Princess Luna stared at the empty hall. The night goddess sighed. It had been three years since the incident, and yet she could still visualize it like it was yesterday. The yelling, the guards bursting in her room, interrupting her slumber, and the blood. She winced and threw up in her mouth at even the thought of that much blood. Still staring down the large hall, she hesitated to take her post, instead wanting to be lost in the memory...
It was a normal day in Canterlot. The nobles were up and about, chatting away about whatever rumor was being spread at the time, the current one being that Princess Celestia was engaged to a cake. High above in the Castle, Celestia was going about doing her morning routine. She was currently reading some paperwork about a newly planned bridge being built to span the entirety of the ocean, connecting them with Saddle Arabia. She heard the door squeak open. Looking up, she saw her sister with a worried expression on her face.
"Sister, there is a matter of great importance that I must talk to you about immediately!" Luna said.
"Can you wait for just a second sister? I need to speak to some engineers about a very important project that will bring much needed trade with Saddle Arabia." Celestia shook her head, and walked over to her sister.
"No! This needs to be addressed now! The life of your student is at stake!" Luna yelled, causing the sun goddess to stop in her tracks. She paused for a moment, wondering if this meeting about the bridge is worth risking the life of her student. Making her decision, Celestia spoke up.
"Alright sister, what's going to happen to Twilight?" Celestia said, worried about her student. She viewed Twilight like a daughter to her, and would do anything to protect her.
"I've heard some reports from the night council saying that there is an assassin inside the walls of Canterlot!" Luna replied.
"There are rumors of assassination everyday here sister. What proof do you have of this?" Celestia demanded.
"Here, I have this for you. It's a signed petition of several of the more sketchy nobles calling for the literal termination of Twilight Sparkle; that was recovered by my elite recover squads." Luna said, pulling the parchment out of her saddle bag. Celestia studied the note, her face changing from worried, to furious.
"This needs to be stopped now! Luna, tell the guards that they're working overtime until we catch these bastards! Once you bring them in, I'll put them to death; the reason being that they were conspiring against the Crown!" Luna said nothing, nodding her head instead. She was too shocked that her sister called her by her first name, something that rarely ever happened. She ran out of the room, not wanting to see her sister in such a nuclear furry. She shook her self to get the sweat off, the room got hotter as anger sisters' furry grew. Running towards the guards office, she nearly bumped into an oblivious Shining Armor walking at her.
"Woh there Princess. What's got you rushing like this?" He asked.
"Shining, I've uncovered a plot to kill your sister. Under Princess Celestia's orders, round up the guards,put them in front of every door, and make sure that a guard is with Twilight at all times!" Luna said, trying to catch her breath. The captain of the guard was aghast, stepping back to try and make sense of it all. An attack on his younger sister? Not on his life. Even though the young foal annoyed him every now and then, he made it his life's mission to protect her at any cost.
"I understand. I'll call all the guards and tell them of the situation. These nobles must be brought to justice before this happens!" He said.
"Oh thank you so much for taking this with the upmost importance! You all will be repaid greatly."
"You don't need to do that Princess. I'm just doing my job protecting my sis. Also, you need to get your sleep Princess. No offense, you're a mess right now, and it's not just your mane. Twilight will be safe with us, I'll make sure of it!" Shining said, radiating with confidence.
"Thank you again for your service to Equestria!" Luna said, taking off towards her room. Making her way towards her bed, she sighed. It was already a long day for her, and the sun hadn't even been all the way in the sky yet. Magically pulling the covers from her bed, she threw herself onto her bed, not putting the covers back on, and peacefully went to sleep.
That day passed over quite peacefully. Word got out quickly that the Princess was furious about something, so she wasn't bothered by any nobles. She didn't even leave the castle, instead walking over to Twilight's room, deciding to spend the whole day there. As the sun set and it was getting close to Luna's time, she embraced the young foal.
"Teacher, will when will we get to teleportation?" The young Twilight asked.
"I promise that we'll get started on it tomorrow." The princess replied. She smiled, seeing her student's eyes widen in awe and wonder. Leaping out of her teachers hands, Twilight was screaming and jumping for joy around her teacher, causing the Princess to shed a tear of joy. The door opened, causing Celestia to jerk her head sideways. It was her brother, standing in his newly donned Captain of the Guard armor.
"Princess, I would like to talk to you about the days progress." Shining said, looking more relaxed. Twilight ran over towards her brother, leaping into his hoofs.
"How was work today brother?" She asked.
"It was very... tense. I have to work overtime, so we can't play tonight." He tried being as vague as possible, not wanting to panic his sister.
"Aww! But when are we going to play Pillow-Fort Wars?" She whined at him. Shining just rolled his eyes, ignoring his younger sister's tone, though he still managed to let out a chuckle.
"We'll play it tomorrow when I get off of work." She said nothing, instead nuzzling her brother, then hopped off towards her room.
"So, how did things go today?" The princess asked.
"Things went pretty smoothly. Your anger caused the nobles to stay home today, and we even caught two of the offenders!"
"Great work as always Captain. Have they said anything yet?"
"Not that I'm aware off. Those buckers are extremely tough to break. As far as I know, we've just started to move on to more... advanced forms of torture." Shining lowered his head in shame. He hadn't wanted to use that much force, but he figured that to protect Twilight, he had to use illegal forms of torture.
"They should break eventually. Thank you for the report. I will call your guards in the morning to see how progress went." Celestia said. She walked away as Shining bowed in respect.
Luna awoke in a cold sweat. She darted from her bed down towards Twilight's room. She thought she heard a loud scream for only a brief second. She ran even faster, hearing for the worst. When she got towards Twilight's room, she stopped for a brief second in horror. She saw the former captain of the guard, now dead in a pool of blood, and with a sharp knife piercing through his breastplate. Running into the room, she saw the once bubbly, bright student, now laying limp in the middle of the room. The offender turned around, shocked at her presence.
Luna in a loud wail, caused the ceiling to collapse around the noble, one of the tiles crushing his head, instantly killing him. Turning around at the sound of clamping hooves, she saw her sister staring at her late student, equally shocked. Celestia ran over Luna, holding the now lifeless foal in her arms. Rocking her back and forth, the sun goddess nuzzled her former student, tears now streaming down her face.
"Tia..." Luna started to say. Her sister raised her head, and gave her a glare that even made the Night Mare's knees buckle.
"Get out now! I want to be left alone!" Her sister's voice booming across the room, causing it to shake even more. With tears in her own eyes now, Luna sprinted out of the room, and back into her bed, not wanting to do her duties that night.
"Sister." Luna snapped out of her memories. Turning around, she saw her sister standing next to her.
"Tia... How are you feeling tonight?" She asked solemnly.
"I'm in the same mood as you are. I know it's hard to get over this. Trust me, I know; but you must get over it and do you duty!" Celestia was being straight up front. It had been three years to the day of the incident, and she's had to raise both the sun and the moon.
"I know sister, but I still can't forgive the colt who did this. He took our pride away from us. Twilight was like a little niece to me, sister. How can I ever forgive him?" Luna started to break down in tears. Her sister went over to her, and put a hoof on her shoulder. Looking down at her sister with compassion beaming from her eyes, Celestia comforted her sister.
"Look, I know it's very hard to get past this. Heck, I've just recently forgiven this... monster for what he did. But you have to forgive him too. It is the first step in healing from tragedy. You must promise me that tonight you'll start to forgive him!" Celestia begged her sister.
"You're right sister. For too long I've held onto this grudge that's made me a shell of my former self. I need to be strong. I need to be strong for the both of us, and for Equestria." Luna stopped crying now. Standing up, she fixed her statue and turned around back to the hall.
"Great! Now will you start raising the moon again, in Twilight's memory?"
"Yes, I shall sister. For us, for Equestria, and for Twilight I will start to get over this!" She walked towards the skyline, and took in a deep breath, and for the first time in three years, she raised up the moon.
