The Nightmare Knights Become A Band

by SwordTune

Special Chapter: Celestia Wants to Connect

Celestia believed she would be happy, living away from the pomp and eccentricities of a Canterlot Hearth’s Warming. In a city where one’s status said more than one’s face, words, or actions, little else mattered more than gold-laced banners, gifts wrapped with embroidered ribbons, or rhinestones on every corner adorning every ornament.
But there was nothing left to do, Celestia was left to stew on the absence of her sister in the many months of this year. From summer through fall she waited and waited until she hated the waiting and wanted to speak up to her sister.
Until that look in her eye, like small glints in the sky bright enough to be called stars, which shone in the early bright moments of dawn whenever she played songs, paralyzed Celestia from righting her wrongs.
So she was thankful, oh-so more than that, she could barely stay quiet, that Twilight had invited all the princesses for a Hearth’s Warming banquet.
Cadence had declined, of course. The news of the Crystal Empire’s internal affairs and dark shadows reached from Vanhoover to Appleloosa, and it drove ponies to make this Hearth’s Warming the best one for years to come. Celestia refocused herself as a pair of sisters walked past her in their new holiday dresses. She mused that if money could scare off Equestria’s demons, she would’ve built Canterlot’s walls out of gold.
Those thoughts that weighed her head down were chased away as she neared the palace. Canterlot ponies had their hearts in the right place, as snobbish as they were. At the very least, she could always count on them to set aside their difference for tea and a few rounds of golf.
“Sister.”
And then a voice comes from inside. No, it comes from the side, a side street with restaurants from every corner and tribe of Equestria.
“What a coincidence. Well, maybe not, Twilight did invite us here, after all.”
She imagined moments like this but she couldn’t face the sound of her. Standing there, separate but together.
Celestia put on a smile. “Yes. Well, now that we’re here, why don’t we walk together to the banquet? It’s been so long.”
Tempest rounded the corner behind Luna. “Is there a place that doesn’t sell overpriced ribbons? Oh, hey Pri-- Celestia.”
“Tempest Shadow?” Celestia looked to Luna. “You brought your band with you?”
“Just Tempest and her friend,” Luna shrugged.
Tempest rubbed her neck. “Yeah, after what happened in the Crystal Empire, it’s starting to feel a little less like homes. Dropsy thought it’d be good for us to get some space from it for the holidays, maybe go back after things settle.”
Luna’s eyes glanced to the clock hanging on the door of a nearby shop. “Didn’t Glitter Drops say she was going to meet us at the palace? You head on, my sister and I haven’t spoken for a while.”
Tempest nodded and trotted down the main road to the palace. On her back, she had a small bag of gifts wrapped up with modest silk ribbons. Luna gestured the other way with her horn, asking Celestia to follow.
She might’ve spent less time in the city, but exploring the dreams of Canterlot’s residents gave her a strong sense of the streets. One thing most ponies didn’t realize was that dreams were the mind’s way of storing memories. The neurons which were activated during the day to a stimulus repeated their actions, firing signals in the same pattern to solidify their connections.
“You know,” Luna giggled, “we’ve had a lot of time to repeat our mistakes. Doing the same thing, succeeding and failing. Even so, it’s funny that with all our wisdom, Equestria only ever seems to narrowly escape from destruction. I wonder why the memory of peace is so hard to stick.”
“That’s funny?” Celestia raised a brow. “I’ve lost years of sleep this past millennium from all the nightmares of what could happen.”
Luna bobbed her head, revealing she was caught between two thoughts. “Hm. Sorry for those, by the way.”
Celestia gave her a suspicious look, unsure if her sister was serious or not. Together they brought up memories, new and old. They talked about the roads around the palace walls and moat, about how hard it was to build and how it looked from high above.
Luna talked about the Crystal Empire and how it felt to fight, admitting to her sister how right it felt to use the night. Dark magic, forbidden teachings lost to time, were ironically the only thing that gave them time.
“Twilight might get worried,” Celestia laughed when Luna started comparing it to fighting off the vines in the Everfree Forest after the Tree of Harmony was destroyed. “She might think we’re going to meddle with adventures again.”
“Haha, no.” Luna laughed flatly. “After what happened, I’m happy to sit in my room and write music.”
They took a small street that led up to the stables for the royal carriages and carriage pullers. It was a small extension of the palace, but an inner road for carriage led directly to the front gates. The sisters talked all the way up to the entrance where ushers where directing ponies to the banquet.

The palace was buzzing with activity beyond the banquet table. With the seating assigned, ponies knew where they would be, and so they were free to mingle in the ballrooms before the hors d’oeuvre were brought out.
“Oh dear,” Luna tugged on her sister’s tail. “I think we may have to part ways for a moment.”
Celestia turned around. “What’s the matter?”
She followed Luna’s eyes to a sharply dressed stallion with a black mane slicked back with enough grease to lubricate a carriage axle. Hanging from his wide shoulders were two mares, giggling with martinis hovering just inches from their crimson lips.
“Oh-ho,” Celestia smirked. “Does my little sister have a special-”
Luna shot a death stare before she could finish the sentence. “No,” she made it very clear. “I simply want to make sure Newbrand will cause no problems on this night. I will see you when the food is brought out.”
Celestia watched a mix of emotion wash over the stallion as Luna approached him. Something somewhere between relief, regret, terror, and excitement. He was a veritable axis of tangled feelings.
And, as amusing as it was to wonder what her younger sister had been up to with such a stallion, she didn’t have a choice. It was her sister, after all, and she needed privacy. This “Newbrand” fellow was some pony she could hear about afterwards.
Celestia recalled her tenure as a princess while she headed for the only place Twilight could be. It was not as large as the Galloping Gala, but the Hearth’s Warming Eve Invitational Banquet was just as important. Perhaps, even more so. Simply having status or fame was enough to be invited to the Gala. But the key link between the guests tonight was something far more valuable to Equestria. Influence.
Each of the guests could whisper, and the contents of their words could be heard halfway across Equestria. Where to ship the grain and apples. Which businesses to invest in and which banks to open deposits with. Unlike the Gala, this banquet was one Celestia had to take seriously. Trading favours was one of the only ways she could coordinate Equestria from coast to coast without going mad.
“I’m glad you’ve gotten used to events like this,” Celestia marvelled at the ceiling decorations as she approached the princess’s greeting spot.
“Well I hope so, I’ve helped you plan so many.”
Celestia blinked. In front of her was a pale-coated unicorn with thick-rimmed spectacles. Her dark-brown mane was done up in an intricate bun for the occasion, but no amount of dressing up could make Celestia mistake her personal aide.
“Raven?” she gawked. “Raven Inkwell, where is Twilight?”
“Oh, Celestia! Didn’t you hear?” Inkwell nudged her glasses up. “To speed up the guest check-in, Princess Twilight has forgone the greeting tradition. I’m simply supervising, in case there are any concerns the guests had.”
“She changed the procedure? I wasn’t aware that was something a princess could do.” Celestia looked around. “And, to be sure, there’s no pony around who seems to have a problem with that?”
Inkwell shook her head. “So far, we’ve gotten positive responses. We started earlier this year, so a lot of guests have been saying they skipped lunch just to save space for the feast. It seems they’re all excited to eat sooner than later.”
“I see, well then, is there some way I can speak with Twilight?”
Raven Inkwell happily obliged the former princess. Twilight was, surprisingly, not tucked away in the library, but taste-testing in the kitchen before it all went out to the guests. After a brief promise to catch up with her former aide, Celestia hurried to the banquet hall to find the kitchen entrance.

“Mhm. This sauce is good, use this one.” Twilight dabbed a napkin on her mouth as the chef brought the final recipes to her for sampling. As she passed on her requests to the chef, the sous chefs paced from corner to corner, observing their cooks.
This, at least, was no different from how Celestia remembered. Ordered and organized like a military camp, the chef ran his kitchen like a drill sergeant. Peels went in their own bowls, cutting boards were clean and clear of anything but the onions in question. The dish pit was running, soaking used pots and pans to keep the cooks from cluttering their space.
“Sorry if this was a surprise,” Twilight said in between taste-tests. “I promise, we’ll talk after the banquet.”
Celestia waved the apology aside. “No, no, it’s fine. You’ve stepped up even more than I expected. And I’m sure Luna is impressed, too.”
“How is she? I meant to write to her sooner, especially after what happened in the Crystal Empire, but it happened so close to Hearth’s Warming, I just haven’t had the time.”
“She’s good,” Celestia smiled widely. “We met on our way to here and had a chance to catch up. I’m relieved, actually.”
“Because of the disagreement you two had?” Twilight asked. Celestia had mentioned in her letters how she upset Luna when she spoke about her band and music as if it were a short and simple phase.
“Yes. It seems she’s put it behind her. Perhaps now I can finally get her to step away from her band for a vacation.” They were in the kitchen full of clutter and delicate recipes, but Celestia could barely contain her excitement.
“Si vous plait,” the chef interjected the two alicorns, “do not distract the Princess… uh… princess.”
“Just Celestia will do, Gustav.”
“Yes, Celestia. As you know, every course must be perfect, but the main course even more so. We are so close to finishing--”
Celestia raised her hoof. “Say no more. Besides, you’re about to bring out the hors d’oeuvre, are you not? I wouldn’t want to miss the first course of the banquet. I’ll leave you to it.”

Tink tink tink.
Twilight clinked her glass to draw attention from the table. The guests had already been seated by the waiters, and as the Princess gave her welcome speech, the hors d’oeuvre, squash blossoms stuffed with toasted ricotta cheese served on grilled bread, was passed around.
The speech was eloquent and thoughtful, touching on themes of unity and harmony and all the other things like that. Of course, the Crystal Empire was mentioned, and Twilight spoke at length to call every guest to preserve peace and the new diversity of Equestria.
There was a lot to pay attention to, but Celestia had, she was embarrassed to admit, learned how to drown out the flowery flavours of her pupil’s speeches and condense her words to the poignant points. The other half of her attention was focused on the flavour of the squash blossoms.
The crunch of the toasted bread filled the banquet and mixed with the idle conversations of the guests. Those who sat furthest from the Princess were usually the ones who were just happy to have even been invited. Further up in the middle, tensions were the highest. Guests spoke with veiled boasts and insults, trying to prove themselves in hopes of getting a better seat next year.
Celestia and Luna sat at either side of Twilight. As they lifted spoonfuls of soup to their lips, they spoke softly and with great reservation to the ponies around them. The ones seated closest to the Princess knew what their influence meant. They held their cards close and set an example with their polite smiles and quiet voices.
“Luna,” one mare, who happened to own over half the banks in Equestria, leaned slightly into the conversation, “is it true the Crystal Empire is considering seceding from Equestria?”
She flustered. “What? Of course not.”
Chancellor Neighsay, who sat directly next to Celestia, set down his spoon. “But they have begun proposing laws which differ from our foreign policies.”
“But Princess Cadence would never let those pass,” Luna asserted.
“But don’t you think it could be a sign of a future division--oof.”
He looked to his side where Celestia carefully, but firmly, nudged into him. “My apologies,” she laughed it off, “these long legs of mine, oh, I just don’t know what to do with them.” Her eyes flicked rapidly to Luna and back as her brows knit into a fierce warning.
“Oh, but I am just an educator,” he quickly steered. “I trust Luna’s first-hoof experience far more than our speculation.” He rubbed his sore side and checked back to Celestia, who wore a satisfied look on her face.
Luna mouthed the words “thank you” to her sister as Twilight rose to pour the wine which had been paired with the next course of the dinner. This way, even when she was at one end of the table, she had the chance to converse and meet every pony.

After dessert, light pastries with lemon, strawberry, or sweet carrot filling were passed around the table. Cider and wine had worked their way into every pony, and the conversations became a lot more casual.
“Are you serious?” Luna laughed as Neighsay recounted how he was once captured and bound by Cosy Glow. “You could have teleported before they grabbed you. Your medallion was still working, wasn’t it?”
The ponies as far down as the middle of the table leaned in to hear the story, and they all laughed at his expense. Neighsay sat back in a pout, crossing his hooves.
“Well, what about you?” he inquired.
Luna wiped a tear of laughter. “What about me?”
“You’ve been rather active since we last spoke in Ponyville,” he said, “how did you go from performing music to saving the Crystal Empire?”
“Oh, well that place needs saving every other week, doesn’t it?” joked a white-haired stallion, the president of Equestria’s Workers’ Union.
“This wasn’t an ordinary snow storm,” Luna waggled her brow. “There was a horde of creatures, made purely of dark magic. Quite a few of them looked like…”
She stared intensely into his eyes. “... lobsters.”
The stallion swallowed. “Oh, haha. Yes, I see.”
Luna shot a wink to her sister and she immediately understood. The only question Celestia wondered was what kind of nightmare could cause such an immediate fear response.
But the other guests were intrigued at the mention of shadow monsters. So far removed from the action, they stared at her like she was the star of a Bridleway show. Luna told the story from start to end, mostly unabridged. She told them how dragons and ponies clashed until it brought the shadows to the city. And then she told them how she could not have won without her band.
“Music?” Celestia looked at her curiously at the end of the retelling. “You mean to say you banished spectres of ancient magical evil with a song?”
Luna shrugged and gestured to the head of the table. “Why not? Princess Twilight has done more with five friends and six rocks. I would know, I was there.”
“Oh, that’s right,” said the union president, “I heard about your album, Luna. I didn’t believe it at first. You’re really becoming a musician?”
“No offence,” the banker cracked a smile at the stallion, “but can you call that ‘heavy metal’ stuff music?”
The stallion beside the mare, Fancy Pants, leaned towards Neighsay. “If it were music, it’d be taught in schools, wouldn’t it? You’re not allowing music schools to teach that kind of racket, are you?”
The chancellor quickly glanced at Luna. “Well, the EEA supervises classical and early modern music training. Modern styles like rock and rap are simply not within our purview, and the same goes for any kind metal.”
Celestia cast a look over the ponies jesting. Though Luna seemed to be the topic of the conversation, she had removed herself. Despite her onstage presence, her sister had always been more on the quiet side. She leaned over to Twilight and hatched a plan, one which the Princess quickly agreed to with just one look at the table.
“Perhaps, then,” Celestia intervened, “this would be an opportunity for some education?”
All heads at the table turned to Celestia. None could believe their ears, not even Luna. Down the way to the end of the table, Tempest and Glitter Drops looked forward to what was going on.
“Really? Now?” Luna searched for an excuse. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea. I mean, I haven’t done my vocal exercises, and the rest of the band isn’t here.”
“I have your instrumentals,” Twilight blurted out, catching her lips with her hoof only moments too late. Luna gave her a funny look. But the Princess recomposed herself. “Ahem. What I mean is there is a copy of your album and the instrumental soundtrack in the royal archives.”
Celestia gestured to Tempest. “And we even have one of the Nightmare Knights’ guitarists!”
“Oh, shi-” Tempest darted her head around the room as the ponies she had been talking to the whole night fixed themselves in a surprised stare. She leaned back and lifted a silver cup to block her face.
“Well, I for one think it would be excellent,” Fancy Pants wiped his mouth and set down his napkin. “And since I am now at liberty to say it to you,” he looked directly at Celestia, “frankly I’m a little dismayed it took this long for a change up to the banquet entertainment.”
Celestia’s face melted to a pout. “What?”
“No offence, but if I had to watch another Hearth’s Warming play after dinner I think I’d rather take a cyanide pill and be done with it.”
“Well, that’s morbidly rude.” She curled up and crossed her hooves. “I like plays.”

Gathered around the Hearth’s Warming tree in the palace’s main ballroom, the guests sat on the floor on velvet carpet and satin sheets, padded and decorated with embroidered pillows from Saddle Arabia and Mount Aris.
Tempest nervously strummed an old guitar Twilight found lying around in the back of the royal theatre. She looked to Glitter Drops for help, but her best friend seemed equally lost as she plugged a cord into the speakers from Songbird Seranade’s last performance in Canterlot.
“Are you sure about this?” Tempest whispered to Luna.
“No,” she replied, looking at her sister’s encouraging grin, “but it would be a wasted opportunity. Besides, we can’t just let them question whether or not heavy metal is music.”
“I wasn’t there for that part, but okay,” Tempest mumbled as she pretended to adjust the guitar. “Can’t imagine a weirder place to perform, though.”
Twilight rejoined the guests with a CD player and an extra speaker. Despite claiming that it was tucked away in the archives, Luna noticed it took her a very short time to come back with the disk.
“So, what song are you going to sing tonight?” Twilight asked.
Luna eyed her. “Two Sisters.”
Celesta knit her brows together in a curious look at Luna and mouthed “Two Sisters?” inquisitively. Luna simply smiled and gave her sister a wink.
Without being told the song’s place in the album, the Princess tracked straight to the start of the song. Tempest coughed and cleared her chest, preparing to offer backup vocals as the music crept closer. Luna recognized the sound of cello strings emulated from Svengallop’s keyboard. The slow crescendo seemed to surprise the other guests.
“In honour of Hearth’s Warming,” Luna stretched a cheeky grin, “this song’s about how Equestria’s long peace came to be.”

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Tempest churned like a storm over the strings of her guitar, the edge of her hoove strumming against the strings as pulses from her horn pressed on the chords. Her whole body in the performance, she moved with stance and form, voice and instrument captivating the guests in equal measure beside Luna.

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The floor rattled under Celestia’s hooves as she pranced around the royal library. “Did you see their faces? Ha! They couldn’t believe how good Luna was!”
Twilight sunk into a bundle of blankets and pillows, snuggling up close to a fresh cup of hot chocolate and a good book. Luna performed five more songs from her album before the night was over and the guests had been ushered out with letters of thanks written personally by the Princess.
“Her music can be very persuasive. If I wasn’t there for her first performance, I never would have thought of myself as a fan,” Twilight said. “Do you think this means you two are past your differences?”
Celestia grinned sheepishly, as if afraid to let herself hope for too much. “Maybe. But, haven’t you noticed something strange about her songs?”
“Like what?”
“She says the Nightmare Knights are her way of moving forward. But all her songs talk about the past.”
Twilight looked up from her hot chocolate. “Is that a bad thing? You wanted her to sing, right?”
“I do!” Celestia insisted. “But all her songs are about fighting for nightmares or praising the night. I want to let her express herself, but it worries me.”
Twilight laughed. “I think it’s just a gimmick, Celestia. They are the Nightmare Knights, after all.”
Celestia nodded. “I know, I know. But it makes me worry. What if there’s some other underlying problem? All the dark themes in her songs, maybe it’s secretly a cry for help. Maybe Luna doesn’t know what else to be other than the Princess of the Moon.”
“I’m pretty sure she does, Celestia,” Twilight said. “Right now, she just wants to be a singer.”
“That’s what she says she wants,” she tapped her chin in thought, “but maybe what she needs is a change of pace. Look at what she did in the Crystal Empire. A singer wouldn’t do that, right? I know! Maybe I can help her find her inner peace in Yakyakistan, there’s a yak guru who lives up on one of their highest mountains.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Twilight cautioned. “I mean, isn’t it much to assume she needs to find her ‘inner peace?’”
Celestia chuckled. “Oh, Twilight. I know my sister. She’s a wonderful singer, and I really do admire that she’s trying to remake herself. But she just needs some help to see that the world isn’t filled with bleak darkness.”
Twilight’s eyes shifted to the library doors with concern. “Maybe you should let Luna know first,” she pointed.
Celestia turned and saw Luna leaning against the door of the library, the look written on her face saying she had heard plenty of their conversation. “Sister! What a surprise, I thought you would have left by now.”
“Yes, to brood or mope or whatever else you think it is that I do,” Luna’s face soured. “I waited because I wanted to go home with my sister, to thank you for finally understanding me. I see I was overeager.”
Twilight closed her book and slid out from her barrier of warm blankets. “Well, it has been a long night, I think I’m going to turn in. You two, uh, try not to break anything.” She teleported away.
The two sisters stared at each other, the air was so tense between them it was almost tangible. Celestia tried to step forward and make the first move, but Luna turned away.
“So, your plan was to make me feel like we were finally connecting so you could convince me to do what you want?”
“What? No!” Celestia insisted. “I was only sharing my concerns with Twilight.”
“You were sharing your assumptions,” Luna hissed. “You always think you know what’s best. Did it even dawn on you to ask me how I was feeling?”
“I know you want to be in a band,” Celestia said, “I have the same desires with theatre. But did you think your songs wouldn’t worry me? They’re all about nightmares and darkness and all that stuff that drove us apart centuries ago.”
“I thought you’d be okay with it.” Luna lowered her head. “Now I see it was wrong of me to expect so much. That ‘darkness stuff’ is a part of who I am. I thought you’d understand, but you never have. You’ve always been loved, you’ve never had to know what it’s like to be ignored and afraid.”
“That’s what I mean,” Celestia reached out to her sister, “You don’t have to hold onto those feelings. We can be happy together. I just don’t want you slipping back to the way you were before.”
Luna shook her head with disappointment. “You want us to be happy together? Why don’t you start by apologizing for taking away a thousand years of my life? I returned as Nightmare Moon because I was afraid. I had a sister who threw me away for a millennium, and I didn’t know what would happen when I returned.”
Her eyes lowered, unable to face Celestia as the truth unfolded itself. “Nightmare Moon was the only way I’d have enough power to stay, in case you still wanted me gone.”
“I-I…” Celestia choked.
“So why don’t we start there?” Luna picked herself back up. “My songs are how I will show Equestria that not all things that are dark are evil. But it’s not the only unfinished business I have. If you truly want to move forward, you’re going to have to face the past, sister.”
She stepped back and turned, swift on her hooves and quick to leave. In the endless quiet shelves with books to escape to a thousand worlds, Celestia stood frozen in her own with only herself to reflect.