"Ive been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand."
~
The morning awakens all around. The sun raises triumphantly in the east, risen by the great and powerful Princess Celestia, who notices something different about this particular day. A feeling of something... out of place. She ignores the feeling and spreads her wings in glory. as she comes back into contact with the ground she looks over her kingdom, and smiles. She sees the ponies of Canterlot are waking up to sieze the day. Bakers making deserts, boutiques displaying there merchandise, ponies heading for a morning cup of tea, business as usual. As she walks through the great halls of her palace, she observes the stained glass windows portraying the history of her people. She sees the tribulations and triumph of her and her sister Luna over the spirit of chaos Discord. She sees her student Twilight Sparkle and her 5 friends, bring Luna back to her using the Elements of Harmony. She sees them victorious in defeating Discord, against near impossible odds with their unrivaled unity. She smiles again, "It has been quite a year." She says to herself. "Indeed it has been sister." calls a voice from the other end of the hall.Princess Celestia looks away from the portaits to see her sister, the bringer of the moon and stars, Luna.
" Your up early Luna"
"Yes, and it is entirely thou's fault. "
Princess Celestia chuckled. She was used to being alone, save her subjects, and was prone to talking to herself. She was not yet used to having company around. Luna seldom left the palace, she was not yet adjusted to the changes the world had been through in her thousand year absence, and did not like the way ponies reacted to her.
" We were partaking in a lovely slumber, when thou had to wake us prematurely."
" Oh really? Well, then thats your fault for making us all go to bed so early. "
This time it was Luna who laughed and walked over to her sister and embraced her. It was good to be back with her sister, and to put the past behind her. Or at least try to forget it.
"Will we be educated on the customs and communications of a modern equine today?"
" No Luna, no lessons today, I wanted to take you around Canterlot today. You need to overcome your fear and learn to live among ponies first hand."
Luna suddenly became very nervous and afraid. She was still very inexperienced with other ponies. The guards that surround her sisters throne had shown no sign of fear around her only because they had been trained that way, and it was on very rare occasions when a pony came from outside the palace. She was still plauged with her reputation as Nightmare Moon, and had only made one appearance outside of the palace. That occasion ended well but just barely. Thoughts rushed through her mind, each one a situation where ponies flee in terror from her. Ponies screaming and crying, with her standing in the middle of it all, unable to convince anyone of her good intentions.
"But... Sister, We can't! We just can't! We are not prepared, we still have much to learn..." Luna said, with desperation and pain in her voice.
" Luna, I need you to at least try.You have to learn to be comfortable around other ponies. I want to someday sit on my throne beside you. I want us to rule Equestria together! I want things to be how they used to be!"
"Well things are not how they used to be Celestia! In case thou forgot We have been departed for a 1000 years! Thou cannot just thrust change upon us and expect us to conform to the masses so suddenly! We can't stand the humil..."
Luna looks away from her sister to nowhere in particular. She tries to hold back her tears. She didn't think she would get so emotional over it, but she was truly scared. Luna knew she couldn't seclude herself forever, but she didn't realize she would have to make an appearance so soon. How could Celestia force her to do such an embarrasing thing? She wondered.
Princess Celestia anticipated such a reaction. She knew her sister wanted to hold off visiting other ponies for as long as she could, so she decided to take the initiative and give her a push. Her sister wasn't shy, only expectant of disaster. She stared once again at the stain glass windows. Her sister was right about one thing though, things would never be the same.
Princess Celestia walked slowly over to her sister and calmly stood there looking at her.
"Luna..."
" Oh sister, we are so sorry for overreacting! We are just frightened by the..."
"It's not We, its I."
Luna looked confused at the statement that blatently ignored hers, but then she understood Celestia was not responding to her, she was correcting her.
" We is I, Thou is you, and make sure to not raise your voice to high." Princess Celestia said trying to sound cheerful.
Luna also tried to cheerful, even though she desperately did not want to go. She wanted to let her sister know how terrible she felt but she knew it wouldn't make any difference. She was going to stand up to her fears, whether she wanted to or not and whether she liked it or not. " We... umm I shall get ready for the departure."
" Be back here in an hour Luna." The Princess knew Luna did not need an hour, but she did need a little alone time.
Luna sat up in her tower staring out into the sky for most of the hour. Trying to get her mind off of all the horrible things that were bound to happen. The clouds drifted by, aimlessly wandering the sky for new territory they have yet not seen. The sun shined as a reminder of her sisters power, and as a reminder of the past.
" We know we should not think about what happened before we were banished but we cannot help it." Luna said sadly.
" Our mind wanders like a lost child, searching for an origin, a reason, a purpose, an answer. The harder we look though, the harder it is to find."
Luna throws herself on her bed and hugs a pillow tightly and lets time slowly slip away and waits for the inevitable.
Princess Celestia waits in the grand hall for her sister. She is more than sure that she will have to get her herself, but she wants to give her a chance. It has already been more than an hour, and she too has been doing a lot of thinking. Sometimes she wonders if her decision all those years ago was too extreme. She was young and did not think about the reprocusions of it. What if she hadn't sent Luna away and had worked things out with her? What would have become of Equestria if both Princesses had been ruling? What if...? Just then a guard pony walks in the hall and reminds the Princess of her appointment. The Princess realizes she lost track of time and then begins to walk to her sister's room. She gently knocks on the door.
"Luna? are you ready?"
"Yes sister, We...I am ready to go." Luna sounds as if she had just been crying.
The Princess walks through the door and kneels besides her sister's bed and looks at her intently. The Princess put her hoof on her sisters shoulder and spoke to her sister to sister.
"Luna, you'll be fine. I have faith in you. "
Luna looks at her sister. SHe doesn't want to dissapoint her, so she gets up and heads toward the door.
" I am ready. Let us depart."