Luna flew towards the high spires of Canterlot, safely embedded in the mountain ranges of Equestria. As the towers came into view, she sighed and wished she had anywhere else to be besides her “royal duties.” She had been grateful to return to the world and its inhabitants, even if it took the population a little while to adjust to her homecoming. But after having ruled for a thousand years and being banished for another, life had become predictable. How I wish retirement were upon me now, I don’t know how much longer I can stand through these dignitaries and night shifts. Celestia and Luna had decided that remaining on the thrones while Twilight and her friends prepared for inheriting the kingdom, seeing as how their stresses were warranted and they needed a fair time to adjust. But still, Luna could hardly bear the overpowering boredom she dealt with daily. Plus, I can’t very well look for a special somepony while ‘sitting on the throne and dealing with Equestria’. Of all the duties and responsibilities Luna encountered, the most harrowing one had been being alone. Thousands of years of responsibilities had put Luna’s mind to work, hardly allowing for the want of more. Now that the troubles of Equestria had slowed, if not vanished, she had much free time, and little ways to spend it.

As she landed atop her personal tower meant for raising and lowering the moon along with her ‘dream perch’ as it were, two royal guards clad in the Canterlot gold standard awaited her. “Your highness” they said with bows, “we had begun to worry for your safety. You have been gone nearly the day through and Princess Celestia awaits you at the thrones.”

“Ah yes, thank you Cobalt Trotter, Candled Essence.” She said with a nod to the both of them. “I will be able to take myself from here.” Though why an alicorn needs mere guards to walk about her own castle, I’ll never know. The guards nodded and turned to trot away to their other duties. Luna admired the clean looks they carried as they strutted away in uniform. The castle had always picked the most capable and strongest of guards, and ever since Flash Magnus had returned and begun training, the guards had done well to increase their regiments. Along with the overall attractiveness of the stallions Luna thought as she passed by more alert guards who were pretending to pay close attention to the rooms as they fought the sheer boredom of standing for hours. Thoughts of long-term relationships with a guard had crossed her mind often, but none of them had yet to treat Luna like a pony rather than a princess. Truth be told, she was looking for someone who would remind her of her times as a filly yet feel as though she could fly through the stars above with. Of course, the royal sisters had the option to ‘relieve stress’ whenever they asked, as many guards envied the moment to be called to the princesses’ chambers for some R&R. To them, it was a job with benefits.

As Luna entered the throne chamber, Celestia was laughing with some final dignitaries of the day as she escorted them through the chamber doors, brushing against Luna as they passed.

“Oh, you simply must tell me how your tournament goes afterwards!” Celestia said with a large smile.

“Of course, princess, and you will be the first to know! Then, I travel Equestria with my success!” the silver pony beamed as he held his head high. Silver Cup had always been a prideful pony with too much to say to the princesses about his personal exploits. Luna couldn’t wait to stop hearing about them once she was in Silver Shoals.

Celestia waved them the rest of the way out of the corridor, dropping her hoof and smile the moment they passed through the doors. She sighed heavily and turned to Luna, “Sister, I am so glad you made it. I apologize for the delay. Silver had another golf tournament he planned to take the second-place in. Again.” She let out a small chuckle as she thought of his pride in always coming second.

“Yes, dear sister, how I cannot wait for the tales of always losing first to be over” Luna returned the chuckle with her own, covering her mouth with a hoof. She regained her demeanor and asked, “yet that is not the reason you have asked me here, is it?” Celestia let out another exhausted sigh.

“No, my dear sister. I am afraid that would be too simple a request.” She paused and ducked her head. “I have been speaking with Starswirl, as I want to know what powerful ponies are supposed to do in their retirement. He has not the faintest idea, but his one suggestion was to visit old friends and mentors.” She smiled softly at the thought that Starswirl was imposing his personal visits with the sisters was somehow not on their minds. “He sent us this letter though, and it has some awfully sad undertones to it and I thought as a nice ‘thank you’ gift to our old teacher would be to help him out” Celestia said turning to Luna and bringing a parchment up with her magic. Luna unfurled it and read the horn-writing:

My dearest students,

I know retirement seems as exciting as uneventful, scary as fun, and relaxing as stressful. But I assure you, your time spent on this trip will allow you much deserved solace and relaxation. I have not many ideas for your time spent on these trips, but I can say that visiting old friends will always have a place among us ‘old ponies’. I would hope you would not forget your old teacher and visit occasionally. I only wish I still had my teacher to talk with in my old age, swapping stories and bragging about whose students turned out better (which clearly, mine did). I again urge some kindly intimate time with old friends and comrades alike.

Hoping to see you both soon,

Your teacher, StarSwirl the Bearded.

Luna caught herself smiling from ear-to-ear hearing how much her teacher hoped they would stay in touch. “Of course we will visit him! How could he think otherwise?” Luna said as she rolled up the parchment and passed it back to her sister.

“Yes, but did you not catch the other message he planted?” Luna paused at the question and thought for a moment.

“Him missing his teacher? It was more a metaphor for us to talk with him rather than anything else. He said himself that he ‘barely remembers’ his old master. Star… Walker? Wasn’t it?” Celestia began walking back to the thrones, turning her head to Luna as she went.

“Strider. Star Strider. And yes, but that may be part of the problem. He never got to know deeply and affectionately the pony who taught him everything, unlike us.” Celestia said as she sat down, rubbing her hooves to her tired eyes. Luna again thought for just a moment before raising a hoof to her sister.

“Well, what do you propose we do? We cannot just remake his master, he died with the defeat of whatever the Lichen monster was.” Luna had only heard brief legends and read the two textbooks talking about the ancient foe that was able to enslave a pony through the negative side of their special talents. Nothing was known about it aside from the offhand accounts Starswirl had both written and preached about… for all of fifteen minutes.

“Not necessarily” Celestia said opening her eyes once more. “I have been studying the spell Twilight conjured to bring Starswirl back and searching for remnants of Star Strider here in Equestria, even reaching out to our allies beyond the borders.” Luna was already shaking her head.

“Sister, while that spell is all in good favor, it only returned the ponies who were in limbo, not dead.” Celestia raised a hoof to stop her younger sister.

“Yes, but Star Strider never died.” A look of perplex crossed Luna’s face.

“Sister, you read the texts same as I, Star Strider took the creature to the grave along with himself if you recall.”

“Not entirely true.” Celestia teleported in a book from their old classroom studies. The cover was the seal that would become the royal seal when they took the responsibility of ruling. She flipped through the pages, landing on some near the end. “When Starswirl witnessed his master save him, Strider and the creature vaporized in a large magical bubble.”

“Exactly. Vaporized. Nothing was left.”

“Yes, but if they had truly vaporized, the ground would be scorched and the wildlife around unable to regrow. Thus is the problem of destruction magic.” Celestia again pointed to the book. “Strider never left a mark, and the place where the battle took place is full of trees and grass blades. Ergo, not vaporized.” Luna scratched her head as she seemed to struggle grasping the concept.

“But if not vaporized, then what? Teleportation?” Celestia again shook her head.

“If they teleported, then they would still be in this realm and the creature still control ponies. I am not entirely sure what he did, but whatever it was, they must be in another dimension or realm or whatever his solution must have been.” She zapped the book back to where it came from and sat up, starting for her quarters. “I must say, I am thoroughly exhausted and must retire. But if tomorrow, you would be up for a little visit to Starswirl for some conversation and viable solutions to our surprise? And please do keep it a surprise if you can.” Luna was still in place, thinking of the possibilities.

“Hmm? Oh yes, of course sister.” She nodded half-heartedly. But if we bring him back, what is to say we do not bring the Lichen creature back with him? The way the Pony of Shadows did with the Pillars? The writings of the Lichen creature had made it sound like a feral beast rather than a corrupted pony. One that could not be reasoned with as it had no conscience to reason with. Celestia let out a little snort as she again turned away from her intensive sister.

“Do not stay away from your duties too long sister. We will have tomorrow to think about whatever we want.” With that remark, Celestia closed the doors behind her and went off to sleep. Luna had nearly forgotten to raise the moon to full sky during her thinking.

“Working alone has got me too comfortable waiting to do things when I want, and how.” Her head raised back slightly as she grinned. “And still talking to myself. I suspect I will never get over that.”

With the moon raised and Luna on the watch for any nightmares, she became apathetic to her standing. She leaned on the balcony and gazed upwards at the moon. My home she thought. Spending one thousand years had done much to her person, even if she was dominated by Nightmare Moon at the time. She had fallen in love with the landscape of it all. The Ocean of Storms, the cobbled surface of the meteor-ridden plains, the vast mountains that dominated the horizons, the vast star to look upon and trace with her hooves upon the surface. It was beautiful in a silent giant kind-of-way. She hoped to truly live the remainder of her days there, gazing on the untouched land that she alone controlled. Her nostalgic thoughts were interrupted by a young filly screaming in their dreams. Not a filly, a mare Luna saw as she entered the orb of Twilight Sparkle.

Author's Note

Here's the chapter for the next few days. Probably will release chapter 3 pretty soon. Next chapter has the first explicit NSFW content. You have been warned.