Which do you notice, the light, or its shadow?

The light…it’s always the light you notice. The shadow is merely a byproduct, something that follows afterwards. And no matter how much you wish it, the shadow will never be as brilliant as the light.

That’s who she was, no matter how hard she tried to deny it, she was the shadow to her sister’s beautiful light.
It hadn’t always been like this. So long ago, when they were little fillies, everything was so much simpler. They played together, laughed together, and even had silly childhood adventures together.

They ran through fields of grass, pretending great monsters were chasing after them. Other times they would stand together, pretending to save the world from a great evil. And then, after they had learn their purpose, they would pretend to control the skies.

It was so much better back then, when the sun and moon moved through the sky thanks to the magic of their parents and the wizards. But then…they got older. They had to get older; it happens to anything if you wait long enough, she just wished it hadn’t happened so fast.

Her sister was first, as always, to be sent to the great tower in Canterlot to learn magic from the great wizards. She had to stay home, forced to study all the history of Equestria to help prepare her as a ruler. Her only consolation were the letters her sister would send, telling of all the wonderful things she had learned that week, of how amazing the spells were, and always at the end, “I miss you little sister.”

It was funny, in an annoying sort of way, how long it seemed to take for her to reach the age for magic training. But when the day arrived, you couldn’t have been happier. She had planned for so long how it would go. In the tower she would study and do her best, than in the evenings she could spend time with her sister, and everything would be just like it used to be.
Unfortunately, as it usually happens, reality did not live up to her dreams.

Learning magic took so much time, there was so much her teachers expected her to learn, and while she did, she received any praise or reward for doing so.

“Of course you got that spell so quickly, you’re just like your sister, she went through these spells faster than anypony I’ve seen before,” was something she heard far too often.

Then in the evenings, she would try to be with her sister, but things seemed so different now.

When did her sister get so tall, so strong, so…imposing? It didn’t seem fair that her sister got to be all those things before her…

She forced herself to ignore these things, trying instead to focus on the fact that she and her sister were together again. She made sure they would have time, no matter what their teachers said, to laugh and have fun, just like they used to.
Things were good, sometimes better. And together, they made their way through school, emerging several years later as qualified Princesses. She had taken a few years longer than her sister, due to her age, but her sister had insisted on postponing the coronation until she had graduated.

On that fateful day they stood together, watching the dark horizon as thousands of ponies cheered for them. First, her magically placed a crown on her own head, then stepped back, allowing her to don her own.

Side by side again, her sister raised her head, bringing the sun up, changing the night to dawn as it rose over the top of the mountains. Everypony oohed and aahed as the beams of light illuminated the land, finally bringing their hooves together in a roaring thunder of applause.

“And later, it will be you they cheer for,” her sister said, leaning over so she could hear her over the noise.

And cheer they did. As the sun dropped, she raised the moon and the stars, bringing night over the land. The people sounded so happy…but…in the back of her mind she thought they sounded different than the cheers her sister has received. It seemed so tired…so subdued. As if they were cheering for her merely because they were expected to, rather than from adoration.

The moon was really only a shadow of the sun after all.

But her sister looked so happy, and their people seemed happy enough, so she pushed those thoughts away, forcing herself to smile. The two of them embraced. Funny…back then she never knew how terrible things would get…how she would come to loathe anything her sister did for her.

How she began to hate the light that was her sister.

Ruling at first seemed so simple, they continued the cycle at the appropriate hours, handled any of the ‘boring political things,’ as quickly as possible, and if one of the stuffy administrators tried to get them to settle down for more work, they simply left. Left for their caste, hidden deep in the Everfree Forest.

Oh that castle was paradise for her. It would be just like old times there, just the two of them, happy and together. They ran through the long hallways, flew down from the tops of the towers, and sometimes they just relaxed, enjoying their moments of peace. This was the one thing she never wanted to change, so one day she asked her sister.

“Sister…would you promise me that no matter what, this will always be our place right? Our royalty or duties will never be brought up here. Just us as sisters, okay?” she asked, receiving an odd look from her sister in return.

“Of course little sister, this castle will always be ours, nothing can change that,” her sister promised. Foolishly, she though that everything would stay right because of it.

Things changed no matter what she did.

Eventually, being a ruler began to take up more of her sister’s time, too much of her time. She would raise the sun in the morning, and then be forever entrapped by diplomatic meetings, signing important papers, or simply parading through the towns to bring inspiration. The trips to their castle became fewer and farther apart. He sister was always so busy with those duties…but not her.

She never seemed to be bogged down by such trials. True she was given a few royal duties, but she was never allowed, no, trusted with anything more.

It was her sister they trusted, always her. At least though, she had the night, the moon, and all the wonder it brought.
Even if she was the only pony who enjoyed them.

Maybe that had been the moment, as she looked out over the land, seeing all her subjects sleep through the beauty of the night, when things began to go wrong.

She was so angry, and decided that if they didn’t trust her as a rule, then fine, let her sister take gave of everything. She shirked more and more of her duties, forcing them on to her sister, snapping at any advisers or guards that questioned her.
She was sitting in her room, after a particularly nasty spat with a guard, when her sister found her.

Her sister flowed into the room, always so much more graceful than her, and slowly walked over to her.

“What’s wrong Luna?” her sister asked, always so calm and collected, “the guards said you’ve been upset all day.” She looked up at her sister…maybe if she explained it right, her sister would be able to help, would be able to stop things from changing so much.

“It’s not fair Celestia,” she tried to explain. “When you bring out the sun, every pony celebrates and plays, looking so happy. But the moment the moon rises, they go to bed, they don’t even sit around to appreciate the night sky!” She sighed, shaking her head. Please, just listen, just understand…

“Oh Luna, what a silly thing to worry about. The ponies love the night, it is there any only chance to get some rest after the fay, besides, there is far more to being a ruler that how much your people enjoy which part of the day you control,” her sister consoled, tried to console, and failed.

Her sister didn’t understand, couldn’t understand.

Everything was so easy for her, her magic, raising the sun, even their people’s love. Her sister only saw this as a silly tantrum, she could never see the deep anger and jealously she held under her skin…she could never see how afraid she was of this new place the world had changed into.

“You need to toughen up little sister, you want to grow up to be strong like me, right?” Her sister left, thinking the matter settled, so unaware of how hard those words had struck her. She wanted to be stronger, she wanted to be…a light of her own, to escape her sister’s shadow. She tried so hard sometimes…but her sister was always so far ahead, two steps forward for every one of hers.

She couldn’t be here anymore.

Heading out to her balcony, she leapt into the night sky, heading directly towards Everfree Forest, the last place things had felt ‘right’ to her.

She lowered herself to the ground outside the dark castle, following the stone path inside.

The castle did not bring the comfort she wished for. Walking through it alone would never watch up to exploring it with her sister. The corridors seemed so cold and lonely, and no matter how hard she imagined her happy memories, the castle would not change to fit them.

She walked through the entire castle, trying so hard to find something to change her mood, but it was impossible. The childhood wonder of the place seemed to have faded. Eventually, she found herself in a lonely little room at the top of a tower, its only furnishings being a giant mirror.

She was about to leave when she caught sight of her reflection out of the corner of her eye. Something about it seemed…off.

Cautiously, she walked over to the mirror, and could only stand in stunned silence at what she saw.
What she saw was her but…so different. She looked taller, darker…and so much stronger. Her mane was longer, more luxurious, and flowed so beautifully, just like her sister’s…better than her sister’s. Instead of a crown, she wore a helmet of blue steel, underneath which piercing blue eyes glared at her, judging her. They were so magnificent, so imposing, she almost found herself bowing to this apparition.

“Good.”

The reflection spoke.

“You have finally recognized me,” the reflection continued to stare down at her, contempt covering their face.

“Who are you?” she found herself asking.

“I am what you could be, a ruler worthy of these lands, a ruler that is so much stronger than our sister. I would bring the night for eternity; I would make our people see it for all of its terrible beauty. I would make us wonderful,” the reflection leaned forward and she involuntarily took a step backward. For a moment, it seemed like the reflection could step out of the mirror.

“Where did you come from?” she asked, still so unsure of what to make of this. Her reflection laughed, a dark cruel mocking laughter.

“Where did I come from? Ask yourself this, where did the hatred and anger you carry come from? Did it sneak into your life, or did you seek it out and embrace it? When did you finally accept that you hated your sister, that you would never be her equal?” the reflection pointed a hoof at her, accusing. “I came from you, I am what you wanted to be. I will give you everything you want. With me, you will rule, and nothing will ever change again!” The reflection seemed so close now, but how? She hadn’t moved any closer to the mirror, yet now they were almost touching.

Where was the mirror…and where was the room? The only thing she could focus on was her reflection, but how could it be a reflection without a mirror?

She couldn’t thing, couldn’t breathe, her reflection was so close, so powerful. Her reflection towered so far over her. She was so small, so insignificant.

“Together, we will stop the world,” she vanished, and she could not tell if it was her or her reflection.

Her vision dissolved into shadows.
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She was strong, and now the skies belonged to her.

Everything was so easy for her now, the moon stood, static and unmoving, in the sky. Her sister could not change this, all it took was a simple spell to lock her out of control.

Now there would be no more sun, no more blinding light to hide the shadows. The people would finally see her, only her…
Gloriously happy, she flew through sky, gracing the land with a vision of her new beauty. Flying over the towns she saw that everypony stood outside of their homes, staring stunned up into the night sky. Seeing her, their eyes opened in wonder, in awe. They recognized her, they loved her…

They fear me

A voice, so small, whispered in the back of her head.

“Well why shouldn’t they fear me?” she said to herself. “I am stronger than my sister, and I will be a better ruler than she could ever hope to be. I cannot have love without their fear.” She glared down at one unfortunate pony that gasped and immediately ran inside, locking the door behind him, as if that could stop her.

Nothing could stop her now.

What of the Elements?

The voice spoke again, almost condescending. The Elements were of no threat to her. Part of their power lay within her; she could resist any attack her sister tried to muster. However, the power in those artifacts could prove…useful.
She could go to Canterlot to take them from her sister, but the city would surely be full of guards, magic, and the Elements were locked behind a powerful spell set up by her sister. Breaking through such obstacles would be trivial, but it may tax her strength, and she had a far better idea.

Drawing in a deep breath, she yelled, magnifying her voice with a hint of magic.

“Dear sister, I expect that the new situation of our land doesn’t agree with you. I do know how much you hate to share leadership,” she stressed that sentence, anger biting into her words. “If you wish to face me, come meet me at the only place we shared equally!” It was so fitting, she would end her sister at the very place she had recognized her new powers. Her sister would bring her the Elements, thinking with some foolish notion t and then she would lock her away from the people. Her sister would be forgotten as she had been.

Then, when she had the Elements, the world, not just the sky, would be fully under her control. The world would be static and unchanging, and she would watch over it, forever happy, forever safe.

Landing in a group of shadows, she shifted over to their castle in the woods, and waited.

She felt her sister, carrying the Elements around her neck, as soon as she entered the forest. Even from the castle, she could feel their power, power she had once known firsthoof.

I used them once, with my sister. Together we stopped Discord, we saved Equestria. We stood together against his chaos.

“I saved this land, and my sister still treated me as nothing. She only let me stand by her when convenient,” she hissed.
Focusing her power into the darkness around her, she was given a view of her troubled sibling. She smiled darkly, watching her sister stumble through the woods, finally losing the cultured poise she always seemed to carry.

Her sister finally stopped, her head dropping in desperation. Celestia whispered something, a phrase that could only make her laugh.

“Where had it all gone wrong?”

“Yes indeed, where had it gone wrong? Where was it that you failed?” She yelled through the spell, laughing at the end. “How foolish are you, to think that your failings could be traced back to a single moment. I can’t believe I used to be proud to have you as a sister.” How could she have been proud of somepony that didn’t understand her own sister? Somepony who could never understand what is was like to put all your effort into simply being noticed, into being loved?

“Luna? Please stop this, I only want to help you!” Celestia cried into the trees, so desperate. Those simple words filled her with such fury.

“Help? When have you ever tried to help me? All you ever did was tell me to ‘stand up for myself.’”

You never even gave me a chance to do that, all you did was tell me what you thought I wanted to hear. You were so busy being great…you never noticed me.

She needed to make her sister see, to understand her failure. Another spell and her sister found herself beset by visions. She created a duplicate of herself and her sister. She made Celestia watch her own clone try, and fail, to talk to her little sister. Wherever Celestia turned, she was given another vision of her mistakes. An onslaught of Luna’s faced her, begging, pleading, asking why she hadn’t helped them, asking when exactly her royal duties became more important than the happiness of her sister, her only family.

Finally, after driving her sister so deep into the dark, she let the illusion fade away. She had nothing to fear from her sister anymore

Soon, Celestia walked into the main room the castle, so haggard and tired, the elements covered with dirt and grime, hiding their luster.

“Oh Luna,” her older sister whispered, taking in her magnificence.

“I am not Luna!” she roared. That name no longer fit her new powerful form. “I have grown beyond your weak little sister. I have grown into a stronger ruler than you will ever be! I no longer care for the people’s love; their fear will sustain me just fine.” She took a step forward ready to end this.

“Luna, I am so sorry. I promise, I will fix this,” her sister promised. She closed her eyes focusing, but nothing appeared to happen.

Smiling triumphantly, she stepped forward to finish it, but found she couldn’t move. Her energy, her strength, was being drained away. It took a moment to realize it was the Elements taking her power away. They were using her own magic to attack her! She tried to resist it, but the strength of the Elements was absolute.

The gems grew brighter and brighter until the spell was released with a brilliant flash. They released a multicolored beam of energy, straight at her.

“Impossible…” she muttered.

Apparently not

She tried to protect herself with a spell, but she didn’t have the strength. The beam blew apart the shield, driving her to the ground with impossible force. The Elements power drove away the rest of her strength, and something else as well. Her hatred and anger towards her sister seemed to…fade. She began to see before her, not an inconsiderate sibling who forgot their younger sister. But instead a tired, sad, and hurt Alicorn, who had made mistakes, but was doing everything in her power to make up for them.

Poor sister, you gave so much, to save me, not defeat me. You are truly better than I.

“No!” she screamed over the voice, forcing herself to stand back up. “I will not be stopped be you, I am stronger than this!” She was a part of the elements, and they would obey her! Focusing all of her will, the beam suddenly stopped. With a dejected snap, the Element fell from her sister’s neck, turning into drab stone.

She swiped her horn towards her sister, unleashing a blast of magic that slammed her against a wall. Celestia tried to pull herself up, but failed, she had no more strength left.

Finally, it was over. Just one more attack would finish everything.

Another step forward.

So close…

No!

The voice was back now, so much stronger. It yelled, louder and louder, growing in strength, until it was the only thing in her mind.

She was back, she was in control again! Looking down, she saw that she was back to normal. The Elements had worked after all! They had drained the strength of her darkness to the point where she could regain control!

Luna almost ran over to hug her sister when something stopped her. The darkness wasn’t gone…she could feel it still, hidden at the edge of her mind.

All of her suppressed anger and fears, ready to boil over at any moment to take control again.

“Celestia, you need to get up,” she whispered, so small compared to the commanding voice she had been using. “Sister, you need to get up!” she said again, louder.

Thankfully, her sister’s eyes fluttered, opening slowly. Seeing her younger sister back to normal, she leapt forward, embracing her in a crushing hug,

“Oh Luna! You’re back, I saved you, I didn’t fail! Everything’s going to be okay now, we can go back home, everything will be better now!” Luna almost didn’t let go, she wanted to stay like this forever. But she couldn’t, the darkness was growing stronger.

“Sister…I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Things aren’t going to get better,” She managed to say, pulling out of her sister’s grip. It almost hurt to say, especially when she saw the expression of horror on her sister’s face.

“It’s not as simple as that. What Nightmare Moon said…what I said was true. I am a part of the elements, I was able to resist their effect. That part of me was just driven away, but I can feel it still, waiting, getting stronger.” She explained, surprising herself at how calm she sounded.

Her sister was so confused, so worried, but there was so little time to explain.

“There is no time sister; I can feel it returning…you won’t be safe when I change back,” she told her sister, pushing away her concerns.

“Then, what do we do?” at the question, she closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure how they could stop this. What could they do?

The moon.

The great celestial body in the sky, the thing she been connected to since she was a child. The link was still there, would always be there.

“Seal me, put me away where I can’t hurt anypony. Seal me where I have been connected to since we took this land from Discord.” She looked through the hole in the ceiling at the night sky. “The moon, I won’t be able to resist it.” She looked back toward her older sister. Looking at her face, so full of sadness, she felt tears beginning to form in her eyes, but she wiped them away. She couldn’t let herself give in now.

“But that sort of seal…how would you return?” A question she hoped her sister wouldn’t ask.

“I won’t, I will forever be the Mare in the Moon, watching over you, watching over our people.” She shuddered, her time was almost up. Scowling, she slammed her hoof into the ground forcing the feeling back down. “It must be done, I’m one of the rulers of this land after all, and sometimes a ruler must give everything for their people.” Not wasting any more time, she walked over and placed her horn against Celestia’s.

“No more hesitation, we have to do this,” She commanded, taking a small pleasure in finally telling her sister what to do.
Standing together, the elements blazed back to life, swirling around them. The sealing spell was quick, she could feel herself being pulled away almost immediately.

“It looks like…it’s time for me to go sister,” she admitted, pulling away. “Be sure to take care of Equestria…and please be safe…be strong, for the both of us.” She pleaded.

“I will, I promise. Also, I swear I will find a way to get you back, I will save you from Nightmare Moon!” her older sister declared with such dedication, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“You couldn’t let me have the last word, could you?” She gave one last smile. “Goodbye sister…I’ll always love you.” And that was it; she was pulled into the sky. She soared higher, first seeing Canterlot on the horizon, then the edges of Equestria, until finally she witnessed the beauty of the whole world.

Now, fully sealed away from everypony, she dropped her defenses, and the darkness flooded back.
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So many years she spent on the moon, trapped behind a maelstrom of hatred and rage. She could feel her body scream and shout at the heavens. It constantly threatened to pull her in, but it never could. She just felt tired, looking down at her world.

She wondered if her sister would really find a way to release her.

She wondered if the people would forget about her before that happened.

She wondered if her sister had merely said that for her benefit, and she would be trapped forever.

But mostly she wondered if the darkness would ever leave.

Then one day, she noticed something. Something had changed. The spell around the moon seemed…weaker.

Frantically, she examined the spell and noticed what had happened. The stars, ever shifting in the night sky, had arranged around the moon, and through some strange quirk of nature, perhaps the star’s own natural magic, they were weakening the seal.

But in seeing this…the darkness noticed too, and in its joy, she was engulfed.

She had a second chance, and this time, the world would be hers.
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The only thing she could do was laugh.

She had been defeated, completely and utterly, by a group of six little ponies. They had recognized their power as wielders of the Elements, and this time, she had no chance to resist them.

But this time, when the attack struck, something different had happened.

She now stood in a featureless white void, so quiet and empty. She wasn’t alone though; there was one other pony with her, her dark form, Nightmare Moon.

“Hello Nightmare Moon,” she calmly greeted her other self. “It looks like tonight we will finally be rid of each other.”

“I don’t think so!” Nightmare Moon yelled in return, “You need me; you admitted that so long ago. With our power we can overthrow our sister, and we can finally stop the world!”

“Can we really? If anything, all you’ve proven is that for all your power, you are useless. Twice we tried to shroud the world in eternal night, and twice we have been defeated. Nothing you have done, my anger and jealousy have done, has made my life any better. I only wished to stand equal with my sister, and I wound up hurting her, tormenting her. All of ponykind now fears me, after a thousand years, all they can see me as is you,” she let out a tired sigh. “I’m done with this, done with you.”

“But how could you ever be equal to your sister without me?” her shadow asked, quieter and weaker this time.

“The only reason I could not catch up to my sister is because…I stopped trying,” she admitted. “All those years ago, I accepted that no matter how hard I tried…I could never catch up. With that sort of thinking, I never had a chance.”

She took one last look at Nightmare Moon, who seemed so small now.

“I can’t stop the world from changing, no power can do that. I’ll find a way to get by without you…goodbye.” She turned her back.

Then, she was back in the castle, lying defeated upon the ground. Opening her eyes, she saw what she’d been wishing for the last thousand years.

The smiling face of her sister.

“Will you accept my friendship?” Celestia asked, so calm, so regal. She replied with what she had wanted to say for so long.

“I’m so sorry! I missed you so much big sister,” she jumped forward, happily embracing Celestia.

“I missed you too,” her sister whispered back.

This time will be different, right sister? This time, will you let me stand beside you, as my own light?

Looking into her sister’s face, tears blurring her vision, she knew the answer.

Yes, it was true that the world would change no matter what she did.

But sometimes…it changes for the better.