Letters were traded back and forth. Initially every week, then every month, then less frequently. It was a struggle for Ragnarok, trying to compose a message small enough that would not simply envelop Celestia once it appeared at her end, but he did, because she was worth the effort.
Over the following months and years they swapped news and gossip, offering each other comfort and solace from afar. When he received the tear-stained letter describing Sunset Shimmer’s fall from grace and self-imposed exile, it was galling to read. He could only imagine how hard she must have taken it. He considered visiting after that, but then, in almost the next letter he received, Celestia was much more optimistic. She told of a new student she had taken on – Twilight Sparkle, apparently. One who not only possessed a gift with magic, but had even found a way to hatch the egg! Who'd have believed it had seemed to require a direct infusion of magical energy while in the presence of both a rainbow and a sonic boom?
The young dragon was named Spike, and had apparently formed an immediate bond with Celestia’s new student. Celestia had taken him on to raise him initially it seemed, but, while he was still a child, he had matured mentally far more quickly that she expected, and due to their growing friendship Twilight was naturally, without even realising it, beginning to foster him.
Ragnarok had his own news to relate too, though of a slightly more embarrassing nature. It seemed he had... ‘lost’ two of his subjects in quick succession. Freyr and Munin had, independently it appeared, simply packed up their hordes one week and taken north towards Equestria, and not returned.
I do not believe they are a danger, he wrote. They are likely only after fresh caves to dwell in, not to cause grief through malice. Freyr in particular is simply too lazy and inconsiderate to bother. But if either of them cause you any issues with which you cannot deal, inform me.
The letters became fewer and shorter as the months passed. Until one day, out of the blue, he received from her one final missive.
Ragnarok;
I have failed. Twilight Sparkle is everything I could ask for in a student, but she refuses to allow friendship into her heart. And I cannot order her to make friends. There are but three days left until the enchantment is released. If Nightmare Moon does return, I do not know what will happen.
But I am not afraid, nor am I sad. I am happy. I may get to see my sister again, after all this time. Perhaps not as I remember her, and perhaps for the last time, but I would gladly accept that over nothing.
Thank you. For everything you have done.
With love,
Celestia.
On the evening of the third night, Ragnarok left his lair and flew to the top of the dormant volcano. The high peak coupled with the flat desert landscape afforded him an unobstructed view over the north. He watched the full moon rise peacefully into the sky as normal, joining the hundreds of scattered stars, and for a time, all seemed to be well.
Then there was a brief flash and all of a sudden the shadows upon its surface that had been there almost as long as he could remember, simply vanished. They left no trace that they were ever present, and he couldn’t stop a surprised intake of breath. The Mare in the Moon was gone.
He continued to cast his gaze northwards. Hours later, he caught sight of a series of brief, faint flashes lighting the northern sky, but nothing else. And a short time after that, the moon lowered – without the shadows returning – and the sun rose as normal, if late.
Ragnarok hung his head. It was over. He had no idea what had happened, but he could guess. The flashes he had seen were clearly a terrible battle, and fact that the sun had risen suggested only one outcome.
To search and hope and yearn to see one’s sibling again for over a thousand years, and then to have that wish granted only to lose her forever...
He sighed. The story was a tragedy, he reminded himself. But... while 'deserve' might be a foreign concept to his people, if anyone had ever deserved a happy ending, it was her.
He received no further contact from Celestia, and he caught only vague snippets of news coming out of the north. Freyr returned and was given a sound dressing down for single-handedly causing enough air-pollution to smother the country. He caught wind of an attack on Canterlot by an invading army, but even as he began marshalling a platoon to go to Equestria’s aid, word reached him that the attack had been repelled. Then news arrived that on the far side of Equestria, far to the north, an ancient evil empire led by a cruel dictator, and long thought lost, had simply re-appeared from the snow. But again, a mere two days later there seemed to be no concern at all. Equestria seemed to be locked in a constant cycle of, fine one day, and narrowly-averted-disaster the next.
Until the day of the Eclipse.
He had been relaxing in his spacious magma pool within his lair when Valkyrie had blundered in, bringing him news of an extraordinary performance in the heavens.
Leaving his lair, Ragnarok looked to the sky in time to see the darkened disc of the full moon settle perfectly across the face of the sun, where it remained for hours even into the early evening. And then, finally, with no warning at all, there was a short but extremely loud snapping explosion, a blinding flash, and the moon was simply gone.
Valkyrie declared it to be remarkable, but thankfully the danger past. Ragnarok simply frowned at the sun.
What was she playing at...?