Nightmare's Confusion, Equestria's Realization, Celestia's Scheme

by CanterlotCrusader

Rating: everyone
Tags: Other, Princess Celestia, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Nightmare Moon, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy
Length: 5568

Nightmare Mare returns to Equestria, in her full glory! Unfortunately, she can CLEARLY see everypony else's glory as well.

Nightmare Moon; fabled mistress of darkness and fallen protector of dreams. A legend and nothing more, right?

The ponies of Equestria couldn't be more wrong, especially when Nightmare returns during the Summer Sun celebration and proclaims eternal night, with no Celestia in sight. All of the ponies of the land shall kneel and praise their Queen as she brings forth her beautiful night and they shall praise her magnif-wait. Where are there wardrobes? Why can she clearly see their cutie marks?

Is there a draft in here? Celestia's got some splaining to do.
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Sorta a funny one-shot. Happy April fool's!

Published 2014-04-02 16:20:04 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-02 16:20:04 UTC

Think of the Children!

The town of Ponyville. With weeks of preparations out of the way, publicity skyrocketing, and tourism rising, the Summer Sun Celebration was looking to be a huge success (and cash grab) for the town, at the cost of a few tax raises and budget cuts to the school. Vote for Mayor Mare!

The town hall was bustling with the local Ponyvillian's, eager to see their beloved Solar Princess, who wanted nothing but to bring about peace, harmony, and joy to all of her citizens and to all creatures in the world. Town hall was also filled to the brim with reporters/glorified paparazzi who wanted to see if they could take a picture of their benevolent ruler wearing this season's latest fashion line or snag the golden goose of pictures, where she would pick her nose or trip. Isn't the media wonderful?

Anyway, inside the building, among a herd of ponies, stood a purple-unicorn who had already taken ten Advil’s since that morning. Twilight Sparkle, protégé of the Princess herself, was looking around worriedly as she made a real effort to ignore a sugar-high party pony. Inside the sanctity of her mind, whatever remained after the day she had, she harbored many doubts and suspicions about the celebration.

Everything is going smoothly, she thought to herself. Too smoothly. I mean, did no one else see the dark spots on the moon disappear right now! There was a magical flash and everything!

"...Twilight," Spike, riding her back, said in an attempt to get Twilight's attention.

"Huh?"

"The Celebration is about to begin!" Shaking out of her stupor, Twilight watched with readiness as the mayor began her short, if not clichéd, speech.

With the cue cards hidden in the background, the charismatic, willful, and just Mayor of Ponyville (paid for by the reelection committee of M.M. Enterprises, an independent enterprise) gave her speech for the press and citizens.

"...it is my great honor, nay, my greatest privilege to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the Sun and Moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the beautiful, the majestic, the unconquerable, the brave, the witty, the loving, the motherly, the warm..."

Fluttershy is going to have a hard time feeding all the mice, once the mare runs out of this cheese, thought Twilight Snarkle.

"...the most bodacious and radical of rulers, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria, Princess Celestia!" With a hoof signal given by the Mayor, Rarity pulled the curtains to the balcony to allow the pony's ruler to appear in her majestic glory.

Only for her to not be there. The shock in everypony’s face was evident.

While the Mayor tried to reassure the crowd that the Princess did not bail out on them and all their money, food, and time were wasted, Pinkie Pie was trying to make light of the situation with her antics, even if no one really paid attention to her. Suddenly, Rarity came out from the balcony and addressed the crowd.

"She's gooone!" Rarity always did love drama. The crowd gave a big, exaggerated gasp that Twilight regard as silly since they already established she wasn't there. More surprising to her, however, were the dark tendrils of magical origin slithering all over the balcony. With a quick motion, the tendrils revealed a dark alicorn, adorned with a blue battle helmet, assorted regalia, and a flowing dress that covered her body, past her neck.

"Nightmare Moon," Twilight said helplessly as she had one thought in her mind. Ha. Spike owes me 5 bits! I'm not crazy! Well, if he wasn't unconscious. Son, I am disappoint. Nightmare began giving her typical villain speech after Twilight's personal victory.

"Oh my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little, sun-loving...asses?" Nightmare stopped her speech before it really began, with a look of sheer surprise, disgust, and horror as she got a good look on the crowd.

Twilight, and the rest of the crowd, regarded that last part as odd. Huh? Why did she stop already? Isn't she supposed to give the whole villain speech before we defeat her? And what did she say? Nightmare, taking a deep breath, started to question the crowd.

"Peasants," Nightmare began, only to be interrupted by a stallion in the crowd.

"Um, I think we all find the term 'peasants' to be offensive, your highness."

"Plebeian?"

"No."

"Serfs?"

"No."

"Peons?"

"Definitely not."

"Subordinates?"

"Actually, I find the whole monarchy system to be a system of oppression. I mean, I didn't vote for you."

"You don't vote for princesses."

"Well then I could become a princess, he could become one," the stallion started to point his hoof towards random members of the crowd until his hoof pointed toward Twilight. "She could become one." Suddenly, Pinkie started doing all kinds of weird motions and manner of shaking until she stopped and said something in awe.

"Ooh. I just felt a doozy!" Twilight, after questioning the condition of Pinkie's health, started to find the scenario amusing. Pfft. Me princess. What's next? Is Fluttershy going to stare down a dragon? Am I going to grow pretty wings? Will an army of Pinkie Pies attack the town and spread mayhem and destruction? I gotta tell these to Shiny. We always talk and tell each other everything, I'm sure he'll get the joke. After Twilight mocked the god known as Murphy, Nightmare Moon started an almost somber and righteous speech.

"The great maker Faust, clothed in the most incandescent and holy of lights, bestowed upon me and my sister our wings and horn, signaling we were to become rulers of the land, and by divine right, save it from destruction. That is why I am princess!"

"Look. Strange ponies distributing wings and horns to random fillies is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from the mandate of the masses." The crowd was filled with a mixture of emotions. Some still found the whole situation frightening, while others found the stallions claims viable and others found him blasphemous. Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon realized what was going on. A threat more dangerous than King Sombra, more dangerous than Discord, more dangerous than even herself was rising in the crowd. Democracy. We can't have that now.

"Bloody peasant! I order you to BE SILENT!" Nightmare's voice shook the whole building with the force of a thousand voices. Summoning her magic, she encased the stallion in a dark, blue sphere meant to make him sleep and have nightmares.

"Ah! I'm being repressed! Do you see how she is oppressing me?! Now we see the violence inherit in the system!" The stallion, his words losing charisma, drifted off to sleep.

"That's enough of that," Nightmare said with disdain. "Back to the matter at hoof. My...citizens. I have been absent for a thousand years on the moon. In that time, I encased myself in a cocoon of eternal sleeping, gathering my strength to return. In there, I could only see visions of the creatures here on the planet. I am a bit more...classical. So I must inquire this. Where in the Tartarus are all your clothes?!"

The crowd was silent as it pondered that question. What could she mean by that? Summer was supposed to begin today, so it was going to be fairly warm once Celestia raised the Sun. After some murmuring, the town's local fashionista decided to speak for the crowd on this part.

"Your...highness. Did you want a more formal greeting for your return? If you did, I'm sorry, but we did not expect you to return. Perhaps we could reschedule and plan a more high-quality soiree." At this, Pinkie popped up next to Rarity with no explanation at all, with a highly disturbing smile adorning her face.

"You can't fool me with your fanciness Rarity." Rarity, for her part, was doing as well a job as she could to hide her fear of the hyper, pink pony. "You just said party." Sweat dripped down her brow, as Rarity slowly tried to get off the balcony. Nightmare, already infuriated with Pinkie's antics decided to answer.

"No. This was a surprise...though I thank you mare with a stunning voice. I like you." Nightmare finished, already picking ponies she would force to be her friend. "I guess no one remembered me then. You all thought I was just a legend, a foal's fairy tale. No one was smart enough to realize the truth." In response, Twilight adopted a smug look and spoke up to Moony.

"I realized who you were. I tried to warn everypony you were coming, but no one listened." Nightmare chuckled as she regarded the unicorn as a braggart and way too full of herself. And told her such.

"Oh please. You are just a braggart who has read too many fictional novels, making her think you are smarter than everyone else. You better calm down before your ego reaches the size of your flank." The crowd erupted in laughter, even the sleeping stallion chuckled at Twilight's expense. Rainbow Dash zoomed up to Nightmare and offered a hoofbump to her.

"BURN! Nice one princess!" Nightmare, unsure of the conventions of this custom, but sensing friendless from the pegasus, hazarded a guess at what to do and connected hooves with her. "Awesome." The cyan one. She will be my cool friend, Nightmare thought, continuing her list. Nightmare, seeing the crowd laughing WITH her AT somepony else, decided to make one more claim.

"You’re not even smart enough to realize that those bangs were out of style 1,000 years ago. Trust me, I know." Twilight snapped at this point. Even if Nightmare Moon was an immortal goddess that brought eternal night and could control the patterns of the stars, the moon, the ocean currents, and the very realm of consciousness, nopony. Ever. Calls. Twilight Sparkle. Not Smart! And no creature. Ever. Insults. The Bangs (tm). She stormed out of there in frustration, going back to the library to find something in her books that would blast her lunar self away. Out in the crowd, a blue unicorn was laughing her flank off at the conceited protégé of the princess who was put back in her place. Nightmare, already feeling like best princess, decided to get back on track.

"Back to the point, what I mean is, you are all in a public place wearing absolutely nothing to maintain your decency and hide your more...intimate features." Nightmare awaited a reply to make sense of the situation. What she got was confusion.

"Indecent?" It was Fluttershy who started to question the princesses reasoning. "Our tails are covering our...assets and it would be rude if someone...did that. Animals don't wear clothes either."

"It may be rude, but that won't stop some stallions and mare from looking. And some of your tails are short, so they don't cover much, and if you get it at an angle, you can see everything. Actually, we Equestrians, as I recall, favor hugs. What's stopping them from getting a...notion of your bodies?" The stallions, for their part, all mysteriously possessed pencils and paper as they scribbled down her every word. "As for animals, they are creatures that are free to do as they please in their quest to survive, and sometimes clothes would hamper their survival. However, we are a civilized species who are not in threat of extinction and have built a society based on decency. We must have higher standards because we know too much."

"Well...uh. Hm. You honestly think so? Garsh, that's...not good." Applejack was lost for words as she looked around the crowd, watching as everypony started to view each other differently. Nightmare looked around as well, until she spotted something that would take bleach to be unseen.

"AW TARTARUS NAW! Orange pony with the drawl accent and stupendous hat! Get those children out of here and back home!" Nightmare conjured up some clothes and immediately whooshed them on the children. Applejack was ready to tackle the princess when she saw she was using magic on the kids, but once she realized they were clothed Applejack came to her own realization.

"Sweet Celestia no!" Applejack bolted out of there with the clothed fillies, intending to bring them home. Once the crowd slowly realized what happened, many started to cry, barf, and started accusations and defending themselves. Nightmare, very infuriated now, told the crow a simple command.

"BE STIIIILLL!" The noise ended in a whisper, the ponies traumatized quite certainly. "Who is responsible for starting this diabolical trend?" The crowd did not know who started this, it had always been this way.

"Dang, if only we knew somepony who was there during your thousand year absence that could explain why we are all naked. I bet it's a fun story!" Pinkie, working to make the plot move smoothly, revealed to Nightmare Moon who she would have to face.

"Subjects! I am going to find the truth from your dear Princess Celestia! So...blah blah, I returned, blah blah...eternal night. BWHAHAHAHAHAH!" With the special effects to put Avatar to shame, Nightmare Moon went to her sister where she last left her.

In her own dreams.

Sunshine filled the air as Mr. Sweet Iron, a muscly cake-man adorned with cherries and ice-cream filling, led his other hunky friends in the art of the dance, while he awaited the sweet voice of Princess Celestia.

"Sugar. Do do do do do doo. Ah honey, honey. Do do do do do do." Celestia was in a state of total bliss as she sang and danced in the eternal sunshine, while eating her delectable cake. Nightmare Moon watched on as Celestia enjoyed the dream she left her in. Banishment or not, she would not kill her sister or do anything of the manner. To show she was more merciful than her sister, she trapped her in this eternal state of dreaming, hoping that there would come a day where she would become sick of cake. Pfftt, as if.

All of a sudden, the music stopped, and all the citizens of Cake Island and Celestia looked to find Nightmare Moon standing there, with a smirk. Summoning her dark powers, she conjured up some nightmare dogs that chased and ate the cake men, quite an obscene sight actually. Celestia's therapy bill aside, the dream ended as Celestia came face to face with her sister.

"Sister. Please. Cease this foolishness and come back to me. I beg you, do not do this again. I love you Luna and I wish to have you back as my sister. Do not leave me alone to face the world again." Tears starting to well up in her eyes, Celestia tried to get through to Luna. "You can beat the Nightmare. I believe in you and together we can rule Equestria as sister and sister." Nightmare Moon, half sad and half amused, decided to stop this and get right to the point.

"Celestia," she said with venom, prompting a hurt look in Celestia. "We are not here to quarrel with thee, nor to let go our Nightmare powers. We simply have some questions that you need to answer for me."

"Anything sister," Celestia said with a sniff, "anything."

"Why are our subjects all nude?" Silence remained for a few seconds as Celestia thought deeply for a few seconds. She adopted a grin and responded to her question simply.

"Oh, you mean that. I figured you would come to me about this later, but I suppose it is too glaring a fact to just ignore."

"You think," responded Luna drolly.

"Well, conjure up a seat because this is, not necessarily long, but complicated story." One conjuring later and Celestia began her tale. "You see, long ago, about 267 years after your...absence, this all began. Early that century, war started between the Griffons, Minotaurs, and Buzzards. This ended quickly, but not without severe consequences. Our nation gave supplies to all three nations, giving us a big boost in economic power, which tragically ended after inflation and debt took hold years after the war. The economy in turmoil, the nobles and peasants were becoming more and more indistinguishable from one another, with many citizens becoming poor. However, you remember how stubborn nobles are, so they tried to find any way they could stay 'noble' while not losing their money. To that end, they funded a sort of government controlled program that sought to save money by removing failing businesses. In effect, many fashion business were shut down if they could not make a profit, which were many in those days. The only ones left after this purge were the very expensive for the time and high end boutiques that could only be afforded by the nobles, still holding on to some reserves. As a result, nobles bought very high end clothing that made them feel superior and made the poor majority, barely having tattered clothing, feel inferior. Suddenly, the poor majority started a movement, led by many charismatic leaders, to stop the selection of which businesses live by the government and used a new form of protest; nudity marches. It was obscene, but in the end many of those on the council, which is what was created as a result of you becoming Nightmare Moon." Celestia stopped her lecture to look at Nightmare somberly, as she fidgeted in her seat, obviously uncomfortable with causing her sister to have to deal with all this by herself. "I digress. Anyway, this council decided that this sort of thing could not go on, with many kind-hearted nobles joining these marches, and decided to end the program. Furthermore, they decided that they could not afford the upkeep it would take to maintain prisons full of nudists. To stop that problem, nudity was legalized. To honor their struggle, many descendants of this movement kept nudity alive, even when the economy recovered, and it just became a sort of cultural understanding that it was okay to be nude in public and dress formally at events. The rest, they say, is history."

Nightmare Moon, for her part, was amazed at the complexity of how this sort thing came to be. When she was still Princess Luna, all she had to deal with were would-be dictators and powerful entities of magic. She could not imagine the political spectrum and complexity of ruling. She hated to admit it and would deny it, but she felt respect and admiration for Celestia for still being ruler after just this one event out of thousands she must have had in a single decade alone. Nightmare Moon had a few questions.

"Sister," Nightmare said, as Celestia smiled at being referred to as sister. "You just allowed all of this to transpire without your input?"

"Luna, I was already on thin ice with the public after your transformation and many were even unhappy with the war and then the economic disaster. They would have gotten rid of me as princess, so you must understand how much of a bad idea changing your government is when people are angry and very gullible. I needed to stay in power and ensure that my moral authority would keep out any vile dictators and other monsters that would have led to war, death, and the utter downfall of the pony race." Silence permeated through the room as Nightmare Moon could not process how strong Celestia must have been to have her authority be cut down and allow some obscene things to pass, while keeping a cool head, for the greater good of all ponies. All because she betrayed her.

"Truly, sister. You had to deal with all of this? That is why our ponies have let themselves lose their decency? That is why our ponies have no shame in expressing their full forms to the world?" Nightmare's admiration turned into concern when she saw Celestia's face contort in so many ways that it became painful to look at her, all while she adopted a nefarious grin.

"Nope. Not really." Nightmare Moon, feeling betrayed and bamboozled, could not process what Celestia had just said. Unfortunately for her, a magical light flew out from her mane and blinked on and off to alert her of something. Celestia, still smirking, decided to question her.

"What's that, dear sister?"

"Tis a magical aura I sent to alert me if anyone reached our former castle and is near the Elements of Harmony." Nightmare, unable to make hides or tails of the situation, continued her exposition. "B-but I set magical incantations and obstacles to stop anypony from making it there, even if they dared venture to the Everfree forest!"

"Well then, I must have bought Twilight and her friends enough time to bond and find the elements." Wait, what? Nightmare looked incredulously at her sister and, at that moment, realized what Celestia had done.

"Y-you. You stalled me. Didn't you?" Now filling with rage, Nightmare Moon exploded on her sister. "You fed me all that malarkey about how they became nude, so you could buy, whoever you sent, and enough time to reach the elements and get in tune with them! You planned this from the beginning!" Celestia, for her part, was almost in tears in how hilarious she found the Celestia.

"Well. Yes and no. What I told you did happen, but it wasn't the real, number one reason it happened. But yes, I did plan to stall you while Twilight and her friends retrieved the elements and discovered their potential." Nightmare Moon was about to pounce upon her sister, when Celestia started cooing and continued.

"Aw. You look so cute when you are mad. Like when you were a filly. What was that cute name you used to have?" Nightmare's pupils shrunk and she knew where her sister was going with this.

"No."

"Lulu? Moony?"

"Celestia, don't you dare!"

"Starbutt? Lunar express?"

"I swear to Faust, I'll kill you!"

"Oh wait! I remember! It's Www-" Celestia rolled her w's while Nightmare was jumping up in down in anger.

"Listen to me Celestia! Do you hear me?"

"wwwwwooooooonnnnaaaaaa! Woona! Little woo-woo!" Nightmare was about to go full mare of Dioneighdes when her alert orb bumped into her and blinked faster.

"That's twice in the same hour! Gotcha!" Nightmare Moon shouted old, forgotten obscenities as she teleported to the elements. "I wonder how she will react when she goes into her room and realizes I kept the old newspaper, sailor hat. So cute!" Celestia then took a serious face as she turned and faced the nightmare dogs, finished with their meal. They sat up, watching as Celestia looked down on them and licked her lips. "But on to the matter at hoof. You have something inside you that I want. And I'm hungry..." *whimper*

Teleporting on a platform inside the elements hall, Nightmare saw she was too late as the bearers already had their elements. She became even more horrified when the purple unicorn she mocked before turned around looked at her with eyes of fire and a smile of pure malevolence. It scared her more when she spoke.

"So, Nightmare Loon. It appears I'm not so dumb after all. I'm really smart, in fact. So very, very smart!" Nightmare could only watch in horror as the Elements charged up, ready to blast her. I wonder what new occurrence will happen when I return next time. Flying machines? Devices to contact anypony in the world from anywhere? Afros coming back into style? (Author: Half-life 3?) Not likely. Nightmare thought in resignation, ready to return to Skippy on the moon, as her eyes were closed shut.

"Wait!" Nightmare opened her eyes to find Fluttershy breaking Rainbow Formation Delta and facing her friends. "Do we really have to banish her to the moon? She hasn't really done anything yet and she doesn't seem all that bad." Twilight became angry again as she questioned the pegasus.

"What are you talking about Fluttershy?! She almost brought about the end of day and kidnapped the princess! She also insulted the bangs!"

"That was mean of her and I'm sure she is sorry about that. However, 1,000 years on the moon seems a little excessive without at least giving her a trial or second chance. You are sorry aren't you?" Nightmare, seeing the kindness within Fluttershy's eyes for HER, decided to play along.

"Oh. Of course." Smooth, she thought to herself.

"You see. We don't have to be enemies and we can uphold the law as well. Besides, she doesn't hate animals, so how bad could she be?" Rarity, sensing a golden opportunity, decided to give her input.

"I afraid I must agree with Fluttershy here. Surely she deserves another chance. At the very least, as a thank you for revealing to us all how uncouth our traditions are. I mean, of course things might get busy for me, having to be commissioned for clothes line after clothes line, but I'm sure I'll manage." Ever the businessmare Rarity, ever the businessmare. Applejack decided to speak up as well.

"I reckon I can offer her some Apple family hospitality if she agrees to undo what she's done. I mean, even a sour apple is still an apple. Plus, she protected Applebloom and those fillies from having to live with that foolishness." Rainbow, going with the flow of things, decided to say her part.

"I mean, she does look pretty cool. And she's really hilarious, the way she burned you Twilight!" Twilight glared daggers at the cyan pony she only recently made her friend. "It may take some time, but I think she can stop being evil and try to be awesome like me. Probably won't happen, but that's no reason to feel bad." Pinkie Pie almost immediately gave her opinion, which would span several more chapters, so here's the last line.

"...then we were like 'gasp' and then you were like 'bwahaha' and Twilight was like 'grr' and now we are all like 'yay.' The point of the story is never to give a mouse a kumquat." Confused looks and headache pills were passed around as Pinkie had one more thing to say. "But the important question is, do you like parties?" Nightmare looked alive and responded barely.

"Uh...kind of."

"Then she's double A, ok! So, Moony, what do you think?" Nightmare looked perplexed for a moment. These ponies accepted her, forgave her, and wanted to be friends with her? All in the same night? But, they didn't even know her.

"Don't you all fear me and hate me for what I've done? Surely I could never become a great friend to ponies like you." Fluttershy decided to speak up, yet again.

"Maybe we did, but you brought all of us together. You helped us realize what friendship really is and we overcame our fears to get here. I've met bad ponies before and I know you are not one of them. At least, you don't have to be. You might have to face the consequences and let the sun rise, but I think, if you let us, we can all pull through this together." Nightmare Moon, the terror of the night, the mistress of darkness, the maker of terrors, felt her icy heart pang with warmth. Never in her life, nay, her dreams she thought she could ever encounter such ponies of genuine kindness. She talked to them, not as subordinates, but as ponies and they spoke the same way right back. She laughed with them and now she could get to know them, as they wanted to know her. What really changed while she was gone? Did the ponies grow kinder or did she grow soft? Maybe, both. Perhaps that was for the best. With a heavy heart, she took off her battle helmet and started to address the ponies with teary eyes.

"On the moon, all you feel is cold. All you see is darkness. All you hear is silence. You don't smell cheese. All you taste is bitterness. Inside and out. Now, all I feel is sadness and regret of what I have done. Yet, I'm also warm. Warm with the hope that other ponies can someday accept me, as I learn to accept myself and their feelings. I've been selfish; to myself and my sister. Especially her. I will no longer be Nightmare Moon." Luna, shifting back to her original form, gained a small smile as tears rolled down her face. "From now on, you may all refer to me as LuNAAAAAAAAA!" What Luna had not realized was that Twilight managed to activate the rainbow powers of the Elements while her friends weren't looking, now receiving the full power of the friendship cannon. The experience quickly ended in a haze as she felt herself in her weakest form and barely keeping focused. Staring up, she found Twilight adopting a sadistic smile as she regarded the princess with more of her trademark snark.

"No. Pony. Makes fun of. The. Bangs. Nopony."

"U-understood you psychotic, ticking time bomb of a mare." Suddenly, a flash of light illuminated the room as day, once again, rose in Equestria. "Princess! I did it! Well, we did it! We stopped Nightmare Moon and have incapacitated her for you punishment!" Celestia, wearing a face of disappointment, regarded her student's action.

"Twilight Sparkle. While I appreciate you and your friend’s actions to stop eternal night and save my sister, I must disagree with your actions and behavior as such. We shall talk more on this later, but please get ready to grab Miss Smartypants because kindergartners can have those at school." Celestia walked away, leaving Twilight to roll into a ball and mutter incoherent things, as her friends tried to comfort her. When Celestia reached Luna, she replaced her disappointed face for one of barely controlled laughter.

"You’re a deviant of the highest degree, you realize that sister."

"Sorry Luna, but I couldn't help myself. I’ll take care of it in a minute, but right now I have to ask you something." Celestia adopted her look of seriousness, while showing sadness. "Will you accept me again as your sister? Will you put away all those years of turmoil that lay within your heart and let me help you? Shall we stop this bleeding?" Luna took only a moment to hug her sister and give her answer.

"Yes, you big, ridiculous, pony. Yes."

After having a ceremony welcoming them both back, reassuring Twilight, allowing her to live in Ponyville, and returning to Canterlot, Luna managed to get some moments alone with her sister again.

"Sister, wait." Halting mid-trot, Celestia turned to her sister and responded.

"What is it Luna?"

"You said that the events you claimed happened weren't the real cause of the widespread nudity of our lands. What was?" Celestia, adopting another smirk, decided to fill her in.

"Follow me to my room and we shall show you." As Luna cautiously entered Celestia's room, Celestia motioned her over to the balcony where a telescope stood, pointed up. "Let me reposition this." After pointing it down and aiming it somewhere, Celestia allowed Luna to see. With trepidation, she decided to humor her sister. All she saw was an apple farm, one that she saw in Ponyville only an hour ago.

"Sister. This is just a look at an apple farm. In Ponyville. I do not see how this explains anything."

"Look closer." Trying again, Luna spotted some shaking trees and saw what was causing them to do so. What she saw was a big, red stallion with a messy orange mane lift up his powerful hind legs and slam them into the apple tree. The stallion took a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow as he bit into an apple, with all its juices spilling.

"Oh. I see." Celestia, with a triumphant smile, saw that her sister's eyes didn't leave the telescope.

"Do you wish to go or should I leave you alone?"

"Celestia. I have been alone on the moon for a thousand years, with nothing to keep me warm, and not a single contact with anypony in all that duration. I want to be alone."

Back in Ponyville, a stallion stood still as he was unable to leave town hall, still trapped inside a dark, blue sphere.

"...and how do they stay princesses? By exploiting the workers, by hanging on to our dated, imperialist dogma with perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society. If there is ever going to be any progress..." Suddenly, a flash of light appeared and Princess Celestia appeared before the stallion.

"My apologies good mare..."

"I'm a stallion..." Celestia took a moment to get a closer look and apologized.

"I apologize. Coming in from a teleportation made you seem quite..."

"What I object to is you treating me like an inferior. We are living in a self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working class..." Celestia took a moment to step back and access the situation. Oh no. Democracy. We can't have that now.

Author's Note

I wrote this in the spirit of April Fool's, even if I never intended it to be such. Hope you enjoy it and, as always, give me tips on grammar and such, so the story isn't held back by it. Thanks.