Luna's Secret (A DWU Short Story)

Chapter Seven

Had he forgotten about me?

I certainly hoped that wasn't the case.  The last time he had come to see me, he looked like he'd been beaten, reportedly by an enemy of his. Perhaps he was seeking revenge. Had he succeeded? Had he failed?

Revenge.

That was a word that hadn't crossed my mind at all since my banishment had begun:

Alex was out getting his. My sister had her final word last time we saw each other.

Where was my revenge? I tried to push the question away.

Did I even want revenge? That was the real question, wasn't it? Did I want revenge against my sister? To get even with her for putting me here?

The very thought of it left me feeling torn inside: a pit in my stomach and a scenario in my head.

What if I did get revenge? What if I were to return to Equestria and best my sister? What then? Do I lock her up? Kill her? Banish her here? Where would that leave me? And better yet, would that satisfy me?

Would I finally be at peace if I got revenge?

I mulled this over for days on end. I thought about it. Dreamed about it. Talked out loud about it.

Revenge.

Would it make me happy?

Alex did not return for any visits anytime soon. I began to think that he surely wasn't returning this time.

Now, I know that I had reasoned the very same thing after his first visit, just after a few short days. But this was not just a few short days.

I went back through the tally marks I had made in my cave. One for every day. I went through them a second time.

However long I had been on the moon on the day of the last tally mark, that time had now doubled.

Anger festered in my heart.

Had he broken his promise with me? Was he dead? Or was I dead to him?

I refused to shed any tears for him. Dead or alive, he never came, and he certainly never said goodbye.

I was angry with myself for allowing my feelings for him to grow to the scale that they had. I was a fool for not controlling, stifling my feelings until they choked away.

Now he had hurt me too, and where was he now to answer for it?

I became consumed by my anger.

Alex and Celestia. Those two were the ones that had caused me to feel this way. They had caused my solemn thoughts to become constructive.

Celestia was likely the only reason Alex had ever come. He probably had stopped coming now because one or both of them had stopped bothering themselves with the notion.

They were selfish and cruel to me.

I was a fool to love him.

Celestia was a bigger fool for putting me here. She didn't do it as punishment. She certainly didn't do it so I could have time to reform myself.

She did it because she had no other choice.

Nopony ever considered nor cared how I felt on the matter.

I wasn't Celestia's sister anymore either. She banished Nightmare Moon, and she did it because she was weak. My banishment was nothing more than a prolonging of the inevitable.

I could be ruling Equestria right now. I should be ruling Equestria right now. I have power that my sister couldn't handle, and yet here I sit? The forgotten one? The defeated one?

Nightmare Moon returned to me, taking over.

For too long, I had beaten myself in grief, destroying my inner self as part of some pointless cycle of eternal misery and self pity.

I was finished taking responsibility, for it served no purpose. None of it had a purpose, so none of it mattered.

It was time to be Nightmare Moon again. It was time to put this torturous banishment to an end...

It was time to get revenge.

(A/N): I got a touch too into character, didn't I? My apologies to any of you, if you were worried. This chapter is finished now, but the story is not quite over yet. I'm writing this note here to inform you that in order to properly convey the events of the next chapter, I will have to write in the perspective of both myself and Nightmare Moon. I will label the dual personalities accordingly using [NM] and [Luna]. Again, please do not be alarmed by this, and I hope you are enjoying the story so far.

~Princess Luna