//------------------------------// // Chapter 0: Dawn of War // Story: A Return to Sibling Rivalry // by dracolord85 //------------------------------// Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively. Also just a one time forward note, you may want to read my previous story, A Return to Form, before reading this one. Some things might make more sense, just sayin... Chapter 0: Dawn of War Mid-morning in Canterlot brought forth a feeling of endless possibility and the promise of adventure while the sun had only stretched a quarter of the way on its travel across the bright, cloudless sky. Foals on their summer break and adults that had the day off were planning their days with equal vigor. All in all it was shaping up to be another perfect day in the utopian capital city of Equestria. There were only a few spots throughout the city where this was not quite the case, and one such location was one of the lower hangar bays in Canterlot castle. The casual observer would best describe the activity within as organized chaos. The retinue of Terra, brother to both Celestia and Luna, was dashing about stowing things away for the return trip to their homeland of Titania. One would immediately note that there was more species diversity in the Titanian envoy than in most towns in Equestria. Members of all three pony tribes, griffons, diamond dogs, and even an adult dragoness scrambled about as they packed and prepared for their journey home. Although most all of them were some form of military personnel, none were on active duty during the entire trip. Most were actually friends of Terra’s that were along simply to visit the quaint and relatively backwards society of Equestria. Nearly all of them had spent their time collecting souvenirs to bring back home with them since it was very rare that anyone actually traveled between the two countries. In contrast to the busy scene of the departure preparations, the three alicorn siblings sat near the edge of the hangar, simply enjoying their time together as a family once more. The slate gray alicorn stallion sat between his two sisters, much of the discomfort between the two elders having been eased during Terra’s visit. The thing that brought them together at the moment was a discussion on the status of the newly resurrected Nightmare Moon. All three watched as further back, a flustered Shining Armor and a giggling Cadence were occupied with the antics of Nightmare. Unfortunately for the guard captain, Nightmare had discovered that she made him uneasy, which of course meant that the artificial filly made it her mission to be as close as possible whenever he was in sight. As was expected by Celestia of her captain and as a testament to his own discipline, Shining still did not get angry even though Nightmare had clambered onto his back and was attempting to remove his helmet while he twisted and craned his neck to prevent it. “It seems difficult to believe that is the same creature of doom the stories of your country speak of. She seems naught but an average filly in nature.” Terra observed of the playful Nightmare. “She never was evil brother, only her desire for my equal standing with Tia and her actions to achieve such ends brought about that branding.” Luna pointed out to her brother. “My blind self-centeredness brought that about. If her guilt was the action; then mine was the cause. It seems as though she cannot be the evil she was labeled as, otherwise the Elements would not have granted her this second chance at life.” Celestia mused. “Speaking of second life, art thou positive that thou can build her the body spoken of earlier brother?” “The fully biological body? Yes, I was near completion of it many centuries ago. I imagine that she will want this body as soon as I can develop it. Have you told her about it yet?” “Neigh brother, I have not, nor do I intend to as yet. I believe that Tia has conceived of a grand plan for that.” “Do tell.” Terra inclined towards the elder sister. “Her legend is still fresh in the minds of the population right now. If she were to suddenly reappear as a fully mature and powerful alicorn there would be panic the likes of which I could not quell. She will be reintroduced as a convicted criminal of sorts.” “Aye, she shall have a back story given that the Elements separated her from me and placed magical restraints upon her that only we may undo. She shall remain a filly, under our direct supervision until she can be proven capable of integrating into society and paying her debts. Once her image is no longer quite as horrible in the public eye as it is now, we shall gift her with the new body as reward, as well as declare her sentence served.” “Hmm, seems like a sound idea to reintegrate her into society. Has she said anything about the peculiarities of her current body? Remember, that body is a fake. It has no need to breath, eat, or sleep. She can’t fly and her magic will only be as strong as perhaps a gifted unicorn.” “I believe she is taking it all in stride rather well. Being back in the world of the living seems to have allayed any depression over her condition.” Celestia observed. “I can imagine it would.” Terra agreed absentmindedly as he watched the passing of a few Titanians. Terra had not sensed any malevolent intent from the Soul Gem housing Nightmare Moon. Picking up a Soul Gem with a magical field tended to offer a raw emotional flow from the soul within since it had no body with which to filter itself. The only thing that gave him pause for thought was that he did not sense any purely good intentions either, it seemed the dark alicorn was a blank slate when it came to her ethics. That meant that he was either leaving his sisters with a new friend and ally, or a ticking time bomb. Terra could have sat and mused for many more hours, but all too soon a griffon stepped forward and cleared his throat at the alicorns. “Lord Terra, all preparations for departure are complete. We leave on your word.” “Very well then, thank you. Sisters, it appears the time has come. Cadenza, mind your aunties and listen to what they tell you. Oh, and make sure to set up the equipment I left in Luna’s laboratory.” “I will daddy, have a safe trip.” The pink alicorn said while moving in for an embrace with her father. Terra made to board the chariot but paused before turning his head toward Luna. “Keep an eye on Nightmare sister. I know you are eager to get back into your role as a princess but make sure that she is not causing any undue mayhem while you are busy with your duties.” He said while stealing a quick glance at Celestia. “Also, remember to go out and have some fun once in a while, maybe even find a special somepony. You don’t want to end up a boring old spinster like your sister do you?” Terra quickly boarded the chariot while Luna and Cadence tried unsuccessfully to suppress their building laughter. True to her nature however, Nightmare didn’t even try, instead electing to laugh uproariously to the point of doubling over and pointing a hoof at her former nemesis. Celestia herself simply sat there stunned, with a completely scandalized look on her face, only to be prompted into action when Terra poked his head out of one of the windows with a smug grin. Not thinking clearly, she quickly removed one of her golden shoes with a scowl and telekinetically heaved it at his face, only to have the dragoness hitched to the chariot snatch it out of the air with her tail and stuff it in a saddle bag. The chariot then lumbered forward as Terra waved goodbye while it pulled out of the hanger with his troops in close pursuit. All present watched until the chariot was lost to view before turning and looking at Celestia. “My hoof is cold now.” She deadpanned. “Come Luna, you should get some rest since there is much to do tonight.” Nightmare gently prodded her former host before they both turned and left the hanger. “I should really get back to my post, see you tonight for dinner Cadence?” Shining remarked before he about faced and marched away. “Of course, see you later.” Cadence waved her hoof to see him off before turning to Celestia’s now vacant stare. “Come on auntie Celestia, let’s go see if your royal farrier has a spare shoe you can use.” Throughout the rest of the evening Celestia had seemed a bit more subdued than normal, and nopony was surprised when she had retired early after setting the sun. Cadence and Shining had wandered off to enjoy star gazing under Luna’s beautiful night sky. Luna herself and Nightmare were busy studying the history of the past thousand years, trying to catch up with modern society and its strange new customs. At the far eastern end of the castle, in one of the highest towers, Celestia was also still active. Though all had suspected she had desired some alone time to sulk at Terra’s parting comment and gone to bed early, they were only half right. Currently, the day princess sat on one of the many plush rugs in her chambers and stared into the crackling flames of her fireplace, a glass of wine parked by her side. Her guards had been ordered to the outside of the inner hallway for extra privacy since now was a time for reflection. Her entire life outlook was in crisis at the moment, never before had she been so unsure of anything. What was the subject of her meditations? Terra’s parting jab of course. She knew full well that he hadn’t been serious when he said it, nor had he intended to be hurtful, but it had touched on a few deeply buried insecurities that she had never fully rid herself of over the long years. Was she really that old? Well, compared to her little ponies, probably yes. She couldn’t be sure, but it seemed that Luna had not aged quite as much as she should have after her return to form. Cadence was obviously younger, maybe just a few hundred years old or so. “Hmmm…” The dejected alicorn’s head sunk a bit more. A spinster? Her? It certainly wasn’t by choice that she had been alone for the past thousand years. Having to manage an entire country by herself didn’t leave very much time to indulge in a personal life. Granted, she hadn’t really tried all that hard, and the chances to be alone with anypony who wasn’t an aid or governmental official were few and far between. She was still in her prime though; perfectly able to attract the attention of any pony she wanted. Right? Again the doubt crept unbidden into her mind. Terra already had a foal of his own and she did not. “Hmmm…” She sighed with a deepening frown, quaffing the last of her glass of wine. The most bothersome thorn in Terra’s comments however, was the insinuation that she was somehow boring. She was most certainly not boring! She hosted some of the most premiere events in all of Canterlot for pony sake. Although in reflection, she couldn’t remember any of them being all that entertaining with the typical upper crust crowd that they tended to attract. With the looming threat of Terra being proven inadvertently correct about her, something snapped deep within her psyche, going so far as to cause her left eye to briefly twitch. A deeply repressed feeling broke through an alarming number of her emotional suppression barriers like a rock through glass. There was no way she was going to be known as the boring, old, lonely princess. With a growing grin that gave her an air of mental instability, Celestia raised her wine bottle and drank deeply, forgoing the glass. “Haaahhh! I’ll show them! I am not the boring princess they think I am!” She began shouting as dark storm clouds gathered to her tower in response to her unrestrained emotions. “Hehehe! I know just how to pull this off too. Hahahaha! NOPONY CAN STOP CELESTIA! BWA-HAHAHAHA!” Celestia cackled in a marginally passable villainous laugh as the lightning and thunder boomed and flashed around her tower. Outside of her hall, the two solar guards posted to her night detail spared a glance at each other before simultaneously deciding that whatever the princess was doing, they had no desire to interrupt. One does not simply stroll down the darkened hallway full of creepy echoing laughter that lead to a possibly unstable alicorn. Not without a battalion of backup anyway. Besides, discretion being the better part of valor meant that they did not need to intrude on their princess when she was most likely helping herself to recover after her earlier funk. She was obviously feeling much better if she was laughing and nothing was being destroyed, right? ======= Elsewhere ======= On the other side of the castle, Luna and Nightmare sat in the library amongst a virtual fortress of books. Luna, however had risen to look out of a large window at the light show coming from Celestia’s tower. Whatever was happening up there certainly was causing quite the scene as she watched a flight of patrolling guard pegasi give the area a wide berth. With her superior night vision she could occasionally glimpse what she suspected to be her sister sitting in the middle of her room on her haunches, shaking with what she supposed was laughter and thrusting her fore hooves into the air in time with the lightning flashes. Luna could only slowly shake her head at the sight. “Tis the strangest tantrum I hath seen in quite some time. What pray tell has her vexed so?” “Maybe she has finally lost her grip on sanity due to old age.” Nightmare suggested without looking up from her massive tome of Equestrian law. “I doubt that.” Luna said as she trotted back to the table they were using, “Why must you use every opportunity to antagonize her?” “You should know better than any about my nature my dear. Unlike Celestia, I am not purely good, but nor am I entirely evil. Besides, weren’t you telling me just yesternight that it said in your book, a guide to modern friendship for the socially inept, that casual and non-threatening insults are part of a healthy friendship? I was merely practicing with my friend Celestia.” “Hmmm. Oh, that must have been what Terra was doing when he called Tia those names before he left. It is a most strange thing this new system of friendship.” Another massive burst of lightning tore through the night sky outside as Celestia continued her tirade, the crash of thunder shaking everything in the library for a brief moment. “Such a drama queen.” Nightmare sighed as she continued reading her law book. “Indeed! A large, obese foal!” Luna smiled at her perceived success in the subtleties of friendship before turning to Nightmare with a frown. “How was that?” “I won’t argue your point, but it could use some work still.” “Hmm. Methinks this modern style of friendship shall take more getting accustomed to than I had anticipated.” Luna mused as she looked skyward again to check the trajectory of the moon before settling back down to her reading. ====== Meanwhile ====== Far below Canterlot, in the outskirts of the sleeping town of Ponyville, a lone unicorn mare pulled a large wooden wagon to a halt along the side of the dirt path leading into town. She sighed in the pleasant fatigue that came from a long day of hard work. As nice as a hotel room and warm meal would have been, she decided against going all of the way into town tonight. Tomorrow she would make her way into town for her grand, crowd drawing entrance. As a traveling performer, she already knew how to tailor her act based on the venue. A town this size would call for tall tales with flashy effects for the foals, and perhaps a few simple audience participation challenges to keep things interesting for the adults. With her tried and true methods decided on, the mare took one last calming look at the moon hanging in the sky and ducked into the small living space in her wagon, laying herself down to rest for tomorrows show.