"Celestia! Luna! It's time to wake up! Rise and shine! Breakfast in five minutes!" The unicorn sisters yawned and sat up next to each other in bed. Mother was making haycon and eggs and the smell was creeping up the stairs of the row house, reminding them of their empty stomachs, which warred against the call of the blankets on this cold morning. But no matter, it was a school day and no amount of pleading, begging or lying could possibly save them.
"Race you!" Luna bounded out of bed with the boundless energy of a preschooler. Celestia, however, had learned the art of treachery as any grammar school student who survived to second grade must. The door slammed, the knob glowing with a pink nimbus. "Hey, no fair!" Luna turned, outraged that her sister would stoop to such low tactics. Again. As usual.
Celestia rolled out of the bed, shook her pink mane and combed it at the vanity with five economical strokes. She then sent the brush flying at her kid sister, who scowled but did not flinch, knowing full well that her big sister would never actually strike her. The brush stopped short of her head and she grudgingly bent her neck to allow her mane to be untangled. As usual, it took more than five strokes. More like twenty.
The older, pure white unicorn sighed, despairing of her little sister, whose dark blue coat and mane were so lovely, distinctive and utterly unkempt without the strictest of supervision. Many unicorns had white coats, but nopony had the midnight blue of Luna. "You know what mother said, Luna. We must always care for our appearance. We may not have the fine jewelry, collars and shoes like some of the other fillies at school, but that's not an excuse to be ragamuffins. Besides, don't you want to look nice for Father?"
Luna brightened at the mention of her father. "Oh yes, please! Do you think I should wear a ribbon?"
"Yes, what a lovely idea! How about one of these white ones?" Luna nickered happily as Celestia made a bow to hold back her luxurious mane from her face. All it took to change her from a hellion to a princess was to suggest that Father might like to see her looking her best. At least for ten minutes.
"Now quickly, downstairs!" Celestia opened the door and Luna bounced out to the hallway and down the staircase to the living room, galloped past the couch and charged into the kitchen, followed by her serene older sister.
"Hello. my little one!" Press Force, a large, jet black unicorn with a grey mane and tail reached over to his youngest with his good foreleg to pat her on the mane. "Don't you look pretty this morning?" Luna looked so pleased with herself that it was a wonder she didn't explode with self-satisfaction.
Celestia entered the kitchen at a more sedate pace and smiled at her father. "Good morning, sir." She could not help glancing at his crippled right foreleg, the one that had been crushed at the factory when one of the other lifters allowed their attention to lapse and a steam piston weighing several hundred pounds came crashing down, nearly killing him. Luna was too young to remember that day, but Celestia would never forget it, her powerful dada lying in a bed while physicians in lab coats argued about amputation.
"Don't you sir me, young filly! Come here and give your old sire a kiss!" Celestia obeyed happily, pecked him on the cheek and sat down at the table across from Luna.
"Hot stuff coming through!" Star Gazer was cream colored with a lavender mane and tail and was referred to, by Press Force at any rate, as a great beauty. She was certainly the most attractive mare at the Royal Observatory where she worked, as she was the only mare, where the old stallions spent their time cataloging stars and searching for asteroids. It had been her voice at the bedside that had made the deciding vote. Celestia remembered it clearly. "I know it is more dangerous, but my husband would want you to try to save his foreleg. He wouldn't want to live as less than a full stallion."
How she hated her mother that day, but upon reflection, it worked out, and her father was able to work, though not as a force lifter anymore. He now worked at a desk, tracking the receipt of rolled steel and the production of parts for steam engines at Pipe & Fitting, LP. It didn't pay as well, but he wasn't a total cripple on the dole and Celestia knew he would have wasted away like that. She forgave her mother when she was old enough to understand her decision, but it had strained their relationship to a degree. "May I help you, mother?"
"No, thank you 'Tia. I've got it," her mother sang. The serving plates of haycon, eggs and crispy home fried potatoes, as well as the plates for their meals, the serving spoons, silverware and drinks, coffee for the adults, milk for the children, spiraled in and onto the table as a lavender glow suffused the room. The meal was set in an instant with nary a drop spilled nor a potato overboard. Star Gazer could not lift nearly as much as Press Force, or at least as much as he had been able to lift before the accident, but she could manipulate multiple small objects simultaneously, which made her very useful to the Senior Astronomer at the Royal Observatory of Unicornia. Her fine control allowed her to adjust instrumentation nearly twice as quickly as her co-workers. Of course, with two fillies, she wasn't able to work the late hours that some of her peers did, and that left her working in the solar studies experimental section. It was somewhat important, Celestia thought, but not where the real night time action was.
The meal was, of course, delicious. Celestia had thought before that her mother could make a good living as a cook, a singer, a juggler, an actress, practically anything. She was gifted and graceful and intelligent, and all she wanted to do was stay cooped up with some old stallions in an observatory, taking photographs of the sun, tracking storms and recording sunspot activity. As if that was a matter of life and death.
"Momma," said Luna around a mouthful of eggs. Her mother hushed her and told her to swallow first. Luna complied and continued, "There is a new colt at preschool. He's a pegasus. I didn't know pegasuses could go to school with unicorns. He's funny looking without a horn and with those weird wings and he can't even fly and I think he has cooties like the unicorn colts do."
Star Gazer frowned at her youngest. "Luna! First off, the plural is pegasi, and there's nothing wrong with being born a pegasus. That must be Cloud Striker's son, Cirrus. She started working at the Observatory last week and we were lucky to get her. She ensures that we have clear skies for our observations and that is very important. And he does not have cooties, and neither do the other colts. I hope you are being nice to him!" Luna shrugged and continued eating.
Press Force's eyebrows went up. "They hired a weather warden? This late in the year? They must really be stretching the budget for that!"
"We had to make some cuts, but we needed to be able to observe the storm activity through the entire two week cycle and that was the only way. And she's nice enough. A little brash and pushy, you know how wardens can be. But she gets the job done, that is for sure!"
"Well, if the Academy and the Council think it's worth it... I know that pegasi eat like nopony else, with their metabolisms! And the earth ponies already pay wardens very well to keep the rains regular. With two bad winters in a row, I'm sure that the demand for sunshine in the day and rain at night is higher than ever!"
Star Gazer smiled and swallowed her mouthful of haycon. "That's why the Academy has been looking at the solar program so closely these days. We want to determine if the sunspot cycles are predictors of weather patterns. That will help us forecast the weather for the earth ponies, and our forecasting is the primary revenue generator for the Observatory. Pegasi can keep it dry or make it wet locally for a short time, but they can't control temperatures or large scale weather patterns." Forcused Force nodded.
Celestia listened closely, barely tasting her food as her parents spoke. So, the behavior of the sun determines the weather? That makes sense. And if you can tell what the weather is going to be like, you can tell the farmers when to plant so that frost won't kill their crops! I guess my mom's work really is pretty important!
The family finished up and Celestia and Luna went to wash the dishes. Well, Celestia washed while Luna played with the water, and made bubbles, but she was trying. Then it was time for everypony to head off to work and school. Celestia kissed her family goodbye and went off to the schoolbus stop, while Luna went with her mom to be dropped off at Foal Follies and her dad put his brace on and limped to the bus going to the factory.
The bus driver clip-clopped up, pulling a long yellow carriage filled with noisy colts and fillies. There was only one seat left. Ugh. Not that Starswirl guy! What a weirdo! Celestia reluctantly planted herself next to the class nerd and sighed. He didn't look up from the book he was reading. Rude. Typical. "The Mechanics of Solar Convection" is more interesting than I am. Wait a minute.... "Starswirl?"
Starswirl, a short, thin colt with thick glasses and a rather unusual hat with bells on it, looked up with a start from his book, jingling. "Ce-Ce-Celestia? You know my name?"
"Of course I know your name, you hoofhead! Why wouldn't I know your name?"
"Uh, because you've never spoken to me before and you're the prettiest filly in the class and uh, oh gosh..." He turned bright red under his gray coat.
"Did you just say I'm the prettiest filly in class? Really? Um... thanks! That was sweet!" She blushed a bit too. "Nopony except my parents ever said I was pretty before. I'm just another white unicorn, nothing special."
Starswirl shook his head, his denial jangling. "No, no that isn't true. You're v-very special, Celestia. You're not only the prettiest filly, I've n-never seen you bullying anypony or cheating or talking out of turn to the teachers. You helped Summer Rain up when she tripped in the cafeteria last week. You took the blame for breaking the tank in Mrs. Hoofworthy's class when I know it wasn't you, it was Curry Comb who wanted to see the iguana and you were afraid he'd get suspended."
"You were watching me?" Celestia felt a little creeped out.
"Well, I'm an observer. I can't help it. And you are the prettiest filly in class." He ventured a shy smile and she giggled. "Celestia, you're good. I don't mean good at something, though you are good at plenty of things, but you are good in your heart. You're a good pony. And I like you."
"You LIKE me?" Celestia's jaw almost hit the floor.
"Yes." He looked her right in her eyes and she looked and saw that his eyes were a warm amber behind the thick lenses. Warm, kind, honest... wait, what the hay is going on here?
She waved her hoof in front of her face to cool herself down. "N-now Starswirl, I mean, um... thank you... that's very sweet. You're a very nice colt." She swallowed. "Um... I like... you...r... hat?"
He smiled and jingled. "Thanks! My dad gave it to me!"
"But what I really wanted to ask you about was your book. Isn't that a college textbook?"
"Well, yeah... I want to study solar mechanics and I thought I already finished all the prerequisite work, but the math in this is a little beyond me. Maybe you could help?"
"How in Unicornia could I help?"
"Um... really?" He closed the book and showed her the cover. The Mechanics of Solar Convection by Star Gazer.
"My mom wrote a book!? I didn't know! I thought all she did was take pictures and try to predict the weather!"
"Your mom is one of the leading astrophysicists in the Kingdom and she knows more about solar physics than almost anypony. Say, could I meet her some time?"
"Starswirl, we've known each other five minutes and you want to meet my parents?"
"Well, you are the prettiest filly in class!"
"And you're a charmer. When did this happen? Did you ever even speak to a filly before?" Celestia was practically breathless from his bravado and courage.
"Well, I figure I may never get this chance again, so I better put my best hoof forward. Besides, you're such a good pony, if I make any mistakes you'll forgive me." He smiled again, looking her directly in the eyes, furiously blushing.
"I'm not. Not good. Not special. Stop looking at me like that. I'm not the pony you think I am. I didn't even know my mother wrote the book you were reading. What kind of daughter am I?" Celestia wiped tears away as the bus came to a stop and she got up.
She then realized the entire class was looking at her. Her and Starswirl. And you could hear a pin drop. Then one of the fillies in the back started to giggle. The giggling spread and became laughter. Somepony started singing "Swirly and 'Tia, sittin' in a tree..."
She fled the bus crying.