It was a gloomy night. The stars and moon were dim and hidden behind clouds. The ponies of Ponyville were still recovering from what a disaster of a Nightmare Night it was.
Twilight was mainly upset. A bit mad at herself for letting Luna run away before she could help her and mad at her friends, mainly Pinkie Pie for not giving Luna a chance when they were the people who reformed her in the first place. She threw away her Starswirl costume, as she wouldn't need it if there was no Nightmare Night anymore. She sighed and continued removing all the Nightmare Night decorations
While this was going on, the two sisters were having dinner in their castle. Luna was moodily playing with her food, replaying the events of what happened in her mind and what she could've done to not make this night such a disaster.
She decided to break the silence and said "Hey Tia, do you think they'll ever love me?". Celestia was caught off guard. She didn't want to lie to her sister, but she didn't want to make her disheartened either.
"Of course they will Luna, they just have to get used to change. It's been a thousand years since anypony saw you" Celestia replied.
"They made me into a story to scare foals, Celestia. They made a whole festival about how scary I am."
"Was. Scary I was. You're not scary anymore and I'm pretty sure they'll grow to love you, Luna. They'll see how you've changed for the better." Celestia assured her with a soft smile. Luna gave her a half-smile back.
Maybe if I ever want to change I should go to the first place I ruined. She thought. Luna got up from her seat and started walking towards the door. "Where are you going?"
"To the Everfree Forest to get some fresh air," Luna said. To this Celestia raised an eyebrow.
"You could just go to the gardens instead of the Everfree Forest. The garden is much safer than the forest."
"I wanna relive the past tonight," Luna replied with a bitter chuckle. "Maybe visit the place I swore to protect, destroyed by myself."
"You didn't destroy it, Luna. I did. I ignored your wishes to be noticed and I-" Celestia began but was cut off by Luna.
"We both know exactly who was responsible for it Celestia." Luna's horn started glowing. "I'll be back in a few hours." And just like that, she teleported. Celestia sighed and continued eating. Celestia knew it was her fault, it didn't take a brilliant pony to figure that out. I messed up so much that day...
Thousand years ago...
Celestia's pov
Luna, we can talk about this." Celestia, the goddess of the day, trying to comfort my younger, weaker sister. The mare was crying in her chamber after she got shunned away by the ponies on her birthday. The first birthday I remembered. I usually was to busy to care, but then I would look like a terrible pony, so here I was, in the young mare's chamber.
"You didn't want to talk about it before! Face it, Celestia, you only care about yourself and NOPONY ELSE!" My bratty sister shouted pointing at me while using her other hoof to wipe her tears away.
"Luna, I have been caring for you since our parents' death." Yet Luna still didn't care. Didn't she see how much work I did every day? And today I even abandoned I work to comfort my sister. Of course, I cared!
"Ignoring me every day and yelling at me the one day I spoke up about this, yeah sure, that's caring." I had more useful things to do than cater to my irrelevant sister all day. But I didn't say that. Instead, I said-
Luna, the ponies need sleep, and your night provides it." That was true.
Well, that's only because you and your sun take up 14 hours while my night only takes 10!" Because the ponies need the Sun more!
"The ponies need sunlight more than night! And if you want we could take a week, a celebration when your night shines for 12 hours, and so does my Sun, is that settled?" She groaned inside. She was being so generous today
Why just one week? Why not every day, it seems much more balanced then what you are doing now." Hah, balanced?
"More balanced? It will break the balance we've been trying to keep for so long. The Sun gives light to ponies, helps plants to grow and everypony would die without it. Now, what does the moon or night do? Nothing, but helping ponies sleep and looking pretty. That's why the Sun gets more time to shine." I could be the element of honesty at this point. I hoped Luna would understand, but as always she didn't. That naive foal shouted-
WHAT BALANCE!? Everypony adores you. They worship the very ground you step on. When it's your birthday, it's a whole celebration! And when it's mine, nobody even remembers. Not even you." Tears start pouring out her eyes. "What's wrong with me that they just can't love? Am I not good enough? And is the night I work on for so long, making sure every star is perfectly aligned in a constellation, disappointing compared to your day?" Night and Day are both equal, I was just saying the day is a bit more important. But I can't just say that it'll make her madder.
"Of course not, my little sister. Everypony adores you and they will continue to." She spread her wings and went closer to her sister to hug her. but the whiny foal pushes her out the door using her magic.
"Nopony does Celestia! You don't even mean it!" The mare was crying again and now she was getting on my nerves.
"Well, maybe if you stopped being so whiny and greedy THE PONIES WILL LOVE YOU!" She was shocked for a minute. Then she opened her mouth to say something but I interrupted her. "You are always complaining about this! Why not just go out and try to make some friends instead?!
"I can't! You know I tried once, but they only befriended me to talk to YOU!" Luna shouted back. I can't blame the ponies. I am more interesting than Luna, but still.
"That's because you've not done anything to be congratulating or admiring yet and once-"
"NOT ADMIRING? I single-handedly defeated Sombra when you fainted after he attacked you! And you know what thanks I got? NOTHING! Because anything I do right is automatically handed to you because 'I can't do anything right', and any mistake YOU make, I AM BLAMED FOR because only the naive stupid one could do something like that, not the older more AMAZING ruler everyone LOVES!" Luna cried out. I tried to say something but she continued, "I feel like I am invisible to the world, neglected by all the ponies I oh so terribly desire to be loved by. All because you become the wall in front of me that prevents ponies to see me, just so you can get all the attention FOR YOURSELF!"
I was shocked. I felt awful, guilt washing over me. Did that happen? Looking at her now, I didn't see the young foal I always saw. Instead, a mature, diligent mare, who was never given her dues. God, I am such a monster to be one of the largest barriers keeping her from reaching her full potential. I have to apologize at least, to be a good sister for once.
"Luna I.. didn't know. I was so busy and this evening was no different. I didn't notice-" I was interrupted by Luna's bitter laugh.
"Oh, god I am sorry your highness. I hope I didn't ruin your evening with my presence." She said with a sarcastic smile on her face.
"Luna please I-" I tried to reason with her but to no avail. She looked at me with hatred.
"I HATE YOU" Was the last thing I heard before she shut the doors on my face. I sighed and walked away. Till I heard a shout from her bedroom. I wanted to go check on her, maybe even try to apologize again but I think she had had enough of me so I decided to let her be. Big mistake.