Dear Princess Celestia,
My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: Never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your "cover" is; it’s the "contents" of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
Dear Princess Celestia,
It's hard to believe that two ponies who seem to have so little in common could ever get along. But I found out that if you embrace each other's differences, you'd just might be surprised to discover a way to be friends after all.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
Dearest Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that it's hard to accept when somepony you like wants to spend time with somepony who's not so nice. Though it's impossible to control who your friends hang out with, it is possible to control your own behavior. Just continue to be a good friend. In the end, the difference between a false friend and the one who is true will surely come to light.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
A small sigh escaped Dusk’s lips, nostalgia that was not her own sweeping over her. “You remember when you wrote these, don’t you.” She rolled up the letters and placed them gently back in Celestia’s drawer, handling them with great care; as though they would crumble into dust if she so much as touched them.
“I certainly do, though I have no business knowing.” Dusk closed the drawer gently, and turned around.
Even despite her changes to the rest of Canterlot Castle, Celestia’s room had remained untouched. And she had to admit; she wouldn’t want to change it now. The walls were a beautiful, evening blue with darker clouds swirling across the surface and blue shooting stars painted on one wall. The grand fireplace was certainly a sight to behold, being slightly rounded in shape with a golden crown carved into the top; the rest of it was a lovely lavender color, elaborate carvings etched into the smooth surface. A red floor-pillow sat near the fireplace with a rolled up, golden-blanket-like pillow on one side – a place for Celestia to sit and relax when she could.
The bed was much like Luna’s, a massive canopy bed with silky curtains falling over the sides. The bed itself was golden; the canopy a pale pink, almost white; just like Celestia’s coat. The pillows were purple, with a golden one as well, Celestia’s Cutie-Mark embroidered on the front. The blankets shared the same color scheme.
She felt emotions of mixed hatred and love fill her chest, and she sucked in a deep breathe, held it, and let it out slowly.
“You miss her,” she said regretfully. She stepped out on Celestia’s balcony; looking at the pitch black horizon. “It couldn’t hurt…” she closed her eyes, head lowering. Her horn started to glow magenta, her heart started to flutter….
~~
“What do you mean ‘it won’t work?’ Everypony else agreed!” Pinkie Pie cried in Shining Armor’s face. The stallion took a startled step back, bumping into one of the library’s bookshelf.
“Pinkie,” he told her, “Even with one of us as a distraction there’s no way all six of us could sneak into the castle without being noticed, and set everything up without anyone noticing.”
“I have my party cannon!” Pinkie interjected, pulling the cannon out of thin air as if to prove it. “This baby gets the party started in seconds! Even though setting up the party yourself is much more fun,” she added to herself.
“That still doesn’t help the ‘sneaking in six ponies’ part,” he sighed. Pinkie opened her mouth to argue, stopped, closed her mouth, stroked her chin with a hoof, produced a mustache from nowhere and placed it on her muzzle, opened her mouth, stopped, and sighed. “Okay, okay, I’ll think of something else!” Pinkie trotted off, mumbling new plans to herself. Cadance stepped towards her husband and sighed sadly, “It did seem like a good idea at the time.”
“A party? I still don’t get it,” Shining said.
“It’s Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash said. “Just go with it, and usually it works. Usually.” The cyan Pegasus fluttered down towards them, the other ponies following.
Cadance stared off into space, deep in thought. The others shifted awkwardly, and Shining Armor wrapped a hoof around her shoulders. “What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“What? Oh…” she shrugged. “Sorry, I just… zoned out for a moment.”
There was a long silence, before all the ponies – including Pinkie jumped nearly out of their skins when a fierce knock rattled the door. Without waiting for an answer, the door swung open, and a pony stepped in.
“Hello, is anypony… An I interrupting something?” the confused mare registered the shocked expressions all but Cadance and Shining Armor gave her.
~~
Blinding light, brilliant warmth, Nightmare Dusk felt as though the dancing elements within would tear her apart. The moon was so much different, a cool surface; easy to move, to visit.
The sun was entirely different in every conceivable way. It was massive, for one thing. Much, much bigger than the cold, smooth surface of the moon. Hot plasma made Dusk’s metaphorical insides feel as though they would burst; the magnetic fields were almost too much to bear. The solar wind that made Celestia’s mane blow so beautifully all the time felt like it would push Dusk’s conscious clear out of existence. The fact that the sun wasn’t even really solid made Dusk cringe, as though the gravity would simultaneously stop working and all the chemicals and elements of the celestial body would scatter away. And yet Dusk moved onward, the sun was so much farther away than the moon…
But the alicorn refused to stop going forward, her ethereal form left unharmed by what would have killed a living pony in seconds; even though she felt like she would die right there. She moved, traveled, searched…
‘Nightmare Moon’
The hideously angelic voice assaulted metaphorical eardrums, and yet as much hate is it derived from Dusk; it derived just as much adoration.
‘Celestia,’ she replied tartly. Their voices echoed in all directions, coming from everywhere and nowhere. ‘Dusk is what we are called now.’
‘…Nightmare Dusk?’
‘…We would prefer just… Dusk.’
‘I see.’ The voice held no anger, or accusatory tone. It held… pain, sadness. Dusk wondered if Celestia had been aware of how much time had passed since her imprisonment.
When she had been one with Luna, she only had a small idea of how much time had passed; she would know how many days had passed when she felt Celestia raise the moon. But she had not raised the sun since imprisoning Celestia; she had no way of knowing how much time had passed.
‘Celestia…’ Dusk started,
‘You sound just like Twilight.’ Celestia stated as though Dusk wasn’t aware of that. ‘…Why have you visited me?’
Dusk remained silent, having no clear answer. Various thoughts crossed her mind before she settled on an answer; ‘Part of me misses you.’
Celestia didn’t answer, as though expecting Dusk to continue, so she did; ‘I don’t miss you, but she does. We visit together; I bring us here for her sake.’
‘I… see. How much time has passed? Centuries?’
‘Only a few months,’ Dusk replied.
‘You visit me so early?’ Celestia said softly. Dusk got the impression that Celestia had something else to say, but was holding it back.
‘How does it feel?’ Dusk inquired. ‘Trapped, having no clear idea how much time has passed? When you may be free again? Whether you will be freed at all?’
Celestia was silent for a long time. ‘…Twilight, I have missed you.’
I’ve missed you too, Princess…
Dusk felt her consciousness moving forward, and met with another. Two ethereal bodies embraced, Celestia’s unbearably hot; and Dusk’s icy cold; and a third: a warm spark.
It was almost as though they melded together, no solid bodies preventing them from doing so. And then Dusk pulled away.
‘Will you raise me, my sun, just once more across Equestria?’ Celestia asked tentatively.
‘Farewell, Celestia.’ And Dusk’s mind pulled back, away; towards earth, towards home.