It was my room. I was briefly terribly confused because some of the colors were off, the view was different, but it was otherwise exactly the same. The first time I met her Celestia gave me a list of things about her, and what to say, and not say to Nocturne. I remember being very confused that I couldn't talk about the moon, but should talk about astronomy. In retrospect it's still a little odd, but no longer why she would have anything against the moon, but why not the stars too. One bit of advice is Nocturne has a temper and if she's mad talk about something else first. I had a good topic. She was standing near the window looking outside.
"Why does this look like my room in the palace?"
She laughed. "You really think there are that many rooms close to Celestia's own suited for foals? It became your room eventually obviously, but it was mine once too."
I nodded. "Okay, and it's here because you really liked it that much? I mean it's nice enough but I was happy to move out too."
"It's not like I usually sleep here. I recreated quite a few rooms. I built an impressive palace, but there is no one to fill it, not even self important nobles. So I figured why not redesign a few rooms for the sake of nostalgia. This place always helps me think."
I nodded. "It is a nice quiet little room, but I've always preferred the library for real thinking. You must have a great Library."
"One of the few rooms really full of anything. A personal collection of countless volumes collected for about a thousand years. Though the library itself is younger than that."
"I want…" I then paused, thinking of another question even though she seemed calm enough already. "Why do you like me so much?"
"Why not? You are pleasant mare, and were a delightful filly. Also you share my love of reading. What's not to like?"
"But from the first moment you met me you treated me like, well, like family. Like I was a long lost sibling or…" I paused
"Ah, that. Two things, both simple but not something you tell a young child. It would just complicate things needlessly. First you look like Shimmering Stitches."
"I, know that name. It's…"
"Your ancestor. I'm aware. She was an amazing nurse, reduced to being my nanny because she loved Luna, even when she became the Nightmare. She only kept serving the crown because she vowed to serve me. She raised me."
"So I look like your strongest mother figure?"
"Good guess. She was more red and pink, but similar enough yes. Is there some picture of her I'm not aware of? I didn't think there was but the one."
"No, it's just someone recently told me I look like Clover the Clever but green."
"Ah, yes. That brings us to the second. I likely have no father. I was created with magic instantly forming as a young filly, not a baby."
"And it used Clover's blood as the source?"
She nodded. "Most likely. Where mother got the vial I'm not sure, though mages have been known to keep odder things in their labs."
"I think I have at least two vials of blood in my own lab actually but that means…"
"We are related? Obviously. Though Sombra is also possible, but I'm nearly certain he betrayed her before then."
"Who?"
"No one of importance." She waved a hoof "Just a fool with even less sense than mother. He is long gone. I guess you may have to deal with the repercussions of his actions, but the dark stallion of fear is no more."
"Uh, okay."
There was a niggling feeling about that title. Some ancient legend. Then again darkness, shadow, and fear were common elements of lots of legendary villains. At this point most of these stories seemed to really be based on the abilities of the real Nightmare Moon. Maybe he was some sort of general under her command? I'll have to research that later, but right now I have to focus.
"You know Clover's line is very interesting. Countless generations of ponies assisting great ponies everyone knows and being forgotten for how much they helped. Even Clover herself is often overlooked for her famous master. Even by her own ancestor."
"Wait, you know about my Starswirl the bearded costume?"
She nodded. "With few exceptions what my bat ponies know I know." Then she sighed. "But that's not why you're here. You want me to give her a chance or some such?"
"Yes, but mostly I want to understand. Why do you hate her so much?"
"Oh Twilight, I wish it was that simple."
Then she finally turned away from the window. Her crown was missing, her hair was a bit tumultuous, but didn't really look bad, and he was missing one of her front shoes. But most of all those strange and occasionally terrifying eyes were filled with tears, trails running down her face.
"I, don't understand."
"She was perfect to me Twilight. I never had another to compare her to and everything seemed like so much fun. Stitches took care of me most of the time, but I knew mother was really important so I didn't mind."
"But it was Nightmare Moon and…"
"So what? I was a child. I didn't understand that. I just knew it was fun flying with her. That all the troops were really nice to me. That it was fun pretending to be just a unicorn when mommy still called herself Luna."
"Wait, still called herself…"
"Luna became Nightmare far before she changed her name. After seeing her now that much is obvious. She's so different."
"You loved her. Despite everything…"
"And then she was gone. Not even really dead, just gone to her magical disk in the sky, a constant reminder of that fact etched on its surface for all to see. At first I hated Celestia. All I had left was Stitches and all she had of her one true love was me."
"That, ended badly, didn't it?"
She shook her head. "No, it could have, but eventually she found a bat winged stallion and they married, continuing the unbroken line that would lead to…"
"Wait, I'm part bat pony?"
"Yes, so? They have been living as pegasi in Equestria for some time. In fact odds are your two pegasus friends have at least one bat pony in their tree somewhere or other."
"But surely Celestia would…" Then I looked down. "Oh."
"I said I hated her, not that I hate her. Eventually I realized the truth, and began to pity her. Eventually we bonded over that loss. Her sister and my mother, but…"
"The dark ages began with Nightmare, but didn't end until much later because of Celestia's grief. Regent Art Hair's reign was surprisingly successful, to the point most histories call her queen Art Hair instead."
"Yes, I still don't know if auntie was amazingly astute in pushing the royal hairdresser into the post, or just extremely lucky."
"And until the matters with Art Hair's herd got far too out of control Celestia was largely absent, from your life too. You were erased with Nightmare too, weren't you?"
"Not quite. No, it was simply that for my safety my wings were hidden. I was that strange black filly with the accursed eyes, that everyone always suspected, but no one ever accused directly. They just judged me for it silently."
"Then Celestia got better, but it was too late and you left with the bat ponies."
"It was too late, but I didn't leave because of my aunt. One of my regrets is I never spent more time with her. No, it's…" She looked at her mark. "They needed me."
"The bat ponies?"
"Yes. They were, new, but by the time the regency ended not so new there wasn't a baby boom. When everypony still remembered the bat ponies that was a problem. So I began to protect them because Celestia was far too busy to deal with such a relatively small matter. That's how I got my mark. Because I knew what I was meant to do."
"To serve them."
"I had befriended them before the real trouble began. We were alike. Creations of mother with no place of our own left. So we left and settled in some caves in the mountains. But it wasn't far enough. We moved a few more times, but then I decided we would not keep running, we would go as far as it takes, but find our own place."
"And founded Shadowgate."
She nodded. "It didn't have a name for the longest time, and Cavernus was the first name of the city, but eventually we needed the name of a nation."
I nodded. She was smiling now even though the tears hadn't stopped. Then I suddenly understood the full scope how confusing this all was. Her existence and that of her people can both be traced back to her mother, and she liked Luna even as Nightmare Moon. I guess she was never entirely gone. Yet Nightmare is also responsible for leaving her alone in a nation that hated her mother and distrusted the daughter at the very least.
Then I remembered that while there was no portrait, there was a sketch made by Shimmering Stitches herself of her injuries. It didn't show her manestyle, just all the various scars over her body. I always thought it was weird that she got so many scars during a conflict since she was a noncombatant. Of course I never knew she served Nightmare, or until recently what that civil war was even about. Though mostly I just thought how good the sketch of internal anatomy that she also made was. Either Nocturne is leaving out some very important details, or my ancestor did a very good job of shielding her from the darkness of the world at the time.
"So you love her and hate her because everything good and bad is all because of her?"
She laughed, wiping her eyes. "You know you're nothing like her. You look like her but other than being fond of checklists you're almost nothing alike."
"Oh, uh…"
"You know I was going to hug her." Nocturne let out a sharp little laugh
"Hug who exactly? Because…"
"Luna. That was the plan. To just do what auntie would tell me to do, what you would urge me to do, and just hug her and try to forgive her. But somehow the second I saw her I just started sniping at her. I even threw a few spells at her. She didn't even dodge."
"But now…"
"All my friends are dead. At some point they were all dead."
"What?"
"The bat ponies now revere me. I am their perfect goddess queen. They used to be my friends, but now there aren't any left and there haven't been for a long time. I used to think auntie was being ridiculous renegotiating the treaty with Equestria so often, but eventually I figured it did have a purpose."
"Were you mad that…"
"She saw the same doubts she sees in herself? If I had seen it a little earlier, maybe not, but by the time I realized I could understand. I don't want to be alone, and I want to be with her but I don't know what to do next."
"Talk. Maybe even yell some more. But maybe this time start with the hug even if you start yelling at her at the same time."
"It might be worth it for her expression alone, wouldn’t it?"
We both laughed. I certainly wouldn’t know how to react to some pony hugging me while telling me how much they hate me. I also felt I was doing amazingly well not freaking out about Nocturne being my who knows how many times great aunt.