//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: To Yield the Light // by RoyalPonySisters //------------------------------// When I woke up in the morning I had an odd feeling that I couldn’t quite place. There was something very important that I forgot, I thought. After failing to remember while I prepared my hair and coat, I decided to set out to the East Tower to raise the Sun. That ought to clear my mind. When I got there, Luna was waiting there for me. “Hello, Celestia!” she called out jovially. Ohhh. That’s what I had forgotten. I resolved not to let her realize that. “Good morning, Luna. Ready to raise the Sun?” She nodded. “I hope so. I am really nervous but also quite excited. I presume it is not too different from raising the Moon?” In my opinion, it’s very different, but I understood what she was trying to say. “It is different, but you can definitely apply what you know about controlling the Moon to the Sun,” I said. “Alright, then,” Luna said with determination. “I’m sure you’ll do a great job and really enjoy it,” I reassured her. Personally, I thought she was very likely to hate it, but who knows. Anything is possible. Luna took a deep breath and aimed her horn at my Sun. It barely rose. She was trying to move it like the Moon, with delicateness and grace. The Sun likes force and power. “Push harder,” I told her. She complied, and more than doubled the strength of her magic. The sun began to rise. Slowly but surely, wobbling but steadily, the Sun rose and it was Day. I stomped my front hooves in the ground in appreciation. “Good job, Luna.” Luna turned around. She looked exhilarated and her face was quite literally glowing in the sunlight shining over the East Tower. “Celestia, that was amazing!” “It was?” I asked. “But wasn’t it hot? I thought you don’t like heat. And you don’t really like to be walking about at this hour.” “That is true,” Luna mused, “but even with all that, it was amazing. I mean the Sun is so warm, and light and powerful… it is just wonderful.” How could I argue with that? “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it.” I said. Luna smiled at me broadly. “Thank you so much, Celestia. You are very kind to let me do this, Sister.” “It’s nothing, really,” I said uncomfortably. “It most certainly is not,” Luna said firmly. “How would you like to do this again tomorrow?” I blurted out. “I could not ask that of you, Celestia,” Luna said, shaking her head. “The Sun is yours. I was merely borrowing it.” “The Sun belongs to everypony, not just me,” I forced myself to say. “Besides, I raised and lowered the Moon and stars for a thousand years. What’s a few days of you raising and lowering the Sun in comparison to that? Like I said, don’t think of this as a gift. If you want to keep raising the Sun, you can do it for as long as you want.” “I- thank you, Celestia,” Luna said, hugging me with her wings. “Maybe I will do it for just a couple more days. You are the most generous pony I know, truly.” “Nothing makes me happier than seeing you happy,” I told her. “If controlling the Sun makes you happy, then I want you to have a chance to do that. Please enjoy yourself.” “I will.” She followed me down the stairs to breakfast, beaming. I smiled back at her, but I felt an uncomfortable cold feeling sitting in my heart. I ignored it. Surely I could last just a couple more days. At the breakfast table, Raven and I went over the items for the day. Thankfully, today wouldn’t be quite as busy as the last few days have been. “The good news is I’ve managed to delegate some tasks so that Your Highness can focus on more important things. The tax bureau is going to outline most of the changes themselves and you’ll only have to look over the very final review. And the governor of Canterlot was more than willing to oversee the preparations for this year’s Garden Party. You’ll still have to deal with the nobles of course; they won’t settle for any less than a Princess herself. But I’ve managed to shorten your list quite a bit.” “Harmony bless you, Raven. I don’t know what I would do without you.” I said sincerely. Raven bowed her head humbly. “Thank you, Your Highness. I saw how busy you’ve been these past few weeks and I’ve been working with lots of ponies to delegate even more than usual going forward. You shouldn’t have to do everything yourself. There are plenty of very capable ponies in Canterlot.” “You amaze me Raven, you really do. Your organizational skills give Twilight Sparkle a run for her money, but don’t tell her I said that.” Really, what am I going to do when Raven inevitably retires? I don’t even want to think about it. We still have a good few decades left…. “Umm, Sister?” Luna piped up shyly. I turned to her. “Yes?” “Perhaps I could be of assistance in this process of ‘delegation’?” she asked. “You want to help? But Luna, you’ve worked all night. You must be so tired at this hour!” I responded, feeling confused. “Usually I would be, but I feel quite rejuvenated this morning. Must be the sunlight.” Luna giggled. Giggling? Luna never giggles. Especially not in the early morning. Come to think about it, she did look a lot better this morning than she usually did. Must really be the sunlight. I glanced over at Raven. “Well, we could always use another set of hooves. Got anything that Luna could do?” Raven smirked. “Princess Luna, how would you like to entertain some nobles? You’re the only pony I could delegate this task to, as they refuse to deal with anypony but a Princess.” “I would be happy to.” Luna said firmly. “Great!” Raven said. “Well, I can cross this off the list then.” She flourished her quill grandly as she removed the item. “It’s at 10:00 in the Tea Room, so you have some time. Topics include moaning about all the riffraff moving into Canterlot and complaints about tax rates. Do enjoy yourself.” We all had a good laugh and left to our respective tasks. It was a good thing Raven managed to knock off about forty percent of my regular schedule because at the end of the day I felt more drained than I did on any other day if the week. Even though it was not that late, I barely made it through dinner before I excused myself to bed and lay down. Philomena landed on my chest and cuddled there. The warmth carried in a phoenix is highly magical and comparable to a real fire. Having her on me definitely improved things and I stroked her until we fell asleep together.