The Darkest Day of Her Life

by Muddy Waters

Chapter One

In the darkest hour of the night Celestia found her sister exactly where she had hoped she would not be, yet again. There was no doubting the beauty of the royal gardens, even at night, especially while the night-blooming flowers were in their full and fragrant splendour. The gentle babble of the fountains sung a peaceful ballad to perfect a scene of harmony and meditation.

But this did not change the fact that Luna sought out this quiet corner of the garden for self-pity and indulgence, as Celestia saw it.

“Following me again, sister?” Luna asked.

Celestia stepped silently off the path and crossed the grass to sit beside her.

“I worry for you,” Celestia admitted, laying a wing across her sister’s shoulders, “I know it must be hard for you, and Nightmare Night could hardly have gone worse, but nothing will change if you continue to hide yourself away here.”

Luna sniffed indignantly and turned her head away. “I am not hiding.”

“Running away, then, whatever you like to call it.”

“Why is that so terrible?” Luna shrugged off her sister’s wing and stood up to face her. “The ponies will not learn to love me in a day or a week. Why can I not wait out the meantime with memories of better times? And better ponies,”

Luna cast her gaze up at the statue that stood over them. A pegasus bowed to her from atop a plinth, its face hidden behind its mane and its wings partially spread. The placard affixed to it had faded beyond recognition and the stone showed years of wear from wind and rain. Its place in the garden was often looked over in favour of the grander works of art located closer to the castle.

Celestia looked up at the stone figure prostrated before her and weighed the price of the truth against her sister’s happiness, not for the first time. It was the expression on Luna’s face, the war of guilt and yearning being fought in her dark eyes, that finally swayed her decision.

“Luna,” Celestia began, in a voice so soft it was barely a whisper, “that is no statue.”

“What do you mean?” Luna replied, frowning down at her. She stepped closer to the sculpture and rapped her hoof against the pegasus’ stone leg. It produced a dull clunk, just as expected. “Is it not stone?”

Celestia shook her head sadly. “Do you remember our fight with Discord, all those years ago?”

“Of course,” Luna directed a scowl over her shoulder to where the chaos spirit’s statue had stood for a thousand years, until he broke free. “He mocked us to the end. But how does that have anything to do with this statue?”

Celestia got slowly to her feet so that she was at eye level with the stone pegasus. She could not look her sister in the eye at that moment. “I must have spent moons trying to change her mind, but she would not be swayed. I almost had no choice but to cast the spell.”

It took Luna only a few seconds to realise what Celestia was saying. The impact of it left her breathless, and horrified.

“How could you condemn her like that?” she demanded.

Celestia shut her eyes tightly and let the verbal assault find its mark, as she knew it would. She had been expecting this argument from the moment Luna returned to her. Unfortunately, weeks of preparation had not prepared her.

“We entombed Discord as punishment!” Luna cried, her eyes shining with renewed grief, “How could you let my closest friend choose a thousand years of lifeless stone and loneliness?”

“She demanded it,” Celestia sighed, turning away, “all for your sake.”

Luna’s fury stalled for a moment, but only a moment. “And did you tell her this is the last thing I could have ever wanted for her?”

“I tried every argument I could think of.” Celestia peeked at her sister from behind her mane. “Were you happier thinking she had died a thousand years ago?”

Luna stepped back, obviously torn. Her eyes darted at the statue and for a moment Celestia thought Luna was going to cry. She moved to embrace her and felt only a momentary resistance from her sister, but no tears came. There were no sobs to be heard, nor a tremor to be felt. Luna leant silently into her sister and made one last demand for the night.

“You have to let her out.”

Celestia murmured her agreement. “I shall send for the bearers of the elements in the morning.”

Author's Note:

Thanks to Silvadel for sparking the idea for a sequel!