The Elements of Lunar Harmony
Part One: A Sister Reborn
High above the land of Equestria the sun was reaching its peak as the occupants of Equestria's capital Canterlot continued about their daily pursuits, blissfully unaware of the dark figure sat looking out upon the city from the highest window of the tallest tower, situated within the sacred walls of the royal palace.
As the city bustled along the figure took a deep breath and if any pony had been around to hear it, let loose with the most depressing sigh, moments passed before another and then another.
To those ponies who had skipped history class this would appear to be just a severely depressed pony in a dark and forbidding tower who needed to get out more, except this 'pony' was an Allicorn and not the one with a sunny disposition either.
Princess of the sun Celestia and her younger and somewhat ill-fated sister, princess of the moon Luna both ruled over Equestria although it was left to Celestia to attend all the high society functions since Luna was busy in her tower doing ‘important stuff’ but it was not always so.
The two princesses long back story was somewhat 'fluffed' up in the history books, thanks to princess Celestia's understanding of the power of words (since she invented the current language in the realm) and the use of propaganda (again her).
So when Luna’s body and soul were taken over by the Demon Nightmare Moon causing all out bloody civil war, (a war in which many heroic insults were thrown and parasprite's were used for the first time as a replacement for napalm) it was a close fought thing until Celestia cheated and used the elements of harmony.
She’d decided early on that she would need a heroic story-line to keep any future troublesome factions in Equestria from doing anything other than passing around leaflets; so she spread the story of her banishing to the moon the demon that had consumed Luna's soul.
The shocking truth was not that shocking as instead of the monstrous Nightmare Moon being sealed away in the moon itself, Celestia hoping to one day save her sister had instead magically locked away Nightmare Moon/Luna in the abandoned west tower of the palace.
Especially since Celestia doubted even an Allicorn could survive an indefinite spell on the airless moon, on which she blasted a giant profile picture of Nightmare Moon to scare the unbelievers at night which worked wonders.
A thousand years passed before the Demon escaped, and at the worst possible time as Celestia had been whisked away by a mad pony with a blue box to who knows where, so it had fallen to her prize if a little socially awkward student Twilight Sparkle to stop the malevolent former sister from taking over the throne and possibly wiping out the whole of Equestria in the process....again.
The whole wiping out of Equestria was due to a slight miscalculation on the part of Nightmare Moon by not considering the effect of eternal night on life in general.
After a lengthy battle and having done all the things in the episodes, Twilight and her newly met friends from her adventure royally kicked Nightmare Moons ass to the point she relinquished her grip on Luna and after Celestia made a whole bunch of excuses as to explain her disappearance, she accepted back into her heart her little sister and all was well…
…Well almost, after a millennia of being stuck inside the darkest depths of Nightmare Moons mind as well as a crumbling drafty tower with only old magazines, a basketball on which was drawn a smiley face and Luna’s record collection to keep either sane, Luna had descended even deeper into the emo.
Where the princess Celestia in all her glory was always a sight to behold, as dazzling as the sun she controlled…
…Princess Luna generally made ponies want to write poems about death and sit in the corner of a dark room burning themselves with candles, Celestia's attempts to reverse this had ended in failure and banishment from Luna's bedroom after first suggesting she open the curtains.
Celestia was hardly the tyrannical dictator some of the papers or her sister claimed she was, she hadn't done half of what they claimed happened with Twilight and her friends at that nightclub and the hotel afterwards.
But regardless of her public image she dearly loved her sister and as she watched the dark shape in the window from the castle courtyard below, an idea formed and then for the hundredth time this month she hatched a foal proof plan on how to get her sister interested in something other than the hoofing pumpkins, the nine inch horseshoe nails or neighvana.
The chance to put the sun goddesses plan into action came later that evening when after Luna deigned to make an appearance at tea time to chase her greens around the plate with a fork and then order take out, Celestia made her move as her sister waited for it to be delivered giving her a whole thirty minutes in which to talk some sense into her.
"Luna…?"
Celestia put her most affectionate face on as her overly depressed sister sat staring at the floor.
"Yes?"
Celestia almost missed the barely audible reply.
"Are you lonely?"
"N-No."
"Luna I want you to make some friends."
"Huh… Why?"
Luna’s quiet demeanor slipped as her surprise turned to suspicion.
Celestia began with her usual speech about how unhealthy it was to stay in all the time and how she worried about Luna, but as her sisters attention began to wander Celestia outlined her plan.
"I'm going to send you away on a royal tour of the outlying regions to get you away from the castle, hopefully traveling and meeting our subjects might help you to make friends like Twilight did.”
“Friends that can help teach you all about the magic of friendship, so you can see all the wonders our world has created since you’ve been gone."
"I-I don't want to go on some boring tour, I'm not like you Celly, because I was Nightmare Moon I scare ponies away".
"You have to learn to overcome dear sister so tough".
"B-But Celly..."
Damn, Celestia cursed as she screwed her eyes shut, the conversation halted as Celestia tried to avoid the inevitable end of her plan, as it happens the same end as the months previous ninety nine as Luna used her special submission move stare of the moon.
As Celestia sat eyes closed she swore bloody vengeance on her student Twilight's friend Fluttershy for teaching her the original stare move in the first place.
For a while after a certain nightmare night, it had appeared Luna had made friends in the nearby Ponyville and in particular the aforementioned Fluttershy, after spending a fair amount of time around her Luna suddenly and without explanation stopped going to Ponyville refused to speak about it and began once again to hide in the west tower.
(Historical Note: It was after this retreat that historians believe the last ever rainbow seen over Canterlot appeared before catching fire and exploding, accompanied by what those who were present described as the howling of a lost soul or a banshee screaming, but most agree it definitely sounded like 'DAMN YOU RAINBOW!!!').
Celestia felt her will beginning to falter under the stares power as even with her eyes closed she could still feel it burning through her eyelids, but just as she was about to cry mercy it ended.
“Luna?”
Celestia warily opened an eye before blinking and then switching to a wide eyed slack jawed expression as the scene before her sank in, Luna was sat on her rump fore-hooves together in front of her chest with a rare smile on her face, almost as if a metaphorical light bulb were floating above her head.
“You're right Celly”.
“I AM?” Celestia went on alert as she dealt with the sudden change before her and then froze again as Luna clapped her fore hooves together excitedly.
"You said I should get friends like Twilight's”.
“No I said like Twilight did.”
Celestia's correction went unnoticed as Luna continued.
“I'm nowhere near as good as Twilight at making friends but if I had a student too she would have friends just like Twilight's, then I can use my status as mentor to work my way in and make them my friends as well! It’s perfect Celly!”
Celestia wondered whether it was worth mentioning how bad Twilight was at making new friends or how creepy her sister suddenly sounded as she sat muttering away, a fresh excitement about her as Luna pictured it unfolding.
“And just who do you propose to take as a student; you can't just pick any pony? And you don't know any ponies that would fit the bill”, mentally she added 'or at all'.
Luna stopped her machinations and pondered for a moment then asked,
“Who is the most powerful unicorn in Equestria after Twilight Sparkle?”
“Luna I really think you should hold off on that train of thought, you're not ready for a student yet and I think...”
"B-But Celly..."
Luna used her eyelashes to great effect as she caught her sister off guard.
“I suppose that any of the professors at Canterlot University would be considered quite powerful…”
Luna dismissed this immediately.
“I don’t want some dusty old professor; I want some pony Twilight's age.”
Celestia wracked her brain for the names of some of the most talented up and coming unicorns but as she considered the potential for this to all go wrong she began thinking of those who were either strong enough or expendable enough for the task of being her sister’s ‘first’ student.
The sun goddess arrived at the conclusion there was only one pony she could think of who could possibly cause Luna to give up on her suspect goals that was if Luna didn’t give up trying to find her first, the mare was well known for getting into trouble and traveling from town to town.
Celestia cleared her throat.
“Her names Trixie, she had a traveling magic show that toured Equestria but the last I heard she now lives in a small frontier town called Appleloosa”.
Celestia kicked her forelegs as she said it but without really knowing why.
Luna ceased frowning and stopped her sister right there as she spoke in a barely controlled hiss.
“Had a magic show? I said powerful Celly not some side show performer.”
“She has a lot of potential and after her humiliation she’s learned a fair bit of more conventional magic.”
Luna still looked skeptically at her sister as Celestia tried to shake off the effects of the stare whilst remembering the details of the magician her student had written at great length about.
“Humiliated? So she’s a fool?”
Celestia shrugged at the fool comment.
“I don’t know about that but I think Twilight and Trixie are supposed to have gotten into an argument about magic but it didn’t go well for Trixie…”
“How so…?”
“Her reputation was totally ruined after she met Twilight and her friends… Apparently she tried to destroy Ponyville by summoning an Ursa Major… Or was it Cerberus?”
Luna gave a low whistle at the last comment, this pony sounded promising purely down to the facts she was the ‘rival’ of Celestia’s own student and could already use summoning spells...
Celestia still slightly befuddled by the stare of the moon spent a moment trying to remember all the details of the Ursa incident, she also failed to notice she was alone until she turned and found her sister had disappeared.
“Oh dear...”