The night Celestia disappeared was the worst Comet had experienced in a very long time. The alicorn had visited her the evening before, not long before she departed for Ponyville. Worry and sorrow twisted the alicorn's face, and she filled the silence with tea and small talk, before Comet finally coaxed the problem from her.
Celestia told her everything.
The winged mare stared at the princess incredulously. That she had been making such plans for more than twenty years, with not a soul growing wise, was incredible. What was even more incredible was the sheer insanity of the scheme.
“Princess, I know surrendering worked once before, but you can’t risk it. Don’t do this again.”
“I know, my friend, but this time, I’ve already lost.” Celestia sighed. “I lost a thousand years ago, to be honest. But I have laid the pieces in place, and all I can do now is hope.”
“At least take an extra retinue of guards with you. I’m sure Shining Armor would go himself. Tartarus, I'll go!”
“You misunderstand. There will not be a battle. Anypony that stands against Nightmare Moon will die, including myself. I will not have it. I will face her alone and receive my punishment. Everything rests on my little protégé .”
“You’re really going to send Twilight Sparkle into such a dangerous place?” Comet scowled. An old fury rose in her chest. “She’s just a girl.”
“So were you, once.” The mare smiled -- it was cracked and full of holes. “I believe she has more than a chance, dear friend. I believe this is what she is supposed to do. She will accomplish what I could not.”
“Do you really think Princess Luna can be saved?”
“I have to believe, Miss Shimmer. I have to…” The fury died like a candle in a typhoon. Comet placed a hoof across her back and felt her shaking.
“What do you need me to do, Celestia?” The chiroptequus had grown rather used to Celestia’s appreciative smiles over the years.
“Help the others watch over the city. Captain Armor will be able to rally the guards and keep the populace safe, but he will need your guidance. Look after them for me, Comet Shimmer,” a tear rolled down the alicorn’s cheek, “and forgive an old mare her mistakes.”
Comet wiped the tear away and smiled. “I won’t fail.”
For the first time in twenty years, Captain Comet Shimmer bore a suit of armor. She looked herself over in the mirror, frowning apprehensively. They had made some changes since last she had worn the plate, but it was honestly more comfortable for them. Streaks of silver cut through her midnight blue mane now, but Lily assured her it was becoming, “like a shower of meteors in a night sky.” Some of the others complained of aging joints now and again, and time was no kinder to Comet, but she had continued to do some of her drills for reasons even she could not explain. And her eyes, as bright a gemstones, had not failed her in the slightest. With “Auntie Shimmer” at their side, Shining Armor and Princess Cadance watched over the city for what would come to be known as The Long Night.
But the dawn came again, albeit almost a day late, and Canterlot was no worse for it. The armor returned to its mannequin unscratched, and her duties resumed upon the princess’s return.
At least, she expected them to.
Princess Celestia had a new case for her to take on. “I need you to attend somepony for a time. I cannot say how long, but this is not a task I would give to anypony. I know you are more than capable.”
“...Did it work, Princess?"
“Yes,” Celestia whispered. She could hardly believe it, but her hopes had been answered. Luna had come back to her. Her alabaster body shook with equal parts joy and fear, and Comet rubbed her back in silence.
~*~
The mare sat in her office, a fair sized room in the corner of the archives, and checked off a list by candlelight. She did not need the candle, not in the light of the full moon, but it provided a beacon for any of the guards that might come patrolling at night. And while she would never admit it, the light served to keep the shadows at bay, as it always had. An army of framed photos adorned one side of her desk: her friends from younger days, their children at various ages, her with Night Light and Twilight Velvet’s two kids, and her brother and his family; She liked to think she was never too far from any of them.
Comet had to admit, she was disappointed she was never able to attend Lily and Tail’s wedding. They were friends still, for certain, and the three of them would happily spend time together whenever they could, but it just never clicked between the two of them. Lily would sometimes give her a ribbing, saying it was because she could never decide between him and his sister. Her brother did find a sweet earth pony years later, much to her relief; her mum was getting a bit antsy for some grandfoals. The indigo mare was sure she made a better aunt than a mother. Meanwhile, Lily had stampeded her way through the Cloudsdale Weather Department within only a couple years. Last Comet had heard, her closest friend had been promoted to Chief Storm Developer and Quarterer.
The pegasus would write her all the time about the goings on of their friends in the Capitale della Pegasi, and the chiroptequus would write her all the time about their “adventures” in the actual capital. Not surprisingly, Lily was more interested in her travels. The pink pegasus was the only one that age couldn’t seem to catch up to; whenever Comet saw her, she was still just as rambunctious, just as full of fire. The indigo mare would not have had it any other way. She glanced fondly at the photo of the two of them, leaning on each other and laughing over some long forgotten joke, before returning to her planning. She would have to make a trip out to the cloud city and share a bottle of Cloudsdale Gold with the rowdy pegasus some time soon. Unfortunately, that would have to wait.
The pronghorn delegation would be arriving in a few days, and since her charge had not appeared since her assignment, Comet had continued to act as Princess Celestia’s advisor. Patience, the alicorn had advised, so Comet was patient. A week, two, and still nothing, but it was not like she was without anything else to do. Comet sighed with satisfaction and set down her quill. She’d have to find some moongrass to offer to the delegation, but she had no doubt the meeting would be a resounding success.
The whipping of rustled pages from outside shot lightning through Comet Shimmer’s blood. In a heartbeat, she was out of her chair, wings flared and fangs bared. “Who’s there?” she shouted. Granted, she was in Canterlot Castle, the safest place in the city, but nopony else was supposed to be in the archives at this time of night. The guards has already made their rounds over an hour ago. The mare crept out of her office and along the base of a shelf, peering over the tops of bindings as she hunted her quarry. Her mind conjured the smooth reflection off of black chitin, the soft glow of even, green eyes leering at her between the shelves.
In the silence far from the candlelight, where only the silver moon reigned, turquoise eyes met her tangerine slits. A gasp broke the still night, and the figure started down the shelves for the door. Comet vaulted after the pony in pursuit, and was pleased to find how easy it was to outrun the trespasser. She jumped out in front of the mysterious pony, and her breath caught in her throat.
The crystal-eyed pony, a tangle of deep blue legs and wings from stumbling backward in surprise, was a fair deal taller than the mare. A fluted horn poked out from sky blue locks that gently billowed on a calm stellar breeze. The eyes returned, not full of fear, but of surprise. The pony scrambled to right herself in front of the stunned mare.
“Princess Luna?” Comet whispered.
The alicorn froze. "You know of us?”
“I-yes. My name is Comet Shimmer. I’m… your attendant, actually.” Comet eased closer and helped Luna to her hooves. “Forgive me for startling you. I don't get many visitors this late, and I was not expecting anypony to be here.”
“There is nothing to forgive. We should not have been sneaking around,” Luna replied. “But we have seen so little of the castle, and we felt it best to explore when nopony else would be awake. We have been… hesitant to make our presence known since our return.” Comet was not aware anypony used the Royal We anymore.
“You don’t say?” Comet laughed sarcastically. “I’m supposed to be helping you with whatever you need, but I haven’t seen hide nor hair of you for weeks.” Luna’s ears flattened against her head. Comet chided herself. “...Forgive me, Princess. I got my job for being frank, and old habits die hard.”
“And what is it that you do?” Princess Luna eyed her collar. “You are a soldier?”
“Only in title, really. I served in the Draconic War, you see, but I haven’t used a glaive or sabre since. Now I’m an advisor to Celestia. It’s paperwork, mostly, but I always preferred a quill to a blade anyway.”
“We see… So you work with our sister?” Oh great, thin ice so quickly. Princess Luna seemed to have a keen ability for picking out choice words, Comet noted. The chiroptequus started into a mental list of ways to diffuse the situation before the princess could leave. The alicorn started at the sudden tension between the two of them. “Forgive us. We have tried hard to mend our relationship with our sister, but there is more to … address than either of us realized. It has been a very long time coming.”
Comet frowned, and chose the honest option. “No need to apologize, Princess. And yes, I’ve worked with your sister for many years. Celestia helped me when I was in a difficult place. She asked me to be your attendant, just after you returned, and that I might help you however I can. I guess you could consider it paying the debt forward,” Comet smiled to herself. “When you didn’t appear, I was told to give you time. Maybe I should have known otherwise. In hindsight, I should have tried to reach out to you more.”
“It is quite alright,” Luna studied her insignia, “Captain?” Comet nodded. Had they not changed their insignias in a millenium? “We likely would not have answered even if you had come to see us in our chambers. Our recovery since our return has been slow going, and we are still unsure of what we might do.”
“Your recovery?”
“Yes.” Luna’s eyes found the floor. “The events leading up to our return left us with next to no power to speak of. No magic, no flight -- we have only just recently been able to raise the moon again, and still we need help.” Her shoulders slumped. “Is it more demeaning to be treated like a porcelain figure, or to be as weak and fragile as one?”
Comet placed a hood tentatively on Luna’s shoulder. The alicorn started a touch, but did not pull away. “But you’re recovering, yes? You’re stronger now than you were?” The alicorn nodded. “Then give it time. I’m here to help you, and I’m sure Celestia is as well. And if anypony in the castle gives you trouble, you can tell me, alright?” The mare’s smile faltered when the princess did not return the gesture. “Unless that’s not the only problem?”
The alicorn chose her words slowly. “When we… changed, before, we would like to say there was a line -- a distinction between us and what we became. But thinking on it, we cannot find any such division. And still we find ourselves angry, at ourselves, at our sister, at… so many things. It is yet unclear whether we are truly freed. We used the term ‘hesitant’ before, but in truth it is more…”
“‘Afraid?’” Comet Shimmer offered. Luna nodded. “Celestia told me what happened back then. I can understand why you’d be afraid.”
“She told you of us?”
“She said you were a kind, caring mare who loved to make beautiful nights.” Comet shifted on her hooves. “She’d tell me a bit of when you two were children, the kind of adventures you had. She told me about you, Princess Luna, not about the legends. I know that the real you and the thing in the storybooks are different. I’m not afraid of you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“So she did not tell you of our… anger?” Luna rubbed her foreleg nervously.
“She did, when I insisted,” Comet frowned. “and it was years before she really told me anything. That was a very long night. It was obvious how much she hated herself for what happened, and talking about it made her remember everything… I’ve only seen her cry once.” Comet paused and shook the image away. “But I had to know.”
“Why is that?” Luna glanced at her attendant curiously, almost desperately. She was waiting, Comet felt, for the answer that would prove the chiroptequus could be trusted. She flipped through the reasons she could give, answers that would open the princess to her.
“...A pony falls down a hole and can’t get out.” Luna cocked her head in confusion, but the mare continued. “A doctor passes by the hole, and the pony shouts up, ‘Doc, I’m stuck down here. Can you help me up?’ The doctor writes a prescription for something and tosses it in the hole before moving on. Then a shaman walks by the hole. ‘Good shaman,’ the pony calls, ‘I’m stuck in this hole, can you help me?’ the shaman says an incantation and moves on. Finally, a friend comes by. ‘Hey bud, it’s me. I’m stuck down here, can you help me out?’ So the friend jumps in the hole next to him. ‘What are you doing?’ The pony says. ‘Now we’re both stuck in here.’
“‘Yeah, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.’” Comet smiled. A hint of a smile pulled at the alicorn’s lips. “I’ve seen the bottom, Princess. I may not have suffered as you did, but I know what it’s like down there. I got out, but I needed help. I want to be able to do that for you. Whatever you need, just tell me. I’ll see it done.”
“If you would like,” the midnight blue pony started slowly, “you may address us without our title, when it is just us. You do so in regards to our sister, after all.”
“I’d like that, Luna.” The smile on her princess’s face grew. “Do you have anything planned for tonight?”
“We are afraid not. We may have returned, but as we are yet recovering our strength, there are not yet any duties for us to return to.” Comet couldn’t tell if she was pleased or annoyed by that. "And so much is different now. The nights are just teeming with energy. It is so refreshing. Would that we could say the same of the new technology around the castle."
The mare laughed. "I didn't think of that... Now that you mention it, you'd never seen this castle before your banishment, have you?"
"Alas, we had not. Canterlot was but a small fortress town when... back then. We posses a map of the city and the grounds, but this is only our third night of exploration."
“You’ve gone around, undetected, for three nights?” The alicorn nodded. “I might need to have a word with the Castle Guard. So how much have you explored?”
“Little and less, we are afraid.” The areas marked off could not have comprised more than a tenth of the entire grounds.
“Well we'll work on that." Comet smiled. "For right now, I think a snack and some coffee is in order. After all, I know a fair am ount about you,but I imagine you know nothing about me, and food and drink are wonderful things to converse over. How’s that for a plan?” The princess nodded, so they started for the door. “Would you like to hear a story, Luna?”
“A story would be lovely.” The pair made their way out into the hall, where the moonlight was bright as day. Everything shone in sparkling silver, and in the distance, the gold and blue lights of Canterlot glittered like stars. Amongst them, ponies partied, drank, studied, performed, and made the most of their lives. It was everything the younger alicorn could have hoped for, everything she had desired all those centuries ago. As soon as she had her bearings within the castle, she knew she would have to explore the world of the night her ponies had made in her absence. But right now, Luna’s focus was fixed on her attendant.
Like shadows on a silver sea, the two mares made their way to the kitchens as Comet began. “This is the story,” she started, “of a stupid little filly, and a foolish decision she made. And it’s about how the love of her friends saved her life.”