Pax Romana was a fairly straight–forward colt.
Since he was little, he’d wanted to attend the Summer Sun Celebration. The longest day of the year, on which Princess Celestia publicly rose the sun in celebration of the defeat of an ancient foe that sought to bring eternal night.
The thought of watching the Princess bring forth light to the world brought a sense of wonder to Pax.
And so, at a young age, he had taken a job as a paper delivery colt in his small village of Tall Tale to earn some money. Over the years, he had accumulated enough bits to buy himself a round trip train ticket to pretty much anywhere in Equestria, and now that he was nearly eighteen, his parents trusted him enough to make the trip on his own. It also helped that the Celebration would be held in another relatively small town so his parents weren’t worried about him being overwhelmed by the big city.
That’s how Pax found himself on a train for the first time in his life. It really was a wonderful experience. He’d read about trains in school, but being on one was so much different. The books didn’t mention the soft rumbling of carriage as it rolled along the tracks, or how the whistle sounded with its piercing shriek, or how quickly the forest and countryside came by and fell away through the window. Pax loved it all. It was a totally new experience and it delighted him to no end.
And when he finally arrived at his destination, Pax continued to wonder at all the new sights. He’d never been outside the village, almost more of a hamlet really, of Tall Tale. And he’d never seen so many ponies at once. He almost felt overwhelmed by it all, but a larger part of him was simply awed by how amazing it was. It was all so new!
He had arrived in the middle of the night, but because it was the night before the Summer Sun Celebration, everypony was awake, anticipating the rising sun and the celebrations sure to follow it.
Pax paused for a moment. He wasn’t actually sure what to do until then. He looked around, confused, as he tried to figure out what everypony else was doing. After a second’s look, he saw that ponies were just… being ponies. There wasn’t anything in particular they were doing, they were just doing normal things like talking to each other and walking around.
So Pax shrugged and began to wander around the town, simply seeing the sights. He imagined that the town must have been very boring and mundane to most, but he had never seen a real–life gingerbread house before, or a treehouse that was more tree than house. It was wonderful and new, and he loved it all.
After he had wandered all around the town, Pax made his way to the center of town where the Town Hall was, and where the Raising of the Sun would take place. He figured that it would be best to arrive early so he could get a good view of the Princess as she raised the sun.
As he made his way into the hall, he found that it was mostly empty, save for a few ponies. A yellow Pegasus mare was conducting a bird choir and a white Unicorn mare was setting up some decorations. Otherwise, there were a few ponies that seemed to have the same idea as himself. A saw a brown Earth Pony stallion with a gray Pegasus mare off to one side, while another pair of ponies sat together on the other side of the room.
But in the middle of the room, a pony sat by themselves, and Pax thought they looked lonely. He didn’t even think about it for a moment and trotted up next to them, setting himself down right beside the yellow earth pony.
“Hiya,” he said as he sat down near her.
The mare jumped slightly. “Oh, hello. You surprised me,” she responded, sitting up a little taller.
“I’m Pax Romana, but call me Pax.”
The mare stuck out her hoof. “I’m Carrot Top, nice to meet you, Pax.”
Pax returned the hoofbump. “So are you just here for the Summer Sun Celebration?” he asked.
Carrot Top shook her head. “No, I actually live here in Ponyville. But I’m still very excited to see the Princess raise the sun. I hear it’s breathtaking.”
Pax nodded. “I’m sure it is. I’ve wanted to see it for a long time. Been saving my bits to make this trip since I was just a little kid.”
Carrot Top giggled. “Funny, you still seem like a kid to me.”
“Hey, I’m almost eighteen. I’m not a kid anymore.”
“Well, you’re still looking for your Cutie Mark, aren’t you? If you ask me, you’re still a kid.”
“Being a blank flank has nothing to do with how old I am,” Pax responded indignantly. “I’m old enough to take the train here myself. My parents are still back home.”
“And where’s home for you?” Carrot Top asked, taking the change of topic with grace.
“A little village near Vanhoover called Tall Tale,” Pax answered, a little calmer. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of it.”
“Well, I can’t say I have. Though if it’s anything like Ponyville, I’m sure it’s a nice place.”
Pax nodded, smiling a bit. “Yeah, I think it’s a nice place. Very calm. Nothing much happens around there.”
Carrot Top nodded in understanding. “Yeah, sounds a lot like Ponyville. But hey, we’re hosting the Summer Sun Celebration so it seems like things are starting to happen around here.”
Pax was going to respond when he got bumped from behind. He heard a muffled apology, but when he turned around he couldn’t tell who had bumped into him because the Town Hall was full of ponies. Pax had been so engrossed in conversation he hadn’t even noticed it.
“I guess the ceremony is about to start,” Pax said just as the bird choir began a triumphant fanfare.
“Fillies and Gentlecolts!” a voice called from the front of the room. “As Mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration.”
The crowd cheered at the announcement, and Pax found that excitement was welling up inside him. The moment he’d been waiting for was almost here!
“In just a few moments,” the mayor continued, “our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, The Good, The Wise, The Bringer of Harmony to all of Equestria, Princess Celestia!”
Pax looked up in wonder as the curtain was pulled back to reveal… nothing.
A gasp echoed throughout the room.
In the confusion, everypony began to whisper among themselves, wondering what could have happened to delay the Princess.
But Pax’s gaze remained transfixed on the balcony as a blue haze formed there and seemed to come together into the shape of a pony. A very big pony.
“Oh, my beloved subjects, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your precious little sun–loving faces.”
“Where’s Princess Celestia?” somepony shouted at her.
The dark alicorn chuckled. “Am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am?”
A general murmur echoed throughout the crowd, but nopony spoke up.
“Really? Not a single one of you? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs? Fools, the lot of yo—.”
“What’s your name?”
The alicorn paused mid–rant. “Excuse me?”
“I asked what your name is,” Pax answered.
The alicorn lifted her head high. “I am Queen Nightmare Moon!” she announced proudly.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, I’m Pax Romana, but call me Pax, all my friends do.”
“Is that what we are?”Nightmare Moon asked coldly. “Friends?”
“Sure,” Pax answered easily, “why wouldn’t we be? It’s like my Pappy always said: ‘Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.’ And we’ve just met, so now we must be friends.”
Nightmare Moon looked taken aback for a moment, then let out an uproarious laugh. “I like you, young one. Pax. You have such spirit, and I can appreciate spirit. You will stand at my side as I rule Equestria.”
“Uh, Nightmare Moon,” Pax cut in. “Sorry if I don’t really understand, but why exactly are you trying to take over Equestria? I mean, it’s a nice place, I know that for sure, but why can’t you just… live here like everypony else?”
“Truly, none of you recall the legend,” Nightmare Moon realized. “You see, when I rule, I will ensure that Equestria has seen its last day. Once I rule, the night will last forever!”
“Well that doesn’t sound like fun,” Pax responded simply. A frown found its way onto his face. He hadn’t frowned in a long time. He didn’t like it. “If it was always night, then it would always be dark, and I can’t see very well in the dark. That doesn’t sound very fair to ponies that like the day time.”
“You don’t understand, Pax,” Nightmare Moon returned, sounding indignant. “I am owed this debt. I was imprisoned on the moon for a thousand years. Is it not just that I should return the favor?”
“I’ve just got a bad feeling about it all, Nightmare Moon,” Pax responded. “It doesn’t sound right.”
Nightmare Moon growled. “I see. You simply can’t understand. Nopony will ever understand, I see that now. No matter. Equestria has already seen its last day.”
Nightmare Moon lit her horn and a cloud of smoke appeared. When the smoke cleared, Nightmare Moon was nowhere to be seen.
Pax spun around and saw a streak of blue smoke rush out through the main entrance. Without a second thought, he took off after it.
With several apologies, he pushed his way through the crowd and out the front door.
He spotted the smoke slip around a corner not far off.
“Nightmare Moon, wait!” he called out.
He continued to run, and when he rounded the corner, he almost ran face–first into the alicorn.
“Pax,” she said neutrally, “what do you want.”
“I want to know why my friend wants to rule Equestria in eternal night,” Pax answered honestly, even if it had a little more bite than he wanted. “Is that so much to ask?”
Nightmare Moon recoiled a step. Realizing herself, she shook her head and stepped back forward. “I still do not know why I am entertaining you so. It’s not as if you could understand what I’ve gone through.”
“So help me understand!” Pax urged. “I’m your friend. Friends help each other, and I want to help you, but I can’t help you if I don’t understand the problem.”
“The problem?” Nightmare Moon asked. For a moment her eyes lost focus as she stared off into the distance. She shook her head and brought herself back to reality. “The problem is that Celestia banished me to the moon! For a thousand years I was imprisoned there! And now that I am free, I wish to take the debt I am owed. Is that so much to ask?”
“A thousand years is a long time,” Pax agreed. “But I don’t think its right to get revenge. My Granny Flash always said that the problem with ‘an eye for an eye’ is that in the end, everypony ends up blind.”
“What if I don’t need to see, Pax? Does it matter if I’m blind?”
“Nightmare Moon, you’re purposely missing the point,” Pax sighed. “The problem is that it’s so easy to get mad at somepony when they wrong you, and it’s so hard to forgive them. But what if you were in opposite positions?”
Nightmare frowned. “What do you mean?”
“What if you had banished Celestia to the moon a thousand years ago and she came back today to send you there for a thousand years?” Pax asked. “Would you still want an eye for an eye? Would you want the punishment to be equal? You know what it was like to be on the moon for a thousand years, but I don’t. Tell me, if you and Celestia swapped places, would you want her to have revenge on you?”
Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and stood motionless for several tense seconds. When she opened her eyes she took a shaky breath. “Your stature and your age belie your wisdom, young Pax.”
Nightmare Moon sat down hard and raised her head to the sky. Pax followed suit beside her
The two friends were silent for a moment, sitting side by side and staring up at the sky.
“The stars look pretty.”
“I’m glad you think so, Pax.”
For several minutes, they simply stared at the sky, seemingly lost in their own thoughts.
“Nightmare Moon, what happened between you and Celestia?”
The dark alicorn let out a deep sigh. “In short? I grew jealous of her. Before I was banished, I rose the moon and guarded the night, while she managed the sun and the day. Ponies were never awake at night. Nopony ever appreciated the work I put into creating the night sky. I felt unloved, and my jealousy festered. Eventually, it overcame me. I attacked my sister with the intent of becoming the sole ruler of Equestria and when I wouldn’t back down, she banished me to the moon.”
Pax nodded along with what Nightmare Moon was saying, but something caught his attention. “Wait, sister?”
He looked over to Nightmare Moon and found that a different alicorn had taken her place. This one was slightly smaller, lacking armor, and much more… friendly–looking.
“Indeed, young Pax,” the alicorn answered with nearly the same voice as Nightmare Moon, but softer and more melodic. “Celestia is my elder sister by a number of years. When my jealousy ensnared me, it pitted me against my sister, but you have broken through the chains that bound me. I thought it would take immense magic to be free from the Nightmare, yet here you have done it with naught but a simple conversation.”
“Free from the Nightmare?” Pax asked. “What does that mean?”
The alicorn chuckled. “And alongside such wisdom, a wonderful innocence as well. You really are a remarkable pony, Pax Romana.” She looked back up at the sky. “My jealousy was a dark and dangerous force. It took even myself by surprise, overcoming me and imprisoning me in my own mind. It then dubbed itself ‘Nightmare Moon’ and attacked Celestia.”
“So then… what’s your name?” Pax asked.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am Princess Luna Selenus, Ruler of the Night, Guardian of the Realm of Dreams, Lady of the Moon, etc. but call me Luna, all my friends do.”
Pax giggled at that and tried to replicate the following line as best he remembered. “Friends? Can I be friends with a Princess?”
Luna scoffed, then answered genuinely. “Of course you can. Anypony brave enough to face down Nightmare Moon is somepony I would want to be friends with.”
Pax held out a hoof with a smile.
“What are you doing?” Luna asked, curious.
“Oh, it’s called a hoof bump,” Pax explained. “It’s something that friends do, or when you meet a new pony.”
Tentatively, Luna reached out a hoof and bumped it against Pax’s own.
“I see. Do friends do this often?” Luna asked.
“Well, only when they’re saying hello or goodbye, I think.”
Luna held a hoof to her chin. “Interesting. I will have to remember that.”
For several more minutes, the friends lounged on the grass and stared at the stars.
“So… what now?”
“Pardon?”
“What now?” Pax repeated. “It’s the Summer Sun Celebration, and the sun still hasn’t been raised.”
Luna shot to her hooves. “I forgot about Celestia. Come close Pax, this may tingle.”
Pax stepped close to Luna and felt the tingle of magic across his body. In a flash, the tingling was gone, replaced by only a slight feeling of unease. Looking around, Pax saw that he and Luna were in a stone building of some kind in the middle of a forest.
“Where are we, Luna?”
“All in due time, my friend, I need to bring back Celestia!”
Luna lifted her head and lit her horn. “I haven’t done this in a long time,” she muttered to herself. With a pull of her horn, she grabbed onto and lifted the sun into its place above the horizon. The effort was more than she remembered, but she was out of practice, so it made sense.
And finally, Luna activated the counterspell to the first spell Nightmare Moon had cast upon arriving back in Equestria. In a flash, Celestia appeared between Luna and Pax, lying in a heap on the floor.
“Sister!” Luna called, stepping towards Celestia.
“Luna?” came the weary response. “Is that really you?”
“Yes, dear Sister,” Luna answered, kneeling down to lift her sister up to her hooves. “I am free from the Nightmare’s grip.”
“How? How did you do it, Luna?” Celestia asked. “I had all but given up hope.”
“It wasn’t me, Sister, but a greater pony than I,” Luna answered. “Look behind you at the brave colt that saved Equestria from the Nightmare’s reign.”
Pax felt very small as two alicorns turned to face him. Sure, he was almost an adult, but he was still small for his age. With the two tallest ponies in Equestria staring him down, he felt very small indeed.
“Hello, my little pony,” Celestia said sweetly, leaning down closer to his level. “What’s your name?”
“I— I’m Pax Romana, but call me Pax, all my friends do.”
Celestia showed a brief moment of confusion before she laughed aloud. It was a beautiful airy sound.
“It’s nice to meet you, Pax. Please call me Celestia. Now tell me, how did you do it? How did you cleanse the Nightmare?”
Of course, Pax knew the answer, but he wasn’t sure it was the answer Celestia wanted. He glanced to Luna behind her, and when he received a nod he spoke.
“I just talked with her,” he answered simply.
Celestia recoiled. “You… talked with her?”
Pax nodded. “She wasn’t making sense, so I wanted to figure out what she was thinking and help her make sense. She wanted to send you to the moon for a thousand years, but I asked her what she would feel like if it were the other way around; if you returned from being banished and wanted to banish her. She realized that she didn’t want to banish you and… I think she forgave you. Then I met Luna.”
Celestia turned from Pax with tears in her eyes. She looked at her sister for a moment before leaning in and giving her a hug. “I missed you,” Celestia whispered.
“I know,” Luna answered. “I missed you too.”
Celestia turned back around and faced Pax.
“My little pony, you have done the impossible, and I am forever in your debt for reuniting me with my sister. Though, I must ask, what does your Cutie Mark represent?”
“Huh?” Pax craned his neck backward and saw the mark adorning his flank. It was an olive branch. Pax looked at it for a moment and a sudden clarity came to him.
He turned back to the two alicorns and held his head high.
“It’s an extended olive branch. It represents an ideal: peace. I want to bring peace to the world. One conversation at a time.”
Author's Note
This was a spur of the moment idea that came to me. I read a blog post from my favorite songwriter about how we can cross societal divides by reaching out and making an effort to understand each other. Originally this story was going to be something more along the lines of our main character settling “tribalist” divides among Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies. Maybe I’d use the story to try and teach some lesson about how to be better people or something. But somehow we’ve come to this instead: a boy taking time to have a conversation with someone who just needs a friend.
Take from this story whatever you will: a lesson, entertainment, disdain. It doesn’t matter to me; I’ve gotten it out there. And if anyone enjoys this enough to want more, I’ve got some vague ideas about how to continue this story into something more than a one–shot. Let me know.
P.S. It’s 3:15 a.m. and I have class at 9:00. Remind me why I listen to my muse?
