Letters to a Lunar Goddess
By
Icer
Two figures stood watch on a balcony overseeing the Canterlot gardens, one taller than the other, her white coat and shining mane glittering in the moonlight. The other is small and childlike in comparison, her dark blue coat contrasting to the other’s shimmering white, and her light blue mane kept short and neat in comparison to the first’s flowing, rainbow-like mane.
“Sister, it has been six months since you returned, do you not think that it is time for you to return to your full duties as the night sky’s guardian?”
Looking up to nuzzle her sister, Luna replied, “I… I just haven’t felt up to it sister. Much has changed in this past millennium, and I… I don’t recognize anything. Everything feels strange and new, even the night sky, when I reach up to it, it feels completely new. It scares me sister, I don’t know what to do.”
“Luna, of course it’s going to be new,” Celestia replied as she leaned into the nuzzle, “you have been gone for a thousand years, of course things are going to be completely different. If I were you, I would just start taking in a little bit at a time, get used to using your powers again.”
“I don’t know Tia… Shouldn’t I just jump back in? At the very least, I need to do it for you! You have been doing this for me… you really need a break.”
“Nonsense Luna, I’ve been doing it for a thousand years, I can do it for a few more years at the very least. I think that you should really try it one step at a time little sister, it would be for the best, and you can get used to your powers once again!” Celestia said as she leaned down to nuzzle her sister.
Luna sighed and then replied, “Very well. I will try it your way, Celestia. If only because you think that it will be the best course for me.”
Celestia leaned down and gave Luna a large hug, “Oh I’m so happy that you chose to do this! You’ll have it under control again in no time! Why… why don’t you try to manipulate one of the constellations first? How about Orion? I’ve always had trouble with him… Go ahead, give it a try. Make him shine in all his glory!” She nudged Luna forward, trying to push her into action.
Taking the not so subtle suggestion, Luna walked forward and turned her focus to where she knew Orion should have been on that particular night, only to be shocked that not only was he not there, he was… just a cluster of stars, only barely able to be considered the Orion that she had once created. Giving her sister a bit of a glare, Luna set to work fixing one of her favored creations of the night sky. “Rigel… you shouldn’t be over there, you need to be here. Perfect. Betelgeuse, can you please be just a little bit darker? Thank you so much! And you Saiph, you’re just way too dark. You need to be brighter…”
Celestia smiled as she watched her sister become once again engrossed in the work that had fulfilled her for eras. Her smile grew even larger as she looked up to see the constellation that she had tried so hard to keep perfect slowly rearrange itself into the brave pegasus that she and her sister had once known, so many thousands of years ago. Luna was able to give each star the attention that it deserved, unlike Celestia who was only able to force them into a rough idea of what they were to look like. Luna’s creations were works of art to be celebrated throughout the land; Celestia’s attempts at the night sky were as a child’s hoof painting by comparison.
“Luna, I think you’ve finished with Orion by now, do you not think that we should retire for the night?” Celestia said as she walked forward and placed a hoof on Luna’s shoulder, to break her out of her concentration.
Luna fished talking to one of the stars just as it rearranged to form Orion’s famous belt before turning to her sister, “I… I guess. But there’s so much more to do! I’ve only just finished Orion! There’s still the Ursas, Scorpio, Canis Major and Minor, Lepus… Oh my! The Southern Cross! How can they navigate in the seas if it’s not correct? What about the north star? It’s dimming! Oh sister, this all just needs to be fixed!”
“Not tonight Luna, you’ve already exhausted yourself as you stand, I know you may not feel it, but looking at you I can see that you are about ready to collapse. I was correct in assuming that you would need to take foal-steps in getting back into your power, now, what do you say we go enjoy a nice cup of tea before retiring, hmmm?” The solar princess concluded as she started to guide the regent of the night to their quarters to calm themselves before settling in for the night.
Months passed, each night heralding the recreation of once of the ancient constellations, each one seemingly more beautiful than the last. The night sky was once again aglow with Luna’s love, each and every star getting her attention before she moved onto the next. And that was not all that changed, as more and more of the sky was brought back under her control, Luna seemed to grow; not only in power, but in form as well. Whereas before there stood a teenaged looking alicorn, now there stood a proud and regal Princess of the Night. Her mane was not flowing like her sisters, but it too had grown past her muzzle, the light blue strands hanging long and conditioned to look much like the Milky Way in a night sky.
It was not until she had orchestrated a beautiful meteor shower that brought tears to her and her sister’s eyes did she talk to Celestia about the most important part of her sky. The very thing that held her name, which was reflected in her cutie mark and the very fiber of her being, the celestial body that had been both home and prison to her in times past. She broached the subject of regaining control of the moon to her sister the coming morning at their shared breakfast.
“Sister, I must speak with you on an important subject.” Luna said with a little trepidation, setting down her tea to look at Celestia with a look of resolution.
“Oh? What is it?” Celestia queried as she continued to much on her croissant.
“Well, I was thinking that it was about time for me to take on my full responsibilities again. I want to raise and control the moon starting tonight.” The Regent of the Night pronounced to her sister, choosing to take the matter head on instead of beating around the proverbial bush.
Celestia paused from her breakfast, setting the mostly consumed croissant down and swallowing what was left in her mouth, “Luna! That’s fantastic! I knew that you were going to be ready soon; I could just feel the power coming from you! Unfortunately we still have the entire day to wait through before we get to see your wonderful moonrise. So, with any further adieu I shall now leave you to finish your breakfast and to begin my duties for the day. I believe that the diplomats from Knossos have an important item they wish to discuss with me, and I should not leave them waiting, you know how those griffins can be!” And with that Celestia floated the last of her croissant into her mouth and trotted out the door to her royal business for the day.
Luna wasn’t as sure as her sister on the matter, and after concluding her breakfast and taking care of several issues with the courts, and a meeting with the treasury secretary of the kingdom over appropriations for the coming year’s Summer Sun Celebration, she dismissed her attendants to retire to her room for the afternoon, in preparation for reclaiming control of her moon.
The first of them came in the afternoon when she was resting, a knock on the door rousing Luna from her slumber. She slowly got up out of her bed, using her magic to quickly fix any stray strands of hair in her mane and coat as she walked over to the door to open it, “Yes?” She said without any hint of annoyance, many years of practice before her banishment permitting her to hide her anger at being awoken.
“Ma’am, this was delivered this afternoon. Normally we don’t deliver the mail directly to you two, but seeing as this is the first mail you’ve gotten, we felt that it was reasonable at this time.” The guardpony at the door said as he hooved over a simple envelope addressed to Princess Luna.
Luna looked at the strange thing for a moment, before magicing it off to the side of her desk, intending to read it later, before she nodded at the guardpony and shut her door, returning to her much needed nap.
Luna roused herself from her rest about an hour before moonrise and grabbed a quick snack from the kitchens, before she set off into her preferred part of the garden for working on the sky, from there she spent much of that remaining time to paint a spell that would weave the stars, comets, and galaxies into a gorgeous tapestry that would then complement the rising moon. The spell was a complex one, requiring layers upon layers of preparation and guidance for the stars to do just as she wished when the time came.
Celestia found herself wandering out to the gardens with very little time to spare before the moonrise, having spent quite a bit of time in the company of one very irate griffin diplomat over a trade agreement for gems; she turned the corner to Luna’s place just as she felt the moon leaving her grip and entering her sister’s own power, and let out a large smile at the sight that she beheld.
Luna’s entire form glowed with ethereal energies, streaking out into the night sky from her body, as she became one with the night temporarily as the moon rose over the horizon. The stars behind the moon seemed to nearly go out, as those further away increased their brilliance in contrast to the stark blackness that permeated the space between. The moon itself was a full moon, its own glory shining through, the ancient Mare in the Moon having long since vanished, leaving a pristine plate in its wake. As the moon settled into its long abandoned path, one that only its true caretaker knew, Luna became separated from the night sky, her form slowly becoming more physical than ethereal.
Celestia’s smile became even larger as she witnessed the rebirth of the sky, and the rebirth of her sister’s power and true form. As the last of the spell was set into motion, and the remnants of the magic faded from the Night Princess, her true from was once again revealed to the world. Her mane was flowing once again in the magic of the night, stars speckling through the cobalt that so closely resembled the night above her. Her coat had darkened further, taking on a soothing sapphire color, and she once again held the true powers of the night in all of its glory and aethereal grace.
“Luna! You did great! It was the most beautiful moonrise that I have ever seen, how are you feeling?” Celestia said as she trotted up to Luna to nuzzle her lovingly.
Luna looked up at her sister, slightly surprised at how much closer Celestia’s face was to her now that she had regained her former form, “I… I feel fantastic! I haven’t felt this well in… a very long time, sister. I think that I will attempt to take back more of my former duties, starting tonight. Yes, tonight I will delve back into my tax code, and see what disastrous things you have done to it!”
Celestia blushed a little at this, and replied smartly, “I think that you will find it all to be to your satisfaction, though I do not wish for you to work too hard Luna! Remember, you only recently gained back your powers tonight!”
“I… yes. I guess you’re correct ‘Tia, but I feel so… I feel so great that I’m myself again! But… I shall take your advice. Tonight I shall not work too hard, if only for your benefit. Now, as for you, I think that you deserve to go to sleep! It is not your night! It is mine!” Luna said with a slight smile as she nudged the elder alicorn towards her room with a bit more force than the older sibling was used to.
The night passed quickly for the Royal Pony Sisters, Celestia getting the first true sleep that she had had in one thousand and one years; and Luna immersing herself in the legal and tax codes that her sister had made great changes to over the centuries, while keeping track of the moon’s and star’s movements through her night sky. Daybreak found the sisters sharing a brief meal together, with Luna’s being more of a dinner and Celestia’s being a light breakfast, and the two soon parted ways, Celestia to the throne room for morning court, and Luna to her bedroom to recuperate from her first night after returning to her post as the moon’s regent.
The exhausted princess did not notice the 5 new envelopes that had been placed upon her desk with the first as she and carefully removed her marks of office and placed them on her vanity and then clambered into her bed. Her sleep was the most restful that she had had in ages, and was so deep that she did not notice the several times that servants had entered the room to place yet more envelopes onto her desk. When she finally did wake up, with much time to spare before she raises the moon for the next night, the pile had grown to taking up much of her desk, not to say the large sack beside the desk.
Luna looked at the pile of letters with a wary eye, confused as to why ponies had sent her so many while for so long they had not sent anything to her. With a curious thought, she pulled the first one that she had placed there herself out of the pile with her magic, and opened it up while straightening her coat and placing her crown and necklace upon her form.
Dear Princess Luna,
Thank you for such an amazing meteor shower last night! It was the best meteor shower that I have ever seen, and I never miss one if I can take the chance! The way that the meteor’s worked with the stars was quite elegant, to say nothing of the brilliance of their tails! The entire night was utterly exciting for me, and I wish you luck in your future endeavors with the night sky.
Your faithful subject,
Eternal Observer
Frowning, Luna pulled several letters from the stack, opening them up and reading them one by one.
Dear Princess Luna,
I have been meaning to write this letter for quite a while, but every time I sat down to write it I was completely entrapped by your ever changing and gorgeous constellations. In all the time that your sister was controlling the sky, I had never seen a more beautiful sight than the ones that you have been creating over the past couple months. I must say that your stars are more beautiful than any painting in any Manehattan art gallery. Thank you very much for creating them!
Your faithful subject,
Cloud Kicker
Dear Princess Luna,
Your stars are so awesome! They are the most radical things that I have ever seen! My friends and I have been out the beach every night for the past two weeks, and we just spend much of the night watching your stars and enjoying their moves. And that meteor shower? Totally rad.
Your tubular subject,
Wave Rider
Dear Princess Luna,
The moon was the brightest moon that I have ever seen, and it let us safely get back to the farmhouse after getting caught up in harvesting a large section of our fields. If it weren’t for your moon, we would have spent a lot longer wandering around trying to find the farmhouse in the dark, or we would have missed being able to sell our produce at the market today! At the market, we ran into an old friend of ours who has become a manager for a large grocery store in Manehattan, and we were able to open up a new place for us to sell our produce! If your moon wasn’t there, I don’t know where we’d be today. Thank you.
Your loyal subjects,
Green Sprouts and Rolling Turnip
The letters continued on like that for some time, each one thanking Princess Luna personally for her gorgeous night, complimenting her on her artwork and her capabilities. Luna could barely handle it, each one was like praise from some long gone parent, and each one lifted her spirits and made her more grateful than she had been in millennia. As she continued to read each and every letter, her eyes started to tear up, in all of her years of exile she had never dreamed that this would happen, that she would return to Equestria to learn that the ponies really did love her and her night sky, she had feared that they would hate her and fear her for her past actions.
Dear Princess Luna, Regent of the Night Sky
My name is High Water, Captain of the Equestrian Naval Vessel Eternal Sky, and I am writing to give my grand thanks for your marvelous recreation of the Southern Cross. As you may or may not know, several months ago a large squall appeared in the Southern Pacifica Ocean, and many ships were thrown off course, the Eternal Sky was one of those ships. Our rigging was badly damaged, and we were stuck at sea for several days with no idea as to where we were, as the nights passed we began to notice the constellations becoming more and more clear, their shapes and definitions becoming clearer and more defined from the regular stars of the sky. It was from this information that we were able to ascertain our location in the sea, though we were unable to do so entirely and were stuck wandering the sea until you recreated the Southern Cross.
Without the cross we would have been lost for several more weeks, and perhaps would have even perished without the help of another vessel, and the recreation of your skies permitted us that safety. After the recreation of the Cross, we were able to better navigate our ways to the trade routes and find a ship that could help with our repairs and sail with us as we limped to the nearest port. As luck would have it, that port was our destination and we were safely able to deliver our goods as was needed, the holds of our ship were full of medical supplies for the nearby griffin town that was facing a deadly disease.
Your stars saved the lives of my ship and crew, but also the lives of those griffins who would have died without your saving graces.
Thank you for your night sky,
Your most loyal and eternal subject,
Captain High Water of the Equestrian Foreign Aid Survice.
Luna’s eyes widened at such a lengthy letter, and she was nearly in tears by the end of the note. If she had not spent so much time ensuring that the stars were back in their places, ponies and griffins would be dead! It was all because of her that they were saved. She sighed as she looked back at the pile of opened and read letters, and then opened up the bag one more time, surprised to see a single envelope inside.
Lifting the envelope out of the bag, Luna looked at the stationary that it was made out of; it was clearly much nicer than most of the others she had received, and looked like it was custom made. She turned it around using her magic, and saw something that surprised her the most, the envelope was sealed with a wax seal that was clearly the shape of the sender’s cutie mark, a star burst surrounded by 5 other stars.
“I do believe that I’ve seen that cutie mark before…” Luna carefully opened the envelope from one side, and pulled out the letter, and almost dropped it when she gasped and confirmed her suspicions.
Dear Princess Luna,
My name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m not sure if you remember me but I was one of the ponies that helped free you from Nightmare Moon the night that you returned. All of my life I have been a passionate scholar of the night sky, and have always wondered at the stars and the secrets that they might hold. When I was growing up I would spend hours at a time looking through my telescope, trying to see every little detail that I could see through such a small telescope. I kept very detailed notes and compared many of them to the diagrams that were in my books, only to be disappointed time and time again when they did not match up.
As I got older, my love for the night sky did not once wane, I continued my studies of the movements of the stars and the moon alongside the studies that I undertook as Princess Celestia’s protégé, I would say that the night sky became even more important to me as I grew older, as it gave me a bit of an escape from magical studies, while still allowing me to do my favorite thing, study!
With your release from the moon, I soon realized why the stars and constellations were not as they were supposed to be, as according to my texts and studies. It was because Princess Celestia and not you who was controlling the skies, she was unfamiliar with their magic and it was different from her own. It was then that I knew that it was only a matter of time until we started to see the beauty of your night sky once again.
And I was not disappointed. Each night over the past 6 months has shown more and more of your beautiful night to the world, and I think that the best example of your grace as an artist was the meteor shower the other night.
That is, until, you raised the moon last night. It was the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen Princess, and it is not something that I will ever forget. The way that the moon rose, and the manner in which you made the stars themselves bow before it? I could not picture anything more perfect than that.
Thank you, as a scholar of the night sky, for creating such a beautiful creation.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
P.S. Please please please don’t show this to Princess Celestia!
She was speechless. The Regent of the Night was for once left without any words to say and, without bidding, tears of joy started to pour down her cheeks. In all of her life she had never had anyone say or write something to her that brought such joy to her life, that showed such appreciation for her gifts. She hugged the letter close to her chest as she summoned a frame for it, before carefully placing it within and putting it on her desk, tears of joy still streaming down her face.
Celestia heard the commotion coming from her sister’s room, and went to investigate for several reasons; first of all she was worried as to what was taking Luna to get up for the night, and second she was afraid that something had happened that had caused her to cry.
She opened the door quickly and trotted inside to comfort her sister, “Luna, what is goi….” Celestia could not finish her sentence as she was tackled by her younger sibling, and forced into a large hug that constricted her airways.
“It’s so wonderful ‘Tia! The most magical thing has happened! They love us! The love our night sky!” Luna said through her tears of elation.
Celestia looked over at the pile of letters, seeing one stand out with her protégé’s cutie mark, before she smiled and held her sister closer.
