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// Understanding and Reminiscing 
// Story: A Friend to the Night 
// by Silverintuition 
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"Sooo, uhm... it's really nice to finally meet you, Princess. I do admit that I have admired you for a very... very long time." Moon Struck managed to say, her words catching in her throat.
"Indeed, we are pleased to meet one such as thyself who truly admires our night. Twilight Sparkle has told us of thy work, taking care of our night's clouds and weather. We are grateful for all the care taken by thee." Princess Luna gave a slight nod of her head to Moon Struck.
Blushing, Moon Struck took a step back, "I am nothing special, Princess. I just really love being beneath the moon and stars. I have loved the night ever since I was a filly, heh." 
"And that is exactly why we are grateful to thee, Moon Struck. If we had somepony such as thee back when we suffered so, we might not have succumbed to the darkness in our heart. We had only seen the ponies play and frolic in the daylight, while they slept and ignored the wonder of our night. But now we see a pony who relishes in that wonder, and has come to create an even more beautiful night for ponies to enjoy." Princess Luna continued, taking a step closer to Moon Struck.
"Uhm... thank you, I guess. But you do know that even if everypony sleeps in the night, that is the time they can dream. And a dream is like the heart singing out its hopes and wishes into the night. Even if you are alone, you are surrounded by the dreams and wonders of everypony in Equestria. I think you are the most amazing pony because not only do you raise the moon, but you also protect the dreams of everypony. To battle nightmares, and take care of all of Equestria, and to do it all by yourself? That is truly the most courageous thing to do. While you were lost to the moon, Celestia only raised the sun and moon; she did not have your power of the night to protect us from the worst enemy anypony could ever face, ourselves. Everypony had to fight their own fears and frights in the night, nopony walked through the dreams to help us, to guide us. Think of how many ponies must have become lost in their nightmares without you there to protect them?" Moon Struck said, looking up to the moon. "I know that feeling all too well. I don't remember the last time I slept at night, or the last time I had someone to even talk to about my nightmares. I used to talk to my mom, but since her and dad left each other, I couldn't bring to talk to her about my silly frights when she had had so much more to deal with on her own." She finished turning from the sky and staring at her own hooves.
"We had never thought of that, the fears that were faced by everypony in our absence. How much pain must we have caused to everypony because of our jealousy towards our own sister?" Princess Luna thought out loud, sorrow showing in her eyes. "We wonder how much more of our night thou are more familiar with than we are, Moon Struck. We wish thee to enlighten us of thy nights that had passed before our return, if thou so desires." She asked Moon Struck.
Moon Struck stared at the night pony, stunned. The Princess of the Night herself was asking about the night as it was ruled by Princess Celestia. "Well, although the nights were beautiful, they sometimes felt... empty. Lonely. I had always stayed awake as late as I could as a filly, playing and running and flying through the sky. My mom would always have to come fetch me from a cloud in the morning, because I would always fall asleep surrounded by the stars and warmth of the moon's light. I felt peaceful, and at home there. She would always lecture me, saying I would catch a cold. But tucked into the clouds, I was always warm and filled with joy. At the time, I had respected Princess Celestia for raising the moon and bringing such a wondrous night to all pony kind. When reading stories about the moon for a school project, though, I had learned the tale of the Mare in the Moon. The books our library in Vanhoover had were not very clear about the origin of the tale though. Since my report was important, I pleaded with my parents to take me with them to Canterlot on their next trip. I had been allowed into the archives here at the castle, where I chanced upon Princess Celestia doing some reading of her own. She had the book I was looking for, turned to the tale of the Mare in the Moon. Thinking back, she had looked so sad, so heartbroken, and something else I hadn't understood at the time. But I remember that look of regret, just as I remember the guilt and horror and sorrow that followed soon after. You see, I had saw the book, the story in front of her, and I begged her to tell me all she knew about the Mare in the Moon. I told her it was for school, but that I also wanted to know because I loved the moon. I loved the pony face that watched over the night from in the moon, because I always felt like the face of the Mare in the Moon was watching over me directly, taking care of me as I played in the night. The more I pleaded with the Princess, the more distressed yet happy she seemed. I thought she was happy that I loved her night, but sad I didn't seem to care as much for the day. But after more imploring that she told me about the tale, she gave in. She told me that it would not be a joyful story, but something that had been a weight in her heart for a long, long time. As I sat and listened to her tell of how she watched her beloved sister grow distant, and hateful, I came to be afraid of how the story would end. I mean, she had been telling me about a Princess, a younger sister, that nopony had ever heard of. When she started to talk about how her sister fell plague to an unchangeable anger in her heart, and changed to an evil one called Nightmare Moon, my heart had turned to ice. I had unconsciously taken a step away from Princess Celestia, fear taking hold of me. She had hung her head, crying, when she told me what she did. She banished Nightmare Moon to the moon itself. She had sent away her own sister, exiled her to the furthest place she could. How isolated must her sister have felt, how alone, how lost to have succumbed to such a sorrow and anger. I could not respect the Princess after that. I asked how she could have done such a thing to someone she loved, she only looked away from me. I left her like that and escaped to the clouds high above the castle. After that, every night, instead of playing, I flew up high into the clouds, as high as I could get and as close to the moon as possible, so that I could tell the Mare in the Moon stories and sing to her and let her know how much I loved her night. She was my only friend, even if she could not respond to me, she was the pony I trusted most even if I didn't know whether or not she could even hear me. But, I wanted her to know I cared." Moon Struck whispered the last sentence, looking away from Princess Luna in embarrassment.  
"Thou truly loves night, dost thou not? Wouldst thou like to hear about the night that we welcomed before... before our banishment?" Princess Luna asked, placing a hoof on Moon Struck's shoulder.
"You... you would be willing to tell me about something from so long ago, something that must have hurt so much to go through?" Moon Struck asked in awe.
"But of course, thou art a pony that can truly appreciate that which we have to offer to everypony. We would be grateful to have somepony to share our night with." Princess Luna replied with a smile.
And so, the two sat, staring into the night, and talking about different nights from their pasts. It was like they had both found something lost that they had never even known was missing. They both found somepony who understood them.



"It looks like they are having fun, we shouldn't disturb them," Twilight said to Princess Celestia, as they looked from the doorway at the laughing pegasus and alicorn.
"Indeed, I do not remember that last time I have seen Luna so happy. Letting her and Moon Struck meet was a wonderful idea, Twilight." Princess Celestia replied warmly.
"I didn't think they would get along so well so quickly, but I did hear from Moon Struck how much she loved the night, ever since she was small. Which reminds me," Twilight turned to look fully at Celestia," she also told me about the first time she met you as a filly. Or at least, some of when she met you. You had told her about Princess Luna, about the Mare in the Moon, and about Nightmare Moon. You had apparently told her about banishing Nightmare Moon as well. Why did you tell some filly you did not know, and not tell me? I thought I was your pupil, but even I didn't learn about something so important until so much later. So, why?" Twilight muttered.
"Twilight, I did not tell you because it was not your time to learn about my sister. And, I admit I was also a little afraid." Princess Celestia sighed.
"Afraid? Why would you be afraid?" Twilight asked, confused.
"What if you had run from me, as she had? What if you no longer respected me, no longer wanted to be my pupil? What if you came to fear me as well?" Princess Celestia said sorrowfully.
"I could never hate you! Being your pupil was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I would have forgiven you, just as Princess Luna did. You did what you thought was best for both Equestria and Princess Luna, even though it hurt you so much to do it. If anything, I would have respected you more for the courage you displayed doing something you so obviously did not want to have to do. You acted only in the best interest of all ponies, and you bore the suffering alone." Twilight assured Princess Celestia, smiling at her teacher and friend.
"You truly are my most precious student, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Celestia smiled back, then turned and looked at her sister out in the garden. "I am glad that my dear Luna has found a friend who can sympathize with her love of the night. I only hope that Moon Struck can come to forgive me for the sadness I cast on her as a filly." She sighed.
"She will come around, I'm sure. If she and Princess Luna continue as friends, I am sure she will come to realize how kind and caring you truly are as well." Twilight reassured Princess Celestia. Somepony behind them called out to greet and chat, and so both Princess turned from the sight of Princess Luna and Moon Struck in the garden, and continued to mingle with the guests at the Gala. 



"... and the look of pure terror on his face! I had scared the hayseeds out of him! It was great! After that, he wouldn't look me in the face for a whole week! It was the best Nightmare Night I had ever had. I still daydream about the pranks I pulled because of how much better I could run about in the night than any of those bullies. No matter how many times they tried to bring me down by calling me Moonbait, I still managed to one up them." Moon Struck laughingly told Princess Luna. "Although, I did have to stop leaving chocolates up in the clouds as my offering to Nightmare Moon after the time the chocolate melted and rained upon unsuspecting ponies," she shrugged.
"Oh, did I hear somepony talk about raining chocolate? I can do that quite easily," Discord said, appearing in front of Moon Struck and Princess Luna. With a snap of his fingers, a pink cotton candy cloud popped up overhead, raining chocolate milk down on the three of them. Discord magicked a glass into his hand, filling it with chocolate milk, before drinking the glass and throwing the chocolate away in a small explosion.
"Discord, we demand thee remove thy cloud from above our heads!" Princess Luna boomed in her traditional Canterlot voice.
"Oh Lulu, you just don't know how to have any fun," Discord winked at Moon Struck before snapping his fingers again, the pink cloud disappearing.
"Think you can make one of those for my new home? I wouldn't mind having a cotton candy cloud that rained chocolate milk into a pool," Moon Struck giggled. "It would be so much fun! I could even have a chocolate pool party." 
"New home?" Princess Luna inquired.
"Oh, I've asked Discord to help me build my home back in Ponyville. I want my home to be in a permanent state of night, along with a few other chaotic bits. I will mostly be letting him have his fun making my home though, because I want it to be a surprise." Moon Struck answered with a sly look at Discord.
"Thou wishes for no sunlight to touch thy home? But why wouldst thou wish that?" Princess Luna asked, concerned.
"It's not that I don't want sunlight to touch my home. I have nothing against the day, but I do usually sleep through it, so it gets kind of hard to sleep with the sun in my eyes. But if my home was always covered by night instead, I could sleep peacefully during the day without having to worry about being woken up from being blinded." Moon Struck explained.
"Well, we suppose that is true. But still, we wish thee to reconsider, and maybe just keep thy bedroom covered in nighttime instead?" Princess Luna implored.
"I don't know; Discord, would you be able to do that?"	Moon Struck directed her question at the draconequus who was now juggling oranges with little wings on them and changing colors every time they left his claw or landed in his paw.
"Now somepony remembers I'm here, hmph." Discord grumbled. "I could easily put just your bed in darkness if that is what you want, so one little room shouldn't be a problem." He continued anyways, catching an orange and turning it into a pineapple instead.
"No, not darkness. Darkness is just so... empty. I want it eclipsed in night; starlight and moonlight. It doesn't have to be real moonlight for obvious reasons, but since the sun only eclipses the starlight with its own brightness, if you could at least make the stars visible, I would be happy." Moon Struck corrected.
"I believe that can be arranged. But I would like to make a few extra... changes to the building plans. Deal?" Discord said, an impish grin on his face as he threw the flying multi-colored oranges and the now blue pineapple up in the air, where they flew off into the main ballroom and the rest of the Gala.
"Anything you want to do, I give my full permission. Just don't tell me what the changes are; as said, I want to be surprised!" Moon Struck quickly agreed with a smile.
"Oh goody, a place where I can let my chaos run free. You should invite Fluttershy and I over for tea after you get moved in then, I am sure we will have the most marvelous time." With that, Discord winked again, laughing as he disappeared in a pop, presumably to go back to Fluttershy and pranking ponies in the Gala.
"Dost thou truly believe in giving Discord full reign over thy home? We know not what he may set loose in his chaos." Princess Luna warned.
"I know it may seem a bit... unorthodox, but I do think that he can make a strange and wondrous home that can only be seen in dreams. And that is what I want, a dreamlike home of fun and whimsy." Moon Struck answered, smiling somewhat wistfully.
"If that is what thou desires, we shall not endeavor to stop thee. Shall we return to the Gala? We fear that our sister might be missing of our presence, and we are sure that thy friends must desire thy presence as well," Princess Luna asked, turning towards the doors back into the light and laughter filled hall behind them.
"Yes, friends..." Moon Struck sighed.
"What is wrong, dear friend?" Princess Luna pried, concerned.
"It's just, I sort of, accidentally... hurt Rainbow Dash's feelings. I didn't mean to! I just... I was just being honest with her. I thought friends were supposed to be honest, even if it might hurt somepony. At least that's what I thought I learned from my mistake with Rarity. But I still seemed to mess up." Moon Struck whimpered, her voice cracking. "Should I have lied?" She looked at Princess Luna, the plea in her eyes glistening.
"We do not think that lying would be the answer, but maybe thou should speak with Twilight Sparkle about this. She is the Princess of Friendship after all, she should be able to help thou correct the complication with thine Rainbow friend. Come, let us go in search of her." Princess Luna said, lending a hoof to help Moon Struck stand. The pegasus and alicorn returned to the Gala, but Moon Struck feared that she had destroyed her new friendship with Rainbow Dash before it could even truly begin.