Understudy

by Pony-Berserker

Playing with the Moon

Author's note: Thanks to PrettyPartyPony for proofreading!

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After quite a long journey, Princess Celestia finally arrived in the Griffin Kingdom. She was welcomed cordially by the proud griffin nation. Many griffins gathered at the Griffin Palace to see Celestia. This was only the second time in Equestria’s history that the Pony Princess, who is simultaneously the Griffin Goddess as well, visited their land.

After cordialities had been exchanged, the Griffin King asked Celestia uncertainly: “Forgive me, Your Highness but... Why are the sun and the Moon in the sky at once?”

Celestia raised her royal eyebrow and then turned her head towards the sky. The sun was high in the sky. To the left of the sun was the barely visible Moon.

“What time is it?” Celestia asked with surprise.

“It should already be night, Princess,” the Griffin King answered.

“Are you certain of this? Maybe it is something with time zones?” Celestia tried to find an answer that would not blame her sister instantly.

The Griffin King snapped his claws. His servants silently left the scene. After a while, two griffins carrying a giant clock approached the rulers.

“You see, Princess. This is our best clock. It shows that midnight will be in a few minutes,” the Griffin King said softly, trying not to lose his patience. It seemed to him that the Pony Princess was trying to blame THEM for the bright night.

“Hm, I see...” Celestia hesitated. “Then it’s clearly Luna’s fault.”

“Whose?” the Griffin King asked instinctively.

“My dearest sister Luna is standing in for me while I am here. This is my vacation,” Celestia explained, smiling.

“So, she is now responsible for lowering the sun?” the King asked.

“Yes,” Celestia confirmed the King’s suspicions.

“She isn’t doing a very good job, is she?” the Griffin King asked uncertainly, rubbing the back of his head.

Celestia was struck by his statement. “Well. What do you imply?” she asked, visibly irritated by his insolence.

“Maybe, you could, I don’t know, help her?” The King shrank back, clearly intimidated by Celestia’s presence.

“No,” Celestia stated firmly. “She is already a big filly and I am certain that she can handle her duties. Besides, I enjoy the daylight. Now, please, order your servants to lead me to the apartment you have prepared for me.”

The Griffin King sighed. “Well, never enough sun, heh.”

****

Twilight and Spike arrived in Canterlot late at “night”. They hurried to the castle, where Princess Luna awaited them.

“Princess Luna! What’s going on?” Twilight asked upon seeing the Princess in her chamber.

“ON YOUR KNEES, YOU PUNY PEONS! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO YOUR PRINCESS!?” Princess Luna shouted, blue flames appearing around her. Twilight shrank back, cowering in fear, while Spike was glaring at Luna in amazement. After a while, the Princess seemed to realize what she was doing and said softly: “Um, forgive us, Twilight Sparkle. We feel overwhelmed by this. Celestia left on vacation and we need to take care of everything now but... we have no idea how to control the sun!”

Twilight walked up to the window and looked at the sun. “Princess, how do you actually control the Moon?” she asked Luna.

“Oh, this is very simple. Just look,” Luna answered happily and walked up to the window as well.

Luna focused for a moment and then the Moon began moving down the sky. “You see? Just like that.”

“Can you move it in other directions?” Spike interjected.

“Of course we can,” Luna proclaimed and began moving the Moon firstly to the left and then to the right. “We can even move it towards us!” The Moon began to grow as they looked at it. The Princess of the Night was bringing the Moon closer to Equestria. After a while, the Moon could be clearly seen.

“Wow!” Twilight and Spike were astonished by proximity of the satellite.

Luna smiled brightly as the Moon continued coming closer to them.

“Um, Princess?” Twilight asked uncertainly.

****

Meanwhile in Ponyville...

“The Moon is gonna hit us!!!” Pinkie yelled. “Everypony panic!!!”

Everypony indeed began to panic, running aimlessly around the town and shouting gibberish.

“Oh, look, it’s going off now,” Junebug said with a relief but nopony heard her.

“LOOK! We are safe!” Rainbow Dash shouted, and the panic was gone. The Moon was moving away.

Everypony rejoiced. Nopony was wondering what happened that the Moon could destroy the town (or actually the whole planet).

“Oh no! It’s coming back! It’s coming back!” Junebug shouted. The panic resumed.

****

“In and out, in and out, that’s what it is all about!” Luna chanted as she was moving the Moon closer and further.

“Princess? Um, we see the point.’ Twilight laughed nervously. “But maybe you could consider to stop moving it. That might be, you know, dangerous...”

“Oh!” Luna grinned sheepishly and moved the Moon to its proper position. “Um, that’s how we can move the Moon.”

“I wanna see that again!” Spike exclaimed. “Ouch! What was that for!?” he shouted as Twilight punched him on the head.

“So, you can move the Moon?” Twilight inquired.

Luna nodded, smiling. She was proud of her ability.

“But you can’t move the sun?” Twilight continued.

“We can’t move it even a little bit. Look,” Luna said sadly and then began to focus her concentration on the sun. The Princess gave an unregal groan as her horn started to flare brightly. She was sweating and trembling due to enormous effort she was putting in this. She gave up after a while.

“I see,” Twilight said uncertainly after Luna had finished her ineffective efforts.

An awkward silence hung in the air.

“So, do you know what we should do?” Luna asked, breaking the silence.

“No. I have no idea either!” Twilight was getting nervous. She wasn’t able to help the Princess. “Princess Celestia has never told me how she controls the sun. I’ve never asked about that. I've never thought about it!” Twilight began to panic.

“That is not good, we guess,” Luna said indifferently.

“At least we’re going to have an eternal day not night,” Spike interjected happily and then bite his tongue as Luna gave him a reproachful look. “Forgive me, Princess.”

Twilight was struck by an idea. “Maybe there is something in Canterlot Archives?”

“Um, library?” Luna grimaced at the sound of that part of the palace. “If you really enjoy searching through scrolls, you are allowed to go there. GUARDS!”

“Allowed?” Twilight looked pretty abashed by that. She thought she could go there any time she wanted.

Two white stallions entered the chamber.

“We the Princess of the Night command you to lead Miss Twilight Sparkle and her servant to the Canterlot Archives!” Luna ordered the guards.

“Servant?” Spike expressed his surprise at the way Luna had referred to him.

The stallions nodded and then led Twilight and Spike to the library.

****

It was the second bright night in history of Equestria. Everypony was really confused by this unexpected change in daily rhythm. For example, many ponies couldn’t close their eyes – their brains were making them stay awake all the time. Moreover, many ponies that were not used to using clock. They always relied on the sun and therefore had problems with their daily routine.

Granny Smith, for example, had tried to do some grocery shopping past midnight and was outraged that most stores had already been closed.

Several schoolponies had waited futilely for Cheerilee to show up but their teacher’s clock stopped working and she could not tell if it was time for work or sleep.

As you all can see, the sun was something more for Equestria than just source of light. Without the sun and without their Princess, many ponies struggled to function normally. An eternal day would be nearly as destructive as an eternal night. The pony world needed balance.

And Celestia seemingly forgot about this.

****

“Have you found anything, Spike?” Twilight was totally exhausted. It was over twenty hours of constant searching through the Canterlot Archives.

“I don’t even know what I should look for,” he answered angrily. “Do we need a spell, a scroll, a magic tutorial?”

Spike’s anger was justified. Even Twilight had no idea where the necessary information would be.

Princess Luna entered the library. She had an uneasy look on her face. “We hate books,” she mumbled as she stepped on a scroll. “Have you found something, Twilight?”

“Nothing! There is nothing beyond some scarce information that Princess Celestia indeed controls the sun. But nopony wrote how she does that!” Twilight was on the edge of crying.

“You see. Nopony has really asked us about my moon-controlling ability,” Luna said resignedly. “We have not spoken about this even with our sister.”

“Well, we’re doomed then,” Spike spoke indifferently as he was putting crumpled scrolls in the pile, preparing a place to rest.

Suddenly, a guard ran into the library. “Your Majesty! Terrible News! Manehattan! It’s been destroyed!”

“What!?” Luna and Twilight screamed in unison.

“A messenger has just brought this horrible news! He said it was a giant wave of water! It flooded the whole city!”

“What happened to the citizens?” Twilight asked, fear spreading across her face.

“Thankfully, they were able to escape, thanks to pegasi patrolling the sky, who had seen the wave. However, nearly all the buildings are now ruined!” the stallion answered. “There has never been such a big wave in the history of Manehattan. Nopony knows what could have caused such a disaster!”

Twilight looked at Luna, frowning.

The Princess of the Night laughed nervously. “We think we will never know the reason...”

TO BE CONTINUED

Comments

[zyr1987]

After a while, the Moon was visible very well

This sentence should probably read:

After a while the moon could be clearly seen

[Pony-Berserker]

1499886

thanks. corrected it

[Rennes le chateau]

You destroyed a whole city for a joke?... Wow just... wow

[Syldiin]

Yeah, maybe you shouldn't play with the moon, Luna... It does sorta control the tides...

[TheGreatEater]

 Moreover, many ponies that were not used to using clock. 

a clock
___________

The moon dance was totally worth it. Reminds me of this fic.