“See, Princess?” Fluttershy spoke softly, keeping her cyan eyes carefully trained on Luna’s face. “Most ponies sleep through your night, that’s true, but so many creatures depend upon it… Celestia tried her best, but her night could never match yours, and all the nocturnal animals suffered for it.
 
“Now that you’re home… Well, the night is deeper and richer and more beautiful than ever, and they’re thriving.” Fluttershy produced two newly-hatched owlets from where they’d nestled into her soft feathers, and gestured around to the forest below. Luna raised her fascinated eyes from the nestlings and noticed for the first time the bats that swooped gleefully through the chilly night air. Her sensitive ears swiveled, recognizing the foraging of tiny rodents on the forest floor, the scrape of crickets as they sang their longing into the night, the careful padding of a forest manticore as she crept stealthily through the trunks.
 
She glanced at Fluttershy again to find the timid little pegasus staring at her with wavering eyes. “Your night is so alive, Princess Luna,” Fluttershy whispered. “You survived your darkest time, and your stars shine all the brighter for it now.”