"Tia! you're not listening to me!"

"Mmm hm, that's nice Luna."

Luna screamed in frustration. Celestia was reading several scrolls of important business, she did that a lot lately. Luna knew that her sister had a lot of work but that seemed like the only thing Celestia did anymore. She had tried to help with the work, to give her more free time, but there always seemed to be more and Celestia preferred to do it all herself. Now she didn't even listen to Luna when she was talking and it made her frustrated and i'll-tempered and... and lonely. As a princess, she had never really had any other friends, It was hard to get to know anypony on a personal level when you are royalty. Ponies all got very formal whenever she was around.

So the princess of the night did what she always did when Celestia was too busy for her. She went for a walk. It started out as a stroll through the palace grounds, but soon, without even realizing it, she had left the palace behind to walk the deserted trails of the forest beyond the canyon. Even if anypony had been awake, they never entered the Everfree except on official business. Their castle was isolated by a sea of trees. It was so lonely, especially on nights like this when no nightmares called for her immediate attention. Soon her walk turned into a flight. It was a few hours later that she saw the motion below. Small and dark, coming from the center of a small, sleeping town. She flew down to take a closer look.

She landed on the dirt road and scanned for who ever or what ever had moved.

"Who're you and what're you doing here?"called a young and commanding voice. Luna spun around and saw a young colt standing above her on a roof.

"My name is Luna. I-I was looking for somepony to talk to. I was lonely."

This colt was so strange. He seemed not to make the connection that if she was an alicorn and named Luna she must be the princess, or perhaps he simply did not care.

"I thought that everypony else slept at night. Well listen up. At night this town is mine, so if you're going to stay you have to follow my rules, okay?"

Luna stared up at him. He was so confident. So sure. He talked about ruling the night as if it was he instead of she who wielded the power to raise the moon. And so of course, she laughed. It was a beautiful, kind laugh, and the colt could tell. A spiteful laugh would have angered him, but he was simply mystified at this strangers grace and humility.

"Alright," she said "what are your rules?"

At first he was astonished at her compliance. Nopony ever listened to him. Of course he pretended to be confident, to be in control, but it was only because of how neglected he was during the day. Older stallions and mares never took younger colts such as himself seriously. He had started roaming the night to feel important. Brave. Dangerous. But here was this pony, obviously older than he, who was so eager to be his equal, or even to simply obey him. He quickly covered his surprise with poised smugness. He would see how far this pony would go to have company. Just how lonely she truly was.

So he started his tests. Nothing too dangerous. Nothing illegal. Mostly he tested her agility and endurance. Her willingness to follow him no matter how reckless his stunts were. While they raced through streets and across rooftops, although at first she hesitated and warned him against some of his harder tricks (which he never cheated on with magic), she was mostly eager to have fun and soon became as confident in his abilities as he was. They raced and laughed, but all too soon the dawn came upon them.

Luna had to return to the castle to lower the moon and her new friend had to return home before his parents found out he had been gone all night, not that he thought they would care too much.

As time went on, Lunas visits with the young colt became more and more frequent until she visited every night, unless something extremely important came up. She loved the nights they spent together. He was so bold, Nothing scared him. And he liked to spend time with her just as much as she did. He didn't care that she was a princess, though he often applauded her beautiful night.

Celestia was never told of Lunas nightly excursions. Luna was too afraid that her sister would disapprove, but Celestia did notice changes in her sister, when she wasn't overwhelmed with running the kingdom. While Celestia tried to interact with her subjects and help them personally, it was Luna who soon became close with the citizens of Equestria. After meeting the colt she found a love for getting to know each one of them and soon many learned the wonders of her night, though none were as close to her as that first grey colt she had met.

Time went on and Lunas friend grew into a stallion. He began to dream of his future and of doing something important so that all of Equestria would look up to him. He became rash and distracted during their nightly meetings, and Luna became worried for her friend. They were laying on a house one night, stargazing.

"You could come with me, you know."

"What?"

"I'm going to travel, there are so many lands outside of Equestria. I'm going to go to all of them. All of those different cultures with different kinds of ponies. I'm sure I could find something wonderful out there. Some amazing idea I could bring back to help Equestria. And when I find it, it's going to be big, and I know it would mean so much more if my best friend were right there, helping me."

He said it with a smile. It was so genuine, as if that had been his intention all along even though he had never mentioned her in his plans before. As she stared into his bright, red eyes, she could imagine it. The two of them helping Equestria and all the ponies in it. Traveling the world. Together. But reality struck her hard. Celestia would never let her leave the palace for so long, even if she could continue her usual duties. The ponies relied upon them. She couldn't just go off and leave to be with her childhood friend.

"Oh, I wish I could..."

"What do you mean? Why can't you?"

Anger hinted in his voice. He could have a temper sometimes when she talked about her responsibilities as a princess. He didn't understand her duty to all of the ponies. Maybe it was just easy to forget everypony else in the deep peace of the night, but he never understood why she always had to leave, why he had to share her friendship with anypony. Or how the sister who so often couldn't find time for her could still be so important to her.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I have responsibilities. I can't just go with you to find... whatever it is you're looking for. There are other ponies who need me," He stood up, furious that she would be thinking of anypony, everypony, but him. He left, and though she looked for him, she never again saw the pony that had been her first friend.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed "I am so sorry, Sombra."

Okay, I guess I need to clear things up because I just know that somepony will bring it up.

1. 'Oh, but she does see Sombra again! remember in the crystal empire when he was defeated the first time?' yes, she saw Sombra again, but not as her friend. He had changed so much, in becoming evil, that he was not the same pony she used to know. Okay?

2. No, I was not trying to vilify Celesia at the begining of the chapter or blame her for ignoring her sister but ponies/people get distracted and forgetful when they are busy or tired. Whether Celestia didn't want to push a large workload onto her sister or she was simply being a perfactionist and preferred har way of doing things, she preferred to do most of the work and was running an entire kingdom almost completely by herself. (btw, I prefer to think it was the first reason)

3. No, this is not the last chapter with Sombra in it.

and finally...

4. please comment. I love reviews and would be very excited to hear what you want to read about in this story