Chapter One: A Moon, Dreaming
~BlackRoseRaven
"I'm so proud of you, Luna."
Luna huffed loudly at this, but she blushed all the same at her sister's words. As little as she wanted to admit it, it meant a lot to hear some praise from her older sibling.
Of course, Celestia was good at making sure she was never too happy. "Are you sure you want to do this, though? That's a lot of stress to put yourself under so soon after your return, and-"
"Sister!" Luna stomped a hoof, trying to make herself sound much more courageous than she felt. "I am ready! And... tonight, tonight of all nights, 'tis the night I must work hardest to show the ponies that I am no Nightmare Moon."
She looked up into the amethyst of her ivory sibling's eyes. Celestia smiled at her, soft and kind and understanding, nodding to her as she looked back into the green-blue of her sibling's irises. She saw her fear, her worry, her concern, and after a moment she stepped forwards and hugged her impulsively with one foreleg, hugging her close to her chest.
Luna grumbled, but submitted after a bit of fidgeting with a blush. Celestia's mane, an ever-flowing pastel rainbow, almost embraced her as well like a soothing blanket, as her own starry, ephemeral locks sparked with her frustration, her worries, and yes, her sadness.
Oh, to be gone for one thousand years, and to come back to the moon to a world you didn't understand, where all they knew was that in the long distant past you had become some kind of monster, and the only day left to you was the day when all the ponies dressed up as spooks and ghosts and ghoulies to frighten each other...
Well, the last thing wasn't so bad, really. At least there was candy involved.
Finally, she grudgingly hugged her sister back, mumbling a little under her breath before they parted. She pouted, and Celestia's lips quirked as she noted: "You look as sad as Sleipnir when I told him he couldn't keep that baby dragon."
Luna laughed, a little surprised as she glanced up at her sister, and Celestia gave a small shrug as she said softly: "Well, you're working hard to face your demons, Luna. The very least I can do is try and face up to some of my own regrets."
The smaller mare nodded a few times, and after a moment Celestia continued: "I worry about you, but... you're right. This will be good for you. Ponyville is a good place to start."
"My thanks to thee, sister." Luna blushed and nodded: she had to admit that... crowds were very difficult for her. One year was nothing compared to a thousand years in exile, alone with nothing but your own thoughts and pain for company... "I... I do not desire to simply hide away forever. To return from exile, only to remain a thing creeping 'twixt the shadows..."
"And I don't expect you to be that, Luna." Celestia gently tilted her sibling's head up, then she leaned down, kissing her forehead tenderly. "But I know you were gone for a very long time, and I think you expect too much of yourself. I just... I worry about you, Luna."
She stopped, then added gently: "And today is a hard day for you. I know that. I've done a lot of thinking, and over the years, I've had a lot of time to reflect on the things I did to you. The things I unfairly expected of you." She smiled briefly as Luna glanced up with a little bit of surprise, and more than a little gratitude at this small acknowledgment. "I'm sorry for everything that happened."
"Thou did what thou must. Thou wert more merciful than thou could have been, at that, why, 'twas not long before then that thou wert cutting off heads and setting those who disagreed with thee aflame." Luna made a chopping motion with one foreleg, and then she cleared her throat as Celestia favored her with a more sour look. "With... all the love in the world, of course. I merely mean to say thanks to thee."
"Yes, sister. I know." Celestia sighed after a moment, nodding grudgingly before they stopped and looked at one another for a moment, seeing both the present and the past.
Winged unicorns: the only two of their kind in the whole of Equestria. A nation that they had founded together by uniting the many different baronies under one flag, and through the strength of that unity, they had driven out the Tyrant Wyrms that had once plagued this nation, destroyed and sealed countless evils, and brought prosperity and wealth to its populace. Through blood, sweat, and tears, they had established a country that had grown from a small coalition into one of the most powerful on the face of this world.
Celestia was responsible for much of that, with her political maneuvering, her diplomacy and tact, and when it was necessary, her incredible strength. Luna had never desired a throne, but of course had taken it up to support her sister, although in the end that hadn't worked out, with...
No, no. Now was not the time for such thoughts.
"I wish Sleipnir was here." Luna said before she could stop herself.
"I do too." Celestia's response surprised her. Not because she didn't know how much Celestia missed their brother, the... dumb idiot who had always been there to balance them out, who had made them both smile and laugh, who had supported them both, but because usually Celestia was more reserved, almost as if part of her still hadn't accepted his loss.
Maybe that was a sign that Celestia really was trying to mend her own heart as well. A heart that Luna knew bore many fiery wounds, no matter how much she smiled, how composed she was, how in control she always seemed.
"You know, why don't you invite Scrivener Blooms to go with you?" Celestia suggested after a moment, but Luna shook her head with a snort at this.
"Nay, I must do this on my own. I must learn anew to face ponykind by myself..." Luna scowled and bit her lip, then muttered: "'Tis vexing that it is so difficult, Celestia. In the old days, give me a dragon and I would pummel it without fear. Now I tremble and quake like a kitten before a manticore at the mere thought of conversation with strange ponies!"
"Well, as long as you think you're not trying to do too much too quickly-"
"I do not." Luna said staunchly. "Besides, I am well-versed in etiquette!"
Celestia's face slowly puckered. "Luna..."
"I am! I speak as the birds sing and 'twas thou who made me memorialize the many cursed mannerisms and frivolities favored by the Canterlot barons!"
"Luna, times have changed-"
Luna tried to wave a hoof airily, as if she wasn't concerned, but of course her fidgeting gave away how nervous she actually was. "Nay, nay, speak no more of it! I shan't... poop within the bed, as the ponies say."
"More or less." Celestia's lack of enthusiasm went unnoticed as Luna nodded firmly. "Alright. Alright, alright, alright. I will leave Ponyville to you, and remember, you can always rely on my student, Twilight Sparkle, if there does happen to be any problem."
"There shan't be." Stubborn as ever.
"Well, in case there is." Celestia said pointedly.
Luna huffed, then sulked: "Thou art telling me to watch my temper, is that so?"
The larger mare reached up and touched her sibling's shoulder gently. "I would say you are... passionate."
"Passionate. Passionate, bah." Luna grumbled, but she nodded despite herself. "Well, 'tis not my fault the ponies of this day and age are so stuffy. They are stuffy, Celestia."
Her sister only smiled at her, and after a moment Luna bit her lip and then mumbled, as she lowered her head slightly: "But I accept thy counsel and recognize I am fortunate to have thee willing to aid and love me, all the same."
"And I will always love you, too, Luna." Celestia hugged her sister again, and Luna grumpily mashed her face against her chest before the ivory mare slipped back and said: "Just remember, you aren't in this alone, Luna. Go with my blessing... but make sure you say goodbye to Scrivener before you head out."
"Aye. He is an idiot, he will panic if I do not, much like an abandoned foal." But her words were affectionate. "And do not even start on thy silly 'magic of friendship' nonsense, 'tis lathered hogs."
"Hogwash." Celestia paused, then noted: "Part of me regrets assigning him to you in the first place. He's supposed to be giving you elocution lessons and all you've really learned is how to swear like a modern pony."
Luna smiled, blushing a bit before she cleared her throat loudly, then said: "You only have to ask, sister, and I will work harder to speak like this. In the ugly dialect of the modern pony."
Celestia rolled her eyes with a wry smile, before Luna added: "And the swearing is for fun."
With that, she turned and hurried out of the den and out into the labyrinthine corridors of the castle. As brave a face as she put on, though, she could already feel her resolve waning.
Oh, who was she kidding? Tonight was a terrible night for this! What idiocy had possessed her to decide to go out and present herself to the ponies – so many of whom still hated and feared her – on the very night celebrating the monster she had become?
The usual idiocy, she supposed. Bravado, ego, and her big dumb mouth speaking before her brain realized what it was saying.
She was still uncomfortable in the castle halls, let alone some new place, where she would be alone and without the protection of her big sister. A place she might as well have never been, since her only memories of Ponyville were fuzzy and indistinct ones, while she had still been dazed after...
No. No, she didn't want to remember that.
But what was she supposed to think about, then? The fact that ponies still skirted fearfully around her? Or how about the fact her section of the castle was still a dusty, dark mess, with only guttering torches to light it and a few scattered relics of the past to give it any life, apart from the rooms she and her aide kept?
A thousand years of being gone. Part of her wished she had stayed gone.
"Cease, Luna. Idiot." Luna muttered to herself, but it was hard not to descend into dark thoughts. Her anxiety brought out her pessimism, her pessimism brought out her despair: it was hard not to get lost in a vicious cycle of bad thoughts, especially as she entered the more archaic, empty wings of the castle that 'belonged' to her.
But Canterlot, Equestria as a whole, really, were Celestia's. A year in, and she was still the spooky-scary pony no one wanted to deal with, who either clung to Celestia or hid in her room like a filly. She wasn't deaf to them: Equestria didn't need two princesses, especially when one didn't even seem to do anything!
She dropped her head forwards grouchily as she stormed through the dark, empty corridors, but she was distracted by an echoing swear from down the hall. That, at least, brought her a little comfort, and maybe the smallest of smiles as she headed towards the noise.
She heard the clunk of things being moved around, another grumbled curse, and a few moments later, she reached an ajar door. She poked her head through, and her eyes locked on some of the few new things – and more importantly, the new someone – in these otherwise hollow halls.
A stallion was mumbling to himself: he was an absolute mess of an earth pony, with an unevenly-cut white mane that fell around his shoulders and a charcoal black coat. His hoof was mashed attractively into his cheek and driving one side of his glasses into the bridge of his muzzle as he chewed on the end of a worn quill, two inkpots – and more tellingly, the half-cleaned puddle of black on the concrete floor – making it clear he'd clumsily dropped one while trying to bring it back from storage to keep working.
Her aide. Her confidante. Her friend, Scrivener Blooms.
He complimented her, probably even better than Celestia thought he would: he could be obnoxious and rude, and he liked to lord his position of court poet and aide to Luna over the rest of the court and nobles, but he was what she needed.
Someone who stayed up all night with her and slept during the day. Someone who stood up to her, and was willing to explain things to her the way she sometimes needed them to be. Someone who never ran away, no matter how much she yelled or tantrumed or stomped her hooves or squeezed him like a stress ball with her magic.
She was difficult to be around, she knew that. And she was still having a lot of trouble with the way ponies of today gave each other so much space and were so much less physical with one another.
Luna slipped into the room, then crept up behind him. It wasn't hard. The court thought Scrivener was a do-nothing idiot, but the truth was he just hated his job and only did the bare minimum for the court. When you gave him a task he actually enjoyed, he was diligent and focused.
Slowly, she leaned forward until her mane was tickling his back and her muzzle pushing over his shoulder, and Scrivener's face puckered and soured as his brown eyes slid towards her as she asked: "What are thou composing, bard?"
"I'm a poet, not a bard." Scrivener retorted, shouldering her backwards as she laughed, and then he sighed as he adjusted his glasses and scooted around on his stool, asking: "I thought you were going out tonight. You know, for another royal address fiasco."
"'Twas not a fiasco! I was not aware of the mike-ah-row-phone and what it did!" argued Luna with a slight blush, and then she bopped him with her horn, making the stallion wince. "But yes. I am going to Ponyville. I shall greet the townsponies and make merry with them."
"Say hi to Twilight Sparkle for me when you get the chance." Scrivener said, pausing for a moment before adding: "Make sure you make it really clear I'm your second in command. Your right hoof. Your uh..."
"What thou art is a beetle" She bopped him again with a snort of amusement, making him wince and rub at his head. "She is Celestia's student, is she not? How fitting, we both have foals under our watch!"
"You're under my watch more than I'm under yours." Scrivener pointed out, and Luna huffed at him even as she blushed a bit: it was true, though. She couldn't deny that. "Anyway, you go and... try to relax, okay? Just be yourself. You're an amazing mare, Luna, when you're just yourself."
"I am always mine own self." Luna retorted stoically. She knew precisely what the stallion meant, and it meant a lot to her, but... it was hard to weigh that against the anxieties, the doubts, and the fears she had. "'Tis easy for thou, but I am... I am a Princess, Scrivy. I am..."
Scrivener smiled at her, then he reached up and gently touched her shoulder. She liked that. Not a lot of ponies would make contact of any kind with her, like she was some kind of... scary blue cactus. "And even Celestia lets down her mane now and then. You can do the same."
Luna mumbled, but then nodded after a moment before she glanced back at her cutie mark: the moon, in a splotch of black that covered her whole rump. "'Tis hard. I bear an emblem like any other pony, but to them, 'tis the mark of wickedness, not just a 'special talent.'"
"I like your words for stuff." Scrivener said, almost abruptly. That was another thing she liked about Scrivy. His inability to stop himself from commenting on things, and with her passionate and mercurial moods, it often helped defuse or distract the situation. She liked that a lot. "And hey, you're the one who said poets are the worst of all monsters, and look at me."
She did. At his smile, his dark chestnut eyes, and then down to his cutie mark: a raven feather quill above a rose blossom.
He said his poetry was awful, but she really liked it. It was sad and sweet and real; there was tragedy in it, and because of that, it made the moments of joy he created in his prose feel much more alive and worthwhile.
Ponies didn't like him or his love-language of poetry very much. He'd half-joked with her that he thought he'd be one of those ponies with a cutie mark who never do anything with it. She wished she knew more about him, the pony she'd spent six months with, teaching her the ways of the world and helping her with her daily – nightly, rather – tasks, but...
"You're gonna do great, Luna." he encouraged.
"Oh shut up, Scrivener Blooms, I am not a foal." She did appreciate it, though, and she knew he knew she appreciated it in spite of the cross look on her face.
She wanted to say something, but didn't quite know what. So instead, she just nodded to him lamely, then turned and zipped out the door, and Scrivener smiled wryly as he shook his head before returning to his work.
But now he'd lost his focus, and instead his eyes drifted up to take in the rest of the room. This... cold, stone room. No decorations, really. A massive mattress and all sorts of pillows and blankets. A shelf of dusty knickknacks: Scrivener thought some of them were a thousand years old, maybe more.
He didn't think it was only Luna who was having trouble moving on, looking at those preserved artifacts that Celestia had set out here. In this concrete, almost monk-like cell with the big barred window: for their protection, of course, another artifact from when Canterlot had seen invasions and battle, but these days it felt like they were meant to keep them in, rather than out.
Made it really hard to fix the cracks in the drafty window, too, and no one had bothered to do that yet. Celestia knew about it, but hadn't sent anyone.
Probably because the windows were a thousand years old, too. Like the stone and floor and everything else, except his writing desk, his scribing tools, and of course, him.
Nothing else, changed.
A thousand years, but it hadn't been in stasis, everything here had been rotting, until there was nothing left but dust, and implacable stone.
Everything had to change, he supposed.
He liked Luna a lot, though. It had taken a while, and their relationship had been difficult at first. Luna had a lot of anxiety and nervousness. Yes, she was a winged unicorn who could probably kill him with a look if she actually wanted to. But that was exactly it: that was what she was afraid of being perceived as, a monster, and it made her nervy and fidgety.
But the more he had relaxed with her – and the ruder he'd been, ironically – the more she'd opened up and revealed who she was.
She never seemed like a royal or a noble to him, not like Celestia, untouchable and immaculate. She was... she was earthy, loud, had zero concept of personal space. She was very bad at being a princess, which he thought was actually a wonderful thing for a pony to be.
She put on a character, a mask, though, and that was what worried him. That, and her mood swings, even more than her temper. She could be a blaze of fury one moment and then calm as could be the next: he didn't think that was from being out of touch for so long with other ponies, he thought that was just the way she was.
It kept things interesting, though, he reflected, as he shoved his poem aside for now to instead focus on setting up an agenda for the week ahead. After that he'd neaten and clean up the room here some more: it was really supposed to be the work of the castle maids and cleaners, but the cleaning staff always made the excuse it was difficult with the hours Scrivener and Luna kept for them to come and fix up the rooms.
Yeah. That was definitely it.
But honestly, he'd prefer scrubbing up the messes he and Princess Luna made over writing poems for the Royal Court any day.
Things had not gone totally according to Luna's half-cocked plan.
However.
With the help of Twilight Sparkle, she had ultimately made a good impression on Ponyville. A better one than if she had just continued to rampage around not listening to anyone's advice and giving in to her own bad ideas, which was something she would never ever confess to either Scrivener Blooms or even worse, her big sister Celestia.
She barged into her room, only to stumble to a halt and peer at the surprise waiting there for her: not Scrivener Blooms, as she basically regarded him as a furnishing at this point, but rather her big sister, who asked a little too eagerly: "How did it go?"
Luna pursed her lips, then noted: "My return was not announced, sister..."
Celestia cleared her throat and glanced awkwardly away, and Luna huffed loudly: "Thou spy!"
"I just wanted to check in on you, that's all." Celestia answered quickly, although her blush deepened a little as Luna's face soured. "I had faith in you, sister, I just-"
"Wretched!" Luna stomped a hoof childishly, then snorted and blew back her mane before she proudly rose her head and said: "But then thou hast seen for thyself I am fine!"
"I only checked in every so often, so I could have some idea when you were coming home and... to make sure you were okay, yes." Celestia admitted, and Luna huffed at her before she said: "You seem like you had some small troubles at first but... I see that you also did a good job overcoming your... shall we say, foibles."
"Foibles. Fie on thee." But Luna grudgingly nodded. Drat. Of course she couldn't keep a single thing from her damnable all-seeing sibling. "Aye, Celestia. I suppose 'twas all planned by thee from the start, wasn't it? But... 'twas good for me. I learned much."
She stopped, then admitted: "Perhaps I should consider... more ventures out in the future. Although I would prefer to do so with company at my side."
She smiled a little at Scrivener, and Scrivener nodded to her before Princess Celestia suggested: "You could visit Twilight Sparkle-"
Scrivener snorted, then blushed when both princesses looked at him, saying lamely: "Oh, uh. Allergies?"
Celestia sighed as Luna grinned widely, before the Princess of the Sun noted: "Your rivalry with Twilight Sparkle is endearing, Scrivener, but I do wish you two would get along a bit better. You're very similar to one-another."
"In the way a raven is similar to a writing desk, perhaps." Scrivener said wryly.
Luna felt the strangest sense of deja vu. Had she heard that somewhere before?
But there was no time to think about it any further as Scrivener continued: "She's smart, and even worse, clever, and too nice for her own good. I'm more like-"
"A beetle." Luna interjected with a grin. "A wretched nasty little thorny beetle."
Scrivener rolled his eyes, and Celestia smiled slightly before she noted: "You could do with getting to know her better. You might find you have more in common than you think."
"I know her far too well as it is, Princess, thank you." Scrivener paused, then he glanced at Luna and asked: "So uh, did you tell her about me?"
Luna snorted in amusement, and Princess Celestia shook her head. "Well, Luna, as much as I want to hear more about your night in Ponyville, I have to get ready to raise the sun and begin my day, and you need your rest."
She stepped forwards, and Luna acted grumpy, but was secretly glad to share an embrace with her, hugging her tightly back before she huffed like a child when Celestia kissed her forehead before pulling away.
Scrivener and Celestia shared a nod before she left, and there was a moment of pause before Luna complained: "Methinks Celestia forgets she is not my mother."
"'I don't think' Celestia 'remembers she's' not my mother." Scrivener corrected, then he squawked when Luna punched him in the shoulder. "Hey!"
"Oh shut up, poet, I am speaking very goodly." Luna retorted, and Scrivener sighed before the mare continued, as she absently flicked her horn to slam the heavy, blackout curtains shut across the old windows: "Aye, perhaps I am still much like a foal and require sleep like thou... silly mortal ponies and all thy frimpering mortality-"
"Frimpering isn't even a real word."
"But!" Luna glared at him. "Thou can spend a few more moments with me whilst I regale thee with mine adventures! Even if thou probably also spied upon me from Celestia's scrying glass. Wretches."
"My favorite part was when you screamed 'how many points do I receive?' after you turned all the toys into actual spiders." Scrivener informed, and Luna's eyes narrowed to slits, although the stallion couldn't help but further poke: "Thou wert seized in a bout of moon-madness, 'tweren't thou?"
Luna snorted at him, and Scrivener grinned even as he swayed away to avoid a swing of her horn, noting: "What can I say, you're more fun to tease than the nobles or even Celestia. The nobles just bribe guards to beat me up and I'm afraid of what Celestia would do to me if she actually got angry."
"Cut off thy head or set thee on fire, but both may be improvements, sordid Scrivener Blooms." Luna snapped back, before she suddenly bared her teeth in a grin, and Scrivener winced as her horn glowed: "Ah, but thou likes spiders, does thou?"
A jolt from her horn blasted her mattress, which shook violently before sprouting eight enormous legs and a series of staring pillow eyes, all of which locked on a horrified Scrivener Blooms before it skittered over to him and jumped on him before he had a chance to react. It chomped on him, but thankfully its pillow teeth were ineffective as it crushed him into the floor.
Luna laughed loudly, then exclaimed: "Ah, I do so love these 'pranks!' They are quite splendid, Scrivy, 'tis a delight to know that from now on I should attempt to frighten and mock the ponies to make them love me rather than meet them with regal splendor!"
"That's not how it works!" Scrivener squawked as he shoved wildly back at the mattress-spider squishing down on him, but he could at least feel it already losing some of its animation even as it pinned him down. "O-Okay! Fine, you win, you win!"
"Always." Luna said loftily, and she dismissed the life that remained in the spell, even as she felt a pang. Her magic was still so much weaker than it had once been. Once upon a time, she could have polymorphed this entire bed with ease, among other feats of magic... now...
But then she was distracted by the sight of Scrivener Blooms slowly crawling out from under the bed and glowering at her from beneath his crooked glasses and disheveled mane, and she couldn't help but smile and laugh before she swept him up with magic and sat him firmly down on the edge of the bed, not caring in the slightest that it was just askew in the middle of the floor of her empty chamber.
"Does thou think I should prank Celestia next?" Luna asked curiously, as she absently adjusted Scrivy's glasses and smoothed out his mane with magic, even as he fidgeted and grumbled. "Oh, stop being a foal."
"But mom." Scrivener grumbled, and Luna huffed and bopped him with her horn, making him wince. "Ouch, okay okay. And no. That's a bad idea."
"Shush." Luna hopped around the room in a circle, and Scrivener hated how... infectious her joy was, sighing and smiling despite himself before he scowled when she continued: "Whilst I think on this, thou must take a letter. I have had another grand idea, we shall invite Twilight Sparkle to visit!"
"Ugh." Scrivener made a disgusted noise. "Gross."
"Thou art gross." Luna paused, then cleared her throat, but she didn't get a chance to even start before Scrivener cleared his own as he pointedly got up and walked over to the table, and the sapphire mare huffed at him even as she blushed. "Well, thou... thou should have been ready!"
"We don't all have magic, Princess Luna, I can't polymorph my desk to follow me around. And please don't do that, either." Scrivener added quickly, and Luna sulked. "But you know that Twilight's gone from little miss nerd to little miss popular. I hear she and her friends go everywhere together."
Luna hesitated for a moment, then said: "Then invite them as well, Scrivy. It should be fine."
Scrivener grumbled as he nodded and picked up his quill, shuffling out a blank parchment, and Luna paused as she studied him and his reaction before softening as she felt... absurdly touched at what she realized he was feeling. Maybe not the best reaction, but... "Scrivy."
Scrivener glanced over his shoulder at her as she approached, then blushed when she reached up and touched his shoulder gently, saying in a softer voice: "Thou art my friend. There is no need to be jealous now, thou art... irreplaceable. My right hoof, correct?"
Scrivener blushed, but smiled at her warmly before he cleared his throat and asked lamely: "So uh, yeah, uh... do you want me to write this or-"
"I shall dictate!" Luna declared cheerfully, almost slapping him in the side of the head, and then she cleared her throat loudly before announcing: "To Twilight Sparkle, Servant of the Sun, Student of Princess Celestia, I hereby beseech-"
"'Dear Twilight Sparkle, acting on behalf of Princess Luna and with Her full authority, I, Scrivener Blooms, request your presence in Canterlot at the earliest convenience, whether alone or in company of your friends. Sincerely, Regent to Princess Luna, Scrivener Blooms.'" Scrivener read off as he finished signing the letter with a flourish, and Luna favored him with a look that was both exasperated and amused.
"Idiot." she announced, before she added in a grumble: "But 'tis fine, and I know 'tis useless to beseech thee not to vex Twilight. However, Scrivy, if thou ruins the visit, know that I shall come down upon thee with the full weight of the moon."
"So you'll sit on me?" Scrivener couldn't stop himself from saying, and the two stared at each other for a few moments before Luna thwacked him with her horn, making him squawk. "Okay, okay, okay! I promise!"
"Good." Luna huffed grumpily, and then she glanced around before calling: "Samael? Sammy, lazy little beast, I require thy competence!"
"Gee, thanks, Luna." Scrivener grumbled, before he hesitated a moment and then said awkwardly: "Thank you."
"Shush. Thou does not need to thank me, idiot. I... I am sorry I could not do more." Luna answered after a moment, shaking her head quickly.
Then the attention of both ponies was drawn by a loud chirp, and they both looked at the tiny little creature that skittered out from beneath the boxspring. It was a pseudodragon, a lizard-sized draconic familiar, although this one was nothing but a skeleton, with blue flames for eyes.
Scrivener reached out and pet him, stroking along his polished skull, and Luna gazed silently at her friend, and his little companion. A rare magical creature, he had apparently imprinted on Scrivener Blooms during a night visit to the Magic Academy's zoological wing after hatching, and Scrivy had more or less stolen him.
Luna admired it, though, and even if she couldn't say so in front of Celestia, she agreed that it was better a pseudodragon went to someone who was actually going to give a damn about it instead of some noble who was only going to make it an unhappy trophy until he got bored of it.
He had taken him everywhere. But on one very bad day when Scrivener had been going to present a new anthem for the Magic Academy, a misfired spell had struck poor Sammy and killed him.
That had been going through Luna's mind while she had been trying to remember her powers, and she had just kept getting distracted. Distracted by Celestia's bad attempts at encouragement that came off as patronizing, distracted by Scrivener's brooding mood that evening, distracted by the way magic was so hard to focus and work, in a way it hadn't been even when she had first started on her journey with Celestia and Sleipnir.
Magic was power, and power had a will of its own and a way of slipping its leash when you didn't have the focus to control it. That was what had happened when she had finally lost her temper and snapped her horn out, only meaning to try and shove her excess energy out the same way you would unclog a blocked pipe.
But that raw force had taken on a desire of its own, striking something out in the middle of the field where they had been practicing. Celestia had started to scold her before the earth had humped up and something had crawled out, something that had rushed towards them, and thank the Horses of Heaven both she and Celestia had been too surprised and confused to react before that tiny little skeleton had smacked into Scrivener's face.
Scrivener had been so confused. Happy, sad, upset.
Celestia had been so angry. No, more than that; furious.
They were opposites in a lot more than just how Celestia was a creature of the sun and the day, and she was a phantom of the night. Their personalities, their magic, their belief systems. To Luna, this was a shock but a welcome surprise considering how many different effects her dark magic could have had, and the fact that Scrivener had ended up appreciating what she'd done so much made it a happy accident.
To Celestia, it was blasphemy, abuse of her powers, even if unintentional. It went against the all-important balance of things and it defied the cycle of life and death. But Celestia forgot sometimes that for such a soul to rise so full and intact, it meant that this sad little pseudodragon's spirit had never moved on, and his death couldn't have been called anything but a cruel accident anyway.
Ghosts weren't evil. Just as ponies weren't inherently good.
Scrivener glanced over at Luna, asking: "You want him to send the letter now?"
"Please do." she answered, and then she smiled when Scrivener rolled up the parchment and applied her royal seal neatly before he flicked it into the air, and Sammy chirped before a breath of blue flames washed across the paper and transformed it into a mist of magic that popped out of existence a moment later.
She wondered wryly sometimes if Celestia had only agreed to allow Samael to live just because Luna had pointed out it would be an easy way for her to send and receive letters, while her magic was still... recovering.
"Does thou recall when I asked Celestia if I could resume my old post?" Luna asked, and Scrivener snorted in entertainment.
"All of Canterlot remembers that. You and Celestia aren't very subtle about your arguments."
The pseudodragon chirped in agreement as he crawled quickly up to Scrivener's shoulder, then perched on his head, and the stallion chuckled as he glanced up at him before he started to open his mouth, then winced when Luna shoved her hoof into his face. "Say it not, poet. Thou art an idiot. 'Twas a happy accident, that is all, and I am only happy that... it did not sour things betwixt us."
"It was." Scrivener paused. "Between."
"Thou art stupid and thy lessons terrible and this modern tongue is chaos." Luna groused, and Sammy chirped in agreement before the mare suddenly brightened and clapped her hooves together. "Ah! Chaos! Genius!"
Scrivener started to open his mouth, and then he stared as Luna flicked her horn as she stepped back, her body glowing with magic as it morphed and transformed before she spread mismatched arms with a one-fanged grin, Luna's voice crowing from the spirit of chaos' jaws: "Discord! 'Tis perfect, 'twill be precisely what she shan't expect, and yet possible enough to startle even her!"
"Uh, Luna-" Before Scrivener Blooms could point out that levels of 'success' could include a second Discord statue being set out in the Gardens, Luna simply popped out of existence in a blue flash, and the stallion sighed tiredly as he glanced up at Sammy, who kneaded his poll anxiously. "Hey, don't worry, Sammy. Even if we get exiled from Canterlot, you uh. Don't have to worry about eating or anything."
Sammy grumbled at him and clawed at his head, and Scrivener huffed before reaching up and carefully extracting the skeletal pseudodragon He looked for a moment at this tiny undead terror, and then he smiled wryly before saying finally: "You're lucky you're so cute. Get out of here, go get some sleep. Don't worry about waking us up if Twilight Sparkle sends a reply, she can wait."
The tiny creature chirped at him, then fidgeted his way out of Scrivy's hooves before he skittered over to the doorway. The earth pony turned his attention towards his writing desk, finishing the neatening he had started while Luna had been gone and checking her agenda for the week ahead: apart from their lessons on language and the modern world, however, there wasn't a whole lot they would have to plan around, unless Celestia gave them something else to do, and that wasn't very likely.
He was just finishing forcing the mattress back onto the boxspring when Luna came in, sulking and dragging her hooves as she slammed the door behind her. She bulled past Scrivener Blooms and flopped onto the bed, Scrivy wincing as blankets and pillows flew everywhere as she thumped face-first down into the mattress.
She mumbled for a few moments, and then she rose her head and complained: "Scrivy, 'tis ridiculous. How did Celestia know 'twas I?"
"I think Celestia knows everything, Luna." Scrivener answered, before he shook his head and said gently: "Just try and get some sleep. At least she didn't set you on fire, right?"
"Bah! Would have been less disappointing!" Luna huffed, before she paused and peered over her shoulder at him as the stallion headed towards the door. The stallion winced as he felt something catch his tail, holding him in place as she said pointedly: "And where does thou think thou art going? I have yet to dismiss thee, bard!"
"I'm not a bard." Scrivener said grumpily, then he winced when he was floated into the air, flailing uselessly for a moment in the grip of her magic before he sighed tiredly as he was hauled over to the bed, then winced as he thunked down onto the mattress before Luna leapt onto his back and almost painfully pinned him on his belly as he squawked. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Thou should be grateful! Look at me, a gracious princess, being so kind as to attend to a lowly scribe like thou art!" Luna declared as she firmly dragged her hooves up and down his spine, Scrivy wheezing as his eyes bulged with pain. "I had a few moments to discuss what the squishy ponies of today's day and age enjoy with several ponies, and this 'massage' came up. I am very good at it."
"Oh yeah, just... the best." Scrivener wheezed in pain as her hoof shoved into his spine and made him feel like he was going to break in half. "Did they discuss the part where you leave a pony's skin intact?"
"Oh shush!" Luna smacked him, then she shoved her hooves down on his shoulders, and they both winced at the sound of his bones groaning. "Although. Perhaps I forget how soft and squishy the ponies of the modern age are."
Scrivener mumbled disconsolately, but as her hooves became gentler, he couldn't help but actually find himself starting to relax. After only a few minutes, he was half-dozing, mumbling something about how he should really go to bed...
But Luna found herself relaxing as well, softening and smiling down at her loyal aide and friend as she worked her hooves tenderly along his shoulders and back. She had spent the whole night out, learning and enjoying herself, and he had gone above and beyond with his cleaning and care and scheduling all week.
And she liked contact. She was a physical horse in a world where physical ponies were rarer. She was loud and obnoxious but when she really spoke she often liked to do it through her actions and contact and that was very hard, when ponies were so different now than they were a thousand years ago, and she was supposed to be some aloof Princess of the Night.
It was getting late, though. Or early, maybe, that was a better way of putting it, as she yawned and shifted. Without really thinking, she let herself start to settle down. Maybe she'd close her eyes for just a moment: it had been such a full night, and she could see the sunlight starting to press against the curtains, lighting up the patterns of stars and constellations across their face, creating a haze of patterns and shapes across the room...
She was asleep before she realized it, her aide snoozing beneath her, like a pair of foals who had stayed up too late at a slumber party. Standing silent in the doorway, Celestia studied the pair with a faint smile for a few moments before she closed her eyes and slipped backwards, closing the door as quietly and stealthily as she'd appeared.
"Good for you, little sister. You have a long way to go, and a lot to learn still about the new world... but I love you, and I'm so proud of you." Celestia smiled faintly as she shifted back, staring at the door, wishing she could just... say all these things to Luna's face, that she could tell her how sorry she was for everything that she'd done, both in the distant past, and the here and now.
One day, though, she promised she would, as she turned and headed back to her bright and beautiful kingdom and out of these empty halls still stained with so much sadness, as she murmured a quiet promise to herself: "But I will. I'll tell you everything, and trust in you to find your way to where you want to be, and that you'll find the friends and ponies who will help take you there. Sleep, little sister...
"One day soon, we'll find the answers to all these questions, together."