216: REGRET
“I’m sorry,” said Luna.
The statue didn’t respond. She hadn’t expected it to, of course: unlike Discord in his stone prison, this was merely a statue, a lifeless hunk of black marble carved in the likeness of a small unicorn mare. It gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
Luna rested her head against the unicorn’s, but she felt none of the tingling warmth she remembered. “I’m sorry,” she said again, silvery tears slipping down her face. “I was such a fool.”
The statue stared back at her with eyes that were blank and unseeing, not the bright, perceptive pools she had happily drowned in.
“You were right,” she whispered. She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the unicorn’s empty gaze. “I should have listened. You were right about everything. I . . . I caused so much pain and destruction.”
She lifted a hoof and touched lips that were cold and hard and grimly pursed, not warm and soft and always ready with an encouraging word.
“I’m sorry!” cried Luna, what was left of her composure crumbling under the weight of her grief. She wrapped her forelegs around the statue, hugging it tightly, as if trying to hold onto a life that had long since ceased to be. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I did this to you, my love. You gave up everything for me, and I—I—I destroyed us both! I’m so sorry!”
“Luna?”
Luna’s eyes flew open, and for a fleeting moment they were wide and wild and filled with desperate hope. The statue was still cold and silent, though, and she realized the voice had come from behind her. Turning around, she saw her sister standing there, her white coat bright in the darkness.
“Luna?” said Celestia again, concern on her face.
“I—we will be fine,” said Luna, choking back a sob and reminding herself that she was a princess. “We were just ... grieving.”
Celestia approached. Slowly, almost hesitantly, she extended a wing and wrapped it around Luna. The smaller alicorn stiffened for a moment, then leaned against her sister, trembling. Together, they looked silently at the statue.
“I’m sorry,” Celestia said at length. “I had no choice. She was cutting down everypony in her path while trying to reach us. Minutes after I . . . after I sent you away, she burst into the chamber and demanded that I bring you back. When I refused . . . it broke her. She attacked.” Celestia shivered. “I was terrified. Not even the Nightmare had looked at me with such hate, such rage, such anguish.”
“I did that to her,” wailed Luna, unable to hold back the sobs any longer. She buried her face in her sister’s flowing mane, feeling her insides twist in horror at the enormity of her sins. “If I hadn’t . . . ”
Celestia’s wing tightened comfortingly around her. “She loved you, Luna. She loved you more than I did, to my eternal shame. I have never known a more devoted, more loyal pony. She was willing to follow you into the darkness that had consumed you.”
“Sister, I killed her!”
“No, Luna. I killed her, to save myself, to save my soldiers, and to save Canterlot.”
“It was because of me.”
Celestia gently turned Luna so they could look at each other face-to-face. “Luna, listen to me. A thousand years ago, we both made grievous mistakes that cost us dearly, but we cannot allow our past failings to corrupt our future. We must look to tomorrow, for our sakes and the sake of Equestria.” She leaned close and nuzzled Luna affectionately. “You have already suffered enough, little sister. Don’t cling to the pain, I beg you. She is gone, and you must let her go.”
Luna looked at the statue again. After a long while, she nodded and said simply, “I will try, sister. I will look to the future. Our future. We will never fall into darkness again.” She nodded again and rested her head against the unicorn’s one last time. “We will be the princess she deserved.”