We Believe In You, Luna

by KayeStar

Birthday Bash

Luna's birthday party fired off in the amazing way only Pinkie Pie could throw a party. Being much less extroverted than her sister, Luna preferred the more personal party with just her and family. But even she was having a good time. Of course, it helped Celestia had considered Luna's tastes when she consulted Twilight and Pinkie Pie about Luna's party. The theme was obvious: the moon and stars. The regular balloons were various shades of blue and adorned with stars. Other balloons were shaped like stars or crescent moons. The tablecloths all featured a landscape of Luna's lovely night. Pinkie Pie even filled her party cannon with dark blue, light blue, and golden star confetti.

Perhaps most impressive was the cake. While cake had always been Celestia's favorite dessert, Luna couldn't hide the birthday cake Celestia had made for her - courtesy of Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle - made her mouth water, something very unlike her. Two tiers, both covered in dark blue frosting. The lower tier boasted a full moon and stars on its side while the upper tier was decorated with lilac flowers in a circle on top made of frosting. In the center read, "Happy birthday to our Princess Luna", and at the top and bottom of those words were two tiny figurines of Luna.

Celestia had indeed gone all out for her sister with the planning. It was her party, after all, and to see Luna having a good time made every detail worth it.

"Princess Luna! Luna!" Pinkie Pie called. "Time to unwrap your presents!"

"My presents, Pinkie Pie?" Luna asked.

"Of course!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "No presents on your birthday? That's just awful!"

"But dear Pinkie Pie, I have already received wonderful presents," Luna insisted. "This party." She looked toward the dais. "A throne for myself." Her gaze moved from the dais to Celestia. "And an amazingly generous sister."

Celestia had to hide a few happy tears as everypony else in the room exclaimed, "Awww!"

"Well, humor us, Aunt Luna," Cadance insisted. "We each brought you a gift."

"Yeah, and for your first big birthday bash since you came back? Of course, we got you presents!" Rainbow Dash added. "Mine is, no doubt, the most awesome." Twilight and Applejack shot a glare at Rainbow Dash. "I mean, excluding your new throne and all."

Luna almost felt shy. That everypony cared so much to celebrate her like this. It was almost overwhelming. She didn't really like to be the center of attention. At the same time, she certainly wasn't unhappy.

"Come on, sister," Celestia urged her. "It is your birthday. It's about you."

"Thank you all," Luna told her guests. "I would love to see your gifts."

"Yaaaaaaay!" Pinkie squealed. "Me first! Me first!"

All of the guests and Luna sat in a circle while the presents were placed in the center. Pinkie pulled out her gift and gleefully bounced over to Luna to give it to her.

"I know you'll love it!"

"I'm certain I will," Luna assured her. She pulled the bow loose with her mouth and removed the top. Inside the box rested a book titled 200 Jokes and Puns About Space.

"I know books are more Twilight's thing, but I couldn't resist it for you!" Pinkie explained.

"It is a great gift, Pinkie Pie." She glanced slyly at her sister. "I am sure Celestia will love it just as much."

"I think I need to re-write the laws on book burning," Celestia thought to herself.

Twilight pulled out her gift next to present to Luna. Hers was a large, rectangular box. "Happy birthday, Luna. I made it with my own hooves!"

"I have no doubt it is lovely." Again, Luna loosened the bow and removed the box's top. She levitated the gift in the air and it almost immediately doubled in size. It was a diorama of several constellations Luna had previously painted in the night sky.

"Sorry. I had to shrink it to make it fit in the box," Twilight explained.

"It is beautiful, Twilight Sparkle. I thank you."

Rarity took her turn now, presenting Luna with her gift. Unlike Twilight's and Pinkie's gifts, Rarity's gift was not in a box. Rather, it was in a translucent plastic bag. With a little magic, Rarity cautiously pulled the bag upwards, revealing the gift: an elegant gown, tinted lavender and lightly adorned with glitter on its lower half.

"Sister, does this explain the occasion when you measured me three weeks ago?" Luna asked.

"It might," Celestia chuckled.

"Would you care to try it on, Your Highness?" Rarity asked. "I just have to know it fits!"

Luna gladly obliged, carefully putting herself into the dress to avoid tearing so much as a single stitch. Much like parties, fancy dresses weren't really her taste, but she truly did like it. She felt graceful wearing it.

"Your dress fits perfectly. Thank you, kind Rarity," Luna said. Rarity let out a happy squeal. "Would you mind if I wore it for the remainder of the party?"

"Not at all, Your Highness!" Rarity beamed with pride and delight.

Ever impatient, Rainbow Dash decided it was her turn. She sped through one of the nearby windows and hovered herself in the air. Everypony followed to see what was she was going to do.

"Brace yourself, Princess Luna!" Rainbow declared. "You've never seen what I'm going to give you! You're about to be so amazed, blown away, stunned into total speechlessness---!"

"She gets it!" Applejack yelled. "Some of us still have gifts for the princess too, you know!"

"Heh. Right."

Rainbow Dash began zipping all around the clouds. At first, nopony could tell what she was doing. It was Twilight who noticed she reshaping the clouds. As she did more and more, she pushed them together to blend into each other. The others could now see a certain shape was forming as Rainbow pushed together more clouds. When her massive cloud was finally formed, she spent several seconds zipping around and reshaping it until it finally held the shape she wanted it to.

"Ta-da! What do you think, Princess?"

Rainbow had been right. Luna was stunned into speechlessness. Rainbow shaped the massive cloud to look like a sculpture of Luna. Celestia used a quick spell to encase the cloud sculpture in a bubble to protect it from being blown away by the wind.

"Rainbow Dash, it is remarkable!" Luna exclaimed. "Thank you so much."

"Oh, it was nothing," Rainbow assured Luna as she returned inside.

Celestia carefully dragged the statue indoors. "I'll leave here for now, but how about after the party, we display it in the gardens, Luna?"

Instead of Luna, Rainbow almost fainted at the idea. A creation of hers on display in the castle gardens? Sure, it'd been a gift for Luna, but---

"Applejack, you should give Luna your present next!" Pinkie Pie suggested.

"About time!" Applejack exclaimed. Everypony sat around the gift pile again while Applejack pulled out her present to give Luna. "Here you are, Princess! I hope it's to your liking!"

Applejack's gift was packed in a circular box. This was one Luna had to rip the gift wrap off, and doing so revealed the "box" was a tin can. Luna pried the top off with her magic and almost instantly covered her mouth to hide an un-princess-like squeal of joy.

"Usually, I make my treats with apples, but Princess Celestia mentioned blackberries are your favorite," Applejack explained. "You're the birthday guest, so instead of apples, I made blackberry tarts." Applejack chuckled shyly for a moment. "Though, I threw in some apple tarts just for the heck of it."

It was specifically blackberry tarts that were Luna's favorite treat, and she hadn't eaten them since she was in recovery years ago after being stripped of Nightmare Moon's darkness. She'd eaten very little for the first two weeks, and Celestia made the tarts as a treat for her after she started eating regularly. Admittedly, it was more of a ploy to get Luna out of bed for a while, not that Luna cared at the time.

"Your gift is very thoughtful, fair Applejack," Luna told her. "I'm certain your apple tarts are delicious as well."

Fluttershy was next. She was a little worried her gift wouldn't be as special as her friends' had, but Luna assured her whatever her gift was, it'd be appreciated. Fluttershy pulled her gift from the pile and presented it to Luna. Luna undid the bow and lifted the top. Inside the box sat a set of what seemed to be accessories.

"I weaved them together from some roses," Fluttershy explained as Luna lifted the pieces in mid-air with her magic. "That one is the crown." Luna fit it on her head, around her royal crown. "That's the necklace." Luna draped it around her neck. "And these are the anklets." Carefully, Luna slid each one on her hooves.

"Fluttershy, would you mind waiting a moment?" Luna asked politely.

"Oh! Of course not!"

Luna teleported away, and returned less than five seconds later. She set a garland of red and white roses around Fluttershy's neck.

"I received that garland as a gift upon the morning of my return," Luna told her. "Please take my flowers as gratitude for yours."

"Oh, thank you, Princess! It's so pretty! Thank you!" Fluttershy cried, delicately clutching the garland.

Next were the cutie mark crusaders, but all three looked between each other awkwardly before staring at the floor, feeling ashamed. "Sorry, Luna," Apple Bloom mumbled. "We, umm, kind of forgot."

"Yeah, we were going to get you a gift, but we never picked something out," Scootaloo said.

"I guess we're not good friends," Sweetie Belle added. "You've helped us in our dreams and we can't even remember to get a gift for you."

Luna trotted over to her small friends and gently patted each of their heads. "My little friends, please feel no shame. I help you because I care, not for reward. You brought me here without spoiling the surprise and I take joy in looking after the three of you. Gifts are tokens of generosity, not deciders of friendship. That you are celebrating with me is enough of a gift from you three."

The three fillies smiled, relieved and flattered.

The pile of gifts was finished, but there was one more pony with a gift to give: Cadance. She saved hers for last. She asked Luna to sit in the center of the circle and after Luna did so, Cadance sat next to her and pulled out a book.

"Aunt Luna, this is a journal I keep," Cadance explained. "I usually don't show anypony, but there's one page I want to share with you because of today."

Cadance flipped the journal open several pages until she reached the pages she wanted. "But could you read it? Out loud to all of us?"

"If you wish, dear Cadance." Luna took the journal in her own magic's grasp. She skimmed over the journal entry for a few seconds before beginning to read aloud.

Dear Journal,

I finally talked Aunt Celestia into introducing me to her sister! I can't believe she never told me the story of Nightmare Moon! Well, I can. I know why she wouldn't. But I was so excited to meet my new aunt Luna!

Luna let out a small gasp, noticed only by Cadance because she was still sitting next to Luna.

Aunt Celestia said Luna is mostly recovered, but she still hasn't been able to go outside yet, so she studies a lot. Sounds like Twilight, really.

Twilight blushed.

After Aunt Celestia rose the sun, she took me to meet Luna. She was studying, just like Aunt Celestia said she does. She didn't hear us come in. The first thing I noticed is Luna had a really lovely flowing mane, but hers is made of stars and a bit transparent. It looks just like the night sky. Aunt Celestia got her attention and introduced me. She said, "Sister, I want you to meet Princess Cadance, our niece." I felt so awkward for a moment! What if Luna didn't want to be an aunt? But Luna looked at me. She didn't say anything, so I tried to break the ice. I said I was really glad I could finally meet her. Then, she smiled this cute smile and she said it was nice to meet me too. Aunt Celestia left us after that to get acquainted. I wasn't sure what to talk about. What could we talk about?

A lot. Luna is really interesting. I think she loves music best. She told me about songs and compositions from so long ago. She sang me some of her favorites. It was hard to understand how she spoke, but she sings lovely. I told her there is technology now that lets you put hundreds of songs in one device and I'd bring mine next time. She made this big smile! I hope somepony told Luna how pretty she is when she smiles. I think I got a free history lesson from Luna! She talked about everything from music to ancient philosophy. And she listened to me. I told her things about the modern world, how it wasn't so scary and it was easier to enjoy your favorite things. When Aunt Celestia came back, we were dancing and singing one of Luna's ancient songs. For somepony new to the modern world, Luna can jam!

Aunt Celestia probably thought we were crazy! But she said that was the first time she saw Luna be so happy and active like that. I bet. Who wants to be sick and forced to be stuck inside? Especially after being alone for as long as Luna was? I had so many questions about that, but I didn't ask. It would've been rude and we had so much fun. I didn't want to ruin it. It doesn't matter what she did all those years ago anyway. I have a second aunt! Oh, yes. I did ask if she was okay with that. She liked the idea, but said it'd take some getting used to. That's how I felt when Aunt Celestia adopted me at first too.

I don't know when I'll meet Aunt Luna again, but we agreed to exchange letters. I'm writing her one as soon as I finish this. Right now!

- Cadance

Luna closed the journal, and Cadance could hear a small sniff. Before she could take back the journal, she suddenly found herself wrapped in a dark wing and pulled close to her aunt, an action rather unlike the nighttime mare. Still, there was no hesitation as she reciprocated the affection, wrapping a hoof around her aunt, and they hugged for a few seconds.

"Cadance, I... I have no better words than thank you. To read such words about me from you... they may have been written casually from you, but they meant everything to me. Thank you."

"Just in case you ever thought it wrong to call me your niece," Cadance said with a wink. The other ponies were also moved by what Luna read.

"I think that takes care of all the presents," Celestia said as she stood. "How about---?

"Cake! Cake!" Pinkie Pie cried out. "We have to sing happy birthday, so Princess Luna can cut the cake!"

"Luna?" Cadance asked.

"Cake would be splendid," Luna agreed.

So, everypony began to sing happy birthday as they all walked over to the birthday cake. Luna felt a little embarrassed, but she wasn't going to stop them. Since the cake was so large, there were no candles, but that didn't stop Pinkie Pie from pulling a set she'd hidden away out.

"Even if you can't do it on the cake, you've got a make a birthday wish, Princess Luna!" Pinkie squealed. There were four candles, each a letter, and together, they spelled out "Luna". Twilight cautiously lit each one with a spark and Pinkie gently set them down in front of the cake. Everypony stood around Luna to watch.

Luna didn't have to think about it. She didn't really have any wishes right now. Today alone showed her she had everything she could want, and ever had wanted. But if she had to make a wish...

Luna closed her eyes for a second and thought to herself. "I wish for nothing more than a wondrous future with each pony here today and many more." She blew out the candles and everypony cheered.

"What'd you wish for?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No! Don't tell!" Pinkie quickly interrupted. "You can't tell a birthday wish or it won't come true!"

"Worry not, Pinkie Pie," Luna chuckled. "I feel confident it will."

Luna cut the first slice of cake before everypony got their own for themselves. The rest of the party was spent eating cake, dancing, laughing, bouncing about, chatting and telling jokes, and everypony really just having a good time. But Luna was certain of all everypony there, she was truly the happiest. All of this effort just for her. Even in her own dreams, she couldn't have imagined it.

The party continued for so long, nopony was minding the time. It wasn't until Luna happened to glance out of the window that she noticed it'd gotten so late.

"Sister!" Luna called. Everypony paused when they heard Luna. "Sister, you are late! The sun was to be set an hour ago!"

Celestia's jaw dropped. She and Cadance joined Luna at the window. The sun was still high in the sky, but the sky had already begun to change colors. Most of its regular blue had faded. Celestia rushed to the balcony, everypony following behind as quickly as they could. When they reached the balcony, however, Cadance stopped everypony except Luna from running out. Luna hurried out to stand next to her sister.

"Sister, I apologize! I did not intend to cause you panic!"

"No, you don't owe me an apology," Celestia assured her. "I wasn't keeping track of time. I was having so much fun at the party, I didn't think about setting the sun. You were right to remind me."

Celestia grabbed the sun in her magic's hold, but before she moved it, a thought popped into her mind.

"Luna, why don't you grab the moon?"

"You haven't set the sun yet," Luna replied.

"I know, but grab it anyway."

Luna had a brief look of confusion before she caught on and replaced her puzzled face with a smiling one. Everypony still inside looked on in wonder as Luna grabbed the moon. Celestia and Luna were still for a few moments. Then, they began to move their respective celestial bodies, the sun descending as the moon ascended. Slowly, they moved the celestial orbs until they passed each other along their paths, a moment Luna took to release the stars before she and Celestia hurried the sun and moon the rest of the way into their places. The moon was now high in the sky, beaming brilliantly against a background of violet and twinkling stars. Luna directed Celestia's attention to certain group of stars. She connected them and, for a few moments, shined them the brightest to make their message clear: "THANK YOU".

"You are very welcome, my dear sister," Celestia replied as she turned to Luna. The royal sisters hugged, blocking everypony else out for the moment to just enjoy this personal one with each other. The others were all smiling to themselves, each other, and at the sisters, so it was clear they agreed this moment wasn't for them.

Comments

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

This was really heartwarming.