Long ago, the newly-formed kingdom of Equestria thrived, as Unicorns, Earth ponies, and Pegasi came together in harmony. But confusion soon struck as the clans began to dispute. They could not go on without some pony to govern them. But who was worthy? Fights broke out as all started to argue once again.
This went on for several weeks, and the clans felt that they would part ways again, but one day, three figures rose from over a summit. The trio was contrived of two winged unicorns, one ivory and tall with a flowing magenta mane, and the other deep azure and bold, though not with as much stature as the first. The last member of the group was a creature that no pony had ever seen before.
This creature's arms differentiated from each other. The left was of a bird-like breed, such as an eagle, and the right was that of like a cat, such as a panther or lion. Its head was like a pony's, but its tail was like a dragon. It also had two different wings.
The troupe descended the mountain. The white winged unicorn announced to the ponies that were all in awe--except for the ones that were still tearing each other apart-- that she was Celestia, daughter of Soleil, Keeper of the Shining Sun and Loyal One. The unicorn beside her was her sibling, called Luna, daughter of Lune, Keeper of the Gleaming Moon and Friend of the Children. They and their friend, the strange creature, had fled from their colony in another part of the world when forces of evil had overtaken it completely, destroying everything. The sisters proved their might that they had developed by showing their powers of raising and lowering the sun and moon at their will, controlling night and day themselves.
The clans were immediately impressed, for they had never seen ponies quite like these before. They made Celestia and Luna their rulers and built a palace for them and celebrated with great feasts that lasted weeks. Everyone was happy with the two sisters' reign...
Except for the strange creature that had come with them. He was a loner, keeping away from the other ponies, for whenever he was near, they fled in fright. The draconequus Discord, for that was his name, started to form a plot to overthrow the sisters and rule Equestria by himself.
Discord started to mimic the great powers that the unicorn sisters possessed, for he too was a magical being, but he added his own style to them. They were not harmful or dangerous, and they pleased him greatly. When he was prepared for his plan, he waited until the night of the full moon. When it came to pass, Discord went out into the town of the ponies and formed clouds of pink material, making them to pour out chocolate onto the ground. This awakened the fillies and colts of the towns, and they exited their homes to see what was going on. Discord explained deceivingly to them that he was a wish-granter that could make all of their dreams come true-- that is, if they followed him and made him king of them.
The foals greatly accepted, and followed Discord out of the towns, but this awakened Princess Luna, who had a deep supernatural connection with children. So she followed the draconequus to an empty field where hes began to rally the foals into becoming an army. Discord's power made them strong, and they soon grew so powerful that surely they could storm into the village and destroy every living thing. But Luna defeated Discord with her magic and foiled his plans, causing the children to grow weak once again and leading them back home to their families. Princess Luna then told her older sister of what had happened.
Furious with her former friend, Celestia banished Discord from Equestria-- forever. But he vowed this would not be his final hurrah.
Months later, Equestria lived in peace. The foals now had forgotten their temporary following of Discord, and their parents cherished them. But Discord, from his area of banishment, watched the foals, and, seeing how devoted the children were to their mothers and fathers, he eventually developed a devious plan that could not fail.
One night, when the moon was black as she sky above, the creature went out, his powers full, into the village of Equestria, sneaking into houses of every foal in town, took a long scale from his tail, and slaughtered the mothers and fathers of each child in Equestria. He then returned to his cave outside the kingdom. As the sun rose, Discord smiled as he heard the wails and cries of the foals of Equestria as they mourned the loss of their parents. Now they had no hope at all. They were completely lost.
Celestia and Luna rose to the sound of the children, and Luna found the reason of their weeping. Both sisters wailed a song of utter sadness, for though they were powerful, they could not restore lost life. When Celestia had regained herself, she took Luna and herself out of Equestria for a time so they could find a way to defeat Discord, putting the three most trusted ponies in the land-- Smart Cookie, Private Pansy, and Clover the Clever, who had first helped to form Equestria-- in command until they returned.
Shortly in their quest, the sisters found the Elements of Harmony, the magical stones that would aid them in their defeat of Discord. The princesses, with the Elements, turned Discord to stone.
Equestria was never quite the same after then. Some foals were sent into orphanages to live. Some lived on the street.
Some didn't survive at all, and their corpses littered the village in hidden corners where no pony would find them to properly bury.
This saddened Princess Luna, and she proposed that they form a new colony, where all the ponies would live in peace. But Celestia disagreed, saying it would weaken and shatter the kingdom. Luna silently disagreed in her heart and made a plan of deception, but with good intentions.
One night, Luna flew from her window, singing a hypnotizing lullaby and she flew throughout the town below. Colts and fillies alike floated from their windows and off of the streets and followed Luna through the clouds to a part of the world that no pony but the azure princess knew about. There she raised her "Children of the Night", and they lived happily under her rule. But one day, Celestia called out for Luna, and the young princess sadly left her children, knowing what was going to pass, and that she may never see them again. One little unicorn filly tried to stop her, but was sent back in tears. It was Luna's favored child, the one she loved most. Luna wished she could take the filly with her, but she knew that where the princess was going would be much too dangerous, and the girl would very likely get killed.
Luna met with her sister, who was angered that the Princess of the Night had disregarded her warnings. Now the village had fallen apart with almost no hope of recovery. Now that the foals were gone, the older ponies grew old and died with no young to replace them. Celestia knew in her heart that Luna's intentions had been right, but she would have to be punished for the kidnapping of young foals. The punishment was not to be brutal, but Luna took the calling as a challenge to the death, to see who was the better sister, and called upon the forces of the Nightmare, which had haunted her when she was young, transforming her into Nightmare Moon, evil ruler of all the nighttime.
Celestia nearly perished in the fight, but she called upon the Elements of Harmony and sent Luna, with tears in both sisters' eyes, to the moon, locked away until the stars would aid in her escape.
The Children of the Night missed their mother, and after hundreds of years, they started to die. But Luna's favored, the unicorn Gari, created a spell that would not let her die until she made peace with her mother. She knew it was a foolish choice, for she may never find the princess, but she was determined to find her mother again, and would never give up.
The black quill was set back down in its ink, and the unicorn formerly using it pulled her brown cloak over her head, shut the book she had written in, and lay down her head among the several corpses and skeletons of her former brothers and sisters, and, event though her heart had been broken hundreds of years ago, she still smiled at the moon as it rose, beginning another night.
Sniffle, sniff. Another drop of water fell from its producer, seemingly almost in slow-motion, and split apart as it made contact with the cold marble floor.
The door to Luna's bedroom door softly opened. Startled and without her royal regalia on, the princess gasped, swiped the tears that she had been shedding from her eyes, and quickly pulled her sheets over her body, levitating her crown from beside her to just behind her long, blue horn.
"Relax, Lulu, it's just me," the ivory intruder smiled as she closed her younger sister's room's door and trotted over to the formerly weeping azure alicorn. "I felt you were crying and came here. What is wrong, little sister?"
Luna wrapped her hooves around Celestia's shoulders and was accepted with her older sibling's head resting on the younger. The night princess confessed through short, upset breaths, "I-I was just thinking. A-about those years ago when I... and the children... and the orphanages..." No more could be said as Luna burst into tears. But Tia just hugged her tighter.
"You still regret what you had done," Celestia finished, and was answered with a nod. The white alicorn smiled sadly. "Luna, every pony has forgiven you for what you did. Now please... forgive yourself, Lulu."
Luna pondered this. Every pony had forgiven her? And it was only herself that hadn't forgiven her? Then it is time. After a deep breath, the tears of the Princess of the Night disappeared. Celestia swiped just below Luna's eye with her own hoof.
"No more tears?"
Luna nodded firmly. "I have forgiven myself. But," the blue pony looked up at her sister. "the regret is still there."
Celestia looked away. "I'm afraid the regret may never go away, Luna. Even after these years, I have not stopped regretting..." but before she could finish, both siblings saw a small beam of light in the night sky. "Look, Lulu! A star! Just like when we were fillies!" The Sun Princess' sad expression became a playful one as she said to her sister, "Want to make a wish?"
"Lulu" smiled. "Mmhm."
Both sisters looked up into the blackness and silently uttered their wishes.
***
"Great party, Pinkie!" Twilight called as she exited Sugarcube Corner, also brushing some confetti out of her mane, after Gummi's birthday party--3rd, she thought?-- and, spreading her wings, headed towards home with a bag of goodies levitating by her all the way. Spike will certainly enjoy these sweets in the morning. But the bag of pastries suddenly dropped to the ground and were scattered from their container as they hit the ground.
The library... looked like it had exploded. It's center was missing, and the parts that were left were singed with burnt black edges. There were probably hundreds, maybe thousands of books in there on fire! But the books became the least of Twilight's problems as she remembered that a life-form was also in the house! The alicorn screamed as she bolted for the ruined building, "SPIIIIIIIIIIIKE!!!"
"Oh my Celestia, oh my Celestia, oh my Celes-ti-a..." the violet pony couldn't control her tears as she desperately searched through her home, looking for her young drake among the rubble. After minutes and minutes, she simply gave up and threw herself onto a pile of singed pages and bawled. "My baby dragon... my baby dragon... MY SPIKE IS GONE!"
Suddenly, the hysterical alicorn heard a voice from behind her. Twilight immediately looked up and turned her head to see a cloaked pony speaking in a language Twi wasn't familiar with. Is that... Old Equestrian? But Twilight didn't care. She leapt upon the poor stranger and shouted, "What have you done with my baby dragon?!"
What came in reply sounded like a bunch of gibberish. But Twilight caught the words "child", "Luna", and "far away". That didn't help much. And Twilight, the poor mare nearly insane, was about to blast this pony into the next millennium. But suddenly...
"Twilight!" Spike emerged from a pile of rubble that Twi had thought she looked through and ran towards the alicorn. "Stop!" But he was greeted with a pounce and millions of kisses on the cheek.
"My Celestia on High, Spike the Dragon, do that again and I will..." Twilight started to scold, but found she was so happy that she just hugged the drake a bit too tightly. She loved him so much, and was so worried, just like a real mother. ANd it was a good thing that Spike had came to when he did, because if Twilight hadn't calmed down when she did, the stranger would have been dead meat.
The new mare pulled the hood of her cloak off of her head to reveal a tousled mane and a beige unicorn's horn. She said some more words, but the only words that Twi recognized were "find Luna". "You," Twilight tilted her head, trying to understand. "You want me to find Princess Luna?" She was replied to with a nod. "Okay, then!" Pointing to herself, the alicorn explained slowly, "I am Twilight Sparkle. What is your name?"
The unicorn answered, "I... am... Ga-ri."
"Gari." Twilight repeated. "Alright, Gari, I can take you to Princess Luna. But I have one question..." Gari was suddenly grabbed by her cloak. "Why the hay did you crash into my home?!" But Gari didn't seem to understand. She must only know Old Equestrian. Twilight released her and sighed. "Okay, I'll get you to Princess Luna. Then we can talk about my little house problem."
***
"So, Twi," Spike said as the trio sat on the bench at the Ponyville Train Station. "You just left the house unguarded when we took a surprise trip to Canterlot?"
Twilight shook her head. "What more could I do? I mean, I know it sounds crazy, but, Gari seems so..." the alicorn looked to her new acquaintance, who was nervously uttering beside the alicorn and dragon. "...desperate. I think we need to get her to the princesses right away so they can tell us what's going on."
A few minutes later, the night train arrived, and Gari stepped on, though a bit hesitant at first. Then the three sat down in their seats, Spike in one, and Twilight with Gari in the one across from. When the train started, the beige unicorn started uttering in her language again. Twi thought to herself, I wonder what she's saying?
***
"Mother," Gari said softly to the heavens. "This pony and her dragon are taking me away. I do not know where they take me, but I know... Twilight Sparkle is at least kind to me. I do not think she will hurt me." The unicorn smiled and glanced over at the dragon a few feet away. She found it was staring at her, but it looked away when it noticed she was looking at him. "And, even though I thought dragons were fear-striking and scary... I think this one is actually quite cute." As Gari ended her small prayer to Mother, she thought silently, Now if only I could understand this... new form of Equestrian.
***
I wonder where Gari came from, *Spike mused. *She seems nice, but you just can't be sure with strangers that you can't understand. But then the drake remembered one story Twi had told him about Zecora the zebra. Hm. Perhaps her utterings are just... nursery rhymes, or little sayings to help her not to be afraid. Then, when he found Gari looking straight into his eyes, he turned his gaze to the window beside him. I have to admit, I'm a little afraid right now. But I know Twilight wouldn't let anything happen to me.**
***
Twilight looked lovingly at her little Spike. I'm so glad he's okay. I was so frightened when I couldn't find him. I love him so much. He's like a little brother to me... but also my son. The alicorn put a hoof to her chin. Can the two feelings coexist? Or must I choose one or the other someday? But her wonderings were interrupted when Gari yawned beside her and rested her head upon her chest. Poor mare must have come a long way. But where did she come from?
"Attention! We've arrived at Canterlot!" the conductor called. Twi gently shook Gari awake and levitated Spike, who was now snoozing, onto her back. The trio exited the train and headed for the castle. Celestia might be asleep, but surely Luna was awake. Twilight knocked on the palace's door, and a guard immediately opened it.
"Welcome, Princess Twilight, and friends." he said, and let the group pass. "Now, what can I do for you, Your Highness?"
Twilight answered, "I'd like to speak to Princess Luna, please." the soldier nodded and led Twilight and Gari (with a sleeping Spike) into the throne room.
"The princesses will be here shortly."
"We are here now, Sir Ironhoof. We know of Twilight Sparkle's visit." Princess Celestia bowed her head. The guard bowed lower and left the room as the two rulers of Equestria took their places. Twilight was going to give a formal greeting, but Gari leaped for Luna, surprising every pony.
***
"Mother!" Gari cried as she jumped for Princess Luna. "Mother! I am here!"
Luna looked like she had seen a ghost. Gari tilted her head. "Mother? Mother! I... I'm here. Here to see you after all these years." The unicorn still received no reaction and tears started to fill her eyes. "Are... are you not happy? Do... do you not remember me?"
Nothing.
Gari set her hooves on Luna's shoulders angrily. "I am your favored Child! I am the last of the Children of the Night! I have come so far to see you, and you do not even acknowledge me!"
"Silence, child!" Luna shouted. "I do not know you! And I will never know you! The Children of the Night are now dead! Now leave my presence!"
"Never!" Gari retorted. "I won't leave you! Not until we have made peace!"
"Then you may as well leave now," Luna bellowed as she rose from her throne. "Because you are a discarded memory and remembering you would be the last thing I would ever want to do in my long life!" Tears were now streaming down both ponies' eyes. "Now... go!"
And Gari left, crashing through the throne room doors and out of the castle. Luna flew up and crashed through the high glass ceiling of the room.
"Luna!" Celestia called scoldingly in Old Equestrian. The ivory princess flew after her sister.
Spike awoke from his nap on Twilight's back. "Um... what... just happened?"
"I..." Twi replied. "...Don't... know..."
***
The sun didn't rise in the morning. No one was there to raise it. Ponies all across Equestria awakened to darkness, checked their clocks, and began to panic.
But none of that mattered to the Sun Princess now. She needed to find her sister. And she had no idea where to look. Oh, Luna, where have you run off to? Where are you now? Thee thoughts circled in her head for hours as she searched from the sky. But as she spied some familiar mountains below, Tia remembered a memory from long, long ago.
"Tia?" The ivory unicorn heard her little sibling's voice and looked up from her storybook.
"Yes, Lulu?"
"Can I go play outside for a while?" Little Lulu's pleading eyes convinced her older sister to sigh and oblige.
"Yes." Lulu started to prance away, but Tia stopped her in her tracks for a moment. "Wait!" as the little blue unicorn slumped her shoulders and slowly turned around, Tia continued with a smile. "Be back when you see the clan lowers the sun, alright, little sister?"
Lulu nodded impatiently. "Yes, yes, I will be back then, now good-bye!" Then the little pony was off running out of the house to the secret place she always went. She claimed it was a place no other pony knew about, and Tia had been curious about it all these years. Today, she decided to find out where this hiding place was. When Tia was sure Lulu could not see her, the white unicorn set aside her book and followed the young pony.
After a few minutes of running, Lulu finally arrived at the place she'd played alone for so long-- a giant cave formed inside a tall, brown mountain. Tia was astonished. This was the place Lulu stayed at when she went away to play? Amazing! The cave was gorgeous, having a certain shine to its interior walls, and various playthings strewn about. But when Tia accidentally made a "clop" noise with her hoof as she entered the cave, Lulu turned about, but found nothing there.
Thankfully, Tia had teleported safely away from her sister's sight.
The cave in the mountain! Celestia folded in her wings and dove towards the dark indent in the mount below. If Lulu had hidden there all those years, Luna had certainly not forgotten this part of her past.
***
"Gari!" Twilight flew all around Canterlot, searching for the unicorn, with no luck. Spike was holding on to his friend's back for dear life as she zipped through the sky. But as they flew over a certain location, the baby dragon spied a beige life-form precariously perched on the edge of a rail-- over a long drop to the ground thousands of feet below!
"Twilight!" he shouted. Spike had cupped a claw around his snout to make sure the alicorn could hear him, but unfortunately, he couldn't get firm enough of a grip and slipped off of his seat, shouting all the way toward the streets below. "Help!" As he fell for a couple more seconds, he closed his eyes and braced himself for his untimely death.
Thankfully, that untimely death didn't occur. Two strong hooves wrapped around his small body, stopping his descent and then bringing him slowly down to the ground. The drake was released-- and immediately held tight again.
Twi kept her little dragon close to herself and apologized. "Spike! Oh, I'm so sorry! I was so careless! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" The violet pony then began to inspect Spike, looking for bumps or bruises. But the drake gently pushed away.
"I'm okay, Twi, really! Just... a little rattled." As they looked at each other, a mother and son chemistry was clear. But it also seemed like sibling chemistry, as well.
Twilight thought to herself, I guess the feelings really can coexist. I don't really have to choose between. All that matters is that I love my little dragon, not as a coltfriend, but as a son or baby brother. Now it's all clear. The alicorn smiled. "I love you, Spike."
Spike replied, eyes squeezed shut as he hugged his friend, "I love you too, Twilight." But as the purple dragon opened his eyes, he yelled, "Sorry to interrupt the moment, but... there's Gari!"
Twi turned her head back to see the pony they were searching for on four hooves on a safety railing, looking over the edge of the large city. "Oh my gosh!" the purple pony cried. "Gari! Stop!"
Gari looked back, lost her balance, and fell over the edge. Both Spike and Twilight exclaimed.
"GariI!!"
***
In the darkness of a simple crack in the middle of a long-forgotten mountain, a single life-form cried the tears like of a mother who had lost all of the children she had brought forth into the world. Princess Luna could name every group of bones and rotting corpse that lay sprawled around her. Spring Sign. Fly-By-Night. Wind Whisper. Magpie. The more names Luna remembered, the more drops of saltwater crashed on the rock floor. They were gone. They were all gone.
"Sister?" a soft voice came from outside the cave. Luna did not even turn her head as a dim light shone in, and hoof-steps could be heard against the ground.
The Princess of the Night finally said, not specifically to the newcomer. "I never even got to say good-bye. To any of them."
"What about Gari?" Celestia inquired, remembering the visitor from earlier.
"That was not Gari, Sister." Luna angrily answered.
"And how do you know?"
The blue alicorn arose and faced her sibling. "I felt a magical field around that unicorn. It was a disguise. Some pony came to mock me and my Children's graves." An indignant snort sounded from Luna, and Celestia set her hoof on the younger princess' shoulder.
"And that is why you left in a fume." Tia sighed silently, but then perked up a bit. "And how do you know that was a disguise spell? What if it was the real Gari?" Celestia nuzzled Luna gently, seeing her confused and angry face. "Sister, stranger things have happened to us. We have lived thousands of years, Luna. It is not impossible that your little Gari has found a way to prolong her life, just to see you again."
Luna nodded slowly. "I remember, Gari was exceptional at learning spells and writing. She was raised with a rich family, and they taught her well, before they were..." No more was said on that subject. Then the Night Princess nodded faster, becoming even a little excited. "Yes, yes! She told me someday she would write spells of her own. And I do believe she even could have rewritten Starswirl's failed spell herself! Ha-ha!" Luna was about to jump up and down, but stopped herself, also recalling, "And she told me, right before I left to challenge you that... fateful night..."
"Mother!" Luna felt a tug on her tail as a mare gripped it with her teeth. She turned around, and, not to her surprise, it was young Gari, her favored child. Gari looked up with sad eyes. "You're... not really leaving us... are you, Mother?"
Luna hung her head. "Yes, Child, I am leaving. I have some... unfinished business to attend to."
"Will you ever come back?"
Gari was hopeful, but somehow, Luna knew what the outcome of Celestia's challenge would be, always being the older and more powerful sister. "No, Gari. I am going to die."
The little unicorn wrapped her hooves tight around Luna's hind leg. "No! You can't, Mother! You have to stay to take care of us! We'll die without you!"
"No, Gari!" Luna burst out, but she quickly calmed herself after she saw the mare shed a tear of fright. "N-no. I have appointed Night Shade to take care of you. He is the oldest. He is mature. And I know he will make a good leader." The princess spread her wings and flew out of the cave, weeping horribly while still sustaining flight.
Gari called out from behind. "I will find you again, Mother! I'm going to write a spell! I'll find you..." Luna heard no more as she saw her palace come into sight.
"She promised she'd write a spell to find me." Luna smiled. "And she was always one for keeping promises."
***
Gari closed her eyes. This was it. She was going to die. She would have been at complete peace at this moment...
...but she felt so unsatisfied. Yes, she had seen her mother. The spell should be wearing off naturally now. But it wasn't. Why? The spell she'd written had said that when she'd seen Mother, she would die.
But... death did not satisfy her yet. But why? She'd seen Mother.
But, Mother was angry. Gari and she never made peace with each other. Now, Gari was going to die unhappy, and the Princess fo the Night was going to forget her favored child ever existed. This whole trip was in vain. The unicorn saw her right forehoof begin to wrinkle up, and tears began to form in her eyes. Soon she would crash on the rocks below, and vanish into bones not long after.
But fortunately, Gari did not feel death quite yet, but she did feel the force of falling onto some pony at a very fast rate. An "oof" came from her, but she was unhurt and safe. The unicorn's rescuer placed her gently on the ground, and she opened her eyes to see the pony that had taken her to Canterlot standing above her.
***
"Gari! I'm so glad you're alright!" Twilight embraced the unicorn, obviously not noticing the ridges that were now almost completely visible on both of her hooves. "It's a good thing you teleported up here, because even with my wings, I couldn't get to you at the rate you were falling!" The alicorn completely forgot that Gari couldn't understand New Equestrian. But Gari understood enough.
Teleport? the beige pony was confused. Didn't Twilight catch me with her wings?
"Come on!" Twilight grabbed Gari's hoof. "We have to find the princesses!"
Spike chimed in. "Maybe we should try the castle? They could be back by now."
"Great idea!" Gari was pulled along by Twilight, still perplexed a bit.
***
Not too far away, a creature made its way back to its home on the edge of the Everfree Forest. Perhaps this small act of good would someday make up for what had been done in the past.
***
Gari, Twilight, and Spike all pushed their legs as quicly as they could as they headed toward the palace. But Spike noticed in a few seconds that Gari was no longer following him and Twi. Stopping in his tracks, he spied the unicorn-- and desperately called for his violet friend. "Twilight! Stop!"
The alicorn, skidding so hard her hooves started to smoke, whipped around and saw what Spike had as well. "Oh... my..."
Gari no longer looked like the unicorn that had crashed into Twilight's tree home. She looked like a unicorn Granny Smith, Applejack's grandmother. The pony was on the ground, almost unconscious with exhaustion. Twilight was much more than confused. But a voice from the sky averted her gaze.
"Stand back, Twilight Sparkle!" Princess Luna bellowed, arriving beside Celestia in the air. A beam of light flashed from her horn, temporarily blinding every pony that saw it. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then reopened them to see both Gari and the Princess of the Night disappear. A second later, the light vanished, and Twilight looked around herself to see both Spike and Princess Celestia a bit dazed, and their eyes were glazed over with white.
"Spike! Princess!" the purple alicorn called worriedly, but the white, tall, pony put up her hoof calmly.
"Do not worry about us, Twilight Sparkle. We will be able to see in a few..." the glaze disappeared from the princess and dragon's eyes. "Ah. There. See? No harm."
Twilight looked to both the drake and her former teacher and inquired, "What did Princess Luna do? What happened to Gari?"
Celestia saw the concern in her former student and embraced her. "Luna and Gari are... tying up loose ends."
"I'm still not sure I understand." Twi shook her head slowly.
"I'm certain that Luna will soon become a bit more comfortable with sharing the story of the Children of the Night." the Sun Princess looked up at the night sky. "Hm. I'd assume it's past due time to raise the sun." Celestia looked to Twilight. "Would you like to see how I raise the sun other than at the Summer Sun Celebration?"
"Would I!" Twilight excitedly answered, sounding like a little school-filly all over again. But she quickly corrected herself . "I mean, yes. Yes, I would. Thank you."
***
Gari opened her eyes. She felt different. That's all she could describe it as.
She felt... free. Released. The unicorn turned her head to observe her surroundings, and found that, well, she had nothing surrounding her. It was just white. Or maybe it was black. Gari couldn't tell.
Then, out of the blue, a tall pony figure entered the unicorn's sight. It was...
"Mother!" Gari squeaked. Then she realized her voice had drastically changed from an adult mare's to a little filly's. She had shrunken into a child again. She wondered how, but that didn't matter right now. The unicorn ran over to Princess Luna, asking, "What happened, Mother? Where are we?"
Luna knelt down and embraced the filly. "We are in a place disconnected from every other world in the universe, Gari."
"I... I don't understand."
"No pony does, child." Luna then changed the subject, looking deep into her child's eyes. "Gari, I was cruel to you. I thought that another pony had learned my secret and impersonated you to make a mockery of me and my children. But now I realize."
Gari hung her and confessed, "When I saw you at first, I wasn't quite sure you were real. I was scared. I didn't know Twilight or her little dragon, and I couldn't understand them either." The unicorn looked back up at her Mother and added, "Things have changed since you took me and my brothers and sisters away."
"Yes, Gari," Luna agreed. "They have, indeed. I, too, am still having a hard time adapting."
"Mother?"
"Yes, Gari?"
The filly's emerald eyes filled with tears. "Why... why did you leave us?"
Luna also started to cry. "Oh, child, I felt I had to. I thought Celestia was challenging me. But... all she wanted to do was make peace. And I rejected." Gari swiped a tear from her eye with her hoof.
"So... you fought her?"
"I did. I showed no mercy either. She did..." the princess grew even sadder. "But then she realized what she had to do to protect her kingdom."
Gari smiled a bit. "So... you still love us? All of us?"
Luna embraced the filly firmly. "Yes, Gari! I love every one of you! Magpie, Fly-by-Night, Night Shade... Event though most of my children are gone, I still love them more than anything else in the world."
"Mother," Gari said after wrapping her hooves around Luna's leg, "I'm dying. I cast a spell on myself that would start to kill me as soon as I met you again."
"I know, my child," a tear fell from the Princess' eye. "That is why I took you here. Here, time does not matter. And neither do spells."
That's why I feel so released! "Mother..." Gari said. "What happens when we are not in this place any longer?"
Luna answered honestly, "You will die. I will weep for days. But I am also going to make a promise."
"What promise?"
"To finally say good-bye to all the oppression I've put on myself for taking you children away from your homes." Luna was now fully crying. "Well, my child," she said one more thing. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes, Mother." Gari embraced Luna one last time, tears flowing from her eyes as well. "I'm ready."
A light surrounded both ponies, and they knew that their time together was over, for all eternity. But they were ready to let go.
***
Twilight, Spike, and Celestia lay in a grassy field. Tia had asked Luna if she wanted company, but the Night Princess politely declined.
"This, sister, I must do alone," she had said.
"What do you think she's doing, Princess?" Twilight turned to her former mentor.
Celestia smiled. "I have no idea. But I do know that she is finally learning to let go of her past." Now, if only I could learn to let go of mine.
***
"Night Shade." Yet another candle was blown out as the deceased Child's name was spoken. "And finally..."
Luna paused. Her favored child. Now gone, joined with her brothers and sisters above.
Above.
The Princess of the Night raised up her head from its lowered position. That was it. The final good-bye. A perfect plan.
"Gari." The light faded completely from the cave.
***
From the grass, the two ponies and one dragon saw a deeply-colored figure exit the cave in the mountain they were watching and soar up into the sky.
In a few seconds, a brand new set of stars were created in the sky. Twilight counted them. "One, two... six... ten, eleven!"
"One star for each Child of the Night," Celestia breathed. "How beautiful."
Twilight sighed at the wondrous sight, but was interrupted by a pair of arms clinging on to her. "Huh? Spike?"
The baby dragon smiled, but didn't say a thing. Twilight wrapped her wings around him lovingly, and they both drifted off to sleep, Celestia watching over them all the while. What a beautiful night...
For a proper farewell.
