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.”
Bad news MyHobby. "Fiendship is Magic," #1 totally jossed your Sombra as expected. Worse news. The comic was really, really good. Meaning its likely to become the default Sombra canon for a lot of people. Oh, well you had to know you couldn't keep up a "ten years later," series matching both show and comic canon forever.
5819758
Between Fiendship, Season Five, and Equestria Girls 3, I'm going to be Jossed to high heaven!
I'm glad to hear that the comic is good, at least!
Besides, maybe we can pretend that he did all of my stuff behind the scenes.
This is so true that it hurts, but I have made peace. I learned long ago that I should just keep writing! Continue the story as it was intended! After all, canon is a foundation, not a fence.
That said, I'll probably have to add disclaimers in the authors notes of future stories...
OH WOW. Big reveals this chapter, and some really great emotional stuff between Luna and Hurricane.
The chosen one who will bring balance to the force! Seriously, I've always thought Celestia and Luna started out like this, being destined heroes from birth would explain a lot with how they managed to so easily secure the loyalties of ponies in such a rapid transitional period.
....That's not true! That's impossible!
Oh man, Darth Vader, but she has Lex Luthor's motivations! A combination of two all time greats! (Also two of the greatest fighters in a robot exoskeleton, after Iron Man).
Wow, so if I am reading this right, Luna and Celestia actually sprang from Hurricane's loins?
Ok, I'm having a problem with the timeline here. From earlier flashbacks, it seems like Celestia met Sombra when he was just a teenager, and in fact I thought he was younger than her. So during the Windigo years, Sombra used his magic and Hurricane as a donor and created two artificial alicorns in utero, then after a year or two dumped them somewhere prophetically appropriate to be discovered by Platinum. Also, Sombra had the big awesome final showdown with the Regal Sisters, but never threw the fact that he created them in their faces?
I think either Hurricane's memories are corrupted, or Celestia's are.
Man, why is Hurricane kissing his ass like that anyway? I thought they were partners.
I love this, I'm imagining Judge Frolo singing Hellfire for the beat.
Yeah, that will have repercussions.
Awesome, now Celestia can be
repairedhealed! Also sweet interaction between Twily and Luna.5819758 Yeah, but a good author can always pry off key bits and add them to the story as he sees fit. Like, now we know the name of Cadance's great-great-great^52nd grandmother who probably moved to Hollow Shades. And we can even guess that Sombra has a decent chance of being Cadance's great-great-great^52nd grandfather.
Okay. So this is our universe's Hurricane, she knows perfectly well who she has been killing, and she's one of those revolutionaries who is more concerned about some ideal plan for Equestria than actually stopping to consider the current state of the country. Any possible sympathy I might have had for her just evaporated. As far as I am concerned she can join the wight in that dark hole from a few comments back.
Interesting revelations regarding the alicorns and how Hurricane had her extra fairy strings network, I wonder how much of it was true. Given that the goal of the conspiracy for Luna was to goad her into becoming the Nightmare again, some portion of that reveal could have been carefully tailored for that purpose.
*fist-pump*
Thank god for Twilight.
On a related note, I am so pleased to see Twilight show back up and play a key part in the story, as well as the reassurance we got this chapter that she is mentally still there. I also like that Twilight showing up as a unicorn was apparently simple forgetfulness as opposed to evidence of some mental trauma about her ascension or something like that.
5821659
Sixty thousand words ago, you were afraid we wouldn't have time for the big reveal.
Yes indeedy! It's a bit of a step away from the old "A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country." Around here, the chosen ones are not ignored and made to pay for their own darn gear (unless your name is Twilight Sparkle).
Helps that they, you know, hold the power of the sun and moon in the pad of their hoof.
Reread my dialogue, you know this to be true!
Stop comparing my stories to better fiction!
But yeah, the inspiration is there. The tricky bit is that the inspiration is all over the place, coming together in a cohesive whole that at the very least feels new. We've got yer Vaders, we've got yer Kahns, we've got yer Lexs and Banes and Caesars and Demonas and... and...
I'm just a comic book nerd, aren't I?
Still, maybe I can keep Dulcimer's inspiration secret. Muhuahahahahaha!
When you rip off Darth Vader, you gotta go all the way.
You assumed too much! His age was never stated! The timeline is satisfied if you consider Sombra to be about sixteen years Celestia's senior (Note that this is Sombra Prime, not Hottie McHighness). As in, that's how old he was when he was the Crystal Empire's magic prodigy.
On that note, fanon from The Heart's Promise says that Twilight was sixteen when she moved to ponyville. It's one of the ways I see him as "Evil Twilight," following a parallel to her that ultimately breaks off in a far more sinister direction.
He was trying to:
But then this little gem happened:
So no, I did not miss an epic moment of foreshadowing. Sombra just got shut up.
Don't you hate it when your files get corrupted? At least you can bribe corrupt officials. Memories? Nadda!
Gee, it's like there's some big ongoing mystery that is yet to be solved.
Welcome to Equestria
We're pretty ponies
Visit humble Equestria
Colorful ponies
We have many desserts to share with you
With all our visitors
Such nice tasty sweets
Good evening, Creator
You've heard me speak my mind before
You above all know I can be loud
Our Cutie Marks sing
Please hear me, Creator
I seek to right the wrongs I've done
To lower those who'd rise above the crowd
They are cute pictures
You've seen it, Creator
Why I've felt such ardor here
Why I throw myself into the fray
That bread is moldy
I've watched her, I've been there
The sun carried by spiraled horn
She sits upon that throne every day
We shouldn't eat it
In fire, sun's fire
She threatens death by heat
A molten world's pyre
From valleys to the steeps
It's not my fault!
We are pony
I'm not to blame!
Pretty pony
It was the Crystal King who'd driven me insane!
We making cupcakes
It's not my fault!
With some sprinkles
If in his heart
Sparkly sprinkles
He sought to tear the Crystal Empire apart!
They will taste like candy
Protect me, Creator
Don't let my fall to my hubris
Don't let me end the way of those before
Bring freedom to the ponies
And let our enemies die in flame
While I step forth, my kingdom to reclaim!
Sun's fire, Hellfire
Now Luna it's your sin
Give in to the Nightmare
My victory begins!
Read today's menu
Creator have mercy on her
It's a tasty venue
Shine your mercy on me
For once the cake's true
Soon Equestria will be
Set
Free!
Hellfire's got the right atmosphere, but I keep seeing Angel Bunny in my head.
I didn't copy the beat from any particular song (try singing the first four verses to the tune of Gilligan's Island ) but I got a heck of a lot of inspiration from this song. It's Confrontation from the Jekyll and Hyde musical. Haven't seen the play myself, but after stumbling on this awesome villain song, how could I not listen to it over and over?
I always like seeing Jekyll/Hyde comparisons between Luna and Nightmare Moon. That duality.
That's what I do with all my writing. And it's not merely confined to comic stories I won't be able to read until it gets released to the public domain.
5830207
Excellent! Let the hate flow through you! Let it grow, consume you! Make you stronger!
I've been interested in trying a villain who the reader despises for what they do, yet can at least see how they've arrived at their twisted conclusions. It's like, in a softer story, she would be redeemed at the end. In this story, she's probably gone too far down the dark path.
Some elements may have been fabricated, some elements may have been exaggerated... But then, how devastating a thing the truth is.
She is da bomb.
She had to come back! She still has a character tag and a contract for five more movies.
In the midst of all the chaos, the darkness, the anger, every once in a while there's a ray of light that cuts through the clouds. It's there to show us that, yeah, the sun still rises every morning and today's a new day. This chapter, Twilight got to be that sunbeam.
After a big change happens, good or bad, it can take a while to get used to it. A good long while. I'm still occasionally surprised by what I see in the mirror, and I look at that darn thing every day.
5838266
That was before you informed me this was the great Equestrian novel!
The way around that is to be immortal, so everyone who remembers you wetting the bed as a kid or your akward teenage acne dies off, and the future generations in your home town just learn about your great deeds and the miracles you performed (see original speaker, or Celestia).
Oh, I know you're kidding me, miss personal student with a room in the palace, who do you think was paying the grocery/jeweler's bill for a baby dragon? It wasn't some teenager on allowance. Unless by "gear" you mean "helpful, direct, useful information in a timely manner," in which case yeah, you have a pretty good point.
Not better, just older. Good artists borrow, great artists steal and all that. And I wasn't comparing, just admiring the clever homage!
See, writing great fiction is like brewing great coffee: Nobody just invents new beans, it's all about how you carefully blend things together in your own mix that make you stand out!
Oh Gosh dangit! Once you say it it's so clear! A thousand years old, magically tied to a crazy King, a kick ass aerial warrior who uses the latest technology when possible. Pretty sure she tried to kill her daughter once too. Forget Sigourney Weaver or Darth Vader or any other voice, I will now only imagine Hurricane's voice as Marina Sirtis.
If it makes you feel better, I think you don't get your official Fimfic writer/comic book nerd badge until you start stealing Deadpool lines whole-sale to give to Pinkie.
Good thing you inserted that part about the random stallion, I was assuming Sombra was the father of the alicorns, which would definitely make him a 16 year old Dustin Hoffman "Mrs. Hurricane, you're trying to seduce me!"
Wait, I thought Platinum was like a mother to the sisters, and raised them since birth. She never introduced them to her own son during this period? Who was running the Crystal Empire while Platinum was in Canterlot?
See, this is why you always let the villain monologue. It's common courtesy, and you might just learn something!
....so you're saying that the voice in the mirror is actually Peachie Pie again, got it.
Did a read-through against the song, it matches up, but now I think that Pinkie is Hurricane's inner conscious.
I loved that comic! Why did the salad have to require so much flan anyway?
That was an awesome song. A similarly awesome villain song I stumbled across, that has pony animatics, is A Story Told
Though this I can imagine applying to more to Dulcimer and Scuttlebutt.
Yeah, it's a really strong parallel between MLP and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You might even call it a homage!
If only the show would give you a villain like that... Perhaps in a season opener?
Excellent chapter. Good to see Luna finally back on her feet. Hooves. Whatever. Y'know, with all of these new villains stealing the spotlight lately, it's easy to forget that Nightmare Moon could have been really dangerous if she had more screen time.
5838360
I hear illusion spells are excellent alternatives to makeup, as long as you keep your concentration.
Princess Stinking Celestia! Now gimme a map!
Helpful, useful information like "Make some friends!"?
The best artists can steal without getting caught, though.
So if Starbucks can have ten new flavors of caramel frappe every year, I can make an original "I am Your Father" situation?
Actually, I'm surprised I don't see the trope more often. I guess it's because it's usually used for cheap drama, and often falls flat. It's hard to do well. But it's so awesome when it works right! If nothing else, it lives on in parodies.
Best hands down was definitely from Toy Story 2.
Also, you have a beautiful gift for similes.
Now that you mention it, she's got the perfect voice. I'm embarrassed to say that I only just realized the connection between them when I posted the comment. I was wondering why it felt like i'd drank this flavor of coffee before.
Now that I think upon future events, I realize that there are far more similarities than you've pointed out. At least I'm cribbing the good characters.
I might have too much pride. I might also need to read more Deadpool.
I like him best when he's trying to be a good guy. Trying.
He was totally going to be the father. I was ready to write the chapter with that exact reveal. Then I remembered the Reflections comic arc.
Suddenly, I felt very, very ill. I think I made it work just fine despite the late change.
Her father, the Unicorn King. She only started ruling the Empire when he passed away, and she became the Queen. It's mentioned in the chapter where Celestia meets Evil Sombra for the first time that she'd recently taken the throne. Sombra had been living in his parents' basement creating abominations against nature.
Except you can never tell if they're actually going to monologue or just psych you out for a surprise attack...
Yes. Both the old Crone and the mystery Master in the mirror are Peachy Pie and her mirrorverse counterpart. That's the real twist that shall be revealed in Absence. How do you do it?
Hearts and Hooves Day!
Everything is lovey-dovey
Hearts and Hooves Day!
Big McIntosh is super-snuggley
The Crusaders mixed up everything
Their love poison made Cheerilee sing!
Ahem. Anyway. Look at the flan. So many versatile flavors, so many jiggling colors. But they can't be eaten all by themselves.
They can't?
No, silly boy! Over there, far, far away in the marketplace, is a fabulous cherry stand. Who runs this stand?
Who?
What will he charge for these cherries?
What?
Why does he take advantage of the tough market?
Why?
Hush!
I've already told you this, but that is one of my favorite villain songs now.
Actually, look out for scenes of three badguys plotting in a tavern or other. I gots planz.
Touche! And quite right.
I just realized that it's one of my most used tropes, having a character be two sides of the same coin, so to speak. There was the whole Nightmare thing in Blueblood's Ascension, I've had Spike be afraid of his dragon side in Sonata, I've had Luna fight the nightmares again here... LIke Time Travel and Dreams, you can just about always expect some Jekyll/Hyde back and forth in my stories. Though, unlike the original book, mine usually have a happy ending!
Mayhap. I'd like them to try something new and make Sunlight sympathetic in some way before they redeem her, should she return. Sunset and Luna got the feels, yes, but that was after their violent rampages.
Regardless, she gets points for having a villain song!
Just don't expect her to show up in this series unless Season Five comes and goes without bucking any of my plans. So far, it's looking okay, but the slightest plot point could send things awry.
5869124
I keep telling people that horses have feet. It's true, they really do! Ungulates just happen to have fewer toes than other critters. Saying they have hooves not feet is like saying "They dont have feet, they have toenails!"
Nightmare Moon is actually my favorite MLP villain. She's got the classic Disney Villain flair. She's Maleficent with a sympathetic background! She makes proclamations that make ponies sit down and listen. She's got magic that can knock guards on their butts and slice cliffs (and moustaches) in half. She's sneaky enough to reach the Elements first and destroy them!
She also has the power to move the sun and the moon. She's really scary if you put thought into her. I'd bring her back for real, not just as a subplot, if it didn't mean I'd have to get poor Luna involved.
Though it could be a fantastic story if that did happen...
5903525
I now have a terrifying image of Celestia bereft of the illusion magic she uses to hide her "cake gut."
Buzzinga!
Does that really count? I mean, advice that is always good advice, like "make friends" or "remain calm" or "don't pick at it," that isn't situationally specific, seems more like a platitude than anything. Now "Twilight, I really, really need you to spend at least an hour of quality time bonding with the five ponies on this list I give you today. I can't explain why yet, but I need you to trust me on this one. Also if you don't see me at dawn tomorrow take the gals on this list to my old castle right inside the Everfree Forest." That would have been way more direct and helpful advice, without impacting the friendship-triggering conditions of a bunch of petrified crystal fruit.
Well, no one has accused you of tracing your stories yet, so I guess you qualify! (Our little secret).
It's a rarely used, because it relies on surprising the audience, but it was used so famously in one of the most popular works of fiction of all time, that it is almost impossible to pull off again. I didn't guess it, and I don't think any of your other readers did either. And considering the number of wild guesses I was throwing at the wall, you should really take a bow on having pulled this one off!
Well, my skills may not be as impressive as best Apple Horse, but I don't lose it when somone performs a forceful tattoo removal on my backside either, so I guess there's a trade-off. I guess you could say my similes are as reliable-"as Celestia's dawn peaking over the top of the Eastern Orchard. " Looks like I still have to work on my countryisms.
Pretty sure referencing Gargoyles VAs counts as more Star Trek references as well! (I just remembered, Demona starts off paired up with a rich scheming opportunist with access to hidden magic and secret knowledge, weird mutants, and a shape-changing personal assistant.)
I like him best when he's voiced by Ryan Reynolds, and/or trying to date Celestia.
HAHAHAHAHA! Oh man, that is awesome. The only thing better would have been if Starswirl's mirror had taken Celestia 30 years back to the future, and she'd had to take Sombra to the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance and make out with him, so he could punch out Biff the Diamond Dog and impress Hurricane, ensuring Celestia and Luna get born after all. Then when Sonata's hands cramp she fills in for the Dazzlings and ends up teaching them modern rock & roll.
Sorry, I've never been good grasping out-of-chronological order bits of story, and these are important.
Ok, just so I have a rough idea of the order of events:
Platinum marries some dude and has Sombra and his brother.
Then the Whole Hearth's Warming Eve story happens.
Then Sombra cooks up some magic alicorn juice and gives it to a pregnant Hurricane, twice.
Then Hurricane dumps two alicorn babies somewhere where they will be found in Equestria.
Meanwhile, Platinum has left her family behind to live in Equestria and help rule it for say 15 years.
She and Hurricane and others raise the alicorns up to be teenagers while Sombra hangs around his underground lab back in Unicornia playing with crystals.
When the alicorn sisters are like 15-16, Platinum's dad dies, and she goes back to Unicornia to rule and to start seeing her family more than once or twice a year.
Then Celestia and Starswirl play around with portals, and Celestia has an affair with alt!Sombra, before Starswirl forces her to break it off.
Then when Celestia is like 17, she finally visits the Crystal Empire/Unicornia in person for the first time and meets Sombra, and wants to jump his bones, despite the fact that he has to be in his late 30s by now.
Then all the other dream sequences happen in the order of their appearance in this story.
Have I finally gotten a grasp on the timeline?
Intuition. Logical deduction. My yarn-patterns tieing key hints and clues together, like Merry Mare drinking a peach smoothie in the last chapter of LM, or Time Turner tripping over a roller skate in the dramatic fight with Scuttlebutt, or the fact that the underground mirror had draped around it a sash with a meddle saying "Best Dramatic Performance - Ponyville School Talent Show.
Oh crap, now the horseshoe is on the other hoof! I feel like you have made a great reference here, in addition to some adoracute lyrics for Hearts & Hooves day, but I can't figure it out!
Do you know when badguys plotting in a tavern is the start of something awesome? Only always!
Of course, because it's one of the best ways for the audience to grasp the motivations of a nuanced character, by forcing the readers to contrast said character with a mirror-version of them. If it's good enough for Nightmare Moon and the Mane 6 when they have been discorded, or Sunset Shimmer/Starlight Glimmer vs Twilight Sparkle, it's good enough for anyone.
See, all the greatest works of fiction borrow heavily from tropes of the past. Look at Gargoyles, the greatest animated TV show aimed at kids ever made (until around 2010...) Gargoyles didn't "lightly sample" ideas, themes, plots and settings from other works. Gargoyles stole tropes on a global scale not seen since Carmen Sandiego went through a literary phase. It stole Irish mythology, Japanese settings, Hopi creation myths and African Just-So stories. And poor William Shakespeare. Gargoyles basically held a gun to his head posthumously and took everything not nailed down in his house, including the copper wire. "Oh Midsummer Night's Dream, just empty the entire play into our script nice and slowly now, no funny business. Oh, is that Macbeth you've got there as well? I'll take it! And just because I'm here, I'll create an elaborate character called 'the Hunter' who's basically a multi-generational Hamlet." Gargoyles stole greatly, and obviously, and we loved them for it. There's no shame in stealing from the best, whether that is the Bard or Robert Louise Stevenson. Weaving in references in such a skilled way is one of the most challenging parts to being a good writer, at least from what I've observed.
I already feel sympathetic to her. She's slowly starving to death in a maze of freezing underground tunnels, while the village she founded and built with her blood, sweat and tears has turned on her to a pony, the network of friendships she sacrificed everything to build has united against her. What more is needed to make this pony sympathetic?
Amen to that.
Season 5 I wouldn't worry about. Fiendship is Magic, I would keep an eye on...
You know... I'm sympathetic to Hurricane's ideals. That she sees the alicorn sisters as, essentially, mothering and holding back the world. Propping themselves up as the immortal masters, and profiting primarily the ponies, allowing the other races whatever they feel like.
And, in a sense, it's true. Celestia only doesn't rule the world due to restraint... and I really didn't expect the revelation that they've already weaponized the sun in the past, so the idea that Celestia might do it again (and implicitly holds the world hostage with that threat) holds rather a lot of water.
Of course, Hurricane also serves a darker master. One that, no doubt, doesn't really have "and then the world will be allowed to right itself, and escape from under the stifling rule of a single race/small number of masters" as their motivation. And she's murderous, but at least for that... you can't expect to have a revolution without that. Not really.
And she's against the protagonists. With the murder and all.
This is again something that has conflicts with season 5. It conlicts with the Tantabus to be precise because she would never turn back into Nigtmare Moon after how guilty she felt.
Of course a quarter of a million words written without season 5 in mind but set after it will have several conflicts with the canon of season 5.
Edit: For equality Hurricane only has to talk with Starlight Glimmer who would think her to be very unequal.
Good bye Nightmare moon and good luck Luna.