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// Nº 9: ACT 2: EPILOGUE 
// Story: My Only Sunshine 
// by CoffeeBean 
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Evening sun pouring in through the wide pane windows of the castle's little private dining hall cast a deep orange glow over the small room. A warm glow that - even to Celestia - felt unnatural and foreign. Indeed, this was the way the world should be, but now, just as all else in her life felt, the daytime seemed obscure. Celestia's lips met her coffee before being set back down beside her breakfast, and for a moment, she stared at her plate, the silence of the room hardly noticeable over the noise of thoughts in her head. It had been a fair half hour since she had woken up with Luna, and the two had tiredly made their way to the little private room for a meal. Celestia had anticipated many words and conversation between she and her sister, but much like they had been in the prior week, her expectations were broken. There had been the standard, almost customary 'good evening' greeting between the two upon waking, but beyond that little else had been said. While together, in their minds, especially on such a day, they were alone in their thoughts. 

When the two had fallen asleep hours ago Celestia had finally felt true happiness, but in waking the pain she had grown so accustomed to washed back into her heart like the rolling waves of the tides. There was much comfort to be felt from Luna's presence, but it was a comfort that could not outweigh her heart's torn threads. One thing she had dreamt and wished about nearly every time she had woken up with Philomena in her hooves was waking up with her friend beneath the warmth of the morning sun. Since her return, two and only two scenarios had been in her expectations. A scenario where she was - for whatever reason - cast back to the prison she was brought from, and a scenario where she would be forced to act against her sister in order to return harmony to Equestria. If she were to be given another 700 years to theorize and think upon the outcomes that could come to fruition she doubted that the current would ever be dreamt of. 

A total mix of feeling. Guilt. Anger. Joy. Pain. Almost everything imaginable was held within her mind. Save for hate. Hatred was something she sat without. A mere week ago it was the only thing she could feel. A mere week ago felt as if it had been 700 years in the past. So drastically and quickly had things changed, and so quickly had they changed for the better. A mere week ago she could not have fathomed speaking her sister's true name again, or even looking her in the eye. Now, when her gaze met with her younger's, she felt happy. Her mind did not scream 'traitor', 'fiend', 'tyrant', or 'demon' when she saw Luna's purely black figure, it said 'sister', 'companion', and 'friend'. Anger, though, still did resign, but she understood well the difference between the two. Celestia expected that it always would linger despite her fervent wish for it to disappear. She wanted to let go of that anger, and she wanted to give her sister forgiveness, but something deep within told that doing so was betrayal; not of Luna, but of Philomena. 

"Hallo, yer Majesties," spoke the Chef as she entered the through the kitchen door, bowing to the Princesses before continuing on to the edge of the table.

"Greetings, Chef." 

"Hello, Chef." 

The Chef took a few glances between Celestia and Luna. "The two of ya don' seem all tha' happy..."

Celestia and Luna looked to one another. Celestia was the first to break their gaze, her eyes turning down to the floor as she withdrew a sigh. "We... art not very joyous."

Chef's mouth came open, but her words caught in her throat as she saw Luna shaking her head at her. There was a bout of silence as Celestia met Chef's worried gaze. 

"The day... it's far more beau'iful than I coul' have ever dremt." 

For the first time since waking, Celestia smiled. "Thank thee... Chef."

With those final words the Chef bowed and made her way back through the kitchen door, ensuring it sealed. Again, placidity fell over the room. The small clinks of metal on porcelain sounded for a moment as Luna's fork gathered some of her breakfast. 

"Luna, we art scared."

"Scared that the day will not be what the citizens of Equestria want?"

Celestia's lip quivered, her voice a mere whisper. "A-Aye..."

Luna's rather large wing unfurled from her side, falling over Celestia's shoulder. "I am, too. It's such a drastic change to happen so quickly... I don't want this be how it was when I brought on the night all those years ago."

A sniffling cry left Celestia, her head lowering. "Before... before our friend gave us her life, we asked her what should be done if Equestria rejects the sun. W-We asked that, if Equestria did reject it, should we bring the sun down and keep her down? S-She nodded... but, she gave her life to let the sun come forth. If we must keep the sun down... her passing will go in vain! We doth not wish for that!"

Luna brought up a hoof, placing it under Celestia's chin to turn her head in her direction. "Equestria has adjusted before, it can do it again. When you and I woke up and made our way to this dining hall, did we get scowled at? Did we get yelled and cursed at? Did we get called tyrants, murderers, thieves, and traitors? No, we didn't. We received smiles as warm as the morning sun. We had guards wave hello. We had ponies who would not normally speak without being spoken give their greetings. This evening, I've never seen the ponies around our castle so happy. If this place is happy, Equestria is."

The tear that had rolled down Celestia's cheek was followed by another. Her lips still quivered, and her eyes still held pain.

"We... simply fear for the peace of our friend's passing. W-We want her to have meaning."

Luna sighed. "Her death will only lose meaning if you forget about her. As long as she lives in your heart, then what happens around you won't matter. You... you can't let Philomena's wish control your life."

"T-Thou doth not know of the pain within our very soul that we feel for her loss! We... we could not live with ourself if her death went in vain!"

"I do know that pain, Celestia. I've felt it for the past 700 years."

"Thou did not lose us! Thou cast us away! We did not die from thy actions... s-she did die because of our actions! More than that, because of thy inaction!"

Luna's hoof fell away from Celestia's chin, tears now coming to her eyes. 

"T-There is no beauty in permanency, Luna."

After a moment, Luna lifted her wing from Celestia's shoulder, sniffling as she stood from her seat at the table. 

"Celestia, there's a place you need to visit, and a group of ponies you need to meet."

"A-And... who are these ponies?" 

Just before the room's exit, Luna paused. 

"Friends of a friend."





At the edge of an archway Celestia had never been before, she and Luna stood. Beyond was a garden far larger than the one nearest to Celestia's private quarters; a garden that shined with life in the sunset and spanned great distances until the tall castle walls ceased its wild advance. To the west, clouds shined with red and orange, setting the sky ablaze with color, that glow radiating down onto the trees, bushes, and flowers across this wonderful space. 

"You'll know when you've found them, sister. It's... best if I leave you alone for this."

Celestia looked on curiously as Luna turned, beginning back down the hall of the castle from which the two had originated from, never turning back to give her a second look. She stood in the arch for a moment before making her way out onto the stone paved path that lead away from the castle, the songs of birds in the distance reminding her of the Everfree. The path winded along past tall oaks and stone statues until it came to a grand fountain of marble and granite, the gentle patter of its water filling the air. 

She stood idle for a time before looking around, seeing there were the 3 divergent paths lead from the fountain's surrounding path. To the left, a series of structures caught her eye; there stood a small, almost house-like wooden shed, and beside it was an odd, open-sided shed of sorts. Closer and closer she came, and from the house-like building exited a group of three ponies; a single Nocturn stallion and two earth pony mares, one with a light blue coat, the other, shorter mare with a coat as purely as white as Celestia's own. She paused, stopping in her path as she looked to the shed, seeing that it provided cover for a wooden perch as well as a somewhat tarnished brass cage; one just large enough to carry a Phoenix.

"Hello, Your Majesty."

Celestia looked to the Nocturn stallion as he and the two mares began walking towards her, their gazes holding the weight of sorrow.

"T-Thou... thou art..."

"Her caretakers, yes. Her Highness... told us."

Fresh tears came to Celestia's eyes as she looked over the trio. Before her were three souls that truly understood how Philomena had been. These three understood what she felt, and they understood how deep the hole in her heart was. 

The blue-furred mare wiped a tear away with her hoof. "This garden is going to be a lot more lonely without her." 

"E-Equestria shall be more lonely without her."

The mare nodded, sniffling. Celestia lost all control over her emotion, hard sobs striking her as she dropped to her haunches. The three stood for a moment before coming forward together, all doing their best to embrace Celestia. Only harsher did Celestia's cries become, hard heaves of her chest breaking every breath. 

"W-We miss her... we miss her more than thou shalt know!" 

The trio held their silence, letting Celestia lose herself. 





"There... art barely any amenities beneath this simple roof." Celestia spoke as she and the three caretakers stood before the covered perch. 

It had taken quite some time for the Princess to finally dry her tears, and it had taken careful words and consolations from the three to bring her further into the garden.

"She drank from the fountain and ate from the trees and grass, your Majesty. Not a single one of us has ever actually given her food or water," informed the stallion, who stood to Celestia's right. 

"Never once have we in our time with her, either."

There came a gentle chuckle from the white mare, her eyes bloodshot from tears. "She rarely even used that perch... half the time, she'd fall asleep on a pillow in front of the furnace in our quarters within the castle."

"Thy home is within these walls?"

The mare nodded.

Celestia looked to her. "The three of thee... thou art a family?"

"Yep. I'm Lilly Leaf, and this is my mother and father; Dawn Hue and Speck."

Celestia shared a glance with each of the family members before looking back to the perch.

"Knoweth, dost thou, how grand of a being she was."

"Indeed we do, your Majesty," Speck returned with a voice weighty and shaky with sorrow.

"We were groundskeepers for this part of the castle, as well as Philomena's caretakers... but, I guess we're just groundskeepers now."

"Thou were never caretakers to start. Thou were her family. Thou... art her family."

A moment of quiet passed before Celestia took a step forward, standing under the perch's roof.

"What would it be like, Philomena, to stand in the bed chambers of a friend who had passed?"