Luna's Biggest Fan
“Luna! Luna, look at this!” Celestia sounded excited. Luna was having tea in her room, quietly reading. She looked up when she heard Celestia coming down the hallway. When she threw open the door, Luna nearly dropped her tea.
“LUNA!” Celestia yelled. “Come look at this!” she telepathically waved an open scroll through the air. Luna sighed and closed her book, setting it on a side table with her tea before she hopped down.
“What is it?” she asked as she walked over to Celestia. She was actually curious now.
Celestia looked as though she would burst with excitement. “It's a letter from one of our subjects! He's been a fan of you for a long time, and wants to meet you!”
“Let me see that!” Luna said, grabbing the parchment with her own magic. Scanning it over, there could be no mistake. “I—I have a—a....fan?” she said disbelievingly. Luna had thought that everypony had forgotten who she was, and yet...here was somepony who really, truly cared.
Celestia grinned at her, her smiled only widening as Luna looked up. Her eyes welled up with tears—not of unhappiness, but of joy. Real, true joy, something that Luna had not had the pleasure of experiencing since her return.
Celestia kept the huge smile on her face as she spoke. “I've already arranged for him to meet you in the royal garden later today. Now go and put on your best saddle!” Celestia nearly skipped from the room, leaving Luna alone with the letter.
Luna read over it again to be sure, but there it was, plain as day. Somepony, and a Stallion at that, really, truly, wanted to meet her. Her heart beat faster as she moved over to her rather lacking wardrobe, which held just one frilly cloth saddle on a mannequin. Such a simple and yet beautiful thing. Celestia brought it for Luna just a few days earlier, as a gift.
Suddenly, Luna was in a frenzy. She quickly slipped on the saddle, and then moved over to a mirror—goodness, it wouldn't do to meet a charming Stallion looking like this. So, after an hour or two of primping, Luna still felt that she wasn't ready—but it was time. She had pinned her hair up, trying to keep up to date with the latest trends...but she had no idea if it looked good or right. She had a pink bow around her tail, and even a ring on her horn—she'd thought that last bit had been too much, but Celestia said she looked perfect.
Nervously, Luna walked down the hallway to the door leading to the castle garden. Celestia was alongside her, still smiling brilliantly. She opened the door, ushering Luna out, when Luna suddenly got cold feet. Her legs wobbled, and she stood, frozen.
“What if—what if he doesn't like me?” she said, voicing her concerns to Celestia.
“Nonsense!” Celestia assured her. “He'll love you. He IS your biggest fan, after all.”
Luna swallowed, taking the first step onto the cool tall grass of the garden. Celestia butted her with her nose, and then Luna found herself standing alone.
Luna took a deep breath and sighed, taking a couple more steps and glancing around for her mysterious admirer. She spread her wings one more time, laying them lightly against her sides and making sure her feathers were straight.
“Hello?” Luna called tentatively, when simply looking yielded nothing. There was no answer, and Luna glanced back to look at Celestia—but she had gone, and the door was shut.
Walking through the garden, Luna glanced this way and that...he had to be here. Celestia herself had arranged it.
Clearing her throat, Luna once again called out, just a bit louder, “Hello?” Still no answer.
Turning to the side in order to search elsewhere, Luna came face to face with—no, it couldn't be. Celestia wouldn't. But...she had.
There was the fan. A fan. An actual, real, three bladed fan.
Luna stared at it in shock and disbelief. While her mind struggled to comprehend Celestia's cruel joke, Luna suddenly heard laughing. Very loud laughing, echoing off the mountain and through the garden. Luna turned and looked up toward one of the castle balconies overlooking the garden, where Celestia was clearly visible. There she was, her head tilted back, her hooves holding her stomach as she shook with laughter.
Things had always been this way. Celestia had always been a prankster, playing tricks on Luna. But why now. Luna had thought Celestia had grown out of her days of foolery and pranks. When they were foals, it was common for her sister to trick her. But they hadn't seen each other in a thousand years...and this was how Celestia was going to treat her?
Luna's face and throat burned, fighting back tears as she turned back to the fan. Kicking it over with a hoof, Luna ran back to the castle door, Celestia's laughing ringing in her ears. Tears threatened to break free of her eyes, but Luna held them back. Not yet. Telepathically reaching for the door handle, Luna had the sudden feeling that Celestia may have locked the door...but to her relief, the door gave way, and Luna hurried inside, shutting it behind herself. She could still hear Celestia's insistent laughter through the door, and she ran as fast as she could back to her chambers.
Once safely inside her room, Luna locked the door. Then the tears fell, heavy and fast. Luna tore the saddle off and ripped the hair pins from her mane, scattering the objects where they fell. The ribbon on her tail and the ring on her horn came off as well, falling to the floor and nearly being trampled in Luna's haste.
Throwing herself onto the bed, Luna sobbed. It wasn't so much the prank as it was the nature of it. They hadn't seen each other in so long, and yet—Celestia had not changed. Luna needed her sister's love more than ever now. Most ponies in Equestria were not very fond of Luna due to her recent escapade.
And in spite of that, Celestia still saw fit to make Luna suffer. How could Celestia do that? For once, just once, Luna had thought that maybe she would have a real friend. Somepony who had waited and wanted to meet her. Somepony other than Celestia that actually cared about her.
But there seemed to be no such thing. Even though Luna was back in Equestria, she was still just as lonely as she had been during her imprisonment. But this time, ponies could choose whether or not they wanted to meet her or talk with her. And so far, no pony had. But Luna had dared to hope that once...just this once...that things were different.
Things were no different, things had not changed. Celestia was still Celestia, loved by all Equestria. Everypony went on with their lives as if Luna did not exist. And for the amount of attention they paid to her, Luna may as well not have.
As Luna cried into her already damp pillow, her sobs shaking her body as they ran like shivers through her, cut-off from the world and betrayed by her only sister, she felt completely alone.
