Luna was beside herself with excitement, for the first time in a thousand years she stood by her sister, preparing to raise the moon. Celestia stood quietly beside her with a firm but gentle magical grasp on the sun.
The elder princess wore a warm smile as she mentally congratulated her heavenly charge for a good day’s work as she sent it below the horizon.
Focusing her magic, Luna did the same aside from one small detail. She could not grasp the moon. She could feel it... she knew it was there but... it refused her touch. Luna’s eyes welled up with tears, had her sins set her destiny against her as well? First her mane had become stale and lifeless, unbefitting of an ancient alicorn princess, now this? Had her time as Nightmare Moon corrupted more of her than she had first realized?
Celestia was quick to see her sisters despair and without a word embraced her little sister. Then before she could comfort the younger princess, Luna spoke, “Sister... the moon... we... I’m so sorry, please help me... I want to hold her... I want to apologize, but I feel she will not listen... she it too angry with me.”
Celestia was frozen. For an eon the moon had let her bring it forth at night and set it in the morning. Still she had never thought of the moon as... a she. “Luna... I want you to rest. I know the night is yours but it has been a long day and perhaps a good night’s sleep will give you new strength to solve this mystery.”
Then just as Celestia had planned her sister perked up. She had always loved mysteries and this was certainly a doozy. “Thank you Tia, but would you bring the moon out tonight? We do not wish to disappoint our faithful stargazers.”
"Of course Lulu.”
The sound of her old pet name brightened Luna’s spirits even more as she turned to reenter the castle and make her way to her private chambers.
The princess of the moon found herself to be more tired than she had first estimated. At first she wished to read for a while, but the moment her body touched the bed, all her strength failed her as she drifted into a fitful sleep.
But even as her body rested, Luna realized that her mind was awash with sights and sounds. Stars and distant shimmering celestial clouds surrounded her as if she were lost in deep space. It was just like, "The Path of Ascension... but why? We are already an alicorn.” Luna considered her surroundings before long she realized that while this place was similar to the path that all prospective alicorns had to walk in order to gain their true form and power, this space had far too many differences.
The true path was bright and colorful. This place felt as if it were locked in eternally clouded twilight. The realm proper was filled with music and voices of the past joys that brought an alicorn to ascension. This – this horror was echoing with muffled weeping and the fear filled shrieks of foals. All around her were moving images that should have been filled with joyous memories, but instead were filled with screaming foals running from unheard of horrors.
Luna walked along what felt under her hooves like a gravel path that passed by many floating windows that looked deep into the dreams of ponies, young and old. A scream to her left revealed a colt being accosted by an Ursa Minor. To her right a fierce serpent devoured a stallion and what appeared to be his family. Ahead of her a dream showed a filly being pulled down to the depths of the ocean by a giant squid.
Then behind her, Luna heard the mournful wailing of a mare. To her horror she saw a pregnant Pegasus being told by her doctor that her foal would not survive being born. Truly there is no greater torture for an expecting mother than this. Rage then fueled Luna’s search for the cause of these nightmares.
It wasn’t until Luna felt a familiar – corruption in the space around her that she finally understood. This had to be the realm of dreams that Nightmare Moon had often gloated about corrupting during their stay on the moon. She had never imagined such a place existed, but there she was walking among the terror filled dreams of her little ponies.
Luna felt sick, yet all she could do was watch. “It isn’t as if this new dream walking ability will let us truly enter the dreams of these foals and protect them from their fears.” The lunar princess soon found her words to be truly false as when she advanced on a floating image and touched it, she found herself beside a small filly surrounded by finely crafted saucers and teacups in an otherwise deserted dirt road..
Looking up toward a hill covered in Buffalo she herd the leader bellow, “SARSAPARILLA!”
The dusty street she stood on shook and everything became black.
It was still early in the night when the sun princess shouted, “Do not test me monster! I will not let you have my sister again!”
Luna woke to see her sister standing over her, horn ablaze with its fiery aura. Fear gripped the younger alicorn and it was obvious in both her eyes and trembling voice, “T-t-tia... what are you doing? I don’t know what I did, I’m so sorry Tia, please.”
Celestia stared deep into her little sister’s pleading eyes before falling to her haunches. The nightmare’s presence was gone as quickly as it had come. In the blink of an eye Celestia embraced her sister sobbing both tears of joy and fear, “Oh Lulu, I felt her... I felt the nightmare and I thought it was coming for you again.”
Seeing her sister breaking down, Luna felt the inherent need to tell her everything, “Nay sister, the nightmare will not separate us again, I may know why the moon will not accept me. I believe that there is still a measure of the nightmare’s corruption effecting Equestria. I fear that if nothing is done, it will grow and fester, making itself strong enough to enslave another pony for its purposes.”
Celestia glared at the thought of the blight spreading to another. She would not let it go on. “I will send a letter to Twilight to gather her friends. We must use the elements before it is too late.”
“No. They cannot go where they would be needed. I fear that if no other has seen this nightmare realm, then it falls to me to take responsibility. Do not rouse them and do not fear, I promise I will not fall to weakness again.”
Hope bloomed in Celestia’s eyes. She might have forgotten but her sister’s posture reminded her why her little sister had once carried the elements of devotion, integrity, and optimism. Reminding herself of the Elements true names always made her smile at the childishness of their modern depictions. Celestia herself had held charity, compassion, and wisdom when the sisters faced Discord.
It was wisdom that told her that Luna was right. Deep down she knew this corruption of dreams was what had separated her sister from the moon. “As you wish Luna, but be strong in the knowledge that I will not leave you. Nor will I let the nightmare take you from me.”
With a yawn Luna quickly replied as she settled back into her bed, “Thank you Tia.”
With a smile and a magical flourish Celestia summoned a large divan to set beside her sister’s bed. It was there she laid down on her side and watched Luna drift back into the nightmare field.
With determination and confidence Luna once again stepped into the dream from before though it was further along to the point that the buffalo were now stampeding mercilessly toward the dreaming filly. Then taking an aggressive stance against the oncoming herd Luna cried out with a powerful stomp of a forehoof, “HALT PROUD FRIENDS OF THE OPEN PLAINS! THIS FOAL IS UNDER OUR PROTECTION WE WILL NOT ALLOW HARM TO COME TO HER!” A confused smile adorned the alicorn’s face as she watched the charging buffalo shatter into mist at the force of her voice. Still her smile soon warmed as she heard the filly’s voice.
“Who’re you? Y’all look like a princess.”
Brightening even further Luna proudly replied, “We are a princess. We are called Luna, Princess of the Night. We are here to alleviate thy nightmares. Listen well, dear foal. Thou have nothing to fear of the buffalo. They may seem frightening but we have known many in my time and they were the kindest most gentle creatures. They will do thou no harm unless thou first does harm to them.”
In the moment she finished Luna was back in the greater expanse of the nightmare field and still excited to do more work. So without hesitation she moved on to another nightmare. Then another and another as she spent her night, slaying monsters, catching falling foals, and supplying pants to an odd mare who felt embarrassed about giving a presentation without them.
After a fulfilling night of adventure, there was only one dream left to enter. A familiar sound of the same sobs she had once heard every night during her banishment... her sister.
With only a momentary pause, Luna moved to enter the dream, but was surprised to see it vanish before her eyes. Then only slightly less shocking was being shaken awake.
“Luna! Are you alright? I’m so sorry, I fell asleep.” Celestia only stopped as the younger princess pried open her eyes and looked at her sister with an amused expression.
“Thou dost worry too much sister.”
Celestia was quick to smile at Luna’s playful quip and reply in kind, “and you don’t worry enough.” In a bout of laughter both alicorns were pleasantly reminded of past adventures and games. Yet still Luna’s laughter seemed somewhat... forced. “What troubles you Luna?”
Luna quickly averted her eyes, her thoughts immediately turned to Celestia’s nightmare. The weeping was a sound she truly wished to never hear again, but she knew that the next night she would have to return to the nightmare field and crush her sister’s fears. So for moment she simply replied, “Nothing Celestia, we have everything under control.”
Celestia only sighed at the obvious fabrication. In the past she would have overlooked the lie, ignoring her sister’s pain. Now, even if it wouldn’t earn her sister’s forgiveness, she would not let darkness fall into Luna’s heart once again, “No Luna, it is not, nothing. If you do not wish to share your burden now, at least know that I will always be available to listen when you are ready to talk. Now come, we have a morning to bring to our little ponies.”
“WHAT IS THIS?!” Luna cried out, again unable to hold onto the moon.
Once again Celestia took charge of both celestial bodies and put them in their places before addressing her little sister, “Worry not Luna, perhaps your dream walking will require more time before the moon is ready for you again.”
“Perhaps...” Luna averted her eyes from her older sister’s thoughtful gaze. Still Celestia smiled warmly as she replied.
“Relax sister, your time will come again. First though, I wish for you to join me at breakfast. There are so many wonderful ponies I want you to meet and I’m sure they will be delighted to meet you.”
Luna shamefully nodded, but remained in her silent world of thoughts.
As they shared the morning meal, Luna thought of her actions in the dreams. During her first open court since her return, she considered the dreams themselves.
Lunch gave way to contemplations on the fillies and colts who were dreaming. An afternoon in the royal library was spent reading about dreams, at least as far as Luna was concerned. Celestia was reading about cake and cake related pastries.
The evening meal had Luna fuming slightly, “Thy infuriating prince is more arrogant than Starswirl!”
Still warmly smiling, Celestia was quick to reply, “I thought you liked Starswirl.”
“We did, but that does not mean that he was not a conceited lout at times. Prince Blueblood however has none of Starswirl’s redeeming qualities. Truly Princess Platinum would be rolling in her grave if she could see the state of her royal line.”
Again the sister’s laughed together, this time with Luna truly enjoying the amusement. Still she had work to do, so with another sisterly embrace Luna made ready for her excursion into her sister’s dream.
The princess of the moon stood once more in the Nightmare Field, but was taken aback by the return of every nightmare she had thought defeated the night before. And once again, Celestia’s dreams seemed so far away.
“No! No, we will not fail you sister. Please just be patient.” Without an ounce of hesitation, the young alicorn entered an all too recognizable dream and heard a familiar roar.
“SARSAPARILLA!” The raging buffalo chief bellowed the moment Luna entered the dream and again the whole herd charged one little filly.
With a stomp of her hoof, Luna dismissed the stampede and finally saw the minefield of fine china surrounding Sarsaparilla, “Young filly, did you not hear me when I told you that the buffalo should not be feared?”
“Yer dumb.”
The filly’s words cut into a long forgotten portion of Luna’s mind, the part where Tia and Discord teased her for reading books all day. Still no pony, draconequus, dragon or any other sentient life form had ever been so brash as to call her, ‘dumb’. “Insolent foal! What is thy reason for questioning our intelligence? We assure you that we are quite well read and are second to none when it comes to study.”
“Yer dumb, cause I know them buffalos are nice! Somma mah best friends are buffalos... er they used to be...”
Luna was quieted by Sarsaparilla’s words. Perhaps she should have taken the time to get to know this filly before accusing her of simple fear. With a gentle burst of magic Luna moved several of the dishes so she could lay prone in front of the foal who was now busy picking up the dream plates. With a smile Luna once again addressed her little dreamer, “Thou knows our name, will thou tell us thine? Also please tell us about this fine dishware, it seems a shame that it be left out in a dirt road.”
“Sarsaparilla Springs, Momma said she named me cause ah was sweet like sarsaparilla and happy like the springtime... but y’all can call me Sass, everypony else does.”
Luna’s smile widened as she considered the tone the filly had used when speaking of her nickname. Her tone was warm when she finally replied, “Nay, we will call thou Sarsaparilla. It is a good name thy mother has given you.”
It was then that the filly finally perked up. Only her mother and her buffalo friends used her real name. It was good because Sarsaparilla was proud of the name she had been given by her mother. Then with a giggle she spoke again to the princess without an ounce of respect, “Y’all talk funny.”
Luna considered chastising the foal for her disrespect, but quickly decided instead to play along, “Nay, we speak in the long standing royal tradition that when addressing our subjects we use the royal we. Thou are the pony that speaks, funny. So tell us, why are thy plates in the road?”
Again Sarsaparilla giggled. Luna loved the sound and wished to hear more. Unfortunately that would have to wait as Luna finally noticed a black mist clinging to the filly’s ear and... whispering into it.
A shiver slid up the alicorn’s spine as she heard the tiny hissing voice for the first time, “Lie to her, if sshe knew the truthss sshe would hate you. Thiss one will never hate you, just tell them more liess and thiss one will alwayss sstay with you.” It was a sliver of Nightmare Moon's corruption and it was hurting this foal.
Luna was about to speak when Sarsaparilla finally revealed the story of the plates, “I don’t know, ah guess it all started after some of mah momma’s nice plates were broken. Ah told her that it must have been the buffalo stampedin around town. So now they got to leave...”
Luna was no stranger to deception and this filly was obviously listening to the filthy mist clinging to her and growing with every bit of untruth. In a flash of inspiration, Luna bent the dream world to her will and used her magic to take hold of the mist, burning it from existence, still without the truth such a thing would no doubt return, “Sarsaparilla, I have given you freedom from a dangerous parasite, but this creature will return to feed on you unless... “ Luna had to stop. The direct route had not worked at all before. Maybe a little subtlety was the only thing that would truly make things right. “Unless you make things right.”
“You mean y’all want me to tell the truth and get in trouble?”
Luna held her smile on the inside. She couldn’t break character just yet, she had to help this filly help herself, “We did not say that, but you mean to say that what you told us was false? There are terrible consequences for lying to a princess of Equestria. Though you are young, perhaps I shall punish your mother for her inability to raise an honest citizen.”
Fear burned in Sarsaparilla’s eyes, no... no she couldn’t let Princess Luna harm her mother. She tried to awaken, to warn her mother, but Luna had found another amazing power over dreams, she could make them last as long as she needed to speak her piece. She couldn’t run, she couldn’t hide... all she could do was tell the truth, “Ah broke momma’s plates! Ah was scared that she would hate me, but now my friends hate me because I told a lie about them. Please don’t hurt mommy... please Princess Luna... please...” by the first use of the word ‘please’ Sarsaparilla was in tears and her voice full to the brim with unabashed begging.
Luna however smiled warmly at the filly awaiting her punishment. A smile and three words would be all that the fearful pony would receive, “Make it right.” With that Luna was gone and the dream ended, sending Sarsaparilla back to the waking world.
Like last time Luna worked quickly through the other nightmares. Unlike the previous night, Luna actually took the time to truly help the fillies and colts. Finally after a long night of work, Luna stood before her sister’s nightmare and she felt the worst corruption of the night and heard Celestia’s cries of despair. Luna glared and without hesitation entered the dream.
“Tia?” the younger alicorn addressed her weeping sister.
Celestia however heard nothing of this and merely continued sobbing, barely managing to speak through her tears, “Oh Luna... I’m so sorry... I... I was blind to your difficulties and indifferent to your emotional wellbeing. I... I p-promised that I would always take care of you. Truly I am the worst kind of sister to have let you fall into darkness. I am worthless and foul and unworthy of calling you sister.”
Celestia might have gone on if not for the echoing tone of Luna’s royal voice, “SILENCE! WE WILL NOT LET THOU SPEAK ILL OF OUR SISTER!”
The sun princess looked up to see her sister standing tall in all her lost glory. Luna’s ethereal tresses flowed with nonexistent wind and stars and galaxies flowed through her mane and tail. Celestia almost squirmed as she tried to speak, “Luna, I can’t ever make up for what I’ve –”
Again Luna was in a tirade, ready to combat her sister’s fears. “We demanded silence! Thou are not worthless, thou are strong and wise. Thou have remained strong for thy ponies in spite of our betrayal.” Celestia was confused. This was not how her sister normally spoke when they were alone... it was as if Luna were addressing a misbehaving foal. It might be just what she needed. “Thou are not foul, thou are beautiful and just. Most of all sister, you are most certainly worthy of calling me whatever you wish. It is I who is unworthy of your love.”
Celestia was quick to notice the sudden dropping of the royal ‘we’ in her sister’s speech, but even more so she saw the tears streaming from Luna’s eyes suddenly stopped by a look of horror. “Luna? What is –”
The sun princess was once again interrupted, but not by Luna. Instead she heard a hissing whisper in her ear that sought to undo Luna’s work, “No... sshe is lying... you are unclean... unwasshed... un faithful... you threw away your ssisster at the first tasste of worsship... you took her moon and sstill refusse to give it back... when sshe wass banisshed you celebrated her abssence...” It was all so clear now. Luna finally realized that the moon had not refused her embrace; it was Celestia who refused to let it go.
Celestia wept openly, knowing in her heart that these lies were true. Luna of course knew they were nothing more than fabrications meant to break her sister’s spirit and in spite of her sister’s betrayal she would not stand for it any longer, “WE TOLD THOU TO REMAIN SILENT! Foul spawn of Nightmare Moon thou are not welcome in any plane of existence. We are Princess Luna Integrity Starfall, custodian of the night sky and Princess of Dreams! With Celestia Fairweather Starfall as our witness we command you to cease!”
Violent blue magic erupted from Luna’s horn and fiercely tore the black essence of Nightmare Moon into nothingness. It was too easy... no she was not yet done, but the rest could be taken care of in the waking world.
Luna nearly jumped out of bed to embrace her still dreaming sister who was quick to jerk awake at the sudden touch.
“Luna! Was that you? In my –”
“Yes Tia.”
Celestia felt a knot tie itself into her stomach. She remembered all her apathy toward her sister, every moment she should have showered Luna with praise but instead was indifferent. Yet in all this Celestia found she could not hate herself... the self-destructive forces inside her were gone... burned away by her sister’s power. Now she knew what had to be done.
Clenching her eyes and gritting her teeth, Celestia finally addressed the younger alicorn, “Luna, please let me speak. For too long I watched you grow and never told you how beautiful you had become. For centuries I watched you weave the night sky like a tapestry and never took a moment to appreciate it and I ignored you when you needed me most. I cannot change the past, but I tell you this Luna, I will change the future. You have grown into a fine young mare, every night I saw you prepare was far greater than every one of mine combined, and what you have done this night was the most wonderful thing you have ever done. You could have left me to suffer for my crimes against you, but you showed unyielding mercy to a pony you would be justified in seeing as a monster. I kept the moon away from you because I was afraid you would leave me when you no longer needed my help. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you again so I...”
Luna smiled warmly rubbing her cheek against her sister’s before replying, “You are forgiven. I hold no grudge against you Tia. I understand your fears and loneliness, but today will be a new day for us to try again for a better future. Now come sister, let us bring forth the new dawn and begin our future.”
Still stunted in size with a natural mane that did not flow ceaselessly Luna stood proudly on the balcony beside her much taller sister. With a little time left before sunrise Luna spoke, more to herself than Celestia, but she was glad her sister was there to hear it, “I do not like calling it the Nightmare Field. Nightmare Moon will no longer have a hold on what is now my domain. It is my dreamscape and I will protect it and those who dwell within it.”
Celestia smiled at her sister’s speech, but gave her a sour look when she replied, “Well then Princess of the Dreamscape, perhaps you should start your new duties by lowering the moon for the day.”
Luna panicked only slightly as she spoke and began channeling her magic, “Ah! My apologies sister, we did not mean to prolong the night.” With that Luna rose from the balcony spreading her limbs and channeling her magic to embrace the moon. While quite out of practice she found the moon to be quite forgiving as it bowed below the horizon until it was called on again for the night.
Then in a sudden flash of dark blue magic, Luna descended. She was taller than she had been only a moment before, with her mane and tail filled with the light of faraway stars and moving with the ethereal winds of eternity. The smaller alicorn did not notice at all until she was embraced by her elder sister who spoke softly into her ear, “I’m so proud of you Luna. Welcome home.”
