The road to redemption is not an easy one. And few can walk it. As Luna returns to this world after being banished for a thousand years, she realizes that the fight to return home hasn't ended and the fight for her soul has just begun.
The story of the Battle with Nightmare Moon is well known, but few ponies know but half the story. The other half was an unseen battle, as Luna struggled to overcome her past choices and past demons. She struggles to overcome the does within her, as well as the ones she made during banishment. But another foe has been waiting for her this whole time. After all, even in Equestria, a monster like Nightmare Moon doesn't just appear out of nowhere.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She was running, but that was not news. She had always been running. Her life had been filled with running and escape was a dream that had died, decayed, eroded into dust and fertilized the food of the reality that was her life.
It was night, but it was always night here, and not a normal night either. She looked up again at the night, but this night, this black, starless void, with its discolored moon filled her with disgust and loathing. Its black depths were filled with nothing but death, and no light shined there.
She heard the tortured howls and twisted screams of the demons running behind her. She felt the obligatory pang of fear that always shot through her when she heard their malevolent voices. She didn't know why. She'd heard them countless times, knew those baleful eyes so well that she'd long ago given them names, and long ago forgotten them. Yet every time she heard their howls, fear struck her, if only for a second. The demons had never actually gotten close enough for her to make out any definite features, she was always too fast for that. But she could tell that they would rip her apart in a second if they were given the chance. She knew what fate awaited behind those terrible, sadistic teeth.
She wondered if it was worth it to run any more. And yet she ran on. Always she ran down the same trails, always the same obstacles, all well worn by her hooves. But she could find no comfort in her repetition, for as well as she knew the escape routes, she also knew that a serious blunder could lead to her demise. Thus she walked a tightrope of constant fear and gnawing panic, and she was tired of it. But she would keep going, at least for today, because today was different.
She ran through the forest, dodging branches and fallen logs, using her horn to light the way, casting a dim glow over the path so that she could see. As she came to a fork in the road, she found a massive boulder blocking the leftmost path, and sighed inwardly. It was going to be this route today. The worst, most terrifying, most nerve wracking route. So be it. She had to keep going. She came to a patch of thick brambles that blocked her way and she knew that she had to push through them, slow going as it was.
As she made her way through the thicket, she looked up at the moon. The sight of it always made her shudder. It stayed in the same place, always watching, never moving. Yet that wasn't its most unsettling feature. Its normally calm, pearly face was marred and twisted by a huge pitch black splotch that took up most of its face, turning it sinister and gruesome. Whenever she looked at it, she was filled with fear, dread, and a profound, inexplicable sense of deep shame. She heard the howling of the demons closing in behind her and she pressed forward.
As she ran through the forest, she planned her next move. There would be a gorge up ahead, a wide gorge that she would have to fly over. It would take the demons a while to circle around it, and that would give her the time she needed to reach her safehouse, a hidden cave, and hide from them long enough for her to rest for a day or two. The demons still baffled her. She only ever had a few hiding spots, only a few ways to shake the demons. But they never learned. She had been doing this for years upon countless years, but always the demons ran on the same track. Why didn’t they learn? But they could sniff her out. They always did. So she would have to leave by the back exit and run on. On and on.
How she longed to leave this world, but she couldn't. There was an impenetrable magic forcefield Its boundaries were ever shifting, and she charted them every year. It was one of the things that kept her sane. That, and her memories. Memories of a life she was determined to return to. She ran on, seeing the gorge growing closer up ahead. The feeling of foreboding grew as she neared the gorge. She unfurled her wings, ready to make the jump, when she slammed into an invisible wall. The forcefield? But how!? It was supposed to be three miles further back! This wasn’t right. It had never shifted so drastically before. Something was messing with its magic. And it was only an indication of a bigger upheaval. Something was wrong.
As the shrieking of the demons grew louder, the true nature of the situation sank in. The fiends were closing in. For the first time in a thousand years, her fear rose in her like a tidal wave. Her magic was nowhere nearly strong enough to defeat these monsters, and there was nowhere to run. The demons were upon her now, and they were too close for her to evade. Even if she ran to the right or left, the demons would still catch her. Luna, Princess of the Night, turned to face the demons that pursued her. If she was to perish, she would do so in a manner befitting a royal Princess.
The demons entered the clearing, their infernal, shadowy forms flickering in the sinister light from the twisted moon. Their leader, a being of shadow and flame in the form of a manticore, approached slowly, his eyes burning with triumph. A low growl emanated from him. The rest of the pack circled in, savoring their victory. The manticore crouched low, preparing to spring. Luna stared him down, determined to look her death in the eye. The manticore's low growl turned into a thunderous roar. He launched himself at Luna. The world splintered, and broke.
The very ground she stood on fractured and fell away like shards of glass. The demons that threatened her spun away, howling and shrieking their confusion. The sky above, with its sinister moon, wavered and dissolved. She hurtled through blackness, not knowing if she was falling down or up or sideways. Gravity had no orientation, time had no meaning. Then as suddenly as it had ended, reality began again, only this time, it was a reality she had longed for and dreamed about for countless years.
She was falling through a sky filled with the glimmer of countless stars, a world devoid of demons and brimming with life. As she spread out her wings to slow her descent, Luna felt a strength return to her that she had not felt since before she was imprisoned. Yet as her strength returned, she felt a loss of power that she could not explain. Her magic still worked, as did her wings, but something felt missing, felt off about her and she still did not know how she had ended up in the Shadow World in the first place.
As she glided safely to the ground, she took in every sight, every sound of the world that she had missed. The abrupt change from the world of nightmares to the living realm felt so surreal. She looked around to try and pinpoint where she was. She could see a town in the distance, a town that certainly hadn't been there the last time she was in Equestria, but then again, she had no idea how long she had actually been gone.
She looked around, and instantly recognized the forest behind her. The forest was known by many names, but the one she knew it as was the Forest Sovereign. Nopony ruled over this forest and it had a mind, and a will, of its own. Animals were their own masters and the weather needed no assistance. Brave was the pony who entered that forest, and few were the ponies who returned. Yet Luna knew, with a knowledge that she couldn’t explain, that the answers to her mystery lay within it.
She soon found a trail and went onwards, propelled by a strange compulsion. She trotted through the forest, until she came to a clearing with a shadowy figure standing in the center. As she approached cautiously, the figure gave a low chuckle.
"Well, well, well," It said. "I always knew you were still around there somewhere, running around in the corners of my mind. It used to be the other way around, but the shoe's on the other hoof now, isn't it?" The figure stepped forward to reveal a mare with a shadowy mane just like Luna's, dressed head to hoof in dark blue armor that covered her pitch black coat.
"Who are you?" Princess Luna asked.
"I am Nightmare Moon!" the pony declared, lightning flashing behind her. "And I am in control now!"
"I don't understand," said Luna, confused. "In control of what? And where did you come from?"
"Ha!" the mare scoffed. "As if you don't know. Hiding from the truth won't make it any less real."
Luna tried to think back, tried to remember where she might have come across such a vile pony. She couldn’t think of anything. There was a span of a few months of memories before her imprisonment that were completely blank. She supposed that this must have something to do with it.
"I honestly have no idea what you are talking about. None of this makes any sense," said Luna.
Nightmare Moon looked at her steadily for a long moment, and then laughed sinisterly. " I see now, you're even more pathetic than I'd thought. You've repressed your memories. I suppose they were too traumatizing for a weakling like you. What a baby. Well, I do so love an unbearable truth, so please, allow me."
A beam lanced from Nightmare's horn and struck Luna in the head. Instantly, a flood of memories came back to her, and none of them were pleasant. She remembered the bitterness, the loneliness and the envy that had engulfed her before. She remembered the mysterious face of a stallion and the name Tenebris. But most of all, she remembered the hurt and betrayed look on her sister Celestia's face when Luna had refused to relinquish the skies to her sister. The thought of that look, so filled with sadness, disappointment and pure pain, was enough to bring Luna to tears.
"Aw, look. How touching," said Nightmare Moon, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I think I'll leave you here to wallow in your self-pity."
"Wait!" said Luna. "Something is still missing. I remember keeping the moon up and not letting Celestia raise the sun, but I still have no idea where you fit into all of this."
"Well, that really is a mystery," said Nightmare Moon, unconcerned. "It must have been an especially horrible memory for you if you've repressed that well. It will probably come back to you at some point. Believe me, if I could give you back that memory, I would." Luna looked into those cold, malicious eyes, and didn't doubt that she meant it.
"Now stand aside, you insignificant little phantom, before I blast you out of my way. I've had ENOUGH of being stuck in the moon and stuck in your head. It's my turn to be the queen now and nopony is going to stop me! The night will last forever!" Nightmare roared and she charged forward.
"That will never happen!" said Luna, moving to block the path. "I would die before I let you seize the throne!”
Nightmare Moon merely laughed and walked right through Luna. Luna's form shimmered and wavered and she felt nauseous "You may as well be dead for all the physical impact you have on this world," she scoffed. "Your body is little better than a ghost and your magic pales in comparison to mine. Nopony can even see or hear you. I can think of no better torment than letting you watch, helpless and unable to do anything, as the precious world you love so dearly crumbles around you. Now I'd best be off. I have a kingdom to rule."
With these words and an evil laugh, Nightmare Moon hurtled into the sky, leaving the clearing far behind. Luna stood there, stunned, still coming to terms with all that she had learned. Despair and a sense of hopelessness threatened to overwhelm her, but she steeled her resolve. She hadn't run from demons and kept herself alive all those years just to give up now. She felt that strange feeling calling her back into the forest and she followed it, hoping the answers to her problems would reveal themselves. As she walked, memories of the past flooded in on her.
Luna flew down from the sky, her wings flapping wearily as dawn broke over the edge of the Forest Sovereign. She sighed resignedly as she descended, looking up at the sky that was rapidly growing lighter. She prepared to head back to the castle, where no doubt life was just beginning to stir, totally unaware of the work of art that was now swiftly fading from the skies overhead.
As she hovered lower over the forest, she spotted some movement near the edge. Curious, she drifted closer, just in time to see a figure turn and begin to move through the trees.
“Wait,” Luna called out. “What are you doing out here at such a late hour?”
“Oh,” said the stallion, ”I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.” He looked rather uncomfortable.
“I assure you, it is no disturbance,” replied Luna. “We merely wished to know what business you might have in these parts.”
The stallion looked around abashedly. “Well, actually, I just came out here to admire the beautiful night you made. It’s my favorite time of the day, and I always come out to see it. The other ponies call me silly, but that’s their loss.”
Inwardly, Luna smiled, pleased to meet someone who actually appreciated her hard work. Something of her happiness must have shown on her face, because the stallion smiled and said, “I’m glad to have gotten a chance to thank you for your work. It really is breathtaking, and so much better than that boring old day your sister sets up.” Realizing just what he had said, his eyes widened and he ducked his head, blushing. “My apologies, I meant no offence.”
“It is of no consequence,” she replied stiffly. “We shall overlook it this once.” Inside, she felt far less offended than she pretended to be. Celestia had crowds of adoring fans. Luna would allow herself this one. "May we ask what your name is?"
The stallion smiled a confident smile. "My name is Tenebris."
Luna walked along the forest path, following the strange feeling pulling her towards her missing self. As she walked through the forest, she mulled over the memories she had recently recovered. Many patches of them were still foggy and produced little detail, but she could feel her mind clearing and knew that eventually she would remember her past completely, for whatever that was worth. The more she thought about it, the more she wished that she could have transferred her memory block from where it had been to instead cover her thousand years of imprisonment and fear. The thought of those years running still made her tremble.
She was awoken from her thoughts by a loud rustling that came from a good hundred feet off to her left. Cautiously and quietly, she stepped through the undergrowth until she found the source of the noise. On another path that cut through the forest, parallel to hers, she saw a cloud of dark blue mist swirling around a monstrous figure. The mist solidified and turned into a tangle of thorns and brambles, each one stabbing into the creature and inflicting pain. As the beast tried to get free, it only tangled itself further in the bush. Soon, its rage would be murderous and uncontrollable and the creature would rampage, most likely until it was dead. As the creature writhed in the tangle, it turned so that Luna could see it in the moonlight. She gasped. The creature was a manticore.
It roared in frustration, desperately trying to free itself from the wiry mass of razor sharp thorns. Its form had changed in order to suit the plane in which it now found itself, but Luna recognized its eyes instantly. She had seen those eyes burn out at her every night for centuries as she desperately ran away from them. This was the creature that had haunted her for a thousand years.
Anger flared up in her as she looked at those eyes. She would hunt him like he had hunted her for all these years. She thought of all the times he had seen her fear. The times when he could have pitied her, could've shown her mercy. But instead he made her life a living nightmare. Now was her chance to pay him back for all the misery he had caused her over the years. Luna summoned her magic and aimed a killing bolt for right between the creature's eyes. She looked into its eyes, wanting to see the surprise and fear fill them as he died.
But as she looked into them, she saw something there. Not a semblance of herself, but rather a lack of semblance. The more she looked into those eyes, the more feral they became. She saw nothing but a beast standing on the path. Had she really expected pity from such a creature? Was there ever really a chance that it would do anything more than hunt her? This was a creature driven by instinct and need, a creature whose sole purpose was survival. It could only react to its surroundings, ferocity with ferocity, kindness with kindness. She couldn't in good conscience hold this creature to a standard of pity and compassion when its brain was too small for it to comprehend such concepts. Especially when she had just been about to break that standard.
Sighing, and wondering whether or not this was going to come back to bite her, she aimed her horn a few feet to the left and blasted the creature free from its pain-filled prison. The bush disintegrated into mist, which dissipated and flowed away. Roaring in surprise and springing back, the manticore raced off backwards down the path, limping from a thorn still stuck in its paw.
Luna walked back towards the path she was on, not hearing the six voices coming from further down the path that the manticore had taken. She rejoined own her path and went on her way, leaving her anger and vengeance behind her. As she traveled, she remembered how this whole mess had started. It had begun with that argument.
Luna nervously paced outside her sister’s chambers, her thoughts tumbling through her head. What if Tenebris was wrong? What if Celestia did not go for the idea? She tried to calm herself and think rationally. What was the worst that could happen? So Celestia might say no. Then things would just be back to the way they were before. Besides, she wouldn’t say no. It was a great idea.
Timidly, she knocked on the door, and was admitted by the door guard. Celestia sat at the other end of the room, looking over royal proposals, her quill hovering in the air next to her, occasionally signing something. Luna approached her. “Hello sister,” she said.
“Yes? What is it Luna?” Celestia replied, not looking up from her work.
“I was just wishing to speak with you about an idea that I was contemplating. I was talking with a citizen the other day, and he suggested that maybe it would be a refreshing change if...” she faltered, trying to form her thoughts.
“If...” Celestia glanced up over her scrolls at her sister.
“If, maybe, we switched the times of the day and night, you know, just for a change of pace. The citizens are still shaken up just a bit from the change of power from Discord, and I think that this would be a good morale raiser, something interesting.”
Celestia stared at her sister for a few moments in silence. “You’re actually serious about this?” she said incredulously.
“What?” said Luna, affronted. “I think that it is a good idea.”
“Not really,” said Celestia. “It’s rather absurd. First of all, there really isn’t anything morale raising about it. It just messes with the order that things are already in. Secondly, it would be a massive organizational nightmare. We’d have to notify the all citizenry of what’s going on so that life can continue normally. It would take weeks to alert every town.”
“I don’t see why everyone need be alerted,” said Luna sulkily. “It could just be a pleasant surprise for everyone. Something to break up the monotony.”
Celestia looked a little irritated. “Of course people would have to be alerted. Switching day and night is one of the things that Discord loved to do. If it happened again without warning, the citizenry would think he was back. Everyone would panic.”
Luna was stung. “Discord only did that to create chaos and disorder. My idea is not chaotic. It could work-”
Celestia cut her off. ”Besides Luna, the daytime is when everyone travels and does their work. How are they supposed to work in the dark? They need light.”
“They could take a day off of work.” Luna grumbled. “A day isn’t that important.”
Celestia raised her eyebrows. “So you’re suggesting that we spend weeks notifying the country of this event and have the whole country take a day off work, just so that we can swap the sun and moon for a day to break up the monotony? I’m sorry Luna, but I’m really busy with royal work, and I can’t spare any time for childish ideas.” She turned back to her work.
Luna’s eyes flared and she stalked off, her heart consumed with anger. Behind the window at Celestia’s back, a sudden bolt of lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled.
As Luna continued through the forest, the trees around the path seemed to loom over her, as if her presence put them on alert. She seemed to feel a wave move through them, an unseen communication, an agreed upon plan. She didn’t like it. As the trees around her grew closer, the moonlight faded and the path in front of her grew darker.
As the path grew darker, so did her thoughts. Her actions with the manticore were running through her brain. She wanted to put her time in the Shadow World with the demons behind her, and she supposed not killing the manticore was a step in the right direction, but her years being pursued kept coming back to her. As many times as she remembered that she was finally free, she kept recalling just what it was that she had been freed from, and it made her shake. Even now, in the background of her mind, she could still hear the howling of the demons, and the pounding of her hooves in her more desperate flights from them.
The more she thought about them, the louder it seemed the howls grew. Suddenly, she realized, her heart freezing, that the howls weren’t coming from inside her head. They were coming from behind her. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked around her wildly. The trees around had grown so close together that no light was let in from above. The howls behind her grew steadily louder. All the memories of her time in the Shadow World came back to her and she sprinted into motion. She dashed through the darkness, unable to see in front of her, yet too panicked to concentrate on summoning light. The trees seemed to lash out at her from the darkness, and she had to duck repeatedly in order to avoid the swinging branches. She glanced behind her for a moment. A wolf's face popped back out at her from out of the darkness, feet away. She let out a scream. Her eyes fixed behind her, she didn't notice the tree root sticking out in front of her. Her front hooves caught it, and down she went. Her head slammed into the dirt, the impact seeming to clear her mind of the fear that had fogged it.
She got to her feet. Shakily, her breath rattling in her throat, she lit her horn and looked around. As she slowly turned to face behind her, the red glint of eyes down the path told her that her nightmares were right behind her. They had escaped from the Shadow World and taken physical forms, just like the manticore. The demons were right behind her, the fur on their new wolf forms raised, in anticipation of the kill they would feast on tonight. Luna's stomach turned to ice.
The wolves closed in around her, their jaws glistening, blood red eyes flashing. Their claws glowed with an evil, demonic light. Corporeal or not, Luna was sure they could tear her into bloody pieces without pause. She looked frantically around her. They were arranged in a semi-circle around her, just like last time. No where to run. No escape. Fear closed her throat and she struggled to draw breath. Her thoughts clouded over with fear and she started to cower on the ground. She fell to her knees, her arms around her, bracing for the end. I can’t do this, she thought. I can’t, they've got me, I’m going to die, I’m going to die!
As the fear swelled to fill her, that old, too-familiar, too-often felt feeling breaking over her, something inside her broke. Anger surged through her, replacing the fear. She was done. She had HAD IT. She had been chased around by these beasts for far too long, and she was done running, no matter what happened. She got to her feet, standing tall. If these creatures wanted to eat her, they would have to manage it with broken jaws. The sudden flare in her confidence made her magical light glow too. Her magic! She had been so overwhelmed by the reappearance of these horrors that she had forgotten that things were different now. Now she was strong. She rekindled the light with a vengeance, sending it blazing through the trees and illuminating the forest around her. The eight predators were gathered facing her, disoriented by the blazing light. She summoned up all her courage.
“DEPART, FOUL DEMONS!” Luna bellowed, putting as much authority in her voice as her nerves would allow. “YOU SHALL CHASE ME NO LONGER!” The wolves, caught off guard by this strange behavior from their prey, hesitated. Luna stared them down with determination. She could tell that the wolves were intimidated, but she needed to scare them off. She wasn’t prepared for a fight. Her nerves were still rather weak, her grasp on her power was tenuous and she didn’t think she could hold her own against eight of them and still make it out alive. She glared at them “I AM THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT, AND I COMMAND YOU TO BEGONE!” She roared, stomping her hoof on the ground. The resulting crash echoed deafeningly through the trees. The wolves couldn't take it. Disoriented by the sudden blinding light, confused by the abrupt change in the natural order, and now alarmed by the thundering noises, they turned as one and ran off into the forest.
Once the wolves had disappeared into the trees, Luna fell to her knees, shaking violently. Her nerves were shot. Standing up to those nightmares had taken everything she had. Still, it was done now. The breaths she took were long and shuddering, but they came through a resolute mouth. She would see those creatures in her nightmares for months, maybe even years to come, but now she could move on. Her fears would not move with her. She remembered a time when fears weren't so easy to banish.
“What could this mean? Why would she shut down my ideas so readily? Is something going on? Is she doing something that I am just not seeing? You do not think I am letting my imagination run away with me here, do you Tenebris?” Luna asked, turning to face the pony sitting in the grass beside where she paced.
“Of course not,” Tenebris replied from his reclining position, his dark red coat burning with the light of the afternoon sun. “There has to be something going on. Normal ponies don’t just reject perfectly good ideas for no good reason unless they have something to hide.”
“Exactly!” said Luna, the knot in her stomach growing ever bigger. “But what on earth could be going on? Is there some danger to the kingdom that she is trying to shelter me from? Does she not think I can handle my royal duties?” Tenebris got up from his seated position and moved slowly towards Luna.
“Well,” he said. “the way I see it... No. Never mind. It’s not my place.”
“What is it?” said Luna, her anxiety mounting.
“No,” said Tenebris. “It’s a scandalous thought. I can’t say it.” He turned away from her, as if his thoughts left him ashamed.
“Tenebris,” Luna said sternly. “We have known each other for weeks now. I think we trust each other well enough to speak our minds by now.”
“Well, since you ask,” said Tenebris, whisking around to face her, almost before she had finished speaking. “I was pondering the question myself. It can’t be an unknown danger. You, who are always out and about, and seeing to the needs of the kingdom, would certainly know more about its problems than somepony who sits in the castle all day, doing nothing but signing scrolls. Celestia can't possibly know the kingdom like you do”
“Hmm. I suppose you are right.” said Luna pensively.
“And surely somepony who has almost single handedly defeated villains like Discord and King Sombra would have proven herself well up to such a simple task as running a kingdom. Such magnificent and glorious battles would surely be more straining than tax rates or organizing road construction. The concept must surely be unerringly obvious..” Tenebris spoke, slowly circling around Luna as he did so.
“But if it is not any of those things, then what could it be!?” Luna raged frustratedly.
“Well,” Tenebris declared, coming to a stop. “There can only be one solution: Your sister is suppressing you.”
“What?!” exclaimed Luna, shocked. “Where would you get such an idea?”
“It’s obvious,” he said. “Your sister has recognized that you are the better craftsman, and that she cannot possibly hope to compete with you. By pure luck, she happened to get to rule over the day, when everypony is out and about, doing their daily business and going about their lives. And you happened to get the night, which everypony ignores, sleeps through and overlooks. She realizes, that if she wants to continue to have all her power and to remain the dominant princess, she has to make sure that nopony sees your true value, and that they see her as the true ruling princess. Eventually, you’ll just end up being the pony who controls the night and just happens to live at the castle, and maybe not even that.”
“But my sister loves me!” Luna said, horrified. “Why would she do such an awful thing?”
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” said Tenebris simply. “There’s not much else to it.”
“How can I stop this?” asked Luna, determination in her voice.
Tenebris smiled. “You need a display of your power. Something to show Celestia that she isn’t the dominant princess. That she and you rule together, not one over the other. My suggestion? Switch the day and the night. When the moon comes up tonight, don’t let it go down. Celestia can’t overcome your power, and once the rest of Equestria catches on to how beautiful the night really is, you’ll be too popular to just get pushed back into the shadows. Ponies would catch on then.”
Luna was apprehensive. “But Celestia disapproved of the idea. Besides, would the citizenry not panic at such a disruption of nature?”
Tenebris scoffed. “So what if Celestia countermanded the idea. You two rule jointly, don’t you? You’ve taken her advice into account, accepted her input and adjusted your plan accordingly. Assert your royal authority. And don’t worry about the peasantry. They can handle it. Besides, you work hard in order to ensure that they have a magnificent sky every night. And what have they done for you in return? Nothing. Don’t you think they owe you some respect.?”
Luna’s gaze turned resolute. “You are right,” she said. “It is time I made my presence known.” She looked over at the horizon. The sun was sinking over the hills. “My hour approaches. Let us hope for the best.” She unfurled her wings and took off, heading upwards into the sky to raise the moon on a night that Equestria would not forget. Tenebris watched her go, a slow smile creasing his face.
A couple hours had passed since Luna had faced down the wolves, and something was seriously bothering her. She gazed up at the night sky confused and worried. When she had returned to Equestria, she had noticed that the sky had looked as though it were on the brink of dawn. It had been a light shade of purplish-blue and was only about a half-hour away from sunrise. But now, it had been about a good five hours since that point, and if anything, the sky looked darker than ever. She kept recalling her encounter with Nightmare Moon. She and her threat of eternal night must have something to do with this. She had to put a stop to Nightmare’s evil plans.
But she had no strength in her current state. She had little power as a mere ghost. Even her magic, once one of the strongest forces in Equestria, was now little stronger than the average unicorn’s. What use was she to anypony in this state? She looked up at the night sky. Her thoughts turned bitter. What use was she to anypony at all? As she stared at the sky, she wondered. She had stopped keeping track of the years that she had spent in the Shadow World, but it had been at least over half a millennia. Did anypony even remember who she was? Had her name faded away into mere legend and fairy tale? Her sister must have taken responsibility for the night while she was gone. Few people would remember the Princess of the Night. Equestria didn’t need her anymore. She was just a relic of a bygone age.
She walked along, her head downcast, wondering if it was even worth it to continue. What use was there in rejoining the world if she was just going to be shunned and rejected? As she slowly walked down the path, she came to a river. She stared at it. She saw no reflection, for she was not part of the visible world. Instead she saw the night sky reflected above her, with its millions of glittering stars. She stared up at them. Back when she had been Princess of the Night, she had orchestrated each night with great care, placing each star in the sky as carefully as if they had been notes on the sheet music of a master composition. Each star had been placed to lead the eye through the sky, in a vast kaleidoscope of swirling silver-and-azure landscape. The night that she looked at now night though, there was no creativity behind it, no beauty. It was as if somepony had filled a bucket full of stars and dumped it on the canvas that was the night. She supposed that it was because now Celestia was in charge of both the day and the night. There was no time for creativity, only for the bare minimum. The night had become a shadow of its former self.
She knew that no pony even remembered how the nights used to be, no one remembered what they had been like. As she stared at the sky, something in her resolve changed. “I will make the nights memorable again,” she said to herself. “It is my duty to Equestria, to make up for the wrong I've done. If there is no place for me in this world, then I shall carve one with my own two hooves. As long as I can appreciate my work and call what I've done a success, then a success it shall be. I do not need anypony to pat me on the back and say I've done a good job. My life will no longer decide for me, I will decide for it. But right now, Equestria is in need, and I shall not fail it. Not like last time...
Luna soared through the starry blue skies, her heart flying with her in triumph. Her moment had come at last, her time in the sun, figuratively speaking of course. The night she flew through was the most beautiful one that she had ever created. The stars swirled above her in a pattern that was inspired. They blended with one another, their designs creating rivers of pure starlight that focused and accentuated the moon, set in the sky like a perfectly round, blazing white opal. It nearly moved her to tears just looking at it. She thought of the adulation of the other ponies once they saw her work, finally recognized her as a master craftsman like themselves. Once they knew her name, then she would really be worth something.
She flew onward, seeing the castle come into view just ahead, the forest surrounding it like a green cape draped across the battlements. She grew closer, the castle slowly growing in her view. As she flew nearer to the castle, she saw a large dark shape amassing near the gates. Eventually she recognized it as a crowd gathered at the base of the castle, milling about as if in confusion. At first, Luna was startled, but then she realized that her actions, however benevolent they were, were still out of the blue. Ponies would have no idea what was going on. It turns out Celestia was right about one thing. An explanation was in order, that was all.
She flew over the crowd, circling to land at the palace. As her shadow passed over the group, its movement seemed to become more agitated. She descended gradually and landed on the steps at the front of the crowd. A rush of confused and irritated voices erupted from it, all blending together indistinguishably. Luna had to calm them down.
“CITIZENS!” she cried, using her Royal Canterlot Voice. “THOU HAST NO CAUSE FOR ALARM. PLEASE, REMAIN CALM AND SOON WE SHALL BE ABLE TO ANSWER ALL OF THY QUESTIONS.” The crowd settled down to a murmur. “Now,” Luna said, in a quieter, but still authoritative voice, “what seems to be the problem?”
A frantic mare near the front stepped forward quickly. “Has Discord returned?!” She demanded. “Is he back!?”
“Of course not. He still remains encased in his stone prison.” Luna said.
“Then this night is because of you princesses! You’re the ones causing this?!” The mare blurted, nearly cutting Luna off.
“Yes.” replied Luna, affronted.
“WHY!?” demanded several voices.
“For entertainment, of course.” said Luna. “What other purpose could there be. We did it to relieve the monotony of day-to-day life in the kingdom, so that other ponies could have a different view of things, so to speak.”
“But what about our work?” said an Earth pony off to the left. “How are we supposed to do our jobs?”
“Surely thy tasks can be performed by the light of the moon as well as by the light of day?” said Luna soothingly.
The Earth Pony would not be soothed. “Are you kidding me?!” she said incredulously. “Do you even know how sensitive corn is?! It’s going to take weeks of intensive care for them to recover from this!”
“Yeah, and what about the market?” asked a business pony near the back. “My wagons can’t find roads in the dark you know.”
“And the builders can’t repair Discord’s devastation either,” said a noblepony. “My bathtub spout keeps pouring flour at random, and it needs to stop.” The crowd broke into an uproar again, each pony clamoring to be heard over the others. Luna had to shout to be heard over them.
“CITIZENS, CITIZENS, PLEASE! LET US REMAIN CALM! Surely your daily duties can be put on hold until tomorrow? Are they so important that you can not enjoy a holiday generously given to you?” Instead of calming the mob like she expected, her words sent them into an even louder uproar.
“What, we’re supposed to put our lives on hold just so you can play Peek-a-boo with the sun?” yelled the noblepony. “ This isn't about generosity, this is about some vanity project that you princesses are putting on in order to display your power! Are our lives so meaningless that they have become your playthings?! We have work to do, unlike you princesses. Some of us have lives to attend to,” he scoffed.
Luna’s eyes widened in anger. Such insolence could not be tolerated. “We will not condone such speech! My sister and I were chosen to rule over this land and one would think that We can rule it better than thou canst! We know what we are doing and We have organized this holiday!”
The noblepony was not convinced. He narrowed his eyes. “When you say We, are you meaning you and Princess Celestia, or are you using the royal We meaning yourself?”
Luna, for once, could not meet his eyes. “Aha!” he said. “I knew it! You did this on your own. This is some stunt you're pulling just to show off! I wish to speak to Princess Celestia. She needs to deal with this catastrophe.”
Luna’s anger, already blazing, now burned white hot. “Anything that thou hast to say to my sister, can be said to me as well.” she said through gritted teeth.
The noblepony scoffed. “I should think not. You were the one who started this entire mess. You are beyond reasoning with.” At his words the entire mob burst into speech. “Yeah, where’s Princess Celestia?!” “Did she authorize this!?” “She should be in charge of this, she does raise the sun, after all.” “How did Luna get put in charge of this?” “Is she even allowed to do things like this?” “Can’t Princess Celestia even control her own sister!?”
As the voices of the mob grew louder and louder, Luna became more and more enraged. Her anger felt like lava that had lain dormant, but had been growing hotter and hotter over the past weeks. Finally, it erupted, surging and rushing to the surface “ENOUGH!” she roared. Magic swirled around her. She stood on her back hooves and slammed her front ones down on the steps. A colossal shock wave spread from around her and hit the crowd, blowing everypony completely off their hooves. The marble beneath her crumbled, the stairs in front of her disintegrating. Cracks spider-webbed behind her, reducing the stairs to rubble. Dust and rock fragments swirled around her, held in the air unconsciously through sheer force of her magic But Luna did not pay this any attention. She strode toward the dazed and scattered mob, her voice thundering unconsciously.
“I HAVE PUT UP WITH INSOLENCE FROM YOU PONIES FOR FAR TOO LONG! I HAVE PROVIDED A WONDERFUL AND GLORIOUS NIGHT FOR YOU TIME AND TIME AGAIN. AND WHAT DO I GET IN RETURN? NOTHING BUT CONTEMPT AND DISRESPECT! I AM TIRED OF USING MY POWERS FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT APPRECIATE THEM! THIS NIGHT SHALL LAST UNTIL THIS PEOPLE LEARNS TO APPRECIATE IT, EVEN IF IT BE THROUGH FORCE!” And with these words, she turned to the castle, threw the doors open with her magic, stalked in and slammed the doors behind her.
Luna trotted on, making her way through the forest. Overhead, the canopy of trees was thinning, letting in the blue light of night. Up ahead, she saw the trees give way to a clear path, which ran along the edge of a cliff. Something was off. She knew this area, but it was all wrong. The cliff was messing with her attempts to remember. It had been a long time, so it made sense for a cliff to be here, and there was even something familiar about it, but she couldn’t place it.
She approached the cliff face, looking over the ravine at the other side. There were four small pillars of stone, with a broken bridge tenuously tied to two of them. The bridge tickled something at the back of Luna’s mind, but she couldn’t figure out what. She turned and looked past the bridge, off into the distance and gasped as everything came into focus.
She stood just across the ravine from a castle. The Castle of Sun and Moon. Her home. Or, more accurately, the ruins of her home. The old castle stood decrepit and abandoned, the roof completely gone, the walls teeming with ivy. Many of its wall had crumbled and every window was devoid of glass.
Luna stared in decimated disbelief. Her home. Gone. Ruined. She’d known she’d been gone for a while, but she never imagined her sister would leave the castle. She’d always expected to came back and find the castle, maybe changed, maybe with new staff, but never ruined. Why was it like this? It had obviously been abandoned for centuries at the very least.
She stared at the castle, the truth coming to her in one terrible blow. Her sister had given up. She had left the only spot in the new world that Luna would ever know. She probably wasn’t even aware that Luna was back. She probably wouldn’t even care if she did.
And why should she? thought Luna despondently. Why should she care or want me as a sister any more after all the things I said to her? She turned away from the castle, staring off into the night sky. Where should she go now? Her home was gone, her sister was nowhere to be found and didn’t want her anyway. Should she... give up?
Luna took a deep breath and hardened her resolve. No. She wouldn’t give up. She would earn her sister’s forgiveness even if it meant a thousand years of work. Even if Celestia had left her, it was only out of pain and bitterness for Luna’s own betrayal. Her sister had to be hurting just as much she was. Celestia needed her right now and she would not let her down. Not like last time.
Luna stood at the top of the stairs in the main hall of the castle, staring out of a large glass window at the cloudy sky, angry tears streaming down her face. She heard the panic of the ponies outside, heard the confusion as they milled about, unsure where to go or what to do, or what was even going on. All her subjects, her loyal ponies had rejected her. They had been turned against her by Celestia. Tenebris was right. Celestia was nothing more than a tyrant. Amid the cries of the other ponies, she heard hooves coming up the stairs behind her. She knew who it was without turning around.
“Luna!” Celestia called. “What’s going on? Why haven’t you lowered the moon?”
“Oh, hello sister,” Luna replied coldly. “I didn’t lower the moon because I didn’t feel like it. I told you, I wanted to give the ponies a holiday, ungrateful as they are.”
“What’s gotten into you Luna? I thought we agreed we weren’t going to do this.” said Celestia.
“No, you, as co-ruler of Equestria, presented your input on my plan and I, as other co-ruler of Equestria, took your input into account and adjusted my plan accordingly,” Luna replied.
“And look how well that’s turned out,” snapped Celestia. “The country’s in total panic. The ponies are going crazy. They think it’s Discord all over again.”
Luna sniffed. “They’re just a bunch of spoiled, ungrateful snobs.”
“Ungrateful?” asked Celestia, confused. “Ungrateful for what?”
“I give them a beautiful sky to look at each and every night for free and what do they give me in return? Only contempt and scorn.” A bolt of lightning flashed across the window, thunder following an instant later.
Celestia shook her head firmly. “That’s not how it works, Luna. They made you their princess. They’ve given you this castle, the power to run the kingdom. In return we provide for the country and try and promise to be the best rulers. To be better than this mess you’ve gotten us into.”
Anger flared up hot within Luna. “Is that what you’ve been doing then? Going around and promising everypony that you can be the best ruler? That once I’m gone and you have the power that things will be better?!” The wind outside howled and whipped against the windows.
Celestia stood, stunned. “No, not at all,” she breathed. “I’ve been going around trying to calm everypony down, to tell them that things are alright and that they’ll be put back to normal.”
“Oh, so I’m the villian and you’re the hero in this little play of yours, is that it?!” yelled Luna. “I’m the problem that needs to be fixed and you’re the brave hero who’s going to fix it, hurrahs all around.”
“Luna, what’s going on?” asked Celestia, bewildered by her sister’s behavior. “You’re not making any sense.”
“Well everything’s all starting to make sense to me!” Luna cried, her voice high. “Poor Princess Luna’s fallen into public disfavor and now you’re going to make your move. You’ll stuff me away to some corner of the castle and finally be sole ruler of Equestria, just like you always wanted.”
Pain filled Celestia’s face and tears streamed down her face. “Luna,” she whispered. “That’s not true... I...”
“You never care!” Luna cried. “You just sit all day, surrounded by your adoring public, while I fade into the background! Ponies will see that the night is important, even if I have to make them. I’m not listening to you anymore. You’re just an angry, twisted TYRANT!” The window behind Luna shattered, shards of glass flying everywhere. She cast them aside with her magic and flew out the empty frame, soaring into the night. Celestia at the spot where her sister had been for a moment before unfurling her own wings and flying after Luna.
Her fight with her sister playing in her mind, Luna jumped and quickly soared over the ravine, landing on the other side of the broken bridge. She climbed the stairs and entered into the castle. The entranceway was nothing as she remembered. The tapestries were gone, long since faded away. The stone walls were dingy and gray. The room was dark, the torch sockets having long ago rusted away. In the middle of the room stood a massive pedestal. Five massive arms, each holding a large stone ball, surrounded a pillar on top of which rested a sixth massive stone orb.
She turned away from the object, drawn by the mysterious sense that guided her here to the tallest tower, the west wing. There, she knew she would find the way back to her body. She flew in through an empty window and landed in the spacious chamber. But for one pony, the room was deserted. The pony stood by several torches that shimmered with a ghostly light that only those on her plane could see. The light shone through his robe, signifying him as a ghost as well. He turned his black head towards her, green eyes blazing with fiery malice.
“”Good evening, Princess of the Night,” King Sombra said coolly. “It has certainly been a while.
“Y-You!?” cried Luna. “How are you- What are you doing here?!”
King Sombra chuckled. “Ah, Princess, I am so glad you’re here. I’ve been waiting for you.”
“You? Waiting for me? What for?” Luna asked, bewildered.
Sombra gave her a look. “Don’t you remember? You are the reason I have gotten this far in the first place. I sincerely thank you.”
“Me? But-but I-” Luna winced as pain shot through her head. Her eyes watered as the past swam before them.
Luna flew through the air, eyes fixed on the clearing below her, on the figure at the center. She landed on the grass, scratching at it angrily with a hoof. Tenebris trotted up to her.
“Wow,” he said. “This night is amazing. Your best one yet!”
“No!” Luna snapped. “This has been the worst night of my life! My kingdom hates me, my sister’s turned against me and I just destroyed several rooms in my castle. Things are not alright. What am I going to do!?”
Tenebris’ eyes seemed to glow. “What will you do indeed? Now is the time. We must make our move.”
“Make our move?” said Luna. “What are you talking about? I just need to think things through. I could really use your help.”
Tenebris stomped his hoof, impatient. “Your sister betrayed you! She has turned your empire against you. You must show her your power! Create your kingdom of eternal night!”
Luna backed away, astonished. “Eternal night? What are you talking about?! That would be horrible!”
Tenebris looked at her as though seeing her for the first time. “Well,” he said, his voice growing several octaves deeper. “It seems we are not as alike as I had imagined. Things shall have to progress a different way.”
Tenebris’ bright red coat darkened by several shades. His eyes turned blood red, the whites turning a sickly green. The fur under his robes turned pitch black. His body turned incorporeal and began to flow out from him, billowing into a cloud of inky smoke. Kind Sombra hovered before Luna, smiling sinisterly.
“You,” Luna gasped. “You’re dead.”
Sombra chuckled. “I? I am the master of an empire! The conqueror of an age! Did you really think that you and your sister could kill me so easily?
Luna growled. “You deceived me.”
“I tried to help you realize your potential,” Sombra asserted.
“You lie!” Luna yelled.
Sombra shrugged, as much as an inky black cloud can shrug. “So I did. It’s what I do. I thought I could get you to overthrow your country by yourself. It seems I was wrong.” The air around Luna grew dark. While she had been distracted, Sombra had encircled her in a globe of shadow. “Still, there are other ways to my goal,” he said, unconcerned.
“You are deluding yourself if you think you can defeat me. You are a mere shadow. Your power is no match for mine.” Luna asserted.
Sombra continued to smile. “It may not be as easy as you think.” Suddenly, he paused. Luna paused too. A faint, high-pitched noise grew slowly louder. There was a booming, muffled detonation and Sombra howled in pain. A ray of blinding light pierced through the dark shield and Celestia was on the other side.
“Luna!” she cried, the beam from her horn keeping the shield open. “Hurry! I brought the Elements! We have to use them! Sombra is too powerful.”
Luna looked at her sister coldly. Her sister, who had ignored her every single day for years, who even now was trying to do damage control for Luna’s mistakes. She was always the hero.
“No,” Luna rejected, turning back into the cloud. “Not this time, dear sister.” She filled the two words with contempt. “I will deal with this little pinprick on my own.”
The dark cloud reformed, overpowering Celestia’s magic and blasting her back. Luna turned to face King Sombra, who snarled at her. She fired a laser. It sailed harmlessly through the illusion, impacting on the wall behind. A menacing laugh echoed all around her,
“You should have listened to your sister,” Sombra whispered in her ear. The darkness contracted.
Luna gasped, the memory fading. “You!” she cried. “It was you! You turned me into Nightmare Moon! You controlled me!” Sombra smiled and placed a hoof on his chest, as if accepting praise.
“Indeed,” he said “Some of my finer work."
“You turned me evil! You corrupted me!” Luna shouted.
Sombra cocked his head at that. “You flatter me, Luna. A little too much, I’m afraid. I can’t possibly take credit for that. That honor belongs only to you.”
“Liar!” Luna accused.
“Not this time, surprisingly.” Sombra admitted. “It’s simply not in my power. I can manipulate darkness, even darkness of the heart, quite easily. But creating it from nothing is another matter entirely. But I don’t need to tell you this. You already know it. It’s time to stop deluding yourself.”
“Why are you telling me all this? What do you want from me?” Luna asked, her head hurting with confusion.
“I want what I’ve always wanted,” Sombra said. “I want you to join me.”
Luna’s jaw dropped. “You poisoned my mind, controlled my body and attempted to kill my soul for centuries and you expect me to join you!? Why in Equestria would I do that?”
“Because you have nowhere else to go,” Sombra said simply. “You’ve been locked on the inside these many centuries, running in the woods, while I have been on the outside, looking through the eyes of Nightmare Moon, seeing all that goes on down below.” His eyes glowed.
“The world has forgotten you, Luna. They don’t even remember your name anymore. You only exist as a legend, a distant figure in the history books. The ponies worship your sister, revere her as a god. They have holidays celebrating her, commemorating her very existence. Do you know what you have? Nothing. They remember Nightmare Moon more than they remember you. They have days in which they revile you, fear you, cast you out as a villain and placate you with offerings so as to keep their souls. Even your own sister hates you.”
“No,” cried Luna. “You’re wrong! My sister loves me. She may have been hurt, but she still loves me, deep down. I can still make it right.”
Sombra stared at her, his eyes piercing. “If she cared for you, why would she have imprisoned you with me for centuries?”
“She didn’t kill me though,” Luna said desperately. “She could have. Her power plus the Elements would have been enough.”
“And do you really think imprisonment was the better option?” Sombra pressed on. “Were there never any moments during those long centuries when you seriously contemplated turning around and letting my demons end it all?”
“There were,” Luna admitted. “But I kept going because I was determined to make it back to my old life.”
“A life you no longer have!” Sombra snarled. “You have nothing, you have less than nothing! No kingdom, no family, no home. Only me and the life I offer.”
Luna sank in despair as the truth hit her. She really did have less than nothing. The best she could hope for was a population that didn’t hate her for her past crimes and even that was almost wishful thinking. It was then that Luna came to a realization.
“I don’t care,” she said.
“What?” growled Sombra.
“I don’t care!” Luna repeated loudly. “I don’t care if I have nothing, or less than nothing, or whatever I have. Because life won’t decide what I have. I will. I will decide what life I want and right now, I decide that the best life I can have is one as far away from you as possible.”
Sombra looked at her coolly. “Very well then. I’m afraid you’ll have to die.”
Sombra’s attack nearly caught her off guard, but she rolled beneath his blast and back up to face him, launching a beam of her own. Sombra did not move, merely melted his shape, creating a hole which the beam passed through harmlessly.
“Your attempts to resist are pitiful,” Sombra intoned, stalking towards Luna, billowing out into a cloud of inky blackness. He towered above her, a roiling cloud against a small blue pony. “You cannot hope to defeat me. You have no knowledge of your form or the limits of your power. I have had many years of experience with the body of a Shade. You are outmatched, outclassed-” He broke off, his attention diverted. It returned with an evil smile. “-and outnumbered.”
A swirling vortex of midnight blue energy formed in the middle of the room, building in size and speed until it burst, releasing a purple unicorn, five of the stone orbs Luna had seen in the courtyard and the twisted amalgamation of Sombra and Luna that called itself Nightmare Moon.
“I’m not outnumbered,” Luna said slowly, looking at the scene before her, her eyes landing on the purple unicorn. “I have... her.”
Sombra scoffed. “Little good she will do you. She has no idea you exist.”
“I have her as much as you have your monster,” Luna shot back. “What good is your puppet to you now, King of Shadows?”
“My puppet is nothing more than a shell,” Sombra growled, his shape undulating menacingly. “It is I who controls her power. Against the strength of a goddess, what hope do you have?”
“You are wrong!” Luna shouted, gritting her teeth. “That power is mine and it will obey me!”
“Such insolence!” Sombra roared. “Die as your hopes crumble around you!” He fired.
Luna fired back. Her blast met his in midair and held, pushing against his, slowing its descent. She strained with all her might, but she could not force his energy back. Each time she tried, her concentration slipped and Sombra’s beam moved forward.
“You are weak,” Sombra growled. “Your power cannot hope to match mine. It is futile.” Luna redoubled her efforts, but she knew it was futile as well. She was nearly collapsing under the pressure. Movement caught the corner of her eye. She saw the five orbs in formation, crackling with energy, the purple unicorn standing in the middle. Luna’s mind froze. The Elements, she thought. Even now, from a separate plane of existence, her sister was fighting for her. It was about time Luna trusted her back.
“Alone, I may not have the strength to defeat you, but this time, I am not alone,” Luna said to her attacker. Her magic changed. The beam, struggling and waning against Sombra’s assault, flattened and spread, arcing over the scene, the blue burst of energy transforming into a shimmering midnight shield, encasing Luna, Nightmare Moon and six other ponies, five of which had just entered.
“You think a shield will save you?” Sombra growled, not relenting in his attack. “ You are merely delaying the inevitable.” His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the glittering shards of rock that were beginning to lift into the air. “So, you mean to use the Elements? It will not work! This shield shall crumble and those ponies will fall!” His attack redoubled.
Luna quaked under the force of his magic. Cracks appeared in her forcefield. Her strength was waning and the Elements were just taking too long. She looked out the window, into the sky and saw the moon. The moon, which for so many years had been her charge, her duty, her gift to the world. Her nerves hardened.
“No,” she stated, her anger rising. “I am here. I have been given a second chance at this world. I have come so far and I am not about to lose it all to a miserable old ghost!” Her magic flared. The cracks vanished. Sombra roared in anger, but another sound could be heard above the roar. A low-pitched hum that grew higher and higher until it peaked. A blinding light tore across the chamber. As it struck Nightmare Moon, Luna was blasted off her feet, the world revolving around her in a tornado of colors. Everything settled. There was silence. Luna lay on the floor, her body aching with a pain that she welcomed more than any feeling she had ever felt. It was a solid, physical, mundane ache and she wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world. She heard a voice, a voice she had dreamt of hearing again for over a thousand years. She opened her eyes to look up into the face of her sister.
The rest of the day passed in a blur for Luna. She could barely follow anything of what went on. Disjointed fragments sprang up here and there. A party. Flowers. Ponies. Cheering. A massive celebration that felt like days, but in reality lasted only hours. She wanted to go somewhere and rest. Eventually, her sister, whose side Luna hadn’t left since she’d returned. leaned over and spoke to her.
“Why don’t you go on back to our castle and get some rest.” Celestia said quietly. “I have a few matters to take care of here and then I’ll meet you there. Just head for the city on the mountain. It’s about a three hour flight, not too long.” Luna nodded numbly, unfurled her wings and took to the sky. Her mind was spinning and she needed some time to think. Now that she had her old life back, what was she to do with it? How would Equestria see her? Was there still enough room for a second princess?
Her flight passed uneventfully and Luna soon found herself circling over the castle grounds to the light of late afternoon. As her hooves touched down on the neatly cut grass, the golden palace doors swung open and she was greeted by a stallion guard in full uniform.
“Your Highness,” he began, bowing respectfully. “Princess Celestia has sent word that she wishes you to accompany her on the highest balcony. The princess arrived not long before you, via teleportation,” he explained to Luna’s inquiring gaze. “She said she would have extended you the same courtesy, but was not sure that your strength was sufficient or that you had enough familiarity with the location.”
“It is quite alright,” Luna replied. “We would indeed be most happy to attend to our sister. Lead on.” Luna followed the stallion through the castle hallways, taking in every room that they entered. Eventually, she became aware that the stallion kept glancing at her, becoming increasingly tense. “Captain,” she started, noting the unicorn’s rank. “Is there something wrong?”
“Is it true that you came from Ponyville?” the stallion began.
“Yes,” Luna replied. “What of it?”
“I was just wondering...” the stallion said, looking at his hooves anxiously. “If you might have any news about my sister, Twilight Sparkle. She left for Ponyville the day before it was attacked and i want to know if she is alright. Our whole family’s been worried about her.”
Luna sighed tiredly. “We are sorry, Captain...?”
“Shining Armor,” he replied.
“We are sorry, Shining Armor,” Luna continued. “But though we hath arrived from Ponyville, we were not present at the time of the attack, so we can bring no news.”
“Please,” Shining Armor pressed. “Even if you saw her once. She’s a light purple unicorn with a dark purple mane with a lighter colored streak in it.” The description caught Luna’s attention.
“Did she perchance have a six pointed star for a cutie mark?” Luna asked.
“Your sister is fine,” Luna assured. “Thou shouldst be proud. Thy sister has done much for Equestria this day.”
Shining Armor beamed. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
Luna winced. “Please, Shining Armor. We ask that thou refer to us as Luna.”
“Alright,” Shining Armor said slowly. They walked on in silence for a few minutes. “So, Luna. May I ask you something?”
“Thou mayest.”
“Why do you talk in thee’s and thou’s?” Shining Armor wondered. “I’ve never heard anyone talk like that in normal conversation.”
Luna grimaced. “It is called the Royal Canterlot voice,” she replied. “I am told I tend to slip into it when I become nervous.”
“Ah. And may I ask why you don’t want me to call you Your Highness?” He queried.
Luna snorted caustically. “I have not been a princess for what I’m told has been a thousand years. I don’t see why ponies should pretend as if I am one. My sister has done the ruling for the both of us. Equestria no longer needs me.” Shining Armor was silent for a moment.
“May I tell you a story?” he asked. His request caught Luna off guard.
“I suppose,” Luna replied.
“It’s a story we tell to new recruits in the guard,” Shining Armor began. “Most ponies think it’s a legend, but I believe it’s true. It’s said that hundreds of years ago, Celestia held a meeting with most of her governing staff. It was an annual meeting, nothing too large. Toward the end of this particular meeting, one pony asked the princess why she had not taken the title of Queen. It was a much more commanding title, she reasoned, and would surely inspire unity. The Princess merely smiled and said that Queen was a much too singular title. Equestria could and did have two princesses, but it could never have two queens. We tell that story to illustrate to the new guards that each title and position has a meaning, but I’m guessing that’s not what you’re worried about.” Shining Armor finished, looking at the princess.
Luna shook her head. “Equestria doesn’t need a princess like me,” she said bitterly.
“The princess doesn’t seem to feel that way,” Shining Armor remarked. “And so far, neither does the rest of the country. I don’t see why you should be the first.” The idea made Luna pause. They stopped outside a golden set of double doors. “Well, this is the balcony. I’d better get back to my post. It was nice meeting you, Luna,” He turned and walked away.
Luna remained, thinking over what Shining Armor had said, listening to his hoofbeats fade into the distance. She supposed that now was not the time to think about such things. Her sister wanted to see her. She turned to open the doors. They burst open from the inside and a fast moving pink body slammed into Luna, sending them both tumbling.
“Sorry!” The pony pony called as Luna got to her feet. The pony was looking back and forth hurriedly, searching for something. Luna noted with great interest that this pony was an alicorn as well. The alicorn looked around, listening intently, before turning away with a crestfallen face.
“He went that way,” Luna gestured to the hallway, easily guessing the target of the pony’s search. The alicorn smiled gratefully and dashed off down the hallway after Shining Armor. Luna turned, shaking her head. Another alicorn. The future certainly was interesting. She entered the balcony to find her sister sitting there, gazing at the darkening sky. Luna stayed silent, taking a seat beside Celestia. She smiled at Luna, her horn glowing softly as the sun descended below the horizon. They both looked out at the sky and together they watched the moon rise.
