//------------------------------//
// And By Opposing 
// Story: Whether 'Tis Nobler 
// by AndForever 
//------------------------------//

      Twilight's heart skipped; her concentration broke, and her connection severed. A bit panicked, she swallowed once, unsure what to make of the event.

"Twi."

Twilight flinched and turned in a flash; Applejack stood outside the barrier to the repository.

Applejack nudged her head at the stairs. "C'mon. They's askin' for us."

With some effort, Twilight managed to shake off her heebie-jeebies enough to stand up and join Applejack. Together, they went back upstairs.

"How'd you know I was down there?" Twilight asked as they passed through the library proper. "Come to think of it, how'd you even know there was a down there?"

"Didn't," said Applejack. "Took some doin', but I found ya."

Outside the library, Princess Celestia awaited them.

"Princess." Twilight bowed, a bit surprised to see her, though she couldn't rightly say why. She saw that Applejack hadn't bowed and shot her a quick look––not a nasty one, just trying to call her attention to it.

Celestia chuckled politely. "It's quite all right, Twilight."

Twilight stood up and looked between Applejack and the princess, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Aw, shoot. We had ourselves a good old time while you was in there doin' yer thing," Applejack said to Twilight. "Didn't we, Princess?"

Celestia tipped her head in a slight nod. "Indeed we did. I gave Applejack a proper tour of the grounds. We discussed growing conditions, and I learned a great deal about the work her family does. It was quite enjoyable."

"All…right… If you're okay with it," said Twilight. It was her kingdom, after all.

Celestia started them walking. She glanced at Twilight and smiled. "I would be okay with it for you as well, you know."

"I know. But it's…polite…" Twilight said sheepishly.

"And that there is yer prerogative. Bowin' ain't exactly…in my nature, if ya know what I mean."

Celestia chuckled again. Her jovial attitude died off as they reached what Twilight and Applejack presumed was the door to Luna's chambers.

"Princess?" Applejack got her attention.

Celestia looked over.

"Did she happen to…say why exactly she decided to see us? Ya know, since she's, uh…sequestered, and all."

Celestia shook her head. "I would ask that you try not to upset her, and do not stay if she asks that you leave."

"Absolutely, Princess," said Twilight. Her nerves kicked up again at the thought of why Luna may have asked to see them.

With that, Celestia proceeded to levitate a thick doorknocker, shaped like a crescent moon. She raised it and let it fall twice; the sound echoed in the room beyond. "Luna? I've brought your guests."

The ceiling-high double doors opened with an arduous creak. Celestia led the group inside.

Opposite where they'd entered, Luna sat with her back to the doors, facing a wall. A slit window provided the only light.

The doors shut behind them with a heavy latching sound; Twilight could sense Applejack's rising danger meter, though Celestia showed no such signs.

"I'm so glad you decided to see them, Luna, as are they. They were quite curious, however, as to why. I…must admit to being somewhat interested myself." Celestia managed a weak chuckle; even Twilight could hear how forced it'd been.

"Art thou?" came Luna's monotone voice.

Celestia managed a smile. "Luna, I've told you. No one speaketh in such a manner anymore." She chuckled again, obviously trying to lighten the mood. "Thou hast no need t—"

"This is our voice!" Luna snapped, turning sharply to them. "If thou dost not approve, thou shouldst take note that we do not thrust our company upon ye." She seemed to calm some. "And if thou desirest the reason for our audience, ask thy student. She knoweth as well as any creature."

With a confused look, Celestia turned to Twilight.

Twilight's ears splayed back, ashamed or afraid. "Princess, I—"

Luna rose to full standing height. "Thou hast invaded the sanctity of our mind...!" she hissed.

Panicking outright now, Twilight looked from Luna back to Celestia. "I… Princess, I only wanted to…"

Keeping calm, Celestia gave her a gentle, understanding nod, then turned her attention back to Luna. "Sister, I am sure she only meant to help you, perhaps to better understand—"

"What? What we have lost? What we were? Dost thou?" Luna questioned a paralyzed Twilight. "Didst thou see? Didst thou drink thy fill of our most intimate thoughts?" Her anger surged again. "Didst thou? Prithee, speak!"

Unnoticed by Twilight, her body sank lower, cowering. "I… Yes…? I mean I… I'm sorry…" she squeaked.

"A question? Nay! We demand an answer! Didst thou enjoy violating our memory? We warned thee, placed our trust delicately 'twixt thy hooves, and thou didst accept it then as quickly as thou dost crush it now! Betrayer!" Luna stomped a hoof.

Twilight winced, Applejack doing her best to help her.

The farm pony spoke up. "Now listen here, Princess—"

"Silence!" Luna boomed, effectively muting her. "Know that thy presence here is neither requested nor desired, earthenhoof. Thou hast—"

"Enough!" Celestia intervened. "They did not come here under the guise of an audience only to be subjected to an interrogation. They came here—"

"We know why she came here," Luna accused.

Celestia spoke over her. "They came here out of concern, out of worry for you, sister, for your well being. Will you berate them for it?"

"Doth't matter?" Luna asked coldly.

Celestia stood stunned.

"Explain't us, sister. We have watched them. Even during our imprisonment, we did watch them. We have seen them, born into the world in a flood of slime and foulness, grow, walk, live, mate, wither, and die, back to dust, to dirt. What doth it matter, whether they smile in the interim?" Rage suddenly overtook her. "Why dost thou love them? Why dost thou care? Tell us! Please!"

Celestia merely shook her head, eyes locked on Luna, incredulous, absolutely at a loss. "How…can you ask such a thing…?"

The glistening of tears formed in Luna's eyes. "How can we not? Honesty, sister! Honesty is ours still, ours as it has e'er been! Is't thy nature, to love them? Perhaps so. Thou art not unlike them, after all. Thy nature is love. Thou art happy in thy nature. Their nature is to love ye, and they too are happy in't."

Celestia seemed to see ahead in their conversation. "Luna, do not do this."

"What of us? What fate? What destiny? What sick joke is this? Can our nature truly be to this? Perhaps not. Perhaps we are mistaken––misguided somehow in our thinking. But no! It cannot be! Canst thou not see? Thy nature is love, so thou lovest. Conversely, thou lovest, so thy nature is to love. There can be no mistake, sister. We are. Our nature: to be. We ask ye again: What sick joke is this?" she half laughed, half cried. "What fate? What destiny is this?"

"Sister, we––your sister, your friends––we wish to help you."

"Dost thou? Dost thou truly? Then grant our request. Imprison us once more. Remove us of our mind, that we might at least suffer unaware!"

"I will do no such thing."

"Cruel sadist! Thou knowest our pain!" Luna stomped again, harder this time, a thundering crack that rocked even Applejack's courage.

For a moment, a hush fell over the scene.

"And still thou wilt not grant us even this small modicum of mercy?"

"I will do no such thing," Celestia reiterated.

"Then thy love is a lie." The coldness returned to Luna's voice.

Celestia's heart wrenched. "Luna…"

Luna shot her a sudden glance, and Celestia's posture changed out of reflex––a very distinctive, very reactive, very particular kind of reflex. Luna recognized it immediately. "And there it is. Thou mayest mask thy words in pretty frills and flowers, talk of love and empathy, but thy actions speak truer still."

Celestia shunned the involuntary defensive gesture.

"Dost thou wish't? We could give't ye. Here, now. What should't matter, yes? An eternity of blind solitude looms on our horizon. What should't matter, a few thousand years more of light and love and lies? Better to acclimate ourselves quickly! If the temporary state is what doth plague us so, then better to cut it out and embrace eternity!" The heat of Luna's anger rose steadily as she spoke. "This is thy worry, is't not? The source of they fear? Dost thou fear us, sister? Thy body doth, 'twould seem. Dost thou wish't?"

Celestia's breath drained away for a moment when she saw the glint of idea in Luna's eye and realized just how grievous her momentary mistake had really been.	

"And what if we did?" Luna dug into a powerful stance, committing herself to the decision.

Celestia turned her head slightly, eyeing down her sister. "Luna, no."

"Or what?" Luna held her head high. "Thou wilt kill us? Strike us down?" She laughed once––loudly. "Is that what thou toldest them? Lies…" she seethed venomously, eyes flaring, "Such lies…!"

"I never—"

"Oh yes, how wrong of us to assume. Mayhap thou didst never speak the truth proper, but they––they never asked, so certainly thou spakest no lie! Well we ask't now. We demand't, refuse to see ourselves belittled any further by the lie of the light, its power, glory and hollow, half-hearted catharsis! For our treason…all of our wrongs…our horrors…for the nightmare we inflicted upon thy world and all thy good works, the blood spilled and the lives lost under our trampling hooves, surely no creature hath ever been more deserving of death than we in that instant. Why, then, didst thou not? Speak! Tell us true."

Nothing.

Luna stomped once more; the room trembled, and she barked, "Why?"

Silence settled over them.

Luna spoke quietly, darkly. "Thou couldst not. In what world could the sun ever hope to vanquish the night? Postpone it, perhaps. Banish it for a time as thou didst…and wilt again."

Celestia spoke in warning. "Luna…"

"Thou wilt return us to our imprisonment, sister, cast us off as thou wouldst a leg stricken with disease, or we shall be as that upon all thou lovest until thou dost relent." The shimmering of tears glistened behind Luna's adamant resolve. "Decide—now—what 'twill take. Thou knowest us, sister. Wouldst thou call our threats as idle prattle? Thy self. Thy kingdom. What must we threaten to invoke thy wrath and rightful punishment?"

"Luna, I will not—"

"Or perhaps thy student."

Celestia stopped cold.

Blueblack light glowed at the very tip of Luna's horn––a tiny point, though a tangible, audible power surged in the room with its appearance, a low, bass hum that reverberated in Twilight's chest and behind her eyes, masking her quivering.

"Luna—"

"Do not condescend!" Luna bellowed. "Choose, and thou shalt have't!"

Celestia took a breath, steadying herself as best she could. "I have had one thousand years to consider my actions that day, anything I might have done differently had the situation been even the slightest bit less dire. Do not force my hoof in this, sister. I beg you."

Luna's jaw trembled, her eyes determined but swelling with tears; a blast discharged from her horn, striking the ground near Twilight and launching her back.

Twilight struck the wall and fell in a slump.

"Twilight!" Applejack rushed to her side.

Luna's resolve faltered with a wince and a restrained sob, shutting her eyes at the act, only a moment; after, they opened at her sister, burning hot. "Punish us!"

Without hesitation, Celestia returned fire.

Luna yelped and recoiled when the blast struck her eyes; holding them, she dropped to her knees and, shortly thereafter, poured all of her being into a shriek that shattered the bits of Celestia's heart that hadn't yet been broken––a wail not of pain or of anger, but of utter, helpless agony in having been denied her mercy. Another scream followed, then another…then another…each one less powerful than the last until Luna dissolved into a whimpering puddle on the floor.


*	*	*

Adrift in a sea of thoughts and sounds, Twilight succumbed to the ebbs and flows of the tides and currents, allowing herself to be carried without resistance.

Thunder clapped, the moon obscured by the black clouds of a gathering storm. Flashes of lightning illuminated frightened faces, swarms of ponies galloping in fear as a great shadow crept over the land and swallowed their homes and villages. From the shadow, the nightmares rose up, legions upon endless, coagulated legions; the lightning flashed red, the thunder drowned out by countless, indistinguishable screams.

Two eyes closed in the dark, dreaming.

The eyes burst open, and Twilight's did the same; her mind caught up quickly and, panting, she sprung up, looking around. She relaxed some when she found herself in Princess Celestia's chambers, on her bed. She flinched when somepony touched her.

"Whoa there, sugarcube. Easy now." Applejack coaxed her back down. "Seein' you okay makes me happier than rooster in a henhouse, but how's about we take it easy for a while, all right?"

Twilight wasted no time in asking what'd happened.

Applejack nodded, like she'd figured on explaining. "After you...you know...well, Princess Celestia let her have it right back and... She... Well, I reckon she..."

"Blinded her," said Celestia, walking into the room.

Twilight's eyes went wide.

"She will recover. I can only hope that by then she..." Celestia shut her eyes in sadness. She opened them to her student. "Twilight, I am truly sorry that I allowed the situation to escalate that far. I simply wished...to try speaking with Luna first, in hopes that she...that it would not come to..."

"I understand, Princess," said Twilight. "If it were my sister, I...probably would've done the same."

"Thank you, Twilight." Celestia bowed her head.

"So...what exactly does it mean, blindin' her?" asked Applejack. "She can't cast spells no more?"

"She can't target them," Twilight answered. "Spells require an uninhibited line of sight, even self teleportation spells to form the bubble around the caster. We can close our eyes to focus after the location is set, which is usually so fast as to be almost instant with the thought, but… Blinding her removes any possible target or extension, effectively preventing her from casting."

"Huh." Applejack turned to the princess with a new question. "So how come ya didn't do that before, instead of sendin' her off to the moon?"

"I simply could not risk it. Her forces were all but infinite. The only way to ensure they would not continue to replenish their numbers was to remove her. The Elements are not meant to be wielded by any one creature, and so alone, I could not help her the way that you and your friends did, and for which I am forever grateful. Whatever it takes to help her now, I will not lose my sister a second time."

Applejack let a few seconds go by, what she figured to be an appropriate amount of time before taking the opportunity to answer something else that had been on her mind. "Speakin' of the elements..."

Celestia turned her attention to the earth pony, who seemed to be having trouble getting the words out. "Yes?"

"Well, back there, when... I mean, did Princess Luna— What exactly did she mean...honesty? You know, about it bein' hers and such."

Celestia gave a nod of understanding. "You know that Luna and I were the original bearers of the Elements of Harmony."

Twilight and Applejack both nodded.

"In truth, we are much more than that. We are derived from the Elements—children, as it were, physical incarnations meant to facilitate harmony in a physical world. Day, and night. That will always be true of us. However, the role of bearer will always fall to those individuals who are the purest representation of any single Element, and will default again to us if none are present at the time. I am Generosity, Laughter, and Kindness."

An astonished look appeared on Twilight as she realized.

"My sister is Loyalty, Honesty, and Magic."

A wrench fell into Twilight's gears. "But if that's... If you're really incarnations of the Elements, then how... Nightmare Moon."

"Physical...incarnations," Celestia corrected her sadly. "And all that that entails. Temptation, jealousy, anger... We are no more immune than any other creature, though perhaps wiser in our experience. Although, not always..."

A thoughtful quiet fell over them for a moment.

Then Applejack's face took on the resolve of a farm pony ready to go to work. "How do we help her?"

Celestia only shook her head some. "Imagine being shut in a dark, silent, empty room, unable to see, no sounds to hear. You search for the walls but find only nothing. Then the floor falls away. You fly, and no matter how far you wander, you find nothing, see nothing, encounter...nothing. Infinite. Trapped. This is what Luna sees, the future she fears and feels herself being pulled slowly toward by the ebb and flow of time. The prospect, even a short time of it—one hour, one day—would frighten most. But applied to her immortality, something her loyalty had not allowed her to consider until recent events... It is a truly horrifying thought."

"I reckon so..." Applejack said as a shiver wriggled up her spine.

"She reacts with power," said Celestia, "lashes out because some part of her wishes to fight, although she understands that it is futile. She is afraid, but it...is the truth... So to help her...I simply...do not know..."

As the three pony drifted into thought again over the situation, darkness eclipsed the light from the windows. Outside, night fell.

"Uh…what time is it?" asked Applejack.

The gears in Celestia's mind turned. The castle shook, the air vibrating around them with an ominous growl that seemed to come from every direction; the life drained from Celestia's expression, and she bolted from the room at full gallop.

Twilight and Applejack followed.

"I thought she couldn't cast spells no more!" Applejack said to Twilight as they turned another sharp corner, trying to keep up with the princess.

With that thought, it donned on Twilight as well. Her eyes widened.

As they came up on the doors to Luna's chambers, Celestia blew them open with enough force that they nearly tore from their hinges. She stopped in the doorway and nearly took a step back at the sight inside.

Curled up as tight as could be, Luna lay trembling on the floor, head buried; ribbons and waves of translucent black and blue light danced in auroras around her, grazing and singeing nearby walls and sparking briefly against a barrier in front of Celestia—who stood aghast, unable to speak or look away.

"Leave us!" Luna attempted to yell, though it came out pitiful and half broken.

Applejack looked to Celestia with gritted teeth. "What in tarnation—? I thought you said she couldn't—"

"She's not casting," Twilight nearly whispered an answer on the white alicorn's behalf, still in shock herself. "She's channeling."

Applejack switched to Twilight, since Celestia had failed to so much as acknowledge her. "Channelin' what? Where?"

"Magic, power. Into…herself."

Applejack furrowed her brow, trying to fit the pieces together. "If she can't cast nothin', why would she—?" Once she got it, her expression changed to match her friend's.

Unable to intervene, completely helpless, Twilight did the only thing she could: looked on in horror at the grim spectacle, words trickling from her mouth simply because her head lacked the faculties to hold them back. "If what she said is true, she knows that, even decapitated, given enough time she would probably… So instead she's…trying to reach…critical…"

Applejack broke from her trance and entreated Celestia again, though with little more success. "Princess, ya gotta do somethin'!"

This time Celestia did acknowledge her, at least, with a kind of reflexive head-twitch in her direction—very slight.

"She can't," said Twilight. "If she touches her now, she might…"

"Might what? Die? Reckon we're lookin' at goin' over them falls whether we start paddlin' or not!"

"No, that— If she goes, then maybe…maybe it'll just…be her," Twilight's voice sank, ashamed at the notion, true or not. "But if we interrupt her and she loses control of it, that kind of…that kind of power, then…"

"Then what?"

Twilight shook her head slowly. "I…don't know… All of…that…spilling out without direction or…control… The backlash would be…" She tried to think but came up empty, as she was sure her mentor had already. "I don't know… Anything, maybe…"

"Leave us!" Luna cried out again.

A rush of blue- and black-colored wind struck Celestia's barrier, threatening to hurl them away if Celestia wavered even the tiniest bit.

"We are sorry, sister…!" Luna's authority started out strong but waned fast, any trace of her Canterlot voice gone; her body trembled and her shoulders shook, straining hard but crying uncontrollably. "We… I… I just…can't…" she sobbed quietly, begging forgiveness. "I'm sorry… I can't... I—"

Celestia jerked forward instinctively when Luna winced sharply and groaned.

Slowly, Luna rose, floated up and hovered midair, her eyes bright and glowing, all pain or fear or feeling of any kind removed from her expression. Vacant.

The rumbling around them grew steadily louder, bolder, more violent.

A spasm rocked Luna's body; outside, the night sky fractured. Another spasm, and it cracked like glass.

Twilight's heart raced faster as she watched the magnificent lights surrounding Luna gradually recede into her horn, the rumbling sound now a deafening roar.

Luna's eyes squinted some, shutting tight when she doubled over into herself.

Silence.

The roar of the world lulled, the lights gone; anxiety stretched the seconds that followed, until finally Luna threw her head back. The roar returned in full force, louder than ever, any and all light—from the candles nearby, from the window—was sucked into Luna's horn, and darkness consumed them.

A few moments later, Luna cried out once, and an explosion of light blinded them; Celestia leaned her head in, strengthening her barrier against the incredible force until at last it subsided. The roar died quickly into a growl, then a rumble, and then nothing.

Outside: daylight.

Luna lay motionless on the cold stone floor, all magic gone from her mane, the larger half of her horn on the ground at Celestia's hooves.