"Next order of business, Your Majesty: the weather schedule for next week."
It was a normal day for Princess Celestia: taking the requests and announcements of citizens and business ponies alike; making decisions and recommendations; piles and piles of paperwork. As his order of business was announced, a representative of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory came forward, handed Celestia's assistant a copy, and began reading the summary of the schedule as the Princess flipped through each page.
"On Sunday, Ponyville, Appleloosa, and Dodge Junction are scheduled for light snow all day, dissipating by midday on Monday. And yes, I realize the irony. There will be very light snow on Friday through Saturday in Ponyville, Canterlot, and Seaddle, escalating to a heavy snow from midmorning to midafternoon on Saturday. Throughout the week, most of Equestria will be overcast, but on Thursday Manehattan and Phillydelphia will be only partly cloudy."
Celestia nodded as she looked through the pages, then handed them back to her assistant to file.
"Thank you, Sky Walker."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The royal sisters stood on the balcony of one of the castle's tallest towers. Celestia's horn lit up, and the sky turned a brilliant shade of reds, oranges, and pinks as the sun disappeared below the horizon. The sky continued to darken, shifting from warm to cooler colors as Luna's horn glowed and the moon rose above the horizon. Celestia stayed and watched, a rare occurrence for one such as busy with daily tasks as her, which often had her working hours after sunset. Today, however, she had had fewer things to attend to than usual and she was able to have some time to stop and enjoy the sky, whatever color it may be.
Celestia turned and started walking down the spiral staircase, but paused when she didn't hear her sister's hooves behind her. Turning back again, she saw her younger sister still standing where she was, staring up at the sky. Celestia followed her sister's gaze, looking directly at the moon.
Celestia waited a few moments before walking up, touching her hoof to Luna's shoulder. Luna looked at her older sister, then closed her eyes.
"I do not know how long it will be until I no longer feel the strange feeling, sister."
"Which feeling would that be?"
"The feeling that I am raising my own prison. I do not know of a word for that kind of feeling."
Celestia felt a shiver run down her spine at that word: prison. She knew the feeling all to well, and knew from personal experience that it may take many years, even centuries, to stop feeling it.
"Sometimes I still feel the cold chill when I look at it," the younger alicorn continued. She wrapped her wings around her torso as a cold wind blew, bringing with it the first snowflakes of the night. "Or perhaps 'tis the weather that gives the chill."
Celestia put her hoof to her mouth, stifling a giggle.
"Would you like to take a walk through the courtyards?"
Luna looked down from the tower, gazing at the courtyards below, each surrounded by a wall of foliage or of stone. From this vantage, the only courtyard that was unobstructed by the castle's other towers and walls was a flat square, surrounded by trees spaced evenly apart. Though the ground was covered with several layers of snow, she knew that this was the courtyard that held a giant chessboard in the lawn.
She knew what her sister was trying to do. Though she hadn't said anything specific, this was an invitation. An invitation to have a friend, to have her sister with her for support. Sometimes they talked; sometimes they didn't, but either way they both enjoyed having each other there if they did need to talk.
The younger of the two looked back up to the sky. Pegasi had started moving clouds over the city, gradually covering the glittering stars. Luna let out a little sigh to see her beautiful night being covered, but knew that she couldn't expect every night to remain cloudless. The pegasi flew about the fluffy clouds, causing the flakes to fall gently down.
"Yes."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time the royal sisters had exited the castle, there was half an inch of newly fallen snow on the paths. The ponies responsible for clearing the pathways at the castle would just be starting to remove the snow from the paths, Celestia thought, though they might be waiting until the snow had stopped before beginning. If it was the latter, Celestia considered sending a message to them, telling them that the snow was scheduled to last until dawn. If it was the former,she also considered giving them all a bonus for working so hard.
Luna didn't bother looking up. She knew that the sky would be completely covered in clouds by now, and she couldn't take solace in the stars tonight.
They walked together in silence. Celestia used her magic to clear the path ahead of them, glancing sideways to her sister every once in a while. She'll speak up when she's ready, she reminded herself. Neither of them knew how long it had been before the younger alicorn finally did.
"During our exile on the moon," she began, though Celestia couldn't figure out whether Luna was using the royal We or if she was referring to both her and the nightmare forces that had taken over her, "We would sometimes look at the stars. It was not like that before the incident. Then I would gaze at the moon, sometimes all night, telling it about my day. It calmed me. It distracted me from the reality of nopony enjoying the night I had given them. 'Twas only after that I learned the moon had been inhabited.
"Then we could not look up at the moon," she continued. "We saw the planet in the middle of space, surrounded by the stars. 'Twas strange, seeing the sky as I usually saw it but with a globe of blue and green instead of the bright white of the moon. We became familiar with the image. It now held a painful memory for us, so we looked to the stars."
"Were you able to convince Nightmare Moon to listen to you?" Celestia dared to ask, knowing that saying the wrong thing could turn the conversation to silence once again.
"Only when I spoke to her with the authority she always had. The first time was soon after we showed your worst fear and closed your mind to us forever." Celestia stiffened a little, remembering how painful it was to see the image of her weakened sister lamenting how she'd never see her again, in chains and in darkness. It had taken a few tries, but Nightmare Moon definitely discovered what Celestia had feared most at the time. "She was upset, but I forced my way in, commanding her to ponder the stars. She protested, but I insisted she calm down so her anger did not cloud her thoughts. After that, we would gaze at the stars whenever she became too angry."
"And now the moon holds painful memories, as Equestria did back then."
"Indeed, dear sister. We did many terrible things on the moon than I am willing to admit even now."
Celestia knew not to prod, though she yearned to know what had been done so she could help her sister. Luna would tell her when she was ready.
They continued on in silence for several minutes. As they had walked and talked, the snow had started coming down harder, and was up to their ankles. Luna stamped some packed snow off her boots.
"Perhaps 'tis time to return inside," she said. "How are your student's studies in Ponyville?"
Luna was shifting the conversation away from herself. Celestia didn't think it was healthy, but over the millenium without her sister by her side she'd seen ponies use many methods to cope with pain. It was far from the worst method her younger sister could have chosen. "She is learning something new about friendship each week. I'm very proud of her progress, even from several months ago when she didn't believe in the power of friendship."
"It is why you chose to personally tutor her, is it not?"
"That's part of it. During her entrance exam, she had an enormous surge of raw power. It was the same kind of power I had not felt in nearly a thousand years."
"There were few ponies back then with such strong magic," the younger replied as they stepped back inside. "Perhaps my memory has faltered while on the moon, but does she not look familiar to somepony we knew back then?"
"As she has grown in stature and in her magical abilities, I have become more confident in the possibility, though we never knew how powerful Clover actually was. I plan to invite Twilight and her friends to perform as the main characters in Canterlot's Hearth's Warming play this year. If what I believe is true, then this year's performance will help guide her future in ways she never expected."