Of Gods and Tomes

by The Seventh Dragon

Sister's Redemption

Year 1000, Celestia's Reign

Celestia watched the scene unfold from high up in space, her vision piercing through the cloud cover to watch the battle between her sister's corrupted soul and the Elements of harmony. Once she knew that Twilight Sparkle and her five friends were ready to bear the elements, she had arranged for her sister to be released from her prison on the Moon. She know things would take care of themselves from there, so orbited high above so as not to interfere. Without her full power, Nightmare Moon could do little more than perform parlor tricks on the girls. And while some of those tricks had been potentially dangerous, Twilight and her friends had proven that her confidence was well placed. Far below, the multicoloured light of the Elements reached out to Nightmare Moon, enveloping her and cleansing her soul; making her into Princess Luna once again. As the light faded they all slowly fell to the ground, unconscious. Finally, after a thousand years, so could see her sister again. As she descended into the atmosphere, she focused her will and set the sun into motion behind her. It would be a beautiful sunrise, fit for such a wonderful day.

---

That evening she rested on her balcony in Canterlot, Luna held close to her side by a wing. "So what can you remember, little sis?" She asked gently. Luna squeezed even closer to her and shivered.

"I can remember the day the book fell from the sky, and I can remember deciphering it's language, but I cannot remember actually reading it. After that, it's bits and pieces. Wandering the Moon, rage, darkness, not much else."

Celestia sighed. "I assumed as much. I figured that the only way the Elements would be able to truly heal you would be to erase everything that book put into your head." Celestia squeezed her sister tightly with her wing. "Your power will come back to you slowly over the next year, as it flows down from the moon. You aren't too far from being a mortal right now, actually." Luna body was tiny compared to her sisters, no larger than an average pony. Her coat was much lighter than normal, and her mane had none of the ethereal qualities that an alicorn's was supposed to have.

"Where is Obitus, sister? Where is my love? Did I hurt him?" Luna looked up at her with fear and desperation plain on her face, her body tightening up like a steel coil.

"He is fine Luna, just sleeping." Luna sighed and relaxed against her. "He was weakened by the book before we disposed of it. When you have recovered, you can go wake him. He was very hopeful that you would be the first thing he saw when he wakes up."

Luna thought for a moment. "So he's been asleep for a thousand years?"

"Yes. I'd never thought a god could tire, but he certainly was. He's encased in solid rock for now, but when your power comes back that will be no problem at all. There is one other thing... his dreams are manifesting themselves as strange creatures. Hopefully they will all disappear when he wakes up." Celestia stood up and walked to the edge of the balcony. "We have to much more... restrained now, Luna. It took me eight hundred years of careful manipulation to get ponykind to forget our battle. They were terrified of me for centuries, and I'm afraid many will still be afraid of you. I'm also worried how they will react to Obitus when we wake him; they have no idea that there is a god of death. I just hope they don't assume the worst about him because of his purpose."

Luna stood beside her sister, leaned against the balcony railing and smiled. "Let them simply know him as Obitus for a while before we reveal his purpose. He's so... pleasant. Ponies will love him easily, and after a few decades we'll break it to them quietly." She looked off into the night, still smiling dreamily. "He really is easy to love." She looked back to her sister. "Did Grail ever come back?"

Celestia smiled. "No, not yet. He did say he wouldn't be back for a few millennia, and it's only been fifteen hundred years." She looked up at the stars and sighed. "Visiting another system takes a long time; but it has been lonely. For a while I found comfort with mortals, but the pain when they aged and died got to be too much. I do have mortal descendants now though, and it does bring me pleasure to see them living happily."

"It must have been horrible sister" Luna embraced her sister. "A millennium by yourself. I'm so sorry, my curiosity has hurt you so much!"

"No sister, nothing was your fault. Whatever that book contained is at fault. If only we knew where it came from, we might be able to prevent something like this from ever happening again." She stood up and paced. "I have a feeling that this isn't the first time that book has caused problems. I'm willing to bet it got here because another god cast it out of their own system. Perhaps when Grail returns he will have some information. But until then, it is safely contained here where no one can reach it."

"Wait, I thought you destroyed it! Why would you keep it here?" Luna looked at her, shocked and scared.

"We tried to destroy it. By its very nature we could not harm it, so we contained it somewhere very safe."

"Where could you possibly put something that dangerous that would be safe?"

"I don't know. After we contained it, Obitus and I chose to forget its location. So perhaps it is even safer now, simply because it is lost where no one can find it."

Luna looked relieved. "As long as no one can find it." She looked up again at the stars."It's origin still needs to be explained, though. I think after Grail returns I will go out and find its source, and destroy it if possible. Perhaps Obitus will accompany me."

Celestia looked up at the stars with her sister. "It would be a long and perilous quest, even for a god. But I agree, evil like that makes Discord seem like a minor irritation in comparison." She embraced her sister with one wing again. "Just don't be in too much of a hurry to leave, eh? We have a lot of time apart to catch up on."

---

Year 1, Sister's Reign

"Are you sure you want... tonight to be your first public outing, sister?" Celestia asked as Luna as they walked together out of Canterlot's throne room, the sky darkening early outside on the eve of Nightmare Night.

"I have my reasons, sister. Ponies are still afraid of me, I know, but tonight is sort of a celebration of that fear. If I make many mistakes tonight, they may just be passed off as being 'festive', as opposed to being horrifying. And I have chosen to make my appearance where the bearers of the Elements live in Ponyville; if anyone will lend me a helping hand they will. They accepted me as a friend even after we had battled last year; there are no kinder hearts to be found." Luna smiled, remembering the pleasant faces of the Ponyville ponies as they had given her a wreath of flowers the previous year.

"Those are sound reasons, sister. But remember, when they saw you last you appeared as a mortal to them. That is no longer the case." They paused in a hallway before a convenient floor length mirror, Celestia gesturing at Luna's form. "You are almost back to your full stature now, and your mane is back in its proper form." She looked Luna in the eye. "Additionally, you have your full power back. You aren't really used to it, and we must be careful not to make vulgar displays of power. Without restraint, even the simple act of feeling strong emotions can cause noticeable changes in the environment." They started walking again, headed for Celestia's chambers. "Remember that I've been careful to display very little power for the past thousand years. You noticed I'm sure that I left it up to the Elements to deal with Discord when he returned a few months ago; the tiniest slip may put ponykind back in the habit of groveling at our feet." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I hate being feared."

"Tell me about it." Luna sneered. "My guards are the only ones who don't get all wide eyed and start stuttering when I speak to them." Luna chuckled. "Did you hear about the librarian I bumped into last night?"

Celestia raised an eyebrow in interest. "No, I hadn't. what happened?"

"Well I was in the library researching this non-magic technology that's been invented called 'electricity'. It had gotten quite dark and a thunder storm had started outside. So I decided that I should probably turn on the lights, you know, in case somepony else was in there trying to read. And I also wanted to poke around in the 'fuse box', to get a better idea on current flow and such." Celestia nodded. Of course gods don't need light to see by, but keeping up appearances was important. "So, as I rounded a corner in the stacks one of the librarians walked right into me and fell down. By sheer chance at the same time lightning hit the tower next to the library and silhouetted me against a window. Well, apparently that was quite scary because.." Luna looked around for eavesdroppers, then leaned in conspiratorially to Celestia. "The poor stallion voided his bowels right there!" Celestia put a hoof to her lips, trying desperately not to laugh out loud. Luna was giggling behind a hoof as well. "I feel so bad! the poor dear screamed and ran off before I could apologize. My guards showed up before I could magic away his accident and spare him the shame, unfortunately." Celestia stopped trying to contain herself and cracked up out loud, her laughter ringing down the hallway. "Shhhhh, sis! Anyway, my guards found him in a broom closet not too far away and managed to coax him out so I could apologize."

Celestia wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. "Yes sister, that is exactly what I had to deal with for a long time. But today's ponies are much more progressive than they were a thousand years ago, hopefully now that you're ready to come back into the public eye we can get them comfortable with you in just a few years." They stopped as they reached Celestia's chambers. "Yes, after thinking on it you are absolutely right that this is the perfect night for you to go out. I'm sure you'll learn a great deal tonight, and I hope you enjoy yourself! See you in the morning!" Celestia bid farewell as she entered her quarters.

"Goodnight sister!"

---

The next morning Celestia sat out on her balcony enjoying a light breakfast. The many colours of a beautiful sunrise swirled across the city below, enhancing the already beautiful view. As she took a sip from her orange juice she heard hoofsteps beside her; she perked up as her sister came into view. "Luna! How was your evening?"

"It was wonderful! At first I thought I would never get through to them, but your student Twilight and her friends came through for me, just as expected!" Luna stole a hayfry off of Celestia's plate. "Did you know that some ponies actually like to be scared?"

"They do!?!? But that goes against everything I've been seeing for the past thousand years!" Celestia exclaimed.

"Well I think it's actually because of your efforts to make them feel safe, sister. One mare was running about leading a band of foals and saying I was going to gobble them all up. Naturally I was not amused by this, after all my whole visit was to make them fear me less! But when Twilight and I confronted her, this mare Pinkie Pie said that she knew I wouldn't gobble anyone; but that being afraid could be fun. After talking about this with Twilight, I realized that if a pony subconsciously knows they're safe-but allows a bit of fear to grip them anyway-they get a feeling of exhilaration, a thrill if you will. After that, I had a wonderful time scaring those who wanted to be scared. The town even insisted that I come back every year for Nightmare Night!"

"Wonderful, sister! It seems thing went just as you predicted!" Celestia clapped her hooves together in happiness.

Luna smiled slyly. "But you did leave out some very important details about social interaction, sister."

"I did? Like what?"

"Well for one you don't use the Royal Canterlot Voice anymore. Nor the Royal We. And this whole concept of enjoyment for the sake of itself - 'Fun' as it is called - is new to me."

Celestia held a hoof to her mouth, her expression apologetic. "Oh my! I'm so sorry sister, after so long I had forgotten that we used to address our subjects like that. And while 'fun' might seem novel to us, mortals have been doing it forever. I guess our existences were too focused on our duties for us to really understand it until recently; we normally only experience fun if our duties happen to be enjoyable."

Luna smiled broadly. "Well I intend to seek it out as much as possible. Speaking of enjoying duties... I want to wake up Obitus."

Celestia smiled. "Yes, I think it's about time he was awakened. And you've definitely recovered almost completely." She stood up. "Come, I'll show you where he is on the world map in the library. Once you get close you'll be able to feel him."

---

Luna circled, high above the extinct volcano. It's slopes were lush with vegetation at its base, and it's peak was dusted with snow. She could feel him deep within it though, his power flowing out in gentle waves as he slept. She spiraled down and landed on the rim of its, examining the dark interior. Strange things moved in the gloom. Some resembled misshapen ponies, some appeared as odd lizards, some were totally unrecognizable. At the base of the mountain she had seen many signs warning visitors away, placed there at Celestia's request. While the creatures had not hurt anypony, the dreams of a sleeping god were not something to be trifled with by mortals. Luna stepped off the rim and glided down into the caldera, landing near one that looked like a three headed pony. She stepped closer and examined the creature. It's faces were eyeless and indistinct, and it seemed not to notice her presence. The creatures weren't truly alive-and had no souls-but because they were a part of Obitus, Luna felt for them. "Hello?" She asked it, wondering if it was perhaps a part of Obitus's subconscious.

One of the creatures heads turned it's eyeless fact to her and it spoke in a slow, halting voice with strange inflection. "Waiting every night." It said. the first head looked away, and another looked at her. "I'm as lonely as I've ever been." The last head turned to her. "I am forced back into the start." The creature turned and wandered away, slowly fading into the gloom.

Luna shivered and began walking towards the center of the caldera where the black maw of the empty lava vent loomed. She could feel him down there, sleeping at the heart of the mountain. She extended her wings and stepped off again, floating down and down like a leaf. After a time, the vent opened up into a vast magma chamber. She landed at the bottom, surrounded by a pool of light that shone down through the vent. Something moved out in the darkness, another creature. "Hello?" She called. The movement stopped for a moment, then something very large stepped into the light. It was very tall, bipedal, and covered in brown fur. It had no head or face, just a massive chest and arms. It was hunched over and seemed very... sad. Luna approached it and touched its massive arm gently. "Are you okay?" She asked it. It turned to her and brought its chest close to her face, as if it could see her somehow. She still felt such sadness coming from it, so she reached up and hugged it, her forelegs barely reaching halfway around. "I'll be there soon Obitus, no need to be so sad." The thing hugged her back gently for a moment. Her arms suddenly passed through it, and it faded away into nothingness. She started tearing up and began walking again.

"I'm coming, my love." She said to the mountain. An opening in the rock face loomed before her, so she continued on; further down and further in. The gloom was complete here, the cave twisting and winding as she proceeded. As she rounded a corner another creature could be seen silhouetted ahead of her, this one looking very much like a normal pony. As she got closer and closer, she had to stifle a gasp. The creature was her. She stopped before it, and it looked directly at her. The hairs on her back stood up and she shivered.

"You were the answer to my life." It said in her voice. She took a step back, and it took a step forward. "Days turned into years and into centuries. For a thousand years I've waited here for you." It stepped even closer, their faces inches apart. "Luna won't you cry for me?" It said, then stepped through her and disappeared. Luna stood there for a moment, heart pounding and gasping for air.

Tears streamed down her face as she started forward again. "I cry for you Obitus. I'll do anything for you." She cave to the end of the passage and it opened into a small cave. A slab of solid obsidian dominated the center of the space, and it pulsed with Obitus's energy. "I'm here my love." She said as she touched the obsidian. She reared up on her hind legs. "I'm here!" She yelled, and brought her hooves crashing down.

The slab shattered into thousands of pieces, and there before her lay Obitus sleeping peacefully. She lifted him with her magic, and took wing. She flew rapidly back through the passage and out of vent, then out of the caldera. She landed on the rim in the bright sunlight and brought Obitus to rest on his back beside her. Gently she stroked his mane of dark fire and whispered in his ear. "Wake up my love. I'm back." He stirred.

"A most wonderful dream." He muttered with his eyes closed. Luna leaned down and kissed him, and his eyes popped open. "Most wonderful indeed." He said as their lips parted.

"It's no dream, my love. I've met your dreams; aren't they a bit to melodramatic for this?"

Suddenly he grabbed her and pulled her close for another kiss. This one lasted a long, long time.