Even the smallest misunderstandings can cause the most terrible situations.
The two ponies I care for the most, my dear sister and most faithful student, have betrayed me. My most loyal guard says I'm just being paranoid, but what would he know that I don't also? I thought the nightmare was over, but now it's clear it never went away. In fact, it's only gotten stronger and more cunning, as evidenced by how it's turning all that I hold dear against me. Well, it won't succeed, and I'll do whatever it takes to make sure of that. Mark. My. Words.
To anypony who finds this, let it be known that I let my anger, and paranoia get to me. Little sister. Twilight. I’m so sorry. I’m only able to write this with what little sanity I still have. I want everypony to remember me for who I was, not for what I became. But even now that will never happen. I never knew a simple misunderstanding could do this. But, in the end it did.
Celestia sat atop her throne with a bored expression. It had been 6 months since Twilight’s coronation. She and Luna were still teaching the lavender mare about being a princess, which she was taking like a fish to water. At that thought, Celestia managed to smile despite her mood. The past year and a half years were the most eventful of Twilight’s life thus far. Moving to Ponyville to learn about friendship, becoming the bearer of the element of magic, and in doing so saving Luna.
After that, Twilight saved Equestria again by taking on the spirit of disharmony and chaos; Discord. The third test was impromptu as even Celestia hadn’t a clue that Twilight’s old foalsitter and the princess of love, Cadence, was replaced by Queen Chrysalis of the changeling race. But even with no one to look to for support, Twilight persevered and ultimately helped save Equestria for a third time. The final test was orchestrated by her, and while Twilight didn’t save the Crystal Empire from King Sombra herself, Celestia admired Twilight’s willingness to put the needs of Equestria at large above her own desires; the mark of a true leader.
So much excitement in such a short amount of time hadn’t occurred in a thousand years, and it ended last time when Luna fell to the nightmare. Celestia couldn’t bear to kill her own sister, choosing to banish her to the moon instead, which left the sun princess heartbroken. The intervening millennium was especially hard on Celestia, as some days during that time she just wanted to stay in bed and cry in her pillow. But the job of raising the sun and moon during that time took priority, even though it got boring and strenuous very quickly.
Celestia was snapped back to reality by the door opening. She looked down to see the new captain of the royal guard, and her favorite since Shining Armor; Iron Shield. During the changeling invasion, unlike most guards he held his own and managed to take out five changelings, while simultaneously protecting a family of unicorns. After hearing about this, when Shining Armor relocated to the Crystal Empire with Cadence, Celestia had no reservations about offering Iron Shield the position of Guard Captain in Shining’s stead. Needless to say, Iron accepted the promotion and had thus far proved he deserved it.
“Good afternoon, Iron, how’s your day been going?” asked Celestia, her expression lifting a bit.
“Honestly, Celestia, it’s been boring,” Iron replied.
That’s another thing Celestia liked about Iron, he always called her by name and not title; even when he was a private. When questioned as to why, his only response was a shrug and “Honestly, I see you as a normal pony, so I address you as one.” Many of the other officers found that ‘unfaithful’ to the princess, but Celestia liked it, and he kept his post as her personal guard until getting promoted.
She giggled in response. “And why is that, Iron?” she asked in a playful voice.
Iron groaned. “The recruits are insurable these days.” He rubbed his temples with both hooves while continuing. “They keep complaining about how early they get up and when they’ll get a decent meal for once; kids these days, I swear.” He blinked in realization of what he just said. “Wow that made me sound old.”
Celestia giggled again. “Oh come now, isn’t that how you were way back when?”
He grunted. “The hay we weren't; we were the best group in the last 20 years, Celestia. We broke several company records.” It was true; they broke the 20 mile run by 2 hours and 20 minutes, and the obstacle course time by 5 minutes.
She smiled. “Yes, I remember that. I believe your squad was called Nova, and they were the talk of Canterlot for some time.”
He smiled at that. “Those were good times. It’s too bad they’re either stationed somewhere else or retired right now; a real pity.” His smile faltered a little bit.
Celestia smiled down on him. “True, but don’t you all meet up sometimes?
He smiled again. “Yes, we do; I believe it’s once every 5 years.”
Celestia had one more question. “I know I’m going off topic here, Iron, but how’s your wife doing?”
Iron’s ears perked up and he smiled. “Honey Dew is doing wonderfully. We’re due for our first foal in a couple of months.” Honey Dew was one of Celestia’s maids for 10 years before she introduced her to Iron Shield and they fell in love. They’ve been married happily for 5 years.
Celestia’s eyes brightened. “Oh, thats wonderful! I can’t wait to see her again.”
“Well, I’ll let her know,” he promised, and began heading back out. “I must leave now; we’re having a meeting soon with the other lieutenants in 10 minutes.” He opened the door partway but stopped. “Oh, I almost forgot, Princess Twilight is here to visit.” He opened the door fully and slipped outside as he finished. “I believe she’s with your sister right now.”
That surprised Celestia, as she hadn’t received a letter from Twilight announcing her visitation. She got up off her throne and began making her way to the door, all the while pondering what Twilight would need Luna for and not herself.
Perhaps Twilight is seeking help in her studies of astronomy. Yeah, that must be it. Though, I’d be equally helpful when it comes to stars. After all, my sun is one itself. I guess Twilight wants to make Luna feel more appreciated because, well . . . yeah.
As Celestia walked through the ornate castle hallways to Luna’s room, thoughts of Luna’s troubles replaced her curiosity of why Twilight was visiting.
It feels so wrong that Luna’s still misunderstood and under-appreciated even after all she’s been through. Even with all the praise she gets every Nightmare Night, having to delve into the dreams of ponies for companionship every other night is far from ideal. A thousand years ago, ponies would resent their dreams being invaded, and I imagine they still do to some extent. Only when their dreams fall to darkness does it seem Luna is wholly welcomed in them.
Celestia was pulled from her thoughts by the sight of Luna’s bedroom door ahead, slightly ajar and a trickle of light shining through the crack. She could hear the voices of Luna and Twilight on the other side, but as Celestia got closer, what she heard greatly confused her.
“. . . believe we didn’t think of this sooner,” Twilight said in an awed tone of voice.
Celestia slowed to a trot and stopped outside the door, being as quiet as possible so as to not alert her sister and student to her presence.
“Good ideas take time to formulate, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna replied, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone. “To that end, GREAT ideas take many, many years, and even then one cannot be sure they’ll pull it off without a hitch.”
“Can we pull this one off without a hitch, Princess Luna?”
“There’s no need to call me by title, Twilight.”
“Sure thing . . . Lulu,” Twilight replied, followed by a giggle.
Celestia expected her sister to throw a hissy fit at being called that name. What her reply was came as a complete shock to the solar alicorn.
Luna giggled herself. “Yes, my little star, we can pull this off without a hitch.”
Celestia began feeling uneasy as she continued listening to her sister and student talking about whatever it was they were. What really got to her was the use of Luna’s and Twilight’s pet names. Celestia and Luna often times called each other by such names as a way to poke fun at each other in a sisterly love sort of way, and after she was coronated, Twilight joined in on the fun despite not being blood-related. However, to Celestia’s knowledge Luna hadn’t the slightest clue what Twilight’s pet name was, and doubted Twilight would’ve willingly told it to her.
“. . . So, are we all set then?” Twilight asked.
“Almost,” Luna replied, “a few more ends must be tied up before we can move forward with the plan. But once we’ve got it going, my dear sister will never see it coming.”
Twilight chuckled. “I guess you could say she’ll have a ‘blast’?”
“Most definitely, the likes of which she hasn’t experienced in over a thousand years,” Luna replied with smugness in her tone.
Celestia stood there, frozen, struggling to process what she’d just heard. What were those two planning for her? Why had they used their pet names? And what of this ‘blast’ that Celestia hadn’t experienced in over a thousand years? All of these questions pounded away at Celestia’s brain until she felt nauseous trying to find answers for them.
Eventually, she gave up and teleported to her own room, whereupon she immediately collapsed on the bed. As she lay there dizzy, disoriented and ready to puke, one possible explanation presented itself to her confusion addled brain. It frightened her to think about, but Celestia was grasping at straws for an explanation as to what she’d just heard, and this one seemed plausible enough to consider given Luna’s past transgressions.
Luna looked over at her bedroom door thinking she saw a bright flash through the crack.
Was that a teleport? “Is something wrong, Lulu?” Twilight asked, noticing her concern.
“Perhaps we should continue this conversation elsewhere, little star,” Luna replied, making way toward her room’s balcony. “I feel we may not be so safe from prying ears here, after all.”
“Whatever floats your boat,” Twilight said with a smile. The two stepped onto the balcony to enjoy the last vestiges of sunlight before Luna had to raise the moon.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle, Celestia’s bed sheets were being drenched in her sweat as she tried her best to dispel the notion that her sister and student were scheming to eliminate her.
“Okay, what possible explanations are there for this?” She rubbed her temples in thought. “Perhaps I’ve just been ignorant as to how close they’ve been getting as of late. Still, to go so far as to use their pet names, have I really been out of the loop that badly?”
Damn them.
“And another thing, how can they expect to overthrow me and get away with it? Luna isn’t yet in the good graces of Equestria at large, and Twilight’s still relatively inexperienced with royal duties.”
Twilight’s got the brains to overcome that hurdle.
“What possible motive could they even have for doing it?”
Luna’s attempted it before, and now she’s roped in Twilight to help her succeed this time. Celestia jumped as she heard a knock at her bedroom door.
“Tia!?” Luna called from the other side. “It’s time to bring forth the night.”
Celestia glanced over to the clock on her nightstand and saw that Luna was right. “I’ll be right there,” she called back. She got up out of bed and walked over to the bedroom door. She opened it to find her sister standing there with a smile that quickly evaporated upon noticing Celestia’s tense expression.
“Is something wrong, sister?” Luna asked.
As if she cares.
“Nothing, Lulu,” Celestia stepped past her and into the hallway. “Come on, let’s get to work.”
Luna stood still for a moment before shrugging and following her sister.
Once the night was brought forth to Equestria, Luna made way to the throne room where she would conduct the accompanying Night Court. Along the way, she happened across Guard Captain Iron Shield returning from the meeting
“Good evening, Iron Shield,” Luna greeted the Guard Captain, smiling. “How was the meeting?”
Iron Shield stopped and sighed. “It went on much longer than it was supposed to. Lieutenant Blaze Wing was trying to propose adding more onto the strength portion of the obstacle course. He needs to realize not everypony is as strong as him.” He grunted, then muttered under his breath. “Egotistical bastard.”
Luna had heard him clearly, to which she clicked her tongue. “It still amazes me that ponies today talk behind their friends’ backs like that.”
Iron looked up to her shocked face. “Luna, friends do it all the time; it’s a fact of life. Hay, even families do it from time to time.”
Luna gasped. “I would never do that to my own sister! I tell her everything.” She stated with pride in her voice.
Iron raised his eyebrow and chuckled. "Whatever you say, Luna; have fun in Night Court." He chuckled again and trotted off.
Luna just rolled her eyes and continued to the throne room. She opened the door and was shocked upon entering to find Celestia sitting on the throne, looking out a nearby window up at the moon. Celestia had teleported back inside once done lowering the sun, but Luna assumed she’d returned to her room to get ready for bed.
“Big sister,” Luna said to her, stepping inside the throne room, “why are you here and not preparing for tonight’s slumber?”
Another way of saying ‘prepare to die’, perhaps?
Celestia turned to face her sister. Luna looked up at her face and was slightly disconcerted to see a hint of anger in her expression. Celestia turned her full body to Luna and replied.
“I guess I wasn’t ready to give up the throne so easily.”
Luna raised a brow in confusion. “Ummm . . . what do you mean? What’s so different about tonight?”
This may be my last night alive, that’s what.
“Nothing, Lulu,” Celestia replied, getting off of the throne. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting longer than necessary.”
She prepared to initiate another teleport but was stopped by Luna who spoke up again.
“Big sister, is something wrong?” She made way toward Celestia, a look of genuine concern in her eyes.
Celestia cancelled her teleport and, with a heavy sigh, answered a bit more sternly than she’d intended. “I heard from Iron Shield that Twilight came to visit you.” She cracked her neck a bit before continuing. “Why? What did she need?”
Luna stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide with horror and legs trembling. To Celestia’s already paranoid psyche, this only served to further her suspicions. She glared down at the scared moon princess.
“I asked you a question, Luna,” she said, eyebrows furrowing in impatience. “You may not wield Honesty anymore, but I expect you to be truthful as if you still did.”
Luna didn’t respond, instead continuing to shake in her royal horseshoes and was now beginning to sweat a little.
You’re only shooting yourself in the hoof, Luna.
Finally, Luna chuckled nervously and resumed her trot toward the throne.
“Well, Night Court’s going to start in a few minutes,” she said, her voice laced with fear. “How about you go get some sleep and we’ll resume this conversation in the morning, okay?”
Because I’ll be dead before then.
“. . . Fine,” Celestia replied, and resumed her teleport. One white flash later and Luna was alone in the throne room. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in and rubbed the bridge of her muzzle.
“How does Applejack live like this?” she mused out loud.
Celestia reappeared in her room, startling her pet phoenix, Philomena. The fiery bird cawed loudly before realizing it was only her master and not an intruder. The bird’s relief turned to confusion when Celestia began pacing the length of their room, mumbling to herself.
“No doubt about it, Luna’s hiding something. If she and Twilight were discussing trivial matters there’d be no reason to hide them from me, but the fact that she’s reluctant to say what it was is damning.”
What else would Luna want to hide besides an attempt at overthrowing me? Wait a minute . . .
“If Luna wanted to overthrow me, she’d have to take over my duty of moving the sun in addition to her moon. She can’t do that; she’s not strong enough. I had a hard enough time moving both myself, and I’m more magically potent than her. Luna would need another pony strong enough to move the sun to help, somepony who’s: magically potent, can easily master complex spells, and is good . . . friends . . . with . . . her . . . . .”
. . . like a certain lavender alicorn, whom I granted ascension to help us in ruling Equestria.
Celestia stopped pacing at the realization she just had. At that moment, something within the dark recesses of her mind snapped loose and began taking over her psyche. What remaining strands of sanity she had were ripped away by the darkness and replaced with mad delusions telling her how to keep the traitor’s plans from coming to fruition. Celestia couldn’t help but listen to them, and the more she did, the more convinced she became it was the right course of action.
“I will not be cast down by a couple of damned heretics, even if they’re family.” With that, Celestia lit up her horn and teleported for the third time that evening, while Philomena just shrugged and resumed sleeping.
Luna sat on her throne thinking about what had just transpired between her and Celestia. She knew her sister was suspicious, but she couldn’t be sure how much the solar alicorn knew of her secret.
Twilight needs to hear about this.
She spoke to the Night Guard on her left. “Night Wing, can you go wake Princess Twilight for me, please? Tell her to come up here.” Night Wing saluted and left.
Ten minutes later, Night Wing arrived with Twilight in tow. The lavender alicorn looked up to see Luna sitting on the throne looking worried.
“Luna, what's the matter? I was asleep when Night came in.” She tilted her head confusedly.
Luna turned to her guards. “Leave us be for a while, please.”
Both guards saluted and promptly exited the room.
Luna sighed. “Tia was still on the throne when I came back from raising the moon; usually she heads straight to bed after we bring forth the night. When I asked her what was wrong, she asked me in turn why you came to visit without informing her beforehoof.” She sighed again, more heavily. “I believe she’s onto us, Twilight, though she’s still clueless as to exactly why you’re here. One thing is for sure, though; she’s not happy about being left in the dark.”
Luna saw Twilight’s expression go from confused, to shocked, then to fearful all in the span of her little speech. The lavender princess spoke up.
“Oh no! Luna what are we going to do? What if she finds out?” Her eyes went wide at a thought. “What if she’s listening to us right now? There could be bugs planted all over this room.”
Luna rolled her eyes at Twilight’s overanalyzing of the situation. She got off the throne and approached the panicking mare, wrapped a wing around her and replied in her best attempt at duplicating her sister’s naturally soothing voice.
“You must calm yourself, Twilight. If she finds out, we will deal with the consequences. Now, I’m certain Tia wouldn’t bug her own palace,” she furrowed her brows as she continued, “but what she will do is interrogate you for answers using . . . let’s just say, extreme methods.”
Twilight’s gaze went back to fearful. “How extreme?” she asked in a quiet voice.
Luna smiled. “Nothing dangerous, mind you, but she’s quite a stubborn mare when she’s determined to find something out. Odds are, she’ll attempt to trap you somewhere and only release you in exchange for answers.” She furrowed her brows again. “But remember this, Twilight Sparkle, no matter what she attempts don’t cave in and, as it’s said nowadays, ‘spill the beans’. The element of surprise is vital to this plan and losing it will put all of our efforts in vain.” She grabbed Twilight’s shoulders firmly and gazed into the smaller alicorn’s eyes. “Can I trust you to remain adamant about keeping the secret, Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight gazed into the moon princess’ eyes. They were full of confidence, resolve, and determination; three things Twilight often wished she had more of. Her wish was granted, for staring into those eyes gave the lavender princess a confidence boost to which she furrowed her brows in determination as she resolved to keep her and Luna’s secret safe from Celestia.
“You can count on me, Lulu,” she replied.
Luna smiled and let go of Twilight. “Good to hear,” she said, than began walking back toward the throne. “May you sleep well, my little star,” she called over her shoulder.
Twilight giggled, and made way to the throne room doors. “Good night, Lulu,” she replied, and exited the throne room, letting the guards know they could come back in as she left.
Twilight walked down the halls of Canterlot Castle with stride, her previous fears of the secret being revealed to Celestia diminished to almost nothing. She had made it about halfway down the main hallway when a flash appeared around a corner just up ahead. Twilight stopped in her tracks and listened to see what would come next. Nothing did.
A little bit of fear returned to Twilight as she tip-hoofed her way closer to the corner. When she reached it, she leaned up against the wall and slowly peered around the corner.
The last thing she saw before blacking out was a bright white light shining from the tip of a long horn of equal color.
“Huh, wha?” Twilight groggily said as she awoke from her slumber. She sat up and rubbed her back with both hooves to try and mend the aches.
“We need to talk, Twilight,” said a familiar voice from in front of her.
Twilight opened her eyes to see Celestia standing there with a neutral expression. Turning her head, she realized they were in the crystal caves beneath Canterlot. She hadn’t been down there since the royal wedding when Queen Chrysalis imprisoned her with princess Cadence.
The crystalline cave system was a near perfect dungeon as the crystals themselves contained special properties that prevented unicorns from teleporting through the walls. The only way in and out of the caves was through an entrance in the Canterhorn. It was how she and Cadence had escaped all those years ago, and how Celestia must’ve brought her down here now.
“Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, standing up on all fours, “what’s going on?”
Celestia kept her neutral expression while she replied. “Twilight, we’ve known each other for many years now, and it goes without saying that we share everything on our minds.”
Twilight groaned inwardly. I can’t believe I fell for her trap so quickly. Alright, Twilight, you can’t let Luna down; remain vigilant and rock-steady until she’s done interrogating.
“To that end,” Celestia continued, and when she spoke next Twilight felt perturbed at the coldness laden in her voice, “what were you and Luna discussing earlier?”
Twilight was taken aback by the cold reply at first, but she quickly composed herself and answered in a matter-of-fact tone (despite flat out lying). “We were discussing possible names for a new comet we discovered the other night; I’ve been thinking about nam-“
“That’s a lie!”
Celestia’s use of the Royal Canterlot voice was so unexpected that Twilight started and was blown back a few meters before coming to a stop against a large crystal stalagmite. She shakily got back up on her hooves and turned back to her mentor who continued speaking.
“I overheard you two discussing something pertaining to me,” Celestia said, her voice sounded so cold and twisted that Twilight found herself cowering in fear. “I demand to know what it was about. If you refuse to answer, I will be forced to charge you with treason.”
That confused Twilight immensely. “What do you mean ‘treason’? I’ve done nothing of the sort!”
“If that’s the case, my ‘faithful’ student,” Celestia’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “then tell me what you two were discussing.”
Twilight was about to speak up, but hesitated when she remembered Luna’s words. Standing her ground, Twilight looked into her mentor’s eyes defiantly and spoke.
“Okay, I lied; we were in fact discussing something pertaining to you.” She softened her gaze a bit as she continued. “But I can’t, and won’t, tell you what we were discussing.”
Celestia sighed. “So, it’s actually come to this . . .”
Celestia’s horn lit up with a golden aura. Suddenly, Twilight felt something grasp her around the barrel and squeeze her against the crystal wall behind her. Looking down, she saw a section of crystal rock had jutted out of the wall and wrapped itself around her. It wrapped tightly enough that Twilight struggled to breathe. She tried pushing down on the crystal with all her might and flapped her wings as hard as she could. It helped loosen her a bit, but not by much and she quickly exhausted herself.
“I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, Twilight,” Celestia said. “I didn’t want to believe that my own student would keep secrets from me, but now you’ve left me with no choice.”
Twilight tried casting a spell on the crystal to shatter it, but to her surprise found herself unable to call magic into her horn. It was when she tried doing so that Twilight felt an incredible itching sensation around her horn. Casting her eyes upwards to the tip of her horn, she noticed the presence of something wrapped around it. Seeing Twilight’s confusion, Celestia answered her question before the lavender princess could ask it.
“It’s a magical suppressant, used to keep unicorn criminals from casting harmful spells. As long as you’re wearing it, which you will until I decide otherwise, magic is completely out of your reach.”
Twilight gazed at her mentor again with wide eyes. She remembered what Luna had said about Celestia taking extreme measures to get the information out of her, but what the solar alicorn was doing seemed beyond even that.
“Celestia . . . ,” Twilight whispered, tears forming in her eyes.
“Twilight Sparkle, you are hereby stripped of all power and authority pertaining to the title of Princess, of which you are no longer.”
Before Twilight had a chance to be shocked in response, Celestia cast another spell which made Twilight feel sleepy. She struggled to remain awake, but fighting against the magic of Princess Celestia was futile; Queen Chrysalis being the sole opponent of her majesty to ever triumph over her. Before Twilight fully passed out, she heard Celestia speak one last line.
One complaint Celestia often had about Day Court was the endless whining from Canterlot’s elite about the most trivial matters imaginable. In all honesty, Luna would’ve been ecstatic to listen to such babble if it meant she could have more visitors during nighttime. Night Court, as opposed to its daytime counterpart, was uneventful. Sure, sometimes a sleep-deprived citizen would take the guaranteed opportunity for their voice to be heard, but most of the time Luna would sit on the throne bored out of her mind waiting for somepony to come up. Thankfully, she had a second activity with which she could keep herself entertained.
“Guards,” Luna said to the guardstallions on either side of her, to which they turned to look at her, “I’ll be spending some time in the dreamscape; if anypony comes up, feel free to drag me back.”
The guards saluted and watched as Luna prepared to enter the world of dreams. She called magic into her horn and used it to cast the dreamwalking spell of her own design. Her eyes shut tight, but if one were to open them in their current state they’d see the moon princess’ eyes were undergoing a special kind of REM; one which allowed her to cross between the physical world and the dreamscape.
Luna’s subconscious took over her psyche and she reopened her eyes to see the dreamscape before her. It very much resembled the night sky, with each star representing someone’s dream and the blackness of space representing the limit to the spell’s range.
Time to quell the nightmares.
Luna took off through the scape in search of ponies in distress. She stopped in the middle of a cluster of dreams and used her magic to connect her inner mind with them all, in turn allowing her to feel the emotions emanated from their respective hosts. If the host was feeling distress or fear, Luna would know they were having a nightmare and would promptly enter the dream to help them. As it was, though, this batch of dreams was free of nightmares so Luna disconnected from them.
Then Luna noticed something unusual. Off in the distance, likely at the edge of her spell’s range, was a dream isolated well and good from all the others. While isolated dreams weren’t too uncommon an occurrence, those she finds usually belonging to somepony who’s gone camping alone, this particular dream puzzled Luna. The location of dreams in the dreamscape was parallel to that of ponies sleeping in Equestria; the cluster of dreams she inspected before would’ve belonged to someponies sleeping in the castle or nearby homes in Canterlot. This one, if Luna’s calculations were correct, belonged to somepony located deep within the Canterhorn, which did nothing if not arouse the moon princess’ suspicions.
Luna promptly took flight toward the dream, all the while wondering what somepony could possibly be doing within the mountains which Canterlot rested against. Once she reached it, she connected her inner mind with it. She felt nothing. No emotions emanated from the pony’s subconscious.
Strange . . .
Her curiosity piqued, Luna synched her subconscious with that of the dreamer’s, allowing her to enter the dream.
The dream was as empty as its emotional output. Everywhere Luna looked she saw nothing but a black void, similar to the dreamscape minus the stars. She quickly began searching for the dream’s host, hoping she could help them if they were in some sort of trouble. After walking little more than a hundred steps, Luna spotted a shape materialize from the blackness in front of her. Squinting her eyes, she could easily discern it was a pony; the dream’s host.
Luna picked up her pace toward the pony. As she approached, more details began to show themselves to her: a purple mane, a lavender coat, a horn, a pair of wings, a- wait a minute!
Twilight?
Luna rushed over to the lavender alicorn. She grabbed Twilight and spun her around so the two of them were looking into each other’s eyes. Or, at least, Luna was looking into Twilight’s eyes; the smaller alicorn’s eyes were blank and unfocused as if she was blind.
“Twilight?” Luna said, shaking her a bit. Twilight’s eyes remained as they were, not showing any signs of awareness.
Luna shook her more forcefully. This time, a little bit of life sparked in Twilight’s eyes. Luna breathed a sigh of relief and continued shaking her until Twilight’s eyes were full of life and awareness. She blinked, and focused her gaze on Luna.
“. . . Luna?”
Luna smiled and embraced Twilight. “Oh, little star, I’m glad to see you’re alright.” She let go of her and looked Twilight square in the eyes. “What are you doing within the Canterhorn? Why aren’t you in b-“
Luna’s sentence was cut off as Twilight engaged the moon princess in her own, much more crushing, embrace. She was startled at the action, and was about to pry herself free when she felt soft, wet tears running down her shoulder, soaking into her starry mane. Realizing Twilight was in distress, Luna patted her hoof on the lavender alicorn’s back and whispered soothingly.
“There there, little star, let it all out.”
And she did for the next minute or so. When she was done, Twilight let go of Luna and wiped her eyes with a fore hoof. Luna took a moment to rinse out her ethereal mane of tears before speaking to Twilight.
Luna took a moment to comprehend that. When she did, her eyes widened in shock and she spoke with a hint of panic in her voice. “You haven’t told her anything, have you?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, I didn’t, but now I . . . I . . .”
“You what, Twilight Sparkle?” Luna was starting to get impatient. “What’s happened to warrant such sorrow from you?”
Twilight’s eyes watered up again as she replied. “She’s convicted me of treason.”
“. . . Come again?” Luna asked.
“She’s convicted me of treason, Luna!” Twilight shouted, startling the lunar alicorn. “She caught me shortly after we talked and brought me down to the crystal caves. When she began interrogating me, I refused to tell her what we were discussing, to which she convicted me of treason. She said I’m no longer a princess and all authority I have is gone.” More tears ran down Twilight’s face, dripping onto the floor and forming little puddles.
Luna’s eyes widened slightly in response to Twilight’s revelation. She really had expected her sister to resort to extreme measures to make Twilight reveal their secret, but going so far as to strip Twilight of her princesshood was something Luna didn’t expect from Celestia.
Twilight continued speaking after wiping her face again. “There’s something else, Luna.”
Luna returned her focus onto the weeping alicorn.
“Celestia also said she was going to take away my wings.” She looked at Luna with sorrowful, yet inquisitive eyes. “Can she do that, Luna?”
Luna took a moment to digest all that Twilight had just revealed. Then the width of her eyes doubled as the moon princess realized just what her sister had in mind.
“Luna?” Twilight said through tear-stained eyes.
Luna’s mouth set into a grim line. “This is very bad, Twilight. I knew Celestia would resort to extreme measures to get what she wanted, but what she’s planning for you is beyond anything I ever thought she’d be capable of.”
“What’s she going to do to me?” Twilight asked, whimpering.
“To answer your first question, yes, Celestia can take away your wings.” Twilight’s face shifted into a rectus of fear in response. It pained Luna to see, especially considering what she was about to say, but continued regardless. “And as for your second question, I’m afraid she’s going to do more than just take away your wings. If my assumptions are correct, she plans to undo your transformation into an alicorn altogether.”
As Luna expected, Twilight gained a look of absolute horror. But after a moment, it changed into one which was practically typecast for the lavender mare; studious curiosity.
“How does she plan on doing that?” Twilight asked, her previous sorrow almost forgotten, but still noticeable in her tone of voice.
Luna sighed, and began explaining. “This is just speculation on my part, but if I’m right Celestia plans on using a special crystal from the crystal caves. It’s rare, and only found in incredibly small veins, but it has a special property which allows it to absorb magic like a sponge. Even at this moment she’s probably searching for veins and collecting the crystals within to bring back to you. With enough of them, she can drain you of the magic sustaining your alicorn body, thereby reducing you to little more than a winged-unicorn. After that, it’s a simple matter of amputating your wings to turn you back into what you once were.”
Twilight took a while to digest all of what Luna said. When she did, the full implications of what Celestia could be planning crashed down onto her already battered psyche. As modest as Twilight always was in regards to her princesshood, she was still happy to have received it. To think that she could lose it, so soon even, was disheartening.
“This presents us with quite the predicament,” Luna continued, “as without the enhanced magical strength you received from transforming, the plan cannot proceed.”
Twilight looked downcast. “I can’t move the sun without it, huh?”
Luna frowned. “I’m afraid not, little star, at least not by yourself.”
Twilight looked up to Luna. “But what can we do?”
Luna smiled. “Worry not, for all we have to do is rescue you from the crystal caves before Celestia can finish what she started.”
“But what if Celestia’s still with me when you arrive,” Twilight replied, “what will you do then?”
“I have an ace for that,” Luna replied. “In the meantime, you need to stay strong and persevere through whatever else Celestia may have in store for you. Can you do that for me, little star?”
Once again, Luna’s words inspired confidence in Twilight. Her previous sorrow now completely forgotten, Twilight wore a confident smile and furrowed eyebrows.
“You can count on me, Lulu,” she replied.
Luna smiled back. “And with that, I shall take my leave.”
Luna cancelled her dream walking spell and opened her eyes back in the real world. She turned to her guards.
“Sirs?”
The bat ponies turned to their princess and smiled.
“Something . . . interesting has been brought to my attention.” She turned her gaze toward the throne room’s door. “I need you to fetch Discord for me, and quickly.”
The guards paused for a moment, then hesitantly saluted before making way out the door. About ten minutes later, a yellow flash appeared before the throne to which Luna instinctually shielded her eyes. When she looked back, the reformed spirit of chaos stood there wearing a straw hat, a floral patterned shirt, and comically over-sized sunglasses. In his talon he held a coconut topped with a crazy straw and an inside out tiny umbrella.
“You’d best have a good reason for waking me up from my beauty sleep, dear Luna,” he said, a hint of anger in his voice.
Luna blinked. “You were asleep?”
“Indeed I was,” Discord replied, then took a sip from the coconut. Instead of following the straw’s many loops and twists, the liquid broke through the plastic at the bottom and shot straight toward the top of the straw where it broke through the plastic again and into Discord’s mouth.
I’ll never get used to his antics, Luna thought before speaking.
“I have called you here because I’m in need of your help, Discord.”
The draconequus did a spit take through his nostrils in response. Upon recovering from his shock, Discord stared dubiously at Luna.
“You,” he pointed at her, “need my help,” he pointed at himself.
Luna sighed. “Yes, Discord, I need your help.”
“Well, I suppose there’s a first time for everything.” Discord snapped his talon and a beanbag chair filled with jellybeans appeared behind him, which he sat down upon. Opening a cap on the side, he let some beans spill out into his lion’s paw. Shoving them into his mouth, he continued talking while chewing. “Swo, whut’s tho probwem?”
Luna shook with disgust at seeing such immaturity, but kept composed and replied. “Celestia has convinced herself that Twilight Sparkle is guilty of treason, and plans on taking away her power and authority. Even as we-“
Luna was interrupted at Discord did another spit take, this time through his ears. The spirit of chaos stared wide-eyed at Luna as he spoke.
“What bizarre and twisted alternate universe am I in?”
Luna sighed, and rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. “As I was saying, even as we speak Celestia has Twilight held captive in the crystal caves beneath Canterlot. We must rescue Twilight and, if at all possible, convince Tia that she’s let her paranoia get the better of her.”
“I’ll say she has,” Discord replied while taking another, much larger, pawful of jelly beans. The beanbag chair deflated a bit as Discord shoved the lot into his mouth and began chewing. “Bu whut do ya nee me for?”
“I’ll need you to distract Celestia while I-“
Once again Luna was interrupted by a spit take. This time, Discord remained perfectly still while an audible ‘pffht’ sounded above them and a shower of chewed up jelly beans pelted the floor in front of them. Going with her better judgment, Luna kept her gaze forward and continued speaking.
“-free Twilight. Can you manage this, Discord?”
Discord stared blankly for a moment before shrugging. “Well, I did say there was a first time for everything.” He snapped his talon, to which the mess he’d made disappeared entirely. “I suppose I could play hero for once.”
Luna breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Discord.”
And with that, the two began to make way for the crystal caves.
I shouldn’t have been so trusting of them, Celestia thought as she wandered the crystal caves.
Just as Luna had feared, Celestia was indeed planning on draining Twilight of the magic she received through ascension and was searching for the crystals that would do the job. In hindsight, Celestia thought maybe it would’ve been smarter to locate a few veins before trapping Twilight. Then again, she hadn’t a clue how much time there was before Twilight and Luna enacted their plan upon her, so she figured trapping Twilight first was the best course of action after all.
C’mon, c’mon, where are those veins? Celestia continued musing to herself. It shouldn’t be taking this long to find at least a few.
Due to the special crystal’s ability to drain magic, mining for them back when the crystal caves were still in use was next to impossible. With unicorns so accustomed to using their magic to extract precious metals and gems from the earth, and the crystals being fully resistant to telekinesis, veins of them went ignored throughout the caves’ entire mining history. Knowing that, Celestia was surprised at how much difficulty she was having locating just one vein.
C’mon, c’mon . . . YES, finally!
She rounded a corner to find just what she was looking for. Embedded in the stone wall was a single long vein of the special crystal, differentiated from the rest for its brown coloring. With her objective in sight, Celestia set to work. She summoned a giant sledgehammer to her side and enveloped it in her magic. Casting a magic barrier around herself next, she lifted the sledgehammer up to the rocks surrounding the vein and struck it with all her might.
The sledgehammer shattered the rock like it was ceramic, large chunks of it ricocheted off her shield and struck the ground in front of Celestia. Smiling, she proceeded to do this repeatedly until the crystal vein was fully exposed and easily removable. Celestia proceeded to strike at the crystal next, lighter so as to not shatter it into many pieces. She dealt a moderate blow to the crystal, managing to break off a large chunk of it.
After returning the sledgehammer from whence it came, Celestia used her hooves to fully remove the crystal from the wall. She next summoned a coil of rope and used her magic to wrap it tightly around the crystal slab’s entire length. While she couldn’t use her magic to move the crystal itself, she could carry the rope holding it. That way, it wouldn’t be a hassle to transport the crystal back to Twilight.
Upon finishing, Celestia held the package aloft in her magic and turned around to head back the way she came, only to be confronted by a familiar, and most unwelcome face.
“Hello, Celly,” Discord said, floating lazily in the air, blocking her exit. “How are you this fine evening?”
Celestia sighed in exasperation. The last thing she wanted was complications to her plan, especially if said complications involved Discord.
“What do you want, Discord?” she asked.
“Oh Tia,” he replied, gingerly inspecting his talons, “you should know that all I’ve ever wanted is somepony that accepts me for who I am.” He smiled wryly. “That, and to get under your skin whenever doing so would be productive.” He snapped his talon, which turned the rope holding Celestia’s crystal slab into a giant earth worm.
The earth worm, being so slimy, wasn’t able to support the crystal slab and dropped it. Celestia dived to save the crystal, just barely managing to grasp it with her hooves before it hit the cave floor and shattered. Panting heavily, Celestia carefully set the slab onto the floor and glared at Discord.
“I don’t have time for your games, Discord.” She took a menacing step forward. “Undo your magic and step out of my way or I won’t hesitate to use, this.” Casting yet another summoning spell, Celestia made appear a golden hilt with a blinding white blade; emblazoned on the hilt was her solar sun Cutie Mark.
She gave Discord another glare, one that clearly conveyed how deadly serious the sun princess was in her claims.
Discord’s eyes widened and he was left speechless. Luna had told him that Celestia was letting her paranoia get the best of her, but for the sun princess to threaten him with physical violence indicated her condition went beyond simple paranoia and into true madness.
All at once, the full gravity of the situation dawned on Discord, and he narrowed his eyes at the mad alicorn before him.
“Tia, I spent an entire millennium encased in stone, so I know what I’m talking about when I say you’ve gone crazy.” He furrowed his brows when Celestia merely snorted in response. He continued. “And while I normally do enjoy seeing you and your little ponies get all bent out of shape over trivial matters, you’ve taken it farther than what I can condone.”
“Trivial matters? Discord, my very life is at stake!” She seemed to stare off into space for a moment before refocusing her gaze onto Discord. “If Luna put you up to this, tell me if she revealed what she and Twilight’s plans for me entail.”
Discord stared back for a moment. “Plans?”
Celestia furrowed her brows. “Of course she wouldn’t tell you. Luna plans to strike me down and instigate Twilight as my replacement. I’m stripping Twilight of her power so she is unable to control my sun afterwards.”
Discord listened intently, soaking in every word that came from Celestia’s mouth and processing it all in his age old brain. After mulling it over for a moment, the draconequus gave his two bits on the matter.
“You’re wrong.”
Celestia’s eye twitched. “What did you say!?”
“You heard me, Tia.” Discord crossed his arms and gave her a half-lidded stare. “The idea of Sparkplug and Lulu looking to overthrow you is the most ludicrous thing ever spoken by you. I may not know them as intimately as you, but I know they’ve no motive to dethrone you. I don’t know what led you to believe they were staging a coup, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that such beliefs are false as can be.”
Discord took a moment to scratch behind an ear with his talon before finishing his assessment. “Until you let go of those delusions, Celestia, you’re not leaving this chamber.”
Silence followed. It permeated the air of the chamber around them so greatly that a pin could drop from several meters away and it wouldn’t be any less audible than if a stampede of cows rushed through the cavern right in front of them. Discord waited patiently for Celestia’s response hoping, despite it going against everything he stood for, that she’d see reason.
After a few moments, she finally gave it. “Out of my way, Discord.”
Discord sighed. “No, Tia.”
“Then you leave me with no choice.” Using her magic, Celestia lifted the sword and got into a battle-ready stance.
“Very well, I’ll play your little game.” Discord snapped his talon, to which a double sided ax, completely black and red around the trims, appeared in his paw.
For a while, the two just stared at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move; the tension mounting every second that passed where neither of them did. Eventually, Celestia attacked first. She flapped her wings to go up and came down with a slash of her sword, to which Discord casually stepped aside out of her way.
Celestia quickly spun around and swung her sword at Discord’s head, but the draconequus brought up his battle ax and easily blocked her attack. With a mighty shove he forced Celestia back a few yards, to which she hobbled on her hooves for a moment before righting herself and returning her angered gaze to him.
Looking right back into her own, Discord noted her eyes seemed blanker than they were a minute ago. He mentally shrugged and spoke to her. “Celestia, look at what you're doing. You’ve deluded yourself into thinking your sister and protégé are out to get you, and now you’re looking to take away Twilight’s newfound purpose which you gave her.” He shook his head. “Disgraceful, that’s what you are.”
“It’s for the greater good, Discord; you wouldn’t know such a thing.”
Discord’s eyes went wide. “For the greater good!? Celestia, what you're doing is wrong! You're killing your own student inside! I thought she was like a daughter to you!?”
“. . . She is no daughter of mine.”
It was then that Discord realized the mad alicorn’s eyes had indeed changed. Her eyes had gradually glazed over during their brief skirmish, and now they were like a lifeless doll’s eyes.
She’s gone, Discord realized. For the first time in his extended life, the draconequus felt true fear.
Before more could be said, Celestia shot her sword at Discord like an arrow with her magic. The draconequus easily side-stepped it, but was unable to react in time to Celestia herself when she flew straight at him following it, hoof-outstretched and scowl plastered across her face. She connected with Discord’s forehead, sending the draconequus straight back into the crystal wall where he made an imprint in his shape before falling facedown onto the cavern floor. .
Celestia looked down at him. “This is what happens when you get in my way, Discord. I never wanted to do that, but you made me.”
She walked back to the crystal slab, the earthworm wriggling nearby. Celestia picked the worm up in her magic and tossed it farther back into the caverns in the opposite direction from where she held Twilight captive. She then obtained a second rope using another summoning spell. The mad alicorn quickly wrapped it around the crystal slab like she did the first time and held it aloft in her magic.
She turned to the exit and made way to Twilight, completely oblivious to the flash and sound of a teleportation behind her.
Luna galloped hard through the crystal caverns, panting with exertion as she pushed her legs past what she once thought were her limits. She would’ve used her wings, but with all the erratic crystal formations it was safer to remain grounded. Despite having earth pony strength, the dark blue alicorn’s legs buckled quite frequently with all the running she was doing. Every time this happened she would need to stop, catch a breath, and rest for a bit before continuing her search for Twilight.
With how huge and maze-like the crystal caverns were, odds of finding an unconscious, captive lavender alicorn would be dismal to some. Fortunately, Luna could recall the general area in which Twilight was from her visit to the dreamscape, making it that much easier to locate her.
Tia will be apologizing to Twilight for quite some time after this has passed. Perhaps she should seek some counsel to quell her over paran-
Luna was brought out of her musings when she finally reached near where Twilight should be. Darting her head every which way, Luna spotted Twilight’s unconscious form reflected in the crystal atop a ledge just to her left. She took off with her wings and quickly landed onto the ledge just a few meters from Twilight.
A crystal restraint was wrapped around Twilight’s barrel, pinning her against the crystal wall behind her. What Luna recognized as a magic suppressant was wrapped around Twilight’s horn, something that was commonplace prior to her banishment a thousand years ago but apparently not so much nowadays. Luna quickly scuffled over to Twilight, ready to set her free when a voice from the right froze her in place.
“Back off, Lulu.”
Luna turned to see Celestia standing in the entrance to the chamber, a scowl on her face and a rope carrying the special crystal in her magic. The solar alicorn charged her horn with magic and pointed it at her younger sister.
“I said, back off.”
Luna could only stare wide eyed at her sister, threatening her like so as if she had turned back into Nightmare Moon. It wasn’t until a soft moan from Twilight’s sleeping self that Luna snapped back to her senses.
“What happened to Discord?” she asked.
Celestia snorted. “I’m amazed he bothered to help you with your plans. But in doing so he got in my way to which I ‘corrected’ him, as I will do to you two.”
“Sister, please listen to me,” Luna pleaded. “Twilight and I mean you no harm. We-AHH!”
Luna was interrupted by Celestia firing off her magic beam at her. The blue alicorn dodged to the right with only a second to spare, landing dangerously close to the edge.
“I warned you, sister,” Celestia growled. She began making way toward Twilight.
“Tia! Stop!” Luna cried, and charged her sister.
Celestia didn’t even bat an eyelash as she put up a magic barrier around both her and Twilight. Luna hit the barrier hard and fell onto her back on the cavern floor. Celestia shook her head with disgust and turned back to Twilight. Lifting the wrapped up crystal with her magic, she aligned it so that the sharpest point was aligned with Twilight’s chest.
Recovering from her crash, Luna looked into the barrier to see Celestia poised to use the crystal. Eyes wide, Luna tried breaking down the barrier with her own magic, but Celestia’s proved too strong to overpower. Luna then tried bucking the barrier to break it, but her hind legs proved no more capable than her magic.
All the while, Celestia watched her sister’s pathetic attempts with amusement. When it looked like Luna’s hind legs had enough, Celestia spoke.
“It’s no use, Lulu.” Celestia returned her gaze to Twilight. “I will not be cast down by traitors like you.”
“We are not traitors!” Luna cried, tears now streaming down her face.
“SILENCE!”
Celestia had enough by this point. Without a second thought, she used her magic to shoot the crystal straight at Twilight. The sharp end of the crystal plunged into Twilight’s chest, eliciting a small grunt from the lavender alicorn. The crystal sank in a few centimeters, just to the left of Twilight’s heart. A small bit of blood oozed from the wound, running down Twilight’s body and dripping onto the floor.
Luna barely had enough time to be shocked when the crystal’s special property began to take effect. Magic coursing through Twilight’s body was sucked like a magnet to the point of impact and absorbed into the crystal; the color of it changing from light brown to the same shade of magenta red as Twilight’s aura. All the while the crystal took effect Twilight herself remained unconscious, though she did gasp and moan every few seconds in response to it.
Luna watched the entire thing, traumatized, while more tears flowed from her eyes in an ever increasing torrent. Celestia, on the other hoof, had an ever growing smirk. She giggled once, then again, and finally a third time before she burst out in maniacal laughter as she pounded the floor with her front hooves in apparent celebration of her deed. Eventually, she calmed down enough to speak to Luna, who now looked downcast, silently weeping.
“It’s over, sister,” Celestia said, her words dripping with venom. “Your and Twilight’s plans have failed.”
Luna looked up into her sister’s maddened gaze. “You are right, Celestia; our plans have failed.”
Celestia was about to respond when Luna continued. “But we never intended to cast you down from rule.”
Looking downcast again, Luna finished her confession. “We intended to make true your deepest desire.”
Celestia found nothing but confusion to Luna’s answer. “My deepest desire? Luna, what are you talking about?”
Luna sniffed. She briefed a sideways glance to Twilight, still unconscious and being drained of magic by the crystal, before returning her gaze to Celestia and replied to her.
“Isn’t it obvious, sister? What’s the one thing you’ve always wanted more than all else?”
“Luna, I have no idea what you're talking about; stop being so cryptic!” Celestia yelled.
“Your greatest desire was to be treated like a normal pony, is it not? Doesn’t Iron already do that? Isn’t it also true that you had a small crush on him, before he got married?” She asked with a small smile.
Celestia’s eyes widened. “Don’t you dare bring that up!” she growled.
Luna merely shook her head. “Tia, what is coming up soon? What haven't you celebrated in over a thousand years since my banishment?”
Celestia’s eyes widened further. “M-my birthday? What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything, Tia!” Luna was sobbing at this point, tears running down her cheeks, staining her midnight blue coat. “Please sister, free Twilight and undo this shield so we can discuss this before somepony gets irreversibly hurt.”
Celestia just scoffed. “Of course you would want that.” She turned back to face Twilight; her wings were going limp as the crystal absorbed the magic used to maintain them.
“Sister!” Luna shouted. She struck her hoof against the magic barrier in a vain attempt to break it. Celestia didn’t even cast a glance behind her, instead keeping her gaze transfixed on Twilight’s de-alicornization.
Finally, with a sigh, Luna gave up. “Fine, Tia, I’ll tell you the truth.” She then furrowed her brows as Celestia turned back around, her own brow raised curiously. “And you’ll finally realize you’ve let your paranoia get the best of you.”
“Twilight and I have been planning this for months. We decided you should receive a truly special gift for your 4000th birthday, something that’d be worth more than every gift-wrapped box any one pony could get.” Luna took a moment to wipe some tears away before continuing. “We decided our gift to you would be a whole month living life like a normal pony; no royal duties, no groveling subjects, and especially no raising the sun. With my help, Twilight would take over for you during that time. Using the alicorn magic you granted her, she could move the sun in your absence.” Luna stared pleadingly at her older sister, hoping she’d finally see reason now that the truth was out.
Celestia said nothing in response at first as she struggled to digest all that Luna told her. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, Celestia leaned forward so she was eye level with Luna, glaring daggers at her.
“Prove it,” she said.
Another moment of silence reigned before they were startled by a blinding flash of yellow light between them. Both sisters instinctively shielded their eyes with a wing until the light faded. They looked back to see Discord standing between them, his head covered in bandages and holding a cake in his mismatched hands. Written in green frosting on the cake was “Happy 4000th Birthday Tia!”
“Is this enough proof, Tia?” he asked in an annoyed tone.
Luna smiled. “Discord! You're still alive!”
“Indeed I am,” Discord replied. He winced at a sudden pain in his head. “That’s the last time I try to fix my own injuries.”
Celestia furrowed her brows. “Discord . . .”
“Celestia, just look at this!” He held the cake just an inch from Celestia’s barrier, right in front of her face. “Luna is telling you the truth!”
Celestia snorted. “You could’ve easily conjured that yourself in response to my demand for proof.”
Discord stared back for a few moments before slumping his shoulders in defeat. “Okay; that I did.”
Celestia scoffed and turned back around to observe Twilight’s de-alicornization. Luna frowned and whispered into Discord’s ear. “Why did you admit yourself?”
Discord turned to her and smiled. “Just watch,” he said.
Before Luna could say anything else, Discord grabbed her around the neck and dragged her several meters backwards, away from Celestia’s barrier. He then lifted the cake over his head and turned to her. “When the going is good, rush in and grab Twilight; I’ll hold off Celestia.”
Luna opened her mouth to retort, but Discord gave her no chance as he chucked the cake at the shield. With Celestia’s back turned, she never saw it coming. The cake hit the shield with great force and exploded. Luna expected to get showered with cake and frosting as a result, but such shrapnel never came. Looking on, she saw that Celestia’s barrier was gone; the white alicorn herself was knocked forward a few meters closer to Twilight, too stunned by the blast to move.
Luna stared, mouth agape, for a moment before Discord ran into her field of vision toward Celestia. Coming back to her senses, Luna made a beeline for Twilight, who by this point was starting to look quite pale. Discord hurriedly leapt on top of Celestia and kept her pinned to the cavern floor with both his mismatched hands. As a failsafe, he snatched the magic suppressor off of Twilight’s horn and slipped it over Celestia’s own, cutting off her own magic.
Meanwhile, Luna set to work freeing Twilight. With a few carefully aimed bucks, the crystal holding Twilight against the cavern wall shattered into several tiny fragments that littered the floor all around them. She caught Twilight in her telekinetic grip and laid the lavender mare onto the floor on her back. The crystal was still embedded deep within Twilight’s chest, but one good yank with Luna’s jaw was enough to pry it loose, in turn ceasing the magic drain. She tossed the crystal over the nearby cliff and deeper into the caverns, the sound of it striking a surface echoing back a few moments later.
“Twilight,” Luna said, nuzzling the unconscious mare. “Please wake up.”
“She won’t-argh, LET ME GO!!!”
Luna turned to look at Celestia who was struggling to free herself from underneath Discord. No matter how much she lashed out at him, however, the draconequus held tight his grip without budging.
“That’s not happening, Celestia,” Discord replied, nonchalantly. “At least until you come to your senses . . . I can’t believe I just said that.”
Luna would’ve giggled had it not been for the situation at hoof. She stood up and approached Celestia, horn alight with magic as she prepared to cast a flashback spell.
“Sister,” she said, “it’s time you saw the truth.”
Before Celestia could get out a snarled reply, Luna touched her horn to her forehead, casting the spell. Celestia closed her eyes at the accompanying bright flash of white light. When she next opened them, she found herself to be in Luna’s bedchambers. The dark blue alicorn herself stood in front of her, along with Twilight Sparkle. A momentary panic surged in Celestia before she realized that Luna was showing her past events.
“This will explain everything, sister.”
Celestia started at the voice next to her. Turning her head, she saw another Luna, the present one, staring at the scene before them. Her entire person was a light blue color and slightly transparent. Looking down at herself, Celestia saw that she was too, which confirmed her prior assumption.
Present Luna turned to her. “In hindsight, I wish I’d shown this to you much earlier.”
Celestia looked at her for a moment before shifting to the scene before them.
“Perhaps we should continue this conversation elsewhere, little star,” Past Luna replied, making way toward her room’s balcony. “I feel we may not be so safe from prying ears here, after all.”
“Whatever floats your boat,” Past Twilight said with a smile. The two stepped onto the balcony to enjoy the last vestiges of sunlight before Luna had to raise the moon.
Present Luna gestured for them to follow. Celestia gave a half-lidded stare, but complied, following her sister and student’s past counterparts. Present Luna trailed behind.
Past Twilight and Luna sat down upon a couple of lounge chairs and stayed silent while they enjoyed the setting sun. But it didn’t stay like so for long, as Twilight spoke up after about half a minute.
“Luna, can I ask you something?”
Past Luna turned to her and smiled. “Of course, little star.”
Celestia frowned at Present Luna in response to the pet name, who glanced back briefly but said nothing in return. Maintaining the frown, Celestia returned her attention to the scene before them.
Twilight sighed. “Why did Celestia grant me ascension?”
Past Luna frowned. “Why do you ask such a question?”
“It’s just that your and Celestia’s rule over Equestria is sound without my help. Sure, I help out with Day/Night Court requests from time to time, but am I really needed just for that, or is there something to it I’m not aware of?”
Past Luna stared blankly for a moment before smiling. “Still as inquisitive as ever, I see.”
Twilight blushed. Past Luna giggled for a moment before answering Twilight’s question. “One thing you should know, Twilight, is that you and Cadence aren’t the first ponies whom have been granted ascension.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide in response. “Really?” she asked.
“Of course,” Past Luna replied. “Tia always takes under her wing everypony she meets with exceptional talent, focus, and determination, but only grants them ascension under a special circumstance.”
“Wow.” Twilight looked ahead blankly. “So, what’s the ‘special circumstance’?”
Past Luna shrugged. “If I knew I’d tell you, but Tia’s always a hog when it comes to such important secrets.”
Celestia looked sternly at Present Luna in response, while she just looked away sheepishly.
“Anyway,” Past Luna continued, “the reason why Celestia granted you ascension might be the same as why she did so for any of her past apprentices.” Past Luna stretched her fore legs a bit before continuing. “She’s afraid.”
Twilight raised a curious brow at this. “Afraid? Of what?”
Past Luna sighed. “Afraid of being alone.” She turned back to look at the setting sun. “After my banishment, Celestia told me she was incredibly lonely. Losing her only family left a giant hole in her heart, one which she apparently tried to fill by taking ponies under her wing and raising them as if they were her own children. That way, she could have someone to reconcile with as well as have help in ruling over Equestria.” She turned back to Twilight. “Even with my return, she still feels having a third wheel in our rule is beneficial to us, but I shan’t complain.”
Celestia’s frown turned from one of anger to one of concern as she didn’t know what to think about that assessment. Present Luna turned her attention to her sister, knowing the next few sentences spoken were what had to convince her.
“Well,” Twilight said, “I guess those Day Court requests can get a little unbearable sometimes.”
Past Luna laughed. “As does those of Night Court.”
The two of them laughed a bit together before Past Luna continued. “I cannot imagine what insanity Tia would’ve suffered through the past thousand years had she no help.”
Twilight smiled. “She definitely deserves her gift, doesn’t she?”
Celestia’s eyes widened slightly at that, while Present Luna kept her neutral stare.
“Most definitely, little star,” Past Luna replied. “Truth be told, I wish I could have an entire month free as well. But alas, Equestria needs a guiding hoof lest it fall apart at the seams.”
“Ergo, Ponyville on a weekly basis,” Twilight stated.
While both mares laughed uproariously at that, Celestia’s eyes widened even greater than before. Her train of thought took an unexpected turn as two sides of her maddened psyche fought for control. One side stood by everything she’d convinced herself of, while the other argued that what Past Luna just said contradicted all of it. The inner turmoil of these two warring beliefs tearing through Celestia’s mind was too much for her brain to handle and she promptly collapsed to her knees.
Present Luna decided her sister had seen enough and cancelled the spell.
The two sisters returned to reality in the same positions as before. Discord was still pinning Celestia down and Twilight was still unconscious while leaning against the crystal wall of the cavern.
“What just happened?” Discord asked Luna.
The moon princess looked down on Celestia, who was wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and putting up no resistance whatsoever to Discord.
“She’s seen the truth,” Luna replied. She loked over to Twilight, her face setting into a deep frown. “Something I would’ve shown her sooner had I known how dire the situation really was.”
Discord huffed. “That would’ve saved someone a lot of trouble.” He rolled his eyes up to his bandage wrapped head.
Luna turned back to him with a frown. “I’m sorry, Discord, but you’re not the only victim here, and not even the biggest one at that.” She enveloped Twilight in her magic and levitated her over to him. “Can I trust you to get Twilight safely to the castle’s medical staff?”
Discord grabbed the unconscious mare from her and nodded. “Of course,” he said. He then rubbed his bandaged head. “I should get myself properly treated while I’m at it. But what about you, Lulu?”
Luna looked down at Celestia, who was still too shocked to move or speak. Her gaze softened upon seeing her sister in such a state. “Get Celestia into bed, for starters. Hopefully, come morning, she’ll be calmed down enough to raise the sun and we can talk over this properly.”
“Well, good luck with that,” Discord replied.
Luna heard a snap in front of her, to which what she saw of Discord atop Celestia vanished, leaving the two of them alone. With a sigh, Luna enveloped Celestia in her magic and proceeded toward the Crystal Caverns’ exit.
Celestia said not a word for the entire trip to her bedroom. She offered no resistance to Luna’s telekinesis, nor any verbal assaults which concerned the lunar alicorn. Every minute or so, Luna would turn her head to make sure Celestia was alive and well. While the former was true, the latter was questionable at best.
Celestia’s face had changed from one of shock to sadness sometime during the trip. The wide-eyed stare from before had fallen into a solemn frown while her muzzle had set into a grim line that periodically quivered ever so slightly. Luna could only guess the crushing weight put upon Celestia’s mind by the realization that she’d wrongfully convicted Twilight of treason.
“Here we are,” Luna said, having reached Celestia’s bedroom. She pushed in the doorlock to which the door opened and she slipped inside.
Luna levitated Celestia over and onto her bed before cancelling her telekinesis. Despite being free to move Celestia remained still, so Luna took the initiative to spread the covers over her and remove her regalia, placing them on the designated spot on the nearby vanity.
Luna then looked down at Celestia with a somber face and sighed. “Get some rest, sister,” she said, and made way for the door. “We shall discuss this come morning.”
Celestia didn’t answer, or even acknowledge what her sister said as she exited the bedroom. Her perception of the outside world was like a fishing bobber caught in a monsoon of conflicting thoughts and emotions. The knowledge of what she’d done to Twilight Sparkle, the daughter she never had, dealt a fatal blow to the solar alicorn’s psyche, leaving it shattered and in pieces. Celestia felt like crying, bawling her eyes out with a torrential downpour of tears, but such sorrow was cancelled out by another emotion; fear.
As she began recovering from her prior shock, feelings of unparalleled fear coursed through the broken remnants of Celestia’s psyche. Fear that she’d succumbed to the same feelings of jealousy and anger that Luna fell to a thousand years ago. Fear that Equestria’s populace would forever condemn her despicable act and shun her in turn. But worst of all, fear that Luna, Discord, and especially Twilight would never forgive her for the harm she dealt unto them, whether emotional or physical.
How could I let my deluded assumptions get so far out of hoof that all this happened? She thought. I thought they were guilty of treason, but the only one guilty of such is me. How . . . how could I do this? Tears began streaming from Celestia’s eyes as she sat up in bed. Looking around her room, at all the luxuries she possessed as a princess of Equestria, a pang of guilt greater than when she banished Luna shot through her shattered psyche. She was supposed to be the kind, wise, all around benevolent ruler that Equestria looked up to faithfully, but such a ruler would never do what she did to her protégé, sister, or even her former arch nemesis.
Celestia’s gaze landed on her regalia, sitting on the vanity where Luna left it. Seeing it sitting there, where it’d always been put before bedtime, invoked another change in Celestia. No longer did she bawl her eyes out with tears. Instead, she merely looked downcast as the reality of what she’d done finally made itself clear.
I don’t deserve to rule.
6 hours later
“Hey! Watch the horns!” Discord shouted to the doctor.
“Sorry, Discord,” Dr. Aidan apologized, and continued bandaging the draconequus’ head.
After escaping from the Crystal Caverns with Twilight, Discord woke up the castle’s medical staff who immediately got to work treating them both. They were curious, of course, as to what exactly happened to the princess and chaos spirit, but knew to hold off such questions until after their injuries were properly treated.
“And . . . done,” Dr. Aidan announced.
“Thanks,” Discord said, very insincerely.
He turned to Twilight who laid on the bed next to him. Several unicorns were hard at work normalizing the magic flow in her body. Thankfully, she’d been saved before the absorbent crystal drained too much magic from her, but the damage it did do was severe enough to warrant a full-scale magic transfusion. Also thankfully, the physical damage dealt by the crystal piercing Twilight’s chest wasn’t life-threatening; a simple stitch job was enough to fix the injury.
“She’ll be okay, right?” Discord asked.
Dr. Aidan briefly turned to the lavender alicorn before staring at him with a raised brow. “Since when do you care for her well-being?”
Discord huffed. “I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’d wish harm onto her if she didn’t truly deserve it, which she didn’t.”
“Speaking of which.” Dr. Aidan levitated a notepad and pen from his coat pocket. “What exactly happened to you two?”
Discord turned and stared blankly at him as his conscience fought to determine whether he should impart such knowledge onto Dr. Aidan or, for that matter, anypony period. While he cared nothing for Celestia’s reputation, a part of him felt enough pity for the solar alicorn that revealing her despicable act didn’t come as easily as some would think it’d be for the draconequus. In the end, though, it didn’t matter as Luna entered the hospital wing at that moment.
“Dr. Aidan,” she addressed him, trotting up to Discord’s bed.
He turned to look at the moon princess. “Princess Luna, there’s been an acci-“
He was silenced with a hoof gesture from Luna. “I’m aware that something has happened to both Princess Twilight and Discord.” She turned her head to look at the group of unicorn doctors still operating on Twilight. “Will Princess Twilight be alright?”
Dr. Aidan followed her gaze. “Her physical injuries were minimal at most; nothing worth too much trouble. It’s the magic drain which has proven most troublesome, and even then our unicorn magi are more than capable of healing such a condition.” He returned his gaze to Discord, who’d stopped listening and taken to rearranging the digits on his mismatched hands into various combos. “But how did Princess Twilight get impaled by an absorbent crystal in the first place?”
Discord stopped his fooling around and gazed up at him with a disinterested look in his eyes. For a split second, Luna thought his gaze flicked over to her. She took this as her cue to step in.
“If I may, Dr. Aidan.” She levitated the notepad and pen from his telekinesis and over to her. “Since this concerns the well-being of a member of royalty, and Celestia shan’t be up for another hour, I will ask Discord what has happened to Twilight.”
Dr. Aidan briefly stared at her with a concerned look before nodding. “Very well, your highness.” He turned around and left the room, followed a few minutes later by the group working on Twilight. Luna instructed them to get some much needed rest and that she’d watch over both Discord and Twilight.
“I thought they’d never finish working on Sparkplug over there,” Discord stated, returning to his rearranging of digits.
“Magic transfusions do take time,” Luna replied, throwing the notepad and pen over her shoulder. “Be thankful Tia didn’t magic drain you as well.”
Discord said nothing in response. The two of them sat there for a minute in total silence, unknowing what to do or say next. Eventually, Luna spoke up in a wistful tone.
“Discord.”
The draconequus looked to her. “Yes, Lulu?”
“. . . Would you have told Dr. Aidan what really happened had I not arrived when I did?”
Discord stared blankly for a moment before shrugging. “Maybe. Maybe not. You know me Lulu; I’m impossible to read.” He returned to his digits but didn’t get to do anything before he felt a hoof placed on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Luna smiling down at him.
“Regardless, I’m glad you didn’t,” she said.
A slight blush formed on Discord’s cheeks before he coughed and gently knocked her hoof away. “Go bug her,” he said, gesturing with his head to Twilight, who was still unconscious.
Luna smiled and trotted over to the lavender alicorn’s bed. Sitting down on her haunches, Luna proceeded to also stroke Twilight’s body; it was purely instinctual on her part. A part of her believed that Twilight was still fully aware in her dream, sorrowful for what Celestia intended for her, and that her own touch would help alleviate the young princess’ emotional pain.
“Twilight,” she whispered, “everything will be alright; I promise.”
“. . . tia.”
Luna almost jumped in alarm at the sound before realizing Twilight was talking in her sleep.
“. . . I . . . for . . .”
Luna leaned in closer, trying to determine exactly what Twilight was saying. Meanwhile, as he lay on his own bed, Discord noticed something out of his eye’s corner happening outside. Turning to look through a nearby window, he stared wide-eyed as the sun peeked over the horizon.
“Um, Luna,” he said.
“Not now,” she replied. “Go on, Twilight.”
“. . . give . . .”
Discord checked a clock on the nearby wall. The time was 5:19; almost a whole hour before the sun was supposed to rise. He looked back out the window to find the sun had risen halfway over the horizon, its light stretching across the landscape in opposition to Luna’s moon which still hung in the sky, creating the same twilit sky seen just half a year ago.
“. . . you.”
“Luna?” Discord said, genuine worry lacing his voice this time.
The lunar alicorn growled in frustration and spun around to face the draconequus. “Discord! What cou-”
The sight of her sister’s sun rising through the window gave the lunar alicorn pause. She stared blankly at it, then at the clock on the wall, then at Discord with an angry scowl.
“Discord! What are you doing with Tia’s sun?” She took a threatening step towards him.
“Oh sure, blame me won’t you? I’m not moving the sun; in fact, that’s what I was trying to bring to your attention.” Discord pinched the bridge of his muzzle and narrowed his eyes at Luna. “Even when what I have to say is more concerning, you choose to listen to Princess Sparkplug’s unconscious ramblings; how typical.”
Luna’s scowl deepened. She was about to verbally bash the reformed spirit of chaos when the hospital wing’s doors burst open and Guard Captain Iron Shield rushed in, a slip of parchment suspended in his telekinesis.
“Luna!” he shouted. “Your sister has gone missing!”
“WHAT!?” She spun on her hooves to face him. “For how long?”
“I don’t know,” Iron Shield floated the parchment over to her. She took it in her own magic while he continued. “Tempest and I were at guard outside her bedroom when we heard a popping sound from inside. After some deliberation, it was decided I would investigate since we both knew Celestia would go easier on me if it was a false alarm.” He pointed at the parchment. “Celestia wasn’t in her bed, but that note was.”
Luna wasted no time in opening the parchment and reading its contents. With each line she read, the fear in her eyes increased, eventually to the point where her pupils were pinpricks. Not wanting to be left out of the loop, Discord snatched the parchment from her magic grip and began reading himself.
“What does it mean, Luna?” Iron Shield asked with quivering lips.
Luna said nothing at first. Her mind struggled to process the note’s contents and their underlying meanings. Celestia had not been abducted; the note made that apparent enough. No, it had been written by Celestia herself, but what she’d said was bone chilling in its implications, enough to make Luna tremble like a scared little foal.
Discord, however, was less terrified and more insulted by what the note said, or rather, failed to say.
“Oh, come on!” he bellowed. “She doesn’t even apologize to me!? Arrgh!” He lit the note aflame in his paw, burning it entirely and throwing the ashes into a corner of the room nearby his bed.
Luna finally snapped out of her fear-induced paralysis. “Guard Captain,” she said, her voice still inlaid with fear, “gather every single last Solar and Lunar Guard and have them converge in the Royal Gardens. I’m declaring a national ponyhunt for my sister.”
“Right away, Luna,” Iron Shield responded, and galloped out of the room faster than one could blink.
Luna turned to the still fuming draconequus. “Discord, can you be trusted to help move the sun until Celestia has been located and returned safely to the castle?”
Discord glared into space for a moment before deflating and responding. “Fine, I’ll help keep everypony alive and happy, but only on the condition that Celestia apologizes to me if we find her.”
Luna smiled briefly before her face fell into a hard frown. “We shall find her, mark my words.” She turned to look at Twilight, her gaze softening as she remembered what the lavender alicorn said in her sleep.
If Twilight can forgive Celestia for what she did to her, surely she can forgive herself for her despicable deed too.
“Well, I guess if I’ll be acting as the de facto ruler of the sun,” Discord said, stretching his arms, “I’ll be enjoying the added benefits of the position; Tia’s bed for instance.”
With a flash, he teleported out of the hospital wing, leaving Luna alone with Twilight. As the full weight of what was happening settled onto Luna’s mind, she looked out the window at Celestia’s sun with a mournful expression.
“Sister . . .”
Deep in the Everfree Forest, within the cavern housing the Tree of Harmony, the returned Elements lay scattered across the floor. Amongst them stood a statue. A statue of an alicorn with her wings tucked in and head downcast. On the ground near her front hooves was a tiny splotch of water, made from a lone tear which dropped from her eye before the petrification reached her face.
Princess Celestia stood there, unable to move, unable to speak, able to do nothing in her petrified state besides think. Think about all she’d done, and how she deserved her self-inflicted punishment. How she’d become a monster and attacked her closest friends and family out of deluded rage. She mentally wept for Luna, Discord, and Twilight, and prayed Equestria would be in good hooves under their rule.
