The Ash of Fallen Stars

by Wings of Black Glass

Call for Aid

“Good evening, sister.” When Luna enters the dining hall, Celestia looks up from her meal and breaks out into a sincere smile.

“Luna! Did you sleep well?”

“Not as well as I would have liked.” Luna takes her seat beside the Princess of the Sun, pulling another pear from the bowl.

“Oh? Is there something wrong?”

“Strange dreams, that’s all.”

“You aren’t subjecting yourself to the Tantabus again, are you?” Luna almost frowns at the thought Celestia would believe she would do that to herself, but she refrains. Her older sister is simply worried about her.

“No, nothing like that. Just… ordinary strange dreams.” Luna does not elaborate further. Celestia eyes her carefully, waiting for her to continue. “How was your day?”

“Satisfying, and exhausting. I am looking forward to a relaxing rest myself.” Luna continues to chew on her fruit as Celestia speaks, her eyes not focusing on anything specific. “Luna? Do you want to talk about it?” The midnight blue Alicorn blinks, bringing her gaze to meet the white one’s. Celestia is ignoring her slice of cake, in favor of a concerned glance her way. “You’re even more contemplative than usual. Are you alright?”

“It’s nothing you haven’t heard before.” If anything, the concerned look on Celestia’s face only deepens. “I will be fine. It’ll pass.” Luna looks away, pretending to be inordinately interested in her fruit, but she can still feel Celestia’s eyes on her.

“If you’re lonely, you can always go out into the city.” Luna smiles quietly to herself, Tia always understands. “I hear the nightlife has been growing more exciting as of late.”

“I have my duty to attend to. I can’t just ignore the well-being of the ponies in Equestria just to party in a club.”

“Oh, Luna.” Celestia giggles. “Equestria managed without you shepherding their dreams for a thousand years. They can manage for one night. You can take a day off every now and then.”

“Do you?” Luna’s retort seems to take her by surprise. Then she smiles and shakes her head.

“I plan my days off early in advance enough that the administrators know when it’s coming, and we can plan around them.” A second retort starts to build on Luna’s tongue, but Celestia continues. “Even then, on rare occasions, I just take the day for itself. Just know that you can.” Luna rotates the remains of the pear in the air in front of her. It might be nice to get out of the castle, even if only for a single evening. “Think about it.”

“I’ll consider it.”

“See, was that so hard?” Then she glances out the window at the descending sun. “Although you may not have much time, it’s almost sunset.”

“Then I’ll consider it quickly.” Celestia giggles again at Luna’s joke.

A flash of green fire in the air above the table is a sudden surprise. The scroll that forms from the flames nearly drops onto Celestia’s plate before she can catch it.

“A letter from Twilight! How wonderful.”

“I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be on the balcony.” Luna stands and nods as Celestia unfurls her message. But then she stops, watching her sister read the message; Celestia’s expression shifts from one of simple joy to a sort of understated confusion, and then shifts again to match her earlier concern. “Is something the matter?”

“Here.” Celestia passes the message to Luna, her voice much more subdued than it was even a moment ago, borderline pained. “It’s for you too.” Luna blinks again, it’s rare that Princess Twilight needs to contact her. Rarer still when she doesn’t simply send her a message directly.

The scroll is not what she expected from one so detail-oriented and organized. Instead of clean letters written in steady lines, as is normal, this message is outright unkempt. Numerous lines are crossed out, written unsteadily, or scratched in without enough ink on the quill, and in places it looks like somepony has been crying over the page.

Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,

Today the word almost ended Equestria almost died the world almost ended. First, I want to let you know that everything is fine. In the broadest sense of the word. I was able to prevent it. This time. I wasn’t able to the first time, it’s a long story. I’ve already told everypony else here all about it, and I don’t feel up to repeating it again. I’ll tell you about it some other time.

The short version is that a pony found and stole the Alicorn Amulet. With its power - was able to cast a spell which destroyed the cutie-marks of everypony in Equestria. We tried to stop it. We failed. We barely won our fight in the end, so we survived, but Despair had taken everypony’s lives already.

We I had to use time travel come back in time to save the world to stop ███. It wasn’t without cost. I had to leave a ███████ friend behind, in that ash-filled future. I don’t think I’ll ever see him again, because I - - -

- - -
Several lines of text are too badly smudged, blurred, or scratched out to read with any sort of clarity.
- - -

Again, I want to let you know there is no more danger. I’ve secured the Amulet. For the time being, it is safe here. I know, for a fact, that there is no pony coming after it in the immediate future. In the days ahead I’ll come up with a new hiding place for it where it’ll never be found, even by accident. Equestria can rest easy, never knowing just how close it came to ending.

The same cannot be said for me. Before I came back, I went through a traumatic event. I had my I think I’ll recover, my friends here already know about it and are helping me through it. But, I’m terrified about reliv afraid I’ll have nightmares about it. I’m sorry to have to ask this of Princess Luna, but will you please watch over me, specifically, as I sleep in the next few weeks? I’m alright physically, coming back in time the way I did undid the injuries I sustained, I never took them in the first place. Time travel is confusing.

Your faithful student, fellow Princess, and friend - Twilight Sparkle.

“So much for my night off.” Luna sighs, passing the message back to her sister.

“It must have been some terrible event, to shake her so badly. I’ve never seen her so distraught that her letters are nearly illegible.” Celestia stands by the window, eying the horizon out towards Ponyville. “Do you think I should go see her?”

“I think you should wait.” The wing Luna places over Celestia’s shoulders startles the other Alicorn. “Until the morning, at the very least. I can only guess she must be exhausted after the ordeal and would like to rest.” This doesn’t seem to put Celestia’s mind at ease, her concerned face twitching from Luna to the town of Ponyville and Twilight’s castle in the distance. “I will watch for her dreams, and let you know in the morning if she suffered any terrors.” The tension in Celestia’s shoulders starts to release, slowly.

A second scroll appearing in a green flash before them is another sudden surprise.

“Another message?” The white Alicorn catches the note and reads it quickly. Her earlier apprehension lifts, and she laughs gently. “Ah, that explains it.” She passes it to Luna to read.

I’m so sorry! You weren’t supposed to get that one! I’m very tired and gave Spike the first draft by mistake. I would send the real one, but it doesn’t say anything you haven’t seen now. Goodnight.
- Twilight Sparkle.

“She makes drafts of her letters?”

“That’s exactly the kind of thing she would do. But it does let me put my worry aside if she is well enough to do so.” Celestia sighs, reassured. “Am I correct in assuming that you will do as she asks?”

“Yes sister, I will make sure that she does not need to fear her own mind.”

“Thank you. It warms my heart to know you are always watching over us.”

“It warms mine in return to know that.” The sisters share a quick hug, wings over each other. Celestia then returns a quick response letting Twilight know she is in her thoughts, and that Luna is watching for her.

The sun sets. The moon rises.

Comments

[SwordTune]

Well written and descriptive. Good working so far, keep it up!