Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18Ee-Abeg_BfY4zSAQu9nxP_o-iNGQgn4OvLov6k5HhA/edit

In the following month, Luna’s behaviour changed again. She suddenly became very demanding, even much more than before, at least from Celestia’s perspective. Nearly every night, she begged Celestia to arrange things so that the ponies were out at night at least for once. Though she never said why she was so much in panic and why she wished her big sister to go through all this unnecessary extra work.

The reason for this was Nightmare Moon. Her control over Luna kept increasing with every day that passed. By now, Luna allowed the de manis to guide her in most things. As a result, Nightmare Moon gained more and more power within a very short time.

The de manis deliberately evoked fears in Luna. Fears about being forgotten. Fears about being forced to spend the rest of eternity lost alone in her own darkness. But mostly, she made her see ponies increasingly more as ungrateful and worthless.

Even though these ideas were controverse to Luna’s beliefs and actions, the voice inside her mind made her eat it all up and adapt the thoughts to her way of thinking. And although Celestia was not willing to force her subjects to stay awake late at night, despite the duties they would have to perform on the next day, simply so Luna could get her way, the demi-goddess of darkness would soon get her long awaited opportunities.

---

“Gah, these darn tessellated windows!” one of the many craftsman ponies of Castle Everfree complained. “Why does this glass never stay in the frames?”

“Am not really sure what we are doing wrong, but we need to repair this,” another answered.

“But not today anymore. I haven’t been able to eat all day and Princess Celestia is already letting the sun go down,” the first one spoke.

“Oh, I don’t want to anger her. We better get this done. I can’t imagine she would like the idea of the cold wind blowing into the castle all night long,” yet another stated.

“Are you serious? Don’t you see how big this window is? Setting up the scaffolding alone will take us an hour! I got the feeling that if I don’t find a place to lay down soon, I will just fall over!” a fourth pony countered.

“Look guys, I’m very tired too and I really don’t want to work at night any more than you do,” the second started. “Especially when we have such much work to do at the building site downtown tomorrow. But after all the princess has done for us, don’t you think we should give her a little payback?”

“And if we don’t do this tonight, when do you suppose would we find the time to get to it?” the third craftsman wondered.

“Agh, you are right there,” the first one finally agreed with a sigh. “Then let’s get this over with.”

---

Luna was already wide awake and in her throne room before the sun even set. She looked stressed. Her eyes were bloodshot as if she hadn’t been sleeping much for days, yet forced wide open and filled with black tears. Her pupils had shrunk to less than a quarter of their original size. But still, for some not quite understandable reason, she was grinning while she nervously walked up and down her throne room, breathing heavily in exertion.

“They have forgotten you, Luna. It is the truth,” Nightmare Moon spoke.

“No. They can not. They just can not,” the Princess of the Night whispered.

“It is a matter of fact, Luna. You can’t deny it,” the de manis kept on speaking.

“This is not true and I am going to prove it. All I need is to get my sister to agree,” Luna kept telling herself.

“Stop being so blind, you fool! This is all your sister’s fault! She is doing everything she can to hold you trapped and isolated here!” Nightmare Moon growled.

“N-no... she... she is just very busy with the subjects. That is all...” Luna disagreed meekly.

“She loves her subjects more than you, Luna! A lot more! Otherwise, she would realize what you are going through!” the voice nearly shouted at the dark demi-goddess.

Luna couldn’t take it anymore. As she sat down on her throne and held her head with a sorrow filled expression, the black tears ran freely down her face.

“Please... stop, Nightmare... please...” she begged.

“A month ago, you said you finally were willing to open your eyes to the truth. You were lieing to me, Luna. You still refuse to see what is truly going on. After a whole month in which you even stepped down to beg to your sister, she is still ignoring your needs and desperation. She refuses to let you meet ponies. What do you expect to happen, Luna? Do you think she will give in if you bother her long enough? Do you think such a thing is really necessary between sisters?” Nightmare Moon debated.

“I... I... I just want to meet somepony... I just want confirmation that I have not just become forgotten so badly...” Luna stated with a desperate tone in her voice.

Nightmare Moon was about to bring up more arguments when she could hear hoof steps approaching up the stairs to Luna’s throne room through her ears. So instead, she made Luna wipe the tears out of her eyes, take a few controlled breaths to relax again and rub her eyes to make them return to normal.

“I assure you, Luna. Once you get to meet somepony, you will only find out that I was correct after all,” Nightmare Moon spoke, just before Celestia entered.

Since the Princess of the Night started annoying her sister so much with her requests, Celestia always had a displeased look on her face when she had to come up to her sister’s throne room. This time was no different and she immediately found her expression justified as Luna was about to start again.

“Sister. Please. All I ask for is one single night!” Luna pleaded.

Celestia rolled her eyes. By now, her pleading only provoked her.

“Give me one plausible reason why I should do this to my subjects,” Celestia growled.

“Is it not reason enough that I ask you to do this, sister? Is it not reason enough that I am begging you every single night?” Luna wondered.

“No! It is not! By all means, Luna. Your selfishness is bordering on ignorance!” Celestia disagreed with a very serious tone. “Right now, over a third of the workers of Everfree are occupied with the construction of the mountain city near the crystal caverns, which they decided to name Canterlot! Yet, that is just the smallest problem going on!

“Due to the after-effects of Discord’s magic, there is a fatal blight creeping through the land! The ponies are starving and the medical support is still very poor throughout all of Equestria! A huge part of the land’s population is too weak and sick to work, which only puts even more work on the rest!

“And do not get me started on the crime rates! Due to the food shortage, I get countless reports of theft, robbery and burglary every day! I honestly have enough to do with trying to somehow keep the land running while avoiding to let it fall to corruption!

“My subjects work even much harder than me! What I am forced to ask them to do can nearly be considered slavery! Yet, you have got nothing better to do than to demand even more from me and them?”

“You... you do not understand, sister!” Luna spoke with a desperate tone, huffing speechlessly as she found it very hard to express herself. “I can not take it anymore! I really can not! Please, just a single pony! Just one!”

“I can not believe you, Luna! I just can not believe you!” Celestia began to shout.

Just as their conversation was about to escalate, another set of hooves could be heard running up the stairs. Moments later, a green maiden came rushing in with a scroll in her mouth. She stopped in front of Celestia and offered it to her.

“I’m sorry for bugging you so late, but I was told that this was urgent and you needed to get it as quickly as possible,” Emerald Dream apologized as soon as Celestia’s magic lifted the scroll out of her mouth.

“It is fine, my dear maid,” the demi-goddess of the Day replied.

For a moment, Luna found herself speechless. She had been struggling with her sister for an opportunity to meet a pony for such a long time. Now, out of nowhere, one appeared just in front of her nose!

Emerald Dream finally turned around and realized that somepony else was in the room.

“Oh, hello!” she greeted.

“He...hello...” Luna replied, still a bit stunned of how suddenly this came to happen.

Emerald Dream had a baffled expression on her face as she eyed up the Princess of the Night. After a few seconds of analyzing her, she blinked a few times and spoke up again.

“Who are you?”

As soon as this question reached Luna, she suddenly felt like she had turned to stone. The shock solidified her body to the point where she even stopped breathing for several seconds.

“Ah, of course, you have never been here before at this hour. Emerald Dream, this is my sister Luna. Luna, this is my personal maid, Emerald Dream,” Celestia introduced casually while reading the scroll.

“Your sister?! I didn’t even know you have one!” Emerald spoke with a stunned expression.

Even much more stunned was the expression of Luna. The fact that she never even heard of the demi-goddess of darkness before shocked her so deeply, her heart skipped a beat.

“So what are you the princess of?” the maid asked curiously.

“The... the night...” Luna replied, still deeply shocked.

“Oooooooooh! So you are the one I hear walking around the castle at night! I’ve been wondering!” Emerald commented.

This was too much. Luna finally found a way out of her petrification and slowly got up. With the same slow pace, she turned around to hide her expression from both her sister and her maid. While the black tears started flowing again, Luna made a sound that was a complete opposite to her feelings. She began to laugh lowly.

Her strange reaction caused Emerald Dream to tilt her head and look at Luna in confusion. Of course, she could not see the tears. So the fact that she turned away from her in order to laugh was just puzzling to her.

Celestia did not pay any attention to the scene that had just happened at all. She was too deeply sunken into the letter. After she finished reading, she rolled the paper up again and sighed.

“The griffon empire demands my attention again. Now of all times... Emerald Dream: Please take preparations. I will be leaving in the morning,” Celestia explained.

“Yes. Of course, your highness. Goodbye, Princess Luna! Was nice to meet you!” the maid spoke before leaving the room again.

Finally, the demi-goddess of light noticed the strange behaviour of her sister.

“Luna? Are you okay?” she wondered.

The Princess of the Night stopped laughing. She needed three seconds to put herself together.

“Yes. I am fine. Perfectly fine,” she lied with a surprisingly calm voice. It was so calm that it in fact actually was believeable.

“In that case, would you finally raise the moon then?” Celestia demanded a bit harshly.

Without any further comment, Luna’s horn began to glow, soon followed by Celestia’s. Now, the sun and the moon switched places.

After the way Luna had been acting, Celestia didn’t even border to say goodnight and just left the room. As soon as she was out, Luna turned around again. Multiple black tear trails were seen on her face, her eyes were bloodshot and the pupils tiny again. The dark demi-goddess was so desperate now that she could only grin widely.

“I’m sorry, Nightmare,” she apologized. “I am such an idiot. I should have listened and believed you all along.”

“Emerald Dream has been living in the castle for years now. Yet, she never even knew you existed,” the de manis resumed.

Luna began to cry and laugh at the same time. Desperation overwhelmed her mind while she got up again and slowly wobbled through the castle, not even having the physical strength left to walk properly.

The meeting with Emerald Dream ultimately confirmed Luna’s worst nightmares to be true. She really had become forgotten. Nopony even remembers she ever existed.

This was the moment Nightmare Moon had been waíting for in the last few years. The demi-goddess of darkness was at a very unstable state of mind right now. She would be willing to hold onto any tiny thing she gave her. This was the perfect opportunity for her to start taking her over.

“Disrespectful ponies,” Nightmare Moon spoke.

“Disrespectful ponies,” Luna repeated.

“Ungrateful ponies,” Nightmare spoke.

“Ungrateful ponies,” Luna repeated.

“Despicable ponies,” Nightmare spoke.

“Despicable ponies,” Luna repeated.

“If they dare to forget us, we need to force them to remember. This will not go uncorrected, Luna. It is time to make them pay,” the de manis suggested.

“Yes,” Luna agreed.

“They will suffer much more than you did. Over centuries, you stored an incomparable hatred inside you. Now, it is time to unleash it,” Nightmare Moon continued.

“Yes,” Luna agreed again.

“Punish them, Luna. Let them feel our hatred,” the voice finished.

“I will,” the Princess of the Night confirmed.

After a while, she finally reached the balcony. Her insane eyes slowly wandered over the sleeping city below. What right did these ponies have to treat her like this? What right did they have to make her suffer so much? They needed to be taught a lesson they would never forget.

Her focus fell on a broken window a floor below her and on the other end of the castle. She could see a craftsman pony standing on a scaffolding, trying to replace the missing glass pieces. A sturdy looking rope was reliably tied to one end of the wooden structure, the loose end to the stallion’s right front leg.

Tonight was a very fortune night for her. For over fifty years, Luna hadn’t seen another pony. Now, she got to see two at the same night.

The grin on Luna’s face grew wider. This was the perfect situation. Her sister was in deep sleep by now and so far away that she would not possibly notice anything. It shall begin here, she decided. It was time for her to start getting her revenge.

“Nightmare. I created a new lullaby. I think you may like it,” Luna stated.

“Let me hear it,” the de manis motivated.

The grin on Luna’s face grew to surreal size while her eyes went as wide open as they could get. Trying to suppress a manic laughter, she began to sing.

“Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop,” she started, staring at the unsuspecting stallion working on the window.

Suddenly, Luna’s horn began to glow, creating a strong artificial breeze that squeezed itself through the gaps of the window.

“When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,” she continued.

When the magical breeze entered, the worker did not suspect a thing. Since air is invisible, he also could not explain why the scaffolding suddenly started to shake.

“When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,” the Princess of the Night sang on.

The breeze violently tore away a few planks of wood and finally made one of the supporting legs of the scaffolding break. The whole structure tilted towards the window, causing the stallion to lose his balance and risked to fall through the damaged window.

Out of reflex, he grabbed the rope just before he fell against the glass. The window shattered noisily and the pony held tightly to the rope, desperately hoping it was strong enough to hold him. But as he fell, the rope suddenly started moving on its own. It wrapped itself around the stallion’s neck.

As the rope reached its limit, a loud popping noise could be heard. A clear indicator that the pony’s neck was broken.

“And down will come baby, cradle and all,” Luna finished.

She kept on staring at the dead hanging pony and the shocked faces of the other workers after they realized what just had happened for a few moments longer, a deep satisfaction filling her. Then, she simply turned around and started walking back inside the castle, the huge grin still on her face and her eyes still overflowing with black tears.

“Well done, Luna,” Nightmare Moon congratulated.