Long, long ago, past years without number, began the night.

Where once there had been only darkness in the absence of the sun, now there was light. Not the stark light of day, the harsh glare of that brilliant orb, but the soft glow of the moon. The symphony of the stars. A hundred billion tiny points of hope, shining out a promise that the old fears, the primal terrors of the dark, would never again be allowed to seize those hours when the sun had run its course.

And she had thought it was all for naught.

~~~~~

Two figures stood on a darkened balcony, high in the branches of a tree house. A dim red lantern illuminated them from below as they took turns peering through a telescope. One unrolled a parchment, angling it toward the light, trying not to stare into the beam directly and ruin her night vision.

"I can't even begin to imagine how long it must have taken you to create all this, Your Highness. And without the help of a telescope, or reference books, or anything. You even put stars up there that are too faint to see with the naked eye!"

The larger pony turned her head from the eyepiece, her coat a sea of deep blue despite the rosy light from the lamp at their feet. "I'd like to be able to say I had the luxury of taking my time, but honestly in the beginning I was a little hasty about the whole thing.

"I'll admit I was rather glad to learn about the invention of telescopes. For the longest time it seemed that half my work would go forever unseen. I didn't intend to make so many of the stars so dim, but I really didn't have the hang of things, and in my rush… Well, I'm happy to let it be said that I did it on purpose, nowadays," she smiled.

"I certainly never would have guessed," Twilight Sparkle chuckled. She had started to feel recently as though she was getting slightly more of a handle on Princess Luna's sense of humor. It was a relief after the first few nerve-wracking visits. She hadn't been sure whether she should agree with the Princess's self deprecating comments, or laugh, or leap to her defense. On more than one occasion she had been tempted to just hide under the nearest table and hope that the living goddess would forget she was in the room.

Princess Celestia had asked Twilight to help her sister readjust to modern pony life, and although she had been initially nervous, if there was one thing Twilight could do it was to rise to a challenge on behalf of her beloved mentor.

After a while, she had found herself looking forward to Princess Luna's visits. It was nice to have somepony else nearby occasionally who wasn't busy running their own business, or bouncing around partying, or sleeping half the day. It also didn't hurt that the Princess never seemed to be tired at night. Stargazing was one of Twilight's favorite activities outside of a book, and it was refreshing to have a companion who didn't spend most of the evening trying to stifle a yawn.

"Do you think we could see the Apple Core Nebula at this time of night?" she asked, glancing back at her parchment.

"Oh, I should think so. The weather patrol seems to have been well in control of the cloud situation today. It's not too far above the horizon yet, but it should be over the trees at least."

Princess Luna stepped aside as Twilight peered through the small spotting scope and aligned the instrument above the tree line to the east.

"There's the Fox… Now a little to the south east, and... There, that should do it." Twilight moved her eye to the main scope.

A faint orange glow filled the eyepiece, and a few scattered stars were visible, but little else. She fiddled with the focus for a moment, but the view stubbornly remained orange. "Oh."

"What is it, Twilight?"

"I … I can't really see much of anything. There's too much light coming from the town. We'll have to wait until later when it's risen a bit further I think," she sighed.

"Shame, that's one of Applejack's favorites. It's hard enough to get my friends to stay up and go stargazing with me already, I don't want to have to compete with the streetlights for their attention too. If she can't see the Apple Core until after midnight, I'm not sure I'll be able to convince her to stay awake."

"I wouldn't worry overly. I'm sure they enjoy your company just as much as they do the view." Luna smiled, but Twilight thought she detected a note of sadness.

"Is something bothering you, Princess?"

"Oh, it's nothing really."

"I'd like to help if I can. You can talk to me." She worried briefly whether she was being too forward, and glanced down at her hooves. "That is, if you'd like."

"You are a kind soul, Twilight Sparkle. I suppose I have had to rely on myself for so long, I'm in the habit of just quietly dealing with whatever comes my way." Luna paused for a moment, seeming to gather her thoughts.

"It was wonderful to find on my return that the ponies had invented ways to make themselves comfortable in the night. That they tend to stay out later and spend more time in my domain. But you're quite right; it is a shame that the same inventions might detract from their enjoyment of the night sky."

"I wish you could have seen the crowd that gathered to watch the centennial meteor shower. Everypony had a wonderful time. I think you would have been proud."

"Thank you Twilight. I think I would have liked that very much." As she spoke, a cool wind blew through the tree's upper branches and Twilight shivered. "Oh, you're cold, poor dear. Shall we head inside and have something to eat?"

"That sounds good. We should try to be quiet though, Spike is fast asleep."

"Of course." Princess Luna stooped, lifted the telescope's dew covers from the deck, and nudged them carefully into place. Twilight's horn glowed softly for a moment as she swung open the patio door, rolled up her star maps, and collected the lamp from the floor. The pair stepped inside and made their way softly downstairs to the kitchen, closing the door so that they could talk without disturbing the slumbering dragon.

Twilight retrieved a tray of cupcakes from her pantry, and brewed a pot of mint tea. They ate in silence for a moment, enjoying the fluffy desserts and sipping their tea slowly while it cooled.

"I received a letter from your friend Rarity a few days ago, asking me to visit her here in Ponyville," the Princess said, taking a dainty bite of cupcake.

"You did?" Twilight swallowed, surprised.

"Yes. Apparently she has something she wants to show me. I'm not sure what, though; she was rather cryptic about the whole thing. Not that I mind, of course. If anything I'm a little intrigued. Very few ponies take the time to write to me, outside of formal invitations and government matters."

"I hope she's not going to try to get you to endorse a new fashion line, or something."

Princess Luna laughed softly. "Would that be such a bad thing? It would be nice to get a fresh view of the trends these days. You should have seen the look on my sister's face when I showed her what I was intending to wear to the gala."

"Well, that wasn't long after you got back. Nopony would have judged you."

"After Celestia's reaction, I wouldn't be so sure. It was enough to make me want to hide in my room all night!"

"I wondered why I didn't see you there."

"Oh, I made a brief appearance, but I only really came out long enough to get a few canapés and some punch before dashing back behind the nearest pillar."

The Princess chuckled to herself, and shook her head. "Crinolines going out of fashion. Who knew?"

~~~~~

It was quiet. The night would shortly be making way for Celestia's sun.

The trees of the Everfree Forrest stood unmoving in the last rays of moonlight. A shadow emerged from the wood and crept up the hillside to the rocky outcropping above.

It paused for a moment, as if casting about in search of something. Then, just as silently as it had arrived, it slipped out of sight beneath a large flat boulder, and disappeared into the deeper shadows of the cave beyond.

Letting his eyes adjust to the cave's dim interior, the messenger pulled back the hood of his cloak. A flicker of firelight was visible ahead, and he made his way toward it. Eventually he could make out a pair of eyes, glittering in the darkness on the other side of the fire. He stopped, and dropped to one knee.

"Our plans are in motion, my Lady."

A low, silken voice came in reply, seemingly from all around. "Excellent. My agents inform me that the Pretender will be visiting her little pets once more before the end of the week. See to it that she finds them less … accommodating … upon her return."

"As you will."

The messenger stood, and backed away from the fire. Only once he had turned and was almost out of the cave did he realize that he had felt no warmth upon his face, smelled no smoke. He shivered a little, raised his hood, and stepped out into the first light of dawn. Birds were beginning to sing in the tops of the trees.

The sound brought him no comfort.