The Brightest Star in Her Sky

by Muddy Waters

Chapter One

With her hooves buried deep in her father’s mane Smoky Nights strained to see above the crowd. He chuckled as she pushed his head down. But even from her vantage point on his back she still couldn’t get a good view of the princesses. Her wings flapped anxiously at her back but she didn’t try to fly. The air was already full of pegasi that could keep themselves airborne for the entire ceremony. Smoky didn’t have their stamina yet.

“Can’t you carry me up there?” Smoky begged her father, yet again.

“And leave your poor mother behind?” Ruby Sunrise replied.

Checklist pouted up at her daughter, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Just watch the stage, sweetie,” she said, “Princess Celestia will be raising the sun in two minutes and you’ll see her then.”

Smoky sighed dramatically. She strained again as far as she could reach and caught a quick glimpse of Celestia’s flowing mane, but that wasn’t the princess she wanted to see. She adjusted her position and tried to climb onto Ruby’s head. He protested, laughing. Smoky’s hooves shot out from under her as he shook. She would have slipped off if Checklist hadn’t caught her with her magic.

“If you’re not going to be careful you’ll have to stand down here with me,” she told her daughter sternly as she lowered Smoky down onto Ruby’s back.

Smoky sat down obediently and tried keep her twitching wings still. She could hear the other ponies in the crowd murmuring excitedly as the time for the first sunrise of the Summer Sun Solstice drew closer. Smoky stood up again and caught another glimpse of Celestia taking her place in the centre of the stage. Checklist began counting down excitedly under her breath and bouncing slightly, making her husband laugh yet again.

Their excitement latched on to Smoky as well and she grinned as the crowd went quiet and the princess spread her wings wide. Everyone went still around them just for a moment as Celestia rose up off the ground, her horn burning almost as bright as the sun that rose behind her. Smoky watched, enraptured, as the sunlight spread out across the crowd, driving back the darkness of the night. The crowd went wild with delight.

Ruby and Checklist cheered along with the others and stamped their hooves. Smoky was silent in the midst of the hubbub. Her gaze drifted away from Celestia and settled on the younger princess, Luna, standing tall and solemn at the side of the stage. She thought the dark blue princess looked a little sad despite her regal presence.

The commotion over the risen sun died down slowly. The two princesses stepped off the stage and nodded their respects to the crowd as it parted before them. Celestia smiled all around her and gracefully accepted every compliment sent her way. Luna walked a step behind her sister, her smile smaller and her part in the ceremony unmentioned. She kept her head high though, outwardly unfazed.

As the opening in the crowd spread Ruby and Checklist found themselves near the edge. Smoky stood up taller as the princesses approached and called out to Luna. Her small voice was lost in the tumult around them. She tried again and again and still couldn’t make herself heard. The princesses passed by without even glancing her way.

Smoky refused to let this chance pass her by, though. She scrambled up her father’s head and used him like a diving board. Her tiny wings lifted her up and over the heads of the ponies beneath her and out into the space left behind the princesses. She flew hard for as long as she could manage and when her tired wings gave up she crash landed at Princess Luna’s hooves.

The princess stepped to the side in her surprise and stared down in confusion. Celestia paused for a moment as well and then stepped up to the little filly and smiled down at her.

“Hello,” she said warmly, “are you alright?”

Smoky stared up at her, getting more embarrassed with each second as she realised her parents were calling to her and trying to push their way through the crowd. She scrambled to her hooves, acutely aware that her hair was all out of place and at least one feather was sticking out at a weird angle.

“I… I just wanted to…” Smoky began, pawing at the ground.

“Do you want to walk with us?” Celestia asked kindly.

Smoky blinked her yellow eyes rapidly and then shook her head. Finally she got up the courage to look up at her idle, the princess of the moon, and spit out what she wanted to say in a jumbled rush. “I just wanted to ask if you could make the night a little brighter because my parents won’t let me fly at night when it’s really dark but it’s my favourite time and I sent you a bunch of letters but they must have got lost even though dad said he delivered-”

“Smoky!” Ruby cried, finally breaking free of the crowd. He swept his daughter up with one leg and tried to bow at the same time. “Princesses, I’m so sorry! I’ll get her out of your way.”

“No,” Luna said firmly. Ruby froze in place. Pressed up against his chest Smoky could feel him trembling slightly. The princess knelt down slowly until she was level with the filly and a small smile spread across her face. “I should be sorry. I clearly do not read my mail often enough. I will make sure that tonight will be extra bright just for you.”

Smoky beamed with delight. “Thank you, princess!”

“You are very much welcome, little one.”

Luna straightened up and returned to her sister’s side to continue their slow walk back to the castle. On his daughter’s orders Ruby stayed exactly where he was until the princesses had gone out of their sight. Later, as the family was walking home, Ruby and Checklist’s gentle scolding could do nothing to dampen Smoky’s joy. She skipped between them, gleefully ignoring their complaints and singing, off-key, about how beautiful the night was going to be.

Ruby was the first one to give in and sing along. Checklist admonished the both of them, though she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

Author's Note:

This is my first foray into MLP fanfiction, although not my first into fanfiction in general.
Any helpful criticism is welcome, on this and future endeavours.
I hope you enjoy it.