It was a beautiful night tonight, with the clear skies revealing both the brilliantly-bright full moon and a sea of twinkling stars. The air was cool, but not so much so that it would make a pony want to shy away from being out here. A gentle breeze flowed, and here, high atop one of the great towers of the Royal Palace, everything seemed so distant, so very far away. There, standing at the edge of one of the many balconies of the place, was a young unicorn stallion. Stygian, a pony who had not laid eyes on his homeland of Equestria for a very long time, now gazing out upon it from this high point. His face was hard to read, but his eyes were fixed on all the flickering candle-lights of the homes of Canterlot below. As he exhaled, he could see his breath in the cold air around him, and while he himself was silent, it was not long before the quiet he'd grown accustomed to was broken by one behind him.

"A pleasant evening, is it not?"

Turning, the stallion now looked at the approaching form of Princess Luna, who smiled warmly to him as she drew nearer. Instinctively, Stygian gave a sweeping bow to her.

"My Lady. I had not expected to see you here."

Luna's smile grew as she took her place next to him, watching him stand tall again before replying.

"I am always here at night, young Stygian."

In spite of himself, Stygian let out a dry chuckle.

"Well...not so young anymore I don't think."

Luna nodded to that.

"No...I suppose not."

For a time, the two ancient ponies said nothing, content to look out at both the city and the night sky before them. But, as time went on, Luna began to grow increasingly curious of the stallion beside her.

"Tell me...how are you faring?"

A sigh escaped Stygian at that.

"Better than I was expecting to, your Grace."

Luna giggled slightly.

"Please, call me Luna."

Stygian seemed a little uncertain at that, but nevertheless did as requested.

"Very well...Luna."

His expression became one that Luna herself recognised all too well, as he looked out once more to Canterlot. There was something he was struggling with, something that was eating away at him, though it took him a while to finally say what it was.

"This city is...beautiful. Though I do not remember it from my time. This was just bare mountainside once upon a time. But now? Now...just look at it."

Luna nodded.

"I imagine it's quite a shock to see that so much has changed."

Stygian nodded back.

"It is. I looked out at much of Equestria when I was journeying here to the Capital with the others...and I barely recognise any of it. Hills, worn away by time. Rivers, where there used to be none. Villages I once knew, now gone. Cities that never existed."

Another sigh, and a long one this time.

"...I...I do not know this place. The Equestria I knew...my friends and I will never see it again."

Luna looked to him for a time, never saying anything, only listening. But, as a silence once more took hold between them, she broke it with soft words of her own.

"Then it is most fortunate that you have those friends with you during this time. I doubt they're any happier about these changes than you are. You can help each other."

Stygian nodded, giving a small smile in response to those words. But, amidst that look, Luna saw something else. It wasn't there long, just a flicker, but there was nevertheless something in the young stallion's eyes that she knew immediately. A discomfort. A bitterness. An anger. She wanted to give him his space, knowing the ordeal he'd just been through, and yet, something within her compelled Luna to act, to speak out about this.

"Stygian...I realise you have been through much, but...I sense that there is something else you wish to get off your chest."

At first, the stallion looked away from her, as though ashamed of what she'd just said to him. And his tone only added to that.

"With respect, Luna...I do not wish to speak of it."

But Luna, again recognising that sentiment, continued regardless.

"Stygian...if there is one thing I have learned in my many years...it's that bad feelings should not be contained within."

For a while, it looked as though her words had no effect, as Stygian simply continued to look away from her. So, slowly, she started to look away herself, turning her eyes instead to the night sky she had made tonight. But then, just as she did this, she heard his voice once more.

"It's just...they were my friends."

Luna looked to him, staying silent as he continued.

"I'd been with them for so long...helped them so much in the fight against evil...and not once...not once...did they seem to know that I wished to fight alongside them...to do more than simply study our enemies from behind the scenes."

When he finally looked back to her, there was hurt in his eyes.

"When they found me with their belongings...they never even asked me. None of them. None of the ponies I called my friends even considered asking what I was doing."

He frowned deeply.

"They saw me...and they passed their judgement. Guilty."

Again, he looked away, falling once more into utter silence. And while he did this, Luna looked to him with understanding, her voice as soft and gentle as ever as she spoke to him.

"...And so...in that anger...you turned to the Darkness?"

After a while, Stygian nodded.

“It was foolish of me to do it, I know that now. To go to the very forces I had helped my friends to fight...it was foolish. And when they found me, what else could my actions have possibly looked like? I know what you’ll say. That I should have spoken to them, told them what was wrong before this all started...and you’d be right. But...I just...”

Before he finished, Luna finished for him.

“You felt low...and abandoned. You felt you had no other choice. You felt that nopony would listen to you, or worse, that they wouldn’t care. So, against whatever caution your heart was telling you...your loneliness made you turn to what you felt was the last avenue open to you.”

Stygian didn't reply, merely nodding his head in confirmation. Luna, taking that in, bowed her head slightly.

"For what it's worth...I understand how you must feel."

Hearing that, Stygian let out a dry chuckle.

"With respect, Princess...how could you?"

A knowing look came to Luna.

"Well...it's not hard for one to look at your tale and see shades of the story of Nightmare Moon within it."

Looking back to her, Stygian bore a look of genuine confusion.

"...Who?"

Hearing that, Luna seemed taken aback, even shocked. Then, slowly, understanding came to her, and she once more smiled at her smaller companion.

"No...of course you wouldn't," she remarked.

As before, Stygian was confused, and then, just to deepen that confusion, he watched as the mare of the night actually started to laugh, leaning against the balcony and looking out at Canterlot as she did so. Stygian watched her do this for some time, his expression becoming one of mild irritation in the process.

"Forgive me, Princess...but did I say something funny?"

Shaking her head, Luna looked to him again.

"No, I'm sorry, it's just...it's actually rather refreshing to come across somepony who hasn’t heard that story for once."

Sighing, Stygian looked away again.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not exactly in a mood to hear old stories right now."

The Princess looked to him, seeing just how tired he was looking right now. Anger, bitterness and self-hatred were wrestling for control within him, she could tell, and as such, when she spoke again, it was with a tone of kindness.

"Long ago...there was a young mare. One who idolised another in her life, just as everypony else did. Her elder was beloved in a way she never had been. And, over time...that thought began to eat away at her."

Hearing those words, Stygian's ears began to perk up, and he cast a sideways glance to the Princess as she continued.

"Eventually...the younger mare grew angry, jealous, believing herself to be unappreciated and...and even unloved. So...she too began to listen to the darker thoughts within. Those voices that told her that she could rise up, become greater than the one everypony loved more than her."

Luna hung her head.

"That choice...twisted her. Made her into a being that none loved...but whom all feared. And she paid the price for it, enduring imprisonment for...for a very long time."

Stygian was giving her his full attention now, and he could not help but ask a question.

"What happened to her?"

A small smile crept onto Luna's face.

"Eventually...the darkness in her heart was healed...thanks to the actions of another. And when that darkness was driven out...that ancient mare was offered friendship and acceptance...and the love she once thought had been denied to her."

Quiet was all there was between the two ponies for a time, and when it ended, Stygian's expression was one of thoughtfulness.

"That...I suppose it does sound like my story."

Luna looked to him and smiled, placing a hoof gently upon his shoulder.

"The road ahead may not be easy for you, Stygian...but I know that you can find the acceptance and belonging that you've always wanted."

Looking up to her, the stallion's face still bore uncertainty, which was reflected in his tone.

"But...how? How can you know that for certain, after everything I’ve done? After everything I tried to do?"

Luna's smile widened, and she gazed up at the bright moon above them. A moon that, not so long ago, had a very different face.

"Because...if she was able to find it for herself...then so can you."