"Make love to me, sister!" Luna pleaded from lewd pose on her bed. "It has been far too long since we have known your touch." Celestia kissed her again. "And then after, we will mark you as our mare once more. I look forward to staining your perfect white fur with our golden hue!" Luna pulled her toward her harder, but Celestia resisted. "Why do you deny us?"

"I want to," Celestia breathed as she looked at her younger sibling beneath her. "I want this more than anything!" She gently pushed her away. "Though I feel I must inform you that 'marking' one's partner has fallen out of vogue some centuries ago. So as much as I miss wearing your... scent, unfortunately I must see to my royal duties first. And I can't very well hold court in such a lewd state. And the ponies are all worried. I need to assuage their fears. Our duty to Equestria-"

"Comes first, yes we know," Luna huffed begrudgingly. "You have told us a hundred times. Go, then! And make haste in your return. We have much time to make up for."

"You're coming with me," Celestia said, pulling at Luna's hoof. Luna yanked her hoof away and rolled over in her bed dismissively.

"We have had enough fanfare for one day. Let us know when it is time to raise the moon," Luna said.

"The ponies want to meet the sister of the princess," Celestia said. "They are excited to meet you. And I want you to meet them. I want them to know you and understand why I love you so much. And then they will too."

"What they want. What you want. Have you ever considered what I want!?" Luna said angrily. "No, of course not. You never have!" she spat. Celestia's face whipped to the side as though the words had physically slapped her. She knew that her sister's return would reopen old wounds. But she didn't expect that particular knife in her heart to be twisted by the one pony she loved more than any other. A thousand years of practiced poise and with a single utterance, Celestia's stoic facade crumbled. Luna bit her lip, regretting the words immediately. "Tia- I- I'm-"

"No, I'm the one who is sorry," Celestia said. "You're right. I always did put your needs second. And I know that was why you..." she trailed off. "Why things went the way they did. I've long regretted it. I don't want to lose you again. Please forgive me."

"Only if you forgive me," Luna said, wiping away Celestia's tears, "for turning into a night-mare." Celestia turned and kissed her again.

"I already have," Celestia whispered. The two ponies were content to just hold each other. They had waited a millennium to do so. Equestria could wait a few minutes more. "Please," Celestia begged, "Just come down and meet our ponies. And then we can come back up here later and I promise, it will be-" Celestia paused to nibble on her sister's ear to punctuate her words, "the best night ever." Luna shivered and nodded. After a bit more playful enticing, they roused themselves from Luna's bed and readied their appearances for the Canterlot elite.

Celestia broke the ancient seal on Luna's bedchambers door and it slowly creaked open on old hinges into the dark hallway of the "Forbidden Tower". Unlike her perfectly preserved bedroom, the hallway showed its age. The air was heavy with dank staleness. The banners lining the walls were little more than scraps left to the moths. The carpet crumbled to dust beneath their hooves. The ceiling was thick with spider webs, making lighting the sconces a terrible fire hazard. Celestia lit the way with her horn.

"I'm sorry about appearances," Celestia apologized. "I should have come through here before you returned. I'll have the castle staff get this back to its proper state at once."

"That shan't be necessary," Luna said, taking in the sights. "We quite like it. It reminds us of our old castle in the forest. Before we came into the finery of modern royalty in Canterlot."

"As you wish," Celestia acquiesced. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Celestia unlocked the door sealing off the spire. In the intervening years, the East Wing had been converted into the 'industrial part' of the castle, as Celestia liked to put it. She found it was more palatable than calling it the 'servants' quarters'. Several of the castle's faculty ponies turned to see the 'Forbidden Door' glowing as the very last of the wards were disabled and the door unlocked, swinging into the well-lit hallway. Out from the dark stepped Princess Celestia herself.

Every pony there had seen Celestia before in some manner or another. She made it a point to visit all of her employees, even here, though it was a somewhat rare occurrence. Celestia was accustomed to all eyes on her. But their gaze upon her was askew to the shorter, blue pony beside her. Murmurs abound in the gathering of ponies. Those closest to them bowed politely as they walked passed. A couple of the wait staff ducked back into the kitchen. A moment later the Head Chef burst out from the double doors, slamming them open with his long, crescent horns. His woolly fur was kept buzzed very short for the kitchen.

"Your Majesty," he greeted as he bowed curtly. "What brings you to the kitchen? Do you have a special request for a meal? Perhaps for your...guest here?" he asked, looking at Luna. Luna leaned close to Celestia.

"Our chef de' cuisine is a ram?" she whispered.

"Luna, this is Chef Ram Carpi- uh, Capra..." Celestia trailed off. "My apologies. Chef Ram, with a last name that begins with a C, that I have long-since given up on trying to pronounce," Celestia said.

"Chef Ram Capricornucopicabanahoof," he said with an understanding smile. "It's a muzzle-full, I know. But Ram C. is perfectly fine, Your Grace." Celestia smiled back.

"Chef, this is my sister, Princess Luna," Celestia introduced.

"Charmed," Luna greeted.

"Your sister!?" he asked in unabashed surprise.

"Now then, we are in a bit of a hurry, so we shan't keep you from your duties any longer," Celestia said dismissively, stepping quickly down the hallway with her sister in close tow.

Luna could feel their curious eyes on her as they departed until at last they were out of view. She looked at the various stained-glass windows, banners and tapestries adorning the walls of the populated section of the castle. To her dismay she found that she adorned none of them. The entire color palette of the interior was solely the warm hues of the day, with nary a splash of cool blues to be spied.

"Has the whole world forgotten about me?" Luna asked. "It seems as though I've been erased from history." Beside her, Celestia blinked back her tears.

"It wasn't easy, you know," Celestia said after a long pause. "I know you were imprisoned on the moon, and my suffering can not compare, but I did suffer. I couldn't bear to see reminders of you everywhere. And what was worse-"

Celestia paused as they passed by a couple of maids. They bowed to the princess as she passed. Once they were out of earshot, Celestia continued.

"What was worse was all of the ponies that wanted to celebrate the defeat of Nightmare Moon. They wanted a festival to celebrate my 'glorious victory' over the 'traitorous monster'," Celestia spat the words as though they tasted awful in her mouth. "I wouldn't allow it. And it seemed that the only way to quell those that would dare to besmirch your name, was to make them forget about you entirely. And less than two hundred years later, the legend of Nightmare Moon was no more than that. To be disregarded as an old mare's tale to scare little foals." Celestia turned to look at her. "But I never forgot about you. Every night when I had to set the sun and raise the moon, I had no choice but to look at it, and see the Mare in the Moon look back, an ever-present reminder of how I failed you, every night for a thousand years. I was never able to forgive myself for it."

"Tia, please," Luna said, holding her hoof, "Let the past be the past. I know we have had our differences. But let us only concern ourselves with what lies ahead." Celestia smiled.

"Thank you," she said. They reached the throne room doors. The Royal Guard ponies standing their posts bowed to them and moved aside. "Are you ready?" she asked. Luna nodded. The guards opened the grand doors and a hush fell over the din of the crowd inside as it parted to make way for Celestia and... her guest.

Luna walked beside Celestia as they entered the room and approached the ornate throne at the far end. Luna's eyes narrowed as she stared at the pink unicorn that dared to sit on the throne. The gall of the pony that remained seated as the rest stood and then bowed before them. The cheek of the mare that remained on the throne, giving no effort to attempt to hide what it was they were doing in Celestia's absence.

"Princess Celestia," the pink pony greeted with her formal title. "It is a tremendous relief to have you back."

"It is a relief to be back," Celestia replied.

"Whom do we have the honor of greeting this day?" the pink pony asked, knowing full well the answer, but giving Celestia the opportunity to properly introduce the new pony in the room. Celestia took a deep breath and stood even taller than usual, practically beaming with pride.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts, it gives me great pleasure to present to you all, my sister; Princess Luna, returned!" Celestia announced, stepping aside to bow towards her sister. Everypony else bowed again. "Long live the princess!"

"Long live the princess!" everypony echoed.

"Princess Luna, may I introduce to you, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," Celestia said. At last Cadance rose to her hooves and gave polite curtsy to Luna. Celestia returned a deferring nod to Cadance, as she was the current stewardess of the throne. Luna followed her sister's lead and returned a similar nod. Cadance stood upright once more and gave her wings a modest flourish.

Luna's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. 'An Alicorn!?' Luna's head twisted to an unsettling degree to glare back at Celestia. The temperature in the room dropped sharply. The old princess looked at the new princess on the borrowed throne. The new princess looked at the blue princess. Celestia knew perfectly well what was coming next. But there was protocol to be seen to first. She cleared her throat.

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, you are hereby relieved of duty," Celestia announced. "You may now retire to your villa in the Canterlot palisades." Cadance nodded in acceptance and stepped down from the throne. She wore a polite smile as she walked past Celestia and Luna, in spite of Luna's eyes boring daggers into her. But Celestia had taught Cadance well and she remained calm. It was not the first time she had to keep her stoic poise in the face of less-than-pleased guests of the crown. Her personal guard pony followed closely after, feeling his two-tone blue mane standing up on end as he passed by the new alicorn.

Celestia stepped forward and took her place on the throne as Cadance exited the room. Luna turned from Cadance and directed her glare back at Celestia, sitting high and mighty up on the throne.

"Sister, a word, now!" Luna all but growled. Celestia bristled, mostly in embarrassment for her sister's outburst, and she cleared her throat. Luna rolled her eyes. "Princess Celestia, might we have a private audience, please!?" Celestia nodded.

"Everypony out," Celestia dismissed the rest of the Day Court. The ponies filed out until at last the guards closed the door. Luna looked back at the guards and then again at Celestia. "Everypony," Celestia repeated. The guards bowed and removed themselves from the room and closed the doors behind them. Luna took a deep breath and started to yell.

"How could y-" Celestia held up a hoof to silence her. Her horn glowed, encasing the doors and walls with a sound-proofing spell.

"Okay," Celestia said, bracing herself.

"How could you!?" Luna yelled again. "After everything! You really did it! I can not believe you! How many Tia!? How many ponies had to die for you to indulge yourself!?"

"Lower. Your. Voice." Celestia said calmly.

"You might as well have taken a sword to them yourself!" Luna stomped up the stairs to the throne, bringing her face an inch away from Celestia's. "How many more ponies had to die!?" Luna growled through her clenched teeth.

"Too many," Celestia whispered in admission.

"But apparently not enough for you to stop!" Luna spat before walking back down the stairs in tears. "They were foals, Tia! Foals that I had to help bury!" she sobbed.

"They knew the risks," Celestia said.

"Bullshit!" Luna cried. "Starswirl would never have allowed it to continue if he knew what was going to happen!"

"You obviously didn't know Starswirl like I did," Celestia said.

"Fuck you!" Luna cursed. "He was my special somepony first! But just like everything else of mine, you had to take him away from me too! You filthy whorse!"

"I didn't steal him away from you. He chose me, Luna. He supported the alicorn project from the beginning."

"Until he didn't, and you made him disappear!" Luna said.

"I've told you a hundred times before! I had nothing to do with his disappearance, or the other Pillars! The loss of them was a tragedy for all of Equestria. And all the more reason to see the project through to the end! And it was a success!" Celestia said.

"It's an abomination!" Luna retorted. Celestia slapped Luna across the cheek. Hard. It was the elder alicorn's turn to glare now.

"I love you Luna. But don't you ever call Cadance an abomination again."

"Or else what?" Luna asked, rubbing her cheek. Celestia said nothing in response, only standing firm with her stern expression. Luna huffed in disappointed resignation. "Have you no conscience at all, sister? Those foals. Those stillborn, and worse. Their... faces, they still haunt my dreams. I can still hear the echoed wails of the bereft mares, begging me to make it better with my alicorn magic. And every time I had to break their heart again, even as an alicorn, unable to sway power over life and death. Did it never bother you at all!?"

"Of course it did! How can you ask such a thing of me!?" Celestia cried. "It tormented me to have to have put my little ponies through such misery."

"But not enough to stop," Luna said.

"I was going to. I very nearly did after losing you. I thought, 'without Luna, what was the point?' But it was another that convinced me to see it through," Celestia said. "Snowdrop." Luna gasped.

"But- but that poor pegasus was born blind because of your program!" Luna spat. "Why would she of all ponies wish it to continue?"

"Because ironically, while she could not see, she did not lack vision," Celestia said. "She believed in what I- what we were trying to accomplish." Luna huffed.

"If only she could see you now," Luna muttered. She looked at the throne room doors where Cadance had exited. "Was it worth it? All the ponies that had to die for your little... project?"

"Do you really think me so heartless?" Celestia asked. "I'm not proud of the sacrifices that were made. They still haunt me to this day. I've tried to be a good pony for it. A kind, gentle, benevolent ruler. Maybe it's not enough to make up for what I've done in the past. Maybe it never will be. And if there is any justice in the hereafter, I'll burn in Tartarus for it. But what's done is done." Celestia sighed. "Cadance marks the beginning of a new era for our race." Celestia stepped down from her throne to sit beside her sister. "We don't have to be alone in the world any longer. Soon Cadance, and her foals, will be able to take our place on the throne, and we can just have each other." Luna looked up at Celestia. "Luna, all I've ever wanted was you. Everything I've done, I've done for you, for us. Luna, I've been alone for so long," Celestia cried. "I'm so sorry. I missed you so much."

Luna knew that her sister was a talented liar. But Luna was the one that could always see through her. And she could tell that her remorse was sincere. She wanted to stay angry. She wanted to hate her. But she wanted to love her. She missed her just as badly. Luna trembled and stepped closer to lean against Celestia. Celestia wrapped her hooves around her and sobbed quietly against her little sister. Luna looked through the stained-glass window at the sunlight that she had nearly eliminated from the world as Nightmare Moon.

"I suppose we both have much to regret," Luna said, hugging her back. "Sometimes I wish that Clover the Clever had never found us in that cave. Or that her mentor, Starswirl, figured out how to free us from the stone."

"The tribes were freezing, and starving from the Windigos," Celestia reminded her. "We were able to represent all the races and unite the ponies under a common banner," she said, nodding toward the Equestrian flag adorning the wall.

"Hmm," Luna agreed, leaning against her. "When did life become so complicated?"

"When we desired," Celestia answered. "When we desired more than we had. When we desired a stallion over each other." Celestia could feel her tired weight in her hooves. "You should get some sleep, sister, if you are to take up your old shift for the night," Celestia suggested.

"We are... not sure if we are quite ready for that just yet. We have only just returned. We have much to learn about the world and the ponies in it if we are to rule in any sort of meaningful way," Luna admitted.

"Bad dreams have never ceased to plague the sleep of ponies," Celestia said. "I'm sure Equestria would welcome back the patron champion protector of foals' dreams."

"Do they not now fear the Mare in the Moon? Are we not the Night Mare?" Luna asked. Celestia pursed her lips.

"Maybe they do," Celestia admitted. "But you can change that, one night at a time, one foal at a time. You can be the change you want to see in yourself."

"Celestia the Benevolent," Luna mocked. "You speak from experience?"

"You know it damn well," Celestia said.

"I do," Luna breathed. "By the stars, sister, you were a magnificent terror in the olden days. After watching you face down Tirek and banish him to Tartarus, I could only pity the fools that dared make themselves your enemy. Even after we discovered the Tree of Harmony, and the Elements we wielded together. Turning Discord to stone, and King Sombra to shadow, trapped in the ice of the Frozen North. To think of it now, I can scarcely believe that I was ever foolish enough to cross you myself after witnessing all of that. But I couldn't let you continue." Luna looked at the stained glass portrait of Cadance. "For all the good it did. After you eliminated me, you just carried on with your plan. You haven't changed at all. Not really."

"That's not who I am anymore," Celestia said. "I've done my best to put the past behind me. I can only hope that you might as well."

Luna just looked at her for a long while.

"Perhaps we will retire to our chambers after all," Luna said as she turned to leave. Celestia moved to accompany her. "Alone!" Luna snapped. Celestia winced from the words. Luna grimaced and bit her lip in a pang of regret at her outburst. "We love you, sister. But we need time to... process this Cadance issue. We are certainly not in the mood to be intimate."

"Luna, please!" Celestia begged. "Please don't shut me out over this. Not again."

"Don't embarrass yourself!" Luna said with a sneer. "Begging is unbecoming of you."

"But I've waited so long to have you back," Celestia said.

"Then you can wait a bit longer, sister," Luna said, vanishing in a flash of blue light.

Celestia sat down in her throne and wept. "All I ever wanted was you." In the centuries since she had started the project, the one thing she held onto was the hope that it would all be worth it. That despite her own sister turning on her over it, that she might one day see the good from it in light of its success. Celestia had remained resolute in the face of so much loss and regret. But in that moment, she felt something for the first time in centuries:

Doubt.

When the time came to set the sun that evening Celestia did as she always had, stepping out onto the balcony and lowering the sun with her magic. However, instead of raising the moon right away, she waited. The sky was dark for several minutes as Celestia stood there and looked to the neighboring tower where her sister was once again residing. Eventually Celestia presumed that Luna was indeed sleeping after the long day. Celestia's magic glowed again and raised the moon to bring forth the night and the stars.

Shrouded in the darkness of her room, Luna looked back at Celestia. She watched her lower the sun and wait for her. Luna didn't know what it was she was looking for or what to even expect. She waited to see how long Celestia would wait before raising the moon on her own. For what the length of time indicated, Luna could not reason. She felt so many emotions that she struggled to choose one to hold onto.

The most obvious one was anger. But Luna knew this path all too well. It was her anger that drove her to becoming Nightmare Moon in the first place. It was her anger that had consumed her and ate away at her while she was imprisoned on the moon. Anger was a useful emotion in small doses. It got things accomplished. But like anything, too much for too long was toxic. Luna was angry that she felt angry, an oddly meta thought, she realized. She was angry with Celestia for making her feel this way again. Celestia had asked her to put their differences aside and rule together again. Luna did not realize how much she had been wanting it so badly until that moment. She was only too happy to forgive and forget it all to have their time together back again.

And then Celestia had to ruin everything.

A thousand years had been a long time for Luna to come to terms with what had happened in the past. But now, the issues of the past had been thrust into the present. Cadance was living evidence of it. A breathing reminder of the very thing that she had rebelled against her sister over, and ultimately led to her exile. Luna grit her teeth. She wanted to be angry at Cadance just for existing. But Cadance was hardly at fault for being born. She wasn't the cause of the schism between Luna and Celestia, she was merely a symptom of it.

Cadance was, irrevocably, an Alicorn. And in her heart, Luna knew that it didn't make Cadance intrinsically special. But this world was not the one that she and Celestia had been born into. And because of that, Cadance was special. Luna knew nothing about the mare. But Luna knew that Cadance had spent her entire life under Celestia's wing, being filled with her ideologies.

"And then there were three," Luna muttered to herself, with the stark feeling of being outnumbered. But even so, she knew her sister better than anypony. She knew well enough that a direct confrontation would be futile. Celestia was a brilliant tactician, and an even-more masterful strategist. There could be no part of this scenario that Celestia hadn't already considered and prepared for. Including, Luna realized, her predictable resentment for Cadance's very existence.

Luna pushed her anger away. It had brought her nothing but pain for the past millennium and it would serve her no good now, either. Now was not the time to be thinking with her emotions. Luna took a deep breath and calmed herself. She had no allies, no influence, and no plan. Brash action would only end poorly. No, she needed to be smart about this. Smarter than her sister, even. She looked wistfully to her moon in the night sky. She was unsure if it would even be possible to outsmart her sister at her own game. But needed to believe that she could, or else she never would. She needed time. Time to gather information. Time had changed much in the world. But knowledge was still power.

But to what end? Luna wondered of herself. As angry as she had been in her confrontation with Celestia in the throne room, she still wanted so badly to just be held by her again. More so than to just gather information, she needed time to resolve her feelings about Cadance, Celestia and... everything. For the countless lives of ponies that she had been in the world, time seemed like such a trivial thing to the immortal mare.

And now she suddenly felt like she had very little of it.