“No, Twilight.” Luna shook her head while she set aside a scroll. “I will not raise the sun so far above the horizon.” “But Princess, these experiments are very promising!” Twilight said. “Tests under artificial lights show that increased sunlight intensity could greatly improve crop growth. It might be the thing that finally ends the famine. Ponies would be healthier. Lives could be saved, even!” “My dear student,” Luna sighed, “for centuries, I have conceded to the necessary evil of sunlight by allowing a twilight period to persist for most of each day. I’m sorry, but this must be sufficient. I cannot risk placing the blazing eye directly overhead.” “Princess Luna, you assigned me to find a way to end this famine,” Twilight persisted. “And I did! Isn’t that what you wanted?” “You know very well what I meant.” “What I [i]know[/i] is I found an answer, entirely within your power, to something we desperately need.” Twilight stared at Luna with determination. She scuffed at the hard stone floor with one forehoof, as if she could hold her ground by stubbornly digging in. “So why won’t you even listen?! You could—” “That is quite enough, Miss Sparkle!” Luna’s voice echoed through the royal court, leaving an uncomfortable tension in its wake. Twilight’s ears fell as her resolve crumbled, knowing she’d pushed too far. “I know it may be hard to understand, Twilight. But you do not know the sun as I did, so long ago.” Luna’s voice softened while she paced a few steps. “You have not seen the destruction wrought in her fiery wrath. I know only too harshly that the light that gives life can also take it. However many more crops it may grow, I cannot bear to hang that danger unrestrained over the heads of my little ponies.” Twilight lowered her head and stared at the floor contritely. “I’m sorry, Princess.” After a moment, she felt a comforting hoof rest on her withers, and looked up. “That’s quite alright.” Luna smiled down at her. “Though we may not always see things the same way, never forget how proud I am of you, my student.” Though this lifted Twilight’s heart to hear, it also left her puzzled. True to Luna’s word, there was pride in her voice... but something else too, something distant... a sadness... and maybe... regret? “You have always done what you truly believe is right,” Luna continued. “Never stop. Not for anypony. Not even me.” “You’re saying... you want me to disobey you?” Twilight felt confused. “I’m [i]saying[/i] I want you to find a solution to this famine,” Luna corrected her. “And when you do, I want you to do what you know you must.” “I’m not sure I understand.” Lost in thought, Luna stared off at the stained-glass windows of the palace, glowing richly from the light of the perpetually low-hanging sun shining through them. “When the time comes, dear student... you will.” [hr] Twilight spent hours thoroughly digging through the stack of books Spike fetched for her, trying to console her disappointment over the rejection of her proposed solution with an effort to understand Luna’s feelings about the sun. Maybe she could be reasoned with, if approached from her own perspective. No easy feat, though. Book after book had not so much as a mention of that distant past conflict. Then, finally, something! It made her leery that it was in a tome titled [i]Ancient Astronomical and Astrological Myths[/i], but there wasn’t much else left that was any better. [quote][smcaps]The sun, which our Princess never raises now far beyond the horizon, is the prison of Solar Flare. She is subdued within, and will be for centuries. However, in the thousandth year, the planets will align to aid her escape.[/smcaps][/quote] “[i]‘In the thousandth year, the planets will align to aid her escape’?[/i]” Twilight frowned. It was, coincidentally, only days until the thousandth Lunar Year started. The ceremony was in some middle-of-nowhere earth pony town, too, she remembered off-hoof. Twilight started drafting a letter to Luna, detailing her discovery and recommending that precautions be taken. She knew it was silly, and she’d probably be chided, but better safe than sorry. Halfway through writing, though, she became increasingly bothered by a strange misgiving. Surely the tale of ‘Solar Flare’ escaping was just a myth, anyway, but... “...Why do I feel... like it might not be such a bad thing...?” she whispered to herself. Slowly, Twilight crumpled up the letter, and tossed it in the fireplace.