Dear Twilight Sparkle,

In your time as my Faithful Student you have accomplished many thing that have made me proud of you. Your skill in magic is one that has so much potential just like the others did

I know that you will continue to study magical practice and theory, heading toward a brilliant future - one where I wish to see you continue to excel and never stop learning about the things you love.

You've grown into a lovely young mare under my tutelage and I know that

Please don't fail me in Ponyville and heed my advice to

After all that you have done so far, I'm sure you'll succeed at whatever you set your mind to - even if that task is making friends in Ponyville. Your humility and earnestness will ensure that you and Spike find yourselves in good company. Friends aren't as out of reach as you think, and they will help guide you on the journey that you find yourself on.

If you aren't the one meant to wield

There is no doubt in my mind that you - but not you alone - will be able to accomplish more than you have given yourself credit for. The history books that you love to read may soon have their pages marked by a very familiar face - one surrounded by her friends and smiling widely.

Ever since you were a little filly, I had begun preparing you for this task. I knew that there were some things I could not teach to you as I could teach you other subjects. There was no map that would lead you to friendship.

That - friendship - was what I wanted you to have the most - what would determine whether or not you passed a test that has been in the making for one thousand years. While you have grown out of the stage where you spoke to none but Smarty Pants, your brother, and Cadance you failed to pick up on any cues that marked the point where your brother and my niece - perhaps even your future sister - began the next stages of their lives, where little fillies could not always be tagging along.

I know that you hardly enjoyed any of my prompts for you to be enrolled in a few classes at my School for Gifted Unicorns, but if you knew what I knew would be coming if you were to look closer at the sky it was necessary to get you to begin to learn how to talk to ponies your age - Spike and I were not proper companions for a growing filly - and though you may not have liked Moondancer, Lyra, and some of the others very much, I do think that you'll be able to understand what I have done and why...

Twilight Sparkle, I am a very guilty mare because I could not care for somepony who needed my help the most - somepony I should have always been there for and have never stopped missing - and they suffered because of my actions. You have no doubt heard the some of the countless and secretive speculations of where I am from and if I am the sun itself, or the hushed whispers of why I have only the sun upon my flank-

...Have you ever thought of what it would be like to be separated from Shining Armor? Truly separated, unable to help or-

Time is like a knife, Twilight Sparkle, even if you hold it at a distance it will eventually cut you when you aren't careful...

I miss her terribly and I may have numbed myself to some of this feeling... and the initial feeling of the impact may be gone...

Sometimes I cannot tell if the fire of regret or the numbness of what my grief has become is worse.

There was never meant to be one Alicorn goddess ruling Equestria and I have aimed to use everything in my power to change that and to make this land one that truly represents order and harmony.

Because of something ugly I had once been... and the ways in which I did things that only hurt the bond between us, sawing it to pieces instead of a more merciful single strike or fight to cleave our kinship in two... I hurt a mare who couldn't bear to be a single star. She was different like you and couldn't be what was expected of her I'm ashamed to say that even I wanted this once and pretend to be a star - some distant sun - when she was meant to have her own sky... and because of everything that happened she tried to go through me to get it.

I hurt the only family I have, and she bit back with as much fury as she had and it got her-

It took her absence to make me realized that I loved my family and should have always kept it that way, when my own actions helped to tear us apart.

The only force that can save her is one that I no longer believe in after what they did to her can no longer control, and it is only through your actions that order and peace could really return to Equestria.

I changed so much for her: ponies thought differently then - and not the more acceptable kind that she was, but an ugly and cruel different. No matter what, different is always dangerous but

Equestria was not a place that would be recognizable to you, even your history books - all history texts - are but a pale imitation of past horrors. The land is truly filled with life.

I changed.

I waited because-

You, Twilight Sparkle, are the only Faithful Student who showed any true potential as the key I would one day need - your magic surge and tell-tale mark were all I needed...

But the other Students? The ponies who only get portraits and prestige upon graduation...?

They were scholars, well-trained, cream of the crop... but I never established the Faithful Students to be anything more than distractions until...

They were not heroes, Twilight, and none of them would ever be able to succeed, to learn the true secrets of magic...

I needed a hero-to-be in the form of somepony like you, but not for my sake...

For Luna's sake.

Your Mentor,

Princess Celestia

The moon scarred with the image of an all-but-forgotten goddess loomed over the city of Canterlot and the last traces of a cool summer night's breeze swirled past the spires of Canterlot castle. Even though the moon was high in the sky, Princess Celestia shook in cold that wasn't there as she sat on her tower's balcony, a thin line of enchanted sunfire dancing on the golden rail and casting dramatic shadows on her face.

She sat not because she was tired, but because her legs wouldn't stop shaking each time she tried to stand, so Princess Celestia sat and added the last few lines on her letter to Twilight Sparkle, who was now likely to be asleep in Ponyville's Golden Oak Library where she had arranged for her Faithful Student to stay.

Even for Celestia, it was difficult to resist the urge to look up at the sky where four of the stars had already begun drawing themselves to Luna, bit by bit, in order to finish the spell. Celestia bit her lip - stopping only when she tasted blood and it became harder to breath the more she tried to hold all second thoughts at bay.

Part of her was still screaming with some kind of fragile, mad excitement at the prospect of seeing Luna... or whatever might be left of her... that caused something vital-feeling inside of her to threaten to burst. She held back as much emotion as possible, but twin streams of tears still managed to squeeze their way out of her eyes, and however much it hurt she tried to swallow the few hiccup-like sobs that had threatened to escape her until they only escaped her in coughs.

She would see her sister again. Celestia would beg if she had to, if that's what would keep Luna from hurting anypony and buy Twilight Sparkle some more time.

Once the last flourishes of her signature were added, Princess Celestia rolled up the scroll and sealed it. She then placed it off to her side, gold aura flickering nervously and threatening to die and drop her letter. Somehow, she managed to set it down carefully, as if she were afraid the paper would make a noise that would startle somepony who wasn't there.

Next to her was another sheet of parchment, the inkwell she had been using, and the only unbroken quills she had left. The rest lie around her, broken and snapped when she had applied too much pressure in her hurried writing.

There were two letters she would need to write tonight and it was only when Princess Celestia managed to draw a single breath, shallow and hoarse did she look up at the sky and the paths of the stars, now in motion...

She had so little time left to write now.

Celestia took one more breath. It was deeper, but sputtering, almost as if it were her last. For an undying being the concept of a last breath... it was absurd to think that she would have one. Yet, right now Celestia was very, very afraid that it would be her last breath... at least for a long time.

Princess Celestia's jaw clenched and unclenched. It was all nerves. She felt lightheaded. The summer air was freezing and the start of a cold sweat had appeared on her forehead in this ungodly cold - she felt as if she had been plunged into ice water.

Making as much use of whatever time she had left, Princess Celestia moved to her second, blank piece of paper-

-and then she stopped to eye the confession she had written to her Faithful Student. A heartbeat passed and she lifted the letter, dreading each second of silence she held onto it. Then, with a single motion, she cast it into the flames and watched it burn.