Chapter 1: I Didn't Really Miss You
The Shadow Realm. A place of fear and terror far beyond what any sane pony could conjure. Monstrous creations and figures roam the barren landscape, intent on evoking pain and suffering to anycreature they come across. As its namesake suggests, practically every inch serves to cloak these wandering abominations. And the Princess of Equestria, regardless of how unworthy she is of that title, has been attempting to escape this wretched world for hours.
“Stupid bucking Elements. Stupid bucking calculations. And stupid, bucking, LULU!” Celestia seethes, trotting aimlessly in the dark. She had miscalculated the return of her sister, and had been sent to this Faust forsaken realm for her inaccuracies. Her! The sole essence of Equestria! Without her, her ponies would be running around like headless chickens, with no sense of how to run the country!
Absolutely livid, she regards the ten moons hovering in the dark before thundering the sky with the most ear-piercing screech she could produce.
“I’M THE BUCKING PRINCESS OF THE SUN!! HOW DARE YOU LOCK ME AWAY IN THIS HORRID PLACE!!”
Just then, her danger sense spell kicks in, alerting her to a giant shadow creature looming behind her. These beasts terrify her, as much as she hates to admit. She turns around, only managing to see the silhouette of the shadow, before, with a lit horn, replacing the darkness around her with a flash of blinding light, effectively scaring the monster and causing it to scurry away. That was a close call. How much more of this madness will she have to endure?
“You will pay for this sister. No pony mocks me. No. Pony.”
Covered from head to hoof in lacerations and bruises, the Princess lights her horn once more, producing her final spell and exhausting the last of her mana reserves. With no way to defend herself now, she needs to instead wait for her student to defeat Luna.
Celestia was never adept with magic. Sure, she may raise and lower the sun, which takes a lot of mana, yet it's simply that, an expenditure of mana. The only reason she's able to accomplish it is because of the extreme amount of magic alicorns keep stored. Her proficiency in combat magics or any extremely advanced spells is surpassed by the likes of the Sparkle siblings. Instead, her mastery is relegated to teleportation, language translation, levitation, and her only signature spell, Luminous Flux.
There was nothing special about that simple light spell, yet everypony praised her for it, comparing her to a literal goddess. She can bend the very fabric of light physics? She must be Divine! She is not such, yet her little ponies fuel her ego, revering her for the nothing she is and has done. She’d known nothing but praise after Luna's sentence, nothing but smiling and waving, putting forth the front of a competent ruler while being nothing but a hoax. As such, she’d refused to learn anything else that didn't help her keep the throne.
And now her decision to disregard learning more spells is going to be the end of her.
‘I was expecting to die to an assassination attempt, not to this’ She tells herself, backing up against nothing. She is completely surrounded, she knows it. She can't even fly, her hubris having cost her her wings, now naught but mangled masses of feathers and blood. “Fine, you win this time, sister. Keep busy while Harmony resurrects me. And don't tell my student anything… I think that's it. Goodbye Equestria.”
Spitting her dying wish out to the shadows around her, she closes her eyes and braces for Death’s embrace, the handsome stallion he.
“If the princess has taught me anything, Nightmare Moon, it's that I have to fight for what I believe is right. And I know what you're telling me is not. I can't do anything to you, but I don't need to. The Elements will decide your fate,” said a very confident Twilight Sparkle, the supposed prodigy of Celestia.
Luna did not expect this level of rejection from the Element bearers. She tried to reason with them, and yet none had even considered her story, that Fluttershy pony– the Element of kindness of all things– included. Maybe it was her armor that made her appear untrustworthy, or her new look? Either way, it seems that Cel got to them before she could. Indeed, she knew that her sister could not harbor the power of the elements by herself. So she would need to find others to possess them in her wake.
The chances of all six ponies hailing from Ponyville of all places, though, was extremely low. So Luna wondered if Celestia somehow staged the entire ordeal. But none of that matters now, as the bearers activate their harmonic artifacts. There’s nothing she can do but sigh in disappointment. This is not how she imagined her return to go. But then again, what did she expect?
“So close, yet so far. Hold on my precious foals, I’ll see you soon…” the empowered alicorn whispers as she accepts her fate to the Elements’ beam of “purification”.
Opening her lavender eyes, the elder sister looks around the great expanse, a familiar tint of white welcoming her. Once again, she has died. Once again, she'll have to beg Harmony for help. Waiting (im)patiently in the void, she’s suddenly startled by the very vocalization she expected to hear.
“How many more times must you fall, Incompetent Sister? How many more times shall you be sent here, ever eager to begin anew?” an unknown and indistinguishable voice echoes all around Celestia, seemingly coming from every direction at once.
“I will not rest until I get my perfect ending, Harmony.” The alicorn regards the disembodied voice with an ever so slight hint of disdain.
“Hmm, interesting. And yet you feel as if you will complete this goal? Your sister is far more worthy than you of spreading my influence. You ran out of time to uphold my end of the deal, Incompetent One,” Harmony answers apathetically.
“Please, you know how much I hate being seen as weak. One last chance. Just one more. I will achieve what you seek. No games, no tricks. Only results.”
After some time, Harmony rejoins the conversation. “And what makes you think that I’ll give you this last chance?”
Squeezing her eyes shut and suppressing her pride, the alicorn tears slightly at the humiliation of the answer she was about to give. Yet, for the sake of her own future, she will prostrate herself once more. “Because I’m the only pony willing to do whatever it takes”
Minutes go by as Celestia awaits a response, the air becoming tense. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Harmony speaks, in that disembodied and eerie voice of its. “Hmm. Very well then. You have one chance remaining. And next time, I won’t be so lenient. Consider yourself lucky, Incompetent Sister.”
Suddenly, Celestia feels every muscle and scrap of tissue that constitutes her very form being pulled and torn from her. Searing pain? No way to scream? Like she’s being dragged across the very surface of her own sun? All of these descriptions feel about right. Eventually, her short suffering ends, and with the knowledge of where her prized pupil is, directs herself towards the castle ruins of the Two Sisters as the all-too-familiar rays of sunlight she had come to know fondly crested the horizon.
“You know Twilight, ah thought you were spoutin’ a bunch o’ hooey, but ah reckon we really do resemble the elements of friendship,” the orange farm mare said in amusement to her new friend.
“Indeed you do,” spoke a regal and elegant voice, a very recognizable one, the very epitome of leadership and dignity…
Entering through a broken window in the throne room like sunlight itself, Celestia blinds everypony with her very presence. Soon, she feels herself being put back together, and a sigh of relief escapes her now corporeal lips. Eventually, her body finishes reforming and she regards the room with her signature predatory stance: wings spread to intimidate, and gaze directed high for vigilance.
Scanning the throne room, her gaze finally comes across the figure of her sister, lying atop a mound of rubble in all her radiant glory. Upon catching a glimpse of her, Celestia involuntarily reveals her true self. For only a split second, her true form was unleashed, a wicked grin spread across her face, as the heinous creature shook with sadistic glee. But as quickly as it came, it departed. The sight had just confirmed that the pest had been dealt with after all.
As she shifted her gaze towards her subjects, she reverted back to a neutral posture, and all those present began to bow down to their superior. All except one. “Princess Celestia!” the student exclaimed, practically bounding into her mentor with a smile and nuzzle of admiration.
Catching her student in her embrace, Celestia smiles fondly. She is one of the only ponies left that the solar Princess still cares about. If anything, Celestia sees a part of herself in Twilight. The same mannerisms, strict timekeeping, eagerness to be admired, zealousness of her work, and now, a wielder of the most powerful artifact known to ponykind. It's that same zeal, however, that Celestia has always retained a close eye on. Regardless, the princess still treats the unicorn as if she were her own.
If sending her out on a death mission was anything to go by.
“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it.”
In all honesty, the princess didn't know if Twilight had had it in her to pull it off. She had faith in her, sure. The Elements literally have the cutie marks of the six present, and she made sure that her student would befriend them all. Yet, even after everything she'd been through with Twilight, she still finds it hard to trust in anypony other than herself.
Confused, the lavender unicorn looks up at Celestia. “But you told me it was all an old pony tale.”
“I said you needed to make friends, nothing more” The alicorn lies.
Yep. That ‘purification’ beam hurt just like she remembered. She’s definitely going to feel it in the morning. Attempting to adjust her position, Luna finds the simple act of moving to be a trial, let alone stand and confront her sister. So she just lies there, on the cold cracked stone, eyes closed and listening in on the lies Cel is filling the poor mares’ heads with. There's nothing she can do to counter, having already been determined to be evil and untrustworthy. Defeated, she sighs and continues to rest her aching body.
“I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her,” Celestia admits, regarding her student and the others with a proud smirk. “But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your hearts.”
Heh, and now she's going to say something along the lines of, ‘If only somepony else had as well’.
“Now, if only another will as well,” says the heinous creature, the disgusting and rotten sack of alabaster fur.
Sh*t. Why'd she have to be right? Now she regrets her decision of predicting the predictable Celestia.
Heading over to the now alert Luna, the walking disease regards her grounded sister with a heckling smirk, just to rub her win in her face. “Princess Luna. It has been a thousand years since I last saw you like this. It is high time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule… together, little sister.”
That word seemed to almost catch in her throat, and when it exited her mouth, it elicited a visible grimace, as though the very sound carried with it a fetid aftertaste. It was almost as if… Yep, she's still a b*tch, even after all these years. She hadn't matured, it seems. Rather unfitting for an all powerful, nigh omnipotent solar goddess, doncha’ think?
Ten decades on her glorious satellite may have rendered Luna a tad insane, but even she can tell that Celestia still resentments her.
“Will you accept my friendship?”
What to do, what to do. Facing away from her sister– and inadvertently causing the other six ponies in the room to lean in in anticipation of her answer– the small Princess contemplates her next move. Even with the thousands of possibilities drifting around in her mind, she knows there’s only one that will keep her intentions hidden, and will ultimately help her find them. After all, she can’t trust her walking headache of a sister to speak the truth now, can she?
It is then, with great determination and resolve, that she puts forth her greatest plan of all time, a true measure of her cunning and tactical prowess, a plan so dastardly and stupid that she has no doubt it will work.
So a hug it is, followed by an “I'm so sorry!” and a good dose of, “I missed you so much big sister!”, accompanied by a bit of wailing, many empty hearted nuzzles, and the most adorably remorseful expression she could muster. Luna used deception, and it's very effective.
Everypony present takes the bait, the sun horse especially. “I've missed you too,” the larger pony feigns.
It has been a good few hours since Luna was defeate- I mean, set back. Celestia had taken her back to the castle, the new one that resides in the surprisingly beautiful city of Canterlot. Celestia had reluctantly bestowed Luna the rights of a royal once more, but had had a few reservations. Once she recovered from her defea- challenge, the Lunar Princess would likely carry out her revenge, but the benefit of having her do the brunt of a royal’s daily tasks far outweighed the possibility of an angry mother getting even, thought Celestia. ‘She is fast, but not fast enough. She missed the Swanifying deadline, after all. She could use the extra hooves.’
So, within the first hour of being reinstated as royalty once more, Luna had been assigned two thousand and fifteen pages of petitions and requests by nobles, three meetings with foreign representatives, two hours of learning about modern Equestria with Cel’s favorite little purple minion– whom apparently holds no resentment towards her–, and four grueling hours of nopony showing up to Night Court. All that said, she was up into the wee hours of the day.
Having been unable to take a bath since the morning, coupled with the absurd amount of tasks she had been burdened with, the young diarch could only summarize her day in one word.
Fan-bucking-tastic.
With Night Court finally concluded, Luna proceeds to trot down the hallway towards the guest room she would be sleeping in for the foreseeable future. Unlike her sister, Luna’s locks of light cerulean rest along her face rather than flow in a nonexistent wind, and instead of the midnight blue she preferred her coat to be, it was a deep azure.
These traits are the result of Luna being currently unable to house her own magic. It is a failsafe the Elements had created to keep her from “attempting to overthrow” Celestia again, and wouldn’t be removed until the Elements deemed her “safe” once more. She has been like this before, when she first transformed into the “Mare of Malice”. What they don’t tell you in history books, however, is that Cel had used the Elements twice on Luna, one for stripping away all her mana, and the other for sending her to her moon. Based on previous knowledge, said failsafe will remain for the next two or three weeks.
Walking across the polished marble, Luna notices a good few stained glass windows adorning the walls. Drawing her attention to the decorations, she concludes that many of these windows depict minor events, like a pink pegasus ascending into alicornhood, a purple filly earning her cutie mark, the same purple filly studying with Celestia, and once more, the exact same purple pony levitating in the air with some others, surroundin-
‘Wait a minute’
Stopping in her tracks, Luna takes a moment to allow her shock to go away. Of course Cel would immortalize the moment she took everything from her younger sister, yet again. Her dignity, her almost non-existent reputation, her dastardly new look (which she quite liked), and the easiest chance to find the-
*BUMP*
“AAHHHH!”
The sudden noise startles the abused diarch and causes her to jump all the way up to the ceiling and dig her hooves in like an overgrown house cat, her mane and nerves frazzled. Once she recovered from the sudden scare, she looks in the direction of the sound, only to spot an equally terrified pegasus mare beyond the glass panes, catching her breath mid-air as she clutched her chest.
“Oh gosh, you gave me quite the scare Princess!” The mare wheezes as she straightens herself out and fixes the Princess with a light smile. “I was not expecting that, hah. Well, I have to deliver this message to your sister. See you later!”
As the delivery mare waves and flies away, Luna finds herself smiling. A freakishly joyous smile, mind you. And who wouldn't be this happy? Here was one pony who wasn't afraid of her! And she actually seemed rather nice. After all the sh*t she's been through, this singular act, no matter how miniscule it may seem, proved that she could regain her subjects’ trust once more.
…Only for it to return to a frown as one of the castle maids sees her hanging from the ceiling and flees screaming. Downtrodden, she gently floats down and continues her venture towards the guest room.
Upon arriving at the room, she throws herself onto the mattress, and can’t help but shed a few tears. She knew that the first few days of her plan would be awful, but she hadn’t expected this level of pain. Returning from exile, she could manage. All the hateful, spiteful gazes would sting a little, but she could shrug them off. Even being shunned by her own sister was tolerable. But being what essentially amounted to Celestia’s little servant- no, slave, broke Luna’s already fragile heart just that little bit more. Still, she had to hold on, at least until her magic regenerated. At least two weeks. Then she could focus, focus on the one thing that mattered right now. Finding them.
So she plans to strengthen her resolve, reinforce her determination, anything if it means she’ll have a fighting chance at seeing them again. She just needs to stick to the plan.
And her plan says she needs some sleep.
As the weak mare lies in bed, drifting off into the familiar realm of dreams, she can’t help but recall a few fond memories, ones she holds close to her heart. Perfect, this was the distraction she needed, and she welcomes it with open hooves.
“Heyah!” Exclaimed the Princess as she drove her greatsword down at the enemy’s skull with devastating power, successfully splitting them in half with a spray of gorey viscera. “Thou will perish this moon bloody avian-accursed felines!” She defiantly screamed at the griffin army, a force that easily dwarfed her Equestrian numbers by a landslide. But where the griffins had numbers, the pony soldiers more than made up for it with sheer power and will to survive, to see yet another beautifully crafted night.
“We can’t win, Ellie!” A gruff looking thestral soldier all but hollered at the younger diarch, nearly being drowned out by the sounds of war and pain.
“We just have to hold out a little longer! We can make it, Love!” Luna replied with another sweep of her weapon, nailing various griffins across the chest, exposing their organs to the stale battleground air.
The stallion didn’t like their odds; they had been successful at pushing the enemy further back, but were also suffering heavy casualties. At least they picked an ideal spot for battle. Lieutenant Iron Might was right for choosing this field. There were no settlements for kilometers, and the uneven terrain prompted the griffins to take to the skies, where the mages quickly shot them down. And yet, even with these advantages, the Equestrian army was dropping like parasprites, and General Gruffy the Great (not Gruff Love; he had made it clear he did not want me to use his full name) was not having a great day to say the least.
In one foul swoop, he thrust his wingblades forth, stabbing a griffin straight through the chest and swiping at another, amputating his talon and causing the knight to release a screech of devastating pain. Using his foreleg, Gruffy removed the first assailant, and with the same blades, decapitated another encroaching behind him. Whipping around, he swung his blades in a flurry of steel, ending the lives of several griffins but crippling more. With one last rotation, he bucked the head of the second warrior’s hard, giving him a swift death and ending his talonless torture.
Realizing that far more griffins were retreating to the ground and repositioning to their right, the general could see what the griffin’s strategy was. They knew they couldn’t take to the skies as they were guarded by the missilepony mages, yet there was a flaw in their positioning. The mages were blocked by the knights to their front and sides, so flanking them on the ground would either force them to fight while boxed in or try to retreat though their allies, creating havoc and blunting the knights capacity to respond with sufficient force. Either way, the ability for the ponies to hold the skies would be debilitated, opening it back up as a front. A deadly plan, to say the least, and Gruffy was glad he noticed while he still had time to respond.
Vocalizing his discovery, he gave his soldiers what could only be described as the single most idiotic idea in combat history.
“Shatterbolts! Mobilize towards our right. Carry the mages towards the frontlines and infiltrate their defenses!”
Now, there was nothing wrong with that command in and of itself. Yet, to any experienced tactician, it would be the underlying cause for their defeat. The Shatterbolts are an elite squadron of pegasi, and as their name suggests, their primary purpose is to break apart, or “shatter”, the enemies’ fronts and make way for the knights to charge through the gaps that were created. But their game was speed, not strength or durability. As such, sending them in now when their forces were not only not in position to capitalize on any gaps they created, but when they were being flanked, would only result in them being massacred. Considering the Griffins’ awareness, and the fact they were still so concentrated, having the Shatterbolts carry the missileponies would be a massive blunder, slowing down the ‘Bolts to the point that the ponies would be needlessly picked off.
So why did it work?
The Griffins, believing that the ponies had made a grave mistake, didn’t account for the prowess and cunning experience Gruffy the Great had accumulated over his years of service, and underestimated the brilliance of his move. As expected, the Griffins took the bait and sent the majority of their forces to deal with the invading fliers, leaving not only their left flank open, but a contingent of the infantry was left without support. Multiple holes began to riddle the front of their formation. With a prideful smile, Gruffy took to the skies in search of the beautiful Alicorn. Surely this plan would impress even the embodiment of raw power, right?
“Princess! Do you think you could take the left flank by your lonesome!?”
Soaring through the air and impaling multiple knights with her sword, Luna turned her attention towards the general. Regarding him with a confused head tilt, she glanced down at the scene under her before turning back to the thestral and giving him a knowing smirk.
With the princess taking the left and Gruffy’s infantry the front, the ponies devastated their griffin enemies. Plowing through their forces as easily as cutting butter, the Equestrian army steamrolled the griffin knights, and their glorious princess was not far behind, dodging this way and that, parrying attacks with her teeth of all things, and blasting multiple hordes away with raw, unfiltered magic.
The griffins in the sky, noticing the downfall of their grounded brethren, attempted to reinforce the ground attack. But turning their backs was all it took for the Shatterbolts, with accompanying missileponies, to open fire and lay waste to any retreating griffins. Never had such carnage been recorded in Equestrian history, and never shall there be. Their success was so guaranteed that many of the pony warriors began to dance, with stallions and mares partaking in a carol as they laid waste to the enemy, laughing all the while. Even Princess Luna had a spring in her step and smile on her muzzle as she chanted lovely melodies into the dawn, taking down anyponyanygriffin anyone who dared get in her way.
Soon, the sounds of war died down, and so too did the early celebration. Griffins could be seen flying past a large hill with such vigor, obviously filled with terror as they attempted an escape. Galloping toward the top of the hill and screeching to a halt, the princess observed as the few hundreds of griffins still alive fled with their lives across the plains and towards the great mountains in the far distance. Her stoic gaze soon shifted to mild amusement at the sight.
“It is done” She spoke quietly into the wind, laying down on the soft, velvet grass as it idly scratched the base of her coat. “It is finally done.”
“Princess, look out!”
As it turns out, it was not finally done, as there was a knight who had been hiding just over the hill, waiting for her chance to strike. Unprepared, Luna only managed to get up from her position before something drove into her side, sending her tumbling in the opposite direction. It was only when she reached the base of the hill that she realized that it was Gruffy who had slammed into her valiantly, pushing her out of harm's way as he stabbed the knight in the skull. But in the process, said ponies had ended up in an awkward position of the general lying on top of the royal.
Recovering quickly, Luna managed a sly smile and roused the general from his stupor. “My, my, young general, showing thy interest in this fair maiden? We could have thy head for that” She jested.
Realizing his precarious situation, and the fact that if he ever messed up, he could have his shoulders liberated from the weight of his skull (she was joking, right?), he thought ‘buck it’ and simply proceeded to lean his head forward and kiss the princess. Surprised, the blueberry colored mare widened her eyes in shock, but recovered quickly and leaned into the kiss, fluttering her eyelids as she partook in such carnal pleasures. All the troops cheered as the body of the griffin lazily rolled down the side of the hill, ending up in a heap along with her fallen comrades.
Cheering their victory, the missileponies shot beams of pure archaic energy into the sky, bathing the battlefield in waves of beautiful pyrotechnics. With a triumphant yell, the infantry and Shatterbolts raised their weapons into the air and pronounced the griffin’s defeat with their signature victory cry.
“HUZZAH!!”
And so, with the battle won and the griffins driven from the Equestrian border, the troops began to cheer and chant the princess’s name, The One Who Raised the Moon, the Defender of Equestria, the nation's Sword, and the one known across the distant lands as Princess Eleanor Luna Moonshine, First of her Name, and protector of the three pony tribes.
A chorus of hoof clops garner the attention of the blonde-maned thestral, looking up from the last page and towards the welcoming praise of his family.
“Wow, big brother! That story was so nice!" Exclaims a smaller bat-pony Alicorn with an ethereal mane that slowly glides in a nonexistent breeze.
“Yeah dude, great work.” Says a tall, lanky unicorn, his green, neutral colors derived from his father.
“Yes, most magnificent my dear Constellation! Another well-written and accurate tale!” Cheers the Queen, still clopping her hooves together even as the narration ceased.
“I appreciate the praise, mother,” Replies the stallion of the hour, puffing his feathers out and giving his mother a big, fangy smile.
“But did you have to include the romance?” Questions the green unicorn as he pushes the pieces of glass back on his muzzle, earning a glare from the younger sibling and a chuckle from the eldest. “I thought it was more history than narrative. I mean, did you really have to talk about Mom and Dad kissing up a storm, and what’s with the ‘eye flutter’ thing Mom did! I mean come on, how weird can you get?”
“You simply cannot write a historical novel without impeccable accuracy, son. That's the whole point of it being a ‘history book,’” answered the general. “That being said, I don't think it was really necessary…” He blushes.
Standing to defend her favorite sibling, much to the amusement of her parents and said sibling, the tiny Princess trots over to her youngest brother, getting right up in his muzzle with an irritated expression, one born from more than simple annoyance and on the verge of bubbling into rage.
“Dad is right! When the Moon Found her Shining Star is great! He conveyed the feelings of the war as if he was there! The storytelling from an outsider's perspective is never easy, and not only did he manage to pull it off, but he made it work effectively, not to mention the pure accuracy of his story! Not only did Berry ask Mom and Dad for their accounts on the event, but he also sourced outside information, like personally talking with Lieutenant Iron Might, and reading the thirteen books of historians that recall th-”
“Okay, okay! I get it. No need to nerd out on me,” grumbles the colt, covering the annoying indigo flank-kisser’s maw before she gave him an entire thirty-minute rundown on his brother's book.
Removing Ardent’s hoof, Aurora continues her assault. “Says the actual nerd” She shoots back.
“Fine, fine. Great storytelling and everything. The story was great, romance,” he nearly gags on the word, “and all. There. Happy now?”
The little princess gives him what could only be described as a ‘I hope you get the lemon cheesecake tomorrow’ glare. But as quickly as it appeared, she replaces it with a sincere smile. “Yeah, I think I'm happy now.”
“I for one thought your recounting was excellent and quite telling. The level of detail you crafted into such a thrilling tale had me on edge, and I lived through it! I wouldn't be surprised if it gets featured in the royal archives! It shows how devastating our forces were back then, and how amazing you mother is at kissi- *cough* -ighting, I said fighting. Keep the quill moving my little knight, and your work will, uh, shine like your mother's moon,“ Gruffy commends as he gives Blueberry Drizzle a noogie from their spot around the fireplace, not missing the attention he garnered from said mare.
“Don't you start with me, General. Or we might have to,” Luna starts with a mischievous grin, “test your assumptions.”
“Sweet merciful Faust” The ocean-green thestral whispers under his breath, batting away the sweat droplets falling from his forehead. “Okay, so, uh, good day kiddos *kiss*, have a good day’s sleep *kiss*, and I'll see you at dusk after being run ragged- well rested! I mean well rested! Hahaha… *kiss*.”
The flustered general proceeds to then ascend the grand staircase towards his bedchambers after giving his foals a good day's kiss, seemingly in a rush for whatever reason.
“My moon won't be the only thing shining after I’m through with- aaaand he’s gone” Queen Luna of Equestria says as she called out to her husband, only to stop as he disappeared around the banister. Chuckling, she returns her gaze towards her children, who all regard her with a mix of confusion, a pair of waggling eyebrows, and a completely incredulous expression.
“What, it was merely a jest” She declares to her audience of doubting foals.
“Mother, how many times do I have to keep reminding you: keep your salacious thoughts away from Lucy” Blueberry states, patting his sister on the head with his wing. “She’s a young, delicate little thing, and you don’t want to give her ‘the talk’ at such a young age, do yo-”
“Sorry to disappoint, Berry, but I already know about the avians and the parasprites,” The eyebrow waggler addresses the now bewildered stallion, “Ardie read it to me from a random book he found.”
Turning to look at his brother, the aegean thestral stares at him with an unreadable and disturbing expression. “Oh, I see…”
“Um, I-I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting very tired. I'm heading off to bed,” the sheepish unicorn declares as he stands up, yawning dramatically as if to convince somepony. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll come up with a breakthrough or find a new star or something.”
“Right, we should all go to bed. Come hither, I'll walk you to your rooms” announces the motherly Alicorn, not realizing what her sons were referring to, and already picking up her little Aurora by the scruff of her neck and walking alongside Ardent towards their bedchambers.
“Drizz, aren't you coming?”
“No, it's fine. I still have to place the pages in a hardback, sign it, and do the embroidery,” says the writer, answering his brother's question and turning back around to once more delve into his work, “It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes. I'll be up soon.”
“Alright.”
“Just don't stay up too late, or you'll burn yourself out. I don't want to see my brother wake up all groggy and walk around looking like the undead, you hear?” Chipps in the fiery ball of indigo and blue fluff, still hanging by her mother’s maw and fixing Blueberry with a slight glare.
Chuckling, but still facing his scroll, he smiles, knowing how much his sister cares for him. “Alright, alright, Duchess of Sleep Curfews, I won't be long. Promise.”
Seemingly content with this revelation, she lets out a yawn, and tried her best to not fall asleep then and there. After exchanging a nuzzle or two with Blueberry, Luna ascends the stairs and walks towards her foals’ rooms, past the large stained glass windows illuminating the castle’s stone walls with vibrant sunlight.
Entering her son’s room, she takes a look at the sparse interior. He preferred to keep his room mostly unadorned, always mentioning how he liked the barren space as it let him focus on his next invention without getting distracted, or something along those lines. He didn't use his room for much else besides sleeping and stargazing with that funny little contraption he made, allowing him to view the stars and other celestial bodies up close. In fact, Luna was amazed when she first learned how it operated, using differently curved pieces of glass he called “lenses”, all held together by a long tube of copper, anchoring them in place. Really fascinating stuff. A telescope, he calls it.
The diarch stands by the bed as the colt gets into the covers, placing his most recent invention on the nightstand: two “lenses” held together in a frame of copper and placed precariously on his muzzle, using the same principle for his ‘telescope’’ but to a lesser degree, allowing him to bypass his visual impairment. This one he is yet to name.
Placing her daughter on her back, she leans in and kisses Ardent on his head.
“Good day, my dear Ardent Nebulae, my little Alchemist, may you have a safe journey into the realm of dreams. I love you.”
“Good day, Mom. Love you too.”
Smiling, she promptly leaves his bedchambers, closing his door and making it towards the end of the hall with her little Star Light still hanging on her back. Unlike her brother, Aurora doesn't actually have a lot of empty space left in her room, mostly covered by either various bookcases and musical implements, or the occasional wyvern painting. She even has flora scattered about the space, vines hanging from the balcony and spewing into the room. She really takes after her eldest spawn, doesn't she?
Lifting her tiny artist, she tucks the young Alicorn in and sits on the edge of the bed. Having fallen asleep on the trip to her room, Aurora wakes up, yawns adorably, and stretches out her limbs in every other direction. “Mmm, here already?”
The queen chuckles a little, running the feathers of her extended wing through the filly’s ethereal mane, never really getting used to seeing her sapphire-blue one sparkling and flicking around with such intensity. Indeed, there are only three ponies– excluding herself, of course– that she had ever seen with such a mane, the body’s way of showing off its raw power and potential, and hers was the most violent in its behavior.
Her sister, Helena Celestia, who raises the sun, her older brother, Quasar Cosmos, who maintains everything in the vast expanse of space in equilibrium, and her younger brother, Neil Léon, who sadly passed away from an assassination, all have manes with subdued effects, and yet here is her little Star Light, mane billowing with such ardor, like the raging waves of a supernova as it releases its final breath, forever on display with such vivid imagery. The filly has potential; everypony knows it. Her day will come, however, when she, much like her mother, will have power over the moon. She might even take Cosmos’ place as well. Only time will tell.
“Yes, my sweet daughter, we have arrived,” the mother says, smiling gently at the young princess, before taking a gander about the room once more, this time noticing a scroll on Aurora’s desk, along with a few musical instruments, like a lyre and flute. Intrigued, she grabs the parchment with her magic, and attempts to make sense of the musical notes and lyrics hastily drawn all over the scroll.
“Har-mon-ey’s End? Praytell, is that your next piece?”
“Oh, yeah! I was working on the lyrics for the past month. And Harper was helping me with all the musical bits!” Aurora states with a sparkle in her eye.
“And what, if you don’t mind me asking, does har-mon-ey mean?” Luna inquired.
“It’s a new way to say armonye, Mom. I thought you of all ponies would have figured that out,” Aurora answers imprudently, a little exasperated, with the eyebrow raise and everything.
“You hold me to too high a standard, my little Star Light. I am not as adept in piecing these things together like your uncle Cosmos, and certainly not as bright as your brother Nebulae,” she says, smiling all the while with mirth in her tone.
“Yeah, I already know that,” Lucy whispers to herself, puffing out her cheeks in frustration.
“What was that, young dame? Care to repeat your words?”
Looking as if she was caught with her hooves in the proverbial cookie jar, Aurora tried her damnedest to justify herself, sputtering all the while, attempting to come up with an excuse for insulting the Queen and failing.
“Uhnothingmomdontworryaboutitimgoingtosleepnowgoodday!” says the blushing indigo mess, words flying out of her muzzle like a verbal magic surge. She quickly slips under her sheets and covers her now apparently very asleep and snoring body with the blanket, rolling out fake Zs in an attempt to throw the stern diarach off her folly.
Amused, Luna leans down to kiss her naughty little spawn good day.
“Good day, Lustrous Aurora, my sweet little Star Light. Sleep sound,” the mare says, getting off the bed and exiting the now quiet room.
Saying she was the happiest mare on Equus right now would be an understatement. Having a loving family eases her mind and drives clear the boredom. After all, once you’re as old as she is, the world becomes a little stale. Nevertheless, she appreciates Gruffy’s act of courage during the Great Defense. Without him, her boundless elation wouldn’t exist.
Speaking of Love, what was it her endearing husband said before? Great at kissing? Being run ragged? Well, why doesn’t she show him why she’s so good at kissing and running him ragged. It may have last been decades ago, but she still remembers a thing or two. Smirking, she proceeds to saunter down the hall.
With a final fleeting thought, Luna casts a soundproofing spell as she enters the room with the most exaggerated bedroom stare she could muster.
‘Hopefully Cel lowers my moon today.’
“Great Discord…” Were the last sounds heard as the door closed.
Ah, good times, good times. Wait, what was she doing? Right, sleeping. Or at least, trying to.
Smiling to herself after reminiscing about them, Luna is finally calm enough to attempt sleep. But as she drifts into unconsciousness, into her domain of dreams, she has one last thought to mull over on the other side.
‘Where are they now?’
Smoking a pipe with a book in his hooves, a green stallion sits comfortably, content with reading the day away. A fireplace crackles with subdued ferocity, illuminating the cozy cottage around him. It was pretty crowded, considering the various mechanical gizmos and doodads littering the abode of his hospitable hostess.
Rain pours onto the windows, the sound calming the unicorn. He never did get his other inventions back before he was asked to vacate the library. His clothes are also still there. Must be awkward for the new residents.
Chuckling to himself, he smiles as he continues to read the book in his telekinetic grasp. When the Moon Found Her Shining Star was embroidered on the front, with gold along the borders and lettering. This story always amuses him, the romance parts never failed to make him gag, and the battle scenes kept him on edge. With a sigh, he closes his tired eyes, and hummed a sudden melody he remembered. It was from her. And it was beautiful.
“I miss you two, as annoying as you were.”
Deep below the Canterlot Castle, in the most obscure depths of the labyrinthine structure, exists a large crystalline cavern, passages stretching for kilometers in every direction. And in the heart of the cave lays a mass of indigo fur, upside down on a comically tiny bed. The mass doesn't move, instead opting to use her subdued arcane abilities to drag a simple aegean quill across parchment.
Thinking to herself, the alicorn mulls over the reason she's in the cell. Down here, there is no concept or way to keep track of time, besides the constant influx of petitions to review, courtesy of the sun horse. She can't help but feel stupid for her naivete as a foal, and agitated by the repercussions she suffered. All she wanted was to make her mother proud, to stand in her place as the caretaker of ponykind.
And so, having finished whatever it is she was revising, she rolls and levitates it to a growing pile on her left, easily dwarfing her three times over. Some scrolls even began falling out of the crystalline cage, the same one that kept her captive, and reduced her archaic distance.
There was always this much paperwork, especially when the sadistic diarch went out to go try one of her ideas. Yes, diarch, even if she's currently the sole ruler. Léon forbid she starts calling her a monarch. That was the one thing the captive alicorn vowed never to do, no matter how much her sanity waned.
‘Do not submit to her. Do. Not.’
Her sapphire blue mane flickers angrily as she plans, re-plans, and re-plans again. There would be an opening soon, two weeks from now. She could almost taste it. Then she would be free, free to find him. She needed to see him. She needed to find him and tell him of her plan. She never learned what happened with her mother, but the alicorn was sure that she was holding out just fine, wherever she was.
Yes, two weeks time and she would be reunited again, her and her brothers, just like old times. Together, they will rule as her mother intended. No amount of madness and insanity brewing inside her mind will stop the course of the plan. It will happen. Your payment is overdue, Celestia.
“Two weeks time…” she whispers into the stale dungeon air.
“Two weeks time…”
“What say you, Quillsworth?” She asked the oversized writing implement, rubbing the blue fluff of the quill, as if the inanimate object was somehow able to produce any reasonable thought. “Hahaha, you're right. Two weeks time!”
“TWO WEEKS TIME! TWO WEEKS TIME! HAHAHAHA!”
“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
The sane alicorn continued to laugh maniacally throughout the day, her voice echoing through the empty cavern and into the void.
In a valley far to the east of the Equestrian border, a cloaked figure can be seen darting between the houses of a village. Eventually, they make it to a stream, which whispers thoughts of a silencing malice, a serene invitation to take a plunge. Heeding them no mind, the figure lifts his cloak from over his withers, revealing a saddlebag with various tools. He is going to help out his unlikely allies and teacher, and they in turn will help him with his schemes. All in due time.
And as the moon shifted from its position in the sky, replaced by the sun, the figure took off the cloak’s hood with a dulled cackle of unstable sorcery, releasing his blonde mane from captivity. It swayed imposingly in the breeze, berry streak ever present. Glaring at the unwelcome ball of flame, he states his conviction, his goal.
His mission.
“Everything comes with a price, and soon it will be your turn to pay~.”
Author's Note
And with that, the first chapter is complete! If you're hoping for a more humerus story or a happy ending, that hope dies here on this page. This is the happiest it's going to be.
The sisters were the main characters in this chapter. Guess who's starring the next?
What are the cloaked figure and the mysterious indigo mare plotting? Why is the unicorn so relaxed when he knows something big is coming up soon? You'll see...
Feedback encouraged! 
