Partially inspired by Ponyphonics amazing song 'Lullaby for a Princess'.
Cover art used with permission by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen.
Special thanks to Honey Mead and Iroh for helping iron out some details.
The Longest Night
By Tundara
Night fell across Equestria, bringing with it the gentle reprieve from a long day of celebration for the ponies who called the land their home. After two decades of the Sun and Moon swapping places almost randomly, or hanging in the sky for days or even weeks on end, the return to normality was almost odd.
That day had been spent feasting and drinking as soldiers returned to their homes. From the small towns of Manehattan and Baltimare to the fortress village of Vanhoover the nation as a whole rejoiced. Ponies, who days before would have attempted to kill each other on sight, walked side by side into the many inns and taverns that dotted the cobblestone roads. There they would deposit their armour, whether the gold and steel of the Celestial Army or the dark leather of a Lunar Regular didn't matter, and raise a mug of frothing ale together.
Few held illusions that the wounds and scars of the civil war would heal quickly. Feuds and anger did not disappear along with Nightmare Moon. They were not magically healed by the Elements of Harmony as the artefacts sealed the mad goddess within the moon. Very few knew of the Elements, or the role they had played in Nightmare Moon's defeat, and fewer still cared to uncover the hidden truth. But for this one day and night, all grievances were put aside.
All they knew, as word spread from the dispersing survivors, was that a great and final battle had been waged in the heartlands of the troubled nation. There, deep in the once tranquil forest of the Everfree, before the walls of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, two armies had clashed as the goddesses they followed warred above. Such had been their fury that the magic of the forest became tainted and unpredictable. In the end, Celestia had emerged victorious, and the mad goddess calling herself Nightmare Moon was gone. With Nightmare Moon defeated, the army she had amassed through trickery, deceit, and corrupt magic collapsed.
On the edge of the Everfree the wounded of that battle rested and were treated. Kind hearted earth pony healers moved from tent to tent, treating wounds with poultices and soothing touches. Their training was little and their understanding of infection poor, many of the wounded would die in the coming weeks, and those who lived would carry the scars with both pride and shame.
Overlooking the camp, a stony expression on her face, sat the sole ruler of Equestria.
She had just completed for the first of many times the act of raising the moon and had seen the dark mar across its once shining silver surface.
"Forgive us, sister, for being so blind," Celestia sighed, privately wishing that she could cry so she'd have tears to wipe away.
It was an almost unknown fact that an Alicorn could shed tears in sadness but once in a hundred years. There was a hollow ache deep in her heart that nothing could ever fill so long as her beloved Luna was gone. It was her fault, Celestia knew, that all of the misery of civil war and Luna's banishment had come to pass. Perhaps if she had been more attentive to her sister's needs, rather than basking in the false glory of the day, Luna never would have fallen to madness. Celestia wanted to cry, but no tears came to her eyes.
Through a wet haze of approaching fog Celestia saw just beyond the last golden edge of twilight a star fall from the sky, tumbling and spinning towards the land so far below.
Watching the dying star Celestia sent a silent plea towards the heavens that they return her sister, if just for one night. She couldn't survive the centuries and millennia ahead alone. She had to tell her sister how truly sorry she was for what had transpired. Every fiber of her being was poured towards that distant, tumbling, doomed speck, hoping beyond hope to make it understand. Slowly, the star fell behind the line of mountains in the west, and was gone.
A long sigh touching her lips, Celestia made to stand. That star never would have fallen and died had Luna still been around. It was her, not Celestia, who was the true Guardian of the Night. Another victim to add to the long list that haunted every waking moment of the Goddess of the Sun.
As she began to descend the hill, a startling sight made Celestia pause. Two more stars were tumbling out of the sky. Perhaps they missed their own sister and had cast themselves out of their place in the heavens to chase after her. A bitter smile cracked Celestia's grim face at the thought. If she was in the stars place and it was Luna who had just fallen down to Equestria, Celestia would have followed her sister in one beat of her immortal heart.
But she was not a star, and Luna was in a place Celestia could never go.
Surprisingly, these two new falling stars were not following the first. Instead they were heading down towards the small dale beyond the hill.
In a streak of lavender and blue, the two stars roared overhead shaking the Equine Valley and waking those few among the camp who had managed to steal some sleep. A brilliant flash lit the young night that was followed moments later by the rumble of the stars' impact and a rush of wind.
Dumbfounded, it took Celestia several long moments to get her mind to work again. Her long majestic wings stroking the sky, Celestia took flight and headed towards the fallen stars.
It didn't take her long to reach them.
Wings folding to rest gently at her sides, Celestia slowly trotted into a wide crater, the golden armour on her hooves hissing as they dug into the scorched earth. Turning her head left and right Celestia could feel the powerful lingering after effects of magic. These were not ordinary stars, Celestia realised as she strode deeper into the crater. Sheathing her horn in magic with a readied ward in case whatever had knocked these stars from the night was near, Celestia rounded an overturned hunk of basalt.
Her mouth fell open and the magic around her horn vanished as her eyes beheld what, or rather who, had been the stars.
The first was a lavender mare Celestia didn't recognise. A starburst soul-mark was on her flank surrounded by five smaller stars and her dark navy-blue mane and tail were broken with a two toned pink and purple stripe. None of this was worth any particular note; many ponies were bright or vibrant colours and had multicoloured manes. No, what grabbed Celestia's attention was how the mare's mane glistened like it was covered in diamond dust and fanned across two long wings. And then there was the long spiral horn that thrust like a lance from the mare's forehead.
With her mouth now open wide enough for a wagon to enter, Celestia shifted her gaze to the second pony, and at once her heart seized and turned to crystal.
"Luna?" Celestia whispered, and started at the sound of her own voice in the sudden silence of the chilly night.
Stepping closer to the pony resembling her younger sister, Celestia gently brushed away the tail that was like a window onto a field of stars to reveal a black and silver soul-mark of a crescent moon on a dark patch. Heart fluttering, Celestia swept aside the mane covering the navy blue alicorn's face.
"Oh, Mother, it is Luna."
Gentle sobs wracking her body, Celestia bent down and cradled her sister's head in her arms. After a short time the sobs stopped. In her heart the coolness of despair was replaced by the coiled warmth of rage. This could not be her sister, Celestia knew, shifting her gaze to the moon, complete with the shadowy head of the mare it contained.
She needed time to think and sort out the emotions clamouring through her heart. Gentle as the kiss of a feather landing on a foal's nose, Celestia picked up the two mares and headed back towards the camp.
* * *
As was normal for Luna, she woke with a start, shooting out of bed and hurling covers aside in a burst of telekinetic energy. She found her thoughts a little hazier than was normal and Luna, for the life of her, couldn't really recall how exactly she'd gotten to bed. Blinking blearily Luna spotted a basin filled with water and staggered over towards it, and without any ceremony, plunged her face into the icy surface.
"Wow, I needed that," Luna said, shaking her face so cool droplets sprayed around her.
Having woken herself up a bit more, Luna sent her awareness up to check on the moon. It was where her internal clock said it should be, but there was something off that Luna couldn't quite place her hoof on. The orbit was a little wrong and would bring the moon a little too close to Equestria in the early hours of the morning and cause the tides to be a bit too high. Deciding that had to be it, and chagrining herself for making such an error, even if she'd obviously been asleep when she raised the moon (something that almost never happened), Luna nudged the moon back into its proper orbit.
Opening her eyes again, Luna felt a frown tug at her face. Now that her mind was starting to work again, Luna found it was rather perplexed by her surroundings. Where she had been expecting the lavishly redecorated guest bedroom in the Books and Branches Library in Ponyville, complete with silver and navy banners with her cutie mark thrown over stuffed bookshelves, Luna was instead confronted by an equally lavish tent decorated in crimson and gold with banners proudly displaying Celestia's cutie mark. Rubbing her eyes, Luna looked left and right, poking some of the plush cushions, the stands filled with spears and swords, and lifting a goblet (also with Celestia's mark), expecting at any moment that her sister would leap out yelling 'surprise!'.
"Okay, Tia, ha-ha, you got me!"
Luna began to pace around the tent, and then stopped when her gaze fell on a very specific object. It was a sword with a blade as tall as Luna. The blade's surface moved like a pot of molten gold, roiling and bubbling away contentedly. A ruby the size of her hoof and shaped like an eye watched her from the cross-guard, gold leaf and inlays surrounding it in intricate swirls. After several minutes staring at each other, the ruby blinked.
"Ah-HA!" Luna exclaimed, thrusting a hoof towards the greatsword, "I win."
Then she tilted her head to one side and pursed her lips in a pensive frown.
"But what are you doing out of the vaults?"
Luna approached the greatsword and gave it a gentle poke. A hissing squeal broke from Luna and she shook her hoof, the smell of burnt hair striking her senses.
"Okay, I get it, you're still mad at me."
Turning away from the greatsword, Luna thrust her nose into the air and gave a disdainful snort.
"You'd think you would get over it after a thousand and three years."
Leaving the temperamental greatsword, Luna went to the tent's flap and poked her head out. She was immediately greeted by two very startled looking guards in weathered armour. Two things struck Luna as odd immediately, the first being that both guards were mares (the Royal Guards had centuries ago become stallion only after an off comment Celestia had made one Hearth's Warming Eve), and the second was that their armour was approximately eight hundred years out of date, give or take a decade.
Smiling at the two guards, Luna said. "Good evening, if you could be so kind as to find, ah perfect!" Luna's smile broadened as a young tan earth pony with a plow for a cutie mark walked past the tent. "Excuse me, do you work in the palace? I can't recall seeing you before."
A hoof tapping her chin, Luna squinted at the tan pony comparing her against the mental catalogue Luna had of every pony who worked in the palace. For her part the earth pony had frozen mid stride and was staring at Luna with a look of pure unbridled terror. She must normally work only during the day, Luna finally decided with a shrug and continued.
"Could you get me some acai berry tea, and a pot of chamomile with six drops of honey? Thank you kindly."
Not waiting for a response, Luna withdrew her head back into the tent mulling over the sea of other tents she had just seen.
If this was a practical joke, then Celestia certainly had pulled out all the stops. But then again, Celestia loved her pranks. She was a bit legendary around the palace as an accomplished practical joker. If one looked hard enough, one would often find that everything from pepper in tea to furniture being magically stuck to the ceiling could be traced back to Celestia. Though it was often hard to find solid evidence of Celestia's involvement. She'd always manage to somehow be just the innocent bystander.
Well, not this time. Luna was bound and determined not to play into her sister's hooves. No, Luna just knew that Celestia was waiting for her to freak out and demand to know what was going on. So, Luna would keep cool and collected and play along until Celestia showed herself.
Though this was a lot of effort for Celestia to go through just for a prank.
Luna had come to the conclusion that it had to have been Celestia who raised the moon, which explained the wrong orbit. On a whim, Luna again reached out to the moon so high above. By her internal reckoning it was just about midnight, and as she expected, the moon was where it was supposed to be with her earlier adjustment. But it still felt wrong.
But Luna just couldn't place her hoof on what exactly was the source of the feeling.
Shrugging, Luna waited for her tea. And waited. And waited. And then she waited some more.
Just as Luna was about to sigh and go looking for the tea herself she heard a short argument outside the tent. Held in a telekinetic glow, the flap was opened and the earth pony timidly swept into the tent. Never lifting her eyes off the ground, she deposited a tray with two pots and two cups onto the table then began to quickly back towards the exit.
"Wait," Luna's voice pierced the unknown mare, making her freeze mid-step. "I'm curious, where is my sister?"
"Y-your sister, ma'am? I kn-know not whither Princess Celestia be, ma'am. M-may I take my leave, by your blessing?" The mare looked longingly towards the tent's exit as she answered.
Luna frowned, and with a wave of her hoof dismissed the mare. The frown only deepened as she poured the tea. The acai berry tea was not quite what she was expecting. In the years since Luna's return the royal kitchens had learned of her preference for the rare tea blend and always kept a healthy fresh supply available. This blend was... lacking, for want of a better term.
Suspicions danced through Luna's thoughts, but they were too mad to consider. Celestia's old sword, Coronal Edge. The delightfully antiquated armour of the guards outside the tent. The fact the guards were mares. The dialect and accent of the servant, combined with the fear that had shimmered in her timid brown eyes. It all added up to only one thing.
This was Celestia's greatest prank ever.
That, or Luna had somehow wound up centuries in the past.
But that was too ludicrous for Luna to take seriously, and besides, the simpler explanation was often the most probable. Or something like that. Luna had read it in a book.
Several moments passed. Luna tried to enjoy the flavourless tea, but it was like drinking water strained through the remains of old socks and moldy newspaper. The instant the thought went through her, Luna sighed and put the cup aside, her taste for the tea gone.
Again the tent's flap was opened and this time Luna didn't have to look to see who it was entering. She knew the tread of her sister as intimately as her own.
"Ah, Tia, there you are. I have to compliment you on the—" Luna stopped mid-sentence as she looked up, saw her sister, and then laughed.
Celestia stood framed in the open tent, a perplexed glower pulling at her fair features. Silvery moonlight glinted off the battered golden armour Celestia wore, further heightening an aura of dignified power and experience that clung to the elder alicorn like a cloak. Closing the tent as she stepped fully into the light cast by the lit braziers, Celestia set her jaw in a determined line.
"Tell us, imposter, why should we not destroy thee out-right for this most vile and contemptible deception? Long have we pondered your arrival and appearance, and truly, we cannot understand its purpose! Did thou seek to worm thy way into our heart and usurp our sister's rightful place? If so, thine folly is truly great."
Luna couldn't help it. After silence rang through the tent for a bare hoofful of long seconds, Celestia's glare promising swift destruction if her venomous questions were not answered to her satisfaction, Luna fell backwards as a long billowing peal of laughter erupted from her. It filled the tent as the dark alicorn rolled onto her side as tears of mirth flooded from her eyes.
"Oh, I see now why you tried so hard not to laugh the first few months after my return," Luna said when her laughter finally died down enough that she could speak.
Stamping a hoof, Celestia ground her teeth together.
"Answer our questions! We know that thou cannot be our sister, for we saw her just moments ago as naught but a shadow upon the face of her beloved moon!"
Those words sent a chill up Luna's back and instantly banished all the mirth that had remained giggling from her lips. Pressing her mouth into a hard line, Luna glared up at her sister.
"Excuse me?"
Pacing back and forth through the tent, Celestia seemed to not hear Luna. Snorting and pawing at the ground, the elder alicorn continued her tirade.
"If thou believes we are weak and think to strike at us in our moment of greatest grief, thou should be warned, the heavens will rain down upon thee in wrath and pain. This is the most hideous and contemptuous act that hast ever been lain before our eyes. So, Speak and be judged."
Standing slowly, Luna looked her sister over, gazed around the room, and then return to Celestia.
"Did Dash or Pinkie put you up to this, Tia?" Luna asked, but even as she asked the question, Luna felt that she knew the answer.
"Thou dost not get to call us by that name!"
Yes, she definitely had her answer, Luna thought as she reeled back from the venom and anger lacing Celestia's voice. But there was something else, an undercurrent of pain and sorrow so profound that not even righteous indignation could cover it fully.
Closing her eyes, Luna again sent her senses up towards her moon, and this time she wasn't just checking its position. Now she knew what she was looking to find, and when she found it Luna almost recoiled as if physically struck. Pressing on, Luna pushed more of herself into the moon, letting it become one with herself. Behind closed eyes she looked down on a changed Equestria, or rather, one that wasn't changed. Gone were the sea of lights that glimmered like fields of fire-flies along the east and west coasts or snaked like lines towards the center. Looking closer, Luna saw that the roads were all wrong, entire towns were missing, as were those new-fangled railways for those loud and smelly trains.
There was also something else with her gazing down on the sleeping world. It was like sitting beside a storm, but one impotent and helpless in its rage and anger. Luna's physical heart sped for a moment and she released her connection to the silvery orb high overhead.
Opening her eyes, Luna said. "Tia, I am not an imposter. I think I know what is going on. I just have some simple questions, and please, answer them honestly."
Luna waited for Celestia to stop pacing and give a stern nod of consent.
"First, what is the date?"
"We do not see what—"
"Please, Tia, what is the date?"
"It is the five hundred and sixtieth year of our reign, by Equestrian Reckoning."
The number made an odd sense to Luna and she shuddered as her suspicions were all but confirmed. She just wanted a few more answers to be totally certain.
"How did you find me?"
Tilting her head to one side, Celestia lost herself in thought for a brief time before she said. "We were sitting upon a hill not far from here. When we looked up we spied a brilliant light descending towards us that landed in a nearby dale. Inspecting the site we found thee laying amongst the smoldering heart of a crater."
"And was I alone?"
Chewing on her lip, Celestia slowly shook her head.
"Where is she?"
Motioning for Luna to follow, Celestia made her way to a flap in the tent that lead to an adjoining section. Brushing it aside both alicorns stepped through. A smile touched both their lips at the sight that greeted them.
Twilight Sparkle lay before them on her back, all four legs curled above her and her wings splayed out. The young alicorn was sleeping, her chest gently raising and falling. With each breath a whispering murmur of a snore tickled through the tent. She was still very young and new to her powers, and like Luna the first few months after her return, looked more like a unicorn with wings than a fully grown alicorn.
Stepping forward past Celestia, Luna prodded the sleeping Twilight, saying, "Come now, it's time to wake up."
Snorting, Twilight rolled onto her side and muttered, "Five more minutes mom, then I'll get to that book report."
Casting a quick glance over her shoulder to see Celestia's reaction to Twilight's sleep-drunk statement, Luna gave a long sigh. Celestia's face could have been carved from stone for all the emotion it was now showing. Again Luna prodded Twilight, and this time she added a certain phrase she knew would get a reaction.
"Twilight Sparkle, you're going to be tardy if you don't get up this instant."
At once Twilight's eyes flashed open, the lavender rings focusing in on Luna and Celestia as she bolted upright.
"I'm awake! I'm awake! Wait, this isn't my room. Luna, Celestia, what's going on?"
Stifling a laugh, Luna very carefully chose her next words.
"I believe that there was an accident." Twilight tilted her head to one side, gaze darting back and forth between the two Princesses, as Luna spoke. "One that is both our faults. I am sorry, Twilight, it appears I am not a very good teacher after all. As to 'what's going on,' I'll answer with a question. What's the last thing you remember before I woke you up?"
Shrugging her shoulders, Twilight looked up to the tent's ceiling, and said, "Well, we were at my birthday party. My parents had just told me..." Twilight's voice trailed off as a range of emotions flashed across her open features. Rage, sadness, hurt, confusion, hope, more hurt, each only appeared for an instant before vanishing. Taking a deep breath, Twilight continued, "You and I were in my room and you were trying to help me understand the changes that were happening."
At this point Twilight's wings fluttered with agitation. Pinching her eyes into a steely glare, Twilight glanced back over her shoulders at the two new appendages on her back.
"You told me to close my eyes and open myself to my inner most essence. And then... and then I heard something. It was distant, but so sad and powerful. Somepony was crying, crying with every ounce of her being, and I just wanted to make her stop, to make her feel better... and then... there was something else, but it's not clear. Then nothing? Just, waking up with you calling me tardy."
Twilight shot Luna a fierce scowl and crossed her hooves.
"I'm not tardy. Ever."
While Celestia was looking confused, Luna had a smug grin plastered across her face. Stepping forward, Luna wrapped Twilight in a tight hug.
"I'm so proud of you, Twilight," the dark alicorn said. "It took me decades to do what you accomplished only hours after your Awakening."
"Excuse me/us?" Twilight and Celestia said together.
"You answered your first Wish," Luna said, a note of triumph and pride rolling off her like a blanket.
Still confused, Twilight and Celestia looked to each other, silently asking the other if they understood Luna, then turned back to the dark alicorn and said, still in unison, "What?"
A little exasperation clouding her smile, Luna let out a sigh realising she was going to have to explain what happened in more detail. And then Luna thought better of it. No, this night, of all nights, was clearly special. Something quick and simple would be more appropriate.
"Part of your Domain is answering wishes," Luna explained as the three alicorns removed themselves back to the first section of the tent. "I believe you heard Celestia's wish to see me again and granted it. A thousand year old wish, echoing among the heavens, carrying with it my sister's deepest hopes and desires. Must have been some wish. I'll try to explain how wishes work when we return home, but for tonight, we drink and feast!"
With a swish of her horn Luna pulled out a bottle of silvery wine that had been hidden exactly where Luna had expected. Luna may have trouble predicting or knowing the Celestia of her time, but the Celestia of this time Luna knew very well. Two more bottles joined the first along with three gem encrusted goblets. Celestia stood, her eyes wide with surprise as Luna uncorked the first bottle of the prized moon wine. Uncertainty warred with suspicion across Celestia's face, and then, giving into the ache in her heart, the white alicorn sat beside her sister.
* * *
"So, I then outlawed all Nightmare Nights right there on the spot!" Luna fell backwards off her cushion laughing, the goblet holding her third serving of wine rocking back and forth in the Princess of the Night's uneven grasp.
Leaning on the table, a glazed look in her eyes, Twilight gave a snorting laugh that mingled with Luna's deeper guffaws. Pushing herself up, she turned to where Celestia sat enjoying her second cup of wine.
"Her exact words, Princess, were, 'No, Twilight Sparkle, we must use the traditional Royal Canterlot Voice for what we are about to say! Since you choose to fear your Princess, rather than love her, and dishonour her with this insulting celebration, we decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!'"
Twilight threw her hooves up into the air as she finished mimicking Luna, another round of giggles and guffaws erupting from the two out-of-place alicorns.
Regaining her seat, Luna continued the story, "So, there I was thinking that after a thousand years nothing had changed, when Twilight came up with the idea that the ponies wanted me to scare them. So, so, and this is the good part, she gets almost all of the towns foals together and brings them out to the statue of Nightmare Moon, where they leave a bunch of candies and treats. At which point I leap out looking like I did as Nightmare, and say, 'You were wise to bring these candies to me. I am pleased with your offering. I just may eat it, instead of you!' or something like that, and all the foals ran off screaming. I thought for a moment that the plan had failed, and then this adorable pinto colt came up and asked if I could come back the next year and scare them again."
Both Luna and Twilight broke down into hysterics and Celestia couldn't help but laugh along with the obviously drunk mares. Twilight in particular was jumping between bouts of exaggerated animation and morose like depression. She, clearly, did not often drink alcohol, and moon wine was renowned for its potency.
Between the two, it had become a night Celestia knew she would never forget, and she wished would never end. Her heart felt full and glad, like it hadn't felt in the years since the stupid war had started. This was how it should have always been, Celestia knew. Not the distance and separation that had grown between her and Luna. So much bitterness, hatred, and despair, all because she had been so blind.
A soft snore broke Celestia out of her thoughts. Looking to the source she saw that Twilight had fallen asleep at last, overcome by the moon wine.
She was an odd one, Twilight. For the first hour she'd been frantically chewing on her lower lip and refused to touch her wine. Every time Luna started to share a story from her time, Twilight had tried to hush the conversation, the corners of her eye twitching madly. Luna, being Luna, had just talked louder, and eventually Twilight had given up and joined in the drinking. Celestia made a note to keep a careful watch on Twilight when they eventually met. She didn't want a repeat of Nightmare Moon.
Why was it that the alicorns who were part of the night were the crazy ones, Celestia wondered as she finished the last of her wine then crushed the goblet, as was tradition, and hurled the remains over her shoulder with a cry of "Another!"
"Another!" Luna agreed enthusiastically, mirroring her sister's actions.
This was going to cost a small fortune in goblets alone. But it was oh so worth it.
As the last bottle of wine vanished, along with the last goblet in Celestia's possession, she could feel a questioning probe from the sun touch the edge of her awareness, breaking through the pleasant haze the wine had created. It was time for the moon to set, and the sun to rise. Now that it came to the moment, and maybe it was the wine, but Celestia didn't know if she could go through with raising the sun. She knew the nature of wishes, and if the night didn't end, then the wish wouldn't be completed. Luna could stay with her, where she was meant to be, not trapped within the moon.
"It's time," Luna said, her voice somber where moments before it had been full of laughter and happiness.
"No, we cannot see thee leave, not again." Celestia shook her head violently.
Luna shook her head as well. Celestia watched as Luna closed her eyes, then felt her sister expanding up into the heavens. In a smooth motion the moon sunk below the horizon, making way for the sun. The fiery orb, hidden in the east, waited patiently for its other half to nudge it skyward. When the touch didn't come, it sent a nudge of its own down the connection it shared with Celestia. Gritting her teeth, Celestia persisted in resisting the change of night into day.
"Sister," Luna said, her voice firm but not unkind, "You know it is time."
"No!" Celestia almost screamed the word, wishing that the denial could become reality. "No," she said again, but softer, almost as a whisper. "We cannot lose thee again. If we don't raise the sun, then this night cannot end, and we won't send thee away again. We... we tried to heal thee with the Elements, but we were not strong enough and... this is all our... my fault. No, no, please, Luna, do not ask this of me. I cannot bear the thought of not seeing thee again."
Celestia felt a hoof lightly touch her withers, and looking up, she saw Luna, tears glistening in the dark alicorn's eyes.
Nuzzling her sister, Luna whispered, "You are not losing me. This is just an extended separation. A 'Time-out', if you will. In a thousand years you'll see me again."
"I do not know if I can bear the weight of those years."
"You can, because I know that you have, and will." Luna lifted Celestia's chin with her hoof, and the two sisters stared sadly into each other's eyes. "The first thing I saw when the Elements ended my madness was your face. Also, our little ponies need your sun."
Sighing, Celestia knew her sister was right. The sun was needed, and hadn't she just concluded a war fighting against exactly what she proposed? But she couldn't do it, Celestia couldn't bring herself to essentially banish her sister for a second time in less than a full day.
"I heard you, Celestia, I heard the lullaby you sang."
Blinking, Celestia was unsure what her sister was talking about. But then, Luna was from a thousand years in the future, and knew many things that had yet to happen. A flicker of hope blossomed in her heart, that somewhere up among the heavens the Luna she had trapped was at peace.
"Every anniversary, for a thousand years, I heard your lullaby and felt the sorrow you held." Luna pulled Celestia into a fierce hug. "On those nights my dreams were indeed sweet, and I knew not sadness, pain, or care."
"Do you mean that?" Celestia felt the hope in her heart lift itself and then pause in dreaded anticipation.
Luna didn't say anything, just held her sister close, and through the touch Celestia knew that what her sister told her was only a half truth, a kindness to ease her burden. But the flicker beating within her refused to let go and seized on that white lie.
"Celestia, I- I've never been able to tell you this before. The words always felt too hollow and they'd catch in my throat. In the end, I always felt the you who welcomed me home with open wings didn't need to hear them." Luna pushed Celestia back so they held each other at arms length. "It wasn't until after the Elements purged me of the madness and anger that clouded my thoughts like a damnable fog and her voice disappeared that it happened. Celestia, I forgive you."
Those three simple words broke the dam, sending crystal tears down Celestia's cheeks to patter onto the cushions. Her heart trembled at what she had to do. Sobbing silently, Celestia began to push her awareness towards the patiently waiting sun.
"Fate has been too cruel to us, Luna," she whispered, and then with a gentle nudge, the sun began its ascent.
Luna stepped back, a lingering bittersweet smile on her lips, a single tear falling like the star Celestia had wished upon from her eye. Then the dark alicorn began to fade, vanishing like mist before a breeze, and she was gone.
"A thousand years. My night will last until I see you again, sister," Celestia said quietly.
Author's Note
(Added April 3rd, 2020)
I never made a proper Author's Note for this short story as, at the time, I didn't expect it to garner the popularity and praise it has seen over the years. Its rather astonishing and humbling to think about. More so as it was intended as just a little teaser of the 'greater' Myths and Birthrights. Just a small glimpse into a single night.
This was written long before the show detailed and expanded upon Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon, or much of the back-story was revealed for a host of characters. It took heavy inspiration from Ponyphonic's song 'Lullaby for a Princess', with lyrics worked into the story here and there. So, I don't deserve all the credit for it turning out as well as it did.
Thank you, everyone, who has read and commented on 'The Longest Night'.
If you've enjoyed my writing, please consider donating. You can buy me a Ko-Fi, or just directly donate with Paypal to alaster31@hotmail.com. I could really use any support and help to keep writing. Thank you!
