Chapter 4: Just The Fractured Remnants, A Dream Horribly Shattered
For most ponies it seemed the day had lasted longer than usual. The sun beat mercilessly down on pony and other creatures alike. Some creatures relished the extra warmth, their blood warming to the radiant touch of the lingering star. Others were irked by the stellar reluctance, glancing at their watches in tired dismay as they pondered how they would sleep through this phenomenon. This had happened before, and it was a bad omen, but for most it was out of their hooves and they merely carried on with their lives, though perhaps with a measure of disquiet. Expert timekeepers would gaze up into the sky and wonder why today of all days the sun hesitated at the horizon.
It could be a herald for ominous things to come.
It could be a sign from the Sisters that something had displeased Them.
Or it could be a fearful backlash against a frightening realisation that something predatory would return.
“Sister…”
“No!”
“Sister.”
“No! Just a few more minutes!”
There was some pouting. It wouldn’t do to name names.
“SISTER!”
“No, please!”
“SISTER!” roared Luna, finally giving in to her more base instincts and snapping at the snow-white alicorn that lay pathetically on the floors of the royal bedchambers.
Luna usually had a great deal of patience. After all, one does not simply wait inside the moon for a thousand years and not have the patience to outlast Creation itself. However, today was a trying day for Luna. While she usually slept at this hour, Celestia had created a mound of problems by refusing to come out of her room. Through the day, Luna had to disguise herself as her sister, assuring ponies and acting as if nothing had gone astray.
There was much makeup and coat-dying involved, not to mention a persistent lack of sleep.
Luna felt that it was a bit odd that Celestia wanted to stay in the same room that she claimed the mysterious beast had appeared in, but Celestia was adamant that her bed sheet covers would protect her. She stayed plaintively huddled in the corner, whispering nonsensical things like ‘there’s no way it can breathe on my neck if there’s cloth covering it’ or ‘I’m in the corner, it can’t appear behind me, not this time!’
Truly, these were the sort of things that could try an alicorn’s patience. Especially when her favourite moon rock pet had disappeared.
Luna’s muzzle was creased with unsightly stress lines as she stormed towards her sister’s room. Kibitz, the Royal Scheduler, was a cream-coated unicorn with a prominent moustache. He apologetically informed Luna, with a mustache that bobbed somewhat hypnotically, that the sun had sat on the horizon for over a minute and had refused to move.
If Princess Luna could then be described as ‘unhappy’ or ‘annoyed’, now any combination of adjectives with similar meaning would be the understatement of the millennium. So, Luna had confronted her sister, which has lead to the interesting dialogue this whole tale had begun with. Here’s a refresher:
“Sister…” Luna started as she walked into her sister’s bedchambers. Celestia perked up but her eyes were flared with defiance. She knew why Luna had come.
“No!” Celestia shouted, diving under her velvet and satin bed sheets.
Luna sighed.
“Sister," she repeated, a little more ominously. Celestia peeked out from under the covers with a sheepish look but she didn’t yield.
“No! Just a few more minutes!” Celestia cried softly as Luna glared at her recalcitrant sister.
There was some pouting. I’m still not going to say from whom.
“SISTER!” Luna roared, her voice nearing Royal Canterlot levels.
“No, please!” Celestia pleaded, but Luna finally had enough. She stomped over the balcony, eyed the position of the sun, closed her eyes and willed the object to sink down past the horizon.
Celestia whipped her terrified eyes around the room as the shadows seemed to jump at her. She whimpered and covered her head with her bed sheets once more.
“No, I don’t want to see it again," she moaned.
Luna turned an unamused look at her illogically overreacting sibling but took a deep and calming breath before lighting up the room in a soft, moon-like glow.
Celestia was gently drawn out of her blanket-cocoon when she saw the light pervade the space.
“Better?” Luna asked as she yawned, tired and weary.
Celestia nodded silently, giving Luna a sheepish smile.
“Thank you Luna," she whispered.
The solar diarch made a noise between a cough and a grunt when Luna went for the door. Luna turned back with a bemused tilt of her head.
“Stay with me?” Celestia asked with big, round eyes.
Luna sighed.
Who was the bigger sister now?
——
“Go fish," Celestia cackled as Luna pawed at the deck with her hoof. She wondered why she wasn’t using her telekinesis. She yawned. She was tired. That’s it. Tired.
“Any Princes?” Celestia asked exuberantly.
“Thou must partake in the action of baiting and capturing a sea-based creature," Luna replied, to which Celestia gave an amused smirk to. Celestia waited patiently for Luna to say something but all she were met with was silence. She looked up from her cards and found the Lunar Princess fast asleep, her head tucked between her hooves and the cards gently scattered on the bed.
Celestia shook her head. During the course of spending some time with Luna she found that her fears had slowly melted away. Whatever that creature was, it was probably a conjuration by some malicious trickster and so far it hadn’t made itself present throughout the night. Here under so many layers of protective spells, her sister curled up next to her, how could any being stand in their way? She shook her head in chastisement. She had let fear get the better of her.
Taking a deep breath, Celestia cast her consciousness to the sun and connected with the celestial object, noting that it would not be long before daybreak.
She laughed softly.
She had acted the foal, playing right into the hooves of that creature or trickster.
Celestia yawned. She was getting quite tired indeed. She glanced towards the opposite side of the room. A bath would do the trick. A long relaxing bath to soothe the tense, aching muscles she had tied into excruciating knots through the tense waiting period. She trotted towards her wardrobe and opened it.
It was there.
Before she could say anything, once again the appendage darted out, laying softly on her plump, moist lips.
“Shh,” it crooned once again. It held her eyes with mesmerising pupils. It seemed like it took a measure of her soul within those dark, black orbs.
“No tears, just dreams,” it repeated once again. It withdrew its slender, cold digit. Celestia recognised the digit was attached to its hand.
Celestia whipped her head around to spot Luna. Surely she had heard?
Luna was still fast asleep.
Celestia turned back, her horn glowing a menacing white. It crackled with unspeakable power.
But once again, the creature was gone and a note was left behind. Her horn died as she reluctantly reached for the note.
It didn’t say much, but the contents once again sent a cascade of foreboding crawling down her spine.
Time for a visit to a dear, old friend,
And then I come for you again.