…
A pair of thestrals, longing at the post near the big guest chambers, where Princess Luna still lives, met the Princesses’ appearance with cautious and inhospitable gazes. “Greetings, warriors of Night.” Tia smiled at them shortly. “Could you say me Luna’s whereabouts?” “Not here.” Thestral, standing to the left of the door, said with disgust, not even honoring the Princess of the Sun with a formal greeting. Cadence looked harshly at the bold mare with indignation: she doesn’t like etiquette either, but this, even without basic politeness?! But it seems, that Celestia took no offense. “Did my sister tell you where she was heading? Or maybe she asked to say me something?” Still smiling politely, Tia asked. “No. For both questions.” The guard finally said with the “knock it off already” look. Her companion, in his turn, didn’t even think that he should react at the Princesses’ presence. “I’ll come in.” The Princess of the Sun’s smile extinguished. Cadence, standing near, shivered reflexively: auntie voice’s tone seemed the same, but there was a feeling, that hallway’s temperature dropped a few degrees. It was clear, that thestrals got a chill as well: they didn’t even think of getting in the senior Princess’ way, but did absolutely the other way — hastened to the sides. “Auntie, how can you allow them to treat you in such a way? It’s!.. I’m speechless…” Cadence shook head, when alicorns entered the entering room, the door shut behind them softly. “Children of Night… Have reasons to hate me.” Tia sighed, looking around. “I’m sure they’ll get over it sooner or later, but for the time being… Let’s not talk about. At least for now.” “Okay.” Cadence prolonged, following Celestia, which moved towards the bedroom’s doors confidently. “Luna, are you here? Sorry for disrupting your solitude, but I’m worried about you. Is everything good?” Elevating the tone, Celestia said into the space. Silence. Waiting a few seconds, snowy alicorn raised a leg and knocked. Cadence shivered at the literally liquid tension in the air. Attempts to calm down with by a thought, that Luna just chose to be alone didn’t help: a feeling of an unclear disaster was pressing on. “Luna?..” Hesitating, Tia opened the door perplexedly. There was no one in the bedroom.…
No one was at the balcony, in the dining room, in the receiving office. Thestrals didn’t lie: emptiness and voicelessness reigned in the Princess of the Night’s chambers. “I thought, that my sister was resting here.” Sad Celestia dropped at last. “Let’s look if she left at least a message about her sudden destination…” The older Princess was right: rather quickly she found a note, left on the dressing table in the bedroom, which Tia hurriedly read out loud: “The further — the clearer my realization of the inability to undo what I have done, and, at the same time, I have no strength nor right to accept it. My action over Nightmare is a vile betrayal, and there is no excuse for it. Must stand before her — and let what is destined to happen. “Do not look for me — will come back, if there’s a desire of my…” There’s an inkblot… Further: “…Do not chase her away, if she hasn’t and take a high price. There wouldn’t be her fault — only mine. “Sorry…” A blot again…” Celestia let the sheet go and thoughtlessly followed its fall with her eyes. “She decided to meet with Nightmare? But they will… She will…” Cadence lost herself. “They cannot make peace now!” “Not “make peace”, Cadence.” The auntie’s smile made the pink alicorn feel uncomfortable: so creepy did it seem. “Luna knows, that Nightmare will show no quarter. She went to pay for her mistake…” “But Nightmare… She has changed! And now… And they…” Overwhelmed Cadence tried to insist with loss — even with a moan. Celestia stared at her feet gloomily and, after being silence for a few endless seconds, moved towards the exit determinedly without answering even with a word.…
“Where is she!? Where is my sister?!” When auntie speaks with her “cold” tone, Cadence feels unpleasantness. Now, as the Princess of the Sun’s voice boiled with anger and despair, she hung over the frightened thestral, and the younger alicorn couldn’t help but feel as if she was standing next to a forge. This… This gives chills to the bone. Seeing Celestia, usually calm and kind, in such a condition… “She didn’t say!.. We don’t know!..” Guard cheeped in answer, pressing herself into the wall, as if trying to get smaller. Cadence couldn’t help but gloat: half an hour ago she’d been muttering through the teeth, but now her legs were buckling with fear… “Y-your Highness! His Excellency Prince Blueblood attended her today! He may know!” The second guard tried to save his companion with a shivering voice and shrank his head into his shoulders, when the Princess’ gaze nailed him to the floor. “Thank you.” She nodded dryly. “Cadence, come over here.” As the pink alicorn approached, both Princesses immediately vanished in a golden flash, leaving the terrified night ponies to recover.…
“Greetings, Blueblood. You…” Bursting into her nephew’s office, Celestia froze in surprise. “A-a?.. It y-yo… Co-oome. Howdy…” “Are you drunk?” The Princess of the Sun couldn’t hold an exclamation, stunned by what she saw. “A-a? Y-yeah, drunk, yes… What am I supposd to be, m-m? Lisn… There’s still something! Gonna?” The unicorn, with its snow-white coat and tangled mane stained with something from before, focused his cloudy gaze on the opened, but not empty yet bottle of wine and pulled his trembling hoof towards it. A golden aura got the bottle and brought it onto the floor behind Celestia. “So!…” The senior alicorn narrowed her eyes angrily. “Blueblood, something happened?” The younger one asked with pity at the same time, interrupting her. “Hap-p-e-ened?” He followed the flown away bottle with a sad gaze. “O-o, yes, hap-e-ened! It’s all y-your fault!!!” Unicorn almost fell when sprang to his feet sharply and, almost screaming, pointed towards Celestia’s way with a hoof in a blamable manner. “Mine?! What?…” “Yo-ou… You have bee-en ly-ying! Me-e… Lied to m-me! You… You l-lied to everyone! Said, th Luna is a… Is a hero! But she-e… And I respected ya! And her as well!” Unicorn’s voice gradually died away, and he himself returned to his place by plunking awkwardly. “V… Very! Undrstand? It dsn’t mean I don’t respect ya now, nah… But I respect ya lesser, yeah… Nah… Yes, here. It’s bad, ba-ad… You’re… You’re…” Smashed Prince silenced, either trying to remember a word or just losing the thread of his own reasoning. Cadence furtively glanced at her auntie, who had frowned at the Prince’s words, and then turned her gaze back to Blueblood and sighed. It was hard to blame him for his current state… The Prince was almost a fan of the ancient hero, Princess Luna: beautiful, mysterious, and who saved Equestria by sacrificing herself… The absence in its place of the painting “Luna’s deed”, to which Celestia had been snorting skeptically — and which the unicorn himself had been adoring, made it abundantly clear what had happened. “Princess Luna told you?” Cadence tried to lead the Prince, experiencing the collapse of his ideal, to the right idea. “Y-yeah…” He, taking an advantage of auntie’s gloom thoughtfulness, took another opened bottle and greedily took a sip right from the bottleneck. “Wanted, yeah… Achli… Achivm… Achi-ev-em-en-ts — here — of Equestria delight her… Take to a museum! And I… I di-id…” Blueblood waved away with sorrow and hit the bottle again. “Glaive…” Sharply straighten up Celestia whispered with her lips and almost ran to the exit. “Thanks for the help, Blueblood.” Hesitatingly, as if trying to apologize, Cadence smiled and ran after Celestia. “Y-yep… Hey you, pre… Prnant nags! More vine!” She heard behind her back.…
“Auntie!… Just wait!… What!… Happened?..” Celestia was hurtling through the empty evening corridors, aiding herself with her wings and entering corners almost skidding. Much smaller Cadence could hardly manage not to lose sight of her. Only when she finally froze in front of the double-wing door, nostrils flaring noisily, the pink mare managed to catch up with her. “Museum.” Semi-interrogatively — semi-affirmatively said the junior Princess, turning her head to the senior one, but not achieving any reaction from her even now. Celestia, standing with closed eyes for a few seconds, pulled the door. It’s closed: the time is late, and the keeper of the castle museum left, and obviously had closed the hall until the next morning. “She is not her!…” As if with carefully concealed despair, Tia whispered to herself, and after lighting the horn again, she opened the doors with a sharp and furious jerk, wincing momentarily as the deformed lock fell out of the right leaf with a crunch and screech and rumbled to the marble floor. The younger alicorn, sighing softly, followed her. She has never seen her auntie so agitated in all her life, it seemed… Meanwhile, Celestia had lit a firefly on her horn, shining like a small Sun. She didn’t even seem to think about lighting the lights indoors… “Luna? Luna, are you here?” The Princess of the Sun’s voice, shivering from the nervousness, echoed through the hall. “Auntie…” Cadence tried to address her, but she didn’t even seem to notice, striding resolutely to the right wall and along it to an inconspicuous alcove at the far end of the hall. The pink mare shivered. She didn’t love and never understood violence, thus not leaning towards weapons at all, a few of which can be seen amongst artifacts in this hall, but one exact almost frightens her. The one, pushed away from prying eyes into a distant alcove. There was some talk of the glaive resting there… Experts in archeology and blacksmithing said it was a late replica, some thought it was an accidental weapon that had nothing to do with Luna and Nightmare Moon… But to her named niece, who decided to follow the Mare in the Moon’s advice and ask more about those events, Celestia reluctantly told her that the glaive was the real weapon of Princess Luna. And later, in a fit of melancholy, she also initiated into whose blood had permanently etched the frightening smudges on the blade. Cadence tried not to think about it too much, but the thought of it gave her the creeps. And Luna and Nightmare… they’re not like that!.. Meanwhile, Celestia, almost running up to the alcove, stopped dead in her tracks before slowly settling on the floor, staring at one point. It was empty. “What happened, auntie?” The Princess of love stroked her mentor with her wing in pity upon arriving. “The glaive… Luna took her…” She panted with a dead voice. “I hoped… Hoped, that we’d get early, that she’d just… Silly, right?” Alicorn sighed in a blood-curdling manner and covertly dashed a tear with a wing. “Took the glaive…” Cadence mumbled and, recoiling back, stared at the senior Princess with terror. “Is Luna going to kill Nightmare?! But they are… But it’s…” The pink pony bit her lip desperately. “No. She’ll give it to Nightmare… Or already did and…” Celestia sobbed, hiding face behind a crease of an elbow with shame. “For what?.. Cadence, for what?! What have I done wrong, that I don’t deserve a mere calm life with my little sister?… I had been dreaming about her return so much… It’s not been even a month… Why?!.” Tia, sobbing, froze, causing her companion to shamefully stare at the floor. What can one say here and now?.. “Get a grip!..” Suddenly, the older Princess hissed angrily after a few seconds and, wiping her tears away with a sharp movement, straightened up, directing a heavy stare at Cadence. “When was the last time you saw Luna?” “I don’t remember exactly…” Young alicorn hesitated. “I think around lunchtime. She was on her way to her room… And she didn’t seem to be in the best of spirits. We exchanged a few words and she hurried away, citing business matters.” The younger Princess frowned, trying to remember the events of the day. “Around lunchtime…” Tia repeated gloomily. “It means… I’m going to Ponyville right now. Nightmare’s there and… I’ll hope there’s still some time. I don’t know… This is the only thing I can count on…” The snowy mare stared at the floor gloomily. “And you, raise the guards and organize a search here: it’s doubtful, but maybe Luna hasn’t left Canterlot yet… If you realize she’s not here, send some guards to me.” I don’t know what they can help me with, but… they might be useful.” “Understood.” Cadence nodded seriously. “Involve the Night Guard?” “Involve everyone. Everyone you can! Buzz the Luna’s guards about the time of her leave and report — do anything! Help me… Find…” Celestia swallowed the lump in her throat with force and, not ending the phrase, hastened towards exit.…
“Your Highness?!” Dazed Twilight bowed in a hurry. “Rise, my dear student.” Tia smiled forcefully. “I’m afraid I was forced to come here at this late hour for not a good reason. Where’s Nightmare Moon?” “I… I don’t know…” The unicorn looked down confusedly, rising and stepping aside. “Come in, please, Princess Celestia!” Tia stepped from the chill of the night into the warmth of the library and almost immediately felt exhaustion come over her. A hard day, exhausting with a lot of problems to be solved all at once; wings aching from the long and difficult flight during an unusually cold summer night, which, as they approached Ponyville, was complemented by low clouds, brought by the wind from somewhere in the Everfree’s way, and a drizzle. Teleporting that far in light of a possible… of possible complications was unwise. It would have been wise to teleport with Cadence into the museum to save time, but… At the right moment, Princess didn’t even remember that. Tia sighed softly. It would have been wise to use the chariot as well, which would have taken her to Ponyville without such a waste of energy, but waiting for it to be ready to fly proved unbearable… Unable to feel the time wasting, Princess hastened to fly personally. Luna, why did you do that?.. Nightmare, you really can’t spare her life, can you?.. Alicorn, sighing again, chased her thoughts away with a force of will. It’s not the time. “And I haven’t seen Nightmare since lunch.” Twilight continued. “She left as soon as she got the package, and she hasn’t returned since.” “Package?” Celestia contacted her brows. “The one you’ve sent with your postal service…” “But nothing…” Princess hesitated, but caught herself in the same moment: “Luna!.. Twilight, tell me, what was in the package?” Mare stared at the student’s face with nervousness, as if trying to read answer on it. “I… I don’t know, Your Highness…” She recoiled back, laying her ears back. “We haven’t talked much these days and… Well… Here and… I just saw that there was a long something, if it matters…” Tia clenched her teeth and rolled her jaw. Why, Luna? Why?! For what?! “Did she leave right after that?” Alicorn managed to get a grip. “Yes, but I only heard the door’s slam, and I don’t know where she was heading to…” Celestia shut her eyes helplessly, feeling her heart starts to lose its pace, tears come to eyes. Too late. Where could Luna have rushed off to at lunchtime, when she met Cadence, and where could Nightmare have gone at the same time with the weapons she had received in the mail?.. They had met when she, Tia, had been going through the papers on her desk… It’s too late. No. No! Maybe Luna took off later, during evening? Cadence met with her at lunchtime, but that doesn’t mean her sister left the castle at the same time! She, probably, passed the letter with the glaive and suggested a meeting outside of Ponyville to Nightmare… But in the middle of the night it’s not realistic to quickly find those who saw something… The letter! Place and, most importantly, time of the meeting! “Twilight, where Nightmare has been living? I have to look at her things.” The last phrase forced to cringe from her own doings in mind: be nosy, search without a permission… Backstabbing. But what’s the other way? There’s no choice left… “Yes-yes, of course, let’s go.” Unicorn smiled nervously and moved towards the descent into the basement, causing Tia to raise brows in surprise for a moment. The basement, which, contrary to expectations, was quite spacious and even somewhat cozy, looked almost uninhabited to the Princess’s momentary bewilderment: it looked not like a place to live, but more like a place where people come to forget themselves for a short nap before another bleak day. All that suggested it was inhabited was the mess on the table, strewn with sheets of paper, and the bed on a camping mat on the floor. The Princess’s gaze flicked out a torn envelope on the bed that almost merged with the blanket. It was the letter! Celestia hurriedly approached the table, noting, that the usual ink pot was not on it, but it was to be expected: there were only a pair of sharp pencils, apparently untouched. Amidst the creative clutter on the edges of the table, a blank sheet of paper, laying in the middle, stood out. Is it?… Celestia picked it up, turned it over, and flinched, when a whole bunch of eyeballs stared back at her. Despite the monochrome, these eyes and nerve endings, where they seemed to hang from the edge of the sheet, looked extremely realistic, frankly frightening in their appearance. In addition, the feeling that they were looking right at her never left… Tia tilted the sheet with a morbid curiosity, that she didn’t understand, and felt a chill, when the feeling didn’t go away: all those eyes seemed to keep looking right at her… The creepy drawing went to the stool next to her. Put downward — but for some reason this did not help to completely get rid of the feeling of someone, looking into the back. How and why can one draw this?.. Sighing quietly, Princess casted a gaze at the stool, cringed and decided to swiftly switch to the searchings, quickly going through the thrown paper at the table to find text on it and reflexively sorting out the blank and covered with drawing ones. Blank sheet… Blank sheet… Some abstractive figures… Here!.. No, it’s just a book’s text rewritten… Blank sheet… Where is it? Where?! Heart was pounding frantically in the temples, throat was dry. Tia felt time drain away, like water through a sieve, with all her being. Blank sheet… Something… What is this?.. No time! Text!… Discord, another citation! Blank sheet… Blank sheet… Letters and drawings before her eyes started to fade, blurring into one gray bulk. “Your Highness… Something happened?” Twilight came closer hesitatingly, shivering from the Celestia’s semi-sigh semi-moan. Princess didn’t answer, continuing to run through the papers in the same mechanical way. Unicorn noted mentor’s eyes shining from tears with surprise and fright. “Your Highness, can I help you?” She walked around the table and stood in front of the alicorn, trying to get her attention again. She dropped another sheet back onto the table and casted a gaze at her, which made Twilight feel really uncomfortable. She had known Celestia almost since her childhood, and in all that time she had seen different things in the Princess’s eyes: joy, pride, sometimes fatigue, and sometimes worry or sadness. But never before had Twilight seen such confusion and hopeless despair as now. The mentor immediately rushed through the papers, as if hoping to find something among them, that would surely help, and now, not finding it at once, she simply shifted them senselessly, trying not to burst into tears. “Y-your Highness.” Magician said, overcoming the fear and pity on her soul. “Princess Celestia, what are you looking for? “Maybe I…” She hesitated, unable to offer help. What can a simple unicorn do against such a thing, that brought a powerful immortal alicorn into a state of despair?… Tia sighed, closing eyes. “The letter…” Sighing again, Princess looked at the student, when Twilight already began to think, that answer wouldn’t come. “The Nightmare Moon’s letter. From Luna.” “The one that came a few days ago?” Lavender mare specified quietly. “Nightmare burnt it. With clear pleasure…” “No, the one that came today, with a package. Envelope… It should be somewhere here!” “I think…” Twilight again walked around the table and came up to the Nightmare’s bed with a swift pace, checking her fast-paced guess. Eyes did not let down: between the folds of the blanket, next to the torn envelope, was a lump of crumpled paper. “Here! Your Highness, is it?” Unicorn carefully lifted the expanded sheet in a happy manner. “Oh, Twilight!..” Tia furtively brushed away the tears with the tip of her wing, feeling her legs shake all at once. “A big thank you!” “Don’t mention it… It’s alright…” Magician confused, passing the sheet on to the mentor, covered in a fine hoofwritten writing. She hurriedly picked it up and read it eagerly… only to fall to the floor with a despairing groan and let it fall to the floor with the extinguished horn. “Princess Celestia! Are you alright?” Frightened Twilight jumped to the alicorn to see her mentor soundlessly weeping with closed eyes. “There’s… No… Nothing…” She panted with a cracked voice, that gave the unicorn a creepy feeling: this is how dead and lifeless it sounded. Shivering, Twilight lifted the sheet and quietly, under her breath, read it aloud. “The realization of what I have done kills me more than any poison. I did not know what I was doing, but I destroyed your life. Even realizing the worthlessness of my speeches in comparison to the evil I’ve done, I can’t help but beg for your forgiveness, no matter how empty your eyes may be of such nonsense. Forgive me, Nightmare Moon. Please give me your answer, whatever it may be. The weapon, that came to you with my message, may it be a gift to you as a sign of my desire to be reconciled to you. And if my words of repentance are not enough for you, name the place and time where and when I must answer in deed to you for my wrongdoings. I have no more strength to endure the guilt in my heart, and I will accept any decision of yours, whatever it may be. Luna.” “What does it mean?…” Unicorn asked into the space with loss, swallowing the lump in her throat. The letter was unclear, but it reeks of something… Of something ominous. Why Luna apologized to Nightmare? Why gave her a weapon? How she was going to… Magician twitched, when a realization struck her mind like a lightning. Is it?.. “Nightmare will give no quarter to my sister…” Celestia panted as if agreeing with the thought. “But… It’s… We must do something! I… It must be stopped! Tell me what to do, Your Highness!” Twilight frantically babbled, looking at her desperate mentor frighteningly. “I have the Elements of Harmony right here! We’ll stop Nightmare and save your sister! Except… where to find her?..” The unicorn finished in confusion, realizing exactly what her mentor had hoped to find in the letter — and what had killed the last vestiges of hope in her. “Tell me, Twilight, why?! What did I do wrong?!” The distressed alicorn whispered in a fractured voice. “I didn’t… Please, Princess Celestia, I… We’ll… We’ll think of something! Everything will be right, really!” She blurted out, retreating toward the stairs. The magician felt, that if she delayed any longer, she would burst into tears herself. Seeing her firm, always optimistic mentor in a such state was beyond her power. But she could help… at least try to help her — and she was going to do everything a mere pony could do. Already on her way upstairs, the unicorn heard a muffled sobbing behind her.…
The oppressive silence in the library was broken only by the howling of the wind and the sound of drops on the glass, so frequent, that it merged into a coherent hum. The storm, brought by the wind from somewhere on the side of the willful Everfree Forest against all schedules, was in full force. Twilight was willing to bet, that she had a lot of ill-wishers in Ponyville tonight, trying to track down those, who could tell where Nightmare has gone. But alas, it didn’t give the needed results… The Mare in the Moon was obviously seen around the library, another places and, finally, heading towards outside Ponyville. That’s all. Naturally, no one followed her any further, and the ominous mare could have gone anywhere: from the Everfree forest to the train station… And it would have been good if someone had given the exact direction! Some said she was heading towards the lake, others said she was heading towards the farms, and still others saw her walking towards the Everfree — all these ponies were confused from their sleep, lost, answered in the wrong way, unable to remember exactly whether it had been yesterday or not… Dash thought, that only the gloomy Castle of the Two Sisters could have been the place, and she was bursting to go, ignoring the fact that she was already badly punished by the medics for flying with Gilda and the fact, that the already long and dangerous trek in this weather would be even more arduous and dangerous: First, the crossing of the river, and it’s obvious, that it has risen because of the downpour, and then through the ravine to the castle, over the frail bridge under the same downpour and gusts of gusty wind… And that’s not counting predators, not all of whom would be afraid of the weather… So Applejack, in turn, was inclined to believe, that Nightmare was rather gone to see Luna somewhere where they would not think of looking for her: the castle is a too obvious place. Fluttershy had nothing concrete to offer, merely expressing a timid hope for a happy resolution of the situation… Twilight herself tried to logically calculate where the Mare in the Moon might have gone, but she quickly realized, that she did not know her well enough to make more or less accurate conclusions, and without it, the options seemed about equally likely… The magician caught herself, that the further she went, the more inclined to the adventurous and ill-conceived, but more active idea of Dash. It was so unbearable to sit and do nothing… Rarity and Pinkie, on the other hand, were frighteningly passive, when they found out what was going on. And if the white unicorn answered her questions quietly or brushed them off, Pinkie Pie said, that it was all her fault, and her words drove Nightmare to all this… They almost had to break up Rainbow and Pinkie Pie, which Twilight honestly did not understand: why Pinkie suddenly began to defend this cruel and heartless pony? She herself recounted with undisguised horror how she had mistaken her and what she had done to Gilda. The state of the griffon, when they caught up with her to render aid, drove the Princess’s student almost to horror. And at first she didn’t believe the rumors, that Nightmare was going to kill her! Fortunately, the Ponyville hospital, though not fully capable of treating non-ponies, did not refuse to accept the victim… Anyway, none of them could think of what to do next. And time was inexorably running out… The viscous silence was suddenly shaken by a demanding knock, causing everyone to shiver. After hesitating a little, the librarian, wearily exhaling, moved towards the door. Behind the door, to her surprise, was… “Cadence?!” Twilight stared disbelievingly at the nanny, who smiled faintly at her from beneath her wet hooded cloak. “Cadence!” The unicorn threw herself on her neck after letting her in, but then, with an embarrassed groan, she hurriedly retreated as the guardsmen followed nanny into the library. “Greetings, Twilight.” Alicorn smiled wearily, taking off the wet coat, but turned serious immediately. “Where’s Princess Celestia? I’m happy to see you, but…” “I understand.” Magician sighed. “Her Highness is here. Let’s go.” She moved towards the basement. “There’s no need in ceremonies, please!..” The young Princess, embarrassed for a moment, murmured to the other ponies bowed in front of her and hurried after her apprentice.…
“Auntie, are you alright?” Cadence immediately ran to the older Princess after descending. Celestia looked… Frighteningly. It creates a feeling, that she has faded from the inside out. “Cadence.” She casted an extinguished gaze at the pink alicorn. “Tell me: did I do the right in keeping Nightmare alive? Or it was a mistake?” “We should try to save any life.” She mumbled evasively. “Any? I swore to defend every pony, Cadence. And I couldn’t defend even my own sister! On the contrary, I put her in danger, and I didn’t protect her…” Tia closed her eyes helplessly. “You did what your good heart told you to do…” “And what’s the result?” Celestia’s piercing glaze forced the young alicorn to step back for a few steps. “It’s ironic… Nightmare herself pointed at my unreasonable trustfulness more than once…” Cadence wanted to insist — but what you can do against facts?.. “Princess Celestia…” She broke the long silence after a dozen of seconds. “One of the thestrals gave me your sister’s letter… It says where Luna has gone to.” “She’s alive?!” The snowy mare, on her feet at once, was hovering over her niece. “I don’t know…” She drooped. “It’s old… Your sister left it to her night ponies with instructions to give it to you or me at a certain time… And these!.. These!..” Cadence waved with her wings indignantly, trying to find words. “These shameless scoundrels searched the whole palace and circled half the city, pretending to search, knowing for sure. that Princess Luna is not there!!!! Here, look at it!” The younger alicorn held out the scroll to the older one, who took it eagerly and stared at it intently. “Ti, if you’re reading this letter, I may no longer be amongst the living. Forgive me. But it’s unbearable to feel disgust towards myself. Even crazy Sombra did not fall to the point of hurting his loved ones, but I, because of my pride and envy, betrayed you and fought you until the last drop of your blood, as if you were not the closest thing to me in the whole world. Not knowing how, I created Nightmare Moon from my magic — and she had been supporting me, like a