We Remember Everything

by Thunderscourge

My Head Is Spinning

Luna and Loki had spent much time wandering throughout the hallways of the castle, Luna explaining just about every room they passed to him as she was quite the expert on them. After all, there were few other places she could roam freely in Canterlot without somepony reacting in fear.

Their time spent idly in the castle was not spent freeing Blueblood from his predicament, which the two had agreed to leave behind in search of something more interesting.

Luna had almost brought Loki to the very last room she intended to show off, her own, when the sight of Loki wincing and the sound of him grunting caught her off guard. Loki’s legs buckled for a moment before straightening out, the prince having caught himself.

“Is something the matter?” Luna questioned, worried about her guest’s health. He had been living in the Everfree Forest too long in her opinion, so it was possible something was now ailing him.

Loki did his best to hide his previous expression of pain and play it off as something trivial, “Nothing of the sort, only a mild migraine,” after a moment he briefly winced again and asked, “Would you mind excusing me for now? I wish to go clear my head.”

Wishing to see him better, Luna found herself absently nodding, “Of course. We will see you tomorrow?”

The indifferent shrug was all she needed as Loki departed.

It did not take Celestia long to find Luna again once word spread that her visitor was gone, and it was not with a gleeful face that she did so.

She had not wished to impose herself on her sister during what was quite possibly the first time she ever brought somepony back to visit their home. But a talk needed to be had, and now that she could speak in privacy with her sister she would.

Celestia knocked a hoof on the open door to Luna’s room, her eyes focusing on the blue mare within who was tending to her mane with a brush. Luna paused her task to turn and look at Celestia, her own face the complete opposite of her elder sister's with a bright grin on it.

Good company would do that to you, even after it left.

"Hello, sister."

Celestia narrowed her eyes at her sister, unsure about how to approach the issue she was faced with, “Hello Luna, what is this that I hear of you and your guest humiliating Blueblood?”

The mention of the insufferable stallion brought Luna to rolling her eyes and scoffing, turning back to her own mirror and tending to her ethereal mane once more, “He must learn to lighten up.”

No "I'm sorry" or "I promise it will never happen again". That made Celestia's already unamused mouth turn to a full scowl. She honestly expected better from her own sister.

“That is all you have to say?”

Luna's eyes rolled, but she did not meet her sister's disapproving glare as the night princess snarked, “Oh, we are sorry, is playing a prank with Philomena on an animal caretaker better than putting a deplorable stallion in his place?”

“Luna, we must do our best to act as examples to our subjects,” Celestia paused before adding in a more hushed tone, “And Fluttershy really ought to have known more about a Phoenix.”

The younger sibling groaned as she used her magic to put her brush down. She did not want to deal with Celestia the moodkiller right now, and when Luna turned to face her she made that absolutely clear with her facial expression, “If you want me to stop aggravating that foal, remove him from our premises. I have no time for his entitled and spoiled ways. His ancestor may have deserved their place amongst us, may have, but he has no right to act as if he is any better than any of our other subjects.”

Knowing a lost battle when she saw one, Celestia decided to move on to the real issue she came to discuss, “We will discuss this another time, but there is a more important matter Luna. This ‘Loki’ you brought here.”

That brought a smile back to Luna's face. Her first friend made outside of Celestia's circle, and one that was quickly growing on her for some weird reason, “What of him? Is he not the interesting stallion I said him to be?”

“Too interesting. You may think me inexperienced, Luna, but I have been putting these one thousand years to good use. I know you can tell he is not in his true form. What is he, and what are his intentions here? Do you even know?”

Luna quickly found herself on the defensive again, only this time for the sake of somepony else, “Those are not of your concern, sister. If you wish to ask him yourself go ahead, for it is not my place to say,” a thought came across the blue mare's mind to turn the tables, and the now grinning mare took it, “Jealous?”

From the doorway Celestia found her face growing a bit hotter as her normally stoic face faltered. Jealous? No. Disappointed and miffed? Yes.

“From the reports our guards have given, your guest was quite belittling and his magic brought harm to Blueblood. While I have little tolerance for him, I will not allow such blatant disrespect to be shown in our castle. Such juvenile behavior-”

Celestia's diatribe was cut off by her sister jabbing a hoof in her direction, Luna's voice increasing to a volume not all too dissimilar to the old Canterlot voice. “Thou know nothing, so keep thy mouth still sister. Insulting our friend for some small fun we had together is crossing the line.”

The elder sister found herself lost for words as she considered what Luna said, soon realizing her own emotions on the matter had gotten in the way of her actually giving Luna's guest a chance, “I apologize, Luna. I am just worried that yet another powerful being has entered our land that we have no control over. If his shapeshifted form reveals anything, he is quite a powerful creature. I am worried for our fellow pony, and for you. I need not remind you of the last time a powerful shapeshifter entered our land.”

Luna decided to not inform Celestia that Loki was locked out in a way of his true form, quite sure that entertaining the topic would make Celestia only more curious. As such, Luna decided to laugh off her sister's concerns and instead address the other issue, “You jest. I have spent quite some time with my new companion and I have no doubt we have nothing to worry from him.”

Celestia approached Luna and placed a hoof on her shoulder, “Just be careful Luna. I do not want to see you hurt.”

Luna smiled up to her, genuinely glad to see that Celestia did care for her even after all they had been through, “Thank you for your sentiment, Tia.”

Returning the smile, Celestia nodded to Luna and removed her hoof, “I will be issuing an order for those who encountered your guest to keep quiet on the matter. It will not do to have ponies questioning the sudden arrival of yet another Alicorn. I myself am quite caught off guard and unsure how to react, so I care not to think of how the general populace might react.”

“A wise decision, although I do not see what the big deal is,” Luna never could understand what about Alicorns got ponies so riled up.

Celestia bit her lip as she considered something mentally, “Luna, how powerful is this friend of yours?”

“I would say he is below even you in terms of raw magical talent and far below my own potential, but he is quite skilled and has a great variety to his talents.”

Relief flooded the white mare's face, “Thank you for being so honest. If this is the case then at least we can keep him in check if need be.”

Luna was quite grateful Celestia was oblivious as ever in this case. While not having exactly lied, Luna had only told the truth about the here and now Loki who was having trouble accessing his magic. In the form of an Alicorn Luna had no doubt Loki would unlock even greater magic than he had in his original form.

Luna giggled to Celestia's confusion, “Have the years made you paranoid, Tia?”

The elder sibling shook her head somberly, “No, just wary. First we had to deal with Discord and Sombra...I had you with me then, but these past 1,000 years have been difficult for me to handle all alone. It is the reason I started grooming students and worthy ponies of sharing the title of princess. Such a burden is too hard to bear alone.”

Luna brought a hoof over to Celestia and rubbed it against her sister's leg, “We understand,” she smirked before continuing, “Know, however, that we fully intend to continue our meetings with our newfound friend. His unfamiliarity with this world puts us at ease, as we are not the only stranger to this place anymore.”

Celestia found herself smiling too again, genuinely glad that Luna had found a friend even if he was a bit of a degenerate and a bad influence, “There must be something more than his ignorance from what you have said.”

She received a roll of the eyes and a scoff, “He has a brother who always was perceived as better than him, and he was shunned by others for simply being different.”

“I would laugh if it were not inappropriate to do so,” Celestia took a large breath in before deciding on something, “Well, Luna, if you wish to make this visitor feel at home in Equestria I will not stop you.”

Luna's tongue found its way out of her mouth briefly, “As if you could. Remind me why you turned to the elements of Harmony to defeat me?”

Not about to let Luna have all of the fun with verbal jabs, Celestia stood to her full height and laughed, “I suppose I always was the more physically orientated one, little sister, where you were the one more gifted in magic.”

Their height difference irked Luna, who had always been larger in their teen years only to be stunted now at this size, “Hey, I was still growing until I was trapped in a form not my own.”

The mention of the Nightmare form made by the moon's shadow creatures made Celestia grimace, “I cannot even imagine how horrible it must have been to have those shadow beings control you all that time.”

“And I care too much about you to let you know," Luna replied softly, her eyes falling to the floor. While not under their complete control, they had influenced her and shared her body for quite some time...even for that kind of power Luna swore to never share her body with any such beings again. There were other ways to grow stronger after all, many of which did not include such drawbacks.

“That reminds me of something mother would say back when we were young,” Celestia lamented, memories of their departed parent streaming through her mind.

Luna still could not lift her eyes from the ground, “You take much after her.”

Celestia lowered her neck so that her head was next to her sister's, at which point she rubbed her cheek against her dear sister's, “A coat is not all that one can take after.”

“Oh really? At least you resemble her in both appearance and mannerisms.”

“She never would have wanted us to squabble like we do.”

Luna found herself chuckling at their shared history, “But she would not have been surprised.”

With that, for all of their differences and their past issues, the two found themselves embracing one another gently. They were, and always would be, sisters and not even a thousand years and envy would change that.

However, Luna still was not about to let Celestia know that her fur was slowly turning more and more pink, courtesy of Loki. Pink looked quite dreadful on her sister, but the change amused Luna too much to tell her sister just yet. They were having a moment after all, and since Loki was not there Celestia would be hard pressed to blame him in the end.

Luna would take the fall for this when the time came, but the inevitable look on her sister's face made her think it quite worth it.

“Cutie Mark Crusader adventurers!”

Late one night in the Everfree Forest three fillies found themselves bumbling about, turning over about every rock and inspecting every tree they could find.

Of which there were many.

The three fillies, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, seemed to not care about the forest's suppose danger when deciding to go and find their beloved Cutie Marks in it. And they knew about the dangers, as their families warned them about the forest and forbid them from going in it unattended. Thus why they were there late at night, as they had hatched a plan to sneak out and have fun.

Their fun was quite short-lived, as the forest's relative silence was interrupted by a howl of sorts.

“Did you hear that?” the small white filly named Sweetie Belle questioned, the sudden noise having unnerved her.

Her friend Scootaloo scoffed, not having heard the noise due to having had her head inside the opening of a tree at the time, “What, you scared?”

The howl repeated and Sweetie Belle squeaked in terror, instantly regretting coming to the Everfree Forest without her sister Rarity.

“Okay, you had to hear that!” she exclaimed fearfully, quickly dodging behind her friend Apple Bloom.

Said friend rolled her eyes as she spoke with a twang, “Probably just sum animal-”

A voice the three could barely make out interrupted Apple Bloom, the trio not able to discern where it originated from or from whom it came.

“Intimidation will not do you any favors.”

Their attempts to listen in were quickly halted when Scootaloo found herself now looking right at a fearsome creature with menacing teeth and claws where none had been before.

“Timberwolf.”

Her friends were facing the other way and did not see the threatening creature, “What?”

It's snarl answered their question, with the three fillies quickly bolting away from the beast and towards the way they had come.

“Rarity!” “Rainbow Dash!” “Applejack!” they cried out simultaneously, not even noticing that the monster had not given them chase. For long, at least. The beast now stood in place completely frozen, its regenerative qualities doing it no good in its immobile form.

From nearby Loki shook his head in distaste. Whatever did children think they were doing out here? Sure, he had done some reckless things with Thor when they were younger, but they at least were capable of fending for themselves to some degree. These fillies could do nothing of the sort, and this was no place for them.

“Not going to take credit?”

Loki found himself in the company of another once again, Luna shifting out of the shadows nearby him to stand by his side. Was she implying something?

He feigned ignorance, “Whatever do you mean?”

The princess of that time of day gave a hearty laugh as she observed the frozen Timberwolf, “Given your haughtiness, I was quite sure you would reveal yourself to the fillies and let them know of how you saved them,” Luna calmed her laughter and grinned at her friend, who she noticed had quite oddly had a light blue fur instead of his regular green one, "Am I not right?"

Loki did not feel in the mood to do as she said, although he could not deny it would not be all too out of character for him to hold it over someone else that they owed him, “I do not know what you speak of.”

Sensing that the conversation was not going to continue much farther, Luna decided to change the topic, “Care to continue your lessons?”

“Of course,” the two left the woods by Loki's adopted castle and approached the ruins of the old palace, “However…”

Now in the courtyard of the ruins, Luna found herself faced with a makeshift table with a variety of objects lined up upon it. The sight confused the princess as she tried to make sense of it.

Loki only smiled, “Luna, consider this an intervention.”

“Intervention?” Luna questioned, observing the various things there. She could see a marble, a child's toy, a very large rock, a chair, and finally a bowling ball. What these things had to do with their lesson Luna did not know, but apparently Loki did have a plan for them.

“I do not deny that your ability to speak in a modern context has marginally improved, but it is quite irritating to have to translate everything you say,” Loki stated seriously, although a comical smile found itself upon his face.

Nodding to the objects, Luna decided to clear up their purpose, “What are these for though?”

Loki too looked at the objects, “Every time you mistakenly use the wrong word, one will be flung at you by my enchantment. It will start from the lightest," glancing at the marble, Loki's smile grew, "Consider it some extra practice I have placed upon myself”

The prospect of having a bowling ball lobbed at her was not very appealing to the night princess who was quite sure she would get to that point in no time at all, “Is this not a...crude way of teaching a lesson?”

“An effective one, however. Care to try?” Loki asked, offering her an out if she did not want to partake.

“We-” Luna felt herself wince as a marble crashed into her forehead between her eyes, “-I most certainly will attempt this game of yours. It may be amusing.”

Pleased that she had corrected herself, Loki nodded to her, “That’s better.”

Luna rubbed a hoof to the spot on her head she was quite sure would have a mark the next morning underneath the fur, “Have you been practicing your power outside of our meetings?”

The once again green Alicorn shrugged, “Here and there. A pink furred being who is a shared acquaintance of ours just bit into a cake with fake snakes inside of it today. Small tricks like that are still in my power, but I long to command greater powers like my transformation once again.”

“You can still control shadows, yes? W-" Luna quickly corrected herself before anything else could fly at her, "I know from experience that they are not all too dissimilar, so we can focus on that to help you relearn your old magics.”

“A good a plan as any I suppose.”

Luna managed to only get hit by the toy the entire rest of the night as the duo practiced their arcane talent, much to her relief and Loki's approval.

He did not, however, approve of the welt on his side she gave him for pegging her between the eyes again with yet another object.