The Sky Burns Bright at Dusk

by Nyronus

Appreciation

I lifted then. I felt my soul stretch out, reaching far beyond me, a great weight being carried with it. As it fell skyward momentum took it and my being stretched out farther. I felt them then, like tiny, pleasurably cold gems. I grabbed them, like great sheets, stretching them across the breadth of my reach. The motions were ones I had done thousands of times before, and would, I hoped, do for a thousand thousand times again. I flowed into the work, mentally, magically, and spiritually. The sky flowed forth from my will, my soul, like a river, and I was at peace. Soon though, the work came to an end, and I stepped back, opening my eyes.

The sky was on fire as the sun set, and I watched a flicker as the stars began answering my call.

“I’ve seen better.”

...

I finally turned to my sister. She was smirking. I settled on rolling my eyes. She snorted a brief laugh. I elected to not give her further satisfaction.

“So,” I said, “That’s done then...” I trailed off. She was looking at me. Innocently. “So… this project you keep whispering about?”

“I don’t know. I felt like watching the sun set. I think you did such a lovely job tonight-”

“Tia.” I rumbled.

“Oh, fine.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “Spoilsport. Patience is a virtue.”

“One I have a historical problem practicing and will continue to do so if you bait me further!”

“Hah!” Celestia turned, the doors to her chambers springing open. “Well, come on then.”

We moved into her chambers, I settled on her plush rug while she walked past, absentmindedly preparing tea while her desk came alive. As I made myself comfortable, a cup of rich tea and a sheaf of typewritten papers settled before me. Celestia settled across the table from me, a cup and a novel settling in front of her. I looked down at the papers as the tea cup rose to my lips.

“A nom de plume, sister?”

She shrugged.

“Consider it a form of honesty. If they read the novel of Princess Celestia it will create a false expectation. I will be selling them something I don’t mean to sell. They may also… well.” She smiled. “You understand.”

“I do.”

“But ‘Loving Wind’ won’t have too many problems in that regard,” she grinned. “Plus, I sort of want to see how successful it will be. Slapping my real name on it would just be cheating.”

I smiled in return.

“I understand, Sister.”

“Well, you were so anxious to read. Dig in!”

“Very well then.”

And so I started. The pages flew by. I hummed. I mumbled to myself. I smiled. I frowned. I barked laughter. I would stop at the end of each chapter, and talk with my sister of what I read:

“She seems rather…”

“Yes?”

“The words she says and the thoughts she has. She is lying to herself.”

“Glad you caught that.”

…

“Hmmm.”

“So then, finished?”

“Yes. I was rather fond of the friendship they formed in that chapter, although…”

“Yes?”

“The duchess. I worry about her. The way she feels about herself. I recognize self-loathing when I see it.”

Celestia nodded.

I laughed, my chest tightening.

“If I’m honest, she reminds me much of myself.”

Celestia smiled.

“We’ll see.”

…

I looked up.

“You’re a scoundrel, sister.”

“Hmm?”

“Metafiction is a gauche practice.”

“I am surprised you know that term.”

“I read.” I huffed.

“Heh. Admit it, sister, you love it.”

I grinned.

“I shall admit no such thing as long as I draw breath.”

“Your dedication to keeping a secret is commendable, but last I heard, repression was unhealthy. Also, does that mean you plan to admit it after you die? I thought we agreed to avoid necromancy as a general rule.”

“Bah!”

And so it went. The pages turning as the sky grew dark, and the fire of my stars came to burn across it’s canvas. Too soon, I turned the last page of the unfinished manuscript and looked up.

“So,” Celestia began as her book closed, “What do you think?”

“...I loved it.”

Celestia smiled, though strained.

“I’m glad to hear it. What did you think of the last chapter?”

“It was good?”

“Merely ‘good?’” She smiled.

“Erm… yes?”

Celestia smiled, relaxing.

“I based the rage of the Countess off of your own work, particularly the way you tell the story of the Winged Ram.”

“I see.” I said, the pages below me glowing teal as I began looking back through them.

“How is that going, by the way?”

I could see what she meant. The queen really reminded me of-

“Luna?”

“Hrm?” I snapped to attention. What had I - Ah “- It’s going well.”

“I had heard as much.” She was silent for a while. I went back to looking at the pages. I suddenly felt the mood in the room shift. “Told you so.”

I rolled my eyes, but smiled.

“I’m surprised ponies had so much interest in the old history, or listening to me.”

“You lived half those stories Luna, and wrote it in the skies so long ago it’s become hard to remember why it was written. Ponies knew these images were etched in the stars, but had no idea what they meant. There’s a thrill of discovery, and of solemnity. Its like realizing a book they favored as a child hid an entirely new meaning, and like being connected with something larger than themselves at the same time.” She smiled. “Not to mention your bombast lends itself well to our old war stories.”

I smiled.

“I suppose ‘tis true. Still, you flatter me with your imitation.”

“It’s not flattery at all Luna. Well, I guess it could be.” She smiled. “Depends on how much you care about the admiration of an old nag. It’s not just you though.” She leaned back. “All of my friends. I’ve watched their lives unfold, learned from them, through them. I carried that with me. Much like you wanted the great stories of our past sketched in the sky, so too did I want the thoughts, feelings, values, and struggles of those ponies I’ve known over my long stretch of life to live on in this story. Because I learned from them. Because I want others to learn from them. Because… well, it had meaning to me.”

“...I think I shall take that as flattery, then.”

Celestia chuckled. She turned, relaxing as she stared out the tall window.

“You really outdid yourself tonight.” She took a sip of tea, and grinned. “Which reminds me. I think I’m going to have Twilight read this soon.”

“Shall I prepare a contingent disjunction spell then?”

“Oh hush, you.”

And so we sat, chatting late into the evening as the stars burned and the world moved toward a dawn more glorious than the last.

Author's Note:

I want to thank my friends who helped me write this, and all the people who read this, and gave me positive feedback. Working on these stories has been a treat. Thank you!

Comments

[Evilhumour]

Hmm, not sure what I think of this.

[mehperson]

Awesome!

[Seratina]

The ending didn't feel like it addressed the issue of fear of Celestia very well., but the latest installation was good in almost all other regards.

[RandomBlank]

What would a "contingent disjunction" spell do?

Detach Twilight from Celestia in case she clung too tightly?

[Nyronus]

5159946

It's a bit of a DnD joke. Basically a REALLY powerful counter-spell.

[Lord Destrustor]

5159974
Oh yeah, good old disjunction. I used that to kill a campaign once.

[Whitespace Only]

5159946 A.K.A. the fail-safe spell. Celestia would have used something similar in Lesson Zero.

[Grollo]

I like it. Now that I've read all three, I changed my mind - they do work best as individual stories and not as chapters. Would give more in-depth analysis, but too tired right now.

[Keradon]

By themselves, each story has earned the like. But together, they are greater than the sum of their parts.

A hat-trick of favorites is earned by these tales.

[devas]

Ok, I've read after appreciating and quite liking the first two in the trilogy and...how is this a sequel?

I mean, I kinda understand where it's going, but it seems...intentionally obscure.

Seriously, could the author please explain what happened and what he meant?

[Nyronus]

5171939
5158135
5158481

The final words of the story are thus: And so we sat, chatting late into the evening as the stars burned and the world moved toward a dawn more glorious than the last.

And... that is the take away I wanted people to have of the vignette. Things are getting better. For Luna, telling the stories of the constellations allows her to be artistically expressive, gets people interested in her night sky, appeals to her sense of tradition and history, and makes people happy. Celestia's relationship with Twilight has improved (hence her trusting Twilight with a secret and with artistic expression), she gets to be honest with people in a way she normally can't, she relishes a new challenge, and she gets to have fun doing what she loves doing: helping ponies.

Are things perfect? Not from what we can infer from this story alone, but have they gotten better? Well, I hope so. That was kind of the goal.

I struggled a lot with the conception of this story. I was pretty much worried from the get-go that people wouldn't "get" it and almost scrapped it several times. Since people seemed to really dig the last two stories I was really hoping to finish this little exercise off as best I could for you guys, but given how quickly excitement about this story faded compared to the other two, and half the comments are questions... I guess I failed.

Sorry guys.

[devas]

5172841

Ehh...dealing with things that the reader may or may not "get" is always a risky proposition. I don't blame you for how it turned out.

Have you heard of the Rule of Three? Because that might help.

[Evilhumour]

5172841 it's ok

expcet more words later

[dragonjek]

Forgive if I'm missing something, but just what are they expecting Twilight to do upon reading this that they need to whip out Maredenkainen's Disjunction to stop? It doesn't look like there's anything that would set her off... unless discovering that Celestia is an author makes her squee so hard she bursts into flame.

[Nyronus]

6191568

Well, failing to find a friendship problem caused Twilight to enchant a doll with a seemingly permanent Symbol of Insanity.

Girl gets creative when she's anxious.

[Cynewulf]

This trilogy is one of my favorites. Taken as a single narrative, I think they do a wonderful ho of showing what gradual recovery and change can look like. I wish I could manage Celestia as easily as you seem to!