I 'ported back into the library a short while later with a quick apology that was waved off just as casually. And with a flash of light I found myself in a positively regal throne room with stained glass windows casting colorful shades onto the far wall. Twilight quietly and carefully picked up the snoozing dragon from Fluttershy's back and left with a quiet 'excuse me.' Presumably to put him in an actual bed.

"Now, me and Luna need to find her some regalia before she makes her appearance and-"

"Actually, Tia," Seems the youngest had some reservations. "would it be too much to ask that thee make this address without us? Thou may tell our subjects about us of course, but we do not believe we are ready to face them just yet." Celestia's eyes softened and she offered her sister a small sad smile. "And besides, we believe there is something we- I need to discuss with Sir Elfilis." Uh oh.

"Of course Luna, you may take your time." The Princess was clearly curious about what her sister wanted to talk to me about as well, but she kept it to herself as she began to address everyone else. "If the rest of you shall follow me, I will find some guards to show you all to a guest room until lunch. And Luna, the throne room will be kept private for the two of you. I would take you two to the table but I really should hurry. Love you sister."

"And I you." Luna and I watched as Celestia trotted out the door with a party of ponies following behind. On an unrelated note, I did have confirmation that everyone I've met so far besides Spike was female. It made me wonder what the odds of that were. "Elfilis? Do thou mind if we drop the Royal 'we?'" And I guess it was time to talk about something.

"If the 'Royal We' is why you keep referring to yourself as multiple people, then no, I do not mind. Why are you doing that by the way? You kind of switched in and out of it earlier."

"Ah, thank you, and apologies. It is how we, er, my sister and I used to speak to our royal subjects. It was meant to present a united front. For all the good it did..." Woah, where did the sadness come from? "But that is not what we- I, sorry, what I wished to speak to you about. You see, while my special talent is my ability to raise and lower the moon with my sister-"

"Very impressive by the way. Sorry, spoke before I realized it."

"Oh, it's alright. As I was saying though, completely separate from my lunar duties, I had taken up another job of my own. Only a short time before my... banishment a thousand years ago, I had stumbled upon magics that allowed me to leave this world and my body-" What? I knew my eyes had to have been extremely wide at this point. "-and project my mind into the world of Dreams." I, I just knew where this conversation was headed.

"This is why you were staring earlier wasn't it?" Smooth.

"Er, yes. When Celestia removed that 'Chastity Spell' from your person, I noticed that you are deeply interwoven with dreams. And, I have to ask, if you will teach me what you know?" Lady, I don't know what I'm doing I was hoping you all would be teaching me something! "I know thou, you are without your memories, but I simply ask that you try. Or let me watch as you learn the magics for yourself, so that I may know how to better defend myself in the future."

"Defend yourself? How do you mean?" This sounded a little more important than I had originally given it credit for.

"Yes, to defend myself!" I very lightly floated just a little way away as she seemed to get worked up. "It was my own foalishness and arrogance in my abilities that allowed that monster to ruin everything! It did not matter that I knew that I knew I was being corrupted, that, that BITCH was still able to use my dreams to weaponize my insecurities against my mind! I couldn't even speak of it in front of others! I would always find my mouth clamped shut of its own volition whenever I wished to ask for help, and I so, so desperately want to never set a hoof in the realm of dreams again. But, I can't just..." I, was so out of my depth here. The Princess was crying in front of me and I was shocked into silence.

"... What can't you do?" I let my levitation wane as I bent my knees, I didn't want to stand over her for this.

"... I can't just... leave... There are monsters in that realm, and I, and now you, are the only ones who can do anything about it." Oh you poor brave pony. "I can feel it in you, your prowess in dreaming. The world around you almost wants to change, to bend to your will as your dreams try to make thought into reality. The closest thing I'd ever seen to your power was a monster, and he, he ripped and tore reality at the seems to make what he wanted real. I need to know how it works! If I could mimic even a fraction of that power, Nightmare Moon would have never been, and our dear ponies would fear the monsters of the mind nevermore!... Please..."

...

Silence. No words, just heavy breathing and sniffling as she tried to wipe the tears from her face. Hooves weren't very good for that, and before I knew it I was handing her a silken cloth that had appeared without my say-so. She took it with barely a nod as she wiped her eyes.

"I... Apologies. It is not fair of us to-"

"I am absolutely terrified of my own abilities." I could tell I had shocked her, her eyes said it all. "That monster you spoke about? Tearing open reality to make it as he wished? That sounds too much what like Fecto would do." And now the pressure was on. She was paying too much attention for me to screw up this moment now. "He had a few titles that should give you a good idea what he was like before he was defeated. 'The Invasive Species', 'The Psychic Beast', 'The Ultimate Life-Form,' and 'The Species Born of Chaos.'" That one, that last one really scared her for some reason.

"You, said he was defeated?"

"Yes, by the most unassuming heroes imaginable. But it was what he almost accomplished that makes me wish I didn't have these powers. He was a star traveller, who destroyed planets as far as I could tell." I, I don't really think she understood the full scale of that, beyond sounding really bad. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite done delivering terrifying news. "Luna, he, his very SOUL was torn in half and he still had enough power to move planets across time so could he throw the home planet of the hero who stood against him as a god damn projectile before he died." And, I was getting worked up now.

"H-how, how was he defeated? How does one-"

"In an odd sort of way, I guess, he defeated himself. You see, his SOUL wasn't split evenly. Fecto, he came out of it with only most of his power, and his invasive ambitions, but his other half wasn't the same creature in body or mind." Getting to the important part now. "Fecto Elfilis was a monster, but he was not without compassion and love. It was simply something he chose to ignore. Elfilin though, he was composed entirely of his former selves positive attributes. He was a hero hidden in the body of a disaster. And he lent what little power he had to himself to help destroy Fecto and put the the planets in turmoil back into their proper places, even though it almost cost him his life... You see where I'm going with this don't you?"

"I- yes, but continue. Please."

"You were never gone Princess. You were the dream trapped inside a Nightmare, and while you may not have helped end her reign, you now have a chance to be the good you are meant to be." I idly wondered if she could see me through her tears at this point, but I had one last thing to say. "And... and if my absolutely terrifying powers are what you need to do that good, then I will lend them to you as best I can, because I now believe you are the only one who deserves it outside of Elfilin. You will never fall to a nightmare again. I promise." She looked up at me, her tears subsided just enough to give me a good look at her grateful, red eyes.

And then she tackled me. I barely kept the telekinesis up enough to avoid falling on my butt as she wrapped her front legs around my neck. I kind of, just, place one hand on her back to keep her steady and awkwardly pat the back of her head with the other. That was the right thing to do, right?

"Thank you, thank you so much... I... I don't..."

"It's okay. Really." I knew I was being impulsive, I had just met her and I still had problems of my own to solve, but I just didn't care at the moment. This was right, I felt that in my own SOUL, and I was determined to fulfill my promise. "Besides, I think this could probably help me as well, so don't worry about it alright? We'll figure out the secrets of dreams together."

"I... You're right. Thank you, again. I don't know what else to say..."

"BWAAAHAAHAAAA! IT'S SO SAD BUT IT'S SO WHOLESOME TOO!"

Luna practically flew out of my arms. She, might have actually flown. And without her head soaking my shoulder I was able to turn my head to see who the hell was crying this time.

It was Pinkie Pie, who was jostling an unfortunate Applejack next to her.

"Darn it Pinks, get control of yerself! You were suppose' ta help me find the dinin' room, not make me eavesdrop on personal stuff!"

Luna insisted at lunch that they not ask Elfilis anything about his situation until the next day, and Celestia didn't have it in her heart to turn her down. Plus, she promised to talk to her about it in private, so she left him be and instead tried to make conversation with her guests. The eldest was trying to include everypony, but even she knew that she was neglecting them in favor of talking to her sister. And she couldn't bring herself to care. Unfortunately, lunch was over far too soon. She dismissed Twilight and her friends to her students personal study, escorted Elfilis to a guest room she had prepared earlier, and finally, she was able to give Luna her own room.

She gasped as she saw the door to her new room, instantly recognizing that it was for her. She ran right up the bronze embossed image of her crescent moon and ran her hooves over it, as if to make sure it was really there. And before she knew it, Celestia was watching Luna fly around every nook and cranny of her new space, eyes wide and smile firmly upon her lips.

"It's just like I remember it, just somewhere new... Tia, how?"

"For nearly a thousand years I have kept this room secret from everypony else in the castle, for nearly a thousand years I have swept every speck of dust off of every surface before I would allow myself to sleep under your moon, and it is my wish that you will now spend another thousand here, with me, just as we used to." She became the second that day to receive a hug from the night.

"Of course sister. I would love nothing more. Nothing." Celestia lost track of how long they stayed like that, not even letting go as time came to change day into night, together, for what almost felt like the first time all over again. Soon after the stars had made their appearance however, Luna began to back out of the embrace, and Celestia let her with no small amount of reluctance. "Tia, I, I should share what we spoke to Sir Elfilis about. It could wait, but I don't want to think on this on my own."

And as Luna told the story of Fecto, of how she had made the choice to confront her fears head on, and of how Elfilis swore to help Luna reach new heights, Celestia couldn't help but let that little bud of gratitude and contentment take root in her heart.

This, she thought, this is the Luna I remember. Welcome home...

Author's Note

Life is a roller coaster and everyone has an obligation to ride.
This wrote itself, I had always intended to relate Elfilin to Luna, but it became emotional all on it's own. Which is perfect to me.
It's my opinion that if you are trying to write about the life and times of a character, then it needs to happen by itself. You can't force life.