• Published 12th Oct 2014
  • 3,852 Views, 518 Comments

DayBreak - MyHobby



After an attempt is made on Celestia's life, Twilight Sparkle must assemble a team to track down the assassin and bring her to justice. Danger awaits as they delve into the origins of both the attacker and alicorns.

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Mistake

The sun shone down on Fort Everfree. Flowers bloomed as ivy trailed up the massive stone walls. Green grass took on a yellow tinge in the summer light. A few clouds drifted past, aiding the trees in supplying shade. Commander Hurricane let out a shuddering sigh as she lifted her head, eyes closed and wings spread.

“I see thou have learned to fly without leaving the ground.”

Hurricane’s eyes snapped open. She brushed a white wisp of mane out of her eyes. “I know how rare a warm day was in the Empire, whether high above or far below.” She smelled the air, full of the scent of flowers and fresh-trimmed grass. “Even the clouds are softer here.”

“Equestria is a magical place indeed.” Platinum’s silvery coat glistened. She took a seat on a nearby stone bench, offering the spot beside her to Hurricane. “Made all the more magical by my friends.”

The sun-warmed stone felt cozy against Hurricane’s skin. She leaned forward to watch the gardeners at work. “We have done well. Despite everything, it all comes together.”

Platinum frowned at a passing bee. Her curling mane waved in the light breeze. “Would that this peace could last. The rumors to the south of monsters—”

“The peace shall last,” Hurricane declared. She thumped a hoof on the bench to punctuate her sentence. “Whether the foes be diamond dogs, windigos, or otherwise, we shall stand firm.”

Platinum smiled softly. Her ears swiveled at the sound of tiny hooves clapping against the walkway. “Oh, Celestia! Do come here, dearest one.”

Hurricane frowned, instinctively spreading her wings partway to give the illusion of being larger. She watched a small filly scamper their way, brushing past workers and hopping over rocks. Celestia skidded to a stop in front of them, her pink mane a mess of barrettes and flowers. “Princess,” she said with a curtsy. She followed up with a slightly quieter “C-commander.”

A smaller pony trailed behind her. Luna looked up at Platinum and Hurricane with wide eyes. She hid behind Celestia and pointed across the field. “Bunny.”

“Did thou see a bunny? Oh, how adorable.” Platinum gently pinched the foal’s cheek. “Now run along and play. Tell Clover that Princess Platinum said to give you each an apple.”

Celestia clapped her hooves. “Thank you, Princess!” She was about to turn around when the natural curiosity of a child grabbed her. She looked at the imposing form of Hurricane with a tiny frown. “Commander, what happened to your cheek?”

Hurricane moved so that her scar faced away from the filly. Platinum rested a hoof on Celestia’s shoulder. “It is impolite to ask such things, young filly. Go on now. Shoo!”

The two alicorns ran as fast as their short legs could carry them, wings flapping in an ineffectual attempt to get airborne. Platinum let loose a faint chuckle. “It’s difficult to believe that we live in the prophesied Age of the Alicorns.”

Hurricane sighed, the sun losing a bit of luster in the act. “Yes. Prophesied. It’s indescribable.”

Platinum plucked a berry from a nearby vine. She levitated it towards the commander. “We must overcome thy pathological fear of children if thou are to train them in the art of defense.”

“I am not afraid of children,” Hurricane said. She took the berry with a grateful nod. “These children are merely… different. Very different.”

“Well of course they are!” Platinum held a hoof high and popped a berry into her mouth. “They are the saviors of Equestria! The holders of the sun and moon! The dawn of a new era! I just never thought the mighty Commander Hurricane would be daunted by such things.”

“Daunted?” Hurricane chuckled. “My princess, thou quite misunderstands me.”

“Then, my noble commander,” Platinum said with a cheeky grin, “enlighten me.”

“I… am concerned about what changes might be wrought.”

“Changes?” Platinum stood and gestured for Hurricane to walk with her. “After the Hearth’s Warming, after the Unification, I’m surprised any change could be too great for us. Surely the future saviors of all ponykind would be a mere trifle by now. Another footnote in our already fantastical life.”

Hurricane’s cheek itched, but she made sure not to scratch it. “Thou are deadened to surprise?”

“Hardly, but I am a good deal more solid in the face of it.” Platinum faced the sky, her silvery coat glinting in the orange sunset. Her lips twitched upward. “Perhaps it comes with being a mother.”

She tittered. “Perhaps if you ever become a mother, you would understand. I felt as though I was ready for combat after getting little Sombra to calm down at night.” She bumped Hurricane in the shoulder. “He’s not quite so little anymore, though. Perhaps the two of you would get along.”

“V-very little probability of that, Princess.” Hurricane scratched her scar without thinking, sending burning pain through the left side of her face. “Hardly compatible personalities.”

Platinum puckered her lips in thought. “I suppose it would be bizarre to have thou as a daughter in law.”

“Beyond bizarre, Platinum.” The risen moon reflected in Hurricane’s gray eyes. “Come. We shall dine with the others and prepare for the construction to be started in the morn.”

Platinum squeaked at Hurricane’s side. The commander flicked her tail and spread awing to the unicorn’s back. “Platinum? Are thou well?”

Platinum gasped and reached for her belly. She looked underneath herself. She brought her face back to Hurricane’s with wide eyes. “Oh no.”

She collapsed into Hurricane’s forelegs.

Hurricane lowered her to the ground as slowly and gently as was possible. “Platinum? Platinum!” She moved the mare’s legs aside to see what had troubled her. “What is wrong? What—what?”

A spear of purple crystal jutted out from the princess’ body. Hurricane stumbled back, her wings flared. “St-stay put, Platinum! Do not touch it! Do not move! I will have Smart Cookie come. Sh-she shall know what to do. Just… just stay put!”

She leaped into the air without looking and slammed head-first into a brick wall of force. She planted her hooves on the ground and snarled. “Help me or get out of my way!”

“You had your chance to help her, Hurricane.”

Commander Hurricane looked up. The creature before her was a pony, with a coat as black as night and a mane that sparkled like the stars. Reptilian eye glowed in the shadows, boring into her, willing her to die on the spot. Wind blew through her feathers and sent a chill to Hurricane’s very core.

Fangs parted. “You had your chance. And you squandered it!”

Hurricane leaped into the air, her wings drawing air to herself. She shot forward like a ball from a cannon, but came to just as sudden a halt. The shadowy mare’s magic spiraled around her body and flung her to the ground. She was pressed against the pathway, facing the body of her dying friend.

“Look at her!” the mare hissed. “Look at what you’ve done! Study it! Breathe it in! Examine every minute detail and know that it is your fault.”

“I did nothing to her!” Hurricane screamed. “Let me go! Let me help my friend!”

“As you did that day in the Crystal Empire?” A black hoof stepped on the tip of Hurricane’s wing. “When you charged blindly in without the aid of the Elements?”

“It was Starswirl’s fault!” Hurricane struggled against her shadowy bonds. “He arrived late! Sombra struck the blow himself! It’s their fault she died!”

“Silence!” the shadow growled. “You cannot forget your own part, Hurricane. You cannot ignore your own failure to protect that which you swore to.”

“Be gone!” Hurricane shut her eyes tight. “Away from my sight, demon!”

“Demon?” High-pitched laughter pierced the commander’s ears. “I am no demon, Hurricane!”

The pressure lifted. The wind died down. Hurricane’s cough snapped the sudden silence when fought to catch her breath. Ice scraped her wings while her hooves weighed her down. She staggered through loamy soil.

She pulled her feathery mane away from her eyes and came upon a stone in the ground. She read the inscription. “Queen Platinum—heart of the Crystal Empire.”

Hurricane bit back a laugh. “You try to frighten me with my own reality?”

“Few things are scarier.” The night-cloaked mare stepped out of the mist. “Our greatest fears are not monsters, demons, disasters.” She spread a wing, pointing to a row of gravestones a short ways away.

Hurricane squinted at the apparition. She trotted over to the stones. “Centurion Pansy—he found the freedom he craved. Chancellor Puddinghead—our laughter and song. Smart Cookie—a word to the wise. Clover the Clever—my beloved friend.”

Hurricane gritted her teeth. “Then what is our greatest fear, pray tell?”

“Is it not obvious?” The shadow bared a hungry smile. “You are utterly alone. There is nopony to protect you now.”

Moonlight threw Hurricane against the headstone. She struggled against irresistible force. The magic flung her to the far side of the yard, where she crashed into the branches of a gnarled tree. Blood dripped from her lips and stained her teeth. “Don’t pretend to know me! I’ve lived alone for longer than most ponies have been alive! I cannot fear it, because I am loneliness!”

She blasted through the air, intent on tackling the mare to the ground. She landed in the midst of a vanishing, dark cloud. “When you see comrade after comrade cut down before you, when you spend endless nights starving in the cold, when you outlive every pony you’ve ever held dear, then you can speak to me of loneliness!”

A hoof tangled itself in her mane and jerked her head back. Hot breath assaulted her senses as the shadow snarled into her ear. “I can speak all I want of loneliness, you’re the dastard that ruined my life! From years of abuse to towering sadness! From heat-baked day to frigid night! Your hooves against my face are still felt, your words in my ears still ring! Though only one ever raised a welt, both took the blasted occasion to sting!

Hurricane scowled. She laughed bitterly. “It always was all about you, wasn’t it, Luna?”

A bestial roar followed Hurricane through the air as she was tossed away. She landed against a wood floor that rattled with the impact. She groaned, fighting aching legs. She cracked her neck and seethed at the emptiness around her. “What now? Care to deprive me of light? Throw me in the dungeon like a common criminal? Perhaps whine a bit more about how you never got your way?”

“Commander?” a small voice said. “Who are you shouting at?”

A small, pink-maned filly hopped out of the gloom. She fluttered tiny white wings and gave her a bow. “Are you okay? Does that scar hurt again?”

Hurricane stared at the small Celestia for several moments. “Luna. What sorcery is this?”

“Merely scrounging through your memories for appropriate anecdotes.” Luna appeared at her side. She shoved a spear into the commander’s hooves. “Now complete your mission.”

Hurricane shook her head. She blinked. “Wh-what?”

“Your mission. Your holy, ordained, noble mission.” Luna sneered. “What are you waiting for? She’s helpless. Unable to defend herself. Open and waiting.”

Celestia smiled up at her teacher. “Pansy said we’re going to learn how to use updrafts today. Will you help us?”

Hurricane dropped the spear. “I don’t have to go along with this lunacy—”

“This is what you’ve already done, Commander!” Luna grabbed the pegasus by the shoulders. “You all but slew a child you helped to raise! How depraved must one become before that is acceptable?

“She was no child!” Hurricane snapped. “She was a mistake!”

Luna gaped. Her rage returned in a heartbeat. “You dare—”

Hurricane brought her hoof to the side of Luna’s head. Stars exploded in the princess’ vision. She transformed her body into a whirling cloud of stardust and sucked Hurricane into a storm of magic. The pegasus strained, but could not rip free. She bit at the air with flashing teeth.

A cloud of dust kicked up around her when her body met the ground. She sat up, her hooves raised to ward off another attack. Her cheek seared.

“You want to bring up old memories?” she said. “I’ve lived through them a million times. I’ve examined them from every angle. I’ve seen my friends die over and over and over. I know the moments where I made a mistake. I know each and every one!”

Luna landed before her, choking the room with suffocating darkness. The only light came from her haunting mane and her harsh eyes.

“I remember a young pegasus commander,” Hurricane said, “who watched as her entire world froze over. Who could do nothing to stop the windigos. Who had nothing to rely on but a hopeless prophecy.”

Luna barked with laughter. “Does the prophecy look quite so hopeless now?”

Hurricane’s voice filled with gravel. “I forced it to come true.”

Luna started. “You what?”

Hurricane shook her head, her wispy mane dancing in the dust. “Look around you, Luna.”

Luna spun. The room had taken shape, life, light. Glowing tubes contained yellow liquid. Machines spat rolls of paper. The regular drip of water between stones kept time. Iron bars and walls of crystal loomed over her.

“Sombra’s lab?” Luna lowered her horn at Hurricane. “When were you—?”

“The Crystal Empire was dying as well. Sombra came to me for a solution.” The scar on Hurricane’s cheek flared with pain. “We could think of only one: Create an alicorn. So we tried. We tried!

She scraped a hoof over the floor. “It turned him into a monster. It made me stronger. But we were not alicorns. We decided that we had to start at the beginning. To create an alicorn, we had to start from the moment the pony sparked into existence.”

Luna’s rear bumped against a glass cylinder. Her chest tightened around her heart.

“I first realized how useless it was when Clover, Smart Cookie, and Pansy created the Hearth’s Warming Spell on their own.” Hurricane took several steps towards the larger pony. “We didn’t need an alicorn when we had each other. But by then you were already born.”

Luna choked. “You raised us.”

“I thought I could bring you up to be Equestria’s protectors. I thought I could make you the perfect soldiers.” Hurricane wiped her mouth. “But it didn’t take you very long to declare yourselves princesses, did it? It didn’t take long for you to disgrace Platinum’s memory by usurping her kingdom, did it? It didn’t take long for you to spread tyranny to the neighboring kingdoms, did it?

“We subdued them when they attacked us.” Luna slammed a hoof to halt Hurricane. “It turns out that continued daylight is a very effective deterrent to invasion.”

“Celestia hovers over the world with the threat of extinction! You sought to drench the world in endless night! You are so far away from what we bled and sweat to achieve that you can’t even see it anymore!” Hurricane pointed a wing at Luna’s chest. “I made you to save the world, not rule it!”

“And we saved it!” Luna butted her head against the commander’s. “We saved it from Discord! We saved it from Tirek! Sombra, Chrysalis, the Smooze, all of them! What more do you want?”

“I want Equestria to be free of my mistakes!” Hurricane let out a shuddering breath. “I want Equestria to be a free nation, like we Founders intended so long ago. Free to live as they please. Free to step out from under the shadow of your overbearing wings. Free to grow into something more. Free of princes and princesses and courts and nobles and all the other dastards that run them. A world where everypony is equal.”

She stood firm, panting for breath. Her knees shook. Her ears lay back against her head. Her tail thrashed from side to side. “And if I must wipe out my mistakes to give this nation a fresh start… so be it.”

Luna gnashed her fangs. “I don’t recall oppressing anypony recently.”

“No?” Hurricane spat on the ground. “Can you look yourself in the eye and say that?”

Luna flapped her wings, a retort at the ready. She caught movement at the far side of the room. A test tube bubbled, holding a reflection of her body. Her black-coated, starry-maned, fanged, nightmarish body.

Hurricane turned her back. “My work is done. Once Equestria sees how their Princess of the Night rules alone, they shall beg for a new order. I won’t even need to lower the axe.”

Luna tore herself away from the mirror image. “I-I will never give up the kingdom I swore to protect!”

“Hmm.” Hurricane waved a hoof. A stone bench sprung into existence alongside a field of flowers and a sunny sky. “Wait until it gives you up.”

Luna reeled from the churning in her stomach. She held a hoof to her chest and glared out of the corner of her eye. “If you made us… does that mean you are our mother?”

Hurricane said nothing. She watched the grass sway in a soft wind.

“Who was the father?” Luna shouted. “Who was it? Was it Sombra?”

“No!” Hurricane shut her eyes. “No. It was a stallion far better than I. An-another victim of the windigos. He died before the Heath’s Warming Spell reached him.”

Luna’s face burned red beneath her coat. “How can you sit there and ignore all the good we’ve done… No... All the good that Celestia has done for the world? The peace between nations? The prosperity of Equestria?”

“She’s stifling them. Treating them like her children. To be punished at will.” Hurricane lowered her eyes to her hooves. “But I can end all that. I can set them free.” She looked up at Luna. “Now be gone, Nightmare Moon. You no longer have power over my dream. You’re nothing but a decrepit monster.”

Luna knelt before Hurricane. She rested her forelegs on the commander’s shoulders. “Well, Mother, it seems like being a monster runs in the family!

She grasped Hurricane’s head between her hooves and wrenched it around.

***

Hurricane tumbled out of her bed with a screech. She lay tangled in her sheets, drenched in sweat and drool. She lay still as her heart beat against her chest. She gasped out a harsh breath.

She pulled herself into a seated position and held on to the bed post. She leaned against the disturbed comforter and wiped her cheek. She sniffed as she realized it was not sweat on her face, but tears. “No. No, I’m past this. I’ve made my decision. Made it.

She heaved herself upward until she could sit on the edge of her bed. Her radio crackled faintly with static as the late-night music tried to force its way through. She ran her hooves through her matted mane.

She looked up and saw the mirror. It hadn’t been in her room when she’d gone to bed. She wasn’t even sure where Scuttlebutt had hidden it.

She growled. “If you have something to say, now is the time.”

No reflection, no roiling clouds, no response.

She lay down on the altogether too-plush bed in Blueblood Manor. “We did it. We awakened Nightmare Moon, and the population is sure to reject her. We can start the takeover in earnest.”

She listened for as long as her blood pressure was able to stand it. “Can you at least pretend you give a care?”

Gather the mirrors.

Adrenaline spiked in her veins as she shot upright. She took a calming breath before opening her mouth. “Yes, Master.”

***

The world seemed to rock beneath Luna’s trembling hooves. She stood at the center of the Dream’s Keep, the mirrors all around flickering with ponies from around the kingdom. She walked towards the reflection of Nightmare Moon, grimacing at the fiendish sight.

She winced. “I can’t do this again. I can’t lose myself. Not when everypony’s counting on me. Even though—”

The tip of a fang worried her lower lip. “Even though it would be so easy. So easy to stamp out the pony who would dare hurt my sister. Who would even consider taking Twilight away from me. Night after night of endless torture and I would be the one pulling the strings. So easy to hurt my mother—

“She’s not my mother!” she screamed into the night. “She lied! She tried to use me, to change my mind, to get me to forget the things she’s done. All the terrible, terrible things. All the evil things. And my, wouldn’t it be easy to do terrible things back to her?

“No!” She gripped her head in her hooves and howled at the ceiling. “What would Celestia think of me? What would Twilight see? They’d see a monster of the night. The very pony that was banished to the moon. They can’t see me like this! They’d… they’d hate me!”

Her wings carried her into the air. She turned around, looking at each mirror one after the other. “Hate me like I hate her. The witch who thinks herself worthy of choosing the future of Equestria. The monster who thinks herself so high and noble! Who thinks she’s in the right! She deserves to be taken down; she deserves to be stamped out!”

She found the broken mirror, shattered by her earlier rage. Faces peered at her, distorted remnants of Luna. She settled down before it, studying herself. “What are we, Celestia? Just creations in a laboratory? Are we even real? We think, speak, eat, sleep, breathe, love. She called us her mistakes, but how can we be? Are we not as real as anypony? Does she just see us as things?

She rubbed the base of her horn. “Things. Mistakes. Tyrants. Usurpers. Is that us?”

A lightning bolt leapt from her horn, fusing the glass back into one warped piece. “Why has my world gone insane?

She hung her head before the mirror, drawing power from deep within her heart. Her black coat faded and melted away, revealing the true blue color underneath. Her pupils expanded and regained their roundness. Her teeth shrunk down to a manageable size. Tears fell from her eyes as she removed the magic cloak of Nightmare Moon.

“I can’t let it take over me,” she whispered. “I have a life to live. A kingdom calls my name tonight. They need all I have to give.

“I must put forth my best display
Of calm and of collect
To reassure them all’s not lost
And that I still earn their respect

“Do I believe in my own words?
Do I see that I’m right?
Can I overcome this hot rage?
This terror that I hold inside”

She wiped her eyes, making way to the staircase. “I’m not a good pony. I can’t do this without—

“The nightmare?”

She flinched. The words had jumped out of her mouth without her consent. “I don’t need the nightmare. I’m free from its power. I just need to remember that it can’t control me. No matter how much I want—”

She sucked in a breath and spread her wings in a regal fashion. Her back itched, but she refused to dwell on it. The light of the moon shone in the room, illuminating her body.

She stared at the celestial object. She hadn’t raised it that night. She’d been exhausted from dreamhopping. She’d given up on it until Celestia was healed.

“There is power available
It’s at your beck and call
You only need to speak the name
And all fall to your thrall”

Luna’s eyes jumped to the stark shadow on the floor. It crept up the wall in time with the moon’s decent. It touched the melted mirror, forming the familiar face of Nightmare Moon herself.

“The shadows will obey you
The monsters join the horde
Just give yourself to blessed night
And be by all adored”

Luna opened a wing and held it between her and the mirror. “No! No, I refuse!

“I will show honor to my sister
She loved me when I was lost!
I will honor Twilight Sparkle
Whose friendship didn’t count the cost!

“I never needed you to begin with
I never needed hate and spite
Dawn will soon come to end your cursed night”

Luna jolted. The itch spread across her body, following the black hair that soon covered every inch.

“I have been your shadow forever!
I have been your heart and soul!
We’ll join once again with each other
Two halves of the mighty whole

“Nightmare reigns with the moon in the sky
The Nightmare reigns in the dead of night
Together we will set the world to right”

The wind swirled in the small room, whipping Luna’s mane into wild shapes. She shouted, her voice slipping between the strong authority of Luna and the seductive force of Nightmare Moon. She slumped against the wall, her shoulders shaking with the force of her weeping.

She fell into darkness.

She plummeted for hours, screaming unintelligibly. Her feathers flapped uselessly around her. Her hooves pinwheeled as they searched for any sort of purchase or control. At long last, her sobs quieted. Her movement stopped. She hung in the void, breathing silently.

“This Hurricane has brought Us pain,” the voice in the darkness said.

Luna did not speak.

“Then it is she who We will maim.” Nightmare Moon walked up to Luna, dressed from head to tail in full armor. It glinted in the light of an unseen moon. “Don’t worry, Luna. We won’t do anything that you wouldn’t do yourself. After all, are We not the same pony?”

Luna coughed.

“Exactly.” Nightmare Moon put her hoof under Luna’s chin. “Now, what is it that We want most? What is Our greatest desire?”

“I want my sister back,” Luna’s warbling voice replied.

“Of course,” Nightmare Moon laughed. “We will get her back, right after we destroy Hurricane and all she holds dear.”

“Luna, stop!”

Luna lifted her head as Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Who—? How is this possible?”

Twilight Sparkle galloped through the dark dream, making a beeline to Luna. She sucked in mighty gusts as she pushed forward. “Don’t—geeze—don’t let her trick you!”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?”

Luna let herself be gathered to Twilight’s chest. “Twilight? I don’t understand! How are you here?”

“All it took was a little thought.” Twilight smiled, a blush decorating her cheeks. “Of course you would know more about dreams than I would. Of course you wouldn’t lie to me about being hurt. It’s just not you. I felt like a dipstick for letting you leave, so I tried my hoof at dreamhopping.”

She stuck out her tongue. “It didn’t really turn out at first. Let’s just say that King Andean’s mind is a scary place.”

Twilight placed a hoof on Luna’s cheek. “So I kept looking. I almost thought you’d woken up when I caught a glimmer of you here! I came as quick as I could.” She glared at Nightmare Moon. “And it looks like it was a good thing I did.”

Nightmare Moon snarled. “Aren’t you the perfect little princess?”

Twilight’s eyebrows shot up. “Hay, that’s right! I’m an alicorn!” She concentrated, scrunching up her muzzle. Before long, wings sprouted from the little unicorn’s back.

Nightmare pursed her lips. “Us and Our big mouth.”

Luna gripped Twilight tighter. “I don’t know what to do. Hurricane… I have to stop her.”

“Not like this.” Twilight nuzzled her. “You don’t have to give yourself to the nightmare. You don’t have to be alone. Your friends are still here.”

“My friends are in comas, Twilight.” Luna tried to pull away from Twilight, putting her wing between their bodies. “You and Celestia both. I can’t do anything. I didn’t—” She blinked away fresh tears. “I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

Twilight sighed. She brushed a gentle hoof through Luna’s mane. “I’m sorry. I wish I could be with you for real. I wish I could just wake up and have this whole stupid mess over with.”

“We can.”

Twilight and Luna turned to Nightmare Moon. “We can end this,” she said. “With Our everlasting night, the scourge of Hurricane will be over, and the world shall return to the way it was meant to be. Only We can give you relief, Luna. Only together can We end this futile conflict.”

Twilight scrunched her nose. “Have you been reading comic books or something?”

Dark magic swarmed around Twilight Sparkle, tearing her away from Luna. Nightmare Moon stormed after her, her horn glowing alongside her eyes.

“You dare mock Us?” Nightmare Moon roared. “We, who rule the tides! We, who lift the sun and the moon with a flick of Our horn? We, who can cow an entire kingdom with the sound of Our name? You, a little unicorn from Ponyville who got lucky, think you can stand a chance against Us?”

“She’s from Canterlot!” Luna shouted.

A moonbeam—pure, concentrated magic—lanced through the air and sliced through Nightmare Moon’s heart. She dropped Twilight Sparkle, who teleported back to Luna’s side.

“You dare hurt my friends?” Luna gasped. She leaned against Twilight to remain standing. “How can you say that you’re me?”

“It’s like the book said,” Twilight muttered. “She’s all your rage and jealousy given life.”

Luna looked into Nightmare Moon’s hateful eyes. “I don’t want to believe that I can be you.”

“You don’t have to be,” Twilight said. “Trust me and Celestia. Trust the doctors and the guards. Trust in your friends. All of them, not just me and your sister. You know who they are. Applejack and Rarity. Pinkie and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash and Cadence. Your guard, Skyhook. Heck, even Discord has his moments. There’s probably others around the castle. Open up to them, Luna. Don’t isolate yourself.”

Twilight kissed her gently on the cheek. “Don’t fall into the trap of believing there’s no hope.”

“No!” Nightmare Moon stomped a hoof, shaking the ground beneath them. “Don’t listen to her lies! She doesn’t understand your pain! Only We do!”

“No more, Nightmare.” Luna charged her horn, her eyes shining with light. “Get out of my life!”

The moon broke through the fog. Its beams spotlighted Luna and Twilight as they stood together against the nightmare.

Nightmare Moon raised her horn and attempted to cover the moon with clouds, but was unable to hold back the flowing magic. “I’ll be your shadow eternal!”

“Never!” Luna screamed.

Nightmare Moon grew bigger, moving between Luna and the moon to blot out the light. “To rise up on this darkest night!”

Luna stabbed another lance through Nightmare Moon’s shoulder. “Get out!”

“I will be without and internal,” Nightmare Moon laughed. “Your shadow and soul. Your head to your toe. And you’ll never be free from your fright!”

“Luna!” Twilight grasped the older princess’ hoof. “Together!”

Their horns flashed in concert, conducting a symphony of blue and violet. The streams spiraled upwards in a double-helix to link with the moon. Their manes swirled from the sheer magic energy being poured out, directing the moon towards the towering monster.

Nightmare Moon shielded herself with her wings, which were eaten away by the light. “Wait! Luna, you can’t! We have to stop Hurricane! We have to save Equestria!”

“Yes,” Luna whispered. “But not like this.”

Holes appeared in the nightmare’s hooves, tearing her apart from the inside out. With one final, disbelieving scream, she dissolved into scattered flakes of stardust.

Luna fell limp to the dream’s floor. The shadows disappeared into the moonlight, showering the two ponies in a silvery hue. Twilight cast a glance around. She shut her eyes to focus, and soon a warm fire and two mugs of cocoa appeared before them.

A blanket draped itself around Luna’s shoulders. She had run out of tears for the moment, so she took the offered mug with a nod of thanks. “How can I thank you, Twilight?”

Twilight flopped down and snuggled up to Luna’s side. “Spend some time with your friends. Don’t go crazy. Things like that. I want you there when I wake up.”

Luna lowered her chin onto her forelegs. “I will… do my best.”

They lay together for the longest time, simply enjoying each other’s company.

At length, Luna stirred. “Twilight… I went inside Hurricane’s dream to hurt her.”

Twilight frowned. “I guess that explains things.”

“Yes, but…” Luna finished off the last of her drink. “But the things I saw… she said that she made me.”

“She… helped train you?”

“She wasn’t being figurative, Twilight.” Luna’s ears drooped. “She claimed that she had grown Celestia and I using Sombra’s arcane magic.”

Twilight’s mouth popped open. “Whoa. Holy horseapples!”

Luna raised an eyebrow.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Pardon my Fancy, but what in the flying feather is she talking about?”

“I don’t know.” Luna cupped her head in her hooves. “I don’t know whether to believe her or ignore her or how I can live knowing that she—”

“Hold it, hold it.” Twilight took Luna’s hooves. “First, what’s more important: Where we came from or where we’re going?”

“Wh-where we’re going.” Luna licked her lips, expanding her chest with a soothing breath.

“Okay.” Twilight bobbed her head. “Just remember that no matter what happens, you’re still my friend. Right? Nothing can change that ever.”

“I know,” Luna said. “I j-just don’t always remember.”

“So…” Twilight tilted her head. “If she’s telling the truth, what changes?”

Luna leaned her cheek on Twilight’s shoulder. “I don’t know yet.”

Twilight muttered to herself. Her eyes lit up with an “Aha!”

Luna strained her eyes to look up. “What?”

“If you two are… somehow ‘artificial’ alicorns…” Twilight bit her lower lip. “That’s not quite right. You’re still real. ‘Constructed’ alicorns? ‘Modified’ alicorns? Whatever. If she’s telling the truth, it could have something to do with how Celestia survived her attack. So if you understood how an alicorn was made—”

“I could learn how to put her back together! In a sense!” Luna wrapped her forelegs and wings around Twilight. “Thank you so much!”

Twilight returned Luna’s hug with a smile. “Hay, sometimes I know what I’m doing.”

Luna’s ear twitched. She released Twilight and got to her hooves. “It is nearly morning, and I have many bridges to mend. It was so wonderful spending time with you, even if just for a few moments.”

Twilight giggled. “The moments not fighting for your sanity.”

Luna’s smile grew sad. “Even they were a boon, when you joined my side.”

Twilight walked backwards as her body faded away. “Good morning, Luna. See you soon.”

Luna bowed at the knee. “Good morning, Twilight. May you find brighter skies ahead.”

***

Luna yawned herself awake. She still faced the warped mirror, which now held a haphazard reflection of her tired face. She lit her horn and searched for the deepest part of her heart, the last reserve of magic. The sun peered over the horizon, and that was good enough for her. She let her head flop down on the floor. “I am going to need so much therapy after this.”

“Princess Luna?” Natter’s voice called from the stairwell. “Princess Luna? You are awake?”

Luna rubbed her mangled mane. “Aye, Natter. At long last, I am awake.”

“I did not wish to presume…” he muttered. “I-I heard screaming and was worried that you might be in danger so I… I took the liberty of, um…”

Luna shifted her wings. They lay beneath a soft blanket filled with pegasus down. She smiled at her Royal Scheduling Advisor. “Thank you very much, Natter.”

She stretched her legs and only just managed to stand. “You know, I’ve been thinking lately that you deserve a raise for all the trouble you’ve been put through.”

Natter’s monocle leaped out of his eye. “W-well, that is, I would never presume—my royal duties—”

“Chill, as the kids say.” Luna frowned and led him away with a hoof on his shoulder. “Or is that ‘said’? What decade was that popular in?”

Natter scratched his forehead. “I haven’t the slightest, Your Majesty.”