“The stars don’t twinkle anymore,” Celestia mused, leaning over the balcony.

“No sister, they haven’t in awhile." Luna stared at her moon, absently studying its all to familiar surface. "The stars have not been mine for more than two centuries, but I still feel them; they are not the same.”

“Twilight wrote me the other day,” Celestia said as her horn lit with pale light.

Luna turned her head to watch a scroll levitate out of the bedroom behind them. “Really? What are those two up to?” she asked just at the scroll reached Celestia’s hooves.

“They’re coming home.” Celestia smiled, unrolling the paper. “She said they should be back for the Summer Sun.”

Fine lines and bent edges marked where the parchment had been read and reread. “They are still in Dracona, correct?” Luna asked.

Celestia nodded absently as she read the letter. “Mmhm, Spike and her didn’t find what they were looking for. She says her research is faltering... She needs to come back and start fresh.”

“So, she plans on staying?”

Rolling the scroll up again, Celestia’s magic carried it back into the room. “I think so.”

“I fear for her, sister.”

“Me too, Luna. Me too.”

Reaching out with her divine magic, Luna felt the stars; they were dim tonight. “Where are you, Twilight,” she asked them. Once, they would have spoken back, but no more. They were no longer hers, they belonged to Twilight.

Reports of Twilight and Spike flying towards the castle had come in that afternoon. Celestia sat vigil for the two until the moon hit its zenith. Only then going to bed reluctantly. “Wake me when she’s in the castle,” she had said.

Even at a lazy pace, the two should almost be here; the scouts had reported them well within the border. Turning about, Luna scanned the horizon again, a faint green light flashed in the distance. It was Spike, a dragon’s fire as is unique as a signature, and few dragons could even try to mimic those green rolling flames.

“That’s good. She saw us,” Twilight said.

Spike cut off the green plume with a nod. “It’s good to be home,” his baritone voice rumbled. He was speaking Equestrian again. It had been a long time since Twilight had heard or spoken anything but Draconic. She liked the dragons' language better anyway, it was precise and efficient.

“I hope so,” Twilight grumbled in Draconic, not yet willing to let pony words on her tongue. Hope was what had dragged her to Dracona, but that hope had been shattered. Now she was limping home to start the process again. She knew the secrets of the stars, yet she couldn’t answer the biggest question of them all.

Her old tower at the castle sprang to life as she approached, banners and torches making a carnival of the place. The balcony to her old room lit up, revealing Luna at its edge. "I'll fly ahead," Twilight said leaping from Spike. "Take your time," she said before flying ahead. "Hopefully they didn't wake the honor guard for our arrival."

A few moments of streaking speed brought Twilight to her old balcony. Thankfully Luna was the only pony there.

“Welcome home,” Luna greeted her. “Celestia will join us in a few moments, I’m sure.”

Before Twilight could respond, Spike landed behind her, wasting no time in sliding off the massive saddlebags from his back. He had grown since she last saw him; larger than a manticore now, and starting to get the serpentine neck of the older dragons.

Twilight growled something Luna did not catch. She knew the words were Draconic, but was too out of practice to catch their meaning.

“Sure thing, Twilight,” Spike answered in familiar language. His voice was now a deep rumble, but it still held the same bright cheer that it had so long ago. “Hi, Princess,” he greeted her with a smile as he took the luggage into the bedroom. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m going to catch a nap now...”

Twilight paused for a moment, thinking over her words, eventually asking, “Are the elements still in my room?” The first pony words she had spoken in decades.

“Yes,” Luna answered. “As far as I know, you were the last to touch them. Are you hungry?”

“Food would be wonderful, thank you, Luna.”

Celestia trotted through the halls until she reached the dining hall. Luna’s voice murmured within. When a familiar laugh punctuated the mumbling, Celestia’s smile spread ear to ear. It had been too long since she had heard Twilight’s laugh. It was a good sign. In the years before Twilight left she had heard it less and less.

The predawn hour found the dining hall empty, save for the alicorns and a few ponies from Luna’s watch. Celestia resisted the urge to run up and rub necks. Though they had reconciled through letters, the two had not parted on the best terms. “Twilight,” she greeted, entering the room, “It’s good to see you again.”

Twilight stood as she approached, holding out a hoof and stretching her neck. Celestia stepped forward faster than she had intended and embraced her; she was home again.

The two held for a moment before Twilight pulled back. “Join our breakfast?” Twilight said, gesturing to the table.

“Of course,” Celestia said sitting down next to her. “You look well, Twilight. So tell me, what is this research that has finally brought you home?”

Twilight picked at her mint jelly and toast for a moment. Taking a bite and chewing slowly before answering, “I’m trying to find them in the stars.”

Luna and Celestia both sank in their place at the answer, an awkward silence filling the air.

“You know,” Celestia said. “Even we do not know what happens after a-”

“I do,” Twilight interrupted her.

Luna laid her fork down. “Twilight, I held the stars for-”

“You merely held them. You were never truly bound to them.”

“I...” Celestia paused at a loss for words.

“We do not wish to see you hurt again. That is all.” Luna finished her sister’s thought.

Twilight nodded with a smile, picking her toast back up. “I understand, and I appreciate your concern. But, this is just something I have to do. No matter how much it hurts...”

Twilight returned to her room in the late hours of the morning. It had been good to catch up with her old mentors. Making her way up to her bed, she froze at a large glass case. Five stone balls sat on velvet seats. She could still remember the gem-set gold collars they had once been, let alone the necks that had borne them. Her friends, her fellow elements, bound to the magic until the day they died, and upon their death the gold had vanished and the stone returned.

“I know you’re out there, girls.”