How Much I Love You
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
"Mother!" Celestia called out, her voice ringing through the stone halls of the Everfree Castle. "Mother, where art thou? We seek you with utmost urgency!" Her hoofsteps sounded out loud clacks through the empty chambers as Celestia passed them by, her pink pastel mane bobbing lightly with her quick pace. She huffed in annoyance, her wings ruffling slightly with her displeasure. Finally, she came to a set of grand double doors and threw them open with her magic, her pace not faltering from it's urgent speed.
Sitting regally in their thrones were two alicorn ponies; a stallion with a short, firey mane and a deep blue body sitting next to a lavender mare with a mane swirling with the colors of the deep cosmos. They both looked down upon their daughter as she came to a stop in front of them, the mare's face splitting into a warm smile.
"Our dearest little sunshine," the mare giggled, despite the groan of embarrassment her daughter poorly concealed, "Whatever brings thee to call upon us so urgently?"
"We hath received word that thou hast forbidden us from exploring the forest with our sister." Celestia stated firmly, "Mother, hast thee truly restrained our freedom in such a fashion? Dost thou wish us to go mad with utter boredom within these droll walls?"
"Dearest one," the stallion sighed, his grey eyes weary but stalwart, "Our actions are meant to shield thee from dangers thou canst imagine. Yonder forest contains ever-growing dangers, and we would be remiss to avoid protecting our dearest young ones from its perils."
"We are a mare now, father!" Celestia shouted, pounding her hoof against the stone floor, "Thou canst simply imprison us within thine castle!"
"Celestia!" the mare gasped, her wings snapping open and her mouth slightly parted in shock, "Thine tone is disrespectful to us! Thou shalt respect the word of thine parents. A full grown mare thou are not, and therefore the privileges of one thou must earn. For now, we shall guide thee and our word shall be followed." she folded her wings back, her warm smile beginning to return to her features. "Thine sister must be lonely without thee."
Celestia groaned, whirling around so that her back faced her parents. Just as the doors flew open again, she heard her mother call out to her again.
"Sunshine?"
"Mother." Celestia huffed, "Must thou speakest our nickname from our youth?"
The mare simply maintained her eternally caring smile, and dipped her head slightly. "We do such things as we have spoken because we love thee. Thou may not understand, but we do not seek to contain thee, simply to protect our only children from harm."
Celestia rolled her eyes, and shut the door behind her. The mare and stallion who sat upon the thrones sighed lightly, but returned to the documents laid out before them.
You make me happy, when the skies are grey.
"Lulu, dost thou wish to play a game with us?" Celestia asked, a mischievous smile spreading across her face.
"Of course, dearest sister." Luna giggled, her small body covered entirely with the shadow cast by the setting sun behind Celestia's back. "Whatever is thine game called?"
"It is called 'magic battle'." Celestia said, turned her younger sister to face the golden horizon. "We shalt cast a spell, and thou shalt cast a better spell, and so forth. The winner is that which can preform the greatest spell!"
"Tia, thou is greater in magic than us! 'Tis a cheat!" Luna pouted.
"No, dearest sister, tis a game." Celestia grinned, lighting up her horn. In a flash, a little doll teleported across the room and into her hooves. "There. We hast played our move, 'tis thine turn."
"If thou insist." Luna huffed, closing her eyes in concentration. With a flash of blue magic, the stones beneath Celestia's feet became hundreds of geckos. Screaming in fear, Celestia tumbled through the squirming pit of tiny reptiles as Luna rolled around laughing on the floor beside her.
"'Tis not funny, Lulu!" Celestia protested after the last of the frightened lizards crawled away.
"No Tia, 'tis hilarious!" Luna cried, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "We hath made our move."
"Fine." Celestia huffed. "Beat this, sister."
Sticking out her tounge in exertion and focus, Celestia charged her horn with a brilliantly glowing light. In an instant, Luna found herself buried in a pile of the most frilly dresses she had ever seen. She tried to squirm her way out, but the heavy, tangled fabrics immobilized her. Kicking and thrashing with all her might, she eventually wiggled her head out of the pile to the sight of Celestia howling in laughter.
"'Tis foul, sister!" Luna shouted. "Thine spell was in no way superior to ours!"
"Thine spell was inanimate transmogrification. To best a spell of such caliber, we would have to... to..." Celestia searched wildly for a spell to best her sister with, her eyes settling finally upon the setting sun. "To lower the sun!"
Both filly and mare were silent for a short time, but Luna's muzzle split in to a grin.
"Well then, dear sister, why hast thee not set the sun yet?" She purred. "Unless thou are beaten by thine youngest sibling?"
Celestia blinked in surprise, but just as quickly covered it with a snort of disdain. "I was just about to!" She huffed angrily, despite her irritation quickly fading to fear as she eyed the great light of the sun.
"Come on then! Thine spell dost not require all day." Luna giggled, relishing the glare her sister shot her.
Celestia focused all her might, all her strength, all her magic on the horizon, and grabbed hold of the sun. She immediately gasped as she felt the burning orb in her magical grasp, the sheer power radiating from it ripping through the magic she tried to restrain it with.
Come on, sun, set! She growled softly, shoving her magic down as hard as she could. NOW!
Dropping like a stone from the castle balcony, the sun slammed down beneath the horizon in one less-than-fluid motion. Celestia let out a gasp as she felt her magic leave her almost completely, her strength drained by the force of the sun's power.
"Tia." Luna gasped, her voice filled with awe. "Thou hast done it."
Suddenly, the doors to the room of the sisters flew open, revealing two frightened alicorns.
"Children!" The mare cried, wrapping Luna and Celestia in her wings and pulling them close. "We disbanded the Royal Summit as soon as we felt the magical burst emanating from thine room! What hast happened? Are thou hurt? Why hast the sun departed it's place in the sky?"
"Celestia beat me in our game." Luna yelled in glee. "Mother, Celestia hast set the sun!"
"Child, tell us, is this so?" The stallion asked, the bags under his eyes not hiding the worry in their depths. Celestia nodded silently, her own eyes turned downwards in preparation for the verbal lashing she expected to receive.
The two old, tired alicorns looked at each other, their expressions unreadable. Then, a small smile broke the stillness of the mare and spread to the stallion, until both were grinning with foal-like joy.
"Thou... Thou are not mad at us?" Celestia asked in disbelief.
"Dearest child, how could we be mad at thee for such an achievement?" the mare laughed, her eyes gleaming with joy before she winked slyly. "It seems that thou hast gained more than thou think."
Celestia gasped in excitement, whirling her head around to face the bright cutie mark upon her flank. A stylized sun shone up at her, causing her to squeal in joy.
"Mother, my cutie mark! Oh most wonderful of days!" Celestia cried, bouncing around and pulling her younger sister into a spinning dance with her. "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!"
Both ponies collapsed on the ground in a pile of the dresses that remained from Celestia's spell, causing both older ponies to laugh heartily.
"Our little ones do know how to bring joy and excitement to a political summit, do they not?" The stallion rumbled, nuzzling his wife affectionately.
"Our little sunshine could cheer up the gloomiest of days, indeed." she chuckled. "We shall tell the emissaries that their proposals will be postponed in light of our daughter's achievements. Verily, it must improve their moods as well."
The family of alicorns turned to trot merrily down the hall, possibly expressing the most joy ever achieved at a political event.
You'll never know dear, how much I love you.
"Mother, art thou well?" Celestia asked, extending a fully-grown wing to embrace her mother with. "Thine eyes seem detached from this world."
"Our sweet child, always worrying for us." the mare chuckled softly. "We are fine, little sunshine."
Celestia blushed, attempting to hide it beneath her flowing, multicolored mane. "Thou still prefer our nickname, we see."
"Truly, it reminds us of thine radiant beauty in form and spirit." the mare sighed, her eyes soft with memories. "If thou insist, we shall cease our use of thine 'childish' title."
"Oh mother." Celestia chuckled. "Must thou guilt us so? If it brings thee happiness, then we shall never desire thee to halt thine actions."
The old mare smiled, but the expression faded from her features, leaving behind deep lines of age. "Celestia," she said softly. "Didst we ever tell the how much we loved thee?"
Celestia laughed lightly, rolling her eyes at her mother's drama. "Of course thou hast. Thou loves us more than thine entire kingdom."
"Oh, we love thee even more than that." the mare said, her eyes glazing slightly. "We love thee more than all the stars in our cosmos, and all the cosmos in our universe. We love thee more than anything."
Celestia smiled, getting up from where she had lain to accompany her mother. "As do we love you." She said, nuzzling her tenderly. "But we must return to the court, our subjects shall be waiting for us."
With a deep bow, Celestia walked back into the castle, leaving her mother laying upon the balcony and staring at the clear sky above. Her eyes, however, were seeing far beyond the blue of the light passing through the atmosphere. Reflected in their clear turquoise depths were the lights of every star and every planet to twinkle into and from existence, their passage through time held forever within her gaze, yet all of them seeming insignificant compared to one simple thought.
"Oh, how we love thee, our little sunshine. How we wish we had been better to thee."
The day court wrapped up nicely, Celestia trotted down the halls of Canterlot castle, her brisk pace noticed by many of her guards.
"Princess, do you need assistance?" An orange pegasus asked her as she rounded a corner that lead to the Canterlot gardens.
"Thank you, Flash Sentry, but I shall be fine." Celestia dipped her head in thanks, but did not slow her pace.
"If you're certain. Happy Mother's day, princess." Flash called after her, before returning to his post.
Celestia finally entered into the garden, and made her way into the hedge maze without pause. At the center of the puzzling growth, she stopped before a large statue. It was a curiosity amid the gardens, with it bearing two alicorns, a male and a female, who had never been mentioned by the Princesses. It did not receive many visitors, but it always received one without fail every year.
Celestia lit up her horn, and a bouquet of exotic flowers bloomed from the ground before the statue, their petals in all the different colors of the swirling cosmos. Her head fell gently forwards to rest against the cold, stone neck of the statue, the rock suddenly bearing two small streams of water that dripped quietly onto the petals of the delicate blooms below.
If any pony had been passing by, they might have heard the slight sound of a song, broken by stifled gasps of air, floating through the hedge.
Please don't take my sunshine away.