Luna’s ears filled with a cacophony of noise. The large crowd of gathered ponies behind her jeered as everypony in the multitude shouted at the top of their lungs. Some cries were indistinct while others were very distinct. It sounded as if some of the more learned unicorns were using a voice-amplification spell, letting her hear oh so clearly what they were saying. Each call made her cringe more than the last.
“She’s a danger to us all!” came one voice from the front of the congregation.
“What of our children?! We can’t have that ‘thing’ running around on the loose!” screamed another.
“She’s a monster! Why should she even get a trial?”
Everypony seemed to be in agreement: her guilt had already been decided, no matter what she would say in her own defense. Yet as much as the sea of ponies behind her made her heart sink in her chest, her fear of them did not compare to the sublime terror caused by the sight in front of her. Though her ears were berated, her eyes were thunderstruck.
In front of the great palace of Canterlot, leading to its grand entrance, there was the stoa, the immaculate, white row of stairs leading up to a spacious porch. The sheer amount of light that it reflected hurt her eyes as she stared upwards, unable to look at anything else. Her restraints bound her neck so tightly that she could not look up to see the sky. The purity of the marble steps covered almost all that she could see, all except for one thing, one person, whose very presence, once a comforting and caring one, now paralyzed her.
In the center of the stoa, there was a huge throne made of pure gold, and upon it sat a figure whose coat put the whiteness of the marble steps to shame. The alicorn gracing the splendrous seat was bathed in light, as if the rays of the sun radiated from her, rather than the sun itself. Her hard, unfeeling eyes bore into her unblinking and unwavering. Her massive size, towering above the height of any other pony in the world, endowed her with an aura of absolute, unmatched authority.
Celestia, the esteemed princess of the sun, was Luna’s sister by blood, but the tiny moon princess could hardly believe that by the look of disdain in her face. She could faintly remember her sister before all of this, before her banishment to the moon. She recalled how her sister’s face was always soft with an expression of inexplicable love for her. If Luna ever did something the white alicorn did not approve of, she shook her head and spoke her mind, but there was always love in her voice and kindness in her face. Now, all that the timid pony saw was heartlessness.
Luna’s fear of Celestia’s imposing stature and expression was only exacerbated by her present state. The Elements of Harmony had only just freed her from Nightmare Moon, and even if she didn’t have a magic inhibiting ring on her horn, she wouldn’t even be able to open a door if she tried. She felt so weak now, having lost almost all magical capacity, but she also felt terribly weak in body too, as if the Elements had even taken all the lustre from her muscles that once made her as strong as any earth pony. To make matters even worse, bars attached to cuffs bound her front and rear hooves aside each other, and these bars were firmly anchored to the marble platform. At last, her wings, the very symbol of her freedom, were held closed at her sides by straps that grated against her fur abrasively.
As demoralizing as it was, Luna had little time to bemoan her condition. A low but powerful sound startled her, and she suddenly realized that Celestia was speaking. The femininity in the sacred alicorn’s voice was somehow missing, as if her words poured out like iron rain. “Luna, former princess of the night, my advisors and I have all come to the same conclusion: you are a direct threat to the entirety of the kingdom, and that you must be dealt with before Nightmare Moon takes control of you once again.”
“Yeah, throw her in the dungeon!” one pony screamed from the back of the crowd. “Throw her in, lock her up! Throw her in, lock her up!” He started chanting, and soon everypony around him was following his lead. Moments later, the whole crowd behind Luna was clamoring for her demise, making her quiver and tremble in fear. She knew that her sister would have no choice but to follow the will of the crowd, lest there should be a riot. She strained her neck as far up as she could to look back up at her sister, who stared back down at her with a cold, stoic expression.
“Quiet, everypony!” Celestia barked out, making the crowd fall silent from her sudden change in tone. “I have made my decision.” Looking down at the trembling alicorn below her, she continued, “You, prisoner, are to live out the rest of your natural life in the dungeons beneath the royal city. You will be bound to the wall, you will be given sustenance once a day. That is all.”
“Sister, wait!” Luna’s tiny and weak voice rang out. “Please reconsider thine actions! Nightmare Moon is gone forever, purged by the Elements of Harmony!”
Without looking down at the prisoner, Celestia told the regiment of guards surrounding her, “Guards, throw her in the dungeon at once, and make sure that her bindings and horn ring are secure!”
“Sister, nooo!” Luna cried out as Celestia’s guards surrounded her. They released her bonds from the marble platform she was on and yanked her up the stairs, leading her down into the dungeon.
“Please, you have to help me!” Luna cried out as the last remaining guard secured her chains to the wall.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” the guard replied gruffly. “Princess’s orders and all.” A second protest built up in her throat, but the guard yanked on the chain that was hooked to a rough collar around her neck. The unexpected jerk forced her head down abruptly, effectively cutting her off. The harsh sound of steel chain links grinding against the metal rings on the echoed in her ears in rapid succession. To her horror, the burly guard procured a large, black padlock, and placed it through the ring and a link that gave her no slack to lift her head. A wave of nausea hit her as the parts locked together with a sickening crunch. A key fitted into the lock, and when it turned with a deafening click, she knew it was over.
He pulled the key out, shut the lock, and tossed it to the ground. Using his magic, the unicorn split the key into several small parts and scattered them across the cell’s floor. Luna could only watch in helpless silence, whimpering pitifully as she saw the last hope for her freedom snapped like a twig again and again. Turning about, he stoically walked out of the small cell, leaving the former princess to rot in her misery.
Raising her head up as much as she could, she was barely able to utter one last faint plea for mercy before the huge door slammed shut, extinguishing the last bit of light from the dim torches outside. Then, hanging chained in the terrible blackness, she finally heard the gruesome sound of the heavy bolt slide into place. The sound of the guard’s hoof steps faded quickly, and the moon princess was left in utter desolation.
Luna glanced from side to side as far as she was able. The binding chains limited her field of vision drastically. Not knowing what else to do, she cried out into the darkness, “Sister! Why hast thou done this to Us?! We have done nothing wrong!” The cloistered room’s acoustics magnified the volume of her screams and hurt her ears. Not a single word escaped through the stone and steel.
She whimpered in distress, seeing no viable way to escape or rectify her current situation. Hanging from the wall, she already felt her muscles start to strain from the awkward position she was being held in, and the cuffs above her hooves bit through the thin lining of her fur. “Sister...please…” she moaned into the darkness. A feeling of utter despair slid over her, but there was something so much more apparent, something that she couldn’t stand. She was, for all intents and purposes, completely and utterly alone. After spending one thousand years trapped on the moon under the control of Nightmare moon, she couldn’t imagine living the rest of her natural life in the cold confines of this cell.
She had no idea how long she hung there, finally accepting the fact that she was going to be locked away forever. She writhed in discomfort and fear, feeling so horrible. She was going to be here forever and nopony was ever going to visit her. Yet as much as this thought resounded in her mind, she did not expect what occurred next. Somehow, through the magic inhibitor around her horn and through the enchanted door that kept her in the dark, she felt a presence approaching. At first, she jumped at the hope for company, but very soon, she shrank back from that thought. There was only one pony that would visit her: the guard bringing her her food every day, but she had just been fed an hour ago. Why would they feed her again so soon? And then she felt the touch of somepony’s magical presence, which was so sinister, her trembling intensified twofold.
The aura she felt was purple, full of the dark magic of fear, disdain and even... hatred? It approached towards her cell steadily, growing in intensity as the time passed by quickly. She felt her heart flutter in her chest when she heard an ominous sound coming from behind the door. Somepony’s hoof steps fell heavy on the ground, even heavier than those of the bulkiest in the royal guard. The aura grew stronger, dwarfing the power of any mage by an obscene factor. Her breathing picked up to near the point of hyperventilation. She knew this aura, and she knew this spell, being slowly charged, slowly charged to the point where it could be released to complete its morbid purpose.
The creature that approached was an alicorn, one that held immense, unimaginable power. She knew that it was Celestia in fact, but this… being was not Luna’s sister. This creature was a being filled with spite and vexation, coming nearer and nearer to her cell by each passing moment, brandishing a dark spell that would unleash unbearable agonies upon her. She knew this spell, a dark concoction explicitly restricted and blotted out upon its discovery, was a curse that would leave its miserable victim writhing in the most terrible suffering beyond imagination.
”No. Please no. Not that. PLEASE NOT THAT!” Her voice cracked under the force of her abject terror. The creature steadily held its course, and the frightened pony could feel the iron gaze and her eyes of fire piercing through the steel. She burst into tears, pleading and wailing. The heavy iron bolt was yanked open with a resounding bang, and the door slammed open to reveal the monster brandishing a charged curse. It’s eyes glowed a menacing green and violet. In a flash, the beam shot from her horn, heading straight for her...
The normally serene face of the good natured Celestia was racked with concern for her sister. Hearing the fragile pony practically scream her head off from across the hall, she had quickly leapt from her bed and went to her sister’s door. Opening it quickly but with as little force as she could, she looked in to find Luna thrashing about in the sheets in the throes of a rather bad nightmare.
“Luna, what is the matter?” she asked worriedly, hoping that the sound of her gentle voice would be enough to wake the distraught mare.
At this, Luna suddenly screamed much louder than she had before, and her eyes flew open. Her pupils were tiny little dots. One look at the imposing figure in her doorway instilled so much terror in her that she instantly shrieked in fear again. Luna started wailing, pressing herself against the wall behind her, as far away as possible from the sun princess. She turned and started banging on the wall behind her in a vain and futile attempt to escape. Her hooves beat on it uselessly, as though she thought that her feeble strength could somehow break through it.
When Celestia walked in to try and comfort her, seeing that the tall white alicorn was approaching, Luna curled up into a tiny ball and started whimpering to herself, clearly believing that she was inescapably going to be harmed for something that was completely out of her control. Yet the sun princess earnestly scooped her up with the gentlest magical touch she could muster, despite the tiny moon princesses’ more terrified whimpers.
Celestia sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled Luna to her side. To her surprise, the light blue alicorn felt cold, and in a second, Celestia realized that she was actually wet. Her right wing stretched out to touch the bedsheets beside her. There was a large, wet spot in the very middle of the bed. Her muzzle bent down to sniff at the fur of her writhing sister, and she confirmed her suspicions. It wasn’t just cold sweat. Her grown, little sister had wet the bed.
Realizing the whole of the situation, Celestia held her sister close, not caring about the wetness on her. She draped a soft but firm wing over the moon princess, who flinched and squealed at her touch. Luna wrestled against the stronger princess for a moment, and then abruptly stopped, clearly knowing that there was no escape. Again, she started shedding tears without restraint.
As her volume of her cries intensified, Celestia tried to calm her down, rubbing her warm body and comforting wing against her, hoping that she would stop soon. She could only wait for the pony to tire herself out. In this moment, Celestia’s heart started to break. Seeing her sister like this was almost too much to take. The mere sound of her voice, coupled with her presence, had made Luna so afraid that she wet herself. A single tear fell from her eye and slid down her cheek as the love for her sister developed into sorrow.
She had feared that something like this would happen, and she had hoped so badly that it wouldn’t, but it did anyway. The purging of Nightmare Moon had been such a shock to Luna these first few days. After Nightmare Moon was purged from her body, she seemed like she was going to be okay in the first few hours, but as they were returning from Ponyville, the tiny, weakened alicorn grew very quiet. During the next few nights, Celestia was frequently awakened to hear her cries, but none of them had been as bad as this episode. The stress with what she had just gone through had obviously caught up to her, and for some reason now, Luna was deathly afraid of her.
"Luna..." she thought. "I am sorry this is so hard for you..." She continued to gently stroke her sister’s back with her feathers, and as the seconds passed, she could feel her coat start to gradually warm up. Still, her wailing was practically unending, and her sister’s continued attempts to get away did not stop. As much as the sun princess hoped she could calm the little alicorn down with her presence, ultimately she had to settle for the weak mare to lose all of her energy.
Eventually, her distraught crying died down to sobbing, and she pushed with less force against her wings. Then Celestia looked down to find an exhausted, whimpering alicorn, shaking and shivering uncontrollably against her.
“Luna, dearest sister, come, let us clean you…” Celestia murmured softly as she gently nudged the hesitant mare off of the bed with her muzzle, leading the two of them to their royal washing chambers. “I’ll surely take care of you…”
Celestia carefully walked into the brightly lit room with Luna resting on her back. The blue alicorn was still shivering, but she was too exhausted to try and run away now, as her weakened body lacked the capacity. This particular washing chamber was smaller than the large decorative one that the two of them shared. Covered in simple, unpainted, white tiles, the room was small, but it was cozy, not claustrophobic. It held a large porcelain bath to the right of the entrance with a golden faucet and knobs. The alicorn stepped forward to the edge of the tub and lay down to bring her sister to the floor, sparing her the possible scare of being lifted with magic. Luna slid slowly off of her back, eeping as her rump touched the cold floor.
Celestia used her left hoof to bump the hot water knob; letting the clear, warm water fill the bath. Her pensive gaze returned to the tiny pony, who was staring intently at the floor, avoiding her sister’s gaze. She went to lay down beside the blue alicorn and tried to nuzzle her reassuringly, but her sister just turned away in fear. Then seeing as how she still didn’t want to be touched, the sun princess just kept an eye on her as the tub filled with water.
When the tub was halfway full Celestia placed a hoof in the water. It was very warm, but pleasantly so. She looked back to her sister. As deliberately as she could, she reached out with her hooves and touched her side, showing that she wouldn’t bite and that there was nothing to be afraid of. Luna squeaked, but she didn’t try to move away, resolving to hold her ground, shivering. Celestia moved her other hoof and gingerly picked her up by the forelegs, frowning as she saw her sister close her eyes and shrink. The white alicorn lowered her into the hot water.
As the easy heat of the bath started to warm her, Luna gradually opened her eyes and looked up.The taller sister still smiled sweetly, so she looked away, but her eagerness to do so was less apparent. Celestia waited patiently, and gradually, the calming effect of the water seemed to take effect. The little pony lay back and tried to relax. Then while the moon princess was properly situating herself, as quietly as she could the elder channelled her magic and levitated a bar of soap from nearby. Bumping it against the side to let Luna know what was coming, she slowly reached in.
At first, seeing the huge pony was going to touch her again, she inched back and when the soap touched her fur, she whimpered. Lightly, Celestia made a shushing sound and rubbed the soap across her, starting a lather. As the motion continued and she covered more area, Luna quieted down. With time, she even started to relax. The sun princess tenderly continued to wash her sister, scrubbing sensually and hoping Luna would enjoy the massage.
With this, the little alicorn finally looked up at her sister and gazed upon her face. Celestia was smiling sweetly as she labored to get her clean. Unlike the abhorant monster in her dream, her eyes were not green and red, but colored with a soft magenta. An aura of kindness and gentleness effused from her, and she felt that just maybe she could trust this person. The tall, white alicorn was just like the sister that she remembered. She was so relaxed by this time, that even when Celestia reached into to the water to lift her leg and clean it, she didn’t protest.
The elder sister saw the change and was glad. She knew that she had not lost Luna completely. Luna wasn’t smiling yet, but she clearly wasn’t deathly afraid either. When she was done, she looked at her sister and suppressed a giggle when she saw her coat was a scraggly mess of blue and white. She took a pitcher with both hooves and drew out a measure of water. Then she poured it out slowly over the more soapy patches of Luna’s coat, washing away the suds. She repeated the action, until the tiny princess was free of the soap. Once more then she deliberately made a move to pick her up, and when Luna didn’t flinch, she lifted her out of the tub and onto the tiled floor.
After pulling the stopper out of the drain, she reached for a yellow towel hanging on a rack nearby, and brought it to Luna’s coat. The white alicorn quickly rubbed the fluffy material over her whole body. The towel absorbed the moisture dripping from her fur fast and before too long, she was dry.
As Celestia finished drying off the wet alicorn, she heard a slight rumble coming from her stomach. “Ahhh, is somepony hungry?” Celestia asked, putting as much care and love into her voice as possible. Sniffling slightly, Luna looked down towards the ground and gave the smallest of nods. “Alright then, I think some cookies and milk are in order.” Celestia stood up to get them their special little midnight snack. As she was just about to leave, Luna started to look around, and she realized how different she felt now than from moments ago. Now, she was only afraid that Celestia would leave her and never come back, forcing her to fend for herself in her feeble state. Celestia halted when she heard her sister start to whimper.
Looking back, she saw her sister staring at her pleadingly. “Don’t-don’t go…” she whispered hoarsely, speaking so softly Celestia barely heard her speak.
“I’ll only be just one min-” Celestia started before being cut off by her sister.
“No, please don’t go,” Luna said again, looking at her sister with tearful eyes. “I don’t wanna be alone…” She cast her gaze down. Soon, Celestia saw tears begin to run down her face again.
“Luna…” Celestia cooed softly as she hurriedly went to sit down beside her sister. Pulling her into a tight hug, she said, “I’ll never leave you again, little sister… I promise you that.” As Luna’s sobs of relief wracked her small frame, Celestia tightened her hug, pulling her beloved sister against her warm chest. Extending her wings to her fullest extent, she laid them over her sister’s back, pulling her even closer. “I’ll never let you go…” She held her there for several minutes, more than happy to sit there the entire night if that’s what it took to calm her sister down.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Several minutes later, Luna’s sobs eventually quieted down to whimpers. Looking up at her sister, Luna gave her a quick nuzzle and softly whispered, “I love you, Tia…”
As love and happiness blossomed in her heart, Celestia pulled her back into her embrace and contentedly said, “Oh, Luna, I love you too!” Giving her a quick nuzzle, she pulled back and asked, “Now, what about that snack?”
After wiping the last of the tears from her eyes, Luna said, “That-that would be nice, sister.” She started to walk out of the bathroom, but she stopped when her sister wasn’t following her. She glanced back over her shoulder and asked, “Aren’t you coming?”
“Luna, those sheets that you had your accident on were irreplaceable hoof-woven sheets from Saddle Arabia. Those aren’t that easy to come by, and they’re really expensive. With that being said, we can’t have you having accidents throughout the night…” Celestia said, looking a little guilty as she tried to hide a small smile.
“Whatever do you mean, sister?” Luna asked in confusion as she cocked her head to the side, letting her damp mane hang loosely over her shoulder.
Lighting her horn, Celestia summoned a rather large box from the bathroom’s closet and laid it between the two. Walking up to it out of curiosity, Luna poked the top of the box off and gasped as she saw its contents. Diaper after diaper lined the interior of the box along with a basket of common baby lotions and other various essentials. “Sister... why?”
“Because in your weakened state, it is apparent that you cannot control even your most basic bodily actions, and this is merely a temporary solution that would prevent you from having more accidents. Now please, be a good little filly and lie on your back.”
As Luna complied, she said, “But sister, that time has passed. I don’t need to wear diapers; I never have since I was a foal!”
“It’s alright, dearest sister. Even us mares can lose control; I think they call it stress incontinence, and I’m pretty sure that this is exactly what you have. There is no reason to fret though, because I’m here to make sure that this next week is going to be as stress free as possible!” Celestia said with a happy smile as she levitated one of the plastic-backed and crinkly diapers from the box. Enlarging it with her magic so that it would fit an adult mare, she set it down next to her sister as she grabbed the baby powder from the box.
Luna sat on her rump, staring at the diaper with a mix of confused thoughts. One part of her told her that this was so unheard of, and she wanted to reject it. She was a princess after all. But another part, along with the events of this night told her that it was completely all right. That former part of her still remembered that nightmare, but moreover it remembered the days from before. It held onto the past, making her fear and doubt herself. This world seemed so hard; everypony seemed so hostile, so easy to ignore her. The fear of all this was strong, and it held her down, kept her paralyzed beyond any hope of anything better.
Yet that other part saw the pony in front of her smiling sweetly. Celestia wanted to help her, and Luna knew that her sister only had her best interests at heart. Celestia wanted to help her; she was just asking for a little trust first. Yet it seemed so hard to trust her. How could she not be afraid if she gave up control? The prospect beat at her mind and would not seem to give her peace… But then in that moment, Luna realized she was tired. She was tired of being afraid, tired of sleepless nights and days, and tired of seeing her own sister as the bad pony. If she took a gamble, it would be more than worth it.
Finally, Luna found her tiny voice again. “O- Ok, I guess…” Luna trailed off as she hesitantly laid on her back and spread her hind legs, exposing herself to her older sister. It seemed strange to her. She should have felt ashamed, or even nervous, for showing her sister her privates, but the only thing she felt was a sense of love and of being safe. There was no fear here, because she knew Celestia loved her. She wasn’t ashamed that she was weak now. Even the strongest ponies needed help sometimes, and it was her turn to let somepony help her.
Moments later, Celestia powdered her up by shaking the small white bottle of powder all over her genitals. Sprinkling a little bit inside the diaper, Celestia used her magic to tilt Luna back so that she could slide the diaper underneath her. Pulling the front of the diaper in between her legs, Celestia quickly taped the diaper shut with her magic and gave it a small pat. Testing the waistband with her magic, she asked, “It’s not too tight, is it, Luna?”
As the soft edges of the diaper curled around her, Luna felt like she was being placed in the most unbreakable protection. Until she was ready to go back into the world, she was untouchable under her sister’s grace.
“No, it’s fine…” Luna said, her forelegs curling up to her chest. “It actually feels really...nice.” She smiled warmly at Celestia, who bent down and kissed her on the forehead, just like a loving mother would.
“Now, what about those cookies?” Celestia asked as she stood back up, allowing her sister to do the same.
As she rolled over to stand back up, Luna yawned loudly, eliciting a slight giggle from her sister. “I actually kinda just want to go to bed, sister. I’m pretty tired; I’m sure you can understand...”
“Oh… okay,” Celestia said, feeling a little downcast; she had been looking forward to a little snacking before bed. “I’ll leave you to your rest then…”
“No!” Luna said a little too loudly. “No, I mean… can you spend the night with me? Please?” She looked at her sister hopefully, praying that her sister would agree to stay with her.
“Of course, sister,” Celestia contentedly said as she gave her sister a quick but loving nuzzle just under the cheek. They both walked out of the bathroom and made their way over to the bed. Quickly but carefully cleaning the sheets of Luna’s earlier accident with her magic, the sun princess climbed up onto the bed, waiting for Luna to do the same.
When the padded alicorn got onto it and lay down, the elder followed suite. Once more Celestia nuzzled her, and the two of them enjoyed the shared warmth of their bodies and the soft tickle of their fur. Once more, the sun princess’s left wing drew over and covered Luna, and the younger sister wiggled in pleasure and contentedness as the warmth and safety covered her almost completely. How could she have been afraid of this only a short while ago, when her sister was so gentle? That was who she was, Luna remembered with a little giggle. Even when she ruled over unruly subjects, she always was the one who wanted to let them off easy.
Luna felt completely secure in her sister’s embrace. She knew that she could awake tomorrow and return for the first time to her library, ready to pour the infinite knowledge of the contents of her books into her mind. And with Celestia here, no one would dare stop her. It wouldn’t be long before she could start to do magic again, and her heart leapt with joy when she thought she might get to raise the moon again. It had been too long since she had done this service for the world, and she wanted so much to start doing it again. How her servants and elite guards must be waiting so eagerly to speak to her; how she wanted to greet them. It was all so attainable, here, in her sister’s embrace. She had all the time in the world to grow again and to one day reclaim her long forgotten throne as the princess of the night and the regent of dreams.
Celestia ran a hoof through the night princess’ mane, stroking the tresses and enjoying how silky they were. The two lie there like that in the dim light of the fading candle, and as time grew on, each of them started to regain their tranquil weariness from all of tonight’s fusses and wonders. Luna’s eyelids started to droop first, and she opened them again with a little effort. She didn’t want this moment to end so early. Yet even the older princess was starting to feel sleepy, and Luna could feel the rise and fall of her chest even out as Celestia’s breathing slowed down.
In a final attempt to hold onto this moment, Luna said softly again, “I love you, sister.”
Celestia, through sleepy eyes, pulled the blankets over the two of them, and she answered, “I love you too, Luna. Let us sleep now; tomorrow is a brand new day.” And like that, Luna desired to enter into her long sought-after world, the land of dreams. Gently the shade of sleep drew over her, even as Celestia’s downy feathers brushed over her, and before she knew it, the two of them had fallen asleep, comforted by the other’s embrace.
