Chapter 9

It was a rare sight to see one of the royal sisters without her regalia. A very rare sight indeed, but also a very unique and beautiful one as well. This was the case with Luna as she sat outside upon the balcony of her room, just allowing the breeze to gently flow through her mane. While she felt a bit more vulnerable and naked without her breastplate, crown and shoes, it felt nice to be without it for a change.
'Tia is right...' she sighed, 'Crowns are heavier than they look...' Luna's sigh had been rather heavy as she leaned herself upon the railing. The only thing that seemed to uplift her spirits at this point, was the blaring lights within Canterlot. Even though it was just past eleven at night, she could still hear celebrations taking place below. It was entertaining to see such a thing and a little heartwarming as to how times had changed. The smile on her face only seemed to last a second however as she kept focus on the events that had recently transpired. 'What am I going to do about her?' she asked herself, 'Should I consider telling Tia?' She shook her head immediately to the idea before lowering it. It was a bad idea, no a very bad idea.

“Trouble in paradise, Lulu?” a very familiar voice called out, pulling Luna right out of her deep thoughts. Why is it every single time she thinks about her sister she seems to show up? It was annoying every single time it happened and this time was no different either as her eyes simply darted over to her.

“Am I really that obvious?” Luna asked, her tone rather annoyed. At the same time though, she was also curious as to how Celestia could even tell that she was troubled. Even as she met her older sister's gaze. Who sat quietly beside her sister, matching her mannerisms and even her present not-so-regal appearance. It added to the rare sights that most ponies wouldn't ever see, with both sisters not wearing their regalia.

“Its tough to say...” Celestia began, “Without you around, I had to develop my own strategy to deal with dignitaries.” A smile spread across her face at this point as she nudged the smaller mare. “I've learned to pick up on the more subtle mannerisms everypony gives off. Especially when they have something to hide.”

'Damn it...' Luna cursed inwardly, it was just her luck that the very moment she didn't want her sister around, she shows up. To add onto the laundry list of issues, she could even see right through her. “E-exactly h-how good are you?” she questioned, hiding the worry and fear in her eyes. It only took a glance, one that lasted no longer than five seconds before the older sister smiled.

“You have quite a bit weighing down on your mind and in your heart,” Celestia began, inhaling deeply before her next statement. “Whatever the issue is, its something that happened that you're unsure about, even if you did see it with your own eyes. The weight of the crown is also starting to get to you quite a bit and its causing you to forget a little about your lust toward the handsome Emerald Crescent.” The simple mentioning of his name caused Luna's cheeks to flare up a bright red. Even more, her elder sister was actually rather accurate in just about everything she was saying too. “Or...is it more than lust?” she inquired, which only seemed to make matters worse for her. “Going just by the faint blush on your cheeks, it could very well be something more. Here I thought you still had a 'taste' for mares.”

“H-hey!” Luna attempted to argue, her entire face turning beet red just from the statement alone. It was coupled with a small giggle from Celestia, whom seemed relatively pleased at what she was doing.

“So it is true!” Celestia teased, “Its more than lust!” It was at this point where Luna simply hung her head in defeat. Once again beaten by her sister, although it felt relatively nice to her to happen in the way it just did. “What do you intend on doing about it? Aside from trying to get him into bed with you.”

“T-that's my b-business, Tia!” Luna stammered, “P-plus...I don't know how it'd look to my Lunar Guard if I did anything.” This is what caught Celestia's attention again. For just a few seconds her smile vanished, but quickly returned.

“He's really that good?” Celestia asked curiously, meeting her own sister's embarrassed gaze.

“Better than good...” Luna replied, her blush finally beginning to vanish, only to be replaced with a smile. “He's one of the best captains I've ever had!” This is where her excitement began to grow, it was very visible in her eyes that she was overjoyed to have him as the captain. Probably about as much as Cadence had when Shining Armor was promoted to captain himself. “In just a week...he's tracked down a colony of Bat-ponies! I just assumed they died off after you banished me...but they're still alive!” Celestia's face became one of shock the very instant those words had been spoken. It was almost as if her mind had just completely stopped working for just a few seconds. She would even swear her heart skipped a beat upon the news.

“B-but...I...!” she stammered out, it was a very rare moment where she found herself completely speechless. Not even knowing what to say to Luna at that point. Confusion grew in her until she simply just lowered her head. 'I spend close to a thousand years trying to keep tabs on them...and a unicorn finds them in a week?!' Celestia groaned in frustration after hearing that, before lowering her head. “I...I tried to help them...I tried to do good for them...” she said, “But...other ponies just didn't like them...even after they vanished I tried to keep track of them! But they...they just vanished! I couldn't find them anywhere!” It was now Luna's turn to giggle with a very devious grin on her face.

“Oh Tia...” she cooed, “They're my ponies of the night! I trained them to conceal themselves very well and protect Equestria should anything happen to me!” Luna paused for a moment, as her grin only grew wider. “I must've trained them better than I thought...because they did survive a thousand years without me.” It was a very good question too, one that Celestia couldn't help but ask internally to herself. How could this group of ponies survive so long without their leader? Then again, Luna did survive a thousand years being trapped on the moon. To add onto that, Equestria survived a thousand years under just her rule. It was interesting, something she'd have to look into down the road.

“How exactly DID you train them?” Celestia inquired, “For...them to survive that long without their leader...and still remain hidden? Its astonishing. Perhaps I could use something like that with the Solar Guard.” This is what made Luna's smile grow even more than before. For the first time in a very long time her sister had even asked for her advice! It made her heart jump for joy. So much so that she could hardly contain her excitement. Even though it became short-lived.

“Honestly?” she began, “I don't remember. It was so long ago that its difficult to recall the exact details of the training. But I'm sure Emerald and I will figure it out if they don't remember either.” Celestia's demeanor changed almost instantly after she heard that. Going from a loving, gentle smile to a seemingly serious glance at her darling sister. It was the type of look that Luna knew all to well. She could only guess what was coming next as their gazes remained locked.

“Speaking of details...” Celestia began, which caused Luna to freeze instantly. “How did your first use of the orb go?” It had almost been as if she read her mind too, causing the lunar mare's ears to drop just slightly. Of which, she would probably notice right away. What could she do about this situation? Should she tell her sister the truth?

“I-it...went perfectly!” Luna lied outright and even after a thousand years of being apart she still couldn't hide it from her sister. Celestia could easily see it by the multiple tells she had, habits she hadn't completely corrected while trying to tell her sister something. Particularly the one where her left ear twitched. This caused her eyes to narrow at the much younger alicorn almost like a mother would upon finding out their child had snatched something from the cookie jar.

“Luna...” Celestia began in her more serious tone. “You said not more than a couple days ago that we're sisters...and if we have a problem, that we should talk about it.” This made matters far worse for Luna, it made the twitching a bit more uncomfortable, almost like it was an itch. In fact, as she thought about it, she could feel the familiar tightening feeling on her ear.

This was quickly followed by the sudden and powerful urge to scratch her ear. Never in her life had she been overcome with such an uncomfortable urge. It was even stronger than her urge to get into bed with Emerald. However, it wasn't as strong as the urge to yell at her sister. This was something that she needed to do and something she simply couldn't fight.

“Come on Luna...what happened?” Celestia asked, “Did you accidentally stumble into another perverse dream again?” Luna smiled at the question, feeling her body relaxing just a tiny bit after being asked. She took a single cleansing breath to gather her thoughts for an accurate response. She had to tell the truth to her sister. But she knew she couldn't tell her the full truth.

“Well...it didn't go exactly how I had hoped...” Luna began while her sister listened, “I traveled to Ponyville, only to find that a number of the citizens were having nightmares...” Celestia simply grew rather silent as she grew more intent, leaning in a bit closer to her sister. “I did my best to assist and guide them, but I found I wasn't quite strong enough yet to help them completely. Emerald ended up pulling me out of a nightmare before it backfired on me.”

Celestia was very careful in her observations as her sister explained everything. Through her body language she couldn't exactly tell that she wasn't being completely truthful. Yet, there was a part of her that felt as though she was hiding something. Something that was very serious regarding the full situation. 'Should I press it further?' she asked herself, taking another moment to look over her sister. That was where she simply smiled. 'No...that's a bad idea...I need to show her that I trust her.' During the few moments of silence between when she spoke and her sister began to leer at her, she couldn't help but grow rather nervous again. “Emerald saved your flank then?” she asked, “No wonder why you like him so much...”

“Damn it, Tia!” Luna cried, “Get your mind off of romance for fifteen minutes! Can't we have a serious conversation without you making a joke about my love life?” That particular question seemed to end her nervousness and just replace it with frustration again.

“Or lack thereof, Lulu,” Celestia joked, now giggling behind her hoof. 'Least I know I can trust Emerald to protect her...' In the end, while she'd always worry about her little sister, she knew very well it would only cause even more problems between them if she didn't give her at least a little bit of trust. Even with the extremely annoyed look she was now receiving, she just couldn't help but laugh at it.

“Sometimes I wonder Tia...” she muttered,

“Wonder about what?”

“Sometimes I wonder just how anypony could put up with you...” Luna stated, “Because I certainly have trouble doing as such sometimes.” This was followed by another soft sigh, “I love you to death Tia...but sometimes I just...want to smack you!”

“That's a good thing then,” Celestia giggled, “Because...sometimes I want to do the same.” Luna's face seemed to morph at this point however as she began to groan in a very loud fashion while glaring at her sister. She could swear that she had never seen her sister with such a grumpy look on her face before. This was one of those particular times where she just smiled in response. It was only when the glare intensified though that she took it as a sign. “Well...I'll leave you to your duties.” And with a bright golden pop she was gone.

'That was a close one...' Luna sighed, returning her gaze onto the city. It was such a beautiful place. Far bigger than she had remembered, but also far more catered to the night as well with all the lightning. While it did take a little away from the beauty of the night sky, it seemed to calm her a tiny bit. At least until her gaze began to shift to the town off in the distance. While it was barely visible against the darkness of the night, she could still see it clearly. She could even feel it clearly as she gazed off into it. 'Nightmare...what exactly are you doing?' she asked herself, 'Why didn't the Elements destroy you?'

The longer Luna sat upon the balcony, the more she thought about this. The more she wondered about the reason as to why Nightmare was alive still. How exactly had she survived it too? She didn't exactly have the most harmonious of magics and the strangest part of that all, was how she had retained the form while they had been merged. A part of her could feel it too. Even with the distance between the two she knew it deep down. She knew there was far more to this whole situation than she was seeing.

'No...there's no way she can have a full physical form!' Luna debated with herself, 'If it is possible...how could the Elements do that? Why would they do it anyhow?' She groaned again, this time rubbing her own temples. 'Well...she could always have that form in the dreamscape...' Another possibility for it, which only upset her even more. If she did take that form while in the dreamscape then it could potentially make restoring her court even more difficult, granted they looked so similar in comparison. This only seemed to upset the mare even further before simply slumping herself over the railing in defeat. 'What am I going to do about you...?'

Reflecting on the fight was just as difficult as it was trying to figure out why Nightmare was even alive in the first place. To add onto the difficulty, it also hurt her pride a bit to lose to a darker version of herself. She hadn't felt this bad in a very long time, especially given on top of everything she was letting down her ponies and her sister as well. In the time she continued to reflect and contemplate everything, she could feel the room shake as the door swung open.

Luna turned her head only to take notice of a pony just stumbling into her room. Through the curtains, at first she couldn't tell whom it was, but as the pony drew closer she recognized him as Emerald. This brought a smile to her face, even has he tripped over his own four hooves. It was actually rather entertaining to see such a strong pony be so off balance, even for just a second.

“Princess Luna, I have very important news!” he gasped, while he was out of breath, probably from having to gallop at full speed to her room his demeanor was still perfectly calm. How a pony could remain this calm was beyond her, but then again, she could do just the same at times.

“Please Emerald, you don't need to be so formal,” she smiled, entering the room from the balcony. “Just call me Luna.” He didn't seem to pay much mind to it however as he held out a neatly wrapped roll of parchment for the mare. She was left a tiny bit confused by it, having to take a second glance between it and the pony holding it before levitating it under her control.

“Its an intelligence report from my brother,” Emerald explained, “I recently sent him into the Everfree to check up on a few suspicions I had...” Luna's pupils dilated when the words entered her ears. Did this mean what she thought it meant? Was Emerald really suspicious of the very same thing that was troubling her as well? If so, she really did make the appropriate decision in making him a captain.

'If there are any gods that can hear me...' she prayed silently, 'Do not let this confirm the suspicions...' After a couple of seconds, she unfurled the parchment and began to glance over all of it. Being very careful not to skip even a single word. It was a very formally written note, even if it had been scribbled upon a torn piece of parchment, there was even a safety spell over the note as well. Emerald's brother was indeed a very skilled mage to be able to cast such spells.
Emerald,

I apologize for taking as long as I did in getting this message to you. However, I will say this; if you haven't guessed by now I did run into quite a bit of trouble upon my investigation of the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

This particular trouble however doesn't include falling rubble from the unfortunate castle either. As I found myself completely stunned in what I discovered there. Apparently your fears are very well founded in terms of Nightmare Moon. To say the least, I was shocked when I stumbled upon the fact that she was alive.

It was strange though, because I originally thought Nightmare Moon and Luna were one in the same, not two separate entities.I will confirm it though that she is very much real and very much her own pony. Not only that, but she was extremely terrifying to me.

I was lucky...I barely made it out of there alive. I was just thankful that a tactic I tried actually bared fruit.Had I not, I'm certain both you and Princess Luna would be in the dark about this until it was too late. Thankfully it won't come to that though, as I'm pretty certain she just intends on taking over Equestria. Unlike the last time where she wanted to bring forth an eternal night.

Be careful brother, and take very good care of Princess Luna. Because I'm certain Nightmare Moon will be coming after her in due time...Also...while this is up to you. Allow me to advise you NOT to tell Princess Celestia. Because if you do, this could end up getting very ugly very quickly...

Sincerely,

Silver Crescent

Luna's heart sank as she read through the letter. Why is it everything always seemed to go from bad to worse for her? Even though she did have her suspicions on the whole situation before the letter. Just having it to confirm her worst fears only seemed to make the entire situation worse. It was at this point that she just quietly crawled onto her bed and curled up into a ball as she let the the whole situation sink in completely. She wasn't alone though thankfully.

What made this whole situation seem a tiny bit easier was the fact that Emerald quickly lied right down next to her. Almost like he had read her mind and knew exactly what she needed at this time. This better allowed the princess to stretch out a bit and snuggle right into his side. It immediately brought back a tiny bit of her smile as she found comfort in the unicorn's warmth.

“Thank you, Emerald...” she whispered.

“Its my pleasure,” he smiled as he wrapped his leg around her. This pulled the mare in just a bit closer to his body, making her feel even more comfortable as she rested her head on his body. “What are we going to do, Luna?” She didn't respond right away, instead she only found herself basking in the warmth and comfort of Emerald's embrace. It had been many years since she felt this kind of warmth and she wasn't about to let it go right now. Especially when she needed it.

“I...do not know yet...” she replied after a few peaceful moments. It wasn't long though before something popped into her head. Something she could recall about Nightmare during their fight. “Would it be wrong of me though if I decided to wait for her to come to me?”

“I should say, for the benefit of Equestria we take her down as soon as possible,” Emerald advised, “But...in the end, its up to you to make the call Luna and I'll simply carry out your orders.”

“Then...” she paused, “We wait...I don't want to risk anypony's lives unnecessarily.” Luna simply smiled at him. “Especially those of my beloved bat-ponies.” She gently nuzzled him from here, seeking to find a bit more comfort in his presence.

Author's Note

Enjoy this chapter.