* * *
Little Steppes was making a dangerous gamble by convincing Nightmare Moon to push so aggressively so quickly. Perhaps this may have put herself in good standing with the Princess of the Night, but it also put her freedom on a knife edge, not to mention the whole of Equestria with it! The more she thought about it, the more young Lilly was beginning to think she'd made a mistake...
...But what about right now? Nightmare Moon doubtlessly had plans for Little Steppes, but what?
"So, what am I supposed to do?" She finally asked, distracting the princess from her thought.
"Ah, so have you quashed your thoughts of trying to escape? Good..." More silence. "Hm. It would take you too long to travel those places where support for me is strongest, and Canterlot would be too dangerous to make my presence known... Curse it, why couldn't you have been a pegasus or a unicorn, something more useful than a magicless, flightless filly?!"
"I'd love to be able to use magic like a unicorn, but I can't help being born an earth pony." Lilly defended. "I mean, what am I supposed to do about that? Unless you can get me a horn or something, that is..."
"Hmpf." Nightshade snorted, pondering whether or not to do just that. "Perhaps if you prove useful to me, I'll consider it. For now though, I know there's at least one pony in Ponyville who I may be able to recruit."
"Wait? There is? Who?"
"Have you heard of the librarian? The only unicorn in your entire town? Gleaming Lulamoon . Her parents were fairly loyal to me, one can only wonder why she never fell into their hoofsteps... That will be your first task. Go to Golden Oaks Library, and convince her to join us. Show her my shoes, and tell her the night will last forever, and she will understand. Go, now."
...And that was that: As soon as the order was given, Lilly's shoes turned her sharply on the spot, trotting her back out of the throne room and beyond, its grand front doors now opened once again to allow her to leave. Another long walk through the woods and the dark as she was walked back to Ponyville.
The magic of the shoes was strange: She'd been walking for what she assumed was a long time, and yet her legs didn't ache, and she was as wide awake as she was when she got out of bed. For reasons which quickly became obvious to her when she thought about it, the shoes' magic was keeping her awake, removing tiredness and strain from her body so she could continue to do Nightmare Moon's work. It was a shame: Being able to stay up late and never getting achy legs from walking around a lot would've been really useful... You know, if it didn't also mean she had no control over her own movements.
She felt a warm sense of relief in her heart as the straw thatched roofs of Ponyville came into view, and had she been returning of her own accord, she'd have simply gone straight home. Indeed, she did have a bit more degree of control over her hooves again now, save for one thing: She could see her family home down one of the dirt streets, and she couldn't help herself: Surely Nightmare Moon wouldn't mind her going back just for a bit? Even just to put on something warmer than her night gown. And so, she did try to quietly trot down that way instead of onward to the great, hollow tree which contained the town's library. However, the closer she got to that street, the heavier her hooves became. Eventually, her hooves were rooted to the ground, again. Not a single step more could she take towards her home. It was heart-breaking, and she struggled to keep her eyes dry as she tried to throw herself to the ground: She'd drag herself home if she had to, she'd bit into the dirt and pull herself forwards by her mouth if she must! But again, her legs would not budge. As her shoes lost patience with her, and she found herself being turned away, she felt her eyes go wet: There it was, home. She was so close! So close, but she couldn't go back, couldn't go to her warm bed, or see her parents. She wasn't allowed to, and her magic shoes wouldn't let her try: She had a job to do, and she was going to be made to do it, whether she wanted to or not.
As she walked, she was at least allowed a moment to pause and wipe dry her eyes: She HATED crying, but at this stage, she couldn't help it. Her thoughts had been stuck on a painful truth since she'd left Nightmare Moon's castle: this was entirely her own fault! She'd stolen from her teacher, which got her scolded by her parents, who gave her a job to go to the Everfree, so she'd do something productive, leading her to Nightmare Moon's trap. A trap she'd fallen into wholeheartedly, so enamoured was she by the shiny new thing, and what had it brought her? Both her parents, even her mother, had assumed this was yet another theft on her part, that she simply couldn't ever resist stealing something from somepony, and this was yet more proof of how their daughter was becoming little more than a common thief. Nightmare Moon had played her for a fool, and she had indeed been very, very foolish.
She wiped her eyes, her face red. No, no, she had to try to be strong, like her father, if she wanted to get through this. She couldn't cry and give up: She HAD to have faith that Princess Celestia would see the smoke signal she'd lured Nightmare Moon into making, realize something was wrong and come to help her. If nothing else, perhaps she could convince Gleaming to tell her parents what was going on, so they wouldn't assume she was just a cowardly thief. A weak, shaky chuckle escaped her as she walked: Well, at least she had an honest job now, just like they would've wanted.
And there she stood, at the door of the library. No turning back now. She sighed, knocking loudly on the library door. She looked up, hearing a faint sound of hoofsteps, and a light in one of the upstairs windows. Then light emerged from the ground floor, and the door opened, revealing Gleaming Lulamoon: A young, navy blue unicorn, somewhere in her mid-20s, with a short, neatly cut mane of silvery hair. She looked down, confused at the filly at her door. "Erm, you're one of the school fillies, right? Lilly?" Little Steppes nodded. "Good gracious! It's 2 in the morning! Whatever are you doing up at this time of night!?" She then saw her face, her eyes still slightly red from her earlier crying. "...Is, is something wrong?"
"I, I've come to bring you a message." She sighed, lifting up a hoof to show the librarian her shoes. "The Princess of the Night has ordered me to tell you that... Well, the night will last forever."
Her eyes went wide in horror. "Oh... Oh no. Quickly, come inside." She swiftly hurried Little Steppes inside the library: The hollowed out tree allowed for a vast, airy chamber, selves carved into the wooden walls, lined with books of all subjects. She paced up and down, sweat beading on her forehead. "No, no no no..." She stammered over and over. "YOU were the one she told of in my dream? A child?! Why would she do this to a child?!?"
Lilly blushed a little. "Erm... Hello? I thought you were loyal to Nightmare Moon? What's going on?"
She sharply turned to face her. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear... I, I don't know how to explain what's going on... I, well, erm..." Gleaming's mouth was dry, still a little confused and upset about a young filly, still in her pyjama gown and the princess' shoes, clearly plucked from her bed at the dead of night. "Nightmare Moon, you see, has been visiting my dreams for a while now. And recently, she'd been trying to convince me to come to her castle and pledge fealty to her, as my parents had done long ago."
"Wait." Lilly interrupted. "...but I thought she couldn't influence dreams right now?"
"She said that to you?" She asked. "And you think she won't lie to ponies now and then?" Lilly went quiet, she should've seen that coming. "It's a half truth. Observing dreams is far easier than influencing them. One must be resourceful with their magic, after all. She's conserving her strength, and only influencing the dreams of a handful of ponies at a time. Namely, me. She warned me that she'd recruit somepony to secure my support someday... And, I'd know them by the shoes which would bring them here. Her shoes."
"...Shoes which would only go where she tells them to go, and do what she wants them to do."
The unicorn shuddered. "I didn't think she'd go so far as to enslave a child, though! I knew she was brutal, and ruthless, but... A child?!" She shook her head.
"So, what are you going to do? You're not going to help her?"
Gleaming growled. "This is why I left Canterlot! I couldn't live with the Nightmare Moon fanatics in my family, I had to bring it to an end, change my family's name so we're not just those crazy moon worshippers. I didn't want to be a part of that reputation, so I left... Everypony had assumptions made about me and my family, and I didn't want to live with such a bad reputation." She sighed. "No, I won't help her. I'm sorry you were dragged here for nothing."
"I... I..." The young earth pony shuddered. "Well... Please, can you help me?" Gleaming froze. "These shoes keep making me go all over against my will and I can't get them off. Please can't you do something? I want to go home, but I can't with them on."
The librarian approached her, taking a closer a look at the shoes. She reach out a hoof. "May I take a look?" She asked, to which Lilly nodded. He took one of Lilly's hooves in her own, closely studying the shoe. "I've never seen them this close before... They're very beautiful."
Lilly scoffed. "I know. Nightmare Moon is pretty good at baiting her traps."
Gleaming blushed. "Apologies... Hmm. I've not seen a pair of shoes like this before. That's not silver, it's a strange material, that's for sure."
"Could it be mithril?" She asked.
"Mithril?" She pondered in reply. "...Hm, perhaps. If anypony could find and adorn herself in such mythical metal, it would be Nightmare Moon. As strong as it is elegant. I can see why she'd chose such things. A manticore could chew on these for a week and they wouldn't even lose their shape."
"Heh, I can imagine. They certainly didn't show any signs of my trying to pull them off with my mouth."
"Quite." Her horn glowed, engulfing her hoof in a pale blue light. The magic tugged at the shoe, pulling her along but not causing the shoe to budge. "Darn, they really are stuck on tight there."
"Mm-hm." Lilly nodded. "Don't you have a spell or something you could use?"
"I, I might... I was always more of a reader than a magician though... Her magic shouldn't be as strong in the morning, we'll be able to fight it then."
Little steppes gulped. "Erm... Well, that's the thing..." She blushed intently as Gleaming stared at her. "Nightmare Moon... She might be, maybe, slightly deciding to... Make tonight never end..."
"Oh..." Gleaming shrunk back. "...This, this is bad."
"But, but Celestia will see it, right?! She'll know it's her sister, and will come to stop her!?"
"Well, yes... Nightmare Moon's playing her hoof this early WILL get Celestia's attention, but..." She wet her lips a little, her mouth dry as it was. "...Celestia has been defeated before... She needed the Elements of Harmony to defeat her sister last time, and the princess has only gotten older since then..." She shuddered.
"So, so what do I do?!"
...Gleaming sighed, trotting to a cupboard and producing a parchment roll and a quill. She quickly scribbled down a pair of letters, handing one of the two to Little Steppes. She then ushered her visitor into her kitchen, where Lilly found her rummaging through a cupboard. She produced a small bottle with an ominous skull and crossbones on its label.
"For now, we must trust that Celestia can somehow defeat Nightmare Moon... But if we can't..." She sighed regretfully. "Lilly... You're going to have to kill Nightmare Moon."
"What?!?" she stepped back, dumbstruck. "But, but I can't kill anypony! How am I supposed to kill an alicorn princess!?"
"With this..." the librarian answered, showing her the bottle. "Gentle Goodnight's Rat Poison. It's supposed to be humane. Odourless, tasteless, but extremely deadly. If you can get this into Nightmare Moon, she'll fall into a deep sleep and, where she'll promptly perish."
"But, b-but how?" Her voice cracked. "A-and I've never killed anything before!" She felt her eyes go wet again at the thought: Even SHE had her limits. "I, I don't want to!"
"Oh, I know, I know." Gleaming gave the young filly a hug. "But you must. Nightmare Moon is known to be arrogant. When you go back to her castle, hide this in your night gown and appeal for mercy to her. Do what you can to convince her to make you her assistant, a cupbearer, a servant in her kitchens. Anything of that ilk. Once she trusts you, place this into her food or her drink." She showed her the other letter. "I will send for help, and Celestia will definitely notice the perpetuity of the night, and hopefully you won't have to do anything. But, if Celestia can't beat her sister... Or worse, you'll be the only one who can prevent her from taking over Equestria."
"But, what happens if both of the princesses are... Are..." She didn't want to finish that sentence.
"I don't know. One can only assume that Nature would take over... Perhaps, perhaps we'd need to find a new ruler... If all ends as I fear it does, we might see the end of Monarchy in this night. Hopefully you'll never need to use it, but if it has to be so, at least this way you'll DEFINITELY be able to walk free." She slipped the small bottle into the pockets of Lilly's gown anyway. "The only other thing I can think of would be to do something to distract Nightmare Moon in her fight with Celestia... Hmmm... I do have one thing, but it's a stretch, let's put it like that. And I don't think it would even work."
"What is it? If I can help Celestia somehow, without..." Little Steppes shuddered.
Gleaming ran upstairs, leaving Lilly alone in the library for a while before she returned. "I do have this." She showed the earth pony a short, narrow wooden stick of some sort. Well, it was no twig, this was quite a nicely carved, polished sort of thing with the same kind of length and width of a pencil.
"What is that?" Lilly asked.
"It's a wand." The librarian answered her. "Have you ever heard of Meadowbrook the Enchanter?" Lilly shook her head. "He'd created several magical items of great power over the course of his life. But here's the thing of curiosity. He wasn't a unicorn, he was an Earth Pony." Lilly blinked, she'd never heard of him before, nor had she ever heard of non-unicorns using magic, well, like that. "He started out with a simple wand, much like this one, and gradually managed to build up his strength and his skill. He wanted to prove to the world that some ponies out there, not just unicorns, could be great wizards too... Provided they had the ability, and the right tools." With this, Gleaming gave Lilly the wand.
"Wow..." She gasped. "But, but I've never..."
"I know, and this might not work anyway. But, if it does... This is still a pretty weak wand, you'll only really be able to make a large flash of light with it, a stun at most." She added. "But it could give Celestia an advantage if you use it correctly..." She frowned. "...If you can use it at all... Take it, try to test it out."
It was a clumsy to wield in her mouth, though she did consider just wrapping her hoof around it somewhat. She figured she'd try and hold it as she'd hold a pencil, and that seemed to work a little bit.
"Now, wha'd do I do?" She asked with the wand still in her mouth.
"For now, you are going to want to try to use that thing as a unicorn would use their horn." Gleaming explained. "Try to, try to focus on drawing your strength into your mouth and through the wand..." She groaned. "It can be rather difficult to explain what comes so naturally to unicorns like me to a non-unicorn... Basically, think like you were going to spit, but don't ACTUALLY spit, it's the magic you want coming up that way. Nothing else."
Lilly chuckled with nerves, TRYING to do as Gleaming suggested. Focus, focus! She stared at the wand in her mouth and concentrated with all of her strength to make it do SOMETHING! A little spark fizzled out from the end of the wand.
"Look, see." Gleaming smiled. "You're doing it. Keep going!"
Encouraged, Lilly pressed on, her body beginning to ache from the strain. The wand began to glow. "Look!" She cried. "Look! I'm doing it!" Then, there was a blinding flash and Lilly yelped, reeling back and dropping the wand. When she came to, her vision had light spots flicking in her eyes, which slowly faded as she pulled herself to her hooves. Gleaming rubbed her eyes, but she looked pleased. "Well, you're no Meadowbrook. But get that in Nightmare Moon's face and she'll be dazed for sure."
"But, how will I be able to do that again?" Lilly asked, picking up the wand, feeling her entire body aching if she'd ran a marathon.
"Trust me, dear, it gets much easier the more you do it." Gleaming beamed. "But Lilly, don't be disheartened for a second! You're an earth pony who just cast a spell, with a wand, on your first try! You do realize that even some unicorns your own age would struggle to maintain a light spell like that? ...Granted, when they do it, it doesn't usually explode in a flash in their faces..." She had a thoughtful look on her face. "...You keep that wand, okay? I'm sure it will help Celestia when she confronts her sister. Just... Be careful, okay?"
As Little Steppes took Gleaming's reply in her dress pockets and made the long walk back to Nightmare Moon's castle, her thoughts were a mess. A wand? Magic? She'd just used MAGIC! It didn't go terribly well, but how many earth ponies did you see going around casting spells?!
...Her excitement at the thought was quickly doused by her reality, however: Having to somehow use that flash against Nightmare Moon? Or worse: The idea of having to be the pony to use that poison and kill the princess was horrifying. She stole from other ponies, and she could live with the idea of people thinking she was a thief, she DESERVED that. But a murderer? Even if it was a pony as evil as Nightmare Moon, it would still mean that Little Steppes had murdered a pony. That was something only the worst of ponies would even think to do, and Little Steppes wasn't a bad pony! She wasn't! She wanted to be free, she wanted to get those horrible shoes off her hooves, and she wanted to go home... But, she didn't know if she could do THAT, even when the stakes were so high...
"Ah. You're back at last..." Nightmare Moon snorted as she saw the small filly quietly enter her throne room. "You took longer than expected."
Lilly looked up. "I'm sorry." She spoke sadly. "I, I have Gleaming's reply for you." She trotted up and offered her the letter, which the princess took with her magic. The young filly watched as the princess quietly read it. "Hm. So she's on board? Why didn't she come with you?"
"I... I don't know..." Lilly answered weakly, trying to come up with something to cover him. "...I, I think she was worried about blowing your cover before you were ready to make yourself known to the world. I, I'm sure she'll be here soon, hopefully." Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. "But, what about me? What else can I do for you? C-could I get you something to eat, or drink, maybe?"
The princess chuckled. "You've changed your tone. Where's the sudden humility come from?"
"I... I..." She winced. "...I saw my home when I was in Ponyville... I tried to go back, I just wanted to see my family again, or at least put on something warmer than this stupid gown..." She choked up a little. "...I couldn't. Just as you said."
The Princess of the Night didn't react at first. "I used to keep casks of wine in a concealed part of the cellars, along with some preserved cheese, stored in wax. Go and fetch me some, and you may cut a small slice for yourself. Let's call it a reward for proving your loyalty. Don't get greedy with my cheese, though! I'll know if you do..." She huffed. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go!"
Little Steppes hurried off as quickly as her shoes could move, taking her down a corridor at one of the sides of the throne room. It wasn't as well-lit as the main chamber, and had the eerie ambience of a long-abandoned castle, the only light coming from the night sky and the moon beyond.
She turned a corner and down a flight of spiral stairs. It was still awfully, awfully dark the deeper she went. There was torchlight down here, however, lighting the cellars just enough to navigate. There were bookshelves, lots of bookshelves. Many of them were empty, save for a few books here and there. The clincher though was one bookshelf with a single, suspiciously upright book on the shelf... It also helped that this was the shelf that Lilly's shoes parked her in front of. She reached up, grabbing the book and pulling it from the shelf, revealing it to be a lever, opening the shelf as a secret door. Okay, that was pretty cool: Under better circumstances, Lilly would have found this discovery more exciting.
As she entered the wine cellar, moisture sloshed under her hooves: Some of the lower barrels had leaked, and shallow pools of red wine dotted the floor. Most of the barrels, however, were perfectly fine. There was a cabinet of wine glasses, a large silver platter, and a knife for cutting the cheeses.
As she finished pouring out a glass of the wine and cut a slice of the cheese for the princess, she took out the bottle of rat poison, holding it in her hoof. She stared at it, and at the knife, then at the wine glass. She could have her freedom right here and now, if she chose it. But, that would be murder, no question about it... But this was Nightmare Moon: The pony who'd trapped her, dragged her from her home and enslaved her. Surely she deserved it, right?! But, if it was doing the right thing... Why did Lilly feel horrible thinking about it?
As she returned, she caught sight of the princess on her hooves. She'd left the comfort of her throne, and was standing, looking upwards at the wall behind it. Lilly followed Nightmare Moon's gaze, up to a tattered and moth-eaten pair of banners, one a night blue, and the other a golden yellow: It was the yellow banner which the princess was staring at.
"P-princess?" Lilly spoke, breaking the silence and snapping the princess out of her trance.
"What?! What do you want?!" She snapped.
"Sorry. I'm just bringing you the food and drink you wanted."
The princess huffed, walking over and snatching up the wine and the cheese plate with her telekinetic magic, not wasting any time in taking a large sip of the drink. "Very good." She returned to her throne. "...Very good." She took another sip. "You don't have any siblings, do you, Little Steppes?" the filly shook her head. "Good. In my experience, an older sibling would stab you in the back for their own ends if they had to choose between what they want and what you need." She snorted bitterly. "Then again, I assume you'd just steal whatever you like from them, wouldn't you?"
"I wouldn't." Lilly protested weakly. "I promised my father I wouldn't anymore."
"Oh, of course. Because words mean so much, don't they?"
"I, I know what I did was wrong. But I'm not a bad pony... I, I really meant it this time."
Nightmare Moon sighed. "Shut up, Lilly."
"I, I'm sorry if I've annoyed you." Little Steppes said. "But, but I'm sure she regretted what she did. I mean, she's your sister, she loves you."
Within seconds, Lilly suddenly found herself caught in the grip of Nightmare Moon's magic and dragged before her by her scruff! She seized the filly and shoved her against a wall. "I SAID SHUT UP!" She barked. "I don't know what goes on in your stupid head, but if 'Love' came into this, she would not have done what she did! Do you understand? Princess Celestia does NOT love me!"
"You're wrong." Came another voice suddenly, causing Nightmare to release Lilly from her grip, the young filly scrambling away from the Princess of the night. She turned to see who had spoken, seeing a towering, white-furred alicorn, her wings folded and her face grim: Princess Celestia.
Nightmare Moon turned, a cold smirk on her face. "Ah, Celestia. What a pleasant surprise."
"Luna..." Celestia took a step forward. "I didn't realize you..."
"That I'd gotten free?" She snorted. "Your magic has been getting weaker and weaker for years! There's been cracks forming in your spell, and in those cracks, I have emerged. I thought myself free, but still you keep me trapped in this castle! Tormenting me with the world outside! This castle is like a cage, you know? So, perhaps you should learn how it feels!" She chuckled, turning into a laugh. Her horn glowed, the golden tapestry flew aside to reveal a crystal podium with a strange level like device fitted atop it. The lever was pulled and suddenly, all around Celestia, crystals shards erupted from the ground! This happened rapidly to form a circular cage like construct, far too narrow for Celestia to climb through. Celestia gasped, and tried to teleport away, but something was preventing her from doing so!
"You stupid pair of fools!" She spat. "I knew that Gleaming Lulamoon was unwilling to support me! Those who were truly loyal would've come to me when I called for them! I knew that the child was going to try to get help when I sent her to Ponyville!" She smirked, looking down at Little Steppes. "I'm sorry, my little pony. This was a trap all along, and you were the bait!"
"Luna!" Celestia called. "I know what I did! You cannot imagine how much it hurt when I had to do what I did. I spent nearly a thousand regretting it."
"You had ALL the choice in the world, but you chose the adoration of your subjects over me! You vicious liar! You always WERE the indulgent one! Enough was never enough! Always more treats after dinner, always more playtime in your sunlight, always more adoration from your subjects. You ALWAYS needed more!"
"...I was swept up in the adoration." was Celestia's reply. "...We were young, and I was stupid. Even when we'd fought for Equestria together, neither of us had ever experienced leadership of a kingdom before. I'd been selfish, and I'm sorry."
"Sorry?! SORRY?!?" Nightmare Moon's face was locked into a deadly glare. "You claim to be sorry, but if you had your way, you'd send me back to the moon again this very night!"
Celestia's head lowered slightly. "I have failed you, Luna. If I can't find some way to convince you to find your better self, if I can't convince you to end this madness, and let that child you have kidnapped go free... The sister I know would never have enslaved children to get her way... I fear I may be doomed to fail you again."
"SHUT UP!" Nightmare Moon barked at her sister, stepping forward to shout at the white-furred alicorn. Lilly saw the trap trigger, and a clear path between her and it. This was her chance to DO something!
She jumped out from her hiding place, wand in her grasp. She pointed in in Nightmare Moon's direction and closed her eyes as it began to glow. She didn't see the flash, she did hear Nightmare Moon's yelp, however. She opened her eyes to see the alicorn princess furious writhing, her eyes struggling to focus. Lilly didn't waste any time, she bolted, running to the lever and jumping at it, pulling with all her might at the lever, slowly dragging it to its original position, before the trap was triggered.
...She heard a click, but before anything else could be heard or done, she froze, unable to move! Her body was engulfed by the blue magic of Nightmare Moon's horn.
"Stupid foal!" she hissed. "Try to blind ME with your little wand?!" She dragged the filly over to her, snatching her wand and snapping it in half. "How about I show you MY magic?! I'll do far worse than blind you!"
"Luna!" Celestia barked, the cage now gone, and the Princess of the Sun now free. "Your fight isn't with her! Let her go!"
Nightmare Moon cackled. "You always were a soft spot for the children! You fool!" She turned to face Celestia directly, the magical grip around Lilly's body tightened painfully. "So this is how it's going to be. You are going to release me from this imprisonment, or there's going to be a VERY bad end to this little filly's night..."
Celestia went quiet. There was nothing Little Steppes could do: She couldn't move, she couldn't even open her mouth to speak, even breathing was difficult with the hold Nightmare Moon had over her. "So is that how you're going to begin your reign?"
"I will rule however I see fit."
"And how are you going to rule when everypony knows your reign began with the spilled blood of a child?"
"If that's what it takes!"
"But you did all of this because you wanted ponies to appreciate your work on such a beautiful night." Celestia protested. "You want them to love you. Love you as they loved me. You never saw it, but ponies DID love you, Luna! There have always been ponies who looked up at your nights in awe, wondering what lies beyond. Ponies who used your stars to travel the world, and ponies who were inspired by the night sky. Are you prepared to bloody your own work, this eternal magnum opus, by bloodying the moon with a child?" She shook her head sadly. "If any blood should be spilled here, it should be mine, not hers."
"Who's to say I can't have both?" Nightmare Moon asked with a smirk. "Perhaps it's better to be feared, than loved."
"Then I have failed you." Celestia sighed, a look of hurting but steeled resolve in her eyes. "...Do what you must to me first. I'm sure you want the child to fear you, since I only feel pity. She can watch as you defeat me."
Nightmare Moon snorted, throwing Little Steppes aside, causing her to hit the floor with a painful thud! Again, Nightmare Moon lunged at Celestia, this time her horn facing her heart; she wanted to gore the Princess and red the throne room floors herself! But one final time, Celestia teleported, again she appeared atop the throne. Her horn glowed, seizing Little Steppes in light and quickly shoving her in a small space behind the throne.
"Stay back, little one. Your work is done for tonight." She instructed quietly, her tone strangely comforting despite the situation. The young filly obeyed, hiding behind the large, stone throne: She knew she could well have just been killed for what she did, and it put the fear of death in her!
It was well timed, she felt the force of Nightmare Moon violently connecting with Celestia, the pair slamming against the throne, shaking the thing and causing Lilly to yelp. Celestia forced her sister back with the flash of her magic shield, a large scratch at her side from where Nightmare Moon had so-narrowly missed her mark: She was lost in her rage, and charging blindly in Celestia's general direction. Celestia forced herself up, grunting at the pain from her injury. Her horn glowed, there was a warm glow around the comparably inconsequential wound which quickly healed.
Nightmare Moon charged again, her horn glowing brightly as she fired blasts of blue magical energy at her sister! Celestia remained expressionless as she raised a magical shield, the blasts bouncing of it at wild angles, smashing against the walls and columns. "I will not fight you!" Celestia shouted. "Stop this madness!"
"If you will not fight, then I will kill you eventually!" Nightmare Moon's voice boomed. Again, they continued their dance: Celestia would not fight back, she only blocked the shots which came her way and teleported before Nightmare could strike her.
"I'm sorry, Luna... But you're leaving me no choice." Again, Celestia's horn glowed. And then, Lilly saw 6 gemstones materialize around the white-furred princess.
"The Elements of Harmony?" Nightmare Moon stammered, before exploding in rage, but backing up from the white mare. "I knew it! I knew that as what you would try to do! You really are a coward!" The elements flew into a large planetary astrolabe which rose from the floor with Celestia's magic. As the gems entered the planets of the astrolabe, it began to brightly glow. Celestia looked away, her eyes tearing. "Do not look directly at it." She instructed Lilly, who continued to hide behind the throne. "It could blind you if you look." Magic erupted from the astrolabe, a rainbow of colour, charging at Nightmare Moon like a missile. She cried out as it ensnared her like lasso, pulling her towards its heart.
"CELESTIA!!" She roared as she fought vainly against the light. "CELESTIA, you coward! If you're going to send me away again, look me in the face! I want you to look me in the eyes when you're banishing me! Look at me!" and again, she screamed, one final time. "LOOK AT ME!!"
A shaky, cracked moan quietly escaped the elder sister, and she opened her eyes. Those ancient, magenta eyes wet with streaming tears as she watched her sister be dragged into the light of the Elements of Harmony and vanished. There was a flickering of the moonlight, for nothing more than a nanosecond, and the face of a mare emerged upon the surface of the moon once more. The castle rumbled, small pieces of rock and masonry fell from the walls and the ceiling as though an earthquake shook the chamber, but then there was silence, and peace returned to the castle.
There was a horrible silence in the air. It surrounded Lilly like a fog, but felt like a choke-hold around her neck. The only thing which broke that evil quiet was the brief, oh-so-gentle sobbing of the kingdom's ruler. It was so quiet, but it was the only sound in those dark, cursed halls, Lilly found herself crying too.
...Not for her own sake, mind, but for the scene which had played out before her, so raw was the wounds laid bear before her. She felt like she had no right to bare witness to the confrontation which had transpired; her presence was a blot of red paint on a dark, sombre portrait where she had no good business being. She'd promised never to steal again, but she felt, deep down, like she'd stolen this moment and made it about her; a fight between sisters turned into a rescue mission for a stupid, stupid filly!
"Are you hurt?" Little Steppes suddenly heard the voice of Princess Celestia, and looked up, seeing the princess staring down at her.
"N-no..." Lilly sniffed. "I, I'm okay."
Celestia took a step back as the young earth pony climbed from her hiding space. "My dear, you look anything but fine right now." Celestia's eyes were red and bloodshot, and it only served to make the smile she put forth look more forced, and more painful for Lilly than any physical injuries: Again, Celestia was putting on airs for Lilly's sake, when she should've been allowed this moment for herself to hurt.
"I, I-I'm sorry." She whimpered. "This all wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been so stupid!"
Celestia went quiet. "What do you mean?"
"I, I mean, if I hadn't have been a thief and gotten myself into trouble over and over, I'd never have come out here to the Everfree. I'd never have been caught in these shoes, and I wouldn't be here to... To..." She trailed off. "...And, and you're here, asking if I'M okay..." She wiped her face in vain. "After running out and nearly getting myself killed! ...And then before... Oh, oh no... I'd contemplated... Something horrible..." She fumbled in the pockets of her gown, producing the small bottle of poison. Celestia took it up in her magic, studying it. "Did you..."
"NO!" Lilly screamed, startling the white alicorn princess. "I didn't do it!" She sobbed. "I couldn't! I wanted to! I wanted to SO much, because... Because she could've brought about eternal night, and done so many horrible things. But, I, I also wanted to be free! If, if you couldn't... And Nightmare... I... I..." She felt herself engulfed in the warm, golden glow of the princess' magic, who pulled her into a long, motherly hug. "Everypony thinks the worst of me. My parents, my teacher, the kids in class, even other people in my town! All of them, and they're all right! I steal, I lie, and I'm so stupid all the time! But I didn't do THAT!" She buried her face in her hooves, quivering.
Celestia held her in the hug, and let her cry as much as she needed to, and the young filly hating every second of it. "I was going to say..." Celestia spoke softly. "...Though I think I can guess the answer now. Did you feel how horrible that choice weighed on you as you held the bottle in your hooves? That pain is what I felt when I first did what I did to Nightmare... To Luna. A thousand years on the moon? It felt like I was killing her. All that pain just comes flowing back so readily. Hungry to bite more pieces out of you like so much flesh from a corpse... I wouldn't wish that on anypony..." A squeeze of the wings around the young filly, careful not to hurt her. "...I'm sorry you had to suffer that, and everything you've been subjected to tonight... But, I'm deeply, deeply thankful you didn't kill my sister." She sighed. "I couldn't do it either."
"But, what do you?" Little Steppes looked up at Celestia. "But, she's gone. You banished her for a thousand years again?"
"No..." Celestia shook her head. "She is still bound to her original banishment... All I did was prevent her from manifesting in the castle again until the spell finally ends..." she faltered. "I, I'm not strong enough to banish her again."
"But, you're Princess Celestia? You're the one who can raise the sun and the moon, and rule over Equestria, and..."
"No, Lilly, I don't think you understand..." Celestia corrected her. "I mean to say I couldn't do it. Not again."
"But, but that means that... She can come back?"
"Someday, yes. But that is nothing for you to worry about. It'll be a hundred years or more before that ever happens, and... And..." She smiled, that warm and motherly she was so good at, even when her eyes screamed pain.
"...As for you... Lilly, was it?" Lilly nodded. "...As for you, Lilly. It's been a long time since I saw an earth pony who could use magic. I didn't realize what you were even doing until I saw the flash..." She sighed, picking up the broken remains of Gleaming's wand in her magic. "I'm sorry about what happened to your wand."
"I... It's not mine." Lilly said. "The librarian in Ponyville gave it to me..."
"So, that was only your first time casting spells?"
"Well, no... I practiced a little with Gleaming before I came back here..."
"Well..." Celestia went quiet, a thoughtful look on her face. "...That's very impressive, that you were able to cast a spell to daze my sister like that when you'd barely learned the spell an hour or ago. And standing up to her like that was very brave of you."
"Very stupid, more like." Lilly sniffed. "...I just, I was being cowardly, hiding. That's all I ever do, run away and hide! I just wanted to stand up to her, to help you! ...Like a good pony."
"Not everything is in black and white, Lilly." Celestia told her. "You're not a bad pony, I'm yet to meet a pony that had no bad in them at all. Or even a bad pony which didn't have something good to them, once." She went quiet for a moment, thinking on what to add. "...Say, for example. If I couldn't have stopped my sister. Would it have been bad to use your poison to kill her, knowing she would've probably killed you, and who knows how many other ponies?"
"I... I don't know anymore..." Lilly answered. "I, I think, maybe? Maybe it would've been better if I'd just... But... To kill a pony... I... I couldn't do it."
"See? It isn't as simple as 'good pony, bad pony', is it? All we can really do is try to be the best we can be, and try to learn from our mistakes. Nevertheless, I'm truly thankful you didn't do it." Lilly looked at her, confused. "...Nightmare Moon is evil, but Luna isn't. Deep down, somewhere in that mare, my sister is still screaming to get out. One day, I hope I will be able to free her from that monster she's become... If Nightmare Moon had died, my sister would have surely perished alongside her." Again she trailed off, looking up at the night sky. "Good heavens! The night has gone on for far longer than it should have done!" She smiled again, nudging Little Steppes with her snout as she stood up. "I think it's time to take you home."
"But, but what about these?" She asked, lifting a hoof to shoe the princess her shoes.
"Don't you worry." Celestia's horn glowed. "As I said, your work is done for tonight. You just rest."
Again, Lilly was engulfed in the glow of Celestia's magic, finding herself slowly lifting up into the air. At the same time, she felt herself become light-headed, woozy. Her vision blurred as she was carefully set down upon the warm, soft fur on Celestia's back. The last thing she remembered before drifting off completely was feeling a flap of Celestia's wings, the ground swiftly running away from them as the princess took to the skies...
"Lilly..." Came the familiar voice of her mother. "Lilly dear, it's time to wake up. I'm sorry, we all seemed to have overslept."
Little Steppes slowly came to, feeling herself lying on something familiarly soft. Her vision focused, seeing a familiar wall in a familiar room: She was in her bedroom. The sun shone brightly through her window, illuminating a perfect blue day, set to the tune of birdsong and the quiet bustle of the village ponies beyond. Was that all a dream?
"Oh, my... Did you have this window open all night?" Grassy trotted over to the window, sliding it shut. "Honestly, how cold must it have been in here?"
Lilly blinked: That window had DEFINITELY been closed last night, she'd checked... Right? "I, err..."
Grassy continued to trot around the room, stopping at a small table which was kept in the bedroom. "Oh, well, that explains it. Did you manage to get those shoes off before going to bed in the end?"
What? Lilly threw the bedclothes off herself and checked her hooves: Somehow, the shoes were gone! She looked over to her mother, seeing her standing next to the table, the strange, magic, mithril shoes sat nearly on the table top. So it WASN'T a dream?
"I... I..." She was distracted by the sound of knocking at the front door. "Oooh, the door! I'll go get it!" She took off downstairs. As she reached the end of the staircase, she saw her father there, already opening the door. He was greeted by the sight of Bobby Peeler, a white-furred royal guard pony who doubled up as the local constable; he and his family were also the first Pegasi to have settled in Ponyville, having come with him from Canterlot when he was assigned to protect the village.
"Oh, hello again, Constable." Mighty sighed, looking down at Lilly. She'd had one or two run-ins with him before: He was nice, yes, but he also had a shouting voice on him when he needed it, and being a Pegasus, it was almost impossible to run away or hide from him. "Has something happened again? Lilly came home with a pair of shoes which weren't hers yesterday. She said she found them in the woods."
"I did find them." She spoke up. "Everypony just thinks I stole them, when I didn't. I wish I'd never laid eyes on them!"
"Well, nopony has come to me saying they've lost a pair of shoes, and I didn't see her in town at all yesterday... Maybe she did just find them? Besides, I am here about Lilly, but not for anything bad."
This took Mighty aback. "Oh, I see... Would you like to come inside for something to eat or drink?"
"Erm, no thank you. I'm here to deliver a pair of letters. One for you and Grassy, and one for Little Steppes."
"But, you're not the mail pony."
He scoffed. "I know, I know. But... Look. I was approached by some hooded stranger on her way out of the Everfree. She and I talked for a while, and she said she was on her way to Canterlot. She spoke very highly of Lilly though, and asked me to deliver some letters for her before she was on her way."
"You met somepony in the Everfree?" Mighty looked down at his daughter, he wasn't angry, but curious. "Why didn't you say?"
"I... I..." She looked down. "I didn't think you'd believe me."
It was a white lie, since she never met anypony that previous day, but what else could she say? Either way, Mighty said nothing, but he looked wounded as he took the letters given to him by the guard. After that, Bobby asked Lilly's father to take his boots, since they needed new inside linings and the metal was chafing against his legs. With that, he smiled and took wing. Quietly, he closed the front door, walking to the kitchen to take a seat, calling over Grassy to read the stranger's letter, written with extremely elegant handwriting, written in a deep blue ink, set upon luxurious, creamy paper...
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Steppes,
I met your daughter while traveling in the area. I made camp in the Everfree Forest for a time, taking in the land around Ponyville. It was during that time I met your daughter, Lilly. She chanced upon my camp by mistake. We chatted for a while, and she shared some of her berries with me, and helped me do a spot of cooking with my campfire. She'd ruined her old shoes while gathering what she'd found, so I decided to give her my shoes, since I'd enchanted them to fit their wearer, and I can always get another pair for myself. She'd told me about the trouble she'd gotten into, and her worries about everypony judging her on her bad behaviour. Lilly will need to get over these bad habits, sure enough, but I like to think I'm a good judge of character, and I think Lilly will do very well when she's older, proven she learns from her mistakes.
Best regards,
Sunny Tia.
PS: Lilly was far too quick to run off in her new shoes. I didn't get time to warn her that they might become a bit... clingy, at first. But don't worry, they should be perfectly safe to wear by the time you read this. The shoes are Lilly's now, and they'll only go where she wants them to go, or do what she wants them to do.
Sunny Tia? That was the name she was going by?! Lilly looked at her parents, who set down the letter on the kitchen table. They looked stunned: A letter handed to them by the local constable, written with ink and paper no locals could've had, with handwriting far superior to almost any earth pony. There was no way this could be a fake, and both Lilly's parents knew it. Mighty was the first to move, he rose to his hooves, walking over to his daughter, a sad look in his face. "You always protested your innocence when we accused you of stealing those shoes, and we didn't believe you. I'd already decided you were lying, regardless." He gave her long, warm hug. "I was asking you to be good, and when you were, I refused to accept it... My own daughter..." He sighed sadly as Grassy joined the hug.
"It wasn't just you." She added. "Even I was beginning to doubt. It was unfair of both of us."
"I know, I know." Mighty nodded. "Just, Lilly. I love you, and I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."
Lilly resisted letting herself cry again, she'd had more than enough of crying for a long time, but the sense of vindication, and her father speaking as he had to her just then? It was enough to get a few happy tears to escape their confines. "I love you too." She peeped in reply...
The family hug went on for a fair while. It only ended when Lilly remembered that she and her mother were meant to be making a pie for her father. He was quite happy to go away and do his work while Grassy got everything ready. Lilly, meanwhile, went upstairs to get dressed.
Throwing on her day dress and a change of socks later, Lilly remembered the shoes on her table... She shuddered a little bit at the thought. Then, she remembered Celestia's OTHER letter, the one addressed to her specifically...
Hello Lilly,
I'm sorry you had to be dragged into my fight with my sister last night, and that she subjected you to slavery with her trap. I know I said a lot of things in my other letter, and you've probably predicted by now who 'Tia' is... I always did like that nickname.
I want you to remember what I told you back at the Castle of the Two Sisters last night, and take it to heart: You are NOT a bad pony. In my experience, there is no such thing. You might have done bad things in the past, but I saw your guilt, and how much the thought of people seeing you as a bad pony hurt you: You'd clearly been bottling things up. Don't. That's not healthy. Instead, you need to focus on being the best pony you can be. Learn from your mistakes, and in improving your standing in Ponyville, don't worry too much about grand gestures. Nothing happens overnight after all. It takes a long series of little steps. (Okay, even I know that was an awful pun. Let me have this.)
For now though I know you still need a pair of shoes, as your old pair broke, didn't they? That was why you had Nightmare Moon's in the first place I assume. Well, as I said in my other letter, they're not Nightmare Moon's shoes anymore, she doesn't really have any need for them under the circumstances. As a result, the shoes are yours now. The way I managed to release you from their grasp was to use my magic to force them to see you as their owner, rather than Nightmare Moon. They are your to keep now, and you'll find that they'll always fit you no matter how much you grow, and will never break nor ware down. However, I must ask that you do not let anypony else wear them, or else we might be at risk of having somepony suffer what happened to you. They're your reward, but not your reward to share.
Fondest regards,
Princess Celestia.
PS: Those shoes of yours might be a bit more useful than stylish footwear when you're older. If you ever wish to try to learn how to take advantage of the shoes' magic, come and seek me out someday. Many assume that only unicorns can use magic, but they're born with a magic channelling rod as part of their anatomy. If you ever wish to learn more, perhaps... Perhaps then you be able to discover what those magic shoes can really do.
Lilly looked up from her letter, her eyes lying on the shoes on her bedroom table. She didn't understand what Celestia meant with the final paragraph of her letter. But, although part of her was still very scared of the idea wearing them, Celestia had promised, twice, that the shoes were now safe for Lilly to wear, indeed the shoes were actually, physically and magically hers now, and they would serve her as they once served Nightmare Moon. She sighed: It was a great gift, and her parents believed the story that the shoes had never been harmless at all, and that Lilly really had no reason to be nervous about them.
She shook her head, she was being silly again! She was NOT a pony who got scared like this! "Honestly, Lilly, pull yourself together!" She thought to herself. It was very simple: Did she trust Princess Celestia? Yes. Yes she did. Lilly grit her teeth and grabbed the shoes, slipping them onto her hooves. She trotted around in a circle in her room, all was perfectly normal. She noted that the shoes lacked that tightness that they had before, which was a good sign. Then, she kicked at one of her hooves to shake off its shoe, and the shoe obediently slipped from her hoof, quietly clattering onto the floor. That was the most comforting thing about this whole experiment, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped her hoof back into the stray shoe. They truly were hers now, and to be honest, she was glad: She liked her magic shoes, and with them on, she was ready to start taking steps in the right direction...