It was late one night, the moon was barely up and everypony in Ponyville was sleeping. The castle was silent with a quiet breeze, all was still and nothing moved but an alicorn princess. She was a purple mare, once a unicorn she ascended up to alicorn and was given her wings when she showed she had what took to be princess. The castle she was in was created not too long ago, the princess and her friends defeated a powerful being named Tirek. He was heartless monster that nearly took over Equestria until she stopped him. Despite this, the young purple alicorn wasn't proud but ashamed of herself.

She roamed her halls countless times and passed by her friends who were sleeping peacefully, as she walked in aimlessly in their room she stared at them for what seemed like hours but really, was only a minute or two. She thought back to when she first came here, how ignorant and self absorbed she was on studying and not making friends. She even said that the fate of Equestria depended on her, not making friends. Friends...That was the last she ever wanted to do but ironically, having friends is what got her to where she is now. She smiled and frowned at the memories that passed by as she looked at all her friends, the challenges and laughs they all had. They were unforgettable...

"You all still remained the same but for me...I changed so much.." she said quietly.

She stopped when she saw her newest friend in the group, he was a stallion pegasus with a dark blue coat and with a very peculiar cutie mark. His cutie mark was the most...Decorated in all of Equestria, his mark was of the protector. Funny thing is, protector is in his name. Cerulean Protector is what he went by, of course he was given that name to a very special pony.

Twilight remembered what he said when he explained his cutie mark during a time of war, "The shield means I will protect my friends and loved ones. The sword means I will use any means to do so. The two spears that cross each other are my weapons that I use to protect them and the sun means I will live another day to see my friends happy and safe and protected by me. Their protector.

She smiled at him and bowed, "You've gone a long way..." she planted a kiss on his cheek and walked out into the hallway once again.

She circled around a few more times, thinking about how much things have change over the years. At first she was just a simple unicorn who had the Princess of Equestria as her teacher and now. She's a alicorn princess who has taken on new responsibilities and is soon going to face many more trials that could possibly...No, that will put her friends in danger. She stopped when she pictured on her friends six feet under with a grave stone above them all, the image itself was enough to make her break down into tears.

"This isn't fair!" she cried out, "Why have I changed! Why am I the only who's changed?" she stared at the small puddle tears and saw her old self, "No, i'm not the same anymore!" she stomped her hoof on the puddle and splattered her tears everywhere.

She continued to weep in sorrow at how she's changed, at how different she is compared to her friends. At how they remained the same while she changed. She suddenly stopped when she heard a familiar touch and voice, "Mind telling me why you're crying?"

Twilight turned around to see her friend Cerulean standing before looking worried, his hoof was laying on her shoulder, "Oh...Something got in my eye." she said while wiping them as quickly as she could and pulling away from Cerulean.

Cerulean stared at her for moment, he knew her well enough to know when she's lying, "Twilight," he said, "You think i'm that blind?"

Twilight sighed and stood up, "It was worth a shot." she said shamefully, "So why are you up?"

"Heard somepony crying coming from here and decided to check it out." he answered, "Didn't think it was you though."

Twilight smiled for a brief second, "Well I have my moments." she said.

"Talk." said Cerulean.

"About?" asked Twilight.

"What makes you feel so different from us?" questioned Cerulean.

Twilight stared at him for a moment, tears were building up but she fought them back, "It's just...So much has changed..." she said, "For me I mean. In the beginning I was just a simple unicorn who could care less about making friends and now, here I am. An alicorn princess who depended on friends to get where she is now."

"And how is that a bad thing?" questioned Cerulean.

Twilight paused for a moment, "...I just don't feel the same." she admitted quietly.

Cerulean smiled and placed his wing over her, Twilight blushed as she was pulled closer to her friend. The friend who has sacrificed so much for her and the others, "How do you think I feel?" he said, "Not like a lot has changed for me either. I mean, I was human and now i'm a pegasus!" he chuckled before getting quiet, "And now...I take on so many responsibilities, like making sure my friends are happy." he smiled and looked into her eyes, "Twilight, you're not different. If anything, you've improved so much and that doesn't mean you've changed. You're still the same unicorn everypony met in the inside. I may have not you before but from what I heard, you're still the same old unicorn everypony met." he smiled brightly.

Twilight was touched by his word, "Cerulean..."

He smiled again and brought her in closer, they're bodies were touching now, "Don't bring yourself down Twilight. We don't like seeing you like this." he said, "If anything, I should be the one crying here." he chucked once more and took her to the balcony, there they sat in silence as the wind blew by,"...You remember what happened a year ago right?" he asked.

Twilight nodded her, "Yeah, he was created."

Cerulean nodded his head and look down at Ponyville then to the moon, he always loved staying up at night and watching it, the both of them, "Do you still fear him?" he asked.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, not sure how to respond to that, "What do you mean?"

Cerulean turned to her, he was silent for a moment before his alter ego appeared before her, "Do you still fear me?" he asked with his demonic voice.

Twilight stared at the Cerulean's being for a second, his hollowed eyes with those piercing red dots in the middle, his blood red coat and his demon like wing. The sorrow her brought to her and her friends was something she could never forget, "...Yes an no." she said finally.

They both stared at her with confusion, "Can you explain?" they asked.

"You two have done a lot and brought much pain to us all..." said Twilight, "You killed the one pony I cared for the most in my whole life, you nearly killed my friends and...I took advantage of you when you were created." she turned to Cerulean's double, "I am sorry for that but I cannot forgive you for what you've done..." she was silent for a moment, "Still doesn't mean we don't love you."

The being stared at Twilight for a moment, "Y-You still love me?" he asked nervously.

Twilight nodded her head, "You may be different but you're still the same." she smiled, "And we could never abandoned you, even in your time of need."

Cerulean's being chuckled as he wiped away the blood from his eyes, "I thought this was about you..." he smiled for a second, a very rare thing for him to do actually, "But thank you." he went back into Cerulean, "You feeling better now?" asked Cerulean still holding a smile.

Twilight nodded her head and hugged Cerulean closely, "Yeah, a lot better." she said happily, "How bout you?"

Cerulean nodded his head, "Yeah, we've here." they held each other for a while, they wanted to make the moment last until they pulled away.

"You going back to bed?" asked Twilight.

Cerulean shook his head, "Going to watch the moon and maybe draw something...Care to join me? I could teach you how to draw if you want."

Twilight smiled, "I'll pass on the drawing but watching the moon does sound nice."

"Aw....You sure?" asked Cerulean quietly, Twilight nodded her head and pushed him away as he made that puppy dog face, "Haha ok ok, i'll draw ALONE." he said.

"Well you do have her and us so you're not really alone Cerulean." said Twilight.

Cerulean smiled again and brought out his sketch pad and pencils, "Yeah i'm really not anymore, and I owe it all to her..." he blushed and began to draw the moon for the millionth time.

Twilight watched him for a moment and looked at the mountains up ahead, "You're a lucky stallion." she said, "A very lucky stallion."

Cerulean stopped for a moment, "Heh, shut up Twilight." he said going back to his drawing.

Twilight giggled and nudged Cerulean, Cerulean did the same until one of them was knocked off the balcony. Luckily they could fly so no harm done. As for the night they stayed up, watching the moon, drawing pictures and talking. The whole time they smiled and laughed, when the sun was up they stood up and yawned. Time does fly by when you're having.

"Want to surprise them?" asked Cerulean.

Twilight stared at him for a moment and nodded her head, "What's the plan?" she asked.

They entered the castle, discussing their plan to wake up friends and the whole time, Twilight didn't feel different anymore.