Celestia had been pacing back and forth in her chambers for the past hour. She paused by her window for a moment, and was immediately taken aback by what she saw. Wow! Luna really worked extra hard on the sky tonight. I wonder if she would appreciate some company since her court is usually mostly empty. Liking her new idea, the sun princess went to the doors to her chambers and opened them with her magic. As soon as she had emerged from the room, one of the guards who had been assigned to guard her for the night looked questioningly at her and asked, “Princess? What are you doing? Pardon me, but shouldn’t you be asleep?”
Smiling serenely at the two stallions, Celestia replied, “I could not sleep tonight, so I was just going to see if my sister would like some company. You need not accompany me.”
The second guard looked slightly uneasy as he asked nervously, “Are you sure you don’t want us to come with you Your Highness? How can we be considered Royal Guards if we are not doing our job by guarding you or your sister?”
The white alicorn chuckled softly before saying, “I admire your tenacity soldiers, but I would really just like some time alone with my sister. I promise you, nopony will think any less of you.”
The second guard still looked unsure and opened his mouth to protest, but the stallion who had spoken first cut him off before he could even get a word out, “Of course Princess. We will do as you command.”
Struggling to maintain her composure, Celestia merely nodded and started to walk towards the throne room. Only once she had reached a completely deserted part of the hallway did she allow herself to laugh. The things ponies will do to prove that they’re loyal to me these days. When did it become this way? Why did it have to at all?
The princess of the sun heaved a sigh. Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to live with it now. Everypony is too set in their ways to change something that apparently means a lot to them, and really, since it matters to all my little ponies, I can deal with the annoyance as long as I remember that it’s for them and not for me.
Having been lost in thought, Celestia halted abruptly upon realizing that she had walked past the throne room. While shaking her head at her own stupidity, the sun princes backtracked until she reached the doors to the throne room once again. With a quick nod to the guards on either side of the entrance, Celestia strode confidently into the large room. Luna did not immediately notice her sister since she was deeply immersed in paperwork.
Celestia cleared her throat which caused Luna to jump and look around the room wildly. Upon seeing her sister standing in the middle of the vast floor space, Luna sighed, “Oh, it’s just you Tia. Why did you have to scare me like that?”
A slight blush crept onto her cheeks as Celestia replied, “I didn’t mean to scare you Lulu. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s alright,” Luna’s tone changed to a more professional one as she turned to address her guards, “Court is dismissed for the remainder of this night. You have the rest of the night off.”
Once the guards had all saluted and left, Luna shut and locked the throne room doors. Celestia had watched all this silently, and now asked in a perturbed tone, “Why did you dismiss your court sister? That wasn’t necessary.”
Luna rolled her eyes, “Please. You only ever come to me in the middle of court when something’s wrong. So, what is it?”
“I-,” Celestia broke off upon realizing that there was no way she could deceive her sister. Sighing, she began again, “Alright, I admit it. I was having trouble sleeping, so I came to see if you wanted company.”
Luna frowned, “What was keeping you awake? You could’ve sent a guard to fetch me, and I would’ve been able to help you get to sleep.”
“Well, I would have, but, I kind of wanted to think about the thoughts that were keeping me awake.”
Groaning in exasperation, Luna threw her front hooves into the air, “Trying to get information out of you is like trying to move a castle without magic! Do you think you could, oh, I don’t know, tell me what thoughts were keeping you awake?”
Celestia blushed bright red, “Well, I was thinking about…our parents.” A tear escaped her eye which proved to be the final wall that broke. “I just miss them so much Lulu! Why did they have to be killed? Why?” The normally composed princess of the sun broke down sobbing as she poured her heart out to her little sister.
Surprised at her sister’s emotional breakdown, Luna rushed down off the throne, and went to her sister. As she covered her with a wing, she said as soothingly as she could, “Oh, Tia. I understand, believe me, I do. Do you want to talk about it?”
Lifting her now tear-streaked face to look at her sister, Celestia nodded. Pity shining in her eyes, Luna lowered herself to the ground beside her older sister, but remained silent, giving her sister time to gather her feelings.
“It started with me watching you raise the moon,” Celestia began tears still streaming silently down her cheeks. “As I did so, I felt like I could hear their voices again. Even though I knew it wasn’t possible, I allowed myself to believe that it really was them. It’s been so long that I can barely remember what they look like, but I remembered enough to be able to imagine them standing on either side of me, whispering words of encouragement and love. Those words made my heart soar with incomprehensible joy, but when I looked away from the night sky, the voices and feelings were gone. As if it had never happened. From there I started pacing around my room, trying to figure out why such a thing had happened, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t come with a rational reason.”
As her sister’s voice faded into nothing, Luna wrapped her wing more tightly around her and said, “I can think of a reason Tia. And it’s perfectly reasonable as well. Love is the reason.”
The princess of the night took a deep breath to steady her voice before going on, “Even though centuries have passed since they were killed, your memories of them will never die no matter how deep within your mind they get buried. I’ve felt the same way recently, and I know that even if you feel like they are fading away from you, they will always be with you. Your memories will be with you for the rest of eternity, and that, in itself, will be enough to keep their legacy alive. Take heart from this sister. They will never die so long as you keep them close to your heart and soul. Let that strengthen you, guide you as we continue on our path that leads through the rest of forever.”
Celestia leaned her head against her little sister, “Thank you Lulu. I needed that. Now I understand, and from now on I shall cherish any more moments where I can experience their presence once more. Together you and I will find a way to endure all of eternity because we are the only source of support we’ll always have.”
Luna and Celestia snuggled close together on the floor of the throne room as they whispered in unison, “Together we are resolute, as we shall be forever and always. With the wings of eternity we shall fly.”
