The horizon was a sea of red and orange as sun hung just above the treetops.
“That should have set by now,” Twilight Sparkle said, from right behind me. I forced myself not to run in panic, as her hoofsteps became suddenly audible. She made no move to attack, though, and instead settled down on the floor next to me, staring out into the distance.
“It seems to be stuck,” I replied in a murmur, ducking my head. I sat in Princess Luna’s old tower, my quilt draped over my shoulders. The roof and most of the top floor had been lost to the ages, and so there was a clear view across the forest. In hooves, I held my tiara. It was a strange thing, the wrought gold was as light as a summer breeze, but the crown felt so heavy with responsibility I feared it would crush me.
“It’s yours, you know,” Twilight continued, pointing at the sun. “I’ve tried to move it, but...” She gave her Element an irritated tap. “They chose you.”
Far below us Pinkie Pie’s party was in its sixth hour, and the revellers showed no sign of slowing down. I kept catching snippets of Rainbow Dash’s boasting, and Rarity gushing over how the Elements had healed her leg. Applejack, I assumed, was still sulking after Harmony had restored her cutie mark, but she would come around. It was a new world. A hopeful world. But that hope came with a price.
Sighing, I placed the tiara back on my head. It itched where the band met my ears, but it had a comforting warmth, not unlike that my mother’s quilt. Reaching out with one hoof I let the magic flow through me, and pushed the sun down below the distant trees. It was surprising just how much easier it was to set than to raise.
Twilight swore, softly, as the colours began to bleed out of the sky, fading to the soft blues and blacks of night. The moon did not rise, nor did the stars begin to shine. We sat in silence a long time, as the darkness grew ever deeper.
“You know, it was Celestia raising the sun that first made me want to study magic,” Twilight said, her voice distant as she stared at the vanished sun. “I was just a little blank flanked filly, but I said to myself then, ‘I want to do that’. I spent years as her personal student, then years more as her most trusted general. After she died I promised her that I would do anything, anything, to raise the sun again.”
She dropped her head into her hooves, tears staining tracks in her fur. “But in the end,” she whimpered. “I came the closest to failing of all of us. ‘Never gave up’, you said, but that determination almost cost me the last of my friends. I wasn’t the one who was supposed to save the world, no matter what Pinkie Pie says. I was the spark that almost destroyed it.”
Twilight hiccuped and sobbed. I put a hoof on her shoulder. “Look at me!” she roared, and I flinched away. “I want to hate you, Fluttershy, but you saved the world. I want revenge for you holding a knife to my throat, but after talking to Rarity I can’t even blame you for doing it.” She glared at me, her horn kindling, a snarl on her face. “I want the sun. I deserved it! I have spent my entire life in service of it, of Celestia, and if anypony was to be her heir, it was me!”
“And... And... And...” She choked, swallowing her tears. The fight seemed to drain out of her and she stared back out across the black forest at the empty expanse of the night sky. “I can’t do anything about that. Jealousy destroyed Equestria, and the world can’t survive a second war. So no matter how much I hate you, I can’t do anything.”
She took a deep, shuddering breath. Not looking up she whispered. “You hate me too, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I said, simply. Honesty was after all, a virtue now.
The weary sigh of a mare who had carried the weight of the world on her back escaped Twilight. “I thought so.” She shook herself, and looked up at the empty sky. “You know it’s ironic, but, throughout the eternal twilight, I missed the stars more than anything. The Princess... she always found the time to go stargazing with me.”
She stood. “There should be stars. I guess that gives me something to work on.” Her element flashed for just a moment and she walked away, head hung.
When I was sure she was gone, and fairly sure she wasn’t about to come back with a sword, I allowed myself a smile.
One by one, the stars were coming out.
Maybe we had a chance at harmony after all.