They Don't Understand Me
"Let's go, Luna. It's time to lower the Sun and raise the Moon."
Luna heard her sister, Celestia, calling from the other room and got up almost instantaneously. The rising of the Moon was her favorite part of the day, not only because it signified the night, but because it meant that she could paint the quiet night sky with the stars and other astrological signs.
Luna walked outside into the warm, breezy evening sky, the time where just about half the sky was lit. She walked up to her sister and looked up to her, smiling.
"Are you ready, Luna?" Celestia asked.
"As ready as ever." Luna replied.
"So," continued Celestia, "let's finish the day, together."
Luna beamed with delight as her and her sister took their places to start the royal lowering of the Sun. Using their unicorn powers, Luna and Celestia began lowering the Sun and raising the Moon. Once the Moon was risen, Luna had started her favorite part of the day.
"Wonderful, my dear sister." Celestia praised, referring to her starry night sky.
"Thank you, my dear sister." Luna responded.
Luna continued to paint the starry nighttime sky just a bit longer. By the time she was finished, the sky was full of twinkling, sparkling, and rare stars, with comets dashing and bouncing through from time to time. It was hard work shaping and painting the nighttime sky with these wondrous stars and signs but it was definitely worth the work.
Luna beamed with delight, praising herself for a job well done with the nighttime sky tonight. However, when she gazed down upon all the tired, weary subjects, she felt agony; disappointment for their ignoring of her hard work as each and every one of them headed on home after a hard day of work.
It wasn't their fault, but Luna felt that no one appreciated her hard work. Everyone headed home and, once they did get home, flickered off the lights, signifying their journey to Dream Land. Luna was hurt by all this and finally broke down into tears after years of bottling them up. She flew back to her room as quickly and quietly as possible, not wanting to speak to anyone else. She flew through the window and had shut both the window and the door to her room, locking them both in the process. Luna was alone with her thoughts, whom often times, showcased themselves to the general public. They were sudden bursts of emotion and Luna always apologized for them showing themselves. She had a hard time controlling her emotions, dating all the way back to even before she was banished to the Moon for becoming Nightmare Moon.
Celestia told Luna one day after she had asked her older sister why she lost control over herself and her emotions took over that Nightmare Moon was a sign to everyone that constantly bottling up your emotions can do some damage to the host of said emotions. Celestia also told her that she knew that Nightmare Moon was an accident that never meant to happen and that she had only banished her to the Moon to calm herself down.
The emotions that broke out Nightmare Moon always show themselves and try to persuade Luna into picking up where she left off so long ago but they never succeed.
Luna had quietly fallen onto her bed and stared up at the ceilling of her room, trying her best not to make any sound for she knew that, at even the slightest peep, her older sister would come into the room and ask her what was the matter. She never minded Celestia's concern but this time, she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts.
"They don't understand me." Luna unknowingly spoke.
"Why wouldn't they understand you?" The voice inside Luna's head answered back. "To them, you're nothing but another pony. You live in the shadow of Celestia all the time. Nopony knows who you are compared to Celestia!"
"You're right, I do live in my sister's shadow." Luna responded. "But I don't mind it, if it means ruling alongside her. I just wish that everypony knew who I was rather than 'Nightmare Moon' or 'The other Princess of Equestria.'"
"But you never will be known as 'Princess Luna.' Only when something happens to Celestia will you be known as that."
"But I would never dream, rather even THINK about doing anything to my beloved older sister!" Luna answered, raising her voice a little bit.
"Unless you do, you will never be known! You'll either be known as 'Nightmare Moon' or 'The other Princess.'"
"Why am I listening to you?" Luna questioned herself. "You understand me less than they do!"
"But I am the only one who listens and converses with you!"
"Stop it!" Luna snapped, switching to the Royal Canterlot voice. "If you don't stop, I'll-"
"You'll what?" The voices challenged.
Luna didn't know how to answer since she couldn't do anything to herself. If she did, she'd likely end up hurting herself even more.
"I thought so!" The voices concluded.
Luna flipped over, face first into her pillow, and screamed into it, hoping that her screams would scare the voices. Luna heard hoofsteps coming from outside her room and looked up. The hoofsteps stopped just beyond the large door that separated Luna's room from the hallway.
"Luna?" A voice asked, knocking on the door. "Are you alright?"
Luna knew that the voice belonged to none other than her older sister, Celestia. Wiping her tears from her eyes, she rose up from her bed and made her way towards the door. She sighed then began opening the door, revealing her older sister in the limelight.
"May I come in, my dear sister?" Celestia quietly asked.
Luna nodded her head slowly and stood back while Celestia proceeded into the room. She then closed the door and locked it, knowing quite well that the guards would eventually come in if this went on for a while. She really wanted her privacy this time around. Both princesses proceeded to Luna's bed. Luna sat near the end of the bed, with Celestia sitting right next to her younger sister.
"What's the matter, Luna?" Celestia calmly and quietly asked. "What has you feeling down?"
Luna stared into her older sister's lavender eyes. Sighing, she proceeded to answer her question.
"Do you think that, hypothetically speaking, say if I were to disappear would they take notice to it?" Luna asked.
Celestia looked at her younger sister oddly. "Why do you say that? Of course they would take notice! Why, nopony else raises and lowers the Moon besides you. Plus, you are the Princess of the Night, thus it is your duty to enter everypony's dreams."
Luna looked down at the ground. "But do you think they understand me like you do?"
Celestia wrapped a hoof around her younger sister's neck. "Luna, nopony can understand you the way I do, but that doesn't mean that they don't understand you. I'm sure that if you gave them time and spent time with them, they would grow to appreciate you like they do with me."
"May I ask you something else, my dear sister?" Luna politely asked.
"Anything for you, Luna." Celestia answered.
"Can you help me rid of the voices inside my head?" Luna continued. "They're driving me insane, trying to corrupt me once more."
"Sure, Luna." Celestia responded as the yellow aura of her magic colored around her horn. She touched horns with Luna's dark horn, and Luna's eyes began to glow a bright white. Luna began floating in mid-air as wind started picking up inside her room.
The yellow aura reminiscing around Celestia's horn faded and Luna fell back down onto her bed, her eyes the normal teal color they were. Celestia leaned towards her sister's head, touching it, then placing her hoof around Luna once more.
"There, there, little sister." Celestia quietly assured. "Those voices should be gone now."
"Thank you, my dear sister." Luna replied.
"You're very welcome, Luna." Celestia answered. "Now get some sleep. You've had a long day today."
"I will." Luna responded as Celestia proceeded out the room. "Goodnight, my dear sister."
"Goodnight, Princess Luna." Celestia said as she closed the door behind her.
Luna then turned the light to her room off and laid down in her bed. Looking out the window at the position of the Moon, she concluded that it had to be around midnight. Closing her eyes, Luna fell soundly asleep almost instantly. Little did Luna know that the voices that were once inside her head had escaped and had re-shaped themselves into an exact replica of Nightmare Moon!
"Heheheh!" Nightmare Moon chuckled. "You thought you could get rid of us? Well, you thought wrong!"
And with that, Nightmare Moon had grabbed the sleeping Luna with her new unicorn magic and had flown out the window into the starry nighttime sky to a faraway place.
