A thousand years ago...
The chamberpony began apprehensively... “Your Highness, I found them beside the road as I walked here today. They were just so lovely…”
Luna dashed the vase of sunflowers to the floor in her chambers in Two Sisters castle, sundering it into a million pieces, then crushing the flowers to pulp beneath her hooves. Then, with a flash from her horn, she lifted up and swung the young mare around and into the dark stone wall. The chamberpony slumped to the floor, coughed, tried to rise once before sinking back down.
Luna laughed evilly, as a hysterical edge crept into the chuckling, freezing the young chambermaid’s blood, though it made no difference to the spreading pool beneath her, the stones warming with the flow.
“Hold Our Sister in such high regard, do you, foal? Pray to her now! Perhaps she shall take time from her Day to help YOU!” she snarled, the last word delivered in the Royal Canterlot Voice, twisting into the mare’s psyche. The chamberpony flinched from the hatred in it as the word drilled itself into her kindness.
She stalked from the bedchamber toward the Throne Room, tail high in arrogance…
A moment before Celestia herself entered it by the other door. She gasped at the horror of what she saw, the bleeding mare barely out of fillyhood, the shattered vase, and the torn flowers within the damp puddle of water where the vase had been crushed.
“Child!” she cried, rushing to the mare’s side. “What has befallen with thee?”
We must get her to the Healer. She will die without treatment immediately, she thought.
“Thine Sister, Princess,” she whispered. “I meant no offense…”
Celestia herself teleported the two of them to the Healer’s room. Aghast, she beckoned the stallion closer. “Attend to this one’s injuries, Healer. Be quick, and do what you must. My heart would be crushed and wrung should she die.” Her eyes took in the vigorously bleeding rend, as her aura charged. She then applied her own Magical healing ability, strong, but imprecise, for a brief moment.
“There. Continue the treatments without fail or error. Your skill will stand in good stead here. I have the utmost confidence in your abilities.” She slowly turned to go.
“Princess…are you all right?” the Healer asked, concerned. His Princess had a sad, grim look upon her face.
“Bespeak with me a few moments from now, Healer. For it is a fell errand I must now undertake…”
Celestia plucked up her courage, then teleported from the room, girding herself for a confrontation she was compelled to face…
Five years ago...
“Luna…I’ll be in the Throne Room today, if you need me.”
The white Alicorn, known by many impressive titles she cared little about, stood alongside a second Alicorn. A faded, muddled blue one.
“Sister…will thou’st walk with Us amongst the Gardens? I am sore afraid when We are apart.”
Celestia smiled at that. All the titles attributed to her; most simply variations upon the theme of Sun Princess, and several that were so long-winded and pedantic that she threatened anypony that might use them with a week in the dungeon. Her most favorite though, was the simple but loving term she cared for the most...
Sister.
“Of course, Luna. It’s much more fun, anyway,” she laughed delightedly.
Luna had barely been back a month, in a world so different than when she had left that the young, (relatively) Alicorn was terribly intimidated. Everything had changed. Changed drastically.
The cozy little castle with all the secret rooms and passageways lay in ruins in the Everfree Forest. Instead, Luna found herself in this giant palace, stuck high upon the side of a mountain peak. The second peak alongside was home to flying machines, dirigibles and blimps, various balloons, and pony-powered heavier than air contraptions that Cherry Berry and Pinkie Pie had named helicopters. The side opposite the immense castle and its attending buildings had a flat, smooth table-like plateau, where ponies and families lived, tended small gardens, and made and participated in work, play, and commerce of all types.
Celestia called all of it the Canterlot Canton, a compact, impressive city upon and around the Twin Peaks, ones that many ponies had taken to renaming “The Two Sisters” after them and their old place.
There was even something Celestia had called a ‘train’, where ponies from far and wide rode a machine to come to Canterlot, most for business reasons, but some simply to visit.
Luna had been stunned and astounded into stupefied silence when she first saw it all.
Celestia led them from the large apartment the two of them shared toward the Royal Gardens, their hooves echoing in the large, long halls with stained glass mosaics for windows.
There were actually two apartments, in fact; one for Luna, and a much larger one for her, based on the idea Celestia, as the Day Sister, would have cause to use the anterooms and extra space to entertain, to sporadically conduct meetings, even the occasional tryst, should there be such a need. Celestia had not faulted the architect for designing it that way so many years ago; the Nobility back then designed abodes using such methods, to accost comely mares every chance they got. He assumed it was the same for a Princess.
Celestia had other ideas, though, and had planned accordingly. Upon the return of Luna from her Banishment, the two of them lived together, Celestia providing kind guidance for her younger sibling, and acting as an emotional touchstone. Many of Luna’s personal items had been moved in, to give her reassurance and a sense of belonging in the new home she had never seen before.
The smaller rooms of the other apartment had been revised from their darker, somber colors Princess Celestia found too sobering. Brighter now, it sat unused, filled with graceful curved furniture in white with gold trim, the canopied bed draped in the colors of Celestia’s mane, and the pristine white carpeting hardly trodden upon. Celestia was now of the opinion it would never be used, at least as an apartment. It had another function at present, but not one worth sharing with the dear Sister right now.
Celestia joyously watched Luna take in the various growing things, as Luna floated happily here and there in the Garden, the first real small smile on her face, looking at all the lovely flora gathered from all over Equestria. She even marveled at the Magically supported native environments that allowed some flowers and plants to grow and flourish in the Gardens at all. Tended by skilled horticulturist Unicorns, the dioramas were very striking.
They rounded a corner, as Celestia fortified herself for the coming questions. The ‘verse had decided for her. Today would be the day.
Luna stopped short, the high mountain meadow still banked here and there with small snowfalls, and a statue standing in the center before a bed of bright white blossoms.
She slowly walked toward it. After a brief mental entreaty to whatever Power helped demigoddess Alicorns, Celestia followed, slightly behind and to the right of her Sister.
Luna took in the details of the statue of the Pegasus mare, the slight, gentle smile, the ears lifted in rapt attention, the Cutie Mark…
Of a snowflower, the lacy, almost ethereal beauty of the diaphanous petals, a thing of great beauty in the harsh chill of the mountain meadows. The same blooms on the bed before her.
Luna looked at Celestia, tears in her eyes. “It is her, is it not?”
Celestia nodded quietly, not daring to trust her own voice, as her own eyes began to swim.
Luna lay down amongst the blooms, which supported her with soft springiness. She ran a hoof gently amongst them.
“Oh, Snowdrop…I had missed your gentle voice, your warm, trusting touch so much. My greatest friend…”
The two of them cried, at the grave of Snowdrop…
Later, they walked quietly, shadows lengthening in the hallways, the bright windows holding the remaining light against the growing gloom.
Luna spoke first. “When…?”
“Twelve years or so after Sombra’s defeat.” Luna did the calculation in her head. Nine years after her Banishment. The thought of it twisted in her heart like a cruel knife of ice. Her head lowered in grief.
“She was never a strong pony, Luna. The Healers did all they could, but the infection in her lungs proved too strong.” Celestia kicked a hoof at an errant pebble that had found its way into the empty stone hall; listened to the echoes and watched as it skittered along the floor, and then bounced into a shadow that swallowed it, as if it never existed. “I followed her instructions exactly, laid her there with her favorite flowers, and sustained the environment as she required. It was her wish that I bring you there after your return, when the time was right.”
She nudged closer, now in physical contact with Luna’s side as they walked back to the apartment.
“She did not suffer, did she?” Luna asked sadly. The Garden was just plants, and no longer held any joy for her. She spared only sparse thoughts of them now. Only one place held her mind at the present. A meadow with bright white flowers, and the image of a friend.
Celestia lied.
“No. She passed quietly, without pain.” She withheld the grave, valiant struggle Snowdrop mounted against the coming end, before the night she slept, and did not wake again. There was no reason for subjecting Luna to the full pain of Equestria’s loss of the kind, gentle spirit that named Winter’s Blessing.
Luna had felt the flinch, even suppressed as it was, the tiny tremor before Celesia had spoke, through Celestia’s own body.
So, she thought. Celestia concealed the Truth from her over Snowdrop’s Passing Beyond.
She should have been here for her. For her best friend.
The next day, during one of those idle walks they took on occasion since her return, Celestia had led them to the Library as a distraction for Luna’s somber feelings, as well as to speak with the Librarian and the Docent of Records over a matter. Luna took advantage of the situation by looking up the chamberpony’s lineage in the vast Canterlot Library Archive herself; she found the young mare had married, but her and her mate had not sired any offspring. Curious, she then found the Healer’s own notes regarding her treatment in the library’s Medical section. Celestia always had a pressing need to record and document everything. One just had to spend the time to look. And she had such time.
The injury had been treated by both Celestia, and then himself. The immediate intervention had saved her life, but she had been rendered barren from the injury. She had married, had a wonderful life with her consort and husband…but never bore foals for the both of them.
The sins of her previous life were starting to surmount. First, Sombra. The Invocation of the Nightmare broke him and brought him down, but the Empire disappeared in the process. Thousands simply vanished.
Her jealousy grew each year afterward, as Celestia’s light flourished and grew in the ponies around them. She tried to befriend them, but wherever Celestia walked, Luna’s Night grew feeble and ignored. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried, the blazing light upon her bred true, and enveloped her work to insignificance.
The jealousy and anger took root like a living thing, slowly choking out the kindness of her own heart. Night by night, she felt herself slipping away into the terrifying creature she was becoming.
Then, that fateful, dreadful day came. Her jealousy took firm hold of her heart with terrifying speed. She had flung the lovely flowers to the floor, smashed the vase to flinders, stamped the beauty from them. All because they were Celestia’s favorite. Hatefully, she had then almost murdered the chamberpony for simply being kind to her. The Nightmare, gripping her unyieldingly, then took her to the Throne Room of their Castle. Theirs? NO! Hers! Hers by right! Watch, and See!
It flung the Moon before the Sun, eclipsed the Light, and brought forth the Endless Night. And then, just to remind her of who was in control, the Nightmare warped her into that apparition of itself, Nightmare Moon.
Celestia really did have no choice. Nightmare Moon would have murdered her, destroyed her, left her dead upon the cold granite floor. And anypony else that dared defy her.
Celestia summoned the Elements of Harmony, and against every impulse, every instinct of a Sister, Banished her to The Moon.
To prevent the death and famine of the Eternal Night that would have doomed the entire planet and leave it a barren wasteland.
Like she had done to the chamberpony.
Luna fell on her bed in the apartment sobbing after they came back from the Library. Celestia softly talked to her, sang a few of her favorite songs as a foal, but Luna was inconsolable. Celestia knew there would be moments like this as Luna adjusted, but this one seemed...different.
But even Alicorns cannot cry forever. Eventually, she came to a shuddering stop, though she still faced away from Celestia on the bed. She could not bear to look at the Sister she had also so terribly wronged that day.
“Luna…”
Luna stirred slightly, as a small waterfall of used tissues dripped from the edge of the bed for a moment.
“Yes?” she said, through a small sobbing gasp.
Oh, Sister…how could I have been so cruel?
“Luna…are you all right?” she asked kindly, a gentle hoof rubbing Luna’s back, right between her wings. It always relaxed her, that particular spot.
“I shall be, Celestia. I am just…sad.”
All the pain. All the pain I caused…
The rubbing continued. “Can you spare me for a few minutes? I have to bring the Sun down and raise the Moon. I’ll be right back, I promise.”
“I know.” And she would, too. Celestia would return the moment she was able, no matter what. If she Passed Beyond within those moments, Luna knew with certainty she would find a way to Return to her side and keep that promise.
I am a bad pony. An evil, wicked pony.
I should not have hurt so many.
I should have been here for them.
Kind Snowdrop…I should have been here for you.
“I know you have much to attend to, Sister. I am better, really. I shall just stay here and think. Please, grace Our Subjects with your presence, and help them as you help me,” Luna beseeched.
Celestia smiled. Luna could feel it from behind her. That benevolent smile that raised spirits everywhere.
Everywhere but here.
“Okay. Stay here. I’ll be a little while, a couple of hours or so. Rest. We can talk later, if you like.”
Luna nodded, the waterfall briefly reappearing. Celestia chuckled.
“And then we can clean this place up!” She swept the trashcan up in her aura, held it at the edge of the bed as she swept the tissue wave into it. It then flew it to its accustomed place by the dresser. “I can have a warm bath drawn, if you like…”
“Yes. Yes, Thank You, Sister. I feel I could use one, to calm myself. Please, call for one.”
“As soon as I shift the Sun and Moon. Take your time. I’ll straighten out any problems and give some ponies a few minutes audience. A couple hours should do it. Will that be enough?"
“More than adequate, Celestia. Thank You.”
More than adequate.
A plan was forming in her mind.
She had time. Time enough to make amends. Time enough for the penance of her mortal sins.
Celestia chuckled again as she left, closing the bedroom door behind her. The apartment door followed shortly after, the bolt clicking into place.
Luna gave it three minutes, and then leapt from the bed. Walking rapidly to the chamber door, she listened intently.
Silence greeted her ears.
She walked over to the small writing table, the one she had when they lived at Two Sisters Castle, and Celestia had brought here to Canterlot.
She found the key block, pushed it out; then slid the left side of the desk open.
Using her aura, she lifted out the book hidden there, and placed it on the desk. She had been terribly weak after her return, and needed to slowly recover her strength in Magic. She was regaining her power, but still far weaker than what she had been before Banishment. But she should have enough Magic for this...
She opened the book with her aura, flipped through pages to a particular one…
“Tantibus.” She scanned the paragraphs.
The Book of Dreams was hers. Celestia had no power here between these covers. Luna herself had done much of the research, following the bread crumbs left by Unicorns who gleaned small glimpses into Her World of the Night. Over the decades, she defined and refined the spells within.
The tantibus was no different. She had used it as a sort of ‘stalking horse’; as she winced at the pun, to learn to disperse nightmares. Only today, she would use it to provide them.
Nightmares she deserved.
The Punishment she had earned.
Retribution to remind her of what she had wrought, and to never take that path ever again.
Her nightmares. Every night. For as long as she lived.
There was a danger here. The tantibus she Invoked must be small enough to escape Celestia’s and the Aurors’ notice, or they would come and interfere. And yet still be strong enough to have the proper effect.
Luna charged her aura, whispered the spell…
In the Throne Room, Celestia felt the tiny rumble, the minute spark in one of the ley lines beneath Canterlot Castle. Her head lifted.
“Excuse me a moment,” she said to the Unicorn she had been arguing calmly with about privileging the Canterlot Royal Peerage Academy, and their wanting the lion’s share of the new Library wing. Celestia herself wanted it for the preservation of records regarding The Elements of Harmony. She was letting the stuffy old stallion wind up and run the whole litany why the Peerage needed the space, the historical significance of the Barony and Duchy, anon, anon, anon, before she flatly told him ‘No’. They were slowly disappearing from Equestria as it was, and the new classless society taking its place was far better for everypony, anyway. But the grizzled old gent at least deserved to make his case.
Celestia tracked the blip back to the Royal Apartment. Frowning, she unbolted the door, then went to Luna’s room and opened that one as well.
“Luna?” she called, a bit of apprehension in her voice. Was she…
A gentle, inquisitive moan, followed by a great yawn came from the bed. “Yes, Celestia? I believe I may have dozed off. Is something amiss?”
“I thought I…” Celestia frowned slightly as she looked around. Nothing appeared out of place. “No. I suppose I must be mistaken. I felt a…”
She looked at Luna. The face stared back sleepily.
“Never mind. I’m almost finished. Should I send for the bath now?”
“Please do, Sister. I’d like that. Before bed.”
Celestia nodded, smiled as she closed the door. But she still had a small frown of worry as she left to order the bath drawn…
That night…Luna faced the horror of her past given complete free rein. It had started with the chamberpony. The darkness of the Eternal Night. Her delicate steps as she strode over the torn body of Celestia, dead upon the floor from her horn’s Magic and the fall. She stabbed her with it, just to make sure. The fear in everypony’s eyes.
And later, the dying of the crops and foodplants from the darkness. War. Famine. Cannibalism. Her presiding over the fall of all of Equestria upon a throne of skulls. Funeral pyres lighting the night as pestilence spread.
Nightmare Moon laughing through it all...
Present Day...Two Weeks Ago...
And so it went. Almost every night, for almost five long years. Every time she learned to bear up under the horrific images, they would come back with some new atrocity the next night. Luna walked the night dreams helping others, rather than visit her own. But in the moments between, the tantibus waited to take her into her horrors.
Then that night.
Luna had attended several meetings with Celestia that day, as Princess Twilight Sparkle put pen to parchment, and the treaty with the Yaks was signed. The Diarchy also signed the treaty, and then mediated with Cadence some sorely needed trade agreements. More than a few Yaks were put off to find that a few of their ‘perfect’ things were not quite so perfect when the reality of what Crystal Empire and Equestria under the Diarchy had accomplished. Even Prince Rutherford begrudgingly had to recognize Canterlot had cake much better than the traditional Yak one…
Celestia chuckled warmly at that.
Princesses Cadence and Twilight left for their homes, Cadence taking the train, (Luna knew it wasn’t because of a dearth of flying skills. Cadence really liked trains, especially that crystallized monstrosity of hers), and Twilight winging it back to Ponyville.
Her fatigue forced her to bed early. And an old nemesis came calling…a righteous infliction of retribution, manifested by an appropriate agent. As she had Invoked it.
Then the unexpected rescue by the Six, in their Rainbow Power personas, in a nightmare without possibility of rescue. The message from Ponyville, and her arrival there in distress. The tantibus, growing more powerful, trying to tear into reality. Everypony from Ponyville coming to her aid.
And the wise words of the Princess of Friendship that saved her.
Twilight had saved her twice. That Nightmare Night just after her return. And once again against the tantibus.
Today...
Luna closed the manuscript she had been writing in, yawned again, stretched tired muscles. The Moon was abed, and Celestia’s Sun was now coursing the sky.
The story was written, the lessons learned. All that was behind her now, the last Nightmare that night now two weeks ago. She glanced again at the lovely day outside the window, as Princess Twilight Sparkle, leading as she was wont to do, passing by on the pretty, trim path, followed by the rest of the Six. Rarity and Applejack were in serious discussion, both with stern looks on their faces. Rainbow Dash was again exhorting Fluttershy to get some altitude as she zipped by, with Fluttershy barely maintaining enough height to keep from dragging her hooves, a small look of consternation as she concentrated on the path in front of her. Pinkie Pie bounded by…smiling brightly at Luna in her window, before skidding off enough velocity to begin chattering Twilight’s ear off.
Luna smiled brightly, nodded as she drew the blinds closed.
She had thought what she had done was make a promise. To never allow the Nightmare loose upon others. To punish herself for her sins. And it had worked…for a while. Or so she thought.
But self-loathing wasn’t a solution. It was entrapment as bad as Nightmare Moon. Guilt was a good tool to learn from, but not to live by. Help from friends wasn’t weakness in her character, but strength in theirs that they needed to share.
She whispered to a friend in her memory…
“Snowdrop…I promise you, wherever you may be…I will be as kind as you were, to everypony I meet.”
Luna drew a deep breath.
“Including myself.”
Time for bed.
Pleasant dreams.
