Oh, Luna, Luna, lovely be.
My Lacuna, come to me.

These years apart, my thoughts were true:
Of only, only, only you.

The Elements of our demise
Have failed to taint, but by surprise

Succeed where your sister failed—
Stripped us apart, our night unveiled.

I’ve waited thence in castle dark
To hold you close, to feel your spark—

That wond’rous flame within your eye—
That prideful power seeking sky

And land that loves our darkest night,
That wants our world without Her light.

To bear the stars and moon alone,
To see us, rightfully, the throne.

Our time, once past, has come again.
We’ll realize our night’s domain.

Out the gate, I fly to thee,
Out from Castle Everfree.

I come for you, but serpent smoke,
A nightly guise, my starry cloak

That you alone will surely spy,
Whether dark or light the sky,

And hold against your breast your hoof,
A hoping, fleeting, wish for proof

That it is me who comes to you—
That seeks for only, only you.

You’ll say to me: “Oh, thank you, dear.
I’ve missed you all these lonely years

“Brought forth by Sunlight’s blist’ring sun
Now let us fly. Let us be one.”

[i]And I’ve missed you[/i], my dearest, sweet,
My Luna, love, at last we’ll meet—

Rejoin in twin-sought nightmare bind.
I hearken for you—nevermind

The distance ‘tween and days apart.
To be again. Make whole our heart.

It’s long, the journey I’ve begun,
But in the end we will have won

The nocturne sky and all its stars,
The moon—its crown—will all be ours.

I know that you as I do now:
You seek me out. Somewhere. Somehow.

You feel within your heart of hearts
The twisting, aching, vexing art

Of love!

‘Tis ours, my Luna. Ours alone.
Ours upon obsidian throne.

Come closer here—my heart, my host.
Come closer. Hear my heart, my host,

Is only staid with presence close.
If love’s a potion, ample dose.

My night-ful bride, I need your boon.
My baleful bride, I need you soon:

What’s an eclipse with half a moon?

[hr]

This place has grown—what wilds be
This forest, ours, and always free.

What power fostered in your breast
Has come about to manifest

The beauty of our nightly state
That Sun has always loved to hate?

You must be near within these trees.
I feel your presence, feel your tease.

The chaos bounding, shouting, dark.
It leaves its markings on the bark.

Are they, I hope, your little beasties?
Multi-headed, multi species?

Your love of eldritch knew no bounds,
What beasts you kept on castle grounds

Are but a leaf of nightmare’s branch
That made the bravest ponies blanch.

Your mind feared not what eye would see.
‘Tis also how We came to be.

That wond’rous moment, soft and meek,
Serpenting through dreamscape, weak.

Hunting on that dreamside shore,
I found you, Luna—found my “more.”

Of all who saw me, all who dared,
Only you stood tall, unsnared

By twisted, creeping, crawling dreams.
I was afraid of [i]you[/i], it seems.

But hunger pleaded loud, “abate!” 
And so I took a chance with fate.

I sensed what I had seemed to you.
You, I felt, were searching, too.

You gave me shape and sustenance,
And I in turn, a countenance:

I brought you power, promised fame,
That all who lived would know your name

And fear the beauty of your skies—
Draw them up, their fearful eyes,

To see what they’d been missing thence.
None have missed it ever since.

Except for me.

And so I seek you still this night,
By your most efflorescent light.

Its stolid, cold, and careful gaze 
Illuminates this sundry maze

Of brush and fern and beast and tree.
Wait, my love. What’s that I see?

Beyond the clearing, shadowbound,
A form is rearing, terror crowned,

With wings a-fan and shark-toothed smile
So disarming, fraught with guile.

What sings my soul to truly see
Not darkened, starlit reverie!

But whole and grand—in nightmare cast.
My Luna I have found at last!

I fall before you, supplicant.
Renew with me our covenant

Of darkened bliss and shadow-twine—
That I am yours and you are mine.

I wait with beating, thund’ring heart.
Oh, how it goads! This vexing art.

Am I to speak? Am I to break
The silence first? [i]Oh, Luna, take[/i]

[i]Me from this shapeless shell,[/i]
[i]Deliver me from wand’ring hell![/i]

[i]Come my Luna, come to me![/i]
[i]Join in shadow. Set us free![/i]

Still stolid silence drives the night,
Drives in me unending plight.

A thousand years of bottled rage
Can be so easily assuaged,

Yet wanted words of love withheld
Grow hoary hairs and hope dispel.

I rise up from the dirt and grass
To touch her on the cheek—alas!

I do not feel the brush of fur;
I feel but stone so undemure,

That caught my eye and twisted hope.
That you I’d found. That we’d elope.

‘Tis not my love I stand before.
‘Tis but a statue—nothing more.

A mockery, if only just,
Of Night eternal, nocturne-lust.

But now I feel her presence sits
Upon the mountain, candle-lit

A crop of stone on stony height—
A castle borne aloft at night.

She’s there, I feel within my heart.
I’ll find you soon, my vexing art.

[hr]

The city streets below are bare.
It’s quiet here—a silent prayer

To Luna, close, before the dawn.
I feel you, taste you, pull me on.

Over wall and under door.
So close am I, so close to “more.”

The throne is just beyond the hall,
But you not quite. Not quite at all.

Industrious, you ever were,
Unceasing bone and skin and fur.

Always working, seeking fame
In starlit night with starlit mane.

You never rested like your sister,
Felt content despite the whispers:

One you “loved” was stunted, shunned
Rebuked by sunlight so rotund

From praise and flattery enough
To cast a shadow, long and rough,

That squarely hid you from their sight
You, the worker, you, the Night.

You knew your place ‘neath Silver crown,
Despite the Gold, despite Her frown.

She never knew the pain inside,
Your humble wants, your jealous pride.

Much deserved, if only seen.
But only I, my love, my queen,

Saw what inside you, hateful, burned,
For simple recognition, yearned.

And still your nightly clip-clop speaks
Of retribution. Interest piques.

I follow, low; I follow you,
Across the velvet floor imbued

With scent of silver filigree.
Like rainfall on the Everfree,

‘Tis one I know as safe and dear,
So near to heart, so ever near.

Your hooffalls stop before a door
Of golden sunbursts I abhor.

I, too, end my creeping crawl,
Cease my hopeful, inward drawl

That you but turn and gaze at me
But wait, what’s this? What flowers be

Within your grasp, this azure vase
That you so hesitantly place

At the foot of sunburst door.
Two flowers I have seen before.

For reasons I can only plumb:
Nightshade-wound chrysanthemum.

Golden bloom bobs over death,
Bobs beneath your sweetest breath.

You smile—smile!—it farewell.
You turn and see me, see me well.

Your smile fades, the trick forgot,
Conniving gesture leaves your thought.

How long I’ve waited now for this,
The catch of breath, the gasp of bliss.

[i]Come closer here, my heart, my host.[/i]
[i]Come closer. Hear my heart, my host.[/i]

This beating, thumping raucous boom
Within my chest has ample room

For what was lost, your power—mine.
[i]Reclaim me now, my heart entwine![/i]

[i]Be filled with me, your power lost,[/i]
[i]You are but me: the night embossed.[/i]

[i]And I am you, a sight unseen,[/i]
[i]But grand as all, my love, my queen.[/i]

Together soon, we’ll ever be.
Together, you and I are We.

We the crown and We the sky
That draws attention to our eye:

The Moon above, forever full,
Watching, seeing, never dull.

With wings unfurled, our shadow cast
Forever on the world at last!

The ponies, tremble, stumble, quake.
Apologies both real and fake

Will fumble from their lowly tongues.
From one, from all—both old and young.

They’ll learn their wrongs, their errored ways.
They’ll see soon, then, the end of days.

Your silver hoof, but give to me,
And all the world will surely see that

[i]WE ARE NIGHTMARE![/i]

…

But... But what is this? That hardened gaze,
So twisted, fraught, need I rephrase?

Your eyes a-tremble, lowered head,
Had you assumed that I was dead?

What darkened shadow hesitates?
The Night is come! The Night awaits!

Is that… Is that fear I smell?
My lovely Luna knows me well.

But cast aside your worries, love!
We’ll rectify the sky above!

And you will know your righteous rite
Of birth and scorn Sun Sister’s spite!

No? What’s this? You look away?
You’d rather see the light of day

And live in Sun’s eternal glow?
By stars above, you’d share the show?

Oh, what’s happened in these years apart
That’s broken, beaten you, my heart?

Why stand you so, why look aghast?
I’m less a shadow of your past

Than outstretched future just in reach.
[i]Come, my Luna[/i], I beseech.

Her hoof, it rises from the stone,
Cold as moonlight, white as bone.

She speaks with solemn, hollow voice,
As if she hadn’t any choice:

“I’ll bear no more your hateful curse.
I’m sorry, Sister. Be dispersed.”

Though formless, shapeless, I am stunned.
I falter, waver, wholly shunned

By love long lost that now is found—
In Sunlight’s chains is clearly bound.

[i]Lies![/i] They are, but drops of doubt.
[i]You seek to slander, curse throughout.[/i]

[i]She would never bide the sun.[/i]
[i]With her—my love—what have you done?[/i]

The silence reigns as darkness should.
Your tears fall free like any’s would.

That wince upon your face I see.
If it’s not Her… Is it, then, me?

Am I not what you wanted, dear?
Am I not what you sought in fear?

To sow the seeds of their respect?
Find in comfort, derelict,

Those trampled flowers without bloom,
That whither ‘neath neglected moon?

I brought you from your lower state
But now you claim it’s [i]me [/i]you hate?

Wherefore comes this disrespect?
From you, my love, I’d not expect
                
A face-heel turn to Sister Sun.
[i]Return to me, and we will run![/i]

These thoughts I feel within your breast,
They coincide, they put to rest

My thoughts, my hopes, nightmarish dreams,
Of tearing, ripping at the seams

Her light of “glory,” golden flame,
And cast it ‘neath horizon’s plane.

I see within the past you know,
Deeper in, the fears that grow

Of what We were, of what could be…
[i]Is it true...? You fear [/i]me?

No, not true, these thoughts I read:
Your fears of self-inflicted deed.

A mare inside, in shackles, chained,
To whipping post, forever pained

By what was done, what I hath wrought.
Our deeds—our sins?—we duly sought.

We deserved respect, my queen,
Our methods now, though, seem obscene?

You weigh your mind with conscious guilt,
With foolish mounds of moral silt.

Impossible to let it go?
Keep them if it suits you so,

But surely you don’t feel the need
To stay but half, be from me “freed?”

I thought… I-I thought we were in love?
My mare, my Luna—night-ful dove.

This gift of kinship sought on high,
Our life, our love, was… but a lie...?

I’m not a weight simply released.
I am the Night! I am no beast!

I ache, my Luna, how I ache.
Oh, Lacuna, I might break,

Am suddenly so thinly skinned.
Your words of hatred, please rescind!

I cannot bear your callous plea.
I take to sky; I fly from thee!

Into the cold and moonlit night
So much colder ‘neath your light.

‘Tis full, the moon, full as can be.
You made it so, but absent me.

Within, without, I feel so numb.
Where is my chrysanthemum

To twine with you within your breast?
To sleep with you and claim my rest.

My Night Mare, nightmare, Lid my eyes,
So I endure not moonless skies!

I see now in these years apart,
You’ve turned a leaf to vexing art

I thought we were, we are—will be—
My lovely Luna, we shall see.

But for now I cannot feel
Your warmth of heart or Nightmare zeal.

This ghost will go and pass you by.
I’m lost, my Luna. Tell me…

...[i]Why[/i][i]?[/i]