//------------------------------//
// Ch. 19: As the Moon Rises, So Does the Sun 
// Story: The Moon Shall Rise From Hell's Ashes 
// by TundraStanza 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 19: As the Moon Rises, So Does the Sun


---{Narrator, Third-Person P.O.V.}

Deep in Hell's darkness, her screams died out. Another resonating voice called out to her. She couldn't see it clearly, but it drew her out of the emptiness all the same. Long, dry corridors gave way to dimly lit caverns. These further gave way to torchlit stalagmites.

Cerberus barked at the escaping flicker, but she ignored his warning. She was needed elsewhere. Lands blurred beyond recognition, until she eventually reached the source of the resonance. A pillar of dark magic fire reeled her in closer. Gradually, she helped to calm the screaming victim into a gentler, calmer sleep.

She opened her piercing eyes to the world.

---

Celestia stared wide-eyed and wide-mouthed at the dark pillar swirling before her. Right next to her, the two night guard stallions were busy covering their eyes from the dark glare. An unnatural wind blew all around the room. It was suffocatingly warm and unbearably chilling all at once.

Faith Shield struggled to keep an eye on everything in front of him. His efforts rewarded him with an unusual sign.

"Hey!" he yelled over the wind, "What's that up there?"

Celestia and Spirit Sword broke their gaze from the main pillar to follow Faith's direction. What had caught his attention looked like a small, orange shooting star. Whatever it was, it thrust itself right into the center of the swirling darkness and started overpowering the color. Additionally, the pillar was rapidly shrinking. In a matter of seconds, the darkness had become a very small layer of orange, quickly fading away.

The fading smoke revealed a somewhat taller pony shape in place of the Luna-shaped Dilan Shier. The black hide on the alicorn body was in the likeness of Nightmare Moon. However, that was where the similarities ended. This pony was wearing a set of off-white armor in a rather unusual design. In particular, the small spikes along its shoulders and back stood out along with a few orange stones arranged sparingly.

When she opened her eyes, they were bright orange orbs gazing at the space in front of herself. At least, that was the case until she turned to face the rest of the room's occupants. Celestia, Spirit, and Faith had been expecting some kind of menacing look from somepony who had been corrupted by the Nightmare. So, the disinterested gaze into space left the night guards baffled and encouraged Celestia to practice her poker face for the millionth time that year.

"Is this really what I've been asked to protect?" asked this Nightmare. She sighed and closed her eyes. "She heads to the old castle. I suppose it's only fitting that the criminal returns to the scene of the crime." She turned around and looked toward the throne room's entrance.

"Wait!" called out Celestia.

The Nightmare turned her head casually to glance behind her. "What do you want, Celestia?"

Celestia stood up straight in her usual authority. "You are controlling Dilan Shier right now. Are you not? We need to know your intentions."

The Nightmare blinked. "The one you refer to as Dilan Shier sleeps within me, yes. As for my intention..." She closed her eyes. "I'm going to stop Nightmare Moon no matter what it takes." She glanced back again, with nonchalant sincerity.

"Even though you yourself are a part of the whole Nightmare?" inquired Celestia.

"If you must refer to me by anything, call me 'Reflect Sun'."

"Reflect Sun?" echoed Celestia.

"I believe this form is what would have been had the merge between you and I been completed."

In spite of his tension, Spirit Sword trotted the few feet needed to stand to Reflect Sun's right.

"I'm afraid your intention won't be realized," said Spirit.

"Oh?" Reflect Sun looked at him. "And why is that?"

A twinkle crossed his determined eyes. "Because I'm going to save Princess Luna from her curse before you get the chance to have your way with her."

Faith Shield galloped to Reflect Sun's left.

"Yeah, that's right," he concurred with his partner.

"As will I," stated Celestia matter-of-factly.

Reflect chuckled as she faced forward. "Very well, I accept your challenge."

Both Celestia and her reflection focused their magic into a long-ranged teleport. All four ponies vanished from the throne room.

---

A burst of light deposited the four passengers inside the walls of a ruined castle.  They were expecting to find Nightmare Moon at the center of the old thrones.  So imagine their surprise when someone else was there instead.  Well, Faith Shield was surprised.  The other three looked more annoyed than anything else.

"Were you expecting someone else?" asked the changeling queen before laughing slowly and deliberately.

"Chrysalis," hissed Reflect Sun.

"Why are you here?" asked Celestia. "Where is Nightmare Moon?"

Chrysalis chuckled as the green from her eyes gave way to a much more prominent turquoise. "Now why should I give you the answers to that?  There's no point in talking to somepony who's about to perish."

Reflect Sun squinted and hummed.  "I see... that was part of Luna's original deal with you.  The groveling was just a required performance after the real price had been paid.  She gave you a piece of the Nightmare to hide deep in your conscience in exchange for your aid against Tirek.  Only now, that piece is starting to seep out, compelling you to protect her."

"Wait, can Nightmare Moon do that?" asked Faith Shield.

"It isn't out of the question," admitted Spirit Sword. "We've seen her control multiple bodies and hosts simultaneously.  She could use one of her hosts to distract enemies from the other."

"Which means... she's further inside the castle," concluded Celestia.

"Knowing that is useless to you, Princess," berated Chrysalis as she stomped her hoof once.

The small amount of Nightmare seemed to seep through her mane.  Meanwhile, two armored changelings stepped out of the shadows.  Their solid blue eyes had given way to a shade of turquoise similar to their queen.  When they opened their fanged mouths, there erupted a sound that crossed chuckling with chittering.  It was unpleasant to hear.  The corrupted Chrysalis charged up her horn, causing humongous green flames to surround the throne room.

"She had measures in place against teleportation spells!" Celestia grit her teeth.

"Then our only option is to knock her out cold," stated Reflect Sun.

One of the smaller changelings stepped forward. "We will not allow you to harm our queen."

"Don't be so sure!" called out Faith as he stepped to the front of his group.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Reflect Sun.

"What does it look like?" responded Spirit as he joined his partner's front line.

"It looks like you're committing suicide," answered Reflect.

"I prefer to think of it as strategic power placement," said Faith.

"You and Princess Celestia should reserve your strength," stated Spirit, "You won't be able to defeat or save anypony if you waste your magic on the Nightmare's bodyguards."

"He has a fair point," admitted Celestia with a sad smile.

"Their current injuries won't make them any more useful here than they would be against Nightmare Moon," said Reflect.

"I trust them," said Celestia meaningfully. "So does Luna.  Dilan trusts them too."

Reflect sighed as she took a step back. "These Nightmare changelings are inferior fragments of the true fear." Her orange eyes flickered. "Give them Hell."

"If you insist," responded Spirit.

Both of the changeling guards hissed as they slowly came closer.  Meanwhile, Spirit and Faith crossed their wings with a 'shing' sound.  They held their ground with determined expressions.

"Kind of reminds you of the old training camp, doesn't it?" asked Faith a light chuckle.

Spirit spat to the side. "These guys aren't half as intimidating as that commander."

Their small trip down memory lane was cut short.  The drones leaped into the air, fangs bared and voices hissing.  Spirit and Faith spun in place just as the flying enemies passed.  Leather wings sliced through exposed necks.  The changelings fell head over hooves onto their backs and slid.  It seemed as if the battle had already been won.

A rush of fire surrounded the drones.  Slightly wounded facades of Sword and Shield stood up.

"Huh," huffed Faith. "I guess a small part of me always wanted to kick your butt."

Spirit held up his front legs hoof-side up and motioned toward his doppelganger.  "Be my guest."

As the visage of four Night Guards squared off against each other, the light and dark halves of sun observed carefully.

"Why are they so oblivious to the danger that they're in?" wondered Reflect Sun.

"I'm afraid that was in part due to Luna's training regime." Princess Celestia closed her eyes and sighed. "By the time the recruits were ready, it was a joke among the Night Guard that any pony who could survive Exile Blade's wrath could survive anything."  Even as the sounds of slashing wings cut through the air, her only response was to slowly open her eyes again. "So far, they have yet to be proven wrong."

"My memories of your life are brief due to the small contact, but weren't your guards better at taking matters seriously?" insisted Reflect.

"Maybe so," said Celestia in agreement. "However, they haven't been just my guards for several months."

Reflect turned her head to face her light self. "Are you saying that the guards' behaviors have rubbed off on each other?"

"It's possible." Celestia shrugged her wings. Then, she smiled lightly. "Say, I should introduce you to Tranquil Shoe sometime.  He's a riot."

Reflect hummed with a deadpan expression. "I'll consider it."  She turned back to the center of the room.

Faith was narrowly dodging Sword's wings.  He seemed rather unconcerned with this impostor's attacks.  In fact, he had both front hooves behind his back while casually walking backward in circles.

"Would you hold still?!" shouted Sword's voice.

In a spinning motion, Faith backflipped over.  He swung out both wings simultaneously into the changeling's back and drew squirts of green across the floor.  Deprived of energy, the flames revealed the changeling's true form as it fell face down into the ground.  A small black cloud floated up and out of the defeated drone's body.

"Sorry, pal," said Faith, "but you don't have my partner's patience."

Metallic clangs could be heard in rapid-fire succession as Shield rushed Spirit.  While wing strikes were flying from the impostor, Spirit was calmly parrying all of them.  His eyes moved around with each strike.  A split-second caught a glimmer from his golden irises.  Suddenly, his wings seemed to be everywhere in front of Shield at once.  The changeling was knocked right out of its disguise and flat on its back.

"Strike-and-Parry Breaker: One Thousand Years of Judgment!"

The turquoise tint left the changeling's eyes as a second small black cloud floated out of this body.

"You lack my partner's restraint," said Spirit while folding his wings.

"I got 'you' good, buddy!" hollered Faith.

"Correction: We got 'each other' good," said Spirit with an authoritative nod.

The dark clouds rushed over to the one side of the green, blazing arena.  Reflect Sun hummed in confusion.

Celestia gasped in realization. "Dodge!"

Faith turned his head at the yell. "Dodge what?"

A big blast of green collided with him, sending him hurling through the air and then sliding across the floor.  Less than a second had passed before a similar phenomenon happened to Spirit.  Looking across the room, Reflect saw smoke coming off of the silently grinning Chrysalis's horn.

"And here's your reward," growled Chrysalis, "Death."

"Leave them be, Chrysalis!" demanded Celestia.  She leapt forth and landed with a mighty stomp. "Your fight is with me."

"Well, Celestia," said Chrysalis while calmly trotting forth, "I hope you've brought something new in your repetoire.  Last time we had a battle royale, you didn't fare so well."

"I'm better prepared for you this time," insisted Celestia gently and firmly.

"That remains to be seen," commented Reflect.

"Aren't you fighting too?" asked the queen.

"My other has already claimed this fight as hers." The dark pony threw her hooves up in a mocking surrender. "My hooves are tied."

Chrysalis giggled as she returned her look to the light pony. "Shining Armor isn't here to save your sorry flank this time, Princess."

Celestia's face remained neutral. "Funny, I could say the same thing about you."

The queen's expression slipped from arrogant to perplexed.

"I can't believe you just walked right into that one." Reflect gently placed a hoof against her forehead.

Growling, Chrysalis ignited her horn.  A flurry of green bolts shot forth from the tip.  In rapid succession, Celestia disappeared and reappeared all over the makeshift arena.  Most of the bolts collided with the fiery wall.  Reflect put up a small protection spell to ward off the few stray blasts that came in her direction.

The Nightmare-infected changeling queen flapped her wings and quickly propelled herself forth.  Celestia gladly angled her head.  Their horns collided as the two combatants grunted in a push-of-war.  Some crunching noises could be heard as they backed up, clashed horns, spun around, and clashed again.  With the way they swung their horns around at such angles, one could wonder how they weren't getting headaches.

Once more, Chrysalis took the initiative to change the battle pattern.  She jumped back a bit before firing one large, dark, magical blast.  Celestia immediately surrounded herself with a golden orb.  The greenish spell bounced off this barrier into the arena's side.  Soon after, the princess switched from defense to offense.  A large golden beam collided with Chrysalis, sending her into a collision course with her own created cage.  The queen fell and grit her teeth against the newfound pain.

"Yield!" shouted Celestia.

Despite its tattered state, Chrysalis's mane drooped over her eyes. "Well... all right.  But there's just one other thing you should know."

"And what would that be?"

Just as Celestia asked that, Chrysalis slapped a hoof down into the floor.  Something akin to a vein started rooting through the hard surface.  Reflexively, Celestia set up another barrier around herself.  But whatever this attack was simply dug under the ground before bursting underneath her legs.

"What?" Celestia gasped.

A splash of green gunk instantly covered her and the interrupted barrier spell popped.  Celestia flailed inside the translucent substance, but couldn't effectively move.  Chrysalis laughed even as she held a hoof to her torso against the pain.

"You aren't the only one who was better prepared," mocked the queen. "With this new power, my royal gel can bypass even Artemisia's defensive spells.  You didn't stand a chance."

"Leave her mother out of this!"

A long, orange blade suddenly swept through.  Chrysalis had a new open wound in her neck.  She shakily looked over at the hilt of the épée.

"What happened to... your hooves... being tied?" she asked between shallow breaths.

Reflect Sun stared with furrowed brows and fire behind her slit irises. "I grew claws."

Chrysalis's breathing quickened. "Two... against one... isn't fair."

"You're complaining about being unfair?" scoffed Reflect. "You kidnapped ponies and left them for dead.  You stole one of their identities and leeched off of her lover.  You instigated an entire invasion.  You just took down three ponies with nothing but that shard of Nightmare boosting your power.  But now that you're losing, you have the gall to tell me that the fight isn't fair?!"

She pressed her blade's tip within paper-thin distance of Chrysalis's neck.  The queen squeezed her eyes shut.

"Reflect Sun, stop!" cried out Celestia from inside that cocoon. "Don't make Dilan a murderer!"

The dark pony held her stance for a second, sighed loudly, and then pulled her sword away.  The épée disappeared into a card.  Exhausted, Chrysalis collapsed to her side.  The fiery cage soon burned down to cinders around the room.  Like a bubble popping, the goop split apart and allowed Celestia to move.  She trotted forward and looked at her dark half.

Reflect looked away.  "We should get going."

"What compelled you to listen to me?" wondered Celestia.

"Call it symbiotic respect," Reflect answered quietly. "You're a lot more disciplined than I would have imagined."

Celestia hummed before looking around the ruined castle's various corridors. "Any idea where to start looking for Luna?"

"Probably near the old six-jeweled apparatus," surmised Reflect. "That's where-"

A loud growling interrupted their conversation.  They turned their heads to look at the slowly standing changeling queen.  A bright blue light was shining from her eyes.  She bared her fangs and flew forth.  The moment of surprise was enough to tackle Reflect Sun to the ground.  Chrysalis bit hard into her neck.

Despite the new pain, Reflect managed to open one eye and look at Celestia.  She channeled a levitation spell on her helmet and flung it over.  Celestia caught it in her own magic, though she looked between it and Reflect Sun in confusion.

"Sorry, but... I must entrust Dilan Shier's future to you," grunted Reflect.

"What are you saying?!" exclaimed the light pony.

The dark pony's entire body started glowing in an orange highlight.  She turned back to her attacker and smirked.

"Gotcha."

Contrary to a certain baby dragon's theory, a pony can only explode once.  This one happened to be tapping into a forbidden power, one that Celestia swore to never use.  However, her dark half never made such a promise.  So now, it was all Celestia could do to place up a barrier for herself and the pegasus guards behind her to protect from the dual-edged, sacrificial spell.

Supernova.

The intense light and heat burned through and destroyed the shard of Nightmare within Chrysalis, stripping her of that dark power.  Additionally, it knocked a fallen pillar out through one of the windows that had been intact.  Sadly, the fires also left some of the recently refurbished touches in ashes.  But that wasn't the worst of the destruction.

When the light finally faded, Celestia opened her eyes to see nothing but the stray bits of armor where Reflect Sun had been standing just a minute earlier.  There was really nothing to say, so Celestia opted to repeatedly exhale her awe at the event that had transpired.  Her shields had already been dropped.  The Night Guards were coming to and rubbing their heads.

"What hit me?" wondered Faith Shield.

Spirit Sword snapped to attention. "The changeling!"

All three ponies looked across the room.  There, against a wall, lied the defeated Chrysalis.  She looked rather beaten up and she wasn't stirring, save for a light rise and fall of her belly.

Faith limped forward up next to Celestia and looked around. "Where's Reflect Sun?" At this time, he noticed the floating off-white helmet in Celestia's telekinetic grasp.

She closed her eyes and exhaled. "She is... no more.  She said she would entrust Dilan's future to me."

"You mean she...?" Spirit didn't finish and opted for a different question. "What did her wish mean?"

Celestia looked at that helmet a bit before shaking her head. "I don't know."

The golden glow around the helmet suddenly turned a light orange.  Everypony gasped at the sight.  Celestia even let go of her magical hold.  However, the headpiece kept floating there.  It moved an inch to the left and an inch to the right.  It turned around and rushed forward... immediately fitting itself over Celestia's head.  Her reaction was a vocalized yelp.

"Princess!" cried out both guards.

As she stood there gaping, they were completely stunned by what they were seeing.  Some of her front teeth sharpened out into fangs.  She opened her eyes wide and the pupils elongated into vertical slits.  Celestia's head bobbed a little as she breathed loudly.

"Princess... are you okay?" asked Faith cautiously.

She let out one more slow breath before blinking twice. "Y-Yes... I think so."

"You sure don't look okay," commented Spirit. "In fact, your face looks a bit like one of the Nightmares'."

"Looks like...?" As Celestia heard those words, something else flickered in the back of her mind. "Could it be...?"

"Could what be?" asked Faith.

"Reflect Sun's essence." Celestia held a hoof against the side of her head. "It's very faint... but it's there."

"Are you saying she's inside of you now?" Spirit took a tentative step back.

"Is this what she meant?" muttered Celestia. "Take some of her power to ensure there's a small piece of him left?" She set her hoof down and closed her eyes.  She opened them back up with a determined look. "Come along, gentlecolts. We still have Nightmare Moon to confront."

"That is true," admitted Spirit. "But are you sure you should be facing her in this condition?"

"Probably not." Celestia shrugged. "However, we made a vow."

"A vow?" wondered Faith.

"We gave our word to Reflect Sun that we'd save Luna no matter what."

Spirit nodded firmly. "Well said."

"Yeah!" Faith pumped his hoof up. "Crazy dark powers or not, we're going to save her."

"Then let us go," said Celestia, charging up a bright light. "To the old Elements' chamber!"

The teleportation spell swept them all away.

---

In another flash, they arrived.  This large room in the back was barely lit, save for the occasional lightning bolt flashing from Nightmare Moon's mane.  She smiled out of relief from her boredom.  She leaned her back against the long-abandoned contraption that once held the jewels of the Elements of Harmony.  Now, it was just an oversized, stone counterbalance.

"I'm so glad you could all join me this evening," she said with a hum. "But what's this?  I do believe you're short one pony."

Despite Celestia's currently fierce face, she remained calm as she asked, "Just what are you planning, Nightmare Moon?"

"Planning?" echoed Nightmare mockingly. "I should think that's obvious, Celestia." She stood up and slowly trotted forth. "Or do I really need to remind you what you did to me during the night of the longest day?"

Faith Shield and Spirit Sword each turned slightly.  They each held a wing in front of them defensively.  The anticipation for an imminent battle was growing.

Celestia briefly closed her eyes. "You brought judgment upon yourself."

Nightmare spat to the side. "Typical, you never accept the blame for any of your own sins."

Celestia opened her eyes and stared.

"You sent your little pets to gather the Elements so that they could eliminate me," continued Nightmare.

Celestia shrugged. "Well, you threatened Equestria with a slow, cold famine, fear and torment, and you stole my sister."

*Clang!*

By the time Faith and Spirit turned around, Nightmare's blue long sword was already pushing against Celestia's golden battle axe.  Somehow, a drop of sweat found time to roll down Faith's chin during that one second.  He was having trouble comprehending how the princesses were capable of conjuring purely magic weapons in such a short time.  But there they were, having a push of war.

"Besides," added Celestia, "it was the others who decided to actually be her friends, not me."

Nightmare grunted as hung there in midair, still trying to push.  Something else within responded to her hatred.  Two thorny vines snapped out of her back and rushed behind her.  Spirit and Faith hopped up and swung their wings forth at a rapid-fire pace.  The result was some finely cut vines that faded into shadows upon dropping to the floor.

Failing her sneak attack, she gave her wings a hard flap to gain some altitude.  Celestia acted on a similar aerial climb while keeping her eyes focused forward.  Nightmare's mane started circling around in a huge cloud cover, despite it being indoors.  Some long-ruined pages of old books were tossed around in the twirling breeze.  Lightning bolts crashed down upon Nightmare's chosen direction.

'Have some help.'

A faint whisper echoed in Celestia's head.  Her magic channeled off into three waves.  A golden orb appeared around her allies and herself.  The resulting shields bounced the lightning safely away.  Some of that electricity even raced back and zapped Nightmare.

"Now!" called Celestia as she called off her shields.

Spirit and Faith flew up and swooped in with simultaneous passes.  Nightmare flinched as their wings sliced through her.  Celestia flew in close and used her axe to knock away the corporeal sword.  She floated her weapon fairly close to her opponent.

"It would be best for you to yield now," stated Celestia.

"Yield?" chuckled Nightmare. "Who do you think I am?"

Something launched out of the ground.  It was as if the shadows in the very floor were attacking under Nightmare's command.  Several dark tendrils grasped Celestia's legs, wings, and axe.

"You never stood a chance, Celestia," said Nightmare quietly.

The eyes inside of the orange helmet suddenly glowed white.  For what seemed like a second, yet also an eternity, her mane turned into a wave of golden flames.  They burned in several directions at once.  The shadows hissed and burned away while Nightmare was forced back to the ground on her hooves.  The combination of intense light and heat was draining her energy.

As soon as it had started, the display ended.  Celestia's familiar hues of blues and pinks returned to her mane.  She gently flapped her wings and landed a few feet away from Nightmare.  Her eyes regained their usual appearance.  She was even starting to feel her few fangs ebbing away.

While it wasn't very accurate to call an alicorn's mane a gas, the density of Nightmare's mane seemed to be thinning down.  She stood there breathing heavily.

"Do you think you've won?" she hissed. "I'm invincible!  I am Nightmare Moon!"

"You know, I'm not feeling so lively with you anymore."

All four of the room's occupants opened their eyes in surprise.  They turned their heads this way and that way, looking for the new voice.  A bit of Nightmare's fading mane looked like it was spilling over and being molded into a small pony shape.  It wasn't anything solid, but it looked significantly more like a pony than a gas cloud.

Nightmare looked at the shape in scrutinizing confusion. "What do you mean 'anymore'?"

"This vengeance and eternal night spiel?  That's what's getting boring."

A few more pony shapes emerged from the dissipating mane.  With them, more voices added to the conversation.

"You are no longer fit to be Master." The third exhaled loudly. "I have new Master."

"I wasn't exactly fond of this gig. Ya dig?"

"It's tormenting. Your hatred is so close, but I cannot feed on what is already in the host."

Nightmare looked at each of those she had 'taken back'... those she thought had power that belonged to her.  Her own shadows were... deserting her?  She couldn't accept that.

Celestia pulled Reflect Sun's helmet off her head as the last of her fangs flattened out. "I'm beginning to understand."

"That makes one of us," commented Faith, still trying to figure out what the hay was going on.

The helmet floated right behind the shades of the pieces of Nightmare.  The five that separated reacted like pouring water.  Except in their case, they flowed upward.  The helmet held in place as the fading clouds swirled underneath.  Something was unravelling in reverse.  As time went on, whatever it was looked much more solid.

Hooves clipped against the floor.  Wings with metal feather-tips opened and flapped once.  A red tail flowed out from behind.  A horn protruded from the smallest hole in the helmet.  Eyes opened to reveal one slit orange and one slit turquoise.

---{Dilan Shier}

"Whew, that feels better," I said while stretching my legs free from the fatigue.

I gave myself a quick once over. Let's see.  Spectrum's in my right anklet. Check.  Posh is in that patch in my mane. Check.  Tail Demon is in the obvious place. Check.  Vine and N. A''ight are... wherever the crud they are. Check.  Oh... I tapped a hoof against my chestplate. Off-white, huh?  I guess I know where Reflect Sun is.  And... good to go.

My good mood was interrupted by the sets of eyes staring at me. "What?  Do I have something stuck in my fangs?" I briefly rub my hoof against them, hoping that my phantom fingers don't find anything.

"D-Dill Anne?" stuttered Spirit. "Is that you?"

"Yep." I nod and set my hoof down.

"But how?" asks Faith.  The poor thing looks so shocked. "You got overshadowed! ... and blown up!"

"Yeah, not going to lie," I said while rubbing the back of my neck. "That wasn't the most comfortable experience ever."

"Wait, how did you feel any of that?" asked Spirit. "I thought she said you were asleep."

"I don't fully understand the ins and outs of it myself," I admitted, "but during the time when I was nothing more than a headpiece, Reflect Sun managed to give me a rundown of what she went through."

"So that was what the whispers I heard were about," muttered Princess Celestia.

A low grumble interrupted our reunion.  I looked over to see the noise, and I just barely had enough time to set up a defense against the incoming blue laser beam.  After bouncing off my shield, the laser sort of bounced out through a large hole in the ceiling.

"You know how to use magic now?" marveled Faith.

"Well, just this round shield spell," I told him. "Remember that rundown I was talking about?  Reflect Sun was able to help me figure out how to cast it."

The small remains of Nightmare Moon struggled to stand.  She ended up falling again with loud breaths.

"All of that power is mine alone," she groaned. "It belongs to me."

At that moment, I decided to let the shield fade.  I sighed and slowly trotted over to her.  I looked at her eyes and saw traces of hatred and fear.  Faintly, I heard Tail Demon nagging to be fed, but something else needed to be said first.

"Luna, I get it," I said gently, "You have a huge burden, and you can't help but feel solely responsible for it.  But it hasn't gone away no matter how much you try to prevent others from carrying it.  Maybe it's time that you tried something else, something that's sure to give a different result."

She looked at me uncertainly.

I put on my small smile. "Please, let me help you."

Tail Demon finally got his taste.
---