The Old Sisterhood
Most of the Ponyville residents crowded the Town Hall, the walls decorated with various assortments of banners, the most prominent was the banners showcasing all twenty three regions of the kingdom. The lights glowed with a bright yellow dim, casting a warm and welcoming ambience throughout the hall.
The balcony podium was decorated with flowers and ribbons in hues of blue and purple, the colours of the Princess’s mane. In the middle of the hall was a long and extravagant blue carpet ,running itself from the main door of the building across the crowded hallways towards the main stairwell towards the balcony.
“And this carpet, I made myself! It took me weeks to get silk imported here, but oh great Faust was it perfect for this once in a lifetime event.” Rarity Belle exclaimed happily, her eyes gleaming with pride as she gently caressed the soft silky texture of the carpet.
Pinkie Pie hopped on the silk carpet,“This is so so so so SO cool, Rares! This carpet is so soft, slightly springy and very very good feely touching!” she said as she jumped up and down on the carpet, much to Rarity’s horror.
She tried to use her magic to drag Pinkie away, but Pinkie Pie quickly used her tail as a propeller to pull herself away from Rarity.
As Pinkie Pie and Rarity tried playing a tug of war of magic and reality-breaking against each other, Applejack observed the various food and drinks her family made on he long
“Fritters, stew, pies, cookies, darn near everything from Sweet Apple Acres is here! And let me tell y’all, this apple cider here is the finest we have!” she boasted as she held up a jug of the cider in the air.
One of the many in the crowd recognised as her cousin Caramel, approached the table with a bolt rifle in his hooves. “Wow cousin, I know I made a couple of the dishes but darn.” he said taking a bite one of the fritters.
“Mmmm! Tastes like how my mom makes back in Coltchester,” he said, chewing on the delicious apple fritter.
“Thank you kindly Cousin Caramel! Now if only ya didn’t join Winters’ town watch army, we could have got ourselves even more of a selection going on.”
Caramel shook his head in slight laughter, “No can do cousin, I actually need some Tacks for rent this week so who knows? Plus, I get to hold a rifle and shoot something with it!” he replied excitedly as Applejack rolled her eyes at her cousin’s banter.
Meanwhile near one of the Town Hall’s windows, Fluttershy turns to her song birds, each with their own beautifully varied colours as they prepare to make their final rehearsal for the opening ceremony.
“Now come on my little friends, when Princess Luna emerges from the curtains you give her the best musical notes you can ever muster! Just like we rehearsed!” Fluttershy said to her critters. The birds looked at each other as they began to sing.
Fluttershy hummed along, the notes hitting a musical high, before realising that this particular note was… off. Before she knew it the notes playing weren’t the Night’s Home of Clarity, but instead was the Severnayan national anthem.
“Nononono! That’s the wrong anthem!” she said out loud before quickly covering her mouth in embarrassment, looking around to see if anyone else heard her.
Putting out a sigh of relief, she turned back at her birds. “All of you, that’s the wrong tone. The other one, where we practised earlier back home?” she said in a slightly lighter and whispering voice. “Please?”
Oh, this is so embarrassing!
As Fluttershy tried to attempt another rehearsal, Winters and Rainbow Dash leaned against next to the stairwell that connects to the offices of the Town Hall both wearing ambivalent expressions.
Winters turned to Rainbow Dash with an uneasy look, “Soo uh,” he began but Rainbow Dash quickly cut him off.
“Got another 5 hours added to my community service, great.” she said as matter of factly as she could, but her voice had a tinge of frustration. “No thanks to Lavender Egghead and Mayor Mare, she gave me a heavy stressing down and got the coppers to add a few more next to my already existing one earlier.”
Winters winced at hearing his friend’s insult to Twilight, but he quickly shrugged it off. “Soo uh, can I know why you’re standing here?” he asked.
She turned to Winters with a smirk, “Waiting for her to come out,” she replied.
“Twilight?”
“Yep! This time, I have a plan. I’ll-” Rainbow said with a mischievous and slightly evil glint in her eyes, Winters didn’t exactly share the same look of enthusiasm as her, cutting her off with an annoyed tone.
“Rainbow..” he sighed. “She’s my friend, a good friend for goodness sakes! And you’re thinking of punching the everloving the crud out of her just because she accidentally yelled at Fluttershy and ruined your pride.”
Rainbow groaned in frustration, “ Oh come on! She’s a bitch and you know it, just let me give her a lesson on reality for now okay?”
Winters tilted his head slightly and furrowed his brows, “Except there’s one problem, what exactly makes you think she won’t try to tell on you with the Princess, who may I remind you Twilight Sparkle is literally the protege of her and basically has her eyes and ears conjoined with the princess?”
Rainbow laughed, though a tiny bit of nervousness crept into her fur. “Hahaha… look uh, I’ll cross that bridge when I find it.”
“And if that bridge you crossed and collapsed, what would you do?” he asked incredulously.
“Dude!” Rainbow Dash said, flapping her wings as she stood still on the ground. “I have wings?”
“You know what I mean,” Winters replied, with a slight tinge of worry for her but mostly for Twilight. “The last thing we need is the princess breathing down on both of your necks.”
“Pffft, as if. Just watch, I’m sure she’s not gonna tell her that I-”
“And she kept punching me repeatedly in the face as if I was a bloody body bag, and now my nose is bleeding and my eye looks like a black hole,” Twilight recounted to Princess Luna.
Luna nodded along to her student’s words as she cleaned off the last of the blood with a damp warm towel. As much as she cared for Twilight Sparkle’s wellbeing, sometimes she doesn’t tend to do very well in front of others.
“What a loudhouse egoist!” she remarked, pulling away at the towel. “I swear if the next time I go into some backwater town I need a guard or something just so I don’t get clotheslined by some mare who, I recall, tries to assault me.”
Luna turned to her student with a calm expression, placing a comforting hoof on her shoulders. “Now my dear student,”
Twilight continued, her hooves waving manically in the air. “This mare named Pinkie Pie had thrown me a birthday party, or something. She somehow managed to ruin the library
“And when I came back from that Flutter Von, uh Shield or something. You know what happened?” she turned to Luna with a tense look, her eyes twitched and her mane started standing on ends. Luna merely gave a silent shake of a head.
“A RABBIT!” she wailed out loud, collapsing on the princess’ chest. “It was on my mane, its tiny little feet jumping as if it were a trophy, its teeth threatening to gnaw at my face at every second and its eyes, RED EYES!”
Luna listened patiently, rubbing her student’s back gently as she could. “It’s alright, Twilight. It was just a rabbit,” she tried to console her but Twilight gave her a dirty look.
“Just a rabbit? IT could have had rabies in its blood!” she barked out, much to the princess’ surprise. Twilight’s breathing became more tense and she started to dart her eyes around the room.
The room itself was an old unused office, but Mayor Mare quickly turned it into a makeshift break room for the princess.
Luna released her student from her magical grip, and walked over to the vanity. She took off her round spectacles and brought out a silk handkerchief, wiping them on the lenses free from dust.
Twilight looked at her mentor in a sense of confusion and mild anxiety, her ears perking up as she watched her mentor cleaned her spectacles .
Wha- what is she doing?
“Now Twilight, if I were to say that a puppy were to walk up to you, its tail wagging left and right hitherto, what would you do?”
“What!” Twilight’s eyes widened at the princess’ silly change of topic. “What does that have to do with-”
“Answer the question Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna said softly.
Twilight rested her hoof on the coffee table, tapping it apprehensively. “Well uh, I guess do nothing and keep on walking wherever I go?”
Luna nodded at her student’s words, but as she was about to give her another question the door knocked and slowly opened with a click, a lanky and quite anxious stallion appeared behind it. “Your majesty, I brought you the tea you requested, and also a telegram message and a case is waiting for you.”
Strange… I didn’t ask for a case. And what’s this telegram about, never mind I’ll worry about it later.
“Thank you, Mr Tadwell isn’t it? Thank you for your service.” she said to him as she placed the case in the corner while the telegram and the tea kettle of two cups were placed on the table.
Tadwell left the room with a loud thud and the princess poured each cup some milk tea. She raised her cup with her magic while Twilight looked at her in bewilderment. Luna nodded gently and took a sip of the cream tea.
As delicious as always…
Putting the glass cup down, she turned to Twilight with a sigh. “Well my student, what do you think of this town?”
“A backwater, some of the residents are alright, some are insane.” she replied with a huff and crossed her hooves in disgust and disdain.
“And what of the ones you met? Some new friends perhaps?”
The room went silent as Twilight took in the question in a moment of calmness, before bursting a bellow of laughs. The unicorn couldn’t help but shake her head in disbelief. “Pffft, princess-hahaha! Friends? I don’t think there’s even a slight chance of me being friends with any of them here.”
The princess looked down on her cup solemnly, “Well…” she trailed, circling the rim of the cup with left hoof. “What about just acquaintances, like-”
“Acquaintances?” Twilight repeated in a sceptical tone. “Princess, no offence but I don’t think even that works out. Though, Rarity is a bit better than the others.”
She paused for a moment before continuing with a shrug, with a tone of finality. “But I doubt we’ll ever become more than just acquaintances. Besides, I’ll be resigning anyway.”
Luna looked at her student, feeling a bit disappointed but determined not to show it on her face. “Well, whatever you want, my good student.”
The room was silent again as both sipped their teas, its aromantic smell tantalising their senses to the peak. Twilight wandered her eyes around the room, first at the princess, at the door then finally the telegram message on the table. Luna noticed her gaze and quickly took the message.
Therridaelis Telegraph Company
22 JUNE 999
MS D2 PV 07.
PRINCESS LUNA FAUSTRIANIS
F̸̡̦̘͎͙̯̙̪̖̗̱̞̑͊̀̈͌́̾̂͘̚͝A̴̡̛̪̤̺̱͈̜̰̫̬̒̈́̇͒̅̈́͂͌̚͝L̵̦͖̱̀̋̇̇͋̋͠͝ͅṠ̷̖͇͊̂E̶̡̧͎͕̭͇͍̜̞͌ͅ PRINCESS,
PONYVILLE TOWN HALL,
PONYVILLE, MISAKI.
WHEN THE WORLD CASTED THE SUN AWAY. THE MOON THREW GLOOM AND DIRE. NOW THE SUN RISES. MAY IT NEVER SETS UPON THE WORLD.
SISCEL
Princess Luna’s eyes widened in shock as she read the message, her heart racing with fear and apprehension. With trembling hooves, she reread it over and over again, her growing uneasiness and unsettling distress mounting with each passing word.
The message had no sender names, nor a sending address. She had an idea who might’ve sent this, but the thought itself was just ludicrous and extremely unlikely! Yet-
“Princess? What’s in that telegraph?” Twilight asked suddenly after observing the array of Luna’s expressions. Luna turned to her student in a surprised alarm, forgetting that she was right there..
No… I can’t tell her, it could be just a false alarm. It could be! No need for that, definitely no need for her to know, nor to cause a fuss! I’ll just… remove this message and check on that case earlier.
She knew she had to maintain her composure, though, for the sake of her duties as a princess and mentor. With a deep breath, she forced a calm smile and turned to Twilight.
“It’s just a message from the palace, nothing to worry about.” she said, carefully avoiding Twilight’s gaze as she burned the message to ashes using fire magic
Twilight can only nod sceptically at her mentor’s response, sensing that something was off, but decided not to push the issue any further for now.” Alright, if you say so,” she replied with a smidge of doubt.
Luna nodded, relieved that Twilight didn’t suspect anything. Just then, the door opened slightly, and the mayor’s head poked out.
“Your majesty! I want to let you know the ceremonial address will start in about 10 minutes. Sorry if I seem intruding, your highness.” the mayor said with a bit of nervousness.
Luna waved it off calmly and with dismissal, “No need, I’ll be there. In the meantime, can you escort my student and have her fully enjoy the festivities below?” she replied with light firmness.
Mayor Mare nodded with a smile, “Of course, Your Highness. I’d be happy to show Miss Sparkle around.” she said as she walked over to her. “Now let’s head down Miss Sparkle.”
“Princess?” Twilight said in surprise as she looked at her mentor.
Princess Luna took a step forward towards her student and leaned forward, “I want you to enjoy this for one time without any books, nor fuss. It is of course my duty as your mentor to ensure my student gets to experience her life to the fullest, and not just academic pursuits.”
Twilight looked down in ambivalence and bit her lip, “But-”
“That’s a royal order Twilight, have good fun down there. You can ride in my carriage after the festivity and I’ll handle your quick resignation to the mayor.”
Twilight looked at her mentor in mild shock, she knew there was no arguing with a royal order, so she simply nodded in compliance. “Yes, Your Highness,” she said in hidden frustration.
Luna smiled sadly at her student’s response as she watched her leave the room with the mayor. She glanced at the clock on the wall, its hour hand now resting close to midnight. She got up with a sigh and walked up to the vanity mirror.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror and let out a deep breath. The events of the night were starting to take a toll on her, and the message she had received earlier was still weighing heavily on her mind. She couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong.
Luna lit her horn and brought the tea kettle over, pouring herself another milk tea. Milk tea always seemed to calm her down. As she sipped on her tea, she noticed the large case in the corner. “Huh, I forgot that existed.” she said to herself in thought. She walked over to the case in the corner, taking it and placing it on the table.
As she slowly opened the case, a familiar and sharp longsword revealed itself. The steel blade glimmered in the light of the room, and the intricate designs of the crescent moon etched on the hilt caught Luna’s eye and her thoughts. It was her old longsword, from the Olden Era, where she-
She shook her head, “Why is it here? Who… who sent it to me?” she whispered to herself in fear and uneasiness, as she dropped the sword to the ground and took a few steps back until she backed up to a wall behind her. The room suddenly felt warmer than it was before, and the air of anxiety from before came back.
This isn’t supposed to be here, how… I kept it buried in our castle… our… castle…
Her eyes darted back to the casing, a message burnt on the wooden frame of the case:
THY LOOK FORWARD TO OUR REUNION, DEAR SISTER.
Twilight walked down the stairwell with Mayor Mare, mildly sulking her thoughts out. Mayor Mare turned to Twilight with a sad expression on her face as they walked down the stairwell, “So Miss Sparkle, I’ll take that you’ll be leaving after this?” she asked.
The unicorn rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned to the mayor, “Look mayor, I already burnt out most of my energy dealing with constant idiots left and right no offence.” she answered back.
Mayor Mare nodded back sadly, “Well, I guess I can respect that. Still, I wish you would’ve upheld your side of the agreement.”
Twilight ignored her, instead she stepped down even faster down the stairs, each step making a soft thudding sound. The lights of the hall from below slowly become brighter and brighter, casting a soft glow on her hooves.
Reaching the ground floor, she saw green curtains covering the entrance into the main hallway, where the main celebration starts. On the left is a suspicious closet door, the door slightly ajar.
“Well, I’ll be heading off Mayor Mare.” Twilight said as she looked out of the curtains
Mayor Mare turned to Twilight with a small smile, “Take care of yourself, Miss Sparkle.” she said to her, still upset but polite. “I’ll be in the hall watching over the crowd in case of anything.” she said, looking thoughtful away from Twilight. “Actually, if it doesn’t trouble you…”
“Yeah right, don’t expect me to- MMMPH!”
Mayor Mare narrowed in curiosity, still looking from in front of her. “Well not mmmph, I was more so in asking if you can help me with crowd morale tonight?” she asked.
…..
…..
…..
“Miss Twilight?” she asked, finally turning her head in front. Twilight wasn’t there, and the green curtains blew softly from the cheers of the crowd. “Huh, she left already. Might as well enjoy the celebration myself,” Mayor Mare thought to herself, before heading towards the hall.
Meanwhile, Twilight found herself in a dark room, her mouth covered by a hoof. She struggled to break free, but her captor was too strong. Judging from the strength of they’re hooves and their grunted breaths, she quickly deduced what gender her captor is. There’s only one spot where her captor will fall on their hooves, guaranteed for all stallions.
“AAAAAGH!” he shouted out falling on his back against the closet wall, where the items on the shelves above him fell down on his head. Twilight recognised that shout and quickly turned on the lights, turning around it was Winters.
Winters? You’re a grown grade A idiot.
“Owwwwwwww….” he cried softly as he clutched his lower body region with his hooves in a very specific spot where he was kicked, whinnying and grunting in pain.
“Winters! What on Luna’s flank are you doing?” she said to him, clearly not amused to being suddenly grabbed with her mouth shut tight.
Winters opened his eyes and slowly got up with shaky legs, “Owwwww, it hurts. Do you have to kick me that hard?” he said but as he looked up to meet her eyes he quickly closed his mouth shut, realising that he may have stirred a hornet’s nest.
“Winters,” Twilight said in stern fierceness. “You dragged me into a dark closet, shutting my mouth and acting as if you were a deranged kidnapper. Like there aren’t already enough weirdos here!”
Winters winced at words, but bit his tongue against the pain. “Look Twi, uh I was here because Rainbow Dash is juuust standing outside the curtains waiting for you?” he told her nervously.
Twilight’s expression changed from mild anger to an eerie calmness, “So that rainbow mare’s outside in the hallway waiting for me, and instead of convincing her to you know? Not beat me up, you decided to grab me?” she said, unsettlingly calm and void of emotion.
Winters shifted uncomfortably on his hooves, “Well, I was going to but then I saw you walking by and thought it’d be funny to scare you a bit…” he trailed off, his voice slowly becoming softer and softer. His ears pinned back in embarrassment and shame as he contemplated his available options.
As he did that, the door quickly opened and Twilight walked out of the closet. Winters followed closely in a panic, trying to explain himself further. “Come on Twi, I didn’t mean to scare you! I was just trying to warn you about-”
But Twilight already threw open the curtains, revealing a smug and Rainbow Dash beyond it. “Finally took ya long enough, egghead.” she said as she cracked her hooves. “Ready to settle this once for all?”
Twilight sighed in exhaustion, realising she’s never gonna get away from her without another confrontation. “For Faust’s sake, can you just leave me alone for the time being!” she shouted, frustration seeping through her words. Rainbow scoffed at her words before flaring her wings up in anticipation.
Some members of the crowd watched them, recognising them from earlier.
“Holy crap, they’re gonna have another fight?”
“I’m betting 5 Tacks on that feathered over there!”
“I think that particularly a unicorn mare has the prowess and capability to defeat anybeing, especially a pegasus in combat.”
But before anything could get out of control, the lights suddenly were dimmed to almost a complete black out. Everyone, including Twilight, Rainbow and Winters, looked around in surprise.
“Holy molotov cocktails! Who shot the sun out of existence?” Pinkie Pie’s voice exclaimed in the darkness.
“Goodness, the lights have gone out!” Another voice called out in the darkness, among the others to which Twilight recognised. “Fluttershy darling, can you please stop holding my neck as if it were a tree?”
“Heck, how am I supposed to get others to enjoy my family’s food?” Another voice called out over the others among the crowd. Twilight recognised it as Applejack from her farm.
Suddenly two spotlights shone themselves towards the podium and everybeing’s attention turned to it. The television and radio crew who were there aimed their equipment towards the podium, the red lights of the cameras shining in the darkness.
Mayor Mare walked out of the curtains, raising her hooves in the air towards the curtains. “Gentlestallions and mares, it’s been a great pleasure to have you all for this night. But now, the great town of Ponyville will love to welcome our very own princess, Princess Luna Faustrianis!” she announced, eliciting a round of cheers and applause from the crowd.
A large figure walked out beyond the curtains, “Good evening, my young subjects of Ponyvillians and such!” Princess Luna said to the crowd below, eliciting another round of applause.
The cameras zoomed in closer to the princess, focusing the vision onto her.
She adjusted for a split second, “ I hope that the celebrations today have been well-prepared and acquainted with the upcoming night. I, as your humble guardian and princess, hope to secure this night, as a blessing for your enjoyment and your continued loyalty to the crown.”
Huh, strange. Princess Luna usually doesn’t sound this nervous.
“Wait!” Pinkie Pie called out from the crowd, turning her attention towards her as Pinkie raised her hooves and jumped up and down sporadically. “Ihaveaquestion, Ihaveaquestion,Ihaveaquestion!”
Luna looked down and nodded softly, a bit intrigued by this sudden interference but otherwise welcomed it from the usual celebration monotony. “And what’s your question, young excitable mare?”
“Why do we celebrate the Lunar Moon Celebration?”
Luna’s breath caught itself for a moment, and she quickly coughed a few times. Her eyes darted left and right in quiet nervousness before settling back onto the party pony. Luckily nobeing noticed except for Twilight, who was watching closely. “We- well, when I first defeated my sister or better known to the masses as Daybreaker, I made this celebration in order to commemorate my memory with her.” she said solemnly, slowly lowering her head in a symbol of sadness.
“But it’s not just that isn’t it? False princess...~”
The voice was a sinister one, echoing against the walls of the town hall. It was the voice of a mare who’s devilish tone was enough to send shivers down Twilight’s spine. The crowd began to murmur and whisper among themselves, some even beginning to back away in fear.
“Who- who’s there! Sho- show yourself, villain!” Princess Luna demanded nervously, clutching the sword in its scabbard with her wings while the goosebumps in her fur increasingly became stronger and her tone became more fearful.
Cameras and reporters looked left and right to search for it and the spotlights swung wildly across the room, trying to find the source of the voice. Suddenly, the entire town power went haywire, causing the camera’s and audio equipment to stop working temporarily while the lights flickered and off randomly. Now the crowd’s becoming increasingly frightened and some started to leave the town hall in fear. Meanwhile Twilight made her way towards her mentor, hoping to get to her before whoever’s voice does.
However, the flickerings stopped and the hall’s lights turned intensely bright until the lights themselves blew out until a few remained, causing the crowd to scream and to run out of the building. Some however stayed behind, mostly the reporters, Winters and his watch members, and the others of the group. Princess Luna flew above the crowd in the hall, trying to get a better vision of this would-be attacker and some answers for their intrusion and their borderline disruption.
Something in her feelings though, says that this particular isn’t like the ordinary ones.
Finally a bright light materialised in front of her, forming a large figure slightly larger of her size. They were an alicorn of white coatings and wore armour, which had a symbol of the sun affixed on the chest. They had a crown on their head, and their flanks sprouted a cutie mark of the bright sun of the day.
Princess Luna stopped flapping her wings and simply floated in shock, “No…. It can’t be.” she said to herself in silence, gazing in shock at her sight.
The intruder wore a devilish sort of smile on their face.
“Hello, sister ~”