Daughter of the Stars

The sun was just starting to rise as Luna cautiously landed down on her balcony to her room, the sunrise was causing all of Canterlot to near glow with white light, which by all miracles, actually made the streets look clean! Celestia did always did take such pride on her sunrise and sunsets. The castle was still buzzing with activity, so no one really noticed Luna's absence and any who did (coughCelestiacough) dismissed it as tiredness and that Luna was sleeping. Luna was indeed tired to the point of fainting, but the adrenaline and pure joy running through her veins was enough to keep her up and going, although she had a very serious appointment with the coffee machine pretty quick

Luna silently walked from her balcony into her room with her daughter still in her arms. Her room was decorated with dark blues and purples, her bed was circular with a large crescent moon on the dark blue quilt. Her roof was painted to be an exact replica of the night sky, except with lines to better depict the many constellations, beside her bed she had a small nightstand on the left and on the right side of her bed, she had a large bookcase that was filled with books on law, nocturnal creatures, constellations and stars, and maybe a few fantasy novels in there as well. She knew all them of course, but she did enjoy a quiet read in bed before rest. Luna was surprised that Celestia had remembered every detail of her old room.

Luna gently set Aquila down on her bed and carefully set the covers over half of her little body, leaving her forelegs and head out of the blankets. Luna then set down on the bed beside her and gently stroked Aquila's white mane, savoring the gentle softness of her new coat, and as she did so, Luna thoughts wandered as she pondered the past and what would come next.

Nightmare Moon cackled viciously as Celestia was knocked from the sky by a powerful blast of dark blue magic. Nightmare Moon knew she had to wrap this up quickly, she did have a future heir to think about. She had been careful to hide her growing belly with a spell to keep it from Celestia's sight. No doubt that evil scum Celestia would try to take advantage of it. Why even that fool who's body she possessed had the sense to cover her growing child with a spell! no doubt Luna had thought about the scandals that would ensue and had the sense to hide.

Nightmare moon landed down on the ground beside Celestia with a snarl, her reptilian eyes full of rage and jealousy. Nightmare knew she should not gloat but rather get it over with, but she just couldn't help rubbing it in. Nightmare Moon then cooed with all the sweetness of the dove but laced with all the poison of a cobra "how does it feel, dear sister? To know that the last thing you will ever see if my beautiful night in the sky forever? It was you who drove me to this you know, with all love and admiration you received but yet we received none of it! Luna had such a hard time with that, it was what opened the door for me" Nightmare then chuckled nastily "Poor Luna, she really had no chance you know. She was always pathetic, it was a breeze possessing her. A shame though that you will never get to mee--"

Celestia had gotten up and glared at Nightmare Moon with all the rage the sun behind her, her hair nearly aflame. Nightmare Moon then took a cautious step back at this, he knew Celestia was not to be trifled with, but not as powerful, surely, as Nightmare Moon! Celestia then spoke angrily, tears in her eyes "how dare you. HOW DARE YOU! YOU DARE TO TAKE MY SISTER AWAY FROM ME! I SHALL SHOW YOU NO MERCY NIGHTMARE!" Nightmare Moon's eyes narrowed as she took another step back.

Nightmare's eyes then widened in fear and panic as she saw Celestia bring to her side the Elements of harmony. Nightmare Moon watched stunned in horror as Celestia used her magic to activate the Elements and fire a rainbow at Nightmare, Nightmare screamed as the elements ripped her away to the moon. The last thing Nightmare Moon heard from Celestia was "Luna, forgive me"

Luna shook her pale blue mane, it had been on the moon short after the fight that she had given birth to Aquila. But since Aquila was a newborn, she did not have the magic to sustain her without air. Nightmare Moon had been disintegrated by the Elements on the way up, so it gave Luna the chance to use the remains of her magic to create a time pod for her child to stop her from dying. And it was for a thousand years that Luna had to wait before she could hold her child, because even though the physical form of Nightmare Moon had perished in the first few moments, the mental shouts and words still lingered for all those years.

Luna watched her daughters chest rise and fall from the steady breathing. Luna's thoughts then wandered to the present, how would Celestia react to Aquila? would she be angry? sad? guilty? Luna could only guess, so much had changed, who was to say that Celestia hadn't changed as well? This thought frightened Luna, surely her sister would not harm Aquila, but what about everypony else? the nobles would have a screaming fit of course, maybe some would try to harm her daughter for power?

As Luna looked down at her daughter, she promised quietly "We do promise our daughter, that no harm shall befall thee when we stand watch" Luna then nuzzled Aquila gently as not to wake her.

Luna then went around her room to check over what was in there. Celestia had apparently brought everything from her old room in the abandoned castle here, even her old collections were here! Egg shells of long forgotten species, books from before her and her sister had become princesses, rare gems. And though, to Luna's disappointment, some of her precious things were not here, many of them were. But even so, it intrigued Luna that someone had been reading said books, as not enough dust had gathered to be proof that these books had been untouched

Luna did jump however when a soft knocking came from the door, she then heard Celestia say "Luna? are you awake?"

Luna's eyes darted to Aquila's sleeping form before running to the door and opening it just so Luna was the only thing Celestia could see. Luna didn't have to act about being tired so it was a bit easier to lie to her sister "Our gratitude for waking us up, we really do appreciate it" Luna commented with a bit of soft sarcasm, she said it jokingly to make it sound lighthearted and not aggressive.

Celestia gave Luna a delighted smile, although it was a bit cautious "well, I'm glad your back at your humor" Celestia then gave Luna the weirdest look before quickly clearing her face back to a small smile "I came to tell you that the chefs have made you some food in case you would like something to eat" Celestia then gave a small giggle "you should have seen them rushing around when I announced your return! i know its rude, but in all honesty it was a bit funny"

Luna smiled at her big sister and replied "yes, dear sister. Thy can picture it quite splendidly. If you will excuse us for a moment sister, we will get ready to approach our subjects" Celestia looked at if she wanted to say something about Luna's speech, but thought better of it and gave Luna a nuzzle "I am truly glad that you are home Luna"

Luna then nodded and replied, trying not to sound hasty "yes, indeed sister. We are glad to have returned from our exile" Celestia winced at the word exile, but only small enough to be a slight twitch in her eyes. Celestia then smiled at Luna one more time before turning to walk away. Luna didn't know what mad force had caused her to say that, but it was just probably exhaustion causing her to be less careful with her words.

Luna shut the door at a normal pace before hearing it click and shut completely, she quickly locked it just in case. Luna sighed and leaned her head against the door. "I should have told her, I should have, I should have!" But Luna couldn't bear to place such guilt on her sister. She could tell that Celestia was already guilty about sending her away, so how could she possibly say to her beloved elder sister "hey, I know your already feeling guilty about exiling me on my own moon, but that's okay cause I'm home now! but anyway, meet your niece Aquila! I had to place her in a stasis pod so she didn't die on the moon, but its okay cause she is here now, right?"

The quiet thought from before whispered She deserves to feel guilty. Sending us away was bad enough, but to send our precious Aquila with us is unforgivable! and Celestia calls herself a so called protector of the innocent. Why, Aquila was and is innocent! Celestia deserve to feel our pain Luna shook her head hard and whispered to herself "begone treacherous thoughts! torture us no longer"

Luna banged her head on the door in frustration and worry. She couldn't do that to Celestia, that would crush her heart! Luna would wait for Celestia to not feel so bad about sending her away then introduce her to Aquila.....maybe. Luna couldn't help but think to those words, she knew they were from Nightmare moons lingering presence, but they also held some truth. But Luna could never do that again, not to Celestia and not to Aquila. And she would be damned before she was sent to the moon and Aquila was left without her mother. This thought steeled Luna.

Aquila woke up when she heard a banging sound on the door (Luna's head), her bright blue eyes widened and started to fill up with tears. Aquila then started to cry, Luna looked up and as soon as she saw Aquila kicking at the covers and crying, she rushed over and quickly scooped up Aquila from the bed and started to rock her, trying to sooth her "sshh! sshh! Thee has to be a quiet baby!" . However, Aquila had very different thoughts as the crying didn't stop, but only grew louder. Luna started to panic "what is it Aquila? is thee hungry? Indeed, thee is hungry!" Luna quickly created a bottle and milk out of thin air for Aquila with, which she eagerly took with her delicate hooves. Creating things out of thin air was draining and for inexperienced magic users could be dangerous, but Luna had the expertise to do so, but she couldn't do this all the time, it would tire her too quickly.

Luna gently rocked her daughter as she drank the milk with gusto, careful not to jostle her to much as Luna had no want to clean up if Aquila could not hold the milk down. This would be difficult, no doubt, but when Luna looked into Aquila's beautiful, bright blue eyes, she knew she would do it gladly. Luna also knew that she would need help raising Aquila, and obviously that would have to be Celestia or someone trusted to a fault. But for the moment there was not anyone, though Luna was willing to wait a while for things to settle down a bit.