Welp, the last chapter was a hit if I've ever seen one. It was literally the most popular chapter of this story.
Kids, you make this old man proud!
In any case, I've been inspired to be a bit quicker than I usually am and update another.
Begin!
The Better Mare
Celestia Pov
She wasn't in her room again.
Sighing for a moment, I moved out of the door and closed it when a flick of magic.
'Luna…what is going on with you?'
It had only been a few days since our plan had been enacted, only to summarily fail. And while I found the failure to be bothersome, it was no one's fault, not really.
Or at least that's what I chose to believe, because Luna had all but avoided me entirely since she woke up that day, and apart from a few words she had said barely anything to me at all. Still, I was alright to leave her be for a time, it was simply the way Luna was with failure.
But in the small moments we were together, I had noticed that she had been acting…strange, for want of a better word.
Small things here and there, like eating foods she'd otherwise disliked before, actually apologizing to a guard she bumped into accidentally, and to my surprise for a night or two, she confessed to having trouble raising the moon.
She lost her trouble with this on the third night, to my everlasting gratitude. But the fact that she struggled at all had me worried.
What if she wasn't as strong as she believed herself to be? What if Naerx's attack was still affecting her?
Or what if something had happened to her in the Dream realm that she refused to talk to me about, something terrible?
'I've given her a short time to come around, now I need answers.'
I had scanned her the moment she stood up after awakening, but nothing that came back told me that the mare before me was anyone other than my sister. Her magic was the same, her mind was undamaged and she could remember things that no other would know but she and I.
And yet from what I had managed to briefly get from her mannerisms, she was like an almost entirely different mare. If it wasn't for everything I'd already done, many, many times over, I'd quite easily believe her to be an imposter.
But the magical scan couldn't lie, it simply couldn't. And every time I did so it told me the same things.
Her magic, Luna's.
Her mind, Luna's.
Chance of possession, none.
And yet these things did not soothe the alarm bells ringing in my head. Something was off, and I was going to find out what.
Using our connection, another thing that would have left if Luna was indeed an imposter, I followed the link between us until I found myself in the Royal Garden.
Frowning, I sighed and looked around. 'Of course she's here, I should have known.'
If I was to truly allow myself a moment of vanity, I would confess to being quite proud of the work I had put into making the garden so beautiful. The grass was always lush and there were plants and flowers from all over the world growing in the fresh soil. But in truth, it was the lake that secured my pride.
Crystal clear, so clear in fact that one could easily see the varied aquatic life beneath the surface.
Alas, I was not here to look at the lake. And as I walked around to the part of the garden filled with sculptures, I found her.
She was sitting atop the grass, watching the colts and fillies as they followed their teacher around the various statues. Her expression was relaxed, her eyes lull and smile somewhat lazy.
I doubt she even knew I was there at all.
"Out here again, Luna?" I asked, slightly amused as she almost jumped out of her skin, a red tinge on her cheeks as she looked at me. "You've never been one for reminiscing, yet you've taken to apparently doing so quite often lately."
To her credit, the red flush vanished as quickly as it came, though her caught-in-the-cookie-jar expression remained for a bit longer.
"I suppose I have at that," she replied, shrugging and grinning cheekily at me. "I've had a lot to think on."
"Want to talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Luna..."
Her smile, if possible, grew even more cheeky, the usually stoic mare actually sticking out the tiniest bit of tongue at me.
I frowned as she did so, not unkindly mind you. But everything about her lately had me...on edge.
"You're giving me that look again, Tia," she said, her grin now a small smile as she walked over.
"You've just been so different lately," I said carefully, not wanting her to storm off likely she usually did. "I don't mean to look at you so. But…"
Luna rolled her eyes and stopped in front of me. "Tia, if it'll help allay your fears then by all means, scan me again."
I lit up my horn for a moment, but let the magic go and shook my head. "No, no I'm sorry Luna. I just...ever since you woke up a few nights ago, you've been acting so strangely, so different. I feel like you went in Luna and came out a different mare."
Luna frowned slightly before biting her lip, another thing she'd never done before, or at least not that I had seen her do.
"Sister-"
A cry of pain brought our attention to a short distance away, where a young colt was slowly standing back up from where he had clearly fallen, a light graze just above his right hoof. His teacher, a young mare with a light pink coat, was trying to soothe the tearful colt as best she could. Alas as his classmates began to swarm around her, the poor thing only became overwhelmed.
Forgetting our conversation for a moment, I made to walk over and hopefully console the small colt-
"Are you okay?"
Only to watch on with no small amount of shock as my otherwise apathetic, crude and 'has no time for the young' little sister was already by his side.
"Princess Luna!" the teacher cried, evidently surprised if not a little fearful. "I-I oh dear..."
Luna smiled kindly at the mare and shook her head, as if to wave off her concern. She then looked down at the still tearful, but obviously surprised colt and laid down on her stomach, her smile while still kind, taking on something I had never seen before.
Something that bade me to stay still and watch from afar.
"That looks sore," she said softly, lifting up the colts hoof ever so gently as she inspected the graze.
"It doesn't hurt," the colt replied, evidently trying his best to sound brave.
"Of course not," Luna said, laughing softly. "You're a fearless stallion, and little bumps like this don't hurt. But just to make sure..."
My eyes widened as she kissed the graze tenderly, her magic barely visible for the briefest of moments.
"It's gone!" the colt gasped, Luna letting go of his hoof as he looked at it in wonder. After a moment he looked back at Luna and before she even had a chance to move, jumped forwards and hugged her around the neck. "Thank you, Princess Luna!"
I made my move before Luna's kindness wore off and walked swiftly over, only to stop again as my sister giggled and stood back up, holding the young one for a few moments before letting him back down carefully.
The teacher was looking at my sister with what could only have been complete and utter shock, but even that did not stay as a big smile grew on her muzzle.
"It is no trouble," Luna said, smiling down at him and then to the rest of his group. "Perhaps you should stay to the path and try not to run. It would make me very happy if you did so."
"I agree," the teacher said, smiling a very genuine smile at my sister as she gathered up her group. "Thank you, Princess Luna. Come on class, we've still got a few more statues to go before lunch."
The group of children groaned, but in the end complied and followed their teacher down the path.
I walked slowly over to Luna and stopped once I was beside her.
"Let's walk, Tia," she said suddenly, turning to look at me with a rather serious expression. "We need to talk."
Without waiting for my response, Luna walked past me and headed towards the centre of the garden. There was a gate that kept out anyone other than staff or us further along. Luna opened it with a touch of magic before looking back and gesturing for me to follow her.
"Come, we can talk by the duck pond."
Again I didn't have time to say anything as she continued on her path, and so with a fair bit of trepidation I followed her through the gate.
Naught was said for a few minutes, at least not until the pond came into view.
"Sit," Luna said, sitting herself before it and gesturing with her hoof for me to do the same.
"This is most bizarre Luna," I admitted, but complying nevertheless and sitting beside her. "Should I be nervous?"
She gave me that cheeky grin she seemed so fond of. "What? Are you concerned that the two of us are completely alone here?"
Although her tone was clearly one of humour, the truth of her words did put me on edge a touch.
"I don't fear that you'll suddenly attack me, sister," I replied, choosing my words with care. "But you must admit that you've been acting strangely lately."
"You said as much before," she said, shrugging. "I figured now was as good a time as any to tell you what's going on with me."
"So there is something wrong," I said, sighing. "Luna you should have told me when you woke up."
She frowned and shook her head. "I couldn't. I didn't even know how to describe it at the time, I needed time to figure it out."
"Then what is the matter?" I asked, putting a wing around her comfortingly. "You know you can tell me anything."
It was quick and I almost missed it, but for a brief moment I saw a flash of sadness within her eyes.
"There are some things better left to deal with alone," she said quietly, not really looking at me as she did so. "I needed to think on what to do before I considered talking to you."
"And now?"
"Now…now we talk."
I looked at her and she me, silence being the only company between us for a few moments.
And then she began to speak, her head turned towards the pond, eyes focused on something beyond her vision.
"When I went into the Dream realm to retrieve Richard's whereabouts…it didn't quite go to the way we envisioned it." She took a moment, a pause and then a glance at me, as if expected me to say something.
When I didn't, she continued.
"I believed going in that once Richard and I were face to face, I could use some kind of tactic to make him reveal it. Indeed I tried when we spoke, but he didn't know where he was."
"He didn't know?" I asked. "Are you sure?"
"Positive," she replied, still looking at the pond. "The Changeling didn't tell him where they were, quite clever of her really. Though I somewhat suspect that it simply never crossed her mind as opposed to a deliberate choice."
"You could have undermined that," I said, again choosing my words with care. "Regardless of that creature's true intentions, you could have tried to put across a lack of trust on her part."
Luna grimaced at the suggestion, yet another mannerism that made no sense.
"I did try to use that, but his trust and love in her is too strong. Nothing I could have said from that point regarding her would have done anything to make him change his mind. He simply cares too much about her for someone to trick him with it, especially that cunt Luna."
I made to speak but she carried on before I could.
"And so with words no longer being an option, I had to rely on action…"
I frowned deeply. "Luna, tell me you didn't?"
She looked at me and smiled somewhat bitterly…or perhaps angrily, I couldn't tell.
"Oh, I did. Or I tried at least," she admitted, a frown marring her pretty face. "If words wouldn't work, then I would rely on fear. And what would make him fear more than being tainted by an enemy he hated, and having no choice, no chance to fight back."
I turned and glared at my sister, ready to once again remind her that we do not RAPE, that we had not allowed RAPE for almost millennia.
"And then I died."
My mouth stayed open, a word fading before I could speak it as I looked at her. She looked at me and this time there was no smile, only anger…but not a me, or anyone else. I could see it.
"What do you mean you died?" I asked slowly, looking her up and down as I did so.
"I brought more than Richard into the Dream realm when I tried to trap him there," she said quietly. "I didn't realize it at first, but the realm started to shift around us. I believed rather foolishly that my actions had spurred his subconscious into relaying his deepest fear, one that I could use against him. But instead of his greatest fear, I got his greatest protector…and it killed me."
She stood for a moment and looked up at the blue sky, her eyes closing, body twitching as she evidently remembered…something.
"It tore me from my power, took my very soul out of the form I used to project my subconscious, and then it killed it…killed me. I was ground…or more aptly stomped into nothing."
It hit me like a tidal wave.
"A soul death," I breathed, looking at my sister…or whatever it was that looked like my sister with very real fear. "But it doesn't make sense. Before, with that young colt you, i-if that is the case then…"
She opened her eyes and regarded me sadly, sitting down once more and looking out at the pond.
"How am I here, awake and breathing, alive, feeling?" she asked, eyes slowly turning to look at me. "Because whatever it was that protected Richard, it wasn't a monster Tia. It was kind."
"KIND?!" I cried, moving forward and grabbing her face with my hooves, forcing her albeit with no resistance to look at me. "Luna! Luna no…you can't be dead! Look at me sister, look at my eyes!"
She did, for the first time since that day, she looked me straight in eyes.
It was an old magic, one without real thought. To look into the eyes of another and see their soul, see the depth of them. Cadance had something similar, but hers could only see the good and the bad, mine…it saw who them for who they were.
And so I searched for anything that resembled my sister. The hard outlook, the crudeness, the anger, the cruelty she tried only every so often to hide. They weren't what one could call the marks of a nice Pony, but it was all my sister had ever been for a long time, all the sister I had ever loved.
…
But there was nothing there.
The was only void which meant that she was right, she had died.
The plan had failed, Richard had been protected, more so than either of us believed and it had cost her…cost us dearly.
Cost me my sister.
She was gone, only a failing husk remained.
'Wait…what's that?'
And yet…
To my utter disbelief, the sheer depth of nothing began to slowly, steadily reveal itself to me. Akin to shroud unveiling an individual, so too did this shroud reveal the Luna who stood before me.
Kindness, empathy, anger…but soft anger, more akin to regret. I felt her opening her mind to me, more completely than she had ever allowed me before.
I saw the shape of a soul within her, resembling Luna herself.
And yet behind it…almost as if inside her was something else, a shape I couldn't quite see and yet everything within the magic I used told me that it was her too.
I let go of the old magic and backed a few steps away, looking at Luna in disbelief.
"What are you?" I asked, my voice a bare whisper. "You're Luna and yet you're someone else. What are you?"
She smiled softly and moved closer, a mere couple steps but enough to leave her a hoofs length.
"You never let me finish," she said, her voice calm, thoughtful. "I told you, whatever it was that was protecting Richard was kind. It caused my soul to be destroyed completely, but it did so with a purpose and not just to protect him. But to show me who I was…what I was."
"What you are?" I echoed, thoroughly lost. "I…I don't…I don't understand."
She stood tall, proud and calm as she looked me in the eyes.
"That Luna was a murderer, a rapist, a torturer. She came back from the moon and didn't change a bit, and you did nothing to change her ways but offer a few words and warnings. It didn't work, and for all your words you knew full well that it likely wouldn't. But I think you needed her that way, a sword to swing and direct at Richard and his mate."
"How dare you!" I snapped, ignoring her sad smile as I pushed her barrel none too softly. "She was not a weapon I wielded, she was my sister!"
"She was a disgusting Pony," she rebuked, raising a hoof as I made to speak. "You loved her, I get it, I really do. We can't choose our family, but can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that the Luna that came back from the moon was a good Pony?"
"So you admit to not being her?" I demanded, my magic already ablaze as I glared at her.
"You've scanned me over and over," she said, completely ignoring the powerful aura I was projecting and admiring the pond again instead. "You and I both know that it cannot be fooled. What did it tell you?"
I paused for a moment. "You must have fooled it somehow, some Changeling trick that I know not."
"I'm not a Changeling, sister."
"YOU ARE NOT MY SISTER!" I cried, my eyes welling up with tears. "I looked into you! Your soul…HER SOUL is gone!"
"And yet I am here," she replied gently, smiling sadly as tears fell down my cheeks.
"Why are you telling me this?!" I wailed, furiously rubbing the tears away. "You could have stayed silent, you could have lied! You could have tricked me, killed me in my sleep. If you wanted to protect Richard then why haven't you killed me?!"
She didn't say anything for a moment, merely looking at me with those same sad eyes.
"Can't you see where tricks and threats have gotten you?" she asked, her voice soothingly gentle, a note I tried to ignore. "You threatened Richard into giving you what you needed to save our race, and now he has run from you, hates you, is frightened by you. You told him you wouldn't hurt his mate and then tried to do so not a short time later. You lied and cost any and all trust he has in you, if he had any to begin with, to fade away."
I began to back away, shaking my head. I didn't want to listen to her, every word that left her mouth practically screamed that Luna was dead.
"You tried to use me to trick him in the Dream realm, and that killed me," she continued.
"Stop it." I whispered, frozen, not able to move as she neared me. "You're not Luna, you didn't die. She did."
"I am Luna," she corrected, gently wiping my wet fur with a hoof. "I'm just not the one you sent to die."
"I…I didn't send her…"
"I have no desire to kill, to rape, to torture," she continued, each and every word as gentle as the last. "But I remember everything we ever did together, not just that horrible stuff, but the good too. I remember running together through Father's fields, laughing up at the sky. I remember sneaking an extra apple tart when you were sick. I remember holding you when the first stallion you loved broke your heart and told you that-"
"You'd always be there for me." I finished quietly.
Her smile widened ever so slightly for a moment as she lifted my face and kissed the bridge of my muzzle.
…and…and I couldn't bring myself to stop her.
"If not wanting to kill, to rape, to hurt those who have done nothing to me makes me no longer your sister then so be it," she concluded, slowly moving away. "Let that be my legacy in your eyes…and finish what was started in the Dream realm."
She lowered her head and to my absolute astonishment, completely lowered any and all natural defences she had.
'She's letting me…'
I looked at the one who called herself my sister. I looked and remembered everything she told me…and then I remembered the rest. I remembered how war had changed my sister from a quiet filly into a nigh bloodthirsty brute who thrived on the suffering of others.
I wasn't blind, I knew that I wasn't innocent either. I had shared my fill of blood with her, alongside her with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.
But then I had to imprison her in the moon, using all of my magic to do so. We had no trinkets, no special weapons…I had to do it with all I had to give.
And when she came back and realized that I was no longer a mare of war but one of peace…
"Why didn't she change when she came back?" I whispered, wincing as she raised her eyes to meet mine. "Why didn't she want peace too…"
"Because she enjoyed it," she replied, self-loathing laced within her tone. "She loved it more than she loved you, that is the truth of it. Believe it or don't, it's your choice."
I looked at her, my magic still alight, still roaring silently with power.
I looked at the one who claimed to still be my sister, who looked at me with nothing but love and acceptance.
"If you aren't her…her original soul, then why do you look at me so?"
She smiled, a true genuine smile laced with affection I would be blind to deny.
"Soul death…does not mean death of the heart," she said softly. "Her heart did not die, her pure feelings however small or insignificant did not die. Who I am now does not change that."
She paused a moment. "Her hatred, her anger…that is what died. All of the negative, the despicable that made her the mare that would kill a hundred to satisfy a whim if she could get away with it. That is what died. I am not, nor will I ever be that Luna."
Another pause, a breath then two…
"If that disappoints you, then I do not wish to be your sister anymore."
…
…
She looked up after a moment, her eyes filled with pity as I let my magic go back into me.
My horn stopped glowing.
…
A breath…
"Are you really Luna?"
Another breath, another moment in time.
"Yes."
The wind was pleasant, a soft breeze against my cheek.
"You're still my sister?"
"Yes."
I walked closer and lifted her head, our eyes meeting. I could feel her pulse, hear her breathing, see the light of life in her eyes.
"There's nopony else but you in there?" I asked, somewhat desperately I must admit. "The old magic…I saw two souls. I-I need to know if it's only you."
She smiled and moved her head off my hoof, tilting it slightly before moving a touch away.
"There was someone else," she said quietly, a small cheeky grin appearing for all of a moment. "She came back with me and…fell into me. Her kindness, her empathy, even memories. Without them I'd be a husk and nothing more."
She stopped for a moment, smiling at something only she could see.
And then turned back to me.
"She's why I'm talking, breathing. She is my soul, the other you saw is only an afterimage, a fading corpse. But I am still your sister, new soul or not."
I blinked, looking at her…and only seeing truth.
"Is she still there?" I asked.
Luna smiled but shook her head, her eyes glazing over for a moment, looking at something I couldn't see.
"It wasn't part of her plan, to become me. She was supposed to be her in me but something went wrong. Or…or maybe right, I'm not sure." She shook her head. "At the end of the day, I am still me. I am still your sister…I'm just a bit kinder now, that's all."
The very recent memory of her kissing the crying colts hoof flashed in my mind, the smile on his face when he looked at his 'cured' hoof, the joy in Luna's eyes as he hugged her.
If this was who Luna was now then…then maybe it wasn't so bad.
The sound of her giggling as the small colt hugged her as tight as he could, almost musical in my memory…
Maybe it wasn't so bad at all.
After what felt like a lifetime, I looked at my sister and gave her a genuine smile, wincing as she seemed to almost collapse with relief, taking but a mere moment to run over and embrace me tightly.
"I'm sorry," I apologized, nuzzling her neck soothingly, eyes closing in shame as I felt something cold hit my fur. "I…I don't know what's going to happen now. But if you're still my sister then I'm yours too. And I'm…I'm so sorry I made you think that I was going to…"
I couldn't continue that sentence, choosing instead to hold her tighter.
"Let's take a day," she said, voice tight with emotion. "Just the two of us. We'll have a meal or cook something ourselves. Let's forget about everything for one day and remember what we used to be."
"That sounds wonderful," I said, smiling against her. "But we need to find Richard remember, you…you do still want to do that, right?"
I felt her sigh against me, letting me go and for a moment I felt panic. But her expression, kind and…knowing, it gave my panic pause.
"Okay," she replied, nodding twice slowly. "But this time, how about we try diplomacy?"
I chuckled at her suggestion. "I don't think Richard will be open to talking to us."
A smile grew on her muzzle.
"Not you alone perhaps, but I'm fairly confident we can work something out if I'm there too."
"How?" I asked, beyond confused. "I mean no offense but the last time he saw…um, you. It didn't go very well."
Her smile, if possible, grew even wider for a moment. Her eyes were sparkling with mirth and something I couldn't decipher.
"Oh, well. Maybe not. But I've got a feeling that I can do better this time." She then did the most un-Luna thing I had ever seen her do.
She gave me a rather cheeky grin and winked.
And there we go, my most confusing chapter to date I think.
I do look forward to any and all theories as to what indeed HAS happened to Luna.
Should be fun to read.
Cya, stay snuggly :D