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.