The Hunger

Princess Celestia slowly stepped onto her balcony overlooking Canterlot. She looked towards the infinite night sky, and saw Luna standing on the top of a tower a distance away, slowly preparing to lower the moon. As her sister's magic slowly brought the glowing orb into sight, Celestia froze time across Equestria, one of the most powerful spells she knew, that she only ever used on this day every year. She stood, looking at the colorful sky, with both the sun and moon visible, and slowly rose the stars, one at a time. Gently, she flapped her wings to propel herself into the air, and stayed that way for a moment, before unfreezing her younger sister. Luna took to the sky as well, and joined her sister above Canterlot, overlooking the gorgeous tableau in the sky. The russet-colored sunset blended gracefully with the cool-toned night, creating nearly a rainbow across the sky. Silver stars dappled the marble sky, creating a trifecta with the sun and moon. Celestia bowed her head, tears entering her eyes, and as Luna caught sight of this, she gently placed a hoof on her sister's shoulder. As their eyes met, Celestia felt renewed with will power, and almost imperceptibly nodded, and the two took off at a great speed directly up into the sky. When they were many miles above the city, the two looked again to the heavens, as their horns lit up with blue and yellow magic. Their magic swirled through the sky, picking up sun, star, and moon, and created a glorious dance of lights and magic as the celestial bodies soared through the cosmos. Many long minutes later, the two alicorns began their descent towards the ground, both covered in a light sweat. When their hooves touched the ground, they each took one last moment to admire the sky before unfreezing time. With a sigh, Luna put a wing around her sister, and the two princesses walked back into the castle with their solemn heads together.

For most ponies, they looked up to the sky once a year and saw what they assumed to be a cosmological phenomenon. The sun and moon both lay in the sky on an equal level, right next to each other, while millions of stars formed a complex, eight-pointed swirl, that resembled a large star overlapping the two bright orbs behind it. To most, it meant little to nothing–just an appealing arrangement of celestial bodies–but for the two royal sisters, the arrangement of the stars was a tribute, a nod to a fallen alicorn. It was the anniversary of the loss of the third sister princess, Aurora.