Sunset jumped almost out of the bathtub, startled by the voice suddenly coming out of nowhere. The only problem was, she wasn’t in the bathtub anymore. In fact, from the looks of things she wasn’t in Equestria anymore. Or the actual planet for that matter.
“It’s confirmed. I’m losing it.” the alicorn deadpanned. After all, how else could you explain her suddenly appearing on the moon of all places?
A dark chuckle from behind her caught the attention of the yellow alicorn. Slowly she turned around and got a good look on the source of the chuckle.
“Oh, I can assure you dear niece, your mind is as sound as sound.” Said Nightmare Moon, who was slowly coming closer to Sunset. The smaller alicorn tensed up a little, but else didn’t move.
“Nightmare…” she breathed out. “Wait, that’s it. I must have fallen asleep. This is a dream.” she concluded.
Nightmare Moon let out another chuckle. “You’re correct, this is a dream.” The taller mare was now standing right in front of the younger princess. “But this is no ordinary dream, I assure you. I am not called Nightmare for nothing.”
Sunset’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks, understanding the implication. Somehow, despite being banished, Nightmare Moon had managed to invade Sunset’s dreams. And given how random dreams could be at times, if Nightmare did this, when Sunset was dreaming about something particular-
Her train of thought was interrupted, when she felt Nightmare’s hoof under her chin.
“You’re truly beautiful my dear niece. I am sure the noble stallions must gushing over you.”
Sunset took a few steps backwards. “Let’s just say, I’m not particularly interested in dating a stallion that is more interested about his mane style, than anything else. I don’t know how things were 1000 years ago, aunt Luna” she emphasized these two words “but nowadays, you’ll have a hard time finding a “noble” noble.”
Nightmare Moon blinked upon hearing her real name, but the smiled again. “I see, I see. Why don’t you tell me about yourself, my dear niece. It has been a terribly long time, since I have last talked to anypony.” The taller mare circled the smaller one, like a predator hunting her prey.
Sunset tried very hard to keep her cool. She knew what Nightmare was doing. Heck, she had done it herself countless times. Nightmare or aunt Luna as she mentally called the mare wanted information. Somehow, probably through dreams, Nightmare had found out about Sunset and probably Twilight as well. It wasn’t hard to imagine what Luna would do, had she this kind of information. Sunset had used it for blackmail. Given the backstory of Nightmare Moon, she would probably try to get Sunset to go against Celestia, maybe even Twilight.
Two can play this game, dear aunt.
“I cannot complain, really. I have more money than I could spend in a year, I have access to almost every book about magic there is...I could go on, but you understand, what I mean.”
Nightmare frowned, not because of the trivial information. No, she was no fool. She knew immediately that her niece had seen through her spiel. Nevertheless, this didn’t mean anything in the end.
“Yes, living the life of a princess. It’s what every filly dreams of.” The tall alicorn stopped right in front of Sunset, lowering her head until they were face to face. “Why don’t we skip everything trivial. Tell me, what do you think of your mother? Your sister? I am genuinely curious.”
The younger alicorn shuddered, feeling her aunts breath on her face.
“Well...I’m sorry to say, but I am suffering from a slight case of amnesia. My memories are not really reliable right now.”
“...Ah, yes. Your accident.” Luna nodded to herself, causing Sunset to raise an eyebrow.
“Oh, do not be surprised. I have been watching you for quite some time.” the taller alicorn revealed. “Maybe you want me to help you regain your memories? Dreams can be very revealing and your dreams have told me a lot about you.”
Great. I have a stalker aunt.
“I appreciate the help, but as of right now, I have much on my mind. For example, we’re in the middle of preparing your return. Surely you wouldn’t want it to be half assed, do you? By the way, do you prefer cake or pies?”
To those words, Nightmare Moon couldn’t help herself. She began to laugh. She laughed and laughed, Sunset was a little worried the dark alicorn would suffocate. Eventually however, the alicorn of the night caught herself, although she snickered a little.
“Oh, my sides. I don’t remember the last time I laughed this heartfully.”
Out of nowhere, Sunset felt herself being pulled into a hug, by the black wing of her aunt. “I wish I would have been able to talk to you earlier. But, who cares? Soon enough we’ll have more than enough time to get to know each other.”
Sunset just nodded, still too stunned at the fact that Nightmare Moon of all ponies had pulled her into a hug.
“Though I have to ask, why do you not want to regain your memories? With my powers it will be easy to dive into your subconsciousness and bring them back. Is there anything naughty you’re trying to hide?”
“WHAT?! NO!”
Sunset pushed herself away, blushing furiously. She just realized just how serious the entire situation was. Quickly, the yellow pony pushed herself out of the hug, taking a few steps back.
“N-n-n-o, i-i-it’s….urghh.”
Nightmare Moon laughed once again, her imagination running wild as to what her poor niece might have hidden. Though, in all actuality, the black mare knew already as to why her niece was refusing her help. It was because her own flesh and blood didn’t trust her at all. No doubt it was a certain white alicorn’s fault.
“Look, let’s get the facts straight.” said a still flustered Sunset.
Now she is going to say it.
“We both know that you’re either showing me some false pictures or abridging the proof in such a way that I will start hating Twilight and Celestia. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the world.” the younger mare stated, her wings flaring a little.
Nightmare Moon suppressed her anger and simply said. “Hmph, I should have known my sister put ideas into your head. After all, she had more than enough time to do so.”
Sunset laughed a dryly. “You know, you just might do the same thing.”
This time Nightmare Moon’s own wings flared a little, causing Sunset to take a few steps back in caution.
“Once a long time ago, I was a wielder of the Element of Honesty. And while none of the Elements respond to me anymore, I still value honesty.”
“Wait, what?” Damn, she’s right. I already forgot about this! But, just because she once represented honesty, doesn’t mean she’s honest now….right?
While Sunset was lost in her own thoughts, Nightmare Moon had a really hard time to keep her temper in check. Being stuck for almost a millennia on the moon didn’t help in that regard. As a result, she decided to cut tonight’s conversation short, in order to not lose her niece completely to her treacherous sister.
“If you do not believe me, why don’t you ask my dear sister?” the nightmare asked, before turning around. And before Sunset could say anything else, the dreamscape faded.
Sunset woke up with a gasp, splashing water everywhere in the bathroom. To her horror, she realized that the water had gotten colt and that her fur was soaked in it.
“A-CHOO!” Sunset sneezed, accidentally triggering the royal Canterlot voice. Not only did she knock the entire water out of the bathtub, but also herself and to top it off, the shockwave destroyed not only the mirrors, but also every bottle of perfume, shampoo, conditioner that was made of glass. It was a total mess.
Shivering from the cold, the alicorn needed a moment to catch herself from what just happened to her and her bathroom. She carefully raised a hoof and put it on the edge of her bathtub, only for her to lose footing and slip. The fall ended with Sunset somehow getting out of her bathtub and hitting her forehead on the ground.
“OW!! Oooooaaarr….” The yellow mare groaned, slowly rolling on her back and rubbing her forehead with her forehooves. “Oaarr...the pain...make it stop…” she moaned, barely registering the shampoos entering her mane and fur.
There was a knock at the door all of the sudden. For Sunset it sounded like someone was playing the drums.
“Sunset, are you in there?” Celestia’s voice sounded through the door. Sunset’s only reply was even more groaning.
Celestia opened the door, her jaw dropping to the ground, upon seeing the devastated state her daughter’s bathroom was in. However what quickly caught her attention, was her daughter lying in a puddle of multi colored beauty products.
“Sunset!” Celestia exclaimed, levitating her daughter out of the puddle. “Are you alright?” she asked.
“Urrgh… it hurts...a lot…” Sunset replied almost comically.
“Oh dear, let’s get you to the hospital wing.”
After it was revealed that Sunset was only suffering from a slight concussion, Celestia brought her daughter to her personal room, while the maids were ordered to clean up Sunset’s bathroom. In the meantime, Sunset had recovered enough from her injury to form complete sentences again. Of course once she told her mother what happened, Celestia had one of the biggest laughing fits she had in centuries.
“You...you sneezed? *Snrk* Hahaha, oh- oh my, it’s just...hahahaha!”
The alicorn in the bathroom rolled her eyes, washing the last of the conditioner out of her mane.
“Should I bring you some tissues? You know, just in case...HAHAHAHAHA!”
“Yeah, yeah, we get it, alicorn sneezes are comparable to a category 10 tornado.”
“*Snrk* Alicorn sneeze...tornado...AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
Just how dull has her life been that she can laugh about something like THAT?! Sunset asked, getting out of the bathtub, though this time she used her magic to levitate herself out of it, instead of risking another head injury.
She slowly made her way to Celestia’s room, where she found the white alicorn, lying on the carpet, a huge smile on her face. The smaller alicorn placed herself in front of the bigger pony, subconsciously rubbing her forehead.
“Feeling better?” she asked.
“Yeah, a little.” Sunset sighed.
“It’ll take the maids probably all night to reassemble your bathroom. So why don’t you just spend the night here?”
“Are you sure? I mean, I could just stay in one of the other rooms. We only have about a million guest rooms or so…”
Celestia’s ears dropped and a little frown appeared on her face for just a split second. Sunset didn’t notice this, as she had been looking towards the door, while she spoke. When she looked back, Celestia had her smiling mask back up.
“Aww, too bad. My little pony is a big pony now.”
“Very funny…” Sunset deadpanned. “You know, this gives me an idea. We should hire a jester. It just might improve your sense of humor.”
“Oh you…” Celestia smiled. “Why should I hire a jester, when I have a humorously daughter like you?”
“Urrgh…” Sunset smiled despite her repeated groaning. This was just like the Celestia she remembered, always a little playful, even if nopony else found it funny.
“Behold, Sunset Shimmer, the princess of jokes. Augh!” Celestia was caught off guard, while her daughter magically threw a pillow at her mother. The smaller pony had used the fact that Celestia was making an over dramatic gesture.
Sunset smirked up to her mother. That smirk dropped in a split second, when Celestia levitated every single pillow in the room up.
“Umm...I surrender?”
“Don’t care.” Celestia smiled the most beautiful smile she could muster and assaulted her daughter with a bombardment of pillows. In a matter of milliseconds, the yellow alicorn was buried under a mass of textile filled with feathers. The alicorn dug herself out of the mountain of pillows, only to came face to face with her mother, who had saved up one last pillow. Said pillow somehow made the noise of a freaking shot gun, when Celestia pushed the pillow on two sides together, before stretching it, as if she was loading a real shotgun.
“Pinkie Pie, is that you?”