The Lone Princess

by Twippledash

A Thousand Years

My head was throbbing as I was lying on a cold stone floor. Last thing I remembered was that I had confronted Nightmare Moon, wielding the Elements of Harmony in order to defeat her. What I didn’t expect was an intense backfire from using the Elements; the force was enough to knock out even me, a nearly immortal alicorn princess.

I carefully stood up on my shaking legs. My whole body felt completely drained, all my physical and magical power spent. That wasn’t how the Elements were supposed to work... did I even manage to defeat Nightmare Moon? At least she hadn’t locked me away when I was unconscious, so maybe it did work despite the backfire.

I took a look around the room. It looked more like a battlefield than the throne room it used to be, but that might be because it essentially was a battlefield just a few moments ago. There was a scorch mark on the floor at the other end of the room, right where I remembered Nightmare was standing.

I let out a sigh of relief, and put a smile on my face... until I realized something was missing. Or rather, somepony was missing. My mood flipped around completely, first from victorious to doubtful, and finally all the way to despair and guilt. It took a few moments for the truth to sink in, but there was only one explanation; I didn’t manage to free Luna from Nightmare Moon’s possession. And since Nightmare Moon was gone, that could only mean...

I gulped audibly, feeling my heartbeat getting faster. That couldn’t be... but I couldn’t think of any other sensible explanation either, so it had to be true. The malfunctioning Elements explained the backfire, too.

“No...” My whole body was trembling as I slowly shook my head in disbelief. I took shaking steps towards the other end of the room, looking at the position where she should have been. “Luna... my little sister... What did I do?”

I sat on the cold floor and hung my head down, eyes closed. I couldn’t remember last time I had really cried—that had been at least several decades ago—but now I simply couldn’t help it. First a single teardrop escaped my eyes, rolling down my cheek, and finally falling down, almost soundlessly hitting the slightly dusty stone floor. It was soon followed by numerous others as I uncontrollably sobbed at the loss of my beloved sister. Luna was the only pony alive who I could really call a friend, and the only pony whom I could ever have a casual conversation with. And now, because of my actions, she was gone.

I didn’t even mean to do anything to Luna in the first place. What I had tried to do, was to separate the malevolent being, Nightmare Moon, who had possessed her body, and banish it to the moon. But the Elements of Harmony were never designed to be wielded all by a single pony, causing the outcome to differ drastically from the intended behavior; instead of separating Nightmare Moon from my sister’s body and banishing it, I wasn’t able to do the separation, and only managed to do the banishment—taking my sister in the process.

And as if that wasn’t enough, I could also feel the Elements immediately started to weaken, like something had broken their connection. I would investigate that later, but right now I couldn’t bring my mind to think coherently.

Rising my head and standing up after some time—whether it was mere seconds or several minutes, I didn’t know, nor did I really care either at the moment—I took a glance out of a broken window. I could see the full moon shining in the sky, but instead of seeing the clear, shining orb like every night before, I noticed that the glow was slightly duller than before. And there was also another, more striking difference; there were several new darker patches on the moon, forming a silhouette of an alicorn head on its surface.

I could feel more tears running down my cheeks as I continued watching the moon. The moon, which would normally be the joy and pride of my little sister, now turned into her prison. “Oh, Luna... what have I done to you?” I said silently, shaking my head slowly. “If you can hear me,” I added, addressing my words towards the moon, “know that I’ll do my best to get you back, to get you free once again.”

I finally turned my gaze away from the moon and started to slowly tread down the empty hallway of the castle, taking a look around as I walked. Many windows were broken, a few stone pillars had crumbled, and even parts of the ceiling had fallen in—all result of me trying to fight Nightmare Moon without the Elements at first. I soon found out that my power alone was not nearly enough against Nightmare Moon and Luna’s powers combined, and as the last resort to protect my subjects from eternal night, I had harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony to aid myself.

It was at the morning when my sister—no, not my sister; Nightmare Moon—had turned against me, and it was a few hours later until I had finally decided to use the Elements to defeat her. Thus it was almost mid-day at the moment, and I should have really raised the sun. But no matter what, I was not able to bring myself to do that. Firstly, using the Elements of Harmony all by myself had drained my magic completely for the time being. And secondly, I was too heartbroken to do anything anyway. The sunrise would have to wait until tomorrow morning; today and tonight I would look for ways to help my sister in any way possible.

The real power of the Elements of Harmony was still largely unknown, but I knew well enough that whatever the Elements did, no other form of known magic would be able to reverse the effects. That meant the banishment would be permanent, unless I was somehow able to use the Elements again to aid in her escape—or if the banishment itself was flawed, like the backfiring of the Elements would have suggested.

Now I and the Elements were too drained to do anything though, and any action involving great amounts of magic would have to wait until tomorrow. Now I would quell the panic by informing my subjects that everything was under control once again, and the sun would rise normally next morning.

Tonight I would do some research on the Elements of Harmony, to find out some way—any way—to help my little sister.

I spent most of the last night doing research on the Elements of Harmony, with the help of some of my most trusted unicorn magi. From the beginning of our research, one thing was certain: one of the Elements—the Element of Magic—was missing. Magic was the Element connecting all the others, and thus its absence was the reason I noticed the connection between the Elements weakening. By the end of the night, the other five Elements had lost their power of harmony entirely, and were now about as useful as any mundane magic amplifier.

We easily managed to track down the Element of Magic though, and found out it was sent to the moon with Luna and Nightmare. Luna had been the one wielding the Element of Magic before being possessed by the Nightmare Moon, and likely it still had some connection with her—the Element of Magic bonded with its bearer stronger than any of the others.

The Element of Magic being sent with them turned out to have both good and bad consequences. The obvious disadvantage for having the Element of Magic missing, would be that the Elements of Harmony were now rendered useless, at least until all the Elements would be able to reunite. And even though the Element of Magic had by now likely separated itself completely from my sister’s corrupted body, it was bound to the moon with the same spell that held Luna and Nightmare Moon there, and it wouldn’t be able to return without breaking the seal entirely. Which meant that once the Element of Magic would return, so would Nightmare Moon—and my sister, of course.

As for the good news, the banishment was not permanent, like it would have been if I managed to use the Elements with full power. The Element of Magic was slowly breaking apart the magical barrier holding them at the moon. There were just two problems with that process; firstly, as mentioned before, Nightmare Moon would be released as soon as the Element of Magic would return on earth.

And secondly, the process was slow.

Really, really slow.

Even with only a fraction of their potential power, the Elements cast a barrier strong enough, that it would take almost a thousand years for it to be broken by the Element of Magic. Despite it being a long time away, the process was easily predictable, and we managed to pinpoint the exact time of the breakage; it would happen at the time of sunrise on the longest day of the thousandth year since the banishment.

As much as I wanted to believe otherwise, I knew there was no way to make the process any faster. The Elements of Harmony had, by a wide margin, the most powerful magic known to exist in the whole world, and no amount of other magic would be able to shatter the barrier cast by the Elements. The only way to do that would be to use the Elements of Harmony again, but since one of the Elements—and the most important one at that—was sealed away, that would be impossible. Even Discord, despite being several magnitudes more powerful than I or Luna, and being able to bend reality in any way imaginable with just a snap of his fingers, wasn’t nearly strong enough to fight the Elements of Harmony.

I felt more helpless than I had felt ever before; for every other problem there had been some solution, some way out. But not from this. I knew well enough that I couldn’t do anything. The Elements of Harmony were simply way too powerful for me to cancel their effects, even if I had used the Element only at a fraction of their power to create that barrier.

I took a deep breath and hung down my head. I felt like I had lost an integral part of myself permanently, even if I knew my little sister would return... eventually.

A thousand years would be a very, very long time to spend without my little sister.

I cried on the floor, not holding back a slightest bit. Even if I knew my sister would return eventually, as far as the next thousand years were concerned, she could as well have been dead.

A week had passed, and wild rumors about Nightmare Moon had spread all over Equestria—rumors about her origins, to be more precise. Nopony, not even me, knew for sure where she had come from, or what she actually was. Some theorized that she was some kind of evil spirit who had escaped from Tartarus to take hold of us, their rulers. Some others had similar thoughts, but claimed that she had been inside Luna all the time, and just needed some external catalyst to emerge. The prevailing theory—to my great chagrin—was that the Nightmare Moon was just an alter ego of Luna, which she had created once she had had enough of the ponies shunning her nights.

While even I didn’t know where Nightmare Moon was originated, I knew for sure that the last theory was wrong; when fighting with Nightmare, I had noticed that her magic was fundamentally different from Luna’s, and nopony—not even an alicorn—would be able to change their magic that way. I had admitted to myself that it was possible for Nightmare Moon to have arisen because of the jealousy my sister had towards me, and maybe she even was in her all the time, but I still knew that Luna and Nightmare Moon were completely different beings.

But the rumors had spread widely already, and the theory about them being the same being had stuck to the society. No matter how hard I would try, I wouldn’t be able to change the beliefs of my subjects. There were of course those who supported me and believed my words in that matter, but I knew that without any proof to show otherwise, majority of my subject would assume that Nightmare Moon was Luna. And Luna’s unfortunate reputation as the “bringer of the darkness”, due to her being the princess of the night, didn’t help the matters.

I had to adapt to the situation though, even if it felt like I was betraying my sister; it was important to maintain the trust of my subjects in order to ensure that the Equestria would stay peaceful. That didn’t mean I would forget about her though, not even after hundreds of years. No, I would make sure that was never going to happen.

I never before really realized how important she was to me; she was just somepony whom I always had around, somepony to talk with during twilight, and I never really paid much attention to her. But now that she was gone... I finally understood how much I really cared about her.

Even after just a week, I already missed my sister badly.

It had been a full year since that fateful night—Nightmare Night, as my subjects had named it—and I was looking out a window of my castle. I had already started to set the sun, and the moon was rising from beyond the horizon, but the ponies were all still awake. Despite the late time the streets were bustling with activity, as the ponies had decided to arrange an annual night festival to celebrate the defeat of Nightmare Moon. I couldn’t help but to think about the irony of that; according to the prevailing theory, Luna had turned into Nightmare Moon because they didn’t appreciate her nights and slept through it, and now they had started to arrange annual night celebration, right after she was banished—actually because she, or technically Nightmare Moon, was banished. If only they had been celebrating during nights earlier, the whole Nightmare Moon incident could have possibly been avoided entirely.

I looked at the rising moon wistfully, and started to think about how my sister was doing there. Could she even feel the time passing, or was she in some kind of stasis? I really hoped it was the latter; the year had felt excruciatingly long for me, and there were still about nine hundred and ninety nine to go. I couldn’t even imagine what that would feel like if Luna was aware of all that time passing, all alone in the moon. A thousand years was an incredibly long time, even for near-immortal beings like myself and Luna.

I blinked off the tears that had formed into my eyes, and looked down as the ponies were putting final touches for their Nightmare Night preparations. Despite my grief, I managed to put on a light smile; at least I had succeeded in my goal to protect my subjects from eternal night, providing them a chance to continue their lives as happily as before the incident. To most of them, Nightmare Moon was now just a bad memory, like a nightmare, somewhere in the back of their minds.

Though I had to wonder how many actually saw Luna as the benevolent co-leader she used to be. Or did they only see her as Nightmare Moon, the bringer of eternal night? Did they even think about her as the princess of the night anymore? Or had I already taken that title from my sister, just after one year?

I really wished I could do anything to get her back, but I also knew it was impossible. The only way to do that was to wait for a thousand years, so that the Element of Magic would free her. The least I could do, was to at least memorize her once in a while, since it was I who caused this in the first place. I closed my eyes, trying to reason that it wasn’t my fault, but Nightmare Moon’s. But no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t deny the fact that I was the one using the Elements of Harmony against her. I didn’t even know if she would be able to forgive me once she’d get back, after those hundreds of years.

I had never before felt so lonely during the millennia I had lived. I didn’t have anypony in the whole Equestria whom I could talk with as an equal; Luna had been my only living relative, only pony seeing me as who I really was...

And the only pony who I could call a friend.

Ten years. For ten years I had been raising the moon at nights, in addition to raising the sun every morning. And contrary to the common misconception, being a near immortal being didn’t make those years feel any shorter than they would have been for anypony else—not by any significant amount at least.

During those long years, I had mostly got used to being the sole ruler of the Equestria, and knew that I would have to rule alone for the whole millennium, even if it was hard to admit it to myself. But even nowadays, every evening as I raised the moon, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt doing the task that was meant to be done by my sister. More so tonight, as it had been exactly ten years since that fateful day; the tenth Nightmare Night.

I had decided to spend every Nightmare Night alone, memorizing Luna. That way I would remember her at least once in a year, and despite the decades and centuries passing, I would never let myself forget her. It wasn’t like I could forget her anyway, but that still made my mind slightly easier. I wouldn’t really be able to celebrate the Nightmare Night anyway, since I saw it as the day of my sister’s banishment, even if most ponies saw it as the day when Nightmare Moon was defeated. I simply couldn’t get to the right mood for celebration.

I missed her...

I missed her so badly.

A hundred years.

It had been a very long time, even for myself, despite me having lived for millennia already. And I couldn’t even imagine how long the last century had been to Luna, all alone in the moon; at least I had the other ponies around—even though they could never replace her—but the only companion she had was that monster, Nightmare Moon.

All the ponies Luna knew here had died already, save for me of course. And all the ponies who personally knew Luna had died too.

There were only a few signs of her ever existing in the whole Equestrian society. The most noticeable one, visible to everypony every night, was the persistent silhouette on the moon. Most ponies never thought anything about it though, thinking it was just how the moon had always been. But for me, that silhouette served as a reminder of her, every night as I raised and lowered the moon.

Then there was the Equestrian flag, which still contained two alicorns, depicting me and my sister, circling the sun and the moon. It had stayed unchanged for the whole century, even though some ponies had tried to change it to omit Princess Luna from it. Thankfully I had the final word in that matter, and I would never allow such a change to be made.

In the castle’s archives, mostly unnoticed by regular ponies, there were also loads of historical writings with Luna in them. The historians had recorded everything they knew about her banishment and Nightmare Moon, but all of those texts portrayed Luna as a deceptive princess turning against me. While that was technically true—Luna turning against me, that is—I knew it was Nightmare Moon, not my sister, who had caused it.

Finally there was the annual celebration, Nightmare Night. While everypony still celebrated it every year, most ponies didn’t even know its origins anymore. For me, that night was the night when I always sat alone in my room, kept a moment in silence, and remembered my sister. Tonight was a special night, since it had been a total of a hundred years since I lost my sister. As I looked up at the moon, I felt a few tears falling down my cheek.

A hundred years, and Luna was already mostly forgotten by the whole Equestrian society. Even I felt my memories of her fading, which was exactly why I had dedicated the Nightmare Nights solely for her: to keep the memories of her alive. It was even hard to imagine her voice in my head anymore, due to her having been away for so long already.

And there were still nine hundred years to go.

Three hundred years.

Over a hundred thousand nights.

Generations of mortal ponies had born, lived their short lives under my rule, and finally died of old age to give way for the next generation of ponies.

And all that time Luna had been trapped in the moon, forgotten by everypony.

Everypony, but me.

I sighed aloud, once again observing the moon through my bedroom window during the Nightmare Night. Tears formed in my eyes once again, and silently fell on the thick carpet covering my bedroom floor.

Two hundred years later, I was looking out of a window of my bedchamber, overseeing the whole Equestria. There had been a lot of changes during those last two centuries.

The most notable change for me was the founding of this new city, Canterlot. About a hundred and fifty years ago, a group of unicorn engineers, with the help of some earth ponies and pegasi as well, had managed to build sturdy enough structure—reinforced by powerful unicorn magic—on the mountainside to build a settlement on. The new settlement, Canterlot, began to quickly grow, and over the next few decades it had expanded into a whole mountainside city in the middle of Equestria.

As the population of Canterlot had been rapidly increasing, my advisors had suggested in making it the new capital of Equestria. At first I had been reluctant about the whole idea, since in principle that would mean I had to move there as the ruler of Equestria, abandoning the old castle. The castle was over a few thousand years old though, and it had definitely seen better days. I finally agreed, and soon the best engineers in Equestria presented me various designs for the new palace. The palace was planned to be built above the city, having a good view to it, and to the whole Equestria as well. Spending some days to appraise the palace designs, I finally chose one to be built—with just a small addition; a tower for Luna, similar to the one the engineers had planned for me.

Over the following year the palace was built, and I could finally move in. I was reluctant to leave the old castle at first, mostly because it held numerous good memories from the ancient times, and most of those memories involved Luna in a way or another. But I had to admit that the old stone castle paled in comparison to the new palace; instead of using stone as the main building material, the palace was built of the finest marble, and it was also significantly larger than the old castle. Not to mention the location at the mountainside did indeed have its own advantages, like a great view over the lands I ruled.

Now, having been living in the new palace for over a hundred years, I was sitting at the top of one of the tallest spires in the palace—in my bedchamber—looking at the moon. The same moon I had raised every night ever since Luna’s banishment. Tonight it had been exactly five hundred years since that night. For me, it had felt like an eternity, and there was still another five hundred years until she would return.

That meant another eternity to wait.

Lowering my gaze from the moon, I looked down towards the old castle. The large town which had been around it was now abandoned, and the castle itself seemed almost haunted in the silvery moonlight. A wide and thick forest had started to grow around the castle, already partially covering the old, wooden housing of the town around it. Almost nopony ever entered that forest nowadays, and without any ponies taking care of it, it had formed its own, wild climate, and various wildlife had started to populate the forest. While the town in there would inevitably crumble soon under those conditions, the castle was built by the best engineers of the time using the hardest stone they could work on, making it durable enough to be standing for at least a couple of centuries more, even without maintenance.

I had left the Elements of Harmony—or the five of them, the sixth still being bound to the moon with my sister—in the castle, and I knew their passive magic would strengthen the structures even more, and possibly even keeping most of the wildlife away. In five hundred years I, or somepony else, would have to retrieve the Elements again in order to defeat the returned Nightmare Moon, finally relieving my little sister.

I managed to put a wan smile on my face. This year was a turning point; from now on—give or take a few months—the time left of Luna’s banishment would be shorter than the time she had been in the moon already.

The smile didn’t last long though, and soon some tears formed into my eyes once again, like they did every year for centuries now on this particular night ever since her banishment. Even if half of the wait was in the past already, the other half was still ahead.

Another five hundred years.

A few more lifetimes of any mortal pony.

Eight hundred years...

I didn’t even have any idea how I had managed to keep my sanity for so long. For eight hundred years I have raised and lowered the sun and the moon, every day and night. And for eight hundred years I have held the Day Court every day—I had ceased to hold the Night Court hundreds of years ago to have at least some free time, but in turn I had to make the Day Courts longer to compensate. With Luna around, we could have taken a few days off now and then, while the other would take over all the duties for those days. But now, as I was ruling and controlling both the sun and the moon alone, I hadn’t been able to take a single day off for hundreds of years.

And lately I’ve been feeling that I really was in need of a good vacation. But if I took even a single day off, there would definitely be some unrest, and maybe even revolting, among the ponies of Equestria, causing more work for me after getting back to my duties—which in turn meant that if I took a vacation to relief my stress, I would end up being even more stressed than before the vacation. To ensure the safety of Equestria, and to keep my sanity, I had to be at work every day.

But I didn’t want my sister back only to lessen my workload. I wanted—no, I needed—her back, because... because she was my sister. My only sister. I couldn’t even remember how it felt to have somepony around who really cared about me—not as a ruler, but as a close friend or part of a family. Over the centuries, I had felt all my happy emotions gradually fading away, leaving only loneliness, sadness, weariness, guilt... emptiness.

I wished my sister was here with me.

It was fifty years until Nightmare Moon’s return, and I had yet to come up with a plan to defeat her and free my sister. I had thought it through, and had reached a conclusion that I wouldn’t be able to do that alone. I had entirely lost my connection with the Elements already, and if I even tried to use the Elements of Harmony myself against her again, they would likely do nothing at all, or in worst case they could have even worse backlash on myself than last time. Also, I had a feeling that Nightmare Moon wouldn’t take a risk anyway, and likely the first thing she’d do after returning would be to capture me, and keep me out of her way.

No, I would need a group of other ponies to re-activate the Elements of Harmony after Nightmare’s return, preferably one pony for each of the Elements for maximal efficiency.

The problem was to find six suitable ponies who would not only satisfy the virtues the Elements represented, but they should also be able to bond a strong friendship between each other, and they should be willing to co-operate for the greater good of Equestria. The hardest part was to find a pony to fill the place for Element of Magic; during my whole life I had seen only a hoofful of unicorns who had been potentially powerful enough, and only a few of those had been sufficient Element bearer candidates—for most the power had eventually went to their head, causing them to arrogantly look for even more power.

I had thought of establishing some school for magically talented unicorns, so I could pick the most promising unicorn out of the group of talented magic users as my personal student. I would then personally train him or her to make sure he or she would have all the necessary skills and qualifications to become the bearer of the Element of Magic.

Yes, a school for gifted unicorns sounded like a good idea. It would be better to establish it as soon as possible, so that it would manage to gather some reputation to appeal for the most powerful young unicorns in Equestria. I would have to wait for a few more decades until picking the personal student though, so that he or she would still be relatively young at the time of Nightmare Moon’s return. Young adult at the time would be the best, as then he or she would have enough power and knowledge to use the Elements, but would still be young enough to easily bond with the Element of Magic.

The other five Elements would be a lot easier. All necessary requirements for the other Element bearers would be the strong connections with each of the Element virtues individually, as well as an ability to bond a strong friendship between each other. Besides, the only one who really needed any training beforehoof would be the one to wield the Element of Magic, that one being the most powerful Element, and the one connecting all the six Element together. The other five would act more or less like fuel cells to power up the harmony wave.

That would still be fifty years away though. For now, the only thing I could do was to wait for the last few decades to pass. Later this year, or during the next year, I would establish that school for gifted unicorns.

I looked out of my bedchamber window, just like I’ve done for the last nine hundred and fifty years on this same particular night—only my room had changed once during that time period. The ponies of Canterlot below were bustling with activity, celebrating the Nightmare Night, but I never took part in those celebrations.

I looked up at the moon, knowing that my sister was still trapped somewhere in there, and felt some tears falling out of my eyes—just like every year before.

It was only a decade until the return of my sister. It felt almost surreal to even think about it being so short time away—if one could call ten years a short time—considering that I had been waiting for nine hundred and ninety years already. But it was still one hundredth of the whole millennium, and since the wait had felt longer than an eternity already, that fact didn’t really make me feel any better.

But it was already close enough that I had started the preparations to free her from Nightmare Moon’s possession. That is, I had finally chosen one unicorn filly to be my personal student, and she would hopefully grow up to be a powerful unicorn capable of wielding the Element of Magic. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, and she had shown great, raw magical power not too long ago, even if she let it all out accidentally the time I first met her. Even her cutie mark—which she got that same day—reflected her special talent in magic. And, even if she herself didn’t know it yet, those five stars around the larger purple star on her cutie mark could possibly reflect the other five Elements of Harmony.

There had also been a sonic rainboom below Cloudsdale that day, and actually the shock wave was what had startled Twilight during her entrance exam to my School for Gifted Unicorns, and had caused her to lose the control of her magic—and due to that, I immediately noticed the incredible power emanating from her. I hadn’t seen a sonic rainboom for over a thousand years, but I still recognized one when I saw it; I would have thanked the pony who caused that sonic rainboom that one day, but I didn’t have a slightest clue about who could have done that. Maybe I would find that out some day though; It’s not like the first pony to fly supersonic in centuries would stay unnoticed for too long.

A funny coincidence about Twilight getting to be my student, was that her big brother, Shining Armor, had joined my royal guard a few years prior. And he seemed to be exceptionally powerful in magic too, specializing in wide, protective shield spells. But while he was powerful too, Twilight’s raw magical abilities were on their own league. I had never seen any single mortal pony emitting the kind of raw magic Twilight did that one day, with a possible exception of the legendary Starswirl the Bearded—and she may have even surpassed him. She still had a lot to learn though, and that was exactly why I took her under my personal tutelage: to help her to realize her real potential in the field of magic.

Twilight was still a little filly—albeit a very talented one for her age—so for now I would let her study rest of the basics with the other unicorn fillies. I was already giving her some lessons personally, but for most of the time she was still studying with the others. Unlike the others, who lived elsewhere and came to the castle just to study, Twilight, being the chosen student of mine, stayed in the castle with me.

She lived in a spare room in the same tower I lived in, just two floors down from my own bedchamber at the top of the spire. I would have given her a bedroom at the top of another tower, but she was still too young to live all on her own, though once she would be old enough to take care of herself, she could move into the other tower which I had reserved just for her. Her parents had agreed that I could take care of her as she lived here, as long as they could come and meet her whenever they wanted.

I was deep in my thoughts, gazing at the moon once again, as I heard somepony knocking at my bedchamber’s door. I wondered who it could be; it was Nightmare Night after all, and most ponies were out celebrating. I stood up, walked to the door, and opened it with my magic. A purple unicorn filly, Twilight Sparkle, was standing there, wearing an armor of a royal guard. Not a real armor or course, but a filly-sized plastic replica one could buy from most toy stores. She was levitating a small bag in front of her.

“Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give me something sweet to bite!” she chanted, smiling.

I smiled back at her, and giggled a bit. She looked quite adorable in her slightly oversized royal guard armor replica—I guessed she had got the costume idea from her brother. Even though I had never taken part in the Nightmare Night festivities myself, I knew some traditions associated with the celebration. I knew ponies wore costumes, and—as a relatively new tradition—fillies and colts always went from house to house asking for candy or other treats. I didn’t expect anypony to come up here though, as nopony had never visited my bedchambers at Nightmare Nights ever before. Actually, now that I thought about it, the fact that my personal guards were not allowed to let most ponies come up here could explain that. Twilight was one of the few exceptions, as I was practically her substitute mother while she lived here with me.

“Hello, Twilight Sparkle,” I said to her, smiling. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have any—” I paused, as I realized that even though I didn’t have any candy for her now, I could always conjure up some with my magic. I created a few bits of candy out of thin air, and levitated them down into the bag she was carrying. “Here you go.”

“Thank you, princess!” she said, smiling widely.

“Why did you come up here, anyway? Shouldn’t you be down there with the others?”

“I just wanted to know why you were not celebrating with us.”

I was somewhat surprised; for nine hundred and ninety Nightmare Nights, I had been staying in my own bedroom alone, and nopony had ever before questioned why I wasn’t out with the others. And now my own personal student, the one I had chosen to free my sister one day, came to ask just that. For once I didn’t have an answer ready, and thought for a short moment before answering.

“You are still too young to understand,” I answered. “But let’s just say I have... other traditions on this same night every year, and that is why you don’t see me with the others.”

“What traditions?”

I pondered what I could tell her. She was still too young for all the details, and I didn’t want her to know the truth about my sister and Nightmare Moon just yet. “It’s just about something that happened a long, long time ago, way too long time ago for you to be able to comprehend. I promise I’ll tell more later when the time is right, but for now that’s all I can say. Now, go on with your friends. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun together tonight.”

“Okay.” For a moment she seemed to be slightly downcast for not getting a comprehensive explanation, but nevertheless cheered up quickly. “Thanks for the candy, princess!” she said, and started trotting away. I watched her turn the corner and heard her going back downstairs. My smiles had become quite sparse since my sister was banished, but there were still some things that made me put a genuine smile on my face. And one of those things was my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

She had already become the closest friend I’ve had ever since I lost Luna.

In retrospect, I should have taken personal students earlier too, if I just had known they had this kind of refreshing effect on me...

Then again, it wouldn’t probably have been a good idea after all; they would have inevitably passed away eventually, leaving me even deeper in the pit of grief I’ve been in for almost a thousand years already. Maybe it was better I had never before formed too strong bond with any mortal pony, but in this case, it was a necessity in order to activate the Elements of Harmony.

Once Twilight was gone, I closed the door and started to pace slowly around my room. I stopped next to my window, and looked up at the moon. Nightmare Moon, and Luna, would return in just ten years. In those ten years, I would have to find new bearers for the Elements of Harmony, or else the whole Equestria would be doomed to eternal night, and my little sister would stay possessed by Nightmare Moon. I wouldn’t let that happen to her, or to Equestria, no matter what.

“Only ten more years, little sister,” I said silently, blinking back the tears that always formed in my eyes at this same night, every year.

“Only ten more years...”

I never thought I could feel real happiness until Luna would return, but this was one of the few situations when I was glad to be proven wrong. I still cared about Luna more than anypony else, but Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, had proven that I can indeed be happy even without her.

Twilight Sparkle, who started just as another student in my school, had grown closer to me than I thought any mortal pony could. In fact, she was like a daughter to me—a daughter I never had, and never could have in the future either—and she acted like I was a second mother to her. And to think that just less than a decade ago, I thought teaching her would be just a mere necessity to re-activate the Elements of Harmony in order to free my sister...

Like I said, I was glad to be proven wrong this time.

Another thing I was glad I had not been wrong about, was her qualifications to become a bearer of the Element of Magic. Her studies had been making a steady—and quick—progress over the years, and she had proven several times her ability to learn even complicated magic almost frighteningly fast. In fact, she was already way more adept in magic than most unicorns ever get to be during their whole lives, despite her being only a young adult, having just passed her late teens.

There was one major problem with her though; since foalhood she hadn’t had any friends, and I was actually quite worried whether she would be able to befriend with the other Element bearers. I had been trying to make her attend various events with her fellow students around the castle and Cantelot, but she always seemed to be more interested in studying. And I hadn’t been trying to get her make friends only because of her being the to-be Element of Magic bearer, but because it wasn’t good for anypony to live their lives in isolation—by now I should know how it feels to live alone for a long period of time.

I wondered whether it was just in her nature to be isolated, or if me taking her as a personal student had caused her to seclude herself from others. Maybe others had been shunning her due to her being my favorite student? Or maybe it was the other way around, and Twilight thought she was too good to be around the others?

Either way, I felt guilty for letting her isolate herself so badly.

It was less than two years until Luna and Nightmare Moon would return, and I had yet to find the other Element bearers, too. I had been looking for the last few months already, but with no success; every time I’ve found or heard of a suitable pony to some of the Elements, he or she was living way too far away, or just didn’t meet the criteria otherwise.

But I still had more than a year to continue my search, and I had a feeling I was going to find suitable ponies soon.

Okay, I’ve made sure she read the mythology book about the banishment of Nightmare Moon, I thought, and I have subtly given her a little information about the Elements of Harmony before. Hopefully she will pick up them from the book I’ve given her, and look for more about the Elements.

I knew that I couldn’t just tell Twilight everything about the Elements of Harmony and how to use them; the Elements of Harmony were not just some tools usable by anypony. The only way the sixth Element would be revealed once again, would be by having her realize the importance of a real friendship then and there, when the five other suitable Element wielders were present. And it must be done after the return of Nightmare Moon, since the sixth Element was bound to the magic responsible of her release.

About the other Element bearers, I had kept looking for suitable ponies tirelessly. Luckily my efforts hadn’t been in vain, as just a few months ago I had finally found five near perfect ponies living in Ponyville, not too far away from Canterlot. And it was right next to the Everfree Forest too, where the Elements were stored in the old castle. That actually made me wonder whether it was a mere coincidence, or maybe the Elements were actively causing those ponies to form a group together—that was a mystery I might never find an answer to. Anyway, about those five ponies I’ve found there in Ponyville...

Applejack was one of the most dependable ponies I had ever seen, and truly honest with her family business. She also respected honesty being one of the most important virtues in anypony. She did have an undying loyalty towards her family too, but she was still more suited to fill in the place for Element of Honesty—besides, I had already found another pony to harness the Element of Loyalty.

Rainbow Dash. Now that was an energetic pegasus. Despite her rambunctious attitude and her negligent mentality towards nearly everything, she was still incredibly loyal to those important to her. While she was quite egoistical under normal circumstances, she would still do almost anything for her friends if her assistance was needed. I had heard that Rainbow Dash had even pushed her limits more than once when just trying to defend the honor of her close friend Fluttershy.

Speaking of Fluttershy; during my search I had never seen such a soft-spoken and gentle pony as she was. While awfully shy, she always had the best of other ponies—and animals—in her mind, and did everything to help any woodland critters. Those qualities made her a perfect choice for the Element of Kindness. And as an added benefit, she was already a close friend with the to-be-wielders of the Element of Loyalty and the Element of Generosity.

Generosity. That was a virtue not many ponies had. Sure numerous ponies held a generous facade, but those ponies who were really generous in the inside were few and far between. Not many ponies would be willing to give from what little they had to aid those in need, and from the bottom of their heart really wanting to do so. Nevertheless, Ponyville’s aspiring fashion designer, Rarity, had shown to fulfill those qualities. On the surface she didn’t really seem generous at all, and even had some greedy tendencies; however, like with Rainbow Dash, Rarity had some hidden characteristics in herself. In dire circumstances she would give anything and everything to aid those in real need, and not only to her close friends, but to anypony.

Last one was the Element of Laughter. Luckily an obvious pony for that role was also found in Ponyville: Pinkie Pie. I had noticed that she brings laughter among other Ponyville residents just by her presence, and given enough time she would probably be able to bring a smile even on a marble statue. She may have been a bit on the crazy side—actually, a lot on the crazy side—but she was an easy choice for many reasons: she was a likable pony, she was already a friend with everypony in Ponyville, and most importantly, she could find something funny and laughable out of almost any situation.

Having picked the five to-be-wielders of the Elements of Harmony, I had purposefully given them important roles in preparation of tomorrow’s Summer Sun Celebration, and I would soon give my protege a task to check on the preparations so she could meet them. For Pinkie Pie I didn’t give any role in the preparation for Twilight Sparkle to check, but Twilight would meet her anyway just by coming into Ponyville—I had noticed that Pinkie somehow seemed to always notice if there was a new pony in the town, and would arrange a surprise party for them.

Suddenly a whiff of green flames appeared from nowhere, materializing into a letter from my student. I immediately unrolled the letter, and read the contents.

I silently recited the letter. “...you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she's about to return to Equestria and bring with her eternal night...” I read aloud to myself, nodding. As I had hoped, Twilight had picked up the fact that the return of Nightmare Moon would be very soon. And she couldn’t really have found that information without finding some reference to the Elements of Harmony, too.

Now that she would know the threat once it arrived, there was no need for her to continue reading the old books for now. I levitated over a scroll from my table, and sent it to Twilight right away. The letter was short, only telling her that she “simply must stop reading those dusty old books”—I had expected her to contact me as soon as she found out about Nightmare Moon’s return, and had the reply written in advance; she was quite easy to predict at times.

Now that that was taken care of, I levitated over another piece of paper—blank this time—and a quill. I started to write another letter for her, beginning with the instructions to go and check for the preparations in Ponyville. After that I added another task for her. A task which she likely didn’t see as an important one, but which would in fact be an imperative one to ensure the safety of Equestria; I told her to make some friends.

In the end I added a checklist about whom she should contact to check that the preparations were going to be successful. Of course all that was just a facade to get her to meet the other five Element bearers, and to force her to have at least some conversation with them. That was about as much as I could do though, and for the rest she was on her own. Knowing the Ponyville residents quite well though, I was quite certain that they would accept her as a new friend without a hitch. In fact, it was likely that Twilight herself would be the most reluctant one to befriend anypony, even if I practically ordered her to make friends.

Finishing the letter, I rolled it up and sent it to Twilight. I knew it had been probably a bad idea to wait for this long before taking action, but in the inside I still believed my plan would work. This was already getting too close for my tastes though; the Summer Sun Celebration—and thus Nightmare Moon’s return—would be tomorrow morning, and Twilight was just now going to meet the other Element bearers for the first time.

But I still had full confidence in her, and I truly believed that she would succeed.

Maybe she couldn’t do it alone, but with the help of those other five ponies, they could pass every obstacle Nightmare Moon would throw at them.

It will be any minute now, I thought, standing behind a curtain on a stand in Ponyville Town Hall. I felt nervous. More nervous than I had ever felt during the thousand year wait. The source of my nervousness was not the crowd in the slightest—I was used to ponies gathering around me, no matter where I was. No, I knew that Nightmare Moon would return before sunrise—which would be due in just about ten minutes. And Twilight knew it, too.

Even though I knew Nightmare Moon was returning, there was nothing I could have done about it for now. The sixth Element—Element of Magic—would be released at the same time as Nightmare Moon. It would then linger around the other elements, unnoticeable, until the Elements would be activated again by a suitable group of ponies. And since the Elements of Harmony were the only known source of strong enough magic to defeat Nightmare Moon—and hopefully set free my sister—I would just have to wait for her return.

Just a moment later I noticed that I was being encased in a pitch black mist, which quickly shrouded me into darkness and muffled the sounds of the crowd on the other side of the curtain. I tried to look around and to say something, only to find out that some external force had locked my body in place. I couldn’t move a muscle.

Having been paralyzed in complete darkness for a few seconds, I felt a familiar feeling of being teleported a long distance away. I tried to resist, but couldn’t even bring myself to use any magic. I was helplessly carried away to wherever she wanted me to be.

As the mist slowly dissipated, I could see some very dim light amidst the complete darkness, and I could move my body on my free will once again. I squinted in the new, dimly lit place I was teleported into, but couldn’t make any clear features around me just yet. As I tried to light up the area, I found out that my magic was still blocked by something.

At that moment I could hear a sinister laughter from just a few feet away. That was the unmistakable laughter I hadn’t heard for a thousand years. The laughter of Nightmare Moon.

The area was suddenly lit up by a cold, bluish light. Nightmare Moon was standing right in front of me—on the opposite side of some sturdy steel bars—using her magic to illuminate the place. She lit up a torch next to her and turned back at me.

“Nice to see you again, Celestia,” she said, flicking my chin with a starry tendril of her ethereal mane. “It’s been quite lonely being imprisoned in the moon for a thousand years. Now, wouldn’t that be fair if you’d be imprisoned in turn? Take a good look around, for this is going to be your new home... for the next thousand years!” She finished with another chilling laughter.

I did as she told, and took a look around in the flickering light, noticing that I was in an old, yet sturdy cell in our old castle’s dungeons. I also noticed that the cell was surrounded by a strong anti-magic field, inhibiting all my attempts to use magic inside.

“You won’t get away with this, Nightmare Moon!” I snapped at her.

“And what could you possibly do to stop me?” she asked. In my rage, I was about to tell her about my plan to get my student Twilight to re-activate the Elements to use against her, but decided against it and kept silent. Nightmare Moon continued her taunting, “Use the Elements of Harmony again? Too bad you don’t have them down here, and I’ve made sure you won’t be able to escape either. Now, if you excuse me, I’ve got a few words for my new subjects.” With that she dissolved into dark blue mist, and exited through a steel door, closing it with a loud clang after her.

Left alone in my new prison with nothing but a torch on the other side of the steel bars giving some flickering light, I couldn’t do anything but wait. I tried to look around for anything to get myself free, but there was absolutely nothing in the cell to use, and the anti-magic field was too strong for me to break from the inside.

I hope Twilight does manage to reignite and use the Elements, I thought, sighing silently. “The future of Equestria lies on your hooves now, my faithful student,” I said, my voice barely as loud as a whisper. I knew there was nopony else around to hear me, but hearing somepony talk reassuringly, even if it was just myself, helped me to stay calm. “You have done well so far Twilight Sparkle, and I have full confidence in your success,” I added, looking at the torch on the other side of the bars, the only distraction I had in my monotonous cell. Please don’t fail me now.

After an excruciatingly long wait, I could finally feel a powerful surge of magic wash through the dungeons—and not just any magic, but the magic of the Elements of Harmony. In the same instant, the anti-magic field around my cell was shattered, and I was able to use my magic to escape from the cell. Well done, Twilight Sparkle. I knew I could trust you, I thought, having a smile on my face. I teleported straight out of the dungeons, ending up on the grassy field in front of the ancient castle.

I could then see the moon for the first time since Nightmare Moon’s return. My mood brightened even more as I saw an obvious change; the silhouette from the moon was gone, allowing me to see the moon in it’s full shine for the first time in a thousand years. That’s a good sign. At least Luna isn’t banished there again. And since I was able to escape, it likely means that Nightmare Moon is gone... hopefully for good and without my sister this time. Now if only she would be all right...

I noticed some residue magic from the Elements of Harmony in the surroundings, and used it to easily trace the location where them were used, and where I would likely find Twilight and her new friends. They were at the top floor of nearby tower. That is Luna’s old throne room—the exact same room where I originally fought Nightmare Moon! That’s not where I left the Elements though... maybe Nightmare led them to there then? Whatever the reason for them being in there is, that is where Luna would be too.

I flew up to a window and peeked inside. There were six ponies lying on the ground on one side of the room, likely knocked temporarily unconscious from using the unimaginably powerful magic of the Elements of Harmony. I noticed that those six were indeed the ones I had expected to see: my faithful student Twilight, and the five Ponyville residents who I had picked in secrecy to be the new bearers of the Elements. They were already waking up from their brief Element-induced unconsciousness.

What I saw at the other end of the room was what really made my spirits to soar. Surrounded by some shrapnel—presumably the remnants of Nightmare Moon’s armor—lying on the floor, still unconscious but otherwise in a seemingly perfect condition, was my own little sister, Princess Luna. She was smaller than when I’d last seen her a thousand years ago, and her mane wasn’t the starry, ethereal one I remembered—most likely aftereffects of being completely drained by Nightmare Moon and the Elements—but it was still definitely my beloved sister. I could only hope she would accept my apology, and would once again accept her rightful place as the co-ruler of Equestria.

Looking back at the other end of the room, I noticed that Twilight and her new friends were now all awake and having some discussion together. “Gee, Twilight,” I could hear Applejack saying, “I thought you were just spoutin’ a lot of hooey... but I reckon we really do represent the elements of friendship.”

I guess now would be a good time to introduce myself to these new saviors of Equestria. Might as well make a spectacular entrance... “Indeed you do,” I answered to Applejack’s statement. At the same time I focused my powers to raise the sun, and to encompass myself into a sphere of light. I then slowly glided through the window, having the rising sun shine right behind me. Right after landing I flared my wings wide open and expelled the light sphere surrounding me, displaying myself in my full glory for the six ponies.

As I had expected, the five ponies who had never personally met me before, knelt to show their respect towards me. But the sixth, my own student Twilight Sparkle, didn’t bother with such formalities. “Princess Celestia!” she exclaimed, trotting right in front of me.

“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it.”

Twilight looked up at my eyes, and replied with some uncertainty, “But... you told me it was all an old pony tale.”

I had expected that kind of a reaction, me being quite vague—and maybe a little bit misleading, too—with my instructions after all. “I told you that you needed to make some friends—nothing more,” I said. I had never mentioned Nightmare Moon to her in my letters, and I had definitely never said that the Mare in the Moon legend wasn’t true.

“I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her.” Truthfully, I knew about her returning all the time since her banishment, since I was the one responsible for it in the first place, but I decided to leave out any details for now. “But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart,” I continued. That was the main reason I couldn’t have given my student any clear guidelines, as friendship was something one pony cannot simply force another into. All I could do was to nudge her to the right direction, and to make her meet with the other Element bearers.

Glancing at the other end of the room, I saw that Luna was already regaining her consciousness. This was it—the moment I had waited for a thousand years. “Now if only another will as well,” I continued, turning around to face my little sister. “Princess Luna.”

This caused her to jolt awake with a sharp gasp. Luna turned to look straight at me as I was now walking towards her.

“It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this.” I knelt down in front of my sister, who seemed to be quite scared. “Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister.” I could hear some of the other six ponies saying something, but all of my focus was on my newly freed sister at the moment. “Will you accept my friendship?” I finally asked, standing back up.

The next few seconds were the longest ones I had ever lived. I waited for her to respond, hoping from the bottom of my heart that she would accept my apology. I didn’t want to even think about the alternative, having been waiting for our reunion for a thousand years. I was holding my breath, and the only thing that existed in my consciousness at that moment was my sister Luna, hunkering in front of me.

After long moments of awkward silence, Luna finally bounced up, and nuzzled my chest. “I’m so sorry!” she said, tears running freely. “I missed you so much, big sister.”

Right then I felt a wave of relief rushing through my whole body. Finally I got the confirmation that she didn’t hold any ill feelings, and that she did accept my apology. Finally, for the first time in a thousand years, I felt all my worries washing away momentarily. A torrent of happy tears escaped my eyes; I hadn’t felt that happy for over a thousand years, not since I had lost my sister. “I’ve missed you too.” I gave a nuzzle of my own to her in turn.

I could hear that we were not the only ones getting sentimental; Pinkie Pie had also started to cry out two growing puddles of tears—only to cut out her crying abruptly, suddenly looking like her brief crying had never ever happened. “Hey!” she exclaimed. “You know what this calls for?” She didn’t wait for any reply, and answered her own question, “A Party!”

“Yes, Pinkie Pie,” I replied calmly, standing up straight next to my sister. “A celebration for the return of my sister would indeed be in place.” I raised a hoof to silence the pink pony, who was about to say something to reply, and continued, “But I would first like to have a few words with my sister, in private, if you please.”

We, the two alicorn princesses, were now alone in the ancient throne room; the Element bearers were waiting outside for us. I had sat down next to my sister, who in turn was also sitting, her eyes locked onto the floor in front of her. I could hear her sniffle now and then.

“Why so glum, little sister?” I asked. “You are back now, and we can rule together now, to the foreseeable future. Though first you should take a few weeks off to accustom yourself with the new society, and to regain your full strength.”

Luna sniffed, and said with a weak voice, tears falling from her eyes, “I’m so, so sorry I turned against you. Can you really forgive me?”

I chuckled lightly, and softly wrapped my wing around her. “You have nothing to apologize for; it was Nightmare Moon who opposed me, not you. If anyone should apologize, it would be me... and I’m sorry. I truly am. I didn’t mean to harm you in any way, but I didn’t expect that kind of backfire for trying to use the Elements all by myself. We should try to put that in the past now, and look forward towards our future together.”

We stayed there together for a few minutes, just sitting next to each other, embracing each other’s warmth. Suddenly a thought occurred to me, a question I had been wondering ever since Luna was sent to the moon.

“You said you missed me so much... were you aware or the time passing for the whole thousand years?”

She shook her head. “Most of the time, no... Nightmare Moon had put me and herself into a dormant state using my magic, and I was fully aware of my surroundings only for a short moment once in a year. I could see and hear everything she did, but I never had control at all over my body.”

A chill run down my spine even thinking about how it would feel to be trapped in one’s own body, with some external being controlling it. At least she didn’t experience the whole length of the millennium as I did, but it still must not have been a pleasant experience to her either. I decided not to press the matter further, and instead asked, “What would you like to do once we get back to the castle?” I looked around, remembering where we were, and added, “To the new castle in Canterlot, I mean. You haven’t been there before, so I may give you a tour around.”

“I guess that sounds good,” Luna said, still downcast. I decided that I should try and cheer her up before doing anything else. I wasn’t really that good at making other ponies smile, but maybe one of those Element bearers could be up to the task...

“Let’s go to that party first.” I smiled to my sister, standing up. “I’ve heard that Pinkie Pie could throw most amazing parties, even when having practically no time to prepare. And they’re famous of almost never letting anypony leave with a slightest frown on their face.”

It was the first Nightmare Night with Luna being free.

She had recovered almost completely already, being her regal self once again, and I had thought it would be good for her to go and see if she could make some friends—it should be easier for her now than a thousand years ago, since the ponies had started to appreciate nights more and more over the last centuries. And what better time for the princess of the night to go out, than during the Nightmare Night. Her first Nightmare Night. Hopefully she would have some fun with Twilight and her friends in Ponyville.

I decided not to join the celebrations though.

No, I did the same thing I had done during all the other Nightmare Nights so far: sat alone in my room, gazed at the moon, and remembered my little sister—tonight it had been exactly one thousand years since I lost her, and a few months ago I finally got her back. But I could never completely forgive myself, and I would continue this tradition of mine on the following years too, in memory of one of my greatest mistakes.

As I once again looked up at the now silhouetteless moon, I shed some tears; just like I did every year on this very night over the last thousand years.

But there was one thing fundamentally different from all the other times.

This time those were happy tears.