Chapter 1: The Contest
Canterlot, Celestia and Luna’s castle:
It was 10 am and after an exhausting night going from one nightmare to another, Princess Luna was laying over her bed trying to sleep. It was a hot day outside, one of those days when nopony even think about going out without an umbrella. That was another good reason for her to not get out of bed. She never had trouble doing her job as a Dream Keeper, she is pretty much able to handle it, no matter how terrifying some nightmares are, but this particular night was a lot more tiring for her than usual.
“Maybe I should reconsider my sister’s suggestion and get some kind of assistant,” she said to herself.
The minutes passed by and she still couldn’t fall asleep, she had too much on her mind. Defeated, Luna decided to finally get out of her bed, put her shoes on and start the day.
“10:22 am, still in time,” she said looking at the clock.
Luna and Celestia agreed to meet at 11:00 am to discuss what they were going to do about a certain situation. After getting out of her room and going for something to eat, she found Celestia baking something. Knowing her sister, she was probably baking another cake.
“Good morning sister,” said Celestia. “How was your night?”
“Exhausting. I don’t remember the last time I felt so drained after helping ponies in their dreams.”
“Do you want me to make some coffee?” Celestia said while levitating a couple of cups.
“Yes, please”
She got out of the kitchen and went to another room to sit at the table where they normally eat. A few minutes later, Celestia arrived with 2 cups of coffee and 2 pieces of chocolate cake. Luna thanked her sister and took a sip from her cup, then she took a little bite of the cake.
“How does it taste?” said Celestia smiling.
“It’s delicious, as always dear sister,” Luna answered while returning the smile. “It’s exactly what I needed to start the day”
“Thanks, sister,” Celestia said before taking a sip from her coffee. “Are you sure that you don’t need an assistant to help you deal with dreams, Luna? I know you can do it on your own, but a little help wouldn’t be that bad.”
“I’m starting to consider the idea. Maybe working with somepony else could be useful after all.”
“Of course it’s useful! Even if they can’t help much with dreams themselves, having company is always helpful.”
“Speaking of being helpful, since we’re already here, I think we can discuss about how we can help raise money for that school.”
“You’re right. Have you had any ideas?”
“Not really, and you?”
“Me neither,” -Celestia took another bite of her cake while thinking. “We should do something to catch other ponies’ attention, to get them interested.”
“Something like what?”
“I’m not sure, maybe offering some kind of prize.”
“A prize? Like cakes maybe?” said Luna jokingly, yet thinking about it, it wasn’t actually a bad idea.
“Anypony can go to a store and buy a cake. We need something unique.”
“True, but not anypony can go to a store and get a cake baked by the Ruler of Equestria.”
“That’s a fair point, but it would still be a cake.”
“I’m sure it would be motivation enough for you,” Luna said giggling while Celestia started to giggle too. “For real now, what other prize could we give?”
“I have no idea. Maybe we should have thought about it before making any promise.”
They both stayed in silence for a short while, thinking what could be a good enough prize to motivate ponies to help with the cause, until Luna had an idea.
“What if we offer a tour of the castle as the prize?”
“A tour?”
“Yes! Just think about it: A contest to help raise money for the school whose prize is a tour of the castle. That would get their attention.”
“That’s a really good idea! And to participate they would only have to donate a few bits.”
“That’s the perfect plan!” Luna said while smiling at her sister, who was also doing the same. “We have to announce it later. The sooner, the better.”
“You’re right. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, you haven’t even finished your cake yet.”
Luna looked at her sister’s plate and realized she had finished her cake some minutes ago, while she barely had eaten half of hers.
“How in Equestria do you manage to eat that fast?? Did your stomach turn into a black hole while I was on the moon??”
Celestia laughed at her sister’s comment before responding.
“I’m going to get another piece. I’ll be back.”
“Can you refill my cup, please?”
“Sure!”
“Oh, and Celestia?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you, sister.”
Celestia stopped walking and got closer to Luna to give her a huge hug.
“I love you too, sister.”
They announced the contest on the afternoon of that day. Neither of them knew how many changes that contest was going to make for both of them (especially for Luna) and, after 2 weeks, they already had the winner of the contest, winners actually.