The Story Of Celestia and Luna(TSOCAL)

by TehUltimmareFreakRobot

The Endless Night: Part 2

Joyful conversations and laughter filled the restaurant that night. Among them, Moondust and her friends were but a drop among the sea of good times and fun.

The waiter approached their table, serving up an extra large platter of mushroom and dandelion pizza on a garlic bread crust.

“The alicorn has landed!” Small Luck cheered, throwing up his hooves as he and the others were served.

“Before we dig in, please, take a moment to reflect,” Moondust said.

She, Small Luck and Waterbug all leaned over the pizza and inhaled deeply.

The waiter had to stifle a laugh as he served their sides. Eggplant parmesan for Moondust. Pasta marinara for Small Luck. Hayfries for Waterbug. Once they were all set, the waiter took his leave.

The food was as good as the foals had imagined it. Moondust was glad that she was able to go out to try the new place. Once in a while, her mom was pretty alright.

“Delicious! I love how they put on extra cheese without us even ordering it,” Waterbug said, taking two more slices for himself.

“Good call on the garlic bread crust,” Small Luck said, dipping one of his crusts into the sauce on his noodles.

“Mm! Seriously, if I could eat pizza for every meal, I totally would,” Moondust said, stuffing a whole slice into her mouth. “My stupid mom won’t let me though. She thinks I should have a ‘balanced diet.’ Whatever that means.”

“I still think it’s cool how your mom’s the Princess of the Night,” Small Luck said.

“Eh. The only real upside is that I get to stay up late every night,” Moondust shrugged.

“Lucky! I almost always have to go to bed when the sun goes down,” Waterbug said.

“What’s different about tonight?” Moondust wondered, sipping her soda.

“Parents are out of town at some fancy-shmancy thing. I don’t know. Something about polo, or billiards, or something.’

Their meal carried on with conversations ranging from everything from family pains to the latest news in sports. Everything was going so well, that nothing terrible that came next could have seemed so. Until it happened.

As the staff worked in the kitchen, they were blissfully unaware of a catastrophe in the making. The restaurant was new, but the building was old. Ancient, some might have thought. Few ponies were around to know that it had been built shortly after Canterlot’s first hydroelectric dam was built.

Power surged from the faulty wires into the oven, which had been running all day. The heat from the appliance spread to the walls, onto the frayed and weakened wires. There was a spark inside the walls. The dried wood and ancient insulation were no match for the flames, which spread across the establishment.

Smoke filled the dining area, covering the building in a thick cloud that choked and burned the ponies from the inside.

Waterbug was the first of his friends to try and escape, but was trapped by the disoriented crowd. Moondust called his name, reaching for his hoof, but was pushed around by the crowd.

The fire spread quickly into the restaurant, creating clouds of black smoke. In time, the stragglers were consumed by the fire. Moondust looked frantically for her friends. For a way out. Her breath was growing short, her vision was darkening, and the fire was closing in.

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The flames had engulfed the restaurant. The team of pegasi first responders were dumping stormcloud after stormcloud onto the fire, doing little to douse the flames, though the disaster had been contained to the one building.

A city guard who had been on patrol saw the smoke from his route and rushed to get the word to the palace.

Princess Luna arrived as quickly as she could fly, hoping against hope that her daughter was unharmed. The moment she landed, her magic flared up and the stormclouds grew enormous. Water poured forth from them in an incredible deluge that extinguished the flames in seconds. There was no time to celebrate. Only one thing was on the princess’ mind.

“Where is my daughter?” she frantically asked one of the firefighters.

“We’re not sure. We haven’t been able to–” the mare said.

“Where is Moondust!?” Luna practically shouted.

There was movement from the inside of the building. A small colt crawled out of the charred building, his body badly burned by the fire. Every motion was slow and painful for him as he pulled himself into the streets of Canterlot, before the horror-struck crowd.

Luna gasped when she recognized the colt as her daughter’s friend and rushed over to him.

“Small Luck!” she said. “Small Luck, are you alright?”

Small Luck breathed heavily as pain blazed his every nerve. “M…Moondust and Waterbug…In there…” he said, pointing to the burnt restaurant.

Dread clutched Luna’s chest as she allowed the medics to take Small Luck from her and get him the help that he needed. Before any of the firefighters were inside, Luna was inside the charred remains of the restaurant.

All of the cheer had gone to the place, leaving it a darkened husk of its former self. Gone were the sounds of laughter and cheer. The remains of the building sagged and drooped, mourning the loss of its former self.

Among the burnt up rubble, Luna found something that made her heart stop. Two foals were among the dead she found. Waterbug laid with his hoof firmly in Moondust’s, together in their last desperate moments.

The cries of a mother’s greatest loss echoed through the burnt building. For many minutes, nopony did anything, until Luna emerged from the dark interior. The emergency team was allowed to do their work as Luna was offered condolences by the fire chief.

Luna’s flight home was a long and sorrowful one. The moon stayed in the sky for longer than it should have, making Celestia have to lower it herself before raising the sun.

Celestia was understandably annoyed by having to do something she knew her sister was fully capable of doing. She marched through the castle to her sister’s room. The closer she came, the more she heard the sounds of sobbing.

As she approached, Celestia was noticed by Soft Lotion, who was stationed outside Luna’s chambers. He motioned for Celestia to stop where she was, and to listen at the door. Celestia did as she was instructed and listened quietly.

She could hear both her sister and Rising Moon inside. Luna’s voice was low, yet also frantic. It was a voice that Celestia had heard from hundreds of ponies who had approached her during her time as ruling princess. One that she never once would have hoped or dreamed to hear from her own sister. It was the voice of somepony who had just experienced great turmoil and had become emotionally shattered by it.

Rising Moon fared no better. Though his voice was much steadier, he had none of his normal humor or upbeat tones. It was as if some stranger who had only heard of him was trying to impersonate him.

There were short stints of sorrowful conversation, followed by long silences that Celestia eagerly awaited to end. If only to hear their voices and know that they were alright.

Soft Lotion leaned on his spear, his face an expressionless mask of what it normally was.

From what Celestia could hear, only vague details were learned. As the time passed, she put together a picture that was too grim for her to believe. Her niece had died in a fire. Celestia’s knees nearly fell out from beneath her as disbelief churned over in her mind.

Steps approached the door. Celestia and Soft Lotion both stepped back as Rising Moon exited. The look on his face was more dull and glum than either of them had ever seen. He had no words. Only that terrible look upon him. With hardly a sound, Rising left slowly down the hall.

“What do we do now?” Soft Lotion quietly asked, never raising his gaze.

“I don’t know,” Celestia answered.

One week later, a funeral was held for Moondust. For as long as she was there, Luna acted as if nopony else was around her. She didn’t speak. She didn’t look at anypony. She was a shadow of her former self.

Luna shut herself away from everypony else after that. Her days and nights were spent locked up in her daughter’s bedroom, allowing nopony else in. Occasionally, somepony saw her walking the halls, but only for a fleeting moment before she disappeared around a corner, not a word spoken by her. She was little more than a ghost who walked among the ponies, who haunted the halls of her own palace.

In time, even those closest to her began to grow distant, Rising Moon began to grow concerned that Luna would never recover. Time passed, and he had to bury his feelings to keep them from overwhelming him. It was the worst toll that it ever had taken on him. His renowned sense of humor had faded like a mist. His peppy smile and bright eyes became a neutral gaze. Soon after, his love for Luna was only a cold lump in his heart.

Discontent and a darkness filled Luna’s soul. She was becoming a backdrop. A pony with no purpose.