Come and See

by Altero

In Which Questions are Asked and Answered

Twilight rolled her eyes at the princess, but caught up to her nonetheless. She knew Luna better than most, and knew how much the princess valued her theatrics. Twilight would get nothing more than cryptic hints and half answers if she pursued the question any farther.
So instead she asked another.
"So why don't you sing anymore?"
Luna inhaled sharply and nearly stopped. "It brings back... memories we do not wish to recollect."
Twilight was speechless for a moment. The royal 'we?' An evasive response that couldn't be interpreted twelve different ways? It was normal for the night princess to be hiding something, but this...
Twilight believed she had touched a nerve, and she decided, for the sake of their friendship of course, that she just couldn't leave well enough alone.
"Why's that? I can't believe that ponies didn't like your singing," Twilight said. Direct questions always seemed to work the best with Luna. Less ways for her to wriggle out of them.
Luna glanced at Twilight and slowly said, "No. Quite the opposite, in fact. They loved our, my, singing. My songs were the most stirring in all of Equestria. There was no passion I could not spark, no emotion I could not rouse."
Luna sighed. "I would pour my heart and soul out to our subjects. In grand plazas to lift the spirits of thousands, in private to soothe the anxious soul, or in nurseries to lull the fitful infant to the doors of slumber." Luna smiled. "Those were my favorites. I would slip in, unbeknownst to anypony, lull the child into my realm, and be gone without anypony the wiser. 'Luna's Gift' they used to call it."
Twilight was wide eyed with amazement. "What happened?"
"They stopped coming." Twilight recoiled at the sudden rancor in Luna's voice.
"But why?"
"Oh, it was hardly a sudden thing. The ponies in our kingdom grew slowly suspicious of my voice. Vapid stories of how I would lure young stallions away from their families with my siren's call, or steal away their children in the dead of night began to make themselves popular. Fewer ponies would come to hear my songs, and more and more began to use charms to keep me from their children's chambers."
"But they didn't work, did they? The charms didn't work?"
Luna snorted. "Of course not. I am the Queen of the Night! Where e'r there is shadow I walk, and where there is starlight I see, and nary a hex, nor curse, nor spell can stop me."
"But?" Twilight quietly asked.
"But... I respected their wishes. I came to learn the signs that were meant to ward me off, and I learned to avoid those dwellings. There came to be more and more as the years grew on, and soon enough I could find nary a house without them. Tia tried to comfort me, saying that it was simply superstitious nonsense, that our ponies would come around in time. I took her counsel to heart as best I could. I had other gifts I could give to my beloved ponies. I still had my stars, and my night sky. I could still bring joy and wonder with my constellations and my shooting stars. I would show them my love by causing the lights in their eyes to dance, and they would come to love me again, and everything would be as it was."
Luna was smiling, mist in her eyes from the millennia old memories. Twilight, not wanting to break her reverie, quietly said, "I've always loved the constellations myself."
"Pah! Those paltry imitations fo my sister's that I dare not move for fear of throwing all of ponydom into chaos? Not to belittle your love for my stars, Twilight Sparkle, but I once wove masterpieces in the sky." Luna's voice grew husky and passionate as she spoke. "The starscape was wondrous to behold. Children would cry with joy when a new star was born, the poets would weep when one fell, and symphonies would be composed when I completed a new constellation. I poured my heart and soul into my work, painting the night with stardust and moonbeams."
"What happened?"
Luna's voice cracked and a tear fell down her cheek. "They stopped caring. Fewer and fewer ponies would stay up to watch my skies. They grew bored of my work. Of me..."
Luna's hooves came to a halt on the cold, flat ground. She hung her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. Twilight could almost feel the grief pouring off the ancient mare. Then a sneer formed across Luna's face and she spoke through clenched teeth.
"And then came Princess Celestia's decree."
Twilight gasped, not believing what she was hearing. "What?!"
"Princess Celestia sent a royal proclamation throughout all of Equestria, saying that 'to more fully preserve the Balance of Harmony, and to further the Happiness of Our Little Ponies, all Ponydom should strive to be Indoors and Aslumber by Moonrise each night, that they might arise Rested and Refreshed with the Dawn.'"
Twilight's eyes widened as she realized that Princess Celestia had kept this schedule as long as Twilight had known her, and had often encouraged Twilight to do the same. She said it promoted a restful sleep at night and an invigorated mind in the day. Twilight tried to follow her mentor's example as best she could, but many nights her research had lead her into the small hours of the morning. When she arrived at class the next morning, her mentor would disapprovingly ask exactly how late she had stayed up the night before. Twilight would give an embarrassed answer, and Celestia would once again lecture her on how the night was for sleeping, and the daytime for working, and that to do otherwise was to upset the precious Balance of Harmony in our lives. Princess Celestia would then extract yet another sheepish promise from Twilight to never do it again, and Twilight would silently commit herself to never, ever disappoint her beloved mentor ever again. Twilight supposed she could nearly recite that lecture word for word with how many times she'd heard the Princess recite it to her.
Luna's shoulders shook with emotion as she spoke, and her voice wavered. "I tried, Twilight Sparkle, I tried. In desperation, poured everything I had into my sky, but not even Celestia gave it more than a cursory glance. I spoke with my sister to try to convince her to lift the decree. She told me to grow up and stop being so selfish. That our ponies needed their rest to go about the labors of the day. Finally, I begged my sister for one night, one single night, to let me show my little ones how much I really cared for them. When she finally relented, she gave me the longest night of the year, the Feast of Winter Solstice. I prepared all year for it. My most fantastic constellations and meteor showers, creatures of the night to fascinate and entertain, the finest foods in the greatest abundance. I even had planned to sing, something I had not done for more than two hundred years.
"Only Celestia came.
"Do you have any idea, Twilight Sparkle, how it feels to have your gifts thrown back in your face? To have your love spurned? To be rejected by everypony that you hold dear? To be abandoned?"
"Princess, I," Twilight stammered, "I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't, Twilight Sparkle," Luna replied, her face cruel and vitriol dripping from her voice,"because despite the fact that you freed me, despite the fact that you have been my closest friend since that Nightmare Night so many years ago, You. Never. Asked."

Comments

[Altero]

797587
I know. It's simply. THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!

[Eric M Ryan]

I guess you could say that Luna finally gets a chance to tell her side of the story about her banishment, seeing as how the Equestrian history book read by Twilight Sparkle recounts the prologue story as approved by the solar princess herself, who'd be the only other surviving witness.

Looking forward to future chapters!

[Altero]

I don't know how this got 18 faves, but...
I guess I'll try to put up a new chapter tonight.