It was over.
The Solar Guard had been brutally defeated, half of Everfree City had been burned to ashes, and worst of all, the once glorious sun princess, the beacon of salvation for all her little ponies, had now been struck down one too many times. Celestia’s battered legs trembled as she attempted to stand once more, only to collapse like a puppet with cut strings. Around her lay the Elements of Harmony, strewn in disarray like their wielder. The alicorn tried to levitate the Element of Magic until her depleted magic sputtered and faded. Her cries of pain echoed throughout the dark and desolate Everfree Forest, only to be answered by the shrill, mocking cries of the nocturnal animals while their twisted mistress stood above her.
“Foolish princess,” Nightmare Moon sneered as she stood victoriously above Celestia. “Did you really think you could challenge Us?”
“Luna… please,” Celestia beseeched weakly. “Don’t do this to Equestria. Eternal night… it will cause unimaginable… devastation…” Her head was spinning horribly, most likely due to severe head wound she was sustaining. With every drop of blood she could see her life force draining, just as her spirit was withering with Nightmare Moon’s every advance. “Please… we can fix this… together…”
“Ha! You would say that, wouldn’t you, Celestia?” Nightmare Moon spat. “All I ever was to you was a problem, something that needed to be fixed. I know what you thought; I’ve read the words myself! I was nothing but an annoyance, a hindrance, a mistake to be brushed aside for its unimportance in your quest for glory. We did not rule together. I was nothing to you!”
“That’s not true, Luna,” Celestia cried. “I… love you.”
“It’s a little late for that, isn’t it, sister?!” the twisted mare screeched in rage. “You drank from my tears while I served my heart on a silver platter, and yet you did nothing! You chose yourself over me!”
“I never chose anyone!” Celestia exclaimed. “Harmony—“
“Look around you!” screamed Nightmare Moon, waving a hoof at the scattered Elements of Harmony. “Harmony is dead, sister!”
That struck a chord with Celestia. Harmony had defeated Discord, Harmony had brought the budding nation of Equestria to its peak, but most of all, Harmony was the symbol of everything she and Luna had shared together. Harmony was all she had now. Nightmare Moon could take her money, her title, her heart, or her life, but Harmony was the one thing Celestia would never surrender. If Nightmare Moon wanted it, she’d have to pry it out from Celestia’s dead hooves. She’d never let it go.
“No, it’s not!” Celestia screamed. “As long as I’m alive, I’ll never let my ponies suffer in a world devoid of harmony!”
At her valiant words, the shards from the Elements of Harmony swirled around Celestia in a tornado of multi-colored light. In each of the millions of shards, Celestia could see the faces of all her loving subjects, the ponies whose laughter, honesty, kindness, generosity, and loyalty shaped Equestria into a vibrant nation of hope across the whole world. Each and every one of them held a piece of harmony in their hearts, and now that strength was being transferred to Celestia. She wouldn’t let them down, she decided, not when they needed her most.
Even when she had been unable to do so for her own sister.
“Harmony isn’t something you can smother or destroy,” Celestia declared proudly, the six newly reformed Elements forming a ring around her. “It’s a living, breathing force, alive in the hearts of those who believe in its power. And I swear to Faust,” she cried, charging her horn with magical energy, “it’s a power you’re going to learn, Nightmare Moon!”
“You… you would dare use the Elements on your own sister?” said Nightmare Moon mockingly, but now with thinly veiled worry in her voice.
Celestia closed her eyes. “My sister, the sister I knew and cherished, always upheld harmony alongside me. She would never stand for what you are or what you’ve done. You are not my sister, but an abomination of her. So yes, I will not hesitate to use the Elements of Harmony against you.”
“Oh, but you will, Celestia,” Nightmare Moon sneered, advancing towards her. “I know you better than anypony, and I know you’ll be too softhearted to do it. Oh yes, I can tell. You’re just as scared as I once was. Too afraid to risk losing your sister, yet terrified to learn what it means about yourself if you don’t. You can save the ponies or myself, but either way, there’s going to be unimaginable pain for you. There’s no way to win, Celestia, so why don’t you just give up?”
Because I can’t. There always has to be a choice. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, she knew she didn’t really have a choice. Deep in her heart, a decision had already been made. Looking up into those dark turquoise eyes, a broken remembrance of her sister, Celestia whispered, “I’m so sorry, Luna.”
A scream. A spell. A flash of light.
Tilting her head to face the shadow of the moon, Celestia cried.
It was over.
It was over.
The prophesized return of Nightmare Moon had been thwarted, ponies of Equestria had been liberated from the threat of eternal night, the newly recovered Elements of Harmony had been placed in the castle’s highest security vault, official statements had been given to the press, ancient laws regarding the Equestrian diarchy had been reinstated, and the protests of those insufferable Canterlot nobles had been placated. And after such a trying day, one would believe that everything was truly over.
Celestia breathed a sigh of relief as she finally closed the doors of the Solar Court, even though nothing could be further from the truth. Her day wasn’t over, and she knew it, although her official itinerary would say otherwise. Unfortunately though, matters of the heart weren’t things you could neatly package into the most convenient time slot.
“We don’t have time to hear this again, Luna!” Celestia declared from her lofty place on the throne. Her eyes were narrowed into slits of annoyance at yet another pointless distraction.
“But sister,” Luna pleaded, looking incredibly small of forlorn amidst the grandeur of her elder sister’s throne room. “We’ve been working really, really hard on the stars tonight, and We know that if you can just keep the sun down an extra hour – just one little hour! – the ponies of Equestria will really appreciate it! It’s not a big deal, really; it’s like that one time We let you have two extra hours of daylight last… l-last m-month…”
Celestia may have been the princess of the sun, but at that moment, the glare she was giving Luna was one of coldest ice. “You know that was due to the near agricultural disaster we had, or at least you would know if you actually paid attention to our country’s politics! That was due to a practical reason, not a silly display! The ponies of Equestria are practical and hardworking; they don’t have time for those things, and neither do I.”
The younger princess scowled. “Fine,” she pouted as she stormed out of the throne room.
In solitude once more, Celestia leaned back in her throne and sighed. “There just aren’t enough hours in the day…”
Little known to her, Luna would soon be crafting a way in which there’d be none.
But now the time had come, punctual as always, as much as Celestia had wished otherwise. In the back of her mind, she was already formulating excuses to postpone the meeting even further, which, considering the nationwide confusion and disarray, would not take much effort. However, Celestia pushed them all aside. In the past, she had always put her country before her sister, a mistake she had vowed never to repeat. Luna needed her more than Equestria, and Celestia would not deprive her of that right because of her own cowardice. Luna deserved more than that.
Dismissing her guards, the solar princess sighed and turned her hoofsteps towards the newly inhabited Lunar Tower. Her steps were slow and even, creating almost a calming effect as every nerve was screaming for her to run, although whether to or away from her sister, she wasn’t sure.
The trek up the winding staircase felt more like charging an entire army, but sooner than she had thought possible, Celestia arrived at the silver-glided doors of her sister’s chamber, where the answers to all the questions that had tortured her for a thousand years lay inside.
Raising a trembling hoof to the door, Celestia hesitantly knocked, knowing that things were only just beginning.
“Luna?” Celestia called softly as she pushed open the door a crevice. The room was shrouded in darkness, transforming objects into those of undefinable mystery. The only sources of light were the glittering stars that spanned the entire ceiling, and the tiniest sliver of sunlight emerging from the single window, whose curtain had been pushed aside by a delicate navy blue hoof. The hoof connected to the same blue coat, framed by curled and delicate ringlets of hair, which was already beginning to show some of its previous starry luminance, reflected in her gentle turquoise eyes.
It was amazing, really, how young her sister looked, even from a thousand years ago. This was the sister who loved to play in the fields with her, who hugged her when she first earned her cutie mark, and who cried with joy as she was officially coronated as a princess. This was the sister who would call her Tia, who would laugh and sing and cry and smile, and would beg for lullabies and promises that they would always be together. To Celestia, it felt as though she had stepped back in time, back to a time when she could still make everything right, even though such a dream was impossible.
I won’t make the same mistake again, she vowed.
Making sure not to cause any startling noise, Celestia closed the door and made her way over to her newly reunited sister. “I can open the curtains wider, you know,” Celestia offered. “I know that you probably… missed the sun.” Maybe even missed me, she added silently.
When her sister did not respond, Celestia asked, “How long have you been here?”
“We don’t know,” Luna replied, her voice strangely distant. “We like it here. It’s calm. Dark. Quiet. It’s the only place that hasn’t changed over the past thousand years. It makes Us feel safe. Darkness has always been Our only confidant, Our only friend.”
“Luna,” she said upon noticing the single damp streak running down her sister’s cheek. “You’re not… crying, are you?”
At those words, the moon princess forcefully pulled the curtains shut. “We are crying because of the sun in Our eyes,” she declared regally, still using the royal ‘we’ that had been outdated centuries ago. “We are not used to such harsh light on the… during Our banishment. We never looked at the sun then.”
“Forgive Us Our indifference, sister,” Luna added after a while. “One would think that a thousand years of solitude would allow adequate time for inner reflection, but the truth is that We don’t quite know how to feel towards you yet.”
“That is… understandable,” Celestia said, moving ever so slightly closer to her sister’s side. “I also understand why you may not wish to speak to me now. But please, Luna, don’t shut yourself away like this. It’s not healthy for you, just as it wasn’t back then.”
“We believe that is quite the understatement,” Luna spat bitterly.
“Please, Luna, I know this is hard,” Celestia began, “but I can’t bear it when you’re cold to me. Come, maybe we can talk, work this out, for my sake if not yours. Please, I—“
“We, Celestia,” Luna corrected. “You are beginning to sound like a common peasant pony. Tragic that your Royal Canterlot Voice is slipping by the wayside. Do you not remember the days of old?”
I remember the days when the royal we was meant to display our unison, not our separation, Celestia thought.
“Never mind,” the younger alicorn said with a tired sigh. “We suppose you’ll start to tell Us how this is yet another aspect of ponykind that has changed over the millennia. Yet another thing that has made this world an alien planet. This is not the home I expected. You are not the same sister I remembered. But it’s all the same now, I suppose. Perhaps this will make things easier.”
“I don’t understand—“
“You didn’t bring any guards,” Luna noted. “Surprising. We thought you would bring half of your army to face a monster like Us.”
“Sister, you never a monster to me,” Celestia said, her magenta eyes softened in sympathy.
“Oh? We beg to differ,” the dark alicorn rebuffed.
“Release my sister, you monster!” the battered white alicorn cried, her eyes blazing hot white in fury.
“Don’t like what you see, princess?” Nightmare Moon laughed cruelly. “I am the product of your own creation, forged through your cruelty and neglect! I’d say the only monster here is you!”
Celestia couldn’t argue with memories, and thus, she fell silent. As the silence stretched out into minutes, Luna couldn’t help but grow more restless and agitated. The dragging moments seemed to distort her face until it bore an expression of utmost grief and terror.
Finally, Luna cracked under the tension. “Please, Celestia, please do what thou has come to do and leave Our soul in peace already!” Luna cried out in anguish, dropping to her knees, where her entire body trembled under the unknown fear.
“L-Luna, I don’t understand,” Celestia replied, backing away in surprise. “I only came to talk to you, nothing more.”
“No,” Luna moaned. “Stop it, please! Do you not think you have made enough mockery of Us? You have paraded Our defeat, you have made a spectacle out of Us, and now you have taken away even Our last shred of pride and dignity! What more could you desire from Us?”
Tilting back her head, Luna revealed her dilated turquoise eyes, now filled to the brim with tears. “My beloved sister, just kill Us already!”
Celestia’s eyes widened at the sight of her younger sister cowering before her, pleading for death. “Luna, I’m not going to do anything of the sort. I… I’m not here to kill you. I’m here to ask for your forgiveness.”
For the briefest of seconds, Luna’s distraught face was lit with a spark of hope, only to be doused once more by her assumptions. “We… We do not believe you. We have committed treason, attempted mass genocide, and threatened to murder you and overtake the throne. Any of these crimes alone is worthy of the death penalty. We know our punishment. We know what we deserve. We only ask, whether it be in triumph or in hatred, that you remember Us, after We are gone.”
“Luna,” Celestia began, wrapping a comforting wing around the younger alicorn. “My dear, sweet sister Luna. For a thousand years, I have remembered you. You have been with me through every second of every day. My world has been painted with the colors of my memories of you, and my thoughts were filled with the ever-bittersweet melody of your name. I have seen your face through all my joys and sorrows, and I have loved you all the same. Now, all I can do is stand before you, burdened with my shortcomings and failings, and beg for your forgiveness.”
It was Luna’s turn to be taken aback. “You have never sinned against Us, sister.”
“It was a sin of omission,” Celestia lamented, turning her face away from Luna in shame as she agitatedly paced back and forth. “I should have cared for you more, been more open with you! It was because of my distance that you felt you couldn’t confide in me about your troubles. It was my negligence that made you feel unwanted! To think that you had felt like that for years, and I never ever noticed! We were sisters; we promised to love each other always! To think that I… that I…”
“Celestia,” Luna said, still looking out onto the late afternoon sun. “We have harbored bitterness towards you for a thousand years. We are too tired to be angry anymore.”
“I am, too,” the sun mare agreed. “I hope to never have anything come between us again, sister.”
“Of course, Celestia,” Luna replied, her voice distant and absentminded.
“Luna… Can I ask you something?” Celestia asked cautiously, like a filly approaching a fierce and wild dog. Her voice was trembling as all color drained from her face, leaving her looking pallid and sickly in her anxiety.
“You can do whatever you wish with Us,” Luna replied coldly.
“I’ve both hoped for and dreaded this moment for a thousand years, Luna,” Celestia began. “It has haunted me for all these centuries, but I need to know the truth. Call it a weakness if you wish, but I must know… what was it like on the moon? When I… when I sent you away, I had no idea if I had truly banished you or Nightmare Moon. I didn’t know which one was in control of you, or whether things changed as time passed on, or anything, really. I have always hoped that Nightmare Moon was the one I had condemned to suffer. But… if I did… if I did banish you, my sister…”
After several counts of silence, Luna sighed. “It is… complicated,” she finally said. “We are not as separate as you may think. We don’t believe either one of us had full control throughout those years.”
“But were you, well, conscious during it all?” Celestia asked in despair. “I had always hoped your mind was submerged beneath hers, and the time had passed in a dream for you—“
“It did not,” Luna interrupted, her tone hard and unforgiving with the painful truth. “We were awake throughout it all.”
“Oh, my Luna,“ Celestia wailed, horribly distraught, burying her face in her hooves. “What have I done—?”
“Like We said, it is a complicated matter,” Luna repeated impatiently. “We won’t allow you to fully wallow in… well, whatever ponies are supposed to wallow in, until you understand the truth in its entirety. However, We do not believe a simple explanation is enough. Some things can only be seen to be understood.”
Celestia nodded, wiping tears from her eyes.
“Sister, We presume you have cleared all diplomatic affairs for the rest of the evening?”
“Yes,” Celestia replied. “The minute I learned of your return, I cancelled all Solar Court proceedings.”
“Good, because it will take a good amount of time to summon enough magical energy from the two of us to cast this spell.”
“I can’t dreamwalk, Luna—“
“You won’t be delving into Our memories, Celestia,” Luna said, her voice tinged in a penetrating melancholy. “It will be a considerably more real experience than that, one that requires a spell We are sure you are very much familiar with. One that required you to take energy from the Elements of Harmony themselves, and me to spend a thousand years storing up enough magical energy in order to cast. Nearly impossible to do alone, but one we can easily preform together, if you are willing to learn the full, unabridged truth of my exile.”
Celestia gasped in the full realization of what Luna was implying.
“Come along now, sister. We’re teleporting to the moon.”