Luna Wants a Windigo

by Lazauya

Awakening

"What are we supposed to do? She's probably hurt really bad."

I don't know. I don't know how ponies' bodies should be.

"Maybe if we just check to see if she's bleeding or something...?"

Blythe nodded.

The two continued to clear the remaining rubble around the princess's body. Her coat was wet with sweat which turned the dust to a mud.

"I think we need to turn her over."

Blythe nodded again. The small team went to work, grabbing her legs, and leveraged the princess's body with all their might. Eventually, they found success when they pulled her legs over her torso, rolling the princess to her other side. They sighed in relief when they saw that there was no blood.

Astatine turned to Blythe. "What now?"

I think we should try to wake her up.

Astatine nodded. He floated over to princess's face. "Princess, Princess Luna, wake up!"

---

"What did I tell you? Hm? What was it? Oh yes, 'Sister's mind has become muddled'! I told you she was dangerous, and it took you this long to figure it out."

Luna held her head down, sulking in the misty field. There were pleasant woodland sounds all around her, but she couldn't make out any particular one. The more she listened to the sounds, the less coherent they seemed; what she thought was a woodpecker drilling into a stump would turn out to sound more like a rock bouncing in a stream and then the call of some wild animal. It was surreal, and Luna quickly recognized it as a dream.

But the uncanny and pleasant sounds were interrupted by an infuriatingly boastful and rather grating voice.

Luna put her hoof to her forehead, trying to ignore the strange creature that was berating her.

"I just can't believe it took Celestia trying to commit infanticide in order for you to figure out that she was wrong in the head! How dense can you be?" The nightmare said with fake incredulity. "You didn't figure it out when she started killing all those windigos?"

Luna grimaced.

"When will you learn that I'm always right?"

Luna sighed, putting her hoof to her forehead, still trying to ignore the irritating black mare.

"Are you even listening to me?!" Night Mare Moon screamed.

Luna took a sharp breath. "No, not really."

Night Mare Moon growled from the back of her throat, before shouting, "Well maybe if you did, I—you wouldn't be in this situation!"

Luna's eyes drooped and she set her head down on the grass.

Night Mare Moon finally quieted down as she contemplated her next verbal attack.

"So, what are you—" Night Mare started.

"What are you?" Luna interrupted with audible disgust as her head shot up. "Are you the Tantabus? Are you some malfunction of my magic?" she thought out loud

"I am me! I am Night Mare Moon! I've told you this before!"

Luna rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course you would say that."

Night Mare grit her teeth. "What will it take for you to believe me?"

"Evidence."

"What? What kind of evidence could I even give you?"

"I can't answer that. You bear the burden of proof."

"What?! You're telling me that I'm supposed to figure out how to make you believe me with evidence when I don't even have a physical body?! That's not fair!"

But Luna had something else on her mind. "Pray tell, why do you even want to prove yourself?"

Night Mare's face contorted quizzically. "What?"

"Think about it. What do you have to gain from me seeing you as a separate entity? You don't believe that's counterproductive or dangerous?"

"What?"

"If you were merely part of me, then ridding myself and Equestria of you would be complicated; at least, it has been, going on the presupposition that you were indeed a part of myself that I needed to improve upon."

"I—I'm not sure I understand," Night Mare said with worry.

Luna spoke with a particular edge to her words. "What good would me acknowledging your existence do for you?"

Night Mare stood, dumbfounded, unable to speak.

"You thought that I would let you escape from my mind? You thought you would get redemption?"

Night Mare frowned, looking away.

"Or were you suicidal? You knew you couldn't kill yourself while you were trapped in here, and you simply wanted an easy way to end it all."

Night Mare unconsciously gulped.

"That's what it looks like from my perspective, at the very least. So what do have to say for yourself?"

Night Mare said nothing, staring at the ground.

"So? It seems you can't even take your own medicine! You chastise me for being a fool, and yet you can't see your own folly."

Night Mare's head shot up, and she scowled. "Folly? You think that me wanting to exist is a mistake?"

Luna only gave a blase expression at the accusation. "Not quite. You are the mistake; everything you do is a mistake. So, I suppose in that sense, you were right: you wanting to—no, believing that you had a right to exist was the mistake. It's as simple as that."

Night Mare's lip quivered in rage, but she could say nothing.

Luna looked to the floor.

They sat in silence.

Night Mare thought about what the princess was saying. How can she be so coarse? She just wants to erase me? Did I make a mistake by confronting her? No! Of course I didn't! How is declaring my existence a mistake?! She's— Night Mare thought before she was jolted out of her contemplation.

"So what would you want?"

Night Mare squinted in confusion.

"What would you want if I were to acknowledge your existence?"

"I'm not sure I understand..." Night Mare said with worry. In an instant, all the rage she was building up vanished.

Luna seemed to ignore her. "Lets say that I give you an artificial body in the material world. Would you be satisfied with anything? What if I made you an earth pony with no arms or legs, unable to speak? Would you be okay with that?"

"What?" Night Mare asked flatly.

"Or do you think you deserve more?"

Night Mare's heart raced seemingly without reason.

"Do you think you deserve my body?"

Night Mare nearly broke out into a sweat at the proposal. Of course she would want that, but she knew there was no way Luna would give it to her. She hadn't ever considered what she wanted in any capacity, much less what a realistic demand was. "I don't know," Night Mare said with trepidation.

"Then what are you doing?"

"I just want to be acknowledged!"

"And why would I acknowledge you?"

Night Mare found that question incredibly unfair. It frustrated her. It enraged her, until she was audibly grinding her teeth. She was almost taken aback at the strange intensity of her feelings, but she couldn't stop. "Why are you doing this to me?" she asked with level sorrow and vitriol she wasn't aware she was capable of producing anymore. Her mane blackened as it expanded behind her, and Luna could feel the cold depths of the heavens chill her bones.

Luna was struck with fear at how real and painful the cold felt.

Watching Luna only made Night Mare more angry. Her magic swirled around her, her power surging.

Luna felt small. She was small, it seemed, as Night Mare towered over her, her eyes beaming down onto the frightful princess.

Night Mare grinned in satisfaction, her armor materializing and hardening as she grew to monstrous proportions.

No matter where she looked, all Luna could see was Night Mare. Luna could do nothing to resist as the endless night engulfed her.

---

"It's working! She's moving!"

With a terse breath, the regal pony awoke. "Where am I, what's happening?"

"Princess Luna! You—" Astatine was cutoff as the being he thought was Princess Luna turned her head. He could tell this was not Princess Luna. He looked over to Blythe, whose eyes were wide and whose jaw was about to snap off it's frail frame. "What—what's going on, Princess?"

"I don't know. I don't know what's happening," the impostor said with her metallic voice.

But Astatine broke down. "Princess! We didn't mean it! We didn't mean to use it! We didn't know how to wake you up!" Astatine looked at Blythe and at the valley below, unable to bare the burden of his actions. "What did we do?! What did we do?!"

The being inhabiting the body of the princess was conflicted. She knew that she was Night Mare Moon. She knew that watching this creature panic was not enjoyable. She knew that she would have found it at least comedic in the past. These facts confused her.

She stood up from where she was laying down, brushing off the dirt and stone, and finally giving her body a wipe down with her magic. Her mane filled in, more wispy and broad than Luna's mane, Astatine noted, and then she spoke. "Calm down. I want you to explain the situation."

Astatine stared for a few more moments before shaking his head to straighten his thoughts. "You were knocked out after that fight you had with Princess Celestia, and then we came here to see if you were okay. You wouldn't wake up, so we tried using our emotion magic on you. I don't know what we did! I didn't know this would happen! I really didn't!"

"Again, calm down. You're not in any trouble. I'm sure this will resolve itself."

Astatine's eyes were sad as he looked up to the former princess, and he only waited for further commands.

Suddenly, without warning, the world was darker. A disturbing figure hovered completely motionless in front of the sun, blotting out it's image, leaving a glimmering corona peeping out from the edges. Astatine and Blythe paled at the sight, as they instantly recognized the figure. They flew backwards, ready to run at the slightest provocation.

Night Mare was naturally perplexed at this new development. She looked up to the figure, and saw the faint silhouette of a pony—no, she thought, an alicorn. She readied her own wings and with a powerful thrust met the being eye to eye. "Who are you?" she asked without hesitation.

The being ignored the question. "You are the source of magic I felt surge 1 minute ago."

"And what if I am?"

"You are mine."

Comments

[LEGION55]

Interesting.