a more beautiful day

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Celestia stood outside the door, fidgeting. Putting this off another day wasn't going to make it any easier, and the longer she waited the more likely Luna would be asleep. Already, the sun was almost all the way up.

Taking a deep breath, Celestia reached forward with one wing and knocked on the door. "Luna?" she called -- but not too loud, it would be terrible to wake her by mistake. "Are you awake still?"

A single large thump came from the door, followed by quick hoofsteps as it eased open. Luna stuck her head out the small opening, cautiously, as if she might be attacked any moment.

"Celestia?" she said.

Celestia winced internally. It had been too long already.

Luna looked up as she recognized her sister. She was still recuperating from the summer solstice, and her ears came only up to Celestia's chin when they both stood straight. "Celly?" she said again. "What's the matter?"

"Luna," said Celestia. "May I c-- no, that was rude, I shouldn't have said that." She shifted weight to her other side. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, no, come in," said Luna, opening the door. "I just-- What brings you up here?"

Celestia hesitated in the doorway. "Well, I was hoping-- that is, I was wondering--" She noticed Luna looking at her from over near the closet, and rushed through the rest. "Would you like to go flying with me?"

Luna's expression brightened momentarily. "I'd love to! --When were you thinking?"

Celestia looked absently out the window and tried to lift each hoof imperceptibly in turn. She wasn't terribly good at it yet, somepony watching her hooves intensly could still notice. "Today. Now." She snapped her attention back to Luna. "Is that okay with you?"

"Of course," said Luna. "But, what about the things you have to do today?"

Celestia smiled wanly. "I've cleared my schedule for today. We can spend all day together, if you like."

⁜※⁘⁙⁛ ⁛⁙⁘※⁜

Luna dove and pulled ahead of her sister. The wind roared past her ears and tousled her mane, still its natural pale-blue out of her control, tickling her ears getting in her eyes. Inverted, just to feel it, head up and forward and then flying normal again. A laugh escaped and Luna pushed from the left, circling a line below her hooves once, twice, three times until colliding with a thermal.

Luna rolled to take advantage of the thermal, climbing until she was once again level with her sister. A flip, and they were flying one above the other, a stunt they'd practiced sometimes long back before the war. Luna smiled as realization struck--Celestia couldn't see her very well back here, that was after all the point of the practice. This would be tricky, but worth it. She reached out, and... "Tag!" Luna shouted, and dove away.

⁛⁙⁘※⁜

While cloudwatching after lunch, Luna remembered there was something she never had done.

"Celestia," she called, "on the way back to Canterlot, remind me that there's something I want to show you."

"Of course," said Celestia. Then she looked up. "What is it?"

"I can't tell you, Celly," said Luna. "I need to show you."

"Are you sure it's between here and Canterlot?" said Celestia.

Luna thought about that one. "Or we could do it at Canterlot, I suppose," she said. "It's a when more than a where."

"A when not a where, between here and Canterlot, and you can't tell me," said Celestia. "What could you possibly want to show me?" It was a joke, but Luna answered anyways.

"I want to show you the sky you've never remembered," she said.

⁛⁙⁘※⁜

Luna sat alone in the ruins of the castle, gazing out what had once been a window--her window. How it had come to this she didn't know, but a lot of things she once thought made sense had stopped some time ago.

There was a faint shift to the whisper in the air, which told those with sharp ears and the training to hear some serious air power was landing. Luna had both those. She'd been practicing with the 'Bats for years now. Not that it had done them any good. Not that anything had done any good.

She was tired of running. Let them come.

From the stairs came the sounds of hooves. Only one set, not the many she had been expecting. It didn't matter. If she had wanted to, she could outfly, or better yet overpower, almost any force they could muster against her.

Almost. There was one.

Celestia walked unopposed through the empty doorframe and sat down next to her. Neither of them said anything, simply sat together in the silent moonlight.

Finally Celestia spoke: "Ordinarily I'd probably say that this had gone on long enough. But there's something else, isn't there?"

Luna didn't respond directly, instead gesturing out the window with her opposite wing. "There used to be a flag out there. Remember?"

Celestia grimaced. "Rather a nice one as I recall; in gold and blue with our seal in the middle. It looked rather elegant in the wind. Pity, really."

Luna turned away in a sulk. "I never liked that flag."

"Whyever not? It seems to me you picked out that shade of blue, and chose the final design as well."

"The blue was used mainly for accents, leaving the gold and the seal to dominate the design. With you in the dominant position on the seal, might I add, I was never happy with that either. I only chose that design because I thought all the others were worse, and to do otherwise would be awkward." Luna sighed, her moment of fury expended. "A little thing to be upset about, I'm sure. But it was symptomatic of so much more."

Celestia looked around, then back at her. "Still. I have no doubt you can keep this up just about forever, but what about the others? Mortals still have to eat, you know. Stars, you and I probably still have to eat. I hadn't tried this in a while."

Luna rounded on her sister again. "What do you want, Celestia‽ A signed apology note? Me to swear fealty in public? What about a treaty, would that do it? You always were the rule-oriented one. I might even consider that last."

Celestia bristled. "What do I want? If at all possible, I'd like my sister back."

Luna sighed. "Oh Celestia. Don't you see?"

"Apparently, I don't," said Celestia snappishly. "I see dark out when it should be broad daylight. I see ponies we swore we'd protect in danger of slowly starving to death because they can't grow food. And I see you imponyating my sister. But whatever you want me to see, no."

"That's just it, Celestia. I'm still me," whispered Luna. "That's why we're having this problem."

⁛⁙⁘※⁜

Luna flapped hard as she came in for a landing in Canterlot palace. Nearby, on the other side of the platform, Celestia landed as well.

Luna walked over to her sister and gave her a nuzzle. "Thank you, Celestia," she said. "This was a wonderful day. But now I had better see to the stars."

"Yes." Celestia glanced away, showing the slightest hint of distraction. "I've left the sun just slightly too long, as well. Ah, do you--" --she faltered, briefly-- "do you need a hoof with the night?"

"I believe I can do it, but thank you," said Luna. "Though we may have to do without phases for a little while."

Celestia chuckled. "I don't think I ever quite got the hang of phases myself," she said. "I think we can manage without for a while longer." She turned to head towards her chambers. "Good night, Luna."

Luna paused at the edge of the balcony and watched over her shoulder as Celestia departed. "Good night, sister," she whispered. "Sleep well."

Celestia soared over the southern fields of Equestria. Several lengths below and ahead of her, Luna did a triple corkscrew before finding a budding thermal and rising to join her. Celestia marveled at her ability. She hadn't been out flying often while Luna was gone, and rather doubted that she would find herself up to even a double corkscrew.

As they neared each other, Luna did a wing-over-wing flip and returned to level flight just above Celestia. Their wings never touched in the process. A cheeky grin spread across Luna's face, and with a sudden drop her hoof came just barely into contact with Celestia's head. "Tag!" she shouted, and dove away.

"Wha-- Luna!" Celestia wheeled and chased after her. Luna laughed, and juked towards the mountains along the southern border. Celestia poured on the speed, but wasn't able to catch up before Luna reached the mountains. Instead, Celestia found herself in a rather cat-and-mouse chase game through the mountain peaks. Luna had always been a slightly better aerial tactician, but she wasn't playing it to her fullest advantage, rather darting behind various outcroppings and dashing away only when Celestia got close.

Celestia finally caught her by chasing her under an overhang, then doubling back and painstakingly picking a route up to the top of it. Luna was above it too, but she was facing the other way, crouched over the edge in anticipation. Celestia walked carefully up behind her, settled her own hoof gently in the back of Luna's tail, and whispered "Tag."

"Ahh!" Luna started. "Celly! Don't do that!" She tried to put on a pouty face, but fell over laughing instead. Celestia joined in.

"You know..." Celestia said finally, "I don't think... I've had that much fun... in a very long time."

Luna thumped her on the shoulder. "That's because I've been away, silly."

"Yes..." Celestia rolled over to look at Luna. "It's good to see you laughing again, Luna."

Luna's breath caught, and she turned away sourly. "Just that? Not 'at all', but laughing specifically?"

"At all, of course, but laughing especi..." Celestia's voice trailed off. "There's no possible way I could salvage that, is there."

"No," Luna agreed, "there really isn't." Her ears drooped, and she gazed off into the distance at a bloc of clouds being gathered north of Canterlot. "A shame, too. You were always good at that. Probably why you did so well with the government."

"Luna..." Celestia walked up next to her. "I'm sorry. I've just... I missed you, and it's good to have you back."

"I know," Luna said, leaning up against her big sister. "I know."

⁜※⁘⁙⁛

They were many hours out when they heard the growl. Celestia burst out laughing.

Luna was having none of it. "Celestia! Come on! We've got to find whatever that was, so we can make sure it doesn't hurt anypony!"

"It's lunchtime, Luna," said Celestia. "I haven't eaten anything all day. It's probably been quite a while since you ate, too."

Luna pulled forward to hover in front of her sister. "What's that got to do with it?" she demanded.

Celestia giggled. "I think that was my stomach."

"Oh." Luna whirled aside, then caught up with her sister. "So it's lunchtime, then." She grinned.

"Well, that's just it," said Celestia. "I hadn't considered how long we might be out when we left this morning. It didn't occur to me that we'd spend all day flying away from the castle."

"So?" said Luna.

"Luna, I didn't bring anything to eat."

Now Luna laughed. "Well, I guess we're roughing it, then." She bent her head to scrutinize the ground below. "How much did the watershed around here change while I was away?"

Celestia blinked. "I have no idea. Honestly, I don't know if I've even been out this way unaccompanied before." She looked at Luna, then peered at the ground. "What are you looking for, anyway?"

"If there's a pond or stream or something, we can stop and get a drink, and often there's something edible growing nearby. I was thinking that if things hadn't changed too much, I might be able to recognize one by the landscape." Luna looked up and darted a hoof towards where two hills met. "See? I bet there's a creek running between those, and we'll find a nice pool somewhere along it."

Sure enough, overrunning a rocky elbow in the hill they found a small pool just deep enough for drinking and wading. Luna spotted a berry bush nearby, and Celestia came across a clearing full of wild dandelions. All in all, it was a rather nice meal, for roughing it.

Afterwards, Luna rolled on her back and looked at the sky. "Thank you, Celestia," she said. "I don't think you could possibly have chosen a more beautiful day."

Celestia gagged on a berry and went into a coughing fit. "Luna," she managed, "Thank you."

"Celly?" Luna scrambled to get up--no easy feat for a half-grown alicorn lying on her back. "Are you all right? What's wrong?"

Celestia waved her off and made a desperate grab for her own composure. She missed. "I'm fine, Luna. Just, I didn't-- I wasn't-- I hadn't realized you cared." Celestia swallowed, and discovered she was swallowing a sob.

"Celly..." Luna lay down across from her sister, so they could see each other while they talked. "Why-ever not?"

"Well," said Celestia, "the last time I saw you-- before last week, I mean, before then-- we were trying to kill each other."

Ordinarily, only an expert could hope to read the true emotions of the pony sisters. In the past thousand years, there had only been one, and she lived in Canterlot and wore the crown. So of course she had gotten a teensy bit out of practice.

"You thought you had killed me," said Luna.

"I was terrified," said Celestia. "There wasn't anyone else I knew half as well, or knew me either. And we always took things on together. So with the Elements gone as well..."

"Shh," said Luna. "It's okay, we're together now. That's the important thing."

"Yes," said Celestia. "That's the important thing."

⁜※⁘⁙⁛

"Luna," panted Celestia, struggling to maintain enough airspeed for lift in the thin air, "I don't know what you're planning for up here, but--"

"Shh." Luna held out a hoof for silence as she swooped past. "Look. Be."

Celestia decided to save her breath, and looked around. The view was nice from up here, anyways. The clouds below them reflected an array of incredible reds, Canterlot was laid out splendidly along the east face of the mountain range, and to the north of the Everfree she could just pick out the biggest tree in Ponyville. That was where Twilight was staying. Celestia idly noted that, not being in court today, she didn't really know whether today was Tuesday, and had no idea what she would do if Twilight sent her a report just then.

"Look at the stars." Celestia started as Luna's whisper took her by surprise. Stars? What stars? Granted, it was nearly dusk on the ground--in parts of Canterlot, it was already practically nighttime--but up here it was effectively still broad--oh.

To the west, where Celestia's namesake was just reaching the horizon, the sky was still bright, but to the east it faded from sunset's fiery tones through shades of purple she hadn't even known existed--- and in patches, brilliant stars were already punching through the top of the sky.

Luna was above her then, gliding too, just close enough that they could talk. "I used to come up here all the time. The view is incredible. It's like you can see everything," she said.

"It's beautiful," breathed Celestia.

Luna laughed briefly. "It is," she said. "But my favorite was always a couple of hours before dawn. You can see the dance of the stars clearly then, with no ambient light to spoil the view, and then look down to see the lights in the world start their own dance."

"And all this time I never knew..."

"I know," said Luna sadly, "I never took the time to show you, before."

⁜※⁘⁙⁛ ⁛⁙⁘※⁜

Celestia dropped towards the western horizon as the pony of the same name walked towards her room. Today had been a fairly good day, all things considered. Maybe tomorrow, they could make some progress towards reconciliation.

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