On the night before the eve of the longest day of the year, on the mark of 1,000 years of the Summer Sun Celebration, a young lavender pony found herself wide awake. Staring at the faded hoof-painted celestial ceiling of her comfortable tower room in Canterlot castle, Twilight Sparkle was unable to fall back to sleep.
Twilight sighed, grumbling, and rolled over onto her side. She watched as her best and pretty much only friend’s breathing slowly caused his chest to rise and fall in his sleep. Suddenly she envied Spike and his ability to bliss out whenever he wanted to and sleep as peacefully as a foal, or baby dragon, as it were.
Diverting her attention from Spike, Twilight was alone with her thoughts once more. She felt a nagging persistent feeling welling up from the pit of her stomach, causing her throat to close from emotion. Twilight promptly closed her eyes in response to the tears welling in them with a shudder across her flank under her blanket, despite the comfortable temperature of her room.
What was this suddenly? Ever since the Princess's reply that afternoon, Twilight had been struck by an inexplicable melancholy.
Twilight rolled onto her back again, greeting the ceiling for the second time that night, as the sleepless moments just ticked by. She amused herself by watching the night through the curtainless window and judging the location of the moon, which shone low and heavy in the sky. Dawn was still a few insufferable hours off. The lavender pony gritted her teeth in agitation. Twilight knew one thing for certain. She didn't need to be awake yet.
The room felt wrong now, lacking its characteristic musty smell of books and neatly cluttered piles of parchment.
Twilight didn't need to rake her eyes along the bedroom floor to see most of her meager belongings packed away hastily in suitcases and knapsacks, mostly books and personal items, awaiting their relocation to Ponyville when dawn came. Nor did she need to see the glint of moonlight touching the smooth, hard surface of her wax seal on the rolled up scroll of parchment which was intended for Celestia, when the Princess happened to find it.
It wasn't a goodbye, but it sure as heck felt like one.
This was the last night she would be staying in Canterlot, for as long as she had known or dared to think about, as she had a new assignment. Effective immediately.
Twilight Sparkle knew that this was a personal request from the princess, something that she should feel nothing but honored to do. Overseeing the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration was a huge honor, a great task, and an incredible responsibility. Even more so than that was the weight of the burden plaguing the back of Twilight's mind: Nightmare Moon.
Celestia's ever-faithful student had to find a way to complete her duties to the princess while continuing her research, because she knew in her heart that something was about to happen that would change the fate of all of Equestria forever.
That happy thought left a bitter taste of apprehension in her mouth. Twilight rolled over again, this time facing the front of her room, with a single beam of moonlight illuminating the heavy wood and steel-trimmed exit like a sign for her.
Twilight’s ears half-pricked forward as she regarded the door for another moment, the itching feeling of unrest plaguing her until it finally forced her to move out of bed. She slid slowly, soundlessly, so as not to wake Spike, though he could sleep through a hurricane.
As her hooves touched the icy stone floor, Twilight shivered, feeling exposed in the moonlight. The fire had gone out hours ago, leaving nothing but glowing red embers in its memory.
Twilight recalled sharing many nights in front of Celestia's own glowing fireplace, which happily cast a warm glow upon them both as they poured over lessons in huge, ancient, thickly bound books which gave off their own type of perfume, if you were into dusty musk like Twlight was, anyway.
As she had looked again around her room, perhaps for the last time, Twilight gasped, the emotion overtaking her again, stealing away her breath. It struck her so fiercely that it sliced her heart, as swift and cleanly as a pristine blade would have upon flesh. Tears welled up in her eyes, as promptly as fresh blood would from this perfect, angry wound.
Twilight wouldn't cry.
She promised herself and Celestia that she would not cry.
Twilight forced them away with everything she had, and waited, shivering in the dark, before opening them again.
Behind her, Twilight’s magic glowed around the sheets and blankets and she absently straightened them, folding down the corners and tucking them in neatly. She had done this for so many years that she did not need to see as her magic let go of its telekinetic hold on the wonderfully soft purple and blue sheets.
Turning to go, Twilight paused to grab her star and moon decorated blanket in her magic, lifting it up and folding it neatly to lay with her other things to travel.
Nodding her approval, Twilight let herself quietly out of her room and into the large corridors of the inner castle's tower. She lit her horn in a soft magenta glow in order to see, and tip-hoofed down the stone stairwell to enter into the main part of the castle.
Once there, she abruptly cut off her magic spell, letting the darkness sweep over her. Again, Twilight’s eyes had to adjust to the darkness, save for a single moon beam which lead her straight for…Celestia's own bed chamber.
Twilight followed the moonlight warily, knowing guards would be posted nearby, and more then likely, directly outside the Princess’s room.
Many times in the past, a teary eyed Twilight had struggled persistently, bordering on panic, to plead with a stubborn guard, only to have a bleary-eyed Princess open the door from within to rescue her sniffling young charge from the hallway.
In the comfort of her own bedchambers, Celestia would let the young filly tell her all about her scary dreams as they lay in the princess's bed, basking in the warmth of her fire.
However, the now grown-up mare smirked from her vantage point, concealed in darkness, as a bored guard yawned and took a quick moment to scratch a hoof under his breastplate, sighing in content as he got the spot that had been pestering him for the last hour.
Using her magic, she closed her eyes, concentrating on a suit of armor about twenty yards away from the guard, down the hall and around the corner. Twilight could see it clearly in her mind’s eye. Knowing the castle inside and out allowed herself to trick her mind into thinking it was right in front of her.
Clenching her jaw with the effort, she tightened her grip, and with a release, the pony suit shuddered to life, to canter off into a quick sprint. Right smack into the stone wall ahead of it!
Oops, that wasn't the intention, but, hey, it worked!
The guard sprang to life at the first noise, but absolutely ran to the collapsed distraction of brilliantly piled silver polished pieces, still twitching from its animatronically short-lived life. That guard and all the other guards in that wing too. Oh well!
It was now or never.
Twilight just prayed she hadn't woken the princess with her distraction as she urged herself to burst forward into a sudden gallop, using one of her newest tricks. She didn’t want to risk her chances by fumbling with the door.
Twilight had just barely completed it in time, almost becoming a wall pancake herself. With a popping noise, she had teleported herself into Celestia's locked room.
Twilight beamed proudly, static dancing across her smoking mane with a crackle.
Hearing the guards confusion outside the door made her smile lower just a little bit. She felt kind of sorry for them. It made up for all the times when she was a filly and tried without success to sneak in.
Twilight had been so focused on getting inside that now that she had…a new panic seized her heart as the entirety of the situation had hit her suddenly.
She had made it, uninvited and undetected, into Celestia's room. Twilight’s short-lived moment of silently clapping her hooves together in celebration of her achievement ended with her ears flicking back to let her eyes sweep the room.
The Princess was sleeping peacefully on her bed upon the floor. So vulnerable and so naked without her regalia, glowing softly in the moonlight. It made Twilight's heart absolutely ache suddenly to see her like this.
But why, and in what way?
Twilight didn't know for sure as her hooves lightly crossed the cushy rugs on the floor without a sound to stand, shivering with emotion and cold besides, next to her princess.
She felt at ease, as the Princess slept so soundly in profile to her. It warmed her heart, and yet, why did her eyes again brim with tears? Her magic curled gently around Celestia's blankets and adjusted them to more fully slide around her form, tucking in the corners lovingly and pausing just long enough to caress it along her warm, soft, sleeping form before letting it disperse.
Twilight felt her heart begin to break and crumble within itself. She couldn't bear it.
Mare up, Twilight! she hissed within her mind, as she brought a shaky lavender hoof over her muzzle, curling in a bit on herself, as a silent, tearless sob caused her body to shudder once, as she pushed down the emotions again, opening her glittering purple eyes to watch the Princess as she dreamed.
What kind of dream was she seeing?
Twilight leaned closer, kneeling down to fold her onto her haunches in order to be eye level with the beautiful sleeping mare. In the night, her magical aura was dimmed, but still, Celestia shone like a lone star as her powers were still present for as long as her celestial charge would burn in the heavens.
Suddenly, Twilight's eyes widened in shock, disbelief freezing her body motionless as she saw the single streak of a large, hot tear, quick and glittering as brightly as any shooting star, sliding down the Princess's flawless alabaster cheek.
Eyes wide, the smaller pony wondered if she had imagined it, but the foreign object chiseled its hot trek across Celestia's cheek, glinting in the moonlight and shocking her charge breathless.
"Princess, what kind of world are you in…?" Twilight asked within a shocked, hushed tone as her head titled in sympathy and concern. She never saw her princess cry anything but tears of joy, and even then, her tears were rare.
Still, how many years had the princess lived? How many memories, how many dreams, and how many heart breaks had she seen in her lifetime?
Leaning ever closer, Twilight held her breath, eyes sliding shut at the last minute to wipe the fragile, glittering droplet away with the softest hesitant lick of her muzzle.
Twilight felt her body shiver in pleasure from the idea of what she had just done, and a clench deep within her belly in excitement at the new feeling of Celestia's soft, warm cheek briefly against her tongue.
It was then that she realized, with a dull ache and a throbbing pang within her chest, that she had been nursing this particular feeling for so long that she hadn't even realized what it could possibly have been, until tonight.
Her last night.
Twilight felt a few hot tears of her own slip haphazardly down her cheeks and lowered her head in defeat, her smaller body shaking with silent sobs.
Celestia had broken the rule first, after all, and all bets were off.
A sudden, swallowing emotion gripped Twilight’s heart that threatened to overtake her as she moved to nestle closer to her beloved mentor and teacher, nuzzling against Celestia's folded swan-like wing, as she slept on.
If only they could share one more sunrise together without the knowledge blooming in her heart of Nightmare Moon. One last morning together on Celestia's balcony before being swept off to Ponyville. To feel the golden glow bathing all of Equestia in her glorious sunlight, warming their cheeks as they once had, standing closely in order to ward out the chill of the new morning’s light.
Twilight could remember it well, so sweet.
It would take a miracle for it to happen.
On a whim, Twilight found herself rising just enough off the warm, soft bed, to wish upon a twinkling star. Her last hope of hopes. It hung low in the sky, as though it had been just for them, within sight of the large balcony doors.
The cold, unfeeling star, child of the night, ignored the mistaken admirer far below it, so lost in despair. It obeyed only one mistress; one that threatened to smash Twilight's world apart, as Twilight had done to that metal armor outside the chamber door just moments ago.
Well, being the logical, reasonable mare that she was, Twilight didn't believe in wishing upon stars anyway.
It didn't mean it didn't hurt when she was rejected by said star, though. The feeling crushed her. More tears leaked out to trickle down her muzzle, words choking out of her to hang like a broken confession in air.
"I can't leave you behind, there’s just too much I have to tell you now..." Twilight whispered against Celestia’s wing, her words witnessed only by the waning night.
"Please, don't make me go…" Twilight knew was being selfish and foalish, but she had lived here within the castle, with her princess for so long that this felt like home.
Even if it were days, weeks, or months, the notion felt all the same to Twilight and daunting. Being sent away with such a critical knowledge about the future had felt like a slap to Twilight. She needed to be here, protecting her princess just like her older brother was allowed to!
Twilight took a breath to scatter away her anger like the dying embers of Celestia’s fire. She wanted their last moments to be wonderful memories to carry her into the unknown.
Twilight lay next to the sleeping form of her beloved as long as she dared, scarcely breathing. She ignored the temptation to drift off herself, since she knew she didn't have much time. Instead, she cherished the feeling of the princess's warmth, the softness of her wing feathers, the lingering scent of chamomile as she pressed as close as she possibly could to her impossibly velveteen pelt.
Celestia, in turn sighed softly, turning to roll onto her side, facing Twilight's glistening eyes and tear-stained face, with a look of peaceful reflection upon her slumbering face.
Had Twilight imagined the tear from earlier?
Watching Celestia breathing, Twilight was like a silent ward, guarding her from the waning shadows as the night began to give way to the morning, awaiting its mistress’s new dawn.
Twilight closed her tired eyes, with an emotionally spent sigh.
She was out of time.
Warily, reluctantly, Twilight pushed herself to her hooves again, carefully as not to wake the princess and lingered there a moment longer.
Tears sprang afresh in her eyes, and made Celestia's image waiver like she had been lying within liquid crystal. Twilight held back another sob, as she moved to lean in close.
She had meant only to kiss her lightly, modestly, on the cheek. At the last second, however, her muzzle ducked to change course and Twilight pressed her lips against the older pony’s own, lighter then even the weakening rays of the moonbeams had been against their flanks.
Twilight shivered all over from the glorious feeling, a rush of bubbles coursing up through her body in response, as one last set of hot tears streaked down her muzzle to pitter-pat softly against Celestia's own.
Thankfully, Celestia hadn't noticed, and did not wake as Twilight drew back, reluctant and breathless. It had been over all too soon.
"So long..." Twilight mouthed silently, as she moved away toward the door, stumbling over her own shaky hooves. Then she turned, unable to look back, unable to have found the voice within her in order to give life to her last words.
It didn't matter.
She knew Celestia could hear the melody of her heart, regardless of words, and it would be the light in the dark, holding out for something to spark.
That singular thought alone helped her immensely, and she found the strength to smile again, through her stubborn tears.
[Last night.
'Good night.‘](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrk5TFmUp0s)
