The darkest depths of night were Luna’s domain. She breathed in the night air, fresh and crisp. She had always found that the sun added a stale odour. The night air was cold and nippy, keeping Luna alert as she patrolled the sky through the telescope located on the top of the royal palace. A bright sky above her was lit by a thousand stars. Meteors and comets trailed through the sky on their journeys, some falling to the ground. There they would remain, sitting idly in their craters until some inquisitive pony came and took them back home.
The Everfree Forest had all the sounds of the night. Crickets took over after the cicadas went to bed, and there was the trot of midnight hunters constantly on the prowl. This domain, the empire of the night, this was Luna’s. She often wondered why nopony joined her in this precious time. They all slept through her lovely dark, but played and enjoyed her sister’s glorious day. Luna wasn’t jealous, she knew her role and she kept raising the moon each night and lowering it when the rosy fingers of dawn grabbed at the inky sky, but the question still tore at her mind.
Her vision blurred as she let herself fall into the world of dreams. An electric tingle ran down her spine as she passed through the boundaries that bordered the dreamworld. Huge cast iron gates threw shadows of bars and intricate metalwork. The designs that hung between rungs were both fascinating and repulsive, angels and demons of sleep. Only few could enter through, Luna one of a select. She had often seen the other beings that roamed here, some vile and evil, others tended to the crops of thought and ambitions.
The gates themselves were a mystery to Luna. The designs inlaid in the metal, and woven in the space between bars moved in her vision, and crawled over the grey gates. Luna knew not their purpose, or their designer, but they served as a powerful reminder of some of the consequences of being in the dreamworld. Hinged across two marble pillars that were topped with green eldritch fire, the gates were permanently cast in a sickly green light, causing Luna’s stomach to turn on particularly dark nights. The gates rose in an arch to meet each other at the top, only a few metres above Luna’s mane. But nopony could fly in this place of grey, clouded ground, and endless walls that stretched to the brink of imagination.
It was almost like a graveyard, or a tribute to the dead. But the souls that came here after night fell were very much alive. Like small orbs of light, they were held from floating into the dark sky by thick iron-wrought chains. Luna could see the light that shone from them even while on the other side of the gate. Their light didn’t blind her as the Suns did, but it beckoned her. The glow of a warm hearth in a cold winter, or the shine of a lantern in an abandoned tunnel.
Luna slowly pushed open the gates, which swung inwards with oiled creaks. She dreaded the day that they didn’t move at her touch. The dreamworld was her domain, and she loved it here. The calm and noiseless silence moved her in ways the pony world could not. She would never stay here for more than a night though, for while it was peaceful here, there was always a shadow over your shoulder, a movement just behind you. A pony could never be fully comfortable here, like a loose spring in an otherwise perfect bed.
As Luna entered the Forest of Souls that lay beyond the gates, she peered into each orb as she passed by. She recognised some of the dreamers from back in Equestria, most were unfamiliar to her. But, like she did on nights where no nightmares required her attention, she went straight to the empty orbs.
There were three of them, in a neat little row. Each one was black as pitch, and were always empty. The first had appeared very early on in written Equestrian history. It was Discord’s, the evil Draconequus who had plotted to turn all of Equestria into a madhouse. Locked in a permanent stone casing, he could never sleep. Luna dreaded to think what such a grotesque being even dreamt about.
The second was hers, as Luna never dreamt either. It was a drawback of being the only pony who could enter into the dreamworld. She could enter other’s dreams, but never have her own. This was one of the reasons she and her dear sister Celestia wrote everything down in their diary. An inability to dream sometimes left Luna with temporary memory loss. She longed to look into her orb one day, to find it white and glowing, but knew with a dread that this would never be the case. She was a moderator and an overseer, but could never see herself. A blind guide, a deaf listener, a mute speaker.
This was why she always made such an effort to be personable with ponies. Her sister went about being the regal, untouchable ruler of Equestria, but Luna could not do so. She was trapped in a dance with wake and sleep. She could see what ponies dream of, so she had little option but to be as direct and personal as she was.
The third orb had always been a mystery to her. It had appeared before Discord’s imprisonment, and was also the most mysterious. Inside the dark orb, Luna could see four smaller white stars rotating slowly. She had stared at this one for hours on end, but it never changed. Even Celestia, who Luna had told, had little idea as to which pony it belonged to. Luna sighed. As much as she loved this place, it was time to leave. She felt the presence in the corner of her vision grow stronger, so she trotted over back to the gates, passing by all the other dreamers as she went.
As she crossed back over the threshold, Luna risked a small glance back at her beloved kingdom of dreams.
-+- 1000 YEARS LATER -+-
Luna knelt in the courtyard of the castle, weeping. It was night, cold and calm. The danger had passed, and the evil was gone. No longer did thoughts of jealous fury and righteous hatred surge through Luna’s sinew, no longer was her face and mind disfigured by the years of rage. Celestia, her comforter, stood the merest pace from her side, letting Luna release her sadness and regret. Luna cried, and shuffled closer to her sister, wishing for peace. When peace didn’t come at Celestia’s flank, Luna reached out with her latent magic, accessing the dreamworld.
A melancholic zap of electricity arced down her spine as she crossed the borders of the dreamworld. Standing at the gates, the tears that reflected the green glow fell. Luna raised a trembling hoof, gently pushing at the iron gates. Usually light and oiled, the gates that lonesome night creaked in protest and refused to move.
“No.”
Luna pressed a second hoof to join the first, one on either side, but still the gates didn’t open. Her mouth soured, still remembering her frightened sobs and anguished cries. How close she was from releasing those again.
“No.”
Refusing to accept the certainty that lay before her, she heaved her body, using her full weight to strain against the bars. The iron steadfastly and stubbornly walled, not moving.
“No!”
Her voice rose. Her heart did also. The dreaded night had come at last.
“NO!”
“Luna?”
Her sister’s voice broke the spell, sending her mind back into her young body. Again, floods broke the banks of her eyes, and Luna pressed her face against the fur of Celestia. It was warm and soft, and through it Luna felt the steady beating of Celestia’s heart. A heart that had wept for one thousand years.
If only Luna’s had also. She felt that sadness was infinitely preferable to the anger and hatred that her own heart had experienced. How selfish she was, and had been. Had she changed that much that now instead of thinking of her sister, she focussed on her own pain?
“Luna?” said Celestia, in a quiet, calming voice.
“Celestia, I am so, so sorry.”
“All is forgiven. What is the matter?”
“I couldn’t do it… The gates, they would not open for me.”
“Do not worry, sister. We can find a way, together, you and I.”
-+- 1000 YEARS BEFORE -+-
The sun rose magnificently over the deep horizon, purest white beams illuminating the skies, turning nights black into the wonderful crystal blue of day. And as much as Luna loved the night, she couldn’t help but admire the beauty of her sister’s lovingly-crafted day. Soon the sun rose completely, and its radiant gaze slunk away the shadows, and Luna retreated back into the castle.
The Castle of the Two Sisters was only small compared to some, but for the Sky Sisters, it was their home, and they relished in all the hidden care and love hammered into the brickwork. They had built it themselves many years ago, far too long ago to count, and too long for even Celestia to remember well. The long main reception chamber was darkened today, for Luna was receiving the public during the daily course.
She walked along the rich carpet, a thick red that was befitting of any royal line. Red thread symbolising royalty was a tradition that had come from before even the founding of Equestria, all the way to the ancient unicorn royal bloodline, where most of the regal traditions had come from. Although the other two pony races had a huge say in the affairs of the court, and hence the weekly public receptions by at least one of the Sky Sisters.
Luna’s stone throne was like a cold hug after a summer day – the right kind of feeling, and as she sunk into the cushions, Luna realised that it must feel the same way for her elder sister, Celestia. Did Celestia really appreciate the cold the same way Luna did? Surely the sister of the sun was far more used to the warm of the day.
The thought was swept from her mind as the first few came through the entrance, each oaken door flanked by a Lunar Guard, while on the other side, two Celestial guards ushered the crowds through. Luna sat comfortably, and waited on the first few.
A zebra was first through, a thick queue forming behind him. The glyph on his hide swirled as he stepped forward. It was rather rare to find zebra with glyph markings now. The tribes had started to disband, sadly, so youngsters slowly drifted away from elders. Luna had witnessed a tribe become separated over the love of two of their yearlings, and she had wept. The zebra, she knew, used to be a proud race, however in only a hundred years’ time, she had become unsure of their future.
“Greetings sister of the night, I have come with news of a great plight,” said the zebra, in the rhyme that zebras used when not speaking amongst themselves in their own language.
“We will be most honoured to help,” Luna replied, peaking her chin.
“The stars have fell in our great tribe, and some fear that it will imbibe,
the town, and so I speak in hurried rhyme, because we zebra may not have much time.”
After digesting the lengthy, and rapidly spoken rhyme, Luna felt her breath hitch. The time since stars had fallen was a time recorded only through the Sky Sisters’ memories and the writings of ancient scholars. Meteors landed periodically, but only when the great wizard Starswirl the Bearded had been born did a star fall from the heavens. Great powers must be at work within the nation.
Pulling aside a guard, she instructed that he tell Celestia of her location, before extending her great wings and taking flight. Swooping over the crowd assembled, Luna soared into the open skies. Following her in swift hoofsteps was the zebra chief. As Luna picked up speed, the zebra reached into a flank-pouch, and withdrew a vial of potion. After drinking the entire flask, the zebra ran with the speed of all four winds, faster and faster so that Luna had to work hard to keep pace.
“What is your name?” Luna couldn’t keep think of him as ‘the zebra’.
“Thornunculous. I am serious.”
If she were Celestia, Luna would have queried whether the name was Thornunculous or Serious. However, Luna was far less tricksome than her sister, she realised. Still light-hearted though, proven when Luna replied, “It does sound slightly ridiculous.”
“Is that supposed to make me cantankerous? I shall take your words in a manner chivalrous.”
“Do you have any other rhymes for us?” Luna said in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“I believe that I am at a loss. My lack of wit is atrocious.”
Luna laughed, both at the situation and the joke. The countryside behind her was swept away like paint on a grand canvas, swirling and distorting with speed. As she flew, the wings flicked the edges of her feathers, cooling and invigorating her. Flying was such a wonderful feeling, incomparable to any other emotion. When flying, it was as if a sixth sense took over, and the journey was experienced in a vivid technicolour dream. Images flashed past with each wing beat, the rhythm of her flight imprinting them on her memory.
Thornunculous kept pace with the flying alicorn, occasionally glancing to his left to check whether she was alright. Luna found herself wondering what he saw. Was it an enemy of his nation he found in the navy coloured pony? It was no secret that the sisters had been tough on zebra aggressors during the early years of Equestria’s establishment, but that had been necessary. Or did he simply see her for what she was: a tall, dark alicorn who had outgrown the coat of her youth, the stars swirling in her long and ethereal mane and tail?
Was that what Luna saw herself as?
Was that what she was?
-+- 1000 YEARS LATER -+-
“Who am I, Celestia?”
Luna turned her head as she said these wordsl. Examining her body, which had regressed back to the bright blue of her youth. It was embarrassing to see herself this way, she knew that she had brought this upon herself.
“You are the Alicorn of the Night, Luna. But you are also my sister. Never forget those two things.”
“Of course, sister.”
There was a long pause.
“Celestia?”
“Luna?”
“I am sorry for what I did.”
Celestia’s laugh was warm and rich, and made Luna blush.
“As you have said. I have run out of hoofs to count how many times.”
“It’s just, I used to be so proud of my appearance when I looked like this, do you remember?”
It was a very long time ago. They were both small fillies, and Celestia had that wonderful pink colour to her hair that looked perfect no matter what she did to it. Luna, on the other hand, had spent hours every morning fussing over her hair, and at the slightest disturbance, had to brush a hoof across its surface, ensuring it stayed in place. Starswirl would come stomping down the stairs in his oblivious way, and the maid would snort at his disobedience of common courtesy, but Luna would simply flick a hoof across her hair nonchalantly. They all had their little peeves. Celestia even had one.
All her books, which were stacked high in little bookcases across the room, had to be in colour order. They just had to be in order of the rainbow. Luna had to admit it was a fairly breathtaking sight, to see all these books spread across the room like a huge mural.
Luna remembered all of this, and felt even more ashamed, as if she had taken all of the books and thrown them into the night by becoming the monster she had. Celestia took a hold of Luna and stared at her square in the eye.
“I do.”
Luna took a deep breath.
“Well, I don’t feel like that anymore. I feel so, so wrong in this body. It isn’t mine. I’m just sorry. I haven’t been in the right body for a thousand years.”
“Well, I finally have my sister back. I do not care what or whose body she is in, but I finally have her back with me.”
Celestia wrapped Luna closer, with her front hooves and her wings, a snug and loving hug.
-+- 1000 YEARS BEFORE -+-
Within an hour, they had reached the settlement. It was quite small, constructed of wooden shacks that stood upon brick stilts. Those were presumably to protect against the floodwaters of the nearby river. It practically ran through the village; a few short planks extended across the river as means of passage. They reached the beams, and crossed swiftly, water gushing beneath their hooves. Even from there, it was starkly obvious.
The crater had been formed a few paces away from any of the buildings, and it was just as well. The township didn’t seem as though it could withstand a gentle breeze, let alone the impact of a meteorite. A black char circle was round the centre of the crater, like burnt wood. Thornunculous led the way, but the signs of anxiety were pulled across his taut face. Slowing to a trot, he quietly advanced upon the crater. Luna landed softly, and stayed respectfully behind, knowing that while in the town, it was zebra law she followed.
As they neared the outer boundaries of the near-perfect circular cut, Thornunculous raised a hoof to stop. For the second time, he took out a potion from his flank-pouch, this one green and dark. With the bottle uncorked, he poured the liquid in a thick circle in the ground. Almost at once, the dirt within the circle seemed to shake momentarily. Thornunculous quickly stepped inside the circle, which was barely large enough for him. Luna, who had not seen much of the famed zebra spells, stared in anticipation.
Keeping balance in the small circle, Thornunculous glanced at his feet. Beneath him, the ground was shaking, and his knees wobbled dangerously for a moment. With a thick wrenching noise, the entire circle of dirt beneath him lifted gently into the air, and he rose along with it, keeping balance with the skill of a master. Luna beat her wings to join him, and they hovered for a moment, before Thornunculous leant gently forward, easing the dirt platform into movement.
Luna followed, and soon they were flying directly over the centre of the crater. A collection of zebra had gathered behind them, eager to see what the strange out-of-towner and the chief were doing. A mother gathered her twin babies closer to her side, each one snug in a woven woollen flank-pouch. A few teenagers kicked small rocks into the crater, which had to be around ten paces across. It seemed the whole town had come.
If it really was a star that had fallen, Luna knew that far, far more ponies would flock to see it. A fallen star, rumoured to be wish-granting and magical. Imagine that in a museum or trophy cabinet. That was where the practice of wishing on shooting stars had come from. If you kept on wishing, sometime, it might actually be a real star one day.
“I am told that you are quite knowledgeable about the sky. Can you tell us about this here star, how it could fall, and why?”
“Stars,” Luna began, “are all unique. Some have been up there in space for years, millennia, and some arrived just last week. Part of my role as princess of Equestria is to arrange them in the sky, and keep them in good health.”
“So when night holds a constellation, we can thank you for that creation?”
“More or less, yes. I do not make stars, just move them.”
Luna was so curious and excited about the star that she had forgotten entirely to speak in the Royal Canterlot Voice. None of the zebra had noticed, but when Luna did, she felt the tiniest bit embarrassed, shuffling her body in closer. She was also not used to hearing praise for her work either, it was a singular and unusual occurrence.
Thornunculous turned to look at Luna, and rather plaintively looked at her, saying “If it’s able to be done, would you mind moving this one?”
“At once,” Luna said primly, remembering to jut out her chin the slightest amount.
It was a mixed bag of feelings in her gizzard. Her time with the zebra had been so short, but her time with the star had only just begun. Which was the better to focus on? Luna did not know, but she did give her heartfelt thanks to the zebra tribe, after securing the star underneath her wing.
The warm radiating from the star left her a little off balance while Luna walked, but once she had taken the star from under her left wing, and secured it between her two front hooves, she was able to take wing and soar into the air. Even through her thick hooves, she could still feel the heat from the star, only just, but there.
Then Luna took a powerful sweep of her wings and launched into the air, blowing plumes of orange dust into the air around her. Then, retracting her wings swiftly and beating again, this time she established a pattern, and kept to it as she rose higher and higher. At first, with each sweep, the tips of her wings touched at the bottom of their arcs, but soon they lifted and fell with much gentler curves.
Pulling forward, she soon was travelling at a fantastic speed, increasing every passing moment. Still climbing higher and higher, it was challenging to increase speed. Then, just as gravity tugged and threatened to tug her down entirely, she levelled out, only rising when buffeted by the upcurrents and thermals. Glancing downwards, the trees and streams of Equestria seemed so far away.
Celestia surely wouldn’t mind if Luna played for a while. She felt so free, the wind licking at her wingtips, feathers and fur rustling as she light-heartedly dove and twisted through the air. In the air, there were no constraints, no rules, but freedom. The sky was never secure, to be sure, but it was always free. The star was light, not a burden of any kind, and so did Luna’s body feel. Like while she flew, she herself: her body, her mind, her soul, her magic, her entire being; all of it was a star.
A star of the night, a star of the day, it didn’t matter in the sky. It was always the season of the sky, and so it was always the season of the stars. Luna smiled, currents buffeting her lips open wide, until her lips shook with the turbulence. Then, she swiftly curled her wings to her side, and dropped like a stone. Gaining speed and hurtling down, Luna twisted like a carelessly thrown tin can, at the mercy of the entire world.
Just as she reached the peak of her acceleration, with her head facing the now much closer ground, she whipped out her wings, and quickly, with a sudden jerk to either wing, she ceased falling. Catching wind again and diving, still maintaining the speed she had whilst in freefall, Luna pushed herself to beat the wind. It was magnificent.
-+- 1000 YEARS LATER -+-
So free, so free right now. Luna had not felt this way since she had taken her final flight. Alive, with friends, loved and cared for once again. Free from the slavery of her own soul. It was fabulous, not even the richest actors could ever feel this way.
Luna felt as though for the last thousand years she had been dragging an iron shadow along behind her, the past and especially her Nightmare holding her back, holding her in. But how could she feel that way now? The weights were gone, there was nothing to stop Luna now. She thought of all the opportunities she had now. Celestia, her dearest sister, had already asked her to help her rule the land, and that meant Luna could follow her dreams, somehow.
Even though the gates of the dreamworld had closed on her, it seemed right, it seemed fair that they had. It was fair punishment for her Nightmare’s crimes. As a result the trials she had faced while under that dark influence, there was no doubt that she had been pardoned of all transgressions.
No longer was she a character in a larger story, now Luna was the author of her own fate, the writer of her own destiny. Luna lifted out her wings in triumph, and imagined the wind tugging at them once again. The winds of victory blew in her favour, there was no chance she could fail, not now while an entire nation stood at her back, and the energy of life filled her veins again.
“I feel like I am flying, sister!”
“It makes me so happy to see you that way, Luna.”
“I used to think that I would never be trapped by anything, but Celestia?”
“Yes, Luna?”
“I think that being trapped only means that after, you will only be freer than ever.”
-+- 1000 YEARS BEFORE -+-
As Luna soared flew the air, she took a moment to glance down at her hooves, where the star was tightly clustered. It was obscured now, but as she tilted out her legs, she could peek at the glow within. It was glowing brightly now, white and beautiful. At this moment, Luna remembered.
“Sagittarius. Of course.”
That constellation had been looking a bit pale of late. It was no doubt a star from that group, too far away to see at night, but with lenses and cameras this star once held the proud mantle of arrowhead.
Armed with this knowledge, Luna arrived back to the castle in a flurry. By this time, the castle forecourt had cleared, there were no longer any visitors coming for the visitation. The Celestial Guards outside each swung one of the doors inward as Luna approached, and she nodded primly to them in gratitude as she passed. Celestia was sitting the seat Luna had been at the beginning of the day, and Luna again wondered if Celestia appreciated its coldness.
Visibly relaxing when Luna appeared, Celestia rose from her chair, and swiftly paced across to where Luna stood. Luna stopped, extended a hoof out to Celestia and spoke gently, with meaning and a trace of nervousness.
“It’s from Sagittarius. It fell in a Zebra tribe.”
“I see. What does it mean?”
Celestia began pacing and talking at the same time, “Last time, and the time before that, and that other time when… hmm, and in Saddle Arabia. Always signifying an important birth.”
“Sister, we have to find the baby.”
“If indeed it is a baby. Perhaps a powerful magical force has awoken once again. Worse things often befall our kingdom.”
“Should we call a search, Celestia?”
“Yes, but we will have to make sure it is soon. Before the summer solstice.”
“Tomorrow night, I can go while you rest.”
Celestia paused, “No, ponies prefer the day. I will go tomorrow, while you rest.”
-+- 1000 YEARS LATER -+-
A wave of revulsion surged through Luna.
“Celestia, it was so petty. I should have brushed it off.”
Luna felt disgusted at herself. How could she have let such a small thing govern her life for ten centuries?
“I fear powers beyond our control were at work that day, Luna. It was not entirely your fault. I must take some of the blame.”
“No, I do not blame myself. I am just disgusted that I did those horrible things, and thought what I did.”
A powerful magical force has awoken again. That was what she said. And then…
-+- 1000 YEARS BEFORE -+-
“Well, Celestia, if you are decided,” Luna commented gruffly.
“I am.”
“What shall we do with the star?”
“We shall have to hide it, or destroy it.”
“Can we not put it back in the sky?”
Luna stroked the star. It gleamed and winked with the colours of the rainbow. She hadn’t felt at all connected to the star before now, but it was part of her sky, part of her night. How could she abandon it, like a secret or a gem? It was more than that. Across the years, Luna had nurtured it, grown it, and taught it the ways of the sky. Stars brought hope and life and joy to all ponies, all races, all across Equestria. And now it was to be thrown away, hidden in some dank, chilly cave. To no longer grace the skies, but rot in a mossy tomb.
How pathetic that the two greatest rulers of all time would stoop so low as to treat a star like a weapon, and nestle it within a cold, hard armament of stone.
But who would notice it’s disappearance from the night sky?
Who would notice?
-+- 1000 YEARS LATER -+-
Who would notice?
Who did notice?
Luna did, and she wept, hid, mourned, reviled and reformed around that star. Celestia did, she too had felt the burn of its loss and the hurt of its magic. The Nightmare did, but she did not care for such things.
Who noticed?
-+- 1000 YEARS BEFORE -+-
-^v-
The darkest depths of night were Luna’s domain.
Her vision blurred.
Other beings roamed here.
Vile and evil.
A graveyard, a tribute to the dead.
Thoughts of jealous fury and righteous hatred.
Some fear that it will imbibe the town.
Was that what Luna saw herself as?
So free, so free right now.
A magical force has awoken once again.
Rot in a mossy tomb.
Armament of stone.
How pathetic.
-v^-
Nopony would notice, would they?
Nopony would care, would they?
Deep within Luna, the sparks of jealousy ignited. As they did, the star pulsed once, black and deep and dark.