Celestia smiled softly as Luna’s entourage returned to the castle. She could see that Luna had gotten very little sleep on the train so she decided to hold her thoughts and conversation until after Luna had gotten some well-deserved rest. Cadence had sent a letter to Celestia that detailed the interactions with the rogue changelings and the plans for the future.
As Celestia watched Luna enter the castle from the throne room window, she smiled and whispered “Well done, Little Sister. I knew you could do it.”
Celestia turned away and sat back on her throne, taking in the rare moment of silence between meetings. She had closed her eyes and leaned back on her throne for about fifteen minutes when a guard entered the room. Celestia raised an eyebrow as the guard bowed and spoke “Your Majesty, there is a Doctor Sound Council here that is requesting an audience with you.”
Celestia’s face fell slightly and she nodded “Send him in. Thank you.” The guard bowed and was just about to leave when Celestia said “Princess Luna just returned to the castle, do you know where she is?”
The guard nodded “Princess Luna has retired to her bedchamber for the day. Do you want me to get her?”
Celestia shook her head “No, she needs rest. Send in Doctor Council and please make sure Princess Luna is not disturbed today.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” The guard left and a few moments later Sound Council walked into the throne room.
Sound Council adjusted his glasses and bowed “Thank you for seeing me, Your Highness.” He stood and smiled warmly at Celestia.
Celestia returned his smile and used her magic to pull a chair up next to Sound Council “It is my pleasure, please sit down.” Sound nodded and sat as Celestia continued “I assume you had an opportunity to talk to my sister?”
“Yes I did, she is a remarkable pony.” He chuckled slightly “Even though she was a little mistrustful of my motives at first, we managed to form a good connection. I truly appreciate you entrusting somepony of that much importance to my advice.”
“You are a renowned psychiatrist, and my dear sister deserves only the best. But on to the point…” Celestia’s face fell slightly “Did she tell you about Aecorum?”
Sound nodded and smiled “Yes she did. I must say, Your Highness, if it is a case of delusions or some other psychological disorder, it is very advanced.” Celestia raised an eyebrow “Of course there are certain factors that I had to take into account, such as her immortality, which could possibly delay the onset of diseases that usually manifest in early adulthood, although I don’t know how much of a delay we would be considering. Unfortunately, one of the key factors in diagnosing vague symptoms like the ones she is exhibiting is the age of the pony when it begins to manifest, so I did have to work around that.”
Celestia fought the urge to sigh “Please, Doctor Council. I am sure that it was fascinating and I do not doubt your abilities but I have to know. Is Luna well?”
“Oh, of course Princess, sorry.” Sound cleared his throat “In my professional opinion, Princess Luna’s mental health is in question, but not at a worrisome level.”
Celestia furrowed her brow “What? She is obsessed with a pony that never existed and claims that I did something to get rid of him, how can you say that isn’t worrisome?”
“Please, Your Majesty, let me continue. Princess Luna told me a very detailed and thorough account of her life with Aecorum, far too precise to be any disorder I have ever encountered or studied, and while we both know that he never existed, she is of the firm belief that he did.”
Celestia sighed “I’m afraid I don’t see how this proves there is nothing to be worried about.”
Sound Council smiled softly “I can’t claim any truly accurate knowledge on how an immortal mind copes with loss, but I can use my own experiences. In the past, I have treated ponies that have suffered a great loss and fear that they will lose something again; mostly soldiers who had friends die in battle. In most cases, the pony develops post-traumatic stress disorder or survivor’s guilt, but in very rare instances, I have seen ponies create friends to replace the ones they have lost. Their mental faculties are intact and they can function normally it is just their memories that are affected, which is a different part of the brain and the delusions do not usually advance to the others, although they can. Most of the time the pony doesn’t want to face their inner guilt so they create a scapegoat from their memories.”
Celestia furrowed her brow again “And that is what you think happened to Luna?”
Sound shrugged “In a way, maybe. Her case is different in the accuracy of the events and details, and the amount of effort she is putting into proving Aecorum was or is real. I also think that unlike most cases, she didn’t create Aecorum to replace or blame somepony, she created him as a sort of…Safety net, if you will.”
“What do you mean?”
“You played a major part in almost every story about Aecorum. From what I can tell, Princess Luna is very afraid of losing you, and still has a lot of unresolved guilt and feelings that haven’t been dealt with. These feelings most probably stem from the Nightmare Moon incident.” Sound Council cringed slightly as Celestia bowed her head. He cleared his throat and continued “Since she has finally adjusted to her new life and knows what she missed, it is possible that the idea of Aecorum is a defense mechanism that she is using to keep her unresolved feelings hidden. But I’m afraid I can’t be sure because there are many factors I have never dealt with before as well as because we’ve only had the one session, well, almost session.”
Celestia looked at Sound Council with weary eyes “How do I help her?”
Sound Council smiled warmly “It is quite simple, Your Highness. You have to talk to her about what happened, help her get through her feelings. But don’t confront her about Aecorum.”
“What?”
“She has to realize he is a figment of her imagination on her own. If you wish you can help her look for him, but in the majority of similar cases I’ve dealt with the patient only recovers after they figure out the truth themselves. Talking to her about her unresolved feelings and supporting her will help speed things along, but you can’t push it or she might become even more obsessed with her delusion.”
Celestia nodded “I see. Thank you for your help, Doctor.”
Sound Council stood and smiled “It was my pleasure, Princess. If it gets more serious or you think she needs to talk again, please let me know. My chief concern is that it doesn’t progress to present hallucinations.”
Celestia smiled as Sound Council walked towards the doors “I will keep you informed, thank you.”
Sound Council poked his head back through the doors and adjusted his glasses “And Princess?” Celestia looked towards him and raised an eyebrow “If you ever want to talk, I’d be happy to lend an ear.”
The doors closed and Celestia’s face fell before she leaned back and thought about what Sound Council had said. Did we ever really talk about what happened? I’m sure we did, but maybe…Maybe we didn’t talk enough. Celestia sighed Doctor Council is a brilliant pony, if he’s certain, I’m certain. I think. Well, I’ll bring it up over dinner, assuming she managed to get some sleep.
---
Luna yawned and sat up in her bed, stretching her back with satisfying pops. She looked out the window and sighed at the late afternoon sun. After a moment she got up and ran a brush through her mane and tail while putting on her silver and black regalia. She put a hoof on the white crescent moon on her chest and sighed, staring at her reflection. Luna had appreciated being able to talk to Sound Council, he had been right about an impartial opinion even if his motives were thinly veiled. A not insignificant part of her was angry with Celestia for sending a psychiatrist to speak with her without asking her but she knew that Celestia was only trying to help.
Sound Council had suggested Luna continue her search for Aecorum but remember that Celestia loved her and wanted to help. Luna sighed and put her hoof on the mirror. “What happened to you? You were so certain of everything, the High Princess of the Night, but now…” Luna closed her eyes and thought about Aecorum “Was he real?” She turned towards her balcony and laughed as she raised the moon. “It’s strange, whenever I doubted myself he was always the one who I would turn to.”
She heard a knock and opened the door to reveal one of Celestia’s Royal Guards holding a scroll. He bowed and spoke “Your Highness, Princess Celestia asked me to give you this message.”
Luna nodded and took the scroll, unfurling it with her magic before she started to read.
Dearest Sister,
It occurred to me today that it’s been almost two months since we’ve had the chance to eat a meal together. I asked the cooks to make our favorite dishes and the dining hall to be empty except for us, so if you aren’t busy, dinner will be served at nine.
With all my love,
~ Tia
Luna smiled and started walking towards the dining hall, looking forward to being able to spend some time alone with her big sister. She crossed paths with a few nobles and went through the customary ten seconds of small talk before she finally reached the doors. A Night Guard opened it for her and she smiled when she saw Celestia pouring two glasses of wine. Luna sat down and Celestia smiled broadly.
“Luna! I’m so glad you made it. I was worried that you would still be too tired from the negotiations in the Crystal Empire to come.”
Luna smiled and took a sip of wine “I’m feeling much more refreshed, thank you. Shining Armor and Cadence send their regards.”
Celestia nodded at the servant that brought in their food and turned to Luna “Sister, I want you to know I really do love spending time with you. If it weren’t for politics and our royal duties I would spend every day with you.” Luna raised an eyebrow at Celestia’s somber expression “These past few years I have been caught up in the madness of Discord, Chrysalis, and all the others and I haven’t been there to help you. I should have been the one to show you the new Equestria and tell you about the history you missed, not a bunch of tutors. For that, I am very sorry.”
Luna laughed and smiled warmly at Celestia “Oh, Tia, there’s nothing for you to be sorry for. You are the ruler of Equestria, I completely understand.” She put a hoof on Celestia’s “I know you love me. I love you too, Big Sister.”
Celestia smiled but Luna's words made her heart ache as she put her free hoof on Luna’s. “I missed you so much after your banishment. I don’t know how I managed to rule for so long without you by my side.”
“You are strong, Sister.” Luna smiled “There has only been one pony I have ever met that was stronger than you, and even then you were the one he turned to for advice.”
Celestia’s face fell and she sighed “Aecorum?”
Luna shut her eyes and turned away “Forgive me Sister, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No, no. I think…I think it’s time I learned a little about him.”
Luna’s eyes widened in shock “R-Really? You want me to tell you about him?”
Celestia hesitantly nodded “Well…I suppose.”
Luna swallowed a small lump in her throat “Alright. I am not quite sure where to begin, you were there…” Celestia cleared her throat and Luna continued “I mean, I think you were there. Aecorum…Aecorum was older than both of us, Mother and Father found him when he was a newborn. He was always very protective of us and he hated being royalty, he fought with Lord Fauntleroy about Royal Protocol almost until the day Fauntleroy died.”
“When we found the Elements of Harmony, he bore the elements of Magic and Laughter, which made absolute sense if you knew him. Everypony loved Aecorum because of his laugh and easy manner. He treated everypony he met like a dear friend and cared about each of them deeply. Of the three of us, his magical ability was the strongest although his emotions had a significant effect on his magic. He was always a very passionate stallion; he felt everything with his entire being and changed between emotions almost as quickly as you could blink, which I always thought came from his connection to the ocean.”
Celestia had been nodding slowly as Luna spoke but now she raised an eyebrow “His connection to the ocean?”
Luna nodded with a small smile “Yes, his cutie mark was a cresting wave. Just as you raise the sun and I raise the moon, Aecorum controlled the tides. He hated being cooped up in this castle, actually one of the things he argued about with Fauntleroy the most was his walks around Canterlot.”
“Did he have guards? I mean, you have the Night Guard and I have the Royal Guard, what did he have?”
Luna shook her head and smiled fondly “He did not have anything. When our old castle was first built and the old royalty offered us servants and guards, he refused. Even after we took power he didn’t want a special guard for him. Aecorum was always very independent but he was devoted to us. He took part in both Day Court and Night Court just to help us.”
Celestia furrowed her brow. Despite what she had feared, her interest had been piqued. “When did he sleep?”
Luna laughed slightly “There were times when he didn’t sleep for weeks at a time. No matter how much we protested he refused to take a break, although he somehow managed to get through both courts without falling asleep or forgetting any of his duties. He told us he got at least a few hours of sleep every now and again, but I always thought he was lying to make us feel better. Sometimes I thought he was too dedicated to us, he always ate with us no matter how tired he was. Tia, in all my years I have never seen a more resilient pony than him.” Celestia looked away in thought and released Luna’s hoof. Luna cocked her head at her sister and asked “Sister? Is something wrong?”
Celestia sighed and turned to Luna “It’s just…Why now? Why haven’t you said anything about him before?” Luna looked away and Celestia continued “When Discord was released you didn’t mention anything and when we gave our magic to Twilight to stop Tirek you were silent. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I…I thought you knew.” Luna’s voice was edged with shame.
“What?”
“When I first returned and I didn’t see him I thought he was in another nation as an ambassador and he would come home eventually. Then time passed and I realized he was nowhere to be found, so I thought…” Her breath caught in her throat. “I thought he was hiding from me. I thought he hated me because of what I did as Nightmare Moon and left.”
“Luna…” Celestia’s voice was pained and filled with concern.
Luna bit her lip and continued “I didn’t ask you when Discord was freed because I thought you knew where he was and he asked you not to tell me. And…And when Tirek attacked I did not say anything because I thought you and Aecorum had made a plan for him to hide and if Twilight Sparkle failed he would lead a rebellion against Tirek.” Luna sighed “I’ve only started looking for him now because Tirek didn’t ask us about him. He didn’t know about Aecorum, and that was when I finally noticed the mistakes in the windows and the books. But all my searching has proven that I am the only one who remembers Aecorum, and now…Even I am not sure of my sanity.” Celestia sighed and was about to speak but Luna stood and spoke first “Celestia, I’m afraid I have to go, I need to prepare for Night Court.”
She reached the door and turned, a weary glare on her face “And the next time you want to send me to a psychiatrist, I would appreciate it if you bothered to talk to me first.”
As Luna left the room Celestia sighed again and rubbed her temple with a hoof. She looked at Luna’s still full plate and silently cursed herself while she ate.