Celestia smiled from her balcony as she watched her sister lower the moon for the first time in a thousand years, just a week after her purification by the elements. Though she was weak still, as her greatest talent, handling the moon was still something that she had strength enough for. Seeing that her sister was handling it fine, she returned her focus to her raising sun. And as the last of the moon sank beneath the horizon, the first rays of the day shot out as a great flash of green…a somewhat rare but not unheard of event.
She turned back, smiling at her sister from her tower. By the slight pant, it would be a while before Luna was dream walking again, or anything else. Still, they had time, "So, you finally came?" Celestia asked in amusement.
"This seemed like as good a time as any," Said a male voice, stepping out to the balcony with her.
Celestia smiled warmly down at the stallion before her. His appearance was youthful but tall, lanky almost. His coat was a dark green color, like forest leaves, specked with irregular splotches and spots where the green faded to black. His eyes were pupil less emeralds and his snout was completely black. His mane was short with dark green on the sides and regular green down the middle. Over his back was a lime green cloak covering his sides, which almost seemed to blend into his spiked tail, colored the same as his mane.
"Well, you've become quite handsome," She praised with fond chuckle.
"Have I? I wouldn't know," He answered with a head tilt, "Twilight Sparkle left then?" He asked curiously.
"All business and no play?" Celestia asked, shaking her head and smiling at his unchanging expression, "She has opted to stay in Ponyville to understand the magic of friendship better," She explained.
The stallion hummed to himself for a moment, looking towards Luna's tower, "Are you going to ask?" He asked in honest interest, looking over his shoulder at her.
"Verdant, after all this time, do I really need to?" Celestia countered with a knowing smile.
"Nightmare Moon still exists as she originally did, but is not under the influences of the Nightmare Forces anymore," Verdant answered idly, "We really must give one of them a different name, since there isn't a real connection between the two."
"I'm sure Nightmare Moon, if she ever called herself that before the Nightmares, would appreciate being able to reinvent herself," Celestia mused offhoofedly.
"Unfortunately, the Nightmare Forces do live on the dark side of the moon, so there's still going to be a bridge between them and the Alicorn of the Moon. In hindsight, it was a mistake of Harmony to banish her so close to them," Verdant continued without judgment.
"Harmony does what it can at the time," Celestia said with a sigh.
"She might have broken free on her own if she had been anywhere else," Verdant calmly pointed out.
"True, but if she had done much more as Nightmare Moon, she might not have forgiven herself," Celestia countered.
"Hmm, point taken," Verdant accepted as he looked down at the distant town of Ponyville, "The Elements of Harmony, returned to the world," He mused, turning to the white Alicorn with a dry expression, "I get the impression the one thousand years of peace will be ending soon."
"It was hardly peaceful from our perspective," Celestia said with an eye roll, "But you are probably right nonetheless."
"Well, on the bright side, I'm here," Verdant offered with a shrug.
"Here to stay?" Celestia asked with a smile.
Verdant tilted his head at that, "Where else would I go, Mother?" He asked bluntly.
Celestia's heart swelled with joy at hearing that word, smiling and walking up to embrace her son with a wing. Verdant blinked but returned the gesture, his green wing slipping out of his cloak and embracing her as well, "I'm glad to finally have you home, Son," She whispered softly, nuzzling him lightly. They remained like that for a moment before Verdant suddenly stood up, heading back inside. Celestia blinked, not sure what he was doing, "Where are you going?"
"To go meet my Aunt," Verdant answered pausing briefly, "And use your bathroom. I may need to pee. Which is weird, as I haven't had anything to drink yet," He commented bluntly as he headed inside.
Celestia shook her head in amusement, "Well, I can't miss out on this family meeting," She decided, glancing back out towards Ponyville, "You might have another new friend coming your way, Twilight."
"Mother! I may have broken the plunger. The stick doesn't have anything on the end anymore," Verdant informed loudly, "Also, your toilet is starting to overflow. I flushed only once. What is the term for this design flaw? Too much flush?"
"Verdant, you're speaking your thoughts again!" Celestia informed, raising an eyebrow as she headed to the bathroom, a small puddle formed at the base of the porcelain seat, "How did you even clog a toilet if you didn't...?"
"Have to defecate? I do not know. Did a maid use it? The guards never come in here uninvited," Verdant mused.
"Again, rambling," Celestia reminded gently.
"It's a work in progress," Verdant retorted uncaringly, using his magic to hold up the plunger stick, "...You have not replaced this in decades, have you?"
"..." Celestia gave an even, unamused stare to her unphased child, eventually sighing in resignation, "You tend not to think about having to replace a plunger, no matter how long it's been."
"Duly noted," Verdant said simply, looking to the toilet, "I would just teleport it, but I may end up misplacing it...and setting it on fire. I believe that is perceived as a juvenile prank if done intentionally these days."
"I'll have a maid fix it. It should be fun, seeing them react to this one," Celestia said with a chuckle.
"Well, I shall be going to see my aunt then," Verdant informed.
"You do know that the guards don't know about you yet, right?" She reminded, looking over to him. She merely tilted her head when she found him gone already, the door having never opened, "Hm, so he can still do that," She mused with a smile, looking back to the toilet, "...Well, this is certainly one of the most interesting ways I've started the day," She commented to herself.
Meanwhile, Verdant was already in Luna's room, unbeknownst to any save Celestia. He carefully walked up to the princess's bedside, paying no attention to the dark room or its silvery decorations. As the male Alicorn looked at the Princess of the Night, he tilted his head and wondered how to go about this. After a moment, he hummed and decided to think like his mother
"AUNTY LUNA! YOU FAVORITE NEPHEW IS HERE!" He declared loudly in her ear. Luna jumped up from the bed in freight...which instantly turned to anger. To his credit, he didn't even wince as he was harshly thrown against the wall and pinned there with her dark blue magic.
"HOW DARE YEE ENTER MINE CHAMBERS, CUR!" She yelled off, her eyes glowing dangerously, "I SHOULD HATH THEE FLOGGED AND-" She paused as his appearance finally registered, the two wings pinned to the wall and the horn standing proud of his head, "...An Alicorn? A male Alicorn?" She said in surprise.
"Had to happen eventually," He said with a shrug.
Before Luna could comment, she found her magic was overcome by a golden glow before shattering, freeing her green prisoner to fall to the floor on his rump. She looked around in surprise to her sister, standing on the other side of her bed, "Sister?"
"I teleported in when I sensed the commotion," She said with a small smile, "Luna, I know he can be infuriating at times, but I would appreciate you not throwing my son around like a ragdoll," Celestia scolded lightly.
"Apologies, Sister, he just-" Luna stopped as the words registered, her eyes dilating as she looked at Verdant, waving idly as he stood back up, then back to the serious, though secretly hiding a grin, Celestia. She repeated this twice more before settling on her sibling, "...Son? He's your Son? You had a son?!" She asked in disbelief.
"You act like I was infertile or something," Celestia said with a mock pout.
"You were for a while, after you ate that one plant," Verdant reminded as he stood next to the sisters.
"Hush, you," Celestia said with a playful shove of her wing
"That's not...I didn't...You...How," Luna stopped as something else registered, "I'm an aunty?" She whispered with tremendous joy, a near face splitting smile on her muzzle.
"Yes, yes you are Luna," Celestia answered with a smile.
"Ohh, joyous day!" Luna declared, flying above her bed in delight before giving Verdant a flying hug, "Ohh, forgive me, dear Nephew, for missing however many days of your birth I have been absent, all the years I missed to spoil you rotten like an aunt should!" She apologized before suddenly getting a look of horror as she removed herself from him and sat on the bed with a sad, scared, and apologetic look, "An-and please forgive mine attack on your person! If I had known you were my dear sister's foaling I would never have raised a hoof to you!" She assured quickly, obviously very scared of her nephew hating her, and possibly her sister.
Verdant, a bit taken back by the various mood shifts, glanced to his mother for some clue on what to say. She just waved him on encouragingly, causing him to mentally shrug and repeated what he did earlier to Celestia: giving Luna a half-wing hug, "It is quite fine, Aunt. I have missed just as many of your birthdays and years as well, so we'll call it even," He suggested as he removed himself from her person, Luna looking up at him with a loving smile and watery eyes, "And I hardly felt a thing," He added on bluntly, pretending not to notice his own wing audibly popping back into place.
Luna laughed as she dried her eyes, "Sister, your son is charmingly boastful," She informed jokingly to her fellow princess, "Still...why have I not seen or heard of him since my return?" She asked curiously.
"Prince Verdant Flare has been satisfying some wanderlust for quite a while now," Celestia informed smoothly, "When he received word of your return, he decided it was time to meet you in person. And knowing he'd be home relatively soon, I decided to let it be a surprise."
"A most grand surprise!" Luna declared happily, ecstatic over the idea of getting to know her nephew, "Oh, we shall have much fun, Nephew! You certainly have inherited our sense of humor," She complimented with a sly look to her sister, who looked on innocently, before rubbing a hoof against her ear, "The Royal Canterlot Voice needs some work though," Luna commented.
"That wasn't the RCV," Verdant corrected, "That was the MEWC, or mucy if you prefer," He said as Celestia rolled her eyes.
"The MEWC? What does that mean?" Luna asked curiously.
"Mother's Emergency Wakeup Call," Verdant explained, "I count Wake Up as one word, always have. Mother has had some very unsteady hours at times, so I made sure she woke up, no matter how much she begged for another hour," He elaborated, "Like that time Onyx Write nearly-" He stopped, feeling his mouth clam shut.
"You swore to never speak of that again," Celestia said with a scowl.
"I don't swear," Verdant murmured flatly through the magic.
Luna watched on with some bittersweet happiness, seeing this full grown colt that her sister had such an open, friendly, and yes, motherly relationship towards. Oh, what she wouldn't give to have shared in on the foundation of that, to have seen her nephew's birth and see his first steps. And his ascension!
"It's been a pleasure, Aunty, but I need a snack and I want to test some of the stuff the staff makes. Probably not cake though, the staff might riot over there being two of us," he mused as he went to the door, fixing his cape on the way.
"You know where your room is!" Celestia called after as the door shut, "Wasn't expecting that, Luna?" Celestia teased.
"A son! My sister, you had a son!" Luna cheered again, giving her a hard hug, "An Alicorn no less! Such an exotic look, too! Oh, what a mare-slayer he must be!" She gushed giddily.
"I'm glad you enjoyed him, sister," Celestia said with a smile, "But please don't mention him to anypony- he has been under the radar for a long time and neither he nor I can wait to see the looks on everypony's face when they learn about him," Celestia said mischievously.
"Ahh, so that was the purpose of the cloak. If he was traveling in secret, that would make sense," Luna mused thoughtfully, grinning a bit, "Oh, truly, I never expected this in a thousand years! To have a child become the first male Alicorn? Ohoho, Tia, you are a lucky mare. And he seems so nice and helpful, if a bit..." Luna trailed off, not sure the word.
"He's a bit odd, yes. He'll explain it to you another time, I'm sure," Celestia promised.
"...Am I too late to tease him about first marefriends and such?" Luna asked hopefully.
Celestia smiled in amusement, "No, Sister, no you are not," She assured, trying not to laugh at the evil smirk on her sister's face
"Yes! Then Auntie Luna is not too late! HAHAHAHA!" Luna declared with maniacal laughter.
"...How is it your laugh is eviler than Nightmare Moon's?" Celestia asked blankly.
Luna grinned sheepishly, "I practiced more than she did," She explained simply.
"Of course you did," Celestia said with a playful eye roll, "I shall leave you to your sleep, Sister...if you can manage it after all that excitement," She said with a chuckle, teleporting out.
"...Oh, Verdant is definitely as bad as his mother," Luna realized with a playful groan, looking up curiously.
She had to wonder, deep in her heart of hearts: If she had known about Verdant Flare, if they had met when she was still Nightmare Moon...how would Nightmare have reacted to her nephew, the very child of Celestia? She might have been forced to fight regardless, if the male Alicorn attacked in defense of his mother, as one would expect of a child. But...Nightmare Moon didn't kill Celestia; Luna highly doubted she would have done much to a new family member.
Of course, that was assuming Verdant Flare wasn't as strong as Nightmare Moon. A logical assumption, but something she'd have to confirm later if only to make sure he could take care of himself properly.
Author's Note
There we go, the first chapter of Verdant Flare. Hopefully I won't get flamed for this. Though, I might end up getting other authors to try this- its really fun, to be honest, looking at all those results and figuring out how to fit them together.
Don't worry, Verdant isn't overpowered. He has a few surprises about him, but nothing overkill. Anyway, hope you all gave this a chance and enjoyed this!
