• Published 24th Oct 2016
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Dreams of a Princess - Feenkatze



Ponies dream of the oddest things. For Celestia, kissing her sister is one of those things.

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Chapter 1: Dreams of Impeachment

Princess Celestia of Equestria, ruler over day and night and righteous sovereign of all of ponydom, looked at the stars and let out a long, painful sigh, for she knew that this night would be her last.

For a thousand years, she had raised the Sun every morning and raised the Moon every evening on her own. Never on a single day had she failed her task. Even if the cold touch of the Moon was a daily reminder of her past failures, she had never let Equestria down.

Until tonight.

Nopony else expected Nightmare Moon’s return. Nightmare Moon, a foe whom Celestia feared more than the beasts of Tartarus, and more than the unnamed horrors that lurked at the borders of this world and beyond. Not because she might lose the fight against her, but because she might win.

She couldn’t bear the thought of losing her little sister a second time.

Celestia’s senses caught a faint twist in the fabric of reality, making her look up again. Something was moving in the distance of the night sky, and while she couldn’t see it, she could feel a presence that slowly awoke, lashing out with tendrils of magic to test its surroundings.

“Luna,” she whispered, and the echo of her words was picked up by the wind and carried into the sky, all the way up to her sister.

The next moment, a tremor went through all things like the clash of a massive gong. A force was throwing itself against the prison Celestia had built for it, sending a shock through all the magical connections that linked the Moon to the sky and the sky to the land. A jolt of pain made Celestia let go of them, just for a second. When her senses searched for the celestial bodies again, she wasn’t alone.

“Luna,” she whispered again. “It has been a long time.”

Celestia woke up with beads of sweat on her forehead. Only after a second did she realize that she was alone in her room. Her senses searched for the touch of the Moon, finding it resting in the firmament, placid as ever. It was the middle of the night. Everypony was fast asleep.

With shaking legs, Celestia slipped out of bed and went over to her desk to fetch a glass of water, which she emptied in a few gulps. She decided to pour another glassful over her face, letting the cold splash cleanse her from the distant feeling of horror.

“She’s gone,” Celestia said firmly, letting the echo of her own voice reassure her. “The Nightmare is gone.”

She went back to bed, snuggling into the blanket that was still moist with sweat. Her heartbeat slowed down. Dreams like this one had plagued her ever since her sister’s return, but they were getting rarer. And Luna would be there in the morning to talk to about it.

Hugging the pillow tight, Celestia closed her eyes. She was just glad to have her back.

In the second half of the night, Celestia found herself in Neighsopotamia. She was cowering in the dirt, surrounded by windowless walls made out of mud bricks.

“Twilight, please, I never meant to let you face her alone. I wish I could have helped you, but there was nothing I could do.”

Her former student looked down at her with an unforgiving glare. “Lies! You left my friends and me to die. You sold us to her!”

“No, I –”

“Does she really mean more to you than I do? More than all of us?”

Ponies came up the street behind her: Celestia’s guards, her servants, ponies that she had seen in Ponyville. Mothers with foals appeared in the wooden door frames among elders with walking sticks, looking at her in disgust. “Traitor!” they yelled. Torches and forks were raised.

The mob gathered behind Twilight, who was now dressed in the scarlet robe of a judge. “You fool nopony – you would let us die in a heartbeat if she asked for it. You have failed us, Princess. We, the ponies of Equestria, demand that justice be done.”

“Justice!” the ponies shouted as one. “Justice!”

Twilight grabbed Celestia’s hoof and dragged her along. The roaring crowd split, leaving a path wide enough for them to pass through. At its end stood a guillotine, the angled blade suspended high in the air, gleaming viciously.

Celestia’s eyes grew wide. “Twilight! How can you do this?”

“I don’t need a Princess who lets me fight against Nightmare Moon all on my own.” Twilight flared her wings, which cast huge shadows on the sandy ground. “I’m the Princess now!”

The crowd cheered. “Justice! Justice! Jus–“

Enough!” came a shout from above. At the same time, the sound of flapping wings reached Celestia’s ears and, looking up, she saw Luna. She touched right in front of her, shoving Twilight aside and shielding Celestia from the angry views.

What is the meaning of this?” Luna yelled. “We demand an explanation!

Twilight shrunk to a fracture of her size as she had to face the much older and much more powerful alicorn. “We, um … we wanted to give your sister the punishment she deserves, Your Highness.”

We shall not let any harm be done to our sister! Dost thou understand?

Getting but a whimper in response, Luna turned towards Celestia. Her features softened, and she lowered her voice when addressing her. “We do not have to put up with this folly.“

Celestia gladly took the hoof her sister offered to her. “Let us go away,” she whispered. “Somewhere we can be alone.”

“How far?” Luna asked.

“To the end of the world, if that is what it takes.”

Not looking back, they took off and fled.

After a long flight over the clouds they reached the secret garden. It was an abandoned oasis, built by a tribe of nomads that had long vanished from the surface of the Earth. Flowers and ferns prospered inside its circumference, protected from the burning Sun by large palm trees, and in the center stood a fountain chiseled out of white stone. A little paradise in the middle of the desert.

“You saved me,” Celestia said as they touched down inside the circle.

“Any day,” Luna brushed it off, but she smiled at her all the same.

They sat down against the wall, seeking the cool touch of the stone. Short, sturdy grass tickled Celestia’s legs, giving off a faint yet appetizing scent.

“So this is it?” Luna asked. “You are giving up all of Equestria, just for me?”

Celestia looked at her. She knew that she held responsibility for her subjects, that she held responsibility for this world. But right here, right now, she could not care less about it.

“To me it is all just as good, so long as I have you.”

Suddenly, Luna was a lot closer, almost intimidatingly so. “And if I fell into darkness again? If I abused your grace and goodwill to do evil?”

“If you insist you can have your eternal night. I won’t try to stop you again.” She ran her hoof over Luna’s neck. “So, what do you choose, Luna? The night, or me?”

“Tia, you’re a mad pony.”

“Maybe.”

Luna sighed, brushing Celestia’s hoof off herself. “You know that you mean more to me than any power I could find in this world or another, right?”

“Is that so?” Celestia smirked. She leaned forward, grabbing Luna’s ears to pull her closer still. “Luna, have I ever told you how much I missed you when you were gone?”

“You have.” Luna briefly nuzzled her cheek. “And I missed you too. But that is over now.”

Celestia licked her lips. She could feel her sister’s hot breath roll over her muzzle.

“Luna …”

In the shadow of the oasis they kissed.

“Sunrise in ten minutes, Your Highness.”

Celestia groaned and twisted in her bed. When she didn’t respond, her servant’s voice became hesitant.

“Your Highness?”

She wished the nagging would just go away and let her return to her dream, even though she knew that she needed to get up. The Sun had to be raised, even on a Monday morning.

She forced her eyes open and slid out of bed, trying to remember what she had just dreamed about.

“I’m fine,” she told her servant, who was still waiting around in case she had any wishes. “You can leave now.”

A few seconds ago in her slumber, the dream had been crystal clear, but now it was already fading away. What had it been about, again? It had been a nice one, that much she recalled. Her tongue absently licked over her lips. There had been a kiss …

Then it came back to her: a pair of blue lips, a muffled purr, and a spark of desire in her sister’s eye. “Mother of mine …” She rubbed her forehead and went ahead with raising the Sun.

Nopony had to know. What would ponies think – worse, what would Luna think if she found out?

For a second, she stopped herself in her thought. Luna did have the ability to dreamwalk. What if she … ?

But no, that was paranoid. They had an agreement concerning her privacy, and Celestia trusted her sister to respect it. She had promised.

There was no harm done, and if she just went on about her business and pretended nothing happened it would stay that way.

Celestia left her room, already regaining her confidence, and headed down the stairs to her private baths. They were located in the basement of the east tower, in a big chamber with bare stone walls and a low ceiling. As she opened the door, she was embraced by warm, moist air. Inhaling the scent of essential oils emitted by the flickering candles made the lingering visions of her dream fade further away, and she relaxed.

A maid approached to greet her with a curtsy. “Your Highness, do you wish for any assistance this morning?”

“I think I would like a massage, thank you.”

With another curtsy, the maid walked her over to a massage table, covering it with a towel for Celestia to lay down on. She had hoof-selected Peachy Sweet for her massaging skills, which had made many mornings less sore in the six years of her employment.

With a decisive yet soft touch the maid began to spread warm oil on her coat, gently rubbing it into her. Her hooves had a magic of their own as they brushed over Celestia’s back, caressing it with growing intensity and coaxing a low moan out of her.

“Pray tell,” Celestia asked, “is everything going well for the big day?”

“Very. I can’t believe how beautiful the venue is. I am a lucky mare, aren’t I?”

Celestia gave her a cordial smile. “Are you nervous?”

“Oh, I don’t have the time for that. There’s still so much to plan! Besides, I can’t really grasp it all yet. Feels like a dream.” She got carried away for a moment, her hooves briefly leaving their perfectly aimed path between Celestia’s shoulders before she refocused. “But you should see Goldie. She is the nervous one.”

“I noticed. You would almost think she is scared of you saying no on Thursday.”

A soft giggle. “As if I’d ever.”

They fell into silence after that, Peachy Sweet just continuing to knead her, digging into all the right spots. If it hadn’t been for her royal duties, Celestia would have been quite content to extend the treatment for a while. As it was, though, the massage had to end soon.

“Thank you, Peachy Sweet,” she said, sliding off the table onto her wobbly hooves. “You really are this government’s most important employee.”

“N-not at all.” Peachy curtsied, blushing. “Should we move on?”

Leaving the baths twenty minutes later, Celestia felt at least one thousand years younger than she had entering them. The only need to sate now was her hunger. She followed the corridor that lead to the southern wing of the castle, passing through a gallery from which she caught a glimpse at a team of gardeners on their way over to the labyrinth, shouldering large pruning shears. Such a peaceful spring day, Celestia thought.

When she arrived in the dining hall, Luna already waited for her, looking up from her meal as she entered. “Morning, Tia,” she greeted, before digging her muzzle into a doughnut. A variety of baked goods was set up on the table for them: cakes, pastries, anything that contained at least two hundred percent more sugar than healthy for a normal pony. Oh, the perks of an alicorn’s metabolism.

Celestia did the best she could to meet her sister’s eye, swallowing her discomfort as she was reminded of the dream again. “Good morning, Lulu. How was your night?”

Luna shrugged. “Nothing to complain about. And yourself?”

“Oh, I … it was alright.” The memory brought a blush to Celestia’s cheeks, which she hid behind her mane with a discrete tilt of her head.

She felt a skeptical glance from her sister. They often talked about her dreams over breakfast, especially the ones that bothered her. After all, nightmares were Luna’s field of expertise. She wished she could share this one, too – that might make it all better.

Since she couldn't, though, she just grabbed a few slices of cake. Cake was the solution to everything.

“What’s on the agenda?” she asked Luna in between bites, skipping over the headlines of the newspaper.

“The usual: making some appearances, negotiating with the supreme court, feeding Blueblood in the dungeon …”

Celestia snickered. “I wish.”

“You and me both, sister. But it appears to be a calm week. I was musing whether we could go flying together in the afternoon. How long has it been? Four months?”

“Three and a half. I don’t know, Luna, there are still a few laws on my desk waiting for a revision, and I should better start working on my speech to the griffin council soon. Not to forget that Miss Sweet’s and Miss Banner’s wedding will take a good chunk of my schedule.”

“Right. Well, it was just a thought …”

“Sorry. I promise that I will make the time soon.”

“I will hold you to your word.” Shoving one last doughnut into her mouth, Luna got up. “I shall be in the library, then. Good luck with those laws.”

“Thank you.”

Luna walked off. As she left the room, Celestia let out the breath she had been holding. She finished off her meal and then headed back to her private quarters. Thankfully, the dream stayed off her mind for the rest of the day.