There was no way that Darknight could have known that Twilight had already arrived to the very same castle that he was infiltrating. His path, though, was more difficult. His original plan had been to manifest the dark power that he had used before and either force his way into the castle by force or collapse into mist and move through silently. Although he could feel it growing as he got nearer to Canterlot, though, he could not force that power to the surface. Something within him would not allow it- -either his own instinct, or some feature of that power itself. The more he perceived it, the more Darknight felt that it was somehow alive- -and the more he became afraid of what it would do to him when he finally managed to activate it.

There were too many guards in the upper part of the castle, so Darknight was forced to move through the bowels below. Canterlot was built on the ruins of Discordalot, and many of the sewers and caves beneath it remained. As a Watcher, Darknight knew those old channels well, and while many were sealed or collapsed, he was able to navigate them and eventually to reach the foundation of Celestia’s castle.

Moving through was then a matter of his programming. He knew how to sneak, and his dark color made it easy for him to hide in the shadows of the poorly lit basement corridors that were still under construction. This was something he had done countless times before- -but the stakes had never been so high.

The noncan guards were easy enough to avoid. They were, in many ways, the purest of their kind. They had been made by Xyuka herself, and although that made them the direct brothers of the Stonie series, they could not have been more different mentally. They had absolutely no capacity for thought or rebellion; their brains had been constructed precisely to avoid those features. This means they had no internal volition, or thought. If they encountered something new or unfamiliar, they would pause to come to a consensus with their hive-mind. This made them dangerous in some ways- -that one could instantly inform all of his brothers with a thought- -but also made them easy to avoid in that they were slow and lacked creativity. All Darknight needed to do was follow his training, but do things that were outside of it as well. His ability to be creative was his greatest advantage.

He maintained a reasonable pace- -at first. Then he encountered a pony that was clearly not a clone: a mare with a long rainbow-colored mane and a cybernetic front leg. She did not pause to interact with a hive mind: as a canon pony and a soldier, she immediately turned her violet eyes to where Darknight had been standing. He barely managed to duck behind a corner to escape her gaze.

That direction was impossible, and Darknight attempted to recalculate his course. Moving through the castle had given him a general impression of its structure, and he had an idea of where he needed to go. He backtracked through, but soon found himself lost. Not knowing where he was, he entered a large dark room that appeared to be a cistern. Water was flowing from the round walls and trickling down into the pools below. The only light came from the luminescent crystals mounted on the walls.

“This is not the right place,” muttered Darknight, angrily.

“Isn’t it?”

Darknight turned suddenly, bracing himself for an attack. There was another pony in the room, one he had not initially seen in the low light. She was sitting on the edge of the water, watching it flow. She did not initially turn toward Darknight, but as she stood, he saw her wings and horn. Darknight suddenly felt cold and strange. This pony was his enemy- -and yet now he knew that he was derived from her. Even the resemblance was almost uncanny; he could see the faces of all his brothers and sisters in hers, and see their eyes looking back at him as she turned toward him. Although he was prepared for defense, she made no motion to attack.

“You look so beautiful,” she said. “I never thought I would see you again. Not like this, a grown stallion.”

Darknight raised his horn, preparing to attack. His goal had been Celestia, but both Princesses needed to die to save Equestria- -but he could not bring himself to kill the progenitor of his species. Not while she was standing there defenseless.

“Attack me!” he ordered. “Why won’t you attack me?!”

“Why would I attack my own son?”

“I’m not your son,” said Darknight, shaking his head and trying to clear his thoughts and remember his mission. “I’m a clone. A copy!”

“Do you think me an idiot? Or perhaps insane? I am familiar with noncans, and how they are produced. I know very well what you are.”

“Then you know that I am not New Moon.”

“Except that you are.” Luna took a step forward, and Darknight took a step back. “I can see it. When I look into your eyes. I see his.” She paused, and Darknight thought he saw her crying. “He was…he was so beautiful. But in so much pain. Every breath he took was a struggle, every second he lived pain- -but he kept living. He held me for as long as he could. Until they took him away from me.” She looked up, and a smile crossed her face. Darknight did not know why it made him feel so sad. “He was a noncan. The first of a long line.”

“A long line of identical ponies.”

“No. You are not identical. Can you argue that you have no soul?” Luna sighed. “I am immortal, so I cannot deign to understand the nature of the pony soul. But perhaps yours is his. My New Moon, come back to me. After all this time.”

“I have to kill you.”

“Do you?” said Luna, looking up. “Why?”

“To protect Equestria. I have to protect them.”

“Who?”

“The ponies. I cannot allow Celestia to hurt them.”

“I am not Celestia.” She approached him, and tapped his shoulder lightly with her horn. Darknight gasped as he felt something flow through his body. He looked down to see that his reconstruction scars were quickly fading. They vanished before his eyes. “And hurting you is the very last thing I wish to do.”

Darknight felt the power from his horn fade. He realized that he was shaking. “I don’t…I don’t…”

“You don’t want to hurt me. Can you see it too?”

Darknight nodded. “You are our mother. My mother. How can I bring myself to harm you?”

Luna stepped forward slowly and wrapped Darknight in a hug. Her body felt cold and strange, but familiar. She felt like every Dark unit, and familiar in ways that made Darknight wonder if she really was correct.

“But I have to help them,” said Darknight. “I have to save Equestria.”

“We have the same goal, then,” said Luna. “Tell me. When I gave birth to you, I gave you the name New Moon. What was the name they gave you when you were born a second time?”

“Darknight.”

“Then from now on, you will be known as Night. Do you like that name?”

Darknight pressed his head against Luna’s soft chest. “Yes. Yes I do.” �To you. T��\��