It was a beautiful night, the moon high and bright, not a single cloud to obscure the stars. Luna was enjoying the flight, the simple pleasure in how she flexed her wings, how the wind felt in her feathers; even the purpose of her visit had left her mind, though it would certainly return as soon as she arrived at the library.
Seeing her destination, Luna aligned herself to land on the balcony, lazily gliding with the experience of centuries of flight. As the balcony rose to meet her and she flapped her wings once to break the descent, with the grace of a princess, Luna heard a low whisper, with the awe of the young at heart:
“What's it like to fly?”
Luna smiled, images of countless flights floating in her mind. The alicorn closed her eyes -
and touched the grassy ground, her stubby foal legs bending to absorb the impact.
Luna looked around and frowned slightly; she had failed again to stay in the air, the tiredness of her wings telling the tale of her previous attempts.
Slowly, she raised her small head; high above her she could see the sun, a symbol of hope and warmth, already melting some of her fatigue. Close to the sun was smiling face, encouraging her with words she couldn't quite discern.
A memory, then... no, memories don't go that far back; a dream.
And a happy one, she could tell; she felt her foalish frown dissolve into a determined grin as she started running, trying to make up with ground speed what she lacked in wing strength. As she sped up her wings started to beat frantically, her tongue stuck out as she concentrated on keeping her rhythm; her eyes closed, she jumped, half expecting to fall...
But she didn't, not this time. She heard the same voice as before, exultant, a bit ahead and to the left. Drawn by the voice Luna finally opened her eyes, noticing with wonder the ground passing fast below as she searched where the voice came from. There was, the same smiling face as before, though the smile was wider, warmer; where before it was gentle encouragement, now it was radiant commemoration.
Luna's face mirrored that smile; she was still tired and her stomach choose that moment to grumble, but it didn't matter. She felt pride at mastering her wings; she felt joy in simply flapping them in rhythm; but most of all, when she saw herself free of the ground, she felt -
free, as she flied high in the overcast sky, a cloud ocean below her. Luna dove down at high speed. She weaved between the clouds in high speed turns. She could feel her whole slender filly body stretching as she did a sharp right turn across a darker cloud, her feathers brushing the gray surface and being charged with static electricity while a subtle ozone smell filled her nose.
She stopped, slowly beating her wings; her prey had vanished. In a quick burst of power she flew straight up, breaking over the cloud cover and welcoming back the light and warmth of the sun. As her eyes scanned the horizon, her determination showing in her glare, Luna's eyes locked momentarily on a giggling white alicorn, rose mane gleaming in the light, resting on a cloud; her sister Celestia.
As Luna kept her gaze steady for a few moments her glare turned into a mischievous smile. She wasn't going to lose that bet; she was going to prove her sister that no stupid bird could beat her, and winning her sister's dessert could only sweeten the deal. Now, where could that Phoenix brat be...
Luna saw something red moving below her. Quickly glancing at the sun behind her to make sure she was perfectly positioned for a swoop, she dove at the impertinent Phoenix. A quick wing flap; stretching her body to better cut through the air; the feeling of the wind on her mane; Luna primed her horn, ready to use her magic to cushion the impact and capture the bird without harm...
It dodged! Spreading her wings Luna broke out of her dive, frantically scanning the sky to find where the bird went. The Phoenix was above and behind her, looking at the fuming Luna and doing some noise that sounded like... a laughter?
Luna perked her ears; somepony else was laughing, somepony she knew very well. She turned from bird to alicorn, a scowl forming in her mouth. Luna's eyes, though, were laughing with her sister and her feathered opponent. You know what? Forget the bet, I just want to have some more fun.
As Luna locked her eyes again on the bird, she couldn't remember the last time she had that much -
excitement. There was a twinge of fear also as she looked at her opponent, a strongly built pegasus stallion. His coat was a fiery orange, his mane all colors of the rainbow and close cropped, making him easy to see even at their current distance. They were both wearing the same full jousting armor, both carrying similar blunt jousting lances on their right flanks, but where the stallion wore his gear with the casual ease that comes from long practice, Luna struggled to remember her jousting days more than a generation ago.
Between them stood an important looking gray mare with cerulean mane, her role to give the signal that would start the duel. As the seconds passed Luna's mind wandered, remembering how Celestia's diplomacy turned certain war with the Northern Wing pegasi tribe into a truce, and from the truce into potential alliance.
This duel was a token gesture to start negotiating the alliance; the Northern Wing revered courage and strength, and the duel – thankfully with training weapons – was meant to prove that the Equestria ponies were worthy before the negotiations could start in earnest.
Luna wasn't the best flier in Equestria, not by a long shot, but aerial jousting was a dying art; in the short time she and Celestia had to search they couldn't find a single pony experienced enough to escape injury in a serious joust, much less one that had a chance at winning. Luna offered to be Equestria's champion, and with a weary heart Celestia -
“Luna!”
Celestia's shout brought Luna back to the present. Or to the dream, anyway. The gray mare was just finishing the signal, but Luna's opponent was already dashing ahead, leaving a rainbow contrail. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as her pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks; with no time to properly dodge she flapped her left wing, spiraling out of control to the right.
It worked, her opponent's lance passing mere inches from her body, but now she was at a clear disadvantage until she could recover.
The rainbow-maned stallion wasted no time taking advantage. He turned his horizontal momentum into a steep climb, putting the sun at his back as he prepared a swoop – no, at this angle it would be a far more dangerous stoop instead.
Eyes watering, Luna kept looking over her shoulder as she tried to flee the upcoming attack; she could swear the stallion was grinning in a predatory way. His wings lifted and he blasted down, faster than Luna thought possible, leaving a small rainbow-colored corona behind...
As time seemed to slow for the second time in the duel Luna remembered a mischievous Phoenix. It would be a close call, but that brat of a bird had used this dodge so much in their mock fights that the move was imprinted on her brain.
Fly straight. Faster. Pretend to be scared. Wait...
As her sister shouted her name for the second time Luna suddenly flew up and to her right, wings struggling with the pressure. The sudden climb killed her forward momentum, making the stallion's stoop overshoot. Hope and excitement flaring on her smile, Luna finishing the loop with a dive of her own, aimed at the now off-balance stallion -
And missed, unable to straighten her path in such a short loop. Both duelists struggled to reclaim the altitude they lost, circling each other cautiously, Luna with a frown and the stallion with a smile. But there was something different with that smile, it was... joyful?
Luna stole a glance at the Northern Wing pegasi watching the duel; almost to the last one they were nodding approvingly. Her own frown turned into a smile as realization dawned on her; she never had to win the duel, just to prove that she was worthy – and, by extension, that the nation she championed was worthy.
She looked back at the rainbow-maned stallion. He was still alert, eager even – but he was now relaxed, as if his task was done and all that was left was having fun. So let's have fun, thought Luna, it's not as if this is -
real combat. A small group of pegasi scouts, Equestria's finest, were already engaged with the great dragon, delaying it with harrying tactics until reinforcements could arrive. On the ground, the earth pony guards were evacuating the village and taking care of the injured as the unicorns needed for the plan got into position.
Without slowing down Luna looked around; she and her sister were leading the warrior pegasi and a few air chariots, each with an unicorn soldier. The soldiers wore a mix of golden and dark armor, the best the sister princesses could find in both their guards.
The pegasi and alicorns paused just out of range of the dragonbreath as the chariots formed a circle around the dragon, the unicorns quickly throwing strong, but immobile shields to offer some cover to the struggling scouts.
Celestia took the chance to quickly address the pegasi. “Remember, this has to be done by your hoof; the dragons already fear the sister princesses, but we can't protect the whole of Equestria at the same time. We need to teach them that other ponies can be just as dangerous. My own role, and my sister's, today is just to bring you back alive.”
It was a marvel to see how the trust in the princesses lifted the ponies' spirits. Everypony sprung into action, wing and spell acting as one to distract and harass the might beast. The rested pegasi quickly flew into the battle, using the shields as cover against the dragonbreath; the bruised and battered scouts took that chance to retreat, their work complete, returning to the ground to recover their strength and have their injuries treated. Even as they descended the scouts seemed ready to spring back into action if needed.
Circling the Dragon to keep it between herself and her sister Luna focused back on the task ahead. The barriers maintained by the unicorns granted cover from the dragonbreath, but the unicorns were too distant to shield individual pegasus; with a glance Luna threw a temporary barrier around one of her own guards, diverting the worst of the fire away from him, and fixed back at the dragon.
The plan was working, sorta. The dragon was too busy to notice the real attack, and between the two princesses and the static barriers no pegasi had been seriously injured yet, but as a couple pegasi were forced to abandon the fight it was clear that the beast's focus and agility had been underestimated. The plan hinged on the Dragon becoming so enraged he couldn't fight effectively, but the beast was still fighting with a terrifying coolness. As Luna observed Celestia was forced to throw a barrier over another warrior, saving him from a fiery death in the brink of time but attracting the beast's glare.
Recognition dawned on the dragon's eyes; with a great roar it started attacking Celestia with claw, tooth, and fire, giving no quarter, no opening for her to work her defensive magic. As Luna rushed to her aid Celestia avoided a claw swipe by charging the dragon, flying above it's body, only to be sent spiraling out of control by a glancing tail blow.
Luna followed Celestia's downward path with her gaze, the concern in her face quickly turning into relief when Celestia quickly recovered. As Celestia climbed again, though, Luna saw ethereal visions of herself and Celestia climbing to join the fight. Illusions! Some fool was going to ruin the whole plan by having the Dragon believe the princesses were attacking all along.
As her sister passed on her way to rejoin the fight Luna desperately scanned the ground, looking for the unicorn that was creating the phantasms. She found him in front of a strange wagon: an old, brown unicorn stallion with golden mane, wearing a purple cape and pointy hat, intently looking at the sky while he worked his magic.
Pouring everything she had into her Royal Canterlot Voice Luna shouted in his direction. “THE PRINCESSES SHALL NOT FIGHT!”
The shout startled the unicorn, but he quickly recovered, bowing to the princess. As Luna watched the illusions of herself and her sister dissolved into an electrified cloud. From that cloud emerged a trio of identical, ethereal pegasi mares, their coats blue like Luna's mane, their manes golden like the unicorn's, their cutie marks a golden bolt over a pale crescent moon.
The illusory mares entered the fray, flying in perfect formation and drawing the Dragon's attention away from the real combatants.
The Dragon caught up with the ruse almost instantly; they are far smarter than ponies give them credit, the recognition making Luna feel foalish for having yelled at the mage. It didn't matter, though; the old mage really knew how to make a nuisance of his ethereal mares, dropping bushes on the dragon's head, leaving a contrail of harmless but annoying storm clouds, making rainbows dance in front of his eyes, and a bunch other tricks Luna couldn't get as she rushed to save real pegasi from the dragon's attacks.
“Your highness!”
Luna had focused too much on her warriors and failed to see when the beast shifted his gaze to her. She could already feel the heat on her face as the plume of flame expanded towards her, leaving no place to flee before the fire hit; a panicked glance confirmed her fear, Celestia was too distant to throw a shield.
Luna braced herself for the burns when an old memory hit her. Perhaps if...
Turning her wings to propel her downward she started to fall. “Feel the wind, wait for the blast...”
In a single instant her wings spread like a ship's sail and gave a single, powerful blast, just in time to catch the shock-wave from the Dragon's breath. Luna felt as if her wings would tear away, but as she risked a glance back she saw her plan had worked; the fire was above and behind her, engulfing the expanding midnight blue corona that marked her dive.
As she turned to return to the fray she saw that the battle plan had also worked; the mystic cage that the airborne unicorns were creating around the battle, using the mystical energy supplied by the unicorns on the ground, suddenly turned visible, it's mesh big enough for the ponies to leave. Lighting her own horn she inspected the construct for flaws, finally smiling; it would hold.
“FALL BACK; THE BATTLE IS OVER!”
As Luna gave the order all pegasi started to flee the cage, using what remained of the battered shields as cover, while Celestia flew in front of the Dragon; the plan called for she to be the last to leave, giving the other ponies the chance to retreat without peril.
She didn't have to; as the dragon lunged to attack her the three blue phantasmal pegasi circled from behind the dragon. Turning in perfect formation they hit the dragon squarely on on his muzzle, exploding into a fireworks display large enough to be seen from neighboring villages. Luna glanced down at the brown mage, who was clearly exhausted as he bowed to the princess, and made a mental note to reward him later.
With the fight over, Luna started to notice all the little pains from the fight, and specially from her last stunt; her wings felt like they were burning and she feared she would drop out of the sky if she didn't land soon.
But it was a victory; as Luna landed on one of the air chariots, startling it's unicorn occupant, the elation of the victory hit her in full force, making she forget about how tired she was as she looked towards the Dragon. It would live, even if humbled; Celestia would spend the next days scolding the beast, making sure the Dragon understood that “mere” ponies captured it and that any other dragon raiding Equestria would met a far worse fate.
Grinning, Luna looked at -
Celestia and said, “And where do you think you're going?”
No!
In the darkness of the eclipse, Luna – no, not Luna, but the Nightmare – looked at the hole in the ceiling through which the white alicorn had fled.
With a powerful blast of her black wings the Nightmare was upon Celestia, horn aglow as it fired a deadly magical blast.
Stop!
Celestia avoided that blast and the next with a well timed loop dive, flying between the castle's outlying structures as debris fell from a tower.
Luna could feel the rush of cooling air as the nightmare dived after her prey, the crackle of magic as the captain's house and the main tower were hit by more blasts. She could taste the fear as her sister fled for her life.
Please!
Celestia did a sharp turn to the left and dove below the castle's aqueduct, which was promptly cut by another of the Nightmare's blasts. In a desperate move, Celestia dropped almost to the ground, barely avoiding two more magical blasts as the Nightmare dove in chase.
Luna knew what would happen all too painfully; Celestia had to gain height or crash, but the climb would slow her down, making her an easy target.
NOOOOOO!
As the Nightmare lined for the last blast the sky turned lavender, two white and violet orbs appearing in front of her.
“Princess Luna, WAKE UP!”
Luna blinked her eyes, taking a moment to clear the ringing in her ears. “What happened?”
Two terrified violet eyes filled almost all her field of vision, the attached lavender muzzle nearly touching her own. Twilight Sparkle, still lost in concern, took a second to notice how close she was, tripping and falling on her haunches as she quickly backed away.
“So-sorry, but you w-were yelling, and crying, and you wouldn't wake up-”
“Twilight Sparkle, stop. Breathe.” Luna waited a few seconds until Twilight stopped gasping. “Are you calm enough to speak now?” A nod. “Then, please, tell me what you saw.”
Twilight looked at the ground, coyly pawning, her voice quivering a bit. “Your highness -”
“You don't have to be formal with me, my friend.” Said Luna in as comforting a tone as she could manage.
“Thanks.” Twilight lifted her face, looking apologetically at Luna. “You closed your eyes just before landing, and lay down as soon as you touched the ground; but you were smiling, so I thought you were just tired and went inside to prepare tea. I rushed back when I heard you screaming and tried to wake you up, but you just kept screaming... I'm afraid I yelled at your face, sorry.”
Luna allowed a motherly smile to touch her lips. “You did well. It was just a small nightmare, but a rather unpleasant one, and you spared me from it.” Her smile turned naughty. “And I would take you yelling at my ears over that nightmare any time.”
Caught by surprise, Twilight couldn't suppress a little laughter. “All right, but let's not make a habit out of it.”
“By the way, Twilight, it's marvelous.”
Confusion seeped into Twilight's face. “What exactly is marvelous?”
“Flying, of course. Isn't that what you asked earlier?”
That night Twilight dreamed. She experienced the boundless joy of a foal finding her wings; she tasted the excitement of a filly chasing a phoenix among the clouds; she felt the thrill of a friendly, though earnest, aerial joust; she was awed by the camaraderie and pride of leading pegasi into battle, as ready to give her life for them as they were to give their lives for her.
Luna held back the nightmare, of course; Twilight already knew the story, and seeing her mentor blasted out of the sky would not be a pleasant experience, neither for Twilight nor for Luna.
Author's Note
Feel free to point flaws, errors, or to make suggestions; I'm here to learn.
Celestia raised the sun, basking on it's rays. No matter how many centuries passed it was always enjoyable, a moment to forget the pressure of ruling a kingdom.
Stepping out of the balcony Celestia noticed a dark shape gliding down to the garden. She immediately recognized her sister Luna, but there was something wrong; Luna's ears were flushed against her head, her face a sad frown, her wings lifeless.
Quietly gliding after her sister, Celestia touched the ground at Luna's side. “What ails you, sister of mine?”
Luna cast her eyes down, her face pensive, for a few moments before telling the waking dream she had last night. As she told her tale she straightened up, joy touching her eyes -
Until the nightmare. Luna looked at her sister as a tear streamed. “You know this one as well as I, sister. I dreamed about how I almost killed you when I first became Nightmare Moon.”
“It was just a dream, Luna. That is not your true self; there is no reason for concern.”
“You know better than that, Tia.” Luna looked away. “The same way I can change dreams, dreams can change me. A few nightmares are not enough to change me back into that monster, but it's not something I can take lightly.”
“Is there any way for me to help?”
“I don't think so, sister. The power to calm dreams is mine alone, and I couldn't give up that memory even if you could take it away; the pain and shame are mine to bear, a grim reminder of why I must never again let the nightmare take hold on my heart.”
As Celestia thought about her sister's weary heart, a hopeful smile crept up. She gently touched Luna's face, raising it so the sisters could look into each others eyes. “Perhaps your answer is not in losing memories, but in making new ones. Wait here, Luna; I will be back soon.”
Luna watched her sister leave and let her gaze fall again.
It was good to have a sister like Celestia, but what could she do? What did she mean by making -
Luna yelped in surprise as she was hit repeatedly by multiple white, fluffy things, the last one knocking down her crown, which was promptly caught in Celestia's magic and returned to it's rightful owner.
Her moping demeanor forgotten, Luna gave Celestia an annoyed glance. “What kind of madness is this?”
Luna's eyes widened as she recognized Celestia, lazily staying afloat, six white... things... whirling around her.
Anger now touched Luna's voice. “Are you out of your mind? Is it your desire to rub my nightmare in my face?”
Celestia's voice was composed, but betrayed a hint of sadness. “No, my sister. But I would be glad if, the next time this dreadful memory rears it's ugly head, you could think instead of your silly sister engaging you in a pillow fight.”
Pillows! Luna forced her face to assume a bemused semblance as her sister kept talking. Just a bit more...
“And you said yourself earlier. This nightmare haunts me the same as you, for it's the same day I – Kyah!”
A pair of pillows hit Celestia from behind, dislodging her crown, which was immediately engulfed in Luna's magic. “Ha ha, revenge is served! Now that we are even, were you talking about a pillow fight? How about making it a game? One point for taking the other's crown, first to three points win, only weapon allowed are pillows?”
Celestia raised an eyebrow as her crown was returned. “And whoever loses has to apologize to the guards for taking their pillows and purchase them new ones.”
Luna was already jumping into the air, her own six pillows whirling around her in a blur. “Done. Now prepare yourself!”
That day the castle guards and servants were witness to a very rare spectacle: a mock fight that only those with both horn and wing could duplicate, by two beings that were already good fliers when the country itself was young. The fight only ended when both princesses fell to the grass, giggling madly with joy and the sheer absurdity of a royal pillow fight.
Author's Note
Feel free to point flaws, errors, or to make suggestions; I'm here to learn.