> The Bird... or the Cage?
>  by The Wandering Bard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Bird... or the Cage?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And just what are we doing here?” It was a stallion’s voice, low, inquisitive. It seemed as if he were standing outside my door. I grumbled and buried my head back into my pillow.

“Since we were scattered across all realities, I suppose it’s only natural that some would be quite… different than our own.” This voice belonged to a mare, and it matched the stallion’s in tone.

“Well, yes, that is certainly a given. But what are we doing here?” the stallion asked again. “We should be finding the girl and returning her to her home.”

“And how are we to do that if this world is plunged into chaos?” the mare questioned.

That caught my attention. My ear pricked just as the stallion replied with, “I suppose you do have a point.” I groaned as I rolled over and sat up — it seemed I would not be getting any more sleep this night.

“Ah, she’s awake,” the mare dryly commented. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, brushed my iridescent mane aside — and froze. Before me, the moonlight revealed two unicorns with turquoise coats and caramel colored manes and tails gazing in my direction. The mare wore an orange dress, and the stallion a bowtie. But that was not what gave me pause. No. It was the cutie mark on the stallion’s flank. An infinity symbol. And with how similar the two were in appearance, I had no doubts that the mare’s was the same.

My eyes widened. I could say only one thing, uttered under my breath. “The Luteces…” My hooves slowly fell back to the sheets.

“I see our reputations precede us,” the mare remarked. Rosalind, if I remembered correctly. What a bizarre name for a pony.

“Yes,” I said to her. I was wary. “Starswirl has told me all about you.”

“Ah, yes, Starswirl. Quite an interesting chap.” This came from the stallion, Robert. He levelled his gaze upon me, an eyebrow raised. “And just what has he told you? I’m quite curious to know.”

I blinked, taken aback for a moment. “He says that you two always seem to appear in a time of crisis to offer counsel to those in need. But each time, you disappear so soon after.” And then my thoughts fell into place. My mind raced. I was suddenly furious. Furious… and afraid. “But that does not explain just what you two are doing here, in my bedchambers, in the middle of the night!” 

“Does it not?” Rosalind asked, stepping closer to me. “After all, we are where we are needed.”

“And needed where we are,” Robert finished, coming to stand beside her.

“You know why we are here, Princess,” Rosalind told me.

“You simply wish to deny it,” Robert said.

“No, you’re wrong.” My voice steeled. I shook my head. “Luna is going through some difficulties right now, I can’t ignore that. But I can help her. I will help her!”

“Can you?”

“Will you?”

“Yes, of course. She is my sister, and sisters help each other, especially when they are in need.” I now stood to my full height, stepping down from my bed, blankets sliding off of my body. I looked upon the two. My voice and my gaze softened. “You are siblings yourselves. You must know what I mean.”

They said nothing. I shook my head again. “Now, I am sorry, but I must ask you to leave.” I trotted towards the door that led to the hall. “It is the middle of the night, and I—”

“The middle of the night?” Robert’s eyes met Rosalind’s. “She does not yet realize that it is supposed to be dawn.”

“Mm. Though I suppose even the Princess of the Sun is allowed to sleep in now and again.”

No, I hadn’t realized. With the appearance of these two, it had admittedly slipped my mind. With a weary sigh, I closed my eyes and concentrated my magic, my horn glowing a pale yellow. Soon the last traces of night faded away as they were replaced by the light of day. After this was done, I donned my crown, torc and shoes.

I opened my mouth to reply to the Luteces… and that was when I felt it. When we all felt it. A wave of what was unmistakably dark magic washed over me. It sickened me to my stomach, and I wobbled on my hooves. The Luteces fell to their knees, their faces taut with pain. The initial nausea soon passed, but it did not quell the dread I felt in my heart. “Luna!” I cried, and bolted for the door.

Suddenly the Luteces were there, blocking my path and looking as if nothing had affected them. I skidded to a stop. “What are you doing?” I flared my wings. “Stand aside!”

“You can’t save her,” Robert calmly remarked.

“Yes, I can, if you’ll stand aside! I have to go to her.” I tried to move past them, but they held their ground. I gritted my teeth and forced my way between them, my fore hoof reaching for the door.

“And if she is too far gone?” This came from Rosalind.

For just a moment, I hesitated. “She’s not,” I said, and although my shoulders drooped some, my voice hardened. “I refuse to believe that.”

“Well, good, because she isn’t. Though you will not like the solution.”

I spun around to face her. “Then stop playing these games and tell me what I have to do, since you seem to think you have the answer!”

“We are not ‘playing games,’” Robert said as he pressed a hoof to my breast, giving me a gentle push back. “And we do have the answer. If you would listen to us, you would realize that we are simply trying to tell you that you yourself cannot save your sister.”

“You don’t know that.”

“We do,” Rosalind said. “Your connection to the Elements of Harmony has waned.” She turned her head to the side and mumbled, “Goodness, that is hard to take seriously.” 

“But,” Robert interjected, glancing at her, his gaze somewhat stern, “it is true nonetheless. Otherwise,” he said, looking to me once again, “you could simply use them to return her to her normal state.”

“I…” I had nothing to say. He was right. They both were. As Luna had slipped further and further into madness, I could feel the Elements weakening. But I’d foolishly ignored it, focusing on Luna instead, trying to bring her back to me on my own even as she shut me out more and more. But now…

“Fortunately, there is enough power left in them to temporarily take care of this problem,” said Rosalind.

“How?” It slipped out before I’d even realized what I was saying. I grimaced. “No, never mind, I don’t want to—”

“Send her to the moon.”

My eyes widened. My mouth fell open. My whole body shook, and my ears pinned themselves to the back of my head. “How dare you. How dare you even suggest—”

“We don’t suggest, we know,” said Robert. “Where we are from—”

“Not where, but when.”

“Yes, good point. When we are from, you have already done it.”

“No, that is a lie. I can keep her here, with me. I don’t have to send her away.” My voice rose in pitch. “And especially not to the moon.”

“Yes, to the moon,” Rosalind said, and she began to circle me. “For no earthly prison can hold her.”

“Not for long,” Robert joined her.

“And she will escape, time and again,” Rosalind said.

“Always throwing the world into chaos,” Robert continued.

“And one day, she will win.”

“For she will have grown stronger than you.”

“Nothing will be able to stop her then.”

“Not even the Elements.”

“You can’t let that happen.”

“You won’t.”

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!” I cried, pressing my hooves to my ears, trying to block them out. I wanted no more of this conversation! “You’re wrong. You have to be. I would never do that to my sister.”

“But you did,” Rosalind told me, “for one thousand years. Because one thousand years into your future, there are six mares who have the ability to wield these Elements of yours and bring your sister back from the darkness.”

“But first, you must use their power to send her to the moon. It is the only way to save her,” Robert said, his voice surprisingly gentle, “and the only way to save this world from eternal night.”

I haltingly lowered my hooves. “Why… Why would you tell me this?” My voice broke. Rosalind was right. I did not like the solution.

“Because this is what needs to be done.” Rosalind avoided my gaze.

“And has already been done,” Robert concluded with a solemn nod.

I was about to protest, but another wave of dark magic coursed through me, this one stronger than the last. Now I was the one who fell to my knees, clamping my jaw closed, tasting bile on my tongue. The sickness took longer to subside. When I did feel well enough, I returned to my hooves and looked about me.

The Luteces were nowhere to be found.

Good, I thought, my resolve hardening, turning to anger. I want nothing more to do with them. I left my bedchambers and galloped through the halls. They’re wrong. They have to be. I can still save Luna. My sister.

But, a small voice sounded in my head, what if you can’t? I tried to banish the traitorous thought from my mind, yet still it returned. What if they’re right?

What if I couldn’t save Luna after all? Would she really plunge Equestria into darkness? And if she did, could I really send her to the moon? Could I do it for one thousand years? 

I found myself at the entrance to the throne room. Onyx and Obsidian, Luna’s thestral guards, were beating their hooves raw on the doors. “Princess, what’s goin’ on in there?” Obsidian called through the barrier.

“Please, let us in!” Onyx cried. “Let us help you!”

They didn’t even notice my approach. “What has happened here?”

“Princess Celestia, thank the stars,” Onyx said as she looked at me over her shoulder. Her gaze was wild, desperate. “Princess Luna shut herself in there as soon as the sun rose and she won’t come out. And then we felt Sombra’s magic, and—”

I held up a hoof to silence her. Moments before I had been raging inside, but now I had to be calm. I had to concentrate. I had to get in there. To Luna. “I’ll handle this,” I said to Onyx. She and her father nodded and stepped away. The yellow aura of my magic enveloped the doors. I strained against the spell holding them closed, but I pressed on. Sweat formed on my brow, and my head ached with the exertion. With a last heave of my magic, they swung open. I moved to step inside, but I paused and turned to the thestrals. “Whatever happens, stay out here for now.” Although I was not their chosen sovereign, and I could see doubt and confusion in their eyes, they saluted me anyway. I nodded and walked inside, closing the doors behind me.


~*~


I slowly advanced down the hall, towards our dual thrones. Luna was nowhere to be seen. “Luna?” I called, but the only answer was the echo of my hooves.

I was about to call a second time when her voice boomed into the air. “Not... another step!” I stopped. Luna appeared from behind her throne, then moved to stand in front of it. Her gaze, burning with hatred, met mine. I balked under that stare, though I could not show it. “Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?”

I said nothing. My heart pounded, my mind raced. I knew Luna had been jealous of the ponies who played in my day and slept through her night. She had made no secret of it. Yet despite our best efforts, we could not come to a conclusion. I’d suggested holding more late night festivals, having firework displays, anything to give the ponies a chance to see her beautiful night. Yet she scoffed at this idea as she said that these would have been mere momentary distractions, nothing more. I’d even suggested joint rulership of the day and the night, but this had only raised her ire. I never spoke of it again.

Then there were the times I caught her in moments of utter weakness, when her legs and voice would tremble, tears streaming as she seemed to violently shout and curse at herself. Whenever this happened, I would take her up into a hug, running my hoof through her mane, holding her close, and she would lean into me and hold me in return until her tears ceased.

And then I’d made the mistake of saying, “Luna, whatever is happening to you, let me help you. Let us work together so that this torment of yours ends.”

She’d stiffened and pulled away. “Why?” she’d sneered, twisting out of my grasp. “So you can take all of the glory? So you can show the world just how weak and inferior your sister is?”

“Luna, I never—”

“Well, it won’t happen. Now leave!”

With that, her eyes flashed, and she’d teleported me clear across the castle. By the time I’d reached her rooms, the doors were locked with a spell that even I could not break. That was yesterday. And now here I was, facing this.

Luna walked over to the bridge connecting our two thrones, speaking as she did. “There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess... will be me!” Luna reared into the air, then smashed her hooves into the stone of the bridge, breaking it apart. Her eyes flashed white with power. A wave of shadow rippled up the back wall, and cracks raced to catch up with it.

I stepped back, my mouth gaping in horror, my ears flattening. Luna, my Luna, was doing this.

No, this isn’t her. This isn’t like her. You can still get through to her.

The window on the wall blasted open, revealing my sun. Luna stood upon her hind hooves, her wings splayed out, her front hooves held above her head. Her moon rose to eclipse its shining counterpart. Shadows shot from it, surrounding her. She fell to the ground, clutching her head for but a moment, before the shadows completely enveloped her. They spun around her, first brightening before darkening once more. Then the shadows turned into roiling purple clouds.

This can’t be… I can’t lose her… I can’t! What sort of sister would I be if I can’t save her?

But as the clouds parted, what emerged showed little semblance to my sister. Instead of her deep blue coat, it was as black as the darkest night. The same purple clouds that had surrounded her now made up her mane and tail. Her pupils slitted, and her teeth grew into fangs. Her cutie mark changed as well. The black splash on her flank that surrounded her crescent moon turned that same sickening shade of purple. And all the while, she laughed.

It was a laugh unlike any other I’d heard from her. Cold and cruel. Not the loving and sometimes mischievous laugh she usually gave. Then magic erupted from her horn in a cobalt blaze. It tore apart a bust in the hall, ripped open the stone ceiling. Large boulders crashed to the floor. I wanted to scream, to weep, to do all sorts of different things. But I couldn’t do any of that. I had to keep it together. For her.

I stepped forward and gazed sadly at the boulders, then at her. She walked through the dust raining down. I took to the air, and she fired her magic at me. I swiftly dodged, but a new hole opened in the ceiling, revealing the moon. A combination of sorrow and determination filled me as I landed upon the floor. She watched me for a few moments more, waiting for me to react. Instead, I called out to her again. “Luna, I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty!” I folded my wings to my sides.

I have to try. Just one more time. I have to get through to her. I have to.

“Luna?” She placed her fore hoof on the ground. “I am... Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now — to destroy you!”

My heart sank as she hurled another beam in my direction. I launched into the air, soaring through the hole she had created in the ceiling. They can’t be right. They can’t be… My wings beat against the air, pushing me farther and farther away. Then why am I running? I asked myself, but Luna had taken to the skies after me. Her magic seared through the night again and again, ripping the stone of our castle apart as if it were nothing but mud or sand. At least now I had a reason to run.

Pain exploded in my breast as her spell finally found its mark. I screamed, and felt the wind rushing through my mane and wings as I plummeted to the earth.


~*~


I did not know how long I lay upon the ground. I did not know what to feel in that moment. My sister was my sister no longer. I had lost her. She had become this creature, Nightmare Moon. But there was one thing I did know.

The Luteces were right. 

I lay there still, hating myself. You couldn’t help Luna. Your sister. Your beloved sister. How can you say you love her so when you couldn’t even save her? One thought resounded in my mind above all others. You are a failure.

I shuddered. It hurt to breathe. I couldn’t believe that this had happened. The Luna I knew was gone, maybe for good. After all, if I, her sister and only fellow alicorn, couldn’t free her from this nightmare, then who could?

My eye cracked open, and the moon loomed over me through the ruined hall ceiling. ...One thousand years into your future, there are six mares who have the ability to wield these Elements of yours and bring your sister back from the darkness.

I rose and ruffled my wings, steadying myself on shaking legs. But first, you must use their power to send her to the moon. It is the only way to save her, and the only way to save this world from eternal night.

Their voices floated to me as if they were standing right beside me. But I knew better. They had already given their counsel. They were not here, but I knew what I had to do. For Equestria.

For Luna.

I closed my eyes. “Oh, dear sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these!” I turned to where the Elements of Harmony lay concealed under the floor as I spoke, using my magic to unearth them. The hidden panels glowed and lifted away while the Elements themselves and their pedestal rose to the surface. I spread my wings and flew above the orb at the top of the pedestal, gathering the Elements with a spell. The first five floated slowly towards me: Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, Honesty and Generosity. The sixth and most powerful of them all, Magic, rose from the orb and flew to join the others.

Their power was weakened indeed. They felt nothing like when Luna and I wielded them together. They’d hummed in our souls when we’d used them before. Now that hum was only a tiny flicker. But they had strength enough for this. I was sure of it, for they circled around me, faster and faster until they were nothing but a blur. Their glow surrounded me, multicolored on the edges and bright white in the center. I rose into the sky, preparing to face Luna head on.

Luna met me there. Her eyes and the air beneath her hooves flashed white. Tears stung my eyes as I harnessed the power of the Elements. The glow became a sphere of energy, pink in color, as the Elements positioned themselves in a circle in front of me. Luna responded by hurling a blast of magic in my direction, and the Elements matched it with a blaze of their own. The two clashed for a moment, then the Elements began to overtake Luna’s magic. They pushed it back, then surrounded her. “No!” she screamed as she was overcome. Her body disappeared. The Elemental beam lanced through where she had been moments before and, at my behest, angled towards the moon. A rainbow ring burst from the moon as the beam hit its surface, imprinting her visage onto its face.

The battle was over. The Elements and I floated back to the floor of the ruined hall. Their jobs done, they took their places upon the pedestal, but this time, their energy faded and they turned into stone. I gave a deep sigh, one of longing and loss. My flank heaved, from that sigh, from pain, and from exhaustion. It was then that Onyx and Obsidian burst back into what had once been our throne room.

Onyx glanced, frantic, from side to side, trotting all around me, her eyes wide. "Princess?" she said. “Princess Luna?”

“She’s not here.” My voice was flat. Dull.

“Then where is she?” Her voice was tenuous, holding onto a thin hope.

With how she and Obsidian looked at me and the way she spoke, it was obvious that they had seen the battle between Luna and I. Yet I could give them no reply other than simply staring at the moon. They too turned their eyes upward, and they gasped. The face of an alicorn, of their former Princess, was glaring back at them.

"What did ya do?" Obsidian asked me, completely astounded. I still could not tear my gaze away. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. Hard. "What did ya do!?" he roared, this time in my face.

I pulled away from his grip and woodenly said, "I did what I had to." The two looked at me as if I were mad. Perhaps I was. After all, I felt mad. I had just done the unthinkable, something that I never would have considered before. And it was all based on the word of two mysterious and seemingly all-knowing ponies who had entered my bedchamber in the night!

As Obsidian and Onyx stared at me, their gazes turned to ones of accusation, then to sorrow, then to absolute heartbreak. I knew what they must be thinking of me, what they must be feeling right now. I would be feeling the same as them if I could think straight, but my thoughts and emotions were all in a tumble. I was in horrified awe of what I had just done. One tear fell to the ground, then another, and another. I hadn’t realized that I was still crying. 

Sobs soon wracked my body, and I dropped into a sitting position, my head hanging low. Obsidian and Onyx joined me shortly, wings wrapping around each other, then fore legs. Onyx leaned into me without realizing. I started. It was the same way that Luna would lean into me when she had sought comfort in those rare moments of clarity. I held Onyx to me, then Obsidian, until we were all embracing each other and crying together. They wept for another lost comrade, another home destroyed, another familiar presence torn from their lives. I wept for my little sister, for what she had become, what I had failed to save her from.


~*~


I did not lower the moon today. I couldn’t bear to. Luna’s eyes were watching me. And they would be watching me for the next one thousand years. If the Luteces could be believed.

But it’s too late to be questioning yourself now, Celestia, I told myself. You’ve made your choice, and now you have to live with it for the rest of your life. I finally found the strength to tear my eyes away from hers. But then I stopped, and I looked back towards her for just a moment more. “Luna,” I whispered into the dark, “please forgive me. Because I don’t know if I ever will...”

I let myself cry a final time. Then, when I had no tears left, I turned away from her, from the moon. This was only the first day of Luna’s banishment. There were so many more to go.


THE END