The Friendship Arch

Celestia, Princess of the sun and newly co-ruler of Equestria, settled herself on to the cushions and took a sip of the drink. It was very good, and she levitated the glass back on to the table. She looked up at one of the other occupants of the room. A gray coated earth pony sat on another cushion, her current official job was as the Mayor of the town of Ponyville, but she was also one of the major links of Celestia's network of agents. Sitting next to her was a pegasus pony still wearing the armour of the royal guard; his name was Winged Sword and officially he was the head of her personal bodyguard - un-officially he was another of her agents and long standing pupil. Now she came to think about it these agents of hers where the closest the immortal goddess came to having friends. Excluding of course her sister Luna. She spared a glance towards the adjacent room where her sister was sleeping. The Mayor, always observant, caught Celestia's momentary distraction.

“Is your Highness alright?” she asked.

“My Highness is fine thank you.” The Mayor seemed to have developed a certain dependence on formal speech recently. “I was just thinking about my sister.”

“Is the Princess Luna going to be okay?” Winged Sword asked. “We were all worried when she collapsed after the party.”

In fact Celestia had been more than a little worried. Luna had complained about being tired and Celestia had suggested that they withdraw. Soon after leaving the hub of the party Luna had complained of feeling very dizzy and had collapsed. Fortunately only Celestia's guard had been there and they where quickly able to get the unconscious Princess to her rooms. “She is going to be okay,” she replied. “Red Star looked at her as soon as we got here. He says that she is just extremely worn out; apparently her ordeal has left her magic significantly drained she will probably have to spend a few months resting in bed but she should make a full recovery.”

At least a few months, Celestia thought, Red Star had explained that the creature called Nightmare Moon had effectively been a shell formed form parts of Luna as well as an external force. This had been held together with Luna's magic, trapping the essence of Luna inside it. When the Elements of Harmony had shattered the shell it had freed her essence but had left the newly reborn Luna very weak. Most of her magic had been in the shell and it would take her some time to regain it

“That is very welcome news Celestia.” Winged Sword said. He seemed to have no trouble with switching out of formal speech when they were alone. “We were all very relieved when the sun rose and you sent us the message to pick up you, your sister and the rest of the party. Some ponies in Ponyville were starting to get very anxious about what had happened; what with your disappearance and then the manifestation of Nightmare Moon they were all for running off and starting an Equestrian wide search for you, starting with the Everfree Forest.”

“You to managed to contain them sufficiently?”

“Indeed we did your Highness,” the Mayor filled in. “I organised most of the town into a search of the local area while Winged Sword sent the rest of your royal guard off on errands to warn other ponies who, as part of the network, where quite aware and able to conduct their own containment. Leaving Miss Sparkle and her new friends a clear run at the Everfree Forest and the castle.”

“Did everything go the way we planned?” Celestia asked. “I am sure Twilight will send me a full report of the night's events form her point of view, but how about from your end?”

The Mayor nodded. “After Pinkie Pie had given her the book that contained the initial clue she required, Miss Sparkle was the model of efficiency and very quickly figured out the location of the Elements of Harmony. And as we had hoped, the rest of our new little ponies had had sufficient time to form a close enough bond of friendship as a group that they were opposed to letting her go alone. Meanwhile we were also able to keep the rest of the town from following and ruining the full formation of the bond.” Celestia nodded, she had [in fact] felt more than a moment of panic about the plan when again confronting the fiend that had once been her sister.

===

The dark smoke twisted around where she sat. Celestia let it encircle her body, fighting the part of her that wanted to lash out against the evil. The smoke twisted, coalescing into the all too familiar shape.

“Hello Celestia,” the creature that called itself Nightmare Moon said. “It has been a long time.”

“Hello Luna,” Celestia replied, the words getting caught in her throat. It had been a thousand years since the last time she had said that name.

“That is not my name anymore dear sister,” the creature replied, its voice a silk twist.

No it is not, Celestia reminded herself. The creature she was looking at was not her sister, it was the thing that had taken her sister from her. “Nightmare Moon” she spat out.

“That is better dear sister,” the midnight back alicorn purred. “So since you remember who I am, you must know why I am here... and yet you sit there unprepared to fight.”

“I never wanted to fight you. Not then and not now.”

“But you did,” the phantom snarled. “For uncountable time we fought, the sun and the moon doing titanic battle as the ground beneath us burnt and froze. What a wonderful time it was.”

“I had no choice,” Celestia snapped. “The world could not stand you; it twisted and warped under your presence, your corruption. You were worse than Discord. For the sake of all our ponies I had to face you.”

“...and yet now I have returned you sit here defenceless, unprepared.” Nightmare Moon replied winding her still smoke-like body around where Celestia sat. “What has changed?”

With a cold chill Celestia realised she might have said too much. The black alicorn reared back and laughed, reading the look of panic on the sun goddess' face. “I know all about your plan. Your Twilight Sparkle.” She spat the name. “You think one little unicorn pony can defeat me! Ha! She is barely more than a filly.”

“Maybe not alone,” Celestia said, allowing the hope into her voice. “But with the magic of friendship and the Elements of Harmony she might be able to bring Luna back to me.”

“Enough!” the dark goddess snapped, staring into Celestia's eyes. “She is gone! That foal Luna is no more! There is just me! Always just me!” For a moment the two alicorns just stared at each other then Nightmare Moon shook herself. “Well if you are not going to fight me than I will not complain.” She spread her wings, the tendrils of black smoke reaching out and wrapping themselves round Celestia. “Good bye sister. Forever.”

As the world started to fade Celestia's last thoughts were of Twilight. Good luck my faithful student. The darkness closed in from all sides. Bring her back to me. As the light vanished the memory of the purple unicorns face changed to that of her sister. Luna, was Celestia's last coherent thought.

===

Celestia shuddered at the memory and took another long drink to steady herself. Yes she had felt more than a little relieved when she had been revived to discover the six ponies together with the Elements of Harmony in the tower. “And since she requested of her own volition to stay here to be with her friends I think we can safely say that the necessary bonds have formed,” the Mayor finished.

“The plan seems to have been a complete success,” Winged Sword added.

Celestia nodded. “But we must be wary, my little ponies, this is the beginning of the plan not the end of it.” Celestia patted a small chest that sat on the floor next to her. “The Elements of Harmony have now been wielded by a new set of bearers and we must now keep a very close eye on these ponies. While they were able to defeat Nightmare Moon and restore my sister, there are other dangers that Equestria faces and we must be sure that they are prepared for them. They need to maintain this strong friendship.” She looked at the Mayor. “As you said it is fortuitous that Twilight asked to remain here without any prompting. You will keep a close eye on them and arrange matters such that they are able to stay close.”

“Of course your Highness,” the Mayor replied. “But if I may ask - what was the point of getting Twilight to send you reports on the magic of friendship? Surely you know all about it. You have had the finest unicorns in the land studying it for years.”

Celestia smiled. “You may ask me anything you want my little pony, you know that. But the reports will serve a vital function. While I may know all about the magic of friendship we need to make sure that Twilight does. As the new bearer of the element of magic it is on her shoulders more than anyponies to make sure that the magic of the Elements of Harmony are ready for use. This is the best way for me to keep track of her progress.”

Winged Sword looked confused. “But surely Celestia, would it not be easier to invite all the new bearers of the elements to Canterlot and give them proper training? They are young but they are not fillies. Some of your best agents were no older then them when you first recruited them.” Celestia smiled inwardly at that. Yes, Winged Sword had been quite a young pony when she had first met him, his gleaming armour not properly fitting his still growing body.

She shook her head. “No. The magic of friendship is more delicate than that. The bonds that they have formed need time to strengthen. If we dragged them away from their homes now and told them that we had planned this all from the start then that seeming betrayal will shatter them.” She looked first at Winged Sword and then at the Mayor. “No, what we must do is arrange matters so that our new ponies are tested and tempered into the strong reliable friends we need them to be. Then and only then will we think of telling them what we know.”

The two other ponies nodded solemnly. There was a moment of silence which was broken by a familiar voice from the town square outside saying loudly “And then my sister Inky went and got this huuuuge bowl of oatmeal, so I said...” before being hushed by five other voices.

Celestia smiled and the Mayor winced. “Do you think Pinkie Pie will try to keep the party going all night?” Celestia asked the Mayor with a smile.

“No.” The Mayor replied with a sigh. “What will be hard is preventing her having an after party party tomorrow and then an after after party party party the night after.”

Winged Sword chuckled. “She is certainly an interesting one that Pinkie Pie. Are we sure we can trust her with the extra knowledge she has?”

The Mayor nodded. “She will not tell anyone, it is one of her “things”. And even if she does let some of it slip nopony will take any notice of it.”

Yes, it was one of the major features of those ponies that they tended to have odd personality quirks, Celestia thought. Astonish certainly had, she remembered that she had pushed him on it one time.

===

Book Dancer and herself had been walking around the grounds, past where the palace joined the newly founded School for Gifted Unicorns. They had been discussing the magic of the Elements of Harmony; Celestia was telling Book Dancer about how the elements had felt when she and her sister had used them to defeat Discord and build the balance of the world. They were of course not alone, Book Dancer even then had attracted a following of younger unicorn who tailed her everywhere, usually carrying stacks of books and other things with them. They seemed to be something of a cross between students, assistants and a travelling library.

They had been walking past an oak tree deep in a technical discussion about the aspects of the Elements of Harmony when Astonish had leaped out from behind the tree. He was decked out in a fearsome dragon mask complete with horns and smoke coming out of his mouth and roaring loudly. There was a chorus of shrieks and thumps form behind her, Celestia spun round in time to see the dust of half a dozen unicorns galloping away as fast as they could. She turned back to where Book Dancer was standing nose to fake snout with the newcomer.

“ASTONISH!!” she screamed, her whole body shaking with a combination of anger and shock. “Why did you do that!?”

“Buffle yffml if nuuy,” the dragon-pony replied.

“And spit that out!” Book Dancer shouted.

Astonish raised one of his forehooves, pushed the mask up off his face and spat a short tube out onto the ground where it sat belching smoke. “Because it was funny,” he said, the grin on his face nearly as large as the snarl on the fake one.

“Because it was funny! Because it was funny!!” Book Dancer screamed.

If Celestia did not know better she would almost believe the smoke was coming from her.

“We where in the middle of an important discussion on the formation of complex tri-relational-semi-stable bonds and you... you...”

“I helped?” Astonish finished for her. “You know maybe you should try studying the magic of friendship more...personally?”

Celestia let the argument wash over her. She had seen variations on this argument play out plenty of times before. For the moment she was more interested in something else. She casually looked behind the tree Astonish had leaped out from. Yes, she had thought as much. She walked slowly all the way round it, checking carefully before coming back to where the one-sided shouting match was going on. She waited patiently till it ended in the usual way with Book Dancer throwing her head back, screaming 'I give up' and going off to find her runaway friends.

“Astonish?” Celestia asked quizzically. “How did you get here?"

Astonish looked at her and smiled. “Celestia I do not know if you had a mother - but surely that is a fact of life she should have taught you by your age.”

Maybe it was the way he said it but Celestia found herself starting to blush slightly. “No,” she said. “I meant here." She pointed to the ground.

“If I remember correctly you came to my village and asked me if I wanted to come to Canterlot and teach,” Astonish said, bending down and nudging the still smoking cylinder “You where there, I am sure that you should remember. Maybe you are getting forgetful in your old age?”

Celestia buried her head in her forehooves. “No,” she said exasperatedly. “I meant behind that tree.” The tree was not large and while Astonish was not a big pony there was defiantly not space for him to have been behind it the whole time. Anyway, all of them had walked past it - they would have definitely spotted him even without the smoke.

“If suffle m flrked yufr,” Celestia heard him say. She lowered her hooves to see that Astonish had once again put the smoking cylinder in his mouth and was repositioning the dragon mask over his face. He spread his hooves and roared, his impression of a dragon only slightly ruined by the muffling of his voice. Celestia reared up and using her magic made herself shine. Astonish did a reasonable impression of a dragon whimpering and trotted off in the direction the fleeing unicorns had left. Celestia lowered herself back to the ground. At some point, she thought to herself, she would get an intelligible answer out of the strange pony, but she never had.

===

Celestia smiled. “Yes we can trust Pinkie Pie, she will be very useful in arranging matters.” She took another sip of her drink. “Speaking of which, I have arranged for several others of our friends to pay a visit to the town of Ponyville in the near future.” She looked at the Mayor. “I will try to keep you informed, but just in case keep your eyes open. I am sure that you have everything in Ponyville well taken care of.”

There was a knock on the connecting door to Luna's room and a white coated unicorn pony came in, his cutie mark a single five pointed red star. He nodded at the Princess before taking another seat.

“She is okay but she is very weak,” he told Celestia. “She will need a few months of total peace from her magic to re-grow. It was almost all destroyed with that creature.”
“Thank you Red Star,” Celestia said standing up. “Now if you do not mind I will go and see my sister. We have a lot to catch up on.”

Celestia left the three other ponies discussing matters in the main room and passed through the door into her sister's room.

Luna was lying on a large bed in the middle of the room, all but her head covered by a thick blanket. Celestia looked at her. She did not look well; her coat was washed out and her mane was dull and lifeless. As Celestia closed the door Luna tried to lift herself up on her front legs but they were trembling so much that they could not support her weight and she collapsed back onto the bed. Celestia quickly came over and nuzzled her sister.

“Sorry to be such a burden to you,” the younger princess said, her voice very soft.

Celestia smiled at her sister. “Luna, you are never a burden.” She nuzzled at her sister some more. “Did I tell you how happy I am to have you back?”

“Only about a dozen times Tia.” Luna responded with a weak smile. “But I see Equestria has not fallen into chaos without me.”

“No dear, but I nearly did.” Celestia sat down next to her sister. “I was heartbroken when you left me and for the longest time I hid from the world. Without our protection a lot of bad things happened to our little ponies. But we shall not dwell on that now you are back and that is all that matters.” Celestia folded her wing over her little sister. “Now little sis, did I tell you of the clever plan I had devised to get you back to me?”

Luna looked at her. “No Tia, not yet. Is it good?”

“Oh I think that you will be quite impressed with how clever I was. You see it all began with a small purple unicorn filly called Twilight Sparkle...”