“Princess Celestia?” Flare, one of the royal guards, approached where she stood in the hallway outside the throne room. “I thought you had left for Ponyville already.”
“Hm?” Celestia looked over her shoulder at the red-maned unicorn. “No, I had some… business to take care of here at the palace first.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” Flare shifted nervously, “It's just that, well, with the Summer Sun Celebration and all—”
“Never fear, my faithful guard.” Celestia reassured him, “I will see to it that the sun rises as it should. You may return to your duties.”
“Yes, Princess Celestia.” Flare bowed at the clear dismissal and continued on his rounds. Celestia returned her gaze to the window and to her kingdom beyond it. The ponies of Equestria might be awake waiting for the sun to rise on the longest day of the year, but the land itself seemed to sleep peacefully, bathed by the soft light of the moon.
The moon. Celestia turned her gaze skyward, and the accusing eye of her sister seemed to glare back. She'd spent a thousand years enduring that hateful stare, wishing that she could do something to get back her beloved little sister. She sighed and turned away; the night did not seem quite so tranquil anymore.
“…attack...”
Celestia lifted her head as she heard voices coming from the hall outside her room.
“Pony… who is it?”
This second voice belonged to Shining Armor, the captain of her guards. He, and whomever he was talking to, were drawing closer.
“Well, sir, the report says that it's Nightmare Moon!”
Celestia took an involuntary step toward the door. Her hoof made a distinct clack on the marble tiles.
The voices outside paused for a moment. “Princess Celestia?” Shining Armor asked hesitantly, “Are you there?”
Celestia remained silent, hardly daring to breathe.
"Huh.” Shining Armor dismissed the stray sound from his mind. “Anyway, Nightmare Moon? That's ridiculous. Everyone knows that's just an old ponies' tale.” The voices got farther away again as the two ponies passed by and continued down the hall. Celestia waited until she could no longer hear their hoofsteps, then used her magic to open the large double doors on the other side of the room. She stepped outside onto the balcony and looked up at the moon.
For the first time in a thousand years, nopony looked back at her. There was no longer any Mare in the Moon, for she had returned to Equestria. There only the pure white light, shining onto a world that was no longer peaceful. In a few short moments, this had gone from a day of celebration to a night of terror. If Nightmare Moon had her way, this time of darkness and dread would last forever. The moon, that ghostly white moon, would hang unmoving in the sky for eternity.
“Your Highness? You are here!”
Celestia gasped and turned around. Shining Armor stood in the open doorway of her room.
“Shining Armor!” Celestia walked imperiously toward the captain, her slender form towering over him. “How dare you come into my chamber uninvited?”
The stalwart stallion didn't flinch. “I'm sorry, Your Highness, but it's an emergency. We received a message that Nightmare Moon has appeared at the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. I didn't believe it at first, but, well, look at the moon!" Shining Armor looked his princess in the eye. "Could it really be her?”
Celestia sighed. “On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal.” she quoted. “The signs have been clear. This is indeed the fated day when Nightmare Moon returns to Equestria.”
“Wait, you knew?” Shining Armor asked. “Your Highness, please allow me to take some of the guards and go to Ponyville. We have to help them!”
Celestia shook her head. “Nightmare Moon is far too powerful for that. Nothing short of the Elements of Harmony could stop her now.”
Shining Armor gritted his teeth. “Then it's gotta be you, right? You've used the Elements before. That's how you beat Discord—” he cut off as Celestia lowered her eyes.
“I can't. I'm not connected to the Elements anymore.”
Shining Armor's eyes went wide. “What do you mean?”
“The power of the Elements of Harmony is based on friendship.” And I lost my best friend a thousand years ago. Her head lowered slightly with that thought. “One pony alone cannot properly harness their power; not even me.”
“Uh. Your Highness?” Shining Armor took a half-step forward toward her. “Are you okay?”
Celestia quickly turned away. A bit of discrete magic dashed away the tear that had formed in the corner of her eye. “Yes. I am fine, thank you.” She said, sounding more like her usual self. “And there is nothing to worry about. I have sent my best student to Ponyville for the purpose of gathering the Elements of Harmony and stopping Nightmare Moon.”
“Your best...?” Something clicked in Shining Armor's head: a memory of Twilight complaining that she was being taken away from her studies to oversee preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. In Ponyville.
“You sent Twily there alone to face Nightmare Moon?!” he flared. “You didn't even warn her what was going to happen!”
“Shining Armor—”
“How could you?” He began pacing in his agitation. “She's hardly more than a filly! That's it. You have to let me go and help her.”
“Enough!” a hint of the Royal Canterlot Voice came into Celestia's speech. “Captain Shining Armor, it is not your place to question Us. We have made all appropriate arrangements to see that Nightmare Moon is defeated again, as she was a thousand years ago. Now leave Us, and be about your business!”
“I—” Shining Armor glared at her for a moment, then lowered his head, finally cowed. “Yes, Your Highness.” Reluctantly, he turned and left her room.
Celestia slowly walked back to her balcony. Shining Armor did not deserve that, she berated herself. The truth is, I only lost my temper because I knew he was right. She should be in Ponyville right now. She should be helping her dearest, most faithful student through the greatest and most dangerous challenge of her life so far. But… I can't. The tear that Celestia had hidden from the captain of the royal guard now slid unchecked down her cheek. I can't fight you, sister. Not again.
Perhaps five minutes later there was a knock on Celestia's door. Lost in her own thoughts, she did not respond to it. The knock repeated, then the door glowed magenta and slowly opened.
“Princess Celestia?” Shining Armor called out.
With an effort, Celestia brought her thoughts back to the present and turned to face him. The unicorn held his uniform in a telekinesis spell. When he saw that he finally had her attention he laid the red jacket, neatly folded, at her hooves and set his blue captain's sash on top of it.
“What is this?” Celestia asked.
“Princess Celestia,” he began boldly, “my little sis is in trouble, and you won't lift a hoof to help her. I have to go to Ponyville. If you won't let me go as captain of the Royal Canterlot Guard, then I have no choice but to go just as Shining Armor. I quit.” Leaving his uniform on the floor, he turned around and began to walk away.
“Shining Armor,” Celestia called after him, “I have not dismissed you.” Her tone brooked no argument.
Shining Armor stopped and looked around, though the look in his eyes plainly said that he was anxious to be on his way.
Celestia looked down at the uniform. “You would truly give this up: your job, your position as captain, your entire life, just for the chance to help Twilight Sparkle?”
Shining Armor simply nodded in reply.
Celestia sighed. What else could she do in the face of such overwhelming devotion? “The love for one's sister truly is a powerful thing, is it not?”
Shining Armor's confusion was clear. “Uh. Yes, Your Highness.”
“Then perhaps you can understand why I didn't… why I couldn't face Nightmare Moon.”
“Your Highness? What do you mean?”
Celestia looked him in the eye at last. “Consider this: if it were Twilight Sparkle endangering Equestria, what would you do? Could you face her? Could you fight your own sister?” Celestia turned her gaze, yet again, to the night sky. “Could you confront the one closest to your heart and banish her for a thousand years? Could you ever, no matter what the situation, bring yourself to do it twice?”
“I…” the unicorn's eyes narrowed in confusion, then snapped open wide. “Wait. Are you saying what I think you're saying?”
Celestia closed her eyes and gave a single nod.
“Nightmare Moon is Princess Luna?” Celestia's younger sister, the princess of the moon, had been all but forgotten in the mists of time and legend.
“There was a time when she went by that name.” Celestia nearly whispered.
“Your Highness,” Shining Armor took a small step toward her, “I had no idea. I… I'm so sorry.”
“That is alright.” Celestia opened her eyes and faced the faithful unicorn. “Now, pick up your uniform. I have need of my captain.”
“Princess Celestia?”
Celestia walked past him, determination etched into every one of her movements. “Shining Armor, I do not accept your resignation. After all,” she looked back over her shoulder, “I will need someone to watch the palace while I am in Ponyville.”
Shining Armor's eyes lit up and he smiled widely. His horn glowed as he used his magic to pick up the jacket and sash. It only took him a few seconds to get back into uniform, but even so he had to trot to catch up with Celestia, who was already some distance down the hall.
“Princess, are you sure about this?”
Celestia nodded. “Go." she said, "See to your duties, Shining Armor. I will see to mine.”
Celestia looked down from her chariot as it approached Ponyville. The town was in chaos, but there was no sign of Nightmare Moon.
“Princess,” Adamant, one of the guards pulling the chariot, said as they circled the town, “Something is happening over there.” he pointed toward an old stone structure in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Even as Celestia looked, a familiar purple flash came from inside.
She gasped. “That is Twilight Sparkle's magic! Take me there.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Celestia stared grimly at the building as they turned toward it. Sister. Whatever she had said to Shining Armor, Celestia still wasn't sure what she would do when she faced Nightmare Moon. Would she be able to defeat the queen of the night without the Elements of Harmony? Would she even have it in her to try? If nothing else, I will see to it that Twilight Sparkle gets away safely. After that… well, there may not be an “after that” for me.
This was something Celestia had considered many times over the thousand long years she had been apart from her sister. Luna had become warped by jealousy and anger. Would it be possible to restore her? The Elements of Harmony might be capable of it, but as she had said to Shining Armor, she could not fully harness their power alone. The best she had been able to do was banish Nightmare Moon; she had not been able to truly defeat her, nor undo the twisted magic that had turned her sweet younger sister into a monster. However, she thought that there might be another way. If she sacrificed herself… maybe, just maybe, Luna would remember the love they had once had for one another.
Perhaps Celestia's death could undo her greatest failure.
The chariot landed outside the old building, and Celestia took wing toward where she had seen Twilight's magic. She flew in through a window and looked around, but there was no sign of anypony.
Am I too late? she thought desperately. Please, please do not let me be too late. Celestia frantically searched the room for a clue, but there was nothing except for a very old statue. Looking more closely, she saw that the statue looked as though it may have once held something: six somethings, in fact. Had Twilight Sparkle found the Elements after all? Or, Faust forbid, had Nightmare Moon gotten to them first?
A loud crash from the next tower over caught Celestia's attention. She flew out of the same window she had entered through and raced for the source of the sound, but she had not gotten more than halfway to the other tower when there was a sudden surge of immensely powerful—and very familiar—magic. Celestia gasped and stopped dead in midair as light in all the colors of the rainbow poured out through every window and hole in the tower she was flying toward.
Could it be? She didn't dare to hope.
As the light faded, Celestia felt something change in the world around her. The force that had been sustaining the night and suppressing her own ability to raise the sun was gone. When she looked to the sky, however, the moon remained pure and white, with no shadowy figure marring its surface. Her sister had not been imprisoned again.
Tears stung Celestia's eyes; tears of joy that her faithful student had accomplished what she herself could not, and freed Luna from her own distorted magic. Celestia triumphantly stretched out her wings and her magic, finally raising the sun on a world that would never again live in the darkness and terror of Nightmare Moon.
“Gee, Twilight,” somepony said from inside the tower. Celestia was now close enough to see that Twilight Sparkle was indeed inside, along with five others she did not recognize. Each was wearing what was unmistakably an Element of Harmony. “I thought you were just spoutin' a lotta hooey. But ah reckon we really do represent the elements of friendship!”
“Indeed you do.” Celestia answered from outside. The fact that these six had harnessed the Elements of Harmony was proof enough of that. Celestia, silhouetted against the light of a new day, used her magic to teleport into the tower. She was too late to aid in the struggle, but at least she could give credit where it was due.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight Sparkle, proudly crowned with the Element of Magic, gasped and walked over to her as the others bowed.
“Twilight Sparkle. My faithful student.” Celestia leaned down and affectionately nuzzled Twilight. She smiled, but had to choke back her tears of joy and pride to continue speaking. “I knew you could do it.”
“But," Twilight looked up at her teacher, "you told me it was all an old pony tale.”
“I told you that you needed to make some friends.” Celestia said slyly, “Nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her; but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart. Now, if only another will as well.” Celestia looked for the first time at the one she hadn't dared to face; the one she had to face. “Princess Luna!”
Celestia's beloved younger sister, back in her true form at last, gasped and looked up at Celestia with eyes full of fear and doubt.
Celestia approached Luna where she lay trembling on the ground. “It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this.” She knelt down beside the frightened alicorn. “Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister.”
“Sister?” several of the ponies exclaimed in unison.
Celestia stood back up and gazed down lovingly at her sister. “Will you accept my friendship?” She scarcely dared to breathe as she waited for Luna's answer.
Luna looked away for a moment. Finally, she sprang to her hooves and ran to Celestia's side. “I'm so sorry! I've missed you so much, big sister!” She pressed herself into Celestia's mane as tears flowed down her cheeks.
It was more than Celestia could take. “I've missed you, too.” she managed to say. The tears she had been holding back since before she left Canterlot finally overcame her self-control, and the two sisters stood there for a moment simply holding one another.
One of Twilight's friends, who had also been sobbing noisily, stopped as suddenly as she had started. “Hey!” she exclaimed, “You know what this calls for? A party!”
Following the festivities in Ponyville, where Luna had been welcomed with such love that one would think she had never been Nightmare Moon at all, the sisters sat in Celestia's room pondering all that had passed between them.
“Sister.” Celestia finally said.
“Yes?”
“Earlier today you apologized to me, but I have yet to apologize to you. Luna, can you ever forgive me?”
“Forgive you? Sister, it was I who—”
“I know." Celestia raised a hoof to stop Luna's protests; this had to be said, and it had to be said now. "But, Luna, I should never have allowed things to go so far. I could see that you were unhappy. I knew that you wanted the ponies of Equestria to take joy in your night the way they loved my day. I saw you slipping further and further away, and yet I did nothing.”
“Celestia…” Luna's eyes misted, and she reached out to comfort her sister.
Celestia nuzzled her sister's outstretched hoof. “Today I assigned Twilight Sparkle to learn about friendship. The truth is, I think it is I who need those lessons. Luna, can you ever forgive me for being such a selfish, foalish sister?”
“Oh, 'Tia. There's nothing to forgive.” Luna caught her older sister in a warm embrace. “You said that you wanted to put all of this behind us, did you not? Nothing in Equestria would make me happier.”
“'Tia.” Celestia said wistfully, “Nopony's called me that in a thousand years.” she enjoyed the closeness for a moment longer, then stood up. “Come, Luna. It is nearly time.”
Luna stood up as well. “Are you sure about this, 'Tia?”
“I am.”
The two princesses walked outside onto the balcony. For a time they simply stood there, enjoying the warmth of the setting sun and each others' company. Finally, Celestia turned and nodded to her sister.
“Are you ready? It is time for you to resume your duties as princess of the moon.”
Luna took a deep breath, then reached out with her powerful magic. As the sun finally faded behind the horizon, the glowing moon and glittering stars emerged. A pleasantly cool breeze blew from the east, bringing with it the soft scents of rain and night lilies.
All across Equestria, ponies agreed that it was the most beautiful night they'd ever seen.
