1 This Doesn't Happen Everyday
It was still dark when Celestia opened her eyes and yawned lazily. It wasn’t something out of ordinary, the night would last as long as she doesn’t raise the sun. Celestia was exhausted after yesterday’s evening when she had to read all the reports from the Crystal Empire and reply to Cadence. She slept only for three hours, but she knew no matter how tired she was, she had to stick to her duties. It would be really strange for Equestrian ponies if it was 4 a.m. in the end of summer and the sky was still covered in dark blue. Celestia got up and walked out of her room, heading to Luna’s bedroom. She needed her sister’s help in lowering the moon and the stars. ‘At least it isn’t Sunday’, thought the sun princess, ‘that way I don’t have to wear anything or get my mane to look good in such a hurry.’ She entered Luna’s room and walked to the bed. She placed her left front hoof on Luna’s shoulder and began jostling her a little bit.
‘Luna, wake up. We’ve got to go’, she whispered. In response Luna quietly growled and said:
‘Just a minute, sister…’
‘No more minutes, we have a job to do, the ponies will start waking up soon’.
‘Fine’, Luna got up and started stretching her wings, while Celestia waited for her near the balcony.
‘You ready?’, Celestia asked.
‘Ready’, said Luna. Her horn covered in cobalt blue magic aura as she lowered the moon to give space for her sister’s sun. The view of it happening was truly amazing, although somehow it filled Luna’s heart with sadness. She was always pleased to see Equestria coming back to life, but sometimes it reminded her of the times when she couldn’t enjoy it, when her mind was full of bitterness and hatred towards her sister. Celestia noticed that Luna isn’t in the best mood and asked her:
‘Is there something wrong?’
‘Wha- huh? Um, no, it’s nothing, I’m fine’, but she obviously lied. ‘Let’s go downstairs, shall we?’
Sisters got to the castle kitchen, where they found only 2 cooks, quite surprised with the princesses’ entrance.
‘Your highness, I’m terribly sorry for my friends, I have no idea why they aren’t here yet, I swear…’
‘No need to apologize’, Celestia smiled. ‘I understand, besides, today we’d like to make the breakfast ourselves. Could you leave us, please?’
‘Of course, your highness’, said the other stallion and both cooks left the room, still bowing to the princesses.
‘I wish they started talking with us as equals’, Luna sighed, looking for plates in the cupboards. ‘I know we’re royalty and all, but sometimes it gets really tiring.’
‘Also, it sounds awkward’, Celestia laughed, chopping the vegetables and passing them over to Luna. ‘Unfortunately, no matter how badly we want this to happen, they will always address us like that. That’s one of the bad things about being a princess’
After getting everything else done, sisters teleported the meal to the dining room and carefully placed all the stuff on the table.
‘Oh, I’m so hungry I could eat a horseshoe!’, said Celestia, desirably looking at the nearest dish, which happened to be a carrot and lettuce salad covered with mayonnaise – Luna’s specialty.
‘You sure are, especially after yesterday’s work on the reports. What did Cadence want anyway? Pass me the juice, please?’
‘Sure, and nothing important, just something for getting rid of the windigos. They had quite a good time when King Sombra was making a threat to the Empire, they could easily feed on his hatred. As soon as Cadence destroyed him, they had to fly away, the love spreading in all of the Empire was just something they couldn’t handle. Unfortunately, they came back, but we have no idea why they stayed near the Crystal Empire for this long, since they had nothing to do around there. Cadence was worried that windigos would scare Crystal ponies, and she didn’t want to fight them, so she asked me for the advice’, here Celestia finished both her speech and the sandwich.
‘I see. You’ll try to convince them to go away?’
‘Do I have any other options? Windigos couldn’t hurt a pony, even if they tried really hard, but they can be frightening sometimes. I have no point in just blasting them with my magic, it would be just as unfair as rude’
‘Yeah. I’m sure they’ll go away soon. It’s still not their fault that they are the way they are. It’s sure not nice to live and feed on hatred – well, maybe for them it’s good – but…’, here she stopped, second time today remembering of becoming Nightmare Moon and hurting her sister.
‘It’s okay, sister. I know what you’re thinking about. Don’t blame yourself for becoming like that, because I should be the one blaming myself. But I promise, I’ll never leave you again like that’, said Celestia in a profound tone. ‘But I’m worried about you, Luna. You shouldn’t feel that pain for this long, you suffered enough. You have to forget about the past, or at least do not think it over. This will never happen, and I will be always by your side’
‘I know. Thank you’, Luna whispered and hugged her sister.
‘Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! Since you’re not that busy lately, I thought if maybe you wanted to go on a trip to Ponyville! I know you’ll go there for Nightmare Night anyways, but it’s such a long time!’
‘Would I? OH, MOST WONDERFUL OF… oh, sorry, Tia’, she looked with a grin on her face at Celestia’s mane, which looked almost as if she failed at doing Pinkie Pie’s hairstyle.
‘Not funny, Luna!’, said Celestia, faking anger. ‘Oh, you’ll get revenge for what you just did’, here she flew up to the air and started chasing Luna, but she was prepared for the attack and she flew away.
‘You’re so predictable, sis’, Luna laughed as Celestia almost crashed into the window. ‘You think I wouldn’t see that coming? After it all when we were just foals? You did this so many times… but I guess you need some more practice. Didn’t work out that much huh?’
‘I… did…’, Celestia replied, breathing heavily.
‘Too much cake?’, Luna hinted, unsuccessfully trying to stop grinning.
‘Okay, that’s enough. You crossed the line, Luna!’, Celestia increased speed as she flew to Luna, but she clumsily docked a vase nearby, which fell on the ground and broke.
‘Wow, alright, I’m sorry, okay? Hey, that’s not fair!’, she yelled when Celestia used her magic to lift her in the air and teleported pillows from the couch, so Luna was their target. Luna broke out of Celestia’s spell, but not quick enough to avert from being hit by the pillows.
‘Great, now the feathers are in our plates’, Luna said, looking at the table. ‘And how come I have mayonnaise in my mane?’
‘I threw it at you when you wasn’t looking’, Celestia admitted, laughing.
‘Okay, this ends now’, Luna landed. ‘We need to clean this mess up before someone sees us like that’, she said, not being aware of the doors opening behind her.
‘I… think we might be a bit late already.’
Twilight Sparkle who just entered the room was looking at both the princesses from the ground, not sure if she’s supposed to laugh or be serious.
‘Um, am I interrupting something important?’
Author's Note
The story happens a few months after Twilight's Princess coronation. Princess Luna still feels the pain after becoming Nightmare Moon. In order to help her, Celestia sends her to Ponyvile to again meet Twilight and her friends.
