This tea and daisy sandwich is quite good, Twilight. We we shall have to have lunch like this more often. But now I come to the purpose of my visit. After a thousand years of isolation, I found myself shut off from other ponies in a way you have never known, even before you had made friends here in Ponyville. You yourself opened the door to my reacquaintance with my subjects, first by freeing me of my rage, and then by teaching my subjects not to fear me. And your letters to my sister on friendship have not passed unread by me. Through them, I have relearned much that I used to know. I have befriended many at the palace, including your brother, my nephew-in-law, before he and my niece moved to the Crystal Kingdom. For all this, I thank you. In return, let me tell you a story, which, though it carries with it no lesson of friendship, yet it may teach you something just as invaluable.
I have seen many catastrophes. The reign of Discord, the cruelty of Tirek, the tyranny of Sombra…these you know only too well. But you and I have both seen wonders as well. Here is one that happened over a thousand years ago, in the early days of the land of Equestria.
It was my habit, when raising the moon, to go to a certain hill and admire the transition from day to night. It was autumn, and the wind whispered through the grass on the hilltop. The moon, as it came over the horizon, loomed large, shining between the branches of a tree that had lost its leaves to the October chill. I could watch that moon for hours! It hardly needed a nudge to keep it in motion once I brought it up, soaring majestically through the vault, bathing Equestria in silver. I stood entranced, studying every detail, every distant sea and mountain peak on that other world. I yearned to visit it.
I craned my head toward it, then flapped my wings, my hooves leaving the ground. With every wingbeat, I knew without looking that the ground was dropping further and further away beneath me. I whooped with joy, dancing on moonbeams as I swooped a path around one of the rare clouds in the sky. I looked down and thought for a moment that I must be over a lake. Then I realized that below me were not stars, but the lights of a city, for they were far less numerous. Nopony seemed to be awake in that city to share in this—in my—beautiful night. But without giving the matter any further thought; I turned my eyes back to my goal.
The closer I got to that silver orb, the more my heart leaped with exhilaration. Gradually it grew larger and larger, until it filled my whole vision. I could make out a city now. A city! The moon was inhabited, just as Equestria was. The buildings were all white, made of gypsum, quartz, and marble. Most of them were small, made in every shape: square, round, conical; with roofs flat and sloped; simple or in scalloped layers. Others had columns with curious designs carved on them. Still others were as tall as the towers of the castle at Canterlot, but were so thin that they could not have had an inside, but twisted elegantly upon themselves and up into the sky.
The sky was the same beautiful sea of stars that I alone seemed to love so dearly, only now Equestria and all the world hung above me, green and shining. I could now see that the streets of the city below me teemed with ponies, all of them alicorns. Although they were as colorful as the ponies of Equestria, they had a silver sheen to them, and I could see the ground and buildings through them. They were almost as ethereal as moonbeams.
When my hooves touched the ground, in the middle of a plaza, everypony looked at me with what seemed to be recognition and a quiet excitement. A particularly venerable old mare with a pale yellow coat and a pure white mane approached and bowed deferentially in front of me.
“Welcome, Selene, to the city of Selenium,” she said.
“Why dost thou call me Selene?” I asked.
“Because that is your name here in Selenium,” she replied. “We have known you would come here one day. And now that day has arrived. Come, and I will show you the splendor of Selenium, which has stood for ten thousand years.”
I followed her, and saw the magnificent buildings, with their bright gypsum walls, their glittering quartz roofs, and their smooth marble pillars carved with curious designs. She led me to the great observatory at the edge of the city, its dome rising high into the starry sky. In it were many ingenious instruments for observing the stars and the world above. We flew up among the highest towers, landing on a platform from which we could see the entire city. She took me to the great temple at the center, and I was astonished to see a statue of myself within it.
“What is the meaning of this statue?” I asked.
She told me, “Ten thousand years ago, our seers prophesied that you would one day come to us. We have waited for this day, so that you may know that there are those who live in perpetual night, and will always cherish it as you do. But now that you have come, it is time for us to depart from this city and journey to those stars that both you and we love.”
I had never even thought it possible to journey to the stars. But now I burned to see them too.
“Child,” she told me, “you must stay behind, and keep the night beautiful for those who live on the world above. One day, they too will be ready to take this journey, and then you will help guide them. But for now it is your duty to watch over them.”
I protested that my sister was a better guardian and more loved by everypony in Equestria, but the old mare was firm. My special gift was to tend to the night, she told me. Only under my care would ponies ever yearn to reach the stars. I wept bitter tears, but I agreed to stay, knowing that one day I, too, would fly to the stars, and I would bring everypony in Equestria with me when I did. I returned from the moon to Equestria in time to lower it.
As the sun rose, so did ponies all across the land. I despaired of anypony ever wanting to journey to the stars as long as they slept through my night. Over the years, my despair mixed with bitterness and became anger. You know the sad tale from there. My anger led me into terrible actions, and I was banished back to the moon I had once visited. But now the city was empty. Once more, grief overwhelmed me, and I fled from Selenium, wishing to be anywhere on the moon but there. I brooded for a millenium, meditating my revenge, until upon my return, you and your friends were able to cool my rage and help me remember my love for my sister.
Now I realize that I cannot make anypony love my night by making it last forever. But I also know that some ponies do love it. I count you among them. Instead of forcing them, I will teach them. I will build observatories with ingenious instruments for observing the stars and the moon above. I will organize stargazing and moongazing festivals. And some day, ponies will go to the stars, and I will guide them. I would be honored if you would help me work for this future, my friend, Twilight.
“I would love to, Luna.”
Author's Note
I wrote this after a night of reading a bunch of early H. P. Lovecraft. The most direct influence is probably The White Ship, followed by Celephaïs. While he is best known as a horror writer, these stories are not horror. I don't know what to call them except fantasy.
I especially thank Robert and Astral Blaze for being my first readers, and for being so supportive.