One Thousand Years Alone

The sun shone down on the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Or, more accurately, what was left of it. The cries of frightened foals faded into the background along with the sobs of confused mares and stallions as citizens picked through the rubble. Nopony knew exactly what had happened - only what they had seen, and the details they could all agree on.

It had been warm and sunny, a pleasant afternoon. Out of nowhere, the moon had risen and the sun had disappeared. They had heard shouting and the sound of powerful magic, seen bright flashes of light and watched as buildings and towers collapsed. Some had taken shelter, hiding in closets and basements. For some, this protected them even when their houses failed. Not all were so lucky.

A Pegasus mare flitted between piles of rubble, listening for the muffled cries of help of those still trapped beneath. Her blue mane, usually tossed around wildly from her exuberant flying, now lay plastered against her pink forehead, matted down with sweat and dirt. She wiped a loose strand out of her eyes and hovered closer to the ground, leaning in her ear.

Hardly hesitating long enough to shout, she began pulling stone after stone off the pile, sending them flying. A few other ponies on the sidelines ran in, dodging the flying boulders, and tried to help. Most ponies, however, were too busy dealing with their own private tragedies to help. Some of them were holding their heads in their hooves as they wailed. Some of them were holding another's.

An Earth Pony who had rushed over to help the Pegasus heaved a large rock out of the way, exposing a collapsed basement. The Pegasus dove in without a word, and pulled out a sobbing foal with a vivid yellow mane. A Unicorn picked her up in her aura and began to nuzzle the little one, cooing and speaking words of comfort. The Pegasus dove in again and pulled out a shivering brown colt, barely older than the infant being cradled. His eyes were wide and puffy, and when the Pegasus set him down he turned to her.

"Papa...have you seen Papa? He told me to take care of Buttercup, that he'd be right back once he got Mama..."

"Shhhh." The Pegasus stroked the colts red mane a little. "I'm sure he's on his way. What's your name?"

The colt straightened up and set his tiny jaw. "Papa...Papa says I shouldn't talk to strangers."

The Pegasus smiled. "He's a smart pony, and so are you for listening to him. How about I tell you my name first, and then we won't be strangers anymore?"

The colt bit his lip and looked down for a moment before slowly nodding.

"Okay. My name's Firefly."

"M-My name's Red. Red Autumn."

"That's a fine name, Red." She gestured to the pony who had lifted the stone. "Stone Cutter here is a friend of mine. He's going to keep you safe till your Papa and Mama get back. Sparkler over there is gonna help take care of your sister."

Red sniffed. "Papa told me to keep her safe..."

Firefly patted his head. "And you did an excellent job. But it's tough work to take care of a foal all by yourself, which is why they're going to help you, okay?" The colt nodded. "And I'm gonna go and see if I can find your parents, and I'll be sure to tell them what a good job you did all by yourself, and how brave you were. Now, go and get to know Stone so that he's not a stranger anymore either, alright?"

With that, Firefly took off and began scouting again. Most of the damaged houses had somepony trapped inside and calling for help.

Some of them didn't.

But she didn't stop until she couldn't fly anymore. She plopped down in the shade of an overhanging building and lay there, letting the breeze cool her down as she panted and sweated. She looked up to the sky, wondering how much time could have possibly passed since the disaster, and when night would fall.

The sun still sat at noon.

Firefly made a face - she had been working for hours since the dust had settled - the sun should be well on it's way to setting by now, if not already set. Pulling herself up, she took to the skies once more and felt the heat in the air - any pony unfortunate enough to not have shelter was going to be baking. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew who could fix it.

She flew over the ruined castle and saw servant ponies running to and fro even now, bandaging up their comrades and helping injured ponies to shelter within the walls. She flew down and through the hallways and into the throne room, where she saw the broken dias. Her blood ran cold.

A Unicorn maid was running past with sheets in her aura - Firefly intercepted her.

"Have you seen the Princess?"

The maid blinked, then shook her head slowly before running off again. Firefly gulped, and took off into the sky from the opening in the roof. She rocketed through the sky, scanning for any sign of the pony she was looking for. The only thing that kept her from overheating was the wind in her face, though even that was getting warmer by the minute - the sun still hadn't budged.

Firefly didn't know if it was hours or minutes or weeks later when she found who she was looking for - laying on the ground, ethereal mane flat and listless as she stared into space. Firefly gently landed behind her and cleared her throat. No response. She tried again, louder. Still nothing.

A gulp and a tentative step forward. "Princess...?"

"I don't understand it."

Firefly stopped. "Don't understand what?"

Celestia turned a single, bloodshot eye to the Pegasus. "I was so stupid. She was my little sister. I should have known better." She turned her head back away. "I thought she would be fine, that it didn't really mean anything. I was such a fool..."

Firefly cleared her throat. "Princess, the sun...shouldn't it be set by now?"

Celestia laughed. "Wouldn't you rather it stay this way? Can you find me a pony who prefers night to day? Why don't I just leave the sun up and make everypony happy, hmm? It's too late, anyway."

Firefly gaped. "But...but there are so many ponies who are hurt and confused, and they don't have shelter! If the sun stays where it is, they'll all roast alive! We need the night!"

Celestia raised her head and looked Firefly in the eyes. Slowly, deliberately, she stood and turned her full bearing on the  Pegasus.

"You need the night, hmm? Why, then, didn't you all say something sooner? Why did you all hide away from it? Why didn't you, why didn't anypony tell her?!"

Firefly shuddered from behind her wings. Peeling a feather away from her eyes, she saw Celestia had collapsed onto the ground once more, tears welling in her eyes behind her hooves. Firefly took a step forward, then stopped herself and sat down.

"Princess? What happened?"

"Luna. She's gone. I had to...I didn't want to, but I had to..." Celestia shook her head and covered herself with her wings again.

Firefly gulped. "Is...is that it? Luna is gone, so there's no more night?"

Celestia shook her head. "I can't bear to look at it, I can't stand to look at her face when I should have known, should have done something before it got this far..."

"Celestia, we'll all miss the moon, but we need you to do something about the sun before things get any worse than they already are. You're the only one who knows, the only one who can..."

Celestia looked at her. "The only one...ha...hahahaha..."

Firefly backed away as Princess Celestia began laughing maniacally, rolling on her sides and crying profusely as she did so. Without the sun, she couldn't be sure of how long it went on, except that it was too long. When Celestia finally stopped she stood up and forced a smile onto her face. She opened her mouth as though to say something, but no words came out. Instead, she shook her head and lit her horn. She turned away from Firefly, and the sun began to sink.

"You're right, my little pony. I am the only one."

There was no moon that night.