“It’s been 30 years Cel, and all I could find were rumors and mysteries, talk that Celestia had been seen battling some giant beast, or a giant white pegasus had been seen far away in the remotest wood, flitting around the clouds as the sun set. I’d follow up when I could get away and I’d sometimes find something suggesting it was you, once a feather that could only have been yours. And then these past 10 years, nothing, no tavern talk or chatter or gossip that even the Night Guard could find. I hoped you were still around, but I feared you’d met something you couldn’t handle or that you’d left equestria for good”.
Celestia glanced at Luna across from her and took a sip from her tea. Made from plants that grew wild around her home, her precious sugar doing nothing to hide the strong and bitter taste. Luna mirrored her sip, a grimace fighting a way through her expression as the liquid rolled over her taste buds.
“I know it’s probably not what you’re used to in either of the Palaces, but it’s the only thing available here. Besides, once you get used to it, it’s actually quite good”.
Luna looked dead straight at Celestia and went all serious, not believing this, and then suddenly laughed, mirth in her eyes.
“This stuff is horrible, but it’s still the best tea I’ve had for a long time. It’s been so long ..” Luna stopped and then looked again at Celestia.
“You’ve grown,” said Celestia, looking at her sister, “You’re bigger than me, filled out from .. “she said, trailing off as she realized where the conversation was going.
Luna looked back pensively, and then glanced around the hut’s combined kitchen and living room. She looked back at Celestia, and Celestia noticed a glint of steel in Luna’s eye, something all too familiar.
“I don’t know how much you know, but I’m Regent to Flurry, and Princess in my own right when Twilight or Cadance need a break. I head the Night Guard and travel a fair bit representing Equestria. Things have changed since you .. left” Luna stated, looking at Celestia, then again she broke eye contact and stared out the nearest window. Celestia noticed one of Luna’s forelegs start to tremble as she continued, “I heard your shouting and screaming into the Dreamscape, a cry of pain and suffering that lit up everything up like a sunburst. It sounded like you, Celly, but .. it was primal, and it had been so long, and I didn’t know what you could be like, after all these years” she said, glancing at her armor and weapons stacked neatly in the corner.
It was Celestia’s turn to turn away, “Luna, the way I left, the things I said .. everyone wanted me to stay, to help Twilight, to help Cadance, but .. but I’d had enough, I needed time to myself. Everywhere I was, ponies, griffins, diamond dogs, changelings, all the others, they all saw Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, and it has been like that for .. for so, so long, I ..”.
Celestia stopped talking and looked at Luna, and Luna looked back at her, confusion and pain in Celestia’s eyes. Then Luna changed back into that Mare, the steel glint coming back.
“You called for me, Celestia, and I came, as I always will for you, as your sister, as your friend. This “, Luna said, waving her hoof to encompass the room, “ does not fit with what I heard. How can I help?”
--
Celestia watched as Luna picked her way through the wreckage, again armored and warshod. Her pale blue magic would occasionally shift something and she would sniff, or a spell would highlight something faint on the ground. After a while of quartering the ground outside the hut, Luna went inside and only re-emerged after an hour. She slowly walked back to Celestia, a look of grim determination on her face.
“Who are these ponies to you, Celestia?” she asked, “How far are you wanting to take this?”.
Celestia looked to the horizon for a bit and then turned back to Luna, “I left my throne and all my subjects, my ponies and dogs and everycreature, wanting nothing more to do with responsibility, the bent knees, and the lowered eyes. These “she said, as she encompassed the hut and the village beyond, “were first in the way of the nothingness I sought, but I grew to love them, and they me.”
Celestia turned to Luna, looking her directly in the eye. “I will stop whatever did this for good”.
Luna eyed Celestia, then nodded. “I know what attacked here, but I do not know how to find them. It’s been a long time since I’ve tracked anything myself, but as it happens, the Night Guard answer to me, and they are very good at finding things that don’t want to be found. And once found, we will stop whatever did this together”.