We Should Know Better
After Starlight solved their sibling rivalry, the royal sisters made a genuine effort to patch up the rest. Luna joined Celestia at breakfast, and she switched back to cooking the berry pancakes she first made, as it turned out pineapple on pancakes wasn't a good combination to Luna's taste buds. Being exhausted made it hard for Luna to have an actual conversation, but she did try and Celestia could understand her well enough to reply. On the occasion Luna really was too tired to join and would fall asleep with her head on her breakfast, Celestia would tell her not to worry about breakfast and go to bed. Then, laugh when Luna was out of earshot.
During the evening when Luna lined the halls with lavender, Celestia would join her if she happened to have some free minutes between duties. If she was preoccupied with dignitary ponies or another matter at the time, she'd try to catch Luna before nightfall to give her a small bundle of lavender, which always made Luna smile. She would suggest different aromas from time to time, like peppermint, and Luna was glad to use her ideas.
One night, Celestia had a meeting that finished much later than she liked. The time was just shy of 9 PM, meaning Luna was undoubtedly off to the dream realm by now. Exhausted as usual, Celestia heaved a heavy sigh, but she intended to still pick some lavender for Luna before she went to bed. She enjoyed they were really trying to spend time with each other and she didn't want to ruin it by saying she was too tired. But as she dragged herself through the doors, she almost immediately perked up when she saw one last pony waiting on her.
"Luna!"
Luna was sitting right in front of the doorway. She quickly explained she'd been waiting for Celestia's meeting to end and intentionally put off going to the dream realm tonight. The two ponies walked alongside each other to Celestia's bedroom, though Celestia didn't get in bed when they entered. Luna obviously needed something and Celestia didn't want to fall asleep on her.
"So, what is this about, Sister?" Celestia asked as she lit her fireplace. "Nothing is wrong, is there?"
Luna seemed to hesitate for a moment before replying. "I hope not, but something's been on my mind for a while now."
"A while?" With her hoof, Celestia gestured for Luna to join her near the fireplace, but Luna didn't just yet, which made the older pony a little upset.
"Since a day after Starlight left," Luna clarified.
"Haven't things been better between us?" Celestia asked, now really wanting Luna to lie next to her. "You have breakfast with me, I help you line your flowers when I'm free, and we're talking right now without passive aggressiveness. What could be wrong?"
Luna looked away for a moment, and Celestia realized in that same moment Luna's feelings mirrored her own. Luna liked things this way too, and she didn't want to ruin it.
"Come, Sister. Please lie next to me," Celestia insisted. Luna finally gave in. She sat next to Celestia, but the older pony gently pulled her down with her comforting wing. "Say it. I promise it won't ruin anything."
"I think we already are ruined, Sister."
"But... Luna... what do you mean?" Celestia asked, taken aback. "You think things are worse since Starlight left?"
"I think it's shameful we needed Starlight's help at all."
A few seconds of silence passed between the two, one worried if she should've said nothing and the other worried about how to say anything. Not knowing what else she could say, Celestia simply said, "Explain."
Luna sighed. "Sister, haven't we been through this before?"
Celestia blinked, still not catching on. A little frustrated, Luna stopped beating around the bush.
"We should know better!" she snapped, catching Celestia off-guard. "We are several centuries old! We are the last ponies who should need a lesson in talking to each other!"
"Luna, no matter how old we get, we will never be perfect," Celestia reminded her. "We will always make mistakes here and there."
"You are missing the point!" Luna argued, though her face carried an expression more of worry than anger. "We were sisters long before we were rulers. We are not perfect, of course not, but it should never be this hard merely to talk to each other! Especially after..." Luna's voice trailed off and she looked down.
"After...?"
"...Nightmare Moon," Luna finished in a whisper.
"Sister, we are past that," Celestia assured her. "Is the guilt hurting you again?"
"Do you remember what you told me when we spoke after Twilight told you about the tantabus?" Luna asked. "When you tried to blame yourself for my sin of Nightmare Moon?"
"Of course," Celestia replied, a bit somber now. "I have never thought I was faultless for the events surrounding Nightmare Moon. I swore to myself I would be a better sister when you returned because if I bothered to at least try to talk to you about how you were feeling, Nightmare Moon may have never happened."
"Can you repeat that for me?" Luna asked.
Celestia's raised an eyebrow, but did as asked. "If I bothered to at least try to talk to you---"
"Stop. That's it."
The wheels turned in Celestia's head as she tried to piece it together, and less than five seconds later, the light bulb smacked her head. "Oh..."
"Yes," Luna said with another sigh. "After all of that, we need a third party to help us learn to communicate with each other. You really don't find that shameful, Sister? I do, especially after what it cost us."
"One thousand painful years apart," Celestia remembered, wincing. "I guess I'm not keeping that promise."
"No, don't blame yourself. I also avoided speaking to you. We are both at fault for this," Luna insisted. Her voice took on an almost tearjerking tone. "But if that is not enough for us to not let this happen again, what is? Must we be apart again?"
The mere thought of losing Luna for any amount of time scared Celestia enough for her to yank Luna into her hooves and hold her tight. "Don't ever say that!" She shuddered for a moment. "Don't you dare suggest that!"
"It was a rhetorical question," Luna explained, struggling to wriggle her way out of her sister's much too tight hug. Celestia loosened her hooves enough to stop Luna from being uncomfortable, but not enough to let go of her little sister.
"I understand, Luna. You are right. For a thousand years, I never stopped being haunted by knowing all it would've taken to save you was maybe a hug, a thank-you, a chat over dinner."
"What can we do now, Sister?" Luna asked, allowing herself to sink into her sister's comfort. "What can we do to not let this happen again? I don't think we can call on Starlight every time we have a problem."
"What we've been doing," Celestia replied seriously. "What we're doing now. Making time for each other. Not saying "I'm too tired". No passive aggressiveness. You waited for me as long as you had to for us to have this discussion. This is how we prevent it, Luna. But there's never any shame in getting help, so if it comes to that, that's what we do. In the end, wouldn't you rather a third party get our heads on straight than let our troubles fester?"
"Of course!" Luna replied. "But we didn't seek Starlight. She was sent to us."
"I suppose that only makes your point clearer," Celestia said, scared for a moment to think how long they would've continued what they came to realize was a ridiculously childish way to handle things. "But I am agreeing with you, Luna. We talk. That really is all there is to it at the end of the day. We talk and we listen to each other. Like now. Aren't we doing that?"
Luna finally smiled and nodded her head. Celestia smiled too and released Luna from the hug. "Everything will be okay, dear sister," Celestia promised. "We do know better. We'll argue sometimes or do hurtful things. When you were recovering from being struck by the elements and reverted to your true self, I promised you could always come to me with anything on your mind. That hasn't changed."
"That's not one-sided," Luna told her. "I want you to speak to me too."
"Just so you know, Sister, if Nightmare Moon does happen again, I won't banish you a second time."
"But you must protect Equestria," Luna argued. "Never mind what happens to me."
"No! We just agreed that's how Nightmare Moon happened," Celestia reminded her. "Plus, you were only locked away because I used the elements improperly. They should've freed you, but one pony isn't supposed to bear all of them. If you were to transform into Nightmare Moon again, I'd break her apart."
The sheer, almost cold, seriousness in Celestia's tone startled Luna.
"I mean it. I will never let anypony or anything separate us again. If I had to enter her mind and yank you out, I'd find a way."
Despite the seriousness in her tone, Luna found that touching. "I love you, Sister. And I think you'd best get to bed."
Celestia covered her mouth to let out a huge yawn. "I love you too. Really, don't worry, Luna. What Starlight solved won't happen again. I know it, and so do you."
Luna nodded, and helped her sister into bed. The two nuzzled for a moment before Luna started to make her way to the door.
"Wait, Luna! One more thing!" Celestia called.
Luna whipped her head around, curious. "Yes?"
"...Thank you."
"You're welcome. Good night."
Luna trotted out and entered the dream realm while Celestia began to drift off beneath her covers. The night was serene, as Luna's nights so often were, and as the sun pony came closer to her own entrance into the world of dreams, she went over the conversation in her mind one last time. It was something specific Luna said that hung in her mind: "We were sisters long before we were rulers."
And that, Celestia realized, is how things needed to be.
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Very nice.
This is absolutely beautiful and fits nicely into the canon as well.
Very lovely.
I like the way you're thinking.
Why must they continue to torment us? Why won't the Sisters address this in the show?
9179715
Keep in mind the sisters' backstory was never complete to begin with. Lauren Faust stated once she never got any further than "Luna became jealous, turned into Nightmare Moon, and Celestia locked her away for 1,000 years". Even she acknowledged the many questions left unanswered. The writers probably had no idea what to do with it and just wanted to end it.
My personal head canon has always been Celestia indirectly played a part in Luna becoming Nightmare Moon because, frankly, I find it implausible the sisters could be close enough utilize the Elements of Harmony, but not close enough for Celestia to realize her sister is hurting. Nor do I buy Luna's jealousy and transformation happened in one night.
An excellent continuation story. Very sweet and emotional and heartwarming. Many thanks.
This is nice coda to the episode, enjoyed it!
All the episode proved is that I am indeed superior to even ancient god-like beings.
ALL HAIL ALONDRO!!
Very nicely done. It really fits well as an aftermath to the episode.
I love how the light bulb didn't just go off, it smacked Celestia in the head. Brilliant way to get across just how thick she can be.
9180086
I 100% agree. In fact, I like to imagine that she transformed many times before confronting Celestia, and did terrible things secretly as NMM. In a word: fangs.
In any case, the Magic Sheep episode left me pining for a deeper conversation between the two about what happened. You know, something more emotional than A Royal Problem.
Kinda cute, I guess.
Short, sweet and to the point. I like it
9180086
Personally, I’m also looking a bit askance at things like the Inspiration Manifestation or the Alicorn Amulet. Things that can boost magic or grant new magical abilities while making the user lose grip on their sanity as a side effect… I could see Luna picking up something that sort of fits with her theme somewhere, like the armor or a neat bit of jewelry, or maybe there was a spell or something. And just, slowly losing grip on her sanity.
I mean apparently, Nightmare Moon was a lot more powerful then Celestia, to the point where Celestia couldn’t stop her without using the elements. And Luna’s stated motives for going Nightmare Moon were strangely petty considering that she had managed to rule together with Celestia for at least a century.
So, either there was a lot more to Luna becoming Nightmare Moon than just envy, or she wasn’t in her right mind at the time.
And funnily enough “power tripping for petty as fuck reasons” is a pretty accurate description of Rarity and Trixie while under the effect of the aforementioned artifacts.
The Inspiration Manifestation was stored in the Castle of the Two Sisters, so the princesses apparently used to store things like that in their castle. – I can only presume they got them by taking them away from defeated enemies.
9181448
Agreed, I mean there is Nightmare Night for one thing.
if the Nightmare Moon incident began with Luna confronting her sister and was ended in a matter of hours, you might expect Nightmare Night to be a commemoration of Luna’s thwarted attempt to overthrow her sister. But it is not, instead Nightmare Night has Nightmare Moon, not Luna, as this old fairytale bogyman terrorizing people.
It is honestly almost like there are two different Nightmare Moons.
We got the envious and unappreciated princess who tried to overthrow her sister, so the night would last forever.
And we got the, possibly cannibalistic, bogyman who terrorize the innocent and demands offerings to appease her wrath.
I mean really, where the fuck did the second one come from?
I’ve seen people try to explain how Nightmare Night came to be, with mixed results. but I think it could also be the result of Nightmare Moon terrorizing ponies for some time before the big confrontation with Celestia.
9184669
I genuinely do think Luna wasn't in her right mind at time, hence why I think it went on for a number of years. Years of feeling unloved or unappreciated would eventually drive any person to a breaking point. In Luna's case, especially if she worked as hard as Celestia. In my theory, Nightmare Moon was the end result of Luna succumbing to what become severe depression. Depression is a mental illness and very much screws up your mind. Of course, the downside to that theory is it makes Celestia out to be a very neglectful sister, which isn't my intention (I like Celestia a lot), though I've never been able to come with any satisfying reason about why Celestia wouldn't notice years of her sister struggling with her self-esteem/self-image.
9184823
I could see that, the only problem the way I see it is that the two of them managed to rule together for a century, seemingly without any major issues, before Luna suddenly had enough and became Nightmare Moon.
I feel like something out of the ordinary had to happen at the end there, for someone who could keep going for a century to lose their shit that hard.
but it could have been a truly tragic or shocking event as easily as dark magic messing with her head.
9184913
Just wait, it gets even more tragic.
Let's say that the show's timeline on how long events have played out is canon. So from S1 - S8 is 3 years (Celestia's 1's Versaray of 1,111 years of reign).
So that's 1,111 - 3. That's 1,009 years of reign of the show's start.
Luna was banished for 1k years. That'd mean that from being rules of Equestria in the Everfree Forest to Luna's fall. Was only 9 years.
That's less than a decade of them dealing with Tirek, Sombra, Discord, and the other mass of monsters in Tartarus, before Luna became NMM. 9 years together as rulers, before Luna became NMM ... just how horrible did things have to be for her to fall that hard, that fast?
9206970
looking at your math, i think you accidentally removed a century there.
9207514
derpicdn.net/img/2018/8/28/1818261/full.gif
Huh! You're right.
. So yeah 109 years is less tragic, and makes the build up make more sense.
Thanks for pointing that out
.
9208486
I sort of see it like a century long unhappy marriage. (I know the analogy is not perfect, okay)
It makes me think there was something out of the ordinary that set Luna off near the end of their shared rulership, I mean, being able to stay together for a century implies a high level of stability in the face of adversity, and their rule was probably not free of hardships with all the villains they had to personally defeat, and I doubt the loss of the Crystal Empire was the only pyrrhic victory during their rule.
I think there would have to be an instigating incident. Be it the death of a supportive loved one, dark magic misuse, possession, or Luna being put on trial for invading ponies’ privacy via dream-walking… something had to shake things up.
Although now that I think about it, the loss of the Crystal Empire could also be an instigating incident.
the princesses could have been seriously impacted by the fallout of a whole country and its population seemingly getting eradicated in the crossfire between them and the newest villain. And Luna not getting the same kind of love and support as her sister from the Equestrians during those hard times could have opened her eyes to how unappreciated she was.
9210751
I think the real instigating incident ironically enough was ponies.
I mean, when they first started rule and created their castle in the Everfree Forest. You could see and hear the fun they had (via their journal, and seeing what they built in action in the episode where they found the journal).
Even look at their throne room.
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/7/71/Mane_6_cleaning_up_the_old_castle_S4E06.png/revision/latest?cb=20131223094949
It has a throne for both of them. And they literally ruled simultaneously. Side, by side. When they first started. From what we heard about things, they were carefree, playful, and Celestia doted on Luna big time.
But then somehow, much like current Celestia and Luna. Their schedules grew distant. Celestia being the Bearer of both Kindness and Generosity is the more extroverted and socially graceful of the two, ended up being swamped with social aspects of rule. Where as Luna, for some reason ended up shunted to the side (or at least felt like she did.). And we see how lonely it is in the Dreamscape by oneself. As well as how draining it is (and we see how close they were to repeating what lead to NMM in the episode Starlight went all Starlight on them).
So ... yeah, somehow the responsibility of rule, slowly chipped away at the equality they shared. And the love and appreciation Luna got. Till as stated in S1E1, ponies thanked Celestia for her (Luna's) hard work. Where she was naught but an after thought.
A century of fighting for their safety and freedom alongside her sister (whom she got less and less time together with). But noone notices all she sacrifices and does for them. All they ever saw was Celestia. The sister who got all the love, appreciation, and acknowledgement. The sister whom she ended up in the shadow of.
9211058
I could see that, I really could.
With Luna working at night and Celestia working during the day, they might end up only seeing each other when eating in the mornings and evenings. Where they are both too tired to talk much to each other, gradually growing apart as a result.
Also, working at night would naturally limit the ponies Luna interacted with, and many of them would be very tired by the time she met them, making for less pleasant social interactions, personalities aside.
I’m wondering if the bat-ponies were created to give Luna a staff that could actually remain fully functional at night.
9211153
Yep, yep.
Although I think the Bat-Ponies were just a minor tribe of ponies, that were naturally nocturnal. Although I do also like the "Enchanted Armor" theory. That much like how the Day Guards have enchanted armor to make them all look the same. Luna's Night Guards had enchantments to make them more intimidating (since she's usually seen as the warrior princess. And intimidation on the battle field is always a good thing).
Although if the later, then I think she probably had "created" a look for each tribe to make it easier to function at night, and be effective at whatever thing they usually were for duty-wise. But in a goth/battle-like fashion. To better protect ponies from things that went bump in the night. If the former, I can see why they're so rare. What with the dislike towards the night for a majority of pony-culture, and pony's inherent xenophbia.
9211197
I don’t know if the bat ponies are meant to be an entirely different pony race or if they are just normal ponies magically altered by Luna to be nocturnal, Sort of like a more refined version of the Flutterbat transformation.
i could see it going either way.
9211271
True. Either way fits, and it's kind of sad that the writers never really went into that lore. They've given us lots of different ponies and non-pony creatures in show lore. But they never built off that teaser on Luna Eclipsed. I find it disappointing. Heck even in other episodes set at night we never see them again outside that one episode T_T.
9211304
True, but it also gives room for writers to go their own ways with them.
The bat ponies could be a rejected pony tribe that Luna took under her wing, or maybe the bat ponies were a race Luna created from other ponies, or maybe the process that created the bat ponies was a predecessor to the more dangerous one Luna would use to become Nightmare Moon, or anything really…
Without a canonical answer, you can freely use your imagination to fill in the blanks and get stories out of that.
I mean, making a story about the first ponies in a thousand years to volunteer for the bat pony transformation could be fun.
You know, I think Celestia and Luna have something in common: They both continue to look beautiful even though they are at least 1,000 years old; do you think their beauty is going to fade at some point due to old age?
9213498
Seems it's common in media for immortality to equal agelessness. I doubt it, especially since MLP is intended to be a children's show and most writers don't think elderly characters will relate to a younger audience. I've read the reason Celestia and Luna are princesses instead of queens is because "little girls think queens are evil" and Luna was excluded from all of season 1 because the writers at the time thought she'd still be considered evil by the young audience because she's dark (though, thankfully, they got over it). Unless losing their beauty becomes some kind of plot, I don't think Luna and Celestia will ever physically age.
9217954
Fairy tales and children's fantasy novels are to blame for that: Snow White, The Snow Queen, Alice in Wonderland,
9279471
True, but I'm betting kids thought those particular queens were evil rather than every ficitonal character that's a queen is evil.
I have one thing to say...
THANK YOU
That particular episode made me beyond angry. I considered making my own little one shot but this is far better then whatever I had in mind.
I liked this.
9184823
I feel like the writers should have touched more on this.
I just feel like the issues that led NMM to happen weren't properly resolved.
In fact I still feel like while Luna is getting attention now, its still not at equal with Celestia's.
In fact I think the writers confirmed somewhere that Nightmare Moon is basically a split personality born from Luna basically bottling up her negative emotions rather than a "symbiote"(Nightmare Forces from the comics).
Would have love to see Luna struggling to deal with her other personality and such.