Because it is right

“I like your dress.” said Renette who was indirectly saying she liked Shia in that indirect way children are so used to but paradoxically unaware of.

“Thank you.” Shia replied, even if she thought the thing she had on her back could hardly qualify as a dress, and even less as anything likable. In fact, she was sort of ashamed of it.

“Are you really going to tell us a bedtime story?” asked Moonlight with excitement.

“Be careful.” Toothy warned Shia. “She is the one who usually tells the story.”

“I’m not jealous!” complained Moonlight. “I’m curious.”

Shia came near Moonlight’s bed, which was the closest to the window.

“You really tell a bedtime story each evening?” she asked the filly, both surprised and amazed.

“Sure I do. All it takes is to watch the moon outside and I have a tone of stories flowing in my mind.”

“It’s true.” said Oaken Seed from deep under his sheets. “She always tells stories about the moon and the stars. She says one day she is going to go there and take a bite out of it.”

“You are going to take a bite out of the moon?” Shia asked, amused by the idea.

“Of course!” Moonlight replied. “It looks like cheese after all. I’m sure it must be delicious. Mister foster says it tastes like Raspberry, but I think he invented it.”

Shia looked at the moon outside. It was grandiose. The huge circle of pale light was dominating the black sky, like a warden surrounded by the millions of stars. A tear ran on Shia’s cheek as she contemplated the spectacle. But at the same time, it gave her an idea for the bedtime story.

“Do you want to know why princess Luna created the moon?” she asked the children.

“It’s one of her eyes she throws in the sky at night to spot the naughty children!” said Tooth Far, who recalled a rumor she had heard.

“She wanted to spot her prey more easily during the night. It’s her searchlight…” faintly said Oaked Seed.

“It’s a mirror to a world where she stocks all the nightmares!” imagined Moonlight. “This is why it looks so pale.”

Shia looked at Sampion who was clearly awaiting for her to tell the story, as they all were, each in their own way, for that matter. Shia smiled, happy to have a story to tell that only a few unicorns from Canterlot should be able to know.

“There was a time, not so long ago, when there was no moon or stars in the sky at night.” Shia told them.

“That’s impossible!” said Tooth Far.

“But it’s true.” gently replied Shia. “At that time, when the sun would disappear behind the horizon, all of Equestria was being swallowed by the darkness, true darkness, where it is impossible to see your hoof in front of your muzzle.”

“It’s scary…” complained Oaken Seed, who was easily impressed.

“Yes it was scary. And the most scared were the fillies and foals who were having nightmares almost every night.”

“That must have pleased princess Luna.” thought out loud Moonlight who was already imagining the princess of the night using the shadows to enjoy the screams of the children waking up in the middle of a bad dream and how she would have standed against her.

“On the contrary.” explained Shia. “Even though the princess does love the darkness, because it is where she feels the most comfortable and she has made many friends among the creatures that populate the shadows.”

“There are creatures in the shadows?” asked Moonlight, suddenly frightened by the perspective, letting her vivid imagination take the best of her.

“Good creatures, friendly and benevolent creatures that always help ponies.” Shia tried to comfort her. “If you are lost, or afraid, they will come and help you find your way, and make sure nothing bad will happen to you. The creatures of the night are protectors.”

It took a moment for Shia to convince each child that they shouldn’t be afraid of the darkness, but, the gentleness of her voice helping a lot, she eventually achieved to.

“But as much as the princess loved the night, she would always hear the screams of the children and she couldn’t understand why they were screaming.” she continued.

“Princess Luna is dumb!” said Oaken Seed, for whom it was clear that it was the only explanation for a princess not to understand why nightmares were scary.

“She was simply ignorant. It was all very new to her. The same way you are still learning how to count, she was learning to understand her subjects. But it wasn’t easy at all and at the time, she went to complain to her sister about all the screaming.”

At the mention of Luna’s sister, all the children’s faces lit up.

“Princess Celestia is in the story? She is so awesome!” said Moonlight.

“Yes, why can’t the story be only about her? She is the one who will control the sun. She is way more interesting.” agreed Tooth Far.

Shia smiled. The enthusiasm of the children was really heartwarming.

“You all think that princess Celestia is more interesting that her sister?” she asked them.

“Princess Celestia isn’t scary. She cares about us.” said Oaken Seed. “I like her.”

“But Princess Celestia didn’t help the children nor did she help her sister with the problem of the screaming. She too had no idea how to make it stop and thought, at the time, that it was how things had to be.” Shia explained with a smirk on her face.

“It’s not true! Princess Celestia knows everything!” responded Tooth Far.

“It is true though. And for months princess Luna kept on enjoying her night while trying to ignore all the screams she could hear, until one day, when she noticed there was a place where there were no screams at all.”

“Was it on the moon?” asked Moonlight.

“The moon didn’t exist at that time. And it wasn’t even a place you could go to. She had found the peace she was seeking into a dream, the dream of a filly just like you.” Shia said to Moonlight.

“Just like me?” the filly asked.

“Yes. And princess Luna began to come each night into the filly’s dream and never heard any scream. Intrigued, she decided to go see the filly in the real world, found her house and realized that the filly was sleeping with a lit lantern in her room. As she didn’t like the light of the lantern, she blew it and for the first time, she felt a shift into the filly’s dream. She went there and noticed a nightmare was forming. The princess escaped the dream and lit the lantern again, which made the nightmare disappear.
Princess Luna finally understood that the children were afraid of the night and she decided that every child in Equestria deserved to have her own lantern, beginning with the little filly that had inspired her to do so.
It took several tries, and a lot of hard work, but one night, as nopony could believe it, the darkness didn’t engulf all of Equestria, because there was something in the sky, something pale, something not quite like the sun, but something anyway that was providing light. Luna had convinced the unicorns in Canterlot to raise her moon in the sky until she would be able to do it herself and that night, she heard almost no screams at all.
But she wasn’t finished. She had promised she would give every child in Equestria her own lantern. She understood she couldn’t create as many moons as there are children in the whole land, so she decided to create the stars, which was way easier because they are tiny and she was able to raise them herself into the sky.”

Shia stopped talking and a long silence followed.

“Princess Luna created the moon for us?” asked Toothy, who had some difficulties to believe it.

“Yes she did.” confirmed Shia. “And she also comes whenever you are having a nightmare to make sure you are alright, because she cares deeply about each one of you, even if you rarely remember it.”

The children stood silent once again. This was all new to them. Luna had always been the mean princess, as malicious as her big sister was benevolent. They weren’t sure they could believe Shia’s story, but somehow, they wanted to. It was feeling safer. It was feeling warmer.

“I like Luna… I think.” said Gold Renette with a yawn.

“I like her too.” said Shia while looking at the moon the princess had achieved to create for the sake of her subjects. “I wish I could be like her.”

“But if that’s why princess Luna created the moon. Why did princess Celestia created the sun?” asked Moonlight.

Shia smiled, but knew it was time for them all to sleep.

“This is another story I promise to tell you later if you go to sleep now.” she told the little filly.

Moonlight would have liked to negotiate, complain, obtain to hear the story right away, but once again Shia’s voice did miracles and she wisely closed her eyes, her mind full of stars and the moon and a nice princess Luna that was looking out for her.

Shia went to each of the children, making sure they were ready to sleep, tucking them up, and, once certain that everything was alright, she exited the room went downstairs and decided, as she hadn’t been given a room to sleep in, to simply go to sleep right where she was, expecting to be dreaming of the princess of the night too, but finding only herself surrounded by the children, which was the sweetest dream she could have hoped for.