'I'm Equuleus,' the glowing figure echoed, 'You might know me as the little horse,'.

'You're.... you're a star?' Luna rasped, not quite believing what she was seeing. The pony, which Luna could now see was a unicorn, lowered herself to the ground. She had a bright white coat, and a blonde mane that consisted of spiraling locks. Her eyes shone like gold, and her tail was long and flowing. Her cutie mark was a constellation.

'Yes...' She answered. Her voice was like molten rock, it flowed smoothly, melting and pouring from her mouth. The pony seemed so small now she was on the ground, next to an alicorn twice her size.

'But... stars are just rocks, they're not living!' Luna tried to reason. Equuleus just looked back up at her. She was obviously very real. 'This doesn't make sense! How are you alive? How am I alive?!' Luna frantically questioned.

'All stars are alive, Princess....' Equuleus soothed, 'We make ourselves so bright at night, people assume we are just burning matter floating through space... We're ponies, every one of us...  I'm surprised Celestia never mentioned it,' Luna tried to mumble a response, but her jaw had just hit the ground and she was having trouble coordinating it. 'You're alive because your sister cast a spell on you before she sent you here. It allows you to breathe in a place with no atmosphere, no oxygen.'

Luna understood a little better now, but was still shocked from finding out there are millions of ponies floating about in space. When she finally pulled herself together, she asked the question that was burning away inside her.

'Can you help me get back home?' She asked. Her voice cracked as the words came out, in case the answer was what she feared.

'Not yet..' Equuleus sighed. 'There is too much heat now in Equestria.... and people won't forget about what happened for a long, long time....'

'So.... I'm stuck here forever?' Luna's voice was broken and jagged.

'No, but you'll be here for quite a while..... one thousand years you must stay here, until what happened last night becomes nothing more than a myth....' Equuleus' tone became sombre and serious. 'Only then will we be able to liberate you from this place....' Luna was shocked by the amount of time she would be stuck on the moon, but at least she would have some-one to stay with. She had a question she had to ask first.

'We?'

'Yes, myself and the other stars. We will gather our brightest and best unicorns, and altogether cast a warp spell... that will take you back to Equestria.'

'Are you all unicorns?' Luna questioned.

'Yes. We light the night sky using magic...' Equuleus explained. 'All unicorns are descendants of stars. They came to earth when the night sky was becoming too crowded.'

'I see...' Luna replied. 'So, shouldn't you be in place? Won't some-pony notice you're gone?'

'There are far too many stars to notice my brief absence,' Equuleus pointed out. 'Anyway, it's still daytime in Equestria, but it won't be soon. I have to get back to my place.'

'Wait! I have so many questions for you,'

'I can't stay, Princess.'

'Then answer me this. When will I see you again?'

'I will come back here after you have stayed a tenth of your time,'

'A HUNDRED YEARS?' Luna's voice ricocheted through the air, bouncing about off peaks and in craters.

'It's not much, in perspective.'

'Are you kidding me? I'm going to be ALONE here, for a HUNDRED YEARS.' Luna was pawing the ground, kicking up clouds of dust in fury. She threw herself on the floor in a tantrum.

'LISTEN! I need to alert the rest of the stars of your arrival. I will return with others. Until then, I'm afraid you will have to stay here. However, you will not be alone. I will assign two ponies to live here with you for the time you spend here.'

Four figures stepped out of the shadows. They were all unicorns, but didn't look much like Equuleus. Equuleus was what you might've described a star as, if it was a pony (like anyone would do that anyway). She was white and gold, and glowed even when her horn was not lit. The other unicorns just looked like regular ponies. First, there was a pony with a swirled purple and white mane. She had a white coat, with a very slight grey tint. She had pretty blue eyes. Her flank depicted three purple stars. The other unicorn was blue, with a darker blue mane. His cutie mark was a crescent moon, resting inside another crescent moon. His eyes were an orangey-yellow color.

The girl was first to speak. 'I'm Vulpecula, or 'the little fox'. But you can call me Vixen. I mean, if you want. You can call me anything, you're Luna, princess of Equestria, ruler of the night.... you can call me peasant, or featherbrain, or derpface. I mean, I....' her voice faded out when she realized she was rambling. The stallion standing next to her cut in, saving her from any more embarrassment.

'And I'm Lupus, the, um, wolf.'

Luna looked up at the two new stars. She got to her feet. 'Thank you, Lupus and... Vixen?'

Vixen smiled back at the Princess and nodded.

Luna continued, 'But I really can't ask you to do that. Your place is in the sky.'

'Actually,' Vixen cut in, 'We're not going to be up here much longer. We're moving to Equestria, to start a new life there. We've been there before, and it really is such a beautiful place.'

'Ohh,' Luna giggled to herself, 'You two are... together?'

The unicorns looked at the alicorn and smiled nervously.

'But I can't ask you to stay here with me. You're unicorns, you'll die waiting!' Luna said with a grim tone.

Lupus spoke up. 'Actually... when you're in space, you don't, um, age.' Luna scrunched up her face, not able to tell if the star was joking with her. He wasn't.

'How.... how is that possible?'

'Well, no-one really knows, but, um, it is understood that Earth is full of life. Something about that place, it just causes everything to burst into action. Up here, um, nothing grows.' Lupus answered.

'Ughhh' Luna rubbed her head with a foreleg. 'This is too much information for one day....  I've been banished to the moon, my sister hates me, and stars are ponies, who just so happen to breathe in space but don't age, and some want to move to Equestria and start a new life.'

Equuleus, who had been quiet until now, piped up. 'Your sister doesn't hate you. She sent you here for your own good.'

Luna felt a little better about her plight now, but still had more questions. She turned to Vixen. 'If ponies don't age in space, then how come you aren't all newborn?'

'Oh, yeah, that,' Vixen stuttered 'Um, this might be another shock to you,'

'Just tell me,' Luna coaxed.

'Well, when we are born, we get sent to earth until we reach maturity. Then we return to our place in the sky,'

'Oh, that makes sense. Baby unicorns on Earth are actually meant to be floating about in space. Yeah, I get it now.' Luna's face was contorted in shock and confusion. She was nearing maximum derp.

'Not all of them,' Lupus said, 'Some are destined to stay on Earth,'

'Okay, okay,' Luna's face was slowly returning to normal, 'I still can't ask you to stay here, you would have to wait a thousand years you didn't need to wait,'

'ACTUALLY,' Equuleus butted in, 'They have to. So let's leave it as it is, and not argue any more. I have to go, I am needed in the sky,' And with that she bid them farewell and warped her flank outta there.

'Wow, she was a bit of fussy-filly.' Luna laughed.

'She was right though... we have to stay here for a while, maybe a thousand years, give-or-take a few,' Lupus said nervously.

'Why?' Luna inquired, curious as to why they didn't just go.

'Because if two stars disappear from the sky, and then two ponies with star and moon cutie marks just appear in Equestria, then every-pony will get suspicious.'

'I guess you're right.' Luna sighed. It would be a long time until she was back where she belonged.

'Hey, don't be upset,' Vixen placed a hoof on the moon princess's shoulder. 'Everything's gonna be okay.'

Luna look up at the friendly pony's face, and she could tell it would be.