Chapter 6:
They dreamed not during the night, the two of them sleeping peacefully. They had succumbed to slumber not long after getting comfortable on the balcony. Despite Luna being slightly smaller than Twilight, she wrapped her right wing around the other mare, keeping her warm as the night wore on. Luna shivered in the late night air, and unconsciously, whilst still being asleep, levitated a thick, deep blue woollen blanket from their bed, and wrapped it around the two of them. She tucked it in tight so they were cocooned against each other in the cool night.
The morning came and went, the rising sun warming the two mares as they slept on through to mid-day.
It was Twilight that awoke first, and for a moment she struggled, unsure of her surroundings. But she quickly saw the blue alicorn beside her and relaxed. Now that she was calm, she took a look about her immediate vicinity. She noted the fact that they were still on the balcony, she smiled a little at that, a guilty smile. She was sure that it was due to her that they lay here still, Luna hadn’t been that tired when they got back from Night Court. Twilight, on the other hand, had been exhausted. Perhaps so exhausted that she fell asleep on the balcony outside. The blanket wrapped around her was further proof of it being her fault. She didn’t really mind though, the balcony was surprisingly comfortable, especially with Luna’s wing around her back.
Twilight tried to manoeuvre herself out of the cocoon but only succeeded in waking up Luna. Twilight’s efforts had resulted in the blanket being pulled fully over Luna, and so when she woke up, she flailed in an attempt to escape from the darkness. Twilight finally freed herself from the blanket menace and helped pull Luna out. Once she was too free, she stood and surveyed the cause of their entrapment with disdain.
“Perhaps I tucked it in a little too tight.” Luna mused as she levitated the blanket back to their bed and laid it over the sheets. When she was pleased with it she turned back to the purple unicorn. “You hungry?” Luna asked, Twilight nodded firmly, it had been over eighteen hours since she last ate and her stomach certainly reflected that thought. “Okay, I’m just going to go have a shower first, you can have one after if you want.” Luna said, levitating a towel and draping it across her back as she moved towards the ensuite bathroom.
“Sure.” Twilight replied.
Luna disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind her, and a few seconds later the shower started up, the harsh pitter-patter of the water contrasting against the mostly silent day. Twilight, now alone, walking back out to the balcony and leaned with her two forelegs up on the fence that edged the floor to stop anypony from falling off. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, taking in the sweet outside air, hints of smells playing on her senses as she relaxed. In her relaxed state, Twilight could think fully about something that she had put off previously, due to the whole ‘moving back to Canterlot’ thing that had been going on at the time. Luna’s form.
She did what she did best, think. She imagined up scenarios, events that could possibly take place under different circumstances. She tried to think of an explanation that would help her understand what had happened, whether something had gone wrong. And if that was the case, how they could fix it. Finally she came up with the most likely of reasons, Nightmare Moon. Though she probably didn’t deliberately cause this, Twilight was sure that it was the fact that Luna and Nightmare Moon were still separated that was the reason that Luna was still in her weakened state, despite her having her alicorn magic back. And though Twilight didn’t mind Luna’s weakened form, in fact she kinda preferred it, she knew that her regular state was what the ponies of Equestria were used to, and that having her back to normal would be best for all involved.
The sound of the shower cut off, to be followed by the sound of Luna stepping out and drying herself. Twilight wandered back inside to meet the newly cleaned mare as she departed the bathroom.
“How are you feeling?” Twilight asked.
“Refreshed.” Luna smiled, the towel magically rubbing itself against her mane to dry it out. “You can have yours now.” Luna continued, Twilight nodded, but she wanted to voice her hypothesis first.
“Hey Luna, I think I worked out why you’re still in your weakened state.” Twilight told the other mare, Luna cocked her head slightly to the right, as if to say ‘go on’. “I think it’s because of Nightmare Moon.” Luna nodded slowly whilst Twilight elaborated, “Because you two are separated, despite being so closely connected, it means that you aren’t technically ‘complete’ yet, and so can’t go back to your regular form.” Twilight looked at Luna whilst she pondered this.
“That makes sense.” Luna replied with a nod, “Okay, after your shower we need to go down and have a little talk with my other half. I won’t bring Tia though, she has enough to do as it is.”
Twilight’s shower was brief, she was too preoccupied with thoughts to fully enjoy the relaxing feel of the water running over her body. She used Luna’s lavender scented shampoo, taking a moment to admire the scent it exuded. She quickly finished up and dried herself, hanging the wet towel up to dry before going back to Luna.
“Ready?” Luna asked her.
“I’m always ready.” Twilight replied with a small grin, Luna smiled back.
Two minutes later, however, Twilight had lost that grin, and was regretting her readiness to descend into the depths of Canterlot Castle. The dungeons of the Castle weren’t technically part of the building, the place was cut out of the mountain, so it felt like the walls were closing in on you. Even though Twilight was not a claustrophobic pony, it was still fairly disconcerting to be descending into the darkness of the roughly-hewn rock.
“Just a bit further and I believe we’ll reach where they’re keeping Nightmare Moon.” Luna told Twilight reassuringly, catching on to her discomfort, Twilight nodded, the action almost imperceptible in the poor lighting.
Twilight almost felt sorry for Nightmare Moon, despite all she had done to her and Luna, nopony really deserved to have to live in somewhere like this. Luna seemed to reflect those feelings, giving out a small sigh as they neared Nightmare Moon’s cell. There was a lone torch hanging in the room, the light illuminating a simple bed and a single chair. Lying on the bed, facing away from them and towards the wall, was Luna’s copy. She didn’t seem to notice them though, for a weird noise was emanating from her. It almost sounded like... crying.
“Nightmare Moon?” Luna asked timidly, taken aback by the sound, and now that they were closer they could see the pony wracking in its sobs. Instantly, the pony jumped to her feet, looking indignant. A look lost most of its effect though due to the tears running down the side of Nightmare Moon’s face, dripping silently to the stone floor.
“What do you want?” She asked in a low growl.
Twilight took a step forward and replied, “Are... Are you crying?”
“Of course not, you whelp! I do not cry!” Nightmare Moon tried to shout in an intimidating manner, but her voice cracked part-way through her sentence and it just made her seem pitiful. She kept up the fierce act for about half a minute more before her glare fell, and she collapsed to the floor, forelegs wrapped around her head in an effort to stop the other ponies from seeing her.
Twilight and Luna glanced at each other, confusion clear on their faces, before turning back to the mare on the floor of her cell.
“What’s wrong?” Luna asked, walking up to the cell door and kneeling down so her head was close to her copy’s. Nightmare Moon looked up and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” She repeated in a quiet voice, “What’s wrong!? I’ll tell you what’s wrong!” Nightmare Moon stood to her hooves once more, Luna following her up. “Everything! Everything is wrong!” Nightmare Moon gestured with a foreleg, waving it in an arc to emphasise her point. “The fact that I’m in this stupid form! The way I’m trapped in this foalish cell! The fact that I’m... crying.” That last word came out as a whisper and Nightmare Moon turned from them, sitting down to face the wall. “I’ve never cried before.” She continued, all of her anger dissolved, leaving her but a dishevelled mess. All the while, Twilight stood back from the two Lunas, looking on as her marefriend stared at her nemesis.
Luna gave another quick glance back to Twilight, this time with a hint of sadness to her features, before unlocking the cell door and stepping in. Twilight followed slowly, on guard for a surprise attack, but it never came. Luna sat herself down beside Nightmare Moon, Twilight sitting on the opposite side so that Nightmare Moon was sandwiched in the middle. Twilight was sure that, even though this pony looked exactly like the Nightmare Moon that she had helped banish to this very dungeon over two years ago, it was certainly not the same pony in a mental sense.
“Tell me about it.” Luna commanded to Nightmare Moon, whose head was still lowered to the ground.
“Tell you about what?” She replied.
“Anything, tell me about your time in this cell, about how you feel, just talk to me.” Luna told her.
At first, Nightmare Moon had been skeptical and unwilling to open up, but as they talked, the trio of ponies became more comfortable with each other’s presence. Nightmare Moon told them about how she had attempted to impersonate Luna when she had first woken up in her new body, how she had failed and been sent here for her sins. She told them how she had had a lot of time to think whilst in her cell, more than when she on the Moon actually. When she was on the Moon all she could think of revenge, now that she had failed once more in her attempts, she had become introspective, asking herself questions that she had to think long and hard about to provide answers.
“I realised that I couldn’t even remember why I wanted any of this, why I swore to take over and bring eternal night. I had been born with that hatred inside me, but I had never questioned it, never thought whether I actually should or not. I didn’t know why I was what I was, I just was. But whilst I was here I questioned all of that, I realised that my attempts were doomed to fail from the beginning, that there would always be more ponies there to stop me then there was that I could surpass, that nopony wanted eternal night. But me.” Nightmare Moon finished speaking, and the silence began to lengthen whilst Twilight and Luna took everything in.
Luna stood silently, all the while looking at her doppelganger. Twilight too rose to her hooves, leaving Nightmare Moon to be sullen on the floor.
“I think we need to talk to Celestia.” Luna stated, Twilight nodded.
“But what are we going to do with her?” Twilight asked, gesturing to Nightmare Moon. “We can’t just leave her here, it wouldn’t seem right to me. As harsh as she’s been to us, she’s served over two years here, I don’t think we should keep her here any longer.”
“Are you sure? I’m sure a few more hours can’t hurt.” Luna asked, reluctant to give Nightmare Moon any sort of freedom. But Twilight nodded firmly.
“Yes. It wouldn’t be right to leave her here. How about you leave me with her in our room whilst you go get Celestia.” Twilight offered, Luna bit her lip whilst she considered the options.
“Fine.” Luna finally said, “But be wary, this could be some sort of attempt to get out of here.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. You go get Celestia, I’ll bring Nightmare Moon to our room.” Twilight replied, waving Luna away.
“Okay, stay safe.” Luna said, walking out of the cell and up the steps.
“Don’t worry, I will.” Twilight replied as Luna left.
Once Luna was departed Twilight turned back to Nightmare Moon.
“Come on, let’s leave this place.” Twilight told her. Nightmare Moon looked up puzzled.
“Why are you doing this?” She asked, she truly didn’t understand why Twilight was being so nice to her.
“Because nopony deserves to live in a place like this. I don’t know if what you say is true, but you seem to have changed and I’m just giving you another chance.” Twilight replied, pulling Nightmare Moon to her hooves and brushing off all the dust and the like which she had accumulated upon her body. “I think you need a shower.” She continued with a smile. Nightmare Moon stayed silent so Twilight looked her in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” She asked, Nightmare Moon shook her head slightly.
Suddenly she made a lunge for Twilight, who then almost blasted her back with her magic before realising that Nightmare Moon was hugging her.
“I... I’m so sorry.” Nightmare Moon said, her words muffled as her face was buried in Twilight’s neck. Twilight initially tensed upon her touch but soon relaxed and rubbed Nightmare Moon’s back comfortably. She could feel Nightmare Moon shaking as the tears fell upon Twilight’s fur, soaking her.
Once Nightmare Moon had calmed down, she stepped back, rubbing at her eyes with a foreleg. Twilight smiled at her in a friendly way, and Nightmare Moon gave a small smile in return.
“Come, let’s get going.” Twilight said, Nightmare Moon nodded and walked alongside Twilight up the stairs and towards Twilight and Luna’s bedroom. Once inside Twilight directed Nightmare Moon to the shower. “Okay, you get cleaned up and then we can wait for Celestia to arrive.” Twilight told her, Nightmare Moon nodded once more and went to go shower.
“Thank you.” Nightmare Moon whispered before she closed the door behind her.
When she heard the shower start to run, Twilight walked out to the balcony again and gave a sigh, wondering what was going on.