Past Lives

She didn't know this holiday.

Luna sat and watched the denizens of Ponyville create a festival she never had truly known, bright lights and colors festooned trees and the smell of spices that she could only name now thanks to weeks of acclimation to the new Equestrian diet and manners regaled her nose with their scents. She lazily scratched her ear as she watched the weird display of festivity just flit about like Breezies, each pony a hive of activity. She pulled the too small earmuffs off her head with a light dose of magic and tossed them aside with a grunt. Barren white wastelands were too close to comfort for her now, her vague memories of slow insanity creeping up on her on the moon edging right below the surface of her features, the slight frown imperceptible to most living creatures besides her sister and one other.

"Luna, what's wrong?"

Two small violet wings wrapped around her as Twilight lay her head in Luna's mane, her magical aura levitating over a pot of coffee that Luna just stared at, a part of her cursing the wonders of modern living. She let Twilight sit there, a hoof silently tracing the constellations all contained within Luna's mane.

"Nothing." Luna knew that was a lie. She also knew that Twilight could now detect that tiny hitch in her voice that gave away the farce of complete aloofness that she liked to put up. She cursed her sister silently, not caring if the superstitions surrounding Celestia were true. If they were, she didn't care.

Twilight stopped tracing the constellations on Luna's back, got up from her vantage point, and walked around to face the dark blue alicorn, her horn barely reaching Luna's chest, the dichotomy of a powerful being being so relatively small making Luna feel some small sense of amazement every time she watched her Twilight's unsure hooves get that small modicum of potential she saw deep within that purple chest and actually try to lecture her of all ponies about something."

Twilight slowly studied Luna's face. "I know something's up. And not because of the hints that Celestia gave me."

Luna's face faintly blushed at that. "Nay?"

Twilight shook her head. "It's because you've been staring out from my library's balcony for the last hour and a half. I love Ponyville and all the silly things that everypony can get up to now and again, but I don't sit outside in snowy weather for that long because of it. That'd be a death sentence for most."

Luna cocked her head and smirked. "I can see why Celestia had to send you to the Crystal Empire then. I mean if I could expire from a bit of harsh weather. I'm not some hard pony such as yourself."

Twilight groaned. "That's not what I'm meaning." Twilight rubbed her face and stared at Luna. "What I'm saying is that you have a problem that you aren't dealing with. And its not your continued use of weird puns and jokes."

Luna rolled her eyes. "The pink one's efforts to help me understand a thousand years of humor aren't a problem. As she would say, 'humor is a fine art with continuous turns of phrase that create this constant reevaluation of the quintessential idea of the perfect joke."

"So humor is completely subjective. That's what she said. I know that because I was there when she said it." Twilight huffed. "Now so help me, I'll-" Twilight breathed. "That's not important. I just want to know what's wrong."

Luna sighed. "What is Hearth's Warming?" Luna lay her head on the balcony and looked out to the bustling streets with a fine dusting of snow, her wings lightly wrapped around herself.

Twilight stared at her. "What was that?"

"This festival that you celebrate. I don't know why it exists."

Twilight took a deep breath and slowly tried to work out what her marefriend said. "You've been back from the moon for at least a few years. How did this never come up when you were acclimating to normal life? I mean it should have or something, it's a major holiday. You had to be awake once to see it."

Luna shrugged. "I tried to ask some ponies in the palace after I came back but it's been rather difficult to talk to ponies when that continual foppish behavior of the aristocracy that my wonderful sister has so graciously created exists or the cowering in fear I spread by just existing. So no, I don't really talk much to our Equestrian populace."

Twilight rustled her mane in thought. "You're the Princess of the Night. How in Equestria did you never realize that there were possible correlations between upticks in themed dreamscapes and the time of the year?"

"Perpetuated mass hysteria, a very common tactic in mental warfare. Mayhaps I encountered a few villains that used that tactic with gusto. It always was a terrible time for our subjects when dream magic was being readily used." Luna shook her head. "Though now that makes my constant letters from foals saying how I ruined Hearth's Warming for them make a whole lot more sense."

Twilight's eyebrows furrowed. "Lulu, what did you do?"

Luna's body shivered at Twilight's use of her pet name for her. "I thought Equestria was still being influenced by Changeling magic. so I may have explained to some foals that, well, that they were being lied to by Changelings that looked like their parents."

Twilight ran through a whole gamut of emotions as she tried to speak, her words unable to form as her brain briefly stopped working. Finally, she got the words that she could say, the tone of her voice oozing disappointment. "You are going to learn about Hearth's Warming if its the last thing I do. But that's for the morning- not nearly midnight, I'm tired and wanted to get rest for once, not have an existential breakdown of thinking about all the foals you traumatized."

"I mean 'twas only a few hundred foals."

Twilight yelled out a wordless scream, the sound all too common in Ponyville, and pulled her marefriend to bed.

***

Twilight blinked herself awake as the previous night's headache hit her full force. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and looked over to see a completely empty bed. Twilight placed a hoof on it and still felt warmth there, telling her that last night wasn't a dream and some stress related hallucination.

She groaned as she stretched her wings, the stupid things still not comfortable to her at all, their structure and her way of sleeping at odds. She had been raised as a unicorn- the idea of becoming anything close to Celestia was anathema to previous life and yet here she was in some form of a relationship with Celestia's sister. She didn't think about the new demigod status or sexual urges all that much.

She quickly pushed the beginnings of a panic attack down as she tried to relax by replicating Cadance's methods, her breathing slow and stead as she counted to ten.

She awkwardly shambled out of bed, her horn lighting up and straightening her covers.

Twilight could swear she could hear a faint humming as she went down the stairs, some kind of familiar melody that she could swear she knew but couldn't place, the early morning haze of post sleep exhaustion fogging her memory enough to make the least important question be tossed down a figurative mental mine shaft just to be dug up later when it was unimportant.

She quickly took the last few steps of the staircase and turned to her kitchen, her nose being hit by a mass of horrible smoke as she opened the door. Through great hacking coughs, she could see Luna sheepishly grinning as she tried to open a window. "Luna."

"Yes?"

"While I appreciate," Twilight wheezed. "whatever this is. I don't think fire is a great thing to have in a library."

Luna's magic finally opened a window. Long, cold blasts of arctic air hit the kitchen, clearing the smoke almost immediately, but leaving the temperature on the cold side as Twilight could feel her fur stand on end. "I didn't mean to cause you any alarm, just I've been attempting to teach myself all these infernal devices. And for some reason I cannot understand this thing Celestia says is called a toaster. I try to toast things and they just turn out blackened."

Twilight levitated over a piece of toast and stared at the burst hunk of bread, the thing more charcoal than grains. With a quick toss into her garbage, she sighed. "I wasn't really hungry anyway."

Luna slumped her head and sighed. "But I spent a while trying to replicate things I saw in the royal kitchens. Breakfast there was usually rather nice after a long night and I thought that mayhaps it would be a good idea that I could repay you for being rather-" Luna paused trying to find the right words, knowing full well that Twilight often seemed annoyed at her misunderstandings of things. "nice to me and helping me try to be normal."

Twilight craned her neck to glance at the smorgasbord of food that Luna had prepared, a veritable breakfast compared to her normal toast and some leftover food from the day before. Twilight awkwardly chuckled at the thought that Luna of all ponies spent that much effort on making her breakfast in bed. Not that she didn't appreciate it, far from it, just that it felt very weird. "Yeah. Uh, well I mean Heartswarming is known for its food so you really didn't have to go to such an extent here just to say 'thanks'. But I bet Spike would love to eat your food." Twilight felt like she dodged an emotional roller coaster as Luna's face lit up.

"Verily?"

Twilight nodded. "He's really not a picky eater when it comes to breakfast."

***

Luna stared at Twilight's pile of clothes. Hats, scarves, and boots were splayed out in a barely contained chaotic mess on the wood floor as she slightly dodged Twilight's magic.

Twilight opened the door and quickly shut it as she looked out at the near foot of snow that had been dumped on the town while the two alicorns were asleep, her body tense with emotion as she huffed and puffed, pacing back and forth silently ranting to herself. Luna smiled at her mare's silent outburst, the idea that someone as self contained as this little alicorn could be so very animated over such a trivial mess as snow. Luna disliked snow, to be sure, but she had her reasons and all that- Twilight just thought it was a hassle. A rather silly little hassle that made Twilight's nose wrinkle with worry and her cheeks flush with anger. A righteous fury of a mare pacing back and forth. Luna tried holding in her breath so she wouldn't break the moment's charm.

"Luna, are you listening?"

Luna snapped back into focus and nodded. "I think your last few sentences were a little hard to follow with the barrage of garments and slipclothes. Can you repeat your statement, please?"

Twilight sighed. "Yes, well I can't particularly find clothes to fit you all that well so unless you would be okay looking like I dressed you in doll clothes due to your-" Twilight paused. "Regal height. I think before we get with the Hearth's Warming research, we might have to go to Rarity's to get you some clothes."

Luna waved a hoof. "Not necessary. I fought windigos and faced their polar magic for multiple days without a strip of clothing. This mere storm can't hold a candle to the numbness I felt then." Luna flexed her wings and winked.

Twilight grabbed a hat, scarf, and boots and rolled her eyes and she talked, putting away what Luna had just said behind so many mental blocks that she felt like a jailer. "Yes, well I'm still taking you there. I don't want to have a repeat of when I took Spike out during Hearth's Warming and he almost turned into a popsicle just to show off how awesome he was to Rarity." Twilight pulled on her boots and hat, carefully pulling the earflaps down around her face and wrapped the scarf snug around her neck. "And I don't doubt you fought windigos. But the history books don't really like mentioning you at all."

Luna grumbled. "Celestia."

Twilight tried backpedaling that statement, knowing full well how much of a touchy subject Celestia could be for Luna. "I mean it'd probably be far more likely your feats were lost to time after a few thousand years. That tends to happen with books and the pre-modern idea of copying books by hoof. Nothing sinister in that. You know maybe I could see if Cadance has some original books mentioning you." Twilight gently prodded Luna with her magic to try and find the rare tickle spot that she knew the alicorn had. "But that's for another time. While I'd love debating historical accuracy and how history tends to be written after the fact, we do have a little mission to complete."

Luna imperceptably leaned into the faint prodding that Twilight's magic gave her. "Fine, but maybe next week we could find a book or two that corroborates my stories. And maybe I could show how fantastic I am with a little demonstration."

Twilight smiled and opened the door again, this time prepared for the icy wasteland that was Ponyville. A faint hint of a laugh enveloped her voice as she talked. "Is that a date?"

Luna blushed profusely at the thought. "Yes."

***

Luna pushed open the door to Carousel Boutique, carefully ducking to not hit her horn on the top of the doorframe and pressed her wings close as the bell rang for Rarity's attention.

"I'll be right with you in a moment." Rarity's lilting accent came from her back room, a sewing machine chugging away on some unseen piece of clothing.

Luna awkwardly sat down on a chair as Twilight pulled her winter clothes off and left them neatly by the door. Luna stared at the sheer holiday cheer garishly draped on ponyquins, Rarity sparing no expense with garlands and tinsel dresses, hats that looked like trees with tiny ornaments, and scarves that were made to look like snowflakes sitting there overloading her brain with terrible modern sensibilities. She quietly wished that she could curl up in a direwolf hide and be done with modern fashion. Luna did know that the fashion industry had to be rather on the nose with trends and that took a very certain type of pony- Celestia had spent weeks showing her how the trends she knew a thousand years ago with tight shifts and very certain types of fabrics and hoods depending on social standing had exploded into this menagerie of choice after a few hundred years- and the Lady Rarity was such a pony able to shift fabric, cut, and size on a whim when a customer asked politely.

Interesting to be sure, but she didn't have to enjoy every little flighty thing she or the other designers came up with.

Rarity walked in, looked at Luna, and froze. "Oh, Twilight, I wasn't expecting you or Luna here. You really should have said something."

Twilight groaned. "It's fine. And Rarity, I keep telling you to treat me and Luna like all of your customers- being alicorns doesn't change our need for clothing. Or standing in a nonexistent line. I mean decorum is nice and all, but I also like not acting like a princess every moment of the day."

Rarity glanced between Twilight and Luna, briefly unable to speak, her mind trying to reconcile having two princesses in her boutique, even if one was both a decently good friend and also completely insane to not want some form of decent action within prescribed roles. If Rarity was a royal, she'd have all the pleasure and time in the world to appreciate it. She fidgeted as she talked. "Fine. But Princess Luna is still here."

Luna, for her part, had just been looking at the skylight in the boutique, flecks of dust lightly spiraling down from above causing light to scatter between its different waves of light, a mini rainbow dancing across the floor. It was nice seeing something the moon couldn't give her- light and warmth. Even the dust was different. Truer somehow than the chalky rock dust that littered the moon. She had been vaguely listening to Rarity have some strange and utterly pointless meltdown over the sheer inanity that was continuous polite discussion. Luna knew of polite discussion from the hangers on at court and didn't care for them. "While I appreciate your offer of saying my regal title, it would be ever so pointless with you just bowing every five seconds." Luna smiled.

Rarity rubbed her temple and impolitely swore under her breath, the idea of breaking Canterlot etiquette was a no no. And yet here she was being asked to do that just because it was expedient. "Fine, but I have one very important rule."

Twilight and Luna shared a look.

"Just don't mention this if you see anypony from Canterlot. If it got out I was not going by the book every moment of the day when it came to this rubbish, I'd never hear the end of it from Hoity Toity. And that insufferable stallion can be so unreasonable when it comes to that. Yet I want to get into Canterlot. Untapped potential for staying on top of the latest fashion trends and all that. So can we just not mention this cause I'd love to open a store within my lifetime please."

Luna chuckled. "Well that's Canterlot for you. Seems we can agree on one thing, Generosity."

Twilight coughed and quickly prodded Luna in the ribs, her nights of continuously explaining in minute detail her friends' names and what they actually did for a living and here was Luna deciding it would be easier and somehow more appropriate to call them by their Elements and everything. Twilight looked up and mouthed Rarity's name.

Luna sheepishly grinned. "Yes, Rarity, that's it. Sorry about that, my sister's the one with the perfect recall of every pony ever born." Luna awkwardly laughed as she gripped Twilight in her magic and slowly pushed her towards Rarity.

Twilight quickly sighed. Luna was getting better with social anxiety, but she usually tended to devolve back into defensive tics when Twilight tried to push her out of her shell. "Can you make Luna some winter clothes? Seems that most of my clothes are made for ponies with less full figures." Twilight looked back and winked as she saw Luna pout, her cheeks flush with heat as she looked down.

Rarity stared at Luna and pulled out an array of pins and tapes. "When do you want her back?"

Twilight sighed, knowing full well that while it would be rather nice to see Luna in something else than her normal princess attire, she wasn't going to waste all day having Luna model every fashionable whim that the unicorn had in storage ever since she saw the mare. Rainbow Dash had accidentally agreed to model for Rarity once and hadn't left the Boutique for an entire week. So she had to err on the side of caution and act reasonable.

"She just needs one pair of winter clothes- not a wardrobe. So just do the best idea and run with it. Also be subtle. I don't want to be dragging a Heartswarming basket around town so limit your festive apparel."

Rarity feigned indignation well, her rough hints of disapproval echoing softly through the building as she dragged Luna back to her workshop.

Twilight prayed that her marefriend would be safe. Or that she wouldn't harangue Rarity for some perceived slight.

***

Luna looked around the decently sized workroom. A large rack of clothes and fabrics was situated at one wall and Rarity's station of creation sat near the other with multiple ponyquins assembled like a small platoon of soldiers in the middle of it all- possibly an assembly line of thought as she was yanked in one of the only chairs.

Rarity levitated over her own personal seat and stared at the mare, hooves slightly crossed and her eyes awash with movement as she ran them over Luna, ideas popping up and disappearing in a flash. Rarity breathed and spoke. "Celestia damn it, if only Twilight hadn't put those silly rules in place I could give you an entire wardrobe that could make you stand out so you aren't the biggest wallflower in existence. I mean honestly from the few bits of gossip I could glean from Twilight- which wasn't a lot since she is weirdly tight lipped about you- I'm surprised you didn't click with Fluttershy or something. Though with how she's taken and all that, I'm not surprised. Though with how Dash is the least feminine of all of our friends, I can see why those two got together. I mean add a penis to Dash and you change nothing of note." Rarity tossed aside a roll of fabric in disgust.

Luna blinked, unsure if she was being complimented or not. "Thank you? Also I do not know how the sex life of your friends is relevant to my clothes but sure."

Rarity levitated over a cup of coffee and drank it while she just looked at the alicorn. "Sorry, I've been trying to design dresses for the girls for the Gala again and Dash keeps saying that she could reuse her dress. The absolute barbarity. But less about Dash and her masculine ways- let's actually get down to the nitty gritty, and I don't mean the coat and boots. I have one question to ask."

Luna stretched her wings, her eyes trying not to focus on the white unicorn. Already the mare reminded her of the clowns at court, except she wasn't completely a pain. "Yes?"

Rarity hunched her back. "I get Fluttershy and Dash. I most definitely get my relationship just fine with Applejack. I vaguely get Pinkie and Cheerilee- even though that took some getting used to. But you and Twilight? I mean honestly I looked at Twilight when she first appeared and thought she could have been my in to Canterlot, a unicorn with prime access to every single high roller party I could think of? Marvelous." Rarity laughed. "I was naive and realized how wrong I was when Twilight kept being a complete mess. That whole Discord thing and the Smarty Pants Incident a few days later, for example. And I guess there's you. Not that that's wrong. I mean Twilight said she checked-"

Luna huffed. She remembered Twilight knocking on her window in Canterlot and blubbering like a foal after her use of dark magics on this town. It was still a touchy subject that neither spoke about, and yet she could see in Twilight's dreams that she still was haunted by what she did then. What she was capable with just a polite word, a bad day, and the nearly unlimited power she held in a town that had grown to trust her. Discord was well known in twisting the darkest desires of ponies for fun. What Twilight went through wasn't just a 'thing', it was a breaking of a mare for Discord's sheer amusement. She accidentally slipped into her old speaking patterns as she quickly tapped a hoof."I remember the fortnight after being quite tumultuous, pray tell do thou hast a point?"

Rarity stared at the livid alicorn and quickly read the room. "Oh, I mean that how do you two even work? All I hear from ponies are that you barely touch or that most of the time you seem to be rather distant."

Luna's eye imperceptibly twitched. "Dost thou believest everything ever said in hushed whispers? Mayhaps thine ideas of propriety are warped to follow the modern idea of love where one must whore thyself like a common trollop? Or is it your sheer fawning over these aristocrats that has warped thine soul?" Luna stood up and fumed at the unicorn.

Rarity stayed quiet.

Luna tried the breathing techniques Twilight had shown her, counting from forty. With a huff, she stared down at the cowed mare. "I have been alive for thousands of years, I know exactly why I care for her. I have loved and lost many lovers and yet I care for her like the others- yet this time I might not see her wither and die like the rest. Do you know the pain of losing everypony you ever cared for just because you were given immortality? Hold them in your hooves as they were tainted by dark magics. . ." Luna sighed. "I don't like public declarations of love, okay? My actions speak louder than your paltry gossip." Luna bent down and stared at the mare. "Tell the others to not cross me for I know where each and every one sleeps at night and what you lot dream about. And some of it is purely disgraceful. Tell Hoity Toity that and he'll give you whatever you ask."

Luna levitated over a dark blue pair of boots, a green scarf, and a maroon coat and quickly cast an enlarging spell on them so they would both fit snugly on her and clip the annoyance in the bud. Luna breathed out. She felt still the darker parts of herself that the Nightmare had amplified and twisted into malevolence. The feelings were still there. Her past wasn't going to change anytime soon- she had her future to look forward to. Luna remembered why the pair had come here in the first place, besides the coat, and quickly shifted back into her much less terrifying self.

"Sorry about that, now what does Heartswarming mean to you?"

Rarity stared at the mare who had only moments before been very, very terrifying and answered in shaky tones, her eyes like dinner plates as she stumbled over her words. "It's my best time for my business. Though that means I can't really see my family or Applejack all that much. And everypony looks like they had a gaudy idea to wear their worst sweaters imaginable, so overall it's a mixed bag." Rarity cowered as she looked at the alicorn.

"A bit too fashion focused, but thank you. And this coat is fantastic. If only you hadn't mentioned that Discord thing, Or the whole brief comment about me, I might have been so much more gracious for it. I could be so awful to you in so many ways, but that would just play into all the terrible gossip that I'm trying to not listen to." Luna ran a hoof through her mane, little constellations swirling around her hooves. She still felt a little bad for being so harsh on a protector of Equestria, even if the mare reminded her a bit too much of the conniving aristocrats she detested. Sliding off her horseshoes, she placed them at this Rarity's hooves and slid her feet into the dark boots. The fabric was of the highest quality and felt like she was laying down on clouds, the cushion beneath her being unfamiliar and yet soothing.

"Perhaps your craftsmareship is finer than your wagging tongue and wandering ears, so in payment for your excellent taste in fabrics, and partially for my own harsh tones, here's my own shoes so you might bypass some of the more distasteful aspects of Canterlot- the rich just love a good bribe. Just be better than today and you'll make it. Cause you are still better than the rest of Canterlot combined. They'd never get a generous donation from me." Luna walked away.

Rarity just sat there staring at the horseshoes as she heard the bell jingle.

***

Luna glared at the ponies around her as Rarity's words echoed in her mind. The idea that ponies were judging her closeness to Twilight every moment of the day made her uneasy, the threat to Rarity more of a force of habit than an actual threat she would enforce. Luna quickly draped a protective wing over Twilight, the size between the mares almost making the protective gesture a blanket of warmth.

"Luna, are you okay?" Twilight looked up at her marefriend with a hint of surprise.

The midnight blue alicorn tried to smile, her face slightly showing apprehension at her thoughts. "Gener-" Luna paused. "Rarity said some things in there about us."

Twilight groaned. Of course she said things. "Like what?"

Luna tried to look away from Twilight, vaguely staring at the coming bakery, the smells of the holiday season wafting through the air. "About you, How we could ever work. The Discord matter popped up right away. I dealt with it with perfect aplomb and all that."

Twilight knew when she was lying. "Luna, I keep telling you to not scare everypony I have ever known if they say something that happened in the past." Twilight sighed. "I told you a while ago that keeping all of our love life in private might cause some eyebrows to be raised."

Luna grimaced. "'Tis true."

Twilight rubbed her temple. "At least swear to me that you won't do it again."

Luna rolled her eyes. "I gave her my horseshoes. I believe I don't have to completely apologize."

Twilight poked Luna hard in the ribs at that statement. "It doesn't matter what you do to make up for it. Even though I know how much monetary value your shoes are. If you don't apologize to Rarity in the next day, I'll have to hear about it from every single one of my friends who all talk amongst each other and come back to me to say how unreasonable you are."

Luna's demeanor shifted slightly, showing a vague hint of worry at Twilight's words. "But you don't believe them?"

The purple alicorn edged closer to Luna and shook her head. "I believe their perception of things." Twilight quickly spoke before Luna could interject something. "And I believe you are trying hard and all, but it's been kind of annoying dealing with weekly 'why your marefriend is a terror to society' letters and talks from every which way. So let's just get in Sugarcube Corner and get something to eat cause I'm hungry and want something to focus on besides my conflicting emotions."

Luna bowed her head and stayed quiet, her mind racing with worry.

***

Pinkie whizzed around Sugarcube Corner, pies and cupcakes stacked high on her hooves, her graceful movements making short work of the packed place. She quickly noticed the two alicorns enter through her peripheral vision, tabling that thought as she skated past patrons and pastries galore. With a flourish, she landed in front of the pair and did a slight bow. "Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, the sweetest place in Equestria, Happy Holidays and Seasons Eatings, what may I do for you on this fine snowy morning?"

Twilight did a quick side eye towards Luna and shrugged. "Probably a table for two." Twilight looked Luna up and down. "Maybe a booth? I can never tell how that works."

Pinkie sized up Luna, her ministrations to administrate tabled justice bringing her to admire the length of Luna's legs- a definite hint to aim for a certain height of table, the longer instep giving her a definite bend when compared to normal pony heights. She slowly looked at each feather of Luna's wings, noting the length of the wingspan and how they might look and act while folded up. And she slightly poked the horn that jutted out of the alicorn's head, slightly wincing at the sharp point touching her hoof.

Luna, for her part, vaguely waited while Pinkie was literally climbing all over her. The unpleasant touching and feeling just a fact of life when it came to the mare. Luna inwardly thanked her luck that Pinkie wasn't in a dream right now. The idea of finding the pink one stumbling across Luna's personal domain like a party spirit, leaving excited ponies in her wake slightly terrified her- the mare being eerily too competent at mixing the dreams to her will for Luna's liking.

Pinkie slid off Luna's back and tapped her head briefly to connect all the dots. "Looks like the best bet to fit your oversized guest, Twily, is the royal table." Pinkie giggled. "Well it's more a table retrofitted to fit any weird customers. And we have a 97 percent success rate with the table."

Luna cocked her head at that. "Why not 100?"

Pinkie stared at Luna. "You've never met Steven Magnet have you? Hard to fit a river serpent like him in the booth." Pinkie grabbed a few menus and some silverware and bounded away.

Luna whispered to Twilight. "Is she pulling my hoof?"

Twilight shook her head. "You should get out more. From what Rarity tells me, he loves the spa."

Luna just stared at her marefriend like she had grown a second head. Celestia had supposedly destroyed most of the river serpents when they invaded the hippogriff lands in search of a pearl the serpents had lost. That was thousands of years ago, It was unlikely a serpent had survived her sister's annoyance at being woken up at an untimely hour.

Twilight and Luna sat down at the table, it's size fitting the two alicorns comfortably.

Pinkie passed out the menus and they quickly said their drink orders to get a kind of quiet moment in the bustling bakery.

Luna twiddled her hooves as she looked down at her menu, the strange spices and even stranger words telling her nothing about the food. Things like a "everything sundae- holiday edition" stood out to her for the absolute decadence of modern living, the idea of a banquet outside of feast days and the price of only a handful of bits all things considered was still shocking to her. She remembered the past like it was only yesterday, where a handful of bits was something the more unfortunate ones squabbled to death over. "Do you have any idea what I should get for food? I mean I've never really been here on a. . .holiday." Luna tried to smile as she saw Twilight look up and then back down in silence.

Twilight was fuming at her. She knew it. It was like watching Celestia be disappointed in her summoning an army of skeletons to test out the limits of the necromantic arts. The silent treatment was her sister's forte and she was staring at her sister's most well adjusted pupil. From what her sister said, there were others, many others and yet here was the one that was both the perfect example of her sister's teachings and yet able to break away from her firm yet oh so very subtle grasp.

And she was performing her sister's look of disappointment disguised as bored apathy with flying colors. Luna uncomfortably shifted in her seat as she tried to keep focus on the task at hand.

"Because I was thinking of this super huge sundae so I can share it with you and not because I feel particularly bad about whatever I did or didn't do. Which I definitely do not care about the thing, that I didn't do. Cause I didn't do it. I think."

Twilight set down her menu and crossed her hooves.

Luna tried to hold out for a while against the focused guilt trip that Twilight was confidently giving her.

"Okay, maybe I shouldn't mess with your friends. Even if some are inveterate gossips that wag their honeyed tongues."

Twilight tapped a hoof.

"And I'll apologize to her." Luna saw Twilight roll her eyes. "I will, and all of the rest of your friends just in case."

Twilight sighed. "Now why would you have to apologize to any of my other friends?"

Luna felt her words come unabated. "I remember scaring the timid one during my first Nightmare Night. This Rarity thing an hour ago. There was also that one time I almost burned down the orange one's barn when I was trying to explain to her little sister that I could not talk to ghosts. Then I may have accidentally broadcast one of the blue one's nightmares when I was trying to hunt down a certain monster in the dreamlands. You're already mad at me now and Pinkie is completely terrifying so I don't know."

"I don't know why you keep calling me scary." Pinkie poked Luna on the nose as she lay down the hot cocoa in front of the two mares. "I'm sorry that I think doing whatever you want when you're asleep is so cool. I mean imagining really cool stuff is fun."

Luna groaned. "I can tell you multiple ways why abusing dreams is dangerous but that's neither here nor there." Luna felt agitated, her mane's stars spinning faster in response, their colors redshifting as she tried to push away the feelings. "I want this 'Holiday' super large thing."

Pinkie's eyes were slightly surprised. "You know that's for a family of ten, right. Unless you have like the most amazing stomach ever which I doubt, no offense, but you don't look like you could fit that. I mean 'Winter Hibernation is-"

Luna cut her off. "It'll be fine. I have my wonderful-"

"I'll have a gingerbread muffin."

"-marefriend." Luna grinned as she didn't want to backpedal her order. "I mean I will totally do this alone."

***

Luna stared at the horrible monstrosity in front of her and cautiously popped her head to the side to see what Twilight was doing. "So do you want to help me eat your friend's insane concoction or not? Because I can slay this beast no problem, but you only got a muffin and us alicorns can't live on bread alone. Or something."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "You didn't have to order the largest thing on the menu to show off your love for me. And no. Not going to help you dig yourself out of this one." Twilight took a bite of her muffin and sat back waiting.

"Drat." Luna dug in and ate the first bite of the sundae, conflicting sugar tastes hitting her tastebuds, the amount of sugar alone already giving her a sugar rush due to how unused to sugar she was. She almost gagged at the strong taste of what she assumed was holiday spices. To her it felt like the culmination of Celestia's cake stash, the spices present almost too much for her.

"So how do you like the food?" Pinkie popped up to check on the pair, the pink pony's ever present smile making Luna at least not completely threatened by her presence. "I mean it's not every day we get a princess, though I guess Twilight comes in every once in a while but I knew her before she was an alicorn so I don't exactly know how to classify you, no offense, Twily, but I don't really see you as the whole idea of a princess."

Twilight sighed, far too used to the idea that she was still in limbo about being a princess. "It's fine. But while Luna here looks like she came in just to show off her alicorn prowess and eating skills." Twilight smirked. "We came in to get out of the cold first, and then I guess to find out the meaning of Hearth's Warming cause Luna never had one."

"Oh I know. Dashie's been complaining about it all morning. Something about the one day off she had in the winter months or something?" Pinkie's mind caught up with her mouth. "Wait, Luna never had Hearthwarming? What were you doing for the last-" Pinkie trailed off. "Oh, sorry, guess you can't celebrate on the moon. Though I wonder how you could make up for a thousand missed holidays. That'd be like lethal holiday spirit."

Luna took another few bites as the pair had been talking. In between bites of sheer decadence, she tried to answer. "It's fine, I'm more surprised that you seem to be celebrating our win over the Pony of Shadows and his windigo army, I really didn't expect such a happy holiday when it cost so many lives."

The two ponies were silent.

"Is it something I said?"

Twilight slowly tapped a hoof on the table. "I don't want to discredit that version of events because I most definitely wasn't there, but couldn't there be two different or multiple different windigo sightings? The things feed off of hatred and from what I've at least spent the time reading and checking- a thousand years ago wasn't the most agreeable time."

"You aren't saying what I think your saying."

Pinkie awkwardly shuffled away as she tried to get anywhere besides an alicorn spat. "Well it's nice talking to you. I have to totally check on the twins and all that. Hearth's Warming. You know, family stuff."

Twilight eyed Pinkie shift into the crowd in the bakery and wished she could go anywhere but here. "I didn't say you were crazy if that was what you thought I meant, and also I'm not saying that you did it. I'm just saying that there was a whole lot of horrible things happening a thousand years ago. Sombra for one, this Pony of Shadows, even though I still think it's just some old mare's tale. Discord was around back then as well, give or take a few centuries, and he wasn't reformed like Fluttershy says he is now. Every one of them were hurling around dark spells like there was no tomorrow."

Luna huffed. "True."

The pair ate their food in silence after that.