Luna stepped out of the portal and sealed it without a second glance. The princess of the night took a few steps before sitting down right in the middle of the room, and then she did something that she didn't want anyone to see her doing: Luna cried, hot tears slipping down her muzzle as she heaved out great sobs. Her whole body shook as the powerful sadness forced its way up her throat and out. "What have I done?" Luna thought, as she envisioned her sister's face. It smiled down at her, and Luna imagined her sister's fire-like hair turning back into the ribbons of flowing color that it used to be. She imagined her sister's current armor falling away, and remembered her sister dressed in gold necklaces and glittering shoes. She had just betrayed TIA, her sister, her best friend. The only one that will live forever with her.
"Now what do I DO?" Her thoughts came out as words out loud as she asked the one question that had plagued her mind ever since her sister had started taking over. She continued just to sit there and cry for a while, until she looked up at the clock, and realized it was almost 2:30. The New Lunar Republic in its entirety would be here in 30 minutes to start setting up base, and she, its leader, was a total mess. Luna picked herself up off the floor and headed by memory to the bathroom nearest her bedroom. As Luna walked down the halls she noticed everything seemed to be exactly as she had left it.
"It better be," Luna mumbled under her breath as she remembered all of the conservation spells she had put on this place without her sister's knowledge. It had been hard to cast the spells, and even harder to do so without alerting her sister. Luna paused and made a decision. She would no longer call Celestia ''sister.'' She was her enemy now. Yes, she had given her sister the benefit of the doubt for far too long. Luna reached the bathroom and splashed water on her face to wash the tears away, then she looked up into the large ornate mirror and stared at her own reflection. She straightened her back and lifted her chin.
"I am princess Luna, and I am not Celestia's puppet anymore. I AM MY OWN PONY!!!!" Luna thundered the last part in the royal Canterlot voice, something her sister had forbidden her from doing. But Luna didn't care; she was done playing by her sister's rules. It was about time for her to start writing her own.
===**===
The castle was a busy place for the first time in years. Ponies started to set up work places and meeting rooms in the new ample space. The change of base had come in the nick of time, because the old headquarters in the dingy basement of Sun Stiles had become so crowded that it was standing room only. Now each group had its own workplace, and there was even room for more frivolous things, like a break room and a ballroom. The focal point of the castle, though, was the assembly hall. The assembly hall was a large room where hundreds of seats ringed a stage in a half-circle. On the stage was a podium that glowed with the slight dark blue aura of amplification spell that had been put on it by a careful horn. As Luna looked at the podium, she silently wondered if Nexus had purposefully chosen a spell that was a dark blue because it would match her coat.
Behind the podium were seven chairs. The one on the far left side was draped in an orange banner embroidered with stars. The chair next to it looked similar, except its banner was sky blue, and instead of stars the cloth held the image of clouds and swirls of what seemed to be wind. The next chair had an ivory colored banner that held the image of an intricately stitched ink pen. On the far right was a chair with a brilliant gold banner with a sewing needle stitched into it. Next to this was a chair with a red banner that held the image of a paint brush painting a single stroke, and then came a chair with a dark blue banner that showed elegant music notes. Finally, in the middle of all of these seats was a tall throne with a moon and stars painted on its back. It was stunning and beautifully done and the stars seemed to be made of gems. It was obvious to anyone that stepped into the room that the chair belonged to Luna.
===***===
Luna sat in the meeting room with five of the six ponies in her main circle, waiting quietly for Nexus to return with news of how their pamphlet had worked. Everypony was nervous, tired, and frazzled.
"This is the second day in a row that I've run on coffee," Luna thought. "It can't be good for my health. Then again, falling asleep and missing the news that my sis... I mean, Celestia, is hunting me wouldn't be good either." A shiver ran down her spine as she thought of the thousands of guards that were probably searching for her right at this moment.
"Eh hem." Bella was the one to finally break the silence. "I have a special announcement about the amulets." Everypony in the room turned to Bella, and as she spoke she explained all the enchantments and symbols. Then she asked the group a question. "Look, my group and I had the idea of giving each group a color. Is everypony ok with that?" Everyone gave their assent, and Bella continued. "Ok, we made light blue stars on the amulets for the elite flyers group, orange stars for the magic group, dark blue stars for the music group, ivory colored ones for the writers and gold ones for my group, the designers." Once the excited unicorn finished, she passed out amulets to all the group leaders except Nexus, who had not yet arrived. She put his amulet on the table in the spot where the stallion would soon sit.
"Almost forgot," she said, as she turned to Luna and levitated an amulet out of the bag. "This is yours, Luna," Bella said, and she levitated the amulet over to Luna. Its star was a deep midnight purple, lined with the colors of the other groups. The colors seemed to orbit the star and the star itself glowed with a soft gentle light reminiscent of a full moon. "This is beautiful," Luna said, as she put her amulet on, awestruck by the craftsmanship. "Thank you."
At that moment the door opened, its hinges making a loud creaking noise as the mood in the room shifted back to its previous grim state. Nexus entered the room, his face unreadable as he walked to his seat. He took a few seconds to get comfortable in his chair before he spoke. "All of Equestria received the pamphlet without delay. There have been small incidents of graffiti that seem to be pro NLR, and Celestia made a formal statement that the pamphlets were dangerous, which means we got her attention. Also, Luna, you have been stripped of your title and your authority, and there is a pony hunt going on to arrest you."
"Looks like we hit a pretty hard blow," Firefly exclaimed, and although her words were confident, her voice cracked.
"Yeah," Melody said. "I just hope we can withstand the counter attack."