> The Stars That Circle the Moon
>  by Swaglestia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> How Many Points Do I Receive? 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Stars That Circle the Moon
Entry One: How Many Points Do I Receive? 	
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"I do believe 'tis thy turn, my dearest." Luna raised an eyebrow at Twilight, the edge of her lip on the brink of a condescending smirk as she hushed a small laugh. She glanced at the game board (that may as well have just spelled out 'HAHA, LUNA WINS AGAIN'), then at the frantic desperation on her opponent's face. Looking down at the small wooden tray that held her remaining three letters, she contemplated her next move almost effortlessly. Now bored, she crossed her hooves; waiting. This was too easy.

Meanwhile, Twilight was mere seconds away from flipping the table over, blowing up the library, and banishing Luna back to the moon. Her brow was furrowed in a concentration so deep and forced that it was painful, a dull ache pounding away at the base of her horn. This can't be! Wide-eyed, she ricocheted back and forth between her letters and the board. Nothing. Impossible! This must have been some sort of sick joke; yes, that was it, and now all she had to do was wait for Dash and Pinkie to pop out of a bookshelf and tell her that they rigged the game and it had been a prank all along. This inconceivable turn of events could never occur without outward intervention. She had been the Canterlot champion three years in a row, president of the club, and she even had a plaque dedicated to all of her winnings in the capitol's gaming hall; she was practically royalty when it came to this thing! And now she was being dethroned. By Luna.

Twelve times in a row.

The severely clenched muscles in her face relaxed as she sighed, defeated. "I have to pass."

"Pardon?" Luna looked up nonchalantly, feigning that she wasn't listening. Again, she had to suppress a sea of laughter from escaping her throat.

"I said I have to pass," she stated, her voice hitting a flat note. The agitation that brewed was only rivaled by the extreme weight of self-disappointment. Twelve times in a row! A particularly critical sector of her mind growled at her, sounding more like a scolding mother than her own inner voice. "It's your turn now."

The princess's horn became illuminated in a deep cobalt glow, magic ensnaring her remaining letters. Lazily, they drifted to the board and placed themselves meticulously in position between two other words, conjoining them like a bridge. In disbelief, Twilight's head jutted out to assess Luna's move. She noted that the goddess had creatively incorporated her letters in obscure spaces that Twilight would not have even dreamed of attempting herself, almost as if the princess took the game as some sort of artform. However, the word she had devised appeared... doubtful. The unicorn didn't hesitate to take complete advantage of that.

"Aha!" Twilight exclaimed with a twinkle of crazed triumph in her eyes, throwing a hoof in the air for dramatic effect. "'MUZJIKS' isn't a word!

Luna was unfazed, the same bored feline indifference etched on her face. "'Tis, indeed, a word."

"Prove it!" Desperation creeped into her every syllable, this same voice hauntingly reminding her: twelve times in a row!  

As if rehearsed, the princess levitated a nearby book out of its wooden home, thick and heavy with volumes of information. Without as much as a mere glance, her magic flipped quickly through the pages, making that distinct rustling sound that was music to a reader's ears. Once content, Luna's horn sauntered the book over to the frantic unicorn across from her.

"Fourth definition down," she stated matter-of-factly, a hint of playfulness ebbing its way through. Attempting to mask how secretly entertained she truly was, she watched as Twilight snatched the book and skimmed through the entry with haste. A carrousel of emotions circled her face, inhabiting every spectrum from malice to confusion and eventually landing on one that declared surrender and admitted supreme defeat.

"It is a word..." Twilight absently plopped down on her rump, directing the statement more to herself than anyone else.

"Well, my love," Luna began, sweet laughter tickling her voice. "It appears I am the victor, yet again."

Thirteen times in a row!

The unicorn sighed, vigorously attempting to analyze how in Equestria she (three-time Canterlot champion!) had been so easily thwarted at her own game by a pony who suffered from a thousand-year time lapse. Must be some crazy arcane alicorn powers, she assumed, with the ability to make words up and pass them off as legitimate! Or maybe Celestia had a spell to telepathically communicate with her sister, and she was feeding her words from a dictionary! Twilight could see it now; the elder princess curled up comfortably on a mat, drinking tea and curtly chortling as she spewed impossible words into Luna's psyche, guiding her to victory.

"Shall we go another round?" The princess pseudo-innocently grinned, obviously amused at how her consistent winnings were driving Twilight absolutely insane.

"I..." The younger mare looked down, her face adorned in an exhausted half-frown. The downcast demeanor of her companion almost tempted Luna into feeling the slightest pinch of guilt. "I give up. You obviously have the upper-hoof here."

"Art thou certain?" The princess probed on, some undetectable excitement dancing across her eyes. "Dost thou not remember our agreement?"

How could I forget? Twilight's mind sneered, recalling the misty whisper that brushed against her ear mere hours earlier, the warm breath eliciting involuntary shivers from the tip of her horn to the base of her tail.

------------------------

'Twilight,' Luna's voice had called over to her from across the room, her head rising up from under the depths of the unicorn's bed (What she was searching for down there, Twilight hadn't a single clue). She had fished out a thin cardboard box, a film of dust covering its entirety. 'What might this be?'

The younger mare had instantly recognized it, a pang of nostalgia coercing her heart as small tidbits of fond memories flashed through her brain. But this was the princess she was dealing with, and although they had gotten quite comfortable with each other over the past few months, in no way was she going to tarnish her image by repeatedly screaming, "yes!" and fangirling around the room like a filly.

'Oh, that.' Twilight attempted to casually brush it off as impassively as possible, a large portion of her wanting nothing more than just to rip open the box and play against anything, even considering challenging Owloysius if she became desperate enough. 'It's just some old game.' She felt her heart drop by even uttering such blasphemy, making a mental note to apologize to it later.

'A game?' Luna's ears perked up. 'What is the objective of this game?'

Struggling not to appear too eager, Twilight trotted over to the box. As she opened it, the anticipation grew and she almost felt ashamed for being so thrilled over something as trivial as this. 'Well,' She began, blowing the dust off the board and carefully laying it out on the floor between them. 'We each start with seven letters. The object of the game is to use the given letters to make words on the board. Whoever runs out of letters first and has the highest score wins.' Oh, she could have gotten into much more detail.

Luna had grown quiet, a thoughtfully distant look embellished her face as she peered down at the game before her. The princess's rigorous pondering felt tangible as Twilight waited, earnest and expectant.

'If I may propose a deal,' Luna said finally, looking up at the unicorn. Like lightning, something precarious and predatory quickly flashed behind her eyes. 'If thou should triumph over me in this game of words, then I shall bestow a reward upon thee.' She stalked closer, a smirk emblazoned on her face.

'Uh,' Twilight flushed deep crimson as Luna nuzzled up against her, almost certain that the larger mare could easily hear, if not feel, the relentless pounding of her heart that could have been mistaken for a stampede. 'A reward, huh?' A high-pitched nervous chuckle escaped her, feeling like a foolish schoolfilly.

'Yes,' Luna's lips brushed against Twilight's ear, her whisper eating away any conscious thought that may have been left intact. 'A reward of the flesh...'

--------------

Thirteen times. In. A. Row.

"Sure, we'll play another round." Begrudgingly, Twilight gave in, hopelessly unable to ever say 'no' to the mare in front of her but still frustrated enough to allow the darkness to seep into her voice. She cleared the game board of its pieces, then reluctantly redistributed them as she prepared for yet another carnal whooping.  

Twilight watched as Luna calculated her next move, willing to bet her entire library that the word would surely be lengthy and painstakingly pretentious. The pieces became airborne, the blue aura gravitating them into position. Upon only seeing three letters, the younger mare curiously peeked at the board. She cocked an eyebrow.

'CAT.'

She gazed up at Luna, suspicious. The princess merely smirked back.

Twilight had won that round.
> Pillow Talk (revised and edited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Stars That Circle the Moon
Entry Two: Pillow Talk
(revised and edited)

------------


Two bodies collapsed onto the bed in a tangled heap of fevered rapture, every inch of their frame ablaze despite the darkness of the room. Each bottomless, spent heave of their chests made the mattress below them creak like a decrepit old ship and it shrilled even more so when they writhed their way towards each other to intertwine yet again. Post-passion had rendered them into a couple of desperate magnets as they grasped and squeezed under the covers with sharp need to be held. Clasped together in the still of the afterglow, the palpable heat that radiated between them was of no concern.

Time passed, as it always does, and the hands of the clock coaxed them from their bliss-induced inebriation. The maddening flame dwindled down to a dim wispy flicker as heaves quieted into complacent, satisfied sighs. Descending from the highest dominion of pleasure to the soft pastures of innocent intimacy was a slow progression, not unlike the day easing unnoticed into the night.

One of the pair extended their limbs in a stretch, expended muscles crying in relief. Curling back up against the other, she looked up.

"Luna?"

"Hmm?"

"I have a question, if you don't mind." The voice was of a pony who had just reached their prime. Young and eager, but articulate and beyond their years.

"I have an answer." This voice was mature, unwavering, dark. It reminded the younger one of silk with the smooth way each word landed upon her ears. 

"It's kind of..." The smaller one chewed her lip as she mused, needing to consider her word choice with precision and empathy in mind. "Personal."

The reply was an ardent nuzzle and a trifling, but genuine, laugh. The darker mare leaned into her partner's ear as if telling a secret in a crowded room, voice nothing more than a whisper. "I do believe we have been as personal with each other as possible, Twilight Sparkle."

A red wave of shyness cast itself on the younger one's cheeks as a shiver slithered from her horn to her tail. She pulled away in reflexive embarrassment but failed to get very far, stronger hooves reeling her back into an embrace.

"I was just wondering," she continued, composing herself as she felt the older one grin and nestle into the crook of her neck, warming her to the core. "What was it like?"

"What dost tho-" The older one blinked and shook her head. "What do you mean?"

"How was the..." Hesitation. The careful assembly of the right diction. This subject was a mere step away from the ledge already and one false would be all it needed to take the plunge straight down into oblivion. "T-the moon. You never talk about it." 

The smile that pressed along her neck jerked away. "And for good reason."

Guilty stupidity smacked the smaller one in the face, wincing to herself in recoil. It was like she had blurted the wrong answer in front of an entire class with triumphant pride or ruined a day's worth of hard work with one heedless step. She blushed again, shame replacing giddiness. "Oh! I'm sorry..."

Silence. The once placid quiet was now dethroned by a muteness that felt more like humidity, saturated and cumbersome as it bloated the air. Only the restless sound of bedsheets stirring next to her and leaves crackling against the window remained, their silhouette projecting uneasy shadows on the floor. Somewhere in the distance, an overnight train pulled into the town's station.

"I do not remember much."

"Huh?"

"The moon, Twilight Sparkle." The older one drew in a long breath, as if anticipating something. "I fail to recall most of it."

"Do you remember anything at all?"

"Insatiable and curious as always, I see." She gave a curt chuckle, but the carefree tone that once rang through the room had turned forced and disdainful. Her eyes were half-lidded and distant, but as intense as ever. "However, I suppose thou deservest to-" She halted and pursed her lips, a vexed huff escaping them. "I mean, you deserve to know."

"You don't have to correct yourself around me." The younger one grazed her partner's cheek with a chaste kiss, hoping to provide a smidgen of something that at least resembled comfort. "Plus, I kinda like it."

The older one attempted to smirk but it was strained and faltering, an esoteric breed of boundless grief and affliction bubbling at the surface. Closing her eyes, she began with a sigh. "'Twas cold, my love; very, very cold." Her voice held no pitch, no influx of raw emotion that usually surged out when uttering amity such as this. "I felt hollow, as if there was a void I besought to fill. Plagued by the same loneliness that morphed me. Anger, blackness; 'tis all I am able to recall."

Now sitting up, the smaller one's ears perked in fascination. "All of that for an entire millennium?"

"Think of it as slumber, but dreaming in emotions as opposed to images."

The younger one's voice raised a few octaves in excitement despite the grim circumstances, her perpetual thirst for knowledge accidentally countering sympathy. "And what about Nightmare Moon?"

The older one hesitated for a moment, something bizarre flashing across her face. "...What about the wretched thing?"

"Were you conscious when she had control?"

She flinched. "Thou doth ask far too many questions."

A nervous snort spouted from the younger one's nose as she cursed her incessant probing. "Heh. So I've been told."

The silence returned with a vengeance, this time even more copious and wearisome. There was a ticking clock that had previously gone unobserved, but at that moment every tock may as well have been the thunderous clamoring of a church bell. The younger one attempted to distract herself by looking at anything and everything in the room, but found that situations were considerably harder to avoid in the confines of her bed.

After what seemed like an eternity, the older one broke the silence, but just barely. "What was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"Before thou camest to Ponyville and obtained friendship?"

"Well," she said, but then paused, mulling over the sudden question with sincere effort. "I felt cold and hollow, like there was a void in me. I was lonely, angry..."

The older one's smile returned.


------------


Author's Note: I know, I know. Nothing special or remarkable. Just a few additions and smoothed-out prose. And I'm still not satisfied with this at all. Haha.
> The Second Best Thing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Stars That Circle the Moon

Entry Three: The Second Best Thing

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Luna was many things.

Stupid was not one of them. Neither was blind.

So as she, Twilight, and her sister (in that order) sat around a table on one of the higher castle balconies and enjoyed a small brew of tea in the early pre-dawn hours, Luna could just feel it. Twilight's gaze rarely left Celestia's, straying away only when she levitated the porcelain cup to take a meek sip; yet, even then, it seemed the unicorn's eyes still somehow managed to be fixed to her mentor's one way or another. It was, well... Obnoxious, to say the least. The conversation centered around the typical routine of filling Celestia in with the details of Twilight's studies, the Sun Goddess sometimes adding her ever-sapient, effortlessly philosophical two cents. The young scholar, of course, gobbled up the princess's words like a servant in desperate need for her master's acceptance and assurance.

Must I be so grim?

Luna quietly scolded herself for the comparison, but the darker side of her mind seemed to merely shrug and move on, continuing its private barrage of snide remarks. Perhaps she was jumping to rash conclusions, as she often times did. Perhaps her jealousy (she undetectably grimaced, the word going down with a sour taste) was toying with her sense of judgement. Perhaps, just perhaps, there was absolutely, positively, definitely nothing to worry about. No, ma'am. Nothing wrong here. Move along.

A small, nervous giggle escaped Twilight. Celestia beamed back down at her, an ivory tower shining with pride.

Perhaps my suspicions were correct.

Luna's aura enveloped the tea, the unintentional malice behind the action almost accidentally crushing the porcelain in its forceful grip. She watched the pair sharply as she levitated the cup to her lips. The liquid seemed to swell in her mouth, leaving her throat no other option but to reluctantly and uncomfortably choke it down. What was the purpose of her even being present? Her sister and her marefriend (what a revolting word) appeared to have enough company within themselves and, to be frank, she preferred coffee over the odd, too-natural thinness of tea. Now you're merely making petty excuses, her thoughts interrupted, snarky as ever.

So, she did what she always had done when things weren't going her way.

She fled. And she sulked.

The dainty teacup landed on the table with a petite clink! as the Princess of the Night cleared her throat in a similarly subtle fashion. "If thou wilt excuse me," she announced, rising up from the chair and attempting to remain as stoic as possible. "I do believe I must tend to a small number of duties that seemed to have slipped my mind." 

Celestia immediately gave her an all-too knowing look; a quick, imperceivable, discerning flash of grave understanding. With a small lump caught in her throat, she knew the elder one's mind was already unsheathing the blade in preparation for the duel of words the two of them were sure to have once her student left.

"The sun is set to rise very soon, Luna," Celestia chided, her words hoof-picked and precise. "Surely these things can wait until the night court, once you've rested." She raised an eyebrow, as if saying, I know you better than you know yourself, sister.

"I'm afraid these matters are of great importance, and I have been regrettably procrastinating." Two can play at this game, Celestia.

"Very well, then." The Sun Princess sipped her tea, an air of  polite modesty surrounding the gesture, although her eyes never stopped burning directly into Luna's. "Duty calls. I, of all ponies, would be the one to understand." She smiled a smile that was so knowing and condescending and presumptuous and oh i just want to blast that smile clear off thy face and make thee eat it and-

"You'll be back before I have to leave, right?" Blissfully unaware of the hidden dialect between the sisters, Twilight suddenly appeared slightly dejected. Her voice seemed to gently plead, throwing a box of guilt on top of the heavy load Luna was already carrying. 

The younger princess's expression softened at the words, the unicorn's eyes never failing to completely puncture her composure. She reached down and nuzzled her for good measure, whispering a gentle, "Of course." Turning to Celestia, she gave a curt nod and flared her wings, taking off into twinkling, dark early morning sky.

Luna wasn't much of a flyer, only apt to feeling the soaring weightlessness when the need arose for it, one of those times being right now. Scouring the outskirts of the castle, she settled for a peculiarly small lake that appeared private enough. She landed with a tiny thud as her wings kicked up a torrent of dirt. Even in the dark, the water was stunningly crystal clear, her reflection peering back up at her with hollow eyes.

She looked...

Pathetic.

Sighing, she attempted to collect herself. Uncertainty clawed at her gut like a fat, black monster, the whispers of her doubt skewing her sense of clarity. Did Twilight Sparkle look at her with the same shimmering, radiant gleam as she did Celestia? Was the unicorn harboring and feeding a hidden, abstruse love for her mentor? It seemed plausible; the unconditional admiration, all the years they've shared together, Celestia's sense of compassion and benevolence despite her supremacy. It was only natural that, after the personal closeness they shared, that the student would inevitably fall in love with the teacher.

Especially one as beautiful and pure and perfect as Celestia.

Luna hung her head.

Old habits were certainly hard to break.

A slew of small, round pebbles were strewn around her hooves. Grasping one with her magic, she tossed it recklessly at the water, as if the lake had been the cause of all her ailments. It landed with a gurgling wet thlump! She never did understand the art of skipping stones. As a filly, every time she attempted, it would always just break the surface of the water and sink down into its depths; it was disheartening back then, but just seemed juvenile now. Celestia, on the other hoof, could most likely make a pebble skip for miles before it was consumed. She knew exactly how hard to toss it and exactly when to cease her magic to make it jump. 

Of course she did.

She could do anything.

Luna's aura gripped another one of the tiny rocks, eyeing the water critically. She drew the pebble back like an archer preparing a bow. Flinging it forward, she let go of her magic and-

A thought collided with her brain.

Her pupils dilated. Her heart began to hammer. Her breathing stopped.

What if Twilight was only with her because she couldn't be with Celestia?

The pebble hit the surface of the water, and disappeared underneath the surface.

Luna's ears lowered limply, the realization sinking in like her failed rocks descending to the bottom of the lake. Her theory made an unsettlingly large amount of sense, the possibility of it being true appearing greater and greater as her mind cut deeper into its core. Second fiddle, a dark, familiar voice mocked from the abyss of her thoughts. Green eyes flashed once, then vanished. You're merely the second best thing. Second, second, second.

Luna shook her head violently, then chucked another stone in the same manner.

The atmosphere subtly appeared brighter, the water glistening with the golden streaks of the rising, infant sun. It peeked its rounded head slowly above the horizon and turned the sky into a carefully blended canvas of color. Her sister was raising her attuned celestial body, Twilight no doubt right by her side and watching the spectacle intently, her mind alive with the awe of a starstruck filly.

Celestia would always have her way; it may as well have been a sacred law. She could hear it clear as day (why couldn't it be as clear as night?): her sister on a podium far above her subjects, peering down on them like the proud ruler she was. 'I, Princess Celestia of Equestria,' she would say, regality suffocating every word. 'Hereby decree that I now automatically take possession of anything that may make Luna even the slightest bit happy!' And the crowd would cheer, cheer, cheer. 

A second reflection projected itself from the water.

Speak of the devil.

"Luna?" Celestia's voice drafted to her ears, but she remained motionless and detached, her eyes never leaving the flat lake. When no response was given, she heard the elder one sigh.

Luna gave in. "What is it, Celestia?" The words came out like a harsh gust of wind.

"Don't play coy, sister." She sounded exasperated, as if she had just finished arguing with a particularly stubborn ambassador and a last-minute pile of work was added on her desk immediately after that. But upon looking at the miserable state of her sibling, her bitterness suddenly dissolved. "You've always worn your heart on your hoof."

"What of it?"

"I know exactly what you're feeling, Lulu." The Sun Goddess smiled down; not the cheeky, disdainful smile of earlier, but one meant to instill comfort.

"Humor me then, Tia." Luna's tendency to speak before thinking took over, her wit thwarting consideration. "Since thou art all-knowing and wise, please, enlighten me."

Celestia was unfazed, the concerned-yet-placid look still on her face. Luna had expected this though, her sister having dealt with her instability and overt emotional outbursts for longer than even she could recall. The elder princess tenderly draped a protective, nursing wing over her, hindering the younger one's strong-willed defenses. She gave a defeated sigh and nestled in the embrace, feeling like a humiliated child.

Celestia was gentle. Luna was brash.

That's how it always was.

"Listen closely, little one," Celestia said, the words sounding stern but landing with sympathy. "I will not say much, so take of it what you will."

Luna nodded against her fur.

She continued. "I can't say I agree with or even understand how your thoughts lead you down these self-afflicting and imprudent roads. Although, I must hand it to you, you possess quite the imagination." There was a slight tickle of laughter at that. "Twilight Sparkle is my student and my friend, and that is all. Do you truly believe I would betray you, especially in matters of the heart?"

Luna opened her mouth to protest, but the words fell short. She suddenly felt a horrific sort of stupidity crawling on her skin.

Celestia looked off into the distance, flecks of the sun illuminating her face. She went on, her voice thoughtful. "Yes, we care for each other deeply, but you mistake that for romantic love. She's simply a little passionate and overzealous, which sounds an awful lot like somepony I happen to know." She smiled down at her sister, whose dark cheeks were tinted pink in a blush.

"So, I had nothing to fret over all along." Luna sighed, an odd sensation of relief and embarrassment flooding in. "Is Twilight Sparkle still here?"

"She's at the castle, but you'd better hurry. She must return soon."

Luna wiggled herself out of her sibling's embrace, wings flared and prepping for flight. "I must admit, I feel incredibly foalish." For personal precaution, she added: "Thou did not speakest to her about this issue, correct?"

"No, I didn't tell her." Celestia laughed. "Your secret is safe with me."

At the sound of the genuine, kind-hearted laughter, Luna reflected on the image she once had of her sister on the podium, her subjects chanting and cheering...

She shuddered.

Returning to the Sun Goddess's side, a leech of guilt sucked and gnawed at her mind. She gave the strong, white neck a brief nuzzle. "I'm..." She huffed. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." Celestia grinned, motioning towards the castle. "Now, go. Don't keep her waiting."

Luna returned the smile, taking off to where Twilight Sparkle would surely be expecting her, and only her.
> Trust
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Stars That Circle the Moon
Entry Four: Trust


------------

There were certain things that bothered Twilight Sparkle more than others.

Sure, she could tolerate Applejack's stubborn streak when it came to something as simple as asking for help or Rarity's tendency to overdo everything. She could deal with the inconvenience of Fluttershy's crippling dragon-phobia on top of Rainbow Dash's unfiltered cockiness; heck, after a while, even Pinkie's senseless sense began to make sense.

She had kept her mouth shut and complaints to herself at the Gala when fleets of guests were out to ruin her 'best night ever' with the princess (personally, she thought she deserved some sort of medal for maintaining composure despite the strong desire to just shut the door in their faces and lock them all out). She had tried her hardest to focus on the bright side of things during her first sleepover, disregarding the mindless bickering of the two other ponies. The icing on the cake was when Spike had lied and then proceeded to fly into a jealous rage over Owloysius, forcing herself to push her anger aside and actually go find him when he ran away.

But nothing so vexed the very core of Twilight's nerves quite like attempting to stargaze through a cloudy sky.

"Ugh!" The unicorn paced back and forth between a large telescope and... well, an even larger telescope. They protruded from the library's windows in their awkward girth, looking more like absurd and unnatural metal growths than pricey, complex astrological equipment. Impatient, she tinkered with various buttons and knobs and who-knows-what with a swift expertise that should have been beyond her years. The convoluted task appeared to require little to no thought on her end. Looking through the eyepiece, she galled out another huff of agitation. Of all the endless nights she had lined up that were free to be ruined, why did it have to be this one?

While Twilight stomped and kicked and groaned through a cosmic temper tantrum, Luna lay a safe distance away and watched with silent, amused interest. At the mercy of her guilt and how severe she allowed it to get before deciding to intervene, the princess had always thought that the younger one's little fits were a great source of entertainment. Seeing a pony who prided herself on logic and rationality get swept up in such intense bouts of frustrated passion proved to quell her dark humor's taste for irony. It was akin to the morbid hypnotism of a train wreck or sinking ship, and she just couldn't look away.

"Pray tell, my love," she said, crossing her front hooves with the kind of graceful, yet bored absence only she was able to perfect. "What has thee in such a frantic state?"

Twilight didn't even spare her a glance, completely consumed in her own little world of adjustments and calibrations and configurations. "A comet that only comes around once every one-hundred-twenty years is supposed to be visible tonight and-" She gave a small grunt as she meddled with an insubordinate latch that refused to make itself unstuck. "...The pegasi have kept it overcast for three whole days. I can't miss this oppo- Ahh!" To her surprise, the stubborn piece had decided to cooperate, detaching itself completely from the telescope. The unexpectedness of it made her stumble about with the grace of a cannon ball being shot straight into the ground, but she caught herself on a bookshelf before it had the chance to get ugly or embarrassing. She sighed in relief, but the relief deflated into disappointment as she frowned at the imperfect, severed part in her hoof. "Oh, it broke..."

Luna rose, making her way towards Twilight and peering down at the curious, obscure object. She cocked her head. "I must say, in my day, a telescope was merely a telescope."

The scholar seemed to ignore that, bouncing back to the task at hand as hectic and determined as ever. A restless purple eye looked into the small glass of the scope for the umpteenth-and-a-half time, scouring the sky as if its eternal expanse were something fleeting and temporary, able to vanish without a trace at any given moment. With her attentive pupil still fixated in place she somehow managed to move the bulky monster of the apparatus a considerable ways to the left, much to Luna's bewilderment; she was so small and the sizable thing seemed so heavy, even with the aid of the equally ample tripod.

Obsessive engagement and humorous instability aside, it was a spectacle, really, watching Twilight slip away into the trance of her work. Despite how the complete emotional investment took a toll on her, she seemed so at home there. It was as if she were born with a golden spyglass in her hoof and the cartography of the stars already illustrated in her head. Had an artist been asked to capture the scene, the unicorn would have blended into the background with ease, natural and unnoticed in her rightful place. Perhaps one night Luna would have the astrological expert herself teach her the ins and outs and in-betweens of these newfangled contemporary telescopes; she'd be a rotten liar if she said she wasn't the least bit flattered by the impressive instruments built for the sole purpose of observing the science of her sky. 

Oh, how things change.

"A-ha!" As sudden as the latch breaking, a familiar zany smile shattered the previous downward curve of Twilight's lips. She reached up and turned the knob closest to her, which the princess could only assume meant that the lens was being focused (or something along those lines). 

Another indiscernible and borderline insane coo of victory erupted from her, the unsettling grin growing larger. "Luna, come here. Look!" Twilight backed away from the telescope, allowing the princess to peer through the eyepiece. "Do you see it?!"

"What exactly is 'it' that I'm supposed to be looking at?"

"I thought I saw a star. That means the clouds are starting to break, meaning I still may have a chance to observe the comet, meaning I won't have to wait another one-hundred-twenty years for it to come around again, meaning I won't have to end up developing a way to synthetically increase my longevity!" She clapped her hooves together like a joyous filly. "Is it still there?" 

Luna frowned. "I am unsure of how to break it to thee, Twilight Sparkle," she said, brow furrowed as her intent gaze beheld nothing. "But that is a light from a tower in Canterlot."

"...What."

Twilight scurried to the other telescope, making haste and doing her best to adjust it analogous to its partner, albeit lacking her usual controlled finesse. She shoved her eye into the glass in a way that would have been sure to warrant a howl or two of pain and perhaps an emergency visit to the optometrist, but she was unfazed; vital clues and secrets of the macrocosm were at stake here!

With quick sessions of trail and error, she finally landed on the beacon of hope she had assumed was a star. She zoomed out, the small details of the world filtering into view. The burdensome clouds became more than just an abyss of dark grey as their bloated contours appeared clearer and clearer with each twist of the clasp. Sense of direction developed as the tip of a distant, but identifiable, regal architecture blocked the path of the objective lens and...

Sure enough, a light flickered from the window of a high tower, performing its best impersonation of a star as it twinkled with inconspicuous innocence. 

"Wow," she said, her tone as flat as a scorched prairie. "I can't -- I mean, it doesn't..." She allowed her body to go lame as she fell back on her rump in disbelief. "Just, wow."

Luna offered a sympathetic look, attempting to match it with a smile but, as always, it came up short. She gave a curt laugh, nervous and strained. "I suppose we shall begin our research regarding thy longevity then?" 

Twilight replied with a bested shrug, the gravity of disappointment weighing her down. "Oh, well." Her once triumphant gleam had been casted out like a filthy dog from a spotless house, ashamed to have let down its master with the crass dirt. "There are plenty more comets in the sky, I guess. Heh." 

Ahh, utilizing poor jokes to mask the slings and arrows of personal failure, Luna thought, hushing the urge to roll her eyes. Never change, Twilight Sparkle.

Said-unicorn perused at the two massive telescopes with grudging dread, as if she had just now been hit with the realization of their sheer immensity. How in Equestria did she even get those here in the first place? With a sigh that seemed to have derived from her core, she stood up and dragged herself over to them. The dreaded notion that this whole thing was in vain had started to float in her gut. "Well," she said, tapping a mindless and distracted hoof over the base of the contraption. "I guess we'd better clean this up."

As Twilight lunged into the grueling process of unscrewing and unwinding and unfastening, Luna remained a statue. The only hint of life existed in the subtle burn behind her eyes as she mulled over the situation with disapproval, almost able to hear herself tsk away. All of her precious scholar's effort thrown back in her face like a spoiled child receiving the wrong flavor of lollipop. All of that energy she had expended during the day just to prepare for the night, now converted to nothing but dejection. Gazing at Twilight in the same manner in which Twilight had surveyed the sky, she now understood. All at once, the way those wonderful shoulders slumped or how those eyes seemed to lose that curious vigor became the very bane of Luna's existence.

No, no, no, a disheartened Twilight Sparkle simply would not cut it.

But what to do, what to do?

"Uh, Luna? Are you okay?" Twilight peeped her head out over one of the tripod's lengthy legs, looking at the princess as if she were the most peculiar thing to ever live and breathe on this earth. She gestured a hoof towards her, one eyebrow cocked in concern. "You're just... standing there."

Her mind gave a mighty huzzah!

"Dost thou still wish to observe the comet?"

Twilight's odd stare revamped itself into something tangled between confusion and intrigue. Her hoof fell from the clamp it was working at. "Huh?"

"The comet," Luna said as a beaming, self-satisfied smirk played at her lips. "Dost thou still desire to see it?"

"Of course." The unicorn's ears perked as she removed herself from the throes of her mechanical clean-up. "I'd love to. That would be amazing." Her voice held an unexpected shine of optimism that sounded all wrong when it landed upon her ears, speaking with a tongue that wasn't hers. Eyes narrowing, she stalked over to the alicorn with academic, yet suspicious, interest. "But that's a little impossible, don't you think?"

"Ha, I was expecting that very answer." With the full intent of being condescending, Luna closed the gap between them and tussled Twilight's hair as if she were a filly asking ridiculous questions. "Ever the skeptic, I see. Is it truly so unusual to think that I may be able to solve this predicament?" 

The younger one glared as she wriggled away, although the daggers that shot from her stare may as well have been toys because they were rendered harmless with the inclusion of her involuntary grin; a side-effect Luna seemed to have on her. 

"Okay, okay, you obviously have some kind of plan," Twilight said, allowing her spirits to rise and loosen up, if only just a tiny bit. "Please, o' wise and noble Princess Luna, guardian of the night and sovereign of the moon, enlighten my feeble mind and show us the way to the comet!"

"Sovereign of the moon?" She placed a silver-lined hoof to her chin in a thoughtful daze. "That title would be quite easy to get accustomed to."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm serious."

"Very well then," she said, then dished out a theatric cough for added effect. Casting a gentle shadow over the smaller pony, her wings unfurled to their full lithe glory. Her grin was exaggerative but sincere, stretching as wide as her wingspan. "Hop on."

Twilight, however, did not share the princess' exuberant enthusiasm. Her face fossilized into a blank stare as her mind was hollowed out, unsure of what exactly to make of this. "So," she began, taking an oafish step back. "You want me to...?"

"I am going to take thee above the clouds," Luna said, sauntering towards the nearest window and pushing it open. "Place thyself on my back. 'Tis a comet thou craves, then a comet thou shalt receive."

"Listen, I appreciate the offer and everything but, uh..." An apprehensive frown took charge of Twilight's features. She looked away and rubbed the back of her head. "I don't really think this is going to work."

"Oh?" Luna twirled to face the offending unicorn, small specks of perplexity dotting her face. "And why not?"

"Uhm, well, you see-" An audible gulp escaped the confines of Twilight's throat as she pawed at the floor, studying every inch of the library except for where the princess stood; turning her down was the last thing she wanted to do. "It just doesn't seem too, ya know, safe."

Luna pursed her lips, her expression inscrutable. "Then I am still considered dangerous?"

"No, no! Nothing like that!" She had to stop herself from jumping out of her own skin. Wrong thing to say, Twilight. "It's the whole flying deal that throws me off."

"Not fond of flying? Is that so?" The Goddess of the Moon left her perch at the window and snaked her way towards the unicorn, something sly replacing her once unreadable features. "That's a bit... peculiar."

Twilight lumbered back as the darker mare stalked closer. "Uh, what's so peculiar about it?"

"Oh, nothing really," Luna said, leaving the defenseless pony flattened and cornered against a bookshelf with no means of escape. "Just the fact that my sister told me something very different. Strange, is it not?"

The faithful student's eyes widened. "Wait, what exactly did Princess Celestia tell you?!"

"T'was actually a rather cute story, if I may be so bold, about how she would occasionally allow thee to ride on her back whenever she took flight." Luna bopped a baffled Twilight on the nose. "A bit curious how I request the same thing, yet I am denied. It appears a lack of trust is involved."

"These are two completely different situations!" Twilight began using her hooves to talk in anxious habit, as if they added any justification. "I was just a little filly and you're not exactly Celestia-sized."

"Ahh, I've always been the thinner one." Luna smirked; a beautiful, sinister thing. "I'll be sure to let her know."

"Don't you dar- Hey, put me down!" But it was too late. A magical aura the hue of the deep ocean ensnared Twilight and she was thrust into the air like a limp ragdoll, any movement made impossible by the enchanted restraint.

"Gotcha!" Luna snickered as she levitated the smaller pony into position between her wings, who flailed around with desperate abandon. "My deepest apologies, love."

The princess dove into her night with an elegant, cultivated glide.


------------


"Are you crazy?!" Twilight had her arms seized around Luna's neck in a vise, hanging on for dear life as the alicorn bobbed and weaved her way through the wall of thick grey clouds. She plowed right through them now and again, much to the younger pony's dismay, and the pair were sprayed with what seemed like a gargantuan sea of mist each time.

"No," Luna said, turning her head to the side to get a better view of the terrified pony who clung onto her like string to a balloon. The princess shot Twilight an impish look, although she was unable to catch it in the midst of the blustery turbulence and jerking. "But that tends to be quite a popular opinion when concerning the likes of me."

Weightless and steering through the evening with a knowing mind, the dark mare ascended higher still. The cool dusk air gushed through their manes and whipped it behind them in incongruous strands, one pony enjoying the experience far more than the other. In the wake of her return, Luna had been too preoccupied and downright busy to be reacquainted with the serene bliss of her night on a personal level such as this. When was the last time she had left her afflictions discarded on the earth and just sailed through the night sky? When was the last time she allowed the placidity of darkness to soothe her weary head? It may have been eons.

At last her target became locked in sight, the rampart of clouds proving to be more dense than expected. With one definitive furious flap of her wings, Luna bulldozed her way out of the heavy overcast and into the clear stillness high above the ground. A chilly new atmosphere nipped at their coats but every breath felt crisp and pure, as if using their lungs for the first time. She fluttered onto a cloud in the manner of a hummingbird, planting her hooves on the cottony surface.

"We've arrived!" Luna smiled -- not a haughty smirk or a smug grin, but a genuine smile. "Twilight, loo-"

"What in Equestria was that all about?!" Twilight heaved, edging towards hysteria. The princess was able to feel the rapid rise and fall of the unicorn's chest against her back, heartbeat in a frenzy. "I could have gotten killed!"

"Look up, darli-"

"I mean, I could've easily fallen off at any given moment! Then what, huh?"

"My dear, plea-"

"Trying to perform my cloud-walking spell is out of the question. I'm too worked up, it would backfire!"

"Just loo-"

"And don't even get me started on how we're supposed to get back do-"

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE, IT WOULD BE IN THY BEST INTEREST IF THOU CEASED SPEAKING IMMEDIATELY."

The scolded pony dug herself into Luna's mane, squeaking a muffled reply. "...sorry." 

Sighing, the princess lay down on the plushy mass of fluff; perhaps this truly was a bad idea. "I assure thee," she said, once again craning her neck to peer behind her. "It would be worth all the trouble if thou took the liberty to look up."

With slow reluctance, Twilight withdrew her head from Luna's mane and left the safe haven of the ethereal field behind. Pushing herself to override the nauseating feeling of being so elevated above anything even remotely comforting and familiar, she forced her eyes upward.

Twilight gasped.

Stars. Millions upon millions of them, all organized in their elaborate cosmic stencil and shimmering at what seemed like a mere arm's length away. They scintillated against the black mask of the night, beaming through as if they were beautiful, vulnerable blemishes in its dark facade. The vast volume of the shadowy side of the heavens stretched and encompassed what could only be measured in eternity, enclosed and endless at the same time. Twilight's mouth was agape, feeling like she could just dissipate and become one with the atmosphere. It was the seemingly impossible reality of the deepest expanse of her dreams, the kind of view she thought only obtainable in slumber.

She wrapped her arms tighter around Luna's neck.

The princess gave a light chuckle, as soft as the cloud they were on. "Feel better?"

"I..." Her voice was distant, gawking up at her private utopia with glazed irises. "I don't know what to say..."

"I would not say much," Luna motioned her head somewhere off to the left. "Because thy comet hath arrived, if I am not mistaken."

And as if it couldn't get any better, there it was, even closer than the stars. Twilight marveled at the astral spectacle with a sense of wonder she hadn't felt since her first Summer Sun Celebration. The sphere of icy rock tore through the tranquil darkness as its blazing tail seemed to rip the sky in two, forging a flowing wound of brilliant luminance. It flashed across her eyes and reflected back into the breadth of the night like a black mirror. An astonished chill zapped through her bones, eliciting a faint quiver; oh my gosh, it was just so close. 

It buried itself into the horizon, and then it was gone.

Silence.

"Even I must admit," Luna said after a while. "That was rather remarkable."

"I can't thank you enough for this." Twilight nuzzled into the princess' back, a heave of honest contentment slipping from her lips. "I feel like I could stay here forever."

"Ha, perhaps not forever," Luna snorted, her horn glowing like the stars overhead without warning. Twilight expelled a surprised mewl of protest, yet again a hostage in the net of the Night Goddess' magic. Now laying on her back, she positioned the smaller pony on top of her, who clasped herself around the alicorn in reflexive fear. "But we can stay the night here, if thou so desires."

"Like, sleep?" Twilight looked up at her, eyebrow cocked. "Here? On a cloud? High above anything and everything?"

"That is the general idea, yes."

"I'm not so sure about that," Twilight said, heart beginning to pound with just the thought of all the horrors this situation was capable of unleashing. "Let's say I toss and turn while I sleep; one false move and I plummet to my death."

And like the comet, Luna's mood dove right into nothingness.

Here we go again.

"Without my spell, this is a deathtrap!" Twilight could almost already feel herself free falling through the air like a bird whose wings had given out, awaiting that dreaded moment of impact. It was just so, so, so far down! A lump starting to manifest itself around the rim of her throat, she swallowed hard. "In fact, we should probably start heading ba-"

"No."

Twilight froze. If looks could kill. "What?" 

"I said no."

"W-why not?" If possible without severe life-ending consequences, she would have yanked away. 

Luna was peering off into the void, something troubling and deep-seated jerking the corners of her lips into a stifled scowl; an indistinct part of her even appeared taken aback. She remained in that form for a bit, lost in some stained sector of her archaic brain. Twilight contemplated regaining her attention, but wisely decided against it.

"Ahh, thou slayeth me, Twilight Sparkle," the princess said after a time, ears down and pressed against her head. "This is the second time tonight thy faith in me hath been doubted."

"My faith in you?" Twilight frowned. "What do you mean?"

"First, there was hesitance to fly with me. Now, there is refusal for a mere rest in the comfort of clouds." Luna finally focused down at the pony in her arms, who had to stop herself from flinching when she noticed the dimness that loomed over the alicorn's face. "As if I would ever so much as allow anything to happen to thee."

"I didn't mean..." Something surged inside Twilight, something she couldn't quite pinpoint or attach a name to. The feeling was contrite and stammering and horrid, making her chest crumble inside itself. Whatever it was, she wanted it to stop. "I was just being..."

"Do not think me offended. This apprehension comes as anything but a shock." Luna gave a taxed smile. "In fact, it may very well be the appropriate response considering my less-than-sterling history."

Guilt, Twilight concluded; the gnashing stab of pain had been guilt. With the beast now properly named, it swelled and went on with its rampage. Oh, boy. Her stomach warped itself into vile knots, tight winding coils intricate enough to put even the most talented contortionist to shame. What did I just get myself into?

"It has nothing to do with that, I promise!" The unicorn hoped her pleas weren't in vain. She began throwing mental jabs at herself, this certainly not the first time she had found herself playing the role of her own worst enemy. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

"An apology is unnecessary." Luna's straining effort to keep her reactions in check became obvious. Her voice was still soft, but it wavered ever so slightly in an odd fluctuation of aggression and anguish. "I have brought this upon myself."

"Luna, listen-"

"No, thou must be the one to listen." One of her wings gave an unconscious twitch against the cloud as something in the atmosphere shifted and intensified. It felt as if the spirit of cold itself had breathed over them, the already brisk air growing even more frigid. "Art thou listening?"

Twilight gave a wild nod.

"Good." Luna's lips curled into a brief half-hearted smirk, a grin which had ended as soon as it began and fell before being able to reach her eyes. She prepped herself with a sigh before continuing. "It's funny, I seem to have accidentally placed a curse upon myself."

"A curse? What kind of curse?" The younger pony piped up despite herself. She couldn't help it, questions and inquiries were her one true weakness. "Not literally, of course."

"Is it not clear?" She furrowed her brow as if the answer were the most blatant thing in the world. "For the whole of my existence, I have been plagued with suspicion. Fear. Aversion. Mistrust." Biting her bottom lip with a previously unseen nervousness, she was absorbed in thought. "And I acted upon those judgements rather... poorly, although I need not explain; ha, I'm sure everyone is familiar with that tale by now. As I should have foreseen, my foolish response did very little to aid my reputation. I even recognize that old reluctance in Celestia on occasion, but she would rather lose her horn than admit she carries even the smallest of doubts about me."

Twilight just gazed up at the dark mare and took everything in, the cloud a makeshift classroom as she listened to a lamenting lecture. Guilt; the word still squeezed around the contours of her conscience. How could she forget that, because of the celestial body she was attuned to, Luna was the personification of sensitivity? She was more than accustomed to the vehemence of the Night Goddess' fluid emotions, so how could she fail to recall how they waxed and waned like the moon itself? Twilight was supposed to be the exception, believing in the misconstrued princess and following her to the ends of the earth. Instead, she was doing a pretty good job at fading into the crowd that used to throw stones.

I should've known!

"I hath been subjected to distrust all my life," Luna went on, shoulders rising and falling in a shrug that seemed out of place and a tad too casual. "I completely understand thy uncertainty in remaining here." 

Twilight remained silent, her head steaming as it boiled over all the ways to fix this mess. She peered down to the earth below and oh gosh oh no that was a bad idea. Tearing her head away from the nerve-wracking sight, she gulped. Venn diagrams and probability charts lined her mental vision as she attempted to somehow measure the chances of her plunging to the ground in the middle of sleeping, her bed being the alicorn she was currently laying on. The younger pony turned a meek eye up to her; Luna appeared so crushed and glum in her crestfallen state. It was a mirror image of her countenance during the rocky start of her first Nightmare Nigh-

Twilight's mind snagged onto something. A flashing image of Pip losing his balance and splashing into the water, Luna darting to save him without a second thought before anyone else could even begin to react. She had overlooked the way he and the others had been shrieking and running from her all night -- disregarding their relentless offense and ill treatment -- just to rescue him, the best of intentions tracing her heart.

At the time, he had only repaid her by accusing her of wrongdoing.

Luna? Letting me fall? Twilight thought, curbing the compulsion to burst out laughing at her own streak of senselessness. Willingly wanting to cause harm?

"We should be going," the Night Goddess said. A miserable sort of emotional fatigue had painted itself on her face, as if she had just finished spending hours on end reliving every single horrendous moment of her life without stop. She looked almost childlike in her poorly-masked despondence, blameless and innocent.

What was I thinking?!

No, no, no, a disheartened Princess Luna simply would not cut it.

The alicorn began to stir, which acted as a cue for Twilight to prepare herself for the descending flight home; but the unicorn did not wait for the chance to be entangled yet again in a magical blue aura. Instead, she planted a firm hoof on either side of Luna's shoulders.

"What art tho-"

With a self-satisfied smirk learned from the best, she pushed the larger pony back down on the cloud with resolved haste. "We're staying."

"We are?" Luna blinked. 

"Yes," Twilight said, nestling into the warm crook of the princess' neck, casting uneasiness into oblivion. It was better than safe -- she felt invincible. Why couldn't she see it before?

Because you were too worried about the ridiculous notion of falling to your death.

Oh, yeah. That.

"Thy mind hath been changed, I assume?" The dark mare gave the pony nuzzling her a beam of anxious hope, stuck in the unsettling limbo between winning first prize or going home empty-hoofed. 

Rather than seeing the gesture itself, she instead felt Twilight as she nodded into her fur.

"So," the princess continued, not breaking into a smile quite yet in fear of jinxing herself. "This means...?"

"Yes, Luna," Twilight giggled. "I trust you." 

They soon ebbed into sleep, safe together on their little patch of cloud and sheltered under the blanket of infinite stars.
> Masks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
The Stars That Circle the Moon
Entry Five: Masks
------------


Given her age, Celestia was well acquainted with the fact that life wasn't fair. 

She also knew the price of immortality was that this unfairness just so happened to last a little while longer than everyone else's. The path she preferred may not be the right one for another and this was perfectly okay. Existence was a subjective experience, each pair of eyes able to behold a different sight despite gazing at the same work of art, and she had sat through enough rants and expressions to know that her citizen's needs were severe in their distinctions and variations. 

What is a miracle to one may be a curse to another. The princess was no exception to the rule.

It was also a matter of selflessness, Celestia's own double-ended blade. Her unabashed, raw willingness to give just for the sake of giving was both what she stood tall for and what brought her down to her knees. Sacrifice was what her universe was manifested from and her own happiness was always forfeit. 

So, when Luna had drove a stake right through the core of her heart, all this had become very, very clear. Simple words had been her weapon of choice, reaching Celestia's ears and being brandished in her brain. 

'Your student,' Luna had said, uncharacteristically timid for a pony usually so set in their ways. Her eyes were everywhere except on Celestia. 'She is quite the mage, is she not?'

Celestia remained muzzle-deep in her stack of paperwork but ceased reading whatever negotiation or request had been in front of her at that moment, keeping her ears from perking up in curiosity now having moved up on her list of priorities. 'Twilight Sparkle is particularly... gifted, so to speak. Her potential is something even I cannot foresee. '

There was a pause, Celestia almost able to actually hear the gears in her sister's head churning and clashing. 'Has she been your student for long?'

'Oh, yes. For quite some time already.' Absent-minded, she scrawled her signature on a random document, all too obvious that her penmanship was a bit distracted. 'Since she was about eight or nine years old. Even then, she excelled in magical ability.'

'Ahh, I see.' Luna appeared to be gazing at nothing, eyes looking introspectively inward instead of out. Another pause. Her hesitation may as well have been tangible, any ounce of the headstrong Princess of the Moon absent. 

Celestia wasn't even moving her eyes to pretend to read this time, her vision cemented downward as anticipation rose. 

Luna gave a delicate, polite cough, and continued. 'And are you rather... fond of her?'

'Where is this conversation going, Luna?' Celestia looked up at this point, her quill accidentally freed from its magical grip and plunging to the desk, small droplets of ink spreading out and staining the wood.

'I apologize if I seem to be a bother.' Luna had staggered back a step, an eyebrow cocked at her sister. 'I merely mean to receive your blessing.'

It was Celestia's turn to look baffled. 'My blessing?'

'Yes,' She could tell Luna was battling with the grin that pulled at her lips -- not her coy smirk, but a genuine smile, which in itself was a cause to be celebrated. 'I would not pursue a courtship with Twilight Sparkle without the blessing of the one who is both my sister and her mentor.'

And with a mere sentence, over a thousand years of composure and stoicism came rushing to her aid. 

'Of course you have my blessing, sister.'

It had been a lie, of course, but worse ones had been spoken. Even if by some outlandish alignment of fate she had chosen the truth, she wouldn't have been able to say no to Luna. Even if the words she was unable to whisper to her own shadow spewed out, there would have been no resistance towards the younger princess' request on her part. Who was she to deny her own flesh and blood the prospect of happiness? 

Even if that happiness should have belonged to her.

But life was not fair. 

In recent days it had been hitting her especially hard, the weight of being torn between selfishness and -- there was that word -- sacrifice colliding with her as soon as she rose with her sun. There was an ironic, funny little thought she sometimes had: that her attuned celestial body stood firm and strong in place and had the universe revolve around it while Celestia was the paragon of just the opposite, her life revolving around everyone else.

She enjoyed it, though. Helping brought her joy.

Not the kind of joy she yearned for while alone at night, her bed like a grave, but it was joy nonetheless. 

Day Court now waiting for her, Celestia strode down the halls, poise as regal and refined as ever. Besides sacrifice, self-control was her greatest ally, her mask having a millennia worth of crafting and polishing to make it shine brighter than her regalia. The facade, resplendent and immaculate, was the only perfect thing about her and even then, it was the mere illusion of perfection. But that made all the difference in the world.

Just like a handful of others in the castle, the particular hall she was in was adorned in the most impressive stained glass works of craftsmanship and feats of creativity. The walls spoke through these monochromatic windows, acting as bards and murmuring tales and histories to anyone lucky or cultured enough to understand, although they were much more akin to memories for Celestia. They served as tiny reminders, some warm and triumphant that elicited a private smile from her every time she passed, and others that were not so pleas-

The one depicting Nightmare Moon caught her eye.

At one point in time, even before powerful little Twilight Sparkle had entered her world, she would have admitted that experiencing jealousy had always felt strange and out of place for her. She was not prone to it like her sister was and when conflicts between them began to escalate, she had so carelessly dismissed it as a psychological issue of birth order and nothing more. 

Guilt ended up strangling her with the truth. She had been a fool back then. 

As she swept her gaze away from the blue-tinted battle scene, she assumed she was just getting a taste of what she dished out. In a morbid sort of fashion, she felt as if she finally understood Luna now, her sister's psyche no longer pieces of an enigmatic puzzle that just revealed an even more frustratingly elusive picture.

Luna wanted to be loved. And that was all.

Celestia heard her hoofsteps increase in tempo without her realizing, a sudden urgency to leave dragging her forward to the shortcut through the archives. Distraction was what she craved, her own thoughts becoming poison. Yes, a day of aiding her beloved subjects was exactly what she needed. Things were... safer this way. 

Had anyone else been around, suspicion would have been expressed in a shallow 'princess, are you okay?' for how she bolted in, using her magic to keep the door from bashing right through the wall in her haste. The archives contained a respectful silence that lingered thick in the air, as if speaking too loud would disturb the scrolls and upset the books. It was a deafness Celestia was familiar with and it followed her each time she stepped her hoof in a room, every mouth clamping shut in fear of disrespect as opposed to just speaking to her respectfully. There was a difference.

She leaned her frame against a wall in hopes of reclaiming her breath, but it was caught in her throat as soon as she inhaled.

Through the iron bars of the Starswirl the Bearded Wing were two unmistakably familiar dark-coated ponies, their limbs  an entangled bulk of blue and purple and their bodies sprawled out on the couch. Scrolls piled around them as if they were snack wrappers from a sleepover and not ancient tomes of knowledge, a chunky leather bound book nestled between them like a newborn.

I suppose it was bound to happen, Celestia thought, swallowing hard despite herself. The redeemer and the redeemed. She continued to Day Court, checking her mask for any cracks along the way.

That could be her, entwined without a worry and mind hazy with adoration.

That should be her.

But life was not fair.
> The Virgin Ritual
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Stars That Circle the Moon
Entry Six: The Virgin Ritual
------------
	
Why was she so nervous? It was just a kiss.

She had pressed her lips against Luna's approximately one-thousand-three-hundred-forty-seven times already, not including the small pecks that snuck their way into the midst of the main kiss. They had bid good riddance to that fresh stage of uncertainty and awkwardness long ago, the cozy warmth of comfortability that now nestled between them replacing the apprehensive hugs and feeble almost-kisses.

The first attempt to seal their courtship with the seemingly effortless romantic gesture had not been unpleasant by any means, but Twilight had wound herself up into a tight panic, accidentally coming on either too timid or too eager, bumping their teeth together or struggling to apply any pressure at all. Impressing the princess, as she had been so keen on doing, became a failed mission and the unicorn was certain that her clumsy, uptight mouth had surely tossed her chances of any future amorous encounter out the window. 

Yet, as always, Luna was supportive and kind and understanding, patient with her flustered bookworm. Now, feeling the gentle writhe of the princess' muzzle against hers had become blissful familiarity, a casual greeting instead of some otherworldly pleasure that Twilight was forbidden to enjoy by some personal anxious blockade. Once she got the hang of it, the act showed itself as yet another thing to master.

Now? Kissing was no big deal. Twilight could do kissing.

But this...

It had started as a mere nuzzle, Twilight's weight against the larger pony causing them to capsize even further into the sea of plush pillows that were piled beneath them. Extending her neck, Luna granted the unicorn access to brush more taut, playful pecks along the broad surface. Their giggles and lighthearted nips at each other's skin had projected the illusion that this seemed innocent enough, no far stretch from their usual routine of unwinding after a day (or sometimes night) of studies and royal duties.

After Luna had seized a rather gracious mouthful of twitchy purple ear between her teeth, the offended pony retaliated with a downward shove. Now looming over the princess, she pinned two regal hooves against the pillows, hard enough to feel the rough carpet below. Her brows furrowed and her chest gave a sudden heave, shocked at her own strength; she was always a bit of a scrawny one, all brain and bone, and not once had she ever been able to overcome Luna. Unless...

Unless it wasn't her strength at all and Luna was...

Her front hooves still immobilized, the princess lifted her hind legs and wrapped them around the lowest point of Twilight's waist, urging their bodies to mesh even closer than they already were. The smaller pony's eyes widened, then closed again when Luna craned her neck up to reach the awaiting lips, which hesitated ever so slightly before returning the token with heedless fervor. 

This is fine this is okay you got this Twilight

They achieved a uniform motion, the pace receding into a steady rhythm that Twilight could adhere to with ease. Sure, the princess would venture on to try and break their little beat, skimming a hind leg along the curve of lavender haunches, but Twilight was resilient, on top, in control -- or at least she pretended to be. Her facade shattered every time the light pressure of Luna's teasing little stunt meandered up her body, muffled gasps giving her position away. She felt the princess' grin, impish and wicked, against her own mouth. She could tell Luna was pleased with herself, able to remain undoubtedly dominant even when she was on her back and vulnerable, front hooves pinned and disarmed. To add fuel to the already raging fire that blazed from Twilight's horn to her loins, she felt the tip of something warm and wet slide past her lips. She froze.

Woah WOAH wait you've done this so many times it's no different just relax

She caught her breath and invited Luna's tongue in to mingle and stir with hers. Eyes rolling back behind closed lids, her head became light and useless, dizzy with how much sensory input she was taking in; being on top, holding the alicorn down, the heightened feeling of every gentle caress, the sodden noises their mouths were making. Everything.

Luna then pulled back as if with great alarm, her features sporting a confused and concerned sort of half-frown. "Twilight?"

"Mmphm- huh?" The unicorn breathed in deep and hard, chest expanding and deflating in what would have been worrisome succession to someone who didn't know any better.

"My dear, you tremble..."

Twilight looked down and, sure enough, her forelegs were quivering and quaking, reminiscent of all the sickening times she would have to recite oral reports in front of her class or attempt to perform a new spell under the eye of Celestia.

"Oh. Heh." She released the blue hooves from their shivering shackles, hanging her head as she averted her gaze. "I guess I was shaking a little bit." 

"Quite a bit, I should say."

Twilight offered a sheepish shrug. "I'm sorry...?"

"Is... something the matter?" Luna's sidelong glace said enough, just enough to fill in the blanks. Do you want this? Are you ready? Are you sure?

A sigh blew its way out of the unicorn as she closed her eyes, although not from pleasure this time. When she opened them, doubtful seafoam irises greeted her, awaiting an answer.

"I'm fine," Twilight said finally, reaching down to cup the princess' face. "I promise."

Okay, so that may have been a little white lie, harmless and forgettable, but it still made her stomach churn into guilty knots and caused her throat to swell with that unmistakable, suffocating lump. However, desperate times called for desperate measures, and in her book losing your virginity to the co-ruler demigod Princess of the Night was a situation that cried out for something very, very desperate.

Even if they just so happened to be in a happy courtship together. 

Still... 

It was intimidating. Luna was the embodiment of darkness, the manifestation of everything associated with the night. Elusive and arcane and esoteric and, yes, lustful. Could she possibly deny the princess the desire that was so instinctually wired in her brain? Fervent passion and sexuality were most likely as natural as thirst or hunger, as much a part of her as her own heartbeat.

And I'm just... a librarian. Twilight tore her eyes away from Luna's, swallowing hard and feeling the lump bloat even larger in her windpipe. I could barely even kiss her the first time.

No.

She was going to do this.

"Please, Twilight Sparkle," Luna said, trying to slither her way out from under the unicorn as she spoke. "I'm afraid I may have gotten a bit... carried away, perhaps. The last thing I want is for you to feel obligated to partake in such an act."

Feeling the princess squirm beneath her, Twilight steeled herself up and plunged back into another kiss, eliciting a sharp, muffled gasp from Luna. Hesitance was left to rot as Twilight's tongue darted into the receiving mouth. An ardent purple hoof strayed down the length of the alicorn's side, whose gasp of shock now morphed into a series of quiet, throaty mewls, the vibrations of her throat transferring to the pony on top, egging her on.

Twilight's muscles tensed and she knew herself to be shaking yet again, but shunned it away as she began to trek her way down Luna's jaw. Her mind worked through the frothy film of arousal and focused on summoning up any smutty novels she may have read in the curious years of her teens, trying to emulate the crass actions of the asinine, laughably over-sexualized protagonist. Nipping and sucking along the princess' neck, she was rewarded with noises of affirmation and concluded that, yes indeed, her methods were successful. 

She felt the pressure of Luna's hind legs wrap around her again and choked back what would have been a pitiful whimper, self-control waning even more so when one of the princess' front hooves snaked up to sweep across the sweet spot where neck gave way to chest. But the unicorn soldiered on and sucked it up.

... Until Luna's hind legs pushed down on Twilight's flank and forced their lower regions to connect, something wet meeting in the middle.

Twilight launched off of Luna, propelling herself away in a hot frenzy. She ended up on the opposite end of the chamber, the fireplace crackling right beside her, flames blazing in a manner as crazy and wild as she felt right then. Cheeks reddening, she reached up to massage her temple. "Sorry. Just... sorry. Again." 

"No, no," Luna said, rolling over and rising to her hooves. She took a tentative, lingering step towards Twilight, lips pursed in a strained frown. "It is I who should apologize."

"You didn't do anything." Twilight huffed as the princess sat down next to her, a large wing emerging from its fold and draping over her body. "It's... me. It's always me."

"But I-"

"No, listen." Twilight stomped a hoof to the floor. "I want this -- I really, really do -- but... I mean, you're you and I'm just me and you've experienced so much and have probably had so many suitors that are, and will be, better than me and, I mean, c'mon, I hadn't even kissed anyone before you and I'm going to mess this whole thing up and- mph!"

She was shut up with a kiss, although Luna pulled away before giving the unicorn a chance to reciprocate it. The blanket of wing coaxed Twilight even closer. 

Luna's gaze could topple entire regimes. "You are truthful when you claim that you want this, correct?"

Twilight nodded.

"I do admit that it was foolish of me to assume that you would surrender yourself so willingly and with no hesitance. I should have known better." She strolled, fox-like, past the array of pillows on the floor, Twilight's intent stare never faltering from her form. "In my reckless haste, I seem to have forgotten something."

The scholar leaned forward, eyebrow cocked. "Forgotten something?..."

"Yes," she said, reaching the chest of drawers that lined the wall. She fiddled and trifled through them, sifting amongst whatever it was that immortal beings possibly kept in their room. "Something of dire importance regarding the wanton deed we were about to succumb to."

Twilight leaned forward even more, on the brink of staggering over. "Which is?..."

Luna tossed a catty glance over her shoulder. "We must perform the Virgin Ritual."

"The what now?!"

"The Virgin Ritual," she continued, "is a vital aspect of courting a princess, but only if you desire to take the relationship to its most intimate level. Anyone who has their purity and innocence intact, yet still wishes to pursue either Celestia or myself, must undergo the ritual when the time comes." She craned her neck to peer further into a drawer.

"I've researched tons of rituals, Luna," Twilight said, bobbing her head this way and that to get a glimpse at what the alicorn was up to. "Whether it be exclusive to race, country, spirituality, or whatever. Believe me, I know rituals, and I've never heard of this one."

"My sister is very discreet in nature, as I'm sure you've noticed. Do you think she would allow such lewd implications to be associated with her?"

"Okay, okay. Fair enough. So..." Twilight rubbed the back of her head, gnawing her lower lip between her teeth. "Did my brother have to, uh, perform the ritual with Cadence?"

Luna's face was buried in her search, but the smirk in her voice was crystal clear. "I'm afraid not, my dear. Stallions are quite a different story. In your brother's case, I'm sure the ritual was not needed."

"Oh?" Twilight's eyes narrowed, then widened in realization. "Oh! Gross..."

"We all have needs," the princess said, chuckling. The clatter of her rummaging increased in volume, then a small slew of objects were retrieved from the drawer's depths. "Ah-ha!"

Twilight just stared. "Face paint?"

"Tradition," Luna said, shrugging. With the paint in tow, she ambled over to the smaller pony, looking her over with a critical eye. She ensnared the colored tube and opened it, squirting a liberal pink glob right onto her hoof with an atrocious splat!

A hysteric, high-pitched giggle erupted from Twilight, stepping away from the princess. "What does this ritual entail, exactly?"

"I cannot disclose that information with you." Luna stalked forward, leaving Twilight with nowhere to move except up against the wall. "That would break the sacredness of it all. As a virgin, you are unaware, and that is how you must remain until the ritual is complete. My role is to simply guide you though it, nothing more."

Twilight gulped. 

"First, I must illustrate the divine motifs of coitus upon your face," Luna said, raising a dripping, pink-splattered hoof. "Since we are of the same sex, the symbols must be reflections of each other."

She extended the tip of her hoof to Twilight's left cheek, who felt the cold slimy paint move in what she deduced was a thin oval shape with a tiny array of even thinner lines inside it. Her right cheek suffered a similar fate, making her cringe with each stroke.

With a flick of azure magic, the pink that stained the princess' hooves vanished. She treaded backwards to get a better view, seeming to admire her own artwork. 

"Now," Luna said, unfurling her wings. She shook them as if taking off in flight, albiet much more vigorously. The harsh gust chilled the already frigid paint on Twilight's face, drying on her coat in a tight, crackly mess. "You must be adorned with a part of my own body." She watched as one of Luna's feathers fluttered and wobbled to the ground. The princess levitated it, guiding the soft tuft to the back of Twilight's head, firmly placing the feather in a manner that made it stick straight up out of her hair.

"Luna," Twilight began, "Are you sure about th-"

"Shh," the princess said, touching a hoof to the smaller one's lips. "You mustn't speak unless told to do so. A single murmur could invalidate the entire ceremony."

Twilight nodded and gave a mock salute, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. 

"This next step is of dire value and must not be taken lightly." Luna inhaled deeply. "I need you to hop around me. Once clockwise, once counterclockwise. The pattern cannot be broken and you cannot stop until commanded to. Do not stop for any reason."

"Are you ser-" Twilight started, then sighed. She initiated her hopping. It started off slowly, but then eventually morphed into something resembling prancing and skipping. First clockwise, then counterclockwise, just as instructed, with the princess remaining planted in the center. "Hey! Why are you laughi-"

"Faster! You must hop faster, Twilight!"

And so faster Twilight hopped, paint and feather included, circling around and around the now hysterical princess. Luna was on the floor, clutching at her sides desperately and trying to subdue her chortling, hind leg twitching with a mind of its own. 

"Now... Now sing! Sing whichever song comes to mind first!"

Twilight cast a glare at the alicorn, but continued hopping. "Excuse me?"

"Sing!" Luna wiped a tear away, breathless and heaving. "It is required."

Instead, Twilight skidded to a halt as a gush of self-consciousness ambushed her, feeling painstakingly aware of the paint and the feather and the hopping. "Luna?"

She snorted. "Yes?"

"I don't think this is a ritual at all."

"It's not."

"What?!"
> Second Child Syndrome
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Stars That Circle the Moon
Entry Seven: Second Child Syndrome
------------
	

The floor of the library was in its usual state. A layer of half-open scrolls and texts were strewn about the floor, veiling the wood underneath and creating a makeshift obstacle course for anyone brash enough to try and get through. What scarce light there was beamed from a single lantern that sat between two ponies, the blinking flame illuminating the hefty book in front of them and coaxing their shadows to dance along walls.

Luna was muzzle-deep into the tome's yellowed pages, eyes wide as saucers as they skimmed through the words with rapid ease. "This Freud fellow was awfully displaced," she said, her stare never straying from passage before her. "... and a bit warped." 

"Oh, I know." Twilight smiled at Luna, suppressing a chuckle at how the princess' normally refined features contorted at the content of the textbook, repulsed and engrossed all at once. "Believe me, I felt the same way."

"In Freudian psychosexual theory," the alicorn read, brows furrowing. "The Electra Complex serves as the female equivalent of the Oedipus Complex, in which a female child is conflicted with the desire to sexually possess her father and eliminate the mother rival. The female child is very attached to her mother at first, then begins to resent her when she realizes that she does not have a- My goodness, Twilight, this is absolutely preposterous."

"Yeah, it's a little... outlandish." Twilight shrugged, grin growing sheepish. "But his theories are considered the best and most widely accepted."

Luna stared, mouth in a slight gape. "This?" She threw a hoof out, gesturing to the book. "This is the most widely accepted theory? That young fillies and colts wish to... copulate with their parents?"

"There's more to it than that, but..." The unicorn trailed off, rubbing her chin. 

"Now I understand why psychology is considered a pseudoscience."

"Soft science," Twilight said, rolling her eyes and giving the princess a playful shove. "Not pseudo."

Luna huffed. "My statement still stands."

"Here." Twilight's magic ensnared the textbook, pages flipping like mad within the purple aura until they reached a chapter somewhere towards the end. "Alhoof Adler's work might be easier to swallow."

Luna scanned the title, then frowned. "Birth order?"

Twilight nodded, skidding the book closer to the alicorn. "This one has some  more... merit to it."

And, in truth, it did. Sure, this whole study session may have been an underhanded coincidence that just so happened to be scheduled by the young scholar herself, who indeed was well aware that this particular theory would strike some deep, jarring chord within Luna, but it was also education -- at least, that's what she told herself. No harm in facts. No harm in the pursuit of knowledge.

I hope.

She gulped.

"Firstborn children," Luna recited, although considerably slower this time, as if trying to absorb every word and carve it into her psyche, "are typically observed to be serious, directive, conscientious, goal-oriented, conservative, responsible, high achieving, and high in self-esteem. They may learn the concept of power at a young age and this can be expressed in their desire to help, protect, and lead others. The firstborn is also put under a considerable amount of pressure to succeed, and is often shocked by the introduction of a competitor into the family; this may lead to sibling rivalry."

The unicorn watched as Luna's eyes wandered down the page, hesitating.  "Go on," Twilight said, leaning into the princess.

She continued. "The habits of many second-borns are motivated by the fact that they have never truly been in the spotlight, always watching the firstborn achieve and pioneer ahead. They often carry a sense of not belonging or being ignored, resorting to fighting to receive attention. Insecurity is a dominating trait that will affect relationships throughout their entire lives." 

Halting for a split second, she took a hollow, shaky breath. "In certain cases, the second-born will see life from a hopeless standpoint, becoming depressed or even lonely. They look to the firstborn for direction and guid-" Luna visibly stiffened up, features becoming sharp. "Again, these are nothing but fabricated assumptions."

"What makes you so sure about that?" Twilight cocked an eyebrow. 

The princess slammed the book shut, much harder than intended. A film of dust clouded up the air. "You and your brother get along marvelously, thus invalidating the entire theory."

"True," Twilight said. "But that wasn't always the case."

"How so?" Luna still appeared doubtful, her gaze projecting a subtle hint of accusation, but Twilight couldn't blame her -- the princess had, after all, played a vital role in what was probably the largest demonstration of the perils of birth order ever seen by the world.

"We actually didn't really get along at first," the unicorn said, looking away in thoughtful recollection. "It was natural, I guess. Shining and I were two determined, strong-willed ponies living in one house, we were bound to bump heads."

"You seem so..."  The corner of Luna's mouth turned downwards. "Casual, and at peace with it. Did it not ail you to know that you and your brother thought ill of each other?"

"I was too young to understand, I think," Twilight said, peering down and rubbing the leather cover of the book with a distracted hoof. "All I knew at the time was that he was the big dumb jerk who always told me that our parents found me in a trashcan as a baby and only took me home because they felt bad."

Luna's eyelids shot open. "He would tell you that?" 

"Oh, yeah." Twilight gave a curt laugh.

"In what way did you two... settle your differences?" 

"Well," Twilight began, noticing that the princess was fiddling with her hooves, kneading them together while she awaited the answer. "We both just... grew up, I guess."

"Grew up?" Luna tweaked her head sideways.

"Yeah," the smaller one said as if it were the simplest concept ever created. "Matured. Him and I got over all the negative and started helping each other out. I would even go on to say that the rivalry and loathing in the beginning helped."

Luna's gaze snapped towards Twilight. "How?"

"It brought out the best and worst parts of us."  She wrapped a foreleg around the alicorn. "Because of it, we know each other that much better -- our bond is that much stronger."

"I see..." Luna shied away, the nervous fidgeting increasing and her eyes darting everywhere except the unicorn beside her. She sucked in a copious breathe. "I regret to say that I must conclude this visit earlier than usual."

"Oh?" Twilight dueled with the smirk that yanked at her lips. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes, yes," Luna said, jostling to her hooves in a haste. "Just a minor issue, diplomatic in nature. Very trite and mundane."

And as the princess dove in for a parting kiss, Twilight's mind rejoiced. 

Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!




Luna heard the coarse mechanical clunk of the tall chamber door unlocking itself, a floating voice chasing after it. "Come in."

Obeying, she entered the room with slow and timid steps, although her head was held high. She cleared her throat with a delicate cough. "Good evening, Celestia."

The Princess of the Sun scooped her gaze out from the mountain of letters and treaties and proclamations that had accumulated on her desk, meeting her sister with a smile. "Ahh, Luna," she said, patting the empty space beside her. "Come, join me."

Luna sauntered over and settled down next to Celestia, hesitating before quickly burying her face in the broad white surface of her sister's neck and wrapping a dark wing around her -- a gesture she had abandoned and left to burn in her childhood.

Celestia's grin then fell suddenly, as if swept clear off her face. "Is something the matter?"

"No, no. Nothing so grim, sister," Luna said, pulling back and peering up at the elder princess. "I merely wish to ask you how your day was."

"My day?" Celestia looked incredulous as she sunk into the embrace, Luna having to mask her grimace at the slight reluctance she sensed in the way her sister's muscles tensed against her. "It was just like any other."

"Tedious and dreary?" The younger one deadpanned, but humor was alive in her voice.

She chuckled. "Exactly." 

"If it's not too much of an inconvenience, would you like to..." Luna bit the inside of her lip before continuing, "tell me about it?

Celestia nudged the stack of papers away and grinned, warm, just like everything else about her. "I would love to."