Night and Day's Youth

by Excellen

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Original Character, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Discord, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 4805

Celestia and Luna have a hard time growing up. But even through everything, they find happiness.

Celestia is now a sister. She has new responsibilities. But, through tragic events, she and her new sister have to find happiness in an immortal life full of strife.

Published 2012-04-27 08:44:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-12-11 01:20:19 UTC

Prologue

Her mother had been rushed to the hospital quickly, with the doctors taking her as soon as she went in through the doors. Her father, Solaris, stayed with Celestia, in the waiting room for a couple of hours. Celestia was worried, even though she knew she shouldn’t be. There had never been so much commotion in her life. Celestia looked up, at the clock. She had been there for 4 hours now and was getting tired.. A doctor emerged from the white doors, and motioned them to follow him. Hoping that she would be able to see her mother and new sibling soon, she and her father followed the doctor quickly.

They both followed the doctor higher into the hospital, until they stopped at a large white door. The doctor opened it, beckoning them inside. The door swung closed behind them almost immediately after setting hoof in the room. The room seemed so big to Celestia, but she soon reasoned that she was just small. She saw her mother in a bed, holding a blanket rapped into a cylindrical shape.

She creeped up next to the bed, as her mother unraveled the blanket she was holding. A small Dark blue filly with short light blue hair stared right back at her. She instantly fell in love with the small bundle that was her sister. Everything about her just made Celestia want to smile.

Celestia asked in awe, "What’s her name?"

Her mother replied in a very soft voice, "Luna. We named her after the moon which she will eventually come to rise."

Celestia said the name again in her mind. "Luna." It sounded fit for the filly that would, as her mother had mentioned, raise the moon when her time came. Celestia, being the other sister, was going to be tasked with raising the sun later in her life. She asked her father when they would be able to return to the castle.

Her mother gave her an awkward look. She turned her head to her husband.

Her father replied in a sweet tone, "I don't know, Celestia. Let me go find the doctor." He left the room, to search for the doctor that cared for his wife.

Celestia's mother seemed so happy. She was usually so strict, and Celestia almost never saw her. She was always so busy with her royal duties.

"Well, cut her some slack," Celestia thought. "She IS the ruler of all Equestria."

She still didn't like her mother's strictness though. She always said that discipline and proper manners were the main makeup of a ruler.

Now her father, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of her mother. He was very playful, funny, and nice. He was also quite the prankster. Most of his harmless pranks were aimed at unsuspecting staff at the castle, but Celestia got hit with a good portion of them. Her father still had his royal duties also, which consumed most of his time.

The only person she really ever spent time with was Mr. Ivory, her fillysitter.

Mr. Ivory and her father go very far back, apparently since they were young foals. Mr. Ivory played the piano at royal occasions, along with the rest of the royal orchestra.

Oh, and Discord, who is a draqonequs. He was fairly nice, and they got along great. But he can sometimes be extremely boastful, always having to be better than her. She wondered how he would be without her. Discord didn’t have any other friends than Celestia, and she didn’t know anything about where he lived or who his parents were. Every time she asked he either got angry, or he just started crying.

Her father came back into the room, and said, "The doctor says that you will stay until tomorrow at the least. He said he didn't want to rush you. Even though you are an alicorn, giving birth can still be tough on your body."

Her mother replied, "Thank you for the news, Solaris." Her father said, "If need anything, you can ask me, the doctor, or even little Celestia here. Right Celestia?”

Deep in her own thoughts, suddenly came to attention, somewhat startled, “Oh, um. Right!"

The doctor then came in, saying that he need to run some tests on Luna to make sure she was healthy. Her mother was reluctant to let her newborn go, but she knew she had to do it for the safety of Luna.

Celestia's stomach rumbled loudly. Her father said, "Sounds like somepony is getting a bit hungry. C'mon, let's go get something to eat." Celestia happily followed her father out of the room and down onto the bottom floor, where the cafeteria was located.

Celestia mulled over what she should get. A sandwich? Or maybe a salad? Ugh, she couldn't decide. The events of the day were too exciting for her small filly body to handle. She decided that she would get a sandwich, for now she just wanted to  get to sleep. When she got it, she wolfed it down. After devouring the sandwich, she leaned back in her chair, her belly full, eyelids starting to get heavier as each second went by. She was very soon asleep.

Solaris looked down at her sleeping daughter. She seemed so peaceful. Careful not to wake her, he picked her up with his magic and carried her off to the guest wing, where they would be staying for the night. As he settled into bed, with Celestia tucked in beside him, he couldn't help wondering what having 2 fillies running around the palace would be like. He soon expelled the thought. Don't get ahead of yourself Solaris. Think of the task at hoof. He suddenly noticed how tired he was, his eyelids slowly closing. He didn't know why, but he had the urge to fight off the sleep. He struggled to keep his eyes opened, but in the end, sleep overtook him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She craned her neck in vain, trying to see something, anything. But she couldn’t. Everything was blacker than the night. She saw a large shadow fly up from what she assum, a tall figure appeared in front of her. It was just a Silhouette, about 5 times as tall as her. As soon as it appeared, she felt a strong sense of dread. Slowly, its mouth opened. Its teeth were large and spiky, the only contrast to the black entity that stood before her. Out of nowhere, a maniacal evil laugh filled the dark void, and bat like creatures spewed from its mouth. The entity suddenly grew to be 50 stallions tall, and it turned to look at Celestia. She looked into where its eyes should have been, and saw only hate. Hate, agony, pain, torture, jealously.

The screams of thousands of burning ponies could be heard throughout the void. Celestia screamed, suddenly feeling her being shaken.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Solaris was desperately trying to awaken his daughter. She had just started screaming halfway through the night. She suddenly bolted upright, sweating profusely. Her breathing sounded heavy. Her normally tidy pink mane was now a mess.  Her father tried to quiet her by rocking her back and forth, all the while she was sobbing on his chest, her tears dampening his fur. Celestia looked up at her father, and sobbed, "Who would do such cruel things?" Then she just started crying even harder. Solaris knew what he had to do. His horn started glowing, as did Celestia's shaking body.

He laid her down back into the bed, now sound asleep. "The sleeping spell, a father’s best friend." he said. Soon enough, he was right beside her, sleeping as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia woke up first the next morning. She walked over to her slumbering father's bed, and shook him gently with a hoof. He rolled over in his bed and looked at his daughter. She looked terrible. It was obvious she had gotten little to no sleep last night, even after he had cast the spell. He slowly rose out of bed, his hoofs moving across the floor towards the bathroom. He splashed water on his face. He had a lot to do today. He looked in the mirror. He didn't look any better than Celestia. He had been worrying about his wife and Luna all night. "How about we go check in on mom, eh?" he said. Celestia simply nodded her head. They opened up the door, and started walking toward the main hospital.

Eventually, they made it to the floor that she was staying on. Solaris lightly tapped on the door with a hoof. He opened the door, and they both walked in.

Her father asked, "How is Luna? Did all of her tests-" Her mother nodded before she could finish.

A great wave of relief swept over him. That means they could leave the hospital today, as planned. The doctor soon came in with Luna, handing her to Celestia's mother. He then left to go file checkout papers concerning her mom. The rest of the time before their departure was idle chitchat (In which her mother told them that they looked like sleep-deprived-zombie-ponies, which made Celestia giggle.) Eventually the doctor came back, telling them that they could go now. They made it slowly down to the ground floor, in which a member of the royal guard was waiting for them.

They all got into the royal carriage, which abruptly started forward. They rose higher and higher into the sky until Celestia couldn't see the ground.

She couldn't help thinking "I'm a sister."

Chapter 1

Celestia was sitting up in her room, studying some spells.

“Celestia! Come down here and help your mother bake the cupcakes!"

Cupcakes? Why would her mother be making cupcakes?

She let out a loud sigh. She hated cooking. If she wasn't destined to raise the sun, she knew what her cutie Mark wouldn't be. Every time she tried to make something, it ended up looking like a like a small bomb went off in the kitchen.

She yelled back down to her father, "Do you really think that's a good idea? You know how I am with cooking."

He replied, "You mother needs all the help she can get right now."

Ok, ill be down in a second." She wasn't kidding, as a small pink ball of magic appeared in the kitchen, then burst to show Celestia in it. Her mother applauded her.

"What great execution! You are becoming very proficient with magic my dear. Unicorns aren’t able to do that until they are much older, some of them not being able to do it at all. By next year, I bet you could cast any spell we threw at you.”

Celestia beamed with pride. Although she was terrible at cooking, she guessed being good at magic compensated for that.

She opened and closed her wings slowly, a habit she had recently started doing.

“Hey mom, when am I going to learn how to fly?”

“I’m glad you’ve been thinking about flying. Even though learning magic is fine, you need to learn how to use the Pegasus and Earth pony magic you have. You see, all ponies have some magic in them. Unicorns are the most obvious, with their magic spells, which are expressed through their horn. Pegasus magic is quite different; it makes them very light and able to control the weather.  Earth pony magic is not very noticeable, but it isn’t any less powerful than any of the others. They have a connection to the earth, that’s why they are so strong and can grow crops and trees so well.”

“You have already discovered your unicorn magic, but have yet to discover the other two. In time, you will be able to fly faster than any Pegasus, stronger than any earth pony, and more powerful than any unicorn.

Celestia slowly nodded, absorbing the information she had received.

"Celestia, be a dear and grab me the flour from the cabinet, will you?" Celestia quickly ran over to the cabinet in which they kept the flour. it was actually a fairly long distance, considering how large the royal kitchen is.

She was breathing hard by the time she made it back to the spot her mother was at.

"Celestia, there's no need to rush. After all, we have until tomorrow."

Celestia asked, "Whats going on tomorrow? Why are we making cupcakes?”

"It's only your sister's first birthday!"

A barely audible gasp escaped her mouth.

"Whats wrong, dear?" her mother asked.

"I completely forgot!" she said, starting to panic. She ran out of the room, her mind set on finding the greatest present ever for her sister. An idea hit her, and she stopped halfway back to her room. She turned around, heading back to the kitchen.

"Hey mom, are there any small rooms that are empty in the castle?

Her mother stopped, and thought for a bit before saying,

"Yes, there should be one on the second floor. May I ask wh-"

Before she could finish, her daughter was gone. She could hear the sound of hooves running up stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia walked into the room. If this was going to turn out how she wanted, she was going to have to not take any breaks. With her mind set on this, she closed the door, and started her ingenious plan. She picked up her tool of choice, a thick paintbrush, dipped it in some dark blue paint, and started coating the all of the walls with it. It was a mindless task, just going back and forth down the walls. A little while later, the walls were done.

She went back into her room, grabbing all the toys she could find, (except for her super special ones) and started moving them into the room.

Celestia thought, “this is going to be a great playroom.”

Chapter 2

Starshine, Celestia's mother, walked into the small empty room that now had freshly painted walls. She walked in slowly, not to disturb the small filly who slept soundly on the plush carpeted floor.

“Celestia, what am I going to do with you?”, she asked quietly. She didn't expect a response.

She levitated her oldest daughter lightly onto her back, before looking around the room. Her daughter had done a wonderful job, the color of the walls looked very vibrant. Looking up, she found a very large crescent moon on the ceiling. The color that surrounded the moon and covered the rest of the ceiling was a black color, with very small specks of white dotted here and there. It looked like you were looking up into the night sky.

Celestia shifted on her back, her body recognizing that her position had changed, and the small white filly dug her face into her mothers fur, and her body remained still after that. Seeing this gave Starshine a smile on her face, and with that, she trotted out of the door, shutting it with her golden-colored magic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia drifted in and out of sleep, each time growing closer to fully becoming aware of her surroundings. She noticed a very sweet smell, but she couldn't quite place it. Her hold tightened on whatever soft, furry item she was holding on to. She noticed it seemed to rise in fall in a rhythmic sort of way. Her eyes opened to a blurry whiteness. Her eyes focused, and she was staring right into the chest of her mother. Her hooves were laid over Celestia's body, pulling the small filly closer to her. Celestia shifted her body, and gently tapped her mom with a hoof.

Starshine's eyes slowly fluttered open, but it took her a couple of moments to realize her surroundings. She opened her mouth wide and yawned, and looked down at Celestia.

“Good morning, Celestia.” Her mother gave her a warm and inviting smile.  Celestia looked up at her mothers face and put her hoof over her mouth to suppress a giggle. Her mother looked at her in confusion. Celestia started laughing openly now, rolling around on the bed.

“Celestia, why are you laughing like that?”

She only put her hoof over her mouth and grabbed a mirror. Handing it to her mother, she started to giggle again.

Starshine picked up the mirror with her magic, a golden aura encasing it. Holding it up to her face, she looked into it. Her normally ethereal flowing mane was now solid-looking, and had a very bad case of bedhead. Her hair was a golden-yellow color, and it was long enough that it reached a little bit higher than her front knees. Her horn lit up, and so did her hair, as it returned to its flowing state that almost everypony saw her in. Her attention returned to her daughter, who was still sitting on the bed. Her hair had not fared any better.

“Come, Celestia. We need to get you tidied up, as for this is a very important day for your sister.”

She nodded and hopped off of the bed.  Following her mother into her private bathroom, she rubbed her eyes. She had the same nightmare as the day Luna was born. It disturbed her, but she felt like she shouldn't tell her mom. This would be the very first thing Celestia had kept from her. She had entrusted her mother with every other thought, feeling, or event that happened to her. Something, she didn't know what, just told her not to. It creeped her out a bit, but she dismissed the thought very soon.

After she and her mother were all cleaned up, they decided to head downstairs. Making their way to the royal dining room, Celestia asked her mother about the spell she used for her hair. Her mother told her it was passed down throughout the years, when the current ruler was about to pass on,  they taught it to their heir. The only other time it is taught is when the ruler is being married to somepony. She said when she was about to die, she would teach Celestia the spell. Even though that won't be happening in a long time, as a normal alicorn's lifespan is tens of thousands of years.

They made it to the dining room, and they both ordered a warm soup. After finishing their meal, they headed downstairs to where Luna's party was to be held. It was a a very large banquet hall, and it was covered in decorations. She couldn't believe this was all for her little sister. She was so excited for her to see the present she made. She had worked all of last night on it.  Come to think of it, she dosen't remember going to sleep in her mom's room. She probably fell asleep in the playroom and her mom carried her back.

“Starshine?” They heard a voice call from up the stairs, presumably Solaris'.

“Yes, Solaris?” He came down the stairs with Luna on his back.

With the mare that the party was dedicated to in attendance, the party started. They helped Luna open up her presents, which were mostly stuffed toys and such. After that was done, they had cake, and Celestia's parents took turns feeding Luna little bits of frosting. When everything was finished, Celestia announced she had something to show everybody. Her mother, who had already seen the surprise, just smiled and played along. Her father though, had not, and was genuinely curious to what Celestia had to show. She led them to the room she had worked very hard on. Opening the door, she showed them into the playroom. Her father's eyes grew wide. He was quite impressed.

“Celestia, where did you find the time to do this?”

Her mother answered for her. “She stayed up quite late in the night, which I will have a talk with her later for.”

“You shouldn't punish her, dear, she was doing no harm.”

Her mother sighed. “My dear, sometimes you are too lenient on her. But today is a special occasion, and I will allow it to slide.”

“Well, I have some duties to attend to. I'll leave you with the children, Solaris.”

Her father replied playfully, “Its our youngest daughters first birthday and you leave to do royal duties?” His expression turned more serious, and he said “Fine, you go attend to what you need to do. I'll stay here with Celly and Luna.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night, all four of them shared a bed together. After all the festivities they had they were greatly tired. Celestia awoke with a start. She looked around to see everypony else was still asleep. Thats weird, she could have sworn she heard a---!!

A fiery red ball burst through the window across from the bed, and exploded at the wall to Celestia's left. That woke everypony up in the bed. She heard her mother shout something about a cult, but she suddenly yelled at everypony present in the room “GET TO SAFETY NOW!”

Not needing anymore instruction, Solaris picked up his children and ran out the door, turning his head to see another large ball of flame enter the room, his wife dodging it by a fraction, and the bed bursting into a fiery inferno.

He stopped and yelled, “STARSHINE, RUN!”

His wife turned and looked at him with her eyes solid white, and her mane had turned into pure fire. A godly-like voice boomed when she opened her mouth “LEAVE. NOW.”

Regaining his sense, he ran downstairs. He reached the fourth floor without hassle.  Rounding a corner, he was met with a group of about 10 unicorns, all in dark black cloaks with a red slash mark that looked like blood on them.

“Your escape ends here.”

“I don't think so!”

He blasted one of the ponies with magic, sending it flying into the wall. They returned with nine times the blasts, and while her father was very powerful, he had never learned any combat techniques or spells. These ponies, however, seemed like they had gone through much training. He blocked as many as he could, but he took quite a number of hits. He charged his horn to retaliate, but the unicorns quickly shot him down again.  They barraged him with fire for what seemed like minutes, but was actually only a couple of seconds. He had dropped the kids behind him before the confrontation, so he hoped that they were safe. Starting to lose consciousness, he heard a large explosion and a white ball of fire flung itself at his assailants. He regained his thought and looked up to see his wife enraged. She was charging everywhere, destroying any enemy in her path. After the area was clear, she returned to her normal state, and ran over to her husband.

“Solaris! Your going to be fine, we'll get you to a hospital and-

Her father silenced her.

He stood up on his bloodied legs,

And pulled her into a tight embrace, staining her coat with his blood.

They stayed there like that for a couple of seconds, before her father broke the embrace and said

“Take the kids and get out of here.”

“But you are in no shape to fight! I'll stay here, defend the castle, and-”

“You are more fit to take care of the kids. I would have died back there if it wasn't for you.”

“But-”

“No. no more.”

Her mother shed a single tear, picked up the shaking fillies beside her, and ran down the castle.

On the ground floor there were unicorns everywhere. They were wrecking everything. Windows were smashed, potted plants were shattered. Royal guards lay dead on the floor.”

“No....” Celestia's mom whispered.

“No.”

“NO!”

She knew that they would all never make it out alive. There were simply too many. She noticed that they were piling many red bars of something in the middle. At a closer look, they were bundles of red sticks with black wires. They were making a huge bomb to blow up the castle.

Her mind instantly raced into action. The castle was lost. That was for sure. There was no way she could stop them, as her magic was mostly fire magic, and would set off the bomb. She had to get the children out of there, even if it meant losing her own life in the process. She went up to Celestia, who was crying heavily now.

“Celly.” That got her attention. Her mother always called her “Celestia”, or “Princess Celestia”.

She looked up at her mother with teary eyes. I’m going to teach you a spell. It is very important. Celestia nodded. Ignite your horn with magic, then think of me. Think of me as I am right now. Her mother looked like she always did, elegant, caring, and beautiful. She saved this image of her in her mind. She did what she was told, closed her eyes, and cast the spell. When she opened them, she was greeted by a waving mane that seemed to be made of a liquid, and it was moving like a calm river.

The realization hit her. “But.. But.. Mom... that means.. but you can't...” She started choking on tears, knowing that she will never see her mother again.

“Every morning, when you cast this spell, you will remember me. This way you can never forget me. Equestria is yours, and when your sister comes of age, she will have ownership also.

She hugged her oldest daughter into a tight hug. While still in the hug, her mothers horn lit up, and engulfed Celestia and Luna in light. After a second, they were gone. Tears started flowing from her eyes again. Her husband was most certainly dead by now. She had teleported her children to the nearby town of Ponyville. That was far enough away from what she was about to do.

Intermission I

An earth pony at the Ponyville hospital lay slumped over the welcoming desk, her cheek resting on her hooves. The emptiness and quiet of the hospital at night was extremely boring. Most of the patients were asleep, and a very small staff worked the night shift. She had thought that working at a hospital would be exciting. She had quickly found out different. She wished something, anything would happen.

Almost as if an answer to her wishes, a bright golden orb had appeared right outside the hospital. The orb then exploded into light, blinding the nurse. She quickly squinted her eyes shut, and held a hoof in front of her face to block out the light. After the light receded, she walked outside where she had seen the orb originate. Looking down, she saw two small alicorn fillies, both asleep.

Wait, alicorns?

But that means...

Quickly carrying them inside, she spoke into the intercom urgently.

“We have two fillies who were just transported here by magic! I do not know if they are injured or not!”

A voice responded,  “I'll be down immediately!”

She walked back over to the two fillies. She noticed the white one had red stains on her coat. Making a close inspection, she realized it was blood. If these two fillies were who she thought they were, what could have happened to them?

She looked through the front window at the royal castle, standing tall and slicing at the night sky. Bright lights shone through all of the windows in the castle. The light suddenly intensified, making the castle seem like a beacon. The light then pierced through the clouds, a pillar of light seen from hundreds of miles away. The pillar grew wider, encasing the entire castle. The pillar then erupted into fire, and she could feel its heat from inside the hospital. Unable to tear her eyes away from the endeavor, she watched as the pillar then exploded, destroying the castle and everything near it. She clamped her hooves over her ears, trying to black the deafening sound of the blast. Seconds later she saw a shock-wave incoming, and quickly shielded the two children from it. When it hit, it shattered the windows, and flung her into the wall. A sharp pain shot up her shoulder, causing her to wince when she landed on the floor.

The doctor came running down the stairs, and gasped at the scene before him. Two alicorn fillies, one covered in blood, lay before him. He quickly scooped them both up and shouted at the nurse laying on the floor,

“Are you going to be okay for a little bit?”

“Yes, I’ll manage, now go!”

With that the doctor ran up the stairs, the two fillies sitting on his back.

The nurse limped over to one of the waiting room couches, and laid down on it. Feeling sleep quickly overcoming her, she mumbled to herself,

“I got what I asked for eh?”

Her eyelids closed, and she slept.