The hinges of the narrow, arched window of the throne room of the old palace in the Everfree gave way, and like a flying Chrysopelea snake, an ethereal blob of mist broke through the threshold, gilding down towards Celestia. Celestia sat still, smiling as the mist wrapped her fetlocks in little hugs, and knowingly tickled the spots where the twitchy hairs of her pastern gave way to her hooves. The mist moved back, and Luna, her coat the same kind, cold light blue that it had been years before her banishment, emerged from the vapor.
“Luna. I missed you.” Celestia shuffled towards her sister, each gentle step an humble prayer. She bowed the tip of her muzzle down into Luna’s shoulder, and held it there in an extended gesture of supplication that begged her sister’s forgiveness with all the tenderness of a lover’s poem to a lost mate. “I'm glad to have the old you back.”
A lonely silence tyrranized the moments before Luna’s reply. “There must be hundreds of ponies waiting. I've been gone for so long.”
Celestia slowly drew back to a cozy distance, and conceded a nod. “I have failed those who wait, in that respect. You know that the final step cannot be taken without you. There are just a couple hundred ponies who have passed the relevant psychiatric examinations and gone through the required counseling.”
When Celestia looked back at her again, Luna was silently sitting. Her still form soaked up the starlight that seeped into the throne from from the window through which she had entered. Without stirring, she said, “you would let them pass into my realm, dear sister?”
Celestia nodded. “I never valued your night as I should have. I have missed you dearly, Luna.” Celestia had forcibly calmed herself to the point of an affected stillness, like that of a tired veteran too weary in years to be expected to stand at attention, yet too loyal to allow themselves to sit. Just before she would have routed into a nervous squirm, Celestia laid down, her belly shivering as she lowered herself onto the floor. She looked up at Luna with penitent eyes.
“Luna. Take me gently into your good night.”
Luna's wings raged outwards, and she reared back on her two hind legs, building towards a takeoff. A white fire consumed her eyes, and her wings trusted her upwards against the dead air. In the Royal Canterlot Voice, Luna thundered, “NO. MY SISTER WILL NOT KILL HERSELF.”
Celestia noticed a dull pain in her mouth, and with much effort, she unclenched her teeth.
Luna’s descent was measured, and she traced curt, disaffected little loops towards the floor. An humble wind scraped in from the window above, which caused the tapestries to bow as the princess of the night descended.
“Celestia, I have not seen you for a thousand years. It is inconsiderate of you to scare me so when I have but just returned from exile. Please, let us be together for an interval before you make such requests of me.” Luna landed next to Celestia, her hooves meeting the floor in a flustered din. Luna dutifully put a wing over her sister.
With a slow breath out in the practiced style of the Canterlot Breathing Exercises, Celestia pushed all of the air out of her chest, and relaxed as her tummy pulled itself inwards in a loyal hug. A shy smile of appreciation came to play on Celestia’s lips.
Luna’s wing lifted slightly, stretched all the way over and past Celestia’s back, and settled down, her primaries caressing the soft skin of Celestia’s barrel. As if a great weight had just been removed from her shoulders, Celestia sighed. Luna, her eyes full of compassion, spoke. “What in particular has gotten you down, sister?”
A tender pressure sang upon Luna’s cheek in a ballad of the sober fuzziness of sisterly love. The sensation on Luna’s cheek lingered happily even after Celestia drew her muzzle back.
Having been successfully distracted, Luna blushed. “I am glad that you show me such compassionate warmth, sister.” While keeping her wing wrapped around Celestia, Luna sidled up to her sister, bringing the entirety of her side into contact with the near side of her sister’s barrel and flank. Celestia was warm, and the soft flame of her embrace nuzzled Luna where they came together.
Luna bent her head towards her sister, and rubbed the crest of her mane against her sister’s neck in slow little circles. The needy hairs of Celestia’s neck welcomed her touch, the lengths rising to meet Luna before she reached Celestia's neck, and then bowing to Luna’s caresses as she consoled her sister with her touch. Celestia’s nostrils were soothed by scents of lavender and vanilla as Luna’s head snuggled up towards her sister’s throatlatch, and then circled back down her neck.
Celestia broke their embrace, scooting back before she relaxed her head onto Luna's back. Luna’s back was like a warm, squishy cloud bed, and its tender folds hugged Celestia as she slept. Celestia barely heard herself mutter something about taking a “short little nap”, and her legs spilled out on the floor in a tired mess as she leaned more of her weight onto her sister.
Celestia fell asleep on her sister’s uncomfortably pinned wing. Luna let it be. She craned her neck around to Celestia’s sleeping form, and spoke. “Dearest sister, take your reprieve, and rise soon. I will wake you when you are ready. May you wake with all the vigor and life I once knew you to have.”
Luna filled her dream with a thousand constellations, dancing like joyful fireflies across the night sky. Then, Celestia dreamed of the twilight, and there, she sat with the ponies who she had guided, and they filled her dream with stories of the wonder of friendship. Lastly, Celestia dreamed of the day. There, Luna sat by her side, and thousands of her little ponies came before her, each smiling or singing or squeeing as they came to declare their love and admiration for their princesses.
