True Friends are Always There for You
Luna watched her subjects walking down the street from her castle balcony. She realized that most of the ponies she saw were alone, but some were together with a mare, stallion or foal. Although she was happy to be reunited with her older sister, she felt alone and also she felt guilty for everything she did.
She closed her eyes as tears slowly started to come out of her eyes, resulting in her cheeks getting wet. She started to remember everything that happened in the past until now: from the time she met Nightmare when she was alone on the balcony during a starry night until she let Nightmare take control of her body when she was full of envy. Now, look what all she did as Nightmare Moon: she tried to destroy her own sister and cause the eternal night just because she was jealous of Celestia’s day being more appreciated than her night. If she could, she would go back in time, but that was impossible. What happened in the past has been done. There was no way she could undo it. Probably everypony would just be afraid of her and would just call her Nightmare Moon.
What Luna didn’t realize, was that her bedroom door opened and that steps started to get closer to her, until she felt a hoof on her back and heard a voice behind her.
“Luna?” asked Celestia worried about Luna when she saw her crying.
Luna was startled to hear Celestia’s voice, she soon turned to look at Celestia. “Hi sister. What are you doing in my room?”
“I heard your crying inside the room, I knocked on the door, but as you didn’t answer me, I walked right in and went to you to find out why you were crying,” Celestia explained to Luna. “Has anything been bothering you recently?”
Luna was surprised by Celestia’s question, her sadness soon returned and she looked back at the balcony as more tears fell from her eyes. “Yes Sister. Something has been bothering me.”
Celestia decided to sit on Luna’s right side to listen. “What’s been bothering you?”
Luna could feel more tears just remembering everything that happened. “I feel guilty about everything I did as Nightmare Moon and as a result, my subjects will not forgive me after all the bad things I have done.”
Celestia felt sorry for Luna, she soon hugged Luna with a wing. “Luna, don’t think so. The ponies have forgiven you. Don’t you remember when we got back to Ponyville in a carriage? You received a necklace of flowers. That is a symbol that you have been forgiven by everypony.”
“I know that the ponies may have forgiven me. But I feel that they will not forget that night; the same night that I returned to Equestria as Nightmare Moon and that I wanted to try a second time to cause eternal night! I feel that whenever they see me now, they will only recognize me as the dreaded Nightmare Moon, and not as Princess Luna!” at the end of the last sentence, Luna started to whimper, a lot. She even hugged Celestia with her hooves while crying even more. “And it looks like as a result, I will be alone...”
Celestia began to caress Luna’s soft mane. As Luna continued to cry for what she felt, Celestia started to think of a solution to make Luna feel better. Let’s see ... Luna was feeling guilty for what she did as Nightmare Moon and alone for thinking that no subject would want to be around her. Until she had an idea that could make Luna feel better!
“Luna, I think I know how we can fix this.” Celestia started with a smile.
Luna looked at Celestia, still sad as she wiped her tears away with a hoof. “What’s your idea?”
“You could spend this afternoon with Twilight and her friends. I’m sure their company would make you feel better,” Celestia replied.
“But sister, they must still remember what I did during the Summer Sun Celebration as Nightmare Moon,” Luna said uncertainly. “And they probably must be holding a grudge against me...”
“Sister, I’m sure they forgave you,” Celestia assured Luna with a smile. “And besides, I’ve known Twilight since she was a filly, she never held a grudge against anypony, no matter how bad the pony was with her and what he did.”
Luna seemed to be more secure with Celestia’s words, maybe she should spend the day with them. “Okay, Tia. I will spend this afternoon with them.”
Celestia stopped hugging Luna with her wing and stood up. “Great! And I can assure you, Luna, you will not regret it.”
Luna got up, spread her wings and flew off the balcony with the intention of going to Ponyville while Celestia just watched her.
Meanwhile in Ponyville, Twilight and her friends were having a picnic in the park. Twilight and Rainbow were eating a sandwich with cucumber, lettuce and tomato, Applejack was eating an apple, Fluttershy was eating a plate of salad, Pinkie was eating a strawberry cupcake and Rarity was wearing a yellow hat with pink ribbon while drinking tea from a lilac cup.
After they were done, Twilight took a book from her backpack and started reading, Applejack was relaxing under a tree, Rainbow was sunbathing with sunglasses, Rarity was watching the weather, Fluttershy and Pinkie were talking. But they soon stopped what they were doing when they heard the sound of flapping wings. They looked at where the sound came from and found it was Luna, who flew up to them and then posed on the floor with a smile on her face.
Each of the six mares had different reactions when they saw Luna approaching them: Fluttershy smiled shyly, Rarity soon bowed when she saw Luna, Pinkie smiled cheerfully, Rainbow smiled proudly, Twilight and Applejack smiled in a friendly manner.
“Hi, subjects. What are you doing?” asked Luna curiously when she saw them sitting on a red and white checkered tablecloth.
“Hi Princess Luna! Me and my friends are having a picnic,” Twilight replied with a friendly smile.
Luna was confused when Twilight said the word “Picnic.” “What is it?”
“Picnic is when ponies get together to talk, have fun, eat and spend time together with friends.” Twilight explained to Luna.
Luna decided to sit next to Twilight. “So ... picnics are like a way for ponies to spend time together?”
“Technically yes,” Twilight replied.
“Do you six always have picnics?” asked Luna.
“Yes, but it’s not every day. Since we have our jobs in Ponyville,” Rarity replied, now no longer bowing to Luna.
Luna was curious. Did the Mane Six have a job? She wondered what work they had. “What are your jobs?”
“I am a student of Princess Celestia, but I am in charge of the Ponyville library,” Twilight replied.
“I work on the Sweet Apple Acres farm,” Applejack replied.
“I take care of the weather, but my dream is to become a Wonderbolt,” Rainbow replied.
“I-I take care of all the animals.” Fluttershy shyly turned to the left.
“I work at Sugarcube Corner,” Pinkie replied in an excited tone.
“I work at Carousel Boutique, dear. The store where everything is magnificent and fabulous,” Rarity replied fabulously while fiddling with her mane.
As much as Luna was happy to be spending that afternoon with the six mares, she soon looked sadly and with guiltily to the right.
“Princess, what happened? Did we hurt your feelings?” asked Twilight worriedly and with a possible tone of panic. The others were also concerned about Luna.
Luna looked at Twilight. “No, Twilight. You didn’t hurt my feelings.”
“But then why are you sad?” asked Twilight, now confused as to why Luna was sad.
The princess soon looked to the right side again, ashamed and self-conscious. “I’m sad because I can’t stop thinking about everything that I caused as Nightmare Moon, and that nopony will forgive me after everything that I caused.”
“Princess, we are so sorry that you have been feeling this way since your return,” said Twilight with pity for Luna.
“But why are you feeling sorry for me? I deserve it after everything I caused like Nightmare Moon ... ” tears started to come out of Luna’s eyes.
“Come on Princess, don’t be sad. Smile!” Pinkie encouraged Luna to cheer up.
“Why should I smile? Can’t you see that thanks to my becoming Nightmare Moon in the past, I practically caused damage to Equestria? I understand if you don’t want to forgive me...” Luna started to cry even more just to remember that night.
“But why do you think we would not forgive you?” asked Twilight, now confused.
Luna looked at Twilight guiltily as she cried even more. “Because I tried to destroy Celestia in the past, and when I returned to Equestria I banished her to the moon, intimidated my subjects, I declared that the night would be eternal, and on top of that, I tried to stop you through six different ways on the way to the castle, which could result in the death of one or all of you after my return. After everything I did to Equestria, so it would make total sense for you not to want to forgive me...” she soon looked to the side with guilt. “... And as a consequence I would be alone...”
Suddenly, she felt a hoof on her back, she looked to the left and realized that whoever had a hoof on it was Twilight.
“Don’t think this way, Princess. Of course, we forgive you. We know that you are sorry for what you did,” said Twilight with a smile. “And you were never alone. You will always have Princess Celestia, us and the other ponies to help you through difficult times, and you can even make friends to spend time with you when Princess Celestia is unable to stay with you. If you want, we can be your first friends.”
Luna was surprised by what Twilight said to her, but she soon smiled as she wiped tears away with a hoof. She did not imagine that Celestia’s own student was comforting her in this difficult time and would be offering her and the other mares friendship.
“Thank you. Thank you all for forgiving me and making me realize that I am not as alone as I was before. Of course I would like to be friends with all of you,” Luna looked up at the sky and realized that the sun was setting, she soon got up from the picnic blanket. “Well, I’m going, I need to go back to Canterlot to raise the moon. It was nice to spend the afternoon with all of you.” that said, she spread her wings and flew away. With smiles on their faces, Twilight and the others watched Luna disappear into the sky before they started organizing their things to return to their homes.
As Luna flew, she started to remember the last sentence Celestia said before she went to fly to Ponyville.
You will not regret this.
Luna soon smiled at the phrase. She couldn’t help but realize that Celestia was right with what she said to her. She did not regret today having spent the afternoon with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Now she knew that she was no longer alone, and that at least six ponies forgave her for what she did, and those same ponies were her new friends. At least now, she had six friends to be there for her and spend time with her, and they would not only be friends, but true friends, because they were the opposite of Nightmare.
