//------------------------------//
// "Luna..." 
// Story: The Aperture in my Heart 
// by matrixjorel 
//------------------------------//

“Luna…”	

Twilight looked at the clock as she poked her head out from under her pillow.  4 o’clock.  They had been partying in the downstairs study of the library all night, and she was getting tired of it really quick.  She let out a sigh as her head retreated once again into the small sanctuary her pillow delivered to her ears.  Suddenly, she heard the door open as a small purple dragon walked in.  “Hey Twilight!  Pinkie Pie’s starting Pin the Tail on the Pony!  Wanna play?”
“No!  All the ponies in this town are ca-RAZY!  Do you know what time it is?”
“It’s the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration!  Everypony has to stay up or they’ll miss the princess raising the sun.”  Spike shifted the lamp shade he was wearing as a hat back on his head.  “You really should lighten up Twilight; it’s a party!”
When Spike walked out, Twilight mocked his lecture, and threw herself back on her bed.  “Here I thought I had time to study more about the Elements of Harmony… but—silly me!—all this ‘friendship making’ has kept me from it!”  She grabbed her book on ancient pony folktales and lore and walked over to the window.  There was a full moon out, and she could have sworn that she saw some stars flying around that white orb in the sky.  
“Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night.”  Twilight had read that one passage over and over.  Though Princess Celestia had told her that the story was nothing more than an old pony tale, she couldn’t help but shake the feeling that it was more than that.  She had written Celestia many more notes about her worries today, and now the Princess was just ignoring them.  “I hope the Princess was right.  I hope it is just an old pony tale…”
The door opened up again, and once again by Spike, who was still adorning the lamp-cover-hat, along with a few streamers caught in his scales.  “C’mon Twilight!  It’s time to watch the sun rise!”
The purple unicorn took one last look at the moon.  She hoped that she really would see the sun this morning… 
…………………………..
When Celestia finally came to, she realized that there was something binding her front hoofs and hind hoofs together; she was also lying on the ground.  She saw that there weren't any ropes around her legs, and yet she couldn’t move her legs no matter how hard she struggled against the invisible bindings.  Suddenly, a voice said, “Oh, sweet sister… you’re awake…”
Suddenly Celestia became aware of her surroundings.  She was still on the moon.  Surrounding her was Nightmare Moon and another orb that looked just like the Space core; she assumed they were related.  Also, she noticed that the ‘invisible ropes’ around her legs were actually strands of magical wisps that the evil mare cast to keep Celestia in place.  “Nightmare Moon, tell me what you are doing!”
“So cute, you think you’re still in control.  Well you aren’t.  I think the universe knows that it’s time for a passing of the crown.  I mean, why else would you come here?”  Nightmare Moon continued to circle the hogtied alicorn on the ground.
“Oh, and I helped too princess!  Don’t forget that!  Your best friend in the entire world was there with a one-two to make sure that—“
“QUIET!”  She couldn’t wait until she didn’t need this Wheatley anymore.  Soon enough, she would regain her former power, and then she could rule all of Equestria uncontested.  After that, she would be done with this “friendship” crap that her sister lectured her on for hundreds of years.  She didn’t need friends.  Never.  This was also why the Space core had to go.  
Though she would never admit it to a living soul, the Space core scared her.  She could literally feel Luna’s presence fighting to regain control of her body whenever the orb came close.  As long as it was anywhere near Nightmare Moon, she was in danger.  “Wheatley, bring out our other prisoner.”
“Yes, mam, best friend mam!” Wheatley replied as he hopped off into a nearby crater.
Nightmare Moon bent down into Celestia’s face.  “You think your friendship is so powerful, but look where compassion has gotten you!  Look what happens to those that care!  Once the Space core is gone for good, my power will be limitless!”
“No, you can never match the powers of the Elements of—“
“Shut up!  Your precious Elements can’t save you now.  And if you still think they can, you are horribly mistaken.”
“No, YOU are horribly mistaken!  Luna,” Celestia called out as tears formed in her eyes, “I know you’re in there, horribly lost and confused.  But this isn’t you!  You aren’t this monster!  You are the same little pony that I love!”
“Luna is no more.  You made sure of that by sending me here.”
“I know that that isn’t true!  I also know that this isolation must have been excruciating for you Luna, but don’t think that this was an easy thing for me either.  Not a single day went by where I didn’t think about you, miss you, contemplate coming to visit you and bring you back home… but my duty…”
“Your DUTY?  If you are such a strong alicorn princess, why do you still feel obligated to obey such rules?  You made them, and you can change them whenever you want.  Unless you’ve grown weak in the thousand years I’ve been gone?”
“Please, Luna, come back… I miss you so, and I love you…”
The evil blue mare took pause at this.  She needed to just to keep Luna suppressed.  She had been in full control this entire conversation, but Celestia’s last comment seemed to awaken Luna from her mental limbo state.  But Nightmare Moon was gaining power with every passing second, and Luna’s consciousness was quickly fading.  “Nice try, sister.  Now you just sit and wait.  Soon I will return to Equestria and take back what is rightfully mine!  Everypony will fear me and embrace the darkness of the night!”
“And what about your friend Wheatley?”
“Haha, FRIEND?  Don’t make me laugh!  He is an incompetent fool that I will destroy once his use to me is no more.”
“And are you planning on using the Space core too?”
Nightmare Moon smiled as she gazed down at the sun princess lying on the ground.  “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
…………………………..
Twilight and Spike cantered in the night toward the town center.  Everypony was making their way there from some party they had been at previously.  Twilight was just glad that her job here was nearly done, and now she could go back to Canterlot and continue with her studies and get away from these crazy ponies.
She walked into the huge building decorated for this special occasion.  Suddenly, she felt Spike stand up on her back and start looking at the crowd.  “What is it now, Spike?” Twilight asked a little annoyed.
“I’m looking for HER!”  Little hearts flew around her assistant and she knew exactly who he was referring to.
“Well, I’m sorry Spike, but this is a big city, and the odds of us…”
“Why, hello again darlings!”  Rarity came running out from behind them.  “Have you found a spot yet?  We’re all sitting over there, if you care to join us!”  She pointed her hoof over to the group of crazy ponies that seemed to love driving Twilight out of her mind; Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.
“Why did you have to jinx it, Twilight?”  the unicorn muttered to herself as she slowly walked over to the group and found a seat.
…………………………..
Wheatley bounced up to the Space core, who was no longer being his jubilant self.  Where before he could not stop talking about space, now he said nothing.  The last thing Wheatley remembered hearing him say was… something about stars aiding some escape, and night.  Honestly, he could care less about what he said; it was all kind of boring anyway.  “Okay now, old chap!  Nightmare Moon wants to see you.”
Silence.
“Come along, them!”  Wheatley linked hooks with the Space core and dragged him back to the Princesses on the other side of the lunar valley.
Wheatley didn’t like the uncomfortable silence the Space core now gave him, so Wheatley began to think out loud; “Wow, I sure am happy to be BEST friends with Nightmare Moon!  She’s going to bring me with her to Equestria, and we’re going to do so many fun things together!  Let’s see… we can visit the park, play board games, I remember hearing how humans practiced a ritual called a ‘slumber party’, that sounds like fun… she’ll rule the kingdom, of ourse, so I can be her Royal Advisor, and we’ll be beaties forever!  Yeah, you sure did miss out, buddy!”
Silence.
“Hmm, what’s wrong?  Cat got your auxiliary cables?”
Silence.
“You know, you aren’t the best person to have around as company.  I think you should know that!”
On the other side of the crater, the two alicorns waited in silence.  Celestia felt like hope of trying to talk Luna back was quickly vanishing, and she didn’t want to amuse Nightmare Moon by continuing her previous attempts; they just weren’t working.  Maybe Nightmare Moon was right.  What if by sending Luna away to the moon for a thousand years, she destroyed her younger sister’s hope and sent her the wrong message?  What if Luna felt that Celestia didn’t love her again?  ‘No, don’t think like that!’ thought Celestia, but it was the only thing that made sense at this point.  Celestia continued to cry for the loss of her only sibling.
Nightmare Moon was also busy in thought as she waited for her incompetent helper to bring back the Space core.  ‘Just one hit,’ she kept thinking.  ‘Just one hit and he’ll be gone.’
“Nightmare Moon!  I’ve done it!”
Never did that annoying accent sound as appealing to the mare as right then; she turned to see Wheatley drag her prisoner towards her.  He was unusually out of character, he had remained silent since the captured him.  He had not said a word about space, or ponies, or any of the gibberish nonsense that usually came from his brain.  But his eye was still spinning around, and it was this eye, this yellow spinning circle, that was causing her problems.  She had to act quick.
“So Princess, what do you have in mind for our little friend here?  I have an idea!  We can bury him!  Do you have any shovels?   No?  Okay then… what if we throw him out into space?  Yeah, that would work, I know it would drive me insane…but he might like flying through space, so that isn’t bad enough… what if we—what are you doing?”
As Wheatley continued his ramblings, Nightmare Moon raised her hoof silently over the Space core.  She stared at it with an expressionless face.
Celestia saw what the dark alicorn was about to do; it was a horrible thing, even if it wasn’t a pony.  “Luna, please… don’t do this.  This isn’t you.  You would never kill.  Luna, just stop, I beg of you.”
Nightmare Moon readied her hoof.
“Space pony?”  The yellow eye focused in on her.  Nightmare Moon stopped.  She heard a voice.  
“Stop it, I won’t allow you to do this to my friend!”  It was Luna.  The presence of the Space core had once again awakened in her mind and was now fighting Nightmare Moon for control.
“No, you know nothing you simple little pony.  It’s my turn now.  And I will make them all pay!”
“But he is my friend.  My sister taught me to love my friends, and I cannot allow you to hurt my friends!”
“Your sister is wrong.  Friendship means nothing.”
“No. You are lying!  I won’t let you hurt dear Space core!”
The hoof slowly retracted.
“No!  I am supposed to have control!”
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it looks like the power of friendship is still more powerful than you!”
“YOU ARE WRONG!”
“I am not wrong Nightmare Moon, you are just horribly mistaken!”
Suddenly, Nightmare Moon broke from her inner battle and let out a scream.  She had one last moment of control before she would lose to Luna, she needed to act now.
SMASH.
…………………………..
“….and then he was like WOAH, but then the cake just flew up off the table and flew over and hit Applejack in the face!  And that’s why I can’t throw any more surprise birthday parties for Big Mac!”
“Thanks Pinkie…”  Twilight said with a fake smile.  
“Wow, that was quite the story Pinkie Pie!  It almost sounds too crazy to be true!”  Spike said in amazement.  Immediately after his comment, though, he continued his previous activity of gazing lovingly at Rarity. 
“Well, don’t even get me started on crazy!  You should have seen Carrot Top’s last birthday party, it was like—“
“I’m so sorry to interrupt your… entertaining story Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said, leaning over to Twilight., “but when will the princess be here?”
Twilight looked up at the balcony.  “I think she should be here now.  Probably just getting ready, haha…”  She scooted a little bit away from the other unicorn after answering her question.  
“Of course!  A princess as regal as her needs to look her best for her subjects… I’ll go see if I can help!”
And with that, Rarity dashed out of the room and up the stairs.  Twilight tried as best as she could to sit far away from the loud and noisy group next to her, even though it did look like they were having a lot of fun… NO!  She had to focus on her studies!
“C’mon Princess, please come so I can leave!”
…………………………..
Celestia was blinded by a flash of light.  Her sister did it!  Luna had finally fought off the darkness of Nightmare Moon!  She almost lost all hope, and her sister once again surprised her!  She looked up to see her sister.  Then she looked down at the ground.
“No…”
…………………………..
It was done.  Nightmare Moon used the last of her strength to bring her hoof down hard.  The core broke with relative ease under the pressure of her iron-strong hoof, and with its destruction came the ending of hope for which Luna thought she could save.  Luna’s presence in her mind was gone.  Nightmare Moon now had full control.
The debris around her continued to spark, and the eye was slowly fading.  With his last bit of energy he managed to say, “Luna…moon…pony….”  The eye went out.  The remaining three just looked at the remains of the space core.  He was gone.  Luna was gone.  And Celestia’s hope to save her sister was all but unwavered.  The sun princess lowered her head and began to weep.  Even Nightmare Moon was silent for a moment, only listening to Celestia’s crying.  
Celestia only knew that AI core for a short time, but from what she gathered about him, he was just as pony as any of them, with a few interesting aspects about him.  She had no idea what he was or where he came from, but she felt something from him; a power that almost matched the power of the Elements of Harmony.  Wherever this Space core came from, if they also possessed Elements of Harmony, he was undoubtedly one of its controllers.  There was so much that Celestia wanted to know about him… and now he was dead.
It was the moron who broke the silence.
“Wow, so that’s what an AI core looks like on the inside.  Interesting.”
Nightmare Moon stepped over to the princess lying on the ground.  “Now, sister… why don’t we pay a little visit to our old home of Equestria?”
She leaned over her and touched her horn.  Suddenly Celelstia’s head shot up; it felt like the life was being drained out of her body and through her horn.  In reality, Nightmare Moon was absorbing the remaining magic from the royal alicorn.  With the combined power of the two regal pincesses, Nightmare Moon would possess enough magic to teleport herself off the moon and back into Equestria.  
“Let’s see… why don’t we send you back to our old home in the Everfree Forest?”  Celestia vanished in a wisp of black smoke.  “Oh, and I’ll come visit!”  she added nonchalantly, as if Celestia could actually hear her.  “Wheatley?”
“Yes ma'am?”
“Let’s pay my royal subjects a visit.  It’s been too long.”
“Really?  We’re going to Equestria?  Road trip!  Only, there’s no roads, so it’d be an air trip, but not an air trip like in a plane, more like a…”
“Shut up!”
And the two disappeared in another wisp of smoke.
…………………………..
“Fillies and gentlecolts, attention please!”  Everypony looked up to see the mayor standing high on the balcony.  “As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!”
Everypony in the building began to clop their hoofs and cheer.  
“In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this; the longest day of the year!”
Twilight looked up at the moon.  Now the shadow that vaguely resembled a mare vanished before her eyes.  ‘Oh no…’
…………………………..
Celestia landed on the cold ground of the abandoned castle in the Everfree Forest.  She was exhausted, and had no strength either magically or physically to fight the magical strands that bound her hoofs.  But now that Luna was gone, Celestia felt something she hadn’t felt in a thousand tears; grief.  She felt like nothing she did would matter now.  There, in the dungeon deep in the castle, Celestia gave up.
…………………………..
“And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day…”
…………………………..
Nightmare Moon appeared in the courts of the Canterlot castle.  She was alone with Wheatley.  “Wow!  This place is amazing!”  screamed the AI core.
“Now, I can’t have you going around like this.  I will give you power to move freely…”
…………………………..
“…the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria…”
…………………………..
Wheatley turned into a wisp of purple smoke; Nightmare Moon did this for 3 reasons; so he could serve her in the next few days, so she could keep track of him, and so she could silence him with her magic if need be.
…………………………..
“…Princess Celestia…”
Rarity drew the curtains, but the stage was empty.  Everypony in the audience gasped.
Twilight was more scared than any other pony.  “This can’t be good.”
…………………………..
“Okay now best friend princess ma'am!  Where to first?  The park?  Bowling?”
“Let’s go visit my subjects…”
…………………………..
“Stay calm everypony!  There must be a reasonable explanation for all of this.”
“OOHH, OOHH, I love guessing games!”  Pinkie Pie blurted out.  “Is she hiding?”
Rarity came out from the back room.  “She’s GONE!”
…………………………..
Nightmare Moon silenced the gathering of smoke that was Wheatley.  All she could think now was how she was going to make everypony pay.
…………………………..
“Oh, she’s good… AAAAHHHH!”
Everypony turned around to see what Pinkie screamed at.  It was a dark blue fog gathering on the balcony.
“Oh no… Nightmare Moon!” Twilight gasped as Spike fainted.
The dark alicorn looked down from her lofty perch.  A smile came to her face.  After a thousand years, she had won.  “Oh my beloved subjects..."