Luna awoke just as she did every other day, or night. It was 8:00pm and night court would start in an hour. She slowly arose, took a bath and started to brush her mane. As she was leaving her room a night guard came up to her at the door, it seemed as he was waiting there until she came out.
“Princess Luna,” he said bowing low before continuing, “Princess Celestia has called off night court and awaits your presence in the throne room. She says it important that you come.” After he finished delivering message, he gave Luna another bow and left to resume his night watch.
This is odd, Luna thought to herself as she walked to the throne room, Tia hates calling off court. Wasn’t she the one that opened up the court at night so that the ponies that now work or have time off during this time could come and ask the Princesses for advice or money? Besides, she usually likes to finish her work before she goes to sleep. Luna continued to walk down the hallway that connected her room to the throne room. Upon entering the vast room, she sees her sister sitting the throne on the left reading some pieces of parchment that probably contained the highlights of the day. Curious about what is going on and still waking up, Luna walks toward her sister.
“Evening, Tia,” Luna says through a yawn. “I heard that you called off the night court today.”
“Good evening to you, too” Celestia said getting off her throne and levitating the papers to where she was sitting. “And yes, I did, but I remember telling you yesterday that I wanted to talk to you this evening. Did you forget?”
Still not fully awake, Luna tried to remember what her sister told her. Now that she thought about it, she did remember her sister telling her something about needing to talk. “Yeah, I do remember something about it. But can it wait; I still haven’t had my coffee yet.” As soon as she finished talking, one of her servants came into the room with a cup of hot coffee and a pastry on a silver tray. Setting them on a nearby table with his usual ‘evening, Princess’ he left and walked back to the kitchen. After Luna finished blowing on her drink, Celestia resumed the conversation.
“Luna, it has come to my attention that it has been several years since your return.” She was now taking small parts of the pastry, knowing that Luna couldn’t do much with her using her magic to hold up the coffee mug. “And in that time, I have seen you transition into Equestrian society and have watched over the night, just as I have watched over the day.” Luna, who was now awake, set her mug down onto the table and started to eat her pastry. “But I have noticed one thing that still needs to be done.” With her mouth full of food, Luna couldn’t respond with her question but looked at her sister with surprise. Quickly forcing herself to swallow the food in her mouth, Luna was freed to talk.
“What’s that?”
“You’re still missing a student, or an apprentice of sorts. I have had the joy of being able to teach Twilight, and before that I helped Cadence through her transition to being a princess,” Celestia then started to have a look of nostalgia upon her face. Luna coughed loud enough to her sister back to reality. “What, oh yes. Well, the time has come for you to pick somepony to come and learn under you.”
“Do I need to? Really, there isn’t much need for me to have to teach someone about being a Princess of the Night. Equestria is in a time of peace and everything is going surprisingly well.”
“Perhaps at the moment everything is going well, but we both know that can’t last forever. Sooner or later Equestria is going to need another princess and we could need to have two alicorns that function better in the night to help fight that. When I chose Cadence, everything was peaceful but we now see how much benefit we have gotten off her. We couldn’t foresee Sombra’s rise to power or the need to have a ruler in the Crystal Empire.”
“Point taken, but why couldn’t you just pick another student? You’ve picked two of the current princesses and they both have proven to be capable.”
“I could, but I think you would benefit from this experience more so than me. Besides, I would like to focus on my own work without having to worry about having a student. Having a student is tiring; no matter how happy it makes me. Also, Equestria has seen a dramatic increase of ponies that started to have nocturnal lifestyles. Since your return, the nights have become safer and more ponies are awake during your night. Surely you have noticed.”
“I would be lying if I said I haven’t. And with that, it is getting harder to get through everypony that comes to the castle for night court. As well as it’s getting more tiring to do everything by myself.” Luna thought for a minuet about what she is saying. Could I be ready to take responsibility for teaching another pony what it means to be the Ruler of the Night? What if something were to happen, just like what happened to Sunset Shimmer, could I take that responsibility? Celestia got through it and found a new pony to teach, but what if I’m not that lucky? Though, having an apprentice does seem like a fun idea, maybe she could have a bond like that between Twilight and Celestia. With the pros and cons racing through her head, she forgot that Celestia was still standing there.
“Sister, don’t be so anxious. I have made my fair share of mistakes, but no pony seems to remember them.” Luna looked at her sister wondering how she knew what she was thinking. “And yes, the bond between a student and a teacher is one that I would never give up for anything in Equestria. Though the decision is up to you entirely, I urge you to consider it.” She turned and started to walk out of the throne room toward the hallway where her bedroom is. “The papers with today’s events are on my throne, if you need anything I will be in my room. Have a good night, sister.” Leaving Luna alone in the room, she just noticed how dark it started to get. She didn’t feel tired at all though; she was on a night schedule so that at least her sister or she would be wide awake and ready to help whenever there was trouble. Luna walked to her throne and sat down and started reading Tia’s notes. To make sure both princesses knew what was going on and how little time they had together; they started to write out what has happened while the other slept or finished up on their work. This proved to be a good system, but it did have its downsides. The two sisters had seen each other less and less now days. They only got to spend time together during diplomatic meetings and celebrations where it’s essential the public see them together.
Luna started to read through the notes that her sister wrote. There really wasn’t anything interesting: numbers of ponies that came, dates set for different reasons, money that her sister chose to spend and things of that nature. Although the list was long and boring, it was supposed to be through so that the other sister could approve of how the governments money was being spent and the other sister could override and stop the money going to a certain place. It hardly ever happened now, but it was a good system. Near the end of the papers, a note at the bottom caught Luna’s attention, ‘Get Luna to go and visit Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns.’ It didn’t take too long for Luna to figure out why this was here, Celestia has already made a time so that Luna could go and see if she wanted any of the ponies there to become her student. The thought of having somepony looking up at her as a teacher made her smile. Maybe she could be ready for this.
“Your Highness,” A member of the Night Guard came into the throne room and swooped into a bow just has the other pony done. “Are you ready to start your duties for the night?”
Luna now had to push the thought of having a student out of her head. “Yes, I suppose so.” The guard gave another bow and left. Luna sighed and got off her throne and followed the guard out of the throne room.
The night has passed with little matters. Luna met with the captain of the Night Guard and discussed how training was going, created a few different consolations, and met with several business ponies in Manehattan. While doing the routine work, Luna started to think about life with having a student. Having a student would make this more fun and it would be nice to be able to spend the night together with somepony else. And Tia is right, if a mistake happens, no pony will remember it forever. After she finished all she needed to for the night, she wrote a similar paper to Celestia’s and started to lower the moon. Although Celestia didn’t officially start her duties for a couple of hours, they still switched the moon and the sun before they actually switched places.
Luna was reading over what she wrote when Celestia came into the room having the same sleepy face Luna had.
“Good morning, sister. Did you sleep well?”
“Morning and it was very restful. Did anything happen last night?” Celestia asked with a yawn.
“Not particularly, just a few meetings, nothing major.”
Luna got off the throne and made her way toward her sister. “Did you consider what we were discussing last night?”
“I did, and I decided that it would be fun to have a student. Do you have anypony in mind?”
“I might, but I would want you to look for yourself before I create a bias for you. We could head over to the school now if you don’t have any work.”
“No, I finished all I had to before so that I could make room in my schedule to go and visit.”
“Excellent, I will be ready to leave in about 10 minutes, are you ready to leave?” Celestia was now putting her necklace on and fixing her mane so it would fall just right.
“I think so just let me get another cup of coffee. I believe this will be much better if I’m fully awake.”
After the sisters got ready, they made their way out of the castle. It was a beautiful day; everypony was up and moving around Canterlot. Every time the sisters were seen together on a normal day, there usually was a certain buzz in the air. The high class ponies were whispering together, trying to figure out why the sisters would be out. But whenever the Princesses would get near to anypony, the ponies would go into a bow. Some ponies from the newspapers started to take photos and ask the Princesses why there were out or their current take on today’s political issues. Thankfully, the guards looked intimidating enough to make sure nopony got too close to the princess. They could have easily flown to their destination, but it looks better if they are seen walking around and staying close together. As they reached the school, the crowds that gathered started to walk away and go back to whatever they were doing before the princesses came.
Celestia was the first to walk in, closely followed by Luna, and was met with several adult ponies bowing toward them. The headmaster of the school was the first to rise himself from the bow.
“Hello Princess. Hello Princess,” he said enthusiastically, looking from one princess to the other.
“Hello Alden. Lovely day isn’t it?” Celestia said keeping her proper stance, though Luna could see that Celestia was excited to see him as he was to see her.
“One of the best I’ve seen for weeks. How do you do Princess Luna?”
“Fine, thank you,” She was caught a little off guard and spoke a little more quickly then she would’ve liked. Alden didn’t seem to notice.
“I supposed you two would like to see the students now? And would either of you like anything to drink, we just received some cider before you came.” They were now walking down a corridor, moving pass classrooms where the teachers and students all were looking out of the windows to get a better look at the Princesses. “I took into account what you asked for Princess Celestia and chose a few students myself. Princess Luna, I do hope that you find a student to your liking.” He started to look mainly at Luna now while Celestia was just looking back at the ponies in the windows and giving some of them a wave. “I remember when Princess Celestia came in to examine the students and found Twilight, oh my, she seemed so happy…” He trailed off into a story that seemed like he told many times. They turned several corners and went up a flight of stairs. Finally they reached a room with three ponies waiting with their parents. “…and so I hope that you find a student you like, Princess” He finished telling the story as they stepped in.
All the ponies in the rooms went into a bow as the Princesses walked in. The three ponies seemed to be the best fit for Luna according to Celestia and Alden and she trusted their judgment.
“Princess may I introduce to you our three top students. Rose,” The pony in the middle walked forward, she had a light brown coat with a black mane. “Tiberius,” The pony standing on the left walked forward, he had a light blue coat with a deep red mane “and lastly, Aysel.” The pony standing on the right walked forward, she had a white coat with a blond mane, mixed with highlights of blue. “Now that we have established names, it’s time for the examination. Don’t forget, it isn’t just the magic power that counts, but also how you act and present yourself. Now, if I could have you all wait outside, I will call you when we are ready. Rose, you’re first. The rest of you, please wait outside.” As the ponies left Luna saw Rose’s mother give her one last tight hug before Rose was left in the room. “Rose, whenever you like to start,”
Rose then took a bow before she started and talked about herself, her background and then she took a plant from the windowsill and made it grow into a fairly large tree. Luna enjoyed listening to her and was impressed at her level of magic, but she couldn’t see the pony ruling beside her. “Fantastic job, Rose. Could you please go and get Tiberius, thank you.” Alden was smiling, feeling proud of his student. Tiberius came in and or his demonstration he made the room seem twice as large as what it was before. “Excellent, could you fetch Aysel, thank you.” Tiberius left and Luna, as she was with Rose, felt a strong sense of magical talent but not a ruler. Aysel finally walked in and automatically get Luna’s attention. Now that she got to see the students separately, it dawned on Luna that Aysel was wearing more of a semi – formal clothing, whereas Rose and Tiberius wore what seemed to be the fanciest thing they owned. She introduced herself and told Luna her background. Rose and Tiberius both came from well-known families, even to the Princesses. Aysel’s parents abandoned her when she was just a filly, and was taken into the Canterlot orphanage. She proved to be talented in magic so she started to board at the school. For her act of magic she made a mirror copy of herself. Although it only lasted around half a minute, Luna was already captivated by her: her life, her ambitions, and her talent.
After she finished, Luna came close to her and looked into her eyes, trying to see if there was something she was missing or hiding. There was something, Luna knew it. She tried looking into her eyes more, but the pony was trying very hard to hide it. Luna left her gaze and took a step back, looking once more at her.
“Aysel, how would you like to become my personal student and study under me at the Canterlot castle?” Luna could tell that Aysel was extremely happy, but did her best to hide it.
“Really? To study under you would be a dream come true.”
“OK, Aysel, go and pack your things and we will send a chariot to come and pick you up later today.” Celestia said with a smile toward her. Aysel burst out the door and ran toward her room. Alden left to go and tell the other ponies that the choice was made, but the Princesses were impressed with each of them. Once no one was in the room but the two sisters Celestia spoke, “Luna, I know that you felt something wrong in her, I did too. Are you sure that she can handle this?”
“No, sister, I’m not sure. But I do know that she will try with everything she has.” Luna then looked at a clock and realized the time, she was supposed of been asleep hours ago.