Escaping from Celestia

After their argument the rest of the day began to return to being somewhat normal. By the afternoon Celestia was back out in the throne room, albeit refusing to interact with anypony except her royal guardsponies. She looked over towards White Wings and could tell that he seemed a bit nervous. She had a feeling that Luna had talked to him about something so she was going to find out. She asked, "White Wings, what did you and Luna talk about after I went to my room? What did you say about me?"

White Wings shied back a bit and replied, "Oh we just talked about how worried we were about you. We talked a bit about how your emotions may interfere with your ability to fulfill your royal obligations."

Celestia slammed her hoof on the floor and shouted, "WHAT? SHE WANTS ME OUT OF THE PICTURE DOESN'T SHE? SHE WANTS TO BE QUEEN DOESN'T SHE?"

White Wings nervously replied, "No your Majesty, she never said anything about wanting you out of the picture or wanting to be queen. She is just worried about this whole Twilight thing destroying you."

Celestia snapped, "Well it won't destroy me. All I see in this situation is a pony who seeks to take full control of Equestria by deeming me too incompetent and emotionally unstable to rule!"

Flash Sentry was also in the throne room and asked, "Your Majesty, no offense but don't you think you should keep it down? You don't want Luna storming out here again do you?"

White Wings added, "Flash has a good point. You don't want Luna to become even more angry do you? When she is mad she really scares me."

Celestia growled, "Oh you two are such wimps. Luna's royal guards aren't scared of me when I am mad."

Flash replied, "Well they are bat ponies and bat ponies are very difficult to scare. Now let's stop all this Luna talk. She will be waking up soon anyway."

A couple hours pass and Luna wakes up for what is her breakfast. That night in the dining hall everything went as it normally would. Luna didn't say a word about Celestia's behavior and the two even cracked a few jokes. Finally it was time for them to do their royal duties. They headed out to the balcony and Celestia asked, "What are your plans for tonight?"

Luna replied, "Oh you know, the normal. Do patrols to make sure nothing is lurking out there, keeping the manticores in the Everfree Forest in check. I have heard reports of timberwolves prowling around the outskirts of Ponyville, so I will also be going to check on that."

Celestia sighed, "You know something, you have such an easy job. You and Gray Wings get to go out during the calm nights and just make sure things are safe while I have to deal with the events of the day. I always have these mayors and other dignitaries here bugging me with paperwork, asking me for favors and everything else that seems problematic. Sometimes I really envy you."

Luna replied, "I can understand that. As for me, I don't envy you. I find dealing with such matters most unpleasant and quite stressful."

After doing their royal duties and ten minutes more of chitchat Celestia decided it was time for bed. After she headed to bed Luna was talking to Gray Wings and a few more of her royal guardsponies. She said, "Alright guys, tonight is the night that we are going to go search for Twilight and Sunset."

Before Luna could continue Gray Wings asked, "But your Majesty, that forest off to the south is an extremely long ways away. It is a six hour flight just to get there. Who knows how long it will take to find Twilight and you have to be back here by six to lower the moon so Celestia can raise the sun."

She looked over towards one of her younger guardsponies, Yellow Eyes, and said, "Yellow Eyes, I need you to stand guard by my door. If my sister asks what is going on and why I am already in bed, tell her that I have gotten sick and that I have an extremely contagious illness and that she will need to lower the moon."

Yellow Eyes asked, "Your Majesty, do you think that will work?"

Luna replied, "Yes, it will. Just as she is scared of bats, she is scared of ponies with illnesses. For an Alicorn to get sick, it has to be a really nasty virus. That way she will know not to check on me."

Luna and three of her other guardsponies took off to the south with great haste. Luna was a bit frustrated because bat ponies can not fly as fast as Alicorns can. If they could, she would have flown so fast she would have broke the sound barrier and got there in an hour.

Finally six hours pass and they get to the edge of the forest. Luna orders them to land a few miles into the forest. It was pitch dark, as dark as dark can get until Luna created a powerful bright, white light using her horn. They headed further into the forest until they saw a lake with three unicorns sleeping soundly around it. They approached the lake until the purple unicorn woke up and charged towards her.

Very quickly the other two unicorns woke up and confronted Luna and her guard. Sunset was shouting, "She has ordered you to come here and take us back to Canterlot, hasn't she?"

Moonlight continued, "Well that ain't happening. I'll drown myself before I go back to her."

Twilight added, "How could you aid the tyrant who banished you to the moon for a thousand years?"

Luna did not like all the accusations. Her eyes began to shine white and she shouted, "You have it all wrong Twilight Sparkle. I have come to find you so we can press the proper charges against my sister."

Twilight looked stunned. She didn't even know that charges could be pressed against Celestia. She asked, "Press charges?"

Luna replied, "Yes, press charges. I have heard about what she has done to not just you, but another pony named Sunset Shimmer."

Sunset asked, "Wait a minute, you're Princess Luna?"

Luna replied, "Yes. White Wings has spoken of you and how he remembers you being taken off to the castle."

Moonlight asked, "What about me? Did he mention anything about me?"

Luna asked, "Who are you? You appear to be older so I doubt he would know anything about you."

Moonlight replied, "Well I was a protege of the tyrant a bit over 50 years ago. She took me out to the old castle you and her used to call home and forced herself on me."

Luna was stunned. While she had a feeling that Celestia had done that to other ponies, she now had the evidence that she suspected to be true. She asked, "I want to know something, are there any other ponies in this forest that she has done that to?"

Moonlight replied, "Yes, there are many and every single one of us fled from your sister after she tried to force herself on us and decreed that we were her wives."

Luna stood there shocked. She began to realize that this may have very well been going on since not too long after she was banished to the moon. She looked at the three and said, "Well we are going to make sure that she answers for her crimes."

She then looked over at two of her guardsponies and said, "Ok you two, you are to lead these three back to Canterlot so they can testify against my sister."

Before she could finish Twilight shouted, "NO! WE ARE NOT GOING BACK TO CANTERLOT! WE ARE STAYING HERE IN THE FOREST, ALL OF US."

Moonlight added, "There are many of us who have suffered at her hooves yet we simply want to put this behind us. This is our home and we simply want to wash our hooves of our pasts."

Sunset finished, "Our pasts that were ruined by her."

Luna continued, "Listen, we are going to get my sister put in enchanted chains. Tell you what, after she has been put in chains and thrown in the dungeon, I will come for you. Does that make things any better?"

Moonlight growled, "Oh, and how do we know you are not lying?"

Twilight added, "What part of we just want to be left alone don't you get?" She paused for a moment before adding, "I mean no disrespect Princess Luna but our lives are here."

Sunset finished, "Yes we want Celestia to be punished but we are all sisters out here, sisters who simply want to live in peace."

Luna sighed, "Very well but if any of you ever change your minds, let me know and we can get charges pressed against her."

The three nodded before Luna and her guardsponies headed back towards Canterlot. Luna couldn't understand why Twilight and her "sisters" wouldn't want charges pressed against Celestia for everything she did. She thought that maybe it was that they simply had no desire to interact with the outside world but it did frustrate her quite a bit.

When Luna returned to Canterlot it was a couple hours after when breakfast would have been served. She had to fly around to the back of the castle and go into her room through the window so that she would not get caught and be questioned by Celestia. Once she got in her chambers she was dead tired so she crawled into bed and was able to get some much needed sleep.