Celestia sat atop of her tower, watching the sky happily as the first month of her reign ended and the second began. Her mother had passed the powers to her and her sister as it had always been done before and now the old mare and her sister, Celestia’s aunt, were enjoying the benefits of such a long and fruitful time of peace. Many ponies preferred to think that their ‘gods’, their princesses or princes as they were called, lived forever, but Celestia had to be thankful that it was not true.

You see, anypony can live from fifty to two hundred years more or less, as far as the story book told of course, but most ponies didn’t live much more than one hundred. Everypony could live two hundred years thanks to the magic, and old age didn’t ever show until the last five years of their lives. Every creature in the world had this kind of power thanks to the good magic that enveloped it, but to live forever? That hadn’t happened and Celestia knew that it would turn people mad, if nothing else. That every goddess or god of the sun or the moon looked the same was simply thanks to the powers that were shared down from generation to generation. It had been strange that her father hadn’t inherited the power of the moon from Celestia’s grandfather and instead it had been her mother’s sister, but it worked out in any case and nopony had minded it.

Still it had a bleak side for her; this meant that Celestia could only enjoy one more year with her mother and aunt. Yet fate thought it was funny if she was not going to have such luck thanks to the illness that had taken them to be confined in bed, not only that but that the problems that had arose all over their domain and the nearby countries made sure to keep her away from her family in her last days. It was not so bad if you thought that it was tradition to let the last days of the ‘Elder Gods’ as they were called, to be left in quietude and to relax as they saw their eternity go away to, in the near future, see themselves vanish from thin air into their rightful rest.

That part didn’t bother Celestia, what bothered her was that many magical creatures were angry that others were trying, again, to expand borders or business where they were not welcome. For example: The Diamond Dogs were unhappy about dragons digging for gems in their territory, and while the gems regenerated quite fast the dogs were way too possessive. The humans were displeased that orks, trolls and other pseudo humans were pressing against the unified borders to break free while others were violent against their brethren instead of asking for a kingdom for themselves. Magic critters like Parasprites were multiplying in the north and some of the cities of fellow ponies, and even their cousins, the horses and donkeys, were suffering from the ravenous creatures.

It was true that not all problems would bother Celestia and her little sister anytime soon, but a lot of diplomats did come to ask her for help, or ‘better’ yet, ask her mother and aunt as only the other ponies or equines wanted to think of their goddesses as such mythical creatures with such fervor. It was getting on her nerves.

“I have to ask yet again, noble Princess Celestia, that you lend us your aid”

She sighed and turned, Celestia was friends, and very fond, of the human that had came to visit her. It was Sebastian: A blonde young man with grey eyes, strong constitution and always behind his sinning golden colored armor or regal blue clothes. He was the first son of the king of the humans, Yomeron, a man that tried to rule every nation of his kingdom as gently as possible, not caring for species and not minding any differences, he, as his son, only tried to do the best for everypony else. She was grateful that Sebastian was such a nice friend, but lately he had become way too worried, much like his father.

“And what I am supposed to do? Should I send my knights forth to force your people to stand down? Would you think it fair for my ponies to be hated? If I had another kind of aid to offer I would, my friend, but I don’t know what to say” She looked down quite sad “I am sorry Sebastian but with the realm of the Diamond Dogs getting aggressive against the Dragons my ponies are already trying their best, that is if we don’t even count the hordes of Parasprites eating our food, forcing us to import things that sometimes don’t even MAKE it here before they are eaten by those little critters” Celestia sighed, those things were giving her such a headache that she was going to make sure that, once they were gone, a spell was on her head to forget those things once and for a ll.

“But… but…” Sebastian whined as he sat in a nearby chair “I don’t know what to do, and father is getting sick from all this stress. What should I do, Celestia? I don’t know what the best course of actions is and your kingdom is the only one that doesn’t try to roast or fight us if they see us looking at them the ‘wrong way’”

“Which mean ANY way, right?” Celestia chuckled gently “It is what happens when you let an adventurer from your kingdom to travel to the Dragon cities and boast in the bars how he could slay a feral dragon with his battleaxe” Sebastian could only cover his blushing “It is not so bad, your cousin came back only with his rearguard charred and the dragons do know your kind is nice, they just hold grudges a long time. Just relax; it will be alright if you try to talk to them and make them see that having different kingdoms would only create more problems”

“Thank you, Tia” He smiled, nodding a bit. Tia was an abbreviation of her name that only friends very close to her could use without her frowning “But it is true. In one or another way I will help my father with this problem. I thank you for your patience, Tia, no matter how busy you are, you always have time for me” He smiled, offering a hand to the goddess.

Hand that the goddess was happy to ‘take’ with her hoof in a kind of handshake “Always a pleasure, my dear friend. Take care and see if you can bring that stubborn brother of yours next time too, ok? Luna is really bored and with her antics to such a level I can’t nearly control her”

“That is another problem altogether” Sebastian groaned “He is again hunting in the wilds, I doubt when he is going to come. Figures the only time my father is willing to hear my little brother he goes missing”

“Oh well, had to happen I suppose” Celestia gave a little chuckle “Always wanting to be daddy’s right eye and when he can he is not present. He is going to rant for days when he comes back then”

“Be sure of it” With a smile Sebastian finally bid his farewell and walked out of the room.

*Sigh*

Celestia simply let herself fall to the ground. He was now alone and so she could relax and drop the façade. It all was getting to her nerves in such a way she could not express in front of anyone. She had to show herself as powerful, commanding and sure of herself, in other words: A goddess. Her mother had asked her to do that and it was going to happen no matter what, however it was tiring and taxing.

Day by day she saw how the sun went down and how it rose every morning, she did this work together with her sister, half the day for one and half for the other, but even so the little ritual that got it working was done by each of them separately. At first Luna had hated it, saying that nopony loved her night as they loved Celestia’s sun. It worried Celestia at a time as it had been only half a month and the already reclusive girl that was her sister now was to look powerful and imposing, she had to be loved by everyone and she had to at least try to make some friends, but seeing the reaction of the young filly made it obvious that Luna would do no such thing.

So a sister did what a sister should: Show her sister where she was right or wrong. One night, half a month ago, Celestia took Luna to the nearby village where ponies of all ages had parties at night, explored the beautiful sky or simply enjoyed the creatures that were out under the bright gaze of the stars. They all were more than happy to see the goddess that granted them such marvelous things and mad their life all the better. Still, while Luna was flattered she only said thanks to everypony and flew back towards the castle.

It worried her, Celestia didn’t know what to do to get her sister to go out and get any friends. The only one she had was the younger son of Yomeron, Caustros, but after she became a goddess the young human had not visited even once. It was not weird for him to stay away in the forests testing his power to impress his father for months at a time; normally Celestia was more than happy as she could spend more time with her sister that way, but now? Now it had been half a month with her sister utterly alone with not even the staff of the castle willing to put with her magical pranks and little antics all over the place. She didn’t know what she was going to do, if she had messed the dungeon again someone was going to complain and Celestia knew she would explode if that happened.

Thinking about it… why did they have a dungeon? It had been never used for anything more than storage. Oh well, it simply meant extra work, she was simply grateful it was not hers to do, she was already stressed enough.

“Princess, are you there?” The voice of her counselor, Yohoofrich, called from outside the room “I have the papers that need filling so we dispatch help to fight the Parasprite infestation and to calm down the Dragons and Diamon Dogs”

“God!” Celestia took the closest cushion with her magic, brought it close and began to scream and bite at it in frustration for a few seconds “Ok, ok, I am ok” She told herself before opening the door of her room with her magic “Let’s see what you have for me, Yohoofrich”

“I didn’t mean to get the place like it is, I promise!”

In the first floor of the castle it was a mess beyond words. Blue sparkly water very similar on its colors to the sky at night was dripping from every wall, drenching the once white walls and halls with water that left parchments of blue, watered down paint or irregularities in the few sections of the castle made with wood. Where the paint hadn’t been removed, exchanged with the colored water or watered down to an ugly grey, the rocks had moved out of place or water bugs had raided the place quite fast creating quite a little plague, scampering only after the servants came to clean it all.

“I am sure you didn’t” A young brown mare with a servant’s tiara told her “But… we would like if you asked us before you try to give out decorations in the castle, if that is ok with you Princess Luna”

“Ok…” Luna sighed, looking down in defeat “But… I am sure I can help!” She smiled, wanting to at least help cleaning up her own mess.

“No!” The mare almost yelled, which attracted the attention off the other near twenty servants “I mean, dear Princess Luna, we have our cutie marks that mean we are here to SERVE you” The Mare showed her cutie mark that basically was a maid’s dress “You don’t have to waste your godly powers helping us, in fact you already used a lot taking so much water from the nearby river to do this” The mare tried to smile “And we need you to bring the night, so rest for now”

With another sigh Luna nodded “Ok…”

Luna simply turned tail and went away at a slow sad trot ‘I messed up, again, and sis is going to get angry, again’ She thought, a small tear running down her cheek as she walked outside towards the garden where a few ponies were hanging ‘Each time I try something it is the same ‘Luna you are our goddess of the moon, you have to relax to bring us the night’ or ‘Luna don’t do this, there are specialized ponies for it’ and such things’.

She sighed again, and for the looks of it, the day was going to be like that for a very, very long time. It didn’t help that most the ponies scattered as she approached, it probably was nothing but Luna was quite the paranoid right now. ‘I am sure they don’t like me, even the ponies that like my night don’t like me. My only friend is my sister now. Where is Caustros? Where is…?’

‘I am here, Luna’

The sweet voice of an older mare came to her as she took a place under a nearby tree with a little pool of water right under its base. There, the face of the mare one day would be known as Nightmare Moon was present, yet this time it had a gentle crown made out to resemble a star and her expression and eyes were normal and gentle, not the almost crazed one that she would exhibit one thousand years later.

‘Oh Nightmare Moon’ Luna was already halfway crying ‘What should I do? I don’t get to befriend anyone, I DON’T want to. But my sister says I should and even if I could I would need to go alone at night’ She said within her mind ‘What should I do? I am afraid, alone and… and I think I am losing it’

‘Dear, dear, relax’ Nightmare Moon said with a gentle smile ‘I am what you hope to be one day, remember? You can’t be all scared of your own night can you? You can enter the dreams and minds of others to defend yourself if needed be, my sweetie, and there I can help you. I am sure you won’t need any help, you need to believe in yourself and make new friends” The older mare said with a bright smile.

‘I know, I know” Luna looked down, defeated ‘But I don’t want to…’

Luna couldn’t help but blush as she heard Nightmare Moon laughing ‘Look at you dear, afraid of making new friends that love your nights. It was harder to get your human friend that it would have to make fellow pony friends, but you were always so reclusive’ Nightmare Moon gave her a sincere smile ‘Don’t you think it is time to stop talking with imaginary friends and going out there to get real ones at last? I know it would make your sister very happy’

‘But I don’t want to have more friends’ Luna said finally ‘I am happy with Tia with me only, I don’t want anyone else’ She shook her head ‘Caustros… wasn’t planned. He came to our kingdom once when he was little the first time he ran away from home and he enjoyed the night my aunt made so much that he didn’t notice when he walked over me’ She didn’t want to but she chuckled wholeheartedly ‘We fought the whole night calling each other so many things. I thought we were going to hate each other, I did hate his guts at least…’

‘And look at it now’ Nightmare Moon giggled ‘He is your best friend besides Celestia, and it won’t change if you make more friends my dear. If you fear to change for good then what would happen if things change and you don’t want them to? You have to look at the future with a big smile and hope. Come on, go ahead’

Finally Luna smiled, nodding as she got up with a plan already. The festival in honor of the moon was going to be tomorrow, but she had an idea that, hopefully, would sit well with her sister and she would enjoy a day off thanks to that.

For once the usually gloomy princess Luna was bright and happy, running inside the castle yet again only to trip and dance all over the place in a comical way as she tried to dodge everypony that was cleaning her previous mess, yelping “Sorry!” after “Sorry!” until she finally connected personally with the wall near the stairs. Dizzy, but still happy, she ran upstairs to meet her sister.

She discovered that the water, when she had failed to concentrate, hadn’t only splashed all over the first floor and the bashement where the dungeon/storage had been half flooded, but the second level too as well as the base of the stairs towards her sister’s tower.

Speaking of which, down the stairs was coming a bright yellow pony with brown mane, moustache and tail that had a monocle as his cutie mark. It was Yohoofrich, her sister’s advisor and someone that had worked with not only Luna and Celestia’s mother, but also knew from his father about their grandfather and so on as his family had always served the gods and goddess of sun and moon. It was his job to be rude and demanding until the new goddesses knew how to do their job to ensure the safety of their kingdom, but to Luna he was the worst flank she had ever seen.

“Hello Yohoofrich” She said coldly, not caring to hide her disdain.

“Good day, ‘Princess’ Luna” He returned the stare to his supposed superior “I gather that this colorful water is thanks to you, as I have told to your sister” This made Luna shiver and lose her previous confidence “I hope you understand I am doing this for your own good, your own father gave me this task” He said quite bluntly as he walked past her “It is very bad, and I know, that the powers of the gods force the pairs to be sterile until they have only twenty years left my dear Luna, and even worse than they had you late instead of twins as it usually is, but understand that we need a MATURE goddess of the moon” He turned to give her a gentle and pleading look “Please understand that if I am severe it is only because it is my job, I, as you, have to think of everypony else. I don’t want to force your childhood away, but unlike your sister you have to mature fast now. Excuse me…”

Luna’s world sunk. Now she had to speak with her sister, but not about what she had wanted to. In fact now she would have to talk to her and say how sorry she was, not that it was a lie, but she knew that Tia had been in the verge of a breakdown with so much to do and being unable to see their parents and aunt. Customs could get bent for all she and Tia cared, but even so Celestia was the one with the heavy duty and only Luna could visit the family now.

‘This is going to suck so much flank’ She thought, looking up the stairs to a glaring Celestia whom was looking at her with disapproval.

With a very shy smile Luna climbed the stairs, not even daring to look at her sister until she was one single stair away, moment which she used to sit and look up, gulping down as she drew her breath “Sis I…”

“Luna, I am very disappointed” Celestia cut in quite brusquely “Not only had I hoped that you would behave after all this time, but I know that you are bored and want someone to talk now that I horn deep in work. Yet instead of doing as I advised you and finding some friends you play childish pranks that make our fellow ponies as work taxed as I am, something that I am NOT happy about” Luna could see that for some reason her sister had now small bags under her eyes, maybe the work was taking the best of her? “I know you miss me but doing these things only help to give me MORE work and MORE frustration, frustration that I DON’T NEED”

“I… I am sorry sis… I only wanted to help, to give the castle a nice look as I was not sure going out at night out of the castle to find anypony new” She said, looking down in embarrassment “I thought if I gave the castle the look of the night some of the ponies that enjoyed it could come here where I am more comfortable”

“I appreciate that you are trying at least something, Luna” Celestia said warmly “But you should try to be a normal sociable girl my dear sister, not trying to do the things the other way around. People won’t come to you here dear, you have to go to them, you have to go out and experience it”

“Thanks sis, I came to that realization earlier already, which is why I thought” Luna scrapped at the stairs before looking up “If the Moon festival could be a whole night? I mean, the whole day turned to night so everyone can appreciate my night in all its glory? Maybe then I will be able to…”

“Absolutely not!”

Luna backed away, almost falling down the stairs as she heard her sister yell at her. Once she looked up she saw the enraged face of her sister once again looking tired and disappointed like if she saw her like little more than an annoyance.

“Do you know what you are proposing? The extra problems you would cause? The harm it would do!?”

Backing down as Celestia clopped forward, Luna simply tried to talk to her sister as her eyes went full of tears “B-but Tia! I didn’t mean anything bad with it! I only wanted to…”

“If this was like the other planets I would let you do whatever you want Luna, but our world’s magic forces us to make it turn! What you said was beyond stupid if we don’t follow the natural order” Celestia spat “I have heard you say a lot of silly things, all of them funny and even cute or lovely when you played, but this is selfish and would hurt a LOT of people and ponies. I will NOT let you do such a thing EVER, so if you want to meet friends you can go at night wherever you want, but do NOT mess with the order of things” With a tired sigh of disdain Celestia turned “When you begin to think about what you say then we will talk again. I have work to do sister, so go play along and behave this time”

Crying now, Luna turned and ran down the stairs, sobbing after her sister had said such things to her. If she had looked back she would’ve seen her sister crying too, but one of the things that Luna hadn’t know back then, and one she would never know, was that one of the things that Yohoofrich had to talk about with her sister was that both her mother and aunt had gone to their rightful rest just minutes before their father, who had passed away by the sadness of the loss and his age.

Celestia hadn’t mean to yell at her sister, nor to call her names of any kind, but she was stressed, she was sad and she wanted nothing more than to feel the embrace of her mother again, something that she would never ever enjoy until her time to rest came. With all of this she did hope to make her sister angry though, angry enough to hate her for a few days if needed be, it would all be little to pay so when she told her sister the news she would be angry with her, and only with her, for holding the truth away from her as well as for slashing at her to release her anger.

For the eldest sister it was better this way; she would probably have to suffer the rage of her sister, but after she had calmed down it would be ok… right? She was sure that after his sister took all her anger at her she would only be a little filly that wanted to cry and embrace her big sister once again, she hoped so at least.

In truth Celestia would never know if this would’ve played out as she hoped. At the time she was hardly thinking clearly with the work pressing everywhere and forcing her to suck her own tears. She hadn’t even noticed that, even crying and moping under the same tree from earlier, Luna had brought the night in time after many, many hours of lament and anger.

‘Luna, I am so, so sorry’ Nightmare Moon told her, the pool from before was now bigger thanks to the tears shed by the young filly ‘I had really hoped for the best. If I had known that your sister would be like that…’

‘You are me! You should’ve known!’ She cried silently, the poor Luna broken now ‘I had to know! Why did I try to talk sis into that? It was stupid and it still is! I would harm people simply because I am a reclusive coward! No one is going to ever like me’ The young filly mopped, crying louder now ‘I am a waste of a goddess of the moon!’

‘Please Luna, don’t say that’ Nightmare begged ‘You will be a great goddess of the moon some day! You just need to give yourself time and be strong. This night is young, go out and play with someone! I am sure there are hundreds of ponies out there that would give anything to be with their goddess of the moon’

“Stop!” Luna finally screamed, stomping on the pool “I am not what I should be! I am not Moon Goddess and I am not a princess” She cried, running without a course “I am just a young pony that is good for nothing! I want my mom!”

Luna strode away, not intending to go so far as to get to the linden of the forest that surrounded the castle and the village, however right now she was not afraid and not in the mood for caring. Right now all Luna wanted was to find a big and dark enough hole to rest in until all had passed or until she was no more, she practically didn’t care for which.

In the future this well maintained forest would turn to be the Everfree Forest, a natural area where monsters dwell. However on these days it was simply a forest where animals lived in peace near the village that surrounded the sisters’ castle. Right now Luna wished it was otherwise, she wished for a monster to come out and get her, to harm her or do at her whatever it wished. She simply didn’t care anymore.

In hopes for finding either a suitable end or simply to find a place to cry herself to sleep Luna walked deep into the forest, not minding brushes or branches that scratched her or made it harder for her to move. Right now her young mind was full of guilt, betrayal and anger. Guilt at trying to be what she wasn’t and either harming or bothering those around her somehow, betrayal at her sister for tossing her asides in favor for her work and anger at everypony for looking down at her like simply the object that brought them their night.

Finally Luna, not looking where she was going, stumbled on a big fallen branch.

“WOAH!”

Falling down a slope, luckily not harming herself as she bounced on the grass, Luna found herself looking at her beautiful star filled nightly sky.

‘Sigh’ “I don’t know what I am doing. I should go back and tell sis I am sorry instead of doing this” Luna was full of regret as the last tears in her left her eyes “I am a stupid little foal”

A chuckle came from somewhere nearby, taking Luna’s interest and making her get up with a quick jump. She knew hat voice, or she thought she knew, she hadn’t hurt herself but maybe she had gotten a bump in the head, speaking of which… Yea, she still had her little crown. Celestia would’ve chewed her flank if she had broken it.

“Well, you always were quite headstrong and you couldn’t control your own emotions. At least you could pay attention to an old friend instead of that old thing, no?”

Paying attention again to the voice that was now in front of her she saw a lone group of rocks and a human figure lying against them. Covered in a black cape and clothes as well as boots, the figure was practically invisible under the shadows if it wasn’t for the rocks and the grass giving it away under the moonlight. Luna was used to this form though, she had seen the young man with those clothes sneaking around her and her sister’s castle a lot of nights, practicing stealthy moves only to give them a surprise visit from time to time. At least this time he had it right to hide his muscular form into a more slender one with the cape and a more rigid leather cover, though Luna didn’t want to know where he got that leather from.

“So why not come closer? I am sorry to say I can’t move, nor see”

Caustros’s voice was gruff in comparison to his older brother, but his personality was sweet and even playful sometimes. It seemed his situation was either dire or very serious, but he didn’t seem to rush or show any anxiety. In fact Luna heard him laughing gently as she got closer to take a look under the hood, only to see a few droplets of blood running down his frown.

“I had been almost a month with my friends searching for a darn hydra until we got the thing near here. I would like to say that we got away easily but… eh… until I get my bones mended and my eyes back I will refrain from boasting” He said with a wide smile that showed two missing teeth “But we did manage to prevent the thing from hurting any innocents. Sorry Luna, but I won’t be able to see your first Lunar Celebration”

“What is wrong with you Caustros?” She practically barked, sitting beside her friend as she was unsure if she could do anything else without harming him “You are hurt, you should worry about that and not my first Lunar Celebration!”

“Hey, I promised you that I would be there with you, didn’t I?” He said, moving slightly to try and ‘look’ at the source of the voice “I am sorry to break the promise, it matters more to me than my harm. Yago is going to bring me one of the potions your royal unicorn medic has by tomorrow and Innot has gone get some herbs to heal me since there are no more monsters around here to worry about. Relax Luna; I am more worried about YOU than I am about ME”

“You won’t change it seems” Luna couldn’t help but smile gently. Caustros had been like that always and the only thing he had always wanted was his father’s favor, something he never got, but he had a very caring personality “But don’t worry about me, I am only… a bit angry after my sister and I had a discussion, it is nothing major. Why were you hunting a single Hydra though? I doubt a single monster was a danger to anypony”

Caustros took one of his hands inside a pouch on his side, groaning as he moved only to bring out a bit of a dark blue thing. It was partially liquid and moved around as if it was alive, but didn’t seem much more like paint or maybe a very soft skin that moved thanks to the wind and Caustros’s shivering.

“The thing was covered in this. We don’t know what it was but it seemed to heal the monster, making It very bold. When we felled it most of this disappeared, but a bit of it got attached to me” Caustros showed the arm he was using as best as possible, letting Luna see a dark blue parch of skin “I don’t know if it is good or bad, but it did heal me quite a lot, otherwise I am ashamed to say I wouldn’t be here now”

Like if it was indeed alive the blob jumped straight at Luna, making her yell in surprise and try to dodge the thing, only for it to land on her cutie mark of the moon. In a moment the ‘cloud’ in her cutie mark turned even darker to an almost pitch black color. Out of instinctive fear Luna tried to take it away with Caustros aiding however he could, but the thing had glued itself in there.

In the end the blob embedded itself on Luna’s rear, healing the little scratches she had from the previous running through the forest at a cost that neither of the present knew of. She gave her friend a pleading look but even if Caustros could see it was obvious that the young man had the same problem and the same inability to solve it.

“It is stuck in there, it won’t let go of my skin” She said in a defeated tone “What is it? Why does it heal me?”

“We don’t know” Caustros told her “With luck it only heals, but I can’t promise you anything… Maybe your sister knows? I cannot move but I would like to ask her tomorrow. Why don’t you return to her and ask? If it is something bad you at least could get it off from your body fast if you fly to the castle”

“But will you be ok?” She asked in concern.

Caustros simply chuckled and waved it off “Remember I worry about you more than me Luna, go get it checked out. I will see you tomorrow if all go well”

It looked like Luna wanted to force him to comply, but she had to be serious for once and think straight. She was a filly, not a full grown mare like her sister. As a goddess they looked almost like horse alicorns, at least when grown, right now Luna didn’t have the strength to carry Caustros even if she wanted to, nor did she know if with all day crying and how tired she was after raising the moon she had enough to transport her friend. She simply nodded in the end and flapped her wings to get into the air.

In the ground two new figures came from the surrounding forest only moments after Luna flew away towards the castle. They were barely visible as they kept close to the shadows of the forest. The only thing that could be said about them was that they were neither pony nor human.

Now Celestia was more than worried, she was frantic! The whole day Luna had been away and no one had seen her, not that anyone had looked for her young sister, she was sure that everyone was happy to get the young goddess out of their backs for a day if they could. It was exactly THAT the thing that made her angry and even more worried. She hadn’t intended to get her sister so angry that she would think of trotting away in the middle of the day! She thought she had all under control!

Well… she had to admit that her plan consisted mostly in HOPING for it to happen right thanks to how well she knew her sister, but she had no proof of what the young one could do under pressure this big for her young mind. If she had messed it up she would NEVER forgive herself, in fact if something else happened to her she would lose the little family she had left! How could she do such a thing?

“Princess!”

Celestia practically jumped in place as she looked at her side. She calmed down seeing Yohoofrich looking at her with concern, almost like a father as the colt had been like family to her as she grew, that is why he was the only one allowed to her room right now. He felt as bad as Celestia when he heard that Luna was nowhere to be seen, but both of them had thought that the young filly would come back at some point when the night was up. Now he was trying to maintain his cool to a degree, failing miserably at Celestia’s eyes.

“Calm down, you look about to explode” He pleaded “She will be back at some point I am sure”

“I can’t calm down Yohoofrich!” She almost cried out “My sister is not here! She is the last thing I have from our parents and I keep feeling something… bad… I know something horrid is going to happen and I don’t know what it is! I CANNOT CALM DOWN!”

“Princess please” Yohoofrich tried to calm her down “Being this worried WONT change a thing and will only cause you more problems. Please calm down and sit, things will be alright soon”

“Don’t you see Yohoofrich?! It won’t be all right!” Finally losing it, Celestia looked like she had lost all her confidence and her calm demeanor. She was nervous and insecure to such an extent where she was almost a mind wreck “I know something horrid is going to happen and I know that part of it is going to happen to my sister! This can only get even worse!”

“Princess!” It was the first time in years that Yohoofrich had every yelled so, almost by instinct, Celestia stopped dead in her tracks to listen to her counselor “You need to keep a cold head and think straight, please. I know that you had tried to get your sister angry at you knowing that she would bicker and pick a fight with you instead of mourning your fathers, at least at first. I am sure your intentions were good, but you may have overdid it this time thanks to the pressure and the situation we are in” Gently and with care Yohoofrich began to caress Princess Celestia’s flank, pushing slowly so she would lie down and relax “But if you give in to the pressure NOW then the problems will multiply, you need to keep cool and everything will be…”

*CRASH!*

“… alright?”

“Princess! We have a situation!”

Two Royal Army colts had barged in with a third coming in right behind them. Unlike in the actual time these colts looked like they had bronze armor breastplate and helmets with red feathers, though if we had to talk about red, we should mention the red stain that the last pony had all over his white fur thanks to the wounded he was carrying.

Prince Sebastian was clad in his silver looking armor, though it was battered to such an extent where the full plate equipment that was so much alike the knights of the middle ages in Earth was now more like scrap and broken pieces of grayed out metal as well as parchments of blood everywhere. His chest had a missing chunk of the armor and a nasty swipe of a claw mark had left a wound much too disheartening for the young man while puncturing wounds could be seen all over his body. Even his face had been scarred with a cut that seemed to have taken his left eye if the hit had been too deep.

“We found him during our patrol of the borders” One of the colts explained, trying to regain his breath “The medicines and potions don’t work, not even the magic from your personal medic! We don’t know how long he has if you don’t do something!”

“You foals!” She practically yelled, widening her eyes at the outburst “No, no, sorry, please forgive me that my colts, but simply lie the prince here” She offered one of her cushions, the young man needed it now “But you HAD to have taken him here first. Prince Sebastian is a null human; he can’t produce magic of any kind and CAN’T absorb any magical effect for long. The potions and the mage only helped him temporally”

“We are sorry your majesty” The colts lowered their heads as the one carrying Sebastian left him on the couch “If you need us for anything we will be at the ready”

“I do need you for something: Go the my medic and ask him to prepare the most powerful rejuvenating potion he can make. I know of a thing that will take his null state away, but he needs to talk and be able to withstand a very powerful shock. In his current state I doubt he is able to do any of those, now go please!”

The colts gave a quick nod and went trotting away at full speed. Celestia feared that no matter how fast they were, her friend would probably not last long enough. Now that she could see him without anypony obstructing her view she had to admit… he looked quite worse than she thought, but was still alive for some reason. She didn’t have time to lose then, she took a pen and a paper and began to write as Sebastian took a firm hold of her front leg.

“C-celes… Nigth…” He groaned, opening his only eye just enough to see a blurry that he recognized as the alicorn princess “Night... mares…”

“Nightmares?” Yohoofrich wondered out loud “That sounds like one of those old mare’s tales with monsters. Princess Celestia, he is hallucinating from blood loss and… Princess?”

Celestia’s eyes had reverted to such a size that they looked like tiny dots of blackness. Something had scared her to such an extent where she was mumbling nonsense as she looked down at her friend with a paper having been raised with her magic and a pen halfway writing something down.

“Night… night… nightmares?” She babbled “Nightmares… here?”

“Princess? What are you writing? What is happening?”

“Monsters, horrid monsters are coming” She said in a half whispering voice full of fear “They are coming and my sister is out there…” Celestia gulped, tears building in her eyes “Yohoofrich! Sound the alarm! We need to get everypony ready to search for my sister and to get everypony else to safety!”

“B-but what are you going to do with Sebastian then princess?” The counselor asked with worry.

“I am going to give Sebastian the spell of Bounding” She said as she got her pen to work again “I know his father will be angry, but it will give him inner magic and we will be able to heal him”

“But it also will bind him to YOUR command princess” Yohoofrich said cautiously “I don’t know how that will sit with the king…”

“It is either that or I will lose a dear friend today” Celestia barked “I want him healed and my sister back. Whatever it is that nightmares are doing here, they are the cause of my foreshadowing. I won’t let them get my friends and family, not now, not EVER”

Celestia wiped the tears away from her eyes and sent Yohofrich away to do what she had asked him to. This was going to be the longest night she had ever seen, and probably the worst.

After that the scene collapsed and everyone was back in Celestia’s actual room. Twilight was pale, almost white, after she saw the blood from and wounds while Spike was speechless and Luna simply didn’t want to look. The only one more or less intact in a psychological sense was J as Celestia had a face that showed no real emotion whatsoever.

“That is the first chapter of me and my sister’s story” She declared in a monotone “I cannot tell you all more than the humanoids would disappear from this world later on. It is quite easy to guess as there are no more here, however as to how that happened in the end? You all will wait to see it. I have to say, though, that the next chapter of this tale will have to wait maybe a few days and it will also be bloody, yet it won’t be the last for you all to see” Celestia sighed with a deep frown “However I had hoped that as much I would have to show it to you, my faithful student” She gave a gentle nuzzle to Twilight, helping her regain her color “Without adding a human to the mix. I had thought that the spell I bound to the dragons would give any of them former memories of their ancestors to discourage anyone from delving into the myths of humans if they got to interested. How is that you got away from Spike’s if I can ask?”

“Uh? Oh! Well, Spike didn’t try to stop me princess, but he did seem to have a spurt of… intellect if you want to call it that” Twilight told Celestia, still wondering about that herself.

“Oh, then it backfired” Yet Celestia chuckled gently as she looked at Spike “You see Spike, while your kin could not get affected even by me, as dragons are extremely resistant to magic, I could make a deal with them to grant their descendants the intelligence of their ancestors in exchange of them helping prevent any other human like creature to ever exist here, which mostly meant making sure that nopony was too curious with these spells and myths. However Twilight is a mother figure to you, so your duty was mostly to her and not to me”

Spike blushed a bit, letting out a short laugh “Heh, but I hope it is not bad?”

Celestia shook her head with a smile “Certainly isn’t my dear Spike, but the results leave something to be desired” She said giving another look at J “Still I hope this is both satisfactory and helps you all understand what that spell did to him”

“That he will have to serve you?” Spike asked in wonder.

“It means that he has magic now running through his veins too” Twilight added as a matter of fact.

“And also that if I piss her off I die” J cut in, making everypony but Celestia gasp at his bitherness “I would’ve expected such a low blow from a fellow human in this situation of power, but from you? I believed you were better than this Celestia, I thought that you were better than everyone thought you were in the internet. Most people called you ‘trollestia’ and I see why NOW”

“Do you think me a foal, little boy?” She practically growled, getting up and making her sister, student and the young dragon move away as J also got on his feet “You still have not seen it, but what will happen in my tale will almost doom our world and certainly will doom your kind and many others thanks to actions YOUR people did. I won’t believe you are good until you prove it, and to make sure it will BE done I will make you OBEY both Twilight and ME” She stomped the ground to make emphasis on that “When you prove yourself I will be more than happy to ask for forgiveness and will take my command away from you, but…” Celestia gave a predatory smirk, much like Nightmare Moon had done before her as J waited in Luna’s mind “If you prove to be a danger for anypony that doesn’t deserve it, a case I find most unlikely, I will make sure to see your kin eradicated from Equestria again”

“Then I hope you are up to kneel and beg” J said smugly “Because if I can’t go back home I am here and I am not going to go away. I will be the best guest you ever had and I am going to kick monster ass while at that”

While the air seemed to vibrate with conflict, it seemed things had calmed down to an extent. However it didn’t seem like Luna shared that opinion.

“I think you two better make up now” Luna almost commanded, though she was still a bit shy thanks to all of what had happened recently “Tia, we are going to leave you two alone and I hope that you two can talk this off. This time try to calm down ok? Take this as a new beginning, please?”

“Alone? But Princess Luna!” Twilight whined, she wasn’t sure of what to think of her teacher right now, but this was not an idea she liked.

“I said alone” Luna pushed Twilight’s flank with her head, taking the young mare with her towards the door as she opened it with her magic “Come Spike, my sis has to mature a bit yet again”

“Uh…”

Spike looked at Twilight being dragged away with a gruff expression and then to Celestia and J glaring at each other. Seeing how it had gone the young dragon though it would be better to give them some space, at least that way his scaly rear wouldn’t be in danger.

“See you soon Princess Celestia, J” He gave a little bow and ran for the door which closed after he followed Luna and Twilight outside.

Again the silence came to fill the room, however this time Celestia took a quick peck towards the door and then gave out a loud sigh, sitting down and doing something with her horn so the walls suddenly glistened with the light of the room as if they were made out of crystal.

“I am sorry for my outburst earlier” Celestia said in her usual gentle tone “But once you hear the rest of the story you will understand why I am like this. I do not like what I saw in your mind and I would urge you to NOT touch any of the girls first and foremost, do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal clear. I don’t want to fuck this up if I have to live here Celestia, this is not my world, I understand I don’t have to mess with it” J groaned as he tried to get the stubborn princess to hear him “I did pretty bad things in my home, I don’t want to repeat them here”

“Like when you killed that man?” Celestia gave him a cold glare “You had your reasons and that man would’ve done something despicable, but you didn’t have to kill him” J was now beyond ashamed and Celestia, for once, didn’t felt good for managing to shot his hopes down “I don’t want us to be enemies if you will be the one to protect Twilight J, I was going to design someone for the same task but since you are here thanks to her, I want you to protect her and her friends. If I was so brutally honest and bent on making you explode is because I don’t want what happened back then to repeat itself again and I certainly don’t want to do what I had to” The princess looked away in shame as memories began to flood in again “Immortality has left my sister and I once we were reunited, but I have had a premonition before she ever came back: We need the Elements of Harmony and we need them ALL. Something bad is going to happen again and I didn’t only want them together to get my sister back, but also to protect Equestria”

“You mean you knew of this and you just manipulated them for your own ends?” J wasn’t accusing, he was outright saying what was blatantly obvious, and something that was all the easier to believe with the nod of Celestia.

“I didn’t know it at first, but when I saw that Twilight had the cutie mark of pure magic on her I was sure to have discovered the embodiment of magic in a pony” Celestia sounded happy and almost cheery, but her face didn’t give it away as she looked sad “I went in a small quest when to find the other elements, only to find them so close to the castle. I didn’t want to but I did read their minds and saw they would perfect friends for my little student, however she was too much like Luna” She sighed, feeling worse than ever “So much that for a time I almost replaced Luna with her. I will never confess that to Twilight, but Luna is a girl too smart for her own good. However that is irrelevant, what is relevant is that you defend them since instead of my guards you were summoned by my apprentice. I will need for you to help each one of them to overcome their ‘other’ when the time comes”

“I am not happy to hear about this Celestia, I thought this was all about friendship and harmony, not to manipulate others no matter how good the motive” J was more than upset yet again, he liked the show for all he thought it was, but to see and hear this? He was disheartened to say the least “But if you ask for me to protect them for the good of Equestria? To help them fight their ‘other? I need a better reason than simply you being the one with the least around my neck”

Celestia gave him a glare, but did understand what he was saying “I may have used them, yes, but I do want them happy. I have made many mistakes the first hundred years that I was separated from my sister; in fact you could say I went a bit… insane… I did worse things than you could ever do and Canterlot, Equestria, the new one, was a way to forget and to begin anew. I don’t want those dark days back and if you are the one to ensure that the Elements of Harmony do their job again to protect us and prevent happiness from being erased from this world? Then so be it, because I won’t let anyone down again and if I have to hold your life as ransom I will do it”

Tensions hadn’t risen nor downed at any time during the talk, in fact it had gotten to the point where it was obvious that neither of them were going to like each other even with J wanting to and with Celestia TRYING to. They had views of each other that were too conflictive with what they wanted to see or hear.

“What is this ‘other’ you talk about though? If I am going to work for you on this at least I need to know”

“The ‘other’ is what you are thinking it is” Celestia gave a small smile “And yes, I keep on reading your mind even after finally healing you dear, I am not going to lose control even once. But since you do want me to explain, let it be quick and blunt: Each one of the Elements of Harmony have a powerful good quality that conflicts, to some extent, with their personalities. Being one element means that what you want sometimes they will have a huge conflict within themselves, you saw it in the series when they had a breakdown”

At that J had to shudder; each of the girls had at least one breakdown thanks to their element and/or personality. In order it was like this:

Apple Jack was too headstrong to be sincere in asking for help at first and it taxed her health and almost her mind at least once. It was obvious that she also could have a problem as the same way her honesty had been blocked away from that episode of her life only to try to maintain her word of doing it alone she could probably keep secrets from her friends if she thought it was better. This was something that J hoped not to find as for him the worst thing to do was lying one way or another to a friend.

Rarity was too generous and pleasing for her own good and it could get her to realize her mistake too late to fix it, moment where she found out that it had backfired, no one had ended up happy and she felt like a total failure (both literally and in the fashion sense). While not greedy Rarity did forsake her kindness at some extent if she found something she wanted, going as far as to envy their friends’ success or not noticing how much vanity she had with her.

Rainbow Dash was loyal to a fault, but her problem was that she had too much of an ego and it could get hurt somewhat easily, something that could get her into a nervous breakdown and into an overjoyed rush of happiness when something went well. If her ego got the better of her she could forget her friends and turn her personality 180º degrees in the worst case scenario, but her loyalty SHOULD prevent it.

Next was Pinkie Pie, probably one of the worst but not the worst of all. She had an obvious fear of her closest friends leaving her and her mental breakdown was probably the most dangerous of all, but also easily solved when she realized that her friends hadn’t tried to get rid of her or evade her as she thought. Still the element of Laughter could also be the element of Insanity if Pinkie Pie lost it for a long period of time. She was one of J’s favorite ponies and he could identify with the happy mare quite easily, however it also meant that he knew the extent of Pinkie Pie’s possible hostility if something went awfully wrong.

In the verge of being the most dangerous was Twilight Sparkle now. It was not that the only breakdown shown in the show was bad or anything, in fact it only showed the fact that under pressure when her mind was proven wrong and wrong again she would crack and ask for the impossible. The problem was her power and what could happen if she ever lost it in such a way that she thought it could be better to do things ‘right’ and get rid of the things that got in her way. With her social skills being so… inadequate it was not impossible to think that she would resort to that if it called for such measures in her head.

Now, the worst? The worst was his second favorite: Fluttershy. She was too shy and adorable to do anything wrong, in fact it was obvious that if it was like her usual life she wouldn’t get angry, EVER. However as shown in the show a few times (Specially in the last episode of the 1º season) she could get fed up with something and stare down whoever was harming her friends or, in the worst case scenario, lose it completely and try to force someone (At least the critters) to love her. She was a time bomb that could explode at any given time for she was the most delicate of the group.

“I will ask Luna to help you get in their dreams, but for it to work you must be close to them, almost as a best friend. I don’t want to use you in everything without telling you about it if we are to someday trust each other J, but I know that even if I ordered you to not do it you would still befriend every one of the six friends” For once Celestia smiled genuinely “If you prove to be better than I had thought then I will sincerely ask for your forgiveness and even to do anything you want in exchange”

“Anything?” J gave out a wide smile while looking at Celestia.

“Y-yea… why?” Now she had a nervous smile on her face. She probably hadn’t meant so say what she did.

“Then I would ask you for…” Celestia lost her nervous smile and simply gave him a cold glare, the dramatic pause was enough to tell her that he was kidding, she had read that much “… my pc and my games as well as a way to get internet? If I am going to be here I DO want my daily dose”

In short: Apply hoof to the face.

“Yes, yes, I can” Celestia finally giggled “But you cannot use the messenger or anything else. That is going to be for the new J living there ok?” J nodded in understanding “It will take a lot of time though, probably by the next time we can talk about my story you will have gotten friends here and probably shown me that you are competent and trustworthy” Suddenly she gave a face that screamed ‘Oh! I almost forgot’ “Also I have to tell you: Mages here don’t work like you heard in most your tales and your movies. You will find out when you need to, but remember that you have to use your new skills to defend people all right? Otherwise I will know”

“You know I won’t do it, you have been prodding my mind long enough” J seemed annoyed by now, though not angry like before “Before I go though, you said you had a premonition of shorts no?” Celestia nodded at the question so he continued “Twilight said she had one too, that is why she thought she should get a human. In fact I thought she was kidding and she just thought that the ‘most powerful creature’ should be the one to protect the ponies in Equestria, but I am not sure now”

“She said that? Hmmm…” Celestia turned out pensive for a few seconds “I will have to look into it latter, for now I think you, Twilight, Spike and Pinkamena should let Luna teleport you back and spend the night talking if you find yourself with energy or it”

From out of nowhere in the room a pink blur landed on top of J as he was tackle hugged to the ground. On top of him he could see the hyperactive pink pony giggling like mad before bowing before the princess for a second.

“It is no fair! How did you know I was here?” She asked after the little ceremonial pose.

“Dear, that you have your own way with magic without a horn doesn’t mean I can’t feel it” Celestia chuckled as she gave her a pat “Now though, don’t tell your friends about it ok? And you don’t need to swear it I know you won’t”

Pinkie smiled happily “Of course I won’t, besides, now I got a new friend! One of the bronies that watch our show! It will be much fun, you know what? Because we will throw a party this weekend and you” she poked at Celestia with a giggle “Are invited to it so we all can say hello to our new friend”

“This is getting sooo weird” J sighed with a little smile on his lips.

“Oh, then you will have to see what will happen tomorrow!” Pinkie giggled out loud “You are going to be so cool, I promise”

J preferred to not make any sense of it and simply nodded, letting Pinkie drag him away as she took a firm grip of his clothes with her mouth and throated away from the room only to get some gasps from her friends and Luna. Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle as she thought that, maybe, she had been way too harsh with the young man, and still she had to make sure they all thought she hated him. The plan had to work or there would be no happiness left in Equestria after this.

“I hope you know what you are doing letting him come Lauren” She sighed to herself as she got comfortable to sleep finally “For all our sakes”