A Return to Form

by dracolord85

Chapter 0: Prelude

Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively.
Chapter 0: Prelude

Another day was finished in Equestria. As the sun dipped below the western horizon, the dark night sky crept from the slowly rising moon like ink diffusing through water. Once the sky was dark save for the waning moon, the stars slowly began twinkling to life with a slow pulse, not unlike that of a heartbeat. Now that the night had asserted itself, the lesser creatures of Equestria sought their roosts and warrens to rest for the night as their nocturnal cousins began to wake up. The less sentient animals across Equestria could not understand why, but recently the nights had a different feel about them, somehow more natural than could be remembered before.

In Ponyville, street lamps began to glow and ponies wandered homewards from their days activities. Several couples sat in parks and open spaces as the waking fireflies and bright stars made for a romantic setting. The farmers of the community were already to bed, in order to rise early again the next morning. Businesses and restaurants slowed down and flipped signs in their windows from ‘OPEN’ to ‘CLOSED’. As was typical in smaller communities there was little in the way of activity beyond sunset. One of the only residents still active after dark was the student of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle. She had stayed up almost every night since the defeat of Nightmare Moon to eagerly catalogue the differences in the night sky brought forth by Princess Luna.

Manehattan began the shift from the rowdy hustle and bustle of the daytime working ponies to the rowdy hustle and bustle of the night life ponies. The casual observer would only note that the median age of the ponies in the streets seemed to drop by a fair bit. Living up to its reputation as the city that never slept meant that the shift was more or less seamless as bars and night clubs became active and most retail business shut down. Police presence increased to maintain the peace amidst the throngs of party ponies. For some reason the nights after the return of Princess Luna had been far more lively, even if many were as yet unaware of her existence. The noise and excitement from the revelry of night life would continue unabated until the next transition at sunrise, an endless cycle that was city life.

High on the mountainside capitol of Canterlot, the difference in nightly activities was sharply divided along economic lines. The common pony in search of something fun for the night had a wide variety of bars and clubs to choose from, each ranging from sedate and intimate to chaotic and crowded in nature. The nobles and elite attended small gatherings of either charities or the Canterlot classic ‘I’m so rich check out what I just bought’ parties. The royal palace itself was mostly quiet save for the patrolling of the solar guard throughout the grounds or the trudge of the odd late night worker here and there. The return of Princess Luna would prompt a more robust level of activity in the castle, but only once she was ready to hold her night court and be seen in public. As yet, very few ponies outside of Celestia, a few royal guards, and the royal physician had actually seen the reclusive night princess.

At the top of the northern tower Princess Celestia sat in her office, sorting out the remainder of the various royal petitions and law drafts that needed her attention. Not a week after the eventful night of the summer sun celebration Luna had been granted stewardship of the moon and night sky. Those politicians in the know about her return had grumbled a bit, but were swiftly silenced by Celestia's adamant refusal to withhold what was essentially Luna's birthright. As Celestia took a minute to stare out her window at the beautiful night sky her heart sang with the joy of witnessing another masterpiece created by her sister. For a thousand years she had bumbled her way through the nightly transition, constantly reminded of her sisters imprisonment with each raising of the moon, the dark visage of Luna on its surface seeming to stare down at her with nothing but accusation and hate. Recalling their tearful reunion, and the joy of once again embracing her sister, Celestia turned back to finish her paperwork with renewed energy before she retired for the night.

In the southernmost tower of the royal palace, the solar guards of the recently reinforced night shift stood silent vigil over the newly occupied 'lunar' wing of the castle. Their orders were explicit, and issued directly from the Sun Princess herself. The newly returned Princess Luna, younger sister to Celestia, was to be kept under the tightest of anti-assassination level security. Nopony dared to approach the outer doors of the wing unless they had officially approved royal business sanctioned with express permission from Celestia herself. Any others that even crossed the space in front of the doors were sent packing with a glare from four sets of eyes that promised a painful trip to the maximum security wing of the Canterlot city jail. The only time that the doors were opened to permit somepony within was for food, tea service, or the head royal librarian with specifically requested books for Princess Luna.

For several weeks since her return, Luna had only left her wing of the castle to either visit or have a meal with her sister. Each time she went out of her bed chambers or her atelier she was flanked by no less than three massive solar guards. After complaining to her sister over the stifling treatment after the second night, the guards were instructed to at least let her be in any nonpublic room alone. Luna had also taken to placing magical wards on the rooms she went into that made them soundproofed and unable to be opened from the outside without a massive amount of alicorn grade force. Though the guards had reported the development to Celestia, she dismissed their concerns by stating that her sister had always been more secretive and that her privacy should be respected. Privacy that Luna was currently both grateful for and suffering because of.

At the moment, Luna was within her atelier, as had become her habit after waking and getting prepared for the night. With the door soundproofed and sealed, none of the guards in the hall could see the current state she was in. The large, mostly empty room echoed with the cries and whimpers of pain coming from her collapsed form in the middle of the room. She had fallen to her side and could only manage to twitch her limbs occasionally. Her horn glowed like heated metal and gave off a steady stream of dark smoke that rose sinuously to the clear glass ceiling. The small pool of blood on the ground beneath her head was fed from the slow, crimson streams coming from her eyes, nose, and ears. Overall she had the appearance of a pony that had been savaged by a manticore and left for dead. With blood mixed tears streaming down her face the only thing she could be thankful for was that the moon was once again risen and her ordeal for the night was over. Had anypony seen her in this state she had no doubt the castle would have been instantly locked down in search for an assailant.

Every night since she began to raise the moon once more, the once effortless task had become increasingly difficult. At first it had given her a mere headache, which in days had become full mental and physical fatigue. Now she was experiencing pain beyond belief across her whole body, and needing to use enough force to almost cause herself a brain aneurism. She knew full well that the forces being exerted on her small frame were going to kill her after much longer. Her pride however, had thus far prevented her from asking her sister to retake the reigns of the night. Any revelation of what a debilitating impact it was having on her would send Celestia into a full blown, hyper protective, meltdown. If she had already forced this many guards around her, it was obvious that anything off kilter would send her over the edge.

After a few hours, the pain wracking her body had subsided to the point where she could haul herself into a sitting position, albeit leaned heavily against a book laden table. The bleeding had stopped and she carefully wiped her face clear of the evidence of what she had been through. Though she still felt as though she could vomit from the pain, Luna brought herself under control. Tonight was the final night she needed to finish her research. She looked across the room to the massively complex spell seal that she had created by herself, based on the collected works of magical research from the past thousand years. As she dragged herself to sit in front of a massive tome her resolve for her next set of actions was strengthened. As was typical for her long nights of research she began to mumble to herself while she shifted between reading and adding to or altering her spell seal. An outside observer would suspect she was somewhat unbalanced as she continued to chatter and argue with seemingly thin air.

When the dawn approached, Luna looked down at the completed spell seal with satisfaction. Using and understanding the mechanics of spell symbology was something only an alicorn could handle. Turning and looking at the ceiling with a grimace on her face, Luna settled herself as best she could and prepared to lower the moon. Luckily this was the easy part of caretaking the night. With her horn aglow, the moon began to duck beneath the horizon while the sky gradually grew brighter. By the time the moon was completely set, Luna was lying on the floor again, tongue hanging from her muzzle while she panted, and sweat practically dripping from her body. After taking a few minutes to make herself somewhat presentable she headed to the door. Upon opening it all of the guards snapped to attention and awaited her movement. Walking escorted, back to her bedchambers Luna went over her plan for the coming evening again in her head. Tonight had been the final night of her suffering. Regardless of the outcome of her next moves, the path of her fate would be determined come the next night.

Comments

[BronyMetalhead]

You officially have my attention. I've got my eyes on this one.

[Cadencegirl1]

question: how do you get a photo on your profile?