There Will Always Be Light

by Semaj

Rating: teen
Tags: Sad, Tragedy
Length: 39626

Everypony’s actions have consequences, especially those of a princess. Unfortunately Princess Luna had to learn that lesson the hard way, through experience.

Loneliness is a hard thing to face, and for Princess Luna it's lonely at the top. She feels shipwrecked, tossed about in an endless sea of her own sorrow. However sometimes something comes around to change all that, a tiny shimmering star to drive away the dark. And after one particularly painful fight with her sister, Luna finds that light in the form of a foal by the name of Starry Night.

A special thanks to:

My friend Josh W whose OC inspired Starry Night and whose endless support encouraged me to complete this story.

And Crowik for letting me use her wonderful picture Moonlight for the cover of this story.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-17 20:44:59 UTC

Part II "A Swirling Torrent Of Emotions."

Part II

"A Swirling Torrent Of Emotions."

"Starry!" I called as I trotted into my room one night. I looked around cautiously, checking to make sure he was still where I had left him. Oddly the colt was was nowhere to be found. "Starry I don't have time for this!" I sighed and hung my head in sadness.

I made my way to my mighty glass windows and pulled back their great blue curtains. I peered up at the night sky longing for the stars to send me a sign, but the sky was empty save for the moon hanging all alone on the horizon.

I shook my head and turned back into my room; returning, once again, to my normal nightly routine. I did all the stupid boring things that any normal pony would do, but for some reason I was still unhappy. I don't know exactly what caused it, but I was tired of life. I just didn't want to go through the trouble of waking up just to make other ponies happy.

I flopped down to the floor and did nothing. I looked up at my large wooden grandfather clock and watched the time tick away. It felt like everything I ever wanted to do would always slip away from me. Suddenly, right when my mind started to wander into darker places, I heard a loud crashing noise, and the doors to my closet flew open. Just then a big blue ball of flying fur and flailing limbs came tumbling out of the doors and rolling towards me. "Woah, Starry! Slow down; you're going to hurt yourself!" The tumbling pony then made his way over to me, skating wildly across the wood floor, finally tripping and falling on his face right in front of me. The young pony then sprang to his hooves and straightened the wooden guard helmet that sat atop his head. He then smiled a wide smile that was barely visible behind the toy sword he gripped in his mouth. I couldn't help but giggle a bit at the spectacle . Obviously he was quite proud of his accomplishment.

"Did I do good? Did you like it!" mumbled Starry through the sword.

"Yes, It was wonderful! absolutely wonderful." Starry then leaped into the air and squealed with joy.

"I did it! I made Mommy happy! Now she doesn't have to cry anymore!"

What? It hit me like a freight train, a swirling torrent of emotions more powerful than anything I had ever experienced before. At first I was shocked, but at the same time I was overcome with intense joy and a strange feeling of guilt. Did I really cry that much?

"Oh, Starry, that's really sweet of you, and I'm sure you put a lot of thought into it. But you know I'm not your mommy?"

"No! you are my mommy! I know you are my mommy, and I love you!"

"I... I love you too Starry, but you know I'm going to have to give you away eventually... right?"

"But you can't give me away! If you give me away, who is gonna cheer you up when you get all sad?"

"I guess you're right." I then smiled and ruffled Starry's mane. "Now you better go to bed; it's getting really late!"

"Kay Mommy, goodnight!" Said Starry as he waddled over to his makeshift bed.

I lay down in my bed, a smile plastered across my face. I thought about the three years since I had found Starry, all the joy he had brought me, and all the stress! I was still happy though, because I knew all that stress was worth it to have somepony to live for. However, as I reminisced, I couldn't help but think that I had made a huge mistake. Sure Starry Night's appearance in my life was really helping me get through some tough times, but was it really right to keep him? Yes, I did look for his parents, but admittedly not as hard as I could have, and what if his parents were alive? Who was I to keep a mother from their child? To be honest, I knew nothing about children in the first place. The only reason that colt wasn't dead already was dumb luck. What did I expect was going to happen when things actually got hard?

***

"Check mate!" cried out Starry confidently.

"Great job!" I exclaimed, a stupid grin across my face. Starry was an incredibly quick learner. I may have been going easy on him, but still he picked up chess faster than anypony I had ever seen. I started to reset the board incredibly proud of how skilled at these games he had become in only a few months.

"I love it when you don't have go to and do that stupid princess stuff!"

I laughed. "Trust me, I do too."

We started to play again, but just as I began to move my first pawn there was a hurried knocking at the door.

"Princess! Princess Luna!" Came a worried voice followed by more knocking. I panicked, And jumped to my hooves looking frantically for a place to hide Starry Night. "Princess, I know you're in there! Get over here and open the door right now, or I'll have to come in!"

"Okay! Sure I'll be right there; just give me a couple seconds." In a fit of desperation I grabbed Starry and threw him headlong into the closet. I then frantically slammed the door shut, praying I didn't hurt the poor colt.

"What are you doing? I'm serious; stop messing around and let me in!" I galloped as fast as I could to get to the door, only stopping for a moment in front of the mirror to make sure that I didn't look too ridiculous. I then opened the door and came muzzle to muzzle with the captain of the royal guard, a huge fake smile plastered across my face.

"Oh hello there!" I squeezed out, totally forgetting my "Royal Canterlot Voice". "Oh, it's you. I'm so happy that you decided to interrupt my personal time again!”

"Yes, Uh... Hello, Princess. I'm sorry for being so short with you; it's just we have a bit of a problem on our hooves." Oh great! I thought. how could things get any worse!

"No it's just fine!" I moaned. "What is it this time."

"Well, you're sister was to meet with King Orion from Timbucktu today, but when we went to go look for her neither her nor Star Swirl were anywhere to be found."

"What!?" I screamed. "You're telling me Celestia has gone missing?"

"Yes, but—"

I interrupted him. "No butts! Tell Orion the meeting is canceled! We have a national emergency on our hooves! sound the alarms; Send out a search party! We need to find her!" What happened to her? I thought. Did somebody foalnap her?

"Princess!" he stopped me. "Celestia is fine; she's just busy."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you see…" The captain then proceeded to take a small piece of paper out of his armor. "She left a note." I snached the note away from him and begin to look it over.

"Dear Princess Luna," I read aloud. "I apologize for the inconvenience, but I will not be able to attend the meeting with King Orion. I am quite sorry for pushing this onto you so last minute, but Star Swirl and I are so close to making breakthrough on the mirror project, I can almost taste it. I just can't risk losing all of our progress this late into the game. I love you, and I hope you understand. Your sister, Princess Celestia." I dropped the note onto the ground and took a deep breath. "CELESTIA!" I screamed and slammed my hoof agents the door. "What were you thinking!?" I fumed at the thought of her thoughtlessly abandoning me. "I don't even know what the stupid meeting was about!" I looked over at the captain who was obviously quite uncomfortable.

"Uh, Princess..."

"WHAT?!"

"What should I tell the king? He has made it quite clear that this meeting is an important one, and I fear that canceling it could be very bad for foreign relations."

"You know what? I'm so mad I don't even care right now! Tell him whatever the heck you want."

"Princess! Think about this rationally; you have a responsibility to—"

"I don't have a responsibility to anypony!" I cut him off. "Besides why should I be responsible for cleaning up her mess!?"

"Don't be childish, Princess! Making sure we are on good terms with other nations is of utmost importance."

"You know; maybe YOU shouldn't be telling ME what to do!" I snapped frustrated.

"No, I shouldn't, but it looks like I have to! You should know how to take responsibility without me telling you, Princess!"

I sighed and looked down at my hooves. "You're right," I whimpered. " I shouldn't have let my anger cloud my judgment. Just tell him I'm... getting ready."

"Yes, Princess," He then smiled, slicked back his light purple mane, and said, "good luck."

I trotted back into my room at a snail's pace, trying desperately to keep myself together. I pushed my muzzle against my window and watched as a few drops of rain splattered on the glass.

"Why were you yelling Mommy?" called a familiar voice.

"Nothing Starry, just grownup stuff."

"It's okay; we can play more of the games, and then you will be all better!"

"No. I can't. I'm sorry, but mama is busy; she has to do her work."

"But you said you didn't have to do any of that work stuff today!" Starry sniffled, his eyes beginning to well up with tears.

"I know I did, but I—"

"You promised!" Starry wailed.

"Things change!" I shouted and immediately regretted it. Starry recoiled in fear and backed away. "I... I'm sorry I didn't mean..." Starry then started to howl, tears rolling down his little face. I tried to go and comfort him, but he just hid under the bed and went silent.

***

"Princess Luna!" shouted King Orion, fuming with anger. "Are you even listening to me!?" I pulled my head off the table and wiped the drool from my chin. I looked up and saw that I was in the royal dining hall just now remembering I was in a meeting with The King of Timbucktu.

"Oh yes! I have totally been listening to your highly riveting and amazing tale king!" I droned sarcastically.

"Miss Luna! I find your tone to be highly unprofessional!" moaned the king. "What I am telling you is of dire importance! Strange creatures have been sighted in Timbucktu's air space and are stealing from our ponies!"

"What have they been stealing king?" I grumbled.

"They have been stealing our love," he said stone cold.

"Oh! Have they?" I snickered. "And what do these 'love stealers' look like?"

"That's the thing!" He jabbered. " they can look like anypony!" I took a sip of my tea and raised an eyebrow.

"sure they can," I joked. "And what exactly do you want me to do about it?"

"Probably nothing. To be honest, I was hoping I would get to talk to your sister," he cooed venomously.

"My sister?" I slurred through my teeth.

"Of course! At least she wouldn't have mocked me like a school pony."

I opened my mouth preparing to say something I would regret, but just as I began to speak the captain of the royal guard came bursting through the door.

"Princess Luna!" He inhaled deeply trying to catch his breath. "There is an intruder in the castle!"

"What?!" Screamed Orion. "An intruder!?"

"Calm down. I'm sure it's nothing. You!" I said turning to the captain. " What sort of monstrosity had the gall to breach the sanctity of our castle!" I shouted as royally as possible.

"Well..." he mumbled. "I think you should see for yourself."

I stormed through the great halls of the castle, following the burly guardspony to where he had found the intruder. I was curious at who could have gotten past the castle's heavy security, and I was even more curious as to why the captain didn't want to tell me who the intruder was in the first place.

"I apologize again for interrupting your meeting ma'am; I hope King Orion doesn't take it too personally."

"Are you kidding?!" I scoffed. "That meeting was terrible! I would have done ANYTHING to get out of that place!"

"Uh... Well, I guess you're welcome then," he said confused. "We're almost to where I saw the intruder; it should be just around this bend." we then both came to a skidding stop in front of a wall of more guards.

"What are they for?" I asked.

"I stationed men on either side of this hallway to make sure IT didn't escape."

"Uh, okay. Can I see 'it' now?" He nodded and took a deep breath.

"Men!" he shouted. "Stand aside!" The guards then moved apart making an opening large enough for us to move through. I looked through the hole, but when I saw the dark blue figure standing before me, I almost had a heart attack. "Princess, what's wrong!?" shouted the captain, grabbing me as I fell to the floor.

"N-nothing," I stammered; pulling myself from the ground. "I was just surprised to see a child in the royal castle!"

"We were as surprised as you were," he said understandingly. "The weirdest part is, nopony has any idea where it came from! Do you have any ideas?"

"Oh, he must be from the, uh… school field trip that visited last week.”

"Well, wherever it came from, it's becoming a big problem." The captain sighed as he watched his fellow guards try to subdue Starry.

"Got it!" shouted one guard triumphantly, holding Starry above his head. Starry then kicked the guard in the muzzle and blew a raspberry as he galloped away. "Never mind!"

"For Celestia's sake, really!? Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by idiots. Anyway could you help us out here? Maybe you could use the ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’ or something?” he pleaded.

"Oh, of course I can," I said stepping forward. I cleared my throat and swallowed hard. "Child!" I shouted. Starry Night then whirled around to face me his eyes growing wide. "Thou must stop your shenanigans at once!"

Starry stared at me for a minute and then began to laugh hysterically."Mommy!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

. All the guards then gasped and started to murmur.

"We think you are mistaken little one," I said, on the brink of hyperventilating.

"No, I know my mommy!" he squealed galloping toward me.

"Halt!" I shouted, but before I could stop him Starry Night jumped onto me hugging me tightly.

"I knew I would find you!" he peeped.

"Princess, are you sure you don't know this thing?"

"For one it's not a 'thing’; it's a colt." I said turning to the other guards. "All of you!" I barked. "You will forget everything you saw here on this day! Do you understand?" The guards nodded frantically. "I don't want you telling anypony about this, not even Princess Celestia herself! If anypony asks, all you know of this event is that a field tripping colt went missing in the castle, and was then found and returned to his parents." I then glared at the guards and growled, "and if I find out that a single one of you has talked, then you will ALL be punished, harshly. Now, do you understand?"

"YES, PRINCESS!" they shouted in unison.

"Good," I purred. "You may go." I then waved my hoof, and the guards scrambled back to their posts. However as soon as they were all gone I collapsed to the ground and heaved a sigh of relief.

"What, may I ask, was that!?" Snapped the captain of royal guard. I jumped at the stallion's presence.

"What are you still doing here? I told everypony to leave."

"No! I want answers!" Said the guard stubbornly. "You're not going to put on a show like that and expect me to keep quiet. My job is to ensure the safety of all, and if I feel like anypony is in danger, unidentified colts included, I need to know!"

"Fine," I grumbled. "Meet me in my chambers in one hour, and I'll tell you everything."

"Alright, I'll see you there," he's said and stormed away. Just then I remembered that Starry Night was still clinging to my neck. I pulled him off and sat him down in front of me.

"Starry Night!" I yelled. "What were you thinking!?" Starry frowned and looked at the floor.

"I just wanted to see you Mommy... I... I'm sorry," he said, his eyes welling up with tears.

"Oh Starry, don't cry; you just can't be galloping out of our room like that."

"But it's so boring alone! I wish I had somepony else to talk to," he whimpered.

"I know, honey, I know," I said picking Starry up and holding him to my chest again. Just then, as I held him, I was struck with an idea.

***

"So, that's the whole story." I said, sipping tea from an ornate cup.

"I see," muttered the captain running his hoof through his light purple mane. "So, this thing—" I gave him a piercing glare. "Sorry, this child is an orphan?"

"That's just it; I don't know. I can't find a single thing on his parents no matter how hard I look."

"That is strange," he said, rubbing his pure white chin. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know." I frowned. "I suppose I'll have to keep living with him like I have been."

"Why not tell Celestia? I'm sure she could find—"

"No!" I yelled, slamming my hooves on the coffee table. The captain jumped back stunned. "I... I'm sorry, I just... You've seen how she's been acting lately; she's so obsessed over her 'projects' that she's ignoring everything else. Even If I told Celestia, she'd just dump him in some random orphanage somewhere and be done with it."

"Princess, maybe an orphanage is where it... He, belongs."

"No! I can't take that risk."

"What risk?" asked the captain perplexed.

"I don't know; they might treat him badly. Or... or they might give him to some terrible family who won't love him!"

"I think—" he lay his hoof on mine and stared at me with his piercing dark blue eyes. "—you may have become a bit too attached to the kid." I flinched, his words cutting deep into my heart.

"You're right," I said, beginning to sob. "I know I should give him up, but he told me he loved me, and I love him too!" Tears rolled down my muzzle and showered the floor like rain. "You saw! He even calls me mommy. I want to keep him, but what I really want is for him to be happy, and right now I'm now sure what that means."

The captain nodded his head compassionately."I get it, I really do, but what exactly do you want me to do about it?"

"Help me!" I cried. "I'm scared and confused, and I don't know what to do. I have been doing this alone for more than three years; all I want is a little support."

"Okay," he said flatly.

"What!?" I stammered.

"I'll help you take care of him."

"But you said it yourself, maybe It'd be best if I gave him up."

"Well I changed my mind. If it's true that you couldn't find anything about his parents in three years, then it's obvious that they're either dead or don't want him back. Besides why give him up for adoption if he's perfectly happy with you?"

I wiped my muzzle and smiled."Thank you."

"Now what do you need me to do?"

***

"So, all I have to do is keep him busy while you're at work?"

"That's it," I said preparing to leave.

"That can't be too hard. Can it?"

"I don't know; you saw him the other day."

He whipped his head up and looked at me, his eyes wide."I'm in trouble aren't I?"

I just laughed and opened the door. "Oh, wait one more thing?"

"Yes, Princess?" replied the captain.

"I never caught your name."

"Oh, my name? It's Midnight Legacy."

"Midnight Legacy, that's a nice name.” I said, nodding my approval. “ And by the way, you can call me Luna. No more of that 'Yes, Princess' nonsense okay?"

"Of course, Luna.”

"There you go! That's so much better!" I then giggled and left the room. But just as I began to trot down the stairs, I heard a very loud crashing sound and the familiar laughter of a tiny blue pegasus.

After that, things were normal for the most part. Midnight Legacy took care of Starry during the day, and I came home to him at night. Nopony suspected anything. After rumors of an intruder, it just seemed like Midnight was staying in my room to protect me. Also, to my relief, Starry warmed up to his new protector extremely quickly, even having fun and playing with him. As I had expected a little bit of help was going a long way; just having somepony else to cover for me had relieved a massive amount of stress from my shoulders. However, by far the best part of the new arrangement was that Starry seemed happier then ever, and that meant everything to me. Two whole years past with little trouble. We had found our rhythm, and nothing could throw us off, at least until he started flying.

***

I was in the library that day filling out some sort of pointless paperwork when the door blew open. "Luna!" came a frantic shouting.

"What!" I whirled around dropping my quill violently.

"You have to see this!" shouted an excited Midnight Legacy.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming! And for goodness sake, don't scare me like that!" I replied, jumping from my desk and galloping up the stairs. "You know, some of us have important work to do and don't have the luxury of being able to drop everything and go mess around."

"Oh, and taking care of your little monster isn't important?" asked Midnight smirking back at me.

"Just show me what ever it is you wanted to show me, okay?"

"Alright, but be prepared because you're going to flip!" Midnight led me through the castle and back to the my room stopping in front of my door.

"Okay, get on with it; I've got stuff to do!" I nagged.

"Wait," he said peeking inside. "I have to make sure he's still doing it."

"Doing what!?"

"Okay, you can look now," he said as he slowly pulled the door open. I pushed past Midnight and looked into the open room, but when I saw what was inside, I was speechless.

"Mommy, look! I'm flying!" squealed Starry Night as he fluttered awkwardly through the sky.

"That's amazing!" I shouted, overflowing with excitement.

"Yeah, it's crazy; isn't it?" Midnight grinned and shook his head. "I can see why you like this stuff."

"What stuff?"

"You know! Raising a child, it's, I don't know... exciting."

"Don't tell me you're getting attached to him too," I said, bursting out into a fit of giggles.

"What!? No, He's just... Cute,"

"I’ll have to agree with you on that one.” As if on cue, Starry then crashed into the wall.

Things got a bit more complicated after that. Midnight Legacy was an earth pony, so the duty of properly teaching Starry how to fly fell square on me. I once again had to find time to skip out on work to give Starry his lessons, which was made worse by the fact that I couldn't take him outside, leaving me with the uncomfortable space of my room for practice.

After a few more crashes and a lot of broken things, I made up my mind that it was time to take Starry outside. I knew it would have to be at night because there would be less chance of being seen, so I picked the night of the full moon. That way, we would get in some practice, and while I was at it I could show him what my job was all about.

***

"Alright. tonight is the night," I said, plucking Starry from the bed and hoisting him onto my back.

"Are we going outside tonight!" asked Starry bouncing up and down.

"You bet," I chimed. "as long as nopony sees us... Now," I said turning to Midnight. "if anypony asks, where am I?"

"You are visiting a zebra tribe at the edge of The Everfree Forest," recited Midnight robotically.

"Good," I purred "And what am I doing?"

"You are discussing a dispute over the forest border." replied Midnight, pacing back and forth.

"Perfect! Now, I'd better be on my way before the sun goes down."

"Why? I thought you wanted to do it at night?"

"Yeah I do; I just thought while I was at it maybe I could show him the thing that I do." he looked at me blankly. "You know, the thing with the moon and the stars!"

"Oh! Why didn't you just say so?"

"Anyway, I should probably get going," I said as I opened my gigantic window.

"Be careful!" yelled Midnight as I flew out into The Everfree.

I flew for a while looking for a good, relatively unforested, spot for us to fly. I eventually settled on a small grassy field with no trees and a good view of the sky.

"Are we going to fly now Mommy?" beamed Starry as I landed on a soft patch of grass.

"Not yet," I said calmly. "First I have to show you something." I pointed to the sky just as the sun started to dip below the horizon. "You see that?"

Starry looked out, squinting his eyes slightly. He didn’t react much at first, but his face began to glow as and the sky exploded into a dazzling ballet of reds, oranges, and blues.

"That," I said smiling. "Is a sunset." the sky then went pitch black; the moon and stars were now nowhere to be seen. Starry squealed and grabbed hold of my leg. "What's wrong?"

"I'm scared of the dark," he moaned.

"It's okay honey; I'm right here. Besides, it's only going to be dark for a few moments." I took a deep breath and began to warm up my magic.

"Since I first found you, you've been asking me about my job and what I do. Well, tonight I'm going to show you."

"What do you mean Mommy?" asked Starry cocking his head slightly.

"Well, you know how every morning the sun rises, and every night it sets?"

"Yeah."

"Well, my big sister does that; She makes the sun rise and set."

"Really?" asked Starry, awestruck.

"She certainly does! But there can't be sun all the time; things would get too hot and dry out. That's where I come in. You see, I control the moon and the stars, so that way even in the dark there will always be light!"

"Woah! Really?!"

"Yes, really!" I said giggling. "Do you want to see me do it?"

"Well duh! Of course I wanna to see!" declared Starry impatiently.

"Alright, alright, I'm doing it!" I exclaimed, beginning to cast the spell. My horn then started to glow bright blue as I gathered all the magic power I could muster. "Alright, make sure you're watching, because I can only do this once!" I said with a loud grunt. suddenly, a strange purple aura began to flow around me in elegant shimmering strands, and a small sliver of white light began to appear above the horizon. Starry watched, mouth agape, as the silver moon flew up into the darkness glowing brightly in the clear sky.

"Amazing!" shouted Starry, clacking his hooves together.

"If you liked that, get ready for the next part!" I beamed as I got ready to form the stars. Starry then looked right at the sky, leaning so far forward I was sure he would fall. My horn then made a loud cracking noise, and the stars began to burst into existence like popcorn on a hot stove. Then Starry's jaw totally dropped as the stars danced across the sky forming complex shapes and designs, finally settling in their appropriate constellations. "How did you like that?"

"Are you kidding me? It was awesome!" blurted out Starry.

"I'm so glad to hear that," I cooed, satisfied with my performance. "Now, let's get to those flight lessons."

Part III "The Thin Layer Of Silence."

Part III

"The Thin Layer Of Silence."

Thankfully, just like with everything else, Starry was a natural at flying. He was able mimic my movements and master the basics extremely quickly. It has gotten to the point where in only a few months he was able to go on flights with me and truly experience the outside world for the first time since the day that I found him. It made me feel great to know that I was able to give Starry at least a little bit more freedom. He also seemed a lot happier knowing that he didn't have to be cooped up in my room every second of every day.

The three of us struggled through the awkward years, but before I knew it Starry was eight years old. Since I had found him I hadn't done anything special for the anniversary. However this year I felt like I should at least do something to celebrate the special day that Starry came into my life.

So I decided to go all out; I decorated my room, bought Starry presents, and even went as far as to try to bake a cake.—As you can imagine that didn't go very well on the first try.—but even then, with a bit of help from Midnight and a whole lot of cookbooks, I was able to make something presentable. I then made sure my schedule was clear for that day, and with everything ready I was finally able to get my plan underway.

"Come on Mom!" pleaded Starry. "Just tell me what's going on already!"

"Be patient honey. I'll let you look soon," I assured him. "Just let me do one last thing,"

"But I wanna see now!" whined Starry as he tried to pry Midnight's hooves from in front of his eyes.

"Whoa! Hold on there buddy!" cried Midnight as he attempted to restrain the squirming colt. "Calm down. She's almost finished,"

"Okay..." Grumbled Starry, stopping his struggling.

"Alright," I said as I put up the last streamer. "he can look now."

Midnight then slowly removed his hooves from in front of Starry's face. Starry shook violently as he took in the bright colors of the room around him; his eyes darted around the room, a perplexed look on his face. I had forgotten that he had never actually had a party in his entire life, so his confusion at the brightly colored decorations was only natural. "We wanted to celebrate the anniversary of the day that I found you, so we threw you a surprise party! You know what that means right?"

"We get to play games?"

"That's right! We get to play games all day!" I said, beaming with excitement.

"This is awesome!" He said tackling me in a bear hug. "I love you!"

"I love you too Starry,"

After that, Starry, Midnight, and I started to unbox and play all the new board games that I had bought. We played for hours, and Starry had a great time. But eventually the time came for cake and presents.

"Alright Starry," I said as we finished up our last game of Monopony. "Are you ready for your presents?"

"You bet I am!" squealed Starry Night enthusiastically.

"Alright, because I've got your first one right here!" I exclaimed as I pulled a fluffy white mattress out of the closest." I know you've been waiting to get a real bed for a long time, but I finally went out and got you one!"

"Woah! Thanks Mom!" cried Starry as he threw himself onto the soft bed. "This is so cool!" he shouted as he jumped up and down on the bouncy surface.

"Don't get too excited kid; there's more where that came from," said Midnight grinning.

"Do you have a present for me Mr. Midnight?" asked Starry overflowing with anticipation.

"I sure do buddy! I have it right here," he said as he grabbed a neatly wrapped box with his teeth and dropped it in front of Starry. Starry looked at the gift blankly. "Go on, open it!" said Midnight warmly. Starry took a deep breath and proceeded to shred open the wrapping paper. When he had finally ripped open the brown box, his face glowed as he saw what lay inside. Starry slowly put his hooves in and pulled out a large gold helmet with a thin blue mohawk on top.

"That was mine back when I was a young stallion in the royal guard, but now that I'm the captain, I don't need it anymore. So I thought I'd be better if I gave it to you. I know it's super big on you now, but I'm sure I will fit someday..." admitted Midnight. Starry then tried to put on the bulky headgear causing it to hang awkwardly in front of his eyes. "So... Do you like it?"

"Are you kidding!" beamed Starry. "It's the best! Thanks Mr!"

Midnight Legacy smiled a soft smile. "That's great kid, that makes me happy. That's not the whole gift though,"

"There's more!?"

"Yup, my gift comes with a promise. Luna and I talked it over, and we decided that the day you can fit into that helmet I start training you in the ways of being a soldier, so when you grow up you can be a guard too."

"Really?!"

"On my honor, I promise."

After that, we opened up all of the other colorful presents I had wrapped for Starry, including a notebook for him to write and draw in, a poster with some soldiers on it, and a hoof-full of power ponies comics. When we were finally finished, it was past Starry's bedtime, so we decided that it was time for the cake.

"Happy birthday Starry," I said as I took a large wedge of of the cake and put it onto a plate.

"Yeah happy birthday, you little monster." mumbled Midnight, trying to hold back a smile. Starry grinned, took a deep breath, and began to dive into his cake face first.

"Hey! Take it down a notch!" cried Midnight as he got splattered with cake bits. However Starry ignored him and continued to dig into the dessert. "Luna, control your child!" He said, but I just giggled and watched the scene play out.

***

Deep in the night I heard a shriek, but it was not a normal shriek. It was a piercing shriek, one that smashed through the calmness of the night, shattering the thin layer of silence like a sledgehammer to porcelain.

I awoke with a start and looked around. It was all darkness save for a few thin rays of moonlight slipping through the curtains. "Who is it? Who's there?" I heard a soft whimper followed by a loud shuffling. "Starry honey, is that you?" A grave though stabbed into my mind and my heart sank. "Oh no, are you okay! Are you hurt!" I cried out into the dark.

"I'm not hurt," whispered Starry, his voice quivering.

"Oh baby, what happened? You sound terrible."

"I had a nightmare... Again."

Nightmares, Starry has been consistently having them for a long time now. I'm not sure why, but they're getting worse by the day. Sometimes I know when he's having them because I frequently visit his dream world. Other times I can feel the negative energy that oozes from his psyche and, hear his mumbling, like a quiet plea, slipping from his shivering jaw.

I sighed and asked, "What was the dream about?" I already knew the answer, but I knew letting him get it off his chest would help calm him down.

"It's the fire one again," he squeezed out reluctantly.

"Oh Starry, come here," I said hoisting the sniffling colt onto my bed. "You can sleep up here tonight, okay?" I then pulled Starry close to me and wrapped the covers around us.

"It was the same as all the other times except one thing..."

"What?"

"This time, instead of being swallowed by the fire, I wasn't. Just as it started to get close to me it all went out, and I was alone. After that, a huge black thing came over to me," Starry moaned becoming more and more fervent as his story went on. "It had sharp teeth and a gross blue mane, but worst of all it looked like cheese, all full of holes." Starry then closed his wide eyes and grabbed onto me, burying his muzzle in my shoulder.

"It's okay Starry," I comforted him. "It's all going to be okay. Trust me, nothing like that will EVER happen to you, not when I'm around."

" Okay." He smiled a bit. "Love you Mom."

"I love you too buddy."

Love is a strange thing. Sometimes it drags you up from the pit of despair, and makes you feel as if nothing else matters. Other times it's seemingly unbreakable bonds can crumble in an instant. Fighting with anypony hurts, but by far the deepest cuts come from those you trust. I believe we all have shields, not the kind of shields you take into battle, I mean the invisible kind. I mean the kind that we use to keep out the inevitable criticism of the world. And I think that we all have ponies that make us feel safe, safe enough to lower our shields. Unfortunately that makes it hurt all the more when they stab you through the heart.

***

*Clink* went my fork as it knocked agents the fine porcelain of my plate. I sighed as I looked at the huge banquet table that lay in front of me. Alone again, I thought as I gazed at all the empty chairs scattered around the room. She's been gone for a long time now. I just hope she's okay.

I dropped my fork and stood up no longer hungry. I dragged myself over to one of the many windows that looked out of the dining hall and sat down. It was raining again, but this time it wasn't light. This time, the rain was coming down like knives in heavy sheets, and the sky was an angry dark mass of gray. I put my muzzle on the glass. It was cold, but I didn't mind; It was soothing. I closed my eyes, but just as I started to drift off, the door to the banquet hall creaked open.

"Luna, are you okay?" chimed a familiar voice.

"Celestia!" I shouted surprised.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm finally done with the project! you wouldn't believe what we—"

"You idiot!" I cried, fury in my voice.

"What!? What did I do?!"

"What did you do!? You disappear for ages without a word and then show up one day like 'hey it's me!’ I mean, how did you expect me to react?"

"Not like this..."

"Where even were you?" I demanded

"I was doing work. Why does it even matter? I'm back now."

"Work?" I laughed. "What about meeting with Orion? What about filling out mountains of paperwork? What about that work huh?! Or was that stuff not important enough to you?"

"No it's not that I just thought that you could—"

"Oh I get it!" I yelled. "You just want to shove off all the unfun stuff on your little sister because you've got better things to do then stupid paperwork and boring meetings right?!"

"Hey! Let me speak for a second!" she snapped. "I'm sorry that I left you; I really am, but you have to understand that I have more important things in my life than you!" My jaw dropped wide open. More important than me, I thought, my heart on the edge of exploding.

"Woah! Excuse me!?" I screamed astonished.

"Oh come on Luna you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I think I know exactly what you mean." I retorted.

"I'm not saying I don't love you; I'm just saying you have to think about the greater good."

"What greater good?" I scoffed. "I'm your only family. You know; the ones you're supposed to love no matter what?"

Celestia shook her head." You don't get it. That's not how being a princess works. Oh, and I heard about what happened at that meeting, and frankly, I am disappointed with you. What you did was rude, disrespectful, and most of all embarrassing to all of Equestria."

"Oh, so what you did wasn't rude?! You left me totally unprepared for a meeting I didn't even know was happening!"

"That's different!" She shouted incredulously.

"How?!"

"I did it for good reason!"

"No, you did it for what you thought was a good reason and didn't even think for a second what other ponies would want. Besides, nopony wants to see me! They think I'm just your delinquent sister. It's always you they want."

"I want to see you."

"Then why did you leave?"

Celestia just went silent, and lowered her head.

After that, Celestia and I didn't talk, and as time went on she started disappearing more and more. It was almost like she was a ghost, gone, only to reappear at the worst possible times. I would love to say that Celestia was my only problem, but if I said that I would be lying.

Back then I was having fights with everypony, regardless of whether I was mad at them or not. However, by far what I regret the most were the fights with Starry. Starry was always a bit difficult, but never was that more evident than when he began to hit his teen years. He was still the cute pony that I had found fourteen years earlier, just more stubborn.

***

"Starry I'm home," I called out to an empty room. Strange, I thought as I trotted inside. Where did he gallop off to? After calling out his name a few more times, I began to grow worried, so I decided to look for him In all the usual places, In the closet, in the bathroom, and even under the bed. Of course he's not under the bed! I thought frustrated. He's fourteen not four!

I sat down on my bed pondering my next move, when I felt a draft of cold air. I stood up slowly following the breeze. It led me across the room and to my balcony door which had been left cracked open. Oh no! He didn't! I thought as I began to piece together what happened.

Hours past, and I grew more and more worried for Starry. I talked to Midnight about it, but he said he that he was training new recruits all day, so he didn't have a clue. He told me everything was going to be alright, but I was still worried. Midnight decided to go looking for Starry to calm me down, but he still wasn't able to find him no matter how hard he tried.

"The Everfree Forest is a big place.” said Midnight pacing around my room. “There's no way we would be able to search it all alone.”

"He might not be in the Everfree; he could just be hiding," I said hopefully.

"Come on Luna; who are you kidding? Where else could he have gone?"

"I don't know he could be in the castle somewhere..."

"We already checked the entire castle twice!" Midnight sighed and put his hoof on my shoulder. "Look I don't want to admit it either, but he flew away. I don't know why, but he did. And the only thing we can do now is wait for him. I'm sure If he's okay then he'll find his way back. It's not like the castle is exactly hard to find,"

"I know; you're right—”

"Now," he cut me off. "Get some rest. You look awful." I glanced in the mirror. He was right; I looked like a complete train wreck.

"Alright, thank you," I said as he trotted out of the room.

***

I sat down at my coffee table holding a cup of tea when the clock struck midnight. I tried to suppress my feelings of guilt and go to sleep, but it was proving to be a physical impossibility. I wish I could say that it was all because I was worried about Starry, but it wasn't. A piece of me, no matter how small it may have been, was just deathly afraid of being alone again.

I tried to take deep breaths and relieve the stress, but all that came out was a loud and uncontrollable moan. I then dropped my muzzle to the wooden table and closed my eyes. Why?! Why does everything I love fly away from Me?! I then raised my head ready to smack it against the table again when I heard a faint creaking sound.

"Mom?" Called out a familiar voice. I whipped my head around to see my son standing in front of the open window. "Are you alright? You look sick." He began to trot toward me concern in his soft blue eyes. I shook my head, tears running down down my face.

"No I'm not sick... But I am glad to see you!" I said gripping Starry Night in an intense bear hug.

"Woah!" he stammered. Calm down Mom; you're killing me!"

"Sorry... I was just worried about you," I admitted, ruffling his wild black mane. "Now, what is wrong with you?!"

"Huh?!" sputtered Starry.

"Where were you?!"

"Nowhere," said Starry casually "I went out okay? What's it to you?"

"You went out?! You mean you went out without asking ME, your mother, first?!"

"So what?"

"What if you had gotten yourself killed!? I wouldn't have even known!"

"It's cool that you want to protect me and stuff, but I'm not a baby anymore. You don't have to hold my hoof every step of the way!" groaned Starry.

"I'm not holding your hoof! Just because I expect you to follow the rules of common courtesy like everypony else,doesn't mean I'm holding your hoof!" I lectured.

"Oh yeah? And how do you expect me to tell you? I can't exactly go looking for you in the castle; can I?"

"You could tell me before I go to work. But of course you're not going to do that's because then that would require you to actually wake up at a reasonable hour."

"I've got a better plan! How about you stop being paranoid, and let me go out whenever I want?"

"No, how about instead I forbid you from ever leaving!"

"You know what?! Maybe I'm tired of you trying to dictate every step of my life!"

"Oh really?" I scoffed "Is that what this is about?!"

"Yes! That's ALWAYS been what it's about! Sometimes I feel like I'm the princess, locked up in a tower, having everything given to me on a silver platter," said Starry resentfully.

I sighed. "I know..."

"You what?!".

"I know! I'm just afraid somepony will find you." I looked up at Starry, tears returning to my eyes. "I don't want anypony to take you away from me… "You're all I have."

Starry looked at me again, his face growing softer and more understanding."I know," he whispered, pulling me in for another hug.

"Someday I'll be able to set you free, I promise

.

After that Starry Night always woke up early to ask if he could fly, and I never once said no.

Part IV "Give Voice To Those That Have None."

Part IV

"Give Voice To Those That Have None."

"Do I have to?" I groaned.

"Apparently." replied Midnight, rapidly tapping his hoof on the ground. "Celestia has made it very clear that you both have to be there."

"What does The King of Cloudsdale want with us?"

"I'm not sure, but apparently he's pretty angry."

"What am I supposed to do with Starry?!" I frowned and sat down on one of the wooden library benches.

"I could watch him while you're gone," suggested Midnight, grinning. “I think he likes me enough."

"No, I can't do that to you. You have work to do."

"It's fine; somepony could take my place for a few days."

"Actually, I think I might have an idea," I said with a smug smile.

"Please don't tell me you're thinking of doing something crazy and reckless," moaned Midnight.

"Starry has wanted to go on a trip for a long time..." I muttered still smiling.

"Oh no. Please no!"

"And a young pegasus like him would blend in perfectly in a place like Cloudsdale."

"You're going to do this no matter what I say; aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" I said joyously.

***

"Do you have everything you need?" I asked as I levitated our things into a large suitcase.

"I think so," replied Starry. "It's not like I have much to pack. Where exactly are we going anyway?"

"I didn't tell you? Honey we're going to Cloudsdale!" I said enthusiastically.

"And that's supposed to mean something to me?"

"Wow, I did not educate you properly. Cloudsdale is the city of the pegasI and it's where all the weather in Equestria comes from."

Starry dropped the blanket he was holding and whirled around to look at me. "You mean it's where my family came from?"

"I suppose it's possible… But it’s certainly unlikely.” Starry started getting that far away look, so I tried to change the subject. "There are going to be a lot of ponies there, so try to stay as close to me as you can."

"Wow, really? Now that I think about it I've only seen a few ponies in my entire life. It'll be weird seeing huge crowds of them."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I never meant to keep you so isolated."

"It's okay; I understand," said Starry wistfully. "Besides, I like it here." Starry tried to force a halfhearted smile, but I knew something was still bothering him.

"Hey, is there something wrong?" I said drawing myself a bit closer to my son.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you're acting kind of distant, and I don't know why."

"It's nothing; I was just being stupid," muttered Starry, avoiding my gaze. "Sometimes I just wonder about my family; you know? And about how things might have been if I was, I don't know, normal."

"Normal?" I said taken aback. "Honey, what makes you think you're not normal?" Starry shifted on the bed and coughed lightly.

"I don't really know any other stallions my age, but unless I'm missing something I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who lives with a princess."

"You are… at least as far as I know..." I bit my lip and closed the uncomfortably large gap between us. Starry tried to move off the bed, but I stopped him and levitated him back in place. "Starry Night, look at me," I commanded. Starry gave a quick toss of his jet black mane and turned toward me. "You aren't normal," but that's what I LOVE about you." Starry tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

"Being normal is boring! There are millions of ponies who are normal. You are unique." Starry smiled trying to hold back the tears welling in his eyes.

"Like mother like son I guess," he said, putting his forehead up against mine and smiling.

After we finished packing, Starry and I loaded everything into my chariot and settled in for the long trip to Cloudsdale. Celestia offered to take me in her's, but this way I could put off explaining Starry Night's presence for at least a little while longer.

The flight was long and monotonous, but Starry enjoyed it nonetheless. He always found ways to find intricacies in the ordinary, and light in the dark. He had always enjoyed the beauty of the outdoors, and tonight was no different.

"Mom, look!" beamed Starry pointing to the sky. "A shooting star!" I whipped my head up and yawned. "look!"

"Alright I'm looking, I'm looking," I said rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I looked to the sky to see what Starry was fussing about, and what I saw was magnificent. A stunning streak of white starlight flashed across the dusky sky leaving small shimmering flecks of itself behind to dance across the darkness. It was only visible for a few brief moments before it dipped out of sight, vanishing just as quickly as it had appeared. Starry looked over at me, his face overflowing with childlike wonder.

"I can't believe it! I had seen pictures of them in books but, I never thought..." He trailed off.

"Pretty amazing isn't it?" I asked as I lightly nuzzled Starry's neck. He nodded his head and slowly leaned his warm body against mine.

"Man, am I tired," he said with a great yawn.

"I know how you feel,"

"The world never ceases to amaze me," whispered Starry as his eyelids fell and lightly shut.

***

"Princess! We're almost there. Wake up!" It was The pilot's voice. I opened my eyes again just to be assaulted by the blinding light of day. I winced as my sight struggled to an ocean of sensory information. As things began to clear up, I saw a bulky grey stallion looking back at me from the front of the chariot. "Rise and shine, Princess," he said unenthusiastically. "We're almost there."

"Oh yeah, thanks," I said, stretching my wings and giving them a quick flap.

"Good thing too." Said the stallion wiping the sweat from his brow. I then looked over at Starry who was curled up next to me, delicately stirring in his sleep. He was so cute I thought about leaving him alone, but I knew he would want to see Cloudsdale as we flew in. So I gave him a light nudge with my hoof and said,

"Honey, we're here; It's time to wake up." He snorted a bit and then began to slowly peel his eyes open. He also recoiled at the scorching light of the sun and once again sealed his eyes shut.

"Uhhhhhh, do I have to?"

"You don't have to, but trust me; you're gonna want to see this view!" I teased. Starry lifted his head his ears perked up high.

"Alright, alright, I'm waking up. Give me a second." He then forced himself to open his eyes once again, and when he did his mouth dropped open. "Oh my gosh!" cried Starry as he took in the sight of the city that was now directly before us. "I didn't know it was flying!"

"Oh yeah, I may have forgot about that," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my head. Starry however, didn't even hear me because he was too busy taking in the sight of Cloudsdale. It was strange how those huge stone-like buildings and coliseums perched so daintily on each downy cloud.

As we began to fly closer, we were able make out every detail of the massive city. The previously blurry strands of color that poured from the bottoms of the sprawling cumulus mass had now become sharp and defined rainbows. Soon we were flying over Cloudsdale, and Starry was sticking his head over the edge of the chariot. "Be careful honey," I nagged.

"I am!" Starry said, brushing me off. "And If fall, I could just fly.”

"Oh yeah," I said relaxing in my seat.

"Wow! Look at all those pegasi," I was slightly curious as to what the fuss was all about, so I decided to scoot up next to him so that I too could look down upon the city below. There they were, hundreds maybe even thousands of pegasi trotting along the streets and bolting across the sky. They all wandered around at their own paces and in their own random directions, zipping, zapping, twisting and turning. They almost didn't look like pegasI at all the way they moved about. It was like a massive kaleidoscope of living creatures, full of pastel colors that ran together into one big ocean of abstract shapes and forms.

"That's insane," mused Starry, enthralled. "I never knew there were so many other ponies in the world… I wonder what they're all thinking."

"Yeah, it's a weird thing to think about; isn't it?" I let out a heavy sigh an looked up. "It reminds you that you aren't the only pony with things on your mind. That's something I learned from my trips into other ponies' dreams. Everypony in Equestria has their own life and their own problems. It's so easy to forget about all that when we're busy taking care of ourselves." Starry frowned a bit, but for the most part his expression remained blank.

"I wonder what what my parents dreamed about," said Starry, still staring down at the cityscape. "Because all of my dreams are nightmares."

After a few short minutes, the chariot made it's descent and landed with a skidding stop in front of the king's palace. However to my dismay we were not alone. The chariot was quickly surrounded by a crowd of clambering ponies holding cameras and notepads. Oh no! I thought I told Celestia to keep this trip quiet.

"LUNA!" they all shouted as they rushed toward me, raising their quills. Great! the press...

"Princess! Is it true what they're saying about you!?" shouted one of the reporters.

"Wait what!?" cried Starry, swinging around to see what was happening. "Who is saying what about you?!"

I looked out at the ponies around me trying to keep up with all of their confusing questions, but for some reason I couldn't pick out a single voice. It all clashed together into a tidal wave of sound and camera flashes.

"I... I don't know..." I squeezed out. I wanted to ask what the reporters were talking about, but i couldn’t because they just kept asking me questions.

"Are you really in a romantic relationship with the captain of the royal guard!?"

"What!? No!" I shouted, my head spinning. I stumbled forward and attempted to pull myself out of the chariot, but the reporters blocked me. I then tried to fly away, but they were above me too, hovering over me like vultures hungry for a juicy piece of meat.

I then to the floor of the chariot and tried desperately to hide. I hoped that if I waited them out, they would go away, but I was wrong. They didn't just stay, some of them even climbed into the chariot with me. Even that was tolerable to a point, but then one of them crossed the line.

"Is it true that you're a lazy slob who can't do anything right?!" He said shoving his fat face into mine.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY ABOUT US!?" I screamed, fury scorching my every word.

"Uh... Well..." He gargled, a twinge of fear creeping into his nasal whine.

"WE ASKED YOU A QUESTION WHELP!" I boomed in the best "Royal Canterlot Voice" I could muster. The small reporter then jumped back in shock, leaving himself slumped in an uncomplimentary ball-like position.

"I, uh... asked if you were lazy."

"HOW DARE YOU!?" I fumed. "We should smite thee for even IMPLYING such horrid and insulting things!"

The entire crowd shifted uneasily, and the fat reporter started to make a loud wheezing noise. "No! Please don't smite me! I... I have family; I'm just doing this to keep hay on the table. I meant no disrespect!"

Sensing that I now had the upper hoof, I made myself look as big and imposing as possible. "Very well!" I said, a satisfied grin crawling across my face. "We shall not smite you!"

The reporter looked up slowly and let out a sigh of relief. "Th, thank you I—"

"ON ONE CONDITION!" I blasted, cutting off the reporter who once again curled himself into a quivering ball of flesh. "Thou shalt leave us be for the remainder of our stay here!" The reporters nodded vigorously. "And, you shall never write ill of us again! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" The reporters nodded again and quickly scattered away like a swarm of rats. The fat one was the last to go. I watched as he hobbled away, his pudgy body making him incapable of flight.

For a second I didn't know what to. I just stood there like an idiot trying to take in everything that had happened. Suddenly I snapped out of my shock and realized that Starry was nowhere to be found.

"Starry honey? Where are you?" I called, darting my head back and forth.

"I think he's under there," said the clearly disgruntled pilot as he gestured to the underside of the chariot.

"Oh... Uh, thank you sir." I said stumbling out of the chariot still too dazed to fly straight. I then dropped a fairly substantial bag of bits at the stallion's hooves. "Consider that payment for all your troubles."

"Thank you ma'am, but I was just honoring an old favor to Captain Midnight."

"No I insist!" I said pushing the bag closer to him. "Besides..." I shifted a bit uncomfortably. "You did promise to keep quiet about the whole child thing. Right?"

"I suppose," he replied in a low rumble.

"Great! Now if you'll excuse me, I have a son to take care of!" I exclaimed as I ducked my head under the chariot. Sure enough, there was Starry Night huddled in a defensive pose, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Are they gone now?" said Starry his voice a small peep.

"Yup, they're gone," I said reassuringly. "You can come out now." I extended a hoof out to Starry making sure not move too quickly.

"Okay," muttered Starry, still breathing a bit hard.

"I'm so sorry! I had no idea the paparazzi would be here."

"It's okay, I just didn't expect my first interaction with a large amount of ponies to be like that," joked Starry as he crawled from beneath the vehicle.

"I know. It's absolutely awful that I let you go this long without see anypony else," I said, lowering my head in shame.

"No, what's awful are those ponies who were saying terrible things about you!" grunted Starry angrily. "Look Mom, I don't blame you for keeping me locked up. Sometimes I get mad and say things I don't mean." He looked up at me with a soft smile, his eyes watering slightly.

"Starry I—."

"Just forget about it, okay?" He put a hoof on my shoulder. "The past is in the past."

***

The pegasus castle was an intimidating mountain of columns and arch ways towering over us. Its marble walls were so tall that an entire half of the cloud island was drowned in an ocean of shadows. It was a harrowing sight, but in its own way, it was also very elegant. Its terrifying fences and gates were all topped with long deadly spikes, but they were also embellished with artistic brass swirls and floral patterns.

When Starry and I had made our way to the main gate, a group of three heavily armored pegasi awaited us.

"Princess Luna?" said one of the guards in a deep monotone.

"Yes, we are Luna," I said regally, my muzzle turned upwards.

"And this is?" He asked, staring at me with a face as solid as his armor. I frowned and frantically tried to hide Starry under my wing.

"This is, uh... Our royal student!" I blurted out without thinking. The guard looked at me blankly. "Do you not know about the royal student program?"

"No, I can't say that I do."

"We are shocked! It is traditional for us princesses to take a student every generation or so! We would assume somepony like yourself would have heard of such an ancient and important ritual! It is highly important to—"

He cut me off, "Oh, of course! The student ritual! Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about. Now if you just follow my squad and I, we can show you to where you will be staying tonight." The guard then turned around with a noisy clanging and unlocked the

oversized gold padlock that adorned the castle gate. They then marched into the downy white courtyard and toward the doors to the foyer.

The two of us were then led through the cavernous halls of the castle and to our chambers.

"Wow! This room is huge!" trumpeted Starry as he galloped into the tall rectangular living space.

"What are you talking about? It's not even as big as my room back home."

"Yeah, but it's bigger than I expected!" quipped Starry as if his words should be common knowledge.

"Alright big guy, calm down," I said as Starry plunked down onto one of the two princess-sized beds. "We have a big day tomorrow, so we should get some rest."

"What about your sister?" asked Starry, sounding legitimately concerned.

"She's probably just running late or something," I said nonchalantly. "I wouldn't be too worried about it. I'm sure she'll be here by morning"

***

"What, in all Equestria is the meaning of this?" spat Celestia, throwing a magazine onto the table in front of me. I glanced down at it puzzled by my sister's sudden outburst of rage, but when my eyeballs reached the title, I was appalled by what I saw.

"ROYAL MELTDOWN!?" I screamed, reading the cover. "Psycho princess blows her top and threatens to kill reporters!?"

"Luna," moaned Celestia, sounding her age, "Why did you have to go and make things even worse?"

"Hey, they attacked me! What did you expect me to do just stand there?"

"I don't know, maybe not threaten to murder them." bellowed Celestia, rubbing her face in her hoof.

I rolled my eyes. "First of all, I said smite not murder."

"Look, those rats have been giving us bad press for weeks now; don't give them a reason to write more awful things."

"More? Up until today, I had no idea anypony was writing about us," I admitted.

"Well then, maybe I should enlighten you," she said irritably, throwing another magazine to the table.

" 'Royal slob?!’ ‘Princess Luna slacker?!' How dare they?!"

"And it's not just you," said Celestia, pulling a third magazine out of a bag and hanging it in front of my face.

"Wh-what!?" I sputtered, bursting out into a fit of intense laughter.

Celestia jumped back, dropping the magazine suddenly. "And what exactly is so funny?!" cried Celestia, redness seeping from her cheeks.

"I-I'm sorry..." I said, gasping for air. "It's just that title!" I said, making a vague gesture to the glossy front page of the magazine.

"Hey, don't make fun of me! It's not true!" whined Celestia, a bit like a foal with a dirty diaper.

"Oh, I know! It's just SO stupid!" I glanced down, once again, at the silly tabloid that lay on the ground. Shocker!!! Star Swirl and Celestia disappearing together for days! More information on their scandalous relationship on page 14!

"It's not stupid! it's insulting!" fumed Celestia.

"It's both!" I shouted, trying to fight off another bout of giggles. "Isn't he like one hundred years old?!"

"One hundred twelve..." replied Celestia meekly. I laughed again. "Stop it!"

"Alright, I'm sorry." I sighed and sat down on the bed next to Starry who was still sound asleep. "I haven't laughed like that in a while." I said, a twinge of nostalgia in my voice. "Do you remember when we were fillies and we used to pretend we were princesses?" I shook my head, a wistful smile on my face.

"Did you ever imagine it would be like this?" Asked Celestia in a small voice.

"What?"

"Being a princess."

"I don't know." I said shrugging."Did you?"

"No," she scoffed, shaking her head. "Call me naive, but I thought it was going to be just like in the story books." Celestia then strolled over to the bed and sat down on the other side of Starry Night. "He's cute." She said staring at the messy maned teen. I smiled, and lightly brushed away the hair invading Starry's face. "So you said he was your student?"

I winced, unprepared to defend my lie. "Yeah, so what?" I said defensively. "If you can have one why can't I?"

"Calm down. It's okay; you're right."

"I am?"

"Yeah, go ahead. I think it's good that you to want to pass on your knowledge to somepony else." replied Celestia, an unusual air of casualness about her.

"Really!?”

"Of course! Don't sound so surprised about it. However, I am a bit surprised by your choice..." Celestia looked back down at Starry's snoring body. "No offense, but male pegasi aren't typically princess material." As if on cue, Starry then rolled onto his back and began making a strange gurgling sound.

"I guess not." I said giggling.

***

"Not to sound rude or anything, but dost thou mind telling us exactly why we're here?" I said, cutting through the awkward silence that hung over the banquet hall.

"Well, excuse me for trying to be a good host!" snapped the King of Cloudsdale as he tapped his hoof against the table.

"Please excuse my sister," said Celestia, a nervous catch in her voice. A bit hurt, I threw her a venomous glare. "What she's trying to say, is we were both just a bit caught off guard by your sudden urgency to see us." She then gave a plastic smile that her eyes clearly did not agree with.

"Oh, I understand," he grumbled. "Everything is business with you two." The king then sat up straight, causing his oversized chair to make an annoying squeaking sound. "If you're so keen on getting down to it—"

"Noooo." In an oddly out of character turn of events, Celestia frantically interrupted the king. "It's not that; we're just worried about you, that's all!"

"Unfortunately, princess, I don't think it's me that you need to be worrying about, " said the king forebodingly.

"Is that so? Then would thou mind telling us whom we should be worried about?"

"Well, due to the recent negative press surrounding your highnesses, many important ponies, such as myself, have been growing more than a bit concerned as to the state of Equestria," said the king, his voice flowing with smooth dulcet tones. "That is to say, we fear that the ponies of Equestria are not getting proper guidance from a strong role model."

"What are you saying!?" cried Celestia defensively.

"Is it not obvious!?" I snapped. "He is implying that we do not deserve to be princesses!"

"To put it bluntly, yes. We believe that you've been acting quite unprofessional as of late—" he turned toward me with a blank expression. "—especially you, miss Luna."

"HOW DARE THOU INSULT OUR LEADERSHIP CAPACITY?!" I screamed, unleashing my bottled rage.

"You see, this is exactly what I'm talking about," said the king, fake sweetness coating his every word. "You just don't know how to control yourself."

"We could convict thou of treason for even suggesting such things!" I barked furiously.

"Not in my city you won't," said the king, all sweetness vanishing from his voice. "You two may be the princesses of Equestria, but the ponies around here are loyal to me."

"How dare you!" shouted Celestia, violently slamming her hooves against the thick table.

The king let out a deafening cackle. "Oh well," said the king insincerely. "I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me with no choice." The king then waved his hoof gingerly and a stout figure appeared from the door behind him.

"You!" I scratched as I looked at the fat reporter that stood behind the table. I jumped to my hooves losing all control of myself. "We should obliterate thou right here and now thy yellow bellied snake!"

"So I see you two have met," said the king, a smug grin growing across his face.

"That cretin wrote lies about us!" I growled. The reporter took a few steps back and ran a hoof through his greasy mane.

"That's because I told him to," said the king, his voice like daggers. "And he will keep writing lies about you until I tell him to stop or you two get overthrown, whichever comes first. Do you understand me?"

"Dost thou think you can get away with this?!" I shouted, spreading my wings, ready to attack.

"No, it's alright Luna. I can handle this," muttered Celestia, her body shaking violently. She turned back to the pegasus king. "What do you want?"

***

"I can't believe you!" I fumed as we made our way back to our chambers.

"There was nothing else we could have done!" cried Celestia defeatedly.

"We could have had his head cut off!" I snarled.

Celestia laughed a humorless laugh. "No matter how appealing that sounds, I'm afraid it would be impossible."

"What are you talking about! We can do anything we want!"

"Yes, technically that is true," said Celestia weakly. "But you heard what that moron said; the ponies of Cloudsdale adore him. If we were to have him executed, there would be revolutionaries at our doorstep within the day!"

"I suppose you're right," I said, letting out a long sigh. "I just wish there was more that I could’ve done."

"Sometimes you just have give ponies what they want in life."

"Yeah, but, he wanted a lot."

"It wasn't all that much, he just asked for the area between the San Palomino Desert and White Tail Wood," admitted Celestia.

"Oh, and don't forget he also asked for unrestricted air travel all across Equestria!"

"They fly wherever they want to anyway; it's not like we can stop them. No, what I'm worried about is what he's going to ask for next time."

"What do you mean next time?" I asked, stopping in front of the door.

"You think this is the end of it? He's going to keep coming after us as long as he has something to hold over our heads."

“I didn’t think about that,” I said as I trotted into our room. "Well, you should rest up. The king is going to force us to make an official statement before we can leave, so make sure you're not too tired."

"Yeah, thanks," I said, curling up under the bed's cream colored blanket. "I think out of all the rights we gave the ponies of Equestria, the only one I regret Is freedom of the press."

Celestia let out a hearty laugh.

***

The next morning, Celestia and I woke up early, so we could make an official statement about the deal with the king. However, when the guards came to get us, they told me that they only needed Celestia.

"Typical," I scoffed as Celestia trotted out the door.

"Look, I know it's annoying, but it's going to be over soon. Go blow off some steam or something," suggested Celestia as she dashed around our chambers.

"How?"

"I don't know! Go out with your student or something." cried Celestia as she prepared to leave.

"His name is Starry," I mumbled as Celestia slid out the door.

"Great!” I shouted, kicking over one of our chairs.

"What's wrong, Mom?" asked Starry, lifting his head from a gentle sleep.

"Nothing," I grumbled. "Just life."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You know what," I said, getting an idea. "I think you can." I jumped from the bed and looked down at Starry. "How does a tour around Cloudsdale sound?"

"Are you kidding me!?" shouted Starry beaming. "I'd love to!"

"Great!" I said, whisking Starry off his hooves and and out the door.

I flew Starry all over Cloudsdale to show him all of the sights of the massive city while also doing my best to avoid being seen. I didn't want to draw any attention to myself, especially after what just happened with the king. Despite my nerves, I was ecstatic to see how happy it made Starry to get out of that prison cell and trot the streets. I could see Starry's eyes fill up with wonder as I showed him the laboratories and factories that create the weather of Equestria, and to me that was the greatest thing in the world. Unfortunately, even when things seem to be getting better, sometimes the unkindness of others drags you right back down to the bottom.

***

“This is insane!" bellowed Starry as he galloped down the fluffy streets, gawking at a tall factory-like building.

"Slow down honey!" I cried, my voice wavering.

"Oh I'll be fine; stop worrying!" groaned Starry.

"No, it's not that," I said flying up to Starry, holding my cloak tightly to my body. "I just don't want anypony to recognize me."

"Oh, sorry," said Starry, leaning up against my body.

"It's alright Starry; I just get the sense that I'm not really wanted around here." I sighed and shook my head. "Anyway, that right there," I pointed at the building, it's towering smoke stacks belching out huge blobs of gray clouds. "That is where they make thunder clouds. It's where all the rain in Equestria comes from."

"I still can’t believe that it all comes from this one place."

"Well, the pegasi here work day and night to make sure that every single raindrop is ready to be shipped off to water the crops that provide all of us with food."

"Cool! Can we go inside?" pleaded Starry.

"We could, but it's almost time to go back. If we did, there would be no time to show you where they make all of the snowflakes," I teased.

Starry whipped around and looked me dead in the eyes. "Why didn't you say so earlier! Let's go!"

"Alright champ," I said, giggling at Starry's enthusiasm.

I then turned and began to fly in the direction of the snowflake lab, but before I had gotten too far I heard the call of an unfamiliar voice.

"What do we have here?" It said in a low rumble.

I looked back only to see a small pack of teenage stallions surrounding Starry.

"It looks to me like somepony's lost their foal," said the muscular red pony that was leading the pack.

"Who, me?" asked Starry, his eyes darting between the three stallions.

"Oooh, it can talk!" jeered one of the other stallions.

"Of course I can talk. Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"Hey little guy! Where's your mommy?" asked the third pony, prompting cries of uproarious laughter from the other two.

"Hey guys, I don't want any trouble," said Starry sheepishly. "So if you'll excuse me..." Starry tried to back away, but the big red one stopped him with a single hoof.

"Aw, come on! We just met. What's the rush?"

"Well you see my mother is waiting for me, and it's getting late so—"

"Oh come on, mama's colt. Live a little!" The big stallion then violently ruffled Starry's mane and gave him a rough slap on the back. Starry backed up again, but this time he knocked into the hulking wall of bodies that the other two had formed.

I couldn't stand seeing Starry abused like that. I landed to see if I could chase the Stallions off, but for some reason I couldn't move. It was like my hooves had turned to glue. Every time I tried to will myself into moving, my body rebelled.

"Hey, look at this! He doesn't even have a cutie mark!" mocked one of the ponies, inciting more disgusting snickering.

"You're kidding me, that's PATHETIC!" jeered the fiery red pony. I winced at the poison in his voice, my heart pounding within my chest.

"Come on guys, this isn't cool," said Starry frightened. "Please, just leave me alone, and I'll get out of your manes."

"So, blank flank, what's you're name?" asked the molten pelted pegasus.

"My name is Starry Night, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me a... whatever it is you just called me!" My jaw dropped. Only now did I realize I never told Starry about finding his destiny. I'm so stupid! I thought, burying my face in my hooves. How could I have forgotten?! Why can't I do ANYTHING right?!

"So, Starry Night, let me ask you: do you even know what a cutie mark is?" questioned the bully, continuing the interrogation.

"Kinda..." mumbled Starry almost silently.

"Kinda!? How can you only kinda know what a cutie mark is!?" blurted out one of the other pegasi, chuckling intensely. Starry once again tried to escape, but was violently thrown back into the middle of the three bullies.

"Well, what is it? Do you know what a cutie mark is or not?"

"Okay, I have no idea! Happy now?" The trio broke into laughter again, this time even harder than before. Starry didn't even try to escape anymore, he just crumpled to the ground and covered his head with his hooves.

I tried to close my eyes, but I could still hear the incessant laughter of the pegasi ringing in my ears. Eventually, it became too much for me to to handle. All of my previously frozen appendages shot back to life, and before I even knew what was happening, I felt myself launch into the air.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" I boomed ripping my cloak from my body. "AWAY VILE CREATURES! LEAVE US ALONE BEFORE WE ARE FORCED TO DO SOMETHING WE REALLY REGRET!" I then let out a spectacular show of light from my horn causing the horrified pack of bullies to scramble away in random directions. I continued the frightening display until I could no longer hear their screams. I then fell out of the air and crashed to the ground at Starry's side.

Starry sat there next to me for a minute staring up at the sky blankly. After a few moments that felt like forever, a small whimper broke the silence and a single tear rolled down Starry's cheek.

"I'm so sorry," I said trying to fight back my own emotions.

Starry turned his head and looked at me, a deep sorrow filling his big eyes.

"I should have come earlier... I don't know what came over me, I moaned, losing all control over myself. Guilt and shame filled my mind and I had to let it all out. So I cried.

I cried harder than I ever had before. "I'm such an idiot!" I screamed, snot running down my muzzle.

"Shut up," mumbled Starry edging closer to me.

"What?"

"I said shut up!" shouted Starry as he ensnared me in a tight, warm hug. I was surprised, but I hugged back. We held each other like that until the last sliver of the sun passed below the horizon. We had gotten so wrapped up in the moment, I almost forgot about raising the moon.

That night, I met back up with Celestia. She told me that the order they made her sign was excruciating. According to her, the king continually added more and more conditions to it until she would sign it. I was angry. If I had been there, maybe things would have been different.

After that, we decided to go home, so we got back into our separate chariots and left.

***

"So you get your cutie mark when you find out what you're supposed to do in life?" asked Starry as we flew back to the castle.

"Basically, it's sort of like your special talent. You know, the thing that makes you different."

"Why were those stallions making fun of me for not having one?"

I sighed. It was a difficult question mainly because I still wasn't sure myself. "Well, for one thing, most ponies have their cutie marks by the time they're your age."

"But why is that a reason to make fun of me? I don't get it."

"I don't get it either honey. There are ponies in this world who enjoy picking on anypony they think is different. Sometimes ponies are miserable or insecure about themselves and try to take it out on others. Don't worry about it. You shouldn't let what other ponies say get to you." I sighed and shook my head. "Besides, the term 'blank flank' has been around since the beginning of time."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." I said nuzzling Starry's neck.

"Stop it!" cried Starry, giggling at my touch.

"I remember when I was your age. Most of the other little ponies had already gotten their cutie marks years ago. Everypony else already knew exactly what they wanted to do in life, but I was just that weird filly who liked to stay out late and talk to animals."

"Were you ever made fun of?" asked Starry Night, his voice a tiny squeak.

I smiled and couldn't help but laugh a little as I reminisced on those long past days. "All the time! They'd call me weird and creepy, they'd laugh at me when I fell asleep in school, they would make fun of me for being a shut-in, and most of all they'd call me a 'blank flank'"

"But you're a princess," Starry interjected. "They can't do that!"

"Not back then I wasn't." I started to chuckle a bit. "That doesn't mean Celestia didn't act like I was a princess. She was always my knight in shining armor, coming to save me from the mean bullies. Even if they were older and stronger than her, she never backed down. That's Celestia for you. Always trying to give a voice to those that have none."

I stood up in my seat and looked out of the chariot. There was not much left of the moon that night, just a thin crescent surrounded by thousands of tiny white pinpricks.

"What happened to you two?" asked Starry, his voice like a knife cutting through the heavy silence.

"She says it's the job." I sniffled a bit from the cold and a slight shiver went up my spine.

"And what do you think?"

"I don't know, Starry. All I know is that yesterday was the first day I had an actual conversation with her in more than a century."

"You two are sisters; I'm sure it will get better," chimed Starry optimistically.

"I hope so, buddy."

***

From there, the rest of the year was business as usual. Starry, Midnight, and I had gotten back into our normal rhythm and, for the most part, nothing interesting happened, except of course the protests.

After our highly controversial meeting with The King of Cloudsdale, the public wouldn't leave us alone, annoying tabloid newspapers or not. Ponies all over Equestria were protesting Celestia's rule, but for the most part she was able to quell their hatred with her words.

I, on the other hoof, was hit hard. Because of a combination of my bad speaking skills and my more intimidating appearance, the ponies didn't trust me the way they did Celestia. To protest my reign, ponies started started to sleep through my night instead of taking naps like I did. Many of them even tried to get night outlawed altogether.

Things kept on going like that until Starry's seventeenth birthday.

"Well, Starry, how does it feel to be seventeen?" chimed Midnight, pride filling his voice.

"Exactly the same as being sixteen and eleven moons," replied Starry playfully, a wide grin on his chiseled face. Midnight laughed a deep hearty laugh and ruffled Starry's mane. Starry tried to pull away, but Midnight grabbed him and pulled him in for a full noogie. "Come on Midnight, give me a break!"

"Alright, I'm sorry. I'm just proud of you."

"Alright guys, settle down." I said picking up a large plate. "It's time for cake!"

"I don't know about you two, but this is my favorite part!" bellowed Midnight, cracking another booming laugh.

As we ate cake, I couldn't take my eyes off of Starry. He had grown so much so fast. Although his messy black mane remained the same, it was almost like he was a completely different pegasus than the one I had found seventeen years before. His once soft and rounded face had evolved into one of a strong stallion. His legs used to be awkwardly short and disproportionate, and his body was pudgy and small. His legs were now muscular and defined and his body was like a large barrel. I marveled every time I saw his big blue chest rise and fall like an ocean of fur.

However, more than anything, I was impressed by his wings. What used to only be tiny and unusable appendages had become grand umbrellas, their giant shiny flight feathers stretching several feet each.

I was a bit sad knowing that I would have to watch the one I love grow up, but that couldn't overcome the intense feeling of pride I had for not only Starry but myself as well. You did it, Luna, I thought. You raised a foal all the way to a stallion. All those nights of sadness and worry didn't mean anything to me anymore because I made it.

I looked up, and before I knew it, we were done with cake and moved on to the most important part of the anniversary.

"Alright buddy, it's time to see if the helmet fits,” said Midnight rubbing his fore hoofs together.

"Could you just start training me already? I'm never going to have your fat head!" moaned Starry as he gave Midnight a light shove with his body.

"If you keep talking like that, you're going to have a fat lip," joked Midnight, elbowing Starry in the ribs.

"I'm sure I will," replied Starry as he grabbed the golden guard's helmet from the closet and blew the dust from it. "Been awhile since I've tried this."

"Well, go on! don't keep us waiting!"

"Calm down, I'm doing it," assured Starry as he began to lower onto himself. "Here's hoping." And with one quick downward movement, Starry squeezed the helmet snugly upon his head.

"You did it!" I cried, grabbing Starry for a big hug.

"Mom, I didn't DO anything! I just put the thing on."

"Well I'll be," mused Midnight, running a hoof through his graying mane. "You beat me."

"What do you mean I beat you?" wheezed Starry, his lungs being crushed by my hug.

"When I was a colt, my father gave me that helmet and made me the same promise. I was a late bloomer like you, so I didn't fit into it until I was nineteen. That means you beat me by two years."

Starry lightly pushed me away and trotted over to Midnight."Thank you," he said giving Midnight a light hug. "It's an honor that you would give this to me and even more of an honor that you want to train me."

"It's no problem son." he replied, hugging back. "How does next week sound? To start training I mean."

"That sounds wonderful!" said Starry, light gleaming off of his new helmet. I smiled. He looked like he was born to wear it.

Part V "How Far We've Come."

Part V

"How Far We’ve Come."

"Hey, Mom," called Starry as he trotted through the door fully adorned in golden armor.

"Hey, honey. How was your first day of training?" I asked eagerly. From the moment Starry had put that helmet on, he couldn't stop talking about training he was so excited.

"It was hard," replied Starry with a tired groan.

"Not too bad, right?" I galloped over to Starry who was now shaking the armor off his body.

"Are you kidding me?! It was great!" shouted Starry as he flopped his huge body onto his bed. He then yawned a deep yawn and curled himself into a familiar ball shape.

"Yeah, he did well," said Midnight who was now standing in the doorway.

"Really? Starry, I'm so proud of you!" I chimed clapping my hooves together.

"Truth is, he gave the other stallions a real run for their money," admitted Midnight. "That pegasus can imitate any maneuver you show him and throw right back at you."

"Thanks. For some reason, I feel like I'm doing what I was born to do," muttered Starry as he began to drift off into sleep.

"I'm telling you he's going to take my job," whispered Midnight trying his to keep Starry from listening.

"Are you sure you're not rushing this a bit? I mean, he just started,"

"He's got the right attitude, and that will take you miles farther than brains or brawn alone. It's going to be a tough road, no doubt, but I have faith in him."

"And I have faith in both of you." I said, giving Midnight a firm slap on the back.

"Uh… can we take this outside?" asked Midnight glancing over at Starry. "I want to talk with you, in private."

"Sure, I guess," I said, pulling myself up from the coffee table. "Where do you want to go?"

***

"So what do you want to talk about," I asked, kicking at the wet dirt of the Everfree Forest.

"Honestly, I don't know," said Midnight, stopping in the middle of the path. He let out a soft grunting sound and stared off into the starry sky. "I'm just afraid."

"What?" I cried, drawing back my head in surprise.

"I know; I don't really look like the kind a pony who gets scared. But all this insane political turmoil, I just don't understand it." Midnight shook his head defeatedly and turned toward me. "Look, when my father gave me that helme,t and I became a royal guard, I vowed to devotedly protect the ponies of Equestria with my life. And I have been doing that for 40 years now.

“ I've worked almost my entire life trying to protect and better the nation that I love, but now it feels like everything I've tried to work for, everything I have achieved, is crumbling away in front of my eyes.

“I'm 58 years old now, and I'm not getting any younger. The ponies of Equestria don't like me, and my own soldiers think I'm an old fart

. “I think what I'm getting at is, despite my important position and so called power, I feel useless." Midnight slammed his hoof against the ground and made a loud snorting sound. "I feel like something big is going to happen soon, but I know all I can do is stand by and watch..." Midnight trailed off and then dropped to the ground.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I remember when you trusted me with your deepest secret all those years ago, about Starry and all, so I thought it was about time I returned the favor."

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can really do." I said putting a hoof on Midnight’s back.

"You can listen, and that's more than most ponies would ever care to do,"

Neither of us said anything for a while. Time seemed to stop moving forward and instead drift away like smoke from a camp fire. I looked around at the gnarled trees of the dark forest, and watched as a small squirrel-like creature skittered across the ground. I closed my eyes for a moment and listened to the birds chirp and the wind blow through the forest. It was a clam night, sirine even. I had no idea how anypony could hate a night as beautiful as that.

As I sat, I began to doze off for a minute, but I was then promptly woken up by a small drop of water landing on my muzzle.

"Luna, will you promise me something?" asked Midnight, his voice serious and monotone.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Will you promise to remember me?"

"Of course! why wouldn't I remember you?" I asked worriedly.

"Time passes, and someday I'm going to die. But you'll still be around. You're going to keep living thousands of years, even after nopony else remembers me, you will." Midnight stopped for a moment and laughed a humorless laugh. "When I think about it, that's all anypony really wants, to be remembered. That way you live on even after your body has rotted away."

I looked at Midnight, unable to say a word. Many nights I've sat alone thinking about the ponies I've met, knowing that someday I would have to let go of every single one of them. It was always hard becoming attached to somepony and then in a blink of an eye losing them.

There are so many faces that swirl through my head and so many long since forgotten names. The only thing that had ever been consistent in my life was Celestia. She was the one who made the years pass by, the only one who could ease the pain. But it had gotten to a point where even she, my own sister, wasn't there for me.

"You don't have to worry about that," I said, giving Midnight a warm smile. "I'm sure Starry and I will remember you for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah, that kid is a special one,” replied Midnight shaking his head. “By the way it's beautiful out here. On nights like these I pity the idiots who lock themselves in their houses."

"Thanks," I said trying not to blush. "And don't worry about the situation with Equestria. I'm sure it'll all be fine."

After that, we had to start forming a new routine because of Starry's odd training schedule, but it wasn't that bad. Starry would go to training in the morning with Midnight most days, but sometimes he would also leave in the afternoon for extra lessons.

His first week of training went almost entirely smoothly, and I got no bad reports from Midnight. However, that quickly changed. Soon I began getting more and more frequent reports of Starry having trouble behaving with the other stallions. This worried me mainly because he had always been such a gentlecolt. I couldn't possibly imagine him getting in fights with anypony, even if he was provoked. One day Starry came home after having a particularly intense fight with one of the other recruits.

***

"Starry, are you alright?" I asked as I watched him sulk in the corner of our room.

"I'm fine!" snapped Starry, turning away and flipping his mane back in front of his eyes.

"Starry, look at me!" I commanded. "You are not 'fine'. Now tell me what happened or I'll go and ask Midnight." I began to stand up, threatening to leave.

"No!" he squeaked, quickly jumping from his seat and onto the floor. I stopped and looked at Starry, fake impatience on my face. "I mean... I think we should talk about it first."

"Okay," I said, using my magic to pull up a couple of chairs. "Now. What happened?" Starry bit his lip and looked at the floor. "It's okay; I won't be mad."

Starry sighed. "I got into another fight today. It was a bad one."

"Starry, again?" I scolded as I pulled his mane from in front of his face. He had a black eye.

"He started it."

"That's no excuse to start beating on ponies!”

"He called you an awful princess, and then when I tried to reason with him, he said my opinion didn’t matter because I was just a blank flank nopony."

"I don't care what he said; what you did wasn't right!" I lectured, pulling Starry’s face up to look at mine.

"I know. I just get SO angry sometimes, and I try to talk about it, but everything comes out wrong."

"It's okay, honey, I know." I said, giving Starry a gentle rub.

"I feel like it's impossible to control myself sometimes. Like I'm some sort of monster pretending to be a pony."

"I know exactly what that’s like, but whenever you feel you're getting out of control, remember that you are your own pony. Remember that nopony else has power over what you do. It's your choice whether you blow up or not."

"That's the thing. When I get like that I don't feel like it IS me."

"If you ever feel like that, just take a deep breath, and think about something you love."

"Okay." said Starry, a faint smile on his face. "Besides I'd better clean up my act. Midnight even told me the only reason I haven't been kicked out yet is because he's been giving me special treatment."

From that moment on Starry tried his best to control his anger, and aside for the occasional verbal fencing match, he did well.

One night he told me that he had to use my technique to control himself; he said that when he took a deep breath, the only thing he could think about was me.

The next month or so was strange. I wasn't able to see Starry for the long hours that I was used to, but I didn't mind because he loved what he was doing. It was probably for the best anyway; I had a lot of work to do. And for the first time in years, I didn't feel like the work I was doing was tedious.

Every time Starry came home with a smile on his face I knew that what I was doing was right. One night Starry came back to the room even more excited than usual. Little did I know what he had in store would be some of the best and the worst news I would ever hear.

***

"Mom! Mom! Mom!" shouted Starry as he came bursting through the door.

"What is it honey?" I cried, so surprised I dropped the fork I was levitating.

"I did It!"

"Did what?"

"Midnight said I passed basic training!"

"What?! You did!? Starry that's wonderful!" I said running over to him for a hug.

"That means I get to go on to go on to advanced flight school in Timbucktu!"

"Wait what?!" I screamed, stopping dead in my tracks.

"What's wrong?" asked Starry the smile disappearing from his face.

"I'm sorry… I just didn't think you would have to go that far away."

"I'm afraid it can't be helped," grumbled Midnight as he trotted into the room.

"Midnight! Where were you!" shouted Starry giving him a firm jab in the side.

"Sorry, I was finishing up with the older stallions."

"So what's all this about going to Timbucktu?" I asked, throwing Midnight an intense glare.

"That's where the primer flight school in Equestria is. If you want Starry to get the proper training that's where you're going to have to send him."

"Can't he go to Cloudsdale academy! At least that's not too far away."

Midnight chuckled. "Only Wonderbolts and weather ponies go to Cloudsdale academy. If you want a soldier you have to go to Timbucktu."

"I don't want a soldier; I want a son. Besides isn't he already a soldier? He finished basic."

Midnight's face grew sullen and he glanced over at Starry. “Yes, that's true," he whispered. "But I don't think you understand. Not everypony gets to be a real guard. Like the guards around here, they're all just a show of power. The only thing they're good for is showing other countries how strong we are. That's what happens to ponies who only finish basic. Is that what you want for Starry?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but no words came out. I couldn't imagine how heartbroken Starry would be if he found out that his dream of being a powerful royal weapon turned out to be a job as a glorified servant.

"I don't know,"

"Alright, fair enough," said Midnight with a great sigh. "But before you make a decision, I need to show you something." Midnight then walked over to Starry and whispered something into his ear.

"Is it time to show her yet?" questioned Starry, bouncing on the bed. Midnight nodded and gave a small smile. "Alright, are you ready, Mom?"

"Ready for what?"

"Just watch," assured Starry as he began to take off his armor.

I was confused for a moment as to he was doing, but as soon as he took of his chest plate and reviled his flank underneath, I almost fell over.

"Starry, th-that's amazing... I don't know what to say!"

Starry had a cutie mark, and not just any cutie mark. He had one of the most beautiful cutie marks I have seen in the thousands of years I have lived. Emblazoned on his flank were twenty-eight bright and shining stars. They were unlike anything I had ever seen; they shimmered and sparked as if they emanated their own light. The tiny dots all aligned, connected by faint shimmery lines, in the shape of a shield with the letters RG in the center for royal guard.

"I'm so proud of you," I muttered, tears flowing from my eyes.

"Oh Mom, don't cry!" said Starry trotting over to comfort me.

"No, it's okay; I'm happy," I said, giving a reassuring smile. I looked back at Starry’s cutie mark and noticed something I had never seen before. It shimmered as he moved. “It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"Aw, that can't be true," said Starry, his face turning a few shades darker. "I mean, you own a mirror; don't you?”

I thought about what he said or a second then burst out into a fit of giggles. "Oh stop it!" I said a huge grin on my face. "I'm telling you, you're going to be a real mare killer some day."

"Alright, alright, heartwarming family moments aside, you know what this means, right?" groaned Midnight.

"That my son is even more amazing than I thought?!"

"No," replied Midnight, putting his hoof in his face. "It means this is what he's meant to do!" Midnight then showed off his own cutie mark, RG written in large gold letters. "Do you really want to take that away from him?"

I sighed and wiped the tears from my face. "I suppose not... But I'm going to miss you so much." I grabbed Starry for a big hug and began to cry again.

"I'll miss you too Mom," he said hugging back, almost crushing me with his powerful adult body. "It's all going to be alright."

"I love you Starry!"

"I know Mom; I love you too. I Always have, and I'm not stopping now."

The following day was entirely filled with packing and getting ready. Starry Midnight and I frantically galloped around trying to find our things. We made sure to double check that Starry would have everything he needed, but for some reason I still had a bad feeling, like we were forgetting something.

That night I couldn't help but think about how far we've come. I was nervous to say goodbye but I knew I had to let go someday. So when the time came, I gave Starry a kiss and made sure to remind him to write.

After that, everything was extremely quiet. With Starry gone, Midnight didn't really have a reason to spend time with me, so I was mostly alone. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, at least not at first. I would take moonlit strolls and talk to the animals as a way to pass the time. I also did a lot of reading; I tried to learn as much as I could about some of the current politics that I'd been missing out on while taking care of Starry. However, eventually being alone did start to bother me again, starting one dark and rainy evening four weeks after Starry's departure.

***

I took a deep breath as I felt the light rainfall on my wings. I always loved the feeling of flying in the rain. It was refreshing somehow. Celestia would always tell me it was dangerous, but I never listened.

I wasn’t exactly sure where I was flying to, but at least all of the silence gave me time to think.

Looking back on my life, becoming a mother was never something I was really interested in. I guess I sort of shoved the idea out of my mind because I was too afraid of forming attachments to other ponies. I didn’t want to watch the ones I love fade away.

Thunder boomed in the distance as I dove closer to the ground. I flapped my wings harder and felt the small droplets of water shatter on my face as I picked up speed. I was never big on flying fast, but I did still enjoy the rush every once in a while.

In my younger days I did try my hoof at romance, but it would never really work out the way I wanted. Maybe my expectations were too high; maybe everypony else was just too afraid of my position to get close to me.

As I continued to fly, I ended up over a large grassy field. It was hard to see in the dark, but I could have sworn that I caught a glimpse of a small village.

I turned my head and stopped abruptly. I didn’t know there was civilization all the way out here, I thought as I stared into the blackness behind me. For some reason, my curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to fly back to where I had seen the houses.

There wasn’t much in it, but it was there, a small farming town in the middle of nowhere. It was strange; usually whenever a new town is created, Celestia and I are informed about it. What was even more strange, was that no one was outside. Back then most farmers worked around the clock and took short naps to make the most of the whole day, but on that night everything was quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the rain pounding against the dirt.

I flew down to check the place out, but everything was dark. not a single light was on in the entire village. I trotted my way through the empty streets and looked for some sort of activity. There was no one in the town and no one in the fields.

After a long stretch of dirt road there were a few more houses. As I expected, they were mostly dark. However, there was one light on in the very last house on the street.

I trotted up to the tiny house, and to my surprise, on the porch was a little filly sitting in a chair.

“Hello there little one,” I said, stepping into the light.

“Howdy!” squeaked the child, rocking back and forth in the chair.

“What are you doing out here all alone?” I asked, climbing up the porch's creaky steps.

“The others are all asleep.”

“Why is that?”

“They’re waitin’ fur the day. That’s when they start tendin’ to the crops,” said the filly pulling her cream colored mane from in front of her eyes.

“Why not now? there’s plenty of time to do it during the night.”

“They say the night is no good. Too dark, ya know?”

    My heart sank. Is that really what ponies thought of my night? “Really? Then why are you out here?”

“I like it.” The filly smiled wide, revealing a few missing teeth.

“Really?”

“Yeah, ah course I do. Don’t tell my papa I said that.” the filly then rolled over in the chair leaving her in an uncomfortable upside down position.

I giggled. “My lips are sealed.” I didn’t really know what to say, so instead, I tapped my hoof on the rotting wood of the deck. “So… what’s your name?”

“My name? It’s Golden Straw. I never really liked it too much though.”

“I think it’s fine,” I said as I sat down next to the filly. “My name is Luna.”

“As in Princess Luna?!” cried Golden Straw, standing up in her chair.

“The one and only.”

“Wow! I’ve always wanted to meet a princess! My papa doesn't like you, but I think he’s just fulla hay.” beamed the filly, wide eyed and grinning.

“Why doesn't your father like me?” I asked, fearing the answer.

“I don’t know. He spouts a lot of hooey bout you not caring bout us.”

“That’s not true!” I shouted, feeling my anger begin to boil inside me.

“That’s what I keep tellin’ ‘em. But he goes to those dumb old protests anyway!”

“What protests?!” I said, taken aback.

“I don—” Just then the door to the house swung open.

“What’s goin’ on out here!” screamed a voice.

“Oh no! It’s my papa!” said Golden Straw as a large figure appeared from the door.

“Who the hay are you?!” said the figure, bursting out into the pouring rain.

“Sir I—”

“AND WHAT UR YOU DOIN’ WITH MY DAUGHTER!”

“Nothi—”

“Wait a minute! You’re that Princess Luna ain't cha?!” he yelled, stepping a bit closer to me.

“Calm down sir; I mean no harm!” I insisted, desperately trying to diffuse the situation.

“It’s true, Papa; she ain’t hurtin’ nothin’,” cried Golden Straw as she hopped up from her chair and between the two of us.

“Shut up! I ain’t talkin’ to you!” shouted the Stallion, grabbing Golden Straw by the mane.

“Papa please!” squealed Golden Straw, kicking around in a desperate attempt at escape.

“Get yer flank back in the house right now little missy!” commanded the burly earth pony.

“But, Papa!”

“Get inside before I clobber you!” Golden Straw’s father then shoved her inside, and before she could even complain, he slammed the wooden door shut so hard I could feel the whole house shake. “How dare you come here and disrupt my family’s life!” he shouted, turning toward me again.

“I promise that was not my intention! I was just curious as to why nopony was outside on a night as fine as this.”

“And that’s another thing.” The stallion took a few steps closer and hacked a huge wad of spit on the ground in front of me. “How dare ya take away the daytime we love just to replace it with your own selfish image!"

"Selfish!? How dare thee!?" I retorted, taking up my "Royal Canterlot Voice" "We slave over creating a night sky that thy would love every single night, but this is how thy thank us?! We hardly think that we could be called the selfish one!”

"Yeah? Well we don’t need ya tellin’ us what we want!" shouted the stallion as he picked up a small stone from the ground. “If you wanna do what we want, just leave! None uh us want you here in the first place.”

“I’m sorry I—” Just then, as I was trying to defend myself, the stallion hurled the rock at me. “OW!” I shrieked, feeling the sting of the rock smashing against my chest.

“Why don’t ya’ll just do us a favor and never show your face, or your useless night, in Equestria ever again!” he screamed, picking up another rock.

I wasn’t really sure what to do, so I tried to reason with him, but no matter what I said, he just kept pelting me with whatever small objects he could find. At first, it was only little stings which was tolerable, but the more I tried to say to the stallion the worse it got. Eventually, even I had to reach my breaking point, and that came in the form of a glass bottle.

I screamed as the thick glass of the bottle shattered and dug itself into my left side. I was in shock for a few moments, but as soon as I came to my senses, I was angry.

"How DARE thee!" I boomed, slamming my hooves against the ground. "I shall NOT stand for this!" I then completely lost control for a moment and let out a powerful concussive wave from my horn causing the large stallion to be thrown back into the door at great speed. Thankfully, the blast wasn’t strong enough to knock the house down, but it certainly threw the stallion through a loop.

“You’re a monster!” he groaned as he gasped for breath

"I AM NOT A MONSTER!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, lightning cracking the sky.

Suddenly, I felt weak, but I knew I had to leave, so I hobbled out into the street. I looked at the sky and felt the rain drench my face. It was coming down even harder than before.

I took a deep breath and jumped into the air, flapping desperately to escape that town. The rain and darkness made for a long journey home, but I was able to make it back to the castle by the time the first rays of my sister’s sun appeared over the horizon.

As soon as I made it into my room, I flopped down on my bed and took a nice long rest. However just before I fell asleep, I felt something strange. It was like some sort of dark force was trying to worm its way inside of me.

After that night, I didn't really know what to do anymore, so I just sat around in my room. I canceled all my meetings and ignored all of my visitors. the only thing I would do was look out the window and listen to the silence of the night.

The one thing that would give me comfort were the occasional letters from Starry Night. Apparently flight school was rough, and they almost never let him mail anything. That didn't stop Starry though; he always found a way to get something to me every once in a while. Most of the letters were just updates on how he was doing and how much he missed me, but every so often he would send me an interesting story.

My personal favorite was the story of when a cadet tried to prank the drill instructor by dumping purple paint on his head. I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of a muscular drill sergeant soaked in a big purple blob.

Believe it or not, those were the things that kept me going. Those short messages were the candles in the dark that guided my way.

I powered through the next few months, and for the most part, things weren’t too bad. Until the day everything fell apart.

***

"LUNA!" screamed Midnight's voice, shocking me awake.

"What!" I moaned, clutching my pillow to my face.

"It's an emergency! I need to talk to you right now!"

"Can't it wait another hour?" I groaned.

"Listen to me, Luna; this is a matter of life and death. Please let me in right now!" Demanded Midnight.

I sighed. "Alright.” I dragged myself from the bed and creaked open the door. "What is it?"

Midnight slapped a hoof over my mouth. "What I want you to do right now is listen. Do you understand?" whispered Midnight. I nodded. "Timbucktu is under attack, and Starry Night might be in danger."

"Wha—" I tried to shout, but Midnight silenced me once again.

"I need you to stay calm, alright?" I nodded again this time much more vigorously. "From the reports that are coming in, all we can tell is that Timbucktu is in danger, and King Orion has been taken hostage." Midnight relaxed and removed his hoof from my mouth. “Now what I'm going to is bring a small party of my finest men and we’re going to see how many ponies we can save."

"But you're an earth pony how are you going to walk?"

"It will be fine; I'll get one of the unicorns to cast a cloud walking spell on me." Midnight looked me right in the eyes again, his muzzle only a hoof's length away. "I have to do this myself. If anything were to happen to Starry I'd be to blame."

"Can I at least go with you?" I asked pleadingly.

"We don't know what is doing the attacking; I don't think we should risk you getting hurt. Besides Celestia said that—”

"I DO NOT CARE what Celestia has to say!" I shouted, interrupting Midnight.

"Okay, then listen to what I have to say. Starry is already in danger. I don’t think I’d be able to handle it if you both got hurt.”

"Then what am I supposed to do, sit around here like an idiot!?" I cried, frustrated by my constant uselessness.

"No, just wish me luck,” said Midnight laying a hoof on my shoulder.

I sighed and hung my head low. "Okay, I'll try."

That was the one decision I regret the very most. Because maybe if I had been there, I could have been able to make things different.

Part VI "A Nice Night To Die."

Part VI

"A Nice Night To Die."

That night I paced the floor of my room incessantly. I tried not to think about Starry. I told myself everything would be alright, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't believe it. However after a few hours, there was another knock at the door. "GO AWAY!" I shouted, covering my face with a pillow.

"Luna, it's okay; open up," called the calm voice of Celestia.

I froze. She hadn't even tried talking to me since Cloudsdale. "What do you want?" I mumbled moving over to the door at a slow trot.

"I know what's going on, and I'm sorry," cried Celestia, sounding more sincere than ever.

"I don't care. I don't want to talk to you.”

"Then you don't have to talk to me. Just listen."

There was a long pause as I pondered what to do. I was extremely sensitive at the time, and I had very mixed feelings about chatting with my sister. "Okay," I muttered pressing my face against the door.

"I know what you're going through right now. I've gotten attached to many of my own students, and whenever they got in trouble I felt like it was my fault."

My ears perked up and my eyes opened wide. Is she trying to comfort me?

"But you listen to me right now; this is by no means your fault! Don't blame yourself... Please." Celestia's voice had quickly gone from confident and commanding to small and insecure. "I don't want you to have to go through what I did."

For a split second I heard what sounded like crying.

"Thank you," I said unable to think of any other words.

"And I know you don't want to let me in," continued Celestia, still whimpering. "But I want to let you know that I plan on staying here with you until Starry comes home safely."

"No, you don't have to do that for me! I can't let you sit there for that long!"

"Then don't let me sit here... Talk to me."

"Oh okay... What do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Anything you want, as long as it takes your mind off things," replied Celestia.

I didn't know what to say so I decided to start talking about the past. As the conversation went on I could feel my anxiety melt away. Hours past, and the focus of the conversation changed constantly.

We talked about places we've been, ponies we've met, and after a while I even felt comfortable talking about Starry.

The two of us continued like that until morning came, playfully exchanging stories through the door. It was almost like we were fillies again, whispering to each other late into the night, far past our bedtimes.

After we had run out of things to talk about and I became suitably comfortable, I decided to open the door. It was only a crack, but it was plenty enough for me to lock eyes with a worn out Celestia.

"Hey," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my head.

"Hey," replied Celestia, a warm yet tired smile on her face.

I looked down at my hooves trying to avoid direct eye contact. "Do you want to come in?" I asked sheepishly.

"I'd love to,” said Celestia, her smile growing wider.

I slowly cracked the door open more and stepped aside, letting Celestia into my room and back into my life.

"Man am I tired,” said Celestia with a great yawn. " I hope you don't mind if I rest a bit..." Celestia then flopped down onto my bed and closed her eyes.

"No, I don't mind at all," I said laying down next to her. I looked at my sister's porcelain white face and an odd mixture of emotions filled my brain. What am I doing? How could I have let things go so wrong?

***

What ‘s going on!? I thought as I was jolted awake by the sound of nearby shouting. "Celestia, is that you?" I called as I lifted my head from my pillow. I looked around, but my sister was nowhere to be seen. "Typical."

I don't know exactly how long I had been sleeping, but as I got up I noticed that the sun was only barely hovering over the horizon. I turned my head suddenly as I heard the noises again. This time they were right outside my door. I trotted over to see what it was, but before I had even turned the handle, the door swung open.

It was Starry.

His eyes were wide and he was breathing hard, but he looked no more worse for wear than last time I saw him. "STARRY!" I cried hugging my son tightly. He however, didn't move. "Son... Are you okay?" I asked, waving a hoof in front of his tired face.

"He's fine; he's just in shock." called an unfamiliar voice.

I turned expecting to see Midnight, but instead I met eyes with a brown furred guard I had never met. "Wait… Where's Midnight?"

"Don't worry he's alive!" assured the unicorn.

"Yes but where IS he?!" I asked more emphatically, my voice quivering.

"He's being taken care of..."

"Taken care of… What do you mean? What happened?!"

"It's nothing major! I'm sure he'll be okay!"

I gave the guard a piercing glare and got in his face. "What happened!" I growled.

"He was trying to do the right thing, but then it happened. He got stabbed by one of those monsters... The soldier he was trying to save morphed into some kind of beast and rammed him with its horn. It was pretty deep, but we were able to patch him up.”

"Where is he now?"

"In the infirmary on the first floor."

"Alright, thank you. Come on, Starry," I said trying to pull away my son, but Starry didn't budge. "Come on, buddy, it's time to go," I repeated, this time more firmly.

"All those ponies..." whispered Starry, a blank expression on his face.

"Excuse me?"

"I could have saved them," mumbled Starry, a bit louder than before.

The brown guard sighed a heavy sigh. "The poor boy's been like this since we left. In shock I recon. It took me all my strength just to get him here, even with magic."

"It's okay, honey; whatever happened, it's not your fault," I cooed, stroking Starry's mane.

"You're wrong!" snapped Starry, swatting my hoof away. "You weren't there!"

"You're right; I wasn't there, and I'm sorry about that. But I do know one thing; you are the nicest pony I've EVER had the pleasure of meeting, and I know if that if anypony needed help, you would do everything in your power to do so."

"That's nice of you to say, but it doesn't change what happened." Starry looked at me defeatedly. "I had to watch those, things, suck the life out of my comrades. They locked us all up in King Orion's palace and started taking us out one by one. I was so scared I didn't even try to fight back!"

"Starry, you can't blame yourself for being scared—”

"But that wasn't even the worst part," moaned Starry, cutting me off. "When one of them came over to get me, it didn't. It smelled me and flew away; that's it!"

"Look don't worry about it; even good ponies crack under pressure," I said consolingly. " You're safe, and that's all that matters."

"I guess..." mumbled Starry, still staring at the floor.

"Come on let's go visit Midnight; I'm sure he'd love some company right about now."

"Alright," grumbled Starry reluctantly.

***

"Midnight?" said the nurse, pulling back the curtain that covered the captain's hospital bed. "The princess and her student are here to see you."

"Really!?" called Midnight in a thin, raspy voice. "Don't keep them waiting; let them in!"

"Yes, of course." The nurse closed the curtain and turned toward Starry and I. "He's still in a lot of pain right now, so try not to strain him, okay?" she whispered.

"I’ll try,” I replied. “thank you for taking care of him.”

"No problem," she said, smiling wide. "He's a very nice stallion. He cares about you very much."

"Really?” I asked.

"Oh yes. You two are all he ever talks about. 'Where's the princess?' or 'I want to see Starry.' It's really very sweet." She chirped closing her sky blue eyes in delight. "I wish I had a stallion like that!"

"What!?” I said, taken aback. "No, no, no! It isn't like that!"

"I know, Princess; I'm just messing with you."

"Come on, guys! Get in here!" shouted Midnight from inside his room.

"Oh! That's my cue to leave!" cried the nurse bolting out of the door.

Starry and I then stepped inside Midnight's little cubicle and pulled back the curtain.

"Hey it's you two!" chimed Midnight elatedly. "I've been waiting forever to see you!" He tried to sit up but instead groaned with pain and lay back down.

"Don't hurt yourself!" cried Starry.

"It's okay, kiddo; it ain't that bad," assured Midnight, trying his best to look strong.

"It is not okay; look at you!" I cried moving over to Midnight. "And is that... Blood!?" I looked down at Midnight's chest and lightly touched a large red section of bandage wrapped around his stomach.

"Yeah, that monster got me good didn't it? I should be fine." Midnight then looked over at Starry and smiled. "So how are you doing, buddy?"

"I've been better," admitted Starry.

. After an awkward pause that felt like forever, Midnight spoke again, this time in a much more serious tone. "Son let me tell you something.”

"What is it?"

"I'm getting old, and with this injury I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to do my job anymore. So I've been thinking; I might be needing a replacement some time soon."

"What are you talking about? I'm sure you'll be able to do your job just fine!" insisted Starry.

"Maybe.

“ The truth is I'm a bit tired of it. I've been doing it for a long time now, and this has finally given me an excuse to retire. The question is though, who will take my place? It's not a new question. No, I've been thinking about this one for a long time now, and although there are other ponies who could fill in for me in the meantime. They're all old like me. I think it's about time we had somepony new to handle the job."

"You see, what I'm getting at here is that…” Midnight sighed and shook his head. He looked over at the window and peered out at the dusky sky. “I want that pony to be you Starry Night."

I staggered and almost fell over. I couldn’t believe what Midnight was saying.

"What!" Starry cried, his jaw falling open. "But I know nothing about being a leader! I didn't even finish my training!"

Midnight rubbed the back of his head and donned a pained expression. "You may not know how, but I can certainly teach you." Midnight's voice then became uncharacteristically small and mousey. "And about you not finishing training, that won't be a problem because... I didn't either."

"You didn't!?" asked Starry, looking absolutely lost. "But I thought you said you had to if you wanted to be a great warrior?!"

"You do. That's why I never was a great warrior. This was all I ever amounted to." admitted Midnight, a great sorrow in his voice. "But don't get me wrong it wasn't a bad job; I enjoyed it. It just wasn't what I wanted in life. But this is your dream; it always has been. You want to be here to protect Luna. I should have seen that sooner."

"Midnight, think about this! Are you sure he's ready for that kind of thing?" I asked.

"He's not ready, but he will be soon. The day Starry turns eighteen I'm putting him in charge of the royal guards and giving him the position of your official bodyguard. Only with your consent of course."

"I don't know," I said kicking, at the floor.

"I'll do it.”

"But Starry I—" He interrupted me,

"Don't try to dissuade me. I've made my decision."

I sighed and looked at my son. His face was hard and determined, and his once long and wild mane was now short and formal. Oh well, I thought, a wave of nostalgia crashing over my mind. I'm going to miss his crazy hair flips. “Alright, you're almost a grown up now, and I think it's about time I let you make your own decisions."

"So, Starry Night, are you ready?" asked Midnight, a wide grin across his face.

"Are you kidding me?" chimed Starry, happy to utter his familiar catch phrase. "I've been ready my whole life!”

I was still a bit uncomfortable with the concept of Starry taking up such an important role so young, but I knew that I had to let Starry carve his own path in life, for better or worse.

After that day, Starry visited Midnight in the infirmary every day he could. Midnight would give him pointers and quiz him on what to do in different situations, but Starry was always ready. Whenever Starry committed to doing something, he would keep doing it until it was done, and this was no different.

Despite my nerves I was doing well too. Celestia and I were on far better terms after I opened up to her, so It was a relatively good time for the both of us.

Things continued like that all the way until Starry turned eighteen.

***

I tapped my hoof nervously as we waited For the ceremony to start. I couldn’t believe that the day had come already. My son was going to become the captain of the royal guard.

"Today is the day Starry. I'm proud of you," whispered Midnight, bursting out into a fit of coughs.

"Are you okay Midnight?!" cried Starry, putting a hoof on Midnight’s back.

"It's nothing, just a mild infection. I'll be out of here in no time." assured Midnight. "when the time comes, they're going to wheel me out of here and the three of us are going to make a statement in the castle ballroom. Do you remember what to say?"

"I think so," replied Starry pacing back and forth at high speed.

"Well you'd better! We're supposed to be up there in less than an hour," pointed out Midnight.

"It's okay, honey; I'm sure you'll do fine," I said, grabbing my son and lightly hugging him. "You need to calm down."

"I guess you're right, but for some reason it feels like I'm forgetting something."

Just then Midnight's blue eyed nurse trotted into the room. "It's time for us to move you now Mr. Legacy," she said, sweetness in her voice.

"Oh alright, thank you ma'am." wheezed Midnight, a smile on his face. "You two should get going.

They're going to be waiting for you backstage."

"Okay, we’ll see you there," I said, dragging Starry out of the room.

The stage was huge and the audience was bigger. There were hundreds of guards sitting in white chairs separated into two sections by a dark red carpet. They all spoke to each other in hushed tones, excited to see who was going to be the new captain of the royal guard.

I looked down at the front row to see if Celestia kept her promise and came. Sure enough there she was waving at me, a big smile on her face.

I looked behind me to see Starry had continued his vigorous pacing, this time reciting his speech.

"Oh! Where is Midnight!" cried Starry rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm sure he's coming sweetheart. Relax." I smiled and gave Starry a kiss on the forehead. Starry looked at me for a moment and returned my kiss before returning to his pacing.

However after a few moments, the doors to the back of the stage burst open and Midnight came in on a wheelchair being pushed by the nurse from earlier.

"Midnight!" called Starry relived. "I was worried you weren't going to make it!"

"Well I'm here," replied Midnight, clutching the bandaged side of his body.

"Okay, are we all ready?" I asked, my heart pounding out of my chest. Starry nodded shakily.

"Well, let's get this show on the road," groaned Midnight.

I took a deep breath and walked to the edge of stage. I then used my magic to turn out the lights, and trotted to center stage. The room went silent. I turned the lights back on and stood behind my podium looking out at the crowd in front of me. There was a long pause, and the stallions in the audience began to look back and forth.

Celestia smiled and gave a small gesture that said, "Go on."

I cleared my throat. "Stallions of the royal guard," I said, my voice shaking—You would think public speaking would get easier after thousands of years—"We have brought you, and our lovely sister Celestia here on this day to bestow a great honor. So if we may have thine ears for a moment we would like to invite Midnight Legacy onto the stage to say a few words about the young stallion who will be assuming the coveted position of your new captain." I then stepped back, and the crowd burst into a wild fit of claps. The kind nurse then slowly wheeled Midnight, who was clearly trying to look as strong and dignified as a pony in a wheelchair could, onto stage.

"Thank you, Princess," said Midnight in a low rasp. "As you know, I have not been in very good health as of late. And if you didn't know, I'm sure it's quite obvious now," Midnight gestured to his wheelchair and the crowd laughed. "Anyway joking aside, I think it's about time for us to make a change, and I think I may have found just the stallion for the job.

“I've known this one since he was just a little foal, and I have gotten the great pleasure to watch him grow into the magnificent pony he is today. He is strong, determined, decisive, and most of all compassionate. His empathy for others ponies is stronger than any stallion I have ever trained.

“ Every single one of those things is a necessity in a captain, and I have met no better candidate than Starry Night." Just then the crowd began to clap, but as soon as Starry nervously waddled onto stage, they stopped. Instead they looked at each other and began to mumble again.

"Thank you, Midnight." I said moving next to Starry. "We now invite Princess Celestia onstage to give Starry Night her blessings." Celestia nodded her head and trotted onstage, inhabiting the space on the other side of Starry.

"Starry Night," said Celestia, a great warmth in her voice. "I have heard many stories about you, and from what I understand you have been a wonderful student to my sister. You have stayed with her through thick and thin, just like a good captain stays with his troops. That is why Luna and I are proud to present you with these," Celestia and I then pulled out two metals. Hers had a sun on it, and mine had a moon. Both of them had the letters RG engraved on them. Starry then bowed his head, and we placed the metals on his neck. "Starry Night, we are proud to call you captain of the royal guard."

"You deserve this," I whispered, trying to hold back tears.

"Thank you,” replied Starry tipping his head in acknowledgement. “It means so much to me that I get to be here." He turned to face the audience. "Ever since I was very young my dream has been to be a part of this amazing group of ponies.

“ I remember when I was little I got a poster of the royal guard for my birthday. I loved that poster, and every time I looked at it I knew that was what I wanted to do when I grew up." Starry's voice started out shaky, and the audience look skeptical. But the longer Starry went on the more confident he became. "I still have that poster, and every time I look at it it's still inspires me to do great things. That's what keeps me going every day, the idea that if I keep trying, or if I keep pushing, that someday I would be able to accomplish my dream.

“Now here I stand, in the middle of the exact moment that I've dreamed of for years." Starry paused for a moment, and the audience leaned forward in anticipation. "I may not look like what you expected, and I may seem too young. Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. I don't know yet, but I do know one thing; I have dreams, a lot of them in the fact. Some of them are big, and some of them are small, but all of them are ideas for making this world a better place. I just hope that all of you will join in with me and help me make some of these dreams a reality." Starry then took a bow. There was a bit of a pause, but before long everypony began to clap furiously. There were whistles and cheers all around, and Starry took another bow. "Thank you," he cried, waving to the audience. The four of us then moved off stage, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"That went better than expected," admitted Midnight, beginning to cough again.

"They really liked me!" mused Starry, tears welling in his eyes.

"That's because you did good, son," said Midnight

"I did; didn't I?"

It turned out that Midnight's infection wasn't as mild as he said it was. Throughout the following weeks he got worse and worse until he went into something called Septic Shock.

Out of obligation Starry and I would try to go and visit him, but we hated seeing him like that, and it was very hard to find time out of Starry's job.

The doctor said that the survival rate was only about fifty percent, so I knew that there was a real possibility of losing him. For the most part I was able to deny it, but as his health declined, it was hard to ignore.

One day the doctors came for me and told me that he probably didn't have long.

***

"Midnight," I said as I delicately made my way to his hospital bed.

"He may be asleep; if so, please try not to startle him," whispered the nurse as she slowly trotted from the room. Starry and I then stood in front of the bed. Midnight was asleep. I thought about waking him up, but I decided it would be better to let him rest. I looked at Midnight and sighed. Every time I saw his emaciated face and his long unkempt mane, it felt like my heart was being ripped apart.

All of his once muscular body had somehow deflated leaving him thin and fragile. This time was much easier than others; at least he looked peaceful when he was asleep.

I couldn't help but notice all of the strange machines scattered around the room. Some of them made odd sounds, and others were hooked up to Midnight, pumping him full of unknown fluids. I dared not touch anything out of fear that I could cause a catastrophe, so the two of us just waited. Starry Night sat on a stool and laid his head down on the bed next to Midnight. He tried to stay strong but I know I saw a few tears escape from his eyes from time to time. After a few hours, I couldn't help falling asleep myself. I don't know how long I was out, but after a while, Starry woke me up.

"Get up, mom," said Starry, shaking me lightly. "He's awake now." I opened my eyes to see Starry hanging over me, a distant look on his face. When he stepped back however, I was able to see Midnight. He was looking at me; his entire body was shaking, but his smile was unwavering.

"Hey," he whispered. "Come here; I want to talk to you two." I nodded and jumped to my hooves. "Good," muttered the white earthpony as I sat down next to him. "I'm sorry; I just can't speak very loud."

"Don't apologize!" cried Starry. "We're not the ones who are sick!"

"That's true," said Midnight nodding his head slowly. "Speaking of which, the doctor gave me the news. He said it would probably be better if I told you myself."

"What are you talking about; what news?" I asked, my heart racing.

"Well apparently the infection has spread, and my organs don't work too well anymore. Pretty soon they're going to stop working altogether and my body will shut down," said Midnight plainly.

"Are you saying you're going to die?" Whailed Starry, his eyes wide with fear.

"Almost certainly," replied Midnight. "But that's not the question. The question is, how long do I have. Basically the long and the short of it is, we don't know. It could be days or it could be hours."

Starry began to cry, but Midnight laid a hoof on him and smiled. "It's okay; don't cry. I'm not sad." he said reassuringly. "Dying was never something I was scared of. Actually there were many times in my life where I wanted to die. I didn't have anypony who loved me, and I had nothing to look forward to. I just moved through each day wanting nothing more than for it to end." Midnight laughed a bit, causing him to cough vigorously.

"Then you two came into my life. Helping you keep your secret gave me a purpose again, one where I felt like I was actually making a difference. My days became brighter, and I had something more to look forward to than the sundown.

“The ironic thing is that when I finally found a reason not to die, The universe decided it was time to take my life anyway. It's unfortunate, but dying isn't going to be the hard part. No, the hard part is going to be saying goodbye to you guys." Midnight looked out the large window that was visible from his bed and let out a long sigh.

"I asked the doctor if she could take me outside tonight, so I could see the moon. But she said it'd be impossible. To many machines and things to move." He turned his head and looked back at us smiling again. "At least I have you two."

Starry sniffled a bit and then threw himself onto Midnight hugging him tightly.

"Don't hurt him Starry!" I cried, moving lunging toward my son.

"It's okay Luna; I can take a little pain. It's not like I have many more hugs left to look forward to. I'd better enjoy it while it lasts."

Starry then began to cry.

He cried harder than I had ever seen anypony cry.

I tried to remain strong, but the sight of a grown stallion bawling his eyes out was to much for me to handle. I too began to wail. I could feel as the hot tears flowed out of my eyes and down my face, soaking my fur.

The three of us then did the only thing we could do; we waited. We shared stories, advice, and of course lots of hugs. Hours past and for the most part Midnight held up. It wasn't until about 2:00 in the morning that things became dire.

One of the machines stopped beeping and doctors started rushing in. After about twenty minutes of stabbing Midnight with needles and beating on his chest they were able to stabilize him. However the doctor said it wouldn't last very long.

She said it was time to say goodbye.

I asked her if we could take Midnight outside. She nodded and said, "It's not like it's going to do much damage now." So I opened the large window and was able to use my magic to move Midnight and most of the medical equipment outside.

"There you go Midnight," I said, standing next to him.

    "Wow," whispered the scrawny earth pony. "It's a full moon too."

"I remember Celestia said she planned a lunar eclipse tonight. I don't know when though," I admitted trying to hold back more tears.

"That's okay; the sky is beautiful the way it is." Midnight took a long and shaky breath. "I've always loved the outdoors, especially at night. Thank you Luna."

I pirked up, surprised by Midnight's words. "Why are you thanking me?" I asked.

"I’m thanking you for all these years of breathtaking night skies. They got me through many lonely nights. But also I want to thank you for being here for me. When I first got to know you, I thought I'd help you. I never knew how much you'd help me. And for that, thank you,"

"You're welcome," I said, with all my heart and soul.

Midnight then began to shake violently. "Starry, come here," he said, pain in his voice.

"What is it?" asked Starry, quickly moving to Midnight's side.

"I need you to promise me something," groaned Midnight. "Never stop being yourself. I need you to tell me you'll continue to care about other ponies. And most of all I need you to tell me you will never give up on your dreams."

"Of course!" assured Starry. "Why would I ever give up?"

"Sometimes life beats you down son," whispered Midnight, breathing hard.

"I'll never let that happen! I'm going to keep going until I'm dead!" cried Starry, fire in his voice.

"I'm glad. That's all I needed to hear." Midnight then cried out in pain. "It won't be long now. I suppose it is a nice night to die."

Starry and I both placed a hoof on Midnight's chest. Midnight smiled at us for a brief moment and then his body started convulsing violently.

After a few minutes, he was gone.

I removed my hoof from Midnight’s lifeless body and looked up at the sky. At that moment, the moon had only just begun being eclipsed by the sun.

That night when Starry went to bed, he asked me to sleep next to him like I did when he was a foal. However as I lay on the bed next to him I felt that same strange feeling I felt there a few months ago, like something dark was trying to get into my head.

This time I could have sworn I heard the words "let me in."

Part VII "An Earth Shattering Final Blowout."

Part VII

"An Earth Shattering Final Blowout."

The aftermath of Midnight's death was devastating. Starry would leave for longer and longer stretches of time. I assume he was trying to avoid the reality of what happened. I never really asked what he was doing; I didn't really care that much. He was an adult, and I was too depressed to bother.

Life probably would have kept going on like that if it weren't for an old mistake of mine coming back to haunt me.

“Luna!” shouted Celestia, smacking my door with her hoof.

“I’m coming sister!” I chimed, happy to hear her voice.

“Hello!” I said as I swung open the door revealing a clearly unhappy Celestia. “Oh no, what’s wrong, Tia?”

“hopefully nothing,” replied Celestia impatiently. She then trotted into the room without even giving me a glance. “King Orion came out of his coma today.”

“That’s good, right?”.

“You would think so.” she said, briskly trotting over to my coffee table.

“Then what’s the problem here?” I snapped.

“The problem is what he said when he woke up.” Celestia sat down and made a brief gesture indicating that I should sit next to her.

“Now, what I am about to say is just what Orion is claiming. I’m not accusing you of anything.”

“Okay?” I said, sitting down cautiously.

“Apparently, those creatures that attacked Timbucktu are called changelings.” Celestia looked into my eyes and dawned a more serious tone. “They posses a dark and mysterious kind of magic, one that we don’t quite understand yet. They have the power to take the appearance of any pony they encounter, and sometimes ponies that they have never met. From what I understand they were able to take down the city from the inside by imitating important ponies.”

“I don’t understand. Why would they want to destroy Timbucktu? are they just evil, or do they have motivation?” I asked, compulsively tapping my hooves against the table.

“They have to sustain themselves. they can’t eat food like we do. to power their bodies they need to consume raw love. Any kind of love will do, romantic love, parental love, narcissistic love, even patriotic love will work. And trust me; the pegasi of Timbucktu had patriotism to spare. Anyway, my point is, when Orion woke up, he made some startling accusations.”

“What did he say!”

“Remember that meeting you had with him long ago.”

“Vaguely,” I admitted, rubbing my chin.

“Well according to him, he came here to talk about intruders they had been noticing hanging around the city. He said that when he told you the story, you didn’t listen to him at all. He said you were rude, sarcastic, didn’t pay attention, and even laughed at him.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that meeting now. It was the one where you skipped out, so you could finish your stupid project with Star Swirl!” I retorted indignantly.

“that's not the point,” growled Celestia. “The point is that you ignored him Luna. You thought he was just being paranoid. clearly you were wrong.”

“I wouldn’t have been so short with him if you had been there!”

“I know, and for that I am deeply sorry. But that doesn't change the fact that he is blaming you for his city being destroyed and thousands of ponies dying.”

“That’s not fair; he can’t blame me for that! it’s not my fault!” I stammered.

“I don’t mean to take his side or anything,” muttered Celestia. “But it kind of is.”

“WHAT!?” I screamed. “I thought you of all ponies would understand! You even said that no matter what happens it’s not my fault!’”

“That was before I found out that you did this! Besides, in all honesty I was just trying to make you feel better.”

My heart sank; I couldn't believe what I was hearing. “But you were the one who bailed out! you were the one who wasn't there for me!” I screamed on the brink of hyperventilating.

“That’s not how the public is going to see it. It’s going to be all over the newspapers within the week. And do you know who is going to have to bail you out of this mess? Me.

“I’m going to have to make deals. I’m going to have to give speeches. I’m going to have to go out on a limb for you, all because you couldn’t suck it up and be polite for one meeting!” fumed Celestia, standing up from her chair.

“Well I’m sorry that I didn’t do a good job! You’re lucky I even went to the meeting to begin with! And by the way, you don’t have to do anything to help me out of this one. I can do this on my own!”

“Alright, it’s your funeral! But don’t ask me to help you out with anything ever again!”

“You know what,” I yelled. “GET OUT! I don’t need this!”

Celestia looked at me for a moment and then stormed off. “You know Luna, I love you, but sometimes you’re just a burden on my life,” She spat as she slipped out the door.

I gazed out the door to watch Celestia leave, and as soon as I was sure she was gone I screamed at the top of my lungs. I don’t know why I screamed. It was almost like I wasn’t in control of my own body.

And with that, Celestia and I we're right back to where we started. I was angry at her, and I let my pride cloud my judgment, but the truth is, she was right. I did need her help. And denying that help was probably one of the worst decisions I ever made in my life.

the word did get out about me ignoring King Orion, and as Celestia predicted, it was a nightmare.

***

I sighed and sipped a cup of tea I had made for myself. It was getting harder and harder for me to get up from my naps, and sometimes I needed a bit of assistance in the form of caffeine.

I had just gotten done with a long shift of dream visiting. For the most part it went well, but for some reason the ponies of Equestria were having an unnaturally large amount of nightmares that particular night. Most of them were the standard sort of monster under the bed dreams, but some of them were much darker, and I had a harder time thinking of ways to solve their problems.

I try to stay out of ponies’ dreams, but when I feel like what they are dreaming about could be permanently harmful to them, I tend to step in. it’s probably nothing. I thought taking another sip of my piping hot tea. After I finished, I yawned and decided I should take a walk to wake me up further. However right as I was about to push open the door, as if by magic, it swung open all by itself.

“Mom!” stammered Starry Night, pushing the door aside.

“What’s wrong honey?” I said, taking a few steps toward my son.

“They’re coming for you!” cried Starry, his eyes darting around to find an escape. “We have to get you out of here.”

I sighed and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Who is coming for me honey?”

“Ponies from Cloudsdale! They heard about what King Orion said and went on a riot!”

“That’s okay; I’m sure they’ll calm down. they always do.”

“No you don’t get it; they want you dead!” said Starry, morbidly serious. “The King of Cloudsdale is blaming you for the attack on Timbucktu. He’s saying you let them die on purpose.”

“Why would I do that?!”

“He’s saying that you have a secret anti-pegasI agenda,” admitted Starry reluctantly.

"That's ridiculous!" I stammered, utterly baffled.

“I know, but that doesn't stop them from believing it. Now come on; if we hide in the Everfree forest they shouldn’t be able to find us,” Starry grabbed my front leg and tried to pull me toward the window.

“What about everypony else? We can’t just leave without telling them.” I said, anchoring my free hooves to the tile floor.

“It will be fine. I stationed all the guards we have outside the front gate. Chances are that everypony will turn around once they see how many ponies we have. Besides, my main job is to protect you and auntie Celestia,”

I looked around and yanked my hoof from Starry. “Where is Celestia? Is she coming with us?”

“No, she’s hiding in the basement,” dismissed Starry.

“We have a basement?” I mused rubbing my chin with my hoof. just then I began to hear the low rumble of many voices chanting in unison.

“That’s not important right now! Right now we need to get out of here!” said Starry, creaking open the window.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” I replied as I cantered over to the window.

***

I watched as the cool mist of my breath left my mouth and rose up through the Everfree forest. Starry and I had moved to a thick undergrowth deep in one of the darkest corners of the forest. There was a large cave behind us that we had decided to hide in if we heard the protesters coming.

It was a very cold night, and lighting a fire wasn’t an option.We didn’t want anypony seeing our smoke. So I just sat on an old log and watched as a few drips fell from the tree tops and onto the muddy ground.

Starry was trying to keep himself warm by doing wingups. Every once in a while a sound would startle him, and he would get up to make sure everything was alright. However as time marched on Starry settled down, and the two of us began to talk.

“So big man, how does it feel to be in charge,” I asked playfully.

“Stressful to say the least. Organising security for the castle functions is definitely the worst part,” said Starry with a hearty laugh. He always reminded me of Midnight when he laughed like that. “There are fun parts of it too. Teaching the new recruits what I know is great. All of the young Stallions are so nice and respectful even though I’m only a few years older than they are.”

Starry leaned up against one of the gnarled black trees that were scattered around us and looked up at the tree tops. “The other day they were even thoughtful enough to throw me a surprise party for my nineteenth birthday.”

“I completely forgot about your birthday,” I cried embarrassedly. “I’m so sorry! Why didn’t you come and remind me?”

“To be honest, I forgot too. the only reason the recruits knew about it is one of them went rooting around in the archives and found my file. I guess they were looking for a way to embarrass me, a middle name or something.” Starry sighed and flopped to the ground. “I mean I thought about telling you after the party, but I figured it just wouldn’t be the same without Midnight. Nothing really is; you know?”

“I know,”

"He was there for me almost my entire life, so it's kind of hard to imagine going on without him."

Starry took off his helmet and scratched his head. His hair was once again growing long and shaggy. "Now that I think about it, it's almost like the opposite for you. You only knew him for a tiny fraction of your life. Is that how it always is for you?"

"Yes, but it's not like I remember it all," I said nonchalantly. "There's only so much room in one's head for memories. There are some things I can't ever forget, Whether I want to or not.".

"That must be hard,"

"You get used to it," I admitted. There was another long silence, and the two of us didn't speak. "So, when do you think it'll safe to go back to the castle?"

"I don't know. It should be safe by morning," replied Starry. However as soon as he had finished his sentence a loud shouting sound came from the distance. "What was that!" Starry scrambled to his hooves and jammed his helmet back onto his head.

"I hope it's not what I think it is," I moaned.

The sounds continued for about an hour, slowly changing from muffled shouts to loud crashes and clangs. The whole time Starry prowled the perimeter of our clearing as if he was looking for an unseen foe. The noise did begin to die down and eventually it disappeared completely.

I asked Starry if we should go back, but he said it would be best to to wait a while longer. Only after the first light of day, did we decide to go back to the castle.

***

"What happened!?" I screamed as I looked at the mess spread around the castle's front courtyard.

"Exactly what I said would happen," said Celestia flatly. She then gestured around us at the decimated enclosure. "Do you see all this? This is your fault!"

"Hey! You can't blame Luna for this! She didn't know anypony was going to get hurt."

"It's okay Starry. You don't have to protect me," I said, bending down to examine a large red stain on the ground.

"But—" I glared at Starry. "Okay."

"How many did we lose?" I implored.

"Not many," admitted Celesta picking up one of the discarded protest signs that lay about the makeshift battlefield. "Unfortunately they weren't as lucky."

"We killed them?!" I wailed.

"Not everypony. Some of them got out of control and it was the only thing we could do." acknowledged Celestia as she began to trot away.

"Where are you going!?" I demanded, stomping my hoof against the ground.

"Inside. There's nothing else for me out here." replied Celestia without turning back.

I sighed and lowered my head.

"It's alright Mom; just ignore her," reassured Starry.

"It is not alright!" I shouted. "Ponies DIED because of my incompetence. Look around, this carnage is MY fault." Out of pure frustration, I kicked a piece of leftover armor as hard as I could.

"But this isn't your fault! This is all because of that horrible King of Cloudsdale!"

"No Starry, I have to take responsibility for this one." I said firmly.

"Then what are you going to do with the king? You can't just let him get away scot-free." Insisted Starry.

"Oh, do not worry about him." I said, an unfamiliar deviousness in my voice. "I have a plan for him."

After that day, my thoughts began to grow darker and more evil. I experienced feelings that I never had before. Sometimes It was like something else was taking over my mind.

In my madness I decided that it was time I got rid of The King of Cloudsdale. I considered execution, but I knew that would be too conspicuous. It would have made him a martyr. So Instead I made him disappear.

Two of my finest guards snuck in his room during the night and took him away. They then locked him up in Tartarus and threw away the key. Celestia was furious when she found out, but she let it go pretty quickly. She knew as well as I did that it was beneficial to Equestria that he was gone. I honestly did not care anymore. The world was hurting me, and I wanted to hurt it back. In my opinion, I was doing everypony a favor.

All of Cloudsdale went into a panic when they found out about the king's disappearance, and many ponies blamed me. But because there was no real evidence, all ponies could do was speculate. The good news was the new king was surprisingly kind and helpful. He was the son of the old king, but he was nothing like him. He actually did try to keep a good relationship with Celestia and me.

For the most part I was able to hide what I had done from Starry, and everything was working out. But things did catch up to me eventually, about two years later, soon after Starry had turned twenty-one.

***

"To being an adult!" I cried knocking my glass of wine against Starry's.

"Yeah!" replied Starry staring at his full glass. "I honestly never thought I'd be doing this." Starry fidgeted and clacked his hooves against the bar.

"I guess I didn't talk to you about alcohol all that often." I took a small sip of my drink and inhaled it's fruity taste. "I'm not really much of a drinker. I prefer tea personally."

"Well I guess I'm going to have to try it to see," said Starry as he slowly raised his glass to his lips. "Wow!" He said recoiling a bit at the alcoholic taste.

"Do you not like it?"

"Well, it's weird..." admitted Starry. "But I wouldn't say I don't like it." Starry lifted the glass back to his lips and took a slightly biggest sip.

I smiled. I knew that Celestia's private bar would come in handy some day. She was always much more into alcohol than I was. I guess it made her less uptight.

"So, should I mark this down as a success?"

"I guess; I think I'll like it if I get used to it." said Starry, shrugging his shoulders. There was a long pause and the two of us just sat and sipped for a moment.

"So..." I said, trying to break the awkwardness. "How have you been? It's been a long time since we talked like this."

"I've been okay I guess. Just the daily grind." Starry sighed and looked down at the bar. "I've been thinking a lot about the old days lately. Sometimes I wish I could just go back to when I was little. It was a simpler time. No responsibility, you know?"

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean." I said morosely. "What's wrong? What changed?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm tired of all these stupid political games."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, honestly confused.

Starry sighed and shifted in his seat.  “All of the riots and the rude newspapers. Dealing with all of that starts to wear you down after awhile."

"Yeah I know. What matters is that we're together now! And there's nothing I'd rather be doing then something with you," I said, trying to change the subject.

"Thanks Mom," said Starry with a weak smile. "Do you remember when I was a colt and we would play board games together?" asked Starry, drinking another mouthful of wine.

"Of course, how could I forget? You'd kick my flank every time we would play."

Starry laughed and set his now empty glass onto the bar. "Can we do that again someday?"

"Sure."

"Really?!" chimed Starry, pirking up in his seat.

"Yeah, why not? I promise I will try to find the time."

"Awesome! I look forward to it." Starry sighed again and went back to slouching. "Mom, there’s something else I need to talk to you about."

"Okay, shoot."

"The other day a few of the older guards were retiring, and when guards retire it's customary to share some of the things you did during your career. Funny stories, things you thing you did well, and even the things you are most ashamed that of. Stuff like that." Starry began to fidget again, so I put a hoof on his shoulder tenderly. "I'm sorry. I think what I'm trying to say is, one of them admitted to doing something he wished he had never done, and what he said has been messing with my head."

"What did he say," I asked, my heart beating a bit faster than before.

"Well, first of all, I don't know if this is true. It could just be more slander for all I know..."

"Yes, go ahead," I snapped, my mind racing.

"Remember when The King of Cloudsdale disappeared and everypony blamed you?"

Oh no! Here we go! I thought, my heart sinking out of my chest.

"the guard said that you order him to do it... He said that he and one of the other guards foalnapped him and locked him up on Tartarus." Starry looked right at me tears in his eyes. "Is that true?"

"I... I—" I stammered avoiding Starry's gaze.

"Tell me the truth!"

"I did it for a good reason!" I blurted out.

"So it was you?" mused Starry, his ears drooping.

“Starry honey, you have to believe me I was just trying to do what's best for Equestria!"

"Was that it? You ruin someone's life forever and you claim it’s for the best?"

"Hey, he ruined MY life first!" I shouted, feeling the anger boiling inside me.

"You know that's not a good excuse!" Lectured Starry. "Remember when I got into fights back in training. You said that there was no excuse for what I did."

"That's not the same thing at all! You were just mad! I'm trying to protect ponies!"

"You were trying to get revenge, and you know it!" spat Starry disdainfully.

"So what!? He deserved it!"

"Since when has it been your job to tell other ponies what they deserve?!"

"Since I became a princess!" I screamed. Just then I began to feel light headed and my vision started to blur. "I am Princess Of The Night! I can say and do WHATEVER I want! And I don't need anypony telling me what's right and wrong, ESPECIALLY not you, my own son!"

"I'm not your son." mumbled Starry.

"WHAT!?" I cried, my voice filled with fury.

"I am not your son! You just found me in the forest and locked me in your prison tower."

"I did it because I loved you!"

"you loved me because I made you feel better. You were depressed, and I made you feel like your life meant something!"

"HOW DARE YOU!?" I boomed, a sharp pain going through my mind.

"But it’s okay. I understand why."

"What?" I said, my mind clearing slightly.

"You were given a bad lot in life. It wasn't your fault you became a princess. But it's okay, you did your best with me," said Starry, standing up suddenly. "And after today you won't ever have to worry about me again." Starry Night, my son, then trotted out.

***

Later that night, after I had come to my senses, I made my way back to my room and crashed onto the bed. My head hurt like it never had before in my life. I didn't know what was wrong with me, but it felt like my mind was being torn apart at the seams.

I couldn't sleep because every time I closed my eyes I heard the disturbing whispers of unfamiliar voices calling in my head. I didn't know whose they were or what they were saying, but it was just loud enough to drive me crazy.

I got up knowing that there was no chance of actual sleep that night, and I trotted to my window. I don't know why, but whenever I felt bad I would instinctively go to the window. I guess the sight of the night sky was always calming to me. However there was not much solace to take from the stars that night, for there were none out; they were all made invisible by the big black clouds that hung over the land.

I didn't know what to do, so just like a lost foal in danger of being consumed by fire, I cried. I don't know if I was crying for Starry, myself, or just because I had nothing else to do, but that is what I did. I cried, I banged my head against the glass of the window in front of me, and even broke some of my possessions.

I suppose it was all sort of an effort to release the pent-up tension that I felt in my heart. I felt guilty for the ponies I had hurt. I felt shame for embarrassing my country. I felt jealousy over the love that everypony else had for my sister and not me. I felt sadness for those who died for me. I felt betrayed by my sister for not sticking up for me. I felt lost, with no place to go. And worst of all I felt unloved.

Everypony who was ever supposed to care about me in my entire life had left me somehow. My subjects, Midnight, my sister, and even my son. They were all gone. I was alone, left to march on in an undying existence of loneliness. What is the point of eternal life if nopony wants you?

I could no longer sleep. I was never happy. And I didn't want to talk to anypony. It felt like time was crawling on and on and on and on and on. Minutes felt like hours. Days felt like years. And years felt like centuries.

I didn't get to see Starry anymore, but from what I heard he wasn't faring too well either. After about a year I heard rumors that he was turning into an alcoholic. I would have blamed myself for that too, but honestly I already had enough on my shoulders at the time, so I just pretended that it never happened. Even when I found out that he got fired for being drunk on the job, I didn't go looking for him. I was so morbidly depressed that the only thing I could think about was how much longer the torment would last.  I probably would have stayed like that forever. However one day my sister thought it would be a good idea to pay me a visit.

In every story there comes a time when the main character reaches a breaking point, and for better or worse that character changes forever. This is known as the climax of the story; it can be a small confrontation or an earth shattering final blowout that changes the world forever. This was my breaking point. And it was not a small confrontation.

***

My heart was pounding like a drum, and my mind was on fire. Dark thoughts flashed through my head at lightning speed. All the things that I wanted to do but I knew were wrong, I couldn't hold them back. They didn't even feel like my thoughts. Every second it felt more and more like I was becoming somepony else or some THING else.

However just as I considered ending at all, I Heard a heavy pounding at the door. At that point my headache was so bad that even a noise as small as that was enough to make me scream in pain.

"WHAT?!" I screeched at the top of my lungs.

"Oh my gosh are you okay," cried Celestia, throwing open the door.

"Go away!" I slammed my hoof against the floor of my bedroom, cracking it slightly.

"No Luna, I must talk with you. This is important."

"What's so important that you needed to bother me now?!" I moaned, clutching my head.

"Your student, Starry," stammered Celestia, a worried look plastered across her face. "He has disappeared."

"And?" I growled. "He's an adult he can do what he wants. I'm not responsible for where he disappears to anymore!"

"Nopony has been able to find him in weeks! None of his friends have seen him around. He hasn't shown up to the bar in forever. Are you saying you don't care about that at all?!"

I sighed, and covered my head with my pillow. "I do care, but I just can't do it," I moaned defeatedly.

"Can't do what?"

"ANYTHING!" I screamed. "I can't do anything right! Everything in my entire life has been one big screw up, and Starry Night has been no exception! I can't bring myself to look at him again because it will only remind me of my own failure!"

"Oh come on! What are you even talking about!?" snapped Celestia, rolling her eyes. "You're just being melodramatic!"

"There you go again! You never listen to me! You never trust me! All you ever do is stab me in the back and then try to make it better later. Well, a few nice words and the occasional 'I love you' is not going to be enough to fix things this time!"

"Do you know why I came up here!? I came up here because I care about you, and I thought that you might want to know about what happened to your precious student! I had no ulterior motives, no intention of getting mad at you, and I certainly didn't come here to stab you in the back!

“You so irrationally paranoid I can't even talk to you sometimes! The two of us were supposed to rule Equestria together, but how are we supposed to do that if you can't even come out of your own room.

You're a disgrace to this country and a disappointment to everypony who believed in you!" screamed Celestia, venom in her voice.

"SHUT UP! SHUT! UP! I don't ever want to hear your voice again! Please GO! Get out of my life forever! I don't want to talk to you! I don't want to rule this country! And I don't want to be your sister!"

"Great! Because honestly, I don't think anypony would want to be related to you!" retorted Celestia.

"YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT!? I know that NOPONY wants me!" I began to sniffle, and as I hung my head toward the ground, I saw a few tears slip from my eyes. "I don't belong in this world. If it were up to me I would never lower the moon."

"Well good thing it isn't up to you then." Celestia then turned to walk out the door. "I wish I knew how to fix you Luna, but I think it's time I admit you're hopeless."

"GET OUT!" I boomed, using my magic to violently fling Celestia through the door.

"How dare you!" I could hear her say as she flew out the room. I then slammed the door as hard as I possibly could causing it to almost split in half.

As soon as I was alone I was overcome by another a flurry of voices passing through my head. this time I could hear them all around me laughing, and saying words like, "nopony loves you." And "Just give up." I couldn't stand it anymore, so I screamed. I screamed so loud that it hurt my voice.

I had to get away, so I threw myself through my window smashing the glass completely. I fell for a few seconds looking up at the empty night sky. I wanted to dive face first into the ground and kill myself, but I knew that I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough. I knew that somehow I would even screw that up. So, just like that very first night I met Starry, I flew away. I flew away because I was scared. I didn't ever want to hurt anypony anymore, not the way they hurt me.

I was SO sorry for everything.

***

I didn't know where to go, so I went to the only place that seemed natural to me. Right back to where this mess started. It was just like that fateful night I saw the burning the house, but this time it was even colder out. It had just rained only a few hours ago, so the ground was still muddy when I touched down.

Even then, after more than twenty years, I still remembered every minute detail that led up to me finding what would become my greatest joy in life, and my greatest regret

. After all that flying, I was quite tired, so I decided to curl up on the wet ground, right where the small wooden house used to stand. It was an absolutely silent night. The only thing that I could hear were was the sound of my own breathing. In a way it was soothing hearing that I was still alive, but it was also intimidating knowing that I still had many thousands of years to live.

What would I do? Who would I talk to? How would I keep myself sane? So many questions ran through my head, and I didn't have an answer to any of them. It frustrated me. I used to feel like I was the pony with answers; I felt like I was reliable. But I was only a nervous wreck, collapsed upon the forest floor.

Once again I began to cry. Whenever I was backed into a corner and didn't know what to do I would cry. I would never stand up for myself; I would just lay down and cry.

I rolled over and looked at the sky. It was a big black sheet of nothingness. The only thing in my view that told me I was still alive were the large treetops that surrounded my little clearing. Slowly I could feel the loneliness eat away at me, and the voices came back, this time in full force.

They said everything I didn't want to hear. They kept pushing me and pushing me until I could feel them start to take me over completely. Just when I thought they had taken my mind from me, I heard another voice. This one however, was real.

"So, we've finally cracked have we?" It called out, It's voice frighteningly similar to my own.

"Who is it!?" I said jolting to my hooves. I whirled around violently, trying to find who was speaking, but the only thing I saw were the gnarled trees that surrounded me on all sides.

"Who I am is of no concern to you. It's what I am that you should be worried about," came the voice, this time sounding surprisingly like my sister.

"All right, I'm warning you! I’m not in a good mood, and if you do not stop messing with me this instant, I might do something we'll both regret!" I threatened.

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do to me?" came back the voice, changing to the deep manly growl of Midnight Legacy. "Look at yourself. You're a mess, a disgusting excuse for a princess!"

"How dare you!? Who do you think you are, telling me what kind of princess I am!?" I interrogated. "I don't even know you!"

There was a moment of silence and then a loud cackle resembling that of The King of Cloudsdale. "Oh, but I know you."

"What are you talking about?! Just leave me alone!" I screamed covering my ears with my hooves.

"But if I did that, you might never get the chance to see your precious son again," cooed the voice, now sounding like Starry himself.

"What are you talking about!?" I growled.

"I'm talking about my plan of course," teased the voice.

"What pla—" I started to speak, but I was quickly Interrupted by a rustling in the trees.

"Go ahead; don't be afraid my dear," said the voice in a quieter tone as if it was talking to somepony else.

"What's going on?" I asked as the rustling grew louder. However just as I began to look for where it was coming from, out of the corner of my eye, I a saw a figure emerge from the bushes.

"Mom?" I Heard it call in a raspy whisper. I whirled around, and to my utter shock, standing in front of me, I saw my son Starry Night. His body looked thin and his mane was dirty and disheveled.

"Starry!" I cried out in utter disbelief. "What did you do to him!?"

"It's not what I did to him, princess. It's what you did to him."

"Mom! You have to get out of here! That thing, it's going to kill you!" stammered Starry.

"Honey what are you talking about? What thing?!"

"Just RUN!" he screamed, trying to push me away.

"Oh, running will do you no good." The clearing that we were standing suddenly became surrounded by a large green dome.

"Are you sure about that?" I said as I prepared a spell to break the force field. I did my best to muster all of my strength, but for some reason instead of glowing bright blue like it was supposed to, it just blinked for a second and then fizzled out.

"What's going on? Why can't I use my magic?!" I questioned. The voice did not reply; it only burst out into another fit of twisted laughter.

"It's too late," whispered Starry ominously.

"What's too late!?" I screamed frustratedly. "WOULD SOMEPONY JUST TELL US WHAT IS GOING ON!?"

"Oh Luna, no need to get so worked up. You don't have to use 'The Royal Canterlot voice' on me," mocked the mystery creature.

"What's the point of this!? Do you just want to torment me?!" I moaned.

"No. What I want is your life." There was a couple seconds of silence, and then I heard another rustling in the bushes. Soon a small hole in the force field opened, and through it I could see a pair of sickly green eyes glowing in the darkness.I expected some sort of disgusting beast to walk through, but to my surprise that is not what I saw. What I saw was an exact copy of myself.

"What trickery is this!?" I shouted, staggering back in surprise.

"It's a changeling!" said Starry, jumping in front of me. "She's using her magic to make herself look like you!"

"Pretty good isn't it?" asked the changeling, creeping closer to us in a very un-pony-like way. "I think I look absolutely fabulous." She then flipped her—or in this case my—mane teasingly.

"What is the point of all this?!" I demanded, still standing in an offensive pose.

"She's trying to steal your crown! She wants to be The Princess!" accused Starry.

"it certainly would make taking over Equestria significantly easier," said the changeling, strutting around us proudly.

"But why me? Why not my sister? She's the one with all the real power!"

"Because you were an easy target. You were only one step away from a mental breakdown to begin with. All I had to do was introduce a little incentive."

"Incentive? What do you mean?" I asked, even though I didn’t want to know the answer.

"Sometimes it only takes one small action to set off a massive chain of events." said the changeling pushing her face into mine.

It truly is a strange feeling looking into one's own eyes. You see things that you never would have otherwise.

"For example, send a few changeling reporters to write up a few bad papers about you, and, bingo, instant public hatred."

"That was your doing!?" I screamed, inches away from the imposter's face.

The changeling laughed again and made a wicked grin I never thought I would see on my own face. "Clever wasn't it?"

"You, are disgusting!" shouted Starry, pushing between us. "You're a monster! It makes me sick just seeing you take that form!" In a fit of anger Starry Night mashed his muzzle against the changeling copy. "You don't deserve to look like that!"

"What a horrible thing to say! Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to insult ponies like that?" cried the changeling, teasingly sarcastic.

“You are no pony!”

The changeling rolled it’s eyes and smacked Starry with my tail. "Princess, lately have you been noticing your magic hasn't as powerful as it used to be?" Asked the creature, changing the subject just as smoothly as could change its appearance.

I hadn't really thought about my magic lately, but now that she mentioned it, I was having some trouble. I thought it was just the stress getting to me, but for years it had been getting harder and harder to do normal magic tasks. It had gotten to the point where it was a struggle just to raise the moon every night.

"And what if I have?" I asked defensively.

"How do you think that happened?" cooed the changeling, creeping back and forth between the two of us like a cat on the prowl.

"I don't know. I've been stressed out lately."

"It could be. Or maybe it's something more," whispered the changeling slipping by my ear.

I lept back, alarmed by the feeling of her breath.

"Tell me, Princess Luna, do you know what we changelings do?"

"you're monsters!" I spat. "You pick a target and disguise yourselves as somepony they love. Then you use your magic to feed off of their love for you."

"Exactly. Once we take a hold of somepony we don't stop until we suck them of every positive emotion they have." boasted the beast. "When we're done we slip away, leaving them, a depressed emotionless husk. Most ponies only have enough love to keep us alive, but every once in a while a very special, very magical, pony comes around with power enough for a feast. The honor of taking the magic of that pony typically goes to the queen changeling. This special pony could be a wizard like Starswirl the Bearded, a king like the lovely Orion, or even just an extraordinarily loving pony. Sometimes when the pony is especially hard to access we have to take an unorthodox approach. Sometimes we can't imitate somepony our target loves, so we have to make up our own."

"Where is this going?" I asked, trying to sound confident. The truth is, I was shaking in fear.

"If you haven't figured it out yet, I myself am the queen of the changelings, and one day I was sitting in our hive, laying eggs, when I got the idea to take over Equestria." The changeling queen said taking a quite casual tone. "’it can't be that hard,’ I said to myself. 'All I have to do is find a way inside that castle.' Sadly I came to find it was much more complicated than I had originally thought.

“So, after plenty of observation, I decided that my best bet was to take out one of the princesses. Like I said before you were the obvious choice, more emotional, less stable, and most of all, much more gullible."

"Hey!" Began Starry, crouching down, ready to attack. Don't you dare insu—"

"Shut your mouth, foal, the adults are talking." Interrupted the queen, using her magic to physically close Starry's mouth.

"Anyway back to what I was saying. I tried my best to get into that castle; I really did, but even I was unable to work my way inside. After wallowing in my own defeat for a while, I was struck with an idea. What if I found a way to get you to bring one of us inside by your own choice?"

The queen smiled another wicked smile and laughed another evil laugh. "I've always found it sort of ironic what we changelings do. We can become the one thing in a pony's life that makes them feel happy, while simultaneously being the one thing that sucks that happiness away. We seem like we love you, but really we're incapable of love ourselves."

"Where are you saying?! I get that you want to take my life, but what is all this about getting me to take the changeling into the palace!?" I asked, shaking like a leaf.

There was a very long pause, and the queen just stared at me, her wide grin growing even wider with every passing moment.

"That my dear is where this one comes in," said the queen, gesturing towards Starry Night who was still struggling to open his mouth.

"W-what are you talking about," I stammered, on the brink of hyperventilating. I understood what she was implying; I just didn't want to believe it.

"Did you ever wonder why you could never find any information on Starry's parents, any at all? And why the house you found him in seemed to magically disappear when you came back for it?” The changeling smiled a contorted grin.

That's because he's not a real pony! I left him there for you! I started the fire! I made sure that when everything was said and done there would be no trace of this house or anything that happened here!"

"No! It can't be!" I denied. "He can't be one of you! He is my son!"

"OPEN YOUR EYES!" screamed the queen, her voice echoing off the walls of the force field. "you're a deluded fool, and you just can't accept the fact that your precious little pegasus is a monster like me!"

A green ring of fire began to slowly form around the changeling queen, and soon it exploded into a giant pillar of green light. She was entirely engulfed in the tube of fiery magic for several seconds, and loud electrical zapping sounds could be heard.

When she finally emerged from her magical cocoon, she looked completely different. What used to be an exact clone of me was now a horrifying creature. Her body was black and bug-like, and her legs were filled with large holes. Her wings were no longer wide and feathered but instead were blue, see-through, insect wings, that sported the same strange holes as her legs. Her dull teal mane hung flat in her face covering her bright green eyes. On top of her head was a strange organic looking crown that seemed more like it sprouted directly from her skull than it did a head covering. In front of her crown was a twisted and gnarled horn that looked almost as if it was rotten.

"How do you like my real form!?" She said speaking in a distorted reverberating voice. "This is what we look like! This is who we are!"

"She looks just like my nightmare!" said Starry, his mouth finally released from the queens grip.

"What nightmares?" I asked perplexed.

"Remember when I was a colt, and I used to have nightmares all the time. Well there was this one night where I had a really bad one, and she was in it! I know it!"

"Interesting," said the queen rubbing her chin. "We made you so you would have no memory of your birth. I guess the process needs a little more work."

"Starry… I don't know what to say. Is what she's saying true? are you—"

"No! I'm not one of them! They're disgusting! they're awful! they do horrible things! I'm not like that!"

"Oh, trust me. You are one of us," said the queen creeping uncomfortably close to Starry. " I know so because I gave birth to you myself! The only reason you're so sweet and nice is because we made you that way. We made you the perfect son."

"YOU'RE LYING!" screamed Starry, his voice scorched with fury.

"Why would I lie to my own son," teased the queen. "Here, If you really don't believe me, I can prove it to you." The changeling queen then lifted one of her hooves and touched it against Starry's forehead. Her horn then began to glow the same sickly green as her eyes.

"Wait what are you doing?!" protested Starry as a familiar ring of fire began to form around his body.

In only a few seconds, right before my eyes I saw Starry Night go from the son I knew and loved to an unfamiliar monster. Just like the queen he too had an insect-like form, The only difference being, he was smaller and had no mane or crown.

"Look at yourself!" shouted the queen. "Now do you believe me?! Now that you can see what you really are?!

“All you ever were was a tool! You're only point in life was to drain The Princess's magic so it would be easy to take her out!"

"But I love her. She was my mother." stammered Starry in disbelief, his voice now strange and distorted just like the queen's. Starry looked down at his hooves frozen in place.

"She is not your mother! I AM! You outlived your usefulness long ago! The only reason I foalnapped you was so I could drain the last of Luna's magic from you! And with her power coursing through me, I don't need either of you anymore!"

The queen stepped back and gritted her sharp teeth wickedly. She then flew up into the air and began charging her magic. Sparks flew from her horn and thunderus cracking sounds rang out into the darkness. "I HAVE BEEN WAITING TWENTY YEARS FOR THIS MOMENT, AND NOW IT IS FINALLY HERE! PRINCESS LUNA, PREPARE TO DIE!"

I sighed and took a deep breath. "I'm ready," I said, lowering my head.

"What!?" cried the queen stopping for a moment.

"I'm ready. We all have our time. I guess this is mine," I admitted. It's not like I have much to live for anymore anyway.

It was silent for a while, and the queen looked at me wide-eyed and confused.

Eventually she regained her composure and once again spoke. "Very well then. As you wish." The queen once again charged up her magic and this time I just held my breath and closed my eyes, awaiting the end.

"WAIT!" interrupted Starry.

"WHAT!? What do you want!?" growled the changeling queen, stopping her magic once again.

"You... You can't kill her... I still love her."

I opened my eyes and turned towards Starry. Tears were flowing from his eyes.

"Ugh, we've already been over this! You're not even capable of real love! You only know what we programmed you to know!" barked the queen.

"You may be my 'real' mother, but you know nothing about me!" yelled Starry defiantly. "I may be a changeling, but I am not a monster! Don't you dare tell me what I can and can't do because I know that I love Luna! She is my mom! She has loved me, taken care of me, supported me, and done every single thing that a real mother should do. The only thing you've ever done to me is mooch off me! You're a filthy parasite not my mother! If you expect me to just stand here and watch you murder her, you're even more disgusting than I thought! if you truly don't think that I'm capable of real love then let me prove you wrong!"

Starry then moved in front of me using his body to block the queen. "If you want to kill her, you're going to have to kill me first!"

"Starry don't!" I cried, putting a hoof on his back.

"It's okay Mom, I need to do this. I have to know that I'm good inside." Starry smiled and then turned back toward the queen. "I told myself that I was going to dedicate my life to protecting Luna, my mother, and I am not going to break that promise now! Do. Your. Worst."

"Very well," grunted the queen "I was going to kill you anyway; all you're doing is reversing the order." The queen then clenched her teeth and charged up her magic one final time. After a few moments, a large green ball of light began to form at the end of The Queen’s horn. The Queen then made an ear splitting shriek and shot a laser directly at Starry Night. Finally in a moment that felt like an eternity, it struck him right in the chest. Starry screamed and then hit the ground.

"Well, I'm glad that annoyance is out of the way. I guess that makes it your turn then.”

I didn't respond, for I could not hear her. The only thing I could hear were the voices in my head swarming through my thoughts. Out of all the things that had happened to me lately, this was the last straw. No matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't hold them back any longer. I could feel them flowing in and taking over every part of my body.

"Wait what's going on!?" cried the changeling queen as the demons took  me over. The demons took over my body causing my fur to darken, and my mane began to turn into a thin purple mist. Before long I had completely turned into what is now called Nightmare Moon.

After that, everything turned hazy. I remember the queen tried to blast Nightmare Moon with her magic, but Nightmare Moon turned into mist and escaped the blast. Unlike me, Nightmare Moon had immense power. She was so powerful in fact that with only one spell she completely shattered the queen's force field. Magical green sparks showered from the sky, and Nightmare Moon went on the attack. She laughed and used her power to cast spell after devastating spell at the queen. The queen tried to fight back, but she was powerless against the sheer force of Nightmare Moon's magic.

"No!" Screamed the queen in utter frustration. "This is impossible!"

But it was possible. In only a few minutes Nightmare Moon handily defeated the queen of the changelings. Wounded, the queen decided her best course of action was to escape. So she used the last of her magic power to shoot off a blinding array of light which temporarily distracted Nightmare Moon. The queen then quickly slipped away under the cover of darkness.

I was afraid of what I saw. I sensed a deep evil in Nightmare Moon, and I knew that if I didn't do something soon she would be in control forever. I mustered up all of the willpower I possibly could, and I used it to force my way back inside. At first Nightmare Moon's hold on my brain stayed strong, but I just kept pushing. I pushed and pushed until I finally cut back through and regained control of myself.

However Nightmare Moon did not go down that easily. After a few fleeting moments of being in charge, the voices that were Nightmare Moon attacked back in full force. The inside of my body was in turmoil. Multiple consciences wrestled with each other desperately trying to come out on top. Never in my life have I felt such a strange feeling. For a few moments it was almost like we were both in charge at once, two souls controlling one body.

I knew I couldn't give up. I had to try. I wasn't going to let that kind of evil run loose in Equestria, so I made one final push with all my might and took back my body. I collapsed to the ground gasping for breath. I was completely drained of magical power. My normally dark blue flowing mane had turned lighter blue and lay flat on my body. I stood up shakily and looked around. Starry was still lying exactly where he had gotten hit. Except now a pool of fluorescent green blood surrounded his body.

"Starry!" I cried out, running over to his body.

"Mom?" replied Starry in an almost inaudible whisper.

"You're still alive!" I chimed leaning over him.

"Yeah, I'm still around. For now."

"I–I'm sorry... I'M SO SORRY!" I wailed, a river of tears flowing from my eyes. "This is all MY fault!"

"I don't think it's your fault."

"What? You don't?" I said, wiping snot from my muzzle.

"Of course I don't. It was her that did all of this, not you. All you did was fall for her trap," said Starry consolingly.

"Even now you're still making me feel better. Thank you. Thank you for all the years that you made my life bearable," I said sincerity in my every word.

"You're welcome. I did it because I love you." Starry smiled, revealing his jagged teeth. "Honestly I should be the one thanking you. You gave me a good life, One worth living. You gave me a whole twenty-four years where I got to pretend to be normal. I don't know about you, but I have no regrets."

"Really?"

"Well maybe i regret not being able to play that board game you promised," joked Starry.

"Yeah, sorry about that," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my head with a hoof.

"No problem." Starry turned his head a bit and looked up at the sky. "It's a shame that the moon isn't out tonight. I remember the night you first showed me how you raise the moon. That was one of the best times of my life."

"Do you want me to raise it now?" I asked, cracking a melancholy smile.

"But you don't have any magic left.”

"I'm sure that you have enough of my magic in you to do the job, if you're willing to share it."

"Of course I am!" beamed Starry.

"All right here goes nothing," I said is I touched my horn to his. Slowly I could feel my magic flowing between us. Once my mane had regained its normal color and shape and my muscles no longer felt shaky, I was ready to do the deed. I backed away from Starry to give myself a little bit of room, and then I began. "Alright make sure you're watching, because I can only do this once!" I grunted.

Just then, a strange purple aura began to flow around me in elegant shimmering strands, and a small sliver of white light began to appear above the horizon. Starry watched in wonder as the silver moon flew up into the darkness glowing bright in the clear sky.

"I never get tired of that!" wheezed Starry gleefully.

"Here comes your favorite part!" I called as I got ready to form the stars.

Starry looked right at the sky waiting eagerly for more. After that, my horn made a loud cracking noise, and the stars began to burst into existence like popcorn on a hot stove. the stars then danced across the sky forming complex shapes and designs, finally settling in their appropriate constellations.

"Just as beautiful as the first time you showed me," said Starry, a single tear coming from his eye.

"Mama? Was I a good pony?"

I trotted over to Starry and lightly lay myself next to him.

“Of course you were. You were the best pony I have ever known." I said lovingly.

"Good,” replied Stary a blissful look on his face.

"Was I a good mother?"

"Are you kidding me? You were perfect." said Starry, his voice nothing more than a tiny whisper. I looked into Starry's eyes one last time, and he looked into mine. We stayed like that for the last few moments we had together, and then finally, Starry Night, my son, was gone.

Epilogue.

After that, I couldn't hold back nightmare moon any longer. All of the anger and sadness I had been harboring for so long exploded out of me and into the world. I was sick and tired of being hated, and even more so, I was sick and tired of living in the shadow of my sister’s sun. I needed somepony to blame, so I blamed her, even though I knew very well it was all my fault.

The next time I would see Celestia would be when Nightmare Moon refused to end the night. I can’t remember much from that day: it was all a bit blurry. I do remember one thing; Celestia tried her hardest to save me. She was always trying to protect her sister, even in the end.

Only after she finally realized I was a lost cause, did she use The Elements of Harmony.

As the power of the elements coursed through me, I felt greater pain then I have ever experienced before. I didn’t feel pain because I was hurt; I felt pain because I realized I had made the greatest mistake I have ever made in my life.

I was then sent off to the moon for one thousand years until the day Nightmare Moon’s spell could be broken.

The stars are strange. They are the one thing in the night sky that I don't have full control over. Every once in a very long while, when something extraordinarily beautiful, or extraordinarily tragic, happens, a new constellation is formed.

That night the stars decided that it was time for a new addition to the sky, a beautiful constellation in the shape of a prancing foal, dancing across the starry night.

The End.

Part I "One Shining Star In An Ocean Of Blackness."

Prologue.

There are some things you never forget. I can’t remember many things in my life, but even after more than one thousand years, I can remember every moment of this story like it's still fresh in my brain. When you live as long as I have, sometimes things get lonely. Nopony else around you lives as long as you do, so befriending them always leads to disappointment. However, sometimes the urge for companionship is just too strong to resist, and you let somepony slip through the cracks. Everypony’s actions have consequences, especially those of a princess. Unfortunately, I had to learn that lesson the hard way, through experience. I have made many mistakes in my years, but by far the worst was being selfish. I was a good pony, but I was only ever out for myself. I never truly appreciated what I had because I was too busy complaining about what I didn’t. My descent into madness was long and painful, and the exact dates are hard to nail down. But I do know one thing; it all started after a fight with my sister.

Part I

"One Shining Star In An Ocean Of Blackness."

I was angry… I was SO ANGRY, and I didn’t know what to do. So I flew away, I flew far away all because I was scared. I didn’t want to hurt her, not the way she hurt me. She didn’t mean to. I was the one who got angry. I was the one who lashed out, and I’m so sorry now!

***

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought about all the vicious things I’d said. I felt abandoned and unloved. I let jealousy take me over, and I said things I didn’t mean. “Oh sister, please forgive me…” I begged silently as my knees gave out from under me, and I fell to the cold wet dirt. I rolled myself over onto my back and looked at the night sky. At least I have something beautiful to look at, I thought to myself, my body crumpled in a pathetic heap. I dragged myself to my hooves and knocked the dirt from my mane. I looked around, not quite sure where to go; only then did it dawn on me that I had NO idea where I was.

I glided over the great forest that I had found myself in, looking for something that I recognised. I strained my eyes to see what was around me, but the more I flew the more it felt like I was going in circles. Eventually I managed to find my way to a large rock face that I could sit on.

I sighed and watched the moon move slowly across the sky. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I waited. After a few hours, I decided it was time to start flying again, but just as I was getting ready to continue searching for a way home, the darkness suddenly exploded into blinding light.

I whipped my head around to see a small house being engulfed in flames. My heart stopped, and my body froze, but I knew I had to do something. I opened my wings and sprung into action. My muscles were on fire, but I had to push through it. The wind whistled past my ears as I dove off the cliff. When I neared the ground I pulled back my wings to slow down, but instead I spiraled out of control and ended up crashing head first into the ground.

I peeled myself off the cracked earth and looked around to see the flaming house close by. I was a bit confused at what a house like that was doing all the way out here, but that didn’t matter. I needed to make sure that nopony inside was hurt. I dashed to the building, and suddenly I heard a scream. It sounded like a foal. I took a deep breath and threw my body through the flaming door. The heat engulfed me, and I could feel my fur being singed, but I had to save whomever made that cry.

I followed the screams up a rickety set of stairs into a small room. The fire was covering everything, and the thick smoke coated my lungs. But nothing could stop me; I was going to save that foal if it was the last thing I was going to do. I made one last charge into the inferno and ended up in front of a cradle in the corner of the room. I looked inside of it to see a lone foal screaming, covered in soot. In a flash I scooped it up and smashed myself through the window. As soon as I had flown a safe distance away from the burning wreck I promptly fell out of the sky.

The last thing I remember from that night was watching the house come crashing to the ground framed by the light of the full moon.

I was awoken some time later by a loud giggling. I opened my eyes, suddenly, only to come muzzle to muzzle with a small dark blue foal. “Oh! Why hello there young one!” I said warmly. The foal ignored me and promptly started playing with my hair. “Halt! Thou shalt not touch the royal mane!” I said, dawning my best “Royal Canterlot Voice." The foal ignored my command and proceeded to bite my horn. “NO! Stop that!” I cried out, unsure of what to do. In a panic, I jumped to my hooves with the tiny pony still clinging to my horn. I sighed. This is going to be a long day. “Little one, remove thine teeth from our horn at once, or we may have to implement force!” The foal began to flutter its tiny wings and giggle. I Frowned and grabbed ahold of the child, gently pulling its body away from my head. I managed to get the little thing off of my horn and on to the ground. However just as I had started to relax the foal felt the need to voice its concerns.

“WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” it whailed, distraught at no longer being able to gnaw on me.

I panicked. “Oh no! Little one, please stop! we didn’t mean to make you cry!” I carefully lifted the foal up and rocked him back and forth in a desperate attempt to calm him down. “OH no oh no oh no!” I muttered to myself. what do I do? I don’t know anything about children! “OH NO OH NO OH N—” I paused and looked at the foal in front of me. Wait! What am I doing!? I pondered. Pull yourself together! You are LUNA, Princess Of The Night! What are you doing freaking out about one disobedient foal? “Chid!” I shouted confidently. “We command thee to stop your incessant whining forthwith!” The foal stopped crying for a moment and stared at me, intrigued. I stared back intently, hoping that my stern words had gotten across. A few seconds passed, and suddenly the foal started to giggle again. I was shocked. What did I do? I thought perplexed.

“You talk funny!” said the foal, smiling wide.

“What!?” I shouted out of embarrassment. “TIS A LIE!” At this the foal started laughing even harder. “Uh… Uh…” I stammered trying to think of what to say. “We think it time for us to go.”

It was much easier to find my way back to the castle once it was daytime. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to explain the baby to Celestia. She probably won’t even notice. She’s so absorbed in that project of hers, I thought. Either way, I shouldn’t take any chances. I'll go through the window and hide it in my room.

***

It was night once again as I approached the castle. I flew high above the Everfree Forest and to the window of my tower bedroom. I looked around nervously, trying to make sure I was alone. Thank goodness I left the window open when I flew out last night. After we had that fight… I shook my head in an attempt to erase the battle from my mind. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, our poisonous words stuck to my brain like tar.

. I flew into my room and lightly took the foal off my back. I frowned and looked him in the face again. I was never very fond of babies, but I have to admit he was pretty cute, especially when sleeping. He looked healthy enough. However his jet black mane was messy, and his face was covered in ash. I sighed. I should give him a bath in the morning… wait, how do you do that? I guess I’ll have to figure that out as I go along, I thought as I began to levitate the little pegasus.

I trotted over to my cabinet and grabbed a blanket with my mouth. I hope this will make for a decent bed, at least until I can find him his family, If they're alive. I laid the blanket down on my floor and nestled the sleeping bundle of pegasus into it. “There!” I said, flopping down onto my own bed. I yawned as I wrapped my favorite blanket around me. I turned and again looked at the child that lay at the foot of my bed. I watched as his small body gently rose and fell, safe in his fluffy fortress. My eyes began to grow heavy, and for the first time in days I smiled a genuine smile.

***

The next morning I woke up with a start to a loud pounding on my door. “Hey, Luna? are you in there?” It was Celestia’s voice.

“What?!” I screamed as I rolled out of my bed and crashed to the floor. I rubbed the back of my head as I disentangled myself from my blanket. There it came again, knock knock knock. I looked over to where I had left the foal, hoping that he had not woken up yet. To my dismay, all that I saw was an empty blanket. Oh no! Where could he be!? I panicked.

“Uh… Coming,” I said trying to play it cool. I guess I could just tell her the truth, I considered as I slowly made my way to the door. It’s not like she’s going to get mad, right? I stopped in front of the door and cracked it open. my heart started to race as I peered out, locking eyes with Celestia. “Oh, uh, hello there sister!” I said, smiling awkwardly.

‘Hello Luna,” she replied. “ I came to check on you. You know, to see if you were alright.” Just then a loud crash came from inside my room followed by a joyous giggle. “What was that!?" asked Celestia twisting her head to see what was going on.

“Nothing! Nope nothing at all!” I blurted out, “Everything is A OK! Thanks for coming by, but I reaaally should catch up on my sleep, and—”

Celestia interrupted me, “Wait, Luna. I have something important I need to tell you.” Great! I thought. Everything is really going my way this morning!

“Oh, well if it’s important, then fire away!” I droned through gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry I hurt you, okay. I love you, Luna, and I want to let you know that you mean everything to me.” Celestia looked at me lovingly, her eyes filled with regret. "And I know I don’t really show it in the way I should, but don’t feel like just because I’m not around it doesn’t mean I don’t love you more than anypony in all Equestria. alright?” She looked at me seemingly frozen in place. I looked back, but just as I was about to respond I felt a slight tugging at my leg. Oh no! not now! I thought as I felt a tiny body cling to my back leg like a bear trap.

“Oh, uh, thanks Tia! But I’ve got to go!” I stammered, slamming the door in her face.

“Oh. Bye. See you later; I guess…”

Why did I do that?! I thought frustrated. Why can’t I do anything right!? I groaned as I glanced back at the furry ball of flesh clinging to my leg. His eyes were wide, and a great big smile lay across his little face. I was angry, but the moment I met eyes with that tiny pony, my heart softened, and my face lit up with joy. There was no way I could have been mad at a face like that.

***

I made my way through the castle, stealthily using every hidden passage and secret entrance I could. I really should get a bathtub in my room, I thought as I levitated my new friend to my chest, hiding him from view. I galloped down the stairs that lead to the royal bathing chambers and heaved a sigh of relief as I opened the massive bejeweled doors.

I then trotted to the tub and turned on one of its golden faucets, allowing warm water to flow into the huge basins. Next I grabbed my mischievous pegasus and lowered him into the shallow end of the warm water. He was surprisingly calm. He just looked up at me trustingly, a little smile across his round face.

. I smelled myself, realizing it was probably a good idea if I took a bath too, I took off my crown and climbed the little stairway that lead up to the bath. I lowered myself in, feeling the warmth flow across my body; it was quite relaxing. I then sat down in front of the patient foal and used my magic to grab a scrub brush and soap. With surprisingly little effort I was able to clean the pegasus and even have a little fun.

“WEE!” said the foal full of glee as I spun him around me. See Luna! Taking care of foals isn’t THAT hard; you were worried for nothing! I thought as I held the sopping wet pegasus above my head.

After I had gotten us both sufficiently clean, I made my way back to my room and set the tiny colt onto my bed.—He was a colt. I checked.—I looked at him now that he was clean and smiled at the sight of his cute little freckles. It was a shame that they had been covered up by soot for so long.

I thought about the fire and about the child's family. Maybe they are still alive. I hoped knowing full well that it was a fantasy.

“So,” I broke the silence. “do you have a name little guy?”

“Uh..." he paused for a few moments. "Starry Night! Or at least that’s what Daddy used to call me!” Daddy, I thought, and a burst of depression shivered through my body.

“Oh wow! that’s a great name, but I think I’ll just call you Starry okay?” He smiled and nodded. I’ll find them! I tried to convince myself. I will! and they will be alive!

The next few months were troublesome. I tried my best to search for his parents, but it was proving to be quite difficult. I started by looking for the house that I had found him in, or what was left of it. I thought there might be some sort of clue to be found, an address, a note, something. Maybe there was an answer to be found in the ash and rubble of that building, but it didn’t matter because the house was gone. It was odd; it was almost as if it just disappeared from existence.

I decided that the best thing to do next was to get in contact with the missing ponies department and see if any foals who matched Starry Night’s appearance had gone missing recently. I was surprised to find out how many foals went missing each year, but I was even more surprised to find out that not a single one matching Starry’s age and description had been reported anywhere in Equestria.

I didn’t know what to do. Between my duties as Princess and trying to take care of and hide a baby, I had enough stress to make a normal pony snap.

***

I trotted into my room one night, exhausted after a long day of dodging my sister and looking through missing pony reports. I yawned as I moved over to my bed and flopped on my back.

I thought about all the things I had to do and about the crushing weight of stress that clouded my mind. My heart sank. I wanted to help Starry get home, but no matter what I tried I just felt useless. I thought about giving him up to the adoption agencies, but I’ve seen how some of those places treat orphans around here, and I just can’t risk it. I don’t know; maybe I was being paranoid. I wasn’t really the most trusting pony during those days. I felt alone. It was like I had to do everything by myself.

I lay on my bed frozen with fear and stress. My heart was racing out of my chest, and my mane had turned into a matted mess due to lack of care. But, just when I thought I would have a mental breakdown, I saw a pair of hooves come up from under the bed.

“Hello?” slurred Starry poking his head above the side of the bed.

“Hello little one,” I replied, struggling to put on a smile. Starry looked at me confused.

“What’s wrong woona?” asked the living furball, his eyes wide with compassion.

“Nothing,” I lied.

***

The next morning I decided that I needed some rest and that the things I had planned for the day could wait. I tried sleeping in, but for some reason I couldn't get myself to fall back asleep.

I pulled myself out of bed, yawned, and made my way to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror only now realizing HOW messy my mane really was. I levitated a brush to my head and began to battle with my sparkling blue locks. soon after, I began to hear a rustling from my room.

“Starry? Are you awake already?” I peered out the bathroom door, and my jaw dropped when I didn’t see Starry Night. Instead I found myself staring down the captain of the royal guard. He looked at me with one eyebrow raised. “Oh, Hello there!” I said, sticking my face slightly out the open door.

“Hello, Princess,” said the guard eyeballing me with his cold blue eyes. “I’m sorry that I came in unannounced, but Princess Celestia sent me to get you. She said you’ve been distant… She’s worried about you, Luna.” He looked at me frowning “We’re all worried about you.”

“Tell Celestia I’m fine.”

“Alright, I'll tell her nothing's wrong, but I have to ask” he looked at me, his face contorted in a worried stare. “Is it true?”

I sighed and looked at him. “No, it's not.”

He nodded slowly. “Alright. Well if there is anything I can do for you—"

"No," I cut him off.

"Okay then," he said as he turned to leave. "One more thing, if it's not too much to ask...” He raised an eyebrow and glared at me. "Who is Starry?”

“Nopony, I just misspoke myself. I’m sorry.” I looked at him my eyes wide, begging him to believe me. He looked back at me, and his strong face melted into an understanding frown.

“Alright,” he said and trotted away.

I stood in my bathroom doorway for a minute, my jaw hanging open. A small rustling noise from inside the bedroom brought me back to reality. I looked around for where the sound was coming, and leaped back when I saw a little head peek out from under the bed.

“Who was that Woona?” asked the foal shaking slightly.

“Calm down little one,” I said, lifting Starry off the ground. “He was just one of the royal guards, that’s all.” I smiled and wiped the tears out of his eyes.

“What’s a royal guard?" He asked perplexed.

“Oh uh... how do I explain this?” I mumbled. “Well, you see I’m kind of an important person, and the royal guard's job is to make sure that important ponies like me stay safe.”

“Are they good guys?” he asked innocently.

I smiled and said,“Yes, Starry, they are really good guys! They’re strong, and nice, and are the only thing between me and the ponies who might want to get me.” Starry Looked at me, his eyes filled with wonder.

“One day I’m going to grow up to be a big strong stallion, and I’m gonna be able to protect you.” he smiled an enchanting smile. “just like you protected me!”

“Oh Starry,” I said my eyes welling up with tears. “I’m sure you will.” I hugged him tightly to my chest feeling the warmth of his tiny body and for the first time I thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if we never find his parents..

***

A few weeks passed, and I was sitting on my bed preparing to go to a royal meeting when Starry trotted up and looked at at me. "What?" I asked confused at Starry's pouting face.

"Do you have to go Woona?"

"I'm sorry Starry, but I do. I'm only going to be gone for a little while."

"But it's sooooo boring when you're at those dumb meeting thingys," he whined.

"Those "thingys" are extremely important, Starry. I wish I could be here for you too, but it's my job."

"But there's nothing to doooo!"

I sighed and rubbed my chin, trying to think of something for Starry to play with. Just then I was struck with an idea. "I think I might have just the thing for you," I said as I strolled over to my closet and pulled open their grand doors. I stuck my head in and lugged out a huge dusty chest with a rusty lock. "You see, this box was given to me a long, long, loooooong time ago back when I was your age." I blew the dust off the beat up trunk and unhinged the latch. "And when I was a little filly I put all my toys and things in here." I opened it with care as not to break its old hinges and peered inside. I smiled. "They're still here." I reached in with my mouth and tenderly pulled out five hoof made toy soldiers. "These are for you," I said as I gently lay the worn dolls down in front of Starry.

He cocked his head to the side and stared at the dolls. "What are they?"

"They're soldiers. They fight for what's right and protect us, just like the guards. They were mine, but I haven't even touched them in a long time. So I thought maybe it was time to pass them on to somepony who will love them as much as I did… In other words, They're yours now." Starry's face exploded with joy and he threw himself on me.

"Thank you so much, Woona!" I didn’t hug back at first. I was too busy being shocked, but eventually I found my hooves wrapped around his body.

"Anything for you little one."

***

Years came, and years went. I searched and I searched, but no matter how hard I looked it seemed as if Starry Night's family didn't even exist. I invested so much time into finding Starry's parents that everything became a blur for a while. Starry played with his toys, and I did my job. Due to my constant avoidance of my sister our relationship was becoming more and more strained as time marched on. I spoke to her very little back then; the only times that we seemed to have conversations longer than a few sentences was when we were shouting at each other. It was getting so bad that even the ponies of Equestria started to notice. Bit by bit I could feel the uncertainty crawl across the kingdom, and I hated it. I had few ponies to talk to at the time, and as the days creeped by, I became more and more depressed. All the little things that used to make me happy just didn't do it for me anymore. But it wasn't all bad. There was always at least one reason to wake up in the morning, One shining star in a ocean of blackness.