//------------------------------// // 12 - Intervention // Story: Born Under Silver Moon Light // by David Silver //------------------------------// It was nightfall when Luna received a royal summons and answered to find an unfamiliar guard. "Did the guards change again?" She peered at the stallion curiously. "You don't look familiar. I apologize, I have many ponies working in this castle." "I don't know." The guard didn't seem to know that either. Luna felt it, the soft touch of a reality one step removed. "I am asleep." With that intonation, the guard vanished, as did the room and much everything else but herself, leaving her on a featureless surface, save that it was made of the same fine marble, extending infinitely in all directions. She recognized it, and the two ponies that approached her with smiles. "Nightmare Moon and..." She frowned as the third arrived. "Me. I know you." She nodded to herself, not caring if she sounded foolish to the others, or anypony else, not that anypony else could hear her. "Crescent." Crescent beamed at Luna as she arrived, her image overlapping with that of Nightmare Moon as they sat down before her. "What troubles you?" they asked in both a booming voice of a horror and the sweet tone of a little filly. Luna cringed faintly at the strange image of both that little girl and her worst fear come to life. "If we're being honest, right now, you. Are you aware of your--" She paused, frowning with a tapping of her metal hoof on the ground. "--of your dual nature? Is something wrong with you? I have not seen you like this before." "That is because I've never been like this before." Crescent took center stage then, appearing without her second parent, and speaking with a gentler tone, but with the added weight of having the shadow of Nightmare Moon loom over her from behind, one hoof resting on her daughter's mane as if offering support and guidance. Luna cracked a faint smile. "That is a curious sight, and it is strangely comforting to think even in the depths of that madness, I would stop to hold an especially agreeable little foal." "You are a good pony." Crescent's words left a crack in the world itself, leaving reality with a fine line of a busted camera lens. "I am happy to have you as a mother." Another fine line instantly appeared. "And Equestria is so happy to have you." A third, reality barely holding itself together. Luna flared her wings out wide. "I know all this! I know." She rose to her full height. "Your words are well-intentioned and gladly heard, but why are you telling me what I am fully aware of?" "Just because you know it." Comforting was behind Luna suddenly, in the way of dreams. Nightmare Moon was approaching from the front. "Doesn't mean you are it, Mother. Deep inside." Nightmare Moon tapped her chest with a clawed hoof, directly over her heart. "You doubt." "I do not!" snapped Luna, hooves slamming to the ground. "Then prove it." Crescent smiled, offering a hoof towards the grown mare. "Reach into the soul of that doubter, and strike them down." Luna flicked an ear back. "Gladly." She pulled back her metal-clad hoof and lashed out at Nightmare Moon. "Begone!" she roared in the strike, but Nightmare Moon barely moved on impact. Nightmare Moon smirked at her cleansed counterpart. "This is what they made me into? Pathetic. That punch had no feeling. You're going through the motions with no conviction." Luna pulled back with a gasp of realization as she realized how little effort she had put into the attack, and that it was pointless besides. She had meant to rid herself of a persistent monster, but that was not the case. "You're right. This is a dream." She glared at the parts of her that wished to deny the truth of what she had become. Crescent grabbed one of her hind legs, hugging firmly. "Mother, you set me free, but we are all still you. We love you." "I do not." Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. "But I remain part of you." She waved a hoof back at Crescent. "She has shown me the light of my actions. I will stay my claws and watch this farce." She began to walk away. "I do not approve, but I am powerless before my creator." She vanished, or simply retreated, depending on one's point of view. Luna whirled on her lighter reflection. "Why are we in my dreams? I was patrolling, performing my duty. You were as well, to my recollection." "I was." Crescent looked at the hoof that had held Luna's leg and stroked it softly as she gathered her thoughts and spoke her mind, echoing within Luna, but not spoken by her mouth. "I was having a lot of fun playing with Twilight and Spike." Her head sank. "Until the end, I guess. She woke up and it just felt like the day ended right there." She looked up at Luna, not with eyes of the body she possessed, but those she shared with her mother, deep sapphires, sparkling with magic. "Do you wish you had more friends?" Luna recoiled at the question, a new line distorting their shared reality. "I have many friends!" she weakly protested, shrinking back. Crescent curled a hoof at herself. "At least one." Celestia appeared, though entirely still. Crescent pointed to her. "At least two." Luna huffed as the Cutie Mark Crusaders appeared, flanking her to either side. "Three more! They would consider me a friend and ally, and I them as well." Crescent clapped with a smile. "Good! Mama, I am here because you needed me more than Twilight or Spike did." She sat up, though remained sitting. "You pushed me away, but I love you too much, mama. I couldn't ignore you." "Thank you." Luna crouched before her filly, embracing her with a warmth she rarely dared to share with anyone else, except those rare occasions she got to do so with Celestia herself, but the warm glow of Crescent's aura was far stronger than either sister, and filled Luna with the feelings that inspired Crescent herself to make it so. "I still feel like I'm hugging myself." "You are." Crescent kissed Luna's cheek. "But only mostly. You pushed me away, so I'm becoming my own pony, slowly." She slid down to Luna's hooves and bounced away. "But I will always love you. You're my mama." "I know." Luna turned around to look at the projection of her beloved older sister, one of the few friends she had made in a millennia, and those others that had been made alongside her. "I appreciate your time, Crescent. I feel better already, knowing I still have friends." Crescent bowed. "But are you better?" She reached up and tapped at one of the lines, casually giving their shared reality a poke. "You are not perfect. But nopony is. Mama, it's alright to feel weak, and sad, sometimes. That's when you go to a friend, and give them the hug you gave me, and ask for their help." "I won't ask that of anypony." Luna turned from the image of her sister. "Celestia is busy enough as it is. She doesn't have time for me." "She has the time and loves you a whole lot." Crescent hugged at Luna's leg, warm and with fond nuzzles. "For you, she would make the time. And for her, you would do the same thing. You are sisters." Luna relented to that, her mind whispering that her daughter was right. She would drop anything for her beloved big sister, as would Celestia do the same for her. "Perhaps I will try tomorrow." She felt better, her soul soothed. "Thank you, Crescent. You were the perfect mare for the job." Reality broke, the lens shattering into countless pieces. The dream ended with it, Luna awakening on the dream path she had started on, ascending to a new level of thought there. Her presence could be felt by ponies throughout Equestria, even the farthest corners, if she desired it, or if they dreamed loudly enough. But tonight, she just wanted to relax and see if that good mood lasted beyond her return to the waking world. There, Crescent was waiting for her. "Hey, mama. How did your dream go?" She bounced a bit, ready to hear the story about it, and perhaps contribute details she hadn't before. "I had a good dream." Luna nudged her filly with her muzzle. "About you. About my friends." "Even Nightmare Moon?" Crescent tilted her head. "Especially her." Luna flicked an ear back a moment. "As curious as that was. She is a bit taciturn, but--" She frowned. "Is she a manner of creature like you, dear Crescent?" "Yes. No?" Crescent burst into airy giggles. "It's been a while since I said that, but I mean it. You could let her out, like you did for me, or keep her safe inside you, like you're doing." Luna shook her head slowly. "You are a twinkling light on the lands. I am unsure how positive Nightmare Moon would be. Odds are stacked against that working out well." "You won't know if you don't try." Crescent leaned up and gave Luna's cheek a peck of a kiss. "But I understand if you don't want to. Nightmares can be a scary business. Some ponies aren't too keen on them, and they might be afraid of you if they know." Luna went still, a single tear running down her cheek. "They are still afraid of me." Crescent realize then her mistake. "They love you, mama. I meant--" Luna pushed Crescent away. "And why shouldn't they? I have given them much to fear. They have holidays about that fright!" Crescent sighed sadly at that, her mother's anger washing over her, but she would not fight back or even resist the hate being thrown at her, because she knew it was not real. It was just pain, and that Luna needed to express it. "Mama, it's alright. I'm sorry. I was wrong." Luna leaned in, nose to nose with little Crescent. "How were you wrong? Be clear, little dream figment." The words had a bite to them, but they were also true. Truth spoken coldly. Crescent grabbed Luna's snout. "There are ponies that revel in your night. There are ponies that love you so much." She burst into giggles. "Some of them too much." Luna colored, immediately thinking of such ponies. "Too much." She shook away those thoughts. "Yes, you are not entirely incorrect there. Crescent--" She sat up with a sigh. "You've given me much to ruminate over. Are you not getting tired? Sleep." Crescent flopped down onto the ground at Luna's hooves and her eyes drifted closed. "I'll see you in the morning." "You will." Luna turned and headed out on her patrol for the night. "You will."