Acolyte of the Lunar Court

by Lets Do This

A Sleepless Day

"One hundred twenty six," Twilight counted, staring up at the ceiling in her room in the Palace. "One hundred twenty seven. One hundred twenty eight..."

She sighed and gave it up. She was still unable to fall asleep and even counting the softly glowing stars on the map on the ceiling wasn't helping. It had to be almost noon and she was still wound up. Her thoughts kept drifting back to the circle on the hilltop. Had she really come that close to destroying all her friends? And oh yeah, herself as well?

She lay in the bed, listening to the stillness around her. While the rest of the Palace was a hive of activity during the day the soundproofed and heavily curtained rooms of Luna's wing might as well have been buried in the deepest, blackest tomb.

Then the stillness was suddenly broken by an agonized cry:

"Sister!"

Twilight sat bolt upright, heart racing. For a long moment there was silence. Then she heard muffled sobbing noises. They were coming from the door to Luna's room.

Quietly climbing down from the bed so as not to wake Spike, she tip-hoofed over to the door and gently opened it. Cautiously, she lit her horn with a tenth-candle of light, and looked in.

Luna lay sprawled on her own bed, the covers tangled around her, her mouth open in a silent scream. Her face glistened with tears.

Twilight moved to cross to the bed, then halted after a few steps, not sure if she'd be welcome. What if the Princess objected to being seen like this?

Gritting her teeth, she called out gently. "Princess? Princess Luna? Are you all right?"

Luna's eyes snapped open. She stared across the room at Twilight, fully and completely awake with a speed that was scary in itself. Then she looked down, as if ashamed.

"It was a bad dream, Acolyte, nothing more."

"Sounded like a lot more than just a bad dream!"

Luna looked up at her.

"It was."

Twilight blinked, surprised by the Princess's blunt honesty... and by the look of helpless fright on the Princess's face. "Okay..." Twilight nodded. "I know enough not to ask questions. But... if there's any way I can help, I want to!"

Luna continued to stare at her, not ordering her to leave, yet not asking her closer either. Twilight decided it was up to her. She trotted over to put her hooves on the edge of the bed.

"Would you like me to stay with you, Princess? To keep you company?"

Luna looked away, frowning in disapproval. "We are thy teacher, Acolyte. It would not be proper."

Twilight shook her head. "Only at night, your Majesty! During the day I'm on my own time. And I really wouldn't mind, if it would help you sleep!"

Luna debated for a long moment. Then she looked at Twilight sadly.

"Please?"

She made room, and Twilight climbed up and tucked herself in, settling herself facing Luna. Then Twilight gave Luna a stern look.

"Don't think for a minute this means you'll go easy on me with my lessons in the morning!"

Luna stared back at her, astonished. Then she gave an amused snort. And suddenly she was laughing, long and loud, her head thrown back. She dropped her head on the pillow, eyes shut, crying happy tears.

Then she looked seriously at Twilight for a long moment, as if working up the nerve to say something. Then she spoke:

"We apologize, Twilight!"

"For what, Princess?"

"Hmph. Since we are both 'off duty' so to speak, thou art permitted to address us as Luna... if... if thou wouldst."

"All right, Luna," Twilight agreed. "Now, what are you sorry about?"

"For being jealous of thee!"

"You, jealous of me? Seriously?"

"Quite. We see thee at the dawning of thy powers. It recalls to us a time when we were young as well, our entire life before us, nothing holding us back. Any spell, any prank, anything we set ourselves to do, all was good in our eyes. We see thee throw thyself joyfully into thy studies, into the spells thou attempts, much as we once did, with absolutely no thought of the consequence and no memories of... of failure, holding thee back. And... we are jealous.

"We have returned to a Sister who loves us, a half-dominion to rule, subjects who once again willingly carry out our orders and accept the judgement of our Court, and the steady return of our powers and capabilities as the Princess of the Night. And yet our every action, our every spell, is tinged with doubt, uncertainty, and the memory of what might go wrong. We cannot simply... 'let go', and enjoy our capacities as we once did. And when we see thee do so, we are jealous.

"It is most unbecoming of us, and we apologize. We are truly proud of thee and of thy accomplishments. We are pleased to call ourselves thy teacher, and help thee sharpen and test thy powers!"

Twilight smiled, embarrassed. "And I'm just fortunate to have two such wonderful teachers willing to take time out of their days for me." Twilight put out a forehoof to cautiously touch Luna's. "If you tell me that in your opinion I'm actually worth being jealous of, then I'm not offended, not in the least bit. I'm proud to be so honored!"

Luna smiled at that, just a tiny bit, and she reached out to gently stroke Twilight's shoulder. "We are relieved. And we believe that we will sleep better tonight for thy company!"

Shutting her eyes, Luna made herself comfortable. Twilight did likewise, staring at Luna for a long moment. It was nice seeing the Princess resting gently for once, a warm, peaceful look on her face.

Then suddenly Twilight remembered and doused her horn, smiling at her own forgetfulness. She shut her own eyes and settled down to rest.

Comments

[rnko26]

Awwww that's sweet!