Luna walked into her personal bed chambers and closed the door behind her. She was exhausted. Today was the Winter Solstice, her birthday, and as always, the royal Bitrhday Party had gone on for far to long in Luna's opinion. Most of it was hardly a party, but an excessively long ceremony, however Pinkie Pie had managed to make the little party time a blast.
Luna had wanted to open the presents she had received, but she had to start her night court soon. Luckily, she didn't have to open millions of presents and letters like she had to before she was banished, as a law had been passed so that the princesses would receive only one large present from each city or town.
There was a knock at the door to her chambers. "Enter," said Luna. Luna turned towards the door as it opened and she smiled as her guard, and friend, Shadow the Hedgehog walked in.
"Hey Luna," said Shadow in his deep, quiet voice.
Shadow was wearing navy blue armor, the standard issue color for Luna's night guards. "Please, remove thine armor Shadow, there is no need for formalities at this time," said Luna.
Shadow took off the armor and set it next to Luna's nightstand. He then walked to a window and looked out at the night. "You've outdone yourself again, Luna," said Shadow.
Luna walked over to Shadow and looked out the window with him. "But of course, tis our birthday," said Luna.
Shadow and Luna didn't talk for a few minuets, and just looked out the window at Luna's hoof work. Shadow broke the silence. "You made a new one."
Luna turned to Shadow. "A new what?" asked Luna.
Shadow pointed to a group of visible on the right side of the castle observatory. "There, you made a new constellation, a train I think," said Shadow.
Luna's eyes widened a little. "How did thou find it so quickly, we only created it this very night!"
"I used to make up constellations of my own on the ARK to pass the time, guess I still have some of my skill from then," said Shadow.
"Does thou wish to see more?" asked Luna.
Shadow nodded.
"Come, we shall show thou the greatest stargazing spot in all of Canterlot," Luna charged her horn with a blue magical glow, and her and Shadow disappeared in a flash of light.
They reappeared on the roof of the castle observatory. All of the sky was visible, except the area behind the mountains Canterlot was built on, and the city stretched out below them, with Ponyville a dot just under the horizon. "Tis a better view, is it not?" asked Luna as she sat down on the roof.
Shadowed nodded and sat next to Luna. He and Luna felt the cool breeze that always blew at Canterlot's high altitude, but it did not bother them, two friends, stargazing together. Shadow looked over at Luna, seeing the puffs of white mist as Luna exhaled in the cold air. Shadow actually had to squint to see the edge of Luna's mane, since it blended in with the night sky, and the stars were reflected in Luna's blue eyes. Another silence broke out, much longer than the first one.
Luna looked up at her moon. She always had mixed feelings whenever she gazed at it. She felt sense of pride whenever she new she had placed it exactly where she wanted it in the sky, but she also felt a sense of anger with herself for allowing her jealousy send her there for a thousand years. Luna's eyes began to tear up at the thought of her banishment, not being here with her sister, not being able to celebrate her birthday with her for a thousand years.
"You ok?" asked Shadow when he saw Luna's tears.
"We are remembering our last birthday before...," said Luna.
"I know, it must be one of the last happy events before you were banished," said Shadow.
"Nay, our last birthday party is something we do not wish to remember, after what we said to our sister that night," said Luna.
"Why?" asked Shadow.
"We, we," Luna began to cry. "We said that we wished we were not related!"
Luna was fully crying now, with rivers of tears flowing form her eyes, dripping onto the roof were she sat, and flowing down into the rain gutter. Shadow put his hand on Luna's shoulder to comfort her.
Shadow sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry I brought this up," Shadow began to rub Luna's back.
Luna cried for a minuet or so before she calmed down, her eyes dried out from her tears and her nose running. "Tis alright Shadow, thou did not know," She sniffed.
"Still, I'm sorry," said Shadow.
Luna and Shadow sat silently again. After a little while Luna felt her eye lids become heavy and she had a need to close them. Luna let out a long yawn.
"I know your tired, but I want to show you something, it may even give you some energy," said Shadow.
Luna yawned again. "Very well, what does thou wish to show us?"
Shadow took Luna's hoof in his hand. "Hold on," said Shadow.
Suddenly, seven colored gems appeared an began to circle around Luna and Shadow. Luna was blinded by a flash of gold light, and then she felt a huge surge of magical energy go though her, similar to how she felt when she used the Elements of Harmony on Discord. Luna opened her eyes after the flash and everything was a blur. She felt a strong wind rushing by her, and then nothing at all.
Luna's head was spinning, her vision blurred. As her eyes refocused she saw Shadow in front of her, but his fur was colored gold, not its usual black, and he had a slight smile on his face. Luna put her hoof to her head because of her head ace, but she then noticed that her coat her turned gold as well.
Luna looked around, and her mouth fell open in shock. Luna saw her stars and moon, but they felt closer, and Equestria was far below her, so far that she could see the curve of the planet.
"Happy Birthday Luna," said Shadow.
"Shadow, how, how are we not?" said Luna.
"Dead? I used the Chaos Emeralds to turn us into super forms and take us up here to truly see your night," replied Shadow.
"Tis the reason we are gold?" asked Luna.
Shadow nodded. Luna flapped her wings to fly over to Shadow, but they did nothing. "Flying in a super from takes concentration, and your wings won't work in space, so you will have to learn," said Shadow.
Luna concentrated on moving, and slowly, but surely, she moved over to Shadow and hugged him, wings and all. Shadow returned Luna's embrace. "You have given us a gift we could have never dreamed of in all of our life, thank you Shadow," said Luna.
Luna began to feel sad again as she looked around while hugging Shadow. She remembered seeing the stars like this, but on the dusty surface of the moon, while plotting her revenge. She remembered looking down at the planet, imagining Canterlot and all of Equestria under the banner of Nightmare Moon. "We wish to return to Canterlot," said Luna solemnly.
"What? Why? I thought you would like this," said Shadow.
Luna looked at the moon and sighed. "We do enjoy this experience, however, it makes us remember being trapped here,"
Shadow broke away from Luna and put his hands on her shoulders. "Luna, your not trapped here like before, you have the freedom to go wherever you want up here, you can go to the moon and back, you can shift your stars while being with them, your can look down at the world that sees your night and remember that of the millions of ponies and other creatures, there are always some that love what you create,"
Luna's eyes began to water again. "Thou art correct, we do have freedom in our night now, and there are citizens of Equestria who do love our work, but Shadow, thou art the one who has shown us how to see that, and have been our closest friend, we do not know how to repay you,"
"You already have, by being my friend," said Shadow.
"Shadow, you have never shown so much compassion with anypony, why is it that thou chooses to show it to us?" asked Luna.
Shadow sighed and closed his eyes. "Because, you are most likely the only one in the universe who could understand what I've been through,"
Luna hugged Shadow again. "We feel the same about you,"
"There's something many people on my world would call us," said Shadow
"What would it be?" asked Luna.
"Soul mates, two people who seem to be destined for each other," said Shadow.
"We would agree with that description, would thou?" asked Luna.
"Yes," said Shadow.
Shadow and Luna drifted in space, embraced in a hug until Shadow felt a slight drop in the power of his super form. "We should head back before our super forms run out," he said.
Luna let go of Shadow. "The last one to Canterlot shall be considered a rotten apple," Luna declared, before speeding back towards Equestria.
"Alright, so she wants a race, she will have one," Shadow thought before speeding after Luna.
