Chapter One
Celestia sat in her private dinning hall. It was one of the few places in the castle she could be alone. The room was silent, save the occasional scraping of fork on plate as Celestia ate her meal. It was nothing extravagant, just a simple salad with a glass of apple cider on the side. “Anything else I can get you madam?” A cook asked, sticking his head into the room. He had long since learned to drop all formalities when addressing the ruler of Equestria when she was alone.
“No thank you, good sir.” Celestia took another bite, calmly chewing and swallowing before continuing. “Though I would appreciate it if you would throw together something for my sister. She should be waking soon.” The cook nodded once before his head disappeared back into the kitchen. Celestia smiled, returning to her meal. It had only been a week since Luna had returned, and already the younger alicorn was asking to get back to work. Silence fell again upon the room as Celestia waited for her sister.
She did not have to wait long before Luna strode in. A yawn rolled out from between her lips as she sat next to Celestia. “Evening, Tia.” Luna stifled another yawn, looking around. “What are we having?”
Celestia opened her mouth to answer just before the chef from earlier walked in, carrying a plate upon his back. “Here you are, madam.” The chef slid the plate off his back and onto the table in front of Luna. “A simple salad, perfect for starting the night.” With a bow he turned to leave.
“Princess...” Luna mumbled sleepily, a yawn escaping her lips as she tried her best to glare at the pony before her. “And a pot of coffee.”
The chef gave a small bow, realizing his mistake. “Very sorry, princess. Would you like milk or sugar in your coffee?”
“Neither, servant.” Luna replied, a neutral expression on her face. She looked down, lifted her fork, and set to work on her meal.
The chef raised a hoof, his eyes narrowed. Before he could get a word out however, Celestia shook her head lightly. The chef returned his hoof to the ground before returning to the kitchen, still slightly offended at being called a servant. As soon as the door was closed behind the pony, Celestia turned to her sister. “Luna, they are not our servants. I’ve told you this before.” She let out a short laugh. “They are masters of their craft, and take much pride in what they do.”
Luna turned to reply, then faltered. Her body jerked slightly as if she had been hit by something. It happened only once before she turned back to look at her sister. “Celestia?” she exclaimed, a certain amount of fear in her voice.
“Yes, Luna? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Celestia reached out a hoof, intent upon laying it upon Luna’s shoulder, but the younger sister backed away, falling out of her chair. “Luna, what’s going on? Are you hurt?”
Luna sprang to her hooves, fear etched across her face. Before she could move, the chef returned, a pot of coffee on his back, with a single cup. Luna grabbed the pot and cup in her magic, and bolted from the room, sprinting away as fast as she could. Celestia and the chef stared after her, thoroughly confused. “I think you should go after her, Princess” the chef said quietly. Celestia nodded once, snapping out of her reprieve, and dashed after her sister.
Luna meanwhile, was tearing down the halls of the castle, lost. What is going on here? She thought wildly to herself. I should be dead, or gone, or whatever. I can’t come back! Luna turned a corner, and stumbled, her legs freezing momentarily. She took a few more steps, leaning against the wall as her vision went black. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?
Luna stood back up, looking around. “Hmm... This isn’t the way to my office,”-
Why am I still alive?
-she mumbled to herself. “Must have made a wrong turn.”-
The Elements of Harmony should have destroyed me, and fixed Luna.
-She turned around, poured herself a cup of coffee, and set off.
So why am I still here? And what just happened, too? One moment, nothing, just black. Then, suddenly, I’m being thrust into a dining room, with Celestia. And she’s treating me like Luna. Shouldn’t she still hate me? Has she forgiven me?
As she reached the end of the hall Celestia went racing past, skidding to a halt a few feet away.
And why is Luna suddenly back in control, and why can I see all of this? Could she see what I did?
“Luna! There you are!” Celestia exclaimed, quickly running back to her sister and pulling her into a tight hug. “Are you alright? What happened back there?”
No, she can’t know. She wouldn’t have simply thought she made a wrong turn if she did. So what does she remember?
“Ah, yes, I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly,” Luna replied, smiling. “But you see, I wanted to get an early start to my first night back! I’ll see you later, Tia!” Luna set off again, smiling and sipping her coffee.
“What’s going on here?”
What’s going on here?
Luna smiled as she left, leaving Celestia standing, staring off confusedly after her, and made her way back to her rooms. Celestia had set aside a whole wing for her back when the castle was first built. While the rest of the castle was white marble, with gold and violet accents, Luna’s wing was a midnight blue, filled with cooler colors, from deep purples to dark blacks. She had yet to hoof pick her night guard, and so the few who were posted around the halls were on loan from Celestia’s personal guard.
Luna had set aside one room to use as her office. Celestia had suggested she put her desk in her room, but Luna knew it was a bad idea to work in the same room she slept in. She sat down on a small cushion behind her desk, and levitated a small stack of papers onto her desk. It was only her first night back, and Celestia had insisted she start with paperwork, to let her slowly get back into the swing of things. With another smile she began sorting through them. “Let's see...” she mumbled to herself. “What has changed in the years during my vacation?” Luna mumbled to herself, looking over her papers.
Does she think she just went away for a year? Or a thousand? What is it she thinks happened?
My vacation was quite boring, now that I think about it, Luna thought, flipping through the pages. Let’s see now.... Ahh, well this look promising, census reports. And so Luna began to read-
Those do sound interesting. Good measure of how the population has grown and moved, Nightmare thought, looking through Luna’s eyes, reading along with her.
Luna slowly scanned the page, taking the information in. More ponies are living in cities it seems, and the cities are growing larger-
They’re stronger, healthier than they were in our time. They’ve grown from the small rural villages to large, thriving cities. They’ve recovered from what happened, and moved past it.
-while the farms are becoming fewer and farther between. Well, it has certainly worked so far, lets hope it can continue- Luna’s thoughts were cut off as a small knock came at her door. “Come in,” she called, her eyes not leaving the papers before her.
Celestia is back, and I think she wants to talk. What do I do if we have a repeat of earlier?
“Luna, dear, how are you?” Celestia asked happily, closing the door behind her before sitting next to her sister.
I’ll have to play along. I can’t run off again, it will only make Celestia more worried. I need her ignorant of me for now, while I determine what needs to be done.
“I’m well, thank you,” Luna replied cheerfully, looking up. “I was just going over the census reports, determining what’s changed during my vacation-”
Shit. That can't be good for me.
“Vacation?” Celestia cut in, puzzled. “You mean your banishment? Vacation seems an odd word for it...” she pondered out loud.
Luna’s face grew confused. “What are you talking-” she began, before suddenly yawning, a hoof raising to her mouth in an attempt to stifle it. “Yes, sorry... Thinking of it as a prolonged vacation helps me deal with it...” Nightmare replied quickly, looking down.
Celestia sighed, wrapping a wing around Nightmare. She leaned over and gently nuzzled her sister, whispering, “Sorry, I should have realized. I’ll try to remember from now on.”
Nightmare smiled a small, sheepish smile. This is going well, now if I can just get her to leave... “Ce- Tia, was there something you wanted to talk to me about?” she asked.
“Ohh, yes. Well, I know how much you like things to be organized, even if the organization appears chaotic.”
Nightmare shifted, stretching her muscles to try to wake herself up. “Yes, well, I hope you don’t mind. It works for me,” she quipped. “Why do you bring it up?”
“It’s just, my student was much the same,” Celestia replied kindly. “Every time I visited her rooms, she would have scrolls and books strewn everywhere. If I tried moving anything, she’d panic. It was adorable. She didn’t want to yell at me, but she needed to know where everything was.” Celestia smiled fondly, caught up in her memories.
Nightmare, meanwhile, was frantically trying to dig through Luna’s memories from the past week. While it had momentarily surprised her that she could, she had decided to think about it later. Who is this student of hers? She didn’t have students before, has she mentioned her to Luna yet?
“Tia, I’m sorry, but ‘student’? I don’t think you’ve told me about her yet.” Nightmare gave her best puzzled expression, still trying to mask her panic.
Celestia laughed. “You’re right, I’m sorry!” With a shake of her head, she explained. “So, a few hundred years ago, I set up a school to teach especially bright young ones. After a few years, I noticed that some stood out even amongst the best. So I started taking them as my personal student, and taught them myself.” Celestia paused again, a reminiscent smile playing across her lips. “Twilight Sparkle is my most recent student, and in many ways, she’s stood out even from the rest.”
Nightmare slowly nodded, trying to piece everything together. Thinking back, that little purple unicorn did a good job telling me the names of her friends, but not her own. I wonder... “So, Tia, is Ms. Sparkle a young purple unicorn?”
“Yes, she is.” Celestia gave Nightmare a quizzical look. “Don’t you remember her from... the party?”
All I remember is an uppity little unicorn not giving me or you any respect, Nightmare thought bitterly. “All I remember before coming to the castle was a party. I was kinda on autopilot for the whole thing,” Nightmare lied. “I’ve been trying to not remember anything from when I wasn’t in control of myself.”
Celestia nodded somberly, understanding. “You know what, I think you could do with meeting with Quiet Thoughts. I think she can help you deal with everything that happened.”
The sisters sat in silence for a bit, Celestia worrying for her sister, Nightmare wondering who this Quiet Thoughts pony was, and how she could help. Eventually, Nightmare asked, “So, why did you bring up Ms. Sparkle?”
“Oh, right!” Celestia perked up. “So, as part of her staying in Ponyville, she is supposed to write me letters every week about friendship.”
“I’m sorry, but I have to ask,” Nightmare interrupted. “You have a student so sheltered that in order to get her to make friends, you had to make it a school assignment?”
Celestia let out a knowing laugh.“Yes, she is a bit sheltered.”
Well if that isn’t the understatement of the year.
“Anyways, her reports should be about how she’s making friends, the troubles they have and the triumphs they share. I was wondering if you’d be interested in reading them too.”
“What do-” I need to tone back the sass. Luna would never be this uppity with her big sister. Nightmare realized. “I’m sorry, Tia. I’m afraid I still don’t see why you want me to read them.”
“I just thought that, since both she and you are going to be starting anew, albeit under different circumstances, it might help you readjust. Let you live a little vicariously through her, get some second hand knowledge of how ponies interact before you go out and do it yourself.” Celestia gave her sister a light nuzzle, trying to reassure her. “I know how much it means to you, having ponies like you, so I wanted to help you put your best hoof forward.”
Nightmare stared at Celestia, surprised at the forwardness. She wants to make sure Luna’s first public appearance goes over as smoothly as possible. Before replying, Nightmare smiled. “Tia, I would love that. I don’t want them to hate me from the start.” A small flicker of fear flashed across Nightmare’s features. “But, please, make sure Twilight is okay with it first. I would hate to intrude upon her privacy.” Well, Luna would. I have to do everything I can for Luna. No matter the cost. That’s the plan at least. What is my long term plan?
“I’ll ask her right away. Though, I really doubt she will have any objection. She usually readily agrees to anything I ask of her.” Another pause hung in the air. “Sometimes a little too eagerly. Huh.” Celestia shook off the thought. Turning to her sister, she asked, “Luna, how are you?” with only a hint of worry in her voice.
Tilting her head back to look up at the ceiling, Nightmare thought. I’m barely keeping my panic under control. I’m trying to keep you from trying to kill me. Oh, and there’s the whole deal with me still existing, Luna’s mind still being a fractured mess and all. Other than that, just fine! “I’m doing alright sister,” she replied, forcing another loving smile onto her face. “But, I was doing some work before you came in...”
Celestia got the hint, quickly standing. “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be keeping you. Well, good night, dear sister.” She turned and began to leave. “I’ll go ahead and check with Twilight. If it’s alright with her, the first letter should be here within a week. Have a good evening sister.” And with that, Celestia left, gently closing the door behind her.
Nightmare nearly let out a scream. Finally she leaves. Though, I must admit, I’m interested in this Twilight Sparkle. She looked up to find that Luna was back in control, humming to herself as she continued with the paperwork. As if nothing happened. Of course. Hmm... I wonder. LUNA! Nightmare screamed in her mind, trying to get her counterparts attention. Luna continued working, nothing to indicate that she had any idea Nightmare was mentally yelling at her. Well, that answers that question. Either she really wants to ignore me, or she actually can’t hear me.
So, question time. Nightmare found she was able to retreat slightly from Luna’s mind, as if she was in a spacious room, one wall playing out what Luna saw while speakers relayed what she thought and heard. So, I can see and hear what she does. But I don’t think she can see or hear while I’m in control. Nightmare began to pace inside Luna’s mind, putting together what she could. Her memories of my time are altered, but I don’t know to what end. Furthermore, she has seriously altered memories of what happened a thousand years ago.
With a sigh, she stopped her pacing. This is Luna’s body, Luna’s mind. I have to work to restore her, to make her whole again. I’ll need to research, learn what I can. But I’ll also have to make sure that I play my role well, whenever needed. For now, no one can now I still exist. To the outside world, Luna is healed.