The New Life with Lies

by BrightKnight 42

Subconscious Fears, Hidden Memories

Chapter 11: Subconscious Fears, Hidden Memories
(Present Time Period)

A few minutes had passed, since Twilight finished her story about Luna's cutie mark. Collectively stunned into silence, her friends just sat there and stared at Twilight, not wishing to break the silence.

Twilight looked over to find Spike sitting at the table. Spike had finally come to visit her, and was going to ask Twilight a few questions, and had arrived only partially into Twilight's recounting of when Luna got her cutie mark.

Spike, like the others, just sat there for a few seconds. Confusion marking his face, he asked Twilight a new question. “Twilight,” Spike started, trying to get her attention. Noticing he had her attention, he continued, “You said you saw something when both Luna and yourself raised the moon that night. What did you see?”

Twilight just stared at him, wondering where he had come from, but she just pushed it off and answered him. “What I saw was what happened before we sent her to the moon. What I saw was when she was fighting Celestia. Then, I saw the moon's face, with her locked on it.”

Rainbow broke from her stupor and bluntly asked, “What do you mean? You saw her before you sent her away? Wouldn’t you take that seriously, if you saw that and tried to prevent it from happening?”

“Um… I agree with Dash… If you don’t mind,” Fluttershy added, similarly breaking her own silence.

“Yeah, Twilight. Knowing you, you’d try to prevent it from happening to Luna,” Spike added.

As her friends chimed in with their thoughts, Twilight started to feel something that she had not felt in five hundred years. She still knew it all too well, it was loss and sadness. Of not being able to stop the Nightmare Moon incident from ending with Luna being banished to the moon. She also knew another set of emotions was going to overcome her. She knew was that she was about to fall back into that depression she had left behind all those years ago.

An instant passed, and before the depression could take hold, there was a flash of light. Twilight felt something pull her into a tight embrace and looked up to see her beloved wife, smiling at her. Another moment passed, along with another flash of light, and both alicorns vanished from the gardens. The only evidence they left to prove they were there, was a book that Twilight had been reading but a moment ago.

A few seconds later, both ponies reappeared in their room, with Twilight still in Celestia’s embrace. As Celestia tried break from Twilight’s embrace, Twilight only tightened her hold.

As Celestia continued trying to escape her wife's embrace, she knew it wasn’t going to work. She’d dealt with this same situation long ago, when Twilight fell into depression. She looked down at Twilight and saw that she was crying lightly. Noticing Twilight’s distress, Celestia tried to calm Twilight down, to no avail. Before her eyes, Twilight’s crying grew heavier and heavier, her words nearly unintelligible. What Celestia could make out was the same as last time: Twilight saying that they should've tried to save Luna from her fate.

Waiting a few minutes to see if Twilight’s condition improved, Celestia eventually gave up trying to calm Twilight. She then spoke in a very calm but blunt voice, “Twilight look at me!” Twilight looked up, into Celestia’s eyes and her tears slowed a little. “You and I both know what happened had to happen. Even if we tried to save her, the end-result would’ve been the same. You know that I tried to stop Discord before he was to come, and in the end he only returned sooner than what was predicted.” She posed for a minute to watch Twilight for a reaction. "It also made my sister and I lose our mother sooner.”

"B-But-" Twilight was interrupted by one of Celestia’s hooves covering her mouth.

"No ‘buts.’ I don't like seeing you like this. We have Luna back, so be happy that she’s here. We are also lucky, that last time that you went into depression like this, Cadence was there to save you when you tried to kill yourself. If you were dead, Equestria would now be shrouded in an eternal night by Nightmare Moon." Celestia paused as her eyes teared up a bit. "So please, be happy love. We have our daughter back and the world knows of us again. Now that we have our loving family back together again, we are going to keep it that way.” Celestia finally extracted herself from Twilight's embrace and moved her towards the bed.

“I’m sorry Tia. It just overcame me, merely from remembering the memories.” Twilight replied, sniffing lightly.

“I know love. Now it is time for bed, you and Luna are going to spend time with each other tonight, aren't you?” asked Celestia, hoping to cheer up Twilight.

“Yes I am. I guess you're right, I do have to sleep if I want to be up for Night Court.” said Twilight as she layed in bed.

As Celestia saw her wife drift off to sleep, she lightly kissed her and slowly left the room. Standing at in the doorway, she quietly spoke, “Sweet dreams, love.” With those words, and her wife now peacefully sleeping, she left the room.

Celestia appeared in front of the three friends that Twilight had been talking to and spoke to them calmly, "Twilight is asleep. She is not in any mental state to deal with you all, at the moment. She did tell me what you were asking her. The answer to your question, Spike, is this: we couldn't prevent the incident, because you cannot change things that will happen in the future. If it has already been predicted, then what has already seen is guaranteed to happen."

They were all just sitting, staring at her after she finished her explanation, until Rainbow Dash shattered the silence, “What do you mean by 'that you couldn't prevent the incident'? If you know what is going to happen, you’d try to change the fate of the affected pony, ponies or whatever is going to make the problem.”

"I'm sorry, Rainbow, but even I can't change the future," Celestia admitted morosely, shaking her head. "Trust me, I tried. Even before I met Twilight."

"Princess, before you took Twilight... they," he pointed at Rainbow and Fluttershy, "were talking to her about Luna, and how she became Nightmare Moon. You know what happened, so can you please tell us, since Twilight can't right now?" Hope shone in Spike's eyes.

"I am also sorry about this as well, Spike, but I can't. Spike, that is Twilight's, and Luna’s, shared personal memory. They both keep it locked away, deep inside their subconscious, where even I cannot get to it. The only thing I know about it is that Luna had started spiraling into depression and her resentment grew only a couple of years after Twilight had given her the moon and the stars. The only reason I know of the vision that Twilight saw that night, was because she told me, just after she got back to the castle," answered Celestia, looking at the young drake apologetically.

"WHAT! You're Princess Celestia, you can literally raise the sun and moon! Yet, you say you can't tell us, because you weren't there?" Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing an accusatory hoof at Celestia.

"Let me rephrase that. I was there for some of it, but I still cannot show you, because that is Luna's and Twilight's shared past. Only they can tell you about it," Celestia elaborated, keeping an eye on Dash.

"B-But we can't talk to Twi and Luna, they're both asleep! Knowing Luna, she won't be up until tonight, when almost everypony else is asleep. With Twilight, we don't know when she will be up and-" Spike rambled, only to be stopped by Celestia.

"Twilight, I know, will be up with Luna. Ever since Luna's return three years ago, Twilight has wanted to spend time with her. Twilight wants to get the time we lost with her back. Since Luna's return, haven't you ever wondered why she would go up to Canterlot every weekend?" Celestia asked, fixing all three with a curious look.

"Yeah we have, for a bit. Twi's always said it was for studying, but now we really know why," Spike answered her question, looking to Rainbow and Fluttershy for confirmation. Both ponies nodded their heads to agree with Spike's answer.

With their explanations done, Celestia looked up to the position of the sun. She noticed it was getting close to the time for the day to end. Then she looked back to an angered Rainbow Dash, a somewhat-satisfied Spike and still-quiet Fluttershy. Regarding them, she spoke softly, "I have to go and set the sun, and my daughter has to raise the moon. Then, I am off to go to my wife and wake her up. So, I bid you a good night."

Right as Celestia was about to leave, she was stopped by Spike, giving her the book that Twilight had left in the garden earlier. She looked at back Spike and thanked him, before she left for her room.

Celestia walked into her room, only to see that Twilight had torn it apart. Everything in the room was scattered around, and Twilight was feverishly trying to find something. As Celestia entered, she looked through the messy room. She was trying to find her wife in and among the clutter, only to find her on the bed, crying her eyes out.

Celestia ran over to her, pulled her into a hug and asked, "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

Twilight looked at Celestia. Twilight calmed down slightly, before remembering why she tore the room apart and wailed, "I lost my book! Not just any old book, it was my family's book; the one that held our traditions and family tree, and I can't find it."

Celestia just tightened her embrace and they stayed like that for a couple of minutes. She remembered that Spike had given her a book before she came up to the room. Reluctantly, Celestia let go of Twilight and went back over to the desk, where she had set the book she had been given and levitated it over to her. Smiling lightly, she walked back to the bed and set the book in front of Twilight.

Twilight looked at the new item in front of her and she gasped at what she saw. She quickly looked at Celestia and had asked, "W-W-Where did you find it?"

"I didn’t. Spike gave it to me, after I left you here sleeping. Then, I come back to wake you only to find you awake, tearing apart our room and crying," Celestia answered, her presence helped Twilight cheer up somewhat.

"Thank you, Love. Remind me next time I see Spike to thank him for finding it. I don't know what I would do without it. This is one of the two things that I don't want to lose. They're all that I have left of Star," said Twilight, her head drooping slightly. Her mind started playing a few memories of what had happened to her sister.

"Now, don't be sad, Love. You still have family to remember her by, and we will always be with you. Remember, Luna took it much harder than you did when she died, but let's push that thought away for later. We have to transfer into night, and I think Luna is waiting for us right now. I know you want to spend time with her," Celestia cooed, trying to cheer up her wife.

"Yeah, you're right. I should move on, but still keep her close to me so I won't forget her. Now that we have Luna back, we can be a part of her life again," stated Twilight, trying to stay positive.

"I know dear, we have to be a part of her life again, and we will. First, we have to get moving if we want to start now," Celestia offered, giving Twilight a passionate kiss that they held for a while .

Twilight broke the kiss and whispered, "Thank you. I love you so much, 'Tia."

"I love you too, Twilight," replied Celestia.

Celestia and Twilight were headed to the Celestial Balcony, a balcony used to raise and set the sun and the moon. As they reach their destination, they saw Luna sitting nearby, waiting for the two to arrive. Right as Twilight and Celestia came into view, Luna moved to talk to her parents.

"Where have you been! I've been waiting for a couple of minutes, we have to change the celestial orbs soon!" Luna yelled. She had been worried that something might've happened to them.

"Don't yell at your mother or myself, okay?" Celestia scolded Luna. "We were up in our room. Your mother had a breakdown, and I was trying to calm her."

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to yell. I just wanted to be punctual," Luna explained.

"It's ok, Luna. Did your mother tell you what is going to happen tonight?" Twilight asked, looking to Celestia.

"Yes, mommy, she did," answered Luna, blushing lightly.

"Ok, can you two change the sun and the moon? I would like to start up Night Court. It's been awhile since I've done so," Twilight stated, looking towards the horizon and had watched the sun set below the horizon. Turning, she watched the moon sail gracefully into the sky.

After the moon was on its way up the sky, Celestia left to go to bed, only pausing to gave Twilight a goodnight kiss. Afterwards, both Twilight and Luna were now headed to the throne room, to handle Night Court.