> The Lunar Conundrum > by CPA870 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canterlot: A Day After The Summer Sun Celebration. Twilight Sparkle watched in awe, as seemingly all of Canterlot was in a joyous Uproar. As the Chariot, containing their long lost Princess rounded the final corner of it's city-wide route. The Dark Blue Vessel slowly but surely cut through the very thick crowd, in an attempt to turn around back to the Royal Castle. It was truly amazing how many ponies had gathered to just catch a glimpse the newly Free'd Princess Luna. Even if it was only for a moment. Just by the sheer size of the crowd Twilight had estimated that at the least everypony in Canterlot had gathered in the town square. Heck, she wouldn't doubt it if some of the ponies had come all the way from Stalliongrad to see the parade. It truly was a grand occasion. "Amazing, isn't it?" Princess Celestia called out, startling the already unfocused Mare. "Princess?" She inquired a little bit winded. Truthfully she hadn't had a scare like that since she was late returning a particularly interesting Library book. Twilight shivered, that day still gave her Nightmares... "Sorry, did I startle you?" Celestia asked, a little bemused. Sometimes her protégé could be so coherent, and the other times she could be the single most distracted Mare on the planet. Though that seems to be a common symptom of "OCD." "Oh, No! Not at all!" Twilight rubbed the back of her head, "I was just expecting you to be down there, With Princess Luna." Twilight replied while motioning towards the dark blue vessel. Which was about halfway to the Gardens by then. "Hm, well, yes, that is what SHE expected as well," Celestia chuckled a little bit. "Princess?" Twilight was very confused. After all, her sister was just free'd from her curse, AND her 1000 year banishment. Shouldn't she be alongside her sister in the Parade? Celestia turned to meet her students gaze. "Twilight," Celestia said, her voice as sweet as honey. "Yes?" Twilight asked. "Why is it that you and your friends declined to be included in the parade?" The Sun princess inquired, turning to watch as the chariot containing her younger sister finally broke free of the crowd's grasp. "Well," Twilight nervously responded. "Hmph?" The sun princess turned, and once again her almighty gaze fell upon her student. "We felt, that the parade wasn't for us. Today was orchestrated to celebrate Princess Luna's return, so for us to be included…. We felt as though it wouldn't be right," the element of magic replied truthfully. "I see," Celestia commented,"A very wise decision. And precisouly the reason I decided not to take part in the parade." Now this truly confused Twilight, it made sense for the Elements of harmony to be excluded. But Princess Celestia was Princess Luna's Older sister, shouldn't she be celebrating with her? Celestia, very aware of Twlight's apparent confusion, sighed. "My dear Twilight, sometimes you are so foolish..." "What?!?!?!" Twilight Sparkle frantically raved. Did she do something wrong? Was it something she said? Was it something she thought? Should she not have thought that! Should she stop thinking? Despite her resolve to stop thinking, tons of thoughts raced through her head. The Sun Princess chuckled at the little display of her protégé's "OCD" at work. "Time for a history lesson!" Celestia announced while clapping her Hooves together. Twilight instantly snapped out of her stupor. 'History?' Why would I need a history lesson? I had straight A's in Hisyory throughout the Acedmy. Oh no I'm thinkin again!' While making a mental note to stop thinking, she prepared for her mentor's sudden pop quiz. "First, and only question, what originally turned Priness Luna into nightmare moon?" Twilight responded almaot instantaneously, only hesitating a second to scold herself for thinking again. "Princess Luna transformed into Nightmare Moln due to her jealously. She envied how ponies praised the day, yet shuned her night. Though the exact date of her transformation is unknown it's speculated it happened ov-" "That is quite enough my dear pupil." Celestia looked over at the crowd once more. Twilight's cheeks emanated a red glow as she realized her mistake. 'Of course I don't need to explain the date, She lived it!' Twilight smacked her hoof against her forehead, in a matter that usually shouted "IDIOT!" "My sister, was transformed into… her… because of me," Her facial expression seemed, melancholy. Twilight had wanted to speak up, to day something reassuring to her mentor. But alas, she was at a loss for words "She was also banished to the moon. By me." One again Twilight found it hard to listen to the princess speaking so poorly of herself. Sure, all of those things happened, but they were necessary, and it's not like the Princess meant for any of that to happen. "Today is about HER," the princess gestured towards the now parked Chariot. Princess Luna stood outside it waving at all who had come to see her. "I haven't seen her smile that big in many a millinia ago..." Celestia's voice trailed off as she watched her sister relish in her newfound admiration, a joyful smirk plastered across her face. Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. "Princess?" "Hmm?" She replied. "Princess Luna was on the moon for a thousand years, correct?" Twilight already knew the answer to that question, she just felt as though asking it was more polite. "Yes, what is your point my little student?" Celestia asked, a little baffled by Twilight's sudden Dialouge change. "Well, don't you think something could have happened to her?" Now this, caught the Solar Princess's attention. "What do you mean?" "Well, for the longest time she was Nightmare Moon, and even before then she still had that mindset." "Yes?" Celestia still had no idea where Twilight was going with this. "So now that she is free from those thought's, wouldn't that mean that she might suffer a "Loss of connection" from the moon. Or perhaps she might develop a fear of it, or, or..." "Twilight,"Celestia interrupted Twilight's OCD inspired rambilings. The element of magic lifted her head back up to make eye contact. "Believe me when I say there is absolutely nothing to worry about. My sister is strong, resilient. After all, it did take years for her to finally change, didn't it?" "Yes but-" "My dear Twilight, there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING you need to worry about, understand." "Yes princess." _______________ Canterlot: Present 'No, No, NO! It can't be that time yet!' Princess Luna paced back and forth in her royal bed chambers. An almost cartoon like, two-foot deep groove was worn into floor. (Figure out the metric system yourselves! I'm above such a thing! Wow, I think I just channeled rarity...) 'What do I do, WHAT DO I DO!?!?!' She thought frantically. 'No, no, no, no-' "Princess Luna?" A voice rang out from behind the door. "Yes?" "It's time." 'NOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Lunar Princess's horn gave off a slight bluish glow, starkly contrasting with the near pitch black atmosphere of her royal bed chambers. A bead of sweat fell from her brow as she maintained her intense focus, nothing, and absolutely nothing at that moment could disturb her, lesst the consequences could be quite se- "Um, Excuse me, Princess?" Princess Luna jumped foward slightly at the guards pony sudden proclamation. "Yes?" She answered with just the slightest bit of venom dripping from her words. "What is it that your doing exactly?" Really? "If it is not obvious, I am raising the moon," she replied sternly. "No your not," the guard casually rested his head upon his hooves, meeting her glare with an unamused face. "And just why is that? Hmm?" She had always hated when ponies critized her night, yet she also hated it when they ignored it's natural majesty. Quite a quizzical partial paradox, no? "Because if you look into the sky," he guestered to the empty sky,"It has a DISTINCT lack of moon's. It took less time for Celestia to raise/lower it, and she was terrible at it! Half the Time she nearly thew it out of orbit!" The bat-winged lunar guard exclaimed. "It's almost as if, your stalling for time...." No, I can't be that easy to read, can I? Though she was currently experiencing tidal waves of panic, Luna still managed to hold her permanent scowl. "I am simply holding it back for the little one's sake, to ease their fears, and f--" "I'm fairly certain their more scared of the fact that moon is missing!" The lunarsmen dead panned. "And," she continued rolling her eyes," because of daylight savings," she replied in a victorious manner. "...you know where in fall back right?" Luna's smirk dropped instantly. Ponyfeather's! "Fine!" She huffed. "If you really want to rush perfection..." Her voice trailed off as she tried to compse herself. She gingerly turned her head ever so slightly to catch a glimpse of her so called guards expression. He simply sat resting his head on his hooves, expressionless. So her unfinished statement had satisfied him? As she examined her guard's compsure, their eyes met. Instantaneously she jerked her head away, getting the bat-pony to raise one of his eyebrows. "What were you doing?" "We simply making sure thou' hadn't departed before thine job is finished," she retorted. "Old dialect." "Oh, right, sorry sometimes w-I forget to switch," Luna apologized quickly. "Moon," he replied very exhausted. Why did he have to get the personal guarding mission? If he could, he would take any other one, ANY other job. But no, Princess Celestia saw it fit that HE be her guard. Despite the fact that he's a good decade older than the norm for most soldiers, meaning when it came to actual guarding, he'd be at a sore loss. He'd never forget Celestia's response to his concerns, "She's nearly as powerful as me! Truthfully she doesn't even need a guard!" And then she threw a dog treet at him- wait wrong story. "Hmph!" She exclaimed before facing front once again. Here I go, nothing to worry about. It's just a rock, just a rock, just a rock.... She thought hesitantly before summoning forth her magic. She gulped as her magic made contact the massive chunk of formerly planet earth that floated freely in Earth's gravitational pull. With a steady pull, she slowly but surely forced the massive boulder over the waning horizon. Justarockjustarockkjustarockjustarockjustarockjustarockjustarock.... The Night Princess reapeated her mantra an inumerable amount of times while guiding the moon to it's designated location. JUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKIFYOUACTUALLREADTHISYOUGETFIVEDOLLARSJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCKJUSTAROCK!!! She thought so fast that if se were to have spoken it, Even Pinkie Pie would have been at a loss for words. Finally, the behemoth space pebble found it's way to its designated time slot, and the lunar princess was able to let it go. As soon as the glow left her horn she collapsed, Emotionaly over exhausted. "Are you okay?" The Lunar Guardsmen asked, not moving an inch. "Yes, I'm fine th-" "Then I'm gone," he replied sternly while pushing in his chair and leaving. However, he paused at the door, "If you need anything, and for Celesta's sake don't... You know where to find me." He concluded. "Right, thank you," with a simple nod the guards pony then left the premises, took a left turn, and proceeded to head straight for the Bar. Luna cradled her head in her arms/hooves. She had-she had tried to deny it before. Which completely justifiable, after all, it made absolutely no sense! But with every passing day, no, every waking night, it became more and more irrefutable. No matter how much she hated it, she had to admit it... Princess Luna, was afraid of the Moon.