Luna can't believe this. Ponies of the night? But how? And where did they come from?
The night ponies surround her, gazing in awe. Some of them ask questions or ask her to come with them. The unicorn asks, "Would you like to come see our humble abode, oh, great Princess of the Night?"
Luna bites her lower lip, trying to think of what to say. "Um, all right. I suppose I could make time for it. But I cannot visit long."
He bows. "Of course, your Majesty. Come with us."
Luna follows them as they creep into the shadows. They walk along through allies, around buildings, and under bridges. Suddenly every pony stops in front of a normal looking ponyhole cover.
"Um, might I ask why we are stopped in front of a ponyhole?" Luna asks, confused.
The dark unicorn, who Luna now sees is dark black with indigo mane and tail, walks up to the ponyhole cover and knocks on it. Suddenly it opens and a beam of white light shoots out. "Follow me, your majesty," the unicorn says.
Luna stares as he leaps into the ponyhole. What in Equestria is going on? she wonders. Slowly Luna walks over to the hole and stares into it. She can't see anything because of the light, so she decides to just dive in. Luna jumps in, prepared to use her wings to break her fall, but her hooves almost immediately touch ground. She looks up from the ground and the leader unicorn smiles at her. Soon other ponies begin coming in behind Luna. The princess of the night looks around, wondering just how many ponies can fit in this tunnel, as almost all of the dark ponies that were out are coming in. Suddenly a black aura glows around the leader unicorn's horn and they are suddenly transported into a dark room with a white glow about it. Luna follows the unicorn down a long, twisting case of steps.
"This is where we live," the unicorn announces finally.
Luna looks around in awe. An entire city has been built underground, complete with houses, towers, shops, and dark ponies milling about. "Wow, I'm stunned," Luna says.
The unicorn smiles with pride and then starts off into the city.
"Wait, wait! Where are you going!" Luna calls, rushing after him.
"I have a meeting with our city's leaders that I must attend. I will meet you later," he says. "Of course," he bows low, "if that is alright with you."
Luna quickly nodds. "Oh, yes, of course." She wants to ask what the meeting is about -what if it's about her?!-, but she doesn't want to come off as rude, so she keeps silent. Many ponies found her rude when she asked certain questions. But how was she to know precisely what was considered rude and what wasn't? Couldn't the ponies of Equestria understand that she had been gone to the moon for a thousand years?! It was quite frustrating.
She watches as the leader unicorn hurriedly rushes off, and she starts wondering if he's in a hurry to get away from her. Probably not, she thinks to herself, As he, along with everyone else here, seems to adore me. But... you never can tell sometimes...
Luna decides to tour a bit of the large, underground city, as it is a curious sight. The deeper she goes into the bustling city, the stranger things become. The buildings take on a more artistic look, twisting in different shapes, that look dangerous should a great wind blow. But, naturally you could probably take greater architectural risks underground, where there would be no problems with the weather.
There are plenty of artistic statues of things like the stars, the moon, some important looking ponies, and some twisty figures that Luna doesn't recognize. Luna is quite startled when she sees a black stone statue of a large evil looking alicorn. It couldn't possibly be... Nightmare moon , could it?
Luna gulps. Come to think of it, this whole place seemed a little spooky... the underground city, the odd statues, the strange buildings.... But she can't erase the fact that the whole city seems to love her. Wherever the purple alicorn walks, the ponies around her stop and bow in awe. Some of them start quoting poetry about the moon or 'the great princess of the night'. Gasps of awe fill the atmosphere whenever she turns a corner or enters a building for observation.
Luna comes to one part of the city where there is an opening in the tall, tunnel ceiling, causing a large shaft of moonlight beamed down. Luna lets her eyes follow the moonbeam down to where it clothes a large, majestic alicorn statue in white light. Luna studies the statue. It looks very familiar, and pretty similar to Nightmare Moon. Just... nicer looking.
Luna turns to a passing, blue-black unicorn and asks, "Excuse me, who is that statue of?"
The pony looks like she might faint with surprise and joy. "Oh, g-great P-Princess of the N-Night, th-that statue is of y-y-you," she stammers.
Now it is Luna's turn to be surprised. "Of me?!" she gasps.
The pony nodds. "Of course. Y-you are the majestic Princess of the Night. You a-are our p-princess."
Luna walks closer to the statue. Suddenly, she realizes something, I have my own kingdom!
Black Moon looks into the shard of glass that hung on his barracks wall. His black coat is practically the same as every other dark pony's, but one difference is the white mark he has on his hoof. A scar that would forever remind him of that horrible day that haunts his nightmares.
"They will pay," he vows darkly.
The young pegasus turns away from the mirror, trying to smooth his short, spiky white-blue mane. He stares at the large sword, that once belonged to his father, that is lying on his dresser. The silver glints, and the black handle shines.
"This sword shall do its duty in time," comes a loud, dark voice. "Do not worry, my son. You're parents shall be avenged."
Dark Moon looks across the room, to see the great leader, Acerbus, standing in his doorway. The purple-black unicorn's black eyes seem to penetrate right into Dark Moon's very soul.
Dark Moon quickly bows low.
Acerbus motions for him to rise.
Dark Moon pushes himself slowly up from the ground. "S-sir, why are you here?" he asks in astonishment. The great leader hardly ever talked to anyone, but the captains, much less approached them.
Acerbus walks over to the great sword that was made from a fallen meteorite. He touches the blade carefully with his hoof. "You are a loyal servant, as was your father. You have been given this special job for a reason. The cause is not something to be taken lightly, do you understand?"
Dark Moon can only manage a small nod of his head.
"You remind me of myself when I was young. A fighting spirit, out for revenge..." Here his mouth twists up into an angry frown. He carefully brushes his black cape that covered all of his back. "They will never forget what happens when you mess with the great Acerbus. If they do, they'll be reminded again."
Dark Moon opens his mouth and is about to ask who 'they' are, but something tells him it would be better not to. Instead he simply gives a nod of wise agreement.
"Dark Moon, together you and I can show them that some things just shouldn't be messed with. We will make everypony pay for the damage they did. My mother tried - and it was a good show-, but I'm not going to fail like her. Acerbus will triumph. And you can help me!" Acerbus declares.
Dark Moon gulps. Acerbus is very dangerous. Should he do dealings with this leader? And what will happen if he doesn't?
And who was his mother anyways? Does anyone even know? How was she defeated? And how will Acerbus do things differently and triumph? Is he that powerful?
Acerbus stares coolly at the young pegasus. "They killed your father, imprisoned your mother, and scared you for life. They don't deserve all they have."
Dark Moon's jaw juts out in defiance as mixed emotions swirl about his brain. "You're right. Celestia shouldn't have gotten away with it. They can't hurt us anymore." He picks up the large sword. "Where do we begin?"
Acerbus grins evilly. "First, you must complete your original mission. Without it complete, we can't do much."
"So where do I find the dark princess?" Dark Moon asks.
"Princess Luna is already in our midst."