Coming back to the castle in Canterlot was a welcome sight for Celestia and Luna’s eyes. After spending far too long in the prisons of Tartarus, returning to their old home sounded like heaven in Equestria in comparison. Not that it was terrible, but Tartarus was just that wretched.
Needless to say, when Luna got to her bedroom that night, she flopped down on the sheets of her bed on sight. She knew she still had to do her nightly duties of dream searching, and she rubbed her temples at the thought. If only she could put it off for one night.
She heard a knock on the door and grumbled again. “What is it?”
“Still feeling under the weather as well?”
“Yes, sister. No doubt you can see why.”
A yellow magical aura surrounded the door knob as it turned. Celestia came in without her crown or royal attire, same with Luna. She had a cup of coffee levitating next to her, and it was already empty.
“I shouldn’t be feeling this way, but I am,” Celestia admitted. “We should be celebrating, enjoying the festivities and victory parades, and yet I can’t help but feel like the life’s been sucked out of me.”
“In a sense, that’s what Tirek did to us,” said Luna. “I’ve never felt so powerless in my life. At least when we were at the mercy of Discord’s vines, we could still use our powers if we escaped. There was no such luxury this time.”
Celestia flopped with her on the bed. “But it’s over now, right? Tripling the security in Tartarus will prevent this from happening again.”
“Indeed, and you’re right, we should be celebrating. Our subjects are grateful that we escaped unscathed, and Twilight has a new castle to her now. It is truly marvelous to behold, but I will always prefer this one.”
One of Celestia’s ears twitched. “Twilight’s new castle? Oh yes. I forgot for a moment. It’s just that, well…”
“What is wrong? There is nothing awful about a princess inhibiting a castle. I would think she earned it after all she’s done for Equestria.”
“True. That’s not what bothers me. You heard how she was restoring the old castle? Our old castle?”
That got Luna’s attention fast. “The Castle of the Two Sisters? I heard she spent some time there, but I never knew she planned to restore it. How long has it been since you left it?”
“At least 1200 years. From her last sent letter, it appears that she might be abandoning it as well.”
Now it was Luna’s ears that were twitching. “Oh. To be honest, it astonished me that one piece of the ruins still stands. There might be almost nothing left of it at this point.”
“You may be right, but I can’t help but feel a certain draw to it. That castle means so much to us, Luna. How many things did Starswirl teach us in its halls, and how many pranks did you pull on me in the Hall of Hooves?
Luna had to withhold a giggle. “If I recall, it was you that learned things under Starswirl’s wing, not me, but your point is as clear as a river’s stream. What are you suggesting we do?”
A small grin formed on Celestia’s face. “I’m saying, when things quiet down, we should, maybe, just maybe, go pay it a visit?”
The blue alicorn’s pupils shrunk down to the size of peas. “That would be the first time in millenia. It doesn’t feel like a good idea to me.”
“Please? Pretty please?” Celestia baited her with the most classic of pleas, the puppy dog face.
“Oh, alright. I’ll check our schedules and see when the best time would be. I wouldn’t mind reliving the memories we’ll find there.”
The white alicorn squeed in joy. “Wonderful. It shouldn’t take long, and we could be in and out of there in an hour. I can’t wait!”
“Withhold your enthusiasm, you may wake our neighbors,” Luna teased. “I still have my nightly duties to attend to. Do you mind giving me some space to perform them?”
“Oh, right, that old thing. Well, good luck out there!” She sped out of the room and shut the door.
Luna chuckled and shook her head. “Oh, Celle, it is wonderful to see that side of you again.”
-----
The Everfree Forest might have been known for its thick, dangerous vegetation, yet it cleared up as the royal carriage came to the entrance before the old, rotten castle. The pegasi guards looked down upon its ruins and recognized it for what it was.
“Where do you want us to place you, Your Majesties?” the lead driver asked.
“Bring us down a hundred feet from the entrance. Keep an eye out to ensure that nothing deadly invades this place,” commanded Luna.
The guards heeded their superiors and landed close by the entrance doors, bringing the carriage to a screeching halt. The royal sisters piled out and landed on the ground, taken aback immediately by the doors that once led to their home.
Yes, the castle was in ruins, but what remained was instantly familiar to them. The gargoyles on top of their perches. The way the castle rose to the skies above. The stove carvings of the sun and moon everywhere.
“Are you feeling the nostalgia yet?” Celestia squeaked.
“Yes. It is a feeling I’ve rarely felt, but that makes it all the more special.”
They went past the entrance doors and headed inside, going in no particular direction. Wherever the halls led them, they went. The halls were empty and full of dust, yet it was a true testament to Equestrian workmanship that they could recognize anything at all.
The reception area laid just ahead. Much of the ceiling was gone, but the cavernous floor was still intact. Well, it might have spider webs and stuff, but it did look like a carpeted floor.
“By the stars, I recognize this place,” thought Luna. “Do you recall the day we hosted the Dragon Lord here?”
The sun princess snapped her head at the thought. “I do. That wasn’t something you easily forget in a place like this.”
-----
The blue filly tapped her hoof on the carpet. “Celle, this is taking too long. Do we even need these guards?” There was a huge legion of guards in that room, all prepared for anything and everything.
“You’ve seen a dragon before, silly. We don’t want to lose our manes in a big ball of fire.”
“But this is a smaller dragon. We could just say hi and that’s it, right?”
“Even a smaller dragon can be a big meanie. Just smile and we’ll be--”
The doors flew wide open, and a teenage sized, buff dragon stormed down the halls. His dark blue scales almost blended with the night time, but his yellow eyes burned in the darkness. A fire scepter rested in his right hand, and he looked ready to pick a fight as he met the weak excuse he saw for Equestrian royalty. The legion readied theri spears for the worst he might do.
“I am Dragon Lord Torch, winner of the Gauntlet of Fire, and make no mistake: We dragons are not intimidated by the likes of you, alicorns or not,” he snorted. “Ten of us could burn all of Equestria to the ground, so why should we work with the likes of you?”
Celestia was taken aback in surprise at his aggressive nature. Looks like Luna was right. “Um, hello, Dragon Lord Torch. We’ve been waiting for you. You’re a little late.”
That irked the dragon, and he got right into her face. “We dragons don’t care about little things like ‘being late’. We care about getting all the gems we can find, and you’re keeping me from that!”
The guards pointed their spears at him so he wouldn’t get any ideas. Even with that security, Torch’s words dug under Celestia’s skin. “Lulu, help?” she whispered quietly to her little sister.
Luna nodded and recognized this as her moment to shine. “Hey, big guy, seems like you like really powerful things, right?”
Torch chuckled. “You have no idea, but there is no way you can beat the likes of me, and I’m not even a hundredth of my full size yet. What can you do to change that?”
“A roar off.” Luna had a smug look on her face.
“A roar off? You want to outroar me? BWA HA HA HA! I had no idea ponies had a sense of humor. I accept, and soon you’ll see the true power of dragons!”
He stood back a few feet away from the princesses and opened his mouth. Aiming for the ceiling, he took a deep breath and roared on the top of his lungs. It let out a massive burst of fire, and the guards were set on edge from the display. The roar painfully rang in everypony’s ears; Luna remained unfazed even still. If anything, she had a smile on her face. The kind of smile someone makes when they know they’re about to do something bad.
Torch let out the rest of his flames and stopped. “What do you make of that? If you top that, you’d be worthy of leading the dragons yourself!”
“Eh, I’m turning it down,” she shrugged. “I’m fine ruling Equestria, thank you.”
“What? But you can’t--”
“OOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!”
Torch was blown away, literally. Luna used the Canterlot Voice to scream even louder than he could dream of. Celestia’s jaw hit the floor as she watched the dragon get blown into the ceiling. He hit the ceiling so hard, cracks were starting to form on it.
“OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!”
“STOP IT! STOP IT! I YIELD!” the dragon begged. “JUST STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING!”
Luna closed her mouth and grinned at a job well done. Torch fell down to the floor in a sad little heap, and he clutched for the scepter tightly. He thought it was impossible for a pony to shake him up, but he could feel his hands tremble as he held onto the staff.
“So you’re more powerful than I give you credit for,” he admitted. “What do you want from me?”
“Tell your dragons to stop invading Equestria and the ponies that live here,” Luna declared triumphantly. “If you do that, we’ll help you when you need it, like in a war or something. Do you think that sounds fair?”
Torch grumbled in defeat. “Yeah, sure. Just don’t do that again.”
Celestia was silently in awe. “You could get anypony scared if you did that all the time.”
“Nah, that’s not how I want to do things,” the moon filly responded. “Just when a dragon keeps threatening to burn everything down. Then I’ll do it. You’re not part dragon, are you?”
-----
“That was still among the most courageous things I’ve ever seen you do,” said the sun princess. “Starswirl wasn’t too happy with your decision making, but we brought peace nevertheless.”
“I was pretty good at stopping a dragon when I needed to,” Luna tooted. “Let’s move on, I want to see what else we might find.”
“Sounds like a certain alicorn is getting excited to me.”
Luna brushed it off and followed Celestia down the hallways to the next place still intact. That trek brought them down to the few remaining walls of the castle’s numerous rooms, what could have been bedrooms, or meeting rooms, or rooms that left their memory with the passage of time. It was a special kind of fun to speculate what they might have been, but it was even more adventurous when they found a room they easily recognized.
One of those rooms was the old castle library. Celestia couldn’t believe how many books were still here, and in relatively good condition given their age. That explained why Twilight’s reports were so joyous when she first discovered the place. Celestia hovered a few feet in the air to find what long lost books laid in these shelves.
“Look, Luna, the first book ever written on griffons! It might be outdated, but this is truly a marvelous account in how we used to view them.”
Luna rolled her eyes with a smile. “The bookworm in you is coming out again.”
“Oh, like a thirst for knowledge was ever a bad thing--ooh, the first book on magical studies Starswirl published. I didn’t think any of them survived.”
“Maybe we should keep it. Surely, somepony will want to read it, excluding you and Twilight,” the blue alicorn grinned.
Celestia put the volume away in a magical bubble and added a few other tales in there as she found them. One particular book grabbed her attention. “The very first book on the history of Equestria ever published. I remember how I felt when we read it. Do you recall that moment?”
“Yes, it was very surreal. We were still in the first century of our reign, and yet I read the details of our friends that had since long passed away. We stood with them in the illustrations, and to see it being taught was...was…”
The sun princess came back to earth to check on her sister. “Are you okay? We can stop if you--”
“It’s not that. It was amazing. To know you’ve contributed to making the world a better place, and to know your old friends will be remembered for a long time? Isn’t that a wonderful feeling to have?”
Celestia nodded. “It was. It truly was. Hey, you remember when we went through our own version of teenagehood?”
Luna burst out in laughter. “We were so unbearable for those twenty years! It was amazing we didn’t burn down the whole castle whenever we thought. What was it we did, where I said your pancakes were terrible, and you didn’t lower the sun for a whole day?”
“Even I admit that I could be petty. But you’re the one saying you needed a whole week to get through one dream where another teen had a crush on you. Were you ever all over him.”
“It was just a mutual crush!” Luna blushed. “I’m amazed Starswirl was able to get over that. He kept telling us how we had to stay close, or bad things...might...happen…”
A heavy air filled the library with those words. It created an uncomfortable silence, and neither one knew what to say. They wanted to break the ice, but it was hard to do so with the unspoken thoughts they had with the realization.
“We should probably move on,” Luna interrupted.
“Yes, that’s probably a good idea,” agreed Celestia.
They left the library and explored more wings and rooms of the castle. Their path brought them straight to the throne room, and it took them off guard that the thrones were largely preserved. Their old banners were still there, too. Maybe a little ragged, but nobody could mistake whose banners they were, with the exquisite yellow and blue designs, along with the sun and moon patterns.
Luna brought herself to the balcony, examining the thrones up close for herself So many judgments made while they sat on them, so many royal decrees made...and so many pranks pulled off.
“Princess Platinum once sat on here, and I played the organ that sent her to the river,” she giggled. “The look on her face was worth every day they spent building it.”
“You know you could never fool me, though.”
“Yes, you were the wise one that saw through everything. I came close once, though. Right?”
“Well, that’s now how I remembered it.”
-----
“And here are the Hall of Hooves,” Celestia, fresh out of teenagehood, explained. “They’re purely for decoration. You must admit, they’re uniquely Equestrian.”
“That is true, but I find it a bit juvenile myself,” the griffon ambassador admitted. “Was this your idea? You’ve given me an airy sense of wisdom, but this doesn’t match your status quo here.”
“It was my sister’s idea, but she is intelligent in her own right.”
“And where would she be?”
“Last she said, she had some business to attend to. Hopefully not what I think she’s doing,” she said, muttering the last part under her breath.
She leaned against the wall as the other griffons examined the hooves on the wall for themselves. Dealing with griffon royalty was always exhausting, but it didn’t help that she felt a hoof wrap itself around her neck. She sighed as she looked over at it, and sure enough, the hoof was dark blue. “Luna, now’s not the time for this.”
“WHHHHOOOOO IS LUNA?” a fake, silly voice responded. “I AM THE GHOOOOOST OF THE DAYS OF EQUESTRIA’S PAST! CLOVER THE CLEVER, SMART COOKIE AND...uh...um...THAT ONE PRISSY UNICORN!”
Celestia brushed it off and led the ambassadors down to the throne room. “As you can see, this room is where Princess Luna and I handle most of the public matters. It gives off a respectful aura, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, much better,” the ambassador agreed. “Truly, you had wonderful architects working day and night here.”
“You would be correct, and their work was well rewarded,” she reported as she sat down on the sun throne. Before she could speak again, the chord to a certain organ echoed through the halls, and she sighed as she used a teleportation spell to get off her throne at once. The throne spun around to show another throne just like it.
“What is the meaning of this?” the griffon barked. “Is this some sort of joke?”
“It is. Just not on you. Can you wait here for a minute? I’m going to deal with a certain sister of mine,” she grumbled.
She went on down to the place Luna would likely be, and sure enough, she found the blue alicorn sitting on the organ, laughing like a madman as she pressed the keys to the organ. “Hehe, she will never see it coming. I’ll win this prank war once and for all!”
“Still playing pranks on me, eh?” she heard somepony whisper in her ear.
“AHHH! Celestia, what are you doing?” Luna looked over her shoulder only to find nobody there. Before she could turn around, a key was pressed on the organ, and she was flying straight into the air.
“Noooo!” She flapped her wings before she hit the ground, and as she was hovering, she found Celestia there, her hoof having pressed the button.
“Silly Luna,” she smirked. “You’re never going to outprank me. Are you five or something?”
“Awww, but you can never outgrow a good prank. The griffons aren’t mad at us, right? I timed it right so it would only hit you.”
“Well, you did that just right. Seriously though, they’re wondering if we’re five, too. Come on, just explain what happened and they might just avoid getting upset we didn’t have enough eclairs.”
“Fine. Really, though, how can anypony, let alone a griffon, eat 10 eclairs in five seconds? I timed it!”
-----
“At least they found it funny when I explained it to them,” Luna pointed out. “Still, I’ll never do it again as long as I live. You grew to be the better prankster when we got older.”
“That I have. I’ve been around Discord for too long,” Celestia thought. “Now that I think about it, we had our own secret study room here, didn’t we? Where was that?”
“Not too far from here. I know where it was. Follow me, I’ll lead the way.”
They went and arrived at a certain study room, one Celestia didn’t recognize but Luna certainly did. It looked like any other room, until Luna tilted one of the seats back a bit. It triggered a hidden mechanism, and one of the bookshelves slid down to reveal their own private study room.
Celestia marveled as the nostalgia came in once they stepped inside. She spent many days studying in seclusion, and it was used as a makeshift war room during the war with Sombra. However, nothing could prepare her when she found a familiar book on the study desk.
“It’s our journal,” she gasped. “The one we wrote in when we were fillies.”
“It’s still in good condition? This is remarkable,” Luna commented. “Shall we read it together?”
They opened it up and went through the pages, and the memories and recollections hit them like a pile of bricks. Meeting the village of zebras, Luna facing down a much larger dragon, and the misadventures they forced Starswirl to go through. And then Celestia found the pages where Luna wrote her entries like she was using the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“You sure seemed to love using your Voice, even as a filly,” Celestia laughed.
“Shut it, so did you,” Luna laughed. “I didn’t know we came so close to war with the griffons when we were so young. Diplomacy was one of our many callings.
However, as they drew deeper and deeper into the well of events in the journal, the pages with Starswirl called out to them. There were pages reminding them when Starswirl prepared them for the challenges that laid ahead, which there were many. It reminded Luna of something else, something more personal. A certain, moon shaped, black alicorn-sized challenge Celestia would have to face.
“Celestia, may I ask a question, no matter how blunt it may be?”
“I’m as open as this journal,” she responded.
“What happened here soon after I was banished?”
That question blindsided the sun alicorn. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“It’s simple. I want to know what occurred here in the hours after you banished me. I never found out because I was too scared to ask, but now I think I should know.”
Celestia took a deep breath. “You know by now that I did what I did as a last resort. It had to be done, but I made the punishment with an end because I knew there was a chance to save the real you from Nightmare Moon. I had hope you would return to the moon throne in time.”
“And yet, even though I knew that in my mind, my heart felt like I had lost you forever,” she started to cry. “I never cried so much in my life. I didn’t even know what to say, other than to hope that you would forgive me one day. The guards and advisors did their best to comfort me, and they handled some of my duties for the next few weeks, knowing how heavy my heart was.
“This entire castle, however, served as a reminder of my failure to save you. The Hall of Hooves, this room, all the trap doors, the banners of your likeness, I had to be reminded that you were gone day and night. I couldn’t stand it, and it was one of many reasons I left this castle for the one in Canterlot.
“But that’s over now. You’re back, and we’ve spent days apologizing to each other since then. That’s all I ever wanted, and we shall rule together like it was meant to be.”
Luna’s heart soared for her sister, and she draped a wing over Celestia’s back in response. “Yes, I am very grateful that things have returned to the way they should be,” she replied as she wiped their tears with her wings. “Let’s move on with our lives, and never think back to that night in time. We have much to look forward to, and centuries left to live.”
Celestia snuggled her sister softly. “You’re right. I love you, Luna.”
“And I love you, too.”
They returned to the pages of the Journal, and they arrived at the pages with Starswirl with the Tree of Harmony. The revelations they found there, however, caught them off guard. They re-read those pages time and time again, making sure they didn’t misinterpret what they saw. But there it was, lying there before them in their own hoofwriting.
“I’m just so glad we have the Tree of Harmony to give us strength. More and more, the three markings of the sun, the moon, and the star draw me in and make me feel like there is something special about them. When I said this to Starswirl, he got a little sparkle in his eye.” *
“Are you sure this is correct?” Celestia asked.
“There is nothing here to say it is wrong,” Luna responded. “He did master the art of time travel. We saw that for ourselves.”
“That means…”
“Precisely. I see no other conclusion to this.”
“Then what should we do with this?”
“The only thing we can do. The only thing we should do. She deserves to know.”
-----
The map room of Twilight’s new castle only had three ponies in it, yet the tension inside could fill a thousand ponies with dread. As the purple pony looked at those same pages in the Journal, her jaw was down on the floor.
“You mean…could it be?” she gasped.
“Yes. Starswirl the Bearded has time traveled to this era of history, and he knows who you are,” Luna explained. “We’ve looked over the passage to verify it ourselves.”
“I don’t know what to say. How should I feel about it?”
“We don’t know, to be honest,” admitted Celestia. “He mastered the art of time travel the last time we saw him, but we had no idea he had traveled this far.”
Twilight’s brain was throbbing when she raced through all the possibilities. “Do you think he’s out here? Now?”
“No, we don’t think so,” Celestia added. “But now that we know he’s been here, we should keep an eye out for him. Maybe there is information he wants to share, or--”
“Or I get to meet the best unicorn ever!” Twilight gleamed. “Of course, you’re the best ponies ever, but you’re alicorns. He’s the best unicorn ever. It would be a dream come true to meet him!”
The princesses nodded and laughed. “I’m sure it would be, Princess Twilight,” Luna agreed. “I hope for your sake that we do, among others.”
“I know, right? I have so many questions. How did he learn how to do time travel? What was it like to see Equestria be founded? I have to write them all down!”
She went on and on for a while, drawing a chuckle or two from her fellow royalty. After it was over, Celestia and Luna went back to the carriage to go back home. Still, they knew what they were feeling.
“Do you think he’ll let us find him?” Luna asked.
“I hope so. How long has it been since we’ve seen him last? I’m sure he’ll want to say a few things to us, and I have so many--”
“I wish he told me about Nightmare Moon,” Luna interrupted.
“Wait, what--”
“You know what I mean.”
Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Me too. That will be one of many questions I will ask him when we find him.”
“If. He’s been here many times from the sound of it.”
“No. When. If he comes back again, I will personally make sure we’ll be there. Equestria could always use his wisdom, and there’s things I want to find out.”
“Do you hate him for what he did? Not telling us and stopping everything from happening?
“I could never hate him. He clearly tried to lead us away from disaster, but I am hurt with this news. Perhaps it would have been worse if he did, but I’m not sure. There’s so many questions I need answered.”
“That we can agree upon. At the same time, you are right that he did warn us. He was a father figure when we needed it. I just don’t know how I‘ll react when I see him again.
“Neither will I, sister. Let’s let the future answer that for us when the moment is right.”