PonyProse I - Celestial Concerns

by PonyProse

Chapter Two

Bee securely locked away his stack of notes in a drawer. Good luck getting knocked over now, he thought. After making sure that everything was in its proper place for the night, he went to close the shutters on his study window. As he did so, a bright-yellow scrap of paper flitted from between the wooden slats and presented itself to his nose, making him sneeze loudly. Sky stuck her head through the door to see what was going on. "Was that you sneezing Bee?"

"No, it was the desk."

"Pardon?"

"Yes, that was me, this bit of paper attacked my face," he explained as he irritably kicked it away. Sky's horn glowed as she levitated the scrap to eye-level. "Is it yours by any chance? I haven't see-"

"Oh yes this is mine!" the filly suddenly bellowed as she started bouncing up and down. "Can we go? Can we can we can we?"

"Can we go to wh- Achoo!" Sky attempted to float the paper back to Bee but overshot and it went up his nose again.

"S-sorry Bee, haha!" she laughed. Bee pushed his glasses back into place with one hoof while he snatched the paper from Sky's magical grasp with the other.

"Sky, this is an advertisement for the Summer Sun Celebration," he said, frowning. She nodded vigorously, beaming all the while. "Which is tomorrow." She nodded once more. "In Ponyville." Another nod. Bee sighed dramatically and screwed his eyes shut. Sky's ecstatic expression froze on her face. "Surely you haven't already forgotten that we discussed this only yesterday? We even talked to Celestia about it, and we all agreed that the two of us should just stay here in Canterlot, and the Princess can tell us all about it when she gets back. Someone needs to take care of the School for the day, after all." Sky's expression barely changed, save for a mild twitch in her right eye. Bee knew that twitch well and it made him groan every time. "I'm in the middle of some complicated stuff right now and Celestia wants you to practise what she showed you the other day. Remember?" Sky's ears slowly drooped, from being pricked upright and pointing eagerly at Bee to hanging down off the back of her head. Sure, they were normally thus arranged, but not so sorrowfully laid flat. Her beaming smile thinned to a close and her eyelids relaxed until they were actually in front of her eyes again.

"B-but, I really wanted to see her raise the Sun..."

"Oh come on, you know she does that every morning. She raises the Moon every night, too." This prompted Sky to stamp her front hooves.

"Bee! You know what I mean! She normally does all that quietly, while she's doing other things as well! It's only one day a year that she makes a celebration about it!"

Bee sat himself on the floor while massaging his eyes behind his glasses. "Think about it Sky. Just for a moment, think about it. Celestia is raising the Moon as we speak. The Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning. There's no way we could get to Ponyville on time now. Besides, you can't just turn up in a town, out of thin air, and expect to find a place to stay. How many times has somepony knocked at the door to our living space here and demanded to stay the night? Hmm? Zero times, Sky. Absolutely ze-"

A knocking from down the corridor made both ponies jump with fright. Bee's glasses jolted off his face and skittered under the desk. "Hehe, don't worry Bee, you find those and I'll see who that is..." Sky hastily excused herself from the study. She knew she'd annoyed her brother and he wanted her at a reasonable distance for a minute or two. Pausing at the door which separated their living quarters from the rest of the School, Sky quickly ruffled her mane into a slightly more presentable shape. She cleared her throat before calling upon her magic to open the door. "Ahem. Good evening and welcome to Wonderwhy's study area-AH!"

The visitor chuckled at the filly's startlement. She shook her head to shift her magnificent ethereal mane away from her slender white face, its rainbow of colours shimmering even in the relatively low light of the corridor. "Good evening to you, Brightlight Bluesky. How are you, my faithful student?"

While rubbing the lenses of his glasses to clean them, Bee had heard his sister cry out down the corridor, followed by muffled laughter. He sprang out of the study, his yellow wings flapping to control the sharp left-hand turn towards the door guarding his general purpose work/living area. He was just within comfortable earshot when the visitor asked,

"How are you, my faithful student?" His forelegs scrabbled on the polished wooden floor as he abruptly halted his mad dash. He breathed a deep sigh of relief as he realised nothing untoward had befallen his sister after all. She was fine, in fact, and hugging the visitor's foreleg when Bee casually trotted into view.

"Why, Princess Celestia, what a pleasant surprise."

"Good evening Wonderwhy," she replied. "Young Brightsky over here is a bit overdue for bed, don't you think so?" The Princess gently shook her entrapped leg. "It's already been a while since I raised the Moon."

"Aww, really?" Sky pouted. Predictably however, it had no effect.

"Yes my dear, you need to rest now so that you're able to focus on your practising tomorrow."

With this reference to what the Princess had taught her a few days ago, Sky knew there would be little point in bringing up the subject of tomorrow's Summer Sun Celebration.

"Okay Princess, I'll get ready for bed," she sighed as she relinquished the mare's leg and slowly trotted away down the corridor. The door to her bedroom magically opened and shut itself to grant her passage.

"Her fine magic control is really improving you know. Operating a door doesn't require much control, admittedly, but earlier she helped me sort a large pile of numbered pages," Bee said, chuckling.

Celestia nodded. "She's doing very well with me, too. She never shies from a new challenge either." Bee chuckled again.

"That's just a polite way of saying she's stubborn and refuses to believe she can't do everything." He gazed out of the nearest window at the Moon, now a good distance above the horizon. "She'd even have a go at raising the Sun and Moon if you gave her the all-clear."

The Princess shuffled her forelegs. This was something Bee had never noticed her do before, and he immediately grew serious.

"Actually, Wonderwhy, that's related to what I've come to discuss with you." She raised her head to meet his eye. "Presumably I'm not interrupting anything at this hour?"

"No no, of course not," Bee affirmed, "but please, let's not stand here and talk. Come through to my study or the kitchen. Would you like someth-"

"I'd rather we go somewhere a bit more private," Celestia nodded towards Sky's bedroom door. "There are certain secrets which I do not want little blue ears to overhear."

Bee cocked his head. "Oh?" He started smiling again. "Are you going to inform me of your next test for her or something? I'll go plug her ears with wool then, back in a minute." He made to turn away.

"Bee, please."

There are very, very few things Princess Celestia could have said to still Bee's heart more effectively. In all the years she had known him, watching his sister grow up and him blossom under her employ, she had never once called him Bee. Not once. That nickname was too informal for the likes of her to use. It was always 'Wonderwhy' and never a syllable less. What chilled his blood even more, though, was an equally uncommon feature that had accompanied his nickname: a tremble.

It had been slight, and almost nopony would have picked up on it, but Celestia's voice had definitely acquired a shaky quality when she had said those two words.

Bee swallowed heavily.

"Right then," he whispered without turning back to face her, "just give me a moment to settle Sky in bed." He quietly knocked on her bedroom door. "Sky? You alright in there?"

He pushed open the door gently. Her usual attire of a big red bow for her mane, her starry cloak, and her red coverall outfit with purple pastern bands and dorsal stripes had been neatly folded and set upon her bedside table, ready for tomorrow's magic practise. Sky herself was also neatly folded. Her legs and head were tucked towards her chest and her tail made a neat semicircular bump under her bedsheets. Her large brown eyes were lightly hidden by her gently vibrating eyelids. Bee pulled the sheets up around her shoulders a bit more before tucking in her left wing. He kissed her forehead as he whispered, "Sweet dreams, Sky. I'll be back soon."

He returned to the Princess once he'd donned his orange vest and cloak. "Are you sure you don't need to wrap up a bit? It must be cool out by now."

Celestia gently shook her head. Her horn briefly glowed.

"I'll be fine."