Luna steadily trotted down the Stygian obsidian walls of the Lunar wing as she headed towards the private dining hall that both ethereal sisters shared. Even with her hunger clouding her thoughts, Luna's mind couldn't stop wandering back to the pitch-black Alicorn. Now that Nightmare had returned Luna didn't know what to make of all this. 'Is it a good thing she returned?' Luna mused. 'Or is this just another complex plan of hers to lull me back into her clutches?'
She shook the thought off and found a bitter taste in her mouth just for thinking about it. After the night and morning they had been through, Nightmare couldn't be trying to trick Luna. No matter how much of a monster she had been, Nightmare would never stoop so low as to do something like that to her. 'Nightmare has changed.' Luna thought to herself. No matter how great a liar she was or how Nightmare was able to wear the same mask of confidence as her sister, there was one thing the once evil Alicorn could never fake.
That, was the care and love Nightmare showed last night and again this morning, both times the wicked mare could have easily twisted Luna again and turned her into a personal slave, but it never happened. Both times, Luna had been at her lowest, an emotional train wreck, but instead of using them to gain control over her Nightmare did everything she could to try and make it better.
'She even offered to fight the darkness long enough for me to get Twilight to love me.' Luna remembered. That was the final nail in the coffin, she no longer doubted it. Nightmare was a changed mare, no matter how bad their past was. Even if she was considered a monster among everypony in Equestria, Nightmare was something much more to Luna now. 'She is my friend now, maybe even a little more.' Thought Luna. Then she started to compare the night Alicorn to their very own sister. Even though they were very different at the surface, they both had something in common. They would both give their lives to protect Luna.
'Well, maybe not Nightmare.' Mused Luna as she reached the dining halls. 'At least not yet.' She slowly lit her horn with magic again and unlocked the seals holding the doors shut. The twin heavy, oak doors slowly swung open to reveal a small room, barely able to fit fifty ponies inside, with a long table in the center. The ceiling of the room, compared to the other parts of the castle, was quite pathetic since the mess hall was able to reach heights in the hundreds, while the small room could barely manage to fit a single chandelier in. The walls used to be a midnight blue, now just plain old white. While she was banished Celestia had decided to take over the private dining hall and decorate it to her liking.
Luna let out a silent sigh as she approached the dining table and took a seat at the rear end of it. Celestia had taken a lot of things from Luna during her imprisonment and now even her own private dining hall was added to the long and ever increasing list. No matter where she went, Luna always found alterations to her own stuff by Celestia. Everywhere she went, Luna had to be constantly reminded that everything belonged to her sister. Everything, even the mare she loved belonged to Celestia, in a way.
"Not for long, sister. Twilight's heart will be mine, even if she is your student." said Luna to herself. The statement was really just for her. To reassure her that if she played her cards right, the love of her savior would be returned. A loud rumble emanating from her stomach interrupted her daydream about the lavender mare, as Luna was reminded as to why she came to the dining hall in the first place.
"Steward, come and take your Princess' orders and bring her the food she wants." shouted Luna coldly. She didn't know why, but Luna really sound like she would punish the steward if he didn't come to her right away.
As her echoing voice boomed through the small dining halls, a scrawny, dark cyan earth pony walked through a set of double doors. They lead into the Royal Kitchens and storage rooms that all the cooking staff worked in during their daily duties. The earth pony was wore a black suit that covered most of his body down to his waist and a bow tie around his neck. His walking pace was slow and uneven as Luna watched him, he was nervous and scared at the sound of the daunting voice. 'But that doesn't excuse him for not rushing to me and obeying my every command.' thought Luna.
"We suggest you hurry steward, before your Princess decides to measure you of your worth to the kitchen staff." sneered Luna towards the sweating earth pony.
"S-sorry, Princess." squeaked the little earth pony as he quickened his pace towards the Lunar Alicorn. Her eyes bore into his soul like she could read his every thought and emotion. Before he knew it, he almost ran into the table and dropped his writing pad.
"Wh-what would you like today Pr-Princess?" asked the earth pony nervously.
"You have been serving us for the past year, steward. We expect you to serve us without nervousness or hesitation. If you should fail to keep your nerves in check, the consequences would be severe and discordant. Do we make ourselves clear?" sneered Luna towards the helpless earth pony below. For some strange reason, she liked to see him like this. She enjoyed to see him cower in fear and in a wreck of nerves. It gave her chills as she realized what she was doing to the defenseless pony that was cowering before her. His fear had given her joy and pleasure for some eerie reason.
Luna was once again interrupted at the sound of her rumbling stomach begging her to feed it. "What art thou waiting for? Take thy Princess' whim and carry it out." shouted Luna, not realizing her voice rising.
The earth pony was in a puddle of sweat as he tried to compose himself in front of the angry Alicorn. "W-what would you l-like today Princess?" asked the earth pony weakly. He fumbled with the note pad and quill he had brought with him. His distress making the situation worse every second.
As hungry as Luna was, she still had to remain a constant slim figure of herself. It was expected of all Princess’ to eat the littlest amounts of food, while at the same time having the figure of super models. Another rumble from her stomach told her to screw what the people thought of her and pig out. But after centuries of discipline and self control practice, Luna could rethink her stomach's choice to just go all out.
"We want an avocado lime salad with a cream mushroom and spinach soup. We also suggest you tell the cook to hurry, for your sake." said Luna coldly. She didn't know what had gotten into her. She was now acting as heartless as her counterpart. 'What's gotten into me?' thought Luna. She was acting like Nightmare used to. Evil, down to her very core, with little to no remorse towards anypony who failed her.
"Ri-right away Princess. It should only be a moment before your meal arrives." said the pony as he hurried through the double doors.
Luna's mind played back the scene that had escalated from a simple brunch to Luna threatening the life of a pony if he’d fail her. The way she acted toward him scared Luna. Her mind flashed back to when she saw the pony cower below her in fear. Then she remembered her enjoyment in seeing him in complete and utter terror.
The sounds of doors creaking screeched in her highly-sensitive ears as Luna turned her head to see where it had originated from. Her eyes were glued to the entrance as it slowly revealed a tall Alicorn slowly stepping in. Her hoof-steps echoed with a clink of metal as her Imperial aurum and jewel-clad shoes made contact with the hard obsidian floor below her as her ethereal mane flowed in the nonexistent wind, just like Luna's. The only exception was while hers was a fluid flowing mane of cosmic proportions that somewhat reflects her love and passion of the night, the other Alicorn's mane had four streaks of colors running through them to reflect the colors of the light spectrum her sun created: the first streak was light cerulean, followed by an even lighter turquoise and cobalt blue, ending with a pale heliotrope hue. Her coat was a pale, bleached white with a pink tinge. Finally, her eyes, which Luna has come to learn to love and cherish every time she looked at them, were a light magenta. 'She is different from Nightmare in so many ways, yet similar in so many others.' thought Luna as she laid her eyes upon her 'perfect' sister.
Celestia took several steps into the room before the steward returned with Luna's orders in hoof. His first steps out of the double doors were fumbles. His eyes wandered to the new object in the room. Before he knew it, all his nervousness was gone as his pace stabilized and evened out as the Solar Princes gave him the same gentle smile she swore everywhere she went. Just as Celestia had taken her seat across from Luna, the steward delivered the Lunar Alicorn's food and was at her side, eager to comply to her every whim, no matter how ridiculous or unreasonable.
"What would you like today Princess?" asked the earth pony once again. He no longer stumbled with his words like earlier. All his fears and nerves have calmed down just by the sight of the smile given by the Solar Goddess.
"Nothing special today, Coffee Cream. I would like a salad, if you wouldn’t mind." said Celestia gently.
"Of course, Princess. Right away, Princess." said the steward, surprised that the Princess remembered his name. He then rushed back through the double doors to get the Solar Goddess' order.
"How did you do that sister?" asked Luna. No matter what she did, ponies always feared Luna and just froze at the sight of her. Whenever she would spoke the ponies would cringe in fear.
"How did I do what?" asked Celestia back to her sister. The Solar Alicorn's features remained the same, even though Luna knew she was still wearing the mask she always wore.
"You know what We meant, sister." said Luna with a hint of jealousy.
"Sometimes a gentle smile is all that is needed to ask for one's help, Luna." answered Celestia. She noted the Lunar Alicorn's switch back into the Royal We, but shook the thought off. 'The Nightmare is gone, hopefully for good this time.' thought Celestia.
She slowly looked upon her younger sister. 'You have changed so much since your return, Luna.' thought Celestia. When the younger Alicorn had first returned, she looked entirely different than the way she looked now. Celestia remembered the look of her sister when they were finally reunited with each other. Her sister's coat was originally a slight phthalo blue, but it was now a dark sapphire blue. Her mane had changed as well. While at first it hung naturally downward around Luna's head, it was now an ever flowing one like hers. It had turned from a light azure to a now deep cobalt blue. The only things that remained the same upon the Lunar Alicorn seemed to have been her eyes, a tranquil cyan. The same eyes that Celestia watched be filled with misery, resentment, malevolence, and jealousy.
Luna's face contorted into a frown as her sister's wisdom tried to make it's way into her mind. She wished her sister wouldn't always speak in metaphors. It would always annoy Luna to no end when she would ask for something simple and get a complex riddle in return. Her jealousy was replaced with frustration as she tried to decipher the complex meaning. "We don't understand sister. What do you mean?" asked Luna, admitting defeat towards the unsolvable enigma.
Her mind broke out of her happy trance of memories as Celestia let out a light giggle at her younger sister's frustration before explaining further. "Kindness is often more successful than assertion." answered Celestia with another metaphor.
"We are getting tired of your cryptic wordplay sister. We don't want to sound rude, but please just answer us without the need to turn it into a philosophical quote." said Luna agitated.
"I'm sorry Luna, but it’s always fun to play these mind games with you." said Celestia gently towards her frustrated sister.
"We...do not like mind games." said Luna with some sadness in her voice.
Celestia had stepped over the line when she mentioned the mind games with Luna. She had forgotten that Nightmare had likely played nothing but mind games with Luna during their banishment together on the moon. The façade Celestia always wore melted away as she realized the distress and terrible memories that she had just brought up. Looking more closely towards her younger sister, Celestia saw that the Alicorn's eyes were red and puffy, like she had been crying for a while now.
"Are you alright sister?" asked Celestia. She could see the sadness in Luna's eyes as she tried to conceal her emotions. They were interrupted as the steward made his way back into the room with the Solar Goddess's orders, and much more. Where she had just ordered a simple salad, the steward brought to her a salad with all kinds of veggies most likely shipped from all the corners of Equestria. He also brought her a black forest gâteau cake. It was like the universe was trying to spit in her face. She knew that it was Luna's favorite kind of dessert, now here she sat, being served it right in front of Luna. She silently cursed the her luck and stared back towards the Alicorn across from her.
Luna's façade was now up, and conceal all the hatred she had for her sister at the moment. 'Great, now she has even stolen my favorite dessert!' shouted Luna within her own mind. Even though she hadn't even touched her food, Luna suddenly lost the appetite to eat. All she could taste in her mouth was bitterness. Anger swelled inside Luna as the steward set the cake on her sister's side of the table and began cutting it. He cut up a small portion of the cake and offered it to Celestia, who took it not wanting to be rude. What angered Luna even more was the fact that the pony ignored to ask if she had wanted some as well.
"I did not order a cake Coffee." said Celestia politely.
"Compliments of the chef." answered Coffee.
"Thank you Coffee, that will be all." returned Celestia. At her thanks, the steward took his leave and returned behind the double doors.
"Would you like some cake Luna?" offered Celestia to her sister.
"No, sister. Our appetite has been satisfied well enough. We shall see you later at dinner." said Luna bitterly. She abruptly got up and left her sister behind in the dining hall.
Before Celestia could protest, Luna had already lit her horn with magic and opened the double oak doors. The doors quickly shut themselves as the Lunar Alicorn stormed out of the room angrily. She wanted to snap at her sister so badly, and it took all of her restraint not to. Anger and hatred flowed through Luna as she felt a tremor below her. To normal ponies, they would have felt nothing, but to Luna's highly trained sense, it felt like a small tremor had hit the mountain side which the city of Canterlot sat upon. A distant yet familiar voice rang in Luna's ears as she heard the magically enchanted shout vibrate through the Stygian floors below her. The voice also carried something along with it. It turned Luna's anger into worry as she felt the anger laced within the voice. The concern skyrocketed into worry for the poor soul who had unleash the wrath of her terrible other self.
Luna took a few steps forward before a form started to generate itself in front of her. Particles of magic and dust swirled in circles around the spot in front of Luna. Each particle started to stack themselves on top of each other as hooves and legs started to form. The particles turned to flesh, blood, and bones, as liquid argentum wrapped around the hooves to form protective shoes, as her Lunar Aegis fixed itself to her torso. The particles turned from a ghostly white, to a glossy black-cerulean as the rest of her body fully formed. Soon the object in front of her fully gathered itself to reveal her other half. "Nightmare?" asked Luna, surprised that the Alicorn could do such amazing feats.
Before Luna knew it, the ethereal Alicorn before her collapsed into her from fatigue. Luna barely had enough time to catch the Alicorn in her magic before Nightmare hit the floor. Worry filled every corner of her mind to see Nightmare in such a weakened state. "Nightmare, are you alright? What happened?" asked Luna franticly. If someone could do something like this to Nightmare to make her this weak, Luna had reason to fear. The fear quickly turned into anger at whoever did this to her guardian. "Who did this to you?" asked Luna as anger slowly grew within her.
"Do not threat, Luna. I shall be fine. I’m exhausted, but fine. I came as soon as I could when I felt your anger." answered Nightmare as she got back on her hooves. She looked into Luna's anger filled eyes, which soften into minor annoyance.
"Really?" asked Luna surprised. She knew they were linked in some way, but she didn't know how strong that connection was until now.
"Yes. But I also came here to pay back a favor I owe." said Nightmare as she approached the double oak doors behind Luna. "Our sister is behind these doors, is she not?"
"Yes, she is. Why?" asked Luna suspicious of the actions of the mare in front of her.
Nightmare, barely able to stand, engrossed her horn in a black aura and closed her eyes, deep in concentration. The simple spell she was casting was foalplay for any kind of unicorn, but in her condition, she just meagerly had enough magic for it. Inside the room, Celestia had just finished her simple salad and pushed the dish away. Her magical aura wrapped itself upon the slice of cake in front of her as she got ready to take a bite.
The cake itself was smothered in whipped cream covering layer after layer of rich dark chocolate, with light shavings of even more chocolate above. Between each layer was pancaked over two dozen cherries, while the top was decorated in a circular design of maraschino cherries that were themselves covered with even more whipped cream. Celestia's mouth watered just at the sight of the scrumptious cake. Her magic still wrapped the slice as it inched it's way closer to the Solar Goddess's eagerly waiting taste buds.
The cake never made it journey to her mouth as Celestia heard the sound of metals clicking above her. She looked up to see the chandelier swaying back and forth. The linked chains holding the glass and metal decoration to the ceiling had snapped at the weakest link. The only thing holding the chandelier in place was a black aura that seemed strangely familiar to Celestia. Before she could react, the black grip golding the chandelier up vanished. Gravity took full effect on the metal contraption as the chains snapped with the sudden weight laid upon it's already weakened structure.
At the sound of the weak link finally snapping, the chandelier fell full speed down towards the Alicorn sitting below it. Celestia barely managed to cast a protection spell before the full weight of the chandelier hit it's target. It landed with a crash and a boom as it fell upon the wooden table in front of Celestia. Shards of glass flew every which way as the metal bent in an awkward shape. Her magic shield held it in place as the glass shards that flew her way burst into flames and melted, falling to the ground. It had barely missed her by a few inches. A few inches closer than Celestia's liking, but she didn't complain. She looked upon the mess in front of her before realization struck her hard.
"My cake...." whimpered Celestia as she looked down at the flattened cake under the heavy chandelier.
Back outside, Luna heard the bang and crash of glass and metal inside the room she was just in. Confusion took her first before Luna remembered who was in there. Her sister was in the room, and from the sounds of it, the chandelier that loosely hung inside had landed on something.
"NIGHTMARE!" screamed Luna. She rushed past the cerulean Alicorn and dashed for the double doors. Luna was stopped by Nightmare as she fully collapsed on the cold obsidian floor. Luna was torn between who to help first. Her sister or her alter ego who put her sister in danger in the first place. She rushed back towards the fatigued Alicorn to check if she was alright before rushing to help her sister.
"Nightmare, what did you do?!" shouted Luna. Anger was rising inside her again. This time not for the black Alicorn, but was directed at the her.
"I was just paying off a debt I owe to someone." answered Nightmare weakly. She tried to stand, but the effort was wasted when she discovered her limbs numb.
"By dropping a chandelier on our sister?!" countered Luna to the struggling Alicorn.
"Not on her." corrected Nightmare. "Near her."
"What?" questioned Luna confused as to Nightmare's actions. She slowly stepped towards the black Alicorn as she struggled to stand upright.
"The chandelier landed near Celestia, not on her." said Nightmare as she stabilized herself with the younger Alicorn beside her.
"Are you sure?" asked Luna. She could have found out herself if she abandoned Nightmare and rushed through the door. But for some reason, she trusted Nightmare on her words alone.
"Yes, I am quite sure. As much as I loath our sister and the celestial body she waves around like a toy, she is still your sister, Luna. If my actions contradicts your wishes, I shall not pursue them." Nightmare was now stable on her hooves, but still struggled to stand without the help of the Alicorn next to her.
A part of Luna didn't want to just take Nightmare’s word for it. She wanted to bust through the doors and make sure her sister was okay. Another part of her told her otherwise, this part told her that Celestia had it coming for what she did to Luna. 'Tia has already taken so much of our stuff and made it her own. If anything, she deserved what happened to her.' thought Luna.
The thought caused chills down Luna as she realized what she was thinking. She wanted to see her sister hurt. Luna felt no remorse in her words as she thought about what had happened in the room behind her. Luna snapped out of her deep thoughts as she was reminded of the weak Alicorn struggling beside her.
"Let's get you some rest, Nightmare. All that magic use can't be good for you." said Luna. She slowly wrapped both herself and her alter ego in her star covered ethereal mane and disappeared in the dark cloud. The passive cloud started to move towards her room again before phasing through the locked doors and gently stopped before the massive bed. The cloud shrunk back into a flowing mane as it unwrapped two Alicorns. The glossy-cerulean Alicorn stumbled on the comforting bed ahead of her after losing her footing. As Luna watched Nightmare rest herself on her bed, questions filled her mind at what happened before Nightmare appeared before Luna.
"What happened Nightmare?" asked Luna finally. She watched the fatigued Alicorn beside her lifted her head to meet Luna's eyes. Luna needed answered as to Nightmare's whereabouts and who the shout was directed to. "Who were you talking to Nightmare?"
Author’s note: Alright everypony, I’ll keep this note short and to the point. Luna has been on the moon for a thousand years so her speech patterns will not be the same. She will use out of date terms from time to time so I’ll just explain what the terms are in this note. Aurum is gold, argentum is silver, Stygian is a term associated with the underworld. And Celestia’s mane color, heliotrope is a pale purple. That’s all for now.
Editor’s note: Hello everypony, me again. I hope you all liked it because we worked really hard to get this to you all quickly, and if you don’t I know where you live *Evil smile*. Well thats all for now. TwiLunaLover out.