The moonlight shone over the night city of Manehattan. The streets bustled with life, thriving with leisure music, theater, and banters from its residents.
Manehattan was a city said to never sleep. When their young were fast asleep under the moon, the adults would come from the dark and unshackle their fettered desires. The night was theirs for the taking.
The colorful lights from nightclubs and restaurants sparkled across the city like a grouping of star constellations reflecting towards the sky.
And as adults drowned themselves in euphoria, foals, ecstatic for their summer break, were taken to their bed. Parents who struggled through boundless vigor in their young found peace when they serenaded them to sleep with stories and games. Many found themselves feeling blessed by Celestia herself when they found their foals tuckered out.
However, among the many foals to sleep through the night, there was a pair still stark awake.
At Bud and Lazuli’s apartment complex, Bud’s foals sat next to each other in their crib. Nebula had wrapped their favorite blue blanket around themselves. Artemis would often nip on his sister’s ear. Nebula presumed he wanted a squeak from her. To this day she cursed her supposed grandmother for exposing her embarrassing weakness.
Whenever a close circle of Bud’s grab holds of her, they would often go for her ears to drive that humiliating squeak out of her. It seemed to be the most enticing thing everyone wanted to out of her. She swore the day that sun tyrant ever attempted this, she would slit her throat with her fangs.
Thankfully, Nebula has trained her nerves to be more rigid. Most of Bud’s friends and family will find that Nebula is not a creature that can easily be overwhelmed. However, for her dear Artemis, she would do anything to light a smile on his face. The dopey smile he would make in response seared pride into Nebula.
However, his adorable expression alone could not keep her gaze away from their supposed mother.
Nebula found Loving Bud sound asleep in her bed. Bud had her hooves wrapped around a foal plush that shared the same hue as Artemis. Nebula wondered how long this mare had this thing within her possession. Why was this the first time she was seeing it?
But most importantly, why dare coddle such mediocre fabric when she could have her hooves blessed around the real thing? Artemis was only a few feet away from her. She can’t possibly think that some woven cotton could compare to the goddess of the moon.
And for Bud to have to gall to nibble her pearly whites upon the dry ears of the plush was maddening to Nebula. It’s like the mare was intentionally provoking Nebula’s wrath.
“Look at her,” Nebula growled. “Gloating that rubbish in front of us.” Nebula gritted her gangs before the scandalous hold Bud had on the plush. Not since meeting Celestia again since she wanted to sunder something apart. “That space belongs only to Artemis. I refuse to share it with anyone else.”
Nebula quivered with a fury that would have made Bud cautious. For Artemis however, it was a signal that prompted him to mash his cheek onto his sister’s. No other creature to quell her rage as swiftly as Artemis. Nebula liked to believe that Artemis took pride in that.
Nebula couldn’t help but reward her brother with a smile. However, seeing Bud always left Nebula to reflect on herself.
“To this day I still question why I allow this mare to rule our happenings,” Nebula said. “We are royalty. We are deities meant to reign supreme over the lands. And yet we’re stuck in this shack meant for a peasant who plays as our mother. Among any other pony that would possess greater status and riches, why would you choose her Luna?”
Nebula looked to her brother to find an answer. All she found was his curious gaze that blossomed to smile.
His eyes suddenly shift toward moonlight beaming through the window. It was their only source of light within the pitch blackness. Nebula traced numerous dust dancing around the light. She didn’t think much of it, but the wonder in her brother’s face left Nebula confused.
Was there something he could see that Nebula could not?
Nebula perished the thought from her mind. Thoughts like that would not get her anywhere. Especially since Artemis was still unable to talk with her. Nebula yearned to have a conversation with him. She would enlighten him about his greatness and swear her fealty as his superpower to become a princess again. Well, perhaps “prince” would be more befitting given his sex.
“If not for my current body, I would have already ascended you back to your royal place,” Nebula sighed. “Still, I guess this was a better outcome rather than waiting another six centuries alone on the moon. We would have given Celestia to satisfaction to finally be rid of us.”
Artemis rubbed his cheek onto Nebula like a pup beckoning for attention. She reciprocated his gesture and sprawled her wings over his back. Her snout tingled from the scent of honeydew and pineapples in her brother’s breath. Not a particular combination she would imagine favoring, but she strangely took solace in it.
“I promise you, Luna,” Nebula said. “Once our bodies have reached their prime, we will take our rightful place as rulers again. The night will reign everlasting upon our land.”