“Celestia! Celestia!”
It was nearing the end of the day, heading rapidly towards the point where the jurisdiction of one sister would end and that of another would begin. The sun was low on the horizon, casting brilliant shades of red and orange over the rolling hills and valleys of Equestria, and the first impatient stars of night had begun to flicker into existence for their usual show.
Princess Celestia, whom at present was finishing up hearings with her audience but yet had a few last minute stragglers, was at once alarmed by the call of her younger sister, who was usually just waking up at this hour. She excused herself from the proceedings, promising to return swiftly, and rushed up towards what Luna affectionately called her ‘Tower of Darkness’, which was essentially just a winding spiral staircase with a guard posted at the bottom and Luna’s chambers at the top.
Luna herself was in her bathrobe, mane still pinned up from her shower, and was standing next to the telescope that jetted out from her window. Her eyes were bright, however, and full of excitement. The younger sibling was in charge of the night sky, and had clearly found something exciting.
“Sister, hurry, thou must see this at once!” She had slipped into her old accent again, a side effect that occurred when she was particularly excited. “Look, look quickly, before thine chance is lost!”
Celestia saw Luna’s excitement, and her alarm slowly gave way to curiosity. She trusted her sister’s judgement and gazed through the telescope, peering out into the darkness speckled with pinpricks of light, but saw nothing that would qualify as unusual or cause for such an interrupting.
“What is it? What’s the matter?”
“Dost thou not see it?”
“See what?” Having pulled away from her audience thinking something was wrong, she sounded vaguely annoyed now.. Celestia pulled away from the telescope and peered at her sister.
Luna appeared dismayed, and proceeded over to the telescope to peer through the lens herself. After a moment's inspection, she gave an idle, nonchalant shrug. “We observed a meteor,” she said seemingly disappointed. “It must have burned out. It was quite the sight. Apologies, Celly.”
Celly. Drat that old childhood nickname, which to this day held the power to vanquish all anger. Celestia sighed, but it was a sigh of infinite patience. She knew her sister grew excited over celestial displays -no pun intended- and meant no harm. “No matter, dear sister,” Celestia said. “Give me a few moments to wrap things up downstairs, and I’ll be right with you.”
“Take your time,” Luna said, and when she turned her back on her sister, unknown to the elder sibling, there was a growing smirk on her face.
Celestia returned downstairs, and took her seat on the golden throne at the end of the audience hall that was matched only in glamour by the silver one, currently empty, that sat next to it.
“I’m sorry for the interruption,” Celestia said. “Now, about that deed to your farm, Ocean Breeze-” She paused, and blinked. There was a significant amount of giggling and muttering coming from the lingering guests.
The daytime ruler frowned. Such frivolity was uncommon in her chambers, and it was certainly a change to the atmosphere which had preceded her brief absence.
“What?” Celestia asked. “What do you all find amusing? I enjoy jokes, please do share!”
“Oh, nothing,” said a particularly stuffy looking stallion in the front row of chairs. He himself was flanked by a Griffonstone ambassador, who held up a handheld mirror in the avian fist that Ocean Breeze did not have.
Gilded Claw, the gryphon ambassador, and everyone else for that matter, saw the princess of the Sun, her royal Highness of the diarchy of Equestria, Sol Invictus, Celestia look at him innocently… with a large black ink circle around her left eye.
Celestia felt said eye began to twitch at once. It must be noted that when you were over a thousand years old, pranks upon each other were a common occurrence, and there had been days, neigh, weeks even, through which the two sisters continued to try and one-up each other through constant gags. IN PRIVATE. But to embarrass her in front of her audience, the younger sibling would pay dearly for this.
Celestia composed herself, and laughed along with the others. She had never been AS good at pranks as Luna, and whatever she devised would likely be not as effective nor as decimating, but there would be something.
Oh, yes. There would be something.
---
Luna came downstairs the following morning approximately ten hours after the incident with the ink, after a particularly unfavorable and unremarkable night. Some shifts were better than others, but the previous evening had been a total snoozefest. The monotony was broken only by her remaining amusement over what she’d done to her sister, harmless fun. She was desperately looking forward to some much needed sleep, but routine was routine, and breakfast was last on her list, just as it was first on Celestia’s.
“Good morning!” Celestia said cheerfully. There was no hint of the slight anger which might have been consequential of the previous night’s shenanigans.
“Good...morning…” Luna said slowly. She was instantly on alert by Celestia’s good humor, and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She knew that a prank like the one she’d pulled would not go unchallenged, and knew that she had to be on alert for anything. “Are there any Moon Bites left?”
Celestia looked up from her bowl of oatmeal with crystal raisins, reading a levitating a copy of The Canterlot Chronicles. “There should be. They’re a bit sugary for me. I think you should consider eating something with greater variety.”
Luna shrugged, and took down a box of Moon Bites, her favorite cereal. Now with 20% more moonmallows! the box proclaimed. Her horn lit up with its aural glow, the box lifting up off the table and turning on its side to shake its semi-nutritious contents into a bowl. The contents consisted of very dry looking cereal bits, disgustingly artificial moon-shaped marshmallows, and one very large, very hairy, realistic looking black tarantula.
Luna just stared at it, without issuing so much as a flinch.
“Come on now, Celestia,” Luna said. She sounded not just disappointed, but almost insulted. “Was this really the best you could do? A rubber gag?” Her horn lit up and snatched the spider, giving it a shake. Its rubber legs wobbled back and forth, its swollen abdomen squeezing in and out. Luna laughed.
As Luna was laughing, however, a Macro Tarantula straight from the tangled depths of the Everfree, approximately the size of a hippo was slowly lowering itself out of the cabinet, mandibles drooling and clicking. It hung suspended on a cord of thread the thickness of a bungee rope and stared at the back of Luna’s head with six glistening red eyes.
Luna, meanwhile, had begun to turn around again, still laughing. “Really, Celestia, you should know better than to-” she turned around, and saw the abomination inches away from her face. All the color drained out of her at once in a cartoonish effect that could only be pulled off by magical horses, leaving her coat a solid and angelic white.
The Princess of the Night SHRIEKED.
Immediately, the sounds of running guards echoed outside the hallway, Luna backed up at once, not looking where she was going, and backed into the table. She tripped over one of the legs, and went sprawling. The bowl of Moon Bites skittered across the table, which was more regally and elaborately decorated for appearance rather than functionality, and overturned, the bowl landing upside down on the younger sibling’s head and sending milk and wet cereal and moonmallows everywhere.
The giant creature ascended its silken line, and disappeared back into the cabinet just as guards poured into the kitchen, many wielding their spear-like weapons.
“What’s the matter, dear sister?” Celestia teased. “Have you had a tangle with a cereal killer?” She came up with that all by herself, and looked pleased.
“Thou hast contaminated our supply of sacred cereal!” Luna exclaimed, quickly regaining her composure and dropping back down to the floor again,dripping with milk and huffing with indignation. “A pox upon thee!”
“We don’t use poxes anymore,” Celestia reminded her. She merely stuck her tongue out, and crossed her eyes, an image which The Canterlot Chronicles would have absolutely sold its soul to get plastered on the front page of its weekly edition.
“Thou hast blasphemed against thine own sister!” Luna exclaimed. “This is treason! This is mutiny!”
“Thine own sister will remind you that you started it,” Celestia reminded her calmly. “This is merely retribution. If you wish to continue, I will be glad to keep going. As long as you know you’re going to lose.” Her eyes sparkled with amusement.
Luna gasped. She sputtered several nonsensical phrases for a moment, but briefly seemed unable to form actual words. “Well!” She said finally, and stormed off towards her bedroom.
Celestia waited patiently for her sister to realize what she had already figured out, and there was a smirk of delight on her face when the younger sibling slowly inched back into the kitchen. Her blue horn lit up, and snatched her box of cereal off the table.
“...I forgot my breakfast,” she muttered, and then stormed off again, though the serious impact of her first exit was significantly diluted.
Celestia merely sipped her morning tea, and after a moment, went back to preparing for the day.
She was content. And the day had only just started.