Between Sky and Stars

by Twilight Shadow

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Alternate Universe
Length: 10476

1000 years ago, Princess Twilight Sparkle banished Princess Rainbow Dash to the heavens. Now, free of the darkness that corrupted her, she enlists the aid of Celestia and Luna, the mares that saved her, to help free her sister from her starry prison.

An Equestria of different kind, twist askew in space and time...
Caught betwixt the day and night, touched by both Sun and Moon light...

Princess Twilight Sparkle has returned, freed from her one thousand year imprisonment and purified of darkness thanks to Celestia and Luna, the new bearers of the ancient Mantle of the Heavens. Now, Princess Twilight seeks their help to undo the wrongs she inflicted on her sister in ancient times, and free Princess Rainbow Dash from her stellar banishment. Will the two sisters be able to reconcile? Or will old wounds run too deep?

An entry in the Reunions: A Swapped Roles Contest (in which it placed 3rd), set in an AU that sprung up fully formed in my mind under the tentative and slightly generic title of "World of Twilight".

Special thanks to ScatteredStarlight413, Neon Icy Wings, and Eikichirou.

Published 2021-06-22 13:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-06-22 13:00:01 UTC

Between Sky and Stars

Concentrate…

Luna narrowed her eyes, resisting the urge to stick out her tongue a little and putting all her mental energy into crafting the spell matrix. She knew the theory inside and out, naturally, but knowing a spell and casting a spell were two different things.

She lowered her head, pointing her horn directly at her target: A bright red apple, sitting alone on a small table in the center of the library basement. As soon as she was confident enough that she’d formed the spell right, Luna fired it.

A beam of cobalt blue magic shot from her horn, striking the fruit dead on. It started to glow, a thin thread of similarly colored magic swirling around it over and over, faster and faster. The apple twitched, form stretching unnaturally, before a large flash engulfed it entirely.

When the light faded, the apple was gone, replaced with… Well, it certainly looked like an orange. There was only one problem; it was still red.

Drat. Luna stomped a hoof lightly. I could have sworn I had it perfect that time. She eyed the red orange, frustration turning to curiosity. She picked it up with her magic and floated it over to her, taking a tentative sniff.

Smells like an apple… She gave it a light tap with her hoof. Feels like an orange. She used her magic to peel away part of the skin, revealing white flesh with the distinctive pulpy texture of a citrus fruit. She pulled a chunk of the hybrid fruit free, and gave it nibble.

Tastes… like an apple, with the texture of an orange. She smiled faintly. Not bad, actually. She thought, placing the rest of the fruit chunk into her mouth. I wonder if there’s a way to make these in higher numbers, or to grow them. They could make an interesting gimmick crop for Sweet Apple Acres.

Placing the… Apange? Oranple? Whatever the hybrid fruit was called- she resolved to come up with a better name later- to the side, Luna picked up another apple from a small pile on her desk and placed it on the table. She may have hoped to get it right on the first try, but that didn’t mean she didn’t come prepared for failure.

Before she could prepare the spell a second time, however, she was interrupted by the sound of a crash from upstairs. A second later, the door to the basement swung open, and a slightly scuffed looking pegasus rushed in, flying down the stairs in a flash and landing directly in front of Luna. “Sorry, sorry, I know I’m late-”

Luna glanced at the clock on the wall. 2:40 noon. “Over an hour late?” Luna raised an eyebrow. “What kept you this time?” she asked, annoyance seeping into her tone.

Celestia shook her head a little to settle her disheveled mane, her long, tri-colored hair falling back into place. “I was practicing some more complex tricks, I finally managed to pull off a Quad Mobius Loop, and I was going to come over here but some fillies wanted to see me do it again, and I didn’t think it would take that long to give them a little show, and then they wanted to see me do a Skyburst...” Celestia’s running sentence trailed off once she noticed Luna’s glare. “...I lost track of time.” She hung her head.

Luna sighed. “This keeps happening,” she said, frustrated. “I know you don’t care about your studies as much as me, but at this rate you’re going to fall behind.”

“I do care about my studies!” Celestia protested. “I just think there’s more to life than practicing magic in a basement. We’re supposed to be in Ponyville to learn about friendship, remember?.”

“No, I’m in Ponyville to learn about friendship.” Luna corrected. “You, apparently, know everything you need to know.” She gave a snort. “After all, who wouldn’t want to be friends with ‘the great Celestia from House Prism’? Ponies line up to get a sight of you.”

“That isn’t friendship,” Celestia said, apologetic tone replaced with frustration of her own. “That’s… it’s my duty to inspire them, to be a role model for them-”

“To show off for them, basically?” Luna cut in. “To go galavanting through the skies doing loop-de-loops, to bask in the adoring praise of the masses?”

Celestia stamped a hoof. “It’s not like that!” She yelled. “You couldn’t understand, cooped up here in the basement doing magic tricks!” She lowered her voice, practically spitting her next words. “There’s more to life than studying.”

“And there’s more to life than flying for the amusement of foals.” Luna spat back, turning away from Celestia. “It doesn’t matter anyway. You didn’t show up, so I moved on to something I could do by myself. So you can just go back to holding your little airshow or whatever.”

“Maybe I will!” And as quickly as she entered, Celestia shot up the stairs, the door slamming shut behind her.

Luna scoffed. “You do that then…” she muttered to herself. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling tears starting to form. “Why should I care…”

She growled, spinning around and striking the apple on the table with a bolt of magic. A wobbly blue ribbon spun around it, much more erratically than last time, and it eventually lost all form, crashing into the apple and fizzling out, leaving a black scorch mark on its surface.

Luna looked at the fruit for a while, expression blank. Then, she took a deep breath, and gave a long sigh.

Just who does she think she is, talking down my duty like that? “Ugh!” Celestia bit back a scream, doing a loop-de-loop and collapsing into her bed in a heap. Sighing, she rolled over, splaying her legs out and staring at her cloud loft’s fluffy white ceiling.

Still… It is my fault for being late… again. She turned her head towards her window, gazing out at the Dawn Sky, the endless sunrise tinging the clouds the same color as the pink parts of her tri-tone mane. She’d never been the best at keeping track of time, doubly so when flying was involved. When she was in the air, elegantly weaving her way through the skies, the hours just… melted away. I let her down, she has a right to be mad…

The rationalization didn’t make Luna’s words, or rather, her tone, sting less. For as long as she’d known her fellow student, she’d always had a way of bluntly cutting to the heart of the matter. In a way, yes, her role, her duty as a Lady of House Prism was to, put crudely, ‘show off’.

But it was more than that. It was about aweing ponies, making them smile, making them forget about their hardships and troubles, if only for a moment. Luna had never really understood that; Celestia had barely known the unicorn to ever relax at all.

She was torn. Part of her wanted to go back downstairs and apologize, part of her wanted to do exactly what she’d said she’d do: go fly and forget about everything else… and yet another part, the part that was currently winning the metaphorical war in her heart, wanted to lie in bed and stew in her anger, annoyance, and guilt.

Said stewing lasted about another minute before it was interrupted by a knocking at the library door.

At first, Celestia ignored it, leaving the job of dealing with whatever the visitor wanted to Luna. But as the knocking continued, she got fed up. Grumbling all the while, she flew down into the library proper and opened the front door. “Yes?” She asked, unable to keep the irritation out of her voice.

“Oh, is-is this a bad time? I can come back later…”

Celestia gaped, eyes going wide. The mare in front of her awkwardly shuffling her hooves and looking around nervously may have been wearing a hooded grey cloak- no doubt to hide her wings and cutie mark- but her face was unmistakable. “Princess Twilight?”

“Not so loud!” the Princess hissed, practically sliding over to Celestia and putting a hoof to her lips. “I don’t want anypony to know I’m here,” Her face fell. “I can’t imagine anypony would be happy to see me…”

Celestia opened her mouth to retort… and then closed it. It was hard to say that Princess Twilight’s reasoning was flawed. Ponies still didn’t fully trust her; returning from a one thousand year banishment and attempting to conquer Equestria didn’t exactly leave a good impression.

“C-come in, then…” She eventually managed. Princess Twilight hesitated a moment, and then slipped inside, pulling the door closed behind her with her magenta magic. As she passed, Celestia noticed how much bigger she was. When she’d last seen the Princess of Magic, she’d been shorter than Luna; now, she was almost as tall as Celestia was.

Princess Twilight pulled her hood down, shaking her head a little to settle her dark blue mane. The pink and purple stripes were sparkling slightly, a sign that she was slowly regaining her magical power, but it was a far cry from the ethereal flowing she was traditionally depicted with.

“This is your home?” She looked around the library’s main room, eyes lingering on bookshelves. “It’s nice. I used to live in a library too, a long time ago…” Her expression held an ancient sadness, one Celestia knew she could never begin to fully understand.

“Princess-” Celestia began.

“No, no, please,” Princess Twilight shook her head. “Just Twilight. I-”

“Princess Twilight?” At that moment, Luna emerged from the basement, a pair of red colored fruits held in her magic. Her eyes flicked back and forth between Celestia and the Princess. “I wasn’t informed you were coming.”

“No, I didn’t write ahead-” Her eyes suddenly went wide. “Oh no, I didn’t write ahead! I should have- I don’t want to mess up your schedules, I can come back later, if you want to plan out a time-”

“It’s fine.” Celestia shook her head, raising a hoof to silence the panicking Princess. “We weren’t doing anything important,” She turned to look at Luna, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Right?” she asked, a little more forcefully than was probably necessary.

Luna briefly looked at the two fruits held in her magic. “Nothing that can’t be done later,” She replied, voice level. “Would you like some tea, Princess?”

Princess Twilight took a deep breath, closing her eyes and slowly breathing out. When she opened them again, she gave a smile. “Yes, please, that would be lovely. And, please, just call me Twilight. I no longer have the right to be called Princess.”

Celestia didn’t know how to feel about addressing an alicorn princess like an equal. On one hoof, she was the Twilight Sparkle: Princess of Magic, co-ruler of ancient Equestria and the most skilled user of magic in all of recorded history. It felt wrong, somehow, to not give her the respect she deserved.

On another, the last she had seen the Princess, she had returned from her magical imprisonment, defeated and imprisoned both the entire Council of Harmony and Equestria’s Guardian, and captured several innocent ponies to siphon their magic for her own. Even though she’d been possessed by darkness, Celestia could see why Twilight would want to hang up her title.

Luna entered the library’s small kitchen first, floating the two fruit into the icebox and putting the kettle on. Celestia followed, leading Twilight in and gesturing to the small table. There were only two seats- Twilight took one with a nod. Celestia and Luna locked eyes briefly, but neither of them made a move for the remaining seat, both remaining standing.

“So, P-Twilight,” Celestia said, correcting herself. “What brings you to Ponyville?”

“I…” Twilight sighed mournfully. “I need your help.”

“With what?” Celestia tilted her head

“With… freeing my sister.”

If it wasn’t for the sound of the kettle boiling, one could have heard a pin drop.

It was Luna who recovered first. “Why do you need our help? You were the one who-” she hesitated slightly, but continued- “banished her in the first place.”

“I know,” Twilight sighed again. “But… my magic was enhanced by the Nightmare. And in my current state…” she looked down at herself. “I’m nowhere near strong enough.”

“But what can we do?” Celestia asked. “I mean, I’m a pegasus, I don’t know anything about that kind of advanced magic. Luna, maybe, but-”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Luna interrupted. “The Stellar Banishment spell is simply too complex. No unicorn in history has ever been able to unravel it, not even Starlight Glimmer.”

“Starlight…” Twilight lips curled into the ghost of a smile. “I taught her everything I knew about magic, and yet…” she trailed off, the ancient sadness returning for a brief moment before she shook it away. “It’s not a matter of the spellwork. I cast it, I know how to reverse it. The problem is power. To break the spell, I need celestial magic: the power of the Sun and Moon.”

The power of the Sun… Celestia put a hoof to her neck, where a golden petryal, her half of the Mantle of the Heavens, sat. Most of the time, she honestly forgot she was wearing it at all; even it’s slight weight just felt right, like it had been missing all her life.

Luna, who had a hoof to her own, black half of the Mantle, hummed in understanding. “So, you want us to provide the magical energy, while you cast the spell itself.” She hadn’t phrased it as a question; as usual, Luna simply assumed she was correct.

And, as usual, she was. “Exactly,” Twilight nodded. “It shouldn’t be that hard, either. Basically, all you need to do is stand there and channel the celestial magic, and I can handle the rest. Plus…” she hesitated, looking away. “I’d… like you to be there, when she gets out.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “What for?”

“The last time I saw my sister, I was… corrupted by darkness,” The guilt and shame was clear on Twilight’s face, her eyes wavering. “I don’t imagine she’ll be too happy to see me. I… think it would be best if the mares who freed me from that darkness were there, just in case.”

Celestia and Luna looked at each other, unsure. In case what? Celestia thought. “If that’s what you want…” Celestia replied, still hesitant. “We’re happy to help.”

“In that case, we should probably get going.” Luna said. “We shouldn’t keep Princess Rainbow Dash waiting.”

The kettle’s whistle blew.

Twilight spun around to look at it, and then turned back to Luna, looking embarrassed. “Do you think…” She began, voice somewhere between hopefulness and nervousness. “We could have that tea first?”

The monumental gravity of the task at hoof didn’t set in right away. At least, not for Celestia.

They’d had their tea, (a custom herbal blend Luna had gotten from Pansy; Celestia didn’t know what was in it, but it was delicious) after which Twilight had begun to lead them to a suitable location for breaking the imprisonment spell.

“We can’t just do it in the middle town, that would be ridiculous,” she had explained with a slightly nervous chuckle. “I know a clearing in the White Tail Woods that would be good spot.” It would have been much faster to fly there, but since Luna didn’t have wings, the three of them were forced to move at a slower pace, although Celestia chose to hover just above the ground rather than walk.

Just after they left the library, the clock tower in the center of town rang high three times, signaling the top of the hour. Noon-woken ponies were busily getting ready for their day, setting up marketplace stalls and hurrying to their places of work, while the night-woken were returning to their homes to rest.

Despite this activity, nopony even so much as stopped to wave as they made their way westward out of town. Celestia caught sight of Twilight’s horn glowing under her hood; mostly likely some kind of ‘notice-me-not’ spell. She thought she caught Pastel Pie make eye contact with her as she bounced off somewhere with a stack of cakes balanced on her back, but that could have just been her imagination. Or maybe it was just another of Pastel’s weird quirks.

They were a short way into White Tail Woods itself when it really hit her; They were going to free Princess Rainbow Dash. The legendary Sky Princess, the fastest pony to ever live; the idol of every pegasus in Equestria, Celestia especially. After all, while all the Great Houses of Cloudsdale were founded to fill the void left after her imprisonment, House Prism’s role went beyond simple weather creation and management.

While Princess Twilight had done most of the ‘ruling’ during the Era of the Princesses, Princess Rainbow had traveled Equestria constantly, crossing the entire country in less than a day, or so it was said. Not only had she defeated countless monsters, saving more ponies that could be counted, but she also spread happiness and cheer wherever she went with her incredible aerial tricks. In those early days, life was much harder, and a visit from the Sky Princess was one of the few things that the hardworking ponies of rural towns had to look forward to.

Spreading that joy had been the role assigned to House Prism. To provide smiles to ponies all over Equestria with rainbows and fancy flying… well, on paper it didn’t seem as important as making clouds or wind, but Celestia knew how critical public morale was, especially in turbulent times after both Princesses had been banished. Perhaps it was her personal bias, but she didn’t think Equestria would have survived without her House.

And now she was going to have a hoof in freeing her, after a thousand years. What will she think of Equestria now? Of the Great Houses? A brief flash of worry that Princess Rainbow would be disappointed in the Great Houses shot through her mind. Or worse, mad at them for stealing her duty. I shouldn’t be thinking about things like that, not now.

“This is it, we’re here.”

Twilight’s sudden declaration snapped Celestia out of her musing. She stopped, actually taking in her surroundings instead of flying on autopilot. They’d arrived at a large, roughly circular clearing in the foliage; the ground was flat and, with the exception of a few small flowers, clear of plant life. Without any trees to form a canopy, the skies were clearly visible.

Directly above them, Princess Rainbow’s prison was visible. A constellation of seven stars, each one shining a color of the rainbow, sitting in the exact center of the skies. Every so often, a streak of thin rainbow light would shoot through them, starting at the red star in the north and making its way down to the violet star in the south in the blink of an eye.

Celestia had spent hours as a filly looking at the Rainbow Stars, both admiring their beauty and wondering what it was like for the Sky Princess to be trapped with them. As she landed on the ground and looked up at them, she realized with a slight pang of sadness this would be the last time she would ever see them. I’m going to miss them.

“What do we need to do?” Luna asked, trotting up to stand next to Celestia, though she pointedly avoided looking at her, instead looking to Twilight.

Twilight didn’t answer at first, instead walking into the center of the clearing. Flipping her hood off once again, she lit her horn, and a large and intricate magic circle appeared, taking up most of the clearing’s surface and glowing the same raspberry color as the Princess’s magical aura.

Celestia’s attention was drawn to smaller circles inside the pattern, one on either side of the Princess. One had the outline of a sun in its center; the other, a crescent moon. “All you need to do is stand in the circles, and channel the magic of the Sun and Moon,” Twilight explained. “I can do the rest, but…”

She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “You… might have to convince them to help. After what I did to them, I don’t know if they’ll be too eager to help me.” She paused. “Well, they don’t actually experience emotions like living beings do, so it’s not really-” She cut herself off. “Not important.”

Well, I guess if somepony magically chained me to the horizon for a thousand years, I might not be so willing to do them a favor either. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be that hard to get the Sun to help. It was a reasonable magical entity. At least, Celestia hoped so.

The two made their way to their respective circles, Celestia facing the Sun in the east and Luna the Moon in the west. As soon as she stepped into the outline that resembled her cutie mark, she could feel a slight pressure on her Mantle, a pulling at her connection with the Sun. “This won’t hurt, right?” She asked, suddenly concerned.

Twilight shook her head. “No. ...Well, it shouldn’t.” She stopped to think. “I’m about… ninety-five percent sure you won’t feel any pain.”

Well, that’s… reassuring.

Luna, on the other hoof, seemed less worried. “For a spell of this caliber, with so many variables, that’s an extremely low risk factor. Impressive.”

Not for the first time, Celestia felt glad she was a pegasus and not a unicorn. Her magic may have been dangerous at times, but at least it didn’t have random pain factors involved. Just crashing, and that was almost always her own fault.

“I’m starting the casting process.” Twilight declared. “Get ready!” She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Then, the light coming from her horn rapidly increased in intensity, a blaze of pinkish light enveloping it. The light of the magic circle likewise grew brighter, pulsing slowly.

Guess that’s my cue. Celestia closed her own eyes, and reached deep with herself, focusing on her connection with the Sun. She could feel the warmth of the Mantle on her chest, a heat that would probably burn any other pony if they were to touch it.

She felt herself rise into the air, carried not by her wings but instead the immense magic of the Sun itself. She opened her eyes; she’d never seen it herself, but she was told that like this, her pupils vanished, her eyes glowing pure white.

At some point, she had rotated, and she now faced the Sun itself; half obscured by the horizon, the eternal sunrise painting the Dawn Sky with streaks of pink and orange. She could feel it call to her, an unexplainable urge that somehow translated into a word- a request.

Rise.

It took a considerable amount of Celestia’s willpower to resist that urge. As much as she wanted, yearned to raise the sun, to resume its movements across the heavens, she couldn’t, at least not yet. After a thousand years of eternal twilight, preparations had to be made to ready the world for the return of the cycle of day and night.

No. Not now. Not yet. She tried to convey the message to her celestial sphere. The Sun and Moon weren’t like ponies; they didn’t have thoughts and feelings, they had something else, something alien. Neither she nor Luna had been able to describe it in words, and yet, in this state, it made perfect sense.

She did her best to explain to the Sun what she wanted, to channel it’s power into Twilight’s spell. There was, as the alicorn had predicted, something that could best be described as hesitance. Please. Celestia pleaded. Help us. If not for her, for Princess Rainbow Dash, and for me.

After what was either a moment or an eternity- when she was like this, time had no meaning- the Sun relented. From it’s center, a beam of gold-white light shot towards Celestia, striking her Mantle head on. The aura of magic enveloping her body intensified; to an outside observer, she would have been glowing like the Sun itself.

Celestia rotated in mid-air, turning away from her Sun and towards the center of the circle. She made eye contact with Luna, floating across from her; she too, was glowing; bright silver, her eyes similarly lacking pupils, and her Mantle glowing with the power of the Moon.

A second set of magical beams emanated from their Mantles, this time striking what was now an inferno of raspberry light surrounding Twilight’s horn, twisting and swirling around it at increasing speed. The magic circle increased in brightness, flashes of gold and silver running through its lines.

Twilight tilted her head back, so her horn pointed straight up towards the Rainbow Stars. The threads of silver and gold spiraled closer and closer towards her horn, until they were fully absorbed by her own aura, which somehow grew even brighter. Then, suddenly , a massive blast of magic erupted upwards at incredible speed, the force of it creating a small shockwave that even managed to push Celestia and Luna back a little bit in mid-air. Such incredible power…

Celestia looked up, watching as Twilight’s spell struck the red star at the tip of the constellation. A purple streak shot down through each star, lighting up a path between them, the beam from Twilight’s horn pumping more and more magic into shattering the magical prison that held the Sky Princess.

Finally, the blast from Twilight faded in intensity and finally stopped completely. The lines between each star changed from being a bright pink to the pastel rainbow that the streaks between the stars normally was; however, unlike those flashes, they didn’t fade, instead linking the points of light together with solid threads.

Then… the red star became unstuck from the heavens. Celestia didn’t know how else to describe it; in one moment, it was like any other star, a point of light on the firmament of the skies, and the next, it was more like it was floating high in the air, an object with depth. The orange star came next, then the yellow, until all the stars were unpinned from their place. Celestia swore they were bobbing up and down slightly.

Without warning, the stars suddenly shot down, flying straight towards the clearing. Celestia didn’t even have time to flinch before the red star crashed into the ground in front of Twilight. Somehow, the stars didn’t seem that big, only about the size of a pony. Surely, if they were so high up, they should have been bigger than that, right? Celestia chalked it up to some magic effect Luna she didn’t understand but Luna and Twilight probably did.

The rest of the stars followed the red one, all impacting in the same spot one after another. A dome of rainbow light formed around the crash site, obscuring the space within. Once the final star landed, the magic circle faded. Celestia felt the magic of the Sun release it’s hold on her, her connection fading back to passive levels, and she and Luna slowly descended to the ground.

Twilight was bent over, and breathing heavily, beads of sweat running down her face. That spell took a lot out of her. It was certainly impressive, that’s for sure. As to be expected of the most powerful magic user in Equestrian history.

The rainbow dome shattered, sending prismatic shards flying out in every direction before they dissolved into motes of light. Twilight’s head snapped up, and both Celestia and Luna turned to look.

Standing unsteadily where the dome had been, on a rainbow colored scorch mark that had burned the grass, was a light blue alicorn. She was tall; even taller than Celestia, the size Twilight had been when she had been possessed by the Nightmare. Her mane and tail were like an aurora, a rainbow flowing and shimmering like it was made of light itself. She wobbled on her hooves, flaring out her wings to avoid losing her balance.

“Rainbow!” Twilight cried, rushing up to her sister. “Are you okay? Does it hurt? Do you need help to stand-” she continued to fret in a worried ramble, her words mixing together. Celestia and Luna both stood back, unsure of what to do.

“...Twilight?”

Twilight froze, pausing mid-word. The blue alicorn opened her eyes, light red meeting Twilight’s violet. A moment passed where nothing at all happened.

And then Princess Rainbow Dash punched Twilight Sparkle in the face.

The force of the blow sent Twilight flying back several feet, landing on her rump and skidding across the clearing, scraping a trail in the grass. “Twilight!” Celestia called out, launching off the ground and flying to her side.

“Princess!” Luna yelled at the same time. She took a step towards the smaller alicorn, but by the time she had, Celestia had already reached her and began helping her up. Instead, she fixed her gaze on Princess Rainbow Dash, who had jumped back, breathing heavily with a hostile expression on her face.

“Rainbow…” Twilight looked up at her sister, a pained expression on her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but either decided against it, or couldn’t find the words.

Princess Rainbow’s eyes flicked back and forth between Twilight, Celestia and Luna. She took a step back, fierce expression wavering. Then, she spread her wings, launched into the air, and flew west at an incredible speed, leaving a rainbow contrail in her wake. Celestia had seen fast flyers, and she was no slouch herself, but this blew them all out of the skies.

Making a split second judgement call, she took to the air herself, and shot off after her, leaving Twilight with Luna. There was no time to talk it over; Princess Rainbow had a one second head start, and that was already too much.

Celestia didn’t know where the alicorn was going, or if she even had a destination in mind, but she knew that Sky Princess wasn’t in the best frame of mind right now. She was angry and confused, in a world a millennium past her own. Celestia wasn’t sure how she could help, but she had to try.

Not just for Princess Rainbow Dash’s sake, but for Twilight’s as well.

There were many things Luna prided herself on. Quick reflexes were not one of them. By the time she’d registered Princess Rainbow Dash taking off, Celestia was already gone, leaving a trail of white light running parallel to the Princess’ own rainbow contrail.

A moment later, the sky shook. A loud *boom* echoed across the clearing, followed by a rainbow shockwave rolling across the skies. A Sonic Rainboom…Nopony had seen one of those in a thousand years. If the Rainbow Stars vanishing didn’t tip ponies off to something happening, that certainly will.

Luna wasn’t sure Celestia could catch up to the Sky Princess, or what she planned to do if she did catch up with her, but it was out of her hooves now. Instead, she turned her attention to Princess Twilight, sitting frozen in the dirt. She hadn’t even looked up at the Rainboom, instead fixing her gaze on where Princess Rainbow had been standing.

“Princess?” Luna asked, taking a step towards her. “Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer.

“Princess Twilight?” Luna repeated, more concerned this time, walking directly in front of the alicorn, who didn’t even seem to register her presence.

“...she hates me…” The Princess whispered, not to Luna but to herself. Her eyes were red and watery, not looking at anything. Luna’s own eyes widened as she realized exactly what was happening.

She’s crying.

Luna took a step back, unsure how to handle the situation. She wasn’t exactly the go to pony for emotional support at the best of times, and she had no idea what the proper course of action was when attempting to console an ancient alicorn princess.

Eventually, she decided to just silently sit down next to her. Luna didn’t want to presume she could help, and anything she said at this juncture might have just made things worse.

Princess Twilight continued to sob quietly, unaware of the world around her.

Princess Rainbow Dash was fast.

There were probably other, more detailed words that Celestia could have used, had she not been completely focused on attempting to, at the very least, keep up with rainbow blur that streaked ahead of her. But fast worked well enough; Princess Rainbow defined the word.

A rainbow shockwave blasted out across the sky: a Sonic Rainboom. Celestia barely even registered it, wings screaming as she pushed herself to the absolute limit just to keep the now supersonic alicorn in her sights.

She reached within herself once again, drawing on the Sun’s magic. She’d used it for flight before: making her wings glow to paint shapes in the sky, or to produce refracted rainbows; but never for speed, not like this. Still, it was her only hope.

Suddenly, she felt a surge of energy. She was glowing; she couldn’t see herself, but she knew she was. She was going faster now; not gaining on Princess Rainbow, but no longer falling behind. She felt… lighter, somehow. She was still flapping her wings, but she could barely feel their weight; instead, it was as if she was being pushed forward by pure magic.

Celestia tried calling out to the Princess, but it had no effect, the two of them flying quicker than the shouts could travel. She pumped more and more magic into going even faster, but it was no use. Not even the magic of the Sun could catch an alicorn whose talent was speed.

One last idea came to her: If I can’t catch her, I’ll have to get her attention some other way.

She altered her course; curving upwards to gain momentum while still following Princess Rainbow’s trail. Oddly, she didn’t feel the normal push of gravity she typically had to overcome when flying up. Perhaps because of whatever magical effect was making her body feel so light? Questions for another time.

Her Mantle began to feel hot around her neck again, and the not-thoughts of Sun made their way into her mind. This time, with her attention focused on something else, it was harder to resist its urging. Behind her, the celestial sphere, half obscured by the horizon, moved up by an almost imperceptible fraction.

She shifted the focus of her magic; not just the Sun’s, but her own, innate pegasus magic as well. She slowed down a little, but that was fine. She couldn’t hope to beat Princess Rainbow in speed, but there was something else that only she could do.

Even before she’d taken up her part of the Mantle, before everything, when she was just another young Lady of House Prism, she’d been connected to the Sun. She hadn’t really understood it at the time, and she still didn’t, not really. But she’d always been able to channel some of its power. It was how she’d earned her cutie mark, after all.

She’d gotten it by doing a trick that nobody had seen in over a thousand years. And, hopefully, it would be something that even Princess Rainbow Dash would want to investigate. It was a long shot, but it was all she could do.

Celestia pushed her magic into her wingtips, and then out into the air. By this point, she was going almost straight up, but, miraculously, it didn’t seem like the distance between her and Princess Rainbow had increased. She could still see her in the distance, though she was now below her as well as ahead.

Her body, and the air around her, began to glow with a bright white light, growing brighter the more magic she expended. She’d never put this much into it before, but now was a good as time as any to push herself as far as she could go. The light surrounded her like a sphere; a miniature sun in flight.

And then that sphere exploded.

Celestia had never seen her Solar Skyburst from the outside. She had, however, been told by everypony who had seen it that it was one of the most impressive things they’d ever seen. A burst of light like fireworks, sparks of different colors flying off in every direction.

This was the largest one she’d ever done, by a wide margin. She couldn’t feel her body at all in the center, and with a start she realized what had happened; she had become light, radiating the Sun’s magic outwards. Maybe it should have freaked her out, but instead, she felt completely at peace.

Through the whiteness that surrounded her, she caught sight of a rainbow blur far in the distance change direction. Instead of moving away, it was streaking towards her. It worked.

The sphere of light lit up even brighter, glowing in pastel rainbow colors. Celestia readied herself for the finale; one last burst, a flash brighter than all the rest. She hoped that Princess Rainbow could withstand being this close without damaging her eyes.

It was, in many ways, similar to a Sonic Rainboom. The colors were softer, and the shockwave was spherical rather than a ring, but that didn’t make the Solar Skyburst any less awe-inspiring to watch. Celestia wondered if there were any ponies below her who could see it; they were getting a surprise show today.

The brightness of the light temporarily blinded even Celestia, and it took her a second to recover her vision. She’d used up a lot of her magic, and as her connection to the Sun returned to normal levels, she felt her body regain it’s normal weight. She flared out her wings, catching herself in mid-air. That was… exhausting. She thought, panting. It took more energy than I thought.

She shook her head, clearing the spots from her sight. There was a shape in front of her; she looked up to see a blue alicorn hovering a short distance away, looking impressed.

“Not bad, kid,” Princess Rainbow Dash said, giving a low whistle. “You’re pretty good.”

Of all the ways Luna could have been spending her noon, awkwardly failing to comfort a distraught alicorn was not something that she had either planned for nor particularly wanted to do. There were much better ponies for such a task; Pastel, or Pansy, even Cookie or Clover would have been more suited than her.

She’d all but spaced out, theorizing on more efficient ways of creating the hybrid fruit she’d tentatively dubbed citrus apples, when she noticed that the sounds of Princess Twilight sobbing had ceased. She looked over at her, hoping to see improvement, but instead, the Princess was trembling, eyes wide and looking straight forward.

“...banish me again…” she muttered. “Gonna banish me again, and I deserve it…”

“Princess?” Luna asked, hesitating for a second before placing a hoof on her shoulder.

“Don’t call me that,” Princess Twilight said, words dripping with self-loathing. “I’m no princess. I’m just a monster.” She turned to look away, shrugging off Luna’s hoof.

Luna frowned. “You’re not a monster. You’re a pony. One who made mistakes, but everypony-”

Princess Twilight cut her off with a scoff. “I think I went a little beyond ‘mistakes’. I don’t think 'everypony' uses dark magic to banish their sister and take control of Equestria." She shook her head bitterly. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Rainbow’s free. That’s probably the only reason I wasn’t locked up right away; I’m the only pony who could have let her out.”

The Princess looked up towards Caterlot, the mountain bound city towering in the far distance. “The new Bearers are probably on their way right now, to seal me up again.” She hung her head. “They should,” she spat, body shivering. “I don’t want to go, but it’s what I deserve.”

Luna thought otherwise. There was no way the Council of Harmony would want to banish her again- and even if they did, Master Spike would never let them. He’d confided in his pupils how glad he was to have his oldest friend back; Luna had never seen her teacher so… happy. He would tear Equestria apart before sending her back to the heavens.

But… She watched the Princess, the formerly majestic alicorn curled up on the ground awiting a punishment she was convinced was coming. How do I convince her of that? She wasn’t the most empathic pony at the best of times. But… maybe I can use that to my advantage…

Luna decided to change tactics. It was risky, but it wasn’t like she had much to lose. “You’re wrong.” She said forcefully, standing up and stamping a hoof. “Nopony is going to banish you.

Princess Twilight looked up, surprised by Luna’s sudden assertiveness. “But-”

This time, it was Luna that cut her off. “You’re hiding from your problems. You’re scared to confront Princess Rainbow Dash, scared of being hated, so you’re hoping for an easy way out.”

“She does hate me.” Princess Twilight insisted. “I can tell. The way she looked at me…” Her swollen eyes began to tear up again. “She’s never looked at me like that before. Not even… not even when we…” She choked up, unable to finish her sentence.

Luna took a gamble and pressed on. “She’s angry and confused. You haven’t had a chance to talk, to explain things to each other. It’s too early to pass definitive judgement. Maybe she does hate you. You’re willing to accept that. But… maybe she’s just angry. Maybe you can make things right.”

Princess Twilight actually froze at that, swallowing air to regain her vocal composure and holding back yet more tears. “Y-you think so?” She asked, looking unsure. “I don’t…”

“You won’t know unless you try.” Luna said. “I don’t know the exact circumstances of what happened a thousand years ago, but I’ve studied the history. You’ve both made mistakes. You were never remembered as a monster; you were a victim of a tragedy, just like your sister.”

Princess Twilight shook her head. “It was my fault, though,” she said. “I was the one who tried to force her to be something she wasn’t. Who turned to dark magic. Who banished her because she wouldn’t conform to my expectations, my stupid, pendatic expecations!” Her voice grew louder, while wavering slightly with emotion.

“Princess Rainbow Dash is remembered for many things,” Luna continued, disregarding Princess Twilight’s outburst. “For her speed, her acrobatics, her heroism, her loyalty… but also for being lazy, arrogant, and for how little time she dedicated towards her royal duties.”

(“This keeps happening. I know you don’t care about your studies as much as me, but at this rate you’re going to fall behind.”)

Luna sighed. “It’s… something I can understand. I know how it feels to have somepony ignore something you think is important.” I need to apologize to Celestia. Regardless of what she did, I shouldn’t have been so cruel.
“But it was my fault!” Princess Twilight was screaming now, her wings flaring outwards, reminding Luna that she was talking to an alicorn, an extremely powerful pony who could do horrible things to her with ease if pushed too far. Too late to back down now.

“Then you need to explain that.” Luna resisted the urge to take a step back, forcing her voice to remain steady. “You’re willing to take responsibility and accept fault, that’s the first step towards earning forgiveness.” She looked up, out towards the Dusk Sky. “When Celestia brings Princess Rainbow back, you can talk.” Not if. When. “What happens next is up to you.”

Princess Twilight was silent for a while. “...And what if she doesn’t forgive me? What if she still hates me?”

“...I don’t know.” Luna admitted. “But I do know you won’t be banished back to the heavens, no matter what. Master Spike is too glad to have you back.”

“Spike…” For the first time in a while, Princess Twilight smiled, albeit faintly. “Even after all these years…” She closed her eyes. “I don’t think it’ll do much good… but I can try. Even if she hates me… she needs to know I don’t hate her. That I don’t blame her for anything.” Tears began streaming down her face, but she didn’t break down. “That… I still love her.”

Luna breathed an internal sigh of relief, glad her risky approach had paid off. I just hope that Princess Rainbow is open to reconciliation. She looked into the skies again, the two racing fliers by this point miles out of viewing distance. Celestia… it’s in your hooves now.

Of all the ways Celestia expected to spend her noon, getting a complement from the Sky Princess herself was not one of them. Even though she’d been chasing Princess Rainbow Dash, the reality of having her childhood idol directly in front of her, praising her ability, was enough to stun Celestia into silence.

Princess Rainbow took this as a chance to continue talking. “That was a Solar Skyburst, right? Not even I can do one of those. Of course, Sonic Rainbooms are way more awesome, but still, not just any pegasus can pull off what you just did.” Her eyes locked onto the peytral around Celestia’s neck. “That’s… the Mantle of the Sun, right?”

The question snapped Celestia out of her awed staring. “Uh- yes! It-it is.” Suddenly realizing the exact circumstances of her situation, her noble upbringing kicked in on autopilot, and she did an elaborate mid-air bow. “Lady Celestia VI of House Prism. It’s an honor to meet you, Your Highness.”

“House… Prism?” Princess Rainbow raised an eyebrow. ”Never heard of it. Sounds pretty awesome though, if it’s got ponies like you.”

Of course she wouldn’t know! Celestia thought. Stupid! “It’s one of the Great Houses of Cloudsdale, the great cloud city. They were founded to… fill your role.” She crossed her primaries, hoping that Princess Rainbow wouldn’t too mad at being replaced.

Her reaction was not one Celestia expected: Princess Rainbow sighed, face falling. “...That’s probably not too hard, huh?” The Sky Princess slightly raised her front right hoof, and stamped down in the air. A ripple of white appeared, blooming into a large fluffy cloud. Princess Rainbow landed on it, all but collapsing into the soft surface.

Celesita watched her, confused. “Huh?” She asked, unable to put her thoughts fully into words.

Princess Rainbow looked up at the skies wordlessly for a moment, and then turned to Celestia again. “How long has it been? A hundred years? Three hundred?” Her tone was light, but her face betrayed more serious emotion.

“... A thousand years.” Celestia answered. “You’ve been gone for a thousand years.”

The Princess gave another low whistle. “A full millennium, huh?” She sighed again, more deeply this time. “Sounds like I’ve missed a lot.” She chuckled darkly. “Equestria’s still here. She was right, it didn’t fall apart without me…”

“Then again…” She looked towards the Dusk Sky, at the Moon. It was nearly full; even bound to the horizon, it still went through its phases. “It doesn’t seem like it needed her either. I could feel her, you know? She was trapped, same as me, and I could feel her rage. She was so… angry. And below us, Equestria just kept going.” She shook her head. “Some Princesses we turned out to be.”

Noting Celestia’s stunned silence, Princess Rainbow chuckled again. “I guess I’m not what you were expecting huh? Didn’t expect the great Princess of the Sky to be this mopey?”

“Not… really, no.” Celestia admitted. “Spike painted a much different picture of you.”

Princess Rainbow’s ears perked up at the name. “He’s still around?” Her eyes lit up in realization. “Oh, duh, he’s a dragon, of course he is. He must be massive by now, huh? I remember when he barely came up to my barrel…”

The idea of a dragon as gargantuan as Spike being as small as a foal brought a giggle to Celestia’s lips. “He hollowed out the entire peak of Mount Canter to be his lair. I can’t even imagine him being small…”

“Twi raised from an egg. I remember how he used to chew on her tail…” Princess Rainbow sighed again. “Hey, Miss House Prism, you don’t have to keep hovering over there. I won’t bite, promise.”

Celestia hesitated, processing the idea that the Sky Princess wanted her to sit next to her. “Oh, uh- sure.” Nervously, she flew over and landed on the edge of the cloud. “And, please, just call me Celestia, Your Highness.”

Princess Rainbow grinned. “Heh. in that case, none of that ‘Your Highness' business. Anypony awesome enough to keep up with me doesn’t need to bother with titles.”

“If you’re sure…” Celestia had butterflies in her stomach, the unreality of her situation making her slightly dizzy. She sat down on the cloud, making sure to keep a little distance from the Princess- Rainbow, lest she pass out completely.

“Hey, for my fans? I’ll do anything.” Rainbow’s grin fell, and she looked off into the distance again, this time towards the Dawn Sky and the Sun.

Celestia took this chance to finally speak up. “I’m… I’m sorry if I shouldn’t be asking this, but… why did you hit Twilight?”

“Because…” Rainbow Dash seemed unsure of herself. “Because I was mad. Am mad. At her, for what she did to me. And also… at myself.”

She sighed again. “Twi’s not all…” she waved a hoof in a lazy circle in front of herself. “Dark-y, anymore. How’d that happen? Did somepony hit her with the Elements?”

Celestia shook her head. “No. The Elements are what banished her in the first place. When she came back… she captured the new Bearers. It was Luna and I that defeated her and expelled the dark magic.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash sounded impressed. “Luna was the blue unicorn with you before, right? How’d you pull that off?”

“The power of the Sun and Moon. We burned the darkness right out of her with an Eclipse.” Celestia would never forget the sight. The Sun and Moon meeting at the peak of the sky… It was the most breathtaking thing she’d ever seen.

“So that’s what that was!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Being trapped in the heavens is… well, it’s hard to explain, but when the Sun and Moon combine their powers? Well, I could feel it. It’s incredible. I’m impressed mortals can handle it, to be honest.”

“Nopony else could, just Luna and I. It’s our destinies, or something.” Apparently, they had been subjects of an ancient prophecy. Something Spike hadn’t told them until after they’d already fulfilled it. Still kinda wish we’d known in advance…

“You don’t say… Well, if this Luna is half as awesome as you, then Equestria is in good hooves.” Rainbow Dash gave a melancholic smile. “You don’t need us anymore.”

“That’s not true!” Celestia said, gaping. “Ponies have dreamed of your return for a thousand years! You’re a national hero, an icon-”

“Exactly.” Rainbow cut in. “An icon. You didn’t need me. You never needed me, not like you needed Twi. She did all the work. If you could get on without her, you certainly don’t need me. I was a pretty lousy Princess.”

“That’s…” This didn’t seem like Princess Rainbow Dash at all. She’d always been recorded as being bombastic, self-assured, even arrogant. Certainly not one to ever call herself ‘lousy’.

Rainbow noticed Celestia’s confusion. “Hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m still amazingly awesome, just… being a ruler wasn’t for me. It never was. I left everything to Twi, and in the end…” She hung her head. “It destroyed us both.” She punched the cloud, poking a large hole through it. “I let her down.”

This isn’t at all how I expected this would go. Celestia had thought Rainbow would be angry, that she’d have to convince her Twilight was no longer evil… but it seemed instead, Rainbow blamed herself as much as Twilight did.

“But, hey!” Rainbow forced a smile. “Guess this means I can put all my time into making my flying even more totally radical!” Celestia winced at the particularly archaic language. “Equestria has gone one thousand years too many without seeing a Sonic Rainboom.”

A lightbulb went off in Celestia’s head. “And that’s why we need you.”

Rainbow turned to look at her. “Huh?”

“When Cloudsdale was founded, the Council of Harmony- the First Bearers, who defeated Twilight after she banished you-” Celestia clarified. “Put together six Houses from the most qualified pegasi they could find across all Equestria. There are six of them: House Nimbus, for the clouds, House Tempest, for the wind, House Hydro, for the rain, House Blizzard, for ice and snow, House Tesla, for thunder and lightning… and the final House, House Prism. My House.”

“House Prism is special,” Celestia explained. “We manage rainbows, but rainbows aren’t exactly the most important weather phenomena. Our real duty, my duty, is to inspire.”

“Inspire?” Rainbow looked at her, confused. “What do you mean by that?”

“I didn’t realize; you never understood. It’s something I’ve known since I was a filly, but for you it was just second nature, you didn’t think about it-” She shook her head. “-If you’d known then, maybe things would have turned out differently.”

Celestia smiled. “Your flying brought hope and happiness to Equestria. Making weather is important, but anypony can do that with some effort. Inspiration… It’s a duty that House Prism inherited, one that I value greatly.”

She paused. “Sometimes… too much.” She didn’t want her relationship with Luna to turn out like that of that of the Princesses. That settles it. We need to talk it out.

“I… never thought of it like that.” Rainbow stared blankly at Celestia, the look of somepony reevaluating her entire worldview. “I mean, yeah, I’m awesome, but ‘bringing hope and happiness?’ I just fly because it’s what I love. Well… the cheers of adoring fans don’t hurt either.”

“Maybe it wasn’t doing paperwork, or listening to petitioners, or some other royal duty, but it was important,” Celestia said. “And I think Equestria would be a better place with you flying its skies again.”

Rainbow gave a light smirk. “Heh. Thanks kid.” She looked up at the skies yet again. “I… I dunno. I mean, Twi-”

“Wants to make things right,” Celestia cut in. “She was terrified you wouldn’t forgive her, that you’d hate her forever. I think… she’s been beating herself up over it ever since she was cleansed of dark magic. She probably hates herself more than she ever hated you.”

Rainbow winced, ears going flat. “Yeah… that sounds like the Twi I know. Geez… Cause, like, I’m still mad at her and stuff, but also it wasn’t really her fault? I just… I was never good at all this emotion stuff.”

“I think…” Celestia began carefully. “That the best thing to do would be to talk it out. I don’t think Twilight will blame you for being mad, but if you don’t at least make an attempt to make up…”

“Yeah…” Rainbow hung her head. “She’s probably freaking out right now, huh? ‘I’m gonna be imprisoned or banished or banished and then imprisoned in the place I’m banished to,’ or something like that. She always did worry too much…” She sighed.

Celestia hoped that Luna would be able to help calm Twilight down at least a little. I know she’s not the best at that…

“I… probably should go and apologize for punching her in the face,” Rainbow stood up, flexing her wings. “And for being a terrible sister.” She launched herself into the air with a single, powerful flap. “Hey, Celestia!” She yelled. “Think you can keep up? I’ll go easy on you!”

Today had been weird for Celestia. She’d helped free the legendary Princess of the Sky, she’d done the biggest Solar Skyburst of her life, she was on a first name basis with two alicorns… but being challenged to a race by Rainbow Dash? That took all the cake.

“You bet.” Celestia grinned, tiredness melting away under her excitement. “Don’t hold back too much!” she said, taking to the air herself.

“Heh, wouldn’t dream of it.” Rainbow chuckled. “Ready?”

Celestia nodded. “Ready.”

They locked eyes for a second, and then turned towards the Sun. There was a moment of stillness, and then, in a single instant, both of them took off like a bolt, twin trails of rainbow and white left in their wake.

It was around the time that Luna regretted not bringing something to read along with her that Celestia and Princess Rainbow Dash returned to the clearing, coming to a dead stop neck and neck above the center. As the two of them descended to the ground, Celestia was panting, clearly out of breath, where as Princess Rainbow looked just fine.

“Not bad,” the Sky Princess said, touching down. “But you could do to work on your endurance flying.”

“I’m.. not used to… flying so quickly for so long…” Celestia less landed on the ground and more collapsed, legs wobbling. “I probably… shouldn’t have pushed myself… so much...” She took more deep breaths, trying to keep her balance.

Luna frowned. “Are you okay?” She asked, walking over to Celestia, who nodded, but said nothing else, focusing not passing out from sheer exhaustion.

Princess Rainbow turned, and stared at Princess Twilight. Neither of them spoke; the two princesses stood still, just… looking at each other, for the longest time.

"Rainbow..." Princess Twilight broke first. "I-... I'm so sorry!"

Her eyes began tearing up once more. “I was so horrible, I was so obsessed with my own expectations I didn’t take your feelings into account, I-”

“Twi-” Princess Rainbow tried to interact, but the purple alicorn just kept going.

“-turned to dark magic instead of just trying to talk to you, there’s no excuse-”

“Twi-”

“-don’t expect you to ever forgive me, I’m a monster, I don’t-

“TWILIGHT!”

The shout was louder than any that Luna had ever heard, and both she and Celestia flinched away, ears flattening. Princess Twilight froze, stopping mid sentence, mouth hanging open.

“Geez, Twi,” Princess Rainbow gave a smirk, but her eyes, puffy and wet with tears of her own, betrayed her casual tone. “You never could listen when somepony was trying to tell you something. You haven’t changed a bit…”

“Rainbow…”

“I…” Princess Rainbow sighed. “I won’t lie, Twi. I’m angry. I’m so angry I can’t put it into words. About what you said, what you did… A thousand years, Twi. Everypony we know is long gone. Rarity, Pinkie, Flutters, AJ… all gone…” She’d given up on holding back the tears now, and they streamed freely down her face.

“I know.” The sorrow in those two words was so strong that Luna felt a stabbing in her heart. “There’s nothing I can ever do to make things right.” Princess Twilight’s tone was solemn, the voice of a mare accepting her own execution.

“No. There isn’t. But... I forgive you anyway.”

“What?” Princess Twilight’s eyes went wide, jaw dropping.

“I can be angry all I want, but everything started because of me. I was lazy, I was arrogant, I didn’t think about how much stress I was putting you under…” Princess Rainbow hung her head. “I let you down, Twi.”

Princess Twilight shook her head vigorously. “No, it was me, I-”

“Don’t try and take all the blame.” Princess Rainbow raised a hoof to silence her sister. “We both made plenty of mistakes.” She chuckled. “We’re just a couple of screwups, aren’t we?”

She turned back to look at Celestia and Luna. “And, hey, Equestria’s still here. Things are going just fine without us. They don’t need princesses anymore.”
“No... they don’t.” Princess Twilight gave a smile of her own. “I’m so proud of everything they achieved.”

“So, maybe, we should just go back to how we used to be?” Princess Rainbow asked, hopefully. “No titles, no crowns, just Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Two sisters, against the world.”

“Rainbow, I…” Princess Twilight rushed forwards, wrapping her front hooves and wings around the taller alicorn in a hug. “I don’t ever want to lose you again…” she whispered, almost too quiet for Luna to hear.

“Me too, Twi,” Princess Rainbow replied, nuzzling Princess Twilight’s cheek. “Me too…”

No more words were exchanged. Just an embrace between sisters, long separated.

“Hey…” Celestia nudged Luna’s shoulder. “I just wanted to say, I’m sorry about earlier. I know how much you care about our studies, I shouldn’t have been so-”

“It’s fine.” Luna cut her off. “It’s my fault. I’m projecting my expectations for myself onto you, and I wasn’t taking your priorities into account.”

Celestia sighed, looking at the hugging sisters. “We’re like them, aren’t we? Letting different priorities get in the way of our friendship.”

“There are some parallels, yes.” Luna agreed. “Although, I’m fairly sure we aren’t sisters.”

“You never know…” Celestia said with a cheeky grin. “Maybe you’re my long lost sister, given away to a unicorn family because you couldn’t live up in clouds.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “That sounds highly unlikely.”

“Shame. I think you’d make a good sister.”

“I suppose you’re the closest thing to a sibling I’ve ever had,” Luna admitted. “It’s… nice.”

“Yeah,” Celestia smiled, and wrapped her own wings around Luna for a hug. “It is.”

Author's Note

I finally managed to upload something! Only took me... checks watch ...eight-and-a-quarter years. Well, better late than never? (Turns out, it's almost 100 months exactly. I almost want to wait the extra few days...)

I hope you enjoyed my first real attempt to write something that isn't disgustingly self indulgent. This AU kinda... snuck up on me and beat me over the head with details and lore, so if people like this, I could end up writing more in this world. Or not. Writing is really hard, you know.

Again, special thanks to to ScatteredStarlight413, who provided pre-reading and kept me from giving up on the idea, Neon Icy Wings, who gave feedback and minor editing, and Eikichirou, who helped tidy up a lot of my amateur grammatical mistakes. You're all super cool and I appreciate you a whole bunch.

This is story is an entry into the Reunions: A Swapped Roles Contest, which was the kickstart to prompt me into actually writing something, so thanks to Nitro Indigo for hosting it. Make sure to check out the other entries, as well as those from the prior contest!