Prologue

This really hurt, curse my haste! All this running away and......She was still coming. I checked around for an avenue of escape, my lungs burning as I came to a stop. One door in particular grabbed my attention; I made a break for it, flinging it wide with the remainder of my magical strength. Something was wrong. In all of my time living in the castle, this door had always lead to a gallery. So what was I doing in the study? Curse my haste! That, and also the permanent darkness I have created. I couldn’t hear sister’s hoofsteps anymore, I closed the door and staggered to the window to survey my creation. It was beautiful, I took a deep breath and sighed, closing my eyes and losing myself in the glow of the moon. It was so tranquil, why did those blasted commoners ignore what I had so generously given them?! It enraged me to see them waste away this beautiful time, sleeping! I looked up at the moon, it was full and shining brightly, illuminating the landscape, it even reached out to me through the window, it’s light bringing me peace. It was my one true companion through all of these nights whilst others were......sleeping.

I had to get out of here. I may have lost sister briefly, but she wasn’t a fool, I had to ensure my night received the appreciation it was due, and that meant preserving myself. I tried transforming, I had drained most of my energy resisting sister, and it had resulted in my inability to change forms. I had to run, like a common rat. I tried, I screwed shut my eyes and tried with every fibre of my being, but to no avail. It seemed I was doomed, I flopped down onto the carpeted floor and cursed my sister’s name, I cursed those ponies who were sleeping, I cursed the ponies who may be witness to my night; for they have only now realised my night’s full potential. It was a pity that they were scared, the night was nothing to be scared of, If you viewed it as I view it, it is simply amazing, but these ponies, they just didn’t understand. Useless. The lot of them, especially sister!

I used to look up to sister, when I was younger. She was responsible, as big sisters are, but she was wise. Too wise. I knew we were equals, but over the years I was pushed aside, I was too immature, I couldn’t handle responsibility. I heard many of the court wizards speak of me in this manner, almost never in front of me, I usually heard the hushed voices as I was on my travels around the castle; even worse than that I would catch brief whispers of conversations as I left a room, worse still, one court wizard had the gall to speak that way when my sister and I were holding court during the summer sun celebration! I had never been truly angry until that point. What did he know, he may have been a wizard for years, but I clearly had more power in my tail than he had in his entire being! No one seemed to realise that fact, even my own sister. She would always be closely watching my schooling, criticising every error; I got praise though, don’t get me wrong, there were times where me and sister got along swimmingly. Mostly though, she ended up conveniently being witness to my shortcomings.

Then came the day when I was rebuffed from my destiny. Sister’s refusal to afford me responsibility crushed me. I was devastated, I spent days in my room, flooding it with tears. Sister explained numerous times that I wasn’t ready, but I was! I finally grew tired of wallowing in self pity, and took it upon myself to prove to sister that I wasn’t immature, that I could handle the responsibility, and to finally earn my status as an equal, and not just an addition to the furnishings. She finally conceded after many years of effort. I could carry out my destiny, and share the burden of our royal duties!

It had all gone so well for the first hundred years or so. We were both happy, our subjects were happy, and the peace was undisturbed, and simply wonderful. All of this, and I was still a nobody. Sure I had numerous privileges, and I was royalty, and as such, had a certain amount of respect. However, there was no admiration, no praise, as my sister was so often showered with. Just once I would like to be recognised, I would like my night to be appreciated; but my night was overlooked, I was overlooked. I was taken for granted, I felt robbed, cheated even. It irritated me greatly.
In the coming years, my anger slowly seethed deep inside of me, daily I awoke to the voices in the back of my head, prodding my brain, stoking the fires of my rage. I gradually withdrew myself from my public duties, after all, I was merely an accessory. I became prone to snapping at anyone that crossed me, including sister; this lead to a great many arguments, although none were settled with magic. Sister grew increasingly concerned with each passing day; she would try to talk about how I felt after I had finished with my duties, and in the neutral period before hers started. Oh how I hated those moments, they were extremely awkward, and most of the time we both had nothing to say. How pathetic.

I returned from my memory and continued to paw at the rug tassels with my hoof, I had no Idea why, but I couldn’t help myself. I managed to pry my eyes from the tassel and looked towards the window, the shaft of light was still there, as bright as ever. I wrenched myself from the floor and walked over to it, I needed to calm down after delving my memory. I gazed at the beauty and fullness of it; it had been full all this time, it was as if it knew what I was trying to accomplish, and was shining as bright as it could. How could those common fools ignore this, I just didn’t get it. I closed my eyes again and basked in the glow, I felt rejuvenated.

Hoofsteps! I knew I had lingered too long! The door flung wide, and a dazzling light spilled through, my eyes stung as they tried to adjust to the sudden change. She was here.
“This has gone on long enough!” She didn’t sound angry, her tone was calm, that itself was even more frightening. “This eternal night cannot continue, I must put an end to this.”
“You fool, you already tried that, and failed miserably!” I snapped.
“With my powers alone, I could not do it, we are equals, we should remain as such, much like night and day, there needs to be balance!” Her eyes were glazed over, she looked beaten and tired; but she didn’t look ready to surrender. “That is why I am to use drastic measures.” This snapped me round rather quickly.
“What do you mean drastic measures?” I was genuinely shocked as a smile drew itself across sisters face. “You just said we are equals you fool, there is nothing you can do that I can’t!”
“You may be right, but you are forgetting the elements of harmony!” She was right. How could I have been so foolish! Curse my foolishness!
“The elements of harmony cannot work, I am no longer bound to any of the elements!” I was sure of myself, after all you needed the representatives of the elements present to unlock the vast power they possessed...........Wait.
“That is why we are both here.” Sister had sensed victory, she readied herself, firmly planting all four of her hooves in a stable position. “There needs to be balance, there needs to be harmony. You have taken my sister from me, and you have upset the balance. With you around, restoration of harmony would be an impossible feat to accomplish. You have forced my hoof.”
“No, you can’t do this,” the scale of my peril suddenly dawned on me, nonetheless I continued; anything to maintain my night forever, “It will never work, the night will last forever, and everypony will praise me, and frolick in my night. You will become the side attraction. You will be cast aside. Nopony will ever see the light of day!”
Sister sighed and closed her eyes; she now looked defeated, and rather pathetic. I had won! I felt something build up in the pit of my stomach, it trickled up into a small chuckle and I erupted into rapturous laughter.
I had won! The night shall be eternal, I did it!
I was again dazzled by a burst of bright light. I stopped laughing and peered into it; I could make out the vague figure of sister rising into the air. She turned to face me.
“I’m sorry.” A single tear trickled down her cheek. I tried desperately to transform, screwing my eyes shut to block out the shining light, it was no use; I felt completely drained of my powers. When I opened my eyes I was rising into the air as well. Impossible. I quickly turned my head towards sister, lights were swirling around her, and me. I struggled desperately to return to the ground, but I was stuck there, on the edge of the unknown.
Sister opened her eyes, I was engulfed in the light, I felt my soul being ripped away from reality. I could hear the muffled voice of my sister as she stifled her emotions.
“I’m sorry!”

What had I done! The waves of realisation surged through me. I remembered all of the good times me and sister had; I became myself again. I remembered the praise of others, I saw visions of the adoring eyes of the commoners. Commoners? No, that was wrong, they were my loyal subjects; and I had betrayed them. What have I done? Who am I? What have I become? Will I ever be forgiven?
My final thoughts tumbled through my head like a rampant storm. It hurt. Why did it hurt? It hurts so much; the pain in my chest. What have I done? How could I? I shouted as hard as I could, willing the pain to stop, for the thoughts to go away. I wanted to be at peace; the darkness was closing in. I felt distant. I’m sorry sister. I’m sorry, can you ever forgive me? The blackness engulfed me. I watched as a single tear broke from my eyes and glistened in the dark. Then: Nothing.

Just, nothing.

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