When They Were Young: To the Moon!

by Mr101

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy
Length: 3642

When Luna discovers the power to banish things to the moon, she decides to play pranks on Celestia.

Set in the 'Youngverse'

One day whilst out practising, Luna gets spooked by a butterfly and accidentally sends it to the moon. Running high on giddiness at her new power, she decides to play several pranks on her sister Celestia.

Surely nothing bad will happen, right?

The first story from Luna's and Celestia's childhood in the 'When they were Young: Luna and Celestia trilogy'.

When they were Young: Luna and Celestia trilogy.
'When They Were Young: The Box Queen and the Dracony' - Part two - Part two
'When They Were Young: Operation: Cookie Liberation' - Part three

Inspired by this comic by the wonderful Flaysch-Katzerl, go and show her art some love.

Thanks to DVAN56 and DisHarmonize for their help!

Published 2013-09-16 18:50:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-16 18:50:03 UTC

The revenge has been doubled!

To the Moon!

The sun was peeking over the horizon as the citizens of Canterlot were slowly waking up, the sound of the morning birds echoing in the quiet streets as the ponies known as lamplighters patrolled up and down the streets, carefully extinguishing the oil lamps that dotted the empty streets. The guards in the palace were beginning their new shifts, with the night guard being replaced with the early morning guards, the kitchens began to buzz with cooks and other staff as they began to prepare the kitchen for breakfast.

High in the tower however, there was one filly who was very much awake, and very upset.

Luna ran as fast as her hooves could take her, some tears in the corners of her eyes. She was about to head down to the kitchens for breakfast and had wanted to use the bathroom to sort her mane out however when she got there, Celestia had beaten her there and refused to let her in. It was only until waiting for fifteen minutes did Luna realise Celestia had long since finished and had teleported out of the bathroom in silence, leaving Luna with her growling stomach and unable to claim first dibs on breakfast. Upon discovering this prank on her, Luna had started to run to her mother and father’s bedroom in order to tell on her sister.Their mother ruled over the night court and controlled the moon whilst her father had dominion over the sun and day courts.

“MUMMY!” Luna cried loudly as she came to the bedroom door, “Tia did it again! She lo-”

She was interrupted by her father, King Terra, shushing her as he emerged from the bedroom, his golden flowing mane gently dancing in the air. He looked down at the little filly and closed the door behind him gently.

“Hush, Little Moon,” her father started, “your mother is asleep! You know how tired she can get with the night court, she won’t be waking up till this evening.”

He noticed the sad look on Luna’s face, the tears in her eyes and the quivering lip as the little filly looked up at her father.

“What’s the matter?” He asked.

“Tia did it again… with the bathroom,” she sniffled.

Terra rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh, this wasn’t something new to him, in fact, he was used to it. Ever since Celestia had turned twelve, she had started pulling, if not harmless, pranks on her eight year old sister. Every day it was either pretending to be in the bathroom or hiding her stuff only to replace it later, and some days Celestia would sneak her pudding out from the kitchen and eat it before Luna could get a chance.

“Why can’t you two just get along?” He sighed before picking up Luna with his magic and placing her on his back, “come on, let’s go have breakfast.”

After a good breakfast consisting of several rounds of toast, baked beans, eggs and lots of juice, as well as Terra scolding Celestia, again. Luna felt much, much happier and had decided to go for a walk in the gardens to practice her magic in private, away from her annoying sister. Just as her father was teaching Celestia about solar magic, Luna’s mother was teaching her about lunar magic and how to associate herself with the night and everything it covers, and in time, Luna had managed to pass the first part of lunar magic, having made a magical connection with the moon itself.

She soon came to her private and secluded spot near a small pond that was situated near the back of the gardens, making sure she was indeed alone she smiled and took a few breaths before concentrating her gaze on a nearby flower, mentally picturing it being turned into another type of flower. She glared at it intensely and begun to focus her magic into her horn, her tongue sticking out to the side of her mouth.

However, she was unable to concentrate properly, the thoughts of Celestia’s prank earlier that morning still ran through her mind. With a defeated sigh she gave up and sat back on her rump, glaring at the flower like it had called her a mean word.

“Stupid Tia…” Luna muttered, “no! I can’t give up, I’ll show her!”

With new found vigor, Luna jumped to her hooves and glared at the flower with a determined look on her face. She crouched down so her head was closer to the flower and her back was up slightly as she began to feel her magic course into her horn, the spell charging as she pictured the flower transforming.

That, however, was interrupted.

Luna wasn’t quite sure what actually happened, she had just finished charging the spell and was about to cast it when out of nowhere, a butterfly landed on her nose scaring the living daylights out of her. She had let out a startled yelp and there was a blinding flash of light, a loud pop, followed by there being no more butterfly

Blinking in confusion, she suddenly gasped thinking that the butterfly had died and she felt her lip quiver as tears formed in her eyes. The guilt of murdering an innocent creature hit her hard. Suddenly, her eyes widened and her head snapped up to look into the sky.

The butterfly was still alive and well, albeit on the moon.

Luna then remembered her connection with the moon her mother had taught her about, and how with being connected to the moon, she had a magical link to it. She then realised that she had accidentally sent the butterfly to the moon. Quickly, she tried to focus her magic again and after a second flash and pop, the butterfly was fluttering around above her, although in a slightly dizzy fashion. She watched in fascination at the insect, a smile on her face and feeling relieved that it was ok.

The smile, however, slowly turned into a large, sneaky grin as Luna suddenly had a thought pop into her head that turned into a plan.

A plan of revenge.

Cackling to herself as she headed back to the castle, Luna decided to begin her revenge the following day, giving her ample time to perfect the plan.

Just as the sun began to rise over the horizon once more, Luna’s eyes shot open before she grinned.

“Today’s the day…” she whispered.

Quietly and carefully, she climbed out of her bed and quietly made her way out of her room and down the corridor to where Celestia’s room was. Using her magic, she opened the door in silence and sneaked in, trying hard to not giggle.

Sure enough, Celestia was still asleep in her bed snoring. Luna struggled not to giggle again, but hearing her sister snore loudly, it was hard, and prepared to start her day of revenge. Channeling her magic into her horn she concentrated and Celestia’s body briefly glowed for a second as Celestia mumbled in her sleep. She was blissfully unaware of what was going on as Luna approached her vanity.

Luna grinned, knowing that there was one way she could hide her sister’s things without Celestia being able to find them.

“To the moon!” She whispered.

Her horn flared up with magic and in a blink of an eye, Celestia’s beloved mane brush, one of her treasured items, vanished with a pop from its resting spot. Luna quickly left the room, taking great care to use her magic to close the door quietly. She then ran like a bat out of hell back to her room, throwing the door open and flinging herself into her bed, giggling the whole time.

“Three… two… one,” Luna quietly counted down.

There was suddenly a loud scream coming from down the corridor, Luna could hear the sounds of guards running like mad towards Celestia’s room and held back her giggles as a guard burst into her room.

“Princess! Are you alright?!” He shouted.

Luna pretended to yawn and look confused as she blinked her eyes.

“W-what? What's going on?” She asked, “was that Tia screaming?”

Before the guard could reply, Luna saw behind him some of the guards walking back, looking a little irritated. Soon after, Terra appeared looking irritated as well and behind him, was Celestia.

Luna burst into laughter as Celestia walked into the room, a look of fury and angry on her face.

Celestia’s mane, which normally would flow majestically down by her side, was now sticking up in different angles, as if someone had cast a spell to keep it in place and frizzy. Luna fell back into her bed, laughing as her father rolled his eyes and Celestia snarled. The guard who had come into check on Luna was struggling to not laugh himself, his lip wobbling as he averted his gaze.

“Little Moon…” her father began, “have you-”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY MANE AND MY BRUSH?!” Celestia roared at Luna.

“Nothing,” Luna smiled innocently, “please be quiet, Tia… it’s still early and mummy is probably trying to sleep.”

Celestia’s eye twitched violently as her father sighed and ushered the enraged Celestia out.

“Come on Tia… we can look for it later on, your sister is right and we should be quiet for your mother. Meaning no using the voice inside the palace.”

“Yes father…” Celestia muttered.

Luna snuggled back into her pillow, giggling softly to herself.

Today was going to be fun.

After spending a couple of hours and failing to find her beloved brush, Celestia was forced to use a spare. The reason why this annoyed her, was because her one was magically enchanted to allow a smooth flow of her mane, in order to make it look majestic.

This brush, however, did not.

She had arrived at breakfast with a slightly messy mane, although not terrible, she still looked like she had just gotten out of bed. Scowling at Luna who was smiling as she ate her breakfast. Celestia had finished her breakfast in silence and decided she would go out and play with her brand new hoofball in order to try and calm down from the morning’s activities.

Luna watched as Celestia got down from the table and made her way out of the dining room, a devious smile formed on her face as she got down and followed her sister.

“Commence phase two,” Luna giggled.

As Celestia made her way through the corridor, she couldn’t help but feel as if she was being followed. She tried to shrug it off as just her mind playing a trick on her and carried on walking, oblivious to the shuffling behind her.

When she came to the corner of the corridor, she slowed her pace down as to not bump into anyone and that’s when she heard a soft sound behind her. Snapping her head round to see whoever was following her and  blinked in confusion, seeing a box resting by the wall.

“Oh… it’s just a box… was that always there?”

She shook her head and headed down the left side of the corridor, failing to hear the giggles emanating from within the box.

“AND CELESTIA KICKS THE BALL, SLAMMING IT INTO THE NET AND WINNING THE GAME FOR EQUESTRIA!”

Celestia roared out as she kicked her ball at a wall, it bouncing off and rolling over to her again. She waved her hoof in the air triumphantly as she imitated the sound of a crowd cheering her and nodded her head to the imaginary crowd.

“Thank you, thank you!” She said with a smile, before taking on the roll of the commentator again, “but what’s this? The referee has deemed the goal offside?!”

She gave a mock gasp as she pretended to be upset at her goal being denied.

“But, the referee has allowed the wondrous and fabulous Celestia to take a penalty!”

Celestia pretended to be confused but prepared the ball on a makeshift penalty spot and took a few steps back, completely unaware Luna’s peering eyes that were coming from the bush behind her.

“And now, the crowd goes quiet… waiting to see if Celestia can make the shot that will win the game.”

Celestia concentrated fiercely on the wall ahead of her, scrapping the grass twice with her hoof before charging at the ball.

“To the moon!” Luna whispered from her hiding spot.

Just as Celestia went to kick the ball, it vanished with a pop, causing her to stumble in surprise and fall onto her rump. She blinked in confusion for a moment before trying to form a coherent sentence that only came out in confused babbles. Finally, one word managed to escape her lips.

“DAAAAAAAAAAD!”

After being told off by her father for wasting his time, Celestia had been told to go and do her homework much to her annoyance. Sitting at a desk, she started to scan a text book with a scroll beside her and a quill levitating over it. She hated doing her homework as she’d rather be doing things that she actually considered fun.

Celestia groaned and threw her head back in boredom, she had been writing for an hour straight and was bored. Deciding it was high time for a snack and a quick break from her work, she got up and headed out the door, once again being oblivious to the box sitting in the room with her that began to shuffle carefully after her.

Humming to herself as she returned from the kitchen, a glass of juice levitating beside her. As she walked down the corridor, the same feeling from earlier she had felt came back and she stopped in her tracks. She carefully looked behind her down the corridor but saw no one and shrugged it off, carrying on her way.

When she got back to the study, she set her drink on a nearby small table and went over to the bookshelf behind her desk to find another book. During this time, the box shuffled into the room and hid in the place it was in earlier.

As Celestia rummaged the bookshelf for the book she needed, she failed to again hear the giggle that came from the box as well as a soft whisper.

“To the moon!”

Celestia’s ears shot up as she jumped from the pop that echoed in the room and spun on the spot, at first she thought nothing was amiss until she noticed the book she had been reading from had gone. Remembering that the noise of the pop she had heard was the same one she heard earlier with her hoofball vanished, she raised her brow in suspicion and began to check the room for the book, but to no avail.

Grumbling to herself, she decided to try and find another book in order to complete her homework and turned back to the bookshelf. From behind her, the box shuffled slightly before a soft whisper came from it and with another pop, Celestia spun round almost immediately and her jaw dropped seeing the scroll she had spent the last hour working on had vanished, seemingly without a trace.

Her eye twitched and she stuttered slightly, before she shouted a single word, so loudly it shook the walls.

“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!”

Celestia’s head hung low to the ground, today hadn’t been a great day for her and it had only just gone two in the afternoon, Her father had scolded her for making him run into the study and berate her again for wasting her time, stating that homework and a textbook didn’t just vanish into thin air and had told her she was to go to bed without any dessert that night.

Grumbling, she slowly plodded down the corridor slowly past two guards who were standing by the door that lead to the throne room, oblivious to the noises approaching her from behind. When she stopped to think on what to do next, she heard shuffling behind her and slowly rose her head, remembering she had continuously heard shuffling that day and very, very slowly turned round to see the same box by the all.

Growling slightly, she had had enough and stormed over to the box.

“You think this is funny, Luna?! I know you’re in there!”

Celestia received no reply from the box.

“Don’t pretend you're not in there! Get out now!” She screamed.

Again, no reply.

Screaming in utter frustration, Celestia’s horn began to glow as the box was thrown across the corridor. She had expected to find a startled Luna inside the box, but instead she found nothing. Her eye twitched again as she looked up at the guards who were looking back at her a little confused, she blushed out of embarrassment and quickly made her way down the corridor.

“Okay, she’s gone now your highness,” one of the guards said.

Luna giggled as she emerged from behind the guards, beaming up to them in appreciation.

“Thanks guys!”

“You're welcome,” the guard chuckled.

Luna levitated the box over to her and got back into it, and continued to shuffle down the corridor after Celestia.

“Should… we have told Princess Celestia about that? Or the King and Queen?” The other guard asked.

“Nah, let the kid have her fun,” the other replied.

Celestia, coupled with the embarrassment of blowing up like she did in front of the guards and the events that were happening, had decided she was entitled to some cake, whether her father knew about it or not she didn’t care. She snuck into the kitchen past the cooks and soon entered the pantry where she knew a chocolate cake was being kept, she soon saw what she was seeking and eyed her prize with ravenous hunger. She levitated a knife over quietly and cut out a slice and levitated it over to her mouth, ready to feast on the delicious moistness of the cake and was unaware of the box shuffling into the room and hiding under a table.

“To the moon!” Luna whispered.

With a loud pop, the whole cake on the table in front of Celestia disappearing in an instant startling her. She looked to the cake in her magic grip and frantically went to take a bite only to have her teeth slam into nothing as another pop took the cake slice away from her.

She stared at the place where the cake was for a long time, her eyes twitching before a red mist descended over her eyes and clouded her mind, blocking out all sounds and sights around her as her angry grew by the second. The box shuffled its way out of the room and quickly sped off, giggling all the way.

“THAT DOES IT!”

Celestia had had enough, she knew it was Luna and was going to prove it one way or another.

Luna was giggling like crazy in her room, she was having a whale of a time with her pranks and the day just couldn't get any better. Soon, she heard the sounds of light hoofsteps approaching from down the corridor.

“Oh, what a day…” she heard Celestia’s voice speak, “what is going on?”

Luna giggled again as Celestia past her room, slipping off her bed and creeping to her door she peeked out and watched her sister go into her room, leaving the door ajar. She slowly crept down the corridor until she got to the ajared door and listened intently.

“Oh well… I guess I’ll just play with my favourite doll ever in the whole universe, but wait, I think I need some juice first. I’d better go and get some before I play with my favourite doll. Ever.”

Luna held a gasp back and ran back to her room as quietly and as quickly as she could, just as she got in and closed the door enough so she could still peek out of it. She saw Celestia trot past her door and listened to her hoofsteps fade away, giggling to herself, Luna decided that this would be the final prank and couldn’t wait for Celestia to return and quickly opened her door and ran to her sisters room, oblivious to Celestia watching her from around the corner.

Pushing Celestia’s door open, Luna stepped inside and soon saw the doll in question on the floor out in the open, giggling to herself she began to charge her horn with magic.

“To the-”

“GOTCHA!”

There was a scream, a flash, and a pop, before everything went quiet.

Aeterna woke with a gasp, her eyes were wide as she panted heavily. she had been sound asleep in her bed, resting from her duties in the night court and raising the moon when she had started to feel strange anomalies come from its surface within her dreams, but had shrugged them off. Suddenly, she had felt a powerful surge of magic come from within the castle which she recognised as lunar magic that had caused her to wake up. In an instant, she ran out of the room, not caring about her appearance and straight to where she had felt the disturbance of lunar magic.

Celestia’s bedroom.

Ignoring the countless guards she ran past, she soon arrived at her room and saw Luna sitting on the floor with wide eyes and blinking slowly, looking slightly daze.

“Luna? Are you okay?” She asked with worry.

“Y-yes mummy… I-I…”

Before Luna could answer, Aeterna suddenly felt a surge of magic coming directly from the moon, sensing the anger from it before she realised whose magic signature it was.

“Luna…” Aeterna began.

“Yes mummy?” Luna cringed.

“Can you answer me one question?” She asked.

“What’s that mummy?” Luna asked, trying to act innocent as her mother gave a heavy sigh.

“Why is your sister on the moon?”

END