The Moon's Shadow

Chapter 12

Headaches, they weren’t what they were a thousand years ago. If anything, they had worsened over the course of the past thousand years. At least, this is what Luna was quickly discovering as she looked over the sheer volumes of paperwork that now sat on her desk. Most of the stuff that sat there was rather trivial. Consisting of small-time petitions and requests to host parties in certain locations. That was the easy part however, as the difficult part came when she flipped through the stack of papers. As she was, she could feel the pain between her temples beginning to grow. She could feel her eyes beginning to ache and she could even feel her own frustration growing as she read through them.

‘How does Tia do it?’ she asked herself, ‘How does she spend hours doing this crap?’ It wasn’t until she turned over the very next item on the top of the stack did her eyes grow wide. The pounding in her head grew worse the moment she laid her eyes upon the paper before just thrusting it down upon the desk in frustration along with her own head. ‘Send me back to the moon now...’ she surrendered, just looking over a small time bill that already had her sister’s signature.

Luna just glared at the paper after lifting her head slowly. She could feel the corner of her left eye just beginning to twitch with the growing stress on her mind. She had to pass laws now? Why would her sister ask her to do such a thing? She hadn’t been back for more than a month. It was hardly enough time to study up on modern day Equestrian law! This only raised the level of pure frustration she felt. Just seeing it made her want to flip her desk in anger, but instead of doing such a thing, she simply just set the paper aside and sighed.

“Stay calm...” Luna muttered to herself, “Very deep breaths...” The mare inhaled very slowly and deeply, closing her eyes as she did, only to exhale a few moments later. Upon doing so, she could feel some of the stress and tension vanish from her body. Even though it was far from enough to help at this point. This at least allowed her to bring a greater deal of focus to her mind as she opened her eyes again. She never thought she could hate something so much in her life, but anything was possible. Never before had she hated something so much. It eventually got to the point where she gripped the very top paper on the stack, taking just a single second to look it over. ‘Another party request, eh?’ she thought, just glaring at it. Before she knew it though, the request sheet just burst into flames, being reduced to ash in a matter of seconds. That is where she felt all of her stress vanish before she stepped away from the desk with a very soft smile on her face.

It only took a few seconds before Luna reached a large metal teapot across from her desk. Using telekinesis, she lifted it very slowly, pouring it into a small cup. The liquid was fairly dark and still steaming a tiny bit. It was an absolutely beautiful sight to behold as she watched the cup fill before setting down the pot. It had been quite a while since she had any tea, a thousand years to be exact and she needed it too. It brought a smile to her face as she lifted the cup slowly, watching the steam rise from the liquid.

‘Ahhh....sweet bliss...’ she thought, as the rim of the cup reached the edge of her mouth. That however was her big mistake for the day as the moment she tipped the liquid into her mouth she was met with an incredible burning sensation. She could feel her tongue as well as the rest of her mouth begin to burn as the liquid ran into it. It caused her eyes to break open wide before pulling the cup away in a hurry. By that time though it was far too late to really do much of anything as she just realized the mistake she had made. It resulted in her wanting to scream again, cursing the sheer rotten luck she seemed to be having as of late.

First, there was that close call she had involving Nightmare, which had been her own mistake as well. She had underestimated the mare’s magical strength at the time. If she confronted the mare now however, it would be a completely different story in her eyes. As she had finally regained virtually all of her magical strength. Second, that mare was still out there too. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Nightmare was still a very serious threat to Equestria and she needed to do something soon. However, she had vanished completely. Not even a single rumor had come in over the past two weeks. Even the Moon Orb was essentially useless. Third, there had been the incident with one certain pony in the castle. A pony claiming to be both a prince and her sister’s nephew. She didn’t have much of a clue as to how it was possible, but the only thing she could assume was that he had been adopted. It resulted in him being carted off to the hospital wing of the castle with a broken jaw. That in turn also resulted in her being chewed out by Celestia, which didn’t please her one bit. That wasn’t even the kicker either. The kicker came in various forms, but it always seemed to happen. Even when she thought she was alone. It seemed that every single time she tried anything with Emerald, it always ended up with an interruption.

‘Can this possibly get any worse?’ she asked herself and as if the world was out to get her, she felt the door fling open with a great deal of force. She didn’t bother looking, she could only assume whom it was. The first thought that came to mind was the fact it was Shining Armor, having come to request her Lunar Guard for assistance in a more trivial manner. That, or it was another member of the Solar Guard itself.

“Lulu!” An unexpected voice called out from the door. This caused her ear to twitch very slightly, that was unexpected of her sister. On top of that, she could just feel the curiosity and anger seeping from her voice. Something wasn’t quite right about that, it was very odd that Celestia seemed almost angry about something. Luna could only guess what was making her sister frustrated.

“Yes dear Tia?” Luna asked, slowly turning her attention to her sister. In an attempt to hide the numerous problems weighing down on her, she put on a fake smile. One of her many common tactics against her sister. That probably hadn’t been the best idea she ever had though as the larger alicorn quietly crossed the room. It went from bad to worse from there as the tension between them grew.

“Luna....cut the fake smile,” Celestia stated, glaring at her sister. “We need to talk about something...” This wasn’t good for Luna as she knew the tone of her sister’s voice all too well. The particular tone coupled with the rather terrifying glare unnerved her. It was often her downfall when it came to the truth. She simply couldn’t beat it.

“About what?” she asked, doing as requested as she sipped on her tea. Thankfully by the time she had taken this sip it had cooled quite significantly, now being lukewarm. The perfect temperature to enjoy the peaceful drink. Which was a good thing as she would need peace of mind to be able to go up against her sister.

“About...these reports I received this evening,” Celestia began, her horn lighting up. This was followed by a small stack of papers appearing out of thin air, levitating between them. The stack wasn’t very thick, but what was concerning was the fact that they seemed sloppily written. It resulted in Luna setting her tea aside for the moment and taking ahold of the reports. While the writing on them was fairly messy, she could still make out much of what they said and what they did say only made her heart sink.

‘Sleeplessness and general frustration from nobles?’ she read, ‘What does it mean to me if a few uptight nobles are exhausted? They’re just sitting on their flanks most of the day anyhow...’ But as she read on, she only felt her heart sink a little lower. As it seemed the sleeplessness had been coupled with a series of horrific nightmares that caused night fits in them. Which also resulted in a few ponies accidentally striking their loved ones in their sleep. Luna knew immediately what this meant, she could feel it all throughout her body as she sat there, skimming over each report. Most of which consisted of the same thing, just in different locations all throughout Canterlot. This wasn’t good. She couldn’t hide it from Celestia for very much longer with this evidence. “So? Plenty of ponies still have nightmares. Many of them are very angry.” she pointed out, “Ponies are repressing themselves more than they did a thousand years ago...perhaps its just getting to them now?”

“That may be true...” Celestia agreed, a devious grin appearing on her face at this point. This was a type of grin she recognized. It meant that she already had a plan to contend with this line of thought. It wasn’t a good sign for Luna either. She was prepared for this, she had probably taken a few hours to think about what she’d say before she approached. “But, read the next one...then you’ll see my point.”

‘Damn you Tia...’ she cursed, before focusing on the reports. Here she flipped the page and began to glance over it. At first it began like the previous ones, but as she went on through the page she began to feel a little more hopeless in this argument. This one almost seemed like a complete retelling of what had occurred in Ponyville, save for the fight that she had endured. ‘No...they actually SAW the mist?’ she asked, making an attempt at coming up with an excuse. ‘Or at least...THOUGHT they saw the mist...’ She grinned, before turning up to her sister. “And this happened a couple days ago?” she inquired.

“Yes, at least according to the report,” Celestia added, “I even spoke to the mare that saw it. She was in rough shape when I saw her...” she sighed, slowly shaking her head. “But she did describe a bluish-purple mist leaving through a window of her apartment.” her eyes narrowed at this point, leaning in very close to her sister. “The same kind of mist....that you took the form of when you were Nightmare Moon....” Was Celestia really thinking that about Luna? Did she really think that she had become Nightmare Moon again? Well, that was better than her finding out that Nightmare Moon had become her own pony. This was the option she’d prefer over everything else at the time.

“Did you really just ask me that?” Luna enquired, returning the exact glare that Celestia was giving.

“Well? Do I have to get the Elements of Harmony again?” Celestia acknowledged, it only brought a greater level of disappointment to the lunar mare to hear such a question being asked. As if the previous hadn’t been bad enough. It resulted in her actually facehoofing.

“Tia, if I was Nightmare Moon again, then you’d be the FIRST to know...” she replied, “Because I’d still be after your gigantic flank.” This caused a tiny bit of blushing in the alabaster mare’s cheeks, it even lessened the glare upon her a tiny bit. Which gave Luna the perfect opening to actually get her sister off her back.

“Hey! My flank’s not that big...” she replied, actually taking that moment to turn around and look down at her own rear. This was just too perfect for Luna, it actually ended up with her laughing very softly. It even brought an idea to mind as to what she could do to change her sister’s focus.

“Well...its far bigger than I remember!” Luna joked, moving down to poke the sun cutie mark on it with her hoof. “And its squishier too! What would Quercus say if he saw it now?”

“Quiet Lulu! The guards will hear!” Celestia replied, her cheeks now burning with embarrassment. It was in the moment her sister began to poke her flank that it dawned on her. This was simply a distraction to change the subject. She knew the tactic all too well as it had been one Luna employed quite often when she didn’t want her to know about something. This meant that whatever she was hiding was fairly important, whatever it was. “Plus...this isn’t about my flank size! Its about whatever in Tartarus you’re hiding!”

‘Damn it!’ Luna cursed, ‘I hate when you do that, Tia...’

“And as if the nightmares weren’t bad enough, we’re also dealing with theft!” she added, seeming to grow a bit more frantic at this point. “This is the first time in a very long time that we’ve dealt with amount of theft too! Law enforcement is baffled! I have reason to assume though that its connected, because it all started around the same time.” This worried Luna quite significantly. If Celestia actually did learn of Nightmare, she might just fly off the handle a little more than she was now. She couldn’t have that either, this was a secret she had to keep. No matter if they were sisters or not. She had to keep it from her at all costs.

“Care to give some detail on the thefts?” Luna asked, although already certain that it was also Nightmare that had been doing said theft. She could only assume that her survival depended on what she could get and that she needed more than just nightmares to sustain her now. Which actually worked to an advantage. Already she had begun formulating a plan as to how to pin her down.

“Well...according to the reports,” Celestia began, “All of the shops that were hit were franchise shops. They have locations all over Equestria and some even in the Griffin Kingdom.” she continued, this made a bit of sense as Luna listened. A franchise would probably have a bit more money than most family owned locations. Not only that, but they would probably have decent quality items in greater numbers. Which meant a wider selection too. “There wasn’t a sign of forced entry...no hoofprints left at the scene either. The two primary things that were stolen included money and food.”

“How much money?” Luna inquired, trying to add a bit more to the puzzle.

“It estimates at about ten thousand bits over the course of about two weeks,” Celestia explained, “Often even multiple stores are hit too and even hit multiple times! Its astonishing. Especially since many of them do have surveillance...”

“Curious...” she began, “And the surveillance didn’t capture anything?”

“According to the reports?” Celestia asked, “Nothing so far. But they’re still being reviewed.”

“All of this is happening at night too, isn’t it?” Luna asked, as another idea came to mind. This earned a nod from Celestia. “Which means...my dear Tia, all of this falls under the jurisdiction of the Lunar Guard and myself! Not your Solar Guard.” This was quite an important point that she made too, as Celestia was left dumbfounded by it. All this time the Solar Guard had done what the Lunar Guard had typically done. They handled not only the day shift, but the night shift as well and she had grown rather accustomed to it as well. In fact, she had grown rather fond of reading the nighttime reports from the previous days. It had become a much needed reprieve from everything that happened from the day. “So I must ask...why in Tartarus are you even reading the reports meant for ME?!”

“I...uh...” Celestia choked, she hadn’t felt pressure like this in quite a while. In fact, it actually made her rather nervous to the point where she was at a loss for words. While with normal ponies she could typically handle things like this, she wasn’t accustomed to having her sister do this sort of thing. Well, she was, but normally she could quickly retort it. This resulted in an idea springing to mind. “I guess I’m so used to reading the reports...that I kinda forgot that they...don’t belong to me anymore, hehe...” she explained with a faint blush on her cheeks.

‘I’ll get you back for that, sister...’ she thought, it was at which point that Celestia recognized the particular look she was now getting from her little sister. It was often that look that desired payback, that screamed for revenge. It meant she was going to be in for a very long couple of weeks with her sister. Given she also knew that this was something she wouldn’t be too forgiving on.

“Forgive me?” she asked in an attempt to avoid any payback. Just as Luna was about to open her mouth however, Emerald came bursting in through the door. The sheer force of his entry had almost been enough to throw it off its hinges. Both princesses were amazed that it hadn’t already done so given how vigorous Celestia had opened it not twenty minutes earlier. He dashed right up to the lunar mare’s side and began to whisper into her ear.

“A theft has just occurred...one of the patrolling batponies just reported it,” he whispered, this in turn brought a smile to Luna’s face. This might be the chance she was looking for to actually catch Nightmare.

“How long ago?”

“Two minutes,” Emerald claimed, “Which means...she can’t have gotten that far yet!” This was perfect, far too perfect for Luna. She felt like jumping for joy at this point, but kept herself in check for the sake of keeping control. It was here where her gaze shifted back up to her older sister with a very wide smile.

“If you’ll help me Tia...I might forgive you for this,” she started, “But I do need a favor.”

“And that is?” Celestia responded, hoping just to clear up the mess she had caused.

“I need a detachment from the Solar Guard to assist my Lunar Guard,” Luna proclaimed, “But the rules are, they are not to speak or report to you on the events surrounding this investigation. They are only permitted to report to me about it.” Celestia was hesitant about the situation. She wanted to be sure about exactly what was going on. Emerald only seemed to make it more suspicious, given he seemed just as aware of the situation as Luna was. It was really just one of those things that bothered her. However, as she sat in thought, she realized there really wasn’t a choice. Both ponies and businesses were being hurt by this, she really didn’t have time to sit around and talk about it.

“Alright...” Celestia conceded, “You may take whatever you need...just get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible!” Luna smiled at the response. While she could see that her sister really didn’t want to do something like this, she hadn’t been given an option. This was her chance now, a chance to prove herself a bit to not only herself, but to her sister. To prove that she could actually handle the situation better than she did a thousand years ago. She turned to Emerald with the smile and a determined look in her eyes.

“Rally the guard! Gather as many Solar Guard as possible too!” Luna ordered, “Have them rally outside the barracks in five minutes!” With a nod, Emerald vanished in a bright green ‘pop’ just moments after receiving the orders. ‘You won’t beat me this time Nightmare...’