Moon Beam (MLP fanfiction)

Chapter 5 Pericynthion

Twilight Sparkle awoke to a pale nimbus of light and a soft voice gently calling her name over and over. Slowly opening her eyes, it took her a few seconds to realize that the light came not from a lamp or the moon but a unicorn's horn. And the voice that was calling her was...

"Princess Celestia!" Gasping, Twilight sat up, suddenly very awake. "Your Highness, I'm sorry, I didn't know that you would be..."

Shaking her head, Celestia brought Twilight's apology to an end. "There is no need to be sorry. It is I who should apologize to you, and not just for entering your house and waking you up at such an early hour." The princess paused to look at Spike the dragon, still soundly asleep. "Let us move downstairs, so that we don't wake him up." At Twilight's nod, the two silently walked down to the main floor.

The area was still in the half-cleaned state that Twilight had left it following the party. The discoveries that Spike had made in the book after everyone had left had brought all of Twilight's cleaning efforts for the night to a halt. Twilight waited for Princess Celestia to continue, but instead the regal alicorn simply stood, gazing at the room with a look that Twilight couldn't decipher. "Your Highness, what... what can I do for you?" she asked, hoping to spur her ruler into talking.

Celestia magicked a party party streamer to float in front of her face. "Twilight Sparkle, I need to ask you a favor. I need to talk to somepony about all of this." Celestia turned to face Twilight. "I need your help, your advice. Very few know that Princess Luna is missing. And you are the only one who has found a copy of the spellbook. Add to that the fact that you have actually seen her, I feel that only you can help me decide what I am going to do."

"Are you here to take her back to Canterlot?" asked Twilight, astonished that Princess Celestia was coming to her for help.

"I don't know." Celestia started to pace about the room slowly. "When I received your message earlier tonight, that was my first thought. Finding out that she had cast such a dangerous spell, that she had failed to tell me what she was doing outside of a vague letter... I was flying as fast as I could to get here, wanting to scold her, yell at her. Also, to comfort her and hug her tight so that she couldn't run off again."

"But now?" asked Twilight.

"But now that I have had time to consider my actions, I don't know. To say that Princess Luna's time back in Canterlot since Nightmare Moon's defeat has been difficult would be to put it mildly." Celestia sighed. "I've been forced to watch her try time and time again to help others, attempt to make friends, to try to do anything of assistance for any pony and always be rebuffed. The specter of Nightmare Moon is something that can't be forgotten or overcome so quickly, it seems. And there is only so much I can do without becoming a tyrant. I can't force them to like her. Telling others that they MUST forgive her, that they HAVE to be nice to her would in the end only make things worse." Tears started to well up in Celestia's eyes. "I love her so very much, but if things were so bad that she felt she had to go these extremes, to run away from everything and try to start over from practically nothing... Do I have the right to force her to come back to that kind of abuse, that level of hatred?"

'Whoa, what have I gotten myself into?' Twilight thought as she absorbed her ruler's words. Seeing that Celestia was waiting on her, she hemmed and hawed while she tried to come up with something. "Well, I guess it comes down to several factors. First of all, is she needed for anything? Does she have any roles in the government that she has to fill?" Gasping, she asked, "Are you still able to raise the moon for her? I haven't even thought to look at the night sky!"

Celestia nodded. "I am still responsible for raising both the sun and the moon. Luna did not feel ready to resume that responsibility yet. If the truth is to be told, there is still a lot of resistance to her taking over that task again by much of the nobility. For them, it is still too soon after the events of the Summer Sun Festival, and they do not wish to risk a repeat of that happening again. As for other roles, no. During the thousand years she spent on the moon, any other tasks that were her responsibility were quickly filled by others. I doubt that any of the ponies currently doing those jobs are even aware of where those duties originated."