In the Shadow of the Moon

by DefiantPosition

Just the Two of Us

Rarity was sitting in her car being driven to the Crystal City, the capital of the Moon Crystal Governorate. Nightmare Moon had ordered her to capture the remaining Elements of Harmony and she had made it very clear that failure was not tolerated. So the white unicorn had immediately ordered her airforce to intensify their patrols and when her queen's reinforcements arrived she would begin a large ground search.

Nightmare Moon's behaviour had made a big impression on Rarity. She had never seen her so angry and emotional, maybe the problems between the alicorn sisters hadn't been solved like Rarity thought. She hoped that Nightmare Moon's past trauma's wouldn't cause her to make rash decisions. Things have been going well since Starry Glory failed uprising. All they needed to do know was hold on to what they had. There was no need for Nightmare Moon to try and one-up her, but then again if her friend and queen asked for her help than Rarity would do all that she could.

However now Rarity had a more important task, finding her former friends. She hoped that Nightmare Moon's plan didn't involve their death's, she hadn't seen them in a long time and she knew that they probably hated her, but deep down she still cared about them.

Her thoughts were cut short when the car that she was in stopped in front of her palace. Rarity would worry about her friends later, first she had to find them. However somepony else had other plans. When she opened the door she was overwhelmed by a loud squeeky voice.

"SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Before Rarity could even react, Sweetie Belle was already hanging around her neck, hugging her intensely. The foyer was decorated with balloons and a banner saying "Welcome back sister", there was even a pie. Rarity suspected that Sweetie had baked it herself because while it was poorly made it was obvious that a lot of love had gone in it, there were even two figures placed on the pie that appeared to be representing herself and Sweetie Belle.

"I heard some of the staff mentioned that you were coming back, so I decided to throw you a surprise welcome party."

Rarity had taken her little sister with her to the Moon Crystal Governorate when she got her position as governess there. Her parents were mostly busy with their work and she didn't want her sister to be alone in Ponyville. She would have been with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo but Rarity feared that other ponies might try to punish Sweetie Belle because of her decision to join Nightmare Moon.

However since Rarity's duties required that she spent most of her time at the Lunar Castle, she hadn't spend a lot of time with her sister, in fact they hadn't seen each other for weeks. Now Sweetie Belle was absolutely beaming with happiness and Rarity simply couldn't say no to that cute face.

"It looks fabulous darling. I see that you even made another attempt at cooking." Rarity cringed at the memory of what happened last time when Sweetie Belle tried to cook, she almost set fire to the kitchen.

"Yes Raven helped me with the baking but I made the decorations myself."

Raven, a white unicorn mare with brown hair, used to be Celestia's assistant but when Nightmare Moon took over she was fired. Rarity felt sorry for her and also needed an assistant herself, Raven had all the necessary qualifications so Rarity hired her.

Sweetie Belle ran back to the table to grab her cake, she had become quite proficient with her magic, grabbing the plate with ease. She heard that Raven had been teaching Sweetie Belle and had been acting as a sort of mother figure while she was gone. Rarity walked over to Raven.

"Thank you for taking care of my sister. Unfortunately my job doesn't allow me to spend a lot of time here, so I really appreciate what you are doing. You can go home now, you have earned the rest, Nightmare knows that dealing with Sweetie Belle can be quite exhausting."

After having said goodbye to both Rarity and Sweetie Belle, Raven left. Rarity took a slice of the pie. It was a traditional apple pie.

"Oh this one is good, your cooking has really improved. That reminds me, I heard that Celestia opened her own bakery, maybe I can take you with me to Canterlot once and we can try out one of her cakes."

The little unicorn's expression became much sadder.

"Why do you have to leave so often, we almost never spend any time together."

"Oh darling I have an important job now which means that I have to leave every now and then. But I realise that I have been seriously neglecting you these last few weeks, so from now on I will do my best to spend more time with you and less with work. You are the most important thing in my life."

"But when Celestia was princess you never had to leave and I got to be with my friends and have fun classes with miss Cheerilee. Here I am just alone and the teacher always has us do boring stuff like singing the national anthem and writing reports on how great the Lunar Empire and how Nightmare Moon is the best leader ever. We never do anything fun, yesterday the teacher even got angry at me for singing the anthem loud enough! Why can't we go back to how everything used to be."

Rarity gave Sweetie Belle another slice of the pie, which seemed to cheer her up a little bit.

"Because things change Sweetie Belle, we just have to accept the current situation how it is. But I promise you that things will get better. It is a beautiful day, how about we go get an ice cream to celebrate our little reunion?"

"Yes can I have strawberry flavour? And can I show you a new trick that Raven taught me?"

"Yes you can and I would like that very much."

With that the two sisters made their way to a nearby ice cream vendor. The trip wasn't very eventful, the Crystal Ponies had very quickly adapted to the new regime, Rarity suspected that the reason they knew that keeping their heads low and following the rules was the best way to deal with authoritarian regimes due their experience with Sombra.

Not much had changed since the Lunar Empire took over. The crystal heart was still present al though it didn't shine as bright as Rarity remembered. The only real difference was the addition of new moon inspired flags everywhere. Personally Rarity didn't see why Nightmare Moon made displaying the flag mandatory, but even she couldn't break the law and she supposed that it could help the crystal ponies to create a new sense of national pride in their new country.

There were also many soldiers walking around. In the official rapports it was written that this was because the crystal ponies believed passionately in Nightmare Moon's cause, but in reality Rarity knew that it was because the Crystal Empire was so thoroughly destroyed by the Lunar Empire's airforce that the military and police were the only jobs remaining that offered a decent wage. The buildings may have been rebuild but the economy was only slowly recovering.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle bought their ice cream and sat down on a bench. After Sweetie Belle finished her ice cream she showed Rarity her new trick, she grabbed three balls with her magic and began juggling them in the air. It was a lovely sight for the governess, seeing her sister so happy and proud. She couldn't help but wonder, how many more of these happy days there would be in the future.

Author's Note:

A shorter chapter this time. I just wanted to write something with Rarity and Sweetie Belle because I forgot about Sweetie Belle in Fractured Moon.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

Are going to see more of Sweetie Belle and Raven Inkwell?

[DefiantPosition]

10441765
Thanks. I will probably write some more scenes including Raven and Sweetie Belle, to show how ordinary life looks, however she is not a major characters in this story.

[shining paladin]

awesome chapter keep it up

[DefiantPosition]

10442331
Thanks I really enjoy writing in a somewhat lighter tone and focusing more on slice-of-life scenes.