//------------------------------// // "Say hello to my friends!" // Story: New Moon // by Majestic_Donut //------------------------------// It's been two weeks now since Luna and Moony declared each other sisters. Of course, because sisters tell each other everything, Luna told Celestia about this decision so she would know that Luna wasn't going to ask for a little sister anymore. Celestia actually seemed quite fine with that, happy even that Luna and Moony were getting along so well! Behind closed doors, however, Celestia voiced her confusion and concerns with Cadence. "Ok, on the one hoof, Luna and Nigh- I mean 'Moony' are doing so well together and seem so close and that's a good thing, right? On the other hoof, it could all be a trap to get Luna close to her and then convince her to fall and create eternal night again! On the third hoof, we could assume that Luna and Moony are mentally developing at the same rate and thus there are no ulterior motives to this friendship, but I'm not sure that's a risk I want to take and- Cady, are you listening to me?" Celestia ranted before noticing Cady's far off expression, which promptly died at Celestia's annoyed gaze. "Oh, uh, yeah uh huh... But ummm..." "But what?" Celestia asked. "Don't you think you may be acting a bit... paranoid? Just a little?" Cadence asked. "This is my little sister we're talking about here and she is currently sharing a subconscious with the same monster that helped her try to kill me and bring on eternal night. Do I not, in turn, deserve to be just a little bit paranoid for my sister's mental safety and sanity?" "Honestly Auntie Tia, I think she'll be fine. She hasn't shown any resentment towards you, no moody attitude, she's actually been doing much better about throwing tantrums for cookies, and is an overall happy filly with a happy life! She has everything she'd ever wanted as Nightmare Moon and more! I don't think she'll suddenly turn on you last minute, not with this second childhood of memories in her mind," Cadence explained. "Do you think I should still tell her about her past? Does she need to know about it?" "Hmm, I think it's unnecessary at this point. All that may do is accidentally divide the two against each other or worse. Don't get me wrong, she needs to know someday, but... not today. Not while she's still so young." Celestia sighed as she remembered, "I suppose she should meet Twilight and her friends again. They haven't seen her since she was regressed nearly three months ago! Perhaps Luna could attend this year's Gala." "A three year old... at an elite event for adult nobles and upperclass ponies? Do you hear what you're suggesting Auntie Tia?" Cadence voiced with concern. "Oh don't worry, Twilight and her friends will make good company for her," Celestia said with a mental wink. Hey Moony? Are you up? Hello? MOONY!!! Luna shouted within her mind as an experiment to see if she could wake her up. -very angry grumbles- WHAT?! What do you want Woona?!?! "Yay! It works! So I can wake you up by yelling in my head! You can go back to sleep now," Luna exclaimed aloud. ... you woke me up... for THIS?! Uuuuuughhh!!! Moony seemed to turn over in Luna's mind to go back to sleep. "But Moony, you know what this means right?" Luna asked. That I'm gonna have a harder time sleeping in your noisy mind? "It means we can still communicate when I'm awake! We could talk and play in the daytime too and not just in my dreams!" Luna squealed excitedly. Sounds nice Woona, but can I go back to sleep now? Thank you! Moony turned over again as Luna could've sworn she could feel Moony pulling blanket covers over her head. "Lunaaa? Are you in here?" Celestia's voice rang out from the other side of the playroom. "Yeah, I'm here!" Luna responded. Celestia came into view and smiled as she saw her sister, drawing as usual. She always was the more artistic of us two, Celestia reminisced. "What are you drawing?" "I'm drawing me and Moony on the moon," Luna explained. Not that I understand how I know what it looks like on the moon, but it feels right somehow... "Oh... that's nice..." Unfortunate that that's the first and only thing she can remember from her past so far... Celestia mentally sighed. "I was wondering, how would you like to see some friends of mine tonight? They're very sweet and haven't seen you in a long time. I think you'd like them a lot!" "Ooooh, new ponies?! What do they look like? I wanna see them!" Luna exclaimed. Celestia showed Luna a photo of Twilight and her friends that she'd sent with one of her friendship letters. "Huh... where have I seen them before? They look familiar..." Luna noted, looking closely at the ponies in the picture. "Oh, you met them when you were a new foal," Celestia explained. "Like, when I was born?" "Not quite..." "They seem nice." "They are. There's a party tonight here in the ballroom and they'll be there. How do you feel about staying up a little later to meet them again? Just this once though! We are not making late nights a habit (just yet...)," Celestia asked. "-GASP- YES YES YES YES!!! That would be so much FUN!!!" Luna squealed. Oh it will be with you and the Elements there heheheh, Celestia thought to herself mischievously. "You'll also get to wear a cute dress and your royal regalia!" "Like you? YAY!!! SPECIAL OCCASIONS ARE AWESOME!!!" Luna shouted as she bounced around the playroom. One downside to being allowed to stay up late for tonight was that Luna would have to take a long nap during the day so she wouldn't be cranky that night. "But I'm not tired!!!" Luna whined. "Well you will be tonight if you don't conserve your energy during the day," Celestia responded. "At least try to get some sleep, okay?" "... Fine..." Luna sulked. I didn't think having extra playtime tonight meant less playtime during the day... It took awhile, but Luna did eventually manage to fall asleep. Moony? Are you still sleeping? -Stirs- hmm, huh? Woona? Why are you asleep? There's a party tonight that I get to attend. But because it's late at night, Tia says I need to sleep beforehoof so I don't get tired tonight... Oh, that sounds fun. Hey! I'll be awake then too! -gasp- So we can be at the party together yay!!! And we'll both get to meet Tia's friends! Oh, who are her friends? Luna dreamt up the picture of them that Tia had shown her. Moony suddenly looked very uncomfortable What's wrong Moony? I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about them... Why? They seem really nice. I know they do, but there's just something about them... I can't put my hoof on what though... Well, we'll see them at the party tonight. Then you can see they're super nice and we'll have lots of fun together!!! Hmm, maybe... I suppose I'll get back to sleeping again just to make EXTRA sure we both don't end up tired at the party tonight. Sounds like a good idea to me! So the two fillies spent the rest of the dream time sleeping. Later near late afternoon or evening time, Luna was woken up and it was time to get ready for the Gala. First things first, Celestia had to shrink Luna's regalia down to her size (She would grow them back up again as Luna grew bigger). Then she helped Luna into her cute dress (made by a certain violet-maned fashion unicorn who had no idea who this dress was for) and had Luna eat dinner beforehoof (Celestia didn't think the food would be suitable to Luna's foalish tastes and she would be right). Finally, the time for the Gala had come! Celestia and Luna greeted ponies as they came in, Luna mostly just waiting until she saw the mane six. "Are they here yet?" Luna asked. "No, not yet. You'll know them when you see them," Celestia replied calmly whilst shaking another dignitary's hoof. I still don't feel good about meeting them... Moony perked up from the back of Luna's mind. Then you can just stay back there, because I'm excited to meet them! -GASP- THERE THEY ARE!!! Luna replied before she noticed Twilight and her friends coming into view through the doors. "TIA THEY'RE HERE THEY'RE HERE THEY'RE HERE THEY'RE HERE!!!" Luna squealed at the top of her lungs while bouncing up and down. "Luna, inside voice please! I see them too," Celestia smiled. "Please have some self-contr-" Celestia didn't even finish that sentence as she looked to her side to see a clear lack of a little sister next to her. Oh Luna, hahaha! "Who's that charging towards us?" Rainbow asked. "Is that... Luna?!" Twilight speculated first. Luna ran right up to them and instinctively gave Fluttershy a hug first. "Hi!" Luna chirped excitedly. "Are you the pony friends Tia told me about?" A question that, if she was wrong, probably should have been asked before tackle hugging them. "I... think so. -gasp- Princess Celestia!" Twilight said before she was in earshot of Celestia. "Twilight Sparkle! I believe my sister has introduced herself already," Celestia said now that everypony was together again. "Ah don' get it. How'd she get so big so fast?" Applejack asked first. "Yeah, wasn't she just a liiiiiiitle bitty baby when we last saw her?" Pinkie continued. "That's something I'll have to explain later," Celestia answered. "But Luna, this is Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity!" Celestia introduced as she gestured to each mare when she said their names. They all said "Hi" to Luna and then Celestia encouraged them all to go enjoy the Gala. So the others dispersed throughout the castle while Twilight and Luna stayed with Celestia to greet more ponies. However, an hour of just standing there welcoming ponies spent all of Luna's attention span and she grew very bored. "Tia, can I go into the party with the others?" "Of course! Twilight, do you mind going with Luna and introducing her to your friends? She's been looking forward to meeting you all all day. I don't think we'll get to talk much here anyways," Celestia asked. "Oh, it's no trouble at all heheh... Come on Luna, lets go see what the others are up to," Twilight said, doing a fine job of hiding her disappointment in not getting to spend time with Celestia. I suppose I ought to spend time getting to know Princess Luna too. "Yay!" Luna cried as she pulled on Twi's hoof eagerly to go into the ballroom, her energy revived. Upon entering the ballroom, the first ponies they came across were Rarity and Prince Blueblood. "Hey Rarity! How's it going here?" Twilight asked. "Oh just fantastic! Mhmm," Rarity lied through her teeth. "Since when did they allow foals into the Gala? Don't you know this is a grown-up event for only the most elite of the elite? Run off to bed little pest," Blueblood commanded rather rudely and with no semblance of any respectfulness. "And who exactly do you think you are to boss me around?" Luna asked, not a little miffed. How dare he speak to us like that! Does he not know who we are? Moony echoed in the back of Luna's mind. "I am Prince Blueblood, nephew to her Royal Majesty Princess Celestia of Equestria. Who are you to address me with such disrespect?" Blueblood asked haughtily. "Her little sister," Luna stated plainly, gesturing to her hard to miss wings, horn, and crown. "oh, Oh, OH!!! Of course! W-why, a thousand apologies my little (very little) auntie!!! I-I never meant any disrespect of course heheheh," Blueblood squirmed as he realized his mistake. So, Auntie Celestia wasn't trolling with me... I suppose I should've listened to her meetings and announcements after all... "I'm sure you didn't..." Luna smiled insincerely, just trying to stay calm(ish). Moony was less calm about it spewing words Luna didn't recognize. "You won't tell your dear sister about this will you?" "No promises," Luna responded plainly. "Come on Twilight! Let's go see the others!" Luna suggested as she once again dragged Twilight along with her earth pony strength to go further into the room. Heheh, surely his Princely side will come out soon, right? I mean, he wasn't being that rude to little Luna, right? Just a simple misunderstanding. Yes! This night can still work out. Rarity thought to herself as she watched the little filly trot away with great speed. In the VIP area, Rainbow Dash was (sort of) hanging with the Wonderbolts when a small blue projectile came right at her. Wait, small blue projectile? "Nows my chance! Don't worry everypony, I'll protect you from this threat!" Rainbow boomed to no one's knowledge. Rainbow caught Luna's momentum, but failed to actually slow it down any as both crashed to the ground. "Ugh, ow... Oh, it's just you Luna. I thought you were a blue torpedo threatening to crash the party," Rainbow said as she got up off the floor. "Twilight said you liked to go super fast, so I went super fast too! Was I fast? I was running like weeeee and flapping my wings to get extra speed," Luna flapped her wings super fast and almost hovered off the ground, but not quite. "And then I crashed into you!" Luna finished with a beam. Just then, Twilight caught up to them (very much out of breath), and began to speak to Luna. "-Big wheeze- You can't just -huff- run off like -HEEVE- that! Princess Celestia -heavy breath in- trusted me -heavier breath in- to watch you!" "... I found Rainbow Dash!" Luna responded with an innocent smile. Just then, Rainbow got a very bad idea. "Hey! How would you like to play a game with me where I pretend to save you from danger?" "Oh oh, a game! Yay!! How do we play?" Luna asked. "Rainbow I don't think-" Twilight was interrupted as Rainbow assured her of the safety of this "game." Rainbow then flew Luna up to a chandelier and plopped her on it. "W-wait! But I don't know how to fly yet!" Luna immediately panicked being so high up off the ground. I-It's not that high, right? W-we'll be fine... Moony said within Luna's mind. Though whether she was trying to convince Luna or herself was uncertain. "It's okay! I'll be sure to catch you! I just need you to pretend to fall off and then I'll catch you and save you!" Rainbow explained. "You can NOT be serious?" Twilight groaned. "Oh, okay!" Luna calmed down and smiled. "Okay, but I still need you to act scared," Rainbow instructed. "Oh, okay... HEEEEELP!!! I'M GONNA FAAAAALL!!!" Luna began acting (quite well, might I add). Rainbow was down below just waiting for Luna to "fall" off the chandelier. Luna then "fell" off as Rainbow immediately raced to her rescue and caught her before she hit the ground (A little too close a call for Twilight's sanity). "Haha, yes! I have saved Princess Luna from falling to her doom!" Rainbow beamed. "Yaaay!!" Luna cheered. Huh... that wasn't so bad... Moony agreed. Aaaand, absolutely no one reacted at all. "Oh come on! Did nopony see that?!" Rainbow groaned. "I saw it-" a random pony started. "Not you! A Wonderbolt," Rainbow interrupted. "Can we do it again?" Luna asked. Before Rainbow could answer that, Twilight said no. "Come on, maybe we should go see what Applejack is doing." "Oh, okay!" Luna cooperated as they went outside to find AJ. -sigh- Minute 63, no sales. What am Ah doin wrong? a dejected apple pony thought to herself while still trying to get ponies to buy her apple goods. Then, she noticed Twilight and Luna coming into view and waved to them. "Heya Twilight, hi Luna! Can Ah interest either of y'all in an apple fritter?" Applejack asked. "Ooooh, yes please!" Luna said as she jumped up and grabbed one off the shelf and began eating it. "Luna, you're supposed to pay for that," Twilight scolded lightly. "Ah, it's alright! It's on me. Anything for the little sugar cube," Applejack assured Twilight. "Oh, well okay. Can you say thank you to Applejack?" Twilight said to Luna. "Than' oo!" Luna said through a full mouth. Then she swallowed and corrected herself. "I mean, thank you!" "How's life in the palace sugar cube?" Applejack asked. "It's fun! But sometimes it can get boring. But mostly fun!" Luna said. "What did you do today before the Gala?" "This morning I ate breakfast with Tia and then I went back to my room to color and I drew me with Moony on the moon cause it seems cool then Tia told me I was coming to the Gala and told me about you guys and I was super exited but I had to sleep all day and that was no fun but then it was time for the Gala and I met you guys!" Luna rambled, never taking a breath until she had finally finished. "Wow, sounds like a good day!" Applejack exclaimed. "It does! Also, it's excited, not exited," Twilight couldn't resist correcting. "Who's Moony?" "She's my little sister!" Luna explained. Wait, I thought I was the BIG sister! No, little sister. But whyyyyy?! Because I was here first! But I wanna be the big sister! But that's not how it works!! I don't care how it works!!! Moonyyyy!!! Lunaaaa!!! "Are you okay sugar cube?" Applejack asked. "Little sister?" Twilight asked. Is there a third sister Celestia is hiding that even history doesn't know about? Is it Cadence's mom?! "Oh, I'm fine! Just having a little talk with Moony... NO!! YOU ARE THE LITTLE SISTER AND THAT'S FINAL!!!" Luna shouted to everypony's collective shock and confusion. "Oops, I said that out loud didn't I..." "Yes... maybe we should go see what Fluttershy is doing!" Twilight suggested, desperate to get away from the prying eyes of the confused and judgmental ponies around her right now. "Okay!" Luna said, getting a particularly warm feeling inside at being able to see her again. "Don't worry my little ones, I won't hurt you. As soon as I catch one of you, you will love me! Yes, I will be the queen of these gardens and you will be my loyal and loving subjects!!!" Fluttershy monologued as she broke out into complete maniacal and unhinged laughter before falling into one of her traps set for the animals. Meanwhile, a few yards away Luna and Twilight just watched Fluttershy act insane and fall into a net. "Um... now doesn't seem like a good time..." Twilight said uncomfortably. "Agreed," Luna affirmed as they slowly backed up back into the ballroom. -Sigh- I haven't been able to spend any time with Celestia this whole night! This was not how I thought tonight would go. Maybe Pinkie can keep Luna occupied enough for her not to notice I'm gone? Twilight thought to herself while still keeping an eye on Luna. They finally made it to where Pinkie Pie was (she was hard to miss when doing the hokey-pokey with several unwilling dance partners). "Hey Pinkie! Have you officially met Luna yet?" Twilight asked over the loud party music. "-GAAAAASP- LUNA!!! HEY!!! ARE YOU READY TO PAR-TAY?!" Pinkie shouted as she hoisted Luna up onto the stage with her and they began dancing together. "Hahaha, yeah!!!" Luna cried, ecstatic to hang out with such a fun and bubbly pink pony. Deciding that Luna was occupied more than enough to not miss her, Twilight snuck back to where Celestia was. All the while, Luna and Pinkie had a blast being the only ponies who liked this more bubbly, confetti filled style of party. This feels fun! I wanna dance too! Moony exclaimed within Luna's mind. How do you plan to do that? We only have one body when I'm awake, Luna asked. I think I have an idea... Moony said cryptically. Are you... looking at something? Why do I feel like you're looking at me? Because I am... have you always been here? Where? Here, Moony said as she suddenly pushed Luna's mind out of the way and accidentally took control of Luna's body. Hey! What was that for? Since when could you do THAT?! Luna asked, now inside her own subconscious. But now that she was in there, she found out her guess was correct, there is indeed a blanket in her mind. A very soft one at that! "Hey, I didn't know I could do that either!" Moony retorted back. Suddenly, she noticed that she had said that out loud. "Um, hi! I'm Moony..." "... IT'S NIGHTMARE MOON!!! RUUUUN!!!!" Pinkie shouted as chaos quickly broke out. "Hey y'all! I've got just the thing for y'all. A nice fancy cake for yer fancy tastes!" Applejack announced as she rolled out a huge cake into the ballroom. Then Pinkie barreled right into it and launched it into the air. Then Rarity and Blueblood entered the room just in time to see the cake plummeting towards them. And of course, being the perfect gentle-colt he is, Blueblood used Rarity as a shield against the oncoming cake. That was a very bad idea. "YOU, ARE THE MOST UN-CHARMING PRINCE I HAVE EVER MET!!!" Rarity screeched. "Ah help!!! Don't touch me!!! I just got my mane done!" Blueblood cried out. "AFRAID TO GET A LITTLE DIRTY?!" Rarity then shook the cake bits off of her and onto Blueblood. "What even is going on?!" Moony cried out in all the madness. Back with Twilight and Celestia. "Princess Celestia!" Twilight called. "Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia responded before noticing the lack of her little sister with her student. "Um, Twilight? Where is Luna?" "Oh don't worry, I left her with Pinkie!" "..." "Which... now that I say that out loud..." "Indeed." "Let's go back." With greeting ponies finally done with anyways, Celestia and Twilight re-entered the war-zone ballroom. Cue both of them staring open mouthed at the chaos ensuing. "I-I left her here for all of five minutes!" Twilight exclaimed. "With Pinkie Pie as well," Celestia added. "Heheh, at least it can't get any worse..." Twilight dared to jinx. Suddenly, a manic, disheveled butter-yellow pegasus burst into the room with one very important announcement. "YOU. ARE GOING. TO LOOOOVE MEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!" "... run," Celestia instructed. "Sounds good to me!" Twilight obeyed as she called all her friends to flee the scene and get out while they still could. Celestia levitated Moony Luna onto her back and they got out just in time. At one now very busy Donut Joe's, the girls were recalling all of their Gala mishaps to Spike (most of which had been missed by Twilight and Luna). "Wow, that sounds like you guys had the worst night ever!" Spike exclaimed. "It was!!!" All but Twilight agreed. "You know, I may not have got to spend as much time with Celestia as I wanted to, but you're a pretty fun filly to be around Luna," Twilight admitted, her night probably going second best to Luna's. "I'm so sorry we ruined tonight though!" "Are you kidding me? I had a BLAST meeting you all! Well, except Fluttershy, but you're sweet and nice again, right?" Luna asked skeptically. "Oh, of course! I'm so sorry to have scared you like that. I don't know what came over me!" Fluttershy assured as she gave Luna a gentle hug. "Yes, I knew inviting you all would be a great idea! The Gala is always so dull and awful every year. But this? This is the most fun I've had at the Gala in centuries! It clearly made Luna's night too," Celestia praised. "Really? Well I'm glad to hear that!" Twilight beamed. Then, Spike (the one we probably all forgot had even attended as well) introduced himself to Luna. "We didn't get properly introduced, but I'm Spike! Twilight's number one assistant!" "Hi Spike! Do you want to meet Moony too?" Luna asked before suddenly shifting into Moony. "GAH!!" Spike yelped as he fell out of his seat. "Why does everypony keep reacting to me like that? Did I do something wrong?" Moony asked. "That's my fault. I should have told you sooner. I suppose now is as good a time as any, all of you need to hear this too. Luna? Can you hear me too?" Celestia asked. "Yes," both Luna and Moony's voices rang out. "Huh, that's new..." Moony noted. "... Okay. The simple answer is that you were once an adult. As an adult, you tried to take over Equestria and rule alone. I sent you to the moon and then you came back to try again. Twilight and her friends then used the Elements of Harmony to stop you and you were turned into a foal. Since then, you have been growing up again really fast," Celestia explained. "Most ponies know that Luna won't do bad things anymore, but Moony is not yet known to the public. I suppose another announcement is in order," Celestia noted. "I see... so I did something very bad and scary as a big mare but now I'm not bad?" Moony clarified. "That is correct. Now I just need to let Equestria know that this is the case," Celestia affirmed. Luna then came back into the front and took control of her body again. "Why would I want to take over the kingdom?" Luna asked. "Well, you see... um... I think we'll have to save this conversation for when you're older," Celestia started before remembering Luna didn't rule the night again yet. It would be wise of me not to tell her what her cutie mark is before she earns it heheh... "... okaaaaay, I guess I can wait. Especially if I'll be older super fast!" Luna mused. "Great! Now, Rainbow Dash, about dangling my little sister from a chandelier?" Celestia redirected the conversation back to the night's events. "U-uh I had everything under control heheheh! I would never put your sister in real danger!" Rainbow quickly tried to smooth things over. "I know that Rainbow Dash and I thank you for that," Celestia assured, calming Rainbow's panic down a few notches. "Though I do wonder how unobservant my ponies have to be to not notice a three year old filly falling off a chandelier while crying for help..." Celestia noted with concern. "I guess they knew I'd be just fine in the hooves of a great hero!" Luna speculated. "You are officially my number one little princess!" Rainbow beamed. "I think we can all agree that now tonight has been," Twilight started. "THE BEST NIGHT EVER!!!" everyone finished together.