To Fill The Sky With Lights

by JackShine

Rating: everyone
Tags: Tragedy, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Other
Length: 3151

Princess Luna attempts to destroy a beloved national holiday, what could possibly go wrong?

Princess Luna, returned to her sanity merely a fortnight ago, arises from her slumber to find herself an unwitting player in a national holiday...

...much to her displeasure.

She takes it into her hooves to remove the holiday from existence, and to set right the misconceptions surrounding her.

(My entry into a Fireworks-themed contest... sorry for the delay. Medical complications prevented this from dropping on the 4th!)
*Edit, now properly tagged tragicomedy!
**Edit #2: Actually won previously mentioned contest! :yay:
***Edit #3: Now with ART, courtesy of AzureDoodle!

Published 2015-07-08 12:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-08 12:30:01 UTC

14 Blues For Fourteen Moons, BlindBlindBlind

Princess Luna awoke, gracelessly and unashamedly rising from her bed halfway into the afternoon. She glanced around her room, it was an immaculate carbon-copy of her room from their previous castle, from a thousand years ago. It was unbelievable that her sister had built this tower for her when she originally designed castle Canterlot, despite her previous room being destroyed in her falling prey to the Nightmare.

A shade of sorrow flitted across her psyche as she recalled the mad-pony she had become. She doubted that anypony would forgive her for her sins, and had spent the past fortnight holed up in her tower, recovering from the magical backlash of the elements’ purging spell.

As if summoned by magic, her maid was gently knocking at the door, requesting permission to enter and assist her with readying herself for the… afternoon.

Luna still didn’t know the name of her maid, and she was too afraid of committing a social faux pas to ask her directly. She thought it had something in common with one of her sister’s teas, but she just couldn’t manage to remember it. She tried to remember while her light blue mane was smoothed out, but it eluded her. She tried listing all the different types of teas she knew while the maid straightened her bed, and replaced the sheets; but it was still to no avail.

Having sufficiently prepared the newly returned princess for the few remaining daylight hours, the bright yellow-colored maid bowed, and left the room promptly; too afraid to be the first one to speak.

As the door began closing, the name finally struck her, “Thank you…” The door was now fully closed, and Luna slumped her head in defeat before whispering, “...Chrysanthemum Bloom.”

With her view now shifted downward, Luna noticed a copy of the day’s newspaper, left neatly folded for her to read. A small grin graced her face as she picked up the paper, eager to learn more about the world she had been away from for so long.

<><><><><><>THE CANTERLOT CHRONICLE<><><><><><>
A Half-Millenia of Fireworks!

Today in both Canterlot, and nearly every clutch of civilization across Equestria, we celebrate the annual Festival of Light. This year marks the five-hundredth occurrence of this festival, and ponies everywhere are pulling out all the stops to make sure that tonight will be a night not soon forgotten!

What is the Festival, you ask? Why, it is the anniversary of that night, five hundred years ago, in which humble a humble earth pony, Wild Mortar, single-hoofedly lit up the empty night sky with such a vibrant display of color, that the stars returned to their proper places!

This year, the staff at the chronicle have managed to achieve an interview with Wild Mortar’s current heir, Elaborate Mortar! So please, join us as we explore one of our most cherished festivals! Learn how fireworks are made! Discover the truth behind Nightmare-Moon’s heinous crimes! Find out if you have the what it takes to be a pyrotechnician!

Continued on Page 8.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Luna dropped the paper, eyes wide with shock as she reread the front page. She had expected a great number of things upon her return, but to be slandered by a family for a thousand years, she couldn’t believe her eyes! She flipped through the pages, hoping beyond hope that the article was simply using her infamous moniker as a means to garner attention. Her hopes were dashed on page nine, where the article’s author waxed poetic about the Mortar family’s heroic efforts to thwart the efforts of “Nightmare-Moon, the mad-mare who had stolen the very stars from the sky in spite.”

Pressing a hoof into the offensive article, Princess Luna threw open the doors to her bedroom with her magic, then whirled sharply to leave, shredding the papers beneath her as she stormed out into the hallway. Her sister would soon be done with the day’s official courts, and Luna intended to have this assault on her name cleared immediately. There would be no celebration of her banishment this year, or any year after, when she was finished!

------------------------------Three Hours Later------------------------------

She slumped up the stairs to her sister’s bedroom. The storming had ended two hours ago, when she had summarily found herself at the entrance of the royal sewers. The stomping had ended an hour ago, when she had found herself in the royal banquet hall. And the slightly pointed walking had ended thirty minutes ago, when she found herself back in her own room, pointedly lacking a destroyed newspaper and made once again immaculate in her absence. Only after all of this fruitless exploration of the castle had Luna stooped so low as to ask a guard for directions in what was supposed to be her own home.

Arriving at her sister’s bedroom at long last, Luna felt the moon stir from its slumber, as her sister was no doubt preparing to end the day, and begin the night. There was no time for pleasantries now, she needed to have her sister cancel this abyssal mockery of a holiday at once! Squaring her shoulders, Luna briskly marched towards the doorway, and without a word of warning, threw open the doors with her magic.

Princess Celestia, horn aglow with magic, gasped and turned to face the sudden intrusion into her bedroom. Upon seeing her sister, she immediately calmed, and finished casting the spell to turn day into night, failing to notice the grimace her younger sister was wearing.

“Tia, we need a favor of you, it is of utmost importance that you are able to assist us immediately.”

Celestia cocked her head and raised an eyebrow, she hadn’t seen her sister so serious since she had fallen into her toilet three days ago.

“A rather disgraceful charade of news has made a false idol of us! And to make matters worse, an entire family line is single-hoofedly perpetuating the inane falsehood that we had somehow absconded with the stars a thousand years ago!”

Celestia cringed, and looked away from her sister, allowing Luna to continue her tirade unabated.

“These insolent whelps even have the nerve to claim that they are the single reason that there are stars in the sky at all! As if we had never assembled the stars in the first place! As though we had gone mad, not vying for our follower’s attentions, but for no reason at all!”

Luna stopped and looked at her sister, nearly falling over when she saw her sister trying to make herself hidden. Her train of thought was coming to an immediate halt. Her sister would be springing to action to make this right. Her sister would be calmly handling the situation with that same serene smile on her face, regardless of the circumstances. Her sister would be waiting for a grand scheme, enacted years in advance to take hold and resolve the situation in a manner best for everypony. Her sister would be caring for her, protecting her from baseless insults… unless they were anything other than baseless.

The temperature of the room plummeted. The firestorm that had marched throughout the castle had suddenly found itself a thousand leagues below the surface of the ocean, and was only now aware of the implications of that fact.

“T-Tia…” Luna stuttered, ”Say something. Tell us the truth… what happened that night, when we were... banished?”

“Did you truly not know, Luna?”, Celestia paused for a moment, looking behind her to the bloodshot skyline, now currently hosting both the sun and the moon on the horizon. The night sky, and all the stars within it, hidden behind the last vestiges of her day.

“When you left… you took the stars with you.”

She remained quiet for a moment longer, a wistful look falling over her face before continuing.

“For years, the nights were so bleak, not a single star in the sky; just that single moon with your visage ingrained upon it, mocking me every night, tearing fresh the unhealed wounds in my heart…” She trembled, head faced downward, and choking out, “I don’t know how they did it. Somehow they continued on, living their lives, more fearful of the night than ever before, but somehow they continued on, while I was trapped here, repeating that cursed night over and over.”

Luna bit her lip, and placed one foreleg behind the other, shuffling about awkwardly. What should she say? Was she expected to say anything at all? How could she say anything at this point? She hadn't been there, she had been… gone.

“Tia… I…” Luna whispered.

Celestia raised her head, tears visibly welling up in her eyes. “And so they made new stars, Luna. Temporary flashes of light and color, in new arrangements every night, each time more fantastic than the last. They were convinced -hah- that they could fill the sky with something permanent, if they could just make a rocket that shot high enough, a flare that burned bright enough, a cracker that was loud enough.” Rivulets of tears trickling down her face, she continued on her choked tirade, “And, and, and, and the thing was Luna… you see, one night… it worked.”

Luna stood there, mouth slightly agape, she had never considered what may have happened to the night sky in her absence. She had simply assumed that her sister had managed to control the stars as deftly as she had managed to control the moon. The notion that, for any amount of time, the night had been allowed to fall into complete darkness, with only her twisted image in the moon casting a solitary sickening light upon the lands, turned her stomach. The fact that she herself had decimated the night sky that she had spent so long crafting, and summarily left it barren for half a millenia, tore at her heartstrings. The list of her sins and failures simply grew every day it seemed.

She looked down, grimacing as the realization sunk its retched daggers into her heart.

“Tis no wonder then, that nopony wished for our return…” She sighed, “And perhaps it would have been best had we been fully and truly forgotten on the moon.”

“NO.”

It was little more than a whisper, in truth, but it carried behind it the weight of a thousand years of self-inflicted misery; and when applied with the royal canterlot voice, this single thundering proclamation from Princess Celestia echoed through the room, causing the windows to nearly buckle, and for dust to fall from the rafters. She made no moves, stoically filling the room with her regal presence. The manner in which she had invoked the old canterlot voice meant that there would be no discussion, no negotiations, and no further deviations from her tale.

Returning to her normal voice, Celestia continued, “Luna, there are so many things we take for granted. Our lives, our liberties, and even our loved ones are all just fleeting fantasies from which we may awaken at a moment’s notice, never to see them again.”

She moved closer to her diminutive sister, squatting down to match her height, and gently raising Luna’s chin with a wing, to match her gaze.

“Equestria hurt you, it took for granted the night that you spent so long transforming into an indescribable thing of beauty and intrigue. The Nightmare hurt you, telling you sweet traitorous nothings, to bait you into surrendering your freedom. But worst of all, I hurt you, by not noticing the cracks in our foundation until the entire world was set against you. I know that we can never undo the past, and that of everypony involved, I am the least deserving of forgiveness, so please, even if you never forgive me, just don’t ever say those words again.”

The facade of strength broke as she fell onto Luna, clutching her tightly, and encapsulating her beneath her pale wings as the sun and the moon finished their exchanging of positions in the now-darkened sky.

“Luna, I need you, I always did, and I would do anything if it would show you how much you mean to me.”

Luna sat there, cradled in her sister’s embrace, before whispering into her elder sister’s ear, “If you truly mean this, then call off this wretched festival.”

Celestia closed her eyes, her horn glowing in concentration as she surrounded the room with a barrier, this was going to hurt, but she had to reply.

“No.” Replied Celestia, in a whisper as sorrowful as it was final.

“What?” Replied Luna, in a whisper cold as the vacuum of space.

“I said no. I will not stop the festival of lights.”

It happened in an instant, Celestia was flung across the room by the sheer power of Luna’s voice as she responded in a style of the royal voice reserved for only their most detested enemies across the field of battle.

Her voice slick with rage, and brimming with fury and darkness, Luna screamed at her sister,
“Why! Why do you torment us so? A thousand years, and nothing has changed! At least back then, ponies had the common courtesy to simply ignore us, and nothing more! But now, look at this, an entire festival dedicated to our failure, to our loss, to our defeat!"

Her mane rapidly billowing as if caught in a hurricane, and raw magic pouring out of her glaring eyes, she began casting war magics; summoning blades made seemingly of space itself to cut at anything in the room as she blindly lashed out in her emotional torment. A wordless scream echoed out as she cut curtains to ribbons, tearing gashes in the walls, and leaving deep furrows in the floor in her fury.

Celestia turned away, she couldn’t bare to see her sister like this, not again. Memories of that night a thousand years ago repeated in her head as she shut down; casting another shield on herself to keep herself safe. Logically, she knew that her sister would tire quickly, as she still had yet to recover even a fifth of her original power; but her heart was still trapped in a time a thousand years past. And so, despite her previous spellworks, the glass windows in the room summarily gave way and shattered, unprotected from the onslaught of sound emanating from the enraged princess of the night.

The onslaught seemed to last for ages, but in truth, the storm was less than a minute long before Luna expended her magical energies, and fell to the floor, collapsing in a sobbing heap.

Celestia rose from her prone position across the room, dispelling the aegis she had summoned, and cantered over to her sister. She leaned down to nuzzle the fallen princess, speaking softly, with the compassionate warmth of the first day of spring.

“Luna, I can understand why this festival angers you so. But I believe that it’s true purpose has eluded you.” Looking away for a moment, Celestia wistfully muttered, “Just another way that I have failed you, I suppose.”

Turning back to her sister, she continued,”This festival isn’t a celebration of victory. It’s a remembrance of what we have lost. It’s a reminder that we must live every day to the fullest. It’s a promise that if we do our best, in honest earnestness, that someday we can meet again with those ponies that we so dearly loved. It’s a ceremony of resolutions, to never take for granted the things we love again.”

Luna looked up at her sister, her eyes no longer consumed with malice as she listened, hanging on every word.

“Luna, how could I ever be such a failure as to abolish the festival which taught me one of the most valuable lessons in friendship? To never take your friends, or in our case, our family for granted? This night, so many years ago marked when not I, but my subjects, brought back the stars, setting a course for your return just a few weeks ago.”

Tears of joy and understanding fell silently from Luna’s eyes onto the marred tiles of the room, glinting as the fell, reflecting the first explosions of light and color outlining her sister’s form, framed by the destroyed balcony windows.

“Sister, I let myself be blinded by hate again, I’m not worthy of any such affections…” Luna cried as she buried her face in her sister’s chest.

Celestia turned towards the window, and guided her sister to the balcony, miraculously undamaged by recent events.

“Luna, you are worthy of all the affections that are given to you freely, now won’t you come and share your beautiful night with me again, like we did so long ago?”

With a silent consent between them, the pair sat down on the balcony, and watched the explosions of fireworks dance across the night sky. In the distance, they could see similar displays, some larger, but many smaller, than the display directly overhead.

As the displays came to an end, Luna stood up, reaching down inside herself, calling upon the stars she had left untouched for so long. Her horn blazing, and her wings spread in her effort, she willed them to reveal their hidden patterns, to arrange themselves so that the night was once more the masterful tapestry of an artist, like it was ages ago. She asked them to return to a time long forgotten, so as to inspire these ponies once more; who had worked so hard, for so long, to fill the sky with lights.

Author's Note

For anyone confused about my obscure chapter name... the chapter ~~is named after~~ is pretty much a cheap knock-off of the album I listened to while writing this. If the album weren't an hour long, I would recommend listening to it while reading this... but unfortunately A Silver Mt. Zion's epic is split into four pieces, which, although they collectively do encapsulate all of the feelings I tried to impart upon you all in this story... no single song was less than 13 minutes long, and no single song fully imparted the feelings I wanted to leave you with.

If you, for whatever reason find yourself wanting to read this story again, go ahead and listen to

after the "3 hours later" break
and

after the "fight scene". I felt they were a true majesty of catharsis... if you are OK with post-rock/punk. (The ending is worth the extreme vamping... but not worth skipping for! :raritywink: )

Oh, and if anyone has a yellow-coated maid-pony "OC" named Chysanthemum that they feel I have "copied"... Sorry, but I honestly just needed a pointless maid for some cheap comedy in the opening. I have no plans for this pony to ever be in any other work I publish... She came to me in a blind muse, and I hold no claim to her!