Two zebras lived in the town of Ponyville. One was Zecora, a mystic and enchantress who was once feared and shunned. She was now a regular member of the community and often consulted when strange events occurred. The second was only half-zebra, the other half being unicorn. She was a shop keep who sold mane brushes and her name was Crimson Brush. While the exquisitely designed brushes she sold could be used for brushing one's mane they served another purpose. Crimson Brush believed in what might be termed old-fashioned discipline and that spanking could be used to lovingly guide children. Her own mother had used spanking on her as an act of love and caring discipline.
This morning she had opened up her shop at the normal time and was hard at work crafting a mane brush. Each mane brush was carved by hoof, with attention and care. She was lost in the act of creation , carving out a handle, when a customer walked into the shop.
"Good morning, Ma'am." Crimson said, looking up from her work and giving a friendly smile to the first customer of the day. It was a white-coated, pink-maned unicorn with a sun cutie mark. It was unusual to have a customer at this time of the morning, but not unwelcome. Crimson stared at the sun cutie mark. If she hadn't known any better she would have sworn the customer had the same cutie mark as Princess Celestia.
'Plenty of ponies share cutie marks, though.' Crimson thought to herself.
The customer returned the greeting and continued to browse. Then, she did something surprising. She levitated one of the brushes and slipped into one of the back rooms. Crimson raised an eyebrow when she heard a hard smack.
'Testing the merchandise?' Crimson wondered.
The unicorn walked out looking thoroughly unsatisfied. Despite Crimson having heard the unmistakable sound of wood meeting hide with a large amount of force, there was no tell-tale spank mark.
"Ma'am? Is there anything I can help you with?"
Celestia hesitated. "Do you have anything...um, I've never done anything like this before not in a long time anyway, but...I need to discipline my younger sister and do you have anything harder than this?"
Crimson's jaw almost dropped. There was a line between discipline and abuse! "Ma'am, that's solid oak wood! What did your sister do?"
"It'd be a bit difficult to explain. Suffice to say, it was something she shouldn't have done. Something that put her life and the safety of others at risk."
Crimson nodded. "I'm certain that you're angry and upset. But when disciplining a child one must do it in a spirit of calmness without anger. If you do it while angry you run the risk of going too far."
The customer's face softened. "I'm not angry with her, not really. I just want to make it clear to her that she can't do this sort of thing again. I love her so much and I nearly lost her before and...I can't lose her again."
"I'm certain the hairbrush will be sufficient." Crimson said. "You don't want to hurt your sister, only discipline her correct?"
"Yes, of course. As for the hairbrush, I tried it on myself. Me and my sister are of comparable strength and we're...we're not exactly normal. For one, we have quite a bit of endurance."
This raised Crimson Brush's suspicions even further. "Very well. Wait one moment."
She went into the back of the shop where there were spanking implements for adults who either enjoyed a particular style of love play or who felt they needed discipline in their lives. She picked up a three-inch thick wooden paddle. If that didn't leave a sting nothing would. Carrying it back into the shop she showed it to the customer. The customer looked it over.
"Could you try it on me?"
"If you feel that's necessary." Crimson answered. She stepped behind the customer, who placed her hooves on the counter and bent over. Crimson steadied the paddle in her hoof and brought it down hard on the customer's rump. The customer jumped, but nowhere near as much as Crimson expected.
"Ouch. Reminds me of my foalhood. Okay, I think that'll do it." She said turning to face Crimson. "How much?"
"One thing. This is not really designed to be used on foals. How old is your sister?"
The customer chewed her lip. "For one of our race, she is in late adolescence approaching adulthood, but still in need of guidance at times."
"For one of your race?" Crimson asked, hoofing the paddle to whom she was becoming convinced was no ordinary pony.
The customer sighed. "I suspect you know who I am."
"I suspect that I do, but it is not my concern." Crimson responded, relieved now that her her suspicions were confirmed. "I am glad to be of service."
"One more thing. This had better not be front page news tomorrow."
"Princess, above all things, I believe in discretion."
Princess Celestia smiled and paid for the paddle. Then she walked out of the store.
'Well now.' Crimson thought, returning to her work. 'I suppose even princesses can be naughty at times.'
...
Celestia dropped the disguise and trotted to the chariot parked outside Ponyville. On the way back to the castle she thought of how she was going to tell Luna. It was Twilight who had told Celestia about Crimson Brush and how a sound spanking at her hoof (or belt rather) had helped her to relieve her of her guilt over the Smarty Pants incident. Luna, as the incident with the Tantabus had shown, still had a lot of guilt. Perhaps, this would help relieve her of that guilt.
Still, she was not angry with Luna. If she was she wouldn't consider doing this. She genuinely wanted to help her. She also wanted to assure Luna of that. Celestia sighed as the chariot settled upon the castle grounds. After putting the paddle in her room, Celestia went in search of her sister, whom she found pouring over court documents in her study.
"Hail and welcome, Sister." Luna said, looking up from her paperwork. Between them, Luna kept some of her anachronistic speech patterns. Celestia found it endearing. "I was nearly done here." She signed her name to a bill Celestia and Parliament had approved of (then it was off to Cadence and Twilight for final approval.) "Is there something you wished to speak to me about?"
"Yes. We need to talk." Celestia said with bone chilling seriousness.
Luna stood. "About, Sister?"
"About the Tantabus."
Luna's eyes cut to the left and she shuffled her left hoof, both tells left over from foalhood whenever she lied. "I thought that matter was laid to rest. You made me write a friendship letter and everything."
"I though that too, Luna. You're going to hate me for this, but I had to do it. I installed black magic detectors in your room. Do you know what they detected?"
Luna's face crumpled before she recovered herself. "You had no right-"
"I have every right as an elder sister to make sure my younger sister isn't doing the magical equivalent of killing herself!" Celestia roared, losing her composure. Luna shrunk back, her face filled with fear.
"Oh, Gods, Luna, I'm so sorry." Celestia reached out and touched a hoof to her shoulder. "You've created a second tantibus. Why would you do that?"
Luna sniffled. "Because I'm still dangerous. I put everypony at risk with the first one. I...I just felt so guilty. I didn't even MEAN to create this tantibus. It just sort of...happened a week ago." Her eyes filled with tears. "I haven't changed, Sister. At heart, I'm still Nightmare Moon. Controlled by dark emotions."
Celestia embraced her. "You are NOT Nightmare Moon."
Luna shook her head and her tears soaked Celestia's fur. "But I am. I always was! I still feel guilty, so guilty."
"This isn't healthy."
"You think I don't know that?"
"Why do you feel so guilty? You spent one-thousand years in exile."
"And clearly that wasn't enough!" Luna broke away and wiped at her eyes. "What hurts me most is how much I hurt you. Every time I go to sleep the first thing I see is your face when you banished me. How hurt you looked."
"I forgave you, but clearly that's not enough. If you feel guilty about hurting me if I was the one to administer a punishment to you would that help?"
"I...I don't know. Maybe. What do you suggest? The stocks perhaps?"
"No, nothing public. That would reflect poorly on your royal dignity. Besides, it needs to be between us. I've decided on a spanking."
Luna instinctively drew her tail closer to her rump. "A spanking? That's a bit childish, don't you think?"
"Perhaps, but I've already made the decision. Luna, all I want to do is move on from this. I don't want you to feel guilty anymore. Maybe this will help you get rid of your guilt. I don't know if it will, but I'm willing to give it a try."
Luna nodded. "I understand, Sister."
"If you need time to prepare, you can wait in your chambers."
"Very well."
Luna made to walk out of the room, then she paused and hugged her sister's neck. "Thank you." She whispered then left.
...
Luna sat on the cool, soft, silken sheets of her bed. After reflecting on it, she realized her sister was right. Despite what she had told Twilight Sparkle, she hadn't truly forgiven herself. Her guilt had lessened enough for her to reign in the Tantabus, but it was still there. One-thousand years of regret, shame and guilt did not vanish overnight. It swirled in her heart, but could be ignored during the day. At night, it lashed her emotions into a tumult. The nightmares had returned a week after the Tantabus had been supposedly dealt with.
She hadn't intended to create a second one, but some part of her had. The same part that held onto all the guilt. Maybe a good, hard spanking would finally allow her to let all this guilt go. And her sister, her loving sister, was the one she had hurt the most with her foolishness. So, it made sense that her sister administer the punishment.
Her reflections were broken when her sister walked into the room.
"Are you ready?" She asked. She was holding a heavy paddle in her hoof. Luna gulped at seeing the paddle. This was bringing back several foalhood memories. "If you're not we can wait."
"No. I want to get this over with." Luna said.
"Very well. Come over here." Celestia said. She sat down on a chair like a judge about to pass sentence. Luna would never admit it, but there had always been a part of her that was in awe of her sister. It wasn't fear, not exactly. She knew that her sister would never harm her. She also knew her sister was strong enough to protect her and loved her enough to do so. And that included protecting her from herself.
So, she made her way over to Celestia and bent across her lap. Celestia laid a foreleg on her shoulder. It almost felt like a hug. Luna held onto that warm thought as the paddle came down across her rear end. Luna yelped. The next smack was just as hard, falling on a different side of her bottom. Now that the spanking had begun in earnest, Celestia began to pepper her bottom with spanks.
Luna tried to maintain her stoic dignity as the swats kept falling like thunder on her backside. Each spank built up an unpleasant warmth in her behind. She tried not to squirm as Celestia alternated the swats. She never let a swat fall in the same place twice. Celestia had an experienced hoof. Each spank stung, but never hurt enough to cause actual injury. Luna squirmed as the spanks gradually increased. The warmth in her behind built up more and more.
Luna cried out as a particularly hard swat fell on her right side of her bottom. Celestia continued the spanking, raining down a flurry of swats onto the right side of Luna's bottom which was beginning to take on a pinkish tone. Suddenly, she switched to the left side of her bottom, raining down another flurry of spanks. Now, Luna did begin to squirm. Celestia paid no mind to it, only increasing her hold on Luna and continuing to bring down the paddle.
Luna tried to hold back her tears as the uncomfortable heat in her behind built up with each spank. The tears slowly rolled down her cheeks as she recalled exactly why she was in this position. All the dark emotions-anger and jealousy and lately guilt-that had driven her to increasingly reckless behaviors. The way she had hurt her sister and so many others that truly cared about her.
"I'm-I'm sorry, Sister!" Luna cried out as the paddle struck the exact center of her bottom.
"I know you are." Celestia told her, continuing to smack Luna's sit spot.
Luna tried not to squirm as the spanks continued to come down, striking the center of her backside again and again. She failed and began to squirm in discomfort as the uncomfortable heat she'd been feeling was now beginning to feel like a raging inferno.
The spanks kept coming, now falling again on the right side of her rump. Luna gave up trying not to squirm and started squirming as each spank made her jump.
"Please no more!" Luna cried out. Her bottom had taken on a dark pinkish shade.
"Only a few more, Luna. I promise. Try to hold on a little longer."
Luna whimpered as Celestia raised the paddle for the last few smacks. She brought down the paddle hard across the younger princess's bottom two more times. Then she set the paddle aside. Luna sobbed and whimpered over Celestia's lap and Celestia wasn't entirely sure it was from pain. She began to rub and caress Luna's reddened behind then pulled her up into an embrace. Luna wrapped her forelegs around her neck and nuzzled into her coat. Celestia cuddled her close to her chest.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"I-I think I will be." Luna answered, snuggling deeper into Celestia. Celestia wrapped her up in her wings and nuzzled her.
"Everything's going to be okay, Luna. You're going to be just fine."
Luna smiled through her tears. Her sister gave the best hugs in the world. Nestled in her wings she felt content and safe, like nothing could ever harm her. Her bottom still felt like it was on fire, but that feeling was nothing compared to the love she felt when she was wrapped up like this. She realized she hadn't felt this close to her sister since her return.
Celestia nuzzled her again. "Are you getting hungry?"
"Um-hmm." Luna said.
"Do you want to go to the dining hall?"
"Can we stay like this for just a little while?"
"For as long as you need to. By the way, I forgive you for everything and I love you."
Luna smiled and rested her head on Celestia's shoulder.
"I love you to."
...
They continued to snuggle for another half-hour before making a trip to the dining hall and taking a walk together in the garden. That night when Luna went to bed, she fell asleep instantly. In her dreams she was in a peaceful meadow. The grasses stretched out endlessly and felt cool and refreshing against her hooves. She felt she was a filly again and a filly version of her sister was there, inviting her to play. They frolicked and happily chased one another through the grass lands, jumping in a river and splashing each other like they had when they were foals.
She felt no guilt, no regret, no shame nor sadness. She felt no anger or jealousy. All that laid in a past she could only dimly remember. All she felt now was a sense of peace and joy as she and her sister pranced through the tall grasses.
It was going to be a long road before she was completely healed from the scars of her past, but with her sister by her side she would one day reach it.