Before That Fateful Night

Chapter 3 – The Sun is shining?!

It was still quite early in the morning when Twilight and Nightmare woke up, which was quite surprising to them, considering the previous night’s events. They were now downstairs in the main room of Twilight’s library tree home. Much to their gratitude, nobody had approached the library yet. They felt the time alone together was necessary before they could tackle the soon-to-come challenges, plus they had some things to take care of first.

Despite the tiring excursions of the previous night, Twilight found that even though she was quite tired, she had a certain bounce to her step. Perhaps it was partially because of said ‘excursions’, but she felt it had more to do with the fact that she was reunited once again with Nightmare.

While Twilight was rushing about the library in search of a book they needed to remedy the spell-gone-horribly-right, Nightmare was relaxing a little, drinking some tea. She was admiring the tree home that she didn’t get to visit all that often in her previous life. She wasn’t all that used to being in a home with such a small interior, compared to living in a castle like she had done so before, but she found it very comfy and welcoming.

Didn’t take Nightmare all that long before she found her focus back on Twilight, who was hopping throughout the room, checking different shelves with a smile on her face that really showed how positively giddy she was. Nightmare was really ‘admiring’ the sights captured in her eyes now, not even bothering to hold back her smile.

After a few minutes it would appear that Twilight had found what she was looking for, a fairly old but lightly worn book. “Okay Luna, I found the book.” She began, walking up to Nightmare, still smiling as brightly as ever. “I want you to take this upstairs and wait for me; there is something I have to take care of really quick before I reverse that spell.” She held out the book with her magic, waiting for Nightmare to take it.

While Nightmare took the book and went up stairs, Twilight made her way over to her writing desk, pulling out her journal and writing utensils. She opened the journal to the nearest blank page and began to write.

Dear Journal

I must apologize, I know that ‘Best. Night. EVER!’ hardly counts as a descriptive explanation for yesterday’s events, but I was much too tired to write more than that.

After another one of those oh so repetitive days mimicking the actions of my past life to the best of my ability, I was beyond nervous. Now mind you, I loved being able to reunite with my old friends - the bearers of the elements – again, but that built up an ever growing tension that I had been feeling ever sense I wrote the entry yesterday morning.

After the long day, I finally made it to the town hall, the place I saw Nightmare Moon for the first time in my past life. The whole time I was there I felt like I was in a trance, I couldn’t think properly, and I even felt like I could pass out at times.

And when it finally began, when I first saw mists signaling Nightmare’s arrival, time felt like it took a pause. I couldn’t tell, but I knew I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, I was lost in a daze, my thoughts were racing, and when I finally saw Nightmare, I just kind of snapped.

By the time my daze had cleared, I found myself locking lips with Nightmare. At first I was scared stiff, I had somehow managed to curl up within a second and I was waiting for the worst to happen, only to find myself tackled to the floor with my lover’s lips pressed against mine. Not only did she return the kiss, but she returned to me, my long year of turmoil finally over in an instant! She still remembered me, the same way I still remembered her.

After we lost ourselves in the kiss that marked our reunion, she teleported us back to the library. After some unexpected events, we proceeded to have what I call the most intriguing and overall best intercourse I had ever experienced in my whole life. Not only did I get the chance to have my virginity taken for a second time, I also got to explore an area I never even considered before.

After we finished, much to my shock, I managed to convince Nightmare to release Princess Celestia. The only catch to it was that, in exchange, I had to clean up our... little mess. I was quite exhausted already, but beggars can’t be choosers, so after I cleaned up the mess we each took a bath to relax. Immediately following that, Nightmare released Celestia and I wrote down that truly lacking finish to the last entry.

After all was said and done, we were both much too tired to work on reversing the spell and agreed we would handle it in the morning. And that is-

Twilight was suddenly interrupted by a knocking at the front door. She rushed to answer it, god forbid that Nightmare might get any wise ideas to answer it in her current state.

~{B}~{T}~{F}~{N}~

About an hour earlier, at the Canterlot Castle…

Under the looming shadows of walls of the Canterlot Castle, a lone guard stood his post near the Castle’s main entrance. The duties of his post were just as boring as they always were, standing stock still, alert to any possible threats to the castle. However, the information regarding Nightmare Moon’s return and Princess Celestia’s disappearance had the inner workings of his mind in a much more chaotic frenzy.

It took him a while to calm his thoughts; he was so busy with the inner workings of his mind that he didn’t really notice much about the scenery around him. When he finally relaxed he took in the elements of nature, and settled his thoughts on them.

The grass is as slick as ever, the morning dew looks quite beautiful today. Fresh smell of flowers; can’t seem to decipher all the scents though. It is such a shame that the colors of our fine establishments – as in the castle and surrounding buildings – have to clash so aggressively with the beauty of nature. The sun is shining ever so brightly, it is a shame I can’t look at it directly. The breeze is nice t- Wait… The sun is shining… THE SUN IS SHINING!

The guard, finally taking notice that the sun was out, couldn’t help but put to thought how that contradicts with everything that was being spread around the previous night.

Bucking weather ponies, they suck so bad at their job they can’t even tell us when the sun is going to rise. Wait… What am I thinking? I have to inform everypony!

He made a dash for the main door to the castle. He was only inches from the door, getting ready to open it. BAM! He was sent flying through the air as he was hit by the door that just got flung open. He was thrown to the side and out of sight; anypony who was paying attention would have heard him shout his rebuttal of frustration. “AGH! Buck me sideways...” But one is left to wonder. Was anypony doing so?

Princess Celestia stood in the doorway. She looked like she was quite flustered and anxious. She looked worried and frustrated. She even looked a little panicked and like she was in a rush. She looked like she- Hey! Where does she think she’s going when a hard working author is trying to describe her current state of being?!

Celestia made a quick trot up to the sky chariot that just pulled up at the front gates. She took no extra time getting on it. And with a commanding voice, she let her drivers know her destination. “TO PONYVILLE!” And they took flight without question.

~{B}~{T}~{F}~{N}~

Back at the Ponyville library, present time…

Twilight made her way to her front door. Before opening it however, she steeled her resolve. After what happened last night at the town hall, she was sure that the citizens of Ponyville were going to be buzzing with questions. After taking a few deep breaths, and opened her door, not all the way open, but just enough so to reveal her whole frame.

Whatever calming exercises she had put herself through before opening her door were suddenly proven useless. In her doorway stood. “P- P- P- Pri- Princess Celestia?!” She began to stutter out. “I… um… wasn’t expecting you… so soon.”

Celestia, feeling relieved that Twilight was safe, despite everything she had heard, went in to give her a hug. Twilight, though still nervous, welcomed the hug. “Oh… Twilight my faithful student, I am so glad that you are alright. I heard that you were ponynapped by Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight gently pulled out of the hug, and before beginning her response, she felt a sudden curiosity hit her. However she saved that question for later. “Don’t worry. I am quite alright. And I wasn’t ponynapped. The circumstances are going to be a little complicated to explain.”

Celestia smiled warmly. “May I come in? From what I heard from people around town, the events that took place when Nightmare Moon arrived were quite ‘strange’. Not sure what they meant by that.”

Twilight suddenly began to feel very nervous again; she still had to reverse the spell on Nightmare. “I… Er…” Twilight took a breath then continued. “I’m sorry princess, now isn’t a good time, can you come back in about… fifteen minutes. I have something to take care of.”

Celestia was going to protest but decided against it, whatever it was that Twilight had to must be important if it meant that she would have to put off this very crucial matter. “Alright Twilight, I will wait. I will be back in the allotted amount of time.” She began making a turn to leave, but was cut short by Twilight.

“Before you go princess, I must ask. If you did indeed figure that I was ponynapped… How did you know I was here?” Perhaps curiosity was getting the better of Twilight, the question wasn’t exactly necessary.

Celestia rubbed her chin with a forehoof. “That is a good question. Well… the mayor told me you were here. I didn’t ask her how she knew. And she didn’t mention it herself.” She smiled and continued. “If that is all you have left to say, I will be making my short leave.”

“Okay. Um… I guess I will se-“ Twilight was suddenly cut short as she felt something brush up against her marehood that was still a little sensitive from the activities of the previous night. She gave a shudder followed by a sharp gasp. And when her situation dawned on her, her whole face lit up with an extremely bright shade of scarlet.

As Celestia tried to make sense of what she just saw – Twilight suddenly giving some... odd physical reactions -, Twilight jerked back and slammed her front door closed. Celestia was thanking the stars that her face wasn’t close enough to the doors frame for it impact. Then she let her thoughts wander, pondering what just happened.

Celestia, who was trying to keep her mind out of the gutter, had her thoughts interrupted when she heard Twilight shout from the other side of the closed door. “LUUUUUUNNNAAAAAAAA!” After the briefest of pauses, Twilight’s frustrated shout was met with a hysterical burst of laughter. The voice behind the laughter however was not Twilight’s, but Celestia recognized it.

After a brief period in which Celestia could hear the laughing, it was suddenly stopped by another one of Twilight’s shouts. “YOUR SISTER IS HERE!” Frustration was still evident in her voice.

Silence ensued. At least… That is all Celestia could make out from her side of the closed door. During this brief period of silence, Celestia’s mind was going in overdrive. She heard her sister’s voice. She heard Twilight call out her name. She heard the word ‘sister’. But then she began to hear the sound of approaching hoofsteps from the other side of the door.

The door opened again, revealing Twilight and… Nightmare Moon.  Twilight had a very nervous grin on her face; she was facing straight towards Celestia. Nightmare was facing more to the side with her face very near Twilight’s and notably, her hind half was hidden behind the door.

They all remained silent, trying to find the right words. Nightmare and Twilight were trying to think of how they could explain that they were both in the same house together. Celestia was trying to think of how to voice out the most important of her many questions. As the tense silence continued, Twilight’s eyes kept darting to the half of Nightmare Moon that Celestia couldn’t see, but Celestia didn’t take notice of it. And finally, the silence was broken as Celestia finally found what question seemed most suitable.

“Um…  Why is Nightmare Moon here?” She gave a nervous smile. It didn’t make sense to her. Back with her last dealings with Nightmare, Nightmare was very hostile. So why is Nightmare Moon spending a rather leisurely stay at her most faithful student’s house?

Twilight began to stutter out her response. “She um… She is… We… Er…” Twilight took a few deep breaths to stall for time. She gave a nervous glance to Nightmare, who returned it.

After another brief pause, they both finally found their voices again. And with confidence brewing as they locked eyes together, they both recited at the same time “We are in love.” and immediately followed up by pressing their lips together for a possibly-too-passionate kiss.

Celestia was absolutely alarmed at this point. Nothing was making sense now. And she just stood there, trying her best not to gawk at them, feeling it would be an extremely rude gesture. However her mind was still rushing. Her thoughts were jumbled up so badly it seemed like they were forming into something comparable to a drunken slur.

The kiss had lasted perhaps a bit too long. But they finally parted, and Twilight found her voice first. “Luna, can you head back upstairs and wait for me? I will come back up shortly.” She gestured as such to Nightmare and slowly pushed the door in so that she could hide Nightmare as she walked away. She looked back to Celestia who evidently didn’t notice that Twilight was trying to hide anything, which was to her great relief.

As soon as she knew Luna was back upstairs, she motioned for Celestia to come in. And they both took a nervous walk into the open area of the library. “Before I can talk about anything, I still have something to take care of. But how about I start to prepare some tea? While the kettle is heating up I can handle it and you can get comfortable. It will take a lot of time to explain.” As she did so, she was already heading into the kitchen to prepare the tea.

Celestia had a million questions, but she felt it wise to just go along with what Twilight wanted and she gave Twilight a visible nod. As she waited, for Twilight to come out of the kitchen, she sat down on her haunches. After letting her mind rest she just let her eyes wander the library.

Twilight came back out from the kitchen and gave a chuckle before saying. “I need a few minutes to talk to Luna. That is why I was so reluctant to explain anything to you right away. I needed to let her know first.” This wasn’t really a lie; it just wasn’t the whole truth.

Celestia nodded in understanding. “I have no right to stop you.” Twilight smiled in return and made her way upstairs, leaving Celestia to her ever wandering thoughts.

After her climb upstairs, she found Nightmare where she expected her to be, in her bedroom, and as she expected; Nightmare was a quite nervous. She had a right to be, Celestia was the one who banished her to the moon. And now that Nightmare had just done the same to Celestia and released her on the very same night, the whole thing seemed to draw up many uncertainties.

Perhaps it was the fact that both parties had lacked any hostility to each other in their brief encounter. But Nightmare showed that she wasn’t as nervous about Celestia as Twilight had originally thought as she spoke up before Twilight could. “I suppose we should reverse the spell as quickly as possible.” And she gave a nervous chuckle, if only just to calm herself.

Twilight nodded and immediately began scanning the book she had requested Nightmare bring upstairs earlier. As she looked through it for the section she needed to cover to reverse the improperly cast spell she began to speak, to break the silence. “If you do something like that again… I might not be so willing to give these back.” Then she took a glance up to face Nightmare and judge her reaction.

Quick as a whip, Nightmare used her magic to tuck as much of her tentacles behind her and out of Twilight’s view as she could. Simultaneous she formed her face into an adorable pout. She looked like a child trying to prevent her favorite toy from being taken away. The sight seemed so out of place on Nightmare Moon, but Twilight couldn’t help but think it was really cute, and hilarious. And with a whine Nightmare spoke out her complaint. “But they are so much fun!”

Twilight tried her best to stifle a laugh, but failed horribly. She fell over backwards laughing, she couldn’t get over how adorable and out of place it was to see Nightmare react the way she just did. It was even funnier in the fact that it was actually sincere; Nightmare wasn’t acting the scene out at all.

She finally recovered to see Nightmare who was giggling. Twilight took a breath and managed to speak up. “Oh… I can never say no to you. All is forgiven.” And after a final giggle, she went back to her book. Much to her relief, it didn’t take long to find what she was looking for. And after a brief couple of minutes of reading, she stood up.

“Okay Luna. I found it.” She chuckled at what she said next. “Expose yourself for me please.”

Nightmare chuckled and nodded, then proceeded to do as she was told, revealing her tentacles again so Twilight could… work her magic… um… How else can I phrase it?

Not a second wasted, Twilight began to concentrate her magic and directed it at Nightmare’s tentacles. After a little bit of building up the magic necessary, she finally released it. And with a flash, the tentacles were gone. Twilight had to stifle a giggle again when she saw that Nightmare had a disappointed frown etched across her muzzle.

They came to a quick agreement that they were going to give the full story of their past to Celestia. It was for the best, if they withheld important information regarding to their current situation it could make things take a turn for the worse. And with much more confidence than they had before, they came out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

~{B}~{T}~{F}~{N}~

As they made their way to the bottom of the staircase, they noticed that there were more guests in the library than when they were last here. In the middle of the library sat Celestia and five other mares, and they both recognized them. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were all sitting next to the princess. The atmosphere seemed a little tense, and as Twilight and Nightmare reached the bottom of the stairs all six of their guests turned their heads to face them.

While these new events sent yet another nervous chill up Twilight’s spine, it also somehow felt like a relief, because this would give her the opportunity to explain everything to possibly some of the most important ponies in her life.

Twilight and Nightmare took slow steps approaching their guests, but it wasn’t really helping the tense atmosphere. As they got close, everypony was suddenly distracted by a loud squeal coming from the kitchen; it was the kettle Twilight had prepared before. So Twilight took the opportunity and went to go get it, her pace had sharpened quite a bit for this task, maybe she felt a little better that she had the chance to walk away from her guests.

In a few minutes she came back, with all the necessary preparations for some tea. As she approached her guests, she felt a lot less tense already, and so she made quick work of serving everypony’s helping of the tea. There was a little more silence in which everypony present took their first sip of tea. And the silence was broken when Twilight decided to speak up.

Putting down her cup, Twilight began.”Before we begin, I have a question to ask… How did everypony know that I was in the library?” And she took a glance around to judge her friends reactions. She was quite shocked to see that her friends, not including Celestia, were suddenly blushing.

Rarity was the one to answer. “Twilight dear, anypony within a decent distance from the library could” She paused, thinking of how best to finish. “…hear you.”

Twilight’s whole face went scarlet again. “Oh… um… I see.” She took a nervous sip of her tea again. But she couldn’t help but notice that Celestia was now blushing. She put her cup down again and swiveled her eyes to look at all her guests again. The awkward silence lingered for a bit.

…

This is going to be a long day.