"Luuune!!!"
Just like Celeste to get herself into trouble the moment mother and father leave.
"What, pray tell, have you gotten yourself into this time, Celeste?"
As the bone white alicorn walked into the personal kitchenette of their parents bedroom, he was greeted with the sight of his little sister, frantically trying to worm her way out of a glass jar, in which she seemed to have gotten her head stuck.
Lune couldn't help but giggle.
"Nnnngg! Stop laughing, Lune! This hurts!"
Suppressing his laughter, Lune asked again.
"Well, what have you gotten yourself into, dear sister?"
Celeste sighed, giving up on her scrabbling.
"A jar."
"Well, yes. That is rather apparent. How, I dare ask, did this happen?"
Realising she was caught, Celeste gave in.
"I was trying to get that cookie," she said, motioning toward the back of the jar, where a small chocolate chip cookie lay.
"Well!" Lune exclaimed, slowly shaking his head. "Princess Celeste, young entity of the sun, one day ruler of Equestria, stealing from mothers cookie jar! What has the world come to! And, besides, why not just levitate it out?"
"I couldn't get the cookie. I just kept picking up the jar."
"Why not tip the jar upside down?"
Celeste blinked a few times, sighing again.
"I didn't think of that..."
Lune circled around the island in the center of the small kitchen, finding a better spot to observe his sister's predicament.
"Yes, that would certainly have saved you the trouble..."
Suddenly a thought hit him. A wicked dastardly, horrible thought.
'You could just leave her in there. Then you wouldn't have to worry about your future as ruler of Equestria; it would be ensured! Why, you could write it off as an accident. You didn't hear her. You were in your room, working on your latest invention, after all! Why not just leave?'
...Hmmm...well...but...no, no. He couldn't do that to his little sister Celeste. Never in a thousand years. It wasn't her fault that she was born with the power of the sun. It wasn't her fault...
"Luuune!" Celeste suddenly squealed, snapping her older brother back to the present.
"Ahh, yes, you...hmmm..."
"Can't you just break the jar or something?"
"No. I cannot just break the jar or something, dear sister. That has, surprisingly, been in our family for generations, and shall for many more to come...let me think...ah! I do believe I have a solution, but it will require your complete cooperation."
Celeste nodded slowly, causing the jar to move up and down with her head, which coaxed another round of giggles from Lune.
"Well," he said, assuming a look of deep thought. "I believe we can fix this little conundrum by phasing."
Celeste looked worried.
"What?"
"Oh," Lune continued, meandering around his trapped sister. "It's a little trick mother taught me. It's quite easy, once you get the hang of it, but can be catastrophic if done wrong."
Now Celeste looked just downright scared. Lune noticed this.
"Don't worry," he assured her, leaning closer to the jar. "I won't let anything happen to you."
"Promise?"
"I swear."
Celeste looked down at the floor, then back up to her brother.
"Big brother," she said, a slight whimper in her voice. "I'm scared."
"It's alright. I just need you to pay attention, and..."
"Trust me. Trust me, Equestria. We will not falter in these hard times," Celeste said, sniffling a bit as she looked down into the casket where her beloved mother lay, taken by disease, just like her father. "And despite my mothers tragic death, we will strive, and we will go on!"
'A wonderful way to end the speech that I was supposed to be giving, Celeste,' thought Lune as he watched his younger sister step down from the podium, her flowing mane gliding in the wind, colorful, and in stark contrast to the dark monotone that hung over the burial.
Thinking back to that day when his dear baby sister got her head stuck in the cookie jar, Lune wondered why he hadn't just left her in there. It would have made so many things so much easier. But no. That opportunity was past, and he was sure Celeste wouldn't be getting into any more cookie jars.
"Lune?"
Snapped back into reality, Lune realized that his younger sister was standing in front of him, her head cocked in...well, curiosity, confusion, annoyance? He couldn't tell with her. All of her emotions always seemed wrapped into one. Her pure white fur concealed any hidden emotions. He couldn't read her, and that upset him. He could read anypony. Anypony but his own sister.
"Hmmm...what is it, dear sister?"
"Nothing, big brother, nothing. It's just that you looked as if you were somewhere else. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Nay, nothing is wrong...it's just...do not worry about me. How are you coping?"
Celeste sniffed, looking down at the ground.
"Heh, not as well as you. No matter how hard I try, I just can't get to seem so...emotionless as you...how do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Just, like, stand there and look on. Nothing fazes you! Nothing seems to touch you! If I didn't know better, I would say that you didn't even care that mum passed!"
Lune was taken aback at this sudden outburst.
Regaining his composure, he replied.
"I suppose I just...oh, how would you say it...I just roll with the punches."
Celeste took upon a look of worry, shifting her weight to one side. That, Lune could read. She was sincerely worried about him, yet, somehow, that simply made him more angry at her.
"But isn't it hard?"
This question confused Lune. He couldn't think of an answer that wouldn't in someway sound as if he just didn't care.
"Well," he said, finally settling on one,"I guess I've had a lot of practice."
Celeste didn't pursue the topic any further, but rather changed it.
"They will be burying her soon...will you stay to watch?"
Just then, Lune had an idea. It came to him, just like that. He didn't know just how it came to him, but he didn't care. He liked it.
"Errr...no," he replied, backing toward the edge of the small tent that they had been standing in. "I...I need to think."
"Alright," said Celeste, turning back to the crowd of ponies standing throughout the small field. "You have already been up past your usual. Go, rest."
Turning and walking away, Lune couldn't help but cackle to himself.
"Oh yes, dear sister. I shall rest. I will need some sleep for what I am planning..."
"Almost...done...ah. There you have it!"
Lune stepped back from his small work table to admire his invention. It wasn't what he had been thinking of, but he needed something to do while his mind processed his plans. He needed to cover every aspect if it were to succeed.
Suddenly, he heard a loud knocking at his door.
"Come in!"
As the door to his bedroom opened, revealing Celeste standing in the hall, he noticed something decidedly different.
She was pink.
Seeing the look of confusion on her brothers face, she quickly resolved any future conversation with a simple,"Do not ask."
Lune yawned, holding a hoof to his mouth. Glancing back at the table, he realized he had kept his project out. Not that it was a problem, he just didn't really want Celeste to see the...
"Gee, Lune. I never thought of you to be the sewing type! Nice work though."
"You really think so?" Lune asked, picking up the shiny dark cloak he had been working on. It was a wonderful piece. Black dyed satin, with silver thread sewn into it, giving it a slight glow in the moonlight penetrating the room from an open window.
"Yes, yes! Try it on, and I'll turn the lights out, so you can do that whole moonlight-and-glowing-eyes thingy you used to practice! It'll be like that picture of Grandma Luna on Nightmare Night!"
"Oh, fine," he said, slipping on the cloak. It fit perfectly. "But just this once! I don't want to do the glowing eyes thingy, as you called, too many times, Celeste."
"Awww. No more scaring the nobles like when we were in our hundreds?"
"No more scaring the nobles."
"Fine. Just do it already."
With the lights now switched off, and hooded cloak on, Lune tried to remember how Grandma Luna told him she used to do it. It was something about a way of channeling the Lunar Energy...ah, yes. He remembered now...
Suddenly, an ominous clap of thunder shook the castle, dark thunderheads forming in the sky. A single bolt of lightning dashed across the sky, and then another, outlining a truly terrifying character against the window. With eyes aglow, Lune advanced upon his little sister, letting loose several more bolts of lightning and his most maniacal laughter, a deep, hearty, evil laugh that resonated around the room. Applying the royal Canterlot voice to this laugh caused it to resonate across the countryside. He could hear the screams.
Focusing on his sister, he realized that she was genuinely terrified, reaching for the door, staring at him as if all evil had risen out of Tartarus and had embodied itself in him. He liked that. He liked that very much.
"Lune?" she said, panicking. "Lune?! Lune, stop it!"
Laughing more, he replied,"No...not until..."
Pausing dramatically, he continued his demands.
"Not until...you explain why you have turned pink!"
Turning off all the noise and thunder, Lune again asked.
"Seriously, though. Why have you gone and changed colors?"
Celeste sighed, rolling her eyes.
"You want to know that badly?"
"Quite."
"Fine, but you must not tell anypony!"
"Not a soul shall hear!"
"Well," she said, leaning in close, as if anypony could hear anyways. "I used the wrong kind of bubble bath."
"..."
"What?"
"You use bubble bath?"
"Yes! Why?"
"Why, Celeste, you're thousands of years old! Don't you think that's a bit old to be taking...bubble baths?"
"Of course not! Bubble baths are soothing. You can never get too old to have a bubble bath. That's just silly!"
"Alright...well, I will be retiring to bed, now. If you would please leave?"
Watching his sister walk out the door, Lune turned to his bed. He did need some sleep before nightfall...but no. He had work to do...
