//------------------------------//
// Chapter One -- Luna's Risk 
// Story: Luna's Secret 
// by SwirlSpark 
//------------------------------//

     The little pink-haired filly looked up from her pillow. Her smile was the prettiest of all the foals I've ever seen, her eyes the brightest part of her. Her wings seemed to be a little bigger than a pegasus' wings would be, but that wasn't unusual, because she was an alicorn. A princess. The only part of life I had left.

She bowed her head down and started to whisper something into her hooves. Her voice drifted along the cool night breezes towards me, and I listened. "Dear mom, I hope you're having a good time in Heaven. I hear it's a really good place up there." I laughed, smiling. It wasn't as delightful as I had hoped, because my precious little filly wasn't here beside me. I loved her more than anything, even more than their father, who never loved me or our children at all. In fact, I'd never forgotten what he did to me and Luna -- the oldest of the two -- on full moon of April, last year.

He and his posse, who he's had meetings in the middle of the night with, had a master plan -- Operation Murder. Part of their plan worked, shockingly, and Luna and I were killed in battle. They hadn't gotten as far as Celestia's room, because I always kept a sword under her bed in case someone tried to attack her in her sleep. I had special training put into her to make sure she knew how to use it, but I spent so much time on her, I forgot about having to protect myself and Luna. And only Celestia remained.

Luna had grown up over the time of her death, and she now stood beside me, her head leaning against my forelegs. I stood there tall and elegant, listening to the words flowing into my ears. I wondered if Luna could hear them too. "Tell Luna I said that I miss her. I miss the sister and princess that she had been. She was very pretty. When I put my mane next to hers, it looked like cotton candy!" Luna giggled. She could hear her sister, perfectly. Then there was a long pause. "I miss you, too, Mommy. But I'm glad you're not here to see the house right now. You'd cry. Daddy has come back again yesterday, and he flipped over tables trying to find me. I hid under that secret closet you made for me under my bed, and he left after that. I cleaned the place up today, though. You would be proud of me." I was. Celestia hasn't done anything in her life that would disappoint me. Not yet, anyway. I hope it would stay that way for a long, long time.

"I also want you to know that my foalsitter never came back after Daddy came and tore though our house the time before yesterday. I'm all alone now, and It's scary. Daddy hurt her real bad. She got a black eye and a fractured shin protecting  me. You would be proud of her, too." Luna and I gasped in unison, shocked that she would't tell us this before. I was prompt on keeping the pace and speed of destiny, but now something had to be undone. Nobody leaves my fillies defenseless, against a killing machine who has many weapons, including a recently gained sword that he stole. "Bye, Mommy. Amen."

I looked down at Luna, who was still in shock. She was truly worried for her sister, and I was proud of that. I was proud of almost everything my princesses did. Especially Luna, since she has done more things to make me proud of her than Celestia -- but that was very unfair, because she was only an infant when Luna's life was taken brutally. It wasn't her fault she had been the younger sister. But my mind was racing with different thoughts.

"Luna." She looked up, eyes still wide. Her short, light blue mane blew in the breeze, parting her hair to the side. "Mum? What is it? Is Tia gonna be okay?" She shivered, not from the cold, but of fear. I rested my hoof on her shoulder, frowning. This was to be great news for her. "Under one condition." Her eyes brightened, thinking this could be an opportunity for her. She was right. "What is it?? Whatever it is, I'll do it! I'll do anything to help her!" I sighed, looking at the ground for a few seconds before looking back up into her deep blue, hopeful eyes. This wasn't going to be easy, but it had to work. Celestia couldn't be so vulnerable. "You have to go into the past and stay there until you forge into your younger self. It won't matter how long you stay there, as long as you're back here at this exact date and time. To me it will feel like no time, but to you it will feel like backwards time. Which, technically, it is. You will have to go back as Celestia's younger sister, because she will take you as a distraction from stress, to take care of you. She will remember everything but your pre-sisterhood, but you will remember only the important things that happened since you were supposedly born, which would be immediately before I was slit in the throat."

Luna's eyes had widened even more. I could tell she was terrified of what I had just told her to do. "Mum, I.... I don't think that's even possible...." Her shoulders sank. Her hopes had drained. "Luna. Listen to me." I put my hoof under her chin, lifting her eyes to look at me. "What I said... nopony has ever done before. But I believe you could be the most powerful alicorn in all of Equestria, of all time. If you just try....."

She looked down at the ground for a second or two, then looked back up at me. There was new confidence shining in her eyes. "I'll do it. For Celestia; she needs me." She nodded and saluted, smiling a bit. "Good." I walked over to the edge of the cloud, then turned around to face Luna. "You won't feel a thing." My horn glowed with intensifying power, and her eyes narrowed. She was ready. Finally, after a few seconds, I blasted her with a powerful time travel spell, and she appeared again almost as soon as she had disappeared.