The Days of The Eclipse

Chapter One : Judgment Day

By Star Origin

Once the guards took Raine Moon out of her cell, they proceeded into blindfolding her with their magic. Behind her, the prisoner that had tried to socialize with Raine bid her farewell and told her that they’d surely see each other in the next world.

The guards escorted the black alicorn out of the castle but they weren’t being gentle in any way. They sometimes shoved her around and at some other times, they insulted her and yelled at her when she stopped to orient herself while being blindfolded. After a few minutes later, well more like about half an hour, they were outside the castle and headed towards what seemed to be the public square.

What Raine couldn’t see, she heard it and it was disturbing to her ears. There was nothing but silence. Unlike when she was brought to Celestia in Canterlot’s castle, the city’s streets were completely devoid of sounds. The only thing that she was able to hear were the sound of her, and the guards’, hooves as they walked though Canterlot’s streets.

As they kept heading towards the public square, Raine began hearing voices and there were a lot of them. If she had to guess, it was the crowd that would attend her public execution. She would have thought, at first, that only some ponies would attend her execution but she would have never guessed that hundreds of them would be present.

It was then that Raine realized the extent of her mother’s cruelty. All those ponies were there to see one thing: to see Equestria finally get rid of the terror that Nightmare Moon instilled throughout the kingdom. Raine started to feel bad for not objecting before and felt guilty for not trying to defend her innocence but it was all too late for that at that point.

She had taken the blame for many reasons, one of them being the guilt she felt because of the deaths of those six ponies that stood up against Nightmare Moon. Another reason was her lack of willpower. She didn’t possess the will to stand up for herself. But it hadn’t been the first time it had happened. Since the day she was left to fetch for herself, slightly before her mother was banished to the moon she had lost belief in her own potential.

As long as it was enough for her to survive, it was all right to her. She had never asked for more and for strange reasons, she had grown accustomed to that style of life. But going out of that frame sent her in a state of uneasiness. She did what she thought was right for her in order to survive when the guards came to arrest her, thinking that she was Nightmare Moon. However, Raine started to regret doing nothing because her very own style of life had backfired on her.

The guards were now helping her climb some wooden stairs. How did Raine know that they were made of wood? The touch she felt on her hooves and the sound they made were different than what she felt when she walked through the city’s streets. Once she had climbed all the stairs, Raine was prompted to advance on what seemed to be a platform before she was told to stop and stand still at the exact spot she was.

The guards then proceeded into removing Raine’s blindfold. The sun slightly blinded her after her blindfold had been removed but once her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw all the ponies present in the public square. There were so many of them, so much more than what she had thought there would be. She thought that a few hundreds would be attending the execution. She had never thought that Canterlot’s entire populace would be there.

Even more, she saw some ponies from Ponyville; two of them being awfully similar. As she tried to remember them, Raine realized that they resembled Applejack and Rarity, only younger. It then hit her that it must have been their relatives. She felt truly awful for robbing those fillies of their sisters and she saw the pain and sadness in their eyes. But she also saw rage and anger. They desired retribution for what Nightmare Moon had done and Raine just so happened to be the one taking the blame in her mother’s stead.

Raine kept looking around for a little while. To her right were more ponies demanding for her death and to her left were some more of them but also, on a platform next to hers to the left stood Celestia. The princess was levitating some sort of document so it would be at her eye level. The black alicorn continued to look in Celestia’s direction and saw her demand silence from the angry mass of ponies.

Upon hearing that, the black alicorn knew what would happen next. This was her first execution, although she was the one to get executed, but she knew more than enough to know what was going to follow.

“My dearest subjects, may I have your attention please?” Celestia inquired before the ponies in Canterlot’s public square all turned their attention towards their beloved princess. “Thank you. Now, as you’ve all been expecting impatiently, let this execution begin.”

Right after saying that, several series of cheers emanated from the crowd. Some were requesting a beheading, others a permanent banishment to the moon while others were just asking for a regular execution.

“Nightmare Moon!” Celestia begun, her voice cold and stern as she began reading the document in front of her. “You are accused of threatening and trying to disrupt the peace in Equestria, as well as causing the death of the following ponies: Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and my very own faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Do you deny these charges as I have read them?”

“No, I do not…” Raine answered, her voice devoid of any feelings whatsoever except for sadness and regret.

“Then, for your crimes against the kingdom and as my title of ruler of Equestria, you are hereby sentenced to death by hanging!”

She looked at the two guards by Raine’s sides and slightly nodded. They did as they were ordered and placed the rope around the black alicorn’s neck. Raine let out a silent sigh, one of despair and hopelessness. It was just now that she had realized how much she cared about life. She had the growing desire to live… and take revenge on Nightmare Moon. But alas, it was all to late for those thoughts.

“Do you have any final words?” Celestia asked Raine in all seriousness.

The black alicorn had wanted to say that she was all too sorry to the ponies present but unfortunately, she knew all too well that her comment would be ignored.

“No, I don’t.”

“Then, even if you were evil, may you rest in peace.”

Celestia then looked at the guards by Raine’s sides and gave them their signal. The guard began to push Raine towards the edge of the platform she was on. She didn’t fight back. No, she just let things happen as they should.

The ponies down below watched with anticipation and even tried to convince the guards to just shove Raine down the platform and be done with it. The guards ignored the angry citizens and just did as the princess instructed them to do in the first place. They did the whole process rather slowly and tried their best to not rush things too much.

A few minutes had passed and Raine finally saw her front hooves fall down the platform and truly began to wonder how things had gotten to this. Raine felt her rear hooves nearing the platform’s edge and prayed it wouldn’t last very long. But nothing came. Instead, a loud, resonating voice was heard in the public square.

“Celestia! Stop this madness at once! And as for you guards, release this pony this instant!”

The guards, in their confused state, let go of Raine and then took several steps back. The black alicorn then felt the rope around her neck loosen up until she was able to remove it. She also felt magic pull her back on the platform, but it wasn’t magic she had felt before. It was ancient and mysterious. Raine turned around to see who had stopped the execution and saw another alicorn.

That one had a dark blue fur coat and a tail and mane that also had a shade of blue albeit it being a lighter shade of blue. Her mane also rippled through the air. Added to that were the sparkles present in her mane and tail. In a way, she resembled Celestia in many aspects. It wasn’t until Raine had studied the mare in front of her some more that she realized it was the princess of the night herself, Princess Luna.

“Luna?! What are you doing here? I thought you were in Manehattan for official business,” Celestia said in a rather surprised way, as if she had something to do with it.

“And I would still be if I hadn’t heard of this execution from a messenger. I was surprised to hear that Nightmare Moon had been apprehended so soon. I was so surprised that I went right ahead with the mayor of Manehattan to discuss about a future day we could meet again for said business. You may think it went smoothly but the mayor was sweating and even stammering. It was as if something was off so I decided to come back early and what do I see? My very own sister sentencing an innocent pony to death!” Luna reprimanded Celestia for her lack of judgement after she had explained why she was back so early from Manehattan.

“But Princess! She is Nightmare Moon! Why shouldn’t she be executed?” asked a resident of Canterlot.

“Yes, that would be true… if this alicorn was really Nightmare Moon but she’s not!” exclaimed Luna.

As soon as those words exited the princess’ mouth, countless gasps were heard throughout the public square. Even Celestia looked dumbstruck after Luna’s revelation. That reaction was either caused by sheer surprise, like most ponies, or because she had been compromised. Either way, she looked just as surprised as any other ponies present.

“How can she not be Nightmare Moon? From the tales, this mare looks exactly like Nightmare Moon. Are you telling us that the tales are not true, Princess Luna?” asked another pony, this time a younger colt.

“I have said no such thing but must I remind you all that it was Celestia and I that banished Nightmare Moon to the moon in the first place. If anypony here knows how she looks like, it is Celestia and me. Besides, this alicorn here has no cutie mark whereas Nightmare Moon possesses one and let’s not forget about her mane. This alicorn has a silvery mane while Nightmare Moon’s mane is made of mist she can transform into at will,” explained Luna to prove Raine’s innocence.

While there had been an uproar a few moments before, the public place was now overcome with silence. The ponies that protested before looked at each other in disbelief. Some others even asked themselves if they could have been wrong about Raine. It was not too long before the environment that was once filled with hate and anger was replaced by doubt and disbelief. In the end, all eyes were on Celestia.

“I-I had a reason, everypony!” Celestia let out, her voice strangled by all the pressure she was receiving all at once.

“I won’t have you justify yourself in front of all these ponies. Tonight, after I have raised the moon, we will have a nice, long discussion. For now, I’m taking her with me. I hope you won’t have any objections against my decision, Celestia,” Luna said as she looked at her older sister straight in the eyes.

Luna was replied by Celestia silently nodding her head to show her a sign of her cooperation. “Well, now that this is settled. I’ll be patiently waiting for our little discussion tonight and I think you have a lot to say for yourself, Celestia.”

Right after that, Raine wasn’t so sure about whether she should stay or follow Luna as she had said.  She stayed on the platform for a few minutes, wondering what she should do before Luna called out to her, “Are you going to come or what?”

“R-right…” Raine softly spoke in an almost inaudible voice.

As Luna had done, Raine opened her wings and leapt in the air before she began to flap her wings. She followed the princess to a tower located in the southern part of Canterlot. She wondered why she was following Luna to a tower. Moreover, she was wondering what were Luna’s true intentions. Why was it that she had intervened in the execution? What did she want with her? What would happen next? All those questions swirled in Raine’s head while she followed Luna.

————

Soon enough, she landed in front of what seemed to be a room at the top of the tower and saw Luna head inside the room. Raine would have stayed outside if it hadn’t been for Luna inviting her inside. Shyly, she complied and entered the room only to realize that she was in Luna’s private chambers With that in mind, Raine’s doubts about Luna wanting to punish her all vanished  from her mind. No pony with those intentions would bring another to her own private chambers.

“So, would you mind telling me who you are and the reasons as to why you look like Nightmare Moon so much,” Luna inquired, locking her eyes in Raine’s.

“W-will you do anything to me if I do?” asked Raine, returning the question.

“Heavens no!” Luna exclaimed, shocked to hear that Raine would even ask something like that. “I shan’t do such things. Truth be told, I am far more forgiving than my sister so you can rest assured; I will not harm you in any way. Now, about those questions…”

“Do you promise?”

“Yes, I do. You have my word.”

“Thank you and please excuse me for being so bothersome with my questions but it is quite hard to trust somepony nowadays so I asked you those questions to see if you were trustworthy. I hope you weren’t bothered all that much by my endeavours,” explained Raine, who was looking at the floor all the while.

At first, Luna was unaware of Raine’s attempts at evading her questions but she became quite aware of it after some time. Each time the princess reminded the black alicorn of her original inquiries, Raine would almost instantly come up with a way to change the subject. That strengthened her hypothesis about Raine having a past she did not want to talk about for personal reasons and to ensure her survival.

“The more you respond, the more I’m starting to think you don’t want to answer the questions I have asked you. Am I right to think that way?” asked Luna, who was getting slightly irritated by Raine’s constant subject changing.

“Yes… you are right, Princess,” Raine answered in defeat.

“Then, why do you refuse to talk about it? Am I so intimidating to you?” Luna questioned, giggling at that last remark.

“Well, you are Princess Luna. As co-ruler of Equestria and princess of the night, you could seal my fate on a whim. Returning on the original matter, my story would be better off unknown. The only thing other ponies see when they look at me is a monster,” spoke Raine, her voice slightly strangled by sadness.

“I do not know what happened to you but I do know this: nopony is perfect! Each and every one of us make mistakes. However, mistakes are what make us ponies. I am not here to judge you. All I want is to know more about you so I can understand you better,” Luna replied, trying to sound convincing.

“Fine. You win… Your Highness. But before I begin, could you please elevate a soundproof barrier around here?”

“I could do it, but can’t you do it yourself?” Luna asked, clearly confused about the alicorn’s question.

“I can but I have a feeling yours will prove to be far more effective than mine,” Raine replied.

Even if she found the alicorn’s request slightly useless, Luna complied and soon began to gather magic in her body. Once she determined the range of the of the dome she would create, she let the magic energy flow through her body and into her horn.

At the base, a unicorn’s magic is weak when it is allowed to flow through the body but once transferred into the horn, the power is increased drastically because of the horn acting like a power converter.

As the last bit of her magic energy was transferred to her horn, it began to shine with a lighter tone of blue. After that, she cast the spell and the princess’ private chambers were covered by a barrier that possessed the same colour as Luna’s magical aura.

“There, it is done. Now, answer me: who are you and why do you resemble Nightmare Moon so much?” Luna asked, her voice more strict than before.

“My name is Raine Moon. I have lived for a very long time, more than most ponies would. And as for the reason I resemble Nightmare Moon so much, it’s because she is…” Raine began before she hesitated to continue her explanation.

“And what is she, exactly?”

“She’s my… mother!” Raine said abruptly only to let out a long sigh afterwards.

“That’s… interesting,” said Luna as she tried to analyze the situation.

“What is? The fact that I’m the daughter of Equestria’s arch-enemy or that I’m not evil like she is?”

“Neither. It’s just that I was never aware that Nightmare Moon had a daughter. Tell me then, how old are you?” asked a surprised Luna.

“I’m slightly over a thousand years old. I was born a few years before my mother was banished to the moon, although I had already exiled myself before that happened…”

“Exiled… yourself?” Luna queried, terror making her voice slightly tremble.

“Yes. From the moment I was born, Nightmare Moon”—Raine started explaining and when she uttered her mother’s name, it was with a voice filled with resentment—“had planned to use me for her dark purposes. I, on the other hand, did not like to see other ponies get hurt. Perhaps it was something I inherited from my father, whoever he was, but I didn’t want to hurt other ponies.”

“In an attempt to change my mind,” Raine continued, “my mother began using her magic to force me to become what she wanted me to become. She tried getting in my head and make me submit through psychological torture… but I resisted, much to her dismay. After that, she began to use physical violence against me in order to wear off my defences so she could control me with more ease. Those treatments lasted for two years before I decided, on one night, that I couldn’t bear with it any longer.”

“The night I left, a night where my mother was busy with other matters, I started a fire inside her castle, if you could call it a castle that is, and used the commotion to make my escape. Truth be told, I started the fire in a specific area: my very own room. I feigned my own death and ran away. I ran as far as my hooves and wings could carry me. After that, I lived in seclusion in a cave located in the Everfree forest.”

While Luna was listening to the black alicorn, she noticed the tears glistening in her eyes. All those centuries and yet, her wounds, her emotional ones, never healed. Luna started to feel bad for Raine but then she remembered her role. She couldn’t take the alicorn by pity but she could not let her wallow in pain and suffering either. There was only one option she could think of and she was sure not too many would agree with her decision.

“No child should have to live through that,” Luna softly whispered. “And now, if I understand correctly, this means that you have no real home to return to, right?”

“Correct. And even more so at this very moment. I feel like every single pony wants me dead so perhaps it would be best if I had died earlier today,” Raine responded, a hint of sadness noticeable in her voice.

Luna, who was searching for some things in the back of her bedroom, turned her head towards Raine almost instantly and harshly replied, “What did you say?!”

“That maybe it would have been fine if I had been executed earlier to please those ponies…” Raine repeated, now very afraid of Luna.

“Now listen here! You have, like every other pony out there, a right to live and no pony can take it away from you! Only your actions can decide so don’t you ever say that it’s okay for you to die to make another happy!” exclaimed an angry Luna.

“Please! Don’t do anything bad to me. I’m sorry I said that!” Raine pleaded as a cascade of tears began to fall from her eyes.

It was then that Luna understood how much Nightmare Moon had traumatized her daughter. She was scared beyond recognition, If anypony were to accuse her of being as evil as Nightmare Moon after seeing the black alicorn in the emotional state she was in, all it would show is that they have no hearts at all.

Luna started regretting using the tone she used on Raine but at the same time, it seemed justified. Then again, it was before she realized how emotionally unstable Raine was.

“What are you apologizing for, Raine?” Luna inquired, using a sweeter and softer voice. “I’m the one who should be apologizing…”

“For what?” asked a sobbing Raine.

“For shouting at you the way I did. I should have known you still carried heavy scars of your past after everything your mother put you through and yet, I ignored that fact. Please do forgive me, Raine.”

“I f-forgive you, L-Luna,” Raine responded as she dried off her eyes.

“And to make amends, I have an offer. There are a few others I could be offering as well but I know for a fact that if you accept any of those other offers, the council will eventually get a hold of you and actually execute you. It is for that matter that I am giving you this single offer instead of all of them,” explained Luna.

When she heard that, Raine’s eyes seemed to shine with hope, a renewed hope, as she inquired, “What is it?”

“What I’m offering you is that you will become my own personal protégé. That way, you will have somewhere you can call home and you will be safe from the wrath of Equestria’s angry citizens. And to be honest, I’ve always been a little jealous of Celestia having her own protégés,” Luna proposed, a broad smile across her face.

The moment she heard Luna offer her the chance to stay with princess, Raine nearly leapt in the air due to the sudden happiness and surprise she felt all at once upon hearing the princess’ offer. She was being given two choices: to get a new beginning or to refuse and get something she might not want to receive. Raine decided that she had been through enough and that she would accept Luna’s offer. Besides, there wasn’t really anything left for her to hold on to so the choice wasn’t really hard to make.

“If you really don’t mind, Princess Luna, I think I’ll accept your offer,” Raine told Luna.

“Excellent! All I’ll need are some approval from both of us so that I can make you my protégé. Oh, and would you look at that; Celestia is making the sun set. Looks like it’s going to be my turn very soon!” Luna cheerfully exclaimed.

“Are you going to do the same thing as Celestia did yesterday?”

“You mean the raising of the sun for the Summer Sun Celebration? Heavens no!” Luna replied, giggling at the comparison. “The Summer Sun Celebration is celebrated on the longest day of the year. I do the same thing on the longest night of the year, except that is it called the “Night of Wonders.” But this is beyond the point. Returning to your question: no, I won’t do the same as my sister because today is not a major event.”

“When we manipulate the celestial bodies on normal days and nights, we do it from specific altars located in the castle. If you’d like, I could show you how I make the moon rise,” Luna proposed after she had noticed the interest Raine seemed to have towards everything that concerned Celestia and herself and the power they possessed over the sun and the moon.

To that, Raine did not object in any way. She was fascinated by what Luna had told her and now, she was eager to see how the princess made the moon rise after Celestia made the sun set. Although still present, Raine’s earlier emotional state was now being slowly replaced by happiness; she felt safe when she was near Luna.

While she was thinking about it all, the black alicorn failed to hear Luna calling her and was startled when the princess got her out of her deep thinking. Softly apologizing, Raine brought her attention to Luna, who prompted the alicorn into following her.

“Oh, and more thing,” Luna added, summoning her magic once more. “I don’t think we’ll need this any longer.”

And with that, Luna removed the barrier she had raised around her chambers so she could freely move out and lead the way to her altar. When they were down in the castle’s halls, Luna felt Raine’s fears. It was to be expected after everything that happened during the day. With each guard they encountered, Raine seemed to cower more and more and the glares they gave her didn’t really help either.

When she saw the state Raine was in, Luna opened her left wing and put it on Raine’s back in order to comfort her. At the same time, she looked at the black alicorn and offered her a heartwarming smile. Raine smiled back and seemed to regain her posture but it was still obvious that she was scared of the guards.

One in particular was installing much more fear in her than the other guards. He was a white stallion with a dark blue mane and a tail with a light blue streak passing through both. He wore the armor of a captain and it was the armor of Celestia’s personal guards. He gave a threatening glare to Raine and even seemed to smirk when he saw her wince.

“You got lucky this time, witch, but you haven’t heard the last of me! You’re the reason my sister, Twilight Sparkle, is dead! What did she ever do to you to deserve this. But believe me, I’ll make you pay for what you did to Twilight!”

“That’s enough out of you, Shining Armor. You can return to your duties if you are done here,” replied Luna, her voice as cold as the captain’s.

“As you wish… Your Highness!” Shining Armor retorted with a harsh and venomous voice.

After he had left, Luna tried to reassure Raine and said, “Please forgive him, Raine. He deeply loved his sister and has a hard time accepting the fact that she’s gone. Everypony does, in fact, but time does not stop for that. We must hold them somewhere they’ll never go away: our hearts.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m partly responsible for her and her friends’ deaths so I was kind of prepared for an encounter with him but I had not thought that it would be this-“ Raine began.

“Intimidating?” Luna asked, continuing the rest of Raine’s statement.

“Yes, that’s the word. I would have never thought that meeting him once more would be so scary, so intimidating,” admitted the black alicorn.

“Shining Armor is known for that. He may seem kind while on duty but that is just a front. Plus, from what I heard, he values his family above all else.”

Nevertheless, Luna told Raine to follow her once more and as she followed the princess, Raine noticed that the halls were passing from a golden colour to a somewhat darker tint. Even the decorations on the pillars had changed as they progressed further inside the castle.

On their way, Luna explained that they were in the Lunar Wing. Like the Solar Wing, it was a hallway that led to an altar built for Luna so she could raise and lower the moon. But it also served other purposes such as a sanctuary where the princess of the night could peacefully meditate without interruption.

Another change that was easily noticeable as they proceeded further in the Lunar Wing was that the guards that were dispatched in that section of the castle weren’t Celestia’s. The guards in the Lunar Wing were clad in light blue armor and Raine guessed they were part of Luna’s personal royal guards. Before she could ask Luna more questions, the princess told Raine that they were right in front of her altar.

They then entered and to her surprise, the black alicorn saw that many plants, some of one colour while others were of a different colour, had been placed around.

“I welcome you to my altar, Raine. ‘Tis in this very place that I raise and lower the moon. It also serves as my sanctuary, after my private chambers of course,” explained Luna as she watched Raine look around and examine every details about the architecture.

“This is so amazing, Luna. The architecture, the colours, the details; everything about this place is simply amazing. Beautiful, might I add!” Raine exclaimed, still in awe.

“Yes, it really is amazing, isn’t it? We hired one of the best architects in Canterlot and we have not regretted our decision since. And by “we,” I refer to Celestia and myself,” Luna clarified.

“If I may ask, what are all those plants for? Surely they serve another purpose than just decoration.”

“You are a good observer,” Luna replied, surprised by the alicorn’s deduction, “and you are right. These plants play a more important role than what you may think. They are in fact nameless plants that possess magical attributes. Why nameless? Because they are not figured in any of our records concerning botany.”

“So, since we had no names whatsoever, we tested them and found out that one of the two plant’s flowers only bloomed when exposed for a certain amount of time to the sun’s light. The other’s flowers only bloomed when exposed to the moon’s light. We decided to call the pair “Yin and Yang” because of their special attributes.”

Raine listened with careful attention, looking at the plants as Luna pointed her hoof at them. The first one, which was named Yin, was a red plant with white flowers and several hints of yellow and orange on its leaves. There were only three flowers on the plant but their size compensated for their numbers. Indeed, the flowers were larger than some of the flowers located in the Everfree Forest.

As for the second plant, it was white with hints of blue and black on its leaves. The flowers were grey and the Yang, unlike the Yin, possessed three times more flowers but they were relatively smaller from its counterpart.

“But why are they placed here? What are the reasons that made you place them in here?” Raine queried.

“As I explained a few moments ago, those flowers only bloom when exposed to the sun or the moon for a certain length of time. The other thing they can do is absorb large amounts of energy and store it in their flowers, thus making them bloom. We use them as an aid when we control the sun and the moon since the strain is usually enormous and leaves us unable to perform a single spell for a few days.”

As she continued to explain the uses of those two plants, Luna noticed that the sun had almost set. Ready to do her usual task, the princess happily let out, “Ah! It would seem the time has come for me to raise the moon. Watch closely for you are about to witness the power of the Lunar Princess!”

Right after that, the princess’ horn began glowing with a dark blue aura and soon, the whole room lit up as a white glow invaded it. It was so bright that it momentarily blinded Raine before her eyes were able to adapt to the brightness. Still, as impressed as she was, the black alicorn soon took notice of Luna’s struggles.

The princess hadn’t been jesting when she said that the magic energy required to move the moon was enormous. At some intervals, she even heard the princess grunt in pain as her ritual robbed more and more of her magic energy. Suddenly, Raine felt Luna’s magic reach out. She was enveloped by the princess’ magic and she could feel it waver.

She then felt the magic reach out elsewhere and realized the princess was going for the red plants, those that had accumulated the sun’s energy. Raine watched as Luna drained the energy from the plants’ flowers and felt the princess’ magic energy slowly replenishing. Another thing the black alicorn noticed what that the flowers were starting to close, proving that Luna’s magic was indeed draining the plants of their energy.

As time passed on, Raine felt Luna’s magic grow in power and even felt her energy stabilize. Luna then told the black alicorn to look up in the sky and when she did, she saw one of the most wondrous things she had ever seen in her life. She had observed the night sky several times in the past but never before had she seen the stars appear like that in the sky. Maybe the reason Luna was using those plants so often was because she had to raise both the moon and the stars.

But those inquiries quickly died down in Raine’s mind as she watched the Lunar Princess raise the moon and the stars.

When she saw the pale moonlight on the horizon, Luna used the last bits of the borrowed energy she had taken from the plants and concentrated it to raise the moon a little more. It took her more than she had originally thought and thus had to rely on her own magical energy since the energy she had borrowed was not enough to properly raise the moon.

Slightly strained, Luna managed to turn around to face Raine, who had a long face filled with surprise. Her eyes wide open, she stared at the starry night sky and her eyes were almost reflecting it when Luna peered into the black alicorn’s turquoise eyes.

“This is simply wonderful. I had observed the night before but this is simply beyond anything I’ve seen before. You night is so beautiful, so lovely. So much that I wish it could last a few more hours,” Raine softly spoke, still looking at the sky.

“I worked countless days and nights placing all those stars to make them into something everypony could admire but alas, most of our subjects slept through my night. I was a bit jealous at first but then, my sister announced a special event: the Night of Wonders. Hadn’t it been for her, most of our subjects would still ignore the night’s beauty and its secrets. I am ever so grateful for what she did for me but sometimes, I swear she only acts to secure her own position and reputation,” Luna told Raine, explaining the many wonders she shared with her sister and the pleasure of being the one responsible for raising and lowering the moon.

“If I may be honest, I always preferred your night to Celestia’s day,” revealed Raine.

“Oh? And what is the reason behind that?” inquired Luna.

“It is mainly the stars that I like the most. They are so… mystical and they helped me forget about my problems when they were too much to bear. The moon’s pale light is also one of the other things I like about your night, Luna.”

“Please! You flatter me too much. I only tried to make it as beautiful as I could. Everypony thinks that my night is a masterpiece but every time I look at it, I feel as if something is missing,” replied Luna.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll find what it is someday. You have a lot of time to think about it, after all,” Raine pointed out.

Luna then remembered that she was supposed to go meet with Celestia after she had raised the moon. Realizing that she would be slightly late, she said, “Speaking of time, I’m going to have a word with my sister. Did you want to come with me or would you prefer to stay here and observe my night some more? Either way is fine and I’m not going to force you to decide.”

To Luna’s surprise, Raine agreed to come with her and join the conversation the princess was going to have with her elder sister. The black alicorn justified herself by saying that she wanted to know the reasons why Celestia acted the way she did, especially when she was supposed to know how Nightmare Moon looked like.

However, there were other reasons as to why Raine wanted to accompany Luna; one of them being an apology for bringing about the death of Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s faithful student. A second reason to that was to tell Celestia her story to make sure she wasn’t considered as a threat.

As soon as Luna prompted Raine to follow, the black alicorn nodded and trotted to Luna’s right side. Once they were out of the Lunar Wing, Raine winced once more as the guards under Celestia’s command gave her glares. Luna told her that as long as she was with her, none of the guards would dare to lay a hoof on her.

This reassured Raine a little but her anxiety and fear did not go away, not completely that is. The Lunar Princess explained that they were going to meet Celestia in her private chambers since it would be easier to freely converse in there. The black alicorn seemed relieved to hear that. That would mean nopony would be able to spy on them and come up with a false rumor, saying something about Raine in an attempt to taint her already low reputation.

————

Things stayed the same even after they had entered the Solar Wing. Unlike Luna, Celestia had requested that her private chambers be placed in the Solar Wing so it would make it easier for her to raise and set the sun rather than having to travel all the way down to use her designated altar.

Apart from that, Raine had exponentially shrunk behind Luna since she had left the Lunar Wing with the Lunar Princess. The guards’ glares had been the main reason that scared Raine so much. For strange reasons, they all seemed to hate her, or maybe it had been an order from Shining Armor. Either way, it was still unsettling and unnerving for the black alicorn.

After an hour or so of walking through the endless halls of the castle, Luna and Raine finally arrived in front of Celestia’s private chambers. While the designs of the Lunar Wing were unbelievably beautiful, the designs used for the Solar Wing were on a whole other level. They made the rest of the castle rather… dull.

Nevertheless, Luna didn’t wait for too long before she called out for her sister. The Solar Princess opened the door with her magic a few moments after Luna had called her. She first saw Luna as the door continued to open but when she saw Raine, Celestia almost slammed the door shut in front of the two alicorns. It would have been the case if Luna hadn’t stopped her sister from doing so with her own magic.

“Celestia!” Luna let out, her voice possessing much more power than anything Raine had ever heard from the short time she had spent with Luna. “It’s only me and I’ve brought Raine along with me. She has some things she wishes to discuss with you as well.”

“And who is this Raine you speak of, Luna?” Celestia demanded.

“This is Raine,” Luna responded, introducing the black alicorn standing next to her. “She’s the pony you tried to execute earlier today. Now, would you mind letting us in? I wouldn’t want the whole kingdom knowing about what we are about to talk about because we were too careless and let a pony eavesdrop on us.”

“I fully agree. Now come in before anypony becomes too suspicious of what is happening at this moment.”

Celestia let her two guests enter her private chambers and carefully closed the door behind them. Afterwards, Luna used a spell to seal the door and used another one on the walls of Celestia’s chambers. It basically made it impossible for sounds to be heard from the outside. As for the door, she just locked it with many complex magical locks so no pony could enter abruptly at the wrong moment and jump to early conclusions upon seeing the princesses conversing with Raine.

“So, you’re called Raine?” Celestia queried, looking the black alicorn in the eyes.

“Yes, Your Highness. My full name is Raine Moon and it is a pleasure to meet you under more conventional manners,” Raine replied.

“You share a great deal of resemblances to Nightmare Moon…” Celestia uttered at first before the realization came to her like a cannonball. “Tell me, are you related to her in any way?”

“She is… my mother but don’t misunderstand me, I want nothing more to do with her. She’s the reason I was framed for her and she’s the one that killed your student and her friends. She even used to employ violence against me when I was a filly so she could use me in her dark schemes. But right now, I will not explore those details too much. I’ll explain everything later on,” explained Raine, her voice trembling and sobbing because of the memories coming back to her once more.

“As she said, she will tell you her whole story later on but before she does that, she has something she wants to say to you and then, I’ll have a word with you, sister.”

“Very well then. Let’s be done with it. The sooner we are done here, the sooner we can all get a good night’s rest. So, what did you want to tell me Raine?” queried Celestia.

“I know that this isn’t enough apology for what happened but I really want to apologize for causing your student’s death. I know it wasn’t me who took their her and her friends’ lives but I was the one that led them to their doom. I just want to get this off my heart before it poisons me with guilt and grief, although I fear it’s already begun. Even now, I still have the images of their bodies as they lay on the cold stone floor. Please accept my sincerest apologies,” apologized Raine.

“It pains me to accept that Twilight Sparkle died but it is a truth I will have to face nonetheless. And although it is partly your fault that their deaths occurred, I am as much to blame as you so I shall not seek any further justice against you. However, rest assured that there will be retribution for what Nightmare Moon has done!” Celestia exclaimed, her emotions slightly getting the better of her.

“We will in time, sister, but now, I want some answers and I want nothing more than the honest truth from you,” began Luna as she locked her eyes in Celestia’s. “Why where you trying to execute Raine? I’m sure you were aware since the beginning that she wasn’t Nightmare Moon. Am I right to assume this?”

“You are right. But before you start lecturing me, let me explain why I did it…” Celestia replied with a voice so soft it sounded like a plea.

“Go on, we’re listening that whatever you have to say. Also, what did you mean when you said you were also to blame?”

“Right. Well, to be honest, I had been aware of Raine’s existence for quite a while but I never judged her presence to be a matter that would cause any problems so I let her live her life in the Everfree Forest. However, due to Nightmare Moon’s return from her imprisonment, the council put a lot of pressure on me about reassuring the citizens of Canterlot by having Nightmare Moon publicly executed in the city. But when I told them that capturing her would prove to be extremely difficult, they proposed that I use Raine as Nightmare Moon,” Celestia explained, the words having a slight difficulty to be sorted out because of everything she was getting off her chest.

“Did you tell them about Raine’s existence for them to propose using her to calm our subjects?” Luna inquired.

“No, and that’s what troubles me the most. I don’t know how they found out about her but that means they stuck their noses in businesses that weren’t their own. That’s why I said I was responsible as well. I let them use me for their own purposes and I did nothing to stop them.”

“Celestia…” Luna began after taking a long sigh. “Apart from me, you hold the highest authority in the kingdom. The council is not above you and if I were to give my opinion on its members, I’d say they’re all senile geezers.”

“I know that, Luna. But they threatened to reveal information about my political decisions to the public when they were better off left in the archives, far from the eyes of anyone to see them. How they acquired them, I have no idea but they hold more power than you may think,” replied the white alicorn.

“Then let me guess: they were the one that proposed to you the idea of sending Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville so that she could get Raine to come out of hiding when her mother broke free of her imprisonment? They chose to waste several lives just so they could ensure their own political position? How cowardly of those old fools!” Luna exclaimed.

“How did you-“ Celestia began, the expression on her face showing complete astonishment.

“I didn’t,” Luna replied, interrupting her sister at the same time. “I just thought of something that seemed obvious from their end and that was the first thing that came to my mind.”

“As sharp as always, dear Luna,” Celestia said, complimenting her sister’s intuition.

“Please, you flatter me too much Celestia. I may not partake in the same political affairs as you but I do like to keep informed about what is happening between you and the council and so on.”

“True, you did always seem on track with everything that transpired in Canterlot despite the fact that you are not always present,” admitted Celestia.

“Well, now that you answered most of my inquires, I think our friend here has something she’d like to share with you,” Luna announced as her gaze met Raine’s. “Go on, Raine. Your story is safe with my sister.”

Even if she didn’t want too share her story a second time, Raine felt that Celestia had to know if she wanted to allow her to remain with Luna. She began with her younger days as a filly and Celestia was surprised that the alicorn still clearly remembered her past even if a thousand years had passed.

She detailed the pain she was put through when her mother tried to gain control over her. Even the memories were enough to make her cry abundantly. Luna tried to convince Raine that maybe she should skip that part but she refused, saying that Celestia had a right to know no matter how painful the memories were.

Raine then explained how she started a fire in her own room back in her mother’s castle, faking her death so she could escape her mother’s cruelty. She ended her story by saying that after that, she lived in the Everfree Forest as she knew it would keep her well hidden.

“And you have no idea how happy I was when I learned news of my mother’s banishment. Of course, I only learned it several years later when I returned to her castle to see what had happened to it through the years and to my surprise, a pony just happened to be guiding other ponies through the Everfree Forest. And he explained them that it had been abandoned after Nightmare Moon’s defeat against you. I was so happy that my nightmare had finally come to an end. But now, it’s starting all over again,” spoke Raine, her voice passing from an energetic one to one overcome by sadness.

“This is so… sad. I can’t believe that a mother could do that to her own daughter. But there’s no need for those worries from now on. From today and henceforth, I allow you, Raine Moon, to stay with Luna and you will have both our protection against anything that may try to harm you!” Celestia announced.

“How did you know about Luna’s intention to take me in?” asked a confused Raine.

“My sister and I are connected through telepathy so if I want Luna to hear my thoughts, I can send them directly to her mind. We only do it when the situation demands it, though, and Luna deemed it was only right for me to know what she had in mind for you,” answered the white alicorn.

“Just as she said, we have developed a way for us to discuss important matters without anypony knowing what we are doing. Now, I can only guess you’d like some rest after everything that has transpired, correct?”

“That would be a very good idea indeed. I feel robbed of all my energy,” replied Raine.

“Good. You can stay here while I go make the proper preparations for your stay. You will live with me in my private chambers.”

With that, Luna lifted the spells she had cast with her magic to open the door, only to close it afterwards. To kill time, Celestia decided to inform Raine of the current status of the society they lived in since Raine had lived most of her life away from any kind of society. It only seemed fair to at least teach how to correctly act if she ever had to encounter a problem of any kind.

Overall, Raine seemed to assimilate most of the information Celestia was giving her. She may have lived in seclusion but that made her comprehension far more developed than some because her mind wasn’t filled with lies that those in her past tried to get in her head.

“It may seem hard to remember at first but you’ll get the hang of it as time passes. After all, practice makes perfect,” Celestia finished explaining, ending her long speech about pony society.

“It is a lot of information all at once but I think I can managed to remember it all. If anything, I think I can already apply-“ Raine said before she was interrupted by three ponies that entered the Solar Princess’ private chambers, the first one being Shining Armor.

“You Highness, your student has come back with a companion of…” Shining Armor started announcing before he noticed Raine in front of Celestia.

“You! What are you doing here?!” asked the first unknown pony, an aquamarine unicorn with a black mane and tail that had a dark blue streak passing through both.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t be here! You should have died back there for what you did!” exclaimed the second one, a pegasus that shared a lot of traits with Rainbow Dash.

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Note: I do not own the two ponies that have appeared at the end of this chapter. They have been presented to me by another brony: Dusk Shine. One of them is his ponysona, I think, and the other is his friend's.