//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 - What's In A Name? 
// Story: House of Owls and Ponies 
// by Universal Librarian 
//------------------------------//

Celestia stood, paralyzed on the spot. She had never expected that any evidence of her and Luna's past misdeeds still existed, let alone that someone would recognise them from old wanted posters.

Naturally, Twilight was practically radiating shock and curiosity, not that Celestia could blame her. Glancing sidelong at Luna, she saw that her sister was just as stunned as she was.

"Whoa…" Luz looked at Celestia and Luna with an awestruck expression. "Those names are awesome! How come they call you Daybreaker? Is it because your magic is as radiant as the dawning sun?" She circled her arms as if imitating a rising sun.

Eda snorted. "Nope, it's because she literally broke daytime. The Boiling Isles were pitch dark for like four days afterwards."

Celestia huffed and looked away in embarrassment, pointedly avoiding avoiding Twilight's piercing gaze. "It wasn't deliberate. I thought the sun was just like Equestria's, but it got stuck. I wriggled it loose again as quickly as I possibly could."

"Yep, and almost caused a mass extinction in the process!" Eda added proudly. "Half of the Boiling Isles started to freeze over before the sun finally popped back up, then the ice melted so fast we had a spate of flash floods all over the place. That summer was wild!"

Quietly pondering just how old Eda was to remember that particular incident, Celestia was spared further embarrassment as Luz turned her attention to Luna. "So… why Nightmare Moon? Did you give the moon nightmares or something?"

"You know, I don't actually know that, either," Eda put in. "I heard some Emperor's Coven mooks calling you that, but I got a clipped ear for asking about it. Took weeks for it to grow back."

Luna grimaced, glaring at the witch in stony silence.

Celestia smirked. "Wasn't it because-"

"Don't you dare."

"-your girlfriend dumped you and-"

"Shut up, Tia."

"-you decided to use the moon to-"

"So help me I will tell Twilight about your ex-boyfriend if you don't seal your trap this instant!"

Celestia's mouth snapped shut. She didn't particularly mind Twilight knowing that she had once had a boyfriend on the Isles, not given that he had certainly been dead for centuries, but Luna knew just enough about what the pair had gotten up to to shatter Twilight's image of the elder like glass. That, and what little Luna did know was still embarrassing in the extreme, and while Celestia had a whole mountain of dirt she could dish on her little sister, that wasn't a battle that either of them would walk away from with their head held high.

Speaking of Twilight, the young ruler's insistent stare, or, more accurately, glare, was getting harder and harder to ignore. Thankfully, hard didn't mean impossible. 

"Whoa, a little tension between sisters, huh?" Eda waved a hand dismissively. "Believe me, I know the feeling. I can't count the number of times me and my sister have gone at it like lunatics." She sighed and smiled nostalgically. "That's what families are for. Anyway, enough mushy crap." Eda jerked a thumb towards the house. "Come on in, I'll tell you whatever you want to know, as long as you tell me how you pulled off some of the insane stuff I've heard over the years."

Eager to prolong the interrogation that she knew was coming, Celestia readily agreed, already mentally calculating just how much she could downplay or outright deny whatever Eda had heard about them. "That sounds like a marvelous idea! Let's all go-"

"Actually, if it's not a problem, I just need to have a quick chat with my friends first," Twilight cut in, her tone deceptively, and disturbingly, light and cheerful.

"Sure thing, kid. I'll see if I can scrounge up some food while you do your thing." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she walked towards the house. "I wonder if we still have any of the fat left from that trash slug?"

Hooty opened the door as she approached. Luz waved enthusiastically before following, the door closing behind her and leaving Celestia and Luna to their misery.

Realizing that she could put off the inevitable no longer, Celestia turned to face Twilight. The younger princess had a frosty glare on her face that Celestia suspected could send a terrified shiver down the spine of any student. It was certainly enough to give Celestia herself pause.

"Care to explain yourself?" Twilight said quietly.

Celestia coughed delicately. "Well, um… where should I begin?"

"Oh, I don't know," Twilight said sarcastically. "How about we start with why she called you Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon?!"

The sudden usage of the Royal Canterlot Voice was a considerable shock to Celestia, both intellectually and audibly. With the benefit of hindsight, or rather, the thirty or so seconds she was stuck waiting for her hearing to return, she realized that it was probably only natural.

"I understand your concern, Twilight, but I assure you, back then, they were nothing more than nicknames," Luna said in a placating tone. "It was only much later, decades later, in fact, that I would use the moniker again in my jealous bid for power."

"And the wanted posters?" Twilight asked sharply, not dissuaded for an instant.

Celestia sighed. "There was a group, the Emperor's Coven, who were trying to enforce their rule over the rest of the Boiling Isles. They forced the other inhabitants to restrict and bind their magic when they came of age, only permitting them to use one type of magic for the rest of their lives." She gave Twilight a serious look. "I think you of all ponies will understand when I tell you that Luna and I flatly refused to follow that silly rule."

"Technically, we would have been fine if we had joined the Emperor's Coven, as they permit their members alone to use the full spectrum of magic," Luna explained. "However, given that the Emperor's Coven largely uses their freedom to oppress others, we felt that joining them wasn't something we could stomach. Thus, we became renegades."

"Renegades is a strong way of putting it," Celestia said quickly. "We were more… um… what's the word I'm looking for... activists?" Twilight still didn't look convinced, so Celestia just sighed and said bluntly, "Look, we were only a little older than you at the time, and we did a few things we regret. We all do dumb things every now and again. You should know that as well as I."

That finally seemed enough to mollify Twilight. "I… um… suppose we do." She blushed and rubbed her neck awkwardly, and Celestia if the young princess was remembering the times she herself had done something dumb in the heat of the moment. "So… you both had special someponies here?"

Celestia blushed. "I had one, yes, a long time ago. Luna had several."

"Not all at the same time!" Luna cut in a little too quickly. Clearing her throat, she gestured towards the house. "A-anyway, we shouldn't keep our new acquaintances waiting."

"Good point." Celestia took a step towards the house, then paused and gave Twilight a wary look. "Um… I would be very grateful if you could keep an open mind while we're here."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Why do I get the feeling that the two of you have a long and sordid past here that would make Discord blush?" The elder pair gave her looks that were entirely innocent and not at all guilty as sin itself, getting a resigned sigh in response. "Fine. I'll keep an open mind, but we're discussing those wanted posters in great detail when we get back to Equestria." She frowned as a thought occurred to her. "They aren't going to cause us any problems while we're here, are they?"

"Of course not," Celestia replied sincerely. "It was a thousand years ago, I doubt anyone other than Eda even remembers us."