Full Moons and Nightmares

The night was calm, as was the breeze on the open fields South of Canterlot. They were wide open and, being far from the city itself, one could admire the entire night sky as it was alight with countless stars. The Moon shone in the sky, brilliant and full, lighting the world beneath with a pale glow.

Luna landed softly on the grassy field and looked around her, folding her wings to her side as she waited for whoever it was that had planned to meet her there.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She was nervous about all of this, and still conflicted over what her sister had told her.

Luna wanted to believe that her sister had good intentions, she truly did. She wanted to believe that Celestia was still a good pony at heart.

She let out a sigh as her eyes opened.

If Celestia truly was good, would there be ponies calling her a tyrant and seeking to overthrow her?

Luna took in and released another deep breath.

One of the reasons she came tonight was to find the answer to that.

The steady beating of feathered wings caused her to look over her shoulder, and she saw a navy blue Pegasus wearing a cloak which hid his face. He landed on the field as Luna turned to face him.

The moment he landed her knelt into a deep bow, keeping his head low to the ground in a manner which could only be described as complete and utter reverence for the Princess of the Night.

“Your Majesty, I’m so honored that you accepted our invitation,” he said, his voice was excited and nervous.

Luna looked down at the Pegasus who bowed before her, “Please, rise, there is much to discuss, I’m sure,” she said.

“Yes, yes of course your majesty, forgive me. Please, our hideout is just a little ways away from here, follow me,” he said, flapping his wings a couple times, and taking off.

The Princess of the night spread her wings as well; her expression one of calm curiosity as she too took to the skies, following close behind the mysterious Pegasus as they neared what seemed like a ruined town with a large amphitheater in the center of it.

The town was dark, and there seemed scarcely a breath of life within the entire place, many of the buildings were falling apart due to the passages of time, along with much overgrown vegetation invading through whatever crack or crevice it could find.

The Amphitheater stood out most of all, a crumbling monument in what were already ruins.

Luna noticed something else about it though. The rest of the buildings, for the most part anyways, seemed hastily put up, and as such they had quickly fallen down into rubble, but the Amphitheatre was built to last, at least a little longer than the other buildings, as if that was the only building with any true masonry skill put into it, while the rest were just an afterthought.

The Moon Princess didn’t have much more time to contemplate the environment however, as her guide landed in front of a small building off to the side of the abandoned arena. The structure seemed no more crumbled than the building it was connected to, but the door was easily removed from its place, leaving the entrance open for them.

The mysterious Pegasus bowed again to her, “Please, follow me your majesty, the others are waiting for us in the basement,” he explained, before rising and entering the building. “I apologize, we all would have liked to have a more grand place to honor your return in, but our organization isn’t as large or strong as it once was.”

Luna looked about her as she followed, keeping alert in case this turned out to be a trap. The more this pony spoke the more uncomfortable she felt in his company. His tone was an excited one, as if this was what he had been waiting his entire life for. But she grew curious as he continued, “What do you mean?” she asked, referring to his comment on the strength of him and his companions.

He stopped and turned to look at her, and she could now see his face clearly. Yellow eyes gazed back at her from beneath the hood, and a gentle smile was on his face, one which should seem friendly, but only came across as disturbing to the Moon Princess. Though if she showed any discomfort, the Pegasus either didn’t notice, or didn’t care.

“Your Majesty, The Servants of the Night have been organized shortly after your banishment by your sister a millennia ago,” he explained. “We have been waiting for the return of Nightmare Moon, so we may take Equestria from Celestia and the nobles who presume to rule over us.”

Luna felt a shiver of dread run through her as she began to understand. She made an effort to keep from showing her newfound fear, and managed to keep calm as he continued on.

“Our numbers began to fall away as more and more ponies lost faith in your return, but now,” he said, his tone getting more excited, “Those fools will see that you have truly returned, Nightmare Moon is back, and the truly faithful will flock to us!”

The Alicorn found it all the more difficult to hold herself with a mask of regal poise. What the stallion was telling her made her heart sink.

The Pegasus started to calm himself, “Forgive me, Majesty, I’m told I can get somewhat worked up, please, we will explain more when we speak with the others.” With that, he turned and continued to lead her down a set of stairs which led to the basement, and judging how far they went, she had to guess they were under the amphitheater.

They were soon in a mostly empty room, save for a small table, at which sat five ponies, three of them earth ponies, two of which were mares, and each one a varying shade of green. There was also a yellow unicorn, and the last was a rust colored Pegasus.

Something else notable about the room were a number of rusted and decrepit cages which were strewn about, though Luna doubted any were used recently, it only made her feel less comfortable in this place.

The ponies, as soon as they noticed they weren’t alone, turned to face their companion and the Princess, before they all bowed as one to the Night Princess. “Your Majesty,” the Unicorn was the first to speak, “It brings us much joy to finally be in your presence.”

Luna nodded, “You may all rise, we must speak with thee on certain matters,” she said, using the ‘royal we’ to give her words more authority, even though she felt these ponies would eagerly jump at her command.

They rose and the unicorn nodded, “Of course, there will be much to do in the nights ahead, we must plan carefully. I am Moon Glow, your Highness,” He said, introducing himself.

“Actually, we have a few questions,” Luna interrupted. “Before we….. Accept your service, Moon Glow; there are things we must know.”

The unicorn nodded eagerly, “Yes, we will answer whatever you ask of us.”

Luna nodded as well, and thought for a moment, considering carefully her first question. “What, in your mind, makes you consider Celestia a tyrant?” she asked.

The assembled ponies looked to one another; seemingly confused by the question, as one would be by a question they thought the answer was obvious.

Moon Glow recovered first, and smiled, seeming to take the question as some form of test, he answered, “We know the stories of what happened, they were told to us by our forefathers, they said Celestia banished her sister, Nightmare Moon to the Moon to take complete control of Equestria for herself.”

Luna was surprised by this, but again, controlled her reaction. The story these ponies were told was outlandish to say the least. But still, Luna felt that she wished it was so. Her thoughts went back to a thousand years ago when her jealousy had caused her to become Nightmare Moon.

Luna resisted the urge to shake her head.

No, she was the instigator all those years ago, her sister only did what she had to, and she wouldn’t let that bitterness in her heart again. But her own past was not what brought her here.

“I see, and have there been other crimes?” Luna inquired.

The Unicorn seemed somewhat taken aback by this question, but seemed to laugh it off, “Your Highness, surely her crimes against you should be enough, we needn’t list every offense she has committed against the truly faithful to see what our course of action should be.”

Luna narrowed her eyes, and spoke her next question, still seeking to understand what her sister had done, “What of the humans?” she asked, wanting to what this group thought about slavery.

Moon Glow smiled brightly, “I knew you would consider the same thing we have,” he said, failing to contain his glee. He looked to his companions and nodded, and then walked towards a wooden door off to the side of the room, “Please, follow me, I’ll show you our plan.”

A chill ran through Luna and she felt her blood run cold. Something about that door gave her a fair deal of trepidation, but she nodded, keeping her features steeled.

Using his magic, Moon Glow opened the door and walked in, his companions and the Princess following behind him.

The cold chill felt like a block of ice now as Luna saw what was in the room.

Several large cages and cells filled the large room, and they held dozens of humans in varying conditions, mostly dirty and fearful. Most of them seemed to withdraw from the ponies as they entered the room, crowding whatever corners were furthest from them.

Luna looked wide eyed and shocked at Moon Glow, who was looking at the humans with a proud smile. “Isn’t it magnificent?” he asked her, not looking to see her reaction. “We plan to use them as soldiers against the Tyrant Sun, I’ve experimented with mind control spells to get them to do what we want, though that is proving difficult, but with your help Your Majesty we can have an army of them.”

The response was as cold as a Wendigo’s breath, “No.”

Moon Glow turned to face her, his expression shocked as he looked at the Night Princess who seemed to shake with fury.

“Release them, now.”

The group stared at her, growing fearful of her. One of the Earth Pony mares stuttered out a response, “B-but Nightmare Moon….”

“I AM NOT NIGHTMARE MOON!!!” Luna shouted, and the cages seemed to shake from it.

The conspirators were once again frozen in shock, but now for another reason.

The Pegasus who guided her there mumbled out, “N-not Nightmare Moon?”

Moon Glow recovered from his shock first, gritting his teeth, they nearly cracked as he growled out, “Deceiver.” His own fury made him grow bold as he called to his companions, “We’ve been deceived! Capture her! We will bring our lady back!”

The group, emboldened to foolish bravery, attempted to restrain the Moon Princess, who released a burst of magic, sending the six of them flying back somewhat, though most of them were able to quickly regain their footing.

Moon Glow reasserted himself, and charged at Luna once more, also charging up a spell in his horn.

Her eyes glowing white, Luna fired a wave of magic, dispelling whatever the unicorn was attempting to cast, as well as knock him back into the bars of one of the cages.

He got back up, growling and cursing as Luna slowly walked towards him, “Damn you,” he muttered, glaring at her as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. “Damn you!” he said again, louder. “Damn you and that Tyrant Sun!”

Rage took her as Luna’s eyes once more went ablaze with white as her horn glowed, encasing the unicorn in magic, lifting him up and putting him against the bars of cage he had been knocked against, and sliding him up.

“You shall never speak of our sister that way again.” Her voice was a mix of calm anger that would frighten the bravest of stallions.

Moon Glow felt pressure on his neck as his limbs tried in vain to struggle free of her telekinetic grasp.

There was a sickening crack and his body went limp, and was soon after dropped to the floor.

The other five Nightmare worshipers shuddered in fear, and managed to regain their composure enough to bolt out the door as fast as they could, running to whatever refuge they may find in the night outside.

Luna paid them no mind, and stared down at the body of Moon Glow, and choked down the bile rising in her throat.

She had not meant to take things so far, even if he may have deserved it, the Princess of the Night had only been forced to take the lives of others on very few occasions.

And it never became easy.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself and to stop her body from shaking, she went to work locating the key to the cells of the humans.

Finding it on a nearby wall, she smiled and moved it from cell to cell, opening each door.

She was perplexed when she noted that not a single human had moved from their spot. None had come out and just stared at her with fear from the corners of their cages.

Luna narrowed her eyes and entered one of the cages, approached what appeared to be a female human, holding a small child of the species close to her.

The princess tried to smile to attempt to bring comfort to them, and reached out with a hoof, only for the woman to cry out and hold the child closer to her as she recoiled as if awaiting a killing blow.

Luna froze and a sad frown graced her features.

Lowering her hoof, the Moon Princess turned and exited the room, feeling somewhat at a loss for what to do.

…………..

Returning back to Canterlot and to her room, with nopony any the wiser of her activities, Luna sighed heavily as she tried to take stock of what had just occurred.

The Rebel Group that had contacted her was merely a remnant of zealous Nightmare Moon worshipers, hoping she would lead them to a promised Eternal Night, the only action of Celestia’s they seemed to care about was Nightmare Moon’s banishment, and humans were only useful as a means to an end.

Luna huffed as she thought about the humans, and her own actions back at that hideout.

Moon Glow had just made her so angry, both from what he was doing with the humans and what she called her and Celestia.

It would only be natural that the humans there would fear a pony who would kill so brutally, even if it was to their former tormentor.

She had left them there alone, maybe they would come out in their own time, but now that Luna thought of it, where would they even go? Maybe they knew they had no place else to go to and that’s why they didn’t come out of their cages.

Luna thought again to when she spoke with Celestia, and how her sister had asked for her help in making humans free.

‘Why would she need to ask for help?’ she thought to herself, as she looked to the clock on the wall. Four in the morning, in the decline of summer, the sun wouldn’t be out for at least another hour, but Celestia would be up soon.

“Not soon enough,” Luna said to herself as she closed her eyes and began to concentrate, intent on locating her sister’s dreams to speak with her there.

……….

Luna found herself in the ever flowing and shifting ether that was the dreamscape.

She was getting reacquainted with the practice of dream walking, something she used to do only sparingly before her banishment, and was unable to do during it.

Likely a good thing, as Nightmare Moon would have likely brought terrible visions to the minds of ponies.

Looking about, she saw the intertwining energies which pulsated with light, which would suggest pleasant and happy dreams, while dull colors were the energies of those who were sleeping dreamlessly.

Then there were what resembled chaotic storm clouds, showing that the pony it belonged to was having a Nightmare.

The Princess of the Night wished a silent apology to the ponies they belonged to. She was too busy to aid them in their dreams this night.

Luna searched until she found the familiar energy of her sister, and actually became curious when she saw her energy was a soft blue. It was a rare signature to come across, but familiar enough for the dream walking Alicorn.

Celestia was reliving a memory.

Concentrating further, Luna entered the sleeping mind of her sister.

……….

Luna found herself in Celestia’s bed chamber, though Celestia was nowhere to be seen at the time. Luna blended herself into the background of the dream as she waited for it to play out for her.

Soon, Celestia came into her room, and was looking at herself in the mirror, her face aglow with a bright and cheerful smile, as she took a quick glance at the clock. Knowing the time was drawing near, her horn lit up, and in a flash, the Celestia Luna knew was gone, and in her place stood a human female, with multi colored hair cascading down her back, a pair of luxurious alabaster wings on her back, and a horn, matching in color protruding from her forehead.

Luna didn’t have much to compare to, other than the other human female she had seen in the cage earlier that night, but this human seemed much more voluptuous, her hips were wide and her bare bosom was quite ample.

While the younger Princess didn’t know what counted as beautiful by human standards, the human form which Celestia took was very likely exactly that.

Luna knew that Celestia had just used magic to change herself into a human, but the question now was, why?

“Princess Celestia?” A voice from the door called, “Prince Taelon of the human Kingdom is here to see you,” it said.

“Send him in,” Celestia called, a smile on her face as she waited.

From her hiding place, Luna’s eyes widened. ‘Oh good and merciful Maker, no.’

She most certainly didn’t want to witness her sister in this form of dream.

The door opened and revealed a young human male, dressed in what looked to be dress armor of some kind. He also had a short cut mane of dark brown hair.

He closed the door behind him, and then seemed to notice that he wasn’t the only ‘human’ in the room.

It was as if his brain took a moment to catch up with what he was seeing, and his heterochromia eyes went as wide as dinner plates and his face became a shade of red which could match that of rubies. It would seem he was just as shocked as Luna was.

The human Celestia soon found herself laughing loudly and near hysterically at the expression on the Prince’s face, “By your expression, I take it I did an admirable job recreating the human form,” she said, controlling her laughter to a mere chuckle.

Averting his gaze, the Prince took a moment to find his voice, “It seems magic can do many interesting things,” he said, there seemed to be an actual struggle to keep his eyes off of the transformed Princess.

Celestia smiled gently to the Prince, “I wished to surprise you with this, I suppose I did just that,” she chuckled again.

The Prince nodded, “Perhaps your understanding of human etiquette is a bit lacking,” he commented.

Celestia tilted her head to the side, “What do you mean, Taelon?” she asked him.

His face still a flush, the Prince looked at her again, “For humans it’s not exactly normal to be naked unless….. well, the two involved are of an intimate nature,” he tried to explain.

Realization hit Celestia, and while she herself did blush as well, it sent her into another fit of giggles. “I see,” she said. Looking down at her form, she let out a sigh, and then looked to her fellow royal.

Luna couldn’t see the expression on her face given where she was viewing from, but seeing the Prince’s blush darken, she could only imagine.

“Would you say I’m beautiful as I am, Taelon?” she asked him, taking a step closer.

The poor Prince seemed like he wished to retreat from the situation, and found he couldn’t speak, until Celestia was mere inches from him.

Celestia then snorted and burst out laughing once more, her laughter almost musical, “Forgive me, Taelon, I find it difficult to keep myself from teasing you like this from time to time.”

The human looked to the floor and grumbled slightly, his blush now probably more towards embarrassment than before. “You act like a child sometimes, Celestia.”

Luna would have to agree.

Another giggle, Celestia’s hand covering her mouth, “I know, I’m nearly a thousand years old, and still I still can’t help myself sometimes.”

“But, you didn’t answer my question,” she continued, turning around and giving the human some space, “Is the human form I took beautiful?” she asked him, looking back at him over her shoulder.

Luna could see the playful expression at her sister’s face, and she rolled her eyes, ‘You need to grow up one day, Tia.’

The Prince did an admirable job of regaining his composure, and let out a breath, “You’ve always been beautiful, Celestia.”

It was the Princess’ turn to blush this time, though she composed herself much faster than her friend, “Well, aren’t you charming?” she shot back, turning around and with a glow of her horn she returned to her true form in a flash of light.

Prince Taelon managed to smile back at her as the Princess approached him, and put her forelegs around him in a friendly embrace.

Luna noticed as a ripple went through the dreamscape, and she looked around. She knew that something like that meant the nature of the dream was changing, and she found out to what when she looked back to her sister and the Prince.

Celestia’s eyes were wide in horror as she held the limp form of Prince Taelon in her hooves, muttering ‘no’ over and over to herself.

The Princess of the Night felt her heart ache at the sight of her sister in anguish, when suddenly the world around them shattered and became engulfed in darkness.

Gone was the body of the Prince, and Celestia found herself struggling to fly in the empty black space, when suddenly countless lengths of chain erupted from below, and entangled her.

She let out a startled cry as she tried to fly up and away from them, but more shot up and bound her wings.

Looking down, Luna saw what was pulling Celestia down into the inky abyss.

Countless humans hung from the lengths of chains, all bound and wailing, their teeth gnashing. In their own anguish some of them were biting the chains which bound them to the Princess, even as the Sun diarch struggled.

Luna looked on, aghast at the nightmare which Celestia’s happy memory devolved into, and then Celestia saw Luna, and their eyes locked onto each others.

What Luna saw was a mix of terror and confusion, but not at the situation that was playing out, but at the revelation that the Night Princess had seen all of this.

At that moment, a chain nose wrapped around her neck, and she was pulled down with the mass of humans into darkness, and then the dreamscape shattered around them.

…………….

Luna was back into her own body, and she knew that Celestia was awake now as well.

Standing up, she made her way to the hallway, and quickly towards her sister’s chambers.

…………..

When she arrived, Celestia had already gotten out of her bed, and was adorning herself with her regalia, her back facing the door.

“So….. you saw.” The Sun Princess said.

The younger sister was silent, and nodded, “Yes,” was her succinct reply.

The following silence seemed to last an eternity, before Luna once again broke it, “How often do you have that dream?” she asked her.

Celestia placed her crown upon her head, still not looking at her sister, “Not as often as I used to.”

“Tia….”

Celestia turned to face her, “I already said so, the events which led to the enslavement of humans were all my doing, and as such it is my responsibility,” she said, her face one of determination.

“I know what you said,” Luna replied, “But why do you not simply command that they be released, surely this council would not be so bold as to ignore a decree by both of us,” she reasoned, though the edge from the last time they spoke of this was gone.

The older sister looked once again to the floor, “Slavery is a thorn in the heart of humans and equestrian’s alike, and while it is tempting to just pull it free and be rid of it, we could cause more harm than good by doing so.”

Luna shook her head, “So you plan to do nothing?” she asked, growing annoyed once more with her sister. “Isn’t that what led to this?”

Celestia’s wings ruffled at her sister’s words, and she looked up to meet her gaze, “Luna,” she started. “My original plan was to placate the council with enslaving the humans, and I had wanted to capture Taelon personally so I could keep him safe and perhaps come up with a plan to make things right later on,” she said. “Then he…….”

“He’d rather die than spend any time as a slave,” Luna finished.

Her sister nodded her head, “Yes, and…… I realized my mistake the moment he went over the balcony,” she said. “And seeing him broken on the ground broke my heart.” She was holding back tears as she remembered that night. “I gave up that night and thought my ponies had been corrupted truly and forever due to my short sightedness. I gave up on everything, including my little ponies. I withdrew into myself, and only moved the sun and moon from then on.”

Then to Luna’s surprise, Celestia smiled, “Giving up hope was my most recent, and hopefully my last, great mistake, for it’s something I shouldn’t have done. It took time, but the hearts of ponies change, and one idea can become a belief that changes everything. You see, there was a time we had blood sports, and watched the humans fight one another for our entertainment.”

Celestia snorted, “I hated it, but every once in a while, I would go to see it, to remind myself of what I had done.”

“Then one day, a group of Pegasi started spreading the idea that to watch creatures fight one another for sport, even slaves or animals, was beastly and uncivilized, I don’t know if they really cared about humans, but after a few months the movement grew stronger, until even the council had to put it into law, that gladiatorial games, would be banned from then on.”

Luna tilted her head curious as to what her sister was getting at.

Celestia’s smile widened, “Humans shall be free one day, with or without our help, what I seek to do, is make sure that process is as painless as possible, to make sure that as few ponies and humans get hurt as I possibly can, so that when this thorn is finally pulled, the wound won’t bleed so much, so the scar won’t be so large.”

Luna scowled, but she could see some wisdom in her sister’s methods, though that didn’t make her happy. “What makes you so sure that ponies are going to abolish slavery on their own?” she asked.

Celestia grabbed a brush with her magic and began to ride her mane of bed head, “Pegasi seem to make natural abolitionists, as most don’t see a need for slaves, especially nowadays. Whether through a genuine sense of justice or their own arrogance of superiority, there are large organized groups of them, some even with Unicorn or Earth Pony members, either lobbying for increases of human rights or some form of freedom.”

“Unfortunately they face opposition from much wealthier and much more powerful groups, and some of their arguments have merit,” she said as she finished brushing her mane.

“What do you mean?” Luna asked, growing only more puzzled.

“Slavery is an integrated part of our economic power, we harvest more crops than ever due to the large plantations, as well as the mineral wealth from mining and rock farming,” Celestia explained, having finished getting ready for the day, she sat on the floor, to continue her conversation.

“Then there is the question of what compensation the former owners should receive, and where the humans would go, what rights they would be allowed. There are many questions to be asked, and most of the council doesn’t care to speak of it.”

Luna took a seat opposite of her sister, as she had done some nights ago. “And you still think things would just change by themselves?”

Celestia chuckled, “Not by Magic, if that’s what you mean, let’s just say that I have a friend or two in the right places to help,” she said. “It may have taken me to the banning of the Blood Games to realize things can be made right again, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been resting on my laurels since then.”

Luna sighed, somewhat exasperated, likely due to her own exhaustion from the night’s events, or perhaps even in part due to relief that her sister seemed to have an actual plan. “Who are they, exactly?” she asked.

“I’ll introduce you to them in time,” Celestia said, “One is Gallant Knight, he is the current Councilor of the Interior,” she said. “Currently the only member of the High Council who believes humans should be free.”

“And the other?” Luna inquired, though she was curious with the news that one of the Council maybe apparently honorable.

“Well,” Celestia started, “They’re the leader of a group of humans and ponies who are acting as a liberation force,” she told her.

Luna’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. If the fact that someone on the Council could be considered an ally was a shock, than this was truly a revelation. “You’re aiding a rebel faction, in your own kingdom?” she balked.

Celestia look up at the ceiling with a faux look of cluelessness, “Would the correct term for that be High Treason?” she asked.

Luna stared at her, her eyes narrowing, before she sighed. Then the thought hit her, “Tia, if…. I knew where some humans were, that did not have owners, would your friend get them and keep them safe?” she asked.

Celestia tilted her head to the side, “Do you, Luna?” she asked her.

With another sigh, Luna told her older sister everything of the night’s events; The Nightmare Moon cult, the caged humans, even when she killed Moon Glow. “But when I sought to lead them out of their cages….. she just recoiled in fear.”

“I see,” Celestia thought, her playful attitude from earlier, sobered by the news from her sister. “Yes, I’ll send them a letter as soon as I can, and they’ll keep them safe.”

“Thank you Tia,” Luna said, glad to have gotten that off of her chest. She stifled a yawn, and blinked a few times.

The Sun Diarch smiled gently to her, “You’ve had a long night, it seems, would you like me to lower the moon for you this morning?” she asked.

Luna shook her head, “I will not shirk my duties anymore,” she said, looking at the clock.

There were a few more minutes before dawn.

“Tia, may I ask you a slightly more personal question?” she asked.

Celestia nodded, “I suppose, it would depend what it is.”

“The human Prince, Taelon, what was he to you?” Luna asked, looking closely at her sister’s expression.

Celestia looked to the side of the room, as if trying to hide her expression, “You must be referring to the first part of my dream,” she said, a gentle chuckle, with maybe a hint of nervousness, echoed from her.

“I was just teasing him, you wouldn’t imagine how funny it was at the time, seeing an experienced commander of soldiers like him blush like a school colt.”

“Did you love him?” Luna asked, her own expression was like a stone mask.

The mirthful laugh stopped and Celestia looked to the floor, though a sad smile remained. She muttered a soft “Yes,” in response.

“Did you…..”

“He never knew,” Celestia quickly interrupted. “I never told him.”

Luna just stared at her sister, and nodded, before standing up, “I’m sorry Celestia,” she said. “I’m going to lower the moon now, so you may raise the sun,” she said, walking towards the balcony, before stopping in her tracks.

“Tia,” she spoke up again, looking over her shoulder at her sister.

Celestia looked up at her.

“Something I noticed from your dream, Prince Taelon, his eyes were two different colors,” she mentioned, getting a nod in response from Celestia.

“I recall Twilight Sparkle’s human to have similar eyes, could the two of them be related in some way?”

Celestia looked deep in thought for a moment, “I don’t know, Taelon never mentioned having any siblings or children, or even being married, but it’s possible I suppose.”

Luna nodded, and continued to do her royal duty.

Celestia then looked to the floor, remembering when she had asked Taelon about his eyes herself.

……………..

“My Eyes?” The Prince asked, looking up from the Equestrian Book he was reading from.

Celestia nodded as she was writing down notes of translating their written languages, “Yes, are they a symbol of your Royalty? Or a sign of some sort?”

Taelon smiled, “I guess you could say they’re a sign, you see, to my people, when a child is born with different color eyes, it’s an omen, to signify that there will be great change, either for great fortune or great ill,” he said. “Seeing as my people have found a new home and good friends,” He grinned wide at her, “I’d say my eyes are a sign of the former.”

The Prince and Princess shared a happy laugh.

……………

Celestia couldn’t help but smile to herself, “A sign of change,” she said quietly, before getting up and following her sister.

Author's Note

Wow, it has been too long, and I am amazed at how fast this one came to me. It went from a few hundred words to my longest chapter yet in the course of a week.
I think I can confidently say the hiatus is over, and while I can’t promise when the next chapter will be out, I can say that it will be focusing once more on Twilight and Chains.
Till next time, I hope you all found something to enjoy in this chapter.