Apple Bloom woke up suddenly. She had become used to waking up from having strange dreams, since it’s been happening alot recently. However, this time was different. Even though she was used to waking up from strange dreams, and even being able to remember that she had strange dreams, what she wasn’t used to was remembering her dreams. The images were fuzzy, not being able to recall what she had seen. But she could remember details about what she heard.
Like any dream, the memories were fading already. But there were key details that stayed with her. Mention of a hive mind, assimilation, a changeling king, and a ‘next phase’. The memories were still vague. But compared to previous dreams, she actually remembered these few details.
Apple Bloom’s mind was distracted when she heard something from the bathroom. It was the sound of somepony throwing up. And she knew exactly who it was, seeing as this wasn’t the first time. Apple Bloom went into the bathroom, confirming what she already knew. Scootaloo was at the toilet vomiting.
She trotted over to Scootaloo and began rubbing her back, “Stomach wake ya up again?”
“My stomach came later,” Scootaloo said, shaking her head, “What woke me up was a bad dream.”
This got Apple Bloom’s attention, “A bad dream?”
“I dreamt about…that…again,” Scootaloo whimpered.
“Ah think we both need some comfort,” Apple Bloom said as she hugged Scootaloo, “Ah also had a dream. Ah don’t know if it was a bad dream. Ah jus’ know that it was disturbin’.”
Luna opened her eyes to reveal that she was in the ethereal plain. The plain that she uses to enter the dreams of ponies. But what was she doing here? She didn’t make an attempt to enter a dream.
‘How much of what you remember of your life do you think actually happened?’ A disembodied voice asked.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!” Luna shouted in a combination of anger and fear. She couldn’t understand where the fear was coming from, “What kind of question is that?”
‘A very valid question. And one that I bet you will get wrong.’ The voice said. ‘I’m curious as to why you’re avoiding the question.’
“We do not avoid questions!” Luna insisted, “And you do not have the authority to make such accusations! If you’re not aware, I am the princess of the night, princess Luna!”
‘I know exactly who, and what you are. The question is, do you?’ The voice asked. ‘And if you’re not avoiding the question, then why haven’t you answered the question yet? Is it possible that you may be afraid of the answer? To be more specific, what do you remember of your life before you met with the Elements of Harmony?’
“We do not understand the meaning of this line of questioning,” Luna said, “But We will answer your questions. Before I returned as Nightmare Moon, I was banished to the moon for 1000 years because of my own jealousy turning me into Nightmare Moon. Before that, I ruled side by side with my dear sister. Together, we brought the day and the night. And we used the Elements to seal away Discord. We’ve also helped seal away king Sombra. Other than that, we generally lived a normal life.”
‘Just as I thought. Your memories were falsely created based off of actual events.’ The voice said. ‘Even if you were who you believed you were, I can confirm that your memories of becoming Nightmare Moon are not your own.’
Luna wasn’t sure what to think about this claim that her memories were false. What was more disturbing was that in the back of Luna’s mind, there was a part of her that believed these claims. “Why do you hide in the shadows? Show yourself!”
‘In time, I will show myself to you. In fact, I already have once. You just woke up before you had a good chance to see me.’ The voice said. ‘But at the moment, I don’t think you’re ready to know who I am. But just as a pointer, what I will eventually tell you is also what Twilight will learn. But in short, Celestia has been lying to you, as well as all of Equestria. Until next time, perhaps you should take into consideration what the true purpose of the Tantibus is.’
Luna still didn’t know what to think. “Wait, before you leave, tell me how you’re able to enter my dream.”
‘The same way you can. You’re not the only one gifted with dreamwalking abilities.’
Luna sat up in her bed. Somewhere in Equestria, there was another dreamwalker. And this concerned her. But her thoughts were silenced when she heard small hooves walking into her room. It was Dax.
“I had another bad dream,” Dax said. Luna’s thoughts about her own dream took second place at the moment.
Luna patted at her bed, “Come here, Dax,” Luna said. She was becoming concerned about these bad dreams that Dax is having. And it disturbed her that for some reason, she couldn’t enter Dax’ dreams, “Tell me what your dream was about.”
Twilight had become a bit obsessive compulsive about learning this new information about Equestria, this alternate history. She was known to pull all nighters before when studying. And this was no exception.
Twilight still didn’t know who Queen Sol Caelest was other than being the princesses’ mother, has yet to find anything relating to princess Celestia, and that princess Luna had a twin brother named Nightshade. Why has Celestia never mentioned a brother?
Queen Sol Caelest ruled Liberum In Aeternum with an iron hoof. Though her laws were just and fair, the punishment for breaking those laws were less than fair. The penalty for any illegal action was death by exsilio solis…
Twilight once again translated. This time, it made her hair stand on end to see what exsilio solis translated to. Death by ‘banishment to the sun’. At least her laws were fair.
This however was a problem, since these punishments were decided before nullo diligitur,…
Once again translating, Twilight saw that ‘nullo diligitur’ translated to ‘trial by jury’.
…resulting in many ponies never being given the chance to defend themselves, and many innocent ponies being executed by exsilio solis.
It was fifty years before the flaw in the queen’s legal process was brought up. There was a case where a pony was executed. However, Princess Luna had witnessed the crime take place. And she saw that it was the victim that was executed, not the law breaker. The actual guilty party had stolen an art piece from a museum and planted the art piece in someponies home, accusing them to be the thief. And the fact is that this pony had been causing crimes and placing the blame on others for years, sending several innocent ponies to their deaths.
Princess Luna told Prince Nightshade about it, and together, they told Queen Sol Caelest. And with this new information, the true criminal was caught and punished. But the prince and princess had seen the flaw that the current system created. Seeing as their mother had a higher authority than them, they couldn’t just overturn their mother’s system. However, they were still rulers of the land and did have a say. And even though they couldn’t convince the queen to stop exsilio solis, they could add their own system. This system that was set up had become nullo diligitur.
Nullo diligitur wasn’t a perfect system, since innocents could still be wrongly accused. But it did drastically lower how many innocent ponies were wrongly punished. And though Queen Sol Caelest was irritated that her children created their own system without her consent, it was a system that worked. And she was proud of them for wisdom.
Twilight had never realized just how scary it must’ve been to live in those times. Not only did you have to fear breaking the law, there was also a time where you had to fear being accused of breaking the law.
With this new system in place, a whole new government was enacted…
Twilight continued reading to see this government would be called Equestria, and with the size of the Everfree Empire as big as it was, it couldn’t all be governed from one place. So Luna and Nightshade split from each other and the queen in order to disperse the government ruling.
After splitting up and governing their own areas, this also created a rift between the three pony nations. Earth ponies were drawn towards Prince Nightshade, who was strong willed and understood the value of hard work. Pegasi were drawn towards Princess Luna, who was a free spirit and understood the value of togetherness. And unicorns were drawn towards Queen Sol Caelest, who understood the value of power. This divide cause Liberum In Aeternum to be separated into three separate governments, each having different values.