> Children of the Moonprincess
>  by Calmsoul
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> 1 - Remembering
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Luna stood on the balcony of her sleeping chambers and let her gaze wander over the city of Canterlot, a thoughtful frown on her face. Down in the streets, her subjects bustled about their daily business, revelling in the sunny day her sister's sun had brought to them. Of course, the weather teams of the pegasi had made this possible as well, scheduling a cloudless sky for today. It reminded her of the days before her banishment to the moon, when jealousy had plagued her mind night and day. Thankfully she had overcome these feelings as well as the darkness that had kept her imprisoned in her own body with no hope of escape. But she could not have done it without the help of the Elements of Harmony and, more importantly to her, not without their bearers. She would do anything to keep something like Nightmare Moon from happening ever again.

It was unusual for her to be awake at this time of day, but sleep eluded her. And, more frustratingly, she didn't know why. Her Night Court had been surprisingly slow which was a nice change from her usual workload. Perhaps it had just been too slow. But somehow she felt that that was not the reason. Some foals down in the castle courtyard spotted her and waved their hooves at her with happy smiles on their faces. This show of youthful affection warmed her heart and eased the moody feelings. Consequently, a big smile crept on her face as well and she waved back enthusiastically, albeit not as enthusiastically as she would have liked to. As a princess she had to retain a certain level of dignity. At least, that was what was expected of her by the Royal Canterlot Protocol. Once again she tried to remember why she and Celestia had let themselves be persuaded by the nobility to approve their petition. Neither of them had really wanted it, but somehow it had seemed necessary. How long ago was this now? Three thousand years? Yes, something like that. Give or take a few centuries. It didn't really matter. But it were small things like these that showed her, that her actions to reinstate her reputation with her subjects had been successful.

It took her a full minute to realize that the foals had moved on while she was lost in her thoughts. And now she was waving at a group of nobles, still with a silly grin plastered on her muzzle. She brought her hoof to her mouth, coughed constrainedly, and hoped that her slight blushing was not visible to the ponies who were now looking up to her consternated, and slightly appalled. Why do I feel like this? I am one of the princesses! If I want to be happy and exuberant, I have every right to be. One of these days she should really talk with her sister about loosening the Royal Canterlot Protocol.

Sighing she turned around, walked back into her bedchamber and, with a flick of magic from her horn, closed the wide doors behind her. As an alicorn she didn't need to sleep everyday but usually she slept for at least a few hours to maintain somewhat of a routine. But if she couldn't sleep today, she would do something else: something that she had wanted to do for a long time now. With a look of determination on her face, she entered the bathroom adjacent to her sleeping chambers. Taking a look at herself in the mirror over the wash bowl, she decided that her mane needed a bit of combing to be truly presentable. Firing up her horn once again, her hairbrush was engulfed in a pale blue aura and lifted from its resting place to float over to her head. Letting it glide through her mane to tame a few strands of billowing night-sky back into place, she made some more detailed plans for the day. With a satisfied nod she replaced the brush and trotted back into the sleeping area. Without stopping she donned her regalia and opened the doors to the corridor outside her bed chamber. The corridor itself was deserted except for a few other doors, that led to different other personal rooms of hers, and the two guards–a pegasus and a unicorn–that stood on either side of her chambers. At the first move of the doors, the guards snapped to attention.

"Private, please inform my sister that I will be taking a walk to the city today, if she needs to contact me. Aside from that, I will join her at dinner as usual," she spoke to the pegasus on the right.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" he acknowledged with a salute. He then spread his wings and flew off down the corridor.

"I will send an escort to meet you at the castle gates, Your Highness," the unicorn guard said to the princess.

"No, that won't be necessary. This is no official visit, but a private one. I do not wish to attract more attention than I would alone, even without a bulk of guardsponies following me." Luna stopped him before he could make his first move.

"Are you sure? The Royal Canterlot Protocol..." his voice trailed off as he saw the suddenly grim expression on the face of his princess. "Yes, ma'am, no escort, ma'am," he hastened to comply, adding a swift salute.

Slightly appeased, Luna gave him a nod and made her way down the corridor, following the guard she had just sent after her sister. Her way took her to the great entrance hall of the castle. It had two big arched doors opposing each other, as well as several smaller ones that led to different parts of Canterlot Castle. The big doors to her right opened to the throne room in which her sister was sitting in this very minute to receive all kinds of ponies during the hours of her official daycourt. The other door led to the castle grounds and the Royal Gardens. There was a whole bunch of ponies standing in the hall waiting to see Princess Celestia, kept snugly in line by several guards. All of the ponies bowed as they noticed the entrance of the second diarch of Equestria. Luna acknowledged their reverence with a curt nod, which was joined by a warm smile once she noticed that not one pony before her bowed out of fear, but out of appreciation for their princess. Yes, this is how it should be. she thought with satisfaction, and let a bit more spring get to her trot as she turned to the front doors, dignity be damned for today. She could have told her sister about her plans herself, but didn't want to disrupt her court any more than necessary. And a guard would most likely not even be noticed by the nervous ponies speaking to their ruler. Whereas, it was not unheard of that more than one pony would suffer a nervous breakdown on the unexpected entrance of a second princess. Talk about bad timing.
Just as she opened the doors to the outside, those to the throne room burst open as well. Curious, she turned around, only to see the guard she had sent to her sister stumble out.

"Your Highness! Please wait a moment!" he called before running up to her. Luna waited calmly for him to reach her. As he did she looked quizzically down as a signal for him to speak. "Princess Celestia wishes you fun and a relaxing trip. But she is curious about your plans and asks if you would be willing to be a bit more precise."

Shooting a quick glance upwards over the waiting ponies who tried as hard as possible not to be seen to be eavesdropping–failing miserably of course–and into the throne room, she saw that her sister was looking back at her with that trademark smile of hers. An exuberant and slightly devious grin stole itself on Luna's face. "Why, of course I can!" she exclaimed happily. Using the Royal Canterlot Voice the first time in months, she shouted in the direction of Celestia, "Just going on a little shopping tour!" And with that she turned around and made her way through the open doors. A small giggle escaped her as she imagined the the stunned expressions on the waiting ponies' faces and she could almost actually hear several jaws hitting the floor.

Her gloomy mood from a few minutes earlier forgotten, she made her way to the streets of Canterlot. What a wonderful day to go shopping!


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The streets of Canterlot were even more bustling with activity than she had expected after watching it from her balcony. But, much to her relief, there was no big uproar among her subjects upon seeing one of their princesses walking the very same ground as themselves. Most of them were smiling at her when she passed them, while others had curious looks on their faces; only occasionally did a pony feel it necessary to bow before her. Overall, she had a very pleasant feeling about her visit to the city. Some time ago, a few weeks after she had returned from her banishment, and only a couple of days after her power had sufficiently rebuilt to retake her usual royal, alicorn body, she too had come to the city to witness the changes that had occurred since her disappearance. After about an hour, she had teleported back to her quarters to break down into a sobbing mess on her bed. The ponies she loved so much had fled, screaming at the top of their lungs upon seeing what they thought was Nightmare Moon. All reassurances from herself, or the guards, had done nothing to calm them down. It had taken Celestia all of the remaining day, and most of the night, to calm Luna down and reassure her that eventually the attitude towards her would change. And, as usual, she had been correct.

Luna gazed with fascination at the many different shops, restaurants, boutiques and market stands that made up Canterlot's main shopping district. A light breeze was blowing that added just the right amount of cooling to the warm day without turning it chilly. But, as it blew up from behind her, her mane that usually was billowing all on its own was pushed constantly into her face, tickling her nose and obscuring her view. After about ten minutes she'd had enough of it. Looking for a shop selling all kinds of small accessories Luna hurried forward. Once she had finally found one, she browsed the different items until she found what she was looking for. After paying, she straightened her mane with her magic and snatched her new scrunchie snuggly over it. Now her head sported a ponytail that kept her mane just far enough behind her so it couldn't get in her way. Satisfied, she moved on. So, what should I do first? It's not as if I've had something particular in mind. A low rumbling emerged from her stomach, giving her an idea of what to do. But, as dinner wasn't that far away, she decided to settle for just a small ice cream cone on this hot day.

Five minutes later a cone with about a dozen differently flavoured scoops floated before her and she was happily licking away at her icy treat. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of something unusual. An animatedly, chattering group of foals, led by a unicorn mare, made their way through the streets a short distance away. They were quite young, maybe around the age of six, seeing as not one of them had gained a cutie mark yet. One of the foals spotted her and she saw a pair of eyes swelling to enormous proportions. The colt pointed a hoof towards her and said something to his followers. A moment later the pair of enormous eyes were joined by several others. Luna smiled and waved a hoof at them. But, as she got no reaction, it dawned on her that, in this case, it was not the princess that got the attention of the foals, but the gigantic ice cream tower hovering in front of her. The leading mare, having caught on to the fact that some of her charges were trailing behind, let out a small call to them and snapped them somewhat cruelly out of their dreamworld. As they hastened to catch up with the rest of their group, Luna noticed some sort of scarf around each of their necks. Must be a group of those filly scouts I've heard of. But as she looked a little bit closer she recognized the symbol on the scarves. It was the symbol of one of Canterlot's smaller orphanages. That gave her an idea and, once again, a devious grin crept up her face. She looked around until she found what she was looking for. A pair of guards on street patrol. She trotted up to them and waited for the two to become aware of her presence.

"Your Highness!" one of the guards exclaimed, evidently surprised. "What are you doing out here without an escort? This is quite dangerous!"

Luna raised an eyebrow unapprovingly before retorting. "So, you want to tell me that the shopping district is a puddle of crime and you are just taking a stroll, gawking at the sights?"

Becoming a little bit nervous, the guardspony tried to save himself. "Of course not, Princess Luna! The crime rate is at its all-time low thanks to yours and Princess Celestia's reign."

At this point his partner facehooved herself, knowing what was to come. If he thought he could appease the Princess of the Night with this statement, he was wrong. Very wrong. "Well then, I think you are implying that your princess is incapable of doing a little wandering in streets and shopping for a new outfit without a horde of guards to nanny her?"

He was doomed. He just knew it. His career was over. If he was lucky, that is. The poor guard broke into a sweat and began to prance around nervously from one hoof to the other. "No, Your Majesty, that was not what I was trying to say. I just meant..." he trailed off as he was at a loss for words. Frantically, he tried to think of something to say, casting his eyes from left to right non-stop. Then he broke. "Please forgive me, Your Majesty, I didn't mean to insult you. Please don't banish me to the Everfree Forest!" he wailed. His partner brought the second hoof to her face in a futile attempt to hide her embarrassment.

"I will see over it. This time. On one condition. Go back to the castle and tell my assistant–Honeycomb–to gather up ten of my staffponies. Then for her to meet me down at Whitetail Alley in two hours. Do you think you are up to this challenge?"

Relief flooded through the guard's body. It seemed he was saved from what he had assumed to be a cruel fate. "I most certainly am, Your Highness. I will deliver your orders immediately!" he almost shouted while bringing a hoof to his forehead, just the hint of a shake retaining visible. In fact, he was so relieved, that he forgot one essential detail.

"Well then... shouldn't you be moving?" Luna asked after almost a minute in which the guard had failed to do as much as blink.

That finally did the trick. With a horrified shout of "Of course!" he broke into a gallop turning in the direction of Canterlot Castle. Shaking her head, Luna watched him go. The Royal Guard was second to none, but once in a while they got just a bit overprotective. Though she had to admit to herself that she liked toying with them a bit, when the opportunity arose. Suddenly the second guard spoke up. "I have to apologize for my comrade here. I'd like to claim that he was new in the business, but sadly... he's not. He even forgot he has wings to get him to the castle quicker."

"Oh, it's alright Private. He's not the first to stumble over his own tongue when this topic comes up with my sister or I. But I think you should follow him and see to it that he doesn't rouse the whole court."

"Of course, ma'am." And with a salute, the guard in the armor of the Night Guard took off in pursuit of her comrade. Before leaving however, she turned around and spoke up again. "Oh and, Your Highness?" 

"Yes?"

"Your ice cream is melting." With that she turned and flew away.

Shooting a quick glance at her cone, Luna sighed and then turned back to the leaving guard as a question came to her mind. "What is your name, Private?" she called after the guard with the bat-like wings.

"Private Lethe, ma'am!" the guard called back. She was now only discernible for her sharper alicorn senses. Lethe? That sounds familiar. Of course! Lethe and Hoplite... Funny I didn't remember them. She had met with the odd duo on several occasions now. The most memorable was, without a question, the war for the Royal Kitchens.

Having dealt with this matter for now, Luna turned her attention back to the rapidly melting ice cream and hastened to gobble it down before the sun could take too much of a toll on it. You may take my dessert pie from me, dear sister, but this ice cream is mine, all MINE!


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Two hours later Luna was standing in the middle of Whitetail Alley waiting for her personal assistant, with a clutter of colorful shopping bags surrounding her. And, as reliable as her assistant was, she did not have long to wait before a dozen ponies appeared at the far corner of the street. Shortly after, they were coming to a halt before the princess.

"Punctual as always, Honeycomb, very good," Luna greeted her personal assistant–a light green earthpony mare with a even lighter blue mane and tail. On her flank resided the image of a beehive. Her eyes were a glowing orange and her mane was put into a tight bun.

"Of course, Princess Luna. By now you should know that I won't keep you waiting. Nice manestyle by the way." Honeycomb had been her assistant since about a month after her return to Equestria and, over the course of the past years, they had gotten to know each other quite well. She liked this hard working mare with her down-to-earth approach on things. And with that simple but honest compliment Luna suddenly realised how much they really talked over things not related to their jobs. I think I would call her a friend, if I had time to think about it.

"Thanks a lot, the wind was a bit of a nuisance today. But enough of the chit-chat, we've got work to do," Luna said with determination. "I want my shopping bags to be brought to my private chambers. One of you will suffice for that. The rest of you: Follow me," she ordered. 

"May I ask what your plans are?" Honeycomb spoke up as the group followed Luna down the street.

"I had a little run-in with a group of foals today. And, as I realized they were from one of the smaller orphanages, I thought it would be nice to treat them to a little something. So now we will all go to the nearest ice cream parlor, buy enough ice cream for all of them, and then see their reaction."

"Then we will need ice cream for thirty children and about half a dozen adults, if you want to include their minders; and some for our group too, if you don't mind. They have dinner at six, so we should preferably get their by half past six so that the ice cream will be a dessert for them and not turn out as a strange kind of hors d'oeuvre." Honeycomb rattled down a mental checklist.

Luna stopped dead in her tracks, a dumbfounded expression on her face. Turning to her assistant she raised an eyebrow. Slightly blushing but with a voice that was all business, Honeycomb began to explain. "As I got the message from the guard and stopped him, with a little help from his partner, from rousing up all of the royal court, I tried to anticipate what you had in mind and did a little digging. From the meeting point you wanted us at, and knowing of your dedication to children, it was not difficult to deduce that it had to have been to do with the orphanage. So I went to the archives and pulled up any information I could get my hooves on in the short time I had. Do you need their quarterly figures?"

"Even after several years you manage to surprise me with your abilities. Are you related with the house of Sparkle? You seem an awful lot like an ex-unicorn I know," the astounded princess retorted.

"No, but my mother was an accountant and my father tried to memorize any poetry he could. I think you could put it down as 'bad influence'."

During their short exchange they had resumed their walking and now reached a small ice cream parlor at the corner leading to a side street. "I think we should get the same for everypony to avoid quarrels," Luna spoke to herself while entering the parlor. The one room that made up the shop was empty at this late hour and the staff seemed to be getting ready to close for the day. Walking up to the counter a staffmember greeted her and asked for her wishes. "I'd like to have a portion of three scoops in a paper cup. One scoop of chocolate, one banana and one snozberry with a topping of whipped cream and a waffle. Oh and that order fifty times, and wrapped in bags please." Luna gave her order. It was the second time that day that she heard a jaw drop. This time accompanied by a suppressed snicker from behind her. The mouth of the pony in front of her hung wide open and the eyes were bulging. After a couple of seconds he pulled himself together and cleared his mind by shaking his head furiously, before then calling together his staff to get an organized chaos going. "Take your time, we've got half an hour before we need to get going and it would be a shame if the ice cream was melting before we got to our destination."

"Of course, Your Highness. Everything will be prepared exactly as you wish." And with a curt bow, he joined his staff to coordinate his order of the month. Meanwhile, Luna and her followers took a seat at the various tables. "So, what is the real reason for this spontaneous idea?" Honeycomb spoke with a lowered voice after they had made themselves comfortable. She had steered Luna to a table in the far corner of the room. Not without reason, it seemed. "Don't get me wrong, Princess, I like it, and I know you like the little ones since your first Nightmare Night, but it seems just a bit off."

The smile Luna had worn the entire time faltered a bit, turning lopsided in the process. "I don't exactly know myself. Today was just odd," she confessed. "At first I simply couldn't get to sleep. My thoughts were wandering from one thing to another, but I couldn't tell you what they were about. I feel something nagging at the back of my mind but can not get a hold on it. It's been building since the last Nightmare Night, now that I think about it. When I saw a group of foals in the castle gardens my mood turned completely and I decided to do this little outing. I'm probably just a bit overworked. You know how hard the last couple of months were with all the meetings with the various diplomats of our neighbors, and the associated ambassadors of both sides. All the treaties that had to be negotiated. In fact, you should take a vacation yourself. You have been a great help all this time and you must be at least as strained as I am. Besides, I don't want to wake up hog-tied by two foals. Your son and daughter must certainly miss their mother, considering the little time you spend together. And your husband surely wants his share as well." The last sentence was said with just a hint of suggestiveness.

"Oh, I'm fine, don't worry. I love my family and make the most of the time I've got with them, and it's just more intense as it is. Besides, Silver Streak has gotten to that age where he isn't really thrilled about a mother watching his every step," Honeycomb added with a chuckle. "And for the weekend we have a big picnic planned with a friend's family. Morning Hue couldn't keep her mouth and wings still because of this the last week. Autumn Leaf's ears have started crumbling for sure, let me tell you. He is happy if he can get enough sleep for his weather patrolling." Turning serious again, she finished. "In fact, perhaps a vacation isn't that bad an idea. I think he needs a break."

"It's settled then," Luna declared authoritatively. "After the next week you will take at least a two weeks' vacation. If you need more, that won't be a problem. The Summer Sun Celebration is coming up in a month and I still have a lot of planning to do on my own, so it would be slow for you anyway."

"Thank you, I'm sure he will appreciate it. And I will make sure he relaxes. At least when I'm done with him." Her gaze fixated a distant point and turned into a leer.

"No details please, I once got a small impression from one of your dreams by accident. Made my mind wander the whole day..." Luna stopped her with mock exasperation. But, before Honeycomb could retort anything, the high chiming of a bell sounded through the room. "Oh, I think our ice cream is ready. Let's get on our way then." And with that they stood and readied themselves. The bags were spread between the ponies of her staff and the owner was told to send the bill to the Royal Treasury. In high spirits they headed for the orphanage.


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Half an hour later the group of a dozen ponies arrived at Skyfall Orphanage. For a small orphanage, it had quite some large grounds stretching behind it. The building itself was old–ancient in fact. It had to be one of the oldest buildings in all of Canterlot. A low stone wall surrounded the property with some equally low, and quite rusty, iron gates at the front entrance. A sharp pain flashed through her head. Flinching she closed her eyes tight, trying to shake it off, with moderate success. What was that? This place... it seems familiar... At first glance all of it just looked old but, as Luna studied the building's front more closely, she realized just how shabby it was. She stopped, with a crestfallen look on her face. Honeycomb walked up to her. "Do you remember when I asked you, if you wanted to know their quarterly figures? That was just a half-joke. They are quite rundown. And not because of mismanagement either, I can assure you. They do what they can, but there's just not enough money on their accounts. The headmaster–Willow Wind–wrote letters for the last five years, at least, to get a raise in funding. But she was turned down each and every time."

Luna's expression had gotten more dissatisfied the longer her assistant had talked. "I cannot believe this. How could someone in so much need could get turned down for so long? Celestia and I made perfectly clear that the well-being of our youngest subjects were of the utmost importance to us!"

"Yes, but there is still a margin left, which the social department can use to make decisions. And they decided that Skyfall Orphanage was just too small to be considered for a raise in the budget."

"It seems, we have to do a little revision of the department and the directives we gave. Please schedule an appointment for next week on this matter. And now let's get going." It was apparent that the princess was quite displeased with the situation. Sighing, she turned her attention back to the building before her.

Aside from a few windows on the first floor to their right, the building lay dark before them in the onsetting night. Soon she would have to raise the moon but, for now, she had a delivery to make. After opening the front door, and stepping into the entrance hall, Luna let a bright light emit from her horn to get a better look at her surroundings. Her fellow ponies filed in, one after the other, behind her. On both sides of the doors, bookshelves stood aligned along the walls, filled with books of various ages and conditions. Above the shelves hung huge paintings of famous ponies of old times. Starswirl the Bearded being just one of them. After a few meters, the hall spread to both sides, forming a T-shape. At each end, a staircase led to the first floor. Beside the stairs, on the ground floor, corridors opened into the rear parts of the building. What they led up to though, was unknown to Luna. And it didn't really matter to her right now. Her goal was located up the stairway on the right in the single, lighted room that she presumed to be the dining hall. 

Arriving at the landing of the first floor, Luna could hear the faint clatter of cutlery on dishes and the excited bantering of little ponies. It seemed the dinner was almost over. Just in time. Looking behind her, to make sure everybody was there, Luna laid a hoof on the doorknob. "Please, wait outside until I call you in," she told them in a hushed voice. Facing the door again she turned the knob, pushed the door open, and jumped into the dining hall, wings spread wide in excitement. "Good evening, my little ponies!"

Some of the nearer foals shrieked in surprise and jumped into the air. The rest of the room was instantly silence, more than a few jaws hanging wide open. I'm getting good at this, Luna thought amused.

"Princess Luna!" the unicorn mare she had seen earlier in the streets with the group of foals exclaimed. "What are you doing here? I mean, to what circumstances do we owe this honor?" she quickly corrected herself as she bowed before her ruler. Together with several other adults she had been sitting at a table at the far end of the room but had risen to her hooves when Luna had entered.

"Oh, I just got a little restless today and had to stretch my legs a bit. Don't think anything of it. And please, do stand up. This is an informal visit," Luna replied cheerily. 

Recovering from their initial shock, several of the children started to run up to the princess. "Princess Luna! What are you doing here? Will you be sleeping here tonight? You are sooo awesome! Will you read me a story?" A mess of small, excited voices assaulted her. Luna started to laugh lightheartedly as she kneeled down and wrapped her wings tenderly around the mob of excited foals; nuzzling the nearest ones gently. In the last several years, after her first Nightmare Night in Ponyville, she had been organizing different events for children all over Equestria. After her long banishment she had had problems to adjust to the new ways that had evolved during her absence. So, every time she felt down, she had thought back to that night in the small village near the Everfree Forest. And every time it had helped her to get back on track. Nowadays, she had quite the reputation among the younger generation of her subjects.

"Sorry, children, but I cannot stay for long." At their saddened looks she hastily added "But I have a little present for all of you. Get back to the tables and take a seat, please." 

Excited cheers echoed through the room as the foals stormed back to their places. "YAY! Presents! Told'ya she's the BEST PRINCESS EVER!" Standing up again, she giggled one last time and then spoke to the room at large. "So, what do you think about some ice cream?" The shouting that followed was almost deafening. With a glow of her horn she reopened the door, and her followers started to enter in a neat line. Then they spread out to deliver their icy treats. Hovering over one of the bags, Luna walked up to the table where the keepers were seated. Setting the bag down on the table she took a seat between them. "Help yourself to some ice cream as well, it's delicious!" Hesitantly the ponies around the table started to pass out the cups of ice cream. Willow Wind was the last to take a cup.

"This is most generous of you, Your Highness. And far be it from me to reject an offer of free ice cream, but..." she trailed off–clearly torn between two choices, with both promising to doom her in one way or another.

"Please, speak your mind. Despite what rumors you may have heard, I long ago laid down the habit of gobbling up ponies for contradicting their princess," Luna spoke warmly, hoping to reassure the distraught mare.

Finding the strength to go on, Willow Wind looked up, straight in the eye of her ruler. "... but I'm more than a bit hurt by this. I pledged for a raise in funding for several years now. And each and every time all I received was a letter with some default text, telling me that 'there is no obvious need to raise the funding' because somewhere there is some orphanage which clearly needs it more. I'm not saying that we are the only ones needing the bits, but we have turned quite desperate lately. We can hardly afford the costs to light our rooms, as you may have noticed. We had to cut down the heating in the winter. And the staff has graciously relinquished a part of their salary, just that we can feed the kids properly. And now you come bursting through our doors with ice cream? To say, that I feel mocked, would be an understatement."

Luna hung her head low in shame and sorrow. Sorrow, for what the children, and the ponies who catered for their needs, had to endure and shame, for not having done anything about it. Sure, she didn't know, but as the ruler of Equestria it would have been her duty to make sure things were going the way they had planned. "I know I cannot make this up to you that easily, but rest assured that you have my deepest understanding of your feelings and I beg your forgiveness for my inaction. And I will not wait any longer. I swear to you, that in this very night, I will do something about this. Your situation is unacceptable. Furthermore I will revise the whole funding system for our orphanages, to make sure that something like this won't ever happen again. Once again, I apologize."

"I take it the appointment for next week just moved up the importance ladder a bit?" spoke up a slightly slurred voice from behind her. Turning around, she found Honeycomb standing there, with a clipboard in hoof and a pencil in mouth.

"Indeed, my faithful assistant. When I get back to the castle, I will meet with my sister to discuss a few things over dinner. After that, I want to have a meeting with the head of the Royal Treasury and the head of the social department. If they are already home, they will be there nonetheless, do I make myself clear?"

"As clear as the Crystal Palace, Your Highness. I will return to the castle immediately and have everything ready, for when you arrive." With that, Honeycomb left, a determined expression on her face.

Having said nothing to the princess' apology so far, Willow Wind broke her silence. "Thank you, Princess Luna. This means a lot to me and my colleagues, as well as the children."

"You're welcome," Luna replied sincerely.

"But there is one other question I have to ask." Willow Wind added defiantly.

"Well, go ahead." Luna beckoned for her to go on, curious where this was leading.

"Have you ever had children, Your Highness?" 

That took her by surprise. "I'll just say that I raised quite a few." she answered evasively.

"Then where did you get the idea of giving these children sugar right before bedtime?" Willow Wind asked. The annoyance in her voice almost physically palpable.

Luna was dumbstruck. That little fact had totally slipped her mind. She was saved from an answer by a hyperactive little unicorn filly, not older than six years, running up to her, bouncing on her hooves. "Princess Luna! Princess Luna!"

"Yes, my dear?" Luna asked with a warm smile on her face. It was not unlike the one usually seen on Celestia's.

"The moon is missing! Why is there no moon?" she asked with an unhappy frown.

Shooting a glance out the nearest window, all she saw was blackness. The moon? Of course! I totally forgot to raise it. Indeed, her sister had already lowered the sun; leaving a starless, hence dark and somewhat gloomy, nightsky. "Oh, by Celestia! You're right!", Luna exclaimed in mock agitation. "Well, we can't keep it that way, can we?" With that she scooped the filly up with a wing and plopped her down on her back. Walking up to one of the big windows set into the outer walls, the room turned silent as everyone was watching her. Reaching it, she turned around to the filly on her back. 

"Now watch closely, and you will soon be able see the moon." Turning back to the window, Luna stood completely still, eyes closed. For a moment, nothing happened. Someone switched off the lights to get a better view of the scene outside, while everyone walked up to the princess and formed a semicircle behind her. Suddenly Luna spread her wings wide, opening her eyes. They glowed in a bright, white light while at the same time her horn was engulfed in an aura of a dark midnight-blue. The little unicorn watched in awe. Trying to simultaneously observe the princess, taking in every little detail of her imposing posture, and the rising of the moon.

A moment later, a pale light appeared at the edge of the horizon. The moon began its ascension. Slowly it rose higher and higher until all of it shone over all of Equestria. But it did not stop there. It rose further up the sky. And, one by one, the stars appeared. At first there were only a few, but a minute later hundreds sparkled in the dark night sky. None of the ponies present had ever seen the Princess of the Night raising the moon before. They all were stunned by the beauty of the scene unfolding before them.

At last, the moon came to a halt; almost at his highest point in the sky. "That was beautiful, Princess Luna!" an awestruck voice whispered in her right ear excitedly, as tiny hooves wrapped themselves around her neck. Luna bent her head around and nuzzled the foal on the cheek. "Thank you, my dear."

Turning around completely, she faced her subjects again. "My little ponies, it was a wonderful evening and I thank you for your hospitality. But I have to go now, as my Night Court is about to start. So, let me wish you a very good night and I hope that we will repeat this sometime soon."

"It is us, who have to say 'Thank you', Your Highness," Willow Wind spoke up. "Tonight, you brought us hope again." Then she turned to her charges. "Alright, children! It's bedtime for all of you now, so get going. And don't forget to brush you teeth extra hard after the ice cream you ate." A collective groan echoed through the room. The fillies and colts got up and headed for the door. Of course as slowly as possible. Luna giggled at the sight.

"It's time for you, too, little one." Luna lifted the filly down from her back with her magic. But as soon as the tiny hooves touched the ground, several things happened. A ray of sparkling moonlight shone through the window and fell on the little unicorn, as she ran back up to Luna and hugged her front leg. "No, Princess Luna! I want to stay with you! Please, take me with you!" Pleading eyes looked up at her.

At the sight before her, something exploded in Luna's head. Only through a sheer force of will could she stop her legs from giving out under her. Memories, long forgotten, came flooding back to her conscious mind. Her face paled. Foals looking up at her. The Skyfall Orphanage. Rays of moonlight enveloping the form of little ponies. Children calling onto her for help. She had forgotten. Totally and utterly forgotten. How could I have forgotten my children?
> 2 - Confession
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sorry, I have to go now." Breaking into a gallop, Luna darted out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. 

"Wait! Don't leave me alone!" Running after the princess she so adored, the little filly skidded to a stop just in time to prevent crashing into the door now closing right in front of her. Having been the happiest foal in Equestria just a moment ago, she now fell from the highest of mountains into the deepest abyss. Sitting on her haunches–eyes wide and a crestfallen look on her face–she stared at the closed door. Seconds later, her eyes began to water, her muzzle turning into a quiver. The wail that then rose from her throat didn't register in Luna's mind; all she could think of was getting back to the castle as fast as possible. As she left the building, Luna spread her wings and took off into the refreshingly cool night air; heading for the dark silhouette of Canterlot Castle rising from side of the towering mountain the city was built at.

How could I have forgotten them? All the time that has passed! I hope they are alright. But what shall I do? I can't tell anypony. But how am I supposed to vanish for days–or even weeks–without raising suspicion?

She decided to fly directly to the balcony of her private chambers, thus avoiding all the different ponies that roamed the palace at these hours. It had just been a few hours ago that she had been standing there, brooding over why she couldn't sleep. Now she knew. Light-hoofed Luna touched the floor of her balcony, opened the doors with a touch of magic and walked into her bedchambers. Her shopping bags stood in a corner beside the doors, but Luna ignored them for now. A part of her wanted to head straight to the dinner with her sister, but another part held her back. 

I should rest for a few minutes to calm down first. Celestia knows me too well. She would immediately realize that something is bothering me. With a sigh she climbed onto her bed and folded her legs under her. A glance to the clock on her bedside table confirmed that she had a few minutes left before she had to head for dinner. Her head sank onto the soft sheets that covered her bed and her eyes closed to help her body and mind relax.

Steadying her breath, Luna contemplated her options. She needed to go check on her children somehow; preferably without telling anypony. But her absence needed to be justified somehow. Perhaps she could use the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration and the preparations she had to do for an excuse.

"Mother? Is that you? Can it be? Yes! It's you, Mother! Please, come to us. We were waiting so long for your return. We need you. We..."

With a start, Luna woke. Her eyes shot open and she shook her head, slightly disoriented. She hadn't noticed falling asleep. After having her head sufficiently cleared from the remnants of sleep, she shot a quick glance at the clock. Less than five minutes had passed since she had laid herself down on the bed. Gathering her thoughts now that everything was under control again, Luna remembered the voice in her... dream? Had it really been a dream? It hadn't felt like a dream. More like when she performed her dreamwalking, but usually she was awake when she did that. What bothered her even more was that she had recognized that voice, even though it had been more than a thousand years since she had last heard it. It was clear that one of her daughters had sought contact. But why now? And how? Suddenly Luna realized something that the voice had said: "We need you!" They needed her. Her body began to tremble. What had happened? An overwhelming urge to immediately dash back outside and fly to them took hold of her. Only a knock on the door stopped her. Her body froze, already hunched over to kick itself off the ground. A few seconds passed before she relaxed and took up her usual, regal stance again. Taking a deep breath to steady her voice Luna then turned to the door.

"Yes, please?"

"Your Highness? Princess Celestia sent me. She awaits you in the dining room." The voice of one of the maids sounded slightly muffled through the closed doors.

Sighing she postponed her plans for now. She couldn't just leave. She had to wait and make a plan.

"Tell my sister I'll be there in a minute," Luna called back while getting down from her bed. Curtly checking her appearance in a mirror, Luna then turned to her pile of shopping bags, an idea popping up in her mind. Celestia knew her all to well. If she just joined her for the meal now, her sister would see right through the thin facade she had painstakingly put up. But perhaps she could distract Celestia from her mental state with some of her shopping goods. There were some things in her bags after all, that were unusual enough that they might do the trick. Rummaging through the bags, she soon found what she was looking for. Sticking the bag under her right wing, Luna opened the door and made her way to the dining room.


--------------------


A few minutes later she arrived at one of the smaller dining rooms that were usually used for meals when a more private atmosphere was wanted or needed. Opening the plain doors–more suited for a broom closet than for a royal dining room–a familiar sight greeted her. The table was on the smaller side of the scale but, nevertheless, it was one of the finest pieces of furniture you could get for bits. Only able to seat ten ponies tops, two places had already been prepared with several plates and many sets of silverware for the different courses that were to come. Around the table, on the dark wood of the floor, lay thick, colorful cushions, making comfortable seats. Several beautiful paintings showing the nature through the different seasons adorned the walls. The two longer walls arched inwards the higher they got, meeting in the center of the room. Across from the entrance a second door led to corridors that directly led to the kitchens. To her right a crackling fire blazed in an ornate fireplace.

Sitting at the far end of the table, hunched over what seemed to be one of the many reports the two sisters received over the course of a day, was Celestia absent-mindedly sipping from a glass of lemonade. On Luna's entrance she lifted her head, a smile forming on her face as she recognized her sister.

"Luna! You're finally here. It's great to see you. How was your day in the city?"

"Oh it was marvelous! The weather was great, the ponies cheerful and the Royal Purse happy to get relieved of a few bits." Luna hoped that she didn't exaggerate with her happiness to the point where it started to come across as artificial. To emphasize her point she floated the bag out from under her wing and lifted out the item it contained. Celestia's eyes bulged as she saw it. 

"Luna, that..."

"Yes, sister?" Luna asked sweetly as she floated the saddle to her back and fastened it with straps around her barrel. It was made from black velvet, with pink lace adorning the rim. Equally colored, frilly ribbons flowed lightly down her flanks in a seductive way.

Celestia stared at her for several seconds as she struck several poses to show off her new acquisition. Finally she couldn't hold it in any longer. The Princess of the Sun, the ever collected and composed Celestia of Equestria burst into a splitting fit of laughter.

"What's so funny?" Luna's eyes were half-lidded in mock annoyance. Inwardly she heaved a sigh of relief for her scheme was seemingly working.

"I just imagined you hunting down a frightened stallion to club him and drag him back to your chambers. But, joke aside, do you plan to enter the courting market?" Curiosity plain in her voice, Celestia leaned forward expectantly.

Luna shrugged. "Not really. I just bought it because I had the shopping bug and thought it suited my fur."

"Oh, it certainly does. I'm happy that you had a good day. Now, I don't know how it is with you, but I'm starving." Lifting up a small silver bell with her magic, Celestia ringed for the kitchen staff, signalling that they were ready for the dinner to begin. A moment later the doors at the far end of the room opened and a waiter in a white jacket and matching hat wheeled in a serving cart using his head to push it forward. A big bowl of steaming hot soup resided on the cart. Stopping beside Celestia the blue earth pony stallion lifted the lid of the bowl and grabbed the ladle to fill the plate in front of the princess.

"Thank you, sister. You are right, we should eat. It is late enough as it is." 

Her voice had distracted the waiter who looked up from his task. He better had not. The sight of his princess wearing an outfit–obviously not supposed to be worn outside a bedroom–made his head spin. He froze in place, his eyelid twitching and jaw dropping to the floor. The ladle suspended in the air above Celestia's plate.

"I think our staff approves of your purchasing, Luna," Celestia said dryly, shooting a glance to the blue statue beside her. "But, as I like my fennel soup to be hot, perhaps you should take it off now."

"Of course! I will take off all of my clothes right in front of our waiter." Hearing the sarcastic reference, the stallion snapped out of his daze as he hastened to complete his duties. With a mumbled apology he left the room a minute later.

Luna sighed and undid the strap around her belly that held the saddle tight and put it back into the bag. "I wonder what his reaction will be when he realizes I normally don't wear clothes at all." She took her seat across from Celestia while her sister chuckled at the remark.

Silence settled over the room as they began to eat. The soup was as delicious as most of the food from the Royal Kitchens, but the taste didn't register in Luna's mind. After just a few spoonfuls her movements got slower as her mind wandered once again back to her children.

"Are you alright, Luna? Something seems to be troubling you."

Buck it... Luna winced. She hadn't noticed Celestia walking up to her. Now her sister stood beside her, a worried look on her face. A spoonful of soup was hovering before her; probably for some time now if Celestia thought it necessary to come over to her. With a sigh, she let the spoon sink back onto her plate. She had let her concentration slip away. Everything she had done to distract Celestia from her agitation was for naught. Now she would have to tell her something. But at the same time she knew that she had to tell the truth. They knew each other for millennia and even the slightest lie, or holding back a detail, would be immediately discovered by the other. But what would Celestia say? Or think of her? She had ignored a direct order from her sister, as they had not ruled equally back then as opposed to today. Celestia would be mad at her for sure. Perhaps she wouldn't banish her again, but some kind of punishment was certainly awaiting her.

Luna made up her mind. It was no use fretting over the situation. She had to confess everything to her sister, or she would put everything at risk she had accomplished since her return from the moon. And she owed it to her children. Those, she so carelessly had forgotten and who now needed her help.

Luna sighed. "Some of this, you already know, but I will start at the beginning anyway so you will understand what I did. You should take a seat as this might take some time."


--------------------


The blinding light faded as the magic of the Elements of Harmony winded down. Reopening her tightly-shut eyes, Luna blinked a few times to drive away the bleariness. As she could see clearly again, her look fell upon the thing lying before her on the checkerboard-patterned ground. 

"We did it," Luna whispered as her muscles relaxed and her head sunk down in relief.

"Indeed we did, sister." Celestia turned her head to Luna and nudged her in the side of the head.

Luna looked up at her sister. Then they both let their gaze fall unto Discord. Turned to stone, he lay before them, frozen. Laughing his head off. Laughing at the two sisters, in the very moment he was defeated by the magic of the Elements. All over Equestria the land now slowly began to recover.

"Discord has reigned with chaos for so many years that it will take quite some time before his magic will ebb away completely," Luna mused as she watched a pair of antlers vanishing from a ladybug flying before her face.

"Yes, but Equestria will eventually return to the beauty it once held. But the ponies will need our help to cope with the situation. Discord's reign lasted for so long that none of them have known anything else. With his fooling around with their bodies and minds he managed to bring our entire race to the brink of extinction. The birth rates have dropped so much that in just a few generations we would have vanished." Despite their victory, Celestia's ire had begun to raise anew as she thought of all the awful things Discord had done to the ponies of Equestria.

Luna stepped up and in front of her sister, looking her straight in the eyes. "It's all right, Celestia. He is gone now. We saved them. And they will get over this. With our help. Now let's get going home. We need to rest before we can begin to rebuild Equestria."

Concentrating on the stone statue before her, Luna lifted the heavy thing up into the air and started to slowly trot in the direction of the distant mountains.

"Ow!" Stumbling, Luna came to a halt just a few meters from her starting point. A sharp pain had shot through her right hind leg, starting right above her hoof. The pain broke her concentration and the statue of Discord slipped from her grasp, landing with a thump on the ground.

Celestia was by her side immediately. "Luna! Is everything alright? Are you hurt?"

"I'm OK, I think." Cautiously she put some weight on the leg again. The pain was still there, but not as bad as before. "Walking won't be a problem as it seems." Looking down to where her hoof touched the ground, she regarded a peculiar sight: A small, thorny tendril colored in a deep black wilted away, just as the earth under it returned to a green patch of grass.

"Discord and his strange magic... Whatever that was must have stung me."

"Well, if you aren't feeling anything strange, we should be going, there's much to do. But let me carry him, so you can rest. I will take your saddlebags as well."

"That isn't necessary, sister. Stop fussing."

"Oh no, I insist. We will need our strength as you just mentioned correctly." Celestia gave Luna a stern look.

With a grumble, Luna accepted Celestia's offer and together they headed home.


--------------------


The first years after Discord's defeat had been the hardest. Disoriented, homeless and starving ponies roamed all of Equestria. Celestia and Luna had tried their hardest to help as many of them as possible. But even the two powerful alicorns couldn't be in more than one place at a time. There were times where they didn't see each other for months, teaching the ponies what they needed to survive. Building houses and growing food being just the two most important things on a long list. Not every pony could adjust to the new circumstances. Many decided to leave the world entirely as they could not comprehend what had happened. Each loss pained the hearts of the two alicorns deeply.

One other duty that became necessary for them to fulfill, was to take control of the cycle of the celestial bodies. During Discord's reign, he had randomly switched between night and day; sometimes the sun and moon even stood in the sky at the same time. Before his reign, a large group of powerful unicorns known as the Celestial Order had controlled night and day in a combined effort of their powers. It was a taxing duty for them that could not be fulfilled for a long time without serious side effects to their bodies. Consequently, they only stayed active members of the Order for a few years before retiring to less arduous tasks. They were all well respected and cared for. Sometimes, when no unicorn powerful enough to take over could be found, a member needed to keep channeling power to the group regardless of the price it took. They did it gladly for the greater good as they vowed to do when they joined the Order, but it cost them dearly. A reduced lifespan was common in these cases and sometimes they even passed away from their effort before a substitute could be found, leaving the rest of the group with even more work to be done.

In one case, during the time of the three tribes, while the windigos held the land in their freezing grip, Celestia and Luna had took over the duty for some time as there were not enough capable unicorns left to keep the cycle going. And now, after the chaos had faded, the knowledge of how to move the sun and the moon was lost to the common ponies and the two sisters had to take over the duty entirely. Fortunately, being the powerful and immortal alicorns that they were, they had no problems fulfilling the task. The only thing they had to get used to, was to remember the routine in the earlier years. As a result, some days or nights were shorter or longer than intended, but nothing caused permanent damage to the land.

Thankfully the hardest times now lay behind them. And though there was still a lot to do and rebuilt, a semblance of normalcy had finally settled in. Fortunately, a few of cities that had been built before Discord coming to power had survived the times of his chaos. Albeit being in a desolate state, they at least provided shelter to many of the homeless ponies. Even Neightington, the old capital of Equestria that held the palace of the old government, had survived. Once the ponies of Equestria came to terms with the new situation they realized what Celestia and Luna had done for them. And in their gratefulness they declared the two alicorns to be Princesses of Equestria; to rule over them and lead them into the future. The two accepted the offer and made the old palace their new home. There were even some ponies who volunteered to guard them from any danger that might arise. And though the two knew they didn't need any protection, for any danger that could do harm to them would not have taken a second look to a simple pony, they appreciated the spirit of the offer and accepted.

Many foals had lost their parents in one way or another and were now considered orphans. Not all of them could be put into orphanages, as there were far too many of them. As much as the sisters tried, they could not prevent that some of the foals even ended homeless and had to sleep in the streets and fend for themselves. And because Celestia and Luna both couldn't stand to see those most helpless of their little ponies suffer, they were often seen down in the streets, trying to help as best as they could.

At one of those times, Luna walked down the streets of Neightington, in one of the many districts that yet had to be repaired. The houses were in different states of decay. Some were even marked as uninhabitable as it was possible for them to completely fall apart and bury any pony living inside. Wherever she looked, Luna saw crumbling stone walls, broken windows and crooked shutters hanging from their hinges. She really wanted to help the homeless foals, but it was hard to see them in their poor state. Being unable to truly help them despite all her power pained her deeply.

Hearing a commotion coming from a side alley she turned and walked over to investigate the noise. What she found made her incredibly sad and a tad furious. A group of children of different ages, from barely four years old to the early teens, was approaching a single unicorn filly with taunts and obvious ill will. 

There were several such groups about the town. The kids banded together to support each other, but the hard times made it necessary for them to be tough and sometimes even pushed them into a situation where they had to commit crimes to survive. Nothing violent in most cases, but thievery was quite common mostly for food and blankets. And while they were not happy with the situation, it was better than the alternatives they could provide at the time, so Celestia and Luna had unofficially ordered the guards that patrolled the city to go easy on the kids they caught in the act. If it was just one child they often took it into custody for the single purpose of letting the kid sleep in a warm and sheltered place with a warm meal offered to them.

The filly was about the age of seven and cowered on the floor clearly frightened; backing away from the group as fast as she could without letting them slip out of her sight. Luna hastened to walk up to them to dissolve whatever issue they had, but as soon as the group spotted her, they quickly ran away. She briefly considered following them, but decided that the filly needed her more. She had very light brown fur with a darker shade on her lower legs. Her muzzle and belly were cream-colored while her mane was blond and quite messy. The eyes of the trembling girl were a deep emerald as Luna could clearly see them staring fearfully up at her.

"Shhh, it's alright, little one! I want you no harm. You're safe now," Luna almost whispered while kneeling down in front of her, smiling warmly at the frightened child. Realizing she was no longer in danger, the tension left her and relief took hold of her. Her eyes started to water and a moment later she flung herself at Luna, hugging her around the neck and bawling without restraint, streams of tears soaking into her fur.

Rubbing her muzzle on the filly's back, Luna murmured reassuring words to her. For a quarter of an hour she simply held the filly and let her calm down enough to finally be able to talk again. Letting go of the princess' neck, the filly settled down between her forelegs, sniffling back some last tears.

"Are you better now?" The filly nodded. "Then I'm better, too. Would you like to tell me your name? I'm Luna."

"I know who you are. You are the Princess of the Night." The filly's voice was quiet, almost a whisper and slightly hoarse from crying. Her gaze turned to the stones of the street. "My name is Stella."


--------------------


"Stella? That name seems familiar. I think I remember you telling me about her." Celestia interrupted Luna's story.

"I'm surprised, sister. All that happened almost three thousand years ago and you were not really involved in any of it, besides the things I told you about."

"I don't know why I remember either. And it is not much I remember, the name just rang a bell. What do you say? Let us finish our meal and then go somewhere more comfortable than this dining room where you can tell me the rest of your story?"

A rumbling in her stomach reminded Luna that beside all that happened she indeed was quite hungry. With a humble smile she agreed. "You're right Celestia, as always. Let's finish this and then head to my room."

The soup had gotten cold sitting unregarded on the table, so they called for the waiter to bring the next course. And while the atmosphere remained subdued, it was not oppressive and they sated their hunger in pleasant company, with Celestia telling Luna about the important things that happened during her Day Court. As they finally got up from their seats, Celestia spoke to the waiter that was clearing away the remains of their meal.

"We will be heading to Princess Luna's bedchambers. Please bring us a carafe of hot cocoa and a batch of cookies as soon as you are done here."

"Of course, Your Highness. I will bring them in a few minutes."

Thanking the waiter, Celestia walked over to Luna, who was just lifting the bag with her new saddle back up under her wing. Celestia then opened the door with her horn. "Lead the way, Luna. I will follow you."

Silently they walked side-by-side up to Luna's chambers. After setting aside the shopping bag Luna climbed onto her bed, while Celestia floated over some cushions to lay herself down on the carpet in front of the fireplace that filled the chamber with warmth on cold days. Only a small fire was lit now to keep out the chill of the night air. The heavy curtains at the windows beside the balcony doors moved slowly in the small breeze that blew through the open glass doors.

"This is a marvelous night, Luna. You did especially well tonight." Celestia craned her neck into the refreshing flow of air, closing her eyes in bliss.

"Thank you, sister. I had quite a good encouragement tonight."

"Oh, is that so. Perhaps there is someone you're courting, after all," Celestia teased her sister with a smirk on her face.

"Geez, drop it, Celestia. I just had some very excited foals surrounding me that I wanted to indulge."

Before her sister could answer however, a knock on the door interrupted them.

"Princess Celestia? Your snack is ready for you." The voice of the waiter from their dinner sounded through the doors.

"Please, come in." The waiter entered. "Just leave it on the bedside table. And please tell the guards, that we do not want to be disturbed. The Night Court will be postponed for a few hours."

"As you wish. Let me know, when you need anything else." He bowed before his rulers before turning around and leaving the room; pulling the doors shut behind him.

Turning back to each other, Celestia then floated a cup of hot cocoa to each of them, as well as a cookie to herself. "I think we will be left alone for now. Would you like to tell me more of your story?"

Shifting uneasily on her bed, Luna averted her gaze. "It is not that I like to go on, but I need to. You will probably be mad at me, but I have to do this and you will soon realize why."

Acknowledging Luna's statement with a nod of her head, Celestia then beckoned her to go on.

"Well, where was I?"


--------------------


Apparently, Stella wasn't going to say anything else, so Luna took over again, trying to reassure the still upset child. "It's nice to meet you, Stella. You don't need to stare down all the time. Now look at me and tell me what happened. I want to help you."

And as Stella actually did lift her gaze up, her eyes began to water again. With a wavering voice she started to speak, but soon the words just spluttered from her mouth. 

"I didn't want to upset them. I just wanted to join their group, because I have no one to help me and I'm just weak and fearful. But they sent me away and told me they had no more room for another filly. I started pleading, but they just shoved me out of their hiding place. Before they shoved me through the door, I tried to grab one of the blankets that lay nearby. It's so cold at night and I just have some cardboard boxes at my place. But as I snatched it with my teeth and turned to run, they got really angry with me and started to chase me through the streets. I ran as fast as I could, but I had to let go of the blanket because it slowed me down and I couldn't get away from them. They chased me forever and then cornered me here. I was so scared. But then you came and saved me! Thank you! Please, don't be mad at me for trying to steal from them."

After the torrent of words had eased down, she buried her head in Luna's breast fur again–quiet sobs rocking her body.

Luna sighed. "Oh, young one! Stop fretting. I won't punish you or put you into jail. As I said, I want to help you. You are right, of course, stealing is wrong and I have to ask you not to do that again. Can you promise me that?"

"But, but how am I supposed to get something to eat? I'm too frightened to beg for it. I tried, but no words will come out of my mouth. So I have to take some food when no one is around and..."

"Shhh, it's alright. I understand, but if you give me your promise, I will take you to a place where you don't need to worry about getting enough food or a blanket for the night. So I ask you again: do you promise to not steal again?"

Stella hesitated, contemplating the offer. But as she knew that the princesses always helped the ponies, she quickly came to a decision. "Yes, yes I do promise not to steal again. But... what now?"

"Now, you will be following me." Luna smiled at the filly while standing back up again. Then she turned around and started to walk out of the alley. After a few steps she stopped and looked back to Stella, who had not moved from her place. "Well, have you decided otherwise?"

"No! Of course not!" She scrambled to her hooves, hastening to catch up to Luna again.


--------------------


Of course Luna would have helped the filly even if she hadn't made the promise, but Stella didn't need to know that. This situation was indeed perfect. The sole purpose for her being down in the streets was a note she had gotten earlier that day from one of her assistants. An orphanage had sent a letter, stating that they had just succeeded in giving one of their foals a new home and now had a place to offer again. So Luna had gone down into the city to find a foal in need. And now she had a perfect candidate. 

Leading Stella determinedly to their goal at a brisk pace, the short legs of the filly had trouble keeping up with her. "Princess Luna! Please wait, I'm not that fast!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I got a bit carried away." Luna stopped and waited for the filly to catch up. She waited a minute for Stella to catch her breath before setting off again, albeit at a more leisurely trot.

They moved in silence for half an hour before Stella couldn't hold it in anymore. "Where are you taking me to?" she asked anxiously, but also with a hint of curiosity.

"Actually, we're right there," Luna replied while coming to a stop and turning to her right. Before them stood a building with a white front, almost sparkling in the bright sunlight. A colorful sign above the entrance doors read the name of the place: Skyfall Orphanage, the newest and most modern equipped orphanage in all of Equestria.

"Wow! This is beautiful!" Sparkling eyes stared at the building in awe.

"Indeed it is." Leaning down to the child and looking her gently in the eyes Luna added, "And it is your new home."

"My what?"

"Well, I promised you a place where you won't have to worry about food or shelter. And this is it, the Skyfall Orphanage. Come on, let's get inside so I can introduce you to the headmaster."

While Luna quickly trotted up to the entrance, Stella followed at a more laid back speed. She was cautious. It sounded really good to have a roof above your head and enough to eat to stuff yourself sick. But, aside from that, she had no clue what was in store for her and that made her apprehensive.

After leading the worried-looking filly through the brightly-lit corridors of the orphanage, Luna stopped at a simple, wooden door with a golden sign on it. Knocking at the door, she gave Stella a reassuring smile.

"Please enter!" sounded a male voice from behind the door.

Stella took a quick step to the side, hiding behind the door frame while Luna opened the door and entered the office. "Greetings, Headmaster Summerhill. I hope you have had a nice day?" Luna greeted the headmaster.

"Ah, Your Highness! It's good to see you. Indeed, it is a nice day. Everyday we can help a foal find a new home is a good day. I take it, you got my letter?"

"Yes, I did. In fact, that's the cause of my visit. I found somepony to fill the empty place."

"You did? I think that's a new record. Who is it and where can I find the kid?"

Confused, Luna lifted an eyebrow then took a look around. She had missed the fact that Stella hadn't followed her. Momentarily worried that the girl had run off, she suddenly chuckled as she saw the edge of a brown ear sticking out from behind the door frame.

"Stella? Please come in. You don't need to worry. The headmaster is a nice pony," Luna reassured her.

Cautiously Stella peeked around the edge; she then quickly rushed in and hid behind Luna, hugging her hind leg while taking a guarded look at the unfamiliar pony. Behind a sturdy desk sat a white pegasus stallion with a black mane. On his muzzle sat thick glasses. His face wore a happy smile and his eyes looked curiously at the little filly.

"Why, hello there. Your name is Stella, I take it? My name is Summerhill and I'm the headmaster of this place. It's nice to meet you."

Still not entirely sure what to make of him, Stella silently nodded. He seemed nice enough, but living on the street for a long time had taught her to be cautious.

"I found her in the streets, and she does have nopony to help her, so I thought it a great idea to give her into your expert care."

"We will gladly take her in. If you find another one, I will be happy to take him or her too."

"Oh! I didn't know you had two open places."

"Well, as I said: Each day we find a new home for a foal is a good day and today is a good day."

"You really are the right pony for this position. Congratulation to your accomplishments. Well, I need to be going. I have many other duties on my list for today. The paperwork for Stella will be sent to you as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Then he turned to Stella. "Well, lets get you settled in then. First we will talk a bit and then I will show you around, so you can see where you will be living."

Her grip around Luna's leg tightened. The princess sensed the fillies apprehension. She turned around and kneeled down. "Please believe me, you don't need to worry around here. You will be having a great time. Hot food, your own bed and many other kids to play with. The staff here are really nice. I choose them by myself and you do trust me, don't you?"

Stella slowly nodded. "I do, but I want to stay with you. Can't you just take me with you?"

"I'm sorry, little one, but I wouldn't have the time required to look after you and you would be lonely most of the time. I think that's something we both do not want, am I right?"

"Yes, you're right. But you're a princess! Couldn't you just take all of us somewhere where we do not need to worry? Somewhere else, where there are no problems?"

The filly's naivety drew a chuckle from Luna. Then she sighed wistfully. "I wish it was that easy." Nuzzling the girl on the side of her face she then stood back up again. "You will be fine here. Trust me. I will be visiting you as often as I can, OK?"

"OK." Stella finally gave in, not entirely happy yet.

With a last farewell and a nuzzle Luna left and made her way back to the castle.


--------------------


That night Luna sat over a big stack of papers. Reports on different topics that needed her attention. A much smaller stack sat beside the first. Her progress was slow as her mind constantly drifted back to the little filly she had met earlier and put into proper care. Something Stella had said didn't let go of her. Couldn't you just take all of us somewhere where we do not need to worry? Somewhere else, where there are no problems? She had denied the request, obviously, but she couldn't stop thinking about the idea.

Sighing, she rose and left her study. It was no use to try to keep working. She went to the kitchens to get a snack and then went to bed for the day. Quickly she fell asleep...

...only to wake with a start just a few hours later; the beginning of a plan clearly in her mind. It had been like a dream. An unknown form, not more than a dark fog, had been there and together they had made the plan. She had to tell her sister immediately.

Jumping out of her bed, Luna stormed out of her room to her sister's, not even bothering to put on any of the regalia the thankful ponies had crafted for their two princesses.

Celestia nearly jumped out of her fur as the door to her room burst open with a loud bang. Bolting upright she tried to get the bleariness out of her eyes.

"Sister, I have an idea. We need to talk."

"Luna, it's the middle of the night. Let me sleep, for ponie's sake. We can talk about your idea tomorrow."

"You know we have much too many homeless foals roaming the streets and not enough places we can put them to take care of them." Luna paced back and forth before Celestia's bed, oblivious to her sister's comment and mood.

"Luna..."

"And we don't know if something like Discord will happen again in the future..."

"Sister, listen..."

"So I got this great idea in my dream..."

"In your..."

"We need to found a new colony of ponies, far away from here, where no one can find them and where they are safe from any danger!"

"LUNA! That's enough!"

Celestia's outburst stopped her rambling. "What are you so angry at, sister?" Luna asked cluelessly.

Sighing heavily, Celestia tried to reason with her sister, "Luna, it's the middle of the night. We can talk about your idea tomorrow. I've had a hard day and we both ought to be asleep. Now go back to bed and rest."

"I'm not a foal who can be sent to bed, you know." Luna's tail swished in agitation.

"Sister, please..."

"Alright, I'll go. We will talk about this later, just as you wish." With that she turned around and left, head held low, grumbling to herself.

Puzzled, Celestia watched her sister go. What was that all about? Shrugging, she put it down to stress and sleep deprivation and went back to sleep.


--------------------


"...and then Stella asked why I couldn't bring them all to a nicer place. I couldn't get it out of my mind and then dreamed my idea more or less up while being asleep."

The next morning, after breakfast, the two sisters had withdrawn from the bustling of the palace to discuss Luna's idea. After she had retold it, Celestia had asked Luna where she got it. So Luna had told her about how she had met Stella and what else had happened with her.

"You dreamed this up?" Celestia was speechless. "But how do you think this should work?"

"What do you mean?"

What is it with her today? It's obvious what's wrong with that plan of hers. "For starters, there simply is no place with the attributes your plan requires."

"We're alicorns, we can create such a place."

"And then what? Just dump the foals there and let them live on their own there? We don't have enough ponies to look after them here, and you want to deport them to some remote location where there will be nothing but wilderness? You can't be serious!"

"Celestia, please! It is just a first sketch. I know it isn't perfect, I just want you to think about it and perhaps develop it with me. Together we can help our ponies."

"They would grow up far away from their home; they would probably develop a society much different from ours. And if they grow, they at some point they will find Equestria and their relatives and they wouldn't understand one another. It would be like the time of the three tribes. I don't think any of us want that time to return."

"Oh, come on! It won't be that..."

The Princess of the Sun cut her short. "No! We won't do this. And this is my final word on the matter." And in a gentler tone she added, "Lulu, dear sister, please trust me on this."

Heaving a heavy sigh Luna's head dropped. "Fine. If I can't convince you, I won't bother you with it anymore." But that doesn't mean I can't work on it by myself...

"Thank you, Luna. And now, let's get back to work...."

Grudgingly, Luna followed her sister out of the room.


--------------------


Silence settled over the two alicorns in Luna's bedchamber. Apparently Luna had said what she wanted or perhaps she just needed a break. What little remained of the cocoa had gotten cold by now and from the cookies only a few morsels remained.

Celestia had been silent the entire time Luna had been recounting the events from a time long ago. Only the occasional shift in her posture and lifting of an eyebrow had indicated a reaction. Otherwise, she restrained herself to listening quietly. When it was obvious to her, that Luna wasn't going to say anything else, Celestia thought it to be time to break the silence.

"Yes, the memories are coming back. I remember that talk and those days. You seemed rather restless for some time after that."

Luna snorted, "You could say that."

"But all that doesn't explain what has you so worked up, sister. You know that you can confide in me."

"Don't you see? I did exactly what you said. I didn't bother you with it anymore."

"Pardon?"

"I did it all by myself."

"What did you do?"

"I established a new colony without your help." Luna's eyes closed tightly as she spat out the revelation, tears forming in their corners.

"You can not be serious, Luna! Why? And how?"

"Because I couldn't stand it anymore! I couldn't just stand by while our subjects suffered so terribly. I had to do something. So I took a bunch of orphaned foals and moved them to a far away place. A place where they should have lived in peace."  Reopening her eyes she looked at her sister. "Oh, Tia! What have I done?" 

"You took foals and put them in an unfamiliar and undeveloped place? Luna, what were you thinking? We talked about it; I gave you enough reasons against your plan. And you tell me now, that you did it anyways? You doomed those children!" Celestia had stood up, a fury building within her. It didn't matter that all that lay several millenia in the past. Her sister had made an enormous mistake. But what could she do about it? Banishing her again was out of the question, but something had to be done. Then another thought came to her mind. Something about this was off.

"There is more, sister. You haven't told me everything yet. If it was just a memory coming back again, you wouldn't be this distraught. Tell me."

"Do you really think I would just leave them on their own after bringing them there? The whole plan was to get them away from that life! I took... measures... to make sure they were save. But what's more important, and what has got me so worked up, is that they are still out there! And I have to get to them immediately. They need my help!"

"I don't understand–why are you so restless, sister? Even if they are still there, do you think they will remember you? So many generations have passed!"

"No, they haven't."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I put a spell on the colony."

"What kind of spell?" Celestia asked cautiously. She didn't like the direction had taken.

"A spell, that slowed the time itself within the boundaries of the colony." Luna turned her head away from the stunned look on Celestia's face. "I could not anticipate how often I would be able visit them and they were just foals. It would have been irresponsible if I had left them all on their own the entire time. Several years passed between each of my visits. But to them it was less than a week."

"So, even after all this time..."

"...they should be in their early teens, at the most." Luna finished the sentence. "Do you understand now, why it is so important, that I depart as soon as possible? They could be suffering terribly, just because of my foolishness!"

"I understand, Luna. And while we have to talk about what has happened we will be on our way in a few days time."

"We? Days? Didn't you hear what I just told you?"

"I did, but we can not depart from one minute to another just like that. We have to prepare for several things. And I will accompany you."

Luna hung her head low. "You don't trust me anymore. I understand."

"Of course I trust you, Luna. A few moments ago you confirmed my trust in you once again in telling me the whole truth. But I'm your sister and this is a serious matter. To you as well as to those ponies and probably to all of Equestria. You don't need to face this alone. I will help you."

Luna sighed and closed her eyes. "Thank you, sister. I'm just so terribly worried."

"And because of that, I will write a letter to Twilight now for her to immediately come to Canterlot. She will take over our royal duties until we return."

Luna's eyes widened. "Twilight? Are you sure about that? It will demand a lot of her. I don't know if she is ready for this responsibility. Shouldn't we better call for Cadance or Shining Armor instead?"

"Yes, it will be difficult. But she is a Princess of Equestria and as such it is her duty to rule." Celestia's gaze was determined as she floated over some parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink.

"You are right, sister." And with a smirk on her face she added, "That happens quite too often, you know. Sometimes it's a real pain in the flank."

"If your hip is hurting, you should go see a doctor. Or do more sports to keep fit." Out of the corner of her eye, Celestia could see Luna's face turning into a flabbergasted expression.

"Fit? Do you want to say that Our body is not shaped as divinely as it has been the last aeons?"

"Oh, Lulu, you are so cute when you use the royal 'We'!"

"Enough!" And with a cry, Luna launched herself off from the place she had been standing. A second later she crashed into Celestia's side, before wrestling her down and then throwing her across the room. Luckily, she landed right on Luna's bed.

"Equestria's most famous dessert-destroyer is accusing me of being fat? I cannot let that go unpunished!" A menacing smirk appeared on her face as her eyes turned to slits and her horn started to glow in a dark blue aura.

A sense of dread and foreboding crept into Celestia. "Luna, what are you doing? Please, I didn't mea... GAH!" Celestia's sentence was cut short as the most develish of tortures engulfed her whole body which now glowed in the same color as Luna's horn. At first she tried to withstand the onslaught, wiggling her body frantically in a futile attempt to flee from her fate. But it was useless. A few seconds later she broke.

"Hahahahaha! Stop! Hahaha! Stop it... haha.. Luna... hahahaha!" shrieking hysterically under Luna's tickling-magic, she tried to get away from her sister. But, in her hurry, Celestia forgot that she was lying on a bed and with a thud landed heavily on the ground, legs sprawled in all directions. Still laughing, she tried to stand up but her legs gave way under her each time. Next she tried crawling to the door. Inch by inch she closed the distance between herself and the relief that the two heavy doors promised; every few seconds interrupted by a new fit of laughter.

Just a few inches before Celestia reached the doors, Luna took pity in her sister and released her from her grip. With relief, Celestia relaxed and sank to the ground; her body heaving as she tried to catch her breath and get rid of the last weak chuckles.

"That... was totally... uncalled for, Luna," Celestia said with slight reproach, but a small smile on her face.

"Hmph, serves you right for insulting me, Cookiebutt!" Luna sneered.

A groan escaped Celestia as she thought back to the day almost twenty-four hundred years ago. Just a few years after Project "Canterlot" had been finished: the construction of a new capital at the sides of Mount Canterhorn. Neightington, that lay at the mountain's feet, was integrated into the new city while the old castle was being knocked down to make room for new residences.


--------------------


Celestia woke from an exhausted sleep. She had been writing down new laws that needed to be passed the whole night. It was still a few hours till dawn and she would have been sleeping for much longer if there wasn't this insistent shaking by her hips. Forcing her heavy eyelids to open at least a small slit, she regarded a midnight-blue blurry blob sitting at the end of her bed. The tiredness blew from her as if a pegasus had sent a tornado through her chambers and her eyes shot wide open... Only to find Luna sitting on her haunches, tapping at her cutie mark with a hoof as fast as she could. 

"Luna! What are you doing for ponie's sake? I had a long night and need to sleep." Exasperation plain in her voice. 

Luna brought her other forehoof to her mouth to stifle a chuckle. "I invented a new game. I call it Cookie Poker."

Blinking, Celestia let her gaze wander to the cutie mark on her flank. The round shape of her sun had been dyed in different shades of brown. It now perfectly resembled a home-made chocolate chip cookie while the wavering sunbeams it normally emanated had been turned into some sort of wriggling worms.

The world around Celestia turned red as she lost control over her temper completely. A beam from her horn, almost as bright as the sun itself, sent Luna tumbling through the open doors that led to the balcony. A splitting laughter filling the early morning air over Canterlot. 


--------------------


"Don't remind me!" The whole week Luna had broken down on the floor laughing whenever their ways had crossed. In the following days, the nobles had started dyeing their cutie marks, too. A few weeks later it had been the biggest trend in all of Canterlot.

Chuckling, Luna trotted up to Celestia, nuzzling her gently on the cheek. "Thank you, sister. I needed that."

"That's what siblings are there for." Smiling, she nuzzled Luna back. "And now let me write this letter while you go and get some rest."

Turning serious again, Luna declined. "Not yet. There is something I need to do first." With that she left the room, heading for the meeting she had Honeycomb organize for tonight. 

Before she closed the door, Celestia heard a muttered "Cookiebutt" followed by a suppressed giggle. But the pillow she launched from Luna's bed just hit the closed door.
> 3 - Preparations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Cookiebutt..." Luna chuckled to herself. Immediately she heard a muffled thud behind her as something hit the door from the inside. She stuck her tongue out at the door. As she made her way through the corridors of the castle, her expression got more and more serious. The distraction her sister had provided had been badly needed, but now she had to focus on the task at hoof again. As much as she wanted to head out for her colony, Celestia was right–they needed to prepare several things. After all, they were the rulers of Equestria and it was their duty to care for their subjects and disappearing just like that was not going to be appreciated. They had to pack several things they would need on their journey and arrange for someone to replace them while they were gone. Celestia had obviously chosen Twilight Sparkle to stand in for her. She, though, had still to decide whom to trust with her duties.

While she neared the wing with the conference rooms, Luna tried to mentally prepare herself for the meeting that awaited her. She hoped that Honeycomb had everything under control; the talk with her sister had delayed her quite some time and it was almost the middle of the night now. Some annoyed ponies were waiting for her–that much was for sure.

As she approached the meeting room–a servant had pointed her the way after she had asked for Honeycomb–she was proven right. Several ponies were chatting heatedly behind the closed doors. After opening the doors she found two ponies talking down Honeycomb. Or at least they tried. Honeycomb stood before them with a stoic expression that repelled everything the two threw at her. Because Honeycomb was facing towards the door, the mare and the stallion talking to her didn't notice Luna entering. Stopping in the doorway, she waited a moment to get a better understanding of what mood the two were in.

"This is outrageous! You summon us to the castle–right away from our dinner tables–claiming that Princess Luna wants to see us, and then we wait for hours and nothing happens! There was probably no order from the Princess and you just simply wanted to annoy us! It would not be the first time a jealous commoner tried something like that." The unicorn mare spitting this tirade had dark rose fur and a dark red mane. Her cutie mark showed an umbrella. It was Sunglow, head of the Social Department. Honeycomb took the verbal hit without blinking. She was used to those quirks of the nobles and had long since stopped taking it seriously enough to get riled up about it.

"Sunglow is right, this is no way to treat us! Though I must say, Sunglow, you shouldn't blame Honeycomb. I'm sure she just did as she was told," Balance, the head of the Royal Treasury, chimed in. He wore an orange fur with a yellow mane. His cutie mark showed a money bag with a crown on it. "Look, Honeycomb, we had exhausting work days and now we have to wait half of the night for something we don't know anything about! Could you please try to find out when the Princess will arrive?"

Having heard enough, Luna finally stepped forward. "This won't be necessary. Good evening, everypony. Firstly, let me apologize for being this late, but I had important business to take care of. You will of course be compensated for the inconveniences this meeting causes. You may take an additional day off next week and you will be paid for the additional hours you will be working tonight. Please, take a seat so we may begin immediately."

Hearing their princess exactly from behind them made the two ponies jump in surprise.

"Princess Luna! Thank Celestia you're finally here. I hope we have not been too rude with our rant on the circumstances," Balance nervously tried to gauge Luna's mood.

"If you want to apologize for your behaviour, you should probably ask Honeycomb for forgiveness as she is the one who just did as she was told and had to endure you the last couple of hours," Luna replied sternly. Turning to her assistant and hanging her head low while closing her eyes she continued, "As should I, for not letting you know about my delay."

"And I apologize, too." Balance seconded Luna immediately, "We had no right to criticize you the way we did." 

"I suppose that's true, Miss Honeycomb. My apologies." While sounding sincere enough, Sunglow's demeanor had not changed as much as that of Balance. It was apparent that she still considered this meeting to be a nuisance while her colleague did everything to alleviate any damage that was done to his image.

"I accept your apology, Your Highness. And yours too, gentleponies. As I said before, I understand your situation. It is indeed quite late but this meeting is as important as I told you. I think we should now do as Princess Luna requested and take our seats and get this meeting started."

Everypony took his or her assigned place at the table. Honeycomb had put two stacks of paper at each one of them, as well as an inkwell and a quill. One of the stacks held empty sheets of parchment to write down notes, while the other one bore all the information on Skyfall Orphanage she could find. It consisted mostly on facts and figures about the staff, the children and the overall situation. Additionally she had added all the letters from Willow Wind and the answers from the Social Department. As Balance and Sunglow started to sift through the pages, Luna started to explain the problem.

"Thank you, Honeycomb. Today I went to Whitefall Orphanage for a surprise visit. But in the end, it was me who was surprised. Surprised about the fact, that the orphanage had next to no money left. It has actually come to the point where the staff have relinquished a part of their salary to keep the children fed. At some point something must have gone terribly wrong with their funding."

"That's impossible, Princess!" Sunglow interjected. "The funding for each orphanage is calculated based on their specific circumstances, exactly as you decreed. This sounds more like a case of severe mismanagement."

"I fear it is not, Miss Sunglow. While I put together the information sitting before you, I gathered all their financial transactions. If you turn to page twenty-eight, you will see that their funding is much lower than is to be expected for an orphanage of their size. On the following pages you can see the transactions I just mentioned. Perhaps I have overlooked something, so please don't hesitate to check them yourself, but I'm quite sure they are sound."

As Sunglow reached the page Honeycomb had mentioned, and read through the information, her eyes began to bulge out of her head. "This can't be right! This number is simply ridiculous!"

"And why is it like that, Sunglow?" Luna asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's exactly like Honeycomb said, Princess. The funding is far too low even considering that it is a small orphanage."

"I know she was right. I meant why is it as low as it is."

"I truly have no idea. All fundings went by my office after calculating. I signed them myself and I took a last look on each and every one. I didn't re-calculate them, of course, but something like this would have stood out like apple fritters would in my mane!"

"Do you have any idea how this could have happened? Could someone have swapped the papers after you signed them?"

"That would be possible, but unlikely. And besides, who would want to harm an orphanage?"

"There are many different ponies out there and, even if I care for all of them, I sadly have to concede that not all of them are exactly an example of harmony."

"I have copies of all the papers I signed. I will go over them and see if I can find anything. Perhaps I really just have overlooked something and we are worrying ourselves about nothing."

"That sounds like a good start. But please, be discreet about it. I don't want the possible culprit to vanish because he realized we search for him."

"Of course, Princess Luna. I will look over the papers right after this meeting and tomorrow I will let the funding be re-calculated."

"Thank you, Sunglow. Now..."

"Excuse me, Your Highness..." It was the first time Balance spoke up since the beginning of the meeting. He wore an irritated expression.

"Yes, Balance?"

"If I may ask, why did you want to see me here? I can see why you wanted to speak to Sunglow, but what exactly am I doing here?"

"I want two things from you, Balance. I want you to assist Sunglow as best as you can. Starting with retracing the flow of the money."

"Pardon?" Balance blinked, looking unamused.

"I want you to take a look at the money the orphanage got from us. Was it the same amount every time or did it drop at some point? Is there any possible way the money could have vanished? Is there anything else wrong with the transactions to or from the orphanage? I think you get the idea."

"With all due respect, do you have any idea how many transactions I will have to take a look at? Without any help this will take months!" Balance threw his forehooves up over his head in exasperation.

Luna sighed. "You may choose two of your most trustworthy employees to help you, but no more. And tell them only what is necessary to do the job."

"If you insist. But let me tell you, this won't be easy."

"Yes I do insist. Now to the second part. The first thing you will do tomorrow, is getting some bits to the orphanage. What do you say, Sunglow. Will a sum of fifty thousand bits be enough for now?"

Sunglow took a quick look at the numbers before her again, then nodded. "I think so. At least for the next two weeks. I think we will have the new funding ready to go by then.

The eyes of the head of the Royal Treasury bulged. "Fifty thousand bits? Are you kidding me? That is far too much!"

Luna closed her eyes and let out a low growl none of the other ponies could hear. She grew gradually annoyed with the stallion. "Did you even read the papers provided to you?" She snapped at him. "They amounted quite a bit of a debt and the deficit in the salary of the employees needs to be taken into account, too. Besides, we have an emergency fund you can take it from, so there will be no problem for you to take it from another account."

"The salary for the employees was adequate, if the papers you just mentioned are correct. Nopony forced them to spend it on the children. I don't think it is necessary to pay them any extra."

Luna's face turned to stone. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're right, I have a better idea. I will cut your salary in half to get something to eat for the children, how does that sound?"

Balance jumped up to his hooves. "You can't do that! That would be an abuse of your power!"

Keeping her cool, Luna shrugged her shoulders. "Try me. If you think I won't do it, just go ahead. If you, on the other hoof, come to your senses and do as I ask, I will forget about your attitude this time. I want to help these children as fast as possible and if you can't do what is necessary and expected from your position, then I have to find someone else who is better suited to the task."

Grinding his teeth, Balance relented. "All right. I see that I can not reason with you tonight, so I will do as you command."

"Great, now that the important things are settled, there's one last thing." Both ponies before her looked up at her expectantly. Where Sunglow wore an expression of neutral curiosity, Balance looked sour, as if he awaited the next ridiculous task to be thrown at him. "My sister and I will be gone for some days, maybe a week or two, starting tomorrow. In the meantime, you will report either to Honeycomb or to Princess Twilight Sparkle who will be filling in for us while we are gone. I expect you to treat their orders as if they were mine, do you understand?"

Upon their silent nods Luna wrapped up the meeting. "Good. I think we all have some work to do. I bid you all a good night, even if you will be spending it mostly awake."

After Sunglow and Balance had left the room and closed the door behind them, Luna let out a tired sigh and brought a hoof up to rub her temple. "That could have gone better."

"Don't worry, Luna. They might sometimes be a pain in the flank, but they know their jobs. You did everything you could on such short notice and I'm sure we will find something while you are gone. Oh, and thank you for the trust you put into me, I won't disappoint you."

A smile spread across Luna's face. "I know you won't. Well then, I'll be heading back to my sister to prepare for the journey that lies before us." Suddenly, an idea struck her. The answer to her question of who would fill in for her. "You may head home early today, if you like, because while I'm gone you will take over the duties of the night court entirely, while Princess Twilight will take over the tasks over the day with the help of Celestia's assistant. Do you feel up to the task?" Actually it was quite obvious. Her work was outstanding. And as her assistant she knew everything she needed for the job.

Honeycomb's eyes widened. Then she broke into a smile. "It is a great responsibility and won't be easy, but I'm sure I somehow will be able to handle it. Thank you again for your trust in me, Luna." Honeycomb agreed with pride in her voice.

"And don't be too proud to ask for help, if you should need it." Luna cautioned her.

"You mean like you did, after your return from the moon?" the minty green mare quipped.

"I don't know what you mean? I appreciated any help I could get." Luna's cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

"Sure, except that you insisted on adjusting to modern social customs by yourself."

"And I did!"

"Yes, after Princess Twilight convinced you to stop speaking in the Royal Canterlot Voice, you actually made some slight progress. Oh, and don't forget the incident where you tried accustoming yourself with modern laws!" Honeycomb snickered.

Luna harrumphed. "Yeah well, perhaps you're right. But enough dwelling in old memories, let's get going."

Honeycomb mockingly threw a hoof to her forehead. "As you command, my princess! I will meet you at your departure."

With a roll of her eyes and a suppressed grin on her face, Luna left her assistant to clean up after the meeting while she went back to Celestia.


--------------------


As she entered her bedchamber, Luna got a short glimpse of a scroll floating in mid-air. A second later it vanished in a flash of magic as Celestia sent it away with a flick of her horn.

"Was that the letter for Twilight? That took quite some time. Normally you are faster with writing to your favorite student."

Celestia sighed, "I had to reword it a few times to ensure Twilight wouldn't panic when she reads it. You know, avoiding buzzwords like 'emergency', 'immediately', 'Luna and I are leaving Canterlot' and the like. In the end I decided to keep it short and tell her just the necessary."

"Yes, I can see where you're going. When do you think she will be here?"

"She should arrive arround mid-morning; I will send her a carriage. That leaves enough time for us to prepare for our trip. For now, tell me more about the enchantments you used while we pack our bags..."


--------------------


Nightstar interrupted his second round around the sleeping rooms in Skyfall Orphanage as he heard a muffled sobbing behind the door he had just passed. He directed the pale light of his horn to the sign hanging from a hook mounted in the door to see which of the children was awake at this time of the night. The face of a grinning unicorn filly, framed by a circle of colorful flowers, beamed back at him. Underneath it, rainbow-colored letters read the name of the depicted filly, Candytuft. It wasn't that unusual an occasion for him. In an orphanage with a bunch of small children these things happened quite frequently. Nightmares, bullies and not being chosen by possible parents being the major reasons for nightly outbursts. The pony on watch would then deal with the issue and afterwards file a report for the day shift so they could take further actions, if the need arose.

Cautiously, Nightstar opened the door and peeked his head inside. Dim rays of moonlight shining through the open window curtains lit the room just enough to be able to make out some silhouettes. A dark lump on the bed shook slightly as the room's occupant sobbed quietly, completely huddled under her blanket.

Seeing that there was no immediate problem, Nightstar spoke up while walking over to the bed. "Is everything alright, Candytuft? Did you have a nightmare?"

"I scared Princess Luna and now she will never come back!" the little filly wailed.

Nightstar was far from new on the job and had heard quite some stories in the middle of the night, but this was something new. Confused he shook his head vigorously to clear it from the puzzlement Candytuft's statement had caused. Scaring off the Princess of the Night? She clearly must have had a nightmare! Laying down in front of the bed, he gently lifted the blanket up with his magic.

"Care to tell me how you scared Princess Luna?" he asked with a gentle smile.

Candytuft sat herself up onto her haunches from her huddled pose with her head hung low and tears streaming down her cheeks.

"She visited us and brought us ice cream. And then I saw –" Candytuft sniffed "– that there was no moon outside and ran to Princess Luna to tell her."

A big sob followed by a heavy sniff interrupted her.

"And what happened then?" Nightstar asked gently.

"Then she lifted me up and brought me to the windows. And then the lights went out."

"And Princess Luna was afraid of the dark and ran away?"

Candytuft looked up, obviously irritated. "Why would she be afraid of the dark? She is the Princess of the Night."

"Of course, you're right. But what happened then?" At least his question had distracted her enough to stop crying. Only a few sobs escaped her as she continued.

"Then Princess Luna put the moon and the stars on the sky; it was so beautiful! But then Headmaster Willow Wind sent us all to bed and Princess Luna put me back down and said she had to go, but I didn't want her to go. And then I did it."

"Did what, little one?"

"I scared her!" Candytuft burst out. "I asked her to take me with her! Because I like her so much! She was always my favorite princess. But she got a terrified look on her face and ran out of the room and left me behind. I don't think she will ever come back."

The little filly's voice had gotten quieter and quieter towards the end of her tale. Nightstar had to strain his hearing to get the last words. With a warm smile on his face he stood back up, lifted Cadytuft up with his magic and tucked her back under her blanket.

"I don't think you need to be concerned. Princess Luna is very kind and forgiving. Even if you really did something to upset her I'm sure she will forgive you and come back to see you soon. And now you should get back to sleep so you can go play with your friends again tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Candytuft asked, unsure if she should believe Nightstar.

"Yes, I'm sure. No princess would ever abandon her subjects. So, sleep tight little filly and perhaps Princess Luna will visit your dream to make it all well again." With that he turned and left the room, cautiously pulling the door shut behind him.

"I hope so..." Candytuft muttered and snuggled back under her blanket looking out of her windows at the glowing moon.

Outside, Nightstar sighed before he resumed his round of the sleeping quarters, making a mental note to file a report of a bad dream about angering a princess.


--------------------


The Golden Oaks Library of Ponyville lay dark in the earliest of morning hours. The moon stood still high on his track across the horizon. The birds still slept in their homes in the trees. A light breeze wafted silently over from the Everfree Forest and through the open window to Twilight's bedroom. All of Ponyville lay totally silent.

Suddenly, the peaceful quiet was destroyed by a loud belch. Green dragonfire illuminated the bedroom as a scroll of parchment materialised and was flung right into Twilight's face where it got stuck in her open mouth, as her head had slid over the edge of her bed right over Spike's basket. Twilight's eyes shot open as she sat up and spat the scroll out onto her bedsheets, coughing the taste of paper away.

"What the hay?" she groggily murmured. Looking down at Spike she found him still sleeping peacefully. Sighing she turned back to the scroll, pondering if she should read it now or wait until she got up. Eventually she decided that if Princess Celestia thought it necessary to send a letter in the middle of the night it should be important enough for her to read it now.

Twilight unfurled the scroll and held it up with her magic while simultaneously casting a dim light from her horn onto it. Coming to the end of the letter her eyes shot wide open, a shriek escaped her mouth and she teleported out of her bed.

Prancing she shouted, "Spike! Get up! Hurry! We need to get to Canterlot immediately!"

"Whassup?" Spike asked, still half asleep.

"I got a letter from Princess Celestia and there is something horrible going on. We have no time to lose! Just grab our emergency bag and let's go!"

Knowing Twilight, Spike crawled out of his bed, picked up the scroll that had sailed to the floor and began to read.





Dear Princess Twilight,

I'd like to invite you to come to Canterlot tomorrow to stay a few days. I will send you a carriage to pick you up at 9 am. I eagerly look forward to seeing you again.

Your friend, Princess Celestia

PS: Don't worry, there is no emergency.





Raising an eyebrow Spike looked up to Twilight questioningly. "Seriously? You did read the 'PS', didn't you?"

"Of course I did! And that's just what made my alarm bells tick off. Why would she write that if there wasn't an emergency? And then there is the whole rush about it. Sending a simple invitation in the middle of the night for the following morning? Please! And she calls me 'Princess Twilight'. If it was just a simple visit, she would have called me just 'Twilight', or something."

"I don't know, Twilight, I think you're overreacting again. Besides, how do you plan to get to Canterlot in the middle of the night? The carriage will only arrive in the morning and there are no trains driving up there at this hour. And even if you are an alicorn, you can't teleport that far!"

"I'm not overreacting, Spike. Trust me, there is something going on and Celestia needs my help. As to how I want to get there... well, you said it. I'm an alicorn, so come on!" Flapping her wings, Twilight took to the air for a moment before settling down again.

Spike stretched his arms out in front of him, trying to keep his distance from Twilight. With a fearful expression on his face he slowly moved backwards. "Oh no! Forget it! I won't be flying with you again when you're in a hurry. The flight from Canterlot to Ponyville when Discord's vines ponynapped the princesses taught me my lesson. If you really want, go ahead and fly to Canterlot. I'll follow you with our stuff in the morning taking the carriage."

"Even better. That way I won't be slowed down by all the luggage. Alright then. I will see you in Canterlot then, Spike. Take care!"

And with that, Twilight teleported out of the library. After a quick scan of the sky she took off and angled towards the distant mountains.

Spike watched her go through the open window. When he was sure she wouldn't return to get something she had forgot in her hurry, he sighed. "Time for some more quality sleep." He adjusted the alarm clock on the bedside table so that he would have enough time to pack in the morning before snuggling back under his warm and inviting blanket.


--------------------


As she neared Canterlot Castle, Twilight started to think about where she should land. Her flight had took her longer than she estimated but it was still early and only a faint shimmer on the horizon told of the coming sunrise. On her way to Canterlot, her mind had run away from her again, imagining hundreds of dreadful visions about the things that awaited her.

Twilight let her gaze wander over the castle. Most windows were dark. Only the kitchens were illuminated, as well as the barracks of the royal guard. And a lone window high up in a tower to the east. If Celestia was awake, it would probably be the best to fly directly to her bedchambers. This was an emergency after all!

Concentrating, she cast the spell that Celestia had taught her after she became a princess to dispel the wards that secured the balcony doors from intruders. At the last moment she remembered to push the doors open and to start her deceleration.

But she was still too fast when she touched the ground. Shouting, she bounced off the ground a few times before sliding the last few feet on her haunches, backpedaling with her front hooves, wings spread wide. Stopping just a few inches short of crashing into the doors on the other side of the room, she flopped down on her belly and exhaled deeply.

Celestia had turned around as she heard the balcony doors open. Stunned, she watched Twilight landing in her bedroom.

"Twilight! Are you alright?" Celestia quickly trotted over and nudged Twilight in the side to get her back up. "What are you doing here? I said I would be sending a carriage in the morning."

"I had to come as fast as I could. After I read your letter I knew something was going on and that you needed me. So, now that I'm here, you can tell me about the emergency."

Celestia groaned. Obviously she had not managed to keep Twilight calm about the situation. "Twilight, there is no emergency. Didn't you read the 'PS'?"

"Of course I did! Why does everypony think I didn't? And why would you send such an ominous letter in the middle of the night if it wasn't urgent?"

"Well, it is kind of urgent..."

"Aha! I knew it!"

"... but not urgent enough for you to drop everything and hurry over to Canterlot. It could very well have waited until the morning. Luna and I are still preparing." She pointed to a saddle-bag sitting before her private bookshelf. It was yellow with a white rim lining the flap and two white straps coming down beneath it each ending in a yellow tassel hanging down from the bag. Purple gems adorned the white straps as well as the flap. The carrying strap that connected the two bags was of the same colour.

Twilight's ears drooped as she sat down on her haunches. "I'm sorry, princess. I overreacted. Again. Spike was right." She turned her head away in shame.

"Don't be, Twilight. I appreciate your concern and I am happy to see you again. At least it gives us some more hours to talk."

A shy smile spread on Twilight's face as she looked back up at Celestia.

"I was just going to go down to the library to get some more books to take with me. Do you want to accompany me?"

"Of course I want to. But... what did you mean 'take books with you'? Are you going on a trip?"

"More a journey, but come now. I will tell you everything on our way down."


--------------------


Luna turned to the doors of her study as they opened behind her, revealing her sister and, to her surprise, Twilight. The two talked about something. Twilight was completely fixated on Celestia and didn't notice Luna sitting in a corner packing her own saddlebags. Hers were a midnight blue with a white flap bordered with a blue rim. A big turquoise gem framed by two purple half-moons adorned the flap, while the bag itself sported a pattern of equally turquoise lines on a white ground.

"I see why you want to go as soon as possible and I am honored that you chose me to accompany you." Luna heard Twilight say to Celestia.

"Twilight Sparkle! What are you doing here? I thought you would arrive sometime later in the morning."

"There was a slight misunderstanding with my letter, sister. I already filled Twilight in on what happened yesterday. Though she got one thing wrong about it all, as you just heard."

"I did?" Twilight asked quizzically.

"Yes. You won't be accompanying me."

"I won't?" Now she was seriously confused.

"No. I will be accompanying Luna."

"Then why am I here? What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to take my place while we are gone and take over the rulership of Equestria."

Twilight's jaw dropped. Her left eye began to twitch.

"Good job, sister. Actually, I'm thinking about turning this into a hobby of mine."

"What do you mean?"

"The jaw-dropping. It amuses me," Luna said, beaming. "Though it seems you overdid it this time– I think you broke her."

Celestia waved a hoof in front of Twilight's face. "Twilight? Are you alright?" This was the second time she had to ask this of her former student in the last hour. She made a mental note to talk with her about being more careful later. "Twilight?"

"Are..."

"Thank goodness, she is still there."

"You..."

"Come on Twilight just sit down while I get you some water." Celestia floated a carafe and a glass over from Luna's desk. But just as she wanted to pour the water...

"CRAZY? Where did you get the idea to put me on the throne of Equestria? I will be messing things up. I will be doing things wrong, I will upset ponies, I will drive Equestria into ruin, I will... I... I..." Twilight started to hyperventilate.

Celestia was by her side immediately. "Easy, Twilight! Calm down. Breath slowly, just like I taught you. In... and out... In... and out... Good."

Regaining a steady breath again, Twilight slumped down onto the ground. "Princess, this is too much. You can't ask this of me. It is too soon, I'm not ready for this."

"Oh Twilight, don't belittle yourself. You are an amazing leader; all you lack is some experience. You have a very sharp and logical mind and a tremendous sense for justness. And you won't face this task alone. My personal assistant, Raven, will be by your side to support you in all ways necessary. You know her from your time here at the castle, don't you?"

It seemed her words helped. Twilight looked much more reassured now. "Yes, I remember her. I think we even talked once or twice. Thank you, Princess. I honestly don't know if I can do this, but I will do my best."

"And that's all I want. Fear not, Twilight, Equestria won't fall into chaos that fast. Not with an alicorn princess sitting on the throne. And you can always ask Cadance if you need the advice of another princess."

"Couldn't I just write a letter to you?"

"No, you won't be able to reach us after we have crossed a certain point in our journey. Luna's enchantments will block any attempts to do so." She turned to Luna. "Are you ready, sister?"

"I just got the last things packed, I'm ready to go."

"Good, so am I. Let us get some breakfast. The sun is already up and I'm getting hungry."

"You are always hungry, Celestia," Luna deadpanned as they left her study.

"It may seem so to you, but if it didn't occur to you, I am bigger than the average pony, so I need to eat more."

"Ah, finally! Now, was it that hard to admit that you are on the heavier side of the scale?"

"Luna, I am not fat. Stop pestering me about it. We have some days before us where we can't just go our separate ways and I don't think either of us wants to fight all the time."

"Oh, Celestia, you know I'm just teasing, right? Come on let's go to breakfast as you proposed, I'm hungry myself."

"Do you two do that often?" The voice shook them out of their zone. Surprised they both looked at Twilight, as if just recognizing she was actually there. Both turned slightly pink.

"We're mostly doing this when we are alone, Twilight, but you are so close to us that we sometimes have to restrain ourselves more consciously than normal," Celestia apologized.

"Oh, don't mind me. I think it's refreshing to see you two have what could be called a 'normal' life. It's what siblings do. Even Shining Armor and I did it and occasionally still do it now when we see each other. You don't need to restrain yourself while I'm around if you don't want. It's fine, really."

A loud rumbling could be heard in the corridor. Twilight blushed. "It seems, I'm hungry too."

"Then it is good that we are here already. Let us get some breakfast, everypony." And with that, Luna opened the doors to the breakfast buffet.


--------------------


Two hours later they emerged from the great hall that functioned as a canteen for the castle staff. From time to time the two sisters joined the ponies there instead of having a private meal with each other. Though the latter was the more frequent occasion, as it was one of the few times they could spend time alone together during their tightly planned schedules. Raven and Honeycomb had joined them at some point to discuss all the small and big things that needed to be taken care of during the absence of Equestria's rulers. They now were on their way down to the gardens where Spike was supposed to arrive soon.

"So, Princess Twilight, do you think you are up to the task that was given to you?"

"Please, Honeycomb, just call me Twilight. At least when we're not working."

"Are you sure? It doesn't seem appropriate. We barely know each other. And you are a princess after all!"

"I know, but we will have to work together and even if I have grown more comfortable with my new status in the last months, I feel much more relaxed to be addressed informally while not on royal duty. You would make this whole thing easier for me, if you would indulge me."

"In that case, I'm happy to oblige, Twilight."

"Much better, thank you. Now, concerning your question... Actually, I'm quite nervous, but I've got Raven by my side to help me, so I think everything will go just fine. But what about you? You have to face the Night Court all on your own after all."

"Well, I will be working harder than ever, but I will cope. Night Court is, in general, much more quiet than Day Court and I've been working long enough with Luna to know what I have to do and what to look out for."

"Right, I've heard that you and Luna are quite a good team?"

"Oh yes, I love working with her! She is very kind, even if she doesn't usually show it as openly as Celestia does. Don't get me wrong, she treats everypony with respect and kindness, but it is different from how Celestia acts. And she is very hardworking. Sometimes she is even more obsessed with her work than her sister."

"Hey! I'm not obsessed!"

Honeycomb smirked. "Remember when you tried to get a grip on modern laws shortly after you came back and I started working for you?"

Luna's face became a pale blue. "You promised to never speak about it!"

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad. Besides, we're among friends and I don't think they will think any less of you."

A grumble was all she got from her employer.

"Anyway she was there in her study. All around her every single law book from the library she could get a hold of. She had been trying to get a grip on the concepts of modern legislation for four days straight by that point. Without any sleep I might add."

"I don't need to sleep every night," Luna huffed.

"No, but even alicorns get a little nervous with not enough sleep and too much coffee." Turning back to a grinning Twilight, Honeycomb continued. "So when there was this owl landing on the windowsill and it hooted really loud, she jumps up into the air right up to the ceiling and clings to the chandelier, frantically looking in every direction and repeatedly muttering 'Who? What? Where?'"

Twilight burst into giggles. "And what did you do?"

"I just stood there dumbfounded with my chin hitting the floor."

"That's how I found her five minutes later after I calmed down and got back to the ground. I think that started my hobby of confusing ponies to do this for me," Luna pondered.

Now Twilight burst into full laughter. "You deliberately confuse ponies to make their jaws fall down?

"Why yes, it is most amusing!" She genuinely smiled back at her fellow princess.

Twilight shook her head in disbelieve. "What happened then?"

With a wry expression Luna took over narrating. "I needed several attempts to shake her out of her stupor and after she had recovered, she sent me to bed."

"She what?" Twilight asked incredulous.

"I sent her to bed immediately. I feared she would hurt somepony if she got startled again in that condition. You know, firing her magic at some unsuspecting pony bringing her food or something."

Twilight imagined a princess of Equestria being sent to bed by her personal assistant with an outstretched hoof and a stern expression on her face. A maid with a singed mane and a baffled look on her face stood nearby while Luna left the room with her head hung low in embarrassment. Slowly she came back down from the next laughing fit. "And she just did as you told her?" 

"It's good to see you in such a good mood again, Twilight Sparkle. And yes, after we reasoned for about half an hour I indeed went to bed," Luna hastened to answer.

"Hmph, if that was reasoning I don't want to know what you consider a shouting match." At Twilight's raised eyebrow, Honeycomb continued to explain. "Let's just say at the end I had to dodge a few books flying right at me."

"And you are still her assistant? Most ponies would have quitted after being attacked by their employer," Twilight asked incredulous.

"Well, if you are the personal assistant of a pony of a certain authority level you have to know them pretty well, be it privately or concerning work. I had known Luna for quite some time by then and I knew she would not be angry for long. Besides, it is part of my duty to voice concerns to the princess if I think she overlooks or overdoes something. Driving yourself to exhaustion without necessity fits that case pretty well, don't you think, Princess?"

Luna smiled kindly. "I already told you that you did well that night and I don't hold a grudge against you."

"It seems you two really are good friends by now." Twilight observed.

"We do share some private gossip and I value Honeycomb's opinion a lot." Luna turned to her assistant, a warm smile on her face. "I even consider her a friend, yes."

"And you, Honeycomb? From how you spoke I think that I'm correct when I say, that you think likewise?"

"Very much so. I can confide in Luna regardless of her being my ruler. She will listen and give me advice on a personal level, not as a superior. We laugh together and can talk just about anything."

"I thought as much. Do you want to know what I think?" Twilight asked with a honest smile and before Luna or Honeycomb could answer, she continued, "You should accompany Luna on her journey."

A simultaneous and nonplussed "What?" came from the two mares.

"It's quite simple, really. I have studied friendship for a long time now so I'm confident to say I'm kind of an expert on the matter. What I have seen of you two in the short time since I came here today, and what you have told me just now, is clearly a very deep friendship. Maybe even deeper, than we realize just now. And take it from someone who had to learn the hard way: Having friends around when you are on an important task helps a lot."

"I don't know if I will be that much of a help, Twilight. And I will slow them down quite a bit, I'm afraid. After all, I'm just an ordinary earth pony and they are the two most powerful beings in all of Equestria! Although, to be honest, I do want to help her with this."

"Don't underestimate yourself or, to paraphrase another princess, you are anything but a regular old earth pony, Honeycomb. Not every problem can be faced with power and wisdom alone. I'm sure you can contribute something important to all of this even if you are just there for Luna if she needs someone to talk."

"You have clearly spent too much time with my sister, Twilight Sparkle. That sounded exactly like something Celestia would say."

"I was referring to Princess Cadance, but I think you're right."

"And I think that it is not all that bad that I could teach you something, Twilight." Twilight blushed. It was the first thing Celestia had said since they had left breakfast. She had been smiling her trademark smile the entire time while listening to the conversation going on. "And I think she is right, Honeycomb. You should accompany us."

"As you wish, Princess."

"No, not as I wish, my little pony. This is your decision and yours alone."

Honeycomb looked at the floor, her hooves uncertainly shuffling on the ground. "I'd really like to help but, as I said, I don't want to be a burden. What do you think, Luna?" She looked up at her employer, ruler and... yes, friend. Her usually self-confident manner had by now completely vanished.

"Rest assured, that I would be as happy as you if you would come with us. And don't worry about slowing us down, we do have our ways with traveling great distances." This assurance, together with the genuine smile on Luna's face, eased most of Honeycombs worries. 

"Okay, then I will go with you and help you as best as I can." Her short burst of confidence was however dampened the second she thought about the thing that was the most obvious. "But I need to prepare. I need to pack some things, food for example and I need to get a tent or something where I can sleep and I have to tell my family where I'm going to be. It will take the whole day and you want to leave now. I fear, I was a bit hasty with my decision after all." Her head dropped in defeat.

Luna and Celestia looked at each other, then began to chuckle. Turning back to Honeycomb, Celestia explained their amusement that had let Honeycomb's head sink even lower.

"We have everything you will need in our bags and Twilight can let your family know of your whereabouts. Now come, we should get going."

Suddenly, Twilight stopped dead in her tracks as something occurred to her. "Princess Luna!"

Curious, Luna turned around to where Twilight had stopped. "Yes, Twilight Sparkle, what is it? Didn't I tell you to call me Luna?"

"Only if you start calling me Twilight, you know that! But that's not what I wanted to say. If Honeycomb will go with you, who will be responsible for the Night Court?"

"Hm... you are right, someone needs to take care of that, but who? Do you know someone, Celestia?"

"The only one I can think of who is capable of handling this on such short notice would be Raven."

"Of course, Your Highness."

Twilight trembled with suddenly returning nervousness. "But, Princess, who will help me? I am not ready to do this on my own."

"I know it will be hard Twilight, but I trust you with this. You will get as much help as the ponies of my staff can give you. You just have to ask them."

"Or, in the case of some of the ponies of the more noble origin, you have to demand it," Luna interjected, a slight scorn in her voice as she thought of some of the more tedious encounters with the nobles.

"In any case, you are quite clever, Twilight. I'm confident you will find a way to do this."

Finally they arrived at the doors to the gardens belonging to Canterlot Castle. Stepping out into the warm mid-morning sun, the small group trotted over to the big lawn to the left side of the path that led to the castle doors they had just exited.

"So, here we are," Celestia noted as she turned around to the small group while Luna walked up beside her, followed by Honeycomb. "Any last minute thoughts?"

Twilight looked as if she wanted to say something but then decided otherwise and shook her head like the others did.

Spotting a small dot in the distant sky, Luna spoke up. "It seems like Spike is just arriving. How convenient. You can greet him right away and fill him in on everything, Twilight."

"Alright everypony, let's get going then. Would you do the honor to get us started, sister?"

"Of course, Celestia."

Luna concentrated as her horn began to glow. A pale blue aura encompassed the two alicorns and the earth pony mare. A second later they were gone and a low plopping sound could be heard as the air flowed into the vacuum they had left behind.

A moment later a chariot landed before Twilight and Raven.

"Was that the princesses who vanished just there?" Spike called out to them while jumping over the edge of the chariot. "They could have at least greeted me..." He huffed.

Suddenly, the bush beside Twilight sported some mismatched eyes. "Are they gone?" an all too familiar voice asked excitedly.

"What the?" Twilight jumped.

The bush vanished in a flash, only to reveal Discord dressed in a shrill-coloured camouflage-patterned jacket and a matching helmet on his head. Discarding his costume with another flash, he slung himself around Twilight. "Oh Twilight! We will have so much fun while you are sitting on the throne of Equestria!"

While Spike looked confused from Twilight to Discord and back again, Raven stood there wide-eyed with her forehoof raised slightly off the ground.

Groaning, Twilight slumped down, covering her eyes with her hooves.


--------------------


"Nightstar, may I talk to you for a minute?" Willow Wind called out for the stallion as he passed by her office. She was just finishing up her work to head home. As she had seen Nightstar walking by, she had remembered the report from him that she had found this morning on her desk.

Nightstar stopped in his tracks as he heard the headmaster call out for him. He had just arrived and was heading to his office to get ready for his night shift. "Sure, boss. What's up?"

"I wanted to talk about the incident with Candytuft last night."

At first he looked puzzled, then turned curious as he remembered what happened. It was a routine thing, nothing special, and as such it had slipped his mind already. "Oh, sure. I hope she got some sleep after I left and wasn't too cranky today."

"Not in the way you think of, no. But she was seen the whole day sitting in some corner with a sad frown on her face. She didn't even want to play with her friends. Obviously we tried some things to get her cheered up, but up until now we didn't succeed."

"The poor thing! I will keep an extra eye out for her tonight."

"I appreciate that, but that wasn't what I wanted to tell you."

"Oh, okay. What is it then?"

"That was no dream she had. It was real."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You see, Princess Luna visited us yesterday after dinner and brought some ice cream for the kids. All the things Candytuft told you took place after the kids finished eating the ice cream. I just wanted to let you know so you can react accordingly to her needs."

"Now that's a surprise! That changes quite some things. Thanks for letting me know, I will keep it in mind."

"Thank you. And now I wish you a pleasant night."

"I wish you likewise!"

As Nightstar turned to leave, Willow Wind spoke up once more. "Oh, one last thing! I want you to stop by my office tomorrow and tell me if anything happens tonight concerning Candytuft. I will be here earlier than usual so you won't have to wait for me after your shift ends."

"Of course I will."

And with that, the two went their separate ways to start their respective evenings.
> 4 - Journey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I lay in the tent with my hooves crossed behind my head, staring at the ceiling. Though I was quite tired, sleep eluded me. Too much had happened too quickly for me to properly process it. Now it kept me awake while my ruler and friend slept rather peacefully on the bedroll on the other side of the tent. I turned my head and watched Princ- Luna breathing slowly in her sleep. It seemed I still needed some time to acclimate myself with calling her just by her name. After staying awake for two nights in a row, leading a tiresome meeting with two stubborn ponies and getting a slight shock from remembering a past mistake that needed to be taken care of immediately, even she had been utterly spent. And she was an immortal alicorn with more power I could ever imagine. Not to mention she had teleported us to a place that would have needed many days of travelling by hoof to get to and almost died a few hours ago, if it not were for Princess Celestia.

Once again, my mind wandered back to the beginning of this journey...


--------------------


I had never been teleported before and it was totally different from what I expected it to be. It was... almost dull. All I perceived of the process was a bright light. When it faded, the world revolved around me. I shook my head vigorously to get a clear vision again. When the spinning finally stopped, I took a look around. I found myself in a completely different place from where I had been a moment before. That was to be anticipated of a teleport, though. We had appeared on a small hill. Behind us lay plains of grassland. What awaited us seemed to be an untouched nature stretching as far as I could see. And with that I mean a dense forest everywhere. From what I could see, it was even thicker than the Everfree Forest. At least according to the pictures I had seen of it. I had no idea of where we had arrived, so I did the obvious.

"Princess Luna, where are we?"

Looking at the princess, I found her heavily breathing with her legs slightly bent. The toll of the past days were obviously getting to her. A moment later she straightened herself again, taking one last, deep breath. Then there was nothing left of the strain that she showed just seconds ago, but I knew her better than that. If she wasn't going to admit it soon, I decided that I would make her take a rest. That had worked once, so why shouldn't it now? Shooting a glance at Princess Celestia, I thought I saw the slightest frown on her face as she regarded her sister. She had seen it too. Great! She would surely support me when it came to that. 

"We are at the very border of Equestria, Honeycomb. Beyond this point lies unknown land. Well, mostly that is." 

Yes, on the outside she had indeed completely recovered her regal aura. As much as I worried about her, though, that remark still made me curious. 

"What do you mean, mostly?"

"Well, there is no sentient being that lives out here. Only animals and beasts are roaming these lands. And as it is not a part of Equestria, it is left utterly alone. Even the weather is uncontrolled, much like in the Everfree Forest. I have been here before, obviously, but that was a long time ago and I'm certain that much has changed since then. That is the reason I didn't bring us any further by teleportation. I could not be sure in what circumstances we would have arrived."

"You brought those children to this place, sister?" Princess Celestia was not very happy with her sister's choice, if I interpreted her disbelieving voice correctly.

"You know my reasons, sister. I needed a place where they were left alone. This was the obvious choice."

"Alright, alright. I don't want to argue about this with you. It doesn't help us in the slightest. Too much time has passed since then to question you about it. So, what are our next steps?"

"I will take a look around to get my bearings. When I know where we need to go, I will come and get you." She turned around and spread her wings.

"Be careful, Luna. I don't want to see you harmed."

"Don't worry, Celestia. There is nothing out there that is able to hurt me while I'm in the air." With that she took off, leaving us behind to pass the time on our own.

I joined Princess Celestia in watching her getting smaller and smaller up in the sky.

"I hope we have not made a mistake in letting her go on her own."

That caught me by surprise. What did the Princess mean? She wasn't thinking that... oh...

"Don't worry, Princess. I don't think she will abandon us here and fly alone to her colony. She may tend to do things on her own from time to time, but I'm quite certain she really wants our help with this."

Princess Celestia sighed. "You are probably right, Honeycomb, I just worry so much about her." 

I had to chuckle.

"What is so funny?"

"Of course you worry. She is your little sister, after all."

The princess simply smiled at that. Suddenly, something else came to my mind. While we had talked at breakfast, I had learned of the general situtation, but there still were many gaps that needed to be filled. 

"Princess Celestia, while we wait... Could you tell me more about what happened back in the day? I want to know why we are here and maybe better understand Princess Luna's actions because of it."

"Of course I will. You need to know these things after all. Especially with the place to which we are heading."

We both lay down on the ground and she told me of Luna's plan and the colony she created.


--------------------


It was not long after Princess Celestia had finished her story when Luna returned. We were still lying on the ground when her hooves touched the earth again. Slowly she folded her wings back to her body while trotting up to us.

"I hope I havent't kept you waiting for too long, but the land has changed more than I anticipated."

Princess Celestia relaxed visibly.

"I told you she would return." I whispered to her with a small smile. A second later I realized what I had said. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, I didn't mean to be disrespectful."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Luna." She tried to distract. "What have you found and where do we need to go?" 

"The forest is much too thick to walk through and even if not it would take us several days to reach our destination. There is no other way, we need to fly the next part of this."

I gulped. That didn't sound good. "But, I can't fly." I stated the obvious. Being completely honest with myself, I'm not sure if I wanted to be able to fly either.

Luna's expression grew warmer as she sensed my distress. "Don't worry, you don't have to return home and neither do you have to wait here. You will travel with me." She turned to her sister. "Shall we go?"

Travel with her? What was that supposed to mean again? Oh well, probably I would find out soon enough.

While Princess Celestia levitated their saddlebags back to their respective owner, Luna settled down on the ground and looked over her shoulder back at me. "Hop on and we will move out."

Startled, I backed away several steps. "You can't be serious! I... I will fall off! And I can't... I..." I had to sit back on my haunches. My legs trembled furiously and my eyes were shot wide open. How could she propose something like this?

"Are you alright, Honeycomb? Are you afraid of heights?"

"No... no, I'm not afraid of heights but..."

"But?"

"But you are a Princess! I could never ride you like some carriage!"

Luna chuckled and Princess Celestia smiled at me. This wasn't funny! As her personal assistant my duties, among many others, were to remind the princess to retain her dignity. And this simply wouldn't do.

"Don't be silly, my friend. There is no one here who could see me. And it is my decision who I let ride on my back. So please, don't hesitate and climb up."

She kept smiling at me as I, grudgingly, walked up to her and climbed up on her back. "You don't happen to have a seatbelt I could use, have you?"

"What are you mumbling up there?"

I sighed. "Nothing, let's go."

I tried to make myself comfortable on her back, which wasn't easy. Sure, she was almost twice my size, but her barrel was quite slender and not that much longer than my own. On top of that I had to make sure not to restrain her wings in any way. Jumbling her control over those appendages midflight was not something I wanted to experience firsthoof. When I finally had found a posture I could settle down in, I slung my forehooves around her neck so I could hold on to something. As soon as I had done that, I felt the muscles under my belly tighten and a second later Luna broke into a gallop to gain the speed she needed to bring my additional weight into the air. Surprised, I closed my eyes and tightened my grip. After the bumpy run that shook my body for good she finished with a mighty leap and flapped her wings long and hard a few times to gain altitude.

Only when most of the shakings from the take-off had faded and Luna had settled into a steady and smooth glide I relaxed a bit and opened my eyes again. We were high above the ground, gliding swiftly over the canopy of the forest deep below us. Looking up I found the clouds still quite a way above us. Princess Celestia flew a few meters to our left. When a gust forced Luna to flap harder, and thus shaking me again, I latched back unto her neck, trembling.

"Are you sure you are not afraid of heights?" She asked concerned.

"Yes, I am," I grumbled back. "It just feels as if I am slipping down every time you flap your wings and that makes me nervous. I like to have firm ground beneath my hooves, even when I'm way up high. Must be my earthpony heritage speaking."

Instead of a response, Luna's horn started to glow. A flap of her saddlebags lifted and, to my astonishment, I saw only blackness beneath it. Before I could think about this phenomenon though, a rope appeared out of the blackness and the flap closed again. Afterwards the rope slung itself around Luna's and my barrels and knotted us tightly together.

"You really have a seatbelt afterall..." 

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

Now that I felt somewhat safer, I finally got to appreciate the view around me. Only a few clouds adorned the sky and much of my vision was filled by a deep blue. The sun stood high in the sky, noon just about an hour behind us. Below us the wind transformed the dense canopy into a waving sea of green; still stretching as far as I could see. Given how high we were flying that was quite a distance. 

For some time I simply savored the scenery but when I got my fill of it, I turned back to Luna. How should I phrase this question? I decided to start with something simple. 

"Princess Celestia told me what you did a few thousand years in the past." 

The muscles below me stiffened slightly. I'm sure it would have been more pronounced had we been on the ground, but flying needed a certain amount of flexibility to work. Or at least I assumed as much, I'm not the one who is a specialist in this kind of thing, even if my daughter is a pegasus. But what did this reaction mean? Was Luna angry? Was she scared? Was it a mistake to bring this up? It was too late to budge out of it now, however, so I finally asked what I wanted to know. 

"What I'm wondering since then is, how did you get all those children out of Canterlot without getting caught?"

Luna snorted. "I used magic of course..." As she began to recount the events from a distant past, Princess Celestia tilted herself slightly to the right so she glided nearer to us. She didn't know this, too, I presumed.

"It took me several weeks to refine the rough plan I had presented to Celestia so much that it could finally be realized. For the most parts at least. As you know, I had no final solution to keep the children supervised and thus I created the time bubble around their new home. It was just intended as a workaround, but as always those remain the longest."

"That is what I don't get. Why did you pursue that plan any further in the first place? Your sister had rejected your proposal and if I'm informed correctly, she was the highest authority back then. Additionally, you knew by then it was not a good plan."

"You are quite correct, of course. I cannot say for sure what drove me, but every night for the first week after Celestia's rejection I dreamed  about the colony again and again. About the happy time all those children would have there. Some of the ideas for my plan came to me during those dreams. I knew deep inside me, that this was important. Important for me, important for Celestia and very important for Equestria. It's not like I didn't see the flaws Celestia had shown to me, but I thought they were merely some small obstacles. Just think about them for some time and they would dissolve themselves more or less on their own."

I tilted my head to the side in thought. "Dreaming the same stuff for a whole week? Isn't that pretty odd, especially for the Princess of Dreams?"

"It is. Again, I have no explanation for it. I think all those homeless children really got to me and I felt I needed to do something more to help them. Anyway, after I had solved all the issues that prevented the execution of my plan, I went about the city to find as many homeless foals as possible. While doing that I visited several orphanages as well and found some foals that were not very happy with their lives there either. So I decided to take those as well. It weren't so many that I had to revise the plans for getting them fed, but it surely were a few. I memorized all of their sleeping places and then went for the kill."

Princess Celestia blinked. "I think we should work a bit more on your conversation skills later, sister. That was an... odd... choice of words."

"If you say so, we shall do that, but let me finish first. I wanted to take all the children at once. For one to save time and at the same giving fewer opportunities to be discovered. So I faced the problem of getting about fifty foals out of the city without being seen. Each and every version I played through in my head bore the possibility to be accidently seen by someone. In the end I decided to fly them out by using some moon-magic."

"Moon-magic?" I asked nonplussed. "I've never heard of that."

"It would have surprised me if you had. Moon-magic is something only I can use. It is the magic that connects me with the moon and, among other things, keeps it on its path across the sky after I raise it. In this case I used it to make the children float on beams of moonlight which I then pulled through the sky behind me. It was the least subtle plan I came up with, but in the end it worked."

"But Luna, that's impossible. I would have felt such a massive burst of moon-magic in the middle of the night. It would even have roused me from my deepest sleep. And all the guards around town and at the castle would have seen you and the children."

"Oh, Tia! Do you think I hadn't thought about that? I'm not inferior to you when it comes to making plans work the way I want, you know? Of course I knew you would be on to me immediately, so I called out to the stars to help me."

My ears perked up. This was getting weirder by the minute. "Wait, the stars? I thought you controlled them. You create the night sky after all, so why do you have to call to them for help and not just use them the way you need?"

"You see, I do control how the sky looks, but the stars themselves are... stubborn. They are not sentient per se, but I can't make them do anything they don't want. Creating a beautiful night sky has much to do with persuasion. Bringing out the stars the way I want is a mixture of working with nobles and herding sheep."

I had to chuckle at that. "Isn't that the same thing?" Both princesses joined in on the chuckle before Luna resumed speaking.

"Only that the stars are not as presumptuous as the nobles, yes. However,  as a 'thank you' for tending to them as I am, they granted my wish and channelled their magic through me to put all of Canterlot under a sleeping spell. Even Celestia was unable to resist. The magical nature of the sleep even prevented her from sensing my moon-magic. So, with a song on my lips I committed one of the most stupid failures of my life."

The sarcasm–or was it cynism?– of that last sentence made me wince. What Luna did in the past had been pretty bad, all things considered, but it tore me up nonetheless to see how hard the whole situation hit her. She had fallen silent again.

We flew on in mutual silence, all of deep in our own thoughts, until the afternoon was over and the evening was approaching at last. It was still quite early and I thought we had some more hours of flying ahead of us, at least, when I felt Luna wobble under me. I leaned to the side to take a look at her face. What I saw troubled me deeply. Her eyelids were drooping and her head was sinking low every once and again. She was just short of falling asleep in mid-flight. Fear gripped me as I imagined tumbling down to the ground clinging to an unconscious Luna.

I shook her neck with my hooves still slung around it. "Come on Luna, stay awake! Let's get down to the ground, then you can take a nap, but for now concentrate on my voice!"

Turning my head I searched for Princess Celestia, finding her a short distance behind us and to our right, I called out to her. "Princess Celestia! We need to find somewhere to land immediately! Luna is going to pass out soon!"

I waited for her to fly towards us, but she didn't budge from her course. Fear gripped me. Princess Celestia hadn't heard me. I turned back to Luna and started to shake her, but it was too late. My stomach lurched as Luna tilted completely to the left under me. One second I floated there in the air high above the ground, the next I was tumbling down to my death. The air roared in my ears as it rushed all around me. I was tumbling head over hooves, the blue of the sky whisked away by the green of the leaves. The strain got too much for the rope that tied me to Luna's back and we drifted apart as it came loose. After just a short time she was nothing else than a dark blue speck flashing up in the chaos around me as we were falling faster and faster. I heard someone cry out in fear. A piercing scream that shattered me to the bone. A second later I realized the one who was screaming was me. I didn't want to die. I wanted to watch my children grow up and lead a happy life. I wanted to fall asleep in the hooves of Autumn Leaf at night. The wall of green grew nearer and nearer until it consumed all of my field of view. Then I felt branches scraping my body. A blinding flash of white light was the last thing I perceived.


--------------------


Slowly, my eyes fluttered open again. Everything was spinning around me and all I saw was a green wall in front of me. With a cry I jumped up, eyes shot wide. Only to slump down the next second with a searing pain shooting through my left side.

"Everything is okay, Honeycomb. You are safe. Lie down and relax."

Princess Celestia's voice registered in my mind as I came down from the shock I just got, thinking I was still falling to my death. "What happened?" I asked weakly.

"Luna lost consciousness in mid-flight. You both were already falling seperately from each other when I saw what happened. Of course I immediately flew over and tried to catch you, but you broke through the canopy and hit several branches before I could finally brake your fall. You got a blow to your head that rendered you unconscious. After that your left side hit a larger branch that snapped under your impact, but broke one of your ribs. I mended the bone with my magic and applied some ointment to ease the rest of the pain, but you should rest until tomorrow. I hope you are not hurting too much." She closed her eyes and her head sunk in what I supposed was shame, according to the words she then spoke. "I am sorry I was not there for you when you needed me. We promised to keep you safe on this journey and still you almost died on our first day out. If you want, I can get you back to Canterlot."

"I'm fine. Don't beat yourself up over it, Princess. I knew this wouldn't be a walk in the park." Something else was more important to me right now. "How is Princess Luna?"

"She is umharmed, but still unresponsive." Princess Celestia nodded to a tree under which Luna lay slumped onto her side, still out cold.

"So, we are down in the woods, am I right?" Just now I realized the moisture I felt earlier was actually coming from a patch of soft moss the Princess had laid me down on.

"Yes, we will spend the night here. It is almost time for me to lower the sun and bring up the moon, if Luna hasn't woken up by then."

"Is it safe to stay here? I remember some talk about wild animals..."

"Normally it would not be considered safe. But I have placed a barrier around us that will hold until morning. It doesn't reach far, though, so you should stay within sight."

"I will keep that in mind, Princess." A cool breeze let me shiver a bit in the early evening air. "I hope it doesn't get much colder, or we will be freezing tonight."

"Ah! Thank you for the reminder..." Her horn lit with the trademark golden aura. A moment later some kind of rolled up fabric floated out of her saddlebag. Curiously I followed its way to an open patch of grass that was free of undergrowth and tree roots. Once there, it began to unfold. A few moments later a fully fledged tent, big enough for at least six normal ponies was standing in the middle of this endless forest.

"You should get some rest now. I will stay awake and look out for any trouble while you two take some rest."

"Thank you, Princess." I yawned. Then my belly rumbled rather loudly. No wonder. We only had breakfast today and that was quite some time ago. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Before I go to sleep, I need something to eat. You don't happen to have some food in those strange saddlebags of yours?"

"Do not worry, we have enough food for at least two weeks. Although I would recommend just something light after the shock you went through. Furthermore, may I ask what you mean by strange?"

While Princess Celestia got out some sandwiches and a bottle of water, I shifted my posture to lessen the burden on my injured side a bit more. "Well, what's not strange about them? They aren't much bigger than most saddlebags you can buy in Canterlot, sure, but that tent roll you pulled out of it would barely have fitted inside even if it was the only thing that rested in there. The bags, though were not even bulging the slightest regardless of the unfitting form of the tent. Moreover, you seem to have somehow stowed away several first aid supplies and food rations in there. Those sandwiches are not even an tiny bit squashed. And earlier today, when Luna pulled out the rope, I got a glimpse inside her bag. Until now I cannot even begin to describe what I saw."

I took the sandwich that was still floating in the air before me into my forehooves and started eating while waiting for an answer. The waterbottle already rested at my side. Her expression had changed from curiosity to wonder and finally to amusement while I was listing my observations.

"You are quite the astonishing mare, Honeycomb. You have worked pretty hard the last few days, barely slept last night–if I am correct–tumbled alsmost to your death, awoke from an hour long unconsciousness mere minutes ago and still you have enough energy left to observe even small hints from your surroundings. You don't happen to be related to Princess Twilight, are you?"

A slightly exasperated sigh escaped my mouth. "No, I'm not. Princess Luna already asked me the same question yesterday. You can thank my parents for my organizing talent." With slight sarcasm creeping into my voice I added, "As for the energy left... that award goes to my children who keep me on my hooves. Those adorable little terrors can be more straining than a week worth of working for your sister on some days. You evaded my question, though." I observed.

Princess Celestia chuckled her trademark chuckle again. "Please excuse me, that is a habit I am trying to break out of for over a thousand years now. To answer your question–those bags are enchanted with a powerfull spell that enhances their carrying capability multiple times while at the same time remaining light enough to carry around even if you stuff them with a whole clutter of things. On the downside, the spell is tied to the caster of the spell. While you could use it like any other saddlebag when empty, in it's current state you wouldn't be able to lift it even with your earth pony strength as it contains half a library worth of items."

"Sounds neat. I could have used one of those when Silver Streak and Morning Hue were just a few months old. You need to have a household worth of stuff at hoof for foals of that age when you are going out of the house." After downing half the contents of the waterbottle I stood up with a grunt and started to walk away from our campsite. "Please excuse me for a moment, Your Highness, I will be right back."

"You should not walk away on your own, Honeycomb. While I secured our camp with several spells, they reach not very far. Beyond them are all kinds of creatures that could harm you."

Looking back over my shoulder I gave her a hint she should very well be able to get. "You have to look after Luna and trust me, you don't want to be anywhere near me when I do what I am about to do. Neither do you want me to do this in our camp. Don't worry, I will be fine. Can't be much worse than the Everfree Forest and I once had to trek through that by hoof. See you in a minute."

It seemed Princess Celestia had got my hint as she blinked at first and then grimaced; letting me go without another comment. A few minutes later I came back to the camp feeling quite relieved.

"I brought some firewood so you can keep yourself warm tonight." Having put down the wood in the middle of our improvised campsite something occured to me. "Where is Princess Luna?"

"I put here to bed in the tent. You should join her now. Have a good night, Honeycomb, and thank you for the firewood."

"Thank you, Princess. See you in the morning." I walked over to the tent and slipped through the entrance flap. Luna was sleeping to the right side of the entrance. Beside her lay a second set of bedding just waiting for me to lay down. Avoiding to make my ribs hurt again, I cautiously lowered myself down and tried to get some sleep.


--------------------


I was not very successful. After recapitulating all that had happened today my mind fixated back on Luna and my changed relationship with her. Me? Friends with a princess? However should this work? There were whole worlds separating us! I was a simple earth pony mare, she was the ruler of all of Equestria–and I worked for her. Was it recommendable to be friends with your boss? Then there was the age difference. Huh, what an euphemism! She was thousands of years old, I was just a newborn foal–if at all–compared to that. Sure, I liked her, but then again there were many ponies who liked the princesses. That was not enough to call us friends. 

Thinking some more, some of the more memorable situations between us came to my mind. Sending her to bed that one night had been the first time I did something that was not my duty, strictly speaking. I smiled at the memory. Yes, she might be this mighty alicorn, but still I had the power to send her to bed like I did with my own filly at home. Was this a normal or even an expected behavior for a personal assistant to the princess, or was it the first sign that our relationship went into a whole new direction?

The next thing that floated through my head was an evening some weeks ago. I had arrived a tad late for work, fuming over the reason. When Luna found me in my office were I was setting up the final schedule for the night while mauling several quills and berating the ink wells, she closed the door behind her and sat down in front of my desk, waiting silently. She told me later it took me several minutes before I finally became aware of her presence and turned beet-red immediately. By that time I had given her a most thorough summary of modern cusses and swearwords, or so she claimed. Granted, I got quite carried away that day. Then she simply asked calmly, "Do you want to talk about what is bothering you?"

At first I sat there dumbstruck, then I stuttered some unintelligible syllables. Before breaking into a rant again. Autumn Leaf had cancelled his promise to fetch our children from some friends after work because an old buddy of his had called for the first time in many months and they were heading off to some bar after quitting time. His message reached me just as I was heading out to work. The day hat been strenuous enough starting with my son getting home late from school. As he had to walk his little sister home that day, she had to wait for him and was quite grumpy when they got home. The lunch I had prepared had gotten cold by then and their bickering hadn't stopped the whole time I was heating it again. After setting them straight and getting them to eat in relative silence I had just enough time to prepare their bags for the visit they would make that afternoon. Consequently that was delayed, too, and the time I needed to get ready for work was cut short as well. When I was finally heading out for work I was barely on time. That meant, on a normal day, I would have left some time ago and thus have missed Autumn Leaf's message. 

After I had blown off my steam, Luna stood up, walked arround my desk, embraced me in one of her wings and asked if I was feeling better. When I nodded we had talked about it some more and then started our workday in earnest. She had never reprimanded me for being late or losing my temper the way I had. When I got home early the next morning and entered our bedroom, I just stood a few minutes beside our bed and watched Autumn Leaf without any expression on my face. He was snoring horribly, reeking of cider and he lay splayed out all over the bed so that I barely had room to squeeze myself in. Then I broke into a gentle smile, silently thanked Luna for her help and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Afterwards I cuddled myself into his outstretched wing and immediately drifted off to sleep.

A few other events played themselves before my inner eye as i remembered them. Yes, those had been acts of friendship not just a close working relationship. I liked that feeling but I still wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do.

For now I decided to go with the flow and see how it worked out. Maybe I would get a chance to talk some more with Princess Twilight about the matter. 

Finally my head was free and I could get some much needed sleep.


--------------------


Back in Canterlot, Nightstar was once again walking through the corridors of Skyfall Orphanage. As he passed Candytuft's room he stopped and pressed his ear to the door. Nothing. At least, she was not crying again. Cautiously he opened the door, trying to avoid any noise that could wake the filly that was hopefully sleeping peacefully. Poking his head inside, he took a look around. With a sigh Nightstar opened the door, stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. Candytuft was sitting on her bed, leaning on the windowsill with her forehooves crossed and staring at the night sky.

"Hey, little one, you should be sleeping," Nightstar said gently while walking up to the bed. "Are you still worrying about Princess Luna?"

A slow nod was the only answer.

"Headmaster Willow Wind told me what happened the other day and..."

"It's not her sky."

He blinked. "What? What do you mean?"

Candytuft turned around and gestured with an outstretched hoof at the sky. "The stars are not as sparkly anymore and the pictures are all wrong." Her lower lip started to tremble. "And it's all my fault. She is so angry that she doesn't even want to do any starpainting anymore." Crying, she sank down on her bed.

"Oh, sweetie..." Nightstar walked up to her and pulled her into a hug. She had rings under her bloodshot eyes. Clearly she had gotten much too little sleep. "Stop blaming yourself, it wasn't your fault. Princess Luna is a very busy pony. Probably she just didn't want to be late for dinner. Now get back under the covers, you really need to sleep."

"Are you sure?" Candytuft asked doubtfully, sniffling pitifully. Fiddling with her blanket, she tried to get comfortable. After a minute of getting tied up more and more in it, Nightstar finally sighed and tucked her in properly.

"Will you stay with me?"

Nightstar smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Candytuft, I can't. I have work to get back to."

"But I have nightmares and I don't want to be alone!" Her eyes started to water again.

"Alright, I will stay until you are asleep and I will come back later to make sure that you have no nightmares, but only if you will go to sleep now. Think you can handle that?"

"Uh-huh. Thank you, Mister Nightstar."

"You know me, always helping you squirts. And now – close your eyes."

It took some time, but finally Candytuft's breath started to calm down as she drifted off to sleep. Waiting five more minutes for good measure, Nightstar got up and prepared to leave. He turned around one last time to look out of the window at the sky. Nothing seemed wrong to him, just the normal night sky. Then something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. Turning his head to the disturbance he looked at Canterlot Castle. Through a big window of one of the large halls a purple light flashed every few seconds in an erratic manner. Huh, they must have some sort of party up there... I wonder what the occasion is... 

Shrugging, he silently made his way out of the room and returned to his office. Pulling out some paper and a quill, he wrote a report for Willow Wind as an official addition to bring it with him to his meeting with her in the morning. Candytuft needed help.


--------------------


The next morning I woke to a fimiliar scent. After my sleep addled mind was kind enough to remember where exactly I was, I shot up to a sitting position. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I stuck my head out of the tent in search for the source of that delicious smell. Finding Princess Celestia tending to a small cooking fire I stepped out of the tent completely and walked over to her. 

"You brought coffee? Oh sweet Celestia, thank you!" 

"It seems I can not remember you ever taking a taste of me, so how would you know that I taste sweet?"

I felt the heat rising in my face as I flushed deeply. "I... I didn't mean... it was just a spontaneous... oh, ponyfeathers..."

Snickering, the Princess rose to her hooves. "Stop apologizing, it was just a joke. Help yourself to some coffee, while I go and try to raise Luna."

Nodding meekly, I reached for one of the cups standing by the fire, ready to be filled. With a trembling hoof I poured myself some of the strong brew and cautiously took a small sip. Mmmh, just what I needed to calm down and get fully awake. Hearing some commotion from behind me, my ears swivelled to the source of the noise. It seemed I was not the only one who had to deal with cranky ponies in the morning.

"Just five more minutes, Tia..." I heard Luna mumbling.

"We should get going soon. I thought you wanted to get to the colony as soon as possible?"

"Yes, but not so early in the morning. Hey! Stop pulling at my blanket!"

As I turned around, Princess Celestia emerged from the tent with Luna's blanket in her mouth. Luna must have had some trouble standing up in the tent as it shook violently while she grumbled to herself. When she finally came out of the tent, I shoved the fresh cup of coffee into her hooves that I had poured for her while her sister had put away the blanket. Luna blinked, first at the cup, then at me. "Drink up, sleepyhead, we're burning daylight here!" Feeling quite chipper after a good cup of coffee and remembering the conclusion I came to last night, I tried a new approach to this unusual friendship.

"Did you notice our subjects are getting quite cocky lately?" Luna asked her sister before taking a sip from the cup. She closed her eyes as a visible shudder went through her body. 

Princess Celestia laughed. "That must be your leisure ruling. Personally, I prefer the iron hoof method, you know." Luna just shot her a death glare. 

We ate breakfast over some chit-chat before breaking camp and heading out once again. Like yesterday, Princess Celestia strapped me to Luna's back, but took extra care to make a more durable knot, not wanting to repeat yesterday's events. Soon we were up in the air again.


--------------------


Candytuft was sitting alone in a small wooden hut on the playground behind the orphanage. She had gotten some sleep last night but not as much as she would have needed. Consequently she was still tired and mopy. The main reason she had hunched up in there, though, was her still guilty conscience. She heard the clopping of hooves coming in her direction but paid no further attention to it as it were just two of their caretakers walking along.

"Have you read the newspapers this morning?"

"No, was there anything interesting to read?"

"It had an official note in it, stating that the princesses left Canterlot on some last-minute notice and that Princess Twilight would take over their duty for the time being. I don't know what to make of it, though."

"Princess Twilight? Isnt't she awfully new to this sort of thing? Besides she's quite young. In fact, she's younger than me. I don't know, if that was a..."

The two ponies had walked on and were now too far away for Candytuft to hear them anymore. Wide-eyed she stared after them. All her fears came crushing down again, tenfolded. She hadn't just scared Princess Luna that evening. She had scared her so much, that she fled from the city, Princess Celestia probably out to bring her back–or worse–to banish her again as punishment for her misbehaving!

She started to cry in despair. What had she done?


--------------------


"...and when Morning Hue rounded the corner of our house, she stumbled over the paint bucket. Her fur was completely drenched in that ugly green color Autumn was painting our garden shed in." Rolling my eyes I thought again of the clash that green had made with her orange-red fur. Luna and I had been talking about our families the last couple of hours. Well, it was mostly me talking as Luna had not that much of a family life. Though she had thrown in some tidbits about her sister and a few stories about the scholars she had taught over the years.

"Oh, my... wasn't your daughter a pegasus?"

"Indeed she is. It took quite some work to get that paint out of her feathers without totally ruining her wings. But as Autumn Leaf was the one who was responsible for putting the paint in the middle of the path, he readily volunteered to clean her. As a pegasus he was more proficient at it than me anyway. Besides, if he hadn't volunteered by himself, I would have made him 'volunteer'."

"That poor girl. She must have been quite upset... What are you laughing about?"

"You should really join us for dinner sometimes so you can get to know all of them. Morning Hue thought it was funny and pretended to be a living paintbrush. As soon as she got back on her hooves, she squeaked happily and threw herself at the wall of the shed. We decided to keep that imprint of a filly pegasus and just drew a yellow circle around it to include it into the painting."

Luna chuckled. "I would be very happy to get to know your family, Honeycomb." Then she turned serious again. "For now, though, we should find a place to land and set up camp."

"What? Isn't it far too early for that? It's just past noon."

"I know, but we actually reached our destination."

That got me wondering. Looking around I only saw what I had seen since we started flying yesterday–a seemingly endless forest with a small hill or rock sticking out of it here and there. "Are you sure? I don't see anything special."

"I am sure. The trails of magic lead to this point."

"What trails are you talking about? I can't see any magic around here."

"That is, becaue you are no alicorn. Here, let me show you..." Luna's horn started to glow as her eyes glowed white. A second later a dark blue... mist?... laid itself over my vision. I blinked a few times to get the strange feeling away that accompanied the effect. Reopening my eyes, I took a look around and gasped. All around us in the air were glowing lines, twisting and twirling their way through the sky. They merged somewhere on the ground in a big, glowing orb of arcane power. Before I could take in all of it, though, my vision turned normal again.

"Sorry, that spell is quite exhausting, but I think you get the idea of what led us here."

"That was amazing, Luna. Thank you for letting me experience this. Do you see the world always in this way?"

"Only if I consciously want to. It would be terribly distracting otherwise. Just think of all the magic in Canterlot for example."

"I see what you mean. So, when you flew off yesterday after teleporting us..."

"... I searched for traces of that magic to get a bearing of where to head, yes. I had to fly quite a distance before I found just the faintest glow in the air and I had to go further still to be sure that it was what I was looking for, but it ultimately led us to this place."

Luna angled herself to the front and slightly to the left, letting us descend in a wide swooping curve to the ground. We touched down not very far from one of the rocky outcrops I had seen from above. Princess Celestia had not been far away and landed right behind us.

After the ropes holding me were untangled, I jumped down from Luna's back and thoroughly stretched my legs. It was not the most comfortable way to travel and I was already looking forward to the end of our journey. It was honorable of Luna to let me ride her like that, but my whole body felt as stiff as if I had slept out in the cold the whole night without any protection.

"Ah, that's better. So, what are we going to do now?"

"As I was saying, we should set up camp for now."

"But you said we arrived where we wanted to! So, shouldn't we go on? Though, I can not see anything out of the ordinary here..."

"We have one last step to take to get to my colony, but for that we have to wait for the night to arrive. So I suggest we get as comfortable as possible and relax a bit before we have to head off."

Waiting for the night to arrive? It sounded sincere enough, but I was asking myself if Luna was just stalling, because she was afraid of what she would find. Her fear was not exaggerated. Even if she had a spell slowing down the time for the children, an eternity had passed since she had last visited them. Luna had walked over to her sister and was now whispering into her ear. Was everything alright? Why was she not telling me? Was she not trusting me after all? Nonsense! Yes, I was her friend, but that didn't mean she had to tell me every single thing. It was quite okay for her to have things she couldn't tell me. Even more so as she was the ruler of Equestria. There definitely were some things that only the princesses knew of. Still, there was some nagging doubt in the back of my mind that would not vanish.

After we set up camp we had a light meal of vegetable soup and some brilliantly sweet apples for dessert. On my request it turned out they were from Sweet Apple Acres of Ponyville, a treat that the princesses indulged themselves in quite regularly and I certainly understood why. Those apples were purely delicious! After the meal I decided to take a nap to be rested for tonights activities. Besides, I wanted to maintain my sleeping cycle as much as possible. It had been hard enough to convince my body to adapt to the daily routine that came with being the assistant of the Princess of the Night.


--------------------


A gentle nudge to the cheek woke me several hours later. As I opened my eyes, I saw Luna's face above my own.

"It's time to get up, it will not be long before we depart."

Yawning, I rose from the patch of grass I had been lying on and stretched once again. The sky was turning slightly red as the sun was nearing the horizon. While I was asleep a fire had been ignited in our makeshift campsite. Several corncobs on sticks resided around the fire slowly roasting away. The aroma wafted up to my nose, prompting my belly to rumble loudly. The left corner of Luna's mouth turned upwards and her eyes got a slight sparkle. Before bowing deeply before me.

"Dinner is served, Your Sleepiness, we await you at the table." I harrumphed at her.

"Sleepiness my flank. Stop working such ridiculous hours and I will stop being sleepy over the day," I retorted in mock anger.

While we ate, Princess Celestia let the sun sink below the horizon and Luna pushed the moon into its rightful place. Afterwards we gathered up our gear and headed off. Without speaking a word we trudged through the underbrush of the forest. It was pitch-black under the cover of the trees towering above us. Only the light that shone from the horns of the princesses cast some light on our way and kept me from stumbling over rocks and roots. The path we took was still not an easy one as these were lands uninhabited by any thinking being. Just some animals resided here but we followed not even one of their trails. We had to take turns in our path to circumvent obstacles too big to get through or over. After just a few minutes I was utterly lost, but Luna, who was walking in the front, seemed to know exactly where to go. Probably she followed one of that magic lines she had shown me earlier.

About an hour into our walk, the trees abruptly thinned out around us and a few steps later we stood in the open. Right before us towered an enormous rock formation. In fact, it was just a huge black blob, but in Luna's dim hornlight I could perceive some big boulders. That must have been the outcrop in whose neighborhood we had landed today. If so, we had been incredibly slow navigating that forest. We had not landed that far from it.

"This is not good. It is far too dark. We will need some moonlight to move on." If I understood Luna correctly, apparently the same thing that had kept me from seeing anything of the rock, was now going to forestall our progress. A thick layer of clouds obstructed my view of the night sky and kept the moon from shinings it's light down to us.

"This place may have uncontrolled weather, but our weathermagic still works. I will fly up and bring some of your light into this night, Luna, while you will try to find the entrance."

Luna looked sceptical. "You want to mess with the weather? Are you sure? The last time you did that was well before Discord ruled over Equestria. Do you think you still know what you are doing?"

"It is like eating cake, you don't unlearn it over the time."

"Especially if you are eating cake every day, sister."

Not that again. I rolled my eyes. "You two are at least as bad as my children, you know? Don't you think we should move on?"

The Princess flexed her neck. "You are quite right, Honeycomb." And just like that she took off in a flash. I followed her white form with my eyes as long as I could but just after a few seconds I lost sight of her. Moments later a hole was punched into the clouds and I could see some stars sparkling in the sky above them. Faster than I had ever seen before, the clouds vanished clockwise in a circular motion. Princess Celestia was spiraling outwards farther and farther until ther were no more clouds obstructing my sight. I never before saw the sky be cleared anywhere that fast. Had it been her who had invented weather magic? With a thud she landed beside us again; shaking me from my awe-induced stupor. I closed my mouth and shook my head to gather myself.

"That felt good. I should do that more often in the future." She didn't even sweat.

"We certainly have more light now, but I still don't see anything that would point us to our next destination."

"Then look closely now, Honeycomb." Luna pointed her horn at the moon and concentrated. A single beam of moonlight broke free of the celestial body and made its way to one of the larger boulders before us. Something sparkled inside the beam but I couldn't place it. Everytime I concentrated on one of the sparks it vanished. Then my attention was pulled to the boulder. In astonishment I realized it slowly got more and more translucent. After a minute it was gone completely to reveal a dark passageway that led deeper into the rocks. Only a few steps into the passage were visible before the darkness swallowed everything.

"The colony is beneath the surface?"

"I told you I found a safe place for them. There is a cavern down there that serves as their home."

She couldn't be serious, could she? I was unable to wrap my mind around this and suddenly I felt my anger rising. All the time these last few days I had felt so close to her. We laughed together, we chatted about family and we even survived a plunge to our death together. What she had just told me, though, lit a fire inside me; a fire that had the potential to burn me and the one who caused it to ashes. How could she have done something like this, it was so unlikely of her but... I couldn't contain it any longer.

"You burried those children in some sort of cave? I thought you had their best interest in mind but this is just torture!" I think Luna wanted to say something, but I was not quite finished yet and cut her short; pacing back and forth while giving her a piece of my mind, my tail swishing furiously through the air behind me. "You left them down there on their own. Even if you slowed the time they were alone for several days in some dark hole in the ground without being able to light a fire, that would have burned their oxygen. Just sitting around in the dark. Was that your plan of a grand new colony? I can't believe you were able to do something like that. It sounds like something Nightmare Moon would have done, but I really did expect better of you! I-"

"Honeycomb!"

I stopped in my tracks. It was no shout, but almost a whisper. It hadn't come from Luna either. It was Princess Celestia who had stopped my rant. My head spun around to her. She stood at the same place she had landed a few minutes ago. She stared at me intently but not angry, as it seemed. Her head lifted a bit and her eyes wandered from me to Luna. I followed her gaze. Luna stood there, unmoving, expressionless, only a single tear rolling down her cheek. It hit me. Deeply. I took a step back, but retained my angry stare, still furious. The emotions were fighting inside me. Then Luna began to speak. Her voice as steady as ever despite the tears that were now rolling down on both sides of her face in streams.

"As I said before, I know I did something terribly wrong and I will do everything to make up for it. I don't even blame you for shouting at me as you don't know what really awaits us and thus came to the wrong conclusions. You will understand soon enough, though. But one thing I have to say and I will tell you this just one time, Honeycomb. Never compare me with that monster ever again."

Without waiting for an answer she turned around and vanished into the passage. No threat, no shouting. Just that piercingly calm statement. Trembling, I looked at Princess Celestia who just motioned for me to follow Luna as she would bring up the rear again. Trembling and gulping down a thick glob of something very unpleasant in my throat I followed Luna into the black hole that seemed to be swallowing me to never let me out again. It would have been something I deserved for my actions. I'd like to blame it on my motherly instincts to protect children, but that would have been too easy. I meant what I said, but I realized that I had gone too far. In my blind rage I had said things I would never have imagined I could. This had been probably one of the shortest friendships in the history of friendships.


--------------------


After stumbling through the darkness for half an hour in complete silence we finally stopped. The tunnel had been quite narrow. I would have had a hard time squeezing around either of the princesses at some points and I feared to imagine what would have happened if we needed to turn back for some reason. Before us in the passage was a black wall. Ripples moved over it, as if someone had thrown a rock into a pond.

"This is the last barrier we have to pass. Behind it lies a small cave with another tunnel that leads to the main cavern. Follow as soon as I step through the wall and don't linger too long."

But instead of stepping through the wall, Luna just stood there with her eyes closed. A moment later I heard a soft humming that soon turned into a melody. What was all this about? After humming some more, she lifted her head, eyes still closed, and–to my astonishment–started to sing.

"Come little children, I'll take thee away, 
into a land of enchantment..."

As she continued singing, some sort of mist rose all around us. It slowly encompassed our bodies and emanated a pale glow. The song was beautiful, but terribly sad. I felt my eyes starting to water. At the same time her voice calmed me down so much that I thought I would fall asleep at any moment. Somewhere down the third verse, Luna slowly started to walk forward. Mesmerized, I followed her.

Stepping through the black wall was almost indescribable. There was no resistance and I felt only a numb tingle all over my body, just like a leg gone dead.

When we emerged on the other side, I was brought back to reality in an instant.

"Halt thy movements if thou wish to live!"