What Followed The Dawn

by Anemptyshell

The Stars Beckon the Day

It took three hours to find Starlight's personal vessel. The blasted thing was hidden in a dock located in a lower nook. One that if you were not looking for, you probably would not find it at all. Of course, even before that. I had some explaining to do for the others. To the surprise of no one, my friends bless their souls took it with grace. Thorax looked a bit frayed by the end, but that was to be expected.

"So, Skystar seemed happy enough," I said.

"We did, sort of kinda free her ancestral home. You know, if you squint real hard and ignore Discord," Bright said. He jabbed my shoulder and pointed to Starlight's almighty zeppelin. "So, how many booby traps are we guessing, huh?"

"Too many," Tempest said. Grubber nodded along. He, along with the rest of the Incondesence's crew, had joined us a while ago. Blueblood had insisted. So, loyal to a fault, the crazy seafarers did just that. "Stay back."

"Do you truly find us such fools we'd walk into that vessel with nary a plan?" Sombra asked. The King of the North's horn shimmered in red. The whole of Starlight's airship glowed in a similar vein.

Tempest did not respond. This elicited a snort from Sabre, a chuckle from Blueblood, and a guffaw from both Spade and Bright. Sombra was less than amused. He offered a scathing look from the corner of his eye as his spell concluded. The ship had mostly stayed the same.

"I see. Well, I can confirm that our missing alicorns are on board. I also counted sixteen separate snares, traps, and illusions that would have impeded our progress. Thoughts, Commander?"

Tempest gave a curt shrug. "I counted seventeen."

By this point, the rest of us were trying to conceal our laughter poorly. Sombra's whole body was consumed in an intense red glow for but a second before it vanished.

"Okay, okay, but seriously, who is going into that death trap?" Sabre asked. Both Tempest and Sombra took a step forward.

"No one, duh," I said.

"Oh, plan to use your new alicorn power-up to wash away Starlight's madness, are you?" Spade asked.

"Kinda," I offered with a wry smile.

"Explain," Sombra said with a heavy stomp. The ground beneath him cracked. The level gaze he leveled my way earned a cough into a hoof.

"Well, Stella can just, you know, kinda grab Celestia and Luna and pull them out. Shadow magic stuff and all that. If cast in shade, it is free for the taking, and with us being in an obscured hole in the mountain.

I let my words trail off. I had everyone's sans Tempest's attention. Stella offered her own chinging tut. Et tu, I mused to myself.

"This should be interesting, if not a bit beguiling," Blue said, waving a hoof from me to the ship.

"I'm taking notes. Today has been a spring of awesome ideas," Bright said, tapping the tip of his pen to his waiting notepad.

"Fine." I raised my nose in defiance. Taking her cue, Stella unleashed the miasma for her endless, boundless darkness. By that, I meant she wiggled her magic through the docked airship, grabbed her fellow alicorns, and pulled them back through. It took less than a minute, but the act left me huffing.

"You okay, Star?" Sabre asked.

"Running on fumes and force of will, but sure," I answered.

I caught my breath, notwithstanding; there were, in fact, two very unhappy alicorn statues now sitting not ten paces in front of our group. I smiled, Stella smiled, Bright smiled, and the rest walked in passive judgment.

"So, can you free them?" Thorax asked. The poor changeling had been caught between explaining everything to Chrysalis and helping those who had been tossed around by the yetis. He looked as dead on his hooves as I felt.

"I mean, yeah, but it'll probably go faster if Tempest helps,"

"Right, well, you seem to have this well in hoof. In the meantime, I believe I'll break out the good whiskey. The crew and our hippogriff companions deserve a toast," Blueblood said. He turned on end and cantered out of the nook.

"He best deign to share. After this trying day, even a king could use a drink or three." Sombra and Sabre turned to follow our thirsty ambassador friend. With any luck, they'd find their own reward at the bottom of a bottle.

"Absolutely," Sabre agreed. Thus, Tempest and I were alone, with two petrified princesses and days' worth of fatigue pulling at the last frayed nerve we barely shared between us.

"Shall we?" I asked. I nudged Tempest, who rolled her eyes in return.

"If not us, then who?" she asked.

I nodded. "True."

The spell wasn't exactly demanding to break. It wasn't the magic or the process; no, what sucked forth every drop of energy I had was the mundane fight with time. The rock fell away in bits and pieces. When the sum whole of the head was free. The princesses were roused to the corporeal world and were none too pleased. To which I could relate.

"Luna, watch—" Celestia yelled before her situation caught up with her. She managed an awkward look around. The fact her withers down were unresponsive caught up to the Celestia seconds later.

"Morning," I said. I gave a lethargic wave. Celestia looked down at me, a familiar weariness hidden behind those ancient eyes.

"Star."

I nodded. "Yes, Your Highness?"

"Where are we?"

I look about at the dreary hidden port. Then, back to her, I offer a sigh. "Mt. Aris, actually. A hidden port on Mt. Aris, to be exact."

"The yetis?" She asked.

No sooner had my mouth opened than a sharp gasp drew everyone's attention. Luna was awake.

"Sister, behind you."

Much like her older sister, it took only seconds for her last memory and new reality to collide. Luna took a look about and locked eyes with Celestia.

"Sister," Luna said.

"Yes, Luna?"

"Where are we?"

Celestia looked down at me and back to her sister. "It would seem we are on Mt. Aris, of all places."

Luna attempted and failed to face hoof herself and took note of her mostly petrified body. "The yeti curs?" Luna asked with a grumble.

"Technically, It was their pony leader, but yes," I answered.

"The witch," Tempest muttered.

"And you were the one meeting with Star and the Elements before our sudden capture. correct Ms. Storm?" Celestia asked.

"Tempest, Your Highness."

"Of course, my apologies."

"And you are aiding us?" Luna asked.

"I am, yes," Tempest answered.

"It has been a very long week," I added.

"Hey, actually. This might be the perfect time to mention a bit of a thing that you may or may not be very pleased with," I said. I offered a toothy grin. Though by the way the sisters shared a less than enthusiastic look. Well, one can try, can't they?

"Star."

My smile grew a bit wider. "Yes, Celestia?"

"What did you do."

I rolled my eyes and waved a hoof in her direction. "Me, nothing, nothing new anyway. But you know how things go when it involves the recent past and the ill tidings of that era."

"Star."

I turn to Luna. "Yes?"

Luna did not answer. Instead, she leveled a very rude look my way. I rested a hoof on my chest and let forth a gasp. "How rude."

"Star, we are in no mood."

I snorted. "Of course not. You're in stone, silly."

I had not considered that their magical apparatus was also freed with the freeing of the princesses' upper half. I was, however, made aware of my folly when Luna wrenched me off my hooves and pulled her level with herself.

"Fine, geez."

Luna eyed me for a second more and then let me fall back to the ground. "What did you do?" she asked.

"Like I said, I technically didn't do anything, at least directly. So, back when I died. Discord revived me after getting obliterated by magical friendship lasers, right?" I asked. Tempest offered a raised brow, but no one bothered to answer. I didn't blame them.

"So, when I was revived, I was pieced together by what was left of my soul before I could fade completely. Ala, the magic of Discord and his tomfoolery."

The princesses nodded along. Tempest was not surprised. Though she'd met Discord, any sane being that meets Discord quickly becomes unsurprising.

"Go on," Celestia said.

"Well, If my soul was still hanging about, and I was hit by The super rainbow, then well…" I trailed off. It only took a second. No, that would be far too long a measurement. In a second, too much happened for it to be adequately measured. I wasn't prepared. Tempest wasn't prepared. Celestia was not prepared. Stella, it seemed, was. I hadn't consulted her on telling the princesses about what we'd been through. It had been a spur-of-the-moment thought that had snowballed quicker and far more violently than I was apt to say.

At one instance, Luna was still mostly stoned. Then, in the next, far louder and shrapnel instant, Luna was not stoned at all. No, in fact, she looked ready to catch fire. The room shook, the air chilled, and Luna had once again lifted me into the air, this time several meters up as I vainly tried to grasp what happened. Luna leered up at me, her eyes shining within a magical haze.

"If this was a joke, you will find my humor has abandoned me. Now, Star, please continue. If thou were amidst the ruins that night, then what manner of creature also shared this fate?"

Celestia had apparently caught on and looked like she'd been slapped. She looked at her furious sister and then at me. I paid her no mind. She wasn't the alicorn I was worried about.

“Luna,” Celestia said.

"No! We must hear Stargazer's take in full. Now, continue."

I had little means to deny such a quest. So, with my body dangling like the victim of the gallows. I did as Luna demanded. "If I was still there, then why wouldn't Nightmare Moon be present too," I said.

"And if she was?" Luna whispered.

"Then what became of her," Celestia finished.

"Well, the thing is. Even Discord couldn't put me back together completely. There just wasn't enough of me to fill the void. So he—"

I gagged as I was pulled back down to earth and placed promptly before the oh-so-upset Princess of the Moon. "What did he do? What madness has he unleashed? Tell us."

I sighed and offered a sullen look. I met Luna's gaze even as her stalwart facade seemed ready to break at the gentlest prod. Prepared to fall away and leave a mare who had already seen so many horrors, horrors she had unleashed not so long ago. Even now, tears fought at the corners of her eyes.

"To save me, he used Nightmare's soul to fill the missing pieces. I was the majority, the one at the wheel. But she was there too, in the back of my mind. She has been since the day she was bested, the day the sun rose on Equestria in a very long time."

The port went silent. Luna had taken to the floor with enthusiastic fervor. Tempest had stepped away, as this wasn't exactly her concern. Celestia, however, had her eyes trained by every faint movement. My breaths, blinks, and even the rhythm of my heartbeat. She didn't look angry or afraid. Celestia was nothing if not a master, an emotional suppression and misdirect. In the last year, I'd heard more than one grumble from Chrysalis, saying it wasn't fair. That Celestia ruined the hunt. I'd thought it funny then. Now, it left me feeling cold. Stella wasn't doing much better. I could feel her shaking as she tried to edge up the confidence to take the reins. I was wondering how well that would go, but it'd need to be done at some point. The earlier, the better.

"She is listening, correct?" Celestia asked. The silent spell that held the port's occupancy hostage was finally broken. I let out a sigh of relief. If only for the sake of my frayed nerves.

"She is."

"Sister?"

Celestia ignored Luna's response. I swallowed hard.

"May I speak with her?" Celestia asked. It wasn't a question. She formed it as one, but it wasn't. The not question left Luna quivering. I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. Luna seemed to fold in like a house of cards. What remained of the petrification shattered as Celestia took a single step forward.

Stella tapped me on the metaphysical shoulder. It was show time, it seemed. I am unsure how I expected this to go, but it was inevitable.

I felt the gentle touch of magic as my body shimmered in starlight. When the tingle ceased, there we stood. Noctis Stella in the flesh. We may not be an alicorn, but we'd be damned before thinking ourselves any less impressive.

"Celestia," we said.

"Nightmare!"

"No!"

Celestia stared impassively at us. If we surprised her with the change, she didn't let it show. Luna seemed torn between shock and terror. It has only been a year, a year free, free of her literal inner demons. To see us now, I could only pity her for all her bravado. She was still a victim of a fate most foul.

"No?" Celestia's brow rose only the tiniest bit but rose it did.

"Not Nightmare, not anymore, never again."

Celestia shook her head. The terse suspicion eased into a more relaxed intrigue. I let out an internal sigh as Stella contemplated our next move.

"Stella then," Celestia decided.

We smiled tiredly. "Thank you."

"That settled. I must ask, what have you become? Not accounting for the change in looks. That is not wholly surprising. You altered your…" Celestia trailed off and looked down at her sister. Luna had pulled her gaze from the rock beneath her and was eying us warily. That was fair, all things considered. "...Your prior host as well."

"What have we become?" Stella mused aloud. "A question I am afraid I cannot answer, not completely. Even now, we are rather new to what we have become. Though, whatever I am, started the night Nightmare Moon was beaten, struck down, vanquished. Stella lowered her head to match Luna's rather limp position. "The new the true Mistress of the Stars was freed."

The admission earned a startled look from Luna and a complex range of emotions that were covered as quickly as Celestia experienced them. We sat back up and let the two sisters decide their next move.

"A demon, tailored to whom they possess. A beast we feed until they are so grand we are left helpless before them."

If not for the acoustics of the port cavern, I doubt even Luna herself would have heard her whisper.

"Perhaps so. Perhaps we truly are what we devour. Or it is instinct, something deeper than the flesh or mind. The fact that we possess a soul bound together by two, we may not be what we once were. We only know for certain we are no longer Nightmare Moon."

Luna snapped up, stomping in defiance. The look of sheepish despair was replaced with righteous anger. Her eyes drowned in a maelstrom of pain and rage. She glowed in an aura of magic, her mane whipping about like the tide in a storm. We did not rise to the challenge. We sat silent as the storm raged. "Then what? What are you, A parasite, a monster, a demon? No, no, you are my nightmare; for over one thousand years, you were my waking, unending nightmare. You can't change, you can't, you can't, please, you can't."

As quickly as it came, the rage died to solemn surrender. Tears streaked down Luna's face. We did nothing as Celestia pulled her sister close. There we sat. However long it'd been, it was long enough for the light that had reached the cavern to rise and brighten. We were tired, no, exhausted. It took a conscious effort to stand, but we did so regardless. In time, Luna calmed and leaned on her sister as the two continued to stare us down.

"Change is inevitable, unstoppable. We all change with time. For the better or for the worse, we evolve, adapt, and march forward. We do not ask your forgiveness. We do not deserve it. We may never deserve it."

"If not forgiveness, then what do you desire?" Celestia asked. She wrapped a wing tighter around her sister, who welcomed the comfort.

"A chance."

"A chance?"

We nodded. "The same as with Sombra, with Discord. We seek the chance to prove what we are, what we truly are. We wish to move forward. We may not know what we have become, but we wish the chance to find out."

Silence. Less ravenous than the one prior. It was uncomfortable, leaving me on pins and needles from within the mind palace. I wasn't sure how that was possible. Stella would be holding her breath if we needed to breathe within the confines of our own imagination.

"You do NOT deserve forgiveness. After everything we did, neither do we," Luna said, pulling herself from the protection of her sister. "However, we trust in Stargazer; he has earned that time and time again. Thus, we shall trust him to discover the truth behind you and to smite thee if necessary."

Luna's word was law. Celestia masked the faintest of smiles. She did not hide the pride in her eyes as she stood beside her sister. Luna stood firm, though the anger did not fade from her presence, she tamed it, and broke that which bound her to Nightmare Moon all those centuries ago.

"That is more than fair," Stella said. Before anything else could happen, she retreated from control, and our changed form faded with her.

I took a deep breath and cracked my neck to one side. "So, anyone else needs a drink?"

Four separate hooves rose. Though one belonged to the present but nearly forgotten Tempest and one the unseen hoof of Stella. I nodded. "Thought so. Hopefully, Blue hasn't downed it all. He gets super greedy when drunk."

So we left the port behind. Another night had concluded. Another story told. We had a direction, and like this, map or no, we charted out our own trail. The past was not forgotten, trust not earned, but hope, hope wrapped us all in their tight embrace. Tomorrow, we would strive forth, and Stella and I would stand side by side in the light of a new day. The nightmare was over.