Wondering why Celestia had seemingly disappeared from her own room, Luna was left alone with Twilight in her sister’s bedchambers.

After making sure Twilight was still sound asleep, Luna made her way over to look for her sister. Unwilling to call for her in fear she might disturb the young pony, she silently crept away from the bed, her extreme caution unnecessary as she herself had cast a sleep spell on Twilight which would allow her to sleep through nearly anything.

Yet still, she carefully sneaked through the room over to where she had last seen her sister before Heart Petal had left. Glancing around, her face quickly lit up as she spotted the faded silhouette that could only belong to one pony sitting outside the windows on her sister’s balcony.

Quickly rushing to the glass doors leading outside, Luna gave Twilight’s sleeping form one last glance as she silently opened them.

Her newfound happiness though wasn’t to last for long as she could see through the cold air of the night her sister sitting on the balcony, her head gazing into the distance and her expression gloomy, downtrodden and tired.

While recent events had stricken her hard, Luna guessed that what she had seen of her sister and how she had reacted that she was hit far worse by what they had seen in Twilight’s dreams than she herself was.

It seemed as if everything she had seen was now coming back to her and so Celestia had left to think.

Thinking of it, it was a pretty normal reaction of hers.

When the two of them had been younger, long before the founding of Equestria, Luna had often found her sister glooming over recently past events, and now that Celestia was sure that her former student was fine, she apparently had left to think as she had done in the past, alone.

Yet Luna distinctly remembered that such events rarely had a good outcome and she could only guess on how Celestia had coped with it all during her banishment.

Disregarding the thought, Luna shook her head, the only thing important right now was finding out what exactly was the problem, and how she could help.

Over the eons of coping with her sister, Luna had learned that the further away Celestia stared when she fled to think, the harder the problem seemed to be, and so, Luna concentrated to shift her eyesight into a spectrum which would allow her to see through the darkness of her night. Closing her eyes, a fine line of slightly blue light was shortly visible shining out from under her eyelids before Luna reopened them, revealing bright eyes with stark slitted pupils more apt for peering through the darkness.

As she regarded her sister once more, her sight greatly enhanced, Luna silently sighed and let her ears fall flat onto her head as she could now clearly see that Celestia wasn’t staring down at her subjects, to the towns below or to the mountains in the distance. Her gaze was directed at something much further away, up into the darkness of the night and through the sky above at something even beyond the borders of Equus. She was staring at her moon.

If that alone wasn’t bad enough, she swore she saw a faint trail of moisture from recently shed tears around her eyes.

Almost dreading the potential headache to come when Luna thought of prying through her sister’s numerous deflections, she resigned herself to her fate for the sake of her sister. Carefully closing the door behind her and making sure to make as little sound as possible, Luna inhaled in preparation once more.

Silently stepping closer to her sister, Luna still hoped against hope to salvage the situation. If she could catch her sister unguarded, unprepared, her chances of bringing Celestia away from her dark or illogical train of thoughts were much higher than when Celestia had already mentally gone through everything herself, alone.

Against all odds, her small hope and silent pleas to the universe were shattered as Celestia suddenly spoke, “Nineteen years, Luna. Nineteen… years…” she mumbled without taking her gaze away from the moon.

Luna mentally cursed fate, “Why can it never be easy?” she asked herself closing her eyes and changing them back to their normal form.

Nevertheless, she stepped closer to her sister’s side and made sure that her right-wing gently brushed up against Celestia’s left. The lack of reaction though, made her worry just all the more. “Pray tell, sister, what is it that thou are rumoring about in such times long passed by into history? If thou canst recall, we still dwelled on the moon at that time, so we hadn’t borne witness to what may have transpired prior to our redemption,” Luna said as cheerfully as she could muster, her attempt though even failed to her own ears.

As Celestia didn’t answer and Luna still tapped in darkness on what this was about, a heavy silence settled down between the two.

While Luna waited for her sister to continue, Celestia let her gaze dance over her sister’s moon before she lowered her eyes with a sigh. “I’ve known her for nineteen years now, Luna.” She clarified.

Cocking her head, Luna tried as best as she could to look her sister into her fleeting eyes, “we assume thou art talking about Twilight, then?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

While Celestia nodded, Luna leaned her head back and let her gaze wander up to her moon, though for an entirely different reason than her sister had done before. “Then do tell, sister, what ails you on this night of our success that thou seek out time to think solemn thoughts of thine former student? Thou should know by now that we will always be there for thee," Luna said, concerned, “whether thou like it or not,” she added with a smirk. “After all, we see scarce few reasons for thee to be so saddened now. Now that we have vanquished her nightmares and calmed her mind for the night.”

“It is… well, it is complicated Luna, I… I don’t want to talk about it right now.” Celestia said, her eyes returning to the moon.

Raising an eyebrow and glancing at her sister’s face, Luna turned her head, “yet thou still sit out here and look at our moon,” she stated. “We have known thee for longer than both of us are willing to admit, so thou canst hide such things from us, sister.”

“Luna please, not now… it's complicated…” Celestia whined.

Shaking her head and leaning against her sisters’ neck, Luna nuzzled her gently, “Tia, please. Is it about what saw seen in her dream? Is it that thou fear she might be afraid of us? Must we really explain to thee again that what we have seen canst not be taken at face value?” she asked.

“No, it isn’t that Luna… well…” Celestia sighed, “I said it before, sister, it is complicated, please let me think in peace, okay?”

“Sister, it isn’t healthy for thee to try and bear it all alone, please, let us help.” Luna pleaded; her voice filled with concern.

As Celestia didn’t respond, Luna let her head fall before she made to stand up and let her sister dwell on her thoughts. It wasn’t what she wanted to do, but she didn’t want to pressure her sister into anything as well.

“Luna?” Celestia finally asked, her sudden start halting her sister mid-step. “What is it that comes to your mind when you think of her?”

The oddity of her sister’s request let Luna sink back into her sitting position. Her sister always had a knack for obscurity, even in front of her, but she knew that her sister always had a reason when she asked such questions.

Trying to humor her for that reason alone, Luna thought for a moment on what the best answer would be. Her decision, in the end, settled on the truth. “We think of a friend,” she stated. “Why does thou ask?”

Ignoring her sisters’ question, Celestia sought to dig deeper. “And what more, Luna, what do you see in your mind when you see her, hear her name or talk about her? What do you associate with Twilight?” she asked without skipping a beat.

Brought back to where she started, Luna reconsidered her answer, “well… um… we see a strong pony, proud, intelligent, a natural leader. Somepony whose heart is big enough for her friends to be as close to her as her family,” she said, glancing at her moon and thinking of what they had learned in the dreamscape recently. “We see a great magician, one capable enough to change the world. We see somepony kind and loving. Somepony who carries a beauty of their own and somepony passionate about what they do. We see somepony who sees the beauty in our nights, somepony who enjoys them as much as we do. We see somepony who may enjoy the written arts a little too much and one who is never afraid of showing her interests,” Luna said, a blush starting to spread over her muzzle. “We see our savior, our first friend in over one thousand years and one of the few ponies who has believed in us from when we first met,” she finished, proud of her answer and hoping it would be sufficient for her sister.

Celestia for her part, just nodded along, her eyes again fixed to the moon above, and her mane wavering in an unseen wind.

“Then again, sister, why didst thee ask such a question?” Luna finally asked, breaking the silence yet again.

“You see, Luna, if I were asked the same question, I would describe her in much the same way, yet still, I would do so differently. In some sense or another, you could even consider her as my savior as well, and I don’t mean to imply the many crises she has averted,” Celestia explained, finally turning away from the moon and looking her sister in the eyes. “You know, a little more than nineteen years ago, I was on a walk. It was a considerately good day that day. I could even dismiss court earlier and so I found myself having a bit of free time.”

A small tear dropped from Celestia’s eyes as she averted her gaze from Luna and looked at the ground in shame, “It was the first day off I allowed myself since I lost my former student to her own ambition and overconfidence.”

“Though, as you may have already figured, my good day apparently ended as a giant dragon head suddenly shot through the roof of my School for Gifted Unicorns. I thought of the worst, even an attack in the middle of the day would have not come to me as a surprise, considering how well the day had been so far. But when I tried to investigate, all I found was an auditorium plunged so deep into chaos that even Discord would have been proud of it,” she said, a small smile playing over her lips. “You know, it isn’t every day you see all of your examiners floating around and the other ponies in the room turned into potted plants. Nevertheless, once my shock had abated, I was further surprised by the magical anomaly in front of me, once I found out it was holding a little filly inside,” she explained.

Gesturing with her hoof, Celestia continued, “a pony, a young filly, a child, barely old enough to take my test floated there. Her magic should have vaporized her on the spot. Not even Starswirl would have been able to wield such an amount and yet there she was. A young pony, a mortal, wielding more magic than I have ever seen before.”

“And it was then that I realized something. This pony, this young, inexperienced, powerful pony was only here to go through the entrance exam. You can imagine my surprise when I see a pony barely old enough to take the exam as a source of more magic than even my High Council of Magi could handle.”

“Nevertheless, as I knew of the danger of the situation not only for others, but for this young pony alike, I stepped closer. I was about to dispel her magic when I touched her shoulder in the process and all of a sudden, her frightened eyes shot up to look directly at me. She stopped. As soon as she spotted me, she calmed down and stopped.”

“I didn’t know how, nor did I know why she managed to get control back over her magic. But she stopped, I still don’t know how, but I think now it was because of me,” Celestia explained.

As the solar diarch inhaled audibly, Luna could almost see her thoughts racing before she continued, “For the briefest of moments, I saw the filly being exploited, being taken advantage of and suffering under it. I saw her potential and how it could be twisted against her. I saw her afraid of herself, afraid of hurting others with what she could do. From that moment on, my decision was clear. Despite my plans to never take another pupil under my wing, I decided that I would teach her. I decided that from that day forth, she would be my student and I would protect her from such harmful influences.”

“She accepted, as you can guess. She was so ecstatic that she even started to jump around the whole room in joy, her dance of happiness only increased by the fact that she had received her cutie mark. She was six, back then.”

“I only realized that her cutie mark was special half a year later, as I accidentally stumbled upon the fact that it was an exact replica of the element of magic in its purest form.”

“When I approached her teachings, I did so expecting it would be like any other student I had ever had. I expected her to start strong, fueled by youth and enthusiasm, as students always tended to do. I thought she would eventually wax in her performance, become disinterested, bored or distracted, like any other student I had over the years. But it never happened, not even to this day. Twilight kept on it. She kept running, learning. No matter how much I taught her, no matter how challenging, or even outright impossible I raised her standards, she always came out on top.”

“She never failed to impress me…” a small smile ghosting over her lips.

“She was… is… truly special…” Celestia said, another tear dropping from her muzzle.

“But, you see, the position of my personal student is a very sought-after one, as the pony in question not only has a direct link to me but also becomes very influential and powerful. The title alone could bypass many laws and restrictions and nearly all classified information’s are accessible to them. There had been many ponies who had used this to their own gain. But never Twilight. She never asked for anything and she never sought-after power or wealth.”

“She was content with being my student.”

“She… she was the first one… the first and only one without ulterior motives behind her actions. All she wanted was to learn, and to get to know me.” Celestia said, her voice slightly breaking.

Closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, Celestia refocused her resolve before opening her eyes again and continuing, her tone now again somewhat steady and reassured, “So, she grew close to me. When she moved into the castle to aid her in her studies, she spent most of her time at my side. We discussed politics, magic, philosophy and as the time went by even our day to day things weren't exempt either. She was the first friend I had in a very long time. The first friend I could truly trust.”

“She learned everything from me, from courtly manner, to even the most subtle of tricks. For me, she saved me from my near one thousand years of depression, something not even Cadance was able to do. I learned of her likings, of her hobbies and interests, I learned how much she loved the stars and how much value a book had in her eyes. You know, I was one of the lucky few who had more worth to her than a book. I’d spend nights consoling her when she had a nightmare, days helping her when her studies had reached rock bottom.”

“I’d spent more time with her than her own family had and, in some sense or another, I’ve become more of a mother figure to her than her own mother ever had been,” Celestia explained, her head against turned to look up to her sister’s moon.

While Celestia observed the darkened sky, Luna sat beside her and continued to ponder over what all of this was about. True, it was interesting to listen to her sister’s story, and she had to admit, the last sentence could explain some of the things she had learned in recent history, but still, for Celestia to be in such a bad mood, Luna figured there was still more to come.

But as Celestia didn’t continue, Luna grew more and more unsettled by the second. “While thine tale is truly interesting, sister, we still don’t see why thou chose to come out here to ponder over thine former student right now,” she stated, her patience reaching its end. “We could understand it if thine troubles would lay in what we have seen in her dream, but as thou know, we have already dealt with it and we intend to help her with it even in the nights to come. Whilst we still fear she might reform her barrier, we are now confident that we will be able to speak to her regardless. Maybe we’ll even be able to find her source of insecurity leading to her reason for secrecy in the first place.”

Celestia for her part just sighed. “Luna, it isn’t that, I told you. I… my problem lies in… in what we have seen, yes, but there is nothing to do about it. I am just upset, that’s all.”

“Upset over what, sister? Please, let us share thy burden which troubles thy mind.”

Looking away from the moon and at her sister’s pleading eyes, Celestia’s thoughts raced. How could she make her sister understand, or later Twilight, for that matter?

How could she make anyone else understand?

Sighing, Celestia turned away and laid her head onto the railing. Shuffling around and fidgeting with her wings, she seemed now even more troubled than before, but Luna could feel that she was finally getting closer and closer to the problem.

“Please sister, talk to us,” she gently said, carefully nuzzling into Celestia’s neck and laying her head on her sisters’ shoulders. “We simply wish to help.”

“But you can’t. No pony can.” Celestia sighed, closing her eyes. “Well, no, that’s wrong… you could, even somepony else could, but not I. I can’t… it is not my place.”

“Sister?” Luna asked, her worries growing at Celestia’s words. “If ‘we’ should be able to help, then would it not be detrimental for us to know what it is that thou can’t do thyself? We would gladly help and so would every one of our subjects, we can assure thee of that. All we would need is to know what it is that is troubling thee.”

“Then would you be able to love her?” Celestia finally asked, her head gently bopping with her words as she still rested on the railing and her eyes pressed shut. “Would you be able to love her then, to stay at her side, maybe even for an eternity to come?”

Luna, for her part, suddenly stopped her nuzzling and lifted her head from her sister’s shoulders to stare down at the pony beneath her, blinking in confusion.

Her thoughts suddenly quieted down and her mane seemingly coming to a stop from its usual waving, Luna could not do any more than stare at her sister as a faint red color slowly grew onto her muzzle.

Celestia though, her heart heavy but relieved for finally having asked the question, drew back and sat up. Her eyes opening and fixing themselves into the distance, she opened her mouth to speak, her voice small and saddened, but relieved, “Could you do that, Luna, could you love her?”

Her head suddenly drawing a blank, Luna stared at the back of her sister’s mane. The question though, rang through her, bouncing from wall to wall and echoing in the stillness inside her.

“One thousand years alone…”, “Why me…”, “but my sister…”, “Twilight…”, and other thoughts suddenly joined into the silence as she fought for clearance.

Blinking once more and shaking her head, Luna gradually reestablished some control of her thoughts, enough so that she could find at least a part of her voice

Her initial fit of stammering though, only caused to Celestia glance back at her to see her expression. Mistaking the flustered appearance as a no, Celestia’s shoulders slumped as she turned back again. “I thought so, sister. I knew it would be too much to ask. I will not hold it against you. I, I am sorry.”

Luna though, still wrestled with herself.

Closing her eyes and trying to steady her breathing, she tried to calm herself. To calm the sudden whirlwind of questions now stirring inside her.

“You know, I’ve come out here to sort through all we have seen today,” Celestia said, inhaling and mentally preparing for what she planned to say next. “She did not… break down because of her magic or because of any fear she had for her own life or that of her parents. I rather think she… collapsed because of us.”

“What? Why?”

“I even think I have a somewhat solid idea on why she placed that barrier around her dreams all those years ago.” Celestia continued, a small smile finding its way onto her lips.

“Thou have? Then why? Please tell…” Luna eagerly asked.

“She… she seems to love us, Luna,” Celestia said gently, turning and looking with one eye at her sister.

Staring wide-eyed back at her, Luna’s mind suddenly came to another screeching halt.

“She… loves… us?” she mouthed, the dreams finally catching up to her. She had seen Twilight propose. Seen her being rejected, which had broken her heart. She had seen her being accepted, which had filled her heart with joy. She had even seen what she thought she could have done if she were to lose her loved ones or what she may do if she could have them.

All that she had seen, suddenly clicked in her mind as she stared at her sister.

Those ponies. Those which she had seen inside her dream. Those which she had thought of as a simple reflection, a simple trick of one’s mind to fill in the unknown, which had looked like them. Those that were supposed to be them!

Over her thousand’s years of life, Luna had visited many dreams, in many she had seen a simple reflection of herself or of ponies she knew of. Reflections to fill in the blank of absence, reactions to her ripple in the dreamscape when entering into them.

But in Twilight’s dream, the ponies she had seen had not been simple reflections!

She should have known. It was so obvious!

The scenes alone should have given it away!

They had not changed the coherence of the dream with their entrance. Twilight’s dream had been clear.

She had not seen a blank pony, one unknown or undefined. She had seen herself and her sister.

She had seen herself.

But now, something clicked. Why place a shield around one’s dream unless they were to hide things with it? If they weren’t to keep at bay the one pony who can visit them to find out something better-kept secret.

Better kept away from them in fear of their judgment.

In fear of their reply.

In fear of their rejection.

Luna finally understood.

It had felt like an eternity of misunderstanding, but now she understood. She finally did!

Twilight Sparkle, a social awkward just as much, if not more sometimes, as herself didn’t place a barrier around her dreams because she didn’t trust her. But because she loved her and feared what were to happen if she would have ever found out.

The world around her suddenly seemed distant. All the color drained from her vision and even the form of her sister seemed to lose shape.

It all started to blur. To blur together as she swayed.

Celestia’s eyes widened as she watched her sister sway. Her eyes had glossed over and she tilted forward.

“Luna?” she asked, as she watched her sister’s front hooves give out, causing her to start falling face-first onto the marble floor beneath them.

Panicking, she turned around and lit her horn, grabbing her falling sister before she hit the ground.

“Luna?!” she called panicked as her sister suddenly seemed to have fainted on the spot.

As she carefully turned her around and placed her onto her back, she found, to her relief, that her sisters’ eyes hadn’t closed and that she was mouthing something incoherent.

“… love us?” she thought she heard as she teleported a pillow from her chambers out and gently laid it under her sister’s head.

As strange as it might seem, her long life and experience with ponies hadn’t prepared her as well with pony physiology as she might have sometimes liked, and again she made a mental note to finally attend a medicine class one day as she had done every time she found herself in such a situation.

As she made to stand up and get help for her sister, a blue hoof on her hindleg stopped her and she turned around.

Luna, having recovered from her initial shock, had stopped her and was now somewhat befuddled staring at her. “Is… is that true?” she managed to ask with a hoarse voice more akin to a dying cat than that of her sister.

Turning around and kneeling down next to her, Celestia gently nuzzled her sister’s chest as she fetched a glass of water from her bathroom with her magic and offered it to her. “Luna, are you well you just…”

“Yes, yes we are fine, now answer the question, sister. Is it true?”

“Is what true?” Celestia asked, still more worried over her sister than the conversation they held before.

Luna though, was apparently keener on keeping the conversation as she tried to clean her throat. “T-that she is in love with us?” Luna asked as she eagerly tips and downs the glass in a few gulps.

Blinking and wondering if she might have been too quick to judge, she gently nodded. “I think so, Luna. From what I have seen, she… she wishes to be with the two of us…”

“Oh, how wonderful.” Luna absently sighed as she passed the now empty glass back to her sister.

Celestia, while dumbfoundedly accepting the glass, stared at her sister. “You… you’d consider it?” she asked softly, her eyes going wide.

Carefully rolling onto her side to adopt a more regal form, Luna regarded her sister. “Why consider?” She asked, a grin spreading over her lips. “She has been instrumental in almost everything good since our return, if she’d choose us to love, then we’d gladly return the gesture.” She said, her eyes almost seemed glowing with interest in the faint moonlight.

“We have long since thought of choosing a mate since our return,” she eagerly added, “and Twilight has been one of, if not the most promising candidate of our considerably not short list of options,” Luna said, her wings fluffing and her enthusiasm palpable in her voice. “The only thing holding us back from asking her ourselves had been the barrier around her dream, of which we thought was a testament that she was unable to trust us.”

Her grin widening, she flung back and rolled onto her back, her wings lightly spreading and her hooves kicking into the air, “And if what thou art telling us is true, then we may finally have found somepony for us to love.” Luna said giddily.

Seeing her sister’s happy little dance as she rolled around on the floor in front of her, Celestia briefly wondered if Luna had despite her intervention still banged her head on something. Shaking her head and pushing the thought as far back into her mind as possible and wondering if it were possible to push such thoughts out, she adopted a happy smile as she watched her sister’s antics.

Reminiscing back to what they had seen in Twilight’s dream, questions of how her sister managed to have such a carefree attitude with the serious matter rushed through her head as she sighed wistfully and turned to the moon once more. Her plastered on smile though not helping to hide her sudden mood shift in the slightest.

While Luna still wiggled on the floor with thoughts of her many lonely nights finally coming to an end, her sisters’ still downtrodden sight though didn’t escape her as she rolled back onto her side and looked at the white pony just above her. Cocking her head, Luna leaned forward and nuzzled her sister under the chin, “but we still have not yet talked about thy problem, sister. Why art thou unhappy, please tell us?”

Sighing and gently nuzzling back, Celestia gave her sister a sad smile, “I am very much happy Lulu, for the both of you. Just… just don’t worry about it.”

“Sister?” Luna gently asked, carefully nipping at her sister’s throat, “don’t lie to us.”

“I… it isn’t a lie, Luna, ah,” Celestia said, as a sting of pain suddenly flooded her mind when Luna bit harder to remind her that she knew when she attempted to lie, “I am just…” she started, only to sigh as Luna started to caress the spot with her tongue, “I just dread to let her down myself,” she said, leaning into her sister’s ministrations.

Stopping what she was doing and regarding her sister for a moment, Luna raised an eyebrow. “And pray tell, why does thou think such a thing?” she asked, before continuing as she heard an impatient whine coming from her sister.

“Because, if I am not mistaken, the two of us had been shown in her dream, not only you or I,” Celestia said, slowly sinking to the floor next to her sister as she was gently nibbled along her neck while her fur was preened.

Considering her sister’s words, Luna gently nosed from the underside of her throat to the side of her neck and slowly made her way down to her sister’s shoulders.

Finding her way from the crook of her sister’s neck to her sensitive wing joints, Luna carefully licked over the tense flesh over her sister’s now stiffened muscles. “So, thou will share her with us then?” she asked, her tone dropping to a relaxed purr.

“I… no… I don’t… I wouldn’t want to… ah… get in the way.” Celestia gasped, having missed the gentle touch on her wings for longer than she cared to admit.

Leaning back and nuzzling behind Celestia’s right ear, Luna gently blew over it and watched it flick impatiently as she whispered, her words chosen carefully. “You wouldn’t,” she simply said, her words bringing more air forth than strictly necessary.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Celestia cleared her head. Her little sister had always been able to reduce her to putty in her hooves when she set her mind to it and normally, she wouldn’t have minded it. But this got too intimate for her liking.

They were sisters, after all.

It was bad enough that they had overstepped the boundary of sisterhood more than once over the many years of their lives, but this conversation was too important to let that get in their way.

And so, she forced herself to stand up, letting Luna slide down her side and land on the floor with a stifled yelp as she did so.

“Luna, stop. I can’t, okay?” she said, settling down on the cold marble floor a couple of meters away from her little sister.

Luna, annoyed by her sister’s resolve and even more from losing her leverage, huffed frustrated and drew her hooves under her. “But why, Tia? We both have seen from her dream what she seems to wish, so, why art thou so willing to deny her? We know of thine feelings in the night, of thine wish to no longer be alone.”

“Luna, no, it just wouldn’t be proper,” Celestia said, shaking her head and avoiding her sisters gaze.

“Proper of what? Does thou think Twilight is beneath thee? Because if so, no pony else living or dead would even come close to what thou then seek,” Luna said, carefully opening her right-wing and making a show of bringing it to her waiting muzzle. If she can’t tease her sister with bites and licks, she may as well tease her with looks.

“What? No, Luna, no. It isn’t that… rather that I could very well be her mother,” Celestia hastily said, shaking her head.

Humming absently, Luna raised an eyebrow at her sister’s words and observed her wing. She quickly scanned over it before slowly and tantalizingly licking over one of her primaries to straighten it and to show her sister what she was missing out on.

Gulping, Celestia briefly struggled to look away from her temptatious sister. “Luna, I have practically raised her, she was my student since she was six and I was basically her mother while doing so. I have consoled her when she had nightmares and I treated her like my own flesh and blood.”

“But thou aren’t her mother, are thou?” Luna asked, finishing her primary and neatly tucking it back into her plumage before finding another.

“I may as well have been, Luna. What the two of you are asking would be scandalous. There have been many who have accused her of being my hidden daughter already and even more who have thought I may have adopted her along the way,” Celestia said, her gaze deliberately directed at the floor.

“Yet again, thou haven’t” Luna simply stated, as she regarded a feather she was trying to straighten. Deeming it as unrepairable, she gently bit down on the broken feather, carefully plucking it out. Closing her eyes and shivering as a slight jolt of pain and relief shot through her, Luna sighed wistfully.

“No, but...”

“So where is the problem then, sister?” Luna asked, between her licks over the empty socket where a new feather now had space to grow. Judging that it would be enough, she drew her wing back and sought out a new victim to clean.

“This is the problem, Luna!” Celestia huffed, finally annoyed enough to outright stare at her and instantly regretting it as she saw her sister shuddering as she pulled a broken feather out of her wing.

The small part of her that wanted to enjoy what her sister was right now screamed loud enough in her mind that she mentally noted a spa visit was in order in the next couple of days.

But aside from that, she continued her stare at Luna, a slight twitch in her wing irrepressible.

Happy to have her sister’s full attention yet again, Luna paused in her ministration to give her a flat look before resuming and nosing through her plumage. “Then forget that. It is stupid,” she said, watching her sister’s expression derail with one eye.

As she heard Luna’s simple statement and rebuttal of her worries, her jaw dropped, and her determined stare turned into an indignant one. “B-but Luna! We have to think of how our ponies would take it. We can’t simply act the way we want… what if they think we’ve grown weak? What if our neighbors think we’ve become weak? Civil unrest or even outright war could be the result if we… I were to…”

“But we can, sister,” Luna stated simply, having found yet another feather which she straightened back, “as thou have said it thyself the other day, our ponies always come back to ask for guidance. That they see us in some way as a role model makes it even easier. Think of it, what would seem stronger, a ruler who has, despite the many difficulties they have to face each day, still time to hold close those who they love, or one who has to kick and flail each and every day just to keep the country from falling apart?” she asked, stopping her preening and looking over her wing at her sister.

“Then it would still be morally questionable,” Celestia whined, “I can’t just fall in love with my daughter.”

“As far as our knowledge is concerned, neither of us has living relatives or those with connections lesser than 40 to 50 generations back,” Luna stated as a matter of fact, rolling her eyes. “Even that fraud that calls itself ‘Prince’ and is posing his tie to thee around like a shining medal is not able to hold any more claim to the throne than the farmers of Ponyville or Appleloosa could.”

“But…”

“Besides, sister… does thou truly think thou could harden thy resolve for hundreds or thousands of years to come? Would such pretense still be true if Twilight would ask thee in two hundred years? Four hundred?”

“Uhm… I don’t know, but…”

“We both know how time washes away such barriers, or would thou deny thy excitement once we were back and the spring season rolled around?” Luna asked, pointing her wing accusingly at her sister. “So, what would be different then, from now?”

Thinking, Celestia had to shake her head in defeat, “It would still be too early though… she hasn’t even grown accustomed to the fact that she will outlive her family, Luna… I can’t just take advantage of her when she is already questioning her feelings already.”

“So, thou would rather hurt her then?” Luna asked, her pretentious session of preening all but forgotten as all of her attention shifted to her sister. “Thou would rather have her being alone while she has to go through that, than be by her side and show her that not all her family will be gone?”

“What? No! I would never!”

“But thou would sister.” Luna pointed out.

“But she hasn’t even asked yet?!” Celestia tried to defend.

Stopping and lowering her head, Luna thought for a moment before nodding, “yes, yes thou are right… she hasn’t asked as of yet. But from what we know of thine former student, she would hardly do so in a timespan known to ponykind,” she said, her tone filled with sorrow, “which would make her only more vulnerable until she might grow too weak to resist it one day.”

Lowering her ears, Celestia’s eyes widened, “w-what do you mean?”

“Sister! Don’t play pretend with us, we know thou have knowledge of what we speak!” Luna said annoyed and pointing a hoof accusingly at Celestia.

“But Twilight could never… she's too kindhearted…” Celestia tried, shaking her head in frantic denial.

Sighing and shaking her head sadly, Luna glanced away from her sister, “thou know it is true, the both of us are the best example of this. Our… exploits though were rather deeper than thine owns,” she said, her gaze drifting to the moon which had acted as her prison for one thousand years of her life. “Who knows, maybe the next time it will be thee who falls prey to the temptation, maybe Cadance, maybe her. We will never know until it is too late.”

“Luna, just because it happened to us does not mean it will happen to her or Cadance,” Celestia said, her denial of the possibility that either of them could fall to the temptations of the nightmare slowly annoying her sister more and more.

“Yet they both still harbor the thoughts deep in their minds, sister. One we have seen not more than hours ago,” Luna stated, motioning at her sister’s chambers and it's containing pony. “Feelings, emotions, desires, and dreams are possibly more dangerous to us than any outward thread could ever hope to be. It isn’t that they grow a consciousness overnight, sister, we both know this. But we both have fallen prey to its temptation. We when we were jealous of the love thou received, then when thou were unwilling to let go of him…”

“Leave Sombra out of this!” Celestia said, stomping her hoof onto the floor. “What happened back then was unforgivable and I deeply regret my hesitance, but right now this has nothing to do with him!”

“Here thou are wrong, Tia. His fall may have been unstoppable, but the consequential fall of the Crystal Empire could have been prevented if thou would have acted faster!” Luna said, the tone in her voice growing softer, “if thou would have let him go faster.”

“What has that to do with anything?” Celestia asked, her tone growing more irritated by the second.

“What would you do if Twilight would suddenly demand thy love, instead of ask it?” Luna said, standing and moving to her sister. Laying a gentle hoof onto her shoulders, she continued, “it isn’t as if this is bound to happen, sister but rather a possibility. One easily avoided if thou choose to not stall for once.”

“But she hasn’t even attempted to find any other pony before. For the love of my sun, she has never had an interest in any pony. At all…” Celestia argued, the hoof on her shoulder greatly comforting her. “What if this is a mistake? It isn’t healthy…”

“So is thine love for cake, sister. We fear the day the kitchen staff will be unable to provide sufficient amounts of pastry goodness for thee,” Luna said with absolute sincerity.

“That is insulting. Besides, I am not that bad... anymore,” Celestia said, with a wry smile.

“Thou are,” Luna simply stated, giving her sister a flat look.

“Okay fine, you may have a point there… but I would not suddenly become a monster if my appetite for cake would not be quenched” Celestia said, lightly chuckling.

Luna though, just looked at her sister disbelieving, “we aren’t so sure of that,” she said, watching her sister a moment longer before cracking a smile herself. “But maybe thou are right.” Mentally though, she tasked herself with having a closer look at the kitchens one day to ensure such an impasse would never happen. Thinking of it, she bumped the importance a couple of notches as the selfish interests of having her own occasional cravings for ice cream secured suddenly sprouted in her mind.

“Anyway, have thou come to a more sensible conclusion by now then?” Luna asked, staring hopefully at her sister.

Sighing and looking over the railing once more, Celestia hesitated. “Would it then be okay with you if I, um… would partake in it then?” she asked.

“If thou love her and not just pretend,” Luna said, her gaze softening.

Snorting, Celestia looked back, “shouldn’t you have asked that first?”

Shrugging, Luna grinned, “we assumed it.”

Shaking her head, Celestia’s smile widened, “what if I say I don’t?”

“Then thou would surely lie and be a changeling imposter,” Luna stated flatly.

Snorting, Celestia nodded. “Yeah, you may be right,” she said, curling her lips back and hissing at Luna.

Snorting herself, Luna gently nuzzled into her sister, “absorb as much love as thou want, my little changeling sister,” she said, chuckling.

“So I may grow more powerful until I one day can overthrow you?” Celestia asked.

“Try it.” Luna simply stated.

“Oh, is this a challenge?” Celestia asked, barely able to stop her chuckling.

“Maybe?” Luna said, letting go and jumping at her sister.

Rolling around on the floor, the two Princesses gently wrestled each other with hoof, wing, and magic, until Luna came out on top of her sister, softly panting, laughing and grinning like a mad mare. “There, we have defeated the evil Demon of the Sun, we shall have her pastries and wealth.”

“Oh nooo, not my pastries,” Celestia said in mock pretend.

“Thou will be punished and serve us for our personal amusement for the rest of time,” Luna said, her grin only widening and lowering herself onto her sister’s chest.

“Oh, is that so?” Celestia asked, forcefully rolling onto her side and taking Luna with her, “then may I show my mistress just how much I appreciate her?” she mockingly questioned, gently nosing through her sisters almost immaculate plumage.

“Thou may,” Luna sighed, sinking onto the marble floor and relaxing as she looked through the gaps of the railing at the city below. “But what now, sister?”

“Now, I am preening my new mistress,” Celestia said, a grin still spread over her lips.

“No, we mean it, what now?”

“Hmmm… what do you mean?” She asked, gently plucking a small broken flight feather and placing it on the floor next to her.

“Are we going to tell her once Twilight wakes that we have broken into her dream and have seen what she intended to hide?” Luna asked, shivering in delight as Celestia carefully caressed the tender flesh under her feathers.

Stopping and looking at her sister’s face, Celestia cocked her head, “that, would not be wise.”

“So, aren’t we going to tell her?”

“No, we have to, it wouldn’t be fair to her, but… not tomorrow… if we can avoid it,” Celestia said, her gaze shifting to the window and looking at her bed inside.

“When then?” Luna asked, her gaze following that of her sister as they watched the pony-sized lump on the bed.

“I… I don’t know, just not now,” Celestia affirmed.

“And how do we proceed with the fact that she will never freely admit her feelings? If she wakes up and notices that her barrier has failed her, she will most likely put it back in place. Hopefully, she’ll think that it failed due to herself falling unconscious and has no more other safeguarding mechanisms in place.” Luna mused, “If so, we may have to explain to her why we broke into the private of her mind sooner than later, sister.”

“No, you have to explain it, Lulu, I was just an innocent bystander,” Celestia said, grinning.

“Oh no! Thou were just as much involved as we were,” Luna said, shaking her head.

“Well, tell her the truth then, we tried to help her because she didn’t wake up,” Celestia stated simply. “And if she has no further security measures taken, we may as well tease the confession out of her,” she said, lifting one of the broken feathers and lightly dusting her sister over the nose.

Suppressing a sneeze, Luna smirked at her sister, “oh, so thou suggest we dangle the proverbial carrot in front of her until she bursts?” she asked.

“Well, why not? A bit of teasing never harmed anyone,” Celestia said, grinning. “Besides, I always enjoyed seeing her blush,” she added.

“Ooh, we have not yet been able to do that as much as we might have liked,” Luna said, rubbing her nose with a hoof.

“Well, we might as well make it good then, the next week, doctor Heart Petal said she should take it lightly. She may not have the authority to enforce that, but we do,” Celestia said, grinning.

“Oh, thou will abuse thine power for selfish interests?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. “Thou might as well truly be a changeling.”

Chuckling and shaking her head, Celestia nuzzled her sister, “Oh, no, not quite so, technically not even we would have the authority over her, considering that she is an equal. But I can assure you that if the two of us ask her to stay in the castle for a week, she wouldn’t have it in her to refuse, and we would have ample time to try and coax it out of her.”

Chuckling again, Luna shook her head, “thou truly are evil, sister, did nopony ever say that to thee?”

“Well… once or twice in court when I didn’t accept one of the noble’s requests… but aside from that, not that I can think of in any occasions from the last couple of months off the top of my head,” Celestia mused, amused.

“Well, now thee have,” Luna stated, clearing her voice, “Tia, thou are evil and devious,” she said, laughing.

Humming gently, Celestia quickly bit at her sister’s jaw and growled lightly, “I, the evil ruler of Equestria demand my pastries back.”

Chuckling and nodding as best as she could, Luna gave in, “we yield, we yield. Take thy evil pastries and begone,” she said, a bolt of pleasure shooting through her as her sister started to caress the now sore flesh of her jaw.

“And so, the pastries remain in their rightful owners’ hooves,” Celestia said, nuzzling her head under that of her sister.

Chuckling, Luna relaxed under the gentle ministration of her sister.

While the two enjoyed the moment together, a faraway bell began to chime, and Luna looked up at her moon. “As much as we enjoy this moment, we should get some sleep ourselves,” she stated, looking at her sister who was composing herself back.

“You may be right, Lulu, it is growing late,” Celestia said thoughtfully, looking at the moon herself, despite both of them knowing the time through their connections to their respectful celestial bodies.

“And where will thou rest, sister? Luna asked, standing up and shaking her left front hoof from having laid on it uncomfortably.

“In my bed, I presume,” Celestia said, cocking her head to the side and looking at her sister.

“But aren’t thou forgetting that…”

“Oh, I am sure she wouldn’t mind; besides, it is big enough for the both of us,” she said, waving Luna off. “I’ll simply lay myself on the other side.”

“Oh, so late to accept but so quick to embrace,” Luna mused. “Then we may join thee as well,” she stated, determined, “like when we didn’t want to be alone after our banishment. Besides, we have to keep an eye open that thou do not do anything untoward to poor little Twilight.”

“I worry more about you doing something inappropriate,” Celestia said, raising an eyebrow and smirking at her sister.

“We? Never. How could thou think such audacious thoughts about us?” Luna said, holding her head higher and looking down over the brink of her muzzle, “we are most offended.”

Chuckling and standing up herself, Celestia shook her head, “I sometimes wonder how nobles walk so the entire day,” she said, walking past her sister and opening her balcony door, “come now, if we fool around much longer we’ll raise the sun earlier than we get to bed.”

“It is thee who has to rise the sun, we can sleep in if we want,” Luna said, trying to navigate with her muzzle still raised.

“And it is you who has to lower the moon,” Celestia said, rolling her eyes and holding the door open for her sister

Bumping muzzle first into the window frame, Luna scrunched up her face as she raised a hoof to her now hurting nose. “Ouch, how they do this eludes even us,” Luna said, following her sister in and walking past her.

Rolling her eyes once more, Celestia chuckled lightly, “it isn’t as if I haven’t tried that myself, you know,” she said, her tone growing hushed.

“And did it work?” Luna whispered back.

Shaking her head, Celestia carefully stepped one hoof after another onto her bed, careful to not disturb Twilight more than she had to do.

While her sister climbed up to the bed first, Luna took her time to look once more over the already sleeping pony.

Checking that her sleep spell had worn off and that Twilight was now sleeping of her own accord, she was about to follow her sister when she noticed a tiny detail. A slight shiver emanated from the curled-up pony that lightly shook the bed as the temperature had dropped to an outside autumn chill now that the fire had died down.

Noticing this, she attempted to free a blanket from under her to place it over Twilight. Her efforts though quickly showed to be in vain as she would have to move her whole body only to peel the blanket out from under her.

The simple thought of moving her and potentially waking her opposed her almost to the point of disgust and so a better idea came to her mind once she mulled over the possibility of simply asking her sister for another blanket or to teleport her own from her own bedchambers over.

Tapping her sister gently onto the shoulder, she leaned closer to her sisters’ ears to whisper as silent as equinely possible. “She is freezing, sister, move thy fat flank over and help us keep her warm,” she said, her tone more teasing than commanding.

“My flanks aren’t fat,” Celestia silently protested, though followed her sister’s example as both of them gently shuffled around Twilight. Their bodies replacing the pillowy wall Fluttershy had created and their wings enfolding her from above, shielding her from any cold current possible.

Their combined body warmth quickly warmed the trapped air between their wings and Twilight’s shivers quickly died down after a couple of minutes.

Nuzzling her face into the bedding below her, Twilight even flopped to the side and pressed herself against Celestia’s lower body as a makeshift pillow and Luna had to suppress a hardy chuckle once she saw Twilight snoozing comfortably nestled between them.

As an insuppressible yawn escaped her lips, she looked once more over her already half-asleep sister before laying her head down as well. Nuzzling her head under her wings like her sister had done, sleep quickly claimed the two alicorns as they pridefully watched over Twilight like a precious jewel.

---

A young griffin, barely old enough to count as fully grown, carefully knocked on the dark wooden door at the end of an unlit hallway.

He knew, that being the bearer of bad news meant nothing good for him, yet his duty demanded that he would nevertheless deliver his missive.

Gulping upon hearing a low growled answer, he opened the heavy wooden door and peeked inside.

The room seemed aery, through the windows fell no light and what little light there could have been was blocked by the sporadically drawn curtains as the room greeted the young griffin with an almost pitch-black emptiness.

Only a sole, small candle was lit in the far side of the room, barely enough to illuminate the desk below and only showing the sharpened beak of the griffon sitting behind the table.

Gulping once more and straightening up as was expected from him, the young griffon stepped inside, his paws and claws greeted by the cold stone floor of the chamber only made his heart sink further.

Clearing his voice, he bowed low, stretching his right front claw and touching the floor with his forehead, “M-my liege, I-I bring bad news, the division we sent hasn’t reported back for almost six hours now. The operation while still possibly successful, is until we hear from our ambassador or the leader of the division considered a failure. It is possible they have been captured or simply ran into an inconvenience, but current intel sadly points towards the first,” he said, his voice shaky and frightened.

Not daring to stand up, the young griffon saw from the corner of his eyes the beak vanishing out of the cone of light and heard a chair creaking. A thoughtful hum echoed through the room before the candle went dark.

Next Chapter: Sleep Now and Forever Hold Your Peace Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 47 Minutes