Luna walked through the castle gate into the city Twilight and Cadence following beside her, they’d spent an entire afternoon helping her readjust her way of speaking and she felt it was finally time to let the ponies of Canterlot see her.
“Are you nervous? It’s ok to be a little nervous.” Cadence asked, Luna smiled and said,
“I’ve fought wars and faced down charging enemy lines Cadence, this is far less nerve racking by comparison.” Twilight smiled and asked,
“You’ll have to tell Shining and I about some of those old war stories, I’d love to hear about them.” Luna giggled, happy to see Twilight taking an interest in her. After a few moments they finally reached the town square just outside the castle, they stopped and looked around as some of the ponies began to take notice of Luna. Twilight and Cadence could see they were all nervous a few whispering back and forth to one another, Twilight even heard a few mention “Nightmare Moon” as she looked around. After a moment Luna finally stepped forward wings spread and a confident look on her face,
“There she goes.” Cadence whispered to Twilight.
“Citizens of Canterlot!” Luna shouted in a booming voice across the town square, Twilight and Cadence stared in shock at the volume of Luna’s voice.
“What is she doing?...” Twilight asked,
“You have no reason to be afraid, I am no longer the cruel pony Nightmare Moon. My family has restored me to my true self, Celestia’s younger sister and Princess of the Night! Now rejoice and let us celebrate my return to Equestria properly!” Luna continued to shout. She stood smiling waiting for the ponies around her to cheer, but instead they only stared back most with looks of fear. Luna’s smile slowly faded, she stepped forward asking again in her booming voice,
“What is the matter good ponies? Do you not wish to celebrate?” a moment passed before a few ponies in the crowd shrieked and then all scattered in fear. Luna was left shocked at their reactions,
“No! This isn’t what I wanted, I wanted every pony to be happy!” she pleaded as the last of the crowd left. Luna sat down disheartened as Twilight and Cadence walked up beside her,
“What...what did I do wrong?” she asked, Cadence looked at Twilight nervously and answered.
“Well...you were shouting at them...really loud.” Luna looked at Cadence surprised,
“But, is it not tradition to speak to the masses with a commanding Canterlot voice?” she asked. She looked back and forth at Twilight and Cadence, Twilight shaking her head no slowly.
“I wish you’d have told us you were going to do that, we could’ve helped.” she replied. Luna fell silent a sad look on her face,
“But hey, I can introduce you to a few of my friends! I’m sure they’ll help let every pony know that you’re not a bad anymore alright?” Twilight said, Luna shook her head.
“No...that’s okay Twilight. I think...I’ll just go back to the castle for now...” she answered as she turned and flew away. Twilight tried to stop her but she was already gone, Cadence and Twilight sat alone not sure what to do now.
“Hey Twi!” a voice shouted, Twilight and Cadence turned to see Sunset approaching a smile on her face.
“What’s going on out here? I heard some pony shouting then every pony just went running away like the town was on fire.” she asked. Cadence and Twilight looked at one another nervous,
“Aunt Luna was trying to make her first public appearance, but she kinda screamed at every pony in her ‘Canterlot voice’ and ended up scaring them all away.” Cadence explained.
“Oh...wow, that most have been bad. Some ponies still think she’s Nightmare Moon after all.” Sunset explained. The three fell silent,
“Well, let’s not give up on this just yet! Let’s go something to snack on and see if we can figure out a way to turn this all around.” Cadence said standing up with a smile. Sunset and Twilight looked at at her and nodded in agreement,
“I could go for some coffee right now anyway." Sunset said as the three walked away from the town square.
Luna walked through the castle halls slowly her head hung low, she looked up to see a few of the castle attendants ahead of her. Once they saw her though they quietly moved to the other side of the hall cautiously avoiding her. Luna only felt worse seeing it, she wondered if she’d ever make things right with the ponies of Equestria. Eventually Luna found her way to the hall leading to the throne room, she looked up at the windows as she walked by, the different images of Celestia’s accomplishments over the centuries displayed. Raising the sun for the first time, peace talks with the Hippogryphs, fighting alongside a dragon to defeat a monster, and adopting her family. She stopped to notice the last window which just been made, the House of Sun defeating Nightmare Moon. She sat in front of the window and stared at it her sadness only growing from the sight of the window.
“Oh! Luna, there you are.” Luna turned to see Celestia approaching her with a smile.
“Oh, Sister. I didn’t see you there, I was just...thinking...” she said. Celestia walked up and asked,
“About what?” Luna went silent for a moment, she tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t worry Celestia but she couldn’t think of anything convincing.
“Luna? Is something wrong?” she asked. Luna shook her head and stood up to leave,
“No, no, of course not. I’m sorry for making you worry Tia.” she said as she walked away. Luna was half way down the hall when Celestia appeared in front of her in a flash of yellow magic.
“NO!” she said a stern look on her face, Luna stopped in her tracks leaning back surprised.
“Luna, this is exactly what happened last time we were together. Don’t you remember? You wouldn’t talk to me, and it lead to...I can understand if you don’t want to talk to me, but you have such a larger family now. Just please, talk to some pony. Don’t bottle it all up again.” Celestia said her face turning to a smile. Luna began to tear up as she smiled, she hugged Celestia and said.
“Okay, there is something I need to talk about...”
Celestia sat down in front of her sister and smiled waiting to listen to her,
“It’s just...it’s been hard readjusting, Twilight and Cadence have been helpful. But there’s so many things I still don’t know about, and every pony still treats me like a monster. I know they have every right to, but it just gets so hard...I want them to believe that I’ve changed...but I don’t know what to do.” she said as she started to cry. Celestia leaned forward and hugged her sister, Luna hugged her back.
“Luna, I’m so glad to see you’re still the same kind and thoughtful pony I remember. I know it must be hard right now, but believe me everything will get better. And even if it doesn’t just know that I’m here for you, and not just me this time. You have two nephews and two nieces who are just as eager to help you out or talk to you whenever you need to.” Celestia said, Luna sniffed and wiped her eyes.
“Thank you Tia...I’m so glad your here to talk to me...it, it just feels better this way.” Celestia looked at Luna wiping her face,
“I’ve been looking after you for centuries, you think just because you were gone for a while that I’d stop?” she asked. Luna smiled and replied with a smile,
“I’m sorry, who’s the pony that was always saving your flank mid battle? Plus, I don’t remember you ever beating me in our weekly sparring sessions.” Celestia and Luna both laughed aloud,
“Well, how about we go get some dessert? If I’m not mistaken you haven’t tried ice cream yet have you?” Celestia said as she stood up to leave, Luna looked at her puzzled.
“What’s...Ice cream?”
“So how do we fix this?” Cadence asked, taking a sip from her coffee. The three ponies sitting at a table outside of Cinnamon Chai’s cafe. Twilight thought for a moment,
“We need someway to let ponies see Aunt Luna’s changed. She’s not Nightmare Moon anymore, but every pony is still afraid of her though so it’ll be hard.” she answered.
“Maybe start with a small group of ponies first? But what group would work though?” Sunset added. Twilight ate one of the cookies in the center of the table and thought for a moment,
“It’d have to be ponies with a lot of influence, maybe some of the castle delegates? Or a few of the nobles?” she added. Cadence smiled,
“I know Fleur and Fancypants would be delighted to meet her, they’ve always been nice ponies for as long I’ve known them.” she replied.
“That’s still only two ponies, it’s too small a group Cadence.” Sunset added, Twilight’s face suddenly lit up with a smile.
“What about the Galloping Gala? It’s only a few days away right? All of Equestria’s most influential ponies always show too, if we can get them to see how much Aunt Luna’s changed then every pony will know!” Cadence and Sunset looked at one another with a smile,
“Yeah, that could work! Good thinking Twi!” Sunset said,
“We need to talk to Auntie first though, we have to make sure that she’s okay with this. Plus Aunt Luna needs to know about it as well, it wouldn’t be right to just spring this on her.” Cadence said with a smile, Twilight looked back and forth.
“This can work though right? We can show every pony how much she’s changed?” Sunset and Cadence nodded in agreement,
“Alright, let’s all get together at the castle tomorrow morning and pitch the idea to Princess Celestia. We’ll make this work even if we have to lock all those stuffy nobles in the room with her!” Sunset said with a smile, Cadence laughed at Sunset’s words while Twilight rolled her eyes.
“I don’t think locking them in the same room with her will get the same results, but your right. We’ll make this work.” Twilight said with a confident smile.
Excellent job on this latest chapter. Love the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Yeah, I can understand Luna's having difficulty adjusting to how much things have changed in a thousand years, but I'm glad to see Twi and the others making an honest effort to help her. And I particularly loved Luna's introduction to ice cream.
The Grand Galloping Gala? Good idea on paper, but, well, experience tells me there is going to be some sort of disaster striking (most likely from Celestia trying to "liven things up", but it's POSSIBLE that some particularly ambitious, well-prepared villain could try to take advantage of the possibility of all three of the Princesses and most of the most prominent nobles and celebrities all being under one roof to establish some relatively quick Villain Cred). Though I COULD see SOME good coming out of this too (i.e. Shining using the opportunity to propose to Cadance at the Gala or Spike taking Sweetie Belle to Doughnut Joe for their first "unofficial date").
But anyway, VERY definitely looking forward to more.
Nice to see they have a plan to help Luna. It was nice to see her and Celestia talk things out instead of repeating history. I know Fancy Pants and Fleur would be willing to help, but like they said that would still be too small, they aren’t miracle workers.
If they go with the Gala idea there is probably a 50/50 chance of things going good or ending in a disaster like the Gala usually does. Though I bet Celestia would still see it as an improvement. At least that way Luna doesn’t end up nearly canceling Nightmare Night forever.
Ahh the dreaded *Canterlot Royal Voice*, not a very good way to make an impression for poor Luna there, still Twi's idea of using The Grand Galloping Gala to properly reintroduce Luna back to pony society (like another reviewer pointed out) might sound good but it also invites either hi-jinks or a villain trying to make a name for himself. Anyway this promises to be entertaining either way!
Hmmm one of those windows, possible Spike egg origin perhaps?
Can't wait to see how it goes next chapter, wonder if we'll see more Spike/Sweetie next time around?
As for favorite chapter moment, for me it has to be Spike showing off the results of his fire training under Celestia during Nightmare Moon's battle in *The Moon is Rising* chapter, that was totally epic!!!!
Keep up the awesome work!
9944010
Oh? Some one caught onto that little teaser.
"Alright Luna? You want to make friends?"
"Of course Tia!"
"Then... there's a special little town you need to visit..."
*cue FiM theme music*
I really wish this'd happen, but I'm otherwise loving how this plays out.
Do you know how long this story will be now?
9944087
At this point, until I run out of ideas. Which isn't going to happen anytime soon I can promise.
Maybe they should try an official royal press release.
No, no they don't. They have every right to treat Nightmare Moon as a monster.
Are you still Nightmare Moon? No? Then they have no right. *summons mass ponyhugpile on Luna*
Something is missing here
Luna's taste buds are about to experience the adventure of a lifetime
Are we going to see the rest of the mane 6 at the Gala? Maybe they're all still friends just without Twilight, and Rarity made them outfits? So then Twi will meet them for the first time at the Gala?
9944188
I think the royal family telling them it's ok and seeing it firsthoof may be two very different things to them; after all Celestia has already been trying to spread the word that Luna is back and it's not working very well, even only because nopony else has seen it yet