The knocking of a silver hoof slipper against the hardness of a rich mahogany wooden door broke the silence that, besides the white alicorn princess whose sleep had been disturbed, had occupied the royal chambers of Celestia. Celestia herself felt her subconscious imaginations wane and wither away as she began to awaken, her eyes half-lidded as she sat herself upright. A glance at the clock that hung from the wall aside her warm bed showed it was late past the hour of midnight.
Sighing wearily, Celestia raised her head and with a yawn, she called out to her disturber. "Yes, who is it?"
"Tis' I, dear sister," replied a familiar voice. Celestia's eyes opened completely in surprise. She had expected one of the night-shift guards or hoofmaidens to have been the cause for her rude awakening rather than her younger sibling. Luna rarely ever came to her chambers during the night, usually preferring to explore the world from the heavens of her night sky. Perhaps there was something wrong?
"Come in, Luna," Celestia said. The doors opened, and the Mare of the Moon poked her head through the gap, smiling at Celestia. "Good evening, sister," she greeted happily. "I hope I wasn't intruding on a lovely dream. In hindsight perhaps I should have scryed your thoughts before rudely waking you at this hour."
Celestia waved a hoof dismissively. "It's quite alright, Luna. Though I am curious why you have decided to wake me so late in the night. Is there something wrong?"
Luna's head tilted as she looked at her sister funnily. "No. Nothing is wrong, dear sister. Why would you think there was?". Luna allowed herself entry into Celestia's room, closing the door behind her as she did. "I merely wished to see if my sister wanted to perhaps come and play in the snow with me?", she said as her eyes widened with hopefulness. "You know, just as she used to do when we were young?"
Celestia raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Luna, it is quite late. In some hours from now I will need to raise the sun for all of Equestria. Even if I desired to build a snowman with you, we were children back then. Now we are adults, and ones who have important responsibilities and duties."
Luna's expression fell, sadness in her eyes and a quivering lower lip. Celestia felt terrible, since she hated to see her little sister be sad, but with the steeled will she ruled Equestria with, she turned her head away and laid it back onto her pillows. "I am sorry Luna. Perhaps we can play another time."
Luna lowered her head. "I am sorry, dear sister, for waking you up," she sighed.
"It's alright. I understand," Celestia replied, her eyes already closed.
"And," Luna continued, "I am sorry for throwing that snowball at you."
Celestia opened one eye in puzzlement. "Whatever do you mean, Luna? When did you ever thr-!"
Celestia felt a sudden cold thud against the side of her face before she could finish, and she leaped into the air in shock, letting out a shocked cry. When she regained her composure, she saw bits of snow on her bed sheets. She tilted her head up to find Luna smirking back at her, another snowball floating by her side held in her magical aura.
"THAT snowball," Luna said with a cocky tone.
Celestia frowned at her sister for a few moments, before a smile crept onto her face, her lips curving as from out of thin air, a snowball appeared next to her, held in her own magical golden aura. Both sisters narrowed their eyes at one another, smiling and waiting for the other's next move.
"How about a ten second head start?", Celestia offered, clambering out of bed but keeping her eyes on the younger alicorn.
Ten seconds?", Luna scoffed. "Please, sister! I've always been able to run faster than you! Five seconds will suffice." Luna then looked away from Celestia and brought a hoof to her chest, rubbing the side of her silver slipper and looking down at it. "After all," she continued, still looking down at her hoof, "it's only fair you have a chance to catch me...". Luna turned her head to Celestia and grinned mockingly. "...Misses Sunbutt."
Celestia gasped, her cheeks flushed a rosy red at the mentioning of that embarrassing nickname. "I thought I told you never to call me that again!", she hissed quietly. Celestia then too smirked. "Or did you just forget...Woona?", she said teasingly.
Now Luna's cheeks turned a reddish hue. "Oh, now you will feel my wrath! Sunbutt!", she laughed as several more snowballs were summoned to her side. Celestia giggled playfully as she leaped across her bed and used her magic to levitate a couple of pillows in front of her. "Come then, 'Woona'!", Celestia instigated. "Let's see you get past my fluffy defenses!"
"Hey, no fair!", Luna whined as she put on a mock pouty face. "That's cheating!"
Celestia's face poked out between her soft shields, and she stuck her tongue out at the night alicorn. "All is fair in love and snowball wars, my sister," she stated, quickly withdrawing her head back behind the pillows just as Luna fired a couple of her icy projectiles at Celestia, chuckling as she ducked behind a table for cover as Celestia returned fire.
During the following hour, the alicorn sisters waged war against one another, enjoying their snowballing game with much delight, with the same enthusiasm and sisterly love they had back when they were little children. When the battle finally came to an end, both sisters worked to place all of the decor and furniture back in its proper place, along with sweeping up the snow from the carpets and the bed before it could all melt. When the results of their playing had been tidied up, Celestia took another look at the time, and seeing that she would need to be up soon to bring about the new day, Luna turned to leave Celestia's chambers, to allow her older sister to get as much rest as she could before it was her time to summon forth the light of the sun.
But before the younger sister made haste, she quickly trotted over to where Celestia lay in her bed, and wrapped her hooves around her in loving embrace, which Celestia returned. "Goodnight, dear sister," Luna said quietly. "Happy Hearth's Warming Eve."
"And Happy Hearth's Warming Eve to you as well, 'Woona'," Celestia jested as she pulled Luna closer to her.
"If you ever call me that again, I will pelt you with the biggest snowball I can muster," Luna jokingly threatened.
As Celestia laid her head back upon her pillow to return to sleep, Luna quietly made good her exit. When she reached the door, she took one last look behind her towards Celestia, and a smile grew on her face.
"Sleep well and soundly, sister. I love you dearly," Luna said in a whisper, as she closed the doors, and making her way down the hallway of Canterlot Castle, her stars still dotting the sky outside.
The End
Author's Note
Sorry for writing a terrible story, but hey, I'm a terrible writer, so yeah.
