The Tea as Brisk as the Weather
The cold, brisk winter night remained calm. The world around was covered by a blanket of darkness. Countless constellations of stars could be seen in the night sky. In accompaniment with the stars the moon adorned the night sky, giving the world it's pale light. The moon was generous with it's light on this night. With the light reflecting upon the glistening snow. Making it sparkle in the light of the moon as if they were the stars themselves.
There was no sound of any life. It was a completely still night in busy hustle of Canterlot. There was only snow upon roofs and smoke coming from chimneys from the many town houses that inhabited Canterlot. The faint glow of street lamps gave light to those who wanted walk upon the quiet streets. But all were inside to ward themselves from the coldness of the winter night. Instead, the ponies decided to sleep cozily inside their homes.
With the night sky and the moon to form a harmony like none ever heard before. The snow had a minor part but played an essential role in creating the character of the song with it's crystal clear chiming. The quiet Canterlot were responsible for creating the warm tones of the song. All of these instruments and tones that conjured this scene of a cold night in Canterlot gave many artists and writers (like myself) much to paint and or write about. It was a night like none other, and it would not be here for another year or so.
There were many ponies who enjoyed calm nights like these and one of them was Princess Luna. The caretaker of the moon and Princess of Equestria. Much like her older sister, Princess Celestia, she carefully tended to the needs of her subjects. Whether it be soothing them within their dreams or making sure that they have a lovely moon to sleep under. She did all of this and more meticulously, which ensured that pleasant nights would prevail in Equestria. There would be no nightmares, only dreams that allowed the mind to freely roam and explore with no fear.
Princess Luna stood on a balcony at the top of the Star Swirl Royal Observatory. Her body had a soft night-blue tone to it. Her mane had two layers to it, the innermost layer contained a dark blue night sky with stars contained within it making it opaque. The outer layer was a soft dark blue that had no stars and was not opaque unlike the inner layer of her mane. She looked towards the night sky she had crafted herself with her turquoise eyes that glistened in the pale moonlight. She wore nothing to shield herself from the cold that was the winter night she stood outside in. Luna then turned around and made way towards the doors that stood behind her. She then opened them and entered inside and closed them behind her.
As soon as she stepped in, Princess Luna was greeted by warmth and the orange glow of the fire. The room had several round windows on it's walls that let in the pale moonlight into the room. This allowed the light of the moon to mix in with the glow of the fire. From where Luna entered she could see a rug that was simply the color of midnight blue. It laid in front of the fire. A couch was positioned behind the rug. Making an ideal distance so that its guest can receive the warmth of the fire but yet not burst into flames itself. A desk towards the right side of the room had dormant candles waiting to be lit. With the desk there was a wooden chair that had elaborate carvings of the moon, night sky, and much more. Towards the left, there were some plants that flourished under the night. One of these plants was the Midnight Blossom. Under the pale moonlight, the plant bloomed into a beautiful purple flower. Luna looked at all of the decor in the room and made her way towards her desk and sat down in the wood chair that wasn't the most comfortable, but it did its job.
Luna looked towards the bottom of the desk and filled her horn with a blue magical aura. She then proceeded to open the bottom desk drawer with her magic. She pulled out a journal and then followed by a pen and placed these two items on her desk. She opened her journal and flipped to a blank page and began to write within her journal.
"The calm Night is lovely, it really is a change from the busy nights of Canterlot in the summer. With all of those festivals and what those ponies call "clubs" can really ruin the continuity of a peaceful night. I wish Equestria had more nights like this itself... "
Luna wrote through the night and before she realized it, it was already five AM and she needed to wake her sister up. She again filled her horn with the magical aura and placed the journal back into it's respective drawer, along with the pen. She closed the drawer and got up from her chair and began to stretch. She forgot how long she was writing, winter nights are usually longer and it was easier for Luna to get lost in her activities of the night. She made her way to the doors and then opened them and left the room she had been in for so long.
She walked the empty halls of the Canterlot castle, the moonlight was the only source of light that lit her way through the castle. She continued to walk in the moonlit halls until she came to a door. Two metal doorknobs were at the bottom of Luna's neck. She then used her magic to turn one of them. But she stopped herself and released her magical grip on the doorknob. But she decided to do it anyways. Luna opened the door regardless and entered her sister's dark room where there was simply no light to be found. It was just complete darkness, Celestia must have had the blinds closed if it was this dark in her room. Luna scrounged through the dark room and eventually found a candle to light. She lit the candle with her magic and found her sister sleeping comfortably in her respective bed.
Celestia did not always have a perfect mane. She had a very serious case of a bedraggled mane, whenever she slept, she had to always tend to her mane the next morning. Her mane covered her sleeping eyes and revolved around her white horn. The colors of flowing green, blue, pink, and purple becoming extremely bedraggled always gave Luna a good chuckle, for it always came in different forms every time she had to wake her sister up (which was uncommon).
Before long, Luna eventually poked her sister to get up. "Celestia, get up, it's soon going to be time to raise your sun."
Celestia gave a groan and covered a pillow over her ears, "I don't want to get up." Her tired voice was muffled by the pillows and the bed.
"Sister, you're going to have to get up, you need to raise the sun," Luna spoke in a slightly annoyed voice. Celestia was hard to wake up in the morning for she was a deep sleeper whenever she had the chance to sleep. "I'll get you coffee and a pastry." Luna awaited a response but after a minute she realized that her sister was fast asleep once more. She nudged her again, waking Celestia up.
"I'm up!" as she said this, her head sharply rose up from her bed and laid back down.
"Wake up."
"Luna, I'm now awake," her voice sounded slightly disgruntled. Her hair still covered her face. Celestia moved her mane out of her face so that she can see. She looked out into the dark room that she was in. To her right was Luna, standing there with a candle in her magical grasp. Celestia gave a slight smile to her. "Thanks Luna. I don't know how much longer I would be sleeping."
"I only can imagine how many times you have overslept while I was gone."
Celestia was silent for a moment recalling how many times she had to be awakened. She then responded, "Plenty."
Both of them chuckled at the fact that Celestia overslept many times when she had to raise both the sun and the moon. Celestia and Luna sat in silence for a short time but then Luna broke the silence.
"I'll get you your breakfast today sister," spoke Luna, "You're already behind schedule as it is."
"Thank you Luna, I will just take warm water with various assorted tea bags- and a pastry while your at it."
"Understood then, expect them in a couple minutes."
"I'll be in the shower," spoke Celestia. With that in mind, Luna had exited the room and left Celestia all for herself. She eventually rose from her bed and made her way towards the bathroom. She opened the door and turned on the lights. The lights were installed a couple years ago and allowed for instantaneous lighting of both her room and bathroom. The invention of the light originally came from Manehatten. Celestia requested that she had personal quarters within the castle to have electricity so that it was much easier to see whenever ponies awakened in the dark mornings or were awake at night.
In her bathroom, there was a bathtub right in the middle of the room. Two counters were to the left and right sides of the room. On the right there were shampoos, conditioners, and any makeup you could think of that Celestia would have like was on that counter. She selected some of the shampoos and conditioners from the shelves and place them on the edge of the bathtub. She walked towards the other side and looked at herself in the mirror and thought to herself, "Wow, I look terrible." Her bedraggled mane was nothing close to that which Equestrian citizens recognize as. Her white coat was disoriented and there were multiple spots where the hair was sticking up.
Celestia then made her way to the shower which was in the corner of the room and turned the shower on and out rushed cool water. Celestia exited and stood outside and was holding her shampoo and conditioner, waiting for the water to get warm. She eventually tested the water and it actually was the perfect temperature and she stepped inside and placed down her shampoo and conditioner. Steam rose from the bottom of the shower up to the bottom of her neck. She closed her eyes and placed her head under the shower-head and allowed it to soak her hair so that it could become flat. She waited and eventually the hair became soaking wet and then picked up her shampoo and applied it to her hair (Many say that she has a shampoo that is magical infused with a spell that allows her mane to wave in the windless air but none have come across proof to prove it). Then she eventually cleaned up and organized the rest of her body in the shower.
She exited the shower and approached the left side of the room where there was a toothbrush and some toothpaste awaiting her. The mirror had fogged up due to the shower had created a lot of steam. Celestia wiped away at the mirror and saw that her mane had placed itself into the position she had desired to and did nothing with it, she simply allowed it to dry out. She then levitated her toothbrush and placed some toothpaste on it. She then placed it under the sink and watered the toothpaste down and then began brushing her teeth.
As she was brushing her teeth she heard Luna say in her bedroom, "Celestia I got what you wanted." Celestia tilted her head backwards towards the main door and tried to speak through only for it to come out as "Thanhkh youh Luhna!" and heard no response from her afterwards meaning that Luna had already left her room. As she finished brushing her teeth she spitted out whatever she could into the sink. She then took a cup and filled it with water and placed the water in her mouth, and swooshed the water around in her mouth and then spat it out.
Afterwards Celestia exited the room and was greeted by the chilling coolness of her room. She saw that there was simply a candle right beside her breakfast. Celestia rolled her eyes though and went and turned on the lights for she never really did like Luna always using candles to light up the rooms that she was in. Quickly this annoyed face turned into a smile as she saw that Luna left her a note on her breakfast saying "Eat well!" (It was clearly her handwriting for no one else in Equestria could write in cursive better than Luna). Celestia saw that there was an assortment of teas including Pineapple, Apple, Berry Mix, Black, green, and Mint. Celestia felt it was appropriate to do the mint tea, so she grabbed the mint leaves and crumpled them up with her magic and placed them in the steaming hot water. She then took a spoon and mixed the tea together.
Celestia grabbed a scarf and some ear muffs and placed them in their respective places. She did not know why she placed the scarf on, but it did look fashionable. She then grabbed her plate that held a warm apple danish and then her tea and then walked outside to her porch. She opened the door and there were to chairs and a single table in between the chairs. She placed both the cup and tea on the table. She then filled her horn with a yellow magical aura, the sun then rose from the horizon slowly. Changing the color of the sky from a dark blue to a lush pink. The moon falling back, giving way so that the sun can claim it's spot in the sky for the day and give the moon a rest.
All that was necessary was that Celestia would bring the sun out of the horizon and then the sun would do it's work of rising itself. It was simple as that, the festival raising required much more work and was complicated. Usually ponies would learn about Celestia and Luna raising the moon from their parents that learned from songs and writers that over complicated the rising of the sun and moon. Making it seem meticulous and a large burden. Bards and historians were known to over complicate things anyways.
As soon as Celestia saw the sun rise she sat down and sipped at her tea and ate her danish. But it was the tea that was- different, the tea was brisk in it's flavor much like to the winter wind. The mint taste cooled her lips while the warm water filled her mouth, throat and stomach. The flavor of the mint appeased her palette. All the while, she closely watched the sun rise and then it came to her mind.
The thought that she was the ruler of Equestria and seen as almost as a god at some points (which she never liked to be revered as). Ponies came to her with their problems and she was responsible for fixing them and she did. Earning her fame, she eventually became revered as this philanthropist, caretaker, and a generous ruler to Equestria. Yet she was still like all of the others, she found comfort in the simple things such as sipping a mint tea in the cold morning. She still had to shower herself, brush her teeth, and eat breakfast. She was still a pony on the inside and she only wanted to be seen as a pony that is willing to help others and guide them if they are ever in need. She still had flaws within her personality and she can also be troubled whether it be in the future or past. She was still a pony, she still could make mistakes and what she wants the ponies of Equestria to know is that she is like them. Yet, they can be like her, generous, nice, careful, and can become great role models. She wanted them to know her as simply another pony that led Equestria into a golden age because she cared about her subjects, but all the while she was still just another pony in Equestria doing her part.
But what most importantly was that she should be proud of herself and her subjects. Equestria had united and was one compared to when she was alive when the Windigos attacked all of Equestria, covering it with it's bitter winter of hate. She had directly faced near impossible odds such as Sombra, Discord, and Chrysalis and her subjects had come to the rescue. She had built a kingdom that has faced impossible odds and has grown from their triumphs and defeats. This is what she was most proud of and it brought a smile to her face.
As she was thinking this she heard a knocking at her balcony door and opened it only to reveal Luna standing there with sunglasses on, a beanie hat, and a scarf. Celestia started to snicker.
"What?!" Spoke Luna
At that moment Celestia bursted out laughing at the sight of her sister wearing the winter wear that looked adorably cute on her and made her almost look like a teenage colt trying to be a modern day "gangster".
"What do you find so funny sister?" Her voice started becoming slightly disgruntled.
"Y-your outfit it's hilarious yet adorable!" Celestia exclaimed.
"Well I'm going to put on a different one then!" Luna's cheeks were red with embarrassment and then she turned around and began proceeding to the door. Only to be stopped by Celestia speaking.
"You look fine Luna, come sit with me and watch the sun rise." Celestia gave a smile towards Luna.
Luna stopped and turned around only to reveal an inquisitive face, "Why?"
"Because you've never seen it." Spoke Celestia
"Y-Yes I have!" Replied Luna
"Then what does it look like?"
"W-well~ the sun is a giant ball of gas that umm... Is really bright and blinds the eyes whenever you look into it." Luna tried to reply further but she found herself with no words to speak and gave up trying to explain it.
"Come on Luna, I got an extra chair for you." Celestia motioned towards the other chair that was vacant.
Both sisters sat on the chairs provided and watched the sun rise for the rest of the duration. The blue sky becoming lighter and lighter and the clouds filled with an orange hue. The landscape of Equestria filled with the light of Celestia's sun. Both sisters watched as they saw the sun rise in absolute silence. All the while the wind began blowing and it was as brisk as the mint tea Celestia drank earlier.
Author's Note
If there are any minor grammatical errors please point them out!
Constructive criticism is very much appreciated! I also hoped you enjoyed the story as much as I did enjoy writing it.
