Dear Princess Luna

The Dream

Major thanks to The Dark Angel for making my fic sound halfway decent.

The large wooden door separating Luna from the outside closed with a resounding thud. Normally a concern of hers, the noise, now a distant memory as she trailed in, vision blocked by her years of studying calligraphy manifested into one, single letter. A smile broke her concentrating expression as she looked over her message one last time before heading to bed.

The sun was rising, the moon was set, and it was time for Luna’s bed to get! A nursery rhyme, originally crafted from her parents, Celestia enjoyed, if for other reason than to toy with her younger sister. Luna played it off as a joke, but she truly did enjoy the chant. It brought her back to the time when she was younger, when she, Tia, and her parents would all play and live in their land.

That was so long ago, and both sisters have long since grown up; she hesitated using the word ‘aged’, both of them did, as neither of them truly ever aged. They were immortal, after all, and would live for many more generations. They never truly ‘aged,’ they just reached maturity and eventually peaked. Peaked... she hesitated to use that word as well, though Celestia insisted that that is what they have done.

She, maybe. Luna folded her letter around The Author’s, a way to keep chronological order between the ones she received and the ones she sent. Well, wrote, anyway. The paper perplexed her, though. Arguably more than the contents held therein. No pony she had ever seen had paper quite as exquisite as that, and she certainly had none of it for her own use.

This provided an opportunity. A clue, if she dared treat this as a common mystery found in countless other books she’s spent her time reading, to find the true author. Whether intentional or not, The Author had left a small hole in their wall of mystery and glee. A tear in their fabric with which Luna could grab hold and rip apart, revealing him in all of his glory. Three knocks only furthered her cue to pursue the mystery open-hooved.

“Princess.” It was Silver Platter, and for once Luna was truly grateful for her intrusion. “I thought you might like some milk or juice before you went off to bed.”

“Silver Platter!” Luna surged forward and wrapped the servant pony in a tight embrace, turning her into a glimmering ruby of embarrassment. Luna withdrew her embrace with a blush to match. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s no trouble at all!” she replied happily. “I’m glad to see you’re opening up!”

“Yes, opening up...” She would have to think of that revelation sometime later. “Nevermind that for now. We request that you send the captain of the Royal Guard here immediately.”

“Why?” pondered the perplexed servant. “What has you troubled?”

“Just please get the captain,” instructed Luna.

“Yes, your highness.” Silver Platter bowed and ducked out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

        Luna watched her leave, an obvious smile pursed her lips to show her gratitude. She paced eagerly around the circumference of her room soon after, a nervous giddiness elevated her heart, but she was determined to keep inside lest she give away any more than she already has. Few ponies could know of this little secret. The risks were too great to bear.

‘Hey, Princess Luna got a love letter from somepony!’

It would start as a simple rumor spreading amongst the servants. They would act different to her then, their smiles would grow more sly, more knowing. Their voices would change, too; an irreversible wink would end every interaction. So would their behaviors. The more gossipy of the group would insist to be her servers; they would follow her everywhere, leave her no privacy to organize her thoughts. Every letter would be checked, every message relayed in a secret grapevine, eventually corrupted by the excitable ponies.

Then... then it would spread...

        To the guard, naturally. They spoke, the servants and guards who were off from their shift or on vacation, often, and sooner or later (more likely sooner than later) this little golden nugget of information would “slip” out of the mouth of one of the night servers, landing directly into the guards’ anxious ear.

Like wildfire.

        The guards, in their juvenile way, would travel far and wide, to every outpost in Equestria, Grydon, the Crystal Empire, everywhere, spreading their messages about. Of course, guards were no less gossips than the mares that tended to them, so it would leak. Everypony would know come next deployment, and then the press would want in. Countless reports of servers seeing the letter, soldiers looking for the Author, and other involvements being accounted for. Her night court would fill with journalists emitting a rainbow of aura as each held a pencil and a notepad, asking, nay, demanding a testimony from the receiver herself. She would, of course, shout-

“Princess, you wanted to see me?” a cautious, yet determined voice prompted whilst entering her bedchambers.

“NAY! ‘TIS ALL LIES, ALL OF IT!” she bellowed in her royal canterlot voice, pointing directly at the pony, and, she suspected, earning the attention of every ear in a five mile radius.

“Oh.” The captain was visibly shaken from the response. “Sorry to have bothered you, the servant must have heard wrong.”

“Wait!” Luna called, wrapping the door in her magical aura and slamming it shut to prevent the captain from leaving. He jumped at the noise and turned around. “I did call for you. I’m sorry, but this situation is a bit much for me to handle.”

“Situation? What situation?” The guard surveyed the room and lent in close to the princess. “Is there something going on that we should take care of, your highness?”

“Yes. I received this letter not too long ago, about one night cycle.” Princess Luna begrudgingly unwrapped the night letter from its milky cover, her own response, and gave it to the captain. “This is a paper I have not had any contact with previously. I am curious as to where it came from, who has it, and who might have access to it. Please find that out for me as soon as possible. Thank you.” Luna bowed; the soldier saluted. “Dismissed.”

“Yes, your highness.”

        The pony withdrew from the room in a bowed position, opening the door with his flank and hind legs. Once the door was shut and Luna was positive that she was alone, she decided it would be best to get sleep. She needed it, and it would help her think over the events that plagued her thoughts.

        Hey bedroom was an endless night, perfect for the Princess to sleep during the day. It was only at night that her artwork must be exposed to all of the land; during the day it was kept safely inside, so that no one but her could view its splendid glory. The hypnotic asymmetric flow of the stars, the pushing and pulling of the galaxies, the growing and shrinking of light, and the most important part, the pearlesque spotlight cast down upon her from her very own gem of the sky. She trotted to the spotlight and sunk beneath the covers, which still captured every reflected ray of light, and shut her eyes to be whisked away to her subconscious.

        The next time she opened her eyes was thanks to a prodding in her lower legs from an eerily unfamiliar hoof. It intensified when she remained unresponsive, almost desperate to make her rise from her silk cocoon and face it. She flung the blanket from her bed, when it landed, however, it exploded in a purple tidal wave, drenching everything in the limited surroundings she could make out with the exception of one item. A vague shadow of some colt stood, drifting on some remainder of the floor not washed away from the purple explosion, at the foot of her bed, a wide, knowing smile and two bright, prying eyes were the only discernable features of him. He winked at Luna and sailed off into the distance.

“Hey, wait, come back!” Luna called after the mysterious figure, but it fell on deaf ears.

        She readied her stance and leapt into the darkening sky, wings spread and body contorted to offer maximum speed, in hope that she could catch the distancing pony yet. It was unreal to her, but the stallion, propelled, it seemed, from nothing but the wind, was going faster than she, or any pony she has ever seen, could ever hope to go. Her body, still weary from just waking up, and still pumping adrenaline from the abrupt wake up, was beginning to lose momentum as a powerful force blew against her might, forcing her to land, luckily, on a bit of floor of her own. As soon as her hooves grasped the floor, it sped off in the same speed the shadow cruised at, almost losing the princess in the process.

        She grasped desperately to the edge of the speeding floor while wind, or air resistance, forces her mouth open and her facial features to expand past normal appearances. None of that matter, though, since the dark stallion stallion was growing ever closer to Luna’s grasp. She inched ever closer to the dark stallion, hoof outstretched because magic, she assumed, would be about as effectual as flying had been in the past. She was forced to earth pony means for the duration of this trip.

        The stallion turned to her, frowning at the approaching alicorn behind him. He tapped his hoof anxiously as the corners of his mouth sunk lower and lower. Luna smiled, she had the upper hoof now! Or so she thought. The stallion’s mouth, as if a gear, rotated to form a grotesque, mismatched smile as his tapping hoof gradually hit the water. The water, in response to the rhythmic beating, turned milky white to match the shade of the setting sun.

        Luna watched in amazement as the entire ocean surrounding her shifted from its bright, vibrant purple to this new, thick, toneless, monochrome white in a matter of seconds. In contrast, the boards she and the stallion rode upon left trails of black in eerily familiar patterns. The game of cat and mouse had not been, to the stallion, a game of running away more as it was a game of leading her on for his own sick game. Both sections of floor slowed to a stop, against Luna’s will, and the stallion turned to face the distressed, panicking princess with his same, uneven smile. One laugh erupted from within him and he sank underneath the milky fluid, leaving in his wake a single black dot the exact size of his circular piece of floor.

        The princess wavered before acting. Diving after him would end horribly for her, there was no doubt, but remaining still provided no answers or even clues as to the message her subconscious was trying to say. While she stared uneasily at the black dot, she did not notice the bubbling coming from under her own scrap of floor.

I’m the Princess of Dreams! she chided herself. Then why am I being lead around by my own subconscious!?

“What’s the matter, Luna? Afraid to find you’re not as stable as you claim?” An unknown voice, constructed from an array of mis-tuned notes and quieted thoughts of frustration, manifested itself around the weary mare.

“I am not unstable!” she screamed in retort to the prying voice.

“They why,” it mused, conjuring the letter in front of her face, “are you losing your mind over a letter? A letter, I add, that comes from a nopony trying to play Nightmare’s Advocate?” The scroll burst into flames, the ashes falling into the liquid below.

“No!” Luna reached for the sunken letter, but before she was able to make contact with the creamy liquid below, the pressure building from under her raft erupted, launching her into the sky above.

        From this distance she was able to see the product of her fevered chase with the mysterious stallion. It was her letter, in her own writing! Laughing erupted from the stars around her, enveloping her in a cocoon of fear, shame, and self consciousness.

“The worst part is—” One voice stood from the others, speaking above a symphony of cackles. “You responded!”

“Silence!” she screamed to the voices around her, but it sounded like a desperate plea for peace. The voices jeered further, oblivious to her pleas and anxious to absorb her horror. She covered her face with her barren hooves, reaching inward to find something, anything, to combat these unrelenting voices.

She found it, a sprite held deep within her heart, a... a bright moon rising through the void. It struck her like lightning, forcing a flash of self confidence and power to surge through her veins, illuminating her eyes. “We are the Princess of the Night,” she bellowed in her Royal Canterlot Voice, a practice she had since abandoned that Nightmare Night so long ago, “And we will not stand for such treatment!”

        It worked! The voices regressed and dissipated amongst the endless stars, forever to leave her alone. She was free at last!

“LUNA!” She turned to find her sister descending from an astral plain, her facial features contorted into anger, disappointment, and hatred. “How could you!?”

“Sister!” Luna sunk away, trying to defend herself. “We were just—”

“Don’t...” Celestia turned away from her sister and breathed deeply. “Just... don’t.”

Luna stared agape at her sister. Celestia had never spoke with such a tone, not even when she was furious.

“You were doing so well...” Celestia finally retracted her hoof from the bridge of her snout and turned away. “I just don’t understand...”

“Wait, Celestia!” Luna begged, extending a hoof to hold back her departing sister. She couldn’t end it with that! Her call fell flat; her sister didn't even turn around. “Celestia!” No use, the Sun Goddess was done with her younger sister.

“Celestia!”

        Luna sat upright in her bed, sheets stained with a flurry of tears, sweat, drool, and anguish. The same slush of self hatred stained her coat as well, painting her an even darker, deeper blue than she was accustomed to. None of that came to her mind, though, what did preoccupy her frantic thoughts was her sister’s loving embrace and her alabaster legs wrapped lovingly around Luna’s trembling body.

“T-Tia?” The shaken mare looked up to her older sister, fresh tears streaking down her already soaked cheeks.

“It’s okay, Luna,” soothed Celestia, her voice hoarse from her own repressed tears, “I’m here for you.”

“We’re so sorry!” Luna buried her head into her sister’s bosom, staining the ivory coat.

Celestia wrapped tighter, finally unable to contain her compulsions and longer, and released a flow of her own tears. She hated seeing her own sister suffer from things she could not control. It wasn’t fair.

“You have nothing to be sorry about, Luna.” Celestia broke the embrace to look directly into the sobbing princess, a characteristic she shared at this point.

“Yes we do!” Luna wiped the tears from her eyes, only to have a new set develop almost immediately after. “We are not the princess you wanted...”

The words struck at Celestia like an icy pick. Had she truly been feeling alone, isolated, even from her own sister? She was regressing, too; her language was drifting back to old english, a comforting dialect for her, and her primary language when she first arrived again. She was still the same insecure mare Celestia knew her as before she reformed herself to Nightmare Moon. She vowed to herself never to fore Luna to experience the pain, the regret, the harm of becoming that awful creature ever again!

“Luna, listen to me!” Celestia’s voice came out in broken, emotional shambles as a thousand memories came flooding back. “You are my sister, you are perfect, and I would never want you any other way!”