Luna –
I am so sorry for leaving you, with nothing but a letter. But I promise, it will not be permanent. I regret to say that I couldn’t have told you in person, but you would’ve tried to stop me. If you didn’t, than Twilight would. I know you both too well.
I’ve known you both long enough to know that you would say that this is a bad idea. But this is my only chance. I need to take it, now, or lose it forever, and I refuse to live my life knowing that I hadn’t taken that chance.
Please, look after Equestria while I’m gone. Be strong, Luna. I don’t know how long it will take. For you, maybe, it might even be centuries. Everything is as I explained. Celestia, or Summer Rose? No more lies. No more secrets. No more letters.
I’m so, so tired of this pain. I have gone to make amends with my past. Maybe then, I can finally enjoy Equestria, with the knowledge that even if I did abandon my family, they’ll know at what cost, and for what reasons.
Forgive me, sister, for being too weak to protect the people I love.
- Celestia
Luna –
How are you?
I’m sorry it had taken so long to get a letter. Even here, I can still feel my magic, yet actually using it was another matter all together. I got it figured out, finally. I have a curious little theory, that I’ve had this power my entire life, yet just never realised it until it became my very being, something I could use without a second thought. It’s like our Semblances, but… more? But, I digress.
Things here are starting to look up again. But all we remember, all of us, is the emptiness and pain that I had left behind. For how many years did my family believe me to be dead? A mother, a wife, a friend, a sister, gone as so many had gone before me?
Maybe eleven years just doesn’t feel as long to me anymore.
They had all found closure, in some way or another. A huntress dying on the job wasn’t uncommon, not by a long shot. I should explain; a huntress, or rather, a hunter, is someone who had dedicated his or her life to fighting Grimm. Evil, dear sister, the personification of evil.
How dearly I have wished that my home could finally be free of this blight! No matter how hard we have tried, no matter how many we slay, another Grimm is always there to take its place. That’s how our world works, and that’s how it will always work.
The thing is, unlike everyone else that lost their lives to the Grimm, I came back. I defied the expectations.
Tell Twilight that I say hello. I’m curious to hear how she’s been keeping busy.
- Celestia
Luna –
Aha! I’m glad to hear what she’s been up to – what an intriguing experiment! I am interested to see how it goes, this could revolutionise magic as we know it!
Another update on life here, I suppose… my girls are at that stage, they believe that I’d abandoned them. Not unfounded, of course, not unfounded… I’ve tried to explain to them why, and how, I couldn’t come back until now. It’s just one of those things that will take time to fade.
Not heal, dear sister, but fade. None of us will ever forget that void I left, we can only move past it.
When I really think about it, my Yang really does remind me of you. Determined to protect the people, or ponies, that they love, no matter the cost. Sound familiar, dear? I’d only known you for a measly hundred years -oh, I know what you’re thinking, it hasn’t been that long at all- but I know it when I see it.
Tenacity, Luna. Stubborn. A little bull-headed.
Keep in touch. I want to know what’s going on in Equestria. I still don’t know when I can come back, but I’ll see what I can do.
- Celestia
Luna –
Maybe returning was a mistake. I can’t bear to leave them again, but I can’t just forget about you, about Equestria. I can’t just pretend that none of it happened, not when it’s been- what? Eleven, eleven hundred years? Does it really matter?
I’m sorry. Truly. There is no one to blame for my predicament but myself.
We’re together again, and that’s what matters, right? But, it isn’t right. How does anyone expect me to choose? Country, or family? What is more important?
One way or another, I’m going to tear the hearts of one group. Luna, I’m so sorry. You deserve better than the likes of me. You all do.
I don’t know what to do.
- Summ Celestia
Luna –
It’s almost funny, how uncannily similar my Ruby is to Twilight…
Please, Luna, tell her that I miss her. Twilight. More than anything.
I feel so guilty.
Ruby, at least, knows what I want to do. Home here, home there. I’m a despicable mother. I can’t ask them to come with me, to just leave this world behind.
Twilight would never leave her friends behind. Ruby and Yang would never leave theirs. Do you see the connection, Luna? Here, and there. Student, and daughter. How many differences are there aside from the superficial details?
No, I’m kidding no one. Daughter and daughter. Twilight is so much more than just a student.
Letters may be a bit scarce. I knew people would notice, when a supposedly long-dead woman reappears among their midst. They’d want to know how I did it.
Luna, the only thing I can really say is that these people aren’t like ponies. They will do anything for knowledge. They’ll do anything for a new weapon.
Why do you think I tried to guide Equestria towards harmony? There is none of that here. Beneath the surface, it’s just every man for themselves. Everyone is a pawn in one huge war, just another blow against an enemy we’re not even sure the identity of. That may be a rather melodramatic way to put it, but it’s true.
The Grimm are a cover-up for something. I’m sure of it.
I hate it, and I hate that my own daughters are walking blindly into something they may not even come out of alive.
Where’s the harmony in this place?
- Summer
Luna –
A long overdue reply, I know. I couldn’t risk it earlier, or they’d want to know… Yes, I’ve managed all right.
How are you doing? Things are good here, of course, aside from all the questioning. I’ve stayed true to my beliefs, Luna; I haven’t mentioned a single word to them about Equestria. Ozpin has been a good friend during these last few months. I’ve needed the support.
I know you’re going to ask, dear, so I’ll say it now. He’s a little like Starswirl. Yes, yes, you might say that’s why I’ve been so drawn to him since the start. I get it.
He’s gone completely grey since that last time I’ve seen him, and he’s hardly older than I am. The poor man, all that stress must’ve been getting to him. That’s the thing with childhood friends; change is always a tough blow, and especially after so long.
I’m conflicted, Luna. I’m so close to making a decision, so close, but…
Please, the only thing I ask for is that you understand my reasons. Family is the most important thing I have ever had, and I thank you, you and Twilight, for making those last few years in Equestria some of the best in my life.
I’ve only known you both for so short a time. We had been together just a touch over a century before you fell to the Nightmare. Twilight was barely an adult when I came back here to Remnant.
Maybe things will be better.
- Summer
Luna –
We both knew that this was coming, how I wish that this wasn’t the case.
Luna, I’m staying here. Maybe I’ll come back sometime, to visit, but I am no longer a princess of Equestria. Tell the whole world, sister. Tell the whole world.
It would’ve been years since I’ve left Equestria, and I know that you, Twilight and Cadance have done a fantastic job ruling together in my absence. Please, I can only ask that you continue the hard work. If not for me, than for the generations of ponies that have lived in our great kingdom, and for the generations more that will come to be.
Perhaps it’s for entirely selfish reasons, but Luna, was I not always discontent by sitting by as the passive ruler? It was my job to defend civilisation from evil. Playing the princess, letting others do the work – it hurt. I can’t stand it anymore.
I’d sooner die than stand by and watch other people take the hit. You’ve always known that.
Luna – I love you, I always have, and I always will. Those one thousand years you were gone, they were the absolute worst of my life.
And now, to the two other ponies that has made living in Equestria worth it.
Cadance – You were a great comfort for me, after all those centuries of reigning alone. Remember my excitement, when another alicorn rose to join me by my side? You will do great things, my niece. I knew it when I first met you, I knew it when you and dear Shining Armor cast out the changelings, and I know that you will continue to do so.
Twilight – Twilight, I love you as a daughter. Ever since I met you, ever since you passed that entrance exam, I knew you would be the one. That you would become the student that was so much more than just an apprentice.
And I was right! You liberated my dearest sister from the darkness that had long claimed her heart. You had defeated, and later even managed to reform, a being that was so devoted to spreading chaos. You passed the test.
You had done, what only one other pony had ever managed, and that was to become my equal. Twilight, you had become an alicorn. Words cannot express how proud I am, that you had come this far!
Look after yourselves. Look after Equestria.
Until next time, farewell.
- Summer Rose