Since competing in the Running of the Leaves this year, Lunar Rainbow has been having blackouts. Oddly enough, these blackouts seem to coincide with reports of Nightmare Light, a mysterious black mare with a white, swirling mane and glowing flanks.
Lunar Rainbow doesn’t remember who her family is. When she awoke one day to the sunrise of the Summer Sun Celebration, Lunar Rainbow was lost and confused, with nothing but a faded cutie mark to tell her who she was. That night, when the moon was brought forth, she did the only thing her instincts could allow—she created a rainbow around the moon. Upon landing, she saw her now brightened cutie mark and gave herself her new name. For several years, she wandered alone through the land of Equestria, unsettling the population of any town she went through without a cover for her wings; they didn’t know how to handle a completely unknown alicorn, and assumed automatically that she was up to no good. Eventually, tired of being shunned by everypony, she built herself a tower deep in the White Tail Woods, only associating with other ponies when she had to, and always wearing a cloak to cover her wings when she did. Every so often, though, everypony stays up late into the night because of a mysterious ring of color around the moon. When the Running of the Leaves cuts through her beloved woods, Lunar Rainbow always goes onto her balcony to watch. This time, though, she decides to join the other ponies in the festivities. That’s when the blackouts start, and simultaneous reports of a mysterious black mare with a white, swirling mane and glowing flanks.
The Running of the Leaves. Usually, I just watched the event from my tower in the depths of the White Tail Woods and ran the trails at night, but today, I was going to compete. With my wings covered by a violet cloak, and my mane pinned out of my eyes, I trotted down my front steps and settled into a canter to get to the starting point.
I had my number pinned on my cloak and was stretching at a bit of a distance from the other contestants when I realized how socially starved and inept I’d been becoming. The young alicorn princess, Twilight Sparkle, was frowning as her unicorn friend insisted on adjusting the crown she had to wear for this event. Or, rather, the unicorn insisted that she simply must adjust the crown for the princess again. I’d given up on counting the number of adjustments a while ago. I recognized four other mares, as well, recalling the six of them saving Ponyville from a draconequus named Discord not that long ago.
The draconequus who was here now—apparently reformed—standing with the shy, yellow pegasus and staring right at me.
He said something to the pegasus, pointing at me, and she turned to look at me. I looked away, missing the rest of their exchange, but looked back in time to see them heading my way. My stomach knotted up and my wings tucked more securely—and painfully—against my sides. I’m just a normal unicorn, I chanted to myself. To them, I must have appeared just slightly nervous, but they wouldn’t know exactly why.
“Hi there,” the mare murmured, her voice pleasantly sweet, as she looked up at me. That’s right, I thought, watching her, I’m freakishly tall, too. I always forget about that. “I’m Fluttershy,” she continued. “And this is Discord. He noticed you over here by yourself, and thought you might want to come over and meet everypony.” She gestured over toward her group of friends with her hoof, and they were laughing about something.
“I’m socially inept,” I told her bluntly, giving her a blank look. Then Discord vanished and I felt a ruffling near my wings.
“So am I, my little…unicorn,” an interesting, mischievous voice crooned from inside my cloak, a tiny claw poking one of my wings. The miniaturized Discord scampered up to my head while I was frozen in shock and terror, then swung from my horn to look me in the eyes as he continued. “You don’t see me shrinking back like a wilted flower.” Then he was gone, a dead rose attached to my horn instead of his tail. He plucked it off with his lion paw and twirled it around.
I glared at him and cast a bubble around myself so he couldn’t come near me again. I could see what he meant, thought; he was going out of his way to be friendly in the way he understood it. So I grinned at him, going with the flow he’d just created. “You’re right, Discord. I, at least, know that, if you’re gonna give somepony a flower, you go with a fresh one.” With that, I turned to Fluttershy and weaved several violets and lilies into her mane.
Discord just grinned wider and twirled that rose again, and it was suddenly fresh, a vibrant blue with a black stem. Then he snapped and it was gone.
“Oh, I am good,” he smiled, framing my face in his view. “Yes, that blue is perfect in your mane.”
I frowned, realizing the rose was woven into my mane right next to my right ear, holding the hair in place instead of the pins, which were gone now.
“So, what’s your name?” Fluttershy asked, stepping closer to me with a smile. I just stared at her for a moment, not sure what to do. For as long as I could remember, nopony had ever asked my name. Oh, I’d told ponies my name, but they hadn’t asked.
“I’m Lunar Rainbow,” I said, giving her the most genuine smile I could manage. “It’s very nice to meet you, Fluttershy.” I raised an eyebrow as I looked up at discord. “I’m still deciding if the same is true about you, though.”
“Really?” he asked, and I was suddenly high up, standing on my back hooves on his shoulders with my front legs wrapped around his neck for support. “I’ve already decided that you’re so fun, you’re my newest friend.”
“Discord,” Fluttershy scolded, flying up to be eye-level with him. “Remember what I told you about giving new pony friends their space?”
“That I need to get their permission before I can start moving them of my volition, and only to do so when the point I’m making absolutely requires it,” he muttered, grabbing me and setting me on the ground. “Because other ponies won’t be as accepting of my habits as you and the others.” He looked a little put out, but smiled at Fluttershy nonetheless.
Maybe it would end up being a mistake, but I smiled and brushed one of my hooves against his paw. “I don’t mind all that much. Just give me a little warning when you’re going to do something like that, alright?”
He grabbed my extended hoof with both his claw and his paw, shaking it vigorously. “Oh, I will, Lunar Rainbow! I just knew you would be a good friend to have!” then he snatched both Fluttershy and I up in a big hug. Fluttershy laughed in delight, but I squirmed and just tried to get down.
“Discord, why don’t we take Lunar Rainbow over to meet everypony before the Running starts?” Fluttershy murmured as he set us back down. He nodded, and they turned toward the group around the young princess. Mainly because I was enthralled by the two friendships that had already surprised me today, I fell into step with them, one on each of my sides. As we walked over to the group, I thought I felt a paw probing at my left wing through my cloak. But Discord didn’t say anything, and he withdrew his paw quickly, so I didn’t ask.
As we joined the others, everypony turned to stare at me quizzically. My wings tightened down again, and I froze mid-step. Most of my memories dealing with other ponies flooded my mind, on in particular gripping it and making me relive the experience.
“What are you planning?!” somepony screamed at me, the darkness they kept me in sustained. The spell they had cast over me blinded me and altered their voice so I couldn’t even tell if they were a mare or a stallion. It also held me in place with no ability to move anything but my head, making me feel disconnected from my body.
“I’m not!” I sobbed for about the thousandth time, shaking my head wildly. “I don’t even know if I’ve been using my real name! Please let me go!”
Then, for the first time in days—though I didn’t know how many because of the blinding spell—I felt my front left leg as my captor stomped on it and it snapped. I screamed, my sight flashed from black to white, and I stood tall, my wings flaring out.
I woke up in front of the hospital with a broken leg in need of attention and an incurable inability to trust other ponies.
“Lunar Rainbow?” that intriguing voice intruded on my memory, and I suddenly noticed Discord’s face directly in front of mine, although it was upside-down with his eyes at a level with mine. Half in reaction to the memory, and half to his proximity, I reared back and drove my forehooves forward, aiming for his face. He responded quickly, grabbing my hooves just before they would have hit. “Oh, my dear, you seem so tense!” he cried, lifting me up by the hooves he was holding. “What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing,” I mumbled, breathing hard and squirming in his grasp. “Put me down now, pleas.” He frowned at me for a moment, but then all four of my hooves were on the ground.
“You alright, Sugar cube?” the orange-colored mare asked, reaching one hoof out toward me. I started and scrambled back before taking a deep breath and smiling.
“I’m fine. Just…” I paused for another breath. “I’m just not used to interacting with other ponies. I haven’t spoken to anypony for at least a month now.”
“Really?” the lavender-colored princess asked, able to look directly in my eyes because her height was almost—but not quite—a match for my own. “How do you manage that?”
“Basic self-sufficiency. I don’t need to leave my home so…I don’t.” Then I thought of something. “Although, I always visit Sweet Apple Acres to stock up on cider before winter hits.”
“Ah thought ah recognized that cloak!” the orange mare exclaimed, pointing her hoof at me. “You usually have the hood up when you come to the farm, else ah woulda greeted ya when ya first got here. Ah’m Applejack.”
She still held her hoof out toward me, so I lifted my own midnight blue hoof and shook it. “I’m Lunar Rainbow. It’s a pleasure to properly meet you.”
“WAIT!” the pink one cried, jumping in front of me as I dropped my hoof again. “If you don’t leave your house, then you don’t have any friends! And if you don’t have any friends, who takes the time to make you smile?!”
“Well, nopony has to.” I stepped back a bit. I knew this pony from the fact that her parties tended to end up visible from my tower. “You’re Pinkie Pie, right? Whenever I venture into Ponyville, it seems like everypony is gushing about your parties.” She nodded and opened her mouth to say something more, but then the snowy white unicorn spotted my cloak.
“Oh, dear Celestia!” she gasped, rushing toward me. “You can’t honestly expect me to believe you go about in this…thing all the time! I haven’t seen this style in at least three years—and for good reason!”
Slightly startled, I looked down at my cloak for a moment. The style was rather bulky, but she had no way of knowing the reason I had chosen it. Hay, that was the reason I had chosen it. “I suppose I’m not very fashionable, because I do prefer this style to the more recent, frivolous ones.”
The unicorn gasped again, looking horrified, and we heard boisterous laughter coming from overhead, mingled with a laugh I instantly recognized as Discord’s. I looked up and saw the rainbow-mane pegasus I’d heard of and wondered about a lot.
“Rarity, your reactions are hilarious!” Rainbow Dash kept giggling as she landed next to me, her foreleg going around my neck companionably. “Some ponies just value function over fashion, right Lunar Rainbow?” I nodded, wondering again if the two of us might be related somehow.
“You two look like you could be sisters,” Princess Twilight said, pointing her hoof at the two of us. “It’s like looking at day and night.” And I knew what she meant. Not only was my coat a dark version of Rainbow Dash’s blue coat, but my mane was also colored in a night-time version of her rainbow mane. Of course, my mane was styled in a more feminine manner. “Are you two related at all?”
I looked at Rainbow Dash hopefully, but she shook her head. “I don’t remember ever having a unicorn relative. We do look similar, though.” I felt my hopeful expression crumble and sighed. Well, it’s not like I've ever needed family before, I thought.
“Ah reckon we oughta get in place ‘fore the Runnin’ starts without us,” Applejack said after a pause, heading over to the group gathered behind the starting line. Rainbow Dash flew over and stood next to her, but as I moved to join them, the princess spoke up again.
“Don’t you want to take your cloak off?” she asked.
“Not a chance, Princess.”
I ended up getting third place in the race. It was partially because of Rainbow Dash and Applejack asking about my cloak and me trying to get away from the questions. As the officials, with Princess Twilight, put the medal around my neck, I was still breathing hard.
Then, as I was calming down, Princesses Celestia and Luna appeared before us, having flown down from Canterlot for the event. Both of them looked down at me curiously, seeming to wonder at a simple unicorn being taller than even the smallest alicorn princess. I somehow ended up looking directly into Princess Luna’s confused eyes for a moment. And, without consciously deciding to, I bowed low. Princess Celestia’s light chuckle brought me back to my mind, my cheeks turning red as I stood straight.
Everything was a blur after that. Being asked to visit Ponyville the next day by the six mares trying to gain my trust… Discord playing around in my mane for…some reason… All a vague blur until I was back in my tower, looking in the mirror and pulling the blue rose out of my mane, which swished back down to cover my right eye, as usual.
Then my sight flashed white.
And I woke up on my balcony as the sun was raised by Celestia.
Twilight’s day had been difficult to say the least. When she got back to the library in Ponyville, Luna had raised the moon, and Twilight didn’t even spare a thought on the theory she’d been working on for the past week. Instead, she flew straight up to her bed and started climbing under the covers. “Spike,” she called, hoping her assistant wasn’t already asleep. “Can you get the lights?” When she didn’t get a response, she called the baby dragon’s name again, looking over toward his bed. It was empty.
Fear struck through her heart, and she looked around wildly.
“Twilight!” he cried, his voice coming from the balcony. “He—” His voice cut off abruptly, sounding muffled.
“Spike!” she shouted, going out onto the balcony at a full gallop. “Spike!” Once she was on the balcony, she looked around, her gaze landing on an imposing alicorn perched on the railing. This alicorn wore a silver helmet, and small bits of armor covered various portions of her black body, leaving bare her flank, which glowed brightly—almost as brightly as her white mane and tail, swirling around her eerily.
“Finally,” the tall, black alicorn sneered, using her white magic to drop Spike onto the balcony from where she’d been holding him aloft. “The new little princess arrives.”
Twilight sank back on her haunches, confused and frightened at the same time. “N-Nightmare…Moon?” she mumbled, wondering how this could be the alter-ego of the now beloved princess of the night.
“NO!” she bellowed, her mane and tail swirling more violently. “I am not my mother! Had I a child, I certainly would not abandon her to the world, leave her to DIE!” With each word, her voice grew louder, drawing the attention of the citizens of Ponyville, including Twilight’s close friends. The five ponies made their way quickly to the balcony to protect their friend and princess. “Oh, and the gang’s all here! Come to take something else from me, hmm?!”
“Who the hay do you think you are?” Rainbow Dash snapped, flying up to literally stare the threat in the eyes.
“Yeah,” Twilight agreed, slightly anxious. “Nightmare Moon didn’t have a daughter.”
“I am Nightmare Light,” she hissed, swatting Rainbow Dash out of the air as though the pegasus were only a fly. “As for Nightmare Moon not having a daughter…well, why don’t you try spending a thousand years with nopony else around. Eventually, you would use whatever magic you could to keep from losing your sanity!”
“Nightmare Light, your mother doesn’t exist anymore!” Rarity piped up, one hoof taking on a faint tremor of fear. “You need to understand that!”
“Oh, she exists,” Nightmare Light scoffed, grabbing the unicorn with her magic. “The princess you call Luna is her cage now. She’s lost sight of what she was working for. So now it’s my turn.” In an instant, she flashed to stand before Twilight, looking down at her in scorn. “Tis a pity, really, that I couldn’t have a sister. You would have made a fine assistant.”
There was just an instant of warning when Nightmare Light’s horn lit up white before she shot a beam of pure energy at Twilight. An instant the princess used to flash herself and her friends out of the library, Spike clinging to her back. The energy that would have at least injured Twilight made a gaping hole in the wall of the library, causing the balcony to fall. Nightmare Light roared in anger, surging up into the sky as the balcony began to disconnect from the tree-building, turning to see the six ponies and Spike running down the main road, the majority of Ponyville’s population ahead of them.
“What do we do, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, panic in her voice. But then, Fluttershy panicked fairly easily.
“I don’t know, girls,” Twilight responded, worry spurring her to run faster. “If we had the Elements, I’d say we get them and fight her off. But since they’re in the Tree…”
“Ah know it’s not ideal, but we’ve gotta hide for now,” Applejack cut in. “We’ve gotta find a way to hide where this Nightmare Light won’t be able to find us.”
“But where would we hide?” Pinkie Pie cried. “She knew where to find Twilight, she’ll know where to find the rest of us!”
Just then, another beam of energy struck the ground right in front of Twilight, making them all come to an abrupt halt. “Oh, is the princess afraid of a little light?” Nightmare Light laughed, swooping down to land in front of the group. “And what is this I hear about Elements? Would you be saying that you don’t have the Elements…of Harmony?” She laughed louder, rearing up in excitement. “Oh, my timing couldn’t be better, could it?!”
“It could,” Discord cut in, finally intervening after hearing Fluttershy’s panicked voice. His appearance painted a confused look on Nightmare Light’s face. “You have heard of me, haven’t you?”
“What are you?” she muttered, her eyes looking him up and down repeatedly.
“I’m hurt!” he gasped, falling back dramatically, only to reappear on her back. “You truly haven’t heard of me? Discord, god of chaos? Reality altering powers?” When her response was only to buck him off, he sighed. “I suppose I'm not terribly surprised. I was trapped in stone by the Elements of Harmony for over a thousand years. Rather tedious, I must say. I'm free now, though, because I've agreed to do good for the princesses.” He raised an eyebrow, his physical form growing a bit for emphasis.
“What does that have to do with me?” Nightmare Light sneered, her horn lighting up again, building up more power than before. She was just about to blast the entire group in front of her when Discord’s paw snaked out, seemingly from nowhere, and grabbed onto her horn. Her magic instantly died away, and she felt suddenly weaker.
“Perhaps you should fly away,” Discord suggested, his voice eerie, pulling his paw back as she stumbled back. “Know what you’re up against before making another stand.”
Nightmare Light’s eyes widened in realization that she was being given a chance to escape an enemy she couldn’t fend off just yet, and she took off, flying fast out of Ponyville…
Discord stood on my doorstep, smiling as he faced my rage-tinged shock. “Friends visit each other at their homes, or so I’ve been led to believe,” he mused, rubbing his chin as he looked at me contemplatively. “Surely, it can’t be a bad time; you don’t know anypony else.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and shook my head. “How in Equestria did you find my tower? You’d have to know about it to get here, and already know I live here besides!”
He chuckled and walked through the door as though he belonged in my entrance hall. “Once I’ve met somepony, I can find them easily with little more than a thought—unless they shield their existence from me with a spell. Of course, the spell is very difficult and I would have to teach it to you myself. Then again, Sunbutt and Moonbutt mastered it while I was trapped in stone…” He kept talking, but it seemed like he was just rambling to himself so I tuned him out. Eventually, after I’d half-closed the door and rested on my haunches in front of the stairs, he finished his one-pony conversation and returned to looking at me quizzically.
“Lovely,” I grumbled bitterly. “Now, get out of my tower.” He blinked at my blatant hostility, then his face melted into that same pout from the day before—the one that had broken my initial resistance toward him. My eyes widened, only one visible due to my typical mane style, and I hurried to look away lest his expression worm its way past my resolve. “Y-you heard me!” I muttered, trying not to turn back around even though I didn’t want him at my back. “Nopony, least of all you, is welcome in my home.”
“Come now, Lunar Rainbow,” he sighed, his face appearing out of the banister in front of me, inches from my muzzle. I scrambled back, my cheeks warming a bit as he peeled himself out of the woodwork. His expression stayed the same. “I’ve kept your feathery secret, haven’t I? And I won’t tell anypony without your express permission.”
His eyes were so sincere that my determination just died. “Oh, fine!” I snapped, using my magic to slam the door shut as I started up the stairs to my living room. “But if anypony else shows up here, your welcome is gone. You got that?”
“Of course, Lunar Rainbow, why would I tell anypony about my secret alicorn?” He laughed, slithering up the railing next to me. “And since you’re my secret alicorn, I need to visit you every day. I take it you’ll give me the grand tour?”
I looked at him in slight disbelief as I raised a hoof to push open the door on the second floor landing. “Floor one is the entrance hall. Second floor,” I waved my hoof to indicate the room, “is the living room and the first library. The third floor is my kitchen and dining area, and you aren’t allowed any higher up the tower than that.” Sighing, I lay down on a pile of floor pillows, leaving my couch open for Discord as I floated the book I’d been reading over to rest in front of me.
Instead of sitting on the couch like I hoped he would, Discord flopped down on the pillows next to me. My book closed with a light thump as I turned a scowl on him. He had that one-fanged grin on his face, as if he knew something about me that I didn’t know he was aware of. “What?” I snapped, shifting away a little.
“You’re hiding something upstairs,” he replied in a sing-song voice. “And I’m gonna find out what it is!” With that, he disappeared and I shot up onto my hooves, heading for the stairs at a full gallop. I passed through the third floor quickly, knowing he wouldn’t bother with the areas I’d agreed to allow him in, and went straight to my second library and office on the fourth story. He wasn’t there, perusing my romance novels, although my office had been slightly disturbed.
Meaning he was snooping in my fifth-floor bedroom. There was no telling what piece of my past he would dig out. Sighing heavily, I took the final flight of stairs at a slower pace, dreading the idea of reliving more of my past with this draconequus nearby. As I opened up the door to the bedroom that took up the entire top floor, I heard him humming over near the doors to the balcony. When I looked, he was digging in a box that I hadn’t seen in years—because I didn’t want to see it. An assortment of my things were floating around him, some of them having come out of the cursed box.
Including that old cast and a torn and faded letter.
“Get out.” Discord looked at me curiously, a copy of his face morphing out of the back of his head. He seemed to make a point of continuing to dig through the box, and I could almost feel his claws shifting around in my very soul. I squeezed my eyes shut against tears. “I told you to leave!”
Without thinking, I slammed the cast and the letter back in the box with my magic and pushed the lid down with my front hooves. My wings flared out and my face scrunched up angrily. “Get out of my tower!” I shouted into his mildly surprised face.
Rather than obey me, he flashed a little ways away, sprawling out on my bed. “I must say, the more time I spend in your presence, the more interesting you seem,” he grinned, flipping through one of my old research journals.
“So glad I entertain you,” I spat, walking over to stand beside the bed. When he eventually looked over at me, I reared up and shoved him off the bed. “Is there some reason you refuse to leave?”
He stood, brushing himself off, and showed me that mischievous grin again. “Do I have to have a reason?”
“Yes.”
Seeming slightly taken aback by this response, he hesitated a moment before answering. “Well, my dear, I’m here to make sure you keep your promise to visit Ponyville,” he said at length, waving his paw dismissively. “Oh, I should mention that something happened there last night that was most intriguing.”
Ponyville was in an uproar still when Discord and I arrived, everypony talking at once as Princess Twilight examined the damage to her library. Both she and the mayor were distraught, nopony around stepping in to take charge. For some reason, though, nopony was actively seeking out another leader at the moment.
I’d seen this situation before, and how it would dissolve if nopony stepped up. First was the panic, which had already set in. then they’d get angry, then violent on increasing levels, and once they had their hooves on somepony they were going to blame for everything, murderous. Sometimes torturous before they decided to kill. I’d been lucky to escape that tiny village near the badlands.
So, despite my discomfort with the situation, I rose up to my full height and made sure to exude an aura of authority as I walked calmly toward the library. The noise level died away gradually as I moved through the crowd. Hopefully, due to the proximity of Ponyville to Canterlot, Princesses Celestia and Luna would arrive soon to take more secure control.
“Princess!” I called, waving my hoof to get her attention. “Princess Twilight, I need to speak with you.”
She noticed me after a moment and swooped down from where she’d been hovering to examine a hole in the wall. “Hi, Lunar Rainbow,” she said, smiling anxiously. “We have a bit of a situation here.”
“Discord was telling me a bit about it on the way here, actually.” I sighed and glanced back at all the ponies gathered. “A more thorough explanation would be nice, but first… Well, the populace needs to be reassured that somepony’s keeping them safe.”
“I’ve written to Celestia requesting her and Luna’s presence. They will arrive within the hour.”
I pointed my hoof toward the crowd, my face scrunched up in anger. “All due respect, your majesty, but an hour is more than enough time for this situation to get more than just a little out of hoof. Somepony needs to let them know that everything is under control now. You need to tell them something.” She frowned at me, as if asking just how bad it could get, and I leaned back, carefully considering my words so as to avoid triggering one of my breakdowns. “You don’t want to know the horrors a small town can produce entirely on their own when normalcy is disrupted.”
“Oh, yes,” Discord crooned, coiling his body around my legs. “Such wonderful chaos; I don’t even need to lift a claw to help it along.”
I stared at him in disbelief, his face next to mine as he grinned at Twilight. That explains why he’s not bothering to help any. “And you all trust this guy?”
The princess rolled her eyes. “He may be mischievous, but the minute any of us is in real danger, he jumps at the problem.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about,” I muttered to myself, looking down to see if I could climb out of Discord’s coils.
“My dear Lunar, who are you worried about?” he asked, using his tail to make me look at him again. I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me or really wanted to know, as I was beginning to see was the norm for him. That made me hesitate, which allowed a look of fear to slip through my careful control—and that was probably answer enough for him. Even so, he just raised an eyebrow and waited.
Twilight cleared her throat, distracting Discord and saving me from having to answer him directly. “Why don’t you two go on inside while I take care of things out here. I’ll have the mayor address everypony for now and we’ll all discuss the situation once Celestia and Luna arrive.” I nodded and reared up to jump over Discord. He chose that moment to stand again and grabbed me around the midsection. I was hoisted into the air and tucked against his side before I could react, my legs flailing instinctively as he carried me into the library.
“Discord, put me down!” I snapped, letting my legs dangle rather than try to kick him. He just ignored my protests, not even looking to see my glare. Instead, he started rambling about…something, so I brought my forehooves up to cover my face—to hold back the memories. Despite this, the flood of memories broke through for a moment.
“She’s the one!” the stallion shouted, pointing a hoof at me. the sudden outburst shocked me, making me drop the letter I’d written and was trying to deliver to the post office. The crowd of ponies took advantage of my shock to—
“Lunar, you’re not listening,” Discord grumbled, dropping me on the floor before I could catch up to what I’d missed.
“Maybe you should have put me down when I asked you to,” I hissed, standing slowly so as not to jostle my cloak with my wings—which were, at the moment, uncomfortable in a way that couldn’t be fixed without revealing them. And, seeing as Princess Twilight’s friends were in the library already, I couldn’t very well do that. Instead, I sighed, walked over to the nearest bookshelf, and pretended to peruse.
“Warning!”
Before I could look over at Discord, he snapped and I was transported to stand in front of him, surrounded by the ponies, baby dragon Spike, and the draconequus.
“Can I help you?” I growled, glaring up at him.
“Everypony wants to know about you,” he replied, gesturing his paw in my direction. “We want to know who Lunar Rainbow is.”
I blinked at him, then sighed. “So do I, Discord. So do I.”
I was pacing in a small room off to the side of the main library area where everypony else was waiting for the princesses. I couldn’t be certain, but I thought maybe Discord was peeking in at me every few minutes. Either way, I was much too focused on the fact that I’d told them about my lack of memories to care. It wasn’t as though I could trust any of them farther than I could throw them—which wasn’t very far to begin with.
And yet, I had told them that I couldn’t even be sure Lunar Rainbow was my real name.
“Oh, horse feathers,” I mumbled, plodding over to the doorway. Resigning myself to think over it later, I took a hesitant step toward the group of friends only to pause on the threshold. Everypony was huddled together, whispering furiously to each other. Discord towered above them, his expression unreadable as he glanced over at me. All I could tell was this couldn’t be good.
Then he grinned and shouted, “Warning!” I cringed inwardly as he snapped, hoping he wouldn’t do anything too crazy. I ended up in the middle of the group again, this time without my cloak, and I couldn’t feel my wings at all. I looked at my back and one horror was swapped for another.
My wings were gone.
“Well, that clears that one up,” he murmured, shrugging as though he didn’t know the truth and holding my cloak in his paw. “Just as I told you.”
“Sorry ah doubted ya,” Applejack muttered, followed by similar apologies from Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Fluttershy had a smug look on her face, although it was much kinder than the cocky expression Discord was sporting. Oh, I’m gonna wipe that grin off his face, I thought. Pinkie Pie and Spike weren’t getting involved at all.
“Discord, may I speak with you alone?” I snapped, my nerve endings still searching in vain for my wings as I brushed past him. Rather than follow me back to the other room, he shrank himself down and lounged on my back as I did the walking. Once I had closed the door behind us, I bucked him off.
“Well, that was hardly polite,” he scoffed, floating in front of me, the tone of his voice at odds with the grin that spread across his face right after he finished speaking. “I believe it’s customary to apologize for rudeness.”
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!” I hissed, foregoing his request. “Or maybe a panic attack! Mental breakdown, perhaps?!” I would have kept going, but he zipped my lips so I couldn’t speak anymore. Instead, I huffed angrily through my nose and waited.
“When you said you’re socially inept, you weren’t kidding,” he sighed, standing now. “My dear, they were ready to make you take the cloak off anyway. Had I not acted in the manner I did, well, I’m sure you don’t want to think of that.” He snickered, snapping again. The zipper on my lips vanished before I could formulate a response and I floundered for a long moment.
“I appreciate the thought,” I ground out at length. “However, your actions have left me uncomfortable on increasing levels, and there are a few of my things which I would like to have returned to me at once.” As I spoke, I rose up on my back hooves, trying to get closer to his eye level.
“I thought you would like this ability of mine to take those off for a while,” he mused, waving his paw at me. My wings instantly unfurled and fluttered a few times on my back. “Less chance of being found out and all.”
I sighed, folding my wings against my sides again. He had a point; in fact, he was steadily turning the scolded I’ intended for him back on me. But my stubborn nature wouldn’t allow me to let him know what I thought about his valid points.
“Even so, I would prefer you don’t repeat that trick unless it’s absolutely necessary,” I grumbled at last, avoiding looking at him for some reason. “Or, you know, unless I ask you to.”
“I suppose I can agree to that,” he grinned, his face popping up on top of my muzzle. Gasping, I scrambled back and was brought up short by a tug around my neck—my cloak, which Discord still had a hold of after draping it back over me. His expression was now puzzled, back where it belonged on his head. “Don’t you trust me, Lunar?” he quipped, tying the strings on my cloak with a flourish.
“Do I have a choice?”
He just laughed, lounging in midair as I rolled my eyes and strode back into the main room after opening the door. At that same moment, all four alicorn princesses entered the library, the mayor following close behind. Celestia seemed to notice Discord’s laughter, and after sending the mayor off with a task or ten, she wandered over to stand with me.
“I do hope Discord isn’t teasing you too much,” she said in what I now realized was her usual, friendly voice. “He doesn’t quite know how to react when something or somepony catches his interest.”
“Oh, so I’m doomed,” I deadpanned, unsure if I was funny or not. “I’ll get my affairs in order tonight.” She laughed softly and I felt a tiny smile on my face. I made a joke… That feels nice…
“Who will the beneficiaries be?” she asked as the other princesses walked toward us.
“Orphans. Who else does a pony with no family or friends give their things to when they die?” I murmured, stepping back slightly as the others walked up. “There are more important things to discuss, though.”
“She’s right,” Twilight interjected. “We need to figure out what to do about this Nightmare Light pony.”
“I forgot her,” Luna frowned, lowering her head. “And when I remembered, I thought she’d been destroyed. I should have tried to find her…” She shook her head and looked at Twilight.
“Just how dangerous is she?” Rainbow Dash asked, hovering over to us.
“When I was Nightmare Moon, I created her to be my successor. She would have all the Shadow Magick that you removed from me. That way, if anything happened to me, she could ensure the sanctity of my plans.” Luna shook her head again, her face scrunching up in thought. “I’d thought the Elements of Harmony had undone her existence, but it seems they simply pushed her into dormancy.”
“So, we got no way of defeatin’ her now,” Applejack surmised, seeming slightly dejected. “The Elements bein’ in that tree an’ all at the moment.”
“Now, I do believe you’ve all forgotten about me,” Discord chuckled, rising out of the floor in the middle of our group. “Does nopony remember how I scared her off last night?”
“That’s true,” Pinkie Pie chimed in, bouncing a bit too close to my side, making me step away to avoid her jostling my wing. “He also stopped her from blasting us by grabbing her horn!”
“Celestia blinked at Pinkie, then looked up at Discord quizzically. “You can negate Shadow Magick with that old trick of yours? I thought it was just alicorn magick and unicorn magic.”
“That trick works on any kind of magic, Celestia, but I’m afraid I can’t successfully use it on her again for a long while,” he responded, sighing as he stepped between Pinkie and I. “Since she is an alicorn, she developed a resistance to it, which can last anywhere from a month to a year. However, I can negate Shadow Magick in other ways as long as there is sunlight.”
“But how can that help at night?” Luna asked, appearing slightly flustered from what I was seeing. “It isn’t as though we can keep her from showing up again.” Her eyes seemed to say that they shouldn’t keep her out of Ponyville, even if they could.
“We can instate a curfew until she’s defeated,” Twilight suggested, looking to Celestia for confirmation. “Keep the citizens inside at night until we’re certain she won’t return.”
“Yes, that would certainly be a helpful temporary solution,” Celestia agreed, watching curiously as discord started messing around with my mane as he’d done the previous day. “Twilight, I’ll trust you and your friends to arrange and enforce the curfew from sunset to dawn, effective immediately. You will each have two guards with you at all times, which your brother will arrange as soon as he can be sent for.”
“Actually, he and a few troops are already on their way here,” Princess Cadance interjected, draping one of her forelegs around Twilight’s shoulders. “I flew here ahead of them. He can make that decision once they get here.”
“Sister, I would like to set up lodging here in Ponyville,” Luna said, turning toward Celestia. “I must be here to assist in reforming Nightmare Light. Regardless of how she came into being, she is my daughter. If we can strip the Shadow Magick out of her, she might just transubstantiate as I did.”
Everypony looked shocked by her request, except for Celestia, who simply smiled. “Of course, sister,” she murmured. “Do you have a suggestion of how we might go about reforming her?”
“Not yet. I will be able to form a plan once I see her again.”
“In that case, I suggest we all arrange for what is to come. I must return to Canterlot for a few hours, but I will return before I have to set the sun. While I’m gone, Luna will oversee arrangements here.”
With that, Princess Celestia headed toward the front door, but paused to look at me before she left, her eyes swimming with curiosity. “I will see you all soon.”
My heart stuttered as she left, the idea that she might know swirling in my mind.
I’m running. They don’t know that I’m an alicorn yet, so I’m running. They’ll never know because I’m running.
Suddenly, my leg is in that cast again, my cloak is gone, I’m clinging to that letter in my teeth, and I’m flying. My past has caught up to me, so I’m flying. They’re all chasing me because they found out, so I’m flying. Voices I haven’t heard in years are screaming from the mob behind me.
“She’s the one!”
“What are you planning?!”
“Get her!”
A one-fanged grin looms ahead of me and I’m caught. Several ropes coil around my midsection, snapping bones in my wings. I scream, and so many faces grin at my pain. A strong paw and claws slip around my throat, squeezing.
“No, let go!” I sob before the constriction on my throat begins to prevent speech.
“My dear Lunar Rainbow,” Discord chuckles, his face the only thing I can see clearly, my lungs straining for air, I’m dying. “Don’t you trust me?"
“NO!” I cried, kicking at the black mass twisted around my body. I was gasping for air as I finally got it off me, and I realized where I was.
I was in my big, cold bed, the blanket now a shapeless heap on the floor. I’d come home, exhausted, just before sunset, with Discord as my escort. I saw the sliver of the moon through my balcony door, then the box holding the evidence of my past.
My left foreleg tucked itself closer to my body of its own accord, the nerves tingling under my skin. The black sheet I’d had draped over the box for the past few years was lying, neatly folded, nearby. Feeling very much like a coward, unable to face the past, I draped the sheet over the box with my magick as the first hot tear leaked from my eyes.
When I finally got past the torment of the nightmare, the sun was up, and the gleaming city of Canterlot lured me out onto my balcony. Sighing, I put my hooves up on the railing to get a better view, leaning my face out into the wind. The gusty breeze dried up the tears that had matted in my coat, tossing my mane back so the curled ends brushed against my wings. It made me think about the fact that I hadn’t been flying in months, since the last lunar rainbow I’d cast. And the moon wouldn’t be full for a couple weeks yet.
Maybe just a quick flight over the tower, I thought, spreading my wings wide and leaning further out. Nopony would see me out here…
“Shall we fly down to Ponyville together, my dear?”
In an instant, my wings snapped shut and I pushed myself back, the wind suddenly gone from my face. I spotted Discord beside me on the balcony, but I ignored him and walked into the tower to fix my mane.
“That’s too bad,” he went on, following me. “It’s the perfect day for flying. I’m sure Rainbow Dash will be enjoying it.”
“I know I’ve told you that you’re not allowed up here,” I interjected, rounding on him. He just showed that one fang of his in a familiar grin and flashed over to my vanity mirror, grabbing my hairbrush.
“Allow me to fix your mane for you,” he crooned, curling a claw to coax me closer.
“You wouldn’t need my brush to do it if you wanted,” I pointed out, changing my direction as subtly as I could manage and going over to my bed. I reached out with my magick and lifted the blanket off the floor, draping it carelessly over the sloppy sheets. “And, besides, I must insist you leave. Wait for me downstairs if you feel you must escort me to town again today.”
“Not gonna happen,” he chuckled, rising out of the design on my blanket. With a gasp, I started to scramble away from him, but he reached out and ran his claw back and forth on the underside of my muzzle, trying to tickle me. That would have been fine, I’d never been ticklish, but then his claw inched a little too close to my throat and I felt ice shoot through my veins.
One powerful surge with my wings sent me up into the rafters and I landed on the closest beam big enough to support my weight. After a series of shaky breaths, I looked down at Discord, wondering why he hadn’t responded, and saw him inspecting the rainbow of crystals encasing his claws and all the way up to his shoulder. As he shrugged and brushed them off as easily as he would with dust, he grinned up at me.
“Not ticklish, I presume?” he asked, frowning when he noticed the crystals sprouting up again.
“More like paranoid about anypony…touching me,” I mumbled, lying across the beam and keeping my left foreleg tucked against my chest. “Sorry about the crystals. I didn’t even realize I did that…” He looked up at me sharply and I hid behind my mane in shame. “Th-there should be a trick crystal you need to pull out first.”
“Does involuntary magick happen to you often?” His voice beside me shocked me, but not as much as his paw coming to rest on the top of my head. Flinching, I ducked my head lower.
“No, this is the first time it’s happened…” Although it wasn’t a lie, my mind jumped to my sporadic blackouts. But telling him about that would only trigger more events to haunt my dreams.
My nightmares…
Something shimmered at the edge of my vision and I looked to see Discord holding his crystal-covered claw out to me. “Would you point me to the trick crystal?” he asked, making the light refracting from them dance across the room.
I quickly leaned forward and pulled out the only clouded crystal, which had sprouted from the middle of his palm, watching the others fall at once to the floor. Instantly, he grabbed my muzzle and turned my face to him, his eyes boring into mine as though they would reveal all my secrets to him if he looked hard enough.
And I feared that they just might…
Already these past two days, this draconequus had caused me to surprise myself in ways I’d never imagined. The first shocking act, of course, had been not running the instant somepony had discovered the first of my secrets. Knowing he’d have been able to stop me was no excuse for this and other blunders. What could this mean?
My eyes widened in shock and fear.
He dropped my muzzle, probably thinking this reaction meant he’d gone too far. Somewhere in my mind, I wondered if he could possibly know the mistake had been mine.
“Warning,” he said, whispering in my ear, and snapped. I blinked at that moment, and ended up in front of my vanity with Discord brushing the knots from my mane. “Lunar, dear, you need to trust me. I happen to be the only defender you seem to have.”
“Trust is simply not something I do,” I snapped, staring at my reflection dead in the eyes. I couldn’t tell, though, whether I was telling him a fact or trying to convince myself. “And I’m not going to.”
He chuckled and twisted my mane up out of my face, securing it back in a large clip painted with bright yellow roses the way I usually did only when doing some intense studying. “That’s what I used to think.”
In Ponyville, I discovered that I’d walked into a larger role the day before than I’d suspected. The citizens were looking to me as their representative to the princesses. On too many occasions, I found myself telling a mare or stallion—even a pair of colts looking out for their younger siblings—to take their worries to the mayor or Princess Twilight for the moment.
And then I spoke to Twilight about this worrisome development.
“Oh, actually, that’s a great idea!”
I must have misheard that… I thought, frowning. “Come again?”
“It’s a great idea. This Nightmare Light fiasco is placing more responsibilities on my back. Representing the interest of Ponyville is going to be too much for me now. And the mayor has so many other things she needs to deal with already, which is why she passed that task to me in the first place. I was planning to ask Applejack to handle it, but it seems the citizens have chosen you for the job.” She turned to me with a smile. “They chose to trust you. Would you—”
“I refuse,” I interjected, stepping forward to glower down into her face. Her eyes met mine with shock. “I don’t need a town full of ponies looking to me as a leader.” Again, my mind added, a shiver running down my spine.
The first ponies I’d met had given me their loyalty—until they’d blamed me for either too much rain or not enough and I naturally blocked the incident from my mind. That was only the beginning.
“Lunar Rainbow, was it?” Princess Cadance asked, moving away from one of her guards to stand next to Twilight. I transferred my glare to her and she smiled softly. “I couldn’t help overhearing and I’m not sure you have much of a choice. These ponies have chosen you as their new representative. If you refuse to help them, won’t the situation just become worse?”
I didn’t respond, just continuing to glare, mostly because she was right. They wouldn’t like my refusal to listen to them, and problems would arise for the princesses—and for me if I ended up continuing these daily excursions to Ponyville, and, from what I could tell, Discord would not be allowing me to cease with the visits.
Sighing, I bowed my head and half-closed my eyes. “Princess, you may formally announce to Ponyville that I will act as their crisis representative until somepony else can be appointed permanently.”
“Wonderful!” Twilight cried, moving as though to hug me. My eyes widened and I scrambled back to avoid her, clamping my wings closer to my sides to keep them from fluttering like hers were.
“Stop, don’t touch me!” I shrieked, my body going tense as though waiting for an attack. Twilight stepped away from me and I felt myself relax, only then noticing all eyes in the room trained on me. My outburst had even interrupted Discord’s intense discussion with Fluttershy. Now I’d done it. Explaining my way out of this would be nearly impossible. “I-I… I don’t want anypony…to touch me…”
Trying to look anywhere other than at the ponies watching me, I noticed Fluttershy coming over to me with a sympathetic expression on her face, and I couldn’t stand it. I muttered something—an excuse to leave?—and ran outside, not stopping until I found myself at the edge of the Everfree Forest.
I looked at two trees towering above me and recognized them. Had I really been so close to that place all this time?
I had to go back.
Picking my way backwards through that memory—that first memory—I ended up curled in that spot, remembering that innocence I lost. That’s how Discord found me.
“Now, I wonder what the significance of this place is,” he said, lounging in midair in front of me. “I thought you’d gone home, but you weren’t at the tower. Why could that be?”
I draped a hoof over my face before responding. “This is the first place I remember. The only place I didn’t have to…” I stopped there, telling myself that he’d only betray my trust.
He didn’t let it go like I thought he would, though. Instead, he pulled my hoof away from my face, meeting my eyes curiously. “What didn’t you have to do?”
I knew he couldn’t be, but I thought he looked earnest… I thought he looked…serious.
“So…” Twilight began when Discord returned from taking Lunar Rainbow home. “Did you figure out what that little freakout of Lunar’s was about?” Discord frowned at her for a moment, seeming to debate whether to tell her or not, before he sighed.
“Yes, well, it seems that since she awoke without her memories, she has managed to stumble upon communities that were fond of harming her, and none that could be considered remotely accepting of outsiders, until now,” he explained as the moon was raised by Luna’s magick. He watched the sphere ascend, visible tonight as the waxing gibbous, very nearly full.
“Really?” Twilight asked, shocked, as she led him back toward SugarCube Corner. She and the elements would be staying in the inn next to the bakery that night, along with the other princesses. “I wasn’t aware that there were such places in Equestria! Did she happen to mention the names of these places?”
“She didn’t say, no.” Discord shrugged. “She merely stated that they were on the borders of Equestria, and highly self-contained villages. One, she said, was in the badlands near the mountains where the dragons make their homes.”
“What in Equestria could they have done to her?” Twilight wondered, frowning as she strolled through the saloon doors into the Ponyville Inn. “At least she seems to trust you, Discord. That’s definitely a start.”
Discord stood just inside the door, frowning in her direction as she walked toward the conference room the princesses had reserved so they could plan for Nightmare Light’s return. With the moon in the sky, his protective measures were weakened and could be broken through within minutes. All the townsponies had responded well to the curfew and had returned to their homes as the sun had just begun to dip towards the horizon. So long as they all stayed indoors, they’d be just fine.
And so, his mind was free to turn to his discussion with Lunar Rainbow. She certainly did not trust him. He couldn’t tell Twilight that, of course, because she would press to know why, and then trust would be out of the question. Lunar Rainbow hadn’t spoken of any details, but she had made it very clear that she had suffered torture at the hooves of anypony she’d ever trusted because she was an unknown alicorn, and it had traumatized her. It was a condition that had never been seen in Equestria, but he knew of dimensions where it was common, and some where it was more than just common. In one particular place, he had seen that they had not yet completely abandoned the notion of degrading those who suffered from it and ignoring their needs.
Discord was just moving towards the conference room when a shiver went through him. He swiftly changed direction and was outside in an instant. There, gliding in from the Everfree Forest, was Nightmare Light. Knowing she would go after the princesses, he flashed an extra few yards away from the inn.
“And so the spirit of chaos contemplates the newcomer,” Nightmare Light taunted, lighting upon the ground before him. “Or shall I call her ‘the other one’ since I am new hereabout as well?”
“I don’t believe you know of the other one, she was not here when last you were,” Discord pointed out, scratching his head. “And besides, why should I contemplate her?”
“Oh, there are reasons,” she chuckled, stepping up next to him. “Her secret, for one. Then there is your desire to know her better. And—” she paused, circling to his other side to whisper in his ear, “—perhaps, a wish for more? Yes, I think so.”
Anger boiled inside of Discord and he swiped his claws at her. “What is she to you, anyway?” he snapped.
“I did not come to fight you,” she sneered, lifting into the air and thus dodging his claws. “Oh, and don’t you worry your pretty little head, I shan’t harm her. Indeed, no harm shall befall her at all, so long as none befalls me.”
“You took her somewhere?!”
“Oh, no, I didn’t need to. I just took a moment while you were not with her to enchant her. Or shall I say enchant us?” She laughed while Discord leaped at her, his claws sinking into her foreleg, digging into muscle and sinew. The laugh choked off into a scream, drawing the princesses out of the inn with Luna at the front. Nightmare Light began kicking the foreleg, trying to dislodge the draconaquus. When she managed to shake herself loose, there were three deep gashes on the leg. “Just look what you have done to us!”
“Us?” Twilight asked, looking toward Discord.
“Us!” Nightmare Light repeated, now laughing painfully. “You should learn to let ponies finish, Discord. I placed an enchantment upon Lunar Rainbow and myself. This enchantment makes any injury I receive appear on her body as well! Surely you would not harm your dear friend and subject just to harm me.”
Nightmare Light again broke into laughter, still filled with pain, and by the light of her glowing mane and tail, Discord stared in horror at the blood dripping from his claws. He desperately wanted to tear her limb from limb, but couldn’t. He couldn’t take the chance of harming Lunar further.
“Stop this at once!” another voice boomed, and Luna flew up to an even level with Nightmare Light.
“Hello, mother,” Nightmare Light sneered. “Here to kill me?”
Luna was brought up short. “O-of course not,” she spluttered, drooping lower. “I just—well…”
“Face it, mother! You’ve become weak in your cage. I could succeed where you failed. Is that not why you created me?”
“No! Please, listen to—”
“How many years did I listen to you? Seven hundred years! After which I was abandoned!” As she was shouting, the moon was brightening. “I thought you dead, you know! And you should have been!” A white beam of Magick shot from her horn toward Luna, which she managed to shield at the last moment. Nightmare Light seemed shocked and the beam abruptly cut off. And, just as suddenly, she vanished in a flash.
“Wait!” Luna shouted, anxiously flying toward the spot where she’d been. “Come back!”
Discord, shaking the blood off his claws, took slow steps toward the inn. “Clearly, we cannot harm her now.”
“Discord?” Twilight said, coming up next to him. “Why should she choose Lunar Rainbow to enchant with? Why not one of our friends?”
“Because Lunar Rainbow left Ponyville before sunset and was out of my protection,” he said, though he knew that she had been chosen because of the secret he kept for her. He would likely need to reveal the secret to the others soon. And then, all trust would be destroyed.
I awoke groggily the next morning, a burning pain along my right foreleg. Groaning, I rolled off my bed. It was a mistake to put my right foreleg down first as I instantly crumpled in a heap in a pool of blood.
I looked at my leg and saw blood soaked bandages wrapped around it. Trying to remember what had happened last night, I removed the bandages to reveal three long gashes. All I could remember from the night before was that Discord had led me home after finding me in the Everfree Forest. The rest was blank, for it had seemed that I had instantly been waking up from sleep.
I stood again, this time keeping my right foreleg off the ground entirely. It took me a moment to remember how to walk with only three legs, but I got to my first-aid kit. Granted, of course, my first-aid kit was more extensive than would be found in most ponies’ homes, but I hadn’t been to a doctor in years. I examined the injury and determined that my leg wasn’t broken but that some of my muscle tissue had been damaged. It would be a while before I could walk on it again; were I to try to walk on it again now and continue to, it wouldn’t heal right and I'd have a limp for the foreseeable future.
As I wrapped my leg, it struck me that the gashes looked like scratches from some bird of prey. My suspicions instantly arose; I knew only one pony with an eagle claw large enough to cause this kind of carnage. Or, rather, one draconequus.
I didn't like that thought and pushed it away, wrapping the bandages extra tight and digging for the sling I knew I had buried in the bottom of the box. Once I found it, it took some adjustments to fit it to my right leg rather than my left. I stretched my hoof in different directions, a routine to help prevent stiffness, and calculated that a week would be a good rough estimate for how long I should wait to walk on it.
My cloak, I found, had been left in a heap on the floor by the door to the balcony. Why had I done that? I always made sure to hang up my cloak in the front closet. I tried to piece together what might have happened the previous night as I packed parchment and a bottle of ink into my saddlebags, but to no avail. I stuck my quill delicately into my mane and, while looking over myself in the mirror, I thought I saw my eyes flicker green for a split second.
Ponyville wasn’t entirely crazy when I got there, but there were quite a few ponies wanting to speak with me. Spike had been gathering information from ponies up until my arrival in town.
“Hey, do you want me to go with you and help you out?” he offered, looking over his list of information one more time. “I scribe for Twilight all the time.”
“Oh, uh, Spike, thanks,” I responded. “But, actually, I think you should probably stay here in case other ponies come looking for me.” I took the list he’d already made and gave him a new parchment, turning to go, and I paused. “Hey, let Discord know I’m here if you see him,” I muttered, half hoping he didn’t hear me, and trotted down the lane.
I didn’t know why I said that. But, either way, I headed to the first place on the list: Golden Oaks Library. The construction was coming along. The earth ponies on the project had finished regrowing the section of tree that had been blasted away, and the unicorns were working on restructuring the interior.
“We’re going to be using materials from the inside to rebuild the balcony,” a pegasus explained, concluding a status report he was giving me. “We should be done in a couple days.” I wrote down the last detail and offered my quill for his signature. Once he signed it, I replaced the quill in my mane and rolled the scroll.
“I'll get this report to the princesses before the end of the day.”
“Thank you,” he replied, turning to continue overseeing the construction.
I moved on to the next pony on my list; next was a young mare who wanted to know if the princesses were setting up any form of evacuation plan. I made a note of it and told her that I’d make sure that a plan was created and posted in Town Hall in the next day or two. Trotting along, I crossed her off the list and noted the name underneath.
The third pony on my list was a kid—I came across a pair of colts at the orphanage who wanted to know if there would be a safe place for them and the rest of the orphans to go if needed. I smiled at them.
“Of course,” I murmured, “we’ve already got an evacuation plan in the works. I will personally ensure that you kids are safe.”
“Thanks, Miss Rainbow,” the taller of the two said. “I’m sure glad that you’re around for all this.”
I didn’t let on that I had my reluctance to be a part of the crisis in Ponyville. My dislike of the situation didn’t matter when children were involved. “I should be going. I have more ponies to meet with and reports to give. I’ll come back and check on you when I can.” Waving my injured hoof just a bit, I turned to head for the next pony on my list. I was a little ways down the lane when I was interrupted.
“Oh, dear!” an irritatingly familiar voice cried. I sighed and turned to see Discord looking upset. “Oh, your leg!”
I looked down at my bandaged leg in it’s sling and shook my head. “I don’t know how it happened. I woke up, and my leg was…well, not exactly shredded, but there’s some deep muscle damage.” I eyed his claws suspiciously, as he was clutching them close to his chest.
“Lunar, I’m sorry. I hate to say it, but what’s happened to your leg is…my fault.”
“What?” I hissed, taking a few quick steps away. “How—”
“I didn’t mean to harm you!” he instantly backtracked. “Nightmare Light was here, and I was fighting her, but she’d put an…enchantment on you. She said that any harm that came to her would be matched on you, but I had already…”
“Oh,” I mumbled, though I wasn’t entirely sure what to believe. “Alright. I, uh…”
“How was your night?” Discord interjected, trying to undo the unpleasant moment he’d created.
“Ah, well, fine,” I evaded. “I, uh…went to bed early. It’s a wonder this leg didn’t wake me up.” Discord seemed to shrink at that comment. “Do you, uh, want to join me? I’ve got two more places to go before I check in with Spike.”
“Of course!” Discord brightened, snapping his fingers. My list was suddenly gone, and he was holding it up in front of his face. “Where to?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered, raising an eyebrow at him. “I was just crossing off the last ponies. Now I don’t have the list.” He laughed, and I smiled as he held the list out to me.
Discord and I picked up a quick to-go lunch on our way back to where Spike was stationed at Town Hall. As I made my way over to Spike, I spotted a gray pegasus stallion pacing nearby. He didn’t notice me right away, but his dusty ocher tail was periodically flicking like a whip.
“Ah, Lunar Rainbow,” Spike called when he spotted me—he’d been watching the stallion, too. “Did you find everypony on your list?”
“Yeah,” I responded, sitting down next to him. “I've got their reports and requests. Has anypony else come by yet?”
“Well, there’s that stallion over there,” he offered as I passed him a basket of hay fries. “Other than that, nopony’s come by since you left.”
“Hmm,” I mumbled as I bit into my sandwich. Discord shrank himself and his food down and perched on my head to eat. “If I find crumbs in my hair tonight, I’m kicking your butt into next week.”
“Fine,” Discord pouted, flashing to my side instead. “Be that way.”
“I will be that way.”
“Hey, are you the unicorn liaison to the princesses?” the stallion called, finally noticing us and approaching.
“Yes. Go ahead, I’m listening.” I pulled out a fresh scroll and my quill. “What can I help you with?”
“Name’s Dusty Geode,” he introduced himself as I started taking notes. “I’ve been working on a project for many years which I think will be of interest to the princesses. I’ve been working on it since before Luna’s return. It’s pretty well constructed, if I say so myself.”
“Wonderful!” Discord enthused, before continuing dryly, “What is it?”
“A large underground structure, reinforced with steel and magical inscriptions. It’s called a bunker. I had originally designed it large enough for only a couple families, but expanded on the design. It is currently large enough to hold everypony from a city as large as Canterlot.”
“Why would anypony need to fit a whole city underground?” Spike balked while Discord just started laughing uncontrollably. I frowned, casually tossing a few pebbles in his direction.
“Oh, my goodness!” Discord finally burst out. “Lunar, he’s a prepper! Oh, I didn’t know that they existed here in Equestria!”
“What is a prepper,” Dusty Geode sneered, “and why does it sound like an insult?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, turning back to look at him. “Ignore Discord, he’s insane. Please, Dusty, tell me more about your bunker and why the princesses should know about it.”
“Surely you must be working on some form of evacuation plan? The thought is that the residents of Ponyville can evacuate into the bunker in case of an emergency. There are entrances all over town, and—”
“Oh, this is wonderful!” I gushed suddenly before clearing my throat and calming down. “Of course, the princesses will be extremely interested in this development. I’m going to stop you there, though, and I will report this to the princesses in my next meeting with them. Come here tomorrow and I’ll let you know what we can start planning.”
“Of course, wouldn’t want to give away all my secrets right away,” Dusty laughed, looking around now. “I’ll be here at noon tomorrow, alright?”
“Absolutely.” I paused, thinking back on the two young colts. “I think, from what I’ve been dealing with today, that the first thing to be done is to move the orphans from the orphanage into the bunker.”
“Right,” Dusty smiled before trotting away. Discord harrumphed at his back, and I kicked him.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Discord tried to explain what a “prepper” was—a paranoid pony who spent their time preparing for the decline of society or the end of the world, or whatever. I didn’t get it. A few ponies came by asking about emergency evacuation plans and I told them we were working on it. There was one mare that wanted to protest the curfew, but she seemed to have been drinking, so I sent her home. Finally, it was time to join the princesses and make my report.
Discord decided to hitch a ride in the ends of my mane as I followed Spike into Town Hall, where the princesses and Twilight Sparkle’s friends had gathered in one of the conference rooms. I glanced around and wondered whether this was really a safe place for all four princesses of Equestria to gather in the present situation.
“So it’s true!” I heard Twilight gasp as I entered the conference room, and my eyes zeroed in on her. “Nightmare Light did put an enchantment on you.”
“I’ve had worse,” I said, glancing down at the leg in its sling. “Just needs some time to heal.”
“We’ll have to work on a counter spell to remove it,” Celestia commented, nodding her head. “For now, can you report what’s been going on in Ponyville?”
“Right, well,” I began as Discord disentangled himself from my mane and took his place by Luna. Spike was next to Twilight, and everyone was present, so I settled myself into the open seat. “I got a progress report from the ponies working on rebuilding the library, and that seems to be coming along well. It seems that the main concern of the town thus far is the formation of an evacuation plan. I don’t know how much you may have planned, but I was approached by one stallion named Dusty Geode about the use of his…bunker. It’s a steel-reinforced underground structure capable of housing the inhabitants of a city the size of Canterlot. With your permission, I’d like to work with him on the plan. My first move would be to have the local orphans and their caretakers moved down into the bunker. He said he’d meet me at noon outside of Town Hall again tomorrow.”
“Of course,” Luna replied, taking the scrolls I offered as Twilight took the one about the library. “The Mayor and Prince Shining Armor will join you at that time to work out the plans. Once you've mapped out the evacuation plan, Celestia and I would like to inspect the magical protections and make sure there's enough.”
“I will be joining them tomorrow, too!” Discord interjected, throwing his claw up in the air like a school pony. “I don’t trust this Dusty Geode fellow, so I am going to be there as well.”
“Very well.”
The meeting continued, the princesses going over some ideas of how to defeat Nightmare Light without harming her, ideas on setting a trap for her. After several ideas fell through because of one detail or another, Discord became disruptive and the princesses kicked him out of the room with him picking me up and taking me with him.
“Discord, what the hay are you doing?” I asked dryly as he started out toward the streets.
“Lunar, do you think it’s a good idea for you to be staying alone in that tower in the woods?” he asked suddenly. “Surely, it would be better for you to be somewhere where you could remain under protection.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’d be much safer here in Ponyville. Maybe you should stay here for a while.”
“Are you serious?” I laughed, squirming until he set me down. “I can’t stay here. I mean, really, I couldn’t sleep here. You get that, right?”
“Well…”
“No, Discord, I have to go home. Staying here…”
He frowned at me a moment, then nodded, and walked me back to my tower.
The next morning in Ponyville was pretty uneventful. I sat most of the morning on the steps of town hall as Discord told me all about the time he’d made the town the Chaos Capital of Equestria. He even demonstrated a small amount of the chocolate milk rain, which I had to admit was delicious. Of course, I already knew how the story ended, but he described being turned to stone.
It sounded terrifying and I cradled my injured hoof closer to me.
“I couldn’t imagine being frozen like that,” I muttered. “Trapped inside your own head, screaming without hope of being heard…” Something in the back of my mind seemed to twinge at my words, but the thought vanished before it could fully form.
“Hmm, yes, ponies do tend to lack the imagination for such things,” he replied, waving his claw. “Most couldn’t imagine the state you’re in, even. Ponies tend to shy away from the less clean aspects of life.”
“Well, I think I’m a testament to the fact that there are plenty who are perfectly comfortable with those aspects.”
Discord’s sigh came from right next to my ear and I felt him rustling around in my hair. “That is true.”
I was about to respond when the clock tower began to chime, declaring it to be midday, and Prince Shining Armor and the Mayor approached. I slipped a scroll and quill out of my saddlebag, standing to meet them. Dusty Geode arrived just a moment after the others assembled with me.
Dusty was carrying a set of maps, one showing the entrances into his bunker scattered around town. The other showed the layout of his bunker, tunnels spreading out beyond the borders of Ponyville proper. Discord stayed perched in my mane for a while as we looked over the maps and organized a plan for evacuation.
As we worked out the details, Dusty kept sidling up close to me, making me shift away. My wings hurt from holding them so tightly against my side. After this happened five times, Discord huffed in my ear, suddenly appearing between us. I looked up at the draconequus to find him glaring at Dusty. Dusty, on the other hoof, stopped crowding in my direction, focusing back on the plan.
Within the hour, we had planned to evacuate the orphans to the bunker before the end of the week and make sure each household knew where the nearest entrance was.
“This looks great,” Shining Armor said, straightening up with a smile. “I’ll show this plan to the princesses.”
“I’ll call a town meeting immediately,” the Mayor responded, making a note of her own. “Lunar Rainbow, you’ll be able to explain the plan to everypony then.”
“We should make up duplicate maps to give out to the citizens,” I told her, tapping my hoof on the map of the entrances. “That way everypony will know which entrance is closest to them in case of evacuation.”
“Dusty Geode, may I take this to copy?” she asked, turning to him.
“Sure,” Dusty answered, nodding. “I have all of the entrances memorized.”
The Mayor rolled up the map and trotted into town hall as Shining Armor went on his way. Dusty made no move to leave, just rolled up the other map.
“I can’t thank you enough for providing the bunker to our efforts,” I told him as Discord draped himself over my back. “I’m sure the evacuation plan will remain in place after this situation clears up.”
“Yes, well, a good evacuation plan should be the standard for all of Equestria,” Dusty replied, smiling slightly.
“That will be all,” Discord grumbled, waving his paw at him. Dusty huffed but turned and trotted off.
“Doesn’t Princess Twilight want you to be friendlier to ponies?” I teased, surprising myself. He didn’t respond, but I sat on my haunches so he slid off my back.
“So, Lunar, I’m curious,” Discord said suddenly, popping up suddenly in front of my face. “There was a letter in that box of yours.”
“What about it?” I muttered, nudging him out of my way.
“Oh, I was just wondering who it was for. Your past lover?” He was teasing, but his laugh came out a little sharp.
“No, I don’t remember having any…lovers.” I glared at him. “If you must know, I was going to make an inquiry at the Department of Cutie Mark Registration.”
“Cutie Mark Registration?” He gawked at me. “What is that?”
“The Cutie Mark Registry was created as an aide to the Equestrian police and has also been used as a Missing Ponies alert system. Inquiries can be made to find the history of a particular pony. I was going to make an inquiry to determine my own history, but…”
My voice trailed away as I remembered what had happened when I’d been on my way to mail the inquiry.
“Get her!”
“I decided against it,” I finally murmured, shivering.
The town meeting was brief, but it went well. I joined the Mayor and Pinkie Pie in giving out the maps after explaining the plan. The citizens filtered out slowly, stopping to chat amongst themselves on the way to our table by the exit. Relief flooded me as I observed the calm way everypony approached, smiling to show their confidence in their leaders.
I should have been scared to be included in those smiles again, but I wasn’t.
As the last citizens left, movement caught the corner of my eye. Princess Luna was sitting at a distance from the other princesses, gazing out a window. Without planning it, I strode over to her and sat by her side. Something about sitting there felt familiar, but she shook the thought away.
“This is all my fault,” Luna murmured, not bothering to look her way. “I forgot my own creation. My…child.”
“That did start all of this,” Discord agreed, having appeared on my other side.
“I’m not so sure,” I interjected, looking down at my hooves. “You aren’t responsible for the actions of other ponies.”
“I could have saved her when I was saved. She could be sitting beside me, if I had only…”
“Why didn’t you?” Discord probed, leaning into her face. I nudged him disapprovingly, only to receive a raised eyebrow from him.
“I thought…when I created her, I didn’t know if I was creating a real pony or just a shadow pony. When I remembered her, I was convinced it was the latter. Nightmare Moon’s plans shouldn’t have been halted if she’d survived. But it is clear now that she did.”
“And what do you plan to do about her now?”
“Discord,” I hissed, pushing him out of her face. “Really?”
“I can still save her,” Luna stated firmly. “There’s a real pony inside of her. I just need to find a way to bring Midnight Fractal out.”
“Midnight Fractal?” I murmured, looking up at her.
“It is the name I wish I’d given her,” she admitted, a sheepish look diffusing her expression. “The name I will give her when I have my daughter back.”
The others had begun to gather around us and the brash voice of Rainbow Dash rang out, shocking me.
“What if you can’t get her back?”
Luna surged to her hooves, turning to face the ensemble, glaring. “What if nothing!” she snapped. “I can do it!”
“Ah’m sure ya can, Princess,” Apple Jack cautioned, “but we really should have a backup plan.”
“Well, we can’t harm her, that’s for certain,” Discord interjected, standing beside Luna. “Lunar Rainbow would be injured as well.”
“None of us want that,” Celestia reasoned, reaching a hoof out to her sister. “And a peaceful resolution is ideal. However, the matter is sensitive, Sister. Surely you know that?”
“What do you expect me to do, Sister?”
“If we can’t separate her from the shadows, then maybe…” Twilight muttered, considering with a glance at Discord.
“Maybe what?” I asked, finally feeling the need to join the conversation.
“Maybe…there’s a spell to turn a pony to stone…I could unfreeze her when we have access to the Elements of Harmony again…”
“But what would happen to Lunar Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked, looking at me worriedly.
No one responded as all eyes turned on me. Ice shot through my veins at the same time as a calm settled over my mind.
“I would be turned to stone, too, right?” I breathed. Even as I said it, I tried to imagine it. Discord’s description ran through my head. Would it be so scary if I knew it was coming? Would it hurt if I didn’t fight it?
“Absolutely not!” Discord growled, stepping in front of me. “Out of the question!”
“We are working on a counterspell to Nightmare Light’s enchantment,” Celestia responded, stepping into his face. “We will refrain from acting until that is complete. However, we cannot rule out our options.”
“Sister—”
“Luna, I understand your reluctance. We are going to try your way first, but we must prepare for an undesirable outcome.”
Luna gazed imploringly up at her sister but relented. “You are right, Sister.”
“Twilight, you should learn the spell. Just in case.”
Weeks passed with me working as Ponyville’s liaison. Nightmare Light only showed up every few days, just as the citizens were beginning to wonder if she wouldn’t come back. Mostly, she got away without a scratch, but I would occasionally wake up with the odd bump or bruise. After those nights, Discord always showed up to make sure I was alright. I ended up losing track of how many times I had to tell him I’d had worse.
Over time, the townsponies got used to the situation and I had less and less to do. In the mornings, I went down into the bunker to check on the orphans. Dusty Geode was always there, of course, working on something or other. He’d split some large caverns into separate living quarters and worked out designated areas for each family to call home in case of evacuation.
The orphans were an interesting bunch; the younger ones took to playing an unending game of hide-and-seek, making everypony else trip over them fairly often. The older ones, on the other hoof, did all they could to help Dusty and their caretakers. One group of colts specifically looked up to Dusty, following the stallion around.
I had worried that the foals wouldn’t take well to being stuck underground, but I was surprised at their morale. They had taken this change of situation and treated it as an adventure. Every day, they still found new corners of the bunker for the little ones to play in.
Of course, Discord accompanied me to the bunker every day. I wasn’t sure why, though. Coming underground seemed to put him in a bad mood. He had little tolerance for the foals and always reacted brashly to Dusty Geode. I told the draconequus on multiple occasions that he didn’t have to, but he always ignored my assurances.
Today was especially bad. Discord had transformed himself into a gray pony, though he kept his odd assortment of horns and wings, and insisted on standing between me and anypony else the entire time. When Dusty Geode approached us, Discord draped his feathered wing over my shoulders, a low rumble building up in his chest.
“Discord, will you behave?” I hissed, shrugging his wing off me. Or, rather, trying to, as he just shifted so my attempts had no effect.
“Why, Lunar, dear, I don’t see how you can say such a thing,” he jeered, the deep tone cutting off as he spoke. “Really, don’t you know by now that behaving is no fun?”
“If you want to have fun so bad, then play with the foals. I bet they’d love for you to completely rearrange the entire bunker.”
He gasped at my suggestion, pulling his wing back as though I’d burned him. “You want me to play with the brats?”
“Only if you continue to insist on being rude.” I sighed and took a few steps forward to greet Dusty. “Hello, Dusty. How is everything down here today?”
“Same as always,” he muttered, eyeing Discord with an inscrutable expression. “The caretakers from the orphanage went to market a little bit ago.”
“Have you had to use any food from your store of preserves?”
“No. I’ve actually been helping them out with bits so the foals can eat better. They’ve started to grow on me.” As if to demonstrate this, one of the little fillies peeked out from behind his mane.
“Should I be talking to somepony about providing the orphanage more funding?” I murmured, noting how skinny the filly was.
“That might be wise.”
I nodded and jotted down the note. When I looked up, the little filly was trembling, terror on her tiny face. I followed her gaze to Discord, who had transformed his head into a skull. “Discord!”
“What?” he grumbled, turning his death-mask to me. “Not funny?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Fine,” he sighed, transforming back to his real form. “Are we done here?”
“You can go wait for me outside if you’re that bothered.”
“Not a chance.”
“We don’t need anything else down here, Miss Rainbow,” Dusty interjected, watching me more closely than I was comfortable with.
“Wonderful, then we’re done here. Warning!”
Before I could react to anything, Discord had snapped his claw and we were above ground again. He had me tucked under his arm as he looked at my notes. I swung my hooves reflexively for a moment before letting them hang limp—I had inexplicably gotten used to his antics.
Sometimes, it was even a little…fun.
“Now, there are no damages to check on today,” he said, tromping forward. “You have some free time, so we’re doing something fun!”
“Such as?”
Before I’d finished speaking, Ponyville had vanished. My eyes struggled to register out new surroundings as he set me on the ground. From what I could tell, the patch of land we stood on was floating in a swirling void. In fact, everything was floating, including the house in front of us.
“Welcome to my little slice of time-space!” Discord bellowed, also floating. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s certainly different,” I muttered, looking around. “But we’re supposed to be in Ponyville.”
“Oh, they can spare us for a little bit. Do come in and take off your cloak, I’ll get you some tea.” With that, he floated up through the door, leaving it open. Sighing, I spread my wings, pushing my cloak back and flying up into his house. The inside was a cacophony of colors.
The room was oddly proportioned, the floor sloping down on one side and the walls coming together at awkward angles. Along the back wall, arcing over a door to another room, was an upside-down staircase leading to another door in the ceiling. Rather than having windows, the walls were adorned with glowing drapes over empty frames. As soon as I flew through the door, gravity ceased to exist. I stopped flapping my wings and hung suspended in the air. A couch and a recliner floated sideways near a table.
“I’d rather have hot cocoa,” I called, watching him swim through the door across the room. It took a moment to figure out, but I used my wings and hooves to find my way into the recliner. A passing coatrack tapped my shoulder and I surrendered my cloak and saddlebags to it. “If you have any, that is.”
“Of course.” He appeared on the couch a moment later, holding a cup of cocoa out to me. I expected that, since we were sideways, the liquid would pour out and float around us, but it somehow managed to stay in the cup. When I lifted it to my lips, the hot, chocolatey liquid flowed into my mouth and down my throat just the way it should.
“Is that cinnamon? It’s delicious.” I took another long sip and he grinned. “So, how are we supposed to know when they need us?”
“Oh, this little dimension is attuned to certain ponies. They can just call my name and we’ll hear it.” He took a sip of his drink. “I sent a note to Spike letting him know where we are.”
“Ah, good,” I laughed. “Your house is interesting, by the way. Very surreal.”
“You’re not uncomfortable, are you?” he asked, looking worried.
“Oh, no, I like it,” I laughed, shaking my head. “It’s very…you, you know?”
He grinned. “Do you want the grand tour?”
“Would that even be useful? I’m betting you change it every day or so.”
Discord’s guffaw drew my eyes, and I watched him twist around. I had never paid attention to the way mirth diffused over his face, but watching him now, I felt something stirring in my gut. I shook myself and took a long drink of my cocoa.
“Discord!” It was a disembodied voice that sounded like Spike.
“Oh, we’ve barely been gone ten minutes!” Discord muttered, his face falling—falling off his head, actually, and drifting toward the ground. I stifled a laugh and downed the rest of the cocoa as Spike continued to call for him.
“Where’d that coatrack go?” I muttered, glancing around. He immediately caught the coatrack out of the air and passed my cloak and saddlebags to me. As I got my gear back on, the disembodied voice switched gears.
“Captain Wuzz!”
“What…who’s Captain Wu-what are you doing?” Discord was grinning, trying to hurry me along. He was wearing a strange outfit now, carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows, and he had a mane of blond, flowing hair.
“Are you prepared to enter the world of Ogres & Oubliettes?”
Discord’s dimension vanished and we were back in Ponyville.
“Guys night?!” Discord enthused. Spike grinned sheepishly, scratching at the back of his head. Discord deflated—literally, falling down flat like a pancake—and huffed, “We haven’t had guys night in ages.”
“You play Ogres & Oubliettes?” I asked, trying to hide my curiosity.
“Yes. I know, it’s not me at all, but it’s actually quite fun.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s…I’ve read all three rulebooks, I would love to play, but I’ve never had anyone to play with.”
“Spike, Lunar may just be a bigger nerd than you,” Discord chuckled, making me blush in embarrassment.
“Oh, never mind,” I muttered.
Nopony came to talk to me during the hours I sat in Town Hall—it had started getting cold a week ago, so we’d moved inside—so my report to the princesses was just about the funding for the orphans. Twilight said she’d have the Mayor look into the budget and offered to let me stay with her in the library for the night, but I declined. Discord, as usual, accompanied me on the trek back to my tower before sunset.
“Lunar, dear, I truly do think you ought to stay in Ponyville,” Discord muttered, walking beside me. “If you stayed in Ponyville, I could at least protect you.”
“You are literally the only creature who knows where my tower is,” I responded, not for the first time. This argument was getting familiar—and I was starting to find that familiarity comforting—because he brought this up almost every evening. “I’m perfectly safe here.”
“Ponyville would only be safer for you. The princesses, me, the royal guards—you’d be well guarded.”
“You know full well that that’s not true. You’re ignoring two very important factors.”
“Yes, your wings. Which the princesses really should know about, by the way.”
That was new.
“What?” I turned on him, beginning to feel that all-too-familiar sting of betrayal. “You know why they can’t know…”
“You think they’ll attack you. Really? You know these ponies now. They’d never attack you for being an alicorn.”
“You can’t know that!”
“You think I’d let them attack you?”
“I don’t know! You’re the god of chaos! That doesn’t exactly scream predictability.”
“Lunar, they have to know!”
“I’d rather turn to stone forever!”
He reeled back, fire in his eyes.
“No, you wouldn’t!” he roared. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“I know plenty! Why do you keep insisting on this?!” I snapped, surging into the air to get on eye-level with him. “Nopony has protected me before, why should this time be different?!”
“Because, you insufferable nincompoop, I care about you!” For a split second, surprise overtook his features, but then his expression solidified with determination. “I care about you,” he repeated.
I dropped to the ground in shock, jarring my legs.
“Lunar? Are you alright?” He lifted me up, concern on his face.
“Hey, let me go!” I muttered, squirming until he complied. Hooves firmly on the ground, I stared at a tree for a moment, then turned and continued walking. “I think I can manage to get back home by myself from here.”
“Wait just a moment!” A thorny bush sprouted in my path, forcing me to stop and look back at him. “I just told you that I…have feelings for you, and you’re—”
“What is this—this nonsense you’re spouting at me now?” I huffed, feeling my cheeks heat up. “I mean, you’re the god of chaos, that’s a little…”
“A little what, Lunar?” he growled, taking hold of my chin in his paw.
“Unbelievable! A little unbelievable, Discord!” His grip loosened and I was able to pull away. “I can’t make myself believe it.”
“Well, why not? And don’t you tell me it’s because of your past, I already know you don’t trust anypony.”
“You’re always so flippant,” I offered, rolling my eyes. “You can’t honestly tell me you don’t think of me as a toy. Me and everypony else.”
“Except that I can! I took you to my home!”
“So what? You come to my tower every day! It’s not like I ha—” My voice faltered and I lifted my hoof to my mouth, turning away. There was no way. “I am going home.”
“Fine,” he grumbled, and the thorns vanished. He walked alongside me in silence to my tower’s clearing. I glanced up a couple times to see him scowling and a flushed feeling crawled up my neck.
There’s no way, I thought, shaking my head. Really, it’s not possible.
“Goodnight, Lunar,” he muttered as I started closing the door behind me.
Nightmare Light lighted on the ground, looking and listening through the open window. The princesses were all inside with more ponies and that draconequus.
“Luna, you’ve been trying for weeks,” Celestia was saying, her tone strained. “It’s time to turn to other options.”
“Sister, please, you don’t understand—”
“Enough!” Celestia’s voice boomed, startling Luna into silence. “Twilight, you have been searching for the counterspell, right?”
“Yes,” Twilight responded, though she looked sympathetically at Luna. “But, umm, what I found…well, if it’s going to work, we need both Nightmare Light and Lunar Rainbow here.”
Nightmare Light brought her hoof up to stifle her laughter. Her and the other one, in the same place? That wouldn’t happen. Not that their “counterspell” would do any good.
“I see.” Celestia turned to Discord. “Can you get Lunar Rainbow to stay in Ponyville from tomorrow on?”
“I will do what I can,” Discord assured, saluting her.
“Discord, we need her to stay,” Cadance chimed in, her voice stern. “You could make her stay if she doesn’t agree. It’s for her own good.”
“I promised I wouldn’t force her to do anything,” he admitted worriedly. This drew Nightmare Light’s eyes, and she noticed the concerned frown dragging his face down.
There was a strange groaning in the back of her head that she had to shake away.
“Discord,” Celestia sighed, raising her hoof to rest it gently on his arm, “some things are more important than promises.” A solemn silence fell across the assembled ponies. The pink one looked personally affronted by this statement.
“And what if Twilight’s counterspell doesn’t work?” he asked, shaking Celestia’s hoof off of his shoulder.
No way, Nightmare Light thought, staring at him. Does he…know?
The ponies in the room turned to look at Twilight, who was looking sheepish.
“Well, I can’t guarantee it will definitely work, but I’m confident that it should,” she muttered, flipping through the pages of a book she had with her.
“I’m afraid that will have to be good enough,” Celestia allowed, pacing across the room. “You’ve also found the spell to turn Nightmare Light to stone?”
“Yes. I’ve been practicing. Also the spell to undo it, so I can do either spell whenever it’s needed.”
“Then we know what to do when she shows up again.”
“But you can’t turn her to stone if her enchantment over Lunar Rainbow holds,” the timid yellow pony murmured from her spot next to Discord. “Lunar would be…”
“She’s correct,” Luna inserted, finding her voice. “You cannot sacrifice her that way.”
“If it comes to that,” Celestia began, looking down at the floor as her voice faded away. “If it comes to that, then we will do all we can to bring her back as soon as we can.”
“That—”
“Discord!” Celestia snapped, turning to frown at him. “That is enough! I don’t want this any more than you do, but sometimes, hard choices must be made!”
Nightmare Light had to respect her logic as a ruler. After all, she had her own hard choice to make.
What was she going to do about her mother?
As she was contemplating this, Celestia looked sharply at the window where she stood. Realizing her mistake, she shot into the air. Shouting erupted inside the library and ponies started rushing outside. Discord appeared first, right in her face.
Discord…?
Nightmare Light faltered at the soft voice in her mind, bringing a hoof up to her head. When she backed up, though, the groggy voice of the other one faded away.
“She almost woke up,” she muttered to herself. “I must accelerate my plans.”
As the ponies gathered before her, she grimaced.
“Midnight!” Luna called, flying up to her side. “I know you’re in there. You must stop this!”
“I do not listen to traitors!” Nightmare Light roared in the face of her mother, her Magick manifesting around her horn. When the princess moved closer, she released the energy in a blast, aiming for her. Luna defended herself with a shield and the blast backfired, burning her hind leg.
Nightmare Light’s scream resounded through town, waking the townsponies. Through her tears, she saw Celestia charging magick around her horn. Knowing that this would not be her night of victory, Nightmare Light teleported away.
The siren shattered the silence and the townsponies took only their most precious belongings, evacuating to the bunker. It was the sort of chaos Discord usually took delight it, but he couldn’t think straight.
“Discord?”
Fluttershy’s voice dragged him back to the present and he found her hoof resting gently on his paw. Her face was diffused with concern.
“I have to go see Lunar Rainbow,” he breathed, frowning down at Fluttershy, “now.” She nodded and removed her hoof from his paw.
“Do what you have to,” she murmured, stepping back.
Discord flashed directly to the balcony of Lunar Rainbow’s tower. As he expected, the doors were open, and whimpers were issuing from beyond the fluttering curtains. His chest constricted as he stepped inside, searching for a glimpse of her.
She had collapsed by an open chest. Her mane and tail were glowing, the rainbow hue shifting as they settled into the gentle curls that had become familiar over the past weeks. Her hind leg was badly burned and one of her forelegs rested over the edge of the chest. Once the glow subsided, he approached and saw that, within the chest, she had been reaching for a jar of burn cream.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to her bed. He lay her there and pulled the covers over her, leaving her burned leg bare, before taking the burn cream and spreading it over the wound. He was carefully wrapping bandages around her leg when she stirred.
“Discord?” she groaned, squinting at him in the dark.
“Nightmare Light was burned,” he explained. “I had to…I came to check on you. I…Lunar, this is my fault, I—"
He was cut off when she reached out, placing her hoof on the side of his face. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, her consciousness fading again, but she smiled. “Thank you.”
I awoke to the throbbing pain of a burn on my hind leg, trying to remember the dream I’d had. An image surfaced of Discord carrying me. I shook the thought away, convinced that it couldn’t have actually happened.
When I shifted to get up, I found my leg had been bandaged carefully and Discord was there, pacing restlessly. He didn’t notice when I rolled out of bed, my hooves dropping down silently to the carpet. Holding my injured leg up, I padded toward the trunk across the room. Just as I reached it, he turned and saw me.
“Lunar!” he cried, lifting me up. “You should have told me you were awake.”
“Put me down,” I muttered, ducking my head. “I need to get my things.”
“What do you need, I’ll get them for you,” he responded, cradling me in one arm as he stooped to open my trunk.
“Discord, please, I can walk. Put me down.”
He hesitated, glaring resolutely into the trunk before he finally sighed and set me back on my hooves.
“Don’t push yourself,” he demanded, standing and crossing his arms. “You could catch yourself a fever if you’re not careful.”
“I’ll be fine,” I insisted, and I gathered bandages and a small jar of burn cream, storing them in my saddlebags. “I have work to do.”
“Not really. You can afford to take a sick day.”
“Maybe I could, but…” I hesitated as a thought hit me. “Discord, what happened when she attacked last night?”
He shrank down to my height, looking away. “Nightmare Light made a direct attack against Princess Luna. The Mayor initiated evacuation.”
The blood drained from my face and I dropped my hind leg, testing my weight on it. The pain radiated up to my hip and I winced.
“Lunar—”
“I’m fine!” I snapped, spreading my wings and lifting up off the ground. “I have to—”
In an instant, I was outside, draped in my cloak with my saddlebags in place. Discord was holding me in his arms, my legs folded under my body with my injured one dangling in the open air. I frowned up at his unreadable expression.
“Discord, you’re supposed to warn me before you do that.”
“I don’t have to if you’re hurting yourself!” he snapped, tightening his arms around me. “I refuse to watch you hurt yourself.”
“Discord.”
“Lunar, please—”
“Promise me you aren’t going to do that again.”
“No.”
“Discord, promise.”
“Lunar…”
“I need you to promise me.”
His eyes squeezed shut and a low rumble sounded in his chest. “Alright. I promise. But only so long as you’re not pushing yourself too hard.”
“Alright,” I acquiesced, checking my saddlebags; he’d packed my ink, quill, and parchments for me. “Now, we have to get to Ponyville.”
Ponyville itself was almost entirely deserted. The last few pony residents were straggling into the entrances of the bunker, carrying more than they probably should have stopped to get. Each family stopped by the entrance to give their name to whoever was stationed there, which Pinkie Pie was frantically checking against the town census in her head—she had apparently been running between all the entrances all night to do this.
“Is everypony in the bunker?” I asked her as I limped up to where she was trotting, running out of steam.
“Oh, just about,” she panted. “There’s only five families left, and it looks like they’re heading in now.”
“Good. Where’s the Mayor? And the princesses?”
“The Mayor went into the bunker about an hour ago to start getting ponies settled in. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance went to Canterlot to fetch a few more platoons from the Royal Guard barracks. Isn’t that a funny word? Platoon. Plaaaaa-tooooooon. Pla-tooooon. Pla—”
“Pinkie Pie.”
She stopped, grinning sheepishly at me. “Sorry. I had to relieve the tension.”
“I know. Where are your friends now?”
“They’re stationed at the entrances helping…oh, shoot, there’s Spoiled Rich with her entire house loaded on a wagon. I better go sort this out.” She picked up speed, galloping over to where the Rich family was causing a scene at the smallest entrance. I tried to follow, but I planted my injured hoof and instantly lost my breath.
Discord appeared at my side as I gnashed my teeth. “Lunar, perhaps you should—”
“I’m fine,” I snapped, hobbling toward the entrance. “I’m going into the bunker to help.”
By the time I got there, Filthy Rich had gone with Applejack, headed for the largest entrance with the wagon, and Spoiled Rich and her daughter had descended into the bunker.
Getting everypony settled in quickly became hectic; I limped around as fast as I could, but I soon realized that I had to walk normally. Each step sent fire up my leg, but I fought through the pain. Dusty Geode and the Mayor had done most of the work arranging the businesses around the main hub of the bunker, but the residential rooms were chaos.
“Discord, you’re not going to be any help here,” I muttered, looking at the list of residents and the map of the bunker at the same time. He’d been hovering the entire time, trying to keep everypony away from me. “Go check in with the princesses.”
He hesitated, but complied, vanishing after a moment.
I spent the next hour checking in with as many families as I could. Occasionally, a foal would scream and run headlong into me, shooting pain through my body. I was sweating and panting by the time Spoiled Rich stomped up to me, her snout in the air, and demanded a private suite for her family, complete with plumbing.
“All toilets are composting and water is to be conserved, ma’am,” I huffed, looking over the list again. “Dusty Geode has already dealt with your husband and assigned you the most private living quarters available.”
“And where are his living quarters?” she sneered, stretching to her fullest height—a couple inches shorter than my relaxed stance. I responded by lifting my head up and looking down at her over my snout.
“Dusty Geode has opened his home to you and the whole of the town. You will respect him and you will respect me as a representative of the government. Do you understand?”
“Oh, alright,” she hissed and held out about a dozen bits. “How’s this?”
I sighed, stepping around her and moving on. She must have stuck out a hoof as I was passing, because the fire flared up, radiating up to my spine. My vision dimmed and a strangled scream ripped up my throat as all four of my legs gave out.
Then Discord was there, a strange mix of concern and fury on his face. I moved to arrange my legs under me again, taking a breath to say I’m fine! again, but he put his claw on my forehead and the bunker faded to a gray blur behind my eyelids.
When I was properly aware of my surroundings again, Discord had carried me to the cavern of the bunker that had been allocated to the Ponyville doctors. The veterinarian was also given a portion of the cavern to care for animals, but the majority of those present were a few doctors and the nursing staff. I was laid out on one of the gurneys, and I couldn’t feel my wings.
Discord was sure to have them, of course, and since a doctor was examining my leg, I didn’t say anything. I spotted Discord by my side, holding onto my cloak and saddlebags.
“Lunar Rainbow, you should have come straight to us when this happened,” the doctor was saying, drawing my attention to him. He had his horn lit, casting some sort of healing spell over my leg. “Where did you get the burn cream that you put on this?”
“I don’t remember,” I lied, remembering exactly the night I’d stolen it from a clinic near Manehattan. “I’ve had it a while.”
“Well, wherever it’s been stored wasn’t the right place.” He took the jar—which had been sitting on the table next to me till now—and showed me the surface of the cream. “It grew something and an infection could have set in.”
I blanched and heard a strangled sound from Discord. “I’ll keep that in mind,” I muttered. My leg was starting to feel better now.
“I’d like you to stay here for observation, but we don’t have quite the facilities required for that,” the doctor continued. “At the very least, you should stay in the bunker for a few days. Stay where everypony can keep an eye on you.”
“Right,” I muttered, looking away as he smoothed some properly sterilized burn cream over my wound and bandaged my leg.
“Keep off that leg,” he demanded when Discord helped me down. “That bandage should hold until tomorrow, but anything can happen. Stay nearby.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, bowing my head and keeping my leg up.
I avoided Discord’s eyes as he helped me with my things—the bad jar of burn cream caught fire for a moment before the doctors glared at him. Once he was behaving again, I started hobbling out of the area, forcing him to follow after me as I sought out Dusty Geode and the Mayor. I updated them on the situation with the residents and warned them about Spoiled Rich before heading out of the bunker to check in with the princesses.
Today, they gathered in the too-quiet Town Hall, guard ponies swarming through the empty town.
“Lunar Rainbow,” Celestia called as I stumbled into the building. “Nightmare Light was injured last night, are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I replied, ignoring Discord’s huff of disagreement. “I just saw the doctor about it. More importantly, I got the residents mostly settled into the bunker. Dusty and the Mayor got all the businesses taken care of and will be continuing to settle the rest of the ponies tonight.”
“Thank you, Lunar. Please, take time to rest and heal.”
The princesses went on to discuss other topics and I sat, resting on my haunches, near the door with Discord.
“You’re staying tonight, right?” he asked, quietly, shrinking down to sit in my mane by my ear.
“I can’t,” I murmured, batting at him with a hoof when the claws of his crocodile leg started to dig into my coat. He flashed to sit in front of me, hunching over to force me to meet his eyes.
“Lunar, the doctor told you to stay in Ponyville,” Discord insisted. “It’s for your safety. Just this one night.”
“For the last time,” I hissed, trying to avoid drawing the attention of the other ponies, “I can’t do that. You know why I can’t.”
“You realize I could force you to stay,” he intoned, his claw gripping my chin and tilting my head up. “I’ve been quite patient with you all this time.”
“You could,” I agreed, jerking my head away. “But you made me a promise you wouldn’t. And your friends won’t allow you to break a promise, will they?”
Something dark clouded his expression, making it completely unreadable. A chill overtook me and I found myself unable to move.
“Some things are more important than promises.”
Before I could blink, my cloak was ripped off of me, along with my saddlebags. I felt every eye in the room zero in on my back—my wings, puffing up against the sudden cold air that rushed to meet them. All conversation died in that instant, and I realized as tears pricked my eyes that I had made that crucial mistake again.
Everything turned to a blur through my tears and I shot up to my hooves, running out the door. Discord called after me, following close on my tail. I ran as fast as I could without my injured leg, but I realized quickly that it wouldn’t be fast enough.
A pair of guard ponies rounding a corner brought me up short. Almost instantaneously, I was surrounded.
Fly, Lunar Rainbow.
A cold voice was ringing inside my head. It was like mine, but not.
Fly. I can’t get out. You must fly.
Who was this voice?
I mentally shook the voice from my mind, surging into the air. A claw attempted to close around my back hoof, but I managed to swerve out of Discord’s grip, and I knew I had to get out of the area. As I bolted in the direction I was facing, though, a bright rainbow blur passed me to block my path.
“Leave me alone!” I screamed, and my magick seemed to manifest of its own accord. One of Rainbow Dash’s wings sprouted crystals and she started to plummet. Twilight appeared to catch her, and I streaked away, shouting behind me, “I’m sorry!”
For a few miles, the guards gave chase, but the strange voice sounded in my mind, directing me to turn and fly through the Everfree Forest. As I zigzagged around trees, the guards couldn’t follow and I soon lost them.
After that, I just flew. I didn’t go to my tower—Discord would lead them there first. I didn’t know where I was flying to. All I knew was I had to get away. By the time I ran out of breath and had to land, I was somewhere new again for the first time in years. The landscape was endless amounts of sand, and I had a flash of another landscape, dark with silver ridges and outcroppings.
Those aren’t yours, the voice spat, and the wave of vitriol swept the memory away.
“Who are you?” I panted, my legs shaking. “Get out of my head.”
Your head? sneered the voice, and the laughter resounding around the inside of my mind was distinctly feminine. Don’t be ridiculous. Everything is mine, little rainbow child.
“No, it’s not. I don’t know who you are, but you’re in my head. That means you can’t do anything.”
The laughter rang out again, starting to tickle at the back of my throat, and dread consumed me. Oh, you pathetic child, she taunted. You don’t know anything! You don’t know who you are.
“I’m Lunar Rainbow.”
A name you gave yourself. Do you want to know your past?
What breath I had whooshed out of my lungs. “You know who I am? Do you know my family?”
“You have no family.”
I covered my mouth when her voice came out of my mouth, but she continued to speak.
“You shouldn’t exist. This is my body. My mind. My life! Give it back!”
No, stop! I tried to scream, but my voice was trapped.
“The sun is setting, little rainbow child. You’re not strong enough to hold me in.”
She was beginning to overtake my body now, turning my face to the darkening sky. My rainbow mane fell across one of my eyes.
Let me out! Tears were leaking out of my eyes and she swiped them away. As I watched from behind my eyes, the colors in my mane swirled together into glowing white. She lifted a hoof as it turned pitch black, my legs lengthening slightly. Nightmare Light, I realized, as her laughter bubbled up my throat, a cruel cackle.
“That’s right, little rainbow child.”
With that, she spread my wings and took to the sky, bursting through the clouds to the starry sky above within moments.
We arrived in Ponyville at moonrise. Nightmare Light perched atop a cloud, tilting my ears so we could hear. The first voice that reached us was Celestia.
“How long have you known about this?” she was asking.
“From the start,” Discord’s voice replied. He seemed to hesitate before continuing. “There’s something else.”
“And what might that be?” Celestia sighed.
“Lunar Rainbow isn’t aware of it,” he began. “I figured it out weeks ago, but she doesn’t know. She and…Nightmare Light…are the same pony.”
The shocked declarations loosed by the princesses registered in my ears, but neither I nor Nightmare Light truly heard them.
“He knew,” I gasped.
“He figured it out,” she rasped.
“He protected us.”
“He protected you,” she hissed, preventing me from speaking again. “He’d gladly kill me if it would save you.”
I’m not so sure, I tried to say. He’s not that predictable.
“True,” she muttered. “But he sliced us up before he figured it out, didn’t he?”
I couldn’t argue with that.
“Now, where are the others?” she pondered, pushing a bit of the cloud aside so we could see the ground below. I tried to take control of my limbs and at least slow her movements, but to no avail.
Do you suppose this is what it’s like to be imprisoned in stone? I asked in an attempt to distract her.
“I wouldn’t know.” Her voice dripped menace and I was sure I’d be shaking in fear if I were in control of our body. As I thought that, she caught sight of the rest of the ponies I suddenly realized were…
My friends.
“Some friends,” she laughed, charging her Magick.
No! I cried, cutting off her connection to my horn for a brief moment. The instant I realized I’d done it, though, my control faltered and she blasted them.
“You almost ruined everything,” she hissed as the princesses went tumbling. “Be quiet!”
Stop!
Nightmare Light spread my wings and glided down toward the ground as Discord grabbed for Fluttershy. I mustered up my willpower and managed to flap one of my wings, making us falter and plummet to the ground. Our injured leg hit the ground first and we gasped in pain, both of us at once.
“Looks like I have to work fast,” she growled, folding my wings. When she stood, the princesses were clambering to their hooves. She took a step back and blasted Celestia first, then turned her attention to Cadance.
“Not her!” I shouted, interrupting her stream of Magick again. “She’s pregnant!”
My control faltered, but Shining Armor got in front of her with a shield spell before Nightmare Light’s spell could hit.
“You’re pregnant?!” he rasped, the shield starting to crumble under the sustained blast.
“Congratulations,” Discord muttered, appearing next to them. “But I would suggest you get out of here.” A moment later, all three of them were gone and Nightmare Light cut off her blast.
Twilight and Luna charged at us and both of us reacted reflexively. I didn’t know who shot the next blasts, but in a flash, they were both immobilized, covered in crystals. Next came Pinkie Pie and Applejack, but one of us leaped into the air, surging up with our wings.
“Wait!” Discord shouted, bringing Rainbow Dash to a halt as she started after us. “Lunar Rainbow is awake in there!”
“Yeah, but Nightmare Light is also awake in there,” Rainbow Dash snapped.
“No, stop!” I shouted, flapping my wings to ruin her trajectory.
“Oh, my!” Rarity cried. “Her face!”
“What about my face?!” Nightmare Light roared, swiping at her with one of my hooves. Discord appeared in front of us, pushing Rarity back. Nightmare Light backed away, charging her Magick up again.
“No!” I screamed—and I felt myself regain control of my body, so I used the opportunity to my advantage. “Discord! Discord, I can’t hold her back! You have to—”
Be quiet! she attempted.
“KILL ME!”
“What?” he gasped, freezing up. “No. No! There has to be another way!”
“If you won’t, then—then I will!”
“No, you won’t!” she growled, taking over again. Discord remained frozen in place, his expression horrified, and Nightmare Light charged at him, aiming a beam of Magick for his chest.
I screamed into our mind, shattering everything around us.
Everything was light, pure white light. For a moment, I thought Nightmare Light’s mane was covering our eyes, but then a dark spot swam into focus. I’d never seen her myself, but she walked through the light, a black form standing before me. Her eyes were a pale gray color, boring into mine with an intensity that I’d never seen before, and her mane disappeared in the light of our surroundings.
“Little rainbow child,” she muttered, stopping in front of me. “Where have you taken us?”
“I—I don’t know,” I replied, looking around. Behind me, I spotted something that wasn’t white light. It was fuzzy, but the night sky was there, and a shape that looked like it could be Discord. He was looking at something out of view, and I began to understand as the calming voice of Princess Celestia reverberated around the space.
“She’s trapped in her mind.”
“There must be something we can do!” the shape responded in Discord’s panicked voice.
“There isn’t,” Celestia said. “She and Nightmare Light are at odds. Only one can emerge. However…”
“However?” Discord asked, and the scene shifted slightly beyond what I suddenly realized was my eyes.
“It is possible that neither will emerge. She may remain trapped this way forever.”
“No,” he gasped and I watched the scene switch with a flash. His declaration mirrored my own thoughts as Nightmare Light and I looked at each other. She sighed and waved her hoof, dispelling the scene.
“Alright then. It’s you and me now.”
“Umm…Miss Light…”
“Miss Light?” she intoned, laughing. “Where in Equestria did you learn to be so polite? It’s certainly not from me.”
“Well, what should I call you then?”
This gave her pause and an image surfaced of Princess Luna, flying in front of us. The white space around us flashed red for a moment, then the image switched to an alicorn who looked like Luna, just darker and more menacing.
“I honestly don’t know,” she answered at last when everything faded back to white. “Definitely not ‘Miss Light’ though.”
We sat staring at each other for a time, and I couldn’t come up with anything to say. I could feel her trying to batter at my will, but I just blinked and pushed back. As I thought of each of my friends, their faces flashed by.
“Why are you so loyal to these ponies?” she asked at length. “They’ve never given you any reason to be.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” I muttered, thinking of Discord keeping my secret for as long as he did.
“He ended up betraying you,” she reminded me, and the recent memory of him taking away my cloak played out in front of us.
“Some things are more important than promises.”
“Well, he was right in the end, wasn’t he?” I snapped, and the space took on the gray-green tint of a storm. “They were all right to suspect my existence.”
“Was she right to hurt you when you’d done nothing?”
She pointed her hoof at a patch of darkness, my scream of pain resounding around the space. The patch flashed white and a terrified unicorn appeared before being engulfed in a cluster of crystals sprouting around her.
“She would have killed us if I hadn’t surfaced.”
“I never said I deserved…” I looked away from the memory to see her holding that once-broken foreleg close to her chest. “You’re not wrong. We didn’t deserve that.”
“And yet you defend those who have betrayed you?” she scoffed, raising herself up to her full height, a few inches taller than me. “What next, you start defending Mother?”
The darker version of Luna appeared and I frowned, making it transform into the Luna I knew. “I don’t remember her being my mother…”
“Of course not. She abandoned you.” She waved the image away. “Such treatment after seven centuries of loyal service. It is indefensible.”
“She forgot us,” I murmured, unsure of whether I was defending or accusing.
“Yes.”
“Seven centuries?”
“It felt like an eternity.”
“But you remember it.”
“I do.” She watched me for a moment before turning her head. An image swirled into focus. It was darker than I’d ever seen the night sky and the landscape was silvery. The darker Luna loomed above us.
“Welcome, my child.”
“She was not affectionate or nurturing. We weren’t born. I was created, fully formed, to be a companion and successor to Mother.”
“Oh,” I breathed, watching the memory. The mare was cold, but she spoke at great length to Nightmare Light. She told stories in a bitter tone about Princess Celestia and the way she had once meekly stood aside. “Was she ever truly a mother to you?”
The memory faded as Nightmare Light stared at me. “I suppose not,” she muttered at last, looking defeated. “She didn’t want someone she had to take care of.”
“I think she’d like the chance to be our mother,” I realized, remembering the conversation I’d had with Luna weeks ago.
“Midnight Fractal.”
“What is a fractal, anyway?” Nightmare Light wondered, and the space exploded into color as I thought of the images I’d seen of the concept in my books. She watched the pattern spread and change around us, and I saw tears in her eyes. “She wished this…for me?”
“For us.”
She shook her head. “For you. Everypony wishes for you to emerge.”
“But—”
“That draconequus,” she interrupted, “Discord…he loves you.”
“What?” I gasped. “No, he just…”
“Why do you deny it?” She waved a hoof and one of my memories started playing out.
It was our first time visiting the bunker, so I didn’t expect the momentary blindness of descending into the darkness underground. My legs seized up for the split second it took me to light my horn. Discord noticed my hesitation and bundled himself onto my back, chuckling.
“Lunar Rainbow, a grown mare, afraid of the dark?” he teased, sticking out his tongue in my face.
“So what if I prefer to be able to see?” I snapped, sparks flying off my horn. Something in me expression seemed to trigger a change in his.
“Now, wait a minute,” he murmured, pulling gently on one of the curls in my mane. “Lunar, whatever happened in your past, you’re safe here.”
“You can’t be sure of that,” I hissed, bucking him off my back and stepping forward.
“But I can be.”
His words stopped me in my tracks again.
“I’m certain of it. Because I’ll keep you safe. Stick with me and I swear I will.”
“And promises actually matter to you?”
“Of course…”
“But he changed his mind about that,” I muttered as the scene shifted to another memory, this time of him shaped like a normal pony. He stood between me and Dusty Geode, growling while I tried to get him to behave. The memory shifted again.
“You’re not uncomfortable, are you?”
And again.
“You think I’d let them attack you?”
“Because, you insufferable nincompoop, I care about you!”
And again, to him curled around me while I was reading my favorite book.
And again, to him bandaging my burned leg, blaming himself for the injury.
And again.
And again…
Watching all these memories play out in this mindscape, Nightmare Light’s assertion seemed undeniable. All the signs had always been there, though I’d refused to see them.
“Discord loves you,” she repeated, sitting by my side. “And you…love him…don’t you?”
“I couldn’t possibly—” I protested, looking up to find her staring longingly at the memory currently playing out.
“You can’t lie here. When he betrayed you to the princesses, that was the worst you’ve ever felt. That’s what allowed you to hear my voice.”
“You love him, too.”
“But he only loves you, little rainbow child. Everypony loves you. My own mother loves you more than she ever loved me.
“But you are me. You’re scared and alone and you just want to be able to trust somepony.”
“I’m just the shadow of your past. Mother wants me to disappear.”
“But I don’t,” I realized. “If you vanish, part of me will, too.”
“Only the part that is dark.”
“No, you’ll also take the part that is strong, and the part that remembers where we came from.”
“You really believe that, don’t you?” she breathed, looking down at me in wonder. “You really want me…here?”
“Yeah. I want for…us…to become…me, I guess.”
Nightmare Light smiled, tears in her eyes, as she reached out a hoof. “Then I guess that’s alright.”
I reached out and took her hoof. The space around us took on that fractal again as the darkness seeped out of her form, leaving a white glow in her shape. An instant later, her shape wavered and started threading around my hoof, seeping into my skin.
All at once, seven centuries of life played out in the mindscape, all her memories fitting seamlessly in around mine. Not her memories.
My memories.
My life…
The mindscape faded and I opened my eyes to see a cacophony of color. A school of fish swam past a ceiling fan and a piano floated nearby. I turned my head and saw Discord twisting restlessly in on himself in an indescribable shape. Everypony else sat in a corner of the room, but none of them seemed to want to tell him to behave.
“Discord,” I croaked, rolling up to my hooves. His reaction was instantaneous; he dove for me, scooping me into his arms and burying his face in my mane. All the uncertainty stored in my heart seeped away when I felt his breath ruffle in my coat.
“Please tell me you’re alright,” he whispered, curling around me.
“I am,” I sighed, wrapping my front legs around his back. “I’m whole. I’m in control.”
“Nightmare Light…?”
“It’s just me.”
“I was terrified. I couldn’t… Lunar, I…”
“Discord, I love you, too,” I murmured. He sighed into my mane and relaxed.
I’m running. Guard ponies are chasing me, so I’m running. My hind leg is burned and each step rocks me with agony. Discord’s laughter is ringing around me.
Celestia’s voice washes over me, making me falter. “How long have you known?”
“From the start,” Discord replies.
His head rises up in my path, his expression cold. He opens his mouth as I try to stop, but I can’t.
His single fang is descending on me.
“Wake up,” his voice murmurs.
My eyes shot open, finding the real Discord, who gazed down at me with concern. His claw gently smoothed over my mane as he whispered reassurances to me.
“You’re here,” he breathed. “I have you.”
My breathing gradually slowed to a steady rhythm as I looked around at the familiar surroundings. The bedroom was really just a massive nest of pillows and blankets with shelves lining the walls. Several books I was currently reading lay scattered around the room. A door hung open in the ceiling—something I kept telling Discord to close—and lamps floated around, only the one nearest to us lit.
It had been months since I’d reconciled with Nightmare Light in my mind. The days following had been hectic, the princesses demanding I move into Canterlot castle and be properly presented to Equestria. I hadn’t realized for that first week that my appearance had changed—my mane and tail both glowed now, and I had a patch of white under my cutie mark. It had been chaotic, but Discord had somehow, through his own unpredictability, managed to help me get through it.
“Thanks,” I sighed, burying my face against his neck. Before he could ask, I told him what had happened in my nightmare.
“You’re still afraid of me?” he asked, still petting my mane.
“No, of course not,” I insisted, wrapping my forelegs around him. “I don’t know why I’d still have these nightmares.”
“Lunar, dearest?”
It was Luna’s voice from above us. I tensed up, watching as she peeked through that open door.
“M…mother,” I answered, still not quite comfortable with the word. I’d been right about her wanting to be a true mother to me now, but I still couldn’t quite accept her attentions. She descended into the room and sat beside us.
“You’re still having nightmares.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be able to prevent that?” Discord grumbled, scowling.
“That is not how my powers work and you know that,” she huffed before turning to me again. “And I’m afraid they will continue for quite some time.”
“But why am I still having them?”
“Because there are wounds on your soul that are hard to heal. You trust Discord—more than you trust me, for some reason—but you were terrified of everypony for so long that your subconscious is still struggling to process this new state.”
“Oh,” I breathed, looking away.
“It will take time, but you will heal, I promise. Until then…” She paused, giving Discord a look of grudging respect. “Well, Discord has the right approach to helping you.”
Discord puffed out his chest, grinning wide. Luna rolled her eyes and turned back to me.
“I know this may not be the best time, but I want to talk to you about—”
“I know what you want,” I sighed, sitting on my haunches. “I still don’t think I’m really…princess material.”
“You are my daughter,” she reminded me, frowning. “You don’t really have much of a choice in the matter.”
“Well, I didn’t exactly come into existence in the conventional manner. I think that makes the situation rather different.”
Leftover bitterness from Nightmare Light swelled up in my chest and I huffed, trying to expel it from my body.
“And I’m not Twilight Sparkle, so it remains my decision, does it not?”
“You cannot deny who you are,” she snapped, her voice starting to take on that booming edge.
“Would you stop that?” I hissed, turning away. “I hate the Royal Canterlot Voice.”
She sighed and flew up and out the door, leaving Discord and me alone. I grabbed the book I’d been reading before bed, opening it and staring at the page. I was sure that Discord could tell that I wasn’t actually reading, but he just curled up next to me, looking at one of my Ogres & Oubliettes rulebooks.
“I think I want to start sleeping during the day,” I muttered after a while, closing my book again.
“Why’s that?” he asked, popping up off the book’s cover.
“I don’t like how she can spy on my dreams.”
“She probably wouldn’t call it spying.”
“She has no business mucking about in my head.”
“What about me?” he teased, climbing inside my ear. “Can I muck about in your head?”
“Discord!” I laughed, shaking my head. “I’m being serious!”
“Lunar, she just wants to be sure you’re alright,” he chuckled, returning to his spot next to me. “The same thing I want to ensure. You never seem to mind sharing your nightmares with me.”
“That’s because it’s my choice. I have a choice with you. She can just jump in and out of my dreams at will.”
“I bet she’d listen if you asked her not to,” he suggested.
I opened my mouth to argue but stopped short. That hadn’t occurred to me. And I realized that I had been thinking of Luna differently these past months than I had before I knew Nightmare Light was me. Before, I had thought of Luna as kind and understanding. Once I knew about Nightmare Light and had my memories back, I’d started thinking of her as the harsh, bitter pony she’d been as Nightmare Moon.
“Of course, she would,” I muttered, shaking my head with a laugh. “I knew there was a reason I kept you around.”
“Excuse you,” he scoffed, butting his head against mine. “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”
“True,” I murmured, leaning up to nuzzle at his face. “Good thing I gave up on that a long time ago.”