As Luna floated to the ground, surrounded by vibrant trails of fire and magic, she tried to think. The remnants of Discord’s prodigious power burned and sputtered away outside of the bubble she was in, while the bits of it that she had consumed from him churned equally chaotically inside her body. It was a literally electrifying sensation that made her hairs stand on end and her heart race. Every color in the sky seemed more vivid than ever before, and she had to close her eyes to have a chance of focusing her thoughts. Even then, ghostly colors swirled under her eyelids, and phantom sounds played at the edges of her hearing.

Within her now, she realized, was enough raw power to defeat Celestia. She would not have to kill her, either. She could bind Celestia in a prison of chaos, or sever her connection to magic entirely. Then Luna would be free to unite her nation, and make it truly strong again, as she had resolved to do many months ago.

Or, she thought, perhaps it would be better to destroy the Elements of Harmony. They were a valuable tool that had protected Equestria many times before, but if they were used against her now, they would undo all the work she had done, all the sacrifices she had made for the country’s sake. She would still have to overcome Celestia eventually, but that would be easier without that obsolete artifact to worry about. With a united Equestria, the Elements would be unnecessary. No foe could stand up to her then.

Luna opened her eyes and looked down at her army. She was close to the ground now, and she could hear their ragged cheers through the bubble. She gazed at their faces, so full of pride, exhaustion, sorrow, and love, and felt the same emotions sparking inside her as well. The feelings were made even more intense by the chaos magic.

One more thought occurred to her. She recalled that night long ago in the Everfree, when her students had first found her again. Luna remembered the spell they had forced on her, and she felt its grip squeezing her heart even now. Discord’s magic would be enough to sever that connection, but it would expend all of that power, and maybe some of her own as well. Luna wondered if she would be strong enough to conquer the challenges ahead without it. Celestia and Twilight Sparkle would not forgive her just because she broke this one spell, and there were many monsters and nations moving to challenge her...

More worryingly, doing that would break its hold over her students too, allowing them to once again hurt and kill ponies, just as they had for centuries before. Having seen them in action, Luna was uncertain she could defeat them even working together with her sister, much less alone and without Discord’s power to use.

Luna touched down gently, and the sphere of magic around her popped, allowing her to experience the full volume of the voices shouting shakily but triumphantly around her. She attempted to give them a smile, but the most she could manage was half of one. The nearest soldiers took that bittersweet expression as a sign to pile on her. She cried out in surprise, and a small but rapidly growing measure of joy. The sound prompted more ponies to join them, forming a massive cuddle pile from which only Luna’s face extended. From her trapped position, her eyes searched the gathered crowd for the faces she needed to find.

The first she saw was Prince-Consort Blueblood’s. The non-smiling half of her face twitched up for a moment as he approached. He reached up with one of his hooves and brushed one of her cheeks, causing them to flush.

“I’m glad you’re alright, Your Majesty,” he said quietly.

Luna responded by thrusting her neck out farther from the pile and kissing his lips deeply. Surprised by the sudden passion, he stood there dumbstruck for a few moments before returning it.

As she felt the warmth of the bodies surrounding her, combined with the desire of the tongue dancing with hers, she knew there was only one choice to make regarding the power she had absorbed.

With a brief but mighty burst of willpower, it was done. Unnoticed by anyone around her, the chains on her heart were shattered. The acute enhancement of her senses disappeared, and her head stopped spinning. The eternal power withdrew from her, scattering to the winds of the ether, leaving the raw sensory input she received drab in comparison. However, the strength of the emotions Luna shared with her companions remained unchanged, lending a subdued warmth to what she experienced that had not been there before.

Eventually, she broke away from Blueblood.

“I noticed ‘twas thy magic that embraced me first,” she whispered. “I am… grateful for that, and I…” Her eyes welled up with tears. “And I love thee, truly.”

“Oh,” Blueblood said, eyes going wide. “Uh. I know that. Er, I mean—”

“Well, isn’t this sweet,” another voice said. “You sure can pick them, Luna.”

Luna giddy smile faded as she turned to glare at Platina, who was supporting and being supported by Nickel Waltz. Both of their faces looked drawn and pale.

Behind them, and all around the battlefield, soldiers with shaking legs were willing themselves over to the cider casks and foodstores, then breaking the contents out amidst scattered, but enthusiastic, cheers.

“‘Tis good to know that you two are more constant and true than your leader,” Luna said to Platina. “Whither did she go?”

“Who?” She half-dragged Nickel along with her until they were standing in front of Luna. “Oh, you mean Willowleaf? She’s not my leader, first of all. And who knows where she went. She’s as mercurial as she is unlikeable.”

The pile of ponies climbed off of Luna when they sensed her trying to stand up fully. They did not go far, however, instead forming a battle line just behind her. Luna’s battered body twitched and shook slightly from the effort, but she managed to hold herself upright.

Now that her attention was brought to her body, she noticed another change. There were little cuts and bruises all over her, wounds that were so small, and thus usually healed so quickly, that she almost never bothered to think of them. This time, however, Luna realized that they were not healing any faster than a normal pony’s would. Whether it was because she had lost her connection to the celestial bodies, or because some of her own essence had been expended with Discord’s, Luna’s supernatural vigor had decreased drastically. Doubt began to gnaw at her gut--had she made a mistake in her choice?

“Please,” Luna said finally. She would have to worry about that later. “Enough of the falsehoods. I tire of this game.”

Platina quirked her head. “Falsehoods? Please. As if I would ever lie to you. Don’t you remember what you did to me last time I tried that?”

Luna almost physically recoiled from those memories. “I--I do. I am sorry. However, I am not that pony any longer, and…”

Platina squinted as she looked Luna up and down. “You do seem… different now, but who said you had anything to be sorry for? It was a valuable lesson about power and a pony’s relationship to it. I’m grateful, if anything.”

She looked down at Nickel Waltz, who was staring off into space and occasionally mumbling incoherently. Her eyes grew moist.

“I honestly don’t know where old ‘Leafy is,” Platina continued. “She’ll make herself known when she wants to. That’s the way she’s always been. But… I’m thinking Waltz and I should do the same.”

“What dost thou mean?” Luna asked. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she searched Platina’s face.

Platina refused to meet Luna’s gaze. She surveyed the battlefield instead, taking note of the growing number of ponies who had managed to shake off the terror of the battle and were already frolicking and laughing with each other.

“Waltz wouldn’t make it through another fight like this,” Platina said. “Perhaps he hasn’t even made it through this one… He’s going to need someone to get him back into fighting shape. He’s… useless to us like this.”

“I can care for him,” Luna replied. “I do not yet know if I can enter the realm of dreams any longer, but I still possess eons of experience treating illness, within and without.”

“No thank you!” Platina shouted. Luna took a stunned step back. “You’ve done quite enough for him, Your Majesty!” She took a deep breath and swallowed her tears, then spoke in her usual, carefully controlled voice. “What I mean to say is, he needs someone who knows him well, from both before and after his change... It’s kind of you to offer, but we will be going. Best of luck to you.”

“I am afraid I must insist.” Luna spoke in a low voice, her wings spreading wide.

“You can’t be serious,” Platina said. “If you harm us, you’ll… oh. Oh no.” Platina’s eyes widened, and even more color drained from her skin. She tried to bolt, but ran face-first into a wall of soldiers. Platina snarled as she gathered magic into her horn, causing blood to trickle from the tip. She looked around frantically, searching for a weak point or an opening.

“That is enough,” Luna said imperiously. “Thou hast fought enough for one day.”

“Yes, for you!” Platina shouted. Unable to escape, she pulled a barely responsive Nickel Waltz tightly to her and gulped hard. “Why are you doing this, after we just risked our lives for you?!”

“This is as much for your benefit as for mine.” Luna sighed as she stepped closer and fully observed Platina’s tearful anger, side-by-side with her companion’s complete lack of present awareness. “I shall not simply throw you into a dungeon to be forgotten. I shall help. Go along quietly, and we can all begin to heal.”

While Platina’s rage increased, the intensity of her magic decreased. She hung her head as the drops of blood dripped onto her white coat. All she did was glare up at Luna. “Bite me, you stuck-up old nag.” She spat.

Luna was keenly aware of the fangs still resting in her jaw. She ran her tongue over them, focusing on the sharp sting she felt when she drew blood. How long would it take for the blood to stop flowing? She wondered. She shook her head and motioned to her subordinates nearby. “Chain them up, and bind their horns.”

She turned away from Platina’s twitching face and went to find her Captains.

It did not take long to find Basilea, who was darting through the air, giving orders, collecting reports, and generally managing the chaos of victory as best she could. Luna flew up to intercept her, and Basilea came to a halt, hovering in place and briefly saluting.

“Our dear moon is victorious,” the bat pony said with a small, wry smile. “I never doubted.”

Luna chuckled, and her heart swelled. “That is good to hear, though I must confess that I did doubt.”

“I kept the vigil in your memory for many years before your return,” Basilea said. “That experience showed me that there can be no true faith without doubt. So you’re already at least halfway there to believing in yourself again.”

“I thank thee for thy kind words,” Luna said, smiling wide. “It is truly comforting and inspiring to have such worthy allies. Speaking of which… hast thou seen Captain Heartstrings?”

“Lyra?” Basilea rubbed her chin with one hoof. “Hmm. I’m sorry, but I haven’t. Do you think she’s been hurt?”

“‘Tis more that we must discuss our next action, and soon,” Luna said, “though now I also worry for her safety.”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” said Basilea. She flew up next to Luna. “Here, I’ll help you look.”

Luna and Basilea soared over the battlefield together in their search. This gave Luna her first clear look at the situation--and what she noticed first was the overwhelmingly sweet, sugary smell that permeated the area. It was like an entire city’s baking district had exploded at once. The land was also ripped apart. Huge cracks, divots, and craters spread over the plain, upturned earth completely obscuring the road for miles in either direction. It reminded her of the surface of the moon. The devastation could be fixed, but it would take the concentrated effort of talented earth ponies working for years to do so. Even then, there would likely be random bursts of chaos magic, and the lingering smell of candy, in this place for decades to come.

Lyra was not among the throngs of ponies celebrating; Luna spotted her distinctive minty coat by itself, sitting next to another pony lying on the ground, unmoving. She and Basilea touched down a few yards behind Lyra, who was staring at the blue-coated unicorn beside her. He was dead.

Lyra turned to look with her reddened eyes at Luna’s approach. She stood up straight and saluted robotically. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” she said in a hoarse voice. “This is my fault. It won’t happen again, I swear.”

“Pardon?” Luna asked, brushing one of her hooves against Lyra’s neck in an attempt to comfort her. “Wherefore comes this apology? What happened?”

“In… in the battle,” Lyra started, staring at the ground. “Discord was… puppeting us, literally puppeting us. I was aiming for his claws, but the strings pulled Lieutenant Heartswell into the path of my spell. I didn’t think it would be enough power to kill somepony, but…”

“Thou art not the only pony this has happened to,” Luna replied. Her voice was deep and grave, filled with old fury at the tyrant she had overthrown an age ago. “It is not their fault, nor thine. Discord is to blame for this atrocity, and he hath now paid the ultimate price for his crimes.”

“But he… he’s still gone. If I had just been a little more careful…” Lyra sobbed drily, having already spent all her tears. “I’m sorry. This is really undisciplined of me. What do you need?”

Luna’s voice softened. “I will, firstly, require thee not to deny thine essential ponyhood in the name of discipline.” She reached out with her wings and gently pulled Lyra closer to her using them, wrapping her forelegs around Lyra’s neck in the process. Lyra responded by quivering and sobbing a few more times. “This is a serious matter that I will need to work through with all who experienced it. That is best done in dreams, in my experience, so I pray I still possess that ability... For now, let us simply gather together and discuss what to do next. Canst thou do that much?”

“O-Of course,” Lyra said, nodding firmly.

Luna smiled as she let Lyra go from her embrace. “I am relieved,” she said. She gestured with her head for Basilea to join them a respectful distance away from the corpse that had distressed Lyra so much. The three ponies huddled together.

“The truth is,” Luna continued, “I need advice. When I think of what hath transpired here this day, a great tempest rages within my heart, so violent that it is difficult to tell which is the right path to tread. If there even be a path. As my Captains, your judgment I trust above all others. Simply put, what should we do henceforth?”

They looked at Luna, then at each other, both frowning. Lyra spoke first. “Well, it’s clear that Ponyville should be our next destination. Gumball is waiting there, and it’s a very important location, both strategically and tactically. Are you asking if we should go now, or give the army time to recover?”

“Nay, my query is more fundamental than that.” Luna watched her soldiers, drinking and eating with each other a short distance away from the conference. “I wonder if there should even be an army at all, now that I need not support the vile ambitions of my erstwhile students.”

“You don’t?” Lyra’s head cocked to the side. “When did that happen?”

“Today,” said Luna. “I used what I had consumed of Discord’s essence to end the curse. Now I am free to do as I will, but so are they, and I fear the act may have taken much of mine own ability with it. I do not know if I am strong enough to face the challenges before me…”

“That’s wonderful news!” Lyra bounced in place for a second, but then forced herself to stop, coughing awkwardly. “I mean, I would be thrilled, at least. I couldn’t bear that those musty old freaks had so much power over you.”

Basilea fluttered her wings and started hovering just above the ground. “This is indeed momentous news,” she said. “I do understand your fears, however. Having as much power as you did for so long, it must be quite jarring to suddenly have less. But be aware, personal magic is not the only kind of power…”

“Yeah,” Lyra said, grinning. “You have us. Plus your bravery and compassion, heck, all your virtues, those haven’t gone anywhere! This isn’t over, not by a long shot!”

“All those things I may have,” said Luna with a small smile, “but they mean little without a goal toward which to strive.”

“A good first step,” Basilea ventured, “would be to remove from power a Princess who would do such a thing as we just endured to her own citizens, and her own sister. In other words, I see no reason to deviate from our original plan.”

Lyra’s face fell. “But can’t we work something out, peacefully? Now that Luna has no reason to... do questionable things sometimes, Celestia just has to come around. She has to!”

“That’s very naive, Lyra,” Basilea said. She started hovering perpendicular to the ground, crossing her forelegs over her chest. “Celestia released great torment upon us to secure her own power. Luna, on the other hoof, willingly gave up a tremendous magical advantage so that she could once again serve her nation in good faith. It is clear to me which alicorn should rule Equestria, and which should be banished.”

Lyra looked down at the ground, chewing on her lip. “Then we’d have to fight other ponies, maybe in Ponyville itself. I… I don’t know if I can do that.”

“What I am gathering from this discussion,” Luna interjected, “is that the question of rulership is still important to the ponies under my command. Is that fair to say?” She waited for them to nod, which they did. “Then it is clear to me that, no matter what, our next step must be to march to Ponyville. When we get there… well, I do not desire to fight my sister, even now, after this… foul betrayal. The mere thought of seeing her scorcheth my soul. Yet the time for words appears to have passed. What other option is there?”

Lyra silently rubbed one foreleg with the other, not looking at either pony around her.

“I am keenly aware of thy conflict,” Luna quietly said to her. “Thy closest companion liveth in Ponyville, doth she not? I wish to see her harmed no more than thee. That is why I wonder if it would not be better to go around Ponyville completely, and sally to face the griffon army. If we can prove the army’s value thusly, perhaps the country would unite behind me willingly.”

“That would give Celestia time to consolidate and recover,” Basilea said. “I advise against it.”

Luna sighed, rubbing the space between her eyes with her hoof. “The only other choice is for me to leave entirely. If I were gone, there would be no need for any of this conflict…”

“Now you’re being naive, Your Majesty,” Basilea said, returning to the ground and folding up her leathery wings. “I can no longer accept Celestia as my monarch, and neither can most of the ponies with you here. Moreover, I’m not sure we can defeat the griffons without you. You are a magnificent and talented leader. Despite everything I’ve learned training under you, I doubt I could ever command half as well.”

“I don’t necessarily agree with the first part of that,” Lyra said, frowning, “but I can say for sure that I don’t want you gone either. You’re important to us in so many ways, Luna.”

Luna extended her wings to both of her Captains, then pulled them in close. Eyes rimmed with tears, she spoke slowly, so as not to choke up and sob. “But what if I fail? N-Not only my magical power, but my emotional resilience too, are so much diminished. I-I do not know if I can do this…”

“Succeed or fail, we will be with you.” Basilea wrapped her own wings around Luna and Lyra. They were not as soft and comforting as feathers, but the contact was still warm and gentle. “To the end of all.”

“Don’t give up yet, Luna,” Lyra said. “You have more power than you think.”

Luna finally released her tears, weeping softly for a few minutes as her Captains supported her. She was wounded, afraid, and angry, but she had to move forward. Together with her soldiers. Comrades. Friends.

“Then let us march to Ponyville,” Luna said, after she had somewhat recovered. “Come heaven or hell, I shall face it.”

Author's Notes:

As usual, thanks to the awesome Rockstar Raccoon for pre-reading!