It was an exhausted and disquiet Celestia that returned to Canterlot that evening. All she wanted to do was lower the sun and go to bed. Her soft, comfortable bed with its warm, fluffy pillows. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
"TIA!"
Celestia sighed, before turning around to look down the hall. "Luna? What-?"
A dark blue alicorn, with teal eyes, a crescent moon cutie mark set in the black fur that covered her flanks, and a midnight blue mane and tail filled with nebulous stars came thundering down the hall towards her sister. Luna was, Celestia noted, wearing her old armor--the set from before her transformation into Nightmare Moon--and hefting a large battleaxe in her magical grip. Two armored, bat-winged thestrals, members of Luna's night guard, appeared careening around the corner down the hall, desperately trying in vain to catch up to their princess.
Luna slid to a halt, her warshoes kicking up sparks from the tiling. "SISTER! THE HELLCAT! IT DOTH-!"
Celestia held up a hoof, forestalling any further outbursts from her younger sister. "Calm, Luna. The Hellcat is...not an issue at this time." She put her hoof down, giving Luna a reproachful look. "And didn't I tell you that the Royal Voice had fallen out of use?"
Abashed, the princess of night scuffed an armored hoof against the tile, drawing more sparks. "Sorry Tia, We forgo--STOP TRYING TO DISTRACT US!" Luna thundered, before dropping her voice back down to normal levels. "What dost thou mean the Hellcat is no longer an issue?"
Celestia sighed. It had almost worked too, but her bed would have to wait just a little longer. "Come. I'll explain along the way."
At that moment, the two night guards staggered to a stop next to Luna as Celestia began to trot down the hall. Sighing, Luna turned to the two guards. "WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR DILIGENCE, GUARDSPONIES. DISMISSED." With that said, Luna turned on her hoof and followed after her sister, battleaxe floating along behind her.
One of the guards saluted, only to jerk away to the side as his partner keeled over with a wheeze.
"I first learned of the Hellcat's escape when I went to congratulate Twilight and her friends on stopping Discord," Celestia explained as her sister caught up.
"And thou didst not go to hunt the beast," Luna inquired incredulously.
"No," Celestia explained simply. "For one, had Twilight or her friends not said anything, I would have never known it was there. That alone required I reassess the situation, and what they told me further reinforced that notion." Celestia stopped, turning to face her sister fully. "Sister, it attacked Discord."
"And? If Discord twas controlling it as we thought so long ago, surely the beast would seek vengeance," reasoned Luna.
"Discord fought back," Celestia said, letting that tidbit sink in. "And when it was beaten, Discord restrained it."
Luna looked at her sister in worry, considering the implications. "That wouldst mean the beast was not under Discord's spell."
"Indeed," Celestia agreed. "But I believe our theory about its sanity was correct: when the Bearers accidentally released the Hellcat, it simply left for the Everfree, taking with it the orb Discord used to restrain it."
"Hmm, the Forest of the Everfree was treacherous in Our time, We can only assume it hath become more so. Finding the Hellcat will be tricky," Luna mused.
"We already know where it is," Celestia revealed, earning a raised brow from Luna. "It rebuilt our old castle."
Luna was thunderstruck. "Our old-? Tia, surely thou jest?"
"I do not," Celestia simply said. "I saw the towers in the distance rise before my very eyes." She took a steadying breath. "I sent Twilight and the other Element Bearers to investigate. We...they were lucky to return unharmed."
Luna looked at her sister with concern. "Tia, what happened?"
Celestia sighed, standing silently before beginning. "Twilight told me everything that happened," she explained as she continued down the hall. "When they arrived at the castle, the gates opened by themselves," the Solar diarch said, telling her sister what had been told to her not so long ago.
"And then they fell out of the air in front of me," Celestia finished as she walked down the hall with Luna.
"This doth be both gratifying and worrisome," Luna mused, clomping along heavily in her armor. "Gratifying, in that We now know the Hellcat be not a mindless beast, and worrisome in that We doth not know what it wants." She sighed, fluffing up her wings in agitation. "What was it your student called it? Mutu?"
"Mewtwo," Celestia corrected. "And she was unclear as to whether that was its name or species."
"Mewtwo," repeated Luna, running the name over her tongue in thought. "We doth believe We shall attempt to enter its dreams tonight. Perhaps We shall be able to better understand it."
Celestia frowned unhappily at that suggestion, but nevertheless did not go against it. "Just be careful," she cautioned. "We don't know everything its capable of."
Despite herself, Luna rolled her eyes. "Tia, I know what I doth do."
Still, it was nice to know that despite everything that had happened between them Celestia still cared.
There was a brief flash of light as Luna stepped into the dreamscape, her armor retired in favor of her own royal regalia, colored silver where her sister's was gold. Immediately, she recoiled in slight disgust at what she saw. "Strewth. Never before hath I seen a dreamscape in such disarray."
It was true. Throughout her career as the Mistress of Dreams, Luna had become intimately familiar with the ways and sundries dreams could take form. It varied from being to being of course, but she had learned that the dreams of each race tended to flow a certain way. Earth ponies tended to have dreams akin to the movements of the earth: slow and steady, but with the occasional jolt that led into a new dream. Pegasi were as the wind, their dreams flitting quickly from subject to subject, though none the less rich for doing so. Unicorns, on the other hoof, were interesting in that, though not as steady as those of an earth pony or as flighty as a pegasus, they were the most likely to be influenced by their memories, usually those fresh from the previous day. Of the other species that called Equus their home, there were many ways their dreams formed, and Luna had experienced them all.
But the dreamscape she stood in now was unlike anything Luna had ever seen before. The dream was broken, an otherwise featureless void scattered with uncountable crystal shards in all colors, not unlike a winter sea dotted with icebergs. As one of the crystals tumbled past at glacial speed, Luna reached out and pressed her hoof upon it.
A purple eye opens. Muffled voices can be heard beyond a glass partition. Everything is tinged orange, little bubbles floating serenely upwards. Those voices. They're outside. Where I must be. There is a series of images, the reflection of a mountain on a lake, ripples on the water, a blurry animal swimming past waving grass; the eye glows blue.
Glass shatters. Alarms blare.
"Radio Giovanni's helicopter, tell him what's happened!"
Luna jerked back, yanking her hoof away from the crystal shard. Breathing heavily, she looked at her hoof, then at the shard, before pressing her hoof against one close by.
Four giant insects stand on rocky ground, their purple shells and blue eyes glinting in the cold mountain air. Futuristic looking cannons rest on their backs. Their images are reflected in a purple eye. The Pokemon restored from fossils: Genesect. There was a flash, a memory of a feline creature in a tank, eyes opening as readouts flicker urgently. Created, like me...at the hands of people.
Luna pulled her hoof away from the shard, breaking the connection. She looked around at the mindscape, at the crystals in revelation. "These art not dreams," Luna realized. "They art memories." She looked at the shard in front of her carefully, taking note of the jagged edges. Scanning the other shards nearby revealed similar wear on the crystals. "They art broken, scattered," Luna concluded with a frown. "Twas strange, they doth appear to be from two different beings." She huffed in slight frustration, having never come across such an occurrence before. "I doth not understand."
You could always ask.
Staring at Luna with my arms crossed, I quickly came to the conclusion that we were in my head, or more accurately, my dreams. I'd have to be careful about this one. I hadn't even realized I had fallen asleep: my rock must have been more comfortable than I'd realized.
Luna spun around, staring at me in shock. "How? How doth thou control thy dream?"
I will admit, this comes as a surprise to me as well, I allowed, gesturing with one arm. But that doesn't explain why you are here.
"We are the Mistress of Dreams," Luna exclaimed proudly, quickly recovering from her earlier shock. "It is Our duty to attend to the dreams of all Our subjects."
I quirked an eyebrow. I am not one of your subjects, though, I pointed out lazily.
"Thou art in Equestria, though," Luna pointed out. "Thou still fall under Mine aegis."
I see. I gestured with an arm again. I'll wager you're here for a different reason than my well-being though: you want answers. I uncrossed my arms, holding my paws out in supplication. So, ask away.
Luna blinked in surprise. "Verily?"
I nodded. I'm feeling generous right now. I really was, too.
"Quite," Luna retorted. She stared at me in thought before voicing her question. "Thine attack upon the Applachian Mountains, why?"
I felt that indescribable, irrational rage boiling up: I ruthlessly quashed it back down. I was but as a newborn, I explained, technically telling the truth. My transformation into a Mewtwo could be considered a form of rebirth, after all. And my mind was fractured. As for the hows and the whys of how I came to be there, I cannot say, for I do not know. I hoped Luna would accept that answer, because the anger really didn't like that topic.
Thankfully, Luna did accept that answer, for now at least. "We see. Very well." She lapsed back into silent thought, before her eyes darted over to one of the massive crystal shards floating about my mind. "Those," she pointed. "Those hold memories from two different individuals. How?"
Frowning, I pulled mentally at the two shards indicated. They were indeed memories, but not quite in the way Luna thought they were. They were scenes from the Pokemon anime, one from my half-remembered childhood and one from my equally half-remembered adult life. As the scenes played in my head, I grimaced: how to explain these to Luna without revealing too much?
Those are memories of my predecessors, I carefully said, which wasn't technically a lie.
Luna's eyes narrowed. "And how, pray tell, doth thou haveth the memories of thine predecessors?"
Shit. My mind raced as I struggled to come up with an answer. Have you ever heard of genetic memory? Please buy it. Please buy it. Please buy it.
"Thou dost remember the memories of thine ancestors? We didst not know such a thing was possible."
Oh, thank God.
Luna looked at me with a bit of...awe? I think it was awe, but it could have just as easily been indigestion (I was never very good at reading human expressions Before, and I couldn't quite figure out how to mindread someone who was already in my mind...or dream, so...). "What art thou?"
I smirked. I knew the answer to this one. I am Mewtwo. I snickered internally at Luna's expression.
Now, you've asked your questions, I stated, dark storm clouds roiling overhead as thunder rumbled somewhere off in the distance. It is time you answer one of mine.
Luna swallowed nervously, even as she stood resolute against the darkness. "Very well. Ask." She braced herself for whatever answer I would demand.
Where can I get some koi? At my question, the atmosphere suddenly brightened, the storm gone.
Luna sputtered in surprise, and you could hear the record scratch (literally: it was a dreamscape, after all) as she tried to process the sudden change in tone and topic. "Koi?"
Yes, you know, koi? A type of colorful, decorative carp? I elaborated. I hear they're quite nice to look at.
"I," Luna looked at me in bafflement. "I...can ask?"
Splendid. Well, I started. I'm sure you have much work to do tonight, so I shan't keep you. Toodles! And with that, I promptly kicked Luna from the chat session that was my dreams.
I let out a great sigh. Oh, that was a bit more intense than I had anticipated. But, it had been fun to tweak Luna's proverbial tailfeathers at the end there. I smiled smugly. If you can't awe them with knowledge, baffle 'em with bullshit. Now where was I? ...Hmm, lucid dreaming, might as well enjoy it.
I flopped down into a deck lounge as a beach materialized before me. Sipping from a coconut filled with fruity drink via straw, I sat back and enjoyed the view.
In her chambers in Canterlot Palace, Princess Luna jerked awake, blinking blearily in confusion. "Forsooth, what just happened?"