Luna was the Goddess of the Night Sky, Mistress of Dreams. She could please any pony she wanted by bestowing them the best of dreams, and leaving them disappointed when they awoke. She could give them philosophical inspirations, invoke fantastic ideas, fulfil their impossible fantasies, and yet, she could not control her own mind. That had led to problems in the past, it was how she had first succumbed to Nightmare Moon. It was how she had fallen in love with the idea of revenge and given in to her own jealousy.
But now, all that filled her dreams was the image of a lavender coat, deep, rich purple mane with an adorable pink streak, and compassionate, innocent, amethyst eyes.
The dream world was a spectacularly accurate depiction of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle's home town, and, across from her, striding towards her over deep set cobbles in the ground, was the mare herself, a wide smile plastered on her face, bag and telescope set upon her back.
Deep down Luna was confused as to why her heart suddenly beat faster, she was confused as to why her knees suddenly refused to support her weight, but the feeling was lost amidst a sea of purple locking with sapphire blue, unknown emotions rocketing through her system. Luna broke into a light trot.
"Good evening Luna" Twilight said as they met in what seemed to be the town square. Luna noticed that her voice was somewhat distorted, as though it was there, but wasn't at the same time. An odd way to describe it, but Luna did not know any other way to do so.
Luna smiled at her sister's star pupil and returned the greeting.
"Good evening to you too Lady Sparkle" Luna spoke softly, it was so tempting to slowly drift into Royal Canterlot, but she had adapted so that she no longer had to use it. Besides, that was for addressing subjects, and over the months, she had come to regard Twilight as her close friend, so she had no need for it. The archaic language, however, stayed with her.
"Please, Luna, if I get to use your real name, you don't need to call me lady or miss, just call me Twilight" she said in that distorted voice, and Luna smiled at her again.
"Very well Twilight, I trust thou hast been enjoying my night sky?" Luna asked, motioning to the bag and telescope Twilight carried on her back. Twilight turned to look at them and back to Luna, her smile wider than ever. She nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh yes, I just saw the most amazing thing ever!" she said, and as she was lifting the telescope off of her back and setting it down on the ground, she began to make adjustments to the dials on the side She looked into the eyepiece as she did it.
"You can't see it that well in town, but it was a supernova, a star exploded! Have a look!" she said, stepping away from the eyepiece, and Luna set her own eye to it. Twilight was right, a star was exploding, one that Luna never really cared for. She usually made a star explode either because she was bored, or because she wanted to make a new star or constellation and that star was in the way. Normally she would move it, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a new nebula.
She had made this star explode because... well... she couldn't actually remember, but she knew it was a good reason. It was spectacular to watch, but Luna had never watched a supernova before. She now felt it rather silly, all those books on astronomy, about carefully mapping the star's natural movements, and she could change them at will, or make them vanish in a spectacular explosion that now left a cloud of dust where a fiery jewel had just sat in the sky.
She moved away from the eyepiece and made to look up at the stars, but there were none, confused, she turned to Twilight, but she too, was gone, and ponyville, and all that remained was blackness, much like before she and Celestia had made the sun and stars. She didn't like it, moreso because of the fact that she now felt like she was being watched.
"Oh Luna, I always imagined who you would fall for" a voice called out, and Luna froze, her eyes widening, her pupils dilating in absolute fear. She knew that voice, it's rasping sound of stone being dragged against metal, the underlying silky smooth tone that had seduced her before into giving in. The voice belonged to Nightmare Moon.
"Show yourself Nightmarish creature, so I may finally end you, once and for all!" she yelled into the black, and the voice laughed a bitter, recoiling laugh that raised the hairs on her spine.
"I cannot show myself dearest Luna, for I have no physical shape, and here in the world of dreams, I rely on memories. All I know is that you viewed me as you, so if I were to appear, I would be you, and one might lose sight of who was the TRUE Luna" she said coyly, and Luna felt her anger rise.
"I am the true Luna, you are an invention! An idea that got out of hoof" she yelled, and the blackness began to swirl around her, tugging at her coat.
"But I am YOUR idea Luna, and an idea is hard to kill" she spoke ever so softly, and Luan tugged herself out of the grip of darkness.
"What do you want!" she asked the darkness, and silence fell. The darkness ceased its swirling.
"I want you to realise your folly. Your feelings for Twilight Sparkle will bring you nothing but pain" she said oddly softly, almost as if she did care.
Luna drew back in confusion.
"My feelings? I view her as a friend, nothing more, and why should you care if I am in pain? Was that not your purpose? To bring me pain and grief?" she asked, and she felt the darkness grow to the point where she could no longer breathe.
"Don't be a fool Luna! If your heart breaks, so does mine! If you feel anger, I grow stronger, but when you get hurt this time, I will not be there to pick up the pieces!" the voice yelled, and the dream shattered.
Luna sat bolt upright in her bed, panting. She stared around the room, letting her eyes take in her room. The blue bed sheets, and the mirror that now looked like it had become a liquid pool of quicksilver. The window had been opened in the night, no doubt by one of her handmaidens, and the curtains had been drawn back and tied down with a pristine golden rope.
The stars reflected off of her mirror as their light reflected off of the glass. She sighed. She often had nightmares about Nightmare Moon, and whenever she would she would tell her sister and then everything would be fine, but now, she couldn't tell her sister. Because it was about Twilight. And although she knew herself her feelings were limited to true friendship and nothing more, she would never hear the end of it from Tia.
That, and whenever she tried to tell herself she thought nothing of Twilight Sparkle, a little niggling voice at the back of her mind would pipe up and say: No you don't.
She sighed and stared out of the window, a soft yellow glow was emanating from the horizon, and she felt a pull in her gut that told her the sun yearned to shine forth.
She lowered herself to her bed and placed a hoof over her eyes. She focussed on the feeling in her gut and felt a strand of magic wrap around the moon and begin to tug it towards the horizon. She focussed on the stars and willed them to return to her, and she felt a rush of magic as they returned to their place inside her magical aura. She felt them and saw a faint glow, when she looked her mane was glowing and the stars began to twinkle inside her hair. She left half in the sky and willed them to move towards the other side of the world.
She felt the moon disappear to begin the night in the other kingdoms scattered around the world.
She threw her covers off of herself and her hooves clopped to the floor. She closed her eyes and felt the remaining starlight above Equestria. Another perk of being the Goddess of the Night is that she saw whatever the stars touched. Right now she saw Ponyville in the first touches of sunrise.
No pony was on the streets, and Luna allowed herself a sigh of resignation. Of course no-pony was out to enjoy her night sky, it seemed the only pony who did so was Celestia, and maybe some of the guards.
Wait, what was that? A streak of Lavender moving against the cobble. She focussed on it and saw it was the mare she had been dreaming of for half of last night. A blush kissed her cheeks.
Twilight Sparkle, once she was done panicking and nearly hyperventilating, was rushing around the library, cleaning it as though it was the only thing she had to do in life, as if her life depended on it. She dusted the selves after she took all the books off, re-shelved the books in alphabetical order everywhere in the library, and then she dusted the books.
She was just finished dusting her copy on Equestrian Etymology when she decided she had to actually organize the party after the meteor shower. Worse still, she had to organize the get together AT the meteor shower.
She glanced at the clock, it was 4 am. She hadn't gotten ANY sleep that night apart from a few minutes before she sent Luna the letter. That confounded letter, it drove her to deprive herself of sleep.
She put the duster back in the cupboard underneath her stairs, rushing towards the door. She grabbed her coat and stepped outside, slamming the door behind her. She ran across the cobbles towards Sugarcube corner. If she was lucky, the Cakes and Pinkie were already up baking for the upcoming day. If she wasn't lucky, well, she was about to make someponies very angry.
Her breathing became laboured as she sprinted towards the colourful confectionery shop. The lights were on! She was either the luckiest mare in Equestria, or they had left their lights on.
She pelted up to the door and knocked on it vigorously, and a full 12 seconds of silence pervaded the air, interrupted only by the constant croak of crickets. The door creaked open a tiny crack and a pair of blue eyes peered out. As soon as Pinkie saw who it was the door opened all the way.
"Oh, hey there Twilight! What are you doing out here? Are you taking a midnight stroll to do some stargazing? Or are you here to ask me to break into Canterlot again? Oh! Can we break in and play a prank on your brother? That would be awesome!" she fired a rapid staccato of words that left Twilight's sleep-deprived brain reeling. She shook her head.
"No, Pinkie, I need your help, I need to organize a party for tomorrow, for all of us, you, me, AJ, RD, Rarity,and Fluttershy, right here" she told her, and Pinkie Pie smiled.
"Well you came to the right place Twilight, can I ask what the party's for?" she asked, and Twilight nodded.
"Yeah, Princess Luna's coming here for maybe a few days, and I want her to watch the meteor shower today, and-" she was cut off by Pinkie gasping.
"Whoa! Princess Luna's coming HERE! Why didn't you tell me? I need to send the invites now!" she yelled before she sped away. Twilight was allowed a glimpse and saw the cakes baking. She gave them a wave and they waved back. Pinkie Pie zoomed back into the doorway.
"Oh, you can go Twi, unless you wanna help us with the baking and stuff, the invites have all been sent" she said with a smile, and Twilight arched an eyebrow.
"Wait, how did-? You know what, never mind, and if you need the help, I'll certainly do some baking" Twilight said with a smile, instantly regretting her words. Pinkie Pie wrapped her hoof around her and pulled her inside, slamming the door.
4 hours later, Twilight had nearly burnt off her hair and half the shop, she had also made a grand total of 3 useful batches of cupcakes and other assorted baked goods, out of 13 she attempted. Pinkie Pie had commented it was good for her first actual try at baking, but Twilight still said sorry for wasting supplies. The Cakes assured her they had baked enough and she had left. The sun had just began it's ascent into the sky. She ran along the cobblestone, but soon the run turned into a slow canter, then a light trot, then a complete walk. Twilight was so tired she could've just laid down and slept in the middle of the city. Her eyelids grew heavy and her walking slowed.
She reached the door to the library and opened it, walking inside and closing the door behind her, she collapsed onto the floor and instantly fell asleep.
What Luna had deemed to be her 'Star-sight' finally failed. The sun claimed too much of the land for her to see, so she opened her eyes and viewed the world through her own eyes. She walked towards the window and stared out at the faint outline of a town in the distance. She smiled. Soon she would be with Twilight Sparkle. Her friend. she couldn't wait to hear about her and her friend's latest antics by word of mouth rather than by reading it on a scroll. She ignored the way her heart fluttered in her chest when she thought of hearing her voice.
She felt something outside her door, a raw celestial power. She knew Celestia was outside her door and she was still raising the sun. She did that more to assure Luna she was coming in than to just show off, though, Luna had her suspicions, but would never actively voice them.
The door opened and the power faded, the sun found its apex in the sky and began is slow, arduous voyage across the sky.
"Good morning Lulu. Excited for today?" Celestia asked as she walked over to join Luna at the window. Luna breathed deeply and smiled.
"Indeed sister, Twilight Sparkle is right, it's been too long since I've taken a personal day. You should book one Tia, you haven't had a day off in much longer than I have" she said, and Celestia smiled.
"Well, don't tell any of the guards because not a lot of them know, but, I'm going to be slipping out of the castle on the 10th to visit Manehatten, there's a lovely little restaurant there that's become a favourite of mine, that should suffice" she said with a sly smile, and Luna laughed.
They sat there for a while in silence.
"The sunrise is beautiful today Sister. Mother would be proud of you" she said with only a subtle trace of sadness in her voice. She felt Celestia's warm wing encase her in a motherly embrace, deepening her sadness, but also alleviating it.
"Of us, Lulu. They would be proud of us" she said, and Luna leant into the embrace.
Celestia sighed.
"You should have some breakfast before you go, the chariot is leaving soon, and it's a two hour long flight" she said, and Luna nodded.
"Yes. Thank you for accepting my responsibilities for today sister, I truly appreciate it. it'll be nice to spend some time with Twilight" she said absentmindedly, then realised what she had said.
"I mean, it'll be nice to spend time with my friend. Twilight, she's, uh, she's my friend, yes, ha ha" she sat up and turned towards the door, hiding her blush.
"I think I'll have oatmeal today" she said awkwardly before leaving the room. Celestia watched her go with a smile, shaking her head. She walked out onto the balcony and spread her wings, leaping off of the golden railed structure and gliding gracefully down to just in front of the throne room.
This story is the most fun to write, ever!