Oldnew Luna: After the Dawn

Chapters

Chapter 1: Regain
Chapter 2: Goodbyes
Chapter 3: Ready
Chapter 4: Arrival
Interlude: Celestia's Thoughts
Chapter 5: Duties
Chapter 7: Redemption
Chapter 8: Blessing
Chapter 6: Nightmare Moon

Chapter 1: Regain

Oldnew Luna: After the Dawn
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Luna’s violet aura enveloped the china mug in front of her, levitating it up to the optimum point to take a nice sip from it, but she just gulped it all down in one go, her eyes never leaving the magic-written piece in front of her. Twilight frowned slightly at her in faux frustration.
“Maybe if you don’t want to have to drink it all at once you could try drinking it before it becomes lukewarm?” Twilight suggested to Luna as her eyes continued down the sheet, she paused her reading and looked up at the purple mare standing beside the table in front of her.
“But where would be the fun in that?” Luna asked with a slight frown, Twilight glared back. Eventually it got too much and they both burst out laughing, Luna quickly putting down the mug she was still holding before she accidently dropped it. Once the laughter subsided Luna continued.
“Seriously though, I wouldn’t have left it if your work hadn’t been so riveting!” Luna said, gesturing at the pages on the table that were adorned with quick, careful writing that could only be achieved by frequent practice with the simple levitation spell that almost every unicorn knew. Twilight blushed.
“So, you really thought it was good?” Twilight asked hopefully, Luna was reading through the accumulation of about two months of work, compiled into one document. Luna slyly tapped the side of her muzzle with a hoof and went back to reading, indicating that she wasn’t going to say until she was finished.

Twilight was used to this sort of thing happening, Luna never liking to commit herself unless she was sure, it was that sort of work ethic that let Twilight know that when Luna said something, she meant it. While she patiently waited beside the table she watched the blue alicorn on the couch as she held aloft the thick tome that held her work. She gazed at the familiar violet magic that was the only visible proof of their magical link. She found herself thinking about how much more powerful Luna’s magic had gotten lately, of course it had been steadily increasing over the course of their two or so years together, but in recent months it seemed to be growing exponentially. Spells which may have been difficult for Luna to cast before now took barely any effort, she didn’t even flinch when performing a teleportation spell, a notoriously difficult branch of magic that required the aura to completely fill the body in order to transport all of it at once.

Twilight knew what this meant, that Luna was getting better, and that soon she would regain mastery over the night sky. It made her happy that the other pony was getting her magic back, and she knew that Luna would have to take back her duties from her sister and was glad. But at the same time, in some guilty part of her mind, she felt a little sad. Twilight knew that with the coming of Luna’s powers, it would herald the need for them both to leave Ponyville and return to Canterlot, and thus the time when she would need to leave behind the friends she had made here. But she pushed those thoughts out of her mind, she and Luna had already discussed them multiple times, each time ending up with Twilight admitting that though she knew it was for the greater good, it still made her feel melancholy all the same, and with Luna comforting her and telling her about how at least they will have each other.

Luna put the pages down slowly before turning to her student with a grin on her face.
“That was excellent, well done.” Luna told her, drawing Twilight in for a congratulatory hug.
“Really?” Twilight asked, always the skeptic. Luna nodded.
“Yes. You must have done some extra studying, I don’t remember teaching you about that one case where the pony teleported into a wall.” Luna said, recalling a particular point in Twilight’s work.
“Yeah,” Twilight replied sheepishly, “I wanted to give another example to back up my point." Luna gave another nod.

The princess of the night was surprised by the intensity of Twilight’s study and work. She obviously knew that Twilight worked hard and was smart, how else could she become Celestia’s prized student? But Twilight took her work far beyond when others would stop, even going to such lengths like tracking down the distant ancestor of an old wizard just to prove that he wasn’t infertile. Last year Luna had decided that now that Twilight was getting back into the swing of using magic, she should start writing more, and set her on the task of creating a report at the end of each of her topics that would summarise it. Twilight had performed much better than Luna could have hoped. She was looking forward to showing off Twilight’s progress to her sister when they next met up. The last time they had met with Celestia was over a month ago and was because there was an important document that required the signature of both pony princesses to be valid. Luna had noticed just how tired Celestia looked, she seemed much older than normal, her smile more drawn-out. Luna hated having to pile her duties onto her sister and would be glad when they returned, once more able to take up the mantle she was meant to command. Of course she knew it would be hard on Twilight, hay, it would be hard on the both of them, Luna having gotten used to Ponyville and its informal ways over the two years she had lived here undercover. Though she wasn’t really undercover anymore.

About half a year after the incident that left Luna ‘in the care’ of Twilight, they had decided that it would probably be best to let the citizens of Ponyville know that a princess lived amongst them. The pair had met with Mayor Mare and arranged a town event where they would announce the news. Needless to say, the citizens of Ponyville were shocked, though Twilight spotted a waiter from a local restaurant pointing at Luna and talking avidly to the pony next to him, who seemed to be ignoring him. In the days immediately following the announcement, ponies kept turning up at the library to catch a glimpse of the princess residing within. Unfortunately they couldn’t turn the ponies away since it was meant to be a public library and so Luna was forced to hole herself away in the bedroom to wait for the pony visiting to get bored and leave. Eventually though ponies seemed to get used to the presence of a minor deity and stopped visiting. However, they did persist in bowing or kneeling before her and addressing her as princess despite all protestations. Their relationship on the other hoof, well they decided that ponies would be able to find out on their own, it wasn’t like they were hiding it at all.

Twilight smiled as she carried the book back to their bedroom and placed it happily on the bookshelf by their bed. As she did she spotted the small wooden chest that they kept on the top shelf, she quickly pulled it down and opened it up, checking the contents were safe and sound. Inside was a metal object, or really, three metal objects. Their jagged edges fitted neatly inside the one beside it to create a three-quarter circle of metal with three inscriptions on. She ran her hoof over the fire, water and air elemental magic pieces, feeling the ancient power running through them. They seemed to get stronger with each new piece being reassembled, though it still wasn’t complete. They had fought hard for each of the pieces, going on long treks, climbing arduous peaks and the like. Though the hardest of the three to obtain had to be the water element, it was hidden in a cave deep underwater, this was back when their magic wasn’t as healed as it was now and it almost completely drained them having to hold the magical bubble of air for the entirety of their dive. Twilight closed the lid of the chest and put it back in its place, they still hadn’t been able to locate the fourth and final element, earth.

“Twilight?” Luna called from the library proper.
“Yeah?” Twilight replied, moving towards the door.
“I fee- urk.” Luna seemed to be cut off midsentence. Worried, Twilight sprinted out of the room and was met with the sight of Luna convulsing on the floor.
“Sweet Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed. She watched in horror as the convulsions got worse. Her knowledge shoved the fear out of her mind though and she swiftly got to work moving the furniture away from Luna. She didn’t try to stop her, no matter how much she wanted to, she knew the only thing you could do in a case like this is to move anything away from them that they might injure themselves on, and call help.

Twilight was just about to magically teleport a doctor from Ponyville General when Luna began to glow. This wasn’t the sort of glow a unicorn’s horn does when performing magic, no, her entire body was aglow with a soft blue light that swiftly grew in intensity. Twilight backed away, now unsure of what was going on. Soon she had to close her eyes and put a foreleg across them to stop herself from being blinded at the light that made the sun pale in comparison.

As quickly as the light came, it disappeared, leaving Twilight blinking hard to try and get rid of the afterimage. When she was once more adjusted to the light she moved cautiously towards the prone figure of Luna on the floor. She looked the same, the familiar short, pale blue mane and light purpley-blue coat.
“Luna?” Twilight said softly as she reached the mare. Luna gave out a loud groan and rolled over, one hoof rubbing her back. “Are you ok?” She continued worriedly.
“Ow.” Luna whispered, slowly opening her eyes. The sight that met her was of a purple unicorn looking worriedly down at her, though her expression changed to one of relief at the sight of Luna opening her eyes.

Twilight moved to the side as Luna groggily got to her hooves and stretched her limbs as if she had just woken from a deep sleep.
“What happened?” Twilight asked.
“I think I know,” Luna replied having finished her stretching and now was helping Twilight move the furniture back to their original places. “I think I just regained my alicorn powers.” Luna continued, now that the furniture was back in place. She took a seat on the sofa wearily and Twilight joined her, still slightly shocked at the events past.
“I didn’t think it would be so... violent” Twilight told her, Luna was deep in thought, but she still nodded.
“I guess I should have warned you...” Luna said, berating herself mentally. She stopped and looked at Twilight, “Thank you though, you handled the situation perfectly.” Luna continued. Twilight gave a small nod, not really in the mood for praise. “Are you ok?” Luna asked, looking deep into Twilight’s eyes for any sign of distress.

“I’m ok now, it was scary though...” Twilight replied, that was an understatement, the image of Luna writhing on the wooden floor was haunting her, the pained expression on the other mare’s face burning itself into her mind. Luna drew her in and gave her a strong hug, this time for comfort, as she gently stroked Twilight’s mane. After a while Luna stopped, she pulled away and held Twilight at foreleg length.
“It’s ok, Twilight.” Luna said firmly, Twilight nodded. Luna pulled her in once more, but this time for a more passionate embrace. They closed their eyes and lost themselves in the other, Luna stroking Twilight’s mane again as they kissed. Eventually, they slowly pulled away, even though they yearned for more. They stayed with their heads together, horns touching as they caught their breath. Luna was the first to recover.

“Feeling better now?” Luna asked with a grin on her face, Twilight returned the smile.
“Much.” She replied simply. Luna got off the sofa and looked at Twilight.
“Great. Now then, I think we have some work to do.” Luna said, Twilight nodded. They had a plan of action for when Luna got her magic back and they now set it into motion.
“Ok, I’ll go get the quills and paper.” Twilight told her, going to their bedroom to collect their letter-making supplies. But at the door, she stopped and turned back to Luna, a thought suddenly occurring in her mind.
“Luna?” Twilight asked, a question in her eyes.
“Yes?” Luna replied, looking up from the list she was reading.
“How come you look the same as before? I thought you would turn back to your regular self after you regained your powers.” Twilight said. Luna frowned and quickly moved to the bathroom to check her reflection. When she returned she was looking confused.
“I don’t know...” Luna began, “Maybe Tia will have an idea, we’ll have to add that to her letter.” Twilight nodded and got the supplied needed.

They sat themselves down at the main table, planning letters out, but each absorbed in their own thoughts. Luna of her form; had something gone wrong? Twilight on the other hoof thought of her friends, she would be leaving them soon and the reality of that fact was only just hitting her in full. They got to writing.

Chapter 2: Goodbyes

Chapter 2:

They surveyed the paper in front of them, a series of letters set out and ready to deliver. There wasn’t just the letter to Princess Celestia, they also had prepared letters to Twilight’s parents and also one for each of the other elements of harmony wielders. Princess Celestia’s message was a short note informing Celestia that Luna had regained her astral powers, the one to Twilight’s parents read that Twilight would be once more living in Canterlot from now on and they needed to meet up. And finally the letters for their friends told them to meet at the library as soon as possible.

Twilight and Luna glanced at each other and gave a quick nod to indicate their readiness before turning back to the table. A violet aura grew from both their horns and spread over the assembled letters, with a poof they disappeared, hopefully to be received by the respective recipients. Twilight cast her gaze over the library, though she had been here for just over three years now, the quaint library and Ponyville itself had grown on her, everyone seemed so much more accepting and fun than the ponies of Canterlot, not to mention the fact that she had made friends for the first time here in Ponyville and she was loath to leave them. But she knew it was necessary, she had made the decision when she had changed her magical frequency to Luna’s years ago. She gave a sigh and leaned against the mare beside her to await their friends’ arrival.

Luna was looking at nothing in particular, though she now called the library home, it was the ponies she had met in Ponyville that dragged up memories. In all of her long lifetime she had only had a smattering of friends, but a lot of the time they weren’t in it to be friends with Luna, but for some other gain. Here though, even if it had taken a while, she had made friends of the element bearers. It was well over three months of them meeting up with Luna before they had started to treat Luna like a friend and not like a princess. And then there were the thoughts of Twilight. Ever since Luna had started living with her, they had been together, neither of them leaving each other’s company for any length of time. Once Luna took her duties back though, there would be times when she would have to leave Twilight alone for almost the entire day. Though Luna was of course caring about Twilight, there was also the guilty part of her that said that Luna needed Twilight beside her. Luna lifted a foreleg and placed it around Twilight’s neck before resting her head on the other mare.

It wasn’t long before ponies started arriving, and there was little time between each arrival. It seemed like each of the letters had found their destination. Once everypony was settled and Twilight and Luna had taken their place opposite from the other mares. Twilight took a moment to look at each of the ponies in turn, they all wore matching expressions of worry and confusion, even Pinkie Pie.
“You must be wondering why we called you here,” Twilight began, there was an assortment of nods from around the room, “don’t worry, nothing bad has happened.” A couple of relieved sighs arose but they remained looking serious, “I called you here because of Luna, namely the regaining of her alicorn magic.”
“You’re leaving, aren’t you.” Rarity said sadly, it wasn’t a question. Twilight nodded before launching into an explanation for the ponies that hadn’t worked it out yet.

“You guys remember when I told how Luna was only staying here until she regained her magic? Well that happened today. Luna has to go back to Canterlot in order for her to take up her duties again, and-” Twilight’s voice cracked slightly. She gulped and took a deep breath before continuing. “And that means that I have to go too.” Twilight looked down at the floor, blinking back tears. The assembled ponies stayed silent for a while before Rainbow Dash spoke up.
“How long will you be gone for?” She asked slowly, it was Luna who answered.
“Forever, most likely.” The Princess replied solemnly.

Rainbow Dash turned towards Luna with a glare on her face and anger in her eyes.
“You!” She shouted as she jumped to her hooves and pointed a foreleg at the princess accusingly. “This is all your fault!”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said disapprovingly, taking a step forward, but Luna stopped her. Twilight looked at her confusedly.
“No. She’s right.” Luna started, looking deep into Twilight’s eyes, Twilight stared back. “You’ve shown me nothing but kindness, and the only thing I give in return is to take you away from your friends. I- I’m not worthy.” Luna said, a single tear running down her face. She bit her lip as if she wanted to say more but couldn’t, she turned and walked away into their bedroom.

Twilight looked after Luna longingly, wanting to go and comfort her but knowing she needed to stay and explain things to her friends. Applejack turned to the cyan pegasus that was still standing, though now the anger had dissipated, leaving confusion and not a little shock behind.
“Now look what you did!” Applejack frowned, “Not only did ya get Luna crying, you’ve gone and got Twilight off too!” It was partly true, Twilight was indeed crying, though it was not because of Rainbow Dash, it was empathy with the pain and sorrow Luna was feeling.
“I...” Rainbow Dash began, but she didn’t know what to say so she just stopped and sat herself back down on the couch.

Applejack shook her head and moved next to Twilight, placing a comforting hoof around Twilight’s neck.
“Listen here Twilight, me an’ the gang are going to be fine, you go attend to yer mare.” Applejack said, rubbing Twilight’s back consolingly, Twilight nodded distractedly. She took one last look around the room. Fluttershy looked like she was trying to shrink into nothing, Pinkie Pie was uncharacteristically still and her mane seemed flatter than normal, Rainbow Dash looked shocked, Rarity looked determinedly neutral though you could see the emotion in her eyes, and Applejack was smiling sadly at Twilight, urging her on. Twilight braved a small smile was more like a grimace before departing to the bedroom and shutting the door behind her.

Pinkie Pie slowly got up from her perch on the side of the couch and walked out of the library door in silence. Rarity watched her go and worriedly trotted after her. Rainbow Dash glanced at Fluttershy before pointing to the sky, indicating she wanted to speak to the other pegasus privately, Fluttershy nodded and they flew out. This left Applejack on her own, standing there in the middle of the library. She sighed to herself and left, closing the door behind her.

In the bedroom Twilight had her forelegs around Luna’s head and was holding it to her chest as the blue mare sniffled and tried, largely unsuccessfully, to hold back tears. Twilight gently stroked Luna’s mane soothingly.
“I- I’m sorry.” Luna managed to get out, Twilight nodded slowly.
“It’s okay.” Twilight replied, stuck for what to say. Eventually though she decided she should assuage some of Luna’s fears. “I don’t think you’re unworthy.” Twilight continued, but she inwardly winced at her words as they made it seem like Twilight was all high and mighty. Luna didn’t seem to take notice of that though and just shook her head, face still buried in Twilight’s chest.

They sat like that for an indeterminable amount of time, Twilight feeling really awkward. She had next to no knowledge on how to console someone, and she doubted the small bit she had read would be much use in this situation. Especially considering that the titbit she could recall was from ‘How to tell your filly that their has pet died’. Finally Luna seemed to calm down, at least, calm down enough to lift her head away from Twilight. She looked straight into her eyes, searching them for any signs of ill will, there were none.
“I’m sorry.” Luna repeated with a final sniffle, though this time she was apologising for her breakdown. Twilight nodded in understanding, sometimes you just had to get things like that off your chest.
“You okay now?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah.” Came the reply, with a small smile.

Just after Luna replied a bright yellow flash heralded the arrival of a letter from Princess Celestia. Twilight caught it as it fell and unrolled it in one, well practiced, movement. She held it so that Luna could see it too and they both read it.

‘Dear Luna and Twilight,

I received your message and will make preparations for your return and stay. If there is anything in particular you want can you please reply, also can you tell me when you want to be picked up?

From Celestia’

Over the two years that Luna and Twilight had been living together, they must have sent hundreds of letters back and forth between them and Celestia. To begin with they were formal, written like a princess might write to a subject. Though as time wore on, the formality barrier dissipated, Celestia acting more like a friend instead of a teacher. Twilight didn’t mind, though she still felt a pang over the memories of Celestia teaching her as a young mare.

Twilight and Luna glanced at each other and Luna gave a small nod, they both knew what to write. Twilight quickly jotted out the reply and Luna sent it after checking it through a couple of times.

‘Dear Celestia,

We would like it if we were picked up tomorrow in the early morning, that should give us enough time to prepare and hopefully the same for you. Also, we would like it if me and Luna shared the same bed.

From Twilight and Luna’

Luna seemed mostly back to normal now and fairly composed so Twilight got her to follow. Twilight led her towards the basement and opened the door. After Spike hit his teens, he decided that he would like a room to himself instead of sleeping in the kitchen. Twilight had readily agreed but the question remained of where they were supposed to fit him. Eventually they managed to move enough stuff around in the basement to create enough room for a growing dragon. Also in recent times Spike had become more reclusive, spending a lot of his time either in his room or out with Applebloom. Their relationship had grown in the years past and was now stronger than ever with rarely a day going by where they didn’t meet up. Twilight didn’t try to stop him, in fact she encouraged him. She knew from her limited knowledge of dragons that they had to learn to be independent or they would forever rely on its mother (or in this case, Twilight). And when said mother died, the dragon would be helpless. She hoped that as morbid as that was, she could apply that to the situation at the moment.

Twilight announced her arrival like she did each time she went into Spike’s room, it was just one of the many unspoken rules that had been created.
“Spike? It’s me.” Twilight said as she carefully manoeuvred herself down the steps with Luna in tow. She reached the bottom and looked around the room. It was illuminated by a glowing orb that hung just above the bed that took up the majority of the room. Her eyes then fell on the dragon that was sitting on the bed, apparently just awakened. Spike had grown in the couple of years past and was now just smaller than Luna, initially Twilight thought this might become a problem for him and his relationship but Applebloom didn’t seem to mind. Also, it wasn’t like Applebloom hadn’t hit a growth spurt either now she that was getting into the age of puberty.

Spike rubbed his eyes blearily and focussed on Twilight and Luna.
“Oh, hey guys. What’s up?” Spike said as he stretched various limbs, his voice cracked slightly half-way through, his normally quite high pitched voice giving way to a deeper one. Twilight smiled at him, but it was tinted with sadness. Luna hung back in the shadows, content with letting Twilight dealing with this, she was after all almost a sister to the dragon.
“Spike? I have something important to talk to you about.” Twilight sat herself down beside Spike and looked him in the eyes to convey the seriousness of the situation, Spike nodded. “It’s about Luna’s alicorn magic.” Another nod, “Namely the fact that me and Luna will have to leave to Canterlot.” Spike stopped half-way through his nod, suddenly getting what Twilight was talking about.
“When are you leaving?” Spike asked.
“Tomorrow.” Came the reply, Spike chewed on his lip in concentration.
“Am I coming?” The dragon questioned.
“Well, that’s the thing. From what I know, it’s around this time that dragons usually start living on their own, like those dragons you met during the dragon migration. That means that I’m going to have to give the decision to you.” Twilight neglected to add ‘no matter how much it pains me’ to her words, letting that go unsaid.

Spike was silent, no longer looking at Twilight but instead at the floor as he pondered his answer.
“I-” Spike began, but stopped.
“It’s okay, we can leave and come back tomorrow or something if you need some time to think.” Twilight replied, reassuringly putting a foreleg around the young dragon. Spike shook his head.
“No, it’s fine. I... umm.” He took a deep breath and frowned. “I’m going to stay here.” He told her quickly with an air of finality, as if trying to get it out before he changed his mind. Twilight nodded, a small tear appeared at the edge of her left eye, but it was ignored. Spike smiled sadly at her and gave her a hug, holding her tight.
“I’m going to miss you.” Twilight told him as they pulled apart, it was a massive understatement.
“I’ll miss you too.” Spike replied, obviously fighting back tears of his own.
“I’ll get Applejack to check up on you every so often.” Twilight decided, Spike nodded. He wanted to argue against it but he knew it would be best if he agreed for now. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She continued as she got off the bed and moved over to the stairs.
“See you.” Spike replied.
“Bye, Spike.” Luna said, speaking up.
“Bye, Luna.” Spike said, he went back to staring at the floor, deep in thought.

Luna gently closed the door behind them.
“You okay?” Luna asked, Twilight shook her head sadly.
“No. But come on, we need to prepare.” Twilight said, her words melancholy. Luna nodded and they went into the bedroom to pack.

Chapter 3: Ready

Chapter 3:

Being the rather pedantic ponies they were, it didn’t actually take all that long to pack, most of their items already stored away in boxes and the like. As they piled the containers with their worldly possessions inside into the library proper, Twilight thought about how rushed everything was, and she had a flashback to that day years ago when she was told she would be picked up fifteen minutes after she read the letter. ‘History sure has a way of repeating itself.’ Twilight mentally sighed to herself.

When finally the last box of the lot was placed neatly and carefully on top of another, and the magical violet aura that surrounded it faded away, Luna sat herself down on the couch. Twilight stood by her and looked out the window, noting the setting sun.
“Are you going to raise the moon tonight?” Twilight asked, Luna shook her head.
“I wish I could, but it would be best to wait until we get to the castle.” Luna replied.
“How come?” Twilight said.
“It’s hard to explain, but suffice to say it is many times easier to do at the castle than anywhere else. Perhaps I can find you something on that subject in the Canterlot Library.” Luna mused. The thought of Canterlot Library reminded Twilight of something that she was pondering early but had forgotten about.

“Oh! That reminds me, what am I going to be doing in Canterlot? I’m sure the Canterlot library already has a librarian, and I know I don’t really need a job but... Well, it would be nice to have something to do instead of just sitting around all day.” Twilight said.
“Hmm... I’m sure there will be plenty of work around the Castle that needs doing.” Luna frowned slightly and thought, “Or... Or you could come with me sometimes and help out in Night Court?” Luna said excitedly, the prospect of Twilight and her being together making her happy. “It’s always good to have some help on the busy nights, or just someone to be with on the quiet ones.”
“That’s perfect, why didn’t I think of that sooner?” Twilight smiled, the idea of her helping Luna was inviting. “Um, what would I actually do at Night Court?” Luna launched into explanation.

They spent a fair bit of time talking about what Night Court would entail, Twilight’s curiosity and Luna’s in-depth knowledge keeping the conversation going on. They finished just as the sun dipped below the horizon. Luna was part-way through an explanation on the various numbers of signatures needed for different levels of petitions when she stopped speaking. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, slowly releasing it moments later, a smile appearing on her face. Twilight looked at her silently, wondering what was going on. She wasn’t really worried, it didn’t look like anything was wrong. Luna slowly opened her eyes.
“Luna?” Twilight asked, Luna looked at her as if just noticing her for the first time.
“Sorry. But it’s been a long time since I felt that.” Luna told her.
“Felt what?” Twilight continued her questioning.
“The moon, Tia just raised it.” Luna explained. Twilight nodded, though she wasn’t directly connected to Luna’s alicorn magic like she was with their unicorn magic, she still felt the residual touch of the moon coming across. Together the glanced out the window to watch the pale orb rise into the now Navy Blue sky.

“I guess this means we should head off for bed, we’ve got an early start tomorrow.” Twilight said, looking at the boxes containing their stuff. Luna nodded solemnly and together they walked to their now bare bedroom and climbed into the bed. As they always did, Luna lay slightly wrapped around Twilight, though not too tightly. Sleep came slow, the thought that they had to get up early the next morning keeping them frustratingly awake. Eventually though, the night enveloped them and they slipped off.

The dream faded in around them, or maybe they faded into the dream. This was actually quite surprising for the both of them. In the first few months of them being connected, Twilight and Luna had dreams almost every day, though as time wore on they became less and less frequent as the two ponies settled into their lifestyle.
“Must be because of tomorrow.” Luna reasoned, answering the unspoken question they were both thinking of. The dreams that came on nowadays usually came about when something happened or was going to happen soon, something that of massive effect.

The dream realm of that night seemed to prove Luna’s idea, they stood in Canterlot. Namely, they were on the balcony of Luna’s room, overlooking the Everfree Forest. Luna looked around and sighed in nostalgia as she remembered her life in Canterlot. Twilight looked inside the room and thought of that day two years ago, when Luna was trapped in the bubble.

“Whose dream is this?” Twilight asked. Though she had spent countless hours searching and asking, she had never really learnt the inner workings of dreams, much to her frustration. Even when she asked Luna, the best answer she could get was ‘It comes with time’.
“I believe it is both of ours.” Luna replied. Sometimes, when they both were focussed on the same thing, their dreams merged to become one single dream which they both controlled. Twilight gave a nod and they stood together awkwardly, neither of them knowing what to do as neither of them had planned, nor expected, to be here.

“So, uh, anything you want to do?” Twilight asked Luna who was staring out across the Everfree Forest. Luna tilted her head slightly to the right in thought.
“I’ve got nothing,” Luna replied, her head returning to its natural position, “but we have to be here for a reason, and it has to do with both of us.”
“Could it just be nerves?” Twilight questioned but Luna resolutely shook her head.
“No, nervous dreams tend to be a bit more... unpleasant than this.” Luna told her, “Perhaps we should go inside the castle? Make use of this time to show you around to the places you wouldn’t normally go.” Twilight smiled at the thought, even when she was Princess Celestia’s prized student there were areas of the castle that were off limits to everypony save for the two royal pony sisters. “In fact, there is one place I’m looking forward to showing to you when we get there; I guess I could give you a taster now.” Luna continued, turning back to her bedroom and leading Twilight through it.

Twilight recognized the room as they walked through it. It looked the same in their dream as it did in real life; the same impeccably made bed with fresh flowers beside, the same decorum made to match Luna’s colours and the same large, heavy wooden doors that blocked entry. Luna opened them with their magic, stepping neatly through them with Twilight in tow. Out of habit, Luna closed the doors behind her, even though to her knowledge there was no-one else in their dream besides them. Luna walked through the corridors with practised ease, navigating their way through the dark castle to an area which Twilight most certainly would not have had access to as a filly nor even as a young adult.

Behind a tapestry that depicted the two sisters standing on their hind legs back to back, light spilling from behind Celestia and the stars from behind her sibling, there was a corridor. It didn’t look like a corridor though; in fact it looked just like another part of the wall, that was, until Luna walked straight through it though. Twilight hesitantly leaned her hoof through the wall and took it back out again to check that she could move freely through it, once she was satisfied she hurried along to catch up with the other mare.

Finally, Luna stopped. There was a plain white double door with a simple, elegant design etched into it. Twilight had to look close to see it properly, and when she did she saw a carving on the sun and moon connected, half and half. Luna pressed her horn to the door and sparked something off; it must have been alicorn magic because Twilight only faintly felt it. The doors silently slid open, revealing a circular room, most probably part of one of the towers.

However, looking through the doorway, everything seemed misty to Twilight, she could only just make out the vague shape of the room. Luna didn’t seem to notice though and walked right in. Twilight tried to follow her but hit a barrier of some sort. She frowned and put a hoof to the open doorway, it seemed as solid as a wall. On the other side Twilight could make out Luna looked back at her. She came back out of the room.
“What’s up?” Luna asked, glancing between the mare in front of her and the open doorway.
“There’s like, a magical barrier or something. It won’t let me past.” Twilight replied, still prodding the doorway. Luna ‘hmm’d and stuck her hoof through, with no resistance. She pulled it back out and frowned, before facehoofing, an audible sound coming from when her hoof met face.
“I can’t believe I forgot.” She said, hoof still in front of her face.
“Forgot what?” Twilight asked, pulling Luna’s hoof away from her face.
“To enter this room you either need to be either me or Celestia, or if you have permission from the both of us. It’s been so long since we allowed someone in here I forgot how it all works. Even in this dream the rule still applies.”
“Oh.” Twilight replied.

Luna tried repeatedly with everything she had to try and get Twilight across, but to no avail.
“How come it is so important for me to get in there?” Twilight asked as Luna was resting after their latest assault on the barrier.
“It’s just... It’s not even that important but, I wanted you to see it. It’s not something you want to miss. I guess we’ll have to wait until we actually get to the castle though.” Luna replied, still catching her breath.
“So, should we head off then?” Twilight asked, Luna gave a nod.
“Goodnight, Twilight.” Luna said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before fading away.
“Goodnight.” Twilight replied as she did. Twilight too faded from the dream.

Luna awoke first, she groaned slightly as she did so. Opening her eyes, she gently stroked the mane that was in front of her face with a smile. She could smell the lavender scent that Twilight exuded and it relaxed her. Luna moved the hair away from Twilight’s neck and gave it a soft nuzzle, Twilight emitting a cute purring sound in her sleep. Luna gave as quiet a giggle as she could but it was still enough to wake up Twilight, who grumbled slightly and climbed out of bed, eyes still closed. She rubbed the sleep from them with a foreleg and finally opened them, gazing down at the blue princess, who was still giggling.
“Wusurp?” Twilight mumbled, attempting to say ‘What’s up?’ but she was still half asleep.
“You.” Luna managed to get out before resuming her giggling, obviously not going to elaborate further. Twilight let out a bemused smiled and shook her head slightly before stretching.

Luna eventually joined Twilight in standing and together they walked into the library proper. Breakfast was a quiet affair, neither of them in the mood for talking once they were reminded of what would be happening today. They finished and cleared away before giving their boxes and the house another quick once over to check they hadn’t left anything behind that they wanted/needed to bring. Once they were satisfied, they sat down on the sofa near to the boxes and waited.

It wasn’t long before Spike came up from his room in the basement, but he didn’t say anything. He just came up to the both of them, who stood to meet him. He gave Luna a quick hug, and Twilight and long one, before leaving the room, blinking hard. Twilight sighed heavily and Luna gave her a rub on the back.
“I didn’t actually get to say goodbye to the others.” Twilight said sadly.
“I’m sorry, it’s my fault.” Luna said, remembering her breakdown from before.
“No.” Twilight replied resolutely, “It was my own fault, I had enough time but I just ran away.” She flumped down onto the sofa. “You know, maybe it’s for the best. I don’t think I could handle it if I had to say goodbye to all of them.” Twilight continued, trying to convince herself.
“We’ll see them again, it’s not like we’re being completely cut off from them.” Luna reasoned, Twilight gave a nod of acknowledgement but nothing else.

A knock on the door disturbed their thoughts; Luna walked over to it and opened it fractionally. There, outside the door was Princess Celestia herself.

Chapter 4: Arrival

Chapter 4:

“Tia?” Luna asked in shock, she was expecting some Royal Guards, maybe even a couple of Lunar Stallions, certainly not her own sister in the flesh though.
“May I come in?” Celestia asked politely. Luna stepped back and opened the door with a blush, she only just realised she was blocking her sister’s entrance. “Thank you.” She continued formally, seeming for all the world the benevolent ruler of a kingdom.

Twilight looked up from the floor which she was previously staring at to see her former mentor walking in.
“Celestia?” Twilight asked in much the same slightly incredulous tone Luna had.
“Yes.” Princess Celestia stated simply with a smile. “Were you expecting somepony else?”
“Well, I was kinda expecting some guards.” Twilight replied honestly. Celestia waved to the doorway.
“Oh I brought guards; I just came along myself too.” She told the unicorn.

At the entrance Luna was unsure whether to leave to door open for the guards or to close it; she compromised and left it fractionally open.
“So, why are you here?” Luna asked, “Not that I don’t want you to be here.” She added hurriedly, but the Sun Princess just gave a small regal laugh.
“My sister and my best friend are moving home, why wouldn’t I come to help? I managed to clear a few hours or so to come over here and help you move everything.”

Celestia was trying to pass it off like it was nothing, but all three of them here knew just how busy Celestia was, and how hard it was to find some free time in her schedule. Twilight and Luna could also tell Celestia was enthusiastic about all this, even though she was obviously trying to hide it. Twilight and Luna gave each other a glance as Celestia looked over the boxes they had piled up in the library. In that moment they both realised just how lonely Celestia must be on her own in the castle, and how much she longed for company.
‘She should really find somepony for herself.’ Twilight thought, sending it out across their magical link.
‘I... I don’t think that would be in her best interests.’ Luna replied furtively.
‘What do you mean?’ Twilight asked.
‘I promise I will explain later, but now is not the time.’ Luna thought, cutting off the conversation. Twilight wasn’t placated and was about to reply when Celestia called them over.

“Are you both ready?” She asked them once they stood beside her, they nodded simultaneously. Celestia lifted the boxes with her golden magic and carried them towards the door. Luna darted forwards to open it for her; Celestia floated the containers through one by one to be met by a group of four guards. They must have been used to working together; they almost acted like one individual, each passing on boxes to the next to reach the carriage before stacking them efficiently. The carriage was not the same one that Twilight and Luna rode on trips between Canterlot and Ponyville; it was a lot larger and chunkier, with enough space in the back to hold all of their possessions and more.

Twilight and Luna stood by the entrance to the library as the effort continued, both certain that they would only make things harder if they tried to help out.
“So what did you mean by ‘it would not be in her interests’?” Twilight continued on from their mental conversation, still curious and slightly frustrated. Luna shook her head sadly.
“I’ll tell you later.” Luna told her. Twilight was hurt by the words but was trying not to show it, she thought they didn’t keep secrets from each other. Luna noticed this a gently bopped Twilight on her shoulder. “Hey, I will tell you. It’s just that this neither the time nor the place to be talking about things like that.” Luna told her, there was something in her tone that shut Twilight up, it was obviously something important, and it would be revealed in time. No matter how impatient Twilight was, and she was very much so, she would have to wait.

“Done.” The guard closest to them stated in their usual deadpan manner. Celestia gave them a nod of satisfaction and sat herself down onto one of the back seats of the large carriage. Twilight and Luna took one last glance back at their home before climbing into the chariot and sitting themselves down beside Celestia so that Twilight was in the middle. The guards saluted smartly in practised unison and took up their positions at the front of the chariot.

As the chariot took off and slowly began to build up speed Twilight and Luna surveyed the library that they had lived in until it was a mere speck in the distance. All the while Celestia was watching them carefully, judging their emotions and how best to talk to them. Eventually she decided that however much she wished to talk to somepony apart from her guards or subjects, to a friend, she would have to wait until they reached Canterlot Castle. It was obvious to her that both Twilight and Luna wished to be left to their thoughts. Even though the two were leaning comfortably on each other, they stayed silent and absorbed in their own ideas. Celestia instead gave a mental sigh and looked to the horizon, waiting to spot her castle.

The castle loomed before them, the spires and battlements now clear against the backdrop of the mountain. Luna stirred slightly at the sight of her old, soon to be new, home. The sun had now finished its ascent into the sky and hung proudly above them, casting its rays across the land and shining bright in the sky. Luna glanced at it, soon she would have to be working with her sister to help raise and lower the sun and moon. Notice the ‘help’; she hoped to explain to Twilight soon how she and Celestia could control such large celestial bodies, and show her the room too. However, she knew that they would probably have to settle down and talk some things out with her sister before they could explore.

The chariot starting to lower, coming in to land in the courtyard. With refined ease, the piloting pony touched down on the ground with the slightest of bumps and came to a stop. He obviously wasn’t pleased though as his mouth tightened somewhat and he bit his lip. All other ponies involved though had no problems and swiftly evacuated the carriage, stepping out onto the grass beneath them. The courtyard was mostly empty, the large majority of the ponies that may be in there busy whilst Celestia was away. Those that were present for their welcoming bowed respectfully for the princesses, heads lowered and forelegs bent to the ground. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both gestured for them to rise at the same time, the two sisters standing regally as their subjects went back about their business.

“Come on, follow me to your room, the guards will bring your luggage.” Celestia said, the other mares obediently followed in her wake, knowing that Celestia wanted to talk things through with them. They didn’t mind though, there was still a few things they wanted to confer with Celestia too. As she led them through the corridors of the castle, Twilight thought back to last night’s dream, wondering what it was that was in that circular room. It wasn’t long before they arrived at the familiar door to Luna’s, and now Twilight’s, bedroom. Celestia opened the doors for them using her magic, allowing them to step in first before closing the door behind her.

The curtains were open and the noon day sun was shining in, illuminating the room. The first thing that Twilight noticed was that the bed which Twilight had slept in (occasionally) whilst she was here to help Luna was gone, leaving just Luna’s bed to sleep on. Not that she minded, in fact that was exactly what she had asked for. Luna looked around the room with a faint smile on her face that was tinged with sadness, though she it felt good to finally be back where she rightfully belonged by birth and by right, she couldn’t help but long for the simpler times she had for just a short few years. As always though, Luna’s natural sense of duty overrode her personal feelings and subdued them for now, telling her that now that she was back she must focus on her work.

“I don’t suppose you two were nocturnal when you lived in Ponyville?” Princess Celestia asked rhetorically, “I think that maybe you should get a few hours sleep to try and get back into that rhythm. After our talk of course.” Though Celestia meant it as friendly advice, but her words brought home the reality that they weren’t living in Ponyville any longer, and from now on things would be different once more. Even if they had grown up and lived in Canterlot for the majority of their respective lives, they would have to try and adapt to their oldnew environment once more. Luna and Twilight nodded in reply to Celestia.

As Twilight and Luna sat themselves on their bed and Celestia pulled a chair over, Twilight remembered the talk they had had two years prior, about magical links and events. Once again, it was Celestia that started everything off.
“So, I guess I should start by welcoming you both back to the castle. This here is just a little informal welcome between friends, but we really should have a proper welcome for the return of the Moon Princess and her marefriend, unless of course you don’t wish for that to be mentioned?” Celestia left that hanging, waiting for a reply. Twilight and Luna looked at each other, mentally debating whether they should or not, from the outside it looked they were just frowning slightly at each other. Celestia sat there looking between them as if she could hear what they were saying.

Eventually they turned back to the white alicorn, an answer ready.
“Yes. We think it would be best that it was mentioned at the welcoming, they need to find out as soon as possible or the gossip with be much, much worse than the reality.” Luna told her sister, who nodded in reply, but Luna wasn’t done yet. “However, we also think that we should delay that welcome back until we have sorted things out and are settled in, there are a fair number of things we need to do before the public find out we’re here. Oh, and we just wanted to know whether it would be okay if Twilight worked with me in Night Court? It’s just that she wouldn’t really have anything to do otherwise, I’ll make sure we continue the lessons though.” Luna finished, she sounded like a foal trying to reason with their parents why they should be allowed a certain toy. An immaturity that was at odds with her years.

Celestia took in her sister’s words, thinking through options in an attempt to find out the best solution. A practice that comes with being the ruler of a kingdom for millennia.
“I don’t see why not, to everything you said. I can see why you might want to settle in a bit before jumping in, and I was wondering what Twilight planned on doing in Canterlot. I’m glad you’ve thought things through.” Celestia replied, still thinking through things, checking that she had considered all possible outcomes of their actions. She was the sort of pony that likes to make sure there is next to no risk of an action failing before following through with said action. Twilight and Luna smiled, their plans seeming to come to fruition.

Celestia couldn’t help but let out a smile in return, there was something about the couple that made her long for somepony of her own, but she knew that wasn’t something she could do, nor was it something Luna should do either, but she wasn’t going to stop her, she knew the ramifications but she had made up her mind nonetheless.
“Right. Well, I believe that is most major things sorted, I’ll leave you two to your slumber.” Celestia told them, standing to her hooves and moving towards the door. Twilight and Luna bade her farewell. At the door Celestia stopped and turned back to face them.
“And just so you know, it is really great to have you two back again.” Celestia said with another smile before departing.

Once Celestia had left Twilight looked at the blue alicorn.
“So...” Twilight said, Luna knew that she wanted answers and she knew that she had promised to give them.
“Fine. I will tell you but you have to promise not to hate me.” Luna told Twilight, completely serious. Twilight looked confused.
“What? I can’t hate you.” Twilight replied, Luna gave a slight nod, biting her lip as she did.
“Yeah. I know, it’s just that...” Luna sighed, “It’s just that I don’t want you thinking badly of me for doing what I did.”
“What did you do?” Twilight tried to think of something Luna might have done that would require fear like this.
“You know Celestia loves this kingdom and its subjects?” Luna asked, Twilight dutifully nodded, not sure where this was going, “You know she would do whatever it takes to protect it?” Another nod. “Well, the best way she can protect it is to continue to rule over it, to keep it safe with herself.

“As you know, alicorns are almost immortal. They live for significant periods of time, almost immune to any disease and can handle a lot more physically. However, there is something that breaks this cycle.” Luna took a deep breath before continuing. “There is but one known thing that has the ability to stop an alicorn from doing everything I just listed. Love.” Luna finished, averting her gaze from Twilight shamefully.
“You mean...” Twilight began, struggling to fathom the connotation of Luna’s words, but she knew what Twilight was trying to ask.
“Yes. The reason Celestia doesn't allow herself to find a mate is because then she would live just as long as their mate. They would die together in fact. This is something she obviously doesn't want to happen if she’s to look after a kingdom for millennia to come.
“You?” Twilight asked, still slightly dazed, Luna nodded.
“Yes, I forfeited them the day I realised how I felt about you. But you know what? If given the choice, there would be no doubt that I would do it again.” Luna replied firmly, now looking straight into Twilight’s eyes with conviction.

Luna said the words she feared to say for two years now.
“I love you Twilight.”
“I love you too Luna.” Twilight replied without hesitation.
“Please don’t hate me.” Luna asked fearfully.
“I could never hate you.” The truth. Twilight drew Luna in.

Interlude: Celestia's Thoughts

Interlude: Celestia’s thoughts

“And just so you know, it is really great to have you two back again.” Celestia told her sister and her friend as she departed their room, closing the door behind her. She didn’t actually expect the two to go to sleep after she left, not after overhearing their conversation back in Ponyville. Twilight needed answers and Luna needed to give them. Princess Celestia walked slowly back to the main hall, there was still work to be done, but she walked absorbed in her thoughts. When she heard Twilight asking why she couldn’t have someone to love as she and the guards packed the carriage, she knew that Luna would have to explain everything to her. She had deliberately pretended not to have heard it, Luna would tell Twilight in her own way, she didn’t need her sister there to help, or more likely, confuse things further.

Back before Luna’s imprisonment, Luna used to be much like Celestia. She would sit regally in her throne and perform her duties both professionally and elegantly. Over the years though, she seemed to have lost a lot of her maturity, acting more like a young adult than a semi-immortal princess. Celestia didn’t mind though, she could always tell she wasn’t the sort of pony to love working by the way her sister acted when she wasn’t around others, when it was just the two of them. Luna would always talk of fanciful things, of enjoying herself and having fun instead of working all night. As much as Celestia would have liked to have somepony that would share her workload with the same conviction as her, she knew that this was Luna’s nature, and nothing could change that, nor would she want to.

Celestia thought back several years prior, a blink of an eye to someone as old as her, yet those years were some of her favourites. Ever since she had seen the glow of magic burst through the windows at her testing centre, she knew that the unicorn responsible would be her protégée. She had spent the majority of Twilight’s life teaching her as best as she could, but she knew that a pony of Twilight’s power would always want more to learn, something that Celestia couldn’t give her. She held no regrets about giving her student over to her sister to continue her studies, there was truth in her words when she told the purple mare that she had graduated of sorts. If she had continued under Celestia tuition, she would never be sated, and Celestia had run out of things to teach her.

She had tried to trick herself that she could continue to teach Twilight by sending her to learn about friendship, but she was grasping at straws at what else Twilight could try and learn. After Twilight rescued Luna from her own mind though, she knew that there was nothing more to do, she would have to let Twilight go. She always tried to do what was best for Twilight, even going as far as to send her own sister away to Ponyville so Twilight could continue to live in proximity to her friends. That day broke her heart, but she knew it had to be done, like so many things in her life.

She cast her mind back to over a millennium ago. She remembered the dashing white stallion that stood so proud in court one day. She remembered how he kept glancing over to her, not with the fear/admiration that other ponies displayed when gazing upon her, he looked at her with something approaching longing. And she stared right back. But she couldn’t. She had promised herself all those years ago, when she and her sister had just started ruling, that she would do all in her power to protect her kingdom for as long as she could. This meant she had to keep her immortality, even if it meant distancing herself from everypony in a way that could never be redeemed.

She had perfected this art over her many years, learning how to keep herself at exactly the right distance from her emotions; having them far away enough so that they wouldn’t cloud her judgement, yet keep them near enough that she didn’t completely lose them, so that they could be called up again when needs be. Like when Twilight and Luna first admitted their companionship to Celestia at their meeting. At the time she felt nothing but happiness, she had had to abandon her student and her sister in favour of her work but if they now had each other, well it would be good for the both of them.

After Celestia had left to return to her duties however, she thought of the ramifications that both she and her sister were aware of. She thought of her sister and her best friend dying, leaving her alone with her kingdom. For the briefest of moments she had resented Twilight as she thought of her sister being taken away from her like this, but like almost all of her negative thoughts, she subdued it, willing it to never surface again. As much as she loved her sister, she loved Twilight too, in a sort of maternal way, she could never hate her, no matter what she did.

Celestia suddenly halted having almost crashed straight into one of the cooks that was carrying a tray of biscuits in the opposite direction. As soon as the cook realised who had almost walked into him, he bent into a practised bow, head lowered to the floor.
“Apologies princess, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” The cook said apologetically. Celestia gestured for him to rise.
“No, the fault is all mine, I mistakenly decided to walk along without focusing where I was going.” Celestia told the cook who rose and shook his head determinedly.
“No ma’am, I don’t think you could ever make a mistake.” The cook told her before giving another quick bow and side-stepping the princess.
‘I make them more than one might think.’ Celestia thought bitterly as she continued on her way to the hall.

Celestia thought back to Luna’s words back in their room, ‘Oh, and we just wanted to know whether it would be okay if Twilight worked with me in Night Court?’ It wasn’t the fact that Luna wanted Twilight to work with her at Night Court, that was actually pretty unsurprising in itself. It was the fact that Luna actually wanted to do Night Court. Celestia had thought that Luna would want to enjoy the mortal lifetime she held without the burden of helping rule a kingdom. She appeared to be mistaken though, and thinking back further, she realised why Luna wanted to help. She remembered how guilty Luna had felt over making Celestia do her work whilst she was living happily in Ponyville. But Celestia didn’t mind, she hadn’t even considered not accepting to do her work. However, as she thought about it now, it really matched Luna’s personality, she was always the sort of pony that hated burdening other ponies or going back on promises, she was a mare of her word. Celestia smiled at the thought, but it was tinged with sadness. She wanted Luna to enjoy her time but she knew that Luna would insist of working alongside her, and there was nought she could do.

She was certainly glad that they were back at Canterlot though, even if it was a guilty pleasure, she knew that she was taking them away from their friends and she felt massively remorseful about it. However, she had nopony else to enjoy herself with in the rare times that she could enjoy herself. Everypony she knew (and she knew a lot) couldn’t separate themselves of the thought of Princess Celestia being just that, a princess. Everyone was so formal, ponies just couldn’t relax in her presence. She knew this was just another burden of having to run a kingdom, but still her loneliness frustrated her to no end.

As Celestia neared the large oak double doors leading the main hall, the two guards on either side opened them for her, announcing her presence to the accumulated ponies in the hall. Celestia mentally sighed and walked herself to the throne, alone in the crowd.

Chapter 5: Duties

Chapter 5:

Twilight was awoken early in the night, just a few hours after she had finally drifted off. For a moment Twilight reverted back to the ways of a foal, pulling the blankets over her head and waving a hoof at the pony trying to wake her up in the vain hope that they would go away. It didn’t work though and she begrudgingly climbed out of bed, taking a moment to rub the sleep from her eyes. The open curtains in Luna’s room showed the sun slowly moving on its last stretch to meet the horizon.
“Come Twilight, I have something to show you.” The blue alicorn told her. Even though Luna had spent two years sleeping at night and waking for the day, she had instantly reverted back to her more nocturnal ways. Twilight nodded at the mare, still blinking away sleep. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it soon enough.” Luna continued, noticing the large yawn that Twilight released.

Luna led Twilight quietly through the depths of the castle and immediately Twilight knew where they were going, memories of a previous dream rising within her.
“Tell me Twilight, did you ever see Celestia raise the sun?” Luna asked as she continued her fairly fast pace across the tiles, the rhythmic ‘tick-tick’ sound of their hooves on the floor following them as they went.
“No, actually. I was usually never awake at the time when she did raise the sun or when I was, she wouldn’t let me follow her, she told me that ‘one day you will find out, my pupil, but not today’. Well, save for the Summer Sun Celebration of course, but there wasn't anything involving a room.” Twilight replied, remembering how Celestia would always pause whatever she was doing at that time and disappear off, and then ten or so minutes later she would be back, and the sun would be rising.

Luna smiled, that did sound like something her sister would do, she was always such a teaser.
“Well, seems like today is that day she was talking about.” Luna told her, Twilight’s eyes widened as they always did when she heard something piqued her interest on such an intellectual level.
“You’re going to raise the moon now?” Twilight asked, Luna nodded, slowing down. She came to a stop outside the familiar tapestry before pulling it gently, almost reverently aside, and stepping through. This time Twilight didn’t hesitate and swiftly moved through the wall, though she couldn’t help but flinch as she passed through. Luna was making haste towards the room, speeding up now that the destination was in sight, she seemed excited after two years of shirking her duty of raising the moon.

Twilight eventually caught up as Luna stood outside the room, waiting for the purple unicorn.
“Let’s give this another try then.” Luna said as she stepped into the room, turning around to face the doorway again. Twilight could still see the sort of mist that was obscuring any details from within the room, she would have to go inside. She took a breath, closed her eyes and tried to step in. She felt no resistance and followed through with the rest of her body. She slowly opened her eyes and took a look around the room. When she looked back at the doorway all she saw was another part of the wall, though she assumed it was like the wall behind the tapestry and gave it no further thought.

Looking around the room she could see that she had been correct in the dream, the room was indeed circular, but for the winding corridors they took to get there she couldn’t work out from which tower it was from. It must have been high up though as the view from the window didn’t show any other part of Canterlot Castle. And that window, it was something else. It seemed to be constructed from a single pane of glass, bent to shape the cylindrical shape of the room and so methodically polished that it seemed almost invisible. The concave shape of the glass meant that no matter where the sun was in the sky the glass focussed the sun’s rays onto the column in the middle of the room. At the moment, since the sun was so low on the horizon, half of it already gone, the column was lit up at the top as the rays came up from the skyline to the room. The column itself appeared to be made of some sort of crystal, the light diffusing through it and casting mesmerizing reflections about the room.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Luna said, snapping Twilight out of her reverie. Twilight nodded, in awe at the simple beauty the room commanded. It was actually sparsely furnished, with nothing but a small, yet regal, chair occupying any space. Luna noticed the chair and frowned slightly in confusion until she worked it out and smiled. “Tia must have brought that for you.” Luna said, gesturing to the chair, Celestia always went out of her way to do things for others with little in return. Twilight gave a nod, still casting her eyes around the room as she slowly revolved on the spot. Once she was satisfied that she had scoped the cylindrical area out she sat herself down on the chair, a lone rectangle against the round wall.

“I guess I should explain some stuff first, huh?” Luna said, walking towards the crystal, Twilight nodded in reply. “I’ve taught you about the five different types of magic before, but we focussed on elemental magic after that. So now let’s do a bit on alicorn magic.” Luna reached that crystal and turned to her pupil just as the sun dipped below the horizon, the last dregs of sunlight still giving the night sky a reddish hue. “As powerful as alicorn magic may be, there is no feasible way to actually move the sun, moon and stars just on our own. It takes a whole population of unicorns to perform that feat. No, we have to get a little help. Alicorns draw our powers from whatever domain we control, so I get mine from the stars and moon. Now, this power we receive is what gives us the semi-immortality and the resistance to disease. It also gives us the ability to control our domain to a small extent, though not to actually raising and lowering the sun and moon. That’s where this crystal comes in, without it I cannot raise the moon, though I can still add or remove stars upon command and extreme concentration.

“What this crystal does is reverse the power flow. Instead of giving me power, the power I have is sent back to the moon, and with a lot of practice I managed to control the movement of it.” Luna finished her explanation and looked at Twilight as if to say ‘any questions?’. Twilight wished she had a notebook, what she had just heard was not in any of the books she had ever read (and she had read a lot of them) and she wished to write it down, to commit it to paper. However, she would content herself with waiting until she had some free time. She could also see that the sun had gone down a while ago, and she was certainly eager to see the crystal in action, but there was question that was burning in her mind.
"So, how come Celestia can raise the sun without the crystal during the Summer Sun Celebration?" Twilight asked, thinking back to when she was just a filly, watching Celestia rise into the sky and bring the sun with her.
"Ah, I forgot about that," Luna confessed, "in much the way the unicorns of old raised the sun and the moon, so does Celestia on that day. It was originally meant as a show of her power to reassure her subjects that their princess was still strong enough to rule over them. However, as the years went on, ponies forgot about the crystal, and the reason behind that day and it just became a festival. Also, due to the massive amounts of unicorn magic needed for this job she can only do it once a year." Luna finished, Twilight nodded in reply. Luna, now finished with her lecture, turned back towards the crystal.

Luna’s horn began to glow, not with the violet magic that she and Twilight shared, but with a deep blue the colour of her coat from when she was in her proper form. The blue aura spread from the horn and into the crystal, imbuing it with a navy hue. The crystal took up the glow and intensified it, the glow almost becoming too bright to look at. As Twilight looked on she saw past the crystal and out over the land, and there at the skyline, at the opposite side of the ground where the sun had just set, was the moon, rising in its place. The moon took its place among the stars that had come into view as the sun had disappeared, the magic was complete. Luna raised her head slightly and opened her eyes, the blue aura fading from both her horn and the crystal.

Twilight had watched the whole thing in awe. As she was connected to Luna, even though it wasn’t through the alicorn magic, she had still felt the immense power that Luna had commanded at that the moment, the crystal acting as a magical feedback, sending the magic back and forth between itself and Luna until it was powerful enough to move the moon itself. Twilight couldn’t imagine the raw strength Luna had needed to put up with that, nor could she ever think of doing something like that herself.

Luna didn’t seem to be exhausted by the effort though, in fact she seemed invigorated by it.
“Come, Twilight, we must make haste to Night Court.” Luna said, for a moment reverting back to her old Canterlot dialect in her excitement. “It has been too long since I last felt the moon, it feels good to be connected once more.” Twilight nodded, trying to imagine the ecstasy of the magic from such huge celestial bodies running through her veins, powering her up. She failed. Twilight stood from the chair and smiled at Luna, sharing the excitement and the two made their way out of the room and towards the main hall.
“As Rainbow Dash would say, ‘That was sooo awesome!’” Twilight said to Luna as they walked.

It didn’t take too long to get to the main hall, or at least it seemed that way. Twilight recognized the room from the Grand Galloping Gala and shuddered slightly. There was already a few ponies milling about the room, waiting for their needs to be seen to and Luna quickly strode towards the awaiting seat, a plump cushion set to the side of it, presumably for Twilight to sit on. Twilight sat herself down and admired the comfiness of the velvet cushion. The first of the ponies in the room made their way towards the seat that Luna was seated on.

The first pony was a stallion, a weedy character with a shock of blue hair atop his brown head.
“Umm... Hello.” He said nervously before remembering his manners and swiftly dropping into a bow, rising again a second or so later. “Yes, uh, I am here to ask about the death of my dear sister. She, um, she wished for her body to be blessed by you before being buried.” The stallion hesitantly told Luna, never looking directly at her. All the while Luna listened intently, a worried expression on her face. Twilight wondered whether all of their meetings today would be about death. Luna spoke quietly to the stallion, speaking in a level which no other pony could hear save for the two of them. Whatever Luna had said seemed to have comforted the stallion as he visibly relaxed, nodding intently.
“Tomorrow at midnight would be great, thank you.” The stallion said, backing down the stairs, a smile now on his nervous face.
‘Don’t worry, not all of them are about death, that’s actually quite a rare occurrence.’ Luna thought, sending out over to Twilight, who nodded slightly in return.

And so Night Court continued, luckily there weren’t any other talks of death. A fair number of the ponies approaching the princess welcomed the princess back to the castle, though barely any took notice of Twilight. She wouldn’t even be doing anything unless Luna didn’t take an active effort in asking for her ideas on a matter, which Twilight appreciated wholeheartedly. It wasn’t until about two-thirds of the way through court when one of the ponies, an old stallion with a wizened face and greying hair asked Luna about Twilight.
“So, who’s this pretty young mare then? Some smartie from the university?” The stallion asked, looking down at Twilight through his thick spectacles, pressing them further up his muzzle with a hoof.

Luna glanced over at Twilight before replying, considering whether she should tell him. She decided she should, after all, Celestia was going to tell all of Canterlot in a couple of days anyway.
“This here is Twilight Sparkle, she’s a former student of Princess Celestia and is now my marefriend.” Luna told him, waiting patiently for a reply. The old pony tilted his head to the side in a mixture of confusion and surprise, he certainly hadn’t been expecting that answer.
“There was certainly no filly-fooler princess when I was a young’un.” He stated with another push of his spectacles, he didn’t seem disgusted or anything, just a little surprised. He quickly concluded his business, his shop needed to be renovated and he was looking for a grant, before leaving the hall.

As they had talked with the old stallion, Twilight had noticed one of the ponies further back in the group, he looked up when they had started talking about Twilight. Once he had heard that Twilight was Luna’s marefriend, he cast a disgusted look at the two of them and left, muttering to himself. Whilst Twilight and Luna waited for the next pony to be ready Twilight turned to the alicorn.
“Luna?” Twilight asked concernedly.
“Hmm?” Luna replied.
“When we were talking to that old stallion, did you notice that other pony, the light blue one that left?” Twilight continued, Luna nodded. “Do you think he left because of me, because of us?”
“I’m sure he just remembered he had something important to do.” Luna said dismissively, but wasn’t fooling anypony, least of all Twilight. Twilight looked at her pointedly until she relented. “Okay, he did leave because he found out that I’m with you, but he’s just going to have to live with it, don’t let it get to you.”

Twilight finally voiced her fears that she had held since they had arrived in Canterlot.
“What if ponies don’t approve of us? You saw how that pony acted, what if everypony is going to be like that? The ponies of Canterlot aren’t as accepting as the citizens of Ponyville.” Twilight said.
“Then that’s their problem, we know who we are and we’re not going to change that for everypony else.” Luna said forcibly, this was obviously a subject that she had thought about herself. Twilight nodded, but while there was truth to Luna’s words, it did little to assuage her fears.

Finally Luna decided to stop Night Court for that session, dismissing the other ponies before rising to her hooves, taking a moment to stretch out. Twilight followed her motions.
“So, what do you think?” Luna asked as they made their way out of the hall.
“I liked it, some ponies had some really foalish things to ask a princess about but overall it was quite mentally challenging.” Twilight replied, Luna gave a nod.
“You certainly handled yourself well.” Luna said, Twilight grinned sheepishly, “Anyway, I closed Night Court a bit early today so we still have an hour or so before we should head off to bed. Anything you want to do?” Twilight shook her head. “Me neither. I guess we could just sit outside and enjoy this fine night? It’s been some time since we’ve just lain back and relaxed.” Luna told Twilight as they neared their room.

Luna led the way to her balcony, where a bench sat. The couple made themselves comfortable on it, leaning against each other and looking up to the heavens that stretched out across the night sky.

Chapter 7: Redemption

Chapter 7:

Nightmare Moon finished cleaning her body, the first time she had done so in a long time, and dried herself off. Once she had hung up the towel to dry, she walked out to the balcony to join Twilight. Twilight looked her up and down, peering intently at the mare. It was indeed a copy to Luna in every respect, the same short light-azure mane, the same fur colour, same size and shape, even the same cyan eyes, not even the elliptical pupils of the Nightmare Moon of old. But there was something in those eyes, an atmosphere of sadness that separated her from her counter-part.
“So, how are you?” Twilight asked, unsure of how to speak to her once nemesis. Nightmare Moon bit her slip slightly in much the way Luna did when she was struggling with an answer.
“I don’t know... I’m not sure what I think anymore.” Nightmare Moon replied, head lowered to the ground in shame of past events.

Twilight felt sorry for Nightmare Moon, from what she had told Luna and her, she had been born unto the hatred she had harboured against Celestia and the rest of the ponies. It wasn’t really her fault, and Nightmare Moon certainly seemed regretful of what she had attempted to do. Twilight looked out over the balcony to the horizon and took a deep breath to clear her mind.
“Come on, Luna and Celestia will be here soon, let’s set up some chairs.” Twilight told Nightmare Moon, laying a hoof on her shoulder to get her attention. Nightmare Moon gave a nod with her head still lowered to the ground, but she still walked back inside with Twilight and helped her set up.

Just as they had finished pulling together the various chairs that were positioned around the room, the double doors to Twilight and Luna’s bedroom were opened, revealing the two Royal Pony Princesses of Equestria. They took in the scene instantly and sat themselves down on the chairs, Luna next to Twilight and Nightmare Moon next to Celestia. It was an odd sight to say the least.
“So, am I to believe that you two have freed Nightmare Moon from her imprisonment without conferring with me first?” Celestia began in that tone of hers. The one that, on the surface, seems pleasant, but when you at the brunt of it, you can’t help but feel a sense of wrath coming off from her. Twilight winced slightly and looked at the carpet.
“I’m sorry Celestia, it was my fault. Luna wanted to keep Nightmare Moon locked up until we talked with you, but I couldn’t just leave her in the cell like that.” Twilight said, eyes firmly glued to the floor.

Celestia stayed silent for a bit longer, examining Nightmare Moon intently. Nightmare Moon fidgeted slightly, nervous under the scrutiny of Princess Celestia.
“While I don’t agree that Nightmare Moon should have been let out before a counsel with me, your judgement holds some merit, and as such, I will allow Nightmare Moon a chance to convince me that she has changed before I pass judgement.” Celestia told Twilight. Twilight raised her head from its lowered state, surprised that Celestia was willing to reserve judgement against the pony that threatened to overthrow her and enslave her subjects. Everyone looked expectantly at Nightmare Moon, waiting for her to begin speaking.

Nightmare Moon looked hesitantly about the group, unsure of herself.
“Come on, just tell her what you told us.” Luna said, willing to back Twilight up on her decision to trust Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon gave a nod and repeated the story of her imprisonment, and the introspective thoughts she had during her stay. All the while the other ponies stayed silent, listening as the Nightmare laid her secrets out for all to see.

Once she had finished, Celestia frowned slightly in thought, everypony present awaited her verdict.
“I know a liar when I see one.” Princess Celestia began, looking at the face that so very resembled that of her sister, “But you are not one. That tale you told was true, or at least you believed it to be true. And if it is true, well, we might have some problems.” Celestia continued, Nightmare Moon gave a sigh of relief as Celestia proclaimed her words to be true.
“How so?” Luna asked, in reference to Celestia’s words that they may have some problems.

Celestia cleared her throat before continuing. “If my suspicions are correct, while this is physically the same Nightmare Moon from two years ago, on an emotional level she is something else. I hypothesise that, due to her separation from you, she has gained a conscience of sorts, in essence she is a pony unto herself. And unfortunately for us, that means that we can’t just put her back into your head, it would be a violation of almost every right she holds as a pony.”
“So what do you propose?” Luna questioned.
“I’m not sure as of yet, I’ll have to think about this, but for now we can’t really put her back in her cell. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind looking after her for today? I’ll probably have sorted things out by nightfall. If you don’t, I would perfectly understand, especially after what she’s done to you two, I’ll just have some guards look after her.” Celestia told them, not even caring to glance at Nightmare Moon.

Twilight and Luna gave each other a look, mentally conferring with each other. While it would be awkward to have Nightmare Moon with them, as well as slightly disconcerting, they believed it to be better if they kept an eye on her. Plus it would be a good way to try and see what Nightmare Moon’s motives were, if she had any that is.
“We’ll look after her.” Twilight decided finally.
“Are you sure?” Celestia replied, surprised that Twilight trusted Nightmare Moon so implicitly. Twilight and Luna nodded simultaneously. “So be it, I’ll leave you three together, though I would advise not going anywhere especially public, having two Lunas would draw even more attention than you already do.” Celestia told them, standing to leave.
“That’s fine with us.” Luna replied, they hadn’t planned to go out today anyway. Celestia nodded curtly and left through the double doors, shutting them behind her with an air of finality.

Nightmare Moon turned back to the other two mares that were facing her.
“So... what are we going to do?” She asked them timidly, relived that she seemed to be in the clear but still slightly nervous as to what she was supposed to be doing and acting like. All of her life had been spent on her own, cocooned in anger, now that she was free of that she didn’t know how to act.
“There is something I think we should decide before we go and do anything.” Twilight said, “We can’t keep calling you Nightmare Moon, I’m not sure what you are anymore, but you certainly aren’t that same vindictive pony anymore.”
“So, what are you going to call me?” Nightmare Moon asked. Twilight and Luna looked at each other once more, each coming to the same conclusion at the same time.
“Moonlight.” They echoed together, before giggling together at the memories of years past.

Nightmare Moon looked at the couple as they laughed with each other, completely at ease together.
“What?” She said, feeling like she was missing something.
Twilight quietened down enough to explain, “Back in Ponyville, when Luna was going incognito, we - or rather I – called her Moonlight.” Nightmare Moon, now called Moonlight, smiled, even though she didn’t really understand why it was funny. “Anyway, I don’t know about you guys but I’m kinda hungry.” Twilight continued, rubbing her stomach for emphasis, Luna nodded along with her.
“Indeed, let’s go to the kitchen then. We’ll get a few odd stares, though still probably not as many as the first time me and Twilight went there.” Luna added with smile, remembering the butter incident that had taken place in that very kitchen. Twilight grinned back, rising from the chair and stretching out. Moonlight was confused, she should hold the memories of Luna, since they used to be part of the same consciousness, but it seemed like she had lost them all during her imprisonment. Nevertheless, she too rose to her hooves and made for the double doors behind Twilight and Luna.

They managed to get all the way to the kitchen without meeting anypony, save for a single Royal Guard, who was trained well enough to not react to the strange sight of Twilight being flanked by two Lunas. Once they were inside, however, the kitchen was packed full of cooks, who were preparing for the evening meal that was being held in the dining hall. One of the waiters that was waiting in the wings to bring the food through spotted them, the same one that had served them two years ago. He remembered them and gave a small smile, one which was then replaced with confusion after he saw Moonlight. However, he pulled out a spare table all the same and three chairs for the ponies to sit down on.

When they had seated themselves, Twilight and Luna next to each other, facing Moonlight, The waiter cleared his throat and spoke up.
“So, what would Princess Luna, Miss Sparkle, and uh...” He stopped, unsure of what to call the other alicorn.
“Moonlight.” Moonlight said, getting into the swing of her new name.
“Right, Moonlight, what would you three like to eat on this fine evening?” The waiter continued, looking suspiciously at Moonlight, unsure of what to make of her.
“What’s available?” Luna asked, surveying the kitchen. The waiter listed off all of the dishes that were being prepared, there was a lot of them to say the least.
“I suppose we would like some of the salad, please.” Luna decided, not wanting to go with anything overly ostentatious. The waiter bowed and went back to the kitchen proper to go collect their meal, taking a moment to glance back at the odd spectacle once more.

A thought occurred to Twilight, “Hey Luna, you know you’re no longer immortal?” Twilight asked, Luna nodded, wondering where this was going, “Well, do you think Moonlight is mortal too? I mean, you became mortal because you fell in love with me, but I’m pretty sure Moonlight didn’t and since she is now a separate pony, would she be immortal?” Twilight continued, Luna cocked her head slightly to one side. Moonlight kept looking back and forth between the two of them as they pondered her life.
“That’s an interesting idea, one I don’t really have an answer to, perhaps Celestia would know, she is rather more learned than me when it comes to matters like this.” Luna replied after a while, frowning slightly as she did when she didn’t know the answer to a question. “Also, on that matter of learnedness, I think we should start our lessons back up tomorrow, it’s not good practice to stop doing something like that.” She continued, Twilight replied with a nod, she would be looking forward to it.

The waiter arrived back with their salads, placing a simple wooden bowl with the foodstuff inside in front of each of the mares before giving another bow and departing back into the steaminess of the cooking area. They dug into their food with relish, especially Moonlight, who had not eaten in a long time. They noticed that as they ate, the cooks and various other personnel that were working in the kitchen kept glancing over to them, mainly to the two Princess Lunas that were seated there. The three seated ponies ignored them however, content with their eating. Once they had finished they bade farewell to the assembled kitchen workers, who had just begun to start bringing the prepared food out to the masses in the dining hall.

On their walk back to Twilight and Luna’s bedroom, Celestia met them, going in the opposite direction.
“Ah! There you are, I thought you might be having a bite to eat. Not too much attention brought to you I hope?” Celestia greeted them.
“Not too much.” Luna said with a grin, Celestia rolled her eyes at her sister.
“Anyway, I’ve thought about everything and I’ve come to some conclusions. But perhaps we should discuss them in your room.” Celestia said, turning back around and leading them to the bedroom. On the way, Princess Celestia continued talking to them. “I’ll try to make this as brief as possible, I’m meant to show up for the meal that’s being held in the dining hall today.”

They remained standing once inside the room, hoping that the meeting would be brief. Celestia stood facing the other three, who were once more standing with Twilight in the middle.
“Okay, upon Twilight’s judgement, I have decided to give Nightmare Moo-” Celestia began, but was interrupted by Moonlight.
“It’s Moonlight.” She said, sure of herself for once today. Celestia looked at Twilight and Luna, who gave a nod. She gave a shrug with her wings and continued on, “As I was saying, I have decided to give Moonlight another chance, I have arranged her to have the bedroom beside yours, but she will have a guard posted permanently outside her doors and is currently limited to the castle in terms of where she can go, in return she will be allowed to live largely on her own. Are these terms agreeable?” Celestia finished, the other three nodded simultaneously. “Then it’s settled.” She said, expecting that response. “How about you two show Moonlight to her room?” Celestia walked swiftly out of the doors, heading back towards the dining hall.

Twilight looked at Moonlight, “Come on, let’s show you to your room then.” She said, Moonlight gave a nod at followed them out the door and for the short walk to the next room. The bedroom was a lot smaller than Luna’s, yet still probably about three times as large as Twilight’s one back in the library. Moonlight looked around the room carefully, slowly revolving on the spot.
“This is mine?” Moonlight asked, Luna nodded. “I’ve never really owned anything before, even that lunar castle is technically yours.” Moonlight continued, voice full of emotion. Twilight and Luna would never have imagined that something so simple as getting a bedroom to sleep in would mean as much as it did to the mare.
“Right, well, we’ll leave you to it then.” Luna said, turning to leave, Twilight following suit.
“Wait!” Moonlight exclaimed, holding a hoof out to stop them, before putting it over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout.”
“It’s fine, what did you want to tell us?” Luna said, turning back to her copy.
“I just wanted to say thank you, for everything. I never would have imagined anything like this happening to me.” Moonlight said, sheepishly.
“It’s okay, you should probably have some sleep now.” Twilight told her, giving her a swift hug and departing with Luna. Moonlight stood there for over a minute afterwards, shocked at the friendly contact. She knew that she could never be redeemed for what she had done in her past life, but she hoped that, one day, she could have a friend in Twilight and Luna.

Outside the doors, walking along the corridor, was Twilight and Luna.
“You know, we never asked Celestia about Moonlight’s immortality.” Twilight mused.
“Oh yeah, I guess that’s just something that will have to wait until tomorrow, we should probably go raise the moon now.” Luna replied, Twilight grinned, she loved watching Luna raise the moon. The made haste for the circular room.

Chapter 8: Blessing

Chapter 8:

“Remember, Twilight, we have that blessing to make today.” Luna reminded Twilight as they walked along the corridor from the circular room, the newly risen moon now shining bright through the highly-polished glass that were fixed into the walls. Twilight gave a nod, she had not forgotten, how could she?
“Is Night Court still on?” Twilight asked, wondering whether going to the stallion’s house would leave enough time for there to be any decisions made in Night Court.
“I suppose so, we can’t really just close it for a night, though we will probably have to cut it quite short, I don’t want to be late for the blessing.” Luna replied, Twilight nodded in affirmation, she was pretty sure it would be disrespectful to be late.

They quickly settled themselves in within the Great Hall, Luna upon her gilded throne and Twilight upon her cushion. The first of the citizens came up to them, glancing at Twilight before looking back to the Princess. Twilight recognized him as one of the ponies that was there the previous night, not the one that ran out, nor the one who wanted the blessing, but he had been there nonetheless.
“Hello, um, I don’t actually have anything that requires you, Princess.” He said hesitantly. Though his body language suggested he was confident and had no trouble speaking with royalty, his voice gave him away.
“Then, why are you here?” Luna asked quizzically.
“Well, I was actually here to inquire about the nature of your, um, assistant.” He replied, looking once more at Twilight who sat lower than he stood.
“What is your inquiry?” Princess Luna continued, wondering where this was going.

The stallion licked his lips nervously, not keen on making eye contact with the Princess, especially since she appeared to be slightly annoyed with his train of questions. But despite his anxiousness, he continued to say, “I was just kinda wondering, well, who she is.”
Luna looked at him, trying to suss him out, before replying, “Might I ask why?” Even though she was not afraid to let out the nature of Twilight being here, and who she was, she still wanted to know the stallion’s intentions first.
“It was just that, I haven’t seen her before, and I come to the Castle most days, and I was wondering why she so suddenly appeared, and to such a high ranking job.” He said all of this in a rush, now that he had finally a chance to voice his opinions, he let them all come out before he could be stopped and reprimanded.

Luna glanced at Twilight before turning back to the stallion. “I will answer who she is first. Twilight Sparkle was protégée to my sister, Princess Celestia, and is now my student. After she saved my life, or rather my mind, I was greatly weakened and had to live with her. We quickly became friends, and then more than friends.” The stallion blushed slightly at that remark, “And once I regained my strength, we moved back to Canterlot, however that meant having her forfeit her job. When we arrived, me and my sister arranged for Twilight to have a job that would let her stay close by, this was an obvious choice.” Luna finished, gesturing at the purple unicorn.

The stallion looked between them and asked, “Are you two married?” Luna shook her head, they had actually considered marriage about a year after they had started being together, but they both agreed that they were already more closely bonded than marriage could ever make them, so there was not much point in them wasting their time with a mostly useless ceremony.

“Now, as to why she gets this position? Well, she has certainly proved herself worthy, having saved Equestria on more than one occasion.” Luna said, but the stallion frowned slightly.
“But still, if you don’t mind me saying so, don’t you think it’s a little unfair?” He asked. Luna’s anger flared, just as she was about to reply that it was, in fact, not alright to say so, Twilight stopped her.
“Wait,” Twilight began, speaking for the first time that session as she held up a hoof in Luna’s direction, “It does seem a little unfair, I mean there are ponies who have been studying for years and working their hardest to get a position like mine, yet I get it instantly just for being with you.” Twilight finished, Luna knew that Twilight was downplaying her work, she had certainly done a lot more than ‘just be with her’ to get where she was, but she had to admit that Twilight had a point.

“I see what you’re getting at, but as this position never existed prior to you becoming it, nopony would have filled it spot, regardless of how long they worked for.” Luna replied.
“But still, suppose I have a different role in Night Court, something that wouldn’t give me as much power but still allow me to stay here, then everyone would be pleased.” Twilight said.
“I suppose so, what do you propose?” Luna asked.
“Perhaps I could do what I did before, as in provide another opinion on matters, but instead of you just taking in what I say, we have to ask whether the pony concerned wants it first of all? That way my job wouldn’t really change, it would just mean that I only get to do something with the pony’s word, as opposed to just yours.” Twilight said quickly, the idea coming to her head that, instead of just Luna deciding everything, they would give a bit of power to the ponies, even if it was just a small bit. Luna nodded slowly.

“That seems like it may work, we’ll have to give it a go.” Luna replied, turning back to the stallion. He had been quietly observing as the two ponies debated on the point he had drawn to them. “Does this seem reasonable to you?” Luna asked, the stallion nodded, placated. “I see, well if there is nothing else you need to say, have a nice night.” Luna said. The stallion bade farewell to the both of them in turn, before turning from them and departing the hall.

The rest of the session passed fairly quickly, no major events coming to their attention. However, they still employed what they had discussed before, Luna always asking whether the pony present wished for Twilight’s opinion too. This was almost always met with some variation of the question ‘Who is she?’, which was quite reasonable. And once the ponies had heard who Twilight was, and what she had done for Equestria, they were mostly willing to allow for Twilight’s logical opinions to come into play.

Though, as the night wore on and grew closer to midnight, Luna had to wrap up the session, dismissing the rest of the ponies and asking them to come back tomorrow, when the sessions would resume their regular length. Once the Hall was empty, the two mares stood and stretched out their limbs slightly, before making their way to their bedroom.

Before they entered the room to collect scarves and other clothing fit for a cold night such as it was then, they dropped in to Moonlight’s room, to check how she was doing. Luna slowly and silently opened the door, making a slight creak as the ancient oak groaned at its movement, and peered in. With the Moon casting its soft glow into the room, Twilight and Luna could make out Moonlight snoring softly on her bed, seeming peaceful. Twilight smiled at the sight and the pair withdrew, shutting the door quietly behind them.
“She seems to be getting on well.” Twilight said.
“Do you really think she’s changed for the better?” Luna asked, still slightly skeptical about Moonlight’s intentions. That was to be expected though, considering what Nightmare Moon had done to Luna over the years. But Twilight nodded nonetheless.
“Yeah, I’m sure she’s better now.” Twilight replied, sure of herself.
“If you say so.” Luna replied as they reached the doors to their own bedroom.

Luna quickly fetched a pair of scarves and coats from her large wardrobe. Twilight hadn’t brought much in the way of clothes so she mostly had to make do with Luna’s, but she didn’t mind. The majority of Luna’s clothes were made for Luna for when she was in her natural form, so they were much too big for the both of them, but Luna had managed to dig out a couple of coats she had got when Nightmare Moon had just been banished by the Elements of Harmony a few years ago. And since Luna preferred her clothes to be slightly loose anyway, her coat seemed to fit Twilight just fine.

They quickly made their way through the labyrinth of corridors that made up the Castle, and departed through one of the many side entrances. Luna led them towards Canterlot Town, and towards where they would have to perform the blessing. Though Luna had been away from Canterlot for years now, she still knew the town like the back of her hoof and expertly led Twilight to their destination a lot faster than she would have thought possible, were they not using the shortcuts that Luna seemed to know inherently.

Luna gave a swift rap on the door and stepped back. The door was quickly answered, the owner having expected his guests.
“Princess,” He said with a bow, “thank you so much for coming tonight. You too, Miss...” The stallion stopped, not sure what Twilight’s name was.
“Twilight.” Twilight offered.
“Miss Twilight.” The stallion repeated in a kindly voice, tinted slightly with sadness. He stepped aside and held the door open for the two mares to enter, which they did.

The stallion led them through to where the casket was being held.
“Sir, might I enquire as to what your, and your sister’s names are?” Luna asked, thinking that this would flow a lot easier if their names were known.
“Ah, yes, I forgot to tell you, my name is Scribbled Scrolls, my sister is... was, Indited Scroll, though she didn’t really like her name. She always asked to be called ‘Indy’ instead, she said that ‘Indited’ sounded too formal for her.” Scribbled Scrolls explained, eyes taking on a rather glazed look. Luna nodded.

The casket was a simple construction, made of an unvarnished pine and was a regular cuboid in shape.
“Do you wish for me to begin now?” Luna asked, snapping Scribbled out of his memories.
“Huh? Oh! Yes, please, if it’s not too much bother.” Scribbled replied, stepping closer to the coffin. Luna gave a nod and lay a hoof upon the pine, Twilight stayed at the wall, content with just standing back and allowing Luna to perform the blessing.

Luna took a deep breath before beginning, “I, Princess Luna, stand here today with those congregated to bless the dearly departed Indited Scrolls. We commemorate her.” Luna recited. She continued speaking for a few minutes longer, speaking from memory the blessing. Once she was finished she turned from the casket to address Indited’s brother, “Do you have anything else you wish for me to say?” She asked, hoof still laying upon the simple coffin. Scribbled gave a shake of the head, but spoke not. Words had failed him as his emotions had risen. Luna nodded once more and removed her hoof, bowing her head slightly before turning away from the coffin and walking back to the other room, Scribbled and Twilight in tow.

The three of them stayed silent as Scribbled Scrolls composed himself and wiped his eyes with a foreleg.
“Thank you so much, I’m sure this is what she would have wanted.” Scribbled said, head bowed in thanks.
“It’s no problem, I’m sorry for your loss.” Luna replied.
“I’ll cope.” Scribbled replied simply. Luna and Twilight bade him goodnight and goodbye and left his house, making their way steadily back towards the Castle, now walking at a leisurely pace; they had no particular rush. As they walked they raised their gaze to the stars, the plethora of celestial objects enticing them.

Luna took a deep breath, taking in the cool night time air. “You know, we haven’t had an astronomy lesson in a while, and you still haven’t seen Canterlot Castle’s telescope.” Luna said, looking out of the corner of her eyes to Twilight, head still raised to the sky. Twilight’s eyes widened noticeably. She had had a telescope when she was living in Canterlot as Celestia’s pupil, but she knew that they had gotten a newer, much better one.
“I would love to have an astronomy lesson.” Twilight replied, a smile appearing on her lips. This was just what she needed after the blessing. Luna smiled back at Twilight’s enthusiasm and they carried on for the Castle.

Once they reached the Castle, the guards let them through without question. Luna set a course for the telescope that Canterlot held within its walls. Prior to Luna finding about astronomy, Luna believed that the telescopes were merely for study of far off places, such as the depths of the Everfree Forest, but she now knew their purpose, and encouraged Celestia to bring in a telescope to try and get some of her students interested in the subject. Twilight nuzzled up against Luna as they walked alone together through the winding corridors of Canterlot Castle, the night time silence leaving the entire place seem peaceful and serene.

Chapter 6: Nightmare Moon

Chapter 6:

They dreamed not during the night, the two of them sleeping peacefully. They had succumbed to slumber not long after getting comfortable on the balcony. Despite Luna being slightly smaller than Twilight, she wrapped her right wing around the other mare, keeping her warm as the night wore on. Luna shivered in the late night air, and unconsciously, whilst still being asleep, levitated a thick, deep blue woollen blanket from their bed, and wrapped it around the two of them. She tucked it in tight so they were cocooned against each other in the cool night.

The morning came and went, the rising sun warming the two mares as they slept on through to mid-day.

It was Twilight that awoke first, and for a moment she struggled, unsure of her surroundings. But she quickly saw the blue alicorn beside her and relaxed. Now that she was calm, she took a look about her immediate vicinity. She noted the fact that they were still on the balcony, she smiled a little at that, a guilty smile. She was sure that it was due to her that they lay here still, Luna hadn’t been that tired when they got back from Night Court. Twilight, on the other hand, had been exhausted. Perhaps so exhausted that she fell asleep on the balcony outside. The blanket wrapped around her was further proof of it being her fault. She didn’t really mind though, the balcony was surprisingly comfortable, especially with Luna’s wing around her back.

Twilight tried to manoeuvre herself out of the cocoon but only succeeded in waking up Luna. Twilight’s efforts had resulted in the blanket being pulled fully over Luna, and so when she woke up, she flailed in an attempt to escape from the darkness. Twilight finally freed herself from the blanket menace and helped pull Luna out. Once she was too free, she stood and surveyed the cause of their entrapment with disdain.
“Perhaps I tucked it in a little too tight.” Luna mused as she levitated the blanket back to their bed and laid it over the sheets. When she was pleased with it she turned back to the purple unicorn. “You hungry?” Luna asked, Twilight nodded firmly, it had been over eighteen hours since she last ate and her stomach certainly reflected that thought. “Okay, I’m just going to go have a shower first, you can have one after if you want.” Luna said, levitating a towel and draping it across her back as she moved towards the ensuite bathroom.
“Sure.” Twilight replied.

Luna disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind her, and a few seconds later the shower started up, the harsh pitter-patter of the water contrasting against the mostly silent day. Twilight, now alone, walking back out to the balcony and leaned with her two forelegs up on the fence that edged the floor to stop anypony from falling off. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, taking in the sweet outside air, hints of smells playing on her senses as she relaxed. In her relaxed state, Twilight could think fully about something that she had put off previously, due to the whole ‘moving back to Canterlot’ thing that had been going on at the time. Luna’s form.

She did what she did best, think. She imagined up scenarios, events that could possibly take place under different circumstances. She tried to think of an explanation that would help her understand what had happened, whether something had gone wrong. And if that was the case, how they could fix it. Finally she came up with the most likely of reasons, Nightmare Moon. Though she probably didn’t deliberately cause this, Twilight was sure that it was the fact that Luna and Nightmare Moon were still separated that was the reason that Luna was still in her weakened state, despite her having her alicorn magic back. And though Twilight didn’t mind Luna’s weakened form, in fact she kinda preferred it, she knew that her regular state was what the ponies of Equestria were used to, and that having her back to normal would be best for all involved.

The sound of the shower cut off, to be followed by the sound of Luna stepping out and drying herself. Twilight wandered back inside to meet the newly cleaned mare as she departed the bathroom.
“How are you feeling?” Twilight asked.
“Refreshed.” Luna smiled, the towel magically rubbing itself against her mane to dry it out. “You can have yours now.” Luna continued, Twilight nodded, but she wanted to voice her hypothesis first.
“Hey Luna, I think I worked out why you’re still in your weakened state.” Twilight told the other mare, Luna cocked her head slightly to the right, as if to say ‘go on’. “I think it’s because of Nightmare Moon.” Luna nodded slowly whilst Twilight elaborated, “Because you two are separated, despite being so closely connected, it means that you aren’t technically ‘complete’ yet, and so can’t go back to your regular form.” Twilight looked at Luna whilst she pondered this.
“That makes sense.” Luna replied with a nod, “Okay, after your shower we need to go down and have a little talk with my other half. I won’t bring Tia though, she has enough to do as it is.”

Twilight’s shower was brief, she was too preoccupied with thoughts to fully enjoy the relaxing feel of the water running over her body. She used Luna’s lavender scented shampoo, taking a moment to admire the scent it exuded. She quickly finished up and dried herself, hanging the wet towel up to dry before going back to Luna.
“Ready?” Luna asked her.
“I’m always ready.” Twilight replied with a small grin, Luna smiled back.

Two minutes later, however, Twilight had lost that grin, and was regretting her readiness to descend into the depths of Canterlot Castle. The dungeons of the Castle weren’t technically part of the building, the place was cut out of the mountain, so it felt like the walls were closing in on you. Even though Twilight was not a claustrophobic pony, it was still fairly disconcerting to be descending into the darkness of the roughly-hewn rock.
“Just a bit further and I believe we’ll reach where they’re keeping Nightmare Moon.” Luna told Twilight reassuringly, catching on to her discomfort, Twilight nodded, the action almost imperceptible in the poor lighting.

Twilight almost felt sorry for Nightmare Moon, despite all she had done to her and Luna, nopony really deserved to have to live in somewhere like this. Luna seemed to reflect those feelings, giving out a small sigh as they neared Nightmare Moon’s cell. There was a lone torch hanging in the room, the light illuminating a simple bed and a single chair. Lying on the bed, facing away from them and towards the wall, was Luna’s copy. She didn’t seem to notice them though, for a weird noise was emanating from her. It almost sounded like... crying.

“Nightmare Moon?” Luna asked timidly, taken aback by the sound, and now that they were closer they could see the pony wracking in its sobs. Instantly, the pony jumped to her feet, looking indignant. A look lost most of its effect though due to the tears running down the side of Nightmare Moon’s face, dripping silently to the stone floor.
“What do you want?” She asked in a low growl.
Twilight took a step forward and replied, “Are... Are you crying?”
“Of course not, you whelp! I do not cry!” Nightmare Moon tried to shout in an intimidating manner, but her voice cracked part-way through her sentence and it just made her seem pitiful. She kept up the fierce act for about half a minute more before her glare fell, and she collapsed to the floor, forelegs wrapped around her head in an effort to stop the other ponies from seeing her.

Twilight and Luna glanced at each other, confusion clear on their faces, before turning back to the mare on the floor of her cell.
“What’s wrong?” Luna asked, walking up to the cell door and kneeling down so her head was close to her copy’s. Nightmare Moon looked up and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” She repeated in a quiet voice, “What’s wrong!? I’ll tell you what’s wrong!” Nightmare Moon stood to her hooves once more, Luna following her up. “Everything! Everything is wrong!” Nightmare Moon gestured with a foreleg, waving it in an arc to emphasise her point. “The fact that I’m in this stupid form! The way I’m trapped in this foalish cell! The fact that I’m... crying.” That last word came out as a whisper and Nightmare Moon turned from them, sitting down to face the wall. “I’ve never cried before.” She continued, all of her anger dissolved, leaving her but a dishevelled mess. All the while, Twilight stood back from the two Lunas, looking on as her marefriend stared at her nemesis.

Luna gave another quick glance back to Twilight, this time with a hint of sadness to her features, before unlocking the cell door and stepping in. Twilight followed slowly, on guard for a surprise attack, but it never came. Luna sat herself down beside Nightmare Moon, Twilight sitting on the opposite side so that Nightmare Moon was sandwiched in the middle. Twilight was sure that, even though this pony looked exactly like the Nightmare Moon that she had helped banish to this very dungeon over two years ago, it was certainly not the same pony in a mental sense.
“Tell me about it.” Luna commanded to Nightmare Moon, whose head was still lowered to the ground.
“Tell you about what?” She replied.
“Anything, tell me about your time in this cell, about how you feel, just talk to me.” Luna told her.

At first, Nightmare Moon had been skeptical and unwilling to open up, but as they talked, the trio of ponies became more comfortable with each other’s presence. Nightmare Moon told them about how she had attempted to impersonate Luna when she had first woken up in her new body, how she had failed and been sent here for her sins. She told them how she had had a lot of time to think whilst in her cell, more than when she on the Moon actually. When she was on the Moon all she could think of revenge, now that she had failed once more in her attempts, she had become introspective, asking herself questions that she had to think long and hard about to provide answers.
“I realised that I couldn’t even remember why I wanted any of this, why I swore to take over and bring eternal night. I had been born with that hatred inside me, but I had never questioned it, never thought whether I actually should or not. I didn’t know why I was what I was, I just was. But whilst I was here I questioned all of that, I realised that my attempts were doomed to fail from the beginning, that there would always be more ponies there to stop me then there was that I could surpass, that nopony wanted eternal night. But me.” Nightmare Moon finished speaking, and the silence began to lengthen whilst Twilight and Luna took everything in.

Luna stood silently, all the while looking at her doppelganger. Twilight too rose to her hooves, leaving Nightmare Moon to be sullen on the floor.
“I think we need to talk to Celestia.” Luna stated, Twilight nodded.
“But what are we going to do with her?” Twilight asked, gesturing to Nightmare Moon. “We can’t just leave her here, it wouldn’t seem right to me. As harsh as she’s been to us, she’s served over two years here, I don’t think we should keep her here any longer.”
“Are you sure? I’m sure a few more hours can’t hurt.” Luna asked, reluctant to give Nightmare Moon any sort of freedom. But Twilight nodded firmly.
“Yes. It wouldn’t be right to leave her here. How about you leave me with her in our room whilst you go get Celestia.” Twilight offered, Luna bit her lip whilst she considered the options.
“Fine.” Luna finally said, “But be wary, this could be some sort of attempt to get out of here.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. You go get Celestia, I’ll bring Nightmare Moon to our room.” Twilight replied, waving Luna away.
“Okay, stay safe.” Luna said, walking out of the cell and up the steps.
“Don’t worry, I will.” Twilight replied as Luna left.

Once Luna was departed Twilight turned back to Nightmare Moon.
“Come on, let’s leave this place.” Twilight told her. Nightmare Moon looked up puzzled.
“Why are you doing this?” She asked, she truly didn’t understand why Twilight was being so nice to her.
“Because nopony deserves to live in a place like this. I don’t know if what you say is true, but you seem to have changed and I’m just giving you another chance.” Twilight replied, pulling Nightmare Moon to her hooves and brushing off all the dust and the like which she had accumulated upon her body. “I think you need a shower.” She continued with a smile. Nightmare Moon stayed silent so Twilight looked her in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” She asked, Nightmare Moon shook her head slightly.

Suddenly she made a lunge for Twilight, who then almost blasted her back with her magic before realising that Nightmare Moon was hugging her.
“I... I’m so sorry.” Nightmare Moon said, her words muffled as her face was buried in Twilight’s neck. Twilight initially tensed upon her touch but soon relaxed and rubbed Nightmare Moon’s back comfortably. She could feel Nightmare Moon shaking as the tears fell upon Twilight’s fur, soaking her.

Once Nightmare Moon had calmed down, she stepped back, rubbing at her eyes with a foreleg. Twilight smiled at her in a friendly way, and Nightmare Moon gave a small smile in return.
“Come, let’s get going.” Twilight said, Nightmare Moon nodded and walked alongside Twilight up the stairs and towards Twilight and Luna’s bedroom. Once inside Twilight directed Nightmare Moon to the shower. “Okay, you get cleaned up and then we can wait for Celestia to arrive.” Twilight told her, Nightmare Moon nodded once more and went to go shower.
“Thank you.” Nightmare Moon whispered before she closed the door behind her.

When she heard the shower start to run, Twilight walked out to the balcony again and gave a sigh, wondering what was going on.