//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Shadow 
// by Dragonfire2lm 
//------------------------------//

"Oh, hello Princess Luna," Twilight said to the moon princess as she entered the room. "How have you been?"

"Fine, as always. I had heard of your recent interest in Equestria history, how goes the search?" Princess Luna inquired.

"I'm actually really surprised at what I've been able find in these old books," Twilight replied and floated a scroll scribbled with neatly organised bullet points and references. "The accounts I was able to find on what happened after Discord was first defeated are incredible!"

"Oh? I had presumed that my sister had released such knowledge to the public after my banishment," Luna said in mild surprise. "I was the one who forbade such information from becoming public knowledge."

"Really? I mean I can see why, I just never expected the two of you to be at odds like that now." 

"Look at these writings Twilight," the moon princess instructed. 'What does it tell you of how Celestia and I helped those who had suffered under Discord's rule?'

"It's very stylized for a start, it's written in poetry and at first I passed it off as exaggeration," Twilight replied and read the piece aloud. "Under the warmth of day we played and worked to forget our woes, the memories of chaos' past buried in deep holes. As we toiled and lived under the golden sun, the princess of day watched over us like a mother with her foals."

"Yet in the dark of night when our fears could not be quelled, the shadows of our minds didst rise. In our solitude of sleep the mare of the night did come forth and bring peace to many a troubled mind," Luna finished calmly. "That was written long ago, and was the first of many works to praise the work of Celestia over my own."

"I didn't quite understand princess," Twilight said. "It calls Celestia a princess and you a 'mare of the night', it was only one mistake, possibly written for the sake of not sounding repetitious..."

"That was not the issue, look more closely. what does the poem say of our approach to helping our subjects?" Luna asked.

"I thought about that, so I looked for other accounts and a lot of them say the same thing," Twilight replied. "Ponies worked and lived to forget their fears during the day and faced them at night, but a lot of the later entries don't even mention you at all..."

"What pony remembers their dreams?" Princess Luna asked theoretically. "Very few can control their own dreams, let alone believe what happened was real to some extent."

Silence passed between the two, the conversation at a standstill from the implications of Luna's statement. In an effort to bring a happier tone to the topic, Twilight pulled out a book and skimmed through it until she found the relevant page.

"I found a few pieces on your battle against Tirek," Twilight began. "Some of the artwork that was made in commemoration was beautiful."

The book showed an image of the two sisters,  a white alicorn with a pink mane and tail and a dark blue alicorn with a light blue mane and tail in the sky with their wings outstretched as they bound the centaur to the depths of Tartarus. Each Princess was decorated in armor with a helmet on their head, heavy metal plating on their chest and shoes that covered their hooves. The armor Celestia wore was gold with amethysts embedded into the metal, while Luna's silver decorated with white diamonds.

"You've done a lot of things over the years haven't you?" Twilight asked. "But it doesn't seem like ponies thanked you for them."

"History is written by the victor" Luna replied solemnly. "And in the fight to determine what we told our little ponies was ultimately one by those devoted to my sister. As time went on the small, though irreplaceable, roles I had to play were overshadowed by Celestia's more public image."

"Was that why you turned into Nightmare Moon?" the younger alicorn asked quietly. "Because ponies ignored all the hard work you did?"

Luna looked out a window, hesitant to answer.

"Doth thou trust me, Twilight?"

"Trust you? Of course I do, why wouldn't I?" Twilight replied and looked over her friend in concern. "Is something wrong?"

"If thou would allow me a day to compose mine thoughts, I would ask thee to meet me in mine tower tomorrow night as I raise the moon. I will tell thee the truth then..."

"Alright, should I inform Princess Celestia-"

"No!" Luna answered hurriedly. "No....Forgive me, Twilight Sparkle but there are some things I would prefer to keep to myself for the moment. I will see you tomorrow night."


***


Later that night, Twilight entered the her room in Canterlot. She was met with soft, plush red carpet and finely made wooden desks and draws for her things. To one side of the giant four poster bed was a large wardrobe and to the other side was a smaller bed fit for certain purple dragon. The room was dimly lit by the moonlight the filtered through the windows and as Twilight placed her saddlebags onto a nearby end table, a giggle caught her attention. She smiled and turned on the lights to be met with a full blown, Pinkie Pie style party in her bedroom.

"Surprise!" her five friends, and one baby dragon, shouted.

"It's nice to see you all, but you guys didn't have to come all this way for my sake," Twilight said. "I told you I'd back in a few days, a week at most."

"Oh Twilight, darling," Rarity began with a wave of her hoof. "Think nothing of it, we know how hard you've been working on that project of yours and after the fiasco at the old castle we thought you could use some cheering up."

"Besides, Pinkie here was getting a mite bit worried that we'd never see you again," Applejack said with a smile. "She was so worked up that we all figured you wouldn't mind an unexpected visit."

On cue, the pink party pony rushed forward to envelop her friend in a hug. "I was so worried that you'd get caught up in your books that you would be lost in a sea of knowledge and that we'd never, ever, see you again!"

"Cant...Breathe..." Twilight gasped out and the element of laughter loosened her grip.

"Oopsie, sorry Twilight"

"That's alright Pinkie, to tell you the truth, I think I needed a break anyway."

"Aw yeah, let's get this party started!" Rainbow cheered. "I've been looking forward to this all day!"

"We've all been very busy lately," Fluttershy said. "Some of the animals have been a bit jumpy ever since Discord came around for lunch last Tuesday."

"I've been doing more work than ever on the farm," Applejack added. "Course I've been trying to give Applebloom some extra time to play with her friends, she's a hard working filly, but everypony deserves some time off every now and then."

"The Wonderbolts called me in for training for the reserves last week," Rainbow said. "I've been run off my hooves doing their workouts and my usual weather duties! It's totally worth it though."

"After my last order from Sapphire Shores was a huge success, I've been working around the clock filling in orders," Rarity explained. "If it wasn't for Sweetie doing what she did at the last second I don't know what would have happened!"

"I haven't been busy!" Pinkie exclaimed. "i just noticed that everypony else has been busy and i thought 'gee Twilight must be super busy too', so I'll take everypony to Twilight's and have a 'you've all done a great job, so have some fun' party!"

"I bet you found all kinds of neat stuff, right Twilight?" Spike asked.

"Why don't we enjoy the party for a bit Spike," Twilight replied. "I think I've done enough reading for today."