//------------------------------// // Entry Thirty-Four // Story: Diary of an Aspiring Tyrant // by SugarPesticide //------------------------------// October 2, 1000 ANM Today I noted a peculiar trend in decoration around the palace. The crescent-shaped black visage of a mare stared out from various vantage points, with her eyes bearing slitted pupils of judgment. I was rather unnerved by what I deemed to be a series of ill omens, so I hastened to Sister Dearest without delay. For once, she looked slightly shaken. “I was afraid this day would come. Walk with me in the garden,” she sighed, and her mane billowed dramatically in a nonexistent breeze. My envy knew no bounds, but I condescended to indulge her, and so together we strolled out into the open. Ah, at last the miseries of summer heat have waned! Truly I love this time of year, in which a fell wind blows and rain patters against the earth like the hoofsteps of a foal. In the garden, many of the beasts were preparing for hibernation, while those which would ordinarily migrate south for the winter were slated to be transferred to a nearby greenhouse. When I asked about this unfamiliar term a few days ago, I was made to suffer a long-winded explanation of one of the many new inventions that have come into creation since my imprisonment. I did not listen, of course. Green houses have been in existence since the settlement of the Shire, and what difference could it make to smash the two words together? In any case, the birds were few and far between as we made our leisurely way up and down the drying plants. Tree branches hung heavy with leaves of red and yellow, though they had yet to flutter from their perches in sweet surrender to gravity. Earth pony magic would dislodge them, though I have to wonder if Canterlot has found some alternative—I have not seen many earth ponies wandering through these streets. Perhaps there are some from beyond the city borders, hired to take care of these unwanted leaves. “I hope you’re doing well, Luna,” Sister Dearest finally said, distracting me from daydreams of hooded assassins hacking gnarled limbs from weeping trees. “We haven’t been seeing each other as much as I would have liked. I keep meaning to set aside some time to spend with you … I haven’t been able to do that since the first week or so you’d been back.” “It is a pity,” I agreed warily. While it is true that it would be no chore to while away the hours with one of my few friends, I disliked the idea of putting off the exodus of Dreamkind for longer than was necessary. “And of course it wasn’t as if I could brush you off then! You weren’t exactly in the best shape at that time. I’m guessing that you’ve grown an inch or two since then.” “Do you jest?” I puffed out my chest indignantly. “My appetite is one worthy of a princess, but that does not directly result in a bulge of extraneous weight in my midsection.” She stifled a giggle with a perfect hoof. “I mean vertically.” “Ah.” I considered this. “Really?” “Well …” Her eyes shifted from side to side. “I may have stretched the truth to make you feel better. Just a little.” “Celestia!” I pouted, cuffing her gently. “How dare you trifle with my self-image!” But I could not resist a smile, and a chuckle escaped my throat. “I suppose there is a reason you were never the Bearer of Honesty.” “Well, I think you’d know that better than I would,” she said lightly. “But you probably don’t want to hear me tease you much further. You asked about the decorations?” “Yes.” Grass of faded green crunched beneath our hooves. “There was something unsettling about the profile of that mare. Uncanny, yet eerily familiar. I should not be surprised if I saw something of her likeness in my darkest dreams.” “If it weren’t familiar, I’d be surprised. Luna … those are pictures of Nightmare Moon.” I froze. I stared at her. “Explain.” “There’s a holiday called Nightmare Night. The Nightmare is seen as something of a boogeymare.” Her wings shuffled awkwardly. “Over the years following the night when you … when Nightmare Moon was banished, I did my best to keep your name as untarnished as I could. After all, the atrocities she committed were not acts that you would have done had you been of a sound mind. But there were difficulties.” “I am uncertain as to what difficulties a kind and wise alicorn princess could have in shaping the country into the image she desired.” If she noticed my jab, she did not show it. “Another alicorn would pose a challenge, I’d imagine. Even though she was imprisoned on the moon, Nightmare Moon’s rage affected the dreams of our subjects. I received hundreds of reports of ponies staying up for days on end, refusing to give in to sleep for fear of seeing a great and terrible face bearing a coat as black as night.” I frowned. “I think I remember … If I could not wreak havoc directly, I would instead be bent on spreading my namesake. But I thought it was a futile gesture.” “I’m afraid you succeeded too well. It was obvious that the ponies weren’t about to forget you anytime soon, so I settled for a compromise: I would hold Nightmare Moon’s name as something to be amused by rather than feared. Thus, this holiday holds a proud tradition of collecting candy as a ward against both her fury and their hunger.” She smiled sadly. “Eventually Nightmare Moon held no more power over them. They’d forgotten that somewhere behind the costumes and cider was a being that hated them deeply. I don’t think they even noticed when she stopped appearing in their dreams this summer.” “I see …” My gaze drifted across the garden, where I could see a large paper moon bearing a unicorn’s head. “But why would you have them remember Nightmare Moon, and not Luna?” When she spoke next, there was the faintest undercurrent of a tremor in her voice. “It was because I didn’t know if any of the old Luna was left. If you were dead, and only the Nightmare remained, I wasn’t about to dirty your memory by attaching your name to the face in their dreams.” She scuffed at the ground. “You were banished and not purified, so I feared the worst.” With some hesitance, I met her eyes. The weight of the sun behind them overpowered me instantly, but in that brief second I saw that it was nevertheless softened by a shimmering wetness. My heart twisted. “I apologize.” “Luna,” she chided, oh so gently, and I was hidden in the broad embrace of white feathers. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I only wish I could have prevented it from happening in the first place.” Curse you, sister! You and your gentle ways, tempting me to reveal all I know just for the sake of assuaging your conscience! Were I a weaker pony, I would have gladly done so. But I am determined to free Equestria from your coddling, so I must remain firm. The sun has threatened this planet for far too long; it is the moon’s time to reign gloriously. Still, I am beginning to see that Sister Dearest truly was affected by my madness and exile. To cope with loneliness as well as the constant threat of that ball of flame and terror … it is something I do not wish to contemplate. I cannot falter in my path to righteous rule, for the sun is tired. When all of this is over, I shall make it a priority to explain this to her, that she might find a silver lining that encompasses the entire cloud of her misfortune. And then I shall thank her, for she has kept my memory alive without sullying my name. For that, at least, I am grateful.