//------------------------------// // The Courage To Dare // Story: Batmare Begins // by Batbrony //------------------------------// This was happening. It was hard to believe, but they were really doing this. Derpy sat waiting anxiously in Sugarcube Corner, trying her best to stay calm and collected as she nibbled away absentmindedly at the blueberry muffin in front of her. Despite the delectable dessert’s presence, such a task was still easier said than done given her current state of mind. They’d found it alright. Everything they were looking for, at least more than enough evidence that something was definitely wrong in Ponyville. In fact, it was even worse than Derpy could have imagined. There was evidence of major criminal operations taking place, notes about Foggy’s ties to Manehattan mobs, even suggestions of there being dirty cops – bucking dirty cops – in Ponyville of all places! The residents of the South Side were clearly being taken advantage of by Foggy and his goons, but the police were in no position to do anything about it. They were a small force ill-prepared for this level of a threat and had their own dirt to take care of, and even if neither of those factors had been a problem, they still couldn’t pin nearly enough on Foggy to take him down. From what they’d read, it seemed as though every time the police got so much as a whiff of something that he was up to (which seemed to happen quite a bit, much to Derpy’s surprise), he’d cover his tracks quicker than they could follow them back to him. It was downright bizarre behavior; he seemed to be as careless as he was vigilant, and something about that just didn’t add up. Unless he was simply trying to rub his prowess for not getting caught in the faces of his pursuers, it made no sense that he should let them get his scent so many times in so many crimes of wide, varying natures. For the time being, however, such perplexing questions were irrelevant. If all went well in the coming days ahead, there’d be plenty of time for figuring out Foggy’s game later on. At the moment, Derpy’s immediate priority was somehow setting up a meeting with none other than one of Equestria’s very own diarchs. Thankfully, she and Carrot had a plan, and the sooner they put it into action, the better. They were, after all, still holding onto a whole pile of stolen police files, and besides the obvious danger of such an action, there were other downsides to it as well. Time Turner’s unfortunate arrival at Sugarcube Corner at that moment reminded Derpy of that all too well; a hollow feeling took hold in the pit of her stomach as soon as she spotted him. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out that it’d been none other than Time himself on duty at the station at the time of her break-in. He hadn’t told her so, of course; as far as she could tell, the whole police force was staying quiet about this, not that she could blame them. But she knew, she just knew, from his sedate bearing in the last few days to the way other officers had been looking at him, that he had been there. He’d even been buying donuts from Sugarcube Corner by the dozens, most likely for his fellow officers as some sort of small attempt at making amends. In fact, if her guess was right that was probably what he was there for now. I humiliated him, plain and simple. At least he’s not fired, I guess, but he must be the joke of the force right now, and it’s all my fault. Horsefeathers, I’m really going to have to make it up to him for this. Gah, focus Derpy, focus, get the princess’s help first, then you can worry about Time! Still, there wasn’t any reason she couldn’t try to perk him up just a tad. Carrot hadn’t arrived yet, so with nothing else to do but wait she wolfed down the rest of her muffin, left her seat and strode toward Time. “Hey friend, how’s it going?” she asked mildly, offering a gentle smile. Time acknowledged her with a halfhearted grin. “Oh, not too bad. Not too good either, I’m afraid.” “Oh? What’s up?” He shook his head, waving a dismissive hoof. “Ah, it’s nothing. Just a particularly long week at work, that’s all, you know how it goes sometimes. Nothing I can’t handle. Just picking up some snacks for my coworkers right now.” “Yeah I figured you were,” Derpy remarked. “You seem to have done that quite a bit this week, if I’m not mistaken.” “Well… eh…,” Time waffled, clearly surprised she’d noticed. “It’s kind of a… rotation kind of thing. We occasionally take, er, shifts to buy donuts for everyone, and my turn just happened to be up for the week.” Derpy snorted. “You’re a pretty bad liar, you know that?” Time rolled his eyes in exasperation, blushing furiously after being found out. “Well you kind of caught me on the spot, to be fair. Alright, there’s no rotations or anything. Truth be told I… well, I messed up. I can’t say how, I’m sorry, but I messed up at work and this is the least I can do for the ponies I let down.” “Hey come on now, don’t be like that.” Derpy lightly patted him on the back with a wing, hoping the reassuring gesture might help. “I’m sure whatever it was it couldn’t have been that bad. They’re probably just giving you crap cause you’re the new guy, but I’ll bet you’ve seen and done all sorts of things most of our cops never have, so they shouldn’t be ones to talk smack to you. Don’t worry so much about what they think, alright? You’re bigger than petty gossip.” Time seemed to brighten a little after hearing his friend’s words of encouragement. “Oh don’t you worry, it’s not gossip that bothers me, trust me. I can take all sorts of garbage flung my way. No, what bothers me is knowing I screwed up. Stupidly too, if I’m being honest. But enough of my self-pity, I can’t imagine it’s enjoyable for you to listen to all that nonsense. Looks like I’m up, best get these donuts.” Derpy walked up to the counter with him, staying close. “Here, at least let me get you a muffin to go with it. And don’t you dare say no, it’s my treat for you! Everypony likes a pick-me-up when they’re down in the dumps, and I’d say you are most definitely dumpster diving right about now. So what’ll it be?” Time chuckled. “Well, what kind of a guy would I be to turn down a free muffin? Alright, I’ll bite. A pumpkin muffin sounds like just what the doctor ordered right about now.” “One pumpkin muffin coming up,” Derpy affirmed, pulling some bits out and hoofing them over to Mister Cake as soon as Time had gotten his box of donuts. She handed the bagged treat over to Time, who accepted it with overt gratitude. “Thanks Derpy, really, I needed this,” he said, offering her a warm smile. “Hey it’s the least I can do for one of Ponyville’s finest. Now go out there, do your job, and keep your head held high!” “Sir, yes, sir!” Time stated, giving Derpy a mock salute. They left each other’s company full of laughter, just as Derpy had hoped; she still felt rotten about the pickle she’d gotten Time into, but she figured this was a small step towards making amends with him. Just as Time left, Carrot finally arrived, glancing nervously side-to-side. When she caught sight of Derpy waving at her, she gave an acknowledging nod and they both trotted over to a table in the back, as far from where ponies were congregating as possible. “So did you get ‘em?” Derpy asked in a low voice. “Yeah… yeah, I got them,” Carrot replied, looking over her shoulder a couple more times before pulling a small bag out from her saddlebag. She slid the bag over to Derpy, who proceeded to peek inside and lit up upon seeing the bag’s contents. The bag was filled with baby blue sapphires, about two dozen if Derpy’s estimate was correct. “Rarity bought our ‘story,’ I assume?” “Oh yeah, when I told her I had a potential business partner who wanted to barter gems for some new carrot cultivars, she was more than happy to sell them to me. She even gave me a discount on them, thirty percent! Guess she really does live up to that whole Element of Generosity thing.” “Nice, very nice,” Derpy remarked, heart racing with excitement. “You think it’s enough?” “For our purposes, definitely. I just need enough to convince him to seal and send out a letter without telling anypony else.” Derpy pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment from her own saddlebag, waving it at Carrot. “Besides, it’s already written and everything. At the most, it’s a five minute job, and for this many sapphires I’d say he’ll be more than willing to do it.” “Twilight’s not around, I hope?” Carrot asked. “Nope, I’ve been keeping an eye on the place. She left about thirty minutes ago with Applejack and Fluttershy; no idea when she’ll be back, but her activities with her friends tend to last quite a while. More than enough time to pull this off, that’s for sure.” Carrot let loose a sigh and rolled her shoulders, attempting to appear more relaxed. “So we’re really doing this?” “Yeah, I guess we are,” Derpy answered. “If you want out, though, just let me know. I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to, especially anything that could cause trouble for you.” Carrot shook her head. “I appreciate that, but I already told you I’m in. Am I nervous? More than you can imagine, but you don’t need to worry about that. All you need to worry about right now is pulling this off. So assuming your letter reaches its destination, you think it’ll be enough to entice its recipient to show up?” Derpy shrugged. “No idea, but I think I make a pretty convincing case in my letter. I’ve thought it over to death and can’t think of any other way I could possibly improve it. If this doesn’t convince her to meet with me, I don’t know what will.” “Alright then. Well… you ready for this?” “Ready as I’ll ever be. Wish me luck.” Putting the letter and bag of sapphires back into her own saddlebag, she got up and flashed as confident a smile as she could. “Time to go meet with our scaly little friend.” Spike the dragon was very much enjoying himself on what was shaping up to be a lazy afternoon. Twilight was out for the day with a couple of her friends, he’d finished his chores shortly after she’d left, and the library had been practically empty all day. He was just laying down for a well-deserved nap when he heard the front door of Golden Oak Library open downstairs. Grumbling to himself in annoyance, he begrudgingly crawled out of his bed and started making his way downstairs to see who it was and what they needed help with. Much to his dismay, he found Derpy waiting at the bottom of the stairs. The memory of the mess she’d made last time she was here was still very much fresh in his mind, and he silently prayed to himself that she wasn’t about to tear half the books from their shelves like she had last time. “Uh, hey Derpy, what can I help you with?” he said, waving a claw at her. Curiously, she didn’t seem to pay him much attention despite making his presence known, seemingly surveying the main floor of the library instead. Spike thought that maybe she was looking for a book, but after a moment she finally did turn her gaze fully upon him. “Hey Spike, long time no see,” she said with a casual air. “Say, is anypony else around?” “Huh? Well last time I checked, no, at least as far as I’m aware. If you’re looking for Twilight, she’s probably not going to be back until later tonight,” he explained, assuming that’s why she was asking. Derpy, however, seemed to breathe a barely audible sigh of relief. “Oh don’t worry, I’m not. In fact, I was actually looking for you.” The young dragon raised an eyebrow. “Me? Why?” Derpy leaned in closer to Spike, as though they were about to share a conspiratorial discussion with one another. “Well if I’m being honest, I could really use your help right now. It’s a bit of a private matter, and I’d rather Twilight or anypony else for that matter didn’t know about this, but I promise you that if you’re willing to help I will more than make it worth your while.” Before he could ask her what in Equestria she meant by that, Derpy reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a bag which she promptly opened, revealing its contents to be a considerable amount of baby blue sapphires. Without even realizing it, Spike’s mouth reflexively began to water at the delectable sight. “Mmmmm, yum… uh, sorry, I mean, uh, what exactly did you have in mind?” he asked, eyes still fixed on the delicious-looking spread before him. “Oh, nothing much, just a little favor, that’s all,” Derpy reassured him. “If it’s not too much trouble, I would really appreciate it if you could send a letter out for me.” “Uh, isn’t that kinda your job? You do work for the post office, right?” Alright Derpy, you got this. Play it calm, play it cool, he’s bound to go for it. Here we go. “Well, this is kind of a special letter. Or rather, I have a very special recipient in mind.” “Who?” Spike asked. “Oh… Princess Luna,” Derpy answered, giving the most endearing smile she could at that moment. Unfortunately, that failed to dampen Spike’s surprise at the clearly unusual request. “Princess Luna? Why do you need to get a letter to her?” he pressed. “Well… I was hoping she might be able to give me some advice on a personal matter, is all. That sounds weird, I’m sure, but I just think she might be able to provide me with some valuable insight on the matter in question.” Spike rubbed a claw behind his head, his apprehension apparent in his eyes. “That’s, uh… gee, I don’t know, I don’t think Twilight would be happy if I did that. You know, the princesses do receive mail from others, why not just send it through the postal service?” “I just want to guarantee that it’ll get to her is all,” Derpy explained, trying to sound as innocent as possible. “Everypony in town knows that you and Twilight send stuff to them all the time. I mean, it’s not really a secret that Twilight’s Princess Celestia’s personal student. So what do you say?” Spike was still waffling from the looks of things, not meeting her eyes and fiddling with his claws nervously. This was a delicate moment, but Derpy was sure that if she played her cards right, she could convince him just enough to help her out. “If it helps, I promise you this’ll be a one-time deal,” she stated emphatically. “I’m not trying to get you in trouble with Twilight or the princesses, and I certainly don’t want to inappropriately take advantage of your royal connections. I just need this one-time favor, that’s all, I promise you. Help me out now, you’ll get your gems and we’ll never speak of this again. Deal?” Spike scratched his chin thoughtfully with a claw and finally said, “Pinkie promise?” Derpy nodded. “Pinkie promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. May her righteous, pink wrath descend upon me if I dare break this sacred vow.” Spike snorted but finally relented, clearly sure of Derpy’s sincerity. “Alright, alright, give it here.” Derpy hoofed the rolled up parchment over to him and he promptly dashed upstairs with it in-claw. A moment later he reappeared, still clutching the letter, now bearing a blue wax seal upon it. “Alright, this’ll guarantee the letter goes straight to Princess Luna, no questions asked,” he explained. Derpy quizzically examined the seal, which displayed a simple imprint of a crescent moon. To think, such a simple symbol was a one-way ticket to one of the most powerful ponies in all of Equestria. “Sounds good to me. OK Spike, let her rip.” Spike hesitated a moment longer, but finally took a deep breath and let loose a torrent of green flames from his maw which engulfed the letter. When they dissipated, the letter was gone, at last on its way to its prestigious recipient. Derpy let out a sigh of relief and hoofed the bag of sapphires over to Spike. “Thanks Spike, a pleasure doing business with you,” she said. “Don’t forget, nopony else need know about this. It’ll be our little secret.” “If you say so,” he said, shrugging as he grabbed a sapphire which he promptly began munching on as if it were candy. “But hey, if you ever need me to do anything else that doesn’t involve keeping secrets from Twilight and gets me more gems, I’m your dragon.” Derpy giggled and nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. Enjoy those gems, Spike, you earned them, but don’t let Twilight catch sight of them. Last thing you and I both need is her asking where you got those.” “Oh don’t you worry, I have a stash for just these sorts of things,” he assured her. “Why am I not surprised? Later Spike, have a good one!” “You too Derpy,” he said, heading back upstairs with his bag of sapphires in tow. Her business concluded, Derpy turned and left the library, trotting with an upbeat gait as she tried to conceal her nervous excitement. OK, not bad Derpy, not bad at all. Convinced a baby dragon to help you out, and in secret at that; now all you have to do is wait and see if you can manage to convince a princess to do the same. Yeah, easy, no sweat. She trotted a bit further before her heart flipped over in her chest more than a few times, and she took a big gulp. Am I in over my head? I mean, seriously, this is crazy. I’m the one trying to do it, and even I know it’s crazy. No, come on girl, get a hold of yourself! Deep breaths, deep breaths. All you need is a cool head and nerves of steel, that’s all. You totally got this. I mean, I’ve gotten this far, haven’t I? What’s the worst that can happen now? I mean, at worst, what, Princess Luna reads it and doesn’t go for it. She doesn’t show up tomorrow night and that’s the end of that, back to the drawing board. But if she does show up… oh boy, if she does show up. Sheesh, what happens then? I doubt she’ll just show up and say she’ll happily oblige. No, if she comes, she’ll… horsefeathers, I don’t know what she’ll do. Guess I’ll just have to wait and see. Just keep this at the forefront of your mind: no matter what happens, you will help Ponyville. You will help your friends and your home. That’s happening, no matter what. No. Matter. What. For over a thousand years, the royal quarters of Canterlot Castle had largely been a serene, peaceful niche, an escape for both the royalty of Canterlot as well as their servants who worked there from the usual hustle and bustle that was predominant throughout the rest of the castle and the city itself day in and day out. The nearby gardens offered much-needed respite to the castle’s inhabitants, the halls were among the quietest in the castle, and any ponies granted the privilege of working in or near the princesses’ quarters themselves usually considered it one of the highest honors that could be bestowed upon them. None of this could be said today, however, namely on account of a certain inhabitant of said quarters who was not doing a particularly good job at concealing her current restless state of melancholy. “This is unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable!” Princess Luna bellowed to no one in particular. At the sound of her furious tone, two Royal Guards threw the door to her chambers open and hurried inside, on high alert. “Your majesty, what’s wrong? How can we be of assistance?” an alarmed guard asked, eyes darting about the room in search of the source of the princess’s ire. “What? No, I… confound it, I do not require any assistance, guard. Pray tell, what gave you the impression that I did?” she demanded. “Well, begging your pardon your majesty, but we simply assumed that your, eh… raised voice meant that our services were needed,” the guard explained. A clearly exasperated Princess Luna rolled her eyes. “Raised voice? What nonsense is this you speak of? This was clearly our- I mean, my indoor speaking voice, and I was merely expressing thoughts of frustration and discontent out loud to myself. Are you not familiar with the concept of talking to oneself?” The two guards glanced at one another with uncertainty, clearly surprised at hearing that level of volume described as an indoor speaking voice. “Are you certain everything is alright, your majesty? There have also been reports of… stomping coming from your quarters, as of late, including today. Is there anything we might be able to assist you with?” the other guard asked. Princess Luna’s cheeks turned the slightest shade of red at the guard’s observation. “Oh, how… attentive of you to notice. Yes, well, nothing to fear, I can assure you, that has simply been the… royal opossum, Tiberius!” she exclaimed. All three turned their gazes upon the Princess of the Night’s pet, who currently was preoccupied with a rather enjoyable afternoon nap if the way he was sprawled out upon Luna’s bed was anything to judge by. Both guards maintained stoic expressions, though Luna still let loose a series of forced chuckles awkward even by her own standards. “Do not be deceived by his appearance! He has… bad dreams, and… sometimes can be rather naughty if he did not eat enough of his breakfast and subsequently grows hungry in the afternoon. I can assure you, this one can raise quite the ruckus if he puts his mind to it!” At that moment, Tiberius gave a particularly loud snore, turning over onto his back and scratching his belly while remaining fast asleep. “Ah, you see, what did I tell you? The naughty rapscallion is clearly famished! I really should teach him a lesson and make him wait till suppertime, but I am nothing if not a benevolent princess and royal pet owner, so I suppose an exception can be made. Guards, your Princess of the Night commands you to fetch the royal pet some of his royal snacks from the royal pantry! And… perhaps a pastry or two for me while you’re down there. Dismissed!” Both guards sharply saluted and departed from her presence immediately, one remaining at his station outside her chambers while the other left to fulfill her latest assignment. Luna let out a sigh of relief as soon as they’d left and fell back with splayed wings onto her bed next to her sleeping opossum, frowning at him. “Would that my thoughts and concerns were as carefree as your own, dearest Tibbles. Then I might actually be able to get some rest,” she groused, staring at him enviously. “I doubt sweets at this time of day will help you with that,” a warm voice said, chuckling, causing Luna to immediately shoot up from where she lay and regather herself as quickly as she could. After all, she absolutely hated being seen in such a loose, unkempt state, especially by her sister. “Celestia. Pray tell, dear sister, what are you doing here?” she asked as she hastily straightened out her wings and mane. “Oh, I had some downtime so I thought I’d checkup on how you were doing, that’s all,” the resplendent royal replied, smiling with a radiant warmth which most ponies would feel overjoyed to have bestowed upon them. Luna, however, raised an eyebrow at her older sister. “Downtime? It may have been some time since I sat in attendance at the Day Court, but it has not been so long that I have forgotten how unrelentingly busy it is. You dismissed it, didn’t you? Why?” Celestia sighed but maintained her kind gaze. “Not quite. Cadance is currently presiding over it in my place. Before you say anything, I can assure you this is not her first time running the Day Court; she has very capably conducted herself in this capacity many times before, and it’s good practice for her.” Luna gave a conceding nod but still looked at Celestia with a suspicious eye. “Princess Cadance is more than capable of doing so, of that I have no doubt. However, that still begs the question of why you are here?” Celestia hesitated for but a split second (a sure sign to Luna that they were about to discuss uncomfortable matters), but pressed forward. “Luna, is everything alright?” she delicately asked. “Of course, why wouldn’t it be?” Luna said with as confident an air about her as she could. “I’ve heard you’re having trouble sleeping as of late.” “And who, pray tell, did you hear that from?” “Enough ponies to take such concerns seriously. In some instances, I’ve heard it from you yourself.” “What do you mean by that?” Luna demanded. “Well… you have been a bit loud, lately, at times,” Celestia noted. “WHAT NONSENSE! WE ASSURE YOU, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH OUR INDOOR SPEAKING VOICE!” Luna thundered in a voice that would have bowled even dragons over, but only led Celestia to roll her eyes. “Luna, please, we don’t need the whole city listening in on this,” she said with a hint of annoyance. “And you’re doing that ‘royal we’ thing again. I thought Twilight helped you get over that?” “We – sorry, I apologize. It was most unbecoming to lose my temper in such a manner. And I assure you that I am discarding the ‘royal we’ by the day, I just… sometimes slip up here and there. Mostly when I… lose my temper,” she said bashfully, looking at her hooves like a filly who’d been caught with her hoof in the cookie jar. “Be honest with me, please. What is wrong? I don’t just mean today or this past week, mind you; you’ve been in a bit of a rut for quite some time now, months perhaps, for all I know maybe even longer.” “I haven’t the faintest idea what you could possibly mean,” Luna insisted. “Sometimes my sleep schedule just gets a little… out of whack, is all. You know I keep different hours than anypony else, including yourself. But I simply have to make do and hope such phases pass quickly when they do happen. In fact I’ve… been busying myself with some contemporary poetry! See? My recitations may have even been what you’ve heard; I find the poetry really comes to life when recited out loud.” Luna floated a collection of poems over to Celestia, who looked them over with a bemused expression. “Luna, these poems are five centuries old.” “Well that’s still contemporary by my standards,” Luna deadpanned. “Do you have any idea how much literature I have to catch up on after all these centuries?” “Luna, please stop trying to change the subject,” Celestia requested. “You’ve always had an unfortunate talent at concealing your emotions far too well for your own good, but even you haven’t been able to hide that something is most definitely bothering you. Your attendance at the Day Court sessions has dropped precipitously; you’ve been deferring a growing number of matters of state to myself or even Cadance; and you seem to waver between states of melancholy and indecisiveness.” Confronted with her sister’s prescient observations, Luna remained silent as the grave and refused to look her in the eye, a downcast air sweeping over her whole demeanor. “Lulu, please. Don’t you trust me?” “Of course we trust you! We trust you, and Cadance, and anypony else these days more than we trust ourselves!” she burst out, so suddenly that Celestia herself was startled, and even Tiberius blearily stirred awake from his deep sleep. “Luna, what has happened?” Celestia asked, wrapping a hoof and wing around her little sister in a consoling embrace, her voice full of the sincerest sympathy. “I thought things have been steadily getting better for you ever since your return. We were working so closely with each other, just like in the old days, and you were finding joy in connecting with your new subjects. What changed?” For a moment the sisters stood there in silence, the younger leaning into the rock that was her elder’s warm embrace. Much to Celestia’s surprise, she felt a couple of tears upon her chest. Sure there had been many tears shed by both upon Luna’s true return, but true to her stoic, reserved nature, her little sister had not wept since, despite more than one occasion arising in which it certainly would have been perfectly acceptable for her to do so. “It was that damnable, accursed invasion by those wretched changelings!” she cried. “Shhhhh, it’s alright, I know, sister, I know. It was a most regrettable event, hardly our finest moment. But by mother’s grace it all turned out for the better in the end. Our little ponies saw to that.” “No! You don’t understand, you don’t get it. You have nothing to be ashamed of, not one bit. It was… it was I. I failed you. I failed Equestria. I failed all of our subjects, every last one of them, and it was all because I let pride get the better of me yet again.” Celestia cocked her head to the side. “Luna, I don’t understand, why are you placing such a burden squarely upon your own shoulders alone?” she asked. “Don’t you remember? We knew the changelings were amassing and presented a threat, and we knew they had infiltrated our ranks. Yet when assuming a defensive posture would’ve been the wiser road to take, I threw caution to the wind and insisted upon taking the bulk of our finest forces to the southern border, foolishly believing our enemy could not possibly have snuck an entire army onto our lands already from the Badlands.” Celestia shook her head, rubbing her shoulder gently. “That was a joint decision, and you know it. We agreed, along with many of our top military advisers, that it was the wisest course of action. Perhaps arrogance clouded all of our judgment to some extent, but none of us could have possibly guessed what inroads Chrysalis had already made against us.” Luna recoiled from Celestia’s touch and started feverishly pacing about, scowling, it seemed, at herself. “Nay. You were kind enough to support us, yes, but we pressed for it. It was our decision through and through, and we knew it was not the safest course. But in our mind, to our everlasting shame, a part of us desired glorious victory, as when we led our armies centuries ago in battle after battle. Because we were so blinded by delusions of grandeur, we almost lost everything. Canterlot. Equestria. Our friends and beloved subjects. We almost lost… we almost lost you, Tia!” As Luna grew increasingly upset, Celestia couldn’t help but notice that her horn was aglow, and soon espied what exactly Luna was doing. A tapestry hung above her mantle depicting the Princess of the Night was awash in blue flames, engulfing her image until there was nothing left but a charred hole where her face had been. Grabbing what was left of the tapestry in her own magic, Celestia floated it over to where she stood (much to Luna’s surprise), sadly gazing upon the damaged article. “Oh Luna… I rather liked this one. I thought the weaver really did justice to your mane,” she sadly remarked. Luna hung her head in shame. “Our apologies. We should have given it to you then. It’s certainly better than we deserve.” “Lulu…” “No, Tia. You can’t just make this go away with your empathy and warmth and natural goodness. You may forgive us, truly, but that doesn’t mean we can forgive ourselves. We already hurt everything we love more than most ponies ever could in a thousand lifetimes. We don’t deserve… the responsibilities of the crown have outgrown us in our absence. We took them too much for granted a thousand years ago, and things were far simpler back then. Today? We might as well be a foal playing with the alicorn amulet. You deserve better than that, sister, and so does Equestria. You deserve better than… than our amateurish selves.” “LUNA MOONRISE!” Celestia uttered in her own rendition of the royal Canterlot voice. Luna blinked in surprise at both her tone and at hearing her sister call her by her full name, something which was only employed on the rarest of occasions by the two of them alone. “You cannot do this to yourself, my beloved sister. Please, I beg of you. If not for yourself, then do it for me, for your little ponies, for the sister and country you claim to love so. We all need you, Luna, more than you could possibly imagine. As long-lived as we are, we were always bound to make mistakes, and my goodness, mistakes we both most certainly have made. But they are our mistakes, Luna, not just yours, ours! “We were always meant to rule together, to live and learn and grow together. We cannot change the past any more than we can live in it, even us in all our power; all we can do is rise and fall like the sun and moon, day after day, night after night, always striving to grow brighter and wiser every time we do. Take these words to heart, sister, please. Mother would weep as I do seeing you like this; you know as well as I do how dearly she held her precious little moonbeam.” Luna still refused to meet Celestia’s gaze, but quietly uttered, “When I heard what had happened… the thought of losing you, truly losing you forever. How close I came to such a reality. I didn’t know in that moment what I would do with myself if it ever came to that. I was so afraid, Tia. I just can’t… I don’t think I could be you. I couldn’t rule alone. I can barely rule with you by my side as it is.” Celestia wrapped a wing around Luna once more, consoling her to the best of her abilities. “I hope and pray it never comes to that, for both our sakes. But if it ever did, I know you could rule just as well as I. You’re so much stronger than you give yourself credit for.” Gently wiping the few remaining tears in Luna’s eyes with a levitated handkerchief, Celestia tilted her sister’s chin up and looked her in the eyes, flashing a small but mischievous smile. “That said, it wouldn’t hurt if you started involving yourself a bit more in royal affairs. And I don’t just mean attending the Day Court or other royal functions more regularly; get yourself out there more, sister, mingling with our subjects and such.” At that Luna tilted her head, a puzzled look etched on her features. “I know how to mingle with them, sister. I very much enjoyed the revelries at Nightmare Night, despite my initial apprehension regarding the holiday.” Celestia, however, shook her head, chuckling. “You need to take it a step further beyond that. Work with them, throw yourself into their lives and what they’re doing. Aid them as you can, but let them teach you how to trust in them as well; you need to learn that you don’t have to just rely on yourself, and you might be surprised by what wondrous things they can achieve. I wouldn’t have gotten here today were it not for our subjects, and need I remind you that we all wouldn’t have gotten you back were it not for some of them?” “Hmmm… a fair enough point. But where to start? There are so many ponies in Equestria, how am I to choose who to, eh, “mingle” with?” “Just let it happen naturally, Luna, don’t force it,” Celestia advised. “Keep your eyes open and the opportunities should present themselves. You’ll find that ponies who make for ideal confidantes tend to do just that. When they come to you or show themselves, encourage them and cultivate them into becoming the best ponies they can be. You’ll both be better for it, I guarantee it.” Luna gave a doubtful frown but hesitantly nodded. “We’ll see, we’ll see. I will… give your advice due consideration, sister.” Celestia waited a moment expectantly, but it soon became apparent that Luna had said everything she was willing to say in her current state of melancholy. She gave a soft, sad sigh but nodded in turn, taking what she could get for the time being. “Keep your chin up, Lulu, always. So many ponies care about you, myself and so many more than you think.” Taking her leave, Celestia stopped just as she reached the door, a thought suddenly occurring to her. “Oh, before I forget, you have some mail,” she happily announced, and Luna’s own ears perked up at the news and she gave her sister a curious look. “From who?” she asked. “Twilight, it seems,” Celestia replied. “At least I assume that’s who sent it, it did come from Spike after all.” She levitated a sealed scroll over to Luna, bearing her seal upon it, which Luna took in her own magic. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from her anytime soon. I wonder what she could want,” Luna mused. Celestia shrugged. “Oh, you know Twilight, sometimes she just calls out of the blue. Or perhaps she has a friendship lesson that applies to you. Whatever it is, don’t worry, I won’t pry, not unless you want to tell me what it is. I do hope it’s good news! Take care, sister.” With that, Celestia left, closing the door behind her while Luna still inquisitively examined the unexpected correspondence. After a moment, she finally broke the seal, curious to see what Twilight wanted. Almost immediately, however, something caught her eye, something which caused her to catch her breath. Et lux in tenebris, In nigris vindicta, Iustitia in nocte “The oath of the… but how? And wait a minute, that’s not Twilight’s hoofwriting either. What’s going on, who is this from?” With a furious fervor the princess read through the letter, then proceeded to read it three more times to be sure this wasn’t some kind of joke. Perhaps it was and she simply still wasn’t familiar with the ways in which modern humor worked. But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find anything to suggest the writer was anything but serious. For a while she just stood there, unsure what to make of this. She thought, however, of what her sister had told her and advised her to do, and then thought, and thought, and thought some more. Finally, after carefully rolling the letter back up, she wondered aloud to herself, “Who is this Derpy Hooves?”