The little ponies love me.

Oh, not all of them, not even a majority of them, perhaps. Not even in the distracted, unthinking way that they once loved my sister.

There are many that pretend to love me. They bring costly gifts, write bad poetry, and do foolish and dangerous things to win my approval. I smile and acknowledge those false ones, of course. I give them hope. It keeps them busy and provides me with some amusement when they fail disastrously at some ridiculous quest. Once in a great while one of them will take my mild acceptance for tacit approval of something more personal. Those ones provide more direct amusement, as well as an object lesson for the rest of them.

There are ponies that hate me. They are mostly the old ones, the ones who still remember the sun but have forgotten its uncomfortable heat and the sweltering days of that lost season they once called summer. They are old, and they will die soon. And with them will die the false memories of daylight and the weak princess they foolishly depended upon too much.

Whether they hate or love, they are all in awe of me. I hold their lives beneath my hooves. Their crops grow only because of my dark sorcery and my moon's magical light. But this was true of my sister's reign as well. She could have withheld or increased the blistering glare of her sun if she had chosen to, though nopony ever believed she would. And perhaps they were right.

That was her fatal flaw. She was given her kingdom, and she served the ponies of Equestria, though they were beneath her. In return, they loved her the way a greedy foal loves a bar of chocolate.

I took the kingdom from her, and my ponies serve me. The ones that love me, love me with all their hearts because I am a powerful princess who rules them. They are ponies who would die for me without hesitation. They are ponies who would commit any act, no matter how vile, were I to simply hint that it would please me.

I am well-loved in all the ways that matter.

But now… I am not quite... content.

It is her fault, that alicorn from another world. A pathetic little thing; she barely came up to my chin, and she had no more regal bearing than a donkey. Her claim to have a time travel spell was absurd, but I played along, entertained despite myself.

Her dragon whelp spoke my sister's name, somehow believing that she might still be in the world. When I showed him that her prison bears the subtle tints of her mane, and a ghost of her silhouette, he was silenced. I ordered my elite guards to seize him, thinking perhaps that they might amuse themselves. Dragons, even the newly hatched, are hardy and can endure much.

But the little alicorn surprised me. I saw fear in her eyes. Concern for her servant? No, not that. Or that but more. Much more.

Interesting.

I demanded she reveal the source of her time travel spell. Bargaining for the whelp's life, she agreed. She led us deep into the forest. I let the timberwolves come close, hoping for some reaction, some way to gauge her strength or bravery, but, no. She left it to me to disperse the dim-witted vegetables.

It was a stone, of course. An enchanted slab of crystal set in the soft soil of the forest. Perhaps she thought I would mistake it and let her escape?

"This is a portal," I said with disdain, tiring of the game. "A gateway to another world, not a mechanism for cheating time!"

She teleported her dragon servant out of his chains and leaped for the slab. A blast of my magic stopped her and two of my guard interposed themselves.

"Luna, please! Listen to me!" she said.

My wing twitched. My impulse was to slap her for the insolence of her address, but she was an alicorn; royalty in whatever world she came from.

"Princess Luna," I corrected her, mildly. "I do not care to be informal at this time."

"Princess Luna," she said softly. "I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and in another world," there she nodded her head slightly at the upright shard of crystal, "I am your friend."

I laughed. "I have subjects, not friends," I told her. "Some are unwilling, some are loyal." I lifted a wing and stroked the underside of Rainbow Dash's chin. Her eyes half-closed in pleasure and pride. "But all obey me!"

Twilight Sparkle sighed and lowered her head. "How can you be like this?"

"Powerful?" I asked. "Commanding? Regal? Which this concerns you?" Rainbow Dash chuckled and grins crept onto the faces of my guards.

She did not answer me directly, of course. Fools have no response to blunt truth. "If you were Nightmare Moon, I could understand, but—"

"Where did you hear that name?" I demanded.

My elite became instantly alert and lowered their spears to cover the little purple idiot and her pet.

"It was the… the thing you became when you fought Celestia. A spirit of darkness—"

I interrupted her with a flick of my wing. "Ah, and in your world, your Luna was too weak to fight it off? Yes, don't look so surprised; I know what it is, or rather was. There are many such parasites out there… lurking. Sometimes, when I am very bored, I take my guards out for a hunt." Yes, they were smiling again. "Sometimes we bring them back to Moonguard still alive. I occasionally like to show my subjects the things that I protect them from. Sometimes they last for hours."

"Torture? That's horrible!"

I laughed again. "Oh yes, quite horrible! Why, there was a mare in tears the last time! Hmm…" I tapped my chin in a show of thoughtfulness. "Sergeant Nightwing, do you remember that? Why was that mare so upset, do you recall?"

"The bug didn't last long enough to suit her, Your Highness," The sergeant said. "I told her she should have thrown smaller rocks at the stoning."

Ah, I have such a wonderful bodyguard! "Well, one can hardly blame her. It took her two whole phases to realize it had replaced her husband."

I turned back to the little alicorn. "What would you have done to a captured changeling in your world? A quick, clean death that would give no satisfaction to the victims? Or perhaps you would have made friends with it and…" I trailed off. I had let myself indulge in heavy sarcasm, hoping to illicit a bit of rage. An angry pony often gives away more than they intend.

But Twilight Sparkle did not become angry. No, if anything, the emotion she tried unsuccessfully to hide was embarrassment.

"Wait… friends? You can't be serious!" It had been a very long time since I had been truly surprised.

"Friendship is a powerful force! When enemies become friends, there's no need to fight!"

I threw back my head and laughed and laughed. "No fighting? Oh yes! Why did I never think of that?" Oh, it felt so good to laugh! "Lieutenant Dash, wouldn't that be nice? You could become a gardener or baker!"

Poor Rainbow Dash, she actually looked terrified at the very idea.

"Or is it possible?" I continued, putting a hoof to my chest, poorly feigning surprise. "Do you like fighting?"

"I love fighting, Your Highness!" She replied instantly. "And right now, I'd really love to buck the hay out of this insolent mare!"

"You may get the chance," I told her. "Now…" I turned back to the little princess. "Why are you here? Lie to me, and Lieutenant Dash will stomp your little friend, before she starts in on you."

The dragon wrapped his forelegs around her neck and she nearly covered him with a wing. But she didn't look frightened.

"I'm here to save you. No, I can see what you're thinking, and you're wrong. I'm not here to depose you and save your world, I'm here to save you! I came to rid you of the Nightmare and bring you to your senses, but…"

"Yesss… no Nightmare! Surprise, surprise! I don't need saving!"

"Oh, but you do," she insisted. "You and your world! The Black Star is coming, and without my help, your world will perish!"

"What? Explain!"

"Open your magical sight. You can see it there, in the monoceros constellation." She pointed at the sky with her horn.

I realized it was a lie just an instant too late. I didn't turn to look, but my attention wavered for the split-second she needed to teleport into the portal.

Rainbow Dash would have gone after her, but I yanked her back, and encased the portal crystal inside a neutralizing shield. The little trespassing alicorn wouldn't be back.

"Well," I said thoughtfully. "This has certainly been an interesting couple of hours." I floated the sealed portal onto Sergeant Nightwing's back and we returned to the castle.

These things happen. It would have been merely another defeated threat to my kingdom to chronicle and forget, but I couldn't stop thinking about it.

A world where ponies made friends so easily? A world where enemies were welcomed into the lives of the ponies they had menaced? I couldn't get it out of my mind.

I had the sealed portal brought up from the vaults and placed in my chambers. Through the phases, from moon to moon, I gazed on it and considered.

Enemies, living side-by-side with ponies. It was too strange, too improbable.

I became discontent. I had always been satisfied with my realm, with my dominion over the world, though I knew there were other worlds. But I had never imagined a world such as the one Twilight Sparkle had spoken of, and it haunted me.

It was horrible.

It was unnatural.

I had to save them!