http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/05/story-merely-mare.html

Merely a Mare Prologue 1
by ~EbonMane

Warnings and Disclaimers:

Characters in this work are property of their respective owners, I do not own any of them, and do not intend to make any sort of profit off of this work.

This is a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfiction.

And now, on with the show:





Merely a Mare, Prologue 1
Envy and Forgiveness






"How can I forgive you? Dear sister, how can you forgive me? It was your envy that turned you into Nightmare Moon, but it was my envy that allowed it to happen. You believed that our children loved my day and shunned your night, but your power, though strong, has always been focused inward, and introspection can teach little about the feelings of others. Your ignorance was a terrible affliction, but my knowledge was a terrible burden, and one that I should not have borne alone.

"All things touched by the sun were known to me, and the sun warms the hearts of ponies. I am able to see what is in my subjects' hearts, during the day, but only on the surface. There is much in the minds of ponies that lies deep beneath the range of my sun-granted magic, hidden depths of loves and fears and needs and desires that I can never see, but enough was known to me that for a long time what I had suited my purposes. There was only one pony in all of Equestria that was fully closed to me, one heart that my gaze could not touch, and it was the heart I most needed to see: yours, little sister.

"My ability was our undoing, Luna. I relied on my knowledge of the emotions of our people; when I needed something from my subjects, in those days, I simply manipulated them into providing it. I knew what to say and when to say it, I treated our children as though they were my tools, and I paid them as little mind as I would a horseshoe. I believed that if they thought to disobey or betray me, that their hearts would betray them first. In those days, I'm sorry to say, I was a tyrant.

"Truth be told, on some days, I fear that I still am.

"And so I was wholly unprepared when the betrayal came from you, the only one I cared even a sliver for, rather than from one of them. The signs were all there; I should have seen you descending into melancholy, noticed your loneliness and despair, felt the vitriol of the envy that raged within your eyes when you looked upon me then. I was blinded by my own light. Any emotion I could not discern through my power was not known to me; empathy was beyond my ken.

"When you became Nightmare Moon and declared your reasons for war against me, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. You thought ponies loved my day over your night? Sister, you were more blind than I was, if that's possible. You thought the attention they paid to me was proof that they loved me over you. No, dear sister, they gave me their adulation and obedience and awe, and though you did not know it, they gave me their resentment and jealousy and fear. They gave so much to me that only one thing was reserved for you: Their love.

"In those days, ponies lived in the day, but they lived for the night. With my power, I saw that when you did not. Every morning, I would know of every pony who opened their eyes and saw the sun and begged the universe itself for just ten more minutes, every pony who resented the light of dawn as a call to resume their work, every pony that woke in the hooves of a lover and knew that my rays were their cue to abandon sweet embrace. At sunrise, I caught the barest echoes of those parts of a pony's heart that only come out to greet the night; their deepest dreams, their darkest desires, their most cherished fantasies, the very essence of their being, these were hidden in the day, from myself, and from the ponies that held them. My sun is for work and school and drudgery, that which is normal. Your stars are for dreams and hopes and lovers, that which is exceptional.

"I could have told you. You would never have become Nightmare Moon, if you had known. But I didn't tell you; I didn't know that you needed to be told. If I had viewed ponies as friends, rather than subjects, I could have seen it all coming.

"I failed you, dear sister."

Celestia closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to look at the moon anymore, to see the mark of her sister's prison. A thousand years had passed since she'd seen Luna, but every time the moon rose, she'd spoken as though her sister was there before her, and spilled forth the depths of her heart. She knew the question her sister would ask her, the next time they were alone with each other, and so she had practiced her response.

At first, they had been words of hatred, resentment, vengeance. She had spoken so that she would never forget her sister's betrayal, so that the flames of hate would rage in her heart, to remind her always of what needed to be done to conquer her sister. But she'd learned since then; she had found the fatal flaw in her vision of the hearts of ponies, and found a better way of learning the true measure of a pony's self.

Friendship. Empathy. Love. After she'd used the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon, Celestia had learned their lessons. Now, she cared for each and every one of her ponies, and that caring brought her an understanding of their hearts that she could not have dreamed of a thousand years before. When the goddess of the sun had finally begun to feel empathy, she had thought back to the actions of her sister, understood where they both had gone wrong, and saw clearly the mistakes that she had made. Celestia had wept at the revelation, and her sorrow had quenched the rage within her.

But the words continued, every night.

Since then, Celestia had spoken words of sorrow, forgiveness, and reconciliation. She spoke so that the pain of memory's lance in her heart would remind her always of what needed to be done to save her sister. On that night, a thousand years after she'd sealed Luna away, the goal was within Celestia's reach. She looked down at the letter that she'd prepared for her most faithful student. After a moment's thought, she spoke again to her absent sister.

"In three days, dear Luna, you will be free, and I know that the bitterness within you will have grown. Once the power born of your envy and resentment are gone, I know that you will only need one thing: a true friend. I can be your friend, if you'll let me, but I cannot strip you of your power. Fortunately, I have found somepony who, if my understanding of what is hidden within her is correct, can.

"If I had relied on my old power, known only the topmost layers of her heart, I would have seen her only as an awkward, bookish introvert. In many ways, she reminds me of you, dear sister. I would have considered her notable only for a better than average talent in magic. I would have been a fool to think such. Through friendship and understanding, after years as her mentor, I've seen the spark deep within her being, a spark that even I lack; she has the potential to be the truest and most dedicated friend a pony could ask for, and the potential to understand and wield the Elements of Harmony to full effect.

"It is unfortunate that I must manipulate her into action; it is essential to my plan that she not know what she needs to do, essential that the friendships she finds are genuine. I know what she will read, I know what she will write, I know how I must respond, and I know what will happen in Ponyville. Isn't it ironic, little sister, that the empathy and understanding that makes me detest my old methods also makes me so much better at them? It hurts to use her this way; it hurts more to know how she will feel when she realizes that she has been used. I only hope that this betrayal of my closest student is worth it; if I can atone for the wrongs I committed against you so long ago, then it just may be.

"If all goes according to plan, Twilight Sparkle will redeem us both.

"I only hope that she can forgive us both as well..."

Merely a Mare, Prologue 2
Solitude




The last rays of sunlight had long since faded when Celestia alit upon the highest balcony of the tallest tower in Canterlot. She rarely came to this particular corner of her castle; some error in design or construction had left it without a door, making it impossible to access without flight. The princess of the day had little use for the deserted balcony, but she suspected that it was the solitude that had attracted its other occupant. Princess Luna stood across from her, back turned, wings tucked at her sides, head raised toward the heavens. If she had noticed Celestia's landing, she gave no sign.

The white alicorn moved to her sister's side, hooves clopping slowly on the rough stone. "Good evening, little sister."

Luna sighed, continuing to gaze up at the heavens as she responded absentmindedly,  "Is it? I do like when the moon is a waxing gibbous. I did my best tonight. I always try my best, but some nights are better than others. Isn't that odd?"

"Sister," Celestia ignored the question, "I haven't seen you at court. You need to come back to the world, learn to live again. You've avoided our subjects so much that I fear your desire for solitude may be consuming you. How long has it been since you've moved from this spot?"

"Since the last full moon, sister. Since the last full moon."

Celestia felt guilt at that; she hadn't realized how time had run away from her. She should have come sooner. Since her sister had returned to Canterlot, they'd spoken only a few times; Luna hadn't taken the revelation of her old knowledge of the hearts and love of their people well. Still, the princess of the sun felt as though if she could just find one crack in her sister's shell of bitterness, she could have the old Luna back, the Luna that had loved to laugh. She attacked the problem from another angle, "Why don't you try some sleep? I found it to be a very pleasing experience, the first time I did it five hundred years ago, or so; I'm no longer surprised that most ponies do it once a day."

The princess of the night looked toward Celestia, raising an eyebrow, "I remember when you would have considered sleep to be beneath you. You've become similar to our subjects in so many ways since you imprisoned me."

Celestia smiled down at her sister, despite the alicorn's hostile words, "Being like the ponies is not a bad thing, dear sister, as you well know. The fact that you ate and drank and traded jests and wit, the fact that you seemed like one of the herd while I stood apart, partaking in none of it, that was one of the things that made the ponies of Equestria love you."

"Well, sister, I'm afraid that my wit is somewhat dulled; I am a thousand years out of practice, after all. I believe my verbal jabs leave bruises where once they cut to the quick," Luna smiled wryly, sadness obvious in her eyes, "Loved, did they? In the past. They used to love. Sister, I was moved by your forgiveness, after all I'd done, but when you told me the truth about how things were... I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you. For keeping it from me then. For telling me now, when it's too late. That love is a thousand years dead."

The white alicorn turned her head away from her sister as tears began to form in her eyes, "I don't blame you, Luna. It took me centuries to find it in my heart to forgive you for what you did as Nightmare Moon. I only hope that you're a wiser being than I am. If you want to love me as you once did, sister, if you want to forgive, then connect with our subjects. It is their forgiveness, their empathy, their friendship, their love, that taught me a better way than plotting vengeance. Centuries ago, when a few ponies found it within themselves to forgive me for the tyranny I inflicted upon them, to be my friends, that was what started to melt the ice in my heart. Frozen things are brittle; they break easily, sister, and the heart is no exception. Think on it. Goodnight." She flapped her wings, soaring away from the balcony; she feared that anything else she said would do more harm than good.

From behind her, Celestia heard a whisper on the wind, "The forgiveness of our subjects..."

Merely a Mare, Chapter 1
Honesty




"Twilight, tell this here madmare what a terrible idea it is to pull that there stunt over Sweet Apple Acres!" Applejack begged the unicorn that had become the voice of reason in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash had just finished explaining her trick again for Twilight's benefit. Applejack didn't understand more than a bit about the pegasus' talk of barometric pressure, humidity, dew point, and all the rest of that Cloudsdale nonsense, but she knew a terrible plan when she heard it. She stood in Twilight's library, surrounded by books, but the earth pony didn't need to read a single one of them to know that lightning and apple trees don't mix.

Rainbow Dash gave a dismissive snort, "Come on, Twilight, I've been up in the clouds for years and I know weather. Applejack doesn't know the first thing about lightning; if I practice at her farm, the weather conditions are perfect most days, so it won't be anything more than a bit of a flash. I'm sure there won't be any fire. Well, no fire I can't put out quickly with a spare cloud."

Applejack was not at all reassured by Dash's statement, and the pegasus' disregard for her livelihood grated on her,  '"Any fire is too much fire! It takes years of hard work to grow an apple tree, Dash, not that you'd know anything about that."

Rainbow Dash was in Applejack's face as quick as wind, shouting, "What? I'm up there every day, busting my flanks to give your trees their sun and rain!"

"Girls," Twilight Sparkle tried to interject.

Applejack studiously ignored the unicorn, preferring to argue, "Busting your flanks when you're not too busy napping most of the day away. I can't get my day's work done in ten seconds flat like you,  Rainbow Dash. Have you ever even seen the sun rise? Or is it always noon when you set to work?"

Twilight's patience seemed to be thinning, "Girls."

The pegasus seemed to be enjoying herself. Grinning, she countered, "I'm the best at what I do, so I can get it done quickly. Some ponies can't handle that sort of thing. You really shouldn't brag about how slowly you work, Applejack. Unless you're asking for help."

Applejack's anger flared at the low blow. "That's it! Hoof-wrasslin'. Now."

Rainbow Dash's smile only grew. "You're on." The two began to look around, searching the library for a suitable surface.

"Girls!" Twilight shouted, her voice amplified by magic. Her friends winced at the painful volume, and turned to look at the unicorn, who had put on her 'no nonsense' face. Applejack sighed; things had just started to get fun. Seeing that the belligerents were paying attention, Twilight Sparkle continued in a normal voice, "I'm going to do some research on this sort of trick. I've seen the Wonderbolts doing it, so I know it's possible. I'll just make sure that it's safe, and then we can all talk about this again. Does that sound good to you two?" The unicorn smiled hopefully.

Applejack made a non-committal noise, but was distracted from her effort to find a way to extend the argument by a knock at the door. The three ponies looked at each other in confusion; the library was open and the door was unlocked. Spike was usually on door duty, but the dragon seemed to have slipped away at some point, presumably to avoid getting caught up in the argument. For a few moments, the door went unanswered. Then, Twilight shrugged; her horn glowed as she magically opened the door. Paying no mind to the customer, she shouted, "We're open, come in!"

It had been a month since the Summer Sun Celebration, but Applejack recognized the newcomer immediately. Midnight blue cloat, light blue mane. Wings. Horn. Applejack barely had a glimpse before she found herself staring at the floor, bowing deeply toward Princesss Luna. It had been instinctive, the same sort of reaction that most ponies experienced when Princess Celestia was nearby. There was something about the alicorns sometimes, some aura of majesty, that could do strange things to ponies caught unaware.

The Earth pony glanced at her friends. Rainbow Dash was grounded, nearly prostrate, and the pegasus looked quite shocked about it. Twilight, apparently accustomed to Celestia's presence, merely stared at Luna. There was a hardness in the unicorn's eyes the like of which Applejack had never seen there before. The apple farmer gathered her resolve and stole a glance at Luna, who merely looked surprised.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" The Princess exclaimed. Something nearly imperceptible changed, and Applejack felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She straightened up, no longer feeling an irresistible desire to worship the dark princess. Applejack had perceived the princess as being something amazing, something literally awe inspiring, but now she just looked like a pony, if a particularly well-formed one that happened to have both wings and a horn. The urgency in the alicorn's voice was replaced by a distant tone as she continued, "That was rude of me. I used to hide that all the time without thinking about it, but I fear that I'm out of practice. I'll remember to keep it away from now on."

"What are you doing here?" Twilight's words had an edge to them that Applejack hadn't thought the mild, bookish mare was capable of.

Rainbow Dash, of course, was capable of far worse, and she cut in before Luna could respond, taking an aggressive step toward the princess, "Yeah! Did you come for revenge? We'll stop you again if we have to! Your night isn't welcome here!"

Luna recoiled as if struck, but regained her composure quickly. "No. I don't want revenge. You were right to stop me when you did; I was misguided. I was wrong to want to bring eternal night to Equestria. Wrong for so many reasons...." The alicorn looked at her feet as she trailed off, sorrow etched upon her face. Applejack couldn't conceive of Princess Celestia ever allowing herself to look as vulnerable as Luna looked at that moment, and the Earth pony found herself feeling almost sorry for the princess. It felt strange to pity one of the rulers of ponykind.

Twilight's voice broke the silence, "True or not, that doesn't exactly answer my question."

"I suppose not," the alicorn sighed, "The reason I came is... well... I wanted to apologize. To apologize and to beg your forgiveness. The forgiveness of all the Elements of Harmony. I want... I want to try to be a friend to all of you."

The three mortal ponies were silent for a moment, trying to process what they'd just heard. Rainbow Dash reacted first: she scoffed, "You tried to kill us. You sicked a manticore on us! A manticore and trees! Well, more the manticore than the trees. Do you know how much a manticore's tail hurts when it whacks you out of the air? You dropped my groundbound friends off a cliff! You made me think... I thought I had to give up...," She trailed off for a moment, her eyes distant for a few seconds before they snapped back into focus, narrowed on the alicorn, "You think you can just walk in here and expect us to forgive you?" The pegasus hovered angrily, forelegs crossed over her chest, a scowl on her face. "I don't forgive so easily. I bet the others agree. We're not omnibenevolent like Celestia."

Applejack and Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash in disbelief. Twilight managed an incredulous, "Dash, where did you learn the word omnibenevolent?"

The pegasus rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, looking sheepish. "Word a day calendar."

"And here I thought I knew ya, Dash," Applejack shook her head, smiling in amusement. She hoped that the word meant what it seemed to mean; she didn't want to ask. Quiet returned to the library for a few heartbeats.

Luna's whisper cut through the silence, "My sister is not all-forgiving. She had her own reasons for welcoming me back to my old place at her side."

Twilight's voice darkened, "Reasons she didn't see fit to share with her most trusted student, of course. They must be some truly amazing reasons, to cause the Princess to make such a tremendous error in judgment, to ignore justice so fully. You escape from your prison and lock Celestia away, threaten to bring eternal night to Equestria, try to kill my friends and I, and what do you get for it? A crown and a throne, and your sister's best efforts to return you to the glory and position you abdicated through betrayal so long ago. Oh, and a welcoming party, of course. We stop you, and save Equestria, and what do we get for it? A small thanks followed by a large cover up. No reward. Nopony outside of Ponyville knows what happened on the night of the Summer Sun Celebration. We aren't even allowed to mention it to ponies that weren't in Ponyville that night. Oh, how we could have put that bragging Trixie in her place.... All because the Princess didn't want your reputation ruined. Like ponies won't figure it out. It doesn't take a teleportation magician to realize that the moon looks a lot different these days, and there's a new alicorn around, and maybe, just maybe, there's something to those old stories. You won't be able to escape from the stigma of what you've done for long. When it all catches up to you, you won't have a place at the Princess's right hoof anymore."

Luna had looked more and more devastated as Twilight ranted, but something in the last bit seemed to catch her attention. Applejack could barely hear the alicorn ask, "Are you... jealous?"

Twilight Sparkle seemed to swell, shaking with rage. She set her teeth, jaw unmoving as she spoke two vicious words, "Get. Out."

Luna looked as though she were about to speak, but thought better of it. The alicorn turned and walked out slowly, shaking her head. Twilight stared out the door after the alicorn for a long time as Applejack tried to think of something to say to the unicorn, some comfort. Before she could even try, Twilight shouted, "Everypony out! The library is closed for the day. Out!" The unicor turned away and began levitating stray books, propelling them into bookshelves with loud thunks. Some of them managed to find their places without knocking everything else on the shelves off. Others were not so successful.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were the only other ponies in the library. They looked at each other, but Dash seemed to be as confused as she was. With a dark look, the pegasus flew out the open door, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake and shouting over her shoulder, "I'm going to warn the others. She's back for revenge, I know it." Applejack wasn't so sure.

The Earth pony walked out, glancing back at Twilight before closing the door behind her. The unicorn still hadn't stopped shaking; Applejack had never seen the librarian in this kind of mood; she seemed inconsolable.

Outside, the noonday sun beat down on what had been a bustling ponyville. Princess Luna sat alone and unmoving in the clearing in front of the library, staring at the ground. Many of the ponies that had been going about their business were now gathered in small groups, whispering in hushed tones and surreptitiously glancing at the newcomer, fear or anger written on their faces. Rainbow Dash was already well out of sight. Applejack sighed. If what Twilight had told her and the other Elements about Luna's past was true, this was just the sort of thing that had led to her becoming Nightmare Moon in the first place. The Earth pony knew that she had to do something. She just wished that she knew exactly what it was.

Applejack approached the princess and dropped to a knee in a bow, and got her attention by stating in a shaky voice, "Princess Luna."

The alicorn turned her head to look at Applejack and gave a shallow smile, "Stand up. My sister was the one fond of ponies bowing to her; I've always found it to be a bit distasteful. I don't recall your name, but I do recall that you were one of the ponies who subdued me in my madness. Honesty, right? Thank you."

Applejack rose slowly to her hooves, somewhat put off by the wandering of Luna's thoughts. She managed to reply, "Yes, Princess, Honesty. My name is Applejack."

The alicorn broke eye contact and looked up, gazing directly into the sun's glare. "Good to see you again, Applejack. Please, call me Luna. Just Luna. I'm glad that the circumstances of our second meeting are somewhat better than those of our first. The ponies here are afraid to approach me, but you are not. You must have a purpose; what is it?"

"Rainbow Dash thinks that yer here to get revenge for what we did to you."

The Princess nodded, "I know."

"Twilight Sparkle seems to hate you, but she didn't at your welcome celebration, and I don't know what changed."

The Princess nodded again, "I do know what has changed for her. Or rather, what changed within her. She has her reasons. Everypony has their reasons, even if the reasons are unreasonable."

Applejack paused. Luna's eyes hadn't left the sun; a normal pony would have been forced to look away in pain long since. The Earth pony supposed that the alicorn must have been used to her sister, or something. She tried not to let the oddness of it distract her as she continued, words spilling forth uncontrolled, "I... I know the value of honesty because I know the value of trust. My friends are all ponies that I know I can trust, but yeh've got to give the trust before you can get the knowledge. I'm not certain that yer not plottin' some sorta revenge. I can't know for sure. But I think that you're being honest when you say that yer sorry. So I'll trust you. And I'll forgive you. And I'll help you convince the others, even those two stubborn mares back there. Just don't betray my trust. Got that?" The orange mare paused for breath.

The princess was crying. Applejack doubted that the tears had anything to do with looking at the sun too long. The alicorn spoke, whispered words that barely reached her ears, "Yes. Thank you. You won't regret it."

Applejack looked away. She wasn't good with tears, her own or those of other ponies. Not wanting to remain silent, she said the first thing that popped into her head, "You look like you haven't eaten in a spell. You hungry? How about some apples? My treat." Shocked at herself, she looked back at Luna, fearing the alicorn's reaction.

The princess replied with a wry smile and dry words, "I would love some apples. It really has been a spell since I've eaten. In fact, it feels like I haven't had a bite to eat in a thousand years."

Merely a Mare, 1st Interlude
Apples





Applejack set another basket full of apples in front of Princess Luna. The alicorn levitated two of the fruits and popped one into her mouth, chewing slowly as she rotated the other. Luna studied it from all sides, humming softly to herself. Applejack smiled appreciatively. Nopony had ever been this interested in her apples before; the princess couldn't seem to get enough of them. She had already emptied three baskets, and the Earth pony estimated that the slight alicorn had eaten at least her body weight in fruit over the course of the afternoon. The businesspony in Applejack was irked by the value of what the princess had eaten, but she couldn't help but be fascinated by one pony eating in a few hours enough food for a week of generous meals. "Enjoying the apples, Princess Luna?" she asked.

"I thought I told you that it's just plain 'Luna'," The alicorn murmured softly. Applejack might have thought she'd offended the princess, if it hadn't been for her subtle smile. The apple that she had been examining began to lose its outer layer; large sections of bright red skin peeled off the fruit and began to orbit around it. The princess spoke almost absentmindedly as she concentrated on the apple, "In any case, I am enjoying the apples very much. I haven't eaten in a long time, and I had forgotten what a delight it is. Most art is concerned with the satisfaction of one sense at a time, usually sight or hearing. The culinary arts must engage all five senses to be truly effective." Her magic removed the last of the peel from the levitating apple, leaving an off-white orb surrounded by a ring of red debris. Applejack was entranced by the magical display. Luna continued to stare at her work as she spoke, "And of course, many of the most beautiful things in this world are to be found in very unassuming places. Consider the apple: it is a thing of nature, but no longer fully wild, guided by the hooves of ponies to its current form. It is pleasing to the eye, a wonder to every sense, but for all its beauty it is also functional."

Thin black lines began to appear on the apple, diverging and meeting in no obvious pattern as the alicorn continued her distracted murmuring, "Art at work, keeping ponies alive; many from my time would have dismissed it as common, pedestrian, and many more would have taken such things for granted, but I imagine that they'd miss them very quickly if there were none to be found." The off-white orb floating in front of Luna broke apart into a cloud of expertly carved pieces. Applejack could see right angles, sinuous curves, jagged edges, each fragment unique and minutely detailed.

Applejack had never thought of apples as items of beauty before; far as she saw, grub was grub. Still, she wasn't about to argue with a princess, and though she hadn't understood everything that Luna had said, she still swelled with pride to hear such kind words about her life's work. The farmer didn't consider herself qualified to discuss beauty with one of the immortal rulers of Equestria, so she changed the subject, "Uh, Luna... where do all them apples go? If I ate half o' that many apples, I'd be burstin' at the seams, but ya downed at least a hundred apples without slowin' down, and ya still look like one ah them Canterlot runway models. Do you alicorns have four hollow legs or somethin'?"

Luna glanced up from her project; the pieces of the core had begun to come back together in a shape quite unlike the original orb. She blinked at Applejack, looking confused, then glanced at the empty baskets around her. "A hundred apples?" she asked.

Applejack nodded, "Pips, core, and all."

"Well. There goes my diet. Sorry about this. I didn't realize how many I'd eaten. When alicorns eat, the food just sort of goes away. But we do enjoy it! Still, I feel bad about wasting so much of your crop. At least it'll be good for advertising." The alicorn said. As she spoke, the new form of the apple pieces became recognizable. Applejack marveled at the miniature trunk, roots, and branches that the fragments had formed; bits from the core served as knotholes on the rough, irregular faux bark. Luna's magic seemed to be keeping the fruit from turning brown with exposure to air, and the construct retained its ivory coloring.

"Advertising?" The Earth pony asked.

"Yes," Luna replied as the floating bits of peel tore themselves into ever smaller pieces, "Advertising. Ponies still advertise, right? Why, I recall that I couldn't even walk into a shop without them putting an 'Approved By Princess Luna' sign in the window. It got a bit annoying sometimes, but I never wanted to explicitly tell anypony to take such things down; I didn't want to feel responsible if their business went under." Tiny bits of apple peel formed a swarm that converged on minuscule branches. When the red blur stilled, a perfect model of an apple tree floated between the two ponies. White apple flesh formed roots, a trunk, and branches covered in foliage of red apple peels. Here and there among the branches, seeds hung in imitation of ripe apples.

"I'd never do somethin' like that without your permission, Luna," Applejack said, entranced by the unorthodox sculpture, "An' that. That tree. That is amazing. I've never seen anything like it, or anypony do magic like that."

The princess raised an eyebrow and spoke dryly, "Every night, I seem to move an unfathomably large object a distance that you'd be unable to put into words, and this, among all my feats, is what impresses you?" It sounded quite stupid to Applejack when Luna put it that way, but once again the princess didn't seem offended. She continued, "You have better taste than I gave you credit for, Applejack. As for advertising, I admit that I don't have quite the same name recognition that I did before, so I'll have to repay you another way. Wait here."

With that, Luna trotted to the nearest apple tree, one that had been mostly bucked clean to feed her, and sat down. The glow in her horn intensified as she considered the tree. A purple halo formed around it, humming with magic, then faded. Where shadows fell on the fruitless branches, blossoms as dark as night bloomed, and fruit began to grow from them. In mere seconds, a new crop of apples had fully grown; to Applejack, the lustreless black orbs looked for all the world like holes in the air. Then, with a final pulse of magic, the dark apples began to sparkle.

Luna plucked one with magic and levitated it to Applejack. She balanced the strange fruit on a hoof and gazed at the lights that danced across the black peel.

Stars.

A sea of stars filled her vision, unfamiliar constellations spinning slowly across a window to a night sky. Spiral splashes of milky white whirled in the distance while pinpricks bloomed in brilliant flashes before they disappeared. The apple glowed momentarily as a sun seemed to pass close to its surface; Applejack could see what looked like huge plumes of flame flying from the orb, all seemingly frozen, moving too slowly to be perceived. There were more stars than Applejack could ever hope to count. She didn't know how long she stared into the apple, but she was only broken from her reverie when she heard Luna's voice, "You're supposed to eat it, you know."

So she did.

And it was delicious.

Merely a Mare, Chapter 2
Kindness








Luna could think of nothing to do after she left Sweet Apple Acres that afternoon, but Applejack had told her where to be the next morning, and so she had gone to wait. She flew over Ponyville, spotted the Forest Road, and landed nearby in a suitably clear field. The view was not as good as it had been from her balcony, but the alicorn found it to be a worthwhile change of scenery. The sun set, and Luna raised moon with an imperceptible magical effort. Her work done, she relaxed, standing motionless in the sea of grass as she enjoyed the night.

Dew formed on the alicorn's fur and feathers in the early morning chill; the newly risen sun had nearly dried it by the time she saw Applejack walking up the road. The Earth pony called out a greeting, and Luna's lips curved slightly in an unbidden smile. She waved a wing and trotted out to travel beside the other mare. Applejack had a serious expression and got down to business immediately, briefing Luna as they passed one of Ponyville's outlying farms, "We're headin' out to Fluttershy's cottage; Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness, and just about the nicest pegasus you'll ever meet. She doesn't have a grudge holdin' bone in her body and she'll forgive you lickety split, as long as you can get around one big problem: that pony is a coward. She's a close friend of mine and dear to my heart, but the biggest scaredy-pony I've ever laid eyes on. She'll probably bolt the moment she sees you, on account of that whole Nightmare Moon thing, especially if Rainbow Dash got to her first. Unless, o' course, we give her nowhere to go. So we're going to catch her when she's in her house; there's only one door and she won't fly out the window on account of her wings lockin' up when she's scared."

Applejack paused, and Luna took the opportunity to cut in, "You say that she's a coward, but she didn't balk at facing me when I was Nightmare Moon. She didn't flee then; why should she do so now?"

The Earth pony nodded, "Well, that's one of the admirable things about Fluttershy; she can be very brave when she needs to protect her friends. Of course, you're not gonna to be a threat to her friends, of the pony sort or of the critter sort. You'll be taking care of the animals for her while she's cooped up. She'll be watchin' you, and if you're nice to her animal friends, I'm sure she'll warm up to you. Eventually."

Luna raised an eyebrow, "So your plan is to trap her in her house until she's forced to talk to me? That doesn't sound very... kind."

"Well," Applejack replied with a nervous chuckle, "We're just gonna call this 'tough love'."
    
"And what if one of her other friends shows up?"
    
"Oh, that's taken care of," The Earth pony stated, a mischievous smile spreading across her face, "I left notes for others sayin' that Fluttershy got called off to help with an emergency with some critters in another town, a real bad outbreak of somethin' or other. I told em' I'd come round once a day to take care of things here and make sure all the animals got fed an' everythin' while she was gone. It's not worth this long trip to go to the cottage if Fluttershy isn't around, so they shouldn't bother us."

Luna's lips curled in a sardonic grin, "Some Element of Honesty you are." She couldn't keep the amusement from her voice.

Applejack laughed, "Well hold on there, missy! Honesty means bein' worth trustin', not sayin' no word that isn't true. A pony can speak only the truth and still be slippery as an eel, using carefully chosen facts as a weapon against you, and a pony can tell only lies and know that every one of them is worth believin', and lift your spirits with falsehood. Which pony do you think is more worth trustin'? More honest?"

The two ponies traveled on in silence. They passed empty fields and stands of oak and elm, and the land began to look a bit more wild. The sounds of nature, bird calls, brooks, and the wind in the trees, all became more noticable as they left the din of Ponyville behind. Luna thought on what the farmer had said. The princess found that she did not mind being called 'missy.' It had a charming informality to it. As for Applejack's view on trust, the princess was unsure, but it was certainly a question worth asking.

After a few minutes, the two mares spotted the cottage. Its surroundings teemed with wildlife; squirrels chittered in the trees, ferrets played in the fields, and there seemed to be a bird on every branch. The calls of the animals filled the air with song. It had been a long time since Luna could enjoy such a menagerie. Even the old royal gardens couldn't compete in sheer number of animals. It seemed to the alicorn that Fluttershy must have been extremely skilled, or incredibly charismatic, to attract so many animals to her care. Possibly both. Applejack put out a hoof to stop her a few hundred yards from Fluttershy's home and spoke in a rather unnecessary whisper, "You wait here. The animals shouldn't give us away; I've got a bunny on the inside. I'll go in alone, in case Fluttershy is watching out the window. I'll tell her what's goin' on, and that should distract her. Give me a ten count after you see the door close behind me, then trot out to the clearing where she can see you. Once she knows you're out here, she probably won't leave the house. I'll tell you more after that's all done. You got all that?" Luna was rather pleased by how seriously Applejack was taking this; she nodded.

The Earth Pony set out toward Fluttershy's home with a determined stride. The princess watched her cross the clearing, knock on the cottage door, and disappear inside. She counted slowly, then trotted swiftly out to to a visible area, and waited. It wasn't long before Luna saw the curtain on the front window twitch aside, and the face of a pink-maned yellow pony peek out. They made eye contact for just an instant, Fluttershy's eyes as wide as saucers, before the pegasus dropped out of sight. Luna found herself smiling.

Eventually, Applejack emerged from the cottage, closing the door behind her, and approached the princess. "That went about as well as I expected. She wants to talk to you, but she's afraid. If you go in there, she'll just clam up and shudder in a corner. So, we're going with my plan. Have you worked with critters before?"

Luna tilted her head, thinking. "Well, I created a lot of animals, but that was a long time ago. Most creatures are very different now. I haven't had a pet in.... Well, the species is extinct now, to give you some idea."

"Uh...huh...," Applejack replied, raising an eyebrow, "I guess I'll have to show you everthin', then. I've taken care of things 'round here before, so it shouldn't be too bad. Fluttershy keeps most of what you'll need in a shed or the chicken coop, so you shouldn't have to get anything from the house." The Earth pony spent the next few hours showing Luna everything Fluttershy did for the animals. The Alicorn rather enjoyed herself, feeding birds, helping a family of voles with their burrow, letting mice ride on her outstretched wings, and generally assisting however she could.

Around noon Applejack gave a final speech, "I've got my own land to take care of, so I'll leave you to it. Just try to stay away from the house; no need to spook Fluttershy any more than she already is. When you need to sleep, I've got a guest room that you can use, if you'd like to fly over, but try to wait until Fluttershy is already asleep."

"That won't be a problem," Luna interjected, "I don't sleep."

The Earth pony's voice was completely flat, "What."
    
"My sister and I don't need to sleep. It's like eating. We can. Celestia has, and says it's fine. But we don't need to. I've never tried it. It can't possibly be as good as eating. Is it?" Luna was genuinely curious.

"Uh... no, Luna, I guess it's not. If you don't sleep, what do you do at night?"

"I look at the stars. That's kind of my thing. I was known for it. Ponies even named a science after me. I guess Lunastronomy didn't last through the time that I was imprisoned in the moon?" Luna was disappointed; there had always been at least two or three Lunastronomers alive, studying the stars. Before her banishment, at least.
   
"You have got to be the weirdest...," Applejack muttered before she caught herself, "Uh, no, not by that name. I think it's just astronomy now. That's a hobby of Twilight's, but y'all don't seem to be on speaking terms, yet. Still, that's good, common ground could be useful. I'll think about that, but for now, we have to focus on Fluttershy. I'll leave you to it. Have a good day. And night, I guess." With that, the orange pony trotted off toward Sweet Apple Acres.

Luna spent the rest of the day feeding, helping, or just spending time with Fluttershy's companions. The animals seemed to mistrust the alicorn at first, but food and softly spoken words won many of them over, and eventually all were accustomed to her presence. Every so often, the princess thought that she could feel the pegasus watching her from the window. Whenever Luna turned to look, she saw only a gently swaying curtain.

Eventually, it was time to raise the moon, and the lights in the house came on as the sky grew dark; the work, however, continued. Nocturnal animals emerged, and Luna found herself surrounded by owls, bats, and other creatures of the night. A strange furry creature that looked like a cross between a rat and a monkey stared up at her. Its huge eyes seemed to glow like lanterns in the dim moonlight, and its disproportionately large tail twitched restlessly. It was quite possibly the cutest thing the princess had ever seen, and she greatly enjoyed feeding it. Untiring, she tended to the new pack, long after the illumination in Fluttershy's cottage was extinguished. Luna wondered how their normal caretaker could handle all of this; the pegasus couldn't possibly have twenty four hours a day to dedicate to her work.

Eventually, dawn came again, and the nocturnal animals returned to their dens, branches, holes, and other miscellaneous dwellings. She was a bit sad to see them go; anything that lived its life under the moon, any citizen of the night had a special place in her heart.

The second day of her task began much like the first. Applejack came by in the late morning to deliver baskets of apples, one to Fluttershy and another to a particularly intelligent-looking rabbit. When Applejack reemerged from the cottage, Luna told the Earth pony about her progress with the animals, and the orange mare nodded, smiling, "Fluttershy ain't so certain you're scary, now. Keep doin' what you've been doin', and you'll be just fine." Her tasks complete, Applejack left.

It was late afternoon when Luna heard it; a weak caw from across the field. She wandered toward the cry, looking for the source. Soon, she could see a raven in the grass, walking slowly in circles as though it had no idea what to do with itself. Both its wings were twisted unnaturally, flesh and bone showing where one had been partially severed; its feathers were devastated, sticking out at odd angles where they were not slicked down by blood. The bird had been mauled, and clung tenuously to life. Luna's horn glowed as she approached it, scrying its body to determine the extent of the damage. Before she could get close, the raven noticed her, and she felt its heartbeat increase; her large, unfamiliar form sent the mortally injured animal into a panic. The alicorn knew that too much of a shock could kill it outright, and that she would have to be very close to be able to heal the bird without inflicting enough pain to be a death sentence. Mending living tissue correctly was a monumental task; even the best unicorn healers could only speed natural regeneration. The raven needed more than that.

Luna lowered herself slowly to the ground, trying her best to be nonthreatening. As she inched forward, she called out softly, hoping to reassure the bird, "Please come here. I want to help you. I can make it better." She knew that it was the tone, not the words, that mattered; the raven couldn't understand her speech. Despite her best efforts at coaxing and crawling, the raven kept its distance, the grounded bird hobbling away whenever she came near, unapproachable in its confused panic. Luna could almost feel the seconds ticking away as the raven weakened, approaching death.

The princess collapsed as she realized that there was nothing she could do; trying to approach quickly could shock the poor thing literally to death, and grabbing it with telekinesis certainly would. Tears welled in her eyes as she contemplated the futility of her efforts. She didn't think of her attempt to win over Fluttershy or what the black bird's death would mean for it. The raven had become just one more creature that recoiled when she reached out, one more thing that feared her, one more subject whose trust she could not win, and that drove her to despair. Luna wept into her hooves. Her failure would cost the creature its life.

"Come here, little one," A soft voice called out from beside the alicorn. She looked up, and through misty eyes, she could see Fluttershy standing beside her, motioning with a hoof. The raven was slowly but intently making its way toward the pegasus, giving the pink-maned mare as much of a look of devotion as its solid black eyes were capable. Fluttershy looked down at Luna, concern etched on her face,  "Please don't cry, Princess. Can you help him?" The raven was huddled against one of the mare's hooves.

The alicorn nodded, adding, "Just try to keep him still." Her horn pulsed with magic; she held it nearly touching the raven's head, its dark aura washing over feathers and blood. She could count on her hooves the number of times she'd mended living flesh. The difficulty didn't lie in repairing damage, but rather in doing so without causing permanent deformity. If the sinew and muscles came together wrong, the raven would never fly again. Time seemed to slow as Luna's magic enhanced her perception; she saw each cell, each fiber, every ruptured blood vessel as she traced nerves, shutting down cells to numb the wounds. She didn't bother with subtlety; any cell with a hint of damage was banished as she summoned a healthy copy in its place. New blood vessels bridged the gaps in the raven's flesh as conjured blood began to flow through them, replacing what had been lost.

The muscles were a different challenge; trauma had deformed the tiny threads of muscle tissue. Luna burned off the ends, tracing back to relatively undamaged flesh on both sides of each wound. Cell by torturous cell, she reconnected the sides, one fiber at a time; each ending had a twin, and connecting them incorrectly would weaken the muscle. She mended the tendons, and tested their elasticity, making adjustments. Splinters of bone came together around restored marrow, new calcium mending them on a level that natural healing could never have recreated. Skin grew over the wounds, and Luna set the raven's feathers aright, growing new ones where old plumage had been lost. Finally, Luna restored the nerves, returning feeling to her charge.

Nearly a second had passed.

The raven appeared stunned, but Luna could feel its heartbeat return to normal as it tested its new flesh. Soon, with a caw, it took off and circled above the ponies' heads, gliding on mended wings. Satisfied, it returned to perch on Luna's horn.

Fluttershy giggled, "Oh, Well done, Princess. Good as new. I think he understands."

Luna, her eyes crossed as she looked at her new horn ornament, smiled, "I'm glad. And please, just call me Luna," the alicorn paused, "I wonder how long he's going to stay there."

The raven cawed, twisting its head to look down at the alicorn with one black eye. She was sure that if it weren't for the beak, he would be smiling at her.

Eventually, the bird went on its way. In that time, Fluttershy managed to work up the courage to invite Luna inside for tea. They drank in silence, the pegasus appearing nervous and the princess just not seeing any significance in the lack of words. After finishing a third cup, Luna spoke, "Thank you for the tea. It's very good," she paused, "And thank you for helping me with that raven."

Fluttershy responded quietly, "I was watching from the window, and saw what you were trying to do. I couldn't just stay inside with you trying so hard to help that poor little guy. I'm sorry I was too afraid to talk to you earlier."

Luna examined her empty glass to avoid looking at the other pony, "It's alright. A lot of ponies are afraid of me. I'm just glad that you're able to talk to me now."

Silence returned, but after a moment, Fluttershy broke it, "Luna, can I ask you something? Why did you become Nightmare Moon?"

Luna tilted her head, "My sister's student didn't tell you?"

Fluttershy looked away, "I'd like to hear it from you," her eyes moved to meet the alicorn's, "If that's okay."

The princess sighed, "You love these animals, do you not? You want to help them, care for them, guide them. You provide only your best for them, as well as you know how. Their affection is your only reward, but it is more than enough. Am I correct in all that?" Luna paused, and Fluttershy nodded, so she continued, "What would you do if you wanted to show your affection for some creatures, to guide them and provide for them, to play with them and enjoy their company, and they shunned you? Fled from your domain and presence? Rejected your gifts and spurned your love? How well would you take it?"

"I...," the pegasus looked down, gaze locked on the floorboards, "I... don't think I would take it very well," her eyes widened, "Not very well at all."

"So you understand some part of my pain," Luna sighed, "These creatures are like family to you, but I created the ancestors of your ancestors, long, long ago. Ponies are my children by more than adoption, and I love you all as such, but it is easy to become angry when your children don't do as you think they should. When they forget, and abandon you."

Fluttershy's bashfulness faded as her interest grew, "You created ponies with Celestia?"

"I created many things with her. Ponies, though, as they are now, are more mine than hers. The three separate forms, as well as...," Luna paused, and her eyes grew distant as a cloud of sadness passed over her face, "...well, there are other blessings that separate my ponies from my sister's, things that are essential to ponies as you know them. Just hope that you never meet one of her children, if any yet remain."

And then they were silent, as Fluttershy traced a hoof along the floor, seemingly deep in thought. Eventually, she spoke again, "Luna, if you don't mind my asking, are you going to become Nightmare Moon again if you, um, don't get the love you want from, er... us?"

Luna shook her head, "No, child, and not just because it would be evil. I've learned that you can't win love with threats and violence. The path to the sort of love I want is the path of patience and kindness. The hoof that helps, not the hoof that harms. I've done enough harm already."

Fluttershy murmured, barely loud enough to be heard, "Applejack said that you came for forgiveness. I forgive you, Luna. Just remember- be kind."

Merely a Mare, 2nd Interlude
Stars



Dear Princess Celestia,




I miss you.

I want to hate you, I want to hurt you, I never want to speak to you again, but still, I miss you.

I've been in Ponyville nearly a month now, enough time to send you a few reports on the magic of friendship, and in that time the bonds I share with the ponies here have only grown stronger. By many measures my life is better here than it ever was in Canterlot. I spend time with my friends, I laugh with them, I learn about their interests, and I help them when I can. I'm known around town for my level head and strong magic, the very qualities I take the most pride in. Running the library is a dream come true for me. I should be happy with what I have.

And yet, I miss you. The old you. The you I thought I knew. I'm tired of trying act like nothing is wrong. I'm tired of you pretending that everything is the same, as if a few lines in a letter about your duty to your sister and how I should feel honored could make me forget what you did.  I had read ancient texts that mention you as a master manipulator, but I dismissed them all. How could the cold-hearted mare they described be the benevolent princess who had been so true to me for so many years? Oh, what a foal I was.

It started as a tiny suspicion, but you know me, princess: I can't help but try my best to find every minute detail, to get the clearest possible understanding. You taught me that. You taught me so many things. The more I thought, the more the evidence piled up.

You gave me a break from formal study knowing that I would take the time to pursue my own interests, which inevitably means the library. The librarian just happened to have a new book to recommend to me that day, on one of my favorite subjects. You've always told me that the myths and legends of ponies have some grain of truth to them, and so my curiosity was piqued by the story of those alicorn sisters, and I had to look into the Elements further. I still don't recall when you told me about them, but it must have been you; no other source could have made such an impression on me that I remembered a mere mention years later. When I read about the Mare in the Moon in the copy of Predictions and Prophecies that you'd given me for some birthday long ago, I sent you a letter. Your immediate reply was surprising at the time, even with my hope for a quick response. In retrospect, you must have had it prepared.

Am I so transparent that you don't even need to read my letters? Are my friendship reports merely wastes of ink?

In any case, you replied in the only way that could have guaranteed that I wouldn't drop the issue, that thoughts of the Elements of Harmony would stay with me: by dismissing my concerns completely, in the most supercilious manner possible. I was concerned for Equestria, concerned for you, and you mocked that concern. What better way to ensure that I would remember the Elements of Harmony and the details of the legend than to kindle within me a burning need to prove myself to you? It was masterfully done. If you'd told me that you'd made arrangements for the Mare's return, or that you'd strengthened the wards, or that you knew of an error in the book I read, and perhaps thrown in a word or two of praise for my diligence, I would have dropped the issue in an instant.

But I couldn't drop it, and you sent me to Ponyville, and a tiny library that happened to have just the book I needed. The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide? How many copies of a treatise on an artifact lost for a millennium could possibly exist? But of course I didn't find that until after I'd gone over the checklist of celebration preparations, and met the ponies that you'd chosen to oversee preparations. The only one of my friends that you didn't set in my path was the one that would have found me and thrown me a party no matter what I did. How long did you know that those were the ones? How long did you know that they'd make great friends for me? How long did you keep that knowledge from me, knowing how alone I was?

You knew what I would face at the Summer Sun Celebration, but you didn't warn me. When I noticed that duplicity, it opened the flood gates; there were so many elements of your plan that had to have been set up years in advance. You wrote that letter to get me to do what you wanted. How much else in the time that you've been planning this has been a lie? Did you stage my entrance examination to the royal academy? Did your words of encouragement follow a secret script? When I did well at my studies, were the looks of pride and affection that you gave me coldly calculated? If I write an autobiography, will it end up in the fiction section?

We elements acted out our parts, following the script you wrote, and now your sister is free. You've even managed to rid yourself of me. By my own request, no less! Congratulations. Your grand design, come to fruition. At least I was a useful tool. I suppose we all have a role to play.

Every life is a story, and every story has a plot, a theme, a goal, something essential at the center of the narrative. Was saving Luna the great goal of my life? Was my character written for your plot? I wouldn't be surprised. I've known for a long time that you're the main character in my life, though I never dreamed that you would also be the antagonist.

You were my world. Your voice, your approval, those were the reasons that I got up in the morning. Everything I've done, from the first time I saw you at that Summer Sun Celebration so many years ago to the present day, has been for you. Through good times and bad, you've been a fixture in my life. You're my teacher, my mentor, my ruler, and my goddess, but you mean even more to me than that. So much more. I wasn't even old enough to know what a schoolfilly crush is when I first saw you, raising the sun and filling the world with radiance. I fell in love with you then, and I've loved you ever since. All of my studying was for you. First it was just to get into your Royal Academy. Since then it's been the fact that when I succeeded, when I read the books, and did precisely what they said, and worked the magic better than anypony else in the class, you would smile at me. A simple constant that I built my life around: you smiled at me, and your eyes filled with pride. Were you proud of me, or were you proud of yourself? I'm afraid to even consider that it might be the latter.

I feel so betrayed. I've read half the royal library, and yet I still cannot find the words.

Even so, I miss you. I feel a deep pit somewhere within me whenever I see the sun. I feel it because you're missing from my life. The rays cannot warm my heart the way your presence always did. Its beautiful radiance is no substitute for your radiant beauty. It gives me life, but it does not make me want to live. The sun is yours; I must shun it, lest I be reminded of you.

So much reminds me of you.

I saw Luna today. She had no part in what you did. I hate her still. She's here because you used me. My anguish was the cost of her salvation, and you gladly paid. I don't know if I can ever forgive either of you for that. I know that I certainly can't forget it; the moon reminds me every night. Her presence seems like a pale reflection of yours. She is cold and distant, but there is an undeniable beauty. The moon is hers? I can believe it.

You are like the sun and she is like the moon. With those celestial bodies barred to me, what can I strive for? My cutie mark, of course, bears my answer.

I must be the stars.

My trust in you was my downfall. The fact that I love you is what made your betrayal hurt so much. I won't let that happen again. I can't live with another wound that hurts this much. And so I won't trust, and I won't love, and I won't be hurt. The moon and the sun dance through the sky, but they do have no effect on the course of the stars; the stars care not for them. That is how I will protect myself. Apathy will be my armor. No matter what may transpire with the sun or the moon or Equestria below, my course will be unaffected, and I will not feel the pain. That is my goal. I must become like the stars. I must give up trust and love. I will dedicate myself to this.

But I may still miss you.





With all the love in my shattered heart,

Twilight Sparkle




*  *  *  *  *




Flames consumed the letter, hot and red. Twilight Sparkle's magic held the paper above a candle as she watched smoke rise from the message.  She could not bring herself to send it. A clean cut, she reasoned, was best.

But reason had little to do with her actions. In truth, deep within, she felt that as long as she didn't send the letter, the contents wouldn't be true. They couldn't be true. She desperately wished that it were all just some dream, that she'd wake up in her bed in Canterlot with a jolt, already forgetting the details of her vivid nightmare.

The letter burned, but its words did not. They stuck in the unicorn's mind, and played over and over again. They sounded like the world crumbling.

Twilight stared at the ashes, thinking of the bridges she'd tried to burn along with her letter. She whispered to herself, "I've got to be like the stars. And the stars don't cry...."

And indeed, the stars did not cry that night. But Twilight Sparkle did.

Merely a Mare, Chapter 3
Laughter







The morning sun shone over Sweet Apple Acres, and Luna whistled cheerfully as she chewed on an apple. Applejack tried not to think about that too hard; she couldn't even whistle with an empty mouth. She suspected that whistling and chewing at the same time was not quite possible, but didn't feel the need to bring it up with the princess. Impossibilities seemed to spring up like weeds wherever Luna went. In the presence of a goddess, the Earth pony reasoned, there is no need to take special note of miracles.

The alicorn polished off her second basket of apples. Applejack was glad that the princess insisted on growing new fruit to replace any that was bucked for her; Luna's ability to eat as many apples as the rest of Ponyville combined had been worrying, at first. The regrown apples put any possible objection to rest; each and every one was exquisite. Sometimes Luna's apples were even better than natural ones, like the intriguingly sour blue-skinned fruits or the batch from the day before that had grown in fermented. The Earth pony smiled at the admittedly fuzzy memory. Those had sold well.

The alicorn stared at the third basket in front of her, her brow furrowed in concentration as though it were filled with puzzles instead of apples. Seeing that she had paused, Applejack coughed to get her attention, "So, Luna, how're'ya likin' Ponyville?" After Luna had spoken with Fluttershy, Applejack asked her to spend some time in town. Anything the princess did there, other than laughing maniacally and trying to bring eternal night to Equestria, could only improve the residents' opinion of her. From what the Earth pony had seen on the occasional visit, the alicorn just sort of wandered around, looking at plants and playing with animals. She only seemed to speak during her daily visits to Sweet Apple Acres, where Applejack shared stories and apples with her.

"It's quite nice," she replied with enthusiasm, "the architecture is so modern. In my time, I was never really one for small communities, but they have their own charm. I've always been more at home in the crowds of whatever capital we had than in the outlying villages. Towns are terrible for solitude; it's much more easy to be alone when you're in a crowd. Towns are also terrible for socializing; it's much more easy to find a friendly face when you're in a crowd."

Applejack nodded and smiled. It was her normal strategy for when ponies said things that she didn't quite understand and didn't really want to, and she'd found herself using it quite often around Luna. "How 'bout the ponies? You make any new friends?"

The alicorn's face fell, "No. But at least they don't go out of their way to avoid me anymore. Mostly. It's a start."

Applejack had expected that; even the ponies that didn't resent Luna for being Nightmare Moon would be be too nervous to approach a princess in most situations. Today, things would be different. Applejack had a plan. The idea had come from an offhoof comment about common ground. She'd thought about what her friends had in common with Luna, and it had become obvious to her the next time she'd seen the princess devouring apples with reckless abandon.

The Earth pony explained her plan to the alicorn, and as Applejack spoke, Luna's smile grew. By the end, the princess was positively beaming. Then, with a flash of magic, she was gone.




***




The long hall glimmered in the morning light. In place of walls, thin marble columns rose, spiraling, fluted, and intricately carved, framing views of royal gardens below and sky all around. The ceiling, high above, was a flawless surface of gleaming white marble, interrupted only by the brilliant silver of a crescent moon and countless stars. It was mirrored below by the unbroken expanse of the floor; Celestia's golden throne, shining like the sun on its stepped dais, was the only furniture, the only object in the room. A sunburst of gold inlay radiated from it; the widest beam extended to the entryway, an arch on the only closed wall, leading back to the palace proper.

The throne room was designed to fill ponies with hope, awing them with its beauty and inspiring them with its majesty. It was meant to be a joyful place, of contemplation or convocation, a place from which the princess could rule her subjects with wisdom and generosity, sharing in their joy and comforting them in their sorrow. A place from which the light of the princess could shine all over Equestria.

Celestia brooded on her throne; the atmosphere could not have matched her mood more poorly. In less than an hour, the audiences would begin, and she would have to put on a mask of cheerful benevolence. The ponies of Equestria looked to their ruler for confidence and tranquility; the princess hoped that they could find it, even now that she could not.

A shadowed spot appeared amidst the blinding brightness of metal and marble. Luna was dwarfed by the size of the hall, but it was impossible to miss her; the contrast between the dark coat of the night princess and the brilliant white of the floor drew Celestia's eyes immediately. For a moment, neither spoke.

The day princess stepped down off the dais to meet Luna on even height, "Welcome, sister. This is the Grand Audience Chamber, and my throne room. It will be our throne room, when you wish it to be. You've been gone; rumors have come from Ponyville, saying that you're spending time there. Are they right?"

Luna raised an eyebrow, "Your faithful student hasn't mentioned me in a letter? From what you've told me of her, I would have expected you to know the very day I saw her. I'm fairly certain that my visit made some sort of impression. Did she forget me so quickly?"

Celestia looked away, her face darkening, "Twilight Sparkle is not - I have not corresponded with her, of late," she looked back toward her sister, feigning serenity, "Sister, I apologize if Twilight has been hostile to you; I fear she may blame you for some of my indiscretions."

"I see." Something in the flat words made Celestia suspect that her sister had seen far more than she wanted to reveal.

"In any case, dear sister," the white alicorn said with a smile, "What were you doing in Ponyville? And to what do I owe this visit?"

"In Ponyville, I am working to gain trust and make friends. As for my visit," Luna looked a bit sheepish, "I came to ask to borrow money. I apologize for the horrible cliche. I just need a modest sum, a pittance by the reckoning of the treasury."

Celestia felt a strange mix of confusion and pity at that, assuming the worst. "Money cannot buy trust, or friendship, or happiness. You haven't forgotten that, have you, little sister? It's very nearly as bad as power for that purpose."

Luna nodded, "I know. It is, at this point, necessary but not essential. I will use it wisely, with the knowledge that the things most worth having are obtained by a more valuable currency than notes and coins."

"Very well. Take what you need." Celestia expected her sister to teleport to the treasury at that, but she did not. The princesses were silent for a time, each lost in their own thoughts.

Eventually, Luna spoke again, "You are sad, sister."

"As are you. It is said that tragedy leaves one sadder but wiser. We have seen much tragedy in our lives, sister, and gained much wisdom. Isn't sadness to be expected?" Celestia let her mask slip, just a little, and the light of the throne room seemed to dim in kind.

"For me, perhaps," Luna said, "But you never showed sadness, and I don't think you even felt it, before my exile. Even during the fall of the alicorns, you were detached, analytical, unfeeling. Did you shed even a single tear for your favored creations? I suspect not. I didn't understand then, and I still do not."

"Be glad of that. I was different, then. When sadness became possible for me, the tears came. I mourned my children. I mourn them still," Celestia sighed, "But I never understood your actions during that disaster either; in the darkest years, when we thought that nothing could be done, you yet smiled and joked and laughed with those doomed ponies."

Luna's unfocused eyes stared off into the distance,  "And died a little inside, every day, as I cried where those that were left could not see it. Even when I was sad, I tried to be happy as well, because laughing with tears in your eyes is better than weeping in undiluted sorrow. And where your detached analysis failed, my laughter found a solution. A solution worth laughing at."

"A solution I could not have imagined on my cruelest day," The day princess said, her eyes shimmering with repressed tears, "But it serves. As detestable as your blessing is, sister, it serves. Laughing while sad, you say? A wise lesson. Why have you forgotten it, my melancholy, mirthless little Luna?"

Silence filled the throne room once again. Neither alicorn could meet the other's eyes. Eventually, Celestia noted the position of the sun, and spoke in a grave tone, "Beware, sister. A terrible event approaches us."

"What?" Luna asked, eyes widening.

"Go now. If you're here when they come, then you will share my fate," the white alicorn whispered urgently.

"What fate, sister?"

"I will be forced to sit on my throne all day, and listen to the most boring ponies in the land talk. My court comes into session soon." And with that, the ruler of Equestria began to laugh.

Luna shook her head, but smiled despite herself as magic took her away.




***




"This building looks delicious."

Applejack chuckled at Luna's observation, "If you think that's appetizin', wait 'till you see what's on the inside." The two ponies walked into the overgrown gingerbread house that was Sugar Cube Corner, and found that it  was mostly deserted. They'd managed to arrive after the breakfast crowd and before the lunch rush, just as planned. Luna's saddlebag seemed to have enough bits for the operation,  the farmer noted, judging by how the princess clinked when she moved.

The only occupant of the store was the pink Earth pony behind the counter. Pinkie Pie grinned when she saw Applejack and shouted, "Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner. How may I fill your day with deliciousness on this delightful... day?" Her grin disappeared when she noticed Luna standing behind her orange friend. It was replaced by a suspicious scowl, "Oh. I see you brought Black Snooty. Welcome to Sugar Whatever, how may I yadda yadda yadda?"

Applejack's brows furrowed, "Pinkie Pie! Is that any way to talk to a payin' customer?"

"But Applejack! I've got to be rude. Rainbow Dash told be not to 'be all Pinkie nice to her' cause Luna wants to," Pinkie Pie's eyes became distant and her face scrunched up in thought, "wreak horrible vengeance upon us," Her bright countenance returned, "which is bad because I don't have any perfume."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Rainbow Dash said that. Exactly that? 'Wreak horrible vengeance?' That sounds more like Twilight than Dash."

"That's what I said! But she just grumbled something about a calendar and flew off. Woosh!" Pinkie Pie threw a hoof in an arc in demonstration.

"Do you believe everythin' Dash says, sugarcube?" The orange pony asked.

"Yep," the pink mare replied with a nod and a smile.

"Do you believe everythin' I say? How about that?"

Another nod, another smile, "Of course I do."

"So I say that Luna isn't here to... uh... whatever with the vengeance," Applejack nodded, satisfied with her logic despite the momentary stumble, "What now? We can't both be right."

"Sure you can," Pinkie insisted, looking quite pleased with herself. Applejack and Luna waited for the pink pony to elaborate on that, but she just sat there, smiling.

"Riiiiight. Well, I know y'all can't turn away a payin' customer, in any case. The Cakes won't let you. Luna, go ahead and buy somethin'." Applejack waved a hoof at the displays and the diverse array of cakes and pastries just behind the glass.

Luna rushed forward, eyeing the bounty hungrily. She walked slowly back and forth in front of the counter, examining each row in turn. Suddenly, she stopped, staring at a cupcake. Her eyes grew wide as she examined it. Dark cake was visible though a thin, white wrapper. It was topped with a towering spire of scarlet frosting; how the item managed to stay upright was a mystery. Little blocks of chocolate and ripe raspberries were embedded in it, barely clinging to the sides of the heap. The princess seemed mesmerized. She tapped the glass with her horn, "Is that... raspberry chocolate?"

"Precisely," Pinkie Pie proclaimed with perceptible pride. The price was pronounced, payment passed from patron to proprietor, and the pink pony presented the pastry to the princess.

Luna levitated the cupcake closer and began to rotate it. Her eyes seemed to trace every line of the frosting swirls. She sniffed it, then sighed contentedly. "This is going to be good," she whispered, apparently to nopony in particular. Finally, she opened her mouth and, with one huge bite, devoured the pastry. Her eyebrows lowered as she chewed thoughtfully, and Applejack wondered how it would compare to her apples. Part of the businesspony didn't want to lose the monopoly on princess-feeding in Ponyville.

Luna swallowed, then sighed contentedly, "Please give my compliments to the baker. That was exquisite."

Pinkie Pie giggled, "I baked that one, silly. And thanks." Applejack resisted the force pulling her hoof toward her face; leave it to Pinkie to call a princess 'silly.'

"You did?" Luna asked, "Well, then thank you. The rice paper wrapper was an interesting choice, but did not go amiss."

"You liked that?" The pink pony seemed overjoyed, "I do that all the time, ever since one day I thought to myself, 'Pinkie Pie, what's the one part of a cupcake you can't eat?' and then I was like 'the wrapper!' and I put my plan into action as soon as I got out of the well."

Luna nodded and smiled, her attention once again focused on the display case. Her horn glowed, and a red aura appeared around several pastries. "How much for these, my good mare?"

Bits changed hooves and baked goods disappeared in a frenzy as the night princess consumed a dizzying array of sweets. Luna had a comment or question for each, and Pinkie Pie was delighted to respond with information of varying relevancy. The princess praised a sour blue apple, boysenberry, and lime pie, and the pink pony lamented a failed pineapple, potato, and pickle pie experiment that she described as, 'Not nearly as popular as I expected.' In response to Luna's lamentation that there were only a dozen cinnamon cookies available on the display, the baker produced a box from the back room with scores more; they lasted less than a minute. Applejack couldn't begin to understand how the alicorn managed to avoid being covered in crumbs.

Luna purchased a gigantic three layered vanilla cake, and devoured it in one bite. Applejack objected on principle, "Land's sakes, how'd you get that down like that? It was bigger than your head! It don't make no sense."

Pinkie Pie laughed, and Luna just shrugged, "Magic or something. I wasn't really paying attention to the how of it. Cake is far more important."

"Your horn didn't glow!" The farmer said, "The world follows some simple rules. Apples fall down. Ponies grow old. Horns glow when unicorns are doin' magic. You're gonna drive me crazy one of these days, Luna. Messin' with my trust in the rules."

The pink pony behind the counter laughed all the harder at Applejack's confusion, and Luna's mouth twisted into a wry smile. Her horn began to glow, "There. My horn is glowing. Happy, Applejack? Am I allowed to ignore the rules now?"

The orange mare grumbled and turned away, only to find that the approaching lunch hour had provided an audience; nearly a dozen ponies stood in a rough line behind her. They were obviously waiting to be served, but were all too entranced, awed, or just plain confused by the spectacle that Pinkie Pie and Luna were providing to complain about the wait. Applejack suddenly felt a bit guilty for bringing the princess. Luckily, clopping from the stairs heralded the arrival of Mrs. Cake, who greeted her shop with a, "Oh, hello dearies. Busy day today, I see. I'll take the next customer over here, please." She swiftly took her station next to Pinkie Pie and smiled, motioning to Applejack with a hoof.

The farmer blinked, confused for a moment. "Oh," she turned to the pony behind her, "You can go ahead. I'm with the princess." Applejack moved to an out of the way corner and watched as Mrs. Cake sold to a seemingly endless stream of ponies. The ponies in line couldn't help but stare at the spectacle of the alicorn, who seemed hellbent on running Sugar Cube Corner out of baked goods. Many patrons even stayed after eating their lunch, murmuring to each other and taking in the show, forming a crowd around the edges of the room. Luna didn't seem to notice them; the food and the baker kept her thoroughly distracted. Bread, cakes, anything that Pinkie Pie suggested added to the growing pile of bits on the counter. Sometimes, suggestions became a bit... exotic.

"Oh! I know! You've got to try cupcakes with hot sauce. They're my favorite!"

Luna raised an eyebrow dubiously, "In all my years, I've never heard of that particular combination. It sounds absolutely insane." She leaned forward, eyes wide, and nodded eagerly, "What kinds of hot sauce do you have?"

Pinkie Pie's face scrunched up in concentration, tapping one hoof against another to count out her list, "Well, from least spicy to most spicy, we've got eh, mild, hot, very hot, hottest, inferno, 'I'm not kidding seriously Pinkie I just breathed fire what is wrong with you why did you let me eat this', rainbow, and double rainbow. Some of them are named based on taste-tester feedback!" She grinned, "Rainbow and double rainbow use real rainbows, as fresh as I can get. I hear they're spicier directly out of the pools of Cloudsdale, but I've never been there, so I just use the ones at Dash's house."

"Double rainbow?" The princess asked, "What does that mean? What's the difference between rainbow and double rainbow?"

Pinkie Pie shook her head, "That's a trade secret." She paused, "But, since you're a princess and all, I guess...," The pink pony looked to each side before leaning forward conspiratorially and whispering at a volume that probably carried her words halfway to Canterlot, "I use twice as many rainbows." She returned to her previous position and raised a hoof to her mouth in a shushing gesture, winking at the princess.

Luna just blinked, "Okay, double rainbow it is then."

After she managed to extinguish the majority of the flames, the alicorn gave her mixed compliments to the baker, "That was delicious, but you probably shouldn't serve those to your mortal customers. Repeat business comes primarily from ponies that remain fully intact inside after eating your products."

Pinkie Pie nodded, seemingly awed by this revelation, and thanked Luna profusely for the advice.

After a few dozen tarts, Luna pointed to what appeared to be a decoration on the counter. It was a short cylinder of black marble, encrusted with gems of all shape and color. It almost looked like a stylized cake. The princess asked about it, and Pinkie Pie's face fell, "I baked that when Spike moved into town, because I know how dragons love to eat gems, but Twilight Sparkle won't let him buy it. She says it's unhealthy because it has too many empty carats."

The princess bought it, and ate it. Applejack shook her head. Why was she surprised? She grinned and called out from her resting place, leaned up against a wall, "Are you gonna eat the counter too, Luna? I'm shocked there's a moon left, now that I know y'all can down rocks."

The princess just smiled, looking in equal parts both sheepish and amused, but Pinkie Pie yelled back indignantly, "Hey, you'd be pretty hungry too if the only thing on your menu for a thousand years was moon pies!"

It was impossible to tell whether or not the pink pony meant it as a joke.

The ponies spent the remaining time before closing talking and cracking jokes. The energetic inanity of the baker, the straightforward semi-seriousness of the farmer, and the dry wit of the princess complemented each other well, and the customers that passed through often lingered to chat with the trio of ponies. Pinkie Pie and Applejack laughed loudly and often, but Luna just smiled enigmatically, breaking into a grin when anything particularly amusing was said.

Eventually, the sun began to set, and Pinkie Pie locked the door, the day's business done. She turned to Luna and said, "You know, I've been thinking. We should throw you a party! Like a, 'hey, remember that other princess?' party or a 'welcome back to Ponyville' party. Or something. We could have it tomorrow!"

The princess tapped a hoof against her chin in thought. "Well, my birthday is next week. We could throw a birthday party...."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Y'all have birthdays?"

Luna blinked at her, seeming slightly confused as she asked, "What? Don't you? I thought that would still be around," completely missing the point.

Before Applejack could answer, Pinkie Pie, bouncing with excitement, interjected, "How old are you gonna be? It's gotta be over a thousand, right? Is it a thousand and one? Two thousand?"

"Four hundred and eighty seven million, seven hundred and ninety two thousand, four hundred and twenty one," the princess recited.

The Earth ponies' jaws dropped. Pinkie Pie seemed to be, for once, speechless.

"But I've been told that I don't look a day over five hundred thousand," Luna added with a wink.

Applejack gave a weak laugh, "Heh. Good one. You really had us going there for a second. Four hundred million. Heh."

"That part wasn't a joke."

Applejack blinked, "You mean... really?" Luna nodded. "That don't make no sense. How's that possible?"

Luna smiled wryly, "Immortal, remember? I don't age. I don't die. In a billion years, I'll still be counting off birthdays. What makes you think that you caught me in the first few thousand years of my life?" The princess sighed, "Ponies have no sense of scale. They measure all things against themselves, a measurement that for many purposes, I'd find quite lacking. Ponies always think that 'distant' means 'just a bit past the furthest I've gone', and that 'ancient' means 'just a bit older than me'. Try to understand that the stars are more distant than you can possibly fathom, and that I am equally ancient. If you can't, just take my word for it."

Just when Applejack thought that Luna couldn't surprise her anymore.

Pinkie Pie whispered to herself, "Four hundred million... I don't think I have that many candles...."

"Maybe just one big candle?" Luna suggested.

Pinkie Pie's usual energy returned, "That'll have to do. That many birthdays just means that I'll have to try extra hard to make sure that this birthday is your best birthday ever!" She nodded to herself, smiling. "Anyway, I've got a lot of baking to do to replace what we sold to our best customer today! Come back tomorrow. We've got so much to plan!"

Applejack and Luna said their goodbyes and left the shop in good spirits. As they headed toward the road out of town, Applejack paused to glance back at Sugar Cube Corner. She whistled, "Well now, Luna, look at that. That's at least one more pony that respects your name." The princess turned around, and in the light of the setting sun, they could see that Pinkie Pie had hung a plain black and white sign in one of the windows of the Corner. A smile spread across the alicorn's face as she read the words:

Approved By Princess Luna.

Merely a Mare, Third Interlude
Slapstick





Luna watched as the light of the sun dimmed, the last rosy touches of twilight slowly dwindling. Night had begun to fall as she escorted Applejack back to Sweet Apple Acres, and so the alicorn's horn lit up with a milky glow. As she set the moon on its nightly course, the light from her horn danced, sending out tendrils and flares of brilliant illumination. None of it was necessary for the task, of course, but the princess found it amusing to indulge her Earth pony companion's faith in the 'rules'. Horns always lit up when magic was done? Sure, why not? She noted with satisfaction that the farmer had assumed the dumbfounded stare that always came when Luna brought forth beauty with her spells.

When stars emerged from the deepening darkness of the night sky, Luna let her own light dim. The princess found that she couldn't stop smiling. Even so far from Sugar Cube Corner, the sense of playful joy that had filled that place lingered within her. "Your friend has very powerful magic, Applejack," the alicorn said.

The Earth pony blinked, tilting her head in confusion, "Twilight?"

"My sister's student? I suppose she does," Luna replied, "But I was talking about our friend at the bakery."

"Pinkie Pie? Uh, Luna, you do know that Pinkie's an Earth pony, right? She ain't got no magic," Applejack chuckled, "Leastways, no more than I have, and I ain't noticed any parts of me glowin' or things around levitatin' or nothin'."

The princess shook her head, "All ponies have magic, Applejack. Unicorns have one kind, but only the most obvious. Pegasi have their own power, to touch the weather and bend it to their design, and to allow them to fly. The wings alone could not hold a pony aloft; it is magic that allows that. Only the most powerful of unicorns can hope to replicate, even for a short while, the gifts granted to a pegasus at birth." She paused.

Applejack took the opportunity to interject, "Pinkie Pie can't fly, neither. Well, except when she has that contraption...."

"Contraption? That lets her fly?" Luna doubted it, but many things could change in a thousand years. She didn't pursue the issue, "In any case, Earth pony magic is nothing so flashy. You were given the most subtle form of it, one that you cannot control, one that can neither be seen nor heard. It is unsurprising that most ponies know nothing about it, though they feel it every day. Earth ponies provide something of themselves to those around them, sharing their greatest advantages with other ponies. In such a way, an Earth pony can become, for her colleagues and companions, a fount of cheer and laughter," the princess turned her head to meet Applejack's gaze, "Or of confidence and resolve."

The farmer looked away. She remained silent, and Luna was content to let the rest of the journey pass quietly. In time, they found themselves once again among the apple orchards. As they passed a familiar clearing, the princess paused, contemplating the basket of apples that she had abandoned that morning. Applejack continued on for a moment, then stopped and turned, "Luna? What're you waitin' on?"

"I just got a good idea for what to do with those apples. Come on, I want to show you!" The princess shouted as she took off running. Applejack angled her head to keep the wind from taking her hat and followed, remaining just behind the alicorn. Eventually, Luna slowed to a trot, then stopped when she reached her goal. The basket was right where she remembered. The princess noted with satisfaction that it was still quite full of apples.

Applejack came to a stop beside her, breathing hard. Luna smiled at the Earth Pony, "Watch this." She lowered her head and touched her horn to the apple on top of the pile. A red aura appeared, spreading from the tip down to the apples below.  The fruit on top began to glow a brilliant red, and one by one the others lit up, dozens of them, in orange, yellow, green, blue, and deepest violet. Applejack squinted and turned her head, protecting her eyes from the overwhelming light. With a satisfied nod, Luna turned away from her work, lowered her front, and kicked her target high into the air.

The basket flew in a lazy arc, spreading a cloud of glowing apples across the sky. The container dropped gracelessly after the apex, falling to the ground, but the fruit seemed to hang in the air before drifting slowly downward. Each time one struck the ground, it bounced in a seemingly random direction, though their paths never took them far from where the basket had landed. The grass beneath them became a prismatic sea of flowing light, its colors ever-shifting as the orbs' complex pattern played out. Applejack fell to her haunches near the edge of the illuminated area. The mare's shadow flickered and danced as the occasional apple passed near her.

Luna smiled. All was going according to plan; she twisted her magic just a bit. One apple detached itself from the crowd and began to float toward Applejack. The farmer's gaze locked on the slow projectile, tracking it as it descended toward her. The orb's orange glow pushed the shadows away from her, its brilliance nearly blinding. She was so entranced by the spectacle that she didn't even try to avoid the fruit. It bounced off the tip of her snout with an audible zap.

There was no force of impact, but the discharge of magic and electricity must have been quite shocking. The princess grinned at her inward pun; the greatest acts required a lot of setup, but they yielded the finest reward, and Luna found herself very pleased with the results thus far. Applejack had not moved save to allow her jaw to drop. She could do nothing more than blink in shock, her eyes crossed as they remained focused on the point of impact.

It was the most ridiculous facial expression that the alicorn had seen in quite a long time. She snorted in amusement, but waited for the real payoff. She knew better than any that the most important part of comedy was....

Applejack turned to look at her, shock and disbelief playing across her face. Just as the Earth pony closed her mouth, preparing to speak, a wave of magic and static washed across her coat, causing each hair to grow several inches and stand on end. A single, confused word emerged from what appeared to be an orange puff-ball wearing a cowboy hat, "What."

...Timing. Luna's shoulders shook; her lips pressed tightly together as she tried in vain to contain her mirth. Then, like a bursting dam, the alicorn's laughter spilled forth, booming in the quiet of the night.

"Did I jus' get pranked!?" Applejack's question only drove the princess to new heights of amusement, and she nodded an affirmative, too busy laughing to speak. "What the hay!" Luna sank to the ground, pounding a hoof into the grass repeatedly. "A whole day with Pinkie Pie with not even a chuckle, and now you're laughin'?" The princess flopped over onto her back, still shaking. "Hush already! It ain't that funny!" Luna shook her head and waved a hoof, and a conjured mirror appeared in front of the Earth pony. The still-bouncing apples provided more than enough illumination to see by. "...Okay, maybe it is that funny. But that don't mean you gotta keep laughin'." Luna ignored her appeal. "Can you at least fix it?"

The princess subsided into giggles as she undid her act with a fiery flash. The flames consumed the extra hair but left Applejack unharmed and back to her accustomed grooming. The alicorn finally fell silent, but a pleased grin remained on her face as she awaited further commentary from the other mare.

"If you'da told me two months ago that a princess would be playin' tricks on me, I'd'a called you a madmare," the Earth pony said, grinning as she shook her head slowly.

Luna rolled from side to side, freeing her wings from where they had been folded beneath her. She spread them out along the grass, stretching them, and sighed, "I always loved pranks. Before the banishment, humor was my constant and treasured companion. I was known as a trickster, a mischievous foil to my sister's stony seriousness. I'm sure that the capitol has been frightfully dull in my absence, though Celestia seems to have taken up some of the slack, I'm proud to say. I was concerned for her, even when I resented her for what I thought she had," The alicorn's smile slipped a bit, "But now she laughs."

Silence hung between the two ponies for a time. Eventually, Applejack spoke, "I've never heard you laugh before, Luna."

"It has been quite a long time since I have," The princess frowned as her eyes grew unfocused in recollection, "As Nightmare Moon, I laughed only to mock, and I took no true pleasure in it. When you rid me of that part of myself, the jokes and jests and jabs returned, but the joy did not come."

"Until today?" The Earth pony asked.

"Until very recently." The alicorn replied, gaze locked on the stars above.

Applejack smiled, "So now you can laugh?"

"So it would seem."

The farmer began to walk toward where the princess rested, "I reckon I need to get you back for that prank you just pulled."

The princess looked at her, raising an eyebrow, "And how do you plan to do that?"

Applejack stopped just beside where Luna lay, and she leaned forward to loom over the princess, a wicked grin spread wide across her face, "Bad jokes, of course," the alicorn blinked in confusion as the Earth pony continued, "What do you say when a dog runs away?"

"What?" Luna asked, more out of confusion about Applejack's way of getting her back than as a response to the joke.

"Dog-gone!"

"That was a terrible joke!" the princess managed, her laughter giving lie to her assertion.

The farmer scoffed, "You ain't heard terrible yet. Did you hear about the fire at the circus?"

Luna shook her head, eyes wide in a silent plea for mercy.

"It was in tents!"

The alicorn managed to laugh and groan simultaneously.

Applejack managed to look more and more pleased with herself with each joke, "What did the apple say to the carrot?"

"Was it 'my farmer is a sadist'?"

The Earth pony ignored Luna's jab, "Nothing... apples don't talk!"

The princess covered her eyes with a foreleg and tried to keep her mouth closed. She hoped that the other mare would mistake the shaking of her shoulders for something other than repressed amusement.

The farmer's voice lit up with excitement, "Oh! Here's one that you should know the answer to, Luna: how does a stallion on the moon keep his mane short?"

"Please don't tell me."

"Eclipse it, o'course," the Earth pony said with a satisfied nod.

Luna curled into a ball and rolled over, her sides shaking, "Such awful puns. Why am I laughing!?"

"Because I'm... uh... what was it... oh right, I'm wreakin' horrible vengeance upon you. And now for the final blow!" Applejack paused for effect, "Clop clop!"

The princess looked up at her tormentor in stunned disbelief. That joke form had been begging for a merciful death since long before her imprisonment on the moon.

The Earth pony's brow furrowed and mock impatience filled her voice, "I said 'clop clop'! I know you know the response, I can see it in your eyes. Clop. Clop."

Luna, resigned to her fate, responded, "Who's there?"

Applejack uttered a single, grave syllable, "Ya."

With a sigh and a shake of her head, the princess said, "Ya who?" and winced in anticipation.

"Don't go cheerin' yet, I ain't even finished with the joke!"

Luna went limp on the ground, "I think that one actually killed me. Is this what death feels like?"

Applejack put a hoof on the alicorn's shoulder and puffed out her chest in a triumphant pose, "I've slain the prankster. My vengeance... uh... I got it. Got vengeance. Is that right? Whatever."

The princess chuckled appreciatively, "You have great delivery; why don't you tell good jokes instead of using your powers for evil?"

"'Cause I learn most of my jokes from Pinkie Pie. And they don't got to be good, sugar cube. You just gotta laugh. I like when you laugh; you should do it more."

Luna smiled up at Applejack. "I should."

Sugar cube... she could get used to that.