Empire of the Equestrians

Princess Luna looked worriedly down on the scroll she had just received. The seal was without doubt the royal seal that, beside herself, only her sister Celestia is allowed to use. The scroll began to float in front of the Princess. Luna noticed that the seal itself had still a bit of warmth left. She carefully broke it in the middle, with the intention to cause as little damage to it as possible.

The scroll unfolded itself and revealed the message that Princess Celestia had written for her sister. Luna read it through once and shook her head. Than she read it a second and third time to ensure herself that she didn't misunderstand  anything her sister wrote:

"Dear Sister, you are in great danger

A small group of three ponies came today with outrages demands. They wanted to imprison you again! They are afraid that you turn back to Nightmare Moon. But we both now know that this is rather unlikely.

But what is much more worrisome is the fact that they apparently know about the minor transformations as well. That could only mean one of two things.

First of all some of the palace's personnel could be part of their movement. This is rather likely seeing that some of the palace's servants react frightened in your presence. And not all secrets can be kept forever with so many ponies around.

Second is that their network reaches further out than any other that is known to us. They might have sent ponies to the north where you were seen transforming.

Either way, they know many things and they might as well be aware that the Elements of Harmony are necessary to imprison you again. I don't think that Twilight Sparkle would use them against you as long as you aren't obviously against me. I will make sure that this won't happen.

I don't think you need to worry too much as long as you are in Plenaris, but remain careful in Equestria and around anypony that is not from Plenaris. They might be against you and they might want to hurt you.

Your Sister Celestia"

Still sitting on the cushion Luna always sat on when she was working for the daily businesses of Plenaris she let the scroll float on the small table in front of her. Her mind was wandering of towards her sister. Luna was well aware that this message was not only supposed to warn her. It was supposed to hide the fact that her sister Celestia was endangered as well. If three ponies could simply vanish and leave the castle they might also be able to appear in the castle.

That she was supposed to behave herself was clear to Princess Luna, not only because she was endangered of being imprisoned again. It would take quite some time to redeem herself of the name of her dark side and this would not work if she would openly use the dark powers she had been granted with. That her dark side tried to resurface was no help at all.

"Guards" Luna called out and waited only a short amount of time before two armoured stallions entered the room, ready to battle and with confusion shining through on their faces. "Don't worry, there is no threat." Luna said and could see how the tension fell off the two stallions. "I need you to prepare some defences around each city. Raise the guards on duty and if necessary build some towers. We might face some terrible times if what my sister has told me with her letter is true."

The two guards nodded slowly and went outside. Luna could hear them whisper and she could not suppress the smirk on her face, only distort it to a terrible antic. If somepony would have seen her they would have shivered in fear if not screamed. Luna's teeth had become sharp. It was her anger showing through. The anger towards those infidels that dared to threaten her sister.

"We need to prepare more than defences" a whisper in Luna's head told her. "If there are really ponies threatening our sister, we need to attack. With all of our power. We need to show them that what they feared really has returned."

"No", Luna thought back. "If we do this, they will only gather more supporters and not only I will be banished, but also my sister would face consequences far worse than death. What we need to do at the moment is wait and prepare. Rushing anything will only make things worse."

"True, but if we wait to long than our enemy will have grown too strong for us to defeat."

"We are not alone. If we can convince the Elements of Harmony to stand alongside us we might even succeed in resolving this problem without any shed blood. But we need to at least ensure that they don't stand against us. If they do, then our enemy has the strongest weapon known to ponykind in it's hooves. And this paired with their goals would be disastrous. We need to prevent this from happening. Even if they won't stand on my side, they should stand on my sister's."

"And what makes you so sure about that? What makes you so sure that the Elements of Harmony won't be turned against you and your sister?"

"Because Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic, is the student of my sister and adores her as nopony in the last millennia has done. Or have you forgotten of this already?"

"I haven't. But this is no guarantee. It is a hope that might be wrong as it might be true. Do not forget this."

"I won't" she assured her other side.

After that, Luna remained quiet and thought about the situation that she and her sister were in. She didn't notice the young priestess entering and speaking to her. Only at the waving motion of Moonprayer's hoof in front of her face would she notice that her own student had tried to get her attention.

"I am sorry princess but I noticed the guards hurrying towards the scribe offices and I got worried." the young mare told the still slightly confused princess in front of her. "Are there any problems I should be worried about?"

The princess looked at the priestess and was about to send her away without informing her. The significance of the letter not only for her but for Plenaris itself let her change her mind. "There is indeed a problem. It seems that my sister was threatened." The princess waited for the moment the gasp of the young priestess lasted. "And it was mainly about me being to powerful after just being freed from the evil inside. Which, as we both know, is not entirely true. They want me to be either under strict surveillance of my sister or banished again. Else they would rebel against the throne."

It was apparent that Moonprayer was shocked but she tried to remain calm and simply nodded before she answered. "And how did your sister reply? I don't think that she would simply banish you again."

The warm smile that appeared on Luna's face due to Moonprayer's estimation of Celestia's reaction surprised Moonprayer a little. So did the sorrow in Luna's voice. "No, she decided to neither banish me nor to imprison me within our own castle. She has decided that I could remain here." A sigh escaped Luna's lips before she continued. "And I think that would be the wisest course of action. Remain calm and try not to provoke any aggression from the Equestrian inhabitants. And keeping my full power hidden from those that fear I could lose control over them again."

Moonprayer looked on the ground. She herself was afraid to lose the princess again even though the loss she feared was of a different kind. As far as she was concerned the darkness inside her liege and mentor was not something that could raise as it likes. It has to be triggered by strong, negative feelings. Something like envy or solitude or anger. The anger of somepony important being threatened, for example. Moonprayer raised her head again. "Is there any way I can help you or your sister?"

Again Luna smiled and she had already tilted her head to the left when she stopped the motion as she was thinking. "Maybe you could help my sister. But that would mean that you had to leave Westbrucke and your husband behind for some time and that I cannot support. You are needed here not only as a wife but also as a leader. And you are pregnant. You would want your husband to see his son or daughter as soon as possible, wouldn't you?"

Moonprayer simply nodded. She was not capable of answering as she sobbed and a tear ran down her cheek. Princess Luna stood up and embraced the crying pony as she was thinking of a way for Moonprayer to support her in any way. None wanted to come to her mind. "Go home my student and rest for a bit. Many tasks will come that will need your full concentration, I am certain of it. But for now you may rest. I will approach you if I required your assistance."

And as Moonprayer left the office of her mentor a trio of shady, hooded ponies was galloping through the dark alleys of Canterlot. Their way lead them to a small, wooden door hidden behind a curtain that was torn and seemed to hang there since the beginning of the Princesses rule. Inside was a room bigger than it would seem on the outside and with a symbol burned in it's ground. The symbol was a cage inside the moon. The moon itself was engulfed by the sun.