. It was lonely without other ponies around. The young baker momentarily entertained the thought of waking Luna, but decided against it; feigned or not, some of her fear of the princess remained from Nightmare Night. 

Pinkie rolled onto her back, staring up at the clear blue sky. Even the rogue weather of the Everfree Forest was calm now; it really was a beautiful day. She looked at Luna again, considering their first meeting--back when the princess had been under the influence of Nightmare Moon. Obviously, Nightmare Moon was a horrible, haughty and evil pony, who may or may not have feasted on the flesh of foals... but for a moment, Pinkie Pie felt a twisted sort of envy for Luna, who would never be truly alone. She stopped herself from wishing for her own real-imaginary friend, but only just barely, and only after considering the possibility that her alter ego would be just as abhorrent as Nightmare Moon.

"Not like they must really be friends, anyway..." she mumbled to herself, gaze traveling upwards to the blazing sun.





Luna stared at the sun, too, its countenance and brightness exaggerated in the fickle not-reality of the alicorn's own dreamland. The sun was Celestia's masterpiece, beautiful in its great simplicity. Luna had crafted her moon with a careful hoof, carving each crater with the diligence and concentration that her impatient sister had never been able to muster. Instead, the goddess of the day had simply brought into existence an enormous conflagration, sending it into her sky and bestowing it with eternal energy... yet, despite Celestia's casual attitude with regard to its creation, ponies continued to view the sun as the ultimate work of art.	

The princess of the night shook her head; she knew where this line of thought was going, and she didn't want any of it. Celestia was her sister, not her enemy. "Not any more," she growled through gritted teeth.

An alluring voice swam through the air, its timbre sinuous and subtly edged. "What isn't any more, darling?" It questioned softly. Luna tensed, eyes narrowing as she scoured the landscape for the voice's origin. "You know you can always talk to me, don't you?"

An pony-shaped form began to take shape before the alicorn, its details hidden with dense shimmering fog. The mist was not unlike the ethereal mass that made up Luna's mane, save for its lighter color. Luna shuddered in recognition, but tried to stay stony-faced, with mostly-successful results. She hadn't acquired her masterful poker face by accident, after all; when even a being within Luna herself was prepared to pounce at the first sign of weakness, developing the ability to hide her feelings had become a necessity. "We do not want to talk to you," she spat, her voice devoid of emotion. "You know that."

The fog began to clear, and Luna could begin to make out the striking teal of Nightmare Moon's eyes just inches before her face. "Oh, Luna, my dear..." cooed Nightmare. "You must learn to let things go. I thought it was but a simple spat one thousand years ago, and here you are still holding a grudge today. Oh, what shall I do with you?" Her tone sharpened on the last sentence, and finally Luna was able to see the entirety of her doppelganger's face. Nightmare Moon was glaring, her eyes locked with Luna's.

"You could leave," snapped Luna, a slight amount of fear and anger leaking through her voice. She returned Nightmare Moon's glare forcefully. "Do you not comprehend?! We do not want you!"

"Oh, but you do..." sighed Nightmare Moon. She raised a forehoof and caressed Luna's face; the other alicorn recoiled on contact. "You refer to yourself as 'we' as if it is a formality, but it isn't, now, is it? 'We' does not refer to you, and you alone. It refers to us, doesn't it?"

Her eyes stared. They bored into Luna's own.

Knowingly.

Hauntingly.

And, terrifyingly, with understanding.

There was no point in hiding her feelings. No use for Luna's poker face.

Nightmare knew them.

She knew her jealousy.

She knew her inadequacy.

She knew her loneliness.

Her longing, her yearning, her barely-hidden terror of the modern world that had left her behind.

She knew everything about Luna.

Everything.

"It..." Luna was suddenly frozen in terror; she felt her power shrinking as Nightmare Moon absorbed it. Her misty mane evaporated, replaced with its tangible blue counterpart. "It..." She was shrinking. She could feel it.

"It. Does. Not!"

Luna awoke with a start. Immediately she brought up a forehoof to reach for her mane. It caught nothing but air. She rolled onto her belly, craning her head around to get a view of her tail. It was ethereal, and her coat remained dark blue, not the sky blue she had been left with after being struck by the Elements of Harmony. The princess exhaled, hiding her muzzle under a hoof. She had won, but only barely.

Now calmer, Luna raised her eyes to the sky, where her sister had begun to reel in the sun. Dusk; it was time to leave. The sooner she finished with this mission and escaped from the place where Nightmare Moon had the most power over her, she would be safe. Wouldn't she? I wasn't safe one thousand years ago... she reminded herself as she stared somberly at the setting sun.

But she didn't want to be sent back to her sister with the weight of her failure sitting on her back. Luna needed to prove herself capable, to prove herself strong... Admitting to being nearly overpowered by her own psyche was not a part of that. Yes. She had to keep going.

"Pinkamena," she called, finally turning her gaze back to the earth. "It is time to depa--"

The pink pony was nowhere to be found. 

"Oh, of all the..." Luna surveyed her surroundings, but saw nothing out of place... until her eyes honed in on a small hole, barely visible, between two saplings which had been pulled apart at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Suddenly panicked, Luna pulled herself up and galloped to the spot.

Laying on the ground next to one of the saplings was a red and comically oversized pair of sunglasses. They stared at her mockingly; Luna wasted no time in raising a hoof and thrusting it through one of the lenses.

"We are going to severely reprimand that pony," she vowed.