//------------------------------//
// 52. Birth of the Nightmare - part IV 
// Story: Rebirth of the Damned 
// by Borsuq 
//------------------------------//

	Luna looked at the long line of petitioners that were attending in her night court, where they could present to her their problems.
“One would think that there would be more petitioners during day than night.” she thought as she prepared to listen to the first pony’s plea.
That, along with many other things, was Discord’s fault. Half of a century of day and night switching randomly really messed with ponies’ inner clocks. Even after two years since her and Celestia victory over him, everypony found it hard to adjust.
Both of them were very busy ever since. They had grown up believing that there would come a day when their mother would be sitting on the throne of Equestria as Queen, so they were really surprised when she decided to stay within the old castle.
“It is you two that are destined to rule Equestria, my dear daughters, not Me.” she told them after everypony celebrated the fall of Discord. “Besides, I’m too old and frail to do much, let alone rule a nation. I will be far more content to stay here. Just... promise me that you will visit me from time to time.”
Father stayed there as well, as so did some of the staff; and so, Luna and Celestia had to deal with the disorder left by Discord mostly by themselves. They spend over a month trying to convince ponies that the Spirit of Chaos was defeated alone; not to mention repairing the economy, hospital care, and decreasing the crime, which putted off their official coronations as Princesses of Equestria for four months. Both Celestia and Luna agreed that their grandparents will be remembered as the last King and Queen of Equestria: from now on, this country will be ruled by Princesses, regardless of lineage.
Their problems weren’t done by the time of the coronation, though. They still had a lot of work, especially Luna, who also had to comfort ponies in their dreams.
“Speaking of...” she thought as she sensed somepony having a nightmare.
Unnoticed by everypony, her mind shifted to the realm of dreams, and soon she found herself in some bizarrely colored landscape. Luna immediately stopped paying attention to it as she realized that she could hear a cry of a foal. She quickly rushed towards it, and found a small filly that couldn’t be older than one, with a familiar shape that was hovering over her.
“Discord.” Luna named him in her mind as she banished this nightmare into nothingness. “Will Equestria be ever free of you? Even ponies that were born after you were defeated fear of you within their minds.”
Princess of the Night then trotted over to still crying filly, and picked it up from the ground, holding her in the embrace of the forelegs.
“There there, little one...” she whispered as she tried her best to calm the small unicorn.
She didn’t have much experience with such small ponies, but the filly stopped crying and looked at her with her big eyes and giggled adorably.
“See? There is nothing to be afraid of.” Luna smiled at her as she lulled her back into peaceful dream. “Go back to dreaming, little one, and remember that I will always look after you.”
The filly’s eyes slowly closed, as she phases into another phase of dream. Luna kissed her on forehead near her horn and put her comfortably on the ground, feeling very happy, and not just because she helped another of her subjects. For a moment she wondered if this was what her mother have felt when she hold her so many years ago, and Celestia before. This warm feeling she had as she had that filly in her embrace... Luna found herself at loss of words as she tried to describe it.
“Is this what mothers feel? Will I ever feel that, but because of my own foal?”
That thought crossed her mind unexpectedly. She never really thought about such things before. She hadn’t even been courted by anypony, and here she was, fantasizing about having foals.
Shaking her head, Luna returned with her senses to her surroundings, knowing that she didn’t miss anything, due to the relativity of time in dreams. Princess managed to learn how to manipulate the time within them for her benefit, so she could help those around here as well as those dreaming, and there was a lot to help with, and only just five months ago their lives started to be more calm.
“We would still had the crime problem, if it wasn’t for night guard and Shadow Bolt.” Luna thought with pride as she spared a glance at her two guards as the pony continued to complain about the insurance company that tried to, as he put it, ‘screw with him’.
Her night guard have expended over the time, and now, it counted over fifty pegasi in its ranks. Still pitifully small compared to royal guard, but their numbers proved their worth hundred times over. They arrested plenty of robbers, and broke the gangs that ‘ruled’ Manehatten... At the memory of that, Luna had to stop herself from shaking. Shadow Bolt had been stabbed that day twice in his chest and barely made it. The thought of losing her friend, the first of her night guards (that earned himself a nickname ‘Champion of the Night’), was painful. Even more so as it caused the return of memories she hoped to bury in the corners of her mind, of how Bolt almost died... and what she did to save him.
As if thinking about him summoned him, Luna spotted Shadow Bolt making his way slowly through the crow. She frowned, and some other ponies that noticed him looked confused or even shocked. The night guards took great pride in their secrecy, so it was unusual, to say the least, to see one at night court.
“Something important must have happened.” Princess concluded as she raised her hoof, interrupting the pony.
“WE THANK THEE FOR BRINGING TO OUR ATTENTION THE UNFAITHFULNESS OF THIS INSURANCE COMPANY.” she told him, using the ‘Canterlot voice’. “WE PROMISE THEE TO LOOK INTO THIS MATTER, BUT FOR NOW WE ARE AFRAID THAT THE NIGHT COURT HAS TO BE POSTPONED UNTIL NEXT NIGHT.”
The disappointed ponies started leaving the throne room, most of them plainly unhappy with this twist of events. Luna, however, had her attention only for Bolt.
“What is it?” she asked, returning to her normal voice.
    Since night guard reported directly to her, she never used the ‘Canterlot voice’ or the ‘Royal We’ when addressing them, aside from their initiation ceremonies.
“Bad news.” Bolt replied, bowing his head slightly.
“How bad?”
“Bad enough to wake up a Princess.”
“Wake up my sister and tell her to join us.” Luna ordered one of her current guards, understanding Shadow Bolt’s message.





Princess Luna looked around in confusion. She and her sister were flying towards the Crystal Empire, having received news from Bolt about some tyrant taking over it. He called himself ‘King Sombra’ and he was used dark magic to enslave all crystal ponies, while his minions, the ‘Six Shadows of the King’, beat those that tried to oppose him. The royal sisters decided to go there at once to save them, but as they neared it, they were both surrounded by a black fog, and now... Luna was back in Canterlot.
…Alone in Canterlot
“Where is everypony!” she asked, galloping from one house to another, and finding nopony.
“What happened? What’s going on?! Why... Why am I all alone?”
“Tia! Bolt!” Luna called for her sister and best friend.
Nopony answered.
Luna sat down on the ground, feeling tears forming in her eyes, when suddenly, she felt a familiar laughter.
“No... he couldn’t have escaped!” Princess thought as she looked around, but she could not deny the truth any longer as she spotted the shape of the enemy of her family and country.
Not putting much thought into it, she blasted Discord with her magic, destroying him and the house in which he was hiding in. Furious for whatever it was that he did to everypony she ever loved, cared and knew; Luna trotted over to the debris, getting ready to beat the information about their whereabouts of them, but then she saw something that stopped her dead in her track.
Under the debris laid Shadow Bolt.
The dark blue alicorn stared at him in horror as he stirred and opened one eye.
“Luna... why?”

“Luna, wake up!”
The Princess of the Night opened her eyes and saw that she was shielded by her sister magic, as she herself battled the unicorn Shadow Bolt showed them in the seer crystal, which was part of night guard equipment.
“King Sombra.”
“Luna, are you alright?” Celestia asked her without turning around. “He casted some sort of illusion spell on us when we flew through that smog.”
“I’m... fine, sister.” Luna replied, shaking slightly.
“It was just an illusion.” she thought as she breathed deeply.
She shrugged off the affects of that nightmare and joined her sister in battle.
 



 
Luna sighed as she glance around the empty throne room, save for her and two night guards.
“To think that not so long ago I would have given much for a less ponies attending night court...”
It has been five years since the memorable fight with King Sombra. As soon as she joined Celestia, they quickly gained upper hoof. He was apparently unaware as to how powerful the two of them were as he brings in his minions to fight them, and the two sisters were able to defeat him, turning him to shadow and banishing him to the ice of arctic north. Luna and Celestia did not saved the Crystal Empire, however – for before he was defeated, King Sombra managed to cast one last spell: a curse that caused the entire Empire to vanish.
Both of them tried everything they could to bring it back, but to no avail. Resigned, they returned to Canterlot, but posted several guards within the area, in case the curse have been lifted over time by itself.
“Princess Luna,” a voice came from one of her guard's as it pulled her from recalling past, “maybe we should wrap up for tonight? It’s the fourth night in a row when nopony showed up.”
“Not yet.” Luna replied, shaking her head. “It is my duty to listen to ponies’ pleas. Even if only one will come in every few days, I will still have to hear him out.”
She looked at the doors, not to wait for them to be opened, but to not see the looks her night guards would give her.
“King Sombra didn’t show me a nightmare.” a soft whisper spoke in her head. “He showed me the future.”
 




“What do you mean: they are dying?!” Luna screamed at Royal Physician.
“This cannot be true.” she protested in her thoughts, desperately wanting to be right. “Mother has gotten better enough to travel to Canterlot and Father was always strong. They cannot...”
It has been four years ago, on the tenth year of her and Celestia’s reign. Their parents came to live in Canterlot with them, to joy of everypony, mostly their daughters. Mother looked more healthy than Luna had ever saw her, and for the time being, she and her sister hoped that she had finally regained her health, like before. They even visited few other cities of Equestria, and went on moth long vacation to griffin’s lands. But just few days ago, both of them suddenly started to feel weak, loose strength, and now...
“This better be some sort of joke!” Princess told the Royal Physician angrily, wishing that this was Doctor Horn; he wouldn’t be cowering in fear right now.
“Y-Your Highness, t-this is no joke.” the nervous unicorn replied, shaking. “I don’t know why, but Princess Platina and Prince Yellow Flash are growing weaker and weaker.”
“No...” Luna thought as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. “Why...”
“How...” she asked as fought them off. “... how long until...”
“It... won’t be long now, Princess.” the Royal Physician told her. “They asked for you and Princess Celestia...”
Luna didn’t hear anything else, because she ran down the corridor to the chamber where her parents laid.
“Damn it Tia, why aren’t you back yet?!”
Celestia had traveled to Los Pegasus over week ago, to preside over court in which accused of lobbying were many high class ponies. Luna had sent her letters as soon as their parents became ill, asking her to come back, but so far she hadn’t responded.
“Swift Wing!” she turned her head towards one of her night guards. “Fly as fast as you can to Los Pegasus and get my sister here. I don’t care how, drag her if necessary.”
Swift Wing bowed and flew through the window, as Luna continued to run towards her destination. Once she reached, she stopped to take few deep breaths, and walked in.
“Mommy? Daddy?” she asked as she stepped in.
Both of them lied on their bed. As they turned their head towards her, Luna saw how sick they looked. They were both unhealthily thin, and their coats lacked the shine most ponies had, aside from those very old. Their bloodshed eyes with wrinkles under them searched hers as her parents smiled at her.
“I guess that doctor told you.” Father said.
“Yes, but I don’t understand... you were both so healthy not long ago, especially Mom...”
“It’s because of a spell.” Yellow Flash interrupted her.
“A spell?” Luna asked, not understanding what he meant.
“Few years ago, you mother started to get worse, just like now.” her father sighed as he went on. “I... I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t imagine living without her. I searched Horn’s old office for some sort of medicine, and in one of his books, I found a spell that could prolong her life... by sharing my remaining lifespan with her.”
Princess Luna eyes widen. She had never heard of such spell before.
“The spell worked better than I had expected.” Father continued. “Your mother was revitalized by me life-force, and made her feel better than she felt in years. I thought we would still be around with you for at least twenty years or so, but... I didn’t take into the account the possibility that Platina was born with much longer lifespan than me. It seems the years I had left were sucked away swiftly.”
“You say that as if you were fascinated by it.” Platina noticed with a weak chuckle.
“My fascination with magic was what led me to becoming your father apprentice... and meeting you.” Yellow Flash replied, kissing her on the cheek.
“So you’re really... dying?” Luna asked them, looking from one to another, tears streaming down her face.
“Luna, come here.” Mother beckoned to her, and Luna trotted over to her and hugged her mother as she hugged her. “Everypony has to die at some point. I also used to think that my parents would stay with me forever, but they are both long gone.”
“I know, but...”
“Shhh...” her mother cut her off, and patted her on her head. “It’s okay, sweetie. I had a good life, despite everything. I was blessed with loving husband and two beautiful daughters, and saw them grow up to become great princesses.”
What she said - that she had two daughters - made Luna remember what she heard so long ago from Celestia.
“I’m sorry...” she whispered.
“About what, dear?”
“For being born! Tia told me about how you’ve gotten so weak after...”
“Luna,” Princess Platina cut her off again, “you being born was one of the two happiest moments of my life. I don’t care if that made me sick or not.”
“But...”
“No ‘buts’, young filly.” she said with threatening tone.
Luna stared at her for several seconds, astonished by what she said; and to her surprised, she chuckled, followed by her parents. The three of them continue to laugh for few more moments, until Luna felt that she needed to ask something.
“Mommy, why... why don’t you hate me? You’ve gotten so much worse after I was born, so soon after you recovered after giving birth to Tia... I just don’t understand it.”
“You will, once you become a mother yourself.” Princess Platina replied, chuckling. “I wish I would have lived long to meet my grandchildren...”
“I... I wish so, too.” Luna said, beginning to cry again. “I wish that you weren’t... weren’t...”
“We know, Little Princess.” Father interrupted her. “Please, don’t be so sad. You know how I hate seeing you sad.”
“Luna, I know it seems unlikely, but over the time, you will feel better. Trust me on this one. I was so young when your grandfather died that I barely remember him anymore, and while I never stopped missing him, I no longer cry every night.”
“I should have been more sensitive to you those days...” Yellow Flash murmured, nuzzling her cheek. “We might have been together for longer time if I wasn’t such a jerk.”
“Well, I certainly didn’t make your life easier, didn’t I?”
“What?” Luna asked, confused. “You two didn’t like each other?”
“Hated each other guts, would be more appropriate.” Father replied, chuckling. “When I became King Brom’s apprentice, your mom was jealous of the time he was spending with me instead with her, and I was an arrogant narcissus, although I turned down a bit after Discord took over.”
“But then one day, many years later, he came back to the castle after another fight with Discord.” her mother continued. “Nopony knew then about those fights, so I teased him for coming back so exhausted and dirty. Your father then told me that he was fighting Discord, and I realized how close he came to not returning. The thought of loosing somepony else... it hurt. I became much nicer to him, tried to convince him to not fight Discord again... one thing led to another...” she finished with smile at Yellow Flash. Turning back to Luna, she added: “Take your mother’s advice, and listen to your heart. You will find that it takes less time to do things right when you do, instead of wasting years on hating somepony.”
“I will, Mommy, I promise.” Princess Luna replied, saddened that she never before took much interest in her parents past, and now she would lose the chance to ask them ever again.
Yellow Flash coughed weakly, and turned to his daughter.
“Our time is ending. Where is your sister? We wanted to say goodbye to her as well.”
“Tia...” Luna said, suddenly reminded of her sister’s absence. “She’s still in Los Pegasus. She will be here shortly, just... just hang on...”
“To think that there would come a day when I would have to wait for somepony...” Father chuckled, although both his eyes and Mother’s spoke of sadness. “I’m afraid we won’t make it this long. Tell your sister that we love her as much as you...”
“You can tell her that yourself...” Luna tried to say, but he just smiled at her and continued.
“... and that we’re proud of both of you. We are very, very sorry that we have to leave you. Make sure she knows we don’t blame her for not being here - she has her duties, and we are very proud of her for her diligence.”
“Luna...” her mother cut in. “... you must be there for Tia. Don’t let her blame herself for any of this. You two have each other, and I don’t want either of you forgetting that.”
“Yes, Mommy, I will.” the dark blue alicorn replied, her tears falling down the floor.
“Hey, Little Princess?” Father asked, hugging Mother. “Do you remember that song you used to sing when you were a little filly?” when Luna nodded, he added: “Could you please sing it now? We always liked your singing.”
“Of-of course.” Luna smiled sadly, taking deep breath, and she song:
 
Ask not the sun why she sets
Why she shrouds her light away
Or why she hides her glowing gaze
When night turns crimson gold to grey.
 
For her sister moon then rises
Her soft silver light brings calm to all
She guards the night from nightmares
Until her sister wakes up again.
 
Luna finished singing and looked at her parents, who were smiling, had they eyes closed and were pressed against each other in tight embrace.

They were not breathing.
 




She didn’t know how long she sat there, with her tears streaming down without stop. Time had seemed to pause to her, as if it cased to move with the death of her parents.
When Luna finally managed to pull herself out of her mourning, she realized that there was somepony else with her in the room, crying as much as she did. Once she recognised her sister, she felt something she didn’t expected: rage.
“Why weren’t you here?!” she asked Celestia, almost shouting. Tia paused her sobbing and looked at her, her eyes full of tears. That did not stop Luna from lashing her sadness and anger at her. “They were asking for you! They wanted to see you!”
“They wanted to see...”
“They wanted to see...”
“... the one daughter...”
“... the one daughter...”
“... that wasn’t responsible for their deaths!”
“... that wasn’t responsible for their deaths!”
“What?!?” Celestia shouted, shocked. “Luna...”
But Luna didn’t want to hear any of this. She teleported back to her own bedchambers, and continued to cry there.
 



 
The Princess of the Night trotted through the dark streets of Canterlot, hoping that the stroll would help her with the foul mood she had been those last couple of days, but the opposite happened as she noticed that there was nopony here besides her.
She managed to return to her senses before the funeral, and apologized to Tia for her words. Celestia replied that there was nothing to apologize, and they had a long talk, remembering their parents and all the moments they shared. They both cried when Luna repeated their last words, laughed when they remembered happy moments, Tia burst into tears and Luna had to cheer her up, reminding her that Mother and Father didn’t wanted her to blame herself for not being there, and the Luna cried and Celestia had to remind her that this wasn’t her fault that they died.
The funeral was beautiful, and many ponies attended it to pay their final respects to the daughter of last King of Equestria, as well as her husband, who helped many ponies throughout Discord’s reign. Their bodies had been encased in crystal coffins, as per tradition, so that they would not decay, and buried in the royal graveyard. Throughout the entire ceremony, Luna and Celestia didn’t stop crying.
It has been few days since then. Still feeling sad, Luna listened this time to Bolt suggestion and didn’t open the night court, going on a walk instead to clear her mind.
“Why is there nopony enjoying the nigh?” she couldn’t help but wonder as she passed another street. She couldn’t understand it. “Do they not like my moon?”
“Do they not like me?”
She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts off. Luna knew that she was being paranoid. Sure, it’s saddening that nopony enjoys the night, but they didn’t do it to spite her, but simply because they had jobs to do during day.
“They like the day more than the night...”
Luna once again shook her head. She still conversed with few ponies that needed her help with their nightmares, and they were all in awe that she personally came to them. That was good enough.
“Mammy, don’t blow off the candles.” came a foalish voice from an opened window of one of the houses Luna just passed. The Princess stopped to listen. “I’m scared of dark.”
Luna chuckled to herself, remembering that she used to be scared of darkness as foal too.
“Honey, there is nothing o be scared of dark.” a warm voice, most likely foal’s mother’s, replied.
“But why it has to be so dark?”
“Because it’s night, darling.”
“Why? Day should last forever, night is stupid.”
“What?” Luna listened to the conversation in the house, shocked.
“Don’t worry, honey. In few hours, Princess Celestia will raise the sun and it will be day again.”
“She will scare off the night?”
“Yes, she will.”
Luna didn’t want to listen to what next they said next. Heartbroken, she had teleported back into her bedchambers, and cried.
 



 
“Don’t worry; I’m sure she will agree.” Luna thought to herself the next morning as she approached her sister, who had just finished raising the sun.
Once she finished crying, feeling more hurt that she could imagine by the little foal’s words, she began to think about ways to change the ponies view on the night. She figured that if the night lasted longer, ponies would have to spend some time outside their houses then, and could see how beautiful it was compared to day.
Confident that Celestia would see her line of reasoning, she coughed to gain her sister attention.
“Good morning, Luna.” Celestia said, smiling at her. “Anything of interest happened?”
“Not really.” Luna replied, not wanting to mention her walk through the streets of Canterlot. “But sister, there is something I would like to discuss with you. I wanted to extend the time of the night...”
 
About an hour later Luna once again found herself within her bedchambers crying.
Celestia at first thought that this was some sort of joke, and when she realized that Luna was serious, she dismissed the idea, firstly by calmly explaining what effect could have the longer night for the climate, like the decrease in temperature or in growth of plants, which would lead to food shortage. When Luna continued the discussion, however, Celestia had lost her patience, called her a stubborn kid with silly ideas, and left.
“Even Tia hates me.” Luna thought over and over again as she cried to her pillow.
Eventually, she stopped, but she was sure that was because she exhausted her supply of tears, not because she felt better. Luna got up from bed and laid next to the window, glancing at the streets of Canterlot, that were now full of ponies.
“Full of ponies that hate me.”
She didn’t know when, but she heard the sound of her doors opening and closing.
“Luna?” the voice of Shadow Bolt asked her, as its owner trotted over to her. “Are you okay? The servants told me you had some fight with Celestia.”
“They did, didn’t they?” Luna replied sarcastically. “Did they also tell you about what? Or even better, whose fault was it that we argued?”
“Well...” Bolt said uncomfortably, but she didn’t give him a chance to reply.
“Don’t bother; I know they said it was my fault. After all, Celestia is always right, she is the wisest one. That’s must be the reason why everypony love her so much more than me. Me, who helped them with their nightmares, as my sister was busy reading her books! Me, who had found the very Elements of Harmony, which freed them from Discord!”
“Luna,” Bolt cut in, despite being in shock, “that’s not true! Ponies don’t love Celestia any more than they love you!”
“You’re one to talk.” Luna snorted and looked away. “Had any luck trying to seduce my perfect sister?”
There was a long pause, as if Shadow Bolt didn’t know what to say. She didn’t care that she had probably hurt his feelings; all she wanted right now was to be left alone with her dark thoughts.
“Princess...” Bolt finally said, as Luna began to wonder had he left. “... I apologize in advance for what I’m about to do.”
“What are you...?” Luna began to ask indifferently, but stopped as she felt his hoof grab her chin, turn her head to face him...
…as his lips were on hers.
Luna’s eyes went wide as Shadow Bolt continued to kiss her with his eyes closed. His lips were surprisingly warm; and his tongue, which she could feel move on her lips, felt weird as it reminded her of cat’s tongues. Finally, he pulled back, and opened his eyes. Luna stared into them, not afraid of their narrow pupils, or their strange yellow color.
“My eyes stopped looking at the sun long ago.” Bolt said as they both looked at each other, barely inches away from one another. “The light of the moon is much more soothing to them.” after he said that, he lingered on for few seconds, before moving even further back and standing in attention before her. “What will be my punishment for such lack of respect towards Your Highness?”
“Punishment...” Luna repeated, still a bit dazed by the kiss and his confession.
Take your mother’s advice, and listen to your heart. You will find that it takes less time to do things right when you do, instead of wasting years on hating somepony.
“For your punishment...” she finally said as she leaned closer to him. “... I want you to become my consort.”
 



 
Luna glanced around the empty throne room, wondering why she bothered to open the night court at all these days. She couldn’t even remember when the last time somepony attended it.
Her relationship with Shadow Bolt was one of the two sources of happiness this past year. Her sister, while expressed her joy at the news, never apologized to her from the talk before. The nobles were dismayed with her being courted by a low-born pony, even if he did practically grew up with her and Celestia, while the common folks were scared of him, and further distanced themselves from Princess Luna.
“Ungrateful bunch of fools!” she thought whenever she recalled that, but was usually calmed down quickly by Bolt. But he wasn’t here tonight. “Pity he had to fly all the way to the griffin’s land. With him, this wouldn’t be so boring!”
She pushed the thought away as she concentrated on the other source of happiness.
Such as her round belly, heavy with hers and Bolt’s foal.	
When the doctor told her five months ago that her recent unexplainable fatigue, nausea and food aversion was due to being pregnant, she couldn’t be more happy. Actually, she could, if her parents were alive long enough to meet her or him, but she refused to think about it as she waited impatiently for the foal to be born.
“We really should start thinking about names.” Luna thought, dismayed that she still had no idea how to call her daughter or son. “And Bolt should show some guts and ask me to marry him. I mean, seriously...” 
Whatever she wanted to think was stopped as she felt somepony being plagued by nightmare. Despite her growing disappointment with her subjects, she immediately shifted her mind to that pony’s dream, knowing that this was her duty.
What she saw shocked her.
A small foal was being chased by some dark, almost black alicorn, with scary looking blue mane made out of flames.
“What is this?” she thought, but brushed it off; fear of ponies manifested themselves in their nightmares in strangest of ways. That this one took the shape of alicorn wasn’t that weird.
Luna quickly put an end to the chasing foal monster, causing it to disappear in flash of light. Smiling, she crept closer to the small pony, which is currently lying on the ground.
“There is nothing to be afraid of anymore, little one.” she said gently as she placed her hoof on his shoulder.
The colt opened his eyes and looked at her.
In a heartbeat, there was fear in them again.
Luna watched, horrified, as the foal shook of her hoof and run away, as his words ringed in her head:
“Get away from me, monster!”
“Princess, are you alright?” she heard one of her guards ask her with concern. She pulled herself back fully to the throne room and looked at him, but still saw the face of that foal. “You’re crying.”
Luna teleported back to her bedchamber without a reply.




 
“Luna!” she heard her sister open her doors and walk in. “It’s already morning. Why didn’t you lower the moon yet?”
Luna didn’t respond. She continued to sit in the dark, reflecting on everything, and rubbing her pregnant belly.
“Take your mother’s advice, and listen to your heart. You will find that it takes less time to do things right when you do.”
“Luna! Lower the moon, so...”
“No.”