Chapter Two: A New Moon Rises
~BlackRoseRaven
Her bed felt very cozy, and she didn't want to get up in the evening. She smacked her lips, still half-dozing, forehooves idly kneading something squishy and pliant under them as she shifted her weight on top of something warm and solid...
"You're a lot heavier than you look." muttered a voice, and Luna winced and leapt up to her hooves, staring down at Scrivener Blooms, who was a rumpled, crushed mess on the bed, a clear red hoofprint on his face.
She cleared her throat loudly, then said finally: "Scrivener Blooms, thou art in my bed, 'tis improper. Either relocate thyself immediately, or prepare to become tribute."
"Yuck." Scrivener said, and Luna huffed at him before he awkwardly wiggled to the side of the bed and half-fell off with a thump, adding: "You were the one who fell asleep, by the way. You were too cute to wake up. And too dangerous, like a bear."
"I shall show thee a bear." Luna grumbled, glowering at him as her horn glowed threateningly, and Scrivener held up his hooves awkwardly in surrender.
"You win, you win. Do you want to go get breakfast, or do you want me to bring it to you here?" Scrivener asked, and Luna smiled in amusement at the stallion, shaking her head as she strode past him to flick her horn and open the curtains. "Uh, princess?"
"Thou art so casual." She said it with clear affection, as her eyes gazed out into the sky, and Scrivener smiled despite himself as he studied her, so radiant in the sunset, the fading evening light painting her beautifully.
Her eyes turned towards him curiously, and he cleared his throat before shrugging and saying lamely: "Well, you've seen how I am with authority. Bad."
"Terrible, even. 'Tis lucky thou art Court Poet, 'tis close enough to the role of jester thou can speak truths and mockeries to the barons and not have thine head chopped off." Luna noted, and Scrivener huffed at her before she asked curiously: "What about before thou wert court poet?"
"Well, then I was getting my head cut off all the time." Scrivener said blandly, and Luna snorted in entertainment, but her eyes remained sharp and curious as she watched his reaction.
He never talked much about his past. She wasn't blind to that, or how he sidestepped things. One of Scrivener's favorite sayings was that all writers were just liars and manipulators, and while some of that was clearly self-abasement, she thought she understood a little more every day what he really meant by that.
He was saved her probing him for any further answers by the sound of scrabbling at the door, and Luna smiled as she flicked her horn, allowing Sammy to enter the room. The little pseudodragon bounced inside, then hopped around in an excited circle, the letter shuffling around in his ribcage making the winged unicorn brighten. "Ah! That must be a response from Twilight Sparkle!"
"Wow. How nice." Scrivener said drolly, and then he huffed when Sammy nipped at his ankle, flicking at him with a hoof. "Go away."
"Oh, stop that, Scrivy!" Luna absently picked him up with her magic, making him wheeze as he flailed uselessly at the air, then simply dropped limp, sulking before wincing when Samael projectile-vomited the letter into his face. Luna caught this easily with telekinesis as well, grinning despite herself as she opened the scroll and smacked it into the stallion's features, and Scrivy sighed from behind the parchment before it peeled off him and floated back to a respectable distance, as the mare asked impatiently: "Well?"
"You are a big bully." Scrivener said, and Luna huffed before the stallion sighed dramatically, then read in a monotone: "'Dear Princess Luna, I would love to come visit Canterlot and get to know you better, and my friends are just as excited for the trip! How does the day after tomorrow sound? Yours faithfully, Twilight Sparkle.' She just ignored me completely, what the heck."
Luna snorted in amusement as she dropped Scrivener on his hooves and swept the letter close, peering over it. Written language was very difficult for her to read still: letters and conventions were so different from her day and age, as everything had shifted with more focus to prescriptive linguistics as Scrivener had once tried to explain to her, to absolutely no avail.
She liked to look at the words, though. Words could be pretty things.
"So you got permission from Celestia, right?" Scrivener asked pointedly, and Luna huffed loudly as she peeked past the paper at him, glowering.
"'Tis my castle as well, poet. I shall do as I please!" she declared with a wrinkle of her snout, and Scrivener only cocked an eyebrow at her before she mumbled: "Aye, yes, fine, Mother Celestia approves and lodgings have likely already been readied for them. She suggested it herself, as matter of fact, and now makes me feel like this is some foal's play date!"
"Perfect for you, then." Scrivener noted, and he barely reacted when Luna rolled up the letter and whacked him with it between the ears.
"Shut up, Scrivener Blooms. Wretched poet. Wretched Celestia, insulting me by not being afraid of my Discord imitation, and then instead making suggestions at making friends to play with!" Luna stomped her front hooves with a grumble, and then she flung the letter away. "Scrivener, to thy post. Before this young night bleeds too late, we shall draft a response. We shall call our beloved Twilight Sparkle into the cradle of our darkness and... and..."
Luna swayed, almost dizzily, as her hooves shifted against the ground and she heard encouraging whispers from the shadows all around her, before she shivered and shook the sensation off, biting her hard enough to taste blood.
She looked up and saw Scrivener Blooms looking at her with concern, and she gave an awkward smile to him as she murmured: "Nay, 'tis nothing, just... a temporary loss of balance, that is all."
Scrivener softened, then he nodded before he teased her gently: "Don't worry, thinking too much about Twilight Sparkle makes me feel sick, too."
Luna laughed, and smiled, and looked up at him with gratitude. These moments were few and far-between now, at least, like the symptoms of a disease that had mostly been suppressed...
No, thinking about it would make it worse. And Scrivener was already at his desk, waiting attentively for her dictation.
"Stupid hooves." he muttered, as he fumbled his way through the process. She liked watching the way he worked, though, how he used that minor magic all ponies had to grasp and touch and mold around their otherwise-hard hooves to pick up the quill, dip it, and then create such beauty on paper...
"And yet what would thou do if thou had been born a unicorn, with how much thou hates them?" Luna questioned with a smile.
She was surprised at the twitch that went through Scrivener. The momentary flash of tight pain that went through his body, which he covered up with a grin over his shoulder at her as he replied: "Well, then I would have been racist in the other direction and turned into Blueblood. And no pony wants that."
Luna started to open her mouth, but the stallion averted his eyes, turned back to his parchment as he noted: "Almost out of ink, too. I'm going to have to refresh the inkwells."
There was that dodge, that nudging to move on. Fie on thee, Scrivener Blooms. "Fixed with but a gesture, Scrivy, give me-"
Scrivener slowly slid between her and his depleted inkwells with a wince, and Luna huffed at him and complained: "Traitor, my sister will not even allow me to raise the moon by myself! How dare thou join her in limiting my magic!"
"And someone here promised not to mess with my stuff after she blew up my last inkwell." Scrivener said pointedly, and she looked lamely away as her horn lost its budding glow. "Your magic is just way too powerful, Luna. Which I know better than you because I'm the one always being smacked with it."
"Ridiculous." Luna complained.
"You're ridiculous. Do you want me to write this, or are you going to dictate?"
"I shall, I shall. I would not like thy obvious affection for Twilight Sparkle to get in the way of such a task." Luna answered with a sniff, and Scrivener rolled his eyes before she gestured easily with a hoof. "Take note!"
Scrivener sighed and thunked his head against the desk, and then he straightened as he dipped his quill into the ink pot, Luna raising her head before she recited imperiously: "Dear Twilight Sparkle, thy swift and gracious response is wholeheartedly appreciated, and I shall look forwards to meeting with thee and thy friends soon. Both I and my sister Celestia look greatly forwards to seeing thee, as does thy dearest love Scrivener Blooms. Thy dearest friend, Princess Luna."
Scrivener muttered under his breath as he scratched at the parchment with the quill, grumbling: "Protector of dreams. More like giver of nightmares."
"There are many nightmares I would be happy to indulge thee in, Scrivy." Luna flicked her horn as it gleamed, and the stallion huffed as he neatly prepared the letter and affixed a royal seal to it before scowling when Luna yanked it out of his hooves. "Samael, 'tis long!"
She flung the letter, and Sammy chased after it cheerfully, leaping up to breathe a blast of blue flame over it and disintegrate it into whirling motes of magic in midair, and Scrivener sighed before saying wryly, even as he absently pet his pet when he marched up proudly: "It's 'go long,' Luna."
"Oh shut up, Scrivy. Thou art fortunate there is no pony whom could replace thee." Luna flicked her starry mane with a sniff, and Scrivener smiled despite himself, trying to hide his faint blush.
"Believe me, I know I am. After all, not only do I get to be your right hoof, I get to lord it over all the nobles of the Court in ways that even you would never approve of."
"Do not tell me what I would and would not approve of. Perhaps I enjoy what a thorn thou art in Canterlot's sides." Luna answered primly, before she headed to the door, asking: "Shall we go to breakfast, then?"
"I can't tell if you're making fun of my cutie mark or not." Scrivener strode up to join her as Sammy scrambled up on top of his head, the stallion adding: "Sure. I should replenish my supply of ink first, then I can meet you there?"
"Oh, uh. Of course." Luna blustered, not really knowing what else to say as she felt a pang of nervousness. It was still early evening, and breakfast for them was often around the same time as dinner was finishing for the normal, diurnal ponies of Canterlot: that meant crowds, in brightly-lit places where there was no place to hide...
Scrivener looked at her as Sammy chirped on his head, and then the stallion gave a brief smile before he turned his eyes ahead as they left the room. He fell into pace beside her as Luna frowned a little, knowing him well enough by now this meant there was something going on in his mind, before he sighed and said finally: "I uh... I didn't mean to be short with you, this evening."
"All thou art is short." Luna couldn't help but say, and Scrivener gave her an amused look, before the mare said in a gentler voice: "Nay, if there is any fault, it lies with me, Scrivy, I did not mean to say anything untoward. We both may laugh, but thou hast always been so considerate not to be cruel to me. I would extend the same courtesy to thee."
"Mentally, not physically. You're very cruel to me physically." Scrivener winked at her, and Luna laughed, before the stallion shook his head and said softly: "Just... old wounds. I... have I ever told you how I got my cutie mark? Or... emblem, rather, as you call it. I like that word for it a lot more."
"Aye, many things have changed over the last thousand years. 'Cutie mark;' my sister did not like how I laughed at that term when I first heard it. Ponies have always been creatures of harmony, but I suppose many have forgotten that we used to cure disorder through force, rather than song and kindness." Luna bit her lip, confessing: "'Tis still strange to me. It is not that I do not recognize the value of love and mercy. But I fear that Celestia did not just suffocate the desire for violence in ponykind, she also suppressed many lessons we had learned only through force and bloodshed..."
"Thanks, Miss Philosophy, way to ruin the moment. Here I was ready to tell you all about my past like you're always prodding at and instead you gotta make it all about you." Scrivener sighed dramatically, and Luna laughed and shook her head before the stallion asked curiously: "Isn't it better to leave war in the past?"
"War, yes." Luna bit her lip, before she looked up at the high ceilings of Canterlot as she continued softly: "But one does not stop war by taking away the sword. Then the pony merely sharpens the stick instead. We are not controlled by our tools, we control them; to forget this is to forget that... we are responsible for what we do."
Luna almost fell into brooding for a moment, and then she shook her head quickly as she looked around at the empty cement halls, remarking wryly: "'Tis a lesson Celestia knew well in the past, and why I still find it difficult to believe she chose to leave our old home behind and instead moved the seat of power here, to Canterlot."
"But you still seem to know this place pretty well." Scrivener said, and Luna nodded with a slight smile.
"Aye, Canterlot has always been grand: 'twas originally the seat of a unicorn baron of particularly pugnacious nature." she answered, as they passed from the dark side of the castle and into the well-lit halls of public-facing Canterlot. A Canterlot with lots of ponies smiling happily out of portraits and tapestries, commemorations of countless centuries... and yet all of them still 'new' to Luna.
Scrivener knew it had to hurt, no matter what Luna told herself. She had been a creature of myth, a pony who had not just been forgotten, but never existed except in the deepest annals and lore, and even then, it had been half-truths buried beneath the damnatio memoriae of Nightmare Moon. He knew that he should say something, but what did you say to that?
Luna was getting that look on her face, though, and he smiled a bit before he said abruptly: "I'm from North Neigh. Did you ever travel that far north?"
"North Neigh?" Luna cocked her head towards him curiously, her ears lifting, attention immediately on him. "Is that past the snow belt?"
"Near Silver Hoof? Uh... the Gray Mountains?" he tried, and Luna brightened immediately.
Neither of them paid any attention to the world around them as they walked through the brightly-lit halls: ponies looked at them nervously, and stayed out of their way, but no longer were either of them thinking about the looks they were getting, or where they did or did not belong. As a matter of fact, Scrivener would have strongly welcomed the distraction as his eyes shifted forward, not knowing what to say as he nodded a little before finally just... trying to talk. Trying to... trust, because this mare had trusted him.
"My um... my uh, my family, they were merchants. My... my father, he had a small gardening shop and he was responsible for a section of the underground, where they grew flowers and food. My mother... she worked for the local council and managed the formal balls and meetings, things like that. Unicorn aristocracy."
"Unicorn..." Luna looked at Scrivener, and it clicked, and she felt like an idiot.
She stopped dead, and Scrivener didn't look back to face her, as if he was ashamed, his eyes shifting away, but Luna firmly grasped him. Not with her magic, but her own hoof, turning him towards her before she planted a hoof firmly on his forehead as Sammy chirped curiously from above.
She felt it.
She'd always just assumed Scrivener was just a little more clumsy than most, and a little less capable of molding that gentle earth pony magic that allowed them to grip and shift and move things with their hooves so easily. Everypony was different, and some ponies just weren't as good at it as others.
But of course that wasn't it, and that soft spot on his head confirmed her suspicions.
Scrivener Blooms was a unicorn. He was a unicorn who had been born without a horn.
Scrivener looked at her awkwardly, and Luna remembered how he'd flinched before at what she'd said and- "Scrivy, had I known, I never ever would have jested-"
"Oh, please, I get called worse things by the nobles every day and laugh about it. And... it's my fault for not telling you. I'm..." He smiled a little, bringing his eyes up to meet hers as his voice softened: "I'm sorry I didn't trust you enough to tell you."
Luna laughed a little, and then she and Scrivener both winced as they realized there were multiple eyes all stopped to stare at them like they were putting on some kind of play, and Luna blushed as Scrivener winced and the two quickly skittered down the corridor, Scrivener mumbling: "Great, now they're going to gossip about us."
"As if there is nothing they have not said already." Luna grumbled, before she glanced over at him and asked impulsively: "Art thou ashamed?"
Scrivener huffed, but didn't meet her eyes, and Luna smiled a little after a moment before she leaned over and slapped him with one of her wings, murmuring: "Idiot."
"Oh shut up." Scrivener smiled despite himself in return, though, shouldering her gently as they entered the dining hall.
Dinner, at least, was mostly finished: the hall was largely empty, as was their preferred table, secluded off to the side, half in the shadows from the curve of the ceiling. There were only some off-duty guards, a few lazy nobles, some students from the Magic Academy who were debating over food.
They took their seats, and Luna signaled one of the staff, who winced at the sight of them before forcing a big fake smile and hurrying off to get their food. Scrivener snorted in amusement at this, then remarked: "I'll never get tired of that."
"Shut up and tell thy story." Luna almost demanded.
Scrivener gave her a pointed look as Sammy hopped down onto the tabletop, and Luna huffed at him before slapping her forehooves on the table, making Sammy squeak at the vibrations. "Fine, then, stupid... stupidhead! Open thy mouth and let the words fall out."
"That's what you do, Luna." But Scrivener closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded once before he started to talk:
"We all come from the same origin. The strength of ponykind is in unity, and we bring out one-another's best qualities and protect each other's weaknesses when we work together. That's what most of Equestria had been gently led to believe by Princess Celestia.
"The truth, as I'm sure you know, is that there's always been a lot of racial discrimination and segregation of roles. Earth ponies are strong and durable, but what does that matter compared to a pegasus who can fly and manipulate weather, or a unicorn who can use magic to... do whatever they want, really?"
A hint of bitterness crept into his tone. "But the further you get from Canterlot, the more you see the old 'traditions.' Pegasi form not just weather crews, but the backbone of militia forces; unicorns are rulers, nobles, divinely-chosen to be in charge with their natural magic.
"Unicorns on top, earth ponies on the bottom. So for two pureblood unicorns to have an earth pony child, well... Bramblethorn didn't exactly hide the contempt he had for me." There was that smile on his face, that wry tone of voice that he used to hide the pain. "I uh... I mostly taught myself to read. I was only taught the basics by Tia Belle so I could identify what a customer wanted, but from that I was able to learn to read books that I found or stole. I liked reading. And I liked daydreaming. I realized at some point I could write these daydreams down."
He cleared his throat. "Yeah, but... so anyway, one day, a unicorn visits from somewhere to pick up some flowers for his wife. Their anniversary. I dropped my journal while I'd been loading things into his carriage and he picked it up. I'd been experimenting with poetry, and uh..." He smiled a little. "He asked me to write a poem for him, or you know, his wife, rather. Said he'd pay for it and everything.
"So uh, I did." He shrugged. "The stallion, and more importantly, his wife, really liked the stupid little poem I wrote a lot. So much that he ended up offering to pay for me to go down south. Said his brother ran a publishing house and newspaper and was looking for some help. I didn't even realize that I'd gotten my cutie mark before he left. It was a wild time."
Scrivener laughed, and it was a little more honest. "I traveled to Trotronto, where I interned and eventually started publishing poems and short stories, found some work editing for a small magazine. But that's all a story for another day."
Luna grumbled, but then glanced up as two servants approached, placing down covered platters in front of them both. They removed the lids as they bowed away before hurrying off as quickly as they could, leaving the two looking at their large, full plates of ratty hay fries and wrinkled salads. "You know, you ever think about the fact that when we eat in your room, we get gourmet meals, but when we eat out here they always serve us the kitchen leftovers?"
"I would scoff at thee but I have eaten bugs that were better prepared than this." Luna sighed, poking at her salad with her horn before she complained: "Scrivener Blooms, it moved!"
"Well, kill it. Or turn it into a cake with your magic or something." Scrivener said as he bit into a hay fry, and grimaced at the loud crunch it made.
"I am no show-pony, here for thy fun and entertainment!" Luna retorted imperiously, and when Scrivener cocked an eye at her as he offered the rest of the hay fry to Sammy, she mumbled: "And 'tis also very hard. I can change the shape but can do nothing about the taste or value."
Scrivener sighed as he sat back, tossing another hayfry into his mouth as he watched Samael struggle mightily to chew up the chunk he had been given. "Well, at least they feed us outcasts better than the prisoners... uh, no offense."
Luna snorted in amusement, answering: "Oh nay, believe me Scrivy, I was far too blinded by the adoring fans and subjects to notice how I am less than loved by the citizenry of Equestria. 'Tis shocking."
"Do me a favor, and if Celestia ever asks, please tell her you picked up sarcasm from Twilight Sparkle. She'll go easier on her than me, even if that needy little filly-"
"I still think thou art fond of her." Luna remarked through a mouthful of salad, and Scrivener scowled at the mare before she swallowed and added: "We must ensure there is a proper meal prepared for when they visit. I wish to make a good impression upon all of them, I had little chance to do so during Nightmare Night."
She stopped, then shook her head as she looked out through the dining hall, mumbling: "Precious few ponies are willing to take in the beauty of the night. I know that I am accountable and responsible for things that have echoed up through ages past, but it still hurts. The way they look at me; it reminds me that some sins cannot be forgiven, and that I have always been... secondary. I have never been a princess. I never wanted to be a princess. I am the black dark shadow of my sister's glory..."
Scrivener looked at her, with compassion, with kindness, and she looked back at him, biting her lip before asking: "Why is it thou does not fear me? But even more, thou hast given up so much for me, do not think I am blind to it. So many others recoil from me, and even in Ponyville I cannot help but think how I was much like a manticore doing tricks, a carnival freak, a-"
"Okay okay okay, enough brooding, Princess. We both had our moments of self-pity." Scrivener interrupted gently, and Luna glowered at him before wincing as a hayfry bounced off her nose. "Look, that's like... asking a rock why it's not afraid of the sky. Why would I be? Sure, you're loud and you don't know your own strength and you have a bad habit of flinging me around with your magic. But... I like you all the same. And I like spending my time with you."
"Maybe thou just likes arguments, wretched poet." But Luna was smiling back at him. "'Tis truly touching, though."
"I'll touch you." Scrivener mumbled before he could stop himself, and the two ponies looked at each other for a few moments before Luna threw her head back and laughed. A beautiful, loud, ringing laugh that echoed through the hall, as if she didn't care who heard, and Scrivener smiled and maybe blushed the slightest bit as he thought of how beautiful that was to hear, more than music to his ears.
Luna's laughter faded as they smiled at each other, before they both glanced up in surprise as a gentle voice said: "I'm happy to see you so happy, little sister."
"Celestia!" Luna blurted, blushing as she looked up at her sibling lamely, automatically shoving herself up from the table. Scrivener cleared his throat and awkwardly shuffled up to his own hooves after a moment, but Celestia only gently gestured at them to relax.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to speak with you alone, Luna. Princess things." she said with a smile, and Luna grumbled before the ivory mare turned his eyes to the stallion. "Scrivener Blooms, I need you to do some research for me. The Chief Librarian will be able to tell you more."
"Uh, will she?" Scrivener asked awkwardly.
"Yes, Scrivener, although I'll ask you to try and be a little professional with the library staff. This is important research."
Scrivener nodded, hesitating a moment before he noted: "I'm happy to help, but I'm a fiction writer first and foremost, you know. Historical research I find difficult."
"I know. You have all the time you need, and I think you'll find this subject particularly interesting." Celestia answered, before she added: "And I require ponies I trust for this work. You'll be granted access to the restricted sections of both the Royal and Academy libraries for this task."
Scrivener frowned and perked up slightly at this, but Celestia only shook her head, saying: "Something else that should be discussed in private. For now, please go about your task. Luna, if you don't mind?"
Scrivener nodded, standing up and bowing to them both before he headed out of the dining hall, Sammy chirping and following quickly after him. But as he watched Celestia lead Luna to the far end of the dining room and the terrace beyond, he couldn't help but feel a funny sort of misgiving in his gut.
Meanwhile, Luna was scowling at Celestia; scowling in that way that said she was nervous as the double doors leading into the enclosed terrace swung closed behind them. "What is it, Celestia? Usually when thou art being mysterious, it always meant trouble."
"Just give me a moment to gather my thoughts, Luna, please." Celestia strode past the shrubs and the dining tables with overturned chairs on them and the ornamental flower boxes, heading to the railing and sighing quietly as she gazed up at the moon. She studied this for a few long moments as Luna hesitantly joined her, softening even as she felt a worm of worry through her heart.
"I... I love you, Luna. And the strangest thing is that... since you've been back, I've only felt more guilty and more ashamed and more..." Celestia laughed quietly, shaking her head as she glanced at her and murmured: "It was like by exiling you, it put the pain of losing you out of sight and out of mind. And bringing you home brought with it the realization of how badly I hurt you, and how much I betrayed you."
She lowered her head as Luna continued to look up at her, before Celestia surprised her by asking: "Are you happy here? Do... do you want to be here, Luna?"
Luna licked her lips slowly, then answered honestly: "I do not know, Celestia."
Princess Celestia nodded and closed her eyes, and Luna blushed as she lowered her head and mumbled: "But I... I do not blame thee, and I love thee dearly. There was no other prison that could hold me... and thou had every right to kill me. I am... I am haunted by what I did."
Not by the lives she had taken, no. Not by the injuries she had caused. But by her own weakness, her shame, her dishonor. And the fact that she really did love her sister, and the whole time she had been in the monster's shape, her heart had been full of pain even as she laughed and grinned her malice to the world...
"I can't imagine what this is like for you, Luna. And... I know that I've been restrictive. Hard on you, and difficult to work with." Celestia smiled briefly. "I can tell you I do it out of love for you, but what does that matter? A cage is still a cage."
Luna smiled faintly back, and Celestia shook her head as she murmured: "I need you to do something for me. I have a task for you. And your... Scrivener Blooms."
An awkward pause, and Luna frowned up at her sibling before Celestia asked: "You and Scrivener..."
"Eh?" Luna stopped, realized what Celestia was implying as her eyes went wide, and she blushed beet-red before shaking her head furiously, blurting out: "He is just a friend! Idiot! What rumor is this? Am I not allowed to have a friend?"
"Okay, okay, Luna!" Celestia laughed, and she relaxed a little as the slightest of quirks graced her muzzle. "Well, I know you and Sleipnir often used to sleep with your friends, but since I haven't heard any screaming in the middle of the night-"
"I will kill thee." Luna threatened, and the two sisters looked at each other before they both smiled, and laughed, and relaxed a little, and it made everything easier.
"Just don't kill him, Luna, whether he's a friend or lover or just your aide and confidante. I'm glad you're both doing so good together, and I mean that; I've only had half the complaints I usually get from the Royal Court about Scrivener Blooms since he was assigned to you."
"That is disappointing, we shall have to remedy that." Luna meditated.
Celestia sighed, but she was still smiling, and she remained surprisingly relaxed as she looked out at the night sky. Luna put her forelegs across the stone railing in front of her and rested her head on them, gazing quietly outwards as they just stood together for a little while.
Finally, the Princess of the Sun admitted: "I've made mistakes, and not just with you. In pursuit of harmony and peace, I've outlawed much of which used to be used just as much to protect ponies as hurt them in the past, out of fear of what it would mean. Part of me has always been... scheming, cunning, even cruel, valuing the ends over the means, but lies and false faces are no foundation for the kind of nation I desire Equestria to be."
Celestia shook her head slowly, then murmured: "I think something happened, though. That part of me has, after all these years, started to quiet. I think it had something to do with you coming back..." She laughed a little. "Imagine what the ponies would say if they knew that their living goddess Princess Celestia took a thousand years to realize that bad things aren't good!"
Luna gazed up at her, reaching up and touching her sister's shoulder gently, and Celestia looked back down at her, wiping overbright eyes with her foreleg as she murmured: "I miss it too. I wish I didn't have to be a princess. And maybe one day, I won't have to be. But... but I've digressed."
She cleared her throat, then looked out into the night sky again, gazing up at the moon. "Neither of us have any connection to the Elements of Harmony, and they have been passed on to new bearers after a thousand years in stasis. They were able to use them to purify you because they were able to attune to the artifacts better than either of us ever were, and not force them to bend to their will.
"The Elements are powerful. The ponies are strong... not just... 'slovenly,' as I believe you said they seemed." She smiled, though, and Luna grumbled and looked embarrassedly away. "But there are things they cannot handle. Real monsters out there, not just wild beasts or emissaries of chaos. The things in the past we saw in the Gray Mountains would not be stopped by the Elements. Fenrir would not be stopped by the Elements."
Luna grimaced at the name of the Black Wolf that their brother had sacrificed himself to stop, in that terrible place, where both air and reality were thin. "Is there a threat that must be met with force?"
"No, Luna. Nothing like that. Maybe not even anything that would be strong enough to raise hoof against you." Celestia shrugged. "But there is a vast gulf of experience and strength between you and even Twilight Sparkle, in spite of all the faith I have in her. Even if I sent her with a contingent of Royal Guard, sometimes numbers only make us weaker. I worry about her, especially with what happened with Discord."
"Thou should have just let me pummel him rather than imprisoning him again in stone. It would have been kinder." Luna muttered before she could stop himself, and then she winced, expecting to be scolded-
"Yes. You're right."
Luna blinked, then stared up at Celestia, who looked away and bit her lip before she sighed quietly and murmured: "You're right. I want to remedy that mistake too. But I'm not sure how to do it."
"A chisel, perhaps." Luna joked, and Celestia gave her a flat look before the smaller mare said finally: "That is better. I was concerned for a moment this was all some bizarre dream. 'Tis strange not to have thee angry at me."
Celestia sighed tiredly, then she shook her head before continuing: "That's a problem for another day, however. What I need from you now, Luna, is to prepare for a short and secret journey back to our first home. There is a vault there that only you or I can access, and things I need you to retrieve."
"Is that what thou art having Scrivy look up?" Luna asked curiously.
"In part. I am also having him research myths, legends... the kind of thing he's very good at, because he has a great talent for deciphering truth from lies."
"Aye, Scrivener has always said that to be a writer, one must be a good liar." Luna mused, before she frowned and asked: "Why hast thou not simply teleported there and back? 'Twould be easy for thee."
And when Celestia only gave a small smile, Luna understood, nodding slowly as she murmured: "Something is preventing thee."
"That's right. Either the wards have been engaged, or there is a... miasma present. I can't teleport directly to the castle, and the Everfree Forest is too alive to teleport safely into without a clear destination in mind." Celestia affirmed, before she sighed and added in a voice that told Luna how... how tired she was, how hard all of these years had been on her: "I am no longer a champion and warrior. I've gotten rusty, and my strength has faded. I'm not Celestia the Dragon Slayer any longer, only... Princess Celestia."
Bitterness. What a strange thing to hear in Celestia's voice!
Luna smiled faintly, then she shook her head and murmured: "Once upon a time thou wert both, Oh, stupid, wretched Celestia."
"Stupid, wretched Celestia." Celestia agreed, before she turned to hug her sister firmly, and Luna returned the embrace just as fiercely.
"At least thou art not Nightmare Moon. Even now I fear it lingers inside of me, and..."
"That wasn't your fault, Luna. Not entirely, at least: part of it is shared with Ignominious, and part of it is mine. The demon never would have had the means to infect you if only I had listened to you more."
Luna wasn't sure about that: there had always been a darkness in her heart, after all, something for the dark force to manipulate. Something her lost and damned love, Ignominious, had known well and taken advantage of after his own fall from grace.
"They still fear me, Celestia, and it is hard, and... I have these moments when it would be so easy to seize control, and these..." She didn't know what the word was. Desire? Greed? Lust?
"And you don't know where you belong, either. Maybe this will help you find that place." Celestia said quietly, and Luna glanced up at her with surprise and interest. "I... I know I've been smothering you. I haven't done as well by you as I should have. So I want you to use this short journey to find yourself and think about what you truly want. You can take anything and everything you need. And when you come back with your task complete, you can tell me, Luna, where you want to be. What you need from me, and... and I won't stop you."
There was silence as they looked at one-another for a few moments, and then a smile quirked at Luna's lips before she said: "Well, Celestia, first and foremost, of course, I will need a bard."