The Longest Day

Prologue

"But I mean, really who can top tha-" The fanfare of trumpets and birdsong cut Pinkie Pie off, ushering her into a rare moment of silence. The spotlight flickered on, drawing the attention of Ponyville town hall to the mayor.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts..." Her voice was strong, yet soothing and refined; no loudspeaker spells here, just sheer power of oratory honed over years of public speaking. This was the earth pony way - if there was a way to do something without magic, they bloody well did it. "As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" The crowd erupted in applause, bar two cautious figures in the front row - Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike shared an uneasy glance. She kept her eyes on the skylights, where the faint image of the moon sat, four stars in its cardinal directions growing ever closer to it. Still, the mayor continued. "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now..." Twilight swallowed deeply. Her fears were confirmed - the stars met with the moon, and the image of the Mare in the Moon studded across its surface disappeared. "... it is my great honour to introduce to you the ruler of our land. The very pony who gives us the sun and the moon, each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."

As ponies bounced with anticipation, Fluttershy whispered to her choir, "Ready?"

"Princess Celestia!" At the mayor's announcement, Rarity tugged on the cord, the curtains drew themselves aside, and the spotlight turned to... nothing. Rarity gasped incredulously. Ponies started muttering to each other, an indecipherable wall of confused banter.

"This... can't be good," Twilight mumbled.

"Remain calm, everypony," the Mayor spoke up again. "There must be a reasonable explanation..."

"Ooh! Ooh! I love guessing games!" Pinkie Pie hopped on the spot - it seemed like nothing couldn't excite her. "Is she hiding?"

Rarity returned from a brief check behind the balcony to announce her findings. "She's gone!" This was met with a simultaneous gasp of shock; bar one pink ball of fluff that whispered to Twilight,

"Oh, she's good... Ah!" Pinkie squealed, when out of the corner of her eye she spotted a blue mist seeping out from behind the curtain. The whole room could only watch it grow and dominate the balcony - Rarity had long since retreated into hiding. The smoke parted like a second pair of curtains, revealing the form of a pony; an alicorn, much like Princess Celestia, and of a similar stature, complete with impressively sized wings and horn, but in midnight blue, and her flowing mane was an ethereal indigo, filled with stars. The room was gripped with terror.

"Nightmare Moon!" Twilight whispered, cowering behind herself. Spike fainted, and fell off her back.

"Fear not, ponies!" the alicorn announced, in possibly the least calming voice she could muster. "Thine princess has returned!"

Rainbow Dash hunkered down, and prepared to launch herself into battle. "You're not our Princess! What did you do with Celestia?" Applejack had to grab her by the tail to keep her under control. The stranger looked offended.

"Why, doesn’t anypony recognize us?"

Pinkie was jumping up and down with excitement again. "Ooh! Ooh! More guessing games! Uhh, Pokey Smokes! How about... Queen Meanie! No, Black Snooty! Black Snooti-" A timely apple jammed in her mouth stopped her from blabbering on any further.

The alicorn looked almost as confused as everyone else. She sat back on her haunches, and looked around for answers—Fluttershy winced when she looked at her. "Has... has Celestia really gone that far out of her way to remove every trace of our existence? Was nopony at all anticipating our return from imprisonment?"

"I did!" Twilight spoke up, drawing all eyes to her. "And I know who you are! You're the Mare in the Moon. Nightmare Moon!" The room gasped, but the stranger just tilted her head and looked back earnestly.

"Really? That's the cover story?" She couldn't help but chuckle, as much as she tried to suppress it. "No, we are not this... fictional Mare in the Moon. We are Princess Luna, returned from a thousand years of unlawful banishment to reclaim our throne alongside our sister, Princess Celestia!" The room gasped again - this was just revelation after revelation. Twilight frowned, and mulled this over. She never thought her lifelong teacher would lie to her like this, yet here was a pony claiming to be the mythical Princess Luna. Maybe she was an impostor?

"Your crimes against Equestria are too great, Luna." Twilight knew that voice - on an opposite balcony, Princess Celestia drew her own curtains and stepped out. The stage managers moved the mayor's spotlight over to her - not that the mayor could protest, much like the rest of the room, she was speechless. "Your banishment was with good reason, but I see you still haven't learned your lesson. Perhaps another thousand years on the moon is in order?" The little unicorn was speechless. She had never seen Celestia behave so wrathfully—this must be really pushing her buttons.

Luna quirked a brow. "It's good to see thee too, dear sister."

"Don't you 'dear sister' me, you know what you did!"

"So a little deviation from the status quo counts as a crime against the realm, does it?"

"May I remind you that the 'status quo' is what keeps Equestria safe! Our laws are there to protect us, and I won't stand for your throwing them out!"

"Without upheaval, Equestria becomes stagnant, sister! What good is safety and order without growth and progress? We look around this room and see that the only thing that has changed in a thousand years is fashion."

"You underestimate the dangers of the chaos outside our borders, Luna. Ponies are still not ready to handle it!"

"Unless thou facilitate change, they never will be! Tell us," Luna turned to the crowd. "Who can point to Hippaea on a map? Hm?" Silence. Twilight strained her memory - she didn't think she'd ever even heard of any place called Hippaea. Luna shot Celestia a baleful look. "Ahh… we see thy censors have done their job then."

"And? Who wants to take the risk of finding out what's there?" Celestia added. Again, silence - Twilight was torn between her curiosity and sense of self-preservation. "I see that their work has been necessary." She met Luna's scornful gaze with a sly smirk.

"We see thou still have not seen reason."

"And I see you still need time to see reason!" The day alicorn snapped, and reared up, her eyes and horn lighting up with arcane fury.

"If thou art going to send us to the moon then maybe we should bring the moon to Equestria!" Luna backed up and responded in kind.

Twilight acted on reflex - she couldn't let this keep going - somepony was going to get hurt. She jumped into the air between the two balconies, waving her hooves and yelling at the top of her lungs; "Waaaait!" The royal sisters froze, their spells dissipating. "This is crazy! You can't keep fighting like this!"

Celestia blinked, and shook her head. "Y... yes, my student. Maybe you can explain to my sister the error of her ways."

"Or..." Luna interrupted. "Since thou seem to be the only one who has even made the effort to learn of our existence, maybe thou can explain to our sister the error of her ways!"

Twilight thumped her forehead with a hoof. "That isn't what I meant at all! Look. You two are responsible for bringing out the sun and moon every day and night..."

Celestia started to sweat. "How did you–I mean... that's silly Twilight, I've always been responsible for the sun and moon!" Twilight was not impressed.

"If there's even a grain of truth to the Mare in the Moon legend, it's not a huge leap of faith to see that Princess Luna used to handle the moon. Anyway... if you keep fighting like this, you neglect your duties, and pretty soon there won't be an Equestria left to fight over!"

"Hm... you have a point, Twilight." Celestia grimaced.

Luna nodded somberly. "We too see the logic in thine argument." They turned to glare daggers at each other again.

"Very well. We will agree to the old order in celestial matters. I will bring out the sun..."

"... And we will bring out the moon."

"But beyond that..."

"... This isn't over." Luna pulled up a curtain of the same blue smoke, seeming to rise from the floor of the balcony, and disappeared in it as suddenly as she'd arrived. Celestia exited wordlessly out the window behind her, raising the sun in effortless lockstep with her graceful rise into the air, before vanishing in a twinkle.

Twilight sighed, and shook her head. "This can't be good." Around her, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy gathered, while the rest of the crowd started to disperse, murmuring among themselves.

"Well, what the hayseeds was all that supposed to mean?" Applejack tilted her head.

"I... I'm not sure..."

On the ground, Spike rubbed his head and sat up. "Oh, hey guys, did I miss something?"

The Longest Day