The dark mane with streaks of pink wavered in the light breeze as Twilight Sparkle casually trotted onto the elaborate castle balcony. Cadence's and Shining Armor's wedding party still marched on, and Celestia's apprentice had noticed the elusive mare of the night had disappeared from the party around the time the moon should be rising.
It made sense, as Luna had taken up some of her old responsibilities upon being freed from her reign as Nightmare Moon, but Twilight had noticed she hadn't returned to the still roaring party still, an hour later.
"Luna?" She called softly as the dark mare with a majestic smoke mane came into view.
"It is Twilight Sparkle," She announced as her blue eyes traveled to gaze upon the pony that had attempted to help her on Nightmare Night in her quest to fit in. "As seeing you fills me with cheer, also I cannot banish my sorrow," She said, her voice greeting Twilight's ears in a normal but forced tone. Her speech came off as some bizarre mix of traditional Canterlock Royalty speech and the newer much more lax speech of modern day.
"The party's still going," Twilight said, feeling a bit foolish in stating the obvious, the music was only muffled by the panes of glass that separated them from it," And I bet it will be far into the night. Why don't you rejoin it?" Though not direct, it was a statement. A statement that night wasn't hated by ponies, and that such a crucial celebration would continue into it and probably all the way through it.
"I think it would not be fair to force my presence," Luna declined, shaking her head softly. "As I will never forgive myself, neither it seems shall my subjects." Peering into the other's confused gaze, she expounded," I had thoughts of returning; however, my very walking into the room scared a filly to tears. It seems Nightmare Moon's shadow shall never free me."
Twilight sympathetically lowered her ears and took on a consoling posture, to which Luna dismissed with," Do not attempt to assuage me with kind words. My all powerful and ever loved sister has already tried." Her command came off bitter, though she truly had no qualm with her sister. She loved Celestia and was overjoyed to be reunited with her. The shadowy mare simply let her dour mood affect her words, and didn't feel up to fixing them.
"All I was going to say is that it takes time. One thousand years were spent with rumours growing, ponies are bound to take some time to get used to you again is all."
With angry tears in her eyes, Luna brusquely retorted," Yes, one thousand years. I paid for my crimes, crimes of which were not fully my own!" Stamping her hoof in frustration, she continued in the same vein," One thousand years of mind-numbing sentience while contained in a lonesome chamber filled with hatred that was not mine; despair curling upon my being like the smoke my mane resembles. I loath Nightmare Moon as anypony should and more than anypony else does, but my attempts to atone have gone largely unrecognized."
"I'm sorry to hear that, but if it makes you feel better, I fully recognise you as the kind mare you are," Twilight offered.
"While appreciated, your kind words do little kindle warm feelings within myself," She said bluntly. What good was one friendly mare among a world of ponies who feared you? "I fail to to see why nopony else will accept me. I have taken upon myself a more modern lexicon, and I have relinquished the royal speech of before my imprisonment. I have done as you, Twilight Sparkle, suggested. Still, I remain reclused to but a hoofful of ponies who accept me."
Twilight had no clever response to this and sadly walked up beside her and gazed over the moonlit city. "I wish I could help."
With a mournful sidelong glance, Luna confided," All I crave is affection, but Nightmare Moon will never stop haunting me. It is unjust that I should never be able to rid her name."
Twilight hesitated before speaking, but proceed to state," You speak of Nightmare Moon like she is a whole other pony." Luna spoke very directly, so perhaps Twilight wouldn't be blundering into another instance of being innocently insensitive as she'd been told she could be.
"While undeniably me, I feel nothing for that half. It is a long story, and I do not wish to add boring to the long list of negative titles associated with my name, past or present."
"History is anything but boring, please tell me," Twilight insisted, genuinely interested.
"Very well, I shall proceed for the sake of furthering knowledge," Luna conceded. "Long ago, when Celestia and myself were little older than you and your close friends, Discord ruled Equestria and reveled in our pain. Day and night both existed and failed to exist, or would coincide with each other. A stallion had more chance of swimming in a hay field than in water, and hunger shook all of the land to such heights that many lay beneath the ever shifting ground.
"Celestia and myself wielded the Elements or Harmony, forged from the metals of earthen ponies, determination or pegasi, and magics of unicorns as the last stand against such a ruthless tyrant. Together, we were able to bring down evil and assume leadership of Equestria, but at great cost.
"As Discord was being sealed away from the world, he sent one last spark of disharmony and chaos at us in our moment of victory. The vile spark would have taken my sister's life as it was aimed for her beating heart, but I was able to foresee its arrival and take the wound.
"A cut like nopony had ever seen before grew across my chest, a rip in the tender flesh that spewed forth not infection, but hatred. It was a sickness, and we knew I may never recover. I implored my sister to take pity and free me from my certain destiny of carrying out Discord's desire by violent force if need be, but she refused my begging and was confident I could overcome it.
"She was wrong and I fell into the darkness everypony knows as Nightmare Moon. The hatred consumed me and corrupted my beliefs and values. My sister had no choice but to seal me away in the very heavenly body I had once ruled over or take away the curse by taking me away along with. She couldn't bare to lose me and chose the former as we all know today, hoping to rid me of the evil that had devoured my soul, and reunite when the seal finally broke."
Twilight Sparkle's eyes were full with wonder and horror at the story. Her friends had also become Discord's personal toys as he messed with what they felt and believed, but it hadn't been nearly as permanent, nor had it ascended to that level. She wouldn't be able to have lived with herself if she had failed them like that, she already found it hard to forgive herself for what they had suffered through thus far. New respect for her mentor added to the near endless cascade of reverence at her ability to face hard decisions and keep walking forward despite them.
Even more opulent esteem however found itself wrapped upon the pony whom stood only a meter away. Such hardship, and she still tried to find normalcy in life.
"All of my friends including myself faced similar if lessened forms of what you went through. It only lasted a day, but the horror of it all is unparalleled. I can relate to your pain," she said softly. Twilight Sparkle hoped that Luna wouldn't offended by such a comparison. One day of being forced not to think like yourself compared to a thousand years of punishment plus however long it took for her to get to that point? Hardly analogous. "If there is anyway I could help you, please ask."
Luna averted her gaze and nodded solemnly. The tears in her eyes refused to be batted away, and one threatened to spill. Closing the distance between them, she wrapped a navy wing around the purple unicorn and whispered," I wish for you to console me. Kind words could benefit the diminishing warmth within myself."
She had spent the last one thousand years writhing in the protection spell her sister had wove in the hopes of relinquishing her from Discord's curse. It had weakened her enough to allow the Elements of Harmony reverse the spell and return her to normal, but it had been such a painful and lonely experience. In her absence, Celestia had taken up so much more work that try as she might, she now failed to make as much room for bonding time as they both wanted, and the only other ponies it seemed that fully accepted her were her guards.
Uncertain of boundaries, this was the princess of Equestria, Twilight warmly leaned into the winged embrace and nuzzled the other's neck and chin gently. "I'll always be there for you, whenever you need me," She assured Luna," and I'm glad you shared that story with me. I feel even more connected to you now."
"This be true, Twilight Sparkle? I may take the offer you have presented me," She said, for the first time of the night, her voice leaving behind all the elements of royal strength she had carried beforehand. The harsh tone returned for the rest of the night, but noticeably warmer. "As you have taken it upon yourself to attempt to restore my social skills in this new and confusing era, I shall partake in the party as you advised," She announced, abruptly leaving Twilight's side and taking a few sullen steps forward. Looking back, she requested," Perhaps with you at my side?"
With a smile, the unicorn eagerly accepted the invitation with," I'd love to be." And they were off to enjoy Cadence's and Shining Armor's wedding party together.
Title shamelessly stolen from the one Nightmare Before Christmas CD with the songs covered by famous bands... The title just fit so well ;.;
I tried to tone down Luna's speech to sounding a little eclectic, but overly using normal words (no thee's or shalt's) since she has been working on it, but at the same time, it would be like going back in time 500 years for us- we'd totally stick out like a sore thumb despite our greatest attempts to sound normal. I also didn't want to murder proper the Flowery Elizabethan English and make it turn out more like Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe (which while I'm confident that I could write convincing Elizabethan English, it could be distracting from the plot and I would never forgive myself for sliding into the latter type of old English)...
Hope you enjoyed it :3