Chapter 3 - Solar Solitude
And life continued.
The funeral was packed, all with people who had come to pay their respects to the Unicorn who had saved their lives, their hearts, and their minds. After the ceremony, all of them came to the coffin, and laid an item next to the deceased unicorn.
Applejack laid an apple next to her head. Pinkie laid a few balloons inside, their bright cheerfulness somewhat diminished by the sombre mood. Rarity laid an amethyst circlet, the most elegant and intricate accessory that she'd ever made, around her head, and stepped away to admire the profile of her finest work. Fluttershy brought the first animal that she met when she fell into Ponyville. An old butterfly that had kept her company when things had looked bleak. Rainbow Dash took off after a further moment, the tear tracks still visible on her face, as she looped around and performed a rainboom for her friend, the colours all shades of Violet as far as the eye could see, brilliant shades of colour against the setting sun. And people left the funeral, confident that she'd received the send off that she deserved.
Meanwhile, the pony in question was now sinking into despair. Her friends would never forgive her. Her mentor had betrayed her. It was pretty damning that she was erased from her life as quickly as that. Would anyone even notice that she'd gone? Twilight doubted it. After all, what kind of friend would just disappear? She had no illusions that Celestia would have covered her tracks, after all, Twilight doubted that she was the first pony that had quietly disappeared. And she doubted even more that she'd be the last if Celestia's reign went unchecked. And she sat there, contemplating her situation, and trying not to focus on the elephant in the closet... It was a losing battle.
As the moon moved around the lone planet, Twilight started looking for any landmasses that she could recognise, looking for some small comfort that Ponyville was still there, and people were still alive. She could already see Hoofdale and just about see the spires of Canterlot from her current position. Sooner or later, she'd be able to see the small town of her own, and gain some small comfort from that. Then. What was that?
A steady circle of Violet light rippled outwards from somewhere over the next hill, and a heavy finality befell Twilight. She knew what laid over the other side of that hill. She'd been there enough times, just revelling in the quiet of the dead. She went there occasionally to clear her head after some of her more stressful times, and whenever she wanted to get away from Pinkie. Not even Pinkie disturbed the dead, for which Twilight had been thankful. It had been a place of sanity for her in some of her darker times, and she now knew how Celestia had made sure that her friends wouldn't suspect anything. After all, who would worry about a dead pony?
She watched the colours for a while, it was obvious that Rainbow had given her a rainboom as a send off. A special rainboom, made up of all shades of purple and violet, streaking across the moonlit ground. It may have looked beautiful from down on the ground, but it looked spectacular from up in the stars. She could feel the tears in the corner of her eyes, just beginning to form as she watched her own farewell from one of her closest friends.
Luna watched the spectacle from her room in Canterlot castle, yet she did not cry. A princess of the moon who had survived a millennia on the moon was made of sterner stuff than that. Nevertheless, the sadness at the loss of her first real friend in Ponyville was a shock to her. Even her moon seemed to weep at the loss. Wait, celestial bodies don't weep, especially when the liquid was not ice, and was in fact tears. Luna gathered up the night around her horn, and prepared to visit her old prison to find out who the new resident was.
Twilight let the tears flow, and watched passively as they floated around her in the semi-gravity of the moon, forming their own solar systems and galaxies in the darkness of space. Looking into one of them, Twilight could even imagine that life formed within them, in the form of a dark sphere of night, rapidly expanding. That was when Twilight felt the first signs of unease, it was expanding at ridiculous speeds, and she realised, wasn’t actually an apparition inside one of her tears, but was a slice of night heading right for the moon, and more worryingly, her. There was a thud behind her, and a pony as dark as night stood, waiting for the dust to settle, before walking towards the startled pony. Of course both who knew the other was. They were just too startled to say anything.
It was Twilight who broke the silence.
“Luna?”
“Twilight.” No-pony was giving ground, but both of them were on the lookout for answers.
Eventually, Luna couldn’t take the suspense anymore and simply asked:
“Erm, Twilight, aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
“I’m not too sure myself Princess.” Which was accompanied by a new tone. Twilight’s voice had taken a darker edge. Betraying cool anger and mistrust underneath the collected exterior. Luna was bewildered, what had she done to upset the unicorn so, in fact, she should be the upset one, after all, Twilight was trespassing on her Moon, never mind how on earth she got up to there in the first place.
"Twilight, why are you mad with me?" Subtlety had never been her strong point.
A hint of hope flashed across Twilights stolid expression, but she contained it well. She wasn't going to get her hopes up anymore. She'd been stranded on the moon for days, although. Having thought about it, it could have just as easily been hours, for she felt no need for hunger whatsoever. This didn't do much to improve her outlook on life. She wanted to believe that Luna had no part in her banishment, and wasn't just there to oversee her punishment. But she dared not raise the subject, fearful of the lunar pony. So she replied:
"Celestia banished me to the moon."
This caused Twilight to swear quite colourfully. Apparently subtlety wasn't one of her strong points either. But at least she had her answer. She watched Luna carefully now, looking for the first sign of malice or glee. But finding laughter there instead, indeed, Luna didn't even attempt to hide it. Now the unicorn wanted more than ever for the princess to leave her along in her own sorrow.
Luna took some time to get control of her laughter, and even then, the mirth was just waiting below the surface. So she spoke to Twilight quickly, before she gave in to the fits of giggles again.
"Yeah, sure Twilight, Celly would never do that. Not to anypony, and especially not to you. You are her own student. I shall not listen to what is obviously a lie, after all, why would she banish you, then give you immortality. I know my own sister... and myself. And giving a banished pony immortality will just come around to haunt you at one time or another."
This sobered her up quite effectively as she straightened up and continued.
"I will just have to assume that you wanted to come up here for some alone time, and to gain a better view of the stars, to which I am flattered. I'll be sure to tell your friends that you needed some time alone to contemplate things. See you later Twilight Sparkle."
Luna ended her speech and took flight again before Twilight could even think of telling her own side of the story, and before long, she was left to the cold and the silence of the Moon.
But that conversation did have it's bonus's. At least she knew that she wasn't going to die up here. Not from hunger, lack of air, or even old age. Sadly, that did leave quite a damning downside to things. After all, what do you do for eternity when your friends don't know you're alive, and you've been abandoned on the moon by your closest ally. Eternity didn't look like such a good prospect when you faced it on your own. Just thinking about it made all new thoughts enter the Mares head. She'd outlive her friends first, She would have to simply stand by and watch as her friends all gave up the fight and left the world. Then she may even outlive the princesses, after all, everypony knew that the Alicorns were only there for a limited time, that they would only remain as long as peace and harmony were conserved. That would leave her with all the time in the world up on the moon. Maybe she could even tap into the magic so that she would give herself just enough for a boost. A boost to get her back home.
She clung to this idea like it was her only hope, and started reaching out around her with her magic, and already feeling the strong mind that controlled the moon and it's rise and fall. She looked at the magical grasp, looking for an opening that she could leech off, but finding none, she screeched in desperation and watched the planet below turn slowly, Ponyville and her friends getting further away by the moment. She still held some hope that her friends wouldn't forget her. After all, the princess was going to go and tell them that she'd seen her, and that she had wanted time away from Equestria. Twilight had to re-examine that thought, and realised that the connotations would be quite clear that she was at least in the spirit world. After all, no-one alive was truly immortal. Ah well, It had given her some hope at least that her friends would realise that she was still alive.
As the moon rotated further around Equestia, Twilight became aware that the magic on the moon was changing. She could feel less and less of Luna's guiding hood, and could slowly feel that someone else had taken control of the moon, and this one had left a breach in his magic, a tiny pinprick that would only allow a trickle of magic out at any one time. But it was magic, and it was usable.
It might just take a little longer than expected.