Attempted automated wordcount. Please use LibreOffice/MSOffice for an accurate count: 1637

thanks, author! If you wish to have this removed from this list, email ra.llan.pcl+complaints @ gmail.com, making sure to provide proof that you are the author.

A Lonely Night                    

By: Ceets

Princess Celestia smiled as she trotted down the halls of her castle. Today was going to be a nice winter day, so she decided to make it extra special. It was still in the early morning, so few other ponies were up. She passed the study where her most faithful student spent countless hours pouring over the books. She smiled at the fond memories as she continued on her way.

                    After about an hour, she saw a pony she did not expect to see up so early.

                    “My dear sister, you’re not usually up this early. How are you?”

                    Luna turned to Celestia with a smile, “Oh, hello, sister. I’m feeling wonderful! How about yourself?” The dark blue pony replied with an uncharacteristic cheer about her.

                    “I’m doing fine. It’s a pleasure to hear you’re feeling wonderful! Might I ask why?” Celestia probed. She was curious as to her sister’s cheer.

                    Luna seemed confused for a split second, but returned to her smile, “Oh, no reason. It’s just a good day.” She looked around, “Well, you must be busy. I should let you go.” Luna said as she trotted off along her own way.

                    Celestia couldn’t help but worry about that moment of confusion. But, she decided she would ask her about it this night. It was true that Celestia was busy; All the subjects who came to the castle seemed to only show up during the day, and almost nopony came at night. At least it would mean that she would have a chance to talk to Luna.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                    As Luna continued along the hallways of the castle, she spotted six familiar faces: The six ponies who held the elements of harmony. Upon seeing them, the princess nearly galloped to them, looking very happy to see them.

“Twilight Sparkle, it’s nice of you to make it! And it’s wonderful to see your friends could come too!” Luna said, excited.

Twilight nodded, “Of course we made it! It’s not every day Celestia invites you to tour the castle!”

The ponies could almost swear they saw Luna’s eye twitch slightly when Twilight said that, “Y-yes! I’m very glad you all could come on the tour.” She said, the excitement slowly diminishing, “But there’s a lot of castle to see. Celestia recently renovated the observatory. Perhaps you would like to see it tonight?” She offered.

Twilight nodded, “Of course we’d like to see it. It’d be great to see your beautiful night from the royal observatory!”

This seemed to make Luna’s excitement stop diminishing, but it didn’t go back to its original high, “Alright, I will be sure to make the night extra special then!” Luna looked at the clock on the wall, “Oh, I have to be going. I’ll talk to you all later! Make sure to come during the evening, so you can see the moon rise!” She said as she trotted off down the hallway,

“Alright! We’ll see you then!” Twilight called out back to Luna.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The royal chef was busy preparing the meal for Celestia and her guests from Ponyville, but he wasn’t expecting to receive a visit from Princess Luna, so he was reasonably shocked as she entered the kitchen, walking around as if expecting something. The chef glanced over to her a few times before approaching,

“Excuse me, Princess Luna, but may I ask why you’re in the kitchen? You look like you’re looking for something.

Luna looked to him, and glanced around at the kitchen counters. She seemed like she couldn’t find what she was looking for, “No, it’s nothing. I just thought... Nevermind.” She said as she trotted out of the kitchen, her step losing a bit of it’s cheer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna hurried to the castle gates. The mail to the castle would always arrive precisely on time. She hadn’t met the mailpony yet, but Celestia told her that she was one of the more… “special” of her subjects.

As Luna awaited by the royal mailbox, she saw a figure in the distant sky, and quickly realized why Celestia called her “special.” The light gray mailpony was flying in odd little loops and twirls, almost upside down. But the most odd thing was her eyes; Luna could only describe them as “derpy.”

“Carrot the spaces!” The mailpony said as she landed in front of Luna, and reaching into her saddlebag. She pulled out a very large stack of mail, and set them in front of Luna.

“Um, yes, thank you.” She managed to say, a little confused and creeped out by the odd pony.

“Magic the pumpkin skin! Sunshine uncommon.” The mailpony said, as if she were asking something.

Luna was still very confused and very uncomfortable, “Um, yes…” She said, “Well, I guess I should be going…”

                    The mail pony smiled as she picked up her bag and took off again, “Rodeo circumference!” She called out behind her as she flew off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Celestia… Celestia… Just a bill… Celestia… Celestia… Celestia… Celestia… Me!” Luna said excitedly as she filtered through the mail. She sorted it into two piles; mail addressed to her, and mail not addressed to her. She carried her mail to her room and got to work opening them up.

She left the massive amount of mail behind, bringing six letters up to her room.

Once she was up there, she instantly used her magic to open them up. She read the first one, and sighed, throwing it aside. She did the same for the other five. All of them had turned out to be very basic and mandatory letters from various ponies giving updates about Equestria. Same thing every day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna sighed as she left her room, her good mood obviously completely torn. She made her way to a few other places around the castle, growing more and more sad with each visit.

As the day drew on into the evening, she sat in the observatory, awaiting what she anticipated would be the only good part of the day. She sat in the observatory for an hour, watching Celestia lower the sun. She had to hurry down there soon so she could raise the moon. But she wanted to wait for Twilight and her friends to come to the observatory first.

She looked all around the castle grounds, until she saw the familiar lavender pelt in a window on the other side of the castle. She could see that the ponies were having a party of sorts in that room, Twilight obviously too engrossed in a conversation to intend on leaving soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna sadly and slowly made her way to the throne room, passing few ponies on the way. Everypony always seemed to be up during the daytime. She found herself entering the throne room, tired from being up all day. But she still had to be up all night to control the moon and give audience to her subjects that never came to her.

The thoughts in her head almost caused her to cry as she made her way to the throne. She took a deep breath and put on her best calm face; Luna was quite skilled at hiding her emotions. She didn’t want her sister to see her so sad.

She finally made her way to the throne and smiled a fake smile at Celestia, “Good evening, Luna. Have you had a nice day?” Celestia asked, cheerful yet tired.

Luna nodded, “Yes, I have. It was nice to see the daytime, seeing as everypony but I see it every day.” She said, keeping the façade.

Celestia nodded as she left the throne, “That’s very good to hear.” She said, “I hope you have a wonderful night. I’m off to talk to Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”

Luna nodded, “Oh, send them my regards.” She spoke as she ascended the throne.

“I will.” Celestia said as she trotted off towards the guest’s quarters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Celestia was gone, Luna glanced at the observatory. In the glass room of the observatory, any occupants would easily be seen from the throne. But Luna didn’t see a single pony. She looked to the throne room. During the day, masses would flock to hail Celestia, and pay their reverence and respect. But during the night, there wasn’t a soul to keep her company.

Luna looked to the cold, hard ground as she used her magic to raise the moon. Normally, she would spend the entire day dreaming of what to include in the night. She would put her entire being, her entire soul, her every breath into making the night beautiful. But tonight, the moon was hardly visible, the stars invisible, not a single one shining through. The night sky was covered in a black shroud of darkness; the beautiful hues of violet and blue completely missing. The faint glow of the night was gone, and Equestria had no lights from above, only darkness.There was no heart put into this night. There was no thought, no care, no consideration, no love.

Luna cried to herself in the dark, cold throne room, her tears falling from her face to the majestic carpet under her. Through her soft crying, she sang a sad song. She had sung this song to herself on this day, every year for one thousand years while she was alone on the moon. She had thought that this year, she could have others sing it with her. She thought she could feel warmth, happiness and friendship on this day. But that would not happen. She sang the song quietly, but even if she sang it loud, nopony would hear her,

“Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday dear Luna, happy birthday to me…”