Luna growled under her breath, speeding through the air. Her body was covered in scratches and her mane was windswept. Behind her, black beasts chased, their banshee cries still raining in her ears. They were impossible to look at head on; Luna could not describe their appearance but for the term ‘horrific’.

And annoying.

“The shit I go through for my subjects,” she growled. The wind whipped her face as she struggled to see through the dark forest to find the missing pony. She knew she should be a little abashed of her strong language, but one could only take so many generic nightmares in one night before getting tired of, as she said it herself, ‘this shit’.

And this nightmare was just too generic for her tastes. In fact, it was nearly identical to 8 other nightmares she had gone through already. Evidently, today had been an awful waking day for Equestrians. She bit back a sigh as she flew as fast as ponily possible. Just get this over quickly, she thought to herself. Then you can possibly get some rest before tomorrow.

She darted through the trees, a sliver of white catching her eye. Her eyes centered in. There was the little filly now, running for her life and screaming at the top of her lungs; perfect. Well, not perfect, awful, but there was the pony she was looking for. A glint of moonlight in her eyes, she dove.

*~*~*~

In a burst of light, Princess Luna tiredly collapsed to the floor. She groaned, not wanting to get up - but then she glanced at the clock.

5:30.

“Fuck me!” She let her head hit the floor with a sharp thud, groaning louder. It was not many nights wherein she couldn’t sleep, but it seemed tonight was going to be one of them. Too many ponies having too many nightmares. She knew, deep down, that she could just leave them to their unrest. After all, all of her subjects had lasted 1000 years without the powers she had over their dreams.

But therein lied the problem.

1000 years was a very long time to suffer from nightmares. Luna had made it her goal, the instant she resumed her various duties, that her subjects would suffer no longer. As long as she could, she would combat their nightmares - so what if she didn’t get to sleep for a few days? She could survive on no sleep for a surprising amount of time, being an alicorn. She couldn’t allow herself to grow soft just because she’d been getting too much sleep whilst locked away on the moon.

That didn’t stop her from setting her alarm for the sunrise and promptly passing out on the cold floor, however. 1 hour of sleep is always, always, better than none.

Her severe lack of sleep is, of course, the reason why she didn’t hear Celestia knocking at 6:30. “Sister? You weren’t on your balcony. Are you alright?”

Snoring was the only response.

“Sister?”

“Mmn…. zzz….”

Celestia sighed softly, rolling her eyes and opening the door, trotting in without a care for her sister’s privacy. Celestia had been without a sister long enough. Privacy meant nothing to her anymore. She took one look at Luna on the floor and her face softened. “Oh, Lulu…” She couldn’t suppress a small giggle. Her sister had absolutely no right looking so adorable.

Next to her, the alarm on the desk went off. Celestia silenced it without a second thought. Luna didn’t even stir. With another soft giggle, Celestia lifted Luna up with her magic, levitating her with ease. She pulled away the covers and laid her sister down, tucking her in. Just like old times, came the thought without any warning. Celestia swallowed her nostalgia and kisses her sister’s forehead. “It’s okay to take a break, dear Sister. I shall take on your duties for the day.”

She exited the room, closing the doors quietly. She then turned to the guards ever present at her sister’s door. “I ask you two,” she said in a whisper, “to guard her rest for me. Luna is in desperate need of sleep at the moment. If she tries to run out of here to meet me at breakfast, I want you to stop her. Will you do that?” The guards looked at each other, uneasy. Celestia scowled. Well, that wouldn’t do. “It would be a great duty,” she added on, before they could try to convince themselves otherwise.

The guard on the right - that’s right, Swift Spear was her name - cleared her throat and stood a bit taller. “Of course, your highness. We’ll make your order known.” The other guard - Dainty Wings - nodded as well.

She smirked. They would use her as an excuse, more like. Luna could be intimidating to anyone except her. So, if they had “Celestia’s orders” behind them, they could say anything to her. It was certainly an overreach of power sometimes, but that’s what made them sisters, of course. “Thank you. I trust you’ll protect her. Good day.” With that, she spun around, moving past the corner of the hallway before teleporting to her balcony.

Ah. The moon. She smiled at it. It wasn’t rare that she looked at it, now. Before Luna’s return, she had hated to look at the moon, and was certain to make her encounters with it short and brief. The only time she had looked at it long had been on Luna’s birthday, of course. But now, with its surface unblemished and smooth, it looked so much grander than she ever remembered it being. Perhaps she just gave it the proper amount of admiration it deserved, now. Just like her sister.

She took a deep breath and allowed her horn to glow. And, as she did for so very long, she rose the sun and lowered the moon. It felt familiar and yet oh so foreign to her now.

She relished the feeling.

*~*~*~

“I see that Princess Luna will not be joining us today. Again.”

Celestia paused and allowed the cup of tea to leave her lips without a sip taken. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced at the pony who spoke. The room had gone mostly silent - not that it was ever particularly loud. She searched for a name for a moment. Ah, yes, Golden Lace. She had always been a rather… insensitive mare. “What was that, Lace?” Celestia said, a dainty smile just barely touching her face.

Golden seemed to squirm slightly in her chair as all eyes turned to her, obviously or not. “W-Well, Princess, I merely wanted to question the health of your sister. Is it usual for her to take punctuality so frivolously?”

Celestia waited for those here to stop muttering softly enough that they thought she couldn’t hear. The smile never left her face. So this was their fencing game today? “I throw no barbs my sister’s way for her need for sleep. I know I myself have overworked myself to the point where I dozed off past breakfast.” She levitated her cup of tea back to her lips, taking a short sip.

“While that is certainly true, Princess, we are all just a bit concerned about this becoming a recurring thing.” Golden pushed ahead - Celestia could see the sparkle of politics in the mare’s eyes. “Perhaps it might be best for your sister’s health if you took over a few more of her duties. Surely that would ease her enough that she could get enough sleep to meet us for breakfast?”

Celestia took another sip of tea, letting the room grow quite silent. Nopony spoke. Golden began to shift somewhat uncomfortably. Slowly, Celestia let the teacup rest back on her plate. She shut her eyes and let out a soft giggle. “Oh, that sounds like a lovely idea, Lace.”

A collective sigh of relief swept through the room. Golden looked as though she had won a medal of honor. “I thought so,” she announced, as though she had been certain of all of her actions thus far. “If you just take over like you used to-”

“As I was saying,” Celestia said, the hints of amusement in her voice growing as she cut off Lace’s triumphant scramble, “it’s a lovely idea, but it sadly can’t happen.” She shut her eyes, sighing wistfully. “You see, I have no control over the night, and thus cannot take over her duties.”

Golden looked rather affronted at the idea. “Why not, Princess? You did perfectly well for 1000 years.”

Celestia opened her eyes once more, only briefly struggling to keep her smile on her face. Those 1000 years were not perfectly spent, and she had half a mind to correct that particular misconception. Oh, but she knew it would do no good. Not yet, anyways. She sighed softly. “Those 1000 years were spent with many a nightmare, Golden. I cannot walk in the realms of dreams easily, as it is not my domain. Luna must be in charge of the nightmares of Equestria.”

One of the other nobles thought to ride on the curtails of her success now, it seemed. Lemon Slate cleared his throat. “Be that as it may, Princess, we have clearly survived with nightmares for quite a long time. Is that duty of hers truly that important? Or is it just a nice ‘bonus’ of her duties?”

“A bonus? Whatever do you mean?”

“Well, Princess, isn’t it obvious?” He chuckled. Celestia scrunched her nose up ever so slightly; his personality was as sour as his name at times. “She spends all night dreaming and all morning napping. It seems to me she gets more sleep than those she helps!” He kept chuckling - and that was truly the only term for what he was doing, strangely enough - although few joined in on his laughter.

Celestia smiled serenely. “You truly believe my sister is asleep all night as she works to end all nightmares in all of Equestria?”

Lemon seemed to sense the slight edge in her tone. His laughter ceased. “W-Well,” he said quickly, “I merely assumed-”

“You do know what they say about assuming - though, that is a particularly racist comment, isn’t it?” She hummed to herself, lost in thought. Whoever had thought of that silly phrase? She shook her head, giggling softly. “In any case, the phrase stands true. Assume and you make an ass out of me, Lemon.”

The tension in the room seemed to grow as Celestia uttered the pseudo-curse word without a single hint of hesitation. No doubt all of them were correcting their mental image of her to having used the term only as the original meaning. No matter, another misconception for later. “To educate you, Lemon, allow me to tell you what my sister does each and every night.”

“Princess, that is really not-”

“Necessary?” She smiled. “I do believe it is.”

“You see,” she began, “my sister begins each night by casting a powerful spell. At the start of my reign without her, I, for lack of a better term, auditioned ponies to try and cast it. The best unicorn who cast the spell lasted in the dream world for, perhaps, 2 minutes.” Maybe it was 3, she could be a tad biased. “Thus, she already casts a spell so powerful, normal unicorns such as yourself can only-” She paused, smirking at the pun. “-dream of casting.”

“Then, she goes through the realm of dreams and seeks out every single nightmare in the entirety of Equestria.” She paused, glancing to her right side. A noble she was particularly close to was there, a smirk hardly hidden on her face. “Crystal Clear? What was the last census count for the entirety of Equestria?”

Crystal Clear shyly cleared her throat. “Well, Princess, it has been awhile since we did a complete census, but given average death and birth rates in all of the space between one border to the other, averaging up, Equestria currently has around 100,000 ponies in its borders, discounting the Crystal Empire.”

“And counting the Empire?”

“105,000, approximately.”

Celestia turned back to Lemon Slate, who looked particularly cowed by now. “There you have it. She looks and sorts through the dreams of approximately 105,000 ponies every single night, which is after she runs night court, raises the moon, and casts that spell which most fainted after when they attempted it. And then, after going through and clearing out every last nightmare she can, she proceeds to wake up at the same hour I do and set the moon and meet us all for breakfast.”

“Now, tell me, Lemon Slate - doesn’t a pony deserve a day off now and then?”

She sipped her tea.

Author's Note

Did I mention I low-key adore Princess Celestia?

Sorry it took me so long to write a chapter of this, my friends. It has been a long, hard journey for me these past months! ^^;