Friendship Still is Magic

by ultronquake

Well this is it were all going to die

From the back room of the hall the happy noises that drifted in indicated things were going good. As she stood in front of a small mirror she mussed with her long flowing mane. While it does help make an impression on dignitaries from Equestria's neighbors and her subjects alike, having hair with a mind of it's own can be a real pain. A pertinent example of this involved an experiment with electricity conducted by her young student. The result of said experiment left Celestia's mane shooting out in all directions, "Ah! Scary octopus!" The purple filly cried out hiding behind a small dragon.

Outside the door the two of her Pegasus guards stood watch, the others were posted inside the party looking out for any mare-do-wells. Stealthily hiding on the roof the being once known as the Mare on the Moon dissolved into it's mist form once more, quietly slid around the two pegasi and rendered them unconscious.

The Princess called out to her escort, "I'm ready, boys we'd best not keep everypony waiting." When she received no reply she cautiously put her ear to the door, only to be surprised to find a black substance pouring from the keyhole and the door-jam. As the white Alicorn backed to the corner of the room the oozing mass formed back into a solid shape. Standing as tall as Celestia it stared at her with eyes full of rage, baring her mouth full of sharp teeth at her opponent.

"Hello again sister, i'm glad to see you still draw breath," said Celestia calmly.

"How could i possibly die before you, you gave me the gift of one thousand years of isolation. I've had so long to imagine how i should repay you," said the imposing figure as she stepped closer to the princess.

"Luna please stop! You don't need to do this. Come back to me, let us rule together as we were meant to." Celestia pleaded with her as she continued her approach.

At hearing this the altered alicorn spread her wings and lashed out with a vile tongue, "There is no Luna only Nightmare Moon!" The violent being shot out a bolt of magic, striking Celestia on her horn.

"Sister i do not wish to fight you but i will defend myself," said Celestia. She now stood at her full height, the two giants among ponies almost filled the small changing room.

The fight was short but bitter, Celestia tried to incapacitate her opponent by shooting her with rays of light magic, said magic was shrugged off as if it were nothing at all. The Nightmare responded with vicious jabs with her horn, Celestia swiftly dodging these deadly strikes was then caught off guard by a tendril coming from Nightmare Moon, pinning her to the ground.

"Your not so tough now without your elements of harmony, tell me what has become of them? Don't tell me you lost them." The victorious mare gloated over her fallen opponent.

"I have not laid hoof on them since the day i used them on you," said Celestia.

"It matters not anyway, what matters now is how i shall punish you." The Nightmare looked skyward and an evil thought entered her mind. "An eye for an eye they say. Enjoy your stay on the sun Celestia! Watch on helplessly as these ponies you care for so much wither away in the night!" The eyes of Nightmare Moon began to glow as she summoned eminence magic power from within.

As the banishing spell wrapped around Celestia she could feel her ties to Equestria begin to fade, "I think i'll go and greet my subjects now, it's been some time and i'm sure their just dying to see their princess," said Nightmare Moon. In a blink of an eye Princess Celestia was no longer in the Ponyville city hall dressing room but drifting through the plasma of the sun she moved across the sky each day. Though the heat could do nothing to hurt her, the light was so intense she could see nothing at all.

With no way to return of her own accord she could only imagine the state of her kingdom and pray that her subjects would be fine. 'Twilight my beloved student, the burden is now on your shoulders.' In the swirling haze of burning gasses time had little meaning, the exhausted princess let her self drift off into sleep knowing from here on out, events were out of her hooves.

*****

The front doors of city hall burst open, behind them was Cloudchaser excitedly looking for somepony to share her discovery with. After brief look through the crowd she found Twilight off in a corner on her lonesome nervously pacing.

"Hey Twilight! Over here!" Cloudchaser shouted, but her call was drowned out by the noise of the chatty crowd.

With the way to her fellow astronomy buff blocked she decided to fly instead. Instead of flying at a respectable pace for indoors she flew as fast as her wings could carry her, catching the attention of the guards posted. The two white pegasi acted fast tackling Cloudchaser and keeping her down. The guard pointing a spear at her throat exclaimed, "Stop right there criminal scum! Nopony breaks the law on my watch! I'm confiscating your stolen goods. Now pay the fine or it's off to jail."

"Get off me! I haven't done anything wrong and i don't have any 'stolen goods' I just have my astronomy notes," said Cloudchaser.

Thankfully this debacle took place within Twilight's view, she rushed over to the aid of her acquaintance. "Excuse me, why are you assaulting the guests?" Asked Twilight.

"Please you gotta help me, this whakjob thinks i'm a thief or something. All i did was speed a little."

"Wait your that girl from this morning-" she struggled to find her name, "- it was Cloudchaser right." Twilight motioned for the excitable guards to leave.

Cloudchaser picked herself up off the floor. "Sure am glad you recognized me, not sure what would have happened if you hadn't intervened there."

"Yeah you're lucky, that was Line of Sight. He's so over protective of Celestia that anpony remotely suspicious he sees he immediately takes into custody. Nopony ever get's harmed but it just ends up making a hassle for Celestia to deal with, apologizing to the victims, and threat evaluation training for the whole royal guard." Said Twilight.

"Well if he's such a pain why isn't he fired or sent back to training?" Asked Cloudchaser.

"Ehh apparently he's related to royalty somehow, easier to deal with his messes than the bureaucratic nightmare of trying to get him kicked out." Twilight looked a little dejected, then a thought crossed her mind. "Say why are you here anyway? I thought you said you would be watching the stars tonight."

"Well that's why i came here, You said to come find you if anything strange happened and boy i say the mother of all strangeness tonight. The Mare on the Moon is GONE!" said Cloudchaser.

Twilight's eyes went wide, "Gone as in covered by the shadow of other objects or gone as in 'Where did that Mare on the Moon i have a minuet ago run off to' gone."

"Just look up and see for yourself," said Cloudchaser.

The heads of the two ponies drifted upward and stared at the blank moon, a sight that had not been seen in one thousand years. "No were already too late, she's escaped."

"Who's escaped? Do you mean that crazy strong black pony that jumped from the moon to here in four leaps?" Asked Cloudchaser.

"She's in Ponyville!? Then we really have no time, i must warn Princess Celestia now!" Said Twilight.

Before she could make her way to the stage door a tan pony with spectacles took to the stage to make an announcement. "Fillies and gentlecolts as mayor of Ponyville it is my honor to announce the beginning of the splendid and worthwhile Summer Sun Celebration." The crowd erupted into cheers.

"In just a few moments our town will witness the Majesty and beauty of the sunrise, and celebrate what is the longest day of the year! And without further hesitation i introduce our wonderful and majestic ruler. The pony whose legislative skills i am not worthy of comparing to my own, yet it is my duty to introduce her to you all. The good the wise, bringer of harmony to all Equestria-" The earth pony continued to ramble on like this for a while. As time went on the crowd's cheering faded, replace with impatient glaring.

Finally a pink pony standing near the desert table shouted, "Enough already, Get on with it!"

"Get on with it!" shouted Lyra and Fluttershy up on the balcony

"Get on with it!" Shouted a voice behind the curtain.

"GET ON WITH IT!!!" Shouted the entire assembly of Ponyville, Twilight voice being one of the loudest there.

With her lengthy intro cut short the mayor gave in to the crowd. "Fine here she is,-" with the Que finally given Lyra performed a short musical sting. "-Princess Celestia!"

The red curtains drew back revealing a distinct lack of solar princess. The crowds began to panic, running into each other, the decorator Rarity was seen fainting on a well placed couch, Spike followed suit raising a claw to his forehead before dramatically loosing conciseness.

"Please remain calm everypony I'm sure there is a very reasonable and satisfying explanation for this," Said the panicked mayor.

"I believe i can shed some light on the situation," said a voice not belonging to any of the ponies in the crowd.

'this can't be good.' Thought Twilight.

In a flash the bearer of the voice made herself known, she stood at the place reserved for the princess and yet she seemed to belong there. "Hello my subjects, it's been so long since I've seen your precious sun-loving faces," said the intruder.

"Nightmare Moon," Twilight whispered to herself, she had a feeling she would not be talking with the princess anytime soon.

Author's Note:

I've been trying to use this title for three chapters now, but i ended up changing the content so much that the title wouldn't match. Points if you can guess what it's a reference to. If you want a hint most of Mayor Mare's dialogue in this chapter is inspired by the same thing.
I'm pretty sure Celestia was banished to the sun, cause in the episode they beat nightmare moon then Celestia and the sun return at the same time. It sure beats Celestia was just hiding out somewhere so Twilight could learn about friendship.