For Her
I want to preface this with two things. First the usual: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro, Lauren Faust, etc. They are great folks to have given us such a great little show. Second, the dedication: This story struck me in the midst of looking up fan-made music, images and accompanying PMVs, and to that end I have to give direct thanks to thetrueawesemokenzie for their Celestia's Remorse video, recycletiger on Deviantart for their Lunatic image, johnjoseco on Deviantart for ALL their pony artwork, but most specifically the After The Banishment image, and Egophiliac for their “When She Loved Me” PMV about Celestia and Luna.
Without these fans, this little work of mine would absolutely not exist. So thanks. As to the rest of you, I hope you enjoy.
For Her
“ Lost in the darkness,
silence surrounds you.
Once there was morning,
now, endless night.
I will find the answer.
I'll never desert you.
I promise you this,
'till the day that I...” - Jekyll & Hyde
Celestia trotted through the corridors of the castle, humming softly to herself. It was the dim hours of the morning, just before the Summer Sun Celebration was to begin. She and Luna were due at the platform in scant hours, and she had not seen her sister yet. Luna always woke much earlier than she – the night was hers after all, and over time her younger sister had taken to spending more of her waking hours in it – but this was approaching strange. Luna had not been out in Canterlot mingling with the populace, and she had not been in any of the usual places the sisters spent their time. She finally found the younger alicorn in her room (though Celestia was certain she'd checked there before), sitting in the dark in front of her mirror.
“ There you are, Luna! Come now, we have to hurry or we'll be la-”
Something made the words die on Celestia's tongue. Just a glimpse in Luna's mirror, hard to make out in the dim light. Something...wrong with her little sister's reflection, subtle but startling. She couldn't quite...
And then Luna was turning about and walking toward her, and it was just her beautiful little sister. Just a trick of the shadow, then. She couldn't help the small sigh of relief she breathed anyway.
“ Well, Celestia? You were just saying, we'll be late if we don't hurry.”
Luna had walked past her into the hall. Celestia blinked, then nodded. “Yes, of course. Coming!” a cheerful tone in answer, half to try and perk Luna's own, which was oddly dour and curt. She gave a last glance to the mirror as she turned to follow the slightly smaller alicorn. Then shook her head and hurried after her. Just a trick of the shadow.
******
The dawn came gloriously. It was some of her best work yet, Celestia thought, as she drifted back to the ground while the gathered ponies cheered. She smiled for them, and then turned to look at Luna with a slightly less decorous grin: they'd established a tradition of both standing with wings spread and heads high after dawn and dusk on this day, showing the people their princesses united in harmony. The look would be the signal for Luna to come forward and join her on the platform, as it had been for years now.
Normally, Luna hopped eagerly to her place at Celestia's side. This time though, her younger sister wasn't even watching when Celestia turned to her. In fact, Luna's head was turned away from her elder sister and the entire scene; she appeared to be staring angrily at something on the ground. It made Celestia pause and blink again in surprise, and after several awkward seconds, urgently whisper her sister's name.
“ Luna!”
No response.
“ Luna, come on!”
The younger alicorn looked to her finally. But instead of the smile that typically accompanied this moment, her face held a stony, dour expression even more pronounced than the one she'd had hours ago in the castle. Luna beat her wings once to reach the platform, and Celestia turned so they could present themselves to the assembled crowd together.
Luna never smiled. And as soon as they'd lowered their wings, her younger sister was off again, hopping off the platform and trotting away. Celestia tried calling after her, but then the crowd was coming forward, pressing her with praise and adoration. She couldn't very well leave them, it would be uncouth. But she found herself starting to worry for her sister, even as she looked away to give her typical responses to the praise.
********
“ Princess Celestia, is Princess Luna goin' t' be about b'fore nighttime?”
Celestia looked with surprise down at the little foal asking her the question. He was an adorable creature, with his wide, deep blue eyes, blue-black coat, and little wings. Oh, and he already had his mark! A starfield showed prominently on his flank, very surprising in one so young. And brave, to approach one of the princesses. Much more so than the other foals who were obviously his friends, hiding several dozen yards back behind a tree. She smiled, turning to look down at him directly.
“ We are afraid We cannot say, young colt. Dost thou have a message for Our sister?”
The child cowered a bit himself now ( the traditional royal Canterlot voice tended to have that effect, close up. Celestia was really starting to reconsider its use), before visibly steeling himself and standing to his full (quite short) height.
“ Just to please tell her that I 'n my friends think she's wonderful, an even though our parents don't let us stay up after nighttime, we're gonna form a group jus' for her!”
Celestia's smile turned from amused to touched. All the times Luna had lamented to her about ponies not appreciating her night. This would be a delightful thing to be able to tell her. She nodded at the little foal.
“ We shall do this. And who might We say is the bearer of this message of adoration?”
The child blinked up at her in confusion for a few seconds, and then realization clicked his large eyes wide, and his grin returned.
“Polaris, ma'am! Princess! Ma'am! Ummm...”
Celestia giggled.
“ Polaris, then. Our sister shall know of thy devotion as soon as We can tell her of it.”
His grin got even wider. Celestia could see where his name had come from. Those eyes sparkled like stars.
“ Thank you Princess Celestia!”
The little pegasus bowed, and then half-ran, half-stumblingly-flew back to his friends, breathlessly exclaiming about his exchange. Celestia watched them for a few moments, then turned away to sweep her gaze over the crowd of assembled ponies, smile slipping a little. She would tell Luna at the earliest opportunity, but she shouldn't have to. Her sister should have been at or near her side the whole day, save for the portion of it she was asleep, to accommodate her different waking habits. But she had barely caught a glimpse of Luna since that morning. The last time she'd seen her at all had been hours ago, sitting under the shade of a large tree and apparently...glaring at the thronging herd of ponies. It was not like Luna to behave this way. It worried her.
*********
A worry only made worse when the day came to an end, and it came time for Luna to step in and perform her role. She'd appeared from nowhere – literally, teleporting into place right next to Celestia, and then walking past her toward the platform, with its stylized sun-ring now replaced by a crescent moon. Celestia didn't even get the chance to tell her about the foal and his friends.
Luna had ascended the few steps to the top of the dais, spread her wings as her horn had shimmered to life...and then paused. Looking out over the drowsy crowd assembled. It was always this way: most foals were exhausted and sleeping by the time moonrise came 'round, and many ponies were just as tired from the festivities of the day, and having stayed up the previous night to watch Celestia raise the sun. A sea of sleepy faces and half-shut eyes greeted Luna, as it always did. But as opposed to smiling (or sighing, as she had in recent years) and bearing it, Luna's face...twisted, in anger. Her horn blazed bright for just a moment, and the moon shot into view with none of the younger alicorn's usual art and grandeur. A murmur of confusion ran through the crowd. Magnified when Luna turned and leaped up into the air, flying back toward the castle without even waiting for the applause.
Celestia was rapidly moving beyond worried. As she lifted into the air after her sister, calling her name, she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. That young pegasus with the starfield mark had somehow snuck his way to the front of the crowd, directly in front of the dais. He had such a crestfallen look on his face.
*******
“ Luna, wait a moment! What was that, back there? What happened?”
Celestia's voice echoed through the empty castle halls. Most of the servants were asleep at this hour, only those responsible for setting things in order for the nighttime still moving through the building. Outside the windows, a sliver of orange dusk still showed on the horizon, left there after Luna's incomplete raising of the moon. Celestia could have finished the task herself, but to do so would have been to impose on her sister's role, a thing beyond uncouth. And she was in any case far too worried about Luna right now to more than note the fact in passing. Still, seeing orange and yellow light below a bright moon at this hour was...bizarre. It made her uncomfortable, and helped to make everything else about the current situation the same. The way her voice echoed, the way her sister marched ahead of her without even looking back to acknowledge her presence.
That strange frightening thing she'd seen that morning in Luna's mirror stood out in her mind. It was silly, but she half-expected Luna to turn about and find her eyes were...
“ I think I shall not lower the moon, come dawn.”
Celestia actually had to stop and think about what her sister had said before she could respond. In the back of her mind, she noticed they'd reached the throne room. The sense of wrongness felt even stronger now, as she teleported in front of the younger alicorn. Smiling, hoping that Luna had just been joking. What she'd said was -
“ Luna, that's mad. You can't keep the moon up forever, it would plunge the land into eternal night! Just imagine!”
“ Imagine what, Celestia?”
Something about the way Luna said her name, the searing near-mockery in it, made Celestia back up a step.
“ Imagine that for once your precious daytime might NOT come around when everypony is set to revel and play again? Imagine that they might have to move through my night, and so a little of that adoration they all heap on you might be skimmed away? Oh yes, we can't have that, can we?!”
“Luna, what are y-”
“SHUT UP!”
Celestia jerked backwards as if her sister had struck her. And in the momentary silence, Luna continued, yelling now. Body lowering toward a crouch, as if she was set to attack her older sister.
“ Always loving you, adoring you and your great work. Well I will not stand for it any more, sister!”
“ L-Luna, what are you saying?”
Her sister was so angry. Angrier than the time Celestia had accidentally torn her favorite doll, practicing levitating it above her horn. Angrier than any fight they'd ever had. But this was more than a sisterly fight. This was a kind of being mad Celestia had never even thought of before. It frightened her.
But not as much as what happened next. The way the light flared in Luna's eyes, unnatural even for magic. She'd always envied her sister her beautiful blue coat (although she'd never have said that, of course), and so when the horrid, too-dark black began to crawl across it, she couldn't help her voice pitching up into a scream.
“Luna! What's wrong, what's h-happening?!”
“ I will not!”
“ LUNA!”
There was a terrible sound, like the the sky cracking open. Like a dirge made of thunder.
*******
She lay in the midst of the broken masonry and rock dust, and coughed, whimpering as she tried to stagger back up onto shaky hooves. Through the smoke, the thing that was not her sister walked toward her, horrible snake-slit eyes burning in the dark.
“ They will all love me now, Celestia. There will be no more of your disgusting daytime, no more foul sunlight to obscure my glory. An endless, perfect night, unmarred by the vile dawn.”
She and Luna had fought about this of course; little arguments here and there, the way sisters would. She couldn't help it that everypony played and worked during the day, and slept through the night! They both had important roles, and neither of them would ever willingly try to completely supplant the other. Day and night were part of a cycle, one that helped all living things renew themselves and thrive. An endless night would see plants withering and dying, and shortly after see ponies doing the same. Just the way an endless day would have the same effect. Luna knew that.
But the thing stalking towards her from the shadows did not care. Celestia stood on her hooves, and looked weakly around the room she'd been thrown into. Something sparked in the feeble light that crept in past the terrible monster.
The Elements of Harmony. They were in the holding chamber for the Elements of Harmony. The battle with Discord flashed through her head, the madness all about them and the blaze of the Elements, the spell Luna had thought of cast between them. The sheer power of the Elements. What that power could do.
“Goodbye, sister.”
The thing sneered the word, rearing above her. Somehow, Celestia found the strength to leap out of the way, beating her wings to carry herself away from hooves that came down so hard they sent cracks spidering through the stone a dozen feet in every direction. She landed among the Elements in a tumble. Her right wing felt...wrong, hurt so badly. But she stood, and turned toward the creature as it laughed at her.
The Elements flared bright. The laughter stopped. Whatever the nightmare before her was, it knew the things Luna did. It understood what the Elements could do.
“ NO!”
In her mind, Celestia saw a single bright image, her and her sister laughing as they flew about the castle towers, playing tag at dawn.
There was a terrible, beautiful sound, like the whole world singing one long, high note. Like a chorus formed of searing light.
**********
When the sound and light stopped, she thought she had failed. It was so dark. Rumbling sounded from far off, yet all around, a sound she had come to realize - over the last eternity of hours in her mad struggle against the nightmare - was stone collapsing on itself. The darkness, no, the smoke, began to clear.
“L...Luna?”
She went to raise her wings, but the right refused to move, and she found herself whimpering again at the effort. As if in response though, a breeze gusted up from the east, pushing the smoke away further.
“Luna...Sister?”
The Elements lay scattered in the ruined ground around her, dim now. Where the nightmare...Moon, it had called itself Nightmare Moon...where it had stood, there was nothing. She was alone.
High above, the full moon grew dim in the burgeoning rays of dawn. But she could see the new shape etched onto its surface all too well. The tears felt somehow hotter than the pain in her wing.
“ Sister...Sister I'm sorry!”
No answer came; even the stones had grown silent. The moon simply waned dimmer in the growing light. Her voice broke and tumbled over the next words, while her tears scoured burning lines down her cheeks.
“ I had no choice, Luna...no choice...”
*******
She wept for days afterward. It was all she could do to drink a little water, eat a bit of apple that tasted like ashes in between sobs. She'd taken up a new bedroom in the other castle: she couldn't bear to even look at the old one, the suite of rooms she'd shared with her sister.
Eventually, she stopped crying. And then she stopped doing almost everything – she ignored her duties save for the bare minimum required, uninspired dawns that she hurried through so she could return to important matters, delegating issues of state to clerks and chancellors and other kingdom officials. The entirety of her days soon found her in the castle library, pouring over book after book, scroll after scroll. She knew what she had done, instinctively – a powerful working beyond any simple magical spell, banishing the monster that had supplanted her sister to the moon. And such grand works of magic always had attendant rules, conditions. Limits. But try as she might she could find nothing in all the library's books that could tell her the one thing she wanted to know: how to undo the spell, and bring Luna back.
She did find out what the creature she'd fought for her life against was, though. A few obscure texts told her almost everything. A demon, a creature formed of anger and resentment and negative emotion given shape and sentience. That Luna had been so angry at her, and she had not known – she did not cry only because tears would have slowed her research. And she needed to do more, for the texts did not tell her the most important thing; how to be rid of the demon, and restore her sister.
When she exhausted the library's resources twice-over, she extended her search into Equestria proper. Older libraries in far-off cities, secret places and hidden stores, near-forgotten secrets etched onto stone in lost places ponies no longer went. All of it useless. Finally, her search took her to far-off lands, and the tribes of zebra who lived in them. And it was there, in a hut decorated with masks and other strange-seeming artifacts, that she heard the prophecy.
A thousand years. That was the doom she had laid on her sister, a thousand years of imprisonment in the moon, which no force could end prematurely. She had nearly wept again to hear that, but the rest of the prophecy had forced her to stop. For at the end of those thousand years, the stars themselves would aid in her escape, and once again, no force would prevent it. The nightmare that had replaced her sister would return.
And then what? Celestia would be older, more powerful in that time, but to fight that terror again – images of the destroyed castle flickered through her mind, the forest that even now had begun to grow gnarled and twisted all around it from the energies unleashed over the course of that horrible night. And the Elements of Harmony were lost to her, the connection sundered with Luna's loss. No, she could not face Nightmare Moon again. Even were she somehow able to, to truly defeat the monster would mean...Luna...There had to be another way. Some way to free her sister from the evil that had overtaken her. But everything she studied, every lead she followed led only to the necessary destruction of Nightmare Moon. Her, or Equestria. Nowhere was any other option even hinted at.
It would have made her weep again, if tears were a thing she allowed herself any longer. But tears would not bring Luna back, and so she had discarded them. Instead, she had thrown herself into a rage, one that had seen her hurling books from the shelves in the castle library, using her magic to make a catastrophe of the room as she shrieked in anger at the hopelessness of it. It was in the aftermath, as she sat surrounded by hurricane-tossed-looking books and scrolls and parchment pages, that the High Chancellor stepped into the room, and picked his way carefully across the floor to bow and speak with her.
She told him to go away, but he insisted that his message was important. She snapped bitterly at him to hurry, glaring at a book that lay sadly splayed on the floor, like a wounded bird. The chancellor spoke, and told her of the problems in Equestria. The thrown-off time-keeping, the improperly-growing crops. The way days of constantly weak light were starting to affect the citizenry.
She'd taken over the raising of the moon and the bringing of night in her sister's absence, of course – it wasn't impossibly hard, they had more than once helped each other when the other was sick, and it was an easy if imperfect step from there to doing it on one's own. But she'd been performing Luna's duties the same way she'd been performing her own: perfunctorily, with no more effort or attention paid than it took to bring the day or night in the barest sense. And that only when she remembered to amidst her studies. And her negligence had started to show, had been showing, in the haphazard days all across Equestria, the way time could no longer be properly kept by the passage of sun and moon. She should have been shocked that she'd let things devolve to that state. But the anger was still fresh and hot in her chest, and she snapped at the Chancellor that she'd see to it when she could, and to leave. Instead, the stallion had stayed in place, and spoken very calmly.
“Forgive my boldness, Princess, but what was the point of banishing your sister - ”
She'd rounded on him them, horn flaring bright in her anger. The stallion never even batted an eye.
“ - if all the suffering you did it to prevent is going to happen anyway, because of your grief?”
And she'd stopped as surely as if his words had put reins in her mouth and yanked them. He was right, of course: the High Chancellor tended to be, he was that kind of pony. There had not been a day since that night that had been truly sunny, nor a night that had been properly cool and refreshing. She did not WANT to devote time to her duties – they would distract from research, from trying to find some way to rescue her sister. But it was necessary. She hung her head as her horn flickered out again. Proper court manners crept in, even amidst her shame.
“ Thou art right, Chancellor. We shall correct the situation immediately.”
“Excellent, Princess.”
It was necessary, so it would be done. And though she took no joy from the exuberance of the castle's inhabitants when the next day dawned with more of the old glory she'd put into her work, their cheers did at least make taking the time away from her research – as well as performing the task her sister should have been there to do – easier to bear. Day and night fell back into their proper places in Equestria, and for the people, things slid back to normal.
For Celestia, she performed her duties studiously from then onward, though with a perpetual distraction eating at her mind. She accepted the compliments about how well she did raising the moon and bringing the night in her sister's absence with as much grace and tact as she could; she'd soon mastered the trick of masking her true feelings with a believable smile and soft expression. Most of the compliments were earnest ignorance in any case, and the others well-intentioned lies. Luna had been able to make each moonrise and nightfall into a work of art, carefully crafted and beautifully executed. It was all Celestia could do to create uninspired dusks and moonrises, like the blandly functional dawns and days immediately following that awful night.
It was not their fault that they could not understand. She and Luna were tied intrinsically to their roles; without her sister there, it felt as though something indescribably precious had been damaged, half of it carved away to leave a gaping hollow wrongness that lurked always on the edge of Celestia's perception.
She had to save her sister, but everything she found said that the only way to be rid of Nightmare Moon was to destroy her. It was weeks later, cleaning up the library (she had insisted the castle servants leave it for her to do, as she had made the mess in the first place), that the answer came to her, a trick of wording in one of the oldest scrolls she'd found on the subject.
The demon calling itself Nightmare Moon had consumed Luna. But it was not her sister. The understanding that had howled like dragon roars in her head during those desperate hours of battle and terror became cool and clear in the warm daylight filtering in through a library window. For Luna to be saved, the demon had to be destroyed.
But Celestia could not do that.
She'd used the Elements of Harmony in desperation, striking out and trying to defend Equestria and herself. She hadn't wanted to slay the monster before her because it was, HAD been, her sister. Even if she could have still wielded the Elements, she couldn't have used them to slay the monster with her sister trapped within – even thinking about the idea in the library, safe in her daylight, knowing it was the only thing that might rescue Luna, made her shudder and want to retch.
But somepony else. Somepony not attached to Luna, who would act on Equestria's behalf without that block, might be able to...
But where would she find a pony with that kind of power? And one with no connection to Luna, no affection for her sister? The people loved their Princesses: even now, she knew of vigils that had been held for Luna's loss in Canterlot, candles lit at night with magic so they resembled stars. For the citizenry of Equestria to turn against their lost princess was unthinkable. And necessary if she was ever to get her sister back.
The hot, roiling thing that had twisted in her chest since the end of that night turned hard, then. For her sister to be saved, she had to see that ponies ceased thinking of her as their princess. That ponies ceased loving her. The foal from the festival with his big, bright eyes stood out in her mind.
She banished the image. It was necessary to save her sister. And so it would be done.
*******
It was easy. Rumors had started filtering out of the castle from the first day afterward: all she needed to do was let slip a few more in the right places, and have the prophecy the zebras had given her written down by certain scholars. Almost immediately the rumors took wing like a startled pegasus, as rumors were wont to do. Soon the tale had acquired its own life – instead of a desperate struggle for survival, the stories (and the art that sprang up around them) drew a picture of 'mighty and brave Princess Celestia' standing strong and battling the demon, with artistic representations of the banishment that had ended the battle.
She tolerated it all as best she could. A sincere-seeming smile here, a graceful, humble nod there. There were bumps, of course: the first time somepony dared to actually speak ill of Luna in Celestia's earshot it was all she could do not to attack them, demanding they be taken from her sight. Talking of Princess Luna at all in her presence became quietly taboo soon after that. Which was fine, as it gave her more time to turn the other pressing issue over in her head, while she smiled and nodded and occasionally focused more to give small speeches or oversee festivals.
She needed a pony powerful enough to wield the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon. But somepony like that would be one in a million, at best. Even with unicorns being the only possible candidates, she could scour Equestria for one so magically talented, devote the full resources of her kingdom to the task, and still never find them. Not to mention it would quickly have the people thinking she was some terrible dictator bent on stealing their children.
The first thing to truly distract her from that question came in the form of an ironic echo of that worry. A burgeoning uprising, in a city not far from Canterlot. A group of ponies who had somehow convinced themselves that Celestia had intentionally removed her sister from the kingdom, and had been telling the same thing to everypony they could. When she heard of it, she grew so angry that she couldn't see properly. She barely remembered ordering the group's arrest, the flight and teleportation to the town where they had been based. In fact the thing to finally snap her back to something like clarity was the sight of the group's leader.
Blue-black coat, gray mane, deep blue eyes, and a starfield on his flank. The breathless colt from the Summer Sun celebration. Though the eyes were different now, not so large in his face. And angry, fixed on her as she stopped outside the dungeon cells he and his cohorts had been stuffed into.
He was so much older; a stallion now. Had that much time really passed since that day? She forgot how short-lived other ponies were sometimes; it felt at times as though she'd blink, and children would be grown and running their parents' businesses, the parents enjoying their old age and grandparents no longer there spoken of in reverent tones. It was a hard perspective to have, on one's own. Luna would have shared it, been able to relate.
She stared at him through the cell bars for what felt a long time, before shaking herself back to sense and ordering the guards to open the door. That done, they relocated to a small room a little ways down the hall, where milky sunlight filtered down from a single barred window set high on the wall. Celestia had walked to the other side of the rough wooden table at the center of the room, and bid the guards leave. Then she'd turned to face the angry young stallion, and spoken.
“Thou hast incited rebellion in Our kingdom. 'Tis a grave crime, and thy reasoning is suspect. Canst thou truly believe We would banish Our own sister for personal gain?”
He glared at her for a second before speaking. And when he did, the sheer anger in his tone left Celestia taken aback. No one had spoken to her that way since...well, since Luna.
“ Of course! Princess Luna was devoted to her role and her people even though so few appreciated her! But everyone loved you so. You just wanted to make sure you had everyone's adoration, didn't you?”
Celestia found herself caught between fury and a heartwrenching kind of sorrow. That he could dare accuse her of such after what she'd been through, what had happened, that sparked wrath. But she could see the pain in his eyes, hear it trembling in his voice, and it kept her on the precipice between sympathy and rage. It also kept her from stopping him though, and as Luna had, he continued in her silence.
“ Admit it! You were always jealous of her! So you got rid of her, and spread this ridiculous story so that nopony would suspect you!”
That tipped her over the edge.
“ You just wanted Equestria all to yourse - ”
“SILENCE!!!”
She'd reared as she yelled it at him, slamming her hooves down onto the table so hard that the wood splintered all the way through, sawdust trickling to the ground beneath. Outside the thin window, the sunlight flared impossibly bright for a moment, as though lightning had struck right there on the road. Within the room, Celestia's horn blazed golden fire, casting sharp shadows across the space. Polaris jerked away from her, cowering back.
Celestia breathed heavily, looking into those wide, deep-blue eyes. Terror didn't suit him. Inspiring it did not suit her. She took a last trembling breath, then exhaled, her horn's light fading as she took her hooves from the small craters they'd made in the table. She turned away from him then, to look out the narrow window at the sky above – from this angle at this hour, she could almost make out the approaching dusk. And she told him everything. Starting from the time she'd taken off after Luna at the festival, going through every detail she remembered of the frantic fight for her life against Nightmare Moon, through what she had done in the years following, up to when she had realized what it would take to bring Luna back. And then from her setting her plans in motion to now. She turned to face him again as she finished, and for the first time in years there were tears just faintly stinging her eyes, though she would not let them fall.
Polaris looked back at her with a sympathy and sorrow that very nearly overrode her refusal to cry.
“ I understand, princess. I...I'm sorry, for making it harder. You can consider our, um...'uprising' at an end.”
“ Thank you, Polaris. But...” It twisted at her insides, what she had to say next. “You understand We...I, cannot just let this whole thing go by unaddressed. If the people see rebellions starting, it could -”
“ You don't have to say anything more.”
He was smiling at her now, full of understanding, and Celestia couldn't decide if that made what she had to do better or worse. The blue-coated pegasus struck a pose, wings up and smiling bravely. Luna would have been lucky to have a servant in him.
“ Whatever our Princess deems suitable for our crime, we will accept. I'll tell the others: I'm sure they'll understand.”
She'd had no words for him. Just nodded her head and moved past him to call to the guards, forgetting entirely to use the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice. And she'd told them to take the young stallion back to his cell, Polaris stiff-backed and calm as the guards marched him away. Celestia turned toward the stairs, and left. It was necessary to save Luna. He had understood.
She was about to set hoof onto the street outside when the idea flashed to life in her head. It saw her turning and bolting back down the steps, skipping the last few dozen yards by teleporting to appear directly in front of the trio, outside the cells holding Polaris' friends. She made herself tall and stern, eyes half-lidded and face cold as she spoke.
“ Polaris, was it? We hath decided upon a much more...suitable sentence for thou and thy cohorts.”
His friends had cowered back in their cells; even her guards had shied away, between the way she was holding herself and the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice in the small space. Polaris, he had ducked his head as she thundered in front of him, but he'd kept his eyes on her. The question obvious in them.
And so it was that Polaris' Seekers were founded. A small and secret group of fervently loyal ponies, who spread out over Equestria at Celestia's command to search for unicorns with exceptional magical talent. They turned up few results, but were never daunted despite the odds. They understood that for now, they were the princess' best hope. Both princesses. And so they searched, and Celestia performed her duties, and turned the issue over in her head, and waited.
********
The answer came to her while half-paying attention to the mayor of some town, going on about tourism and the way it was starting to flourish as a concept.
“ If you can't reach out to the ponies, you make sure the ponies want to come to you.”
It clicked so sharply Celestia actually froze in place, the muffin she'd been levitating pausing in front of her open mouth for several seconds before dropping and bouncing off her plate to land on the table.
She'd then hurriedly thanked the mayor and excused herself, much to the stallion's confusion. The concept was already falling neatly into place in her head as her guards hurried after her. She actually took off into the sky on her own, boggling the golden-armored ponies for several seconds before they hurried in pursuit, leaving her chariot behind.
A place all magically gifted unicorns would want to go. It was so obvious it very literally bordered on the painful – she blamed the relative obscurity of the concept, even as she laid the foundation in her mind to make it distinctly less so.
*******
“A school, known throughout the land, for any unicorn with significant magical talent to attend? It is a grand idea Princess, but the scope of it! Nopony has ever tried something of the sort before!”
“ Well Chancellor, We are trying it now. And it will succeed, We promise you.”
She did not like this Chancellor as much as the old one, who had scolded her after her tantrum in the library. But it was over a century later, after all. All of the castle's staff had been replaced by now, succeeded by children or by new arrivals. Ponies who'd never lain eyes on Luna, and knew her only from the stories their elders told and the tales that Celestia had sent out about Equestria.
She eyed the nervous Chancellor, made so after her hard tone and the near-glare she'd fixed him with. She was acquiring a reputation as terrible, she realized. Her focus on the plan for rescuing her sister was making her ignore the feelings of the ponies around her. And so she softened her expression a little, moving the corners of her mouth into a smile even though she didn't truly feel like it. She hadn't really smiled in decades. But it would be good to treat the stallion – and others about her - with a bit more kindness. To have friends again, even if they would be short lived in comparison to her.
And besides, the Chancellor and the others in similar positions would be invaluable in short order, with their shorter-term perspectives. Celestia could not risk blinking and missing whole generations once her school was founded. The role it would serve was much too important for that.
*********
While the building was under construction, Celestia set other things in motion. Laid the groundwork for how word of the school would be spread across Equestria, and worked on a very specific magic spell. One of stasis, that would freeze a pony in a timeless sleep until they were awakened by certain conditions – she'd used a variant of it twice before, once with Luna's help and once against the demon she had become. But now she'd have to cast it on her own. There were still many centuries left until Nightmare Moon's release – if she found a unicorn with the kind of power she needed even a hundred years before the right time, she would need some way of keeping them alive until then. If only she should be so lucky.
Within what seemed a few heartbeats, her school was built. It was a grand building, as buildings were reckoned, and once the word went out, unicorns came from all over Equestria to apply for acceptance. At first, she tested every candidate personally: she even learned how to gracefully let down the many who didn't pass after the fourth time of a crying filly or colt fleeing the room in response to her curt words of rejection.
It was years before her school had enough graduates to allow the alumnae to take over the entrance exams. And in that time, Celestia had already found herself growing impatient with the school's results. Or rather lack thereof. No matter the strength of the unicorn, it was never enough. She was hopeful about a few early candidates – even took one colt as a direct apprentice, thinking with elation she'd found the one she needed so soon. But his abilities peaked well before the point she required.
As years wore on into decades, she found herself starting to dislike the students, even resent them. How, in all of Equestria could there be nopony with the capability she needed? The logic that had warned her of this possibility when she set the school's founding in motion was subsumed by the frustration, as the decades ground forward without any student even coming close to what she required. Until the wonders started happening.
The first one came when a graduate of the school created a spell to fix a plague that was destroying crops throughout the entire eastern portion of Equestria. The second, when a filly from the same graduating class diverted an entire thunderstorm from its crash-course into a town, sending it safely out over the ocean to disperse. One created a number of spells high enough to put Starswirl the Bearded to shame, another a way of diverting water without disturbing the animal life within. And they continued on that way, in ones and twos and more, graduates of her school accomplishing remarkable things out in Equestria.
The successes were so remarkable that they pushed through Celestia's focus on her sister just enough to set another idea in her head: if a single school simply for unicorns could accomplish this, what about schools for other ponies? The pegasi and the Earth ponies and all the rest; if she gave them schools of their own, what could they accomplish? Others had the idea first of course, trying to start up places where all of a town's young ponies could learn. Celestia had drawn the idea for her school from them. But they were individuals trying to help a dream to live. With the power of the Crown behind their ideas, however...
And so it happened. A single royal edict, and then a decade and more of effort, and schools were springing up through every town in Equestria. Within another century, nearly every single town had one of their own. And the accomplishments: one young stallion with an interest in machinery created the most wonderful things, tools and structures to help with farming that nopony had ever thought of before. Another, centuries later, pioneered the entire concept of medical study, making it possible for ponies besides very particularly gifted unicorns to be doctors, healers. A filly created machines powered by steam of all things, and the study of science turned into a field so large that it acquired its own schools independent of any intervention by Celestia. Centuries after that came one of Celestia's favorites, when a graduate of her school for unicorns and a pony from a nearby city figured out a way to mix magic and science to store and channel electricity (lightning in miniature, imagine!) to power machines and light buildings.
It was not the purpose she had founded her school for, centuries prior. But Celestia couldn't help but feel proud of the students and what they achieved. If she could not have the unicorn that would save her sister, bettering the entirety of Equestria was an acceptable substitute. For now.
******
The problem became the way 'for now' stretched out for hundreds of years. The alteration in Equestria's attitude towards Luna was complete a scant four hundred years after Celestia set it in motion, with the ushering in of some kind of holiday called 'Nightmare Night', which apparently revolved around the fantasy of Nightmare Moon flying about Equestria and devouring children. It galled Celestia like fire in her chest, but it meant she was a step closer to Luna's salvation. She bore it, as the more pressing problem of finding a gifted enough unicorn was still unresolved.
And it looked set to stay that way. Her school had taken on a life of its own, blossoming out through Canterlot and perpetually growing and being renewed (like when a tower had to be rebuilt after one filly had blown the top clear off in what witnesses described as a 'marshmallow geyser', testing some kind of method of creating the perfect s'more). But despite the many unicorns that came to apply, there were still none who were suited to the task. Even the few students Celestia took for apprentices all peaked well before the threshold she required.
Out in Equestria, the descendants of Polaris' Seekers were having no better luck. And the date of Nightmare Moon's release drew inexorably ever closer. Approaching desperation, Celestia went to the zebras again. She'd hoped the passage of centuries would thin whatever fog of time they'd peered through when she'd first received their prophecy, allow them some further insight into the events to come. But after another interminable time in one of their huts (so changed, yet so similar to how they had been), the zebra mare had looked up at Celestia and shaken her head.
“ I am sorry Princess, but you must wait. Finding this pony, it is up to fate.”
******
After that Celestia began to look herself, going to towns and cities under invented pretenses to check on fillies and colts the Seekers had noted for their potential. She had just returned to Canterlot after one such trip – checking on a pale blue filly with a not-inconsiderable talent for magic and a very obvious love of performing, whose parents were a bit too excited about what Celestia had tried to only portray as casual interest – when it happened.
There was a terrible, spectacular sound. A high-pitched whine preceding a deafening explosion, accompanying a shockwave that looked to be formed of a single contiguous rainbow. It spread out from one end of the horizon to another, a sight unlike anything Celestia had ever seen. Almost immediately afterward there was another explosion, though this one was caused by something much more mundane; a giant dragon suddenly bursting up out of the entrance examination tower.
Well, for a given definition of mundane. Celestia had to take a moment to process what she was seeing, before the meaning of the bolts of lavender light and the sheer sensation of what was happening in the tower struck her. That was the tower where the school's newest hopeful – a purple filly by the name of Twilight Sparkle, if she recalled correctly – was taking her test. And none of the examiners had power on the scale she was seeing. None were even close.
Celestia was bolting for the tower before she even realized she'd moved. The child could hurt herself, with that much magical energy being released at once! And, on the tail of that thought, so tremulous she barely dared to allow it, was another. None of the examiners had power on that scale. No pony she'd ever encountered had power on that scale.
One in a million.
********
When she reached the room, she had to immediately duck a lavender-colored bolt of magic that struck the door behind her, turning it into a very particular kind of trout. The filly the bolt came from was caught in the midst of an absolute maelstrom of magical energy, to such a degree that she drew the eye more than the gigantic dragon currently making the floor creak, or the levitating examiners, or the potted plants in the corner that Celestia guessed were actually other ponies.
The power of it. Like nothing she'd ever even heard of. And the prospect of what it could do if focused, given direction... that tremulous hope almost froze her in place. Almost. Sister, I've found her. I've found her at long last.
When she moved, everything about her was calm and focused, the anxiety and excitement tamped down deep where it could not interfere. She sidestepped an absent twitch of the dragon's tail. Ducked another lavender bolt that turned a section of the ceiling incandescent. Walked until she was next to the overwhelmed filly, and reached out to place a hoof gently on her shoulder. Frightened, light-consumed eyes turned to her, and Celestia smiled softly. Kindness could conquer so much that ponies never thought it could.
And it worked. The maelstrom of magical energy quieted, and the blazing light faded from the purple filly's eyes as she floated back to the ground. The potted plants turned back into ponies Celestia could now identify as the child's parents, the examiners dropped back into their seats. The dragon resumed his proper newborn form and promptly began sucking on his own tail.
“Twilight Sparkle.”
The poor filly seemed set to panic. Understandable considering she'd just been 'caught' making a magical catastrophe out of an examination room.
“I'm so sorry! I didn't me - ”
Celestia cut her off. It was easy; she'd known what she was going to say at this moment for the better part of a millennia.
“You have a very special gift! I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities.”
“ Huh?”
“ But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study.”
“ Huh?!”
“ Twilight Sparkle, I'd like to make you my own personal protege here at the school.”
“ Huh?!”
“Well?”
The filly glanced back at her parents, who nodded like mad. Excellent, Celestia wouldn't have to coerce or coax their agreement, as had happened with some of her earlier apprentices. The filly looked back at her, and large eyes got even wider, as her hanging-open mouth turned up into a brilliant smile, the girl leaping up into the air.
“ YEEES!”
“One other thing Twilight.”
“ More?”
An excitable creature, this filly. Celestia had already run through her practiced dialogue, but something pressed her to point out the mark that had appeared on the girl's flank, just seconds ago. Just to render the moment perfect in the filly's mind. And, in a realization that surprised her, her own. As the girl literally jumped for joy about her, Celestia ducked her head and closed her eyes. She could not celebrate the way her newest apprentice was, but a moment of silence and near-joy was called for at the least.
Twilight. The link between night and day. It had to be fate. I've found her, Luna. Just a little longer now.
***********
Twilight Sparkle was perfect. The child was eager to learn, and studious literally unto a fault: Celestia quickly found that she had to impose strict limits on their lessons herself, lest the young filly work at whatever task the princess set her to until she fell over from exhaustion. And so quick to learn new things: within a few years the filly had grasped the trick of teleportation, at her age! Even if her skill there was far from mastery, it was still remarkable.
Every other apprentice Celestia had taught peaked within a few years. Not so with Twilight Sparkle: the mind-boggling power she'd seen displayed by a filly in the examination tower remained apparent (though tamped down by control) past the point any of her other apprentices had reached, and onward. Every spell Celestia set her to learn, every little magical skill, grasped and mastered or nearly-so in short order.
But something funny happened. While Celestia molded and directed the young filly, Twilight Sparkle was affecting her too. Her other apprentices had been eager to learn, certainly, and each had grown close with their princess. But they'd each had their own reasons for their apprenticeship. To help a home town, to be the greatest at a particular kind of magical expertise. In contrast, Twilight always seemed most satisfied by nothing more than Celestia's approval. And the way she showed it: the bright happiness in her eyes when they met for breakfast in the mornings, or the bubbling excitement when she ran to her mentor to show off the latest magical trick she'd perfected. Or just the adoration she looked up with while Celestia gave her lessons.
It reminded her of Polaris. It was much the same look the pegasus had so many centuries ago, when speaking of Celestia's sister. And in the face of it, Celestia couldn't help but be shaped a little herself. She found her smiles for Twilight were less false, her laughter almost truly joyful when she shared a joke with the filly (or when Twilight Sparkle did something funny, such as focusing so hard on turning a red book green that she leaned too far forward and nearly tumbled right off her chair). It was strange but fitting, that this little filly should be the first in centuries to find a way past the veneer Celestia wore about herself. Within years, Celestia found that she wasn't pushing Twilight to succeed just to prepare her for the trial ahead.
She was pushing her just to see someone she cared for succeed. Doing all she could to make Twilight more than just the tool she'd originally sought her as. And Luna help her, it felt right.
********
Celestia paced the halls of the castle, head down, oblivious to everything around her. For the first time in hundreds of years, she'd stepped away from all her duties for the day: everything aside from sunrise had been delegated to members of the court and other subjects, to free the princess to focus on the fear that had plagued her for days.
Twilight was not going to work. And it was Celestia's fault.
She'd been so pleased with the girl's studiousness, and so taken with seeing her succeed, that she'd pushed the young mare as much as she could without straining her to breaking. And Twilight Sparkle, being Twilight Sparkle, had eaten it up and asked for more. The end result being that Celestia had unintentionally turned the girl into a consummate bookworm, more so than she had been already. If not for her connection to Celestia and Spike - the baby dragon from her examination - Twilight would have been an absolute hermit.
It had let Celestia direct the girl's studies to a degree of precision she'd never had with earlier apprentices. Such as the way she'd guided Twilight carefully to the legend of Nightmare Moon in the last few weeks, which she should be reading and researching right about now. And while the young mare certainly held enough magic within herself to direct the massive power of the Elements of Harmony according to her will, she needed Friendship in order to make them work. And friendship was the one thing Twilight Sparkle lacked for in the world.
Her connection with Spike would not do, caught as it was between two siblings, a master and servant and a parent and child. And her connection with Celestia was even less suited to the task. Twilight adored her too much, denying their relationship the sharing and equality that accompanied true friendship. And there was the other problem; even with all her power, Twilight was not Celestia or Luna. She could not wield the Elements of Harmony all alone.
Celestia could have corrected each problem, with time. But she had only realized each of them recently, while going over the final steps of her plans for what would happen on the solstice, running last double-and-triple-checks on every possible variation of events she could think of. And once she had found the problem, she'd spent nearly every moment of the last few days trying desperately to think of a way to remedy it.
But none came. Celestia would not be there to aid her apprentice, she'd known that from the start. The events played out like a well-illustrated storybook in her mind; Nightmare Moon would appear. Celestia would be nowhere to be found. The demon would plunge the land into permanent night, and Twilight Sparkle would immediately seek a way to stop her and bring back the sun. That would lead her to the Elements of Harmony, which would lead inevitably to a direct confrontation with the demon. And the thought of Twilight Sparkle, her Twilight, facing Nightmare Moon alone with only what Celestia had been able to teach her...
Unacceptable. She would find a way to save the child from that. But how? Twilight needed friends, one of the very few things Celestia couldn't just... wave her horn and give her! It was like some elaborate, twisted joke: so many pony lifetimes spent preparing for this day and now she found she had no TIME!
Celestia blinked in surprise at the shattered section of castle floor where she'd stamped her hoof. And as she made a noise of consternation and extricated her foreleg from the ruined marble, something caught the edge of her vision. She turned and looked out the window, toward the horizon.
She'd wandered to the side of the castle facing towards Ponyville, the town where the Summer Sun Celebration was to be held this year. And Celestia suddenly found herself remembering. She'd gone there herself a few days ago to make sure it was suited for what would come: a smaller city, easily evacuated and away from the major centers. Panic wouldn't spread from it too quickly when Nightmare Moon made her inevitable appearance. But she wasn't thinking of that now. She was thinking of other details that she'd not considered at the time.
The family of apple farmers who were to handle food for the festival (whom Celestia had felt sure were intent on stuffing her to bursting with delicious samples), they had a daughter about Twilight's age. A likeable filly, with an honest streak – Celestia had smirked and pretended not to hear when the blonde-maned girl whispered to her older brother, about her surprise that Celestia would enjoy their “down home cookin' ” so much. Or the pegasus with the exceptional skill with animals, who was to be handling music. Terribly shy, but equally kind and sweet. The other pegasus with the riotous mane, set in charge of keeping the weather clear. Brash and loud, but clearly just as fiercely loyal to those she cared for, judging by the way she'd turned down an invitation from other pegasi to 'hang out' after the mayor had given her the task of clearing the sky. The unicorn in charge of decoration, who would have seemed superficial if Celestia hadn't heard her arguing with the mayor as she was leaving ( “ Oh but Rarity, you're so overworked already! That upcoming fashion show, and all the dress orders for the Celebration events!” “Nonsense! I shall always have time for Ponyville!”). And an...eccentric pink pony who'd set up a small welcoming party for when Celestia arrived, apparently without anypony else's knowledge. Who had, the last time Celestia had seen her, been bouncing up and down in the middle of the city square giggling with delight and apparently improvising an entire musical number about the merits of different kinds of cupcake. Each of them roughly Twilight Sparkle's age. And each of them the kind of pony Twilight would readily take a liking to, if only she would meet them under the proper circumstances.
Six Elements of Harmony. Five good ponies, in the place where the Celebration was to be held, and she could give Twilight a reason to meet almost every one of them (according to what the mayor had said, the eccentric one would supply her own once she noticed a new pony in town). It could not be that easy. But it could work. She had just returned to her throne room when smoke and green fire curled in the air above her head, coalescing into a scroll that dropped in front of her hooves. Studious Twilight, as reliable as clockwork. She read the letter through quickly, already knowing the gist of what it would say, and then levitated a quill and parchment into the air. It HAD to work. Celestia began to write.
*********
It came for her in the quiet, as she waited behind the curtains to be ushered in and start the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. No noise save a rustle like nighttime wind, and then its eyes were there, scorching through the dark. Fitting that she should see those first, the eyes that had haunted her dreams for a millennia. The rest of the demon came after, stepping out from the shadows. Every detail the same: the not-quite-normally-shaped limbs and face, the unnatural liquid-black of the coat. The writhing nebula where a mane and tail should have been.
The child in Celestia wanted to crawl away into a corner and cower. But the princess that had prepared for this moment for a thousand years found derision rising in her chest, tugging at her lip. She remembered the monster being taller.
“ Sister.”
The demon's voice dripped mockery and arrogance. It knew the outcome of what was about to happen just as well as Celestia did. It was satisfying, then, to see the small hitch in its expression when Celestia drew herself up and turned toward it. Cool and controlled, every inch the princess.
“No. You're not.”
The demon glared. Its horn flared with an obscene, inverse light. Celestia fought the urge to shut her eyes.
I trust you Twilight.
There was pain. And then a terrible, utter silence.
**********
…..
Am... I....?
Where...
“You foals!”
I can see...
“Simmer down, sally! She ain't no spy. But she sure knows what's goin' on. Don'cha Twilight?”
“ It is said, the last known location of the five elements, was in the ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.”
Twilight, be careful! It sees...
“The Everfree Forest!”
“Fluttershy, quick!”
“ Let go.”
“ Are you crazy?!”
“ No I ain't. I promise, you'll be safe.”
“That's not true!”
“Now listen here. What I'm sayin' t' you is the honest truth. Let go, an you'll be safe.”
“ A manticore! We've gotta get past him!”
“Wait.”
“I'm on it!”
“ Wait!”
“Rainbow!!”
“WAAAAIT!”
“Now, this might hurt for juuust a second.”
Child be careful!
“How did you know about the thorn?”
“ I didn't. Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness.”
“ AAAAAAH!”
“Hahahaha! Hee hahaha! Bleeeh! Oooo! Blblblbl!”
“Pinkie, what are you doing?! Run!”
“Oh girls, don't you see? When I was a little filly, and the sun was going do-own.”
Tell me she's not.
“Tell me she's not.”
“The darkness and the shadows they would always make me fro-own.”
“She is.”
“ Sooo giggle at the ghostly! Guffaw at the grossty! Crack up at the creepy! Woop it up with the weepy! Chortle at the kooky! Snortle at the spooky! And tellthatbigdumbscaryfacetotakeahikeandleaveyoualoneandifhethinkshecanscareyouthenhe'sgotanotherthinkcomingandtheveryideaofsuchathingjustmakesyouwanna hee ha ha ha hah hah! Laugh!”
Ha ha!
“Excuse me sir, why are you crying?”
“ That's what all the fuss is about?”
“ I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!”
Oh my!
“Oh Rarity, your beautiful tail!”
“Oh, it's fine my dear! Short tails are in this season. Besides, it'll grow back.”
“Rainbow, what's taking so long? Oh no...Rainbow!!! Don't listen to them!”
“Well?”
“...You.”
No! I chose you! I chose you for your devotion, how could yo-
“ Thank you, for the offer I mean. But I'm afraid I have to say no.”
“See! I'd never leave my friends hangin'!”
….forgive me for doubting, child.
“The book said, when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth to be revealed.”
“What in the hay is that supposed to mean?”
“ I don't know, but I have an idea. Stand back: I don't know what will happen.”
“C'mon now y'all, she needs t' concentrate.”
Twilight no, that won't work. You need t – Twilight!!!
“Twilight!”
“The Elements!”
“Twilight, where are you?!”
“ Look!”
“ Come on!”
Twilight, you can't do this!
“You're kidding. You're kidding, right?”
You can't fight it like that! You ca-....oh you clever little thing.
“Just one spark. Come on, come on!”
“ NO!”
“But, where's the sixth element?”
“You little foal, thinking you could defeat me. Now you will never see your princess, or your sun! The night, will last, forever!”
No. Not Twilight too, please no...
“ Don't worry, we'll be there!”
Oh Twilight. Your friends. Your friends.
“You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well you're wrong. Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony, are right here!”
“The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!”
“ You still don't have the sixth element! The spark didn't work!”
Silly monster. You don't understand. You never did.
“But it did. A different kind of spark!”
“ You see Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the hearts of us all, it creates the sixth Element. The Element of Magic!”
Give me my sister back.
There was a terrible, beautiful sound. Like a chorus formed of blazing light. Like the whole world singing in harmony.
*********
“ Gee Twilight, I thought you were just spoutin' a lot a hooie. But I reckon, we really do represent the elements a friendship.”
“Indeed you do.”
Fitting, that the demon would have bound her within sunlight. It felt like the grandest dawn she'd created in centuries upon centuries.
“Princess Celestia!”
“Twilight Sparkle! My faithful student.” Faithful, wonderful Twilight. Her smile was honest, she realized. So strange to feel that touching her face. “ I knew you could do it.”
“ But, you told me it was all an old pony tale!”
“ I told you that you needed to make some friends. Nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her.”
Nearly a thousand years spent waiting for you Twilight, and you are worth every one of them.
“ But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart.”
Celestia's eyes slipped sideways as Twilight turned away from her. They came to rest upon Luna, where she lay amidst the ruins of the monster. Still so small; as if she'd been frozen in time all these centuries.
A sudden fear struck her, like a phantom of the black horn that had stabbed for her chest a millennia ago. Nightmare Moon had not sprung into being from nothing; she'd been born from Luna's anger and resentment. And there on the ground was her sister, seemingly exactly as she had been the very instant the demon had come into being.
If Luna still held that anger, if there was even a chance of Nightmare Moon returning... Celestia would have to...
All of it thought of in less than the blink of an eye, the span of a second as Twilight and her friends shared a look. She recovered her mask by reflex. Even if it took all her effort to keep her voice from trembling, as that shard in her heart seared colder.
“ Now if only another will as well. Princess Luna.”
Playing the part of Celestia the unreachable. The distant, powerful ruler. Her head wanted to spin just from walking as she moved toward her sister. It could not be the way she feared. Not after so long, not now, when she finally had her back. Luna gasped in a breath as Celestia's words called her back to waking, eyes going wide.
“ It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this.”
She dropped to her knees, and Luna cringed. That icy spike was joined by a different kind of pain. For Luna to cringe at her closeness – had she really seemed so terrible to her? She heard the strain in her own voice, unable to keep it out. Not wanting to.
“ Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister.”
“Sister?!”
She'd done her work well. Even clever Twilight hadn't made the connection, and she had read the tale not two days gone. She would have been conflicted over it if anything else mattered in the world right now but Luna, and her response to Celestia's next question. She stood back up.
“ Will you accept my friendship?”
She wanted to hurl herself back down onto her knees and beg. She wanted to offer Luna the day and night for a thousand years, if only she'd say yes. Please. Please please please please please please please
“I'm so sorry!”
And then Luna was embracing her. Celestia felt the mask crack.
“ I missed you big sister!”
The mask fell to pieces, as tears at long last tumbled from her eyes again. And within, that indefinable half-hollow place was finally, wonderfully whole.
“I missed you too.”
It was funny, Celestia thought to herself. The first time she'd truly felt joy in a thousand years, and she was crying again as well.
“You are free now.
You're with me now.
Where you'll always be.” - Jekyll & Hyde