At the first sight of the Castle of the Two Sisters, Princess Celestia almost broke down.
She had seen the Castle built. She had laid the first cornerstone herself; had hewed it out of rock with her Earth-Pony strength; had soared up to its topmost turrets morning upon morning to awaken the dawn. But even more so, she'd felt her sister there beside her. And now - now, when everyone expected her to be at the celebration to raise the sun - she was here, instead, to meet Luna.
But not as sisters should meet.
It would be battle.
Not a real battle. Even had Celestia been able to lift her hooves or lower her horn against her sister, now, after a thousand years, it would have availed naught but to cast all Equestria into ruin! Rather, she was here to distract Luna, to make her think she'd already conquered, to lure her into playing games which would awaken friendship in the Bearers she had carefully-chosen and lead them to the Elements. It was Harmony which would set everything right, as always, and she - Celestia -
She couldn't bear it anymore.
A peal of magic rang out across the cosmos like a trumpet-blast! The stars were falling to the Moon, pulled in after a thousand years of spiraling guard!
And an answering blast came from the Moon, like an arrow shot straight down to Equestria. Celestia raised her head to the heavens, knowing it would strike here, where the Elements had cast Luna into her prison. She could see the dark masses gathering in the courtyard in front of her, the whisps of smoke and magic gathering into Luna's blue mane (oh, how long it had been since she saw it last!), her jet-black hide of full Nightmare -
- And then Luna crumpled to the ground.
Celestia ran to her. Decoy or not (as her tactical sense reminded her, irritatingly), she couldn't help it.
But Luna didn't rise. She struggled to lift her head as Celestia galloped up, fixed her Nightmare-red eyes on her sister for a moment - and then fell to the ground, unconscious.
****
"And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."
But the stage was empty.
"This *can't* be good," groaned Twilight Sparkle, pawing the floor, waiting for the disaster her books had prophesied.
"Remain calm, everypony -" the mayor started.
But the white unicorn's neigh overwhelmed him. "She's GONE!" The crowd gasped; the blue pegasus reared into the air. (Twilight hadn't bothered to remember her name either.) Twilight readied a teleport spell in case it turned into a stampede. Was this how Nightmare Moon was going to strike - turn the crowd into chaos without even showing up herself?
Just as it was teetering on the edge of disaster, a Royal Guard galloped onto the stage. "Ponies! Everything is fine!"
The crowd hesitated at the well-known authoritative voice. Even Twilight felt something - a small part of her, but still something - relax at some sight she'd seen before in Canterlot.
"No, it's *not* fine," she whispered. "Princess Celestia is Harmony-knows-where! Nightmare Moon is about to come -"
Spike sighed but didn't say anything.
"Come where?" demanded the pink party pony, suddenly in Twilight's face. (What was her name? Pink Balloons?) "Come here to Equestria? Oh - oh! If she can come here, then I can give her a party and she won't be such -"
Twilight facehoofed. The worst villain in a thousand years was about to attack them all, and this insane pony wanted to give her a party?
Fortunately, the Royal Guard chose that moment to continue. "Everything is fine; the princess has been called away to Canterlot by urgent business, but she will raise the sun in -"
The sun soared over the horizon, as if Celestia was making up for lost time. Everyone cheered. Even the pink pony was looking even happier, as if that were possible.
"- right now. And Princess Celestia wishes for us to continue the celebrations - let the music begin!"
Somepony Twilight hadn't met struck up an incomprehensible aural assault. For some reason, the ponies around her all seemed to enjoy it. She shook her head and started walking to the door.
"What's going on?" Spike asked. "Isn't this a good time to make some friends, like Celestia told you to do? Look - Rarity's over there at the punch!"
Twilight glanced over and saw the same white unicorn who had started the near-stampede, and who had insisted on doing up her mane yesterday. "No, Spike!"
"But she told you -"
"This's a crisis! Nightmare Moon's returned; Princess Celestia must be in Canterlot fighting her! I need to get to the Princess!"
Spike sighed as Twilight burst out the door and broke into a gallop.
***
Princess Celestia's mane was dimming.
She didn't care.
There wasn't anyone to put on a show for, now.
There was just her, and her sister.
Luna. Still black as the nightmare, but weaker than a newborn filly. She was lying in Celestia's own bed now, horn constantly flaring as if trying to gather magic to do something. Celestia's sudden relief - there would be no need for war - had only turned to sorrow of a different sort.
She lifted up a strand of her mane to wipe away more tears. It was starting to look pink now, for the first time in centuries. Luna was probably the only other pony alive who had seen it pink before.
"How can I heal you now, sister?" she said aloud. "What did the Nightmare do to you?"
Luna's horn glistened again, as if she was trying to conjure up something in answer.
"What did I do to you?"
If only she had noticed earlier, before Harmony had been forced to choose between Luna and all Equestria. If only she had noticed many things earlier.
"I did try to go to the moon myself, once. Nine hundred years ago. It was cold. Bitter."
She had felt how bitter the moon was, with the Nightmare sprawled all across it. Food was absent. Air was absent. In its place - always floating just at the edge of her senses - were shadows far worse than any cast by sun or stars. She had teleported back before a day had passed, but it had still taken a full week to recover.
But Luna had survived a thousand years. Somehow. She wished again there had been some other way, something else she could have done... but she'd been wishing that a thousand years, and found nothing.
"The Elements of Harmony," she whispered. "The Elements of Harmony... They were supposed to heal you, dear sister. Of the Nightmare, and of the moon. But my Bearers aren't ready yet!"
There was a knock on the door. Celestia whirled her head. Only a very few ponies would dare disturb her now. After a moment's thought, she teleported through the door without opening it.
A surprised castle steward bowed. "Your Serene Highness - Twilight Sparkle requests to see you. At once." Pause. "She says she's drawn up war plans for your review - is there...?"
"No. No war, Bonnie Meadows, no war." Twilight was here, at least, as enthusiastically overprepared as usual. She'd figured out so much, but not quite enough... "Does she have anyone else with her?"
"No, just Spike. No other ponies."
Celestia teleported back through the door immediately, before Bonnie could see her collapse. She fell down next to the bed, weeping as she hadn't wept in a thousand years, muzzle and pink mane spread all over her sister's form. For Twilight, who had galloped off from friendship without even knowing what she'd missed. For Equestria, without Harmony to lead it. But most of all, for Luna - without the Elements, how could she now be healed?
Author's Note
Not my first fanfiction, but my first MLP story.
Inspired by this prompt on /r/MLPWritingPrompts. A shorter version of this story was posted there.
Cover art by FloppyChiptunes on DeviantArt; used with permission.
