Celestia watched Twilight gallop out of the throne room, charged with single-hoofedly saving the Crystal Empire. Celestia didn’t know why she’d had to say something so antithetical to the lessons of friendship, but her premonitions had been as clear on the matter as they ever were. This would preserve the Empire. Hopefully, it would even aid Twilight on the path to ascendance. As the faint strains of a musical number wafted in from outside, Celestia felt her sister’s presence at her side once more. She smiled and turned to Luna. Luna didn’t match her expression. She said nothing aloud, but her scowl spoke volumes. Celestia sighed. “I don’t like it either, Luna, but I have faith in her.” “As do I, sister. That is not what has aroused my ire.” “What’s wrong?” Luna quirked an eyebrow. “‘A unicorn whose heart was black as night’? Really, Tia?” “It’s a well-established turn of phrase,” said Celestia. Luna rolled her eyes. “Yes, after a thousand years of the sun reigning undimmed.” “It was a well-established turn of phrase a millennium ago.” “Neigh, then ‘dark as night’ meant a pony was mysterious, hard to know well, but perhaps possessed of glimmers of something better…” Luna’s face twisted into a grimace. “[i]Glimmers[/i] of something better [i]gleaming[/i] under the surface. Ugh. My apologies, sister. It is not you who has offended me, but language itself.” Celestia offered a sympathetic smile. “Our ponies are diurnal, Luna. They have associated darkness with peril since before even our births.” Luna looked away. “It still rankles me to see my night so disrespected.” “If there is one thing I have learned from our ponies, sister, it is that you cannot fight equine nature. If the herd has made a decision, no one pony, not even you or I, can change it.” After a few moments, Luna nodded, then made for the doors. “Very well then. I shall just have to get more ponies.” “Wait!” Celestia stumbled to halt, stopping her pursuing charge a few steps in. “What exactly do you have in mind?” Luna looked back. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to blame Celestia for her outburst. “I do not yet know, but I promise you, no harm shall befall anypony.” [hr] The echoing call arrived several moments before the Princess. “Good Kibbitz! How may I change the minds of many ponies at once?” Kibbitz had been the royal majordomo for decades, and over that time had become closely acquainted with Princess Celestia’s personal eccentricities. As such, he had very quickly learned that Princess Luna was not her sister by any stretch of the imagination. That still left him struggling to determine precisely who Luna was, and given both proper deference and her temper, that meant treading very carefully around her. It took several seconds of careful thought before he asked, “What precisely do you mean by that, Your Highness?” “There is a deep-seated association in the equine mind between darkness and evil, and another between light and goodness. I would demonstrate to the masses that such connections are false and unmerited, preferably by demonstrating the goodness of darkness.” “I… see.” Kibbitz tugged at his mustached and thought. “It is certainly a tricky matter, Your Highness. Many of your more impressive displays can be described as lights in the darkness.” Luna nodded. “Aye. Meteor showers, harvest moons, constellation theatre, all rely on an interplay of the two. The ponies of today embrace the night to a degree they never did a millennium ago, but darkness is another matter. I was hoping there was some development that might aid me in this.” “I am sorry, Your Highness, but nothing comes to…” Kibbitz paused for just a moment. Luna smiled. It had been a moment enough. “Ah, but something [i]has[/i] come. Pray speak, good seneschal.” “I am not sure if I should, Your Highness. It is… beneath you.” The princess gave a most unregal snort. “Scant moons ago, I spent a night belittled, mocked, and tugged upon by foals. It was one of the best nights of my life. Only that which I say is beneath me is so, and for this quest, I will happily bury myself until even Diamond Dogs must bow their heads to see me. So long as I do not delve into the truly despicable, my dignity is a small price to pay to make ponies move past primitive fears.” Kibbitz muddled this over. “Whether or not it is despicable is a matter of some debate, Your Highness. However, if you are truly willing to do [i]anything[/i] for this…” “I am.” He took a deep breath and said, “It is known as a focus group...” [hr] The offices of Flimflam, Pablum, and Tripe were midway up the Empire Province Building. The conference room, bedecked in mahogany and fetlock-deep carpeting, had a magnificent view of the Hudscolt River. The heads of the firm had been happy to offer their personal expertise to the crown and now sat smiling at one end of the massive conference table, with Luna and a pair of standing, bat-winged guards at the other. “How have you found Manehattan, Princess?” said Flummox Flimflam, a unicorn mare who had admitted a distant relation to a certain pair of traveling hucksters. Luna smiled. “It has been fascinating. Oft am I reminded of just how much I have missed because of my earlier foolishness, and this has been perhaps the most stark reminder yet. When last I saw Manehattan Island, there had been scarcely any pony presence at all. To see such a grand city no stand here, so large, so tall, so full of life, it is awe-inspiring.” Luna’s expression soured. “That said, I am not sure how much I like the Manehattanites’ attitudes. Some seemed to feel I was taking up more than my fair share of space. As though I could help that.” One of her guards cleared his throat. Luna rolled her eyes. “Yes, good Frolicsome, I suppose I could have shapeshifted, but I doubt that impertinent stallion knew that.” “Manehattan prides itself on not caring about details like your tribe or species,” said Gisela Tripe, a griffoness. Luna smirked. “Even in my brief time here, I have seen that Manehattan prides itself on many things.” Powdered Pablum, a doughy earth pony stallion, gave a more genuine sort of laughter than Luna had expected. “Very true. Still, in this city, it isn’t what you are, it’s what you’ve done.” Luna gave this a flat look. “I have saved this nation and this world so many times that I have brought history professors to tears as they realized how much has been lost. A mare still demanded that I, quote, ‘turn down that overblown mane before you blind somepony.’” “What you’ve done lately,” said Tripe, “in Manehattan.” “Ahh.” Luna nodded. “A hunger for great deeds and a short memory that demands you keep performing them. I am reminded of Pegasopolis. I can only hope this will not end in my feeding some self-important legate her own flight feathers.” She sighed fondly before marshaling herself. “But I digress. I trust you all know why I have asked for your time?” Flimflam nodded. “Yes, Princess. And may I say we are [i]very[/i] excited to work with you in what is perhaps the most ambitious rebranding effort in history.” “Making darkness appealing. This is one for the history books,” said Tripe. “We’re with you one hundred percent,” said Pablum. “At your price, you had better be.” Luna took the sting out of the comment with a wink. “Very well, o personal relators. How may we change the people’s minds?” “Well, we’ve been thinking about this for quite some time since you contracted us,” said Flimflam. “Gotten a lot of our best brainstorming possibilities,” added Tripe. “Days’ worth of meetings.” Pablum spread his forelegs as if to indicate the magnitude of time. “We’ve narrowed it down to a few key ideas that are virtually guaranteed to work.” Flimflam levitated a clipboard. Luna narrowed her eyes. “How virtual is this guarantee?” “Ninety-nine percent. Ponies can be fickle, Your Highness.” Flimflam chuckled. “If I could just order them to think the way I wanted them to, I wouldn’t have gone into marketing.” “Very well. Proceed.” “Well, first off, have you considered making the moon brighter?” Luna stared at the unicorn for quite some time. Flimflam just stared back, her small smile slowly growing more strained. Finally, Luna said, “Excuse me?” “The moon. Have you tried brightening it?” “The moon.” Flimflam nodded. “Yes.” “As in the one in the sky?” Luna pointed out the window. “The greatest of the stars, core of the realm of dreams, shepherd of the tides, and suchlike?” “That would be the one.” “And you want me to make it [i]brighter[/i].” “The thing about darkness, Princess,” said Tripe, “is that it dominates the senses so much. If you could tone down the usual amount of it that people had to deal with, make it a little milder, you’d be doing a lot to meet them halfway.” Luna scowled. Clouds started to intrude on the scheduled clear skies. “The amount they have to ‘deal with’?” Tripe shrugged her wings. “That’s speaking personally. The thing about eagle eyes? Terrible night vision.” “Indeed.” Luna decided not to mention the many nighttime raids against reiver camps, the horseflesh-hungry catbirds blinded by their own torches, not noticing her squad until it was far too late. At least, she wouldn’t mention it this time. She took a deep breath. “Increasing moonshine would require a great deal of delicate orbital choreography, both to better reflect the sun and to change how the moon interacts with nearby leylines. My sister and I simply do not have the free time needed to plan out such things, nor would the denizens of the world likely appreciate the strange phenomena that would accompany them.” “So,” said Flimflam, “that’s a no on the brighter moon?” “Decisively.” “All right then, Plan B. Does darkness need to be [i]black[/i]?” Luna gazed into the mare’s mind. She seemed as sane as the next pony. That wasn’t saying much, but it still came far short of the madness that Luna had thought such a question would require. ”What else would it be?” “Well, that’s up to you. Though the good news is our focus groups reported very strong preferences for blues and purples that will nicely complement your personal color scheme.” Flimflam checked her notes. “Also pink. A lot of ponies were enthusiastic about the idea of pink darkness.” Luna could not help but think of the Bearer of Laughter’s less pleasant dreams. She bit back her first comment. “How exactly would I go about implementing this change?” “I’m afraid that one’s up to you, Princess. But almost everypony we asked liked the idea of something other than black.” ”Black is just so [i]harsh[/i],” said Pablum. “Like Gisela said, it demands a lot of attention. That can turn off a lot of ponies.” Luna found herself contemplating the idea. “I admit, I do see a way to make that happen, but the magical array needed to generate the glamour would require generations of labor to construct and unfathomable amounts of power to maintain.” “So that’s a maybe?” said Flimflam. “A maybe of magnitude equivalent to the undertaking it represents. Anything else?” Flimflam clicked her tongue. “Well, Plan C is…” She winced. “I’ll put this out front, Princess, this one’s the riskiest.” Pablum nodded. “Something of a long shot.” Tripe tried a smile. The beak presented some issues. “If anyone could make it work, it would be you.” “That last was true of the others,” said Luna. Flimflam nodded. “Fair point. Quite simply, you get them while they’re young.” “Meaning?” “Everypony has lived their lives thinking darkness is a bad thing,” said Flimflam. “That’s why you came to us. But if you target foals, the ones who’ve thought that for the least time, the ones who are still in their impressionable years, you’ll have an easier time changing their minds.” “However,” said Pablum, “you’re going to need to go about it carefully. You and foals, well, I’m not sure if you know, but—“ Luna held up a hoof. “Backside gobbling, yes. I have been acquainted with the legacy I left in common folklore.” She smiled. “I thank you, gentlefolk. Despite your more outlandish proposals, you have indeed been worth every bit.” Flimflam beamed and started pulling placards out from under the conference table. “Fantastic! We’ve already drafted several potential advertising campaigns that—“ “That will not be necessary.” All three froze. “Princess?” said Pablum. Luna just smiled. “You have presented me with the solution. I know how I may implement it.” [hr] The filly cowered, eyes shut. It wouldn’t stop the approaching horror, but at least she didn’t have to watch what happened next. An explosion made her crack open her eyelids. What she saw was dark, yes, but that wasn't anywhere near a bad thing. Luna smiled. “A warm welcome to you, Scootaloo.”