Princess Celestia wept in Twilight Sparkle’s embrace. Her tale had re-opened the gravest wound she had ever suffered. Her heart caused her pain as guilt and regret tore at it. Tore at her.

Celestia took in a shaky breath. “Never in my life have I committed an act that brought me greater pain. But neither have I done anything as important.”

Twilight listened, heart bleeding for her mentor, as well as fearing for what she was to learn from her story.

“For every year since that day, I reached out to Luna. I felt her within the moon, hoping against hope that I would find her mind calm and her soul at ease, ready to return and make amends. But each year, for a thousand years, I felt only anger, resentment, suffering...” Celestia stopped. Another tear fell to the ground. “And hatred.”

“For many years, I combed through all magical archives, consulted anypony with the right knowledge, and hunted down any myths and artifacts I could. I hoped that I could find something that would allow be to change Luna back to herself. But ultimately, I only discovered the truth: even I cannot change a pony’s very nature. Only they can change themselves.”

Something clicked in Twilight’s mind upon hearing that truth.

“You couldn’t change Luna, and you couldn’t get her to see reason. So you did what had to be done in order to defend what was right.”

Celestia’s head sank further..

“Your convictions gave you the strength to do the right thing.”

Celestia’s head rose, slightly.

“You kept faith that Luna could return, someday.”

Celestia looked at her old student.

“But you let neither of them obscure your vision of the truth. You learned from your mistakes and you were able to use your virtues and make things right.”

Twilight looked Celestia in the eye.

“And now things are better than they ever were.”

Celestia was aghast. For the last thousand years, she regarded banishing her sister to the moon as the lowest moment of her life. But now, though still a painful memory, it held something that could give her a strength she had never before seen in herself.

She looked at Twilight, and smiled. “Thank you, Twilight.”

“And thank you, Celestia.”

Celestia then let herself cry, and Twilight held her oldest friend close.

Author's Note

Sorry for the short ending, but here's hoping it's likeable, all the same.