Princess Celestia was slowly walking along a path long since over grown by the dreaded Everfree Forest. It maybe true that she could have arrived at her destination in a multitude of different ways, from flying to simply teleporting. However there was reason in her taking a more mundane approach, for her destination was her old castle, nestled deep within the Everfree Forest, and so to avoid any unwanted attention a slow and steady pace was prevalent. There was also a secret motive to her choice; on foot it takes a Pony exactly half a day to walk from Canterlot Castle to the Everfree Castle, so by the time Celestia reached the castle gate, she had already begun to raise the Moon. Once inside she would immediately make for the tallest tower, and from the gaping hole in the ceiling, she would gaze at the Pony image engraved on the Moon's surface, and then cry until her tears were exhausted.
For about a quarter of a century, Princess Celestia has methodically maintained this pattern every month, once a month, when the Moon was at its fullest. It was her meager way of atoning for her arguable sin of banishing her own flesh and blood to a prison one cannot see or touch; a veritable hell, where one was utterly alone with complete nothingness around them. There was no Pony currently alive that could possibly comprehend just how devastated Princess Celestia was inside, and with no real outlet, bare her monthly excursion, Princess Celestia was practically a torn vessel, housing a shredded spirit.
"Oh sister, there are no words that can adequately describe at just how empty my very soul is without you by my side," Princess Celestia said, as she laid on the cold stone floor, her eyes red and swollen from constantly whipping her tears, and her mane in complete disarray, covering her face in a tangled mess. "Why?! Why did this happen?! It should have been me! Luna, I'm so sorry!"
Normally this was how things would continue until a little past midnight, for Celestia still had to sleep, but tonight something unexpected interrupted her sorrowful mourning. As Celestia continued to cry her eyes out a sudden flapping of wings broke her state of mind, and when she looked up the most beautiful bird ever to grace her vision flew in through the hole in the ceiling, and then perched itself on a tarnished sconces. The bird was unlike any other Celestia has seen, it was a harmonic mixture of reds and orange with piercing yellow eyes, and an underlining sense of regality that was present in the way the bird carried itself; a proud creature to say the least. For a brief moment Celestia was captivated by the beautiful plumage, and ambient glow of the strange avian gracing her presence tonight, but once she regained her senses Celestia noticed that she was not the only troubled soul under the Moon light. While to the laypony the bird's subtle lapses in posture would be all but impossible to detect, to one as experienced as Celestia the proud bird might as well have been sobbing as Celestia was but a heart beat ago.
"Are you okay? Would you like any company?" Princess Celestia asked the now teary eyed bird.
Foregoing her own grief, Princess Celestia stood up, and calmly walked over to the bird. To her surprise the bird's tears were evaporating as they came in contact with its feathers, and it was then that Celestia knew what kind of bird this was. Ignis Avian was its scientific name, but it was more commonly referred to as a Phoenix; an extremely rare, magical bird that was attuned to the mystical properties of fire, and was prone to self combustion. Due to their rarity, even Princess Celestia passed them off as a myth, and yet here was one right before her eyes. As Celestia approached the Phoenix, it cringed with every step she took towards it, prompting more tears to leak out and evaporate in a small set of streaming steam.
"It is okay little one, I mean you no harm. I only wish to help," Princess Celestia said soothingly, hoping to coax the Phoenix down, however she greatly misinterpreted the situation.
Too late, Celestia came to understand why the Phoenix was crying and cringing, it was going to expel all its pent up fire. In the blink of an eye, the Phoenix let out a shrilling cry, and erupting from every fiber of its being was a torrent of flames that consumed the entire chamber. The intense inferno lasted but an instant, however the heat generated was hot enough to turn some of the stone ruble into ashes, resulting in a thick cloud of ash and soot to linger. The Phoenix felt worse than ever, it had no idea some Pony would be in this long abandoned castle, which was the primary reason why it always used this spot to expel its deadly flames. Once again the Phoenix had another death to burden its ever lasting soul with, or so it thought, for as the soot and ash settled an unexpected surprise awaited it.
When the ash and soot faded away, the Phoenix could see Princess Celestia, and while she was coated in a thin layer of soot, for the most part she was relatively unharmed.
"I can see you are shocked to see me still standing," Princess Celestia said with a chuckle, and a warm smile, as she acknowledged the Phoenix's confused expression. "Well I can promise you it will take a lot more fire than that to make me sweat."
The Phoenix had never encountered another being like this, sure it has met dragons, but they were all jerks, always trying to pluck its feathers because they were shiny. However this Pony was not only fire proof, already a plus, but she was clearly a sincere, and kind individual; a rare combination in this day and age. Enraptured by curiosity the Phoenix descended from its perch, and landed in front of the tall Pony. Brandishing a smile, Princess Celestia dropped down to her haunches, and then stretched out her right fore leg. Blankly staring at the appendage for a moment, the Phoenix followed its instinct, and perched upon it.
With a cherry expression Princess Celestia marveled at the Phoenix's beauty and majesty up close, and upon closer examination of the plumage she deduced it was a female, for males were far more extravagant, as well as larger by a considerable height. As she brushed her left hoof along the Phoenix's spine, Celestia could feel the Phoenix's external body temperature slowly rose by a few degrees at a time, and it was then that it dawned on her.
"So, your body temperature is constantly in flux, is it not?" Princess Celestia asked the Phoenix, who nodded in response. "I can see how that can make it difficult to approach others. I imagine you don't have many friends because of it."
The Phoenix lowered her head at Celestia's true statements, and once again another set of tears left her eyes then evaporated on contact with her already hot feathers.
"Believe it or not, we are both the same in that respect," Princess Celestia said, as she too began to cry, after stealing a glance at the Moon now shining beneath them. "Tell you what, if you will have me, I would like to be your friend. You can even come live with me in Canterlot, I sure could use the company."
Snapping her head up at attention, the Phoenix could not contain herself, and so shot up into the sky with a great joy in her heart. Elated to see her new friend so happy, Princess Celestia took one final glance at the Moon, and though she still felt awful about what she had done, she couldn't help but smile back at the Pony image gazing back.
"Thank you, Luna," Princess Celestia said, and then took off into the sky with her new friend.
An so it was that two lonely souls met under the pale Moon light, and thus filled the holes in their respective hearts.
