" Twilight, come back to me. "

The sun's burning embrace seemed to slowly shift away. The moon's light brightened quietly, and Nightmare Moon could feel the moon finally show itself to the land of Equestria. Her eyes widened as she gazed down, a bitterness rising in her once again. Once again, the darkness and her prison showed silence and stillness. Not anything, not a peep. Only her thoughts to drive her mad. It was routine. Nothing told her otherwise.

Her mind always wandered back to the foal she left behind, a small purple unicorn, she utterly despised the knowing fact that she not only had some other mare's last name, but she called some strange pony 'mother.' Of course, as Nightmare Moon knew, the foal would never see her as a mother now. The foal hadn't even been born before her banishment, time passes differently on the moon, the days on the moon felt much longer than that of in Equestria. As soon as Celestia knew Nightmare Moon had a foal, it was taken from her immediately.

It had been so long since she had seen her daughter, that she named 'Twilight.' She had gotten the news that Celestia respectfully kept the name, but now she had the name 'Twilight Sparkle.' She was left with another older mare that went by 'Twilight Velvet' oddly, and some colt she had never heard of. She fit right into the family, it was disgustingly easy to hide her, not to mention Celestia was practically raising the daughter that belonged to Nightmare.

The envious mare felt her blood boil at the thought of her daughter in the hooves of a stranger, growing up alongside them all thinking them as family. She'd prefer Twilight to be aware that Nightmare Moon was her mother, but no, she was a stranger. She was taught to fear her. To fear her. The tale of The Mare in the Moon. The mare who takes your candy on Nightmare Night.

She couldn't handle it. Not only now did she want the approval and adoring love of her subjects, but she also wanted it from her daughter. Though her mind ringed with thoughts of her daughter's wide eyes staring her down, with no remorse, f e a r . Once again, her sister had drained her of the love she wanted so badly, the love she wanted to return. But alas, the thought of her daughter never looking to her as a mother sent a dozen daggers piercing into her heart. She almost wanted to cry, and she hadn't in so long, each day the only thing that brought her tears was the loss of her beloved foal.

The throne would belong to Nightmare Moon, she would be a queen, and her foal would take place as a princess. Princess of the Night, and finally Nightmare Moon would be titled Queen of the Night. Yes, that made her tears vanish eventually, the thought of her daughter alongside her, getting all the praise that Nightmare Moon wished upon herself. Since she had been drained of that praise, she would upmost guarantee it on her daughter. But one thought struck her as soon as her joy peaked, what if Twilight was on CELESTIA'S side?

Her fool of a sister had practically raised Twilight at this point, why would she choose a stranger over her mentor and secondary mother? She had to be logical, she would prefer it anyhow, in the deepest depths of her heart... she was glad that Twilight would never have to deal with the mess that was Nightmare Moon. She knew she couldn't raise the child on the moon, she knew it would be too painful and hard for the mother to handle. As much as she wanted to cradle the filly, and teach her everything the mare knew, it would be barely plausible for a sane foal to come out of this. So, despite her envy and outer anger, she accepted it.

That...that... doesn't mean it didn't hurt. That doesn't mean her heart didn't ache immensely, the only thing that drove her was the thought of the throne being reclaimed and Twilight being there, calling Nightmare 'mom.' Undoubtedly, she knew Twilight Velvet would always now ring as Twilight Sparkle's mom, and that scarred her heart. She wished she could find the good in herself, the hope that one day she could look and forgive herself, she still aimed for the throne... but something else made her regret her decision. Her little... Twilight.

In some world, she had the foal earlier, and finally, she would be content. As all the love she needed was in her hooves, she didn't feel alone as a little foal woke her up each night, and would talk to her as she did her duties. In a world where... a smile wasn't forced, and being in the shadows of the night wasn't so painful, as somepony appreciated who she was. Every night educating her little gift on each star, pulling her into the warmth of her coat, as she lifted the moon. Yes, it would be perfect. It was a world where all of Equestria belonged to her sister, but one single special foal belonged to the Princess of The Night. She could've lived with that.

It was a fantasy to never come true, she wasn't destined for the love of a child, or the love of a sister. Once again, Celestia won that love. She could've dealt with just one single pony loving her and knowing her for she was. But no! Celestia turned her head away and focused on anything BUT her little sister when Luna was fully willing to spend days with Tia at the time. Not only that, she was overshadowed and forgotten, alone in the night, alone with nobody to talk to. Celestia just had to take Twilight. She felt her legs weaken, her head slowly lowered.

She wasn't stable all alone, all alone. She needed solitude to think, but sometimes she needed the loving embrace of someone who could look at her as something more than that of what she thought herself. The pain originated from being overshadowed, but it only increased when she sat in rooms alone, nobody looking her way for days at a time. She could recall each night, 'Luna, you're so selfish for wanting love, your sister deserves it.

She does more than you.' That was her ultimate pain, her brain feeding her these words, and barely being able to dismiss it herself. She knew at the time her sister didn't mean it, but eventually, the princess became blinded and felt as even her sister didn't appreciate her. That her sister hadn't LOVED her. Now that was painful.

She was only spoken to when somepony needed something from her, never just because. It hurt. She missed the air, she missed her head, the moon's surface was cold, and she remembered as a foal her sister used to tuck her in every night. Not anymore.

Never again. She just wanted Twilight and her sister back. But it was far too late for that. It's been almost a thousand years and her daughter was growing. She knew somewhere, THEY were together, forgetting the mother that had given life to Twilight.

Twilight sat in her studies. The filly was silently reading through her books, observing each page with interest and curiosity as she slowly read the words. She finished with the current page and moved onto the next. She quietly kept excitedly flipping through pages, wanting to practically absorb all the knowledge being displayed to her. Then, the door to her studies creaked open, as Twilight’s mentor and secondary mother, Princess Celestia, trotted in.

The slight interruption received a bright smile from Twilight. “Princess Celestia, hello!” She excitedly said. She hurried to her haunches, her eyes widened quietly. She seemed quite joyful to see her mentor. How amazing! The mare before her was an amazing and righteous pony. The princess herself was HER mentor, she knew her parents and older brother were so proud.

"Good evening, Twilight. How have your skills been improving? What’s the most recent thing you’ve learned?" The princess pressed on, which made the little foal jump excitedly at being able to share her knowledge finally!

"Oh, uh, I’d say pretty well. I learned about the old stories of the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major! Pretty scary stuff…" She started mentally organizing all of her notes. She almost was entirely fixed on all the notes she had been taking yesterday and today. She was growing at a rapid rate, and she made sure her knowledge was always ahead of her age.

"Ah, I see you’re recounting on Equestria's old legends stories. Though, it can be difficult to tell what is the truth and what is not.” She spoke the last sentence in a tone of wisdom. Her wings fluttered open to show elegance for the slightest moment, before they closed quietly, looking down on her student in a prideful way.

"I know, I know… But they’re all so interesting!" She loved these stories, whether they were myths or not. She drowned in all the words shown to her. If they were fact, then they were just as equal to myth. All the stories of Equestria were so very interesting, learning about the history of everpony to ever make their name present in the history books. She even enjoyed other species' history.

"Well, don’t let me stop you. I’ll just be here a moment to gather some extra books." She spoke as she used her magic to start piling up books. Twilight nodded and kept reading. She was a bright young one, and always took mental notes of everything, no wonder she was Princess Celestia’s pupil.

Page after page after page, she kept reading. Celestia had finished a while ago and was just watching Twilight’s progress at this point. Twilight turned a page and saw a rather interesting story; ‘The Mare in The Moon.’ Such an intriguing title. Just as before, she carefully observed the page. She let out a small gasp at its' contents.

Her eyes instantly filled with wonder when she found out it was a story about Celestia. She now even more carefully observed the page. "Oh, oh, Celestia! This one’s about you!" She hopped in her seat. She seemed as giddy as ever at the situation, was this a TRUE story?

"Hm? And which one would that be?" She questioned with a soft smile, turning slightly, obviously interested in whatever story it might be. She approached, her eyes laid upon the story, and automatically pain struck her... The story of her sister, nobody knew it was Luna, but Celestia did. The tale only reminded her of the sacrifice she had to come clean with.

"‘The Mare in The Moon!" Celestia’s gaze immediately faltered just the slightest bit. This story was rather… uncomforting for her, but she had mostly gotten over the tale by now. For the most part, it was a myth to some, but to Celestia, it was the truth that made her heart pound with the utmost regret.

Besides, what harm could it do to let her read about it? She certainly wanted her student to have a wide range of knowledge, and she wouldn't deprive Twilight of the story. "So, what was the battle like, was it exhausting?" Twilight asked. Celestia became quite unsure of what to do, Twilight had taken it as a fact, but most ponies did believe it was a true story. She wouldn't lie to Twilight.

"Oh, well... yes, quite exhausting, aha…" She was a bit taken aback. She could feel her heart's pounding increase and beat against her chest. Celestia took the slightest step back, not enjoying the whole matter, it was uncomfortable to remember that painful day.

She had expected her to keep reading, and not to press questions. "Did you get hurt? Like, badly?" More questions came from the giddy and over-eager Twilight, who wanted every ounce of information thrown at her. Celestia didn't want any part in it, she adored teaching her student, but this was a touchy subject for her. It brought so many regretful memories.

"Of course. Every battle has its price." She slowly remarked, yes it was true, she had gotten rather hurt from the battle. She proved to be stronger than Nightmare, but Luna had held her side of the fight rather well. It did quite hurt.

"Well, I hope it wasn’t too bad… So, why were you two fighting?" She pressed on. Her head tilted curiously, her eyes boring into Celestia's, she became even more uncomfortable.

"A few reasons… But the main reason was that she wasn’t a good pony… She wanted eternal night for all of Equestria, rather than equilibrium between night and day." She hated every reason that started the battle, she felt she was one to blame for her sister's outrage, in the end, it hurt badly. Celestia wanted the love to be equal, she would not mind having any, she only wished for her sister to smile brightly.

"That sounds… messed up. I bet if you came to an agreement--" Celestia interrupted quickly, her ears flattening, and in a soft tone she put down Twilight's statement. Celestia had tried her hardest to do so, she never wished to banish her one and only sister.

"She would not listen to reason, Twilight. I tried so hard to help her, to compromise, but she wouldn’t listen…" The discussion was getting out of hoof, and she couldn't do it any longer, she missed Luna too much. "Twilight… maybe you should read to find the answers, hm?" She didn’t want any more questions that she had already asked herself over the years, especially ones like that last one, she didn't mind Twilight's curiosity, she just couldn't handle the memories she locked away seemingly returning.

"Oh, alright…" The filly seemed quite disappointed but listened to her mentor. Celestia huffed. She gave an appreciative smile to Twilight to comfort the growing filly, Twilight returned the smile, as Twilight jumped into Celestia's embrace. "Thank you for being the best mentor ever." Celestia smiled softly.

"Thank you for being the best student in all of Equestria."

Author's Note

a prologue, yippeee!! lol, if you enjoy this that's pretty hecking cool. uh, we'll see how much i can write. sksks.