Author's Note

Back again, and that means more story, so enjoy.

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

-Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Princess And Human

“Surely you jest,” Princess Luna waved a hoof in naivety. Hearing that Celestia did something of that caliber was laughable, sad even. And for this. . .Human to talk about so it easily made her question if anything he said held any truth. “I know that there were some differences between the Equestrian Humans and Equestria when it was young, but never something of that magnitude would occur as a result of my sister’s mental negligence.”

Twilight watched on intently, not really wanting to step in, if she could help it. Princess Luna was still very much adjusting to the world she was thrust into after her being freed from the shackles of Nightmare Moon, so she figured she would be a tad bit skeptical about most things. Twilight also noticed, however the almost pedestal that Luna put Celestia on, even with all that happened.

If only she was present at Town Hall when Princess Celestia came to town.

Duncan blew a breath of hot air out his nose as he stood and listened to Luna defend her sister, which he understood as she was probably numb or blind to her true intentions. He figured that or she was just that stupid or playing alongside her sister to possibly skewer him with a long spiked stick.

The gleam in her eyes and the firm conviction in her she spoke told him a bit about her from what Twilight accounted with her friends. Luna seemed to be so small, so mildly underwhelming, and she often blinked a bit too much when talking about her sister contrary to what she was saying about her. Duncan still waited with his defense up; he needed to get information, and the only person who actually could have an immediate answer could also be a great enemy if she already was not. “I have no reason to lie,” Duncan informed Luna as she looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

“You must understand; for one such as you to come out of the blue and proclaim what you do, and as you are a Human who was not born in Equestria, no less! How can I be so certain to believe your words over that of my sister?” Luna asked him, pointing a hoof to him as his heart jumped a few paces. Duncan had the gall to accuse Celestia of-

“-She basically fucking told me that I was a monster; that I would defile, kill, and lie to survive in this world, but there’s one problem with her claim; she said that on the first day she saw me! After almost cracking my skull in two!” Duncan begun to get a bit heated, not liking the look of anger grow on Luna’s face as her nostrils flared and her mane and moved around quicker that what he considered normal. “She told of Twilight and her friend right in front of me! Your sister is batshit crazy, and you just don’t know it yet!”

Luna stood up, approaching Duncan, who also moved away from the tree to close the gap, the pair looking each other almost in the eye at the same level, though Duncan was a bit taller and had to crane his neck down a tad to meet her gaze. “Do not presume to call my sister crazy when you do not know her!”

Duncan’s anger pushed him a bit as he pushed Luna back a tad, the action surprising both Luna and Twilight as Duncan all but growled in her face, almost touching noses as he saw, for the moment due her speaking like her; Celestia.

And Duncan wanted to hurt Celestia more than anypony right now.

“I know enough to know that she’s been off her rocker for a good minute, and you just haven’t seen it in however long you’ve been alive, and you probably couldn’t see shit banished on the moon for a fucking millennium! By your own sister, no less!” Duncan’s word made Luna step back and shudder. She didn’t want to think about that; back to those days of solitude, pain, and regret. It hurt, every day she couldn’t try and fix what she did; to apologize.

“Ahhhhhh!” Luna charged Duncan, pressing him back up against the tree with her forehooves, the sudden push almost cracking Duncan’s head against the wood if not for him catching himself so just his back impacted the tree.

“Oh, no. This doesn’t look good,” Twilight began to walk over to attempt to defuse the situation, only to hear something that made her stop; made her thoughts pause and for her to slowly piece stuff together.

“Y-You don’t know e-every-SNIFF!-thing.~” Luna begun to cry, fighting so desperately to hold back her tears, only to fail. Luna was upset, angry, confused; and possibly, most of all. . .she could be wrong. “Y-You claim to know, but you have not even lived one of either mine or my sister’s lifetime to make your claim. Being nigh-immortal is nothing short of a headache, and a constant barrage of watching those who we loved and cherished to pass away to the ravages of time.”

Duncan understood that point enough as it was; being older than literally everyone else and outliving them would bring it’s fair share of issues, but he knew that Luna had to be lying to herself when it came to his people and what happened, which she failed to go into detail about.

Luna wiped her tears, keeping him pressed against the tree as he had made no move to get out of the bind, only to find out more about what happened so long ago, and what could found that was lost.

“You’re right, Princess Luna, I don’t know everything; I may not even know some things, but what I do know is that there is something not right with your sister.” Duncan said, catching her attention at the gentle tone of his voice. She looked confused on why he spoke so softly to her. “And I’m sorry that I made you cry, but I do know that you know that what I said is kinda true. Or prove me wrong.”

But she had to be seeing things; she had to. It didn’t make any sense for her sister to act rashly, especially after all this time; it seemed unnatural. Celestia’s mind was always the sharper of the two of them, magic always the more powerful, words spoken much more eloquently, and love for what she symbolized to be greater than the moon.

She. . .she thought back to a few weeks ago when her and Celestia conversed about magic. There was a certain air about Celestia that Luna vaguely sensed but failed to mention anything about. Luna chalked it up to just be the nerves of the Day Court getting to her as that was taxing in itself. She could understand that.

Than there was the time she ventured the halls, and heard certain sounds throughout the night before she escaped to the Dream Realm; it sounded of something not of this world, resembling clanking train tracks and high pitched noises. It was a wonder none of the maids were woke.

And even further back before her banishment, she could see the subtle signs that Celestia had changed in some regard, but any question of that was saved as times back then were more uncertain than were in the present day.

Never had she thought to question it, never had she wanted to, whether fear of something happening to her, or for their subjects.

Luna remained quiet about few things, all this time. Luna lowered her head a bit, being mindful to turn her head to the side a bit so her horn wouldn’t poke Duncan at all. Her mind away with uncertainty, growing into a small headache that almost consumed her as she racked her brain of all possible instances where something like what Duncan mentioned could have happened, when it got to be too much, all sound around her drowned out.

“Princess Luna,” Duncan called out, his voice muffled to her as she groaned and winced.

Luna backed away from Duncan, walking a few feet away as her heart began to race, flashbacks of her time as Nightmare Moon coming back to her in full force; how she hurt Celestia, hurt herself, and what the darkness did to her; how it sapped her strength when she did not comply, it held her right and kept her awake so many times, and the power it returned in spades once she gave in.

But she could still very much remember the almost gleeful look in Celestia’s eyes as she sent her away with the Elements of Harmony. As if she was delighted to finally be rid of her sister.

“Nghh!” Luna fell onto the ground as Duncan looked on with a curious look, a part of him telling himself to do something versus standing there. Looking back to Twilight, she threw him a sheepish look and gestures to Luna’s direction.

“Great help, Twi,” Duncan muttered, figuring much wouldn’t be done, but he took his cloak and walked over, carefully draping it over her as her shaking slowly stopped. “Princess, are you ok?”

Luna was too far gone in her own mind to properly respond, she was too far down the rabbit hole of conflicted emotions. Celestia was her sister, her family, and the pony who almost had all the answers to whatever questions she had.

But now, she questioned every part of that; she wasn’t sure. Ask Celestia? Take Duncan’s word for it?

But Duncan was a Human; an Origin Human, no less. He had no real idea about how Equestria functioned, not since the Equestrian Humans were almost all killed off.

Right?

“Luna.” Duncan said, her mind calming down for just a moment; long enough for her to hear him. She would need to hear something to really. “When was the last time you saw a Human besides me?”

Luna looked at Duncan, the cloak providing her with a bit of warmth from the wind. She begun to think about the last Human she saw. . .

Which was about 3, maybe 4 days before she became Nightmare Moon.

1,000 years ago.

“Before I became Nightmare Moon,” Luna responded as Twilight dared to come closer, but a hand gesture to get her stop had her stop her charge.

“Which was a millennia ago. Tell me; have you seen any since you’ve been back? Any indication or mention? Anything?”

Luna shook her head, of course not. The Equestrian Humans were exposed a sickness that killed most of them off, and the remainder had to flee to a different region in order to escape the sickness and preserve their race. That’s what Celestia’s story about it was once Luna came back.

“Bullishit,” Duncan called as Luna explained to him, the look of passive indifference on her face as she listened. “Something is going on, and if I can be honest; you were probably too scared to actually think of it before another in the event-“

“-I was wrong,” Luna finished his sentence. What Duncan proclaimed were very serious accusations, and the punishment for any deceit would be grand. She didn’t know why, but a part of her felt the same as Duncan; knowing there has to be more to it than meets the eye, but being the younger sister of the one who banished her in the first place complicated things to a certain degree. “Give me one good reason why I should even consider trusting you.” Luna said, wanting to make sure of whatever is was that the two of them would do would be for the pursuit of finding out the truth.

“Because if you retaliate in any way, you know you couldn’t bring yourself to hurt me; it would ruin the image that you’re already trying to build. I want the truth just as much as you, Princess, but I can’t get it without your help,” Duncan took a seat on grass with her, rubbing the grass between his fingers and feeling the slightly damp blades give way at his touch. “I may be a jerk, but I can see when someone is trying to appear strong because they’re scared.”

Luna laughed, not mocking, but in surprise. He was able to gather all that just from conversation with her? Somepony he’s never met? How would he know? “Pray tell, how did you come to that understanding?”

Duncan looked ahead at the night sky and hmmed to himself, taking his time to find the right way to word what he wanted to say. He would only have one chance to convince her. “You seemed pretty eager to let your emotions go; you got teary-eyed pretty quick. I’d like to think you wear your heart on your shoulder, or am I wrong?”

Luna observed Duncan in every sentence he spoke; he sounded almost passionate about what he told her, from the the look of assurance in his eyes as he all but demanded her help. It was poetic, in a way.

Sitting on her haunches and bringing the cloak closer to her, Luna had to admire Duncan for the moment; he certainly had fortitude to challenge her and her sister and to highlight things way beyond the scope of his understanding. “You are . . .good-natured, for a Human,” Luna chuckled a bit, watching Duncan jokingly get offended.

“I resent that statement; Humans are the best.”

“At what?” Luna asked, matching his crap-eating grin.

“Being the worst.” Duncan replied, sharing in a laugh as the mood turned to something good from its mild hostile one. “So, will you at least hear me out? I wouldn’t come out of the blue saying this.”

Luna signed, shaking her head and throwing caution to the wind. She didn’t know why, but Duncan seemed more of a mature Human than the ones she encountered in the past, and she would like some form of clarification on some of the events that she should have given a second to. “It will not be easy, and we may even be wrong. . .are you prepared?”

Duncan knew the answer was no, but he would still go at it in spite of it all.

“As ready as you’ll be,” Duncan smirked. “And if we’re wrong, you can throw me in the dungeon.”