Previous Chapters
Close
Part One3,470 words
Part Two3,148 words

Part Two

Exile (Part Two)
by Baron

Stars tumbled through the sky. The Princess of the Night lay in the castle courtyard alone, watching her carefully crafted heavenscape. It brought no relief to her. Her insides were cold; she felt empty. Her mind was filled with regretful and stinging thoughts. She should have spent more time with Celestia. She should have kept a closer eye on her. She should have been the one who disappeared. She should have, she should have, she should have. In the end she hadn’t.

One star reminded her somewhat of herself... The pole star. It was one of only two of its kind. They were opposites, to be sure, but both shone brightly. All the other stars revolved around them. The pole stars never moved. Apart but equal. One could never see both at the same time. If only...

An idea struck Luna. She stood up and brushed the grass off her coat. As she closed her eyes, a blue glow surrounded her horn. Far over the horizon, a single bright star began to drift from its unchanging position. Picking up speed, it moved faster and faster until it could be seen from the castle. From there, the shooting point of light slowed a bit, continuing on its path leisurely. The other pole star shifted ever so slightly off the celestial axis. After a few more seconds, the traveling star finally stopped and settled into an orbit opposite the first, directly across the polar axis. Luna opened her eyes, and the glow of her magic subsided. As she gazed at the new markers of the pole, a fleeting smile graced her lips. Now the two pole stars were together.

The Princess turned towards her tower and began to walk. Her ears perked a little at the far-off sound of confused shouts and angry yells coming from the Royal Observatory.

“And that’s the last we’ll be hearing about the protests. In more pressing news, ongoing search efforts have turned up no clues as to Celestia’s whereabouts.”

Luna’s interest was piqued. “Really? Tell me what progress we have made so far, Clover.”

The Councilmare looked up from her notes in surprise. The Princess had sat silently throughout most of the meeting, looking vaguely upset; now she was intently staring at her. Clover glanced at some of the other Councilponies around the table in desperation, but they all pointedly refused to make eye contact. Luna was not known for her amicability. She returned her attention to the Princess.

“Well, Your Highness-”
“Your Potency.”
“Your Potency, it, ah, it has been over thirty-four hours since she was last seen, and our search parties have already combed through the entire city and the mountain. Others in Fillydelphia, Ponyville, Manehattan, and Cloudsdale have not yet finished their searches but the consensus is that Celestia has been taken beyond our borders.”

Luna’s expression was unreadable. She looked away from Clover for a second, and then looked back. “Very well. Continue with the briefing, then.”

“Uh, yes. Very well, Your Potentness. Cloudsdale has temporarily ceased weather production; the unions are on strike over the new affirmative...”

Luna zoned out again. Meetings never ceased to bore her. In the old days, rulers would just tell people what to do. There wasn’t much discussion. Then again, that system never worked very well. Ponies running around trying to make sense of her orders, based on incomplete information and biased advice... But it made for more exciting evenings...

The Princess of the Night gradually arose from her slumber. Her eyelids slid apart slowly, and a quiet yawn escaped her muzzle. Stretching in her seat, she looked around groggily in the dark council chamber. The council... Realization hit. She had fallen asleep in the middle of the meeting! And more surprising, nopony had bothered to wake her. Curses ran through her head while she walked the length of the chamber and then slammed through the door. She ignored the guards’ startled exclamations and set off down the corridor.

Late, late, she was late! Undoubtedly those careless idiots had left her to sleep so that she wouldn’t be on time for sunrise. Well they wouldn’t get away with it. Luna trotted into the courtyard and took off from the ground. The cool night air swept through her mane, seeming somewhat warm for early morning in the dead of winter. She glided to the top of her tower and began to lower the moon. It did seem to be a little higher in the sky than usual, but went down easily. Her horn never stopped glowing as she turned around to the opposite horizon and brought out the sun. As the mountain’s shadow coalesced to the west of Canterlot, glorious rays of light spilled across the landscape.

As bleary-eyed ponies spilled out onto the streets, Luna wondered how she would explain her tardiness to the no doubt anxious populace. A few high-profile imprisonments might be in order. But her fears were no doubt misplaced. The ponies in Canterlot didn’t seem too upset. In fact, a throng of them were gathering around the main square, apparently in some sort of celebration. It was hard to see from a distance, but there appeared to be banners and signs lofted above the square. Luna was puzzled; she hadn’t been aware it was a holiday. And so soon after Celestia’s disappearance-

A loud bang signaled the opening of the trap door in the tower’s roof. She could hear the Captain and several guards’ voices behind her.

“Princess! Your Potency! There’s a protest in the city!”

The Princess of the Night turned toward the Captain. His wide-eyed, sagging face betrayed the exhaustion and fear of the past two days. Maybe he really did have emotions after all. It looked like she wasn’t the only one worried about Celestia, at least. Yet she was confused. What cause was there for protest?

“Your Potency, it may not have been wise to deviate from the daily cycle. This season, only nine hours of daylight are scheduled. Nopony is going to be happy with this!”
“Wha- What did you say, Captain Hunter?”
“You raised the sun five hours early, Princess. It’s four in the morning!”
“But I was framed! The council left me to be late!”
“The council moved to finish the meeting in another room; they understand that you’ve been stressed! I left a detail posted by the chamber to wake you up on time but you blew right past them. I’m very sorry, it won’t happen again, but now is not the time for conversation.”

Luna was shocked. She had let them down. She had been ready to throw her closest advisors into prison without waiting for an explanation. Her premature awakening had cost everypony several hours of nighttime rest, and now she would have to pay for her foolishness. She knew what had to be done. She gave the Captain one last apologetic look and jumped off the roof.

Luna flew towards the crowd. Nearing the center of the city, her agitation grew as more and more ponies came into view, looking for the most part angry and determined to reach the protest. She beat harder and gained altitude, concealing herself in some scattered clouds above the city. Attempting to count through the wispy vapor, she could see maybe five hundred... A thousand? Everypony in Canterlot? It didn’t really matter that much. She knew that she had to handle things somehow, but had no clue what Celestia would have done.

From her vantage point almost directly above the square, she could see the full extent of the commotion. Ponies lined the main square of Canterlot, mostly facing the center where a few of their number shouted from atop a makeshift platform. Homemade banners and signs bearing mostly inflammatory slogans and phrases adorned the area. Pegasi circled the perimeter, some carrying hastily-made banners between two partners. From far above Luna could make out the magically-amplified voice of one of the central ponies.

“And where has she gotten us? Nowhere! It’s time for change! Since the return from her stay on the moon, things have only gone downhill! Celestia is gone. We can’t even expect the sun to rise at the regular time! My fellow citizens, are we going to just stand back and watch as we are once again plunged into an endless night?”
“NO!”
“What do we want?!”
“FREEDOM!”
“What do we WANT?!”
“FREEDOM!”
“And how will we get it?!”

A silence fell upon the crowd. The Princess saw ponies’ heads turn this way and that, looking to each other for an answer. She chuckled to herself. They knew the ends but not the means. How pathetic.

One mare close to the platform, barely loud enough to hear from above, voiced her dismay at the speaker. “That wasn’t in the plan! Stick to the speech!”

Ah. So that was it. Some group of rabble-rousers had organized this whole thing. Luna was somewhat disappointed; she had expected the people to be genuinely upset. She also felt disgusted that ponies would dare to take advantage of the situation and betray her so. One day everypony was kissing up to her and attempting to curry favor with the royals and the next they were cursing her name and protesting against her fair rule. Well no longer.

She fell from the cloud and spread her wings. The ponies on the ground began to notice her, hooves pointing towards the sun amidst panicked cries of fear. The dark Princess slowly descended from the heavens, retribution on winds of rage. Those on the platform backed away from the center, some jumping off altogether. The sky began to blacken as she alighted on the treasonous wood, and her glowing eyes smiled at the cowering cowards.

The following evening, Luna rested in her chambers. Lying on her royal bed, a quick glance at the bookshelf confirmed that she had no interest in reading anything right then. Another out the window reasserted that she had executed the night sky’s composition perfectly. One last forlorn look at the cage resting by her closet only evoked pangs of sadness at the absence of her pet Bruce. Oh, what she wouldn’t give to have him back from the animal hospital sooner, to tickle his furry body and watch him flap around the room in delight... She sighed and covered her eyes. At least he was in good hooves.

She wondered how many ponies were still in the hospital after this morning. Probably quite a few. And the property damage had been extensive... She was lucky nopony died. That would just have been too much to handle. After the mess had been somewhat cleared up she had called an emergency public address, mainly for the purpose of apologizing to everypony and at the same time nopony in particular. All the events of the past two and a half days had worn her out, and by the end of it she had been close to tears. All those accusing eyes...

“My subjects, these are hard times. With the absence of Celestia weighing heavily on our hearts... We, ah, we cannot be moved to such measures as to forget that the burden of keeping on is... on all our shoulders. From the littlest colt to the, ah, me, we should try to... To stay strong.”

The dark mare looked up from her spartan podium. In the ruins of the square, countless angry faces stood out starkly under the midday sun. Only the sound of babies crying in the back masked the seething hush of the populace.

Unable to keep it up, she turned her gaze down again. “The... I would like to offer my condolences on behalf... of myself, and the, ah, the royal House.” She wiped her brow.

“The collateral damage was- Is to be recompensed, and also I want to thank the, ah, the brave unicorns who helped to control my, I mean, the, the fire. The- My actions, ah, have been advised to me to have been... too extreme.” Her conscience gave her a painful prick.

“The perpetrators of the unrest have been, ah, arrested-” This was met with a low muttering of disapproval.

“And it is my duty to inform you that more, ah, more of the action seen today will only result in... more measures to protect the city... And again, I must stress that in matters of state, in this case, ah, in this case with the disappearance, the government must handle it.”

That didn’t make any sense. Why, oh why, had she not actually written anything down? In any case that sounded like the end of her speech. Luna turned away from the podium and flew off towards the castle. She didn’t dare to look back. It would be hard enough explaining to her staff...

Her staff. That hadn’t gone very well. She shook her head. Oh, she was such an idiot. Celestia would never have flipped out like that; it just wasn’t like her. Now ponies were even more afraid of the remaining Princess than before... She needed to talk to somepony. Anypony who wouldn’t judge her. Somepony like Celestia.

Thinking about her sister made her even more upset. If Celestia, if her parents even, could see her now, what would they say? She had done well enough? Anypony could have messed up the way she did? The speculation didn’t comfort her. The troubled mare wondered if this was what Celestia had felt like for a thousand years. Maybe that was why...

No. Celestia would never just leave. After all, where would she go? And after a thousand years of waiting... But maybe that was why. Perhaps she had cared for her subjects more than her, and wanted somepony to look after them once she was gone. Luna sighed. She didn’t really care why her sister was gone. She just was, and now it felt like nopony was there to comfort her anymore-

“Princess?”

She uncovered her eyes. Clover stood in the tower doorway, her ears slightly laid down but with a determined, if nervous, expression on her face.

“Your Potency, the Council has requested your presence.”

It was five days after the Sun Princess had disappeared. Luna was alone in the antechamber to the castle throne room, silently mourning. She had been given no break to be sad before the officials had begun talking about the “leadership crisis” and the “setting of precedent”, and she was alone for the first time in twenty-four hours. Her breastplate had been freshly polished for ceremony. Today she would be crowned as the new Equestrian sovereign, the Sun Princess-Regent. Celestia had always been the senior of the sisters, both in terms of government and of age; now that she was gone no rules for formal succession could be found. It had been decided that a formal investiture was needed anyway; Luna had been given little say in the matter. So here she stayed, waiting to be silently judged by the whole audience in the throne room, just meters away, while she cried on the inside.

She felt her anger swell at the thought of the elitist ponies who ran the government being less concerned with her feelings about it being too soon and more concerned with how they could make themselves seem important by “transitioning” power. There was no real confusion over who would administrate things now; she was inexperienced, but she wasn’t incompetent. What really concerned her was how people would think of her.

Would they hate her for taking her sister’s place? Or would they grow to admire her, like they had Celestia? Either way it would be hard, to deal with the discontent or try to live up to their expectations. It would be an understatement to say the Princess of the Night wasn’t known for her social graces. Even now her heart pounded under her ribs, and her brow was glistening with perspiration. It was a strain even to think ahead. All she wanted was to be left alone, to grieve for her lost sister. In some ways the situation was worse for her than it would be if she had any idea what had happened to Celestia, for her uncertain fate would leave Luna always wondering about it, hoping that one day she would return somehow. But deep in her heart she knew it was a lost cause. If she hadn’t turned up by now...

Luna willed herself to stop thinking about it. Better just to take it slowly... Focus on her breath... One... Two... Three... Her heart retarded its pace and she wiped her brow. Nopony would benefit if she had a nervous breakdown. Checking an hourglass, she realized it was almost time. With a slight shake of her head and some muttered curses, the soon-to-be supreme ruler sat up and walked to the wide double doors of the throne room. Might as well just get it over with so she could go back to the important business of self-pity.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, please present for the entrace of Princess Luna and the national anthem.”

She opened the door and stepped through. Breast up, ears straight, look ahead, don’t lose your pacing... As if in a dream, Equestria Sky began playing, and she could see through her peripheral vision the great crowd of ponies watching her on either side. The carpet-laden path to the throne stretched before her eyes. Far ahead stood the Major Councilponies, waiting with her coronet, and the Overmagician, ceremonially blindfolded. She felt a strong sense of déjà vu. Three thousand two hundred and eighty years ago, The Princess of the Night had been in this same room, witnessing her sister’s coronation, and then as now, something was amiss.

A voice cut through the blaring trumpets. “Hey, Princess!”

No. Luna swept her head to the side. There, in the midst of the silent crowd, a lone stallion stood out of line. Time began to slow. She saw ponies follow her gaze to the red-coated pegasus. The music faltered. Gasps issued. A flickering light betrayed the lit match in his mouth. A small cloth sack was held above his head. As she watched him ignite the weapon and prepare to throw, an ultimatum could be heard above the deafening silence.

“Handle this!”

End of Part Two

Links to Google Docs

Part One | Part Three: Coming soon!

Story Folder (New!)

Community Contest

My Little Pony and related characters and items are trademarked by Hasbro.

The author does not claim ownership of them.

The idea for Luna’s pet comes from a comic by KTurtle: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7093675

1,280 views

Previous Chapters