Stargazing

by Karrakaz

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 1392

Luna can't sleep and visits her creations.

Stargazing. Nowadays it's a great pasttime. Thousands of years ago? Not so much.

And Luna doesn't like that.

Amazing what my muse comes up with on the fly.

Enjoy.

Published 2013-12-01 01:30:15 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-01 01:30:15 UTC

Among the Stars

Stars.

She could look at them every night and still not find everything there was to find about them, even if she was the one who created them. The moon was wonderful in its own way, but nothing could compare to the beauty of the stars.

There were times where her creativity formed patterns in her head; and, on the occasions she felt playful she changed their position in the sky to coincide with the pattern she saw in her head.

If her sister even had an opinion about it, she kept it to herself- too busy with her rule no doubt. The thought was bitter, but true. From the moment she had taken up the mantle of Princess for all of pony kind, Celestia had no longer had time for her anymore; not for the games they used to play nor a simple conversation. Sometimes Luna wondered if her sister even slept at all.

‘Duty’ her sister called it, a duty to the creatures that weren’t as strong as they were; to protect and guide them when they made mistakes in their endeavours. Luna tried to understand, she really did. She just wished that Celestia would understand that she needed her big sister as much… if not more than they did.

Without Celestia there to talk to her; to offer her gentle reassurances when she tried something she wasn’t sure she could do; or to laugh at her antics when she did something silly, she felt lost… lost and alone.

Enough of this nonsense. She stamped a hoof and rose to her hooves, forgetting her intent before she had fully righted herself. She decided to make the most of it regardless. A trek through the gardens perhaps? Or better yet, a walk amongst her stars?

It sounded good enough, and a simple sweep of her wings lifted her off the ground. The wind was warm in her face as she climbed. Summer, ponies called it. Luna didn’t like it, it was too warm which made it impossible for her to get to sleep- not that that was the only problem on a night such as this.

Within a minute the castle was but a miniature, and after a minute more it had been reduced to a speck on the landscape. She raced to the edge of the atmosphere with ever increasing speed, trying to outrun the doubts and loneliness that plagued her mind.

Those silly Pegasi that had thought themselves superior to the rest because they had wings, and had tried to fly to the moon had been proven wrong by their own bodies. How could they need something so... basic, to survive?

She was stronger than any of them, yet it was because of that strength that her sister’s attention had shifted away from her, giving it to those more ‘deserving’. She snorted dismissively; nothing deserving about those bumbling buffoons who would turns themselves into ash if Celestia didn’t constantly keep them from flying at eachothers throats.

She shook her head when her vision blurred, then shook it again for good measure as she touched down on the sky, landing next to her most favorite star.

Ponies called it the northern star, she called him Miliano. He was the first one she had created. Well, not really the first, but the one she was the most proud of. Before him she had created Castor, Pollux, and Jerry. She was proud of them as well, but they had just been practice. Only after she had Miliano, the very brightest of stars and fastened him to the sky, had she received her long flowing mane. By rights it should have happened the moment she created the moon and gotten her cutie mark like had been the case with Celestia and her sun. But no… no, Luna ‘had’ to be second rate at everything she did.

She let out a deep sigh and ran a hoof over Milano's bright surface. No matter what she did, it seemed she would never be as good as Celestia in anything she did- nor even good enough for Celestia it would seem. The thought stung. Was she to her sister, like ponies were to her? Always weak, and not ever good enough?

Her vision blurred again and she swallowed heavily, pushing her fears from her mind. She walked around the sky, visiting each of her stars in turn, giving each of them a kind word or a pat on the surface. She was letting them know that, even if ponies slept through their majestic displays of beauty, she hadn’t forgotten about them.

“Sister?”

Luna shook, startled, and turned to find her elder sister standing there, next to that infernal sun of hers. It too was bigger and brighter than anything Luna had ever created.

“What’s wrong Lulu? I could feel your pain from my bedroom, it’s potent enough to taste.”

“Am I good enough for you, sister?” Luna asked softly.

Celestia took a step forward, concern etched on her face. “Of course you are, what would make you believe otherwise?”

“It’s those ponies, ‘Tia.” Luna continued. “They steal all of your attention for themselves. You never have time for me anymore.”

Celestia looked at her compassionately as she walked over to Luna and draped an alabaster wing around her little sister’s back. “Luna, those little ponies need our guidance. They will not survive without us.”

“Then let them perish!” Luna exclaimed. “I want my sister back!”

“And would you enjoy going back to the loneliness we felt for so many centuries?” Celestia asked her, giving Luna a soft nuzzle. “Come now Luna, you don’t want that, not really.”

“And what if I do?” Luna said, her voice cracking more with each word. “They have nothing to them, they are boring uninteresting creatures, inane and yet, somehow, they have stolen my only sister from me.”

She searched her sister’s face for any response, but if Celestia was shocked she did not show it. Instead, she placed a kiss on Luna’s forehead, right beneath her horn. “Luna, dearest sister of mine, I’m right here. I haven’t gone anywhere.”

“You have!” Luna countered, her eyes filling with tears. ”You no longer have time for me.” She made a sweeping gesture to the world above their heads. “All your attention is there. When was the last time we talked sister? When was the last time we played or laughed together?”

“It has been...” Celestia pursed her lips and closed her eyes as she thought back. “oh dear, it has been a long time hasn’t it?”

“Decades, ‘Tia. It has been Decades.”

Much to her consternation, her sister just smiled. “Then we’ll just have to fix that won’t we?” She wiped away Luna’s tears. Gathering up the moisture with a hoof, and pressing it together until it started glowing, and then pressing down on it a little more until it was a single drop of pure light.

Celestia set it down between them, in the sky, and for a moment Luna feared that Celestia had made a brighter star than she ever could. “How about this, Luna? From now on, every tenth day will be a rest day for me, which you and I can spend doing whatever we please. Does that sound good?”

It didn’t sound great, but it was much better than having nothing at all, so Luna nodded. “Do you promise?”

“Cross my heart and rule the sky, put some starlight in my eye.” With that Celestia took the star she had created and pressed it into her right eye, turning it from its pure red to a lighter pink color before Luna’s eyes. One of the few permanent things that would be visible to anypony.

For the first time in years, Luna smiled and nodded. “Then I shall look forward to ten days from now.”

Celestia returned the smile with one of her own. “Me too, lulu. Me too.”

Author's Note

This came out when I tried to write a story to break my writer's block. A friend told me that I should try writing a story without touching the backspace button, so I did a first draft just so... And then spent another hour on going back and making ample use of the backspace button :facehoof:

Hope you enjoyed all it.