//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Day and Night Regained Again 
// by Pandorarama 
//------------------------------//

Sunset Shimmer looked up from her book, sighing softly. She could see the moon clearly, having made sure that the weather team had dispersed all the clouds in the sky for the past week. It was two days before the summer sun celebration, and the young queen had finished all the preparations to send Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville. All she could do now was hope she would succeed in saving the corrupted princess. Closing her eyes, she could feel the imminent ache of raising the sun.

Banishing Celestia- no. Banishing Daybreaker had been hard enough; she didn’t know the power it would take to restore Nightmare Moon to Princess Luna, as the elements hadn’t worked the last time she was in the old castle when she had been desperate to find a way to stop her old teacher.

She had used an old spell that the royal sisters had created as a fail-safe should the elements not work, and it had left its mark on her, ever-growing the more she manipulated the sun and moon. Quite literally.

It had been nearly two decades since she had banished her teacher to the sun, and she had been scouring books to undo the curse that had been cast upon the sisters. But, with Nightmare Moons release in just two days, she was running on borrowed time. The bonds had been weakening over the years, and the stars were moving to aid in her escape.
She glanced down beside the book, where she was finishing a letter.

My Dearest Twilight
I want to send you to Ponyville to oversee the organizing of the Summer Sun Celebration. I know it is very short notice, but I promise this was not a choice made lightly, and I will understand and accept if you do decline as it is such short notice. If you accept, I would be most grateful. It has been twenty years since I had to banish my teacher, so please make sure the event is tasteful and honors her so. And please,
Go to bed.
Queen Solaria

She signed the letter with a flourish of her quill, rolling it and tying a ribbon with Twilights sigil around it. The queen couldn’t tell her student the true reason for being sent to Ponyville. The elements needed a reason to come out; they chose the bearers, not the other way around. 

Yes, Sunset was manipulating them a teeny bit, but Twilight would be ignorant until she realized they could save the cursed princess. Then, her intents would be pure, and she believed that her student would be able to find the other bearers. 
It was all Sunset could do. She had spent years trying to find a way, and this was all she had to show for it.

Hope.

A quick burst of magic and the letter was gone, and she knew Spike would deliver it, her diligent student still up and reading. The faint light in her student’s tower went out a few minutes later, and she could just barely see the shadows moving in the lanterns. 

With a sigh, she pushed herself up to her hooves. The hardest part of Celestia being gone was how out of wack the day and night had become. She did not have the strength to raise the sun and moon each day; it was simply not possible. She was an alicorn of fire and war. The sun nor moon was hers to command with ease, though her cutie mark showed otherwise. It was now week to week, and she could only thank the old gods and that there were enough unicorns that could support her every week and that they had been able to grow Sunflowers.

They captured the sun’s light to shine on the fields to help the plants grow and to help in keeping the ponies as happy as possible during the weekly nights. While many had criticized her and called her weak for her lack of magic to raise the sun and moon, she was able to keep power with her other strengths, easily defending the country from outside forces, and it had been enough to gain her citizens trust back.

She could only pray that Luna could be saved, that the world could get back to normal. So many of Equestria’s unicorns had tried to raise the sun on their own, and many had died or broken their horns doing so. Sunset had her specialized team to aid in raising and lowering the sun and moon, but she shouldered the bulk of it alone. The moon would remain high in the sky until the Summer Sun Celebration, where she would not have to raise the sun. Hopefully, it would be Princess Luna’s turn.

Hopefully, the pain could stop.