*Celestia POV*
I silently walk through the door of my bedroom after nodding to the guards. The sight alone filled me with joy as I take off my regalia and practically throw it on a table as I collapse on my bed.
"Finally." I mumble to myself.
As much as I wanted to just give in to my slumber, I knew I still had to take care of a few more problems before being done for the day.
There was no big explanation as to why I currently wanted to just disappear from the universe, leaving all my responsibilities to anypony unlucky, or lucky depending on the pony, enough to bear it all. After settling every weird issues that nobles have had with the celebration, then even weirder and more absurd reasons as to why they made such demands, I was already exhausted.
"Seriously, who in their right mind demands to reschedule the sun for a longer beauty sleep"
Well, after dealing with those, I had to grapple with paperwork relating to the mages hired from the High Hoof society. That's fine, I can take care of them easily with public support and compelling evidence without any backlash from the citizens. Thankfully, my lovely nephew already took care of most of it. Though, the negotiations and the final judgement still had to fall on me. And having to write a signature ten times for each pony. Even after dealing with that, I still had to reorganize the Crown finances.
"Thank the stars Raven exists." I mutter as I remember how much easier she made my work to deal with.
I smile a tiny bit as I remember the next part of my two day sleeplessness. A moment of peace, if you will. After draining myself of most of my mental strength, I recharged it at my meeting with Remedy. It still felt a bit unreal, like I had been dreaming his entire existence. A pony with no intention to sell something to me or gain something from me, and most importantly, he doesn't treat me like a higher existence. He's an old stallion, not as old as me obviously, but even with millenniums upon millenniums of age and experience, I still seem to fall short when it comes to wisdom. He gives away the simplest of answers, yet it all makes me realize aspects of my problems I have not yet noticed.
"Then it finally happened." I say to nopony in particular as my smile drops.
After locating the point of her arrival, I had greeted her at a field under the stars. The fight was short, to say the least. I could not bring myself to attack her, and in the end, got myself sealed, almost the same way I had done to her. Of course, the idea of being sealed inside the sun sounds incredibly torturous, what with the whole unfathomable degrees of both temperature and the crushing gravity. But it was all quite relaxing for little old me, who is both fire resistant and have had no problems with the gravity whatsoever. Something akin to a small vacation to say the least.
Then my smile returns, both bigger and happier as I barely suppress a giggle.
My sister, she was back.
A thousand years. As short as it feels for an immortal like me, even just a month without her felt like eons had passed. I will not make the same mistake I made all those years ago.
Though the smile almost evaporates as I think of what her return would entail. Since an entire millennia has passed, not many would depend on her for ruling. Few could, no they would, go as far as to demand her to step down from the throne. She would fall into the same trap she was in.
But it's no matter. I, have grown since then. So, I will be there when she needs help. Even if it means I will be going against the entirety of Equestria, I will not lose my sister once again. Especially not to some money grubbing selfish nobles.
I stare upwards with a slight frown as I think of what I should do to fight against possible fear mongering from the nobles. Preventing it is simple, but if I play it right, I could downright stop pretty much everything they can say about Luna being a villain.
In the end, I let out a small sigh to relieve the tension.
"Your highness, I've brought the papers. Or do you want to end it for today?" Raven walked in with a stack of papers and bags under her eyes.
"You should retire for the night, I will take care of the remaining work." I gently tell her.
"Unacceptable your highness. As your assistant, I must stay with you until your work is finished." She rebuked with a slight frown.
"Raven, I insist. Besides, you can have quite a nice dream since Luna is back." I said with a small smile.
"Well, I insist you let me stay until these are all signed." She said with a slight smirk.
I simply give a few chuckles as I flick the fireplace on with magic.
"Well then, what's first on the agenda?" I asked her as I moved to lay in front of the soft fire.
Her smirk turned to a soft smile as she placed the stack of papers on the rug.
*Nightmare Moon POV*
We-, no, I. After feeling inside, I've truly cut all ties with Luna. Therefore, it's simply 'I', nopony else.
I was currently situated in the middle of a river with a weak current, rocks on the riverbed making my hooves hurt, slightly cold from standing a bit too long, but my patience will be rewarded. As much as I had wanted to just eat random fruits growing on bushes and such, I felt like I should probably go for something I know isn't poisonous. As such, I stood motionless as I felt for the waves in the river.
The water runs in the exact same way, causing the waves to always crash the exact same way. So, any single thing that isn't water would disrupt the flow. Also commonly known as fish.
*Splash*
"YES!" I cheered, disregarding all formalities as I hold the still alive fish in my hooves.
After an unknown amount of time and plenty of embarrassing fails, I finally caught and held one half the size of my head. With my stomach rumbling, I barely stopped myself from biting into the fish right then and there as I climb out of the river. Luckily, I still kept my thestral form, allowing me to safely consume flesh.
With a random rock I had cleansed in the water, I roughly rubbed it against the fish to remove the scales. A process that I never knew was so annoying. Running a hoof over it, I judged that there were no more scales as I took a bite unfitting for royalty, or common decency for that matter.
"Gah, stupid fish." I silently complained as I felt a stinging pain in my inner cheek.
I held my food in front of my face, staring at the blood stained fin. Did not know I had to remove those.
"No matter." I idly mumbled as I roughly pulled them out with my teeth before trying to bite in once again.
I was stopped once again as my teeth were met with hard resistance.
"FUCKING! WHAT IS IT NOW?!" I shouted obscenities as a dull pain took over my teeth.
Taking a look once more, I saw bones where I had bitten as I get slowly filled with rage. Only a single day had passed, but if things went the way it did, I'd want to die before reaching even the first week.
"And that one won't even think about helping me." I spoke with disdain as I thought of the green stallion.
I started to eat the fish again. This time, I took slower and a considerably weaker bite as my teeth glided over the bones. Chewing carefully, and taking my time to separate and chew every small part to mush, I finally judged that it was safe to swallow.
That is, until I started coughing as a small piece was stuck in my throat. It felt embedded as I felt it stabbing into the flesh. Hurrying to the river, I drank in large gulps, hoping for the water to dislodge the bone.
Finally, after about six gulps, the pain went away as my coughing fit stopped. The bone, will probably dissolve with stomach acid.
As I calmed down, frustration quickly replaced the calm as I yelled to the sky in anger.
"JUST WHY AM I TAKING THE BLAME FOR THAT REBELLION?! WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT ALL?! LUNA WAS THE ONE WHO STARTED THIS WHOLE, DAMNED, THING! Sure, I amplified her anger and jealousy to get more powerful, but THAT WAS THE WHOLE, FUCKING, DEAL! IF ANYTHING, IT'S HER FAULT WHO WANTED TO DETHRONE HER SISTER IN THE FIRST PLACE! I WAS ONLY A HELPER WHO ACTED IN ACCORDANCE TO OUR DEAL!" I ranted to the air with a heavy frown as I let my anger out on random spots of dirt and grass.
In the end, I grabbed whatever I could get my hooves on and threw it randomly as I punched some unfortunate tree or rock that were close to me.
"THAT BITCH, THE DECEIVING HORSE. THAT, um, POINTY EARED, eh, ROCK!." I fell silent as I thought back on my words.
Letting out an annoyed snort at my lack of a vulgar vocabulary, I moved to the river. Anger briefly overtaking hunger, I had practically forgotten about the fish as I found a slightly elevated spot. A boulder that was placed at the very edge of the stream. Laying down on it, I stared down at the moving waters, and the occasional school or two as my thoughts continued.
Tch, if anything, I was absolutely loyal. Not even leaving her side after being stuck with her on the moon for a millennia. If she was going to back out like that, literally during a fight, she should've at least warned me.
My frown grew sad as I thought of our meeting.
I really did think of her as a friend.
My head went silent as that last thought rang out loud. With a bitter frown, I tried to think of something else. Anything that would distract me from the memories that led to the deal.
*Grumble*
My thoughts were distracted as that rather loud sound complained to me.
Right, eating can work.
With a slightly eager smile, I turned to where I had dropped the fish. Only to find nothing.
My face was a stone mask with a simple smile, yet internally, I let out a shrill shrieking of despair.
"Where did I put that? What happened? Did some kind of animal come by?" I muttered as I kept going to and fro between different random spots whilst repeating 'no' under my breath.
Then I remembered it. Right during my bout of anger, I had been throwing random rocks and patches of grass. Rocks, grass, and the fucking fish.
Replaying that memory, my eyes followed to the river. Quickly running there, I almost tripped as I climbed up on the rock. With a higher vantage point, my eyes scanned the river like a hawk looking down on its prey.
"THERE!" My mind shouted as I spotted a blob of grey with blood tainting the water around it.
Throwing all precautions to the wind in favor of eating, I jumped from the rock into the river. Or at least, that was my intention until I felt the ground shake.
"An earthquake?" I silently asked myself.
Then the rock fell.
Along with me.
Panic gripped me as the world started to move slowly. My eyes slowly took in every detail of my fall as my body rotated sideways from gravity. Despite the world moving at a much slower pace, my brain just couldn't think of a command to give to my body.
At least it moved reflexively as my hooves moved to protect my head. My wings naturally unfurled themselves to try and fly. I activated my magic by pure reflex as the teleport spell formula instantly appeared in my head. Yet none worked.
With a heavy slam, I fell into the water as I felt a sharp pain invaded the middle part of my front leg. Water soon entered my lungs, prompting me to get up as quickly as I can. With a jump, I lied on my back as I coughed up some water.
I slowly opened my eyes, expecting to see the sun in the sky, but was only met with a blob of darkness. With panic quickly taking over, I forced my hind legs to push at an angle, making me jump to the side. As my body travelled, it was quickly pulled back as I felt searing pain in one of my wings.
With a short scream, I grunted as I turned my head towards my back. The boulder that I had been laying on had crushed my wing.
Groaning, I forced my body to start moving. Pulling on the wing yielded no results. I'm sure I got a few new tears on it. Tried to push the boulder away. Not even worth mentioning.
In the end, I stopped struggling as I just remained seated in the water, leaning against the shore.
"I'm stuck here." I mumbled to myself as I let my body relax.
That action was met with consequence as I flinched in pain coming from my limb. Raising it up, I saw it bending at an area it shouldn't have been bent.
My jaw clenched in frustration as I looked at the broken appendage. I felt a small stinging pain in my eyes as my vision became slightly blurry. My fur was drenched as I shivered every now and then from both the cold and the pain.
I wanted to scream out loud. I wanted to shout for help, but I knew it wouldn't come. I wanted to somehow express my frustrations to the world, tell it everything about my situation that had hurt me. Both literally and metaphorically.
Yet all that came out were choked sobs.
My body slowly lost its strength. My lower half had lost all sense of touch. My vision slowly became nothing but a dim blur. My hearing became muddy, barely making out a sound.
Slowly, but surely, I would die. The idea of death filled me with hope, wanting to just disappear after failing my mission. I don't even know what I was thinking when I ran from Luna. A sense of hopelessness took over as I thought about what I should do.
My kingdom, without citizens it's nothing but a fairy tale. My purpose, gone without even the tiniest chance of reappearing. My life, nothing but the suffering of a prisoner. My very existence itself, now toned down to a simple foal tale.
As drowsiness slowly took over me, I gave in without a fight.
With nothing but the slow moving sun to tell me the time, I simply laid there in the river. Cold water slowly felt warm as it became harder to move my body. My eyes slowly closed down, leaving me with nothing but my thoughts.
As I slowly became disconnected from reality, I heard the muffled sounds of a rhythmic thumping. I wanted to wake up, but I couldn't. With not even the tiniest chance to speak up, I simply gave up.
I know death wouldn't truly come, so I only hoped that I would be freed upon my revival.
*Natural Remedy POV*
I was sat at the campfire, now lit using only wood, watching it dance as I sorted through my thoughts. The events of last night still fresh on my mind. Looking back on it, I was too agitated. With my death, and the immense pain I had experienced right after, my mind wasn't in a stable state. There was something different about her. That wasn't just acting. I should've used that chance to ask some questions.
I acted too rashly.
As I was consumed in my thoughts, a small change distracted me. My ears twitched as the usual steady sound in the camp was disrupted.
Turning to the direction of the river, I walked forwards as I heard the stream quietening down.
"Hmm." I let out a disapproving sound as I stared at the river.
The water was still there, but the level has definitely gone down. It used to be about chest height, but now it stayed a quarter up my legs. Something happened upstream.
Holding the, once again repaired axe in my mouth, I follow the river. I should fix this as soon as possible.
As I followed the shores, my mind kept going back towards last night's meeting. All the way from her appearance to the way she carried herself. It was all too surreal with how she looked like a defenseless filly, as opposed to how she looked before she'd turned to Nightmare Moon, in a metaphorical sense.
A small grimace overtook my face as I thought about the younger princess. She was the guardian of dreams, our princess of the night and the one who protected us from our own nightmares. Then she just, snapped. Nopony, well, nopony except Princess Celestia, knows why she turned, but I'll give my two bits that it was because of nobles. Especially since commoners never really got the chance to even see her, let alone meet her.
But, if I meet her again, I can ask. What happened? What made her turn to the dark side? For what purpose had she went to war with her own sister.
Letting out a small sigh, I stop that train of thoughts as I start to see the river having a bit more water.
"Should be close now." I mumble to myself as I walk past a tree.
There I saw where the problem lay, and heard the pained weeping of a mare.
As I walked closer, I prepared to defend, just in case as the crying slowly ceased as it was soon replaced by silent sobbing. I slowly dropped my guard and peered in front of the blockage. There laid Nightmare Moon, her wing crushed by a fallen boulder that also disrupted the river flow.
But all my attention was focused on the crying mare.
My mind stayed silent as I stared at the broken mare. The previous image of her that I had inscribed into my mind was shattered as I stared at her. Her mane was absolutely ruined with the cosmos inside having somehow dimmed. Her right front leg had been broken as the bruise was barely visible on her muddied fur, somehow staying dirtied despite being hit by a constant stream of water.
As I kept on staring, my mind was static as I witnessed her fully broken down. No royal excellence or pride to hide her true face. No murderous tyranny to mask her normality. And most importantly, not even the tiniest shred of malice to hurt others.
This
This was something I didn't know was entirely possible. It's like something out of those novels that dad used to read.
I tried to speak up. Tried to tell her to stop acting, or maybe just to convince myself. But without evidence, the words died in my throat as I opened my mouth, only to close it shortly after. Even with plenty of biases against her and memories that told me that she deserves this, her current state overshadowed it all.
Eventually, my morality reached a consensus with my logic as I let out a weary breath.
"Sure, let's help the demon who killed my parents." I mumbled as I jumped down to the riverbed. "This is probably my dumbest mistake, or does trying to fight a yeti still hold its weight?" I talked to myself as I contemplated exactly what I should do.
At this point, Nightmare Moon had already cried herself to sleep. A sign of dying in this case.
I pushed the boulder a bit, wanting to see if it's somehow embedded into the ground or something. The boulder moved as dirt fell from the shores. With confirmation that it's fine to move it, I lifted the boulder slightly and got under it. Dangerous, but an alright move for an earth pony. With better leverage, I lifted my body upwards with all four legs as I felt the water crash against me in an instant.
"Shit." I silently cursed as I felt my body tilt slightly.
Quickly stepping to the side, I gave a small jump as the boulder fell sideways onto the shore.
"Alright." I let out a short breath as I turned around.
Fuck.
Nightmare Moon floated away with the current, her unfurled wings only acting as a speed boost.
"Celestia damn it." I cursed as I climbed out of the river and ran after her. "She better be fucking grateful for this"
I walk into my camp, completely drenched in the river water as I carried the wet blob that is Nightmare Moon. She woke up sometime during her unconscious escapade, only to lose consciousness once more from banging her head on a sharp turn.
Needless to say, it made my job a lot easier.
"Yep, definitely asking for a towel next time she visits." I grumbled to myself as I placed her next to the nearly extinguished campfire.
I cut apart a log and added it to the fire. With that little task out of the way, I looked towards my fellow prisoner, who had, unluckily for her, not died, therefore not allowing her to heal.
I might have slightly enjoyed it if I wasn't confused by a small detail.
Her appearance itself wasn't too shocking. Just the usual bat-pony but with an alicorn. A broken leg with messy mane and tail, along with dirtied fur. Her right wing was a battered mess with gaping holes in it, and of course, she had no armor.
But the detail that froze my brain was lower. Her cutie mark. It wasn't there.
The little spots were there, but the moon itself was gone.
Just as my mind was about to ask itself countless questions regarding reality, a loud groan broke me from my thoughts.
"Good evening, Moonshine." I casually told her as I moved I carefully moved next to the axe.
"What?" She asked with a coarse voice as she tried to stand up, only to fall down with a yell of pain.
"Yeah, you didn't die from your little accident." I simply told her as I sat facing towards the fire.
I expected some kind of response from her, either a remark, or a snarky comment. Yet all I got back was silence. I thought that she may try to attack me, but I was confident she couldn't.
As time slowly ticked by, I got slightly worried about what she was doing. Then it disappears as I hear her speak.
"Why'd you help me?"
I was about to answer, then I stopped. Thinking of the next words, I sat in silence for a few seconds.
"I only fixed a river blockade." I told her.
"Then why'd you drag me here?" She instantly asked.
"Do you really have the energy or interest to ask me these things?"
"Well, no, but I can't help it when you're suddenly all helpful"
I gave a light sigh as I turned towards her, who was laying on the soft grass with the broken limb close to her upper chest.
"Alright, I want to ask you some questions then. Does that alleviate your suspicions?" I asked with slight sarcasm.
She gave a snideful chortle before speaking. "Sure, just because you've told me your intentions, I suddenly think of you as the most honest pony i've, ever met." She finished with a mocking smile.
I only gave an impassive face as I stared at her.
As a few seconds passed, her smile slowly dropped as we just continued to stare each other. The air felt a bit tense as we both observed the other with suspicioun and wariness. Though, the longer it went on, it just became blatant staring.
Awkward.
*Cough, cough*
I gave a few fake coughs before speaking up. "So, why did you turn to Nightmare Moon? Not a lot of ponies know why." I simply asked.
She took a contemplating face as she thought of her words. "It's because I fused with Luna." She simply answered with a hollow chuckle.
Huh?
The answer threw me off. That simple answer itself changes the situation entirely. The implications alone brought out new problems.
"Then, could you call yourself 'Nightmare Moon'?"
"No." She answered with a shake if her head. "Nightmare Moon is the result of me fusing together with Luna, not a single entity." Her face took a slight frown when she mentioned the princess.
I stayed silent at the answer, but my thoughts were swirling.
If Nightmare Moon is simply the mixture of two ponies, then that itself could change the entire aim and reason for the rebellion in its entirety. Nothing but a spell gone wrong.
The fusion in itself could be the biggest issue. If two ponies, even if extremely similar, fuse, what about their traits? How would their ideals and emotions mix together?
The thought of her lying did cross my mind. Yet it was quickly shut down by the image of her when she spoke. An almost emotionless acceptance.
"Then-" I cut my question short as I stared at her droopy figure.
Right.
She would be tired after all this. Fuck, even I'm exhausted right now.
I was suddenly broken out of my stupor when she shrieked in pain.
"Hmm, We'll have to cut it off." I plainly said as she inspected her broken leg.
"Fuck no." She yelled as she pulled her leg back.
"Well, ya got a better idea? I'm not exactly a doctor you know?" I told her.
She stayed silent as her eyes darted all over the place, seemingly trying to figure out a solution. As interesting as it was, I eventually got bored of waiting for her.
"Look, Night- actually, what do I call you?" I asked.
She let out an annoyed groan at the question.
"I don't know. What did you call me earlier?"
"Moonshine?" I asked incredulously.
"Yeah, that"
"You do know that's an alcoholic beverage right? And I used it to mock you." I warned with disbelief.
"Sure, whatever." She answered as she looked hopefully at random leaves.
"Look, Moonshine." It suddenly felt weird to call her that. "It's a broken bone, and I don't know how to realign that shit. So, it's either cut it off, or live with a deformed leg that'll give you pain for the rest of your life, until you cut it off that is." I calmly explained to her.
"Isn't there any other way you can think of?!" She yelled as she asked me.
"Weeeellll," I intentionally elongated the word. "I can think of one other way"
"What is it?!" She asked with hopeful eyes.
Which was quickly shut down as I showed her the axe with a normal smile.
"Wait, no! Stay back demon!" She yelled as she tried to flee.
"Come on! It'll hurt for only a bit." I told her as I slowly walked towards her.
She, who had fallen down due to her broken leg, stared at me with terrified eyes as I stopped right in front of her.
I grinned wickedly as I slowly raised the axe.
A high pitched screaming rang through the sky.