//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: One Last Gift // Story: I wish, I hope, I dream, I pray // by TNBi //------------------------------// One month after peace once again returned to Equestria, the Sun Princess planned to hold a grand tour in all of her main cities, to reassure her citizens from the wounds of war. When the marching parade accompanying the Princess appeared on the main streets of Cloudsdale, all its residents rushed to the road to welcome and pay their tribute to their heroine, the solar mare that saved them from the eternal night. Primrose took her blind daughter into the celebrating crowds, telling her of what was going on despite the cheers and chants: 4 pegasi stallions were pulling the gold chariot on the street, on which Princess Celestia sat upon; beside her sat Star Swirl the Bearded and her royal guard captain. They three were the heroes of leading that battle to defeating Nightmare Moon. Primrose excitedly explained to her daughter, but Snowdrop paid little attention to her. All she could think of was still Princess Luna. She longed so much, that she could ask Princess Celestia of the truth of Nightmare Moon in person — ever since Luna’s transformation, everypony had heaped the crimes, hatred and abuse upon her, cursing her betrayal in public, as if she had never been a kind and benevolent ruler of Equestria at all. Snowdrop would never believe that the moon princess, the one who treated her with tenderness and care, and wanted to realize her wish at whatever cost, would suddenly turn into an evil villain beyond compare. There must be some reason behind this — there must be.   She called out the sun princess’s name at the top of her lungs, in hope that she might notice her at all. Yet, her voice only drowned in thousands of voices that was chanting the princess’s name. She kept calling, but with each call unanswered, her heart grew more impatient. Now her mother was telling her that the Princess would soon be leaving the street and start advancing to her next city. There was not much time left. “Princess Celestia!” shouted somepony, “Please take this bunch of flowers as a sign of my gratitude! Thank you for leading our heroes to vanquish the evil Nightmare Moon!” That was a voice too familiar to Snowdrop — it was the flower shop owner here in Cloudsdale. “Thank you, my loyal subject.” She heard it. It was the answer of Princess Celestia — she could finally confirm her position! Afraid to lose her last chance, she spread her wings and dashed toward that voice, before her mother could take a hold of her. “Who are you?! Halt! That’s an order!” She heard somepony beside the sun goddess shouted at her. She didn’t know who that was, and she didn’t care — she wanted  to know why, she just wanted to ask Princess Celestia what had really happened. “Put it down!!” the princess hurriedly called out, “Put it down, Bolt!! She’s—” PLUNGE. Before she realized anything, Snowdrop’s throat met something cold and sharp. It mercilessly pierced her through. Blood rushed inside her mouth, dumbed her attempt to call the princess’s name. “Gah?! Wh-why didn’t you avoid my spear?!” the other pony yelled in disbelief, clearly startled by what she had just done. The filly finally realized that he didn’t know she was blind, and that she didn’t know she was dashing toward a sharp weapon pointing at her. Her body fell limp helplessly on the ground. She felt the spear pulled out from her body, but she couldn’t move. She lay there, blood gushed out of her wound like a crimson stream. It’s getting cold… She thought, and fell unconscious. In the endless darkness, she felt as if she was dreaming. Everything here was just like her other dreams, completely dark and void. Then suddenly, Princess Luna showed up before her. “Princess Luna!” shouted Snowdrop surprised and thrilled. It had been such a long time since their last meet! She looked up expectantly, expecting to see the same giddy grin on the other pony’s face — instead, her gaze only met the Moon Princess’s guilt-ridden features. “Princess Luna, where have you been for so long time? I missed you so much!” Though puzzled, Snowdrop called out again. Luna only shook her head in silence as a response. Then, she turned around, and started walking away. “No! Wait! Please! Please don’t go away!” Snowdrop shouted, running after her. Strangely, even Luna seemed walking slowly, she couldn’t catch up and was falling behind. Her dark blue figure went farther and farther, and finally, despite all the pleading and calling, her form disappeared at the end of her sight. From the spot where her form faded, a piercing white light suddenly struck out and wrapped up everything. It was so dazzling, that Snowdrop had to close her eyes before it. When she finally was able to open them again, Princess Celestia’s agitated face came into view. “Snowdrop! Are you awake? Are you all right? Can you talk now?” “I’m… I’m fine,” Snowdrop opened her mouth and answered. Despite a little dryness in her throat, she felt herself fine as ever. She found herself in a room, lying on her back on a bed with white sheets. A familiar scent filled her nose. “Where am I?” she asked. “You’re home. Thank goodness you’re awake! You’ve been unconscious for half a day.” “Home? But Princess… didn’t you and Star Swirl the Bearded tell me, that it’s forbidden to create any more illusions in my dream? What is this…” “What are you talking about?” the Princess was puzzled, “me and Star Swirl didn’t use any…” Then it suddenly dawned on her. “Wait!” she exclaimed. She ignited her horn with a faint light, then pulled a feather off her wing with her magic. “Snowdrop, now answer me with full attention: what did I just do?” “Huh? You pulled a feather off yourself… for some reason?” answered Snowdrop somewhat confused. Hearing the answer, the Sun Princess’s eyes widened in surprise as if startled, the feather she was floating with magic lost its hold and fell to the ground. “Your eyes!” She held Snowdrop’s head in her own fore hooves, bringing her closer to herself until they were face to face. “Pwincess Cewestia… what wuh you doing?” asked Snowdrop out of her tightly clenched mouth between the princess’s hooves. “Snowdrop, you’ll never guess what happened…” explained the Princess, “you are not in a dream anymore. This is reality. The real reality, the one you’ve longed for, full of wonders and colors.” Snowdrop sat dumbstruck for a brief moment, then her eyes grew wide. She jumped off her bed, and before she balanced herself, she scrambled out of her room, and headed for the living room by memory. There, she saw the bearded sorcerer sitting by the table, and a mare with red and swollen eyes from crying hard. The scent on her was way too familiar — without further confirmation, Snowdrop rushed toward her, calling loudly, “Mom!” “Oh — Snowdrop, my dear child! Thank the great spirits; you’re okay!” Primrose was taken by surprise, and held her daughter tightly in her embrace. “You almost scared me to death! You just dashed out like that, and then got pierced by that vermin… I thought I had lost you forever!” It was then that Snowdrop noticed that another pony was standing in the corner of the room. That pegasus’s face was covered in black and blue bruises. She could tell he was the one responsible for piercing her; apparently, her mother kicked him hard. “Mom,” she said, “it’s not just that! I can see now! I can see you! I can see our living room, and everything!” she chimed excitedly. All the ponies in the room were staring at her in disbelief. “Oh, oh, my!” Primrose were too surprised to say anything; all she could do was fondling her daughter’s head. “How… how is this even possible? Let the old one have a look…” said Star Swirl in utter surprise too. He stood up and came over to the blue filly to perform his check. Seeing that he was standing on clouds, Snowdrop felt rather astonished — back at school, her teachers said that only winged ponies have the ability to do so. She looked down, and discovered that all his four hooves were glowing and wrapped up in magic — this legendary unicorn sorcerer had created a spell to even walk on clouds! “Unbelievable… Two miracles, in a row!” exclaimed Star Swirl as he finished checking Snowdrop’s body. His voice was wavering, his warm tears flowed out of his eyes, traveling down his wrinkle-ridden face. “Mr. Star Swirl? What’s wrong? What exactly happened after I fainted?” asked Snowdrop confused.  The sorcerer couldn’t speak for a moment, but that pegasus standing in the corner answered her instead. “After I pierced you — I’m truly sorry for having done that — we thought you wouldn’t survive, because even Princess Celestia and Star Swirl could not stop the heavy bleeding. Then there was the first miracle — in a sudden, a strong flow of Princess Luna’s magic burst out from your body. It not only stopped you from losing more blood, but gathered at your wound… Before our own eyes, your wound healed completely in mere seconds, as if nothing had happened at all.” “Luna is the Princess of the Night; rest and cure are in her charge,” the Sun Princess carried on, “that’s why her magic power has the ability to heal. When your life was in a pinch, the magic she left in you somehow reacted to it, bursting out to cure your fatal wound… But I didn’t know that her magic was powerful enough to make your see. It’s the second miracle.” “O young filly… These eyes of yours, are truly the one last gift Luna gave you.” Said the teary old sorcerer, who gently run a hoof on the filly’s head. “Princess Luna…” the name suddenly rang a bell for little Snowdrop. “Wait a second — was Princess Luna really… really banished to the Moon forever?” She inquired. The ponies fell into an awkward silence at her question. Snowdrop was agitated. “Why?! Why did you have to do this to her?! And why did she transform into that Nightmare Moon? That was definitely not her! That was not the Princess Luna I knew and loved!” Again, only silence replied to her outburst. After a long while of consideration, Princess Celestia finally spoke. “Do you really wish to know the truth? Are you willing to know it, regardless of how it would make you live the rest days of your life in remorse, just like what it did to me and Star Swirl already?” The Solar mare’s expression was stern and bitter; still, Snowdrop nodded her own head firmly, looking straight at the Princess with her newly recovered eyes. And Celestia spoke — she told the heart-aching truth, the unknown dark side hidden behind all the victorious glory… Princess Luna, in search for a way to enhance her own powers, chose a path that she didn’t know there was no turning back — she broke the seal of a long forbidden relic: the enchanted Nightmare armor, and put it on in hope of drawing magic powers from it. It worked — she became many times stronger than she used to be, yet at the same time, her hatred for herself being weak, her jealousy of her sister always in the favor of everypony, all of things like that were enhanced too. Her mind finally give in to the twisting thoughts raging in her head, and finally became the mare known as “Nightmare Moon”. With her new powers, she bested Celestia and Star Swirl, and imprisoned them in the dungeons. But after several never-ending nights, the servants that she forced to work for her couldn’t stand such miserable life, and turned against her. They secretly opened the prison gates, and Star Swirl managed to find all the Elements. After a fierce fight, Celestia finally had a chance to use the Elements to purge her sister, but when she did, the unexpected happened: Nightmare Moon started to turn into stone, just like when they sealed Discord. She had to stop, and took a serious hit from Nightmare Moon’s magic fireball. As she saw her sister went for the fragile bearded sorcerer, she had to activate the Elements again… But she didn’t know what to do. She could neither bear to seal her sister in stone, nor let Nightmare Moon destroy everything. Without her sister to assist wielding the Elements, their power were quickly waning, she couldn’t hold on much longer. In desperation, she saw the Moon through the broken ceiling of the castle… As she told the story, Celestia wept. She knew at heart that if she had cared more about her younger sister instead of neglecting her, she could have set it all right, and none of this would have happened… Snowdrop wept too. She didn’t know her favorite princess’s persistence on realizing her wish could have led to such an end — knowing how it all came to be, she blamed herself for having spoken her wish to Luna. She’d rather keep that wish in her heart forever, than seeing Luna banished eternally on the Moon. They wept bitterly, for the loss of their beloved Moon Princess. *** A month later, Winter came. The pegasi took the snowflakes they’ve made, and spread them all across Equestria. Using the techniques Snowdrop taught them, these little white flowers of winter they made brought the ponies on the ground extra fun and happiness, healing their wounded hearts from the war with Nightmare Moon. As others celebrated the end of another hard year, one pony alone wasn’t taking part in any. Snowdrop was sitting on a cloud near her house, the cloud where it all started, where she created her first snowflake for the Spring Sunrise. In the snowy night, she looked up to see the starry sky and the Moon, on which there was a silhouette of a pony she knew. Thinking of how her princess and best friend couldn’t see what she’d been expecting, she couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. “Princess Luna… I don’t know if  you could hear me up there, but… as the stars could hear my wish, I guess you can too. Now Equestria’s in its winter, the snow flowers you’ve been wanting to see are falling from the sky — can you see it from up there?” Snowdrop talked — each night, she’d look up at the moon and talk to her princess, telling her own experience for the day, be it fun, sad or exciting — in hope it may get to the moon high above, so that she wouldn’t feel lonely there. After speaking with Princess Luna on the moon, Snowdrop stood up, and turned her gaze to the stars accompanying the moon, to say her prayer: “I wish, I hope, I dream, I pray… That you could somehow bring Princess Luna back. I believe she already knew she had done wrong… Please, please forgive her guilt and bring her back. Please? I’d sacrifice my eyes, just to have her back. If I can see anything but Princess Luna, then sight means nothing to me. I’d rather be blind for all my life, than seeing her banished and stuck on the moon. I just want her back.” Each night, she said the same prayers to the night stars. She wanted to help Princess Celestia and Star Swirl the Bearded, who was persistently seeking a way to bring the lunar princess back, but she could neither use magic, nor fly high enough to reach the celestial bodies. All she could do was repeat the method that had once worked for her — to wish upon the stars. She kept doing it ever since, day by day, and year by year, without stopping, without missing a day.