Luna was looking at a levitating letter.
“Why must everything be so difficult!?” she cried.
Any foal would probably be as good a ruler as she was. She had never paid attention to her sister’s duties. If she had done this, she would not have been in such trouble. She thought it was all Celestia’s fault. Why had allegedly a good and wise ruler left her in charge of everything? She could have given her at least some tips. All of Equestria was suffering and she had no idea what to do.
Speaking of this, why didn’t Celestia want to react? She was in the Griffin Kingdom so she should have realized something is wrong with the sun.
Luna was walking nervously around the chamber. She was thinking about abdication when Spike entered the room. Luna brightened up upon seeing the dragon.
“Spike. You’ve been around Twilight for a while so– do you know how can I send this letter to Celestia?” she asked, passing him the letter.
“Oh, this is easy. Just tell me where she is,” Spike answered, proud that he was able to help the Princess.
“We think she is in the Griffin Kingdom,” Luna answered uncertainly, having a weird hunch that Celestia might have lied about her whereabouts.
“Alright!” Spike said, burning the letter with his magical fire.
“What did you do!?” Luna shouted, fear appearing on her face. After a moment she realized what had happened. “Oh, you send the letter with fire, are we right?” she asked.
“Yep. This is what I do,” Spike answered, hoping for some kind of a reward for his help. A reward like a kiss from the Princess.
Much to his disappointment, Luna only inquired, “How do you know where to send a letter?”
Spike was caught off guard by the question. “Um– I don’t know,” he answered with brutal honesty. “I never thought about this. I just breathe my fire and voila!”
“Interesting.” She hesitated. “You are quite handy to have around,” she said, patting him on the head.
“Yep, I know. That’s what Twilight says,” he said, being more proud than ever.
“Speaking of her, I wonder if she found something in the Archives...” Luna expressed her worry about the unicorn and both she and the dragon exchanged uneasy looks.
****
Celestia was resting on a luxurious sofa in her temporary apartment. The room was decorated with gold. A plethora of golden ornaments hung around her. The brightness was blinding but the Princess seemed not to have any problem with this. She was the Princess of the Day after all. She could stare at the sun all day without any damage to her eyes. It was the ability she often employed in her little pranks, usually directed at her sister. They would go like, “Look at that, my sister!” she would shout, looking at the sun, while Luna would do the same only to be temporary blinded by the brightness of the sun. That joke never got old.
The Princess took a sip of tea. It tasted like mud. Griffins never drank tea. None of them had any idea how to prepare it or what kind of tea they should have bought in the first place. Celestia shuddered and set down the cup on a small table next to the couch.
Suddenly, a cloud of smoke intruded the room. Celestia watched the cloud turn into a letter and then watched the letter fall into her tea, splashing the warm liquid around.
Celestia frowned. Hadn’t she stated clearly that it was Luna who had been expected to take care of Twilight’s letters.
She unrolled the scroll and began reading. Her frown deepened as she realized it was from her sister. The silly filly couldn’t rule Equestria for a few days without asking her for something.
A few seconds later, the Royal Canterlot Voice echoed around the Griffin Palace, “SHE DID WHAT!?”
****
The Griffin King stood in front of Celestia’s room. He thought he should enter the room and ask if everything was okay but the coward in his brain tried to convince him not to do so. Both of them were sure that everything was not all right and that the King would most probably be the target of the Princess’ anger.
He sighed and opened the door.
As he entered the chamber, he spotted the broken windows and his guest, who did not look the least royal. Her mane was frizzy and lacking its usual grace. She was panting heavily, her wings unfolded.
The King had no idea how to begin the conversation. A simple ‘Is everything all right?’ seemed like the most inappropriate question at the moment. And like a stupid one as well.
“Is everything all right, Your Highness?” he asked, looking at the window.
Celestia gritted her teeth, trying to calm down. She shook her head, making her mane return to its usual state. Then she cleared her throat and spoke seriously, “Yes, everything is fine. Why would you think it is not?”
The confusion on King’s face deepened. He could not find a good answer so, to break an awkward silence, he let out some unintelligible gibberish.
Celestia smirked and walked up to the trembling King. As she was approaching him, he began to sweat heavily. He was afraid of her. It did not matter that she had never harmed anypony. It was meaningless that she represented everything good in their world. She was a goddess and this very fact made the King feel uneasy when it came to even talking to the Princess.
Celestia brought her muzzle closer to the King. He closed his eyes, waiting for the worst. What followed left him speechless for a while.
“You are a widower, aren’t you?” Celestia asked softly, gently stroking the back of the King’s head.
The King got a full body cramp. He was indeed a widower. And he got the allusion.
****
“So, the sun should be lowered soon, right?” Spike asked Luna.
The Princess raised her eyebrow. “If Twilight Sparkle finds something useful in the Archives, then it will most probably be.”
“Um, didn’t you just ask Celestia for help?” Spike inquired, thinking of the letter he had sent minutes ago. “This was in the letter, right? You asked her for help.”
Luna smiled sheepishly. “Yes, we have asked her for help,” she lied.
Spike rubbed the back of his head. He bit his lip and walked up to the Princess.
“So, Luna, what–“ he began but the Princess interupted him.
“Please, address us ‘Princess Luna’. Have in mind that we still struggle to accept the fact that our subjects are allowed to speak to us. Don’t make our adjustment to that reality harder than it already is,” Luna said, quite irritated.
“Alright, Princess Luna,” Spike said uncertainly, wondering why his marefriend was behaving so formal when nopony was around. “So, what are we going to do?”
“Well, we’ll be going to bed. It’s been a long day,” Luna said and went towards the chamber. Spike followed her.
The Princess entered her room and slammed the door in Spike’s face. She hadn’t notice the dragon was walking behind her.
Spike laughed nervously, blushing. “What was I thinking, heh.”
“Princess Luna!” Twilight’s voice echoed in the corridor. Spike heard her approaching. The Princess opened the door. “Who has called us?” she asked Spike, who just grinned sheepishly.
Twilight trotted up to the Princess. She panted heavily for a moment and began to speak, “Princess! I found the way to make night!”
“Just in time. I was going to bed,” Luna said happily and then facehoofed as she realized she didn’t sleep at nights.
Twilight showed the Princess an old book. “Well, I don’t know how you can control the sun but you still can control the Moon. So, you can make the Moon block the sun, thus creating a solar eclipse!”
Luna’s eyes widened, her pupils shrank. She stared blankly at the wall.
“Um, Princess?” Twilight asked worriedly.
The Princess of the Night facehoofed. It was so obvious. How could she not have thought about this before? Well, she had done it only twice before, both times trying to have her revenge on Celestia for the pranks she had played on her.
Luna sighed and walked up to the window. She focused at the Moon and began manevouring it so the sun would be blocked. After a minute or so, the longest day in Equestria’s history came to an end.
****
Rairty woke up from a short nap. She was lying on her fainting couch. She yawned in a way a lady should never yawn and stood up.
“Finally I managed to get some sleep. Now I can create!” she exclaimed, throwing her hooves up for emphasis.
Suddenly, the brightness of the day turned into a darkness of the night. Rarity’s eye twitched a few times.
“WHY DID YOU TURN OFF THE SUN NOW!? WHY DO YOU HATE ME. CELESTIA!?” she shouted as loudly as she could and then fell on her sofa, sobbing.
*****
“Perfect!” Luna proclaimed, grinning triumphantly.
“Actually, it’s midday,” Spike pointed out.
An awkward silence hung in the air.
“Should I–“ Luna began but Twilight interrupted her.
“No, it’s fine! Nopony will notice.” Twilight smiled nervously and looked at Spike, who shrugged and walked into Luna’s bedroom.
Luna and Twilight looked confusedly at the door. After a while Spike went out, his cheeks bright red. “Um, I was, I mean... Meh, nevermind,” he stuttered and walked away. Luna and Twilight exchanged confused looks.
****
Celestia and the Griffin King were sitting at the couch. The Princess was embracing the griffin. He had an uneasy look on his face, while Celestia seemed to be simply delighted.
“I will be honest, we cannot marry each other,” Celestia said suddenly. The King mentally sighed in relief. “Only a pony can marry a pony princess, but I had fun. I hope you enjoyed it too,” Celestia nuzzled the King, who began to tremble.
“Y-yes, I had. Fun. Heh,” he stuttered and stood up, freeing himself from Celestia’s embrace. “Alright. I’ll be going. I have to do some–“ The King hesitated as he tried to make up an excuse. “I have some royal stuff to do,” he said and hurriedly left the chamber.
“He’s really charming,” Celestia said to herself.
Suddenly, the day turned into twilight. Celestia walked up to the broken window and looked at the sun. She was witnessing a partial solar eclipse.
It took her a while to come up with this, she thought. “She’s never been the brightest pony under the sun,” she said, laughing at her own joke.
****
The King was standing in front of the door to Celestia’s room, trembling. He had just received information that he was supposed to pass to the Princess. He would have sent a messenger if she hadn’t stated clearly that she wished to receive important information from the King, not from a simple griffin.He could be the King to the griffin nation, but to Celestia he was just another of her subjects. He had to cope with her orders. It happened that he received bad news about one of the cities in Celestia’s land. The city had been destroyed a few days ago but due to slow transfer of information, the Griffins got it moments before had to come there.
He sighed, knocked on the door, and entered the chamber.
“Nice to see you again,” Celestia welcomed him.
“Re-reciprocally,” he stuttered.
“Why do I have the pleasure of your company?” she asked him softly.
“Um, I’ve just got important information. The city of Manehattan. It’s... It’s...” he struggled to tell what had happened to Manehattan but got a lump in the throat as he looked in Celestia’s eyes.
“It’s beautiful, I know,” Celestia interjected, grinning. “My favorite city in Equestria.”
“Well, it WAS beautiful, to be precise,” the King corrected the Princess and laughed nervously.
“What do you mean?” she inquired, raising her eyebrow.
A common pony swear rumbled in the Griffin Capital.
****
Applejack was watching the sky. The orange pony had seen weird things in her life, but she had never witnessed the Moon blocking the sun.
“Maybe the sun is stuck in the sky?” Apple Bloom suggested. “Maybe Princess Celestia can’t move it and had to block it with the Moon?”
AJ gave her younger sister a suspicious look. Since when Apple Bloom was so clever? It was actually the best explanation of the eclipse she had heard so far. The prevalent theory stated that Discord was messing with the sun and the Moon, while being encased in the stone. Everypony knew he was conscious the entire time and somepony had suggested that he might have found a way to use some of his powers from inside the statue. The less popular theory supported suspicions that the end of the world is inevitably approaching and the eclipse was just an ominous sign.
But how could the sun be stuck in the sky? Applejack couldn’t figure it out. She was just a farmer, not an egghead like Twilight.
The orange pony shrugged and returned to work.
****
Luna was enjoying the darkness of the night, leaning against the window sill, when something exploded in the middle of the room. It startled her so much she nearly fell out the window. She bounced back, however, and prepared herself for some kind of fight against the evildoer who just appeared in the room.
But it was not a villain. It was her sister Celestia, who teleported into the room. And from what Luna could see, she was not happy.
“Welcome, my sister. Nice to see you,” Luna greeted Celestia, smiling awkwardly.
“It’s nice to see you too, Luna,” Celestia answered.
Twilight, Spike and a group of Royal Guards stormed into the room.
“We heard an explosion!” Twilight shouted. “Princess Celestia?”
“It’s all right,” Celestia assured everypony. “I am back from my vacation.”
Everypony in the room, except Luna, seemed to calm down. Weird things had happened in the past so the Princess of the Moon could not simply rule out the possibilty of an attack.
Ignoring the small crowd in the chamber, Celestia spoke to her sister, “Can you explain to me what happened in Manehattan?”
Luna’s awkward smile disappeared. She began to look around nervously. Celestia gave her a reproachful look. The atmosphere in the room was very dense.
“It’s been completely destroyed,” Spike blurted out and covered his mouth with his claws.
Luna gave him an angry look and then said, “Well, we are afraid there was a little accident. We could not save the city.”
“Actually, it was you, who– mmpf,” Spike began but was muffled by Luna’s magical aura.
“Will you stop talking?” Twilight drawled.
“Fine, it was us. But it was an accident, we swear!” Luna said, looking fearfully at her sister.
“I am truly disappointed, sister,” Celestia said, frowning. “I was expecting that you could handle your duties.”
“But we were not prepared!” Luna shouted. “You simply left us here!”
Celestia’s expression did not change. She slowly walked up to the window. She sighed.
“Rulers come and go. At least this is what happens usually. Today the Griffin King may be alive but nopony knows what will happen tomorrow. His heir does not expect him to die soon. Nor do you expect me to do so,” Celestia said grimly.
This caught everypony in the chamber off guard. Celestia and death? It didn’t add up!
“Princess? What are you talking about?” Twilight asked worriedly.
“After Chrysalis’ attack on Canterlot I thought a lot about me and Equestria. It turns out I am not completely immortal nor you are, my sister,” Celestia proclaimed, bringing shock and bewilderment on faces across the chamber.
“What are you...” Luna was taken aback by this statement. She’d been thinking she was immortal!
“We are nigh immortal, my sister. We cannot die naturally. We can, however, be defeated by a powerful enemy,” Celestia continued. Everypony in the room gazed at her with jaws dropped. The myth of their immortal goddess had just been ruined. “I am indeed tired of being a ruler. If you live forever, you can become bored of your everyday duties. I needed a vacation. I left you in charge of everything because I had thought it would be a good test for you. If one day I would leave this world, you would be the one responsible for Equestria.”
“But... But we cannot even raise the sun!” Luna blurted out.
“It is very simple, my sister,” Celestia proclaimed and lowered the sun effortlessly.
“You say so because it is your special talent,” Luna said angrily.
Celestia then moved the Moon, making Luna give her a murderous look.
“But we cannot control your sun,” Luna murmured and sat down, sighing loudly.
Celestia hesitated. “Well, it seems that I am indeed the superior Princess,” she stated, making Luna’s expression even more angry. “You are free of your duty. Now, forgive me. I need to do travel to Manehattan. I am going to comfort the citizens with my presence,” she said.
She was going to leave the room but stopped after two steps. “Oh, I almost forgot! I am the first one of us, who–“ she began loudly but switched to a whisper so only Luna, as the closest pony to her, could hear anything. The Princess of the Night seemed to be taken aback by whatever she had heard.
“You did what!?” she shouted in horror as Celestia grinned sheepishly.
“Now, excuse me,” Celestia said as she left the chamber, still smiling.
“Well, let’s hope nothing happens to Celestia or we won’t be able to move the sun again,” Spike said and was given castigatory looks by both Twilight and Luna. “What?”
“I was hoping they would fight,” one of the Royal Guards whispered. “You know, disappointed sister versus prodigal sister. That’d be so cool.”
Other Royal Guards nodded in agreement as all of them left the chamber, leaving Twilight, Luna and Spike in the room. The trio stared blankly at the door.
THE END