Chapter 1: The Next Morning
Celestia woke up with even more pain than the previous morning. Out of a sense of automatic motions, she reached out to the sun and lifted it on its way. She had to for the sake of her kingdom. She wasn’t going to make her country suffer just because she was in pain. Still, why did every little noise have to be so loud today?
“Sister?” Celestia called. Her jaw ached and her ears burned but her task required her to speak.
“Luna, are you there?” she asked while wincing from every bodily ache.
“I’m sorry,” replied the voice of Luna, “She can’t come to the phone right now. May I take a message?”
The elder sister lifted her head in confusion. Her eyes opened blearily and bloodshot. Despite an uncomfortable cracking noise that came from her neck, she turned to face her younger sister. Said sister was standing a few feet away from the bed… or so Celestia thought.
“Okay, terrible joke,” said Luna while shaking her head, “My bad, Princess.”
“Princess?” echoed Celestia, “Luna, you are aware that we needn’t use titles when talking to each other.”
“Well, technically speaking, I’m only in the body of Luna,” her sister’s voice and mouth replied, “It still doesn’t feel right to call you without the proper title of authority.”
In spite of her pounding headache, Celestia raised her eyebrow still confused before asking, “Luna, what are you talking about?”
‘Luna’ took a deep breath and audibly exhaled before speaking again, “It seems subtle hints aren’t working. So I’m just going to spell it out for you. I am a person that currently resides inside Luna’s body while her mind has gone dormant.”
Silence followed as ‘Luna’ let her words sink in. The gravity of her words slowly processed in Celestia’s half-awake mind. The unbelievable reality made the elder sister open her eyes wide. She completely forgot about her aches in the face of this new information. She immediately jumped off the bed into a defensive stance.
“Who are you?!” she demanded, “And what have you done with my sister?”
“Simmer down, your highness,” waved not-Luna dismissively, “Luna is simply dormant right now. In a few minutes or a few hours, she’ll return and I’ll be asleep.”
Celestia wasn’t convinced and inquired, “Are you from the same place as the spirit that controls my body at night?”
“Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not,” answered not-Luna in an uncommitted tone, “But I can assure you that I don’t take pleasure in his tasteless form of entertaining himself. Wear your body down until you’re too tired to resist. Honestly, that’s a most clichéd plan if I’ve ever heard of one.”
“So you do know about it,” confirmed Celestia.
“Bits and pieces,” admitted not-Luna, “I do not know his identity. But I can easily surmise that he takes a childish approach with his language.”
“So why are you here?” asked Celestia. To this, not-Luna looked away briefly before returning ‘her’ gaze.
“Frankly, I’m not entirely sure myself,” ‘she’ said with a sigh, “Maybe fate decided to use me as another one of its pawns in this massive game of deity chess. In any case, I want to help both of your majesties.”
“Help?” echoed Celestia, “What kind of help do you mean?”
“Help deal with that bothersome mind that uses your body as its toy, of course,” answered not-Luna in a tone that made her think her meaning was obvious.
“How pray tell do you intend to do that?” asked Celestia.
“Well for starters,” began not-Luna taking a step toward the currently unpossessed princess, “Curaga.”
‘Her’ horn glowed in a soft glow of midnight blue before altering to an equally soft shade of green. Unprepared for a magical duel, Celestia found herself at the mercy of whatever spell that this invader had cast. She squeezed her eyes shut expecting unrelenting pain as the green glow swirled around her entire being. But there was no new pain. In fact, her previous pains started to feel alleviated. Within moments, the external signs of fatigue and weariness faded from her body along with the green glow.
“W…What did you just do?” asked the solar princess with wonder in her voice.
Not-Luna panted as she replied, “Well, I’ll be… darned. Healing… magic… really works.”
“Are you all right?” asked Celestia.
“Don’t… worry… about me,” said not-Luna between breaths, “Just… tell Luna… I’m sorry… for using… so much… of her… energy.” With that, ‘she’ fell to the floor on ‘her’ side.
“Wait!” exclaimed Celestia. She ran over and shook her sister’s body, “I still have questions!”
Luna’s eyes opened as her voice said, “Ugh, what… happened?”
“You just used healing magic on me, remember?” reminded Celestia after moving her hoof away.
“Healing magic?” was the response, “But Tia, we don’t recall doing anything of the sort.”
“Luna, is that really you?” inquired Celestia.
“Who else would we be?” asked Luna raising her eyebrow in confusion.
“Well,” started the elder sister, “It seems that you now also have a ‘spirit’ that dwells within you.”
“What?!” jumped up the younger sister in a heartbeat, “Oh no! What trouble did it cause you while I was unconscious?”
“It… didn’t,” answered Celestia slowly, “In fact, it wanted to apologize for using up your energy.”
“Using our energy?” echoed Luna before holding up a hoof to her head, “‘Tis no wonder we feel drained. How dare a fiend to use our magic for some unknown menacing deed?”
“Actually, it’s because it used your magic that I don’t feel pain this morning,” pointed out Celestia.
“What?” stopped Luna before thinking back, “Wait, earlier thou didst sayeth, er… you did say that we- I used healing magic. Was that the other mind then?”
“So I gather,” confirmed Celestia.
“What do these other minds want with us?” asked the younger sister before clarifying, “You and I?”
“I couldn’t say,” said the elder shaking her head, “All that this new mind said was that it wanted to help us deal with the mind that uses me at night.”
“How exactly did it say it would do that?” wondered Luna with uncertainty.
“Well, it kind of blacked out before it could explain in more detail,” sighed Celestia.
“Wonderful,” muttered Luna before wiping her face with a hoof, “So we are expected to just trust this new entity and hope that it can figure out a way to handle the first. Is this really our best plan?”
“Do we have another choice?” asked Celestia rhetorically.
To this, the younger sister remained silent.
Even though she had just woken up, Luna felt exhausted. She decided to retire to her quarters for the daylight hours as she usually did. Celestia hadn't objected to this decision and went to attend to her own responsibilities. In the back of her mind, she felt much better than she had the last couple of days. She had energy to spare just like the sun that she guided through the sky. She was almost sad that the afternoon hours had arrived so soon.
She was reviewing a few documents concerning more recent legal matters when there was a knock at her door.
*Knock* *Knock*
"The door's unlocked," Celestia said without looking up.
"Um," was the muffled reply from the other side of the door, "Okay, let's see. Just concentrate on the handle..."
Celestia could have sworn she heard a succinct buzz happen after that mutter.
*Phbpt*
"Whoops, wrong kind of concentration," said the muffled voice, "Oh, wait. I know!"
The door slowly opened into the study and Celestia looked up to see her visitor. It looked like Luna's teeth were nudging the handle down as she entered. She kind of looked awkward turning with the opening door. Needless to say, Celestia was a little baffled at the sight.
"You know you can just use magic to open that door, right?" asked Celestia while chancing a small smirk.
"Yeah, well, I'm going to need a lot more practice before I can do that," was the response.
Something wasn't right here. Luna had had a vast time of life to master the simplest of spells. Celestia had even seen her perform basic object manipulation over a million times in the past. Why would she say something like that? Unless...
"Luna?" questioned Celestia.
"Actually, it's me again, your highness," replied Luna's voice.
"Oh," said Celestia in realization. She thought to herself for a moment before asking, "What should I call you? It seems kind of rude of me to constantly refer to some pony as 'you'."
"That's a good question," responded not-Luna as 'she' looked to the side for a moment. 'She' then looked back up and proposed, "How about Nebula? That sounds like something a body of the night would be called."
"Why? Don't you have an actual name for yourself?" asked Celestia.
"Yes, but my real name wouldn't make much sense here," answered 'Nebula'.
"Erm, okay then... Nebula," paused Celestia still not entirely sure what to make of the spirit possessing her sister, "I'd like some straightforward answers if you don't mind."
"I don't mind at all, Princess," smiled Nebula.
"Actually first, could you please just call me Celestia?" the respective princess asked, "It feels uncomfortable hearing my sister's voice refer to me as Princess."
"I only meant to show respect," pointed out Nebula.
"Then could you respect my wish to be called by name?" asked Celestia.
Nebula chuckled, "Fair enough, Celestia. So, what do want to ask me? I'll answer anything I can to the best of my ability."
"What exactly are you?" started Celestia, "And how are you... er, in Luna?"
"Like I said before I'm a person," answered Nebula assuming a no-nonsense face, "I don't know how I'm inside Luna's body and I wish I did know so that both of us could at least be at ease about that."
Celestia sighed, "Well, that doesn't explain much. Let's try a different angle. What is your motive? Why would you want to help Luna and I?"
"Can't a guy just give out of the goodness of his heart?"
"I suppose so- wait... You're a colt?"
"Er, yeah," answered Nebula rubbing the back of Luna's neck with her hoof, "You could say that."
Celestia raised her hoof to her face and massaged a building headache, "I have lived for several millennia and yet this is the first I have encountered such a circumstance."
"Anyway," said Nebula resuming his serious tone, "I guess there is another motive. I just can't stand people that have way too much power yet treat it like a toy. It's why I never liked beings like Discord or Light Yagami."
"Light who?" interrupted Celestia returning her eye contact Nebula.
"Never mind," waved Nebula dismissively, "Not important right now. What I'm trying to say is... uh-oh."
"What? What's wrong?" asked Celestia with concern.
"I can... feel her coming back," said Nebula suddenly shaking as if he was nervous.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I'll... t-try to... contact... y-you... l-later," shivered Nebula. Suddenly Luna's head hung limp as well as her wings. Miraculously, all four of her legs still stood firm underneath her.
"Wait, Nebula!" exclaimed Celestia.
Luna raised a hoof to rub the sleep out of her eyes. As she looked up, she was surprised that she was standing. She was also confused that she was somehow in her sister's study.
"How did I get here?" she wondered aloud.
"Luna?" asked Celestia.
"Tia? What... happened?"
"That other presence in you just talked with me again."
"It did? Did it tell you anything new?"
"Yes," nodded Celestia, "It seems to have a pet peeve against entities that use power in childish ways."
"Childish ways?" responded Luna while tilting her head, "Like what?"
"Obtaining too much and then playing with it like a toy. He even mentioned his dislike for Discord."
"I suppose any pony that is peeved by Discord isn't all bad- wait. 'He'? As in a colt?"
"That was what he said."
"Oh, that's just wonderful," groaned Luna in sarcasm and a face hoof, "A colt inside me. As if I didn't have enough things the public could interpret the wrong way about me."
"Welcome to my world," pointed out Celestia.
"Uh, good point," commented Luna sheepishly after realizing that she shared a mutual situation with her sister.
"So," redirected Celestia, "It seems he can't control you for a full half of the day like the presence in me can. His timing seems haphazard."
"In other words," said Luna thoughtfully, "Just me going to sleep won't be enough to bring him out. The hours that he'll assume possession are at best completely spontaneous."
Luna sighed while taking a seat, "Which means we may never figure out his true goal or how he intends to accomplish it."
"On the bright side, he did say he would contact me later."
"Maybe we could try to force information out of the other presence in you," suggested Luna, "See if he knows anything."
"I'd advise against that," frowned Celestia, "If he didn't say or know anything about this new presence before, then he most likely won't cooperate in telling us anything now."
A long pause filled the next moments between sisters.
"So what shall we do now, Tia?"
"For now, just keep monitoring me after I go to sleep. Keep the my other presence in check. Wait for further details from your other presence."
"Is it morally acceptable to assume these other minds as our own?" wondered Luna.
"I honestly don't know what else to call them," answered Celestia shaking her head in defeat.
The battle of the minds had just begun.
Ch. 2: Nebula meets John Doe
Chapter 2: Nebula meets John Doe
He opened his eyes. Rather, he opened the eyes of the pony that he had control. A small dribble of drool had just started forming on the pillow as he lifted Celestia's head. He wondered what mischief he could cause tonight. He didn't need a reason and he certainly didn't need a rhyme. He could step in time all of the darn night if he wanted to.
Heh, Luna's watching me again, he thought with a smirk, That b***h still thinks she can keep me in order. What a fool.
"Hey, there pretty mare," he called using Celestia's voice in ways that it wasn't meant to move, "What's for tonight?"
Unlike the previous night, Princess Luna just stood there without saying anything. He wasn't sure whether he should have been surprised or amused. Either way, he found himself chuckling.
"What's wrong? No Royal Caps lock?" he taunted while laughing, "You think giving me the cold shoulder will make me 'behave'?" He emphasized the word behave by using Celestia's hooves to imitate air quotation marks.
"Actually, I have a better idea," stated Luna flatly and calmly. She lowered her horn toward the boy in her older sister's body.
"What're you going to do?" chuckled the boy cockily, "Magic me into submission? Go ahead! Celestia will be the one who suffers in the end."
"No, she won't," said Luna with the same calm tone, "In fact she won't feel a thing."
Luna's horn released a small blue spark as she declared, "Petrificus Totalus!"
The verbal incantation caught the boy off guard. In the next moment, he found that he couldn't move Celestia's body no matter how hard he tried. It felt like all movement had become restricted in a block of ice. He could breathe, but none of the other muscles that he could feel were responding. His stiff form fell back to the bed in a horizontal position.
"Sweet dreams," said Luna as she walked off to another section of the room. The body tried to follow her motion with an eye, but couldn't move the head to pan his vision.
Nebula found an unused piece of parchment and a quill that was sitting in an inkwell. He didn't know how long he had, but he knew it wouldn't be long before he lost control of the body. In really horrible mouth writing, he transcribed the message that he needed to pass on to Luna. He had immobilized Celestia's other presence. Now it was up to Luna to handle the rest.
This'll have to do, Nebula thought. The message he wrote was just barely more legible than filly scratch, but he hoped it resembled enough of the Equestrian language for Luna to get it. He replaced the quill and inkwell as his control began to slip again.
Luna,
I have paralyzed Celestia's body.
Please use a follow-up spell to put her to sleep.
You can do that better than I.
Good luck,
Nebula
That was what Luna could read of the letter she found unfolded in front of her. Frankly, she found Nebula's penmanship to be quite sloppy but now wasn't the time to think about that. Reluctantly following the advice that she was given, she walked over to Celestia's bedside. With a midnight blue glow, she cast the spell that allowed a pony to sleep easier. Celestia's eyes slowly drooped until the spirit possessing her could see no more.
Celestia woke up feeling very well rested. She felt as though she had regained three hundred lost years of sleep in just one night. She didn't even feel weary guiding the sun on its morning path. The effortless motion was a familiar and welcoming feeling. She almost didn't notice her sister lying down on the floor at the foot of her bed.
"Good morning, Luna," she greeted with radiance.
"Mommy," muttered Luna's voice with her eyes still closed, "No more cake. It keeps lying to me."
"Luna?" Celestia repeated. Out of concern she tapped her little sister's shoulder with a hoof.
"Exploding egg!" Luna shouted as she jumped into a standing position. Celestia flinched in surprise pulling back her hoof.
"Are you okay?" she asked as a standard question.
"Er, yeah. Just a weird dream. Forget about it, Princess. Oops, I mean Celestia."
"Oh, it's you," realized Celestia.
"Okay," said Nebula assuming a face that said business as usual, "I know I'm limited on time, so I'll just cut to the chase. Last night was just a test to see if Luna is capable of using certain powers that I know of. Turns out she can, so that's no longer a worry. Now it's just smooth sailing from here on because I know just the thing that'll tear out that pesky presence that plagues you in your sleep."
"And just what 'thing' are you talking about?" inquired Celestia still not sure where he was going with this.
"The 'thing' will be a technique that will rip both that presence and me from your majesties' bodies," answered Nebula vaguely, "Hopefully after tonight, neither of us will bother the two of you again."
"Wait... you'll be leaving permanently?"
"That's the idea, Celestia."
"But as far as I can tell, you don't have the same nature as the other presence in me."
"It's best if neither of Equestria's rulers have any extra weight," stated Nebula solemnly, "Besides, power can corrupt even those with good intentions. I don't wish to see how it can corrupt me."
"Surely we can somehow find a way for you to stay that doesn't put you in such a compromising position."
Nebula shook Luna's head, "Mm-mm. As far as I can tell, this world wasn't meant for the interaction of me or the interference of John Doe."
"John Doe?"
"Yeah, that's what I'll call that other presence in you. It's kind of my world's way of addressing a mystery man."
Silence did most of the talking for the next five seconds.
"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" asked Celestia.
Nebula nodded, "As I said before. I only wish to serve."
"Under different circumstances, I believe you would have been a wonderful gentlecolt," smiled Celestia sadly.
Nebula smiled too, "Thank you... Tia."
As Luna regained consciousness, she briefly wondered, Why are there tears streaming down my face?
The darkened room filled his vision upon waking up. Out of force of habit, he cracked a couple bones and joints in random places.
What the hell happened last night? he thought with a frustrated scowl, Wait... that b***h! She pulled a spell right out of Hogwarts. How the *eff* did she do that?
At this point, he looked over to the foot of the bed. It looked like Luna was holding her front hooves together while using her wing power to allow a bipedal stance.
"Woman, I've got a bone to pick with you!" growled the boy in Celestia's body.
"Forbidden Jutsu," whispered Luna, "Reaper's Death Seal."
The following night...
"We ask that thou do not try to, as they say, 'Pull a fast one'," pleaded Luna reverting back to the Royal We.
"Sister?" inquired Celestia as she moved to sit up in the bed, "What's going on?"
"Dost thou believe ye canst fool us by using the familiar tone that our sister uses?" asked Luna a bit angrily.
Then, she took a closer look at Celestia's gaze. It lacked the sensual luster that the spirit had used the previous nights.
"Is it really you, Tia?" Luna inquired. She attempted to trick the spirit by whispering a certain passcode into her sister's ear. To her pleasant surprise, Celestia whispered back the correct response back.
"It is you!" exclaimed Luna wrapping her hooves around Celestia in a relieved hug, "Oh Tia! My sister, you're back!"
"Yeah," replied Celestia returning the embrace. The next ten seconds were long yet they passed by too quickly.
"So what happened?" asked Celestia.
"I was hoping you could tell me that," replied Luna pulling out of the hug.
Before Celestia could voice her lack of clues, she looked over and saw a half-folded parchment near the foot of the bed. She reached over with her magical hold and floated it within reading distance. Her golden touch unfolded the scroll and she read its contents.
To Celestia and Luna,
If I haven't burned this letter, then it means my plan was a success.
No longer will John Doe bother Celestia's unconscious body and I will no longer be Luna's burden.
We'll be in a realm of existence where I can keep a close watch on him.
Even if my existence is forgotten entirely, I'm just glad to have participated in keeping the peace.
Signing for the last time,
Nebula
"I... I never really met him," commented Luna, "But for some reason, I find myself feeling... concern for this colt who calls himself Nebula."
"It's what he said he wanted," said Celestia solemnly, "Let us do our part for our subjects."
"Of course," nodded Luna, "You're right."
Meanwhile, in the realm of MU...
"Just who the hell do you think you are interrupting my fun?" shouted John Doe.
"I'm a joke wrecker," smirked Nebula, "It's in the job description."
"Maybe you ought to be fired!"
"Actually since I successfully ruined your joke, the logic would be that I should get minimum wage."
"Didn't your mother ever tell you to mind your own business?"
"When someone suffers, it is my business."
"Go soak your head."
"Okay, I'll just get a bucket from the nearest janitor's closet."
Nebula mockingly looked around the empty realm before saying, "Oh look. There isn't any."
"Just get me the hell out of here!"
"Face it, kid. You're stuck here with me forever."
Doe held his lips together before letting out a hissing, "FfffffffUUUUUUUUUUU---"
Hello, readers. I'm Erica "Yukkiko" Denise here with your author's note here today. It seems our director decided to take a break from the serious stories for a bit and write something humorous for the entertainment of others.
Please, darling. That's all you had to say?
Wait, Diamond Edge? What are you doing here?
I should ask you the same thing. Weren't you in that awful CB wannabe story?
Hey in my defense, I told the director that summoning a Persona wasn't the best course of action but he went and made that happen anyway.
Oh, um... is this a bad time?
Oh, it's good to see you again Fluttershy who's not Fluttershy but also is.
L-likewise.
Tundra Stanza: Hey, I hope we're not too late.
Shirayuki: Greetings every pony and Erica. It was my understanding that all the director's OCs were to gather today.
A/N: That's right. Smile for the camera and read your respective disclaimers.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is property of Hasbro and Studio B.
What's Wrong With Tia? is an original story by just4imagemails.
Luna's Angel vs. Celestia's Devil is a non-profit story.
Ownership is nonexistent except over the original characters.
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