Past Lives

Luna and Twilight trudged through even more snow as they saw their breath on the wind, smoke trails leaving their mouths as they walked. Neither one particularly wanted to dislodge the awkward question on their minds and neither one wanted to break it first. Luna felt oddly amped up and twitchy as the sugar ran through her system, her attempt at something Celestia had mentioned once as romantic weighing her down literally as she felt it sit there in her now pained insides. Her jacket had barely fit, even with a tight breath, so moving around felt like she had eaten for five- even though she knew alicorns weren't supposed to be fertile anymore. She quietly chastised herself at trying something to cheer up Twilight's now decidedly dour mood.

The words of Rarity echoed through her head as she looked at Twilight's backside, the definite clipped walking and faster pace making her continually retread all the things either one had said. Maybe she shouldn't have told Twilight about the whole holiday thing. She should have just buried it and acted like it was fine, an alicorn adrift in the modern era. Looking like a relic as the world moved on and changed in a myriad of ways. Trying to explain that things felt wrong was silly, Twilight probably knew that already through hundreds of moments she had since they had got together- the idea of lights had confused her for an entire week. Or the time she had called Spike Twilight's familiar. Which then brought up rights for dragons and all these foreign terms she had stumbled over like a silly foal.

Maybe she really wasn't cut out for Twilight.

"We're here." Twilight's muffled voice rang out as she knocked on a door somewhat familiar to Luna, the Nightmare Night welcome party still fresh in her mind after a full year.

"Twilight, pray tell why are we here?" Luna slipped in her use of modern Equestrian, the thoughts swimming in her head putting the words behind an impenetrable barrier of time.

"Before we got into our long silence, Pinkie mentioned Dash and I'd rather see why 'Equestria's best flier' took a few days off."

Luna sighed. "Mayhaps she took a day of rest? The sky service in Equestria seems like a harsh mistress."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Rainbow takes like seven naps a day. Either she's way too good at her job or she's a management genius stuck in a lazy body. Either way it gets done." Twilight knocked on the door. "Fluttershy, where is Dash?"

Fluttershy slowly opened the door. " She told me to let nopony in, I guess. Which seems awfully mean. Uh, I mean it's cold and you've probably been outside in the snow for minutes and that's awful for everypony." Fluttershy shifted on her hooves as she tried to balance letting them in and keeping her promise to Dash. "Oh ponyfeathers, I guess you could come in."

Dash slunk out of Fluttershy's kitchen, a coffee cup in hoof. "If it's Blossomforth at the door I'm demoting her to junior weatherpony." Dash stopped and stared at the alicorns. "Okay, that's new."

Twilight unwrapped her scarf and lay her boots down, careful to keep them on the carpet to not stain Fluttershy's wood floor. "So what's with the weather?"

Dash groaned and set her coffee cup down. "Great, not a 'Hey, Dash, how's the Wonderbolts stuff going or how is Tank? Yeah, the weather. Looks like some pony read the sheets wrong and thought Cloudsdale ordered a foot of snow and not an inch. Or whatever. If I wasn't preoccupied already with my day off, I'd be out there like the rest of the idiots fixing this mess."

Luna piped up. "How are you preoccupied? All I see is a minuscule cup of coffee and nothing else."

Dash looked up at the alicorn, her small height for an adult pegasi making the action of staring up at the dark blue alicorn a chore. "Good morning to you too. I mean being in Fluttershy's house didn't tip you off that I might be planning on doing things later or do I have to wear pajamas to hang around?"

Fluttershy blushed. "Well you do have your stuff here so it's not all that weird."

Dash grimaced. "Well they didn't need to know that Shy, and its only cause Tank's hibernating, nothing else."

Twilight was nonplussed. "Sure, whatever you say. So Fluttershy, what are you two doing on Dash's day off cause I'd think you two would want to do something special." Twilight smiled as she saw her slight needling of the situation slightly bear fruit in Dash's expressions.

Fluttershy lit up. "Well Dash said she wanted to go see the school's Hearth's Warming play."

Twilight grinned. "Oh really, Dash? I thought I remembered you saying that plays were just bad novels or something."

Dash looked down and rushed though her words. "I mean, it's not like they aren't but like Scoots mentioned she was going to be Commander Hurricane and-"

Luna felt a slight twinge at the name, the idea that there were some other ponies that saved Equestria. Which was categorically impossible because she knew her memories. "Who is Commander Hurricane?"

The three ponies stared at her.

"Twilight, you can't be serious. Does your mare have that brain thing?" Dash groaned. "It is too dang early to deal with this. Shy, what's the word I'm thinking of. Like brain fog but like the really garbage version."

Fluttershy shook her head, years of interpreting Rainbow's speech coming back to her in a moment. "Amnesia."

Dash nodded. "Yeah, Twi, she's got that. Cause I'm sorry, but the one other pony who might be alive back then doesn't remember the greatest pegasi commander that lead one third of the Friendship Forces against the Windigoes and helped figure out the whole importance of friendship."

Fluttershy slid on up and lay a wing against Rainbow's back. "Well Private Pansy, Smart Cookie, and Clover the Clever were the ones who fixed that issue with their actual discovery of friendship."

Rainbow sighed. "Yeah, yeah. But Commander Hurricane's still a pretty important one."

Luna just let them banter between them as she slowly realized the point. Luna held back her annoyance as she stretched her wings and stared down at Twilight. "Twilight, I'm sorry, but I just remembered that I forgot that I have to talk to my sister, it won't be very long."

"You usually give me a heads up about that." Twilight frowned, the list of Luna's duties in her mind and shuffled away under various mental locks that would only open when necessary. "You aren't supposed to have a conversation with Celestia until next week."

Luna nodded. Twilight was sometimes too astute for her own good. Sometimes the best answer in those situations was the truth, or at least a part of it, the annoyance and feelings of the day coming back. "It's about the holiday. We have to have some discussions about it." Luna awkwardly bent down and kissed Twilight on the cheek. "Won't be more than ten minutes or so." Luna breathed in and felt the magical connection she was searching for, slowly drawing it out with her horn. She sat down and entered the land of dreams.

Dash rolled her eyes. "You okay with having an alicorn asleep on your floor, Shy, cause that's what it looks like to me."

Fluttershy didn't respond, Dash was being Dash. "So should we, uh, wait for her to get out of her trance or not."

***

Luna breezed through the madness of the dreamlands, easily circumventing any pitfalls or traps that most ponies would fall into- be them daydreams, night terrors, or meditative focus, she could usually skip through the traps she had devised for the more problematic things that ponies or other creatures could create in this realm. She shifted dreamsand like it was nothing as she landed in Celestia's own slice of this place.

Luna lightly touched flowers that only existed now in Celestia's dreams, the rainbow hues of the garden far more colorful than her own slightly muted versions. Luna's mind garden was well trimmed and focused inward, the rows of flowers tended well enough through years of being in dreams, twisting memories and thoughts was something she was supposed to be good at. She could see the difference straight away as Celestia's mental garden was exploding with life, but underneath the grandeur and splendor of the colors, she could see brambles and weeds choking the smaller concerns.

"Celly, mayest we discuss some pressing matters?"

Celestia floated in, the light in the garden coming to noonday sun as she entered, her hair shimmered like an aurora as she set down lightly, her touch ever so deft and quiet. Celestia stood up to her full height, slightly taller than her sister and smiled, her emotions fully on display here as she created a table and chairs out of memory. Sitting down at the golden table, she beckoned her sister closer. "It's unexpected, but I don't mind, Lulu. Far more exciting than one of the aristocrats blathering on about finances yet again. Like I haven't heard a procession of similar problems for thousands of years."

Luna sat down and awkwardly shuffled in her seat, the seat just slightly too big for her to feel truly comfortable here, and her sister's insistence on gold a bit too much for her. "Well I have a slight question about this Hearth's Warming celebration."

"Well do go ahead. I seem to have all day. And if not, I could technically push the sun back a few hours."

Luna sighed. "Well I don't want to take all of your time up, so I'll just spit it out. Why are you lying about it?"

Celestia hummed lightly to herself while she watched her sister fume. "Luna, whatsoever gave you that idea?"

Luna pulled deeply out of her memories, shaping Celestia's garden for a brief moment as conflicting poles of thought, her memories on one end, and a mishmash of the Equestrian dreamscape's collective dream in the other. Images of windigos stalked the garden, passing through walls as their memory could do nothing here. Two differing, yet similar forces of ponies stood at the ready for the creatures' assault, not back to back, but superimposed on top of one another as they shimmered. Long dead and decaying memories conjured from dry books stared back at the alicorns. "I kept wandering in dreams for years seeing a lie and trying to fix it. I kept thinking it was Changeling magic, the mental fortitude to create a nationwide delusion was so like Chrysalis, and yet I kept hearing in Ponyville small things that made me curious."

Celestia humored her sister, knowing full well where she was most likely going. "Ponyville sure is nice around this time of year. How is my former student doing? I mean you should know her better than I do now. Will I have to prepare a wedding before the new year? Cadance keeps telling me that she feels you two are nearly an item."

Luna frowned. "Don't change the subject. There's sea serpents in Ponyville. And everytime I mention the true heroes of this nation that stood their ground against the windigos with us, they look at me like I'm insane."

Celestia smiled and lay a hoof on her sister. "There's sea serpents everywhere now, Lulu. It's been a thousand years. Also I did destroy their culture, not them. Sure their race is now far less impressive than it used to be, but things come back from the brink all the time. And you aren't crazy. I keep telling you that. Your therapy sessions tell you that."

Luna's eyes narrowed, her hair swirling about in slight confusion. "So I'm not crazy. But the holiday-"

Celestia looked away from her sister. "Is a white lie, yes. You knew how bad it got with Stygian and the others. So what If I pushed back the creation of modern Equestria a few thousand years. I gave them a perfectly wrapped up legend that everypony loves. It started out as a lie and grew into something more."

Luna recoiled from her sister. "That doesn't make it right."

Celestia sighed and got up from the table. "It still keeps the fires of friendship going, even if I made the holiday when the soldiers started getting too forgetful of the past. I had a lot of things on my mind back then. There's a difference between those who knew the past and read it in dusty books."

"And I was on the moon for a thousand years. Not that I'm complaining."

The white alicorn rubbed her temple. "And I was stuck on Equestria looking up at you every night. I raised and lowered the moon, feeling each night the place you were and being unable to fix you. I was at a low point for about a hundred years after I had to banish you away- I thought you were going to bring our hard fought victory to a complete halt. So I panicked and used the Elements on you."

"And?"

"I might have made Hearth's Warming to remember you. Kind of, not really, but yes." Celestia hid her face in her mane, the embarrassment all over her face.

Luna cocked her head. "What?"

"Set up a holiday during the winter solstice? Lots of snow and cold. Almost like the moon. And I remember you used to love walking into a few too many taverns and gathering halls when you were younger, the love of camaraderie and festive food usually getting you out of a few too many depressive episodes."

Luna crossed her hooves. "Ale and wine were often free for us, and also I most definitely wasn't sad all the time. Just when promising captains were mauled by foul beasts or we lost."

Celestia rolled her eyes. "Which happened a lot. Don't you remember the years we spent in caves or underground with the few Diamond Dogs that harbored us some goodwill? So yeah, I tried to write a play all by myself one year and create this huge party that was in near darkness for quite a while just hoping you could see the faint shimmer of light coming from below. It kind of took on a life of its own really. And if I could have taken back my writing of it, I would."

Luna stayed silent as she felt emotions well up.

Celestia walked over and quietly lay her head on her sister's back. "Don't focus on the past, it's over and done with. Focus on the one pony you seem to at least have a reciprocal attraction towards ever since you and Somnambula had your moment."

Luna breathed in as she tried to hold back the flood of memories that she had of the pegasus mare, the way she could spin the deepest of riddles and the feeling of having a student in dream magic for the first time ever. It was a raw memory, full of edges of good things but it ended horribly after the Stygian affair. Everything changed after that.

"Sister, can we not bring up past wounds?"

Celestia sighed. "If you never speak of such matters, Luna, you won't have any sense of closure."

Luna pushed her sister away. "Well, can I have some time to think about it? Unlike you, I can think of the past like a fresh memory. I can feel Somnambula's light touch on my mane as she talked about her homeland, the desert clime something I would have loved to see, the reality probably so much more desolate and harsh than her own fanciful tale, but I could see how happy she was telling me about it. I know she's been dead for centuries, but I still see her. Maybe not in the way your ponies whisper about me- how I am some kind of mess or restrained evil. But I see her in Twilight and her love of magic, her curiosity to push boundaries and fix every puzzle imaginable. Sure, Twilight's her own being and to see the potential of new alicorns after so long just because she had cut Starswirl's final problem down with tempered logic. She's magical in every way and she was the first face I saw when back to Equestria. So I have conflicting issues when something that should be so simple in concept to explain to her is shadowed by your lie. I'm surprised I can even be this close to you after knowing that you created hope out of a covering up the sheer horror that seeing every pony you sent against Stygian choke to death on his pure evil." Luna breathed out, her rant of a thousand years of quiet just hanging in the air, unremarked, as Luna saw Celestia's calm mask fall and she could see the hurt lined plainly on her sister's face. Luna quickly backed away, her movements unsure and unknown as she could feel a breach in their relationship form, her first thought was to flee and run, her body running on pure instinct as she quickly pulled herself awake, her dreamself fading away like purple grains of sand on the wind.

Celestia watched the shade of her sister disappear into the distance. "Well that went well. I'm never telling Discord about this. He'd never let me live this mess down." Celestia sat down in her slice of dreamland and stared around at all the carefully tended plants she had spend a thousand years cultivating. And she felt no connection to them.

She looked at them and saw each of the carefully tended dreams she had for the last thousand years just start burning, the rainbow plants shimmering right before they caught alight. As she watched, she felt rain for the first time in a century.

She only realized those were tears when the rain didn't extinguish any of her burning dreams. She watched a thousand years of dreams float away as she had her first cry in nearly a century. She had almost forgot the feeling.

***

Luna breathed in air and flopped off an unknown couch. A few moments passed as she sat there looking at the floor, the wood grain being the most important thing at the moment, the swirling pattern grounding her as she pushed the image of Somnambula away into her deepest memories. She lightly cursed as she tried to get up. Astral projection was something she rarely liked using in the daytime since her powers tended to be tied to the nighttime, it felt unnatural and made her weaker than normal. Not by much, but there were downsides to dream magic, and sadly, most ponies slept on Celestia's schedule, not hers. She groaned as her hooves weren't listening to her for a moment. She always hated this, her reliance on Twilight when something like this happened. "Twilight, can you please help me?"

She heard a clopping of hooves as Twilight scurried into the room, a pitcher of coffee balanced tentatively in her magic. "I knew I should have timed it." Luna could hear Twilight's pacing as it slightly shook the floor, her closeness to the ground amplifying the feel of her mare's worry. "And I mean it's been only. . .twenty minutes. Oh that's bad. That's very bad. I mean you told me that it wouldn't be ideal to do that for more than five and you've exceeded the amount by four times that. I mean sure I told Dash and Fluttershy to go to Applejack's and not wait up for me just in case this happened, but still it isn't great that it did."

Luna rolled her eyes. "I said that warning just so you wouldn't go gallivanting around mine realm like one of your science projects. But I am made of sterner stuff than your soft and plushy exterior. Not that I'm complaining about said exterior." Luna moved and felt her spine pop. "Or at least I was made of it a thousand years ago. May you help me up? My legs haven't really woke up from this romp yet."

Twilight set down the pot of coffee and enveloped Luna in her magic, the pinpricks of dull touch making Luna feel something as her body went slowly back to normal. Gently placing her on the couch once again, Twilight slowly offered Luna globs of coffee, gently held in her magic to help her get some energy back.

"So how was Celestia?" Twilight asked, knowing that Luna never was late exiting an astral projection. So something must have happened within their talk. She could sort of see Luna's emotions in the way she held herself, the close hooves to her body, the uncomfortable atmosphere, the shaking.

Luna laughed. "She was perfectly fine. We had a talk, she brought up a sore topic, I ran. As all siblings do."

Twilight sighed. "Not Shiny and I."

Luna smiled. "If only my sister was like your fantastic brother. Might lessen her pining for Discord and his rather odd tastes. Though your brother married Cadance and she's equally crazy."

"She's not that bad."

Luna stared at Twilight. "Well she tried setting me up with you the moment I came back. Not that I would have truly minded, but I wasn't ready for that."

Twilight passed another few globs of coffee through the air. "Oh really, why is that, you didn't think I was in your words 'the moonlight to my stars'. Twilight winked.

Luna blushed. "No, it's just that I woke up from a thousand year banishment like I had just been sent to the moon. I remember everything that happened before that point like it was yesterday. And that includes a marefriend."

Twilight stopped and set down the coffee pot and let the coffee float gently back inside as she processed that. "You never told me about that."

Luna panicked. "You never asked, I mean it's not something that comes up in polite conversations. I mean I did love her but after years of sort of acclimating, I've come to terms. Sort of, not reallly, I mean you're everything to me but she's still there and it's confusing and I really don't know what to do and Hearth's Warming is a sham and Celestia didn't honor her memory and I guess that's why I ran away and please don't break up with me."

"What?"

"Don't break up with me?" Luna cocked her head.

Twilight facehoofed. "Luna, I'm not going to break up with you. That's silly. I like you way too much, even with all your weird foibles and everything to throw this away." Twilight looked into Luna's eyes and smiled. "Now calm down and try to explain how you feel. Cause it's true that I'm still miffed at you for freaking out Rarity and all the other strange things you've done today, but I want to understand where you're coming from. Partially cause I know if I don't nip this in the bud, all of my friends will probably think you ruined a holiday, but mostly cause I want to know about you and I can't break into your dreams to know you. And finding out you had a marefriend is kind of a major deal."

Luna sighed. "Maybe later. I'm exhausted from talking to my sister. Honestly I don't know how you do it."

Twilight sat down next to Luna and covered her with her wing. "Practice. And I'm not her sister. Probably helps." Twilight leaned her head into Luna's chest and sighed, breathing in Luna's scent. She smelled always faintly of lavender and Twilight loved it.

Luna blushed. "Twilight, this isn't the time to do any of that. I mean we are in this shack and it's your friend's stuff."

Twilight chuckled. "Lulu, I'm just sitting near you. If I was going to do anything else, you'd know." Twilight leaned up and Luna on the cheek. "You need to get out more."

"I thought you were going to-"

Twilight hugged Luna close. "If you want me to, sure, but you don't seem fully into it up there." Twilight poked Luna's horn. "I can't always read you all that well, but I don't feel sex is the best thing to do right now."

Luna sighed, for a moment confusing Twilight's wing for a pink one. She could almost see Somnambula in the way Twilight touched her and then she blinked and the memory was gone. "Yeah."

***

Applejack carefully rolled out the barrels of cider that the Apples had been carefully letting sit in their barn for the last few months, the alcoholic brew lightly sloshing around in the barrels as she moved them. Applejack could see Dash's greedy eyes track the barrels as she moved. That pegasus had a mite problem with alcohol, that's for damned sure. AJ quickly set the barrels up by the side of her apple station and tapped the kegs, making sure the flow was right and that it wasn't cloudy. Carefully taking a nip of it for flavor, she grinned as she felt it taste the same as something Granny would have pulled out when she was little- besides the alcoholic tang of course- it had that holiday feel.

"AJ, this party is totally missing something!" Pinkie bounded past, carefully balancing plates of sweets in her hooves like it was magic. "I mean seriously, no adult games or at least a mistletoe, that's pushing the term 'holiday party' to it's limit."

"I told you to not give me one of those consarned things. Granny hates that kind of stuff."

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "What your grandma doesn't know won't hurt her. Anyway just say that Auntie Pinkie did it and she'll be fine." Pinkie Pie zoomed off before AJ could respond.

Applejack just stood there, knowing full well that Pinkie Pie was the youngest one of her friends, barring Spike.

"So where's Rarity?" Fluttershy awkwardly slid up and looked at the collection of treats. "I mean she doesn't usually miss a party, unless something came up."

Applejack sighed, remembering the blubbering mess that her marefriend had devolved into when she had walked to Carousel Boutique. "She's up in my room. She has to take a while to get ready I guess." Applejack wasn't lying, since Rarity had said she'd still make it. Just maybe not mentioning the neurotic mess she was when she was talking about Twilight and Luna and all the positively dreadful things she had heard. Applejack had just rolled her eyes and moved on, guessing that Rarity was sort of overreacting, the grain of truth still in there but hidden behind layers of histrionics.

"Oh well that's too bad. Also I guess Rainbow wants in her own words, seven of your ciders."

Applejack peeked her head out and stared at Dash, the boisterous mare just hitting it off with Cheerilee. "I'll give you three and she can talk to me once those things are done. She's a fine pegasus, but she's got a problem."

Fluttershy silently stared at Dash. "She said she's working on it. I mean I told her to take off most of the week just in case. But if only she was there we might have not had this weather."

Applejack groaned. "Yeah, it might have been worse. Shy, just remember what we talked about, cause I don't feel super comfortable supplying drinks for your marefriend's habit, even if I know she's got the money for it."

Fluttershy demurely smiled. "Yeah, but you know she'd just go to Berry Punch's bar."

Applejack placed a hoof on Fluttershy's. "Then just talk to Cheerilee. Berry Punch is her sister for Celestia's sake. Just do something cause I like Dash, but she's a functional mess."

Fluttershy just picked up the drinks, nodded, and walked away.

Applejack cussed under her breath, hoping that the yellow mare would get help at some point, cause she wasn't going to have another issue where Dash was hitting on everything with a pulse again. Before she could grit her teeth, she heard Twilight's voice.

"Luna, it's fine. Come on, if you didn't want to come, then you could have said that before we flew a mile here."

The alicorn princess' voice came out muffled. "Well I didn't expect everypony to be here."

"There's like eight ponies, it's not like it's the whole town, and you were the one begging me to help you connect with ponies." Twilight pulled back her scarf and waved at Applejack. "Sorry for being late."

Applejack just waved back and nodded. Applejack wished that she had told Twilight where exactly the school play would be.

***

Luna stayed as close to Twilight as she could, the strange holiday tradition feeling too safe for something built on pain and death. She wished for a brief moment that she was still her depowered form just so she could crouch down and hide as she still worried that somehow these ponies would judge her. She kept seeing the orange one eye her oddly from the side of the room and from Twilight's obsessive coaching she knew that one and Rarity were betrothed, or an item or something. The terminology was all strange to her since a thousand years ago nopony cared if they were married since death was ever present on the doorstep, just a good transaction of goods at most and a right wooing and the marriage would be off until one died horribly of an incurable disease.

That was just how the world worked then.

She sighed as she reminded herself to try and apologize to the lady Rarity at some time tonight- even if it was mainly cause Twilight was a rather harsh mistress when it came to these friendship problems. She heard the jokes ponies said about certain ponies wore the bridle in the relationship, and it definitely wasn't Twilight.

Luna felt a light tap on her leg, and she looked down to meet Pinkie's eyes. "Hi, Luna, I'm surprised to see you here cause you did eat that huge sundae which honestly I can't believe you did cause I made it so only the best of the best ponies can eat it, though I didn't expect an alicorn to eat it so maybe I have to make an even better treat for you next time. Or maybe I can get Twilight to test out how much alicorns can eat cause that'd be a science project." Pinkie breathed as she finished speaking, the air needed for an entire paragraph of pure thought coming naturally to her.

Luna tried opening her mouth to answer, but she couldn't respond as Pinkie was pushed away from her by a quiet and decidedly annoyed magenta earth pony.

"Pinkie, I keep telling you that you don't have to ask for opinions about your food when you are off work. Relax."

Pinkie sighed. "Fine, Cheery, but I really want to know if she liked it, I mean then I can switch up the recipe if she didn't."

Cheerilee turned her her up to Luna and smiled. "Sorry about this, but my marefriend really wants to know that. And I'd rather not have to worry about her and the fifteen foals I usually do while teaching. The foals are perfect little demons, but Pinkie here can really push my buttons."

Luna thought for a brief moment. "Well it was definitely the richest meal I have had in my life, though I don't know if I really like sweets all that much."

Pinkie Pie breathed in and tried to wrap her head around that sentence. "How do you not like sugar! It's like the greatest thing ever and I mean I might be biased but like I make everything with sugar! And that's sweets and ponies love sugar!"

Luna tried to motion for Twilight to save her from Pinkie's rant, but she had been pulled away by Dash when the alicorn wasn't looking. "I mean what you term as sugar was something I never really got, and the stuff we had during then were barrels of honey- maybe a brick of sugar. Not the things you have now."

Pinkie whispered into Cheerilee's ear.

"Okay, Pinkie, that sounds fair. Just look in Twilight's history section and see if she can help you with the historical implications of sugar. And no, I can't help you with that, my degree's in foal education. What you are trying to get me to do is almost write an entire dissertation in the history of baking. Now I heard Applejack needs you to finish up your decorating before all the foals get here." Cheerilee lightly kissed Pinkie on the cheek. "Now remember, when there are foals around, I have to be in teacher mode. I can't have Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon rat to their mothers about how horrible a role model I am."

Pinkie rolled her eyes, knowing full well how obnoxious Diamond Tiara's mother could be. "Okie dokie lokie, but be ready for your Hearth's Warming present after work. I baked you a pie and everything."

Cheerilee whispered in Pinkie's ear and Luna could just barely make it out. "If that's a double entendre about me eating you out later, I'm giving you one gold star for trying and taking away ten for a terrible pun. But sure. I'll need it after this." Cheerilee pushed Pinkie away and smiled towards Luna. "Sorry about that, Pinkie can be a real hooffull to deal with sometimes. Her hearts in the right place though. Now before I forget, I had this idea I wanted to shoot towards you."

Luna raised an eyebrow. She usually wasn't the princess anypony wanted to ask questions to. "Do go on."

Cheerilee tapped her hooves together. "Well the Ponyville schoolboard really wants the foals to have more of an education from the community, kind of a career day, but for actual topics. I had mentioned to Twilight that she'd be perfect for the times we could do science and all the girls think they could teach something, but I can't figure out who to ask for history."

Luna tried to hide a slight hint of a smile. "So you wanted to ask the pony who almost destroyed your town about history? I'd have to ask her if she wants to do a repeat performance."

Cheerilee was taken aback by the unexpected joke. "Well yes, would you like to be the pony that helps for history. I mean I'd be the one doing most of the legwork for the more recent past, but ancient history isn't my forte."

Luna sighed, remembering Celestia's words. "I hear that a lot. And I hope the play is fantastic. I've heard rather good things about it."

Cheerilee beamed. "Well I am really glad to hear it. We;ve been practicing it for months."

Luna watched the teacher walk away as she saw the first smattering of foals walk into the barn. "This is going to be wonderful." She didn't feel hopeful.

***

Luna fidgeted as she watched the curtain rise, a tittering of childlike voices behind it hinting at the same worry echoing through them as well.

Cheerilee cantered out on stage, a rather odd approximation of a doublet adorning her, two sizes too big and with a decidedly floppy hat atop her head like a parody of the past. Luna let out a quiet huff and gripped tightly onto Twilight's hoof. "Mares and gentlecolts, listen to my plea, here is a tale I'll tell to thee, a morality play coached it truth about a time that friendship resoothed. A eerie time when ponies such as I were ripped apart by evil eyes."

Luna groaned, the hoofwork of her sister already readily apparent with the awful rhyme scheme and structure. She kind of forgot most of what Cheerilee said next, since she was inwardly cringing every time she could swear Celestia was in the back feeding them awful lines. Unlike her sister, she was a natural at the theater and this hurt her soul.

The curtain closed after Cheerilee's monologue, and reopened on the stage, a rather quaint attempt at trying to condense fifteen years over a thousand, Luna laughed as she heard mention of the unicorns raising the sun and moon- knowing full well that had never happened. "Twilight, this is completely wrong."

Twilight shushed her and rubbed her hoof.

Luna had thought it was going to be at least passable- she was gravely mistaken as she slumped down, her hooves holding her head up in defeat.

***

Diamond Tiara strode on stage, livid at having to play second fiddle- Smart Cookie was not what she was going to accept as a role. Her daddy said she was his princess, and the only princess in the stupid play was being played by the blank flank unicorn. Tiara grit her teeth as she paraphrased the stupid, old lines. "It sure sucks that earth ponies can't raise the sun like those unicorns or fly like the pegasi, if only we could have a land of our own. Right, Puddingdome?"

Twist cocked her head. "Uh, DT, I don't think that those are your lines."

Diamond Tiara elbowed Twist in the ribs. "I don't care, say your lines."

Twist sighed and tried to focus on speaking, her lisp on full display. "Right, Smart Cookie, and I as the best and mosth brightest pony in my mind, agrees with you to get a land I'll call Landlandia."

Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes, the sarcasm heavy on her voice. "Don't you mean, we have to speak with the other leaders first? Cause that's act two."

Twist fidgeted. "Yes, you just threw off my lines because of your logic. Oh great and wonderth-ul SC."

The curtains shut hard as Luna could slightly hear Cheerilee's faint cursing.

Luna's heart dropped as she saw the curtain open and a familiar orange pegasus and small grey one stepped out. This might hurt. "Ponyfeathers."

Scootaloo adjusted her fake armor- a washboard and bucket approximating the armor she guessed they were going for. "Private Pansy, please tell me why I'm even touching the ground again."

"Pick up the pace, Magnus, I want to meet the others before morning." Somnambula breathed in the frigid air of the mountain passes, her side scarred by Stygian's fall, his dark magic burning her wings. She looked at the stubby things and wished she was in the desert, the feel of a sandstorm abrading your flesh far more comforting than knowing that frostbite would take her limbs if she wasn't careful. If only Prince Hisan could see her now, though he had been with the ancestors since last year, praise him.

"Come on, Namby, I'm going as fast as I can. You're pushing me harder than the Royal Legion of Cloudsdale did and those bastards were known for harassing the weak."

"And you made it. Or are you lying when you tell the lowly wenches about your magical dragon battle?"

"And what of your Sphinx? I've never heard of one of those."

Somnambula sighed. "Because I forced it to the edges of the world when I bested her. Winner's privilege. Now get over this ridge before I tell Rockhoof what you think of him."

"You wouldn't dare."

Somnambula smiled. "So you do have a thing for him. I would have never known." The pairing of those two was such an open secret, that she was surprised he wasn't telling it to every passerby they met in every town they saw.

"The unicorns were not much better off than the rest." Cheerilee scampered around, performing both as narrator and slightly agitated director now fully engrossed in making sure this play wouldn't be derailed any further. "And so the Paradise Valley unicorns all came towards the meeting."

Sweetie Belle walked slowly out to the front barely looking up as she tried to scope out where Rarity was in the back, just to stay focused on her lines. "I do hope we get to the meeting to figure out what is going on with this cold. Because it sure would suck to freeze to death while raising the sun. Don't you, Clover?"

Snails sighed as he pushed the hemline of his dress to the correct position, the tight thing made for a filly, not his lanky awkward self. He tried not to think why he felt okay in it, even if he felt ridiculous. "I think it's because all of our unicorns aren't working hard enough so it's cold. Windigos are a complete old mare's tale."

"Yes, well, my father says they aren't and I believe him so before we all starve because of those-" Sweetie paused, unused to calling somepony a bad name. "dirt lovers." Sweetie cringed. "I want to make sure they won't back out of our deal."

Snails yawned. "Fine. But we are going to stop and get lunch along the way. Long journeys are awful hard on my bones."

Luna chuckled at that. For all the complete bastardizing of history Celestia did with this, at least Starswirl's general affect came through even if he seemed to be some distaff version of him since the ponies in the audience called him Clover the Clever which had to be a mare's name, even if the pony playing him appeared to be a colt in a dress. Luna didn't mind that, the theater in her time was stacked with quite a few impressive specimens of stallionhood tightly packing a dress.

"Mistmane, please stop trying to fix my beard, we have better things to worry about. Now where are Celestia and Luna?"

The old looking unicorn pointed over near the nearby tree. "They are right over there, not a windigo, changeling, or siren in sight."

Starswirl rubbed his temple as he quickly magicked up a crackling fire with just a word. "I hope there's no more Sirens. Trying to keep them from unbalancing the small grasp of harmony we have here was crucial if we want to have something outlast us."

Mistmane chuckled. "I hope you don't mention that to the girls over there. They've just improved so much, though Celestia seems to have a better knack for magic."

Starswirl opened his pack and pulled out the last of his rations. "Celestia is gifted to be sure, but don't doubt her sister. She plays dumb, but I can see it in her eyes. She's probably even more gifted than her sister or how do you explain all of our dreams, Misty. You and I know ponies aren't supposed to dream walk around like that. That breaks like seven laws of magic."

Mistmane looked straight at Starswirl. "Let the girl have her dalliance. Love is a beautiful thing and I don't want the future rulers of the pony races to come off as cold, heartless creatures unable to feel emotion. And you created those laws. That's like me saying there's ten rules for beauty. Maybe there's more magic in heaven and earth than hairs on your head. You ever think about that you old fool?"

"Every day" Starswirl watched the two alicorns, their hair shining in the late sun, the alicorns full of promise and yet he just looked at Luna and saw her as the worst kind of promise. He could feel the draw of dark magic around her as he felt her mana, the possibility for evil was in every pony's heart what with the windigos all about, but he saw in her eyes what he saw in Stygian's.

The craving for attention.

"And so the mighty leaders and their attendants met in an agreed upon place to talk. Tensions ran high as the windigo threat loomed over them, their food stores depleted after years of hardship and each pony stared daggers into each other." Cheerilee frowned as she was mentally checking off every mistake the foals had made, and realizing this was the loosest adaptation of the Heartswarming tale she had ever heard. She grumbled as she counted the days she had spent memorizing all three acts of the play. Eyeing Pinkie, she nodded, an imperceptible tell that she would take Pinkie up on any offer later. Anything. Just to stop the worry that she would be called in to atone for this theater monstrosity.

Six foals who particularly didn't care for one another sat across from each other. "So Chancellor Puddinghead, our stores are getting low. How's the grain?" Scootaloo eyed Twist halfheartedly, her focus entirely on Diamond Tiara who was kicking her hard under the table, the jolting pain in her knee telling her that DT was aiming for her.

"Our ponies are working hard, but the harvest is bad. It's cold and everything is dead." Twist stammered out.

"Ho-ow- are you doing Princess Platinum? I think my troops are alive and kicking. Isn't there a way to help against all these earth ponies?"

Cheerilee stopped, her script she was following didn't have this part. She cursed under her breath, seeing the chaos unfold in her head. And yet she couldn't exactly step in. Not that she didn't want to stop the play and call this farce off, but because she was unfortunately the only pony capable to be the narrator. Everyone else was either not up to grade level in reading or had a complete and utter stage fright.

Well besides Tender Taps, but he had the flu.

She breathed in and tried to cue the ponies, inwardly questioning why she had not pushed back against Spoiled Rich's incessant idea to have ten year olds recite a play about how friendship cured hatred and racism. The mare must be trying to get her fired. "I said, they talked plainly and calmly about things."

"Diamond Tiara, stop kicking me." Scootaloo snapped.

Tiara feigned ignorance. "I'm not, it must be your own failure trying to get it through your head."

Twist sank lower in her seat as Rumble and Snails just walked off stage.

"Who has a leading part, Diamond?" Scootaloo fumed.

"I would if I was a unicorn. I mean Sweetie's not even playing Platinum right. She's supposed to be a princess, not an absolute dead eyed wreck."

Sweetie awkwardly piped up, her voice squeaking as she tried to gather her courage. "Well my sister said I was pretty good."

Diamond laughed. "So where is she. I mean if you're so good, why'd she miss your performance. Bet she didn't want to hurt your feelings."

Sweetie breathed in and tried to hold back a film of tears at that comment. "No, she's probably just running late."

Diamond Tiara smirked. "Oh then maybe she can pick up the chicken a mom."

Nopony said anything for a few moments. Scootaloo eyed Sweetie and she calmly pushed her friend away. Tension hung in the air as the audience itself stayed silent. Scootaloo stared down to her makeshift armor and glanced to Diamond's complete lack of it as she just stood there and took her abuse.

"Come on, I thought you were Commander Hurricane, the greatest chicken in the army or are you a dodo? Cause those are stupid and totally can't fly for s-" Diamond Tiara got off her relatively high horse as Scootaloo decked her square in the jaw. Tiara stared at Scootaloo as the shock wore off. "You hit me. That isn't how this works. My mom says that ponies like you are worthless-"

Scootaloo stared over at Dash, her mane completely standing out in the crowd and she fought back tears. "What would Commander Hurricane do?" She breathed out and tackled Diamond Tiara to the floor and didn't stop punching.

"What would Somnambula do?" Luna stared up at the moon, her connection to it calling to her, the night sky a canvas for her ideas. She brushed back her mane and stared at the form of her sleeping sister. "I don't know."

"Dearest Luna, why don't you ask her yourself?" Somnambula's low voice came from behind her.

Luna's face brightened as she raced over to the pegasus."I thought thou were not appearing here tonight, what with Rockhoof and Meadowbrook being without a trace these last few days."

Somnambula smiled. "Aye, but Rockhoof and her straggled in saying the the Ghastly Caverns were filled with an entire shadow. From how Rockhoof tells it, it was some amalgam of every living soul in the nearby town of Dirtville. Just a writhing mass of limbs, eyes, and heads as he tells it. I could not get a response from Meadowbrook so I don't know if Rockhoof is making up drunken tales or not."

Luna shivered at the thought. If the tall tale was true, Stygian's power was unimaginable. "But that's supposed to be impossible, no pony is supposed to have that much magic. Fusing living tissue is supposed to be impossible."

Somnambula wearily draped a wing over Luna. "Somepony has been paying attention to the old fuddy duddy. I don't know. Maybe he bonded with a thing from beyond. My pharoah often talked of such possibilities- our books spoke of creatures that came from below the deepest abysses and further away that the furthest lands. We called them the followers of Apep, the primordial chaos and a great winding snake. I have never seen one of those chaos serpents, but in all of my travels I've seen things beyond what even I guessed was possible."

Luna played with her hooves. "So tomorrow I'm guessing you are going to kill Stygian."

The pegasus sighed and placed her hoof in Luna's "Whatever gave you that idea?"

Luna sulked. "I heard Misty and Starswirl talk about it. About what you might do to him. I hear a lot of things."

Somnambula ran her hooves through the alicorn's mane. "Of course you do, little dreamwalker." She lay her head on Luna and stared up at the sky, the fresh scent of lavender surrounding her. "And maybe we will."

Luna breathed out. "And what if you don't? I mean he's beaten you before. Your scars on your wings. I mean he bested you when he was at his weakest. . ."

Somnambula chuckled. "I have hope that we will win."

Luna blushed as Somnambula brushed her mane. "Som, I have a query to ask. But it might be dumb."

The pegasus laughed. "There are no dumb questions. Please do go ahead."

"Dost thou likest me?"

"Now that is a riddle. I do like you like every one of our party does. But I sense a deeper riddle, for you already know that." The pegasus thought for a moment. "I have seen how you look at me and other mares."

Luna blushed crimson. "I am no peeping stallion, just an admirer of strength and I'm surrounded by mares."

Somnambula rolled her eyes. "I never would have guessed that you see our stallion companions as mares. How you'd make Starswirl's beard and nethers tremble in indignant anger. Especially after a decade of travel. Unless mares look different in this land. . ."

Luna fidgeted. "No, I mean. . ."

Somnambula hugged Luna. "I got what you meant in your heart. There is a saying my lands that the hardest riddle to unravel is the one within your chest. Though with how you seem to be always in my dreams, Luna, I did wonder how long it would take for you to truly approach me. Though I was probably the one that had the first idea. I did ask for you to show me your little tricks."

Luna moved her head, carefully keeping track of her horn and kissed the pegasus on the lips, the taste of her making the alicorn's wings ache as she popped her first wingboner. She could feel dampness in the cold, her insides pulsing with an unknown need.

Somnambula returned the kiss, her technique basic and unsure, more used to the way to please a stallion than a mare. She ran her tongue down the alicorn's wings, her rough tongue sending pinpricks up Luna's spine. The pegasus stopped for a moment and hovered over Luna's wing, breathing light puffs of air over the now damp feathers. "Now let me check if you aren't dreaming."

Luna's eyebrow raised at that statement. "What?"

Somnambula gently bit on the place where Luna's wing met her body. The pegasus giggled as she felt Luna's legs buckle as her first orgasm hit her, great wracking shudders of pleasure rocking the alicorn as she massaged the pleasure center with her mouth. Somnambula let go and gently held onto Luna, the blue alicorn slightly dazed at the foreign contact.

Between gasping breaths, Luna tried to talk. "What was that?"

Somnambula brushed the loose locks of Luna's mane out of the alicorn's eyes. "Pegasi pressure point. Don't worry, it won't cause you harm, it's just a way some of the pegasi in my country get beyond those of just friends. If a pegasi was on your back in the way I was right now, either you'd be dead with a spear in the throat or you were in the palace's royal gardens with the prince's harem. Guess which one most ponies got."

Luna unsteadily stepped forward. "So how did you learn that move if you were just an advisor."

Somnambula rolled her eyes. "I advised the king's matters in every way. Which included his harem. You can infer the rest. Now I would love to talk about how they were in bed, but I think I see some more pressing matters I need to attend to."

Luna awkwardly lifted her tail, her teats and inner lips on display. "Should I move or something?"

The pegasus waved a hoof. "I am used to serving royalty." She winked. "Just let your lowly adviser fix that leak in your dam." Somnambula inched ever closer to Luna's liquid need, her hooves dancing on the alicorn's belly, tracing each curve as she moved down, slowly sketching Luna with her touch. Somnambula stared at the light blue nipples that Luna had, the idea that this dark as night mare had such dainty things made the pegasus chuckle. She moved on and hovered above Luna's marehood, the soft inside just there waiting for her ministrations. "Do you want this?"

Luna didn't hesitate. "Yes."

Somnambula steadied the overeager mare and began probing Luna's inner depths with her tongue, the taste of her like copper, her hooves lightly flicking the alicorn's buds.

Luna just lay back in the last few living blades of grass, her legs wrapped around her new love's head and bucking her hips in time to get the pegasus' tongue deeper into her folds.

She was in bliss and let the worries that maybe this was the first and last time she'd be with the pegasus out of her mind. She had better things to think about.