"Luna,"
Luna opened her eyes to the shadowed grey ground of the moon. The shallow crater she slept in was cold, and she sneezed from the dust.
She stretched and stood up, searching for the wispy voice that had called her.
"Who calls me?" Luna demanded.
"Luna," The lunar princess swung her head to the left and winced at the bright glow of a star. "Come, Luna."
She obeyed, following the luminescent orb out of her resting place and across the dull landscape. The star picked up speed, soaring over a large crater. The air was to thin for Luna to fly, so she dove stright into it, glancing up every now and again to make sure she was following the star. As Luna climbed out of the indentation in the moon's face, she caught sight of a round green and blue planet the size of a marble.
"The time to return approaches, Luna," The star whispered. "My friends will help you escape." Luna gave an intense glare to the blue and green planet.
"Leave me to sleep," She announced after a moment. Luna looked down at her hooves, which were encased in light blue horseshoes. her forelegs- black as the night itself- peeked through the ornate designs. She returned her gaze to the planet before her. "Be afraid, sister," She hissed coldly. "Be very afraid." and with that, she sank to the ground, resting her hooves on her head, never looking away from the blue and green sphere.
At that exact moment, a white alicorn shot out of bed and over to her desk. She pulled the calendar off the wall and stared at the orderly boxes.
"June 21st," she murmured, eyeing the one quadrilateral that was circled in red ink. She counted back five days to today's(or rather, tomorrow's) date; June 16th.
The white mare dropped the calendar on the mahogany desk and walked out to her balcony. She threw her head back and looked at the moon. "It's about time, Luna." She told it. "I'll be waiting."
_______________________________
Celestia peered into the opening of her mother's room. The sky blue unicorn lay across the wide bed in the center of the room with her back facing Celestia.
"Where is she?" Celestia whispered. She stretched onto the tips of her hooves and craned her neck in hopes of catching a glimpse of her new sister.
"Would you like to see her?"
Celestia gasped and turned her head to see her father, Apollo, standing behind her. His coat was white like hers and his mane and tail were as bright a yellow as the sun itself. Apollo's cutie mark was an eight rayed sun, orange with a yellow center.
Celestia only nodded, and waited as he passed her. He stretched out an angel white wing and wrapped it around her, pulling her along.
The blue mare that was Celestia's mother,Artemis, glanced over her shoulder and smiled warmly at the two.
"Celestia," The unicorn's whimsical voice danced through the room. "Come meet Luna."
Celestia turned to her father, who nodded once, and trotted around the bed to face a small filly that was the color of a light blue dawn. The foal's mane and tail were even lighter, a silvery blue, and a tiny peak of a horn rose from her forehead. Minuscule buds of wings sprouted from her abdomen, and Celestia smiled at the little creature.
"This is your sister," Artemis told Celestia.
"She's beautiful," Celestia murmured, reaching out a tentative hoof and pushing away a section of Luna's mane. At once, her eyes popped open, revealing a teal iris that almost sparkled.
Luna lifted her head to stare at her older sister, her little nose twitching. She then sneezed and laid her head on Artemis's foreleg, closing her eyes and breathing in deeply.
"Come Celestia, it's time to prepare our offering." Apollo swung his head toward the opening of the hut and walked out.
Celestia followed, trotting to keep up with her father's lengthy pace.
"Are we doing the usual?" Apollo's golden eye flicker down to meet her daughter's gaze before turning back to the dirt path in front of him.
"I think so," He answered.
At that moment, a dark brown ball rolled onto the path, followed by a group of colts. They all froze at the sight of Celestia, losing their joyful expressions and exchanging them for smirks and sneers.
"Hey, freak!" an orange unicorn spoke up, breaking away from the group and blocking Celestia. "I heard that your sister was born. I heard she's a weirdo like you. Is it true?" at this, the posse of colts broke into fits of laughter. The orange unicorn swept his ball away and spun it back towards his friends, who chased it back to the field they were playing in.
Celestia said nothing, but cantered past him to catch up with her father, who had walked ahead.
They walked in silence for a few steps before Celestia spoke. "Dad, they know."
"Know what?"
"That Luna's an alicorn."
Apollo sighed. "They were going to find out anyway,"
"Better now than later, right?"
"Yes," They passed through a small market, where several ponies were pulling carts or selling trinkets.
"Good evening, Apollo," A dark red earth pony who sold apples, as his cutie mark suggested, waved from his stand.
"How are you Crab Apple?"
"Just fine. I heard that your newest arrival was born. How is it?"
"Healthly little filly. We named her Luna."
"Is she...uh..."
"Yes, she is." Celestia knew precisely what they were talking about. Alicorns were preferably a non verbal discussion amongst the people of the village of Canterlot.
"You know Chief Evergreen is going to make a huge scene out of it right?"
"Let him," Apollo waved his hoof dismissively. "But let me tell you something; My Celestia and her new sister are going to do something great for this country."
"Let's hope they do," Crab Apple cast his gaze down to Celestia. "You need to go down to Manechester and knock some sense into Prince Platinum. Tell him that we need better living conditions." in a lowered voice, he added to Apollo, "I supposed the jewel doesn't fall far from the pile if you know what I mean."
Apollo just shook his head. "How about some of your Red Delicious? We need it for our offering."
The earth pony sighed and allowed Apollo to take a few out of a wicker basket. "That another thing that I think needs to go," Crab Apple said. "These offerings. Why can Prince Platinum get his food and supplies in Manechester?"
"His majesty needs to know that we're pulling our weight and providing for the kingdom." Apollo reminded him.
"Kingdom, shmingdom. Personally, I don't think you should have to provide an offering, what with your new foal and all."
"Until I get kicked out of my house, I won't complain," Apollo stated. He levitated the apples over to Celestia, who took them into her magical grasp. As he reached into his saddlebag for a few bits, Crab Apple stopped him.
"Think of it as a gift. In honor of the new baby."
They exchanged their goodbyes and Celestia slipped the apples into the saddlebag, ignoring a leering threesome of pegasus fillies. She already knew their topic of discussion.
Celestia followed her father around the market as he collected things to add to their offering. A jar of cinnamon and a bag of sugar later, Celestia pullled out their fruits of labor and lined them up carefully on their kitchen table. Five large apples, a small bag of sugar, a jar of cinnamon, a new sharp knife, and a baby blanket for Luna. The latter was given to Artemis, who tucked it into the cradle of the sleeping foal, but the rest was all used to make their part of the offering. It was a simple recipe of applesauce, inherited from an earth pony relative and used ever since.
The task was finished just in time for Chief Evergreen and his son, Everfree, pulling a cart of offerings. Evergreen collected the jar of applesauce and handed it off to Everfree, a white colt with a golden mane and tail. He looked sort of like Apollo, only his mane coloration was a gentler gold, and he had bright blue eyes. Celestia thought of him as a handsome colt.
"So, a little pony told me that you have a new foal," Evergreen said casually. His green eyes suggested that it had in fact been a little pony that had told him.
"It's true," Apollo said politely.
"Can I see her?" Apollo shifted uncomfortably. This was what he was trying to avoid.
"Well, she's sleeping,"
"Oh, well then perhaps I could come in and see her," Evergreen planted a spring green hoof on the threshold, but Apollo blocked him, wracking his brain for a decent excuse.
"Apollo, is there something wrong?" Evergreen stared at Apollo.
Apollo sighed and stepped aside. "I would appreciate it if you'd hurry. I need to collect water for my wife."
"Yes, of course," Evergreen muttered absently, He paused halfway through the door. "Wait there, Everfree." He told his son.
Everfree nodded. Apollo lead Evergreen to the second room in the hut as Celestia watched and listened. She glanced over at Everfree, who was scuffing his hoof in the dirt. Celestia stretched her wings. and folded them staring worriedly at the other room, that was strangely quiet.
"Is Luna like you?"
"What?"
"You know," Everfree gestured toward the innards of Celestia's house. "Is she an alicorn?"
"Yes," Celestia answered.
At that moment, Apollo and Evergreen reappeared with Artemis, who was holding Luna in a foreleg.
"Apollo, how about you and I have a little... meeting?" Evergreen chose his words carefully.
"I'm going to be busy tomorrow," Apollo told him.
"The day after then," Evergreen smiled cheerfully. "Come now, Everfree. We're leaving."
Apollo watched them leave from the door way before turning to Celestia and artemis, who was rocking the sleeping Luna.
The married couple looked at each other for a moment. "It's time," Artemis whispered.
Apollo nodded. "Celestia, come on. we're going to fetch water." He nodded to a pair of buckets stacked by the door, taking one in his magical grasp and trotting out the door. Celestia levitated the second one and followed her father to the edge of the village and up the mountain.
Celestia turned down the road to go to the river.
"Celestia," She turned to look at her father. "We aren't going to the river today."
Celestia trotted back to her father and they continued up the mountain. They walked in silence until they reached the top, an angled top with a flat rock.
"What are we doing up here?" Celestia asked, setting down the bucket.
"I'm going to teach you something that my father taught me. A task that's been entrusted in our family since the pony colonies united. Princess Platinum herself gave us the honor of doing this job," Celestia tilted her head to the side. "I'm going to teach you to lower the sun."