Chapter 7: Deeper than Bone

Chapter 7

Deeper than Bone

“Are you okay, Twilight?”

Twilight Sparkle recognized her father's voice, but she could not see him. She could see nothing at all, in fact, except the image of the sun still burned into her retinas.

“I'm fine, Daddy, but I still can't see.”

“The doctor said your vision will come back. There's a specialist at the hospital here who knows some really great magic for healing eye damage, but it'll be a few days before you can see.'

“By the way,” he continued, “Princess Celestia said you saved everypony's life.” There was a warm pride in her father's voice.

“Sort of,” she replied, “but everypony saved me, too. So, I think we're all kind of even.”

“She told us that part, too.” This voice belonged to her mother, and she recognized the mare's scent as she caressed her neck with her own.

“Where is everypony, anyway,” asked Twilight. She had been alone in this hospital bed for some time, but absent her vision, she was unsure of exactly how long. “Is everypony... okay?” She had almost asked “alive,” instead, but could not bring herself to say the word.

“Just ask them,” said her father. “They're all here.”

Twilight was mauled with several hugs, one particularly hoofy, insistent one coming much later than the rest. Twilight recognized Pinkie's voice as she “ouched” her way free of the awkward embrace.

“Ms. Pie, please sit still,” said an unfamiliar female voice. “If you move too much, you could damage your spinal cord, again.”

“I know,” said Pinkie, obviously dejected at being in some way confined, presumably to a wheelchair.

“And you, Ms. Apple, have ripped open your stitches – again.”

“Why do I get the feeling,” asked Twilight, “that I should be glad I can't see everypony, right now?”

“Ah, it ain't so bad,” said Applejack, punctuating her sentence with a hacking, gasping cough that was accompanied by the sound of liquid splattering onto the floor. “Whoa! Except that, leastways.”

“Oh, sweet, merciful Luna,” said the strange voice, obviously exasperated. “You're bleeding into your stomach again, Ms Apple. I told you that you should have stayed in bed. Come with me.” There were the sounds of gentle fading hoofbeats in the hallway, followed shortly by the sound of the door opening, and a raspy male voice.

“Wow. That's impressive.”

“Are you going to clean it up,” asked Rarity, totally deadpan, “or paint a picture of it?”

“Well all he'd have to do,” said Spike's voice, “is drop a canvas on it.”

“Touche,`” said Rarity, her words followed by the sound of a mop being dipped in a bucket.

“Glad to hear you're as genteel as ever, Rarity,” said Twilight.

“Hardly,” said the unicorn. “My hip is still broken and my flank is still healing. The doctors say that it will look normal again with the help of a little magic. I must admit, though, the morphine drip they have me on is quite nice.”

“What about Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?”

“I'm right here,” said Fluttershy. “I'm a little better off than everypony else. Rainbow Dash is in the bed right next to yours, actually. She's asleep, right now”

“Is she going to be okay?” asked Twilight.

“They think so,” said Fluttershy, “but every time the poor thing wakes up, she goes into a panic, for some reason. The nurse said she woke up a few hours ago, but she was so hysterical they had to sedate her again.”

Twilight heard the janitor pony's mop drop into the bucket, and then heard the sound of him opening the door and exiting the room.

Twilight's mother spoke. “Maybe we should leave you girls alone to rest. I'm hungry, anyway.”

“Yeah, let's go see if the food in the cafeteria is any good,” said her father.

“That sounds great to me!” said Pinkie Pie “Somepony wheel me to the elevator!”

“I'll do it,” said Spike. “I'm hungry, too.”

Before anypony could move, there came the sound of the door opening once more.

“Oh, there you are, Ms. Rarity.” It was a different female voice, high and chipper. “It's time for your next round of skin grafts!”

Rarity whimpered loudly.

“Oh, I know it hurts, but you do want your cutie mark to come back, don't you?” said the voice. “Don't worry,” the voice continued, as it faded down the hallway. “With a few spells and a little surgery, you'll never be able to tell...”

Soon, the other ponies and Spike had also left, leaving Twilight alone with Fluttershy and the unconscious Rainbow Dash.

“Fluttershy, try waking Rainbow Dash up again, if you would, please. She might feel better if she saw somepony she knew.”

“Well, alright,” said the pegasus, obviously unsure of herself, as was all-too-often the case.

There were a few moments of silence, then a subdued moan from some distance to Twilight's left.

“Fluttershy?" asked Rainbow Dash's voice. "Where am I?”

“You're in the hospital. Don't move too much. Both your wings are in casts.”

“Wha...? My Wings!?" there was pure panic in the words, but the pegasus' voice calmed as she said, "Oh... Oh, thank Celestia.”

“You're glad your wings are in casts?” Fluttershy asked in confusion.

“Absolutely,” said Rainbow Dash. There was a pause, then a quick “I'll explain later.”

“Hey, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said happily. "Good to see you!”

Twilight rolled her sightless eyes. “Rub it in, why don't you?”

“Huh?”

“Twilight can't see,” said Fluttershy. “She had to stare at the sun to focus her magic, and it blinded her.”

“Is it gonna be permanent?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“No,” said Twilight, “but I won't be able to see for at least a few days. Oh well, at least I'm not by myself in here.”

“Well,” said Fluttershy, it's good to know you're both awake and okay, but I'm going to go get something to eat; it's almost time for lunch.” Twilight heard her take a few steps. Then, she stopped.

“Oh, are either of you hungry?" she asked. "I can get you something.”

“Nah,” said Rainbow Dash. “Might make me sick, with all the drugs.” But then, her stomach growled so loudly Twilight could actually hear it. “On second thought, just bring me some of whatever looks good.”

“I'd like something sweet,” said Twilight, “if you can wrestle a cupcake away from Pinkie.”

Fluttershy giggled. “I'll try.”

The door opened and shut, and the two ponies were left alone.

“I'll be right back,” said Rainbow Dash, her words followed by the sound of her putting her hooves on the floor. “Whoa! Dizzy!”

“You okay?” Twilight turned her head toward the sound of Rainbow Dash's voice, but then remembered she couldn't see.

“I'm fine,” chuckled the pegasus. “This is so not my first concussion.”

“Where are you going?” asked Twilight, a little unsettled by the idea of being left alone and sightless.

“Bathroom,” replied Rainbow Dash. “Then I'm gonna go find a book to read to you so you don't go into withdrawals.”

* * *

Three days later, six ponies hobbled out of Canterlot Hospital. Magically and medically assisted, they had all healed enough in that short time to be released, but none of them could yet walk normally. Twilight's vision still hadn't fully normalized, so that Spike had to lead her around by a set of short reigns clutched in his claw.

“I've heard of seeing eye dogs,” said Fluttershy, “but never a seeing-eye dragon.”

“Very funny,” said Twilight through teeth clenched around the bit connected to the reigns. Her friends all giggled.

“Well, what do we do now?” asked Spike.

“We go back to the castle, of course,” said Twilight. “I want to see if Princess Luna is okay. She was worse off than anypony, from what I understood.”

“You understood right,” said Pinkie Pie. “I think she broke, like, all of her bones. Seriously; all of 'em!”

“I know,” said Twilight. “I was there when it happened. She saved my life. She almost killed me in the process, but she saved my life.”

Just then, Twilight heard her brother's voice.

“Hey, Twilie! Still can't see?”

“Where is he!?” Twilight squealed, dropping the bit that secured the reign in her mouth.

“I'm right beside you,” he said, and indeed, the voice did come from immediately to her left.

She turned quickly, and noticing the big, white, blue, gold, and purple blur of her armored sibling, she reared up to embrace him with her forelegs. To her misfortune, she misjudged the distance, and would have landed flat on her face if he hadn't stepped forward to catch her.

The impact of Twilight's fractured sternum and ribs against the plated steel of her brother's barding produced a grunt of pain, but she squeezed him tightly, anyway.

“Whoa," he half-laughed. "Take it easy!”

“Where have you been?” she asked in a mildly irritable voice. “I haven't seen you since I got here!”

“I've been working. Do you know how busy Princess Luna was keeping me? And then, just when I see that Princess Celestia is back on her hooves, she brings me even more orders about different sorts of magical wards and such she wants cast and reinforced all over the city. This is my first real break in days.”

“Well, where's Cadance?”

“At the palace, with Mom, Dad, and some of your friends' families, too. All of them that live in Ponyville, anyway.”

“What? How?”

“They got word in Ponyville just yesterday of what happened, and they all came to check on you. When they got off the train and started asking where the hospital was, I had a guard there to greet them, and he told them you were all being released today. Since my shift was ending, I had him let them all know to wait at the castle while I came to get you. Before I even got here, Princess Celestia sent me a message to tell everypony to come straight there, for dinner.”

At this, Rarity almost fainted.

“Dinner with... three princesses.”

“Oh, come on, Rarity. It's not like this is anything new, these days,” said Rainbow Dash.

Rarity turned and looked at Rainbow Dash with panic in her eyes. “No, you don't understand! We're talking about dinner with three princesses, and my family is going to be there!'

She began to hyperventilate. “Put me back in the hospital!”

Rarity turned to run, and Applejack hooked a foreleg around her neck.

“Oh, no you don't. If I'm gonna take my lumps, you're gonna take yours.”

* * *

The six mares and Shining Armor entered the Castle's main hall to considerable fanfare. Mostly, the assembled relatives were just glad to see them all still alive, having been told as much of the story as Celestia had considered acceptable to let them hear.

The strongest and most immediate reaction was that of Sweetie Belle, who ran up and nuzzled Rarity's chest and lower neck. Rarity was momentarily mortified by her sister's display of affection, but when she glanced down and noticed a tiny tear at the corner of the little unicorn's eye, she abandoned all pretenses of propriety and hugged her as tightly as she could.

“Rarity! Are you all better?” Sweetie Belle asked, withdrawing slightly. “Princess Celestia said one of your cutie marks got burned off!”

Rarity winced at the memory. “Well, yes. That happened, Sweetie Belle, but the doctors fixed it with a lot of skin grafts and a few spells.”

“Wow! Looks good as new!” It was Rarity's mother. She had sauntered up beside her and was closely inspecting Rarity's flank.

“Firstly, Mother, it was the other flank. Secondly, yes, it looks normal, but the doctors said the feeling won't fully return to it for a week or two, at least. Half my bum is still pretty numb.”

Realizing what she had just said, Rarity glanced quickly at Princess Celestia, who was obviously amused. Rarity's face reddened, and Pinkie Pie's forthcoming obvservation, “Numb bum! That rhymes!” did not help the situation.

“Yes,” said Rarity. “Yes it does.” She walked slowly to her father, still limping slightly due to her damaged hip, and did her best to play off her accident of gluteal poetry with casual conversation.

The Apple family, also present, moved more slowly, clustering around the orange pony. Applebloom actually leaped into the air and landed across her sister's back, prompting a grunt of discomfort from Applejack, who still had a thick bandage wrapped around her middle.

“Careful there, sis. I've still got a hole in my gut.”

Big Macintosh gestured a hoof at the bandage with a customary “Eeeyup,” but Applebloom simply stared at him.

“You should probably get off AJ's back,” he said, but Applebloom did not move. “Before you tear out her stitches, or something.”

“Oh, sorry!” Applebloom slid to the floor, her movement prompting the hiss of Applejack sucking in a breath through clenched teeth.

“Well, it ain't as bad as that time Big Macintosh lost control of the plow up on Gallows Hill,” said Granny Smith. “Don't go plantin' nowhere meaner'n you are, I always says.”

Big Macintosh stared off into the distance and shuddered. “Eeyup.”

The Cakes were there, foals included, to check on Pinkie Pie. Of course, bringing Pound and Pumpkin along proved to be a mistake, because they effectively prevented either of their parents from being able to hold Pinkie Pie's attention for more than a couple of seconds. They gestured and giggled at Pinkie's stiff, awkward movements in her back brace, and of course Pinkie Pie was more than glad to play along by pretending to be all manner of strange, lumbering creatures.

Twilight, having already spoken to her parents and her brother, spent the bulk of her time conversing with her sister-in-law, who was overjoyed to see her.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, both being from Cloudsdale, would have been the only ponies without a greeting party if not for the good faith of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Scootaloo of course begged Rainbow Dash for any details of her exploits in the battle, and shortly thereafter, joined Sweetie Belle and Applebloom in hug-mauling Fluttershy, who was well-established as their collective favorite foal-sitter and surrogate big sister. The three girls tormented both pegasi with constant questions about what they had done and how their injuries had come to be. The little orange pegasus was especially interested in Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's stinted wings, and, of course, in Rainbow Dash's head wound. The whole scene was a tremendous relief to the strained psyches of the six little ponies.

After several minutes, Luna appeared at the top of the stairs. She was covered in bandages, each one as thickly wrapped as the single large one around Applejack's midriff, two of her legs had casts below the knee, And one of them was wrapped all the way up to the hip. Her right wing was more heavily stinted than either Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy's, and her left was wrapped in yet another thick bandage. The fragments of her horn hovered in space in front of her forehead, approximating their former shape as they slowly fused back together under the influence of magics well beyond the ken of even Twilight Sparkle.

It was Cadance who noticed her first. Luna was only a little larger than Cadance, but she was technically the Pink alicorn's aunt. As such, Cadance abruptly dropped her conversation with Twilight, and made tracks up the stairs, meeting Luna more than half-way.

“Aunt Luna! Do you need help getting down the stairs?”

“Cadance, I'll be fine.” She continued slowly making her way down the stairs, each step taking her several seconds to negotiate.

“Are you sure? I can just...”

“Cadance.” Luna said her niece's name sharply, then no more. Cadance shrank back a little.

“Luna,” said Celestia, “Would you please let her help you down the stairs? The table's already set, and I would like to eat before the food gets cold. She's just trying to help.”

“Oh, alright,” said Luna. For all Luna's newfound social graces, Celestia remained, it would seem, the only living being from whom the sapphire purple alicorn would openly accept any sort of command or advice. Even so, when Cadance wedged herself up under Luna's left wing, Luna whispered a quiet and sincere “Thank you.”

“I understand,” Cadance whispered in return. “We all have appearances to keep up, don't we?”

As the group entered the dining room and sat down, Twilight became curious about Luna's condition.

“How are you Princess Luna? I still can't see well enough to tell.”

“Well, I can sleep again, thanks to Celestia and Shining Armor placing some wards around the castle. In fact, I just woke up a few minutes ago.” She said nothing for a moment, then her eyes brightened. “Oh, and since Nightmare Moon was sundered from my soul when she was brought into our world, I don't have to drink blood, anymore!”

Every single pony at the table went dead silent, and Celestia sighed.

“Oh,” said Luna. “You didn't tell everypony, sister?”

“Hadn't gotten around to it; no.”

“Just to clarify," said Luna, "which part? The quasi-vampirism I've been hiding for the last two years, or the fact that there's an evil goddess chained up in our basement?

Luna smirked at the wave of uneasiness that washed outward over the table.

“I hate you, Luna.”

“I love you, Celestia.”

An hour later, the unease from Luna's revelations had subsided in the wake of appropriate explanations and a good meal.

“Now, I'm going to go raise the moon,” said Celestia. “Luna's horn is... temporarily out of service, as you can all see.”

“I can do my own damned job, Celestia,” said Luna, awkwardly rising from the table, and nearly collapsing.

Cadance quickly got up and wedged herself under Luna's wing, again.

“I'll just help you get outside, aunt Luna.”

“Fine,” said Luna, only the barest exasperation evident in her tone of voice.

“Thank you, Cadance,” said Celestia. “Please drag her back inside when she passes out.”

“Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Celestia.” There were scattered gasps at Luna's vulgarity.

“Luna,” said Celestia, rolling her eyes, “that doesn't make any sense.”

“It does if you're a slut,” said Luna, her voice more playful than venomous, and Cadance's pink face turned crimson red as she helped Luna out the door.

Every single pony at the table was utterly aghast, but the white horse just snickered slightly.

“Trotted right into that one, didn't I?”

“Is it...” Twilight began, furtively. “Is it always like that between you two?”

“Of course it is,” said Celestia, laughing slightly. “She's my best friend.”

“I don't get it,” said Twilight.

“For such a smart pony,” said Shining Armor, “you sure are a dumbass.”

“Never mind,” sighed Twilight. “I get it.”

“Now, if you'll pardon me,” said Celestia, “I'm going to go make sure she doesn't really pass out.” She rose from the table, and followed her sister and niece.

“Well,” said Spike, “when do we go back to Ponyville?”

“I don't think it'll be any time soon, Spike,” said Rainbow Dash. “This isn't over, yet.”

“Aww,” moaned Scootaloo. “I miss seeing you practice tricks every afternoon.”

“Well, squirt,” said Rainbow Dash, “How about I take you to the Wonderbolts show? That'll be even better.”

“Awesome!” Scootaloo jumped up in the air and fluttered her wings violently, holding herself aloft just long enough to wrap her forelegs around Rainbow Dash's torso.

“BROKEN WINGS! BROKEN WINGS!!”

“Oh, sorry,” Scootaloo dropped to the floor,

“S'okay,” said Rainbow Dash, through gritted teeth.

“If y'all ain't comin' home,” said Granny Smith, “I reckon we'll just stay on here and enjoy the city. Ain't harvest or planting season, no way. Farm'll be fine. Macintosh’s got Ms. Cheerilee checking on things for us every day.”

Big Macintosh cleared his throat, but said nothing.

“Aww,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Rarity,” said Macintosh. “Could you push your sister out of her chair?”

“Gladly.”

“Whoa!” Sweetie Belle barely caught herself in time to avoid falling face-first onto the floor.

“Aww, you should be thanking these little fillies, Big Mac,” said Applejack. “It was their...”

Big Macintosh cut her off. “There's parts of that story you don't know, AJ.”

“Well,” said Twilight, “we do need to stay here until Princess Celestia dismisses us. She may want our help, again.”

“You should all come watch the airshow with us,” said Rainbow Dash. “It's a night show; they do one every full moon.” She eased out of her chair. “How often do you get to see a Wonderbolts show at night? It’ll be fun!”

“I'm blind,” said Twilight.

“For most of us,” said Rainbow Dash.

* * *

Celestia and Luna stood outside in the Castle garden, staring upward.

“I know you were helping me move the moon, earlier,” said Luna, slowly lowering herself to the ground. She carefully positioned a cast-clad foreleg in front of her. Once she was comfortable, she spoke again, without looking at her sister's face. “Thank you.”

Celestia lay down next to her sister, but neither made any effort to look at or touch the other.

“I know what your plan was; I asked Twilight.” Celestia looked her sister in the eyes. “You do know that I'm not going to let you feed Nightmare Moon to Cenasolus, right?”

“I had a feeling you would be put off by some of the plan's... moral ambiguities.”

“Luna, she's a part of you.”

“Not anymore,” said Luna, the relief palpable in her words.

Celestia shook her head. “That's not what I meant, and you know it.”

“I'm not sure I know what you meant, at all,” Luna replied, wearily.

There was a silence that lasted at least half a minute, in which Celestia's troubled eyes moved occasionally between the glowing moon and her sister's downcast face. Finally, she asked her a question that had troubled her heart for a millennium.

“Luna... Nightmare Moon... Why does she look so much like mother?”

Luna did not respond.

“I think I already know," said the larger alicorn, "but do you?”

The silence returned, and neither alicorn looked at the other. Luna's eyes glistened slightly in the moonlight, but no tears escaped their corners.

“Mother was a beautiful mare, wasn't she?” She finally said.

“You're beautiful, too, Luna," said Celestia.

Luna said nothing for a long, long time. In the distance, the sounds of the crowd at the Wonderbolts show slowly began to swell. Finally, Luna broke the silence.

“You know... I don't even like most ponies that much.”

Celestia snorted. “I know. Believe me, I know.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “What I mean is... It never bothered me that they weren't up to enjoy the night. I liked having things mostly to myself, and the few of them that were awake were always more interesting to me than the ones that slept, anyway. Day ponies are boring.”

Celestia laughed again. “I picked up on that – I mean your opinion of that – a long time ago.” She smiled. “A long, long time ago.”

“I guess I just...” Luna stopped speaking for several seconds. “I just would have liked for them to have acknowledged me.”

“Well, Luna, I can be your sister, and I can be your friend, but I can't force anypony else... to acknowledge you. It wouldn't be right.”

“I know that. I always did. Something just...” Luna looked down and rolled a pebble beneath the cast of her more mobile forehoof, “swelled... inside me.” She flicked the pebble away. “But that's my problem to deal with; not yours.”

Celestia sighed, and looked into the moon's white glow. “I'll help you 'deal with it' however I can, Luna.”

Luna grunted, and wedged her injured legs beneath her body, levering herself upward. Even as she heard her sister straining to right herself, Celestia did not move to assist her. It was not hatred or contempt; only the observance of a long-standing rule, neither written nor spoken and rarely broken in many thousands of years.

“There's something I need to go and tend to," she said. "You can help me by staying right where you are.”

Luna Stepped into the cold, empty cell where Nightmare Moon lay, chained and still asleep under Celestia's magical influence. The big horse's wounds had been bandaged and mended in accordance with Celestia's orders – orders which Luna had thought ill-advised.

Luna focused under some strain, the fragments of her horn glowed, and the black mare's eyes opened.

“Don't bother trying anything. I had them file off your horn.”

Nightmare moon lifted her head and looked upward. Her horn was indeed gone, but for a slight stump.

“Smart girl,” said Nightmare Moon, half-heartedly.

“Yes, I thought about using it to replace my own, but the idea made me nauseous, so I just had it destroyed.”

"It's just a bit of bone, you silly girl." said Nightmare Moon, softly, her eyes tracing up the staggered, levitating column of Luna's slowly-healing horn. She managed to mix dejection and haughtiness in her expression as she spoke again.

“So, I suppose you've come to do away with me, then?” asked Nightmare Moon, her voice betraying neither fear nor anger.

“I'm afraid I cannot do that,” said Luna. “You are... a part of me, you know... as much as that may sicken you to imagine.”

“Sicken me?” Nightmare Moon chuckled. “I've known that since the beginning. You're the one who could never make peace with it.”

“Fine,” said Luna, “but that doesn't make it any less true.'

“You know,” Luna continued. “I'd love to have you cast into Tartaros where I would never see you again, but that would just be a lie. Everypony would just forget you, like before.” Luna paused. “And I would just pretend to have forgotten you, but the truth is I never could. Never in a million years. Or a billion. Never for my entire life. You'd always be there with me, no matter how much I wanted to be rid of you. That's just a part of my burden, I suppose, and I would be a liar and a fool to believe I could dismiss it.”

“Then you accept me.” There was a note in Nightmare Moon's voice Luna had never heard in it, before, and that note, Luna realized, was relief. The black horse lay down her head, and did not look at Luna again, ever. She seemed validated, somehow.

“Yes, I... I accept you, and I've thought of a place to keep you where I will always be reminded of who and what you are to me; A place where you belong.”

Nightmare Moon smiled, and it was a sad, satisfied smile, accompanied by the slow closing of her slitted, turquoise eyes.

Then the great, black mare spoke the last words she would ever speak on Earth. “Well, let's scare the hell out of all our little ponies, then.”

“Wow!!” Rainbow Dash was easily the most starry-eyed of a starry-eyed crowd.

“Can you believe that?” I bet their wings touched on that last pass!

“I know! It's so awesome!” Scootaloo's voice bore only slightly less enthusiasm than her idol's.

Twilight squinted upward. “I think the dark is helping my eyes a little. I can actually tell what's going on... kind of.”

“Yeah, my wing feels a little better,” said Fluttershy, distractedly. Even though she wasn't much of a flyer, as a pegasus, she couldn't help but feel some sense of awe at the aerobatics she was witnessing, and they kept her eyes glued to the sky.

“RIGHTEOUS!” Rainbow Dash leaped upward at a particularly impressive nosedive recovery on the part of Spitfire, and instinctively tried to flap her wings in her excitement. They jostled their stints, and she grunted in pain.

“Careful, Dashie,” said Pinkie, scarfing down some cotton candy. “Do permanent damage to those babies, and you'll never get up there with them.”

Rainbow Dash settled down slightly, but as she turned her eyes back to the sky, they spread open in amazement.

“LOOK!!” she shouted. "The... the moon."

A wave of gasps and murmurs spread outward through the crowd from where Rainbow Dash stood, and even the Wonderbolts themselves stopped dead in flight, hovering in place to look upward at whatever it was that had so astonished the crowd.

“Is that what I think it is?” asked Twilight. She squinted at the glowing orb, doing her best to bring it into focus.

“I think it's exactly what I think you think it is,” said Spike.

Somehow, amidst the spectacle of the airshow, without any single pony in the crowd being totally sure of precisely when it had happened, the Mare in the Moon had reappeared.

Only Luna ever knew what happened that night in the dungeon below Canterlot Castle. She never told a soul; not even her beloved sister. All anypony knew was that she walked out of the depths of that place with her broken body totally restored and whole. The castle guards knew also that when they checked the next morning, Nightmare Moon was simply gone. Every single pony in Equestria knew, furthermore, that that the dark goddess of the night was never seen nor heard from, again, except in the form of that horned silhouette, gazing down eternally from the silver disk that ruled the night sky.

These things they knew, and they knew no more.

When Luna reemerged into the gardens on that night, her sister Celestia was still there, looking up into the moon's pale glow. She turned her head, and Luna saw that there were tears in her eyes.

“You are who I thought... who I hoped you were,” she said.

Luna said nothing.