Royal’s Story
Chapter 1
Hello. My name is Royal Scribe. Not many ponies know about me, but I’m fine with that. I’m not looking for fame, I don’t want anything like that. I’m just here to be of assistance to the Royal Sisters, to write down everything they tell me, to record all the goings on in Equestria.
You probably thought the Princesses did that themselves, didn’t you? They never have the time to write these things down, they’re always too busy. That’s why I do it for them. With the help of magic, I’m the fastest writer in Equestria. Not even the great Twilight Sparkle can write faster than me. That’s why the Princesses asked me to be their scribe, and they couldn’t have found a pony more suited for the job, if I do say so myself. It’s even in my name!
I’m fond of my job, I love writing, and I get to write a lot. I don’t always write laws, declarations, and history for the Princesses though. Princess Luna is quite an avid writer; I’ve stayed up many a night writing down chapters of a story she’s been working on. She’s amazing, and so is her sister. They’re both close friends of mine, my best friends really.
Luna is my best friend, my favourite out of the pair. Not many ponies are close to her, nopony trusts the misunderstood mare. She’s not evil, in fact, she’s the best pony I’ve ever met, after Celestia herself. She’s wickedly scary when she’s angry, but that’s not often. She’s good at controlling her anger, she’s been practicing for over a thousand years. Before she was sent to the moon, she succumbed to anger often, and even I was a little afraid of her. I didn’t fear her at first, but one day, in a sudden burst of anger, she cast a spell on me that changed my life forever.
“Princess Luna, Princess Luna!” A little grey filly dashed down the palace halls and into the throne room, right into the open forelegs of her mentor. “Princess Luna, I missed you!”
She laughed, her soft melodious laugh, “I missed you too, my sweet little filly.” She nuzzled the small unicorn. “You know you don’t have to call me Princess, Royal. You can just call me Luna.” She smiled down at Royal.
“Sorry, Prin- er, Luna.” Royal said.
The Princess laughed again. “It’s quite all right, just make sure you call me Princess Luna in public.” She winked at Royal, making her giggle. “Come, walk with me.” She set off at a brisk walk, making Royal trot to keep up with her. They walked in a comfortable silence up to the Princess’s bed chamber.
When they arrived, Luna pushed open the large double doors, and the two ponies stepped into Luna’s spacious room. The walls were pained a dark blue, the large bed was made up with black blankets and pillows, and dark violet silk was draped throughout the entire room. A little way from her bed was the door to her balcony, the place where the Princess raised and lowered the moon everyday. As always, Royal was in awe of room that the Princess spent most of her time in. It was beautiful, just like the night her beloved Princess created.
“Royal,” Luna said, snapping Royal out of her thoughts. “Royal, I think it’s time you get to see me raise the moon.” Royal’s mouth fell open, and she stared at the Princess in shock. The Princess was silent, waiting for the filly to respond.
“Do… Do you really mean it?” Royal asked.
“Why, of course!” Luna told her. “It’s not as grand as the raising of the sun, but the raising of the moon is a sight to see, I promise.”
Royal bowed to the Princess. “Princess Luna, I’m sure that the raising of the moon is just as beautiful as the raising of the sun.”
The Princess smiled. “Come,” she said,” it’s time to raise the moon.” She opened the doors to the balcony and stepped outside, motioning for Royal to follow her. When they were both outside, she asked Royal to shut the doors and stand back. Royal did as she was told, and pressed her body to the doors. The Princess nodded and turned back to look at the world below.
The Princess’s horn started glowing with dark blue energy, as dark as the night she was bringing. She floated off the ground as her whole body was wrapped in the dark light. Pure energy swirled around her, and her eyes glowed dark purple. Her mane and tail flowed around her with the energy, like it was part of the energy. The moon was slowly rising over the horizon, it would soon be high in the sky, brightening the night with its soft glow. It was happening, the moon was rising.
Something was wrong. Royal knew that as soon as the Princess twitched slightly, and the moon began to fall back down. Luna was fighting a losing battle, the moon wasn’t going to make it up. Royal didn’t know what to do. She knew the Princess needed help, but she didn’t know how to help her. She was after all, just a filly, a small, insignificant filly. Suddenly, she knew exactly what to do to help the Princess. It had probably only taken her seconds to realize what to do, but it felt like an eternity.
Her horn started glowing with a bright aqua blue light, the same colour as her eyes. She put as much energy as she could into it; she only had one try, one chance to help the Princess. She turned towards the Princess and pointed her horn in the direction of the energy that surrounded her. She squinted her eyes and strained every part of her being to give her as much energy as possible. The light grew brighter, so bright, in fact, that it hurt to look at. When she couldn’t take anymore, she let go, releasing all of the stored energy into the dark mass that surrounded Luna. She fell over, unable to stand any longer.
Her energy flowed around Luna, mixing with the dark matter that surrounded her. The Princess’s eyes changed, they were the colour of Royal’s now. Her horn glowed brighter, and the moon rose to the top of the sky. The energy around her slowly faded away and she floated to the ground. When her hooves touched the ground, her eyes stopped glowing and she took a step forward. She looked back to where Royal was supposed to be standing, and gasped when she saw the crumpled form of her student.
“Royal! No!” She screamed, dashing towards the unmoving filly. “Royal, Royal, please wake up, oh Celestia, please wake up...” She nudged her gently with her hoof. “Royal, please! Wake up… Wake up Royal! Celestia! Help! Please, help me! Royal!” She heard the rustle of feathers nearby and hooves touch down on the balcony. She whirled around the face her sister. “Celestia!” She cried, rushing to her sister and burying her tear streaked face into her sister’s chest. “Celestia, help her, save Royal, please!”
“Shh, Luna, it will all be okay.” Celestia told her sister gently, stepping up to Royal’s side. She pressed her brightly glowing horn to Royal’s flank and started speaking quietly. She stood up quickly, still emanating magical power. Her horn glowed gold, and her eyes turned white. “Royal Scribe!” She boomed in the royal Canterlot voice, “Wake up!”
Royal’s eyes snapped open and she drew a breath. She looked up and saw the moon, and smiled. “Good.” She said, and fainted.
“Sister?” Luna asked Celestia nervously.
“She’ll be okay, just let her rest. She’ll be fine when she wakes up.”
Luna fell against her sister’s body and wept. Celestia put a comforting wing around her, holding her close. Luna sniffled and pulled away. “I was so afraid I had lost her…” A sob racked her body. “I nearly killed her!”
“What?!” Celestia ask, bewildered. “Luna, this isn’t your fault. You were struggling to raise the moon, so she used her magic to help you. She used too much energy though, that’s what…” she paused, not wanting to tell Luna that Royal had died, “hurt her. She used too much of her life energy. She’ll be okay, and this wasn’t your fault.”
“Celestia, I couldn’t raise the moon! My student had to help me! What kind of Princess am I?!” Before Celestia could answer, Luna was talking again. “I’m a horrible Princess! I hurt Royal, the most loyal of subjects and diligent of students! I don’t even deserve to be Princess, I’m not ready for this! How many other’s will I hurt?!” She fled into her room, magically grabbing Royal on the way, and slammed to doors behind her. Celestia sighed and lowered her head.
“Oh, Luna…” She shook her head and flew off.
Luna didn’t hear her. She laid Royal gently down on the plush carpeted floor, and flopped onto her bed, sobbing. She cried until she ran out of tears, and even after that she cried. It might have been hours, even days, but she eventually dragged herself out of the bed and to her desk. She magically floated a quill in the air, trying her best to put her feelings into words. She couldn’t do it, she couldn’t concentrate, she couldn’t write it out. She ran into the bathroom got sick. She came back into the room and cried again.
She felt angry, enraged. She was furious with herself, not only could she not perform her duties as Princess, but she hurt her student as well! She made herself sick. She hated herself for it. She loathed herself for it. She wanted something, but she didn’t know what. Then, it came to her. She wanted blood, her own blood.
She leapt off the bed and ran into the bathroom, grabbing the scissors her sister had given her as a gift. She came back into the bedroom and sat on the bed, levitating the scissors magically. Before she could do anything with them, Royal sat up.
“Princess?” She asked, tilting her head to one side. Luna whipped her head around to face her student.
“Royal! Oh Royal, you’re okay…” Her eyes darkened. “It was my fault…” Dark energy swirled though the room. “My fault!” Her eyes turned black, and dark energy flowed off of her in waves. She was shaking, but she never fell. Instead, her horn began to glow with black energy.
“Princess?”
“My fault!” The black energy swirled around her, nearly consuming her. I ballooned out, filling the whole room.
“Princess Luna?”
“MY FAULT!” The energy exploded around them. It knocked Royal over; she slammed into the ground roughly. Ripples of agony tore through her body, leaving her writhing on the ground. She was screaming, crying, pleading for mercy. It didn’t help. The pain filled her, all she felt was pain.
She was curled in a ball on the ground, her eyes closed, her body shaking. She dared to open her eyes, but when she did, she wished she hadn’t. In front of her stood Princess Luna, wings spread, horn glowing, and laughing. She was laughing at the pain, laughing at the pure torture, laughing at the world. There was a strange glint in her eyes, this wasn’t the same Luna.
All of that was ripped away from her when the mare who looked like Luna looked down at her. Her horn glowed darker, and Royal was yanked off the ground roughly. The mare who looked like Luna threw her across the room, slamming her into the wall. Royal hit the wall with a thud. She whimpered, past the point of being able to scream.
The mare walked towards her slowly, like an animal closing in on its prey. She stopped right in front of Royal and looked her in the eyes. Royal stared into the cold black eyes that did not belong to her mentor, her teacher, her friend. She looked away. The mare threw back her head and laughed.
Royal lay slumped against the wall, at the mercy of the mare. When the mare looked down at her again, all Royal saw was hate, pure hate. She bowed her head, and the mare’s horn glowed with darkness. Royal looked into the mare’s eyes and said one word.
“Luna.”
The mare’s horn stopped glowing, her eyes faded from black to Luna’s natural blue. Luna wobbled, then fell onto Royal, who had jumped up to catch her. She led the Princess to her bed and laid her down. She covered her up, then crawled onto the bed and curled up at the bottom. Luna tapped her lightly, and then groaned. Royal crawled up the bed and lay down next to her mentor. Luna smiled weakly and fell asleep. Royal didn’t.
She laid there for over an hour, exhausted, but unable to sleep. She was worried about Luna, and she was afraid of the mysterious mare coming back. Eventually, even she too slept. Her sleep was uninterrupted by dreams, just like her mentor’s.
When Royal woke up, Luna was still asleep. She snuggled into Luna’s warm fur and listened to her heart beat. Luna’s deep breathing was comforting, and the young filly nearly fell back to sleep. The memory of the night before, however, kept her awake. She was afraid of the evil mare coming back to finish her off. A while later, Luna awoke.
“Royal?” She asked, bleary eyed.
“Luna?” Royal looked up at her.
Luna looked down and saw her student snuggled into her side and smiled. She nuzzled her head lightly. “Good morning, Royal.” Her smile became a frown. “What happened last night?”
Royal bit her lip, considering the options. She could tell the Princess what really happened, and risk upsetting her, or she could lie to the pony she loved the most. She told Luna exactly what happened. Luna sighed and laid her head back down on her pillow. She drew Royal to her side and held her tightly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Royal. The mare who was controlling me was Nightmare Moon. She’s evil, and wants only to destroy all the good in my life. I’m sorry she hurt you.”
Royal nuzzled her friend comfortingly. “It’s okay, Princess, I forgive you. You didn’t mean to do that. I’m alright now.”
“Are you sure?” Luna asked. “Stand up and let me see.”
Royal sighed and got out of the warm bed and walked to the middle of the room. Luna looked up from the bed and her jaw dropped when she saw Royal. “What?” Royal asked. “Do I have bed-head?” Luna pointed her to the bathroom. Royal shrugged and walked into the bathroom. When she looked into the mirror, she screamed.
She had wings! Something that night had happened, transforming her from a simple unicorn to an alicorn! “Princess?!” She called out, her voice shaking, “What happened to me?!” Luna walked into the bathroom.
“Well, it looks like Nightmare Moon cast a spell on you, and you became… well, an alicorn. I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do to change it. You’ll be like this for the rest of your life… And probably beyond then. You’ll descend into the Beyond as an alicorn, and take your place with the alicorns who rule in the Beyond. It’ll be okay, I’ll be with you the whole time.”
“Luna?”
“Yes?”
“How… How long will I live?”
“I… don’t know, but most likely thousands of years, like other alicorns.”
“Luna?”
“Yes?”
“I’m scared.” She started crying and Luna wrapped a wing around her tiny, shaking body. She snuggled into Luna’s fur. She would have to live for thousands of years, and watch everypony she loved die! She didn’t want to be an alicorn! She just wanted to be a unicorn, the way she had been before.
“It will be okay, Royal. Everything will be all right. Let us go see my sister. Maybe she will know how to help us.” Royal nodded once and walked out of the bathroom beside her mentor, her head low.
“Royal, when we leave this room, stay close to me so I can cover your wings with mine. Celestia needs to know about this before anypony else.” She covered Royal with one of her large, graceful wings, hiding Royal’s wings completely. They left the room and walked down the long castle halls slowly, trying to stay close to each other. After what seemed like forever, they arrived at Celestia’s bedroom.
They went inside, surprising Princess Celestia. “Luna, Royal Scribe, what are you doing here?” She noticed Royal’s tears and asked her, “Royal Scribe, what’s wrong?” Royal felt Luna lift her wing away from her body heard Celestia gasp. She turned away, not wanting to look at either of the Royal Sisters.
“Royal.” Luna said gently, “Royal, look at us.” Royal turned back and looked at them, but she didn’t meet their eyes.
“Royal Scribe,” Princess Celestia said, “I’m sorry that this has happened, and I wish that I could restore you to your original body, but I can’t. I don’t know what happened exactly, but you’re the only one who can tell me. What happened to you, Royal Scribe? How have you become an alicorn?”
Royal gulped and explained everything to Princess Celestia. Celestia turned to her sister and looked into her eyes. “Luna, is this true? Has Nightmare Moon returned?” Luna bit her lip and nodded. Princess Celestia opened her wings and drew Luna and Royal closer to her. While Luna snuggled into her sister’s side, Royal pulled back slightly.
“Returned?” She asked the Princess.
“Yes, Royal Scribe, returned. Nightmare Moon has been around almost as long as Luna and I have ruled. An accident happened, and Luna’s mind was split in two. Nightmare Moon is the evil side, and Luna is the good side. Nightmare Moon has been trying to take over Luna’s body for centuries. Each time, Luna fought her off, but in her weak state, Nightmare Moon took over and attacked you, knowing that you were close to Luna. I think that’s why you became an alicorn, Luna was trying to protect you.”
Royal’s eyes teared up again and she looked at Luna. “Is that true, Princess? Did you really do this to save me?” Luna lowered her head and nodded slowly.
“I didn’t want to tell you, I knew it would hurt you. A piece of me knew that casting that spell on you would hurt you, but I did it anyways. I couldn’t imagine you dying in such a painful and horrible way. I was being selfish, I didn’t want to lose you.”
Royal pulled away from Celestia and rushed to Luna’s side. “Thank you, Princess. Thank you so much. I understand, this was the only way you could save me, it’s okay, I understand. I’m glad that you did this, even if it does mean I’ll be an alicorn for the rest of, well, forever…” They embraced as Celestia looked on.
When they pulled away, she cleared her throat, directing their attention to her. “Well, Royal Scribe, now that you’re an alicorn, we need to teach you certain things, starting with how to fly.”
“Oh, yes!” Luna said excitedly. “You’ll love flying!” Royal smiled nervously and spread her wings.
She spent the rest of the day with the Princesses, flying above the castle with glee.
And that’s why I was afraid of Princess Luna. Really, it was Nightmare Moon I was afraid of, but they were the same person. I still loved the Princess, but I was always wary that Nightmare Moon would attack me again.
I tried to hide my fear, but I wasn’t very good at lying. Luna knew that she made me nervous. She started spend less time with me, some nights I didn’t see her at all. Even though she scared me, I wasn’t happy about that. I didn’t dare tell her though, I didn’t want to upset her. Although, if I had, it might have changed everything…
