That's where it was, lost underneath her bed. Her horn glowed brightly, pulling the book out so she could dust it off. A smile formed on her lips when she realized it was an old book about old ponytales. She hadn't read it since she was only a little filly; in fact, it was kind of nostalgic for her.
She gently patted the book off with her hoof before levitating it up to the top of her bookcase, putting it right where it belongs. The sunbeams suspended dust in the air from the book, causing her to cough to herself. Luckily, she wasn't necessarily allergic to dust, but it was probably the spring cleaning she had been doing. Her head was beginning to hurt, though. She should probably head out for some fresh air, it'll do her some good.
"Maybe I'll go over to Sugarcube Corner," Twilight mumbled to herself as Spike walked into her room.
"Hey Twi, I finished cleaning the spare bedroom." He said as he coughed out a small puff of fire.
"It looks like I'm not the only one that could use fresh air," Twilight giggled quietly at the baby dragon, "Do you want to come to Sugarcube Corner with me?"
Spike smiled at the thought, "Sure! I'm pretty hungry anyway, but we'd have to make it fast because I'm supposed to help Rarity around her house later."
"I swear that you are whipped." Her eyes rolled before she picked up the baby dragon with her magic, placing him on her back. She walked out of her room and down the stairs, opening the door to a pink pony standing in front of her.
"Oh hey there, Twilight!" Pinkie said with a wide smile on her fact, "Where are you going? Huh, huh, huh?" She bounced happily in place, "Are you going to Sugarcube Corner? Well, you shouldn't because it's being renovated because we needed more storage space for the cooking supplies. You should come to Sweet Apple Acres with me, though. We were going to meet up there later today anyway so we wanted you to come and please say you'll come!" She gasped for air after saying that entire paragraph with only one breath.
"Uhm… Okay, I guess I could do that..." Twilight said with a raised eyebrow. She was taken aback by the pink party pony's energetic attitude and surprise visit.
"Yay! Come on, we have to hurry!" Pinkie said before bouncing off towards Applejack's farm.
Twilight simply watched the pony for a moment, blinking in bewilderment as to what just happened. Her daze was short lived however, as she found herself being called out to by Pinkie Pie. She ran to catch up to the pink pony and followed her all of the way to Sweet Apple Acres.
...
"Happy Birthday!" Everypony shouted as Twilight walked into the barn at Sweet Apple Acres.
The barn was decorated with bright colored streamers with a 'Happy Birthday' banner on the wall. There was a huge cake sitting on the table, looking like it could probably feed an army. It had a color scheme that matched Twilight, probably Rarity's idea. Music played softly, turned down so everypony could talk.
"I know it's not much, sugarcube, but I hope y'all have fun." Applejack said with a smile.
"Thank you, Applejack." Twilight said with a smile, "Thank you all!"
She still wasn't used to having her birthday celebrated with her five friends; it was always just her and the princess.
The door opened up behind her, and a familiar voice calls out, "Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, Happy Birthday."
Twilight spun around to see her majesty standing before her, a smile stretched across her face. Behind Celestia stood another alicorn pony, looking as if she had just gotten out of bed. Luna wallowed in with a look of insomnia upon her face, she had probably stayed up all night and had gotten no sleep in the day.
"Happy…" Luna yawned softly, "…Birthday, Twilight Sparkle."
She was completely worn out, she was out of her element when sitting out in broad daylight like this. Her sleep schedule might just be jeopardized by what her sister had planned for the next month. Why in Equestria would she have to live outside of the castle for a month you might ask? Because according to her sister, she spends far too much time cooped up in her room with books when she needs to be socializing.
"Nightmare moon!" Pinkie Pie let out a loud shout before diving under the table. Her flank was exposed still, kind of defeating the purpose of hiding.
"Fer' Celestia's sake, I thought we've done been o'er this," Applejack grumbled as she bit the earth pony's tail, pulling her out by it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you again," Luna said as she approached the pink party pony.
"Naw, I was just playing!" Pinkie Pie said as she quickly sat up, recovering immediately from her façade with a large smile spread across her face.
"Oh…" Luna paused for a moment, unsure of what to make of it.
Celestia walked over to Twilight and gave her an affectionate nuzzle to the cheek. Twilight blushed gently, but nuzzled her teacher back. Celestia usually acted a lot less like nobility on Twilight's birthday for some reason and more like a mother. The only thing she could figure is that Celestia wants to be less important than her favorite student on her birthday.
"Oh right, I'd hate to steal some of your thunder, but Luna and I have an announcement," Celestia said with a playful grin, "Luna decided that she's going to live down here for a month or so."
"Wait, why?" Rarity asked. The news of royalty living in Ponyville sparked her curiosity, as it was sure to spark the curiosity of every other pony.
"Well, Tia thinks we have spent far too much time in our room. So, she thinks that we… I should come and live amongst the citizens of Ponyville so I can acquire knowledge of how society works now." Luna said with a solemn grimace on her face.
"Oh please, it won't be thaaaaaat bad." Celestia said with a sarcastic eye roll.
You can definitely tell they're siblings by the way they talk to one another. Celestia definitely acts like an older sister that enjoys picking on her little sister. Luna appears as the little sister that tries to stand up to her older siblings and fails.
"Where is she going to stay, though?" Rarity prodded for more information.
"Well, we actually don't have a home constructed yet, so…" Luna was cut off by Twilight who seems more than happy about the situation.
"She can stay with me!" She said with a broad smile on her face, seeming pretty hopeful.
Luna looked a little worried, "We'd hate to impose, though…"
"Oh, it's no problem!" Twilight said almost immediately, excited and interested to actually be able to spend time with her teacher's sister.
"Well, if you insist, we guess we can stay with you for a little while," Luna said with a smile forming on her face.
"See, you're making friends already." Celestia said with a teasing smile to her little sister.
"Shut up," Luna pouted at her sister.
"Come on everypony, all of this talk is SOOOOO boring! I say we should actually get down and party!" Pinkie shouted over everypony, turning the music on max volume before anypony can answer.
.........................................
"…And that's how I became princess!" Celestia said with a giggle. She just ranted for half an hour about random stories (most of which didn't even pertain to her), which all added up to how she became the monarch of Equestria.
"I don't think her majesty can hold her alcohol," Applejack whispered quietly to Rainbow Dash.
"I know, it's like she's a totally different pony," R.D. said with a laugh.
"Sister, you're drunk!" Luna said to Gummy, obviously being not that strong of a drinker either.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack just looked at eachother before bursting out into laughter. This was definitely a hilarious party in comparison to usual, neither of the princesses could even remotely hold their liquor. The thing is, they only drank beer too and were completely smashed from such a light drink. Honestly, Applejack was drinking shots of vodka and wasn't even close to how drunk they were.
Twilight was huddled up in a corner, her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment from Celestia's personality. She never had the ability to drink, even the weakest liquor would send her over the edge. Granted, she did find it more amusing than embarrassing when she was younger.
"Oh wow, she's really drunk isn't she?" Pinkie Pie said in a strangely calm voice. Alcohol actually made her less energetic and silly, which is probably a good thing at a time like this. Twilight doubted any drunk pony could handle Pinkie's unnatural fountain of perpetual energy.
"Celestia! Stop biting me!" Luna screamed as she ran around the barn, having Gummy cling to her tail by his bite. "She won't stop! Make her stop!"
"Oh darling, that tail pin looks great on you!" Rarity said with joyous awe. Before the princess's appeared, Rarity was the weakest drinker of the group. She obviously had a bit too much herself as well.
Fluttershy smiled sweetly, quietly giggling to herself as Luna ran across the room like a chicken with its head cut off. That pegasus was a scary drinker when she actually drinks. She even managed to out drink Big Macintosh before. Of course she usually dislikes drinking and avoids alcohol at parties, though.
"So, who wants to hear another story?!" Celestia asks with a creepy smile and an overly energetic voice.
"Oh god, no!" Rainbow Dash and Applejack both shouted at the princess, fearing listening to another story of how her butler's blister was popped and how it had gotten in the food.
"Okay, so this is how it happened…" She began rambling on with her story, despite R.D. and Applejack's cries of fear.
"Please don't remind me!" Twilight shouted in disgust, remembering that all too well from personal experience.
"Tia, get off of me!" Luna screamed again, having Gummy bite onto her mane now.
"Gummy, please get off of her," Fluttershy whispered quietly, but her pleas were overshadowed by everypony else's shouts.
...
At Twilight Sparkle's House:
Twilight was still trying to hold back her laughs from the drunken princess as she laid her down in bed. She passed out halfway home, causing Twilight to have to carry her home. The party was a lot of fun otherwise, at least in Twilight's opinion.
"Good night, Princess. I shall not envy the headache you'll have in a few hours." Twilight said as she walked out of the spare bedroom, towards her own.
She was looking forward to the next few weeks; they were definitely going to be the most interesting time she's had in a long time.
The Ragnarok had come for Luna, the end of the world as she heard the high pitched singing of the birds outside as well as the feeling of a searing rod shoved into her eyes from the bright light of the day. Why did she wake up you say? The sound of clanging in the kitchen disturbed the lunar princess from her sleep. Luckily though, the scent of why there was such noise made her stir in curiosity; it was the gorgeous smell of coffee. The bane of all hangovers.
"And just a bit of cinnamon and apples," Twilight said as she poured cinnamon and apple slices into the pot in front of her, humming softly to herself while swaying her tail softly.
"Twilight, where is the beautiful bane of our headache?" Luna called out to the unicorn preparing what was probably the intended breakfast, "We woke up to the scent."
Twilight turned around and smiled smugly at the princess whom suffered from her own stupidity, "I figured that hangover would be hitting you pretty hard. I brewed the coffee extra strong for you, so drink up. There's also some oatmeal on the stove, almost ready to be eaten for breakfast."
"Oatmeal...? Isn't that the food that commoners eat during the wee hours of the morning?" Luna asked while pouring her a mug of coffee.
"Oh boy..." Twilight laughed softly at Luna's snide remark, obviously not meant to be as condescending as it sounded, "You really need to try this stuff before you judge it."
"No offense, but we doubt that such a simple food could touch our refined taste, Twilight," Luna said and laughed softly about the Unicorn's attempt to convince her that such a simple thing could prove to taste good.
"Oh really?" Twilight said, having a big grin form on her face before levitating two bowls from her cabinet and pouring oatmeal into them, "We shall see."
. . . . . .
Luna had never eaten her words so hard, or rather eaten her words along with 6 servings of what she formerly had seen as 'commoner food'. She wandered the small town of Ponyville, her horrid hangover nursed from warm food, black coffee, and a bit of Twilight's magic. Everything that has happened here in this town seemed to genuinely surprise her; maybe her sister was onto something when it comes to spending time with the commoners.
"Princess, I must say that I'd hate to say this, but I promised Rarity that I would watch the Cutie Mark Crusaders today," Twilight said with a slight exasperated look, obviously dreading watching the three fillies to some small extent, realizing that they were a handful.
Luna was taken aback at Twilight's words, almost recoiling in fear, "The crusaders of the cutie marked!?" She looked around nervously, "How is this town not purged of all with cutie marks?!"
Twilight stifled her laugh at Luna's blatant ignorance to history, but she understood and explained the situation to the princess, "Oh, Princess Luna, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had not existed for nearly 900 years; I was referring to three young fillies that live here in Ponyville who are trying to find out what their cutie mark is destined to be."
Luna paused, keeping a slightly freaked out look on her face before returning her face back to normal, nodding, "We understand now; but yes, that should be perfectly fine. We would find it... fun?... to actually watch over these Crusaders with you and assist them with their hunt for their cutie mark."
Twilight nodded gently towards the princess, stifling a bit of a giggle from how awkward her highness worded things, "I think you'll love them; just know that they're pretty energetic though. Expect a really busy night."
. . . . . .
"Princess Luna! Princess Luna!" Sweetie Belle said happily while tugging on her leg, wanting to take her one direction while Applebloom tugged on her other leg and scootaloo tugging on her tail.
"Come on Princess, come help me get my cutie mark!" Applebloom called happily to the princess.
"No, you should help me!" Scootaloo retorted happily, trying to pull the princess a different direction.
"Girls! She can't help you with every little thing tonight! You have been bugging her all day and she has barely had a second for herself!" Twilight scolded the three fillies, causing them all to simultaneously releasing the lunar princess from their snare, "Now, how about we actually go do something not pertaining to your cutie marks. How about we go swimming?"
"Swimmin'?" Applebloom said with a raised eyebrow and tilted head, "But it's almost dark... Isn't it true that you turn back into Nightmare Moon during the full moon?"
"I.." Luna started, but was cut off by Scootaloo.
"Do you become all evil and stuff again when you do?" She asked cheerfully, unaware of just how horrible her words were.
"Girls! Leave her alone!" Twilight shouted at them this time, rather than just a simple scold, "Let's just go swimming at the lake, girls."
"I want to!" Twilight called through Twilight's shout, "I think swimming at night would be fun!"
"Maybe we'll get our swimming cutie marks too!" Scootaloo turned her attitude around after hearing her friend say she was okay with it, "Who knows, it just might be our talent!"
. . . . . .
The three fillies were already at the lake, playing in the shallow beaches of the water while Twilight and Luna walked down the rough cobblestone road towards the dock. Luna watched the sunset as the two ponies walked, "I have to raise the moon soon."
Night has been so much prettier after Luna had returned; sure Celestia could raise the moon and stars, but she never really could make them shine like Luna could. In fact, it had become a common past time of Twilight to chart the differences in Celestia's night and Luna's. So far she noticed that Celestia hadn't raised nearly 87 constellations in the night sky that Luna makes a point to do. It was genuinely impressive to the unicorn about how much work actually went into controlling the day and night cycle. No matter how she looked at it, in the old days it was controlled by tens of dozens of unicorns and yet these two princesses control it all.
"This will be the first time you'll see me raise the moon isn't it?" Luna said with a soft smile, "I want to make it extra beautiful since the last time I did it was sloppy from my being a tad tipsy."
"A tad?" Twilight said with a raised eyebrow and a sly grin, "You thought Rarity was your long lost pet lunar moth."
Luna blushed slightly but shook her head, "I don't seem to recall that." She said with a nervous tone in her voice, trying to forget that embarrassing moment.
"I recall one of those constellations being a perfect image of your own face saying 'Luna was Here' underneath it," Twilight said with a laugh, "You really can't hold your alcohol, Princess."
"Well, in all fairness, it's been over a thousand years since my last drink," Luna said with a slightly defensive tone in her tone.
Twilight paused as they sat down on the dock next to the water, "I just realized... You aren't referring to yourself in the royal 'we'. That's pretty rare of you, Princess."
Luna's cheeks tinted a little red at her words, not even catching her friendly demeanor herself, "Y..Yeah.. You're right; I... We... weren't even realizing it when we talked to you. It's quite embarrassing of us." She spoke with her 'royal' tone once again before watching the sun fully set, "Looks like it's time for us to do what we do best."
Her eyes turned solid white as her horn shined with a midnight blue aura, extending the aura from her horn up into the sky, creating a shock wave from it that placed beautiful stars all throughout the dark sky, following by the full moon showing itself over the horizon, illuminating the landscape with its loving glow.
"Luna... it's gorgeous..." Twilight mumbled as she stared in awe at the exceptionally beautiful night; it was almost as if Luna was trying her hardest to impress her subjects that were watching her raise the night sky.
"Woah! I want to do that!" Applebloom shouted enviously of the princess, "Teach me, teach me, teach me!"
"But Applebloom, you need to have unicorn magic to do that, right Princess?" Sweetie Belle asked her Luna with an excited glance.
Luna giggled softly at the fillies conversation but nodded at the unicorn filly, "We might just teach you when you are older-"
SPLASH!!!
Into the water goes the lunar princess and Twilight, being drenched in the water while looking up at the orange coated pegasus that was laughing as hard as she possibly could, "You should see the look on your faces!"
"Why you little!" Twilight said playfully as her horn glowed purple and picked Scootaloo up, dropping her off into the water, "Go you!"
"Gah!" She squealed as she was soaked in the water, readying herself to get revenge onto the purple unicorn before a loud bugle was heard.
A large stallion stood on the dock with a group of soldiers behind him as he bowed to the princess, looking at her through his red mane, his expression almost immediately broke the humor in the previous situation.
Luna climbed up onto the dock and looked at the soldier with a serious look in her eyes once more, "Explain yourself, soldier. Our sister had ordered that we were not to be disturbed unless absolutely necessary."
He stood up and nodded at the princess, "This message is from your sister, and it is urgent. She wants to see both you and Twilight Sparkle in Canterlot as soon as possible."
In the background on the carriages sat injured ponies with bandages all over their body; showing just how serious this might actually be. Luna nodded at the soldier in confirmation, "As you were, soldier."
