It was a cold raining late night in the city of Canterlot, the lampposts turned on their flickering lights, and the streets were empty with only water filling in the space that ponies used to walk. At this hour most businesses were closed, but one restaurant was still open for business. However, once the midnight hour had begun this place was not for the average pony, or even the sane and normal.
Two ponies however now found themselves here…
The ring of the bell on the door alerted the waitress. She was, like many who come to this place were not normal or usual to Equestria.
“Welcome to Gill’s All Night Diner.” The waitress was a goblin of wrinkles and pimples, a hunched back, jagged teeth, and bright green skin underneath a pink and white waitress outfit. To a normal pony, she would be freighting, but not for the Princess of the Sun.
“Greetings Dana, what’s tonight’s special?” Princess Celestia was, to the surprise of any pony who knew and to her own sister, a regular at the diner.
“Well Tia, tonight we have the Five Nights at Fried Corn and the Devil’s Moon-Pie…oh you brought a guest here?” Dana looked on at the dark blue alicorn behind Celestia.
“Oh this is my sister, Luna. She’s been gone for a long time and I wanted to show her my favorite diner.”
“Yes, we were curious as to what our sister does with what free time she has.” Luna kept her cool even if all of this was strange to her.
“Well land sakes, any sister of the Tia is a welcomed guest here…now let me show you to Tia’s table.” Dana the goblin walked the pony princesses to a booth in the corner as Luna looked on at all the strange creatures eating at the dinner.
There was a group of succubus wearing trucker outfits eating slimy grits and phoenix eggs. A Gorgon and an evil looking angel statue were having a staring contest in one booth, A werewolf and a vampire were arm wrestling to woo a ghostly banshee in another booth. Some zombies were next to the jukebox listening to heavy metal. This was only a bit of the craziness of this diner as the time passed for the princesses.
“Okay, so we will both have the fried corn you mentioned and some tea with honey.” Celestia loved that Fired Corn with a almost banana like obsession.
“Coming right up.” After Dana left Luna moved closer to Celestia and asked…
“Why are these creatures here?”
“Oh Luna, they’re just like any other pony you have meet.”
“Right...how in Equestria have these creatures remained unnoticed?”
Right then, Dana came up with two cups of honeyed tea for the princesses, along with the two sets of fried corn on the cob on silver plates. Dana then left to attend another customer with a smile on her goblin face.
“These wonderful creatures are protected by this diner’s magic, in fact this building exists in an nexus between time and space, as I hear it welcomes only those who are good of heart.” Celestia took a sip of her tea and after processing the information, so did Luna.
“This tastes great! I wonder how their coffee is?!” the taste of honey sweetened the lips of the pony princess.
“It’s magnificent...I’ll ask Dana for a cup once our guest arrives.”
“Our Guest?” Luna was curious as Celestia looked deeply into her cup of tea.
“I remember a time when we had such a grand time together, when we were young, in our teenage years, even when we became rulers of Equestria...I had you to keep me grounded, to make my days wonderful….then.”
Luna knew what she was talking about as she also looked into her cup of tea.
“I know you felt neglected, by ponies and by me. I was so busy helping everypony in Equestria, I forgot to notice your resentment to me...I’m so sorry.”
“Tia…”
“Then you changed...Darkness crawled into your heart and turned you into NIghtmare Moon, we fought and I knew in your state you would hurt others and yourself...so I used the Elements of Harmony to seal you into the moon for a thousand years.” Celestia shed a tear that slid down into her cup.
“In that time after, I was so alone in my sorrow and guilt, I didn’t know how I could make it through the days and nights without being reminded of you.”
“I am here now and I don’t feel that way, that darkness isn’t inside me anymore.” Luna placed a hoof on Celestia’s with a smile.
“I know, but being alone without my sister was painful, until...” Celestia looked on the diner with a smile as she told her sister of the this place.
. . . .
‘During one night a month after your banishment, I tossed and turned in my bed, thinking of how it was my fault this all happened...I awoke in discomfort and was about the go back to bed when I felt a strange energy in the air. I walked to the balcony to see a small light during the midnight hour, the light called to me and I followed it.
‘Gill’s All Night Diner, a strange name for a restaurant that I didn’t remember being in Canterlot. I felt a strange magic radiating from the building, so I opened the door and at first glance at these creatures, I felt like a scared little filly, until...’
. . . .
The sound of the door bell ringing knocked Celestia out of her story as she turned to see a black unicorn with a red horn, this pony had a dark shadowy coat with a darker mane and tail, he wore silver metal armor plates and had a light hearted demeanor about him, to which Celestia smiled.
“Sombra!” the whole diner greeted the unicorn like a old friend.
“How’s it going Mr. Sombra?!” Dana smiled at her oldest customer.
“Not bad, are my friends here yet?”
“They’re right there hon, I’ll get you what they're having.” With that, Sombra walked to the princesses’ booth and sat next to Celestia.
“Lulu, I know what you thinking...but he is not King Sombra of our Equestria. He is in fact just Sombra of another realm beyond Equestria.”
“Oh...ok, I’ll have to get use to this, but if you will sister continue your story.”
“Of course, as i was saying.
‘At first I was frightened of these creatures, until a unicorn walked up to me, I too thought it was the evil King Sombra however after a quick word or two he calmed me down. His name was Sombra from Equus, a neighboring dimension where he is a mayor of his own town and he had come to this diner for an unheard of amount of times. He explained to me that this diner is in fact alive with primordial magic that bring beings from all over the cosmos here to relieve the stress of life. We sat down and he asked why I seemed on frazzled nerves, I told him of you and all that happened.
“So you sister succumbed to darkness.”
“Yes…”Celestia held back tears.
“Funny thing about Darkness...it wouldn’t be darkness without light, and all beings no matter how good or evil have both...basic rule of the cosmos.”
“What?”
“What I’m saying is that no matter how much darkness your sister has in her, there will always be a bit of light...and you have to keep the hope that her light or another light will banish the darkness.”
“Thank you…”
‘Sombra and myself talked all night until closing time when I had to leave to raise the sun, but I returned the next night...For about a thousand years I came back to the dinner, to talk with Sombra, make new friends from across the cosmos here, and to have a good warm meal. This place is like a second home to me, it’s what gives me comfort during the darkest times.’
. . . .
“And that’s the story…” Celestia looked and the tearful Luna who quickly grabbed Sombra and gave him a large hug that seemed to last for some time. Dana interrupted to give Sombra his meal of Fried Corn and iced tea. So the trio ate their corn in the diner that never sleeps.
