Exile (Part One)
by Baron
Luna was unhappy. No, more than that, she was desolate. After a millennium of being trapped in the moon as a psychotic traitor, she returned to Equestria appearing as little more than a filly. Everypony hated her for betraying Princess Celestia, feared her for her former dark powers. Nothing was as she remembered.
*Knock* *Knock*
“Yes?”
“Luna, it’s me.”
“Oh.” Luna recognized her sister’s voice. “Come in, then.”
Celestia opened the door of Luna’s tower abode slowly, stepping gracefully in. The warmth of her radiant mane, befitting a true princess, filled the room. She stared at Luna, seeing her on the brink of tears for the fourth time in a week. “You can’t stay in your room forever, Lulu; I miss you around the castle. How many more socks do I have to get you before you come out?”
Luna felt a faint smile creep onto her face at her sister’s weak attempt at humor. “Four?”
“I thought you’d say that!” Celestia twisted around and grabbed a set of socks she had hidden just behind the doorframe, presenting them to her sister. They were soft and silky, just the right shade of blue to complement Luna’s dark coat. The younger alicorn gently took them, slipping them on one by one and reveling in their cool texture. After the last sock was securely on her hoof, she looked up and gave the Sun Princess a wide smile.
“Okay, I’m ready,” the stocking-adorned mare quietly conceded.
The two made their way down the winding staircase of the tower and walked out into the courtyard. The few ponies wandering around on regular business scarcely showed any notice of them except to bow their heads briefly in homage. Luna still found it strange that the traditional royal rules of the castle had been relaxed so much since she had been absent. A thousand years ago, it would have been scandalous to walk around with socks on. Eventually, they arrived at the vacant throne room, where the elder sister stopped their progress.
“Look, Luna, it’s your old throne.”
The Princess of the Night could hardly believe her eyes! There, at the right-hand side of Celestia’s golden throne, was a beautiful ebony seat, the likes of which she had never thought she’d see again. “You kept it? H- How-”
“It was stored away in the royal archives, after... After the...”
Luna saw the pain in her sister’s expression as she struggled to speak. “I know.” No, she really didn’t know, didn’t remember much of what happened after Nightmare Moon took her over. But Tia needed the encouragement. “I just thought that you had gotten rid of it.” Better.
Luna trotted over to the throne and slowly yet ecstatically lowered herself onto it. It wasn’t doing badly after a thousand years of neglect. Stroking the smooth arm of the throne with her front sock, it almost felt as if she had never left. She looked at Celestia and smiled brightly at her generous sister, who looked happy to see her so contented. Maybe things would get better after all.
On a stormy night, Luna walked among fragrant trees. Radiant lightning bugs shone among them, making their way through the branches and vines to take cover from the rain. She remembered this place, a memory from when she was just a filly, when she had expected the world to cater to her every whim… But something was wrong.
She was late for something, for somepony. What could it be? Whatever it was, she knew she had to get there before it was too late; something important depended on it! Cantering off through the foliage, she searched the forest for any sign of habitation, for anypony at all. The darkened and dripping trees revealed nothing, after what seemed like forever. She was about to give up when she spied a small twinkling light in the distance, different from the shining insects’ glow. A faint voice could be heard over the roar of the storm, frantic and worried:“Luna… Celestia… Luna. Celestia!”
The dark-coated filly galloped towards the source of the light, beating her wings as hard as she could but not lifting an inch; she was too young to fly. The voice began to fade, the emotional speaker drawing farther and farther away.
“Luna. Luna. Luna…”
She was going as fast as she could, but it wasn’t fast enough. They were leaving, they were getting away! Her lungs were close to bursting when she crashed into a clearing, the rain-drenched ground knocking out what was left of her wind. In the middle of a clearing was a lit hut, with bright candles gleaming through the open windows, but clearly without anypony inside. Luna looked up at the dark sky and saw the faint outline of two alicorns flying high above, out of her reach.
“Luna…”
She tried to speak, to yell to the retreating ponies she knew she needed so badly, but she couldn’t draw enough breath. They abandoned her here, without company, without love. It was just too much to bear… As two barely visible pairs of wings melted into the clouds, the forsaken young filly finally managed to cry out. “Here! I’m down here! Don’t leave me!”
They couldn’t hear her; she was too late. Luna knew this, but continued to yell anyway, painfully shrieking at the top of her lungs while tears mixed with the rain dripping off her face. “Please! Take me! I don’t want to be alone! No! Come back! Come-“
“Luna.”
“-BACK! PLEASE! I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE! I WANT TO GO-
“Luna!”
Luna opened her eyes to find Celestia, her dear Tia, standing over her bed with a concerned look. A small group of castle servants and guards were gathered around, alarmed at their princess’s fit of hysteria. The sun was shining brightly through her window, in sharp contrast to the dark mood in the room.
“Oh, thank goodness you’ve woken up! Are you alright, Luna? What’s the matter?”
“I… What? Where am I? What happened?”
“It’s okay, Lulu. I’m here. You’re safe. We’re in the castle. You scared everypony half to death with your screaming but they couldn’t wake you; they had to come get me in the middle of a council session. Why are you so upset? Did you have a bad dream?”
“I’m… I just…” Luna looked around at the wide-eyed castle staff, feeling a blush creep across her face.
Celestia picked up on her sister’s reluctance and turned to the assembled ponies. “Excuse me, but could we please have some privacy for the moment? I would like to speak with the Princess alone.”
As the others hurriedly left, the sisters faced each other again. “What happened, Luna?”
“There was… I was in the forest, a long time ago, and I was a filly. It was raining, and our… our parents- they were there, but I couldn’t get to them in time, they flew away! It was just… just…”
The emotion overwhelmed her, and Luna began to weep, unable to continue. Celestia gently hugged her, feeling bad for her sister’s traumatic reliving of the past. Together the sisters mourned for their long-gone parents, trying to move on from that sad, early memory of being left with only each other, forever.
That day and night Princess Luna spent hours staring at the sky, for what reason nopony could say, but seemed not to find anything and retired to her tower soon after dawn.
During the Grand Galloping Gala, the first one Luna had ever heard of since it was introduced after her banishment, the Princess of the Night still hid in her tower, unable to face her subjects even after all this time. The castle staff she could deal with; they had become used to interacting with her, but the citizens of Equestria at large were still unable to accept that Luna wasn’t Nightmare Moon anymore. Her excursions into Canterlot were brief and anonymous, undertaken only to escape her tower without a mob of servants trying to please her.
On her last trip, she had even gone through the trouble of taking the form of an inconspicuous-looking unicorn and yet she had still been recognized by her “peculiar manner of speech.” Oration lessons were not her favorite activity, especially now that the language had changed so much. In any case, the reaction to her disguise was not pleasant: a near-riot was involved. Since then, Luna vowed to remain within the castle for the foreseeable future to keep out of the public eye, much to Celestia’s dismay.
Now here she was, wishing she could go down to the Gala and consort with everypony yet paralyzed with the fear of being shunned. Instead she read. Whenever she spent time in her tower she liked to read her collection of old books, her stories, studies, and comedy, volumes from a forgotten time. A time before she had become reduced to just a legend, an old ponies’ tale. A time before her banishment. A time before her curse...
One particular book held a special significance to her. It was old and tattered, barely legible due to its extreme age, but there were none like it in the world. Not anymore. This was the only surviving copy of Olde Tæyles, the ancient nursery classic. The book wasn’t even written in Equine, but one of the predecessor dialects called Hippotic, that featured a much more extensive alphabet and was therefore somewhat challenging to pronounce for the unfamiliar speaker. It had been the first book she ever read on her own, after Celestia taught her how. Contrary to popular belief, the royals had not invented writing, nor had they been literate until about fifteen centuries ago. So long ago it was difficult to remember.
Laying the tome on her pillow carefully, she began to read. How funny that the rhyme and verse didn’t fit at all anymore...
The Colt with Many Friends
Once there was a young pony, naught but a colt, who was very popular with his peers.
He had many friends who would all celebrate him and laugh with him.
One day, the colt was having a party in the company of his friends,
Who were talking to him and amongst themselves, saying, “Surely, is he not the most likable pony in the whole town? Look at how many come to his parties!”
As the party was almost finished, a bear came upon the unfortunate colt.
Escaping through the town, the colt managed to evade the bear but it remained close behind.
He ran to the baker’s house, one of his friends, and asked to borrow a heavy rolling pin with which he could defend himself.
The baker said “No, I’m sorry, but we are preparing for a big feast later and all the pins are being used. I’m sure one of your other friends can help you.”
So the colt went to his friend the barber whom he was sure could disguise him to hide from the hungry bear.
The barber said “I am too busy with other customers now. Maybe later.”
In turn he requested the assistance of more friends, a farmer and a woodspony, who both recommended the other’s help.
“Or maybe try the weather pony,” they said.
The colt found his friend who managed the weather and sought for him to create a diversion using rain so he could escape the bear.
His friend replied “Are you sure nopony else can aid you? The librarian is dependable.”
At long last the colt came to the library and pleaded for help, recounting how all of his other friends had failed him,
“This sounds like a scary bear; maybe I should just stay inside,” came the answer.
At this time the bear was very close to catching the poor colt, who in desperation ran out of town and was never seen again.
His comrades all made a toast to his memory.
And so the moral of this story is, “He that has many friends, has no friends.”
After Luna finished reading the rest of the book, she decided to go visit Celestia, as the Gala was now over. Moving through the wreckage of the main ballroom, she found Celestia putting broken and fallen giant statues back into place alone. The white mare seemed crestfallen, somewhat unsatisfied with how the event turned out.
“Some party, eh sister?”
“Oh, it’s you. Help me out with this statue, will you?” The sisters jointly moved the stone pony onto its pedestal, reassembling the pieces one by one. Luna silently debated whether or not she should ask Celestia what happened, but her sister told her anyway.
“I invited the Six, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, to the Gala. I thought they would liven things up. They did.”
“Ah. So they did this?”
“Well, yes, but it wasn’t intentional. They all had different ideas of what they wanted to do; you know how young mares are. In any case, I don’t think the guests will be very happy.”
“I would think so.”
“They’ll find some way to make me culpable! And, really, it is my fault; I know all the shenanigans those mares get themselves into.”
“It’s not your fault. It would have been horrible anyway. Who cares what ponies think?”
“I do, Lulu! I have to keep everypony happy, even if it’s not possible! Sometimes the stress, it just gets so hard... I have to run administration, I have to throw parties for those stuck-up aristocrats, I have to solve everypony’s problems personally! Do you know how long it took to clean every last Parasprite from Fillydelphia? A week! I just can’t do it!” She began to sob.
Luna felt her sister’s pain. Even old Tia, her big sister, had hard times. Being an alicorn wasn’t easy. And Celestia had spent a millennium ruling by herself; it would be enough to drive any regular pony insane. Maybe it was Luna’s turn to be supportive. “Look, Tia, I understand. But you can’t be so hard on yourself. If I have to, I will march right up to those worthless nobles and tell them just where they can shove their precious Gala from now on. But nopony is going to blame you.”
Celestia looked up at her. “Really?”
“Really.” Luna hugged the Sun Princess tightly. “Nopony hurts my big sister.”
They spent a minute embracing and then got back to work cleaning up the ballroom. The two alicorns shared a family bond perhaps stronger than anypony else in history; their centuries of hardship and experience reinforced the natural connection they share. They were alike yet different, two sides of the same coin. One could not remain without the other, and now they were complete after a thousand years. The celestial duo.
A few weeks after the fateful Nightmare Night where the citizens of Ponyville had learned to accept her, Luna was feeling happier than she had been in a long time. The public was now accustomed to her presence at royal functions. She could walk around Canterlot without fearing for her reputation. Celestia was relieved that her sister was no longer trying to order ponies around arbitrarily and instead simply talked with them. Things were never better, until the disappearance.
Luna was taking a rare stroll in the castle gardens, enjoying the autumn coolness. She almost never got a break from her royal duties, and was determined to make the most of her time by getting out of the stiflingly archaic building and into nature. She spread her wings, feeling the nice air whisper through the plumage. Pausing with her eyes closed for a second, it seemed as if she could hear the sound of the plants settling down in preparation for winter. It was so peaceful...
“Princess! Princess Luna! Ah, there you are, we’ve been looking everywhere for you! Everypony thought you were in your room!”
Luna started. Turning around awkwardly and folding her wings, she found one of the guards, Pike, standing in the hedge entryway behind her. She hadn’t heard him. Luna’s dark face lightened a little from a sudden rush of blood. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but it was still embarrassing to be caught outside by herself unexpectedly. “Uh, hello Pike. What is it?”
“Oh, Princess! They told all the guards to split up and look, so I thought to myself, well, if I was a princess and I was taking a break, where would I go? I checked the mare’s room, but there was nopony there, so I checked the stallion’s room, nopony there either, and-”
It amazed her how he could just keep talking on and on without answering her question. Usually ponies showed more respect to the royals. She gave him an exasperated look to tell him to get to the point, but he continued to talk, oblivious to her annoyance. “-en, and here you are! I’m just happy you’re still here, I mean, I don’t know what we would do if-“
“If what, Pike?”
“Well, I don’t know if I, I mean, you-“
“Come on, what’s all the fuss about?”
“It’s not good, I mean, you might get upset-“
Luna was getting impatient. Pike was never one to give a straight answer. Her face contorted into a mean grimace, and a steely edge crept into her voice. “Tell me what is so important that thou hadst to come get me instead of Celestia!”
“She- I just- *Gasp* Celestia is gone!”
Luna barged into the royal council chamber. All of the high-ranking ponies of government, already assembled, stopped their discussions and started to greet her. She was not in the mood. “This is no time for formalities! Where is she?! Where is Celestia?!” Luna cast wild looks around the meeting table.
“Please, calm down, Princess. We’re trying to handle the situation. The last time anypony in Canterlot had seen her, the Sun Princess took one of her impromptu trips across Equestria, flying off to Fillydelphia for some kind of local celebration, several hours ago,” reported the Captain of the Royal Guard.
“Nopony has spoken with her?!”
“No, not since yesterday. The Princess was in a rush this morning.”
Nopony in Canterlot reported seeing the Princess; the public was still in the dark about the situation, and many wondered at the unusual flurry of activity around the castle. Swift messages between the cities confirmed that she hadn’t arrived on schedule in Fillydelphia, and several frantic hours of scouring the castle grounds and nearby mountainside yielded no leads.
“She can’t just have vanished! You would really give up on your ruler that easily?!” Luna was shouting at the Captain as she paced angrily around the throne room.
He kept a stern face. Commendable. “No ma’am. We will continue to look.” He turned briefly to give an order to his lieutenants. “Gather the militia!”
The search party leaders combed the city and reported back in one by one.
Castle: No.
Observatory: Empty.
Courts: Clear.
Residential district: No sign.
Flight docks: Nopony.
Sewers (this one took a while): Void of life.
Market: Scattered; empty.
Guard towers: No.
Waterfall: No.
Prison: No.
Castle (again): No.
“No. No. No! NO!”
It was futile searching for Celestia; she had vanished without a trace.
When the time came for the sun to set after a rather long day, Luna was reluctant to assume the responsibility, hoping against hope that somehow Celestia would swoop in and relieve everypony’s panic. But as the moments ticked by and the blistering sun stood still on the horizon, nopony was coming. She stood at the top of the castle, all eyes on her. Surely they couldn’t still think that everything was alright...
The Princess cried tears of deep sorrow, but there was nothing to be done. She lowered the sun, shrouding the land in darkness and admitting to herself that she had completely lost her only sibling, and the only thing she had ever held precious.
End of Part One
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My Little Pony and related characters and items are trademarked by Hasbro.
The author does not claim ownership of them.
The Colt with Many Friendsis adapted from The Hare with Many Friends by Aesop, in the public domain. A version can be found here: http://www.umass.edu/aesop/fable.php?n=15
Exile (Part Two)
by Baron
Stars tumbled through the sky. The Princess of the Night lay in the castle courtyard alone, watching her carefully crafted heavenscape. It brought no relief to her. Her insides were cold; she felt empty. Her mind was filled with regretful and stinging thoughts. She should have spent more time with Celestia. She should have kept a closer eye on her. She should have been the one who disappeared. She should have, she should have, she should have. In the end she hadn’t.
One star reminded her somewhat of herself... The pole star. It was one of only two of its kind. They were opposites, to be sure, but both shone brightly. All the other stars revolved around them. The pole stars never moved. Apart but equal. One could never see both at the same time. If only...
An idea struck Luna. She stood up and brushed the grass off her coat. As she closed her eyes, a blue glow surrounded her horn. Far over the horizon, a single bright star began to drift from its unchanging position. Picking up speed, it moved faster and faster until it could be seen from the castle. From there, the shooting point of light slowed a bit, continuing on its path leisurely. The other pole star shifted ever so slightly off the celestial axis. After a few more seconds, the traveling star finally stopped and settled into an orbit opposite the first, directly across the polar axis. Luna opened her eyes, and the glow of her magic subsided. As she gazed at the new markers of the pole, a fleeting smile graced her lips. Now the two pole stars were together.
The Princess turned towards her tower and began to walk. Her ears perked a little at the far-off sound of confused shouts and angry yells coming from the Royal Observatory.
“And that’s the last we’ll be hearing about the protests. In more pressing news, ongoing search efforts have turned up no clues as to Celestia’s whereabouts.”
Luna’s interest was piqued. “Really? Tell me what progress we have made so far, Clover.”
The Councilmare looked up from her notes in surprise. The Princess had sat silently throughout most of the meeting, looking vaguely upset; now she was intently staring at her. Clover glanced at some of the other Councilponies around the table in desperation, but they all pointedly refused to make eye contact. Luna was not known for her amicability. She returned her attention to the Princess.
“Well, Your Highness-”
“Your Potency.”
“Your Potency, it, ah, it has been over thirty-four hours since she was last seen, and our search parties have already combed through the entire city and the mountain. Others in Fillydelphia, Ponyville, Manehattan, and Cloudsdale have not yet finished their searches but the consensus is that Celestia has been taken beyond our borders.”
Luna’s expression was unreadable. She looked away from Clover for a second, and then looked back. “Very well. Continue with the briefing, then.”
“Uh, yes. Very well, Your Potentness. Cloudsdale has temporarily ceased weather production; the unions are on strike over the new affirmative...”
Luna zoned out again. Meetings never ceased to bore her. In the old days, rulers would just tell people what to do. There wasn’t much discussion. Then again, that system never worked very well. Ponies running around trying to make sense of her orders, based on incomplete information and biased advice... But it made for more exciting evenings...
The Princess of the Night gradually arose from her slumber. Her eyelids slid apart slowly, and a quiet yawn escaped her muzzle. Stretching in her seat, she looked around groggily in the dark council chamber. The council... Realization hit. She had fallen asleep in the middle of the meeting! And more surprising, nopony had bothered to wake her. Curses ran through her head while she walked the length of the chamber and then slammed through the door. She ignored the guards’ startled exclamations and set off down the corridor.
Late, late, she was late! Undoubtedly those careless idiots had left her to sleep so that she wouldn’t be on time for sunrise. Well they wouldn’t get away with it. Luna trotted into the courtyard and took off from the ground. The cool night air swept through her mane, seeming somewhat warm for early morning in the dead of winter. She glided to the top of her tower and began to lower the moon. It did seem to be a little higher in the sky than usual, but went down easily. Her horn never stopped glowing as she turned around to the opposite horizon and brought out the sun. As the mountain’s shadow coalesced to the west of Canterlot, glorious rays of light spilled across the landscape.
As bleary-eyed ponies spilled out onto the streets, Luna wondered how she would explain her tardiness to the no doubt anxious populace. A few high-profile imprisonments might be in order. But her fears were no doubt misplaced. The ponies in Canterlot didn’t seem too upset. In fact, a throng of them were gathering around the main square, apparently in some sort of celebration. It was hard to see from a distance, but there appeared to be banners and signs lofted above the square. Luna was puzzled; she hadn’t been aware it was a holiday. And so soon after Celestia’s disappearance-
A loud bang signaled the opening of the trap door in the tower’s roof. She could hear the Captain and several guards’ voices behind her.
“Princess! Your Potency! There’s a protest in the city!”
The Princess of the Night turned toward the Captain. His wide-eyed, sagging face betrayed the exhaustion and fear of the past two days. Maybe he really did have emotions after all. It looked like she wasn’t the only one worried about Celestia, at least. Yet she was confused. What cause was there for protest?
“Your Potency, it may not have been wise to deviate from the daily cycle. This season, only nine hours of daylight are scheduled. Nopony is going to be happy with this!”
“Wha- What did you say, Captain Hunter?”
“You raised the sun five hours early, Princess. It’s four in the morning!”
“But I was framed! The council left me to be late!”
“The council moved to finish the meeting in another room; they understand that you’ve been stressed! I left a detail posted by the chamber to wake you up on time but you blew right past them. I’m very sorry, it won’t happen again, but now is not the time for conversation.”
Luna was shocked. She had let them down. She had been ready to throw her closest advisors into prison without waiting for an explanation. Her premature awakening had cost everypony several hours of nighttime rest, and now she would have to pay for her foolishness. She knew what had to be done. She gave the Captain one last apologetic look and jumped off the roof.
Luna flew towards the crowd. Nearing the center of the city, her agitation grew as more and more ponies came into view, looking for the most part angry and determined to reach the protest. She beat harder and gained altitude, concealing herself in some scattered clouds above the city. Attempting to count through the wispy vapor, she could see maybe five hundred... A thousand? Everypony in Canterlot? It didn’t really matter that much. She knew that she had to handle things somehow, but had no clue what Celestia would have done.
From her vantage point almost directly above the square, she could see the full extent of the commotion. Ponies lined the main square of Canterlot, mostly facing the center where a few of their number shouted from atop a makeshift platform. Homemade banners and signs bearing mostly inflammatory slogans and phrases adorned the area. Pegasi circled the perimeter, some carrying hastily-made banners between two partners. From far above Luna could make out the magically-amplified voice of one of the central ponies.
“And where has she gotten us? Nowhere! It’s time for change! Since the return from her stay on the moon, things have only gone downhill! Celestia is gone. We can’t even expect the sun to rise at the regular time! My fellow citizens, are we going to just stand back and watch as we are once again plunged into an endless night?”
“NO!”
“What do we want?!”
“FREEDOM!”
“What do we WANT?!”
“FREEDOM!”
“And how will we get it?!”
A silence fell upon the crowd. The Princess saw ponies’ heads turn this way and that, looking to each other for an answer. She chuckled to herself. They knew the ends but not the means. How pathetic.
One mare close to the platform, barely loud enough to hear from above, voiced her dismay at the speaker. “That wasn’t in the plan! Stick to the speech!”
Ah. So that was it. Some group of rabble-rousers had organized this whole thing. Luna was somewhat disappointed; she had expected the people to be genuinely upset. She also felt disgusted that ponies would dare to take advantage of the situation and betray her so. One day everypony was kissing up to her and attempting to curry favor with the royals and the next they were cursing her name and protesting against her fair rule. Well no longer.
She fell from the cloud and spread her wings. The ponies on the ground began to notice her, hooves pointing towards the sun amidst panicked cries of fear. The dark Princess slowly descended from the heavens, retribution on winds of rage. Those on the platform backed away from the center, some jumping off altogether. The sky began to blacken as she alighted on the treasonous wood, and her glowing eyes smiled at the cowering cowards.
The following evening, Luna rested in her chambers. Lying on her royal bed, a quick glance at the bookshelf confirmed that she had no interest in reading anything right then. Another out the window reasserted that she had executed the night sky’s composition perfectly. One last forlorn look at the cage resting by her closet only evoked pangs of sadness at the absence of her pet Bruce. Oh, what she wouldn’t give to have him back from the animal hospital sooner, to tickle his furry body and watch him flap around the room in delight... She sighed and covered her eyes. At least he was in good hooves.
She wondered how many ponies were still in the hospital after this morning. Probably quite a few. And the property damage had been extensive... She was lucky nopony died. That would just have been too much to handle. After the mess had been somewhat cleared up she had called an emergency public address, mainly for the purpose of apologizing to everypony and at the same time nopony in particular. All the events of the past two and a half days had worn her out, and by the end of it she had been close to tears. All those accusing eyes...
“My subjects, these are hard times. With the absence of Celestia weighing heavily on our hearts... We, ah, we cannot be moved to such measures as to forget that the burden of keeping on is... on all our shoulders. From the littlest colt to the, ah, me, we should try to... To stay strong.”
The dark mare looked up from her spartan podium. In the ruins of the square, countless angry faces stood out starkly under the midday sun. Only the sound of babies crying in the back masked the seething hush of the populace.
Unable to keep it up, she turned her gaze down again. “The... I would like to offer my condolences on behalf... of myself, and the, ah, the royal House.” She wiped her brow.
“The collateral damage was- Is to be recompensed, and also I want to thank the, ah, the brave unicorns who helped to control my, I mean, the, the fire. The- My actions, ah, have been advised to me to have been... too extreme.” Her conscience gave her a painful prick.
“The perpetrators of the unrest have been, ah, arrested-” This was met with a low muttering of disapproval.
“And it is my duty to inform you that more, ah, more of the action seen today will only result in... more measures to protect the city... And again, I must stress that in matters of state, in this case, ah, in this case with the disappearance, the government must handle it.”
That didn’t make any sense. Why, oh why, had she not actually written anything down? In any case that sounded like the end of her speech. Luna turned away from the podium and flew off towards the castle. She didn’t dare to look back. It would be hard enough explaining to her staff...
Her staff. That hadn’t gone very well. She shook her head. Oh, she was such an idiot. Celestia would never have flipped out like that; it just wasn’t like her. Now ponies were even more afraid of the remaining Princess than before... She needed to talk to somepony. Anypony who wouldn’t judge her. Somepony like Celestia.
Thinking about her sister made her even more upset. If Celestia, if her parents even, could see her now, what would they say? She had done well enough? Anypony could have messed up the way she did? The speculation didn’t comfort her. The troubled mare wondered if this was what Celestia had felt like for a thousand years. Maybe that was why...
No. Celestia would never just leave. After all, where would she go? And after a thousand years of waiting... But maybe that was why. Perhaps she had cared for her subjects more than her, and wanted somepony to look after them once she was gone. Luna sighed. She didn’t really care why her sister was gone. She just was, and now it felt like nopony was there to comfort her anymore-
“Princess?”
She uncovered her eyes. Clover stood in the tower doorway, her ears slightly laid down but with a determined, if nervous, expression on her face.
“Your Potency, the Council has requested your presence.”
It was five days after the Sun Princess had disappeared. Luna was alone in the antechamber to the castle throne room, silently mourning. She had been given no break to be sad before the officials had begun talking about the “leadership crisis” and the “setting of precedent”, and she was alone for the first time in twenty-four hours. Her breastplate had been freshly polished for ceremony. Today she would be crowned as the new Equestrian sovereign, the Sun Princess-Regent. Celestia had always been the senior of the sisters, both in terms of government and of age; now that she was gone no rules for formal succession could be found. It had been decided that a formal investiture was needed anyway; Luna had been given little say in the matter. So here she stayed, waiting to be silently judged by the whole audience in the throne room, just meters away, while she cried on the inside.
She felt her anger swell at the thought of the elitist ponies who ran the government being less concerned with her feelings about it being too soon and more concerned with how they could make themselves seem important by “transitioning” power. There was no real confusion over who would administrate things now; she was inexperienced, but she wasn’t incompetent. What really concerned her was how people would think of her.
Would they hate her for taking her sister’s place? Or would they grow to admire her, like they had Celestia? Either way it would be hard, to deal with the discontent or try to live up to their expectations. It would be an understatement to say the Princess of the Night wasn’t known for her social graces. Even now her heart pounded under her ribs, and her brow was glistening with perspiration. It was a strain even to think ahead. All she wanted was to be left alone, to grieve for her lost sister. In some ways the situation was worse for her than it would be if she had any idea what had happened to Celestia, for her uncertain fate would leave Luna always wondering about it, hoping that one day she would return somehow. But deep in her heart she knew it was a lost cause. If she hadn’t turned up by now...
Luna willed herself to stop thinking about it. Better just to take it slowly... Focus on her breath... One... Two... Three... Her heart retarded its pace and she wiped her brow. Nopony would benefit if she had a nervous breakdown. Checking an hourglass, she realized it was almost time. With a slight shake of her head and some muttered curses, the soon-to-be supreme ruler sat up and walked to the wide double doors of the throne room. Might as well just get it over with so she could go back to the important business of self-pity.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, please present for the entrace of Princess Luna and the national anthem.”
She opened the door and stepped through. Breast up, ears straight, look ahead, don’t lose your pacing... As if in a dream, Equestria Sky began playing, and she could see through her peripheral vision the great crowd of ponies watching her on either side. The carpet-laden path to the throne stretched before her eyes. Far ahead stood the Major Councilponies, waiting with her coronet, and the Overmagician, ceremonially blindfolded. She felt a strong sense of déjà vu. Three thousand two hundred and eighty years ago, The Princess of the Night had been in this same room, witnessing her sister’s coronation, and then as now, something was amiss.
A voice cut through the blaring trumpets. “Hey, Princess!”
No. Luna swept her head to the side. There, in the midst of the silent crowd, a lone stallion stood out of line. Time began to slow. She saw ponies follow her gaze to the red-coated pegasus. The music faltered. Gasps issued. A flickering light betrayed the lit match in his mouth. A small cloth sack was held above his head. As she watched him ignite the weapon and prepare to throw, an ultimatum could be heard above the deafening silence.
“Handle this!”
End of Part Two
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The author does not claim ownership of them.
The idea for Luna’s pet comes from a comic by KTurtle: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7093675
