The Switcheroo

by Avox

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 11151

Celestia and Luna switch bodies for a day.

Celestia and Luna decide to settle one of their little disputes by switching bodies for a day. Heaven knows what will go wrong.

Published 2013-12-25 00:50:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-28 20:21:15 UTC

The Switcheroo

Princess Celestia trudged down the hallways of the palace, gradually making her way toward the kitchens. She knew how unladylike it was for a princess to be doing something such as trudging, but she couldn’t help it. Everypony had bad days, and she was no exception to the rule.

Today was a particularly bad day.

The day court had been unbearable. She loved her little ponies, but they brought some of the stupidest things to her court. The majority of cases could easily be solved with some common sense.

Seriously, you do not need to tell your princess that “The unicorn race is evil and uses witchcraft,” and should “be exiled from Equestria with utmost celerity.” This is an exceptionally bad idea, especially considering that the princess you’re speaking with happens to be part unicorn.

Honestly, some ponies could be so dense sometimes.

Princess Celestia pushed her way into the dining room, sitting adjacent to Luna. Just as her own day was ending, Princess Luna had just gotten out of bed. They kept opposite sleep cycles so that one of them was always available. Though the system served its purpose, it had a major drawback. The only times when she was able to see her were at breakfast, which was Luna’s dinner, and at her dinner, which was Luna’s breakfast. They worked through it, but it would be nice to see her sister more often.

The princess in question was currently shoveling cereal into her mouth with all the princess-like grace of a hippopotamus.

Celestia tried to stifle her giggles, but it was to no avail. Eventually she gave in and let her laughter fill the room.

Luna looked up from her bowl and shot Celestia a sheepish smile.

“Why the rush, Lulu?” she asked.

Luna sighed. “Sorry, Tia. I'm just starving! I didn't eat much yesterday because I wasn’t hungry at the time, but I'm regretting that decision now.”

Celestia smiled down at her sister. She had grown so much in the year since her return. She had been working fervently to catch up with the modern-day customs and traditions, and she was getting better and better by the day. Now she was practically one hundred percent modernized; she had even dropped the ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’.

Even though she had readjusted to modern culture, it was clear that she hadn’t readjusted to being the co-ruler of a whole nation. She thought that Equestria still wasn’t ready for her, but she was wrong. If only she would reach out to the ponies of Equestria, Celestia was sure they would be more than willing to meet her halfway.

But Luna had to make that decision on her own. As much as Celestia hated to admit it, Luna was a grown mare who had to make her own choices. But no matter what Luna did, she would still always be Celestia’s little sister.

“So, how was the day court?” Luna managed between spoonfuls of cereal.

Celestia sighed. “It was pretty difficult today, but that doesn't matter. It’s over now.”

“What happened?” Luna asked.

“Oh, just the usual. The weather ponies and farmers are going at it again, and this time it’s about the rationing of rain clouds. Apparently the weather teams in Trottingham have been stingy with their rain, and the farmers’ crops aren’t getting enough water. The weather pegasi say that the rain needs to be distributed evenly throughout the town, but honestly, I can tell it’s just a bitter rivalry between the two races rearing its ugly head. They just need to work together and everything will sort itself out. Grudges get you nowhere.”

Luna, who had been listening intently, said, “Sounds like an interesting day. I just wish more ponies came to my night court… It gets awful boring sitting alone all night.”

Celestia frowned. “I’ll see if I can get the royal planners to spread the petitioners more evenly between the two of us. I can get pretty overloaded sometimes, so it would be nice to have less on my plate.”

Luna smiled. “That would be very nice of you.”

“I mean, it is only fair that the workload is spread evenly between us.” Celestia winced as soon as the words left her mouth, having sounded much more callous than she intended.

Just as she was about to apologize, Luna said, “You… do you think I have it easy?”

“Lulu, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. You know that I appreciate everything you do around the palace—”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Luna interrupted. “Do you think I have it easy?”

Princess Celestia thought carefully about what she was about to say next. She didn’t want to lie to her sister, but she didn’t want to hurt her feelings either. “Of course you don’t have it easy. I only meant to say that you have it a little bit easier than I do.”

“So you do think I have it easy?”

Celestia’s frown deepened. “Lulu—”

“Don’t call me that!” she demanded. “I don’t have it easy!”

“Well, I do have more royal duties than you do, Luna.”

“It’s not all about royal duties! The ponies revere you, Celestia! All I am to them is the other princess…”

The two ponies glowered at each other from across the table.

“Luna, you simply don’t have as much work as me. How could you possibly have it worse?”

Luna scowled at her. “If you think my job is so easy, then why don’t you try it for yourself?”

Just then, the elderly servant who was clearing the table spoke up. “Your Highnesses, if you don’t mind me butting in, I think you two can do just that. If my memory isn’t failing me again, I believe there’s a spell that can be used for ponies to switch bodies for a day.”

The two princesses looked at the servant, then at each other, and back at the servant again. Celestia was the first to speak up. “T-Thank you, I’m sure that will be of help.”

Smiling, the servant bowed and backpedalled out of the dining room.

Luna looked up at Celestia expectantly. “So… are we going to try the spell?”

Celestia mulled it over in her head. “I suppose it can’t hurt. We’ll do it first thing in the morning. Meet me in my bedchambers just before dawn.”

Luna nodded solemnly and excused herself from the table, leaving her half-full cereal bowl behind her.

Just as she was about to leave the room, Celestia said, “Didn’t you say you were hungry? You didn’t finish your breakfast.”

Princess Luna turned around and looked her sister straight in the eyes. “I’m not hungry any more.”

Luna plodded down the halls of the palace, making her way to Celestia’s bedchambers. Celestia was the just about the last pony she wanted to see right now. She should have expected that Celestia wouldn’t understand her point of view, but still, the least her sister could’ve done was listen.

Eventually she reached the door to her sister’s bedchambers. She was about to knock, but then she stopped herself. Did she really want to go through with this? There were so many different ways this could go wrong. Was it worth it?

Just then, Celestia pulled open the door open from the inside. “Good, you’re here. Follow me,” she said, turning and walking back into her room. “I’ve researched the spell, and it turns out it can only be done between unicorns—or alicorns—because both users have to cast the spell at the same time.”

Celestia turned and looked Luna in the eyes. “But before we begin, I need to make sure you really want to go through with this.”

Luna held her gaze. “Yes, I do.”

She smiled. “Good. The spell itself is easy, but the timing isn't. We have to cast it at exactly the same time or we will risk… complications.”

She passed the spellbook to Luna. “Here is the spell. Let me know when you’re ready to start.”

Luna looked down at the spell. Just as her sister had said, it wasn’t overly complicated by any means. It was a simple possession spell with a few minor tweaks and adjustments to make it more ‘user-friendly’.

After committing it to memory, she looked up at her sister and said, “I’m ready.”

Celestia nodded, taking her place directly across from her. “On the count of three, start casting. One…”

Luna swallowed the lump in her throat. Was this really what she wanted? It wasn’t too late to back out. She could just apologize to Celestia and they could put this whole thing behind them.

“Two…”

No. She wouldn’t back out. She couldn’t back out. She was tired of being unappreciated. Her sister deserved to know how she felt.

“Three.”

Luna closed her eyes and began weaving the spell. She channeled her energy into her horn and released a fine tendril of magic. Her magic enveloped her sister, and her sister’s magic enveloped her. Both of them released a small burst of energy, and the spell started to work its course.

She felt her mind being evicted from her own body. She felt… empty. It was only a for a moment though, because she felt herself being sucked into her sister’s body. Her legs gave out beneath her and she fell to the floor.

Once she was no longer disoriented, Luna pulled herself back onto her hooves and looked over at the other pony in the room.

It was a weird feeling, being able to see yourself.

The first thing Luna noticed was that she was a few inches taller than before. She turned and looked at herself in the mirror, and sure enough, she looked exactly like her sister.

The two sisters looked at each other, unsure of what to do next.

Luna was the first to speak. “This feels… strange.”

Celestia nodded in agreement.

Luna shuffled her hooves. “So, uh, what now?”

Celestia looked at her clock, then said, “Well, you have to raise the sun in about five minutes, so I guess your day starts now.”

Luna nodded and excused herself from Celestia’s bedchambers. Or were they her bedchambers? No, they were definitely not hers. She was Luna in Celestia’s body, not Celestia herself.

Just then, a short stallion with an expensive-looking hoofwatch for a cutie mark came trotting down the hall. Luna recognized him as Celestia’s personal advisor, Stint Watch. “Ah, Princess! Thank goodness I’ve found you. You need to raise the sun in precisely three minutes and thirty-seven seconds.”

Luna looked around nervously, then replied, “Yes, I will do just that. Because I am definitely Princess Celestia, not Princess Luna. Heheh…”

Stint gave her a concerned look. “Yes, yes you are. Follow me, Princess.”

Luna nodded and followed the smaller pony. Why was it that Luna didn’t have her own personal advisor? Did Celestia think she didn’t need one simply because she ‘didn’t do any real work'?

The duo eventually reached the place gardens, and he gestured to the pedestal where Celestia raised the sun every morning. After she made no move to walk over to it, he gave her a well-intentioned nudge.

Luna cleared her throat and walked over to the pedestal. “Yes, I will raise the sun now. Because I know how to raise the sun, because I do it every day.”

She could feel her heart sink into her chest. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing. But it couldn’t be all that hard, right? It had to be pretty similar to raising the moon, barring the fact that the sun was about sixty-four million times larger.

Luna took a deep breath and focused all her energy on the immense celestial body. It took everything she had just to reach the sun with her magic. Not only was it much larger, but it was much further away than the moon was.

Once she had a good enough hold on the sun, she pushed upward with everything she had. Sweat formed on her brow, but she wasn’t about to give up. She was going to show Celestia that she was capable.

After a few minutes of intense concentration, the sun poked above the horizon. Luna wiped the sweat from her brow, relieved that she had been able to accomplish the daunting task.

He smiled up at her. “Your power never ceases to amaze me, Princess.”

Luna could feel her face flush. “Thank you, Mister Watch. That is very kind of you.”

He smiled. “Alright, today is going to be very busy, maybe even more so than yesterday. First off, you have to bless some newly-born foals at the cathedral. After that, you’re giving a speech to the Westhoof graduates. Be sure to thank them for enlisting into the ranks of the royal guard. The more kind you come off, the more loyal they will be to the throne.“

He stopped to make sure she was still listening, then continued, “Then we have normal day court. Afterwards, you will have to file paperwork assigning all of the new guards into squads, along with some other less insignificant paperwork. After that you will be having dinner with your nephew Prince Blueblood. Today is his birthday.”

Luna nodded, trying to take in everything he had listed. There was absolutely no way she would remember all of that.

“Follow me. We’re going to head to the cathedral where you’ll bless the newborns."

Luna practically had to run just to keep up with the stallion. Before she knew what hit her, the duo arrived at the small church. Stint led her to the altar where couples were lined up, waiting her blessing. Or Celestia’s blessing, rather. Nopony wanted their foal blessed by former Nightmare Moon.

The first couple nervously walked over and handed her their foal. It was in that very moment when Luna realized that she had no idea how to bless a foal. She looked over at Stint, to which he responded by frantically mouthing words to her, but Luna couldn't make out any of them.

She looked over to the foal's parents. “Her name is Night Blossom,” said the mother.

Luna smiled. “That’s a very beautiful name.”

“That’s very kind of you,” said the father. “Actually, we had wanted to get her blessed by Princess Luna as well, but we didn’t think she ever gave foals her blessing.”

Luna felt guilt settle deep in her gut. It wasn’t Celestia’s fault that she didn’t dedicate some of her time to blessing foals. That was her own doing. “I’m sure I can talk with Luna and convince her to bless your foal,” she said with a wan smile.

She gently kissed the foal's forehead, and Night Blossom looked up at her and giggled. Luna felt her heart soar. “Night Blossom, you are a beautiful filly, and you will undoubtedly grow up into an even more beautiful beautiful mare someday. I give you my blessing.”

The small foal let out a happy cry. Smiling, Luna handed the filly back to her parents. They quickly thanked her and left, not wanting to hold up the line.

Stint gave her a once-over, then asked, “It hasn’t been that long since you’ve last blessed a foal, Princess. Have you forgotten already?”

“No, I didn’t forget. But… I suppose a refresher couldn’t hurt,” she said sheepishly.

He frowned at her. “Are you feeling okay, Princess? You’ve been acting strange recently. Yesterday you were worried about your sister, and now you’re starting to forget things…”

“I-I’m fine, Mister Watch.”

He sighed. “If you say so, Your Highness.” He refocused his attention, “Your first blessing wasn’t bad at all, but next time try and be a little bit more… colorful with it. Spruce it up some. You know, make it more… interesting.”

Luna nodded in understanding, and the next couple headed up to the altar.

Several hours and a few hundred foals later, Stint cut off the line. Although she did enjoy blessing her tiniest subjects, there was only a certain number of crying foals you could hold before the novelty of it wore off.

Before she had a chance to relax, Stint was off again, racing to make it to their next destination on time. Luna struggled to keep up. “Okay, Princess, next up we've got the Westhoof graduation. You’ll be giving a speech to the cadets. Be sure to thank them for their service to the guard. And remember, your speech doesn’t have to be long. Just make sure it’s heartfelt.”

Luna merely nodded, trying to take everything in stride. Literally, as she had to take very large strides just to keep up with the stout stallion.

The two of them reached the carriage and climbed inside. As soon as they were seated, Stint began frantically scribbling on his schedule, rearranging the day’s activities so that everything would fit perfectly. This left Luna alone to her thoughts.

Though she didn’t love running around from event to event, it was much better than not having anything to do like she usually did. It was a nice change of pace. She figured if she had to sit through one more night court alone, she would go crazy. Or at least crazier.

The carriage stopped and Stint pushed the door open, holding it open for Luna to exit. She smiled and thanked him, and he hurried out after her. The two of them made their way through the empty hallways of the cadet school, Stint taking the lead. Luna admired all of the paintings and murals on the walls of the hallway. If there was one thing ponies cared about above all else, it was undoubtedly their school system.

The duo made it out into the back courtyard where several hundred young ponies were sitting, anxiously awaiting her arrival. She walked up the stairs onto the stage. Hesitantly levitating the microphone up to her mouth, she cleared her throat.

She looked out into the sea of eyes, all staring directly at her. Her heart beat began to pick up. What was she supposed to say to these ponies? She certainly didn’t want to say anything to disappoint them. She looked over at Stint, and he gave her a reassuring smile.

Luna smiled weakly back to him, along with the audience behind him. “Hello, my little ponies,” she began. “Today is a momentous occasion for all of you. This is the moment you’ve been training for for the past four years. From here on out, your future is an open book.”

Beaming out at the onlookers, she said, “You have all selflessly chosen enlist into the royal guard, something for which I cannot possibly thank you enough. This is an enormous responsibility, and we can’t trust just anypony with it. The fate of Equestria lies in your hooves.”

She shifted her weight. “That being said, I have never felt safer than I do right now, knowing that you all will be watching over our great country. You are a wonderful group of valiant and courageous ponies whom I would trust my life with.”

Luna looked out into the spectators. Everypony was watching her intently, patiently waiting for her to continue.

She smiled, proudly raising one hoof high in the air. “For Equestria.”

Silence reigned. After a moment of nothing, one lone pony in the middle of the crowd raised his hoof in the air with her. “For Equestria,” he breathed.

All of the cadets began raising their hooves into the air with her. Speaking as one, they chanted, “For Equestria!”

The cadets erupted into boisterous cheers and chants. Luna smiled out at them before stepping away from the podium. Stint smiled up at her.

Once they were away from the roaring of the crowd, he whispered, “Excellent speech, Princess. I am impressed.”

She felt a familiar heat returning to her cheeks. “Thank you, Mister Watch.”

They climbed back into the carriage and took off for the palace. Luna was proud of herself. Despite the fact that she was a princess, she hadn’t been much of a public figure since she’d returned from the moon. She always told herself that she wasn’t ready for the publicity, and that she would make a foal of herself by saying something stupid in front of everypony.

“Next up you have the day court. You know the drill—the ponies come in and complain, and you try and fix their problems.”

Luna grinned at him. After smiling back, he returned to his clipboard and the schedule attached to it.

She really did need to talk to Celestia about getting a personal advisor of her own. Stint was good stallion, and not to mention very helpful. Luna was willing to bet that without him, her sister would be lost.

The carriage screeched to a stop and the two ponies climbed out. Stint briskly led the way back to the palace throne room with Luna in tow.

Luna walked over to the pair of thrones and took her seat, waiting for the petitioners to start pouring in. Stint looked at her inquisitively. “Uh, you’re sitting on Princess Luna’s throne, Your Highness.”

Luna jumped up in surprise. How could she have forgotten? She had sat down there out of habit, forgetting that everypony else thought she was Celestia.

Luna’s eyes shot open in sudden realization—this meant that everypony would think it was Celestia who had given the speech to the cadets. She frowned. Celestia was going to get credit for her work.

The thought of purposely ruining her sister’s reputation crossed her mind, but she pushed it away as soon as it came. She felt guilty for even thinking about it. She was angry at her sister right now, but she wasn’t going to resort to something as low as that to get back at her. She wasn’t that cruel of a pony.

Luna quickly sat down on the proper throne and shifted her weight uncomfortably. It felt… off. It wasn’t her throne. It was wrong. The seat was made for her sister, so she shouldn’t be sitting there.

Pushing away her discomfort, she signalled for Stint to let in the first of the petitioners.

The first ponies to come in were the ones Tia had told her about yesterday: the weather pegasi and the farmers.

It was one of the farmers who spoke up first. He cleared his throat and said, “Princess, have ya made a decision yet?”

Luna’s heart sunk into her chest. Made a decision? She hadn’t even heard the case in the first place! “Run the story by me one more time, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Sighing, one of the weather pegasi said, “The farmers say that we aren’t giving them enough rain, but the truth of the matter is that we just need to spread the rain evenly throughout Trottingham. Carrot Luck here just never learned how to share is all.”

This seemed to aggravate one of the farmers. “No, the truth of the matter’s that Lucky Wing is tryin’ ta kill our crops. It’s our livelihood and what y'all eat. Y'all are only hurtin’ yerselves.”

The pegasus spun to face the farmer, shoving a hoof in his face. “Hey! You know that’s not—”

“Enough!” Luna roared.

The whole throne room went deafeningly silent.

She took a deep breath and addressed the two arguing ponies. “Are you two related in any way?”

They looked to the princess, then to each other, then back to the princess again. “Yes, we’re cousins,” the pegasus said.

Luna smiled, proud of her deduction skills. Granted, the fact that both of their names had the word ‘Lucky’ in them was a pretty big tip off, but still. “You two are family, and family is supposed to get along with one another. You didn’t need to come here and bring your little family feud to my attention. Your argument could have been solved just as easily if you’d only just sat down with each other and talked it out.”

Luna’s expression softened. “This is not worth fighting over. Take a step back and look at things from each other’s shoes—Lucky Wing, isn’t it a little unfair that you’re killing your cousin’s crops, even if it is inadvertently?”

He nodded solemnly.

“And Carrot Luck, wouldn’t you feel a little upset if your cousin took your work for granted? From the looks of things, he must feel pretty upset that you're using him for his standing in the weather team. You are taking him for granted. A simple ‘thank you’ goes a long way.”

The farmer swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.

“You don’t want to put tension on your relationship like that. Above all else, family is always supposed to be there to support one another,” Luna said. “You two are to work this out on your own. Are we clear?”

The ponies bowed deeply and left the throne room.

Once they were out of sight, Luna sighed. As much as she hated thinking it, she was a hypocrite. She was telling her subjects that they needed to see family for what it was worth, that all they needed to do was talk with each other to resolve their issues. But here she was, having her own petty argument with her sister. Everything could have been solved if Luna had only spoken up sooner…

Stint continued sending in the petitioners for Luna to speak with, but her heart just wasn’t in it. After several hours of pointless presentations and arguments, the day court finally drew to a close, much to Luna’s delight. The sheer amount of ponies that had come through was daunting. If she had to deal with that many ponies on a daily basis for a thousand years all on her own… well, lets just say that Celestia must have had an iron will.

However, the stack of paperwork that had been hooved Luna’s way wasn’t any less draining than the day court. Although it didn’t directly involve any social interaction, if she messed this up, somepony was going to get hurt. With assigning the newest guards their stations, their family histories, friends, and enemies needed to be taken into account all on an individual basis. Despite all the immense workload, she didn’t want to take the easy way out. These ponies deserved the best from her.

More than a couple hours later, Stint Watch found Luna sitting at Celestia’s desk with an frustrated scowl. Though she had gotten much of the paperwork done, there was still a rather large pile looming over her.

“Princess, if we don’t leave now, you’ll miss your dinner with Blueblood,” he said evenly.

With a sigh, Luna extracted herself from the mess of papers strewn about the desk. She knew she would have finish them later, but a break was just what she needed right now. Besides, she was pretty curious about this Blueblood character. She vaguely remembered her sister mentioning that Twilight Sparkle had spoken of him in one of her letters, but she couldn’t recall what she had said.

“Of course. Lead the way,” Luna said with a smile.

Stint lead her down to the carriage and sent her on her way. The plan was to meet Blueblood outside of a restaurant called The Tulip. They would eat dinner together, and then she would return to the palace and finish up her paperwork.

Luna couldn’t help but be excited. She hadn’t been on any sort of casual outing in so long. The more she thought about it, the more appealing the idea seemed to her. Plus, if Blueblood really was some distant nephew of Celestia's, it would be good to get to know him better—even if at the time he thought she was Celestia.

As soon as the carriage pulled to a stop, she pushed open the door and exited, her excitement growing bigger and bigger.

Her excitement quickly deflated, however, as she was left waiting on the side of the road for Blueblood to arrive. After forty-five minutes of awkward stares and random ponies on the street bowing down to her, Blueblood finally arrived.

“Hello, Princess. Let’s get our table now, shall we?” His tone of voice exuded arrogance. If the time spent waiting for him hadn’t done it already, his attitude had successfully aggravated Luna. Not only had he he arrived late, but he hadn’t even offered her a simple apology.

Luna chided herself. He was probably just frazzled from running late is all. She wasn’t about to go about judging somepony all willy-nilly until she had a good conversation with them first. Plus, it was his birthday. She could hardly reprimand him on an occasion like this.

“Reservations for two,” he told the hostess. “It should be under the name Prince Blueblood.”

Luna couldn’t help but cringe at the way he emphasized the word 'prince'. Even if you were of royal descent, that didn’t give you a right to go around flaunting your title like that.

The hostess eyed him curiously, then led them to their table at the back of the restaurant. As soon as the mare showed them their seats, Blueblood was fuming. “We can’t possibly eat here! I demand you give us a table with a view of Canterlot!” he said with a stomp of his hoof.

Luna said, “Actually, these seats are quite alright—”

“You are dealing with royalty here! I would appreciate it if you would treat us as such,” Blueblood demanded.

The hostess’ voice faltered. “Y-Yes, uh, right away, sir.”

The mare nervously trotted over to a couple who was dining at a table overlooking Canterlot. After exchanging a few remarks, all three of them looked over at Blueblood and herself. With a sigh, the couple begrudgingly left their table and were escorted to a new table.

Luna frowned. She didn’t want anypony’s dinner being ruined because of her. She didn’t need any special treatment.
Blueblood, completely ignorant to her internal torment, sauntered over to their new table. Luna solemnly followed.

After they took their seats, Blueblood said, “Sorry about that, Celestia.”

“We would have been perfectly fine at the other table,” Luna muttered under her breath.

“I suppose so, but as royalty, we deserve to have this one. Some ponies just don’t understand that.”

Luna’s eye twitched. Blueblood didn’t notice.

Thankfully, that was when the waitress arrived to take their orders. If she had come a moment later, Luna probably would have admonished Blueblood for his unchecked self-entitlement. Under normal circumstances, she would have already. However, right now she was supposed to be Celestia, not Luna. She wouldn’t want to ruin her sister’s relationship with her nephew, even if he was a total jerk.

The waitress was a pegasus mare with a navy coat and a light blue mane. She was clearly frazzled by the bustling atmosphere of the restaurant. By the looks of things, this was her first day on the job. She blew her mane out of her eyes and said, “S-Sorry, um, for the wait. What would you like to drink?”

Luna felt sorry for the mare. To get stuck waiting on the princess of Equestria on your first day was kind of a tough break. Not to mention that Blueblood would probably give her a hard time.

“I’ll have a water,” Blueblood said.

Luna was genuinely surprised that he didn’t try to order some type of expensive wine. With the way this dinner was going so far, Luna was sorely tempted to order some whiskey herself, but that would definitely look bad on her sister. And plus, when it came to alcohol, Tia always had been a featherweight.

“Water is fine for me as well,” she said with a reassuring smile.

The mare rushed off to go get their drinks. Luna turned to Blueblood, who was looking at the menu. Luna picked up her own menu and examined the choices. Fancy restaurants like this had so many different options, none of which had a price listed next to them. From experience, Luna knew that meant that they prices had to be extremely exorbitant. But chances were that since she was a princess, the restaurant would refuse to let her pay anyway. Ponies were funny like that.

Just as she had finally decided on what she wanted to order—some sort of pasta dish that she couldn’t even hope to pronounce correctly—the waitress arrived with their drinks. “S-Sorry it took so long… things are busy tonight. So, um, can I take your orders?”

Blueblood cleared his throat. “I’ll have the arugula salad with fennel root and orange with a spice of ginger to start, then for the main course I would like bruschetta sautéed mushrooms with kale and tender artichoke hearts on the side. And a caramel apple martini to drink.”

Luna gave the mare credit. The poor pegasus kept her cool much better than she would have been able to. “Uh, w-would you mind r-repeating that again… sir?”

Blueblood looked at her as if she had committed some heinous crime. “Get your act together. I mean, really. You’re making a foal of yourself in front of royalty. I said I’ll have the arugula salad with fennel root and orange with a spice of ginger to start, then for the main course I would like bruschetta sautéed mushrooms with kale and tender artichoke hearts on the side. And a caramel apple martini do drink.”

The mare still looked very flustered, but did her best to keep her composure. She turned to Luna, who then pointed to the entrée on the menu she picked out. The waitress copied it down onto her notepad and scurried off.

Blueblood rolled his eyes. “Some ponies just don’t understand, am I right?”

It took everything she had to not to hit him right then and there.

After twenty or so minutes of infuriating small talk with Blueblood, the waitress arrived with their food. “I’m sorry f-for the wait. If you need anything, d-don’t hesitate to call me over.”

Blueblood cleared his throat once again. “My water glass has been empty for the past five whole minutes, and you have still yet to refill it. If I have to wait any longer, I am going to get angry. You don't want me angry,” he growled.

The volume of Blueblood’s voice attracted the attention of the whole restaurant. The waitress nervously looked around, uncomfortable with everypony’s eyes on her. “Oh no! I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to—”

“Just go,” Blueblood seethed.

The waitress let out a nervous squeak and rushed off to get the water pitcher. With a drawn out sigh, Blueblood hesitantly took a small bite of his food, only to spit it out all over Luna.

“Argh!” he screamed.

The waitress came running back to the table and started filling Blueblood’s glass with water. Infuriated, Blueblood swatted the pitcher from her grasp, drenching her in ice cold water.

“You call this food?! This is horrible! I demand you bring me something edible right this minute!”

The mare let out another frightened squeak. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t—”

“Go. Now.”

The mare broke down. Tears were flowing down her cheeks, mixing with the water that already drenched her coat. She ran out of the building sobbing, leaving an uncomfortably silent restaurant behind her.

Screw formalities. Screw being nice. Screw protecting Celestia’s reputation. This ungrateful brat needed to be taught a lesson on humility.

“Blueblood, you can’t just go around making ponies cry like that! She was doing a fine job and she seemed like a very nice pony! She deserved none of the harassment you gave her! You are despicable. Honestly, I always figured somepony who was my relative would behave better. I guess I was wrong.”

The ponies in the restaurant all began to clap.

Luna wiped off the food Blueblood spat onto her face. After excusing herself from the table, she went to chase after the pegasus.

Upon exiting the restaurant, the first thing she noticed was that the sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon, cascading Canterlot into a dusk-like trance. She shook her head to clear her thoughts; she was out here for a reason.

It didn’t take much searching to find the weeping mare. She had made it all of three blocks before she had stopped running and fallen onto the ground, crying. Luna hesitantly sat down next to her. “I’m sorry about Prince Blueblood,” Luna said. “He’s far too arrogant and hot-headed for his own good. And, for what it’s worth, I think you were a fine waitress.”

She looked up from the ground and looked up at her with big, pleading eyes. “D-Do you really think so, Princess?”

Luna smiled and wrapped her wing around her. She looked young. She was definitely no older than the bearers of the elements of harmony were. “I know so. What’s your name, sweetie?”

“S-Starlight. My name is Starlight Dancer.”

“That’s a beautiful name,” Luna said, hugging the pegasus closer with her wing.

She smiled weakly, the river of tears flowing down her cheeks running dry.

“How long have you worked at that restaurant?”

“W-Well, uh… today was my first day. But you could have probably figured that out on your own…”

Luna smiled sheepishly. “So what’s a mare your age doing working at a place like that?”

“My parents didn’t want me to be stuck in our tiny village my whole life, so they paid for me to come here. But since they could barely scrape up enough money to get me here in the first place, I needed a job. And, well…” she trailed off.

Luna frowned. “Where are you staying?”

The unicorn shied away from her. “Well, uh, I just got here a couple days ago. I’ve been sleeping on one of the benches in the Royal Gardens. The owner of this restaurant saw me there, and he was nice enough to offer me a job. But I guess I just screwed that up too…” she said, tears reforming in her eyes.

Luna looked down at Starlight’s cutie mark. It was of a moon partially covered by a cloud. “What is your special talent?” Luna asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Starlight blushed. “Well, uh, it’s kinda corny, but my cutie mark is supposed to symbolize bringing light where there is darkness. Kinda like a creative problem solving type thing.”

Luna smiled, waiting for her to continue.

Starlight frowned. “But as much as I like solving problems, there aren’t many careers that involve it… so that’s why I came here. I was hoping that I would be able to pave a path of my own, you know, to do something great. I even told my parents that the next time they heard from me, it would be on the news. I said I would bring honor to our family. I kind of bucked that up too…”

Luna’s eyes shot open, an idea hitting her full force. “Hey, Starlight? Do you consider yourself to be an organized pony?”

She ran her hoof through her mane. “Well, uh, I suppose so, but I don’t see how that’s—”

“How would you like to be my—er, uh, my sister’s personal advisor? We haven’t gotten a chance to hire one since she’s returned, and you seem like a more than qualified pony.”

Starlight was speechless. “I don’t… I mean, I can’t… but I wouldn’t…”

“You can’t what?”

“Aren’t I far too young? I always thought that the princesses’ advisors were, you know, experienced.”

Luna smiled. “I bit of fresh blood never hurts. Having the input of a younger generation can actually be quite helpful.”

“B-But what if Princess Luna doesn’t want me as her advisor? Shouldn’t you ask her first?”

Luna stifled a giggle. “I’m sure she’d love to have you as her advisor. You’re a very likable pony, Starlight.”

Starlight looked up at her with her bright blue eyes. “D-Do you really think Princess Luna would like me?”

“Starlight, I know for a fact that she would like you.”

The unicorn blushed. “I’ve always loved the night sky. The stars, the moon… its all so beautiful. It doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserves.”

“…But promise you won’t tell her I said that last part, please. I would hate for her feelings to get hurt,” Starlight hastily added.

Luna couldn’t help but laugh. “I promise I won’t tell her.”

The irony of it all wasn’t lost on Luna. She knew that her night sky wasn’t nearly as revered as Celestia’s sun. It was something she had come to accept. Ponies had to sleep at some point, and she couldn’t blame them for doing it at night. However, it was still nice to hear a compliment once in awhile—anything to let her know that somepony was appreciating her hard work.

Luna felt the faintest of blushes taint her cheeks. “Would you like to stay in the castle tonight, Starlight? You’ll get your own room once everything is officialized, but for now you’ll have to use one of the guest chambers.”

She shuffled her hooves. “T-Thank you, princess. You’ve been so nice to me…I don’t know how I can ever hope to repay you.”

“I can hardly leave you to sleep in the Royal Gardens again, now can I? Think nothing of it, Starlight,” Luna said.

The walk back to the Palace was very pleasant for both of them. Luna appreciated the company more than she would have expected. It was nice to have somepony to talk to who didn’t treat her differently because she was royalty.

It was funny; Starlight thought that she was talking with Princess Celestia right now. If Starlight was to be her personal advisor, she would have to find out that she was really Princess Luna at some point. One awkward conversation with Celestia and both of them were sure to have plenty of questions to ask. But for now, she was content.

After some time, the duo reached the palace. After a large yawn from Starlight, Luna quickly showed her to the guest bedchambers.

“You realize that you’re going to have to keep a pretty backwards sleep schedule if you’re going to be Luna’s advisor, right?” she asked.

Star shrugged her off with a dismissive wave of a hoof. “Bah, I already keep some pretty weird hours anyway. It’s not a big deal.”

Luna couldn’t help but laugh. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to get me, okay?”

“Um, actually, Princess, if it isn’t too much trouble, could I get a quill and some ink? I think it’s high time I write back home to my parents. They’re probably worried sick about me.”

Luna smiled. Even after everything she had been through today, she was still more concerned for her parents than herself.

After making sure Star was all set with everything she needed, Luna quickly headed back to Celestia’s office to finish up her paperwork. But try as she might, she simply could not get into it. There were far too many different thoughts clouding her mind.

Never before had she been so excited for the next day. She finally had a friend.

Celestia dragged herself out of bed. She hadn’t slept a wink last night. The oppressive light of her own sun had kept her tossing and turning, never allowing the tendrils of sleep to reach her. The irony of it all wasn’t lost on her.

With a wistful sigh, she moved to the mirror to make herself look presentable. Or rather, to make her sister look presentable. The fact that she wasn’t in her own body still hadn’t settled with her. It felt wrong on so many levels, but this was the only way their little argument would be put to rest.

The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. She didn’t like arguing with Luna, and it wasn’t as if she was out to hurt her. Everything had just been blown way out of proportion.

Once she deemed herself ready to face the night, she trudged out of her sister’s bedchambers and into the hallway.

Celestia stopped in her tracks. What was she supposed to do? Aside from the occasional guard, the whole castle was eerily empty. It was as if she was the only pony awake.

The sensation of the sun sinking below the horizon tugged at the back of her mind. Right. Raising the moon would be a good place to start. Now where exactly did Luna do that from?

She made her way to where her own pedestal for raising the sun was. There was bound to be another one for Luna around somewhere.

Once she reached her pedestal, she was surprised to find that there was no other pedestal to be found. Celestia’s face scrunched up. Did Luna really not have a place to forge the night sky from?

With a sigh, she stepped up onto her pedestal and enveloped the moon with her magic. Once she had a firm hold on it, she pushed it up into the sky, the sun sinking below the horizon on the opposite side of Equestria. She frowned. It had been a year since the last time she’d had to raise the moon, and she was loath to do it again.

She looked up at the night to admire her handiwork, but something was missing. The shooting stars, the aurora, the planets—when she made the night sky, it was always missing the little bit of flare Luna always gave it. After a thousand years of trying, she had never managed to figure out how Luna made it so special.

Taking a deep breath, Celestia released her hold on the moon and stepped down from the platform.

What was she supposed to do now? She was used to having her advisor Stint rely on. Did Luna really not have a personal advisor, even after a whole year of being back?

“Well, the night court was probably as good a place to start as any,” she said.

Celestia strided back to the castle and gingerly took a seat on her throne. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall and sat there, patiently waiting for petitioners to arrive. Had she started too early?

She sat there, her eyes never leaving the entrance to the room. Every tick of the clock felt like another punch so the gut. She felt terrible. Was this what the night court was always like? It was so… lonesome. And Luna didn’t even have an advisor to keep her company through those long nights…

Had Luna done this every night since she’d returned? Celestia shivered. There was no way she would be able to put up with this night after night. Although the temporary reprieve from her daily duties was nice, she would still much rather have her regular schedule.

Honestly, it wasn’t that Luna's duties were difficult; it was what she didn’t do that was so trying. After a year of nopony showing up to her court, it was perfectly reasonable for her to be upset with Celestia. It was she who was in the wrong, not Luna.

Celestia had not felt worse in her millennia of living. She had unwillingly alienated her sister. Her one and only sister. And at what cost? Some petty mistrust?

She hated to admit it, but once Luna had returned, she had always tried to avoid the topic of redistributing the royal duties. She could deny it all she wanted, but she was afraid that Luna would take the power and run with it, leaving Celestia to clean up the mess.

What she had thought was protecting Luna was only hurting her more. In trying to ease her burden, she had subjected Luna to this insufferable loneliness. She had made Luna’s life harder and more unbearable instead of helping.

It was Celestia’s fault that Luna was distanced from the ponies of Equestria. It was her who didn’t let Luna speak at any of the public events they attended. It was her who had buried herself in her own duties to hide from the fact that her sister was unhappy. It was her who had prevented Luna from spreading her wings and becoming the ruler she was meant to be.

What’s more is that after every long night, Luna shelled herself up in the library and studied to try and reconnect with the ponies of Equestria. Luna had been trying to reach out to Celestia to tell her she was ready, and what had Celestia done in response? She had decided that Luna still wasn’t ready, when in reality, it was Celestia who wasn’t ready.

She felt like just about the worst big sister in all of Equestria. Tears were flowing down her cheeks, but she paid them no heed. She didn’t deserve to wipe them off of her face.

Just then, a group of teenaged stallions trotted into the throne room. They began collectively muttering to each other.

“Dude, it’s Nightmare Moon!”

“Keep your voice down! She’ll probably freak out and send us to the moon or something.”

“Bro, I dare you to go and talk to her!”

The ring leader of the group approached her. “What’s up, Nightmare Moon? Do you…” he trailed off. “Wait, why are you sitting in Princess Celestia’s throne?” he asked. “And why are you crying?”

The trio erupted into boisterous laughter. “Are you trying to be like your sister? Because you aren’t. You’ll never be like her. Sit in your own throne, princess,” he spat venomously.

Celestia’s initial reaction was disbelief. What the hay were these ponies doing here, and why in Equestria were they challenging her authority? Granted, they were teenagers, but nopony had a right to patronize another pony like that, princess or no.

Her disbelief soon boiled down to rage. These ponies had the gall to refer to her as Nightmare Moon?! Not only that, but they had referred to Luna as lesser than her, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. Luna was twice the mare she would ever be. The only thing restraining her from lashing out at the colts right now was the fact that it would look bad upon Luna.

“I bet you’re not even a real princess,” one of the stallions stated matter-of-factly.

The sheer ignorance of his statement was enough to make her eyes twitch. Celestia absolutely lost it. “How dare you!? I should have half a mind to arrest you for treason right this very moment!”

She hopped off of her throne and strided over to the stallions. She whispered, “You know what? Princess Luna is ten times the pony you foals will ever be. In fact, she would probably even make me promise that I wouldn’t lay a hoof on you simply because ‘Everypony deserves a second chance.’”

A devilish smile crept across her face. She leaned close, not stopping until she was inches from their faces. The room was stark silent. She breathed, “Too bad I’m not Princess Luna.”

The ponies scrambled back a few steps, trying to distance themselves from the fuming princess.

With the image of Nightmare Moon burned into her mind, it wasn’t hard to pull up the illusion. Celestia willed her eyes burn a furious red, and transformed herself into the likeness of the nightmare.

“Get. Out!” she screamed at the stallions, her new guise sending the ponies reeling.

Her screaming jerked the ponies from their horrified stupor, and they bolted from the palace at speeds that would put a wonderbolt to shame.

Celestia looked down at where the stallions had once been. Right beneath where the leader of the group had been standing, a small yellow puddle laid. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. The cleaning staff were definitely in for a treat tonight.

She strolled back over to her throne, glad to have warded the ponies off. There was no doubt that this was not the first time they had visited Luna. There was also no doubt that Luna had refused to kick them out. She was too good of a pony for that. Fortunately for her, Celestia sure wasn’t.

A grin broke out on Celestia’s face. There was no way they would ever dare and come back after that mess. And what’s more is that if they tried to tell anypony what had happened, they would call them crazy.

Before long, her temporary happy sunk into loneliness once more. So this is what her sister had to put up with nightly? She would prefer her regular day court to this any day.

Just then, another stallion confidently strided into the room. Celestia recognized him from somewhere, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it…

He cleared his throat and bowed far more deeply than what was necessary. “Hello, Princess. I am Swift Hooves, and I have something of utmost importance that I would like to share with you.”

“Please, continue,” she said.

“I…I have made a frightening discovery about the unicorn race.”

Celestia’s expression was normally nigh unreadable. She was the impartial co-regent of Equestria, so her personal thoughts and opinions needed to remain as such—personal. However, there were rare occasions where her impenetrable mask of unwavering motherly grace failed her. Those occasions were few and far between.

Now was one such occasion.

This stallion was the same one who had come to her court a day ago to give a lecture on how the unicorn race was evil.

“You see,” he started, “unicorns utilize black magic to cast spells. They are evil, and need to be treated as such. This is why I suggest that—”

Celestia was angry. Furious, even. He had failed to get Celestia to agree with him, so what did he do? He ignored her ruling and went Luna about it! She and her sister were equals. If one of them made a decision, it was to be upheld by both of them.

“Mister Swift Hooves,” she said, “my sister ruled against your little alienation attempt. Do you honestly think I would rule anything different? Do you really think that we do not speak with each other about these things?”

His bravado faltered. “Well, I, uh…”

“Celestia ruled your findings invalid and immoral. Her decision stands. Get out of my court.”

“O-Of course, P-P-Princess,” he stuttered, quickly backpedaling out of the room.

“And Swift Hooves?” she asked. “Do you really think it was a good idea to denounce unicorns in front of your princesses, who happen to be part unicorn?”

“Well, you see, I… I, well, uh… gottagobye!” he stammered before bolting out of the throne room.

Celestia sighed. She couldn’t help but feel reproachful about the whole thing. Had she not been in Luna’s body, her sister wouldn't have known that he had visited her court. They were supposed to be a team, not individual rulers.

She made a mental note to set aside more time for her and Luna to sit down and talk. Whether they talked about personal issues or matters integral to the fate of their country, Celestia didn’t care.

Honestly? She just missed her little sister.

Luna was sitting in her sister's office, blankly staring at the wall in front of her. She’d do anything to take her mind off of the tedious paperwork that currently demanded her attention.

Just then, her sister nudged open the office door and carefully walked over to her.

“Hey, Luna. Do you mind if we change back bodies now?”

Something was off. Luna had never heard Celestia sound so… resigned before. “Sure, Tia. How do we change back?”

The room went so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Celestia’s expression transformed from one of resignation to one of terror.

“Tia, do you not know how to change us back?” Luna asked anxiously.

“Well, I… uh…”

Luna’s face fell. She did not want to live in her sister’s body for the rest of her immortal life. One day was quite enough for her.

Celestia erupted into a fit of giggles. “Oh, Lulu, you should have seen how scared you were! Your expression was precious!” she laughed.

Luna stuck her tongue out at Celestia. “Haha, very funny. Can we please switch back now?”

“Oh, fine. It’s the same spell as before, so just focus on me and everything should work itself out. On three,” she said.

“One.”

Luna shivered, the strangest sense of deja vu overtaking her.

“Two.”

What had she taken from all this? All she really knew was that she wasn’t angry at Tia anymore. She was just tired.

“Three.”

Luna mindlessly repeated the motions of the spell. Her magic enveloped her own body, and her soul was evicted from her sister’s body. Looking for a home, it took the first one it found: her own.

Luna fell to the ground, disoriented. The spinning sensation in her head made her dizzy. She pushed herself up onto her hooves and looked over at Celestia, who was now in her own body. She let out a relieved sigh, glad that the nightmare was over.

She was suddenly very uncomfortable. What did you say to somepony who’d just been in your body? Was there anything she could say?

“Lulu… we need to talk.”

“About what?”

“Everything.”

Luna raised an eyebrow.

“Well, we should probably start with the whole ‘switching bodies’ thing,” Celestia amended.

After a moment of nothing, Luna exhaled. “I’ll tell you everything that happened first, if you want me to,” said Luna. She wanted to get this off of her chest.

Celestia nodded.

Luna took a deep breath. “Well, let me first say that your personal advisor was very helpful. I wouldn’t have gotten through everything without him by my side. You should definitely thank him.”

Her sister frowned. “Luna, I’m sorry we never hired you a personal advisor. I forgot that—”

“Let me finish my story first. That problem has already been solved,” she interrupted.

Celestia looked confused, but she made no move to say anything more.

“The day started off with me raising the sun, as usual. It was more difficult than I would have anticipated it to be, but I managed,” Luna said. “The next thing on the schedule was blessing foals. The first couple whose foal I blessed said that they would have liked me—as in Princess Luna—to bless their little filly too. I want to set aside time to do that from now on, Tia.”

Celestia nodded once more. “We can certainly arrange that.”

“Next was the Westhoof graduation, where I had to give a speech to the graduating class. Tia, it was exhilarating! I’ve never been happier than when the crowd started cheering afterward.”

“I’m happy for you, Luna,” Celestia said with a smile.

Luna sighed. “Then there was the day court. I had no idea just how many ponies wanted an audience with you. I had always just assumed that your court was only slightly less desolate than mine.”

Celestia’s ears splayed. She opened her mouth to say something, but ultimately decided against it.

“Most of the ponies weren’t very memorable. That is, except for the first ones to enter. They were the pegasi and earth ponies you were telling me about. Well, it turns out that it wasn’t a pegasus versus earth pony argument like you had thought. It was a family dispute,” she said. “Do you know what I told them, Tia?”

Celestia shook her head.

“I told them that, above all else, family is always supposed to be there to support one another. Do you know how much of a hypocrite that makes me? I told them to love their family, but here we are, having this stupid fight.”

“Lulu, it’s not stupid. You have every right to be angry with me.”

Brushing her sister off, she said, “Then there was the boring paperwork. Tia, how come you didn’t even divide up that up with me? I had no idea we even had papers to file!” she said.

Celestia bit her tongue in an attempt to keep quiet.

Luna sighed. “Next was dinner with your nephew Blueblood.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “Oh my goodness, I forgot that was yesterday! I’m so sorry.”

Ignoring her apology, Luna said, “I had no idea who Blueblood was, or even that you had a nephew, so I was excited to meet him. That excitement faded pretty quickly, though. First off, he was forty-five minutes late. Then he demanded we have our table moved to have a view, so the owners had to kick out a couple and ruin their date just because he was being needy. But that wasn’t even the worst of it.”

Celestia visibly winced, not sure if she wanted to hear the rest or not.

“When our waitress forgot to fill up his water, he screamed at her and demanded we get better wait staff. When she got back, he threw the pitcher of water at her, drenching her. He said a few more harsh things, and long story short, she ran out of the restaurant crying.”

“He didn’t,” Celestia said.

Luna nodded. “He did. And Tia, I’m sorry about this next part, but I just couldn’t control myself. I might have ruined your relationship with Blueblood, but I couldn’t let him get away with making a mare cry like that. So said a few harsh things myself, and then ran out after the waitress.”

To Luna’s surprise, Celestia laughed. “Honestly, it was about time somepony put that foal in his place. He’s not even my nephew. I’ve never quite understood the logistics behind it, but his bloodline earns him the title. If it were up to me, he wouldn’t have it. He doesn’t deserve it.”

Luna released the breath she hadn't realized she’d been holding in. “Oh, well I’m glad you’re not upset. So I chased after the waitress, and eventually found her crying a couple of blocks away from the restaurant. That’s when we started talking.”

Luna paused for a moment, staring down at her hooves. “Her parent's gave her the money to get here so she could make something of herself. But since her family didn’t have much money, she didn’t have enough to rent an apartment. She’s been sleeping in the Royal Gardens."

She could feel the tears welling behind her eyes. "I didn't even know that there were ponies who lived like that, Tia. But despite everything, she was still so happy. She got a lucky break when she stumbled upon her waitressing job, but Blueblood made sure she lost that too."

The tears started falling from her eyes. "Tia, her special talent was problem solving. She was young, happy, and in need. So I offered her a job as my advisor."

Wordlessly, Celestia pulled Luna into a warm embrace. After a moment of comfortable silence between the two, Celestia said, "I'm proud of you, Lulu. That was the right thing to do."

Luna sniffled. "I offered her a guest room for the night. I couldn't let her sleep in the gardens again.”

Celestia pulled her even closer.

“Do you know what she asked to me once she got her room? She asked me for some paper so she could write back to her parents. She said they were worried sick about her, and she wanted to let them know she was doing alright. Even after everything that happened to her, she was still more worried about her parents than herself."

After a few more minutes of sitting there in her sister's embrace, Luna's sniveling came to a stop.

"Do you want to hear about my day?" Celestia asked gently. She could feel Luna's nod against her chest.

"It started with me waking up and not knowing what to do with myself because I didn’t have Stint by my side. I eventually figured I should start by raising the moon. And let me tell you, I don’t know how you do it so well. I can raise the moon just fine, but I can never make the night sky as beautiful as you can. I had a thousand years of practice, but I still can't do it right.”

Luna smiled, nuzzling further into Celestia’s embrace.

“Then, since I had no idea where to go next, I decided the night court would be a good place to start. And it was so… lonely. For the longest time there was nopony. I am to blame for that. I… I was afraid to give you more petitioners. I was afraid that you would take the power and go crazy with it. I didn’t think you were ready, when in reality it was me who wasn’t ready.”

Luna tensed up. “You…you did everything on purpose?”

“Lulu—”

“Don’t call me that!” she demanded, her ears flattening against her head. “Do you realize everything I have to put up with? They shun me. They harass me. They patronize me. Do you know how that feels, Tia? It’s the same exact thing day after day and I’m tired of it!”

“Luna—”

“Do you know what yesterday was, Celestia?” she asked quietly, tears running freely down her cheeks once more. “Yesterday marked exactly one year since I got back from the moon. Yet they still treat me like I’m a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode and kill them all.”

Celestia could feel tears form in her own eyes. She pulled Luna closer to her, but Luna shoved her away.

Fortunately, Celestia knew Luna. She pulled her back into another warm hug, and this time Luna made no effort to move. She cried on to her sister’s shoulder until all her tears dried up.

“After some time, a pony did come,” Celestia said. “As soon as I saw him, I recognized him. He came into my court and tried to convince me the unicorns were evil and should be exiled. Naturally had I told him no the first time. I figured that would be the end of it.“

Celestia sighed. “But here he was, in your court. He didn’t like my decision, so he went to you to try and get a different one. We’re supposed to be a team, and what one of us says goes. So naturally I called him out and he left, but it got me thinking. Had I not been in your body, you would have had no clue that he had seen me first.”

Luna looked up at her.

“Then I realized—we don’t work as a team. We’re supposed to be co-rulers and sisters, but because of everything, we hardly even get a chance to talk to one another,” Celestia said sadly. “I just miss my little sister,” she whispered.

Luna hugged her sister tighter. “I’ve missed you too, Tia.”

Celestia felt herself begin to cry. “We can start right now, Lulu. Just you and me, talking. About everything.”

Luna smiled up at her. “That sounds wonderful.”