The Thousand Year Change

by Darthvalgaav


A Nightmare of a Night

Luna sighed as she laid on her bed. The room Celestia had given her was an exact replica of the one she had a thousand years ago. It probably wasn’t very hard to do seeing that she had left nearly all of her personal possessions at the old castle when she left. When she left with her ponies she told them to take only the items they needed to survive and she did as well.

Next to her pillow was Teddy, still in the same condition she had left him in. It truly brought back memories of the past, both good and bad. Of all the things she missed it was this one stuffed animal. It was pleasant to see something good was still around after all these years. Perhaps she would take it with her when she returned to the moon.

A frown appeared on her face. Once again, she would be leaving to go to a desolate, freezing sphere in the middle of space to escape the hatred of the ponies who worshipped her sister like she was some kind of god. She had hoped that they had changed, but it seems the Celestia’s ‘plan’ was still ongoing.

She could still remember the day when her patience with her sister reached its end.

-Flashback-

Luna shuffled through document after document as she skimmed each one. Most of them were from the nobles, complaining about various things. ‘Perhaps I need a secretary,’ she thought to herself. ‘I’ll have her sort out the letters from the nobles from the ones that really matter.’ That brought a hint of a smile to the lunar princess’s face.

But truth be told she was already very happy. Never before in her long life did she have so many ponies showing interest in the night. There were the bat ponies, of course, who had been the first of her short list of supporters. Yet over time it began to grow. Poets, scientists, and thinkers of all kinds now to seemed active during the night. Their reasons varied, but still they were out and about under the night sky.

There were even those ponies that came to her for help. Several times normal, common ponies came to the Night Court asking for an audience with her. It seemed that one of the nobles had raised their taxes by an extra fifteen bits a pony. They came to Luna because the nobles usually kept ponies like them away from Celestia, but slept during the night. She knew she had passed by a document from said noble detailing how he didn’t like the fact the Luna had order an investigation of his finances. She had just gotten the results and found out the extra tax money was going to the stallion’s mistress. She looked forward to handing the result to Celestia as well as his wife.

There were also letters from various commons in this pile. Most of them were asking for some kind of help. Like, for example, from a family of earth ponies that were asking for help so that their daughter could get an education. Normally an education was reserved for the nobles and the super wealthy. However, whenever Luna read something like this she felt like that was wrong. Knowledge was the right for anypony who wants it. Sadly, even though she was a princess, there was a limit to what she could do. So to letters like this one she would respond by telling the family to bring the child before her for an evaluation. In indeed the child does have potential, then she would arrange for the child to receive a scholarship.

But her favorite letters were always thank you letters from the children. Some would even send her a hoof drawn picture that she would later put in a scrapbook.

Among these documents were also the answer to a few petitions she had sent to her sister. One of them, in her opinion the most important, was for the creation of a research and development division. She wanted to start expanding what other ponies could do without the use of magic. One pony had come to her with an idea of something called an ice box. Normally, if a family wanted to preserve food they needed a unicorn whose special talent was ice magic or something like that and pay a heavy amount of bits for their service. But this idea would put them out of business and create several new jobs in the process. Now she wanted an entire group of ponies thinking up new ideas for both magic and science. Just think how much better Equestria would be!

The doors to her court opened with a loud bang. Looking up, she saw her most trusted adviser Starlight Sparkle. The purple unicorn ran right up to her like she was being chased by timber wolves, stopped before her, and bowed quickly.

“Princess *pant* Luna, there is trouble *pant* in Hoofshire,” she said quickly.

“What does thou mean?” said Luna quickly as she set down her documents.

“I received a document by magical flame,” said Starlight who was catching her breath. “A mob has appeared and is attacking your supporters.” Luna’s eyes widened in fear as she quickly stood. There was no time for questions, only action. Every moment she wasted meant that there was a chance that ponies were dying. Behind her were her two guards, both bat ponies, with Starlight taking up the rear.

“We want every pony in thy Night Guard to get down there as soon as possible in flying chariots,” commanded Luna as Starlight took note. “Be sure they are not only armed for the worst, but also bringing with them relief aid. There will no doubt be ponies that are injured. We demand as well that blankets and tents brought as well. While you do this, we shall go ahead of thee.”

Starlight said no objection. Princess Luna and her two guards were the fastest night fliers in the kingdom. If anypony could reach Hoofshire in time it would be them. So, with a bow, Starlight left to go and do as her princess had commanded.

As Luna flew through the night sky, the red moon felt ominous this night. ‘Her supporters’ as ponies like Starlight would call them had been facing many hardships over the years. It had started with mild curiosity as to why any pony would want to be awake when the sun went down. Nothing bad really, however as time went the ponies that slept during the day began to distrust the ponies that stayed up past sundown. And that distrust slowly became hate.

Luna had no idea why this was. For once she had subjects that loved her like they loved Celestia, and they were being hated for that. In some corner of the princess’s mind she blamed herself. In a way, she was the cause of her subjects suffering. It was cruel and unfair for neighbors to turn on each other like this. Her only hope was that no pony would be seriously hurt before it ended.

Within the hour the three ponies reached the skies above Hoofshire. It was a small town with a population of a hundred or so. But tonight the streets seemed crowded and four large fires that seemed like beacons. As the three got closer she realized to her horror that they were not bonfires but homes set aflame. Quickly Luna dived downwards and her guards followed. As they descended the crowd began to scream and disperse. The night princess could hear ponies yelling that monsters were coming but she paid them no mind. They soon stood before a large home bathed in orange flames. And inside she saw the unmistakable form of movement from within.

“Night Owl, Sonic Echo,” she called to her two guards. “Get to the other homes and try to rescue as many as thou can.” The guards began to argue, but an angry glare from her silenced the two.

As her guards left, Luna charged into the inferno. Smoke was everywhere, making it hard for even one like her to breath. The heat was unbearable causing her to wondering how anypony could still be alive. Everything seemed to be caught in flames and she could hear the building beginning to give way. Common sense and self preservation told her to get out, but instead she moved upstairs where she had seen the movement.

When she reached the top of the stairs she was greeted by a wall of flames. She began to bat her wing and using a bit of magic caused it to vanish, if only for a while. She had one spell that could easily put out all the flames at once, but it involved removing all the air in the area. Using it would end up killing anypony that was still in here.

A moment later she found who she was looking for. It was a stallion earth pony, covered in ash. In his mouth was a young foal. Luna moved over to him and started to cast a teleportation spell only to find herself unable to due so. Her eyes widened in fear and rage as she realized that somepony must have thought something like this would happen and prepared accordingly. The stallion, on the other hoof, set his son down.

“Princess, please get my son out of here,” he begged.

“We shall get both of thee out,” said the princess but the stallion shook his head.

“My wife is still up here,” he said. “I’m going to go back and get here. We’ll be right behind you.” There was no time to argue. Luna quickly picked up the foal and made her way out of the house. And as she galloped out the house finally collapsed.

“Look, she’s eating a foal,” Luna heard somepony whisper. “What kind of monster is she?” Looking around, Luna could see ponies peaking out their windows. She wanted to growl in frustration but the child in her mouth kept her from doing so. These ponies called her a monster, but they were the most likely ones who started the flames. And even if they didn’t, they just stood back and watched. As Luna’s rage began to build her two guards returned, both looking worse for wear.

“Princess Luna,” began Night Owl, not even bothering to bow. “The other homes have burned to the ground. There were no survivors.”

“There was one,” said Luna as she gently placed the child on the ground. She looked at the child and her face softened for a second. He was breathing and as soon as Starlight and the others got here she would make sure this foal was taken care of. And soon after that, justice would be delivered. “This town shall be placed under martial law! If any pony leaves their home they are to be placed in shackles until an investigation is completed!”

“I beg your forgiveness princess,” said Sonic Echo with a loud gulp. “But the law states that b-both princess must approve martial law being placed on any city in Equestria.”

Luna glared at him, causing her guard to flinch. Then her expression softened a bit. He was right and only doing his job. It was the law after all. And when the sun came up, something would be done.

-End Flashback-

Luna was then pulled out of her thoughts by a knock on her door. Wordlessly, Luna used her magic to open the door and a moment later Princess Cadence walked in.

“Good afternoon Princess Luna,” she said. Her cheerful voice sounded forced, yet still pleasant. “I hope I am not interrupting you.”

“Only my thoughts,” said Luna as she got off the bed. “Displeasing ones at that. An interruption to them is most welcome. Now, what brings you to my door?”

“Well, I wanted to get your opinion on something,” she said as she pulled out a parchment and held it up in front of Luna magically. “Doctor Blue Cross gave me a diet for the filly in my room. But, to be honest, the way he was treating her made me think that maybe-”

“He doesn’t have her best interests in mind,” finished Luna with a sad smile. “And you want me to look over what he gave you.”

“I am really sorry to be asking you this,” said Cadence. “But I really don’t know who else to ask.”

“There is nothing for you to worry about,” said Luna as she took the list. She gave it a once over and then sighed. “And you are right in doing so. It doesn’t look like the doctor meant any ill will, but his lack of knowledge of what bat ponies eat is very clear. ‘Fresh blood’ is not at the top of their menu. Juicy fruit is what the poor dear needs. The juicier the better.” With that, Luna magically pulled out a quill and began to make changes.

“I’m glad I came to you,” said Cadence with a relieved sigh. “I was worried that my first steps into motherhood would be short lived.” Luna, in shock, dropped everything onto the floor.

“W-What was that?” she asked.

“You didn’t think I was going to patch that poor filly up and then send her on her way, did you?” she asked. “No! I have already called my lawyer to get the forms needed to adopt her as my daughter. She will need a better name than ‘It’. Maybe Moonflower or Midnight Blossom.”

“Both would make good names I think,” said Luna as she picked up what she had dropped. “But aren’t you worried about the nobles? Surely they will not sit ideally by and allow this?”

“Well they can go buck themselves,” said Cadence. “I’m not just going to sit back and allow this to happen without doing anything.” She then gave Luna an odd look that made the Moon Princess feel…uncomfortable. “I mean, even if you take all the bat ponies with you, things won’t really change. They will still be born and they won’t have the option of running away from their problems.”

Luna narrowed her eyes. “Is that what you think I’m doing? I did what I had to do back then and it was the right choice! Do you think I didn’t try to fix things? It wasn’t easy back then. I did what I did to save lives.”

“And so you left, leaving Auntie Celestia to deal with the problem all by herself,” said Cadence who didn’t back down. “She-”

“Did nothing,” said Luna quickly. “Like she always does. Always sending some other pony to try and fix the situation. Always making a gamble of some kind. Did you know that we knew about the horrors going on in the Crystal Empire for three years? THREE YEARS?! Day one I wanted to go down there and show Sombra a thing or two. To have his horn cut off and placed in a cell for the rest of his life. But my dear, kind sister refused. She tried to talk with him. Reason with him. And each time she talked with him she came back saying that he would think about it. Think about ending his slave labor of the crystal ponies. Think about reducing his armies. For three years he and my sister danced around each other until finally I grew tired of it all. And as I got there, it was then that Celestia had a change of heart. But rather than ending his life then and there for all the unspeakable crimes he had committed, Celestia in her GREAT WISDOM wanted him turned into shadow. And how did that work out for the crystal ponies? Oh, that’s right; they are lost until he returns!” Luna then paused to take a breath.

“Yes, it is good to show mercy and be kind. To think the best of everypony. But just doing that is a poor way to run a government. Sometimes it just allows them to run amuck until somepony gets hurt. She relies on the same old things to solve her problems when she lets them get too big. The Elements of Harmony and me. That’s what this is all about.”

For a moment, neither pony spoke. Outside a storm had been growing, fueled by Luna’s rage at her sister. For the first time in a long time, she had been able to get these feeling off her chest. But Cadence kept her eyes on Luna not flinching in the slightest.

“I don’t know about the Elements,” said Cadence. “And I don’t know what happened between the two of you. What I do know is that sisters are supposed to help each other. For a thousand years you hid on the moon, knowing that there was a problem in Equestria. Did you ever try to help? Ask to see how she was doing? You could have done so much, but instead looked over a selected few. And when you leave here, Celestia won’t be alone with this mess anymore. I’ll be here trying to help her.”

And with that, Cadence left the room. And Luna just sat there alone with her thoughts.