Chapter I

–––Chapter I –––

The Festival of the Eclipse. They had devised and christened it together. It had been over a thousand years since Equestria had seen a total solar eclipse, and the final one it had seen had heralded the beginning of a battle that had nearly torn the country apart. Now, both had decided that it was past time for another one, but with a fresh new meaning. The moon and the sun in the heavens in the same place, at the same time. A symbol of the two rulers of Equestria, equal but opposite, joined together in common purpose – the happiness of the land. It would be a wonderful celebration in the shadow of one of the most spectacular marvels the heavens could perform. And today was the day.

Luna had once, jokingly, referred to their morning ritual as 'the changing of the guard,' and the moniker had stuck. Whether by coincidence, design or irony, it happened every morning at the same time as the actual Guard changed shifts. Fresh-faced officers replaced their weary colleagues and above the waking city, high on the tall tower of Canterlot Castle, the two sisters met, with Luna the first to offer greeting.

"Good morning, sister. Did you sleep well?"

"Soundly, for the most part, thank you," said Celestia, wearing her perpetual, kind smile.

Celestia was known for never out-and-out lying, but she could be selective in her honesty. Luna regarded her sister carefully, searching her features for any hint of evasiveness but, as ever, her sister was perfectly composed.

Before she allowed her gaze to linger too long, Luna turned her attention to the moon in the heavens. Summoning her magic she reached out to it and...paused deliberately for just a moment.

Beside her, Celestia stood perfectly motionless. Her serene smile never left but Luna, now scrutinising closely from the corner of her eye, sensed very subtle apprehension. Celestia's muscles tensed ever so slightly and her breath caught for a split second. So innocuous were the cues that none but her sister would ever have noticed.

Dutifully, Luna guided the moon towards the inviting horizon. As it started to descend, Celestia relaxed in an equally inconspicuous manner. As soon as the moon was out of sight, her sister summoned her own magic and raised the sun, bringing forth warmth and light upon all of Equestria and beyond.

With the sun safely clear of the horizon, Celestia set it upon its course for the day and then, with her horn extinguished, turned to face her.

"Breakfast?"

Luna forced a smile, and did her best to keep her own expression from falling into disappointment. No matter how she tried though, she always had the sense that Celestia could read her like an open book. She gave a short nod and followed her sister from the high balcony into the castle.

–––

The banana pancakes were delicious but Luna could only really bring herself to poke and prod them. Celestia had no such issues however and, sat across the small table from her in their cosy breakfast room, she tucked into her own plate with gusto.

It wouldn't be long now. Celestia would have noticed that she couldn't make banter or small talk today, and that she had lost her appetite. In a few minutes she would realise that all was not quite well and she would ask what was wrong. Luna tried to work up the courage to take the initiative and begin the conversation before that happened, but found that she didn't quite have the wor–

"Is something the matter?"

That was somewhat quicker than expected. Forced to give up any pretense at subtlety, Luna urged herself to meet her sister's concerned gaze.

"Sister...do you really trust me?"

Perhaps sensing the importance of the question, Celestia immediately returned her fork to the table, stood and walked around it to be next to her. "What's wrong?" she asked kindly.

Luna looked up into her older sister's eyes. "Last night. You had a dream about me. About how I...changed. It worries you still. You fear it could happen again."

Immediately, Celestia's face softened and broke into a warm smile. "I see you've been scrying again," she said. "Luna, last night I had a nightmare. Being a princess of Equestria does not make me immune to bad dreams, I fear. That's all it was."

"It is a dream you have had before, isn't it?" Luna said. It wasn't really a question.

"And I'm sure I will have it again. I may have it another thousand times, but that doesn't mean it will have any effect on the way I feel. You are my sister and I love you deeply. Nothing will ever change that."

"And the festival today? There was an eclipse in your dream. You are not apprehensive about the sun yielding to the moon?"

Celestia smiled again. "This is a celebration of our unity and our equality. And I am very much looking forward to it." She put a reassuring hoof on her sister's shoulder. "Now, if you are not going to finish your pancakes, then may I give them a good home?"

Pouting, Luna cupped a defensive foreleg around her plate and using magic, jabbed her fork a couple of times in Celestia's direction – as though it were a tiny spear fending off a hungry monster. Celestia chuckled in reply and returned to her own disappointingly almost-empty dish. As she sat down, Luna spoke once more.

"Tia? Please forgive me for intruding on your dreams."

"Forgive you?" Celestia looked surprised.

"You are not angered or upset by this revelation?"

Her older sister smiled kindly once more. "I have told you before Luna, I have no secrets from you. You are always welcome to share my dreams. Though I am disappointed you didn't reveal yourself. It has been a long time since we dreamt together."

"Indeed," retorted Luna with an apologetic smile. "It has been nearly five hours now."

–––

With breakfast over Celestia had excused herself to make some last-minute preparations for the Festival. That left Luna alone, her thoughts turning to the prior conversation.

Initially she took a great deal of reassurance from their dialogue. But the more she thought, the more she realised that there was far more that Celestia hadn't said, and insecurity began to creep.

She had asked Celestia if she trusted her; Celestia had avoided answering.

She had suggested that Celestia thought Luna's transformation could happen again; Celestia hadn't denied it.

She had asked if she was apprehensive about the eclipse itself; Celestia had evaded the question.

Added together with her reaction at the changing-of-the-guard that morning, Luna was forced to the conclusion that Celestia didn't completely trust her. She had always been wary of Nightmare Moon making a re-appearence...and always would be.

It saddened her, but Luna didn't blame her sister. To the extent that blame could be placed, she blamed herself. And if their positions were reversed, she thought, her reaction would be similar.

They had been so close, once. They had enjoyed a relationship unlike any other, with absolute trust and confidence given and received freely. There had been no secret that they would not tell. No worry that they would not share. No threat that they would not face united. And in one stupid moment of jealousy and anger, she had thrown all of that away. And the thought of never being able to get it back – of never again being so close to her big sister – it was scary.

She had tried. Since her return she had gladly fulfilled her role and peformed her duties impeccably. Yet, no matter how well she did, Celestia had remained somehow distant. Her sister did the right things and made the right noises. And though she would tell her how she was always there for her, the truth was that at times, it felt more like she was merely there. And if nothing changed, that was how it would always be.

There had to be a way. She refused to accept that that trust, that relationship, was gone forever.

As she continued to dwell on it, the more she became convinced that the key to everything was the moon. Nightmare Moon had wanted the moon to ascend to permanent prominence in the heavens, and it had been the catalyst for the feelings of jealousy and hatred that had led to her manifestation. It had been her prison for a thousand years, and she knew Celestia still fostered guilt about that decision. The moon played a significant part in Celestia's nightmare, engulfing or destroying the sun completely without reply. When Luna had paused for a moment in lowering the moon this morning, it had caused her sister apprehension. And when Luna had broached the question of Celestia's anxiety about the moon superseding the sun during the eclipse, she had dodged it.

The moon then. Her symbol of power in Equestria. If there was a way to prove to her sister once and for all that she had nothing to fear from her ever again; that she could trust her as completely and unreservedly as she once had a thousand years prior, then the moon was the key.

And in a flash of inspiration, she thought she knew how. It was drastic and bold, but nothing was more important to her than winning back her sister's complete trust.

But to make her idea work, research was needed. She would have some last-minute preparations of her own to take care of, and in the final few hours before the Festival was due to begin, Luna retired to her study and focussed her energies on revising some very old, very powerful magic.

No-one was going to forget the day of the eclipse.

–––

The twelve guards, arrayed in a split line of half-a-dozen each, approached their long golden horns and without needing a cue, began trumpeting the Royal Anthem to the assembled mass. Behind them Celestia and Luna both stepped onto a low, wide wooden stage dressed with fuchsia carpet and numerous flower garlands hanging from a half-height wooden railing running along its front. In front of the stage a crowd of thousands gathered to take in the festivities, and all across the country other towns and cities would be organising their own unique celebrations.

The general theme was deliberately slightly ramshackle. This was not intended to be another formal ceremony, gussied up and pretentious. It was a lighthearted celebration and a demonstration that the Princesses, though they wielded great power, were at heart only flesh and blood, and enjoyed letting their manes down as much as the next pony. The agreement was that for the duration of the eclipse there would be no titles, no airs or graces at all, and the same went for everyone. For as long as Equestria basked in the shadow of the moon all would be as equals, with informality encouraged and expected.

To that end neither Celestia nor Luna wore any special clothing for the event. No formal gowns or robes of state. The only concessions to the celebration were a turquoise rose that Celestia wore behind her ear, while Luna sported a small garland of yellow flowers fashioned into a foreleg garter. They had even agreed to forgo their respective crowns for the day. Now they stepped together, side by side on the stage, smiled warmly at the crowd and waited for the blaring anthem to die down.

"I have a surprise planned for the end of the festival," Luna said quietly as the final notes began to fade. "I hope you like it."

Celestia grinned. "Ooh. Is it a present?" she said, with exaggerated excitement.

"Of sorts..." Luna replied, her own grin in evidence.

The final note of the anthem receded into silence, and the crowd hushed. Celestia stepped forward.

"Citizens of Equestria! It has been a thousand years since the last solar eclipse, and it was a dark day indeed. But now, today..."

Luna's mind wandered as Celestia gave her short speech. It was interesting. No matter how informal the occasion was supposed to be, the crowd always expected a speech. She wished she had cut the 'dark day' line, but Celestia did love her puns. It was only a few lines long and, hearing the oration coming to the end, Luna forced herself back into concentration. Gathering her magic she searched for the moon she knew to be hidden somewhere beneath the horizon, found it, and began to pull it ponderously skywards.

Hushed gasps stole from the crowd as they witnessed the moon rise into the clear afternoon sky. Slowly, Luna guided it towards the sun hanging motionless overhead. As it approached, the sun cast it into silhouette, the pure white disc fading to black. Then, when it made contact and the eclipse began there were more whispers of quiet awe. Concentrating hard now, Luna slowly brought the moon across the face of the sun. The light of the day began to dim as the portion of shadow increased. The disc of the moon gradually stole the sun's light from the world, eventually leaving only a few tiny bright beads shining through. Then two. Then one. And finally, as Luna set the moon perfectly across the face of the sun, a bright, stunning golden corona flared from behind it. As totality was achieved, the entire crowd reacted with astonishment at the remarkable light show in the heavens.

It was absolutely beautiful.

"Fillies and gentlecolts. Please, enjoy the Festival of the Eclipse!"

The crowd erupted into glorious cheering and thunderous applause as Celestia and Luna stepped down from the stage, into the throng and made their way into the festival proper where stalls, music, rides, dancing, games and unhealthy food were all at their service. Between the various carnival-style tents, numerous brightly coloured streamers and banners hung and decorations adorned every tree, flagpole and lamp-post as far as the eye could see.

"I believe I will take this opportunity to avail myself of some cake," Celestia said, a twinkle in her eye.

"Aha! Your master plan is revealed!" chided Luna gleefully. "This whole festival is nothing more than an excuse to indulge your sweet tooth."

"Well, if you like I can make sure all the vendors know that you are simply not interested. A shame really. I believe I saw Whip Cream with her black-forest gateauxs over there..."

Luna's ears perked. Her favourite! Grinning widely she bounded into the crowd in search of new, delicious quarry.

The festival continued throughout the afternoon, the sun and the moon now joined and travelling together. While the moon blocked most of the light from the sun, there was sufficient from the corona to cast the world into an eerie golden twilight. On its own it was sufficient to see by, but the additional illumination provided by the brightly coloured lanterns at the festival was certainly welcome, and only added to the joviality.

The two sisters spent the afternoon at their ease, each the most relaxed they had been for ages. Sometimes they were together, sometimes they separated. Luna wanted to go on all the rides, and play – and win at – all the games. Celestia was content to sample the food and to mingle and converse with the guests. Though she did have to remind several ponies of the No Titles rule when some automatically began calling her 'Princess.'

Each enjoyed the celebration immensely. It was so nice to be free of responsibility, of pomp-and-circumstance, if only for a few hours. The Festival of the Eclipse was proving a huge success, and so taken were the ponies with the atmosphere and the spectacle of the eclipse itself that Celestia was already planning to make it an annual event.

But it had to end sometime, and after the sisters shared one final ride on the ferris-wheel together – during which Luna grumbled loudly about her repeated inability to successfully 'splat the rat' – they returned to the low wooden stage from which they had earlier addressed the crowd.

As Celestia had opened the celebration, it was Luna's privilege to close it. She stepped forward and spoke in her loud, booming tone – which she still insisted was called her Royal Canterlot Voice.

"Friends. Citizens. Kin. Thank you all for sharing in this celebration. It has been long since the moon last eclipsed the sun. On that day a thousand years ago, I almost doomed our world to war and destruction. And for that I am truly sorry..."

The hairs on the back of Celestia's neck began to stand on end. Luna was up to something. What was she–?

"Today I have eclipsed the sun again. Not to seize power, but to share it. Not to cause fear, but to allay it..."

Celestia felt Luna gathering her magic. Immense quantities of raw mana building inside her, ready to be unleashed...but with no spell yet to direct it into.

"The Festival of the Eclipse will be remembered as the day when the moon ceased to be a rival to the sun. The day when it ceased to be a symbol of the terror of Nightmare Moon. The day when it ceased to be...at all!"

Quickly turning to Celestia, who was still on catch-up, Luna brought her head close and whispered softly. "My gift for you. For us."

"Luna, what are you–?" In a single moment of horror, Celestia saw Luna's horn ignite; the aura darkening with a spell both ancient and powerful. But she was too late to do anything about it. Luna turned back to the crowd and rose into the air on spread wings. Her horn blazed as she channelled immense reserves of magic through the spell, and...

There was a loud explosion, like the crack of a whip amplified ten thousand times, sending such vibration through the air that lanterns and banners all shook violently. The ground quaked slightly and half a dozen ponies lost their footing. It lasted for only a moment and then, every pair of eyes stared up at the suddenly-bright evening sky.

Every pair of eyes except Celestia's, who gaped in open-mouthed disbelief at her sister just now floating back to the stage.

The moon was gone.

Chapter II

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–––Chapter II–––

"What have you done!?"

It took every ounce of strength Celestia could muster not to keep herself from...well, actually she wasn't sure if she was trying to keep herself from screaming in anger or crying in frustration.

"Is it not obvious? I have removed the moon from the sky."

Unable to stifle it, Celestia let out an exasperated cry.

As soon as the moon had vanished, Celestia had marched Luna back to the castle, to their private quarters. As she had done so she had noticed the looks of anxiety on all of the ponies they'd passed along the way. They were all apprehensive about this new development, but by and large were slowly deciding that once they'd got used to the idea of a moonless sky, it wouldn't be so bad. If only they knew...

"Yes, I can see you've done that! But what have you done with it? Luna, you...you have not destroyed it...have you?"

Luna snorted derisively. Destroy the moon? Impossible. It was two-thousand miles across with a mass of seventy billion-billion tonnes! There was no power in existence capable of destroying the moon, as Celestia should well know.

"Then where is it?"

"That is of no consequence. The moon was mine to do with as I wished, was it not?"

"No!" The exasperated scream came once more. "Luna the moon does not belong to you any more than the sun belongs to me! You are its guardian. Its warden. Its protector and its guide. It is not some toy for you to play with! I can't believe you could be so irresponsible!" Celestia dipped her head and turned away, a terrible wave of disappointment crashing over her. "Luna...this morning you asked if I trusted you. How am I supposed to trust you after this?"

Luna winced as the true extent to which her plan had backfired was levelled squarely at her. Her haughty demeanor vanished, replaced by a desperation of her own. "But...I did it to gain your trust!" She blinked back tears. "I don't...want to become Nightmare Moon again, Tia. And I don't want you to have to fear her return. And you won't! Now that the moon isn't there to tempt me. Please...tell me that you can trust me once again?"

There was a long, uncomfortable silence before Celestia spoke. When she did, it was so soft that Luna had to strain to hear. "I do not know, Luna." Celestia turned to face her sister once more, unable to shake off the look of disappointment. "But you must return the moon to the sky."

"But why?" Luna pleaded. "The moon is not important to the world. It is not like the sun: it does not spread warmth. It gives light only when it is not needed. It does not help plants grow or cause the wind to blow. All it does is cause you an anxiety I would rather you not suffer," she finished plaintively.

Celestia looked at Luna's pleading face. It was hard. Her sister had had good intentions but...somehow she had become completely misguided. She couldn't bring herself to stay angry, but the feeling of disappointment was even worse. She approached her sister to put a foreleg around her shoulders. "Sister, there is far more to the moon than that. It aids travellers by night. It inspires stories, lore, art and poetry. Ponies to this day use it as a measure of time. It brings solace to the lonely and comfort to young foals afraid of the terrors in the dark. It affects many more lives than just ours, and even if it did not..." she took a breath. "Since you returned and the shadow of Nightmare Moon vanished from its surface...I have always thought of it as a symbol of hope, even when things are at their bleakest. You say it is not important to the world – it is. And it is important to me. Please, Luna. Return the moon to the sky."

Tears in her eyes now, Luna gazed at the ground and fumbled her reply. "I–I cannot."

Celestia made to calmly beseech her sister again, but Luna interrupted her, meeting her gaze. "You don't understand. It is not that I won't. It is that I can't."

Celestia was puzzled. "But you removed it...you must be able replace it?"

Luna shook her head, searching for a way to phrase it. "If you throw a ball over a wall into a neighbour's garden, you cannot get it back unless you climb over and retrieve it yourself."

Celestia looked thoughtful. Use of levitation notwithstanding, she understood the analogy Luna was making. "And into whose garden have you thrown the moon, Luna?"

"Tartarus's."

–––

My dearest Twilight,

You will no doubt have been perplexed by the strange events at the conclusion of this evening's Festival of the Eclipse. Please rest assured that there is no immediate cause for alarm. That being said, I require your presence in Canterlot as soon as you are able, and I would very much like for you to bring your friends also.

Please, make haste.

Princess Celestia.

–––

The new day followed the first completely moonless night that Equestria had known for a very long time.

"You wanted to see us, Princess? Uh...Princesses?"

But with the new day came hope. And that hope grew much, much stronger as a relieved Celestia welcomed six ponies and one dragon into the throne room of Canterlot Castle.

"Princess Twilight. Thank you for coming so quickly."

Standing in front of the throne and flanked by Princess Luna, Princess Celestia greeted her former pupil and confidant warmly, as well as her friends.

Twilight was itching. Celestia could see it. She was absolutely desperate to get to her questions. She needed answers like an addict needed salt, but she would dutifully wait for the appropriate time to ask them, even if it killed her.

Taking a breath and addressing all before her, Celestia began an explanation of the unusual events of the previous day that she believed would cover the most pressing of Twilight’s immediate queries without her needing to ask them.

There was no blame apportioned. The vanishing of the moon was presented as an accident. A symptom of the unusual conflux of heavenly bodies and magic causing a most unexpected effect. Twilight would no doubt figure out the exact cause eventually, but she hoped she would never believe it had been a deliberate act, even a well-intentioned one.

Once Celestia revealed the moon's current location deep within Tartarus, and the reason for summoning Twilight seemed to become more and more clear, her friend Rainbow Dash leaped ahead of her.

"So you want us to go to Tartarus, kick the flank of whoever's got the moon, and bring it back to Equestria, right? Hah. No problem!"

Celestia smiled. She made it sound so simple! There were many logical and physical impossibilities with that plan, yet none of them seemed to faze Rainbow Dash in the slightest. Loyal to a fault. Celestia shook her head slightly. "No."

She made eye-contact with Twilight, her face suddenly serious. "Luna and I will travel to Tartarus and rescue the moon. After we are gone, you will be named as ruler of Equestria."

The colour immediately drained from Twilight's face and she looked very ill indeed. "Y–you want me to rule Equestria? By myself?"

"Yes...and no," said Celestia, waiting for the appropriate look of confusion. Then she took a couple of steps closer to her former student and spoke in kind, reassuring tones. "Yes, you will take charge as Princess Twilight Sparkle. And no," she smiled, "I do not expect you to do it alone. That is why I have asked you to bring your friends.

"They will be here to help and support you. Use their knowledge, their wisdom, their expertise and guidance in whatever way you see fit. Let them aid you as I know they will want to, and trust their judgement as I know you do."

Twilight's features pulled a quick one-eighty, fear vanishing in a flash and a look of unbridled confidence manifesting in its place. When she was with her friends there was nothing they couldn't do, and armed with the knowledge that Celestia was expecting and encouraging her to make use of her friendships, she was suddenly certain that there was no challenge ruling an empire could pose that they couldn't solve together.

She looked around at them now, seeing that same look of confidence – in varying styles admittedly – on each of their faces, then turned back to face Celestia and Luna. "Don't worry, Princesses, we'll take good care of Equestria."

"I know you will," Celestia smiled, that same confidence building in her now too. This had been her biggest concern of all, leaving Equestria behind. But now, just like that, it was no concern at all. She saw the resolve in Twilight's eyes, matched by each of her friends behind her, and knew the kingdom would be safe. "I have absolute faith in you," she said honestly. "You are ready for this."

–––

"You do not have to accompany me. If you wish to give Twilight Sparkle a lesson in leadership, then why not stay and mentor her, rather than this...trial by fire? I will travel to Tartarus and return with the moon within the week."

Back in her quarters, Luna finished packing the final few supplies into her saddlebags, not looking at her sister.

"Luna, this is not open for discussion. I am coming with you and that is all there is to say."

"Your assistance is unnecessary and, I have to say, at this point unwelcome. This is my responsibility and I have promised to rectify my mistake. You insist on coming with me only because you do not trust me to do so."

"I insist on coming with you because I don't want you to get hurt!" Celestia scolded. She took a deep breath, chasing the anger away. "Luna, have you ever been into Tartarus? It is a place even I would not dare enter alone."

Luna harrumphed. "It is a place filled with decrepit creatures vanquished long ago, none of which we are likely to even see." She rounded on her sister. "Twilight Sparkle has her own list of mis-steps, Celestia. Yet you trust her to rule a country while you do not trust me to retrieve a lost ball! Why is she so worthy of your faith when I am not?!"

Celestia had to pause a moment to register shock. Then came the increasingly-familiar feeling of disappointment in her sister. "Luna, that was uncalled for."

Luna's head sank. Yes, it was. In truth she bore no ill will to Twilight. "I'm sorry, Tia. I'm just...upset that we're fighting."

For what seemed like the tenth time since yesterday, Celestia approached her and put a consoling foreleg around her withers. "You are right, Luna: this is your responsibility. But I do have faith in you, and I truly have no doubt you will succeed in returning the moon. I am not coming with you to second-guess you and look over your shoulder. I am coming with you because I want to help you and keep you safe." She smiled down at Luna. "You're still my little sister, after all."

Luna looked back up into her eyes. She saw nothing but love and honesty in them.

Tartarus was several days worth of travel away, through foreign and hostile lands. Did she really mean to go alone just to prove a point? Was spiting her sister what she really wanted? Or would she rather travel with the pony she knew best and cared for most in the world? Wasn't this a chance to start rebuilding that lost trust?

"I...have changed my mind. I think perhaps I would like your company after all." She looked back at Celestia. "Thank you...big sister."

–––

There was no formal ceremony. No pompous fanfare signalling the departure of the Royal Sisters by gold-plated carriage. Rather, in the late afternoon, eight ponies and one dragon gathered on a large castle balcony overlooking Equestria below and simply said goodbye and good luck. And once everything had been said that needed saying, the two sisters, both laden with full saddlebags, spread their wings and took flight into the peaceful, clear blue sky.

Through the heavens they soared, good fortune favouring them in the form of gentle winds and warm thermals upon which they glided effortlessly. It had been a while since either had really flown for any period and both enjoyed the sensation of freedom they had largely forgotten. Even at the Festival yesterday, they had not been truly free like this.

For five hours they flew until the imminent arrival of dusk would soon make it too dark to see by. A few minutes before sunset they alighted upon the earth once more on the bank of a small and peaceful brook, dutifully meandering its way toward some far off ocean. The small, tranquil glade was dotted with leafy trees near the water but gave way to an expansive view across the plain to the west, to where grey mountains rose in the far distance to greet the sky.

Shedding her saddlebags, Celestia hopped over the brook and stood at the edge of the glade, looking out at the sun now just about to reach the mountains. For the first time, she prepared to simply watch the sun go down.

Luna joined her at her side, casting her own gaze upon the imminent sunset. "Are you sure she will be able to do it?"

Celestia smiled. "I am certain she is capable." She had to stifle a chuckle. "I am more concerned that she will forget."

"And if she does?"

Celestia's smile widened. "One of her friends will remind her. There will be a brief panic, and the sun will set a little later than usual."

As though it were prophecy, the sun chose that moment to meet the horizon and, having reached the end of its assigned course for the day, stopped moving.

It remained that way for about ten minutes, but Celestia remained stoic. She would not intervene, she would wait. Twilight would realise her error and learn from it. That was what it was all about. Eventually – and more quickly than usual – the sun began to move again, pushed frantically below the horizon, leaving only the warm afterglow of the evening.

It should have been a relief. Twilight Sparkle had successfully set the sun. Instead, Celestia felt very...empty.

The sun. Her charge. Her companion. The constant presence in her life...was no longer hers. It belonged to another now. Just like that. Relinquishing the sun had left a void within her that would never be filled by anything else.

"I know how you feel," Luna said quietly from beside her. "I felt it last night...when, on instinct, I tried to raise a moon that wasn't there. It is a hollow, sickening feeling. I truly did not realise how big a mistake I had made until I felt its absence."

The two sisters stood in melancholic silence, watching the warm glow fade from the evening sky. As the point at which the moon should have risen arrived, there arose a sudden strong wind causing the branches of the trees in the glade to sway vigorously and the leaves to rustle so loudly that one would've needed to shout to make themselves heard. It lasted for a few minutes, but just as Luna was about to suggest finding shelter it died as quickly as it had risen and all was calm once more.

The last light faded, and with no moon overhead the night was as dark as pitch. The two sisters worked using the light of their horns to set a makeshift camp, laying and lighting a fire and unpacking their bedrolls close to it. Then, they settled down for the night.

"Tia?"

"Yes?"

The night was Luna's domain. There was no terror in it she could not match. No nocturnal monster she could not vanquish. And yet at the same time, here and now, at the beginning of such an important and perilous journey..."Thank you."

She wouldn't want to be here alone.

–––

The dream was familiar.

Celestia found herself in surroundings with which she was well acquainted. An ancient castle she had once proudly called home.

“Not another step!”

From the far end of the Great Hall, her younger sister emerged from behind the twin thrones and stepped forward onto a low balcony. She appeared angry. Vengeful even. But why?

“Luna? What’s going on?”

Luna frowned and glared at her with undisguised fury and loathing. She knew they had not been getting on recently, but why such resentment?

“Did you really expect me to stand idly by while they all basked in your precious light?!”

“Luna...what’s wrong? Please, talk to me.”

“No, sister! The time for talking is passed. It is time now for action!”

A thunderous explosion erupted through the hall, causing the far wall to collapse into a pile of rubble and dust. As it did so Luna took wing, hovering six feet in the air. From beyond the destroyed wall the moon rose from the horizon, hunting down the unsuspecting sun. It reached it and as it did so it began to expand to cover the entire face of it, blocking out all light but continuing to grow. The moon swelled until it covered half the sky, casting an almost blinding light upon Celestia. Luna rose to place herself silhouetted against the centre of the huge white disc and as she did so a strange transformation seemed to take her.

Her coat darkened. Her wings changed shape to become angular and sweeping. Her teeth elongated into fangs, and when she spoke her voice had deepened to a sarcastic mockery of her sister’s usual kind timbre.

“Luna is gone, my sister. I...am Nightmare Moon!”

Celestia took a step back, not believing what she was seeing, And yet...that shape, that voice, that name...it all seemed familiar somehow. Had something like this happened before? It was difficult to remember. If it had, then wasn’t there a way to beat this creature and get her sister back? What was it? Why couldn’t she remember? Luna was in trouble. She had to think!

Before she could respond, Nightmare Moon levelled her horn at her and unleashed a scorching blast of magic. It was all Celestia could do to leap clear, but the blast found the flagstones near her and the resulting explosion knocked her to the floor, to the sound of cackling from the hateful beast.

With more difficulty than should have been the case, Celestia regained her hooves. Lowering her head she glowered at the monster before her. “Luna! I don’t know what has happened to you, but you are my sister and I love you. Please...I do not want to fight you!”

Nightmare Moon laughed deeply. “Equestria will be mine, dear sister. After, I've destroyed you!”

No! She couldn’t let this monster win. At least not while it still had her sister. She had to free her, she had to!

But she couldn't think of anything. And now it was too late, as Nightmare Moon lowered her head and prepared to attack.

As one, both let out angry, raging battle cries and galloped towards the other. Magical attacks were exchanged and deflected until the two combatants met, each adopting a fighting stance and preparing to strike. Nightmare Moon's foreleg raised, Celestia with outstretched hooves. As they made contact a blinding white light obscured all vision for a moment. Celestia felt a sudden intense pain in her right side, but her momentum carried her forward into the body of the monster and she wrapped her forelegs around it in a tender hug.

"Please, Luna, come back," she whispered as she searched for some sign – any sign – of the wonderful filly she used to know trapped deep within the creature before her. But she felt no such presence, and with a sickening realisation accompanying the intense pain in her side, she knew she had failed.

Nightmare Moon had taken her sister and all of Equestria, and she hadn’t been able to stop her. She was certain there had been a way to defeat her. To save her sister. Why couldn’t she remember it?

She felt herself getting weaker and the dream faded to emptiness.

–––

Celestia startled awake, her breathing a little heavier than usual but otherwise none the worse for wear. The night was as dark as ever but the still-glowing embers in the fire cast a warm orange light upon the makeshift camp. Strangely, the pain in her right side that she had felt in her dream continued its presence into the waking world. As she craned her neck to examine herself it became apparent that she had rolled off her bedroll in the night and onto a particularly sharp, pokey twig. She brushed it aside with a wing, sat up and glanced over at Luna, sound asleep.

She wondered if Luna had been watching her again, but she had no way of knowing. Dreamwalking – or scrying, as Celestia affectionately called it – was a talent in which Luna was unmatched.

A pony's mind could be likened to a gigantic lake. Their consciousness was everything that was above the water's surface; the trees, the mountains, the grass – everything you could interact with. Their subconscious, was everything below the waterline that you could never see while you yourself were above it.

Luna had the unique ability slip below the water without making so much as a ripple, and once there she could see and share in your dreams, and even interact with them if she desired.

Luna had tried to teach the technique to her, but no matter how Celestia tried she didn't have her sister's skill. Whenever she tried to enter the water, she splashed and made waves that would often destroy or corrupt fragile dreams. Luna had a way of entering with such subtlety that even Celestia had never been able to tell if she was there or not, unless she made herself known.

It was a powerful skill, and had the potential to be horribly abused. But Luna took her responsibility seriously. She used it because she genuinely cared, and only wanted to help. Celestia smiled. That was the sister she knew and loved.

As Celestia watched, Luna stirred from sleep. Rousing slowly, she noticed her sister already awake. "What time is it?"

"A little before sunrise, I think," replied Celestia, looking down at her sister with a small, kind smile. "Where were you?"

"With a young colt somewhere in Hollow Shades," said Luna sitting herself up and casting aside the last cobwebs of slumber. "He was terrified that something called the 'Bogey-Pony' was going to come and get him in the night." Luna smiled wistfully. "I took him hunting for it in the dark, scary woods near his home. When we found the creature it turned out not to be a pony at all, but a lonely, lost griffon who needed a friend."

"A griffon?"

"Something approachable yet exotic," she explained. "Children enjoy seeing new things in their dreams."

"I am just surprised you did not simply create a Bogey-Pony for him to vanquish."

Luna shook her head. "He would believe he was only able to defeat it with my help, and it would return later to prey on that insecurity. Rather, the creature has now been transformed permanently from an icon of horror into one of happiness. He will no longer have any fear of the Bogey-Pony he now knows never existed, and he has instead made a friend."

Celestia's smile remained. Luna took her responsibilities seriously. That was the sister she knew and loved. But before that thought left her head again, Luna spoke up.

"Where were you?"

The question caught her off guard. She didn't have time to deflect it without hesitating, and by then it was too late.

"You had the nightmare again." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Celestia admitted.

Getting up from her bedroll, Luna rounded the fire and sat next to her sister. She hugged her with a foreleg and looked up into her eyes. "Tell me."

"Luna, I don't think–"

"Tell me."

It wasn't a question.

Giving in, Celestia explained the latest variation on the familiar themes while Luna listened intently at her side, hugging her as though she were a filly hearing a ghost story. As Celestia recounted the final moments of her dream – begging Luna to come back while at the same time knowing she was gone forever – she found herself involuntarily starting to well up, and had to choke back a tear. She hoped that her usual composure had not faltered enough for her sister to notice.

As she finished the tale, Luna whispered, "I'm sorry I wasn't with you."

A pair of mutinous tears escaped and Celestia blinked them away quickly. "Do not be silly, Luna. You have far more important places to be, and you mustn't worry about me. Now, we should get ready to move on. The sun is about to come up." Celestia deliberately directed her gaze to the distance where the imminent arrival of the day was evidenced by the growing light over the mountaintops.

The two sisters stood and looked out over the plain toward the mountains, to the growing golden light in the sky. It was strange though, there was something odd about it. What was it?

As the first sliver of sun peeked over the distant mountaintops, the realisation struck them at about the same time. Celestia brought a hoof to her head while Luna voiced the now-obvious in an expert deadpan tone.

"The sun is rising in the west."

Celestia buried her face in her hoof and tried unsuccessfully not to laugh. "Oh, Twilight..."

Chapter III

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–––Chapter III–––

By midmorning on the second day the flight of the two sisters had carried them beyond the boundary of what could properly be called Equestria. Heading perpetually south, they crossed foreign rolling plains and low hills, open countryside and a massive expanse of thick, green forest where a cool flowing river provided refreshment and filled their canteens. Following that, their pace became a little slower than the previous day due to some tricky headwinds and a heavy downpour early in the evening that caught them by surprise.

Spying a low mountain nearby, they descended and took shelter in a large, deep cave, the opening facing back north in the direction of home. Deciding that the rain was not going to die before sunset – and that they had made sufficient progress for the day – they crafted their campsite quickly, drying and warming themselves by a pit of magically heat-blasted rocks.

The sun set as normal in the western sky, having followed a most bizarre course throughout the day. It had reached the zenith of its path at midday, then done a small loop before retracing its steps back from where it had come. It set now below the horizon in a more ordered fashion than the previous evening and, under thick storm clouds, the sky faded to a lightless black void.

As with the previous evening an immense wind broke out as the night took hold, though it did not abate nearly as quickly. Instead it persisted, howling like a furious banshee across the cave entrance. Then at the point the wind was at its most intense there arose a tremor in the very rock itself. The mountain quaked softly but perceptibly for several minutes, dislodging dust and small rocks high in the cave ceiling. At the same time, the storm seemed to become far more intense: the rain now cacophonously cascading against the mountain beyond the cave, and several streaks of lightning clearly visible beyond, striking down to earth.

After an hour or so, it subsided. The wind died to a more normal level and the storm seemed to wither. The rain kept falling, but no longer with the same intensity, and speech was at least now audible over the background noise.

"I have never seen the like," remarked Luna under her breath. Celestia appeared contemplative, but remained silent.

They shared rations over the glow of the red-hot rocks that substituted for their fire until it was time to retire to bed, to the now soft patter of the rain upon the mountain slope.

–––

A familiar dream. An ancient castle. An horrific transformation. A blinding explosion. The moon rose, striking toward the sun, colliding with it and shattering it into a thousand slivers of white gold, raining down around Celestia.

"I have only one royal duty now. To destroy you!"

Nightmare Moon unleashed bolt of magic forcing Celestia to flee to the air, twisting and turning through the ruined castle ceiling. Nightmare Moon pursued her, lashing out with powerful attacks which vapourised every wall and column they struck. Celestia swooped and dodged, but each time she evaded, Nightmare Moon closed the distance. She couldn't stay ahead of her unless she fought back...but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't attack her own sister. She couldn't hurt Luna.

Nightmare Moon had no such qualms, attacking and closing. Harrying and pursuing, and eventually the inevitable happened. A lance of powerful magic, too close to dodge, struck Celestia square in the chest as she tried to barrel roll away. She screamed in pain and felt herself falling. A second later she struck the floor of the great hall heavily, every fibre of her body crying in agony.

But alive. She shouldn't be, yet she was.

Had Luna held back? Was there some shred of her sister still within that monster? If there was even a chance...she realised she could never bring herself to risk hurting her.

But she couldn't do nothing. She couldn't allow Nightmare Moon to rule Equestria with cruelty and menace. Struggling to her hooves, her legs shaky, her body still in pain, she stood and with a terrible resolve, made the only decision she could.

"Oh my sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these."

Celestia lit her own horn and behind her, from a large stone trapdoor in the floor an ornate white-stone plinth emerged. A central column supporting five outstretched arms and atop each, a different coloured gemstone floating softly. Seizing them in her magic she guided them to her. They surrounded her and began to glow and spin.

Flexing her aching wings and taking to the air, she confronted the menacing creature still searching for her among the ruins of the castle far below. They squared up to each other, Nightmare Moon letting loose a terrible blast of magic while simultaneously Celestia, tears streaming, arranged the Elements in formation, called upon the power of harmony and sent forth a wave of her own. They collided, but the power of light was too strong for Nightmare Moon. Harmony overwhelmed her dark magic, reaching her and enveloping her, propelling her toward the moon, imprisoning her permanently.

Incarcerated forever...but alive and unhurt.

Luna...

Her wings tired and still in pain, Celestia landed heavily in the ruins of the home she had happily shared with her little sister. The Elements of Harmony slipped from her grasp, falling to the floor. As they did so they dimmed and lost their sparkle, becoming nothing more than inert pieces of rock. For all intents and purposes, dead. Then, the Element of Magic – the six-point star – simply vanished. Fading from existence as though it were never there.

Celestia simply sat very still. Numb. Breathing hard and still in pain.

Alone.

Her home was destroyed. The Elements of Harmony had abandoned her. Her sister was...

Her sister was...

Gone.

She looked up at the new shadow cast upon the lunar surface and wept.

"Please, Luna. Come back..." she whispered quietly to herself.

In time she would leave. She would replace the remaining Elements on their pedestal and forever abandon this castle. It could be repaired but...no. It was the Castle of the Two Sisters. She would always remember it as such. She couldn't remain here alone.

But for now, she simply grieved.

"I'm here." A soft whisper at her back. She felt a hoof on her shoulder and turned to see her sister stood close.

Realisation dawned. She was having the dream again. And Luna was dreaming with her.

She felt a brief but powerful surge of happiness. Her sister was alright! She managed to stop the tears and regain her usual composure with some effort. Luna simply looked at her with nothing but kindness. Then she smiled a sympathetic smile and tried to lighten the mood.

"This dream causes you such woe, Tia. I can't fathom why you spend so much time here. Come. I would rather we relived a happier memory."

Luna extended a hoof and helped Celestia to hers. With the realisation of the dream came rejuvenation. Celestia's body no longer ached or faltered from fatigue and she felt as fresh as she did at the dawn of a new day. Luna led Celestia into the sky, and toward one of those happy memories.

Such is the manner of dreams that they traveled without moving, arrived without leaving, and completed a nonexistent journey of thousands of leagues in but a moment.

Luna guided her sister toward a high plateau upon the tallest mountain imaginable, to the site of one of their favourite dreams.

The Fire-Falls existed nowhere in the real world; only within the minds of two close sisters who had discovered them long ago while exploring their dreamscapes together. And they had not been here in a very long time.

Upon the wide mountain plateau, nestled against the base of a high cliff was a deep plunge-pool of liquid gold, shimmering beneath a perfectly clear velvet sky into which were set thousands of tiny ice-white stars and a stunning silver moon. The golden pool steamed softly and along the far edge where it met the cliff-face it boiled and frothed. From the foam rose a great, thick cascade of orange-yellow fire, the flames climbing the apparently-flammable vertical rock of the mountain cliff as though a waterfall in reverse, before disappearing over a craggy shelf high above. Elsewhere on the mountain flames of different colours ignited from other pools of precious metals, but it was the golden fire that the sisters enjoyed most.

"Oh, Luna. It has been too long," said Celestia in awe as she approached the pool. She reached the edge and turned to face her sister with a smile. "I have missed this."

Luna joined her at her side and they entered the pool together. What should have been the searing heat of liquid gold was no more uncomfortable than a hot-spring. They settled themselves at the edge, the pool having the effect of making them utterly relaxed and content. With no urgencies or cares, they basked beneath the perfectly still night sky and the silver disc of the moon. The fears and worries of the earlier dream were simply forgotten. Everything was peaceful, and while they were here, together, always would be. This was something that they shared. That only they two could ever share.

Luna was content to watch her sister at her ease. Celestia dunked her head beneath the surface and the liquid gold ran off it like water when she re-emerged. She showered in the golden cascade of fire – the warm, soft flames licking her coat and offering a wonderful, rejuvinating sensation. And she returned to the edge of the pool to be near to her sister, resting next to her in quiet tranquility. Even for Luna, to see Celestia completely let her guard down was a rare thing. She wore her air of calm composure almost non-stop, rarely betraying emotion or frailty. Even at the Festival she had remained slightly reserved in spite of the informal atmosphere. Here and now though, in the most private place in the universe where no other eyes could ever see, it was wonderful to see that beneath it she still had wants, hopes, fears and failings like anypony else.

"So lonely," Luna said, causing Celestia to take notice. She looked over at Luna, then her face fell into a guilty countenance. But Luna, knowing where Celestia had leaped to spoke again. "I meant you." She looked at her in sympathy.

Dream-sharing allowed the second party to feel emotions the dreamer felt, and during the earlier dream, after Nightmare Moon had been banished, there was one feeling resonating from Celestia that surmounted all others: she had been lonely.

But the feeling had not abated. It had echoed through time and consciousness to the present. A feeling of remorseful solitude propagating for a thousand years to even here and now.

"You still feel alone? Why?"

Celestia made eye-contact with Luna, knowing it was impossible to be anything other than honest without being discovered. Not that she had any inclination to be deceptive, but she still felt discomfort in talking about it.

"After you were gone, I ruled alone for a thousand years. Certain things were expected, a professional detachment among them. It is a habit I have found hard to break."

"But, loneliness? Your friends, surely they give you comfort?"

"I have known many ponies in my time. Advisors, dignitaries, colleagues, subjects, students. I do not believe any would call me a 'friend.'" She looked at the heavens, at the thousands of tiny, twinkling stars overhead and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "There is a reason I sent Twilight Sparkle to study and learn about friendship in Ponyville. It certainly wasn't because I knew it all already."

"And Twilight herself?" Luna quirked an eyebrow. "Probably the pony you have your closest relationship with? Even she is not a friend?"

Celestia smiled sadly and gazed into the middle distance. "Twilight Sparkle was a wonderful, faithful student. Now she is a Princess and a leader in her own right. We have always had an excellent relationship. But friendship beyond that? Of the kind she enjoys with her true friends?" She looked down at the golden pool, her own face reflected within it. "I do not believe so."

Luna furrowed her brow at her sister. "I believe Twilight would disagree. In fact if you opened your eyes a little wider, sister, you would probably find a half-dozen other friends you didn't know you had."

Luna waited for a reply, but Celestia seemed to have none to make. Instead she simply continued gazing contemplatively into the warm and relaxing golden liquid softly swirling around her neck. Still looking kindly at Celestia, she added softly, "And you will always have me. Never be lonely again, Tia. Please?"

Celestia raised her head at that, looking back into Luna's eyes and smiling, happy tears at the corner of her eyes.

Then all of a sudden the sky, the mountain, everything seemed to become a shade paler and more washed-out. Celestia felt the familiar feeling of the dream slipping away as consciousness began to re-assert itself. In a few seconds everything faded to white and she felt no more.

–––

For the first time in a week, Celestia awoke completely refreshed after a wonderful night's sleep. Light filtered in through the mouth of the cave, signifying that they had missed the sunrise this morn. She glanced over at Luna who was herself stirring awake and gave her a smile and a grateful nod. Luna smiled back.

Gathering their saddlebags they stood at the entrance to the cave, looking back in the direction they had come; back towards home in the early light of a clear new day.

Luna saw it first. An impossibly tiny black speck in the distance. "What is that?" she whispered, more to herself than in any hope of an answer.

Scanning the sky, it took Celestia a few moments longer to see it, and as she watched she noticed it was getting bigger.

No, strike that. It was getting closer. A small wisp of dark smoke speeding towards them. Closer and closer until eventually, in a matter of seconds it was upon them. The plume of smoke darted to Celestia, coiled, and ignited into a flash of sparkling green fire. Materialising from the flame, a parchment scroll with a very familiar red band and gold horse-shoe seal. Caught by surprise and acting solely on instinct and muscle-memory, Celestia seized the paper in her magic and unsealed it.

With an involuntary smile, she realised she already knew what the first three words were going to be before her eyes had even reached them.

Dear Princess Celestia;

I am writing to keep you and Princess Luna informed of the current state of affairs in Canterlot. You may both rest assured that everything is fine here. Aside from some rougher than normal weather that the pegasi assure me they will have under control soon, and a few wrinkles to iron out as regards the whole 'sun' thing (sorry!), the city and country are in good order and we are all doing our part to make sure it stays that way until your return.

Applejack has been helping me mediate disputes in the royal court. She has a knack for spotting duplicity and always seems to come up with a fair resolution for all involved.

Rainbow Dash has volunteered to manage the duties of the Royal Guard, organising training exercises and drills for them using her unique coaching and motivational skills.

Pinkie Pie has put herself in charge of morale for the whole city. I know that sounds like a tall order but...well, you've never seen so many streamers...

Fluttershy is taking care of the myriad animals in the Royal Garden, as well as Philomena and Tiberius who both send their love.

Rarity has been invaluable in helping me with matters of etiquette and protocol. Meeting with the various important ponies from around the city this past day has shown me what a minefield it can be!

Spike is, as always, everywhere I need him and everything I need him to be. I don't know what I'd do without him.

I don't know what I'd do without any of them.

Please write back and let us know you're both okay. We all miss you.

Your faithful steward,

Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia automatically stopped reading at that point, and had to catch herself. Twilight's signature was where every other letter always ended. But not this one. In this letter, beneath Twilight's familiar scrawl, were several others:

Applejack
Rainbow Dash
Pinkie Pie!
Fluttershy
Rarity
Spike

Luna smiled. "It has been just short of two days, and these seven have put pen to paper to tell you how much you are missed. Are these not your friends, Tia?"

Celestia couldn't keep from smiling. An invigorating invitation to the fire-falls, a fresh and clear new day and now a letter from home had put her in a wonderful, happy mood.

Chapter IV

View Online

–––Chapter IV–––

The mountain that had been their refuge turned out to be part of a larger range, beyond which the terrain abandoned all pretense of greenery and life, and instead degenerated into a flat expanse of bleached, rocky desert, dotted only with the occasional pillar of red rock forcing its way free of the earth.

They soared over the desert beneath the baking sun, but around mid-afternoon fatigue began to set in. After two days of constant flying, their wings had finally started to tire and ache, and before they could cramp the sisters descended and alighted on the hard packed earth, and began to walk until they could recover.

While progress was slower than flying, there was a hidden benefit to being on the ground. Celestia, walking close beside Luna, unfurled her wings in order to stretch and flex them, and in doing so extended one out and over her sister, casting her into shade. She held her wing there, sheltering Luna from the intense sun as it beat down, and as soon as Luna picked up on what her sister was doing, she realised she could return the favour. It wasn't quite as easy for her – she was shorter and her wings were not as large – but she was able to provide at least some relief, and they shared a grateful smile.

They walked on together, each shading the other beneath a wing, trading light and cheerful dialogue and enjoying the simple company.

The arid, stale air was suddenly broken by the faintest of breezes, and an ominous shadow flitted overtop of them, cast by something on high.

Something large.

Suddenly wary, Celestia furled her wings and slowed to a stop, consciously trying to make herself as innocuous as possible while at the same time scanning the sky above.

Dragons. Three of them, flying at high altitude. The flat and featureless desert provided no hiding places for the two ponies now stranded on the ground. Watching their course intently, Celestia held her breath and simply hoped the dragons were too high and too pre-occupied to notice them.

Almost no sooner had she spotted them than did one wheel away from the others and begin to descend rapidly towards the desert floor. The large, sleek beast arrowed straight towards them, its ruby-red scales glittering like sequins in the harsh sunlight. In a matter of seconds it was swooping over them, throwing up a great plume of hot, dry dust that forced the sisters to shut their eyes and cough. Then the huge creature landed heavily in front of them, the impact sending a small vibration through the earth beneath their hooves.

The dragon stared at them with sinister eyes for a moment before spreading its wings and unleashing a powerful roar from a wide, toothy maw; a lick of orange flame clearly visible in its throat. The implication was clear: if they moved, it intended to incinerate them.

Glowering back at the beast, Luna bent her forelegs slightly and lowered into a subtle crouch. She readied her magic, preparing to cast a searing flare that should blind the dragon long enough for the two of them to dodge its speculative counter-attack and flee.

They would not be able to escape on hoof though, and the dull ache in her wings reminded her that they were not yet ready for intense use. If the lumbering brute did not take the hint and decided to give chase, certain more offensive, more...regrettable measures would be necessary.

But they would be necessary. She would do what it took to protect not just herself, but her sister.

She glanced over at Celestia, wondering what her own plan was. There had been a time once when they had been able to predict each other's actions and movements as surely as if they could read each other's minds. In a situation like this they would have been on the same page in an instant, but now all she knew of Celestia was what she saw – that she was perfectly composed as always, and gave no cue that she was preparing to escape or retaliate.

Her concentration was interrupted by two more heavy impacts behind her. Glancing around quickly she saw the other two dragons – one with scales of royal blue, the other shorter and wider with an emerald green hide – had landed and surrounded them, though stood further back. Now outnumbered, and calculating that her flare was unlikely to effectively blind all three dragons at once, she chastised herself for hesitating too long and desperately tried to modify her plan before the inevitable attack.

"What are you doing, Valkyrie?" That had come from the shorter, emerald dragon behind her.

The scarlet dragon before them raised its head to look at his colleagues with an annoyed expression. He swept a forearm over the two ponies. "Do you not see them? Invaders..." he smiled, his voice low.

"Valkyrie...ponies," replied the green in a bored, patient tone.

"Yes. Ponies. Ponies that we can ransom!"

"Valkyrie..." the green dragon sighed and Luna swore she could hear his eyes roll. "We are not allowed to ransom ponies."

"Wrong," replied Valkyrie with an air of smugness. "We are not allowed to raid for ponies. We have crossed no borders. These...have come to us!"

"A technicality. You still won't be allowed, I'll wager."

"Why not?" Valkyrie's smug grin widened. "These are clearly spies. Or assassins perhaps? We can't let two assassin spies roam our lands. We have to take them. And once we have them we'll have to do something with them. We can't keep them. Ransoming them will be the only sensible solution."

"We are no such thing!" cried Luna, unable to stifle her angry outburst. No sooner had she done so than she felt something very sharp press against the nape of her neck. Not daring to move her head, but glancing behind her she saw the dark blue dragon at her rear had bent down and was lightly holding a deadly-looking claw against her skin.

Bending low, Valkyrie fixed her gaze. "I would keep your own counsel for now," he said quietly. "You are whatever I say you are. Your true reasons for being here are largely irrelevant, and your opinions are not invited."

You are inviting a most unpleasant experience upon yourself... thought Luna as the claw was withdrawn, though she kept silent.

Grinning, Valkyrie once more looked back at the green dragon. "I know value when I see it, and these two are valuable. Equestria will pay a lot for their safe return. Our hordes will grow ten times! Of course, if you do not want a share..."

Green appeared contemplative. "'Invaders', hmm?" He scratched his chin with a single, oversized claw, thinking. Finally he looked back at Valkyrie. "Fine. We'll take them to Ragnarok. But you're asking for permission."

Celestia's ears perked very slightly at that, though she betrayed no other emotion. Her calm, stoic confidence as impenetrable as ever.

Valkyrie nodded, and all three dragons began to close in. It didn't matter though. Luna had had time to work out her new plan. She just hoped Celestia was ready to follow suit, otherwise–

"We surrender. We will come willingly," said Celestia from beside her. Stunned, Luna gaped open-mouthed at her sister. Celestia met her gaze. "If we do not resist, we will not be harmed." She turned to look back at Valkyrie. "Isn't that correct?"

Valkyrie paused for a moment, obviously somewhat surprised. Then he dipped his head in a subtle nod. "You will not be harmed."

Celestia turned back to Luna. Her expression seemed to convey that, clearly, there was nothing to fear. Luna couldn't quite rid herself of the shocked expression she wore. Was there something she'd missed? Was there a certain etiquette to being kidnapped that she didn't know about? Celestia couldn't seriously be suggesting they trust this creature. He'd already shown himself to be deceptive!

She tried to use her eyes to plead with her sister. Hopelessly she tried to convey the details of her escape plan, what she needed from Celestia for it to work, and her confidence in its success. But she couldn't do all of that with a mere look.

And Celestia looked back with an expression of her own. A calm, placid countenance with just a hint of a confident smile.

Trust me.

Luna hung her head. She didn't like this. Not one bit. They should be fighting their way out of this situation! But...she wouldn't leave her sister behind.

"We...will come with you." She said it through gritted teeth.

"Very wise," said Valkyrie. It was only as he spoke that Luna realised he and the other dragons had stopped advancing, as though patiently waiting for her decision before continuing. Then, Valkyrie addressed his two colleagues. "Restrain them!" Celestia shot him a piercing look, causing him to add, "Carefully."

From behind them, the green and blue dragons produced sets of very heavy-looking, very uncomfortable-looking metal chains and shackles, and approached the two sisters.

Already on edge, Luna was fast re-considering her agreement to this plan. How could Celestia not see the peril here? There was no guarantee this dragon, Valkyrie, would keep his word not to harm them. Even if they reached this 'Ragnarok' place, and even if Valkyrie was allowed to ransom them, and even if that ransom was paid, and even if the dragons kept their word and released them: they would be taken back to Equestria and back to square one! There was no outcome here that was positive for them!

Subconsciously entering her ready-crouch again, Luna prepared to take matters into her own hooves. She would defeat these dragons, free her sister and they would continue their quest together. Even though it would mean employing the same...'regrettable' measures she had been loathe to consider earlier.

But Celestia met her gaze again, even as a sturdy metal collar was secured around her neck. She implored Luna with her eyes. If her expression earlier had read 'trust me,' then this was clearly, 'please trust me.'

And oddly, as heavy iron manacles linked with chains were locked around Celestia's hooves, that smile...that damned irrationally confident smile...only seemed to grow larger.

It wavered slightly as Luna, remaining very still, felt her own metal collar locked into place with a most secure-sounding click. It was as heavy as it looked and, if possible, more uncomfortable. Not to mention filthy. Then shackles and chains found their way onto her own hooves and were themselves clamped shut and locked. When she looked back up at Celestia, her confidant expression was now tinged with sympathy.

The dragons finished applying the restraints, and it was only after their bindings were supposedly complete that a certain measure of confidence began to return. Whatever these chains had been intended to restrain, it clearly wasn't something quite as small as a pony. While the manacles on her hooves were tight enough to keep her from getting them off, the chains between them were long enough that she was able to walk with an almost normal gait. There were no bindings at all to secure their wings, although the weight of all the metal would make any flight a short-lived affair. But best of all, there was absolutely nothing impeding her ability to use magic. Luna smiled inwardly. Escape was not only possible, it was practically invited! The dragons were clearly trying to make the best of a bad job here and while their chains certainly looked the part, the quality of the actual restraint they provided was lacking.

Looking back up at Valkyrie, Luna adopted an arrogant tone. "So then. Let's be on with it. How far away is this...Ragnarok place?"

"Place?" Valkyrie snorted, taking up the two long metal chains attached to their collars and beginning to lead them away. "Ragnarok is not a place. Ragnarok is our king. A belligerent tyrant whose greed surpasses all."

Walking beside her, Celestia brought her muzzle to Luna's ear and spoke very quietly. "And he has quite the singing voice..."

When she withdrew, that confident smile had returned in full force.

–––

Reclining in a gigantic throne roughly hewn from cooled magma, Ragnarok was master and lord of all he surveyed.

Even if all he surveyed at the moment was the inside of his own eyelids.

His lair was an enormous cavern within a hollowed-out volcano. His throne sat with its back to a huge lake of molten rock – his private pool – and his mountainous horde of gold, gems and jewels sat a few dozen meters to the left of his seat of power. The spoils of a lifetime spent raiding and collecting went for now unregarded as he snored loudly and without shame.

Ragnarok was old now, but his wits were still sharp and his eyes still keen. He was large, even by dragon standards, and he was missing one of the two horns atop his square-jawed head. His aged and cracked bronze scales had seen better days, his hide wore the scars of many battles past, and he was no longer the picture of athleticism he imagined he had been in his long-forgotten youth...and he simply didn't care.

Some kings had responsibilities. Some rulers had duties. Neither were for him. He could please others or he could please himself. Only one of those options was usually worth considering.

"Lord Ragnarok!"

Ugh. But that didn't stop dragons from coming to him with things. Things they wanted. Things they needed. Where did they get the impression that he was of an inclination to indulge them?

Leaving slumber behind, he cracked one eye and fixed it upon the white-scaled dragon bowed before his throne. When he spoke, his voice was a low rumble. "Consider why you have awoken me, Aesir. If I am not pleased with the reason, you will find the rest of your day most unpleasant."

"My Lord. Valkyrie has taken two prisoners in the desert. They’re...well...he says they are invaders from a foreign land. He seeks your leave to ransom them."

Opening both eyes and sitting up, Ragnarok cracked a grin. Invaders, eh? Trespassers more likely, but...this could be interesting. As king he approved every ransom and was entitled to a share. And profit was profit, even if he did have to put up with Valkyrie today. "Tell him to bring them forward."

The message did not need to be relayed. As Aesir ducked back and out of sight, he saw Valkyrie was already advancing with a slight swagger and that damned cock-sure grin he loathed. He held a pair of long chains in one claw, each extending loosely behind him to metal collars fastened around the necks of...

"What is the meaning of this!?" Ragnarok bellowed, sudden rage unleashed without restraint.

Valkyrie, wonderfully getting the wrong end of the stick and believing his anger to be directed at the prisoners, coolly began to offer some kind of half-baked explanation involving spying and a prelude to invasion. But his was a grave misinterpretation indeed.

Standing from his throne, Ragnarok advanced purposefully on Valkyrie, fixing him with an enraged glare. "Why have you taken ponies as captives? Have my instructions on this been somehow unclear?" he growled.

A little taken aback, Valkyrie nevertheless began his reply with a measure of self-assurance. "You decreed we are not to raid into their lands. We did not. These two spies have–"

"I do not care! Ponies are not to be touched!" boomed Ragnarok. "Do I have to remind you why?"

"Because...it is said that..." Valkyrie trailed off uncertainly, as if losing confidence in the sentence before it was out.

"Because their ruler controls the sun! And I do not wish to antagonise the pony who controls the sun! Does that not sound wise to you?!"

"But my Lord, it is a ridiculous belief," retorted Valkyrie with a know-it-all confidence that Ragnarok had long learned to hate. "It is ancient myth. Superstition."

"Ridiculous? Superstition?!" Ragnarok cried, still glaring at Valkyrie. Then without warning, and with a speed that belied his advanced years, he reached out with a forearm and seized Valkyrie's neck with a single, giant claw. He forced his head down to look at the white, chained pony beneath him. Or, more specifically, to look at the symbol adorning her flank. "Whom do you suppose that is?!" he practically screamed, the entire cave reverberating at the sound of his thunderous voice.

As the symbol of the sun filled his vision, and the wheels slowly started to turn in his thick skull, Valkyrie finally began to look afraid. "My lord...we did not intend to harm them...I will see they are returned–" he stammered.

"Get out!"

"But...I have responsibility for them. They are my prisoners."

Ragnarok glared at Valkyrie with a very dangerous expression. "If you really believe that, then you are even more foolish than you look. Now get out, get out, GET OUT!"

Dropping the chains he held with a heavy, metallic clatter, Valkyrie bowed his head and backed away quickly in as submissive a posture as he was able. Reaching the entrance to the grand chamber, he ducked sheepishly out of sight.

Waiting until he was gone, Ragnarok's anger dispelled and he allowed himself a little grin. He spun and returned to his throne, sitting heavily and reclining into it once more with a subtle chuckle. He had enjoyed that. Then he glanced down at the two bound ponies before him. They appeared unharmed, and that was all to the good.

"Those chains do not suit you, Celestia. Please, feel free to remove them." He smiled toothily. "You are fooling no-one."

In front of him, both ponies' horns illuminated with unique magical auras. Immediately, the chains on the slightly shorter, blue pony exploded forcefully into a small shower of shrapnel. Celestia's bonds on the other hand glowed white-hot and softened; collar, manacles and chains melting safely away from her coat and coalescing into a molten pool on the floor. As he watched, the liquid metal puddle began to flow and morph. It gently resolved itself into the shape of a small pony rearing on its hind legs, and the metal cooled as quickly as it had melted. Then, guided by Celestia's magic, it floated over to him and he took it in his massive, open claw.

"A gift. From your friends in Equestria," said Celestia with a warm smile.

Ragnarok eyed the metal statuette critically. A rearing pony with wings and a horn. It looked a bit like a smaller version of Celestia herself, though the proportions were different, and the style of the mane and tail were straighter and altogether more sensible. It was quite a pretty, shiny thing, actually and he considered keeping it. But there was posturing to be done, and it was ultimately valueless scrap metal. He supposed if he were a lesser creature it would have some kind of 'sentimental' worth but he was a dragon, and to a dragon there was no such thing.

Not ever.

He tossed the trinket over his shoulder, casting it into the lake of molten rock and wearing an expression of careful nonchalance all the while. Celestia gave no obvious reaction. That blue pony beside her though...she looked annoyed. He was starting to like her already.

He turned back to Celestia and addressed her. "It is, unfortunately, possible that Valkyrie will replace me as king one day. If that happens, you will have endless trouble. I am most displeased with the way he felt it appropriate to treat you and your...handmaiden?"

The blue pony snorted and put on an expression of pure indignation, but it was Celestia who spoke up. "Lord Ragnarok, please allow me to introduce my sister, Princess Luna."

A flash of surprise took him, and suddenly several things clicked into place. "Ah...Princess Luna," he said with a note of genuine awe. He made eye contact with her and bowed respectfully. "Accept my apologies. After the shadow vanished from the moon, I assumed it meant you and your alter-ego had been destroyed forever. It seems I was wrong. But what other conclusion could I reach when I was not informed of your return...?" He turned to Celestia with an annoyed glare. Then his face softened just a little and his tone became sincere. "Still...congratulations. You finally brought her home, as you always hoped." He looked back at Luna and grinned. "I have just the thing." Turning, he walked on all fours to his huge hoard of gold and jewels, piled high enough to tower over even him. But like all dragons, he knew exactly where every item of treasure was and, finding what he was looking for, he returned to his two guests.

"A gift. To welcome you back to the world, against all odds." Holding out his claw, he offered Princess Luna a stunning silver necklace into which was tastefully set a pristine ice-sapphire. It complimented her coat and her eyes beautifully and though he despised giving away treasure, this was one occasion where he would admit it was well merited. He gave a sharp-toothed grin as Luna took it in her magic.

There was a brief flash and a loud tinkle. The sapphire necklace flew overhead, mimicking perfectly the arc through which he had earlier tossed the metal statuette. Then it landed in the magma-lake with a tiny splash and a burble. He looked back to see Princess Luna's annoyed visage coloured with a tiny, satisfied smile.

Oh, he was really starting to like her.

"I see you and my sister are acquainted?" said Luna, coolly.

"Indeed." Ragnarok grinned another razor-sharp grin. "Has she not told you about me? I suppose it has been a while." He glanced reproachfully at Celestia. "Eight hundred years ago, your sister and I enjoyed a brief war. Forgotten now, but known for decades here as the Six Hour War.

"I had risen to power, arrogant and greedy. I wanted to expand my new empire in all directions. A quick, decisive victory over the weakling, namby-pamby ponies of Equestria was just the confidence-builder my army needed." Ragnarok smiled wistfully. "Then, in one night, my forces went from ready to attack to a state of total disarray, completely undone by the most decisive and calculated pre-emptive strike I have ever seen. I woke to find Celestia herself stood over me, proverbial dagger at my throat, ready to end my life.

"But instead, she began...urgh...talking to me." Ragnarok rolled his eyes. "And to my eternal shame, I began talking back. And we found we could not stop. We talked of everything. We argued, we agreed, we – blech – 'shared' and found 'common ground' all through the night. And the night only ended when she decided it did. When she raised the sun. That...was impressive," he finished begrudgingly. "Suffice it to say, I saw the folly of a war with a resourceful empire that effortlessly controls the day, weather, and magic. And ever since then we have been..." he narrowed his eyes at Celestia and grinned a wide, wicked grin. "...enemies."

"I have told you many times, Ragnarok," Celestia smiled kindly, "I am not your enemy."

"Nonsense," he waved a claw dismissively. "Of course you are. You are my most respected, most worthy enemy, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Now, consider this your interrogation." He lowered his tone and made eye-contact with Celestia. "I have not heard from you for some time, and even now you come to me more by circumstance than by choice. You must keep me more informed, Celestia. I hear rumours that your city was invaded? A shadow-king and his lost empire simply reappear? An eclipse steals light from the sky? And about these things I know nothing?! Instead you leave me to sit here, guessing and floundering as to whether these are dangers upon which I must act. Now the rulers of Equestria enter my realm for reasons unknown and do not even think to inform me?! You leave me for a fool, Celestia!" he finished with an angry shout. Then he lowered his voice, but still spoke with seething anger. "In time, I expect you to tell me of all these things. But right now, I will settle for you telling me why you are not raising the moon..." he finished with a growl. Then he turned and fixed his glare upon Luna. "Or perhaps I should be asking you."

Celestia opened her mouth to begin, but Luna cut her off matter-of-factly. "I removed the moon from the sky, and sent it to Tartarus."

Ragnarok stared at Luna, momentarily stunned into silence. Then rage surged forward. "By what right?!"

"She made a mistake," Celestia interrupted, "She knows that. She and I are on our way to Tartarus to reclaim it and return it to the sky. That's why we were making our way through your lands." She looked up apologetically at him. "You're right, I should have told you, but we are in haste and I did not anticipate being within your borders for more than a few hours. We didn't mean to cause you any offense."

Ragnarok looked furiously at the two ponies before him. Not for the first time in his life, he bemoaned what kind of fate would place something so important as the moon and sun into the care of creatures so...fickle! Meeting Luna's arrogant stare, he brought his head right down, almost resting his chin on the ground, bringing his muzzle as close to her head as he could and spoke in a very quiet, very direct voice. "The world grows restless again. Tremors and storms are just the beginning. Your sister realised her error before it became worse than that. But if you do not retrieve the moon...if my subjects suffer for your mistake...then you will become my enemy too." He gave his wicked, toothy grin again. "That would displease me. Especially as we are getting along so well."

Luna, completely unfazed, glowered back. "I will retrieve the moon. I have promised as much. But I do not respond well to being threatened...Lord Ragnarok," she finished with a dangerous tone of her own.

Almost in spite of himself, Ragnarok's grin widened. "Good. Good." He really was starting to like her.

He drew himself back up, looking at Celestia again with a derisive snort. "And what of the sun? It has been behaving most unusually of late."

"The sun is...no longer in my care," Celestia admitted. She glanced at the ground and for the first time since she'd entered, he saw a crack in her composure.

"Oh?" Ragnarok quirked an eyebrow.

Celestia looked back up again, meeting his gaze, her calm air reforming quickly. "It is now under the guidance of Princess Twilight Sparkle. She has simply been having some...teething problems."

Ragnarok put on an incredulous voice. "And now I learn that you have appointed your pupil as a new princess? And given her the sun no less!" He shook his head solemnly. "What am I going to do with you?"

The question was rhetorical, but Celestia didn't hesitate in replying. "Please, give us your permission and safe passage through your kingdom. Help us to reach Tartarus."

"Passage?" Ragnarok asked. Then his wicked smile returned. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. Perhaps...for one of you." His mouth turned cruel and his greedy eyes narrowed at Celestia. "Perhaps I will hold you here until your sister returns with the moon. Then, perhaps I will ransom you both to Princess Twilight Sparkle. The price will be the sun, and when I have both the sun and the moon, then I will have power over the heavens!"

If Celestia's composure had faltered before, it slipped entirely now, her face a picture of shock. "Ragnarok, you can't...we...we're not enemies!"

Beside her, Luna spoke up. "I will not leave without my sister! You are not keeping her here, you brute!"

Ragnarok gave a low, evil cackle. Which then developed into a slightly-less-evil chuckle. Which then became a not-evil-at-all belly-laugh. This persisted entirely too long, until eventually he found himself able to speak once again. "Oh, Celestia," he wiped a tear away from his eye. "You really haven't changed. Still quite unable to take a joke. It is a trait that seems to run in the family, I'm sad to see." He looked down to see his guests were not mollified. "Please, what would I even do with the sun? Or the moon? Do you know what I want more than anything else in this world, Celestia?"

Celestia looked up at him and raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"To go back to sleep!" He raised his head and barked at the entrance to the chamber. "Valkyrie! I know you are out there listening! Get back in here at once!"

Valkyrie, still looking somewhat sheepish, appeared at the entrance to the grand chamber. He approached cautiously and stopped before Ragnarok, head bowed.

"Valkyrie, you are about to get a lesson in trust," Ragnarok declared. He looked the red dragon in the eyes. "By now you are aware of the importance I place on the two guests you have brought to me. And how displeased I am with the manner in which you brought them to me. But whether I reward or punish you is going to be up to them.

"In a moment, I am going to ask Princess Celestia and Princess Luna if they were badly treated by you. If either of them tells me they were – and I don't care if it is true! – then you will suffer more than you ever thought possible. If they say they were treated well, you will instead be rewarded for bringing them here safely." He grinned. "You are right to look nervous. I would be, had I been the one to apply those chains. But if you'd left them alone in the first place, you would not be in this situation. Now..." he turned towards the two ponies to whom he had just granted complete control over Valkyrie's future. "If either of you were hurt or mistreated, tell me."

He looked first at Celestia, but from the corner of his eye noted Valkyrie's head hung low, very obviously resigned to his fate.

"I was well treated," said Celestia.

"I was unharmed," said Luna, slightly more begrudgingly.

Valkyrie looked up in obvious surprise.

"Excellent!" Ragnarok proclaimed. He looked back at Valkyrie. "You see? You are building trust already. As a reward, I will trust you with a most important responsibility. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are travelling to Tartarus. You will escort them safely across our land and leave them on the banks of the Styx. And Valkyrie?" He fixed him with a hard stare. "If any harm comes to them, it will be revisited upon you ten times over. Now get out. All of you."

Valkyrie and Luna turned and made for the exit at the far end of the chamber, but Celestia remained for a moment. She opened her mouth to speak but Ragnarok cut her off.

"I will not hear any apology from you, Celestia. But in future..." don't leave me to worry about you for so long, "...I may not be so forgiving."

Celestia nodded, and gave a respectful bow and a gentle smile. Ragnarok gave her a curt nod in reply before waving her away. Then she too headed for the far end of the chamber.

Ragnarok settled back into his throne, watching Celestia leave. A rare verbal joust with his sworn enemy had ended too soon. And what was this? He was sad to see his enemy go? Ugh! What was it about ponies that made him feel so...feely?

Kings did not have friends. Dragons certainly did not. An enemy was the best he could ever hope for. And Celestia was the best enemy he could have hoped for. He just wished they'd had longer to talk.

Pah! Enough of this nonsense. He closed his eyes and tried to find sleep once again.

Chapter V

View Online

–––Chapter V–––

Soaring through the air on the back of a giant dragon was something neither sister had experienced before. It wasn't unpleasant, and thanks to Valkyrie's broad wings they were borne across the remainder of the desert in half the time it would otherwise have taken them.

Beneath them the bleached rocky ground gave way to a series of craggy canyons through which ancient rivers must once have flowed. As they were carried further, the canyons became shallower until ultimately the terrain became much flatter and more nondescript. The colour appeared to just drain from the landscape, turning it grey and lifeless. In the end they found themselves sailing over what appeared to be nothing more than an immense flat tract of grey rubble. Boulders the size of carts were strewn everywhere and stretched as far as the eye could see. Overhead even the sky had turned grey and overcast, blotting out the sun, and it was as though all joy and cheer had simply been leeched from the world around them.

Valkyrie began to descend, aiming for a tiny clearing in the huge boulder field and alighting gently upon the ground. He dipped his neck to allow his passengers to disembark, but it had not escaped the notice of either of the sisters that there was no river in their immediate vicinity.

"Is something wrong?" queried Celestia, floating gently to the stoney ground.

"Why are we stopping?" asked Luna at almost the same time.

Valkyrie looked annoyed. "My instructions were to deliver you to the banks of the Styx. By rights I have only to take you to the river and leave you there." He looked to the sky and drew a deep, nasal breath. "But...I am...grateful" – he said it through clenched teeth – "that you did not seek to have me punished. So, if you are intent on reaching Tartarus, I will take you straight to the crossing point rather than leave you to search hopelessly for it." He looked back down at them. "I don't know the river well enough to find it from the air. Only by following landmarks on the ground." He nodded towards one particular, unremarkable direction. "This way."

They began to walk through the boulder field, two ponies escorted by a huge dragon making for quite the odd spectacle. The awkward silence was broken only by the sound of hooves and claws upon stone; loose rocks and boulders shifting and scraping on the ground beneath the weight of the three travellers. A couple of times their direction faltered as Valkyrie's memory seemed to fail him, but they always found themselves back on track within a few minutes.

"Sister?" asked Luna hesitantly after a while. "Ragnarok spoke of the world growing restless. He said I had repeated your mistake; that it would lead to suffering...?"

Celestia looked back into her sister's concerned eyes, then faced forward once more. "A thousand years ago, after I banished you...I could not bear to look at the moon. For nearly a week, I chose not to raise it." She shook her head slightly. "In the nights that followed, the world was battered by increasingly powerful storms. The oceans boiled and tidal waves pounded the coasts. On the third night, earthquakes began. Minor at first, but by the fifth night, powerful enough to fell buildings.

"I didn't make the connection, but on the sixth night, on instinct as much as anything, I raised the moon. And there was no storm. No earthquake. Only a peaceful night." She looked back at Luna. "The sun, the moon and the earth. They are three equal parts of a greater whole. I believe the earth missed its sister, and was not happy."

"And now it is beginning again," said Luna morosely. "You said you had no secrets from me, Tia. Why did you not tell me? If I had known this I would never have..." she trailed off, guilt in her eyes and unable to look at Celestia any more.

"I know you wouldn't," said Celestia kindly. "Truly, Luna, I never kept this from you deliberately. It is something I have not even thought about for eight hundred years. I never expected it to happen again."

Luna was silent for a moment, then raised her head with a determined frown. "It...makes no difference," she said haughtily. "I am already committed to returning the moon as soon as possible." But her eyes retained that look of guilt.

From ahead of them, Valkyrie gave a low, contemplative hum but said nothing else. They walked on in silence for several minutes more, each large rock they had to negotiate beginning to look more identical than the last.

"It is all true then?" Valkyrie asked after a while, breaking the monotonous quiet. "The legend of the Mare in the Moon? The fables of a powerful Equestrian warrior commanding the day and the night?"

Celestia and Luna looked at each other and, by unspoken agreement, decided that Celestia should answer. "I wouldn't call myself a warrior. But yes, it's true."

Valkyrie seemed to consider this for a moment. Then, "You claim to wield such fantastic power, but you did not prevent me from taking you prisoner?"

"Escape was possible," admitted Celestia. "But it would likely have necessitated significant harm to you. That wasn't acceptable to me, given the alternative."

Valkyrie looked back at her with one eye. "I suppose I should be grateful for this, too?"

"I would be if I were you," said Luna in a low, but still audible voice.

Another low, considerate hum from the dragon preceded several more minutes of silence as they walked on. Eventually Valkyrie spoke again.

"Ragnarok is the oldest dragon still living. He is belligerent, ill-tempered, lazy, and greedy above all." He glanced back at Celestia once more, "And I have never seen him show such respect to anyone." He paused, rolling his jaw. "Respect for your power would be understandable, but it is more than that, I think. You command his admiration too. How? How does a small, frilly pony princess like you gain such reverence?"

Celestia frowned. She was about to respond with a cutting remark, until she saw Luna staring at her with curiosity. She wanted to know the answer too. "We talk from time to time," she admitted. "Truly, there is little more to it than that."

"We are talking now, yet somehow I fail to hold you in such high esteem. Either I am missing something, or the king is a fool."

Beneath her faultless composure, Celestia found that Valkyrie's arrogance was beginning to grate. "If you wish to know why he shows me respect, perhaps he is the one you should be asking," she replied in a cool tone.

The dragon looked down at her once more, this time with a sly grin. "Come now, Celestia. We are supposed to be building trust after all."

Luna shot Valkyrie a glare of daggers, but she then looked back at Celestia with the same inquisitive expression.

Celestia sighed. "The Six Hour War," she began, more for Luna's benefit than Valkyrie's. "My Royal Guard had already driven the dragons into a frenzied chaos. They were fleeing in their droves by the time I reached him, fast asleep. I was prepared to do what was necessary to protect Equestria...but not while he slept.

"I woke him to the roars of panic from his retreating forces, his camp burning and lightning strobing the sky. He saw me and knew already it was over, his army beaten before it fought. I challenged him to tell me what it was about my little ponies that invited such hatred. I demanded to know why he wanted to bring pain and suffering to us, when all we wanted was tolerance and peace. And the first thing I saw in his eyes, when he knew he was at my mercy...was relief."

Celestia became aware that their party had slowed and now stopped in its tracks. Both Valkyrie and Luna were looking at her with varying degrees of incredulity, but neither appeared prepared to interrupt. Taking a breath, she was forced to continue. "Perhaps he believed I was going to end his life anyway, but he bluntly confessed that he was trying to live up to the expectations of his subjects. He had no explicit desire to hurt or destroy. In fact it weighed on him. I found he was not cruel, heartless or blind to the suffering of others, but that he could tell no other dragon of this. In a way, I was the only one he could tell. That was the beginning of our conversation."

Celestia looked at Valkyrie. "To him, I was a way to reconcile his duty with his conscience." She looked at Luna. "To me...he was someone to talk to at a time when I had no-one. It wasn't an exaggeration saying we talked about everything. We both had a great deal to get off our chests." She looked back up at Valkyrie. "I won't call him an enemy, and he won't call me a friend. Take from that what you will."

Valkyrie looked at her for several moments longer, and then without making reply began once more to lead them through the field of rocks. Luna began to follow, but gave her a smile and a nod in doing so.

Predictably, it was a few minutes before Valkyrie spoke again. "The king is a fool," he said as though reaching a conclusion. "But oddly enough, a clever one. He uses his respect for your power as a disguise for his compassion."

"You believe that is an undesirable trait? Compassion?" asked Celestia.

"Of course," snorted Valkyrie.

Luna looked annoyed. "It was our compassion that prevented your king from punishing you."

"What is this if not a punishment?" grumbled Valkyrie. "It is certainly not a reward."

Celestia thought a moment. Then, "Suppose when you found us we were badly injured and succumbing to thirst, our saddlebags laden with jewels. What would your reaction be?"

Valkyrie looked suspiciously at Celestia. He narrowed his eyes. "You are trying to trick me."

"Not at all. I am simply posing a question. We are supposed to be building trust after all," she said with a hidden grin.

Still unconvinced, but unable to quite see where the trick was, Valkyrie answered. "I would not need to waste time trying to ransom you, would I?" he said, as though it were obvious. "I would simply take you to your border and expect your jewels in return."

"Really?" asked Celestia with faux surprise. "You would not just take our jewels and leave us to die in the desert? The profit for you would be the same..."

Valkyrie thought for a moment, his eyes narrowing further. "You are trying to get me to admit that, all things being equal, I would choose to help you rather than watch you suffer."

"You've already admitted that," Celestia pointed out. "I'm trying to get you to realise why."

Valkyrie stopped and slowly turned, lowering his head and staring hard into Celestia's eyes. Then Luna's. Then back to Celestia. His mouth broke into a wicked, sharp-toothed smile and he gave a low, approving hum. Then he drew himself back up and continued to lead them on once more. "The king is very clever," he said still smiling. "I can see why he enjoys talking to you."

After a few more minutes of walking, the rocks surrounding them became noticeably smaller and smaller, until they stopped completely. The boulder field ended abruptly, a stark line giving way to a wide pebble-beach covered with smooth, round, grey stones. The beach sloped very gently toward a river, though not much of the water could be seen, shrouded as it was by a thick fog which seemed without end. Just short of the waterline stood an ancient-looking mid-height wooden post, slanted at a slight angle and half-rotten. From a nail near the top of the post, suspended from an equally old-looking leather strap, hung a simple curved horn fashioned from white bone.

"This is the crossing point," said Valkyrie. He looked down at the two ponies. "If I were you I would go quickly now or wait until morning. I would not risk crossing at night."

The two sisters looked towards the river. It barely seemed to flow at all, from what they could see. The thick fog was persistent and unnatural – almost ethereal – and reduced visibility to almost zero over the water. Even had they known exactly how wide the river was it would be impossible not to get disoriented in the grey void, so simply flying across was out of the question.

Approaching the horn, Celestia took it in her magic and brought it to her lips. It made a low, bassy rumble that seemed disproportionately loud and caused the air all around them to vibrate. Replacing the horn, Celestia was joined by Luna at the water's edge and together they stared into the fog, looking for any sign of movement.

"I will take my leave," said Valkyrie. "This has been an...interesting day. Perhaps we will meet again, but for now...I suppose I wish you both good luck." With that the dragon took to the air, broad wings beating heavily. He arrowed skywards, and was gone.

"I don't know what to make of him," said Luna, her gaze following him into the sky. "Is he on our side, or not?"

"I think he is on his own side. But...I think he is also trying to find a way to avoid being our opponents. That is a start." She looked out at the river, then at Luna. "Once we are on the water, there will be no going back. It will be dangerous from here on. Are you sure you're ready to do this?"

Luna looked back and had to steel herself to reply. "I am ready." She could not imagine having to do this alone.

They both looked back out into the river, where a dark patch had appeared in the fog. It gradually came closer, becoming more distinct until it had a form. A boat of some kind, helmed by a hooded and cloaked figure. It emerged from the fog bank and reached the shore, the hull scraping loudly on the pebble-beach as it came to rest.

It was not a large craft. Constructed of black timbers that creaked constantly and which looked very old indeed, it was little more than five meters in length and with a beam of about two. A single short mast rose from the centre of the hull, but from it hung only the dirty rags of what must once have been a sail. And stood motionless at the bow, a vaguely pony-shaped figure hidden beneath a thick black and tattered hooded cloak that completely concealed its head and face. Charon himself.

Celestia and Luna approached the ferry, causing the ferrypony to slowly raise an upturned, bony foreleg adorned with neither flesh nor muscle. Digging in her saddlebag, Celestia found the Bit she had brought for just this moment and carefully placed the gold coin into Charon's waiting hoof. Accepting the payment, his foreleg descended and returned to within the folds of the cloak. Charon moved away from the bow to the middle of the ferry and stood next to the mast, facing across the water.

Celestia and Luna quickly embarked, and no sooner had they done so than the ferry was moving. Charon had no paddle or oar, and there was no sail to catch the non-existent wind, yet still the ferry left the shore and began its voyage into the river.

Celestia headed for what was now the front of the boat and frowned fixedly out into the fog, though she could see nothing more than a few feet away. With little else to look at, Luna found her gaze drawn towards the river upon which they now floated. It seemed unnaturally still, rippling only very softly and the boat somehow seemed to cast no wake in it at all.

"Do not touch the surface, Luna. Don't disturb it, whatever you do," came Celestia's voice from the bow, still looking determinedly forward.

Luna nodded absently, but the water had captured her attention now. She sat in the centre of the boat and craned her neck over the side. It was okay, she could look without touching it. She just wanted to get a little closer because it looked like...yes...there was colour in it. She hadn't been able to see it before, but she could now. Every ripple in the water was of a slightly different colour. They mingled and combined in such a pleasing pattern and then...well...it looked like there were shapes among the colours. She needed to dip her head a bit nearer to see them clearly but there were definitely shapes there too. And as she got a little nearer still, the shapes resolved into faces. Actual faces of ponies, reflected in the surface of the water.

"Tia! There are faces in the water. Faces of ponies in the water..."

From the bow, Celestia glanced back at her. "It isn't water, Luna." She spoke with a hard edge, as though she were trying very hard to keep herself under control.

Luna tried to look up, but couldn't quite bring herself to drag her attention away. Not water? "Then what is it?"

"Tears," Celestia said, still looking intently into the fog. "Every tear that has ever been shed finds its way to the Styx. The faces you are seeing are of those that cried them."

Tears? She was floating on a river of tears? The faces...she had to get a bit closer but...she could see now...they were all sad. So sad. Wait...she could see...Celestia? Her sister was in the water! Right there. And also there. And over there too! Suddenly she could see Celestia's face reflected in the surface far more frequently than any other.

"Tia! I see you! You're in the water!"

"I've cried more than my share of tears, Luna," came the reply, terse and punctual. "You must stop looking at it. Luna?"

Tia...my sister...in the water...she looks so sad. Why is she sad? Why is she always crying? She shouldn't be crying. Don't cry, Tia. Please. It's okay. I...I'm right here. I'll make you happy again. I'll make you happy. You'll never have to cry again, Tia. I promise. I'll always be with you. Please...just be happy...

"Luna, no!"

There was a sudden, soft impact and Luna felt a horrible ripping sensation in her consciousness as her gaze was torn from the water. She toppled over backwards and to the side, coming to rest on her back, face-up in the stern of the boat with Celestia stood over her. Her head felt muzzy and dull. She was sure she had been about to do something very important, but couldn't recall what it was.

"Luna? Are you alright?"

Tia? Of course! She tried to scramble to her hooves, suddenly desperate to get to the water...to get to her sister, but her sister held her down. "No! Please! I have to help you! I...I have to make you happy!"

"It's okay, Luna, I’m here," Celestia said softly, slowly pulling her up and drawing her straight into a gentle hug. "You do make me happy. So, so happy," she whispered.

Luna hugged her sister back, and both added to the number of tears in the Styx.

"Please, Luna," said Celestia, giving her a squeeze, "Keep your eyes closed. Don't look at the river. If you go in...you will drown. Promise me."

"I promise," said Luna, scrunching her eyes shut. She held her sister tight. Her real sister. Not that fake sister from the water. Celestia hugged her back just as hard, keeping her own eyes shut too. She dared not risk even a glance at the river. With all of the pain and suffering she was sure she'd caused Luna, she would feel compelled to dive right in. She would do anything to be given the chance to make amends.

The two sisters sat in each other's embrace for what seemed like hours, completely unable to tell if they were even still moving. It began to dawn on Luna that it might all be a cruel snare. Marooned on a fog-bound boat in the middle of a river you dare not look at; forced to keep your eyes closed forever or succumb to a watery grave. It felt like the perfect trap, and she began to feel fear creeping.

At long last though there was a scraping noise, and beneath them the hull of the boat vibrated as it grounded itself upon the new shore.

Celestia and Luna released each other, and without dallying, disembarked onto solid ground to much relief.

"Are you alright?" asked Celestia.

"I'm fine," replied Luna automatically. "Let us–"

"Luna..." Celestia placed a hoof on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked again softly, gently.

"I–I'm okay," Luna managed. Strangely enough, more tears seemed to be threatening to appear. She blinked them away with a quick sniffle and a smile at her older sister. "Thank you, Tia. If you hadn't...thank you."

Celestia smiled back, and they both turned to survey the scene before them.

After so long in the fog bank, and longer still with their eyes shut, it was nice to be able to see anything again. But it was a shame that they had to be looking at Tartarus.

They found themselves on the dirt shore of a large island, encircled on all sides by the Styx as though it were a moat. One could follow the shoreline of the river and come full circle in just shy of a day, yet if one followed the shore of the bank from which they had departed, the river would be almost straight and without end in either direction. That was but one of the strange properties of the place. The air felt different somehow, as though thicker and tainted with something that threatened to choke but never quite did. The sky was heavy with grey clouds and held a strange red tint in places. The beach sloped gradually upwards until, about a hundred meters from the shore, a great wall of irregular blackened stone thrust vertically from the earth, reaching so high as to disappear into the clouds above. The imposing, terrible wall followed the same contour of the shoreline all the way around the perimeter of the island, and had but one feature. Stood immediately up the beach from their landing point, a great arched opening as tall as a castle and as wide as a courtyard, beyond which was a faint, ominous red glow. Next to the gate was a sight which would fill any unwary traveller to this shore with horror and dread, but which Celestia and Luna were very happy to see indeed.

Cerberus.

The giant, black three-headed dog lay next to the imposing gate, two of his heads sound asleep while the third, the right-most, was awake and alert, constantly looking for danger. As soon as he saw the two ponies approaching, his ears perked, his mouth opened and he began panting happily. Right Head gave Centre Head a forceful nudge, sending Centre Head ping-ponging into Left Head. Centre and Left both jarred awake and immediately began growling angrily at Right.

Until Right pointed out the two ponies now stood before them. Then they perked up happily too.

"Hello old friend," said Celestia. "How have you been?"

Luna smiled up at the contented canine. Unfortunately, both she and Celestia were stood slightly too close, and without warning Centre Head and Right Head both leaned down and, with huge slobbering tongues, granted both a substantial friendly lick, to much spluttering and coughing from the beleaguered princesses.

"That...was...unnecessary..." glowered Luna. From the corner of her eye she caught Celestia's expression; the corners of her mouth starting to crease. "Don't you dare!" But it was no good. Celestia burst out laughing. It was the first real laughter Luna could recall hearing in days, and it proved infectious. They found themselves laughing together at how ridiculous the other looked, dishevelled and covered in dog-slime. Eventually the laughter ran its course and they began to dry themselves off. Their happy smiles remained though.

"It's been a long day," decided Celestia. "I suggest we need a break before we venture inside, and I don't think Cerberus will mind the company. I assume that it will be easier to find the moon at night in any event."

Luna nodded at that. It was probably the only thing that would be easier to find at night, and she was under no illusions. It wouldn't be a case of walking in, looking up and, oh, there's the moon. Tartarus was said to be infinite, but somehow not all in the same place nor at the same time, and all under a vast array of different skies, the moon could be in any one of which.

Luna looked disapprovingly at Celestia. "Before you begin playing with the dog, dear sister, you have a letter to write. You have friends back home that will have been worried sick about you for the whole day."

Celestia looked back. "Us, Luna. Worried about us." Then she smiled. "But you're right. Twilight needs to know we're safe before she does something silly, like send out search-and-rescue." She retrieved a small blank piece of parchment from her saddlebag, along with a pencil, and found a low flat rock nearby upon which she could rest. Then, with a mischievous expression, she began to write.

"Tia? I know that look. What are you doing?"

"Just getting my own back a little bit," replied Celestia with a small smirk.

Walking up behind her sister, Luna looked over her withers to the paper on which she wrote. The first three words were, 'Dear Princess Twilight...'

Chapter VI

View Online

–––Chapter VI–––

Standing alone on the tallest tower of Canterlot Castle, Twilight faced the sun and concentrated.

It had just reached the horizon and now, summoning her magic, she prepared to lower it. It was a strange task, magically speaking. As though the horizon itself was somehow a barrier through which the sun would not pass without first being 'unlocked.' Then the sun had to be coaxed through, and the horizon would 'close' behind it. That was how she visualised it anyway.

Channelling vast amounts of energy into her horn, she performed the spell just as Celestia had taught her. Straining hard to keep the horizon open, she guided the sun slowly down, until it disappeared beneath the edge of sight.

She released her magic, breathing heavily and sweating with the exertion. It was getting a little easier day by day, and today at least she could be almost proud of herself. On her first day in charge of the sun, she had forgotten that she needed to set it at all! On her second day she'd made something of a faux pas that had seen the sun rise and set in the same hemisphere. But today, everything seemed to have gone well. She was just relieved she didn't have to worry about the moon too. Controlling one heavenly body was quite enough. How did the Princesses do it every day? And make it look so easy?

The Princesses. She hadn't heard back from them yet, and it had been nearly twelve hours since she'd sent that letter. Rarity had told her not to worry; that they were probably busy. Pinkie had suggested they were probably busy having fun, but Twilight hadn't been able to shake the nagging feeling that something had gone horribly wrong.

She had other things to worry about too. In about an hour it would be the time at which the moon was supposed to rise, and if she was right that would likely signal the onset of another storm. She had Rainbow Dash and the pegasi making preparations to try and disperse it, but if it was more intense than the previous night it likely wouldn't be safe to do so. And if there was another tremor, there was very little she could do about that.

She was almost certain now that the freak weather was connected to the moon's disappearance. She had had an hour earlier to brush up on her astrophysics in the Canterlot library, and theorised that the sudden loss of such a powerful gravitational field so close to the earth was having a profound effect on ocean tides and plate tectonic stress levels. But...that didn't go all the way to explaining why the phenomena seemed to be getting more intense, not less, as the nights passed. And if she couldn't find a way to stop it, there might not be an Equestria left for the Princesses to come back to.

And then she was back to worrying about the Princesses again. It shouldn't have taken them this long. Twilight herself had once made a round trip to Tartarus in a little over two days – although she had spent most of the journey there riding on the back of a very fast, very large three-headed dog who knew exactly where he was going. And she hadn't actually had to go inside – but still. She was sure they should have been back by now. And why hadn't they written back? If they'd been okay they would have done, right? They would know how worried she was.

If she hadn't heard from them by morning, she was going to send every guard in the city out looking for them.

"Twilight? You still up here?" came Spike's voice from the staircase. He reached the top and stepped out onto the tower balcony to join Twilight as she looked at the fading orange light in the western sky.

"Something's gone wrong, Spike. I just know it."

"Huh?" Spike squinted at the skyscape in the west. "I dunno, Twilight. It looks like a pretty normal sunset to me. I'd say you did it pretty well, y'know after yesterday and all."

Twilight looked around at Spike and had to blink twice before she was on the same page. "Not with the sun, Spike, with the Princesses! They should have been back by now, or we should at least have heard from them."

"Oh, that," said Spike with a relieved smile. "That's why I came to find you. It just arrived." He held out a scroll.

Twilight looked around again, saw the scroll and her face lit up as she gave an excited gasp. Seizing it in her magic she unfurled it and ravenously began to read. "Let's see...downpours, deserts, dragons, dungeons, discussions, dinghies and dogs." She reached the end and her smile grew. "They're alright! I mean, they haven't found the moon yet and it sounds like they've had a bear of a day, but they've reached Tartarus and they're okay!" Twilight spent another moment feverishly re-reading the letter, then she smiled at Spike, who smiled back. "Where are the others? I'd better let them know the good news too."

"They're downstairs waiting for you. I think they've got something they need to talk to you about," said Spike uncertainly.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that, but Spike apparently didn't have any more information to offer. Still, her mood had brightened considerably, and with a spring in her step she turned away from the balcony and the two of them made for the stairs.

Spike led her down to the throne room of the castle, where Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were all waiting. Still feeling elated from the news the letter had brought, Twilight entered with a wide smile. And when her friends saw her, they smiled right back.

"Guys! I've got great news. The Princesses have reached Tartarus safely!"

Every pony in the room let out a relieved breath.

"Twilight, that's marvellous news!" proclaimed Rarity, to much nodding from the others.

"So, I guess that means they'll be back with the moon in a couple more days, right?" asked Applejack, though there was slight hesitation in her voice.

"Well, they haven't gone into Tartarus yet, and I don't know how long it'll take them to find the moon once they're inside. I've heard that time doesn't quite work the same way in there."

There was a slight, awkward silence from her friends.

"I'm sure it won't be long though. Guys? What's...wrong?" asked Twilight.

"It's just...this letter came for us," said Applejack, indicating Fluttershy who stepped forward, a piece of paper beneath her wing. She proffered it to Twilight who took it in her magic and began to read her second letter of the evening.

It was written in what looked like Scootaloo's hoofwriting, and contained a brief rundown of events back in Ponyville with obvious input from her friends.

Ponyville itself was fine, and seemed to have avoided the storms that had hit Canterlot and elsewhere the previous evening. Scootaloo had learned a new trick on her scooter that she couldn't wait to show Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom had been helping Big Macintosh with some of the apple-bucking, and was getting quite good. Sweetie Belle was really starting to improve her levitation and was sure Rarity would be impressed when she saw it. The Cakes had a new mint-based cupcake recipe they wanted Pinkie to try before putting it on sale. And then, right at the bottom there were a series of claw and paw prints that could only have come from Angel and the rest of the animals in Fluttershy's cottage.

Twilight looked up, uncertain. It appeared to be just a brief update on life in Ponyville. "I don't get it. What's wrong?"

A few looks were exchanged between her friends. Then Applejack spoke up. "Maybe you should read it again, sugarcube..."

Twilight quirked an eyebrow, but dutifully returned her gaze to the letter. New scooter trick...applebucking...magic...cupcakes...aaaand critters. What was she...? Oh. Twilight had never been the best at subtext. The Lines should have all the information you needed – that was the point! – reading between them was, at best, an inexact science. But as she re-read the letter, there was one question that was conspicuously missing, yet at the same time begging to be answered.

When are you coming home?

She looked back at her four friends. "Are you...leaving?"

There was a chorus of resounding no's, but with an aftertaste of uncertainty. It was left to Applejack to speak up again. "Twi, you know we'll be here for as long as you need. It's just...we've all got responsibilities back home too."

"And I reeeaaaally wanna try that new cupcake!" interjected Pinkie.

Twilight looked at the floor. She didn't know how long the Princesses would take to find the moon, and Applejack was right. She couldn't keep her friends here. Canterlot wasn't their home, Ponyville was. She realised that she was, in fairly short order, going to have to rule Equestria alone. At least for a little while.

Suddenly the door to the throne room was thrown open and in swooped Rainbow Dash with characteristic flair. "Alright, Twilight. I've got every weather-certified pegasus in the city – and even a few of the unicorns – with their eyes on the sky. If anything starts rolling in in the next half hour, we're gonna be ready for it!" She noted the slightly downcast expressions on the faces of her friends. "Hey...what's up?"

Twilight offered Rainbow Dash the letter from Ponyville, and she snatched it straight up. "New trick, huh? Oh man, I can't wait to see it!" She looked around, but couldn't quite make eye-contact with any of her friends. She caught on quickly. "Or...is that what you guys were talking about before I came in?"

Rarity approached Twilight and put a hoof around her. "Twilight, don't you worry. We're staying as long as it takes. You know we'd never abandon you while you still needed us."

But if Twilight was honest with herself, it wasn't a question of needing her friends anymore. Thanks to their help over the past couple of days she had a pretty good handle on everything that was expected of her. She wanted them to stay because she enjoyed their company, and that wasn't a good enough reason to keep them from their responsibilities and their families back home. She looked back up at her friends and with a heavy heart was about to tell them that it was okay, that she couldn't have done it without them, but that she could handle things alone from here.

But Pinkie beat her to the punch: "Besides, it's not like we're going anywhere tonight. Not with that huge lightning storm outside," she said, indicating the view through one of the stained-glass windows.

"Huh?!" exclaimed Dash and Twilight at about the same time. They all raced to the door of the throne room, through the castle to the double doors of the grand entrance, which Twilight threw open with her magic. Above the city, thick black clouds had appeared from nowhere and, right on cue, there was a brilliant flash of lightning bright enough to illuminate the entire sky, accompanied by an instant and tremendous thunderclap.

"That's impossible!" cried Dash. She looked at the sky and tried to find the leading edge of the cloud cover, but it seemed to stretch without end as far as she could see. No storm front could move that fast! Overhead, scores of pegasi were wasting no time, already doing their best to try and break apart the clouds. Immediately outside the main entrance was a large, square courtyard, directly beyond which was a wide and flat green upon which a group of half a dozen unicorns were stood frantically firing weather-spells into the sky. But the clouds were thick, and neither pegasi nor unicorns were making much of an impression.

The rain had already begun falling: a torrential downpour that instantly soaked everything it touched and only grew heavier. The wind blew with gale force, making it difficult to keep a sure footing and whipping the raindrops so hard that it felt like a thousand stinging insect bites everywhere at once.

A bedraggled brown pegasus swooped low and landed in front of them. "Your highness!" Then he divided his attention between Twilight and Rainbow Dash, and had to yell to make himself heard against the noise of the wind and rain. "It's like nothing I've ever seen! The storm just seemed to appear overhead in seconds. There was nothing we could do to stop it forming!"

A series of deafening thunderclaps heralded a rapid succession of lightning bolts striking out from the storm clouds all over the city. Then the loudest yet as a searing bolt lanced from the clouds directly above them, arcing downwards and striking a lightning rod atop one of the tall castle towers, sending sparks flying in every direction.

"We have to get this storm under control before ponies start getting hurt!" shouted Twilight.

"We're trying! The clouds are incredibly dense! We're making some headway, but it will take hours to disperse it!"

"If we let this storm last that long, Canterlot will be in ruins by morning!" yelled Dash.

"We're doing everything we can, but we can't shift these clouds any faster!"

Trying to think quickly, Twilight's eyes darted to the sky, then to the pegasus in front of her, then to the castle. And an idea formed. "If you can't disperse the clouds, can you concentrate them?" she yelled.

Rainbow Dash and the pegasus exchanged a look. "You wanna make the storm worse?!" asked Dash.

"Yes! If you can concentrate the lightning clouds over the castle, the lightning rods should draw most of the energy out of the storm! The rain and the wind we'll just have to put up with! Can you do it?"

"We can do it, but the castle's gonna take a pounding!"

"Better the castle than a hospital or a hotel!" Twilight looked round at her remaining friends. "Applejack, Pinkie Pie; get everyone out. Cooks, janitors, the groundskeeper, whoever's left. Get them out of the castle and somewhere safe. Fluttershy, take Spike and do the same with the animals in the garden. Rarity, help those unicorns keep the storm as controlled as you can until we can get the clouds in place. Rainbow Dash, I'm with you. Show me what to do!"

Twilight, Dash, and their pegasus colleague took to the air, and without hesitation every other pony – and dragon – leapt to their assigned tasks.

Dawn suddenly felt a very long way off.

–––

An hour's break was only just long enough to recover their energy, get some food inside them, and yes, give Cerberus some much-wanted fuss and attention.

But ever since Luna had learned just how badly the loss of the moon might affect the world, she had felt time ticking away and simply couldn't relax.

There came a point when, without needing anything said, both knew that it was time to move on, and into Tartarus itself.

The two sisters stood at the great archway in the wall, but could see nothing beyond it. The eerie bright red glow completely filled the opening and prevented any of what was beyond the wall from being seen. As the two sisters began to walk under the arch towards it, Cerberus suddenly bounded in front of them, blocking their path. Each of his three heads displayed a look of obvious worry and the canine reached out one giant forepaw, using it to gently push Celestia and Luna a couple of feet further away from the threshold, and whimpering as he did so.

"It's okay, Cerberus. We won't be gone long," said Celestia in a soothing voice. She and Luna walked around the large dog, who then began to walk after them. "No, Cerberus, you must stay here. Stay." Celestia smiled up at him. "Don't worry about us, we will be quite safe."

Cerberus whined again but reluctantly sat, watching them both head under the arch and into Tartarus itself.

As they passed beneath the arch, the red glow in front of them slowly began to fade until the landscape became visible. Tartarus presented a whole mish-mash of different environments all vying for recognition, as though someone had simply tried to stitch them together like patchwork. They found themselves standing in a stretch of orange rocky desert that was somehow bordered by a lush forest and an ocean in the distance, and beyond that a mountain that seemed somehow incomplete. To either side of them the huge black walls of Tartarus stretched straight out in both directions, despite the fact that they should have been able to see the curvature of the wall as it followed the shoreline of the island. Nor could they see the inside of the wall on the far side of the island – the landscape appeared to simply go on forever. Overhead, the sky was no longer overcast with strange clouds. Instead it was like the dome of the sky had been fractured into half a dozen pieces like glass, each section housing a completely different skyscape. In one corner the sky was the vibrant red of a sunset; directly overhead it was the lilac purple of pre-sunrise; over there a bright blue daytime sky with a wisp of cloud that was only partly there, disappearing before giving way to a night-time sky adjacent to it. The sections of the sky were not separated by visible, sharp cracks, but feathered slightly, and each portion of the sky grew and shrank slowly according to some unknown rhythm.

And there was no sign of the moon. Nor was there any sign of the sun. The source of illumination seemed to come from the sky itself, and when the sisters looked down at the ground, they found that they cast no shadows of any kind.

"I suggest we head for where the sky is darkest," said Luna indicating the portion of night sky they could see in the distance.

Celestia nodded, but quickly scanned around. Using her magic she picked up a small rock and held it in front of her, staring intently at it. Then there was a brief flash and the rock glowed visibly for a moment, pulsing with golden light, before becoming inert once more. Celestia carefully placed the rock on the ground in front of them. "A beacon," she explained. "This is the only entrance to Tartarus, and we will need to find it again."

Luna gave a backward look at the archway, and found that the red glow that obscured all sight from the other side was absent from this perspective. She could see right through the archway to where Cerberus was patiently still sat, all the way down to the beach and the Styx beyond. Then, with a nod at her sister, they spread their wings and began to fly toward the forest in the distance and the small patch of night sky beyond.

–––

Flying in formation with a hundred other pegasi, Twilight struggled to keep her position and balance amidst the raging storm. She still wasn't a strong flier, but thanks to Rainbow Dash's support she was, with difficulty, able to remain in the air.

Over the rest of the city the clouds had thinned and lightened to a slightly less menacing dark grey. But with a lot of effort, and at no small amount of risk, she and the team of pegasi had by now managed to corral all of the worst, blackest storm clouds into a single terrible mass roughly centred over Canterlot Castle. The new, incredibly dense cloud mass was as dark as tar, writhing and swirling, barely containing the immense energy that would surely unleash itself at any moment. Now circling it in a holding pattern to keep the core from diffusing back over the city, Twilight and the others waited anxiously for the inevitable.

Movement from below caught Twilight's attention. The grand doors at the castle entrance were thrown open, and from them emerged around two dozen ponies at full gallop – the castle employees – fleeing across the courtyard and the green beyond to the relative safety of the Canterlot city streets. A few agonising seconds passed until, with relief, Twilight saw two more ponies at the door. From her height she couldn't make out faces or details, but one was a definite orange and the other was a certain pink. They began to run from the castle...

And the lightning fell, and the earth shook.

–––

With the best will in the world, Rainbow Dash was starting to feel like maybe Twilight should have stayed on the ground for this one. The worst storm in Canterlot's history was a real bad place to begin instructing a rookie on weather-technique. Twilight wasn't the strongest flier to begin with, and the wind was really taking its toll. Pretty soon she'd be too tired from fighting against it to remain in the air, and when that happened – well there was only one way she'd go.

On top of that, she wasn't concentrating properly. Getting and condensing all of the lightning clouds into one place was dangerous, but no less so than babysitting it until the lightning was ready to strike. But rather than paying it the attention she needed to, Twilight was constantly getting distracted by the ground below.

She needed to chill. Their friends knew what they were doing and they'd be fine.

Suddenly, she noticed Twilight's attention become more focussed, as though she'd seen something down there. Rainbow glanced down and, through the rain, just about made out the shapes of Applejack and Pinkie Pie at the castle entrance. Then there was a brilliant flash and a series of huge bangs as the first lightning bolts chose that moment to strike.

Whoa! That was earlier than she'd thought! And the strikes came far quicker too. The amount of energy in the storm must be immense! Rainbow had figured that even with such a concentration of clouds as they had, they'd get about a strike every three seconds, but no. Simultaneous tendrils of lightning struck out to the castle below and did not stop! If this had been allowed to discharge over the city...it didn't bear thinking of.

The lightning rods atop the three tallest towers did their jobs too well, attracting almost all of the powerful electrical tendrils to them. They were not built for such relentless abuse, and within a staggeringly short time each rod had softened, melted, and been reduced to scrap. With nothing more to divert the destructive force of the storm, the lightning began to impact upon the tower-tops themselves, sending large chunks of slate and stone exploding outwards from where they struck, falling to the ground below. The entire force of the storm tried to discharge itself into the castle walls...and Twilight still wasn't concentrating!

"Oh no, Spike!" Dash heard her yell. Then, suicidally, Twilight dove below the level of the storm towards the courtyard.

"Twilight! No!" Dash screamed, recklessly diving after her even as the inevitable happened.

A mercifully thin strand of lightning arced from the cloud mass, to Twilight, to one of the tower-tops in a bid to reach earth. Twilight screamed in pain as the bolt struck her right wing, and she began to spiral out of control.

But Dash had her covered. She reached her in free-fall a second later, grabbed hold of her around her belly, and confidently propelled them both downwards at speed. Once they were below the level of the tops of the three towers they were relatively safe from being struck by lightning, but now had to contend with falling debris.

The lightning strikes became less intense as Rainbow Dash, gripping Twilight securely, coolly dodged and wove a course through the castle battlements, chunks of masonry and tile raining down around them. Somewhere above them the top of the tallest tower lurched and leaned dangerously, threatening to fall but stopping just short. Then they were beyond the castle, beyond the storm and beyond the city, soaring over the plain of Equestria below.

Rainbow Dash's blood ran cold. "Whoa," she whispered to herself.

Out over the vast, thankfully largely uninhabited stretch of country below-and-before her, similar black clouds covered the sky. From them sprouted thin tornado funnels – at least four that she could see – questing down to the earth, churning and rending the forests, lakes and fields beneath. Thankfully, none looked like they'd been near Ponyville, but this storm...

It was everywhere.

–––

No sooner were they out of the door than the most horrendous series of crashes and explosions from above them demanded Applejack and Pinkie Pie's attention. Looking up, they were almost blinded by the retina-searing light of dozens of bolts of lightning forking from the cloud concentration overhead, striking down in rapid-fire succession, relentlessly pummelling the tower-tops of the castle and sending debris every which-way.

If that weren't bad enough, at the same time the ground beneath their hooves began to shake violently, threatening their balance and serving to dislodge more loose stonework from the towers high above.

"Run!" Applejack's voice was almost lost in the cacophony. Pinkie made to begin galloping as fast as she could, but at the same instant became aware of a very familiar twitch in her tail. Changing her posture and her balance in a flash, she instead hurled herself at Applejack with as much force as she could muster.

Pinkie collided with her friend, bowling her over and tumbling forward several feet even as a section of masonry the size of Pinkie Pie herself crashed to the ground where they had been standing a moment ago. Gathering herself, Applejack found her hooves quickly – with Pinkie Pie still draped awkwardly across her back – and set off at a gallop.

The ground continued to quake, the lightning continued to strike, and debris continued to rain down. Pinkie's tail twitched non-stop but Applejack, now with pure focus and operating on some preternatural level tuned only to survival, dodged and swerved, leaped and ducked her way around the crumbling, plummeting stonework, across the courtyard and away from the castle until they were both safe beyond the rain of stone.

Applejack pulled up to a stop on the green, near to where Rarity and the small group of other unicorns – since dispersed – had been stood trying to manipulate and calm the weather. She allowed Pinkie to disembark and looked at her. "Y'okay?"

"Whoo! That was a great obstacle course! And you were like..." at which point Pinkie's speech degenerated into various noises intended to convey such concepts as action and jumping.

Taking Pinkie's monologue as indication that she was fine, Applejack rolled her eyes as the strikes of lightning over the castle became less intense and the ground became more still. Of the three towers above them to have originally housed lightning rods, the closest and tallest had taken far more of a beating than the others. Stone continued to crumble from it and there was now a large, gaping hole in the wall just beneath the conical roof, which was itself in ruins.

Suddenly Pinkie halted her various vocalisations in order to let out an ear-splitting scream. She raised a hoof and pointed back at the courtyard in front of the castle entrance.

Nearly a hundred animals and birds – from spider-monkeys to jackalopes to wallaroos – were galloping, bounding and flying in their direction. But the cause of her alarm was back beyond them, in the courtyard close to the castle, where Fluttershy was galloping back towards a fallen Spike – his tail apparently caught under a large, heavy column of stone – even as the tower above crumpled, lurched, and looked ready to fall.

–––

"My friends, you must all gather round quickly!" Fluttershy, normally so quiet, was just about able to make her voice heard above the roaring wind and rain. This was an emergency after all.

Addressing as many of the animals in the garden as she could gather, she was glad to see that more still were flocking to join the group in front of herself and Spike. They were all terrified, their eyes filled with fear and panic. "The garden isn't safe at the moment!" she yelled. "You must follow us away from the castle. We will take you all to somewhere you will be safe from the storm!"

Even at Fluttershy's slightly panicked shouting, the animals visibly calmed in her presence, happy to have a kind of reassurance that they simply could not get anywhere else. Now that they had direction and a leader, they began to martial themselves into an almost-panicked entourage. Spike, constantly glancing around nervously was clearly eager to be away, but although he was obviously afraid he showed no sign of fleeing, obviously unwilling leave Fluttershy or any of the animals behind.

"Follow us!" shouted Fluttershy as she turned and cantered towards the safety of Canterlot City. The group of a hundred or so animals fell into step at once, with Spike bringing up the rear watching for any strays that might get lost or separated in the confusion.

As they reached the side entrance to the courtyard beyond the main castle entrance, the whole world lit up white in a staccato series of flashes accompanied by horrendous crashing and tearing noises as the lightning began to strike the castle. The ground underneath them began to shake terribly and moments later huge chunks of stone began to crash down around them. Fluttershy screamed and stumbled, but didn't fall and she ran no slower. Ahead of her – though it was difficult to see through the torrent of rain and the strobe-effect of the lightning – she believed she could see Applejack distantly galloping away towards the safety of the green ahead. It looked like she had Pinkie Pie upon her back. She hoped that didn't mean Pinkie was hurt.

Making it safely most of the way across the courtyard herself, and stopping just short of the green, Fluttershy looked around. Marshalling the scores of animals past her and directing them towards the city, she peered back through the curtain of rain behind, searching for any stragglers.

And saw Spike. He was much too far back, still close to the castle, running and stumbling over the quaking ground even as more stonework plummeted. A heavy chunk of masonry longer than it was wide crashed vertically into the flagstones immediately to Spike's left, knocking him from his feet and sending him sprawling to the floor on his belly. The small dragon tried to scramble to his feet, but the stone column pivoted and fell, crumbling in on itself. It cracked in two, tented slightly, and fell atop his tail, pinning it to the ground.

"Oh dear! Spike!"

Even as another bolt of lightning struck out from the sky, Fluttershy turned and began galloping back towards her trapped friend. She watched as he grasped his tail with his foreclaws and tried desperately to work it loose from beneath the stone.

No sooner had Fluttershy reached him than there was a sickening crumbling sound from high above. Fluttershy and Spike both looked up and for a moment everything seemed to pause as, almost directly above them, the very top of the worst-hit tower began to lose its structure. The roof caved in on itself and the already-damaged white stone walls beneath it began cracking, splitting, and crumbling into dust and and debris. It leaned dangerously and disgorged a large section of wall and ceiling; a ton of stone and slate fell from the tower directly towards them.

"Fluttershy, run!"

Desperately, Fluttershy began shoving and kicking the stones pinning Spike in place, but she found she couldn't budge them at all. She tried frantically to pull Spike free, but his tail was too firmly wedged.

"Fluttershy, go!" pleaded Spike in desperation. But Fluttershy refused. Spike hadn't left her earlier, and she wasn't going to leave him now. It didn't matter how scared she was.

She was going to save her friend. No matter what.

Crying and flinging herself across Spike, Fluttershy covered him with her body and waited for the inevitable. She just hoped that it would be enough. And she hoped it would be quick.

–––

It had been quite some time since a magical accident had, if only for a day, left Rarity in charge of Ponyville's weather. That experience had taught her that, while the skill of weather-manipulation wasn't beyond her, she lacked...technique.

Standing with seven other unicorns on the green just beyond the front castle courtyard, Rarity remained focussed on the sky and tried to use the basic weather-magic she remembered to assist in keeping the raging wind and squall to a manageable level. But it was a battle they were all losing, and truly she wasn't sure if she was even helping.

And when the earthquake hit, and the lightning began to strike in earnest, there was nothing more any of them could do – near the castle at least – and the leader of their small group called for them to fall back into the city as two dozen of the evacuated castle employees galloped past them.

The unicorns retreated, Rarity among them until she saw a pair of familiar splashes of orange and pink approaching through the curtain of rain, even as bits of the castle towers crashed to the earth. She saw Applejack drop Pinkie, and a few moments later Pinkie let out an ear-piercing scream that was near-ultrasonic. Rarity followed Pinkie's frantic hoof, pointed back toward the distant castle and saw Spike, hopelessly stuck beneath a heavy-looking column of rock, and Fluttershy galloping towards him.

Then there was a cracking and rumbling sound from the tower above as it swayed forward, leaning dangerously and sending a huge block of stone wall crashing right towards...

Right towards...them!

Fluttershy was frantically trying to pull Spike free. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were already galloping back across the courtyard to help.

But they would be too late.

"Spikey!" Rarity screamed. "Fluttershy!" In desperation she lit her horn and channelled every last piece of magic she possessed into it; focussing every shred into the most basic spell she had. The first spell that almost every unicorn learns.

–––

He saw the stonework falling, and with a final, futile tug on his stuck tail, he knew it was over. But Fluttershy was still there, trying desperately to move the heavy column of stone without any hope of success. If she didn't leave right now, it would be over for her too.

"Fluttershy, go!"

He tried to push her away, but instead she started crying and flung herself down atop him. "Flmphrffhy!" he mumbled from beneath her, but it was too late now.

Half-a-dozen small chunks of stone crashed around them, impacting heavily on the flagstone floor. Spike squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself. On top of him, he felt Fluttershy tense up and sob. If only she had run. From somewhere distant he thought he heard Rarity calling out to him, but it was surely wishful thinking. Still, it was a nice thought to have before the end.

But the end seemed slightly longer in coming than it should. In fact when the impact never came, Spike cracked his eyes and looked up beyond the yellow pegasus on top of him. The large section of wall hung suspended ten feet above them both, captured within a baby-blue aura that flickered dangerously, as though barely able to sustain itself. Then, from nowhere, Applejack and Pinkie Pie's worried heads appeared above Fluttershy's back. Pinkie quickly helped Fluttershy to her hooves while Applejack looked down at him. "Y'alright, par'tner?"

He had never felt so relieved.

"Hurry! I can't hold it!" came a distant, strained voice.

There was no time for further pleasantry. Well aware that they were all still beneath a ton of bricks precariously suspended by Rarity's magic, Applejack turned and bucked with all her might into the split column of stonework that had Spike pinned. It moved slightly, but not enough. Gritting her teeth she tried again, but it moved even less, seeming to wedge itself rather than loosen. "Gimme a hoof with this, y'all!" she yelled, and without needing further instruction, Pinkie and Fluttershy also turned. In time with Applejack they delivered a simultaneous third kick. Six hooves struck stone as one, cracking it and pushing the column further. It took a second try before the column was pushed far enough back from Spike's tail that he was finally able to wriggle it free. Then he was up on his feet and all four of them were running through the courtyard towards the green even as the aura collapsed and the wall-section fell to the earth behind them, disintegrating into rubble.

They reached Rarity exhausted, and collapsed onto the sodden lawn. The lightning had finally stopped, the earth was still once more, and the wind had mostly died even if the rain was slower to abate. Above them the black clouds were starting to lighten, and over the rest of the city the weather-pegasi were now working on dispersing what was left of the local storm.

"Oh, my little Spikey-Wikey!" said Rarity, giving him a rare, but much-appreciated hug. "Are you okay, darling?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," replied Spike, examining his tail. It throbbed and there were a few nasty-looking scratches on it, but thanks to his thick scales they looked worse than they felt, and when the column had split it had collapsed in such a way that his tail had been pinned but not crushed. It would be sore for a few days, but nothing was broken and he was for the most part in pretty good shape.

Thanks to his friends.

He looked up at the four ponies surrounding him, and as he did so he started to well up. "Guys...? Than–"

"Don't mention it, sugarcube. We know you'd have done the same for us." Applejack smiled gently, and the others nodded firmly in agreement.

Spike's cheeks went a brief but noticeable shade of red. Then the moment was brought to an end by the arrival of Rainbow Dash, who gently deposited an injured, unconscious Twilight on the ground.

"Twilight!?" cried Spike. "Are you okay?"

–––

"...are you okay?"

The question seemed strange in the blackness, and oddly distant. It echoed in her head, as though asked from the top of a deep well. But it demanded an answer, and so she climbed towards the source. Even if she didn't know what the answer was.

Up and up the sides of the well she climbed, the question echoing less with each ascent. Then she emerged from the top of the well and into the bright, sunlit field of consciousness...

Twilight cracked her eyes open and found all of her best friends stood over her. As soon as she focussed, they all let out a sigh of relief.

Taking stock, she found that she appeared to be lying on her back on a very soggy grass green, with a light drizzle falling in the air. Wasn't she supposed to be flying? She flexed her wings instinctively and felt a sudden pain in the one on her right, causing her to wince.

"Are you alright?" Spike asked. Strange, the tone he used made it sound like he'd asked it before. Why wouldn't she be...oh...wait. Memories came back. The storm. Lightning striking the castle. Seeing Spike fall in the courtyard. Then a blinding flash and a sudden pain. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. Still, aside from the still-throbbing pain in her wing, and a little muzziness in her head, she seemed okay.

She looked at Spike. "I'm alright, Spike." Then, she realised that she couldn't really be sure of that. She'd never been hit by lightning before. She looked at Dash. "Am I alright?"

"Yeah," Dash smiled, "You got a little cooked, but you're okay. I'd stay off that wing for a few days though," she finished with a more serious look.

Standing and shaking her head to clear the last of the cobwebs, Twilight found her attention drawn to the castle.

The tops of the three tallest towers stood in ruins. The tallest was still standing, but the top fifth or so leaned at a sickening angle and looked ready to fall given a stiff enough breeze. The roofs of all three were practically demolished and there were great gouges and holes in the stonework walls from the relentless strikes. It was only then that Twilight realised what she'd done.

She'd destroyed much of one of the oldest and most magnificent buildings of the current age, not to mention Celestia and Luna's home.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all," she said, more to herself than anypony else.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there," Dash broke in. "Twilight, lemme tell ya. That storm there...that's what we in the business call, 'a biggie.' It's gotta be the most intense, most freaky storm I've ever seen, and if it had been allowed to hit the city, the whole of Canterlot would look like that right now and it'd still be going on!"

"Twilight," Fluttershy spoke up, "Right now every pony and animal in Canterlot is okay. If it weren't for you, I don't think we'd be able to say that."

"Buck up, Twi," said Applejack. "All the castle needs is a few new timbers, some roof shingles–"

"Not to mention some new decor," broke in Rarity.

"–and it'll be good as new."

"Maybe even better than new!" encouraged Pinkie.

"At least until tomorrow night when this all happens again..." opined Spike with characteristic tact.

But Twilight got to her hooves and set her face into a determined scowl. This wasn't going to happen again. She had to find exactly what was causing these storms, these quakes, and how to stop them before they got worse!

And if she was right – if it was connected with the moon – then there was one place in the castle that was certain to have more books on the moon than anywhere else in Equestria.

–––

By the time the castle was made safe and all of the ponies and animals were accounted for it was...some unholy hour in the morning. Which hour exactly, Twilight didn't know. She'd lost track. An early one probably. It certainly felt like it.

Luna's chambers were in one of the towers not-quite-as-badly hit by the storm. The journey up to them had revealed several smashed windows and holes in the brickwork, but the interior of the structure was mostly undamaged and Twilight hoped the same would be true of the chambers themselves. She stood outside the large wooden door adorned with moon-motifs and steeled herself.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Spike from her side.

Twilight's uncertain frown became a resolute one. "The bad weather started after the moon vanished during the eclipse. There might be something in there that can give us a clue as to what happened, and how to stop it." She gave a tiny nod, satisfied that her argument justified her course of action. "The fate of Equestria might be at stake. I'm sure Princess Luna will forgive me."

She raised a hoof to the door and knocked. Spike looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

It had been automatic. She didn't need to knock. There was no-one in there. Steeling herself yet again, she pushed the doors and they swung open easily.

All things considered, Luna's rooms hadn't fared too badly. There was quite a bit of dust everywhere from the brickwork, and small pieces of debris from the ceiling had fallen here and there. And, like elsewhere in the tower, her windows had been obliterated. But the furnishings were for the most part undamaged and her personal effects were still in one piece.

Making her way into the study, Twilight found that several of the books had fallen to the floor, knocked off by the earthquake. Picking them up in her magic, Twilight returned them to their shelves and then began scanning the bookcases for any likely titles. Though she supposed it would be too much to ask for one called, 'The Moon and You – How The Disappearance of the Moon Affects the Weather, and What You Can Do About It.'

While Twilight scanned the bookcases, Spike started searching the room for any other clues that might help. A reading lecturn along one wall had toppled over into the middle of the study and, acting half on instinct and half on a hunch, he picked it up and righted it. Beneath where the lecturn had fallen lay the book that must have been perched on it when it fell. It was face-down and still open, and it was a good guess that it was open at the last page to have been read.

"Hey, Twilight?" said Spike, pulling on her tail as though it were a bell-call. Twilight looked round and Spike pointed out the book on the floor. "I bet this is the last book that Luna was reading."

Walking over to the book, Twilight examined the cover carefully. It was black, and appeared very old indeed. There was no title as such, just a series of markings or runes that she didn't understand. Creating an aura around it, she lifted it gently back onto the now-upright lecturn, making sure to keep the page where the book had fallen open. Then she began to read.

It was a magic book, but unlike any she'd ever seen. It described spells the like of which she'd never even heard, and that certainly appeared beyond anything she imagined she was capable of. The page she'd found appeared to illustrate how to perform a kind of banishment spell. Why would Luna need to know...?

Something twigged in Twilight's brain. The eclipse. The moon hadn't just disappeared, had it? It had been sent to Tartarus. Banished.

Luna had...done it on purpose? But why?

Suddenly all kinds of dreadful scenarios began running through her head. What if Luna had turned evil again? What if she meant for the storms to happen? What if this was some dark scheme to lure Celestia to Tartarus and trap her there, and weaken Equestria so she could return to rule it? What if...?

"Twilight, you're being ridiculous!"

Huh? She looked at Spike. "How do you know what I was thinking?"

"Because when you freak-out you start freaking-out out loud. Twilight, Luna's not evil. And you're not thinking straight. You're exhausted and you need to rest."

"I do not...!" she began, but her point was undermined somewhat by the fact that she broke into a wide, full yawn and felt her eyelids droop heavily. She had been awake since first thing yesterday morning. "I'll go to sleep as soon as I tell Princess Celestia what I've learned."

"No."

Twilight blinked. "No?"

Spike looked up at her with a kind expression. "Twilight, you've been awake for nearly twenty hours straight, done a full day's princessing, flown through the worst storm Canterlot's ever seen and been struck by lightning! In a couple of hours you're gonna have to raise the sun again, and Equestria's gonna need a princess today just as much as it did yesterday. I'm sorry, but for your own good, I'm not sending anything to anyprincess until you've at least had some sleep."

Whoa. Spike putting his foot down? And with such a convincing argument. But, it'd only be one little letter...

Twilight yawned widely again, and it seemed to sap the strength from her legs even as her heavy eyelids drooped closed for a moment. Just a moment. She swayed dangerously until the sensation of losing her balance brought her round, eyes snapping open and head whipping up only to find that the only reason she hadn't fallen was that Spike was now beside her, trying to support her weight.

"Come on, Twilight. Let's get you to bed."

Chapter VII

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–––Chapter VII–––

The forest below them had appeared from a distance to be little more than a small square patch of woodland incongruously set into the surrounding landscape. But now that they were over it it had seemed to expand into a massive, sprawling jungle that reached from horizon to horizon. As they flew they saw that entire sections of it lay dead. Blackened, sickly trees mingled with the lush green forest with no apparent cause. The effect was as though sun shining through broken cloud might cast some parts into sunlight, and others into shade. But instead of sun and shadow, life and death were dappled instead. And in a similar manner to the sky, the areas of death and life slowly ebbed and flowed, joined and separated in an eerie dance.

The portion of night sky for which they were aiming was growing larger, and the surrounding fragments of sky were also beginning to darken into twilight and beyond. Whatever passed for night in Tartarus, they were getting closer to it.

There was a sudden, wretched roar from somewhere in the forest beneath them. As though a creature in horrid distress calling desperately for help. Luna stopped, hovering in the air above a dead section of foliage and scanning the trees below as Celestia joined the search at her side.

Suddenly, from a living section of the tree canopy to their left burst a long wooden-handled spear, hurled with great force by something in the forest below. The weapon was aimed squarely for Celestia, who instinctively conjured a protective shield. Luna went one better however, opting to magically pluck the spear from the air before it could even trouble her sister.

The spear was massive. The haft was at least eleven feet long and three inches thick, and finished at the end with a cruelly serrated stone spearhead, clearly designed to inflict as much pain upon its target as possible. At the point the head met the haft, two rear-facing hooks served to ensure that once it had struck its target, it could not be removed without great trauma.

Luna scowled and returned her gaze to the forest below, searching for the creature that would dare try and use such a horrendous device on her sister! She didn't have to look for long.

Emerging from the greenery into the dead section of forest beneath them, strode an angry giant. Its basic structure appeared to be simian in origin – it walked upright upon two legs which ended in feet and not hooves. It had a waist, a torso, and shoulders from which extended disproportionately long, thick arms. The arms culminated in over-large but dextrous-looking five-fingered hands, reaching near-enough the knee. It was hairless, and its skin was a sickly green and of greasy complexion. It stood near to twelve-feet tall, and about its neck hung a crude necklace composed of animal bones. Two short tusks sprouted from its bottom lip, and beneath the bald dome of its skull, in the centre of its forehead, a single, large eye regarded them with ill-disguised rage.

It opened its mouth, issuing forth that same wretched roar that had first captured their attention.

"A Cyclops," Luna spat, her voice tempered with anger. "I had hoped never to see their kind again!" With her magic she snapped the haft of the spear in half, then half again for good measure, and cast the four pieces at random into the forest below. The Cyclops below them continued to bellow impotent rage at the two sisters high above, now dancing from one leg to the other in a furious, but quite frankly comical dance.

The realisation that it was a distraction hit Luna even as she heard Celestia cry out in surprise from her side. Luna looked round to see her sister plummeting to the ground amidst the dead trees beneath her, wings and legs entangled in some large, thick-roped net cast from somewhere unseen. She landed heavily on the forest floor with a crash and a pained shout, but Luna was already on her way, arrowing downwards and avoiding the spindly branches of dead trees as quickly as she dared.

She reached her an instant later. "Tia? Are you okay?" she asked in a voice just short of panic.

"I'm alright. Just winded. Help me with this, would you?" said Celestia, still struggling to untangle herself. As Luna bent to help, it became clear why Celestia was having such difficulty. Quite apart from the fact that the net had managed to hopelessly ensnare one of her wings and two of her legs, it was also coated in some kind of sticky substance, similar to tree-sap. It was not a particularly strong adhesive, but the fact that the net clung to her coat where it touched meant that she could neither incinerate nor flash-freeze the netting without causing severe burns and pain.

Even as Luna began work on the net Celestia's head snapped up. "Luna, careful!"

Looking behind her, Luna saw the Cyclops stalking towards her through the trees, even as the forest around them seemed to change. Dead trees became living ones, lush and green with thick, high branches and a dense canopy that would make a quick escape to the air difficult. As Luna watched, she realised there were now two Cyclops'. More than two. In fact more and more seemed to be emerging from the forest from every direction, surrounding them. Some were tall and thin, others fat. She even saw one with a beard and another with a variety of piercings. There were upwards of a dozen she could see now, each seeming to apparate menacingly from the woods around them, and all carrying some variation on the wicked spear she had earlier destroyed.

They closed in slowly, beginning to roar in triumph as they shuffled toward their prey. Celestia was making progress but still struggling and unable to stand – certainly unable to fly – but it didn't matter. Luna was prepared to do whatever it took to protect her sister.

With a quick glance around she registered the positions of all of the assailants she could see – nineteen by her count – and lit her horn.

Immediately, every single weapon was torn from the hands of every Cyclops, seized in a navy blue aura and hovering just out of arm's reach of all of them. "That is enough!" screamed Luna, her Royal Canterlot Voice brought forth by her sudden, apoplectic anger. "You dare to attack an innocent pony? My sister? To torment her for your own, sick games?"

The Cyclops' all stumbled to a stop in mute confusion, each regarding the levitating weapon in front of itself with something akin to wonderment. That wonderment quickly turned to fear as slowly, steadily, every spear rotated and reversed, the evilly-crafted now tip pointing at the throat of the one who had wielded it. The Cyclops' instinctively began to back away from the dangerous, sharp points, but their collective eyes widened when they realised that no matter how far they reversed, the tip of the spear stayed firmly pointed at their necks. The few that had sense to try and grasp or retrieve their weapons found no success, as no matter how hard they strained, fought or dodged, the spear would not be moved, the tip constantly at their throats and getting closer all the time.

Using a fine degree of control and no small amount of concentration, Luna used the weapons in her power to martial and herd all of the backward-walking Cyclops' together into one dense group, clustered around a thick tree trunk a few meters distant. Each spear was now part of a ring of steel surrounding them. With their backs to the tree they could not retreat further, and with the points of the spears so close, they could not move. They were completely at Luna's mercy.

Scanning around for any stragglers, Luna noted only one. The original Cyclops who had served as their distraction and whose weapon Luna had prematurely cast aside. It was looking around in blatant confusion, unable to process quite what was happening. Then he looked at Luna, saw the light emanating from her horn matched by the aura surrounding the spears and seemed to put two and two together.

Apparently deciding that attack was the best form of attack, the Cyclops dipped its head and charged her. But by now Celestia had freed herself from the net, and, making the most of the opportunity, Luna took it in her magic. Quickly, she wound it tight so that it was more akin to a thick rope and sent it hurtling forward towards the charging monster. The net found the creature's ankle and, coiling around it, immediately arrested its forward momentum, causing the top-heavy beast to topple forwards and crash to the floor with a painful grunt. Then the net-cum-rope was dragging him back towards the tree where his compatriots still waited with looks of fear, to much futile scrabbling in the dirt.

The final Cyclops was hoisted upside down by his ankle, and the rope tied off to a branch. He hung, limply suspended, his head roughly at Luna's own head-height, albeit the rest of his body inverted.

And Luna approached them all now, none of her rage forgotten. "You evil, spiteful creatures! You would harm those who would do none to you! Bent on naught but torturing, maiming and slaughtering ponies, cows and sheep for your twisted amusement! No more!" She brought her head close to the upside-down Cyclops, still flopping limply, and met its single, red eye with a look of fire. "I will be kind," she said, a dangerous tone in her voice, "I will make it quick." Every spear in the circle slowly elevated, the points now inches away from the eyes of their former keepers. "I will ensure you never hurt anyone again!" she seethed. The look of terror on the Cyclops before her – and every other giant in the circle – was acute, and sweat was now pouring off them. "Not with these weapons."

As one, every spear in the circle instantly combusted into a brilliant-white, searing-hot flame, causing brief blindness and panic in the herd of giants. The rope-net untied itself and dropped the inverted Cyclops to the ground, and it landed on its head with a loud thud and a scream of panicked agony. Then it was up and running. They were all running, screaming, bellowing into the woods even as Luna seized the rope-net once more, cracking it like a whip behind them, only serving to drive them faster. The frantic footsteps faded, the monsters gone, and the forest became an eerie quiet.

Luna stood very still, breathing heavily, eyes closed, focussed on calming herself. That had taken a great deal of restraint on her part. More than she thought she'd possessed. A moment later Celestia joined her at her side, and she felt her sister's judgmental gaze on her. Managing to bring herself back under control, she opened her eyes but kept them resolutely forward for several long moments. When her sister's gaze did not falter though, she risked a glance back. Instead of the disappointed expression she was expecting, Celestia had a faint smile on her lips and a look in her eyes that could only be...was it...pride? "You wear a strange expression, sister, for one who has seen their sibling nearly murder a tribe of terrified creatures," said Luna, looking determinedly into the forest once more.

"You wanted to protect me." Celestia was still peering at her with that odd, respectful expression. "The thought of those monsters hurting me made you angry."

Luna looked back at her sister once more and quirked a silent eyebrow. Was Celestia given to stating the obvious now?

Celestia broke her gaze and looked back ahead, still smiling. "I can remember a time when the opposite was true."

Luna blinked and looked back at her sister, her mouth slightly open. She couldn't imagine wanting to see her sister hurt. Couldn't imagine ever wanting to see her in pain...and yet, at the same time, she could remember wanting it. "Tia...please, I don't–"

But Celestia simply looked back kindly. "It's okay, Luna. I know. Thank you."

–––

They flew in silence for another couple of hours or so, until without warning the forest came to an abrupt end. The treeline terminated in a stark line of bluffs which plunged two-hundred feet into an ocean below. To their left and right the sea stretched without end, but the far shore appeared only a mile or so distant, such that it was more a huge strait than a true ocean. On the far coast a huge mountain dominated the landscape, rising and looming above them, the peak thrusting upwards towards the patch of midnight sky that was their eventual goal. The foot of the mountain met the water culminating in a large peninsula of jagged black rock that jutted into the sea, waves crashing and foaming upon it. To their left, in the middle distance, a half-sunken island city lay in ruins equidistant between the two shores, and as they soared from the coast out over the ocean, a great two-hundred meter-wide whirlpool suddenly appeared beneath them, sucking and consuming the sea in a perilous vortex.

Celestia stopped in the air and regarded with suspicion the rocky peninsula on the coast across from them. "I believe that is the Rock of Scylla," she said with after a moment with a tone of resignation.

Luna followed her gaze. The peninsula appeared like nothing unusual, yet caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. "We can go around it. Approach the mountain from another direction."

Celestia shook her head. "I believe we could fly up or down this coast for hours, and no matter how far we travelled the rock would still be waiting on the other side. And we do not have the time to waste."

Luna's face became a mask of determination. "Then let us be on with it."

The sisters soared in tandem out over the open ocean, towards the far shore and the foreboding peninsula. They left the near shore far behind, though curiously not the whirlpool beneath them which seemed to mimic their flight path in the water, staying perfectly beneath, ready to swallow them whole should they suddenly decide to fall from the sky. The vortex generated strange and unpredictable wind patterns in the air above, with which the sisters now had to contend. They were strong, though not dangerously so, but the constant variation in wind speed and direction was taxing, and the ocean – in a similar manner to the forest – seemed to have expanded once they were over it. The mountain on the other side still seemed scarcely a mile away, but the far coast just didn't seem to be getting any closer.

They had been flying for nearly an hour before Luna realised how much the constant battle against the wind currents were taking their toll. Her breathing became suddenly more laboured and she felt the beginnings of cramp at the base of either wing. The far shore did seem ever so slightly closer now, but there was no way of knowing if it really was or if it was Tartarus playing a cruel joke. She could not keep from glancing down at the horrid, churning whirlpool beneath her. Could not keep from picturing what would happen once her wings seized and she plunged helplessly into the maw below. Could not keep the same sense of fear and panic from creeping that she had felt out in the Styx.

Trapped forever flying over an infinite ocean until she inevitably succumbed to exhaustion. Her wings already ached badly – why not just give up now and spare herself more pain?

Luna shook her head roughly and beat her wings harder, trying to work away the still-enlarging knots in her muscles. At this rate, she thought glibly, by the time she got home she was going to have a most unhealthy fear of water.

Celestia must have noticed her shaking her head because she looked at her. "Are you alright?" she asked, her own breathing obviously heavy.

"I need to rest..." said Luna wearily, knowing full well that there simply wasn't anywhere they could. If only she could be free of these cursed winds, but even trying to gain height didn't seem to have any effect on their altitude over the water. The whirlpool was constantly there, two-hundred feet below them.

Patiently waiting.

Then, looking down and to her left, Luna realised that, all of a sudden, the partially sunken city they had seen earlier was closer. Much closer than it should have been. Temptingly close in fact. It could be another trick, but it now appeared far closer than the opposite shore. Luna looked back at Celestia who returned an apprehensive expression, but it was Celestia who altered her course first, aiming for the roughly circular, half-ruined island city that was suddenly almost beneath them.

It was no trick. The island really was right there, even though it should have been miles distant down the strait. They flew into the city, a safe distance from the perimeter and the ferocious whirlpool. The entire groundwork was canted at a slight angle, as though the island it was built upon had tipped and begun to slide into the ocean before being frozen in time. Where intact, the tallest buildings reached perhaps forty or fifty stories tall. Their design was gothic-inspired with large spires and towers thrusting upwards, and every structure seemed to be made from obsidian; the walls gleaming and reflecting darkly.

They alighted in a small plaza surrounded by tall buildings, both quite out of breath. As soon as she touched the ground the ache in Luna's wings turned to pain, and judging from Celestia's reaction her own limbs were faring little better. Still, they were relieved to be on solid – if slightly askew – ground and for the time being they appeared to be safe.

"My wings!" Luna gasped in agony. "I did not expect that to be so difficult." Even flexing them caused her to wince, her breathing still heavy.

"Neither did I," admitted Celestia. She looked at Luna with a worried expression and spoke quietly. "I don't believe this city is a safe place to rest. We may be in more danger here than over the ocean."

Luna looked around, but could see nothing but empty, cold buildings and streets, all built from black glass or crystal. They certainly weren't about to be swallowed by a raging whirlpool. Unless it engulfed the whole island. But aside from being creepy, the city didn't appear to hold any obvious danger.

So why were the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end again?

She saw Celestia nervously scanning the skyline and the tall buildings surrounding them, and became consumed with the thought that, in making their way across this city, they needed to move slowly, and very quietly.

They set off at a walk toward the far side of the city. The island sloped at about a fifteen degree angle from left to right and made walking slightly awkward, but not difficult or uncomfortable. Judging by how large the island-city had appeared from the air, and with a rough knowledge of where they'd landed, it shouldn't take them more than a couple of hours. Although, she'd come the realisation by now that Tartarus had a way of playing fast and loose with distances.

They walked for about twenty minutes before Luna saw the first of them. High above, perched on a ledge on the outside of a tall building, a six-foot tall black shape almost perfectly concealed against the obsidian structure. She could only make out a basic outline, but recognised both bird and griffon-like features. Long sinewy forelimbs adorned with black, scraggly feathers and ending in talons. Hindlegs that were home to their own claws. A bird's head with a sinister crow-like beak, and two lifeless black beady eyes that watched them constantly.

A few minutes later, on a similarly tall building she saw another. And another. "Tia...?"

"I see them." Celestia's voice was no more than a whisper. "They are everywhere. I believe they've been watching us since we landed. Don't look them in the eye and keep close to me."

As they continued to walk in silence over the next hour Luna saw more and more of them. Dozens of birdlike creatures now starting to crowd every building, staring down at their slow passage. Then they weren't just on the high buildings anymore. They appeared on window ledges just above them as they passed below. Then they were in doorways at street level, scarcely twenty feet from them as they passed by. Suddenly everywhere she looked there was one, and Luna had to avert her eyes constantly in order not to meet their gaze. Because every pair of eyes was watching them. The creatures never moved. Never made a sound. Only watched.

And when Luna looked behind her she realised that not only were they watching them, but they were following them too. A gaggle of gangly half-bird creatures dogging their steps through the city blocking the street, always about twenty meters behind whenever she looked round, but always somehow motionless when she did.

Luna felt a chill up her spine. "They don't intend to let us leave."

Celestia performed her own cursory glance around. "No," she agreed. She looked forward once more as they passed beneath four more of the creatures perched on an ornate but partly broken archway, and emerged into a large square.

Directly in their path, no longer hidden in the shadows or concealed by buildings, one of the creatures stood facing them. Still avoiding its gaze, Celestia and Luna made to give it a wide berth to the left, but the creature moved with them, scuttling on taloned feet to once more place itself in their way. It opened its sharp, black beak and gave a menacing crow-like caw at them. Still looking away the two sisters changed their course, trying now to walk to the right, but the creature matched them again, beady eyes still staring. And it was close now.

Scores of others blocked every exit to the square that Luna could see on the ground. And still more were perched high enough on the nearest buildings that any attempt to escape into the air was almost certain to end badly. They were surrounded. Trapped.

"Can you fly?" whispered Celestia urgently.

Luna gave her wings a subtle flex. They still ached badly, but if it was a choice between flight and death, then fly she would. Though for how long she didn't know. "Yes," she whispered back.

"I will hold them here. Fly as hard as you can toward the mountain. Don't stop and don't look back."

"I'm not going to leave you here!" hissed Luna.

"And I'm not planning on staying. Trust me Luna. Please."

"Tia..."

"I'll catch up. Go...now!" Celestia shouted, raising her head and looking squarely at the foul creature. The harpy responded with a series of angry, guttural caws, which were at once answered and echoed by hundreds of others. The voices of every other such monster on every building and in every street gave rise to a great din – the murderous crowing now joined by angry flapping of feathered arms and the stamping of taloned feet.

Luna beat her wings as hard as she could, taking off vertically and heading skyward. The crow-beast in front of them watched her ascent and spread its wings, preparing to pursue.

But Celestia was already moving. Taking advantage of its momentary distraction she charged at full gallop, cannoning into it with a powerful shoulder barge, knocking it completely off its feet and onto its back. Celestia stood over it and wheeled round, even as hundreds of terrible black shapes closed in on her from all sides, Luna's escape completely forgotten in the face of this new threat.

Despite what Celestia had said, Luna couldn't avoid looking back. She watched in horror as they massed against her sister, every one of them flapping and circling, shouting and crowing, snapping and snatching with their claws. Around her their bodies formed a thick, black dome through which nothing could pass without being torn to pieces. And then slowly, horribly, the walls of the dome began to close in.

She couldn't see her sister through the mass of feathers, beaks and claws, and nothing was happening. Something had gone wrong. Celestia was being attacked and every second Luna was flying away was another second those creatures were hurting her! If she didn't act right now, Celestia might...

A blaze of golden light appeared at the centre of the swirling black mass. Above and surrounding the dense flock of creatures a new, golden dome appeared with a flash. A protective spell ordinarily designed to keep attackers out, but in this instance intended to keep them in. The dome filled with the most intense, blinding light and the angry caws turned to painful ones as the harpies lost formation, beginning to collide in mid-air and fall to the ground in confusion.

And with a pop and another flash of golden light, Celestia appeared in the sky next to her. Relief was potent, but fleeting as Celestia shouted, "Fly!" A quick glance back at the city and Luna could see that the creatures were hammering and scratching in a frenzy at the inside of the forcefield, already weakening without Celestia there to sustain it. Flapping her wings furiously and ignoring the pain, she and her sister sprinted for the Rock of Scylla on the far shore.

Perhaps Tartarus was deciding to be kind for once, or perhaps it wanted them to reach the Rock, because the whirlpool did not reappear on this side of the city, and the coast seemed to be getting closer at something similar to a normal pace. The two sisters covered the remaining half-mile over the ocean in a couple of minutes, and were almost to the peninsula when the horrible crowing and cawing rose again from behind them. The noise spurred them on and the two exhausted ponies finally made landfall on the craggy rock jutting out into the sea.

The Rock was roughly triangular in shape, reaching about seventy-five metres into the ocean. It was about fifty metres wide at the base, where it met the mainland before merging into the mountain, and at the opposite end the peninsula curved into a sharp right-facing hook over which a thick steel band appeared to have been clamped. The peninsula was uneven and rocky, but relatively flat; the whole thing stood about ten feet above the water's surface, and the foam from the crashing waves splashed overtop of it regularly making finding a sure footing difficult.

The two sisters turned around to look back over the sea. From the ruined island city a flock of hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of harpies rose into the sky and now swarmed and surged across the water, pursuing them on fresh wings. They would reach them in a minute or so.

Breathing hard, wings drooping, Luna looked up at the monsters defiantly. But they were completely exposed on the rock. There was nowhere to hide, or that was easily defensible. They were too tired to escape in the air, and they had no hope of fighting back such numbers. Even retreating to the slopes of the mountain would scarcely improve their situation. And Celestia seemed to come to the same realisation.

"I'm sorry, Luna. I tried. I thought I could give us more time."

The creatures closed the distance in seconds, swooping down towards them as the two fatigued sisters prepared to fight.

A great gout of water volcanoed from the foaming ocean next to the rock, striking part of the flock and scattering the rest in a directionless craze. The water fell away back to the sea but there remained in its place a great green arm shimmering with scales, at least the height of the Ponyville town hall. At the end of the arm a huge three-fingered claw had seized a dozen of the harpies in its grip. Around the wrist of the limb, a thick, wide metal shackle was clamped, a massive chain extending down and into the water. Then another claw slowly rose from the ocean and gripped the edge of the rock on which the sisters were still standing and backing quickly but carefully away. Slowly the great beast pulled herself upwards and broke the surface.

Scylla.

A sea-monster of gargantuan size and terrible repute. She had a lizard-like head, though her mouth and jaw shared similarities with that of a snake. Her reptilian eyes saw the flock circling her and she roared at it with a terrible scream, displaying row upon row of relatively small but very sharp teeth. Her neck displayed the tell-tale slits of gills and her arms and upper body were similar in shape to that of a dragon. Still half-submerged in the water she grasped the peninsula now with both claws – no regard given to the harpies still trapped in her right palm – and pulled the rest of her body free of the ocean to lie on her Rock.

She had no hind-limbs of any sort. From the waist down her body became serpentine; long and thick before ultimately ending in a splayed, fish-like tail. All in all she was about twice the size of an average dragon and now she reared up, snapping and grasping at the harpy flock around her.

The harpies, now with a new threat to contend with, began harrying and diving at Scylla, using their superior numbers to bully and harass her. But they were completely unable to make a mark on her thick, scaled hide. And when they charged at her in numbers, Scylla simply scooped them out of the air with her massive claws and deposited them, still alive, into her maw, swallowing dozens whole at a time.

It didn't take long before the harpies realised that they were in a losing battle and the remaining flock turned tail and fled chaotically back toward the island city. Scylla screamed after them, her hunger unsatisfied, but the shackle about her right wrist seemed to be anchored at some point just below the steel band at the tip of the peninsula, and the chain gave her only around a hundred metres of movement in any direction, leaving her unable to pursue her meal.

Still only about halfway towards the mainland, and unable to outrun Scylla over the slippery and uneven rock, Celestia and Luna backed slowly away, remaining quiet and hoping very hard that their presence would go unnoticed by the distracted sea-beast.

But it didn't. Scylla turned her eyes on them and, tilting her head, regarded them quizzically at first. Then her hungry expression returned and, dragging her body forwards over the rock, she advanced dangerously on the two ponies. Escape now an unlikely prospect, Luna and Celestia stopped together and stood their ground.

"Remind me, sister," Luna asked, "Is she the one that turns you to stone when she looks at you?"

"No," Celestia replied, planting her hooves. "You are thinking of a Gorgon."

"Oh, good," said Luna, spreading her still-sore wings with some difficulty. "For a moment there I thought we were in trouble."

Scylla struck with lightning speed, her long tail whipping around behind the sisters to cut off their escape to the mainland even as a giant claw made a grab for them.

But the princesses were ready. Aching wings and tired muscles were momentarily forgotten in a surge of adrenaline as both took to the air, retreat not their primary intention. Scylla recoiled in surprise, apparently unprepared that her new quarry might be capable of flight, but began grabbing, whipping and snapping toward them with a terrifying speed not normally associated with a creature of such size.

Celestia and Luna were on the same page in an instant. They dodged and twisted through Scylla's grasp again and again, joining and then separating in an aerial dance designed to dizzy and disorient. Luna found that without even thinking she knew exactly where Celestia was going to be and what she was about to do before it happened. It was intuitive and certain. And it was exhilarating.

And when Scylla's grasping claws and snapping mouth started getting too close for comfort, they began counterattacking. Concussive beams fired accurately and with great force at joints, pressure points and muscles. Blinding flares aimed at the eyes. Showers of sparks exploding with tremendous bangs into the air that served to confuse and distract. Luna and Celestia switched roles effortlessly from attacker to supporter and back again, both princesses taking their shots and acting as decoy and protector in turns. The fight became almost a dance to a beat that only they could hear. It had a rhythm and a pulse, a tempo and choreography that Scylla just couldn't jive to, yet it all flowed on instinct without planning or instruction. It was seamless. Flawless. Perfect. They were as one.

It was a majestic thing to behold, the fight of the alicorns, but not when you were on the receiving end. Scylla quickly grew angry at the whole affair, rage serving to increase her attacks in speed and intensity. But not accuracy. She just couldn't get hold of the damn things! A bang and a golden shower of sparks caught her attention but when she turned her head towards it, there was a sudden hot pain to the gills on the right side of her neck. When she made a grab at the blue horse responsible, another searing pain afflicted her left arm. Then an intense blue-white light filled her vision and for a moment she could see nothing! And it carried on in such relentless fashion. She screamed and began furiously splashing the ocean with her tail, sending great waves of water into the air, hoping to knock the small flying horses into the sea. But they unfairly protected each other with some kind of magic glowing bubbles. Finally, now tired, horribly pained, dizzy, half-blinded by sunspots and deafened by annoying fireworks, she retreated. She slipped from the rock, back into the ocean and submerged, longing for the peace of her undersea cave. They were both too small to make for a satisfying meal anyway.

Seeing Scylla retire beneath the waves, Celestia signalled to Luna to make their own retreat. Wasting no time they both put their backs to the ocean and headed for the mountain.

Touching down on a high ledge a safe distance above and away from the Rock, far out of Scylla's reach, they were finally able to rest with a degree of safety they had not experienced in hours.

Luna alighted first, wings in agony, barely able to stand, but still giddy. What a battle! It had been just like it used to be a thousand years ago! She had re-connected with her sister on a purely instinctive, intuitive level that was only possible when you knew somepony as well as you knew yourself. Complete confidence – complete trust – given and received as they had both worked with one goal, one purpose. It was glorious. It was...

Celestia landed on the outcrop and immediately her legs buckled and she fell to her knees, wincing in pain. She tried desperately to avoid falling further, but she lost her balance, flopping limply onto her side.

"Tia?! Are you alright?" It was only then that Luna noticed a series of half-a-dozen red scratches on her sister's coat, perilously close to her neck, running down her shoulder to her left wing. Marks from the harpies' talons. None had broken the skin, and there was no evidence of infection or poison, but they looked painfully sore indeed.

"I'll be okay," Celestia responded, losing none of her calm, confident composure. "I just need to rest. As do you."

"Tia, you're hurt..."

"They're just scratches," Celestia reassured. Then she cracked a grin. "I can't imagine how they got there. Isn't Tartarus filled only with ancient, decrepit creatures vanquished long ago, none of which we are likely to even see?"

"Tia, please...are you–?"

"I'll be fine, Luna. After all, I have you watching over me, don't I?"

It might have been a lighthearted comment, but Luna took it very seriously indeed. She walked over to her fallen sister and lay close beside her, her own legs glad of the rest. She met Celestia's gaze with a determined expression. "Always."

Celestia rested her head on her hooves as Luna looked back across the ocean. It once more only seemed to be a mile wide, the sunken city of crow-beasts was once again miles distant down the strait, and beyond the sea, tall cliffs were home to a small wooded copse of trees. She could no longer see the wall of Tartarus – it appeared to have vanished. The sky above them now was completely black from horizon to horizon, a thousand foreign, unknowable constellations twinkling above them. It was difficult to make out the distinctions between the sectors of sky now, but they all had one thing in common. None of them contained the moon.

"I felt sure we would be able to see the moon once we'd travelled far enough into the night," Luna lamented. "I don't see it."

"The sky is dark, but this isn't night," said Celestia, as though pointing something out.

It took Luna a few seconds to realise what her sister meant, but then she saw it. The sky overhead was uniformly as black as midnight, but the landscape below was still lit as though it were full day. Light from an unknown, unseen sun even sparkled on the surface of the ocean. Luna looked behind her at the grey mountain towering so high above them it seemed to pierce the sky. She sighed. "We are going to have to reach the peak, aren't we?"

"And I'm certain it is much further away than it looks."

Luna gritted her teeth and angrily scraped a hoof across the ground in front of her. Tears of frustration threatened her eyes. "I am beginning to hate this place."

"Me too," said Celestia, her eyes falling closed. "Though, I do enjoy the company."

Luna looked back at Celestia and couldn't keep a happy smile from her face, nor a tear from her eye. "Rest, sister," she said softly. "I'll be here."

–––

The dream was familiar.

Celestia stood facing Nightmare Moon in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. She on the marble floor, Nightmare Moon stood above her, next to the raised throne. Behind Nightmare Moon the far wall had been destroyed and the moon had risen. But on this occasion the sun had not yielded. Instead the moon and the sun hung together in the heavens, the sky splitting into day and night, but both vying for dominance.

"Luna! I will not fight you. You must lower the moon. It is your duty!"

"Luna? I am...Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now." Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes. "To destroy you."

"No!" Celestia stamped her hoof, preparing to fight. "I will defeat you and I will save my sister!"

Instead of fighting, Nightmare Moon blinked at something, a surprised expression upon her face. "Oh." Her mouth became a cruel rictus and she gave a low cackle. "Oh, I see." Slowly, non-threateningly, she stepped down from the throne to Celestia's level. She walked to her, placed herself nose to nose with Celestia, and then with an air of smug arrogance, began to walk slowly clockwise around her. "It is such a convenient little fiction for you, isn't it? That you can separate us. Luna; your sweet, innocent sister, and Nightmare Moon; evil creature of the night. You prefer that." Nightmare Moon completed her circuit and stared into Celestia's eyes once more. "But it's not true. I am not some monster that once possessed your sister. I am your sister." She began another, slow circuit.

"You are not Luna! She would never do the kinds of things you would do. And she would never want to hurt me."

"Oh, please keep believing that, Celestia. It will make the look of surprise on your face so much better." Nightmare Moon stopped somewhere behind her, and a very dark voice whispered breathily in her ear. "I'll be seeing you again very soon..."

Then she was gone. Celestia was alone in the Hall. Outside, the sun had lost the battle and the moon dominated the night sky.

"Luna?" There was no reply. "Luna, are you there? If you're there, please..." Her voice echoed in the emptiness. There was no sign of her sister. No sign of anyone, either real or imaginary.

Making use of the new hole in the castle wall, Celestia stepped out of the hall, looked up at the night sky, and concentrated just as Luna had taught her. The constellations above her shifted and changed, the tens of thousands of tiny pin-pricks no longer representing imaginary stars, but the subconscious mind of every pony that was currently asleep in the world. She searched the sky for her sister's star, but couldn't find her anywhere.

And then she found another star, almost as familiar and she broke into an involuntary, happy smile. Concentrating harder she guided herself towards it, the big, bright shining ball now right in front of her. She touched its surface gently, fearing it would pop like a bubble and startle the dreamer awake. But it remained intact. With pure, strained focus, and by pressing oh-so slowly, she managed to penetrate the surface, passing carefully through it as the walls of the dream morphed around her. Finally bringing the last of herself inside she winced as, in spite of her care, the action sent violent ripples through the subconscious, causing the dream to distort, bend and change, but surprisingly not break. She must be in a deep sleep indeed.

Whatever the scene had been before she entered, her intrusion had wiped everything away such that she and Twilight were now alone in an infinite black void. Twilight, facing away from her appeared confused for a moment, then looked around and saw her. She smiled happily, trotted over and sat obediently in front of her. "Hi princess! What are we going to do today?"

"Twilight," Celestia smiled, relieved. "It's good to see you."

"You too!" she beamed. "So, what shall we do first?"

Around them both, the black void gave way to the scene inside the Ponyville Library. That was understandable – it was where she called home after all, though it was the bare shell of an interior with no detail or minutiae. Slightly less understandable was why Twilight seemed to have lost her wings. "Do? What do you mean?"

Twilight looked at her with confusion. "You know, the...things that we normally do together?"

"I have no idea," said Celestia. Then she realised what the problem was. "Twilight, you are dreaming." She smiled.

Twilight's eyes widened as lucidity struck. Several realisations seemed to hit her at the same time, all vying for importance. "Princess? Is it really you? Are you really here?"

"I'm here, Twilight. We're sharing your dream."

"Then, why did my dream disappear?"

"Because dreamwalking is difficult, and I am not very good at it," said Celestia lightheartedly. "I hope you weren't in the middle of something important."

"Oh, no. No, I'm so glad you're here. I've got so much to tell..." Twilight's relieved smile suddenly fell. Then she regarded Celestia with uncharacteristically suspicious eyes. "Wait. How do I know you're really Princess Celestia? Tell me something that only Princess Celestia would know! Oh, wait, no. You could be my imagination. So it's gotta be something that Celestia would know but I wouldn't know. Then how would I know it's true? No, that's not gonna work..."

Celestia rolled her eyes. I am certain that Luna doesn't have to go through this every time. "Twilight, who else would I be?"

"You could be Princess Luna in disguise. This could be a trick!"

Celestia was taken aback with surprise. She suddenly felt strong feelings of paranoia from Twilight. "Why would Luna want to trick you?"

"I'm not falling for that."

"Twilight..." Celestia offered a warm smile, but Twilight's features remained unmoved and the feeling of paranoia didn't abate.

Celestia's brow furrowed in thought. Something that only she and Twilight would know. It was difficult. She couldn't think of anything she would tell Twilight that she wouldn't also share with her sister. Then, inspiration struck and she gave a little smile.

Slowly and calmly approaching and sitting beside her, Celestia draped a wing over her wonderful former student, and began to hum a sweet, melodic ditty. Twilight's eyes widened instantly as she realised that she not only recognised the tune, her mind was already playing the words that went with it...

You've come such a long, long way; And I've watched you, from that very first day...

"Princess Celestia..." she whispered.

Celestia smiled. "Twilight. You can trust that I am really here for you, or you can believe that I am a figment of your imagination. But either way it will help you to talk about it. Please, tell me what's wrong."

Twilight looked up at her uncertainly. Then she took a deep breath and decided to trust.

Celestia listened as Twilight relayed the tales of the atrocious weather, culminating in the events of the storm and earthquake in Canterlot. She went on to describe her theory that the disappearance of the moon was responsible, and then she revealed that she had reason to believe that Luna had done it on purpose. After that her logic took something of a leap towards Luna turning evil and wanting to dominate Equestria, and that was where the feelings of paranoia began. Celestia had to reel her in at that point.

"Twilight..." She met her gaze and gave her a reassuring look. Then she sighed. "Luna did remove the moon deliberately. And it is what's causing the storms. But she didn't know that it would cause such devastation. She feels more guilt than you can imagine and she is doing everything she can to set it right."

Twilight looked up at her in confusion. "But why did she?"

"Because..." She had to pause there. She looked away, trying to find the words, then looked back at Twilight. "Because since Luna returned, I have tried to be both a good ruler to Equestria and a good sister to her. And I have failed, because a small part of me has always feared the day may come again when I will be forced to protect one from the other." She took a breath. "Luna loves me and cares about me very much. So much so that she was willing to do something so drastic as this...to give me some peace of mind."

Twilight nodded. She didn't quite understand, but some explanation was better than none and at least her 'evil Luna' theory now seemed far less likely. Then she looked back up, confusion giving way to concern. "Are you both still okay?" she asked softly.

"We are both fine. We are getting closer to finding the moon. As soon as we have it, I'll write you again."

The library scene around them became a shade lighter and more blurred. "What's happening?" asked Twilight.

"You are starting to wake up," said Celestia soothingly. "I am surprised your dream lasted this long. You must have been very tired indeed." Then she raised an eyebrow. "Twilight? You didn't seem surprised to see me when I entered. Am I...a regular fixture of your dreams?" she asked, already uncertain just how far down this road she wanted to travel.

"Well...yeah," Twilight blushed. "Normally we...y'know...do stuff together." She scratched absently at the ground with a hoof.

"Stuff?" Celestia said automatically, even as alarm bells rang and she wished hard for a way to close her ears to the answer.

"You teach me magic, and it's just like I'm your student again," Twilight's face was redder than ever. "Except we don't usually get very far because you can only teach me spells I already know, so then we normally end up just talking like friends. It's...it's my favourite dream."

Celestia smiled to herself. Luna had been right. Twilight thought of them as friends. Wanted to be friends in her dreams. "I enjoy talking to you, Twilight. If you ever want to talk to me as a friend, you needn't wait until you are asleep to do it." Twilight smiled up in relief and her blush lessened.

"Princess?" Twilight asked, the dream nearly gone now.

"Yes?"

"You're real, right? I mean, this is really you and not my imagination?"

Celestia looked into her eyes. "Twilight," she said. "Have I ever broken a promise to you? Even in a dream?"

"No. Of course not!" said Twilight, apparently offended by the implication that her dream Celestia might be any less honest than the real one.

Celestia smiled and hugged Twilight a little tighter with her wing. "I promise you I'm real."

The dream faded to white and consciousness found them both.

–––

Celestia stirred slowly. Opening her eyes, she saw Luna standing at the edge of the outcrop looking out at the ocean.

"Luna?" asked Celestia, causing her to look round and give a relieved smile. "Have you slept?"

"No," Luna replied, looking back out to sea. "I have been watching for threats."

"Is everything okay?"

"Scylla is basking on her rock and has largely forgotten us. The crow-monsters have not returned. About an hour ago there was a large rock-slide down the mountain."

"A rock-slide?"

"It was easily dealt with." Luna looked at her again. "I didn't want to wake you. How are you feeling?"

"Much better," answered Celestia honestly, sitting up and giving a most satisfying stretch. Her muscles felt refreshed, her legs strong and her wings powerful once more. She thought about not saying anything else, but she had no secrets from her sister. "I had the dream again."

Luna looked worried. She walked over, sat beside her and looked into her eyes. "Will you tell me?"

She did. Explaining what Nightmare Moon had said, how she'd taunted her about being one and the same as Luna herself. "I don't believe it, Luna," she finished.

"Why not? It's true," said Luna morosely. "I don't want it to be, but it is. We're the same." She couldn't take her eyes off the floor.

"You're not the same," said Celestia firmly. "You are my sister, and I will always love you. Nightmare Moon was my enemy because she tried to take you away. And she was beaten! I see nothing of her in you." When Luna didn't make any reply for several long moments, Celestia tried a different subject. "Afterwards I scryed with Twilight...well, barely."

Luna perked up. "How are things back home?"

Celestia realised she hadn't quite thought this one through, but she was committed now. "They are okay, but no better. The city was hit with a powerful storm. Twilight and Spike were injured," – Luna flinched visibly – "but are alright. The castle was badly damaged but the city itself was saved thanks to her..." she paused. "Twilight has worked out that the weather is being caused by the moon's absence. She knows you banished it deliberately."

"She blames me," Luna concluded. "She is right to."

"She is worried about you. I've explained everything to her. No-one blames you, Luna. You made a mistake. And you are doing everything possible to fix it. Nopony could ask for more."

"I just can't seem to stop putting the world at risk, can I?" The sentence sounded ridiculous, and Luna tried to laugh through it but quickly degenerated into a series of pained sobs. "It's all my fault, Tia." She sniffled. "If Tartarus is a prison for ancient monsters then perhaps...perhaps I shouldn't leave."

"Luna, listen to me," Celestia hugged her sister close. "We're going to find the moon and return it to the sky over Equestria. Together." She forced Luna to look her in the eye. "And I'm not leaving Tartarus without my little sister, okay?"

Luna sniffled again and finally managed to regain some composure. She looked up at the mountain, the summit staggeringly high, daring them to climb it. She was committed to retrieving the moon, and they weren't there yet. And she would not leave Equestria in danger, nor her friends in peril. She gritted her teeth. "Then...let's be on with it."

–––

Twilight came to, feeling refreshed and more rested than she had in ages. The struggle to leave the sheets seemed less arduous this morning and she hopped down with a spring in her step, waking Spike who was asleep at the foot of the bed.

Spike sat up and had to try very hard not to immediately flop back down again. Rubbing his eyes he looked at her. "Is it that time already?" He groggily got to his feet, reaching for a quill and piece of parchment. "You still want to send a letter to the Princesses?"

"No need, Spike. I'll explain later. Right now, I have to raise the sun."

"Uh...Twilight...what's going on?" asked Spike suspiciously.

"What? Nothing!"

"You've got that look in your eye. Your 'I've got a crazy-sounding plan that just-might-work' look?"

Twilight stopped for a moment, then looked affrontedly at Spike. "I do not have a look like that!" Spike simply folded his arms and looked patiently at her until she was forced to start speaking again, lest the moment drag into awkwardness. "Okay, Princess Celestia – the actual Princess Celestia – visited me in a dream last night. They still haven't found the moon yet, but she told me it is the fact that it's missing that's causing the storms."

"Um...okay...?"

"So: we need to give the princesses time to find the moon and stop more storms from happening, right? And I've got it! Since the storms only happen at night, all I have to do is–"

"Twilight?"

"–not set the sun!"

Chapter VIII

View Online

–––Chapter VIII–––

The sun safely risen, Twilight and her friends gathered in the throne room for their morning meeting. Though the topic of conversation was a bit different than on the previous mornings.

"I don't know, Twi. You sure this is a good idea?" asked Applejack.

"It does sound quite drastic," added Fluttershy.

"I dunno guys," said Rainbow Dash. "I'm with Twilight on this one. We don't want another storm like last night. And we really don't want a worse one. If there's a way to stop it happening, then I say go for it."

"If setting the sun tonight is going to risk ponies getting hurt again, then how can I do it? Besides, it's only going to be until the Princesses get back," Twilight pointed out.

"But ya don't know when that'll be," argued Applejack, and Twilight had to shake her head, no. "Twi, all I'm sayin' is that this whole thing started because we started messin' around with the moon. How d'y'all know that messin' with the sun ain't gonna cause somethin' worse?"

Rainbow Dash broke in again. "If something worse than a storm looks like it's gonna happen, then Twilight'll just have to set the sun and we'll roll with it."

"I guess..." Applejack still looked uncertain, scratching the back of her neck with a hoof. But she had no further argument to make.

Rarity turned to Twilight. "I believe you said there was another matter?"

"There is." Twilight took a deep breath. Moment of truth. "Guys...I want to thank you for everything you've done for me. Truly, I couldn't have done it without you. You've been more help than you'll ever know, but I think I can just about manage on my own now." She gave her friends a smile. "You're all going home."

Strangely, the looks of happiness on each of her friends' faces never appeared. Instead, five jaws dropped.

"Whoa there," said Dash. "Twilight, Applejack's right. We don't know what'll happen this evening when the sun doesn't go down. You might need our help tonight more than ever!"

"I'm sure the Guard can handle it." She looked sympathetically at her friends. "I can't ask you to stay. This isn't where you belong. Dash, you've got a new scooter-trick to watch. Rarity, Sweetie Belle needs your help practicing her magic. You've all got ponies who need you back home."

The five ponies before her exchanged a look. "Yes, Twilight, we do," started Rarity. "And much as we love them, they'll still be there when this crisis is over..."

"But in the meantime, we've got a pony here in Canterlot who needs us..." continued Dash.

"And we ain't leavin' till she's ready to come home too," finished Applejack.

Twilight smiled. When they'd showed her the letter the previous evening, she'd assumed it meant her friends all wanted to go home. And they did. But she'd missed the point they were making. Her friends wanted them all to go home. Together. That was–

"Hold on a second! Aren't you all forgetting something?" cried Pinkie. Five ponies and one dragon stared at her. "Mint cupcakes, everypony! There are Mint. Cupcakes waiting back in Ponyville!"

Dash facehoofed. Twilight smiled. Everyone else looked away, embarrassed.

"Um, Twilight?" Fluttershy spoke up. "I really don't want to leave, it's just that Angel and the other animals...well...they're probably getting a bit low on food and–"

"Big Mac'll take care of it," interrupted Applejack.

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly ask him–"

"You ain't askin' him, sugarcube, I am." She looked around. "Anypony got a pen? I got a letter to write."

There was a chorus of 'me too's', but when they looked round they found that Pinkie Pie had, from somewhere, already managed to produce a quill and a piece of paper and was laid on the ground, already writing-out-loud. "Please...send...one-thousand...mint...cupcak–"

"PINKIE!"

–––

"This...is a complication I did not expect," said Celestia gazing at the sky.

The flight up the mountain had, as predicted, taken hours, if not a full day. But as they had climbed, the light of the landscape below had encouragingly faded from daylight through the golden light of evening, to dusk and beyond. Now, in what was most definitely night, the two sisters stood at the summit of the mountain which was suddenly not a summit at all.

The top of the mountain and beyond instead presented them with a wide, rocky escarpment, stretching out either side in a horse-shoe shape and dropping sharply at first, then less steeply, into a shallow bowl of a valley. It was a completely impossible landscape to find at the top of a lone mountain, and it was all the more ridiculous because when the sisters looked back they could still see the ocean, city and cliffs behind them, hundreds of meters below the level of the valley-bottom in front of them. It was as though two entirely separate landscapes from two separate worlds had just been stuck together at this random point. Mountain slope on one side, sweeping valley on the other. To look at it for too long trying to figure out where the separation was, was to invite a headache.

But above them, hanging in the night-time sky, was the shining orb of the full moon. And adjacent to it, in a different sector of sky, was another one. And another next to that. Six moons in total had appeared in the heavens overhead.

One was very small and blue in colour. Another had three strange round-ish shadows upon its surface. A third was not quite full, but waxing.

But the remaining three all looked very similar indeed.

"I–I cannot tell them apart," said Luna, and had to crush a pang of frustrated despair. The moon was hers. She should know it like the back of her hoof. Every crater. Every valley. Every shadow and every mountain should be as familiar to her as anything she'd ever known.

But as she looked up at the three candidates above her, she just...didn't...know. They all looked similar-yet-different to the moon she knew.

"It's okay, Luna. Take all the time you need, and trust your instincts."

One of them had to be their moon, of that she was certain. And she was certain that they had to return with the right moon. A facsimile wouldn't do. The earth would know.

There was something about the lowest one, the one in the rightmost sector of sky, that was familiar. It still didn't look right somehow, but it looked ever so slightly more right than the other two. If that was even possible.

"I believe, that one." Luna extended a hoof.

Celestia nodded cautiously. "Are you sure?"

"No," Luna admitted.

Celestia sighed. "Then I suppose that is the best we are going to do. I admit, I cannot tell either."

Some realisation seemed to strike Luna. Celestia looked down at her sister as she frowned, and watched as she worked something through in her head.. "There is...a way to be sure." Celestia tilted her head, even as Luna continued. "If that is my moon...then everything I left behind will still be there."

"I don't suppose your eyes are good enough to see your hoofprints from here?"

"No," Luna smiled. "But..."

Luna's horn ignited in a flash of blue energy, more intense than her regular aura. She closed her eyes, clearly concentrating hard. In front of them, at the point the escarpment fell away to the valley, an ethereal, sparkling crystal-blue pathway began to appear, extending outwards and upwards, arcing gently into the sky. Further and further it lengthened, heading for the likely moon in the heavens until the far end was out of sight. A few moments later, Luna opened her eyes and her horn dimmed. She stepped forward and placed a hoof speculatively on the pathway. It connected solidly, sparkled more where she made contact, and made a sound as though striking firm pavement.

Celestia was stunned. "A Mobius Bridge?" she said in awe. "Luna, that is a very old trick."

"I've always liked the way they sparkle in the moonlight," said Luna. "It's a shame there is no use for them anymore."

The Mobius Bridge was an ancient magical experiment more than a true spell. A method of joining two separate points an infinite distance apart with a fixed-length magical structure. And it worked! Back in the day, the success of the Mobius Experiment had opened the door to all kinds of magical research, from which even modern-day summoning spells and the difficult teleportation spell could trace their origins. But the Bridge itself had limitations that had always prevented it from being of real practical use. Firstly, while the two anchor points could be any distance apart, they both had to be within direct sight of both each other and the spell-caster. Second, for reasons never fully understood, the length of the bridge was always thirteen-point-three-four miles, even if the two anchor points were in reality closer together. And thirdly, you could only traverse the bridge while you were in contact with it. Flying over it would get you nowhere. Added together and there were very few instances when a Mobius Bridge was both the most practical and fastest method of travel around Equestria – a train would get you most places you could see far quicker than you could walk thirteen miles – and as such it had become an historical footnote. The kind of spell an academic would be more interested in the theory behind, than the practical application of.

But it was one that Luna had clearly held onto, and for no other reason than she liked the way it sparkled. Celestia smiled. That is the sister I know and love, she thought, not for the first time.

Luna looked back at her. "You don't have to come. I'll go and check and then return."

Celestia put on an expression of mock hurt. "I see. My help is unwanted and, at this point unappreciated. Does that sound about right?"

"My words were 'unnecessary' and 'unwelcome', as it happens," harrumphed Luna. Then she met her gaze again. "And your help has been neither. But I understand if going to the moon makes you uncomfortable, what with your recent dreams."

"Luna, I said we would do this together. We need to find out for certain if that is your moon."

Luna looked up at the moon above them, and the shimmering blue bridge only thirteen scant miles long. "Then let's–"

"Though if you say 'let's be on with it' once more, I may reconsider," Celestia chided.

A stunned Luna looked back. Then she smirked and with deliberate silence, stepped onto the Bridge as Celestia followed.

–––

The journey along the bridge passed without incident. Celestia and Luna talked, and even found time for a little joking around such that the journey seemed quicker. Luna was still cautiously guilty, but now that they had found the moon – whichever one it was even if not this one – she had brightened up considerably since their talk on the mountain. She may not quite have a spring in her step and a song in her heart yet, but she was the happiest she'd been since entering Tartarus.

The end of the bridge came into sight, meeting the surface of the moon at a slight angle. Luna's steps became a little slower as they approached it, but she didn't stop. She stepped with slight hesitation from the bridge onto the lunar surface, followed by Celestia. Their travel completed, the Mobius Bridge vanished behind them.

Almost immediately Luna smiled, as though she were remembering an old friend. Then the smile fell into a look of melancholy. "This is it."

Celestia looked around. There were no hoofprints that she could see. No sign of disturbance of any kind. "Are you sure?"

"A thousand years," Luna's voice barely above a whisper. She dragged a hoof through the lunar dust, scooping some up and looking at it. "I would know it anywhere. This is my moon. My...prison." She let the dust fall.

"Luna?" asked Celestia, voice full of concern, a gentle hoof placed over her sister's withers.

Luna sniffed and looked up confidently. "This is it," she said with certainty.

"We've only just arrived," said Celestia carefully. "Don't you want to look around a bit...to satisfy yourself that you're sure?"

"I'm certain," said Luna. "But if it is satisfaction you seek, there will be proof over that way." Spreading her wings, she took to the air and flew low over the surface. Celestia followed her for a distance of perhaps a couple of miles until they alighted once more amidst a similar-looking landscape.

Except that now, in the dust beneath them there were hoofprints. Thousands. Tens of thousands. Perhaps even hundreds of thousands. Heading in every conceivable direction. All cast by only one pony.

Many of the tracks of prints led to and from one particular direction where, not far distant, what Celestia had first thought was a short but steep rocky mountain was in fact a structure built from the lunar rock. A tall building with spires, windows, battlements and a grand set of double doors.

Celestia looked in awe at it. "Is that...?"

"It is my castle," said Luna mournfully. Then she gave a rueful smile. "I had a great deal of time to work on it, though I could never find a name I liked. Nightmare Castle. Midnight Castle. The Castle of the Lonely Sister..." she trailed off, almost choking the last word and the ground holding her attention now.

Celestia stood looking at Luna for a moment, then set off at a slow walk towards the towering structure, to Luna's obvious surprise. "Tia, it's okay. We don't have to–"

"You bring me here to your magnificent castle and don't even invite me in? Where are your manners, sister?"

"It's Nightmare Moon's castle as much as mine, sister. It is not exactly...cosy inside."

"Are there crow-monsters in your castle?"

"No."

"Or gigantic sea-beasts? Or Cyclops'"

"Not...the last time I checked."

Celestia turned and spoke kindly. "Luna, you are tired. You haven't slept since the night you dreamt with me in the cave. I know how difficult being here must be for you, and I know you want to return the moon to Equestria urgently. But while we're here we are safe whereas in Tartarus we are not, and you need to rest. You won't be able to return the moon if you're asleep on your hooves. Come on," she said, turning. Then she put on a wry grin and called back over her shoulder. "I hope you had the foresight to build a guest bedroom."

"I...did not anticipate having many guests," Luna lamented, falling into step.

They reached the main castle entrance and stood in front of a great set of double-doors beneath an impressively grandiose keep. The doors were stiff from lack of use and Luna had to put a fair amount of effort into her magic in order to heave them open. Celestia meanwhile studied a hoof-carved stone plaque over the entrance which had clearly been re-worked several times. 'Celestia's Ruin.'

"'Celestia's Ruin'?" she asked.

"I was angry at you for a long time," said Luna, still struggling to get the door open without accidentally pulling it from its hinges too. Then she stopped working on the doors and looked at the scrawl above them. Her aura intensified and a moment later the entire plaque crumbled into dust. "I never liked that one either." Returning her attention to the doors she managed to loosen them at last and they swung open with a creak.

The interior of the castle was like something out of a horror novel. It was almost a dark, alternate version of Canterlot Castle. Creepy gargoyles were carved into walls. Cruel-looking weapons adorned racks in corridors. And there were a great many statues and effigies of Nightmare Moon, all in some evil or powerful pose.

They passed a throne room, dusty and empty, a sharp-angled black throne sitting atop a wide, stepped dais, looked down upon by eight very tall stained-glass windows set in a high-ceilinged octagonal tower. The windows featured Nightmare Moon in what appeared to be her eight-step-plan, from being incarcerated, to escape, to world domination. At least two of the windows showed her in combat with – and defeating – a representation of Celestia.

Celestia had to stop and admire them. They were intricate, elaborate and rather well-done. They were clearly a labour of...well, love would be the wrong word she supposed, but great care had been taken over them and they were nothing if not striking.

They continued to walk through the castle, Luna shyly and guiltily answering Celestia's touristy questions, pointing out various state-rooms, the banquet hall, the kitchen, and so on. For every Nightmare Moon statue they passed she looked more and more abashed. And there was an embarrassing surplus of them.

But Celestia wasn't really interested in the grand, impressive statues in their victorious poses. Because when she looked a little closer, beyond the dark, brooding and pompous decor, in just a few places here and there, there were a few subtle flashes of warmth and colour – flashes that were most assuredly Luna, and not Nightmare Moon. A delicate vase on a stone pedestal, forever empty because there were no flowers on the moon; a private study, devoid of books but built for no other reason than because Luna would've wanted to have somewhere to read; a beautiful tile-mosaic laid into one wall as though a tapestry, seeming to show a peaceful night-time scene, rather than the pervasive theme of conquest.

Rounding a corner, not far from the base of a spiral staircase they came upon the largest set of interior double-doors they had yet found. Carved meticulously into the grey stone frame above it were several symbols. On the left side, a sun; on the right a crescent moon; and in the centre at the highest point a carved relief of the moon in front of the sun – an eclipse.

Luna's eyes widened in horror when she saw it and she audibly drew a shocked breath at Celestia's side. Celestia approached the doors and, though they were no different to any of the others they'd passed – save for being a little wider and taller – there was a definite sense of foreboding about them.

She reached the door and put her hoof on the right-hand one, ready to push it open. Then Luna placed one of her hooves on top and looked at her with pleading eyes.

Celestia looked down at her, confused. "What's wrong?"

"Tia...I...this room, it's..." but she didn't seem to have the words. She searched hopelessly for several moments before staring up with a defeated expression. "We have no secrets from each other?"

"Surprise parties do not count," said Celestia with a smile, but Luna's reaction told her immediately it was not the time for jokes.

Pushing the door open herself, Luna entered the room first. She held the door open for Celestia to follow, but when she looked back she wore an expression of utmost guilt.

Celestia entered the room, and quickly saw why.

It was octagonal in structure, similar to the throne room, though the roof was only about fifteen metres from the ground. It was near twenty metres side to side, and on every wall was a vivid representation of Nightmare Moon fighting and defeating Celestia in a variety of different contexts, all designed to make it appear as though the white princess was suffering greatly at the dark monster's hooves.

In the centre of the room stood a wide, five-foot high stone plinth, on top of which stood a large, meticulously worked, over-size marble-esque statue of Nightmare Moon. It posed her standing on three legs, with her right foreleg raised at the knee and an evil, triumphant grin on her downward-looking stone face. The statue was not placed centrally on the plinth but offset to one side, allowing space on the other half for the focus of the statue's ecstatic grimace.

Carved shallowly but in sharp relief into the remaining half of the plinth was a very accurate Celestia-shaped indentation. Around the perimeter of the recess were anchored several strategically-placed shackles of thick black metal, currently standing open but apparently designed to either fall or spring closed. One for her neck, two for her midsection and wings, and one each for her four hooves. The whole tableau was arranged in such a way that once Celestia was lying in the recess she would be on her side, submissively beneath the raised foreleg of Nightmare Moon, forced to look up constantly at either Nightmare Moon's victorious face, one of the many scenes of her own defeat on the walls or, through a circular hole in the ceiling above the statue, a view of the earth itself.

Were that all, then the room would have been creepy certainly, but little more than that. But there was something about the room that was worse, that was somehow intangible. She could sense that the room had been the focus of an immense quantity of rage and vengefulness over the course of hundreds and hundreds of years. Nightmare Moon had dedicated all of her loathing, bitterness and resentment to building this room and it retained those feelings now. As though it had stored them in the walls and now radiated them again. Celestia could feel Nightmare Moon's hatred of her emanating from every brick and flagstone. It made for an uncomfortable experience.

"It is your prison," said Luna from behind her as Celestia approached the statue, appraising it. There was something odd about the stone it was carved from. It seemed to have a faint purple fleck that shimmered and dimmed very softly. She touched the plinth and felt suddenly cold, and somehow empty. She frowned in confusion. "It's enchanted," Luna explained, walking up to the statue beside her, placing her own hoof on the plinth. "Contact with the stone inhibits the use of magic. You wouldn't believe how hard that is to do." She grimaced. "I'm surprised it hasn't faded, but I did spend years getting it just right." Luna's tone was a mixture of pride and disgust. She looked at Celestia. "I would have defeated you and brought you here, locked you into those shackles, and simply abandoned you for all eternity. Just as you abandoned me."

Celestia looked up in a little flash of surprise. "Abandoned you? Luna, I didn't–"

"A thousand years Celestia..." Luna's face seemed to darken even as her tone grew into a subtle anger. Perhaps the rage permeating the room was feeding into her too.

"Luna," Celestia started calmly, "You know it wasn't like tha–"

"Don't give me that, dear sister! You were more intelligent and knew more about magic than anypony who's ever lived. If you really loved me you'd have found a way to bring me back, but no! You forgot me for a thousand years!"

"Luna please, stop this." Celestia tried hard to maintain her composure, but Luna's words cut deeply.

But Luna was furious now, and spitting sarcastic venom. "And you had the gall to feel lonely! 'Lonely' Celestia with her distant, tragic composure. 'Lonely' Celestia, baring her soul to an arrogant dragon. 'Lonely' Celestia, surrounded by subjects who love and adore her. You have no idea what it was like to be alone all that time!"

"If I could've brought you home I–"

Luna was screaming. "You deserve to be left here! You deserve to be lonely! Why don't I just leave you here on the moon and forget about you?!"

Celestia's facade shattered and she recoiled, visibly hurt. Luna hated her. Luna wanted to hurt her. And then the voice from her dream returned hauntingly.

It will make the look of surprise on your face so much better...

No! Even as a tear came to her eye, Celestia refused to believe it. Her dream was a dream and that's all it was. She would not give in to paranoia. In front of her, angry beyond all reasoning, was Princess Luna. The little sister she knew and loved, and that she knew loved her. They had crossed forests, mountains and deserts. They had faced dragons, been chased by harpies and battled Scylla. Now they were here, on the moon high above Tartarus. They had come so far together, achieved so much to arrive at this point.

And why? When had it all started? It wasn't when Luna had banished the moon, she realised. It wasn't even at the Festival of the Eclipse. It was before all that. At a cosy breakfast table, when Luna had asked her one simple question...

Sister...do you really trust me?

She looked Luna in the eye now – most definitely Luna and not Nightmare Moon – and realised that she did. She trusted the pony before her as completely and without question as it was possible to trust anypony.

And she would show her just how much that was.

"If that is what you want, Luna," she said quietly, hanging her head. Then, with a single flap of her wings she was on top of the plinth and carefully lying down on her side into the shallow recess carved especially for her, even as Luna took a couple of surprised steps backwards.

"Tia...?" Luna's anger gave way to surprise. "What are you doing?"

The thick shackles closed over Celestia's neck, body and around all four hooves with a series of snaps. There were no locks as such, only spring-loaded catches prevented them from coming undone, but it didn't matter: with her magic denied to her she was unable to reach any of the mechanisms. She lay pinned against the stone beneath the iron bands. Trapped. For a moment a brief surge of panic took her that she hadn't thought this all the way through. But from where she was she could see a still-surprised Luna – most definitely Luna and not Nightmare Moon – and her confidence returned.

Trust.

"If this is what you want; if it's what I deserve, then leave me here alone forever."

"Celestia, you are being ridicul–"

"I love you, Luna," said Celestia. "I really am so, so sorry." Then she was quiet.

Luna's face slowly fell into a look of horror at what she was seeing. At what she'd said. At what she'd wanted. To abandon her sister like this. Chained to a rock for all eternity. Alone. No, no, no, no, "No, no, no, no, no!" She realised she was shaking her head even as she automatically raced for the plinth. Scrabbling with her hooves at the catches on the shackles, she fiddled with them in a blind panic and could release none of them. Panicking more now she took a step away from the statue, no longer touching it, and lit her horn.

The shackles around her sister didn't just pop open, they were torn from the anchor points in the rock and cast aside as nothing more than scrap. Luna raced forward to her sister again, desperately pulling her out of the recess as though it might swallow her whole. She pulled Celestia upright such that she was sat on the edge of the plinth and threw her forelegs around her in a strong, tearful hug.

Celestia hugged back. "You don't want to abandon me? You don't want to leave me here on the moon for all eternity?"

Luna looked up at her sister, tears streaming from her eyes. "I want you to be happy!"

Celestia placed her forelegs around Luna and gladly returned her sister's hug. "You make me happy, Luna. So, so happy," she said quietly into her ear.

Still sobbing quietly, Luna couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened. "Why did you do that?"

Celestia looked back into her eyes. "Because I trust you, Luna. You've always thought that I've been somewhat wary of you; that I've always been worried that Nightmare Moon might return. And...to a degree, that is true," she admitted. "Up until now."

"But what if I...I mean she–?"

Celestia shook her head gently. "If Nightmare Moon didn't make a reappearance in Nightmare Moon's castle surrounded by Nightmare Moon's hatred with everything Nightmare Moon ever wanted served up on a plate in front of her...then she is not coming back. Ever." She put a hoof under her sister's chin. "You're not Nightmare Moon. You are Princess Luna, my little sister, and I love and trust you completely."

Luna sobbed a couple more times into her sister's coat. Then, with a deep breath, a shaky voice, and an expression of completely false anger, she said, "If you ever do anything so foolish again, sister..."

"I'm sure I will be in very big trouble," said Celestia with a happy smile, her own tears running.

–––

They took a few minutes to collect themselves and then, feeling tired. made their weary way up the stairs of the tall tower to the sleeping quarters.

Luna had scruples about sleeping in the room that had once been Nightmare Moon's, but Celestia persuaded her that it was nonsense to continue to worry about such things. Especially when Nightmare Moon had the only real bed in the entire castle.

She'd then tried to give the bed up to Celestia to sleep on, wanting to serve at least some penance. But Celestia defeated her with logic. She had slept on the mountainside while Luna hadn't slept for days. If anyone was in need of the bed for a good night's rest, it was her.

Then Celestia saw the bed and looked at Luna jealously, for it was huge. It was larger by half than any bed Celestia had ever owned, for no reason other than one-upmanship. Celestia couldn't quite take her eyes off it even as she shed her saddlebags – looking a little the worse for wear after their trip thus far.

Luna approached the enormous bed and, using her magic made a fold in the top-sheet such that a temporary crease ran lengthways from head to foot. Then she spoke in a stern, lecturing tone. "I will take the side nearest the window, and you will take the other. You will be sure to keep your hooves to your own side of the bed and you will not snore. Any deviation from these rules will be met with banishment to the pantry."

With a little smile, Luna began making her preparations for bed, as did Celestia though she seemed somewhat distracted. Eventually, Celestia looked up. "Luna...did you mean it? You feel I abandoned you?"

Luna looked up awkwardly, then away. Not wanting to lie, but at the same time, not wanting to hurt her sister.

"It's okay, Luna. I won't be upset. The truth. Please?"

"I did," said Luna, her voice full of regret. "For a long, long time I did." She made eye-contact with her sister. "But–"

Celestia cut her off. "It's okay." Then she approached her. "Dream with me tonight. There is something I want to show you." She smiled kindly, and Luna nodded in reply.

–––

Celestia found herself in surroundings with which she was well acquainted. A modern castle she now proudly called home.

But this dream was different.

She sat on the throne as her sister approached her along the red carpet. Luna looked around in obvious disillusionment. "I see. You invite me into your dream to show me...our home. How spectacular." She raised an eyebrow at Celestia. "I could be vanquishing Bogey-Ponies right now," she finished.

Celestia stood with a laugh. "I believe we're here only because this is where many of my recent dreams have been set." She looked at Luna. "Though, somehow...I don't think I'll be having those dreams any more." She smiled. "Still, it's as well we are here."

Motioning for Luna to follow her, she guided them to her representation of her private chambers and stood with her before a bookcase near to the fireplace. She turned to Luna. "In the real world this is just a bookcase and a wall. What I'm about to show you exists only in my mind. But I hope you won't feel it is any less real for it."

Celestia lit her horn and at once the bookcase swung outward as though a door. Beyond, it revealed a narrow, short passageway that curved ninety-degrees to the left before bringing them to a new, circular room. On one side there was an exit onto a wide balcony, stark white with purple and yellow accents were the decor, and the room was furnished with a large chalkboard, reading lecterns, bookcases and writing desks aplenty.

Luna could already feel something different about this place. Most dream structures and landscapes had a flimsy quality to them that stemmed from their inherently temporary nature. It allowed dreams to be changed and manipulated, but this...this room had a degree of permanence. As though it were cemented within Celestia's subconscious as surely as if it were a real place.

And it was a mess. Upon the chalkboard, frantic scribbles and half-formed equations were writ, leaving not even an inch of free space. Loose sheets of paper were strewn everywhere upon all of the writing desks and even covered the floor. Each of the five lecterns housed far more open books than that they were ever designed to carry. Outside on the balcony, a telescope peered up towards a night sky, facing a full moon upon which the shadow of Nightmare Moon was clear as day.

Luna still wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. On instinct she bent and scooped up a piece of paper. She became surprised to discover it contained words. Words that she could read. Words that made sense, and that she could understand. And that didn't change when she re-read them again. That was all unusual for a dream. Celestia had cemented the words on this piece of paper so deep into her subconscious memory that she knew it by heart and it would not alter.

And then...Luna looked around again.

Everything. Everything in this room: every word in every book, every equation on the chalkboard, every scribbled diagram on a piece of paper was a permanent fixture within Celestia's unconscious mind.

"I came here every night," Celestia said quietly, looking out of the window up towards the moon. "Every night for a thousand years. Every single one."

Luna watched as very faint ghostly outlines, apparitions of Celestia's past, began to fill the room. They concentrated on books, wrote furiously on the chalkboard, scribbled line after line on parchment, peered through the telescope. They screamed in frustration. They flung papers angrily across the room. They kicked the chalkboard when an equation didn't give them the answer they wanted. And they cried. And they cried. And they cried.

Celestia had used her subconscious mind to pool everything she knew about magic, the Elements, the moon, Nightmare Moon...everything. Every scrap of knowledge she possessed, everything new she'd learned, every theory ever advanced she had put into this room and worked it to death every time she'd slept for one thousand years, with one goal in mind.

Written at the top of the chalkboard, circled, underlined, where she would always see it...

Don't give up on her.

"I never forgot you, Luna. Not for a second."

New tears in her eyes – dream tears but no less real for that – Luna joined her at the window. "I should never have said those things."

"You had a right to be angry." Celestia smiled. "I'm sorry it took so long."

"If there is an apology to be made, sister, I am the one to make it," said Luna, nuzzling into her sister's neck. And Celestia nuzzled back.

They stood together staring up at the old moon, silent forgiveness given and received, and as close and comfortable in each other's company as anypony had ever been.

But they could not stay as such forever, and eventually they had to move on from it. Every second they spent dreaming together was precious to both of them and, after a few cozy minutes, Luna spoke up again. "Not that I am in any way critiquing your dreamscape, Tia. But books, paperwork, maths...all of this is a little mundane." She looked at Celestia with a kind smile and a twinkle in her eye. "Shall we go somewhere with more...what are the words...'fun' and 'imagination'? We haven't visited the Rainbow Maze or the Gingerbread House in years."

Celestia smiled back. "I'd like that very much."

Chapter IX

View Online

–––Chapter IX–––

The sisters woke after a wonderful night's sleep, fully refreshed albeit hungry. Complaints of aching wings and stiff leg-muscles were things of the past, and they both possessed a new optimistic vigour that had eluded them for too long.

They breakfasted in the banquet hall upon their now-dwindling supply of rations and, once done and packed, they made to leave the castle and continue their mission.

On their way out, by necessity, they passed Celestia's prison-room once again. As they did so, Luna halted and looked at the doorway. She gave Celestia an 'I'll be right back' look before slipping inside the room. A moment later there was the sound of a blast of magic, followed by something very heavy falling to the floor and breaking. Then Luna re-emerged from the room.

"The statue is no more," she said. "I have a few ideas for the room itself, and in due course I'll get rid of all the other statues too. But we don't have the time now."

Celestia put on a puzzled look. "'In due course'?"

Luna looked a little abashed as she led her sister out of the main castle entrance and onto the lunar surface. "Well, I have been thinking. Once we return the moon to Equestria and set right all the wrong that I have caused...there will be no reason I cannot Bridge back to the moon in future. It seems a shame to let my castle go to waste." She stopped and glanced between Celestia and the castle now a few dozen meters behind them. "I am thinking of turning it into a private retreat of sorts. Just for us. The Fire-Falls are wonderful, sister, but wouldn't it be nice to have somewhere real where we could relax, totally private, and for more than a couple of hours at a time?"

Celestia nodded. She had to admit, that it was a nice idea. She wasn't sure how often they'd get to make use of it, given the travelling time to and from...but if it was only for rare occasions that would make it more special.

Luna was still, looking contemplatively back at the castle. "Midnight Castle..." she mused. "Of all the names I came up with, that is the one I think I like the most. It sounds...peaceful."

"It is certainly an improvement on 'Celestia's Ruin.'"

Luna looked back and gave a wry grin. Then she lit her horn and concentrated on forming a Bridge back to Tartarus below.

From their current perspective, the sky was once again cracked into irregular sectors, all of which contained a black midnight sky save for one. One sector only showed them the same mountain-top and escarpment scene from which they had originally departed, as though viewed from little more than two or three miles above, though in reality it could be nowhere near that close. Luna concentrated and the Bridge formed, providing them safe passage back to the infernal realm below.

They walked the Bridge, continuing to chat and talk. After a while, Luna spoke up. "Tia? Do you mind if I ask you about your room? About how you tried to get me back?"

"About why I made such a meal of it?" Celestia smiled. "Undoing what the Elements of Harmony did to seal you in the moon without actually being able to use the Elements was very problematic. At first I thought it was permanent. It was only later that I learned it might not be. Then there was always the issue of how to get you back and not Nightmare Moon." The gears in Celestia's head had involuntarily started turning by now and she couldn't stop them. "I couldn't risk bringing Nightmare Moon back to Equestria. She was too powerful and I would always be reluctant to fight her lest I risk hurting you. But I couldn't find a way to change you back without studying Nightmare Moon herself. Catch twenty-two."

"The Elements of Harmony?"

"They had abandoned me. They understood that what I did was necessary, but they were still unhappy at being used against one of their bearers. I searched for a long time for others that were worthy – ones that I could trust with your safety – and found none. After two hundred years I gave up on them and tried to find alternatives, even though all my research pointed back to the Elements. And so it ultimately proved. The rest you know."

Luna gave a low hum but was apparently satisfied with the explanation. Then she had another question. "Tia...what...what would you have done if I had become Nightmare Moon again? If I had left you there?"

"In truth, not very much," Celestia admitted. "Though I'm sure Twilight would have been along to rescue me eventually." She gave a wry look. "It wouldn't be the first time."

They walked on, discussing and debating until in seemingly no time at all they had reached the end of the Bridge and were once more back on the escarpment from where they had originally departed. They stepped off the Bridge and a moment later it dutifully vanished, leaving Luna and Celestia to stare up at the moon from which they had just come. Interestingly, all of the other moons had disappeared from their parts of the sky, leaving only the one true moon hanging over them.

"So, are you able to reverse your spell?" asked Celestia.

"No. The spell I used was one-way."

"Then how do you propose we remove the moon from Tartarus? I don't think it will fit through the gate, somehow."

"Oh, it will," said Luna with a twinkle in her eye. "Do you not know this trick either, sister?" Luna bowed her head slightly, aiming her horn at the full moon above them. She closed her eyes and her aura appeared. She frowned, concentrated and strained as her aura intensified, eventually glowing with a searing blue-white light. Luna grunted in exertion and her magic only grew stronger...but nothing seemed to be happening.

Then from somewhere overhead there was the briefest flash of light. It seemed to come from the moon but it was so fleeting that Celestia wasn't sure it had been there at all.

Luna's horn dimmed and went out. She was exhausted and panting hard, though she had a proud smile on her face.

Celestia had to put her confused expression on. She looked from Luna to the moon above them. Nothing seemed to have happened.

Then Luna stood beside her and as Celestia watched, Luna reached out with her forehooves towards the moon in the sky and...picked it up!

Slowly, carefully, Luna grasped the moon – now apparently no larger than a bowling ball, and approximately as heavy – with her hooves and brought it safely down from the sky.

Celestia was stunned, her jaw hanging open and her eyes wide. "That...is...impossible!" she said, in spite of what she had just seen. "The moon is–"

"Two-thousand miles across with a mass of about seventy billion-billion tonnes," Luna broke in. "And it still is. It is just...condensed a bit. I have altered how we – you, I, Tartarus, the world – perceive it, for the time being."

Opening her saddlebags and using levitation to transfer all of her remaining items into one of the two, she carefully made to place the moon into the other...and stopped. Still with the moon in her hooves, she looked fixedly at it and then carefully rotated it clockwise one-hundred-and-eighty-degrees. Her frown increased. "Upside down," she said, annoyed. "Tartarus hung the moon upside down. That is why I didn't recognise it." She looked at the sky in exasperation. "I feel like such a foal." Opening the flap once more on her now-empty saddlebag, Luna carefully placed the moon inside and closed it again.

"You intend to carry it all the way back to Equestria? While maintaining that spell? Luna that will not be easy."

"I...may be glad of some help down the line," Luna admitted. "For now though, let us get out of this place. I do not wish to remain here longer than necessary."

Nodding, Celestia lit her own horn. A few moments later, out beyond the shallow valley before them, far far away in the distance, a beam of yellow-golden light shone upwards into the sky, projected by her rock-beacon.

Luna frowned once more. "Now that is impossible. That is not the direction from which we came," she said, turning to look behind her, to where escarpment became mountain-peak falling into ocean far below.

"Nevertheless, that is where the exit is," confirmed Celestia.

Luna gritted her teeth in frustration. "Tartarus is supposed to be infinite. Who knows how far away that is? We could be travelling for weeks!"

Celestia smiled a little, knowing smile. "I know exactly how far away that is."

Luna looked up at her. Tartarus had not played at all fair with perceived distances thus far, but her sister was somehow confident she could gauge it from here?

Celestia spoke again, her smile becoming a grin. "It is a little over thirteen miles."

–––

It was so satisfying.

Travelling over Tartarus' infinite, pointlessly mixed-up, arbitrarily elastic landscapes on a bridge that the universe had decided could only ever be thirteen-and-a-third miles long. It was like they were finally getting their own back on this cursed realm.

As they began to walk the Bridge, the landscape below seemed to fall further away with every step, until by halfway it seemed as far distant below them as the sky was above. From this height, the sisters could see that the patchwork topography – the whole ground – slowly, constantly shifted and distorted, melded and blurred in a similar manner to the sectors of sky above them, or the shadows of life and death they'd seen in the forest. The whole of Tartarus seemed to be in a state of permanent flux.

As they continued to look down in silent fascination, they saw all manner of un-worldly phenomena. Huge, terrible lizard-like monsters walking upon two legs and with disproportionately tiny arms; a giant lake of fire; a ruined futuristic city; a bog-of-eternal-stench. All obstacles which Tartarus would have intended they face, which they were now bypassing with great delight.

They passed what must have been the halfway point. The landscape below began to brighten into daylight, and the sectors of sky immediately above and in front of them showed signs of brightening up. The ground began to ascend again until, eventually, they stepped off the Bridge onto a small patch of sandy – not rocky as it had been before, oddly enough – desert placed before the great gate through which they had previously passed.

And immediately outside, right where he had been when they'd entered, a loyal Cerberus was still sat waiting, all three of his faces displaying looks of patient anxiety.

As soon as he saw the sisters emerge from the ominous glow beyond the great gate, and thus pass safely out of Tartarus, his expressions became unparalleled exemplars of joy and relief. He threatened to grace both sisters with another hearty lick, but they were ready for him this time and instead managed to fuss over him while remaining dry and slobber-free.

Free of Tartarus with the moon safely in tow, Celestia and Luna's spirits both soared considerably and they exchanged relieved and hearty grins. They had made it! They had the moon and were safely out. The hard part was surely over.

Celestia found the rock where she had written her earlier letter to Twilight, and quickly wrote another – albeit shorter – one.

Dearest Twilight,

Luna has recovered the moon and we have safely left Tartarus. Expect us home in a couple of days.

Celestia.

With a flash of magic the parchment burned and vanished, on its way to Spike, and Celestia stood up as Luna continued to give Cerberus some much-wanted attention.

"My old friend." Celestia smiled at Cerberus. "It has been so good to see you again, but as much as I want to, we cannot stay."

Cerberus whined and looked oh, so sad. She'd never have believed that such an inherently fearsome animal could effectively pull off the puppy-dog look, but he managed it. And when it was multiplied by three it couldn't help to melt her heart a little.

As difficult as it was though, Celestia was right, and Cerberus' place was at Tartarus' gate, loyally and ably protecting the world at large from the dangers within. With a final, heartfelt hug, Celestia and Luna bid Cerberus goodbye.

"Good boy, Cerberus. Good boy," whispered Celestia.

"You will be missed," added Luna.

Leaving him at the gate, the two sisters made their way away down the beach to the bank of the river where another wooden post struck the ground. From it hung a similar curved horn, though instead of white bone, this appeared fashioned from black onyx. Luna took up the horn and, bringing it to her lips, fluffed her first attempt at blowing as the horn made only a strangled squeak. Looking offendedly at the horn as though it were clearly broken, she nevertheless tried again and on the second occasion managed to produce a loud, bellowing rumble that echoed through the air and into the fog.

The two sisters stood on the bank, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Charon's ferry.

"Since we arrived I believe we have added quite a few tears to that river," thought Luna out loud.

"I think most were tears of happiness," said Celestia with a smile and a sidelong glance at her sister. "I do not mind crying those."

The ferry arrived, Charon patiently waiting while the two sisters boarded – no payment was required for the return trip it seemed – and sat. Then, with a soft scraping the small boat left the shore and headed out into the river.

The sisters left Tartarus behind, and were not sad to see it go.

Chapter X

View Online

–––Chapter X–––

It was unlikely that the river would have held the same perilous lure for either sister. Its hold was most potent when it inspired feelings of insecurity and despair, and after their trip through Tartarus, those feelings simply did not exist within them. Trust. Confidence. Love. All of these and more had replaced any feelings of guilt or anguish that might tempt either princess to find futile salvation within the waters of the Styx.

However, there was no sense in taking unnecessary risks, and so with heads bowed, eyes closed, both sisters remained in the same embrace that had successfully seen them traverse the river on their earlier journey.

The crossing seemed quicker on the return leg, and with a scrape and a thud the ferry once more found firm purchase on the pebble-beach from which they had first departed.

"My, my, how sweet. I hope I am not interrupting anything." The voice was familiar, and arrogant.

Opening their eyes, they saw the ruby-red dragon lying on his belly, not far in front of the edge of the boulder-field. The sky was still overcast and by the light overhead it seemed to be near evening, though it was now much warmer than it had been when they'd left.

The two sisters disembarked from the ferry – Celestia made a point of thanking Charon although he offered no reaction whatsoever – and he and the boat silently drifted back into the fog and vanished. Then they looked up at Valkyrie.

"Did you succeed?" he asked impatiently, no further greeting offered.

"We did," said Luna.

"You recovered the moon? It is back among the heavens?"

"We recovered the moon. It is in my possession, though has not yet been returned to the sky."

Valkyrie's eyes narrowed, confused. "What do you mean? In your possession? How?"

Opening her saddlebag, Luna carefully extracted the moon. It was already subtly larger and noticeably heavier than when she had brought it down from the sky, but she was still able to lift it with her hooves with relative ease and she presented it for his consideration.

Valkyrie's face was a picture. At first he was unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Then he turned suddenly angry. "What are you playing at?! What happens if it is damaged? Or lost?!"

"If you believe you are capable of damaging it you are welcome to try," said Luna with authority and confidence. "As for being lost, the moon is in my keeping. I am its guardian. Its warden. Its protector and its guide," she gave a sidelong glance at her sister who returned a smile. "It will not be lost while I remain alive."

"It will not be lost if you return it to the sky where it belongs!" argued Valkyrie with a temper. "Why have you not done so?"

"The moon needs to be re-set into the sky at the same point from which it was removed. That is to say, above Canterlot in Equestria," explained Luna. "Otherwise the sky will not accept it."

"What? Why not? Are you saying the sky is picky?" cried Valkyrie, unsuccessfully trying to restrain his incredulity.

Luna looked thoughtful as she searched for an appropriate explanation. "Imagine the sky as a complete jigsaw puzzle, and the moon as the piece I removed. That piece will only fit back in one place."

Valkyrie wore a skeptical look, but accepted the explanation by virtue of having no choice but to. He was never going to understand such things fully. "You are making things very difficult for me," he said almost under his breath.

"Why are you here, Valkyrie?" asked Celestia suspiciously. "Did Ragnarok send you to escort us? Or...are you here for another reason?"

Valkyrie looked to Celestia now. "Another reason."

Celestia's stance became wary and her suspicious frown deepened. Valkyrie's annoyance rose. "Do not give me that look, Celestia. We are meant to be building trust, or have you forgotten?" Then he looked Celestia in the eye and his face fell away to a softer expression. Possibly even something approaching sensitivity. "Ragnarok is gravely injured."

Celestia couldn't stop a small gasp. She opened her mouth but Valkyrie forestalled her, explanation already on hand. "The night after I left you on this shore, our land – and the world at large – was rocked with ferocious storms and earthquakes. Ragnarok – astonishingly – got off his backside, and helped to save Baldur from a cave-in in his lair. However, in doing so the entire cliff-face collapsed onto him. He has not yet woken, nor is there any guarantee he will."

"Who is in charge now?" asked Luna, Celestia still coming to terms with the news.

"No-one," said Valkyrie. "We wait for him to recover. If he does not...it may take years before a new king is named. Our kings can live a very long time. We take care to get it right."

"You still haven't answered my sister's question," Luna pointed out. "Why are you here?"

Valkyrie let out an annoyed growl and glared at Luna. He was starting to wonder that himself. Ponies! If they would stop interrupting and shut up for a second he would tell them!

He drew a long breath. "Since our meeting, your power over the sun and the moon has, in a very short time, become common knowledge among dragons once again. Partly due to the recent behaviour of the heavens, and partly due to me. Everything I overheard Ragnarok say to you; everything we talked of on the way to the Styx, I have told to all who would listen. They deserved to know the truth of the world...and if a healthy respect for you were to be fostered as well, so be it. Unfortunately, circumstances have been unkind.

"First Ragnarok was injured. Then the morning afterwards the sun rose as normal and has not set since. That was near to three days ago." It was Luna's turn to gasp and Celestia looked very surprised indeed. But Valkyrie wasn't about to give either a chance to start wittering on again, and he continued without breaking stride. "Instead of respected, you are incompetent at best, and malicious at worst. You lost the moon, causing storms and quakes which nearly killed our king. Now it seems you have lost control of the sun too." Valkyrie gave a toothy grin at Celestia and Luna. "A week of bad weather and the last thousand-plus years of your good work is forgotten, apparently."

He fixed his attention on Celestia for a moment. "Ragnarok always referred to you as his enemy. Thus, it's believed that he would want vengeance upon you both. The things he would supposedly wish done to you are...very unpleasant." Valkyrie shook his head in subtle disbelief. "There are also moves to attack the new princess in Equestria, to punish her mishandling of the sun."

"Twilight?" gasped Luna. "But how do they know of her?"

"Because I told them, do you not listen!" Valkyrie hissed through clenched teeth. Then he calmed himself with a deep breath. "By the time I learned that what I'd said was being used to justify war, all was hyperbole and hysteria, and my urges for restraint went ignored. When I realised it was useless trying to talk sense, I came here to wait for your return.

"You deserved to be warned, and I wanted to confirm you had returned the moon to the sky. Had you done so," – he shot another annoyed look at Luna – "I could begin to undo this delirium and perhaps stop a ludicrous conflict. But that isn't the case, so now I'm forced to..." he closed his eyes, "...help you." He looked back at Luna and in a tone that made it clear he could not quite believe what he was saying, "I am going to have to get you safely to Canterlot. And in as short a time as possible."

Celestia looked up at Valkyrie, a measure of respect in her eyes. "Every dragon in your lands wants to see us punished...but you wish to help us?"

Valkyrie looked at her. "Believe me, Celestia, I am not getting a warm fuzzy feeling from it! But Ragnarok wouldn't want vengeance on you. The sun not setting has prevented three nights of devastation. And you..." he gave Luna a hard stare, which then softened a little. "...are not incompetent, and certainly not malicious. Alas, this is knowledge only I seem to possess, and I am not listened to! So I am forced to act." He looked seriously at Luna once more. "Banishing the moon was a foolish mistake. But a mistake nonetheless, and one that can be corrected. No-one needs to suffer further. But unless the moon is returned and the sun behaves, lives are going to be pointlessly lost! I won't have those on my conscience, and I will not see you or your people harmed because mine are ignorant and afraid."

There was a moment of quiet contemplation. Then Luna looked at Celestia. "What were your words, sister? 'Not cruel, heartless, or blind to the suffering of others'?"

Celestia nodded and looked up at Valkyrie. "You will make a great king, one day."

Valkyrie had to replace his annoyed expression with one of shock. Then his aggravated frown returned and the status quo resumed. "Ragnarok still lives, Celestia. If you say such a thing again, I will have you tried for treason. Now can we please stop wasting time?"

Valkyrie lowered his neck and spread his wings, allowing the two sisters to climb onto his back. Even so... "One or both of you has put on a great deal of weight since last we spoke."

"It is the weight of the moon," explained Luna. "You aren't as attuned to the magic I've used as we are. You may perceive it as slightly closer to its true weight."

"I'm sure."

"Can you still fly?" asked Celestia.

Valkyrie didn't respond, but simply beat his wings powerfully and leaped into the air. Then they were bound for the sky and in short order sailing over the boulder field once again. A few minutes later and the boulders gave way to the myriad ancient canyons as colour returned to the land and the clouds overhead began to break up, giving them a look at the real sky for the first time in days.

The sun was just approaching the horizon and the sky in the west was a beautiful gold fading to crimson.

"You say the sun will not set?" asked Luna. "Then what becomes of it?"

"See for yourself," Valkyrie responded.

Minutes later the sun met the horizon and stopped, unwilling to descend any further. Then, after a few moments it began rolling around it. Slowly traversing the horizon from left to right, it followed the contours of the furthest mountains they could see, ascending and descending the slopes at a constant pace as though stuck fast to them.

"The sun will follow the horizon to its eastern-most point tomorrow morning," explained Valkyrie. "Then it'll rise as normal. But this is as dark as it gets."

Luna watched, still quite captivated at the sun's dance along the horizon. Then she looked anxiously at Celestia. "If not raising the moon caused such violent storms, what effect will not setting the sun have?"

Celestia simply looked blankly back. "I have no idea. It isn't something I've ever done. Or even thought of doing."

"The world is getting warmer," Valkyrie chimed in. "Since the heat from the sun cannot be lost at night, it is retained and added to day by day." Craning his neck awkwardly in flight, Valkyrie just about managed to look at the two ponies upon his back. "Your 'Princess Twilight Sparkle' has, I think, done well. But she is in a bind now. Soon she will have to choose between watching the world burn to ash, or setting the sun and seeing it tear itself apart. Luckily, that is a choice that will now not need to be made."

Luna nodded, but noticed that Celestia still wore that same blank look as she seemed to gaze at nothing six inches in front of her. Without saying anything she reached out and placed a forehoof on Celestia's and looked worriedly into her eyes.

"I...it's..." Celestia started, and then started again. "Ragnarok..."

"Tia, I'm so sorry. On the moon, I called him an arrogant dragon..." said Luna, guiltily.

"Believe me," Valkyrie called, "He would think that a compliment."

Celestia still couldn't seem to find an expression. "I'd...like to see him."

"No." Valkyrie's response was resolute. Then he craned his neck awkwardly again to make a moment's eye-contact. "I am sorry, Celestia. I don't refuse out of spite. But Ragnarok is guarded by many loyal dragons, all of whom believe he would now want you both dead."

"Are you alright?" asked Luna.

Celestia took a breath and had to wipe some moisture away from her eye. "It's just...Ragnarok is one of very few left who still remembers the old world. To think that all that he knows...that all the memories we share might be lost...I would miss him greatly."

"Reach Canterlot, return the moon, save the world, prevent a war," Valkyrie piped up dispassionately. "Those should be your concerns, Princess. But after you have done all that...if you wish I will take you to him."

Celestia nodded reluctantly. Valkyrie was right. There were more important matters at hoof.

A moment passed before Luna called to Valkyrie once more. "You intend to fly direct across your land with us on your back?" she queried. "Are we not a little...conspicuous?"

Valkyrie gave a low, throaty grumble. "Where would you like me to hide you? My pockets?" He shook his head in despair. "We will fly high enough that you won't be seen from the ground. That's all I can do. If we are accosted..." he once more craned his head, fixing Luna with an angry stare. "Let me do the talking."

The canyons fell away behind them, the ancient dry rivers giving way to the desert once more. They sailed high over the featureless landscape in the permanent sunset as it cast gorgeous patterns and colours on the desert floor, as though it were a giant canvas. Here though, the increased heat from three days of constant sunshine was sweltering, and their only relief was the rush of wind granted by Valkyrie's swift pace through the air.

After nearly half an hour, Valkyrie pointed out Ragnarok's lair as it slipped by far below them. And even as they watched, a group of three dragons flew in low formation from the direction of the volcano towards the north, their course arrow-straight and with a sense of determination about them.

"What's this?" mused Valkyrie to himself, but the answer struck him even as Celestia vocalised it.

"They are headed for Equestria."

"They mean to attack," concluded Luna.

"Good luck to them," said Valkyrie in tones of sarcasm. "Ragnarok could not take your country with an army. What chance do they think they have?"

"An attack on Canterlot could be devastating if it is unprepared!" rebuked Luna. "Can you get us there first?"

Valkyrie's annoyed scowl was wasted on this occasion, as neither pony could see his face. "Not with the weight of what feels increasingly like half a mountain on my back," he griped.

"Then we have to stop them here," said Luna, determinedly.

"Have I not explained this clearly? You are both being hunted! If we confront them now then at best we will waste valuable time. At worst...do I really need to tell you what they would do to you?" Valkyrie beat his wings harder, trying to quicken his pace. "I'm not keen on seeing your city attacked, but what is important is getting the sky back under control as soon as possible! And you are the only ones who can do so."

"I will not stand idly by and allow an attack on Equestria to happen!" intoned Luna. "Sister, you are with me in this are you not?"

Celestia remained quiet for a moment, then returned Luna's gaze. "Luna, if we stop those dragons we may delay an attack on Canterlot...but we may never be able to return the moon. I believe you know what my opinion would be. But this has always been your mission, and this is your decision." Luna looked shocked for a moment at Celestia's noncommittal reaction, until she said quietly, "And I trust you to make the right one," with a smile.

Luna gave a determined grin. "We have to stop them, Valkyrie."

Valkyrie had to stifle an exasperated shout. Ponies! How had he gotten himself mixed up with such irrational creatures? "You realise that may be the last decision you make?"

"It is mine to make. And I will stop those dragons with or without your help." From beside her, Celestia smiled supportively.

Valkyrie snorted. "Well, it has been nice knowing you." What was that? It was supposed to sound sarcastic, but...sincerity? Really? Ugh. What was wrong with him? He angled his wings and began descending towards the desert floor, his speed increasing and closing on the formation of dragons flying at a quick clip ahead of and beneath him. Valkyrie approached the leader from above and behind, swooping low over him, diagonally across his flight path, almost close enough to clip the leader's head with the tip of his tail. Then he quickly descended the rest of the way to the desert floor, landing and skidding directly in front of their path, and turning to regard them with a determined scowl.

The three dragons landed in front of Valkyrie, even as Celestia and Luna floated to the desert floor and Valkyrie drew himself up to his full height. The leader of the dragons Luna recognised as the royal-blue dragon who had been with Valkyrie during their capture days prior – he had been the one who had pressed his claw to the back of her head. She rubbed her neck subconsciously but lost none of her defiant gaze. The other two she did not recognise.

"I was about to ask you what you thought you were playing at, Valkyrie, but I see it's obvious. Though, no-one likes a show-off." The blue dragon looked at Celestia and Luna on the ground, both stood just in front of Valkyrie. "We've been looking for them for days, but you? Capturing them twice in a week? Impressive. Shame we won't be ransoming them this time either," he smirked.

"I haven't captured them, Baldur. I am helping them. And I am putting a stop to your attack."

Baldur nearly choked in surprise. Then his voice turned loud and angry. "Have you gone mad, Valkyrie, or just soft?" He pointed an accusatory claw at the two sisters. "It is their fault our king lies dying! There must be retribution. Hand them over!"

"No, Baldur!" Valkyrie's own voice rose to a shout, his rage building impatiently. "I am escorting them to their capital city so that they can return the moon to the sky and end this ridiculousness that has gripped the world and everyone I know! No-one needs to be hurt. Just give me a day and I can put everything right!"

"You can put everything right?!" shouted Baldur incredulously. "Can you heal the king? Or fix my home? No! You cannot! Instead, you would rather smuggle those responsible out of our land. You are treading dangerously close to treason," Baldur growled.

"Treason?!" Valkyrie yelled back. "You dare speak to me of treason?! I took my orders from the king directly. He placed these two into my care and bade they not be harmed! From whom did the order to hunt them come? No, if you want to talk treason; you are about to raid into Equestrian lands in direct breach of Ragnarok's decree. What is that if not treason?!"

"Ragnarok is–"

"Still alive!" Valkyrie interrupted. "And while he draws breath his laws will be respected!"

Baldur's expression darkened and his scowl became dangerous. "We are not raiding. We are going to war."

"Only the king can declare war!" cried Valkyrie in exasperation. "You are breaking the law one way or the other!"

"We must retaliate! We cannot let our enemies cause near-death and destruction and escape unpunished!"

"They are not our enemies!"

"Ragnarok has always referred to them as such," retorted Baldur smugly.

"And when I brought them to him, he let them go! Do you not pay attention?! Baldur, they have the moon! If you want the storms to stop and the sun to set, you have to stop this lunacy and let them get on with it! Why is this so hard to get through your thick skull?!"

"No, Valkyrie. They have caused havoc with the world. They have committed crimes against us. There will be redress in kind!"

"Listen to yourself, Baldur! Is this what you want? A war with ponies? With them?" Valkyrie gestured at the two tiny ponies stood at his feet.

Baldur dutifully looked at the two ponies and, just for a moment, his resolve seemed to falter. Then his determined frown returned. "It is not a question of what I want."

"Believe me, it is not what Ragnarok wants either! When he wakes up and finds you defied his orders, unilaterally declared war and doomed the world to end, do you think he will be pleased? No! He will have your head. I have been saying this for days!"

"What Ragnarok would want is impossible to know. Yet strangely, you seem to have all the answers!"

Valkyrie threw his arms in the air, completely exasperated. It was like talking to a brick wall! Then he fixed Baldur with a very level glare. "You know what, Baldur? Let's go ask him!" He looked at Celestia beneath him. "You may get your wish to see him after all."

–––

Landing heavily at the entrance to Ragnarok's lair, Valkyrie allowed Luna and Celestia to disembark. Baldur landed next to him, though his two associates remained in the air, circling the volcano. They were met at the entrance by a slightly shorter white-scaled dragon that Luna had caught only a glimpse of on their first visit. When he saw Celestia and Luna his face became surprised as he addressed a still-furious Valkyrie.

"You caught them again then? Terrible business really. Do you intend to carry out the execution yourself?"

"You as well, Aesir?!" Valkyrie cried in challenge. "Suddenly execution is the default punishment, is it? Tell me, what actual law have they broken which demands it?!" he yelled, pushing roughly past him and guiding Celestia and Luna into the winding cave tunnel that led to Ragnarok's chamber.

"You...you cannot take them in there!" objected Aesir.

Valkyrie looked back with barely contained rage, fixing Aesir with a dangerous glare. "Three days ago I brought these two ponies here in chains, and Ragnarok decided they should leave as guests under my protection. Now I bring them here as guests under my protection and suddenly this is in some way forbidden?!"

Aesir and Baldur simply exchanged looks at the cave entrance, then glanced back at Valkyrie. Valkyrie looked back impatiently. "Aren't you coming?" Not waiting for a reply, he continued walking towards Ragnarok's lair.

The passageway to Ragnarok's lair curved twice, first left, then right in a wide 'S' before ultimately ending in a ninety-degree left-turn that immediately led into the chamber itself. Guiding Celestia and Luna before him, Valkyrie led them along the winding passageway towards the same chamber he had brought them to under much different circumstances several days previously.

"Do you have a plan?" asked Celestia quietly.

"Wake Ragnarok up," replied Valkyrie. "Though, I'd be lying if I said I was confident. I don't suppose you know any magic spells to wake a comatose dragon?"

"It is not a subject I have studied in any great depth," admitted Luna.

Valkyrie gave a frustrated growl to himself, then looked at Celestia and spoke in a low voice. "If I fail in this, you will likely have to flee. Should that be the case, I will do all I can to give you time...but you will not have much."

Celestia returned his gaze for a moment, then nodded in solemn understanding.

They reached the end of the passageway, turned the left-hand corner, and entered Ragnarok's chamber.

Upon his great throne, Ragnarok half-sat, half-lay, slumped over and limp. His eyes were closed and a great gash ran down his face from forehead to jaw. The second horn atop his head was now broken halfway along its length, most of the spikes on his back were snapped or bent, and he breathed ever-so shallowly and always with a constant, concerning wheezing, as though every inhalation was an effort.

Valkyrie strode boldly into the chamber, his blood still up and anger foremost in his mind. The cave was filled with half a dozen other dragons, all stood in respectful repose, but he was met by the short, emerald-green dragon who had also been with him upon his first meeting with Celestia and Luna. "Valkyrie? You brought them back here? Are you going to–?"

Valkyrie looked dangerously into his eyes. He took a breath as though to say something, then at the last second seemed to change his mind. "You know, I don't have time to keep explaining myself." He pushed past him and fixed his gaze on the sleeping king on his throne, advancing on him quickly. "Wake up, you belligerent old fool!" He reached the throne and without missing a beat, gave Ragnarok a full open-palmed slap to the face with his right claw, to many gasps from around the chamber. "I have had to deal with a great many brain-dead dragons recently. I will not have it from you too. Wake up!" Another slap connected solidly, even as Baldur and several other dragons advanced on him. "Do you know what has been happening while you relax there? Your subjects have been flouting your decrees! They have declared war without your say so! And they have been threatening to execute guests that you ordered protected! Do you find this acceptable? Would you rather take a nap while your authority is ridiculed? Or are you going to wake–!"

Even as he prepared a third slap, his wrist was seized by a large, bronze-scaled claw with surprising strength and speed. On the throne before him, Ragnarok cracked his eyes – eye actually, for his left eye was swollen shut, or worse – and with difficulty, focussed for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was cracked, hoarse and weak, but still clear. "So eager to tell me what my subjects have been doing?" he sneered accusingly. "What have you been doing, Valkyrie?"

A series of gasps echoed around the chamber from every dragon present. Valkyrie, his wrist still seized in Ragnarok's grip, knelt before the throne and looked his king in the eye. "Building trust."

Suddenly Ragnarok's eye focussed a little more and he gave a smile. Not a grin or a smirk or a wicked, wry rictus. An actual smile. "Could it be? Have you finally stopped being as foolish as you look?"

"I am certainly getting a sense of what it's like to be surrounded by fools," Valkyrie started under his breath, for Ragnarok's ears only. Then he continued in his normal tone. "My Lord, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have returned from Tartarus with the moon. They are on their way to Canterlot to return it to the heavens and put right all that has gone wrong. Baldur and your other subjects believe instead you wish a war with Equestria, and to see Princess's Celestia and Luna punished for causing injury to you and the world with their malice and negligence. And unless you do something, they are going to assume you want them executed for their crimes."

Ragnarok nodded slowly, releasing Valkyrie's arm. Considering his head injury, and Valkyrie's abridged explanation, he was up to speed quite quickly. "Baldur? Get over here!" His voice was terribly weak, but no less authoritative, and it still carried in the chamber. The blue dragon approached the throne and knelt. "You want me to declare war on Equestria? You must justify it. What has Princess Twilight Sparkle done to harm us?"

"She has not set the sun for three days," began Baldur confidently.

"I see. And how many lives have been lost in consequence?"

"Uh...none, my Lord."

"Oh? How much damage has this caused?"

"Uh...none. But if it is allowed to continue–"

"That was not the question, nor is it relevant!" His voice croaked and nearly broke with the strain of trying to shout. "I will not take lives based on 'ifs' and 'buts.' Send an emissary if you must, but there will be no war, do you understand?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Good. What are the charges against Princess Celestia?"

"She...well...she is your enemy!"

Ragnarok paused, clearly waiting for more. "Is that it?"

"My Lord...you do not want your enemy...?" Baldur trailed off, unsure how to finish that sentence.

"Princess Celestia is to be treated with the utmost courtesy. If I hear any complaints from her on any subject while she is a guest in my kingdom then heads will roll. Clear?"

Baldur gulped and nodded quickly, all too aware how wrong he had been up until this point. His subdued, embarrassed expression was matched by every other dragon in the room. Except Valkyrie who was managing a mixture of relief and smugness.

"And Princess Luna..." Ragnarok half-asked, half-stated. Baldur opened his mouth, ready to launch into dialogue, but Ragnarok simply cut him off in bored, patient strains. "Don't bother, I already know. Princess Luna, you removed the moon from the sky, causing storms which injured me and destroyed Baldur's home. Do you deny this?"

Luna looked up, not quite prepared for the question. She glanced at her sister, who gave her a reassuring look. "No. I don't deny it."

"Princess Luna. Where have you been for the last three days?"

Slightly hesitantly, Luna began a summarised account of their ordeals. The crossing of the Styx and nearly falling prey to its siren-like waters. Being accosted by a tribe of Cyclops' within an infinite forest. Flying over an endless ocean while a constant whirlpool threatened to drown them. Being attacked and chased relentlessly by crow-monsters. Forced to do battle with the sea-monster, Scylla. An exhausting ascent up the steepest, highest mountain slope ever conceived. Journeying to the moon, confronting her own, stale hatred and returning to Tartarus. Now forced to shoulder an ever-increasing weight until able return it to the sky and right all the wrong she knew she'd caused.

Ragnarok nodded sagely. Then he looked fixedly at Baldur, still knelt before him. "Look at her, Baldur. Look her in the eye. Tell me: do you believe she deserves to die because your cave collapsed?"

Luna met Baldur's gaze and could not keep a guilty look from her face. As soon as Baldur made eye-contact, it was clear he could give only one answer. "No, my Lord."

Ragnarok nodded once more, and now looked back to Luna. "You have a great responsibility, Princess. And such recklessness as you have shown should not go unpunished," he said, bringing up a weak forearm and scratching his chin theatrically as though deep in thought. "Ah. I have it. Since you saw fit to banish the moon, your punishment will be that you shall be banished to the moon. A thousand years should do it..." He looked at her with a sharp-toothed grin. "But we'll call it time already served, I think."

Ragnarok looked levelly at Baldur. "In case it is not obvious, Baldur, let me spell it out. To all of you! Equestria as a whole is not to be punished for the mistakes of one individual, no matter how grave. And I have decided that Princess Luna has suffered enough for the harm she has caused me and my lands. No war. No excecution. Leave...the ponies...alone! Now get out. All of you."

As one every dragon in the room, save Valkyrie, shuffled in bewildered fashion towards the entrance and departed from the chamber. As soon as the last of them was gone, Ragnarok slumped heavily, his eye half-lidded, his head falling backwards, and his body wracked with fatigue. When he spoke, his voice was but a ghost of even the hoarse intonation he had used before. "Celestia?"

Extending her wings, Celestia flew from the ground and alighted upon one of the great arms of his throne, closer to his head. "I'm here."

"Is Valkyrie telling the truth? Is there trust between you?"

"The foundations are there," said Celestia, smiling but unable to keep a tear from her eye. "And I would say they are strong ones upon which to build."

"More than I ever managed," said Ragnarok, his voice a whisper now. "Valkyrie, do not make my error. Do not make an enemy of her. Of them. They can be so much more."

Valkyrie nodded solemnly, but it was Celestia who spoke again, tears flowing freely and choking back sobs. "Ragnarok, please. I'm not–"

"...not my enemy," he whispered, a sharp smile in his mouth. With great effort he pulled his head forward to look once more at Celestia. "I know. Kings do not have friends, Celestia. Dragons certainly don't. But were I neither of those things...I'd have thought it nice if we were friends." His head fell limply back against the throne with a dull thud. "Now go, quickly. And send Aesir back in here, lest they believe you have done me in and this whole mess starts again...without me to bail you out, Valkyrie."

It was one of the most difficult things Celestia had had to do in recent memory. But, with a tearful expression she flew to Ragnarok's neck, gave him a gentle nuzzle, and then returned to the floor with her sister. Then all three of them were heading for the exit as Ragnarok's breathing turned to soft wheezes once more.

Outside, Valkyrie curtly nodded for Aesir to make his way back in, even as Baldur approached him.

"Is he...?"

"No," replied Valkyrie, "But if you have anything else to say to him, get back in there now."

"Val, I–I'm sorry. I..." he trailed off.

"It's not me you should be apologising to," retorted Valkyrie, annoyed. Then he watched with just a hint of smug satisfaction as Baldur bent low and gave slow, deliberate apologies to the two ponies at his feet, which were accepted with far more grace than he would have offered in their place. Still, Baldur would not be living that down for a while. Then the blue-scaled dragon was making his way back into the cave too, leaving Valkyrie outside with the two Princess ponies.

Celestia only gazed at the floor, the power of speech temporarily lost to her it seemed. As eager as he was to be away, he accepted that it was an inopportune time to disturb her. Then Luna raised her head towards him and, using what must have been some kind of sisterly sixth-sense, asked the question that was no doubt on Celestia's mind but which she was unable to voice.

"Is he...I mean will he be...?"

Valkyrie scowled down at her. "You wish me to predict the future now?" There was a tiny flinch from Celestia, even as Luna gave her a comforting look. Valkyrie raised his head to the sky and let out a long breath through clenched teeth. Sensitivity was not a skill in which he was well practiced. He looked down at them both and tried again. "I do not know. His injuries are grave – they could still kill him. But, I think more probably, he will deep-sleep until his body is healed. Though it may be years...or decades...before he wakes again. And that is if he does not expire from age in the meantime. He is old now." Then he flashed a grin. "But...he is the most belligerent dragon I have ever met. I'm certain that Death is dreading the prospect of coming for him. He will want to put it off for as long as possible."

Celestia remained unmoving and mute beneath him, her gaze trained on the ground. Luna looked thoughtful for a moment, then met his eyes again. "Deep-sleep?"

Valkyrie nodded. Then Luna approached her sister and put a foreleg over her shoulders. She spoke such that he could hardly hear her, saying softly, "Perhaps he will dream, Tia." Luna gave Celestia a warm smile, and in the same moment Celestia's head raised in surprise. She met her sister's gaze, found some understanding there that was lost on him, and gave her sister a happy hug and a nuzzle into her neck.

The display of affection continued for several agonising seconds, during which the temptation to tap his foot, yawn, or fidget restlessly to indicate his impatience was unbearable. But...just this once...he bore it out. There was something about this moment that, for some reason, he was loathe to interrupt. Eventually the hug ended, and Celestia and Luna looked back up towards him with expressions that were clear indicators of their readiness to proceed with their mission.

Then without further ado, he bent low, inviting Celestia and Luna to climb aboard. Even as he did so he noticed that Luna's saddlebag was bulging more than it had been earlier, and...yes...the weight had increased yet again.

With considerable effort Valkyrie beat his wings and climbed ponderously skyward, heading for Equestria, the two princesses – and the moon – in tow.

Chapter XI

View Online

–––Chapter XI–––

They reached the edge of the desert and crossed the mountain range, passing over the cave that had been their shelter for that second night. Then they were flying onwards again over the same forests and fields above which they had previously soared on their outbound trip. Except now in many places the landscape beneath them was twisted, churned, burned and cratered. A symptom of the horrendous storms that had seemingly hit everywhere and at once. Luna couldn't take her eyes off it, and for every blackened tree or tornado-ravaged meadow, her guilt grew a little. Then she would shift on Valkyrie's back, feel the slowly-enlarging moon sway gently in her saddlebag, and that guilt would transform into resolve.

Even in spite of the weight, Valkyrie's wings carried them at a far greater speed than they were capable of on their own. Distances that would have taken them an hour were dealt with in just over half the time, and it was not long after the sun left the horizon and began to rise again before they found themselves back within the borders of Equestria.

When Luna looked down upon what the storms had done to her own country, no amount of resolve could have prepared her. Meadows and fields, farms and forests all lay ruined, devastated by a combination of high winds, lightning strikes and earthquakes. Fortunately the few populated areas over which they sailed were much less damaged – no doubt a credit to the courageous efforts of her little ponies to keep each other safe. But it still struck a blow.

"It is no good," called Valkyrie, now obviously breathing heavily. "Unless you can make that thing lighter, I am going to have to rest for a minute."

"I'm afraid I cannot," responded Luna. "I can't apply a new spell without releasing the old one first. Imagine the full size and weight of the moon suddenly appearing on your back."

"There is small town nearby," Celestia called to Valkyrie. "It is as good a place as any to rest."

Celestia guided Valkyrie a few degrees to the east and sure enough, the settlement came into view. A small secluded township nestled in a circular clearing in the midst of a large and inviting forest. The village consisted almost entirely of unvarnished natural wood-built buildings arranged in sectors in a roughly circular pattern around a central town hall. Several of the buildings showed storm-damage, but even more were obviously newly-repaired and the locals had clearly wasted no time in cleaning up and getting back on with life as quickly as possible. About a hundred meters to the northwest of the village itself lay a large lake – no doubt used as the local water supply – connected by a dirt track to the town clearing. With nowhere to land in the close-built village, it was towards the lake that Valkyrie descended, touching down heavily on all fours on the shoreline.

Nearby, several ponies out for a walk along the lakeside caught sight of the dragon and wasted no time fleeing down the dirt track back in the direction of the town. Celestia and Luna fluttered to the ground, too late to prevent the panicked exodus.

"How long do you need to rest?" asked Celestia looking back at Valkyrie.

"Depends on how much heavier that thing is going to get in the meantime," he snorted at the saddlebags worn by Luna. "Not long."

Celestia looked back at Luna with a little smile. "We should go and avert a panic before it starts."

Luna nodded, but remained contemplative as they walked the dirt track. She had known the storms had hit. She had known there had been consequences. But...to see it... "Tia? Did you see it? All the damage? The destruction? That...I caused?"

"Luna, it was not deliberate. It was a tragic mistake, and from what Twilight told me, the damage looks worse than it is."

"I'm supposed to protect Equestria. How can I remain in Canterlot and call myself fit to rule after I have nearly destroyed it?"

"Luna, you mustn't blame yourself," said Celestia kindly, as they reached the end of the dirt track and passed beneath an arched pine sign stood on high wooden legs and extending over the road, carved into which were the words, Welcome to Hollow Shades.

"I will be blamed by many, and rightly so," said Luna morosely, "I might as well add my own voice. I...will return the moon, Tia. But it may be best if I no longer sit the throne. Perhaps I will leave Canterlot. Perhaps even Equestria. I may...travel," she finished with a shrug.

"You would not do so without me with you," Celestia began soothingly. But ponies were already gathering round with a mixture of expressions. Some had obviously heard of the commotion at the lake, some only knew that someone new had arrived. In no time at all, a thin crowd of ponies had formed a semicircle around the princesses at the junction where the dirt road entered the town clearing. Then the questions started coming. Thick, fast, anxious and haphazard, before Celestia held up an authoritative hoof and fixed the crowd with a regal smile.

"Please do not be alarmed. I can assure you that the dragon some of you have seen land at the lake is no danger. He is a friend and helping us reach Canterlot with the moon. I promise that tonight, the sun will set, the moon will rise, and everything will be as it–"

"There she is, guys!" came an excited yell from the rear of the crowd. Then there was the impression of movement within it, legs and bodies shuffling as though parted by several unseen objects rushing through the throng at ground level, straight towards the Princesses. Until finally, reaching the front, there burst forth three excitable foals; two colts and a filly, who looked up at Princess Luna with rapt amazement and a chorus of 'wow's, 'I can't believe it's and 'I told you so's.

It took a moment for Luna to realise, with some great surprise, that the impromptu leader of the trio was a colt she had seen before. Her somber mood lifted and she could not help but give a warm smile as she dipped her head. "Why, hello there. How is your new griffon friend doing?"

Rather than answer her he turned to his two friends. "See? I told you she was there! And it's not a Bogey-Poney at all, it was a griffon the whole time!" He looked up at princess Luna, to answer her question. "She's doing okay. I keep dreaming about her and we go on adventures and stuff! Thanks for introducing me to her," he finished somewhat abashed.

Luna's smile fell into a more serious expression. "I know it must have been very scary here the past few times the sun has set. The storms must have been terrible. I'm sorry that it happened. I hope you were not too frightened."

"Well, maybe it was a little scary. But I wasn't frightened. Not really. I knew nothing bad was really going to happen." The colt beamed up at her.

"And how did you know that?" asked Celestia, already with a good feeling where this was going.

"Because of Princess Luna," said the foal. "Everypony knows that Princess Luna is the princess who makes sure nothing bad happens at night. And I saw how brave she was when we went hunting for the Bogey-Pony. So I knew that Princess Luna would make sure we were all safe. She's my favourite princess!" he finished triumphantly. Then very embarrassedly, as he realised what a faux pas he had just made in front of Princess Celestia...

...who simply smiled and chuckled. "She is a great many ponies' favourite princess, and she is the bravest pony I know. And I can assure you...I can assure all of you," she said raising her head to the crowd, "That it is thanks to Princess Luna that you will all be safe tonight when the sun sets."

There was a wild assortment of cheering, whistling, stomping and general applause. Luna's name was yelled in exhaltation, and every pony in the crowd had a look of immense relief and gratitude on their face.

"Call me silly," said Celestia in Luna's ear, "but it doesn't sound like they are blaming you at all."

The cheering died and the crowd broke up a little, but did not disperse. The vast majority wanted to come forward and thank Luna and Celestia personally, and Luna even let a couple of the younger and more inquisitive among them get a peek at the moon in her saddlebag. The overwhelming theme of the populace was that they had enjoyed the Festival of the Eclipse immensely, been a bit worried when the moon had vanished, relieved when they heard that the Princesses were on the case, and had endured two nights of bad storms followed by several weird days of...well, day. But they had adapted and got on with life, and they had nothing but good things to say about Princess Twilight and her 'Canterlot Six,' as they were colloquially known. And even when Luna owned up that the removal of the moon hadn't been an accident, there were usually a couple of follow-up questions and, once she gave the honest answers, the response was still positive. In fact there wasn't a single accusatory glare cast, or hoof pointed. No pitchforks were raised and everypony seemed willing to forgive. Just as they had done once before.

"I...I do not deserve such wonderful subjects as these..." said Luna at one point between conversations, wiping a tear from her eye.

Celestia looked at her. "Every single pony here believes they do not deserve as wonderful a princess as you. A princess who would literally go to hell and back to ensure they were safe. A princess who would take time out from a perilous journey of critical importance to go hunting the Bogey-Pony because she didn't want a foal to be afraid. The princess who makes sure nothing bad happens at night." She smiled. "Sometimes I wonder if I deserve as wonderful a sister as you."

If there had been a tear in her eye before, there were two now. "Tia...I..." but she didn't have any words. And from the look on Celestia's face, nor did she need them.

That is the sister I know and love.

Eventually they had to take their leave. The world was still in jeopardy after all, and the moon wasn't getting any lighter. It seemed to Luna that by now that her saddlebags had been filled to bulging with bars of gold, and as Luna and Celestia returned down the dirt path to the lake, the constant weight was taking its toll. Goodness only knew how bad it would be for Valkyrie.

"Would you like me to carry the moon for a while?" asked Celestia. She had to admit, it was not a question she'd ever imagined herself asking.

"No, I am alright for now. Canterlot is not far. I'll...let me see it home."

They reached the lake to find Valkyrie engaged in deep, philosophical conversation with a young foal from the town...

"No, go away."

"Please?"

"No. Go away."

"Pleeease?"

"No. Go aw– oh, thank heavens, Celestia, Luna, you're back. Let's be away as quickly as possible. Please."

"What is going on?" asked Luna with a little smirk.

"The child wishes to–"

"Princess princess princess! Will you take my picture with the dragon?" asked the excited foal, handing her camera to Luna.

Smiling and taking the camera in her magic Luna looked at Valkyrie, while Celestia argued: "It will help us be on our way more quickly." She had a hidden smirk of her own, though.

Valkyrie grumbled loudly but acquiesced to continuing to lie still for the purposes of a picture, until...

"If you open your mouth, I could stand in it and the picture would look so cool!"

Valkyrie's eyes widened for an instant in surprise, then narrowed dangerously. "Don't tempt me," he growled under his breath. But the foal was already dancing up to him, and any further argument was only going to delay their departure. Reluctantly he lay his head on the ground and opened his jaw wide as the foal completely heedlessly bounded up and into his waiting maw, standing between two of his lower fangs. A few tense seconds passed during which...there was absolutely no look of concern on the faces of the two pony princesses before him. A young pony child was literally stood in his mouth, potentially an instant from death...and it did not worry them at all? They must be such fools not to see the inherent danger here! Ugh. Never mind. More seconds passed during which he very very carefully ensured that his tongue remained perfectly still and he did nothing foolish like sneeze or cough.

The photo taken, the foal jumped down, retrieved her camera with exhuberant thanks to the Princesses and then turned back to him. "Thank you, mister dragon. Thanks a lot!" And with that she bounded away down the dirt track towards the town.

"That was very kind of you," said Celestia, even as she and Luna once more found their perches upon his back.

"Kindness had nothing to do with it. I was impatient. That was an extremely idiotic thing to do," he grumbled. He took to the air, the period of rest enabling him to regain the sky with just a little difficulty.

"Idiotic?" asked Celestia innocently from his back.

"What if I had eaten the child?" retorted Valkyrie.

"Would you have?"

Valkyrie grumbled again. "No. Dragons don't eat live prey. Gemstones are tastier and far easier to catch. But why did you allow such a thing?!" Then, with a start, he answered his own question. "This is more trust, isn't it?"

"Yes it is," confirmed Celestia.

Valkyrie growled. "A foolish gamble to demonstrate a level of trust not yet earned."

"Don't you see, Valkyrie? It was not my trust you earned, it was that foal's," said Celestia with a smile. "You are not just building trust with us. You are building trust with Equestria. And you are off to a wonderful start."

"In fact," added Luna, "I would say you have even made a friend."

Valkyrie grumbled loudly once again. This was ridiculous!

So why did he feel a sense of...accomplishment?

He...he'd made a friend.

–––

The sun had descended into late-afternoon by the time they finally saw it.

Valkyrie, circumventing a mountain and then bursting through a thin wisp of cloud, beheld the great Plain of Equestria and there, in the distance, built into the side of a mountain...

Canterlot.

The Equestrian capital city. White-stone buildings capped with spires and towers of gold and purple, dominated by a huge castle hung out over the mountainside. Flags and banners fluttered in the breeze and the whole city had a kind of magical quality far removed from the dry, plain desert that was his own home.

Stunning.

The castle itself though looked in poor shape. Several of the towers were in ruins and much of the stonework looked as though it had been scorched, though even from this distance he could make out the beginnings of repair-work upon them.

As they approached, a loud, ringing horn-call sounded and reverberated through the air. Almost through the entire valley.

"That is an alarm call," explained Luna. "The Guard believe you are a threat."

"Aren't I?" sulked Valkyrie. "Baldur was right. I'm going soft."

Circling the city once, Valkyrie spotted an open expanse of green land on the side of the mountain, adjacent to which was a fast-flowing river-cum-waterfall and a large, wide drawbridge – currently raised. It was by far the easiest landing site he could see and, with wings billowing furiously he landed upon it on all fours, his tired wings now glad to be on the ground and free of that cursed weight.

Celestia and Luna hopped down to the ground at his feet even as the drawbridge opened and fell flat with a great whump. Across the bridge in perfect step galloped scores of Royal Guards, armor gleaming, weapons ready. Then suddenly, they were also at every window, every terrace, every vantage point on the city wall, arrows nocked into bows and spears high. Valkyrie had to give them credit. Their readiness was instant and, even for him, formidable.

At the head of the column of guards spewing from the castle galloped six slightly smaller ponies of various colours – and one baby dragon even! – led by a purple-coated pony with a look of intense determination. She led her vanguard to the end of the bridge and they began to spread out slightly before him. Then the purple leader was striding forward, brimming with desperate bravado, and addressing him.

"Alright, you! Just give us the Princesses and no-one will–"

"Twilight!" Celestia's happy voice rang through the air as she trotted over to meet her, Princess Luna following close behind. Celestia reached Twilight and gave her a very happy hug and a nuzzle. "It is so good to see you."

"...get...hurt. Run, Princess...we'll...hold him off?" Twilight blinked, shook her head and stepped back to look up at Celestia. "This isn't that, is it?"

Celestia chuckled happily and, turning, presented the large red dragon standing before them. "Princess Twilight, may I introduce Valkyrie? His help has been invaluable to us. And he has brought us home safely."

"Uh..." Twilight began talking out of the corner of her mouth, "Isn't he the one you said in your letter...?"

"Yes he did. But it's okay, Twilight. He's a friend now."

Valkyrie flinched at the word, but didn't have time to dwell. Because now the purple one – that was Princess Twilight Sparkle, apparently – was looking up and addressing him with great sincerity in her eyes. "Well, on behalf of all of Equestria, Mr. Valkyrie, thank you for bringing our princesses home safely. We owe you a great debt of gratitude."

Valkyrie snorted in derision. What good was gratitude? You could not hoard gratitude!

On impulse, he fixed the small, purple dragon below him in his vision. He reached out and plucked him from the ground with a claw, smoothly placing him into his palm, bringing him to eye-level.

"Spike!" cried Twilight.

"Hey, you. Leggo'a me. Put me down!" Spike protested.

Every guard shifted a little. Every pegasus flexed their wings; every earth-pony planted their hooves; every unicorn lowered their horn a tad, even as Rainbow Dash took to the air, ready to swoop in and rescue Spike from...being looked at?

Valkyrie paid them no mind, instead regarding the baby dragon – 'Spike', apparently – in his palm. "You live among these...ponies? You call them 'friends'?"

"Yeah. And you're not gonna hurt 'em! Uh...please?"

An interesting reaction. "I'm not planning on it. Tell me, how much do you trust them? How much do they trust you?"

The small dragon looked blankly for several moments, then replied in a most sincere tone, "I trust them with my life. I'd...well...I'd do anything for 'em." There were various sounds of approval from the ponies beneath him reciprocating the sentiment.

Valkyrie narrowed his eyes. When he spoke, it was as though only to himself. "So...it is possible then." He made eye-contact with Celestia and grinned. "A week ago, I'd have thought it preposterous. Yet here is proof. Nice to know I haven't been wasting my time." Then his eyes focussed on Spike once more. "You have a couple of nasty scratches to your tail," he noted.

"Uh...yeah," Spike agreed. "They don't hurt much any more, but they just won't go."

Valkyrie gave a low hum, examining the purple scales. "Melt some amethyst and use it as a salve, or bathe in it depending on how much you can get. Your scales will shine like new." He gave a little grin. "Don't go letting the side down around these..." he stopped. One of Princess Twilight's advanced guard was behaving in a most un-guard like fashion. Shivering and looking up at him with wide-eyed terror. "What is wrong with that one?"

"Fluttershy? Oh, she's kinda terrified of dragons. Big dragons. Big, sharp-toothed, massive-claw-having dragons. Dragons like you, I guess."

"Oh." On any normal day, he would have been immensely proud of his own ability to strike terror into the hearts of all who looked upon him. But today was proving very far from a normal day, and the fact that his mere presence was having such a horrifying effect on the creature before him – and the fact that she might have some say in how the hundreds of spears currently arrayed against him were employed – made him decidedly uneasy.

Lowering his claw to the floor and allowing Spike to disembark, he brought his head down as low as he could and looked the yellow-and-pink one in the eyes, causing her to shrink back and hide her face behind her mane. Hah! As if that was any defen–! He caught himself. Deep breath. Building trust. It was a strain to make his voice low and quiet. "Do not be alarmed. I am not here to gobble you up or lay your city to waste. If I were, it would be in flames by now." Hmm. Not great. This was more difficult than he imagined.

"Um...thank you?" It was a tiny, barely even audible squeak.

"I would...prefer it if you were not afraid of me...on this occasion..."

"Okay..." it was a strained, strangled sound.

"I am...trying to 'build trust.'" Cripes, he was desperate!

"I–I'm sorry. I know I'm being rude," she was having trouble getting the words out, but she was just about managing it. "And you're being a lot nicer than the last dragon I met. It's just–"

"The...last dragon you met?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Oh...um..well...there was a dragon who was snoring in a cave on a mountain and breathing smoke all over Equestria and we had to go up there and convince him to leave and I had to...tell him off."

Valkyrie blinked in recognition. "Freyr?" He couldn't help but laugh out loud as he looked at Celestia. "Ragnarok tore a strip off him for that!" He looked back at Fluttershy. "You told him off? You're Freyr's Bane?" He narrowed his eyes and grinned. "You are supposed to be as large as an Ursa, with, 'eyes of raging fire and a will that can be broken by none alive.' Oh, how wonderful. Thank you. And thank you too, Celestia. The trip has been worth it for that alone." His grin was so wide as to make his jaw hurt. Then he looked the frightened pony in the eyes once more. "When I get back, I will make sure that every dragon respects and fears the name, 'Fluttershy.' If you wish, you need never fear another."

The pony was still shrinking back and hiding her face, but she was at least no longer trembling. He wasn't sure what the problem was. He had said she had nothing to fear from him. And she wouldn't have anything to fear from any other dragon once he was through. Why was her fear not allayed?

There was a very tiny squeak from behind the pink mane. "Thank you."

Valkyrie looked at Celestia and raised an eyebrow. "I suppose it is not always easy, is it?"

"No," Celestia replied with a smile. "But the fact that you are trying so hard means a great deal." Slowly, gently, the pink mane in front of him shifted a little, briefly revealing a single eye and the hint of a nervous smile.

Valkyrie drew himself up and regarded Celestia and Luna. All of this dialogue was little more than a distraction. "The moon..." he said.

"The sun will be due to set in an hour," began Celestia.

"After it has gone down, I will return the moon to the heavens," continued Luna. "It is best if we not have the sun and moon in the sky at the same time at the moment. I do not want any complications."

Valkyrie nodded slowly. "I won't loiter, in case more of your citizens react like Fluttershy here. I'll find somewhere on the mountain until the moon is safely back in the sky. Then I will leave." He gave a bow to the three princesses before him, and with that he extended his wings and leaped into the air with an ease he had not experienced in hours, wheeling away in search of a good vantage point to monitor the sunset.

At a signal from Celestia, the Guard stood down, dispersing immediately and returning to their posts, leaving eight ponies and one dragon stood with each other at the end of the drawbridge. Twilight looked up at Celestia once more, unable to keep the happiest grin from her face, until... "You're hurt!" she gasped.

Not quite catching on, Celestia had to crane her neck to see the almost completely-faded scratches on her coat to which Twilight was referring. "It's okay, Twilight. They were only scratches." She looked at her seriously. "Are you alright? Your wing looks painful."

"Oh...it's getting better," she said, giving it a demonstrative flap and hardly wincing at all. Then Luna stepped forward.

"Twilight? Spike?" She bowed her head. "I am so sorry that my actions caused you injury. I hope you can both forgive me one day. I know that it was thanks to you...thanks to all of you," she said now addressing all of Twilight's friends, "that this catastrophe was not worse. I had no right to ask so much of you, and you all have my eternal gratitude," she finished solemnly, head bowed.

"That's okay, Princess," said Twilight softly. "Believe me, I know how it feels to try and do something for the right reasons, only for it to end up out of control, or hurting someone you care about." Luna raised her head at that and smiled gratefully.

She started to lead them across the drawbridge and into the city, but about halfway across she stumbled, only just managing to remain on her hooves.

"Princess Luna?" asked Twilight. "Are you hurt too? Are you alright?"

"It's the moon," said Luna, a little breathless now and through gritted teeth. "It feels like there is a ton of bricks on my back."

"Well, let me help," said Twilight, lighting her horn automatically. Her aura enveloped Luna's saddlebags, but as she tried to lift it, nothing happened. She focussed more of her energy, but again there was no effect. "Huh?"

"You are trying to levitate the moon, Twilight Sparkle. It weighs seventy billion-billion tonnes. It is not possible," explained Luna.

"But...it doesn't weigh that much right now," Twilight said, confused.

"I can assure you, magically speaking, neither the size nor the mass of the moon has changed."

"Sister, please..." started Celestia, but Luna cut her off.

"It's okay, Tia. There are but a few more steps until the moon is safely within Canterlot. I can carry it that far," she said with a weary smile.

They crossed the drawbridge and entered the city, and as they crossed the threshold, there was an immense feeling of relief in both sisters and they gave each other a warm smile.

They'd made it.

And didn't it show! If their departure had been low-key and muted, their return was anything but. Banners, flags, streamers – oh so many streamers! – were everywhere! And so were the ponies. They crowded the streets, peered from windows, flew overhead. And all of them were uproarious. Celestia and Luna's names were, literally in some cases, shouted from the rooftops. Music started from somewhere, then confetti began pouring into the streets as Luna and Celestia headed towards the castle. They reached the courtyard before the main entrance, and quickly realised they wouldn't be going much further due to the fact that it too was absolutely jam packed with happy ponies waiting for their Princesses. In fact every pony in Canterlot had been waiting for them.

To welcome them home.

Celestia betrayed a reserved, happy smile through her composure, but try as she might to remain equally serene, Luna's smile was far wider and she could not keep her eyes from watering.

"Twilight," Celestia smiled. "You did not have to do this."

"Do?" Twilight grinned back. "I didn't have to do anything! This is a party."

On cue there was a pink blur, only there for a moment, and when Luna and Celestia looked again, each of them were suddenly and somehow holding a cupcake on one hoof, iced with mint-green frosting. Then from somewhere behind and above them came a high-pitched voice. "They're brand new! Try 'em! They're fantastic!"

The party already underway, Celestia and Luna celebrated in typical restrained fashion while the citizens of Canterlot rejoiced and congratulated them. Twilight even found time to relax. After so many days of constant stress over the Princesses, the storms, the sun and the end of the world, it was nice to be able to cut loose knowing that now, everything was going to be okay.

She caught Celestia looking up at the part-repaired but in-reality-still-ruined towers above them, and then by chance she happened to look down and make eye-contact. Twilight couldn't stop herself. "Sorry sorry sorry!"

Celestia just gave her a chuckle. "Twilight, it is quite alright. Walls can be rebuilt. Lives cannot be replaced. I am very, very proud of you. Of everything you and your friends have done. I told you I had absolute faith in you. And I knew you were ready. Thank you, Twilight, for keeping Equestria safe."

"Uh...excuse me your highness," interjected a unicorn guard. "The sun has reached the horizon. It is time for it to set."

"Oh. Right," said Twilight.

The three princesses, Twilight's friends, and a great many of the crowd made their way to a green, open space a little way away from the castle. It gave way to a steep drop to the west and afforded a view out over the plain below and the sun in the western sky. Now, facing the sun, Twilight lit her horn, concentrated hard, and...

She looked at Princess Celestia stood next to her. "Sorry!"

"Don't be sorry, Twilight," she chuckled again. "If you wish to set the sun, you are quite welcome to."

"No! Please. Take it back. I don't know how you do it every day!"

Celestia laughed at that. "Very well." She faced the sun herself and closed her eyes. Lighting her horn, she reached out gently until her magic touched it and...oh, it was glorious. The sun. Her charge. Her companion. The constant presence in her life. It was right there, where it had always been. It welcomed her back with a flood of warmth and made her smile a very happy smile. Her magic wrapped around it, enveloped it gently and coaxed it slowly beneath the inviting horizon as its glow began to fade from the sky.

A great cheer arose from the crowd at the sight of a sunset not seen for three days. Then Luna stepped forward as Twilight retreated towards her friends, leaving Luna and Celestia stood together in front of the drop away to the west.

Luna shed her saddlebags with a grunt and a measure of satisfaction, though they hit the ground with a very solid thud, and the one containing the moon made a shallow impression in the soft dirt beneath. Luna's saddlebag was almost ready to burst, and as she rolled the moon out Luna saw that it was now the size of a beach-ball, and probably as heavy as two such balls made from lead. She glanced up at the sky even as a strong wind began to rise – the world reminding them that it was watching, but had not forgotten.

Luna crouched and, using her forelegs, gathered the moon to her chest in a firm grip. Then, with a determined expression she spread her wings and leaped into the sky.

But it was too much for her. The toll she had taken carrying the moon for so far, in addition to its current weight and size, prevented her from ascending more than a dozen meters before her wings began to tire and she descended inexorably back to the ground. No matter how hard she strained and flapped, she lost height and landed on the same spot from which she had taken off.

Panting hard, teeth clenched, she gripped the moon tighter and launched herself into the air again, wings beating furiously against gravity's grip. But she gained even less height this time, and her return to earth was swifter. She let out an exasperated growl even as Celestia approached her and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Luna, let me–"

"No, sister! The moon is my responsibility and I will return it to the sky. I just need a moment's rest."

"Luna..." said Celestia softly, stepping closer to her, the hoof on her shoulder becoming a hug, "Do you remember when we spoke days ago? When you were so keen to recover the moon by yourself? Do you remember what I said to you?"

Luna looked up. "You...said you wanted to come with me...to help me and keep me safe..."

"Because you're my little sister," Celestia finished with a smile and hugged her harder, nuzzling into her. "The moon is your responsibility, Luna...but you are mine." There were tears in her eyes now. "And you are the most wonderful responsibility I could ask for. The little sister that I know and love. That I trust and cherish. Who makes me laugh and who makes me so, so happy." She broke the hug and looked into Luna's eyes. "And I wouldn't be much of a big sister if I let you down when you needed me. Please, Luna...let me help."

Luna looked up into Celestia's eyes, her own tears in evidence. "Together?"

"Together."

Luna nodded and together, they gathered the moon up between them and spread their wings. Beating them in perfect synchronisation they slowly ascended. Higher and higher over Canterlot, they rose into the clear night sky, punctuated with a thousand tiny ice-white stars while between them they carried the stunning, silver moon.

Watching the two sisters from the ground below was driving Twilight crazy. She had absolutely no idea what spell Luna had used on the moon. She had somehow made it smaller and lighter, but at the same time it wasn't lighter at all according to her own magic. Whatever it was, perception seemed to be a big part of it and as she watched the sisters carry the moon into the sky, her theory seemed to be borne out. Because as they rose, the moon they carried got no smaller. In fact the moon remained the same size throughout the ascent – the same size as the moon in the sky always looks – except the princesses were getting further and further away.

There came a point when the moon seemed to stop moving in the sky entirely, and a few moments later she could no longer make out the silhouettes of either of the sisters, either against the moon or the night. Then all of a sudden there was the briefest flash of white light that seemed to come from the moon itself...and nothing else. Except that the moon suddenly seemed somehow like...it belonged in the sky.

It was too weird and Twilight had all sorts of questions. What would that have even looked like to someone seeing it from elsewhere? Ponyville, for example? Did perception-magic have different effects depending on your viewpoint? What had the Princesses who'd carried it up there seen? And how far up had they had to carry it? Urgh! She'd be scratching her head for days thinking about this. She was going to need accounts from different eyewitnesses, all the information she could dig up on the moon, a few questions to Luna...it was going to take a lot of research.

She looked around to ply her friends with a couple of questions as to what they'd seen, so that she could compare notes...

And found Applejack stood next to her, looking up at the sky with a serene little smile. A distant, contemplative expression as she gazed up in wonder at the moon in the heavens. It didn't feel right to disturb her, so she looked the other way, but found a similar expression on Fluttershy's face. In fact all of her friends...and the entire crowd...were looking up at the moon in the sky and smiling the same smile. What exactly were they seeing up there? It was just the moon. She looked up at it herself to see if anything–

Oh.

It was just the moon. The same moon it had always been. The same one they'd always taken for granted. It was just the moon.

But it wasn't just the moon. It was more than that. Because now it was safety. It was peace. It was relief after all the worry and stress. Full, round, stunning, silver and beautiful. She gazed up at it in calm, placid wonderment, and felt her brain file all of the questions it had away. They'd still be there in the morning, but for now, she could just enjoy this simple moment with all her friends.

The moon had risen.

And there was no storm. No earthquake.

Only a peaceful night.

–––

Descending back towards Canterlot, the two sisters spotted Valkyrie lying calmly on an earthen, grassy plateau on the mountain, almost out of sight of the city itself. Angling towards him, they landed and came to rest as he regarded them carefully.

"Very impressive," he said. Then, just this once, he allowed himself a little, genuine smile.

Celestia looked up. "We would not have come this far without your help. Thank you."

He gave a short, sharp laugh. "I am certain you'd have done what was necessary to reach this point one way or the other. But you are welcome all the same." He stood and stretched a little. "I'll take my leave. I'd be lying if I said I'd enjoyed it all. But it certainly has been interesting."

"You are welcome to return any time, my friend," offered Celestia.

The smile disappeared and Valkyrie looked his typical annoyed self as he glanced back at both sisters. "You presume too much, Celestia. We are not yet friends." Then he cracked a little grin. "But we are not enemies. That is more than Ragnarok would admit to. At least I understand now how a frilly pony princess managed to garner so much of his respect. You both certainly have mine."

His face turned serious. "If there is to be a new king down the line...and if it is to be me...then be assured that you and your land will be as safe for the next thousand years as it has been for the last thousand."

He gave a curt nod at that, and received grateful ones in reply. "Until we meet again." He spread his wings, beat them twice and was airborne. He sailed quietly away into the night sky back in the direction of home, and was gone.

Luna and Celestia watched him fade from view. Then they stood quietly together on the plateau, gazing up at the moon in the night sky. Their quest completed. Their goal achieved. The moon back where it belonged and the earth at peace once more.

"I truly had no doubt you would do it, Luna," Celestia almost whispered.

"I would not have got very far at all without your help, Tia. I can't believe I ever thought I could have done it alone."

Celestia fixed her sister with a kind gaze, though her eyes betrayed just a little guilt. "You'll never have to be alone again, Luna. I promise you."

Luna looked back up and smiled. "Likewise."

They remained at peace for long minutes, just enjoying the tranquility of the night and the warm breeze upon their coats. Then, unable to stifle it, Luna gave an involuntary yawn and her eyelids drooped for a moment.

"You know, we do not need to be back in Canterlot until morning. Not really," said Celestia, looking down at her sister. "One more night under the stars together?"

"I think I would like that."

With no bedrolls they simply settled themselves comfortably on the dry grass next to each other. There was no need for a camp fire; the warmth instilled in the earth after three days of constant sun lingered in the ground and promised a balmy, clear night. And as they settled they each draped a wing contentedly over the other in a tender gesture as they looked to the heavens once more. The sky overhead arrayed its thousands of perfect stars in constellations familiar and peaceful, but it was the moon that was ever their focus.

"What did you say the moon reminded you of, sister?" asked Luna. "Hope, even when things are at their bleakest?"

"No, Luna," Celestia smiled back. "I think of it as a symbol of hope..." she met her gaze, "Because it reminds me of you."

There were no other words needed. They rested side by side, quietly, basking in the moon's silver light. Not two princesses. Not right now.

Two sisters.

No secret that they would not tell. No worry that they would not share. No threat that they would not face united.

Luna looked to her sister, a tear in her eye, and offered a warm, faithful smile. "Sweet dreams, Tia."

–––End–––

Epilogue

View Online

–––Epilogue–––

Life returned to normal, as it so often did following a crisis. An exhausted but happy Twilight returned to Ponyville with her friends to much home-coming celebration. The towers of the castle were rebuilt and looked more stunning than ever. And Celestia and Luna took on their normal roles over the sun and moon, city and country.

They were closer. They had been far from distant before everything had started, but there was a noticeable improvement in their relationship now. It wasn't anything drastic, but when they met at the changing-of-the-guard, their smiles were just a little wider. At breakfast, the banter was just a little more relaxed. And on formal occasions together, they were just a little more mischievous. It was as though there'd been an elephant in the room that had suddenly vanished, and the new atmosphere between them was just wonderful.

And for six months afterwards, about three times a week, a beautiful, ethereal blue bridge, sparkling like crystal, could be seen extending into the sky from Canterlot Tower, seeming to reach all the way to the moon itself. Luna would constantly drop subtle hints, but Celestia knew better than to ask. Partly because she didn't want to give Luna the satisfaction of teasing her, and partly because she didn't want to ruin the surprise.

And finally, when, after sun had set and moon had risen at the end of a particularly arduous day, Luna turned to her sister and asked if she'd like to spend a weekend away – assuring her she had arranged for Twilight to sit in as caretaker while they were gone – she had politely and graciously jumped at the chance.

By virtue of the length of the Bridge, the journey to and from the moon would always take them several hours. But it was several hours in quiet, pleasurable company with nothing to do but talk and listen to whatever might be troubling them, or was otherwise on their minds.

But when the Bridge brought them right to the foot of Luna's castle, and Celestia looked up and beheld it, she couldn't stifle a hushed gasp.

To say it had changed was an understatement. Where before the architecture had been dark and foreboding, with just the addition of some colour the whole theme of the building had changed to something light and airy. The grand, double doors at the castle entrance were still the same, but they had been cleaned, polished, varnished, had their hinges oiled. They had had a great deal of TLC put into them, and that same effort seemed to apply absolutely everywhere.

And over the doors themselves, a new stone plaque had been erected, into which was neatly, expertly engraved, Midnight Castle.

"I have spared no expense," boasted Luna as she led her sister inside, and the transformation was staggering. Gone were the dark, brooding hallways, statues, weapons and gargoyles. Instead, everything had been brightened, cleaned and polished. The hallways were finished now in a neat, natural sandstone-effect and filled with warm, soft light. Tall vases bristling with flowers were recessed into every alcove where, once, one was almost certain to find a grisly statue of Nightmare Moon. Lavish white-and-purple curtains with gold trim hung across every window. Plush, ruby-red carpets lined the centre of every corridor. The study was filled with books, the kitchen was fully stocked with food...and there was even a new guest bedroom!

She led her sister into the former throne room. Here too, everything had been transformed, and, like the rest of the castle, it was filled now with a soft, warm golden light. The dais remained, but the throne atop it had been removed; replaced instead with an enormous octagonal hot-tub. Thanks to some magical trickery, it was filled with water that shimmered – and from certain angles actually looked – like liquid gold. The tall, stained-glass windows in the tower above no longer depicted the images of Nightmare Moon in poses of conflict or domination, but instead showed representations of a golden-yellow fire, seeming to climb the eight-sided tower to the ceiling high above them. And when the light played off the surface of the water in the bath in just the right way, the fire in the stained-glass windows even seemed to flicker gently.

"Do you like it?" asked Luna, with the hesitant timbre of an artist hoping their work will be appreciated.

"Luna it's...wonderful," said Celestia, captivated. There simply wasn't another word she could think of, and certainly none that could do it justice.

"Come. I want to show you this most of all."

Luna led her a little way down the castle corridor and around the corner to the slightly higher-and-wider doors to Celestia's former prison-room. The doors themselves had undergone the same restorative treatment as the rest of the castle, and above them the engravings of the sun, moon and eclipse had been polished so that the stone positively gleamed.

Pushing both doors open, Luna led her sister proudly where she had once led her with guilt and self-loathing.

And it seemed this room had been transformed most of all. It too was finished in the same light, sandstone effect as the rest of the castle, and filled with the same soft, golden light. And neither the structure nor the size of the room had been inherently altered. But all of the foulness, the bitterness, and the vengefulness that had once infected the walls was gone and instead...well, it smelled faintly of roses. Plush carpet once more lined the floor, and large floor cushions were strewn haphazardly around the perimeter. The overall impression was that this was a room where it was very comfortable to be.

On each of the eight walls, the depictions of Nightmare Moon had been struck. Hung in their place were eight vertical tapestries; lovingly embroidered, exquisitely detailed scenes cast onto a deep red background.

On the first, an eclipse, the dark moon obscuring the golden sun; the second, a scene of both sisters flying from Canterlot; the third, a large, bronze dragon reclining in a throne, before which stood two small alicorns and a red dragon; the fourth, an image of the gate of Tartarus in front of a river upon which floated a small boat with no sail, crewed by a hooded and cloaked figure. There was even a three-headed dog there, if you looked carefully.

On the fifth, two ponies flew overhead while a great chained sea-monster battled a flock of crows in the centre of a raging whirlpool, a tall mountain in the background. The sixth was a depiction of the moon and the earth joined by a blue bridge upon which two silhouettes walked in profile – sequins even serving to make the bridge appear to sparkle in the light. The seventh showed the two sisters flying across a broken landscape on the back of a red dragon, with Canterlot in the background; and the eighth and final was an image of the full moon in all its glory, being carried aloft by Luna and Celestia on spread wings.

The tapestries were breathtaking, but they were little more than a compliment to the main attraction. In the centre of the room, the stone plinth still stood, although the faint purple shimmer it had once held was gone, and so was the Celestia-shaped indentation. On each of the vertical sides of the plinth, a different word was engraved.

Guardian. Warden. Protector. Guide.

And on top of the plinth stood a new statue, stunningly worked, lovingly polished to a mirror, marble shine.

Celestia and Luna, walking side by side with warm, happy smiles. Celestia looking down at her little sister, Luna looking back up at her big one, both sheltering the other beneath a single extended wing.

And directly beneath and in front of them, on the top face of the plinth, was a golden plaque into which another word was etched. The name Luna had given to the statue, and both the reason for, and consequence of, their entire journey.

Trust.

Author's Notes:

Ladies and Gentlemen;

As always, thank you for reading.

This took a long time to get done. I'd wanted to write this one for a while, but I didn't think I'd ever be able to do Celestia and Luna justice. But it's done now, and how well I succeeded is obviously up to you.

This is probably the longest piece I'll ever do. 'Epic' is not something I've really tried before. It's a far cry from the shorter, feelier stuff I usually write. But I hope you got a little something out of it.

If you enjoyed it, let me know! You never know, it might encourage me. If you didn't enjoy it, let me know! You never know, it might improve me. If you've read this and liked the words I wrote then [shamelessplug] I have other, better, feelier, shorter stories up there that need some love, and if you enjoyed this, the chances are good you'd like them too.[/shamelessplug]

Have a good day, and as always, stay safe and have fun.

--The Author.

Eclipse

by 8686

Prologue

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Epilogue