Cry for Eternity

by asylum1388


Chapter 11

The holidays (and the week and a half immediately following them) are the busiest time of the year for me, so thank you for your patience. Also, I suggest you thank Pissfer for keeping me on track with this chapter, or it might've been delayed a week or two more.

Secondly, this chapter contains a possibly origin story for Luna and Celestia. If for some reason you take issue with it, that's fine, but raging in the comments isn't going to change anything.

Editor: Pissfer
Pre-readers: Piquo+Pie and f0xhole.


Twenty-three days since the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Next, we have this,” Twilight muttered, pushing a stack of papers to the mare seated next to her. “I’m really not sure how they think it’ll help, but both the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Agriculture endorsed this plan. The problem is that only a couple of them have even been to a farm, let alone actually worked one. Actually, I think only three of the ponies on staff in either one have ever worked on a farm and it’s probably been years. I wanted to hear from somepony who had their hooves on the ground, so to speak, before I signed off on it.”

Applejack briefly scanned the top page before shaking her head. “Nah, this’ll never work. Sure, it’ll help ponies with huge farms like me ‘n’ the family, but a lot of smaller farms do everything by hoof and are proud of that. Ah’ve seen one that doesn’t even use plows.” She flipped to the second page, read the first sentence, then pushed the stack away. “Buying everypony new equipment would be nice, but it wouldn’t solve the problem, Ah don’t care what your bureaucrats say. Tools make things easier, sure, but they don’t make the crops grow better. It’d be a waste of money.”

“Good enough for me,” Twilight replied, shoving the stack into the waste bin that sat between them. She reached across the table and pulled another pile towards herself. “This one would eliminate the sales tax on any apple-based products. Whoever wrote it suggested that eliminating the tax would encourage ponies to buy more—”

“Wouldn’t work,” Applejack interrupted with a frustrated sigh. “There isn’t much made from apples that isn’t food, and y’all don’t tax food anyway.”

“Okay, but what if instead of eliminating the tax, we instead redirected some of it to farm subsidies?” Twilight offered.

“We’re ya even listenin’? There’s so little taxable things made from apples that even redirectin’ all of it wouldn’t even make a dent!” Applejack snapped.

“Alright, alright, you don’t have to get snippy with me, AJ,” Twilight sighed, shoving the new proposal into the overflowing bin.

“Sorry, Ah didn’t mean to say it like that. Just not used to bein’ up this late and we just seem ta be goin’ in circles,” Applejack grumbled.

“I know, but this is the last one,“ Twilight murmured, levitating a final stack of papers off of the floor and gently dropping it in front of her friend. “The ponies who submitted this one actually consulted me when they were writing it, so I can promise you that the science is sound.”

Applejack pulled it closer to her and began to read, but quickly stopped and turned to Twilight incredulously. “Magic? You want to use magic to grow apples? Have ya lost yer mind?”

“What? No! That’s not what it says,” Twilight gasped, leaning over and pulling several sheets from the center of the pile. “We’re putting aside thousands of bits to research ways to keep apple crops healthy by combating diseases and making the trees more resistant to bad weather. Most of them do involve magic, true, but I promise that you won’t have to change the way you do things.”

“I... don’t know, Twilight,” Applejack murmured after a short pause. “It still seems wrong. Takin’ shortcuts never works when it comes to apples, Ah taught you that myself.”

“I know, but this is different,” Twilight cooed. “If this gets passed, I’m going to be watching it closely. If they invented a medicine that could eliminate that disease you were complaining about a while ago- I think you called it flame blight? If they made a medicine that was completely safe and would completely cure it, wouldn’t you use it?”

“It was fire blight; and yeah, Ah guess Ah would,” Applejack muttered. “But what if they don’t come up with anything, or it takes them five years to find something? What then? The problems will be starting this season. We’re gonna get fewer apples from the same amount of work, and the apples we do get will be smaller. This isn’t just about sellin’ less apples; we’ll have to cut back durin’ cider season, and even the little problems we have all the time will be bigger than normal!”

“Well, that’s what this is for!” Twilight said quickly, pulling out the bottom page and holding it out for Applejack to read.

“Ya want to do what to my taxes?” she gaped. “You can’t cut our taxes by that much! Ye’ll have everypony who’s not an apple farmer riotin’ in the streets!”

“No we won’t. Don’t be so dramatic, you’re starting to sound like Rarity,” Twilight prodded with a teasing grin.

“Okay, fine it won’t be that bad,” Applejack muttered. “But tax cuts ain’t cheap, how exactly do you expect to pay for this if you’re already sendin’ so much money to those scientists?”

“You let me worry about that. I’m sure there’s somepony in a nice condo in Manehattan or Fillydelphia who’s been underpaying on their taxes for years that I can squeeze,” Twilight replied with a wink. “Probably a bunch of other subsidies I can cut too. The mining industry’s been reporting record profits for a long time; I don’t think they need help anymore.”

Applejack opened her mouth to respond, but shut it when nothing came out. She then closed her eyes and hung her head, deep in thought, before speaking again. “Alright, Ah’m gonna trust you. All things consider’d Ah probably shouldn’t, but Ah am,” Twilight flinched at her words and she trailed off, her eyes wide, shocked at what had just come out of her mouth. “Ah’m sorry, I shouldn’ta said that.”

“No, no, I deserved that,” Twilight murmured sadly, blinking away the tears that had begun to form.

“No you didn’t, Twilight. Ah just—”

“Applejack, I abused your trust and deceived you. That’s an awful thing to do to anypony and it’s even worse to do that to a friend,” Twilight murmured. “I did deserve that; at least a little bit.”

“You’re a good friend, Twilight,” Applejack replied softly. “If Ah had stayed in Ponyville, Ah probably would’ve said somethin’ dumb, then Dash ‘n’ Mac would’ve probably started arguin’ with me, poor Applebloom would be stuck in the middle, ‘n’ who knows what Granny’d say? Ah really appreciate you pullin’ me outta there, Ah just wish you would’ve found a less deceptive way to do it.”

“I know. I wish I had too. I just got scared and acted too quickly,” Twilight sighed.

“What’dya mean ‘got scared’? Ah fight with Dash all the time, it doesn’t mean nothin’,” Applejack said, bewildered.

“For the past couple weeks, I’ve been afraid of something happening in Ponyville to cause you girls to start fighting with each other, and I wouldn’t be there to calm everypony down. The thought terrifies me,” Twilight confessed. “I know it’s silly, but if anything broke up the friendships between you, I don’t know what I’d do... When Rainbow told me about what she had done, it started to look like that might actually happen. I guess I just panicked. I’m really sorry.”

“Stop apologizin’, Twilight. Ah’ve forgivin you, Ah’m just still a little sore is all. Ah’ll get over it, but Ah don’t want you hatin’ yourself in the meantime. What’s that all about anyhow? You’ve been mopin’ around ever since Ah got here and there’s more to it then y’all feelin’ guilty.”

Twilight hung her head at Applejack’s words. After an uncomfortably long silence, she spoke. “I’m... not happy here,” she whispered audibly, pursing her lips. “I’ve been working ever since they put this stupid crown on my head. Sure, I’m allowed to have an hour or two to myself here and there, but for the most part, if I’m not sleeping or eating, I’m doing paperwork or arguing with somepony over some little detail. I don’t even get a chance to do the kind of work I like to do anymore; no more experiments or reading books, just politics, debates, and more politics,” she moaned, sniffing back tears. “Sometimes I don’t even get time to eat or sleep. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to spend my lunch hour with a stack of papers sitting next to my food!”

“Woah... Ah don’t think any of us realized how rough it was up here, sugarcube. We were all sittin’ in Ponyville thinkin’ you were enjoyin’ yerself,” Applejack replied softly.

“Well I’m not! Everypony here has their own agenda that goes against everpony else’s, and they’re all working against each other to keep anything from getting done. Half of them sandbag anything that gets proposed, the other half tries to bribe everypony in sight. They all keep filling my mailbox with useless petitions that would give them more money or power at the expense of everypony else, and nopony, and I mean nopony even bothers to listen to anything I have to say,” Twilight snarled in one breath before gasping for air. “I’m sick and tired of this, and I want to go back to my library. But I can’t... I can’t because if I don’t stay here and take all this abuse, nopony will.”

“Well what about Luna? Can’t she help you?”

“No. She has her own problems to deal with, and the last thing she needs right now is for me to pile it on,” Twilight sighed.

“Is it really all that bad though?” Applejack asked, placing a concerned hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “There has to be some good parts...”

“I know you heard about what happened last week,” Twilight grumbled. “It’s hard to see anything in a positive light with something like that weighing on me.”

“Well, have ya ever tried to think of Princess Celestia?” Applejack offered. “You know, when y’all are feelin’ down, think of her and how happy she’d be that y’all are tryin’ so hard.”

“Well, I do do that, but sometimes it backfires and I start thinking about how much I miss her,” Twilight sighed. “It doesn’t help that every time I think I’ve finally got my emotions under control, I’ll find something she left for me.”

“‘Left for ya’? Like she left presents for ya?””

“Presents, reminders, letters... you name it. On my third night after I was crowned, I found a picture of Cadence pushing me on a swingset stuck in my pillowcase, and just last week I was going through the bookshelf in my room, opened a book that I thought looked interesting, and found that she had written a note to me on the inside of the front cover that said that she thought I’d really enjoy it.”

“She probably just didn’t think it’d upset y’all as much as it did. Ah can’t see her wantin’ to make ya feel any worse’n you already do,” Applejack replied.

“Actually, I think there was more to it than that,” Twilight said softly. “She knew for a long time that this was going to happen. I think she was afraid, and this was her way of reaching out to me. It probably made her feel a little better. Considering how long she had, I’ll probably still be finding little gifts from her years from now”

“That almost makes her sound sorta selfish. Makin’ herself feel better at yer expense...”

“Not exactly, AJ. Even if she was doing it to make herself feel better, I think she knew that I’d enjoy finding little gifts from her. It may hurt to find something from her, but it only hurts for a little while; then I look back and smile. The small reminder that she cared about me is more than worth the pain of missing her.”

“Well that makes sense,” Applejack muttered thoughtfully. “It actually sounds kinda exciting, not knowin’ where the next one will come from.”

“Well, I have an idea. She put a locking spell on her nightstand and nopony’s opened it since she died. It’s probably in there, so I’ve been slowly unraveling the spell,” Twilight explained. “Luna told me that she’s always kept whatever she considered her most treasured possession in there so it would we nearby when she went to sleep.”

“Her most valuable... Twilight, Ah donno if y’all should be doin’ that. If she locked it, then she might not want y’all snoopin’ around in there,” Applejack warned.

“Well, I thought that initially, but when I was inspecting it, I noticed something odd. The spell she used was a more powerful version of the one that I invented as a school project years ago. I can name at least a dozen easier, more secure spells she could’ve used, but instead she used mine!” Twilight replied excitedly. “No, whatever is in there, she wanted me to have it. She just wanted to make me work for it first.”

“So how close’re ya to openin’ it?”

“Not close at all. There hasn’t been much time lately to work on it either,” Twilight grumbled.

“Dang, that’s rough... Well, ya know what Ah think?” Applejack murmured. “Ah think we both need to go to bed. Maybe after we’ve had some rest we’ll be able to figure out how to solve both our problems.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Twilight replied, smiling for the first time that night. She gestured to the door. “After you!”

Using her magic, Twilight extinguished the candles lighting the room as she followed Applejack out, and the pair made their way towards the castle’s apartments.

“... Twilight, Ah know that Ah haven’t actually said it, but thank you for bringin’ me up here,” Applejack said suddenly. “Even if ya went about it the wrong way, y’all probably saved my family a lot of grief, and Ah’m thankful for that.”

“You’re welcome. I’m just happy to see that everything’s going to turn out well,” Twilight murmured.

“Well, Ah didn’t say that... Dash, Mac, ‘n’ Ah are gonna have a looooong talk when Ah get back; it’ll just involve a lot less yellin’ than it would’ve,” Applejack sighed. “That bein’ said, next time somethin’ like this happens, Ah’d prefer you just come back to Ponyville and talk with us yerself. No more sneaky Canterlot tricks, okay?”

“I promise, AJ. No more Canterlot tricks,” Twilight giggled as they reached Applejack’s door. “I’ll see you in the morning.”


It was deep into the night when Twilight was woken by a sharp tapping, which she promptly began to ignore. She rolled over and jammed a pillow over her ears, hoping that immediately falling back to sleep would send her right back into her interrupted dream.

It had been an amazing dream. She had been trapped, alone, in the Royal Library with no way out, and, more importantly, no way in. Left with only the library’s books- and nopony to bother her- she would have been able to read to her heart’s content. The infernal noise stole that from her. It stole that from her and if it didn’t stop, she was going to lose her mind. She sat up in bed and swiveled her ears, trying to identify the source of her annoyance without opening her eyes. Not that she could’ve used her eyes effectively; she was fairly certain that they were glued shut.

Fortunately, her hearing was all she needed to identify that the sound was somepony tapping on her balcony door.

Unfortunately, this meant that she would have to get out of bed to find out who would dare risk waking her at this awful hour.

After lighting a candle, she grudgingly pushed her way out from under her warm covers and landed on the floor roughly. Next, she dragged herself over to the balcony door, ready to lay into her waker. She tore open the portal, but her angry words died in her throat when she saw Luna’s face staring back at her.

“Oh, Twilight, ‘tis good to see you!” Luna chirped, trotting through the door without bothering to wait for an invitation.

“What in the name of... Luna, why did you wake me up?”

“I was in the mood for a visit, so I flew up. How are you?” Luna asked, seemingly ignorant to Twilight’s frustration.

“Luna, it’s not that I’m unhappy to see you, but do you have any idea what time it is?” Twilight groaned as she slammed the door shut.

“Approximately nine-after-two,” Luna replied, glancing around the room. She walked over to the bookshelf and picked up a weighty tome, inspecting it in her hoof.

“That’s not what I meant,” Twilight moaned as she trotted to Luna’s side. “I meant why are you...” she trailed off when she gazed upon Luna’s face. From the late hour, to the distant expression in her eyes, to the way she seemed to be staring past the book instead of at it, everything about her screamed to Twilight that something wasn’t right. “Luna, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Twilight. Why do you ask?” Luna replied softly, a flicker of misery sneaking across her face.

“Because you’re obviously not ‘fine’,” Twilight growled, eliciting a second flinch from the Night Princess. Whatever it is, it must be really bothering her. Just one more push might convince her to tell me what it is so I can get back to bed. “Why don’t you make this easier on both of us and just tell me what’s wrong?”

Twilight immediately realized that she had gone entirely too far as a pained grimace crossed her friend's face. “Luna, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to—”

“I can’t do this anymore, Twilight,” Luna whispered as several tears began trickling down her cheeks.

“What do you mean?”

“For a month now I’ve been putting on a happy face and smiling to my subjects,” Luna croaked, her voice trembling. “It’s a lie. All of it a lie! I’m not brave like Celestia was.”

“Luna...”

“She was in pain for so long and never showed it. She was so strong, but I’m weak and helpless. I’ve tried to hide it like she did, but I can’t do it any longer. I’ll never be able to do what she did and I don’t care anymore,” Luna sobbed, collapsing into Twilight in a fit of wails. “I miss her so much. I just want my sister back!”

Frozen in shock, Twilight found herself unable to do anything beyond awkwardly cradling the larger mare in her hooves. “Luna, I... Why—” Twilight murmured, more to herself than to her friend. She gently laid Luna down on the floor and ran to her bedroom door, flinging it open with enough force to cause the guard standing outside to jump.

“What in..? Your Highness, are you alright?” He asked quickly, raising his weapon and glancing over Twilight’s shoulder, attempting to identify the source of the racket emanating from Twilight’s room.

“I’m fine, but listen up, this is important,” Twilight instructed. “Go find Dusk Flower—”

“I beg your pardon, Princess, but Lady Dusk Flower resigned the night before last.”

“Oh, great,” Twilight sighed sarcastically. “In that case, go find whomever Luna has as her personal assistant for this week and inform them that Luna is feeling under the weather and that I’m ordering that the Night Court be canceled. Tell them that they can move some of the workload to the Day Court if need be, then go wake up Quill-Pen and ask her to handle everything; she won’t refuse if you tell her that I’m the one asking.”

“Right away, Your Highness,” the guard replied immediately with a sharp salute.

“After that, go down to the kitchens and have them send up the biggest tea kettle they have with every type of herbal tea they can get their hooves on,” Twilight instructed. She looked over her shoulder, then turned back to the guard and continued. “And a pot of strong coffee for me. This is going to be a long night...”

Twilight sat by Luna’s side for nearly half an hour, waiting for the distraught mare to cry herself out. When the wailing finally died down into sniffles, Twilight began coaxing Luna into speaking. Her efforts seemed to be in vain, but she waited patiently; her friend needed her, and she would walk to the ends of the world to help.

She pushed a cup of strong-smelling tea into Luna’s hooves. “Please talk to me, Luna... What’s all this about? These thoughts couldn’t have just suddenly come to you.”

“It was... I’ve been trying—” Luna choked, coughing several times as she tried to sniff back another round of tears. “I’ve been trying to put on a strong face, you know? Trying to show everypony that everything’s going to be okay and that there’s nothing to worry about. I-it was hard, but I thought I was doing well. Then I passed a portrait of her on my way to lunch tonight and I paused... I looked at it for only a second. I don’t know what happened, but I just couldn’t hold it...”

“But why were you holding it in the first place?” Twilight asked tenderly.

“Because Equestria needs a strong leader, not a simpering mess,” Luna grumbled.

“Is that why you’ve been tormenting yourself?” Twilight groaned. “Luna, if anypony sees you crying, they won’t think that you’re weak, they’ll see a pony who loved her sister, and misses her. If anything, it’ll probably confort them to know that you cared about her so much.”

“Perhaps,” Luna mumbled.

“No, not ‘perhaps’! Nopony in their right mind is going to think worse of you for caring. Why would you—” Twilight stopped herself as she realized something awful. “...You were gone for far too long, weren’t you? When you were banished, there was nopony there to comfort you; you were all alone with your thoughts. These past few weeks, you weren’t trying to be strong for everypony else, you were keeping everything bottled up because you didn’t know how else to handle it,” she whispered, just loud enough for Luna to hear. A few quiet sobs was all the confirmation she needed.

“Luna, you’re not alone anymore,” She cooed, pulling Luna in for a hug. “You have friends now, friends who care about you. I promise that I’ll be here whenever you need a shoulder to cry on. I...” she trailed off again as the implications of her words, the weight of reality hit her.

“Y-you what?” Luna pressed, desperately clinging to Twilight’s words.

“We’re going to be ruling Equestria together for probably thousands of years,” she sighed, trembling slightly. “I guess it only hit me just now. It’s funny. Here I am, trying to comfort you, but now I feel like I’m the one who needs comforting.”

“What a pair we are. All this misery, and it’s all my fault,” Luna replied sadly.

“No it’s—”

“It is my fault Twilight. If I had not given in to my anger all those years ago, if I had not...” Luna interrupted angrily. “If I had not been such a fool, none of this would’ve happened.”

“Celestia told you, she told both of us, that she never blamed you,” Twilight retorted. “What happened back then to make you still hate yourself this much?”

“I-I can’t...” she stuttered. “Maybe someday I’ll be ready to talk with you about that, Twilight, but not now.”

“Okay, then let’s go back to talking about Celestia,” Twilight replied quickly, racking her brains for a way to lift Luna’s sunken spirits. “Let’s think for a moment. You’ve been alive for a very long time, so you have to have lost somepony you cared about before. What did you do then to cope?”

“That was different, Twilight” Luna sighed. “I know, I always have known, that I was going to vastly outlive anypony I met, and I was prepared for that. Celestia though... I always thought she would be around for a lot longer. For everypony else I had years— decades even— to prepare myself for the loss, but I only had a month with Tia...”

“Oh...” Twilight murmured with a wince, briefly returning to her thoughts. “Hey, you know what? When my grandma died a few years ago, we made ourselves feel better by spending the night after it happened talking about our favorite memories of her. Would you like to try that with Celestia?”

“I... I don’t know,” Luna muttered, more to herself than Twilight. “Maybe if you went first?”

“Of course!” Twilight chirped, scratching her head as she searched her memories for one that she could call ‘a favorite’. “Oh! I know! It happened during my first couple of weeks studying under her, and I had something I really wanted to show her. It was kind of late, so I went to see her in her room, but she wasn’t there. So I started waiting, but since I was still a little filly, I got bored and started poking around and ended up knocking over a vase and shattering it.” Twilight paused and glanced at Luna, pleased to see that her friend was watching her intently, rather than staring sadly at the floor the way she had been. “Being young, I thought she might banish me over that, so I panicked, cleaned it up, left, and tried to avoid talking to her for a couple days.”

“Knowing her, I can guess how well that worked out,” Luna mumbled.

“Not very well,” Twilight giggled. “Three days after it happened, she confronted me, asking why I was acting so strangely. Now, I was afraid of what she’d do when she found out that I broke the vase, but I was more afraid of what she’d do if I lied to her, so I told her the truth. Do you know what she did then?”

“No... What did she do?”

“She laughed! She laughed and said ‘Twilight, is that why you’ve been hiding from me? I’d never send you away for something so trivial as a vase’,” she finished with a broad smile. “I feel like that’s the point when I really opened up to her and started seeing her as a mother-figure instead of just a teacher. So there you have it: my favorite memory of Celestia.” Twilight glanced at Luna’s face just in time to catch a smile on the mare’s face. “Now, tell me yours!”

“I could do that,” Luna murmured softly, “but I think I’d rather just show you.”

“What to do you mean by ‘show me’? Are you like some pony projector now?”

“There’s an old spell that allows me to... actually, why don’t I just demonstrate?” Luna giggled. “Come closer, please. And close your eyes.”

Nervous, but curious, Twilight did so, then she jammed her eyes shut and waited. She resisted pulling away as she felt Luna’s breath tickle her nose and flinched slightly as Luna gently tapped their horns together. Nothing happened. Confused she opened her eyes. “Luna, is something supposed to—” she began, but was cut off as her senses exploded into a medley of colors and sounds.


The wind whipped through her blue mane, roaring in her ears and filling her nostrils with the crisp scent of the warm afternoon air as she fled down the alleyway. She agilely dove under a cart, then charged around the nearby corner, satisfied to hear a sudden yelp as one of her pursuers collided with the obstacle. It was a welcome reprieve, but it would not last long. She was the youngest of the foals; she would be caught if she didn’t come up with a plan.

She only had one chance. Hoping that what she sought was where she thought it would be, she bolted around another corner and into the street. She whipped her head around, looking for her target. Briefly catching the mass out of the corner of her eye, she turned on the spot, and threw herself forward. Diving in, she buried herself in the pink fluff.

“Hey! What is go—” a voice began, but she silenced it with a loud “Shhh!”

She peeked out of her hiding place just in time to watch the other foals run by. She waited for a few seconds until their excited squeals faded off into the distance before sitting up.

“Playing tag again, Lulu?”

She turned around and gave a grin to her reclining sister, who seemed to be struggling to keep herself from bursting into laughter. “Yes!”

“Well, it looks like you’ve lost them. Can I have my tail back now?” Celestia giggled, closing her book.

She nodded and jumped out onto the street with a flutter of her still undeveloped wings.

“Thank you. Now you better go catch up to them or they might start the next game without you,” Celestia gasped, faking a worried expression.

“Okay,” she chirped, turning around and running off after her friends. “Thank you, Tia!”

“Anytime you need it. And make sure to be home in time for supper, or you’ll make mother very grumpy again!”


Twilight gasped as the memory ended and she found herself back inside of her own body. “That was... She was so young!”

“I believe she was your age, or possibly slightly older,” Luna replied with a smirk. “Back in those days, she was my best friend, despite our age difference.”

“How old were you when that happened? I couldn’t exactly tell since I was looking through your eyes,” Twilight inquired, shaking herself off when she realized that she hadn’t moved since regaining her senses.

“I would say nearly Sweetie Belle’s age, though probably younger,” Luna said hesitantly. “It was a long time ago, thus my memory of the specifics is somewhat blurry.”

“Yeah I think I noticed that,” Twilight muttered, “along with something else: those were all alicorns! That whole town was full of them.”

“Yes. Yes we once existed as a separate race amongst ourselves,” Luna mumbled sadly. “We existed in isolation, living only slightly longer than the ‘lesser’ races, but rarely interacting with them. Lesser... I never liked that term. The only ‘lesser’ parts of them was their fortunes. If we truly were a greater race, we would’ve helped the other races, not ignored them.”

“You said ‘existed’, as in once, but no longer. What happened to them? The rest of you, that is,” Twilight asked cautiously.

“We were attacked. Assailed by a foul spirit who sought our demise,” Luna said distastefully.

“Discord!”

“Precisely,” Luna muttered. “As you know he once ruled the world, but the alicorns established our own peaceful, ignorant bubble. He prodded at our borders and defenses, but was never able to breach them, and thus was never able to reach us. He was clever though. The strife he caused between the three pony tribes fed his power, so he waited, gaining strength over centuries. Finally, when the chaos between the tribes reached a head, during the time leading up to the first Hearth’s Warming Eve, he attacked.”

“Oh no,” Twilight whispered. “How... how bad was it?”

“I don’t remember exactly, but it did not turn out well. He created divisions among our defenders. It was not long before our ideal little world was nearly destroyed. Finally, our people decided on what was quite possibly the most difficult decision ever made: they sacrificed themselves. At the populace’s urging, our King cast a spell that destroyed every alicorn but two, and imbued the pair with near immortality and the magical might of our entire race. He saw the love his daughters had for each other and hoped that nothing would ever come between us, so he gave Celestia and I the power to fight Discord, at great cost.”

“Your father? You and Celestia were the alicorns’ princesses?” Twilight asked, eyes alight with wonder.

“Yes, we were. And everypony we had ever loved and cared about had just been wiped from existence. We were alone and afraid, but we fought. Or Tia fought, I was still just a filly,” Luna said with a sigh. “Finally, after nearly a week, something miraculous happened: the Elements of Harmony revealed themselves to me. We wouldn’t find out until later that they did so at the exact moment that the three tribes resolved their differences. But regardless of the reason for their appearance, I seized them, brought them to Celestia, and together we sealed away Discord.”

“Luna, I’m so sorry,” Twilight whimpered. “You lost your entire race because of our selfishness. I don’t—”

“Stop it, Twilight. I do not blame you, nor do I blame your ancestors. The power of Discord is circular. The stronger he gets, the worse the world becomes, and the worse the world becomes, the stronger he gets. Besides, after it had all happened, the three unified tribes— or as they preferred at the time, the Equestrians— more than made up for it. Clover the Clever came to our land to inform us of the union and found Celestia and I laying in the dilapidated ruins of our once-thriving civilization. Celestia explained what had happened, though neither she nor I knew where Discord had gotten his sudden power. Clover, however, lived up to her title and connected the dots almost immediately. She apologized profusely, then invited us to come back to Equestria with her.”

“Well that was nice of her,” Twilight interjected.

“Indeed. With little other choice, Celestia accepted and I followed her example. When we got back to Equestria, the former leaders of the three tribes asked for Celestia to take control of the sun, become their queen and lead them into a new era of prosperity. She refused, stating that she would much rather keep the title of ‘Princess’ and rule alongside me. And so it was,” Luna finished with a nod.

“That’s a beautiful story Luna,” Twilight murmured, trying to think of a way to keep Luna talking. Even with a subject as mournful as this, Luna’s mood seemed to have picked up, and the last thing Twilight wanted at that moment was to allow her to slip back into her depression. “Can you tell me about the alicorns, then? What were they like? I’d like to know all about their laws and history.”

“Alas, I wish I could tell you,” Luna sighed, “but I am afraid that my sister took that knowledge to the grave with her. As I said, I was still very young when this all happened, so I hadn’t started my schooling yet. I did ask Tia about such things when I had become a little older, but she said that it was better that such things be forgotten. Something about ‘leaving the dead to their rest’.”

“Oh, darn,” Twilight grumbled, but a thought struck her. “Could that be why Celestia never involved herself in international matters? I remember Quill-Pen told me that Celestia always refused to step in whenever Equestria was threatened by war, but would never say why.”

“That is possible,” Luna replied slowly. “The alicorns’ policy of noninterference was legendary. It was said around the world that it had been followed with an almost religious fervor. I think—” Luna began, but was interrupted with a nervous knocking at the door.

“Come in!” Twilight called, not wanting to be disturbed, but knowing that it was probably important.

The guard she had sent away earlier stuck his head in. “Your Highnesses, despite my efforts, word of Princess Luna’s... breakdown have spread. Apparently several members of the castle’s staff spotted her on her way to these chambers. The Royal Cabinet has been in council discussing this night’s events and their implications. I’ve been informed that they intend to pass a binding resolution in the next few hours. They humbly request that Your Highnesses join them as they read their verdict at precisely ten o’clock.”

“Thank you,” Twilight replied. She waited for the door to close behind him before turning to Luna with a distressed look in her eyes.

“That cannot be good,” Luna murmured.

“‘Cannot be good’? Luna, this is awful!” Twilight retorted, on the verge of shouting.

“Be calm Twilight, we must keep our heads.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” she sighed, taking a deep breath. “Let’s just try to get some sleep. Go ahead and take the bed for now, I’ll take the couch.”


Twilight was awakened a couple of hours later by a burning sensation somewhere behind her eyes. After raising the sun, who was unusually glib about rising that day, she took a quick bath before rousing Luna and trotting off to retrieve Applejack while Luna bathed.

Now all three stood before the massive ebony doors of the War Room, waiting for a silent trigger to open the ominous guardians and release the storm within. The Royal Cabinet sat inside, and what their final decision would be was anypony’s guess.

“They can’t really do anything to ya, can they?” Applejack muttered nervously. “I mean y’all are the Princess and everything.”

“I am afraid they can, in a sense,” Luna sighed, her eyes following Twilight as the younger princess paced back and forth across the floor. “While neither Twilight, nor myself are legally required to follow any resolutions the Cabinet might pass, ignoring them would not be wise. They have the power to make both of our lives, well, extremely difficult.”

“But what if they want you to do somethin’ unreasonable? Y’all can’t honestly be considerin’ just doin’ whatever they tell you to just because you... had a bad night!”

“Of course not. I intend to do what they tell me to do because I trust most of them to do what is best for Equestria,” Luna said softly.

“I just don’t understand how you can be the only one so calm about this,” Twilight grumbled. “I know that a few of them don’t like me very much, but a couple of them absolutely hate you. They could be in there right now drafting a document that calls for you to be committed for the next thousand years!”

“If they wish to see me check myself into an institution, then I will do so,” Luna replied emotionlessly, giggling slightly at her companions’ gasps. “I refused to seek help when I truly needed it, and given my position and my past, the results could’ve been disastrous. No matter what is asked of me, I will pay the price of my stubbornness without complaint.”

Any further discussion was cut off by a thundering creak as one of the doors was pulled open from the inside and a pony stuck their head out. “The Cabinet is requesting your presence,” she murmured timidly before pulling her head back in.

“So, the wait ends,” Luna muttered with a sigh. Turning to Twilight and Applejack with a sad smile on her face. “Time to discover my fate.”

With Twilight and Applejack hot on her fetlocks, Luna stepped through the doorway into the dimly lit chamber. Then, with a stiff confidence that Twilight suspected was merely a mask for her true emotions, the Princess of the Night slowly walked to the center of the chamber and directed her gaze to the assembled politicians. Twilight watched Applejack trot over to a secluded corner before seating herself a short distance behind Luna.

“Please be seated, Your Highness,” Prime Minister Sterling Sea announced somberly.

“I would much prefer to stand.”

“Oh, um... Very well,” The Minister replied, slightly taken aback. “Princess Luna, at approximately three o’clock this morning, this Cabinet received troubling news. News that calls into question your state of mind, and thus your competence and ability to rule. We have been told that, last night, you suffered a nervous breakdown. One strong enough to leave you unable to perform your duties as the Princess of the Night. Do you deny these allegations?”

“...I do not.”

“In that case, do you have anything to say to defend yourself?” he replied slowly.

“No.”

The Prime Minister only blinked at her and frowned before continuing, his voice bewildered and tense. “Very well... Your Highness, over the past few hours, this Cabinet has debated over two resolutions; each of which, if enacted and followed, would likely prevent this type of thing from ever happening again and thus ensure the safety of our nation and its ponies.” He paused for a moment, pulling one of the many scrolls that lay on his desk towards himself.

“The first resolution, proposed by a member of the castle’s staff, whom we interviewed following the incident and will remain anonymous, calls for Your Highness to completely abdicate the throne,” he loudly stated. “If it were to be followed to the letter, a successor would be chosen by vote of this Cabinet and the Noble Houses. Your Highness would then be required to pass along thy power using whatever means necessary, then be placed into the care of one of Equestria’s finest mental facilities until such time as you are no longer deemed a danger to yourself and others.”

To Twilight’s surprise, and more than likely, everypony else’s, Luna didn’t so much as flinch. She just continued to stare at the Prime Minister, waiting for him to continue.

Seemingly confused by her complete lack of a reaction, he picked up a second scroll and resumed speaking. “Yes... Well the next proposal is a little less radical, and we, this Cabinet, voted unanimously—”

He was loudly interrupted by a cough from Sharp Tongue, the Minister of Foreign affairs, who Twilight only just noticed was sporting a very swollen black eye. He opened his mouth to speak before falling silent; intimidated by the angry glares from several of the ponies assembled. “Erm... yes, unanimously.”

The Prime Minister gave an annoyed shake of his head before continuing. “As I was saying, the second proposal was unanimously voted for and this has been adopted. It reads as follows:

FACED WITH the deterioration of the mental state of Her Royal Highness, Luna, Princess of the Moon and Stars,

WHEREAS this Cabinet acknowledges the fact that Princess Luna was not allowed sufficient time to grieve following the death of her older sister, the late Princess Celestia,

ADMITTING that grief does not excuse reckless behavior,

REMEMBERING that Equestria was ruled admirably for nearly one thousand years without a Night Court or a Princess to watch over the night hours,

ENCOURAGED by the fact that Princess Luna sought consolation from Her Royal Highness, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of the Sun, before anything disastrous occurred,

UPON LEARNING that Her Royal Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle, is currently unhappy herself,” As this most recent line was read, Twilight shot an angry glare in Applejack’s direction. The earth pony swallowed guiltily and responded with an embarrassed, apologetic grin.

And lastly, UNDERSTANDING that the mood of Princess Twilight Sparkle tends to be raised when Her Highness is in the company of one or more ponies whom she considers a friend or friends, of which we believe Luna is among, this Cabinet enacts the following resolution:

We hereby demand that Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna, abandon her current nocturnal lifestyle and adopt a diurnal sleep pattern; we firmly believe that the ability to interact with each other more frequently, whether socially or in official collaboration, would be vastly beneficial to the respective mental states of both of our regents.

Twilight was too busy gaping at the speaker to notice Luna collapse to her haunches, both equally taken by the unexpected proclamation.

The Prime Minister rolled up the scroll. “Your Highnesses, we are willing to enact whatever reforms are needed, and once again take up the responsibilities we were forced to endure when we only had one Princess, however we would much prefer that things change as little from their current state as possible. Perhaps holding two simultaneous court sessions when necessary, with one of you presiding over each one.”

“W-what?” Luna stuttered. “You ponies can’t seriously think I would abide by that! I am the Princess of the Night, I can’t just—”

“Hold on,” Twilight interjected stepping to Luna’s side.

“Twilight, are they serious? Asking me to step down is one thing, but this? They are asking me to change who I am! They can’t honestly think—”

“Under Section twelve, Paragraph C, of the Equestrian Royal Cabinet Procedures, the princess is allowed to vote on or against any resolution that does not directly appertain her,” Twilight interrupted. “I realize that it’s entirely symbolic at this point, but I would like to add my vote for the second measure.”

“You what?” Luna gasped. “Twilight, how could you?”

“Because I care about you, Luna!” Twilight snarled, wheeling around on the older princess. “If spending more time with you will stop this type of thing from ever happening again, and I really think it will, then I’m all for it.”

“B-but...” Luna mewed, tears once again forming in her eyes as a betrayed expression found its way onto her face.

“But nothing! Think about this logically for a second; when you couldn’t handle your emotions anymore, you came to me, so wouldn’t it be better if you were able to see me more than just a few minutes twice a day?” Twilight snapped, prodding Luna in the chest with a hoof. “And don’t give me that junk about you needing to be awake at night. Honestly, which do you think our ponies would rather have: the knowledge that their Princess of the Night was awake at night, or the knowledge that she is healthy and happy?”

“Well when you put it that way...” Luna muttered, hanging her head.

“So..?” Twilight murmured, hoping to push Luna along.

“... I accept the wisdom of the Cabinet. I will change my sleeping habits, if that is what’s required of me.”

“Very well,” the Prime Minister grunted. “Then I order this meeting adjourned; we have much work to do and it would be best to see it done in as little time as possible. Princess Twilight, you have shown yourself more than capable of taking care of Princess Luna when she needs it most, so I leave her in your hooves for the time being. We humbly request that Your Highnesses take the rest of this day to yourselves before resuming your responsibilities tomorrow.”

“Will do!” Twilight chirped. She watched the Cabinet file out, leaving her and Luna alone with Applejack, before turning back to Luna. “Listen, I’m sorry for getting snippy with you back there, but you really had me worried earlier. I still am worried.”

“Ah have to agree with Twilight,” Applejack said strongly as she approached the pair. “And let me tell ya this: Ah may not know anything about bein’ a princess, but Ah know a lot about bein’ a big sister, and Ah know Princess Celestia wouldn’t like seein’ ya like this. Ah’m sure she’d have thrown her vote in too if she could’ve.”

“You’re probably right, Applejack,” Luna sighed, the ghost of a smile crossing her lips.

“She’s not probably right, she is right,” Twilight asserted.

“You have truly amazing friends, Twilight,“ Luna chuckled softly.

“Beggin’ yer pardon, but Ah’m yer friend too, Princess. Any friend of Twilight’s is a friend of ours, and even if y’all weren’t friends with Twilight, Ah’d be proud to call you my friend anyway,” Applejack inserted. “How many times are we gonna hafta explain that to ya?”

“... I am grateful, Applejack, for your kindness,” Luna replied, her smile staying on her face this time.

“Aw, don’t mention it. That’s what friends are for,” Applejack giggled. “Now let’s get outta here. Ah haven’t eaten yet today and Ah’ve been tryin’ to teach that stick-in-the-mud y’all call a chef how to cook real food. Ah wanna see if he’s actually listenin'.”