"Hey Luna!”
It had finally come. The moment Luna had been dreading the entire week had finally arrived. She hated hearing that bubbly voice, didn't want to see that happy smile beaming back at her, and certainly didn't look forward to what she had to do.
"Good evening, Miss Pie," the alicorn muttered, barely above a whisper. Seated at her desk, she kept her eyes focused on the report in front of her, steadily scribbling away on the page.
Pinkie giggled and snorted. "Silly! I thought we were past all that Miss and Mister nonsense! Just call me Pinkie! What fun stuff did you have planned for us tonight?"
"I have nothing fun planned for us," Luna remarked, keeping her eyes on the report in front of her.
Pinkie sidled up to the princess and lightly jabbed her in the side. "Oh! Well, we can do something quiet here at the castle if that's what you want."
Luna lowered her quill, turning to stare at Pinkie coldly. "I have no plans. I'm going to sit here quietly and do my paperwork, and you are going back to Ponyville."
Pinkie's ears fell flat. "Oh. So maybe next weekend then? I mean, we're still friends, right?" asked the pink pony, her voice losing its usual bubbliness.
Luna turned in her seat and narrowed her brow at Pinkie. "Do you take me for a fool? I know what you're playing at. Did you think you would come in and sweep me off of my hooves? I'm not a simple pony who's going to be swayed by your cheap party favors."
Pinkie's mane fell flat on her head. "I... I just wanted to help... and you know, get to know you better."
Luna laughed in the morose pony's face. "You? Help me? I am your elder by more than a millennium. I don't need help from an airheaded simpleton like you."
Pinkie backed up in fear, her eyes filling with tears. "What's going on? Why are you acting like this? You can't be Luna! You must be some kind of evil changeling!"
Time to twist the knife.
"What's that? Do you think I'm being mean? Allow me to show you what mean is."
Luna left her seat and walked up to Pinkie, staring the nervous pony down. "You serve no purpose in this world. Look at me," Luna commanded. She twisted her lips into a smile, waiting for Pinkie's eyes—filled with fear and pain—to connect with her own.
"See this smile?" Luna changed it to a hateful scowl. "Smiles mean nothing in this world. They come and go like the wind."
Pinkie shook her head, this time with anger burning in her eyes as she stared back at Luna. "No! You're wrong! Ponies feel better when they smile!" She tried putting on a brave smile in retaliation.
Luna lowered her head next to Pinkie's. "Face it. Smiles are just as useless in this world as you are."
Pinkie shook her head in disbelief. "No! This isn't who you are! I'm not leaving until I find out what's going on!"
I didn't really want to do this...
"Smiling didn't stop Crosswind from dying, did it?"
Pinkie's mouth fell open, betrayal apparent on her face. Luna clapped her hooves and two guards entered from the balcony.
"Guards, Miss Pie and I have nothing left to discuss. Escort her out of the castle immediately," Luna commanded.
The guards obediently wrapped a hoof around both of Pinkies forelegs and started dragging her out. Luna averted her gaze as best as she could, but before Pinkie had fully left the room, they locked eyes one last time; tears streamed down Pinkie's cheeks.
Luna breathed a sigh of relief as the door slammed shut, and left her desk to stand out on the balcony. Each step she took felt heavier than the last.
This is what you wanted. Now you can enjoy your nights as you had before, without interruption.
Lying to herself wasn't something Luna enjoyed, and no amount of justification would stop it from being anything other than a lie.
She had set herself free... or at least, that was the narrative she had weaved, and yet she felt more imprisoned than ever.
Just when she was supposed to be enjoying her freedom, her mind turned to Pinkie.
"What's wrong, sister?"
Luna looked up from her untouched plate. "Nothing.”
"I couldn't help but notice there wasn't a slice of cake today," remarked the elder sister.
"I thought I told you not to get used to it," Luna grumbled, pushing her plate away.
"I can only assume something happened between you and Pinkie Pie," Celestia reasoned out loud.
"That would be a fair assessment," muttered Luna.
Celestia speared a pancake with her fork and took a dainty nibble. "I suppose that's why you haven't eaten anything... and why you look guilty."
Luna leapt from her chair, slamming her hooves on the table. "We do not look guilty!"
Celestia cleared her throat. "You slipped into 'we' again."
Since her return, Luna took speech therapy to sound more "modern", but when she lost her cool, her speech usually reverted as well.
She stamped her hooves angrily on the table again and pushed her chair away. "I don't have to sit here and take these accusations! I'll be off to my room, thank you very much!"
"But you haven't even eaten anything!" Celestia protested, standing up from her chair.
"I am not hungry!"
Just before stepping out of the dining hall, Luna glanced back one last time to see Celestia's face, filled with worry. All she wanted was to forget about what happened—to get back to her room and think on something else. Luna quickly decided she would apologize to her sister later when everything calmed down.
It was three in the afternoon when she got the message to come to Ponyville. One long-distance teleport later, Luna found herself in front of Sugarcube Corner. She bolted past the two guards standing by the doorway and ran for the stairs, doing her best to ignore the crying family huddled in the lobby. Her hooves carried her swiftly down the hall to the door on the left.
In Pinkie's room there were several things that simply did not belong, such as the guards and a gurney, but they weren't the first thing to catch her eye.
Hanging from a beam above Pinkie's bed was a noose.
Luna stumbled backwards when she looked back at the pony-shaped object underneath the sheet on the gurney.
No! You foolish... how could you?!
"Princess Luna..."
She knew that voice very well. The tone, however, was grave.
Luna spun around and saw Celestia in the doorway, her eyes burning in barely-contained rage.
"She left a note. She said somepony finally showed her how useless she was, how her life meant nothing. I would have words with you."
Luna backpedaled in fear. She stumbled into something behind her and heard a loud crash. Looking back, she saw the gurney tipped over, and a lifeless Pinkie Pie lying on the ground.
No!
Luna charged a spell and disappeared in a flash.
She opened her eyes to the cold comfort of her quarters.
You've done something terrible, haven't you?
Luna's breathing stopped abruptly. She hadn't heard that voice in a long time. It sent chills down her spine.
"Go away! I'm not talking to you!"
Go away? You fool. I never left! I'll always be here. I'm always waiting for you to slip up.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked.
You honestly think you're reformed. As if you could be mended overnight. You deluded fool. I can scarcely believe we're the same pony.
Luna clapped her hooves over her ears. "I'm nothing like you! You're a spiteful villainous witch!"
A spiteful witch born from the darkness in your heart. Funnily enough, there was one pony who knew exactly how to help you. Who was willing to 'put the time in', as they say. Too bad you killed her!
"Shut up! Leave me alone!" Luna demanded, covering her ears with her hooves.
Luna's senses heightened in an instant. She felt the approach of three alicorns.
“Cadance, Twilight, and... my sister.”
They're coming for you, Luna. They're here to stop you... to stop us.
Luna felt her heart go cold. Her eyes changed, and a surge of power rushed to her horn. Where Luna once stood, a villain had now taken her place, and her lips moved against her wishes.
"The darkness has come."
Luna felt herself being pushed to the side, making way for the dominant personality.
What will they do to us?
“Does it matter? We fight.”
What if we lose?
Nightmare Moon's lips curled into a smile.
“Then we return to the darkness. You like it there. Being around these ponies made you soft, made you feel. The darkness will be your home.”
Luna cried out as the last vestiges of her will disappeared, swallowed by despair.