S4 CH 5. Her Mark
Nightmare Moon eyed the changelings and then, slowly, glanced to her bard. “We trust you have no objections… sorting out whatever… this is?” she asked before gripping the cupcake in her magic and gently gliding it over to Twilight.
Twilight, very nervously, reached out her hoof to take it. A shame, truly. Her magic was still too ill controlled to grab it. “Of course, your highness. Err, but what about--”
“Moondancer will be safe,” Nightmare Moon said. “Her comrades failed to fall before my traps, without me to challenge their journey they will make it through those woods. If they will be able to deal with this threat, however, remains to be seen. Her own talents are seemingly far below the company she keeps.” She started to walk away, only to pause after a moment. “We must tend to some matters, our kingdom still suffers greatly from these assaults. Aside from these vines, there are no pressing concerns for you or my student to worry about. Should Moondancer and her… team return before the deadline is met, let them know they may do as they please. We will expect both of you to return to the castle by dusk on the morrow.”
“Of… of course your highness,” Twilight said.
Nightmare Moon disappeared in a wisp of dark magic.
“You know, I hate to say it,” Rainbow said. “But I think I’m starting to feel some of the hate there myself. Geez.”
“The sad thing is that was relatively tame, by her standards,” Twilight said before glancing towards the changelings. “I should go finish my report. Then, ummm…”
“You heard her,” Rainbow said with a wide grin. “You’re not due back until tomorrow. That means we’ve got a whole night to do whatever we want.”
“Don’t you have a job to do?” Applejack asked.
“Eh, I’m currently on break,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “Even awesomeness like me needs a break sometimes.”
“Ah, then perhaps you’d all like to see the Great and Powerful Trixie’s newest disappearing act?” Trixie asked.
“Does it involve swapping places with a changeling in bad makeup?” Applejack asked.
“Not this time!”
------
Nightmare Moon materialized outside the city she had, not so long ago, disappeared from. Before the umbrum had distracted. She started to walk towards it before sighing. “Discord?”
She was greeted by silence.
“Discord, we require your… services… as an advisor,” Nightmare Moon said.
“You called, your highness?” Discord said, a tiny version of him appearing on her head.
Nightmare Moon growled, but bit her tongue. She supposed she could be a little grateful that he was so predictable in some ways. He’d help her… but only because he knew how much it would annoy her to require his help. “Watch over Moondancer and ensure she comes to no harm.”
“Oh ho?” Discord asked. “Are you worried about the little baby alicorn?”
Nightmare Moon cringed. “We have hurt her enough. On this one occasion, and only one, if you are unable to aid her then you have our permission to… ugh… summon us.”
“Oh my oh my!” Discord said with a gleeful snicker. “You mean to tell me I have permission to have THE Nightmare Moon at MY beck and call?”
“Must you make us regret this decision so soon?” Nightmare Moon asked.
“Always, your highness. See you soon,” Discord said before disappearing once more.
Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes before glancing back towards the city. With a flash of magic, the ruler was gone and in her place stood ‘Radiance’. The simple reporter. She wondered for a moment if she should summon the fedora and coat again but quickly shoved that aside. If it was as obvious as she had been told, well… She had to find Sundancer. The last thing she wanted to do was scare off the mare. She’d need to use all of her cunning and wit in order to find the mare and get her alone. So she could FINALLY get an answer to the question that had plagued her for so long.
Just what was it about Moondancer’s cutie mark that was such a ‘mistake’? She walked towards the city, her head held high.
------
Of all the reactions she’d expected in this little journey, this one wasn’t it. “You ARE Radiance, aren’t you?” Sundancer asked, the pegasus nervously glancing from side to side. “THE Radiance? The one who was asking about Moondancer a few weeks ago?”
“Errr, y-yes?” Radiance said nervously. “We, I mean I--” A hoof covered her mouth and the pegasus glanced around a few more times before sliding over a business card.
“Here. Tell them ‘Little Sunray’ sent you, they’ll show you to my private booth. Get whatever you want, I’ll swing by in an hour or so,” Sundancer said.
“W-what?” Radiance said. “You expect us to wait an hour? We--”
“Yes, please,” Sundancer said. “Listen, just be there and I’ll answer whatever you want. Okay?”
The ruler incognito gave a soft sigh before nodding. “Very well,” she said before turning and trotting away. She glanced at the card before sighing. A shake bar. Delightful. Well, hopefully her student would appreciate the levels she sunk to in order to learn more about her. Must Moondancer make everything so difficult?
------
“Oh thank Celestia you’re here,” Sundancer said.
Radiance felt her eye twitch a little. “I believe it would be thank Nightmare Moon currently, Celestia had little to do with it. Also, we have ordered quite a generous amount on your tab.” She picked up one of the sliced peaches and bit into it with a flourish.
“I heard,” Sundancer said in a slightly annoyed tone. “Don’t feed reporters very well where you’re, oh, whatever. Who cares? You’re here about Moondancer, right?” She slid into the booth next to Radiance, making her yelp.
“T-there’s a second bench across from me, you know,” Radiance said quickly.
“I’d rather we not have to raise our voices very loud,” Sundancer said. “The last thing I want is anypony hearing about this and word getting back to my mother. So, you’re here about Moondancer. Is she okay? Did something happen?”
Radiance blinked a few times, her mouth falling open. “You know… since I have arrived here, you are the first pony to ask me that.”
“Huh?” Sundancer asked. “What do you mean?”
“Nearly every pony I have tried to talk with about Moondancer has always gotten distracted by, well… you,” Radiance said. “Or don’t even seem to know who she is. Only one pony has even expressed the barest interest in her until now.”
“She’s my little sister, of course I’m interested in her,” Sundancer said. “Is she… okay? Is she safe? The last thing I heard was that she was in the hospital but… I wasn’t… able to see her.”
“I see,” Radiance said in a slightly annoyed tone. “Unable to tear yourself away from work, I take it?”
“Yeah, something like that,” Sundancer said softly. “Just… too busy. Heh. Hey, um, do you have any siblings?”
“Only child,” Radiance lied.
“Oh. Well, um. Take it from me, then. It’s kind of the big sister’s job to look out for their little sister. I’m… not… very good at that,” Sundancer said with a sad sigh. She paused for a moment when a fizzy drink was brought by one of the waiters. She took a small drink of it before sighing. “So, is she? Okay, I mean? She’s not hurt?”
“No, she has healed wonderfully,” Radiance said. “Well, aside from the ear. But that was damaged before Nightmare Moon got a hold of her.”
“Wait, what? Damaged? Her ear?” Sundancer asked.
“I suppose the papers haven’t spread that, then?” Radiance asked. “In the battle of the Crystal Empire, Moondancer’s left ear was destroyed by Sombra.”
The color left Sundancer’s face, making her stare with a look of horror. “She’s… deaf?”
“Half deaf,” Radiance said.
“Oh Celestia,” Sundancer said before abandoning the straw in her drink and just drinking straight from the mug. After a moment she sighed. “I am the worst sister in the world. I should have been there.”
“In the Crystal Empire? You would have been largely useless,” Radiance said. “She was there with Nightmare Moon herself and still managed to get wounded.”
“Oh, yes, I’m sure the great tyrant of the eternal night was just sooooo protective of her little ponies,” Sundancer said bitterly before sighing. “Sorry, sorry, that’s not fair. I just… is… she okay? Other than that? Is she… doing well?”
Radiance considered it for a moment. Well, truly she was wondering if she should burn this bar to the ground once she finished burning Firedancer’s studio to ash. It seemed the entire family was making a good showing of tap dancing on her last nerve. She wondered if stocks and whipping would get her the answers she had so longingly craved. “She is doing well enough. She is safe and with her friends.”
“Moondancer has friends?” Sundancer asked.
“I… well… yes?” Radiance said, cocking her head to the side. “Of course she does?”
“Really?” Sundancer asked. “I mean, err. She just never mentioned them in her letters. Well, when she wrote. Not that there were many of them. She usually--”
“I believe you agreed to answer some of MY questions if I waited for you,” Radiance said, unable to suppress her annoyance any further. “So if you would mind I would appreciate FINALLY getting an answer to the question I have been searching for weeks for.” It took everything she had not to yell and fling the table through the wall. She had faced down monsters that posed less of a challenge than extracting this answer from some ponies.
“Right, right, sorry,” Sundancer said. “Are you okay? You seem really tense. You need more sunlight. Heh. You know, since it’s out now?”
“I am a night pony,” Radiance said through gritted teeth. “My question is simple. How did Moondancer get her cutie mark?”
Sundancer nearly choked on her drink, slamming the cup down and coughing as some of it came up her nose. She reached over her and grabbed some napkins, bringing them up to her face. “W-what? Moondancer’s cutie mark? THAT’S what you wanted to know about?”
“Yes! Surely YOU at least know,” Radiance said, annoyance dripping from her words. “Perhaps you should try spreading the word as well. As nopony else in all of Equestria seems able to answer what should be such a SIMPLE question.”
“It’s not simple,” Sundancer said, her eyes lowered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean… I just… only one other pony has asked me that before.”
“And who, pray tell, was that?” Radiance asked.
“Princess Celestia,” Sundancer said.
Radiance barely managed to keep her disguise together, the illusion almost flickering. “Princess Celestia asked?”
“Yes. It was a long, long time ago, before Moondancer became her student,” Sundancer said. “It… fine. I’ll tell you. But listen. This shows up in nothing. Ever. No news paper, nothing. Just between you and me.”
Radiance blinked a few times before, very slowly, she nodded. “As you wish.”
“Good,” Sundancer said with a sigh. Then snorted. “You’re not really a reporter, are you?”
“If you truly must know and it will get you to finally answer our questions? No, I am not,” Radiance said. “We have been told the disguise is useful for such things, though.”
“When done well, probably,” Sundancer said with a sigh. “Not sure why a reporter would be interested in this story. But fine. I guess, well… the abridged story is simple. She was working on her play, I stole the lead, she did a great job of it and got her cutie mark. Boom, all done.”
Radiance barely suppressed a growl. “And the non-abridged vers-- wait, stole the lead?”
Sundancer gave another soft groan and covered her face with her hooves. “I… I was a really, really, really awful big sister.”
“Please, enlighten me,” Radiance said coldly. “The full story. All of it. Like you told my-- like you told Celestia.”
“So, uhhhh… let’s just say… dancing is pretty big in our family. I mean, Sundancer, Firedancer, Clouddancer, Moondancer, right? And of the two of us I was obviously the more talented in it,” Sundancer said, though there was no pride in her voice. If anything, she sounded ashamed. “I was far, far more talented at it. The dancing part, at least. Moondancer was passable, but she didn’t… have the coordination. What she had was a lot of talent at making up dances. She was a really big dreamer, in that sense. She’d come up with something and I could put it into action.” She gave a soft sigh before lightly tapping on her glass. “Yeah… I’m sure you’re thinking some pretty nasty things right now. You’re probably right. I was a filly then, you know? We both were. I just didn’t see why it mattered. Moondancer came up with something, but she couldn’t do it half the time. Then I could pull it off and I’d get all the praise. I loved it.”
“I heard you two were… thick as thieves,” Radiance said, the ire rising in her voice. It was becoming quite clear that the dancers were certainly good at dancing around the point. The studio would look marvelous wreathed in flames. Perhaps she could have some smores delivered.
“Yeah, one of us was a thief alright,” Sundancer said bitterly. “She was furious about it, but she kept trying to one up me. It… never worked. In the end, mom just… kept gushing about how amazing I was. So she tried doing something entirely new. Her name was Moondancer, right? So she started making something that was going to be just hers. The Rising of the Moon.”
Radiance blinked a few times. “Wait. Don’t you mean the Rise of the Sun and Moon?”
Sundancer cringed and there were definitely tears in her eyes then, though they didn’t fall. “No. It became that after I got mad and tattled. Mom was mad. ‘How can you have such a talented big sister and try and leave her out of it?’ Ugh. Couldn’t just let her have this one thing, could I?”
Radiance didn’t say a word, though she was quickly finding this story a little too familiar for her tastes and going in a direction she didn’t like at all.
“So she starts going at it full tilt, even knowing I’ll be in it. But ohhh, Moondancer was clever. She made a part for the ‘sun’ in this play. Kept me distracted. It really might have been amazing. She’d practice every night, really threw her all into it. She was desperate to have the moon be the headliner, even if she knew she couldn’t keep up with me. Honestly, it was the first time I think I ever noticed, you know?” Sundancer said, a single tear going down her face. “I had this great little sister. All she wanted was to be a… a great dancer like her big sister. It wasn’t her fault I could pick up a dance in an hour that took her weeks to get right, you know? I could have helped her. I-I should have helped her. B-but all I did was t-try and hog all the spotlight for myself. All I… I ever did…”
“Tissue?” Radiance asked, offering one to the other mare. This story was going down a road she desperately wanted to get off from.
“T-thank you,” Sundancer said before wiping her eyes. “I-I started to feel… to actually kind of feel bad. I actually started helping Moondancer. It was the first time we ever did a dance together. Can you believe it? We’d been dancing s-since we were foals and it was the first time we’d really danced together.”
“… The Rising of the Sun and Moon was going to be beautiful,” Sundancer said before wiping her eyes a few more times and then blowing her nose. “She didn’t know it, but I was… actually planning on adjusting some things. I’d always been the lead, figured it’d do for me to be a background dancer for once. Really let my little sister take the lime light, you know? Just this once. We were doing the final rehearsal together. I… I told her about the changes. I’d never seen her so happy. Oh Celestia…”
“She danced so beautifully, you know?” Sundancer said softly before Radiance offered her another tissue and she quickly wiped her eyes. “Sloppy, sure. But she was just a filly. But she was s-so excited. She was trying so hard. I-I was in the background, right? We had these little pully systems. S-since, well, I was still a filly, not to mention earth ponies and unicorns couldn’t f-fly. So… so we’d use them for some of the stunts. Have us ‘fly’ in the background. But…”
“She did her performance, she was so excited. She wasn’t as coordinated as me but she had so much passion. H-her cutie mark came and… and she tried so hard, you know?” Sundancer said, sinking lower in her seat. “The first thing mom said? ‘Why are you the lead? Your sister is the much better dancer’. I never… I’d never seen her so shattered. Moondancer was so sad, so upset. Then she got… so angry.”
“Angry?” Radiance asked. “Moondancer?”
Sundancer nodded. “She’d just started crying and she screamed how much she hated me and wished she’d been an only sister and then she… she just started throwing things. Knocked over the glass moon they’d made, some of the background things and then she… bucked the control levers for the pulley system. I don’t… think she meant to break anything. But she’d jammed the lever, hard. It was a bit… delicate. One second I’m a few feet in the air, the next moment I’m rocketing towards the roof. I slammed into the top wheel. My wing got tangled in it and then the entire thing came down. Dad was there, he caught me before I landed. But, well, they were terrified. We all were. I was hurt and screaming. Moondancer was terrified. They thought my wings might…”
“She broke your wings?” Radiance asked, her eyes wide.
“W-what? No!” Sundancer said, spreading her wings out and flapping them. “See? They’re fine. Not a scratch on them. I was lucky, though. Accidents like that were rare, but they could happen. They replaced the whole pulley system after that. I didn’t see Moondancer until I was out of the hospital and she’d never stopped apologizing since. Mom… tried to keep it all hush hush, most only knew the play my sister had been working on never saw the light of day.Moondancer doesn’t… really talk about it. She still apologizes every time she sees me. But I guess that’s why you had to come see me to ask, huh?”
Radiance nodded, her eyes lowered. “We… see. And… your mother?”
“She still hasn’t forgiven Moondancer,” Sundancer said with a soft sigh. “It was an accident. Moondancer had a bit of a temper on her, sure. But she’d never try to hurt me like that. She was just upset and angry. I was lucky, I didn’t even really get that hurt.”
“But you could have been,” Radiance said softly.
“I could have been, but I wasn’t,” Sundancer said. “And Moondancer has been suffering for it ever since. I’ve never seen her dance since. I can’t even remember the last time I ever saw her smile. Even when she was in Canterlot we’d only occasionally get a letter from her. Then the few times she came to visit, you know what mom did? What she would always do? Is bring it up. Ask if she knows any proper wing mending spells. Always in that obnoxious, infuriating tone of hers. As if it’s a joke. As if we don’t all know what she means by it,” Sundancer said, the bitterness filling her voice. She then gave a soft sigh and shook her head. “Sorry. Mom and I just have… issues.”
“I’ve noticed that,” Radiance said softly. “When have you last seen Moondancer?”
“Not in a long while,” Sundancer said. “Before all of this… stuff. Before Nightmare Moon.”
“You should visit her,” Radiance said gently. “It might… do her good. To see her big sister.”
Sundancer gave a light snort and shook her head. “Really? You really don’t have any siblings, huh?”
“Excuse me?” Radiance asked.
“Why would she want to see me?” Sundancer asked. “All I ever did was shove her aside as everypony watched and cheered me on for it. The most important moment in her life, the one thing that was supposed to be about her, and I still managed to make it all about me. All I’ve ever done is cause her pain. If you had a pony like that in your life would YOU want anything to do with them?”
Radiance was silent and stared at her drink for a few moments before shaking her head. “No. I… don’t… think I would want to.”
“Exactly,” Sundancer said.
“But… that wouldn’t… that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t need them in my life,” Radiance said softly.
“Please,” Sundancer said before rolling her eyes. “The last thing Moondancer needs is a terrible big sister.”
“Then maybe you should try to learn how to be a good big sister,” Radiance said. “Moondancer has already ended up in the hospital a few times since entering the care of Nightmare Moon. If you decide to keep allowing your… own doubts to control you, there may not be a Moondancer for you to be a big sister for before long.”
Sundancer went entirely still for a few moments, staring at her drink. “You know. I… never… really thought about that. Huh. Do you think a pony can change like that? Become the big sister a pony needs?”
“Perhaps,” Radiance said softly. “Though it could take a thousand years.”
Sundancer gave a light snort and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right, I don’t think it’d take that long. But maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s time I try. Any suggestions?”
“Burn your mother’s studio to the ground?” Radiance offered.
Sundancer gave a light snort. “Please, she insures it. Besides, that’d hardly help Moondancer any. Though I could always give her the matches. That might be therapeutic,” she said in a joking tone.
“Then we’re afraid there is little we can offer you in guidance,” Radiance said. “Thank you for answering our questions. We should be off.”
“Oh, right,” Sundancer said before sliding out from the booth so Radiance could leave. “Happy I could help. Err, Radiance? Thanks.”
“Huh?” Radiance asked.
“For looking out for Moondancer,” Sundancer said. “I’m happy she does have a few friends out there. Even a weird one. That whole ‘we’ and ‘our’ thing you keep slipping into? It’s cute. Some kind of Canterlot thing I imagine? But I’ll think on what you said. Maybe I can try to fix some of this. Be the sister I should have been. Think she’ll forgive me?”
“I find it unlikely,” Radiance said flatly.
“Oof,” Sundancer said with a light snicker. “I probably deserved that. Guess it’s a good thing you don’t have a big sister, huh? Siblings shouldn’t hold grudges.”
“Probably shouldn’t avoid each other then, either,” Radiance said.
“I am hiding from my problems, entirely different,” Sundancer said with a playful smile before giving a sad sigh and sliding back into the booth. “Maybe you’re right, though. Being the big sister she needs. Especially now, if she’s really stuck being around that tyrant all the time. Might do her some good to know somepony here still cares about her.”
Radiance didn’t answer, merely turning and trotting away.
She was going to burn that studio to the ground. Maybe hold Firedancer over it, see how she danced through the smoke and ash. Watch as all her hopes and--
No. No. Nightmare Moon buried those thoughts down. Vengeance of that sort, no matter how sweet it may taste, would do little good here. Well, it would do her plenty of good. But what of her student?
Endangering the mare’s mother would do little to help her. But she couldn’t suppress this growing anger inside her. This desire to hurt Firedancer for what she had done. To take vengeance on her for--
Very, very slowly a smile spread across her lips. Oh. ‘True Princess’ indeed. Perhaps it was time for Firedancer to meet the ruler of her kingdom. It would not be as appealing and delightful a vengeance as she would enjoy.
But there was something to be said for shaming a pony. As much as taking a lesson from Tirek annoyed her, she could at least take solace in knowing she would be using that lesson for vengeance. She then paused and glanced back towards Sundancer. “One last bit of warning,” Radiance said.
“Hm?” Sundancer asked. “What?”
“Nightmare Moon is intending to arrive here later today,” Radiance said. “A surprise visit to the home of her student.”
Sundancer managed to choke on her drink for a second time. Impressive, she likely had managed to get more on her face than in her mouth by now. “W-what?! How do you know--”
Radiance put a hoof over her mouth to silence her. “Calm yourself. She means no ill will. In fact, I hear she has only the kindest things to say to your mother. I would advise you to not be there, however.”
“W-what?” Sundancer asked. “She’s going to kill my mom!”
“Unlikely,” Radiance said. “Trust me. From what I’ve heard your mother has made her quite… satisfied.”
Sundancer just stared at her in confusion, but Radiance didn’t elaborate any further. Instead, she merely turned and left a second time.
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Interesting, so if I got this right, the mother was still butt hurt that too this day Moondancer would dare lash out in anger at her "perfect" older sister and she still hasn't forgiven her for it. Yeah, their mother is the real problem. Completely awful parenting and an awful person for not showing an ounce of support towards her daughter.
Whyyy! Not a cliffhanger! I must see this battle of will between Nightmare Moon and Moon Dancer's mother! This battle will be legendary!
11512172
Not at all. Discord is the bane of all clip shows. Also, politics. He definitely didn't help... much. But yes, Nightmare Moon DOES technically owe Moondancer a reward.
11512621
Mmm, close enough. And... yeah. Her mom's not... very... nice.
11512868
Don't worry, it's coming soon. Not going to be that brutal a fight, sadly. v.v
Well, that's much less than I had thought from the previous chapter. I honestly thought Moondancer had maimed or killed by accident.
This time :-). Ok, noodle incident.
Wow, mother of the year material...
Awww man. That's so sad. And to think, she and her sister were finally starting to understand each other before this happened. I'm interested to see what Nightmare Moon does. I'm glad she was able to see herself and Celestia in this story, but that she's grown enough that she can encourage Sundancer to be a better sister rather than only seeing her own pain. I'm also really happy to see that she SENT DIscord to help out Moondancer and her team. It's really cool seeing her character development shine through, even if she still doesn't know how to show it properly to everyone. =)
Ouch. Moondancer can’t catch a break. From Nightmare Moon and her own family.