Bigger Than the Sun

by Lazauya

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Princess Luna
Length: 5636

What's bigger than the sun?

Twilight has a question for Celestia, which brings back unwanted memories for the solo monarch.

Something I've been lulling around in my head for a while.

Thanks Detective Sugar Glazing for pre-reading!

Published 2014-12-15 04:30:15 UTC
Last updated 2014-12-25 19:32:30 UTC

Incomprehensibly Huge

"Princess?" the purple filly asked her mentor, looking up to see the white alicorn's face.

"Yes, Twilight?" she replied. She hoped it wasn't going to be another philosophical question that had no answer that would sate the filly's appetite for knowledge. It always was, wasn't it?

"Can I ask a question?"

"I don't see why not."

The two stood atop the castle on a high balcony overlooking the orange coated land as the sun princess placed the unitary star out of sight below the horizon. The shadows were long and warped.

Twilight tried scuffing the perfect white marble of the platform with her hoof as she thought of way to ask her question without sounding dumb. "Uhm...."

"Come on, Twilight you can ask." Please don't be one of those questions.

"Okay... how big is the sun?"

"Wel—"

The easily excited unicorn cut her off. "I mean, I mean, there is a bunch of stuff that's bigger than the sun, like the moon, or there are things like mountains that are sooo much bigger, so... I mean.... And it looks so small, but when I try and use my magic on it nothing happens and I get really tired, so how big is it?"

Celestia waited for her student to finish before she responded; when she was sure her spiel was over, she answered. "Well, Twilight, the sun is very, very big."

"But why does it look so small?"

"That's because it's very, very far away."

"But... the moon looks bigger than the sun...."

"Ah, it is not. The moon is very big, but I can assure you it's not bigger than the sun."

"But... how big?"

"Hm.... what do I compare it to? Well, I guess you should start by thinking of the biggest thing you know. What is it?"

"Well... I saw this rock that was pretty big once.... Wait, no, the castle...."

"Is that it?"

"No! I mean, excuse me princess, I didn't mean—"

The mare shushed the filly. "It's quite alright, Twilight."

"I-I meant, the biggest thing is a mountain, yeah, that's the biggest thing I know of."

"Okay, Twilight, now try imagining eight mountains in a cube."

She closed her eyes in concentration, which made the princess stifle a giggle. "Okay."

"Now, take that cube of mountains, and make a cube of mountain cubes."

"Okay. Is that how big the sun is?"

"No, no. The sun, well...." She paused. "Let's go back to the mountain cube of mountain cubes. Keep on making mountain cubes, and after a million million mountain cubes, you'll have something as big as the sun."

"Whoa! I can't picture that!" She made a frown. "Sorry...."

"I can't picture it either, Twilight; nopony can."

"Really?"

"Yes. The sun is so big that I'm afraid that we will never be able to truly appreciate it."

"Oh, okay."

Wow, I dodged cannon fire. Thank heavens.

The two turned around and walked through the intricately carved arches. The mason truly did magnificent work, thought the princess.

"Princess... can I ask you another question?"

"Of course. What is it?" Here we go again....

"What's bigger than the sun?"

"Well..." She took a moment to interpret the question. I can think of one thing bigger than the sun.... "If you were to go back to the thought experiment with the mountain, and you took that sun-sized mountain cube, if you added another mountain to it, that'd be bigger than the sun."

"I mean... like, what's really bigger than the sun?"

She rethought the question. "I suppose, Twilight, the sum of everything is bigger than the sun. Everything you can see; the night sky, the things beyond the distant horizon, the soil under your hooves. If you add it all up, It's bigger than the sun."

"Oh...."

The two continued walking while the sun princess had a cynical thought. This is going to bite me in the rear later, I just know it.

The stars had come out, and the guards had changed shifts.

The sole-alicorn-of-the-land's personal student had taken some time to think about what her teacher had told her, and she had even more late-night questions than usual. The purple unicorn walked out the mess hall with her mentor after a lovely, quiet dinner. The food tasted wonderful, but the little filly had qualms that still left a bad taste in her mouth.

She looked up at the ruler, and asked her last question of the night with a grim expression. "Princess, if... if everything is bigger than the sun, why is it so important? Why I am I here when everything's so much bigger? Why do I have to do all this stuff?"

Celestia was visibly surprised at her student, and stopped in her tracks. "Whatever do you mean?"

The apprentice stopped and turned around with sorrowful eyes. "I just.... You said that everything is bigger than the sun, and that means it's not important right? I mean, if the sun's not the biggest thing, then it's not the most important, and so why am I here?"

"Twilight, where did this come from?"

"Earlier, when you said that the sum of everything is bigger than the sun... I don't know... it's not right...."

"Why is it not right?"

"Because now it just feel so pointless... I mean, there's just so much other stuff, and it's all bigger than this.... so why am I here?"

Celestia recognized these feelings, she herself having fallen victim to them more than she would like to admit. "I think you misunderstand me, Twilight. The world... it... it's just as important as anything else. I said nothing about importance."

"But—"

"Please, let me finish. Everything is huge. It's incomprehensibly huge."

"But, but... it's so big, and I'm here."

"And you're here. Are you happy here?"

"I mean, I was...."

"Then it does not matter."

"But why?"

"Because we are ponies: simple minded ponies. We cannot fathom the immensity of it all, and that's okay. We have our place. We try to understand everything, and we may get close, but it will never be complete.

"I'm not saying that you should not strive for greatness, but do not linger on these things. Twilight, I once thought the way you are thinking now, and I was close to running Equestria into ruin. Do not let these thoughts plague you."

"But I.... I'm missing out...."

"No, you are not, Twilight. You're not missing out. There are ponies that love you, you don't go hungry, you have a warm bed. Ponies want only these things. If they have these things, ponies are happy."

"But I don't like that...."

"Then, Twilight, don't think about it. I know it's terribly unorthodox, but that's the way it is."

Twilight silently pouted. The princess didn't understand....

"Twilight, please. I know it's hard; a lot of ponies realise something like this eventually. And they simply don't think about it. I said it earlier; I've had these thoughts before, and they are disheartening. Maybe they are even true.

"But don't think about it. Carry on, and be as happy as you possibly can. Be happy that you even have a place as mighty as you do. Think about how insects must feel."

"I... I'll try, princess. But I don't like it...."

"Again, Twilight, I understand. Just know that you do have a place. And Twilight? I don't know if it helps, but you are part of that sum, the sum that is bigger than the sun. You are bigger than the sun."

Twilight smiled. "Okay, princess."

Author's Note

Just something I threw together in... wow... an hour in a half.

Inconceivably Vast

A white, undressed head poked up into the dim, early twilight rays of light. She looked around, and grabbed a brush for her mane off the nearby dresser. She slipped out of bed onto four hooves.

Clutching the yellow spectrumed star from beyond the known, she lifted it up so it could start it's journey overhead to the west.

Stretching like a cat, she finished her morning routine and proceeded into the torch-lit hallway. At each arch stood two guards on either side, a precaution the young mare took after the latest... incident.

She met another, much darker alicorn in the dining hall, eating what almost looked like nightshade. 'Tis not nightshade, correct? the white one thought to herself, worried for the other.

Sitting down relatively close for a noble, she exchanged pleasantries with the younger sister.

The smaller one finished her meal, and went off to sleep, hopefully not forever.

Celestia sat in the silence of the hall, taking this opportunity to loudly and impolitely chew her food to spite the silly etiquette her sister had made her abide by. But she never did it when anypony was around. That'd be just rude.

She had no idea about what this day would entail. She never did, really. It was always so boring, if she was honest with herself. Being the co-ruler of a country had it's exciting moments, but it just wasn't as fun as she had dreamed it would be. Maybe, her life was just destined to be filled with long, boring hours of work or absolutely nothing whatsoever.

She swallowed her mouthful and looked down at her plate, contemplating it's content: a perfectly prepared omelet with sweet onions, peppers, mushrooms, four cheeses, basil, tomato; really just anything she wanted. She poked at it with a fork, ripping it open slightly. It looked delicious. But....

Why cannot we receive an item which we do not want? We would receive something unbefitting, or, we correct ourselves, very delectable, but we do not wish to eat it, so we send for another. And then the fine chefs bring out another item which they think we would find suitable, but again we reject it. We could repeat this process over and over again, until there are many dishes sitting around us. Finally, we could decide that we desired the first dish all along. The princess smiled at her uncouth and completely silly thought. Why would she even think that? Was it just a passing train of thought?

No, the princess knew it was not. She had thoughts and expectations like these for so long. It was filly-like, but she enjoyed her fantasies.

But even in her fantasies she did not feel sated. She felt a deep, almost primal yearning for something more....

But what? What was it she wanted so badly?

Freedom, she thought on a whim.

Was that it? Freedom? Was freedom her wish?

Freedom from what?

Freedom from... our life.

Yes. That was the answer. Freedom from this role she played. The world was so vast... inconceivably vast. Yet she was stuck here, doing this.

Her sister was content, was she not? Why did anypony need Celestiaq here? Her sister controlled bodies so much more distant than the star she touched, and yet she was barely given credit. The sun princess knew her own lies about how the common-ponies appreciated her sister, and was sure her sister knew them as well. So why should she herself receive all the credit, when her job was almost trivial compared to her sister's?

‘Tis silly. We are not required here. Our dear sister has been in the background for so long now. It is time for her to shine, and for us to leave. We do not require all this. Everything is so big, so why are we here? Why, truly? We don't know how to describe this, but it feel's so... pointless. Why must we squabble over pony problems... we are not the only ones in this realm!

We understand, her other voice told her.

We know thou dost. Thou art us.

She stopped agreeing with herself and made up her mind. She needed to get away from these trivial things.We are immortal, surely we of all beings are capable of understanding such things.

She stood up from her sitting position, and marched out of the hall to tell her sister about her magnificent ideas. She was certain her sister would agree.

She went forth into the long hallways and turned corners until she arrived at the night princess's chambers. Coming to the dark painted door, she reached up a hoof and knocked once. Having no reply, she reached up and knocked again. Still no reply. Is our sister sleeping? Maybe we should not bother her at this hour, and leave a note...

No, we cannot do this to our sister. To others, we will allow such to befall them, but not to our dear sister.

She was about to knock a third time when Celestia heard the knob turning. The door pushed inward to reveal a silhouette sitting upright on the bed. Luna kept her room dark to sleep during the daytime.

The younger one spoke, slightly annoyed at her sister's untimely intrusion. "Yes, may I help thee, dear sister?"

"Yes, sister. We... we must speak to thee about a matter rather...." She made an effort to find the fitting word.

"May I suggest 'serious'?"

"Yes, thank thee...."

"What may it be, then? We are sorry to be rude, but we were resting but a moment ago."

"Luna, dear sister, we wish to... leave. We wish to find ourselves. And we trust that thou can rule Equestria in our absence...."

"Whatever art thou saying? Thou cannot leave. Surely thou hast thought about the consequences of an action such as this?"

"Of course we have," Celestia said, lying.

"Then it should be obvious that this decision is far too rash and silly."

The older sister didn't respond, and instead lightly bit her bottom lip.

"Sister," Luna said, "Thou cannot do this. Thou canst not leave Equestria behind.... Ponies need thee here. Where didst thou receive these ideas from?"

"We... lately, we have been thinking about... things...."

"What kinds of things dost thou speakest of?"

"We have been... thinking about how pointless it is for us to be here. Luna, dost thou not want more praise for thine work?"

"We do, but this is not how we wish to achieve a higher status in the view of the common ponies. We do not wish thee gone, sister."

"What does it matter, though? We are both aware that thou art capable of running this land. There is no reason for us to not go...."

"Yes there is, sister!"

"What may it be?"

"Us! Thou would be abandoning us...."

"Tis not fair.... Thou dost not need us...."

"We do, even if the country does not. We need thee. Please, sister, do not go...."

"This... this was never about thee.... This was about us. We have come to realize that we need not squabble in pony problems. We are immortal. We are bigger than this."

"Sister, thou dost not understand.... In our dreams, we have seen a great many things. The world... everything... it is so big...."

"Yes, sister. It is unimaginably big: for mortals. We are immortal, sister. It is our destiny to understand everything."

"Thou art wrong. We do not know if we are immortal. And what if we are? Our psyche is surely no different than an average pony's. Do not let thine own power deceive thyself."

"We do not, but we just thought—"

"Thought what, that thine intelligence wert higher because of thine magic? Do not be silly.

"Sister, this is a bad idea. Dost thou not see why?"

"Yes, but... but... we still need to go forth with our plans! Thou shalt not hold us back!" Celestia ran out of the room and teleported away.

Luna ran after her, but was too late; he sister was gone, and Luna's eyes were wide. Did our sister just... leave? A princess... and she just... left....

Author's Note

Yep. I've had this done for a while now, so I thought I'd finally publish it. I want banners back....

Unfathomably Massive

The sun princess threw off her crown and shoes as she flew through the brisk morning air. The small tears that formed flew back into her eyes, forcing her to turn her head down and wipe them away. She thought her sister would be pleased to have her gone. Celestia had seen how sad Luna was at the Summer Sun Celebration. The ponies did not worship her sister like they did herself, and she was leaving the spotlight. Why would Luna decline such an offer? Her sister did not need her. She wanted to be a princess, but Celestia had realized the truth of it all. Celestia had realized that she did not want the frivolous and wasteful life being looked up to and relied upon by so many granted her. Celestia wanted to be as free as the universe itself, unbound by anything.

She had realized just this morning that it was her destiny to roam the land. She was immortal, others were not. Eventually, civilization would fall, and she'd be left without anypony anyway. Right?

The white mare continued flying into the low sitting sun as fast as she dared. Celestia wasn't an apt flier, and her sister was even worse.

"Thou wouldst be abandoning us...." The princess cringed at the memory. She didn't want things to contradict her beliefs.

The runaway forcefully shoved the thought out of her conscience by trying to overwrite it with a random tune she made up on the spot. It worked.

She had never been this far out to the east from her castle. She felt like a little filly finally being let into the woods to explore. It was exciting.

There is so much to this world of ours, and we have forever to experience it. This is freedom, this is living! This is truly what an immortal being such as ourself is meant to do. It is what we were created for.

She smiled at her pleasant, self gratifying thoughts. She always got along with herself so well. "Yes, we agree. It is so nice to be free. There is so much. What shall we experience first?"

"Maybe we should try licking the droplets of morning dew off a fresh leaf!"

"But what if we were to become ill?"

She paused for a moment. "What would it matter, really? This is a possibility, yes. But what if we do get sick? Will this not simply be something else we can experience to achieve a more enlightened state?"

The princess liked the phrase she supplied herself with. "We like this: 'enlightened state'. This is truly the essence of what we wish to achieve, no? Yes, we see thine point now; in fact, let us be sick. Make us be sick, why don't we?"

Celestia flew on a bit until she reached a clearing. The grass there was taller than she had ever seen, going almost a fetlock over her own head. The wispy foliage was still thriving too, and looked bright green to the point that Celestia thought it might have been capable of growing even taller.

Waiting a second to recuperate her energy, she sat down in the small field. It was peaceful there, and she wouldn't have to worry about anything, so long as she never went back to the castle. Really, she was still high off the excitement and scandal of leaving so suddenly and unexpectedly.

The sun was still quite low, and didn't even breach the peak of the mountain she was sitting in the shadow of. It was pleasant. The seasons were changing, but it was odd, Celestia thought to herself. She herself made this change happen, and it was almost... against nature. The fact that the cold set in part of the year, killed off the weak, let the trees rest, and rejuvenated the soil felt like a natural thing, but it wasn't. It was the opposite of natural: synthetic. Of course... the unicorns before her and her sister did the same thing... but did that make it natural? What really made something natural?

And really, aren't unicorns themselves natural, thereby making the things they do natural?

Celestia and most others would indeed classify the dam a beaver builds as "natural". So why then, was not the castle she used to live in not?

Was it reflective of the creatures self-awareness?

A beaver had a choice to build a dam. Some didn't even build dams. Did beavers see an unnaturality in their work, just as ponies did?

Do beavers squabble over pointless problems, like I once did? Thinking that made the princess feel a sense of deep pride.

No redundancy, now. No squabbling, no, no, no!

"No!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, testing her voice.

"Echo!" she said again, listening for the reverberations.

She smiled. It was so perfect, just being right there and then. We have no worries. This is freedom. We are free now to do what we wish. There is no disagreement here, only the single cadence of the universe.

Ah, and our only duty being to discover what lies beyond this mountain, and then the next.

"We feel that we should just sit here and wait."

"We are a fan of this idea."

"Yes, after all, do we not have eternity?"

"We do...."

"So let us just waste a little time; we have plenty enough."

"We see what thou meanst."

Celestia laid her head down in the grass. It itched a bit and a blade was close to getting in her eye, but she ignored it. She closed her eyes and fell into a nap.

The princess no doubt woke up on the wrong side of the prairie. One side of her was wet and chilly, whilst the other was hot and dry. It was a quite uncomfortable situation, to say the least. But she did not mind.

We have experienced something else. 'Tis magnificent.

She stood up and shook her body, trying to removed the moisture.

The ex-monarch looked up at sky, noticing that it was midday. Had she took a five-hour nap?

"Ah, lovely," she giggled.

She went about the edge of the clearing, looking at the forest around her. The closer she looked, the more foreign things seemed. She had... never seen the detail of a leaf so finely. It was... weird.

The bark of the tree shared the oddity of the leaf, and so did everything she gazed upon. The world was big, yes, but it's parts were unimaginably tiny....

And yet, she was focusing how much bigger it was. Odd.

This thought did not dawn on her, however. Ignorance is bliss, is it not?

The princess had never had any time to inspect the sky like she was now. It always pained her when her sister told her about an arrangement she was proud of, and Celestia was not able to view that night.

After examining all the technicalities of the already midnight blue east, Celestia finally looked over to the west. The twilight was still fading, but cosmic bodies could be seen with the lack of light pollution.

Granted that it was still early, the west seemed unusually dim compared to the east. The princess paid little heed to the subtly until she realised the cause. Luna had been doing this for most of the day hours, no doubt, as the moon was not even overhead yet. It stunned her, and she wanted to turn away, but the sky was all-encompassing. She made a compromise and headed for an overhang she spotted in her peripheral vision. She quickly sat down on her haunches and stared at the wall. Why would her sister do such a thing?

She turned around, hoping it was just a mis-sight; it was not. There, above horizon in west, were two words. COME BACK, it read in all capital letters. Her sister had spared no expense, too: it was made of all the brightest stars. Sailors were cautious that night, as not even the north star was spared. Celestia knew it was for her. Her sister was the only one besides herself who could shape the heavens at will.

Or... or maybe it wasn't... It couldn't be... No... it's.... Stupid night sky, We are seeing things....

The princess turned around and laid her head down on the loose dirt of the cave floor. She was happier like this, so why wasn't her sister?

We are free now, and Luna has Equestria to herself. Ponies can finally bask in the moonlight and see her. Is she that unhappy without us?

Maybe we should send her our own message.... But what, and how? And why?

"No, 'tis a stupid idea, truly."

She pouted. Why? The message was simple and clear cut. Her sister wanted her to come back. That was her last coherent thought before she fell asleep.

Unimaginably Big

For over a week, the princess of the night had been making small amendments to her message in the sky. First it had been to add "SISTER" at the end, then it had been a "PLEASE" in front, and then two days later she added "WE MISS THEE".

It became a little game for Celestia to guess as to what could be added.

The night sky consequentially became much more devoid, except for the neat constellation in the West.

Luna had also moved the polar stars back to their correct position, as to not hinder travel.

It was all so overwhelming for Celestia. After a week, the message that could not be unseen ate at her heart. It irked her that her sister still wanted her to come home. Or maybe she was just lazy and hadn't replaced the sky; the message hadn't changed that night.

Even in the daylight, the sun princess could not forget about what she saw in the evening. It was burned into her retinas, practically.

When Celestia fell asleep that night, she was greeted with an unfamiliar dream.

She looked over towards the horizon, but found none; instead, she could see forever, in all directions. The flatness of the land added to her disorientation.

"Where is the bookshelf?" she thought aloud.

The ground she was standing on was uneven, but it's equilibrium was most definitely a plane perpendicular to her own stance.

It was field, not unlike any she had seen before. There was nothing in the distance, though. It simply continued on forever.

It was a strange dream no doubt. It wasn't scary or stressful, but it was... eerie. She looked down at the ground, but instead of the usual, uncomprehending and probably blissful insects, all she found was... grass. This wasn't normal. There were bugs there, just a moment ago, and the princess knew it. Where had the bugs went? Were they crawling on her?

She turned around and looked on her back, and lo and behold... there were none. She was relieved. She hated bugs crawling on her.

She felt something on her thigh, and arched her neck down to see it. It was a blade of grass. It ticked her, and made her uneasy.

Then, crawling from the blade, unto her coat, she found a bug: a large, orange and black bug. There were so many bugs now that came from the grass.

The princess wanted to scream, but something kept her from using her voice. It was an awful feeling, truly, to be helpless with nopony around.

And just as it began, it stopped. She turned and saw a comforting face, just as she always had when the bugs crawled on her: her sister, Luna. Luna smiled at her sister, and her sister smiled back. It was perfect.

"Sister, thou art dreaming. There is no need to worry," said the midnight blue pony.

"What? What art thou speaking of, sister? The bugs were on us."

"Where art thou, then?" asked Luna. She knew her sister was not coherent. It was still funny to mess with her, though.

"We are in the field by the castle. The grass needed us to sing it a song, just as the birds do every morning," the white one said in a sing-song voice.

Her sister chuckled at the nonsense. It was just so fun messing with her sister in a delusional state.

"We were about to sing our song, until thee showed up. What art thou doing in the field, Luna?"

"We wished to speak to thee after all this time apart..." she said longingly. Luna then used her magic to “awarify” her sister, as she liked to call it.

"What...? Luna, what art thou doing here?..."

"It has taken us so long, sister. But have found thee. We wish to speak with thee."

"And? Get on with it..." Celestia said reluctantly.

"Dost thou seest this place?"

"Yes?"

"'Tis not of thine own mind, sister. 'Tis of ours."

"What be thine point?"

"Sister, dost thou knowest what is special about this place? Look into the distance."

"...There is no true horizon. Again, what is thine point?"

"Dost thou knowest why there is no horizon?"

"Because... the plane is flat...?"

"Thou art correct."

"We fail to see thine point, sister."

"Yes... what would happen if thou went in that direction, and thou never stopped?" Luna pointed her hoof some miscellaneous may.

"Then, we suppose, thou would reach the end," she quickly correct herself, "We mean, we mean, thou would go on forever."

"Yes, and would thou ever be able to explore that direction in eternity?"

"Well, of course! It would take an entirety, though."

"Yes. So then is it possible to explore that direction as well as that direction?"

"Well... I mean...."

"The answer is no, sister. If thou went in one direction, attempting to explore it, and thou could not turn back, thou willst only know one direction."

"We still do not see thine point, sister...." But she did. She knew exactly where her sister was going with this, and she did not like it.

"Sister, is it not obvious? Thine mission is silly! Thou cannot know everything, so stop trying! Even if thou couldst explore the universe, thou cannot explore the infinitesimally small, no matter what the circumstances.

"Please, sister, come back to us! No, to me; come back to me. We cannot do this without thee. Please, sister!"

Luna's pleads took a chisel to Celestia's heart and threatened to shatter it completely after Luna had already cracked it with her star banner. She couldn't take it, and began to get defensive. "'Tis not about thee or some silly quest for knowledge... it's about us, and... me, being happy. We are not happy... I mean, I am not happy."

"No, sister, thou spoke correctly the first time. We are not happy, neither one of us."

"'Tis because thou art pestering us! We do not need thee! This is not thine problem, it is ours! Go away and rule the kingdom, thou... thou... idiot!"

Luna scoffed, but still tried to keep her demeanor. "That was... uncalled for, sister. We only want thee back, with us. Please. We love thee deeply, and it pains us that thou cannot be here, where thou belongs."

"How dost thou knowest where we belong?"

"Because the kingdom is failing without thee, sister! Please, the ponies do not trust us. How could thou hast thought they would? They still hate our night, and now they suspect us of treason because of thine absence! Is that what thou wanted? Is it? Tell me."

"'Tis not...."

"Then come back, please...."

Celestia did not reply.

"Please, sister. We cannot live without thee. Please. We plead with thee."

Again, Celestia did not reply.

"If... if we admit thou art right, willst thou return? Please?"

Her sister was usually unusually stubborn, so Celestia knew Luna was desperate. Without this dialogue, though, even in the dreamscape, Celestia saw it on her face. She was worried and sad. Worried for... her. Luna was worried for her. And Celestia wanted to help Luna, too. "We... we…” Celestia stammed.

"Please?"

"Yes."

Luna swallowed. "Thou art not lying?" she asked, hesitantly.

"Yes.... We will return—for thee—sister."

"Are we dreaming?" Luna joked, slightly ruining the moment.

Celestia chuckled. "We will return, we promise, sister. We are sorry that we have hurt thee, it was stupid. We see that now."

"Thank thee, sister, thank thee. Can we... fix the sky, now? Art thou really coming back?"

"Yes, sister, we promise. We will return."

"When can we expect thee back?"

"We think it to be only a few days. Do not worry, we will not lie to thee."

Celestia walked over and hugged the younger sister, to which she responded in the same manner.

After several long moments, they stepped out of the hug.

"We will wait for thee," was the last thing Celestia heard before she woke up with a start.

She only remembered bits a pieces of her dream, but the message was clear. She needed to go home.

Author's Note

If Luna hadn't said that you couldn't turn back, the obvious solution to the "exploration" problem mentioned above is to spiral outward, but Luna was just trying to get her point across. Of course, there are infinities which cannot be listed, such as listing all the decimals (known as uncountable infinities), but that's a little hard to visualize. (aka I'm too lazy to think of a physical analogy)
I guess you could say that, technically, spiraling is cheating or improper, as your "center" is not actually going to occupy every space on the plane after infinite time, but who cares, honestly? Besides, that kinda falls in with listing the decimals, so... I don't even know anymore, do what you want with it!
Ugh... I hate ad hoc stuff.

And, wow, this took a far different turn than I was expecting... so... uh... sorry?