"What is on your mind, Flash Sentry?"
Flash Sentry sighed and stared out into the wide sea of dancing grass and reeds lit by stars that swirled through a dark blue-purple sky. "I'm thinking of my ancestors," he admitted to Princess Luna. "What they would think of me now." He paused for a beat, then looked over at the Princess. "You knew them, right?" he asked hesitantly.
Luna blinked slowly, lowering her head for a moment so that her face was momentarily cast in shadow. "I did indeed," she said. "They and the other Pillars."
"Could...you tell me about them, please?" Flash entreated, trying not to sound like he was pleading.
"Of course," the Princess of Dreams smiled warmly at him, lighting her horn.
The landscape around them shifted and blurred, and then they were standing upon a sunny field enclosed by a tall white gate. Patches of well-tended flowers and topiary bushes shaped into ponies and mythical creatures surrounded them, bright patches of color amidst the greenery.
A younger Celestia and Luna, looking barely six years old, their flanks both still blank, were gliding through a makeshift obstacle course formed by stakes and flags planted in the ground, their smiles wide despite the sweat that ran down their pink and light blue manes.
"Come on, girls!" cheered an orange pegasus stallion in brightly-polished iron armor, a golden-bronze shield strapped tight to his back. "You can't be the Princesses if you fly like mules!"
"Oh, you'll be eating those words in a moment, Magnus!" the young Celestia laughed as she zig-zagged around some stakes.
"It was Magnus and Somnambula who taught us much about how to fly," the elder Luna spoke, smiling at the racing fillies. "Always pushing us to be better, sneaking us away from Mother and Father to show us tricks and have us race through Ghastly Gorge..." She chuckled. "Oh, Mother and Father would have had their hides tanned if they could!"
"I...didn't know that," Flash murmured, his expression one of a quiet, desperate hunger as he stared at Magnus, who was now laughing as the young alicorns playfully wrestled him to the ground.
"Somnambula, help!" Magnus called through his hysterics.
"Verily!" chirped a peach-colored pegasus adorned in silken clothes, the glopaz necklace around her neck shining with a faint emerald glow as she pounced upon the group, all four of them roaring with laughter.
"Magnus was the bravest pony I've ever known," Luna continued to Flash. "Whenever there was danger, his immediate instinct was to throw himself between it and any other ponies nearby." She smiled fondly. "In truth, he often straddled the line between 'brave' and 'foolhardy;' I lost count of how many times Father reminded him, 'Magnus, your shield may be invulnerable, but you are not.' But his courage won many battles and saved many lives, and his sheer refusal to give up inspired others to keep fighting even when victory seemed impossible."
"You fought alongside him, too?" Flash Sentry asked, his eyes wide with awe.
"Not until we were older, but yes," Luna nodded, watching the four laughing ponies chase each other through the garden. "When sister and I were children, he would regale us with grand stories of battles and adventures: only Rockhoof could compete with him when it came to telling stories. Though Magnus tended to embellish things a bit more than Rockhoof did," she added with a giggle.
"And oh, could Magnus sing," Luna continued as the scene shifted again. When the colors reformed into shape once more, she and Flash Sentry were standing beneath a starry sky, outside the walls of Canterlot Castle. Magnus, bare of his armor, was standing in a topiary garden, singing in a mellifluous vibrato. His song was backed up by a tune performed by the withered unicorn behind him, her eyes closed in serenity as she plucked at a pear-shaped guitar-like instrument. Magnus' eyes, glowing like the stars above, were fixed upon a balcony above him. Standing in the balcony, backlit by lanterns behind her, was Somnambula, smiling down at Magnus as he serenaded her. Though the song was in a language Flash did not understand, the adoration and love in every beautiful syllable were purely evident.
"Magnus had a reputation as a bit of lady's pony in his time," Luna continued, her voice quiet so as not to cross over with the music. "But there was only one mare for him: Somnambula." She giggled. "Though he was the last one to figure it out. It gave us all great joy to see him courting her. He didn't need to, truthfully--she had fallen for him long before--but being the gentlepony he was, he wanted to give her a proper courtship."
One of the bushes behind the serenading ponies rustled faintly and Flash heard muffled laughter coming from it. A moment later, with a burst of blue light that brought the song to a sudden stop, a stallion with a silver beard wearing a conical hat adorned with bells and stars appeared, glaring down at the bush.
"There you are!" he declared, plucking two squirming alicorn fillies out of the bush with his magic. "Come, girls, it's time for your astronomy lesson. The rest of you, have you nothing better to do than make my daughters into delinquents? Away with you! Shoo!"
The bush rustled and then three figures--a massive earth pony with a great orange beard, a blue mare with a bushy red mane tied back in a tall beehive, and a small gray unicorn in a humble cloak--burst from the bush, laughing like schoolfoals and throwing friendly catcalls at Magnus as they scampered out of sight, running past Flash and Luna.
"A thousand pardons, Magnus," Starswirl apologized to Magnus, apparently not noticing that his young charges were making faces at his back. "That was quite beautiful, truth. Pray continue as if this never happened."
With another flash of blue light, Starswirl, Celestia, and Luna disappeared, leaving behind Magnus, who was now hiding his reddening face behind his wings. Mistmane patted him reassuringly on the back while trying to stifle her own amusement. Somnambula was facedown on the balcony railing, vibrating with mirth.
Flash Sentry turned to face Luna, only to find that she was looking down at him with her head tilted to one side, a fond smile on her face. "What?" he asked.
"I apologize," Luna said. "It's just...I know you won't think so, but you look extraordinarily like him."
"Er..." Flash glanced over at the muscular red-haired and red-faced pegasus behind him, then subconsciously ran a hoof through his bright blue mane, frowning at his foreleg. "Maybe I should spend more time at the gym," he mumbled to himself, prompting Luna to laugh. "What about Somnambula?" Flash asked.
"There are many legends about how beautiful she was, but none could come close to the reality," Luna replied as the landscape around them swirled into blurs once more. When it settled, they were standing in a great camp in a valley, with several hastily-formed tents standing about everywhere. Smoke and ash hung in the air, and all around them were ponies in ragged clothes, their faces smeared with dust and their eyes hollow with shock and loss.
"She could bring hope even in the darkest of times," Luna said, beckoning to a vibrant green glow beneath a tent next to them. Somnambula was standing amidst several cots of wounded ponies, many of them children, a smile on her face as she moved from refugee to refugee, speaking calmly. The light from her glopaz necklace seemed to wash away the dirt and dust and dried blood from every face it fell upon, and few ponies were left without a smile after she spoke to them.
"She knew how to make any pony smile no matter how drastic things seemed," Luna continued, watching as Somnambula paused to clean a filly's face with her dress, allowing the awestruck child to play with her glowing necklace. “She always said that gratitude was the way to comfort. What you have is always worth far more than what you have lost.”
"She seems like everypony's mom," Flash commented, watching as a few young foals, hope dawning upon their grimy faces, gathered around Somnambula, who bent down to speak to them.
"Oh, she loved children," Luna confirmed. "And she did indeed make a wonderful mother."
The world around them changed once more, and suddenly, they were standing in a massive chapel. Princess Faust, adorned in silver regalia and toga, was smiling down at Somnambula and Magnus. Magnus was wearing a collection of golden ceremonial armor, while Somnambula was wearing a white silken dress with a circlet of flowers around her head. Both pegasi had eyes only for the other, pure love on their countenances. The glopaz necklace was shining so brightly that the entire room was illuminated, reflecting in the eyes of every observer: the other Pillars and an older Celestia and Luna were in the front row, beaming at their friends.
"Glopaz shines brighter when its wearer is happy," Luna commented, whose face was glowing as she watched the lovers kiss, prompting applause from the crowd. "I thought that I would never see Somnambula happier than this day, but on the day she came to tell us that she was with child--your sixteen-great-grandmother Jade Sunrise--you could see her coming from miles away."
Flash Sentry kept his eyes fixed upon his ancestors as they embraced, joyful tears flowing from their eyes as flowers rained down upon them. Even as the memory began to fade away, he kept his eyes fixed upon the couple until they vanished entirely, leaving the two ponies standing in the green pastures.
Flash Sentry turned to face Luna, only to see tears running down her face. "Princess?" he asked.
"I...I apologize," Luna sniffled, wiping her face. "Not a day goes by when my sister and I don't miss them all," she admitted, her voice quavering.
Flash gulped down a sob, his eyes burning with sudden tears. "At least you knew them," he said in a cracked voice, a line of bitterness slithering into the words before he could fight it back.
"You know them as well, Flash Sentry," Luna replied, looking up at him with a sad smile. "You carry their legacy and name, you know them through the tales that your father and grandfather told you as children. Tales that you will one day tell your own children."
"Er..." Flash Sentry gulped as a certain lavender unicorn suddenly appeared, stretched out lazily in the grass and giving him an alluring smile. He shook his head and quickly ordered the vision to disappear into dust as Luna tittered.
"They are with you," Luna continued, draping a wing around the smaller pony's back like a comforting blanket. "Every moment of your life. If they could speak to you, I am sure that they would tell you how proud of you they are."
"You sure?" Flash asked.
"Flash, you have faced foes with great courage, run towards the danger that others ran away from, defeated a legendary beast," Luna replied. "I can remember the days when bards would be singing tales of your heroics. That is the legacy of Magnus and Somnambula: two brave ponies who stood their ground for what was right. Their spirit and their love are with you."
Flash tried to say something, but the words were choked down by a fresh wave of emotion and he bowed his head. For a moment, he thought he could feel two sets of forelegs wrapped gently around him in a strong embrace.
"Never doubt that, Flash Sentry," Luna whispered. "Never doubt that they love you."