"They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."
-Edgar Allen Poe
One
It was a sea of golden grain. The sun was pouring heat onto my grey flank. My ears sweat, and my nose twitched. I looked at my visitor. The golden waves were reaching her thighs, as she walked towards me. We chose to meet here, as it was where she ended her sister's reign of terror. The field was miles from anything, excluding the small red farmhouse that was slowly decaying next to it. This place was a lost battlefield, and a humongous graveyard. The wheat was everlasting in this field, and never died. It was a natural monument for those who spent their lives fighting.
The visitor reached me. Her wavy pink, green, and blue hair seeming to blow in the wind, but to no pattern. Her pink eyes searching my thoughts, streaming my memories. In a few seconds, she knew everything about me. What my fears were, what I disliked, my favorite Italian dish, and why we were here. I felt the urge to sink into the ground, and kiss her feet, beg for mercy. I'm not supposed to die this young. I'm only in the beginning of my life! I have so much to live for and do! What about my family? I sucked in air, and held my spot.
"I know what you want, Notebook. You want to know why this wheat never dies, I get reporters here all the time asking about it. And for the last tim-"
"Tell me about Luna."
My words seemed to stun her, like a tazer had just tagged her in the back. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. The deep breathing she once carried turned into short, ragged breaths. She was getting nervous. I was in no-pony's land with no way out.
"How.. how do.." Her words were lost in her now loud short breathing. Her pupils had gotten smaller and tears had started to swell up. With just four words, I brought down the most powerful pony in all of Equestria. But I wasn't done. "I've searched for two years now, to find the treasure Captain Reynolds had searched for six hundred years ago... and I just found the chest." I paused, looking at her to make sure she was listening."The chest, is this field. The treasure, is what you know...now, I just need the key."Tears rolled down her porcelain cheek, and onto the dusty ground."..Mr..Greys-son... Th-this is v-very personal.." She stammered."L-Let us continue..somewh-where else."
I nodded my head, agreeing with the Princess. She slowly raised her head, still crying and breathing rapidly. Her white horn began to glow, and a golden aura enveloped me, and a bright light flashed. For a few seconds, all was white, then my eyes began to clear, and I found myself to be looking at the Princess across from me, but now with a rosewood table in between us. Tea and coffee was set on the beautifully carved rosewood in magnificent silver pots. Pouring herself a cup of tea, the princess looked at me. "What is it you want to know?" She questioned me, here earlier poise gone, though her eyes were still stained red..
I gulped, I hadn't thought this far into my plan. I had only gotten to the field, the cool metaphor, the magic.. but not this. I expected something else."Why..why have you hid Luna from everypony? She is your sister after all. "I sat there, waiting to die from a lightning bolt, a shot of flame, or a horn to the throat. Nothing came to end my torment sadly.
She sighed."I knew I'd have to explain this all one day, but I just didn't want it to be this soon..." I sat there, ears listening, notepad at the ready. My horn was blazing blue and I was thinking I would run out of magic before I could begin writing.
"Celestia! Celestia! Sister! I did it!" Echoed a high voice down the hallway from Princess Celestia's study. The sound of hooves clopping on the cobbled floor signaled her sister's proximity to the door."What is it, sister?" Celestia playfully asked.
Luna tumbled into the room, having caught her front right hoof in the door frame. She laughed a sweet melody that would make anypony fall in love. Standing, she answered her elder sibling."I finished it! It's done! My impression on this world is done!" The jubilation and glee jumped around in her eyes, causing them to sparkle. Her sister's happiness made her smile, and she felt the ever growing love they held get stronger and stronger."Now what did you finish, silly filly? It sounds like it was a big project!" Celestia playfully mocked. Luna pulled her sister towards her. "Follow me and see!"
The guards looked on as the two royal leaders the protected pranced down the hallway and into the main lobby where they exited the doors to the garden. Luna slowed her trot, and slowly walked towards the grassy clearing the had picnics on.
"Look, sister. It's done." She looked up.The elder's heart started to beat rapidly. It was night already.. and she had been working all day! She hadn't seen her sister until now.. she hadn't eaten since breakfast.. and.. IT WAS NIGHT!!
She looked up and almost fainted.
Above her was the most beautiful sight ever to grace her eyes. A single white object resembling her sun was the centerpiece, and was gracefully adorned with smaller twinkles of light that made patters and shapes. Beyond these, was a pink cloud that stretched across the sky, behind it all. No words, could explain the beauty she was seeing."It's.. it's amazing.. Luna... It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen..." Luna smiled. "Thanks.. sister. I've worked really hard on it.. I'm glad you like it. I think mom and dad would be pro.."Luna's words choked, as well as Celestia's star gazing. "Let's.. not talk about them Luna." Her sister begged.Luna nodded, not wanting to break down into a crying fit. Their parents weren't here anymore, and they aren't a problem anymore."I made this, sister, so people will like the nights now. They are beautiful now, no longer scary. I will protect them." Luna gleefully planned."I finally found what I'm supposed to do with my life. I'm ready, sister. I'm ready to help you rule." Celestia smiled, and walked her sister back into the castle. Morning was close, and they both needed some rest.
I looked at the white mare, who was smiling into the distance. The memories were strong for her, and made her happy, something she hadn't felt for a while. "So.. she was your little sister?" I asked. "Hmm? Oh..uhm.. yes. She was." Celestia answered."And she made the stars above?" "Yes." "Seems quite impossible for such a small filly! I mean she su-" "SHE IS A PRINCESS, AND A PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT AT THAT. SHE CAN DO WHAT SHE DID."I sat there, stunned. I was walking through a field, and I just hit a landmine. Something in the princess.. snapped. I found a weak point. Her sister meant a lot to her. "Okay.. Okay.. I'm sorry your highness." I quickly apologized."I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have snapped."I recoiled at her apology. It was not expected. I am just a journalist, after all. She could have me thrown into a dungeon just for being in her sight! "Okay.. Where is Luna? What happened to her?"The porcelain mare looked me in the eye. It was as if I was looking into the depths of hell. "You know her centerpiece?" She questioned me. "Her... crown?" Nope. Celestia sighed."No, the moon. It was her centerpiece. And it still is today, just a little more so." I went silent. What did she mean "and still is today"? That makes no sense! Did she.. die? "Celestia.. is your sister.. I mean.. is she... dead?" The noblepony sighed deeply before continuing her epic,"No. Not at all. In fact, I was the one closer to death."
She took a deep breath. "Luna is imprisoned on the moon, Greyson. I put her there. She tried to.. to.. take over Equestria..and..and..." Her eyes began to water as this still painful memory stabbed its way into her projection."..And?" I retorted. "..And kill me." She answered.
“If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?”
― Jodi Picoult
Two
"Dear Ladies and Gentlecolts, may I pronounce to you, my sister, your princess, and our family, Princess Luna! Ruler of the Night!" Cheers bombed the plaza, streamers flew every which way. Luna nervously walked up to the edge of the terrace, which stood out high above the marble plaza.
Luna's eyes glistened with tears of joy, and her lips perched a smile that stretched for miles. She stood near the railing, and poked her head over. The crowd roared. Her horn began to glow a dark, strong blue and she opened her mouth to speak.
Her voiced boomed over the crowd's enormous cheers, "Good Evening, everypony!" The crowd cheered more. "We are Luna, Celestia's dear sister. As she rules the day, and her cutiemark surely tells the tale, one can only guess what I do," She stated, as huge posters of her cutiemark rolled straight against the castle wall. "I rule the night." She smiled.
The introduction of Luna was set at the perfect time, right when sun when down the horizon, Luna would raise the moon and show what she had made for these ponies. The sun dipped below, and she began to surge her magic into the moon, willing it to raise. This was no easy feet of course, and Luna began to struggle. Her forehead beaded with sweat, and her eyes began to clamp shut harder and harder. Celestia joined in, letting her sister draw magic from herself. Luna grunted, but pushed on. The moon slowly slid into position, and locked. Luna collapsed.
"Notebook.. Have you ever seen the night sky without any light pollution? It is the most beautiful thing.." Celestia asked me. I thought deep back into my memories, but couldn't find any that had what she asked. "No.. I haven't." I answered, sulking slightly. "You're missing out, my friend." Celestia smiled. "The light that plagues this world, is not what it once was, a thousand or so years ago. You could see the Monkey-Head Galaxy through a telescope, and shooting stars were as common as rain. It was a beautiful world."
Thoughts were racing through my mind. If her night was so beautiful, why did nopony enjoy them? I jotted down my thoughts and returning questions I had onto my notepad. I started this story thinking I'd become one of the most respected journalists to ever grace this land, and for my work I'd be given a golden medal and forever alive in a marble statue in the Writer's Hall of Fame... But such were dreams of a young pony, a pony who didn't think too far ahead, to what his actions may cause. Especially to a Princess. I decided to refrain from these thoughts and let her continue. I need the story first.
"SIster, my night court is so unintelligent. It's as if all the stupor ponies come unto my court, just to bother me!" Luna joked. Celestia gazed at her dark blue sibling, and let out a laugh. "You have but to learn youngling! They will challenge you in any way they can..even if that means being excruciatingly drunk! You just never know with our little ponies." She managed to get out, between chuckles. Seeing her sister in what she had to go through everyday made her happy, yet sad at the same moment. She wanted her sister to do what she was meant to do, but she also wanted her to live a peaceful life. Sadly though, some things do not come as we want them, she thought.
"You just need to listen to them, see what they want, refuse that, and send them out! It's easy enough to learn, but you must be careful to not use it against import matters though. I've made many a squabbles and let too many trade agreements get by. You just never know where something will end up, but you must always act with your better judgement for what is good for not just you, but for your ponies as well. They are the most important thing to us." Celestia advised her sister. The blue mare nodding her head in understanding.
"I told her everything I knew, Notebook, but the lessons I taught her never seemed to creep into her mind when they were dearly needed... we fought a war because of her insolence, but it ended only a few days later, as the enemy all met with Equestria's formidable army of.. what say.. six-thousand pegasi, eight-thousand earthponies, and twenty-five hundred unicorns? They were flattened out faster than they could react back." She grimaced at the dark memories of a war her sister had started. "But that is not what we are discussing, now was it Notebook?" I nodded. "Then allow me to continue, a few years later, Luna got very mad that the ponies weren't paying attention to her nights as much as she wanted.."
"...I worked so hard on it sister! And all they do is go inside, lock their doors, and hope they make it through the night, even though it is even more peaceful than your day!" Luna screamed. Her yelling with her sister had been going on for half an hour, with Celestia just nodding and voicing her opinion on the matter when it arose. She knew that this was going to happen, and she expected it fully at anytime. "I just don't know why I worked so hard on it, if they just go inside, and try to survive another day! It makes me irate! These ponies are so ignorant of what I've done for them, how I protect them, and what I am trying to accomplish to make sure that their houses aren't burned to the ground by the griffins!" Celestia only continued to nod her head, knowing that her sisters rant was almost to a close. She looked at her azure sister, noticing the rivers of tears streaming down her cheeks, flooding everything in it's path. "..They..They just don't know how hard being a princess is! They think it's all glamour shots and being nice! But it isn't! It.. it makes me wish that.. that.. I could bring night on forever to make them suffer!" She cold-bloodily screamed. Her voice doused in truth, Luna's horn began to glow a deep blue, deeper than her normal color. She screamed again, her voice amplified by magic. Celestia was stunned. What her sister had said, was beyond rational thinking. She kept thinking back to that one phrase, "bring night on forever to make them suffer". It was a dark way of saying death. A slow, agonizing death that would slowly wipe out everyone. Even the blue mare who would've caused it all.
"Sister! You cannot say that! You are not in your right of mind!" Celestia said, pouncing at her sister to break her concentration on whatever spell she was casting. Celestia's front hooves collided with her sister's right knee, snapping it backwards, to the point of a tendon being ripped, causing Luna's spell to break, and her voice to get even louder. "AAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!" Luna screamed, for good reason. Celestia looked over at her sister, who sat awkwardly on the floor trying to no avail to grab her knee. "AAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGHHHH!!!" Luna screamed again, tears streaming from her eyes. A small pool of blood began to form around her broken joint, where her older sister's hooves had pinched to skin into breaking. Celestia, seemingly unaffected by this, stood up in front of the fallen mare and yelled in a commanding voice she had learned from the countless years of being a leader of this nation, "YOU WILL NOT EVER, EVER, THREATEN MY PONIES WITH DEATH. I GAVE YOU THIS POSITION, AND I CAN TAKE IT AWAY FROM YOU. I HAVE MUCH MORE WORTHY PONIES WHOM WILL GLADLY LEAVE THEIR SPOTS TO BECOME A RULER OF EQUESTRIA. YOU MAY BE MY SISTER, BUT IF YOU EVER ARE TO SPEAK LIKE THAT AGAIN OR EVER HURT ANYPONY, YOU WILL FACE ME, AND I WILL BRING WHAT YOU GAVE THEM, UNTO YOU." Celestia's face reddened from a loss of oxygen, and she began to breath heavily. She looked at her sister, who was staring right back at her, tears flowing endlessly. "...I'm.. sorry..." Luna said, before teleporting away to an unknown destination. Celestia looked at the disappearing blue haze in front of her, and fell on her haunches. Tears began to cascade from her own eyes onto the floor. "Luna..I..I...please..." Celestia whimpered softly, tears beginning to flow from streams into rivers.