A Disparate Bond

by the7Saviors

A Ponytale Made Real

Moonlight was the very picture of serenity—even more so than Elder Dusk. She stood before the fillies and the Council, her stoic gaze shifting from filly to filly one last time before she fully turned to face the old thestrals that made up the Council.

"I am ready to begin at any time, my Elders," Moonlight said, bowing her head low, "you need only say so and I shall start immediately."

"Very good, Moonlight," Fallen Snow replied with a curt nod, "now, if you would—"

Wait, wait, hang on a minute!" Starlight cried causing most of the Elders to glare at her. She paid them no mind, her eyes remaining on the blind white thestral with a look of trepidation, "can you at least tell us what she's going to do?"

"That's not for you outsiders to worry about!" Sanguine Oak snapped, "you need only to stand there and face your judgement! Quietly!"

"Oh come now, Elder Sanguine Oak," Jade Rose purred, "I don't see the harm in letting them know of Moonlight's... talents. They might even get a kick out of it, I know I do."

"Elder Jade Rose," Dying Flame warned, giving the cheeky thestral a hard stare, "Moonlight's task and talents are both important and a sacred blessing bestowed upon her and the rest of us. They are not to be treated as some sort of circus act."

"Of course, Elder Dying Flame," Jade replied with a slight nod and a clearly insincere smile, "all the same, the poor fillies are most likely due a harsh punishment as it is, surely the least we can do is tell them a bit of Moonlight's sacred talents?"

Dying Flame eyed the mare warily for several more seconds before shaking his head and giving a quiet, but exasperated sigh.

"I suppose it would not hurt," he turned to Fallen Snow, "Elder Fallen Snow? What say you?"

"...Very well then," Fallen Snow said after a moment of silent deliberation. She gave an affirmative nod to Dying Flame before turning to the white thestral mare next to the fillies, "Moonlight, you are free to explain your hallowed task and abilities to the accused. Please do so."

"As you wish, Elder Fallen Snow," came Moonlight's breathy reply. She bowed once more and turned back to the two wary fillies, "Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, are either of you aware of the tale of the Mare in the Moon?"

"Never heard of it," Starlight replied sourly, wondering where the strange mare was going with the question, "sounds like a dumb ponytale."

"Insolent foal!" Sanguine Oak growled, rising to his hooves with surprising swiftness, "it is no mere ponytale, I assure you! To speak ill of our Glorious Moon is a blasphemy I will not allow!"

"For the love of the Moon, Sanguine!" Fallen Snow hissed, at her wit's end, "sit back down and be silent. They are mere foals who know nothing of our ways. They are ignorant, and you can not hold them to our standards, at least not now."

"Elder Fallen Snow," Sanguine Oak pressed, jabbing an angry hoof in the fillies' general direction, "this entire trial has been a farce from the very beginning! We know they are guilty, and I must insist that justice be—"

"That is enough, Elder Sanguine Oak," Fallen Snow snapped. Both thestral's held each other's fiery gazes for a long tense moment before Sanguine grunted in dissatisfaction and slowly sat back down. He said nothing more, but from the look on his face, it was clear he had a great deal more to say on the matter. Fallen Snow nodded in satisfaction before turning back to Moonlight, "please, Moonlight, continue."

"Wait," Dying Flame interjected, eyeing Moonlight with a half curious, half impatient look, "is there a point to telling the fillies this tale? It seems somewhat irrelevant to the topic at hoof."

"Oh, there is a reason, Elder Dying Flame," Moonlight replied in her soft tone. A small, knowing smile crossed her face, "all shall be revealed soon enough," she ignored Dying Flames skeptical look and turned back to the fillies, "well, Twilight Sparkle, what about you? Have you heard this tale?"

"Y-Yeah, I've actually read the story of the Mare in the Moon," came Twilight's reluctant reply, unable to resist the chance to flaunt her knowledge, even in her extreme unease. She stepped forward, ears folded back and voice weak, but clearly audible, "I found it in a book of old ponytales in the Canterlot Public Library."

She looked around the room and noticed all eyes were on her. Clearing her throat, she began to speak, desperately trying to ignore the stares.

"F-From what I remember, there were two unnamed sisters, both Princess's who ruled over a nameless kingdom full of hope, love, and harmony. One day, a stallion from an empire far to the north traveled to the unnamed kingdom and, upon arriving in the kingdom's capital city, saw the two Princess's for the first time.

"The two Princess's greeted the stallion with open hooves, and upon witnessing the beauty of the younger sister, the stallion fell madly in love. He courted the younger Princess and eventually, the younger Princess returned his affections in secret, for it was an illicit relationship and she knew her sister would not approve."

"Yup, just like I thought," Starlight muttered grumpily, "a stupid ponytale."

Twilight, Moonlight, and the rest of the Council ignored her, all their focus on the story. Seeing this, Starlight merely rolled her eyes, sat on her haunches, and huffed in irritation as Twilight continued.

"For a time, both the younger Princess and her lover were happy. Unbeknownst to both Princess's however, the stallion's affections were a lie, and his true goal had been to corrupt the younger sister and turn her against her older sister so that he could take the kingdom for himself."

"Oh no, what a shocker," Starlight grumbled facetiously, "definitely didn't see that coming."

Twilight frowned and flicked an ear in annoyance, but continued on nonetheless.

"The older sister caught wind of his plans and drove him out of the kingdom. The younger sister pleaded with the older to let him stay, but the older sister forbade it, telling her younger sister his love was all an act. The younger sister didn't believe her and accused the elder sibling of being jealous of their love."

Starlight snorted out a laugh and Twilight, having had enough, rounded on the other filly with a grimace of annoyance.

"Starlight, will you please knock it off?" she snapped, "I'm trying to tell this story as best I can, and I don't think the Council appreciates your flippant attitude! If you keep this up, they might make our punishment worse!"

"Alright, alright, fine, I'll keep quiet," Starlight groaned, completely over the entire situation. She waved a hoof airily in Twilight's direction, "please continue, oh great teller of tales."

Twilight's frowned deepened, but she sighed a moment later and turned back to Moonlight. At the very least, the story, and Starlight's unwanted interruptions had done fairly well in distracting her from the white thestral's disturbing aura.

"Alright, um..." Twilight paused, trying to remember where she'd left off. A few seconds later she nodded, "right, so... the stallion was driven away, and the younger sister fell into a deep despair, but that despair soon became resentment, then anger towards her older sister."

As she spoke the next part of the story, Twilight became uncomfortable, shifting uneasily on her hooves. She paused for only a moment before continuing on in a slightly quieter voice.

"In her blind anger, the younger sister began to plot her vengeance against her elder sister, all the while unaware that Dark Magic had taken hold of her heart. One day, in the dark of the night, the younger Princess fled the unnamed kingdom for the empire to the north to be with her beloved.

"Once she found out her younger sister was gone, the elder Princess grew sick with worry for the younger, and realized she'd been much too harsh. She wanted to apologize, but her sister was nowhere to be found. She searched and searched, but she couldn't find her anywhere."

"Why wouldn't the empire be the first place she looked?" Starlight couldn't help but ask with a raised brow, "I mean, that's obviously where she'd go, given what happened. That's the first place I'd look."

"It's a ponytale for young foals, Starlight," Twilight replied irritably, "last I checked, not many foals ask hard hitting questions like that."

"We're foals," Starlight shot back with a shrug, "I'm asking those questions, and I'm pretty sure you asked yourself the same thing when you first read the story."

"That's not the point! None of that matters, because that's not what we're focusing on here!" Twilight snapped once more before taking a calming breath and speaking in a more measured tone, "look, the story's almost over, so just... let me finish, okay?"

"Fine, sure, whatever," Starlight replied, laying on the ground and crossing her hooves, "go ahead, I won't say anything else, I promise."

If Starlight was being honest, she was more curious as to why the thestrals hadn't said anything about her interruptions. They'd been oddly silent and it was beginning to unnerve her slightly. When she turned to look, she saw the Elders had shifted their attention to Moonlight, unreadable expressions marking their faces.

A glance at Moonlight showed that she'd closed her eyes, her head bowed slightly as if in deference to somepony Starlight couldn't see. She wore a small, slightly pained grimace, and Starlight shivered involuntarily. To Starlight, it felt like the air was getting colder and a small knot of dread began to form in her stomach.

Something wasn't right here.

Starlight turned her attention back to Twilight, wondering if she'd noticed anything off, but the lavender filly didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she was ignoring it. Twilight meanwhile, cleared her throat and gave the other filly one last wary glance before speaking again.

"Unable to find her sister anywhere in the kingdom, the elder Princess returned to the castle, alone and distraught. Unfortunately for her, things would only get worse, for when she entered her throne room, she found both her younger sister and the stallion already waiting for her.

"To the elder Princess's horror, both the stallion and her sister had changed into terrible monsters. The stallion revealed himself to be the Emperor of the North, and the younger sister had become the Nightmare, taking on the name in order to instill fear in the hearts of her older sister and the rest of the ponies of the unnamed kingdom.

"They announced their plan to cast the elder Princess down and rule the unnamed kingdom themselves. The elder sister pleaded with her younger sister to cease her foolishness, but the younger sister, too far gone down the path of darkness, didn't listen, and so they were forced to fight.

"The elder Princess fought with all her strength, but the combined might of her younger sister and the Emperor was too much for her, and she was nearly defeated. With no other option, the elder Princess used the last of her strength to summon six ancient and powerful artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony.

"With their power, she sealed the Nightmare within the moon, where she would remain for a thousand years. Terrified at the sight of such power, the Emperor fled back to his own empire and never returned.

"With that, peace once again reigned in the unnamed kingdom, and though the elder Princess wept for her younger sister, she could at least take solace in the fact that her subjects were safe... and that's it," Twilight finished, turning to Starlight, "that's the end of the story."

"So this is the tale my dear sister has concocted in my absence? This pitiful, foal friendly tragedy? Pah, what utter nonsense!"

Both fillies froze, eyes wide with shock and a sudden, overwhelming terror. Twilight, who'd turned to address Starlight, now twisting around with painful slowness to face the direction the horribly cold and imperious voice had come from. Before her stood Moonlight, her eyes closed and a frown adorning her face.

Her eyes snapped open suddenly and both fillies scrambled back, away from the thestral mare. Twilight's voice hitched in her throat and a wave of nausea nearly overcame her at the dark energy the mare was emitting, but that wasn't the focus of her fear. It was the eyes of the thestral mare.

They were no longer a milky white, but instead shone an icy blue, practically shining with a cold light in the surrounding darkness. Those draconic eyes, so full of malice, arrogance, and something else Twilight couldn't quite place, peered down at the two fillies, and a sneer crossed the mare's face.

Both fillies stood rooted to the spot, terrified, but unable to break eye contact. When Moonlight next spoke, it wasn't with her soft, airy voice, but a deeper tone full of all the pride, privilege, and arrogance of a Queen addressing the lowest of commoners.

"I shall take it upon myself to separate the truth from Celestia's lies..." she stepped in front of Twilight and lowered her head so that she was at eye level with the shaking filly. Her eyes narrowed and a wicked, fang filled smile crossed her face, "...and then we can discuss the real reason I've decided to grace this ridiculous trial with my presence."

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Ooh, now this is getting interesting. Always good to get both sides of the story.

[Chillean]

Well, that wasn't where I thought this was going..
Color me curious, this suddenly has me dying for the next chapter. I wonder when their absence will be noticed?

[The Cynical One]

Imagine being Twilight. One moment your enjoying a nice walk with a friend, before being trapped with a thestral, murdering a beast, being held on trial, and to top it all off you get audience with the lunar princess? The punches do not stop coming! Excited to hear our luna moona version of this tale!