Sonata walked through the dark streets alone for the first time in centuries. She had been with the other two for so long, sometimes she forgot what life had been like before them. To be honest, she was too frightened to really care. She was now a mortal, a mere mortal. No shelter, no food, nothing but the clothes on her back. She had to find all those things (as well as protection from the more dangerous members of the human species), and running away to who knows were with the others was a dead end.

It felt odd to be walking, darting her eyes about, looking for possible danger. It made her feel weak. It was a feeling she hadn't felt for over fourteen-hundred years. Give or take. It sounded like a long time but now seemed like it had all passed in a blink of an eye. If there was one good thing about having the body of a young girl, it gave a couple extra decades until her demise. Another concept she had not thought about in a very long time.

"Sonata? Sonata Dusk?" A voice called out. It was older, female. It took Sonata by surprise. Who was this? How did she know her name? Was she a threat? She looked around to find the source of the voice and saw Vice-Principal Luna standing across the street from her.

Sonata gave an awkward smile and a quick wave. "Oh hi Vice-Principle Luna." It was lame. Her voice cracked and the words were stupid. But how many times had she been called stupid and dumb and an idiot? Maybe they had all been right. She certainly didn't do anything to disprove that now.

"We're not at school anymore," Luna replied in a soothing voice. She spoke as a mother trying to calm a child. "Besides, you're not exactly a student anymore. Not a normal one at least. But then, considering the last few new students we've had; normal is a debatable term these days." There was still no hint of malice in her voice. Only a quiet authority that let you know you were safe.

"I'm a fourteen-hundred year old monster/demon type thing from another dimension that was banished here about a thousand years ago." It was blunt and to the point. Sonata's voice still sounded a bit weak and broken from fear and now a growing sadness; but she was starting to feel more at ease with this human. Maybe things would turn out all right.

"As I said, normal is a debatable term these days." Luna almost laughed as she spoke those words.

Sonata was really confused now. This human's actions made no sense to her. She had seen first hand the various witch hunts these creatures had over the centuries. Sometimes it was actual witches the hunted (or at least those they thought were), sometimes political dissidents, sometimes people they thought guilty of some crime, or crossing some social taboo, but regardless of the reason; the end result was always the same. And it wasn't this.

"Aren't you afraid of me?" She finally asked. The calm by which this human spoke to her, the ease she had around her, was really starting to get to her. Frankly, whether or not Luna was afraid of Sonata, didn't matter because Sonata was becoming afraid of her.

"Should I be?" Luna raised one eyebrow as she asked Sonata that question. It was as if to say, really girlfriend.

"No. No. I'm harmless now. I have no powers, no magic, no nothing." Sonata looked down at the ground as she spoke. Saying those words out loud (and to a human no less) made her feel even weaker and smaller. She wasn't a threat, she was a victim in the making. Oh how the mighty have fallen, or some junk like that.

"You have a place to stay? For the night at least?" It was another simple question. No judgment, no pity, just a simple question. Her tone was almost that of one asking for the time.

"No. Why?" Now Sonata was wondering if she should run or not.

"Come. My house is just down that way. You're lucky. I was just out taking my nightly walk when I saw you. Fourteen-hundred years or not, you still have the body of a teenage girl and the streets at night are no place for you." Luna started to walk back to her house. She stopped and looked over her shoulder to see Sonata just standing there, looking dumbfounded at her. "You coming or what?" she simply asked again.

Sonata didn't know what to say. This was all too weird (even by her standards). Humans don't act like this; but she did need a place to stay, if just for the night. And rightly or wrongly, she did have less of a fear level with the females of the species. That and she did remind her of Princess Luna back home and Princess Luna had always been her favorite. So with a single nod of the head, she started to follow V.P. Luna.

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"Sooo, do you always take night walks?" Sonata asked. It was a dumb question but she felt too uncomfortable to try and think up any better ones.

Luna was making tea at the one counter. Sonata sat at a small table in the kitchen. A small table was all the kitchen could have fit. Luna's whole house was small. A single level with just enough room for maybe two people to live frugally. The furnishings and fittings were all sparse and practical. This was a house for someone who had trimmed all the fat out of their lives. Except for the books. Simple, floor to ceiling bookshelves lined two walls in almost every room Sonata had seen. From what she could make out, most were poetry books with a few self-help books thrown in there every so often.

"Yes. I wasn't tonight, with the battle of the bands and all, but I decided to anyhow. After that 1979 van side art came to life and blasted you ladies, I felt a little head clearing was in order. Here." Luna turned around and handed Sonata a cup of tea.

Sonata took the cup, looked at it for a second, then took a drink. She had watch the human make it and was fairly certain it wasn't poison.

"I'm a night person by nature," Luna continued, sitting down at the table across from Sonata. "When I go out and look up and see the moon, I think of how scientist now say the moon was created by bits of debris cast off from the early Earth when a planetoid hit it. A piece of Earth, severed, but yet still attached; reflecting light back to us, controlling the tides. And those stars, out there; the light from some of those stars has taken billions of years to reach the earth. Some might not even exist now. I'm not only looking into the heavens, but back in time as well. The day is for work and play; the night is for mystery and romance." Luna stared off in almost some sort of dream trance; her voice full of awe and longing. Then she snapped back and added in a more formal manner, " And danger too; which is why I'm glad you decided to come back with me."

"Wow, pretty deep Ms. L" Once again, totally stupid but the best Sonata could do.

"After all your time; you must have some pretty deep thoughts as well."

Sonata shook her head in almost shame. "No, not really. Being immortal means never having to think about life and the deeper meaning of things. The sun always rises, tomorrow's always a guarantee. And with the ability to get others to do what you want, all life becomes about enjoyment."

Luna just looked at her for a moment and asked, "So what are you actually? Where do you come from?"

"Another dimension. I started out as a pony, believe it or not. We all did- Aria, Adagio, and me. I was always the laughing stock of our tribe. Everyone thought I was stupid. Adagio and Aria do too, but at least they allowed me to hang out and play with them. One thing I noticed that's the same here and there, abuse always tends to better than loneliness.

"Then, one day, we were playing on a hill top and found those gems, the red ones we wore around our necks. We didn't know what they were, only that we liked them. So we took them back with us and made those chokers out of them."

"How?" Luna interrupted.

"Huh?"

"How? You said you made chokers out of the gems. How since you also said you were ponies? I mean you would have hooves I'd imagine, not hands; so how were even able to grip anything?"

"Um, well, things, tools, cups, just sort of stuck to our hooves. Never really thought about it. I mean in my dimension pegasi control the weather and the sun and moon are raised and lowered by two alicorn sisters. So, yeah."

Luna just looked at Sonata for a moment, blinked, and simply said, "Go on."

"Well, one day we were singing with our new chokers on and we noticed everyone was just staring at us, mesmerized. Not only that, after we stopped, they all started fighting. No reason. And that kept happening, over and over. But each time we sang, our voices got stronger and our ability to control them became greater. We realized it was the stones. The stones gave us the power to control others and they were powered by the negative energy given off afterwards. And it wasn't just control, it was LOVE! They loved us, worshiped us.

"At first I was concerned. I didn't want anyone hurt. But as Adagio pointed out, these were the same ponies who bullied me before. Then I started to enjoy it. Like revenge. Soon I didn't care who it was I made suffer. For me it was all payback.

"Then we started to transform. Physically. We became those, what you would call, sea-horse, looking things. We changed, but didn't age. All powerful and immortal, who could ask for anything more right?

"That's when the wizard stepped in. Starswirl the Bearded; they called him. He challenged us and banished us to here. Although I doubt if he even knew where here was. Your world is dangerous now, but even more so a thousand years ago. We were frightened, with new bodies; but we still had our gems. That gave us enough power to survive through the years. And that brings me to here." Sonata looked at Luna, not knowing what to expect next.

Luna took one deep breath and started, "You said you fed off negative energy. A lot of bad things happened during your time here, on this planet. Were you responsible for any of that?"

It was a fair question and one that deserved a fair answer. "No. In Equestria, where I'm from, everything is filled with magic. This place isn't. The negative energy here is so low grade, that even a whole lotta of it wouldn't have done us any better. Also when you're an immortal demon type thing, keeping a low profile is a must. Standing in the halls of power to enchant them to start a world war isn't exactly "lo-pro". That and the negative energy is just the fuel we needed to get what we really wanted, complete love and worship."

"That's good to know. If you had been, that would have changed things dramatically."

There was a graveness to Luna's words which Sonata hadn't heard before and she become a bit worried. "So now what?" she asked, fear creeping back into her voice.

"For the time being, you stay here, until we can find you a proper place to live. As you said; you are powerless. You are, for all intents and purposes, a teenage girl. And so you will be treated as such. You will go to school, attend classes; I expect an "A" in history, and you will make friends with the girls in the Rainbooms. They took and cared for Sunset Shimmer, I have no doubt they will do the same for you. Understood?" Crisp, formal, she was all vice-principle now.

"Yes ma'am," Sonata squeaked back.

"Oh, and two more questions: why did you come back and where are the others?"

"Because I was scared and had no where else to go and I don't know. They left to try and find a portal back home." The last part was a white lie. She knew they'd go after Trixie; but she figured she owed her former cohorts some cover. "Now may I ask you why you're doing this for me?" she asked.

"Because," Luna breathed deep again, "our lives are not that dissimilar. Maybe not to the degree as you, but I too felt put out as a child and I did things for which I am filled with regret. At least I am now. And I just want to extend that courtesy to other young women like I was. Even the fourteen-hundred year old ones. Come, I'll show you were you'll be sleeping."

Author's Notes:

Okay, I love Luna. She's one of my favorites. So in this I took aspects of her personality from MLP:FiM, the episodes where she helps Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom, and transposed it to the EG Luna. Hopefully it works.

Timeline wise, I admit, I'm not that big of a fan to where I got the whole continuity laid out. So I may have some ages and order of events out of sequence. Please forgive.

I also try to get into Sonata's head more. To try to see where someone like her, who for the most part comes across as fairly nice and goofy, would get her motivation from for being "evil". Hopefully I succeeded, but as I know, you can't please everyone. Also if she seems less goofy in this chapter, please remember she's at her lowest point here. So I want to present her as what I feel would be the most realistic way possible.

And, finally, while there are no purple, orange, blue, excreta people in the real world, I am still assuming that the EG world is Earth so I do bring actual real history into the fiction as opposed to trying to write an entire alternate history. It makes it a little darker, but it does help the narrative I feel.

But I could be wrong.