//------------------------------//
// Highnote Sparkle 
// Story: Paint The Moon Red 
// by AuroraDawn 
//------------------------------//

Nightmare Moon lay in silent contemplation within the bamboo pavilion, her mind wandering along with the fireflies that flitted from grassblade to grassblade. Asides from the occasional snore from Fluttershy, it was silent; the tall hedges had blocked the mountainside wind well enough that not even the leaves were whispering in the night. The stars continued to twinkle far above her, and the moon crept along the sky unhindered, though its now quickly decreasing angle had started to cast further shadows amongst the vines and trellises around her. 

She too made no noise, nothing more than deep, controlled breathing as she absorbed her surroundings, as if speaking would be greatly disrespectful to her precious night time. The conversation with Fluttershy continued to run through her head. She had gone from grimacing to shrugging to smiling, and finally ended up with a thoughtful frown that had stuck for several minutes, until finally she heard the soft echoes of hoofsteps ambling down the cobblestone path.

The tip of a lavender horn extended past the archway to the secluded gazebo, and while only a scant few hours ago it would have filled Nightmare Moon with instant rage it now only swapped her frown to an exhausted smirk. The horn hesitated for only a moment before it continued forward, and the face of Twilight Sparkle followed, a reticent, welcoming smile set upon it.

“Ah! Nightmare Moon. There you are. I hope you’ve been having a lovely time with Fluttershy?”

Nightmare glanced over to the pegasus, who used that moment to serendipitously snore loudly, and then looked back at Twilight with a grin.

“It has been… illuminating. I daresay out of all your friends she is the most coercive and brave. Though perhaps it is the copious amount of drugs she must have consumed before I arrived.”

“If you think that’s bad, you should see this friend of hers, she—well, it doesn’t matter. I’m glad you seem well.”

Twilight moved to approach Nightmare, but paused as she held up a hoof. Grunting only a moment, Nightmare Moon rolled out of the pillows and onto her hooves, meeting Twilight at the entrance instead.

“‘Well’ is not necessarily the term I would choose. It has been a difficult night. Fun, but difficult.” She looked down at Twilight and chewed her lower lip. “You must feel awfully clever, having me confront my own insecurities and emotions instead of you and your friends.” Then, with a blink and a start, she added, “When did you get wings?!”

“Hah!” Twilight tittered, her feathers twitching nervously on her back. “Funny you mention that. I’m sorta the, uh, Princess of Friendship. Because I’m so good at it.” They continued down the cobble path towards the castle, and Twilight sighed deeply before smiling up at Nightmare. “Would it offend you if I said you were to thank for that?”

“Probably,” Nightmare replied, and then laughed. “It makes sense though. Fluttershy was right, then.”

“What did you two talk about? Er, if I can ask?”

“She told me that there are two sides to everything and that both sides require the other. Your ascension was facilitated by my rebellion. For that, there has been good that has come about it.” She nodded softly to herself, glancing back into the garden for a moment. “It almost disgusts me how simply she summarised and attacked all my insecurities.”

“She’s good at insecurities. Spends a lot of time around them. Most would see it as a weakness—”

“But every weakness has its strengths,” Nightmare finished for her. “I suppose my other half has already congratulated you on your achievements.” She stopped and Twilight turned to face her. Curiosity on the diminutive alicorn’s face quickly changed to shock as Nightmare bowed low, her horn almost level with her head, and then rose again. “You may have mine as well.”

“I… uh… You know, honestly, I didn’t really think we’d see that much of a change over you from this experiment,” Twilight muttered, rubbing her neck. “I was afraid that you’d still hate me for interrupting your plans.”

Nightmare mused on this for a moment as they continued past the stone walls, walking together with Twilight though with no known destination. “Part of me would still like to hate you. I can’t say with great confidence that I even like you, at least. Twice now you have foiled my attempts at destroying my sister and obligating ponies to love me. At first with force, and then again with kindness. It’s rather sickening.”

“I get that a lot.”

“But I must convey my respect to any creature who could stand up to me. You have bested me, Twilight Sparkle.”

“I don’t like thinking about it like that,” she replied, the nerves in her voice vanishing as the strong, confident-she-knew-everything Twilight took the reins. “I have helped you, Nightmare Moon. In fact, had I spent more time understanding the issue in the first place, we would never have “battled” a second time.”

“You think you could have banished this form from Luna the first time you met me?” Nightmare scoffed, though she wasn’t fully convinced it was ridiculous.

“I don’t care what form you or Luna is in. The point is that, as we have done tonight, you would have felt loved.”

Nightmare Moon froze on the spot, her jaw slowly dropping.

“You… are fine with… me?”

“Nightmare Moon, Luna, either or, you’re you. The point of being friends is to love and accept one another, even if we change. Especially if we change. You provide a great service to this land, regardless of who ‘you’ are.” She looked up at Nightmare Moon with a scrutinizing eye. “Rarity probably prefers this model, honestly.”

“She does,” Nightmare replied quickly, earning a raised eyebrow and a chuckle from Twilight.

“I hope she wasn’t too up front when she took you out.”

“Just enough to begin dismantling my walls, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Just ‘Twilight’ is fine. I’ve heard you’re particular about ‘Nightmare Moon’, yes?”

Nightmare shook her head slightly. “Not anymore. As you said, either or, I am me. Call me what you are comfortable with.”

She looked down at Twilight, and the two of them smiled warmly at each other for a moment before Twilight turned forward again, the pleasant look still on her face as they ambled down the endless corridor.

“So tell me, Twilight. How is it that you appreciate the night? What will we be doing?”

Twilight started and then laughed, holding a hoof to her chest while she chuckled. “Me? Haha, you wouldn’t be interested in that. I like to stay up late and read books by candlelight until I hear roosters crowing.”

“Going to bed with the sun, hmm? Perhaps we are more in common than I thought. Well, if not that then, what are we doing?

Twilight slowed and motioned for them to sit on one of the granite benches lining the walls. Once seated, she turned to Nightmare, still beaming.

“All night tonight my friends have taken you to where they wanted to go. Rarity took you dancing, Pinkie Pie took you trick-or-treating, Applejack took you drinking, and Rainbow Dash…” Twilight blinked, and then shrugged. “Actually, she wouldn’t tell me where she was taking you, only that it would be ‘awesome’.”

“We committed a felony, I believe,” Nightmare said. “Carry on.”

“...Rrrrriiiight. Right. Of course she did. Uh, annnyways, where was I… Right!” She perked up, her ears snapping erect as her train of thought jumped back onto its tracks. “Point is, we’ve all taken you out to where we wanted to go. Well, now it’s your turn. I am your guest and you are my host, Nightmare Moon. Where would you like to go?”

Nightmare raised her head up in contemplation, considering it. She couldn’t remember ever having been asked that question before, and didn’t have an immediate answer. She was about to solicit Twilight for suggestions before a memory, unlocked earlier in the night, floated past her eyes again.

She thought of the troupe of travelling musicians she remembered way back at the beginning of her escapades, back when she was dancing. She thought of the lively music and the way it had made her feel. And she thought of the most memorable aspect of that night, celebrated so long ago.

She beamed down at Twilight, a few happy tears floating in her eyes.

“I would like to sing.”

Twilight beamed at her. “I know just the place,” she said, sliding off the bench and urging Nightmare Moon to follow her. 

The two of them quickly exited the castle and entered the now mostly-empty streets of Canterlot. All of the rows of houses which had been brightly lit with roaring fires and flickering lamps were now dark, silent save for the occasional burst of laughter or passion that eked out into the night. Their hoofsteps echoed back to them from down the long streets, giving the eerie appearance that there were a dozen of them all walking together. A light gust of cold mountain wind hurried past them carrying a stray leaf, and Nightmare turned to watch it flitter behind them and into the air.

“You and yours have shown me much celebration and love tonight, Twilight,” Nightmare began slowly, scanning the shuttered shops and boarded windows surrounding them as she did so. “And while I will fully admit that I have been shown much of how a pony can appreciate the night, there lies one caveat that must be addressed.”

Twilight nodded silently while steering Nightmare around a corner and down a highly crooked street, though one at least with far more lamplight than the last ones. “Yes?”

“This is a night specifically designed for celebration and love. The lore behind it is cute, really—though I haven’t a clue how the idea came to be—but nevertheless it paints me as the villain I am.” She ran her tongue over one of her fangs and chuckled. “Regardless, that concept has long since fallen away. You ponies choose this night particularly to party. That is why it is held, and why it has recurred for over a thousand years. An excuse to let go, to relax, to stay up late and drink and visit and be merry.”

“Mhm,” Twilight said, letting Nightmare continue without interruption.

“So yes, my ignorance is at fault; but this is merely one night, Twilight. One night out of the entire year. How about tomorrow, or a fortnight from now? One month, when the memories are all that's left of the candy and the only thought given to it is a minor anticipation of next year’s festivities? Am I to accept this single night of worship and be content for the other three hundred and sixty, where all the ponies are fast asleep?”

They broke out of the cramped and crooked street into the huge central park and began to cross it. Nightmare noticed all the food trucks had also been locked up and shut down, only a few giving off a faint light that suggested the operators had taken to sheltering within for the night. She looked down to Twilight and waited patiently as she considered her words carefully.

“It is true that most ponies sleep during regular nights, yes,” she started. “But sleep is the most important thing a pony can do outside of eating and drinking. Sleep is restorative, and in more ways than one. It recharges your energy so you can face the difficulties the daylight brings us, and so you can enjoy what time you have awake. Sicknesses heal overnight while we rest; muscles repair and grow stronger, colds and flus lessen and fade, and aches subside.

“But even beyond the physical ways, there’s the mental benefits. A bad day ends when you go to sleep, allowing you to wake up and start a brand new day. Good days are finalized and sealed away in memories that comfort us long after they’ve been experienced. I’d say a sleeping pony is more appreciative of you and your night than any other type of celebration you’ve seen tonight.”

Nightmare Moon squinted and contemplated this. For a brief moment she considered a world where even she never needed to sleep, a world where her worst days and most difficult challenges never had a concrete transition from present to past, and shuddered at the thought. Yes, she could accept this.

“Wise are your words, Twilight. One wonders what there is about you that isn’t powerful beyond measure. Still, though, it would be nice to see some ponies out and about when the moon is high.”

Twilight said nothing, only smirking in response. She stopped next to a door of an unassuming tavern, the muffled sound of something bassy—nothing at all like the overbearing pressure of the night club Rarity had taken her to, hardly noticeable at all until she had even stopped—humming through it. Here too the occasional bout of cheering or laughter could be made out, and Nightmare tilted her head at Twilight, curious.

“Some special locale?”

It certainly didn’t look special. The flaky sign hanging off the door frame labelled the building as ‘The Sneezy Dragern’, and a cartoonish representation of a lizard breathing flame surmounted the misspelled name. It was a bigger building, the bottom floor a tavern supporting a large inn above, but perfectly in line with all the other houses on the same street.

Twilight swung open the door and laughed. “It’s not special at all, which is what makes it so important.”

Upon the sight of her gigantic frame ducking through the door, the mass of ponies spread all about the tavern erupted in cheer, raising drinks and slopping cider over the hay-strewn floor. Some ponies—Applejack, specifically—flopped over backwards from the momentum of their greeting, and Twilight levitated her back up and sat next to her while Nightmare Moon gawked.

Everypony seemed to be here. That white one with the strange sunglasses that could command any crowd, swaying to the beat of the three-pony jazz band playing behind her. The three ponies from the Cider Gardens laughed at a table across the tavern, though only Berry Punch seemed to be in any presentable shape. Even the two guards that had pursued her and Rainbow Dash were in the building, their armor missing now and a spread of playing cards out before them.

Next to the dozens of other ponies she didn’t recognize were Twilight and her friends (minus Fluttershy), all sat about the round table nearest the door. She finally broke through her haze and joined them, awkwardly stepping over the chair to crane down over the scuffed and stained oak.

“What was that about—” Nightmare started, only to be interrupted by a rather sizable mare that leaned in front of her, replacing empty glasses with full ones in a single movement before vanishing back into the boisterous crowd. She blinked, and then started again. “What was that about this not being special? It appears to be the location to be.” Nightmare glanced at the bar and watched a frail and balding bartender spit into one of the returned empty glasses and begin wiping it with a terrifyingly yellow rag. “Though I can’t possibly imagine why,” she sniffed. “Still, though, it is nice to see ponies awake even at this time.”

“It really isn’t special,” Rarity said, tracing a hoof over a fashionable mare’s withers. “There are dozens of places like this all over the cities that ponies pack into to cap the night off with, especially when we’re celebrating.”

“The location doesn’t matter,” Applejack said, a deeply black mug of steamy, aromatic coffee cradled in her hooves.

“Just the ponies that are in it!” Rainbow Dash said, struggling to hide behind a swaying Applejack from the two guardsponies in the corner. 

Nightmare Moon shook her head and sighed. “You all sound like some sort of parable from a children’s cartoon.”

Pinkie Pie slid a plate of appetizers over to Nightmare, finishing off a deep-fried pickle herself before speaking. “It’s sappy, but it tends to work. How was the rest of your night, Nightmare Moon?” She said the name with emphasis, giving an exaggerated flourish as she did so.

“I—I…” Nightmare muttered, staring into each of their eyes in succession, absentmindedly picking up a sour cream-filled potato skin with her magic and holding it close to her. She took a bite of the snack while Pinkie beamed at her, her mind suddenly blank. 

She had a very strong compulsion to correct Pinkie Pie, and when finally she swallowed the spud and washed it down with a swig from the far-inferior cider, her eyes caught Applejack’s.

“A bit much for ya, eh?” The earth pony chuckled. “No worries. Take your time, Nightmare Moon. We’re in no rush.”

Again that pang of discomfort jittered up her spine, and she met Rainbow Dash’s eyes while struggling to escape it. Dash, however, didn’t miss this, and she leaned across the table, staring back.

“Something on your mind, Nightmare Moon?”

“Luna!” Nightmare shouted, before shrinking down, her long neck somehow disappearing into her chest. “...Luna. Please… Call me Luna.”

“Hey,” Twilight said, patting her on her back and giving her an encouraging smile. “We’re not here to pressure you into anything. It’s still your night to have, after all!”

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie and Applejack cheered. The two of them leaned over to hoofbump, squishing Rainbow Dash in the process.

“Ouch, hey! But yeah! Go nuts, Ni—Luna. What did you want to do? How come Twilight brought you here?”

Rarity was busy locking lips with the highly-dressed mare, but she looked over at Nightmare Moon and winked in encouragement.

Nightmare breathed deeply and let it out as Fluttershy had taught her, letting the shakiness in her heart slip away into the muggy air around her. Reassured, she smiled at her friends, and then craned her head back over to the jazz band.

“Go on!” Twilight said.

“Go on! Let’s hear it!” the rest of the group said, clapping. 

“Hey everypony! We got us a pony here who thinks she can sing!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flipping up into the air and sailing around the heads of all the wasted celebrants. The few who weren’t so drunk they couldn’t notice whooped and hollered, and Nightmare Moon blushed, uttered a swear towards Rainbow, and stood up to a fastly growing round of applause.

The crowd silenced as she stepped up onto the small stage next to the three musicians, reminiscent so much of the troupe from her childhood, and she grinned foalishly, giddiness already eating away at her nerves.

“Whatchu want, gal?” the stallion on the keyboard asked, a big toothy grin shining up at her.

“Give me a swing beat.”

“You got it! Anda one, a two, a one two three four—”

Nightmare Moon tapped her hooves and started shaking her hips as the piano picked up into a ragtime beat, a back and forth popping that quickly cradled the energetic and swinging saxophone. She listened while the sax finished its solo, picking up the beat, and then, with all eyes on her and a crowd of friends and strangers alike shouting her name—her name, Luna—she stood proud, and belted out into the night.


	I’m back in black and blue

Your Lunar Royaltyyyyyyy…