//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Haunted by the past // Story: Princess Luna and Luna's Lunatics // by TheNocturnalLoner //------------------------------// A/N: I would like to thank all you readers for inspiring me to keep writing, and for your patience. I will try to get the chapters out as fast as I can, but I can't make any promises. The only promise I can make is that I will finish this story. I would love to give a huge thank you to Arkenai for editing this for me. Thanks alot man, I really appreciate it. "We don't think we can do this Celestia." "Why not? You'll do fine, just mingle a little and get acquainted with some of the nobles. Then you can meet some of our subjects and let them see how radiant and benevolent you are." "We appreciate your comments but we have not participated in an event such as this for over 1,000 years. And we are afraid that our subjects may not welcome us warmly after what happened." Luna stammered as she looked down at her front hooves. "I know that it must feel awkward for you to be thrust into a large social gathering after being in isolation for so long, but I'll be there if you need me." Celestia said as she laid a wing on Luna. "If it gets too stressful for your liking, you can leave and I'll make an excuse for you." "Oh our dear sister, we cannot have you doing everything for us." She walked out from under Celestia's wing and turned to face her. "We shall, nay, we must be confident and meet with our subjects and those nobles." Luna said raising her right fore-hoof into the air. "It's great to see you have such enthusiasm, Luna." "Before we go, we would like to ask about some current affairs and how some laws have changed over the years." "Of course, what would you like to know?" "First off, is the death penalty still used?" Luna asked with a genuine, morbid curiosity. "No." Celestia replied. As she said this she could have sworn Luna gave a slight grunt of disappointment. She pretended not to notice. "We see. What about the laws on theft, assault, or damage to property?" "All are punishable by a fine or jail sentence." "Have there been any murders, hardships, or wars within the recent past?" "Well let’s see.... The last recorded murder was just before you left, the assassination of... what was his name again?" "Duke Heypenny?" Luna suggested with a quizzical look on her face. "Yes, him. What a terrible business that was." "Did thou find the murderer?" "No. He or she was never found." "Well, the perpetrator who committed that crime has long since passed away." "Indeed. We had a small skirmish with the griffins about 600 years ago. Thankfully, it was resolved quickly before it could spread. There was a short drought and famine about 500 years ago. There was a problem in the weather pegasi's coverage of a few areas that caused it. A few outbreaks have occurred every so often, but advances in medicine have made the disease almost harmless. Some changelings were spotted on a few rare occasions. There were no wars; however the griffins seem to be getting a little restless again." "Most impressive Celestia. We commend you for keeping the country in such a good state while we hath been away." "I really didn't need to do that much Luna. Everypony has just learned from the past and used it to better themselves." Celestia glanced at a clock on the wall. "We better get going Luna, the ball is about to begin. I'll meet you in the grand ballroom." She said as she turned to leave and headed towards the room's exit. "Yes Celestia, we shalt be present in a few minutes." Celestia stopped in the middle of the doorway. "Luna?" "Yes dear sister?" "Do you hate me for what I did?" Luna sat there in silence for a few seconds as she carefully thought over a response in her mind. "No." She said cautiously. "You did what you had to do and we realize that now. We forgive you sister, even though there is nothing to forgive." "It's good to have you back home." "It's good to be back home." Luna replied as she stared at the large, pale-glowing orb that was the moon through the large open window. "MAKE WAY FOR PRINCESS LUNA!" Shouted a royal guard at the top of his voice, as Luna stepped into the large ballroom. The ballroom had a high vaulted ceiling and several pillars reaching up to support it. A few tables filled with various kinds of food were scattered haphazardly throughout the room. Everything in the room was a bright white and immaculately clean. Milling about throughout the entire room were several multitudes of ponies of various shapes, sizes, colors, and dress. They all turned to see her enter. Feeling the gaze of hundreds on her, Luna gave a big smile and dipped her head ever so slightly. Most ponies gave a small bow and returned to their previous activities. Luna had only been back a few weeks but much of her previous luster had returned. Her dark sapphire coat shone brightly, and her starry cobalt blue mane flowed majestically behind her. Few could not stare and marvel at Luna's appearance as she passed them by. She looked so innocent and young many thought, others were wary of her. Evil one day then benevolent and innocent the next? How could Celestia trust this wretched sister of hers so quickly? Luna didn't know anypony at the ball (except her sister and hastily appointed guards of course), but that didn't stop her from trying to mingle with the crowd. What frustrated her to no end though was the fact they all seemed to clam up whenever she addressed them. The first poor ponies she tried to talk too were frightened to death as she blasted her Royal Canterlot voice at them. They made Luna realize ponies can jump higher than she ever thought possible. Most ponies were afraid of her and either became extremely quiet and formal or made a hasty excuse and retreated from her presence. Luna understood why they tried to avoid her but it still didn't make her feel any less disheartened that they did. After attempting to converse with a noble who was clearly unfamiliar with archaic terms and phrases and claimed she insulted him, she decided to give up. Luna trotted to a corner of the room, her two guards in tow, and sat down on her haunches sulking. She attempted to converse with her guards, but even they seemed evasive. One, she could tell, was clearly intimidated by her to such a degree he could not make eye contact and answered quickly and evasively whenever she asked him a question. The other one however could make eye contact perfectly fine, but he clearly didn't want to talk. She thought he seemed irritated for some reason. It's probably because he's not guarding Celestia, She thought bitterly to herself. In the past before she was banished, she knew just how much guards hated guarding someone else other than who they are normally assigned. Luna had switched guards with Celestia for one entire day to see how the guards would take it. Throughout the whole day, it was clear Celestia's guards were uncomfortable and uneasy around her. Even though they were respectful and obedient she could tell they weren't happy, and noticed that a few openly disliked her for taking them out of their norm. The story was the same when she asked her purple clad guards how it felt guarding Celestia instead. They replied, "It was the most awkward, uncomfortable, and disorienting day in our careers." As that memory receded back into the depths of her mind she suddenly remembered; We have our own personal guard, or at least we did before we were banished. It probably doesn't exist anymore. We're sure that our political opponents saw to that. We'll have to talk to Celestia about setting our Royal Guard up again. She looked up from the ground and saw Celestia trotting over to her. "Why are you sitting in the corner Luna?" Celestia asked. "The socializing isn’t going too well?" Luna just shrugged and continued to stare at the ground with downcast eyes. "It's okay Luna; I don't expect you to be mingling effortlessly with society after being gone for such a long time. Just a few things to remember, not very many ponies understand or use the archaic phrases anymore, also I suggest lowering your voice. Practically everypony is afraid you'll yell at them. The Royal Canterlot voice hasn't been used for a few centuries. I should have told you earlier but it slipped my mind. Just please don't give up, I know you can do it if you try your hardest." "Okay Celestia, we shall try again." "That’s the spirit, I'll see you after the ball." Celestia said as she trotted away. Luna got up and plunged back into the huge mass of ponies once again. This time she was able to make some headway and got acquainted with several of the lords and higher ups in society. She even met her royal nephew, Prince Blueblood. He was her nephew on her mother's side about 50 or so times removed, or so she was informed. Her first impressions of him were anything but pleasant. She thought he was the most self-absorbed and spoiled colt she had ever seen. His self-centered side became apparent when he almost bumped into her and he expected her to apologize for being in his way. The nerve! When she recounted their relationship and told him her name, he was aghast. He quickly apologized and slunk his way back into the crowd and disappeared, much to Luna's amusement. A short time later she had grown tired of associating and talking with nobles and dukes. She desired to speak with someone who wasn't so.... formal. Then she remembered that many citizens or commoners were invited to the party as well, albeit in the other room. Luna trotted her way into the next room, and was greeted by a room that looked the same as the previous one but had fewer ponies in it. "This is our chance to get to know our subjects, and show them we are not a monster." Luna said to herself. She saw a young filly standing alone and decided to go up and introduce herself to her. "Hello there loyal subject, we are Princess Lun..." The filly cut her off and screamed, "Run! It's Nightmare Moon!" The filly dashed away from Luna as fast as she could and cowered on the other side of the room. At that moment the rest of the ponies in the room realized Luna had entered and began to edge away from her. All of the citizens were terrified of her save a few exceptions, but even they were a bit unnerved by her. Whenever she tried to start a conversation with someone they either bolted away in fear or started babbling things like: Please don't eat me! I don't want to die! Some even started crying. Defeated, Princess Luna let her ears droop and hung her head low, as she gave a loud sigh and began to walk back toward the other room. A group of three young colts came within 15 feet of her and started hurling accusations and insults at her. They dared not come closer as the guards next to her and Luna herself, intimidated them. "Why are you scaring everypony? You like terrorizing little colts and fillies or something?" The first one sneered. "We did not mean to scare anypony." Luna responded, trying to stay calm and handle the situation with grace. "Yeah, right." The second one interjected. "We only wanted..." "Wanted to what? Eat us for a midnight snack?" The third one cut her off. "We would never do something so vile!" Luna retorted promptly, becoming defensive. "What’s with referring to yourself as "we"? You think you're better than us don't you?" The second one said mockingly. "No, we do not. We are merely using the Royal we..." "Royal we? Wow, she is better than us." The first one remarked sarcastically. "What hath we done to deserve this?" Luna demanded hoarsely. "Nightmare Moon deserves everything she gets hurled at her!" The third one shouted at her. "We are no longer Nightmare Moon! We are Princess Luna!" Luna yelled, anger building up inside her rapidly. Her eyes started to glow white as loud thunder boomed overhead. The colts backed away filled with fear. They would have retreated but by then the crowd had clearly sided with the colts on the issue. A murmur began to rise in the room, and shouts of support were clearly audible. Emboldened by the crowd, they came even closer to Luna and began to insult her again even as their bodies shook with fear. They were only about two yards away from Luna and her guards promptly stepped forward and placed themselves between Luna and the three colts. “Wow, hiding behind guards. That’s royalty for you, always hiding away and making others do their work.” The first one loudly sneered. “Why don’t you go back to the moon? No one wants you here!” Shouted the second colt. Several approving murmurs emanated from the crowd, as well as some booing and hissing directed at Luna. Some members of the crowd even started throwing food at her. This was the last straw for Luna. She reared up on her hind legs and brought her front two down hard on the ground. As she did this the loudest boom of thunder ever heard in Equestria sounded above their heads. Everyone in the room cringed from the sound. Luna, with her eyes still glowing a bright white, became enraged further and started a tirade. "How dare you do such a thing you insolent whelps? We are a Princess of the Night and of Equestria, we should have you all thrown into the dungeon for your insolence! If it were 1,000 years ago we would hath had troublemakers like you whipped until they showed some respect!" She boomed in her loudest Royal Canterlot voice. The crowd became silent, afraid to incur Luna’s wrath further. Luna stepped forward past her guards and stood firmly in front of the second colt, who was shaking uncontrollably with fear. “You!” She screamed at him, still using her enraged Royal Canterlot voice. “How would thou like to be sent to mine moon for a millenia!? For we could surely arrange it!!” He ran away from her as fast as he could stumbling and tripping over himself as he ran. “What gives you the right to talk to my little brother like that?” The first colt demanded angrily. Luna turned to him and shouted, “What gives thou the right to address the Princess of the Night in such a disrespectful manner!?” They both were locked into a state of staring at each other, neither one willing to back down. The third colt ran up to both of them and yelled, “Why won’t you just leave us alone!” as he swung around and kicked at Luna’s head. She dodged the kick effortlessly while everypony in the room gasped, even Luna’s guards were dumbstruck by what they just witnessed. Luna turned to the third one and shouted,"Guards! Arrest him for his insolence!" The guards hurried to comply as they moved forward to arrest him. However when Luna had turned to face the third colt, she had left her left side facing the first colt. And she was too focused on the third colt to know what the first one was doing until it was too late. He had positioned himself so his back was facing Luna’s left and shouted hoarsely, “You are nothing but a bully Nightmare Moon! Go back to your moon and leave us all alone you evil nag!” As he kicked at Luna’s head. He was too close for Luna to dodge and he caught Luna in the face. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Luna as she fell. She felt an intense feeling of pain in the left side of her face and around her left eye. In mid-fall she noticed that the guards that were with her had already started after the colt who kicked her. Luna felt the pain as her side hit the hard ground and a thud reverberated throughout the room. Time returned to normal speed as she hit the floor. A mere second after falling the guards had tackled the colt who kicked her and his accomplice. They were holding them down on the ground and trying to restrain them. The colts were struggling and trying to get away, but the guards wouldn't give them a chance. Luna rolled herself upright slowly. The whole room was as quiet as a graveyard, as everypony stared at Luna in shock. Luna felt her face with her hoof and found it was bleeding, with small drops of crimson dripping down to the ballroom floor. From the pain around her eye she could tell it was probably bruised and from that, deduced she had a black eye. Her lip quivered as she tried to keep her composure for some degree of self-control. An intense feeling of sorrow overwhelmed her and drowned her huge amounts of anger and rage. Tears slowly began rolling down her cheeks. She tried to stifle them but could not hold back any longer as she began to sob quietly and cry. The sobs grew louder and the tears began to flow as she hurriedly stood up and galloped away as fast as she could through the two ballrooms, tears streaming down her bloodied and bruised face all the way. Luna could feel the stares of hundreds of ponies as she ran past them. All of them wore expressions of shock and surprise. Celestia shouted something, but Luna was too distraught and overcome with sorrow to even care. She burst through the doors leading to the rest of the castle, and made a beeline towards the living quarters. Many servants and guards could only gape in surprise and be taken aback, as they saw a crying Princess Luna sprint past them. After a minute or two of running Luna made it to her destination, her room. She rammed through her doors and then promptly slammed them shut behind her. Luna leapt onto her bed and buried her head deep into her pillow as she wept loudly and openly. Celestia was as furious as a diamond dog in a barren mine shaft. As Luna ran past her crying, she tried to ask her sister what was wrong, but it was obvious Luna didn't hear her. After Luna ran out of the room, Celestia ended the party immediately. She asked her guards who were guarding Luna what happened after they had restrained and taken away the two colts. As they described what happened, Celestia's face turned from a neutral expression to one of anger. She asked the guards to accompany her to the next room, in private. The guards knew they were in for it now, an angry Celestia is the most frightening thing in all of Equestria but also the rarest. Celestia exploded at the guards and gave them a thorough verbal chastising. "How could you allow this to happen!?" Celestia bellowed, her voice filled with rage. The guards cringed from the harshness of her voice, but they said nothing. "What if they had intended to kill her!? You are supposed to keep unruly ponies from my sister and I, that's your job! You know what signs and behaviours to look for! I am very disappointed in both of you, I know you may not enjoy guarding my sister but that was the duty I assigned to you. Good soldiers follow orders whether they like them or not. As a punishment you both shall be removed from my personal guard and be placed on castle ground guard duty until further notice. Do I make myself clear?" The guards bowed their heads in understanding. "Good. You may leave." The two guards stepped quietly out of the room and trotted down the hall. Celestia's rage subsided as she turned and exited from the other side, "I better go see how Luna is doing." Celestia stood at the outside of Luna's bedroom door. She could hear her sister crying on the other side. "Luna, can you please let me in so we can talk about it?" "Go away!" "Listen Luna, you'll feel better if you talk about it." "No. Just leave us alone!" Luna yelled through the door. "I heard what happened Luna, and I apologize. It seems I made a poor choice of choosing guards for you. Perhaps you would like to discuss about assigning you permanent guards if you don't want to discuss what happened tonight." After Celestia said that, a light blue aura glowed on the door handle as Luna opened it for her sister. Celestia entered the room and the door closed behind her. Luna lay sprawled on her bed, her tear stained face resting atop her pillow. Celestia noticed Luna's left side was facing away from her as she did not see the bruises or cuts on her sister's face. While she looked at Luna's right eye and saw it was teary and filled with the troubles and thoughts that were on Luna's mind. Celestia sat down next to her sister and attempted to lay her wing across Luna to comfort her. However, Luna used her wing to intercept and deflect Celestia's. Celestia withdrew her wing and sat there in silence with her sister for a minute. Until Celestia finally asked, "You're disappointed in me aren't you? You have every right to be and I apologize for what happened. I just wanted you to feel like you were home, and that you were included. Apparently I did not foresee the difficulty of the citizens accepting you after 1,000 years. I am such a fool, I should have been there, by your side. If I was none of this would have happened." "Celestia... Stop being like that. It's not your fault that our subjects are afraid and hate us. After all, we did threaten to place the world in eternal darkness, and nearly did. We are the Princess of the Moon, the Mare of the Night. Our job is to govern the darkness, why should the subjects not think we’re dark and heartless?" "Luna!" gasped Celestia, "Why are you thinking and saying such horrible things? She is still inside your mind isn't she?" "Yes." Luna replied bitterly. "She cannot hurt us but we can hear her venomous voice. Even now as we speak, she reaches out to us, trying to bring us back to her." "You will not think nor speak of such horrid things again! I will not allow it! You are my sister, my family, my friend. I cannot bear to lose you again. You are a good pony and you have a loving heart. Do not listen to that heartless monster of a mare." Celestia said as she embraced her sister. "I love you Luna, never forget that." Luna looked up at her sister, gave a small, sad smile and said, "We love thou as well sister." They both sat there in silence just enjoying the company of each other. It was Luna who broke the silence and finally spoke. "We appreciate your concern Celestia, we will never let her take us again. We believe thou said something about giving us our own personal guard?" "I'm not giving you your own personal guard." replied her sister. Luna became confused and stated, "You said you would arrange for us to have our own guard did you not?" "I did, but I'm not giving you any guards." This only perplexed Luna even more. "But you said..." "Don't you understand?" Celestia said with a grin on her face. "You already have your own personal guard." Luna bolted upright and her eyes widened. "You don't mean... they still exist...?" Luna asked with some barely contained excitement. "Yes, the 13th still exists. They've been around since you were banished." At this Luna couldn't contain her joy. She launched herself at her sister and grasped her tightly. "Thank you so much sister!" she exclaimed. "We never imagined that it would survive after what happened. We were sure they would have tried to destroy it, but thou hast saved it!" "I may have saved it, but it is not as you remember. I was only able to save it by deactivating it and making it an honor guard. It was also cut down to only 100 soldiers. I'm sorry I could not have done more." "Celestia you have done more than enough. Where is the nurse? I wish to be in prime condition for meeting my troops." "At this late in the night Luna?" "Why not? My soldiers thrive on moonlight," Luna replied with the most confidence she had all night. "Well, at least they used to thrive on moonlight." she commented to her sister. Standing in front of the two princesses were 100 soldiers standing at attention in a courtyard in front of the Royal Barracks. By looking at the state of their manes it was apparent most, if not all had been sleeping minutes earlier. As Luna gazed at all of the soldiers she noticed that most wore no armor, some had a few pieces put on, while only a very few had the discipline to correctly don their full set as was required by the rules of roll call. She did notice, approvingly, that one or two individuals in their full armor had also donned their extra combat gear, but there were only a couple.. Celestia was right; it wasn't how she remembered it. It was apparent discipline had slackened as the unit was posted in a non-combat role, and perhaps that was to be expected. However, the lack of discipline shown tonight told Luna that the 13th needed an immediate refresher in training, discipline, and respect. Somewhat disappointed, she spoke loud enough for all of the troops to hear her. "What we have seen tonight is a disgrace to the proud memory of the 13th Division, starting tomorrow you all shall begin an intensive training schedule. Hopefully that will weed the laziness and the lack of discipline out of you. If you are used to riding through life on a lax and cozy ride you may want to leave. There shan’t be room for laggards and troublemakers in our unit." At this, one pony started laughing very quietly, so quietly that Luna had to scan the group for a good minute or so until she found him. Luna beamed a hateful glare at him and demanded, “Pray tell, what has amused thou as such to make thou laugh at a princess?" He stopped laughing as soon as Luna addressed him. He sat there trying to pretend it wasn’t him. As Luna continued to glare at him he became increasingly uncomfortable. That is, until Luna yelled at him. “Well? Out with it!” He spoke quickly in a dull monotonous voice, “You probably don't know since you've been gone for so long, but the only thing the 13th is known for these days is as a garbage disposal. Laggards and troublemakers form the entire group you see before you. This is the place that officers dump their undesirables and their troublemakers from the entire army. Good luck with trying to improve them, you'll need it." He finished as he started to snicker slightly. "Oh? You doubt us do you? See if we care what thou hast said. Stay or leave, the choice you make does not matter in our eyes. As we said earlier, those who wish to leave may do so. Things will become intense quickly and many of you may want to leave as it would be beyond your capabilities." She boasted, testing and inciting them. "Training starts tomorrow at two hours after sunrise. Only show up if you think you can handle it. You are all dismissed." Luna finished. It was only a few hours before dawn and Luna sat alone in the garden just outside her room. She lay there enjoying the fragrances of the flowers and the calls of the birds. She pondered all that had happened tonight and returned to staring at the night sky. Suddenly, she heard a loud snap as somepony stepped on a fallen branch. She turned to her left and saw one of the stallions from the 13th. She recognized him as one of the two ponies who wore their full armor set with the extra combat gear. Although at this moment he was not wearing any armor. He was a pegasus and had a very light blue-purple coat with a dark blue and black mane and tail. Both of which were cut fairly short. As Luna looked at him he had an expression of surprise and embarrassment. "I'm sorry Princess." He stammered out quickly. "I did not mean to disturb you. I was just passing by and..." He spat out his words quickly, as he was struggling to explain himself. "Peace." Luna said. "Why are you here in my garden?" She asked, genuinely curious. "I was..." He started, while nervously fidgeting. "Don't try lying to me. I have been around far longer than you have been alive. I can already tell what you are about to say is going to be a lie. Now why don't you tell me the truth." The stallion sighed as he knew he was defeated and let his head fall low. "The reason I'm here is that I was going to gaze at the moon and the stars." He said as he kicked his right fore-hoof at the ground. "I've always admired your night sky and I noticed one night that your garden gave a spectacular view. So I have been spending a part of every night for the past two years staring at your beautiful night sky from your garden. I kept coming back every night to star gaze even though I knew you had returned. I apologize, I knew what I was doing was wrong and I'm sorry. I should be on my way, I'm sorry to have disturbed you, Princess." He bowed deeply as he turned to leave. Luna was surprised, to say the least from what she heard from the stallion. Ponies do truly appreciate my night sky she thought. "Stop." Luna said to the stallion. He stopped dead and turned back to the princess. He braced himself for some sort of punishment or a verbal reprimand. Instead Luna stared at him and looked him up and down for a minute, then said, "Come, sit with me." The stallion felt all the tense feelings that built up recede slightly as Luna told him this. He trotted over to where Luna sat and layed down next to her with a respectful distance between them. "Why do you gaze at the night sky?" Luna asked him as she was staring at the moon. "I don't fully understand myself, Princess. I always have since I was a small colt. I guess it allows me to momentarily escape the worries of our world and be alone with my thoughts. There is just something so mesmerizing about the night sky I can't describe it. It's like... it’s part of me in a way." He slowly finished. "Well its glad to know that somepony actually appreciates our night sky." Luna said as she turned to face him. "You are not afraid of us. Why are you not afraid like everypony else?" She asked as she stared him straight in the eye. "Because unlike some ponies I can tell the difference between Princess Luna and the horrible Nightmare Moon." He replied unfazed, as he kept eye contact with Luna. Luna smiled with amusement and laughed. "If only the world had more sensible ponies like you." They sat there gazing at the night sky until the first rays of the golden sun came up over the horizon. They spoke no more after that, as they didn't need too. The company of each other was all they could want. Luna was happy to have somepony accompany her while she gazed at the night sky. She felt a new feeling inside of her, one of indescribable joy. “Is this what friendship feels like?” she asked herself. She came to realize that many appreciated her night sky and her role in the kingdom, and that you can never truly be swallowed by loneliness if you have friends. In this stallion she had somepony to share her nightly stargazing with, as well as the start of a new friendship. Luna noted with irony that while tonight had been one of the worst in her life, it was also one of the best.