//------------------------------//
// History - twilight the scribe 
// Story: Dark Paradise: the TwiLuna Group Collab 
// by Habanc 
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Written by: twilight the scribe



*****


Nightmare Moon.

The dusty, old book that Twilight had found shoved into one of the deepest shelves in the Restricted Section of Canterlot castle's massive library. The spine of the book was cracked, the cover worn with age. Intrigued, Twilight had gingerly rescued it from the shelf. the cover portrayed a monstrous mare of darkness with a starry blue mane, a feral snarl on her face as she flew in front of the white moon that took up the top half of the cover. below her, ponies writhed in fear and screamed. Twilight shuddered at the image. It was truly terrifying. She toyed with the idea of opening it and reading. It was a part of history, after all. A history that few had dared to record down for fear of Celestia's wrath. almost guiltily, she glanced backwards, where her marefriend was engrossed in a book detailing modern Equestrian culture, humming to herself.  

But she knew Luna wasn't like that. During Nightmare Night, almost two months ago, she had seen the real mare. Luna was a fun loving princess who had only desired that ponies appreciate her night more. a beautiful princess, with amazing creativity and attention to detail. after all, how else could she have so beautifully decorated the blank canvas of the night sky with scores of twinkling stars? Arranged into breathtaking patterns which scholars have recorded and ponies have told stories about time and time again? and the moon! Celestia had obviously tried her best during the thousand years Luna had been gone, but she couldn't replicate the perfect night that Luna created so effortlessly. Luna was a truly wonderful mare, who truly cared for her subjects. that much she had proved during that night. And now in this era, where ponies now appreciated the night and often stayed up late, (herself, for one, and also that party mare from Canterlot, the one with the purple shades) She was truly happy and vibrant. And now, Twilight was thrilled, but not as thrilled as Luna to see ponies everywhere accepting their princess of the night again. It made Twilight happy to see Luna so positively joyful, and she knew Celestia was pleased too, if the extra-beautiful sunrises and sunsets they had gotten lately was any indication.

Twilight looked again at the cover of the book, then levitated it to the trashcan, dumping it inside. she didn't need to read it after all. She didn't need a probably biased opinion of a dark time in her marefriends life. She had the real thing right beside her, and she couldn't wish for anything better. If Luna wished of her to know what had happened during those dark days, she would be there to listen. but for now, it didn't matter.

Luna looked up from her book curiously. "What was that, Twilight?"

Twilight smiled fondly at her. "Nothing, Luna." she looked out the window, where the sun was just sinking below the horizon, sending out its last rays of golden red light. "Shouldn't it be time to raise the moon?"

Luna giggled. "Alright, Twilight." her gaze turned hopeful. "Would you like to join me? I wanted to show you how to place the stars in the sky tonight. that is, if you want to, of course."

Twilight grinned in excitement. "*I would like nothing better, princess."