Prologue: Mare in Canterlot Castle

A week after the Summer Sun Celebration and all of Equestria was abuzz, Nightmare Moon, thought to be a pony's tale, had been real. No one knows what exactly went on that night apart from those in Ponyville who bore witness to her return as first Nightmare Moon, then Princess Luna hours later.

The knowledge of there being a third alicorn whose dominion was over the moon and dreams startled some, others were relieved, as it meant somepony existed to help with their nightmares. After all, for the past thousand years Princess Celestia had been the one raising the sun and moon, mutters about what this meant for the rest of Equestria and whether she was actually needed got silenced.

Thousands of ponies flooded Canterlot during the entire week, demanding answers and trying to get a glimpse of the alicorn that had been hidden in the palace. There were also demands to see the ones who freed the princess from being Nightmare Moon, most notably among the nobles who thought more of the power needed for that kind of thing and whether they could obtain it for themselves.
But after enduring hours of ponies doing this and not being able to be with her sister, Princess Celestia
lost patience and used the Royal Canterlot Voice despite not having used it in centuries.

"HEAR ME ALL OF EQUESTRIA," her voice resounded throughout the entire country, "PRINCESS LUNA IS MY SISTER AND IF ANYPONY FEELS THE NEED TO CONTEST HER RIGHT, THEY HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME! THOSE WHO CHALLENGE MY WORD CAN COME AND FACE ME DOWN THEMSELVES," naturally nopony wanted to go against Princess Celestia and they stopped visiting.

Now those who entered the palace were ones that had business in court or who worked there, only invited guests were allowed past the gate and a list was given to the gate guards every morning with only ten names. Apparently Princess Celestia decided as a reminder that ultimately the ponies needed to learn how to control themselves, they would have to reserve their spot in the courts to speak.

Naturally when a pegasus pony wearing a green vest and glasses approached the gates, some of the nobility passing by expected the guard ponies to bar her. But a brief inspection and check of the mare's Cutie Mark had them waving her through, to the snobs' disbelief that such a young pegasus had been allowed in when reservations were being restricted heavily among them.

The halls were noticeably absent as the pegasus made her way through, it used to be that a line of ponies would be waiting for their chance to petition to Princess Celestia, but recent developments cut the numbers down.

Something that was reassuring to the multi-blue pegasus who stopped at the end of the hall in front of two guards.

"Trade Wind here to see Princess Celestia, I received a summons," she told the guard at the door to the Princess' throne room and he checked his list (this was to prevent false visitors) before his horn lit up and the doors opened outwards.

The two alicorns inside stopped their conversation as she came in and the older one smiled as the younger stared a bit confused.

"North-oh sorry, its Trade Wind now isn't it? I'm so glad you could make it on such short notice," gesturing for her to come closer, Princess Celestia touched her sister's wings reassuringly at her nervous expression.

"Good morning Princess Celestia, Princess Luna," she gave a brief bow, "Yes, I'm surprised word reached so quickly to the palace, I only got it several weeks ago and afterwards everything got really busy,"

"Yes, the first graduating class turned out splendidly, I'm proud of what your generation was able to accomplish, even if there were some bumps along the way. Luna this is Trade Wind, she actually earned her Cutie Mark eight years ago in this very throne room, in fact, you've been reading her articles the past week,"

"But those said a 'North Star' wrote them," the blue alicorn said a bit confused and Celestia laughed.

"Yes, that was Fancy Pant's idea, unfortunately the idea of a pegasus scholar still takes some getting used to. She's actually the reason behind our current alliance with the Nocturne ponies and Dragons," Trade's cheeks turned a bit pink at the praise and Luna's expression.

"I don't mean to be rude but you summoned me for a reason?" chuckling sheepishly, Princess Celestia coughed,

"Right, as you are aware, the Elements of Harmony were found in the Castle of the Two Sisters and used to restore my sister to her former self. I am sure your friend Fluttershy informed you of the particulars using Lyra's spell," the blue mare nodded, "Honestly, while I do have lovely memories of that place, it also serves as a place of my failure to help my sister,"

"Sister!" Luna protested but Celestia nuzzled her cheek to quiet her before continuing,

"I was planning on my student working on it in the future when she's progressed enough in her studies. But your group's work over the past few years on other structures gave me hope that possibly it could be done much sooner. So I have two tasks for you to accomplish before the next Grand Galloping Gala," Trade Wind straightened, "I want you to restore the Castle, do an inventory of everything inside of it, and I want you to tutor my sister," Trade Wind blinked several times, seeing the shocked look on Luna's face, and tried to gather her bearings.

"How do you want me to do that?"

"Obviously you will have a lot on your plate with just the castle and finding others to help you with it, but on the weekends I would like you to come up here to Canterlot and teach Luna what has happened the past thousand years. Luna's magic is still depleted, so she will not be able to raise the moon for quite a while or access the dream realm, which is why I am asking you to do this," knowing it wasn't actually a request, Trade bowed her head.

"I'll do my best your highness,"

"See that you do, now I believe you have some planning to do," she dismissed the young mare and as soon as the doors closed, Princess Luna appeared in front of her.

"A tutor Celly?!" she almost shouted and the Sun Princess waved a hoof,

"Trust me, if I hadn't already chosen her, the nobles would have tried to chose another tutor who would teach you the wrong things. I trust Trade Wind to teach you fairly and with responsibility, and yes, I know she is young, but those North Star articles are over 9 years old, she is 18 now," the Moon Princess widened her eyes.

"She's been writing since she was a filly?"

"Actually, some of those articles were written when she was even younger than that, Fancy Pants found her notes in his niece's room and published them himself. Also, I expect you to put as much effort as possible catching up, a lot has happened, and I'm sure Trade Wind won't mind arranging a meet up with the Nocturne tribes,"

"I don't know, what if,"

"They've missed you Luna, don't ever doubt that," the two sisters spent the rest of the day just being near one another, relishing their reunion after so long of being apart.

As Trade Wind exited the castle, she took a deep breath,

"Ok, looks like I am going to live in Ponyville after all," hayseed, she really did not want to be involved in the plot this early. Once she had graduated, she expected to be allowed to do her research and help Fancy Pants with the development project.

Looks like it would have to be in a list of things to complete, again, and she had to find new ponies to help with the restoration since her group disbanded to their respective homes across Equestria.

Guilt still ate away at her at some of the things that were different from the storyline, after all those griffin cubs still lived in Ponyville, and Rarity's situation never ceased to make her feel guilty. Her presence had changed so much, and she was scared that not much of the plot would be accurate.

For eighteen years she has been in this world, and she cannot tell whether what she did ruined so much, after all, how can she predict what happens when several backstories of the Mane Six themselves had changed. What if Twilight doesn't learn the correct lessons she needs to learn? What if Trade messed up Twilight's destiny of becoming an alicorn, it was something she always found herself afraid of, why she had tried so hard to find someplace else to stay and immerse herself in a five maybe ten year research trip till whatever was canon passed.

But Princess Celestia ordered her to do this, so she must resign herself to doing what the princess had asked.

This meant living near Rainbow Dash who she had not seen in years, ever since finishing at Cloudsdale High School (the last and only consensus she ever had with her parents.)

When she changed her name, she made sure any and all records listing her as North Wind were erased, including her relation to her birth family.
'We just need to pretend we do not know one another' she thought, after all, it was either become part of the family legacy or not be a part of the family at all.

Author's Note

Alright, while I'm doing this story, I will be doing a side story of North Wind, now Trade Wind's time in the University mentioned at the end of my first story and at the beginning of this one.

I'm still thinking of how to make the other story sound believable while matching with this one, and it will only have a total of 12 chapters. Two for prologue and epilogue, and ten for the five years she spent there, two for each year.