It really was all my fault.
The blame is my own, the punishment's mine.
And all because I did not wait for the ponies--now I must wait a thousand years, many more moon cycles, moon rises, and moon sets, just to come back. I know that it is the rightful way to pay for my wrongful deed. I now care not about the other ponies' thoughts about me, but instead, righting myself of my wrongs. I have now learned that as each sunrise needs a sunset, each moon rise also needs a rightful moon set.
As soon as I was sent to the moon, I started to feel a bit less angry. Some of my anger was replaced with sadness. Also, I felt a bit... calmer. I didn't know why, but it probably had something to do with the moon. My moon.
I had never imagined being so close to it before. All I've ever really done concerning it is to move it up for the night time, and lower it down for the daytime. It felt a bit like I belonged there.
A few hours after this realization, I saw a golden beam of light coming for the moon. My first thought was that my sister was trying to put some kind of spell on me, but I was wrong. She was lowering the moon. I tried to move it myself, but that power was gone, though I was right on top of it.
Once the moon was up, I looked towards the sun. It was rising. After what I had done, she had taken on the responsibility of both of our symbols in the sky.
I was going to accept it, for she deserved it more than I at the moment. I was going to have to get used to it anyways. If I were to come back, who knows where Tia would send me then--and if I would truly be sent away, instead of for a thousand years, forever.
The first thing I decided to do was to make a reminder for her that I was still there.
For about an hour every day, those days numbering a week, I flew about. I used my wings like a Pegasus to control the "weather". I carefully used small craters to carve my face into the moon, and cast an aging spell to make it look the same for a thousand years.... then disappear.
The next thing I did was start to mourn. I cried for days and days, knowing that I would always be unhappy till I could look at my sister again. After a while of this tearful routine, I became used to this view of the changing of day and night. Then, something surprising happened.
Instead of the moon moving, there was just a magical golden burst. I found this odd, but then the moon and the sun were being moved like they normally should. I flew over to where the burst was--and couldn't believe my eyes.
Right in front of me, there were normal household objects I hadn't seen in so long. A table with food, a mattress with bed furnishings, and pictures of my past memories with my sister.
The first thing that I looked through was the food--I hadn't eaten in days, after all. I was immortal, but that didn't stop hunger from tearing me apart inside. I saw hayburgers, fruits and vegetables from the castle garden, and many more varieties of food for my long time here on the moon. But the thing that really caught my eye was the moon pies. Not only did the name make me feel as if there really were those who payed attention to my moon, but they were delicious.
Next I made the bed, and finally went on to look at the pictures. I saw us at the beach, talking with the royal guards, even us getting our cutie marks together when we were still young. But then, I saw a letter attached to the back of a picture with me raising the moon--I was shocked that she had even cared about that.
What it said had made me start to cry, and hope to someday return.
"Dearest sister Luna,
I am very sorry for having to send you away, and wish that we wouldn't have to be so far apart from each other.
Fate has been cruel and order unkind
How can I have sent you away?
Goodnight dear sister,
-Tia"
I was so touched by this letter that I started crying again. Not sobbing hopelessly, but just a few small tears slowly running down my face, then to dissolve to nothing once they hit the rocky surface of the grey moon below. I really missed her now, even more than I had before.
But where my sister missed me or not, I would still be a monstrous nightmare in the eyes of most ponies.
For it was still I who had turned their dreams to nightmares, though my purpose was that of the opposite.
But I was going to change that.
Moved by her short, yet touching, words, I stood, picked up the letter in in my magical aura, and began to read it again. But when I looked down this time, I saw that she had left a quill and a small canister of ink. I started writing my feelings of sorrow and of repentance to her on the back of the delicate parchment.
After a while, it read something along the lines of:
Thank you, dearest sister. And I forgive you for sending me away, for if you had not, I would have been but a nightmarish tyrant, and would still not have all of the love that I was hoping for.
If it were not for you, all of Equestria would have turned to ruin, and my heart equally so. Also, thank you for the letter. It has left me good company, and I hope that you will write back soon to keep me company. Yet, if you don’t have enough time, I understand. For now my moon is your responsibility.
All I ask is that you just remember to take good care of the ponies for me. I wish to come back to a loving kingdom full of ponies that are loved back.
That night, when she started to retract her magic after moving the moon up into the sky, I used my magic so that the special letter would be sent back to her down in Equestria, hoping that she would read it and write back soon.
10119452
Or not, but it's ready now anyways.
A little on the short side, but well written nevertheless. Good job!
What 10155179 said
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10155179
Thank you! How was it short, exactly? It was such a long wait that I had to just push this out without much more thought. But it is all edited, to not be rough draft quality.
10158921
I was expecting it to be at least 1000 words tbh but this is ok
10159007
Sorry. I might update that one sometime. Long chapters isn't really my strong suit. (PM for details)
10159018
Its ok, I cant tell you what to do for your story anyways
10159085
Thanks. It was going to be longer.
Hello! I can't help but notice you submitted this story to the Depth of Innocence contest group. Deadlines close in less than a day, and your story is currently incomplete--it'll be disqualified if it's not completed in time.
Since it hasn't been updated since march, I have my doubts you're even still working on it. Still, I figured I might as well give you this message.
-GM, master of contests.
Reading every Depth in Innocence Contest entry: Bonus Story 4: Lullaby on the Moon by My Sister Tia
(Disqualified for being unfinished)
Well, I can't really say much about this one, it's not finished. There is something here, some kind of story and emotion, but I can't really make a definite statement on an unfinished story, because that isn't really fair. It's a shame it didn't get finished in time for the contest deadline.
10311403
Thanks. I forgot to update that. I changed this to my project to take my time on.
10314195
Yeah.
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