Dear Princess Luna,
Me and you need to have a very long talk. I want to see you in the Empire as soon as possible. There's been a lot going on, and there are things we can only discuss mare to mare. I'm sorry to simply make a demand like this, however, I believe you know the context.
See you soon.
Love,
Cadance.
It was a relaxing couple of days since Cadance's confrontation with Dusk. She had spent her time doing her daily duties, bothering Shining in the fun ways, and planning for her next work week.
It was around dusk in her study when Luna arrived, which Cadance had pondered would qualify as a funny joke, if told in the right setting.
Luna knocked on the window to Cadance's study, it was opened in short order; luckily Cadance saw Luna fly up to the window.
As she entered, she spoke, "Niece, it is good to see you again."
Calm Cadance
She had spent the last day or so mentally deliberating on how to interact with Luna here, in this moment. Eventually electing to just act as she normally would, with the intent of getting to the bottom of Dusk's and Luna's plan to hide him from Celestia.
So Cadance offered her aunt a hug, "It's good to see you to Luna." It was received, and Luna let out a breath, "It's been a hectic couple weeks since we talked last."
"I can imagine so." She said, pulling away with a frown. "I am... Sorry for deceiving you Cadance."
I'm glad she does actually know why I asked to see here, that would have been awkward.
"Auntie" Cadance said, not tersely, but with confidence
Luna has trouble connecting, has trouble with her guilt.
"I trust you." Cadance stressed, "I just want to know why."
Luna fought the smile away from her face and looked away.
"Thank you niece, you are truly graceful. To put up with my... mistake."
"Everypony makes mistakes Luna, it's okay to fail. What matters is not giving up making it right."
Luna nodded, and ruffled Cadance's new mane with a wing, "You constantly show wisdom beyond your years Cadance."
Cadance gestured for Luna to take a seat, "Do you want anything before we..."
"No dear niece, I have had everything I require for the night."
"Then... Tell me about Dusk."
Luna bit the inside of her cheek.
Cadance steepled her hooves and waited.
"I don't quite know where to start." She said quietly.
Luna was acting strange, only now did Cadance connect the weird behavior to how she was acting before. Something she didn't pick up on the time, but now? Cadance was aware of the stakes, she may have been trying a little harder than necessary.
Luna was easy to read. She was apprehensive and worried. Not guilty, not shameful. Shamed. Like a permanent mark on her emotion.
"How about you start with his history? His past?" Cadance tried
Luna, immediately, "That's not my story to tell."
Dusk
She continued, "Dusk was... is, as you can tell most probably, very secretive about their past. I am not aware if what I know about him, what he told me rather, is even true." She stopped for a moment, "Regardless, it is not my place to share."
"So you knew Dusk would come to the Empire?"
Luna grimaced and nodded slowly, "Yes, it was most likely what he was planning on, and he told me as much, when we met on the streets of Canterlot that night."
"What did happen that night?" Cadance, let her curiosity get the best of her, rather than keeping Luna on topic.
"Dusk had slung you over his back and run from the night watch guards. The chase was grand enough that it reached the ears of my personal guards, who were out patrolling, I arrived on scene shortly after Dusk properly lost his guard tailing." She took a deep breath, "We... talked."
Cadance continued to listen, finally feeling like she was getting answers, like she was in the loop rather than the dark.
"He knew what I was planning with you. He told me about his plan to teach Celestia how to..."
"How to kill him." Cadance finished for her.
"Yes." Luna looked down... The same taint on her emotions rising. "Many have tried to slay Dusk Swirl." The hurt was evident in her voice, no Alicorn of Love powers required. "Only Dusk and Discord ever knew the secrets behind his immortality. Discord refuses to speak of it, out of shame."
"Why is Dusk immortal?" Cadance tried, Luna looked like she had been struck, like she wanted to do anything other than answer that particular question.
"I wish to not speak of it."
"Will you at least tell me why?"
Luna nodded. "I fell to the nightmare. Myself. My own conjuration of the darkness in my heart. At the end of the day, as they say, it was my choice."
Cadance sat back, feeling the story start to work its way out of her aunt's throat. Elders, or ponies who had been through some traumatic experience tended to do this. Once you asked just the right question, framed the experience just right, they'd start talking. Ponies liked to get things off their withers, some ponies just couldn't explain, just couldn't emphasize how they felt.
"Dusk didn't make me fall to the nightmare. It was, however, his intent to encourage it. To stop me from doing worse than I could have."
But some ponies could. Luna had been opening up to Cadance since her return, when they had the chance to talk.
"I could have spent ages plotting against my sister. Spent that time making sure I could truly bring upon nighttime eternal. Destroy Equestria in my jealous rage."
Cadance, now that she saw Luna's hurt, honestly just hoped she could help the older Alicorn. Just by listening.
"Dusk made it all come to a head in one night."
Cadance, tentatively, slowly, "How"
"He... broke me... Emotionally. My psyche was already fraying at the edges... Dusk was aware... He was my closest confidant for years. He new exactly how to hurt me, and he did."
"I'm sorry Luna..."
"Do not apologize dear niece. For it was not Dusk who was at fault."
"Is-"
"Please, let me..." Luna shook her head, "I believe I should have told you this from the start."
Cadance did nothing but nod, and show her support as she gestured for Luna to continue.
"To start at the beginning then."
Luna took a deep breath, her voice turned melancholic, and she took on a look like she was gazing into the past, "Dusk is older than me and Celestia. Our elder by... likely fifty moons or so." She shook her head. "He met us when we were just fillies with wings and horns. Yet to truly become Alicorns. He was some kind of warlord turned dictator who ran a small town with an iron hoof."
"He left his home at Starswirl's behest to join our courts as a magician. He was... Friendly, and cordial. Starswirl and the Chancellor's son vouched for him."
"He went to and from his home in what is now the Everfree forest when we needed him. He taught us occasional life skills, it seemed like every time he came by, it was for some strange purpose or something he made up. He told me once that it was only ever to see me and Tia."
Cadance nodded, to show she was listening along.
"He was like a strange uncle, or a thing similar to it. He was still as strange as he is today, in fact, over the ages, I don't think he's changed even a little. Grown in magical skill, absolutely, but he's still exactly the same pony I knew when I was growing up."
"I never noticed the nuance of who he really was. I was a filly, and I grew up with him coming around, and treating my like a filly instead of a Princess. I... fell into the role, I guess. I realized it was intentional."
"Intentional?" Cadance slipped in,
"Yes. Dusk had... planned on acting the way he did. Building trust with me in the way I thought of him."
Cadance nodded
I know what you mean
"He... told me on several occasions, as well, exactly what he was doing and why. I didn't understand at the time, nor did I care, as I and my sister were staring down the new nation we had founded."
Luna paused...
"And then everything started going wrong."
Luna's tone changed from reminiscing to... hallowed remembrance. Instead of drifting memories, Luna spoke about pictures she tried her hardest to believe weren't real. "Starswirl and his compatriots went missing, unrest began to rise in our cities."
"Discord arrived." She intoned
Cadance slowly began to piece together the timeline. Trying to keep a little ahead of Luna's story.
"There was no water for miles after he took over. Spreading his chaos. Ponies never died of thirst, they went insane, consuming Discord's..." She nearly almost spat, bearing her teeth, "Treats"
"In hopes of sustenance."
Luna took a deep breath. "There was a reason it was called 'the age of chaos', the suffering lasted for uncountable moons. Maybe more... it was impossible to keep track of the passage of time."
"Though it all, Dusk never once wavered or broke under the stress, where me and Tia failed to maintain order, and protect our ponies, Dusk had slithered and manuevered his way moons before into having the power and connections to make up for our... inexperience."
"It was then I learned of his dark powers. Dusk knew how to combat Discord's chaos magic using evil magics, corruptive magics. He never taught anypony, which was the only reason why he wasn't drawn and quartered. His powers were only ever used to protect."
"He founded a city, in the chaos, immune to the destruction of Discord's nightmarish playtime. The Everfree Empire, sitting in a forest empowered by his dark magics."
"He lead thousands to safety, of course, he could combat Discord's brand of magic, but not cure it. The city became full of twisted ponies, monsters and animals broken or changed by Discord's chaos. He welcomed them all. Ponies alike, along side anything with a pulse he could find, he protected."
Luna smiled, "It was a place unlike any other, it's own beautiful kind of chaos. Ponies and monsters alike would fight in the streets for fun, carefree and happy in their world that had turned upside down. It was a place of darkness and hatred deeper and more complex than any friendship I've... ever had."
"That... That sounds incredible and strange in equal measure."
"It was. Me and Tia only ever went to his marauder city once to escape the carnage Discord had wrought over our budding kingdom. He had pressured us to rest there when we were passing by."
Luna brushed some of her mane from her eyes, the single lock combining back into her flowing mane. "He was saving ponies... It took me until my freedom from The Nightmare that I truly realized who he was protecting."
"He was saving everypony we weren't."
Cadance's eyebrows raised ever so slightly.
"We looked away from the ponies fallen or twisted by Discord's magic." She looked away, still in shame. "Dusk fought hoof and teeth to find them and drag them bucking and screaming to his home to change their lives for the better against their will."
"He taught them how to live again. How to be, not who they were, but who they had become."
"Dusk coined the Code of Monsters, and named and categorized almost all sapient beasts he met or protected."
"The Code of Monsters?"
"Any beast with a sapient mind knows it, aside from Dragons. Beasts fight for life, not to kill."
Cadance listened on in rapt attention. She felt like I filly getting a story before bedtime. The two sisters never talked about their past, besides Celestia's occasional history lessons.
"He taught the thousands of hurting creatures he took under his metaphorical wing how to hate correctly. How to become monsters worth respecting. If you've ever noticed, a beast will never go for the kill unless their opposing combatant fights to kill them first, or runs."
"His care for the broken passed down to even the non-sapient. His teachings of respect and honor."
"He had tried to teach me and Tia the same, but we didn't listen." Luna's ears pressed against her head.
"Dusk saw a way for us to live in harmony despite Discord." Luna snorted, "To Dusk, Discord was just another part of living. His chaos, a simple occupational hazard, and the dangers were just a chance to change, and grow stronger physically and mentally."
"And Discord hated it. The tyrant king had been bested by a dark magic marauder turned court adviser by simply ignoring him."
Despite the topic, Luna smiled. "It only ever drew me to him more."
wait
"I had never met somepony so unrelentingly passionate about life, all kinds of life."
wait
"That was when we learned about the elements of harmony."
Cadance listened on in growing suspicion that she understood more now what exactly Dusk had done to Luna.
"But we couldn't just go looking for them. Discord liked to torment us, and he could whenever we were outside Dusk Swirl's city. So without hesitation, Dusk offered to distract the tyrant while we journeyed for the weapon to defeat him."
"He... offered to distract Discord?"
"Dusk had built a monument of hope for the ponies Discord had broken, it was a direct and powerful opposition to his rule. Discord had been attempting to hurt Dusk for several moons, but Dusk was always one step ahead of the mad king."
"So he offered to give himself up, to give you the time you needed to retrieve the elements from the tree of harmony." Cadance said, understanding.
Luna meanwhile, looked like she was nearing tears.
"We didn't know."
She looked broken.
"We didn't understand the length Dusk was willing to go for us."
She looked like she had stabbed her own pet
"W-we found Dusk at the foot of Discord's throne, mangled and twisted."
Cadance was mollified into listening in a terrifying 'watching the train crash' dear in the headlights mentality.
"Dusk... was no longer Dusk... We assumed he was dead... That Dusk had died to give us the time we needed to save Equestria."
Luna began to cry.
"We were so... so wrong."
"Dusk was alive."
"Discord would not let him die."
"It was not chaos, it was cruelty. It was raw suffering Discord had inflicted."
She snorted her tears away and tried to regain her composure.
That... doesn't line up with Twilight's warning from Discord... I'm missing something here.
Cadance didn't know what to say... she she just listened. Sometimes there wasn't anything that could be said. Nothing to be done. Sometimes things just hurt.
"We defeated Discord. I thought I would have to put down the husk that was left of Dusk."
"Except he got up. He twisted himself back into a visage of a pony, with magic and will alone. The cracking and scraping of bones still echoes in my memory like a phantasm. The mad stallion brushed himself off and offered to host the victory celebration in his keep in the Everfree."
Cadance was incredulous, "He just brushed it off?"
Luna nodded.
"We don't know how he did it, but from then on, Dusk was immortal. It didn't matter how badly he was hurt, he would always simply brush away the pain, fix himself with his dark magics, and carry on. Only him and Discord know what transpired to cause it, only they know how Dusk managed to distract Discord for as long as he did."
Cadance listened, but just had to ask, "What happened after?"
Luna gave a bitter pained laugh. "We spat in his face."
"We... in our endless incompetent childish wisdom, to honor Dusk, moved our capital to the Ever free forest. We ruled our ponies from the bastion which protected the ponies we had rejected, and over the passing moons, with new..." Luna searched for the word, "Normal" She said with verbal air quotes, "Ponies becoming residents, they pushed out the monsters and broken ponies Dusk had protected with rules and laws that should not have applied to them."
"Dusk had saved thousands, saved us, and we repaid him by taking his home from him."
"I don't remember what he told me, or how, but it was during our failure as his friend that I now realize he began enacting his plan to turn me towards jealousy of Celestia. He saw what we did to his people, and knew we would only repeat our mistakes on each other, so he prepared."
"He put rifts and wedges between me and Celestia. Used the Thestral population as a guide piece to show me what we had done with his people. He... I-..."
"I fell for him."
Cadance's expression did not change
"He was immortal after all... and I began to consider... that we might have a future, if not as... close as I may have wanted, maybe, but still. I considered it."
"and he knew, he led me on a marry chase, he made me feel like I was... lesser, and not good enough for him, but he never stopped caring for me, not really. He just knew what I actually needed."
"It was when it all came to a head when he... did what he did..."
Cadance spoke up, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to Luna."
"No, no. I- This has been good for me. I feel the weight lifting as I speak more and more."
"Dusk had been... at the point in my life at the time, present throughout the majority of my life. Distant, but I thought that was just because he wasn't around a lot. As I grew in confidence, I began engaging with him, and making my... false desire for him very obvious."
"I was not in love with Dusk. I was broken, and lonely. An outcast, and Dusk was the only pony who truly cared for me. In my foolishness, I had mistaken my loneliness for something pure."
"What it really was? I wanted to use him to feed my own selfish desires. For ponies to tell me I was great, instead of being great in spite of them, like he had tried to teach me."
"It took nearly a hundred years, but..."
"One day... the same day I decided to turn on my sister, he began to return my affections, except it was twisted, and..."
"Dark. Malicious and... and bold."
A pit formed in Cadance stomach
"He showed me how I was treating him, by treating me the same way. I didn't understand it, didn't know what..."
"I thought he had betrayed me, thought he had..."
"I wasn't thinking."
"Then he did betray me, left me. On a day where I had... I had gotten into an argument with him, just because I could, just because he was there, and he laughed in my face and told me everything they were saying about me was right. He insulted me, broke me down specifically and artfully."
"It was that dusk that I crafted Nightmare Moon from the dream realm and my emotions in pain and alone."
Luna looked down, the world coming back into focus as her story came to a close, "The rest is history I do not know of..."
Cadance... didn't... couldn't comprehend the depth of that.
Hundreds of moons of work gone to... that.
"That's a lot to think about Auntie."
"It was a lot to keep inside. Thank you for listening to my tale Cadance."
Cadance reached over her desk for Luna's hoof, "I may not have answers a lot of the time, but I will always be here for you, at the very least to listen to your hurt. Show you that you aren't alone."
The pain Luna felt ran from the Love, and Luna grinned and wrapped her hooves around Cadance's as he smile widened, "Yes, of course. Thank you from the depths of my soul Cadance."
Cadance just matched Luna's smile in response.
They sat for a moment, enjoying the kindness they shared with one another, until Cadance reminded her of the business she had to attend to, and eventually going to bed.
"So. You freed Dusk in hopes of making right what you had done to him?"
"More, Cadance, that what I made him do." Luna closed her eyes, still cradling Cadance's limb in her own. "Dusk never spoke the words, but it was clear he cared for us deeply. His passion and Love were unmistakable. I forced him to push us both away, to sacrifice his relationship with us out of childishness."
"Something he was willing to do without hesitation. To Dusk, we were far more valuable to him than our relationship was. He, on many occasions, threw caution to the wind for his reputation for us."
Cadance spoke up, "You're saying that... He did do anything for you?"
"Yes, he did in a way. He was a friend to us, but we were never his friends. He gave up any chance of truly finding companionship with us that day, especially with Celestia."
"What about you?"
Luna frowned, "I honestly do not know dear niece. It was hard to hear him in the garden, the spite and the hurt, now that I had understood what I had done to him, he had no reason to hide it from me anymore."
"You want him to forgive you."
"Nay Cadance, I am not sure I deserve to be forgiven for this."
"Luna-"
"No, Cadance, some things are not forgivable, some mistakes can only be fought to be made right forever. If that is what I must do, then so be it."
Cadance pulled her hoof back over the table, "If that's how you feel, I won't argue."
"I hoped I could... that maybe I could... introduce the two of you, and maybe he could find the friend he never could in me."
"With me." Cadance nodded, she felt she understood Luna's intentions, but hearing her say them allowed was the last piece of the mental jigsaw to be completely certain.
Luna didn't seem to have anything else to add.
"What of the... This curse?"
Luna frowned.
"Dusk brought it up, didn't explain it." Cadance felt deeply confused at Luna's reaction, "He said that you threw me into the deep end."
Luna awkwardly shifted her weight before speaking, "Dusk... Du... He..."
Cadance patiently waited for Luna to find exactly what she was trying to phrase.
"My apologies Cadance, this has been a particularly emotional night for me."
Cadance gave a soft smile and nodded, "No need, I understand, and I'm not busy. Take your time."
"The answer lies in something Dusk told me in confidence. Something I forced him to tell me. It would be against my honor as a new pony, as a Princess and more to reveal the details."
Cadance tried not to frown, and was moderately successful. "So I won't be getting that."
"Dusk may tell you yet. I don't know his plans for you, but I do know he plans something."
"Two other things,"
"Ask away dear niece"
"Can you potentially shield him from Celestia's tracking? I invite him to the gala."
Luna snorted, "Of course, I'll have to actually go to this one, and watch the nobles fret."
"and the other thing."
Luna nodded and waited for Cadance to ask,
"Dusk said... well I won't mince words. Dusk said you were scared of him. Scared of what he could do. That you knew just how dangerous Dusk could really be. In essence, I want to know... how badly this could go. I want to know what I'm protecting my citizens from."
Throughout Cadance's question, Luna's frown turned to a tight lipped neutral expression. "Cadance, do you know of the phrase, a cornered animal fights it's hardest?"
Cadance nodded,
"Dusk does not do that. Dusk can not be cornered. Dusk can not be out-wit, or out thought, or out planned. There is no corner you can push Dusk into, because he will simply lead you into a corner he fabricated. Dusk will always maintain control over you, and over himself. He never opens up to ponies, unless it's part of some plan. He summed up his power to me in a terrifyingly simple phrase once."
Luna leaned back, "If magic gives one infinite potential, and immortality gives one infinite time to reach that potential, then I am capable of everything"
Cadance nodded slowly, that, very lightly being what she expected.
"Celestia is the only creature alive that could potentially contest Dusk's intelligence with raw power. He likely out classes everypony else."
"What about the elements of harmony?"
Luna... Looked away, "Dusk is immune."
What?
"Dusk had found a very simple counter to the powers of the elements of harmony. He is always in harmony with himself. He was very good at explaining his strangeness. 'They are the elements of harmony, not the elements of whatever seems good from your perspective'. "
"He often said that good was often just evil pointed in a convenient direction. When we learned of some his darker practices, and he refused to stop; we proved him right. The elements left him untouched, as apparently the forces of harmony agree with some part of his morality."
Curious
"So..."
Luna waited,
Cadance just had to know, "You picked me for the job because I was just... the last pony that could? Why not Twilight? The literal Princess of Friendship?"
Luna shook her head, "It has to do with what I will not reveal to you. You must have Dusk answer those questions."
"Okay then." Cadance shut her eyes, and rubbed at them with a hoof, stretching her wings at the same time. Luna stood from her seat apposing Cadance and made her way around the table.
"Despite my initial deception, I am very pleased you found me out. I am glad to... to..."
"I understand Luna," Cadance leaned into a hug with the slightly taller Alicorn.
"Thank you Cadance."
"Always." Cadance spoke with meaning. Luna gripped her tighter.
They shared in the moment before they both pulled away.
"I will make sure you dream well tonight."
"Thank you Luna, have a safe trip back."
"I will dear niece, Goodnight"
"Goodnight Luna."
Luna took flight out for grafted crystal window frame, out into the night sky where she disappeared against the black. Shortly after, the moon rose over the horizon, gleaming with passion.
It filled Cadance with Hope.