Intra In Nocte (The Night Inside: A Luna Story)

Chapter Eight

Three Days Later

        Celestia declared that there would be an Equestrian ceremony, done by her, for the ponies who were banished along with the Crystal Empire. Almost all of Equestria attended. Equestria had become much bigger than just the citizens of the little village they had saved from Discord. Ponies from nearby civilizations had seen how prosperous Equestria had become, and they had joined as well. By now, there were many ponies who lived all over Equestria, except for by the castle. Celestia had made sure that there was no town right next to the castle because she feared that the castle would be the first place in the kingdom any evildoers would attack, and she wanted no ponies but the royal guard anywhere near it to keep the ponies safe. So, for an event such as this where ponies are invited to the castle, nearly everypony comes, if only to see the princesses.

         As the ponies filed in to the castle grounds, Luna began to pace. She didn't want to take any  part in the ceremony, she felt too much personal guilt. However, Celestia had convinced her to attend, so she did. 

         Celestia and Luna walked out into the royal gardens, side by side. Ponies began to cheer for them as they walked through the crowd to the podium Celestia had set up the day before. As Celestia stood at the podium, Luna stood at her side. The crowd quieted, waiting for one of them to speak.

          "Welcome, ponies of Equestria," Celestia greeted them all. "Today we are here to remember the crystal ponies. The crystal ponies were the innocent citizens of the Crystal Empire, enslaved by King Sombra. They were unfairly vanquished by Sombra himself as an attempt to save himself and his reign. We will now have a moment of silence for each and every pony lost in that horrific battle."

            Each pony in the audience was silent. There was no sound to distract from the hot, smoldering weather. Luna felt drenched in sweat, but perhaps that was because she was standing in front of so many ponies. Celestia cleared her throat, and all eyes fell on her again.

           "Thank you. Now we will begin the festival in honor of their tradition, the Crystal Fair." Celestia said. As soon as she finished speaking, she stepped down from the podium, Luna following quickly behind. 

             The fair that was held was so bright and loud that Luna quickly grew fustrated. Somehow, even amidst the large crowds of ponies, Luna felt lonely. It didn't help that all of the ponies, when speaking to her, were asking where Celestia was, rather than actually talking to her. Luna felt indignant. If it hadn't been for her defeating Sombra, Equestria would have fallen to him as well, yet the only pony anypony seemed to care about was Celestia. 

             Luna stared up at the bright, burning sun. In truth, Luna had a hard time understanding why anybody could like the sun better than the moon. The sun was dangerous and would scorch a pony upon contact, whereas the moon was completely safe. The sun was hot and caused extremely discomforting hot weather, when the moon could be counted upon to bring a nice, cool night breeze. Even when looking at the sun, it could hurt a pony's eyes, when looking at the moon is so beautiful. Luna felt a tear slip down her cheek. For the first time since she had fled Father, Luna felt truly alone.