Twilight Sparkle leaned against the railing of the balcony, staring up at the inky spaces between the stars. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but there was something about seeing each vulnerable grain of light surrounded by lonely eigengrau that demanded her attention. She wasn’t sure when Luna appeared, but appear she did in the Night Princess’s usual style—swiftly and unnoticed, but certainly not timidly. The regalia she wore today was special, lined with gold and silver at the edges. It was probably custom-made for tonight, but Twilight hadn’t noticed until now. And honestly, she couldn’t find it in herself to care at the moment. “Hail, Twilight,” Luna softly said. “How are you?” “I… I don’t know.” There were very few words that Twilight saying disliked more. But they were all she had. “I think I’m all cried out.” She looked back out at the sky. The emptiness behind the plane of stars seemed to reach out and tug at her, like a vacuum, as if one void was calling out to another. “Maybe I’ll cry some more tomorrow,” Twilight admitted, “but for the rest of tonight… I really don’t know what I feel.” “Aye,” said the Night Princess. And that was all. Together, the two of them pondered the sleeping heavens. The minutes felt like hours during their passage, but after they were spent, it was as if only the shortest of moments had passed. Then Twilight spoke. “There’s something wrong with it, Luna.” She pursed her lips in thought as her eyes gazed heavenward. “Something’s not right with the sky, tonight.” “I know, Twilight.” Luna sighed. Another short-lived eternity passed between them. Then Luna spoke. “Has Celestia ever told you about Star Swirl's last night alive?” she asked. When Twilight shook her head, Luna continued. “When I raised the moon, Star Swirl was there. He jumped high and congratulated a little filly for a job well done. With him and my sister at my side, endless possibilities awaited us. “When I first took hold of the light of the stars and shaped their form, Star Swirl was also there. He looked upon my first amateurish attempts at starscaping, and he was giddy, just as I was, with what I had done. The future seemed clear, and it was a good one, filled to the brim. “On the night Star Swirl died, decades later, I was there. With an inspiration that only desperation could bring, I crafted a hemisphere of beauty that I have scarce since been able to recreate. All in the hopes that the last thing he would see would comfort him. “But when he looked upon the skies and the shining jewels I placed in them, he cursed, and he moaned. The very same night that he had thousands of times before called lovely and vibrant, he damned as empty and sterile. And he said many terrible things that I remember to this day. Because there were no more possibilities, and there was no more future. Only a single, monolithic eventuality.” “That’s an awful story,” Twilight said quietly, when Luna was finished. “Do you wish I hadn’t told it to you?” asked the Night Princess. “No,” said Twilight, even though she wasn’t sure why. Luna nodded. As she looked back up into the sky, the stars were reflected in her dark eyes, like shining jewels. “There is something about death that makes the night sour,” said Luna. “I feel it, too.” “Why?” Twilight’s voice was frayed. “Because the night is a change. It is a transition.” There was a little bit of a smile on Luna’s face that seemed out of place to Twilight. “It is a time for living creatures to rest and ready themselves for the future that awaits for them the next day. But when there are no more futures, the night is something else. The night is the end.” Twilight’s eyes were already exhausted tonight from crying, but the burning at their edges still threatened to bring new tears. What can she say to Luna? But then, the Night Princess draped a dark wing over Twilight’s back, and held her closely. “Twilight Sparkle, earlier you said you knew not how to feel. During my long life, I have not learned either.” Together, the two of them considered the emptiness of the infinite night sky. “The sun will chase the moon, will chase the sun,” Luna whispered. “The skies will turn, and the world will not cease to spin madly on.”