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Luna Eclipse1,341 words
Why?736 words

Why?

Eclipse stared at her wide eyes. "A replacement sister? I can't do this, I'm not a princess and I'm certainly not Luna. I don't have any of her memories or her habits, I'm not an alicorn and don't know how to rule. I'm just a pegasus who knows how to act. Why do you want me to do this?"

Pretty replied "Surely you know how our Princess has been behaving since Nightmare Moon was banished? She's not the same pony, she's a lot harsher.In the last decade, a score of statues have joined Discord in the palace yard. That's more ponies that have suffered that fate in the last ten years then in the last three centuries. When her sister was by her side, it was unheard of for her to forcibly sterilize or geld ponies and to have them whipped and beaten until the blood ran from their flanks. It was totally and utterly unheard of her to order the wingbones of errant pegasui broken, robbing them of flight, or to order unicorn ponies to have a ring stuck to their horn that drained their magic. The palace dungeons were unused except in a few cases for those who were awaiting trial. Now they are full, with large numbers of suffering ponies kept underfed and locked away from the light of the sun. Most of them do not deserve it. And it's not just criminals who suffer. It used to be that nopony would be allowed to go hungry even if they were poor. Celestia abolished the benefits that kept crime at a very low level and since then ponies have had to steal and rob to stay alive, and some are turning to drugs such as Speed and Trot."

"We are all worried that if something is not done and done quickly, either Celestia will recall her sister or worse, she will transform into a Nightmare Sun. We love Celestia, we all do, but we want the old sweet, kind, merciful Celestia back who ruled kindly and with little need for fearsome punishments. And you are the way to do it. If you can be Lunaish whenever Celestia is there by your side then slowly Celestia will soften and release most of the imprisoned ponies and start turning back into her old self. Oh, she knows who you really are; we would not dare do this without her permission...but a part of her will think otherwise. As time goes by, thanks to you the old Celestia will shine again but we cannot have you telling anypony who you really are who does not already know your secret. It would not do for somepony to fail to treat you with the respect due to a Princess; it would shatter the illusion and cause Celestia to regress. This won't be easy but you must stay in Luna mode all the time for the sake of us all."

"Will I...will I be given access to all of Luna's private papers?" Eclipse asked.

"Of course, we want you to study them to make you better at your role. Behind that door is Princess Celestia and she is waiting for you. Don't get scared or flustered;threat her as she and you were at the same level. Don't be insulting obviously, but don't be groveling either, remember, that you are a princess now. Oh and..." her horn glowed red for a few seconds. "That was a spell to give you Princess Luna's voice."

Eclipse trotted up to the door and pushed it open. Celestia looked her up and down, cantered forward and hugged her with her hooves telling her "Luna, it's, it's so good to be with you again. I've missed you soooooo much." The angry look Celestia had in her eyes faded. "Let's have lunch and then you can go back to your royal suite of rooms. What was it like up there all alone on the moon?"

"It was horrible. Of course as a goddess I could not choke or starve, cook alive or freeze, but there was very little to do, nopony to talk to and no colour anywhere except for our planet and when I looked at that it made me really homesick for everything I'd lost and most of all for you, Tia."

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