Prompt 424: somepony really needs to sleep.
Celestia stood poised on the palace balcony, watching the Sun as it hung motionless over the horizon, when she heard the hoofsteps she was waiting for.
“Luna?”
Her sister quickly appeared beside her. “I’m here, sister.” The words were slightly slurred, but Celestia ignored this for now.
“Come, then.” With a glow of her horn, and her eyes squinting in concentration, she gently lowered the Sun below the horizon, until the glow had almost completely faded. “Your turn, Luna.”
It was only then that she properly looked at Luna – and what she saw alarmed her. Luna’s head was hanging; dark bags sat under her eyes. She was a picture of weariness. But she still closed her eyes, and lit up her horn. Under her command, the Moon began to appear – but it seemed to rise slowly, even a little stutteringly.
Celestia quickly lit up her horn again to provide assistance, and the Moon instantly accelerated to its proper point in the sky. With that, Luna turned to glare at her sister.
“I could manage that on my own!”
“You’re still not sleeping well during the day, are you?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m fine.”
“Yes, it does matter, because we’re not just trying to keep ourselves alive anymore. We have a whole kingdom to take care of! You have to keep yourself rested so you can govern the Nocturnal Court efficiently.”
“I’ll adjust soon,” said Luna, yawning as she said it. “You go to bed, Celestia.”
“Luna, I really don’t mind staying up if you…”
“I’ll be fine!” Luna snapped. “Just a few more days to adjust, and I’ll be fine.”
Celestia looked at her sadly. “Just rouse me if you need me.” And she turned and walked away.
With another yawn, Luna stumbled towards the throne room, to begin her duties.
It had indeed been another day of tossing and turning in bed, trying to force sleep to come, when her brain was still convinced that it wasn’t the right time. All those months when she and Celestia had been wandering Equestria, searching for some way to overcome Discord, there had been no consistent day-night cycle, and it was just a matter of catching sleep when you could. In the days between Discord’s defeat and their coronation, it had been natural for them to share the same sleep cycle. But now that they had agreed to take over the control of the Sun and Moon, and maintain a constant royal presence, the new system was really the only one that could work.
The first few hours, Luna was kept busy by ponies constantly coming in, asking for her to resolve disputes over property, or help them recover property that they had lost (usually because Discord had turned it to jelly, or something along those lines), or occasionally, bring gifts as tokens of thanks. It was painfully clear that it would still take time for Equestria to fully recover from the Reign of Chaos. Luna handled everything as best she could, repeating Celestia’s words to herself; but her eyelids continued to droop, and the repeated cups of coffee that the servants brought had less and less effect with every cup.
Finally, court ended, and she could move on to administrative tasks, but that just made things even worse. Sleep deprivation and repetitive paper shuffling did not go hand in hand. After a mere hour of going over letters and reports, Luna’s head felt like it was full of clouds. It was becoming impossible to even string a cohesive thought together. Random images kept popping up and refusing to be banished, as if she were dreaming. If she didn’t know better, she would think Discord had escaped from his prison and was currently holding court in her brain.
She stared down at the desk. At that moment, it might as well have been a fluffy pillow. She wanted so desperately to lay her head down upon it, just for a little while…
No. She had to make this work. Showing too much weakness would just lead to Celestia mollycoddling her, and she’d already had enough of that.
Maybe a little break from work would do it.
So Luna, her legs on autopilot, walked out to the balcony to do what she had always done in times of leisure from long ago: look at the stars.
It was, of course, a completely different night sky from her homeland, but after so much time in Equestria, it was becoming more familiar to her. And now that she could actually get her hooves on some local astronomy textbooks, she was learning the constellations, and the seasonal movements of the stars.
She thought back to when she was a filly; all those nights in the garden with her beloved telescope. She would really need to get a new one at some point.
The twinkling stars filled her vision, and gradually began to soothe her. Her mind began to clear; her tiredness began to feel less debilitating.
Her parents had always told her that she was connected to the night like no other pony – after all, she was born on the winter solstice, when the night was at its longest. Sure enough, when she had practiced her magic at night, she had always felt stronger, more assured, as if the night itself was fuelling her.
Perhaps, after all the madness and fear of the last several months, she had forgotten.
Luna now simply stood there and let her instincts take over, let her mind go completely blank, let her magic reach out as it wanted to. And sure enough, it began to work.
The Moon gazed benevolently down upon her, bathing her in its light; the stars surrounded her, seeming to whisper in some unknown language. This was her time – and her body started to remember. Energy flowed back to her muscles; her mind felt pure and unclouded. This was far more effective than any cup of coffee.
She looked back up at the night sky with a smile of gratitude. While she still did not feel rested, she felt happy, and ready to do her duty. Her mind was filling with thoughts of what she might do in the future when she was up to it: perhaps dazzling meteor showers, or new and glorious star patterns.
When Celestia came to relieve her in the morning, Luna sank into bed and had the best day’s sleep that she could remember.