Nightmare Moon's Stars

Celestia stood silently and watched as Twilight Sparkle continued to write furiously. She was hunched over her desk and was so focused that she did not hear the door knock. Or hear the door open. Or hear Celestia call out to her. Or hear Celestia shout directly into Twilight's ears.

Celestia wanted to break Twilight out of her stupor but was unsure as to how to do so. Had Twilight been using a quill she would have been surrounded by a gallon of inkwells and enough broken quills to fill a pillow. Instead, she was surrounded by hundreds dried up or broken ballpoint pens. A marvelous invention Twilight personally continued to champion.

But this... this was different. Twilight had dealt with loss before. Old age, disease, mere accidents, even the Everfree Forest had claimed more than one pony under Twilight's watch. But she had never dealt with death on this scale, and it showed.

The stacks of papers around the room were filled with ideas and in-depth explanations on the benefit, usage and applications of each one. One of them was primitively and aptly named "MORE ARMOR!!!" Another detailed a magical fractal shield that nopony had ever come close to casting. Another forfeited the use of armor and shield in exchange for evasion, although said usage would be severely limited onboard a ship.

Finally, Celestia reached stretched a hoof and touched Twilight's wither an-

"PrincessCelestiayou'rehere,good,havethescienceteamsbeginworkonmetallurgyprojectsA2throughB2butnotP9throughQ1becauseweshouldfocusonprotectingponiesbutputoutapublicproposaltohaveideasX1throughZ9becau-"

Celestia missed the end(?) of Twilight's words as she was shoved out of the room by a stream of papers.

Looking down at the two wry earth pony guards, Celestia stacked the papers on the ground next to the other 4 stacks before stepping inside the room again.

Twilight was still in the same position, hutched over her desk and writing, but Celestia was determined to continue. In spite of Twilight's behavior, Celestia had noticed that Twilight's writing and speech would slightly slow down between each attempt.

And so Celestia shouted directly into Twilight's ears.

"P-p-rincess Cel*hic*estiaaaaaa!" Wailed Twilight as she suddenly threw herself at Celestia with all her strength. With all her alicorn strength.

Celestia was so caught by surprise all she could do was twist her body so that Twilight's horn didn't impale her and found herself pinned to the floor, out of breath and her rib cage screaming.

"Th-they died! All those ponies! And-*sniff*-and I couldn't do anything! I was in charge-*huk* but it wasn't good enough! Their shields and armor failed*sob*and all I could do was watch!" Wailed Twilight as she continued to pin Celestia down in her hooves.

Celestia attempted to soothe Twilight "*gasp*Tw-Twilight, I underst-" before feeling the air in her lungs being forced out as Twilight began to apply more pressure to Celestia's chest.

"NO! You don't understand! They were OUR ponies!" Yelled Twilight, a fury burned in Twilight's eyes, one which she had never expected to see in her student's eyes. "They were not YOUR ponies! They were not MY ponies! They were OUR ponies!"

Celestia simply gasped for air as Twilight's hooves began to apply more pressure.

"OUR ponies Celestia! OURS! The grief when you delivered the eulogy? Our fault! The tears of the bereaved families on Cadence's coat? Our fault! The hoofmarks on Nightmare Moon's face when she was bucked by the colt? Our fault! But you know the worst part? NO ONE DID ANYTHING TO ME!" Roared Twilight.

Guards flooded into the room but were immediately thrown out and the door locked shut. A few quick spells and the room was sealed from teleportation and sound.

"OUR ponies" growled Twilight, "will get THE best. The best shields. The best armor. The best weapons, engines, ships, leadership, food, information, entertainment, anything and everything they need and want. I will NEVER let them go blindly into a hopeless battle ever again."

Celestia started to flail from lack of air... or fear. She wasn't sure which at this point, but she couldn't muster the concentration to use her magic.

Twilight continued to stare down at Celestia with fury in her eyes.

And then, the fury began to leave her. Twilight released the pressure her hooves put on Celestia but Twilight continued to lean over Celestia.

"I am the Princess of Friendship." Coldly stated Twilight. "I would love nothing more than go out into space and make new friends among the stars. But I will not have others pay in blood for my flights of fancy. Friendship is about faith and risk, but until we know more about the stars, we will go out with swords in sheath.

Finally stepping off of Celestia, Twilight walked over and nuzzled Celestia.

"I apologize for my behavior. I shouldn't have done that to you, but this has been... building up." Softly spoke Twilight. "Nightmare Moon taking over Equestria and forming the Equestrian Star Realm. Heading the scientific research and development for... something we got out of a dream. And finally this..."

Celestia said nothing and returned Twilight's nuzzles.

"...I need a vacation." Twilight finally said.

"I'd be happy to take over your duties as long as necessary." Softly answered Celestia.

Twilight slowly nodded her head. "Thank you Princess Celestia. I've already streamlined the R&D teams and already assigned research leads, so all you'll have to do is tell them what to focus on."

Twilight turned away from Celestia and went back to her desk.

"I'll leave as soon as I organize these papers. As... frantic as they are, I want the science teams to have a look at them. Some fresh eyes could go a long way." Twilight turned around and looked at Celestia.

"And, thank you Princess Celestia. For coming to see me." Twilight softly smiled.

Celestia returned Twilight's soft smile with her own.

"Thank you my student. I should have visited you sooner." Celestia said.

If only... no, for now we must continue to move forward, Celestia thought.

Princess Celestia ensured that not a sound was made while she closed the door behind her before finally dropping her head and sighing.

"How is she?"

Celestia raised her head and looked into her adopted niece's eyes.

"Terribly. But she's recovering." Answered Celestia.

As the two walked down the hall and Celestia told Cadance what had happened in the room, Celestia thought about how her plans would have to change.