PRINCESS LUNA POV
My night was filled to the brim with more duties than I would normally attend to because of what occurred in Ponyville. I had spent the entirety of my night quelling the worries of Equestrian citizens by making a public announcement about the anomaly in my night sky and destroying the nightmares of Equestrian citizens who had seen the large hole appear in the sky. I admit, I too was terrified when I saw that tear, and was completely horrified when I saw the large metal structure emerge from the depths of the abyss and drift through the sky like a massive cloud.
I immediately assembled a reasonably sized battalion of Night Guards to asses the situation and intervene if they needed to. Thankfully, it would appear that the anomaly wasn’t hostile and, if Twilight’s reports were to be believed, actually helpful. The strange entity was apparently an Alien similar to Equestria’s newest resident, Bizarro, and was a creature from another Dimension entirely. Somehow Bizarro had managed to contact the other Alien using a strange pyramid like object, possibly an advanced version of our phones created by his species.
Bizarro was a curious creature, since he first arrived in Equestria he had been a complete anomaly to me. My domain over the dream realm extends to all citizens of Equestria, from dragons to zebras with the only exception being animals and changelings, so when I saw his door appear with a strange symbol I assumed he was a foreigner who immigrated to Equestria. I didn’t attempt to enter his dream for the first few nights since I could sense no nightmares, but on closer inspection on a later night I also discovered that I could sense no pleasant dreams either. When I opened the door to investigate further I was surprised by what I saw, or rather what I didn’t see. There were no dreams, no memories, not even colors, it was a completely empty void of darkness that stretched on for eternity. I studied it for a few nights before I eventually gave up and focused my efforts on dispelling nightmares. I was a Princess, and as much as I wanted to study the door, I had other duties to fulfill for the other citizens of Equestria.
I finally learned the identity of the unknown dreamer when my sister, Celestia, received a report from her protege, Twilight Sparkle, about an Alien visitor who had lived in Ponyville for several days under the guise of an earth pony stallion. Twilight had sent several parchments describing his appearance along with a drawing of the symbol branded on the chest of his costume which, according to her, symbolized "Change" on his planet.
Despite being an unknown species and being possibly dangerous, Twilight stated that she believed the being known as Bizarro Luthor was not hostile and thus should be allowed to live in Equestria. She had even went through the efforts of securing legal citizen papers that she filled out on Bizarro's behalf so that he technically wouldn't be seen as an illegal immigrant living in Equestria.
I didn't know how to feel about this unknown creature, but I trusted my sister's judgment when she agreed with Twilight, so we both decided to wait and see what Bizarro would do. It would have been fortunate if Twilight mentioned in her letters that Bizarro was actively looking for a way home, but I suppose she became distracted after she wrote a one hundred page paper theorizing how Bizarro could fly without magic or wings. Both my sister and I believed that Bizarro's planet was... that his entire family and home were dead. There is no nice way to phrase such a morbid and sad idea, to truly be alone in the universe with no family or home.
It surprised my sister when she returned to Canterlot to find him and his friend, Trixie, in our dungeons, but was able to make a guess as to why Bizarro came to Canterlot. It hurt my sister dearly to tell him that we were unable to send him home, so she asked me to watch over his dreams that night to see if I could put his mind at ease while he slept. As usual I could see no dreams behind the door, but that was not as worrying as what I noticed about his door. The symbol on his door had been broken, something I had never seen before in my lifetime.
There was a large crack that nearly split the symbol in half, which grew and repaired itself at irregular times during the nights after my sister’s meeting with him. The night when he had met the other “Displaced” known as Jack however his door was fully repaired and reinforced with brand new materials. Something else happened that night that only added more to the mystery that was Bizarro's mind.
That night, I could hear the faint laughter of a young filly from behind Bizarro’s door, though when I opened the door nothing was there. It was a complete mystery to me, and I couldn’t tell if it was because of Bizarro’s lineage or because of a spell placed on him. There were spells that hid criminals from me and changeling dreams always alluded me, but whenever a dream was hidden or I couldn’t find it, it was because their door wasn’t connected to the dream realm. Though Bizarro’s door was clearly in my domain, and yet his dreams still continued to allude me.
Bizarro was not only a mystery to me, but also a great concern to me as well. In less than a minute Bizarro was able to cause more random chaos and fear than a certain God of chaos could do in half an hour. In fact, it was enough to severely weaken the enchantments that held the Spirit of Chaos inside his stone prison in the garden of Canterlot. It worried me and Celestia greatly that he would break out of his prison if a filly so much as sneezed in his direction, so we had decided to move the statue to beneath the palace in hopes that the lack of chaos in the castle could give the enchantments their strength back.
But while that problem was dealt with, along with the problem of the massive spaceship, we still had the problem of what to do with Bizarro on our hands. Or rather, I had the problem of Bizarro in my hands since my sister apparently saw nothing wrong with the situation.
The morning was long and exhausting, hours of press conferences and even more hours of dream walking had severely drained me both mentally and physically. It was only made worse by my sister's care free attitude and happy smile, as if we weren't dealing with a possible crisis in the making.
“Sister, you are sincerely not worried?” I asked my sister as she took a bite of her pumpkin pancakes and sipped her morning tea.
“Of what?” She asked casually as she continued to go about her morning breakfast routine.
She and I sat side by side with a long table covered in dozens of breakfast items in front of us ranging from applesauce to zucchini bread muffins, a personal favorite of mine that I would indulge in whenever given the opportunity. But, I couldn’t allow that luxury with all of the worries plaguing my mind, those took precedence over a nice morning meal.
“I'm talking about Bizarro’s newest ability. I was already worried about him when Twilight informed us of his missing magic sword, but his newest ability has definitely given me cause for alarm. Surely you must agree that the power to summon beings from other Dimensions is a terrifying prospect. What if he summons a being of similar power to Marras?” I asked.
“We don’t say that name anymore.” My sister seethed as she sipped her tea.
“Why not? Just because Marras does not consider us friends does not mean we cannot speak of who he was. Sister, can you truly say that you do not care for him?”
My sister was silent for several tense moments before she placed her tea down and sighed. “No… No, I do care for him Luna. It’s just… I can’t believe he thought we betrayed him. It’s all my fault. It's always my fault.” Celestia said as she closed her eyes and placed used her right hand to hold her head up.
“Tis not thy fault!" I roared in anger causing my sister to flinch. "Let us not dwell on the past sister, it was noponies fault for what happened. We tried to speak with Marras but he would not listen, his twisted invention was his descent into darkness, not us.” I told my sister as I placed my hand on her left hand to reassure her. “Let us focus on the present and the problems we are facing now.” I told her as I attempted to take our minds off of our old friend. I should never have brought up such a sensitive topic, but I needed to make my worries known to Celestia.
“You’re right, Luna.” My sister said as she straightened her posture and resumed our earlier discussion.
“Well Luna, we can't do anything since Bizarro has broken no laws. Because of Twilight, he is a legal citizen so we can't arrest him for being an illegal immigrant, and the most we can do is claim that he disturbed the peace by summoning the other creature, something which Twilight wrote he profusely apologized for, so we don't need to do anything like put him in stone or lock him in Tartarus. Besides, I see this as a great opportunity, Luna. Should any enemies come that are too much of a challenge for the Elements or ourselves it would be good to have a backup plan."
"And you believe Bizarro would be a good back up?"
"Not just him. If Bizarro can lift an Ursa Minor like a bag of Bits then imagine what other Displaced could do. The one who just arrived gave us incredible technology that will redefine medicine as we know it; We could theoretically cure Alzheimers, heart disease, and perhaps create a more effective cure for Swamp Fever, all from one sample of this ‘Bacta’ that the other Displaced gave us. They could redefine the periodic table as we know it and advance our technology and agriculture by generations, and... And part of me hopes that they could finish Starswirl's spell..." My sister admitted.
"You mean his version of the dimensional spell, don't you?" I asked. My sister nodded as she looked at the stain-glass window of the Crystal Empire, a piece of art that had a very important figure removed from the scene.
"I do. Starswirl never finished his spell to get beings out of there, but what if one of these Displaced can? They're from other Dimensions, they might know something about letting us get Phantom out of there. Not only that but… I worry about us, Luna. Phantom and Marras are both gone, who will be here when we are gone?” My sister asked with dread dripping from her words. “It would be like the old times, our little ponies sacrificing their magic to raise and lower the sun and moon, starving for food, wendigos running rampant, it would be mayhem. But what if there’s a Displaced out there who could do our job when we’re gone, one who could keep our citizens safe? And think of the other Celestias and Lunas out there who could take our little ponies in should the worst happen to us or our world. I understand the risks of using Displaced, so we shall only use them if completely necessary. Although, I don’t necessarily think that we should stop Bizarro from summoning them.”
“Why? What good would come out of summoning them outside of combat or a disaster?” I asked.
“You don’t understand, Luna. Displaced aren’t just tools we can use, they’re beings like Bizarro. They’re his own species, and possibly the closest thing he’ll ever find to family while he lives in Equestria. Wouldn’t you love to meet more beings like us, Luna, beings who understood our hardships, our problems, and knew things only Alicorns knew?" My sister rhetorically asked. I admit, I would have liked to see more Alicorns like us. The only other living Alicorn on Equis was our niece, Mi Amore Credenza, and even she was not a full blooded Alicorn. Twilight had the potential to ascend to an Alicorn if something unlocked the restraints in her DNA, but that would take such a long time and immense amount of mana. I dreadfully missed the days when Celestia and I would play with other Alicorns.
"I couldn’t stop him even if I wanted to," My sister continued a moment later. "the sadness I saw in his eyes when I crushed his hopes for returning home nearly broke me. I’m not supposed to be the pony who destroys hope, I’m the one who reinforces it, that's who Phantom taught me to be." My sister said before she sighed at the memory of our long lost teacher. She avoided reminiscing about our past for too long by continuing her previous train of thought.
"Besides, we have no right to keep Bizarro away from his own kind, that being said however, we won’t let him do as he pleases either without any repercussions. Should any of the Displaced he summons cause harm to our citizens whether they be pony, dragon, yack, or even an integrated changeling, then both Bizarro and that Displaced will be punished severely.” Celestia finished, causing me to ponder her argument.
“Hmmm. That is a fair point, sister. Although I am not fully comfortable with this decision, I can understand Bizarro’s need for company…” I stated as memories of my banishment momentarily flashed in my mind. Trapped on my desolate moon with only one friend who quickly turned into an enemy after millennia of bickering and arguments.
“You’re sure the intel you have is correct, Luna?” My sister asked.
“Yes. From the conversation Silent Night could hear a few blocks away from her position, it appears that a Displaced needs a series of oral commands to leave.”
“In equish, dear sister.” Celestia said with a smile on her face. I rolled my eyes as I stated the facts we knew.
“If Bizarro or perhaps even we say ‘Our Contract is complete’, or some variation of that, the individual will likely leave. Though it is uncertain if they can decide to stay after those words are uttered it is assumed that they cannot leave until Bizarro or somepony says those words or something similar to them. So, if a Displaced should cause us any trouble, we can hold them here and decide their punishment, withholding their ability to return home and escape our judgment so long as those words are not spoken. Whether or not the Displaced needs to be within earshot of those words is unknown, but so long as we are able stop Bizarro from speaking we should be able to punish any Displaced who harm our citizens.” I recapped for my sister who nodded approvingly as she returned to her breakfast.
I didn't completely agree with my sister, but I could see her reasoning, use of these Displaced could help Equestria and even Equis itself immensely should they be as helpful as the one Bizarro summoned. However, in my mind, the possible benefits outweighed the serious impact this could have on Equis.
In the letter Twilight wrote she stated that Bizarro had mentioned a being who could literally devour planets who was known as "Galaxy". From the way Bizarro spoke of the entity, it would appear that they too were a Displaced but one Bizarro had not met. I had no doubt in my mind that if even one Displaced had ill intentions, they could and most likely would reek mayhem and slaughter thousands in their wake of destruction.
I also worried about this "Seller", or Merchant as the other stallion reportedly called him, a powerful magic user responsible for sending Bizarro to us when he was attending a Wizard Convention. The Seller had specifically sent Bizarro to our world for some reason, and I dreaded what that reason could have been. Was Bizarro sent for the same reason Lord Tirek was? Was he a being sent to destroy and devour our magic like the alien tyrant? Could we even stop Bizarro with our magic, what was to say Bizarro wasn't lying about his condition to lull us into a false sense of security? And what of the other Equis that the red skinned Displaced resided in?
Not only did I worry about Bizarro, but I worried about these other worlds as well. While Cesestia chose to believe that all of the other worlds were peaceful, I was more practical in my reasoning. Should multiverse theory actually be correct, then that would mean every possible outcome occurred in one dimension or another, meaning there could have easily been dozens of Nightmare Moons out there, perhaps enough to build a large army. I only hoped that should such an event actually transpire that the Elements of Harmony and perhaps a few kind hearted Displaced would be there to help us in our dire time of need.
Underneath all of my dread and fear also laid a small yearning to to travel to these other worlds, to see our teacher's, Phantom and Marras again. To see them smile once more, to just hug them and never let go. But could such a thing even be possible? Should I even hold out hope that one of them could help us retrieve Phantom from that dreadful prison? Dare I even dream of a world where I may see my teachers again? I didn't know the answer, and I was too afraid to find out what that answer would be.
All I could do was hope for the best and see how events would unfold.