//------------------------------// // III. // Story: Siblings // by thelunarmoon //------------------------------// III. Darkness....surrounded the night princess. Her eyes were completely surrounded by the void. A soft low howling wind could be heard coming from the darkness. Luna tried to conjure her horn to glow, but nothing happened. A shiver ran up her spine as she almost felt a tinge of panic in her head. She fluffed her feathers to return her mind to the forefront.  "Seems like Celestia's dream is affecting my dream form. Hopefully the more I stay the easier it will be to use my magic."  Luna was always thrown aback when she met another dream void. Reminding her of how she was, day in and day out as the Nightmare had her in her grasp. The darkness was more of a prison for her in those days. No one to reach out to her. Only the Nightmare filled her head every time she spoke. Luna reached forward with a hoof to see if anything was in front of her. Her shoes clinked suddenly against something metal.  "Wait...what is."  A sudden soft yellow light would meet her gaze from above. Luna's eyes go skyward and see a lamp. A tall slender black street lamp. A small fire burning inside the glass top.  "A lamp..."  Luna pondered but as she looked back down to the darkness, she could see something. A soft faded glow. Possibly from another light source. The darkness trying its best to obscure it. Luna sets her gaze on the distant lamp. She began to slowly walk forward. Making sure to keep her wings flared for any sudden changes in her sister's dream. A sudden cold tingle would hit her snout. "Snow?" Luna's eyes would see the passing shadows of drifting snow silhouetted by the far away glow. Luna is still stepping toward it. Her hooves now suddenly crunching through a soft powdery layer of snow.  Luna's coat felt a soft wind blowing against her side. The wind whistling through the void.  Luna was trying her best to not call out to her sister. She needs to see what is happening first. To know what this..place was. Hooves running through the snow could be heard from off in the darkness. Two shadows passed near the lamp she was approaching. Luna stopped suddenly as she heard the hooves.  A soft giggling could be heard as the shadows passed. Luna picked up her pace and began to trot through the snow and pass the next lamp. A new lamp glows off to the side. Luna follows the lamps like a trail through the dark. "...Come on Lulu you're so slow!" Wait. Lulu? That voice. It was Celestia! But...something was different. Luna quickly began to gallop through the snow, chasing towards the lamp and seeing the shadows near its base.  The shadows began to take form. One taller than the other. Pink...pink hair would be lit by the soft yellow of the street lamp. It was...no. Celestia as a young filly. The soft pastel green and blue colors of her mane started to show in that pink head of wavy strands. Her tail is the same as well. Her hips bore no sun mark. Just a bare alabaster flank. The other shadow...never took shape. Just a small void outline of a winged and horned pony.  "Must be me..."  Luna commented in her head as she didn't fully expose herself from the dark. Standing outside the rim of the light the lamp gave.  "Your legs are much longer than mine Celie! It's not fair!" The void would say to Celestia.  "Not my fault you were born small~ Might be this big forever my little Lulu~. Seems like I'm always gonna be the bigger sister. But c'mon! Starswirl will start to wonder where we are. " Celestia would kick up a small puff of snow at the void as she turned and galloped away from the lamp and the void of her sister. "H-hey no fair! Celie! W-wait!"  The void would dissipate as it followed her. A sudden whisper would echo from the void behind the lamp.  "...i..i'm so sorry." Luna's ears perked up as she heard the whisper, but it disappeared through the howl of the snowy wind coming from the darkness.  "S-sister?"  Luna heard the hooves from the younger Celestia disappear off in the dark. The night princess voted to head towards the whisper. The dark filled her vision once again. Luna attempted to spark her horn to glow. A soft blue light would crackle as she did. "There we go. A lumination spell is much needed here." Snow would reflect the light given off to Luna's horn as she walked through the darkness. Soft sobs would be heard ahead of her.  Something...was laying in the show ahead of her. A form laying on its side in the snow. "Sister? Is that you?"  She would say to try and see if the form would react. No avail as the sobs continued.  "Please, Sister, answer me. It's me. Luna." As Luna mentioned her name, the sobs suddenly stopped. The howling wind was the only thing heard from around her. The form ahead of her sat up with snow falling off its form. A pair of thin wings and a frozen mane would be seen through the soft blue glow of Luna's horn.  The form sat still in the snow. Luna slowly stepped closer. The mane shows the familiar pastel colors of her sister's mane. Her body...was thin and almost sickly. Ice was hanging off her wings and parts of her legs. She sat facing away from Luna staring off into the darkness. The snow stayed on her as she sat. "Why...why are you here."  Celestia said weakly, Not turning around to meet her sister's gaze. "Celestia. A-are you alright? You look-" "Why must you torment me again? I told you, I'm done speaking to you, Nightmare Moon. Stop using my sister to trick me."  Luna's mouth opened, to finish her question. Her sister's words hit her heart with a tinge of pain. She felt a sudden wave of emotion washing over her like freezing water. Was Celestia using Nightmare as a form in her dream to torment her? The cold snowy void thought was something she's seen before in other ponies dreams.  Luna attempted to get closer, Celestia arched her wings as ice cracked and snow fell off them.  "DO NOT COME CLOSER" She said forcefully, Luna only a hoof length away from her sister.  "P-please Celie, it's really me, your little Lulu. I'm not here to hurt-" Celestia grunted and pushed an ice serrated wing towards Luna's face. The ice shone in Luna's light as it glinted at her, Her own eyes reflected in its surface.  "Leave me alone Demon. My sister would never be here. Only my memories remain. I must atone for what I've done to her. Equestria deserves better." The ice covered, skeletal princess was looking at Luna. her sunken Magenta eye that faced her was peering at her over her shoulder. Once Celestia's eye focused on the glow and could see past it. Her pupil dilated. "W-wha...what. No, this still has to be a trick!"  She said forcibly through a groggy tiredness. A tiredness that Luna could feel washing over her. Celestia turned more to face her sister. Celestia...looked gaunt and thin. Her eyes staring daggers into her smaller sister's eyes. They looked her over, trying to observe what was in front of her. "I don't..understand. Why are you here? Can't I be at peace with my memories?" Luna looked somber at her sister, her form. She's never seen her sister like this before. Like a sick ward patient on their last legs. Luna wanted to come and embrace her sister but she could tell her sister would react harshly to any sudden movement right now. She was on edge.  "Sister...you look so sickly. What's happened to you here?" Celestia's hard glare softened a little. The Nightmare never asked about her body or well being. Her brain is screaming at her to not listen to this shadow of her sister. But,,,maybe. Just maybe it wasn't a shadow this time. "I...um. Whatever you are...sister or not. I just want to be alone. For my own sake. I deserve what I've done." Luna's eyes looked shocked at her sister. Luna had a suspicion, but she's finally stumbled upon what's been happening, for every night since her return.  Celestia has been punishing herself just like she had for her own guilt. Being Nightmare Moon was the most horrifying experience anypony should ever have to experience. Luna being held against her will inside the mind of a dark spirit that held her rage for her sister. The sister who she believed was demeaning her and making her feel invalidated by her subjects, her own flesh and blood as well. "I...wanted to come see you in your dreams. You kept me out with that ward. But I'm here now sister. What sister would I be if I left her to suffer?"  Those words. Those damned words. They rang true inside Celestia as she stared at her sister. Celestia's mind whispered to her. How dare she feel the same way I feel. How could she know? Is she mocking me? Payback for all those years being together? Luna being the brunt of her jokes as an immature young princess. Luna was being sincere as she was reaching for her sister. A hoof gently reaching forward touched those cold frozen feathers on Celestia's wing.  "Please sister, I promise it's me. I'm here to help. Not to Mock or make fun of you in this state. I know how much you're afraid of cracking your mask in public. I've told you before, you don't have to be perfect to me. I love you Celie, my big sister was always my inspiration in times of need. Because I knew you would always be there for me." As Luna began to reach further for her sister, Celestia's Frame began to crack, like glass being fractured. She solemnly closed her eyes and collapsed in a pile of snow and ice. Celestia's form is no longer being seen.  "C-CELESTIA!?"  Luna said in a sharp gasp, reaching forward to catch the ice and snow. The frozen ice just empty shards as it crumbled to the snow. Luna almost panicked but took a second to remember where she was. Celestia is still fine. Celestia's mental state is very sensitive in this realm. Luna just has to find her again. Luna was suddenly blinded by light that came through the darkness, She gasped as she covered her face with her wings. After peering through a gap in her feathers she saw she was in a study. Not just any study, it was her sister's private one.  A soft crackling fire was heard in the fireplace to the side. The light flickering off the books that lined the shelves of the study. Celestia was on the desk, her head hidden behind her mane. Her hooves crossed around her head on the desk inside the study. Soft sobs could be heard from her as she sat at the desk.  Luna stepped softly closer to the desk. Stopping just short of  the desks edge. Celestia's mane flowing from the unseen wind it is normally captivated in. Strands of it curled over the desk edge as she continued to sob between her front legs.  Luna could see a second light source coming from a window inside Celestia's study. The soft veiled curtains open and gently waving in the outside wind. The moon, her moon high in the dark sky. The sigil of Luna's presence on the moon plastered on its surface.  "P-please...come back to me. I'm so sorry Luna...please..I didn't mean for this to happen" Celestia says muffled from between her legs,  The moon would soon disappear to the glowing light of the sun. The celestial bodies move faster and faster outside the window. Time passes by in a flash of a moment. Celestia's form changed slowly and more gaunt as she stayed in that same position. A flash in the past to what Celestia was dealing with while Luna was gone. "Sister...my little sister...I WANT HER BACK!"  Celestia yells as she jumps up and slams her left hoof down into the desk, completely cracking it in half. The desk bending in on itself from her hoof slamming.  Luna shielded herself from any splinters coming her way, but they would pass right through her. Luna being emotionally tied to her sister was making this dream feel all too real.  "Sister! I'm right here! it's ok!"  Luna said in desperation to reach her sister. The elder alicorn panting hard and crying aloud.  "PLEASE, I CAN STILL HEAR YOUR VOICE. COME BACK TO ME LUNA! I'M SORRY!" Luna felt heartbroken hearing her sister's rage and grief right in front of her. The dream also hinting this was how it was for her, every day for when she was gone. Luna bites her lip, she was going to do something drastic. She's never touched anyone in their dreams, because the shock of her mind connecting with another could cause them to wake up, or go into actual shock. Luna closed her eyes, sighed and muttered to herself.  "For my Celie." Luna launches herself into Celestia, clasping her hooves around her neck and her wings wrapping her elder sister into a tight tackle. Luna's body pressed into her sister's chest Celestia and Luna both hitting the ground of the study as it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Luna clenched firm to her sister. "I-i've always forgiven you Sister...You weren't the only one missing her sibling for all those years." Luna said, tearing up in her sister's chest. The panting from Celestia had stopped, The elder Alicorn looking down and seeing her sister against her.  "Luna...Lulu. It is you..it's really you!" Celestia said, returning the hug around her, the giant white wings of Celestia embracing her sister.  "I'm...where am i? Is this...wait. You got past my mental barrier?" Luna looked up to her sister with wet eyes.  "Yes big sis, I was so worried about you. I knew something was going on. You weren't acting yourself and I need to help you!" Celestia could only smile mournfully at her younger sibling. Celestia's eyes were also wet and tired from sobbing.  "I...was not a good sister to you Luna. I always considered you less powerful...less able bodied. I...took you for granted for so long. I thought I had lost you forever. Because of my choice to use the elements on you. I blamed everything on myself. I wanted to trade Equestria...my crown. My duty. To get you back safe and sound. I promised mother and father I would." She sighed in sorrow as she nuzzled against her sister. Luna only hugged her sister and looked into her elder sister's eyes. "And...you never let them down. Or even me. You had a plan to get me back. To save me from my Nightmare that controlled me. And here I am Saving you."  Luna teased giving her sister a gentle poke with her hoof.  Celestia could only stifle a soft giggle. Nuzzling against her sister's cheek.  "My little sister, saving the one that's supposed to protect her. Ironic isn't it?"  She said, smirking. "It is...but i wouldn't trade my big sister for anything in the world either." The sisters quietly embraced each other. The dream becomes more softly lit by the moon. Flowers growing around the alicorn siblings as they stayed in each other's embrace. Celestia's form felt like it was getting less corporeal.  "Yuah..."  Luna yawned as she ruffled her feathers. Her body felt the energy she had completely spent.  "I have to go see her. No matter how tired I feel." The night princess stretched as she opened the doors of her chambers and headed out into the hall of canterlot castle.