Prologue
Torchlight bounced off the gems within the cave. Unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies alike worked together in mining the walls, unicorns using their magic while pegasi caught the gems that fell and earth ponies pulled the filled carts. The work was long and tedious, so they sung work hymn to pass the time. As they did so, a young charcoal colt, mane as black as the cavern walls, weaved through the workers, trying to mirror their movements and join along. His Ursa Minor padded behind him, gleefully grunting and trying to help his companion.
One unicorn, a grizzled old stallion who more supervised than work, stopped the young colt with one hoof , smiling when the Ursa Minor skidded to a halt behind him. "Sombra, what are you doing here?"
Sombra gave a large grin. "Ursa and I are mining! We're gonna find the Moon Gem!"
The unicorn chuckled, dust raining from his long beard. Around them, the miners continued on, collecting enough gems to create a rainbow of them. Sombra wanted to join them, to look further into the cave in search of the mystical gem said to bring the night. It must have shown clear on his face for the old unicorn sat down and cocked and eyebrow at him. "And why do you want to bring back the night, Sombra? We're in a peaceful time with beautiful light always shining down on our kingdom. There's hardly a pony alive that knows what the night looks like any longer, and that's a good thing."
"The night can't be that bad," Sombra argued, though he too sat down and scrunched his forehead in doubt. "It's just dark."
"Oh young colt, the night is more than just dark." A dark shadow crossed the old unicorns face and he stared past Sombra lost in his own world now. "The night is beautiful, yes, but also powerful, dangerous, and cold. It brings terrors like you would never imagine. Nightmare forces that will drive a pony mad, creatures that can make a pony never want to sleep again, and forces of evil that are best left unspoken of. No, the night is not something to glorify, Sombra, but should best be left alone."
"But what about stars and nebulas and auroras and all the other thing that the night can give? Or the moon? No pony has seen the
moon in a long time!"
"And no pony should," the unicorn said gravely. "Don't romanticise the night, young colt, it's not a pretty thing to be in awe of. Just be grateful that we live in a time where only the day hugs us, and we know that we'll never have to worry about the night again. You're too young to know that kind of fear."
"Awh, okay..." Sombra said, feeling disappointed. He had always imagined that the night was beautiful. He'd heard tales of majestic dark swirls on an indigo blanket, painted with glimmering stars and a pearlescent moon. He'd heard of the lights on a cold night that lit up the sky in a beautiful display of colours. Or of meteor showers brilliantly raining through the sky in dazzling white.
The unicorn smiled down at the crestfallen colt. "Don't be sad, Sombra, there's beauty in the day. Much more than what the night has to offer. It's good that we don't have the night to fear anymore. Why don't you and your Ursa Minor help the men out. Maybe you'll be lucky and find a Sun Ruby."
Ursa Minor gave a delightful growl and scampered around both unicorns, and Sombra smiled as well, quickly getting over his disappointment and joining his friend.
===
Sunlight filtered through the royal blue drapes, just barely lighting the room. Fling the rose blanket off with one wing, Celestia greeted the new day with an enthusiastic smile. Her sister, Luna, was still huddled beneath the covers, which simply wouldn't do. A new day meant time to play!
Tiptoeing across the oak floor, soft as a mouse, Celestia peered over the edge at her slumbering sister. With a gentle nudge, she whispered, "Luna! Luna, wake up!"
In an effort to ignore her, Luna rolled over and ducked beneath her pillow. "Go back to sleep, Celie."
"I can't!" Celestia exclaimed dramatically, leaping onto the bed and flopping on her sister. "The sky's awake, so I'm awake. So we have to play!"
"The sky never slumbers!" Luna grumbled, throwing her sister off with her wing. Once more she rolled over and made the blanket cacoon even tighter.
For a moment, Celestia remained plopped on the floor, wings slumped and bottom lip jutted out petulantly. She twirled a section of her mane with her hoof, contemplating how to get her grumpy sister to play along. Luna was hard to wake up, and though she didn't act like it currently, loved to play as much as Celestia did, so she only had to figure out how to wake her sister. An idea struck her and she clambered onto the bed once again.
"Do you wanna make a star bat?"
Luna's eyes popped open and a slow grin spread across her face. She had the power to do something that no other unicorn, no matter how powerful or talented, could do; the power of the night. Born with the power to summon stars, creating beautiful astral structures, or the power to summon small creatures of the fabled night, or even bring shadows to do her bidding, Luna loved to play with Celestia in the great hall using her special talents.
Thus why she allowed Celestia to drag her out of bed, down the flights of stairs, through the wide corridors, and finally into the chamber, giggling hysterically. Closing the entrances so that they had fair warning if someone entered, Celestia pranced nimbly on her hooves in anticipation, squealing, "Do the magic, do the magic!"
Luna obliged, smiling at her sister's eagerness as a small white orb began to form above them, before rocketing towards the ceiling and bursting into several pieces, floating slowly back down towards the ground. With a gleeful cry, Celestia spread her wings and flipped among the stars. Inky clouds swirling in beautiful blue and purple formed, and Luna flew up to join her sister. Celestia settled on a cloud in front of Luna and watched in fascination as the stars and clouds surrounding them slowly began to merge together, creating a Star Bat. The little creature's eyes sparkled, it's body soft and fluffy from the clouds, but it didn't have any kind of life, besides it's warm smile. Using her magic, Luna had it flap over to Celestia, and with poor ventriloquism, said, "Hi, I'm Star Swirl, and I like warm hugs!"
Celestia received the Star Bat with a tight embrace as affectionate as Luna's soft expression. Moving on quickly to another new thing, Celestia and Luna laughed and played for hours, not even noticing how dark the chamber was becoming thanks to Luna's influence. Stars glittered the canopy, brighter than the chandelier, and indigo clouds were shaped into whatever the girls' imagination allowed. Then Celestia challenged Luna to a race through the starry path that was created, and of course Luna accepted, not planning on letting her sister best her.
It was fine, delightful even, until Celestia bounded too far ahead for Luna to light the path. In her excitement, Celestia had forgotten to light the way herself and ignored when Luna cried out, "Celie, slow down!" Slipping on one of the stars, Celestia's wing caught on another and she began to tumble downwards. Fear gripped Luna's heart and she propelled magic towards her sister without aim, staring on in horror as a dark bolt struck Celestia in the head rather than help her as she intended.
Diving down to catch her sister just before she completely fell to the ground, panic gripped her as she realised that Celestia's breathing had slowed almost to a halt, and she was limp and lifeless in her hooves. Thunder rumbled through the clouds which had shifted into an ominous crimson colour, and even the stars had changed into a dangerous vermilion. "Mama! Papa! Help!" Luna cried out, clinging onto her sister tightly and smoothing out her mane. Protectively wrapping Celestia in her wings, she waited until her parents showed up, and when they finally burst through the door, her heart nearly leapt out of her mouth.
One glance at the surroundings, and her father was already scolding her, demanding to know why she wasn't more careful, and how could she let the situation get out of hand. Her mother was more to the point, cutting short his lecture and reminding them that Celestia needed help right away. While her father mentioned something about trolls, Luna was hardly paying attention, her focus only on her limp sister, whose pink mane had gained a new blue streak, lighter than Luna's blue one. She wondered what this could mean, and silently hoped this was a sign that her sister would make it.
The race to the mountains was hard and driving, and Luna's anxiety followed in the form of starry crystals on the grass; one that the people didn't so much notice as they did the royal family scampering away with one of the princesses prone on the king's back. Up above the sun gave no assistance, subjecting Luna's dark coat to unbearable levels of heat, but even that was numb to the cold chill placing itself in Luna's heart.
At last they arrived, and Luna was very confused. It was a stone clearing with seemingly nothing special about it, just random spots of grass poking from beneath rocky cravices. The sun glinted off the smooth surfaces, forcing Luna's eyes almost shut, yet she still scanned the surface looking for what it was that could save Celestia.
Beneath her hooves the earth began to tremble, and squat down, shaking her head side to side to search for the disturbance. To her amazement, the boulders which she had mistaken to be lifeless began rolling towards the centre on their own, coming closer to them. Then with a few popping sounds, they changed shape into tiny bipedal creatures with hands similar to a dragon but rounder, and a face that resembled almost resembled monkeys.
"It's the king!"
Then even these stranger creatures parted from each other as another boulder, slower than the rest. On his stone head, long stalks of grass grew, and the moss that covered his body was a dark green with lighter swirls decorating it. He gave a look of sympathy towards Luna, and though she thought she should be afraid, she felt...soothed. There was an ancient wisdom in the troll's eyes that promised a solution.
"Your majesty. Born with the powers, or cursed?"
Nervous, the king stammered, "Born. And they're getting stronger."
The troll moved closer to Celestia to take a better look at her. Her father knelt down to aid, and the troll placed his strange hand on Celestia's forehead, just beneath her horn. With a smile he said, "You are lucky it wasn't her heart. The heart is not so easily changed. But the head can be persuaded."
Luna's eyes widened as her father begged him to do what he must. With a flick of his hand, the troll projected images into the air, of Luna and Celestia playing, fond memories she held and watched as the images altered slightly. "I recommend we remove the night. Even memories of the night. Just to be safe."
At first Luna didn't understand, but then she ducked her head in shame as she watched the troll perform a magic that swirled around Celestia. When her sister smiled, she felt relieved, yet she couldn't help asking, "So she won't remember?"
Now the troll looked over at her, but disarmed her anxiety with another sympathetic smile. Her father tried to say something, but she only had ears for the troll who once again used his hornless magic to project images into the air. "Listen to me, Luna. Your power will only grow. While there is beauty in it..." A silhouette of Luna performing beautiful works of art with auroras and stars filled the air, but in a matter of moments, the images shifted, with the same dark red glint turning into sharp daggers and quickly overwhelming Luna just as he said, "But there is also great danger. You must learn to control it. Fear will be your enemy."
A gasp escaped Luna and she ducked beneath her father's wings, hiding her face in his chest. He pulled her closer to him and exclaimed, "No. We will protect her. She'll be able to control it, I'm sure. But until then, we'll seal the castle away. Lock the gates. And no one will know about Luna's secret...not even Celestia."
Though there was great fear rising in her, Luna took comfort in her father, knowing he meant every word. She watched the troll who gazed at them with a faraway expression but still held a smile and nodded in understanding. Change was to come, one she wasn't sure how she could handle, but for her sister's sake, she became determined to control the power over night.