You Raise Me Up
Years Before Luna’s Banishment…
The sky above Equestria was vibrant with orange and blue colors as pink-shaded clouds drifted in what was to become the twilight of the night. Everypony from Los Pegasus to the Crystal Empire witnessed this everyday spectacle, one that some even sought out to make a part of their everyday lives. This was a major part of Princess Celestia’s own life, having to give away the daylight to make way for the beautiful night. Today, it wouldn’t be her beginning the night as well.
“Are you not excited, little sister? You get to raise the moon tonight!” Celestia said with a content smile as she and Luna cantered down a long hallway toward a lone, open balcony that overlooked the Canterlot Proper. The whole span of the Northern Equestrian frontier could be seen and viewed from this small porch atop the palace’s tallest tower. It was from here that the sun and moon were raised and lowered every day and night by the just and fair Princess. It was here that the Royal Pony Sisters both resided and lived out their days of leadership. Celestia was proud that her sister was finally ready to begin her destined duty, but on the other hoof, Luna was anything but ready.
“Y-Yeah…” The smaller alicorn put on a fake smile to keep her reply plausible. In all honesty, her mind was telling her that she needed one extra day, one more trial to make sure that she could indeed raise the moon. Without a pillar of assurance, it was hard to hold her confidence about performing such an imperative task.
Naturally, Celestia didn’t need much training in order to raise both the sun and the moon. Being the older of the two sisters, she actually was mentored by their father and mother, both of whom were supposedly training by the fabled Gray Manes of Concordia. But when Luna was born, a big change of events were in store for the two of them. Their home in the hills of the east became the new castle within a forest where the animals took care of themselves and the weather was controlled on its own. Celestia was suddenly thrust into a position of power within the small settlement while also having to nurture and teach her younger sister how to use magic.
And along with having to raise a foal come the role of being a good example for both Luna and the ponies of Canterlot. Days of hardship and pivotal decisions also brought forth moments of happiness for both Celestia and Luna. It was no wonder that the younger alicorn wanted to learn to raise the moon. She wanted to help her sister so that she would have more of that happiness for the both of them. They were all they had for each other. Not even their parents could come close to that bond that she and Celestia shared.
The doubt in the younger one’s mind, however, was keeping her from doing what she had been wanting to do since the first days she could even begin to use her magic in all sorts of ways. Helping her sister. It’s what she wanted to do, both for her’s and Celestia’s sake.
“Here we are, sister. Are you ready?” Celestia’s question rang in Luna’s ear as they stepped into the last sliver of sunlight gracing the land. It wouldn’t be long before she would have to raise the moon, or just flat out tell her sister that she wasn’t ready.
No. She couldn’t just say no to Celestia like that. It took years to get to this point. Years of having too little interaction between one another and not nearly enough time to be considered bonding. But if she attempted to raise the moon and failed, what would happen? What would Celestia think of her? She already knew that she would be a waste in her eyes. She would be shunned away and never be considered family ever again. The thought of it happening tore at the insides of the alicorn.
“Yes, big sister,” Luna gulped and smiled. This was it. She would need to raise the moon or face being a failure in her sister’s eyes. Her mind was running rampant, effectually breaking any concentration that she could muster up to begin with. Without it, she’d slip up and possibly end up disturbing the cycle that Celestia had created. Oh she didn’t want to mess that up. Celestia had worked so hard to keep the cycle the same for the years that she was the leader of the Proper. There was even more pressure for Luna now.
“Go ahead. Show me what you have learned.” Celestia nodded with a smile and took a few steps back, giving her sister room to move around as needed and prepare herself. On Luna’s end, everything was beginning to tick and blow with the thoughts of disappointing her sister. She pleaded with anything and everything she believed in. Don’t. Mess. Up.
After pacing around the balcony and plotting out her steps, she came to a stop in the middle, facing the hills to the east. With the sky over the western plains turning into a mix of orange and pink, the skies of the east began to reveal the dark twilight of the heavens. This was it.
Lighting her horn into a wavy blue aura, Luna closed her eyes and did her best to focus against the whispers in the back of her mind. It wasn’t long before her eyelids were at the point of being permanently close, the result of her trying to keep her concentration and center of mana. Still, the whispers grew louder in her mind, and at that point when everything went silent, she became truly fearful. Failure.
Her horn lost the beautiful blue aura it just conjured, her eyes shooting open and her expression of determination breaking down into her look of defeat and bereft. She just couldn’t do it.
“Sister Luna, is something the matter?” Celestia stepped forth onto the porch with her, lowering her head to get a better view of the younger sister’s change of face.
“I... I just…” Luna shook her head, closing her eyes and turning away from Celestia. Who was she kidding. No matter what she did to prepare, she couldn’t do it. Her self-doubt got the better of her, and there was no way around it.
“What are you saying, Luna?”
“I cannot raise the moon.” A tear fell from her sapphire-irised eye. She failed, just as she predicted. All she had to wait for now was the thrashing that would come from her sister’s disappointment in her.
“Luna…”
The younger alicorn cringed, beating her eyelids together to hide the tears, only to squeeze out more of them. Here it comes…
“If you raise the moon, I will raise the stars.” Luna’s eyes shot wide open. Where was the verbal weight of dissatisfaction? How come she wasn’t yelling at her, calling her whatever word their was to describe a failure like herself?
Luna raised her head, looking to Celestia with her teared-up eyes.
“Sister, what is the matter?” Celestia advanced towards her sister. At that point, Luna lost the will to hold it in.
“I thought if I did not raise the moon, you would call me a failure and forsaken me as your sister!” She blurted out, followed by a few choked sobs. She worked so hard to be good in her eyes, but it was probably broken when she revealed that she couldn’t bring herself to raise the moon.
Celestia chuckled and shook her head, bring her sister towards her with a foreleg. “Oh Luna, you know I would not dare do that to you. I am your sister and as a sister, I am always to guide you and comfort you in anyway possible.”
Luna sniffled against her big sister’s coat, closing her eyes and relishing in the embrace.
“I know you can raise the moon. You’ve trained so hard for this ever since you could say your first words.” Celestia nuzzled her chin against the top of Luna’s head, hoping that the motherly gesture would inspire her to give it another go. “Will you give it one last try?”
“Yes, sister. For you, I will try.” Luna nodded against her chest, prompting Celestia to break the hold. Once more, the younger alicorn took her place on the balcony as her sister stepped back and gave her room. Now it was time to do this for herself, and for most of all, her sister.
The blue aura around her horn glowed silently in its waving glory, the surge of it slow and steady. Her eyelids closed, keeping themselves limp as she began to envision the moon in her aura’s grasp. She then tilted her head upwards at a methodical pace, making sure to not break her concentration. The semblance of her magic began to wave at a quickening pace as she began to get her horn pointed directly into the sky. It was becoming harder to keep the moon in check in her vision, but Luna held steadfast and did what she could to correct it with her magic.
Celestia stood behind her with a big smile on her face as a silver sliver of the moon’s surface appeared over Foal Mountain’s crest, which was far beyond the treetops of the forest. She was finally raising the moon for the first time, and she couldn’t be any more happier for her sister’s achievement.
Luna could feel her magic starting to wane as her aura flourished with her last bits of mana. The moon was nearly up now, just what she had hoped for. With the last bit of her mana dribbling out to the tip of her horn, the bottom of the moon’s bottom crest finally pulled away from the jagged mountain tops in the distance. At last, the task was complete!
Luna couldn’t help but keel over onto her side, breathing fast and heavily. Celestia rushed to her side to help tend to her fatigued sister.
“By goodness, dear sister. You did it!” Celestia exclaimed as she nuzzled Luna’s neck with her cheek. “You did it…”
Luna’s ghostly smile assured her that she was fine, and she managed to roll onto her stomach and recuperate from the large expenditure of her mana force. She couldn’t be any prouder of herself, and hearing her sister say that she was proud as well brought even more of a curl to her lips.
“Hey, you have something on your flank,” Celestia giggled softly. Her hoof pointed behind her, and Luna turned her head to be greeted with her cutie mark.
“Oh my!” Luna gasped with utter happiness. Her tiredness was soon replaced with rejuvenating joy as she hopped around the porch’s perimeter. “I got my cutie mark! I got my cutie mark!”
“It looks just like the sky right now,” Celestia commented, nodding toward the crescent moon in the pitch black sky. Luna looked between both her cutie mark and the sky. She was right. The crescent moon on the black splotches of her toosh did indeed look like the sky above them. The twilight of the night was starless with the bright light of the moon washing the dark land in its pale glory.
“This is amazing, sister!” Luna said happily, prancing to her sister and wrapping her forelegs around her. “Thank you so much…”
“Being your sister is all the thanks I need, nothing more Luna.” Celestia smiled warmly and laid a foreleg around the little sister’s neck.
“But what about the stars?” Luna asked, raising her gaze up to meet Celestia’s.
“Leave them be. I want everypony in Equestria to witness your accomplishment in all it’s glory.” Luna smiled and buried her face into Celestia’s neck. She knew all along she had the ability. Drawing out the will was all that was needed.
Now they could happily raise and lower the sun and moon with one another, keeping the harmony of Equestria in check for the years to come.