//------------------------------//
// Sister's Love 
// Story: Mother of the Moon 
// by Noble Thought 
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To the other fillies her age, the Hall of Hooves was a scary place. Even colts, full of bravado and pride, hesitated to follow Luna when she traipsed down the hall filled with ancient armor. To them, it was a place where ghosts of the past lingered, and reaching hooves lined the walls, ready to ensnare them.
 
To Luna, it was a place where the past lived. She’d read all about the armors, or her sister had told her about them, and the armored forelegs reaching out from the walls were just the canted legs of hidden stallions and mares, their heads held high and proud as the celestial sisters walked its length.
 
Few knew its secrets better than her. There were even a few that she was almost certain Celestia knew nothing about. Like the tiny tunnel, too small for anypony but a filly to squeeze through, that led to a culvert which, in turn, led to a high archway and then to a tiny little cistern, long disused, with a crack where she could see into her sister’s bedroom.
 
It was in that little room that Luna hid when she wanted to get away from the stares and the whispers, or when she wanted to be closer to her sister. It was in that little room that Luna had first heard her sister’s muffled weeping, almost a year before.
 
She never knew why Celestia cried, but the sound of her sister crying, and trying to hide it under a pillow or, sometimes, in the chest of the captain of her guard, made her want to cry with her. But, whenever she went to her sister’s room, even if she knew that ‘Tia had been crying not minutes before, she was always serene, calm, and collected.
 
It irked her that ‘Tia never let her in while she was distraught. She could be just as strong. Celestia was always there for her. Why couldn’t she let Luna be a sister, too? Well. If she couldn’t be there for her in the open, she would have to find a way to be there for her in secret.
 
She covered up the crack with a hoof and leaned back from it. Celestia had stopped crying finally, and fallen asleep. A plan began to formulate in her mind while the favorite line from her favorite adventure book played back through her mind in Celestia’s voice.
 
“And so the young filly began a journey fraught with peril, not knowing to what end she might find herself, or to where she might go. So began the Mysterious Mission.”
 



 
The next day dawned too early for Luna, who’d been up far past her bedtime, listening to the moon. Few ponies knew that the moon sung at night. Celestia knew. She could still remember the way her sister sang to her in the moon’s voice, drifting out of a dim memory from the cusp of sleep while she lay nestled under the warm, white, feathered blanket of her sister’s wing.
 
A yawn tickled at her throat, threatening to alert the tutor that she was barely paying attention. She’d heard the history the tutor was going over half a dozen times already, from the guard ponies who were there. The Razing of Cantercourt was a popular tale of heroics among the guards that were tasked with protecting Luna and her sister.
 
Of course, they went on about the battle, not the reasons for it. Those were boring. But the creatures the corrupted unicorns had pulled up from another dimension. Those were interesting. If a little terrifying. Okay, a lot terrifying.
 
Shining Light’s torn ear was a constant reminder to her that it had been a terrible battle, hard won, with the guard captain barely escaping with a dozen of his finest before the final spell misfired, leveling the city.
 
That had been the day Star Swirl died, staying behind to halt the terrible ritual. Now that she thought of it, maybe that was the reason Celestia cried so much at night. Star Swirl had taught her sister everything she knew about magic. Well, almost everything.
 
Twenty years was a long time, though. More than twice Luna’s age. She couldn’t imagine holding onto grief for that long, but she supposed it was possible. Her sister was at least three times that old. Or something like that. Just thinking about that long of a span of time was making her yearn for sleep again.
 
Luna puffed a breath and pushed back the yawn again. The sun drifted lazily through the sky, perfectly framed by a window high in the school chamber. Whatever it was that made Celestia so sad, Luna had to find a way to make her happy again.
 
“...daydreaming, again?”
 
The voice startled Luna out of her thoughts.
 
Gilded Page, a golden coated unicorn with a white mane, the history tutor, was looking down at her. The lecture notes Mrs. Page held up in front of her, the notes that Luna had been doodling on without even thinking about it, showed her sister’s cutie mark with a tear falling from it.
 
She looked around to see all of the other fillies and colts, the other born to rule ponies, trying their best not to stare at her. That was worse than if they’d pointed hooves and laughed.
 
“I expect an answer, young lady.”
 
“I was thinking about my sister.” It was the honest truth, but it didn’t seem to satisfy Mrs. Page. “I want to make her happy.”
 
“We all do.” The tutor’s glare eased. “You can make her most happy right now by paying attention, Luna.”
 
“Yes, Mrs. Page.” Luna took the notebook back from her and turned a new page. The rising sun in the window beckoned to her, though. Its song was no less sweet than the one sung by the moon at night.
 
She blocked out the music thrumming through her horn and tried her best to focus on the boring lecture about the history of the Alicorn Amulets: why they had been pivotal in the Ascendancy War, and why the war had so nearly brought about the end of everything at the Razing of Cantercourt drifted over her.
 
Boring history stuff.
 
She stifled another yawn and wished she could hear it again from Shining Light, who’d been there. Maybe she could ask him next time she snuck into the barracks.
 



 
Later in the day, sitting with her sister at the dinner table in Celestia’s quarters, Luna had a question she wanted to ask. But she wasn’t sure how to ask it. So, instead of trying to figure it out or blurt something nonsensical, she poked at the steamed broccoli and tubers on her plate.
 
“Why can’t we have something with hay? I’ve never tried hay before.” Luna prodded what she thought might be a steamed carrot, or a small sweet potato. It was so covered in a mushroom sauce that she couldn’t tell. It smelled wonderful, of course. Nothing Flaky Crust ever made tasted bad, but it was always so rich and decadent.
 
“It wouldn’t be seemly,” Celestia said, smiling down the table at her. Celestia looked to the left and right, then leaned forward and the princessly mien slipped away for a moment of quiet laughter. “You’re not missing anything, Luna. I’ve tried hay. It’s very bland.”
 
Her big sister, giggling? Of course, there weren’t any servants in the room. This was one of the few times that Celestia would not budge on privacy. It was special, these dinners.
 
“I’d still like to try some.” She lifted a branch of broccoli and sniffed it. “The guards all eat hay and oats. Shining Light—”
 
“Shining Light has enough troubles, Luna. I know you like him, but please—” Celestia just stopped talking and smiled. “Don’t take too much of his time.”
 
“Really?”
 
“Yes, Luna.” Celestia took another bite of her meal, but Luna thought she saw something cross her muzzle, a purse of the lips, a slight furrow of the brow. Nothing more than a ghost of an emotion, quickly wiped away.
 
Her vegetables didn’t look any more appetizing. The most appetizing thing was the mystery of Celestia’s strangeness. She couldn’t have been the only one to notice it, but none of the other ponies that spent a lot of time around Celestia seemed to pay any attention to her odd moods.
 
Luna tried to think of anypony else who might have noticed that she could talk to. Shining Light knew. She could see it in the way he looked at Celestia when he thought nopony else would see him, but he kept Celestia’s secrets closer than his own skin.
 
The nobility of the Solarium had almost certainly noticed, but Celestia had made her opinion quite clear about them in the few unguarded moments after a meeting gone bad. No, she definitely couldn’t talk to them about Celestia’s moods. The rest of the castle staff seemed mostly oblivious to the sisters and their daily routines. They had their own lives that dominated their attentions.
 
She frowned at her plate and held back a sigh.
 
Across the table, Celestia looked up. “What’s wrong, Luna?”
 
“I love you, ‘Tia.”
 
Celestia opened her mouth, brow furrowing again for less than a blink of the eye, and then warm, but still serene, and calm big sister ‘Tia was back.
 
“I love you too, Luna.”
 
The mysterious mission was becoming more mysterious by the minute. She bent back to her vegetables and tried not to stare across the table to try and figure it out. The weight of something unsaid pressed down on her, something as mournful as the moon’s song when it went back to sleep, yet also joyous like the sun’s waking serenade.
 
“‘Tia?”
 
“Yes, Luna?”
 
“Can I raise the moon tonight?” It wasn’t what she wanted to ask, but Celestia smiled all the same. It was a genuine smile, not the court smile she wore so often.
 
“Of course you may.”
 
A glimmer of an idea began to dawn in Luna’s mind.
 



 
Luna concentrated on the form of the spell that Celestia held still for her, shifting her horn around the source of the subtle vibrations distorting the ether. It was complex, with loops of trailing vibrations that whispered across hair thin filaments of something she couldn’t quite feel. It was also elegant, with each bit feeling like it needed to be there, wanted to be there.
 
“Can you feel it?”
 
Luna looked up at the sun, still descending slowly towards the horizon. It amazed her that Celestia could focus on two such complex spells simultaneously and not flub either one. Then again, she did have a lot of practice. Luna, by contrast, had had to sit very still for a long time before she could feel the spell and even begin to examine it.
 
“I can!”
 
“Good.” Celestia released the minute binding of magic holding it together, letting it vanish with a slight, audible pop. “Now try to recreate just the form of the spell so I can look at it.”
 
It was difficult, at first, to remember the correct order of the forms of the spell. But once she started, it was like the ether wanted her to go this way or that, and so she did. Her will traced along the pull of the ether, and she only had to stop so she could block out a new ethereal noise. The sun certainly wasn’t helping either, its nighttime aria to the world washed around the fragile construct that would, hopefully, call its sister.
 
Once she was done drawing her will through the ether, she paused to feel the form of the spell and pushed the tiniest bit of magic into the weave to keep it steady.
 
It took all of her concentration just to hold the form. The ether helped. Once there was power thrumming through the construct, it didn’t want to move until she put an effort of will into it.
 
“Very good, Luna. However, you’re missing the most important part.” Celestia let go of her remaining spell as the sun drifted below the horizon and turned her attention back on the spell Luna was trying to keep from being washed away by the sun’s mournful farewell. “Can you tell me what it is?”
 
Missing the most important part? She probed the spell with her horn, head swinging back and forth slowly as she traced the careful arc of the moon’s path, and the ties that bound it to the center, each one just perfectly balanced with each other. It was all in balance, and she could almost feel the moon’s presence.
 
She blinked. The moon’s song!
 
Letting go of the spell, she stilled herself completely and listened to the ebb and wash of the ether against her horn. The moon wasn’t up, but that wouldn’t stop her from hearing it. I hope.
 
The background noise of the magics in use all around her began to fade away: the unicorns and their focused, sharp notes; the sweeping, unfocused thrum of pegasi flying through the air; even the feel of the deeper, almost basso rumble of the earth pony gardener tending to his personal vegetable patch.
 
All of it faded as she listened to the weaving of magic throughout the world. The loudest and most compelling, therefore the hardest to ignore, were all examined and discarded. Then, faintly, she could hear the sound of the moon, idling far away, its song muted by the distance, but not silenced. She listened to it for what felt like a long time, then opened her eyes and looked up.
 
Celestia was staring down at her, an unfathomable expression of… It vanished, but had been so like the same expression she’d seen at dinner.
 
Celestia retreated behind the mask again before Luna could even begin to guess at the reason for the sad, lonely expression.
 
“‘Tia...” Ask her, silly. “Is it the moon’s voice?” She could have slapped herself, but instead smiled up at Celestia.
 
“Yes it is.” Celestia’s smile, at least, was genuine. “Now, do you need me to show you the construct again, or do you think you can manage it this time?”
 
“I can do it. Just watch me, ‘Tia!” She turned away again and closed her eyes, intent on the spell again. She didn’t see Celestia watching her as she laid the spell out in a more precise manner, the effort of her will more directed this time with the sound of the moon’s song still fresh in her memory.
 
Tears streamed down Celestia’s cheeks. The mask had fallen off completely, and she didn’t even try to put it back on. Her heart was full to bursting with pride. She couldn’t hold it back any longer, even in spite of the potential consequence of showing too much pride.
 
I am, Luna. Oh, sweet Celestials, I am so proud of you.
 



 
Luna woke early and excited. It was going to be a special day: the day she let her big sister Celestia sleep in and not worry about raising the sun for once.
 
Something was bothering her, and Luna was determined to find out what. She did sit on the Throne of Mysteries, after all. It was her job, boring though it was, to watch over the courts and ensure that justice was done. Ferreting out the secrets that plaintiffs and defendants tried to hide was a part of that job.
 
Celestia did most of that, though. Trials and judging were boring and scary at the same time. She didn’t even want to think about how that worked.
 
She glanced over the edge of the covers at the crack between her door and the floor. Two shadows flickered back and forth in the feeble torchlight outside.
 
She had a plan. It was long before dawn, at least an hour, and her sister would be sleeping soundly in her chambers down the hallway, past guards and watch-golems and creepy, set her mane on end spells. There was no way she was going down the hallway.
 
Instead, there was a tiny little window that had once been used to let in messenger birds, before the formation of an organized mail corps. It was just big enough that Luna could squeeze through, and small enough that the castle guard didn’t even bother to set a watch-ward spell on it, just a simple locking spell that Luna had broken apart just last night.
 
Next, she had the little doll that Celestia had made for her. Well, not so little to the eight year old Luna, but that was a good thing this time. Maybe the silken, Luna sized ‘Tia doll would satisfy the guard when he poked his head in to check on her.
 
The door creaked and a streamer of light poured in, followed by the head of her personal guard, Quicksilver. Luna scrambled to the far side of the bed before the light could reach her.
 
A light shone through the room briefly, illuminating every shadow, then winked out. “Is everything alright, Princess? I thought I heard something.”
 
“E-everything’s okay, Quicksilver. I just had a funny dream.” It was an effort to keep from laughing out loud.
 
She could almost see Quicksilver trying to stifle a grin. “If you say so, Princess. Try to get some more sleep.” He paused, and she almost did see him smile. “Your sister isn’t even up yet.”
 
Good to know! She waited for the door to close and listen for the sound of his hooves scraping the stone as he settled back into his steady, ready guard position. She waited a moment longer, and heard the solid thunk of his halberd coming to rest on the floor. Whatever else he was, kind soldier and friendly, he was serious about his job.
 
She kept an eye on the shadows under the door as she slipped from around the bed on slippered hooves, careful to keep not step on any of the myriad of mostly imaginary things scattered about the room. ‘Tia’s still, glassine eyes watched her from the pillow.
 
“Good ‘Tia. Just wait here and don’t worry. I’m just going to surprise my sister.”
 
She dragged out a small sack from under her bed and looked inside. Everything was still there, all the necessary items for the Mysterious Mission. and glanced at the door one last time. The shadow of her protector hadn’t shifted one bit.
 
Mysterious Mission is a go! She fluttered her wings and took off for the window high above the floor, the one she’d left unlatched the day before, and slipped out into the night.
 



 
The castle grounds were full of hiding places, but most of them were ones that she wasn’t supposed to be in when nopony else was around. Not after that incident in the Hall of Hooves when she’d gotten trapped in the secret room for who the hoof knew how long. Celestia had found her first, and she’d learned later that there’d been a castle-wide search for her, almost ready to spread into the surrounding town. That had been the first, and thus far only, time she’d seen her sister actually close to a blind panic.
 
It’d been the first time her sister had openly wept in front of her. They were tears of relief, but they’d hurt Luna no less for having been the cause. That didn’t stop Luna from exploring to her heart’s content. Of course not. She was, aside from being a curious filly, the Lady of Mysteries. It was her job to learn secrets others wished kept hidden.
 
Like the fact that Mrs. Pastry put sours into Verity Song’s milk after she’d said something nasty about the chef’s daughter. Or that Verity hadn’t drunk milk since. Little secrets. Nothing like what it felt Celestia was trying to keep hidden from her. But she was happy to let that mystery go for a little longer. Celestia would tell her in time. The Mysterious Mission wasn’t one of discovery, but relief. She was going to be the mystery for her sister to figure out.
 
She stifled a giggle and landed carefully on an eave just under a frightening looking gargoyle. Luna’d named him Gigglepants when she first saw him. He didn’t object to it, so the name stuck. Now, she waited in Giggle’s shadow and watched for the pegasus patrol to pass by, regular as the rising and setting of the sun and moon.
 
When they passed, she slipped out of the shadows and braved the moon’s silver glow until she reached the next gargoyle in the line facing outwards. Snortleface was kind enough to have big, wide wings that she could nestle under and wait for the ground patrol to pass by underneath her.
 
And so she crept around the eave, ducking into the shadows and hiding from the patrolling pegasi sweeping the air and ground bound earth ponies and unicorns sweeping the grounds. She’d spent enough nights up past her bedtime to know their patterns, though, and she stayed out of sight until she came to the balcony where her sister stood to raise the sun each morning.
 
She waited. This part, she knew the least about. Celestia had often let her stay here in the early morning hours, but she was always focused on the sun’s welcoming aria and her sister’s joyous accompaniment to it, not to the guards around her.
 
There was a guard standing at attention just at the edge of the balcony, his horn aglow. She could see his face, barely, and peered closer. He turned just a bit so that his muzzle was in profile and his torn ear clearly silhouetted against the paler white marble of the balcony’s paving stones.
 
She almost flew down to meet him, but waited. He was her sister’s Captain of the Guard, after all. What if he decided that letting Celestia know that Luna was awake was more important than surprising her?
 
It was a risk that she would have to take. Setting her jaw, she swooped down to land on a broad cornice.
 
“Shining Light!” she hissed. “Hey, Shining Light!”
 
He turned, a frown on his face. When he saw Luna, the frown turned into a smile and he waved her over with a hoof. “You’re up early,” he hissed back at her when she landed in front of him, crouching down to slide back her hood and muss up her already messy mane. “Way too early.” He looked toward the glass walled entrance to Celestia’s chambers.
 
“Shhh. I know I’m up early, Shiny. But I want to be nice to ‘Tia and let her sleep in. Can you let me try to raise the sun for her? I just want to so badly.” She stared up at him, her muzzle set firmly. She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t!
 
He sighed and shook his head, “Woona, I can’t—”
 
“My name is Luna, Shiny. I’m not just a foal anymore. I raised the moon last night!” She puffed up her chest and lifted chin, holding him still with her stare. At least, that’s what it was supposed to do. It seemed to work better when ‘Tia used it on the court.
 
“So you did.” He smiled down at her and ruffled her mane again. She could have sworn she saw tears in his eyes. He glanced between her and the glass wall once, then twice more before his head drooped. “Alright. Just this once, okay? And don’t go telling your sister on me.”
 
“Yes!” She clapped her hooves over her muzzle, and felt her ears flush. “Thank you. I won’t. Tell, I mean. I promise,” she whispered under her hooves.
 
“You’re welcome, your highness.” He bopped her nose lightly and straightened back up. “But you’re still an hour early to raise the sun. Celestia will be out here in about half an hour.”
 
“What?!” She could feel her plans crumble around her. It was going to be such a nice thing. She was going to raise the sun, then jump into bed with her sister and—
 
She actually hadn’t planned that far ahead. Sneak out. Raise the sun. Happy sister. Something else was supposed to happen maybe, and then—
 
She paused. Cookies?
 
Sniffles threatened, and she hid herself behind the edge of the cape. Shiny wouldn’t understand. ‘Tia was always there for her, always there to pick her up. She wanted to show ‘Tia that she could be just as strong, and be there for her too. It’s what sisters were supposed to do. She’d read that somewhere, or ‘Tia had read it to her.
 
It was something she had to do. She puffed up her chest again and nodded imperiously to Shining Light.
 
“Please, good Shiny—Shining Light. Can you distract my sister? I just need a little time.”
 
“Of course. It would be an honor to assist, m’lady.” He bowed, smiled, and ruffled her mane before leaving. He was so sweet. He was the only guard that bothered to treat her as anything other than a princess. She supposed being captain of the guard meant he could be a little less formal with her.
 



 
Inside the royal chambers, Shining Light approached Celestia’s bed quietly. The head of state for the Equestrian nation appeared to be sleeping. He knew better. She had trouble sleeping some nights, and he’d been out on the balcony ostensibly to keep watch, but he couldn’t watch her trying to pretend to sleep.
 
It hurt to watch her struggle to sleep. Celestia, once Summer Dawn, was the mare who’d faced down darkness and fear, and brought hope to his heart and the hearts of so many others. It wasn’t that he thought she would be ashamed of her inability to find rest. He had trouble sleeping for the same reasons she did, and being close to her while she struggled with them also wasn’t good for his heart.
 



 
Celestia waited, listening as the hooves stopped just shy of the bed. Her breathing sped up, and she sighed. “What is it, Shining?”
 
“Luna wanted me to distract you.” He slid into the bed behind her, resting his muzzle across her neck.
 
She was quiet for a long moment, then lifted her head off the pillow. “She did? Why?”
 
“She wants to let her sister sleep in, and raise the sun for you. Should I tell her you’re already awake?”
 
She groaned and spent a moment listening to the ether whispering past her horn. The sun was still waiting for her call, its song one of sleep, and the moon was just beginning to settle its song.
 
“No.” She twisted about for a moment, then resettled herself facing him, one wing extended to cover his side. “Let her give it a try. She might be able to. After all, she’s watched me do it often enough.”
 
He kissed her nose. “She might just, at that. She is her mother’s daughter.”
 
“And she has her father’s dogged determination.” Celestia kissed his nose in return and laid her muzzle alongside his horn, staring out at Luna, standing at the railing and looking up into the sky.
 
Luna, my daughter, how I love you.