When the Sun Stops Shining

by TwilightDash12

Chapter 2 - Mind Games

Twilight's eyes met the bottom of the page and stopped. She just stood there, completely unaware of the physical world. She forgot all about the beautiful day, her friends, and their plans for a relaxing spa appointment and tried to comprehend what she had just read. Hundreds of thoughts and emotions swirled around in her mind, certain ones she had never experienced before. All that she could recall from the letter was - "Celestia has passed on"...surely...surely that couldn't be true?

This must be some kind of forgery, mistake, or SOMETHING! Celestia can't die!!! Twilight felt her eyes begin to water at the thought.

Twilight forced herself back into reality, and wiped her eyes with her hoof and calmed herself down. This was probably just some prank that somepony thought would be funny to pull on the new princess. Yes, that's what it was. Besides, Celestia couldn't have just died. No where in any books she had ever read was there anything about the death of princesses.

Forcing herself into a fake smile, Twilight turned around and saw her friends staring down at her with concern. They each lent her a hoof and pulled her up off the ground.

"Is something wrong, dear? You look awfully pale.." Rarity said.

Fluttershy looked much more concerned than Rarity, revealed in her stuttering voice. "Oh, oh, oh my goodness...are...are you alright Twilight? Do you need help?"

"I'm alright! No need to worry! No problem's here!" Twilight lied, struggling to maintain her fake smile.

"But Twilight, you simply collapsed after you finished reading that letter of yours!" Rarity had that look on her face that said - 'I know something's wrong'. Twilight had seen it many times before, one time being when she had frantically searched Ponyville for a "friendship problem", and there was no avoiding it.

As much as Twilight hated to lie to her friends, she knew it was for their own good. "Oh, well...you see...I guess I just dozed off for a minute there. I've just been up so late dealing with my new responsibilites. That's why I'm looking forward to the spa so much!" She popped a fake grin and prayed her excuse would work.

"Alright, whatever you say dear..." Rarity replied, accepting Twilight's excuse, but still maintaining a look of suspicion. Twilight sighed as Rarity began to walk away, and was surprised at how well her excuses worked.

The three ponies entered the spa uninterrupted, and were met by a wall of warm mist as the door opened, something Twilight had always appreciated the feeling of. But as she tried to relax her mind, Luna's message kept coming back. Even though she was trying her hardest to convince herself that the letter was false, the thoughts of the possibility of it being legitimate took over her mind. Her future, her past, her present...all clustered together at once. She sighed, tears forming in her eyes once again as she realized the situation she was in. Lying to her friends, unable to escape her stressful life, and now this...

Aloe and Lotus, along with another spa pony, walked over to the three friends lying down on the massage chairs and began to soothingly rub their hooves over their backs. Twilight felt all of the muscles in her body relax as the masseuse professionally removed the tension. For a moment, she felt all of the distressing thoughts disappear. Maybe she would be able to enjoy this time with her friends.

"Ah, don't you all love our spa outings girls?" Rarity spoke with a soothing tone.

"Oh yes, it's very generous of you to do this every Thursday." Fluttershy replied gratefully.

But as the massage ended, the dreadful thoughts returned, worse than before. Every sense of bliss left Twilight's body, and she realized she could only postpone, not prevent, what she had to do. She and her friends wouldn't like it, but it had to be done.

Twilight leaped out of the chair and bolted towards the door, grabbing the attention of everyone in the spa, especially her friends. Despite the fact that everypony was watching her every move, Twilight shouted across the room, "I'm so sorry girls, I don't think I'll be able to do this anytime soon," and quickly galloped out the door. These words wounded her on the inside, and she teared up once again, thinking about her friends' confusion, embarrassment, and maybe even anger. It saddened her to admit it , but her friends were not important right now. Twilight needed to find out if this letter was real or not, and paying a visit to Canterlot herself would be the only way to make sure.

Once she had reached a safe spot far away from her friends and any passing ponies who had noticed her, she took to the sky, struggling to maintain her balance as usual. She still hadn't gotten the hang of her newly acquired wings, but in time flying would be a breeze. Once she was stable in the air, she turned north and began her trip to Canterlot.

* * *

Princess Luna sat alone in the rainy, dark cemetery of Canterlot Castle. In front of her was a large stone monument, significantly larger than the surrounding gravestones, that were all the same size. On this particular gravestone there was a large, golden slate with a lengthy message engraved into it, reading:

Here lies the almighty Princess Celestia, royal pony sister and leader of us all for thousands of moons. Just, understanding, kind, and a
wonderful pony. You were an inspiration to us all, and may you rest in peace.

Luna had read that engraving hundreds of times in the hours she had spent out in the cemetery by her sister. She had received some comfort from the kind and reverent words chosen for her sister's gravestone, but that did little to suppress the emotions of loneliness and loss she hadn't felt since her banishment as Nightmare Moon, a mistake she would never be able to completely amend with the sister she had loved so much. She had tried so hard to convince herself that she had gotten over that mistake, just like Celestia had said to, but her death brought back all the pain and shame that she tried so hard to dispel. Celestia had done so much for her - forgave her, cared for her, looked out for her in her darkest hours, and now she was gone.

Luna put her head in her hooves and began to quietly sob. Her life was empty...her body was empty. Celestia was a part of her that was now gone, leaving a gaping space in her heart. Where did she go from here? She would have to take on new responsibilities - such as raising the sun every morning...a task that seemed impossible to learn. After all, she was now the primary ruler of Equestria, and the weight of the whole nation was on her shoulders. Except there was nopony to guide her, nopony to be there to catch her when she fell. Sadness overtook the princess of the night, and the Canterlot Castle cemetery was filled the sound of sobs and the gentle rain.

* * *

It had been a long flight, but Twilight finally reached the city of Canterlot. It was late in the evening, and the streets were wet with the rain that had hindered her speed. However, she knew exactly where she was going and knew the fastest of the many routes of travel, which led to an overall painless trip.

Twilight landed gracefully on her personal balcony of the castle constructed after her coronation. She then took the stairs down to the throne room and made her way up another flight of stairs to the room of Celestia. Twilight hastily opened the door and saw a perfectly clean room with nothing out of order. Starting to panic, Twilight galloped across he hallway to Luna's room and encountered the same thing - a perfectly clean room. Neither of the royal sisters had slept in their beds, despite the fact that it was 1 a.m.

This worried Twilight immensely, and just as she was going to panic, she noticed several light footprints on the ground leading out the back door of the throne room into the cemetery. She had never had a reason to visit, and she had wished to keep it that way.

"H...Hello?" Twilight called out into the darkness, "is anypony out there?"

"Yes. I am, Princess Twilight Sparkle," a deeper voice replied from the center of the cemetery, causing Twilight to jump a little bit, as she didn't expect such a response. She trotted towards the origin of the voice and saw Luna, lying on the ground in front of a large monument.

"Oh, Princess Luna!" Twilight exclaimed, "excuse me for interrupting." Twilight bowed slightly out of respect for the night princess.

"There is no need for an apology, Twilight Sparkle, and you were not interrupting. I knew you would probably be coming," Luna stood up to face Twilight, "and to answer your question about the validity of that letter - yes, it is true. My sister lies here, and so do I. I have had little success in overcoming my emotions."

Those final words spoken by Luna confirmed Twilight's worst fears. She had tried to deny it, push it to the back of her head, but that only made the pain worse, and along with all the grief she had caused to her friends, Twilight felt her heart split in two. Her mind was filled with images of her past, present, and predictions of the future. All the times Celestia had been there for her...were to be no more. She thought of her friends, and all the ponies who would rely on her decisions even more to continue to live good lives, and the pressure she would feel.

All of these emotions and thoughts overtook Twilight's body, and she began to cry uncontrollably. Nothing had ever hurt so much.

Luna let Twilight cry for awhile, and hugged her tightly, crying as well. Together the two princesses embraced, hugging one another as the only thing they felt they had left in life. After about five minutes, the two cried the heaviest emotions out, and Luna placed her wing over the young alicorn princess. She began to sing a lullaby that Celestia had always sung her when she was a filly, putting them both to sleep:

The moon rises in the stillness of the night,
Little darling it's time to turn out the light...

So sleep, and let your head be filled with dreams until you wake,
The moon watches down on your smiling face...

Listen to my words,
They're filled with the love I have for you...

Stay close to my heart,
And your deepest wish will come true...

And play, in the twinkling stars above that surround you,

No matter where you go,
The moon will always bring me back to you.