Forgive, but not Forget

by Fret

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Princess Luna, Drama
Length: 5637

Set after the events of 'Do Princesses dream of Magic Sheep?'. Twilight pays a visit to Luna to talk about something Luna thought she'd already fixed.

After the events with the Tantabus, Luna thinks she's got everything under control. However, when Twilight drops in to pay her a visit, she starts to question her own actions.

Published 2015-10-03 19:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-11-02 20:26:47 UTC

Help Me

Luna’s eyes darted left to right, too quick for the words on the paper to keep up. She let out a long sigh, before carelessly closing the book and pushing it off of her bed. She heard it land onto the floor below, before she let herself flop onto her pillow. It being daytime, she hadn’t anything to do. She could leave her room and socialize with the ponies either in the castle or Canterlot itself, but with the recent events that had happened… No. She was not about to do such a thing.

“Uuugh…” She let out a frustrated groan, then flipped over on her other side - away from the door. She stared at her wall intently, somehow fascinated by the colour that she saw every day and night, until she was jerked away from her thoughts by a loud knock. Well, it wasn’t actually loud, but compared to the sound in her room, or lack of, yes, it was.

At first, she didn’t answer, for she was unsure to what she should say to whoever was on the other side. But when the knocking sound returned, a voice came with it.

“Princess Luna, are you in there? It’s me, Twilight.”

Luna immediately jolted up from her bed, whipping her head around to the door. However, she still didn’t answer.

“Okay, good, just checking.”

Luna raised a brow in confusion when Twilight said that, also opening her door despite having not received an answer.

“Good morning to you too,” Luna grunted, annoyed that the mare had invaded her privacy without her say-so.

“...It’s the afternoon,” Twilight stated. Luna’s eyes widened as she glanced at the clock for the first time in, from what she had now figured out, hours.

“...Oh.” Luna blinked. “Well, um… what is it that you need so badly, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight stared at her for a few moments, making her uncomfortable, before answering,

“To talk to you.”

“Okay…? What about?” The dark mare shifted over on her bed and motioned her friend to come and sit, to which she accepted. Twilight hopped onto her bed and sat opposite the older princess, then opened her mouth.

“Are you okay?” she asked. Luna tilted her head, again, confused.

“What?”

“Please just answer the question.”

She squinted at the mare, before sighing.

“Of course I am, thank you for asking,” she replied, nodding to her. Twilight just deadpanned, causing Luna’s new-found smile to disappear.

“Are you sure?”

Luna scrunched up her muzzle. “Yes, Twilight. I am.”

“What about? You’re sure, or you’re fine?” Her eyes narrowed a little as she said this. Luna gave an aggressive snort.

“Yes, Twilight, I’m fine!” She tensed up, her aqua gaze slicing into magenta.

“Okay, tell me what’s wrong.”

Luna was silent. Twilight’s expression still didn’t change.

“Please, Luna, you can trust me.”

Luna’s tensed muscles suddenly relaxed. She broke her gaze away from Twilight as she breathed in, then out, hoping to cool her heated veins.

“I… I don’t understand,” she began. “Why are you asking me this?”

Twilight’s ears drooped. “Because I need to know.”

Luna bit her lip, as if she were trying to hold back any words from coming out. “I… erm… you don’t, Twilight. You really don’t.”

“And why not?” Twilight leaned forward slightly.

“You’ve already done enough - I cannot see why you need to do anything else.”

The smaller alicorn’s muzzle scrunched up as she looked away from Luna for a short while. It didn’t last long, however. She soon looked at her again.

“What have I done though?”

Luna gave a questionable look. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to stop the Tantabus.”

Again, Twilight didn’t react. “Are you sure?”

“I… I am not sure what you mean,” Luna responded uncertainly.

“Was it me who stopped the Tantabus, or yourself?”

Luna gave a scoff and rolled her eyes. “Well, I know it definitely wasn’t me, I was the one who created it. I know it would've been disastrous if I didn't listen to you, but I needed someone to listen to first. ” She then jumped off of her bed and began to stalk around her room aimlessly. Twilight, watched her in silence, observing her every move, even if she was simply repeating it over and over again.

“What are you doing?” she asked. Luna didn’t stop pacing around, but she did keep her eyes on her friend.

“Walking.”

“Why’s that?”

“It helps me calm down.”

“Why do you need to calm down?”

“I am just a little bit stressed…”

“Going back to my previous question… why’s that?” Twilight shifted closer to the edge of Luna’s bed, but did not step off of it.

“Why what? Why am I stressed?”

The alicorn nodded.

Luna shrugged. “You mentioning the Tantabus makes me feel a little uncomfortable… but that’s okay.”

“What’s okay?”

“I mean, do not worry about my comfort. If you need to talk about the Tantabus, go on ahead.”

Luna continued to travel around her room along a non-existent path, while Twilight stared at her, seemingly contemplating on something Luna was not aware of.

“...Why?”

“Why what?” Luna had began to slow down as she focused more on the questions being asked of her.

“You shouldn’t be okay with this, Luna.” That’s when Twilight stepped off of the bed. “You shouldn’t have done any of it.”

Luna glared at her, not even realizing herself stopping in the middle of the room.

“What are you saying?”

Twilight sighed. “I know this might sound harsh to you, Luna, but… you know now that you shouldn’t have created the Tantabus, don’t you?”

“Of course not, Twilight. The Tantabus was a brilliant idea.”

She stared at her in disbelief, before Luna rolled her eyes.

“It was sarcasm. Of course I realize the Tantabus was a terrible mistake!” She narrowed her eyes. “It was clear to me as soon as it escaped!”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Sure about what? Twilight, please be more clear with your questions!” She trotted over to her, glaring down at her. “Yes, I am sure it was a bad idea. Yes, I am sure that I’m an idiot. Yes, I am sure if it weren’t for you, I would not have been able to get rid of it.” She flattened her ears against her head as far as she could. “Any other questions?”

Twilight stared calmly at the princess. “Yes, actually. Will you let me help you?”

Luna’s clenched teeth parted as she moved her muzzle away from the smaller mare’s. Her gaze interlocked with hers.

“What do you mean?”

“Luna...” For the first time, Twilight’s expression showed emotion. She stared at Luna with great concern as she raised her hoof to gently touch the other mare’s. “You can’t stay like this. You need help.”

Luna blinked, before shaking her head and freeing her hoof from Twilight. “It’s okay, Twilight. I’ve got it under control.”

“But you just said the Tantabus was a bad idea.”

Luna raised a brow. “I did.”

“So how have you got it ‘under control’?” The lavender alicorn gave a skeptical look.

“...Like I said, it was a bad idea. I know not to do it again!”

“No you don’t,” Twilight retorted, taking a step closer to Luna. The dark mare opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a purple wing covering it up. “It doesn’t matter that you’re not going to create the Tantabus again - that’s out of the question. The Tantabus doesn’t matter.”

“But-”

“Luna, the problem here isn’t the Tantabus. The problem here isn’t even that you created the Tantabus. It’s why you created it!”

Luna stared at her. “But… I created the Tantabus to make sure I never harmed Equestria again. I just didn’t realize it was able to escape my dream until it was too late!”

“But that doesn’t matter!” Twilight protested. “You can’t take this on alone, Luna. You have no idea how to!”

She squinted, before turning away. “Look, as long as I don’t harm Equestria again, then it shouldn’t matter.”

“I’m sure that’s what you said when you created the Tantabus.”

Luna swung her head back round to meet Twilight’s gaze, her lip now curled.

“You don’t need to rub in what I did!”

“What exactly are you talking about? Nightmare Moon, or the Tantabus?”

Her wings itched on her back before the flared up in rage.

“Does it matter?” Luna yelled. “All that matters is that I don’t do either of them again!” She then began to pace around her room again, but this time with a feeling of fear rather than stress to accompany her.

“Luna… tell me why you created the Tantabus.”

Luna, not stopping her pacing, glanced sideways to the mare.

“You know why.”

“I don’t care. Just tell me anyway.”

The alicorn slowed down, before stopping in front of Twilight.

“...I created the Tantabus so that I would remind myself not to create havoc in Equestria again. However, I never meant for any of what happened to actually happen.” She sat down on the floor, trying not to make eye contact with Twilight. “I had no idea it could escape my dream… so when it did, I panicked. I was on edge for the whole time that we were trying to catch it… while also trying my best to focus on actually catching it.” Her head drooped and her eyes closed. “Though, it was difficult putting my guilt aside, especially since it was growing by the whole situation.”

She could only hear the mare trotting over to her, and could only tell she had sat down next to her when her felt her two front hooves hug her own.

“Exactly… don’t you see Luna?” she murmured. Luna opened her eyes and lifted her head up slightly to look her. She shook her head, which prompted Twilight to keep on talking. “The Tantabus didn’t help in any way. In fact, it just made you even more guilty than you already were… which just made it grow. You can’t fight guilt with guilt, Luna. It’s like fighting fire with fire - it’ll only grow and grow, burning everything you love.”

Luna didn’t respond… she couldn’t. A pain had began to develop in her throat, making it impossible for her to speak. All she could do is slowly nod.

“Luna… why don’t you want anyone to help you?” Twilight asked her, her tone gentle. Luna pressed her lips together as she tried to swallow the aching in her throat, but it wouldn’t leave her alone. Having no choice but to reply, she gave up and opened her mouth. What came out wasn’t an answer, rather a sentence that was just a bunch of sputters and sobs mixed together. She had to take a deep breath before she could muster the word, “Sorry…”

“Don’t apologize.” Twilight smiled, offering a wing to the helpless mare. Usually, Luna would shake it off, but this time she accepted - feeling as though it would be pointless to escape. “Answer whenever you’re ready.”

Luna took a few deep breaths, before wiping the dripping liquid from her face and finding her voice to speak. “Because I… I don’t want them to get involved with my problems…” She sniffed, then continued. “They don’t deserve the weight on their shoulders… that would only be myself. It’s my problem, so why should anyone else be dealing with it?”

She soon found herself choking up her sobs again, and decided not to stop them since there was no use.

She heard a sound that sounded like a teleportation spell, then felt something soft brush across her cheek. She eventually figured out that Twilight had conjured up a box of tissues for her.

“What do you feel if they do help you?” Twilight asked her calmly. She patiently waited for Luna to find her breath again so that she could answer. Once she did, she found the strength to look at Twilight as she answered.

“Guil...ty…” Luna’s lids fluttered as she realized what she had just said, before her eyes re-filled with tears.

“Exactly,” Twilight said. The older mare tried once again to hold back her cries, but it was still no use. She continued to cry, and she couldn’t get herself to stop. She ended up leaning her head on Twilight’s shoulder. “Luna, please. You’re not helping anyone by hiding your problems. All it’s lead to so far is the exact opposite of what you’re trying to do.”

“B...But why?” Luna whimpered. “I don’t understand…”

“Like I said,” Twilight lightly pushed Luna forward so that she was in front of her. “You fighting your guilt with guilt will make it grow like a fire, which will burn everything you love.”

Luna’s lip quivered as she listened. She sniffed again and used her magic to take a tissue from the box sitting next to her so she could dry her face, until it would grow wet again.

“Luna,” Twilight spoke again, “you know what to do when there’s a fire, don’t you?”

She shakily nodded her head. “You put it out with water.”

“Yes, but sometimes that isn’t enough. What about when the fire’s consumed an entire home, let alone a whole room?”

Luna wiped the rest of the salty stains away with her hoof. “You… You call for ponies who are specialized in dealing with fires.”

Twilight nodded. “Indeed you do. And what happens when you’re in the middle of the fire? You wouldn’t just sit there, would you?”

Luna shook her head. “I would try to escape…”

“...Then why won’t you?”

Luna stared at Twilight, unsure what to say next. She had, at least, stopped crying, but she didn’t feel that much better than before.

“You know that fire can kill, don’t you, Luna?”

The mare continued to stare at her, before she reached out her hooves and wrapped them around Twilight.

“Please help me…” she rasped.

Twilight returned Luna’s tight hug. “I’ll try… but I need you to do something first.”

“What?”

“...Tell someone.”

Luna’s ears drooped. “But… I’ve already told you…”

“I know, but I can’t always be here. You need to tell someone who knows you in and out, and will know where to get you help, because I honestly don’t.” Twilight chuckled a little bit, before taking Luna’s hoof in her own and standing up. “But I know somepony who does.”

Twilight began to lead Luna out of her room. Luna reluctantly followed, but didn’t fight back - she’d feel guilty if she did. She followed Twilight down the hallway, the sound of their hooves echoing off of the walls. Eventually, they stopped in front of a large door - a door Luna knew all too well.

“Twilight… I can’t…”

“You need to.”

Luna shifted nervously. “But… out of all of us, she suffered the most…”

“Luna,” Twilight lay a hoof on her shoulder. “Any guilt she has is because of the guilt you have. When you get rid of it, so will she.”

Luna stared at her, then at the door. She hesitated - standing as still as ever - before finally lifting her hoof off of the floor and knocking it on the door three times.

“Sister? Are you in there...?”

Author's Note

Alright... this was a hard one for me to write. It's not necessarily personal, but writing something with this theme is harder than the usual stuff I write.

This was written as an epilogue to 'Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?', and for a big reason: the episode was wreckless. Why? Because in that episode, Luna's possible depression is treated like a 'cute personality quirk', just like Fluttershy's anxiety is treated. So... this thing was born. I realize it isn't perfect... but I hope I got my point across in the story.

Heal Me

“Sister? Are you in there…?”

A few moments of silence passed by of Luna biting her lip, pretty hard at that. Her hooves shifted uncomfortably as she awaited an answer.

“You know what, Twilight maybe she’s not there-” Her head turned to her side, only to see a blank space where the alicorn had been standing. Her eyes darted around in a confused manner, before she heard the creak of the door in front of her. She swung her head to face it, seeing her sister standing there with a confused expression.

“Luna? Did you knock for me?”

Luna opened her mouth to reply, only for it to clamp shut again. Instead, she just nodded her head slowly.

“Oh, do you need something? It’ll have to be quick - I’m reading some of the everyday complaints, as always.” She smiled and rolled her eyes. Luna guessed that she had expected her to laugh along with her, but instead it just made her frown grip onto her face even tighter.

“Oh, you’re busy,” she said flatly. “That’s fine, I’ll just come back later…” Her hooves began to carry her away from the room swiftly, only to be stopped.

“Wait! Luna, what was it that you needed?” Celestia called after her. Luna stopped in her tracks, though she kept a hoof raised so that she would be able to escape quicker.

“It’s fine, you seem to be having fun, so don’t mind me…” She attempted to make another step forward.

“Well… not really, no. Laws were never the most interesting topic.” Luna looked back at her sibling, expecting to see a smile to match her sister’s tone. But she didn’t. Celestia stared at her with confuzzlement, forcing Luna to turn her body around.

“So… you’re not actually busy?” she asked, tilting her head. Celestia shook hers, before giving her a slight smile.

“What is it you wanted to talk about?”

Luna didn’t say anything, rather just stared at the door, then at her, until she suddenly dashed forward, dragging Celestia into her room with her and slamming the door behind them with her teknises.

Celestia was lost to what was going on. “Luna… what is going on?”

She still didn’t speak, instead just paced around in a very small circle as she searched for some way to begin. Gradually, she slowed herself, until her quick pacing turned into regular walking, then sauntering, until she stopped. She raised her head and looked straight at her sister, inhaling deeply as she prepared herself to say the first word.

What came out was a loud sob.

“Luna?” Celestia gasped as her sister bit back her cries and tried to blink the tears away. She rushed to her side, lending her a wing. “Luna, what’s wrong?”

The smaller mare opened her eyes, wiping away her tears with her hoof, not noticing the black smudge that had appeared on her face.

“Luna… little sister,” Celestia murmured, keeping her sibling embraced under her wing. “Whatever it is you need to tell me…” she glanced over to the rug next to the fireplace. “Tell you what, you catch your breath while I go and make you some hot cocoa. You haven’t had that in a while.”

Black smudges covered a lot of Luna’s face at this point. She managed to force a smile and nod. Celestia gently pushed her towards the rug, to which Luna obliged, stalking towards the carpet and dropping onto it, attempting to wipe the black markings off of her hoof. Celestia couldn’t help but giggle a little as she lit the fire with her magic.

“Do you need anything for your makeup?” she asked.

Luna sniffed, before responding, “That would be rather useful.”

Celestia returned, levitating a tray with her magic. She closed the door once she was in her room, then trotted over to where Luna had settled, whose mascara was almost gone off of her dark blue fur.

The older mare placed the tray in front of Luna, so that she could take a peek what exactly she had brought. There, before her, was a mug of hot cocoa, a plate of biscuits and another drink, in which she could guess was Celestia’s. Her focus on the tray had distracted her from what her sister was currently doing, thus was surprised when a blanket landed on her.

“What is with the customer service, sister?” Luna commented, lifting her mug with her magic and taking a sip.

Celestia sat down opposite her, cuddling with a plush pillow while levitating the used makeup wipes away from Luna and into the trash. “You looked like you needed it,” she replied. “So… now that we’re both comfortable…” She took a biscuit from the plate to take a bite of it. “Do you think you’re able to tell me what’s going on?”

Luna pouted and lay her head on her crossed hooves. The older mare patiently awaited for her sister to answer.

“...Twilight Sparkle payed me a visit today,” the dark mare finally began. Celestia blinked as she sipped her own drink. She quickly swallowed the hot liquid before speaking.

“She did? I didn’t see her…”

“She left just as you opened the door for me,” she told her.

“Oh.” Celestia put down her mug and stared at her sister. “What was she here for then?”

Luna fiddled with the corner of her blanket, pondering on how she should answer.

“Well… you see… something happened lately…” She gritted her teeth, refusing to catch her sister’s magenta eyes, even from the corner of her vision. Even so, she could feel her pair of eyes glued to her.

“Hm? What happened?” she prompted her to go on when she faded into silence. “I haven’t heard of anything going on in Equestria recently…”

Luna let out a reluctant sigh. “That’s because what happened didn’t happen in Equestria,” she stated. A quick glance at her sister was enough to glue the image of her curious expression in her mind.

“...I’m listening.”

She took a deep breath and shut her eyes tightly as she turned her head back to her sister. Both her eyes and her mouth opened at the same time.

“I created something for my dreams… and it escaped,” Luna rasped, amazed that she could admit even the vague version of the story. “Twilight and her friends ended up seeing it in their dreams, then eventually all of Ponyville. Eventually we got rid of it, however.”

Celestia gave a deadpanned expression as she listened intently, her ears perked. When Luna lost her words, she had to find them for her.

“What was this ‘something’?” she asked while sipping her cocoa. “Why did it need to be stopped?”

Luna arched a brow. “It was dangerous.” That was an understatement… but it’s not as if anything else needed to be said.

“How so?” Celestia tilted her head.

Or maybe more did need to be said, unfortunately. “...It was going to escape into the real world,” Luna proceeded to explain. “If it succeeded in doing so, it would’ve been disastrous for Equestria.”

“But what would it do to-”

“That doesn’t matter,” she interrupted. “Because it was defeated. It’s gone. It’s not coming back.”

Celestia gave a confused pout as she observed her sister.

“You say you created this being?”

Luna began to feel a pain in her throat returning, however she managed to swallow it soon after so that it wouldn’t distract her from the current situation.

“Yes,” she replied. “I… I did.”

“Then… why was it dangerous?” her sister pressed on. “Or… you know what, ignore that question, what even was this thing?”

“I… it’s- it was called the Tantabus,” Luna said shamefully. “It’s dangerous because I made it that way.”

“But… I don’t understand why you would-”

“It’s dangerous because I made it that way,” she repeated with a harsh tone. “However I did not mean for it to escape my dream - I had no idea it could do such a thing - so please do not think I meant for any harm to come to Equestria.” She lowered her head. “That’s just what I was trying to prevent.”

Celestia gazed at her, her face unreadable. Luna didn’t bother to guess what she was thinking, mostly because she preferred not to.

“You created this… Tantabus… with the intent of making it dangerous, and wanted it to stay in your own dreams,” The confused mare slowly put the puzzle pieces together. “What exactly did it do while it was still in your dreams…?”

“Well… you see…” Luna quickly grabbed a biscuit from the tray and bit into it, hoping to buy at least a few seconds of time. She had at least expected those few seconds to last a while longer, but they didn’t. Soon enough, every crumb was gone.

Get this over with so you can get over it, she thought to herself.

“It gave me the same nightmare every time I slept!” she blurted out, quite loudly at that. Right after she said the last word, she slapped both of her front hooves over her mouth, her eyes widening while pupils shrinking.

Celestia stared at her blankly for a few moments; she wasn’t sure just how long exactly. Then, after waiting for a response anxiously, she answered with,

“...What.”

“The Tantabus made me dream up the events of Nightmare Moon every slumber,” she added in a voice that was almost a whisper.

“...What.”

Luna winced, now pressing her head against her hooves and biting down on her bottom lip until it began to hurt. “I know… it was foalish… so if you’d like, you may be angry at me.”

She lay there, her eyes once again shut, awaiting for the yelling and cursing and blaming to echo in both the castle and in her mind. If that wasn’t what was to come, she would wait for the loud slam of the door to hit her in the chest. If that was not to be, then she could only expect to hear the sound of tears dripping onto the carpet they had settled on, and for those drops to soon be coming from her own tear ducts.

For now, however, there was just a strange silence, which was something Luna had not seen coming. No matter… maybe she had just rendered her sister speechless.

Then suddenly, she was swept off of the ground by something soft, which led to her blanket slipping off of her, yet no warmth seemed to be lost. She opened her eyes, black being replaced with white. She struggled to stretch her head backwards so that she could get a better view of what was going on right now, because quite frankly, she hadn’t a clue.

Luna blew her nightly mane away from the side of her face that it usually covered, allowing her to see more clearly. On her shoulder, Celestia leaned her head. Around her barrel, her hooves wrapped possessively. From her eyes…

“Oh… oh, sister, please do not weep because of…” Luna paused to swallow again. “Because of me…”

Celestia, at first, didn’t respond. She wasn’t even letting out any cries. She simply sat there, hugging her tightly and refused to let her free. Then she blinked open her eye and glared right at Luna.

“Luna… what did Twilight come to talk about?” Her voice shook as she said that, yet it still had a sense of security somehow.

“She… she came to see if I was okay…”

“And were you?”

Luna stared at her, wondering just how she should answer. Was she? Was she okay? Is she okay?

Such a ridiculous question.

“No…” she whimpered, before laying her head on her sister’s chest, this time allowing herself to choke on her own throat pain, which triggered hushed sobs to spill out.

“Oh, Luna…” Celestia cooed to her, cradling her little sister as she soaked her chest fur.

“I’m sorry…” Luna rasped, “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt, I just-”

“Sshhh… I know,” she murmured, “you would never want any harm to come to anyone…”

“But…” Luna suddenly jerked away from her sister’s warmth. “But I did! I was a danger to Equestria… I still am!” she cried, now in frustration. “I gave myself those nightmares as a constant reminder - as what I thought would be merely a bright candle that only hurt when I had to touch it - but it wasn’t! I was playing with fire and I didn’t even realize!”

“Luna!”

She then stopped any more words from escaping her mouth so that she could listen to what was about to be said.

“Luna, I don’t care!” Celestia exclaimed, tears having pretty much flooded her eyes at this point. “I don’t care what you did! I just care about why you did it!”

The two sisters glared at each other, both of their gazes locked, neither of them blinking or breaking away from the other.

“Why did you do it?” she breathed.

“Because… I... “ Luna tried to remember the words shared between her and Twilight. “I… I felt guilty.” She hadn’t noticed how tense she had become in her sister’s embrace, and so relaxed herself. “I caused more pain than I would’ve liked - that being no pain at all. I deserved to face some form of consequence.”

Celestia continued to give her that pitiful look. “Luna… was a thousand years on the moon not a harsh enough consequence?” Then she managed to pick up a smile on one side. “And, if I’m honest, you didn’t cause that much pain to Equestria when you were Nightmare Moon… no offence to your past villain self.”

Yet, Luna couldn’t find the will to even giggle at her attempted joke.

“That maybe so, but the same doesn’t go to…” she exhaled. “To you.”

Any evidence of happiness disappeared from Celestia’s face. She sulked, and looked as if she were about to speak, but Luna beat her to it.

“I caused you more pain than you ever deserved, sister. Meaning, even if I only hurt you a little, that is far too much. And yet, what I did went far beyond just ‘a little’. Dear sister…” she then cupped the sides of her sister’s face. “I should have been the one in your place…”

Celestia then gripped her hooves and moved them away from her. “No. You didn’t. You don’t.” She gently touched her forehead with her muzzle. “I don’t care what kind of malicious things you do, because I know you. You’re my little sister.” Her wings wrapped around the smaller alicorn. “I know your intentions as much… maybe more than you do.”

Luna didn’t move toward or away from her sister, instead just let her hold her.

“I tried to stop the Tantabus before anything could happen…” she murmured, only to be hushed.

“I know…”

“It could’ve turned Equestria into a-”

A white hoof on her mouth stopped her for going on.

“Luna, please, stop resenting what you did in the past.” Celestia told her. “You can’t change it.”

“Unfortunately,” Luna muttered.

“Maybe not so.” Her chin was lifted by a wing. “Look at the positives, little sister. You may have broken yourself in this chain of events… but look what you’re doing now.”

Luna scrunched her muzzle and glanced around.

“I’m being cuddled like a little filly,” she stated. Celestia couldn’t help but giggle a little.

“True, but on a serious note… Luna, you came to me.” She smiled, her eyes shining. “After so many years… you finally came to talk to me.”

Luna stared up at her. “I… I guess, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“It seems you’ve started to share your problems rather than bottle them up.”

The smaller mare’s gaze moved the the floor as she attempted to hide the creeping smile on her face.

“That doesn’t mean I’ll…” Then she stopped herself. Look at the positives. “I suppose it’s a start…” she couldn’t help but chuckle. Celestia did the same, before kneeling in front of her.

“With that said, Luna, are you willing to allow me to get you the help you need?”

Luna gazed into those warm, magenta eyes. All the anger she had expected to see in them was non-existent. This was the one pony she could truly trust. The only pony who would never turn away from her, even if she did just that to her. She wasn’t about to throw away a chance while it was easy to get.

“Yes, Celie.” For the first time today, a grin managed to break through her somber stare. “I am willing to cooperate.” Then she smirked. “Also, I think Nightmare Moon would take offence to that comment you made earlier.”

“Who cares? She’s not here with us anymore.” Celestia’s smile grew, as did Luna’s. The dark mare’s eyes had begun to fill up with water yet again, but this time, it wasn’t out of regret nor remorse. These tears were born from her newfound freedom.

“True… I feel more sure of it,” she agreed.

Author's Note

People were asking for the talk between Luna and Celestia. So here.

Not going to lie... I got stuck on this one a lot more often than the first one. Welp, as long as it's done.

So yes, Celestia's now in charge of making sure Luna doesn't put Equestria in serious danger. I shouldn't have to be writing about such things, but I am.

Can you tell I have a lot of pent up rage towards this episode. If not, then dang I must be soooo subtle (which I'm not).

Luna apparently wears a lot of makeup, whether she's going outdoors or not. And for those wondering why it didn't smudge in the last chapter... erm... just say it did, it was just under her fur. She's fluffy. That's it. She's just got a lot of fluff.