Diaries of the Lunar Warrior

The siblings ponies spent the next few days trying to make sense of what just happened. Though most of the five tried to keep themselves distracted, Monochrome found herself devoid of the inspiration to even so much as play music with her rock band.

The grey pony found herself looking at the sack left behind by Snow and felt the strong urge to open it and see just what was inside. With a tug on the top part of the sack, the knot holding it in place easily undid itself and revealed a stack of diaries and books topped with an envelope addressed to the five siblings.

The two youngest of the five heard a noise coming from the living room and meandered on out of their room to see just what was going on. The sight of a shocked older sister and the stack of notebooks encited a feeling of excitement that they havent felt since the last time they received a letter from their mother from distant lands they only dreamed of.

Monochrome looked at her two younger siblings as tears threatened to explode from her eyes. She snatched envelope from the pile and opened it with bated breath. It a was a letter written on the same cheap parchment that so often grace her eyes as a letter from her mother, “Hey, we need to go get Nightshine and Sparkle. Now.” The mare motioned for the younger twins to start looking through the house as she searched the outside.

Sparkle Fire was sitting on the tree swing in the back. She looked down into the grass as she relived the many memories she had of training with her mother. She remembered when Nightfire had shown her the suits of armor she wore during the dark time when Princess Luna had to take a stand against an imposter posing as Celestia. After a while, she looked over to her older sister lying under the tree’s shade right as she heard her twin call out to her.

Monochrome ran over to Sparkle Fire and Nightshine, “Sparkle! Nightshine! We found something from mom in that sack!”

Nightshine instantly sat up at the mention of her mother, “What is it? Please let be that the pegasus from the other night was tricking us!” Nightshine hoped and prayed that the thought was true, but it was futile.

Mochrome shook her head, “Sorry, but we do have one final letter from mom though…”

Sparkle Fire sighed, “Mono, let’s just go inside and read it… I’m not particularly in the mood for false hope.” At the mention of ‘false hope,’ she gave Nightshine a saddened look that spoke volumes more.

Both Monochrome and Nightshine nodded as the three sisters made their way back inside.

Nightdhine sighed, “Well, it’s something at least…”

Monochrome nodded, “The other two are inside looking for you, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble to locate them.”

Sparkle Fire didn’t waste any time gathering the two younger twins in the few minutes after she entered the small cottage, “Okay now, we have one final message from mom and Mono is going to read it for us…” She let out a sigh as she braced herself for a flood of emotion that was just waiting to happen, “Ready when you are Mono.”

Monochrome nodded, “What about you three?”

Nightshine nodded, as did the younger twins, “We’re ready.”

Monochrome took a calming breath before she took out the letter to read, “Here goes nothing…”

Several months earlier

Nightfire sat in her cot as she touched her worn out quill to the piece of parchment. Her thoughts were poured into the paper as her quill scribbled furiously, for some reason, she fealt that this was her last chance to write to her five foals. Her lips moved silentely as her eyes followed and sentences formed on the parchment by candle light:

Hello again, my dear foals. I was just given word that the final destination in my journey is but a few days’ journey from my current resting place. As we near the objective, a feeling of hopelessness grows stronger. Particularly with the chances of success.

I want you to know that I love you all very much and that the day I return is one that I cherish with all my heart. There are many things that I plan to bring back with me as a gift for your patience. Please don’t cry if I don’t return, for even if this dark feeling proves fatal, I’ll always be with you in your hearts.

Now, as I write this, I am compelled to make plans in case of the worst case scenario. If that should be the case, then the sack you found this letter in should have numerous books. Some are just a few dusty tomes. Others are, in fact, a collection of my diaries. I should want you to read them and learn from my many mistakes and multiple successes.

You will learn that the bright days you have come to enjoy were not always so and that dark times of past and future are always on your doorstep.

Nightfire sighed as she set her quill in an inkwell and tapped her chin. She couldn’t just write about the direness of her situation. She needed to send uplifting words to brighten it up as well.

Despite all of this, all of us here in the Ancient Lands are in high spirits and I hope you all are to. I will return home soon and then, we can swap stories of adventure.

Present

Monochrome’s hands were shaking by the time she finished reading the letter. It was official, he mother mother knew she was going to die and neither her, nor her siblings knew until it was too late to send their last goodbyes. Tears welled up as her now shaky voice let loose the final words in the letter. After that was done, she proceeded to let it all out in one go.

Nightshine could barely contain her own sadness as she reached over to Monochrome to in a gesture of comfort, "I know how you feel Mono... Just let it all out and we can come back to it later..."

Sparkle Fire was shocked into silence. All she could think about was how she should have pressed harder for her to go with her mother. Now, most of all, she felt a sense of stupidity and self loathing over the whole thing.

The twins were as silent as ever as they just stared into space. Neither of them would have thought that their mother knew that she was nearing the end. And neither of them would have thought that their mother could know such apprehension.

Later that night, Nightshine reached into the sack of books. After being invited to read them, she wanted to start from the beginning. That meant it was going to start with the much lamented Equestrian Civil War. The corresponding diary felt heavy as if the memories withing had the weight of the world upon them. Nightshine sat at one of the couches and opened the book to what she felt was going to be the first step into a very enlightening adventure.