“The Diamond Dog walked up to the small wooden house. Raising his paw, he pounded against the door and snarled, ‘Little pony, little pony, let me come in!’
“‘No, no!’ The pony cried back, ‘Not by the fur on my muzzy, muzz, muzzle!’
"The Diamond Dog reared back with a roar. ‘Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down!’”
Trying her best to look menacing, Celestia stood up as tall as she could and took a deep breath. She held that pose for a second, before leaning down and blowing as hard as she could right in Luna’s face.
Luna in turn, just continued to lay there, though her eyes darted back and forth for a moment before once again locking onto her older sister.
Celestia sat waiting for a moment, with a hopeful smile on her face. When she got no other reaction, however, she leaned back into her chair with a sigh. Even though she hadn’t really been expecting anything to happen, she still hoped that perhaps this particular book would spark something in her sister. It had always been one of her favorites after all.
“Luna…” Celestia trailed off. Seeing her sister’s eyes alive yet no other part of her body moving was a short-lived victory for her. She tapped her chin in thought, until an idea came to her head. “I’ll be right back.” She told her sister and gave her a gentle peck on her forehead, and she was rushing downstairs to a bookshelf intended for foals.
Where is it? Celestia scurried through the books, finding the sortation of the books to be in alphabetical order by author and not by name. I will have to have a word with Twilight on this. As she was thinking this, the door of the library opened up to let a familiar dragon in.
“I’m home!” Spike called out, putting his backpack aside and looking around him. When he saw Celestia, he waved at her and moved towards her. “Hey Princess.”
“Hello Spike, how was school?” Celestia asked him curiously, as she leaned down to Spike’s level and gave him a brief nuzzle.
Spike shrugged and grinned. “Pretty easy with the work and all, made some friends too.”
Celestia’s ears perked at this and she smiled proudly at Spike. “That’s good to hear, what are their names?”
“Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle,” he replied to her, before looking behind her and see the foal’s section. “Any book you're looking for Princess?”
“The Little Seapony,” Celestia said turning back towards the shelf. “But I can’t seem to figure out how these shelves are organized.”
Spike laughed. “Yeah, Twilight’s system for organizing does take a little bit of getting used to I’ll admit.” Walking up beside the princess, he immediately reached onto one of the shelves and seemed almost magically to pull out the correct book. “Though once you do figure it out, it’s not really that hard to find anything.”
He held the book up to Celestia who gratefully levitated it out of the young whelps claws. She looked it over for a moment. It was a bright blue book with the title written on the front in large letters. Fanning it open, she was pleased to see that it had all the pictures that she was familiar with.
“If you don’t mind me asking princess,” Spike spoke up hesitantly, “but isn’t that book a little bit… I don’t know… simple for you?”
Celestia chuckled. “Even I enjoy a simpler story now and again Spike,” she said with a smile. “But actually, I was planning on reading this to Luna. It was her favorite story when we were younger.”
“Really?” Spike asked a bit surprised. “That’s kind of strange. Twilight used to read that story to me all the time when I was young... Well, younger.”
“That’s because I used to read it to her when she was younger as well. In fact, I think I’ve read it to all the ponies who used to study under me. Twilight, Cadance, even Blueblood. He in particular used to love this story,” she said, a warm smile gracing her face as she thought back to those happier days. “I guess, part of me just wanted to keep the story alive as a way of keeping Luna close while she was gone.”
Spike paused for a moment. “How is Luna doing?”
Celestia sighed. “Still no change I’m afraid. She can still move her eyes, and she’s started looking around at her surroundings more, but other than that there hasn’t been any other progress.”
“But at least she’s not doing any worse right? That’s something at least.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Celestia responded with a smile. “These things do take time after all.”
“Exactly!” Spike said proudly. “And even if she’s not showing it, I’m sure she’s doing better all the time. In fact, I’ll bet she’s back up and on her hooves in no time at all!”
“I do hope so,” Celestia said with a light chuckle. It was nice to see that the young dragon’s energy had returned to him. She reached down and patted him gently on the head. “It would be nice if she…”
“PRINCESS CELESTIA!”
The door slammed open, startling the pair sitting there.
Twilight came rushing in with a broad smile on her face, albeit a weary smile from running all the way to the library. When she stopped before Spike and Celestia, she huffed with her head lowered. When she finally caught her breath, she raised her head and saw the two before her with the book.
“Oh…” she trailed off, her eyes darting from Spike to Celestia to the book. A small smile was present on her. “Spike, aren’t you a little too old for those books?” She asked him with a maternal voice and a gentle smile, completely misinterpreting the situation.
Spike snorted before shaking his head. “Not for me, for her.” He pointed to Celestia, who nodded meekly. “Anyways, what’s got you so excited?” He asked curiously, seeing Twilight was practically skipping in glee.
Twilight gasped and giggled, with a blush on her cheeks before using her magic to pull out a book. “I found this at Zecora’s! Look!” She literally shoved the book in Celestia’s face, before putting a little distance between the book and the princess’ muzzle. “Sorry.”
“It’s alright.” Celestia replied dismissively, taking the book from Twilight’s magic and looking at the cover. Her eyes widened in shock, nearly dropping the book. “What is this Twilight?”
“Well,” Twilight cleared her throat before answering. “Zecora tells me that what there’s a creature that’s been documented in their homeland that seemingly possesses equine beings. Ponies, zebras, kirins, donkeys, mules,” she continued, but noticed Spike staring blankly at her. “You get the point!” She waved her hoof before continuing. “This creature in her country is known as the ‘Ndoto’,” she tried to pronounce the name properly, but didn’t succeed. “But in direct translation to Equestrian, it’s called ‘The Nightmare!’”
Spike’s eyes blinked before the iris’ widened to the size of plates. “Hold on! Did you just say ‘The Nightmare’? As in like Nightmare Moon?”
“Exactly!” Twilight exclaimed. “You see, according to the legend this creature acts like a parasite. It finds a host that feels depressed or lonely and latches onto them. At first it feeds the host more negative emotions, making them feel angrier over time. Then, once the host has reached the point they are filled with despair, the parasite is able to feed off their emotions and take control. The host is still there mentally, but loses all ability to move their own body. The parasite takes over, speaking and acting in place of the host. The host in turn, can only sit and watch as the parasite continues to feed off of their emotions.
“In addition, the host’s body undergoes a physical change as well. The host body becomes much stronger, and the fur turns to a much darker color. But what is really interesting is that apparently, those who are infected gain what is called ‘Serpent Eyes’. Their eyes literally change and appear to look like a dragon’s would.”
“So…” Celestia said slowly, staring intently at the cover of the book, drawn in by the eyes printed there. “What you’re saying is, Luna had been infected by this parasite?”
Twilight nodded. “Everything that we’ve seen so far seems to match the description of the creature. It makes sense that Luna was feeling a bit depressed all those years ago, and the Nightmare saw her as the perfect host.”
“So,” Spike said thinking for minute. “Does that mean that the Nightmare was with her the entire time that she was stuck on the moon?”
“Probably so. In fact, that would make sense as to why Luna’s having so much trouble right now. She probably hasn’t had control of her own body for over a thousand years now. When we used the Elements of Harmony, it was probably enough to remove the parasite from Luna’s body, leaving her in control of herself once again!”
“So, what that means is…” Celestia slowly began.
Twilight didn’t let her finish. “What that means is that Nightmare Moon and Luna are, in reality, two completely different ponies!” she exclaimed proudly. “It means that your sister isn’t really evil, she was just under this parasite’s control at the time. And best of all, it also means that now we can look into the best way to help her recover! Isn’t that great?”
Standing tall, Twilight beamed while she waited for the princess to respond. After a moment though, she started to falter a bit as Celestia still hadn’t said anything. The smile on her face began to disappear as she looked over to the alicorn. Celestia’s head was bowed, hiding her face from Twilight’s vision. “Princess?” she asked hesitantly.
Slowly, Celestia lifted her head up and looked over to her student. She looked as though she was about to burst into tears at any moment. Her eyes were already moist and she was breathing heavily. “I… I…” she stammered unsure of what to say.
Then, without warning, she pushed Twilight aside as she ran towards the door. Her horn glowed for just a moment, throwing the door open as she charged outside into the midday sun.
Twilight sat stunned, though only for a moment. “Princess Celestia!” she cried out rushing over to the doorway.
Spike followed close behind. “Wait, what just happened?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Twilight responded. “I thought that she’d be thrilled to hear this news. I didn’t think she’d react like this!”
“Should we go after her? Ponies might notice if they see the Princess of Equestria running through town like that.”
Biting her lip, Twilight nodded. “I’ll go after her. You stay here and keep an eye on Luna alright?” Without another word, she ran off in the same direction, hoping to catch the princess before she did something too stupid.
Being discharged from a hospital can be a very enjoying moment, especially if a pony is more used to the outdoor air. This was especially true for Fluttershy, who walked out of the hospital doors with her best friend Rainbow Dash. She looked better than what she did when she first entered the hospital but she was still looking a little ragged out. The doctor told her that it would take a couple of days before she was as good as news. For now, she was given some medicine and a diet to follow for proper recovery. A diet that would be threatened by the arrival of a pink friend.
When the doors closed behind them, Pinkie Pie literally fell out of the sky and right in front of Fluttershy. “Oh my gosh! You’re out of the hospital Fluttershy! Let’s go and have a party to celebrate your ’Get Well Day’. Let’s go to SugarCube corner now! Huh! Huh?! Hu-”
“Pinkie!” Rainbow yelled out, irritated slightly by the excessive enthusiasm of Pinkie. “First of all, keep it down please. Second, Fluttershy is not in any condition to party now.”
“Oh…” Pinkie trailed off, sitting on her haunches with her mane slowly deflating. Her bright smile slowly turning into a dark frown.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, feeling a little guilty of making Pinkie sad. “Tell you what, why not walk with us back to Fluttershy’s home? Chat on the way okay?”
“Okay!” Pinkie jumped in the and bounced to Fluttershy’s side. “Let’s go!”
Fluttershy was silent the whole time, mainly because she couldn’t reply fast enough. She only nodded with a soft smile and they ventured off towards the cottage.
“So,” Pinkie happily began as she hopped along. “How are you feeling now?”
“Better…” Fluttershy responded quietly.
“Well of course you’re feeling better silly,” Pinkie Pie laughed. “If you weren’t feeling better, they wouldn’t have let you out of the hospital.”
Fluttershy smiled.“Yeah, I suppose so. I’m just glad that I get to go home again.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet Angel Bunny will be happy to see you again. I’ve been trying to keep all your critters in line while you were gone, but I don’t think they like me as much as you do. They really, really missed you Fluttershy.” Pinkie stopped mid bounce, slowly falling to the back to the ground with a sigh. “We all missed you Fluttershy.”
The change of attitude kind of startled the timid pegasus, though she kept walking with Pinkie Pie now trotting alongside her. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to make you all worry so much.”
Pinkie Pie smiled. “That’s okay,” she said, a lot of her energy seeming to return instantly. “We’re all just happy that you’re alright. Just promise me that you won’t do anything super crazy like this again.”
Fluttershy tried to agree, but couldn’t do so. “I’ll try,” she managed to mutter.
For a second, Pinkie faltered, but soon was right back by Fluttershy’s side. “You’re not still feeling bad about Princess Luna are you?”
With a sigh, Fluttershy nodded. While she was indeed feeling better at the moment, the memory of Luna lying helplessly at the abandoned castle still gnawed at her mind. No matter what she did, she could still hear the criticizing voice in the back of her mind, condemning her for what she had done.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself Fluttershy,” Pinkie happily responded. “Luna’s doing fine right now. In fact she’s getting better all the time.” Rainbow Dash let out an angry sounding cough, though Pinkie Pie seemed to ignore it. “Next thing you know, she’ll be back up on her hooves and perfectly fine again in no time.”
Suddenly, Pinkie stopped, letting out a loud gasp that startled the two pegasi. “I’ve just had the best idea!” she exclaimed. “We should all go and visit Princess Luna right now!”
Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie as though she had transformed into a giant insect. “Pinkie, are you crazy!?”
“Nopey dopey! Just happy!” Pinkie replied, oblivious to what Rainbow Dash had really meant.
“There’s no way I’m letting that mare near Fluttershy!” Rainbow retorted, her eyes showing no mirth to Pinkie.
“Aww! Why not?”
Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped and she blinked before closing her mouth. “Has everypony forgotten that she tried to put the whole of Equestria in eternal night?! Have you all forgotten what she did to all of us?!”
Pinkie waved her hoof to Rainbow. “Psst! That was Nightmare Moon! Not Princess Luna! Besides, we helped her with the Elements of Harmony…” she trailed off, her smiling losing some of its potency. “Mostly…”
“Whatever. I’m still not letting Fluttershy near-”
“I want to meet her.”
Pinkie and Rainbow looked to Fluttershy, the latter’s eyes shining in determination to the direction of the library. “I want to talk to Princess Luna, please.”
Rainbow placed her hooves on Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, no. She might hurt you if you come near her. She might be faking the whole thing to—”
“Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy initiated the legendary ‘Stare’ on Rainbow, who fell on her haunches at the sight of the new eyes. “Please don’t speak badly about the princess like that.” She didn’t wait for a reply, walking past her friend. “I just need to speak to her for a moment, please.”
“Okie dokie!” Pinkie said as she bounced past Rainbow Dash and towards Fluttershy, both of them heading to the library.
Alone on the ground, Rainbow stood up and looked stunned. She looked back to where her friends had ‘deserted’ her and to where they were walking. A frown formed on her muzzle and she shook her head.
What is wrong with everypony?!
Cadance sighed as she set down the quill beside her. She had never realized how much paperwork her aunt went through during a single day. Even after more than a month since taking the throne, she still hadn’t gotten used to it.
She groaned once again. Had it really been that long? When Celestia had sent her the letter asking for her assistance in this matter, she hadn’t really thought about how long Celestia was going to be away. She’d assumed that it was going to be for a couple of weeks, maybe a bit longer, but not for an entire month. What was worse still, she hadn’t heard anything from her aunt or even Twilight since then. Who knew what condition Luna was currently in.
The nobles were starting to get restless as well. There had been a couple of problems when Celestia first left, but for the most part things were pretty calm. However, as the days kept ticking by, there were more and more complaints being filed. Celestia had never taken a vacation longer than two weeks before and certainly not completely disappeared during that time. Ponies were starting to get curious, and Cadance was quickly running out of excuses to tell them.
Still, she was trying her best to keep everypony happy. The best that she could do was continue to tell them that everything was alright and keep ruling to the best of her ability. However, there were a few that refused to listen to her.
One in particular happened to catch her eye as he trotted past. Blueblood appeared to be in a particularly sour mood this morning. His head was bowed and he was grumbling something to himself as he trotted past.
Cadance bit her lower lip, a part of her wishing to just ignore him. She knew though, that family came first for her. She quickly followed him. “M-morning Blueblood.” She tried to greet him, hoping he may respond well enough.
“Hmm?” Blueblood turned around, his frown still present. When he saw Cadance approach him, smiling kindly to him, he felt his stomach curl and a deeper scowl was now on his face. Oh no, not her…
“How are you doing today?” She asked, trying to look as oblivious as possible to his miserable state.
Blueblood pointed to his face. “Does my expression not tell the tale?”
Cadance blinked and looked over his face. “What? Did you get a new haircut? Didn’t exactly work for you?”
Glaring at her for a second, he turned around and starting walking away from Cadance. “Blind like Princess Celestia, how typical.”
Her smile dropping, she cocked her brow at him. “What’s that suppose to mean?”
Blueblood didn’t even bother turning his body around this time. “Are you deaf now too? Trying to win over some subjects’ sympathy votes? You really take a leaf out of Princess Celestia’s book.”
Cadance jaw went agape. “Auntie Tia is not blind!” She told him sternly, though this did not seem to affect Blueblood one bit.
“Denial.” Blueblood shook his head, letting out one laugh without mirth. “Spoken like a true politician. She really is teaching you well.”
“Blueblood!” Cadance marched over to him and actually stepped in front of him. “I don’t like what you are insinuating about our aunt.”
“I only speak the truth.” He replied flatly to her, not bothering to blink when starting at her eyes.
Cadance mouthed soundlessly until she shook her head and looked back at the stallion. “Where’s your love for the family?! The royal family.”
“Love in the royal family? That’s quite the most ironic thing I have ever heard you say.”
Before Cadance could even say a word, Blueblood walked past her and left her alone with her thoughts.
Standing alone in the hallway, Cadance’s anger slowly subsided as it was replaced by sadness as she looked down. Her eyes turned moist as a myriad of images from the past flashed before her. Most of them pertaining to her cousin in his younger years.
Why did you rid yourself of your kindness, Blueblood?