Answering the call.

Author's Notes:

This is the first story I have ever written for this site. Any criticism is welcome and if you notice something is off then please tell me about it. The story itself is based on the idea seen in Oldnew Luna, an older story by arandompenguin but will be diverging as it progresses. I did ask for permission before writing this and received it from him/her.

Chapter 1

Spike was in the kitchen of the golden oaks library cleaning the dishes from the lunch that the two residents had enjoyed a few minutes ago. Twilight would have helped but Spike had turned her away, the previous night she had been up studying. She tried to assure him that she was fine but she had been nodding off throughout the day. She tried to play it off and until lunch Spike had humored her.

When she nearly slammed her face into the table as they were eating Spike pushed for her to go rest. She had begrudgingly left but for the past hour he had not heard nor seen anything of the lavender unicorn. He decided to go read one of the comic books that he had laying around.

“Yeah! That’s how it’s done.” Spike cheered as the hero of his most recent comic triumphed in some spectacular way. Finished with that one he reached for the stack next to him to find it missing, he groaned just realizing that he was out of new comics. He got up to look for a book to read that he hadn’t already read by himself or with Twilight. He finally decided to read the new Daring Do book, even though the series was one that he had almost exclusively read with Twilight, he made a mental note to apologize for starting it while she slept.

However before he could sit down to start reading a large pressure built up in his gut. Burping out a gout of green fire,a letter from Princess Celestia materialized in his hand. He took a look at the seal that was on it and noticed some small writing that simply read ‘urgent.’ He started running upstairs to Twilight’s bedroom knowing she would want to read it asap.

When he reached the door he slowed slightly not wanting to scare Twilight out of her bed. He opened the door and entered their shared bedroom, When he was just a few steps away he called to the sleeping unicorn

“Twilight?” He said, but got no response. He called again slightly louder. “Twilight, wake up, there is a letter from the princess.

Twilight sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She stretched and gave a small yawn before turning and seeing Spike standing next to her bed.

“Oh hi Spike, how long was I out?” she asked, feeling much better for her rest.

“Just a few hours, but I came up here because you got an urgent letter from the princess.” Spike said holding out the letter for her to take. An ethereal purple aura surrounded the parchment as Twilight levitated the paper toward her. Unfurling the parchment she read the loopy scrawl of her teacher’s writing, her face growing grave as she read more. When she was done she immediately started looking around the room for a few books on arcane subject matter as well as her saddle bags. Spike watched for a few moments rather confused before asking what was happening.

“What did the letter say?” Spike asked as Twilight continued to pack books into her bag.

“Princess Celestia needs me in Canterlot, apparently something is wrong and she requests my assistance immediately,” She said finishing her packing and returning to her bedside and taking her journal from its place on her personal bookshelf and placed it into her bag.

Twilight’s journal was her most closely guarded possession, all her thoughts and memories of the past nine years of her life. Over the years she had learned ways of keeping the contents of her journal away from prying eyes, from spells to a more traditional lock and key. Not only was her journal a safe place to write but it had also been altered in several magical way including, and Twilight was always proud of this one, an infinity spell that always added a new page but allowed the physical dimensions of the book to remain the same.
With that safely put away she turned to Spike.

“Did she say anything about what was wrong or how long you will be gone?

“No, she just told me to bring any books I had that had to do with advanced magical theory.” Twilight looked slightly exasperated. Spike was surprised she wasn’t stressing out about it more.

“So do you think you will be out for a few day’s?” Spike asked.

“No, but I want you to go over to Fluttershy’s until I get back just in case, is that alright?” She asked her assistant, he nodded.

“You don’t have to worry about me, just send a letter when you can.” Spike said before adopting a more serious look. “And promise me that you won’t do anything that puts you in danger,” He before giving a small smile, “I wouldn’t know what to do without you bossing me around!” He finished with a sarcastic smirk. Twilight rolled her eyes slightly but after saying that, Spike gave the mare a hug which she returned.

When they separated Spike picked up a few of the things he wanted to bring over to Fluttershy’s house that would be good for an impromptu sleepover, his basket, a few comics and his blanket. When they were both done packing for their individual destinations the two of them walked to the ground floor of the library. After saying a quick good bye Spike walked out the front door, off to see their shy, animal loving friend.

Twilight was left alone with her thoughts. She didn’t know what kind of trouble she was expected to help with, but her teacher’s words left her anxious. No less than ten minutes later a knock sounded from the door and Twilight got up from her reading cushion, ready to face the problem that lay before her. She greeted the stone faced Pegasus guards before boarding the chariot that they had brought for her. As she watched her Library slowly shrink as they rapidly flew toward Canterlot.

The magical bubble

Chapter 2:

The flight to Canterlot was uneventful and Twilight was incredibly happy when the trip finally came to an end. Jumping out from the carriage, Twilight began walking toward the castle and began walking faster when she saw that princess Celestia was coming to meet her.

“My faithful student, I am glad to see you here so soon. But I wish it were under better circumstances.” Celestia said

“Can you tell me more about what is happening? Your letter was very sparse on the details, all I got was that it had something to do with princess Luna.” Twilight said with a thoughtful look on her face. Her teacher’s own face grew slightly more grave at the mention of her younger sister. But any further conversation was interrupted by Shining Armor and princess Cadence walking in.

“Twily!” Shining armor shouted running toward his younger sister and giving her a hug. Twilight returned the hug but felt very confused.

“I thought you guys were in the crystal empire? Why are you guys here?” Twilight asked looking at the two ponies before her. Shining Armor looked slightly dejected before Cadence gave him a small reassuring hug. Celestia answered for the two of them

“I called your brother in because the problem happened to fall in with his line of magical expertise, but he was unable to find the source of the problem, Cadence was worried about Luna personally and came as well.” Celestia explained to Twilight, who nodded slightly less confused.

“So what is the problem exactly?” Twilight asked her brother who had a slightly sheepish look on his face before assuming a more formal tone of voice.

“Princess Luna was discovered inside an impenetrable force field of her own making. Princess Celestia thought that with my knowledge of barrier spells I would be able to find a way to take it down or bypass it. I spent a full day trying but still couldn’t come up with anything.” He rubbed the back of his neck in slight embarrassment. Celestia gave a reassuring smile to the now embarrassed Shining Armor.

“It would be best to show you what is going on, if you would, please follow me to Luna’s bedchamber.” With that said, Celestia turned back toward the castle and walked through the doors in front of them. The remaining assembled ponies all nodded at each other before following the princess inside.

They began walking through the tall halls of Canterlot castle, Twilight getting a strong sense of nostalgia as she walked through these familiar halls. While most of her lessons had been conducted at the school for gifted unicorns building proper, there had been times when Celestia had brought her to the castle for lessons on some of the more advanced subject matter. She had always left those lessons with Shining, who had been in training to join the royal guard at the time. Some of the rooms they past had been the sites of some of her favorite lessons with her teacher.

After a few minutes of walking and reminiscing on Twilight’s part the group stopped before a door decorated with a large full moon, showing near exact detail with the celestial body in the sky. Stars and constellations were surrounding the large centerpiece, but only some of the constellations shown were ones that Twilight could remember as being visible in the sky.

There was no question that this was Luna’s Room, but what surprised Twilight the most was that this was the same room that Celestia had first introduced her to stargazing in. She knew from memory that there was a great view of the night sky, both with a telescope and without, she also faintly recalled some covered furniture that she hadn’t asked about it. In hindsight it made perfect sense that the Luna she knew would have a room dedicated to the night sky.

The four of them walked in and were immediately greeted by the sounds of Luna in apparent distress. It hurt twilight to hear someone she considered a friend in pain, and the source was easily identifiable. A large indigo bubble took up most of the room, and extended to just below the ceiling. Twilight was left speechless as a piercing howl, not of pain but of anger, rang out of the bubble. The voice was more reminiscent of a certain tyrant that had been gone for years. Celestia’s face fell slightly when the sound stopped.

“That… That was not Luna’s voice.” Twilight said discouraged slightly.

“I Know.” Celestia said her face grave, but she refused to talk more. She simply nodded to Twilight, giving her permission to begin her analysis of the bubble.

Twilight slowly walked toward the magical construc, walking around the perimeter of the bubble she looked for any signs of weakness in the magical barrier. She also noted that up close she could see into the magical bubble faintly and saw the outline of princess Luna writhing on the ground. Twilight put this out of her mind for the time being and resumed her observation, but found nothing.

“Is there something wrong Twilight.” Cadence asked from her place by the door. Twilight turned back to the assembled ponies with a slightly confused look.

“This shield is perfect,” Twilight began, “Normally there are visual signs of weakness in any shield spell because there is always a point that the pony will overlook or forget to enforce, or they will work too hard to enforce it.” Twilight explained when she saw that Cadence was rather confused.

“What can be done if she has made a perfect shield?” Celestia asked, breaking her silence.

“I would have to run some tests with my magic and will need time to focus, could I please have some time alone with the bubble?” Twilight responded, Celestia nodded and left the room, followed by Cadence. Shining Armor stayed behind for a second and gave his sister a hug.

“I know you want to help, but don’t do anything dangerous, alright Twily.” Shining said to Twilight.

“You know how careful I am Shiney, I’ll be fine, and so will Luna.” Twilight replied. Shining broke off the hug and left the room.

Twilight took a deep breath to focus her mind before she reached out with her magic toward the shield. Her magic exploring for any chinks in the bubble that were to small to be seen with the eye. She came to the end of her exploration, her magic now creating a secondary bubble surrounding Luna’s. She had found nothing on the surface, but she was ready for the next phase.

Nothing worked.

Twilight had tried every analysis that she could think of, but all of the results pointed to one conclusion. Luna’s bubble was perfectly made in every way. Twilight was now literally running up against a wall. She couldn’t deconstruct the shield, and it could only be deactivated by Luna’s magic.

“Graah! This is impossible!” Twilight shouted. She Glared at the bubble, wishing that she could test just how much power she could blast at that thing before it broke. She sighed, and instead levitated an old book by Starswirl the bearded out of her saddle bag. She looked at the table of contents again to see if there was anything she may have missed before. Suddenly she noticed a group of words that sparked a crazy idea.

“Magical frequency,” She repeated to herself. She turned to the pages that were listed, and began reading. “Oh Twilight Sparkle you must be crazy to even consider this.” Twilight said to herself. She had been familiar with the concept of magical frequencies, they were responsible for the unique color a unicorn’s horn glowed when performing magic and was the reason that ponies could very rarely all power the same spell at the same time, the waves of magical energy would interfere causing unpredictable consequences.

Starswirl and other magical scholars had hypothesized that changing your own frequency that of another pony’s was possible , and had even came up with a few experimental methods they thought would work but none dared to attempt it as failure was liable to result in cutting oneself off from their magic forever or death. But if it worked the two ponies would have a larger combined magic pool to draw from and could both power spells without risk of interference between them.

Twilight was weighing whether she should attempt this. But the more she thought about it the more it was clear to her that this was her only option to have any chance of getting inside the bubble. If she could change her frequency then she could disable the shield using their then shared magic.

“I’m sorry Luna, but this is the only shot I have at helping you.” Twilight said before turning to the book to make sure of the method detailed in the book. She nodded to herself, feeling less only slightly sure that she had a shot of pulling this off. Twilight approached the bubble again, and placed her horn against it. Summoning her power to her horn, she focused on the color of Luna’s magic. Finally, she let her magic flow into the shield and willed it to combine with Luna’s.

Slowly she felt her magic pool start to close to her, but she was expecting this, all the books said that this would be likely to happen before the pools merged. She poured more of her power into it, trying to keep the flow steady. Just when she felt her magic exhausted, a new surge tore through her and she felt the two magic pools join together.

“There,” Twilight said, panting with exhaustion. “Now I… Can….” Suddenly she fell to the ground unconscious.

Author's Notes:

This second chapter is still following the original story but with a few new elements and rehashing in different ways. The biggest addition would be Cadence and Shining Armor being acknowledged. If you have any criticism that could help me make the story better please leave a comment.... Or don't.... I'll just be here then.... Bye!

The Nightmare Reborn.

The Nightmare Reborn:

Twilight awoke what felt like seconds later. Shaking her head she looked around only for her jaw to drop. She was back in Ponyville, only it was nighttime and the town looked decorated for Nightmare night.

“But, wait…. This isn’t… Huh?” was all that Twilight could get out through her immense confusion. The sudden shift in time and local was jarring enough but she was even more confused when she realized that she could recognize none of the ponies out and about, costumes notwithstanding. They looked less like actual ponies and more like manequines with very generalized features.

“Alright Twilight think, you were just in canterlot in the middle of the summer, now you’re in Ponyville and it is Nightmare night. You didn’t cast any time travel spells or teleportation spells, so how did you get here?” Twilight said trying, and failing to organize her thoughts to make sense of her situation.

Suddenly she heard screams coming from a place near the library followed by the sounds of magic bolts of energy impacting on unknown surfaces. Twilight started running toward her library tree, drawn to the commotion though her common sense told her to run away.

What she saw caused her to stop dead in her tracks. Before the door to her home was Princess Luna, looking like she had had a run in with an ursa minor, and Nightmare Moon. When Luna saw Twilight her eyes widened in shock and confusion. Nightmare Moon apparently saw this because she started to turn in the direction Luna was looking.

Twilight panicked and shot a quick bolt of energy at Nightmare Moon before teleporting next to Luna.

“Luna, I need you to trust me right now, focus all your power into a beam and fire at her NOW!” Twilight said to the stunned Princess before using her own magic in the same way she had just described. Nightmare Moon quickly put up her a shield stopping the beam. For a brief second more Luna stood dumbfounded before she too fired a separate beam that was also stopped by the shield.

Nightmare Moon started laughing at the foolish frontal assault, her shield still holding strong, but twilight knew what to do from here. She redirected her beam slightly so that it hit Luna’s beam. Their magic combined, forming a beam that drilled through the shield as if it were not even there before crashing into the mare behind it and propelling her backward. Instead of Landing though she seemed to dissipate into a dark fog that was slowly absorbed by the surrounding landscape.

The remaining two mares sat there panting. Suddenly Twilight heard a thump from her left.

“Princess Luna!” She called. She started toward the Princess, running before exhaustion hit her and she too fell to the floor unconscious.

Princess Celestia was walking back to Luna’s room, having taken her leave of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, to see if her pupils had made progress with the barrier. As she was turning the corner to the appropriate hallway, a loud bang came from Luna’s room followed by a gust of wind that blew her door open. Celestia ran toward the room worried about the two occupants.

Stepping through the door she saw her pupil lying on the ground, unconscious, and her sister. free from her self made prison, in the same condition.

“Guards, Twilight has removed the barrier but they both need medical attention. Call the doctor and take Twilight to the infirmary.” She called and seconds later her command was met by five ponies dressed in golden armor.

As the last guard left the room Celestia was left with her sister lying on her bed. She looked at her sister before noticing that she had a slight shimmering aura around her. Celestia approached her sister worry taking over once again. The shimmering grew in intensity, blinding Celestia with its luminescens before it vanished once more.

When Celestia opened her eyes to look again. She saw Luna in the form she had taken the night she had been saved from Nightmare Moon’s influence by the elements of harmony.

“No…” She began, now holding back tears, “Oh Luna… I am sorry.” Celestia said to her sister’s sleeping form.

Twilight groggily opened her eyes before sitting up. The room was dark but some light partially illuminated a figure sleeping on a cushion next to her bed.

“Shining?” Twilight asked, Shining however did not move more than the rising and falling of his chest. Twilight tried looking around and noticed she was in a guest bedroom in the castle.

‘What happened?’ Twilight thought to herself.

‘Who was that?’ Asked a voice Twilight could not identify. Twilight looked around but saw no one else in the room but Shining who was still asleep. She tried thinking a reply back to the voice.

‘I am Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?’ Twilight tried thinking to the unknown voice.

‘Twilight! This is Princess Luna. Do you know what is going on?’ Came the voice again, now known as Luna. That information did nothing to help her understand what was happening though.

‘No,’ Twilight thought in reply, frowning, ‘the last thing I remember was blasting Nightmare Moon in Ponyville.’

‘That is my last memory as well.’ Luna thought back to her. There was silence for a few minutes where both ponies tried to formulate their thoughts. Twilight was thinking of possible reasons for why they were suddenly able to communicate in such a way, when Luna’s thoughts spoke up again.

‘Twilight, when we blasted Nightmare Moon, you managed to combine our beams. That should not have been as easy as it was for you.’ Luna said. Twilight suddenly knew why she had this connection with Luna. Although she now needed to find a way to explain that to Luna.

‘Luna, there is a lot of stuff I need to tell you about what has been happening since you were in the dream Ponyville’

Author's Notes:

This chapter seems very fast paced to me. I kinda wanted that because I am trying to make the effects of the frequency change confusing for the characters in the story, but I don't know if that was conveyed in the writing. Been hard to write lately because things have been crazy in my personal life , but I don't know if anyone really cares about why this was delayed a few days (trying to do every 4 days or so).

Assessing the Situation

Chapter 4

‘So you believe that after you managed to link our magic frequencies a link between our minds was forged as well, interesting.’ Luna’s thoughts replied. ‘While I am utterly astonished you accomplished such a thing, Tia would probably want me to reprimand you for doing something so dangerous, but I am grateful for your help.’

‘Haha, yeah, she probably will in the morning anyway.’ Twilight replied. While it had been strange at first communicating through thoughts, the two of them had gotten the hang of it quickly.

‘Well, again I must thank you for your part in my rescue, but I must sleep now. I am so tired from the day’s events.’ Luna said, Twilight felt a sudden absence of Luna’s presence as the Princess left for the dream world. Twilight felt rested enough so she choose to stay up and wait for the coming day.

While she had been talking with Luna a few hours had passed, and the sun was now starting to rise, letting more light into the room as it moved across the sky.

“Mmhhm.” Came a noise from Twilight’s bedside. Looking over she saw Shining Armor stirring, about to wake up. Twilight was bracing herself for however she was going to be reprimanded for breaking her promise.

Shining raised his head, blinking his eyes. Twilight contemplated trying to pretend to be asleep. but realized that her chance had already passed. Instead she turned toward her brother ready to face whatever was about to happen to her.

Shining was now fully awake and looked over at Twilight’s bed. When he saw Twilight was already up, his face froze.

“Shining, I am sorry that I broke that promise to not do any-” Twilight began before Shining Armor was up and… Hugging her?

“I don’t care about any of that, you’re alright and that is good enough for me.” Shining said. “Now that you’re up we can finally hear what happened. And your friends will be able to see you.” Shining said as he let his sister go.

“Wait, my friends are here? How long was I asleep?” Twilight looked at him incredulously. Shining gave her a slightly sad look.

“You have been recovering for the last three days, same as Princess Luna and you are the first one up. Doctors said you both just over exerted yourselves with magic usage.” Shining told her before walking over the door of the guest room. “Come on, we have more people who want to see you.” he said opening the door.

Twilight and Shining armor walked through the empty halls of the castle in the early morning. Twilight knew shining was leading her to the throne room and in just a few minutes they were sitting before the decorative doors.

Twilight was thinking over how she was going to explain everything to her friends and teacher. They walked through the doors into the throne room.

“Twilight!” Came a voice from the end of the hall. Looking up Twilight saw Spike start running toward her.

“Spike!” She yelled back to him, running toward him. She hugged him when she reached him and repeated apologies to the crying dragon. “I am so sorry for worrying you.”

It took a few minutes for Spike to calm down and the rest of her friends stood off to the side, understanding that Spike’s well-being now, was more important to Twilight than filling them in at the moment. When Spike’s tear finally stopped flowing, Princess Celestia had arrived.

“It is good to see you up and well Twilight Sparkle.” The Princess said with a warm smile that looked slightly forced. “But I think we are all curious to find out what happened after your brother and I took our leave of you.” She finished, motioning for Twilight to begin her explanation.

“As you all know I was called away 4 days ago to help the Princess with something….”

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“And that is everything that brought us to me waking up in my bed.” Twilight concluded. Looking around at the gathered faces. Most of them were still confused.

“So what we should gather from this is that you managed to get Princess Luna out of her bubble by performing a bit of extremely difficult magic to link your magic together. And now because of that you can talk to the Princess by thinking toward her?” Shining Armor asked, trying to put what Twilight had Just said into Laypony’s terms. Twilight nodded.

“I don’t know anything about the magic bit but having the ability to chat up a Princess at any time is awsome.” Rainbow Dash said, hovering in the air off to the side of the Throne room. There were a few agreements from Twilight’s friends.

“You guys aren’t mad that I could have killed myself by even attempting what I did?” Twilight asked slightly confused by this.

“Twilight, we couldn’t a known, and everything turned out fine so I don’t see why we should be mad.” Applejack said.

“Plus you are amazing at magic and can pull off any spell or anything and we know that.” Said Pinkie Pie who had popped up directly behind Applejack, even though she had just been across the room.

Twilight felt slightly relieved by her friends nonchalance. But when she turned to Princess Celestia she saw that the Princess had a ponderous look on her face

“What is it Princess? Twilight finally asked. This seemed to snap her out of whatever thoughts she had been captured by.

“I’m sorry, but I was just thinking about something you said.” Celestia began. “You said you could speak with Luna through your thoughts, I was wondering if you could try doing that now. My Sister has yet to awaken and I wish to speak with her if possible.”

“I could give it a try.” Twilight told her mentor. She closed her eyes and focused on finding Luna’s thoughts.

‘Princess Luna are you there?’ She thought to herself, trying to project it out to the Princess lying asleep in her room.

‘Twilight, yes I am here. Might I ask why we are speaking again so soon?’

‘I’m with Princess Celestia and my friends from Ponyville and Celestia asked me to see if I could speak for you to include you in the conversation on what happened over the last few days’

‘Ah, I have no problems with that, What does my sister want to know?’ Luna asked.

“Luna is willing to talk, what did you want to talk about?” Twilight repeated Luna’s words to the waiting ponies.

“I simply wanted to tell my sister and you, Twilight Sparkle, about what has happened after you both fought off Nightmare Moon. Luna no longer has the appearance that you last saw her in. After expending so much magic she has enacted a sort of failsafe, and her body has reverted to a lower energy state to conserve as much power as possible. She won’t be able to raise the moon until she recovers in a few years.” Princess Celestia said to her student and by proxy, her sister.

Twilight had been repeating everything to Luna as she heard it, but the last part made her stop.

‘Twilight, what else did Tia say’ came Luna’s thoughts.

‘She… She said it would take years for you ‘till you could control the moon again.’ Twilight responded. She could feel Luna deflate at those words.

‘Tell her that I am sorry for making her take over my duties once again, but that I had expected this after our run in with Nightmare Moon.’ Luna replied before she just dissapeared from Twilight’s mind.

Twilight opened her eyes, looking saddened.

“She says she is sorry for not being able to perform her duties and that she expected something like this would happen after Nightmare Moon came back.” Twilight told the Princess.

Princess Celestia nodded, not looking angry but saddened.

“This is not her fault so she has nothing to be sorry for.” Celestia said to no one in particular before shaking her head. “That is beside the point now. We have much more we need to discuss.”

Author's Notes:

So I was feeling sick yesterday and couldn't work on this. Also this chapter was very hard for me to write, I just couldn't get it how I wanted it so I may try to edit a little later into the story once I figure things out more. Also I have no idea how to write almost any accents for Twilight's friends so they will probably all sound the same until I can figure that out. Again I will probably come back and change it later. Hopefully the next few chapters will be edited by someone I know before posting as well.

A Private Talk

A Private Talk:

Celestia asked to speak to Twilight alone, to which everyone agreed. After the other ponies left the room Celestia spoke up.

“As I said we have much to discuss.” Celestia began, her tone shifting from her regular regal tone to a more casual one now that her personal student was the only other pony in the vicinity. “To start off I wanted to ask you more about the linking of your magic with my sister’s and any consequences you have noticed thus far. This is the first time that such a thing has been documented and if we could learn more about it, it would certainly be beneficial.” She finished.

Twilight explained the process to Princess Celestia once again but in more detail than she had originally done with her friends present. The feeling of her magic source closing and then the huge surge as her magic source slammed into Luna’s and combined fully. Celestia nodded, following along with the complex magical theory and explanations with little difficulty.

“In terms of Side effects and consequences, you saw one of them and I explained the other in my story, talking through thoughts and entering dreams. I think they arose because of the strong link between magic and the mind of the caster.” Twilight finished her summarization.

“I see, I want you to send me a letter if you notice anything else that seems to arise from this joining of magic.” Princess Celestia told Twilight, who nodded in return, The Princess then rose to her hooves and gestured for Twilight to follow suit. “Now onto the topic of Luna.” Princess Celestia said exiting the throne room and walking toward, Twilight assumed, the younger princess’s room

“As I told you, my sister used almost all of her magic to create the barrier and fight Nightmare Moon in her own mind, and how this has caused a physical change that will be easier to recuperate in. But the process will likely take years, and in that time I want her to live in Ponyville with you.” Princess Celestia said, shocking Twilight.

“Why would she need to live with me? Wouldn’t it make more sense to stay here and do the duties that she can in her current state?” Twilight asked, not because she did not like the younger alicorn, but because she was genuinely confused at Princess Celestia’s solution to this problem.

“To know that her greatest duty was the one she could not fulfill while staying here would likely crush her spirits. That and if what you say about your link is true then you could actually help speed her recovery along, but she would need to stay close to you, and I can not separated you from your friends in Ponyville on an assumption I have.” Princess Celestia explained, but Twilight still looked slightly confused.

“How would being close to me help speed up the recovery process? Would proximity to my magic help in some way?” Twilight asked. Celestia looked to be trying to find a way to explain but was having trouble.

“The easiest, most accurate explanation that I can give is this. Alicorns like Luna and myself are only able to manifest our power if the magic within us is in balance. Alicorns share the magic of the three pony races and can apply it accordingly.” Celestia started explaining, by now the two ponies were now standing outside of Luna’s room. Celestia opened the door and ushered her student inside.

“Everyday activities like levitation magic or flying are not enough to throw this balance off. But Luna’s actions were far removed from that. She used up nearly all of the unicorn magic at her disposal, which is far more than any normal unicorn’s, and is left without the ability to manifest her full power.” Princess Celestia finished now standing over her sister’s sleeping form. She turned to look at her Student again. “You are an extremely magically gifted unicorn, if you focus a bit of your magic into Luna’s essence everyday then she might be able to use it to help restore the balance faster.” Princess Celestia finally finished.

Twilight thought about the princess’s words to her. She wanted to help Luna if she could, but if she just brought a princess to Ponyville, ponies would freak out. They would need to find some way to disguise her or something. Maybe they could cover her wings?

Suddenly Twilight imagined Luna as a filly wearing a purple vest with a blue headband and glasses. The image made Twilight smile slightly but she quickly shook her head and came back to the present.

“If you think it will help Luna then I would be willing to have her stay with me, but I’m worried that everypony will freak out if they suddenly have a princess next door.” Twilight voiced her concerns. Celestia nodded in understanding.

“Your concerns are well founded if either of our previous visits to the town are anything to go by.” The Princess said thinking of what could be done. “I don’t personally know of any spells that could disguise her, and clothing looks suspicious when everypony else hardly wears them.” Twilight felt a slight quick flash of sadness at that, but it passed just as quick. Princess Celestia spent a bit more time thinking before she made some decision.

“Our best bet would be to wait for Luna to awaken and ask her. She was always the more magically gifted than I, she would be more likely to know of something to help.” Princess Celestia said finally, “And as much as I have been dreading this topic my previous confession serves as a good bridge to this one.” Celestia seemed to deflate slightly before speaking again.

“Twilight Sparkle I am… graduating you from your studies under me.” Celestia said to Twilight. Twilight suddenly felt as if the world dropped out from under her. Celestia noticed this and hurried to the next part of her statement. “Instead, you will be learning further from Luna. I asked her a few weeks ago and we were planning on telling you at the end of the month, but this has pushed things forward.” Princess Celestia finished, Twilight looked slightly less shell shocked after hearing what her, now former, teacher said. But she was still visibly shaken.

“So does this mean that I won’t be able to see you anymore?” Twilight asked, a slight tremor in her voice. Celestia had been like a second mother to her, and this was a lot for her to take in. Celestia just smiled and got up.

Walking over to where Twilight was sitting, Celestia gave her a hug and wrapped her wings around her former student. She held her for a few seconds, allowing Twilight time to calm down slightly.

“Twilight, you know I could never cut you from my life. Even if you will no longer be my student, we will still be friends.” Celestia let go of Twilight and looked at her face before continuing. “You will always be welcome in the castle, and we can still talk through letters, alright?” Celestia said to Twilight who was now feeling a little better. Twilight nodded, and moved away from the Princess.

“Do you think I could stay in here Luna’s room for the night? If being close to me has a chance to help then I would like to stay as close as I can.” Twilight asked looking off to the side and away from Celestia. Celestia said nothing and just used her magic to teleport a bed from one of the diplomatic suites and into Luna’s room. She then bid Twilight a good rest of her day and left to return to her royal duties.

Twilight still had hours of daylight left but she was still tired and wanted to be alone for a while. She went over to the bed and thought of her journal. With a small pulse of energy she teleported her saddlebags with her journal to her. Taking out the small book and a quill, Twilight started writing. The familiarity of this made her feel slightly better and when she finished she was able to go to sleep with a smile on her face.

Author's Notes:

I have been pretty busy with the fourth of July and family visiting, just a bunch of stuff that has distracted me from writing. Also this chapter was written in one long take at midnight where I am and without editing beside a few glaring errors I saw, sorry. For anyone who doesn't know, the "filly Luna" that Twilight imagined was Nyx from Pen Stroke's story Past Sins and is not my own character. I simply really like that story and it is one that sparked my interest in trying to write so I wanted to make an homage to it.

Recovery and Returning home part 1:

Recovery and Returning Home Part 1:

Twilight did not sleep for long, and when she woke it was still the same day, just a few hours later. Twilight looked over from her guest bed to Luna who was still sleeping. She was about to get up and go find a bathroom to freshen up a bit when she heard Luna’s thoughts.

“Twilight, are you nearby?” Luna asked. Twilight quickly found her focus and responded.

“Yes Princess, what do you need?” Twilight asked stopping in her tracks near the door.

“I am waking up. I don’t know if I will be able to move around by myself and would appreciate the help if it is not too much trouble.” Luna said. Not long after that Luna did start to move around on the bed. Twilight approached the bed and sat in front of it. Luna got up from her bed, very slowly and with great effort.

“Good morning Princess Luna.” Twilight said happily, causing Luna to jump slightly. Luna looked over at her in surprise.

“You were in my room?” Princess Luna asked.

“Oh, right you were asleep when that happened. I can explain everyth-” Twilight began but got cut off by her stomach growling. Luna started giggling slightly before her own stomach started to rumble. Causing Twilight to start laughing as well.

“Maybe you could explain while we go get a bite to eat. I am famished and it looks like we are just in time for dinner.” Luna said recovering from the impromptu laughing session. Twilight nodded and stood beside Luna’s bed ready to support the Princess if she needed it. Luna got out of the bed and nearly fell over, but she quickly found her balance with Twilight’s help and they made their way out the door. Twilight starting her explanation of the events that transpired earlier that day on their way to the dining hall.

Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and Twilight’s friends from Ponyville were all gathered around the royal dining table eating dinner. Celestia had already explained most of the situation to the gathered ponies. But all the ponies assembled were surprised when both Twilight and Luna walked into the dining hall.

“And besides that, nothing else happened that I know of.” Twilight Said. However when she noticed that no one else was speaking and was staring at them. Suddenly Luna Cleared her throat.

“Are we what ponies call, fashionably late?” Luna asked. Causing the ponies in the dining hall to burst into laughter. The two new arrivals found some seats and started eating. Twilight and Luna were discussing magic, Twilight was astounded at the knowledge Luna had on the subject. Luna had known a spell to help conceal her presence in ponyville and had been able to explain the complex in terms that even Rainbow Dash could have understood. They both decided to try the spell when they were done with Dinner.

“So Luna, I must ask, When do you think you will be well enough to go to Ponyville?” Princess Celestia asked as ponies were finishing their food. Luna tapped her chin, thinking.

“If all goes well then I should be ready to go by tomorrow, would that be alright?” Luna replied, looking at both Twilight and Celestia. Celestia nodded her approval, as did Twilight who was starting to get excited for her studies to continue under Luna.

“Well then, I will arrange for a fleet of carriages to bring all of you back to ponyville after lunch tomorrow. But for now, it is getting late, we should all rest up for tomorrow.” Celestia said. Getting up from the table. The other assembled ponies got up as well, all saying goodnight to each other as they retired to bed. Twilight was supporting Luna again as they left for the night.

When they finally got back to Luna’s room, Luna was basically walking by herself. The food seeming to have done her some good. Luna got into her bed and looked ready to fall asleep when Twilight spoke up.

“Princess, are we still going to try putting the glamor spell on you?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, but I think you should be able to put the glamor on me without me doing much. You can try if you want.” Princess Luna said. “I think disguising me as a pegasus would do nicely. I could still use magic through the glamor so it won’t matter that much.” She finished.

“Alright. I’ll get right on that.” Twilight replied.

“And after you go to sleep, I would like you to try and contact me in my dreams, we should test if that will actually work.” Luna said before laying her head down on her pillow and drifting off to sleep.

Twilight got to work on the spell. Her magic reaching out toward the princess’ sleeping, it started to coil around Luna and reached a focus around her horn. When the spell was done, Twilight could no longer see Luna’s horn. Knowing her work for the day was done, Twilight went over to her bed and went to sleep.

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Twilight was floating in blackness surrounded by stars. She knew this was a dream and so she tried calling out to Luna. Suddenly there was ground underneath her and Luna was in front of her.

“Looks like it works, anything you want to do?” Twilight asked.

“We could continue our conversations on magic, or we could simply talk.” Luna said thinking of things to do.

“I think talking sounds wonderful. We haven’t gotten many chances to talk in the past, so it would be great opportunity to learn more about each other.” Twilight said. To which Luna nodded. They spent the rest of the night talking about their interests and other topics of which they were both interested. Twilight knew that both of them would be fine living in Ponyville.

Recovery and Returning home part 2:

Recovery and Returning Home Part 2:

“Some pony should get in there an’ wake them two up. It’s nearly noon already.” Came a voice from outside, waking Twilight up.

“Princess Luna might need to sleep more to help recover.” Came another voice, this one softer. Twilight yawned, knowing that she would have to reply. She looked over to Luna’s bed and saw the Princess stirring.

“We’re up girls! We’ll be out in a minute.” Twilight called, stopping the conversation outside the door and causing Luna to awaken fully. Luna looked at Twilight and gave her a smile, which Twilight returned. Both Ponies got out of their respective beds and proceeded to move toward the door. Behind the door stood Twilight’s five pony friends and Spike.

The gathered ponies looked slightly surprised to see Luna without her horn, but Twilight explained the situation and everypony relaxed visibly.

“Alright, let’s go get lunch then.” Rainbow Dash exclaimed while pointing in a direction opposite of the kitchens or dining area.

“Um… Rainbow, that way doesn’t go to the dining hall, that leads to the prisons.” Twilight explained, shocking the pegasus.

“Wait, this castle actually has prisons?” Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight was holding back laughter as she saw her friend start freaking out.

“She is joking Rainbow Dash, Celestia stopped that practice a few hundred years ago, she felt that cities should have separate prisons to save on space in the castle. There were too many ponies being imprisoned.” Luna explained. The gathered ponies looked more unnerved at this than being reassured.

“Alright... Well how about getting lunch then.” Rarity said, hoping to change the topic. Everypony nodded, and walked toward the dining hall.

Lunch was uneventful, mostly just talking about the excitement they all felt about returning to Ponyville. Luna, having nothing to share on this topic remained silent and listened trying to get a grip on how life in ponyville would be different from royal life.

Twilight kept close to Luna and reassured her that everything would be fine.

“Twilight,” Rarity called, getting said unicorn’s attention. “I don’t mean to pry but, how are you going to introduce Luna to the town? Even without her horn ponies will still remember her from Nightmare Night.” This made both Twilight and Luna stop and look at each other. They hadn’t even thought of the fact that Luna had visited Ponyville before. Twilight looked down at Luna’s cutie mark, still a crescent moon surrounded by a swath of black night. She then looked back up at Luna’s face, to see her blushing. A second later, Twilight realised why and started blushing as well before looking away.

“I think we might have to put a glamor over her cutie mark, that would help a bit. As for introducing her, I have no clue.” Twilight said gathering her thoughts. She had thought of of passing her off as another student at Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns, before remembering they were trying to pass her off as a pegasus.

“Eh, just say she is your new marefriend or something.” Rainbow said without thinking about the words she was saying

“RAINBOW DASH!” nearly everypony else yelled at the same time. Twilight and Luna were both sporting new blushes of embarrassment. Rainbow Dash was fending off Rarity and Fluttershy while being berated by Applejack and having Pinkie Pie throw cupcakes at her.

“Where did Pinkie get those cupcakes?” Luna asked Twilight despite the embarrassment she felt at the moment. Twilight simply shrugged and turned to Luna slowly.

“Do you think ponies would buy it if we tried what Rainbow said?” Twilight asked, her voice low and fighting to keep herself from blushing any more. Luna was caught completely off guard.

“Are you suggesting we actually pretend to be a couple in front of Ponyville?” Luna asked making sure she hadn’t misheard Twilight. Twilight looked away slightly.

“Well it is the only thing we have so far and it could work if you think about it. We will probably be staying close to each other the entire time and you will be staying in the library with me.” Twilight explained, still looking away. Luna looked like she was contemplating what Twilight had said.

“It might work, but, are you sure it wouldn’t be really awkward?” Luna asked. Twilight nodded, and then turned to look at her friends who were still mad at Rainbow Dash.

“Girls!” Twilight called, giving Rainbow some room to breathe. With eveypony giving her their attention she began speaking again. “I think that Rainbow Dash has a fairly good idea.” She said.

The room was dead silent, her friends staring at her. Twilight quickly continued into her explanation.

“Think about it this way. Nopony besides you girls, and you too Spike, know why I came to Canterlot. We could pretend that I came here to see my marefriend from when I lived here and she decided to come back to Ponyville with me.” She said, most of her friends were looking at her in disbelief, until Luna spoke up,

“I think it could work, I am a fairly good actor, and if we are going to be staying with each other we should have a cover story that has some credence.” Luna explained.

“And if anypony asks more than a few cursory questions what will you two do?” Rarity asked.

“Then we will do whatever we can to convince them otherwise.” Twilight said with confidence. Confidence that was broken as soon as Rainbow Dash opened her mouth.

“So if ponies ask to see you two kiss you’ll just have to do it without hesitation to convince them. Right?” Again everypony was silent.

“We’ll just have to cross that bridge if we ever get to it.” Luna said looking toward the floor. An awkward silence fell over the room that nopony could shake off. Luckily they were saved by the arrival of a royal guard coming to escort them to where Celestia was waiting.

Twilight’s friends managed to move past the awkwardness incubating in the room, but the unicorn herself was still trying to shake it off. Finally Luna walked past Twilight and walked up to her and gave her a slight nudge in the direction she was supposed to walk.

“Come on Twilight, we are needed elsewhere.” Luna said. Twilight shook herself out of her daze and followed Luna out the door.

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“Your Highness. Your sister Princess Luna and her Traveling companions are just outside.” A royal guard said to Princess Celestia. The Princess Dismissed the guard, who let the ponies outside of the room.

“Hello everypony, I trust you are all ready for the trip back to Ponyville.” Princess Celestia stated. The gathered ponies all turned to show their packed saddlebags and gave affirmatives.

“Good, now if you will follow me, I have a few carriages ready to take you to Ponyville, I hope you all have figured out who you wish to sit with.” Princess Celestia said walking out of the castle interior and out into a courtyard where four carriages awaited.

Pinkie hopped into one, being followed shortly by Rarity. Applejack and Rainbow Dash walked over to another carriage and sat down. Fluttershy had Spike on her back, and they took the third carriage. Princess Luna and Twilight moved toward the last carriage but were stopped by Celestia once again.

“I know you two can take care of yourselves, but please, be careful and look after eachother.” Princess Celestia said while nuzzling both ponies, having to bend down because Luna was now much shorter than her.

“We will try. But Pinkie’s parties can get crazy.” Twilight joked. Getting a laugh out of Celestia. Celestia stood back and bid her student and Sister farewell. The two ponies boarded their carriage and not long after the carriages started to take off, everypony waved goodbye to Celestia.

“Not long ‘till we get to Ponyville. Where am I going to be sleeping?” Luna asked

“Well there is a guest room that has a bed in it. Would that be okay.” Twilight replied

“That would be just fine with me.” Luna said. Smiling at Twilight.

Author's Notes:

I don't know why I decided to make this in two parts instead of just making two separately named chapters. I still feel like most of this is really rough. I can't edit it though right now, because I would try tearing it apart and get nothing done. Hope this is still enjoyable.

Moving in

Author's Notes:

Just want to say something right away. Sorry for taking so long with this and for it being slightly shorter than the other chapters. Things have been very busy in my life the past week or so and I haven't had time to write. If you like this story, thanks for one, and also I hope you understand. I will try making the next chapter longer if that helps

Moving In

The flight from Canterlot was finally over, and all six carriages were sitting in front of the Golden Oaks Library.

“Thank you Sirs, Tell Princess Celestia we appreciate this when you get back.” Twilight Sparkle said giving a slight bow to the assembled guards.

“It was a pleasure to have you and your friends miss Sparkle. Princess Luna, you will be missed at the castle while you recover.” The guards responded. The guards then got into formation once again and began their return to Canterlot.

“Well, this has been fun but it has been a few days since I was at my shop, I simply must get back to designing.” Rarity said, she bid farewell and troted off toward the Carousel Boutique. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash all agreed that they too had things that they needed to check on and had to leave as well.

“Well I guess that just leaves getting you settled in, huh?” Twilight asked Luna. Luna simply nodded and opened the door to what would be her home for the foreseeable future.

“Come on Spike, we gotta get the guest room ready.” Twilight said picking Spike up with her magic. The two of them walked past Luna, who seemed to be trying to accommodate herself to the space. Heading up the stairs Twilight stopped at the first door. Opening the door she saw a barren room with a bed and personal bookcase in the corner.

“Alright, let’s start by making sure the sheets and bed are clean, then we can start having Luna bring her stuff up.” Twilight said.

“Roger.” Spike called back after Twilight put him down. He ran over to the bed and started to gather the sheets and pillows. Twilight walked over and looked for anything that would need cleaning. She saw nothing out of place, because of the lack of things to clean no doubt.

“I hope that during Luna’s stay we can make this place feel more homey, because right now this feels barren.” Twilight said, turning toward Spike and helping him with the bed. Not long after they had all the sheets off the bed and brought them downstairs to wash. Spike took over that part of the job while Twilight went over to Luna.

“We can start bringing the stuff that you brought into the guest room Luna.” Twilight said, bringing Luna out of her thoughts.

“Oh, yes of course, lead the way.” Luna said. Once again Twilight walked up the stairs to the guest room.

“So this place is not decorated or very homey, but because you will be staying here for a while we can always go get some furniture and decorations if you want.” Twilight explained as she opened the door and walked inside. Luna looked at the room, and smiled a bit.

“I look forward to it, I didn’t actually get that much say in how my room back at the castle was designed. This would be a nice change of pace.” Luna said. Twilight smiled at that.

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A few hours later, all the belongings Luna had brought were in her new room and it was about time for bed. Spike was making dinner while Twilight and Luna were discussing how they would introduce Luna tomorrow when they went into town for some extra furnishing for Luna’s room.

“So,” Twilight began looking over the list that they had just spent the last thirty minutes making. “We are going with the name Moonjumper when we are out and about then?” Twilight asked to make sure. Luna nodded, and then looked back at her cutie mark, now a full moon surrounded by blue-grey clouds due to the glamor Twilight had put on it.

“So where will be going tomorrow?” Luna asked.

“Well first I think we should go find my friends and tell them what name you will be going by while you’re here. Then we will just be going around the market, picking out some stuff and picking up a few things that I need.” Twilight said, she was about to continue when Spike called out

“Dinner's ready, come and get it!” Twilight and Luna both got up and walked over to the small dining room. They picked up plates with prepared vegetables and flowers and sat at the table.

“Looks great as usual Spike. I bet it tastes delicious.” Twilight said, seconds later she was digging into her plate. Luna took bites from her own plate at a more reserved pace. The food was delicious.

The next day Twilight was waiting downstairs for Luna, checking her saddlebags for her bit bag once again, and again she found a nicely sized bag, full of money she could use to fund this shopping trip. Not long after that, Luna came downstairs.

“Alright ‘Moonjumper’, you ready to go tour Ponyville when it isn’t celebrating Nightmare Night?” Twilight asked. Luna laughed slightly before responding.

“Of course my dearest Twilight, you have told me so much from all your letters.” Princess Luna responded sarcastically, while also bringing up their cover story once again. The two of them walked out into the streets of Ponyville, which were as busy as they ever got in such a small town. Their first destination, Sweet Apple Acres.

Introducing Moonjumper.

Author's Notes:

Frist thing to note. Luna will be called Moonjumper for basically this entire chapter unless. If anyone can think of a better way that will not involve switching names a million times and potentially confusing people then feel free to share.
Second I might have played around with where things are located in relationship to one another, I
think the school house is actually supposed to be way closer to town than Sweet Apple Acres is but I just wanted that scene in there.
Finally, if I made any glaring mistakes I would appreciate it if someone could tell me because I tend to speed read through edits and miss very obvious things I did wrong.

Introducing Moonjumper.

“Alright, First thing, I will start calling you Moonjumper until we get back to the library.” Twilight said. Luna noded her agreement, signaling Twilight to start talking again.

“So, Moonjumper, Applejack’s farm is just outside of Ponyville, but because it is the farthest away I thought we would get it out of the way first.” Twilight said walking down the streets leading out of town. ‘Moonjumper’ followed close behind.

“So what is Applejack’s farm Like? ‘Tia has started buying apples from their farm for the kitchens.” Moonjumper said, Her previous trip to Ponyville not including much of the outskirts of the town.

“It’s actually pretty big. I honestly do not know how Applejack and Big Mac manage to harvest the entire crop every year. The entire farm is entirely run by Applejack’s immediate family. Other than that, it is a pretty normal apple farm.” Twilight said, a hoof on her chin as she thought. Moonjumper giggled a bit at this, causing Twilight to look at her confusedly.

Not long afterwards, the two of them had reached Sweet Apple Acres. Walking toward the Farmhouse, Twilight heard a bell ringing. Twilight smiled, knowing that an Apple family meal was coming.

“C’mon Moonjumper, I think you will like this. And it will let us talk to Applejack sooner.” Twilight said running toward the house. Moonjumper following close behind. When they reached the door, Twilight heard hooves pounding behind her and Moonjumper.

Looking over her shoulder Twilight saw Applejack, who was being followed by an unexpected guest.

“Oh. Hi Twilight! Hi Lun-mmmh” Rainbow Dash started but was cut off by Twilight’s magic stopping her mouth and muffling her. Twilight ran over to the two ponies quickly, leaving Moonjumper behind for a second.

Twilight pulled her two friends in close before whispering to them. “Alright girls, Since Luna is supposed to be pretending to be new here I need you to call her Moonjumper whenever you see her, alright?” Her two friends looked confused at first but nodded affirmative.

“Well, thanks for telling us. You girls want to stop in for lunch?” Applejack asked motioning toward Moonjumper who was standing awkwardly by the door. Twilight nodded and the three all walked back to where Moonjumper waited.

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Twilight and Moonjumper were walking away from the farm, stuffed from the enormous amounts of food that they had just eaten.

“Never let me do that again.” Moonjumper said flatly while rubbing her stomach.

“Just be glad you didn’t have the same experience I did my first time. I probably ate twice as much as the two of us did when I first came to Ponyville.” Twilight said. “I’m just glad we got Rainbow out of the way, I could do without a repeat of our first meeting.”

The two continued down the path back to town in silence, Twilight was thinking about who they should try to find to tell about Luna’s alias. However they were interrupted by three fillies who were speeding by.

“Oh, hello girls, you still crusading for the day?” Twilight asked The Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“We just got out of school actually so we were heading toward Sugarcube Corner, we have some plans after that though.” Scootaloo said. Suddenly she noticed that Twilight was not alone.”Hey Twilight, who is your friend?”

“Oh, this is Moonjumper. She is my marefriend from Canterlot. She decided to come live with me and I was just showing her around town.” Twilight said trying to sound as casual about it as possible. The three fillies looked between each other, looks of confusion on their faces.

“We didn’t know you had a special somepony, and I don’t think you said anything about it on hearts and Hooves day?” Sweetie Belle asked breaking the silence. This caused Twilight to panic a bit, having forgotten about that incident for the most part she had not thought of anyway to validate her story. Luckily Moonjumper cut in and explained for her

“That is actually because I asked her to keep our relationship just between us. I was pretty shy when I lived in Canterlot and was to scared to come down to Ponyville, instead Twilight sent me the sweetest letter. That is part of the reason I finally mustered the courage to come down here. Also I wanted to be nearer to Twilight.” Moonjumper said, nuzzling Twilight, who returned the gesture only slightly hesitantly.

“Thanks for the save there” Twilight quickly said through her thoughts.

“I told you I could perform, and also you’re welcome.” Moonjumper replied. A second later Moonjumper broke away from Twilight, slightly embarrassed that they had just done that in front of three fillies.

“Anyway, we were on our way to Sugarcube corner to go introduce Moonjumper to Pinkie Pie. Would you girls mind if we tag along with you?” Twilight said.

“Yeah why not, maybe Moonjumper could tell us more about herself on the way.” Apple Bloom said looking with interest at the mare in question.

“I suppose so. What would you like to know?” Moonjumper replied

“First, how about telling us about how you got your Cutie Mark.” Scootaloo said as the group started again down the road, with Moonjumper beginning a tale that only Twilight knew was completely off the top of her head.

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“And then Twilight went to go get out a malle-”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t mention that to anypony Moonjumper, I don’t need a repeat of that.” Twilight interjected, with a very real blush on her face despite the described event being completely made up.

Twilight had been enraptured by some of the stories that Moonjumper had told as much as the fillies but for a much different reason. Twilight did however have to draw the line somewhere, and that just so happened to be when Moonjumper was detailing the first sleepover the two had had back when they had first became friends, long before they started dating.

“But it was so funny. Oh well, I guess that is the end of that story.” Moonjumper said, eliciting a collective ‘aww’ from the three fillies with them.

“Well that was just in time, there is Sugarcube Corner!” Twilight called, getting away from the topic of the last story.

“Cool!” Scootaloo called, she then turned back to Moonjumper and Twilight before speaking again. “It was really cool to meet you Moonjumper. You have an awesome marefriend Twilight.” With that Scootaloo turned around and raced toward the establishment, followed shortly by Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom who gave similar compliments as they passed.

Twilight looked happily after the three fillies as they disappeared into the confectionary shop. And once the door closed she shot Moonjumper a slightly annoyed look.

“Really?” She said simply. This caused Moonjumper to laugh slightly.

“And what story is that enthused reaction for? Moonjumper asked playfully.

“The story of our ‘first date’. Do you really think that I would drag somepony to the Library and claim it was a date?” Twilight explained not really mad despite her best attempt to sound like she was. Moonjumper gave a short laugh at the pouty look on Twilight’s face.

“I’m sorry, it was just the first thing that came to mind. At least the fillies got some entertainment from it.” Moonjumper said trying to get a laugh from Twilight. Twilight did laugh a little,

“Yeah I guess you’re right.Our real first date would be way better than that,” Twilight said without thinking about what she had just said. Moonjumper smirked and decided to see how far she could push this before Twilight caught on.

“Oh, what did you have in mind?” She asked still smirking, Twilight put a hoof to her chin for a second to think.

“Well I think we would probably have a picnic in the park, talk, watch the sun set and then walk back to your house under the stars. See much better than taking you to a library and then spending all my time reading books already.” Twilight said, still oblivious to how much she was talking about this date.

“That does sound good. It’s a DATE then.” Moonjumper said emphasising her words. Twilight was about to respond when what she had been saying finally caught up with her brain. She facehooved, which in turn caused Moonjumper to bust out into a full on laughing fit.

“Let’s just go say hi to Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said flatly.

“Awe… Does that mean no da-” Moonjumper started before Twilight used her magic to hold mouth shut. Moonjumper started laughing but let the subject drop. She followed Twilight in through the double doors, only to be assaulted by a blur of pink.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie. You must be new here ‘cause I didn’t recognize you and I know everypony, and I mean everypony, in Ponyville.” Pinkie Pie rattled off at a million miles per hour. Moonjumper’s head was still spinning so Twilight took care of the introductions.

“This is Moonjumper, She is my marefriend from Canterlot. When I just went to visit my parents we met up and we decided that we really wanted to be closer together, so she decided to come live with me.” Twilight explained, helping Moonjumper back to her hooves.

*GASP* “Do you know what this calls for.” Pinkie paused for a moment, gathering a large lung full of air. “A WELCOME MY BEST FRIEND’S MAREFRIEND TO PONYVILLE PARTY!” She Shouted while pulling her party cannon out of seemingly nowhere.

“Actually, we are still getting a few things set up back at the Library. We could have the party later tonight after we get everything done.” Twilight said, not fazed at all by the sudden appearance of the large and cumbersome cannon. Moonjumper however had seemingly had her mind shut off at that moment.

Twilight said goodbye to Pinkie and led Moonjumper out of the building by one of her hooves. It wasn’t until they were at least two blocks down the road that she regained her ability to speak.

“Where did that even come from?” Moonjumper asked incredulously.

“Pinkie never leaves home without her party cannon.” Twilight said simply.

“But it just appeared out of thin air, how could she do that without magic?” Moonjumper pressed. Twilight simply shrugged.

“That’s just how Pinkie Pie is.” Twilight explained.

“That…. That actually made sense.” Moonjumper said her confusion fading away for a reason that even she couldn’t actually explain. The two mares continued down the road heading for a furniture store to start picking stuff out for Moonjumper’s room.

The Party.

The Party.

Twilight and Luna were sitting around the table in the library, having picked up a good amount of furniture that was luckily easy on Twilight’s bit bag. The furniture, now set up as Luna wanted thanks to Twilight’s teleportation magic, made Luna’s room feel less like a guest room and more like a true bedroom.

“So when do you think Pinkie will come over to set everything up for the party?” Luna asked, Twilight closed her eyes and thought for a second.

“Hhmm, Three.” Twilight said, eyes still closed. Luna was very confused now.

“What do you mean three? Three hours, three minutes?” Luna asked, hoping for answers.

“....Two…..One!” Twilight said, suddenly the room went dark as night, Luna fumbled around in the unnatural darkness for only a second before the room was flushed with light once more.

“SURPRISE!” Called out many pony voices. Luna fell back off of her pillow, surprise evident on her face. Luna looked around the room seeing at least fifty ponies now standing around the Library's ground floor. A large banner reading, ‘Welcome Moonjumper’ and ‘Twilight X Moonjumper’ hung from the ceiling. Luna was instantly overwhelmed.

“Hey Moonjumper, nice to see ya again.” Rainbow Dash called, not noticing how her mere presence in the room was confusing ‘Moonjumper even more.

“Hello Moonjumper. I’m Fluttershy, another one of Twilight’s friends. It’s nice to meet you.” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Hello darling, I am Rarity. you may have seen some of my designs around Canterlot. Twilight is a close friend of mine.”

“Hello.” Moonjumper said, still dumbfounded, but acting more on auto-pilot than anything. The assembled ponies seemed to finally figure out that they were not really helping and made a few excuses to give Moonjumper and Twilight a little time to get their bearings.

“You okay, Moonjumper?” Twilight asked the dazed ‘pegasus’.

“How long have they been in here?” Moonjumper asked looking at all the ponies mingling around the library.

“Oh, they just got here. They didn’t hear anything when we were saying your real name.”

“How is that possible!?” Moonjumper asked. Her perception of reality just barely remaining intact. Twilight simply shrugged.

“Pinkie Pie.” was Twilight’s simple response.

“Oh.” Moonjumper said. With that, Moonjumper’s mind snapped.

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“You sure you’re okay now?” Twilight asked, helping Moonjumper to her hooves.

“Yes, I think I was just… over stimulated.” Moonjumper said, looking around again and taking in the party without bothering to question how it had been set up in literally one second. There were a few tables with snacks and drinks. Games were scattered around the room. Pinkie seemed to be popping up around the room in different places that she couldn’t have gotten to in any reasonable time by walking.

From Moonjumper’s limited party experience, this was probably a great one.

“So what are we supposed to do?” Moonjumper asked, unsure of what was expected of her.

“Well, go around and mingle, play some games, maybe dance if you know how.” Twilight said, a hoof to her chin in thought. “Basically anything you want, as long it doesn’t bring anypony down. You want to go play ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony?” Twilight asked, motioning with a hoof to a line where ponies were being blindfolded and given a bunch of fuzzy yarn with a tac keeping it together.

“Alright. How do you play?”

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Finally it was Moonjumper’s turn. She stepped up to the specified area and put on a blindfold. The pony in charge spun her around. Finally, she felt the yarn ‘Tail’ being pressed into her hoof. She brought her hoof up ready to place the ‘tail’ where she felt it should go.

“Luna,” Twilight’s voice came through her thoughts. Luna stopped for a second. “You are facing the wrong way, turn to your left.” Luna felt slightly foolish for forgetting her orientation, but with Twilight’s help it was soon corrected. Luna was about to proceed again when a thought struck her.

“Hey Twilight, would you mind telling me where to place the tail?” Luna asked.

“Oh, alright, since it is your first time playing, I guess I could give you some help. Move your hoof up and to the right.” Twilight thought back, unknown to Luna, a smirk had come across her face. “More, More, just a little bit more. There. Perfect.” Twilight said suppressing her laughter at the sight before her.

Luna took her blindfold off, ready to behold the ‘tail’ in its proper place and was rather confused when it seemed to be nowhere in sight. Finally she looked at Twilight who simply pointed behind Luna. Luna looked and saw the ‘tail’ tacked to the bust on Twilight’s table. Before she could question this, Twilight was pulling her away.

“I don’t know if this is your game Moonjumper, how about we get some food instead?” Twilight said while trying to suppress her wild laughter.

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A few hours had passed since the first ill fated game of ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony’ and the party had started to quiet down. Many ponies had already started leaving for their own homes leaving Twilight, Moonjumper and their friends as well as a few Ponies the group was sure were just seeing who could last the longest before they left. Twilight and friends resolved to ignore those ponies as they only served to make things uncomfortable for the group.

“So how was your first day in Ponyville Moonjumper.” Twilight asked.

“Eventful to say the least, I can’t believe I just got here yesterday night. I already feel like I’ve had a week’s worth of experiences.” Moonjumper replied, looking back on her first day and marveling at all she had been through.

“Well it certainly was nice to meet you, Moonjumper. It is not every day we get a new pony to add to our little circle of friends.” Rarity said, “I hope we get to know eatchother very well, maybe i could get you even interest you in a dress for any special ocassions.” She finished flashing her eyes obviously over to Twilight before giving a big wink.

“I’ll keep that in mind Rarity.” Moonjumper said before she let out a long yawn.

“Well I think somepony needs to go get some sleep, you can go on up to your room whenever. We can clean this stuff up.” Twilight said.

“I think I will do that, thank you again for the warm welcome.” Moonjumper said before going up the stairs to her bedroom.

Author's Notes:

Well here is the next chapter. In this one I definitely started changing around what Luna was called. Some times Luna, other times Moonjumper. I hope it is not that confusing to read. If you think I need to change anything, feel free to tell me. especially if it has to do with when and how I should signal Luna is being called by her alias.

First Lessons.

First Lessons.

“So Luna, what did you want to cover in our first actual lesson?” Twilight asked. Sitting down on a cushion across from Luna. Luna was drinking a cup of tea and going over her thoughts on the lesson plans she had devised for Twilight.

“Well, I have seen first hand your prowess at magic, and I know Celestia has taught you very well so far.” Luna said, Twilight was simply sitting and nodding. “I know it sounds like filly stuff, but I want you to try lifting some things so I can get readings” At this Twilight’s face fell slightly. Luna felt slightly bad after seeing this but didn’t show it.

“I don’t want you to feel bad, this is actually going to be different than what you are thinking. Because you have changed your frequency to match my own, we can test your telekinetic strength by having you try to lift an object while I try to hold it in place. Like this we should be able to get better readings into how strong you are.” Luna explained. Twilight was now sitting at rapt attention.

Luna took a small, dense stone sphere from one of the bags that she took from Canterlot. Twilight looked upon the stone, recognizing it as one of the heaviest standardized stones used in unicorn magic testing. Luna set the stone down on the table before explaining the test in detail.

“So, we will start this test with you simply lifting this stone. As you will probably remember, this specific type of stone requires 100 lumens of magic power to lift. After you lift the stone I will start pulling the stone down again with a force of 10 lumens, increasing by 10 every 10 seconds. We will stop once you are no longer able to lift the stone.” Luna explained.

“And what if I manage to overpower you?” Twilight said jokingly. Luna however looked dead serious.

“If you manage to overpower me, Lumens would no longer be a suitable measurement for magical power.” Luna said.

“What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked. Lumens, from what she remembered, were the basis for quantifying unicorn power, they also related power used with the luminosity of the aura surrounding the horn.

“Lumens are a magical unit based on my own magical power. I created the first set of spheres used for testing with the smallest one being equal to one Lumen.” Luna explained.

“Oh.”

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Luna had sweat on her brow, the magical exertion was finally catching up with her. Twilight was currently matching her at 900 Lumens, both of their horns were flooding the library with light near equivalent to looking at the sun. Luna increased her magic again, the stone dropped slightly, and then twilight pushed the stone back up.

Luna knew that they would soon approach her limit of 1000 Lumens. Luna could see that Twilight was also getting near her limit, her responses were no longer as quick as they were when they started.

Another increase, another response. Another increase,

Thud

The stone sat on the table, slightly rocking back and forth from the landing on the table.

“940 Lumens, *pant* most impressive Twilight.” Luna said, trying to get her breath back. Twilight was even more exhausted than Luna and so did not respond. “I can see why Celestia wanted me to take over teaching you. *pant* She would never say it to you, *pant* You have nearly twice the raw magical power at your disposal as she does.” Luna explained. Twilight suddenly froze, her eyes wide.

“Twilight, breathe.” Luna said calmly. Twilight slowly came back to her senses, steadying herself with long deep breaths. Twilight still seemed like her world was upside down. Luna could see why. The way that Celestia was seen by the populace, it was hard to think anypony was more powerful than her. The incident with the Changeling queen notwithstanding.”

“What is your max?” Twilight asked. Genuinely curious about how outmatched she had been.

“I have a maximum magical power of 1000 Lumens. 60 points above yours. You are officially the 2nd most powerful unicorn in history in terms of raw power.”

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After the strength test, Luna and Twilight took a few minutes to regain their breath. Twilight was still a bit shocked at the numbers that they had managed to pull off. Twilight knew from at least the ursa minor event and when she got her cutie mark that she commanded a lot of magical power. But she never considered that she would nearly max out the scale.

Luna’s voice brought Twilight out of her reflection.

“Oh, sorry what was that Luna?” Twilight asked, rubbing the back of her head in slight embarrassment.

“I was simply asking if you were ready to continue with our lesson. I do have a few good ideas of how to continue now that I know we have current measurements.: Luna explained, Twilight simply nodded and waited for Luna to continue. “I assume you have heard about the so called ‘Forbidden magics’, am I correct in this?” A nod in reply. “These magics have been branded forbidden not because they are inherently evil, but because of the danger they would pose if they ever landed in the wrong hooves.” Luna told Twilight.

“So we are going to be studying these magics then?” Twilight assumed.

“That is correct. But I will say that we will not be starting for a while with actual magic. These magics require a lot of preparation before even the simplest can be safely explored.” Luna cautioned.

Luna looked down at the table, a shadow of a memory seemed to flicker across her face.

“Luna…?” Twilight asked, concerned for the Princess. She briefly considered looking directly into Luna’s thoughts to see what was causing her strife, but quickly decided against invading her privacy.

“So how do we prepare?” Twilight asked instead, hoping to pull Luna away from her seemingly darker thoughts.

“Right, it has been a while since I have taught anypony in this subject. The preparations are rather simple, but are in place as a sort of test to see if the pony is truly ready to begin. The pony wishing to learn has to prove that they will be able to resist the temptations that come with the power they are asking to control. Accomplished in steps normally. Even though I personally do not think you would do any harm to ponies, we will still follow the standard procedures.” Luna said. Twilight nodded an affirmative.

“Alright then. To begin the preparations. What is the funniest joke that you or one of your friends have come up with?” Luna asked looking dead serious.

“What?”

“You can tell a lot about a pony from their sense of humor, I will say no more until after you tell me your best joke.

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“That was definitely… Something” Luna said.

“Hehe… So did I pass?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, but if you were being graded on joke quality, you would have failed easily. I think that will be enough for today.” Luna said before she walked away from the table.

“I think I will take a nap and then we can go do something else if you want to.” Luna said going up the stairs to her room.

Author's Notes:

I feel like nothing really got done in this chapter. But it is something to set up some other concepts for the next few chapters maybe. Also I don't know if there is an actual magic scale in the show, but I like the concept, so I threw it in. If anyone has anything to say on whether this was good or not then I would appreciate hearing it so I can hopefully make the next chapter better.

Trouble on the way.

Trouble on the way.

Twilight sat across from Luna, her face scrunched up with focus, her left ear twitching slightly. Luna looked much the same, although she would occasionally break eye contact to make a note on a small pad of paper with a quill. Finally after nearly half an hour, Luna called a halt to it.

"Alright, that should do it for this test, there will be just one more after this before we can begin our study proper.” Luna said putting down her note pad. Twilight gave a sigh of relief, having passed another of the very strange tests Luna insisted she had to take.

“So what was that test for?” Twilight asked.

“That was to test if you reacted in a desired way given specific stimuli. If you had reacted in an undesirable fashion we would have to train your mind more.” Luna explained.

Twilight didn’t quite understand what constituted an undesirable response. But knowing that she had passed, she decided it wasn’t important. She stood up and stretched a bit before looking back at Luna.

“So I was thinking we should probably get out of the library for a bit; we have been studying and practicing for the last three days. What do you say, ‘Moonjumper’?” Twilight asked.

Luna got up from her pillow and stood beside Twilight at the door.

“I think that is a wonderful idea.” Luna replied.

‘Thud’

“Twilight!” Luna exclaimed, Looking at the unicorn who had suddenly fallen to the floor.

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Twilight awoke in a dark wood, a full moon hanging above the trees. Twilight did not recognize the woods but the entire place felt simply wrong.

“Okay, think Twilight. I was just at home about to leave. Now I am in a forest that just makes my skin crawl. I don’t think I was knocked out and dragged into the Everfree forest. That leaves one solution, I must be dreaming.” Twilight said, after realizing this Twilight gave a sigh of relief.

“I wouldn’t say Dream, More like Nightmare.” A voice from behind her startled her. Twilight remembered that voice, she did not turn to face the voice but took off running.

“HAHAHAHA, yes run little pony. But you can’t escape.” The voice said.

Twilight was running into the woods trying to get away so she could think of a plan to get herself out of this dream.

“Why is Nightmare Moon in my mind?” Twilight said out loud.

‘Twilight!’ came a voice from everywhere at once.

“Luna, can you hear me!? I need your help!” Twilight yelled.

‘I can hear you, what is going on?’ Luna asked now very scared.

“Nightmare Moon!” Twilight yelled. Luna suddenly went quiet for a few seconds.

“Not so fast little pony.” Nightmare Moon exclaimed blocking Twilight’s path. Twilight couldn’t see a way to lose her this time.

“So here we are again. You and me, and this time no friends to help banish me.” Nightmare moon taunted.

“What do you want Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked sounding more confident than she felt. Nightmare Moon’s eyes flashed briefly with malice.

“You dare take a formal tone with me!” Nightmare Moon began. “You and your friends may have banished me once, and then again with princess Luna in her magic bubble, but I am still far more powerful than you are.”

Twilight started backing up, hoping that Luna would be able to do something soon. Nightmare Moon was rounding on her not letting her prey get away. Suddenly an even more evil gleam came to the mare’s eye.

“Now that I think about it, I know of many ways you would be useful to me.” Nightmare Moon said still coming ever closer.

“Get away from her!” Came a voice from behind. Suddenly Nightmare Moon was pushed out of Twilight's way by Luna. Before Twilight could collect herself Luna was in front of her and she was getting a spell ready.
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Suddenly Twilight was back in the library. Nightmare Moon was nowhere to be seen, and Luna was standing over her with a worried look on her face. Twilight got up slowly, feeling rather lightheaded.

“I’m sorry, Twilight.” Luna said suddenly. Twilight was now very confused.

“What?” Twilight asked. Luna looked away from Twilight and at the ground.

“By sharing my magical frequency, Nightmare Moon was able to get at you again. And I don’t know what she might be able to do to you.” Luna explained looking mad with herself.

Twilight got up and put a hoof on Luna’s shoulder.

“Neither of us could have seen this coming, and it is not your fault. The only thing we can do if Nightmare Moon is able to invade my mind is be ready for it.” Twilight said comfortingly. Luna refused to say anything, but she did seem less angry.

“We should still tell Princess Celestia about this. She really should know if things are going to be getting more difficult.” Twilight said. She called out to Spike and walked over to her writing desk. A few minutes later, the letter was on it’s way to Celestia and Twilight was waiting to see if a response would be forthcoming. But it did not seem to be so.

“Haaa.” Twilight sighed, “So do you still feel like going out for a bit? It could help both of our heads.”

“I think that sounds lovely, Twilight.” Luna said. Once again the two ponies stood before the door.

Once outside, the two started wandering the town aimlessly. Twilight had her saddlebags on, and had her bit bag in case they decided to eat or saw something that they wanted to buy. Eventually they came to the park, and decided to sit for a bit.

“Hey you two, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash called to the two of them, before landing in front of them.

“Not much right now, but….” Twilight began but cut herself short when she remembered her recent experience. Luna took over the conversation.

“Something happened before we left Twilight’s library. It was not pleasant, and it is not something that easily has a solution.” Luna explained. Rainbow tried to offer her help, but was quickly quieted by Luna.

“I know that you want to help. But this is a very personal problem.” Luna told Rainbow Dash. She let the subject drop there, without protest.

“Well how about we go have some fun and get the problems out of your head. Hey Moonjumper could probably take you flying!”

“WHAT!?” Both Twilight and Luna yelled.

Author's Notes:

And now Nightmare Moon is back in the picture, we'll see how this develops. Next time we may have a bit of Twiluna, or at least having them start feeling differently for each other.

I was not expecting people to like this at all, I appreciate every like that I have gotten and every comment that has had anything nice to say. If you see anything wrong with anything in this chapter I would appreciate hearing about it. Bye

Flight

Flight.

“I don’t even know why I agreed to to this.” Twilight said, suddenly a bit nervous.

“C’mon Twi. This is gonna be totally fun, I just know it.” Rainbow Dash said waving off Twilight’s discomfort as she walked ahead of them.

“Where are we going anyway?” Moonjumper asked, confused as to why they couldn’t have just started their flight in the park.

“The park normally has more ponies in the air. It will be easier to move around without hitting anypony out here” Rainbow Dash explained as she continued to walk to the edge of town. “We’re actually going to where I normally practice after weather duty.”

Not long after they finished talking, they arrived at Rainbow’s training spot. A large grassy field spread out before them.

“Alright, now are we gonna start flying or what!?” Rainbow asked, a look that was almost challenging on her face. Moonjumper and Twilight looked at one another, shrugged, and then nodded.

“Okay, well I’m itching to get airborne so I’ll just see you up in the sky. Have fun and try to forget about whatever has you down for a bit.” Rainbow Dash said before rocketing into her training routine. The two ponies left on the ground looked at each other slightly confused.

“Well if she wants you to take me flying should I just get up on your back or what?” Twilight asked. She knew that some pegasi would take their non pegasus friends or special someponies flying, but she didn’t know the exact way this was accomplished.

“I am not sure, I’ve never had anypony that I could take flying. None that didn’t already have wings that is. I think that having you on my back would probably make wing movement a bit harder.” Moonjumper said. She started thinking of how she could best support herself and Twilight while in the air.

“Do you think it would work if you held me from my torso?” Twilight asked. Moonjumper shrugged, but flapped her wings and started hovering slightly above Twilight. Slowly she flew lower until she was just barely above Twilight’s back, forelegs spread out, ready to pick the unicorn up when she affirmed that she was ready. When she did Moonjumper pulled Twilight up to her while simultaneously flapping downward twice as hard to get them both in the air.

“EEEP!” Twilight squeaked as she felt the ground fall out from under her. Moonjumper hovered above the ground, letting Twilight and herself get used to the strange position that they were both in.

“Alright I think I’m good, just start slowly please.” Twilight said after a few moments. Moonjumper nodded, but when she hit her jaw against Twilight’s head they both decided it would be best to use strictly verbal and mental communication. Slowly, Moonjumper ascended, the ground falling further and further away. Something that was freaking Twilight out.

“Don’t look at the ground, not unless it is where we are going alright.” Moonjumper said, having felt Twilight tense up as they left the ground behind. Twilight just gave a small affirmative squeak, but did stop looking at the ground. This helped slightly, but her fear was far from gone.

Moonjumper started to move forward, slowly at first as she was still getting used to the extra weight. The two ponies both feeling slightly uncomfortable.

“Banking right!” Moonjumper warned as executed the familiar movements. Once again she felt Twilight tense up, and felt bad that there was little she could do to help.

‘Twilight.’ Moonjumper mentally called out. ‘Do you want me to go back to the ground for a bit?’

‘Yes!’ was Twilight’s reply. Moonjumper stopped flapping and started to glide in a wide circle to lose some altitude and soon enough they were back on solid ground. Twilight was still visibly shaking from the experience. Moonjumper felt bad seeing Twilight so uncomfortable.

“Twilight, are you okay?’ Moonjumper asked, worried about the unicorn.

“I don’t know. I just can’t get my mind off the idea of falling.” Twilight admitted with a small shudder. Moonjumper knew that Twilight did not have a fear of heights, as she owned a personal hot air balloon, and had been to Cloudsdale. But she could not figure out how to comfort Twilight.

“Twilight, do you not want to go flying?” Moonjumper asked, Twilight shook her head. “Twilight, you know that I will not let you fall. You don’t need to worry.” Moonjumper said.

“I know that, I just can’t get my eyes off of the ground.” Twilight said. Suddenly, Moonjumper had an idea.

“Then don’t open your eyes.” She said. Twilight looked at her as if she were crazy but she pushed on. “I want you to keep your eyes closed, and just let yourself feel the air rush over you, and don’t think about anything else.” Moonjumper explained.

“Well… I guess I could try it.” Twilight said.

“Alright close your eyes and I’ll pick you back up. And don’t think about anything but the sensations on your body as we are flying.” Moonjumper instructed. Twilight did as she was told. A few seconds later she heard Moonjumper’s wings beating against the air, and then Two strong forelegs wrapping around her midsection.

Twilight still tensed up a bit as she felt the ground fall away from her. But she put all her effort into concentrating on the sensations of flight. The wind blowing over her coat. Her mane and tale billowing out behind her. Without seeing the ground, she didn’t even know how high they were, Twilight had to admit that flying did feel amazing.

Twilight knew she could trust Moonjumper to hold her without fear of her slipping. Twilight almost felt like a stuffed animal with how tightly Luna was holding her. It felt comforting to have another pony so close to her while she was still slightly freaking out.

‘Twilight. You are going to hate me for what I’m about to do.’ Came Moonjumper’s mental voice. Suddenly the strong grip on Twilight was lost and Twilight was in free fall.

Twilight’s eyes flew open, expecting to see the ground rushing up to meet her. The ground was nowhere to be seen. Instead of fields of green grass, Twilight saw clouds below her, and Moonjumper was right before her looking at her with a smile. Twilight, to her benefit, was managing to refrain from screaming.

“Spread your body out!” Moonjumper yelled to Twilight. Moonjumper demonstrated and her descent was slowed a bit. Twilight did this herself and felt a lot more controlled in her descent. Moonjumper was still smiling at her and despite the fact that Twilight was seemingly falling to her death, she felt a sudden ease come over her.

For a few more moments Moonjumper let Twilight dive. Twilight felt a wave of relief wash over her as Moonjumper as back over her and wrapped her forelegs around her. This time she kept her eyes open as they flew above the clouds. Seeing what they were doing gave her a sense of context that made all of the sensations she experienced with her eyes closed feel like cheap imitations.

Moonjumper could see Twilight looking around in wonder. She felt happy knowing that her rather reckless stunt had ended up helping Twilight fully enjoy the flight.

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“That was incredible!” Twilight exclaimed as Moonjumper landed once again. Rainbow Dash landed not long after, coming to a halt right before the pair.

“You guys looked pretty good up there. How did it go?” Rainbow asked looking from one pony to the other.

“Fantastic!” Twilight began. “Moonjumper is an amazing flier, definitely not as fast as you, but she moves so gracefully through the air that after I got over my initial fear of falling. It was amazing to see what she could do in the air.”

Moonjumper gave a slight blush at the compliments that Twilight was continuing to shower on her. Luckily Rainbow Dash was quick to get Twilight’s attention off the flight.

“That’s great. Glad you guys enjoyed it, but it is getting late. I think I’m going home, alright.” Rainbow said.

“That sounds like a good idea, I am really tired after all that.” Moonjumper said, her wings drooping slightly.

“Oh, right. Hehe.” Twilight said scratching her head with a hoof. “Well then I guess we should head back to the library.”

“Agreed.” Moonjumper said. “Goodbye Rainbow Dash, this was a great way to unwind after what happened at the library.”

With that, the three ponies split into two groups, headed for their respective homes.

Author's Notes:

Well here is the next chapter. I have no idea. I'll probably edit some of this stuff later.

A Few Weeks Later

Author's Notes:

So I have been having a large block writing this, I feel like this chapter is awful but I feel I have to get something out so I can try to move past this chapter and get back on track. Hopefully the next chapter will be better, I will try to come back to this and fix it up later. Also I am going to be calling Luna, Moonjumper, in nearly all circumstances now, mainly just because I didn't want to switch throughout chapters like I did in previous.

A few Weeks later:

“Twilight!” Moonjumper called out. She had woken up a bit later than usual. She hadn’t seen Twilight since she had gotten up, Spike didn’t seem to be around either. The library seemed very empty without her housemates around.

It had been three weeks since Twilight first had Nightmare Moon appear in her mind, and their subsequent flight. In that time, Moonjumper and Twilight had continued with their lessons, although they had taken a break to teach Twilight how to better protect her own mind. Luna had also decided to just go by moonjumper even at the library after a close call with somepony walking into the library.

“Well now what do I do?” Moonjumper said to herself. She had already eaten, and she didn’t feel like going out by herself. She contented herself with wandering through the library. Twilight had given her permission to go anywhere, given that she would be living there for the foreseeable future.

“Twilight.” Moonjumper said quietly to herself. Moonjumper had been thinking a lot about the unicorn lately. She didn’t think this was overly strange, Twilight was the first pony to try to be her friend since she had gotten back from the moon. Twilight had saved her from the clutches of her demented persona twice, and was now shouldering some of the burden of keeping the Nightmare back.

Moonjumper shook her head. Taking a moment to realize where she had wondered to while she was not paying attention. She was slightly confused to find herself in Twilight’s room, just sitting in front of the door.

Shaking her head, she got up and looked around the room a bit. She had been in Twilight’s room before, and it was a fitting room for Twilight. Still full of books and a balcony for looking out at the night sky through her telescope.

Moonjumper walked over to where Twilight’s bedside bookcase. Twilight had shown her the bookcase quickly when she had given her the full library tour, but it was only in passing.

She wondered what type of books Twilight would keep next to her bed. Moonjumper was not a nosy pony but she decided to look through a few of the books. She read a few titles that were familiar to her, a few magical theory books, a few Daring Doo adventure stories, and a few books that had the name Zecora written on them, books that Twilight had borrowed from the zebra no doubt.

One book in particular managed to catch her eye. It was a simple book with no title on it’s spine. Pulling this book out, Moonjumper saw that the front cover had Twilight’s name written on it.

“This must be Twilight’s journal!” Moonjumper exclaimed. Without thinking she ruffled the pages but did not look at any of them. However she quickly realized that her hoof had stopped moving toward the end of the book, but more pages were seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

“An infinity spell,” Moonjumper said, pulling her hooves away from the book and holding it in her magic, “impressive, Twilight, most impressive.” Moonjumper put the book back on the shelf, not wanting to intrude any further into Twilight’s personal journal.

Moonjumper left the room after the book was back in it’s place. The rest of the room held nothing for her and she had tread to far in already.

“Moonjumper, are you up yet” Twilight’s mind voice suddenly breaking through Moonjumpers thoughts.

“Yes Twilight, where are you and Spike?” Moonjumper asked to the empty library.

“We had to go to sugarcube corner for something. You should come over too, Pinkie says she has something planned for today.” Twilight said,

“Sure thing, be over in a few minutes. See you soon.” Moonjumper responded, moving toward the door.

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“Alright everypony, is everything in position?” Twilight asked her friends.

“I got the decorations all done.” Rainbow Dash said, flying away from the streamers she had just put up.

“Cake, is frosted and ready to eat!” Pinkie Pie called out from the kitchen.

“And the food and drinks are all ready as well.” Rarity called from the snack table.

“Alright everypony, it should only be any second that Moonjumper comes through those doors. I just hope that she enjoys this.” Twilight said, an apprehensive look on her face.

“Twilight, there ain't no reason to be nervous. Ah know Moonjumper is gonna appreciate what you are trying to do.” Applejack comforted Twilight, putting a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight seemed to calm down a little at this and took a few deep breaths.

“Thanks, I just really want this to go smoothly.” Twilight said.

“And it will. Don’t worry.” Applejack said.

“Twilight, she’s almost here.” Fluttershy told the assembled ponies.

“Alright everypony, get to your places.”

With that, everypony tried to find the best hiding places. Everypony waited for the guest of honor, excited to see how Moonjumper would react to a surprise party. It felt like hours to Twilight as she sat behind a bench in Sugarcube corner. She was incredibly happy that Pinkie had somehow gotten the Cakes permission to use the store for a private party today.

The sound of the front door being pushed open caused Twilight to halt her breath for a second. Once she heard the sound of hoofsteps on the wooden floorboards she jumped out of her hiding place, signaling the other hiders to do the same.

“SURPRISE!” Everypony yelled. Unlike the first time that Moonjumper was surprised at a party, she simply smiled and looked at everything and everypony with gratitude clear on her face. Twilight felt a bit of pride at being the one who had caused it.

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The party had been short due to the low guest count, but there was always a smile on everyone's faces. Twilight, Spike, and Moonjumper were walking back to the Library together in a comfortable silence. Moonjumper was happy that her friend had decided to do something special for her, even if she had been bored earlier in the day.

Suddenly Moonjumper remembered her little adventure into Twilight’s room. She felt a little guilty for doing as much as she had done to Twilight’s journal, even if she had not read anything but the title.

“Twilight?” Moonjumper asked, hoping to get a response from her.

“Yeah Moonjumper?” Twilight replied. Looking over at Moonjumper.

Moonjumper took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts. She knew that the invasion to Twilight’s journal had been small, but that could still upset Twilight.

“Twilight I was in your room earlier today and I saw your journal.” Moonjumper told her truthfully.

“What!” Twilight shouted, Moonjumper cringed back a bit, but she had expected this.

“Hold on, I wasn’t finished. I found your journal yes, but I did not read what was inside it, I would not betray your trust like that. I did see that there was powerful magic on the book and I wanted to ask you when you had cast them.” Moonjumper explained. Twilight looked a lot less upset after that.

“If that is really all you did, I guess that is okay. Let’s get inside before we start talking though.” Twilight said, taking the Library key out of her saddlebags and unlocking the door.

“So what exact spell did you want to talk about?” Twilight asked putting her saddle bags down and sitting on a cushion.

“Well I noticed that there was an infinity spell that kept making new pages, when exactly did you place such an advanced spell on that book?” Moonjumper asked

“I actually managed to do that in my first year as Celestia’s protege, after an incredibly long study session.” Twilight explained. Twilight looked over at Moonjumper and saw her jaw on the floor.

“I was not expecting that. How did you even get access to the required books?” Moonjumper asked after recovering a bit.

“Well, Celestia was open to me learning anything I wanted to just as long as I asked her first and had her there when I tried the spells for the first time. In fact there were only a few spells that she actually told me I couldn’t look at.” Twilight explained.

“Probably the spells that she wants me to teach you.” Moonjumper said quietly. She shook her head and gave a small laugh. “Speaking of teaching you, we will resume lessons tomorrow. But for now I think I’m going to turn in for the night.” Moonjumper gave a yawn as she stood up from her cushion and left for her room.

Twilight got up not long after and walked up to the room she shared with Spike. Once the door was closed and she knew she was alone she pulled her journal from the book case. She turned to the newest page and reread what she had written about the last day.

Today I got permission from the Cakes to hold tomorrow's party in the bakery, they did say we would have to confine the party to Pinkie’s room but that is more than enough room for all of us. I have been wanting to do this since Moonjumper and I went flying. It has been an experience having her here and everyday seems to be even more amazing than the last.

So, there is one more thing that I need to say. Ever since we went flying together I have felt something different toward Moonjumper. I think I may be falling for her. I can’t believe I just wrote that about a princess of Equestria.

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Twilight sighed as she flopped down on her bed. She took out her quill and inkwell.

“Today, we had a fun party at Pinkie’s but I also had a huge close call with Moonjumper. She almost read what I wrote yesterday about my feelings. Luckily she just wanted to ask me about the spells I have on my journal. I still don’t know what I would say to her if she found out.” Twilight whispered out as she wrote, once she was done writing she put the journal back on the shelf and gave a long sigh.

“What a mess.”

The First Test

The First Test.

Twilight sat up from her bed, giving a yawn as she did so. She had been up late studying for her test today. Moonjumper said that the test would simply be to cast the spell that they had been looking at for the last few weeks. The theory made sense to her, and she knew that she had the magical ability.

Despite knowing that, she still felt terrified of failing. The only difference was that her fear was not solely based on getting a bad grade, but moreso came from not wanting to disappoint Moonjumper. Ever since Twilight had come to terms with her feelings for Moonjumper, she had started trying to subtly probe the other mare about the subject. So far Moonjumper had not noticed, or if she had, she was not acknowledging it.

“Twilight!” Moonjumper voice rang out in her mind.

“Yes Moonjumper” Twilight asked after recovering from the slight shock she felt at the still slightly foreign thoughts.

“I have everything we need for the test, feel free to come down whenever you’re ready.” Moonjumper said.

“Okay.” Twilight replied. She left her room and began walking down the hallway toward the bathroom to freshen herself up.

When she finished her normal routine, Twilight looked into her mirror. She took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves.

“You’re gonna do fine Twilight, there is nothing to worry about. Moonjumper won’t think any less of you if you can’t do this, and she will be there in the room in case anything starts going wrong.” Twilight repeated to herself as she left the bathroom.

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“What is taking her so long?” Moonjumper asked nopony. She had set up the testing area and had even went to pick up the volunteer for Twilight’s test, Fluttershy, who was now sitting in the kitchen.

Moonjumper and Twilight had asked all of Twilight’s friends if they had time to help with Twilight’s test last week, after the party, and the only one who did not have plans at the time was Fluttershy. Moonjumper then further explained what her role would be, while assuring her that the entire time she would be safe.

“Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to come down while I still had bed head and morning breath, so I stopped in the bathroom.” Twilight explained before crossing the room and sitting at the table with Fluttershy. She picked up a few pieces of toast and a sliced apple that had been left out for her breakfast and scarfed them down quickly.

“It’s no problem Twilight, are you ready for the test today? If not I’m sure we could schedule another time with Fluttershy.” Moonjumper asked genuine concern in her voice as she thought of the test and what it entailed.

“I’m ready, I know I can do this.” Twilight said firmly.

“I know you’ll do great Twilight, I do wonder what this will feel like though?” Fluttershy said in her normal, soft voice.

“If reports are to be believed, it should feel no different than the disorientation one feels when awaking from a dream suddenly.” Moonjumper explained. “Now, if Twilight is done with her breakfast?” She asked, receiving an affirmative she continued. “Fluttershy could you come stand over here please? Twilight I want you to stand opposite her. Moonjumper said, motioning to the desired places on the floor for her disciple and their volunteer so that she could see everything clearly.

“Alright, Twilight, you may commence casting the spell. Fluttershy, just relax.” Moonjumper said. Twilight and Fluttershy nodded and both closed their eyes, Twilight’s face becoming one of concentration, and Fluttershy’s a look of total ease.

Moonjumper was watching with her eyes but also through the link she had with Twilight’s magic. So far everything was going fine, the tendrils of magic were weaving around Fluttershy’s body in an intricate pattern that invoked images of a spider’s web. At the same time Fluttershy’s body was going slightly limp, her head drooping down slightly more every second.

Suddenly Fluttershy was standing straight as a board again with her eyes open. There was something different about them though. Instead of the light blue irises she normally had, hers were now purple, the same purple as Twilight’s. Fluttershy looked over to Moonjumper and then back to Twilight.

“I did it, Moonjumper, I actually did it!” Fluttershy said, her voice the same as always, but the pony speaking was clearly not the normally shy pegasus.

“Yes Twilight, you did it, you successfully cast a proxy spell and in doing so passed the te-”

*Thunk*

Suddenly, Twilight’s body was on the floor passed out.

“That isn’t supposed to happen, right Moonjumper?” Twilight asked with Fluttershy’s voice.

“No, in fact you shouldn’t be able to continue casting if your body is rendered unconscious.” Moonjumper said looking for any sort of reason for what was happening while preparing to stop the spell manually.

A flicker seemed to pass over Twilight’s unconscious body, and Moonjumper nearly froze.

“Twilight I’m ending the spell now, you’ll be fine once your body wakes up, just trust me please.” Moonjumper said as she removed all the meticulously placed strings of intangible magic from Fluttershy’s body. After that was done she turned back toward Twilight’s body which was beginning to stand up again.

“Hahahaha. It is so nice to see you again my dear Luna.” Twilight said, her tone sinister. When she opened her eyes they were no longer the friendly purple they normally were. Instead they were an Icy turquoise with catlike pupils.

“What are you doing to Twilight, Nightmare Moon?” Moonjumper demanded.

“Twilight wasn’t using her body at the moment, I thought I might procure it.” Nightmare Moon said. “But the process was less easy than I thought it would be, and that small inconvenience gave you the chance to stop me. I feel my control slipping already.”

“Then I did my job.” Moonjumper said feeling happy that she had avoided the potential disaster.

“Oh yes, I’m sure it was your sense of duty as a teacher is all that motivated you to such swift action.” Nightmare Moon said, her voice drenched with sarcasm.

“what do you mean?” Moonjumper asked.

“Really… you know that you have deeper feelings for Twilight. Those thoughts are always present in your mind, it makes me sick.” Nightmare Moon deadpanned. Moonjumper looked at Twilight’s body. Her body was slowly going slack, Nightmare Moon was leaving her body.

“I have no Idea what you are talking about.” Moonjumper said, her eyes looking everywhere but at Twilight’s body, Nightmare Moon just laughed. There was no humor in that laugh, only malice.

“Oh yes I’m sure you don’t,” Nightmare Moon began. “I’m sure that if Celestia had been in your situation, bound to Twilight and needing to recover, she would have opted for the ‘we are a couple who decided to live together’ approach. Give it up, the only reason that you agreed was because you already felt something for Twilight, and this was a convenient excuse.” Nightmare Moon said, shooting Moonjumper a dirty look. Moonjumper refused to make eye contact.

“This is not the last time you’ll be seeing me, Luna, and next time things will be different.” Nightmare Moon said. And with that, Twilight’s body went slack and fell to the ground.

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Twilight’s eyes fluttered open, she had no idea how long she had been out. The room looked the same, so not much time could have passed. Fluttershy was still unconscious as well.

“Twilight, are you alright?” Moonjumper asked from right beside her.

“Yeah, I think so. What happened there?” Twilight asked.

“I’ll tell you after Fluttershy is up again. She should probably also leave before we talk about it.” Moonjumper said, refusing to look at Twilight.

“Alright Moonjumper, I’ll trust you on this. Looks like we won’t be waiting long though, Fluttershy looks like she is waking up.” Twilight said.

Fluttershy roused herself from sleep faster than one would expect. Her blue eyes sparkling as they normally did.

“Oh, is it over. Did Twilight pass her test?” She asked

“Yes she did, and you did your part flawlessly. You are free to leave anytime.” Moonjumper told Fluttershy, her voice calm, betraying nothing of the panic she felt inside.

“Alright. I should probably get going then, Angle bunny gets kind of upset when I make him watch the house for to long. I’ll see you two later.” Fluttershy said as she walked out of the library door.

Twilight turned back to Moonjumper, waiting for her to begin talking. Moonjumper turned away slightly, not able to meet her eyes in that moment.

Moonjumper took a deep breath to steady her nerves.

“Twilight, there are some very important things we need to discuss.”

Author's Notes:

I have no clue if this chapter is actually better than the last one, but it at least was easier to write. I'm sorry that I stopped right before they were getting to talking but I think the conversation warrants its own chapter because I could see it being a long one. After the next chapter is done I will be going back over the older chapters and editing them a fair amount. If anyone knows how to get some one to help with that I would appreciate the advice because this is my first story and I haven't really looked into it all that much.

Talking and Revelations.

Talking and Revelations

“Alright, what did you want to talk about?” Twilight asked as they walked into her room. Moonjumper had requested to move somewhere more private, as she didn’t want to be walked in on. Moonjumper took another deep breath, formulating her thoughts for what would be a long conversation.

“First thing first, when the spell failed, Nightmare Moon was making an attempt to take over your body.” Moonjumper began. Twilight was horrified at this revelation, but Moonjumper continued before Twilight could start freaking out. “I was able to stop her due to a mixture of quick action and luck, but I think we she should not try using this spell until we can find a way to keep her away.” Moonjumper told Twilight.

Twilight looked at the ground, she suddenly felt very wrong. Knowing she had almost become a plaything and could have lost her body, potentially forever, made her shudder.

“Thank you, Moonjumper.” Twilight said.

“Well, that wasn’t all that happened when she tried her little stunt. She was in control of your body for a few minutes, and during that time we talked. She brought up something that I have been keeping from you for a long time.” Moonjumper said.

“My feelings for you go beyond that of a teacher, or even a friend. Ever since that first Nightmare Night, I have been wanting to spend more time with you, to get to know you. When You saved me from Nightmare Moon back in Canterlot I was the happiest I have been in a long time. You were a light in the darkness that saved me from what could have been another thousand year exile.”

“The reason I went along with the whole dating ploy was partially to pretend that it was actually real.” Moonjumper admitted, looking away from Twilight. Twilight was shocked into silence at the revelation. Silence that Moonjumper found excruciating to sit through.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.” Moonjumper said, turning to leave the room. Before she could take a step however, she felt a hoof on her.

“No, Moonjumper, you didn’t say anything wrong.” Twilight told her, a small smile forming on her face. “Here let me show you something.” Twilight said, walking over to her personal bookshelf. She picked up her journal and flipped to a page, then she gave the journal to Moonjumper. Moonjumper started reading.

Today I got permission from the Cakes to hold tomorrow's party in the bakery, they did say we would have to confine the party to Pinkie’s room but that is more than enough room for all of us. I have been wanting to do this since Moonjumper and I went flying. It has been an experience having her here and everyday seems to be even more amazing than the last.

So, there is one more thing that I need to say. Ever since we went flying together I have felt something different toward Moonjumper. I think I may be falling for her. I can’t believe I just wrote that about a princess of Equestria.

When Moonjumper finished reading she looked up she saw that Twilight was smiling even wider than before. Moonjumper could barely believe what she had just read.

“Moonjumper, would you be my marefriend?” Twilight asked. Wrapping her forelegs around Moonjumper in a hug. Moonjumper couldn’t believe this was happening. She returned Twilight’s hug, holding on tightly.

“Yes Twilight, nothing would make me happier.” Moonjumper said, tears of joy in her eyes.

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Twilight and Moonjumper were sitting together on the cushions in the sitting room. Twilight was starting to doze off a bit. Moonjumper had her head on top of Twilight’s, her eyes closed as she simply relished the sense of closeness she had not felt since…

“Twilight.” Moonjumper said suddenly.

“Huh,” Twilight began, rousing herself slightly. “What is it Moonjumper?” She asked.

“I feel like I should tell you, you are not the first pony I have had a relationship like this with.” Moonjumper told her. Twilight looked slightly shocked at this for a second, but then remembered that Moonjumper, or more correctly Luna, was immortal and had lived at least a thousand years longer than she had. In light of that revelation, Twilight couldn’t help but feel that her relationship with Luna lost all of its meaning if in a few hundred years she could be replaced.

“Oh.” Twilight said, she looked away from Moonjumper, but Moonjumper took Twilight’s face in her hooves and forced Twilight to look at her.

“Twilight, I know what you just thought, literally, and I want you to banish the thought immediately. Even if I were to have another special somepony a hundred years from now, they could never replace you, you have your own special place in my heart, just like he still does.” Moonjumper told Twilight. Twilight still felt a bit down, but she was also growing curious as to why Moonjumper had started telling her this in the first place.

“So how many others have managed to catch your eyes over the years?” Twilight asked.

“Just one, Starswirl The Bearded.” Moonjumper admitted.

“WHAT!?” Twilight exclaimed.

“You don’t need to shout.” Moonjumper said, rubbing her ear. “We were actually in a similar situation, he was a unicorn I took on as a student and we eventually grew to love one another.” After this Moonjumper looked away looking sad.

“As he grew older things got hard on the both of us. He did not resent me for staying young as he grew older, he was more worried about what would happen to me after he was gone. He threw himself into research to become immortal like I was. As a result we saw each other less and less.” Moonjumper said, “Starswirl eventually stopped coming out of his lab. Until the day he died we never saw one another. And when he did he was too far gone to even realize I was there.” By this point in her story Moonjumper was crying. Twilight was hugging Moonjumper tightly.

“The circumstances surrounding his passing, was what first birthed the feeling that Nightmare Moon used grow and eventually take control of me.” Moonjumper began again after she calmed down a bit. “Twilight, please promise me that you won’t put me through the same anguish that Starswirl put me through in his quest for immortality.”

Twilight didn’t answer right away, the story was a lot to take in at one time. Starswirl’s attempts at immortality were something she could relate to in some way, especially now that she was with Moonjumper. But hearing about what Luna and Starswirl had went through at the end.

“Moonjumper, I promise that I will never leave you, even if the reason for the separation is to make it so we could have eternity together.” Twilight said.

“Thank you. Twilight, and don’t worry we have time, and I’m not going anywhere.” With that Moonjumper leaned over and started nuzzling Twilight.

Author's Notes:

I think I'm starting to get back into my rhythm, hopefully things go well from here on out and I don't get another severe case of writer's block. I think this chapter is better than the previous two, but it also has them talking about relationships which I have never really written before. This chapter will also mark the end of the first arc of the story, so I may be going back to revise some of the older chapters. Meaning this story will go on hiatus for about a week to look things over and see what I would like to change, and if I find stuff I really want to change I will during that time.

The Return

Return

Twilight was slow to wake up. For some reason her bed felt a lot more comfortable than it normally did. She begrudgingly decided she should get up and start on some of her chores for the day. Twilight was stopped when she felt hooves wrapped around her midsection and a wing draping over her back. Twilight gave a small smile, remembering the events of last night.

“C’mon Moonjumper, time to get up.” Twilight said, nudging Moonjumper in her side. In response, Moonjumper just tightened her grip. Twilight laughed a bit at this and snuggled into Moonjumper a bit more. Twilight’s good mood left her when she heard Moonjumper laugh.

“Hehehehehe… foal.” Came a voice that did not belong to her new marefriend. Suddenly Twilight no longer felt safe in the embrace, which she only now noticed was continuing to get tighter.

“No, Moonjumper please talk to me!” Twilight started shouting, panicking and trying to get out of the ever tightening grip.

“Uhg… Twilight.” Moonjumper’s voice came through faintly.

“No, I will not lose to you again!” Nightmare Moon shouted. Squeezing tighter in that instant. Twilight cried out in pain from the pressure that was crushing her ribcage. Just as soon as she felt the pressure, she was thrown out of Moonjumper’s arms, just out of range of the half possessed mare.

“Don’t hurt her!” Moonjumper yelled in a moment of control. She tried to move away from Twilight.

“Don’t tell me what to do worm.” Nightmare Moon yelled back trying to move in a direction opposite of Moonjumper. The two continued to struggle back and forth.

“I won’t let you control me!” Moonjumper yelled.

“Then I’ll just control ME!” Nightmare Moon yelled back. Suddenly Moonjumper’s form started to convulse.

Twilight just stared as the glamour on Moonjumper was destroyed in an instant. The mare in front of her was literally splitting in two. One was a unicorn, and the other was a pegasus. Eventually where one mare had stood there were now two. Not long after the unicorn teleported away.

“Moonjumper!” Twilight called as she broke from her stunned silence and raced to the fallen mare’s side. Moonjumper shook her head, groaning, when she opened her eyes they briefly showed the feline irises of Nightmare moon but once she blinked they were back to normal again.

“Twilight…. What happened to me?” Moonjumper asked, still in a daze from… whatever had just happened.

“I don’t know Moonjumper, it looked like you and Nightmare moon were torn away from each other.” Twilight tried to explain. Moonjumper seemed to jolt awake after hearing this.

“Where is she!?” Moonjumper yells while looking around frantically, startling Twilight.

“She teleported away almost as soon as you two were separated. She could be anywhere right now.” Twilight tells her. Hearing this, Moonjumper nearly jumps onto her hooves.

“Hold on!” Twilight commands her frantic marefriend. “We have no idea where to start looking, and we also have no idea if you are in any condition to be searching for her in the first place. We need to contact Celestia right now and assess the situation.” Twilight explained remaining calm despite the nature of the circumstances.

“You… you’re right Twilight. I’m sorry. If she feels even half the way I feel after that she will definitely need time to recover. After the adrenaline wears off at least.” After saying this, Moonjumper started wobbling on her hooves. Before Twilight could do anything, Moonjumper had fallen back to the ground unconscious.

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Suddenly, instead of being in the library, Nightmare Moon found herself in a dense forest. As soon as she felt her hooves back under her she started running in whatever direction she was facing. She couldn’t believe it, she was somehow free, no longer was she tied to Luna. Now she could act on her plans.

Nightmare Moon for a few minutes deeper into the forest, for right now her main objective was to make sure she was far away from any prying eyes. But it wasn’t long before she felt her energy leave her. As she fell forward, there was an evil smile forming on her lips.

“Finally… free.”

Author's Notes:

Well this is the first time in a while that I've updated this story, and to be honest, it feels great to be writing this again. I don't care if this is chapter is bad or good, I just feel happy that I started writing again.

That being said, I hope that I can continue with this and start getting into the swing of things. I also hope that, while this chapter was shorter than the rest it serves as a good starting point for what I am calling the second arc of this story. The first being the road to getting them into a relationship. This chapter is going to hopefully test their new relationship and make it stronger, and reveal other things that will eventually come into play.

Sorry for the (probably) boring wall of text, I just feel really good to get something out.

Beginning Recovery

Beginning Recovery

“Moonjumper, can you hear me?” a familiar voice seemed to call from all around. Moonjumper wanted to respond but for some reason she couldn’t make a sound.

“Moonjumper, Celestia is here, you need to wake up, please” The voice called again. Twilight’s voice, Moonjumper recalled. She tried again to do anything but met with the same result, she couldn’t move at all.

“Please wake up, I need to know you’re okay. Please come back to me already.” Twilight’s voice pleaded with her. Moonjumper wanted so badly to comply. She had to get out of whatever this void surrounding her was. She started trying to move, speak, do anything to let Twilight know that she was trying to come to her.

Nothing was working but that wasn’t going to stop her, she put her all into trying to call out to Twilight. She pushed all her thoughts and memories of Twilight into the forefront of her mind and mixed it with her desire to see her again.

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Twilight watched as Moonjumper’s eyes fluttered open. Moonjumper’s wings ruffled slightly as she slowly regained consciousness.

“Moonjumper, you’re awake!” Twilight exclaimed, happy that her marefriend seemed to be okay.

“Twi...light?” Moonjumper said groggily, opening her eyes to see Twilight in front of her.

“Yes, I’m so glad that you’re finally awa-” Twilight started before she found herself on her back, with Moonjumper’s lips firmly planted on her own.

“Well that was… unexpected.” A regal sounding voice from the other side of the room suddenly called out.

“TIA!” Moonjumper yelled when she realized there was a audience to what she had thought was a private moment. Suddenly she became acutely aware of an acute pain all over her body that nearly caused her to fall over again.

“Calm down Moonjumper. You’re still in no shape to be moving around.” Twilight scolded. Moonjumper steadied herself, looking at the ground in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, Twilight.” Moonjumper said. Twilight gave Moonjumper a small smile, showing that she wasn’t angry with her.

“Well, now that everyone is calm, would you two mind explaining what happened here?” Celestia asked, trying her best not to make things more awkward.

Twilight cleared her throat, but she couldn’t think of how to say what she needed to.

“Um.... well.... the thing is.” Twilight began but couldn’t get anywhere.

“Twilight and I have decided to become a couple, Tia, we-” Moonjumper began.

“I can see as much Lulu, and while I am happy for you two, I am more concerned with the Nightmare Moon problem.” Celestia interrupted. Twilight looked a bit shocked at what Moonjumper had started sharing.

“Oh! Of course.” Moonjumper stammered, relived that Celestia was not pushing into more personal grounds. Moonjumper Looked to Twilight to start them off.

“So it all started when I woke up, Moonjumper seemed distressed. When I tried to approach her, Nightmare Moon was speaking through her. She threatened me but Moonjumper seemed to take control back for a second.” Twilight began to explain.

“I have a quick question Twilight. Why do you keep calling Luna Moonjumper? I could understand doing so in public but surely privately there is no reason for it.” Celestia asked.

“Oh, well it started out as a way to prevent slip ups, we didn’t want anypony to find out that she was actually a princess. It's strange but I honestly can't think of her as Luna anymore. She just became Moonjumper after the time we’ve spent together.” Twilight confessed.

“I see, I guess that it is harmless for as long as Luna is recovering. At this point in time Nightmare Moon is the biggest concern.” Celestia relents, motioning for Twilight to continue with her story. Twilight nodded and continued, despite the small blush now present on her face.

“Moonjumper and Nightmare Moon both started fighting for control, culminating in the two of them magically ripping themselves apart. When the two separated Nightmare Moon, looking like a regular unicorn, teleported away to an unknown location.” Twilight concluded. Celestia considered this for a few minutes before she spoke.

“Luna, do you still have access to your unicorn Magic?” She finally asked. Moonjumper seemed to startle for a second.

“I… I don’t know, let me try lifting something.” Moonjumper said, before closing her eyes and concentrating. Rather unexpectedly Twilight’s horn flared up and a book across the room was raised into the air. When Moonjumper opened her eyes she was as stunned as the other two mares in the room.

For a few seconds no one spoke.

“Twilight… am I... correct in assuming that you are not currently in control of that book?” Celestia finally asked.

“No princess, I mean it is my horn doing this but I didn’t even think about moving the book.” Twilight explained, her face torn between curious and terrified.

“Luna can you please drop the book now?” Celestia asked her sister. Moonjumper complied and the book fell to the floor, Twilight’s horn no longer glowing.

“I- I don’t understand what this means.” Moonjumper finally said.

“It would appear that when you split from Nightmare Moon she took your physical conduit for magic, your horn, and now it has to work through an alternate source.” Celestia said, shaking her head at how strange her day had become in the last few minutes.

“So if I want to use magic by myself, it has to activate through Twilight, because of our magic being linked.” Moonjumper stated, looking at Twilight apologetically.

“Hey don’t look at me like that Moonjumper,” Twilight began, “this is not your fault, so there is no reason for you to apologize. It is a bit strange, but I’ve been dealing with strange since I moved to this town.” Twilight explained, after which Moonjumper seemed a bit relieved.

“If you say so, I just don’t want it to feel like I’m using you as some tool for performing magic.” Moonjumper said. Celestia had a contemplative look on her face, she got to her hooves.

“Well, I best be off to Canterlot. The guards will not deploy themselves. Luna, please let the guards handle this, we don’t yet know the full extent of how this has affected you and I don’t want to take chances with your well being.” Celestia explained as she began walking toward the door.

“Alright Tia, I promise. But if they find anything I want to be the first to know. Nightmare Moon may have separated from me but she is still my responsibility.” Moonjumper asserted before Celestia was fully gone.

“Of course, sister.”

Author's Notes:

Hopefully this chapter is good. I wrote most of it on my phone and then spent a little while editing and moving stuff around on my computer. The beginning of this arc is what I decided to leave mostly free form so i don't have much set in stone for what I want to do with Moonjumper and Twilight. Hopefully things go well.

A Terrible Joke.

A Terrible Joke.

“No luck here, let’s move on.” a pegasus royal guard told his two companions. With that the trio took to the skies to continue their sweep of the area. After they were gone there was a slight rustling from a bush not far from where the guards had just been.

Suddenly, a unicorn mare with a dark blue coat stepped out of hiding.

“Foals, I thought they would never leave. But that was close, I’d best move on. I can’t get captured before I can have my revenge.” Nightmare Moon said. She had been free of that weakling Luna and her little pet unicorn for no more than a day before the first patrols had started. She had expected something like this, she was one of the greatest evils to threaten Equestria in recent history after all.

“Alright, For now I need to find someplace where I can safely start planning how to take care of those pests in Ponyville.” with that Nightmare Moon began walking once again into the woods. What she needed was someplace that nopony would look at twice. Caves were automatically out, if the ponies chasing her saw any caves, it would be obvious to think she was hiding in it. She couldn’t chance sleeping out in the open either. As much as she was loath to admit it, separating herself from Luna and then Teleporting such a distance away from the town had left her with very little magical energy, she wouldn’t be able to escape, let alone fight.

“What is left for possible shelter? My best bet would probably be finding something close to my coat color that looks natural, but that could be a problem.” Annoyance was evident in Nightmare Moon’s voice. She looked around her, scanning between the trees for any dark shades of blue or black. She saw something off to her left, and hurried to it to get a better look at it.

Before her was a field of dark blue plants.

“Aha! If I lay down and cover myself with these plants I should be almost unnoticeable.” Nightmare Moon exclaimed. She looked up, the sky visible through the trees telling her it was almost night. The search for today was likely about to go home or at least switch shifts.

Nightmare Moon wanted to stay up through the night that she love, but decided that resting while she had the chance was more important.

“I may need to be able to cast at least a few spells tomorrow, and the only way that is happening is with rest.” Nightmare Moon reasoned. She walked into the patch of flowers and laid down, the tops of the flowers now near level with her barrel. Using a small amount of the power she did have at the moment to move some of the flowers in a way that hid most of her. Now mostly safe, Nightmare Moon drifted off to sleep.

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When Nightmare Moon awoke, something felt… off.

‘I don’t remember the grass being quite this tall when I went to sleep’ Nightmare Moon thought. Opening her eyes, she saw that the grass had indeed gotten taller.

“What type of grass is thi-” She cut herself off before she could finish. The voice that had come from her mouth hadn’t been her voice. Instead it was the voice of,

“A FILLY!” Nightmare Moon squeaked out in a high pitched voice while looking at her now tiny body.

“Hey, I think I heard something from over there, let’s check it out.” a gruff voice said from somewhere alarmingly close. The sound of hoofsteps and breaking twigs told Nightmare Moon that multiple ponies were coming right toward her position.

‘This is bad, I still don’t have enough magic to teleport away. I have to stay still and hope they just walk past me.’ Nightmare Moon thought, now thanking her small form for the ease with which she could hide in this grass. The hoofsteps had to be at the edge of the clearing by now, but they stopped short.

“Hey don’t go any closer! Don’t you know what that stuff is? That’s poison joke, you so much as tough that stuff and who knows what will happen to you” A smooth voice explained.

“But what about that noise I heard, Nightmare Moon could be here right now!” the gruff voice argued back.

“I doubt that anypony would willingly walk into poison joke, especially not somepony as dangerous as Nightmare Moon, besides she probably would have heard us and cleared out.” the smooth voiced one explains.

‘Little do you know just how much walking into this stuff has suddenly helped me keep out of your grasp.’ Nightmare Moon thought to herself.

“Look if it makes you feel any better we can quickly go report in and say that we heard suspicious activity around here, maybe get a search party set up to see if we can find anything” the smooth voiced pony said. A sigh, and then

“Alright, but only because I don’t want to touch this poison joke stuff. Let’s get back double time so that we can get that perimeter set up.” The pony with the gruff voice said, with that the two started running off to rendezvous with whomever was in charge of tracking Nightmare Moon down.

After she was sure that one else was around, Nightmare Moon crawled out of the plants, now revealed as poison joke.

“Well, it seems this poison joke is actually helpful in certain circumstances. I should be able to get around easier as well because I’m smaller.” Nightmare Moon reasoned. With that she left the patch of poison joke, intent of being long gone by the time that those ponies would get back.

“Now, if all goes well I should be back up to full strength within a week. I need to formulate my plan of attack. I can’t afford to fail this time. This time the night will last... “ Nightmare Moon trailed off.

“But, why do I want it to in the first place?” She asks. She comes to a stop for a second, before shaking her head violently and continuing on her way.

“It doesn’t matter why, It is what I was born to do… right?”

Author's Notes:

To start off, no this will not become a Nyx story. I love Past Sins and I have made jokes referencing it in some of the early chapters. But this story will not have Nightmare Moon becoming Nyx. I just thought of poison joke randomly as Nightmare Moon has no experience with it. The part of her turning into a filly was drawing from the idea of Nyx, but she will be returning to her original form before anything happens with between her and Twilight and Luna.

Second, I basically had this chapter done yesterday but couldn't upload it because I wrote it on my phone for the most part and didn't get to my computer until after work. I got out a lot later than anticipated and just wanted to sleep, so it is being uploaded today.

Again I hope this chapter is good, I think I have a pretty good idea for where I want the story to go but I want to make sure I actually do a good job making an interesting story.

waiting

Author's Notes:

I tired rewriting this chapter, hopefully it is better now than what it was before. That is about it, if anyone has some suggestions to how I may improve this I will definitely consider it.

Waiting.

Twilight and Moonjumper sat in the living area of Twilight’s library, across from the head of the unit sent to find the escaped Nightmare Moon.

“Unfortunately we have very little to report. We have been scouring the surrounding areas but Nightmare Moon has so far evaded us, please forgive us for this.” The guard explained, looking down ashamedly.

“It is all right, your men had no information to go on and Nightmare Moon is exceptionally cunning, even when weakened.” Moonjumper explained in a soft tone. “Keep up the search and if anything comes up, please report to me immediately.”

“I shall my princess!” The guard exclaimed, offering a salute to Moonjumper and a bow to Twilight before departing.

“*Sigh*”

“Moonjumper?”

“I’m sorry Twilight, I’m just… Stressed.” Moonjumper confessed. “Not knowing what Nightmare Moon is planning, when she could strike at us.” Moonjumper shook her head.

“I think we need to try finding something to take your mind off of this.” Twilight said. “We could go out with Spike for a bit, he was a bit sad that we haven’t been able to spend time together recently.” Twilight suggested. Moonjumper considered this for a few seconds. Suddenly her eyes shot open.

“We could go on our first date!” Moonjumper exclaimed.

“WHAT!?”

“Well, I just thought of how when I first got into town I made up a bunch of stories for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and one of them was our ‘first date’. Now that we are together we could actually do that.” Moonjumper said.

“Well I guess we could, but could we do that later in the day? I do want to spend some time with Spike. Oh, and we still need to tell the girls about what happened, we haven’t really been out since everything happened.” Twilight listed off the things they should consider before anything else.

“That’s fine with me, I like to have things happen later in the day anyway.” Moonjumper said.

“Alright! I’ll go get Spike.” Twilight exclaimed, running up the stairs.

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“Okay, so Spike, what do want to do first?” Twilight asked. As they walked out the library's front door.

“How about we go to Sugarcube Corner, I could go for some sweets today.” Spike said.

“I’m fine with that, what about you Moonjumper?”

“Sure, we can even tell Pinkie Pie the news while we are there.” Moonjumper replied. Twilight and Moonjumper started walking toward the sweet shop.

Not long after, they arrived and something was… off. The shop was dark, and nopony was around.

“Pinkie Pie?” Moonjumper asked,

“Pinkie Pie.” Twilight replied.

Twilight, with Spike on her back, slowly approached the building. She heard a few whispers coming from inside the building. Twilight motioned for Moonjumper to come up the steps.

“Alright on the count of three, let’s go inside. Okay?” Twilight said quietly. Moonjumper nodded.

“One… Two… Three!” Twilight said. Both of them pushed through the door, and entered the dark room.

“Surprise!” Five Familiar voices called out just as the lights came on. The room was decorated as it would be for a party, but lacking a banner.

“Hey guys! I’m sure you’re surprised but my Pinkie sense let me know that something was going to happen and I realized I hadn’t seen you guys so it just had to involve you two but I didn’t know what. So what is the big stuff you guys wanted to tell us?” Pinkie Pie said only stopping for breath once. Twilight, being more used to this type of thing recovered first.

“Well, there are two things we need to talk about, some good stuff and one bad thing.” Twilight explained, looking at her gathered friends.

“Well go ahead and tell us the bad news. After the wedding incident, I can’t think of things much worse than that.” Rarity said. Twilight grimaced a bit at that.

“Well, this might be up there. So a few days ago, after my first test with Moonjumper, Nightmare Moon resurfaced and tried to take control of my body, Moonjumper stopped her temporarily. Nightmare Moon wasn’t done though, and the next day, something that we can’t even explain happened.” Twilight began, but she couldn’t seem to say what came next.

“I’ll take over for this part” Moonjumper told Twilight through her thoughts.

“Nightmare Moon, tried to take control of my body once again, while attempting to fight off her control her magic some how caused the two of us to… split.” Moonjumper explained, everypony seemed stunned into silence but she continued. “When we fully separated, she teleported to an unknown location, Celestia came by to see me and they deployed guards to look in the surrounding areas. That was three days ago.” For a full minute, nopony said anything.

“So what you’re saying is, Nightmare Moon is back… and we have no idea where she is.” Applejack said.

“Yes, but she is in a considerably weakened state. We are safe for now at least.” Moonjumper explained.

“Well what’s the good news then?” Rainbow Dash finally asked, wanting to break the bad air.

“Well, the good news is, Twilight and I have decided to become an actual couple. We were planning on going on our first date tonight.” Moonjumper said with a small, awkward smile on her face. Everypony but Twilight just gave her a deadpan stare.

“Um.. Congratulations to you two, but don’t you think you’re being a bit to relaxed about this?” Flutterhshy asked looking away.

“I know when it is phrased that way we sound like we don’t care. But we decided that stressing when we can’t do anything was not helping. If we have to wait for news we might as well try to live as normally as we can until then.” Twilight explained looking around at all of her friends.

“Well, what better way to do that than a PARTY!” Pinkie Pie shouted, taking out her party cannon and blasting out a banner. Rainbow Dash came over to where Twilight and Moonjumper were standing.

“Twilight, Moonjumper, please remember to let us know if you guys hear anything, don’t try to do anything by yourselves. Okay?”

“Don’t worry Rainbow Dash, if you want we will even make you the first one we tell when we hear something.”

“Alright, I guess let’s enjoy this party then!”

Discovery and a Promise.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for this being a kinda long time between my last update and this one. I hope this chapter is good but I don't know if it is. I will be leaving a comment for why it took so long for anyone interested but not here.

Discovery and a Promise.

‘Alright,’ Nightmare Moon thought as she saw a group of guards moving away from her current hiding place. ‘Being small like this might be demeaning, but at least it has helped with this.’

She walked out into the open, and for good measure used a low power scanning spell to see if there were any guards who had stayed behind. Nothing came up, she was in the clear for now. The guards were thorough when they checked an area but often made too much noise to get the jump on her. She could hear them coming and find places to hide.

“Things are going smoothly so far, I’m nearly strong enough that I won’t have to hide from these foals when they come looking for me.” Nightmare Moon said aloud, then cringed slightly when she heard her high pitched voice. “Before anything else I will need to find a way to fix this. I need to strike fear into the hearts of ponies, and a filly body can’t accomplish that”

‘But why do I need to make ponies fear me in the first place?’ a small voice in her head asked, only to be forcibly silenced.

“Now is not the time to question my purpose, I can’t change who I am or what I was born to do.” Nightmare Moon told herself shaking her head.

“Hey Moonjumper? I have a question about our date.” An all too familiar voice rang out suddenly. Nightmare Moon jumped and gave out yelp before she looked around her. There was nopony to be seen.

“No, of course I still want to go, I just wanted to know if we were going to dress up or anything.” Twilight Sparkle’s voice came again.

“What is going on, I am nowhere near Ponyville.” Nightmare Moon said to herself.

“I agree, our first date shouldn’t be anything over the top, maybe a picnic?” Twilight’s voice came again. Nightmare Moon listened for anything else but it seemed that whatever had just happened was now over.

“What just happened, Twilight Sparkle was obviously talking to somepony, but why could I hear her half of the conversation?” Nightmare Moon pondered on this until she heard a sound come from the forest around her.

“I know I heard somepony, announce yourself or I will use force!” A gruff voice came from just behind a group of bushes. Nightmare Moon froze, she had not heard the guard approach. The guard didn’t seem to be searching in her direction yet, she could probably hide if she star-

“Stay right where you are!” The guard's voice rang out once more. Nightmare Moon didn’t listen, she started bolting away as fast as her small legs could carry her. Her small form let her maneuver around a lot of the tangling foliage on the forest floor, but the guard behind her had a brute force advantage and was gaining on her regardless.

‘I need to teleport, right now!’ Nightmare Moon thought, powering up her horn she prepared the spell.

“Stop!” The guard called, his voice accompanied by a small cracking sound. Nightmare Moon’s spell was ready. She released the teleport spell, as she did a sharp pain hit her in the side causing her to yell out in pain. Then there was silence. The guard stopped in his tracks at the sound of the scream.

“A filly?”

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Nightmare Moon landed hard on the ground, the pain from her side nearly enough to make her cry out. She managed to keep herself from making a sound, instead looking around at her surroundings. She seemed to still be in the woods, or maybe a different wood entirely, but there were no soldiers waiting for her.

Nightmare Moon looked at her injured side and whimpered, a large scorch mark now on her flank where her cutiemark had once been.

“He was ready to kill me.” Nightmare Moon said finally, visibly shaken. She curled up on herself, almost ready to cry. Her eyes were starting to water due to pain and shock. Nightmare Moon’s body started to shake, her mind still reeling from the chase and the pain in her leg. Suddenly she stomped one of her front hooves and shook her head wildly.

“Pull yourself together!” She suddenly shouted at herself. “Just because you have the body of a filly doesn’t mean you need to act like one!” Nightmare Moon used her magic to look at the extent of her injury, it was not actually as bad as her panicked mind had originally thought, but still painful.

Nightmare Moon slowly got to her hooves, testing her leg a bit. Her leg seemed to hold her weight fine while standing still, only a slight amount of pain. She took her first step forward, and immediately the pain became unbearable. Nightmare Moon collapsed onto the ground once again, new tears on her face.

“Great, I can’t move, I don’t know where I am, and somepony saw me. Things are just going great for me today.” Nightmare Moon said to herself. She laid her head down on her hooves and tried to dry the tears from her eyes.

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It had been a few hours since Nightmare Moon had settled down on the ground due to her injury. She had fallen into a restless sleep, not having been disturbed in that time.

"I’m really happy with how things went today. I know things went a bit wonky with our date, but it wasn’t terrible." Came Twilight Sparkle’s voice, startling Nightmare Moon out of her slumber.

“Hey, don’t panic, I’m not going to hurt you.” A familiar voice came, only softer than when she had last heard it. Nightmare Moon turned around and saw the guard that had chased her earlier. She started scrambling backward, the pain in her flank flaring up once again.

“Calm down, you can’t just move around like that, you’ll hurt yourself.” The Guard tried to sooth her.

“You already hurt me!” Nightmare Moon accused, and the guard stopped and looked at the ground.

“I know, I’m sorry for what I did, I wasn’t sure who I was chasing and I should have been more careful.” The guard said. Nightmare Moon just stared at him, unsure what he was doing, She had not expected this to happen.

‘He doesn’t know who I am, I’m still safe for now.’ Nightmare Moon thought to herself.

“Please, I will help you in any way I can, will you please accept my apology?” The guard asked again.

“I- I forgive you” The words were strange for Nightmare Moon to say, but not unpleasant.

“Alright,” The guard picked his head up again to introduce himself, “My name is Bastion, I promise I will get you home as soon as possible.”

First Date

First Date.

The party at sugarcube corner had ended half an hour ago and Twilight and Spike were on
their way back to the library. Twilight was happy with how things had went so far, she had
expected that her friends would accept her new relationship, but they had taken the news about
Nightmare Moon better than expected.

“So anything else going on before we get back?” Spike asked.

“Hmm, no I don’t think so. Moonjumper wanted to figure stuff out for our date anyway.”
Twilight replied.

“That reminds me, why did she have to leave early again?” Spike asked.

“She wanted to be around for if any guards came into report anything. I should probably
talk to her about what we will be doing for our date.” Twilight said before focusing her thoughts towards Moonjumper.

“Hey Moonjumper? I have a question about our date.” Twilight thought. Not long after she felt the feeling of Moonjumper’s mind brushing against her own.

“What is it? Did something come up that needs your attention? We can go another day if things don’t work today.” Moonjumper rushed her thoughts, sounding a bit nervous.

“No, of course I still want to go, I just wanted to know if we were going to dress up or anything.” Twilight replied, assuring her.

“Oh! I don’t think that is necessary, I’m not big on fancy first dates. Just something simple is enough for me.” Moonjumper said, a feeling of relief coming through their connections.

“I agree, our first date shouldn’t be anything over the top,maybe a picnic?” Twilight suggested.

“I like the sound of that, I’ll see you soon then.” Moonjumper said, ending their mental conversation. Twilight smiled as she continued walking back to her home.

“Hey Twilight, what’s happening now?” spike asked. Waving his hands in front of Twilight’s face.

“Oh, right, Moonjumper and I are going on a picnic when we get back. I’m thinking we will probably go out later in the day, so I can spend a bit more time hanging out around the house if you want.” Twilight explained

“Nah, I think I need to take a nap after that party.” Spike said. By now they were outside the library, so Spike hopped off of Twilight’s back and walked toward the door. Twilight opened it with her magic and both of them walked through.

“Alright, if you say so. Have a nice rest then and I’ll see you later.” Twilight said, giving Spike a hug before he went upstairs to rest a bit.
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“Alright, I think that’s everything we need for a picnic.” Twilight said, looking at the basket that they had packed and then over to Moonjumper. “Can you think of anything else we should take with us?” Twilight asked.

“Hhmm, I don’t think so.” Moonjumper said. Twilight nodded and picked up the basket, putting it on her back before they both walked out the front door. It had been a few hours, they had decided have their picnic closer to Sunset, and left so they would have roughly two hours for their date.

“So where are we going exactly?” Moonjumper asked as she followed Twilight away from their home.

“I was planning on going to the place that my friends and I usually go when we have group picnics. This time it will just be the two of us!” Twilight exclaimed.

“That sound good to me, the scenery there is just beautiful.” Moonjumper said. They continued walking side by side, exchanging pleasantries with anypony who they passed. Finally coming to the familiar picnic area… and seeing that apparently a lot of the couples in Ponyville had all decided to go on a date here.

“Well, that makes things a little messier.” Twilight said, visibly holding back a slight panic.

“Twilight, calm down, we can always find another place to have our date if we have to.” Moonjumper said, putting a comforting hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight looked back at her appreciatively and then back to the area where they were planning on having their picnic.

“I guess that we should probably get-” Twilight began, only to get cut off by someone calling out to her.

“Hello Twilight! So this is the where you two were having your date.” Came Rarity’s voice. Rarity walked over, a stallion following not far behind.

“Oh! Hello Rarity, uh we were actually-” Twilight began, only to be cut off again, this time by the stallion who had followed Rarity over.

“Ms. Rarity, can I ask why we moved? Our spot might be taken!” The stallion exclaimed, not noticing the ponies Rarity was talking to.

“Oh don’t worry so much, it was getting crowded over there anyway. Since we are here though, Alvor, these are my friends ,Twilight and Moonjumper, they came here for a date like us.” Rarity explained, motioning toward the two ponies who were still silently sitting, watching the interaction.

“Oh, well I hope that both your dates arrive soon.” Alvor said, not paying attention to the other mares. Twilight didn’t react at all.

“Excuse you, my date is already here!” Moonjumper said, motioning toward Twilight. Alvor looked back at her surprised, his face slowly turning to disgust.

“Oh, I see, one of those couples then.” Alvor said, voice laced with venom, he turned toward Rarity. “I think I would like to leave actually, I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.” Rarity’s eye suddenly twitched as she turned to face her ‘date’.
“Ms. Rarity?” Alvor asked, slightly unnerved at his date’s strange response.
“I think this is the end of our date actually, Mr. Alvor, if you would so kindly take your stupid prejudice and never speak to me or my friends again then you might just keep your tail today.” Rarity said, glaring at Alvor. The stallion in question wasted no time running in any direction away from Rarity.
“Huuh, I had high hopes for today. I guess that went out the window.” Rarity sighed. Moonjumper looked down feeling slightly guilty.
“I’m sorry, I spoiled your date when I opened my big mouth.” Moonjumper said.
“Oh no, it isn’t your fault, I probably would have found out eventually and things would still have ended badly.” Rarity replied, looking back at the two of them, giving them a small smile. “I would hate to impose on your date, so I think I shall take my leave.” Rarity turned away from them and started walking away. Twilight looked after her a bit hesitantly for a few second.
“Rarity, wait!” Twilight called, Rarity turned around.
“Moonjumper, would you mind to terribly if Rarity joined us for a bit, we did bring a bit too much food for just the two of us?” Twilight asked. Moonjumper looked a bit exasperated at that, but thought about it for a second. Moonjumper looked over toward Rarity, who was still waiting for Twilight to explain why she had called to her.
“I guess we could, her date did just fall through.” Moonjumper said. Twilight gave her a small smile before she ran over to where Rarity was standing.
“Oh, I hope that this wasn’t a mistake.” Moonjumper said quietly enough that no one could hear her.
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“Well, thank you both for the food, but I feel that I’ve overstayed my welcome.” Rarity said giving both Twilight and Moonjumper genuine smiles. Twilight returned the smile, Moonjumper tried but her smile was slightly less genuine. Rarity had stayed longer she would have liked, almost a full hour.

“Don’t worry about it, it was nice to have you!” Twilight told her friend. They exchanged farewells and Twilight sat back down on their picnic blanket. From beside her Moonjumper sighed.

“Are you okay Moonjumper?” Twilight asked.

“I’m fine, Twilight, it’s just….” Moonjumper began. A small frown forming on her face.

“It’s about me letting Rarity come on our date isn’t it?” Twilight asked, Moonjumper nodded. “Well, it wasn’t the best way to start a date, and I’m sorry I did that. Rarity just looked sad and I wanted to try to make her feel better.” Twilight admitted.

“I know, Twilight, and I don’t hold that against you. It’s still just a bit frustrating that this all happened on our first date. Not to mention that bigoted stallion, if only I didn’t have to keep my identity hidden, see how he reacts when he realizes that he just insulted a princess of Equestria!” Moonjumper exclaimed, but not loud enough to attract anypony's attention.

“I know, but just because things didn’t start off that well doesn’t mean that we have to let it get to us. We can still turn this date around from here.” Twilight told her. Twilight began thinking of what they could do, they were done with all their food. “How about we go for a walk, if anything good came out our getting sidetracked it is that there are actually a lot less ponies around now.” Twilight suggested.

“That sounds like a good idea, Twilight.” Moonjumper said, a genuine smile forming on her face. The two of them started packing up their picnic supplies and when they finished, Twilight put the basket on her back and the two of them began walking. The sun had already set and the moon and stars lit up the sky.

Moonjumper looked over at Twilight, who seemed to be studying the constellations as they walked. Taking her chance, Moonjumper draped a wing over Twilight’s back. Twilight looked over at her and smiled, leaning into her slightly.

“I think I like this, us being a couple I mean.” Twilight said, closing her eyes and following Moonjumper’s lead. Moonjumper had to agree, even with everything that had happened in the last few days, Moonjumper felt completely relaxed in this moment. Suddenly Moonjumper had an idea.

“Hey Twilight, could you cast the cloudwalking spell on yourself real quickly?” Moonjumper asked.

“Uhm, sure.” Twilight said, quickly casting the spell, unfortunately having to get step away from Moonjumper to do so. “So why did you want me to do that?” Twilight asked.

“Do you see that cloud over there?” Moonjumper asked in return, pointing to a small cloud floating far to their right. Twilight nodded in response. “That is where we are going.” She explained. Twilight nodded and got into a position that would make it easy for Moonjumper to pick her up. Moonjumper flew into the air and using her forelegs lifted Twilight up. Unlike last time they had flown together, Twilight seemed much more calm being in the air.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the cloud, Moonjumper depositing Twilight as gently as possible, which was easy with how fluffy the cloud was. The two of them sat on the cloud, looking out at Ponyville. The light from the moon coupled with the small amount of streetlights of the small town. For Moonjumper this moment more than made up for all of the stuff that happened earlier, while it hadn’t been horrible, it was not her ideal first date.

“I’m really happy with how things went today. I know things went a bit wonky with our date, but it wasn’t terrible.” Twilight thought to Moonjumper, not wanting to ruin the moment by speaking now. Moonjumper didn’t bother with a response, she just pulled Twilight into a strong hug, nuzzling into the top of her head above her horn.

Author's Notes:

Well I managed to get this chapter out finally. I've had a very long last couple of weeks, including my birthday! But I finally had the time to sit down and get this out. This chapter is a bit longer than my normal ones, I don't know why I can't seem to write more than 1000 words without difficulties.

A New Name.

A New Name:

Bastion stood before Nightmare Moon, a stoic look on his face. Nightmare Moon couldn’t believe this, she had just gained a great advantage. If the other guards saw her under Bastion’s care, she would no longer have to fear being discovered.

Bastion had dropped from his stiff posture and seemed to be looking at her slightly confused.

“Um, this is normally where you would tell me your name?” He said, trying to fill the awkward silence.

“Oh, right.” Nightmare Moon said. She had no clue what to call herself. If she said her real name then she would be apprehended. Without thinking she blurted out the first name that came to mind “uh, Moonbeam. My name is Moonbeam.” Nightmare Moon blurted out. Bastion didn’t seem to notice her discomfort with the name, something Nightmare Moon was grateful for.

“Alright little miss Moonbeam, do you know the name of the city you live in? The closest town to here is Ponyville, does that sound familiar?” Bastion asked, hoping he could get a basic direction based on where she lived.

Nightmare Moon looked away for a second. Should she say she was from Ponyville? She didn’t know how far away she had gotten from the town in her constant running from the guards. She didn’t see any other alternatives though, so she began spinning her story.

“We-” Nightmare Moon began before cutting herself off, trying to finalize her lies before committing to them. “My parents and I were visiting family in Ponyville. We decided to have a picnic out in the woods, but I saw an animal that looked really cute and started following it.” Nightmare Moon explained, making her voice shake slightly to try and sound like a more convincing lost filly.

“I wandered around trying to find them, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. *sob* I just wanted to find my way back to town but I wasn’t able to find the edge of the woods from where I was.” Nightmare Moon started crying to sell the effect even more. Bastion seemed to be buying her act, as he gently moved to give her a small, reassuring hug.

Nightmare Moon was glad that her ploy was successful, but still she felt strange. The tears felt almost real, but she couldn’t think of anything that would cause her to cry. She pushed the strange feeling away, deciding to think about it when she was at least sure her goals well within reach

“It’s okay, Moonbeam, I’ll get you to your parents as fast as I can. We just need to get to one of the base camps that the other guards set up so we can get some supplies for the trip back, okay?” Bastion comforted her, Nightmare Moon simply nodded.

“Alright then, let’s get going. The camp should be a few hours that way,” Bastion told Nightmare Moon, pointing in the direction he had come from. “I’ll handle everything, so don’t be scared when we get there.” With that, Bastion got up and led the way back through the foliage, Nightmare Moon following close behind.

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The walk to the camp had taken place in silence for the most part. Bastion had tried asking questions of ‘Moonbeam’ but her answers were always short, giving no room for conversation to follow. After his first few attempts had fallen flat, Bastion decided to give the filly some time to adjust. She was traveling with a stranger after all.

Nightmare Moon had been spending her time trying to get her story in order, if she slipped up while in hostile territory she was going to be captured for sure. She didn’t want to think about what would happen after that.

Only two and a half hours had passed by the time they had reached the clearing the camp stood in.

“Halt!” Two voices called out simultaneously. Nightmare Moon jumped, looking in the direction the voices had come from she saw two earth pony guards standing in front of them, a few pegasi had snuck up behind them as well.

“What division are you from?” one of the earth ponies called over to Bastion.

“Reconnaissance, her majesty’s sunset squadron, mage.” Bastion recited, tapping his horn for emphasis. The other guards seemed to accept that and lowered their guard a bit.

“Just one last question… who are the Patriots?” one of the earth ponies, wearing a bandana, asked. Bastion and some of the surrounding guards groaned.

“How long are you going to keep referencing that game your brother showed you?” the other earth pony guard asked, shaking his head.

“Probably until someone caves and answers me.” The bandana wearing guard said walking away.

Nightmare Moon was incredibly confused at this point, but Bastion just kept walking past the guards. She had to trot a bit to keep up with him as he was starting to move faster toward a large tent in the center of the camp. When they finally stopped in front of the tent, Bastion turned to her.

“Alright, I need to talk with someone to clear that I will be leaving the search for a bit. I’ll be right back so stay right here. Okay?” Bastion explained, Nightmare Moon nodded and sat down looking out at the camp.

As she sat there, she watched some of the guards ponies walking back and forth. The fact that they were all looking for her without knowing she was here nearly made her laugh. Aside from the irony, she started becoming slightly self conscious. Some of the guard looked back at her, the looks that they gave her only serving to remind her of how out of place she was. She started shrinking back, starting to feel uncomfortable.

“Moonbeam, can you come in here please?” Bastion suddenly called out. Nightmare Moon got up, glad to be able to get away from the looks that she had been getting. She stepped through the flap and saw Bastion looking her way.

“Here she is Sir.” Bastion said, moving out of the way and allowing Nightmare Moon to see a large earth pony.

“I see. So young lady, you got yourself lost in the woods. Seen anything or anyone unusual?” The earth pony asked. Nightmare Moon tried to keep a straight face and look straight at the earth pony but she couldn’t.

“Uh… um… I.” Nightmare Moon started babbling, the earth pony narrowed his eyes at her, only serving to make her feel more uncomfortable.

“Sir, you’re scaring her.” Bastion said stepping in between the two of them. The earth pony looked up at Bastion for a second and then sighed.

“You’re right I shouldn’t be scaring the poor girl, you can send her back outside now.” The earth pony Guard said, “And you can have your time off to escort her back to ponyville, however, we will expect you to send regular reports until you can regroup with us or until the search has been ended.”

“Sir, yes Sir.” Bastion said before turning around and escorting “Moonbeam” out of the tent.

“And Bastion!” The earth pony guard said after she was out of the tent, causing Bastion turned around.

“Yes sir?”

“Don’t forget to keep an eye on that filly. I know you want to help her, but her appearance now is undoubtedly suspicious.”

“I will keep that in mind, Sir.” Bastion said. Then followed Moonbeam out of the tent.
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Nightmare Moon was wandering around the tent that Bastion had led her toward while Bastion himself was talking to the quartermaster and getting some supplies for the trip that he was now taking. The quartermaster was a lot nicer that the Earth pony captain they had met earlier. Suddenly Bastion called her back over, they said goodbye to the quartermaster and then started toward the edge of the camp.

“Moonbeam, can you do something for me?” Bastion asked.

“Uhm, I guess, what is it?” Nightmare Moon said.

“When the bandana wearing earth pony stops us and asks that stupid question of his. I want you to say, ‘lalilulelo’, alright” Bastion told her. Nightmare Moon tried asking why, but Bastion would not react.

When they did reach the edge of camp, only the bandana wearing guard moved to try and stop them.

“Wait!” He exclaimed suddenly “Who are the Patriots?” Everypony around them seemed to face hoof. Someone was moving to smack him in the back of the head.

“Lalilulelo.” Nightmare Moon said with a straight face.

“Yes!!” The earth pony guard explained, suddenly he tore his bandana off of his head and gave it to her. He then turned to Bastion.

“Told you I would get someone to say it eventually bro!” And gave Bastion a playful shove in the arm.

“Yeah yeah, shut up about it Siege. I have to get this filly back to Ponyville, I’ll see you in a few weeks okay.” Bastion told him.

“You got it Bastion, I’ll see you when you get back.” Siege said going back to his position, and Bastion and Nightmare Moon started walking off into the woods. “And take good care of the kid!” Siege called after them.

After they were out of view of the camp Bastion turned to Nightmare Moon.

“You okay Moonbeam?” Bastion asked, “You haven’t said anything since you got handed that bandana.”

“ I don’t even understand what is going on.” Nightmare Moon said, holding up the bandana.

“Don’t worry about it, just part of a running joke between my brother and I,” He said before using his magic to tie the bandana around her head, “One that you are now a part of.”

Author's Notes:

I am sorry that this was so long coming. This chapter really should have been done a long time ago, but I just shelved a lot of things that were not directly influencing my life. I hope this chapter was still okay.
I also hope that the little joke reference to MGS is not hated, I just had that on the brain as I was writing, and I wanted to introduce a way for filly Nightmare Moon to have some accessory that ties her to Bastion in some way I guess.

Things Revealed.

Things Revealed

Twilight was sitting in the library, reading as usual as she waited for Moonjumper. Moonjumper had gone out to meet with a guard to receive a report on the search for Nightmare Moon. They had decided to hold meetings with the guards somewhere other than the library, as they were afraid that some townsponies might start wondering why guards were stopping by every now and then. As she waited her mind turned to the date she and Moonjumper had went on.

Twilight still thought the date went well, even if they had gotten a few interruptions at the beginning. After they got off the cloud they had walked slowly back to the library, just enjoying eachother’s company.

Suddenly The front door opened, Moonjumper coming inside and walking over to where Twilight was sitting and Sitting beside her. Moonjumper looked over at Twilight, slightly exasperated.

“Was there any good news?” Twilight asked.

“*Sigh* No, they haven’t found anything of importance. I don’t know how Nightmare Moon has managed to evade the guards for so long, but it is starting to put me a bit on edge.” Moonjumper said. Moonjumper put her head down on her hooves, letting out another slight sigh.

“Did you want to do anything to try and take your mind off of things?” Twilight asked, wanting to help if she could. Moonjumper looked over at her and gave it some thought.

“I don’t know, I’m going to take a quick bath before I decide, I need something to help me relax a bit.” Moonjumper said as she walked upstairs. Twilight gave a small frown, she didn’t want Moonjumper to feel upset.

“I need to think of something soon.” a voice rang through her mind, a voice that Twilight didn’t quite recognize.

“Hello?” Twilight thought back, waiting to see if the voice would talk back.

“What is it Twilight?” Moonjumper’s voice now came through.

“Did you hear that? There was another voice coming over our mental link!” Twilight exclaimed as she tried to search for the voice in her mind.

“I didn’t hear anything like that, are you sure?” Moonjumper asked.

“So Luna can’t hear me can she, this is interesting.” The voice said again. Twilight was about to ask if Luna heard that when the voice spoke up once again. “Now that I know about this you can be sure I will be back, Twilight Sparkle.” The voice said before going silent.

After the farewell, Twilight felt more sure of who the mystery pony was.

“Moonjumper, I just heard from Nightmare Moon.”

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Moonjumper was sitting in front of Twilight, still damp from her attempt at a shower earlier.

“This changes things immensely.” Moonjumper said finally. She had listened to what Twilight had to say about the short and admittedly one-sided conversation with Nightmare Moon. She was not surprised her freed half was being vague, she didn’t want to be found and couldn’t wouldn’t give any hints.

“What are we going to do from here? Should I try and contact her again?” Twilight asked.

“No, she likely won’t respond. And if she did it would likely not be anything that would help us. The only things we can do is to stop communicating through the mental link, and prepare for her to get here.” Moonjumper told her. “We can’t give her any ideas of what we might be planning.”

“How will we prepare? Should we get our friends and the elements?” Twilight asked, she had a few ideas of her own.

“That would probably be good, I’ll go and get them, I need you to send a letter to Celestia. She needs to know what is going on!” Moonjumper said as she walked toward the front door. She turned around suddenly to look at her. Twilight nodded.

“Alright, I’ll go grab Spike then.” Twilight said, Moonjumper nodded as well and opened the door, taking flight as she exited.

Twilight got to her hooves and rushed over toward the stairs.

“Spike, come down here as fast as you can, we need to get a letter to the princess, quick!” Twilight called up the stairs. She heard a door open and close, followed by rushed footsteps.

“I’m coming Twilig- AAHHH!” Spike screamed, tripping on the stairs. Suddenly he was caught by a purple glow and was again standing on the floor, now beside Twilight.

“That was close, are you okay Spike?” Twilight asked, giving him a quick look over to make sure that he wasn’t injured.

“Yeah Twilight I’m fine.” Spike said waving her away a bit. “But thanks for the save. Now you said something about a letter to the princess?” Spike said.

“Right, do you have some parchment?” Twilight asked. Spike pulled a piece of parchment and a quill. “Great, now let’s get started”

Dear Princess Celestia,
I have urgent news concerning our situation with Nightmare Moon. After Moonj Luna came home from a meeting with the guards patrolling the surrounding forests Something unexpected happened …

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With this in mind we ask that you come to Ponyville so that we may discuss what should be done next face to face.
-Your Faithful Student: Twilight Sparkle.
(+Spike)

Twilight turned back toward Spike who was just finishing on the letter.

“Did you get all of that Spike?” Twilight asked.

“I think so. Urgent news, mental link intrusion, threat from Nightmare Moon, coming up with a plan to deal with her when she arrives, want the Princess to come and give her thoughts on how to proceed. Does that sound right?”

“That should be good, send it off Spike!” Twilight exclaimed. Spike sucked in a deep breath and let out a small stream of green fire, burning the parchment and carrying it out the window and off toward Canterlot.

“Now we just have to wait.” Twilight said to Spike as they looked off toward their old hometown.

Author's Notes:

I am very sorry for how long it took for this chapter to come out for those of you who do enjoy this story. I am not sure why my drive to write has been so low for so long. I hope this chapter is fairly good, I tried to make a chapter where things might start the next part of the plot well.

New Questions Raised

Author's Notes:

So, I have no idea. That is the best way to describe it. I enjoy writing but I can't seem to sit down and write, and I have no idea if this chapter is good. I think some things seem disjointed and the entire thing seems a bit rushed, I would like if someone could tell me if this is just me being over critical of it or if this needs to be done. And if someone could tell me how I could go about finding someone who could proof-read or something I would appreciate it.

Sorry if this is bad to ask, and sorry if this is just bad right now.

New Questions Raised:

“Now that I know about this you can be sure I will be back, Twilight Sparkle” Nightmare Moon thought, completely unused to this form of communication.

Quickly she pulled her thoughts away from this mental link she had discovered, a smile growing on her face.

“You think of something funny?” Bastion suddenly asked, startling her slightly.

“Oh, yeah I guess it was funny.” Nightmare Moon said, immediately thinking of anything she could say if he pressed her on this.

“It’s good to know that you can still find reasons to smile.” Bastion said looking over at her briefly with a smile of his own before going back to looking at his map. Nightmare Moon was slightly relieved, but also a bit sad. For the most part she enjoyed that she didn’t have to explain everything, it made it easier to hide things that could give her away. But at the same time, she also wanted to have Bastion ask her things, to try and get to know her better, even if it would all have to be lies.

Thinking about that last part sent a small feeling of guilt through her body, one that she almost let stay.

*No,* She thought to herself. *I can’t think of things as superfluous as friendship. I could never have a friend anyway.* With those last thoughts, she hung her head a bit. Bastion noticed this as well.

“Hey, Moonbeam, are you alright? You were all smiles just a minute ago.” Bastion asked her, folding the map and putting it in his bag.

“Oh!” Nightmare Moon said, looking up again. “Uh, it… It’s nothing, I just thought of something that made me a bit sad.” Nightmare Moon said, trying to be as vague as she could be.

“If it makes you sad then it obviously isn’t nothing.” Bastion said, giving her a gentle look. “Why don’t you tell me about it? Getting things off your chest can feel pretty good.”

Nightmare Moon looked away for a second, this was technically what she had wanted, but she had no idea what to talk about.

*I guess I could try telling him about me. I would need to change things, but maybe I could get him on my side* She nodded to herself slightly.

“Okay, I guess I’ll tell you.” Nightmare Moon said, still slightly unsure of herself.

“I was thinking about a time that I was… bullied at school.” Nightmare Moon started. Bastion stood there, listening to her intently.

“For a long time it was just me and… my best friend, another unicorn filly, we used to get bullied all the time. The other But for the most part I could protect her from everything they did.” Nightmare Moon began, trying to paint the tale of Luna’s fall to darkness, and her attempt to bring about eternal night in a sympathetic way.

“Eventually, we both got suspended due to something that our bullies blamed on us. I couldn’t see her for the entire time we were suspended, I was miserable.” She shivered a bit remembering her time on the moon.

“When I finally got back, I found out that my friend had blamed me for everything that happened. She joined the bullies and left me all alone.” Nightmare Moon finished, hoping things hadn’t been too see through.

next thing she knew, Bastion had brought her into a hug.

“It’s alright, you can cry if you need to. No need to act strong in front of me.” Bastion told her. She looked at him in confusion for a second before she noticed how damp her cheeks were.

*But, why am I crying?* Nightmare moon thought. Suddenly her body started shaking, small sobs escaping her filly body. *I didn’t even tell a true story, I changed everything about my time with… Luna.*

Suddenly she started crying even harder.

*It’s not fair! Luna and I just wanted ponies to enjoy our night. We were both unhappy with ponies calling us inferior. But just because I was the one who acted on something, I was made into the villain.* More sobs escaped Nightmare Moon's filly’s body, and Bastion continued to comfort her.

*Luna, why did you turn your back on me when we came back to Equestria! I just wanted to help you, but you wouldn’t tell me how!* Nightmare Moon put her small arms around Bastion as she continued to cry.

Slowly, Nightmare Moon’s breathing returned to normal, her tears stopping. She continued to hug Bastion for a while longer, thinking about her life and how unfair things seemed to be.

“Bastion, can I tell you something?” Nightmare Moon asked suddenly

“Go ahead Moonbeam.” He told her, ready to comfort her if she needed it.

“I… I actually don’t have any parents in Ponyville, I was an… orphan, I ran away after the last fight I had with my friend, I don’t know what I’ll say to her if I see her again.” Nightmare Moon told him, still trying to keep close to the truth. She had no idea what she was doing anymore.

Her purpose, once so clear to her, had been brought into question. Her only reason for bringing about eternal night was to try to make ponies appreciate Luna and her. But now there was no need for that now. Without that, what was she supposed to do?

“Moonbeam, I will be honest. I have no idea what to too tell you, and I’m sorry for that. But what I can tell you is that until I get you back to Ponyville, don’t worry about it. I know from experience what it’s like to fight with somepony close to you.” Bastion said, a small reminiscent smile on his face.

“Taking time to think about things that make you smile before you see the pony you fought with, and I don’t know if this goes for everypony, but it always makes me feel better the next time I see them. Just ask my brother.”

“I… I’ll try.” Nightmare Moon said, finally releasing Bastion from the hug she had been keeping him in.

Nightmare Moon tried to give a smile, if only so they could get going again. Even though there were new questions she didn’t want to think about, she still had to get to Ponyville.

*And* Nightmare Moon thought, *I still need to get my body back. This poison joke has been helpful, but I can’t stay like this forever.* She looked over toward Bastion who was standing once again.

*But what will happen to Bastion when the time comes?

Preparations.

Preparations:

“I hope Celestia gets here soon.” Twilight said, though nopony was around to hear her. Moonjumper had gotten back a few minutes ago, her friends not far behind. While everypony was intent to hear what was going on, Moonjumper insisted that they wait for word from Celestia.

Not long after her friends had arrived, Twilight had gone to her room. She wanted to make sure that she could concisely explain what was currently going on when Celestia finally arrived, and she needed things to be quiet for a while.

“Twilight?” Moonjumper called up the stairs.

“I hear you, is Celestia here?” Twilight asked.

“Not quite, but we can see her chariot approaching. Are you ready to come down?” Moonjumper explained.

“Alright, I’ll be right down.” Twilight stepped away from her desk, taking the small note card she had written, just in case. As she walked down the stairs and entered the main room on the lower floor, six pairs of eyes locked onto her. All of her friends had expectant looks on their faces.

“I know you girls must be getting antsy, but It’ll be easier for all of us if I don’t have to go over things multiple times. Celestia is almost here, please just try and stay calm until then.” Twilight told them.

“A little easier said than done, Twi. Moonjumper didn’t stick around long enough to give much details, just that this had to do with Nightmare Moon.” Rainbow Dash said, slightly irritated at how long she had to wait.

“I’m sorry for that, I would have thought my sister would be here sooner.” Moonjumper apologized, hanging her head slightly.

“Now that you mention it, I’ve seen Celestia Teleport into the middle of town just when Twilight had a breakdown, why does Nightmare Moon get a slower response?” Rarity asked.

“She must have her reasons, we will just have to ask her when she gets here.” Twilight said.

“Hey, you guys look! There are even more chariots are coming with Celestia!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, pointing out the window toward Canterlot.

“What!?” Twilight yelled, running over to the window, the other assembled ponies (plus one dragon) following immediately.

Approaching the town, Princess Celestia’s personal chariot was in the front, followed by a procession of other chariots all carrying royal guards. As they got closer, Twilight could barely make out a chariot that looked different.

“I think I see Cadence and Shining Armor!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, stealing the words from Twilight’s mouth. Looking out at the amount of soldiers, it was clear to see what Celestia’s intentions were.

“She intends to crush Nightmare Moon, the only times sister would gather so many guards would be to go to war.” Moonjumper said, her mind going back over a thousand years ago.

Twilight could not believe what she was seeing. What would the townsponies be saying looking at this army coming right for the town. She knew that dealing with Nightmare Moon was important, but couldn’t stop herself from thinking that her former instructor was going a bit too far.

The group continued to watch, they saw Celestia and Shining’s chariots break from the formation, the others flying over the town and to a large field past it. Celestia’s chariot landed in front of the library, and soon enough the front door opened, revealing Celestia, her face in the most serious expression that Twilight had ever seen.

Celestia walked into the room, followed by Shining Armor and Cadence. Celestia looked at everypony gathered in the room.

“Alright, I’m here. Now let’s get to discussing what we are going to do about Nightmare Moon.” Celestia said, her voice containing none of the warmth that it usually held. Twilight shivered a bit, looking over at Moonjumper and seeing that the same thing had happened with her.

“Alright,” Twilight began, trying to sound as confident as she could. “First I should explain the situation to everyone, my letter had to leave out a bit of information because it had to be sent fast.” Celestia nodded at this, motioning for Twilight to begin her in-depth explanation.

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A few minutes later, Twilight finished explaining what had happened. Celestia had a thoughtful look on her face, and the rest of her friends just looked highly disturbed by what they had heard.

Celestia opened her eyes and looked between Twilight and Moonjumper.

“Have you come up with any plans in the time between when you sent that letter and when I arrived with the royal guards?” Celestia asked. Twilight nodded her head. Celestia motioned for her to speak.

“It wasn’t much, but we did decide that we needed to cease all activity between Moonjumper and myself across our mental link, we can’t give Nightmare Moon any information about what we are planning. We also decided that we would need to reveal Moonjumper’s identity to the town, we can’t keep the townspeople in the dark about what could heavily impact their lives.” Twilight told Her former mentor. Celestia nodded her head.

“Alright, those seem like good starting points. I suggest that we gather the townsponies directly after we are done here.” Celestia said, everypony nodded. “Alright, now as you can see, Shining Armor and Cadence are with me, I thought an expert on shield spells could prove useful, and Cadence couldn’t just sit around while everypony else was potentially risking their lives.” Celestia explained, motioning to the two of them who had so far kept quiet.

“You don’t have to worry about the shield spell. I was planning on putting one up after we got out of the library.” Shining Armor said, looking over at Twilight and giving her a nod.

“I’ll try and help keep the townsponies calm, if they start freaking out then we won’t be able to get anything done.” Cadence chimed in.

“Thank you for your assistance at this time.” Moonjumper said, giving the two of them a slight bow, which Shining and Cadence both returned.

“Now, let us move to the other matters that need to be discussed. Aside from erecting a shield wall and revealing Luna’s identity, what else needs to be done?” Celestia asked. Twilight thought for a few seconds on this.

“We don’t know what she will be capable of when she comes back to town. We should try to fortify the border between the Everfree forest and the town, that way if she comes we will be ready.” Twilight offered.

“That is a good start,” Celestia said, looking down at the ground. “I would also say that we should ask the townsponies to evacuate the town until the threat of Nightmare Moon is over. I could send some guards with them to escort them to Canterlot.” Celestia suggested. Twilight looked at her friends behind her.

“What do you girls think?” Twilight asked. Applejack nodded her approval.

“I think it would be for the best, but if they want to stay and help, I say we let ‘em.” Applejack said.

“Yeah, that sounds good to me.” Rainbow Dash put in. The others all nodded.

“Alright then, we will issue the order after we reveal Luna’s identity. Is there anything we could do to buy time for the fortifications and the evacuation?” Celestia asked. Everypony thought for a few moments. Finally, Rainbow Dash offered an idea.

“I could try and ask the Cloudsdale weather factory if they could produce some storm clouds. Then we could put them over the Everfree forest and let them go. I think it would at least slow her down.” Rainbow Dash explained. Celestia thought for a second.

“That sounds good for now, I will write a formal letter explaining the situation that you can take with you. They should comply when they see it.” Celestia said, picking up some parchment and a quill with her magic.

“Is that everything for now?” Moonjumper asked, looking around at the assembled ponies. Everypony thought for a second, and then shook their heads.

“It seems that for now we have our plan of action figured out, we will figure out the rest of the essential stuff after we have let the public know what is going on, we should have a good grasp on what will need to be done from there.” Celestia said. “Now then, it is time to gather the townsponies. Twilight, Luna, you come with me to town hall, we will need the both of you there to explain things to Mayor Mare. The rest of you, if you would spread the word that an emergency town meeting is being held in front of town hall, that would be appreciated.” Celestia told them.

Rainbow Dash gave a salute and flew off through one of Twilight’s open windows. When Twilight looked over to where Pinkie Pie had been standing, she saw just a pink cloud. The rest of her friends all walked out of the library and then split up to find ponies to notify.

Twilight looked down at the ground for a few seconds, the weight of the situation they were in starting to crash down on her. She felt a wing over her back, and looked up to see Moonjumper standing right beside her.

“We will find a way to get through this, I know we will.” Moonjumper assured her. Twilight just leaned into her, trying to keep herself calm.

Celestia looked over at the two of them after she finished giving directions to Shining Armor and Cadence.

“Alright, we must get going.” Celestia said. Turning around and walking toward the door to the library. Twilight and Moonjumper followed her, steeling themselves for what they would have to do next.

Author's Notes:

Well, this is the first chapter after the hiatus, and it is a bit short. that is because I started writing it before the hiatus and was basically finishing this one. The next chapters will hopefully be longer.

A Truth Revealed.

A Truth Revealed:

Nightmare Moon and Bastion walked side by side. Having calmed down from her little show of emotion, Nightmare Moon kept taking the small glances over at Bastion.

*What do I do now?* She thought to herself. She couldn’t take her mind off of what would happen when they eventually got back to Ponyville. *Bastion has been so good to me this whole time. He has comforted me, even though he doesn’t know who I am or if I can be trusted.* Nightmare Moon looked at Bastion, and saw his normal determined expression.

Bastion seemed to notice her looking at him and smiled in her direction.

“Thinking about something, Moonbeam?” Bastion asked, causing Nightmare Moon to snap out of her trance.

“Oh, it’s nothing, I guess that I was just thinking about how strange my circumstance is really.” Nightmare Moon said, trying to get her mind off of what she had been thinking of.

“Tell me about it, the chances of you just so happening to run out into the woods while the Guards are looking for Nightmare Moon. It is a strange coincidence isn’t it?” Bastion said. Nightmare Moon looked at him, trying to see if she could read anything on his face. He didn’t seem to be insinuating that he knew her identity.

“Right, I almost forgot about that.” Nightmare Moon said, trying to act casual. “Do you think that your friends could have found her by now?” She asked.

“I don’t know, she managed to evade us for quite a while before I took you to our base camp. I’d say that she might still be out there.” Bastion said, looking up at the sky. In that moment, he stopped in his tracks. Nightmare Moon looked up and saw what had caused Bastion to stop.

Passing over them, she saw a large group of chariots being pulled by pegasi. They were carrying a lot of supplies, and they were all flying in the same direction that Nightmare Moon and Bastion were heading in.

“Are those the guards who were looking for Nightmare Moon?” Nightmare Moon asked. It sounded weird talking about herself in such a matter.

“It looks like it.” Bastion said, watching the last of the group pass overhead and back toward Ponyville. “I don’t know what is going on though, could something be happening back at the town?” Bastion was seemingly at a loss for words. He shook his head and looked back down at Nightmare Moon.

“I guess we'll just have to see when we get you back home, huh?” Bastion said. Nightmare Moon nodded. Trying to keep the relief off of her face now that the forest was free of Soldiers.

“Maybe, someone in Ponyville saw Nightmare Moon coming back to the town?” Nightmare Moon suggested. Bastion absentmindedly nodded.

“I guess that could be.” Bastion said, trying to keep his voice even. “Anyway, we should get going, no matter what, we still need to get you back to town. I doubt that you want to stay out in the forest much longer.” Bastion said, making sure that he still had his bearings.

“Yeah….” Nightmare Moon said, her voice trailing off. They started walking once more, Nightmare Moon’s thoughts turning back to what she would have to do when they arrived.

*Maybe….* She began thinking to herself. *Maybe I can tell him. At least a little bit, if not everything* Nightmare Moon glanced over at Bastion.

*I guess that it would be worth a shot. If the worst comes to pass, I could try and incapacitate him with magic. I’ve had time to recover by now and I know I just need to keep going straight to reach the town again. I’ve got to be careful with how I handle this.* Nightmare Moon thought, trying to think of how she could explain that she, looking like a small filly, was actually the pony that he was supposed to be taking into custody.

*I’ll wait until we stop for the night.* She thought, nodding her head. *But I guess that I could say something now, just to see if it would be a good idea.*

For a few minutes, Nightmare Moon remained silent. When she felt like the time was right, she stopped moving once again. She unconsciously put one of her hooves up to her forehead, feeling the bandanna that Bastion had tied around her head when they had left the camp. She hoped that things would turn out well.

A few moments passed before Bastion noticed that the pony he was escorting had stopped walking. He looked back and saw Moonbeam fiddling with her bandana. He started to walk back to her, wanting to ask if she was okay. Moonbeam spoke up before Bastion could get a word out though.

“Hey, Bastion,” Nightmare Moon began, trying to bring her courage up to say something to him. Bastion looked at her, motioning for her to continue, but Nightmare Moon just couldn’t bring herself to say anything about herself at this point. She didn’t want to just drop things, she had stopped them for the second time already, she felt that she needed to give Bastion a good reason, so she thought of something else she could talk about.

“Do you know anything about a weird blue flower that does weird things to your body?” Nightmare Moon decided, thinking back to another of her current problems. Bastion looked at her for a second, seemingly very confused. Suddenly understanding spread across his face.

“You must mean poison Joke, nasty stuff. As far as I know it only grows here in the Everfree.” Bastion explained. Nightmare Moon nodded.

“That’s what it’s called?” Nightmare Moon faked surprise, she remembered the two guards who refused to come close to the flowers when she first woke up in her shrunken body.

“Yeah.” Bastion said, cocking his head to one side as he said it. “Why do you ask? Did you run into some without knowing?”

Nightmare Moon looked down at her hooves, feeling a bit embarrassed to be talking about what happened to her.

“Yeah.” Was all that Nightmare Moon said, trying to think of what she would say to satisfy Bastion’s curiosity until they stopped for the night and she could try and explain everything.

“Well, you look healthy enough, what happened to you that makes you say you ran into poison joke?” Bastion asked. Nightmare Moon looked even further down at the ground. She bit her lip a bit before she got the nerve to answer.

“Well, promise you won’t make fun of me or anything after you hear it.” She said, and saw Bastion give her a salute. She took that as confirmation to go forward with what had happened to her.

“Alright,” She said, letting out a small sigh, “The truth is, I’m not a little filly, the poison joke shrunk my body down to this size.” She told him. “I did actually have a fight with a friend, but it wasn’t over school stuff. I just want to go home and apologize to her.” Nightmare Moon said, trying to rush her explanations out, and hoping that Bastion didn’t call her out for being suspicious. However, Bastion didn’t make any noises. Nightmare Moon looked up from the patch of grass she had been observing just a second ago to see Bastion fighting to hold in his laughter.

Unfortunately he couldn’t hold it in very long and soon the sounds of his laughter echoed throughout the trees. Nightmare Moon let out a lone sigh, more relieved that he hadn’t seemed to jumped to the conclusion that she was Nightmare Moon from what she had just shared. It took Bastion a few seconds to recover, and Nightmare Moon saw him wipe a few tears from his eyes.

“That actually makes a lot of sense.” Bastion said, a stray laugh coming and going as he talked. “It didn’t make sense to me how somepony so young could pull off a teleportation spell, the only other pony who I’ve heard of that had managed something like that at such a young age was Twilight Sparkle. Hearing that you’re actually older, it is kind of hilarious considering how you acted around everypony, me included.”

Nightmare Moon couldn’t help the small smile that came to her face as she watched her friend lau-

*Wait, friend?* Nightmare Moon thought to herself, unsure of where the word had come from. *He… He can’t be a friend, I’m not supposed to have any friends.* Nightmare Moon thought, her face falling a bit. *But, he has been there for me, he hasn’t tried to harm me in any way. Maybe… He could be my friend.* She looked at Bastion, who seemed to have notice her mood go downcast once again. *Maybe, if things go well tonight. He deserves to know the whole truth, even if he doesn’t like what that is.*

“Hey, Moonbeam, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings when I laughed, honestly.” She heard Bastion saying. She looked up at him and tried to give him her best smile.

“Don’t worry about it, I knew it was kind of embarrassing when I was going to share it.” Nightmare Moon said, trying to deflect all the worry about her feelings. “So, I guess I should ask, do you know where that Zebra that helped Twilight with her case of poison joke lives? I’ve been stuck like this for what feels like weeks.” She said, talking less like a school aged filly now that she didn’t have to pretend.

“Oh,” Bastion said, pulling the map out of his saddlebag. “I think it should be on here somewhere, we should swing by. I could only imagine the kind of stuff that would happen if you came back to town looking like a filly instead of your regular self.”

“That would be nice.” Nightmare Moon said. She couldn’t help but smile at how fortunate she had been to be discovered by sompony so nice.

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As it turned out, Bastion and Nightmare Moon were very close to the Zebra’s house. Bastion had been slightly confused at first to see that she lived so far out into the Everfree, but figured she must have had some reason. Within the next two hours, they were within sight of where the house should be. They came across an large tree that had windows carved out of it.

“Well, I think this is where the map said the Zebra lived.” Bastion said, eyeing the place slightly suspiciously. “It’s a bit different than what I had expected. You still want to do this right now?” He asked Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon just nodded.

“I don’t want to look like a filly if I don’t need to, I was hoping that the effects would just wear off after a while, but it hasn’t gotten any better yet.” Nightmare Moon explained, starting to walk up to the crude steps that led to the door. Bastion followed closely behind her.

When Nightmare Moon got to the top step, she raised one of her hooves to knock on the door. As she did, she heard movement. She waited as the sound of footsteps approached the door. And Soon enough, it swung open, revealing the zebra who lived there.

“I was did not expect visitors so soon, tell me child, are you a friend of Applebloom?” The zebra asked. Nightmare Moon thought it was slightly strange that she spoke in rhyme, but decided to ignore it for now.

“Oh, no ma’am, I am actually here because I heard you could help with poison joke.” Nightmare Moon said, hoping that she would be willing to help. The zebra nodded.

“I see, please do come in. A remedy I have within.” The zebra said moving aside to let her guests into the small, single room house.

“A few moments is all I ask. I need some time to prep your bath.” The zebra said once again, walking over to a collection of herbs she had drying on her wall. She picked a few up and started walking over to a very large pot.

“Wait, the cure to poison joke is a bath with some herbs in it?” Nightmare Moon asked, confused, but not opposed to the lack of having to eat anything to cure herself.

The zebra simply nodded, not taking her eyes off of the bubbling cauldron. Seeing that she would not be able to talk with the zebra mare at all, she decided to distract herself by looking around at the strange interior decorations that were scattered about the house.

She looked over at Bastion, who was still standing near the entrance, scratching his leg awkwardly.

When Bastion saw that she was looking at him, he stood up straight, acting like he had never been doing anything else. Nightmare Moon gave a small laugh.

“The bath is ready, please jump in. My herbs and potions will cleanse your skin.” The zebra called over to her. Nightmare Moon jumped a bit. When she recovered, she walked over to the zebra, and allowed herself to be lifted up and into the apparent bathing cauldron. Nightmare Moon instinctively coiled up on herself as she saw the liquid get ever closer to her, her mind screaming that she was going to be cooked and eaten. But, she was surprised to find that the water was not that hot actually, about the perfect temperature for taking a bath.

Nightmare Moon started to relax a bit as she felt the warm bubbly water surround her.

“Take a deep breath, submerg your snout. Otherwise poison joke will not come out.” Said the zebra once again. Her calm, rhyming pattern of speech calming Nightmare Moon enough to follow her instructions. She lowered her head under the water, holding her breath. Once she was completely submerged, she felt her legs begin to grow back to normal size, the rest of her body following soon after.

She felt her legs hit the bottom of the cauldron and she had to take her head out to make room for her body reaching both the front and back of the cauldron. She opened her eyes to look around. The zebra mare looked slightly shocked, but shook it off. When she looked over at Bastion, she couldn’t read his face.

Nightmare Moon looked over at the zebra mare once again. And got out of her cauldron bath. She stepped onto the wood floor and the zebra mare gave her something to dry off with.

“Thank you miss,” Nightmare Moon said, giving a slight bow. “I don’t have any money on me now, but I will come and pay you back for this once I get back to Ponyville.”

“Do not worry about the money. It was payment enough to have some company.” The zebra said, waving off her offer to pay for the ‘treatment’. “To introduce myself, my name is Zecora.” The zebra mare, now identified as Zecora said, extending a hoof out to shake. Nightmare Moon accepted without hesitation.

“My name is Moonbeam. It has been nice meeting you Zecora, but we really should get going. We need to get back to Ponyville.” Nightmare Moon said. Zecora nodded her head, understanding well enough.

“If you see a young filly named Applebloom, Tell her I would not mind her coming to visit some time soon.” Zecora told her.

“I will try to do that.” Nightmare Moon told her, not really thinking as she spoke, she walked over to where Bastion stood. “Are you okay Bastion?” She asked, seeing that Bastion had not moved much since she had emerged from the bath. Bastion shook his head, seeming to come back to reality.

“Yeah, sorry. I was thinking about some stuff, I’m ready to go if you are.” Bastion said. Nightmare Moon turned around, looking at Zecora one last time before she waved goodbye.

Nightmare Moon and Bastion both started walking off into the forest, Bastion remaining quiet for a bit. Nightmare Moon Tried not to worry about it that much. They had walked in silence many times before, so there was likely no reason to worry too much about it.

She kept telling herself this, but at the same time, he hadn’t even reacted when he saw her grow into a full grown mare. Sure she had told him it would happen, but she still thought his lack of reaction was disconcerting. She tried to keep her mind off of that. Soon enough, they would have to stop for the night, and then she could try to reveal herself.

*Why do I feel the need to explain myself to him though? The evil Mare of Darkness shouldn’t care about anyone* Nightmare Moon thought to herself. She wondered for a second what that could mean.

Suddenly, Bastion stopped in his tracks. Nightmare Moon noticed this quickly and moved to stand in front of him.

“Moonbeam,” Bastion began, his voice sounding ominous. Nightmare Moon froze a bit. “The circumstances around you being in the Everfree, the fact that you kept your affliction with poison joke a secret for so long. I will admit, I found it all suspicious.” Bastion said, his eyes not meeting Nightmare Moon’s. Nightmare Moon herself felt she could tell where this was heading but was frozen with fear.

“After everything you’ve told me over the last few days, I think I figured it out.” As he said this, Bastion looked right into Nightmare Moon’s eyes. “You are Nightmare Moon, aren’t you.” He said, not phrasing it as a question.

Nightmare Moon dropped her head, not wanting to see the accusatory look that he was giving her.

“Yes, Bastion.” Nightmare Moon said, sounding like a dog afraid to be punished. “I was going to tell you tonight.” She admitted. She heard Bastion pacing around.

“Well, this is a fine mess. I’ve been leading the fugitive I was ordered to detain back to Ponyville all this time.” The tone in his voice held anger. Nightmare Moon didn’t dare look up though, she didn’t want Bastion to see the tears that were forming in her eyes.

*Monsters don’t cry* She thought to herself, but she couldn’t stop the tears that pooled at her eyes.

“I should have trusted my gut that something was fishy about a filly being that far into the Everfree. I should have listened to my commander.” Bastion kept spitting out things that kept breaking Nightmare Moon’s heart. She just stood there, figuring that this is what she deserved for deceiving someone who had tried to help her. She heard Bastion’s footsteps coming closer, and prepared for whatever came next.

“And the worst part is, I know that if I had listened, I would be putting you in chains right now without letting you explain yourself.”

At this, Nightmare Moon looked up at Bastion, her eyes still wet with tears. Bastion was standing in front of her, not making any moves to hurt her or detain her.

*If he is willing to listen to me, I was planning on telling him anyway.* Nightmare Moon thought. She sat down and started thinking on how best to tell him everything that she had experienced. She nodded to herself, and looked at Bastion, trying to keep the tears from her eyes.

“It all started when Luna and I separated.” Nightmare Moon began. “I had been sustained by her thoughts about me, she thought of me as a negative force, and so I became one. Once I was my own pony, I no longer had her thoughts to sustain me, her negative thoughts about me that seemed to give me purpose were no longer there. Even before you found me, I was unsure of why I was doing what I was, it was the only thing I had known for so long.” Nightmare Moon said, trying to put her existence into perspective, both for herself, and for Bastion.

“Once you came along, and showed me so much kindness, I started to wonder why I was doing these things even more. I tried to tell myself that I was just staying with you because it was convenient, but, I was actually starting to see you as a friend. I wanted to tell you about myself, but I was afraid of how you would react when you found out.” Nightmare Moon explained.

“I see.” Bastion said, his voice not showing any emotion. “So, what are you going to do when we get back to Ponyville?” he asked. This caused Nightmare Moon to look at him in shock.

“Wait, you are still going to take me back to Ponyville? Even though I lied to you about who I was?” Nightmare Moon asked, not sure she believed what she was hearing.

“I am.” Bastion said, “I’ve seen how you act, and I am sure that you are not the same evil mare that threatened Equestria so long ago. Now, tell me what you are going to do when we reach Ponyville.”

Nightmare Moon looked down at her hooves for a second. She didn’t want to fight with anyone anymore, but she doubted that Luna would listen to her if she tried to talk with her.

“I want to patch things up with Luna, but I don’t know if she will want to talk with me, and the soldiers are probably going to be waiting for us. I don’t know what to do.” Nightmare Moon said, wracking her brain for any way to get into town that didn’t involve fighting.

“Maybe if I say I have subdued you we could get you into town without trouble?” Bastion offered.

Nightmare Moon considered that, It could work. But she shook her head.

“No, Luna might assume that I put a control spell on you. It would be best if you did not get yourself involved, I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.” Nightmare Moon told him. “I will think of something by the time that we get to Ponyville. When we get close to the town, you should either hide in the forest until I get things taken care of, or you could join up with the other soldiers.” Nightmare Moon insisted.

“Alright, I don’t like that idea myself, but if you want to go through with it, then I will trust you on this.” Bastion said. He looked up, trying to see any light coming through the canopy of trees above them. “We should set up camp for the night.” Bastion suggested. Nightmare Moon nodded. They started getting things ready for them to sleep for the night.

As they got their camp ready for the night, Nightmare Moon thought of something.

“Hey, Bastion?” She called out, hoping to get his attention.

“Yes Nightma-” He began, but was cut off.

“Please, don’t call me Nightmare Moon,” She began. “I really like being called Moonbeam. I’m not Nightmare Moon anymore.” Moonbeam said, asserting herself. Bastion looked at her, and gave her a small smile.

“As you wish, Moonbeam.”

Author's Notes:

I don't know if the swapping back and forth between character groups every chapter will work after this point. I feel like it will probably get a bit cumbersome. I will try to come to a conclusion by the time the next chapter comes out, but I would enjoy having a bit of input if anyone would be willing to share.

Not gonna lie though, I was not expecting this chapter to go on as long as it did, I was thinking I was going to have this done yesterday, but there was still so much to cover. I could have tried to split it into different chapters, but I don't think that would have been the best Idea.

Also, I am sorry if I butchered Zecora. I didn't know until I started writing her for this chapter that she was even going to be here. I didn't give myself any time to prepare for her rhyming speech pattern. Near the end I just gave up on it as I really just didn't know what to do. There is a reason there is no Zecora tag on this story.

Telling the Town.

Telling the Town.

Twilight Sparkle followed Celestia and Moonjumper as they walked side by side toward the town center. She noticed a few of the townsponies that were out and about stopping and staring at the small procession that they had going. Twilight couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward. She wondered what her fellow citizens were thinking as they saw the mare that she had introduced as her marefriend, walking down the street trying to look as regal as the princess beside her. She couldn’t help but shy away from the glances that were shot her way.

*I guess that they’ll find out soon enough* Twilight thought to herself. It was hard for her to think only to herself now, the time she spent with Moonjumper had caused her view of her own mindspace to become less personal. She felt like sharing her thoughts was more normal that keeping things to herself.

Twilight looked around at the town, they were close to the town center now and Twilight was starting to feel the stress of what they were about to do. She hoped that this would go well, most of the ponies in town were fairly understanding but this was a lot to have dumped on them.

“Twilight, are you feeling well?” Moonjumper asked suddenly, causing Twilight to shake her head and focus back on the present.

“Oh, yes, sorry. I guess that I just got a bit caught up with thinking about what is going to happen when we reach town hall.” Twilight admitted. She saw Moonjumper look down at the ground after Twilight explained herself. She wished that she could hear what she was thinking, or ask what was wrong. But they had promised that until Nightmare Moon was captured or defeated, no mental contact between the two of them.

“That makes sense.” Moonjumper said, picking her head up again and looking ahead at the approaching town hall. “Don’t worry, Tia and I will take care of most of the talking concerning what will be happening to the town, and my true identity.”

Twilight hung her head a bit. She felt like she was only there for show, not actually doing anything to help. She looked up at Celestia, her face resolute. She didn’t take her eyes off of the destination. Twilight was not used to seeing her, now former, teacher so cold. She could understand why, but it still made her feel uneasy.

The rest of the walk was spent in silence, Twilight trying to keep her mind off of the gazes directed their way. When they got into the building, the secretary at the front desk froze. Celestia walked up to the desk, trying to appear as approachable as possible.

“Is the Mayor here? We need to speak with her.” Celestia asked. The stalion at the desk just nodded, still not fully recovered. He pointed to the nearest door past his desk. Celestia thanked him and started walking toward the door. Twilight and Moonjumper followed along, looking apologetically at the stallion as they passed into the door.

When they entered the room after Celestia, they found her talking with Mayor Mare.

“You mean to tell me that one of the biggest threats to Equestria has been right outside our borders for the last month, and we’ve been kept in the dark?!” Mayor Mare exclaimed. It was clear that she was frightened by the revelation Celestia had delivered. She soon noticed that Twilight and Moonjumper had entered the room as well.

“Twilight! And… your mare friend? What is going on here?” Mayor Mare asked, trying to comprehend what was going on now.

“I will try my best to explain everything to you, Mrs. Mayor, now please try and remain calm. We will need your help after we are done conversing here.” Celestia said, drawing the Mayor’s attention back to her.

“Oh, yes. Please proceed.” Mayor Mare said, trying to keep her focus on what her princess was telling her. Celestia nodded a bit.

“Now, as I was saying, Nightmare Moon has come back, and has been hiding in the Everfree forest. I sent a group of soldiers from the royal guard to try and find her, but she has evaded them. Now she is planning on returning to town with some diabolical agenda.” Celestia explained, trying to keep Mayor Mare as calm as possible despite the subject matter.

“Is that the reason that Princess Luna is not with you?” Mayor Mare asked. Moonjumper stepped forward at that moment.

“Actually, that is the other part of what we needed to talk about.” Moonjumper began. Mayor Mare looked at her, very confused at why Twilight’s marefriend was interrupting the princess. “I am princess Luna, I’ve been living in town, disguised, with Twilight because of a situation that left me in a weakened state. A month ago, some magical incident caused Nightmare Moon to separate from me entirely.” Luna explained. Mayor Mare looked at her, finding the story hard to believe.

“As you can see, there are things that are outside the norm surrounding this entire situation…” Celestia began, but Twilight did not listen to the rest of what was said.

She could see that things would not require input from her. She let her mind turn to what might happen after they got done here. She wondered how many of the ponies would try to leave when they announced what was going on. There were a few ponies she could think of that would likely try and stick around, wanting to help in any way they could.

Twilight nodded to herself, looking out the window of the town hall. She knew that beyond the cluster of houses stood the Everfree forest, and Nightmare Moon was just out of sight from there.

“Twilight Sparkle!” A voice called into Twilight’s mind. Twilight jumped at the sudden contact with her mind. She knew that voice, but it wasn’t Moonjumper.

Twilight looked over at everypony else in the room, contemplating whether or not to tell them what was happening. Twilight shook her head, she knew that she shouldn’t do this. But she might not get another chance like this. Twilight tried to focus on the voice, strengthening the connection while trying to keep away from Moonjumper’s mind.

“Nightmare Moon.” Twilight thought, trying to sound indifferent. She waited for a response. For a few moments, she was afraid that she would get none.

“I need to talk with you, please.” Nightmare Moon pleaded, catching Twilight off guard. She was not expecting to hear a please, or pleading from the same Mare who had threatened her earlier that day. She cautiously began talking again.

“Alright, I’m listening.” Twilight told her.

“I need to talk with Luna face to face. Please, I need your help!” Nightmare Moon pleaded with her. Twilight grew suspicious at that.

“And I’m just supposed to believe that you have good intentions with this, you threatened us earlier today already!” Twilight accused, not wanting to trust Nightmare Moon on anything. She could almost feel Nightmare Moon recoil from her accusation, which slightly puzzled her.

“You are right, I have no right to demand this from you. But I must still ask, is there any way that I can talk with Luna? I will agree to anything, even if I must stand before her in chains.” Nightmare Moon insisted. Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Nightmare Moon was agreeing to let herself be captured, it was to strange to believe.

Nightmare Moon must have taken her slowness to respond as a sign that she was going to refuse, because a few moments later she was once again making a bargain.

“Please! I’ll wear a magic restraint if i have to. I need to talk with her.” Nightmare Moon pleaded. Twilight considered what she was being asked.

“Alright,” Twilight finally replied, she wasn’t sure what exactly Nightmare Moon wanted, but she was willing to severely disadvantage herself, “I will see what I can do. But first, you need to explain yourself to me. I want to hear why you are doing this, you are too cunning to so willingly give yourself up.” Twilight told her. Nightmare Moon was quiet for a few seconds, but the feeling of the link never left, so Twilight knew that she was still there. Finally, Nightmare Moon began her story.

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Celestia and Mayor Mare, as well as princess Luna had all finalized the details of what needed to be brought to the citizen’s attention. Luna looked at Twilight, seeing her sitting down, her eyes closed and her breathing deep.

*That’s odd, she normally doesn’t fall asleep so easily* She thought to herself. She approached Twilight and tried to rouse her from her apparent slumber, but got no response.

“Is everything alright, Luna?” She heard Celestia ask from behind her. Luna turned back to face Celestia and Mayor Mare.

“Twilight seems to be in a deep sleep. I can’t wake her.” Luna said, motioning toward the young mare. Celestia looked at Twilight, trying to see if there was anything wrong with her, but she didn’t see any signs of illness.

“It is probably just tiredness from the stress of the last few weeks. When she was still studying in Canterlot she would sometimes fall asleep standing at her desk working on a research project that I had given her.” Celestia said, remembering a time years ago. She shook her head and started walking toward the door.

“We should leave her to rest, we have important matters to inform the citizens of. We can make sure that the front desk stallion tells her where we are if she wakes up.” Celestia told them, pushing the door open and waiting for Mayor Mare and her sister to exit the room.

Mayor Mare left the room not a second after the door was open, but Luna stayed sitting in front of Twilight for just a second longer.

*I wish I could communicate with you right now, but we can’t chance Nightmare Moon finding out about our plans.* Luna thought. She quickly reached up and touched Twilight’s cheek. A second later she put her hoof back down and got to all four hooves, leaving Twilight to rest in the room. She walked with her sister and Mayor Mare to the front of the building, Celestia making sure to leave a message in case Twilight woke up.

They could see from the windows on the doors that most, if not all of the residents of Ponyville where already gathered outside, waiting for them. Luna steadied her nerves, she wasn’t sure how most of the townsponies would take the news, but her time in town gave her hope that things would not go terribly.

Celestia looked at both Luna and Mayor Mare, seeming to ask if they were prepared, they both nodded. Celestia gave a final nod, and opened the doors of the town hall.

As Celestia and the two ponies at her sides exited the building, many of the residents bowed to the princess of the sun. Some of them were confused to see the mare they knew as Moonjumper standing with her. Luna knew that there would be a lot of questions, but that was why they had all made sure to go over what needed to be addressed. She waited. And as they had planned, Mayor Mare began explaining why the townsponies had been gathered.

“I thank you all for coming on such short notice.” Mayor Mare began, giving a small bow to the crowd. “You were all asked here so that we may explain why the royal guard flew over the town roughly an hour ago, as well as what has caused it. I ask that you all remain calm while Princess Celestia and Princess Luna explain.” Mayor Mare exclaimed. The mention of Luna caused a few ponies in the crowd to look around, others eyed the mare they knew as Moonjumper.

Ignoring the murmuring of the crowd, Celestia stepped forward. She said a quick thank you to Mayor Mare before she began her own portion of their speech.

“As many of you saw, an hour ago I, and a large number of Canterlot Royal guards flew into town. Some of you may remember seeing a few other Royal guard members making trips into the Everfree forest over the past month. Until now we had decided that it would be best to keep the details of why they were investigating the forest a secret to prevent panic. But there has been a development recently, and we can not keep things secret.” Celestia began, looking around at the gathered ponies, trying to gauge their reactions.

“Nightmare Moon is once again free, and she has been trying to evade capture in the Everfree forest. Earlier today, we received information that she would be launching an attack. That is why I have brought the guard with me, to protect this town.” Celestia explained, she remained quiet for a moment to allow her words to sink in. A few seconds passed in silence, until one of the residence spoke up, quietly at first.

“But, if Nightmare Moon is back, why did Mayor Mare introduce Luna as well? And why is Twilight Sparkle’s mare friend with you two?” They asked. Luna could not see the speaker, but she stepped forward to explain.

“I will try to explain everything as best as I can, but the story is a bit long. I will start by saying that I am actually Princess Luna, and for reasons I will soon tell, I have had to live in Ponyville. A few months ago now, unforeseen circumstances led me to lock myself away in a magic bubble, the reason being that Nightmare Moon was attempting to take control of my body once again. My sister sent for Twilight Sparkle to see if she could help get me out of the bubble, as she was unaware at the time what was happening. Twilight Sparkle ended up helping me fight off Nightmare Moon, but the effort drained me of much of my magic.” Luna began explaining. She was hoping that everypony would be able to understand, as she was trying to make things as simple as she could.

“Circumstance had me come to Ponyville, where I disguised myself and introduced myself under the name Moonjumper. For a while, Nightmare Moon did not surface. But one month ago, something happened. Some how, my magic separated Nightmare Moon from my body, leaving me in the state that you see now, and giving Nightmare Moon her own physical form. We were both weakened by the separation, but it seems that now she has amassed enough power to come back and attempt to wreak havoc on the land.” Luna explained,

All of the gathered ponies were silent. Luna knew that it was a lot to take in, and in a lot of ways, it sounded ridiculous. Luna did see one pony shuffle around a bit. A second later, they spoke.

“So, you and Miss Twilight Sparkle are not dating then?” They asked. Luna’s face went bright red and a few of the surrounding ponies looked at the one who had asked the question with looks of shock. Luna quickly shook her head to gain her concentration once again. She could faintly hear Celestia chuckling.

“That is not the important issue at hoof.” Luna deflected the question. “Now that we’ve told you all what is happening, we were going to issue an evacuation notice, Those of you who do not want to be caught in the middle of any fighting that might break out will be escorted to canterlot by soldiers. If anypony is willing to stay, we also ask that you help us put up fortifications around the town and the surrounding area. We want to make sure that Nightmare Moon is thoroughly sto-”

“Wait!” Twilight Sparkle’s voice suddenly came from behind her. Luna looked around, seeing Twilight, wide awake and looking slightly panicked. Luna stopped what she was saying. Waiting for her marefriend to explain the sudden interruption.

“Pull back the guards from the forest.” Twilight said, looking from Celestia to Luna. “I just heard something from Nightmare Moon. She is… Surrendering.”

Author's Notes:

Not gonna lie. At this point after so many breaks from this story, I have no clue how long Nightmare Moon and Luna have been separated. I know that I say about a month, and I think that is about what I wanted. If I ever go back over this story and edit things to make sure things all mesh well I will be sure to do that stuff. Hopefully you all are enjoying, as I have been enjoying writing on this story once again.

The next part of the story will probably be the confrontation between 'Moonbeam' and everypony in Ponyville. I will warn you now that that will probably be two parts. I have a lot of stuff that I will want to do for that and it would be a really long chapter otherwise. And since these chapters tend to take about two or three days for one that is a normal length, it would likely be double that if I made the confrontation one large chapter.

Confrontation part 1

Confrontation part 1

Moonbeam stood near the edge of the tree line, looking out past the canopy of trees to see the field that stretched beyond and Ponyville. She couldn’t help but be nervous about what would be happening in just a few short hours.

*I hope that Twilight can convince everypony.* Moonbeam thought to herself. She had not slept well last night, being to nervous about the day ahead of her. She had told Bastion about her plan, and he had watched her as she mentally communicated with Twilight Sparkle. After She had finished telling her story and asking for help, she and Bastion had gone over what would have to happen tomorrow.

She put a hoof up to her horn, feeling the small magic restraining ring that she had asked Bastion to put over her horn. Bastion had explained that even with her hooves she would not be able to remove it, only the magic of another unicorn would be able to remove the ring once it was in place. That did not stop her from fidgeting with it at times.

*I hope that he is okay, I don’t want him getting in trouble because of me. Having him leave was the best decision.* Moonbeam told herself for what must have been the hundredth time that day.

Moonbeam waited. She had told Twilight that she would come into the town just after noon came. The sun was still rising in the sky, but it was almost time. She wondered if any guards would come to escort her as their prisoner. If they did, she would have to assure them that the magic restraint was actually functioning. She hoped that they would see that she was willing to cooperate.

*The worst part about this restraint at the moment isn’t my inability to use magic.* She thought to herself. *The worst part is not being able to contact Twilight Sparkle to see what is happening in the town.* Moonbeam didn’t know how to deal with all of the nervous energy that she was feeling as she waited for noon.

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Twilight was pacing back and forth in the library that she called home. After her outburst yesterday, she had not heard anything more from Nightmare Moon, who had insisted on calling herself Moonbeam. She had also not been able to contact her at all either, which concerned her.

Twilight was not fully trusting Nightmare Moon. She knew firsthoof the kind of tricks that she could pull. Her encounter with the corrupted princess while she and her friends had been searching for the Elements of Harmony had shown her just a hint of what Nightmare Moon was capable of.

After she had interrupted the speech outside of town hall. Luna and Celestia had still issued the evacuation warning, they did not trust Nightmare Moon, and took Twilight’s recount of her ‘change of heart’ with more than a grain of salt. Celestia told her that they would go along with the idea, but they would be sending a group of guards, headed by Shining Armor, to gather the evil specter. She had also demanded, not asked, that Twilight and her friends be on hoof with the elements of harmony.

Twilight looked over at the crown that represented her element, magic. She wandered over to where it sat. The others had all collected their necklaces earlier, but something seemed to be keeping Twilight from putting hers on. It was like a part of her was telling her that she shouldn’t use it, that she should believe in Nightmare Moon. But she couldn’t be sure that everything was going to well.

Slowly, she reached out and picked up the crown. She felt it’s weight, it was light. With a sigh, she put the crown on top of her head.

“We need to have a security policy for if Nightmare Moon is setting us up somehow.” Twilight said. She turned around, looking toward the front door to the library. She pushed all of her conflicting thoughts away, and started walking to the door.

“We’ll just have to see for ourselves if Nightmare Moon has really changed.” Twilight said to herself as she pushed the doors open. Stepping out into the light of the sun.

Spike was waiting by the door, he walked up to her as she exited their shared home.

“Is everything alright Twilight?” He asked, trying to read her face. Twilight tried to give Spike a smile to reassure him, but she didn’t feel like it was genuine. Spike seemed to pick up on how forced it was as well.

“I’m fine, Spike.” Twilight lied. “Now come on, we need to get going, the princess and the others are all waiting for us on the edge of town.” She said, motioning for Spike to hop up on her back while they walked, which he did.

The walk to the town’s edge passed in near total silence. Spike and Twilight not wanting to talk about what was going to happen in roughly an hour. The silence was not helped by the absence of many of the town’s residents. Roughly two minutes later, Twilight could see where her friends and Celestia had all gathered.

Celestia was looking out toward the Everfree forest, her gaze cold. The rest of her friends, including Cadence and Luna were all watching and waving as she approached. Twilight started trotting to close the distance between her and the group. She had to be careful not to dislodge the crown from its place on her head. She doubted a fall would actually harm one of the Elements of Harmony, but she didn’t want to chance it.

“Sorry I’m a bit late.” Twilight apologized. Her friends all waved off the apology, saying that it was unnecessary. She looked over at Celestia, whose gaze had not left the Everfree forest. Twilight shuddered a bit, seeing Celestia with a look like that was terrifying to her. As she recovered from the odd feeling of seeing her former teacher in such a state, she noticed Luna walk up beside her.

“Hope you don’t mind if we talk like this.” Twilight suddenly heard across the mental link they shared. She looked over to Luna.

“Of course I don’t mind, Moonjumper.” Twilight responded.

“I don’t want ‘Tia to know, but I am actually very nervous about what is going to happen.” Moonjumper confided in her. Wanting to comfort her, Twilight leaned into Moonjumper slightly.

“I think we all are. We don’t know how this is going to pan out. I’ve just been hoping that everything goes well since yesterday.” Twilight said.

“It is good to know that I am not the only one.” Twilight heard Moonjumper once again. “I know I shouldn’t be, but I keep comparing how I’m feeling to how ‘Tia is acting. She doesn’t seem to be disturbed or shaken at all.” Moonjumper revealed. Twilight looked at Celestia once again.

“I’m actually glad that you aren’t acting the same way.” Twilight confessed. “She seems so different, so unapproachable. Like she might snap if you do anything to distract her from her prize.”

Moonjumper looked over at her sister once again, taking in her stance. Her cold, hard set facial expression. She had to admit that She looked like a mare bent on getting what she wanted.

“I suppose… you may have a point there.”

Suddenly, Cadence appeared before the two of them. Twilight and Moonjumper stopped their little exchange as they saw her approach.

“It is nice to see you here, Twilight.” Cadence said, giving her sister in law a small hug. “Celestia sent Shining Armor to Collect Nightmare Moon just a few minutes ago. We’ve been waiting for you both.” Cadence told her.

“I’m glad that I made it here before Shining made it back.” Twilight said. While she wasn’t exactly sure what she thought of Nightmare Moon’s apparent change of heart, she knew that she should err on the side of caution.

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Shining Armor walked down the path that led out of town and toward the Everfree forest. Standing at both of his sides two royal guards. Celestia had told them to use restraints if they felt they were necessary.

Shining looked back over his shoulder, back toward the town where his wife and sister were waiting. He shook any lingering doubts from his head as he looked back at the forest.

*This will be nothing that we can’t handle. Even if this is a trap, she likely isn’t going to waste her surprise attack on a group of guards.* Shining Armor assured himself. They reached the edge of the forest within minutes. Nightmare Moon was nowhere to be found however,

Shining Armor waited for a few moments to see if she would reveal herself. If he was remembering what Twilight had relayed after her conversation with Nightmare Moon yesterday, the mare said she would be within sight of the forest edge.

“Does anypony see anything?” Shining asked, starting to feel slightly exposed standing in the middle of the path. He looked back at the small detail of guards with him. Everypony shook their heads. Shining Armor narrowed his eyes slightly.

He looked carefully up to the sky, seeing that the sun was indeed at its highest.

*Is she hiding herself?* Shining asked himself. He did not trust Nightmare Moon for a second, but this also made no tactical sense, They had stationed guards at all other important vantage points to ensure that Nightmare Moon did not slip off out of the woods. But he did not hear or see any of the signals that had been agreed upon that would let him know that this had been a setup.

*She has got to be in there somewhere.* Shining reasoned. Carefully, he took a step forward, toward the entrance to the forest. He told the other guards to keep still. When he stood ten paces in front of his fellow guards, he called out into the forest.

“Nightmare Moon, This is Shining Armor, Captain of the Canterlot royal guard and brother to Twilight Sparkle. We are here to escort you to the town and present you before Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” Shining Armor announced. “Present yourself and we will refrain from using force.”

A few seconds later, Shining thought he could see movement. From behind a group of Trees, he could see a dark silhouette. He could see the dark figure approaching his position, and as they got closer, he realized that it was a fairly tall unicorn mare.

*And there she is* Shining thought, glad that he didn’t have to try and back up the threat. He stood still, waiting for Nightmare Moon at the edge of the forest. As she approached, Shining took notice of a small ring that sat at the base of her horn. He instantly recognized the device as a magic restraint.

*Why would she have one of those, and why would she willingly put one on?* Shining Armor pondered. It was possible that one of the guards who had been patrolling the forest had dropped the ring. That still didn’t answer why she would have it, or why she would have willingly put it on.

Soon enough, Nightmare Moon stood before him, her face unreadable. Shining Armor tried to make himself look as imposing and in control as he could before he spoke.

“I see that you have chosen to come with us of your own free will. Smart choice. As I told you, we will refrain from using force unless you give us reason to. Do you understand?” Shining Armor asked Nightmare Moon, his tone almost business like. Nightmare Moon nodded, not showing any other indication that she had heard him. Shining decided to ask about the magic restraint.

“Before we begin heading back to Ponyville, explain how you came into possession of that magic restraining ring you are wearing, and why you are wearing it.” Shining demanded. Nightmare Moon did not react at first. Shining was about to repeat his demand when she suddenly spoke up.

“I found the ring at the remains of a camp that your royal guards set up while combing the forest for me. As for why I am wearing it, I told your sister Twilight Sparkle that I would wear a magic restraint if it would make this process go smoother.” Nightmare Moon explained. Shining Armor narrowed his eyes.

“When did you find this restraint?” He asked, not believing how she had come into possession of the ring.

“A few days ago, I was walking through the woods back toward the town and decided to pick it up. Originally I was going to make use of it for my attack on the town, subduing the best magic user in the area, but once I decided that I no longer desired fighting I put it on.” Nightmare Moon told him, her face showing no emotion. Shining Armor was not sure if he believed that, but at this point he was unlikely to get any more out of her.

“Alright, I need to make sure that it is actually on correctly for safety reasons, bend your head down and allow me to see your horn.” Shining Armor commanded. Nightmare Moon did as she was asked, lowering her head to give Shining Armor access to her horn with his hooves.

“If this is on correctly, then I should not be able to move it by hoof.” Shining Armor explained to her as he put his hooves on either side of the ring. He tried to pull, gently, as the ring would simply slide off if it was not put on correctly. Satisfied, he told Nightmare Moon to raise her head once again.

“Alright, we are going to escort you back to Ponyville, if you make any sudden moves, we will be forced to incapacitate you either through magical or physical means. I suggest you remain on your best behavior.” Shining Armor told her. He called the other guards over and they all got into a small circle around her. Nightmare Moon did not respond, her lack of protest making Shining think that this was going far too smoothly. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

“Alright men, we have the prisoner, now march. The princess is expecting us.” Shining Armor called out. The group started walking back up the road, Nightmare Moon in tow.

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Moonbeam looked toward the town as they approached, she didn’t know what to expect. She hoped that her cooperation and offer to cease all aggressive acts would win her some chance to speak. Maybe explain herself. She briefly wondered if there would be many ponies there to see ‘the end of Nightmare Moon’.

*It’s no use running all these what if’s through my head* Moonbeam thought to herself. She would just have to make the most of whatever hand fate decided to deal her. She thought again of her short time as her own pony. She had grown, in some way, from the mare that sought to shroud Equestria in eternal night. Her Previous existence had been tainted by hate from the being that had created her.

Her time in the forest, time to think and reflect away from all of the hate, it had reawakened something that she had forgotten existed within her. She had once loved Luna. Not in a romantic way like she now shared with Twilight, but in an almost sisterly way. Before she had been corrupted by hate and anguish, Nightmare Moon had only wanted what was best for Luna, for the both of them.

Moonbeam shook her head, giving a small sigh.

*It wasn’t just the time to reflect by myself though. Bastion helped me grow, even if he didn’t know it.* Moonbeam thought. Ever since their second meeting, Bastion had been showing her kindness. He had been there for her through her moments of doubt, and had refused to abandon her when she finally revealed her true identity. He was the only pony that she thought of as a friend.

*I hope he isn’t planning anything stupid. I’m not worth him risking his life or position.* She thought. She brought a hoof up to her mane, and felt the bandana that she now had tied in her hair. *Please, let me get through this. I want to see him again.* She decided.

They were almost at the edge of town at this point. Moonbeam could see the the gathering of Ponies waiting for her. It was… smaller than she had expected. She could make out Twilight Sparkle and her friends, as well as Luna, her sister, and another pink Alicorn. There seemed to be a few more ponies standing around, but they hung back, as if they were afraid to get too close.

Finally, Shining Armor stopped in front of her, the guards surrounding her as well.

“Your highnesses, we have brought the prisoner as you so ordered.” Shining Armor said, bowing down in front of Celestia. Moonbeam looked at each of the gathered princesses. Her face not showing the terror that was beginning to set in. She also saw that Twilight and her friends were wearing the Elements of Harmony.

*Are they going to destroy me?* Moonbeam asked herself before she returned her attention back to Princess Celestia, who had begun speaking.

“As I understand it, Nightmare Moon, you stand here today because you have decided to surrender yourself. Ceasing all hostile actions toward Equestria and the ponies that live within its borders.” Celestia began, her gaze cold and piercing. Moonbeam fought the urge to shiver.

“That is correct, your highness. My time in the Everfre-” She tried to explain only to have Celestia cut her off.

“And you agree to answer for the crimes you have committed in the past? Including attempting to usurp the throne, and covering the land in eternal night?” Celestia asked. Moonbeam couldn’t help but to wince at this, but she recovered quickly.

“Yes, your highness. I am willing to receive any punishment that you deem fit.” Moonbeam said. She was almost certain she knew what was coming next.

*Bastion, I’m sorry that we won’t get another chance to meet.* Moonbeam thought, her eyes closing as she hung her head. Celestia began talking once again.

“Then by my right as Princess of Equestria, I order this prisoner be executed!”

Author's Notes:

So, I appologize up front if Celestia seems very out of character. I know she generally is level headed and kind and all that other stuff that everyone likes about Celestia. I just like the idea the she has one thing that makes her blow up, that being Nightmare Moon. And I believe that it would have precedent.

She sees Nightmare Moon as the thing that forced her to loose her sister for 1000 years, Nightmare Moon sealed her away when she returned to Equestria. In this story so far she has always put forth effort to stop Nightmare Moon, and she wants a permanent solution. If this is jarring then I apologize.

Also, sorry to leave a cliffhanger like this, but the chapter is already 3000 words and change, given that I normally write chapters about 1000 - 2000 words in length this is already a bit long for one chapter for me.

Other than that, I hope this wasn't to jarring to read. This is the first chapter in a while (if not ever) that I actually between Twilight and her friends and Moonbeam in chapter.

Confrontation part 2

Confrontation part 2.

Moonbeam’s head fell as she heard Celestia’s declaration. She had been hoping for a better chance than that.

“Sister, wait.” Moonbeam heard Luna say suddenly. Moonbeam watched as Luna walked between her and Celestia. “We are all here to pass judgment, and I will not allow your grudge to cloud the passing of justice. She asked to speak with me when she agreed to surrender. I believe that we should let her present her case.” Luna said, Celestia glaring daggers at Moonbeam as her sister spoke.

Celestia looked like she wanted to say something, but the alicorn that Moonbeam did not recognize stepped in.

“I agree with what aunty Luna says. Nightmare Moon has done nothing to try and harm anypony since she said she would surrender the other day. As Princesses of Equestria, we should give her the benefit of the doubt, I think.” The alicorn said, Luna turned to her and nodded.

“Well said Cadence.” Luna agreed, turning back to Celestia. “Now, we will listen to what Nightmare Moon has to say, we will deliberate over what comes to light, and we will pass judgment. Is that clear, Celestia?” Luna asked. Celestia’s scowl remained on her face, but she nodded her head. When Luna saw this, she turned back toward Moonbeam.

Moonbeam was unsure if she should be thanking Luna or if she should be cowering in fear due to the intense look that Luna had on her face.

“Alright Nightmare Moon, You wanted to talk and present your case. You have your chance, don’t waste it.” Luna said, turning away and walking back over to her place at Celestia’s right side.

Moonbeam nodded her head, trying to formulate her thoughts. Her mind was still racing from narrowly escaping her death, for the time being. She quickly tried to think of the best place to start.

“Thank you for granting my request, Princess Luna.” Moonbeam decided to start with, looking for any way to buy a bit more time. Luckily, it seemed to work, Moonbeam nodded once more, confident that she knew the best place to start.

“As you know, almost one month ago, through some magical means, I was separated from Princess Luna’s mind.” Moonbeam began thinking fast as to where she would go. Luna held up a hoof to stop her however.

“Just one quick question, how did you actually manage to do that? I have been trying to figure it out, but no magic spells that I know of could do such a thing.” Luna asked. Moonbeam looked at the ground quickly.

“I- I actually don’t know either.” Moonbeam confessed, causing Luna to let out a sigh. “For both of us it was a very emotionally charged moment, add in the magic potential that we both have and who knows what could have happened.” Moonbeam offered, hoping that Luna would accept that answer. Luna nodded her head and motioned for Moonbeam to continue her story.

“After I had separated from Luna, I teleported away, appearing in the Everfree forest. Knowing that I would likely be followed in some capacity due to my… previous actions… I fled further into the forest. For the next week, I managed to successfully evade capture at the hooves of the royal guard. During this time I started to question my purpose, but I will admit that I dismissed most of the thoughts. At that time I was still full of hatred, something that dissipated with time.” Moonbeam explained. Princess Cadence raised a hoof questioningly, causing Moonbeam to stop her story.

“Why do you say you evaded capture for the next week? Luna never heard anything from the guards reporting back to her.” Cadence asked. Moonbeam looked over at her before she started talking once again.

“I was actually about to address that, young Princess.” Moonbeam told her. “I was… unfortunate enough to have a run in with poison joke while looking for some place to sleep for the night. The plant’s effects… transformed my body into that of a young filly.” Moonbeam confessed, a blush growing on her face. “Only a few days after I had been exposed to the poison joke, I ended up being discovered by a member of the royal guard. He didn’t recognize me in my cursed form.”

“He had hit me with a stunning spell but when he saw that I did not look like ‘Nightmare Moon’ he apologized and offered to help me get back to town after he checked back into the base camp they had set up. I played along, at first thinking of him as just a tool to get back to Ponyville. But the kindness he showed me while we were on our way back caused me to start thinking about him differently. I wanted to get to know him. I started considering the thoughts that had been tugging at my mind since I had separated from Luna more seriously, thinking about why I was trying to do what I was doing.”

“As we got closer to town, I started to feel bad that I was lying to him about my identity. By this point I didn’t want to fight with Luna anymore, my time to reflect and the kindness he showed me had broken through all of the hate that had sustained me. I told him who I was the day that I told Twilight that I was going to surrender. I was surprised, because he actually didn’t leave me, he stayed with me until today came.” Moonbeam explained. “That is my story, more or less. I no longer want to fight with you, I want to make amends if I can.”

Moonbeam stopped talking at this point. She looked down at the ground and awaited her sentencing.

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Luna turned to her sister and niece, thinking over what she had just heard from Nightmare Moon. She looked at Celestia and Cadence’s faces, trying to gauge their reactions to the story they had just heard. Celestia’s scowl remained on her face.

*It looks like Cadence and I will decide her ultimate fate* Luna thought to herself, making an effort to keep her thoughts away from Twilight. She didn’t need to be burdened with this.

“Now that we have heard what Nightmare Moon has to say, what are we going to do about her?” Luna questioned. Cadence looked at both of the elder princesses.

“I think we should give her a chance to prove herself. We could have her under constant surveillance to see if she truly does wish to change.” Cadence suggested, causing Celestia to turn her glare toward her niece. “Aunt Celestia, I know you don’t like her, but I feel something within her that no evil mare bent on conquering the kingdom would hold within their heart.” Cadence asserted, not backing down from Celestia’s glare.

The two stood there for a few seconds, deadlocked. Luna watched them, trying to see things from both of their perspectives. She wasn’t sure what to think about the mare that had come out of the woods today. She didn’t give off the same aura that she had held in all of their previous interactions, and that gave her pause in siding with Celestia. But she also knew that Nightmare Moon was one of the most convincing liars that existed.

Celestia and Cadence turned to her quite suddenly, Celestia with her same heavy glare, Cadence with a pleading face. Luna was still unsure of what she should do.

“Luna, her actions have affected you the most throughout her existence. She is responsible for your thousand year exile, and attempted to do the same thing again once she regained her strength. Who is to say that she isn’t just trying to buy time by saying that she is ‘turning over a new leaf’?” Celestia asked, putting pressure on her sister.

Luna recoiled slightly, she wanted to believe her sister, but she knew that she needed to remain impartial.

“What about the story she told us today? If we find that guard that she mentioned we could see if she is telling the truth, as long as she has that ring on her horn, we know that she can’t be using magic to control his answers.” Cadence offered.

Luna thought about this, it was possible. She turned away from her fellow princesses to look over at Nightmare Moon. She was sitting there, her head down and her eyes closed. Luna thought she could see Nightmare Moon’s mouth moving.

*What is going through your head right now, Nightmare Moon?* Luna thought to herself. She turned back around. She closed her eyes for a second, thinking of her response. A second later, she nodded to herself.

“I think, if she is willing to bring the guard forward then we should do it. But for now, based on just her story and her word, I can not trust what she is saying at face value.” Luna said. Celestia and Cadence both gave her stiff nods and the three of them turned back toward Nightmare Moon. Luna cleared her throat loudly, causing Nightmare Moon to look at her.

Luna quickly looked over toward Twilight, seeing that she looked rather on edge.

*I hope, for your sake Twilight, that she gives us the name of the guard. I don’t want to force you to end the life of another pony, even if it is Nightmare Moon.* Luna thought to herself, and quickly turned her attention back to Nightmare Moon.

“Nightmare Moon, we have deliberated and come to a decision, we would ask that you reveal the name of the guard who traveled with you. We wish to hear his recounting of the events that encompassed your travels.” Luna stated, hoping that the mare would comply. Nightmare Moon looked shocked, but quickly shook her head.

“No, I won’t. I told him that I would not get him involved. What happens here is between me and the three of you.” Nightmare Moon said, her jaw set frimley. Luna’s head fell at this. Celestia made a satisfied noise to her right.

Cadence suddenly stepped forward, her face panicked.

“Wait, what about the magic restraint she is wearing, she told us that the guard she traveled with put it on her!” Cadence suggested, looking over toward Shining Armor. “She was wearing it when you found her, right Shining?” Cadence asked, looking desperately at her husband. Shining Armor scratched the back of his head.

“Well, yes sh-” Shining began, but was cut off by Cadence.

“See, she was wearing the ring when they found her, that fits with her story about the guard she traveled with!” Cadence offered, looking around at the gathered ponies. Luna thought about this, and agreed that it did lend a bit of credence to Nightmare Moon’s story. However, she heard Shining Armor clear his throat.

“I’m sorry Cadence, but the story that she told me was that she found it in the forest and held onto it to subdue Twilight. I was going to bring up the inconsistency, but none of you questioned me during her initial recount of the events.” Shining said, watching sadly as his wife visibly deflated.

Luna let out a sigh as well. She wished it didn’t have to come to this. Equestria had not needed to execute a criminal in the last hundred years.

“Well, given the contradiction in the witnesses testimony, and her unwillingness to bring forth any witnesses to her defense. I am forced to agree with my sister Celestia in the ruling that we must punish Nightmare Moon for her past crimes against Equestria.” Luna stated, her voice flat and devoid of all emotion. She saw Nightmare Moon turn her head away, swearing that she saw a tear.

*I wish that I could trust you, but you broke that trust a long time ago, Nightmare Moon* Luna thought, her mind going back to a time when she had relied on the other mare’s constant friendship. She looked up at Celestia, seeing her looking pleased with this outcome.

*What has gotten into you sister, you aren’t normally like this?* Luna contemplated.

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Twilight stood off to the side with her friends. She looked at Nightmare Moon as she started to cry. She looked over at Moonjumper, shocked.

“Moonjumper, you can’t do this. Look at her, she clearly doe-” Twilight tried to convince Moonjumper, but got cut off.

“I don’t want to do this Twilight!” She heard Moonjumper scream across their connection. “I don’t want you to be forced to do this. But without more hard evidence, I can’t take her words at face value. She betrayed my trust once before and I can't let her do it again.” Moonjumper exclaimed, Twilight noticing a tear streaking down her face.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia suddenly called out drawing Twilight’s attention.

“Yes… Princess?” Twilight asked, feeling nervous.

“As the prisoner has been found guilty of multiple crimes against the nation of Equestria she is sentenced to death. I order you and your friends to use the Elements of Harmony to carry out the prisoner’s sentence.” Celestia said, her face calm and collected as she read out Nightmare Moon’s death sentence.

Twilight shivered at the tone of her voice, suddenly feeling like she didn’t know the princess at all. She heard unsettled chatter from her friends as well. Twilight looked straight at Celestia, who hadn’t taken her eyes off of Nightmare Moon.

*How many times has she done this in her life?* Twilight thought, shaking her head. She looked over toward Cadence and Shining Armor.

Cadence was frantically shaking her head, telling her not to go through with Celestia's orders. Shining Armor just had a deeply sad look on his face as his eyes met his younger sister’s.

Twilight froze for a moment. Her friends, not sure what to do, but desperately hoping that Twilight would think of something.

Celestia, noticing that Twilight and her friends had not moved yet, looked away from Nightmare Moon.

“Twilight, is there a problem? I gave you an order.” Celestia asked, her voice slightly impatient.

“Of course not Princes-” Twilight began, almost by habit, but cut herself off. Twilight shook her head and steeled herself for what she was about to do.

“Actually, no, there is a big problem here, Celestia.” Twilight said, locking eyes with her former teacher. “I refuse to follow that order, I believe that Nightmare Moon truly wants to change. That is enough reason for me to disregard that order!” Twilight shouted, taking her crown off of her head.

Her friends followed her lead, unclasping their necklaces, and depositing them on the ground.

“Twilight’s right!” Rainbow Dash yelled, flying into the air, pointing a hoof accusingly at Celestia. “Nightmare Moon might have done things in the past, but she came here defenseless and wanting to make amends.” Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack all adding their voices.

Celestia looked at them, anger burning in her eyes. She turned her head away from Twilight and her friends and over to Nightmare Moon. Twilight saw Celestia’s horn start to glow and reflexively used her magic to create a bubble around Nightmare Moon.

A second later, a beam of light flashed out toward Nightmare Moon. It collided with a bubble of magical energy, and shattered it.

Twilight was about to scream for Celestia to stop when she saw that the bubble she had created was still up, as well as a second bubble that was beneath hers. Celestia’s beam was not making a dent in Twilight’s shield. Twilight looked around to see who else could be using magic, and saw Moonjumper, eyes closed in concentration. Realization dawning on Twilight’s face as she noticed the light of two aura’s around her horn.

By now she saw Celestia struggling to keep the beam going, Twilight's barrier still standing strong. Eventually the beam coming from Celestia’s horn sputtered, leaving her short of breath. Twilight saw Cadence move toward Celestia and reached a hoof for her horn.

Cadence slipped a magic restraining ring over Celestia’s horn while she was recovering from her attack on Nightmare Moon. Celestia tried to stop her, but couldn’t react fast enough. Twilight noticed Moonjumper open her eyes, the barrier underneath Twilight’s dissipating. Moonjumper looked over at Nightmare Moon, whose eyes were wide with shock.

Twilight was surprised when Moonjumper turned to face her suddenly.

“I guess you are right. If she really wants to show us that she can change, we should let her.” Moonjumper told Twilight, giving her a small smile. Twilight nodded giving a smile of her own, before a question came to mind.

“Wait, who created the first bubble?” Twilight asked looking around. Her question was answered by the sound of heavy hoof falls. A few seconds later, a unicorn in royal guard armor pushed his way out of the crowd.

“Moobeam!” The unicorn exclaimed, running to Nightmare Moon’s side. He quickly looked her over making sure that she was unhurt. When he saw that she had not been harmed he let out a sigh of relief.

“I knew you were going to get yourself in trouble. It’s a good thing I put that alarm spell on that ring.” The guard said. Letting out a deep breath.

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

Moonbeam looked up at Bastion, not believing her eyes or ears. She stared at Bastion for a few seconds before her surroundings caught up with her. She shook her head.

“Bastion! What are you doing here, I told you to stay away from me!?” Moonbeam exclaimed. Feeling her heart pound a bit harder.

“That wasn’t going to happen. I promised to keep you safe on your way to Ponyville.” Bastion told her, offering her a hoof. She took it without hesitation, noticing Bastion rubbing his horn when he took his hood back. She realized with a start that he was the one to create the barrier that got destroyed. Suddenly Moonbeam heard Luna start talking once again.

“I take it this is the guard you said accompanied you to the forest’s edge?” Luna asked, looking Bastion up and down. Moonbeam realized there was no point in denying it.

“Yes, Princess Luna, this is Bastion, the pony who was talking about earlier. I hope that you can pardon him of any punishment as he was unaw-” Moonbeam began, only to have Bastion cut her off.

“If you need somepony to testify on Moonbeam’s defense, I am more than willing. I have seen her growth first hoof and am willing to confirm anything that she has said here today.” Bastion said, giving a salute to the princess. Moonbeam looked at him incredulously.

*He really cares about me enough to put his position in danger?* Moonbeam thought, not noticing her heartbeat speeding up. She heard Luna start speaking.

“I don’t think that will be necessary, your presence here is proof enough that she did not fabricate her story, and your willingness to protect her makes it clear that you truly believe that she is willing to change.” Luna said, a small chuckle escaping her lips. “Am I correct in assuming that Moonbeam is the name she gave you when you found her?” Luna asked, causing Bastion to nod.

“That is correct, Princess.” Bastion confirmed. Moonbeam shuffled, suddenly feeling slightly self conscious. She saw Twilight Sparkle and Luna walking toward her and Bastion. The Princess Cadance called Shining Armor over to her side to help her keeping Celestia from doing something that would harm herself.

Twilight and Luna stopped a few paces away from Moonbeam and Bastion. Twilight and Luna looked between each other, not exchanging any words, Moonbeam assumed they were communicating over their mental link. Bastion moved to stand slightly in between her and the two ponies that had approached.

“There is no need for you to be alarmed, I have changed my stance on her sentencing.” Luna said. “She will need an escort from the royal guard to make sure that she does not go back on her word,” Luna said, looking over at Bastion. “Can I count on you to keep an eye on her?” She asked. Bastion nodded.

“Alright then, until I say otherwise, you will both have to report to me at least once per day so that I may personally see that she is behaving herself.” Luna said.

Twilight smiled at the two of them. Her horn began glowing and Moonbeam felt the ring on her horn slide off. She felt her magic come rushing back to her and let out a breath she hadn’t known she had been holding. Moonbeam nodded in thanks to Twilight Sparkle, who smiled at her again.

Moonbeam turned her attention back toward Luna.

“I don’t know why you tried to save me, but you have my deepest thanks, Princess Luna.” Moonbeam said, bowing down to the hornless alicorn.

“You don’t need to bow to me, Moonbeam.” Luna said, the use of her new name causing Moonbeam to stumble slightly in shock. “And for now, just call me Moonjumper, it’s the name I’ve adopted since I moved to Ponyville and started dating Twilight.” She casually added. Moonbeam looked at her, questioning if she was being serious, but when she made no attempt to take back what she had said Moonbeam nodded her head in agreement.

“Alright then, Moonjumper it is. Thank you for doing what you did.” She said again, turning to Twilight “The same to you Twilight Sparkle. Thank you for giving me a chance yesterday.”

“Don’t mention it, just make sure that you stay true to your word and show me that I made the right decision.” Twilight said, her voice sinceer. Moonjumper nodded before she started talking once more.

“Now, your trial here today is over. I will still want to have words with you tomorrow. Bastion, could you escort Moonbeam to the Library tree further in town? You two can stay there for the night as I am sure that today has been taxing on Moonbeam.” Moonjumper told them.Bastion saluted and stepped back to be more in line with Moonbeam once again.

“Now, leave us. We have business to attend to concerning my sister.” Moonjumper said. Moonbeam and Bastion nodded and started walking into town, the crowd parting before them with almost no resistance.

As they walked, Moonbeam couldn’t help but reflect on how much of an emotional rollercoaster today had been. She looked over at Bastion, reaching up to touch the bandana that was still in her hair.

*He really came to rescue me.* Moonbeam thought.

Author's Notes:

I will start off by saying that I am sorry this took so long to come out. I tried write this chapter at least four separate times before I settled on what you see here. I don't know why it was so hard for me to decide on what to do.

I hope that this chapter is okay as it is and that nothing seems too jarring or confusing with how I wrote it. I will admit, most of this stuff is written while I should probably be in bed instead of staying up and writing so some of it may make sense to a sleepy brain, but not to a functioning brain.

A Tale From the Past.

A Tale From the Past.

Twilight and Moonjumper watched as Bastion and Moonbeam slowly walked out of sight. After the two of them were around the first corner, Twilight and Moonjumper turned back toward the group of gathered ponies. Cadence and Shining Armor were standing on either side of Celestia, and Twilight’s friends were all standing off to the other side. Spike holding Twilight’s crown for her.

Twilight heard Moonjumper sigh, off to her side. Twilight turned to look at Moonjumper.

“Are you okay, Moonjumper?” Twilight asked. Moonjumper looked over at her and forced a small smile.

“I’m fine, Twilight. I guess I’m just not looking forward to the talk we are going to have.” Moonjumper told her, shaking her head slightly. Twilight put a hoof on Moonjumper’s shoulder, letting her know that she wouldn’t be doing this alone.

“Well, I guess there is no time like the present.” Moonjumper said, holding her head up and beginning to walk toward where her sister stood.

Celestia still had a scowl on her face, obviously not liking the outcome of Moonbeam’s trial. But Twilight didn’t see the same anger that she had seen during the trial on her former mentor’s face. When Moonjumper and Twilight stopped before Celestia, Cadence and Shining Armor moved away, giving them a bit of space.

For a few seconds none of the three said anything. Celestia refused to meet either Moonjumper’s or Twilight’s eyes. Finally Moonjumper broke the tense silence.

“Sister, I know that you hold a hatred for Nightmare Moon, but even I never thought that you would attempt to do what you did today.” Moonjumper scolded, causing Celestia to flinch slightly.

“I had to, she is one of the greatest threats to Equestria, rivaled only by Discord in his reign.” Celestia asserted, trying to sound regal as she stood there. Moonjumper shook her head.

“Sister, we have seen countless monsters in our time. Ponies who have exploited others and ponies who have killed dozens, if not hundreds, of others. Nightmare Moon did threaten eternal night, but she never killed anypony.” Moonjumper said, clearly upset with her older sister’s behavior. “On top of that, she likely wouldn’t be able to do such a thing as she is now. I lost my ability to control the moon when she first tried to resurface, and the fact that she never tried to do so proves that she can not do so either.”

“But you are only in such a state because she tried to assume control of your body again!” Celestia refuted.

“That is true,” Moonjumper began. “And I will go and have a talk with her, face to face about that aspect of our history together. But even still, I was willing to give her a chance and listen to her fairly. I only agreed to sentence her to death after she had revealed a lie in her testimony.” Moonjumper explained, not backing down. Celestia scowled at the ground.

“I do not understand how you can do this, she has done nothing but deceive you since the day that she came into this world.” Celestia said, looking at Moonjumper questioningly. “Luna, you refused to listen to my warnings about her once and I nearly lost you. Why do you insist on always giving her more chances?” Celestia asked. Twilight was confused by that.

“Wait, I have a question. You both are talking about your history with Nightmare Moon as if she existed before Moonjumper was taken over by her. I thought that she only came to be after Moonjumper let her dark emotions overtake her?” Twilight asked, trying to put the pieces together in her head. Twilight saw Moonjumper’s head fall a little.

“I guess I never did tell you the full reason for Nightmare Moon’s appearance. I guess now is as good a time as any.” Moonjumper said, taking a breath to steady herself before telling the story.

“Twilight, I told you that the death of Starswirl, and the circumstances surrounding his passing gave rise to some dark emotions within me, I do not deny that. But it was not from these emotions themselves that Nightmare Moon arose, she was not just all of my hate personified.

“After Starswirl passed, I only had Celestia, but she was often busy dealing with matters of state while I mourned my lost love. In all senses of the words, I was alone and trying to deal with many… complex feelings. I wanted nothing more than to have somepony to talk to, but I could find nopony. So in my grief, I decided to resort to a filly hood passtime and imagine another pony that would keep me company.” Moonjumper explained. She looked at Twilight, who saw that Moonjumper was having trouble holding back tears thinking of that time in her life.

Twilight moved in to lean against Moonjumper and let her know that it was okay to cry if she needed to. Moonjumper nodded in thanks at the gesture before continuing with her story.

“As you may guess, the thing that I imagined eventually became Nightmare Moon. Originally she was nothing special, but eventually she seemed to take on a life of her own, even when I wouldn’t be thinking of her, I would sometimes hear her talking to me. Over time, we became friends, even though she was just a byproduct of my lonely and grief ridden mind.”

“Eventually, Celestia found time to spend with me, and I told her about what I had been doing, and of Nightmare Moon’s existence.” Moonjumper explained, before looking over at Celestia.

“When she heard about Nightmare Moon, Celestia demanded that I stop conversing with her. She thought that Nightmare Moon could be some kind of demon from Tartarus that was trying to take over my mind. I tried to assure her that I was fine, and she had only been a small fantasy to fill a void. Eventually, I started to feel better, the loss of Starswirl still weighed on me, but I was slowly moving forward.” Moonjumper told everypony.

“After a while I stopped talking with Nightmare Moon so much, thinking that I no longer needed her help to deal with my life. But you know that is not the end of things. After I started coping with Starswirl’s death, that was when ponies began to start avoiding me. You know most of the tale from there, I slowly grew more and more hateful until Nightmare Moon surfaced and Celestia was forced to banish us to the moon.”

“That is what everypony thought at least, but it was not quite true. Eventually, when the isolation from everypony but Celestia became too much, Nightmare Moon took advantage of the situation. She managed to pull me from my body, and give herself control. She threatened Celestia and everypony in Equestria.” Moonjumper said, finishing her story.

Celestia looked angry as she heard Moonjumper’s retelling of the events. Twilight thought she looked almost manic.

“That story only serves to strengthen the argument that we should not trust anything that Nightmare Moon has to say. She was willing to betray you to try and fulfil her evil agenda, who is to say that she isn’t doing the same thing here?” Celestia asked, her anger starting to boil over once again. Moonjumper just shook her head.

“I know how it sounds, sister. But I think everypony but you felt something different in the mare that we put on trial today. She did not try and manipulate the situation in any way, she just told her story. She didn’t even try to escape when she was sentenced to death. That, to me, proves that she feels remorse for the actions she had committed in the past.” Moonjumper countered, her eyes steely as she looked toward her older sister. Celestia did not back down however.

“And what will happen if it turns out that she has lied to us today?” Celestia asked, “She could be waiting for us to lower our guard so that when her full power returns she could launch an attack.”

At this, Cadence stepped forward to intervene.

“I don’t think she would do that.” Cadence said, her voice calm. Moonjumper and Celestia looked at her.

“You remember during the trial, when I said that I felt something in Nightmare Moon?” She asked, both Celestia and Moonjumper nodded at this. “Well, it wasn’t just what aunty Luna was talking about. I felt love inside her, love that increased when she saw that guard, Bastion come to her aid.” Cadence explained. Twilight looked at Cadence, shocked.

“That makes sense, she flat out refused to give us his name despite her own life being on the line. If she really wanted to launch a surprise attack later, she would do anything to make sure that she could do that, but she didn’t.” Twilight said, looking over at Celestia, who didn’t meet her eye. Twilight shook her head slightly.

“I don’t know what we can do to convince her.” Twilight thought, hoping that Moonjumper would have an idea.

“I have to admit, I am running low on ideas myself. Celestia always was a bit stubborn.” Moonjumper thought back. Suddenly, Twilight heard another voice.

“Twilight, I think I have an idea that could set Celestia’s mind at ease.” The familiar voice of Moonbeam said.

“Sure, Moonbeam, go ahead with your suggestion.” Twilight said.

“We could give Celestia a mirror that has a scrying spell on it, one that you put on so that she does not have to worry about me potentially meddling with it. She could even stop by when Bastion and I meet with Moonjumper to make sure I am not doing anything.” Moonbeam suggested. Twilight took a moment to ask Moonjumper what she thought of the plan.

“Hmm. It is a start at least. We might as well suggest it. Celestia is hard to sway, but this should help to put her mind at ease.” Moonjumper said, Twilight nodded as well. She looked back toward Celestia.

“Celestia, Moonbeam just gave a suggestion for something of a peace offering between the two of you.” Twilight began. Celestia looked skeptical, but did not say anything.

“Moonbeam suggests that we give you a mirror that I place a scrying spell on so that you can monitor her at any time. She also invited you to sit in on the meetings that Moonjumper has ordered Bastion and her to attend daily. Would that be acceptable?” Twilight asked, hoping that Celestia would agree to the compromise.

Celestia considered this. Twilight, Moonjumper, and everypony else waiting with bated breath. Finally Celesia nodded to herself.

“Alright, since all of you are complacent with letting a potentially dangerous pony walk the streets, I will agree just so that when she does reveal her true agenda, I will know immediately.” Celestia said, ruffling her wings.

“Well, that is about as much as we can ask for.” Moonjumper said, exasperated.

“I will take my leave now, I will be back tomorrow to sit in on the first of the meetings that you will have with ‘Moonbeam’.” Celestia said, sarcasm clear in her voice when she said Moonbeam’s name. “Now, will somepony please remove this magic restraint from my horn?”

Twilight’s horn glowed, and the ring slid gently off of Celestia’s horn. Celestia nodded a quick thanks and then turned toward Shining Armor.

“Gather the guards, we are going back to Canterlot.” Celestia said. Shining Armor saluted and quickly went to work delegating tasks to the few guards that were there for the trial. A few moments later, Shining and the other guards went off in different directions, going to gather up the guards that had been patrolling the Everfree forest and those that had come the previous day. Celestia turned back toward Moonjumper and Twilight at this point.

“I am putting my trust in you two. I will not believe anything that ‘Moonbeam’, as she insits on calling herself, has to say until I see undeniable proof.” Celestia said, her tone more gentle now as she looked at the two of them. “And for your sakes, I hope that I am not right about her, I don’t want anything to happen to the two of you.” Celestia said.

“Don’t worry sister. I am willing to give her a chance, but I know that I should not put blind faith in her.” Moonjumper said. Celestia nodded.

“I will see you two tomorrow then.” Celestia said, walking down the street to where her chariot was being readied.

Author's Notes:

I hope that this chapter being a bit shorter is not too much of a disappointment. I also hope that this manages to flow well from the last chapter.

On the Bright side(?) I think at this point, we only have two more chapters until we get to the end of this story. I might be wrong about that, but I think I am reaching the end of what I want to cover in this specific story. I will keep thinking about that, as I don't really have a plan written up anywhere.

Anyway, please tell me what you thought about this chapter. I want this to end decently, as this would be the first story that I have actually written to completion. Even the one I wrote for NaNoWriMo this year is not technically done.

A Fated Talk

A Fated Talk.

Luna watched as her sister’s chariot flew off toward Canterlot. She felt sad knowing that Celestia still held so much anger inside her. She could understand in a way, Nightmare Moon had attempted terrible things. Maybe it was her shared history with Nightmare Moon, but Luna wanted to give Moonbeam a chance to show that she could change. Luna looked away from her sister’s Chariot and over toward Twilight who stood next to her.

Twilight seemed to notice this, and turned to give Luna a smile.

“Are you ready to go home, Moonjumper?” Twilight asked. Luna gave one last look to the sky before she nodded.

“Yes, Twilight. Let’s get home, we have much to discuss with Bastion and Moonbeam.” Luna said. After all the talking and planning of the last two days, she was feeling exhausted. But Luna knew that she couldn’t put this specific talk off.

Twilight and Luna started walking back into Ponyville proper, saying a quick goodbye to their friends, and thanking them for their help dealing with the trial. As they walked, Luna thought to herself about what she would say to Moonbeam. It had been far too long since she had actually talked with the mare who had once been Nightmare Moon in anything resembling a civil fashion.

Twilight seemed to notice Luna’s pensiveness, and began slowing her pace a bit. Luna noticed this and soon came to a stop.

“Moonjumper, are you sure you are ready for this?” Twilight asked, seeming to sense Luna’s discomfort with the situation. Luna averted her eyes.

“I don’t know Twilight. I know that I need to talk to Nightmare Moon, or Moonbeam, or whatever she wants to call herself. It’s just that, I haven’t had any civil communication with her in over a thousand years,” Luna explained, raising her head and looking Twilight right in the eyes.

“For a thousand years, I have felt hatred, anger, and helplessness. All of these emotions came from Nightmare Moon taking my body away from me, of course I would be mad at her. But something always nagged at the back of my head, why would she do this to me after helping me get through my grief? We never talked, even though she was always there in my head, I could feel her influence. I think I’m more afraid to find out why she did what she did than anything else.” Luna admitted, rubbing one of her forehooves against her other leg. Twilight nodded and scooted closer to Luna.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be right there to support you through the whole thing. I can’t imagine that this will be easy on either of you, but you both need to get everything out in the air before either of you can start to trust each other again.” Twilight told her, giving a firm nod as she finished speaking. Luna looked at her, glad to know that she had found somepony so much like Starswirl had been before he lost himself in his search for immortality.

“I am glad to know that you are with me, Twilight.” Luna said softly. With that said, they began walking once again. They could see the Library getting closer. Suddenly Twilight looked around, her face slightly panicked.

“Wait, were is Spike!?” She asked, looking all around for the dragon that should be riding on her back. Luna thought back to when they left Twilight’s friends at the edge of town.

“I believe that Spike might be with Fluttershy, I think I saw him walking with her toward her cottage.” Luna said, “I think he knew that there was bound to be drama and decided to stay over at her house until everything blows over.” Luna offered. Twilight thought about this for a second, looking over her shoulder in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage. Suddenly she shook her head and looked ahead.

“I’m sure you’re right, Moonjumper. Spike is pretty smart, he probably knew things would get a bit hectic and didn’t want to get in the way.” Twilight said. “Let’s just worry about Moonbeam for now, I doubt Spike is getting himself into any trouble.” Twilight said, trying to reassure herself. Luna nodded in agreement. The library was still a few blocks away, and Luna was trying to think of how she would start this long overdue conversation off.

Moonbeam paced back and forth in front of the door to the library. She had arrived almost half an hour ago with Bastion, and she still couldn’t figure out the best way to apologize and explain everything to Luna, or Moonjumper, or whatever she wanted to be called.

Moonbeam had been pacing for so long that Bastion had warned her that she was starting to wear a groove into the floor. But Moonbeam couldn’t help it, she was nervous.

“I just don’t know how to make her understand things,” Moonbeam exclaimed for the third time. “I know there is no excuse for what I did, and I should have tried talking to Luna before I did what I did, but I knew that she would never agree to it!” Moonbeam said stomping a hoof on the ground. Immediately afterward, her whole body sagged slightly.

“Although, with how things turned out, I couldn’t blame her.”

As Moonbeam started on this circular train of thought once again, she heard Bastion give a small, exasperated sigh. She looked over to see Bastion walking up to her.

“Listen Moonbeam, I know that you are nervous to talk to her face to face for the first time in a long time. You told me yesterday before I left, and at least three times since we got here. But you have to realize that running every possible scenario in your head is not going to help. If you want, you can try just talking out loud to see what sounds right. I don’t mind listening, but please just don’t start this whole cycle over again for a fourth time.” Bastion told her, sitting down on the floor in front of her.

Moonbeam nodded, glad that Bastion was there to support her. She thought for a second and began trying to piece together what she would say to Luna once she arrived.

“Alright, I guess I should start with, I am most grateful that you have decided to give me a chance to prove that I wish to change. I know that you don’t have much reason to trust me after my previous actions against you. Though I know that I did some things that are unforgivable, I wish to explain my actions and the reasoning behind them.” Moonbeam said, saying things as they came to mind. She looked over at Bastion to see what he thought so far.

Bastion simply nodded, showing that nothing sounded bad to him so far. He motioned for her to continue, but they were interrupted by a knocking at the front door.

“Hey! It’s Twilight and Moonjumper. We just want to make sure you are actually in the building before we come inside.” They heard Twilight say through the front door. Moonbeam went pale, realizing that she didn’t have any more time to rehearse. Bastion saw this and called back to Twilight.

“Yes, Mrs. Twilight, we are both inside the building. However Moonbeam would ask for one moment to calm herself, she wanted to speak with Princess Luna about some important matters!” Bastion called getting up to stand next to Moonbeam.

“Oh, of course, Moonjumper was hoping to talk with her as well. If she needs a moment then go ahead.” Twilight said once again. Bastion thanked her and turned to Moonbeam.

“Alright Moonbeam, just try to be calm about this. You said that you felt like you were as close as sisters at one point, right?” Bastion asked, to which Moonbeam nodded. “Alright, just imagine that you are talking to your sister, you may have made some mistakes, but you want to apologize for them. My brother Siege and I have had times like this too, but working through it is something you have to do.” Bastion told her.

Moonbeam was glad that Bastion was trying to help, but she also felt like he was being a bit too casual about this. The issues between her and Luna were a bit more complicated than fighting over toys or other things that siblings bicker over.

She took a deep, calming breath.

*You already have your chance at redemption, this is just to clear the air.* Moonbeam thought, trying to get her mind on track. She looked at the door, then at Bastion. She nodded at Bastion, telling him to invite them in.

Bastion nodded and looked at the door once again.

“Alright, Moonbeam is ready, come on in!” Bastion called out. The next second, they saw the doorknob turn and the door started to swing open.

Once again, they stood before Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle. Unlike at the trial, both of them seemed slightly unsure of themselves as they entered the library. Bastion and Moonbeam stood in the center of the room, not sure if they should sit down.

Moonbeam saw Twilight look around and then her eyes fell on a group of cushions that lay on the floor.

“How about we all sit down? I think we should all try to get comfortable.” Twilight offered, the others nodding. The four of them all walked over toward the collection of cushions. Bastion and Moonbeam sat down, looking ahead at Twilight and Princess Luna. For a second nopony spoke. Moonbeam did not want to meet Luna’s eyes.

Eventually, Luna cleared her throat, drawing everypony’s attention back to her.

“I believe that Bastion said you wished to speak with me about something before we came inside. What was it?” Princess Luna asked. Moonbeam looked slightly caught off guard, but quickly nodded.

“Um, yes Princess Luna.” Moonbeam said, shifting around as she sat.

“Please, I do not mind if you call me Moonj-” Princess Luna began, but was cut off by Moonbeam.

“I know, Princess. But, I just feel like I shouldn’t. Like I need to earn the right to call you the same name your friends call you.” Moonbeam said, hoping that Luna would forgive her interruption.

“If you say so,” Luna said, letting out a small sigh. “So, what did you actually want to talk about then?” Luna asked again, hoping to start the conversation in earnest. Moonbeam nodded.

“I would like to say that I am extremely grateful for this chance to prove my willingness to change. I know that I wronged you terribly in the past, and I will try to use this opportunity to make amends in any way I can.” Moonbeam said, bowing her head toward Luna as she spoke.

“Is that everything?” Luna asked, looking at Moonbeam quizzically. Moonbeam shook her head.

“No, Princess Luna, I also wanted to explain my past actions from my perspective. I do not seek forgiveness through this, I just want to tell you why I did what I did.” Moonbeam admitted. She looked at Luna as she said this.

Luna seemed to consider this for a second before nodding.

“I will admit, I have wondered why you would do such a thing as well. After it happened I was convinced that you were just the monster that Celestia had accused you of being when I first told her of your existence.” Luna said before nodding her head. “Alright, go ahead and tell me.”

Moonbeam nodded as well, she took a deep breath as she began her story.

When I first came into existence, I was greeted by all of the negative emotions that were swirling around you. I didn’t know much, but I knew your voice, and I knew you were in pain. I wanted to help you because you brought me into this world.

I didn’t know how I could help, so I tried to talk with you, and over time, you started hearing me. Eventually, as you know, we would hold entire conversations and I would offer my company to help you deal with the pain and loneliness that you were feeling every day.

After a while, I started thinking of you as a sister, one who needed my help. I was glad to offer my help in any way, and even when you stopped talking to me as frequently, I was always just waiting for when I could help in some way.

But… you started to ignore me as you started sinking back into your loneliness. I tried talking to you, but you either didn’t hear me, or you ignored me at the time. I was on my own, the pony I considered a sister needed my help, but I couldn’t do anything. I started thinking of how I could help if I couldn’t talk to you directly.

I saw all of the hate that was building up inside of your mind. I decided at that point, that I had to try and get rid of that hate. I started sucking the hate away from you, hoping that I would get enough away from you to make you feel better. But, looking back, I was probably too successful.

Eventually, you did start to feel better. But the hate was still there, and more was coming every day. I continued to pull your hate into me, and it started to change me. I saw everypony that you talked to as somepony who was only pretending that you were a real Princess. I started hating everypony else so much.

That was when I took over your body and tried to cover Equestria in night. I wanted to show the ponies that they shouldn’t treat you so badly. I wanted them to know that you were just as important as your sister. In my mad state, driven by the hate that I absorbed from you, I thought it was the best way to protect you. When Celestia tried to stop me, I thought that she was agreeing with everypony else, all those who I thought ridiculed us.

“For the next thousand years, I continued to absorb the hatred that you produced as we were bound to the moon. I did not realize that the hatred that you held, was now directed toward me.” Moonbeam said, finishing her story.

Luna stared at Moonbeam for a few seconds, dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe what she had heard. Finally, Luna found her thoughts once again. She shook her head and tried to formulate something to say.

“Well… I can easily say that I was not expecting… that reason.” Luna said finally, she looked over at Twilight, who seemed just as surprised as she was.

“I understand if you do not believe me. I can see how this story could be seen as just an attempt to gain sympathy.” Moonbeam said, not raising her head. Luna looked at Moonbeam as she sat there, she considered what she had heard.

“I will admit,” Luna began, causing Moonbeam to look up once again. “It is odd to think of the events of your story being true.” Luna told her. Moonbeam looked saddened to hear this, but Luna put a hoof up before Moonbeam did anything else.

“But, I can see how it could be true. Your actions at the trial today seem to go along with how you act in the story. You tried to make sure Bastion didn’t get harmed in any way despite the fact that you would likely be injured. Just as you tried to keep me from harm by absorbing my hatred.” Luna told Moonbeam.

Moonbeam sat up, a small smile on her face.

“Thank you for listening to my story, Princess Luna. I have wanted to explain my actions to you, but I was afraid that you would not listen.” Moonbeam said, giving another small bow to Luna. Luna nodded in acknowledgment.

“I can understand that, and I appreciate having the context. But as you said, that is not enough to earn you my forgiveness. From what I have heard and seen today, I want to believe you, but I need you to show me that you are serious about this. Do you understand?” Luna asked.

“Yes Princess. I will try my hardest to prove that I am no longer that pony that was full of hatred.” Moonbeam asserted, Bastion nodding at her in approval. Luna looked at them with a small smile.

“Good, then there is just one last matter to discuss.” Luna said. Moonjumper sat up straighter at this.

“We need to find you a place to stay, Twilight and I do not have the space for you to live here with us, especially not when you factor in Spike. You two could probably stay for tonight, but tomorrow we will need to find you both a place to stay, preferably together. Until we can all be sure we can trust you, Bastion needs to be keeping an eye on you.” Luna explained.

“Alright, I am fine with that, I will be on my best behavior so that Bastion doesn’t get in trouble. And thank you for allowing us to stay for the night.” Moonbeam said. Luna nodded and got to her hooves.

“Alright, Twilight and I will go and grab you two some blankets and other things you’ll need for the night. Just stay down here and try and relax for the rest of the afternoon.” Luna said. Bastion and Moonbeam nodded. Luna heard Twilight get up as well,

Twilight started walking toward the stairs, Luna looked at Moonbeam and Bastion one last time, giving them both a smile before she followed Twilight up the stairs.

Luna walked up the stairs and down a small hallway. As she walked, she heard Twilight from inside of a room.

“In here!” Twilight called, knocking from the inside to show Luna where she was. Luna approached the door and opened it. Twilight stood on the other side, her horn glowing and several blankets floating behind her.

“Do you think this is enough for them?” Twilight asked, looking back over her shoulder at the stack of blankets. Luna considered the pile and then nodded.

“I think that is good. Well then, shall we go back down?” Luna said, turning around.

“Actually, just one second.” Twilight said as she stepped out of the room and into the hallway. Luna turned around.

“Moonjumper, how are we going to explain those two when the rest of the Townsponies get back? I don’t know if everypony will be as willing to accept her if they know she is actually Nightmare Moon.” Twilight said, looking nervous. Luna thought for a second.

“You’re right, I doubt that most ponies will accept that they came here willingly after hearing that Nightmare Moon had been sighted nearby either.” Luna mused. She shook her head after a few seconds.

“We will bring it up before we go out tomorrow. I can’t think of anything right now, at least nothing that would be believable.” Luna said. Twilight nodded.

“Yeah, I guess we shouldn’t rush this, we know what happened last time we came up with a rushed cover story.” Twilight said, starting to walk back toward Luna and the stairs leading back down to the library. Luna started walking with her.

“Yeah, but good things have come from our little cover story, like the two of us getting together.” Luna said, draping a wing over Twilight’s back.

“Yeah, I can’t complain about that.” Twilight said, and gave Luna a quick kiss on the cheek.

Author's Notes:

Hello, I hope everyone who reads this had a happy holiday season, no matter what you celebrate. This chapter came out a bit late because I was doing stuff on Christmas day and didn't get any writing done.

Anyways, I hope that this chapter is good. I wanted to give Moonbeam a chance to explain her previous actions in a way that (Hopefully) fits with the character that I have given the redeemed Nightmare Moon. I hope that none of the stuff in this chapter seems to rambly.

I also tried a few different things with how Luna gets addressed because of a comment I got on the last chapter. In this chapter, when Luna is the character that is being followed she refers to herself as Luna, and whenever a pony that would be a friend of hers is referring to Luna, they call her Moonjumper. Ponies that do not have that kind of relationship with Luna just address her by her real name and title