A Whisper From the Void

Luna stepped out onto the balcony, looking up at the cloudless night sky. Amidst the faint glow of a waning crescent moon was a vast blanket of stars, dazzling and beautiful, which flowed along the winding paths of galactic clouds faintly visible behind them. Every second she looked brought another detail she hadn’t noticed while taking in the entire canvas: faint constellations, the relative specks of asteroids when they obstructed a star, and ashooting star falling to the horizon. There was nothing to obstruct her night.

A gentle, cool breeze came up from below, sweeping through her mane and carrying with it an odd set of smells. There were hints of lavender, primroses and jasmine from the gardens below, tempered by the acrid smoke of chimneys from the surrounding buildings. Finally looking down, she was met with the expected sight.

Around the royal castle were the buildings of Everfree: houses and hovels, bars and blacksmiths, guard posts at the edge of town and gardens around the castle walls. At night it was dark, lit only by sparse lanterns in the streets, fireplaces and lanterns in windows, and of course her moonlight shining over them. Straining her ears, she could make out music, likely the last tunes coming out of bars as drunkards made their way home.

Even at the edge of town around the guard posts and walls bordering the thickets and forest edge, there were only faint lights and slight movement. How many eyes could be looking up at this beautiful night, at the castle, at her?

It didn't make her work less necessary, part of the cycle and her duties, and yet… Even at the crack of dawn, at the end of Luna's nightly vigil, how many ponies would be greeting her sister's day? How many would run and play in the nearby fields? How many would ply their craft or trades, sell their wares, meet friends and family? How many would bask in Celestia's sun compared to Luna's moon, a moon that would not even shine in a few days’ time.

There was a tightness in Luna's chest, a tension in her forehead. She shut her eyes, leaned back and took a deep breath. Holding it in her chest, she tried to bundle every insecurity and worry to that breath, letting it go as she exhaled. Her chest felt lighter, her mind clearer.

Opening her eyes to take in the night sky once more, she was instead met with chaos.

A bright red meteor streaked across the sky, leaving a tail that looked like a gaping white knife wound in its wake. From that wound oozed a myriad of colors that washed through the sky, scooping up stars and galaxies and even the moon into a kaleidoscopic whirlpool. Eyes transfixed, Luna was assaulted by all manner of colors, known and unknown, until they mixed and shined so brightly that they became a glaring white sheet from horizon to horizon.

And yet that meteor shined brighter still. With every inch it traveled it cracked open, bit by bit in a way Luna could only liken to the eye of a terrifying beast. Just as it seemed ready to burst open, she shut her eyes tight and prayed that the rumbling in her ears was only there.

Minutes passed. There were no shouts or screams. There was no crash or warning bell. Luna dared to open her eyes. The sky was clear. Stars twinkled and shone among their galactic clouds. The crescent moon dimly lit the night. The meteor was gone, no sign of its path or the strange display she saw.

Bringing a hoof to her head, Luna wondered about the cause. “Perhaps I haven’t slept enough, or my vigils have gone on too long. It could even be the leftovers of somepony’s nightmares,” she told herself, not looking to the horizon or the city below. She simply turned back to the tower and her chambers.

Luna didn’t dwell on how that display had never been in a single dream or nightmare she watched over, nor had she ever seen its like in Equestria. Not even the chaotic whims of Discord’s “reign” had been so total, so violent, so disturbing.

Luna stood at the edge of the royal ballroom. Dressed in a fine gown of silver and purple, she watched with wine at her side as all manner of ponies mingled and chatted. Celestia liked to hold regular galas where nobility and workers alike from throughout Equestria could gather, discuss matters, and of course meet the royalty they swore allegiance to.

They were usually held every few months, though since the start of a late spring—due mostly to a bout of feather flu that gripped Cloudsdale and its surrounding hamlets—Celestia had hosted them as monthly occurrences. They would have been weekly if not for Luna tempering her sister's enthusiasm and expectations.

While the night was young, so many more ponies had attended than she or Celestia could have expected. And between their talks on the price of produce, the supply of rain or the foundations of new towns… there was only one other thing holding their attention.

Near the stage at the far end of the ballroom, Celestia stood in glorious dress and raiment, whites and golds that matched her coat and cutie mark. The light seemed to reflect off every inch of her, creating a hazy rainbow like light through a prism. Luna had watched farmers and millers and blacksmiths and tradesponies and guards and especially nobles stop by to pay their respects to Celestia. They came with gifts and praise and requests for her.

For Luna, they had… to say they had come empty hoofed was a lie. She had been visited by guards and servants from the castle, a few travelers who thanked her for watching them at night, and even several monster hunters. It seemed their trade was best plied in the darkest of night, at the edges of Equestria's lands, and they were helpful for the ever present moon that shone down on them. "A constant in chaos," one grizzled veteran had said.

But in truth comparing their attentions was like comparing a lake to a vast ocean. Why did so many of them treat Celestia like a—

"—Queen, while we are nothing."

Luna jumped, unsure where the voice had come from. It was just beside her, whispering into her ear, and yet nopony was there. No one had reacted either, until her startled jump sent the wine in her glass splashing to the polished floor. "Apologies," she mumbled with a bow to the servant who rushed to her side.

"No worries, Your Majesty," they replied, wiping the spill and then departing without another word.

Luna sipped at what was left in her glass. Perhaps she had partook of too much too early. The events had never upset her, though they had always rattled her nerves. Maybe the two together were to blame.

"Good evening, Princess Luna," came a high, cheery voice from her side. Luna would have jumped again had she not recognized it.

Turning to face them, Luna smiled and offered a bow, setting her glass down on a nearby windowsill. "Coral Cove, so wonderful to see you could make it."

Coral Cove stood only about as high as Luna's barrel, dressed in a simple, light blue gown. Still, the floral pink of her coat stood out much more, coupled with the frazzled strands of her chalk white mane. Luna had often wondered if it were her natural color or the result of too much time chalk dust.

"Oh, I wouldn't have missed it if I could. Not after forgetting the last one, of course," Coral laughed for a few moments, and Luna gave a curt chuckle in reply, "but also because of that strange occurrence at night, earlier this month. It was quite the sight to behold, wasn't it?"

Luna froze. She hadn't spoken of the night when she saw the meteor to anypony in the castle, nor anyone who visited. Not a word or notice or worry about it had been raised, to her or Celestia. Clearing her throat and keeping her composure, Luna glanced out of the nearby window at the clouded night sky. "I don't believe I recall it. Perhaps you could only see it from the observatory on Canter Mountain?"

Coral Cove looked disappointed immediately, grazing the ground back and forth with her front hoof. "Perhaps. I know the entire sky isn't your… domain, Princess, but that night was breathtaking. Not a cloud in sight from Everfree to Manehattan. I was able to map a few more projections of the stars, but there was this shooting star on the horizon…" She glanced to the left and right, before leaning in to whisper to Luna. "It turned.”

Luna kept close to Coral, the din of conversation from the rest of the ballroom falling away. She couldn't help but whisper conspiratorially back to the astronomer. "Whatever do you mean, Coral?"

Coral looked once more toward the floor of the ballroom and behind her, trying to be certain nopony was eavesdropping. "It turned, shifted," was all she said.

Luna's mind was filled with that ghastly, terrifying sky, the meteor suddenly barreling towards Equestria. "A meteor… shifted?”

Coral smiled, nodding her head as quickly as she could. "I made a note of it early in the night, but when I went to check on it… the trajectory was wrong. Instead of continuing towards the horizon to the south, it somehow curved over Equestria toward the Crystal Mountains."

"You're certain?" Luna asked, shuffling a hoof against the tile. Her glass slipper creaked from the friction.

"As much as I can tell. I obviously lost sight of it, but I saw where it landed, Princess, and I think I could lead an expedition."

Luna thought back, trying to remember the sudden strange arc of that meteor. Had it been the shooting star on the horizon or something else? It had vanished along with that chaotic display, and Luna had not bothered to look for any sign of impact. If Coral had seen this meteorite, perhaps it wasn’t a figment of her imagination. Yet, why had Coral not mentioned the rest of what Luna had seen?

"One with your backing, of course,” Coral continued. “I don't think my current stipend would allow me to finance it. I'm ever thankful that you and Celestia have placed such importance on the sciences beyond just the study of magic. It means so much to me, to so many ponies."

Luna smiled and nodded. “It’s the least we can do for Equestria,” she said, turning to look for her sister. Celestia had moved away from the stage and across the ballroom. Even more ponies had crowded around her. Under the brighter lights of a chandelier above her, Celestia shone like a beacon, a flare, a roaring fire crying out for attention. Every eye was glued to Celestia, their sun—

"—threatening to burn their retinas staring at Equestria’s Radiant Queen."

There was no mistaking the voice this time, coming from her ears and overwhelming the din of the room in the process. It was not her own, even if what it said was…

Luna sat down, covering her ears with her front hooves, but the voice only became louder, its words echoing in her skull.

“Why do they ignore us? Why do they shun us? Do they hope we shall vanish just as the new moon?”

“Stop,” Luna muttered, closing her eyes. Once more she saw that swirling vortex of terror, expanding out to devour her night sky.

“Did they ever see us? Even when we stood beside Celestia, did they ever want us?”

Luna felt a nudge on her shoulder and heard a muffled voice against her ears. “Stop it,” she spat out, louder. Her teeth ground against each other and a rumbling grew in her forehead. She saw the meteorite cracking open like the eye of a dragon, its glare a burning red that turned into an impenetrable darkness.

“You could change it. You could show them what you truly are. You could crush their inane image of you, and reform it with me.”

The nudge on her shoulders became hooves grabbing her and the muffled voice grew louder. The pressure in Luna’s skull became unbearable, like a dam about to burst. She clenched her jaw as that voice went from whispering to shouting, taking her thoughts and twisting them into lies, things she would never dream of doing or wanting. “It’s not true, it’s not true, it’s not true,” she hissed out between her teeth.

And then she couldn’t hold back anymore.

“SILENCE!” she screamed, hooves slamming into the ground. The voice went silent, the ballroom went silent, even the noises of the night outside fell silent at her command.

Luna opened her eyes to see Coral clutching her shoulders. Everypony in the ballroom had turned to stare at her, the band had stopped playing, no one moved.

“Princess, are you alright?” Coral asked, keeping her voice low; in the silence, it echoed like a church. Luna tried to look at Coral, but her eyes drifted to Celestia.

There was no hazy rainbow about her. Her golden raiment and the accents on her white gown looked dull. She held a golden-clad hoof to her mouth, eyes wide. Whispers began to carry through the ballroom, Luna’s name spoken alongside questions and worries and bitterness. Celestia began to move through the crowd.

Luna ran. Spreading her wings, she pulled away from Coral and leapt out of the closest open window, sending her glass of wine to the floor with a deafening shatter. She didn’t look back, flying up to her balcony and into her room. Bolting the windows, locking the doors, closing the curtains, and burying herself in the covers, Luna submerged herself and her room in darkness.

The guards had come to check on Luna first, knocking loudly and barking questions to her and orders at one another. When Luna had stayed silent, they tried to unlock the door, only for her to melt the key just as it touched the lock. They left shortly afterwards, a captain telling some others to at least stand watch.

Then came the advisors, one at a time. They gently knocked, posing questions and providing information even when Luna hadn’t said a word. They showered her with platitudes and concerns, all of them feeling empty. They made no attempt to open the door, turning and leaving only for the next to approach.

It was late in the night when Luna heard the gentle click of familiar gilded hooves on the door outside her chamber. As they came to a halt, there was no knock, only the gentle tap of a hoof against the wood. “Luna,” Celestia whispered, before clearing her throat to speak up. “Luna, are you awake?”

“What does she want?” the voice whispered in Luna’s ear, echoing her thoughts. She gently poked her head out of the covers, opening her mouth to speak before biting her tongue.

Celestia took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Luna, I’m… not sure what happened in the ballroom, if something or someone upset you… I know I left you alone—”

“She abandoned us.”

“You had more important things to do,” Luna thought, thinking back to so many times that Celestia had been too busy to talk with Luna, to do things together, to just be there with each other.

“—but there were so many ponies that needed my help. I couldn’t ignore them—”

“We aren’t important enough?”

“You can just ignore me instead?”

“—and I know how much these events affect you. You always seem upset or drained or… hurt.”

“Not because of us, because of them, because of you.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be a part of them.” Luna remembered how many times she had walked away from meetings, been distant with dignitaries, left things at the castle for Celestia and advisors to manage. It wasn’t because they weren’t important, that they didn’t interest her, it was just that she knew what she could help with.

Crafting the night sky, shielding ponies from the darkness of their nightmares, sweetening their dreams to keep their sleep peaceful. Celestia couldn’t be a part of that, it was up to Luna alone.

“It’s not like they ever ask for me here.” Luna could scarcely recall when her input had been asked for over Celestia’s.

“They don’t care about us. They only want her.”

Celestia pulled her hoof away from the door, and Luna heard her sit down, resting her back against the wood. It creaked, a sliver of light peeking in through the crack.

"I don’t want to force you to attend, to be a part if you don’t want it. I never want to hurt you or upset you. If I have…” Celestia trailed off, and Luna heard her sniffling.

“She should have stopped. If she truly cared, she wouldn’t wound us. Those tears aren’t real.”

“Stop,” Luna mumbled as quietly as she could, hooves coming up to her ears once again. She only stopped when Celestia’s crying became louder.

“You’d tell me, wouldn’t you?” Celestia asked.

Luna saw Celestia through the gap of the doors, her head turning enough for her to glance through it. Luna retreated further into the covers, one hoof covering her mouth instead of her ears.

The door creaked further as Celestia leaned on it, turning to face it fully. She spoke softer, quieter, but Luna had no trouble hearing her.

“If I upset you, if I was forcing you to do these things, if this makes you feel overwhelmed or scared or—”

“Unwanted,” the voice spoke along with Luna’s thoughts once more.

“—exhausted, you w—you can tell me, Luna. We can always change things, for either of us, to make it better. And if you need me to change… I just want both of us to be happy, Luna.”

“Lies, always lies. Everyone else shows how they really feel, that they don’t want us, that they despise us, but her… How could she lie to her own sister?”

Luna couldn’t forget how distant Celestia had become while she was busy with her duties, with the castle, with Equestria. If she really meant what she said, why would she have let things get to where they are? “Why would she forget me?”

The silence lasted for a while, until Celestia finally rose. Luna heard a few more sniffles, a gasp for breath and shaky exhales that slowly became steady. Luna opened her mouth to say something, only for the voice in her ear to cut her off.

“She’s just like the others. She’ll never understand us. She’ll never respect us. Not unless we show her.”

Luna reached up, covering her ears and muttering to herself to try and deafen the voice, but no matter how many times she ordered it to stop, said that what it was saying wasn’t true, it wouldn’t stop.

By the time the voice finally fell quiet and Luna drifted off to sleep, Celestia was long gone.

Luna held her head high as she strolled through the halls of the castle, hoofsteps echoing through the corridors. Despite it being the middle of the day, it wasn’t fully staffed. Many of the servants had taken off to visit family in Everfree or around Equestria. There were only a hoofful of guards, standing watch near the throne room and paths that led up to the royal chambers, and barely any actually patrolling the halls. To anypony there, particularly Celestia, it was not cause for alarm; how could it be if there was no danger looming, no army invading?

To Luna, it was exactly as she planned it to be. As she passed a pair of guards at the throne room, she saw them snap to attention in her presence, only to relax as soon as she turned the corner.

“They offer as little respect as they can to us,” Luna thought, and the voice spoke with her. “They will learn their proper place soon.”

It had been months since the meteor, since the gala, since Celestia’s half-hearted apology. The anguish of that night had not stuck with Luna for long, even if she heard whispers of her “outburst” from guards, servants and dignitaries alike. Even the peasants spoke about her under their breath as she and Celestia walked through the streets of Everfree. But their words could not harm her; no matter how much they belittled or questioned or doubted her, she knew the truth and so did the voice.

It no longer lowered itself to a whisper, it did not need to. It respected her, and she respected it.

Luna had withdrawn over the months, keeping to herself, her night, her duties. Even if the ponies of Equestria would not respect her night, Luna would; the voice did too. It spoke to her in the dark, complimenting her work, respecting her duties, acknowledging her worth. And Luna spoke back, about the ponies who shunned her, who ignored her beautiful nights; she apologized for not listening sooner.

As Luna checked the castle to be sure it was as they had planned, she spoke aloud to herself, to the voice.. “Are you sure it’s right?”

“It’s exactly as I told you, exactly as you know. It must be this night, and we have made it so. She and all of Equestria will respect us, notice us, and we can become whole.”

Luna checked the next hallway, certain that there were no prying eyes or ears. The voice spoke so much about being whole, but Luna never questioned it. She just knew that it would be the best for her; it would be the best for it; it would be the best for them. “I know why it must be tonight, but if it doesn’t work—”

“Do not doubt yourself or us: while they doubt us, we must trust in our conviction.”

“Of course, and then they will trust us to le—”

“Princess Luna!”

Luna turned towards the pony now trotting towards her down the hall, a face she had not seen since that night at the gala. “Coral. Why are you here?”

“Why she is here doesn’t matter to us. She is just like the others.”

Luna shook her head, looking at the empty hallway behind her. “She… No, she is not. She respects us, she notices us and our work.”

“Are you alright, Princess?” Coral asked, coming to a stop just in front of Luna and gently bowing.

Luna kept her head high as she looked down at Coral, stamping a hoof to straighten herself. “We are fine, Coral. Do you require something?”

Coral straightened herself up as well, holding a few scrolls close to her barrel. “Not… require, exactly. I just wanted to come speak to you about the meteorite.”

“About me.”

Luna hesitated in her reply to Coral, her chain of thought broken by something she had considered, but the voice had never confirmed. Why did it follow the meteor? Why was it not her voice? Luna cleared her throat, taking a deep breath and trying to put the thought behind her. “What about it?”

“I was able to finish my expedition. It took longer than I expected, thanks to a few rock slides deep in the mountains, but I found it.” Coral unrolled the scrolls for Luna to see. There were pages and pages charting her journey with maps and figures. Most importantly was a drawing of the impact site and the smoldering husk of rock at its center. There was no terrifying crack in the shape of some beast’s eye and no strange colors pouring out of it.

A thought in her mind arose, impossible to ignore: “I imagined it.”

“No you did not. You saw it with your eyes. You saw me with your eyes. And then I came to you.”

Luna couldn’t doubt all that she had heard or felt; she could not lose her conviction now. She silenced the voice of dissension in her mind, pushing the thought aside. She focused back on Coral, on her “discovery.”

“It was fascinating to see such a large one,” Coral said, flipping through a few more drawings, one with measurements. “I think it might be larger than any other recorded meteorite, though it’s possible ponies had a larger one before records and measurements were taken. It made sure to recover it as well. We should have samples sent off to Manehatten by the end of the month.” Coral’s tone was one of excitement.

“It changes nothing about our plans,” Luna and the voice agreed.

“Thank you for showing me, Coral. You can go now,” Luna said flatly, walking past Coral.

Coral turned to follow Luna, keeping pace at her side. “Would you like any more results my team gets? Like I said before, I know this isn’t your domain exclusively, but… I wouldn’t have seen such a sight during the day.”

“She appreciates us.”

“And the things we could learn about meteors, or asteroids—if it is one— even the stars from this discovery is… it’s fascinating!”

“She respects us.”

“I’m so glad that Celestia approved the expedition.”

Luna stopped. Her wings and legs tensed. Slowly, she turned to look at Coral, narrowing her eyes. “What?”

Coral had kept walking for several steps before turning to face Luna. “I assumed she would have told you, or one of the advisors would. It was the night of the gala, after…” Coral hesitated, looking away for a moment. “It was after you left. Princess Celestia asked what we had been discussing and if something had upset you. I was candid about what we spoke of, but not about why you left.”

“She’s like all the others.”

“No she is not.”

“When I spoke of the meteorite and the expedition, she eagerly offered to approve it. I had the funds to assemble my team within the week.”

“She turned to that brilliant sun as soon as we were gone.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

Coral was silent for a few moments. “Did I do something that night to upset you, Princess Luna? I meant no offense if I did.”

“She thinks of you as a child who needs pitying and pandering. Would she say the same to Celestia?”

“She serves royalty. Anyone in her position would apologize for an offense.”

Luna turned away. “You did nothing, Coral. You may leave.”

“Princess, please, I ju—”

“I said leave!” Luna shouted, glaring at Coral over her shoulder. “That is an order,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

Coral froze up, and after a few moments bowed to Luna before turning and rotting down the hallway.

“It’s for the best that she is not here.”

Luna took a deep breath, holding her head high and stamping one hoof to straighten herself.

“We will become whole, and they will finally respect our night.”

That night, Luna stood alone before her throne. She had dismissed the guards and sent one to fetch Celestia. The stage was set. “Our stage is set.” Looking through the stained glass windows, Luna saw the moon bright and full. Casting silver light into the castle, dulling the stars in the sky, it was as it should be: a statement of who she was, who she would become and remain.

“Even if it carries her light, we will be the only way they ever see it.”

She lit her horn, drawing on the magic within herself and drawing from the moon and stars above. Her horn crackled with power, arcs of silver lightning flaring off of it and leaving scorch marks on the marbled floor. A bolt aimed with precision struck the stained glass that bore Celestia’s cutie mark, shattering it into hundreds of shards. The door flew open, the trotting of familiar gilded hooves coming from behind Luna.

“Luna, what’s wrong?!” Celestia screamed, her voice straining as she took in the sight.

Luna turned to face her, basking in the light of her moon and stars that grew brighter and brighter. “For us, nothing, sister,” Luna stated plainly, looking down at her sister from the throne. “We are just realizing what we should have done a long time ago.” The magic coursing through her horn and body felt familiar and strange at once. The voice in her mind grew louder, and her own voice began to mimic it.

“All of you have shunned us. Our night. Our dreams. Our duties. We were disrespected and disregarded, but no longer.”

“Luna, what are you talking about?” Celestia took a step closer, standing as tall as she could, but Luna saw the doubt in her movements and heard it in her voice. “Calm down, we can talk about this. You can always talk to me, we can talk to each other.”

“The time for talk is long past, sister.” Luna began to rise from the floor, magic and darkness circling about her. The magic in her grew stronger, burning her nerves. It felt right, even if it hurt. “Equestria will know who we truly are, who we always have been. They will fear and respect us in equal measure. And you… you will know your place in the shadows of my night.”

Luna rose higher still, winds and lightning and energy swirling about her and filling the room with a tempest. With her eyes open, Luna saw herself within a vortex of kaleidoscopic dread, colors flooding her vision until they blended together into the pitchest of black. And then, she trulyopened her eyes for the first time.

Nightmare Moon descended from the sky as the whirlwind settled. Her hooves touched the throne gently, and she stared down at the usurper of her rule. “We are Nightmare Moon, and our night will last forever!” Her horn still lit, Nightmare Moon let loose a bolt of magic directly at Celestia. Her face stuck in an expression of shock, Celestia did not move. She raised a shield, barely absorbing the attack.

“Of course she wouldn’t run. Pathetic.”

Through clenched teeth and tearful eyes, Celestia took to the air. She seemed ready to release a bolt in retaliation, but Nightmare Moon saw her hesitation and seized on it. Soaring forward, Nightmare Moon tackled Celestia, sending the two of them careening through the roof and shattering the stone to dust and rubble. Back and forth in the skies over Everfree they fought. The castle was broken apart, and below ponies fled from their homes.

“Now they see us, the Queen who will rule them, the night that they will adore!”

But some part of Luna remained and saw the truth. She saw ponies fleeing, terror on their faces. She saw the destruction she wrought. “This isn’t what I wanted,” she tried to say amidst the laughter and glee of Nightmare Moon, but her voice did not carry. She could only watch.

Luna saw Celestia struck down, plummeting back into the throne room. She saw Nightmare Moon descend like a dragon, eyes hungry for her victory, her foe’s defeat, her prey. She saw Celestia, exhausted and bruised, still lighting her horn in defiance.

“Have you had enough, sister?” Nightmare Moon asked, laughing with glee.

Celestia lifted her head, glaring back. “You are not my sister, she would never do this. She would never attack me, destroy this castle, terrorize these ponies!” Each stung like a dagger in Luna’s heart.

“We wanted this, Celestia. Equestria and its ponies made this happen, but you most of all. All the scorn, the shunning, the resentment we felt was because of you. All of Equestria adores you and your glorious days, but what of us?!” Nightmare Moon stamped a hoof loudly, flaring her wings. Despite the rage burning in her, Luna felt the tears on Nightmare Moon’s cheeks; she saw the ones welling in Celestia’s eyes.

“We can fix it, Luna. W—I can make things better. Whatever you want, I’m here for you.” Celestia’s stance relaxed, and Luna already knew what would happen.

“Please. Please stop!” Luna shouted in her mind, but the words vanished in the maelstrom of rage and hate.

“We will never forgive her! We’ll take all we want, all we need, all we deserve! Victory… Equestria… That is the only thing that will quell our fury!”

“I don’t want this!” Luna felt Nightmare Moon’s body tense, every fiber of her being bent on Celestia’s destruction. As her head pulled back and her horn flared with energy, Luna shouted and reached for any control she could get. “I don’t want it! I don’t want any of it! Leave me be! Release me!”

Celestia lit her horn, but only Luna saw what she was truly doing. Instead of shielding herself or attacking, she saw a loose brick dislodged on the side of the throne room, and from it came six glittering jewels. Any doubt left on her sister’s face was gone, yet her tears still remained.

As Nightmare Moon began to fire again, Luna grasped one single strand of control in the frantic chaos of her mind. Nightmare Moon’s horn flickered, and it was all the opening her sister needed.

The Elements of Harmony flared with energy, a golden light that matched the magic of Celestia’s horn slowly shifting into a pure rainbow that barreled towards Nightmare Moon and washed over and through her. In it, Luna saw the strange swirl of chaos like that meteor’s wound, but it felt pure and certain, untainted by malice. As she faded from Equestria, Luna felt a chill and an unbearable sadness.

When the light vanished, Luna and Nightmare Moon were left only with darkness.

“How could she?! How dare she do this to us, how dare she deny Equestria its rightful ruler, its true Queen?! Our vengeance will be met, it will know no end. The stars will come to me, to us, and Equestria will know NIGHT ETERNAL!”

Nightmare Moon stewed within the darkness of the Moon’s core, left alone with her unending hate and rage. With every passing day her resentment grew, given only glances of Equestria and the land that slowly forgot her. And within her, that fragment of Luna remained, waiting and regretting.

Days turned to weeks turned to months turned to years, and one day a part of Nightmare Moon finally listened to Luna.

“Are you ready to talk?” Luna asked, as she had thousands of times before.

“There is nothing to talk about, fragment. You are not important to our plans for our return.”

Luna felt Nightmare Moon’s inner eye turn to gaze at her while she floated in the dark recesses of her mind. “It won’t make you happy. It won’t fulfill that endless desire you have.”

“It is not about want!” That singular eye watching her turned into dozens, glaring daggers at her. “It is about what we are owed. We deserve to rule, to conquer. And they deserve to live and bask in our glorious night!” In the shadows, Luna could almost see a grinning face, fangs bared and dripping with malice. “You could return to us. Together we could become stronger. Our conviction will be finally full, and the stars will obey our commands at last.”

Even trapped within her mindscape, Luna felt her body tense. “I just want to talk about the truth of things. If we can come to an agreement on that, perhaps we can become one again.” Even over the immeasurable days, Luna had been so sure of what she had wanted to say to Nightmare Moon, to herself; and yet, she still felt hesitant.

“The truth? About what, fragment?” Slowly, that grinning face emerged from the darkness, features peeled out of the inky blackness in a smear before solidifying. Nightmare Moon stood towering over Luna, her horn twisted in a curve, fangs sticking out of her closed jaw, and wings spreading to encompass all of Luna’s vision.

“Of everything since the meteor, the gala, the whispers. Of… the things we cannot take back.”

“You mean about how we became one, until this pathetic slice of you clinged to the edges of our mind? Ohhh, or perhaps you mean the last regret of attacking your sister?”

“I regret many things, but this will not be the last.” Luna took a breath, a purely symbolic gesture. “Whatever we saw that night, it did not lead to this.”

Nightmare Moon laughed loud enough to rattle Luna. “You still doubt me? You think you could have done any of this without my aid, little pony? Without me, your wants would stay nothing but regretted could haves.”

“You never said anything I hadn’t felt.” Nightmare Moon’s laughter stopped, and Luna stared up at the towering nightmare of her own making. “I always resented Celestia. I always felt unwanted and disrespected, but I never wanted to raise an objection. Even with how I felt… I was afraid it would make things even worse.”

Nightmare Moon grinned, leaning down. Her neck slithered back and forth like a snake’s. “And I showed you a way to fix it, so that we could get all that we wanted, all that we deserved.”

Luna stamped a hoof, letting her wings flare out. “You did nothing, ‘we’ did nothing… It was all me. You are nothing but the worst part of me, the thoughts I tried to bury inste—”

“You know nothing, fragment, child!” Nightmare Moon hissed, the darkness around them swirling like a vortex. “I have seen the vastness of all things: the time when there was nothing, the first specks of dust that became your sun, the rocks that immutable gravity formed into your world.” Nightmare Moon faded into the swirl of inky blackness, becoming nothing but eyes and fangs and hatred while surrounding Luna.

“Even if you move this lifeless rock through the vastness of space, you are nothing but a microscopic fleck on a speck on a grain of sand amidst trillions of grains on a beach that is but one among thousands which surround an ocean of emptiness that is ME! You would be nothing without me.”

“I am me,” Luna stated plainly, her voice unwavering amidst the maelstrom around her. “You’re a figment, a falsehood, a toxic, nagging voice I never tried to talk with… until it was too late.”

The vortex halted, and all trace of Nightmare Moon’s monstrous form was nowhere to be seen. “You’re wrong. You really think you could have done this wi—”

“I did. I know what I’m capable of, I saw what I did. As terrible as it was, as much as I may regret it, it wasn’t beyond me. Stop pretending to be something you aren’t, that we aren’t. We can’t shirk the responsibility of what we’ve done, of what we thought. Even if they were terrible thoughts we acted upon, even if we think these horrible things… We can regret it and move forward. We can talk about them with someone… with Celestia.”

There was silence for longer than Luna could be sure. She heard Nightmare Moon’s voice waver slightly, hearing her own just beneath it. “You will learn the truth when we are free, fragment. Then you will accept me for what we are meant to be.” Even in the pitch blackness, Luna knew that she had been left alone.

Luna stood on a balcony at Canterlot castle. The sun was still setting, bathing the city and valleys and plains below in deep oranges and bright reds. Even months removed from the Summer Sun Celebration, the one thousandth since her banishment from Equestria, it had taken time to adjust. Equestria and the world had moved on so far without her: there were plains where there had been forests, cities where there was nothing, and of course the unrestrained wilderness of the Everfree had devoured the town of its namesake and the castle they had once called home.

Canterlot, now built into where once there had been scant observatories on Canter Mountain, towered so much above the ponies of Equestria. Every time she had to look down instead of out over the ponies of the land, something about it felt wrong. And yet she found herself coming out night after night, even before it was her duty to raise the moon.

The air was starting to get cooler, and the days shorter. Even if her vigil might last longer, it also meant more time to share her night with Equestria. In the distance she could see the lights of Manehatten like a second sunrise on the horizon, and even before the sun was set, the streetlights and houses in the vast plains of Equestria were turning on. And ponies were still out, like ants in the distance that she knew would stay out in some places for hours still.

Minutes passed and the sun finally dipped below the horizon, stars popping into sight in the east while the last fleeting moments of daylight lingered in the west. Luna looked to the sky and lit her horn, just as she heard the gentle beat of heavy wings.

“Are you well, sister?” Celestia asked, her voice soft yet certain, much less timid than the first few times she had approached Luna at this hour.

Luna smiled, but focused on her task, closing her eyes as she reached out to the moon with her magic. “Of course, sister. The past few nights have been fairly calm thanks to the rainfall. Gentle weather makes for more peaceful dreams.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Celestia stepped forward, lifting a wing to rest it on Luna’s back, before pulling it away. “Am I being… is this alright?”

In her mind, Luna could envision the scene around her: Celestia’s hesitation, Luna’s distraction mistaken for aloofness, the rift between them far greater than their physical distance. But her focus was on the moon, on her night. She lifted her head, flapping her wings as gently as she could so as not to disturb her sister. As her horn reached its peak, a flash of magic sparked. The moon, waning into the crescent in its cycle, crested the eastern horizon and took its place in the sky. Like the lightest feather, Luna fell to the ground and let out her breath, releasing her magic and opening her eyes.

“It is fine, you are fine, Celesia,” Luna said, turning to her sister. She reached out with one hoof, placing it gently on the regalia over Celestia’s barrel. “You should return to your duties. I’m sure you still have much to do before you can rest. I will attend to my own.”

Celestia leaned forward, letting her horn graze Luna’s as their foreheads touched. “I’m so thankful to have you back, little sister.”

“I am happy to be back, sister,” Luna replied. As Celestia departed, Luna turned back to the night sky and sat down.

As she had every night she could, she closed her eyes and took slow breaths. She thought of everything she had done so many years ago, about the things she had felt, about what those feelings had made her do. She respected and accepted her part in Nightmare Moon, in the part of herself she had let take control and hurt so many, most of all Celestia and herself.

And yet, even if it had taken Twilight and her friends with the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon, she also knew her own part in what had transpired since. It was not the generous Rarity that had seen Luna offer to do her part when she could. It was not the loyal Rainbow Dash who made Luna redouble every effort to see the wound she had opened with Equestria and its ponies mended. It was not Twilight’s magic or Fluttershy’s kindness or Pinkie Pie’s laughter that had given her the strength and will to carry on. Most importantly, it was not honest Applejack that made Luna be as truthful as she could in every moment, good or bad, to Celestia, to Equestria, and to herself.

It was Luna herself that had brought her here. Every angry voice she had heard and nurtured, every ill thought she had ignored rather than challenge, every bit of resentment and anguish she chose to burden rather than heal.

And it would be Luna herself that carried forward and acknowledged everything, just as she had acknowledged the truth and failures of her past.

Luna let out one final breath and opened her eyes. A meteor streaked across the cloudless sky, in front of dazzling stars and the galactic clouds that ebbed and flowed behind them. Its tail grew longer and wider with every second.

Turning away, she walked inside and consigned herself to the dreams and nightmares of Equestria for the night.

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