Mare in the Mirror

by adcoon

18. Nightmare's Turn

The water rippled as Twilight watched the last flicker of her friends fade away. The watery mirror once again reflected only the garden surrounding her. She looked at the small pieces of glass glimmering around her neck like a band of jewels, then turned around at the garden where colors bloomed and darkness receded. She was alone again.

Alone, except for herself …

Trixie's young eyes peered out of the water at her. Twilight reached out a hoof to the water, and their hooves met at the shimmering boundary. Twilight smiled. “I found you at last.”

“I missed you so much,” Trixie said. “I thought I had seen you for the last time.”

Nothing more needed saying, their eyes revealing more than words could. The darkness had led them astray, brought them apart and caused rifts between them, but they had found together in the face of it all. All of them. Fluttershy and Pinkie, Rarity, Manna, Luna.

Twilight idly reached for the glittering necklace of glass now resting around her neck. Five pieces … was one still missing? But what was she meant to do? What could she do except wait here for them to return? And what if they never did?

She turned to look upwards at the dark, starless sky above. A sound somewhere made her turn her head. Her eyes drifted along the blooming gardens, the trees and bushes surrounding the little lake, to a darkness beyond where color had yet to reach.

“There are things out there … sometimes they make noises in the dark.” She had told Trixie that once. Sometimes she had gone to find them, but then she got lost until she found her way back here, where she started. Perhaps she had been afraid to go too far, to the places where it was truly dark.

“Maybe you need to go into the dark places where they hide,” Trixie completed her thought, looking up from the water. “You told me that once too. Seems like so long ago now.”

“What if I lose sight of myself?” Twilight asked with a sense of déjà-vu.

“You have me now,” Trixie said. “And your friends are with you too, even when they are far away. You won't be alone.”

Twilight reached up a hoof to touch the glass necklace. She stood up and turned towards the path leading out of the glade, the path that led into the darkness beyond. Somewhere out there lay her destiny, waiting for her to find it.

* * *

Philomena dove beneath the dark cloud cover, the last stretches of land coming to an end beneath her as the ocean stretched out to touch the horizon. Large floes of ice clashed in the waves along the shore below. Out there she could fly low without fear of being seen. No pony would sail in this weather, but a little wind had never kept her down.

Hunger was a different thing. A long journey lay ahead, and she had been on the wing long enough that the desire for food was setting in. She descended and scanned the lands and seas below. It was a sparsely populated area, so she could take that risk.

Her keen eyes caught something glittering in the water, a brief twisting of a silver body as it broke the surface. She turned in a steep dive before pulling up and gliding just above the water, claws closing around something in the freezing waves. She beat her wings and rose up with the large fish struggling in her grip. She settled down on a large rock with the silvery morsel. It would only take a moment, then she would be on her wings again. She couldn't spare much time, as she knew Celestia depended on her.

She was deep in the guts of the fish when a glittering caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. A different kind of glittering, not like a fish jumping out of the water. It didn't come from the sea but from the rocks and ice. She lifted her head and stared with intense, unblinking eyes at the light. There was a hint of something against the snow and ice, a brilliant blue and red, and a scent … a scent of blood. Philomena let go of the fish slowly, looking about uncertainly.

There was a pony down there on the cold rocks. A pony in need. She thought it looked familiar. But Celestia … Yes, something told her that Celestia would help this pony. And maybe it wasn't alone. She spread her wings and set off, leaving the remains of the fish behind on the lonely rock.

* * *

It was not long before she couldn't see the light of the glade in the distance behind her. The darkness was complete and seemed to close in around her, and yet it grew darker still with each step, in defiance of all reason. Where her vision left off her other senses took over.

The air felt cold and clinging, like a thick sheet sticking to her skin and crawling down her throat, leaving a moldy scent in its wake. Here and there something wrapped around her hooves as she felt her way ahead of her, and the blackness seemed alive with the scuttling of many-legged things, crawling through the depths on purposes all of their own. Twilight wished they wouldn't come near.

The unseen tunnels she thought she was following wound their way downwards into further depths of blackness and bleak lifeless terror. Something crushed under her hooves, an icky mess with a foul stench. She stopped, fighting against her instinct, struggling to not run screaming back. Her heart was climbing its way out her throat as she lifted her hoof and stepped forward again, scraping the icky stuff off on the ground and wondering if she dared create a light. Perhaps darkness was to be preferred to the light of truth.

A low sound crawled through the darkness like a drawn-out, despairing wail. The hairs along her spine stood on end as she stopped and listened. Something was down here with her. She wanted to run away, but something within her comforted her, assured her that she was not alone. And she would see it through. This time she would not turn or get lost, she would stick to her path wherever it led her. The wail came again, sending chills down her neck.

With slow breaths, trying to control her fear, she summoned a faint light. The rays pushed back against the choking darkness, illuminating the tunnel around her in dull tones of gray despite her greatest effort. Slick webs lined walls of moldy earth riddled with tiny tunnels, teeming with creeping life.

Twilight sank and edged her way down the tunnel, making herself small to not touch the walls and the clinging webs. A deathly cold breeze ran through the tunnel, carrying a deep moan upon its wings. It took on a distinctive voice, like a drowning cry.

“Help me,” it whispered.

Twilight hesitated before calling out with trembling voice. “Who are you?”

The voice went silent as if listening, then came back, weaker than before. “Anypony there? Please … please, you must help me!”

The tunnel widened as Twilight snuck closer to the source of the voice. She looked down as she passed a slick, glittering black orb stuck to the wall by webbing. Another followed, and a dozen, large clusters of black orbs. Twilight shivered as she looked up at a cave lined in what looked like eggs … eggs of some monstrous abomination from the deepest recesses of her nightmares. Her throat felt like sandpaper as she moved through the mess of webs and black orbs. “Where are you?” she called again in her most confident voice.

There was a long silence. Twilight's hooves dragged through the shadows, trying not to step on anything as she made her way further into the cave. There was a low noise of something moving in the dark, and the voice returned. “Above you,” it came down at her from somewhere above her head.

Twilight looked up, her light moving across the ceiling with its webs hanging low. A thick bundle of webs hung beneath the ceiling, clinging to the rock. A starry cobalt-blue tail dangled down from it, and a pair of cyan eyes peered out from within the webbing.

“Please help me,” Luna begged.

Twilight took a step back and looked over her shoulder nervously. “You can't be … I know I just … you were just …” Her mind scrambled for meaning.

Luna's eyes pleaded for her to stay. They looked genuinely terrified. “Please, Twilight … the spiders, when they hatch … they will all eat me alive. I don't know who you met or what trickery they told you, but you have to help me! I don't want to be here when the spiders hatch.”

Twilight took a step back towards Luna, glancing down at the eggs. As she did, the light from her horn reflected in one of the shards of mirror around her neck, the one Manna had given her. Twilight's eyes settled on the truth reflected by the piece. “I see what you really are,” she said as she looked up at the bundle carefully. “Nightmare Moon!”

The cyan irises narrowed in fright. Genuine fright. Could it really be true, or did she imagine it? Was it just a clever ruse, an act to gain her trust? “I beg you, Twilight, t-the mirror lies to you. I am Luna.”

Twilight considered. “Then you know what you said to me when I was alone and wanted to be your friend.” Twilight hazarded a guess that Nightmare Moon had been occupied with Trixie at the time. This one didn't seem to remember the incident, the way she begged.

“I …” There was hesitation, the eyes looked more and more catlike to Twilight as the realization that it wasn't going to work began to show through the mask. “I don't remember. It's still hazy. But … I am your friend, you must believe me. That's what friends do.”

“I am not your friend. And you don't even know what it means to be a friend,” Twilight countered coldly, expecting things to take a turn for the worse.

“I …” There was a hint of restrained anger in the voice, and of regret. “I should have know that wouldn't fool you, but don't blame me for trying. I had hoped this form would make you more … amenable. I …” The eyes looked down at her, begging her. “I don't suppose I can convince you to help me anyway? Please, Twilight, will you give me a chance?”

“Give you a chance?” Twilight scowled up at the form of Luna, but not Luna. “What, a chance to bring eternal night again? Besides, if you're Nightmare Moon, why would you need my help?”

The eyes closed. “She took everything, stole it all from me and left me in this form, left me to … to those.” Twilight guessed she meant the eggs. “Believe me, I have never begged before, but if I must do so now then that is what I shall do. I need your help, if you will but trust me just this once. I can help you against her. She's using the power she took from me against your friends you know. But you must trust me.”

Twilight hesitated. “If I do, you will leave Equestria forever and never come back. And you will never harm another pony. Those are my terms. Swear on it.”

Nightmare Moon frowned. “Harsh terms, but I'll take it. I, Nightmare Moon, swear that I shall leave once I have had my revenge on Midnight, and never return to Equestria, and never harm another pony, in return for your help and your trust now. There, so what of it? Will you trust me?”

“What do you want me to do? I am not sure how to get you down. I was never very good with ropes,” Twilight admitted a little sheepishly. It was true. It had always mystified her how ropes of all kinds continually defied her, but it was a fact.

Nightmare Moon scoffed. “What, the great and powerful Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's pet student, can't handle a bit of webs? Well, then bite me!”

“You're not helping your case,” Twilight scowled at her. “You're the one asking for favors here.”

“I meant you could bite the web, you foal!” It was clear that Nightmare Moon's capacity for diplomacy was wearing thin, but she made a valiant effort.

“I'm not sure I can get up there,” Twilight countered.

The eyes rolled around once. “Forget it. Just listen, I need you to lend me your magic.”

Twilight backed away. “What?”

“I told you to trust me,” Nightmare Moon said. “You will have it back, I promise, but I can't very well do anything to help either of us without any magic now can I? You will not regret it, I said I would help you.”

“I …” Twilight's body shook nervously as she hesitated. “I think I will regret it, for the rest of my days! But …” The necklace of mirrors around her neck glittered like little stars, and with a sigh she closed her eyes in concentration. Her horn flared in the dark, casting back the darkness for a brief while. “I-I will try …”

Somewhere in the mess of webs Nightmare Moon smiled.

* * *

Luna stared at Trixie's outstretched hoof. Around her the gathering of Canterlot ponies were standing with bated breaths, as if in a trance, awaiting what would happen. Celestia lay behind Trixie with a blank stare in her eyes. Luna sank a little at the sight. Behind Luna her friends were looking on in uncertainty. She could hear Scootaloo sobbing quietly in Fluttershy's hooves and begging her, “please don't.” Trixie just smiled at them all.

Luna looked back at them, at the young pegasus. Somepony had hurt her too, Luna didn't need to guess who. She looked back at Trixie. “You don't know me if you think you can tempt me. I will never surrender to you, or let you harm another pony.”

“I'm sorry to hear that,” Trixie said. “Because it wasn't really a choice, but I do like to ask.”

Luna struggled against a sudden impulse to kneel down. Trixie stepped past her, her flowing white mane brushing against Luna’s side. Luna's legs buckled beneath her as, slowly, she broke and lay down.

“I share your sister's blood. If this body dies, she dies with it. You will lose them both. It is a powerful bond, the bond of blood, and you gave me yours once. Perhaps I should return the favor.” Luna could hear her friends kneel down like herself behind her as Trixie wandered among them. “Perhaps I should give all of you the gift of a shared fate, my fate. I die, you all die.”

The hooves stopped. Luna's ears were perked in the hope of figuring out where Trixie was and what she was doing as she struggled hopelessly against the bond, her every muscle betraying her.

“Should I start with you?” Trixie asked, and Luna heard Rarity giving a low gasp. “You look like you don't have long again. I could offer you your youth back. Just one drop of blood … how does that sound to you?”

Luna could almost hear Trixie smirk in smug satisfaction. She was playing with them now. She had them wrapped around her hooves, and there was nothing they could do. “Leave …” Luna closed her eyes, her soul hurting to break the hold on her. “Leave … my friends … alone!”

It was hopeless.

There was a brief silence, then Trixie's head appeared within Luna's sight. Her one eye was gleaming like gold. Luna stared into the molten void. “Oh?” Trixie smiled. “How about this one then?” A silently crying Fluttershy levitated over Luna's head, dangling by her wings like a puppet. “I could give her the leg back. As good as new.”

The golden light in Trixie's eyes flared as they narrowed and took on a look of mild distraction. Trixie turned her head towards the sky behind Luna. The light grew like a tiny lick of flame catching a pile of old, dry tinder. For a moment Luna thought the sun was rising behind her, but it couldn't be. Celestia hadn't moved.

Trixie took a calculated step back as a roaring of wings soared past her. Luna glanced up at the flames blazed against the night sky as they turned and came back. A rainbow trail flowed behind a tortured pony dangling in strong claws beneath the flames.

“Take your bloody hooves off my friends!” Rainbow Dash cried as the claws released her midair, sending her flying on one wing on collision course with Trixie.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo's feeble voice cried out somewhere behind Luna, equal measures of joy and terror in the young pony's words.

Trixie spread her wings and made an elegant evasion as Rainbow Dash flew past her with Philomena passing above in a torrent of flames. Rainbow Dash stumbled across the platform but managed to stay on her trembling hooves as she spun around.

Trixie laughed as she faced Rainbow Dash. “Well well well, the old Rainbow Dash returns. And you found my missing bird. I have been looking all over for you two. Come crawling back have you? Come back to beg for mercy, or just to die?”

Luna's eyes followed as Philomena turned and descended again, passing low over the panicked ponies watching below. The great bird's course was set directly for Luna. She passed over Luna's head in a majestic swoop and made a sudden turn for Trixie who spun out of the way a split second before impact.

Trixie didn't see what Luna saw. As the bird passed above Luna’s head something dropped with a heavy sound in front of her. Luna stared down at a small frame of wood, the glass cracked in several places, but the flames of the phoenix behind her and the stars above her still reflected in its dirty surface. Trixie's old hoof-held mirror, that she had bought in Hoofswell and which had caused a rift between them. Now Luna stared into its depths.

“Little Luna …” And something stared right back. “I have missed you.”

* * *

Nightmare Moon looked from her one outstretched wing to the other, to her hooves and her mane, the glittering necklace of shattered mirror around her neck. “I am free.” Her eyes brightened, and she threw her head back in a deep laughter. “I am free!”

It was not an evil laughter as much as one of simple, profuse joy at being able to do so. Still, it got Twilight to take several steps back and consider how great a mistake she had just made, if it was too late to regret and beg to have it back.

Nightmare Moon turned to her suddenly. “Which way did you come from?” There was an urgency in the question.

Twilight pointed a hoof silently at the tunnel behind her and stumbled as Nightmare Moon swept her up and soared towards the exit. The cave narrowed into a tunnel until it became too narrow to fly. As her wings began to scrape against the walls Nightmare Moon landed and strode briskly on, a grim purpose in her step.

Twilight tried to keep up behind her. She might as well have been blind in this darkness, but Nightmare Moon seemed undeterred. After a while the sound of her hoof steps became less certain. “Are you sure this is the way you came from?”

Twilight looked around. All she could see were a few dots of light in Nightmare Moon’s mane and tail, and their light was soon drowned in the ocean of blackness. “I think so. Why?”

“Because we're definitely going down, not up. In fact …” Twilight nearly bumped into her as she turned and walked back. Twilight turned and followed, wondering if she should ask for some light. After a while Nightmare Moon spoke again. “In fact, it seems we're still going down. This tunnel goes down,” she said with a curious suggestion of amusement, “whichever way you look at it.”

“But … how is that possible?” Twilight wondered aloud.

“The experiences of your spirit are not too different from a dream. Things don't have to make a lick of sense,” Nightmare Moon explained conversationally. “Sometimes you control them, sometimes they control you. Right now we're going down, best to just enjoy the ride because there's usually a reason.”

Twilight turned that over in her mind as she walked. “I … don't suppose you could give a little light?”

There was a brief silence, then a flash of pale light. Twilight blinked at the sudden brightness, even though it wasn't really very bright in this darkness. “Right, I forgot about your worthless little pony eyes. Better?”
Twilight nodded as her eyes got used to the new illumination.

“Good.” Nightmare Moon turned back, then stopped. Before them the tunnel opened into another cave like an ancient hall full of shattered mirrors. The light from Nightmare Moon's horn glittered like a rainbow in the pieces scattered across the floor.

Twilight stared in wonder as she followed Nightmare Moon into the room. There was a change in the black mare's steps as she walked across the ruins of the mirrors. A thoughtful hesitation and uncertainty. An inner light shone from the shards of glass around her neck, growing in intensity and spreading out to the rest of the pieces.

Nightmare Moon turned around with a questioning look as all the pieces began to shiver and rise off of the ground, dancing in the air like a rainbow-veil of glass.

A vision formed in the glass. Of mountains passing by under a darkened sky, a beating of flame-wreathed wings, and the silhouette of Canterlot rising on the horizon. “Ah …” Nightmare Moon breathed deeply as the castle courtyard rose up towards them. “At last!”

* * *

Nightmare Moon's eyes sparkled in the mirror in front of Luna, a halo of light surrounding her as she broke out laughing.

Trixie slammed Rainbow Dash down against the ground and rose above her torn and broken form. “Say your farewells, Rainbow Dash. This is the end for you!”

Rainbow Dash coughed and opened her mouth, her face set in anger. Yet, for a moment, it seemed instead as if she was laughing. A deep, exuberant laugh.

Trixie blinked and looked up as a great light filled the castle courtyard. “What in blazes now?” she hissed as she turned around.

In the radiant light pouring out of a small hoof-held mirror it seemed as if six brilliant stars had left the celestial dome and descended to earth, dancing around Luna and her four friends. The princess of the night rose back on her hooves, her laughter cast back in waves by the castle walls and mountains. She turned to Trixie. She looked taller and darker as she stood up, tears of laughter sparkling in the corners of her eyes, darker perhaps in contrast to the pure white light bathing her form. A star settled around her neck, another on her head, like a glittering crown and necklace.

A star settled around the other four friends as they too rose, necklaces of light illuminating their forms and breaking the invisible threads holding them. They looked at each other and at Luna in stunned silence.

“Oh heavens!” Luna took a deep breath, steadying herself as catlike eyes settled on Trixie's looming shade. “You won't believe what this feels like!”

“Oh?” Trixie said, stepping off Rainbow Dash's beaten and bloody shape. “And what is this, then?”

“You said it yourself,” Luna said, as the others gathered behind her. “This is the end.”

Trixie smiled. “So soon now? You think it will be easy?” she said and slipped towards Celestia's kneeling form. The guard holding the other end of the leash had long since run off, but the princess remained prostrate on the ground. “And I still have your sister, lest you forget.”

A chuckle from Luna elicited a twitching of Trixie's eye. Luna's catlike eyes regarded Trixie as they came closer, one step at a time. “If you truly thought that Luna wouldn't kill her sister with her own damn hooves to free her from your claws? Then you're wrong, Midnight. Very wrong.” Their eyes were inches apart. “And if you ever thought I would give a flying feather about Celestia, or Trixie … then you're a blundering foal! You can't toy with me, not this time. Go ahead, kill somepony. Kill Celestia for all I care. See if I flinch or lift a hoof to stop you.”

The smile vanished from Trixie's face, her eye darkening in recognition. “You! How … how is that even possible? I left you with nothing! You shouldn't even exist!”

“Isn't it funny that way?” Luna said coldly. “I got a little help …” There was a brief hint of silence as Luna tasted the words forming on her lips. “A little help from friends, as it were,” she said with strange pride. She took a step forward, forcing Trixie back a step in return. “You left me behind, Midnight. Never leave anypony behind, they may come back to haunt you. They may come to take back what is theirs!” Her eyes shone, and her horn flared suddenly.

Trixie reacted in the blink of an eye, vanishing in a flash of lightning, the rolling of thunder shaking the walls and stone columns of the courtyard. As if a spell was broken a sudden panic broke out among the ponies gathered there, and as one they turned to run, stumbling and trampling over and around each other to get out.

Philomena dragged an unconscious Rainbow Dash off to the cover of the gardens while Spike led Scootaloo away in close pursuit.

Trixie hovered over the masses, dark thunder clouds gathering in the sky above her. Her voice seethed. “I will not be defeated! I reign here!”

Luna turned as another flash of lightning struck at her friends. It shattered in a rain of sparks as it met a wall of light expanding out like a wave. Luna spread her wings and set off, her form dissolving into an incandescent cloud of stars. It swept around her friends and lifted them up like flames ascending to the sky. Above them Trixie rose like a great shadow, a nightmarish wraith poised to swallow the castle.

Terror and panic broke out in full fervor below as light and darkness collided in a brief but violent clash. A ghostly aurora of flames rolled across the sky to the tune of a long, soul freezing shriek. Everywhere terrified ponies threw themselves on the ground with their hooves over their heads, or trampled feverishly through the gates as if struck by insanity. The shriek turned to a cry, a shrill note of despair as the light faded and flames died. Then the cry fell to silence as the sky broke, heavy tears of rain falling upon the bloodied, trampled field of ponies.

A shadow crept across the courtyard towards a small, broken shape by the platform. Trixie looked up as the darkness took shape in front of her, and a black hoof pressed her face down against the stone.

Nightmare Moon lowered her head to the level of Trixie's, looking her in the eye. “You should have stuck with what you knew, Midnight. Ruling with an iron hoof never was your business. I hope you had fun while it lasted, because this is the first and last time you ever steal from me!”

Her horn shone with a dark and ancient light as she rose back up.

“You …” Trixie coughed. “You may not care … but what will your friends say if … Celestia dies?”

Nightmare Moon tilted her head in silence as dim lights surrounded them, expanding into four luminescent shapes. Nightmare Moon looked back at them, then towards the place where Celestia lay, drops of rain trickling down the princess’ ashen face. Celestia’s eyes were closed, the look of eternal sleep upon her face.

“If that is what you call life, then I imagine death would serve her better,” Nightmare Moon said and looked back down at Trixie, an unreadable look in her eyes. “But you think I plan to kill you? Not quite. A promise was made between two ponies close to me, and I feel it only proper that I should be the one to fulfill that promise now and return things to their proper places.”

Something small drifted through the rain and landed next to Trixie. Nightmare Moon lifted her hoof from Trixie's face and took a step back. “Look in the mirror.”

Trixie looked at the small wooden frame, then around at the five ponies looming above her.

“I said, look in the mirror,” Nightmare Moon's voice commanded.

Five pairs of eyes watched Trixie as she dragged herself up to the mirror. “You will pay for this,” she hissed, her eye meeting theirs with a promise of torment before her head forced itself over the small mirror. Trixie tried to close her eye, but her body no longer responded to her will.

A pair of violet eyes met her in the glass, a crown of light on their shared head. Trixie's face twisted in a silent scream of despair, and her body writhed in agony as the light flooded her soul. There was a flash, and the mirror shattered in a cloud of sparkling dust.

Trixie collapsed as a deep silence fell upon the palace.

For a time they stood in silence as the rain fell around them. Slowly, as if walking out of a trance, Nightmare Moon took a step forwards. She looked at Trixie, then knelt down next to her and the shattered mirror. “You told me to leave … so here I shall leave you.” Her face and posture tried to hide the emotion betrayed by her voice. She wanted to say more, but finally she just looked down as a light engulfed her. “Thank you.”

As the light faded away Luna looked up at the stars, tears washed away by the cold rain.

* * *

The soft golden rays of dawn reflected in the snow-covered mountains and forests, washing away the darkness and the night. Luna looked out over the lands from her balcony as she let go of the magic, setting the sun on its normal course.

A new day beckoned, but no rest was on the horizon. Below her the lands lay ravaged by the cold, and all the sick and the dead, the starving and the lost awaited. Light had returned, and eventually warmth and life would follow, but the scars might never fully heal.

She closed her eyes and breathed in the cool morning air before turning slowly to face the day.

* * *

The sun broke through the window of the royal hospital, casting its warm light upon Rainbow Dash in the lone bed of the small room. Scootaloo blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked up blearily as Luna stepped inside. The princess seemed taller, looking more like her sister in the way she walked than Scootaloo could remember. Scootaloo thought she looked older too, and tired. “Have … have you heard any more? Are there any news?” she asked nervously.

The princess looked down at Rainbow Dash silently without answering. Scootaloo looked at the princess, but her eyes were silent too. “How are you feeling?” Luna broke the silence after a while. It was not the first time the princess had asked, and not the first time Scootaloo didn't answer. Luna looked at her. “You know you can tell me anything, any time, if you ever need it. We all need to talk about things that happened to us, and to our friends, sometimes.”

Scootaloo nodded, just to end the conversation. She didn't want to talk, not about herself. Not with Luna. “H-how is Celestia? Do you think I can see her soon?”

A hint of sorrow crossed Luna's face. “As soon as she wakes up and feels a little better, I promise.” Rainbow Dash stirred a little. Luna smiled at Scootaloo. “Perhaps you should go ask the nurse for something to eat while I talk to Rainbow Dash. Alright?” Scootaloo got up and trotted off. Luna watched the door close behind the filly.

“Bad news, huh?” Rainbow Dash's voice was hoarse. She had been treated well at the royal hospital, but full recovery would take time.

Luna levitated a glass of fresh water from a nearby table and set it down by her side. “Your family made it out of Cloudsdale, and we're doing our best to find them all. Reports are good.”

Rainbow Dash looked towards the door where Scootaloo had left. “And …?” She fell silent as she looked at the princess, the answer clear in her eyes. Rainbow Dash's heart sank, and her voice broke. “It's just not fair!” She threw one of her pillows at the wall in frustration.

Luna looked down with sadness. “I thought it best she heard it from you. I know you will look after her, and we'll always be here for her, for both of you. I … fear for her. We hope Midnight is gone this time, and Trixie appears to be back in her own body. Both she and Celestia are recovering, thank the heavens. But we don't yet know what Midnight did to them, or Scootaloo. She won't talk to me.”

“Do you … do you think Midnight could return?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously. “Do you think she would try to hurt Scootaloo again?”

Luna looked out the window at the sun shining in at them. “I am more worried about the scars she left.” She straightened up. “But I know Scootaloo can trust you, and that I can trust you completely. There was one more thing I wanted to ask of you, an offer, if you will.”

Rainbow Dash watched her as she stood up. “As you know, with Celestia sick as she is, I am officially in charge for now, and I have much on my hooves. Thankfully the royal guard has been quick to mobilize, but unfortunately they currently lack a commanding officer, and I am stretched thin as it is.”

She paused to assume a formal tone. “As commander-in-chief, I would like to offer you the title of Commander of the Royal Equestrian Army after the late Commander Blue Jet. Understand that this is an offer, and that you may freely decline.”

Rainbow Dash took herself in staring. “Oh my gosh!” She quickly tried to regain her composure.

“I understand if you need some time to think it over. And I also understand if you choose to decline my offer.” Luna smiled. “I could put in a good word for you with the Wonderbolts, instead. I do say I think they should be falling over their own hooves to recruit somepony like you.”

“No, no,” Rainbow Dash finally managed. “I-I would be honored to accept, and to serve Equestria with my life if need be. I have always been loyal to Equestria!”

Luna brightened, “And I am honored to have you. We shall have a proper ceremony once you are fully recovered, and may your service be long and marked by glory.”

Rainbow Dash bowed her head.

* * *

Manna looked up as she heard the hooves come to a halt behind her, the gentle sound of elegant metal shoes against the marble floor unmistakable as those of Luna and not of her less refined guard. Manna tensed a little. She knew the time was coming, that one day she would have to be judged for all that she had done.

But one day it would be over.

“I have talked with the others,” Luna said softly as she sat down next to her. Manna turned her head in her direction, to where she thought Luna's face was. In reality she was staring at a column. She thought Luna sounded like she was smiling softly.

“And,” the princess continued, “we all agree that whatever you did was under the influence of Midnight and not your own doing. After getting to know you we do not believe you did any of it of your own free will. We also decided that no pony needs to know what you did, as your friends and only witnesses we will simply … leave that part out if you wish.”

Manna looked back down. “You are far too kind, but I don't deserve such mercy from you. I have never tried to hide what I did. I did it. I am not proud of it, but I can not lie about what happened. I killed all those ponies and almost had you and your friends killed too. I could have ruined all our hope of stopping Midnight before it even began. I do not deserve mercy of any kind. I deserve death for what I did, and I shall welcome it.”

They sat in silence for a while, Luna looking up at the figures in the stained glass windows. There was Twilight and her friends, twice saviors of Equestria, battling Nightmare Moon and Discord. Luna knew she would have to make a new set one day, to commemorate the events of the past few weeks.

She looked back down. “I was in the archive. I know what happened to you. I know what Midnight did to you when you were young. I … know about your daughter. Twilight's great-grandmother.”

Manna was crying. Luna rubbed her back gently. “She lived a good life in a good family. There is no sign she was haunted by Midnight. What I wanted to say is … on behalf of myself and Equestria, I am sorry. We punished you unfairly back then. We took your child and locked you up for a lifetime for crimes that weren't yours. I can not punish you any more, Manna. I feel it is my duty instead to make it up to you. I would rather give you the life we took back than end it.”

“I …” Manna said slowly. “I want an end, Luna. I want peace at last. If you won't do it for my crimes, please do it as my friend. Let it end.” She could imagine Luna looking at her, and Manna turned pleadingly at where she imagined the princess to be. “I don't know all of what Midnight did, but I haven't lived since I was Twilight's age. I haven't slept for one straight hour. I haven't seen my own face, always it was her. And I haven't aged in sixty years … not on the outside. You may not see it, but I feel so very, very old on the inside.”

Luna placed a hoof around her shoulders. “You have friends now, Manna. You have freedom and a life out from under Midnight's influence. You could experience all that you never had before, all that Midnight took from you.”

“I just can't go on, Luna. I can not face another year. I have lived past my time. It may be a drop of time to you, princess, but to any other pony it is far too much to bear. I swore all those years ago to rid my family of Midnight's shadow and my own folly. I have done all that is in my power. I have kept my promise as best as I ever could. It is time I moved on. I am ready to move on.”

Luna was silent for a long time. Manna reached out a hoof and continued, “If I can have one wish it shall be death. An end at last, Luna. I can face that knowing that for a short time at the end I had friends, true friends.”

Luna reached out to take her hoof, squeezing it softly. “If this is truly what you wish …” She looked at Manna for confirmation. “Please spend your last time with your friends, talk with them about it, and if we can not change your mind, if it is truly what you want, then when you are ready, once things are back in order here, I will instruct the royal physician on what to do.”

Manna smiled and reached out to hug Luna, tears trickling from the holes where her eyes once were. Luna hugged her back tearfully. No more words were spoken.

* * *

The sound of sawing and hammering could be heard over the pouring rain as Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo made their way up the path towards the farm. “Sounds like they're busy,” Rainbow Dash said, trying to lighten the mood with a bit of conversation.

Scootaloo trudged along beside her but said nothing. Rainbow Dash watched her for a time before turning back to the farm up ahead. Ponies were milling around in the rain, carrying planks and tools for the restoration. It was a lot of work from the looks of it, but the Apple family had always been hard workers and not ones to give up so easily.

One of the ponies overseeing the work looked up as they walked through the gate. Applejack's hay-colored mane hung wet around her face, but a little brightness returned to her eyes as she saw them. “Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo! Y'all don't know how glad I am to see you back here.” Applejack wrapped a pair of muddy hooves around Rainbow Dash's neck in a tight hug. “I hear y'all are moving back in around here. I feared it would be Canterlot for you, what with your promotion and all.”

Rainbow Dash returned the hug. “Ponyville is our home, always was and always will be. It's where all our friends are. Besides, I can make it to Canterlot like that!” she said with a snap of her tail and a little of her old pride. “It won't be a problem.”

Applejack nodded and let go of her. “It's good to see y'all again,” she said before she was interrupted by running hooves.

“Scootaloo!”

Scootaloo looked up as Apple Bloom came running from across the field, drained and muddy with bits of paint all over her coat. The young earth pony came to a halt and tackled Scootaloo in a big hug. “You're back!”

Scootaloo stood a little uncertainly for a moment before returning the hug. “Hey, Apple Bloom.” She paused and released herself from the grip. “Whoa!” she said as she trotted half a turn around her friend to inspect her flank. “You got you cutie mark!”

Apple Bloom beamed as she showed off the mark of a wooden apple painted red, with a pencil and a small white flower. “Oh yeah! I discovered it while helping out on the farm. You wanna see my work?” she asked proudly.

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash who grinned as if to say “go on, pipsqueak”, then nodded enthusiastically and set off after Apple Bloom.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash watched them run off, and Applejack gave an approving nod. “It's good to have both of them here again. Apple Bloom was getting moody, even with the cutie mark.” She turned and trotted slowly away from the working ponies and the noise.

Rainbow Dash followed. “How are things around here?”

“Pinkie and Fluttershy moved in together. Would you believe they got married? I never would’ve thought.” She gave an uprooted apple tree a sad glance as they made their way through the once blooming orchards. “Things are slowly getting back to normal. As normal as they can get. We're working hard, but some scars will never leave, will they?” She stopped in front of a small sapling tree. A plain but solid stone had been raised next to it.

Rainbow Dash nudged Applejack softly and rubbed against her a little. “I'm so sorry.”

Applejack gave a low sigh, steadily holding herself from crying. “We've all lost somepony special and dear to us, and he won't be the last we have to mourn. He gave his life for us, to protect his family. We remember him and move on, and we will grow strong again, as he would have wanted. My poor brother.”

They stood in silence as the rain fell in heavy drops. Finally Applejack looked up at the setting sun and brushed away her soaked mane. “Looks like it's time … I got you a dress back at the farm, your old one from the gala. I think she would appreciate that.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, and together they turned back towards the farm.

* * *

Rarity opened the door and smiled out at them. “Oh darlings, you're here. Do come in before you ruin your fabulous dresses,” she said, her voice tired but her face shining despite the new weight of age. The Carousel Boutique had been under the capable hooves of Pinkie Pie who had clearly poured her heart and soul into it.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack hurried inside and gave Rarity a hug.

Pinkie and Spike, as well as Manna were there. The dragon looked many years older from his stature and expression alone, a grown dragon in a young dragon's body. Pinkie was bravely trying to keep him from crying, but in truth looked only marginally more cheerful than he.

Rarity smiled. “We're still waiting for Fluttershy, she should be here any moment,” she said, and as if on cue there came a shy knock on the door. “Ah, but there she is. Excuse me a moment,” she said and turned to welcome the last guest.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash shook off a little of the rain and went to greet the other three.

Rarity opened the door and let out a gasp. Behind Fluttershy stood Luna, smiling warmly at her, a gentle hoof around Trixie to steady her. Rarity bowed slowly. “Luna … and Trixie! I didn't think you would make it! What with Trixie sick, and all your tireless work.”

Luna just smiled as she and Trixie followed Fluttershy inside. “We wouldn't miss it for the world, my friend.”

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Fluttershy were dressed in their old gala dresses that Rarity had once generously spent all her time making for them. Manna had been given Twilight's old dress; it fit her as well as it ever did Twilight. They had once looked so happy in them, now it was a bittersweet mood as Rarity clinked a small glass to get their attention.

“You know what I am about to say. But … I wanted to say it, and I wanted it to be under happy circumstances.” She paused and looked around at them, at all her friends both old and new. She had come to appreciate them all more than ever, even Manna, perhaps because the broken unicorn's eyes, even missing as they were, made her look many times older than herself.

Rarity blinked away a tear and took a long breath. “I do not have long to live, my friends. I feel it in my bones. I want you to know that my end is drawing near, and I want to ask you for one last party before I go. Don't cry, not tonight. Tonight I just want to be with you, my best friends, and remember the times we spent together.”

Rarity smiled as she looked at her friends. Outside the sun turned red before giving way to the night.

* * *

Luna kissed Trixie and nudged her cheek before turning to approach the podium between the two open caskets decorated with flowers. She looked out over the small assembly of ponies, mostly friends and families. Behind her stood Trixie and Celestia in mournful silence.

“As my beloved sister has been advised not to speak in her illness it falls upon me to say a few words on this occasion,” she began. “As another year comes to a close and brings with it a new century, we are here to remember those upon whom the sun’s warmth no longer shines. None more so than the two ponies on my sides, without whom we would have many more to mourn.”

“Many died, and many more are still lost and unaccounted for, but many also survived against all odds. Many more, in fact, than even our most optimistic outlook would have us expect.”

She reached out a hoof towards one of the caskets, a white, purple-maned unicorn lying gracefully upon silken pillows. “Rarity gave of her life so that others might live, and because of her tremendous sacrifice many who were dying can now greet the dawn of a new day and a new century with their families and friends. Her generosity and selflessness is an inspiration to us all when we remember that whatever happens, there are always ponies who are willing to help us and stand up for us.”

“Some have lost much. Some have lost everything they knew. If you find yourself lonely, know that there are always friends waiting for you out there. You may never have heard of Manna—” She reached out for the purple unicorn resting in the other casket. “She lived her life in solitude and pain, but even she found friends in the end, showing us that hope springs eternal. Without her friendship and honest heart the sun may never have risen upon our fair lands again.”

“Let us never forget the tribulations and sacrifices of those who are no more. As we say goodbye one final time, let us remember them and thank them, our friends and our families.” Luna's horn glowed softly as she closed the lids on the two caskets. “Thank you. Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts. May your memories live on forever.”

Comments

[Relevant Heavy Metal]

The Mirror - Dream Theater

Also, I have Michael Jackson stuck in my head now.

[kingtiger666]

This story. And all variations thereof.

I was expecting a Lovecraftian story, a continuation of the wonderfully horrific Fillystata. Instead, I got this. It's a proper adventure, with laughter, tears, and the magic of friendship. I've been sitting here reading it since about 12 this afternoon. It's currently 5:30.

I don't often sit down and read something in it's entirety. Wikipedia defines a novel as being 40,000 words or more. It's amazing, you know. Bronies writing novel-length fanfiction. You just made me read an entire novel in one sitting. I haven't done that since I first read The Martian Chronicles. I sat on my bed, CKY's Infiltrate-Destroy-Rebuild in my DVD player. Fun fact about that: the menu plays the first 30 seconds of Escape From Hellview on a loop. But I digress.

When I started reading this, I put on Ghosts I-IV by the Nine Inch Nails. I got through that, Beethoven's Violin Concerto, The Best of Paganini, and two Queensryche albums reading this. Have you ever noticed that when you finish a long story, it's just as the last song on the album is winding down? Again, I digress.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is, HOLY SHIT THIS STORY IS AWESOME.

Also, how is it that people can tell such amazing tales with ponies? And how come so few of them ever get into mainstream literature? A lot of fanfiction is certainly of publishable quality, the only problem being the fact that My Little Pony is copyrighted. And with just a little reworking, a lot of it could be turned into successful novels. This could very well be one of them.

And, I feel the urge to say it again, HOLY SHIT THIS STORY IS AWESOME.

That's right, it's too awesome for an exclamation mark.

[adcoon]

983793

Thanks! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the story so much. I would love to one day try my hoof at writing something for publication, but for now I'm just having fun and learning with the fanfics

[k64speed]

I believe that this may be the single-most well-written piece of fanfiction I have ever read. There were plot-twists, both expected and not, along with amazing characterization, palpable drama, marvelous detail descriptions, and captivation enough to keep the reader engrossed from the first moment to the last! To top it all off, the story was a wonderfully done 80,000+ words long! Simple words do this story no justice. If there was ever a piece of literature that would cause me to beg, plead, and grovel for a sequel to, it would be this one.

(As for my reactions)

-The ending was so sad, I cried.
-Rarity truly was the Element of Generosity, even down to her very life...
-I don't believe that Big Macintosh could have found a better way to go...
-Angel's survival was an amazing relief--I don't think Fluttershy could have gone on after everything that happened AND losing Angel!

And there are so many questions left unanswered!
-Is Midnight truly gone this time, or just trapped in the mirror world once more?
-What of the Twilight filly? Now that Nightmare Moon has left, and Twilight should have her magic back, what will she do?
-Where (if I may ask) has Nightmare Moon gone?

You, sir, have far more than honored "Fillystata" with this continuance, yet the caress of curiosity from loose ends is so maddeningly tantalizing!

(Also, I listened to Twilight Sparkles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXeu8v5j8Nc&list=FLZNgKAN0IPFsz752Y9hV6KA) for the entirety of this novel, as well as its predecessor.)

[adcoon]

1992980

Wow, thanks

There likely isn't going to be a sequel, but I am working on a prequel to Fillystata which will follow Sweetie Belle and her friends before the events of Fillystata. It will give a look into Midnight's past as well. It's early stages, though, so I can't really say when it'll be done

[NightmareTRXY32]

1992980 in the off chance you read this, i myself felt moved enough by this, to make my own sequel to it. I got the idea rereading it, and listening to Disturbed's cover of Sound of Silence at the same time . O_O