//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 - A Mile in Their Horseshoes 
// Story: Further Tales From Day Court 
// by Blade Star 
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I wouldn’t say I was feeling angry. Angry didn’t even begin to cover it. I was way past anger, past rage, and settled into a sort of quiet, tranquil fury. I felt my face heating up, no doubt turning red as I tried my best to contain my emotions. I certainly must have looked an odd, if not unsettling sight to poor Buttercup, who had come to bring me the news of what had happened. The poor stallion was staying stock still and not daring to say or do anything as I tried to process his words. Finally, after a few moments, clarity returned, and I found myself able to speak in a perfectly calm voice.  

“Yes,” I said quietly. “That is a real pickle.”

This did little to ease Buttercup’s fright, never mind when I actually looked down at him. I honestly, think that he expected me to simply tear his head clean off. I decided that the best thing I could do was get the whole matter out of my system before I said, or did, anything I might regret.  

“Would you excuse me for a moment, Buttercup?”

Carefully getting up from my desk, I strode across the marble floor of my office to the other door in the room, which led to my private wash room. The only thing it abutted was a janitor's closet used by the castle staff, and it ought to be empty at the moment.  

You see, one thing about ponies, they very rarely use harsh language, not that they have much in the way of harsh language to begin with. So, when I do feel my anger approaching those levels seen in Chef Ramshay, I take a moment to vent somewhere I won’t be overheard.  

And so, walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind, I let fly with an outburst that would have made the entirety of 2 Para all start in astonishment. Where was it directed to you ask? Why, at Equestria’s newest hero; Starlight Glimmer. A pony who has been a thorn in my side for the past year and a half. I directed at her all of the most vile and insulting names I could remember, no doubt waving my arms around like a madman as I did so.  

After that catharsis, which took a good twenty seconds, by which time my throat was just a tad hoarse (no pun intended), I took a moment to collect my thoughts. First things first, what to do. Well, in my still rage induced state I came to one simple solution that would solve most, if not all of the problems currently plaguing Canterlot Castle and my two employers. Taking a moment to collect myself, readjusting my tie and smoothing out my shirt and jacket, I opened the door and stepped back into my office.  

Buttercup had clearly heard me, for he now resembled a statue, and his pupils had dilated so much they could be reduced to pinpricks. Royal Guards are no cowards, and Buttercup is no exception, but I think we can forgive him for being terrified of the six foot tall screaming lunatic that stood before him, who was clearly still going out of his mind with fury.

I took my seat again, taking a breath as I did so to calm myself, something Princess Cadence taught me. Clasping my hands together on my lap, I reclined in my chair slightly and addressed Buttercup again.

“Okay,” I said, my voice once again perfectly calm and tranquil. “I have thought this through. I will go and speak with Starlight Glimmer. And then I will murder her.”

Okay, I guess I ought to explain why I’m planning on killing the pony who not so long ago saved us all from being food for changelings. Well, wouldn’t you know it, but apparently, that doesn’t count for much when you mess with the two most powerful alicorns in Equestria and, on a whim, swap their cutie marks around.  

Now, for those of you that don’t know, that means swapping their destinies and their very magic around. I’d not thought that even possible until Buttercup had told me. Then again, this was Starlight we were talking about; the pony who removed cutie marks from ponies as part of some creepy Equality cult. Long story short, there was no way it was legal, and I'm pretty sure it counted as assault on a royal.  

And it also marked strike three for Starlight. We’d forgiven her when she went on a merry chase across time and space, destroying Equestria across multiple realities in the process, and we’d forgiven her when she had ‘accidentally’ hypnotised Twilight’s friends while the alicorn was away, resulting in one small fire and major localised flooding. This time though, she had to be out of chances. On both prior occasions, I’d warned her that if she stepped out of line one more time, there would be consequences.  

And, by Jove, there would be consequences this time.  

Dismissing Buttercup, an act which caused the stallion to let out a frightened whiny and gallop out of my office, I collected my things and headed off for Celestia’s chambers. Right now, assuming what he had told me was correct, Luna would be in the throne room, overseeing the duties usually undertaken by her elder sister.  

Well, she always wanted a chance to be in the spotlight. Apparently, Starlight had installed a lockout  on the spell, which meant it couldn’t be undone for twenty four hours. So that meant for twenty four hours, the Equestrian diarchy was thrown into complete and utter chaos. Luna now took responsibility for moving the sun and overseeing Equestria in the daytime, while Celestia was responsible for raising the moon and guarding the dreams of sleeping ponies, as well as overseeing Luna’s Night Court. It wasn’t an ideal situation. Still, there was one upside; Starlight wasn’t acting maliciously.  

In fact, the unstable little pink blighter had been summoned up to Canterlot by the map, her own cutie mark having appeared on it, along with Twilight’s and the other girls, around the same time. The little glimmering star that was her cutie mark was currently hovering around the model version of Canterlot Castle. And from experience, this meant there was a friendship problem that the map, and by extension its creator, the Tree of Harmony, had decided that Starlight was the best pony to resolve it.  

You know what they say, ‘Ours in not to reason why’ and all that. Regardless, we were stuck with the current state of affairs, and fortunately, by the time I made it to throne room, my anger had cooled enough that I was now only considering inflicting grievous bodily harm on Starlight. For the time being though, I had bigger fish to fry.  

Heading down the next hallway, I soon found myself at Celestia’s door. Normally, I wouldn’t even dream of disturbing the princess like this, but needs must. So, passing the two guards that were on duty, I knocked on the door. A moment later, Celestia answered.  

All things considered, she didn’t look too bad. I noticed that, just as Buttercup had said, she now had her sister’s cutie mark; a black splash of ink and a white crescent moon, instead of the usual sun emblem. Besides that though, and looking ever so slightly perturbed at the situation, she seemed none the worse for wear. I guess that, whatever Starlight had done, it had only swapped the marks and their corresponding powers, not their destinies or souls. Bones had told me about what happened when Twilight became an alicorn; how a botched spell switched all her friend’s cutie marks and destinies around, making them all miserable.  

The alicorn smiled at me, no doubt glad to see a friend at such a trying time.  

“Hey, Tia,” I said kindly. “How are you feeling?” Celestia smiled wearily.

“Like somepony just swapped my cutie mark with my sister’s, right at the moment when our little argument came to a head.”

Ah, that explained it. You may remember I noted a few times in this little collection of tales, that Celestia and Luna had been getting increasingly on each others nerves of late. I’d figured they'd eventually have a bit of a spat and get it out of their system like sisters. But instead, the disharmony was enough to draw the attention of the Tree.  

“Ooh,” I said with a grimace. “How bad?”

“Luna and me both ended up shouting at each other,” she replied, shaking her head in disappointment. “We haven’t argued like that in so long. Sure, we’ve had our disagreements, but never a fight like this. Not since...well...” I let her last thought drift. She might not show it, but I know Tia still blames herself for losing Luna all those years ago. I tried to move the conversation in a better direction.  

“How’s Luna coping?” I asked. That tripped Celestia’s big sister instinct.  

“I’ve given her the best advice I can on short notice,” Celestia said. “And Starlight is going to do her best to help her get through the day.” She then smiled at me in that maternal way of hers. “I’m sure she would appreciate your help.”

“Hey,” I replied, smiling back. “I’m the legal advisor to the Day Court. Makes no odds to me who sits in the chair. Don’t worry, Tia. I’ll do my best to keep things on an even keel. And then tomorrow I can have a talk with Starlight.”





Leaving Celestia to prepare for raising the moon and her first ever night of patrolling the dreamscape, I headed toward the throne room. All appeared, for the most part, relatively normal. The guards were all at their post and the castle seemed to be running as smoothly as ever. It wasn’t until that I got close to the great double doors of the throne room itself that I heard that something was amiss.

“Enough!” Luna’s voice boomed, going up to the Royal Canterlot Voice. “I can’t stand to listen to another moment of your inane prattle! If you wish to make a decision, by all means do so. But do not waste my time by arguing points that have already been discussed and settled three months ago. Begone!”

At that, the doors opened, and five or six members from Canterlot’s city council, along with Prince Blueblood, filed out. All looked suitably rattled, and were muttering to one another about how Luna was crazy and that it was stupid to have her stand in her sister’s stead. I’m just glad neither Bones or any of Luna’s guards were knocking about to hear them.  

Luna is many things, but a diplomat is not one of them. Where Celestia looks to negotiate a compromise, Luna points a glowing horn at your head and says ‘Reach for it, Pilgrim’. When Tia wants to guide ponies to solve their own problems, Luna would rather show them herself. And when Equestria is threatened, Luna very much prefers dealing with the threat personally, and in a far more permanent way, instead of entrusting the whole business to Twilight. So you can imagine that she is not the most gifted of politicians. Don’t get me wrong, she is a marvellous ruler, and I have never met a strategist as experienced as her. But in her millennial absence, society has changed. She is still using the stick when the carrot is required. As such, her particular style of negotiation was somewhat outmoded.

In other words, compromise is not a word that appears in Luna’s vocabulary. She’s very much a 'my way or the highway type of mare. And there are plenty of times when that approach works. But discussing a trade deal between Canterlot and Baltimare that had been dragging on for eighteen months, not so much,  

Still, seeing as how the court was somewhat adjourned for the moment, I took the opportunity to make my presence known. Walking into the throne room, I offered a brief bow to the night princesses (Or should that be sun princess now?) and strolled up to the foot of the dais. Sitting next to her, in my chair no less, was Starlight Glimmer, who now looked equal parts embarrassed at what had just happened, and frightened at what was to come.

Walking over, I scowled at the unicorn darkly. Starlight gulped. Whereas before she’d had Celestia or Twilight to bail her out, now her fate rested in Luna’s hooves. A threat I loved to use when making deal on criminal cases was to advise a defendant and their lawyer that Luna was not as forgiving as I was. And truth be told, I’m known for taking a tough stance on crime. So to say Starlight was potentially in deep trouble was an understatement. After all, this was strike four by my count. First there was her cult, then messing with the timelines, then there was her hypnotising Twilight’s friends. And that’s ignoring how she managed to ‘lose’ the map table from the castle and how her literally bottled up anger magic affected three ponies, imprinting her emotions onto them.  

This time I wouldn’t even be asking for much though. I’d long since hung up my spurs when it came to trying to get Starlight thrown in jail at taxpayers' expense. All I wanted was some form of consequence to help aid her ongoing reformation, and with Luna, I figured I might have a shot.  

“You,” I said, pointing at Starlight and causing her to start. “I’ll deal with you later. For now, get lost.” Starlight quickly took her leave, telling Luna that she’d come back when it was time for her to attend the fundraiser Celestia was supposed to attend. Hell’s teeth, that wasn’t today was it?  

With Starlight gone, I turned my attention back to Luna.

“Well, your highness,” I said with a smile. “I’m at your service. Celestia thought I could lend a hand to help get you through Day Court.” Luna rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“Of course my dear sister doesn’t trust me to handle a little court intrigue,” she said, bitterness clear in her voice. “I wouldn’t mind, but I’ve been back for several years, Roger. I’m not some little infant that requires foalsitting.” I tried to placate her.

“I’m here to do no such thing,” I reassured her. “I’m merely on hand, as always, to give you advice when you ask for it, nothing more. This is your show, Luna.” The alicorn thought for a moment.  

“Well, as long as you don’t end up trying to micromanage me like that ex-cult leader did. She still hasn’t overcome her control issues I think.” I let out a laugh at that.  

“There’s something we both agree on,” I replied. “All I’ll do is offer advice when I think I can help. What you do with it is entirely up to you.”

Okay, so, truth here, I was playing a bit of a mind game. I was pretty much babysitting Luna to get her through court. While she’s got the experience, I didn’t want Celestia to have to come back tomorrow to deal with twenty or so crises brought on by her more robust approach to politics. So I would be micro managing her a bit. But I was going to do my best to ensure it didn’t look like that. Having me speaking for Luna would make her look weak, and we couldn’t have that. I’d be more of an advisor in the truest sense of the word, with the caveat that she really ought to follow my suggestions.   

And so, with that, court resumed. The next case on the docket was a bit of a thorny issue. You see, Equestrian cities all have various trading deal with one another, given the somewhat federalist style of governance, which each region having some level of autonomy, this isn’t too surprising. But about thirty years ago now, the Griffon Kingdom, Prance, Bitaly, as well as several major cities including Maredrid and Trottingham, had come together to form a major trading bloc that took up most of northern Equestria. However, with the inclusion of the Crystal Empire, Trottingham had opted to withdraw from the group and go its own way. It was partly understandable, since the bloc froze all trading prices and all members needed to agree to get anything done.  

What followed was a very messy dividing of the wedding china. Trottingham’s people wanted to be out of the bloc sooner rather than later, it’s government however did not. In fact they didn’t want to leave at all. And the other members wanted to keep Trottingham in the group for its wealth, but also feared that its departure might mean the eventual breakup of the whole group. So neither side was giving ground in negotiations, and had come to Canterlot for arbitration by the princesses.  

Now, Celestia and I had been working on this thing for months. It had pushed my legal knowledge and expertise to its limits, and had done the same for Celestia’s patience, which should tell you something. And you can understand why I would be a little apprehensive of her dealing with such a delicate matter.  

Still, by rights and by law, she was in charge, and her word was final. I braced myself for the difficult task ahead.  

The various representatives entered; three groups, two from Trottingham and one from the trading bloc. They all bowed, looking slightly surprised to see Luna on the throne. One of the guards explained the situation when one of them asked the obvious question. As everypony settled, I explained the situation as it was to Luna.  

Finally, when all was ready, she addressed the three parties.  

“This matter has taken up the time of my sister’s court for over a year now. I assume that you have made some measure of progress?” One of the representatives from Trottingham, who was in favour of withdrawal, stood up.  

“Regrettably not, your highness,” he said. “As various factions of the town council refuse to permit any kind of legislation through, we cannot complete the withdrawal proceedings.”

“That’s because your plan is a farce!” Another Trottingham pony snapped. “We shouldn’t even be leaving in the first place!”

“The people have decided!”

“The people are idiots!”

“You’re ignoring the very principles of democracy!”

“Our members will not agree to any deal that does not prohibit tariffs on goods we already supply to Trottingham!”

“Alright! Enough!” I snapped, bringing back some semblance of order. “I can see that your positions on this issue haven’t changed in the last month.”

This was going to be a long day.  





And so, I spent the next while stuck in the exact same negotiations from a month ago, the same negotiations from six months ago, and the exact same sodding negotiations from a year ago when this whole thing started. Nopony could agree on anything. There was literally nothing that could be done to resolve the situation.

Unfortunately, this was a situation where Celestia would have been better suited. Luna did her utmost, but didn’t exactly help the situation either. By the end of the session when we all adjourned for another month or so, both sides were quite possibly even more entrenched. Seriously, it was easier negotiating the bloody Belfast Agreement that stopped (for a given value of ‘stopped’) the violence in Northern Ireland, and that was dealing with issues in some cases over a century old; ancient prejudices going all the way back to the Siege of Londonderry and the Battle of the Boyne.  

Between the two of us, I had hoped we could get Equestria’s versions of Major, Paisley and Adams all in a room together and solve the problem. Instead, all three groups stormed out of the meeting with no agreement. And as the two Trottingham groups couldn’t agree, they couldn’t even just withdraw from the agreement unilaterally. It was just more of this stupid limbo that we were all getting sick of.  

Still, we’d done our best given the circumstances. And for the record, I’d like to say that Luna acquitted herself well. But she had plenty of more petitioners to hear and still had that fundraiser to go to as well.  

So, leaving her to carry on with that, I went back to my earlier task; dealing with Starlight.  

I’d worked out most of my anger in the negotiations. I wasn’t about to lock her in a dungeon or something like that. While Celestia and Luna had been furious when they realised what she’d done, they’d calmed down not long after. After all, there was some twisted logic to her actions. The two sisters were fighting because they couldn’t see things from the others perspective. You know the old saying; ‘Before you criticise someone, walk a mile in their shoes’. Luna had certainly learned about how much utter crap Celestia puts up with on a daily basis and yet still smiles and waves, making time for her subjects and even cooking breakfast for the two of them.  

On the other hoof, Luna was still mad that Celestia and a lot of other ponies hardly even noticed all the beautiful lilacs she decorated the castle with each night.  

But that’s by the by. For now, Starlight. I sent Buttercup off to go and find her wherever she might be and have her sent to my office. All I could really do was shout at her and tell her off. But at this point, that’s all I wanted to do. Like I said, the desire to violently murder her had luckily faded by this point. The only saving grace was that Twilight was apparently just as mortified, to the point of her having one of her panic attacks when Starlight told her what she’d done. So at least I wasn’t alone in my disappointment.  

Heading back to my office, I busied myself with my work for around a half hour or so. For the sake of continuity, I was documenting everything that I witnessed in court. I could then give Celestia an accurate recap of whatever might happen today, so as to ward off any breakdowns in communication.  

A little while later, there was a knock at my door and Starlight walked in. She looked suitably embarrassed, but not quite as scared. I figured that at this stage, a threatening posture was rather pointless. In fact in the time I’d had, I’d come up with a more analytical way of dealing with her. Gesturing for her to take a seat, I got started.  

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this, Starlight,” I said honestly, with a sigh in my voice. “This is what, the second time you’ve found yourself in my office in deep trouble? And it’s the fourth time your name has turned up in a file on my desk.” The unicorn nodded silently, so I continued.  

“Just...tell me what possessed you to do something like that?” I asked, in a gentler tone; the sort of thing I used with my kids when they did something wrong. Starlight now looked up in surprise. Evidently she’d been expecting another lecture mixed with threats of incarceration.  

“I just wanted them to understand what each of them was going through,” she explained. “If they could see how much the other cares for them, and how much effort they put into their work, maybe they wouldn’t fight so much.” I nodded in understanding.  

“You can understand my concern when I hear talk of you, of all ponies, messing with cutie marks though.” Starlight nodded again.  

“I only swapped their magic around, not their destinies,” she assured me. “But yeah, almost as soon as I did it, I realised that I’d used part of the removal spell.” I leaned back in my chair a little, forming my fingers together in a steeple.  

“It’s certainly impressive,” I admitted. “I’m sure Bones would love to hear how it all worked. However, using it on ponies without their consent is entirely unacceptable.” At that my tone turned a little more scolding.    

“Still,” I went on. “For the moment at least, there doesn’t seem to be any harm done. You’ve said you can reverse the effect tomorrow. So I see little point in berating you further. You can go now if you like. I’m sure you still have a lot to do with Luna.” Starlight looked surprised at that. This was a pretty big change in my disposition after all.    

Still, happy to have a chance at flight, she quickly made for the door. To her credit at least, she was doing her best to fix what she’d done, and she did see why it was wrong. So I guess we can call that an improvement. However, I left her with one final warning.  

“Starlight,” I called out as her magic gripped the door handle. She turned back to me. “This is as far as I will go. You do anything like this again, and neither Twilight nor Celestia will be bailing you out. Is that clear?” She nodded. It was an empty threat on my part, but she didn’t know that, did she?

So, Starlight departed to go and help Luna further. I later heard that partly due to that, the fundraiser didn’t exactly go swimmingly. Luna had been smiling for far longer than normal all day, and a badly timed photo scuppered the whole thing.

But we’ll come to that in a little bit. Right now I had some time to catch up on work. I was just starting on an interesting little case revolving around Equestria’s national banner, when I heard the signature pop of a teleport. The only pony with few enough manners to do that would be my best friend.  

“Hey, Discord,” I said, hardly looking up from my work. The draconequus huffed at the small amount of chaos his arrival had caused.  

“I swear I must be getting out of touch when it comes to chaos,” he said, sounding annoyed. “Once upon a time me appearing in your office like that would have you hitting the ceiling in annoyance.” I decided to have a bit of fun with the Lord of Chaos.  

“Well, why would I do that, old man? I enjoy your company.”  

But Discord hasn’t been around for over a thousand years without spotting when someone’s messing with him. Snapping his talons, he turned my pen into a rather nasty looking cobra. A cobra which I quickly hurled across the room in fright.  

“There we go, that’s better,” Discord commented in glee. After recovering from my fright, I grinned as I turned back to him. I guess I had pushed my luck a bit. Still…

”Seriously, Discord,” I said. “I sometimes wonder if you fully understand this whole friendship business.”

“Oh, my dear boy, of course I do!” he replied with a wave of lion paw. “I’ve been studying Princess Twilight’s many essays on the subject.” Snapping his talons, he summoned forth a large tome with Twilight on the cover.

“See, right here,” he said, pointing to a particular page. “Banter and pranks between friends.” I rolled my eyes. Leaning back in my chair, I regarded my mismatched friend for a moment.  

“Alright, I’ll bite,” I said. “What do you want?” Discord again took on an offended air.  

“My dear boy, I don’t want anything,” he replied. “Can’t a guy just stop by to see a friend for the sake of it?” 

I grinned.

“Discord. Nothing you do is without reason. You clearly want something, so out with it.” Discord chuckled at my ‘unmasking’ of his plan. Now to work out the other three hundred and seventy nine.  

“Oh, very well,” he said, admitting defeat. “I was just curious why you changed your tune about everypony favourite little psycho.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Well,” I replied. “Tia’s made it clear that I can’t lock her up after the whole saving the world thing, and at this point, punishment wouldn’t do much really. At best it would just send mixed signals. If nothing else, this time is does seem to genuinely be an accident, so I consider it an improvement. Doing anything at this stage is pretty pointless. Besides, technically, she’s broken no laws. Equestria’s just like Britain; that which is not explicitly forbidden is allowed. There’s no law that says you can’t go gallivanting across time and space, or swap somepony’s cutie mark with another’s.”

“So why the hay did I get turned to stone then?” the draconequus exclaimed. “Show me the law that says you can’t invert gravity for fun.”

“In all honesty, I’d say self defence and acting in defence of another on Tia and Luna’s part for turning you to stone. And you did try to usurp the throne. That’s illegal. Very illegal, I might add.” Discord huffed, folded his arms and pouted.  

“Surely, swapping cutie marks around is assault though,” he persisted.  

“Well, let’s take a look at the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861,” I said getting up from my desk and fetching down a large heavy volume. “Let’s see, murder, conspiring to commit, manslaughter, threats to kill, danger to life or bodily harm, ah, here we are, assault and battery. Well, the law says that any person who inflicts unlawful force on another is guilty of an offence. So, did Starlight inflict unlawful force?”

“Yes,” Discord said with a nod. “She used her magic against the princesses.”

“Ah, but according to Equestrian law,” I said, reaching down another tome. “Use of magic is governed under the Restriction Against Dangerous Magics Act of 22CR. That contains a list of spells, potions, and so on that a unicorn isn’t allowed to use. And there’s nothing in there about cutie mark spells. So, like I said before, that which isn’t forbidden is allowed. Starlight has committed neither assault, nor has she used illegal forms of magic.”

“I’m beginning to see what that Shakespeare fellow you were telling me about  was driving at when he said ‘let’s kill all the lawyers’,” Discord said with a sneer.

“Careful, old man,” I chided. “That’s making threats to kill. You’re lucky there aren’t witnesses.”   





As it turned out, Luna didn’t do too much damage during her brief stint as Princess of the Sun. There a bit of political backlash, but nothing Celestia couldn’t smooth over. The only real sticking point was that fundraiser. Other than that though, she done pretty well taking a stroll in her elder sister’s horseshoes.  

Now though, it was getting on for evening, and time for me to head back home. Celestia would now raise the moon, the first time she’s done that since Luna returned, and then spend most of the night guarding the dreams of us slumbering mortals.  

Before I left to catch a cab down to the train station, I decided to stop by the throne room again, where Celestia was now taking the reins, if you’ll excuse the pun, from Luna for the night. I found her out on the balcony that overlooked the city. The last few evening rays were streaming over the horizon, and she would be raising the moon at any moment. Rapping on the opened door with my knuckle, I caught her attention. She smiled, glad for my company.

“Hey, Tia,” I said with a smile. “Thought I’d just check in before I head out.” The alicorn smiled.

“Thank you, Roger,” she said simply. “I hear that Luna actually didn’t do too badly today in my place.”

“All thing considered, I’d say she did quite well,” I agreed, before adding. “Especially with that whole Trottingham thing.” Celestia snorted.

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” she said.

“So think you’ll be able to handle running things tonight,” Celestia barked out a laugh.

“Oh, of course I will,” she replied, for once showing a touch of overconfidence. “I raised and lowered the moon for a thousand years.”

“Yeah, but how about dealing with all those nightmares.” Celestia waved a hoof.  

“Oh, it’s easy,” she replied. “Dreams can’t hurt anypony. I just use my magic and voila, no more nightmares for my little ponies.”

So, wishing her the best of luck, I departed and left her to raise the moon. As I left, I heard the sound of her talking to herself. Between you and me, she does that sometimes. Maybe she’s going senile? Heh, not likely any time soon.

Making my way down to the courtyard, I saw the moon rise up into the sky. It seemed to carry the same cocky attitude Celestia had showed. Unbeknownst to me, Celestia was about to get quite the lesson in how difficult it can be to deal with nightmares. Luna had already gained a lot of respect for Celestia, realising her work amounted to much more than just smiling and waving. Now it was Tia’s turn to discover that banishing nightmares wasn’t just a case of flicking your horn.  

It was actually Celestia who told me about it the following morning. I came into court and was relieved to see Celestia back in her usual seat, with her own cutie mark back. Starlight had been as good as her word and undone the spell as quickly as she could. But she had also apparently fulfilled her mission for the map, judging by the way her cutie mark had glowed. Celestia had quite the interesting story to tell as a result.  

Having raised the moon, she had begun her patrol of the dreamscape. She soon came across Starlight, who was in the throes of a nightmare. While the end result was a positive, there was a lot of doubt at the time that what Starlight had done would be of any help. This manifested in the unicorn’s dreams. She found herself dreaming about how her misguided attempt to help Celestia and Luna actually drove them further apart. This resulted in Nightmare Moon once again overtaking Luna. But it also gave rise to another deadly apparition; Daybreaker. 

This was Celestia’s dark alter ego, just as twisted and psychotic as Nightmare Moon. The two corrupted alicorns fought each other as Celestia protected Starlight. Realising that she was out of her depth, she turned to Luna, who herself was undergoing a nightmare, that horrid one where all your teeth fall out, brought on by her accidentally disappointing the foals. Celestia pulled her out of it and asked her to intervene. But with their cutie marks switched, Luna had no dream magic to call on.  

That was when both sisters admitted to each other that their jobs were much tougher than the other thought. With Luna’s encouragement, Celestia was able to defeat both alicorns. Celestia, if you ask me, is a lot more powerful than she lets on. She just rarely uses her power; it’s a fact she’s admitted to me that she didn’t give her whole heart into attacking Chrysalis, which saw her knocked down. Daybreaker said as much, apparently being Celestia if, one day, she stopped caring about her little ponies and just began to seek power. With an almost terrifying ease, Celestia banished both nightmares, saving Starlight.  

The experience left both sisters with a lot more respect for one another and finally brought an end to their long simmering arguments. Celestia now understood just how much work Luna put into her nightly duties, and was proud to see that, despite that, she still took the time to decorate the castle for her sister and subjects. And Luna now saw just how tricky the political game could be, and was more than glad to be rid of the endless debates and social manoeuvring that was just another day for Celestia.  

As for me, I was just glad everything had worked out. I was more than happy to see that the two sisters had stopped bickering, more or less (they are sisters after all), and that any potential rift forming between them had been sealed.  

And as for Starlight. Well, it’s an improvement I suppose. She saw what she did was wrong, and her heart was at least in the right place. It marked the last serious event involving her that came across my desk. Over the next few weeks and months, her reformation finally seemed to come to a form of completion. She certainly seemed to have a better grasp on friendship now.

I wonder, did the map send Starlight up to Canterlot to help Tia and Luna, or was it to help Starlight herself? Was it both? I tell you, I’d love to ask it someday, and possibly get a response.  

Well, you know what they say; be careful what you wish for.