As she slowly began to regain consciousness, Luna heard voices speaking to each other and one of them sounded quite familiar…
Whatever the Elements of Harmony had done to her, she felt strange-her muscles ached and had a minor headache. And yet, she felt somehow renewed after being hit with that blast. All of the anger and jealousy she had felt were gone and her mind was her own again, no longer clouded with darkness as it had for the past one thousand years when she was trapped with it in the moon.
“Princess Luna,” she let out a weak gasp at being addressed by her elder sister’s voice. Her eyes shot open as her pupils shrunk down to pinpricks. As Nightmare Moon she had banished Celestia by sealing her within the sun as a form of poetic justice, but now Luna feared had returned to seek her revenge and banish her once again.
Around Luna was the shattered armor that had adorned Nightmare Moon. Smoke rose from the fragments as the malice they had once carried continued to dissipate. Celestia cantered towards her as she could do nothing, but look up like a frightened foal that was about to be punished.
“It has been over a thousand years since I have seen you like this.” Celestia continued.
Luna shut her eyes, trying fearing her sister’s wrath for threatening her subjects. In her weakened state, there was little she would be able to do to defend herself-not that she felt she didn’t deserve to be punished for her actions. However, instead of getting angry for the injustices she had recently suffered thanks to Nightmare Moon’s return as Luna had expected, Celestia sat down in front of her so they could speak face to face.
“We were meant to rule together little sister.” She stated softly.
“Sister!?” Three of the ponies repeated in shock. Luna found it puzzling the violet Unicorn who was the only one to recognize her as Nightmare Moon hadn’t been able to figure out that she and Celestia were siblings. But, even more surprising to her was the fact that Celestia was willing to forgive her despite her recent misdeeds and allow her back into the royal court.
Celestia stood back up, towering over her. It reminded her of the long shadow she had cast over her during their rule together. As if everything they had worked together to accomplish; putting an end to Discord’s reign of madness, rebuilding Equestria, putting an end to King Sombra’s tyranny and sending that monstrous Tirek to Tartarus had all been Celestia alone.
“Will you accept my friendship?” Those words reminded her of why she had stood by her sister for all of those years. They had needed to stay strong for each other to protect Equestria and its citizens and Nightmare Moon’s sense of entitlement forcing Celestia to banish her couldn’t have been easy for her to live with.
Luna felt tears of regret burning in her eyes as she rushed up to Celestia. “I’m so sorry! I’ve missed you so much big sister!”
---
Unsurprisingly, much had changed in her one-thousand year absence. Not the least of which was Celestia’s relocation from Ponyville to Canterlot where a shiny, new castle seemed to have been constructed from the ground up from her last visit. As Nightmare Moon, Luna had believed this was so Celestia could forget she had ever existed. However, now that her mind was clear, she realized that staying in their old home must have been too painful for Celestia to bear.
“Sister, how long has this Twilight Sparkle been your student?” she asked, curiously.
“Since she was a little filly,” Celestia replied, bringing a platter to the table. There were was a large kettle and several teacups on it.
“I do not wish to tell you how to do your job, but would it not be wise to catch up on the work you have missed in your absence? I would be more than happy to assist you.” Luna suggested, uncertainly.
“There will be time for that later,” Celestia smiled. “I’ve been waiting over a thousand years for this. How are you feeling, Luna?”
“I still feel a little weak.” She admitted. After leaving what had become known as the dreaded Everfree forest and returning to Ponyville, during the ceremony she had noticed that her mane had lost its ethereal glow and had returned to the way it had been when she was still a magically incontinent filly.
“I’d imagine so,” Celestia replied. “I’m sorry…if I know how to control the Elements better; perhaps I could have saved you instead of exiling you.”
“Why are you sorry? If I had been left to roam free in my maddened state after my transformation, all life would almost certainly have perished. Without the sun’s rays, would the plant life not have died out? The lack of herbivores would also condemn the carnivores and omnivores to starvation-leaving this world as a lifeless husk.”
“Maybe,” Celestia admitted. “But, with magic it may have also been possible to sustain plant life without the sun’s aid.”
“Ah, yes if memory serves; Earth Ponies seem to be quite gifted in that regard in addition to the aid of Uniorn magic, that scenario may very well have been feasible.”
Luna averted her gaze as Celestia took a sip of tea.
“I still feel terrible for what I did…after protecting this land and its citizens from tyrants and monsters for so many years, I became one myself…and then there is the emotional turmoil I must have put you through as a result of my actions.”
“Luna, while I am glad you are willing to take responsibility, I think you have received more than enough punishment.” Celestia replied softly. “And you are also not the only one to blame; I saw how hurt and alone you felt, but I was so focused on maintaining peace between other nations and ensuring Equestria was stable, I kept putting off talking to your problems.”
Luna looked back up at her.
“While your anger towards everyone else was misdirected, not all of it was unjustified.” Celestia continued. “I did take you for granted, and I didn’t realize it until it was far too late. What I had to do to stop Nightmare Moon was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do and it broke my heart. But in the end, I didn’t have a choice.”
“Every Summer Sun Celebration was a horrible reminder of that day, every time it came around I felt sick to my stomach. But, I always had to stay strong for the sake of our subjects. When you were Nightmare Moon, did you wonder why I didn’t bother fighting back when she imprisoned me?”
“Yes, she found it quite odd-she wondered if you were about to spring some kind of trap, but ultimately came to the conclusion that you had realized you were unfit to rule, since other kingdoms in history had seen one royal sibling disposing of another as a sign of tyranny.”
“There were a few reasons for this; ever since the Elements sealed you within the moon, I dedicated every scrap of free time I had to research a way to get you back. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that if the Elements were able to imprison you, then they could also be the keys to freeing you.” Celestia explained.
“And that’s where Twilight Sparkle and her friends came in.” Luna concluded.
“Yes, but that was only half of it-I felt like I deserved to be punished for forsaking my only sister when she needed me the most.” Celestia admitted, sadly.
“Maybe you had, but you also had to stop Nightmare Moon to protect Equestria as we always have.” Luna insisted.
“I knew that then, but it didn’t make my decision any easier to go through with and then live with afterward. Especially, when groups of citizens began seeing you as some kind of demon and began an entire holiday around appeasing Nightmare Moon with candy.” Celestia sighed. “It both angered and hurt me to see, but if I had banned its practice simply because I found it unsavory, it wouldn’t help quell the suspicion that I was becoming a tyrant-as you mentioned.”
“You said we were meant to rule together, did you really mean that?”
“Of course I did, overseeing both the day and the night has been very strenuous, but I’ve gained a newfound respect for your duties.” Celestia chuckled.
“Whenever did you sleep?” Luna asked, incredulously.
“I’ve managed squeeze in a few hours of catnaps between certain duties.”
“That can’t be healthy!” Luna protested, alarmed.
“Don’t worry, Luna.” Celestia reassured her. “Your big sister is fairly strong and I have no intention of leaving you alone again.”
“If I resume duties over the Night Court, how will the public react?”
“The transition may not be a smooth one, but I’m confident that given time citizens will begin to warm up to you once they realize that you are not Nightmare Moon, anymore. It may also take some time for you to adapt to modern technology and customs-things are not as formal as they were a thousand years ago.” Celestia continued. “But, I have faith in you, sister-and I always be here for you if you need anything-I promise.”