“You’re going to the planet?” asked Lightning Dust in awe. Currently she was in the locker room with Shadow Blade as he took off his armor. “That sounds so awesome! Can I go to? Can I? Please?”
“No,” said Shadow as he rolled his eyes. “Princess Luna wants me to go so that I can protect Twilight in case the ponies haven’t changed. And this will be mostly undercover work, something you failed at in training.” In response to this, Lightning Dust did the mature thing and stuck out her tongue.
To be honest, Shadow was very happy about all of this. Both he and Twilight had a certain celebrity status within the Republic. It was unwanted but what could they do. He was the young captain of the Royal Guards while she was the prized student of the princess. Also they were both survivors of the Deep Tunnel Tragedy that claimed the lives for four hundred ponies including both their parents twelve years ago. As soon as they became an official couple the paparazzi was all over them. Every time they tried to go out the camera’s seemed to follow. So, going to a place where no pony knew them would be pleasant. The two of them could finally relax.
Once Shadow had taken his chest plate off, he placed it into his locker with the greatest of care. He had worked long and hard to get to where he was. He was the pony’s sword that would fight to protect the Lunar Republic. Treating his armor in disrespect would be the same as treating his position the same way. However, as he withdrew his hooves he accidentally knocked out a small black box. He tried to catch it, but Lightning reacted fast then him.
“What’s this?” she asked with a cocky grin. “A gift for Twilight?” She opened the box and her eyes went wide. As she lifted her head to look at her captain he grabbed the small box and but it back in his locker. “Was that what I think it was?”
“It is,” said Shadow as he shut his locker door and locked it.
“When are you going to ask her? Oh, can I do it? Can I be the best mare? Please, please, please, please, PLEASE!”
Shadow rolled his eyes. “I was going to ask her in a couple of days, but with everything that’s going on I thought I’d better wait. No, you CAN’T tell her and if you do I’ll make sure you’re polishing the Domes for the rest of your life!” With that, Shadow began to walk out of the locker room.
“But can I at least be the best mare?” yelled Lightning Dust.
-x-
“I’m telling you I should be going with Twily,” said Shining Armor. Before his was Princess Luna as her attendants were putting the finishing touches on her outfit. She was wearing a black dress was imbedded with thousands of tiny diamonds to look like the night sky. The neckline was trimmed with silver that looked a bit like it was levitating. She was wearing star shaped earrings and had on a black tiara with a white crystal in the middle. Shining Armor on the other hand looked a bit more rugged. He was wearing a black shirt with a black leather trench coat over it.
“Are you telling me that the captain of the Shield Corps is refusing to guard his princes?” asked Princess Luna. The Shield Corps was a branch of the Lunar military that served to protect. One of their main duties was it reinforce the Domes incase of emergences. The other duty was to protect members of the senate. Each member of the Shield Corps was a skilled unicorn who specialized in defense and barrier magic. And there was no unicorn better with both of these than Shining Armor.
“Look, I’m the only family she has left,” began Shining Armor but stopped as Luna raised a hoof.
“That is one of the reasons why you shouldn’t go with Twilight,” began the Moon Princess. “You are a bit overprotective of her. If you go with her you will glare down any pony that tries to talk to her. Also, I am not going to see Celestia by myself. Three members of the senate will be going with me and thus we will need some extra protection if things take a turn for the worse.”
“Then take your captain of the guard,” said Shining.
“I would except he is unable to create a defensive barrier,” said Luna. “You, on the other hoof, can create a power defensive barrier that can repeal meteorites in less than four point five seconds.”
Shining looked like he wanted to say more, but didn’t. The truth was he knew that Shadow Blade would take care of Twilight. He had once seen the bat pony take down fifteen solders bare hoofed during a training exercise. The real problem Shining was having was letting Twilight be alone with her coltfriend. He could just picture it. The two of them being alone and wanting to make the most of it. It would start with nuzzling, then kissing, followed by that fiend stealing his little sister’s innocence! For that act alone he would die a thousand deaths by the bare hooves of Shining Armor.
“Now that’s a face you shouldn’t be making in front of the princess,” said a voice from behind him. Shining Armor turned around and saw Land Share, the senator from Dome Three. He was a muscular grey earth pony with tan colored eyes and a brown mane. His cutie mark was a plow because before he went into politics he was a farmer. He was also a good friend to his family. Before his and Twilight’s parents died, they would send a couple weeks each year helping out on his farm.
“You’re going down to Equestria?” asked a stunned Shining Armor.
Land Share nodded. “Darn right I am. April Showers and Gigawatt are coming along to. I don’t know why Giga wants to go, but I know April wants to check on the water that we might be getting to see if it’s enough. As for me, well, somepony has to be on Princess Luna’s side through all this. I’ll go just so she knows she has somepony watching her back.”
“Uncle Land Share!” The grey pony turned around just in time to receive a big old hug from Twilight. “It’s so good to see you when you’re not in a meeting. We hardly ever have time to talk.”
“I’m sure we’ll get time to do that later,” said Land Share. Just then he noticed another figure enter the room. It was Shadow Blade. He motioned Twilight to look behind her and when she did she walked right over to her coltfriend to nozzle him. This caused Shining Armor’s eye to twitch.
“Captain Shadow Blade, may I have a word with you in private?” said Shining Armor as he walked over to the two. Shadow nodded and pulled away from Twilight. Twilight reluctantly accepted this and went over to Princess Luna to talk. Once she was gone, Shining spoke softly. “Alright now, I’m only going to say this once. If anything, and I mean anything, happens to my little sister then I will make sure that you are ejected out of the nearest air lock into the vacuum of space.”
“Believe me, I will take down any threat before it hurts Twilight,” said Shadow in an equally soft tone.
“And you better keep your hooves to yourself buddy,” growled Shining Armor. Shadow just rolled his eyes.
“Oh get a fillyfriend already,” he groaned. “If anything happens between me and Twilight it will be because we both want it. And if you can’t accept that then that’s your problem.”
“I wonder if they know everypony here can hear them,” whispered Twilight to the princess. Luna shook her head with a grin. The senators were doing their best to hide their smirks while her attendants were giggling to themselves. Apparently both captains had forgotten that these rooms were created so that a pony could hear a pin drop from the other side of the room.
“I’d better stop them before a fight breaks out,” whispered Luna. “After all, it won’t make a good impression if my captain of the Shield Corps shows up with a black eye.”
-x-
“Where is she?” asked Princess Cadence as she galloped down the halls of the Canterlot Castle. Around her servants bowed as she passed them by as she looked for her missing aunt. It was almost time for Princess Luna and members of the Lunar Republic to arrive. Everypony was tense making them feel no better now that they couldn’t find Celestia.
As Cadence searched, she couldn’t help but reflect on her own feelings towards the Republic. As had no memories of Princess Luna and had never been to her kingdom. No pony had. They kept themselves isolated from the rest of their kind doing who knows what on the moon. However, there were dark rumors about that place. Princess Celestia had tried many times in the past to get her little sister to return, but her requests had been met with flat out refusal. To have her come to the castle so suddenly had been a shock to the young alicorn.
The other nobles had several different reactions. For example, Prince Blueblood saw this as something good mainly so he could pass several new taxes. He was even trying to convince Princess Celestia to make they pay a heavy amount just for rejoining Equestria. Lady Bottombit, on the other hoof, had sent her entire family away in fear that Luna would attack Celestia as soon as she got here thus beginning a war. However the majority of the nobles just wanted to know why they even needed the Lunar ponies. These were the more ignorant of the nobles. According to Guard Captain Iron Wall there were several enemies of Equestria that might soon launch an attack. The two most likely candidates were the gryphons and the Changelings. Iron Wall predicted that if war were to happen right now with either of these two it could last up to six years with heavy casualties on both sides regardless of who won.
Cadence felt like she had been galloping from tower to tower. Soon she came down a deserted corridor that was rarely ever used. As she went down it, she slowed her pace. On the wall were portraits of various important ponies like Clover the Clever, Starswirl the Bearded, and so on. As she came to the end, Cadence spotted her aunt. She was standing in front of an old painting of herself when she was younger. And sitting next to Celestia was another alicorn. A blue one with teal colored eyes.
“Is that Luna?” asked Cadence, causing her aunt to jump a bit. She then turned her head to look at her niece.
“Oh, it’s just you Cadence,” said Celestia quietly before returning her gaze to the painting. “Yes, that is Luna. Back when things weren’t so…complicated.”
Being the alicorn of love, Cadence was able to sense it in all of its forms. As she looked at Celestia, she found feel a profound amount of love as she stared at the painting. But there was also sadness that came with it as well as anger. But Celestia’s anger wasn’t directed at Luna, but more at herself. Slowly, Cadence approached her aunt and gently placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“I’m sure things will be alright,” said Cadence in a calm manner. “She is coming down to see you for the first time in a thousand years.”
“Only because I twisted her foreleg,” muttered Celestia as she got up. It wasn’t how she wanted to do this, but she felt she had no choice in the matter. Once Luna left the harmony that they had with each other was broken and so was their connection to the Elements. Since then Celestia had been using them as a bluff as she search for the new Bearers. So far she had identified five of them who were all living in Ponyville. However, several years ago, Celestia had sensed the awakening of the sixth one on the moon.
Celestia realized the importance of getting the Bearer of the Element of Magic and soon. The sooner she found him or her, the sooner she could introduce him/her to the other Bearers so they can build a friendship. Once that was done she could sleep a bit easier knowing that foes like Discord will be dealt with easier. That and she would get her little sister back. She had wanted to explain it to Luna like that, but she feared that Luna would take it the wrong way, that Celestia only wanted the Bearer.
“So,” began Cadence as they started to walk down the hallway together. “Where is Trixie? I haven’t seen her all day.”
“I sent her off to Ponyville to prepare for tomorrow,” said Celestia with a sigh. “When she found out what was going on with the Republic she was very vocal against it. I thought it best that she be elsewhere while Luna and I are discussing things.”
“I understand,” said Cadence. For the rest of the walk the two were silent. Eventually they reached a balcony that was used mainly for flying chariots. There waiting for them was captain Iron Wall, Prince Blueblood, several guards, and a few nobles. Each one had been hoof picked by Celestia in the hopes that they would be the most civil with their guests.
For several long moments the group waited as they watched the sky. Cadence wondered how Princess Luna and here group would arrive. Would it be in a craft of some kind or would they simply appear like with a teleportation spell? What kind of ponies would Luna be bringing with her?
Cadence was pulled from her thoughts as the sky seemed to explode in a brilliant white light. It was so bright that everypony had to raise a hoof to shield their eyes. Both Celestia and Cadence reach out with their magical senses, but whatever magic that created this seemed dull their senses. Slowly the light began to fade until a single, star like spec remained. Quickly it began to descend, twinkling all the way. Once it was right in front of them the star vanished to reveal Princess Luna in a beautiful gown. Behind her stood four ponies, one of them sporting a black eye.
Meanwhile, over in Ponyville, Pinkie’s tail began to twitch.