The Ponyville Hall went dark as Mayor Mare prepared to welcome in Princess Celestia. Twilight Sparkle glanced out the window, and saw the familiar silhouette of the Mare in The Moon become surrounded by stars...and vanish. Twilight gulped. She suddenly had the strangest feeling that whatever happened next, her life would never be the same again. And as the curtains that were meant to hide Princess Celestia opened, Twilight somehow knew a split second before hand that behind them would be nopony. Princess Celestia had vanished. A dark, eerie mist entered the room and manifested into the shape of a dark alicorn as if in mockery of the Princess who was supposed to be there. Nightmare Moon spoke with horrible, high pitched cackle.
“Remember this day little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the Night. Will last. Forever!”
And Twilight’s ears were once more filled with that cold, raucous laughter…
Twilight Sparkle, Princess of the day, the night and all of Equestria awoke from the nightmare with a start. Her beautiful mane, filled with the sparkling of a thousand stars, lay across her bedsheets. She looked out the window and saw the full moon which she had ruled for over twenty years now, and lay there in quiet contemplation. She remembered the evening before as vividly as if it were happening before her; her seeing off her star student, Luster Dawn, to her first day at Ponyville. Twilight smiled, her heart as full of happiness and hope as it had been on that day with all her friends looking down on her student going off to live in Ponyville. Luster’s first day had been strikingly similar to my first day, thought the Princess. But suddenly, the dream came rushing back to her, and she frowned. Perhaps they were too similar for comfort. She levitated the one thing she would always look to in times like this, and flipped through the pages of the book, looking back at all her fondest memories with her friends. And then she knew what she must do.
Twilight and Spike sat together in the throne room, amongst the stained-glass windows encapsulating the long-passed histories of her and her friends.
“Twilight,” said the purple dragon, who was now as tall as she was, “You worry too much; Luster will be fine. What’s gotten into you, anyway? It’s been a long time since I saw you Twilighting like this!”
“Spike,” said Twilight, severely, “Don’t you remember what it was like for us on our first day in Ponyville? We almost died several times! Do you honestly think that Luster would be prepared for anything like that?”
“Oh right,” said Spike, sarcastically, “We forgot to prepare her for the return of an 1000-year-old alicorn of darkness! I’ve heard those are getting more and more common these days!”
“Even if nothing happens right away,” Twilight replied, “How can we guarantee that she will never have to face challenges like we did? There must be some way to prepare her…” Twilight sat there, lost in thought for a moment, when an idea came to her, and it had seemed as if it were the obvious choice.
“Perhaps if Luster needs to be truly prepared for what lies ahead,” Said Twilight, eventually, “We could give her a little head start; we could arrange the “Return Of Daybreaker” or something along those lines, and when she defeats Daybreaker, she’ll finally be able to learn the true power of Friendship!.”
“Umm, Twilight,” Said Spike, cautiously, “Do you know who you’re starting to sound like?”
“Oh, I know the answer to this one!” Came the familiar, snarky voice of The Lord Of Chaos, Discord.
“Discord!” Said Twilight, startled, “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I’m just chillin’,” Said Discord, and with that, the entire throne room became filled with piles of snow, as a polar bear wearing an orange and yellow scarf skied past.
Twilight sighed, and with a single spell from her horn, wiped away every trace of Discord’s magic. Her failsafe spell had worked much more often now that Discord was an ally of hers, and she suspected he made his chaos deliberately vulnerable to her magic.
Discord looked around, seemingly disappointed, then looked Twilight right in the eyes.
“I’m here, Twilight, to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your entire reign as Princess!”
“And what would that be?”
“Thinking that you can create a chaotic disaster in order to improve the moral fibre of another pony, are we?” Discord’s voice was dangerously quiet, “Need I remind you how well that turned out when the same thing was done to you?”
Twilight shuddered involuntarily. The feeling of dread and despair that had fallen on her as she realised that Discord had accidentally unleashed Tirek, Chrysalis and Cosy Glow on Equestria in a similar, misguided attempt to improve her character had not left her in all these years.
“It’s different this time,” Said Twilight, stubbornly, “I won’t actually be releasing Daybreaker upon this world. It would all be an illusion, conjured by Celestia, or even you. It would be under my control.”
“Really?” Discord replied, “So, you think you could have control over a chaotic situation, something even someone as talented as I have been proven to be incapable of? Could you control the reactions of the terrified ponies?” To prove his point, he conjured up a crude stick animation of ponies running around as a ridiculously villainous image of Celestia appeared lording over them, “And what of this Luster Dawn? Can you be sure she will react the way you would like her to?”
Twilight was silent.
“I know why you’re doing this, Twilight,” Said Discord, with a sigh, and the stick animations vanished, and were replaced by a pink balloon animal that resembled Luster Dawn down to the cutie mark. Discord snapped his fingers, and the balloon animal transformed. It grew larger, and grew two wings and a golden crown appeared. The balloon turned from pink to purple, and finally the rising sun cutie mark turned into that of a five-pointed star.
“You cannot do this, Twilight.” Replied Discord, “We both know that Luster Dawn will not turn into you, as certainly as we both know that you are not Celestia.”
Twilight looked at the floor. In all these years, Discord had gotten to know her better than anybody else, save for Spike and those five ponies she had met in Ponyville all those years ago during the Summer Sun Celebration.
“You’re right, Discord,” Replied Twilight at last, “But I don’t know what to do. I’m responsible for the life and the future of a pony, for the first time.” Spike leaned forwards to comfort her.
“Oh, I’m probably the least trustworthy candidate to speak to when it comes to friendship, and I rarely give advice. I’ve always thought of it as a dangerous gift, even from someone as handsome and intelligent as myself, and as Lord Of Chaos one thing I’ve learned is that all possibilities may end badly.” With a click of his fingers, he opened up a portal towards his home in Chaosville. Just before he stepped through and vanished, however, he turned back to Twilight.
“However,” he said, “I would imagine the advice a pony might give you would be, if you are truly worried about what your protégée will face, you could always try and find out what she is worried about and take her concerns seriously. For is that not what you wished Celestia had done to you, just as you were setting out to visit Ponyville for the first time? I believe the powers granted to you by your new status as Princess of the Sun and Moon involve more than just the ability to command bureaucrats.” And with that, Discord stepped through the portal and was gone.
Luster Dawn trotted through the field of daisies in the night, as the woods opened up below her. In the distance, she could see Canterlot resting upon the mountains, like a huge crown. She felt contentment, as she remembered her times as a young filly. How times changed.
Suddenly, she got the feeling somepont was behind her. She looked back, and saw her mentor, Princess Twilight, standing there.
“Hello, Luster,” She said, in her wise and soothing voice.
“Your majesty,” Luster bowed instantly. Twilight smiled, a shadow of a memory passing over her face.
“Princess Twilight,” Said Luster, “What are you doing here?”
“One of my predecessors, Princess Luna, had the power to travel into the dreams of other ponies who needed help,” Explained Twilight, “As the Princess of Night and Day, I am merely carrying on that Royal Tradition.”
“Oh,” Said Luster. She was not aware that she needed all that much help; in fact, her first day at Ponyville had already gone much better than she was expecting. She was surprised to learn that she enjoyed the company of her new friends, though she still preferred to spend a lot of her time alone. But she was sure Princess Twilight knew best.
“Luster,” said Twilight, “I must ask you, is there anything you think I ought to be aware of?”
Luster thought for a moment.
“I don’t think there is, Princess,” She said at last. She paused, then began again, “For a while,” Said Luster, “I wondered, at the back of my mind, how I would be able to be anywhere near as great as you were in your time. I poured through so many texts about your adventures, of your fight against Nightmare Moon, and King Sombra and of Equestria’s Final Battle against the Three Demons, and I tried to find if there was any hint of similar threats appearing in my time, that I would have to fight.”
“And what did you find, my faithful student?” Twilight asked. If she felt any concern or fear, Luster could not see any sight of it. There was just the serene expression of peace that had become so familiar on Princess Twilight’s face.
“Well…I found nothing,” Replied Luster Dawn, “The Mare in The Moon was the final prophecy to be fulfilled. Even Grogar vanished forever hundreds of moons ago, and The Three Demons were truly the last great threat to Equestria.”
Luster looked into the eyes of her mentor, and for a split second, Luster could see something becoming much more clear in Twilight’s eyes, as if a great shadow had been lifted off of her heart, and the sight was like that of water upon parched land.
Twilight paused for a moment, and they both looked up and the star field dream-sky.
“It’s a funny thing, Luster,” Said Twilight at last, “That the times of peace are spoken about far less than times of great fear and danger. The history books that are filled with stories about the Reign of Grogar and the Tyranny of Tirek are so empty of pages about the 1000 years of peace under Celestia. Perhaps we no longer live in such interesting times, but at the end of it all, we must remember that this is the aim of all of those who have to bear such burdens. To create a world without them. A world which I hope you shall enjoy very much, Luster Dawn.”
And with that Twilight and the rest of the dreamworld faded away, and Luster woke up.
Author's Note
I have loved this series and the fanfictions it inspired, both mine and of the rest of the fandom. But as this series takes its final bow and leaves us, I feel like this is as good as time as any to leave. As it is unlikely that I shall ever write any more MLP fiction, this will be my final contribution to this wonderful and timeless series. And to my readers, this final brohoof goes to you /)
