Luna walked along the forest path, following the strange feeling pulling her towards her missing self. As she walked through the forest, she mulled over the memories she had recently recovered. Many patches of them were still foggy and produced little detail, but she could feel her mind clearing and knew that eventually she would remember her past completely, for whatever that was worth. The more she thought about it, the more she wished that she could have transferred her memory block from where it had been to instead cover her thousand years of imprisonment and fear. The thought of those years running still made her tremble.
She was awoken from her thoughts by a loud rustling that came from a good hundred feet off to her left. Cautiously and quietly, she stepped through the undergrowth until she found the source of the noise. On another path that cut through the forest, parallel to hers, she saw a cloud of dark blue mist swirling around a monstrous figure. The mist solidified and turned into a tangle of thorns and brambles, each one stabbing into the creature and inflicting pain. As the beast tried to get free, it only tangled itself further in the bush. Soon, its rage would be murderous and uncontrollable and the creature would rampage, most likely until it was dead. As the creature writhed in the tangle, it turned so that Luna could see it in the moonlight. She gasped. The creature was a manticore.
It roared in frustration, desperately trying to free itself from the wiry mass of razor sharp thorns. Its form had changed in order to suit the plane in which it now found itself, but Luna recognized its eyes instantly. She had seen those eyes burn out at her every night for centuries as she desperately ran away from them. This was the creature that had haunted her for a thousand years.
Anger flared up in her as she looked at those eyes. She would hunt him like he had hunted her for all these years. She thought of all the times he had seen her fear. The times when he could have pitied her, could've shown her mercy. But instead he made her life a living nightmare. Now was her chance to pay him back for all the misery he had caused her over the years. Luna summoned her magic and aimed a killing bolt for right between the creature's eyes. She looked into its eyes, wanting to see the surprise and fear fill them as he died.
But as she looked into them, she saw something there. Not a semblance of herself, but rather a lack of semblance. The more she looked into those eyes, the more feral they became. She saw nothing but a beast standing on the path. Had she really expected pity from such a creature? Was there ever really a chance that it would do anything more than hunt her? This was a creature driven by instinct and need, a creature whose sole purpose was survival. It could only react to its surroundings, ferocity with ferocity, kindness with kindness. She couldn't in good conscience hold this creature to a standard of pity and compassion when its brain was too small for it to comprehend such concepts. Especially when she had just been about to break that standard.
Sighing, and wondering whether or not this was going to come back to bite her, she aimed her horn a few feet to the left and blasted the creature free from its pain-filled prison. The bush disintegrated into mist, which dissipated and flowed away. Roaring in surprise and springing back, the manticore raced off backwards down the path, limping from a thorn still stuck in its paw.
Luna walked back towards the path she was on, not hearing the six voices coming from further down the path that the manticore had taken. She rejoined own her path and went on her way, leaving her anger and vengeance behind her. As she traveled, she remembered how this whole mess had started. It had begun with that argument.
Luna nervously paced outside her sister’s chambers, her thoughts tumbling through her head. What if Tenebris was wrong? What if Celestia did not go for the idea? She tried to calm herself and think rationally. What was the worst that could happen? So Celestia might say no. Then things would just be back to the way they were before. Besides, she wouldn’t say no. It was a great idea.
Timidly, she knocked on the door, and was admitted by the door guard. Celestia sat at the other end of the room, looking over royal proposals, her quill hovering in the air next to her, occasionally signing something. Luna approached her. “Hello sister,” she said.
“Yes? What is it Luna?” Celestia replied, not looking up from her work.
“I was just wishing to speak with you about an idea that I was contemplating. I was talking with a citizen the other day, and he suggested that maybe it would be a refreshing change if...” she faltered, trying to form her thoughts.
“If...” Celestia glanced up over her scrolls at her sister.
“If, maybe, we switched the times of the day and night, you know, just for a change of pace. The citizens are still shaken up just a bit from the change of power from Discord, and I think that this would be a good morale raiser, something interesting.”
Celestia stared at her sister for a few moments in silence. “You’re actually serious about this?” she said incredulously.
“What?” said Luna, affronted. “I think that it is a good idea.”
“Not really,” said Celestia. “It’s rather absurd. First of all, there really isn’t anything morale raising about it. It just messes with the order that things are already in. Secondly, it would be a massive organizational nightmare. We’d have to notify the all citizenry of what’s going on so that life can continue normally. It would take weeks to alert every town.”
“I don’t see why everyone need be alerted,” said Luna sulkily. “It could just be a pleasant surprise for everyone. Something to break up the monotony.”
Celestia looked a little irritated. “Of course people would have to be alerted. Switching day and night is one of the things that Discord loved to do. If it happened again without warning, the citizenry would think he was back. Everyone would panic.”
Luna was stung. “Discord only did that to create chaos and disorder. My idea is not chaotic. It could work-”
Celestia cut her off. ”Besides Luna, the daytime is when everyone travels and does their work. How are they supposed to work in the dark? They need light.”
“They could take a day off of work.” Luna grumbled. “A day isn’t that important.”
Celestia raised her eyebrows. “So you’re suggesting that we spend weeks notifying the country of this event and have the whole country take a day off work, just so that we can swap the sun and moon for a day to break up the monotony? I’m sorry Luna, but I’m really busy with royal work, and I can’t spare any time for childish ideas.” She turned back to her work.
Luna’s eyes flared and she stalked off, her heart consumed with anger. Behind the window at Celestia’s back, a sudden bolt of lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled.