In Many Ways, I am Like a Phoenix
Every day I rise with the sun, and every night I set with the sun.
Dear Princess Celestia,
It was a few months ago that Nightmare Night passed. We had a great time that night, celebration was aplenty, screams of joy and laughter filled Ponyvillle well into the night. Princess Luna graced us with her presence, as you are well aware of, bonding with us and having a great time. One voice however, was not present amongst us – yours. I know that you have many engagements in Canterlot and would completely understand if you were too tied up but as Hearth Warming Eve is approaching, I would like to invite you and your sister to join us in our celebrations over here at Ponyville. We would very much enjoy your company on the most wonderful celebration of gathering with friends and family.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
That was the most recent letter I had gotten from my faithful student Twilight Sparkle. Receiving her letters always made me smile, the innocent spark of magic I saw in her eyes made me believe in the magic of the world. It is not easy being the one everypony counts on, the sun in their lives but seeing the smiles on everypony's face made it all worthwhile.
My Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle,
Little do you know how much I want to share with you, or anypony, my burdens. I would have loved to have attended Nightmare Night with my sister, teaching her the ropes of life, be by her side as she once again faces the people. Yet, I couldn't. The night, its wonders are something I have never behold. Luna would describe in her enthusiasm her nightly escapades, the majesty, the deepness, and the colours of the night sky. In her innocence, she does not realise that she constantly stabs my heart with a thousand knives. For you see, most ponies know that I raise the sun, they do not realise that I actually am the sun. Unlike other ponies, I was born with my cutie mark. Unlike other ponies, my cutie mark was not the symbol of my gift but a symbol of curse. Every day the sun would rise, and so do I. Every night the sun will set, and so do I. I cannot experience the night for I am the day. This is something I cannot share with anypony. Every day as night approaches, I would hide in my bedroom, barring all entrances as my body wilts away. It is true that I would be reborn as sure as I would pass on, it still does not change the fact that every night, I die.
A thousand years ago, Luna had unwittingly learned of my secret. She joyously ran into my room that night, wanting to show me a thing or another I suppose, and stumbled upon me with my last breath. I will never forgive myself for the look on her face that night. She could not understand what was happening to me, she went blank and went into a zombified state of presence. She locked herself in her room mostly, only coming out for meals, much as I try to explain to her what she saw, she never looked at me in the eye. After a few weeks, she finally came out of her daze, not as herself but as Nightmare Night. She wanted to make the night eternal, for she had found a way to eliminate the sun, and severing my ethereal link to the cycle of the day, giving me my freedom! But at what price, Twilight Sparkle, at what price! Looking through the pile of notes she had left behind, I saw that in order to obtain the power she needed to control the day; she had summoned a dark entity of being into her body, consuming her very self from the inside as it fuelled her magic. She had traded her freedom, for mine. I could not let this happen, for the ponies in Equestria and especially for my sister, I had to stop her. Even with the elements of harmony, I could not defeat the being. I knew that true wielders of the elements of harmony were the only ones that could harness their true powers and defeat Nightmare Moon. Thus, it was with a heavy heart that I banished my beloved sister to the moon, waiting for the true ponies that represented the elements of harmony.
The days turned to months, seasons changed into years, a millennium soon passed. Her day of return would soon occur, and I knew that I had to save my sister from the horrors I had let happened to her. As you and your friends defeated the dark entity that controlled her, I used my magic in her weakened state to contain her memory of that night, and blurring the memories she had of her experience as Nightmare Moon. Glad as I was to have her back, I knew that my secret was one which I had to bring with me as the sun truly burned out one day. It is with a heavy heart that I know I will never send this letter out to you, my star pupil. I just wanted to let you know with my last breath of this day, that you will see the sun again, for in many ways, I am like a Phoe-
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