//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: The Moon and the Caterpiller 
// by Dreyaz Laartii 
//------------------------------//

Day 3
Waning

Celestia yawned, and walked outside to her balcony as she had done countless times, feeling the familiar urgency of the sun needing itself to be raised.  She blinked groggily, and quietly nudged it up over the horizon.  She was haggard from the many dreams that plagued her nights since Luna’s return, all regarding her banishment.  Smiling weakly as the sun cast its light over the small town of Ponyville, she wondered what her beloved protégé was up to.  Her ears perked up as she heard one of her servants enter her chambers, bringing the smell of waffles and coffee with him.
It was Hard Line, the father of Crisis, the mare who had collapsed and woken Luna to the bedlam that had caused such…unnecessary drama…the previous day.
“Your coffee and waffles, your highness.  We have the butter and eggs you requested along with them as well.  Is there anything else?”  Celestia regarded him, a relaxed expression on her face.

“Please, sit.  I would like to speak with you.”

Hard Line gulped, and sat on the chair adjacent to her.“W-what would you like to speak about, my lady?”  Celestia took a long pause, waiting for the light of the sun to peek over the tree line and reach them.

“I heard everything you said about my sister the other day.  I also heard what happened to your daughter; is she alright?”

Hard line gulped again, and nodded nervously.  Celestia smiled.  “You need not be afraid, my little pony.  I am no longer cross with you, for in your worry for your daughter you had perhaps spoken more out of frustration and fear than the hatred of which I heard uttered.  Tell me…is there something you would like to know about my sister and I?  Perhaps something to alleviate your curiousity?”
The deep ebony colt’s ears perked up, as he looked at her, then out across the dawn unfolding before them.

“I have often wondered…since the world upon which we live is a sphere, and the sun and the moon orbit it, why do either of you need to raise or lower the sun and moon?  Isn’t it day time and night time elsewhere?  Aren’t there dawns and sunsets happening all the time?” Celestia grinned, and took a long sip from her coffee.  It was truly delicious.
“Yes, that is certainly true.  But what most fail to realize is that my purpose with the sun is to give it the life and magic it needs to complete its orbit.  The same goes for Luna, certainly, but…her task is significantly easier as the moon is not so volatile as the sun.  We each share the traits from our respective celestial bodies, although you probably already know this.  I have…a bit of a temper, but the light of my love outshines all, bringing life and warmth to dark places, and from that light I draw strength.”  
He smiled, and urged her to continue.  “Luna, though, draws her strength from the many stars far beyond my own reach.  She sends the moon on its way, and though she may be dark in many ways, her moon reflects her own solitude, and careful thoughtfulness.  What she’s really about, though, is what the backdrop for that is; her sky.  Her sky is a lovely thing of untold beauty that we can only see a small part of.  She has endless depths of beauty and intellect, and boundless capacity for creativity.  She may be difficult to comprehend most of the time, but as her sister, I can tell you that she can never fully be understood.  But she can be trusted, and it is my light that must guide her through this world, as it is her sky that shows me the wonders of eternity that an old, stubborn mare such as myself would let pass her by.”
Hard line looked up at her, as Celestia worked on her waffles.  “I…I had very little idea of how much you two depended upon each other.  Though I…we all noticed how happy you had become with her return, you must understand how much of a shock it was to us.  Almost all of us had no idea you even had a sister, let alone a family.  We had always held you in such high regard because…well, you’re our princess.  Nothing could hope to approach your majesty, and then…then came along your sister.”  Celestia almost choked on a waffle from suppressing a giggle.
“Your sister…is haphazard, moody, out of touch, and most importantly, unaccustomed to even the most basic of emotional and social interactions with anyone outside of you and Cadance.  She is distant to us, and due to the manner of her return…suspicious.  But she is also all those things you told me and more…I am very, very sorry for judging her the way I did.  I hope…I hope she makes more friends, and comes out of her shell.  She makes you complete, and we can all see that; whether or not we would admit her to be your equal or other half is a matter of theological debate which I do not care to indulge your time with.”
The sun had raised itself fully above the many buildings of canterlot, and while her balcony did provide a wonderful view of the kingdom, there was not much that it offered that simply lying back on a roof or flying provided her.  Except breakfast.
“My little pony, I am very glad we had this discussion, and I am even more happy to meet your acquaintance, Hard Line.  If you do have any…concerns, problems, or if you simply need someone to talk with…I am here.  I know how difficult it is to lose a spouse….trust me, I have had several…but children are beyond precious, and their mortality is as much a blessing as it is a curse.”
Hard line looked on in cautious wonder at Celestia’s face, which was now filled with the endless memories of a creature who had lived far longer than anything he had ever known.  “You speak like you know…oh.  I-you…you had children?”  Celestia didn’t answer, as a single tear rolled off her cheek and fell into her coffee mug.  It warmed the drink to as hot as it had been when he served it to her.  “There are some things best left to history.  Now, what is my schedule for today, my little pony?”





The Lunar court was in session, and Celestia and Cadance had retired for the night.  Sagittarius stood guard next to her, looking intimidating as always.  Generally, there were very few ponies that came to the court, and the ones who did had been barred from the day court for one reason or another.  An idiotic nobleman here, a madman and heckler there, Luna sighed to herself.  Very little real or important business ever was accomplished during the Lunar court, and Luna was bored as was usually the case.

Looking out across the throne room, Luna shifted uncomfortably in her sister’s throne. She let out a long sigh, as nopony had come to seek her audience for the previous several hours.  “Boring, isn’t it?” Luna blinked.  Sagittarius had actually spoken to her.  “I…yes.  Was it always this way for you while I was gone?” The ebony faux-pegasus visibly relaxed, and smiled.  “Yes, although it was mostly due to Celestia running things so smoothly during the day that most of the important business never came to my doorstep.  It was not, thankfully, any fault of my own that I did not receive many guests.”

Luna let that fact digest for a moment.  It was implied, obviously, that he was attributing the lack of subjects who came to the lunar court not from their fear or distrust of her, but from the simply fact that her sister had always been particularly good at addressing all the concerns of the kingdom without her.  Some of the insecurity she had always felt with waiting for her subjects melted away a bit, and she smiled widely, closing her eyes. “Thank you for telling me that.” She heard his breath pause.  “You are welcome, my lady.  It is important to all of us that you know how glad we are of your return and…liberation.  I regret that I was not present to greet you formally when you made amends with your sister.  I did not think it an appropriate time.”

Luna blinked again.  He HAD been absent, come to think of it.  While her memory of the ordeal had been fuzzy at best, she did not remember seeing him present when her sister finally arrived.  Where had they gone? “It was curious,” she began “that I did not see either of you when my imprisonment was broken.  I assume it was part of the plan with the Elements?” Sagittarius had walked forward, his back turned to her.  “We left this world for the safety of another.  We knew that…even if you didn’t realize it yourself…Celestia and I would never have attempted to harm you after what happened.  You were far to powerful to restrain again, and I had concluded that the only possible outcome to your sister remaining would have been her death at your hands.”

Luna choked.  “She had enough faith and foresight to allow the Elements to fall into the hands of a particular group of ponies.  Her mage…Dragolis I think his name is…foresaw their role in what was to play out, although he knew not who would be victorious over the other.  Such is the course the prophecy had to run.”  Luna felt a familiar tingling on the back of her neck, and a sense of dread mounting.

“…Sagittarius…” Luna’s voiced dripped with fear.  He turned around towards her, his familiar slitted eyes looking towards her in confusion than shock.  “…It left you?” She nodded. “Where is it now?”  Her eyes darted uncomfortably off to the left, and she began to shake in fear.  Behind the stained glass detailing her exorcism by the Elements, what looked like a black snake floated behind the glass, silhouetted by the moonlight.  It uncoiled itself and passed the barrier of the glass effortlessly, through Luna’s eye on the picture.  The captain of the nightguard firmly planted himself between Luna and the aberration, but Luna gently put her hoof on his shoulder.  “Please…this is a personal battle I must resolve myself.  I may need your assistance if it succeeds in possessing me again.”   The captain’s eye twitched, and he slowly moved aside.  The black thing had grown, and was the size of a large python.  Its blackness seemed to eat away at the light around it.

“You caused us all so much pain that day…do you remember?” The black serpent shifted, and coiled its lower body on the floor. “You didn’t want to get banished any more than I did…please…end this.  Please leave me be, there is nothing more that-” The moon princess was cut short as the black thing violently shot towards her, and slammed right into her mouth, trying to enter her through there.  She screamed as loud as she could, bringing all her formidable magic to bear towards exorcising the shadow from her.  A violent eruption of sound ripped though the night, and the windows around her shattered into dust as the full fury of her voice reverberated throughout the halls and beyond.  The monstrosity was thrown clear into the wall.  With a shudder she recognized that it had taken on a physical form to breach her barriers, and it glared at her with piercing blue slitted eyes.

A gigantic snake lay before her, and it hissed in displeasure.  A shadow bolted in from the left of her field of vision, and promptly slammed into the beast, taking it through the wall.  She stood there, stunned as she heard the sounds of battle going on.  Had she not told him to stay back? How could- BOOOOOMMM!!!!! A huge explosion rocked the castle, as she felt herself being thrown back by the blast.  Her vision blurred, as she realized she was on her side, looking up from the ground.  The sight that greeted her was anything but what she had expected.

The snake had returned to its ethereal form and was resigned to a crater that now covered what had been the gardener’s shack.  It was shrieking violently as it was being beaten into the ground by the swirling maelstrom that was the night guard captain, who spun about the snake on all sides, leaving it no room to flee.  Luna could barely track his movements as his hooves, crackling with arcane green magic, pummeled the Nightmare into the ground, who could not seem to find any respite from the terrible onslaught.

He stopped suddenly, standing on a single fore-hoof in an odd position, the other three legs posed menacingly.  The Nightmare had snapped out of existence, retreating.  “My apologies for the mess, my lady.  I had hoped to destroy it once and for all.” Luna was awestruck.  

The ferocity she had witnessed had taken her completely surprise, as she had not seen violence since her exile.  The green magic faded from her protector’s hooves, and he fell on all fours again.  He grinned sheepishly. “Perhaps I could assist in cleaning up before sunrise? I do not wish to see her Majesty’s face when she awakes to see the throne room demolished.”  Luna smiled, and closed her eyes in light concentration.  Rubble and glass reformed themselves, and the hole in the wall had been plugged, the glass remade.  Only the crater remained.  “I believe we can safely say that the commotion everyone heard last night was caused by a meteorite impact.  It will make for a good story, I think.”  Sagittarius smiled, and they made their way back to the throne room.  When they returned, they stopped still as they noticed Celestia was standing in front of them.

The sun princess had numerous rollers in her hair, and had her earplugs and sleeping mask still partially on.  Luna gulped nervously, then felt herself smile.  
She was still asleep.  
Celestia was mumbling unintelligibly, and her eyes were completely unfocused.  She walked very slowly back the way she came.  “…I was honestly more frightened now than just a few moments ago when that thing came in.  Do you have any idea how ridiculous that is?”  Luna burst out laughing, and one particular unicorn mare, who had just entered the court, witnessed the strange sight of the Lunar princess and the captain of the night guard laughing riotously on the ground.





The court continued to be slow, although Twilight Sparkle’s late arrival had certainly helped move things along for Luna.  Although she had originally come for information regarding the recent change in the constellation of Chiron, they had ended up talking over tea about current events. “If you don’t mind my asking, princess, what in Equestria had you laughing so hard?  I haven’t seen you that happy since the Nightmare Night festival.”  Luna paused, and looked behind Twilight towards the door.  
She could hear her sister snoring loudly, as per usual. “Oh, it was just a little joke I had on the captain.  He’s a dear, you know.  Did you know that he’s actually my cousin, and technically a relative of yours now?”  Luna smiled inside as she imagined the normally fit hamster that spun the wheel of Twilight’s thoughts trip and fall over himself, breaking several bones in the process. “I…what?” Luna tried mightily to suppress bursting out in hysterical laughter. “Well…think about it, Twilight.  Cadence is your sister in law, which makes me your mother-in law.  Celestia is your aunt in-law, Chrysalis, although she wasn’t technically part of the family, is my aunt, and thus your Sa-Kir Aunt.  Sagittarius is her son, and is thus your Da-uncle.” Twilight slowly nodded, remembering her genealogy.
“It’s…weird…to think that my brother…my family…married into royalty.  So let me get this right…I’m your…niece? Kind of?”  Luna smiled widely. “I’d love to think of you as such.”  Twilight blushed, and they both heard Sagittarius yelling at some poor idiot nobleman for wasting his time.  Luna remembered why she never enjoyed hosting the lunar court, and Twilight looked back, alarmed.  “Is everything okay in there? Should we-” Luna put up her hoof. “He has everything handled quite well.  I’m certain if you got involved, you’d be even more frustrated than he is right now.  Twilight continued to look back, and winced as she heard a roar and the crashing of a vase, and high-pitched cries of terror from whatever pansy nobleman was getting an earful.  “…Well, perhaps not quite as angry.”

Celestia shook in her sleep.  She was having the same nightmare as the past few days.  It was of the aftermath of Luna’s betrayal, and finding her in the middle of the crater, mired in blood and filth.
She’s your sister.  How could she possibly do something as horrifying as this?
It wasn’t her fault.  That thing had a hold of her.
	What are you going to do? The law is as clear as it has always been.
She trudged down the side of the massive crater, tears streaming from her eyes as she surveyed the carnage and devastation.
She is my SISTER.  Damn the law; too many have died already to pass such severe judgment. But still…what will be done?
Celestia’s eyes now focused on the broken form of her sister, who had been subdued using…those accursed spears.  Part of her, her sister, stared up at her as she approached.  “Sister, I-” Celestia’s frustration boiled over. “No Luna. Just…no.”  Luna’s face fell, as she accepted the rejection.  Celestia finally broke inside, and collapsed sobbing.  She spoke in a haggard voice she barely recognized.  “They’re really gone. Mother…” Her heart felt as if a hot spike went through it with the pain of the memory. “I…can’t lose you after this.  Even after what you did…I just can’t be that cruel to you and myself.  Please understand.”
“You’re pathetic.”  Celestia stopped crying.  She knew that voice, and it was not her sister’s.  It snarled at her. “I killed them all, you stupid, naive filly! THEY’RE DEAD! Strike me down, take your wretched revenge on your WRETCHED, MAD SISTER! Avenge your mother, your ni-” Celestia opened her eyes again.  Her sister had regained a moment of control, as the horror of the thing possessing her took hold of her as she saw her terrifying reflection in the blood surrounding her.  Celestia sighed.
“Sister…Sister please. I can’t…it hurts so much…please help me…” Celestia’s heart broke anew, and she walked over to her fallen, tormented sibling.  “I can’t undo the past…but I can help the future.  I can make time to rebuild and prepare…and when the time has come…I will save you.  I love you so much, Lulu.”  The teary, green eyes of the princess of the night stared up at her with despair…but with a glimmer of hope.  “Make it quick…I don’t want it to come back again while I’m with you this last time.”  Celestia nodded, and closed her eyes.
Deep inside, she felt the powerful thrumming of the magic of the sun flowing through her, and reached out to the moon that had just peaked over the horizon.  The sun’s rays reached the surface of the moon, and touched a particular spot at a particular moment in time.  In an instant, a hole was ripped into the fabric of space and time, and it appeared on the moon at the same time as it did above her poor sister, sucking the air into the void of space.  The last she saw of her sister was her face…full of sorrow yet relieved.  A single tear fell from the hole as it closed up, and Celestia reached forward, catching it with her surprisingly untouched hoof. “Oh Luna…”  
The tear hardened into a perfectly formed amethyst, and Celestia brought it close to her.  In the silence of the massive, bloodied graveyard, not a single living thing heard Celestia wail in despair at the loss of her sister, her mother…everyone.  She was utterly alone.