The Unexpected Journey - Interlude XII
“Luna listen to me!” Celestia’s shout rang across the throne room. “I will not allow you to spill any pony blood. These are our friends and I will not have your wanton slaughter visited upon them.”
“Then you would have them conquer us just to avoid hurting them? I had never thought you such a simpering weakling!” Luna’s reply came back.
“Luna there is another way. If you--” Celestia said only to be cut off.
“--Your politics and diplomacy have failed. Sombra will not be spared the sword because he was a favorite of thy court.”
“And what of the ponies, our brothers and sisters, he has enslaved to his mad designs, will you kill them when it can be avoided?”
“Very well, o master of a thousand tactics, tell me how might I defeat this army without destroying it? You who sat secure in your keep, tell me what have I been doing wrong as I routed every enemy?” Luna asked with an angry glare.
Celestia did not speak for a moment as she wrestled her anger back under control. “Slaves march because they fear the lash,” she finally said. “You can reach into their minds, you can make them fear you more than the lash.”
“No.”
“Luna it is the only way! They are ponies and I am responsible for their lives!”
“It is not. I would put a thousand armies of slaves to the sword before I would do as you ask. I would tear the moon and stars from the sky before I would do that. I would die before I betray my sacred duty.
“I have bathed in the blood of my enemies and my fallen subjects. I can assure thee whatever gore you may find on thy hooves will not harm thee. I will not desecrate this one holy thing because you find the alternative distasteful!”
“You must!”
“I am the guardian of dreams. I must not betray that duty whatever the wars of the waking world may bring!”
“ENOUGH!” Celestia shouted as she slammed her hooves on the ground. Great, gusting wing beats carried her to the apex of the small arch between the thrones. “I am the elder and you will do as I command!”
Luna’s spit sizzled under the heat of Celestia’s anger as the door closed behind the night princess.
☾ ☽
Celestia paused in front of the pavilion. The sneering guards parted to allow her through. Ever since she had announced she was accompanying her sister on this campaign the night ponies had treated her with open disdain. Luna had done nothing to stop them.
Inside attendants scrambled to stow battle plans and intelligence that should not have been necessary.
“Leave us.”
At Celestia’s words the room cleared, leaving only the two princesses.
“You are trying to conduct a war behind my back.”
“Your front would have me betray everything I stand for.”
“Since I cannot trust you to obey when I am not looking you will do it tonight, now. I will accompany you to the city and we will fight Sombra together.”
“If it is what the elder sister wishes,” Luna replied, her voice dripping with venom.
This is for your own good. Celestia tasted the words on her lips. She wanted her sister to be accepted and loved by all ponies. She wanted to be rid of the image of a monster Luna held on to like a security blanket but it had been a week of arguing and outright begging to get her to even give lip-service to this agreement, any sign of hesitation now and this war would end in a massacre.
“Do it.”
The room darkened until the only sign of light was Luna’s horn. The horn grew brighter as the spell charged but the darkness grew more dense as if it were trying to snuff out the light. With a flash of light the spell released. Celestia blinked her eyes in shock at the sudden light. For a moment she thought she had seen a mare as tall as her and as black as night.
“His defenses will be down, let us go and end this.”
☾ ☽
Of all the victory parades Celestia had witnessed this one was by far the most somber. There were no shouts of joy as Equestria mourned its former ally. Luna sat perfectly still beside her. She had not spoken since leaving the pavilion a week ago.
Further back an angry chant broke out as the crowd blamed the night ponies for the loss. Celestia raised a hoof to restrain her sister but she didn’t seem to even notice.
The cart finally arrived in the castle courtyard. Luna finally broke her silence as they made their way inside, “I am a princess without equal: I have neither brother nor sister. Tomorrow we will have words regarding our places in Equestria.”
☾ ☽
Luna let out a groan as she came awake. Her bedroll was wrapped snugly around her forelegs and her mane had done a full circuit around her neck. A cold sweat matted her coat.
There was nopony to protect her from her nightmares. Even less so from her memories.
It took a minute of awkward thrashing and the delicate application of magic to extract herself from her bedding and return herself to looking vaguely presentable. She looked up through the bare branches overhead. From the position of the sun she surmised that it was somewhere in the third watch.
The bare stand of trees was the one sign that there was once life in the barren and rocky landscape that made up the current domain of dragons and former domain of ponies. Right now she wished that the small creek that had once run through this place would return and allow her to wash herself.
The water barrel called to her from the supply cart. She longed to wash the taste of the restless day’s sleep out of her mouth but water would soon become a precious resource.
The raucous snores of a pony trying too hard to sound like she was asleep reached Luna’s ear. Luna turned her head to find Lyra standing stiffly by the tree where she had been standing sentry giving an exaggerated head movement with every fake snore.
“You truly are terrible at that.”
A single eye opened and scanned around the camp before it found Luna. “Terrible at what?” Lyra asked in a conspiratorial whisper.
Luna chuckled quietly as she made her way through the sleeping ponies. They seemed restless enough sleeping through the day and travelling at night, her treading on them surely wouldn’t help.
She settled in beside Lyra as Macintosh let out a tremendous snore and shifted in his bedroll.
“I’ve lived in Ponyville for years and I’ve heard more out of him tonight than I ever had,” Lyra said. After a pause she continued, “You and him both talk in your sleep you know. At first I thought you were chatting with each other but then he started cursing at Applejack and you started cursing at your sister. I thought I should wake you two up but I sorta lost my nerve.”
Luna looked away for a time, regarding the barren landscape with a blank expression. “Understand that Macintosh cares for his sister deeply.”
“I know,” Lyra said, “Sometimes nightmares just happen. They don’t really mean anything, just our fears and insecurities get the best of us.
“They did not used to,” Luna said as she scuffed a hoof against the dirt beneath her. “Dreams were to be a pleasant thing where fear and uncertainty only showed themselves as a demonstration of how easily they might be overcome. Once nightmares were only a brief correction not a lasting terror. Once the night was gentle and kind, lulling even the most restless of foals to sleep.”
“What changed?” Lyra asked.
“I did. An army of slaves marched and so I reached into their dreams and made them fear me more than the lash. I flew through their lines and they parted before me like water. They dared not even reassemble for those that followed. Celestia and I struck down the tyrant that ruled them and he dragged his entire kingdom with him. To this day Equestria counts the fall of the Crystal Empire as its greatest defeat but I can only remember it as the day I became a nightmare.”
“What happened next?”
“We returned home. I threw off any comfort Celestia tried to offer and went to the Elements of Harmony. Loyalty held none of its nature for me anymore, it held no use for a broken mare. Laughter did not even offer a parting smile as it faded in my hooves. Generosity gave a single day for me to weep until I had more tears before it too rejected me.”
Luna blinked at the suddenly-blurry landscape, realizing that tears were making their way down her face.
“The next day,” Luna felt her throat closing up with an unvoiced sob but she pressed on, “The next day I told Celestia that if she would not respect me as an equal she would bow to me as a conqueror. I took my army and began to sack lands and cities as some form of punishment for perceived slights. I became the dark truth behind the legend of Nightmare Moon.”
Luna brought her gaze up from the ground. From the corner of her eye she caught a flash of green before something soft and warm collided with her side with a soft pomf. A pair of hooves wrapped themselves gently around her neck as she leaned her tearstained face against Lyra’s shoulder.
It was not easy taking comfort from a pony half her size but it would be rude to refuse a gift so freely given.
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"Characterization was the word of the day for this one. Writing Celestia and Luna days away from NMM then turning around and writing current Luna and Lyra was a was a pretty big challenge but I think I pulled it off to an extent at least."
I can confirm. You did and you did it well.
Seems a little out of character for Lyra, but she seemed kinda flat in the show, afaik.
I don't think that anypony with any wisdom has ever doubted that Celestia is as responsible for Luna's fall as anypony else. Certainly, Celestia has never claimed anything different.
5366800
Uhm.. just gonna say Lyra has NO characterization in the show, she's a background pony.
5366977 I've always doubted that, and what's more have generally found the fandom's tendency towards excusing Luna's guilt as partially or fully someone else's fault to be pretty insulting towards her. A strong character can be guilty all on their own, but little innocent Woona is never to blame and is always an unwitting victim of circumstances. (Though in fairness, I'm not really getting that vibe from this chapter. Luna wanting to straight up slaughter a horde of mind-controlled slaves as opposed to giving them a few nightmares is pretty morally reprehensible. All things considered, I suspect the ponies of the restored Crystal Empire are pretty pleased about not having been collectively put to the sword because it would have been more convenient for Luna's conscience.)
Celestia has never claimed anything different because she has never in canon claimed anything about her sister's fall. There hasn't really ever been a place in the show up to this point for a thousand year removed dialogue between Celestia and Luna about what happened, and there probably never will be.
5367277
I wouldn't necessarily agree, but I'd have to double check. In any case, even background ponies have a degree of characterization in the sense of what they do in the background. Take Derpy/Ditzy/?. Even if she had never said anything, her actions in the background describe the character to a degree. Having a name and being identified by it would distinguish her from any a "background pony" without a name.
You are at your very best when writing 'Diary of the Night' when using it as an actual diary centered on Luna. I really think this new story arc should have been an entirely new story with a different title, but that's probably just me.
Anyway, this is by far the best explanation of Luna's fall I've read to date. It makes 100% sense that she would succumb to darkness once she had used the self same darkness to strike fear into the very minds of her subjects. One can respect and maybe even love a fearful general wading through the blood of the nations enemies in open daylight... one can only hate and shun the embodiment of a lurking night terror that may or may not strike in the one place that should be a sacred safe haven.
Given this background, which from now on will be my headcanon, it is no wonder that Celestia will forever be plagued by guilt for her actions that in the end led to the rise of Nightmare Moon.
I hope you don't mind if I use the basic idea sometime in the future?
5368964
Regardless, as far as I remember, Lyra doesn't have enough 'characteriziation' to use as a base. All we got is a name and a few mannerisms.
Derpy on the other hand, yeah, we barely have enough to have as a base for a character.
5369510
Well, without a very close examination, I'm going to continue to disagree. I feel like there is enough to justify her as not being like Fluttershy or Pinkie.
5366977 That does not make any sense, at all. We have next to no knowledge about her fall, unless you count the comic arc which pins it on evil demons which Luna could not have resisted and from which Celestia could not save her without more knowledge. I don't count it myself as I feel it's a pretty crappy explanation, but that just means there are just as many explanations where it's Celestia's fault as there are where it's not.