//------------------------------// // Loss and Gain ~ IV // Story: Luna's Club of Reformed Villains... And Their Girlfriends // by ChillyKitty //------------------------------// Luna blinked her eyes a few times, a cold glow filtered through a nearby window. As her sight adjusted she saw a familiar figure sitting on the tail end of her bed, “Discord!” she grinned, leaping towards him. She hugged the draconequus for a solid half of a second before she stiffened. She let go of him quickly, blushing thoroughly from embarrassment. “You haven’t shown that much energy since you were a filly.” He laughed at her, she only returned his words with a cold glare. “Please forget what just happened.” she asked of him, knowing that it was pointless. “May I ask why such a posed princess would hug me?” he questioned, “Well obviously there are to many reasons to count of why anyone would be so affectionate to me.” his cockiness showed through, “But, you aren’t just anyone.” She stared at him, nostrils flaring, she just asked him to forget about it. She sighed in defeat. “I was having a dream of old times, that is all.” She stood, analyzing what room she was in, still in the castle obviously but last she remembered she was outside one of the palace restrooms, “Why am I here?” she asked calmly. “With me being the wonderful and caring creature that I am, I started to get worried about where you were.” Luna rolled her eyes, he noticed, “I was worried.” he defended, “You were giving googly eyes to an empty chair, I may be chaotic but I’m not stupid.” Luna shook her head, “No, thou are not the stupid one here.” she scoffed at herself, “I.. I sent an invite to her.” There was a silence in the room, Luna had no idea why she didn’t try to deny it, she would’ve if she was talking to anyone else. She sat on the floor and rested her head on the bed, next to where Discord was sitting. “I’m hopeless,” she said, “She had sworn revenge against us before I was even banished and yet.. I just can’t let it go.” Discord slumped onto the floor to sit next to her, “It must really bad if you’re expecting me to give you advice.” “Thou are right,” she smirked at him, “I shouldn’t ask such a stallion-child for anything.” she joked, before sighing yet again, “I’ve no one else to speak to, not many would understand, even the ones who would are more loyal to my sister than me. And if she found out I invited an enemy to my ‘club’ she’d never allow me to live it down.” Discord hesitated, “I wasn’t exactly around during the attack on Cadence's wedding but I had heard about it from Fluttershy.” he looked to Luna, “You weren’t there because you knew she might come, right?” Luna looked to him, “I wasn’t there because I had to keep a lookout.” “Oh come on. You would’ve noticed a swarm of changelings outside the force field before she announced her presence.” He said it like it was obvious, and it was. She sighed, “I was in the washroom.” He raised an eyebrow, “Sure you were.” “Okay, well sometimes when I say I need to go to the washroom I actually need to use the washroom, besides you haven’t told me why thou have taken me to this room when you should have woken me up and taken me to the clubroom.” She tried to change the topic. Discord cleared his throat, “We’ll cross that bridge when it comes to us.” Luna ignored the twisted metaphor he said, “Why didn’t you see the changeling invasion?” Her ear flopped as she remembered, “I did see it.” her voice was but a whisper, “I saw it and I knew she was coming and I couldn’t take the chance of maybe seeing her in battle and so I hid.” Her voice cracked in shame. They sat in silence for a moment before Discord finally spoke, “I never understood why you liked her so much, she was never really fun or smart. No good to pull pranks with. She wasn’t the nicest either.” Luna smiled, “Of course thou would choose whether or not someone is worthy of friendship over pranks.” she sighed, “It’s a long story.” Discord tilted his head, “We don’t exactly have a time limit.” Luna signed yet again and adjusted her sitting so her back was to the bed like Discord’s was. She wanted him to know. She knew that she could barely call him a friend anymore but she wanted to let someone else know. She stared at her hooves, “I don’t want to talk about it.” She turned and her eyes met his, “So I shall show you instead.” A white glowing magic appeared from her horn, wrapping around it like strings of light. Long ago she discovered a variant of the spell that allows her to go into the dream realm and into a pony’s subconscious as they sleep. The spell allowed her to see other’s memories if they were willing, or let them see her own. They both dove into Luna’s thoughts with fierce power. Luna felt a magical wind push against her face and mane as she melted into memories. Luna opened her eyes to an unfamiliar sight. She saw a white pony with a pink mane facing away from her. Luna tried to sit up and failed, after a few attempts she was able to turn over onto her stomach, setting her chin on the bed in between her forehooves. She winced as she tried and failed to raise her head which caused her sister’s head to turn quickly. “Luna! Thou are awake!” She galloped over to the bed at stood next to it, “How art thou feeling? Are thou okay? Shall I call a nurse?” Luna furrowed her eyebrows, she had a headache and her muscle felt tense and ached when she moved but she did not believe that it warranted this much worry, especially from someone she barely saw. She forced her head up though she was certain her pain showed on her face, “I’m fine Sister.” “Thou art not fine!” She spoke, “Luna, thou were found in the gardens, it’s presumed thou fell from thy room!” Luna didn’t think that she’d ever seen Celestia this worried. It was so surprising that it started worrying her as well. She looked down to see that her hooves were wrapped in bandages, there were bruises over her chest and shoulders, she turned her head to see her back and discovered a particularly sore muscle that wouldn’t allow her head to move any further without immense pain, she gritted her teeth as she turned to look the other way. She was honestly trying to check her hind legs but they were obscured by a pair of feathery wings. The shock must’ve shown on her face. They were dark blue as her coat and larger than a regular pegasus’s would be at her age. They were just like Celestia’s but better. They were hers. She suddenly remembered something else that must’ve appeared, she carefully lifted one wing to allow her eyes to meet her flank, an image of a crescent moon resting upon a splotty cloud that looked to be made of ink was wonderfully placed on her flank. She was an alicorn. She raised the moon. She smiled to herself, it wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t a dream. The sudden doom hit her like a weight that covered her whole body. If it wasn’t a dream then, “Discord.” her head felt light, “Where is Discord?” she painfully whipped her head around to meet Celestia’s eyes. But she couldn’t, Celestia looked toward the ground in shame. “Luna I’m sorr-” “You took him away?!” She gasped. Celestia tried to clarify, “What? No I-” “Clover said that you sent the order to send Discord to Tartarus!” Luna struggled and forced her hooves to move, attempting to stand. “No no! Listen to me- Luna be careful- I didn’t want him to send Discord away!” “Liar!” Luna screamed jumping onto all fours, all the memories of those few moments of pure terror struck her. She remembered Discord’s fear, seeing the unicorns through tear stricken eyes and listening to Clover’s pathetic apology. “I am not lying- Luna would you stop that? Thou are going to get hurt!” Celestia interrupted herself yet again whenever Luna struggled to stay standing. “If you’re not lying then why did you apologize?” Luna scoffed. Celestia walked towards Luna, a sudden stillness filled the room, “As I was saying, I am sorry that we don’t have him back yet.” The word ‘yet’ seemed to echo through Luna’s mind. She sat on her haunches and stared at the mattress underneath her. She didn’t know what she was feeling, emptiness maybe? Or perhaps just sorrow. She missed Discord but she wasn’t exactly sure why a pit had formed in her stomach. “I-I..” Luna glanced up at her stern faced sister before dropping her head again, “I’m sorry I lashed out Sister. I..” She felt herself start shaking, “I’m sorry.” A few delicate tears fell from her eyes. Celestia placed one forehoof on the bed to allow her other forehoof to reach her younger sister’s cheek. She wiped away a tear with her soft hoof. “Don’t apologize, thou just lost your best friend. It’s only natural to be upset.” she said, “But I promise thou that we’ll get him back.” Luna locked eyes with her sister. Celestia was telling the truth, she had the kindest warmest eyes and the most understanding smile. Luna bit her lip to keep herself from sobbing, it didn’t stop the tears from streaming onto her cheeks. Why did she have to be so perfect? She was going to be an amazing ruler. She was the best, most understanding pony Luna had ever met. Of course she didn’t take away Discord, she would never dream of it. Luna grabbed Celestia in a hug, ignoring the pain she felt in her hooves and forelegs as she wrapped them around her dear sister. “I’m so sorry.” she sobbed. “Whatever for?” Celestia gently rubbed her back, wanting to comfort her but not cause any more pain. “I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you. I’m sorry that I was jealous of you. I’m sorry that I was so rude to everypony. I’m sorry I pulled so many pranks.” “It’s okay Sister, shh it’s okay.” All she could do was hold Luna as she confessed what Luna must’ve considered sins. After a solid moment of just staying there, Luna finally pulled away. They just sat there and breathed for a minute before Celestia spoke, “I am sorry as well.” she sighed, “I’m sorry that I haven’t had much time to speak to you. I can’t imagine what it was like for thou, being constantly compared to a sister that isn’t much better than thou at all, I’d end up feeling like a prisoner in my own room.” Luna was shocked, “What doest thou mean that you're not much better than me? You’re the future ruler.” She sighed, “I am older than thou are, Luna. I got my cutie mark and wings before thou, it’s only natural. But it doesn’t mean that I am somehow better. Even if you couldn’t raise the moon, I never had a belief that you were somehow less than me, and as soon as I could I was going to get you a job helping me, perhaps even becoming ruler alongside me.” Luna was speechless. Her? A ruler? How? Why? Well she knew why now, she was an alicorn like Celestia but her sister made it sound like she had been planning this all along. “I sent Clover to your room to see to it that you’d be offered a job in helping him and Starswirl along with the other mages with her spells.” Celestia’s ear dropped, “But, he had apparently assumed that it meant that I wanted thou to stop pulling pranks and being a nuisance. Which thou art not, by the way.” She looked to Luna, “I love the pranks. Discord and thou make me laugh every single day, apparently, not all of the castle staff felt that way.” She jumped up onto the bed so she could sit next to Luna properly, “Clover has been forbidden from any magic related work until Starswirl returns from his work with the pillars. So I suppose I will have to be the one to offer this, would you like to help the mages create and cast spells? Preferably another spell that opens the gates of Tartarus, which I have already started working on with the mages’ help of course... And if you have any time left, you are more than welcome to help me with my duties so that when the three leaders step down you can become ruler by my side.” Luna didn’t know what to say, after looking dumbfounded for far longer than preferred she nodded to her sister, “Yes, I would like that very much.” Celestia let loose a big grin like she was nervous over Luna’s answer. Luna gave her a little grin back. She had missed her sister before but now that she had her back she missed someone else. As soon as she got Discord back she would be happy, they’d rule the kingdom in peace together. They’d all be together.