When Luna opened her eyes, she found herself sitting in a bed of hay in a strange building that she didn’t recognize. She turned her head and found that there were other beds filled with patients surrounding her, the majority of which were the ponies that had been with her in the Nightmare castle. She looked around in fear until she caught sight of a stallion wearing a small white hat with a red medical cross on it. He was a tall earth pony, with a dark black coat, and a dark blue mane. His eyes were silver, and his face was full of kindness.

“Oh, good, you’re awake. Forgive me for not giving you the correct respect, your highness, but I have more important matters to attend to. Don’t worry about your friends though, they’ll wake up eventually. I’ll let Hope know that you’re up. She’s been quite worried about you all. You’ve all been out for two weeks.” The stallion smiled.

“Who are you? Where are we? Who’s Hope?” The questions stumbled out of her like a babbling brook. Luna glanced over to the bed next to her and saw her sister, Celestia, unconscious still and with a bruise on her back. "Celestia?" She then looked at herself and also found a few bruises on her. Discord and his filly, Screwball though were nowhere to be found, nor was Twilight, Aurora, Astra, and Spike.

The stallion smirked. “Do not worry, princess of the moon. The sun princess will be fine. The star princess is in a more critical room though, but that was against Hope’s judgment. She says we must wait for her to awaken and give her a choice before we attempt to get rid of the rest of her curse.” The stallion smiled at her as he started to mix a small concoction of herbs in a small bowl. “As for who I am, I am called Eclipse. I don’t believe my name is quite… appropriate, since my father didn’t know of your existence… anyway, I was asked to check up on you all. I’m afraid Hope is tending to some… issues… of her own… I do hope you understand.”

“I don’t… who is this ‘Hope’ you speak of? What happened to us?” She glared at the stallion, not trusting the peaceful surroundings.

The stallion looked down and sighed. Then he approached her with the now green mush that he had concocted. “Take a deep breath. This is going to sting a little. I’ll explain it as best as I can, your highness.” He started to apply the mush to her bruises and he was right they did hurt. She winced. She then noticed his cutie mark. It was a small moon that seemed to block a part of the sun, and yet at the same time, they seemed to be balanced. Eclipse noticed her gaze. “My full name is Lunar Eclipse.” He explained calmly.

“Oh?” Then she realized why he would be a little embarrassed about his name. She had to admit, he looked the part. ‘Not to mention, cute… where did that thought come from? My family had been reunited for the first time in centuries only to be hurt again and I don’t even know what happened! I don’t have time to think about cute stallions!’ Then her eyes widened as she realized the real urgency in her heart. “Oh no, Equestria! The sun and moon can’t be moved without an alicorn’s magic, and even then they have to be powerful! Oh no, the ponies of Equestria must be worried sick!”

Eclipse just laughed softly. “Not to worry. Hope managed to stay conscious and has kept them moving, though it is nearing night time. She’d probably be grateful if you moved the moon yourself, but at the same time worried if you hurt yourself too early.” His smile seemed to charm Luna without even trying.

Luna shook off the though and shakily stood up. “Show me where Hope is and I shall offer my assistance. I refuse to let someone else keep the burden of the moon and stars.”

The stallion looked at her, as though measuring her up to a set of standards. He nodded once and led her past her unconscious family and their friends. As they walked, Luna realized that she was in a hospital of sorts. There were nurse ponies all over the place. Some had fillies in carts to be brought to the nursery and others were pushing medical carts with injured ponies that were ready for surgery.

Lunar Eclipse led her to a room that had a strange symbol on it. Looking at it closely, Luna realized it was her twin sister’s cutie mark, only magnified. The red star that had always shown in the sun half was now clearer and looked like a medical cross. Luna gasped in realization. “That’s why she was always so good with helping others!” She whispered.

Lunar smirked and nodded. He then tapped on the door with one hoof and called in, “Commander Hope, the moon princess has awakened. She wishes to take back her job.”

“Come in, Lunar and Luna. There is no need for titles here, you know that, Lunar.” The voice was soft like the moonlight, but seemed warm like the sunrise in summer.

Lunar opened the door gently and bowed as he allowed the princess in first. Luna’s eyes widened with surprise as she walked in on a pony who looked like she had just been in a war all by herself and had barely survived. The pony had blood crusted wounds, bruises that were far more severe than hers, and bandages on her wings. Aurora just smiled at her sister.

“Hello, Luna. I trust you’re feeling better? I must say, I can understand why only alicorns can raise the sun and moon. It’s quite heavy. Do you mind raising the moon for me? I’ll lower the sun.” Luna could only nod dumbly as her sister’s horn started to glow.

Luna looked out the window and was surprised to find that the sun was indeed lowering, though she had seen her older sister still unconscious in the other room. When the sun was gone, she looked to Aurora who was seemed so tired, yet she kept smiling. Aurora nodded to the window to indicate it was her turn. Luna nodded back. She concentrated on using her powers to raise the moon and to make the stars shine. When she was done, she looked back at her twin.

Aurora sighed in relief and turned to a closed off area. She started using her horn on something that was behind the curtain. “Aurora, what happened? What’s behind there?” Luna asked cautiously. She had yet to see Princess Twilight or young Spike, who she now remembered was larger. She was also worried for Discord and his filly Screwball, now that she thought about it.

Aurora took a quick look behind the curtain and then sighed with a small smile. She looked back at her twin sister. “Luna, if you must know, I blasted Sierra with something most nightmares can’t tolerate, but in doing so, I’m afraid that I accidently dropped my shielding for a few minutes. In those few minutes, you were all knocked unconscious while Spike, Discord, Twilight, Stella, and I were still awake. Stella helped me to take down Sierra while the others protected you all as best as they could. I wasn’t strong enough… Stella had given the final blow and all I could do was jump in front of Spike so he wouldn’t get hurt from Sierra’s final blast… I crashed into him when I was hit, but it’s better than how he would’ve ended up…” She turned her gaze down and tried to hide her tears. She hated that she was the weakest of them all. “Anyway, everyone should be fine now. They’re just tired, save for Discord, Spike, and Twilight. Stella is still in the castle of the nightmares. She defeated her mother, Sierra, so she’s now the queen. It makes sense if you think about it.”

“Aurora, when was the last time you took a rest?” Luna stared at her twin with concern. Her usually golden colored mane was still flowing like Celestia’s with the colors of an Aurora ignited in it. “You look like a wreck, even though your mane is still glowing like an Aurora…”

“I’m fine. Do you mind helping me a little more? I need you to keep watch on Discord. He’s a little banged up, and the ponies are all still a little unsure of how to deal with his form. I suppose I could force him into a pony form, but I’m afraid that it would hurt him more.” She pulled back the curtain slightly with her magic to reveal the dragon of chaos curled up into a ball with his daughter sleeping next to him peacefully. “Screwball stayed up late helping me to take care of him, and well…” Aurora smiled softly. “She wore herself out trying to help. He’ll be fine though. He’s a big boy now, after all.”

Luna looked from her twin to her brother and sighed in relief. Aurora was always able to pinpoint what others needed. “Alright, Aurora, I’ll watch them. Where will you go, though?”

Aurora chuckled lightly. “Why my dear Luna, I’m Hope Healer from the moment I called for the healers’ help. I have to do my part. I’m going to check on Twilight and Spike. Twilight’s been hovering over him since she woke up the other day. I like to think she’s more of his mother than I am.”

“Yet you love him all the same…”

“Of course, just like a real mother, anyone who has been under my care has had my full care and attention, even when there is more than just one to care for.” Aurora started for the door. “Lunar, will you be kind enough to get some breakfast spread around for those who are awake? Discord and Screwball drink chocolate milk, or at least the glass from it, and they love sweets as much as Pinkie Pie if not more, so please, do take that in mind.”

Lunar bowed slightly to the princess of hope. “Of course, Hope. I’ll have it around within the hour.”

“Good, oh and do me a favor and see if you can get the cooks to make a small gem muffin with chocolate for Spike. They’ve been complaining about never getting to try out any gem recipes because all the dragons they know don’t tell them how it was.” Hope smirked as she left the room.

Lunar just smiled then looked back at Luna who was quite surprised, and scared. She had just seen her sister act like she had been in charge of ponies as long as Celestia had. “I’ll be sure some food is sent in here for you as well, your highness.”

Luna snapped out of her stunned look and was now just confused. “Why do you call her Hope? Why not by her title as a princess?”

Lunar blinked in surprise. “I was not aware that she was a princess, but I suppose that that makes sense in a way. She’s never acted like one though… besides, she thinks titles are too formal, especially for a healer like her. She prefers to know everyone and for everyone to know her as Hope, if at all. She is Hope Healer after all.”

Luna thought about this and made a decision. If her twin saw these ponies fit to call her by her “common” name, then why should she be treated any better? “If… if you are going to continue calling her Hope, than can you do me the favor of calling me by my name as well? I refuse to be treated any better than my sister.”

Lunar looked at her with amusement. “Very well, Luna. But I am surprised that you would admit Hope Healer to be your sister. She’s quite… different. Though now that I know she has wings, I guess I’m not all that surprised.”

“She’s my twin sister. Her real name is Aurora Hope.”

“Oh, so that’s why you were calling her that. I was curious about that. What happened to her mane by the way? It’s usually just yellow with some dirt in it when she comes by.” Lunar smiled.

Luna grimaced. “From what Discord and Applejack said… I guess she lost her temper. I’ve never seen it like that before either to be honest. She’s been… missing for the last 1400 years.”

Lunar nodded in understanding. “Well that clears up a few questions. Thank you. I’ll bring you some food soon enough, Luna. Just ask if you need anything. Hope may not like special treatment, but any pony in here would gladly do anything for her.”

“Why though? None of you knew her as a princess.”

Lunar smiled at this. “For that answer, you’d have to ask everypony here. We all have our own answer for that.” He left the room, leaving the princess of the moon very confused.

Author's Note

Hope you don't mind this chapter. It explains things a little better. I'm curious if anyone's even reading this though... Please, let me know what to fix. I don't like silence as it makes me feel unimportant and stupid