500 X 7

by CHeighlund

Awareness

As they headed home, Celestia asked it again. “And you’re sure you’re all right, Luna?”

Princess Luna stared at her sister. Admittedly, it was her first night back since being banished, but why did Celestia seem so worried? “Verily, Tia. I own that I was fearful of how thou wouldst return me unto our subjects, but thou didst well in the presenting of it. I do confess wonderment at something, though.”

Celestia looked up at her. “What’s that?” Again with the gentle verbal nudging, as though Celestia were trying to somehow support her. It didn’t make any sense to Luna, but perhaps it was just her sister’s guilt, trying to assuage itself.

“‘Tis the strangeness of their manner. Several of the buildings of the town in which thou didst present me were exceeding strange, after all. Beyond that, their speech unto thee was… not disrespectful, per se, but it did not offer thee the level of honor to which I had thought thee acclimated. Was that part of the accords thou didst put together after my banishment?”

Celestia shook her head. “Things have changed a bit while you were gone, Luna. That’s all there was to it.”

Luna shook her head, rejecting the idea. “Mayhap a slight change I could see, but so much of it? In such a short time? ‘Tis an unreasonable thing to me, Sister.” She turned back to Celestia, only to see the elder princess staring at her. “Sister? Is aught the matter with thee?”

Celestia shook her head, trying to pull her mouth closed. “Short time? You call that a short time to be separated?”

It was Luna’s turn for confusion. “Separated? But thou didst watch o’er me, didst thou not? I could feel thy presence as a constant reminder, comforting me, for those few weeks of mine entrapment.”

“WEEKS?!” At Celestia’s outburst, a bit of a satisfied smile came over Luna’s face. At least the Royal Canterlot Voice still saw use, if perhaps a bit more rarely. Luna watched as Celestia visibly calmed herself and tried again. “Luna, you’ve been gone for a thousand years.”

The color seemed to drain from Luna as she heard those words. “Nay, ‘tis not possible! How can such time have passed, and I be not aware of it? Sister, if this is thine idea of a jest, ‘tis a most cruel one indeed!”

“Believe me Luna, I’m not joking! You really have been gone for that long. You even said so yourself when you showed up in Ponyville.”

“I did?” Luna looked up in confusion. “Was it truly I, or that monstrous version of myself? I own that her deeds were as mine own, but I can recall only vaguely any actions I did take while in that form.”

Celestia stopped to think, and then nodded. “It was Nightmare Moon, you’re right. But if you can’t recall that, what do you recall?”

Luna frowned in concentration. “Thou didst banish me, reluctantly… I remember the tears in thine eyes as the Elements of Harmony did act upon the Nightmare. And then, thou wert there with me in my banishment, so that I had thought the Elements had taken thee with me, though I know not why they should have done so. ‘Twas so for three weeks, or so it seemed, and then the vaguest sense of the Nightmare’s actions, which did end in a burst of light as the Elements did surround her and separate her from mine heart once more. After that, I remember all.”

“Three weeks.” Celestia closed her eyes, mind rapidly turning over events. “Why do you remember those three weeks of your banishment and nothing else, and why do you remember me being there?”

“I know not, sister. Forgive mine ignorance.”

Celestia shook her head, eyes still closed. “It was a rhetorical question, Luna. But why those three weeks…!” Her eyes shot open. “Moonrise. That has to be it!”

“Celestia, wouldst thou please explain thyself?” The tone of impatience in Luna’s voice brought back wry memories, and the elder princess turned toward the younger, inviting her under a sheltering wing.

“Without you, I had to find some way to raise and lower the moon, Luna. I managed to get it to lower itself safely, but I still had to raise it each night, and I never could without longing for your return. Somehow, my feelings must have crept across the expanse to where you were trapped. That’s got to be why you remember it - because it was coming to you, my beloved sister, instead of to the monster who took you.”

Luna digested the idea. “But the moonrise only takes a few seconds to accomplish. How then was I aware of such a long… no, I begin to see. A few seconds each day, but stretched out over enough days, it would fit.”

Celestia nodded. “And a thousand years would have provided enough time.”

“Indeed. Trapped for a thousand years… e’en an I were unaware of most of it, thou certainly didst take thy precious time coming for me, Tia!”

Celestia rocked back, stunned by the sudden accusation. “Hey! I had to try and…” She cut herself off as she saw the twinkle in Luna’s eye. “Oh, you!”

“Me, indeed!” Luna stuck her tongue out at Celestia, and launched off of the chariot they rode. “Catch me an thou can, Sister!”

Celestia called out to her drivers. “Take the chariot back home; I’m staying out a bit longer.” She then took to the air in Luna’s wake.

‘A thousand years or three weeks, Luna,’ she thought, ‘either way it’s good to have you back home again.’

Author's Note:

Prompt 494: 500 hours worth of waiting.

Comments

[Nyerguds]

Woot. Finally got around to reading all this, and, once again, you do not disappoint. I should really go through all of your stuff right away, because you're fricking brilliant. Seriously

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Yikes. A thousand years, to three weeks. Time sure is relative

I assume 500 hours equals three weeks?

[CHeighlund]

6248186
Thank you. I'm not quite sure myself the statement is warranted, but I thank you for it.

As to the time, the answer is both yes and not quite. Luna's rounding a bit; an actual three-week period, Sunday Midnight to Sunday Midnight, would be 504 hours. I'm figuring four hours is within the bounds of reason for rounding error over that period of time.

[Nyerguds]

6252666
More or less 500 hours, then. Close enough