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From the image Alone in the Night, by Jamey4.

***

The night was hers to command. With the slightest gesture, she could drop the moon behind the horizon, swirl the stars until the night looked like someone had shaken up a cup of sand and spilled the tiny pieces of glass across the sky. She could see everything the moonlight touched, travel anyplace in an instant on a moonbeam. Dreams were hers, and hopes and loves and furtive secrets whispered in the latest hour. Such power was her, to wield and hold and bear forever, and yet, here she was, on an empty cliff, alone.

Ponies didn't sleep all through the night now. Things happened at night, that couldn't happen during the day. There were parties, and discotechs, music and movement that was unthinkable in the mellow light of the day. Her night was loved for the protection it provided, for the chance the night gave to letting one's wildest desires become reality, to letting one's self go and become one with the heavy rhythm of the stars. So many were thankful for the night and what Luna gave, and yet, here she was, with the full moon at her back, alone.

The Princess of the Night looked heavenward, at all the beauty of her creation, night stretching on forever, and felt her insignificance in it. She was a small, tiny thing, adrift in a sea of infinite space with nothing to anchor her. She stood up and fluffed her wings, preparing to take off in search of... something. She didn't know what, but she couldn't stay here all night.

"Hello?" A voice was calling up to her from far down below. It was timid, searching. Luna stared down and saw a small figure, its shadow long in the harsh moonlight, coming towards her. Even at this distance, Luna recognized the dusky coat and mane of Twilight Sparkle. What was her sister's student doing out so late at night, this far out of the city limits of Canterlot?

"Up here, Twilight Sparkle!" Luna called, her voice echoing against the ground and coming back to her weak and distorted. The pony figure raised its head at the sound and saw Luna standing on the cliff.

"Hello, Princess Luna! Do you mind if I come up?"

"We would be honored!" There was a purple flash, and Twilight disappeared, only to reappear with a bang a second later at Luna's side. "What dost thou desire?" Luna asked. "Why dost thou leave the safety of thy home at such an hour as this?"

The unicorn giggled, her voice like the chiming of bells. "I wanted to do some star-gazing, and Princess Celestia said you might be out here. Who better to watch stars with than the one who created them?" Twilight suddenly looked anxious. "I mean, do you have time? You don't have to."

Luna smiled. "I have all the time in the world." She sat next to the mare, her friend, and stared up at her stars. The night did not seem quite so infinite anymore.