Equestrian Betrayal

Five months ago.

Princess Luna had been visiting Rainbow Dash every night for a month now. Sometimes only to say hello, but more often than not the Princess ended up staying in the small cell until Dash had drifted off. Luna often had Dash on her mind as she wandered Canterlot Castle or gazed at the stars. The cyan Pegasus was intriguing.

She had been very blatantly disavowed by most of her friends, yet Dash continued holding out for them. She hoped they would come to see her, even if it was just to say hello, or ask for her alibi. It saddened Luna to see Rainbow tear herself up over her friends. It reminded Luna of her, just one short century after inheriting her responsibility over the moon.

For this reason, Luna tried to stay close to Dash. She heard the rumors and the opinions whispered through the mountain city. She knew what the nobles wanted, and honestly it stressed her greatly. She was grateful that Celestia was stalling their deliberations and exploring every possible solution. If millennia spent on the throne thought you anything, it was how to pander to the upper class.

Once again, her thoughts strayed to Rainbow Dash. The young mare was much more muted than she remembered from past encounters. There was a sort of sad aura dominating the air around her. Sure, her spunk and prideful attitude would still shine through the gloom of the situation, but it took more and more effort to get it to show as time wore on. Regardless of her mood or outlook on life, the Princess had come to love spending time with her. Rainbow proved to be a surprisingly good listener, and Luna loved that the most. She could tell Dash anything, and the Pegasus would contemplate it for a moment before giving her an honest opinion.

As she said on the matter, “I don’t like to pull my punches with this kinda stuff.”

‘So this is why Celestia keeps Twilight Sparkle around. It is very gratifying to have a bond like this with another pony.’

The Princess grimaced as a thought crossed her mind.

‘Oh, we wish we did not have the confliction of immortality. We don’t want to outlive our friends…’

She shook the thought from her head, sending her sparkling mane floating about haphazardly. Those thoughts wouldn’t do now; she knew she had to stay optimistic about making friends. Fretting about the distant future would not do anypony any good.

She glanced at an ornate grandfather clock as she passed it.

“Oh my, it’s almost time to raise the moon. Where did the day go,” she said to nopony in particular.

With that she gracefully lifted off and flew towards Celestia’s balcony where she and her dear sister typically performed their most important duties. After Luna’s redemption, they liked to raise and lower their respective charges in tandem. There was something meaningful about doing it that way. However, when she was halfway there she slowed to a hover and thought for a moment. A thought crossed her mind and she smiled.

“Why not, we are a Princess after all. We’re sure she will understand.” With that Luna did an about face and flew away from Celestia’s tower.

“Wow. That was so… cool,” Dash uttered as Luna slowly fluttered back to the floor, supported by her magic. The journey was only a few inches, yet she nearly fell once she touched down. Realizing that Rainbow’s cell would be far to small to raise the moon with her normal routine, Luna snatched a golden cord off of some velvet drapes and used it to bind her wings to her body. Normally, she would spread her wings to stabilize herself. She was just glad that she didn’t fall flat on her flank when it was all over.

“You really believe so,” the Princess questioned, panting slightly. Over a thousand years of inactivity, one tended to loose their edge with anything. This was even more so for something as intense as moving the moon across the sky. She had been raising the moon by herself for roughly a year and a half now, yet it still taxed her stamina greatly.

“Yeah! I had no idea that what you do was so… so… ugh, what’s the word, I’m so bad at this kinda thing,” she facehooved in frustration.

“Um, did you mean bright,” Luna pondered.

“No, no, well yes, but no. I was gonna say intense, but that’s not quite right. Well, actually it was pretty intense… oh jeez, can we just say it was awesome? That works I think,” Dash said, tired of fumbling on her words. She might like to read some books, but that didn’t make her an egghead. Vocabulary was not her strong suit.

“I’m just really thankful that you showed it to me Luna.”

The Princess could not help but giggle while Dash struggled with her words. She thought that it was an endearing trait that fit with Rainbow’s personality perfectly. She was stubborn, brash, and self-confidant to a fault. She could easily imagine Dash as a filly in school, snoring her way through Equish class, dreaming of the wild blue yonder.

“We were happy to do so for you Dash. After all, from what we understand, friends do things like this for each other, am I right? Are we friends,” the beautiful indigo princess inquired anxiously.

“What are you talking about, of course we’re friends. You’re the only pony who has even visited me since I’ve been in prison. I would have gone totally nutso in here if you weren’t around!”

Dash threw her forelegs up in the air for emphasis and made a funny face. The two shared a good laugh before settling down, Dash in her bed and Luna lying on the stone next to it. They spoke quietly about trivial things until Dash drifted off to sleep. When Luna heard the mare's breathing even out, she gently pulled the thin blanket up around the pony’s shoulders. Content, the Princess quietly dissolved into a deep blue mist and floated out of the cell through the window, so as not to disturb her friend.

Four months ago.

Dash had officially gone stir crazy. She hated her crummy little cell with a passion. Recently, Dash had resorted to doing wing ups and flying in place just to stay occupied. She was dreading the amount of work she was going to have to catch up on. Sometimes you just had to work to be the best flyer in Equestria.

Luna had brought her a few books of course, but she had read through them twice already. Truly, the life of a prisoner was a dull one. Currently, she was lying on her bed counting the cracks on the ceiling. Huffing, she flipped herself over and stared at the wall.

Dash was sick of this. She had been sick of this for a long time now.

“Stupid Twilight,” she growled as she rose and punched her bed, “stupid Applejack, stupid Rarity.”

She brought her hooves down harder on the defenseless mattress.

“Stupid Mayor, stupid Ponyville, stupid Celestia,” she was yelling now, pounding the bed into submission.

“Damnit,” she shrieked, “Let. Me. Out!”

Dash threw herself as hard as she could against the door, desperate to be free. Again and again she smashed her shoulder into the steadfast oak, screaming in a rage. Eventually she lost steam and collapsed in a heap at the foot of the door.

This was how Luna found Dash, slumped against the door with tear tracks in the soft fur on her face.

“Oh Luna, finally, you have to let me out. Please, please, please, let me out, I’m going crazy in here. I need to stretch my wings, to fly, I promise I wont run off,” She cried, hugging the surprised princess tightly.

Luna couldn’t meet Dash’s eyes, “we are sorry Dash, we cannot let you out. We want to, but we have not the power to do so.”

Dash gaped at Luna for a moment before finding her words once more.

“What do you mean you can’t let me out? You’re a Princess for Celestia’s sake! You even have the keys to the cell, who the hell would question you? Come on Luna, I’m begging you…”

She trailed off as she looked at Luna. The Alicorn would not meet her gaze, and was slowly dragging her hoof in a circle on the floor.

“Since Nightmare Night… we have had no authority over anything. Nopony trusts us; they fear we will become Nightmare Moon once more if we are given power. My sister has just recently allowed us to raise the moon on our own. We are truly sorry Dash, but if we let you out of your cell, Celestia will have a riot on her hooves. She’s been working herself ragged lately, and we don’t want to burden her more.”

There was a pregnant pause after Luna’s explanation.

“So… I’m just a burden, is that it? Your precious immortal sisters’ stress level is more important than my sanity? What ever happened to ‘I believe you’re innocent’, huh? I thought you were my friend,” Rainbow snapped, letting months of pent up anger pour out.

“We – of course we’re friends Dash, you are the only friend that we have, we care about you deeply, you must believe us! Its just that we can't hurt Celestia again, not after the horrible things we did in the past.”

Luna was prancing nervously from hoof to hoof; she had been immensely unnerved by the situation. The Princess was terrified of losing the greatest companion she had ever had the pleasure of knowing.

“You know what, forget it. It’s obvious that I don’t mean anything to you. You should go Princess,” Dash said unemotionally. She clambered into her bed and rolled away from the Princess, facing the wall.

“Dash, we- I… I don’t know what…” Luna stuttered. She felt a knot growing in the pit of her stomach. She was driving away her only friend.

“Go!” Dash screeched deafeningly. She hadn’t moved from her position on the cot, but the consequences were evident. Luna staggered back as if struck, eyes threatening to brim over. Without another word, Luna turned and trudged out of the cell and away from Rainbow Dash with her head held low.

“Yes Luna, I am quite busy actually. Perhaps you could return in a few…”

Luna looked devastated; her bottom lip would suck in occasionally as she suppressed a sob. Thick tears were running down her cheeks and falling into her mane. The opalescent representation of the cosmos drug on the floor, listlessly.

“L-Luna, whatever is wrong? Come to me; are you hurt, did somepony say something to you? What happened?”

Celestia immediately went into big sister mode and began doting on Luna. She dropped her work and gently maneuvered Luna onto luxurious bed. Once her sister was settled, Celestia pulled her close and covered her with a wing.

“Now tell me what happened Luna, I’m here for you,” she cooed softly. Luna, for her part, pressed her face into her sister’s neck and let the dam break.  She sobbed hard for a good five minutes and slowly tapered off, uttering a quiet hiccup every so often. Celestia just let it happen, knowing Luna needed to get this out of her system. She gently rocked the indigo princess and hummed as their mother once did.

“Do you feel better Luna?”

She shook her head.

“Do you want to talk?”

Again, she went to shake her head but paused and performed something half way between a nod and a headshake. Celestia raised an eyebrow gracefully.

“What?”

“I do, but I don’t,” she choked out, surprisingly speaking in the first-pony.

After a short pause, Celestia began prodding for information.

“Is this about you?”

Luna shook her head, keeping her face buried in Celestia’s neck.

“So somepony else then?”

She nodded this time.

“Did somepony hurt you,” Celestia asked. Her words came out with a sharp edge that she didn’t intend. Nopony was going to act against her beloved sister and get away with it.

Luna heard her sister’s tone and shook her head frantically.

“Okay, okay, it’s alright. I won’t do anything if you don’t want me to.”

Luna nodded slowly. Celestia continued rocking her.

“So somepony said something to you?”

Another nod. Good, she was making progress.

“Was it related to Nightmare Moon?”

She could feel Luna frown as she shook her head this time.

“It wasn’t? But it was something hurtful or cruel, wasn’t it?”

Luna began to nod but stopped. Nearly a minute had passed before she shook her head slowly.

“I’m getting mixed signals here. What do you mean?”

Luna took a deep breath and looked up at Celestia.

“I… I made a friend Tia, and I was so happy, but I- I just ruined everything. Its all my fault!”

‘Oh… this is going to be... delicate…’

“You said that this pony said something hurtful? That doesn’t sound very friendly to me.”

“B-but I upset her in the first place. I didn’t mean to, everything was great, but I said the wrong thing and it crushed her.”

“Luna, why don’t you start from the beginning, how did this all start?”

“W-well,” she sniffled, “I went to visit her this morning and she asked if she could fly around the palace. I didn’t want to cause trouble for you so I said n-no and it just crushed her-“ Celestia cut off Luna’s babbling for clarification

“Wait, she lives in the palace,” she asked slowly. Celestia hadn’t heard of any new arrivals, and certainly none of the court ponies were friendly with anypony. Who could she be talking about? Then it dawned on her.

‘Oh shit…’

“Luna… are you talking about Rainbow Dash,” Celestia asked slowly.

“Yes,” she said miserably.

‘So that’s where you’ve been going at night. I should have known.’

“Luna, honey, I’m glad that you’re making friends, but do you think Rainbow Dash was a… wise choice?”

Celestia selected her words prudently, not wanting to dismay her sister any further.

“What, what do you mean Tia,” Luna had calmed down significantly since she had entered. Still, Celestia chose to tread lightly on this matter. It was evident that Luna was psychologically scarred from her time on the moon. If Celestia had been banished for a millennia she doubted she would have been any better off. Dealing with Luna’s emotions was akin to negotiating a hostage situation. You had to say just the right thing at just the right time and know when and what to give and take. If you were too heavy hoofed with her she was likely to blow up on you.

‘If only everypony knew how fragile “Nightmare Moon” really was,’ she thought ruefully.

“Well, as I am sure you are aware, Rainbow Dash is accused of a rather… terrible crime. As such, the nobles are discussing what to do about it. Yes, it’s strange, I know, but they are alarmingly united on this. If they all decide on one thing I will not be able to overrule them. Rainbow Dash may be spending the remainder of her years in that cell… or worse. Please understand Luna, I just don’t want you to be hurt if her sentence is… less than ideal,” Celestia lectured.

“B-but, they wouldn’t… they wouldn’t k-kill her, would they?”

“I hope not, and I’m doing all that I can to prevent it, but it’s suddenly become an uphill battle. If they do eventually choose death, then it falls on my authority to carry the sentence out. Believe me, I don’t want to kill one of my ponies.

Luna let out a quiet sob and hung her head low.

“There there Luna, I’m sure it will all work out in the end,” Luna chose not to respond.

“Would you like to stay with me tonight? My bed is more than large enough for the both of us.”

Luna nodded mutely. With a wave of her horn Celestia extinguished the lights and pulled her silk sheets up around them both. She took extra care to tuck Luna in and ensure she was comfortable. Before long the Princess of the Night fell into a fitful slumber. Celestia, not tired herself played with Luna’s starry mane idly, noting how it melded with her own iridescent locks.

“I love you more than you know dear sister,” she leant down and gently kissed Luna on the cheek, “Sleep well.”

Luna awoke alone the next morning, with the sun already half way to its apex. She sat up and yawned, looking around the room with bleary eyes. She noticed she had slept in her silver regalia and shrugged it all off onto the bedside, wincing as she massaged a knot in her shoulder.

There was a small silver platter with a simple breakfast laid out on Celestia’s desk, along with a note from the Solar Princess.

“Luna,” it read, “Hope you are feeling better. Sorry to leave you, but I had to go start the ‘Daily Doldrums’. You know how it is. Eat up and take the day off to relax, but don’t go thinking that you can shirk your duties with the moon little missy. Love Celestia.”

Luna chuckled when she saw that her sister had finished the note with a goofy little smiley face. That was so like Celestia. She knew just what to do to cheer Luna up. Luna quickly ate her breakfast and exited her sisters chambers.

She walked in silence, pondering her relationship with Rainbow Dash.

‘Oh we don’t want to lose her. We liker her so much… If they think that they can harm a hair on her head-‘

Her eyes flashed dangerously and her disheveled mane flared up as if caught by the wind. Startled, she had to shake herself out of her own power surge.

‘No, no, that behavior wont do, remember where it got you last time.’

‘If she says she is innocent, then she is innocent, we trust her completely. But if she didn’t do it, then who did? Was it a unicorn? No, modern illusion spells are not powerful enough to remain intact through the carnage, and they cant make a unicorn actually fly. So it was a Pegasus then. But what are the odds of somepony perfectly matching Dash’s appearance? It’s plausible, more so than a Unicorn culprit. We will have to check the National Cutie Mark Registry later for any that look like Dash’s. What about a shape shifter? But no species we know of can perform that feat… wait, Changelings! Why didn’t we think of it before, you are so dense sometimes Luna. But how could we prove it was a Changeling? We would have to find one first and that is no easy task.’

Luna looked up from her internal monologue and realized that she was standing at the entrance to the dungeons. Just a few twisting staircases and murky corridors separated her from her favorite Pegasus.

“No, not now, she is not going anywhere. Iron Wing, Blackhorn, reveal yourselves to me at once,” she commanded, stamping a hoof for emphasis.

Immediately, a black Pegasus with dragon like wings swooped down from the rafters, landing noiselessly on the thick red carpet in the hall. From the minute gaps between the great stones in the wall, thick black oil oozed out. It pooled next to Iron Wing and slowly piled up, eventually taking the form of a pony. With an otherworldly ripple the dark muck became a tall black Unicorn. The two Lunar Guards bowed in unison.

“Your highness,” they greeted.

“You may rise. Now, come. We have much work for you both. We have decided to reinvest ourselves in the affairs of this land.”

The Princess trotted between the two brothers, heading for her tower. The two wordlessly followed a single body length behind and cantering to keep pace with their Mistress. They would never say so, but the two guards were pleased to see their Princess moving with such determination again.