Only years of practice playing many a role, assuming entire identities in the dream realm, had allowed Luna to play her role. The role was a simple one, and all she had needed to do was perfectly play the part of herself before she knew the truth.
Celestia might be a master at detecting lies. She had centuries of experience reading every slight motion, picking up and interpreting even tiny imperfections in tone of voice no mortal could even hear. Still, all that would not aid her if there was no deception.
Luna was no mere method actor. No, when she truly wished to take on a character, she became them. Since her return, she had no choice but to make use of that talent countless times.
Without the ability to create fragments, it fell to her to be whoever her ponies needed most in their dreams. She could simply close her eyes as Luna and open them as somepony else.
Every word, every motion, every little thought that was there for her sister to see behind her eyes was utterly sincere despite being, at least in part, a fabrication.
Her mind drifted back to the embrace. The raw-power constrained in those white wings that had enveloped her, the scent of summer flowers and ash that filled her nose. A warmth settled in her chest. There had been nothing insincere about it, no Mask controlling things. That had been her sister's true heart. That had been Tia the sister, and not Celestia the ruler of the most powerful nation in the world.
The truth was even she was unsure how much of the act was a falsehood. The craven longing that sat next to her heart insisted how wonderful things would be to simply have let the act become the truth. To cradle that warmth her sister had inspired and breath more life upon it until it became a flame.
How could mine sister love me so and yet the Princess do such terrible things to me? A part of her wanted to deny what the former Nightmare had told her. It insisted that it had to have only been a plan to place a seed of doubt, a machination to cause strife between the two royal Alicorns.
Unfortunately, the pact Night swore ensured everything she had said was the truth. There was no other possibility that would have left Twilight Sparkle still alive.
A part of her hated deceiving her sister, but it was necessary. There was no other choice. Currently, Equestria needed its Princess of the Sun and needed her to be at her best. Was this what drove her sister too, simple necessity?
Another part, a part much nearer the truth, bared her fangs and snarled out every grievance she had. It was only a flight of fancy. It was no fragment. Only a private dreamscape, a chance to vent where nopony could ever hear.
Her hooves loyally carried her to her bed chambers, past the lone sentry. Mentally her attention was elsewhere, focused much more on the expanse of her bastion and its beautiful depictions of glittering lights above. The light that thrashed violently called to her, sought to draw her in. Faint notes of her own cackles and vile words thrown as weapons towards her sister. Taunts far more suitable for the arena and not the sort of words a Proper Princess should ever utter.
She pulled back and focused upon the entire sky of her Bastion. It was still early enough that her own dream orb had plenty of company as it floated in the void above. An orb winked out. Fortunately, this time it only signified a return for the dreamer to the waking world.
Wistfully she lightly touched one. In a simple moment, a little colt's train set, made huge, wound around all their friend's homes. It was most definitely not their normal conveyance to their place of learning. Nor would any train line be allowed to take a shortcut through the throne room.
A dull ache rose in her chest. A whimsy to join the intrepid crew as the train slowly morphed into an airship most grand. Oh, it would be most fun to be the Dread Pirate Luna for a time.
The presence was immediately noticeable. The bastion itself seemed heavier, but not as much as the violation of an invader.
Luna looked back over her shoulder, and a small smile found its way onto her lips. The Tantabus sat there on her haunches with her prized blue ball held in her mouth. She looked for all the stars like an over-eager puppy with her wagging tail.
It was not long before a living piece of the night made manifest was haring around in dogged pursuit of an enchanted orb.
"This is not how I planned on unwinding…" Luna thought aloud as her aura removed the tricorn hat from her head.
A nagging doubt gnawed at her, like a toothache or the itching of a miss-aligned feather. The sensation refused to be ignored.
She looked up and allowed herself to take in the full vastness of her bastion. The whole of her endless citadel was empty, bereft of all but the portraits that were the phantoms of her past.
Her sister had left her mark here in two places. The first was the one she saw each time she gained or lost a Nightguard, the second she avoided.
For the first time in a long time, she made herself see. She pressed her will against the slippery membrane. The Faust forsaken 'gift' her sister dearest entrenched in this most personal of spaces.
The sounds of her rattling feathers almost defended her, and every muscle in her body tried to drag her gaze away.
She snorted. This was just one more challenge. One more foe that she would crush. If she was weak enough to be dissuaded by a mere aversion charm, she would not be worthy of being alive today.
Even though she knew the physical act was merely turning her eyes to look, it felt like she smashed her way through a glacier. Each of its fragments begged, pleaded or threatened. They used multitudes of methods to convince her to turn back. Not one of them succeeded.
It was in the center of a field of ash that once was a grand courtyard. The most noticeable thing that demanded attention was a golden obelisk. Its surface razor-edged and barbed. The thing fought back. A shimmering miraged tried fruitlessly to obscure the truth from her sight.
With the sound of shattering glass, the perception filter died.
For a few long seconds, Luna's potent mind refused to accept what she saw. Then it insisted it must be a conjuration of her own imagination, but try as it might, it failed at keeping the horrid truth from her.
What had once been smooth and glittering gold was tarnished and blackened, scattered around like so much detritus where dozens of charred alicorn skeletons lay. Their forms twisted in a vain attempt to escape their demise.
Her legs trembled and then gave out. "… She did not stop me making fragments…"
How many paid for mine experiments? For a moment, shock, rage, grief, and many other emotions warred in her before frigid ice smothered them.
She smoothly rose to her hooves, a cold purpose burned in her luminous eyes.
“Sister dearest. We will have an accounting.”