A shadow darted upwards from Canterlot Palace, curving around to rise in an arc. Silhouetted against the violet painted sky, it sped up through the clouds and rested in the middle of the sky. A flare of blue magic flashed through the thick water vapor and slowly the Moon started its rise. The violet gave way to a brilliant silver as it climbed until it was hidden by the clouds. It reached its apex, still covered and invisible to the ponies below. But tonight it would not be denied. Another flare of blue magic filled the sky for a moment and then the Moon’s silver light began to shine through the clouds like a lighthouse through fog.
Rain came down in sheets over Canterlot, pouring from the dark clouds overhead. Every so often, light would cut across the sky and a deep rumble would sound. The silver moon, though hidden behind the thick black clouds, would not be denied its first night reunited with its royal sister. Light danced its way between the thick curls of water vapor and in the air around the rain. Each drop shone as it fell, like a clear crystal with a light inside. Though the light was not enough for a pony to think it was day, it was far from being the rich black and purple of a normal night. The sky hung in limbo, shades of gray and soft purples mixed and swirled around behind the veil of the clouds.
Ponies from all over Equestria were standing and staring through their windows or were looking skyward from covered terraces, their eyes upwards as they basked in the awe of this special night. Even Luna’s sister.
Especially her sister. Celestia rested under a short awning. Her purple eyes watching her sister show off for the first time in such a long time. Gladness filled her heart when she thought about how willing Luna had been to resume her duties. Unlike their normal procedure of raising the Sun or Moon from their respective towers, Luna had opted to fly above the clouds tonight. With a flutter of wings and feathers, the keeper of the night soared into the sky that was still painted with the vestiges of the Sun’s retreat. She had been visible against the orange and red on the horizon for a little while before slipping upwards, into the purple night sky.
The white alicorn smiled softly when she had noticed her younger sibling’s show. While resting on the covered balcony, she let her mind swirl with thoughts. The most pervasive were about her sister. Even so, Celestia let her thoughts drift to her student. She had been spending time with her pupil, Twilight Sparkle, throughout the day. Any time they would have spent talking during the Grand Galloping Gala had been crushed by the formality of the event itself. Celestia was quite disappointed with herself that she had ever thought that such a royal ball style party would be something she would be able to stand. Most of her subjects seemed to enjoy it, however, so it happened once a year. This particular Gala had not been all bad. Twilight and her five friends had given her quite a lovely night, though she did have to oversee the cleanup afterwards. It was worth it to have had a fun Gala at last. So absorbed was the Princess in her thoughts, she missed the sound of her door creaking open and closed.
“Princess, you asked for me?” Twilight asked gently, not wanting to bother her mentor while she was in this state. Celestia gave no response, her mind still fraught and occupied by other things. A stifled cry of pain and the sound of a hoof hitting marble the wrong way made the princess give a start. She glanced over her shoulder to see that Twilight had missed the slightly elevated edge of the balcony. Reassuringly, the purple pony did not appear to be hurt; though Celestia knew that a bruised ankle could linger. She had done the same thing herself countless times.
“Ah, Twilight. Sorry if I woke you up.” Celestia whispered. “I do hope you are alright.” She added, turning back to the night’s sky. The moonlight ran along her multi-colored mane and sparkles danced in the air. Her wings sat proudly against her back, and her white fur seemed to give off its own glow. “I just thought you might want to see this,” The Princess’ voice was soft, but audible over the rain. Her pupil gave a bow, but quickly straightened at the wave of a hoof. “Oh, Twilight ... You don’t need to be so formal when we’re alone.” A frown flashed across Twilight’s face for a brief moment as the unicorn looked behind Celestia. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, Princess,” A forced smile appeared on the unicorn’s mouth, but her tone was shaky and uncertain. “And, no. You didn’t wake me.” A reassuring smile from Celestia calmed her pupil somewhat. For a moment, Twilight fidgeted at the threshold of the balcony, as if unsure. A flash of light cut gracefully across the sky in the background, cascading through the clouds. Celestia turned her head so she could glance back up for a moment, her mane flowing over her right eye as it had a habit to. A hoof held it back as she shifted her attention back to her student.
“If you are sure,” Celestia moved to stand before her pupil, lowering her head so Twilight would feel less intimidated. “Why don’t you join me?” Her smile widened a slight bit and she closed her eyes, hoping that her pupil would accept. Maybe she would find out what was wrong as well.
As Twilight made her way onto the short balcony, Celestia moved to face the grayish purple sky. Keeping her wings folded, as she did not want to accidentally hit her student, the alicorn tucked her legs underneath her body. The princess did her best to stifle a giggle as her student rushed to the marble railing and leaned in close to the rain.
“What do you think of the show my sister is giving all of us?” Celestia asked, glancing at the younger pony.
“It’s beautiful...” Twilight whispered to herself, forgetting that she was not alone for a moment. She lost all sense of disappointment from missing her chance to stargaze. There would be another night. This was a much more grand sight, and she had even met Princess Luna properly (as she had only been able to share a few words with the Princess of the moon prior) a few hours before. “I hadn’t noticed that the night could be this.” She paused for a moment, bringing a hoof to her chin. “Beautiful. I mean, I know it is wonderful on very clear nights when you can see the stars, but...”
“Twilight,” Celestia giggled, moving to stand next to her and nudge her gently with a her nose. “The night is always beautiful. You might not see it all the way through, but you see it in your dreams; in the stars; and in the moon.” The Princess lifted herself with two hooves on the banister, copying Twilight. “Something like this would be hard to do with the Sun. It’s too bright.” Twilight took her eyes from the sky and looked over at Celestia. “When Luna and I first brought harmony to the world, I was jealous. No one can truly look at the Sun. It hurts a pony’s eyes. But her Moon... the Moon is such a wonderful sight while nestled in between the stars.” She glanced at Twilight and smiled. “But I suppose everypony thinks, at some point, that what they do is not as beautiful as what others do. Despite the fact that everything has its own beauty.” Celestia gave a sigh and stopped for a moment. “How about you, Twilight; any jealousy between your friends?”
“A couple of times, Princess. But it was almost always a misunderstanding.” The unicorn said confidently, after thinking for a moment. “In the end it always seemed so... Petty.” She turned back to the rain. “In the end, true friends can overcome any differences or disagreements between them.”
“Yes, you sent me a letter about that.” Celestia whispered softly, the sound of the driving rain almost overpowering her voice. “But with all of the letters you send me, I feel like I should tell you something about myself ...” She paused for a moment to make sure her pupil was listening. “So, is there anything you would like to know?”
“I read about the Mare in the Moon,” Twilight began before glancing up at the sky once more. “And it talked about you and Luna bringing harmony to the world... But how did you do it, exactly?” The unicorn gave a questioning look at her mentor for a moment. Silence followed before Celestia gave a sigh. “Surely you must have had-”
“It is a long story, Twilight. A very long story.” The Princess responded. “I haven’t told it in a long time. But, if you want to hear it, I will tell you it.” Twilight's eyes lit up and she eagerly stomped her hooves. The sight of someone so eager to hear a story like this made Celestia feel especially happy inside. It was one of her favorite stories to tell, though so few people asked after it. “I was born before Luna, to an alicorn like myself and a female unicorn. Our mother and father.”
***
Neither of us knew them well, though I can remember what they looked like at least. I was only a filly of ten when mother died during Luna’s birth. It was barely a year later when our father passed. During the brief time I had with mother, she tried to teach me about magic.Most of the time I only paid a little attention. I always thought that magic was boring. That it only temporarily fixed problems. If I had known how brief our time together would be, perhaps I would have enjoyed the time more. Once they were gone, I had to care for Luna myself. I didn’t mind it, really. For a while I blamed her for mother’s death. I had to grow up quickly to take care of the two of us though, and I stopped caring if it had been Luna’s fault or not.
After that I just wanted her to be safe. To be happy. She was all I had left. I never had the heart to tell her about mother and father. I still haven’t. Being the daughters of important nobles (we weren’t actually princesses then), we were given what we needed and were allowed to attend the school here in Canterlot. Luna always thought of us as the prized alicorn trophies of the regent back then. That she only kept us around because she wanted to show off the two sisters of a rare type of pony. I never thought about it much. It didn’t seem important.
It was a sunny day. Particularly hot here in Canterlot, though I don’t think I minded. Luna and I were studying magic and learning about flying. It was demanding to learn both at the same time. Luna was far better at magic than I was, but I didn’t mind. I could fly circles around her, and I did so often. She hated that I could fly so well... Her magic was far more practical though. Things were always changing. The weather moved on its own, animals took care of themselves, and strife was far too common to either of our liking. For earth ponies and the pegasi, it was a hard time. Crops didn’t always grow on time. Rains were sporadic and unpredictable.
We didn’t hear much of what went on elsewhere in Equestria. Canterlot was sheltered from most of it, since we had the best unicorns in the whole country. We used magic to grow our food if we could not get enough from elsewhere. The unicorns could create water or rain. Life was hard outside the marble walls. We read about it but never lived it.
Until one day when I challenged Luna to a race around Canterlot. We both knew she would lose, I just wanted an excuse to rub in how much better I was than her. It went as expected; I kept just enough ahead of her so she could see my tail. Then it all changed so fast...
As we raced, clouds rolled in. It wasn’t too much of an issue, as most of the race we would actually be above them. When we started we didn’t know it was going to do anything more than rain. We arced around one of the towers and angled down to go through the gardens. For a moment, both of us were over the edge of Canterlot. Since I was in the lead, I managed to get to the garden first. As I reached the grass, I heard a peal of thunder and Luna scream. At first I thought she was tricking me, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking back. My sister wasn’t there.
Luna and I would prank each other from time to time, but nothing like this. I could feel my heart race in my chest as I flew over the edge and looked down. She was falling towards the jagged edge of the mountain Canterlot sits on. Luna was all I had left. I couldn’t let her die without even trying. I would have rather died myself. I don’t know if she knew that before then; after all of the pranks I pulled on her, she might have thought I didn’t care about her.
Despite the rain, I arced into a dive and folded my wings back. The rocky edge on one side and nothing but a long fall on the other, but I forced myself to lock in on my falling sister. She had to be hurt, otherwise she would have been flying. I picked up speed much faster than she did, blowing past her; as I glanced back, I noticed she wasn’t moving. I dipped around, letting her fall on my back as I hung in the air for a moment. I was silently hoping to hear her breathe.
I did, and relief flowed through me. But the storm wasn’t done with us yet. A great gust caught under my wings and threw me away from the cliff. Even with the added weight of Luna I couldn’t stop myself. I could feel my body slowly turning, Luna slipping on my wet fur. I closed my eyes and focused, trying to at least keep Luna with me. Once I was sure I had a fairly good grip on her, I opened my eyes. The glow from my horn was reflecting off the rain around us as I struggled to fly. It must have been ten or so minutes that I was buffeted by the wind while trying to keep Luna with me, and keep us both aloft. At some point, everything went black. Just before I fell unconscious, I cursed how weak I was. How my pride had caused all this.
We were lucky. I would not be here if we hadn’t been. A group of pegasi caught us as we fell. At least, that’s what I was told. I assume it is true since I, and Luna, were alive. The bed I was in was so very soft. I remember making the distinct comparison as if I was sleeping on a cloud. Well, that ended up being far more true than I intended. The room was so beautiful and the bed so nice and soft that I thought I had died. Nothing could be this wondrous.
Then I saw Luna in the bed over, her wings wrapped in bandages and one hoof pressed against her chest. I stood with a start, only to find myself upon the cloud’s surface as my legs gave way. My body refused to work how I thought it should, and I didn’t know why. I dragged myself to Luna (with my saving grace being that the cloud did not scrape my legs and stomach like ground would have) and slowly lifted my head onto the mattress. Even with her unconscious, I could see she was in great pain. I was weak, but otherwise unharmed. Luna... Luna was in grave shape as far as I could tell. Silent tears ran down my face as I berated myself for letting this happen to her. I was older, I was stronger. I was supposed to look after her, and now she was lying in a bed and almost lost to me like mother and father. Why? Because of my pride. Because of my own arrogance. Because I wanted to feel like I was better than she was at something. In that moment I realized that I really didn’t care.
I just wanted Luna to be alright. I wanted her to be better.
My nose brushed into her sparkling, blue hued mane. I couldn’t be silent anymore, I heard my own muffled cries. They sounded so pathetic and weak, as if they were coming from far away. It felt as if it had been a long time that I laid there, on the ground (or cloud as it were) with my head against my sister’s back. Crying, begging her to even move. I cursed myself. My pride, my weakness, my foalishness. My mind raced with how I had failed. Failed Luna. Failed our father, and the promise I made to him before he died. I had been too weak to protect her. So weak that I had caused this. Maybe, I began to think, I wasn’t worthy of having anyone. Maybe they had all died because of me. I didn’t care how tired I was, or how hard it was to move. That would have all been fine if Luna would just move. If I could just hear her voice, no matter what she said.
***
Celestia looked back at her pupil for a moment. The princess sighed as disappointment flowed through her. Despite being interested in the story, Twilight had fallen asleep listening to her. It was quite early in the morning and the purple unicorn had not been as prepared as the Princess to stay up all night. Celestia smiled weakly to herself and draped a wing over her student, pulling her close. Her rainbow mane swirled lightly in the soft wind and her eyes slid closed. For a moment she contemplated taking a short nap herself. Luna would appreciate the chance to raise the Sun. She so rarely got the chance.
With a flutter, the alicorn's eyes opened as she noticed the rain had stopped. The smell that followed a good rain had started filling the air. With the moon was just teasing the horizon with the last vestiges of its presence in the sky, and soon the princess would raise the Sun this month. She wasn’t sure when Twilight had fallen asleep, but it was alright. There would be another time. Her pupil needed her rest; the unicorn always worked so hard. Celestia lifted Twilight, the alicorn’s horn aglow. Her mane sparkled in the last light of the moon as she took the young filly down the hall to Twilight’s room, and set her in bed and tucked he comfortable sheets around the mare. For a moment, Celestia simply gazed over the calm face of her well loved student.
The white alicorn swallowed back the slight pain and regret that was flowing through her right now. she had cut off her story at a very emotional section to her. Some of it she did not want to linger too long. So she devised a little prank on Twilight.The amusement would hopefully help push the more painful memories from her mind. Fun. Happy thoughts. Luna was alright now; adjusting slowly, but alright. With a shake of her head, she did her best to seal the pain and regret away for right now. She could cry when she got back to her room if she felt she had to.
With a weak smile, the princess of the Sun lifted an inkwell from her pupil’s desk along with a quill. She gently painted a monocle and moustache on the violet pony’s sleeping face. She then silently sealed the ink and set it back down, only to quickly pick it back up again. It would not feel right for her to not leave Twilight a note. She pulled a piece of parchment and set it down on the book stand next to her pupil’s bed and scribbled a quick note, letting the young mare know that she would hear the rest of the story tomorrow, and not to feel bad she had fallen asleep. Now content, she set the ink down one final time and sealed it up so it would not dry out.
As Celestia left Twilight’s room she heard a flutter of wings marking her sister’s return. The younger alicorn flew in through a window that had been opened after the rain had stopped, and landed daintily on the carpet a few feet ahead of her sister. For a moment, the light blue and purple pony did her best to stifle a giggle, but ended up letting out a loud laugh. Celestia gave her sister a questioning look, only to have Luna point a hoof at her mane. The elder of the two sisters glanced back, doing her best to see the pastel colored fur, but could not quite turn her head far enough. With a sigh, she shook her head and turned it around in front of her.
In the glow of her horn and the setting moon, she saw that the normally rainbow colored mane was spotted with black. Her look of confusion was too much for Luna to handle, the younger princess falling on her back and laughing. Somewhat tired, her older sister missed the connection.
“Luna, what is so funny?” Celestia asked, quite sincerely. Her sister could not quite manage a response, and the two pegasi guards were visibly trying not to laugh.
“I cannot believe-” Luna started, only to be cut off by another bout of her own laughter. After a moment she took a deep breath and stood up, still giggling somewhat. “I cannot believe that you would fall for that, sister.” Celestia was still confused. She could not imagine that Luna had pulled a prank on her, as the younger alicorn had been busy all night.
“Luna, dear,” Celestia began again. “What happened to my mane?” Her sister finally seemed to get a hold of herself for long enough to respond.
“I cut a hole on the bottom of the inkwell in your student’s room, sister.” Luna managed to gasp. “I figured you would try to prank her, as you do to me.”
“Well, you both know I-” She stopped and her eyes went wide. “You made me get ink on my mane!? This will take FOREVER to wash out.” Despite it being her own fault, the older alicorn frowned at her sister. It was much easier to get ink out of normal fur than a mane. Her frown was more for show than out of disappointment. It had been such a well thought out prank by her sister, and she was happy to see Luna’s playful side.
“I had NO idea you would hold it over your mane. You love it so.” Luna responded, a bit of sarcastic emphasis on the ‘no’. She gave a squeal as her sister playfully charged at her, and Luna decided to follow along with the game. The light blue maned filly turned and galloped off down the hall, sliding left at the first side corridor. Celestia was quick to follow.
“Should we-” Began one guard, the other cut him off with a shake of his head. The two princess’ were heading deeper into the castle, and knew better than to chase each other around outside. It was probably best to let them have their fun.