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// In Which the Royal Sisters Strike Upon a Notion 
// Story: The Voices of Day and Night 
// by gimmick68 
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“Sister, this monotony is tiresome,” Luna grumbled.  “I do not recall such tedium before my departure.”  She rested her chin on the table, her hooves splayed out in front of her.
“I can assure you, Luna,” Celestia sighed, “the tedium exists in perpetuity, much as it has for millennia before.”  She briefly stopped writing and looked over her reading glasses at her sibling across the table.  “Much as it will for millennia to come.”
“I remain unconvinced.”  Luna’s tone and expression were the very definition of skepticism.
Save for a quick purse of her lips, Celestia remained stoic as she returned her sister’s glare.  A few night birds sang melancholically outside.  The candlelight made Luna look both more menacing and adorable than she really was.  Cocking an eyebrow, Celestia used her magic to lift her glasses from her snout and clean them with a ready cloth.  “Perhaps you do not remember the tedious nature of our station because most of it happened in the light.”  She cleared her throat curtly, replaced her glasses and returned to drafting her most recent decree.
Silence fell over the room.  The scratching of Celestia’s quill was much louder than it should have been.  Even the flickering candles seemed to be aggressively loud.  The birds outside fell into an uneasy and apprehensive silence. Luna seethed and anxiously awaited her sister’s next comment.  Her eyes narrowed to slits as she watched every feature of Celestia’s face, waiting for the moment to strike.  Eventually, the faintest hint of a smile cracked the white alicorn’s mouth.
“Oh, blow it out your cake-laden rump,” Luna hissed.
Dropping the quill and straightening up Celestia let out a weary sigh.  “Very well. You wish to break the monotony? How?  This is the third time this evening I have heard that lament and I have yet to recognize a coda.”
“As there has yet to be one!” Luna insisted, rising up and pounding her hoof on the table.  Celestia’s ink well spilled.
“Ok.  What do you propose?”
“Let us…”  She paused and tapped her chin in thought.  “We could…There’s always the…”  Luna scrunched her snout in frustration.
“See?  Despite our inclination to do otherwise, our priority is our station.  And our station is our restriction.”  She used her magic to clean up the spilt ink.
“But…”
“Perhaps you would approve of Raven finishing this decree?  I’m certain the citizens of Equestria would approve of a royal decree being crafted and scribed by a secretary.”
“She is certainly capable,” Luna mumbled under her breath.
“Luna…Damnit.”  Celestia rubbed her temples.  She looked across at her pouting sister.
“Celestia, I am sad,” Luna whimpered.  “Depressed.  We have but a few short hours together each day and yet we spend much of that time confined in your room or office.  I sit and watch you work.  Are we not sisters?  Should we not bond over activities containing more substance than paperwork?”
Celestia was far too old to miss the plea in her sister’s voice.  “You’re right, Luna.  I am sorry. I have neglected you.  It’s just that the world is so much work these days. I haven’t any time for anything else and can’t afford to fall behind.”
“But surely the ponies of Equestria would find it in their hearts to extol some leniency upon you, especially considering all you’ve done for them.  Besides, you can just let Twilight do all that work.  She certainly has an abnormal affinity for the more mind-numbing aspects of princesshood.”  Luna was determined get Celestia on her side.  “Additionally, all this work cannot possibly be good for your well-being.  This amount of constant stress will take a toll on anypony, even a princess.”
“Yes, Luna, I have been stressed, but if I may remind you, I have dealt with this kind of stress – and more – for a thousand years.”
“I do not need that reminder, sister,” Luna snarled.
Celestia recoiled a bit from Luna’s sudden change in tone.  “Don’t get cross with me for bringing it up.  You’re the one who brought it up.  That’s how this conversation got started.  ‘Sister, this monotony is tiresome’ you grumbled. ‘I do not recall such tedium before my departure.’  That was you.”
“Silence!”
“Are you upset that I used your own words against you or that my impression of you is spot on?”  The smugness in Celestia’s voice grated the blue alicorn.
“I’m upset that you think you’re better than me and deny me any attempt to prove otherwise!”
“Prove otherwise?!  Last time you tried to prove otherwise I sent you to the moon.”
“That is not what We meant!”  Luna pounded her front hooves on the table and leaned at her sister.  The ink well spilled again.
“We? Luna, you’re lapsing into your former self.  Please control that.”
With a cry of aggravation Luna stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.  Celestia shook her head and cleaned the ink.  She replaced her glasses on her snout and went back to her work.  The candles burned softly as her quill gracefully scratched across the parchment.  The birds had gone back to singing.  Until, that is, they erupted in squawks of surprise and anger.
The silence in the room was abruptly interrupted by five minutes of sporadic distant explosions punctuated with cries of pain and suffering.  Had Celestia looked up from her work she would have seen flashes of light illuminate the night from far below the windows.  Eventually, the activity subsided.  After another ten minutes the quiet was disrupted by the door to the chambers slowly opening.  Luna slipped in quietly, looking rather abashed.
“Finished?” asked Celestia, not looking up from her work.
“The garden is ablaze,” Luna said sheepishly.
“Just the garden this time?”
“A few guards are receiving medical attention,” she mumbled, taking her seat across from Celestia.
“Just a few?”
“I’ve already apologized,” she bowed her head.
“Anything else?”
“The graffiti are water soluble.”
“Well, thank heavens for that.”
Nothing more was said and Luna took her place at the table, perching on her pillow, and gazing at her sister and her work.  Even if she didn’t look up, Celestia knew Luna was thinking and thinking deeply.  Luna was not a talkative pony except when she wanted attention.  And when she wanted attention the only thing that would shut her up was when she thought of new ways to get attention. Celestia began to brace herself for another suggestion from Luna.  A few minutes later the suggestion came.
“Sister, may I offer a suggestion.  It may be old-fashioned and worthy of your rejection, but I would be remiss to let it go unannounced.”
Celestia sighed.  “Announce away.”
“Perhaps we revive an old game of ours.  One we played frequently in the time…before I left.”
Celestia looked up from the parchment.  Her attention was solely on Luna.  “Game.”  The word came out as a much a question as it was a realization.
“Yes.  The competition we had.  The one in which we simulated embattlement.”
Celestia dropped the quill and sat up.  With her magic she removed her glasses in dramatic fashion, staring wide-eyed at Luna.  “Holy Me!  Luna! Your frighteningly depraved mind may actually have hit upon something!”
“Thank you?  Though, I believe your compliments still need some work, sister.”
“What if we do?!  What if we do play our little game?”  An impish smile worked its way onto her face.
“It could be fun,” offered Luna, optimistic of Celestia’s change of attitude.
Celestia bounded over the table to her sister and embraced her tightly, pressing the blue alicorn’s face against her chest.  “Luna, you are so salaciously evil and I love you for it!”
“Again, your compliment fails to elicit a positive response,” Luna wheezed.
“This will be wonderful!  To Tartarus with this decree,” she spat as she zapped the parchment.  “The streets of Canterlot will once again be filled with the battle cries of their princesses.  Haha!” She ran off, throwing open the doors to her balcony.  She pranced up to the balustrade and proclaimed with her Royal Canterlot Voice: “CITIZENS, PREPARE YOURSELVES!!!  The Two Sisters shall soon be among you as we take up our competition that has not been seen in over a millennium.  The voices of Day and Night shall ring clear through the streets of Canterlot and beyond! BEAR WITNESS TO THE SPECTACLE!!!”
There was little in the way of response to her words. In the garden far below servants and guards desperately tried to control the raging inferno whilst others washed off the profane statements written on the walls.  From somewhere in the city a cry on the night air replied to Celestia: “Shut up! We’re trying to sleep!”