Princess Luna is Dead

by Horsegirl123

Chapter 3

Rolling thunder relaxed my thoughts as my eyes scanned once again over thousands of words of history. Although it was only noon, the dark clouds gave the ominous feeling of the dead of night, even though the lightning did a great job of lighting up the sky every few minutes. Being that the rain had trapped me inside for the majority of the day, save for breakfast, I had resorted to having Spike send every history book to my new room to make me feel more at home. However, most books also came with a sassy note written by him or Rainbow Dash, so I tried to put a limit on the number I requested.

I missed my friends a lot: no pony had made me laugh like Pinkie could since I'd gotten here, and no article of clothing I was stuffed into even resembled Rarity's quality and genius. I tried to feed one of the Flamingoes in the palace garden, but I had to be rescued by one of the groundskeeper before it could completely swallow my body. I even missed the taste of Applejack's pies that she would leave on my window sill when I was too busy to go out. My friends were so amazing, and now they had to schedule appointments just to visit me, which I couldn't even understand, because its not like I had ANY royal duties to attend to yet. The past few days had been filled with attending meals, going to two formals, shaking hooves with the noble families for three hours, and studying, which had become pointless because there was no longer a higher being I could report to. I guess I was trying to humor myself, because I really wasn't feeling like a princess right now.

My indigo mane stayed cut above my eyes in stylish bangs, with two wisps on either side of my face that hadn't grown back since the Coronation Ceremony. However, they had sparked an entire trend with the teen ponies of Equestria; not a day went by when I didn't see a pony in a palace tour wearing their hair any other way. Celestia assured me the whole thing would be over soon, as after she had come to reign, ponies tried dying their manes the same color and enchanting them to flow like hers did, which only resulted in combustion.

But these thoughts were besides the point. Right now, I was interested only in the studies of Equestria's past, trying to find any hints or tricks I could use to gain popularity as a ruler or in the least not get chased off the throne by an angry mob. From what I could read, Celestia and Luna had been the only rulers since any of these books could recall, and before them the entire land had been broken into small villages with individual governments. Many of the scrolls were written in old Equestrian language, some even written in Zebrican, and despite the thoughts of the ponies who'd heard of my brains, I could not decipher every language thrown at me. Possibly if I had time and the resources for translation I could get a clue, but for now I was dumbstruck. The only thing I could make out of the wording were the multiple uses of Luna's name which was kept with a constant spelling in each language.

Doing the best I could to make out the wording from a book dating back about one thousand years ago, I began to read the passage given.

"Princess Luna and Princess Celestia," I read aloud, "were two alicorn ponies that came to power thousands of years ago. History has not yet been able to prove their exact age or what year they took control, but under their hooves Equestria was united into a successful nation that was able to withstand the threats of other species for many years, only engaging in three wars in the past five thousand years. According to folktales, Princess Luna sports a shorter mane than Celestia because while fighting with her ponies in one of the wars, she cut off half her mane to use as raw energy for gunpowder after enemy assaults had blown up their artillery storage."

I looked up intrigued. "Who knew?" I chuckled. "I'll have to ask her about that tomorrow. Wait, whats this?"

"As told by a castle staff member after Nightmare Moon's banishment, there was rumor that the dead body of-"

A soft rapping on my chamber door snapped me out of my reading, forcing me to clear away all the scattered papers, scrolls, and history books I had strewn across my bed. I rose up from under my comforter, set my tea cup carefully on the bedside table and rushed to the door; seeing Celestia's ethereal mane, I quickly undid the lock and swung the mighty doors open wide enough for her to enter.

"My my Twilight, you sure have been keeping yourself busy," she remarked. I looked back to my study heap, laughing softly.

"I just want to make sure I'm doing it right."

"What have you been reading?" she walked over to my bed, picking up miscellaneous pieces of literature and accounts.

"The basics: all about the past rulers of Equestria, and the lords and nobles. I found it so interesting that so long ago there was once-... Celestia?" Celestia had begun walking out the door, all my material gripped in her magic.

"Celestia, whats wrong?" I asked, not even having to move from the door.

She sighed. "Twilight, you have to have faith in yourself. You can't learn instinct from books, you need to learn how to rule without the influence of others' pasts. I will keep these in my study for the time being; please try to make your rule as original as possible."

"But Princess, why? What did you come here to tell me?"

She looked back at me for a moment, before beginning to walk out of the room as quickly as she had entered. "Ponies make mistakes that others shouldn't learn about; it won't help you." On that note she closed the door behind her, parting the rainclouds with another free magic strand as she walked down the spiraling staircase that wound up my personal tower.

I stood dumbfounded, unable to put logic to Celestia's reason. I trotted over to my desk, pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill.

'Dear Spike,

Don't worry, I'm not asking you for another book. I know you must be out of breath by now. I just wanted to see how things are going with the library. I know its been a slow week; well, at least with what Fluttershy has told me. I understand she's been bringing you dinner every night. Spike, you better do something to thank her or I'll send Mom after you. Anyways things here are good, if a little slow. Ok, a lot slow. I haven't done anything royal, but I'm not complaining! It is the greatest honor to be made a princess, but Celestia has been acting very strange lately, and there is something missing in the castle that I really can't explain. I think what I'm getting at is that I would like you to come up for a visit next Sunday, so five days from now. I hope the library will survive without you for a few days, but it has been quite lonely holed up in my room. Also, if you could bring my photo album, there might be a sapphire waiting when you get here. I've been missing everyone's faces. Love you lots, my number one assistant.'

I signed my name neatly and laid down my pen. I tossed up the rolled parchment with a hoof, and shot up a beam of purple flame, the same used by Spike to send letters. However, when sent to me instead of Celestia, the flame was purple. Made sense for the most part.

I regressed to my bed, flopping on my back, and carefully laying my wings out to my sides so I wouldn't crush them. The maroon cushions and sheets gave off such a soothing sense, while the curtains that hung from my tall bed could shield out the light of the sun if drawn properly. But for right now, I did not need sleep; no, I needed rest, and time for thought.

What was missing? Something, or someone, was definitely not right, and Luna needing help only made matters worse.

Knock knock knock. Another series of rapping echoed on my door.

"Who could that be now?" I climbed off my bed and flapped my wings, making it to the door very quickly. I looked back at my bed to make sure Celestia hadn't forgotten any of my books that she had forbidden me from reading, but saw that in fact she had collected everything. So what could she want?

I looked through the peephole, and to my surprise, saw Princess Luna pacing in front of it. "Twilight open up quickly! Please Twilight!"

I immediately unlocked the door and she came rushing in, not bothering to wipe her soaking hooves; I didn't care, the maids could tend to the stain in the morning. "Princess, how can I help you?" She shook her body like a dog, expelling every droplet of water from her fur, but really just shaking it on to me.

"Agh, Luna-"

"Shut up, Twilight! Please listen to me! I have little time!" she exclaimed.

I was taken aback by her rude response, stepping backwards a step. "Luna? Is everything ok?"

"I'm not- nevermind. I don't have much time. This isn't what it looks like. She's hiding everything from you! I'm not real! Nothing is real Twilight! You have to come find me. Please Twilight she's keeping me locked up and I fear I don't have much time left! Everything is wrong, and I know you can feel it."

"What do you mean? Whats happening Luna!?" I yelled frantically, beads of sweat forming on my face with every sentence she spoke.

"Come save me please! I'm almost gone, I can't hang on! Ah Twilight it hurts!" She collapsed to the ground, gripping her head in agony. "She's got me in the-"

"In the what? In the what Princess!?" I yelled, rolling her hooves off her face to make eye contact.

"What?" Princess Luna looked up at me dumbfounded. "My goodness, I see my sleepwalking has taken me farther than usual. I am so sorry Twilight for bothering you, and how did I end up on the floor here?" Princess Luna got to her feet with ease, looking as fine as ever, save for the bags under her eyes.

"But Princess, you just said you were in trouble!" I cried.

Luna laughed. "Oh Twilight, come now. Do I look like I am in danger. I'm sure I was just sleep talking."

"But it was so real-" I was interrupted with a large yawn by Luna.

"Oh I am so sorry, Twilight. That was incredibly rude of me," she said, stifling another yawn. "But it is very early for me. Can we continue this conversation over our meal later? I feel I will probably recollect more when I'm fully awake," she said with a smile.

My head was racing for answers, but yet I couldn't move my body. "Um, yes of course. See you in the morning, Luna." My lips were barely able to move enough to complete the sentence, but luckily the Princess wasted no time in teleporting herself back to her own chambers, even in her groggy state. After a few moments of being frozen, I found the strength to gallop over to my desk.

"Change of plans, Spike. You think you can make it here by tomorrow night?"

Author's Note:

Bum bum buuuummmm

Comments

[MountainTheFirstAlicorn]

please keep righting

[ANearPerfectStudent]

Ohhhh.... I am starting to get it...

I think...

[ultra1437]

You have piqued my interest, please, do continue this.

[Swirls]

CELESTIA LIED ABOUT NIGHTMARE MOON AND SHES PLOTTING TO KILL LUNA!

[ApocalypticLightbulb]

Interesting, I hope this doesn't end with a alicorn murder-fest. Because I think it is.

[Iron Nebula]

Hm. So, the real Luna is trapped inside her own head, and can only talk to Twilight when her body is asleep. But why is Celestia keeping her sister's mind locked inside, and who is the personality masquerading in Luna's body when she is awake?

[Fluid Apple]

Dammit i have homework to do!