3.0

Twilight quickly read through the book of mare’s tales that Celestia gave to her. She was most interested by the part concerning The Mare in the Moon. She was certain that this is what Celestia intended her to take from the book. According to the legend, a villainous mare named Nightmare Moon was set to return on the longest day of the thousandth year. After much calculation she determined that this year was the year of her return and it was the day after tomorrow. It was to fall on the summer solstice and the Summer Sun Celebration

The baby dragon that Twilight had hatched all those years ago had grown into her assistant at her library and was her means of communicating with Princess Celestia.

“Spike take a note please, to the Princess,” Twilight commanded.

“Okie dokie.”

“My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster!” she dictated.

“Hold on. Preci… preci…” Spike struggled, trying to spell out the word.

“Threshold,” Twilight said flatly.

“Thresh…” Spike attempted to spell out again.

“Uh, brink?” Twilight tried .

Spike gave her a blank look.

“Ugh, that something really bad is about to happen! For you see, the mythical mare in the moon is in fact Nightmare Moon and she’s about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night. Something must be done to make this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,” she continued dictating.

Spike sent it to Princess Celestia by blowing fire into it. It magically dissipated and the smoke flew out the window. Spike was skeptical that the Princess would be interested in Twilight’s concern. She would be busy planning the Summer Sun Celebration.

“Oh I’m not worried Spike. The Princess trusts me completely. In all the years she’s been my mentor, she’s never once doubted me,” Twilight retorted.

Celestia was busy pacing through her observatory. Luna’s return was imminent and Twilight had still shown no sign of taking any preemptive knowledge. It was all up to Twilight to learn of the Elements and then go to seek them out. Celestia had considered just telling her but then she would take it as an assignment, rather than go to genuinely make friendships with other ponies. Twilight’s anti-social behaviour in the name of study would disrupt the elements power. She would either push the other elements away or objectify the bonds between them. In order for the elements to work properly there needs to be love between the ponies that embody them. Celestia learned this from experience.

Typically the elements remove any evil spirits of disharmony from the pony they target but in Luna’s case, since they rebelled, they created an unnatural, temporary harmony, sealing her sister away instead of casting out Nightmare Moon. Celestia was afraid that if Twilight wasn’t perfect in how she made friends, the same thing would happen again and Luna would be banished. More than anything Celestia wished to avoid this.

A letter drifted down upon her and she read it quickly.

“Finally…”

She sighed upon finishing it. Without a moment to spare she eagerly wrote back, talking to herself as she did, “I trust you completely Twilight… Please bring Luna home.”

She willed the letter away and looked back up to her lenses. She saw Luna and for a moment she was happy. That pony would be home soon.

Almost as if on cue, Spike burped up a letter.

“See I knew she would want to take immediate action,” Twilight said triumphantly.

Spike picked it up and cleared his throat.

“My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know I value your diligence and that I trust you completely, but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books. My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony’s life than studying, so I’m sending you to supervise the preparations for the summer sun Celebration in this year’s location: Ponyville. And I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends.”

Twilight departed the next day for Ponyville she was to check on four different ponies and their preparations, after which she decided to go straight to the library to continue learning as much as she could about the Elements. Equestria depended on her learning about the elements, not making friends. Spike disagreed. He had seen what the shut-in attitude had done to Twilight.

“When will you make friends, like the Princess said?” Spike accused.

“She said to check on preparations. I am her student and I’ll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends,” Twilight replied, stepping off the flying carriage.

“Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about. Come on, Twilight, just try!” Spike said, gesturing to a friendly looking pink mare that had just walked up to them.

Twilight gave her a nervous look. The mare continued looking at her unfazed by Twilight.

“Um… hello?” Twilight said awkwardly.

The mare jumped in into the air with a great dramatic gasp before darting off at unreasonable speeds.

“Well, that was interesting all right.”

Over the course of the day, Twilight had encountered four ponies she was supposed to meet with. Unfortunately for Twilight they were all friendly and interested in becoming friends with her. First was an orange pony named Applejack with a blonde mane. She was in charge of catering. Her country, farming family was hospitable. Ready and friendly enough to stuff Twilight full of all sorts of apple flavoured treats.

Second was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane named Rainbow Dash whose cocky attitude challenged Twilight, leaving her mouth wide open as Rainbow Dash cleared the skies of all the clouds in ten seconds flat. Rainbow Dash and Spike had a good laugh as Rainbow Dash accidentally cause a downpour on Twilight. She dried her with a rainbow tornado, but it left Twilight’s mane in a mess. Rainbow Dash liked Twilight and mentioned hanging out later.

The third one was a white unicorn with a stylish purple mane named Rarity who was in charge of the decorations. She was a prim and proper unicorn and proceeded to give Twilight a makeover after seeing the mess Rainbow Dash made of it. Despite Spike’s attraction her she was more interested in Twilight’s home city, Canterlot. From the moment Twilight mentioned Canterlot, Rarity was sure that they’d be the best of friends.

The last one was another pegasus with a yellow coat and pink mane named Fluttershy whose song birds were supposed to provide the music. Despite her overbearing shyness towards ponies, she saw Spike and proceeded to listen to his entire life story all the way back to the library.

“I am so sorry, how did we get here so fast? This is where I’m staying in Ponyville and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep,” Twilight said, fed up with Fluttershy.

She shooed her off and slammed the door shut.

“Huh, Rude much?” Spike scorned.

“Sorry Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we’re running out of time! I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time,” Twilight ranted, also reaching for the light to the pitch black library, “Now where’s that switch?”

“SURPRISE!” shouted a thousand voices that Twilight didn’t want to hear. Possibly every single pony in the town had packed themselves inside the small library. Twilight just moaned in annoyance.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya?! Huh huh huh?!?” she hyperventilated.

The night dragged on as Twilight struggled to study and sleep with the booming party in the next room. A thousand concerns were running through her mind and she felt trapped and alone, being the only pony that seemed to know about the catastrophe impending.

“Ugh, here I thought I’d have time to learn about the Elements of Harmony but, silly me, all this ridiculous friend-making has kept me from it!” Twilight complained, turning over to look at the full moon outside her window, “Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about everlasting night.”

“I hope the Princess was right… I hope it really is just an old ponytale…”

Twilight stared longingly at the moon with a horrible feeling in her gut that it wasn’t just a story, but a prophecy.

“C’mon Twilight, it’s time to watch the sunrise!” Spike said, finally fetching her to go down to the city hall where Celestia would put on her sun raising display.

As Twilight begrudgingly got out of bed through the window, four stars closed in on the moon. Upon reaching it, they disappeared and so did Luna from her prison. The stars had aided her escape and she was gone.

3.1

Luna began to cry as she heard Celestia’s voice. After all this pain and misery, after the imprisonment, the quests, the war she was finally going to go home. She had never felt this close to Celestia and her heart pounded in her chest. She was ready to go home.

“I am ready dearest sister! Pray, tell me what you need to and I will come home with thou. I have had enough of the horrors of this dream,” Luna surrendered.

“I’m sure you may remember your imprisonment, but I know you have forgotten what caused it,” Celestia said, “For you to truly come back home you must learn why you were imprisoned and come to terms with it.”

“Very well then, pray tell, what atrocity did I commit to be sent there?” Luna inquired, skeptically.

“Learn and remember my sister. It was for 1000 years.”

In an instant, all the memories of her rebellion came back to her. She remembered when she would raise the moon and few ponies would ever take joy in her nights like they did in Celestia’s day. She remembered how she was cast aside in Celestia’s great shadow. She wanted nothing more than to be loved and admired like her sister and to have friends who did not sleep through her glory. She also couldn’t believe that Celestia had punished her because of her sadness and misery with more sadness and misery. Eons lost to the blinding white and deafening ring, countless tears from her bottomless eyes and a depression that could not be expressed in mere words. It could even be expressed in a single lifetime that she lived ten of. For 1000 years she had been sealed away and Celestia was finally letting her back. She would have been fine with ten years or a hundred, but at this point it was petty.

Luna begun to cry harder, tears flowing freely now, she had gone through so much torture just to serve the master who dealt it to her. Luna couldn’t believe that she called Celestia her sister. Even after her cruelest punishment, she had led her on this journey that brought her close to death, stole her away from her best friend and led her to kill another princess, a crime whose punishment is the sundering of the spirit. Nothing would make right that act. Hatred and malice filled her soul. Celestia was a monster who punished the innocent with tortures that didn’t fit their crime.

“Celestia, you will pay…” Luna said, seething with anger.

The three other stars manifested in front of her and fused into one. Before her was a glass orb, dripping with darkness, the Evening Star. It was full of shadows and black smoke. She gazed into it and beyond the smoke and its secrets, she saw herself, crying in an eternal white abyss. Spite filling her, she crushed the orb, the shards of glass fell to the ground. From it, darkness came to cover her, overwhelm her and intoxicate her. She felt the same power as before, limitless, boundless and untapped, but stronger and wilder. Celestia would be no match. She became a darker violet in colour and her mane reflected the stars that aided in her escape.

A dark portal formed in front of her, leading into an abyss. She knew where it led. The Equestria she was banished from 1000 years later. She would go there and bring eternal night. By ending the day she would end Celestia.

“I will return Midnight. I have some things to take care of,” Nightmare Moon said quietly to herself.

Slowly she walked through the portal back home.

3.2

Twilight Sparkle stood at the ceremony anxiously. She looked around and saw the other ponies, obliviously living there lives. They waited for the mayor to lift the curtains to reveal Celestia, who would raise the sun. Twilight knew as long as the princess raised the sun, they were in the clear.

Celestia nervously sat behind the curtain. It was only a few seconds until she was ready to raise the sun. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Upon opening them, she was no longer in Ponyville or Equestria. She stood on a dark street, lit by a few sparse lampposts. Over in the distance she saw Luna sitting down under a lamppost. She looked like she was crying. Celestia ran over to her and laid down beside her.

“Luna! Oh sweet sister… How I have missed you—“ Celestia said, tenderly.

Luna turned her head around to reveal a faceless shadow. Celestia stepped back from the horror. It started crying hysterically as if scared to death. It screamed bloody murder, shaking violently on the ground. Celestia frantically tried to calm it down. She cast her most powerful magic on it and slowly the shadow began to disappear, revealing Luna’s face piece by piece. A blood-curdling screech echoed around her. Celestia did not know where she was, but she knew it wasn’t a good place to be.

“Luna! Come back to me,” Celestia said, frantically trying to reach her.

“Ni… ni… nightmare…!” she choked out, as if she had almost just drowned to death. Luna’s face had revealed itself, but she looked older than Celestia remembered.

Behind her Nightmare Moon came screaming towards the Celestia. Her quick reflexes allowed her to cast a protective spell and deflect the nightmare. She vanished into mist right as she collided with the barrier and reformed behind her. Nightmare Moon did this over and over. A relentless, nightmarish assault continually charged her, keeping her on her hooves. However, Celestia couldn’t keep up with the tireless shadow forever.

It had been ignoring Luna and only attacked Celestia. Soon Celestia grew weary and called out to Luna, who had seemed to be enjoying the assault.

“Little sister! I need your help,” she pleaded, narrowly keeping her barrier up as Nightmare Moon disappeared and reformed, attacking from yet another direction.

“What do I owe to you?” Luna scolded, “I endured sorrow you could never imagine all because I wanted some of the love you received.”

“I’m sorry, I only did what was necessary. It was split-second decision and now I have paid for it,” Celestia said, disoriented by the constant change of direction.

“You have paid none of your debt,” Luna said bitterly.

“I watched you every single day though a magic lens! I had spent hours with you because I knew no other way to reach out to you, you were trapped. I tried calling for you. I read you books, I told you stories and shared our memories.” Celestia desperately explained, “I saw your pain, I saw you do horrible things to yourself…”

Luna’s expression changed, she thought she had been alone all those years, that nopony cared about her or remembered her. She couldn’t believe that the entire time, her beloved sister had been watching her and taking care of her. She came to tears

“You could see me…?” Luna said timidly.

“Yes, I could see you. I cried every single time you hit the ground, I cried harder every single time you got back up and I cried my hardest when I realized I did that to you. The guilt has torn me apart and I will never ask for forgiveness because I could never deserve it. I had devoted my life to finding a way for you to return home so that maybe you could find happiness elsewhere. I’m sorry. I was blind and I love you.”

Celestia had almost run out of strength, every barrier visually weakened her more and more. Nightmare Moon had taken advantage of this weakness and doubled her efforts. Luna sat there and looked at her dying sister.

“I…” she started.

Before Luna could finish that sentence a rainbow shot across the sky and filled their minds.

“Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, walking up to the pony of the sun as she came through the window.

They were in the old ruined castle of the Royal Pony sisters. Twilight and her friends had just used the Elements of Harmony to return purge Nightmare Moon from Luna. Celestia looked down at Twilight’s shining face with love and admiration.

“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it,” Celestia said relieved.

“But… you told me it was an old pony tale,” Twilight replied slightly confused.

“I told you that you needed to make some friends. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart. Now if only another will as well,” Celestia said to Twilight.

“Princess Luna.”

Luna had been unconscious where Nightmare Moon had stood just moments before. Luna looked up at her beloved sister.

“It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister,” Celestia admitted.

Luna had already forgiven her in her heart. It meant more to her than anything else to know she wasn’t alone all those long years. Everypony was surprised that they were sisters, but it didn’t matter to them.

“Will you accept my friendship?” Celestia asked. Never had she asked such a heartfelt question in her entire life.

“I’m so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!” Luna cried as she went up to embrace the pony she had missed for eons. She had forgotten what she felt like. Nothing in her life felt as good as it did to hug her sister.

“I missed you too…”

My Little Pony: Reconnect