Chapter 5: New Families and Old Ghosts
Princess Luna woke up as the sun came down. She yawned and stretched, her body feeling quite tender, especially after the strong hooves of the pegasus in her bed had administered their special brand of love for the majority of the morning. Her sister, Princess Celestia, came into her room.
"Sun's down," Celestia said. Celestia looked away when she noticed the young man in her sister's bed.
"I guess it is time to bring out the moon, then?" Luna playfully quipped. She leaned over and gently nibbled the mane of the pegasus in her bed. "Wake up, Conan," she cooed. "It is time for me to raise the moon, so I want to say goodnight before doing my royal duties."
Conan opened one sleepy eye. "Well, then, g'night yer highness," he mumbled through the pillow he hugged to his breast. He turned away and scratched something in his nether region.
Luna looked surprised at Conan's response. "Well, then... goodnight," she said. A mischievous look then came over her face. She poked Conan's forelegs and ribs, managing to get a chuckle from Conan's form after much tickling.
"I knew you were just playing!" Luna said with glee. Conan began to laugh out loud, and tickled Luna back. They rolled around the bed, bringing even greater laughter from each other that echoed down the castle hallway.
Princess Celestia had walked outside the door to Luna's bedroom, to give her and Conan some privacy. When the laughter from the two of them gave way to the sound of kissing, Celestia gave a polite cough; not too loud that it would seem obnoxious, but not too quiet that Luna wouldn't hear it.
Luna sighed. "I have to go," she said to Conan. "I'll be back in a few minutes." She gave Conan a quick kiss, then left the bed. She walked out of her room under the questioning glance of her older sister.
"Just to be clear, I married him," Luna said in a mildly defensive tone.
"I wasn't judging you," Celestia said. She winked to Luna with a smile.
Luna sighed. "You're in that “mother mode”, again," she said as the two of them walked down the hallway. "Let me guess: you had to speak in front of the family of nobles whose son died in that training accident, and the whole affair left an impression on you?"
Celestia thought for a second. "You are right, the funeral made me think about how resilient a family can be when one of their own passes on," Celestia said. "I apologize, I know you are not one of our subjects. I won't treat you like one again."
"Which was why I pointed it out," Luna interjected. "I know how focused you can be, especially after a day like today."
Celestia sighed. "I do wonder, though, with Conan; are you sure you are doing the right thing, having him be this close to you?" Celestia asked. "At this rate you will probably be with child in under a month."
Luna stopped. She turned, and opened the glass door to a balcony that jutted from the mountain face. Celestia saw her tense up. I should not have been that blunt, Celestia thought. Why do I always end up hurting her feelings? I should know better not to pry!
"Celestia... I know why you ask those questions," Luna quietly stated. "Your thoughts for the past thousand years have been on nothing but the safety of Equestria. You are used to worrying about everyone, even if it isn't obvious. Me, on the other hoof...."
Luna began to cast the spell to bring the moon out from its resting place. "I spent the last thousand years in bitter anger," Luna continued. "All I could think about was how mad I was at you, at everyone in Equestria. I was unable to even contemplate the ramifications of my actions. It took a foal with a heart of gold to knock some sense into me, and when I finally saw how badly I acted... I...."
As the moon rose, a tear fell from Luna's eye. "As time went on and people began to forgive me, and even accept me, I wanted to give something back," she continued. "The way I wanted to give back... I know it makes no sense, but I wanted to give the people a precious gift, the kind of gift that will be remembered throughout the ages."
Celestia understood. "You wanted to leave a bloodline for the people of Equestria," she stated.
Luna nodded.
The two of them fell silent.
"Well... it sounds like you know what you are doing," Celestia said, "so... I will leave you to it. I should learn to trust your judgment more; I myself have always considered leaving a bloodline, but that desire always gets pushed to the side for the immediate needs of the country."
Luna smiled at her older sister. "Celestia, you are already a mother," she said. "Your daughters and sons are the many, many unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies that make up our kingdom. Your legacy will live on far longer than mine will."
Luna turned and walked back inside. "Get some sleep, big sister. I can tell that you are exhausted. Tomorrow is another day." Luna walked back to her room, leaving Celestia on the balcony.
As Luna walked to her room, she remembered the moment, over a thousand years ago, when she had... snapped, for lack of a better word. She recreated the dialogue in her head:
"Luna, what are you doing?!"
"...sister.... I should have known you would be angry."
"Luna, you need to let the moon down!"
"I'd rather not. And I think YOU of all people would be able to guess why!"
"Nobody has done anything to hurt you-"
"-except avoid me. Treat me like I don't exist."
"That's not true-"
"Look at your subjects! Look at the adoration in their eyes for the great and powerful Princess Celestia! Ask them about Luna, and what do they say?! 'WHO'S LUNA'?!"
"Luna, please, calm down-"
"NO! I did NOT suffer through YEARS of TORMENT, the DESTRUCTION OF OUR RACE, AND OUR PARENTS' SOULS BEING DENIED INTO THE AFTERLIFE TO BE IGNORED!!!"
"Please.... Don't make me do this-"
"I WILL NOT BE IGNOOOOAAAARRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!"
"Luna! Luna, you alright honey?"
Luna snapped out of her reverie to find that she had wandered back into her room. Conan was in front of her with a worried face.
"You were crying something fierce," Conan said. "Is everything okay?"
Luna touched her hoof to her face to find her visage streaked with tears. She took several deep breaths to bring her body back into her control. She also sank to the floor, Conan following and giving her a concerned embrace.
"It... it's alright," Luna said. "Just a very bad memory, is all it is. I'll be fine."
"You wanna talk about it?" Conan asked.
Luna levitated a handkerchief to her and used it to wipe her face clean. "It was just an old ghost from the past that reared its ugly head," she said, taking a deep breath, "nothing more or less. There is nothing more that even needs to be said about it. What was done... cannot be undone, but the old wounds can be mended."
Luna hugged Conan tight. "Thank you, my love, for being with me like this. Every moment I spend with you is an utter joy. I promise to be yours for as long as you want me."
Conan brought her face to his to see the unspoken emotion threatening to burst its dam, and smiled. "I love you too, Luna." He kissed her gently on the muzzle, which led to a steamier embrace that leaves little to the imagination.
While in the middle of their love, a scroll materialized from a flash of green fire. It landed in front of Luna. She noticed the scroll, stopped what she was doing, and opened it. Conan waited for her to finish reading.
Luna's face went from curious to scared to frozen. Something's wrong, Conan thought. "What is it, Luna? Do ya need ta do something?"
Luna dropped the scroll and stood up. "Conan, you do recall what I said about an old ghost from the past?" she asked. She turned away. "This... this is another ghost. One that just walked over the graves of every pony in Equestria."
Conan picked up the scroll and read it. This was written on it:
Dear Princesses Celestia and Luna,
I am very sorry to bother the both of you this late at night, but... I think I messed up a spell. It was a prophecy spell I found in a forgotten tome by Star-Swirl The Bearded. I could barely decipher the Ancient Equinian, but I thought I could piece together the basic elements of the spells, with a little parallel translation from Pre-Equestrian Ponyese. I tried casting the spell about two weeks ago, but nothing came of it... or so I thought.
I tried multiple variations of the spell based on discrepancies in the text, hoping that I could guess the proper combination of words for the incantation. I stopped trying yesterday when my ninth attempt still yielded nothing. Imagine my surprise when I woke up in the middle of the night, with a picture on my chalk board that Spike says I drew in my sleep. I have no recollection drawing the thing, and Celestia knows that I do not sleepwalk. Period.
Which begs the question: what in the world did I really do?
I captured a copy of the image using a Copy spell I learned from the Ponyville Gazette's news room. It is below. If either of you can help me figure out exactly what happened, I will be very grateful.
Conan saw the image: A shining pony floating over seven ponies stuffed into a hole on the left and Celestia on the right, shouting a word.
"'Ragnarock'?" Conan read aloud. "What's a Ragnarock?"
"The end of Equestria as we know it," Luna said. Luna shivered.