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// Epilogue 
// Story: Eternal Night 
// by Lucaro 
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*Somewhere far above the clouds*


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"I don't want to leave...a voice whispered in the cold void.

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"Please," he pleaded. "I’d do anything to see my family again. My starry grandeur is nothing compared to the love and happiness they provided me with.

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“Please,” he begged again. “My sister has gone silent as all the stars eventually do. I do not wish to become like her. Please give me more time on Equestria. I cannot find peace as Persei has, not before fulfilling all my earthly duties."

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"I want to see Dusty become a stallion, I want to grow old with Candle, I want to be by Sirius' side as he finds his place in this world again... I cannot merely be an observer. I have to be there for them."

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"Please..." the voice echoed once again.

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Luna stood on her balcony, staring up at the stars. It had been a few days since she had been redeemed, but she could still hear his voice in her head. She felt an immense loneliness, a feeling that she had been all too familiar with for the past thousand years. But there was something else.  It was willpower, pure and powerful. It intrigued her, for she had never encountered anything quite like it. “Perhaps…” she said to herself. 

She turned around and looked into the darkness of her bedroom. “Sirius,” she called out.

A pair of blue eyes appeared as the stallion stepped out into the moonlight. “My faithful student, would you fetch me my spell book?” She looked back up at the stars, almost feeling Cepheus’ presence. “We have work to do.”

She looked over at the city stretching out before her. The fires had been put out, the sick ponies had been healed, and things were slowly returning to how they were before. But they still needed guidance. They needed somepony to light the way for them, and neither Luna nor Celestia could fulfill that role. They blamed her for the apocalypse, and Celestia was a stranger to them. But Cepheus’ name was known throughout Equestria. The story of his sacrifice to bring the light back had spread far and wide. 

 It turns out this world still needs him, she thought. That alone should be justification for what I am about to do.

Sirius brought her the ancient tome and laid it down in front of her. She flipped the book open and began searching for a spell that had never before been used before. She had always planned on doing it one day, and now was the perfect opportunity.

She held her horn up high, muttering the incantation. A channel was opened up between her and the heavens. Raw, celestial energy coursed through her, fortifying her body in preparation for the summoning.

The stars in the sky began to swirl around, as if a current was carrying them in a circular motion. A shooting star streaked across the sky, arcing around and drawing closer to Luna and Sirius.

There was a bright column of light and a burst of blue fire as the falling star landed right on the balcony. Luna shielded her eyes and Sirius watched in awe as the ring of smoke and fire faded.

A white alicorn with the North Star as his cutie mark stood in the crater, his massive white wings wrapped around his body. The wings began to slowly unfurl, revealing his horn and blond mane first, his graceful neck, his chest with a white tuft of hair on it, and then the rest of his body. He was smiling, blue eyes aglow with starlight, his body exuding a majestic, regal grace.

Sirius’ jaw dropped, staring at the new alicorn in awe. "Can it be?"

“Welcome home, Prince Cepheus.” Luna said, clasping her hooves and grinning.