Moonlight Sunrise 02 - The Past

The Past

Celestia looked down upon her sister. How could she possibly know how she felt?  She was a hero.  She had just as much a hoof in the fall of Discord and Sombra as her sister.  Her gift of the night was no less necessary to the natural order as her sisters’ gift of the day.
Yet while her sister got all the glory, Celestia got nothing.  Her subjects never came out to meet her during the night.  She never even had the opportunity to enjoy the simple things her sister always took for granted.  
Celestia never had the chance to shop at the boutiques.  She never ate at the diners.  She had never once been to the spas her sister would rave about.  
The unending loneliness was something her sister could never understand and Celestia was sick of it.  She was an alicorn.  She would live for an eternity unless she was killed in battle.  An eternity of this solitude?  She would rather die!
The anger overtook Celestia as she looked down at her sister.  She dared a brief glimpse at the nightmare forces trapped in their prison just beneath the dias.  
Celestia took a deep breath.  This had to be done.  She couldn’t let things stay the way they were.  Not for the rest of her immortal life.  This had to be done.  Her subjects had given her no alternative.  This had to be done!
“There can only be one princess in Equestria.”  She could hear her sister begging her to stop.  But she was beyond parlay.  There was nothing her sister could offer that would make any difference.  “And that princess,” (oh how her sister begged her to stop) “will be me!”

/)*(\

Luna looked everywhere for her sister.  She was late bringing down the moon.  Their subjects were beginning to worry.
“Not another step!”
Luna’s heart leapt into her throat.  Her sister had been moody lately.  She’d been trying so hard to fight that blasted prophecy.  She’d been fighting so hard to stay the hero Luna knew her to be.  
But Luna knew better.  As hard as her sister tried, she had been slipping deeper and deeper into an uncontrollable rage.  Luna had tried so hard to console her sister.  But nothing ever helped.  All she could do is watch as her dear little sister slipped deeper into her rage.
As her sister stepped around the throne and into full view, Luna feared the worst.  Was this to be when it all finally fell apart?
“Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?”
Luna tried to swallow the lump in her throat.  She knew it would be futile.  She knew it in the deepest part of her soul.  But this was her sister.  She couldn’t give up.  Not ever. “They don’t understand.  They don’t know.  We can make them see.  Together we…”
“There can only be one princess in Equestria,” her sister proclaimed.
“Don’t do this, please!” Luna begged.
“And that princess…”
“I’M BEGGING YOU!”
“…WILL BE ME!”

/)*(\

The alicorn woke with a start.  Her heart beat furiously as she tried to shake the rest of the nightmare away.  Her eyes tried to focus in on the real world.  Slowly, the purple blur began to coalesce into the face of the latest addition of the Alicorn family.
“Twilight!” the alicorn cried out in recognition. She didn’t want Twilight to see her like this.  What must she think seeing her like this?
[Oh Twilight, my most prized pupil, the one who saved my sister from her rage…saved me from my rage.]
Twilight gave the alicorn a strange look.  “Discord?”
“How did you know?”
“Could only be Discord,” Twilight said with a sigh.  “I was getting worried.  Sunset was three hours ago.”
“Can’t be!” the alicorn gasped.  “It was only midday when we came here.”  She looked up through the ceiling to see the night sky.  “How?”
“I took care of it,” Twilight said.  “Though it was a bit exhausting.  I’ve never moved objects so big before.  I better find Discord and make him undo whatever he did.  I’m not sure I have it in me to do the same trick when morning comes.”
“No don’t!” the alicorn pleaded.  Twilight looked askance at her.  “It’s…difficult…this form.  Seeing the worst moments of each other’s lives…it’s painful.  But whatever Discord’s reasons, I think maybe this is an opportunity I don’t want to pass up.”
Twilight nodded.  She wasn’t convinced this was a good thing.  But if this is how they wanted to play it…
Still Twilight couldn’t help but thinking that the situation was even more wrong than it seemed on the surface.  Celestia wouldn’t normally be emotional enough to make an outburst like that.  But Luna was far too private to want this to continue.  
This didn’t seem like a simple instance of the sisters being able to peek at each other’s point of view.  Their very personalities seemed to be mixing.  And if they were to mix together too much, would they be able to be truly separated when it was all over?
“What should I call you?” Twilight asked before leaving.  “Celuna? Lunestia?” The alicorn scrunched her muzzle at that.  “Yeah, didn’t sound good to me either,” Twilight admitted.  “Moonlight Sunrise?  No, that just…”
“That’ll work for now.”
Twilight looked sideways at the alicorn.  “Seriously?  Moonlight Sunrise?”
“Sounds as good as anything.  Hopefully we won’t have to use it for too long anyway.”
Twilight nodded, turning again to leave.  “Okay, Moonlight.  Whatever you need to do here sounds private.  I’ll leave you to it.”
“Thanks, Twilight,” Moonlight Sunrise said silently.  She looked up towards the ceiling.  The full moon shown brightly in the sky.

/)*(\

Celestia looked around at her prison.  She was stuck in a cave underneath the moon’s surface.  There was no food or water.  Not that her immortal alicorn physiology really needed such niceties, but she anticipated getting really hungry in the coming 1000 years.  There was also nothing to keep her occupied.  Only her rage.
Celestia glared spitefully up at the ceiling of her prison and screamed out in anger.  “1000 years, dear sister!  Count the days.  I will escape and I will destroy you!”

/)*(\

Luna walked stumbled through the Everfree palace.  The Elements of Harmony lay on the ground in the throne room.  She could put them back in their place later.  Now she was too shell shocked.  She looked up at the moon that held a new pattern on its surface.  She knew her sister looked down on her now.
Luna broke down sobbing.  “Oh my dear, sweet sister!  You were a hero!  We fought together, bled together.  How could it end up like this?  What more could I have possibly done?”

/)*(\

How many years had it been?  A decade?  A century?  Every day was the same.  Celestia was stuck in the barren rock of the moon.  It was all mind numbing.  She had nothing but rage to keep her warm, nothing but rage to keep her occupied.
Celestia had no more concept of time.  She didn’t know if she was anywhere near the 1000 years that would mean her escape.  But powers that be help Equestria once she did escape.  Celestia would rule the night for all time.  Her sister would pay dearly for the time lost in exile.  

/)*(\

Luna walked down the halls of the academy.  It was just another day, same as any other.  It had been nearly a thousand years since that aweful day. 994 years, 5 months, 13 days and 7 hours to be exact.  And yes, she had it all in her head.
She passed the Star Swirl the Bearded wing, drawing a heavy sigh as she looked at the bust of her old mentor.  
Trying to leave the past in the past, she walked down the stairs and out into the courtyard.    
From out of nowhere, the head of a purple dragon shot out of the roof of the academy.  It was the same part of the building where they were accepting new applicants.  Luna ran into the building to see what was going on.
As she ran into the room, she saw a purple-haired filly surrounded in a field of magic.  The filly’s eyes glowed bright white.  She had obviously tapped into power reserves she couldn’t handle.  
Luna tapped the filly on the shoulder to get her attention.  That seemed enough to calm the filly.  Her eyes returned to their normal purple color.  The magical field dissipated.  In small flashes of light the dragon shrunk down to being a little baby again and several objects in the room turned back into the ponies they used to be.
Luna recognized this filly.  She was one of the fillies her niece Cadence used to foal-sit.  Cadence spoke of this one more than any of the other foals she watched.  Her brother had just entered the academy to become one of the royal guards just the previous year.  She hadn’t realized she was of age to enter the academy yet.  Impressive!
And then she saw it.  The filly hadn’t noticed it yet, but Luna did.  She’d just received her cutie mark.  And Luna was floored at what it was.  Five stars surrounded a central star on her flank.  
This gave Luna a moment of pause.  994 years…and then she remembered.
“On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about nighttime eternal.”
Luna could barely swallow the lump in her throat as she regarded the filly.
“Twilight Sparkle!”
“I’m so sorry.  I didn’t…” Twilight seemed absolutely horrified to be in the presence of princess after this kind of screw up.  Luna smiled reassuringly.
“You have a very special gift.  I don’t think I’ve ever come across a Unicorn with your raw abilities.”
“Huh?”  That was unexpected.
“But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study.”
“Huh?”  Where was the princess headed with this?  Surely after this disaster she wasn’t suggesting that she’d been accepted!
“Twilight Sparkle, I’d like to make you my own personal protégé here at the school.”
“HUH?”
“Well?”
The bewildered Twilight stole a look at her parents, who gave their enthusiastic nods.  
Luna walked out of the classroom followed by some attendants asking questions.  
“Your own personal protégé?  Your highness, are you sure?  She may be powerful, but…”
“I am quite certain.”
“So soon after what happened with Sunset Shimmer, I would have thought…”
“I’m certain,” Luna said again, turning to look the attendant in the eyes.  There was no room for discussion on this.  “Put her in the room across from Cadence.”
“The one with the moon insignia on it?  In the royal wing?  But…your majesty!”
“I want her close to me.  I have a lot to teach her and not much time to do it in.  She is to have access to the entire library.”
“Including the Star Swi…?”
“The…entire…library.  I see great things ahead of this one.”

/)*(\

Moonlight Sunrise looked at herself in an old broken mirror.  “So you anticipated my return with…joy?”
“Of course I did!  I never wanted to banish you in the first place.”
“But you had to have known I’d still be Nightmare Moon.”

/)*(\

Luna approached her sister.  Even from across the room, she could tell the Elements of Harmony did much more in the hands of the new bearers than she was able to do 1000 years ago.  Her sister looked like she was back to normal.  Not so much as a shadow of the monster she’d once fought still remained.
Her heart lept into her throat.  It had been a long time since she’d seen her sister uncorrupted by the anger and resentment that led to her fall.  She looked to be little more than a filly, quivering on the ground in fear.
Celestia couldn’t bear to look at her sister coming towards her.  After all she’d done, could she possibly be forgiven?
No!  How dare she even think such a thing?  After everything she’d done, she didn’t deserve her sisters’ forgiveness!
“It has been 1000 years since I have seen you like this,” Luna told her sister.  She knelt down to her trying to see into her sisters’ eyes.  “Time to put our differences behind us.  We were meant to rule together, little sister. Will you except my friendship?”
Luna looked down at her sister, taking a deep breath.  
[Please accept! Please accept!  Please accept!  1000 years I’ve missed you.  I want so desperately to have you back!]
Celestia couldn’t even look her sister in the eyes.  She was so ashamed.  She had been banished for 1000 years.  As angry as she used to be about it, she couldn’t deny she deserved it.  She had become a menace.  She knew her sister had no choice but to banish her.  But could 1000 years being banished truly absolve her of everything she’d done?  
Oh how she wanted to accept her sisters’ forgiveness!  But…she didn’t deserve it!  How dare she even consider it?  
But how could she not?  It was being offered so freely!
Celestia sprang to her sister, though Luna was certainly surprised by the emotional display.
“I’m so sorry!” Celestia cried.  “I missed you so much big sister.”
Luna wrapped her redeemed little sister in the biggest hug she’d ever given in her life.  “I missed you too,” she said, not bothering to hide the tears.  Finally!  After 1000 years, she finally had her dearest sister back!