It was beautiful. There was no doubt of that.
But it was not her time.
It was that time of day when the indigo ink of night injected itself into the sky and flowed from horizon to horizon; preparing its cradle for the other heavenly body that reflected the light of her own. The sun was a soaring chariot of fire that claimed its territory with bold dispatch. Beloved by all, it required no reassurances. The pale glow of the moon was more subtle - less predisposing. It made its quest with a quiet dignity, unintentionally dredging up the fear of creatures that go bump in the night as it went. Without the luxury of universal affection, the moon chose to gather about it traveling companions in the form of the little pinpricks of light that drew pictures on her canvas. The moon and the stars crept along together, through lands that were only on lease.
Princess Celestia watched the peacefully glowing sky of a warm August night. There was a light, pleasant breeze, and for a time she stood perfectly still in an open breezeway of Canterlot Palace, contemplating the hours that were beyond her rule. For a thousand years she had coaxed the moon on its nightly trek, but it was not her child - she could never be more to the moon than a concerned aunt who worried for the happiness of her orphaned niece.
Now, things had changed. The absent mother who once rocked that indigo cradle had returned. The moon seemed somehow brighter, but Celestia could also detect in it a certain uncertainty. As though it wondered if it were truly okay to simply continue on.
As though it wondered if anypony even cared.
It occurred to Celestia as her gilded slippers echoed along the breezeway that there was no longer any reason for her to check up on the moon, or oversee the peaceful sleep of the homes and businesses it oversaw. She had only ever done so out of a sincere obligation to her subjects, and the punishing regret over ancient actions she had no choice but to take against the true caretaker of the middling hours.
Celestia stifled an unseemly, un-princess-ly yawn. This was no longer her responsibility, but a thousand years of habit and routine were difficult to break.
Her wanderings took her past the secondary entrance to the throne room. It was a small side-door, intended only for the use of the royal house in times where their presence was required, but it would be too high-profile to enter or exit through the main gate. When not in use the door was constantly sealed, with at least one guard posted at all times to compliment the two that stood at the grandiose, main entrance. The young pegasus stallion who stood there now was doing his best, but Celestia could see the droopy eyes and ears of a newly-minted guard, thrust into a graveyard shift he wasn’t prepared for after drawing the short lot.
“Soldier,” Celestia greeted him simply, “Hello.”
“Uh...?” The guard, clearly not expecting his silent vigil to be disturbed at such hours, fluttered his wings and brought his attention to bear. When he saw the swan-like grace and flowing mane of his sovereign, suddenly there in the empty hallway before him, he snapped hard to attention. “Y-your Highness!? I, uh, hello, uh...” he faltered, “Wh-what can I do for you, Ma’am? Did you need to enter here? I wasn’t expecting...I mean I wasn’t told...”
Celestia held up a hoof to silence the panicked young guard’s ramblings. “All is well, do not fear. What is the status of the court?”
The guard seemed worried that he was about to say something that would get him in trouble. “O-oh...Princess Luna’s Night Court is no longer in session, Your Highness. She ended it about...an hour ago?”
Celestia considered this. The term ‘Night Court’ had stuck after being coined by palace staff as a filler term in its first few weeks of existence. It was an initiative of Princess Luna’s own creation - an attempt to relate to her subjects by offering counsel to those ponies whose circumstances or vocation made it difficult to seek the advice of the royal court during the day. Luna held it three nights a week, spread out so as not to significantly interfere with the commencement of her duties to the pleasant dreams of Equestria.
“Luna’s court is not scheduled to end for three more hours,” Celestia commented. The guard took the simple observation as an accusation, and it took all his nerve not to quake in his helmet.
“N-no Ma’am, I mean...y-yes Ma’am, I mean--” Finally he bowed, just to take his eyes off of her for a moment and collect himself, “You are correct, Your Highness. However, Princess Luna called an end to court one hour ago.”
Celestia raised a brow, “Did she say why?”
“No Ma’am,” The guard replied, thankful for an easy question. “At least...not that I know of.”
Celestia stood in silence before the young pegasus, her ears swiveling as she listened in vain for the clatter of shod hoof-falls in the distance. The guard was making a good show of order, but Celestia had thousands of years of experience in the judgment of character. He was clearly frightened.
“What is your name, Soldier?” Celestia had never much enjoyed calling members of her defense force by bland, impersonal titles.
“M-me?” The guard seemed surprised to even be asked. “Downy Tuft.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “My, uh...mother thought I was going to be a filly until the last possible moment. And my father thought I’d end up working in the cloud factories.”
Celestia smiled reassuringly. “Do you always explain your name when you give it, Downy Tuft?”
Downy looked confused. “I...well...no, I...”
“Tell me, Downy Tuft. Are you proud to be a royal guard?”
Suddenly cognizant of his posture, Downy snapped again to stiff attention. “O-oh yes, yes Ma’am! It’s...it’s all I ever wanted to do...!”
“And yet this,” Celestia nodded at the door, and then the empty hallway. “Is not what you’d hoped it would be.”
Downy Tuft looked mortified.
“Do not fear,” Celestia smiled again. “I am not here to judge you.”
The young, lilac-coated pegasus bowed his head. “N-no...no Ma’am.” On the heels of the admission he raised his head, sudden determination shining in his eyes. “B-but I’m still proud to be a royal guard! I-I’ll do whatever my duty requires of me!”
Celestia nodded, “Of that, I have no doubt. But you underestimate yourself, Downy Tuft.” She nodded to the bend in the hall. “You feel as though there is more prestige in guarding the main entrance. And you would rather be there.”
Downy nodded hesitantly.
Celestia shook her head lightly, tousling her constantly mobile mane. “You are not seeing the Everfree for its trees. Both doors serve an important purpose. The main entrance is a receiving area. It greets the ponies of Equestria and makes them feel welcome as they enter the halls of court. It is tall and garish because it needs to be, in order to accomplish its role. This door,” Celestia indicated the door behind the guard, “Serves a purpose the other door cannot. It is small and unassuming - so that those who pass through it can arrive and depart with discretion as needed. It is a door reserved for the royal house and those we authorize to use it. As a guard of this door, you see to its continued use by those of us who require it, and you protect it from unauthorized access. If an assassin were to seek entry to the throne room, to lie in wait for myself, my sister, or a foreign dignitary, which door do you believe they would use?”
Downy thought about it. “...this one would make more sense. The other one is too visible.”
“And when would the ideal time for such an invader to position themselves for a strike?”
“…under the cover of darkness,” Downy concluded. “At night.”
Celestia nodded. “Correct. And you, Downy Tuft, were hoof-picked to stand in that assassin’s way. To protect a place of importance so key, it cannot be expressed in words.” The princess actually bowed her head, “For that, you have the gratitude and appreciation of my sister and myself.”
Downy was shocked. When he remembered where he was again, he couldn’t contain the beaming pride that lit up his features like mid-afternoon. “I...y-yes Your Highness! You’re welcome!” With a new sense of vigor, he saluted and stood tall. “Nopony will get past me, Ma’am!”
“I am sure they will not, Downy Tuft. Carry on.”
“Yes Ma’am! A-and have a pleasant evening!”
Celestia nodded and walked on. Alone again with her thoughts and the sense of a job well done, she mused over her own words. Two doors that needed one another, yet one is seen as the greater, while the other is dismissed as the lesser.
The sun. And the moon.
Five minutes later Celestia found herself standing before a door in a private tower of the palace. It was a door she sometimes entered to reminisce. Now it was occupied, and she was relegated to rapping upon it to request ingress.
“...who calls?” A muffled voice came from the other side.
“It is I, my sister,” Celestia announced softly. “May I come in?”
“It is late,” The voice insisted. “We are tired. Why art thou awake at this hour, sister? We seek rest. Thou shouldst as well.”
Celestia’s ears drooped slightly at the obvious lie. “Old habits die hard, Luna.” She thought to challenge the idea that the Princess of the Night would retire before her time’s end, but she held the impulse back and softened her voice. “I would like to talk to you. Please...may I come in?”
There was a long, pregnant pause, until finally-
“...it is open.”
Celestia let herself in, pushing the door shut behind her with the gentle force of her sun-kissed magic. The room was much as she had long known it. Peaceful, deep shades of blue and purple gave way to modest decor in the form of a bookshelf with but a few volumes, a fireplace and hearth out of use, and a luxurious four-post bed, laid thick with heavy curtains depicting the crest of Equestria. The curtains were tied back with golden cord, and Celestia could see that the bed had not been slept in.
Perched on the balcony were the dark contours of Princess Luna. She was sitting perfectly still, staring at the sky - her form outlined by a swell of moonlight.
“...speak,” Luna said without turning around. Celestia approached, but paused a few steps behind her sister.
“Luna,” She offered gently, “You canceled your court for the evening.”
“There were no further visitors,” Luna replied smartly. “Our services were no longer required.”
Celestia frowned and took the regal edge out of her speech. “You don’t know that. There isn’t always a line of ponies waiting to get in the door the moment court is opened to the public. Sometimes they trickle in.”
“Is there ever not a line of ponies waiting to approach thee when thy court is open to the public, my sister?” Luna countered.
Celestia didn’t answer. Luna went on.
“We have been the fool to think that ponies would seek counsel from the royal house in the middle of the night. Our subjects do not revel in the night. They sleep through it.”
Celestia took another hesitant step forward. “And they count on you to help them through their sleep. Has your court not been successful?”
Luna lifted a hoof and stared at it, as if she had fingers to count on. “In the time since we began the institution of ‘Night Court’, we have seen six instances of farm ponies arguing over land or resource disputes, three colts barely out of school interested in a license to start a nightclub, one laborer who was under the mistaken impression we were looking to hire contractors for night work, and no less than a dozen aristocrats in various states of inebriation who merely sought to, as the vernacular of this era dictates, ‘shoot the bull.’” She cleared her throat and added sardonically, “We fear for the continued safety of the noble bos taurus species.”
A tiny giggle escaped Celestia’s lips before she could stop it. Luna remained motionless.
“Something amuses thee, sister?”
“Oh Luna,” Celestia finally closed the rest of the distance and plopped down beside her sister, her white coat glowing with the moon’s radiance. “You’re so uptight sometimes. I bet you don’t even realize how funny you can be when you put your mind to it.”
From her new vantage point, Celestia got a good look at her sister. The smaller alicorn was dressed for bed - upon all four limbs she wore knee-high socks, striped in cyan and midnight blue. Luna averted her eyes from the sky and stared at one clothed hoof, while using it to poke idly at another. She looked lost, and Celestia backpeddled.
“Luna...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. But you can be funny, even joyous. If you would only allow yourself to be.”
Luna sighed and continued to distract herself by playing with her socks. “Our court is of no practical value. We shall put an end to it on the morrow.”
“Luna,” Celestia’s elegant brow furrowed, “Why do you think the ponies that have come to Night Court so far chose to do so?”
Luna didn’t skip a beat. “Because it was convenient for them.”
Celestia thought again of the large and small doors. “Are you so certain of that? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps those ponies honestly sought your council? That they might value your opinion, as much as they do mine?”
Luna’s shoulders slumped. “And what of the drunken revelry?”
Celestia brightened. “Is it equally so difficult to believe that ponies may simply...want to be around you?”
“We...we do not know.”
Luna’s ears wilted further, her eyes suddenly returning skyward until her sister could see the reflection of the moon in them. “A thousand years ago, we tried to murder you and take from our subjects the very sunlight that feeds their crops and marks their time. We know thou hast forgiven us, and we know they do not remember, but our legacy is a fairytale meant to frighten the young into capitulation. Generation after generation has been taught to assign a mere grain of truth to the story, but…” she held her hoof up and tilted it, as if she were pouring something out of it. “Gather enough grains, and thou shalt have a beach of truth to sun thyself upon. Nopony suns themselves by the light of the moon.”
Luna felt a hoof on her shoulder.
“I want to be around you, dear sister,” Celestia replied. “Your subjects and my subjects are one and the same. They need us...both of us. They’ve had a thousand years to boil their passion for that day down to the thin broth of legend. Do you not remember the parties that were held upon your return? The festivals all over Equestria that lasted nearly a week? The performances by schoolponies, and the acrobatic displays by theater troupes?”
“That was...” Luna hesitated, “...that was a product of the moment.”
“That was for you, sister,” Celestia corrected. “They are happy that we are one again. And so am I. I cannot even explain to you how much brighter every day of my life has been since you returned to my side.” She settled in close, the hoof going to work massaging Luna’s shoulder. “Is that so difficult to understand?”
Luna said nothing. The night thickened with tension, but the moment Celestia thought to slip a knife of words through it, Luna flopped against her, pressing her cheek against the sun princess’s chest so suddenly that Luna’s crown went crooked. Celestia removed the crown in her magic and levitated it safely back into the room.
“You don’t have to sleep in that, you know.”
Luna did not reply. Celestia’s hoof moved to her sister’s back and traced down the path of Luna’s spine.
“You don’t have to be a princess every single moment of your life, Luna. And around me, you certainly don’t have to be anypony other than my little sister.”
Luna only sighed. Celestia sought to lighten the mood.
“You know I’m surprised those socks still fit. You were just a filly when you started wearing them and they were much too big for you back then. I remember how much you loved them, though. How you would pad through our rooms in them, and trip yourself so many times before you figured out how to use your wings to stop a fall.”
Luna felt the beating of her sister’s heart. She pressed her ear to it and indulged in the vibrations brought on by Celestia’s words.
“I enchanted them, you know,” Celestia went on. “Just a simple preservation spell. It will be another thousand years before they start to show any real signs of wear. I had always hoped...you would wear them again before then.” She smiled in spite of herself, her hoof now burrowing into her sister’s star-sparkled mane. “I never gave up hope that you would.”
Luna pressed herself into the fluff of her sister’s chest. When she finally spoke, her voice was so muffled Celestia had to strain to hear.
“...she is missing.”
Celestia’s ears perked with concern. “Misssing? Who is?”
Luna’s voice softened even further. “Thou...knowest to whom we refer, Sister. We found our socks, just where we left them. They are...comforting to us. But she was not there to attend us, and even though we are deeply appreciative for thy doting, we...still feel alone.”
“Oh,” Celestia’s smiled in understanding. “I see. Celly was your favorite hoofmaiden, wasn’t she? Since you were little. It must be difficult not to have her to wait upon you.”
“She was not a hoofmaiden!” Luna insisted, “She was the most loyal and trusted of our personal guard! She protected us from harm and watched over our sleep during the day! But a thousand years have gone by. She is gone now. We...we miss her.”
Celestia soothed her sister’s outburst by stroking Luna’s mane. “Someponies live a very, very long time.”
Luna snorted. “Only we alicorns can count our days beyond a centennial at most.”
“Oh Luna,” Celestia’s smile became mischievous, “Have you forgotten? Celly is an alicorn. She would never leave you anymore than I would.”
Luna’s eyes were closed, but she opened them when she felt the tingling of magic spread across the tip of her muzzle. There, suspended in the glow of her sister’s aura, was a small, well-loved plush representation of Princess Celestia, complete with a crown, button eyes, and a silly smile.
“Celly!” Luna nearly leapt to gather the doll in her forelegs. She wrapped it up tight in her grasp and held it close, nuzzling it with her cheek as her unchecked bangs cascaded around her head. “We thought...we thought we had lost thee! Where hast thou been?”
Mirth crept into Celestia’s affectionate smile. “I’m sorry, Luna. I had Celly preserved too, and I should have just left her in your room for you to find, but...I...I was hoping you would ask for her first. The way you asked me to get her for you when we were young.”
For a time, sun and moon reminisced on their youth. Of the time they went scampering about a fair in the courtyard of their old home, bewildered by the many likenesses of themselves. Of the time a blank-flanked, future Princess of the Night asked for one toy, and chose, among all things, one crafted in the image of her own big sister.
Luna’s laughter was the finest symphony to her sister’s ears. “Oh, dost thou,” Luna chortled, “dost thou recall the instance in which we pretended thou were Celly and Celly was thee?”
Celestia rolled her eyes, “You did that for almost a solid month, Luna.”
“Ah!” Luna giggled, “Thou art correct! We made such a funny, did we not?”
“I distinctly recall not thinking it was very funny at the time, Sister,” Celestia muttered. Luna’s giggle was infectious, and Celestia soon found herself sharing in it as she reached out to ruffle her younger sister’s mane. “See? I told you how funny you are. You could always make me laugh.”
Luna, who was now sitting upright, levitated Celly to eye level and took to staring at her. She spoke to the toy, but the words were for her sister.
“We were so happy to receive this. Because it meant that thou wouldst always…be by our side.”
“I always was, Luna. Even on that day. And I always will be.”
Luna, crownless and free, bounced Celly in her magic and guffawed like an infant. Celestia felt a smile spread over her muzzle like melted butter, curling at the ends of her lips. Three scooting motions put her beside Luna again, and her hoof was once again on the smaller mare’s back.
“It’s been a long time,” Celestia mentioned. “A long time for you to be alone.”
“The moon is...a cold place,” Luna observed. “We were...often so very cold.”
Celestia’s foreleg slid around her sister’s midsection. She drew in close to one dark ear and spoke at a whisper, “Do you remember what we used to do together, when we truly needed one another?”
Luna’s ear flicked, and Celestia could feel a satisfying shiver run through her sister’s body.
“W-we...we do remember...” Luna replied, “…of course we do...”
A clattering of gold on stone sang against the breeze, and Luna felt the softness of her sister’s bare hoof touch her chin. With a bit of gentle coaxing, Luna found herself exploring the depths of her sister’s rosy eyes, while Celestia in turn probed the cyan windows to Luna’s soul.
“You might be able to hide from our subjects under your dark coat, sister,” Celestia whispered. “But I can always tell when you’re blushing.”
Luna swallowed. She opened her mouth to voice a shaky reply, but Celestia claimed her lips, slipping her sinuous tongue into her sister before she could so much as gasp. Celestia felt the soft touch of a sock on her chest - she tilted her head, and the two royal muzzles locked together in an eager embrace. Luna’s tongue danced like a butterfly until her sister filled her maw with her own, encouraging the younger sister to milk and suckle from the tongue of her elder.
They sat in silence on the balcony. Eyes closed, The Night pressed her body into The Day until warm white wings enfolded her. Luna fed from Celestia’s offering like a starved yearling, heedless of the audible smacking noises and the grunts of passion she vented like seeds from a dandelion. Luna lost herself so quickly in the release that she couldn’t suppress a pouty frown when Celestia finally pulled away, holding her in place with the hoof that was still on Luna’s chin.
“You’re panting,” Celestia smiled, her eyes twinkling with the reflected light of a pulsing star.
“W-we...we are not,” Luna muttered, pushing hot breath through her nostrils in sharp snorts.
Celestia reached down to muss her sister’s mane with a hoof, casting flowing rivulets of it haphazardly about her ears and eyes. Luna was as a fox wrapped in a cozy winter burrow, lured to poke her head out with the promise of something sweet.
“You’re adorable when you lie poorly, Luna.”
Elder sister reclaimed the lips of the younger, the latter now with time enough to gasp aloud. Shivers quaked down Luna’s spine; marching like fissures in disturbance of the tectonic plates of her shoulder blades. Her wing spurs tightened and pressed in vain against the feathery cocoon they were trapped in, as another stripey sock touched Celestia’s chest for leverage. When the sun princess finally retreated again, Luna’s muzzle collapsed into her sister’s neck. Her royal bearing sucked away, Luna quickly found the soft place between her sister’s collarbone, and hungrily pressed her lips into it.
“Nnh...” Celestia cooed, wrapping Luna up tighter with her forelegs, one hoof pressing gently against the back of her head. “Y-you have no idea how much I missed that, d-dear sister...”
As if to say the same, Luna took to bathing the elder alicorn in long strokes from her thick equine tongue. She punctuated each journey across gleaming white fields with a nibble at Celestia’s ear, which jerked and tugged playfully at its assailant, only to be placated by the tip of Luna’s tongue as she traced its perimeter and began the journey back into the softness of Celestia’s nape.
“...a-ah...”
Slipping off the remainder of the cold golden slippers she wore, Celestia lit her horn and summoned a pile of satin pillows from Luna’s bedchamber, which she arranged behind herself in a small pile. Celestia then lay back, propping herself up halfway on the pillows as she tugged the smaller alicorn in her embrace atop her. She arched her neck, giving her accommodating little sister access to the rhythmic throb of her jugular.
There are some things a pony never forgets. The moment Luna felt her sister’s pulse brush her lips, she bit down, suckling deeply from the patch of fur there on her quest to leave a welt in her wake. Celestia bit her lip, winced, and ran her hooves over her sister’s back and flanks.
“Ngh...a-always my l-little bat...” She managed. Loosening the grip of her wings, Celestia reached a foreleg down and hooked it under one of Luna’s hind legs. She didn’t have to put much effort into pulling the leg nearly up to Luna’s waist. Luna ceased her attentions and pushed herself up to look questioningly into her sister’s face.
“...what is this...?” Luna asked. Celestia smiled again, her panting breath now matching her sister’s.
“Do you really need to ask, dear sister?”
Luna felt her cheeks grow hot as realization of Celestia’s intent set in. “B-but we...we...did not find any of...those in our room...we...assumed they all succumbed to the passage of years...”
“I moved them,” Celestia’s smile turned slightly feral. “However do you think I survived a thousand years of lonely nights without you?”
Luna caught a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye. She turned to see a gilded chest, floating dozens of stories above the street. It hovered in the sky, wrapped in the magic of sunshine, as it made its lazy way from a far window to Luna’s balcony, where it landed with a gentle thud. Luna shrank.
“S-sister...” Luna whimpered, “Anypony could have observed that just now...”
Celestia took to petting Luna like a puppy while the glow of her magic worked the chest’s lock. “And? Would they not be able to sleep tonight, knowing that we are together once again?”
Luna blanched. “Th-they...may have a somewhat ulterior definition of ‘together’, my sister.”
“Shhh,” Celestia cooed. “Look at me.”
Luna obeyed, and Celestia purposefully stroked the night princess where her crown would be.
“Tonight, Luna, you are not a princess. There is no duty, no authority, no responsibility, and no worry for the concerns of others. Tonight...you are only my sister.” She drew close again, licking Luna’s lips, “...my sister...”
Luna quaked under the light touch. Her free wings fluttered, and the hind leg in Celestia’s grasp twitched. The elder sister slipped her hoof down the supple thigh of the younger, achieving her goal when she pressed it against a soft, damp place that had the consistency of rosepetals. Luna stiffened.
“...o-oh...”
“So soon, sister?” Celestia smiled and began to stroke gently at the blossoming flower with her bare hoof.
“W-we have spent...m-many years on th-the moon...” Luna gasped, craning her neck and staring at the purple sky, “...it i-is a lonely place...”
Celestia put pressure on her hoof, but whenever the silky folds of her sister parted to admit it, she pulled back; punctuating her retreat with a quick spin over the tiny button that controlled Luna’s passion. Luna, her socks draped across Celestia’s chest, whinnied softly.
“Thou...t-teaseth u-us...sister...”
Celestia kissed Luna’s forehead. “Not for long, sweet sister. Patience.”
With a click, the chest opened. A number of objects floated forth from within, each held in the embrace of Celestia’s magic. They made a circle around her head - sparkling like a halo as they spun like the wheel of a great ship in the sky.
“I’ll let you choose, sister,” Celestia explained. “Look at them.”
Luna finally glanced up at the objects she remembered so well.
“Griffon...” Celestia listed, “...stallion...dragon...”
“Manticore,” Luna continued, “...minotaur...ribbed...twisted...glass...”
Celestia kept the teasing pressure going in slow circles. She pecked Luna’s dark cheek and ran her tongue along her little sister’s jawline, tracing it back to her ear.
“Tell big sister which creature you want inside you tonight, Luna,” Celestia whispered. As she spoke, she claimed Luna’s ear and gave it a number of firm, possessive yanks. Luna shuddered. Swallowing through a thickness in her throat, she bowed her head and closed her eyes again, the image of the swirling bliss around her sister’s head still with her.
“...th-the dragon,” She meeped. “It was the first one we obtained...i-it represents our first time together...it is appropriate, a-after so many years...”
Luna could sense the decreased intensity of the glow behind her eyelids as the other toys were lowered away, their magic auras winking out. The hoof between her legs vanished. Soon, a tapered, spiny, reptilian presence prodded at her, eager to seat itself within. Celestia kissed Luna’s eyelids, prompting her to open them.
“W-we are--” Luna began. Celestia touched a hoof to Luna’s lips to silence her.
“I am,” Celestia cooed, the first ridges of the draconic phallus popping past Luna’s inner walls. “I. Me. My. You’re not a princess. You don’t have to speak for your entire nation. Now tell me, dear little Luna-” Celestia’s horn brightened, the toy slipping in to its midpoint. “...you are what?”
“W-we...I...” Luna wavered - only by the steadying hoof of her sister did she avoid tumbling off the pile of pony and pillow alike. “...I am...s-so happy to be yours again...b-big sister...”
“I know,” Celestia licked Luna’s cheek playfully, “I know. No more words now, little sister...”
With that, the considerably girthy toy passed through the welcoming walls that fed it into Princess Luna, until it poked gingerly at her cervix. As it drew back, its firm scales rippled along her silky insides, stimulating every inch of her canal all at once.
“...ngh...ahh...”
“Shhhh,” Celestia cooed. “This is about as thick and realistic as an adult dragon can get without being anatomically impossible for some ponies, little Luna.” The toy drew back to its tip and began its slow descent into Luna’s depths again. “What does it make you think about?”
Luna hissed her words through clenched teeth, her hips rolling with the penetration as her starry tail lifted towards the night. “...th-they are s-such large creatures...d-dragons...to be...m-mounted by one...w-would be...”
Celestia nuzzled her sister’s cheek as the toy worked into a slow rhythm, entering and exiting to the music of yielding squishes. “Don’t you wish you could set your crown aside, fly into the mountains, and give yourself over to one of these magnificent creatures?”
“..nghh...w-we...I do...”
Celestia spoke over the toy, pacing her words with its thrusting. “I don’t think there’s a mare alive that hasn’t thought at least once about what it would feel like to have a dragon stretch you so far that you’d feel like you would just...tear apart...”
Luna shuddered, suddenly noticing the girth of the toy that stretched her more than she had before.
“...over and over again...” Celestia whispered, “...so often that your flower would mold into just the right fit for him...I wonder if dragons and ponies can breed...”
“S-sist...sistahh...hahh...”
“Shhhh,” Celestia repeated. She wrapped her wings around Luna’s small form again and hooked a hoof around her head, pulling her to lie down with her ear to Celestia’s heart. “Just let it happen...let him do it...nothing artificial between you...”
Luna lay her head under her big sister’s hoof and whined, grinding against the magically-enhanced force of the toy. “...h-he hurts a little...th-the spines...”
“You’ll get used to him,” Celestia replied. “His spines are there to hold you in place - to anchor you until it’s time for your breeding. You’ve been so good for him. You need something else. Another...reward.”
With another hoof to Luna’s chin, Celestia angled Luna’s head slightly upwards...and then licked her horn from base to tip like a popsicle.
“Nngh...!” Luna squirmed, “S-sis...! B-balc-cony...somepony might...seeeahh...!”
“You’re a bit late to be complaining about that now, little Luna.”
Celestia’s laugh was as light as the stars and breezy as the cloying air of night. “They say that some unicorn horns are more...sensitive than others.” Her hoof trailed back to the spurs of Luna’s wings, where she began to tease and play with the soft tuft of dark fluff there. “They say the same of the fluff between pegasi wings. But only we alicorns can know what it feels like to have both sensations...together.”
Celestia wrapped her lips around the permanently erect spire atop her sister’s head and slid down, angling her neck to allow more of the tapered horn into her gripping maw. She sensed light beneath her muzzle as Luna’s warm magic came to life, glowing with the scent of lavender, and a flavor that reminded the sun princess faintly of vanilla. Every movement of Celestia’s elegant white hoof elicited flutters and jerks from Luna’s wings, as her big sister stimulated both her unicorn and pegasus nature at the same time.
“Mmmm...”
Luna, the stoic Princess of the Night, convulsed weakly under the assault. Pleasure invaded her brain from all sides until the last vestiges of decorum escaped her. She cried out, her calls heavy with wet passion as she envisioned two mighty beasts ravishing her - the eidolic dragon who sought to breed her, and the crown princess, who drove her inherent pony senses mad with need. Celestia slipped her lips from the sweet emissions of Luna’s horn and rubbed it with her own, the two magical auras flaring as one.
“Let it out, little Luna. Let all your pent up passion free. Show big sister how badly you need to let down your mane and put aside your control...”
The words barely reached her. Luna was lost in the throes of heated desire. Atop her sister she rolled and pumped her hips, pushing out her rump to invite more and more of the virile reptile that sought to claim her. Her wings flapped. Her horn glowed. Her shoulders shuddered.
With a great cry to the heavens, Luna’s marehood lost its control and gripped its suitor with abandon, as orgasmic bliss whited out her thoughts. Celestia pulled away from Luna’s horn and wrapped a foreleg around her midsection, hugging Luna tightly to her soft fur. The elder alicorn kept the toy plunging through a string of three more explosive orgasms, until she was quite certain the shivering shoulders of her smaller sister could stand no more. Finally the draconic toy fled, and Celestia supported the quivering, exhausted, limp form of Luna in her legs and wings.
“Shhh...” She nuzzled the top of Luna’s head and patted her, “...shhh...it’s okay...it’s alright...”
When Luna finally looked up, Celestia could see the trails of tears matting her fuzzy cheeks. She kissed each one of them away and looked deeply into Luna’s eyes.
“Do you feel better, little Luna?”
Luna managed a small, sheepish smile. She was rewarded with gentle petting down her neck and back.
“I will always love you, my sister,” Celestia offered. “You should sleep. The morning comes soon.”
Luna’s dreamy smile became a grin. A certain nocturnal, predatory light flashed in her eyes. Celestia raised a brow.
“It is very late, Luna. You should--”
Celestia yelped as Luna sprang forward and clamped her muzzle down on the pulsating warmth of her neck, right over the same spot as before. Celestia’s flailing movements soon became still - her hoof found the back of Luna’s head as she firmly pressed her sister home.
“Ngh...h-haven’t had enough yet, have you Sistahhh...”
Luna suckled deeply, rolling the soft coat and flesh between her nibbling teeth until an embarrassing hickey was inevitable. Celestia thought nothing of the wound and wriggled against the satin pillows, kicking a hind leg out with every bite.
“...hahh...and y-you haven’t forgotten what I like either, h-have you Luna...”
Too quickly for Celestia to compensate, Luna caught the crown of the sun in her magic and tore it from Celestia’s mane, sending it clattering back into the bedroom. Luna pulled back, looming over her sister with all the prominence of an eclipse.
“Thou art--” she corrected, “You are not a princess anymore either, Sister. Two can play at this game.”
Celestia let out a labored, but playfully disdainful breath. “Oh? And why would you think that?”
Luna bapped Celestia’s muzzle out of the way with her own, turning her head so she could sink her teeth into the same spot on the opposite side of Celestia’s neck. The sun princess whimpered.
“I s-see...s-see y-your...p-point...ahh...”
Luna added a second welt to compliment the first and drew up to her big sister’s ear, tugging as sharply as Celestia had tugged upon her before. “You are marked by the night,” she whispered, “Do not fight it. Just give in.”
Celestia pawed at her sister’s chest with a hoof. “You have vanquished me, dear sister. What will become of me now?”
Luna abruptly pushed her way up and off of Celestia. Her heart still racing, Luna lit her horn and engulfed Celestia’s entire body in the deep hues of her magic.
“You are my prisoner,” Luna said bluntly. With that, she welled up a spark of power inside herself and yanked Celestia’s entire form into the air, flipping her and reorienting her such that she was laying on her stomach rather than her back upon the pile. The awkward slant of the pillows left Celestia in a position nopony with any dignity could have ever erased from their minds - the crown princess of Equestria, lying with her cheek mooshed into a pillow and her rump arched into the air, crowned by her flagging tail. Celestia let out a yelp, but before she could speak, Luna stepped behind her and went to work with with her expert tongue again - this time bathing Celestia’s sunflower in long, thick, wet strokes.
Celestia ground her cheek into the pillow that kept her face from the hard stone beneath, her heart racing. “Mmh...s-such punishment...”
Emboldened by the heat of passion, Luna wasted no time - she placed her hooves on the fleshy cheeks of her sister’s rump and parted them, burying her muzzle into Celestia’s opening and worming past her lubrication-weakened defenses like a serpent through a riverbed. Luna danced over her sister’s button and dug at her inner walls, tilting her head to maximize the penetration until her entire muzzle had nearly vanished inside.
“Hahh...L-Luna...” Celestia whined, “...r-right there, y-yes, Sister...r-right...”
Luna twisted and wriggled inside her sister, lapping at the preparatory secretions of Celestia’s mating instinct. As abruptly as she had begun Luna suddenly ceased, drawing in a deep breath as she came up for air. Looking down, she was satisfied to see the captivated and defeated form of Princess Celestia, mashed into the ground, her wings twitching and her entrance still gripping for her little sister’s machinations.
Celestia managed to glance back at the lunar fairy hovering over her rump. “...dragon...?” She asked simply.
“Nay,” Luna replied easily, squeezing her sister’s plump backside, “Not here.” An instant later, Celestia nearly went cross-eyed staring at the hovering reptilian phallus that poked at her lips, still with with her sister’s juices. “Open. Use your mouth for better things.”
The sun princess obeyed, and the toy satisfactorily pacified her, robbing her of her voice. With a series of smacking noises and a rolling purr, Celestia began to bathe the toy in her saliva, cleaning and swallowing its offerings.
“No dragon back here,” Luna reiterated, lightly slapping her sister’s rump, “Instead...alicorn.”
In a sudden flourish of movement, Luna pulled away from her sister, bowed her head, and stabbed her deeply with the very horn Celestia had been pleasuring moments before. Working the tapered spire easily in, Luna’s forehead quickly came in contact with her sister’s rump as both of them cried out in unison.
It took all of Celestia’s willpower not to bite the phallic dragon toy clean in half. She bore down, thrashing with the explosive movement as Luna took to ramming her point home like a charging steer, repeatedly goring an opponent with its rack. Gagged and huffing breath through her nostrils, Celestia felt socks pulling her hind legs apart as Luna began to thrust with reckless abandon.
“Mmnnnghf!”
Celestia slammed a hoof into the ground over and over, her flowing mane bouncing askew as she turned her head from side to side, hard shivers creeping from her tailbase to her shoulders.
Luna, her face streaked with her sister’s wetness, pressed herself in as far as she could go, held it, and brought a spell to bear. Inside Celestia, a pleasant warming sensation bled over into vibration, and then broke apart into dozens of little swirls that enticed every place inside her. Celestia’s eyes snapped open wide, her ears perking and her back stiffening as she unashamedly cried out to the stars.
There was a clattering noise. Through the passion-soaked haze, Celestia spotted one of the toys that had been tossed roughly next to her head.
“...g...griffaaah....griffon...” Luna barked.
Celestia’s magic aura nabbed at the aerodynamic griffon drakehood and floated it back behind Luna. It prodded and poked at her rump, mashing clumsily into her coat until it finally slid past Luna’s folds, adding a new mounting beast to the mix. It buried itself nearly from end to end, until the Sun and the Moon took sport in seeing which could make the other melt into the involuntary throes of orgasm first.
Celestia shook her head violently and expelled the dragon toy at the same moment Luna’s knees gave out. Quivering and spasming around their masculine benefactors, the twin rulers of Equestria bayed at the moon like diamond dogs, rocking with climax again and again until they both collapsed like ragdolls on the balcony floor.
Luna lay on her back against the cool stone, spread eagle in limbs and wings alike. Her chest pumped oxygen through her body with haste, but she came down from every breath with a ringing giggle on her lips. Celestia hit the pillows roughly and rolled on her side, fighting for air as she watched the two toys clatter to the floor, their puppeteer strings cut.
“L...lu...” She tried to speak, patting the pillows next to her. “...Lu...c-come to m-me...”
Luna spilled onto her side and then her stomach like smooze. She reached out with her socked-covered hooves and yanked her way little by little across the floor, until she finally shimmied up onto the makeshift pillow-bed. Without a thought, she nuzzled close to her sister and slipped back into the embrace of Celestia’s enfolding wings.
The two lay still, basking in the waning light of the moon in total silence for what felt like an hour. They spoke with nothing but shared breathing and heartbeats as they reveled in a closeness they had waited a millennium for. Celestia smoothed back Luna’s mane and kissed the tip of her muzzle, finally speaking through a lighthearted chuckle.
“...you’re a mess.”
Luna’s coat was streaked with drying lubrication. “It’s your fault,” She muttered.
“Oh no,” Celestia drew near and lapped at the wetness that still had viscosity, cleaning her sister’s face like a bathing cat. “I was your prisoner when you did that.”
Luna glanced at the telltale streaks of light in the sky. Celestia nodded in understanding.
“I must raise the sun soon, so our subjects can start their day.”
Celestia made as if to rise, but a hoof on her shoulder stopped her.
“...stay with me,” Luna said softly, Celly now cradled in her forelegs. “Stay with me until I fall asleep.”
“Luna--”
“Please,” Luna added, her eyebrows peaking in an expression of complete helplessness.
Celestia knew her obligation to their subjects. Luna knew it as well, but in that place...in that moment...Princess Celestia also knew she could not leave. She ignited her magic, and a blanket fluttered from the bedroom to settle atop the twin alicorn sisters.
“I suppose it will simply have to be a longer night tonight,” Celestia smiled.
Luna glanced up, only now realizing what she had prompted.
“B-but it is not the solstice.”
“Then there will have to be a new longest night of the year,” Celestia replied, caressing Luna’s cheek lovingly. “I think...once a month will suffice. By royal decree. We’ll call it, ‘Mensal Solstice’.”
Luna frowned. “Only once a month...?”
Celestia giggled. Her mane, unrestricted by her crown, pooled in everflowing waterfalls around her shoulders and neck. “We’ll see. Somehow I think our subjects will be happy that we’re happy, in any event.”
“You are...happy, then?” Luna asked incredulously.
Celestia sniffed sharply and planted a firm kiss on her sister’s forehead. “I love you. The day you returned to me is the day I became whole again.”
The two shared silent tears, and made a game out of kissing them away until mirth drew them from the moment.
“We...er...I,” Luna corrected herself again. “...could get used to...regular release.”
Celestia’s thoughts strayed to Downy Tuft - that lone guard, wrestling with understanding the importance of his own role. He was young, but Celestia saw in him great potential - so long as he learned the value of the smaller door.
“Have you ever thought about getting married?” Celestia asked. “Princess Cadance is engaged to Twilight Sparkle’s brother, you know.”
Luna looked shocked. “Engaged...? To a common pony?”
“My dear...dear, Sister,” Celestia fawned, wrapping Luna up in a lasting embrace, “There are no common ponies in Equestria.”
Luna yawned into her striped sock, the haze of sleep dulling her vision. Celestia held her close and hummed a few bars of an ancient lullaby they’d both loved growing up. Luna snuggled into the vibrations the song elicited.
“Shhhh...” Celestia whispered. “Go to sleep. I’ll be by your side. Always.”
Far below the towers of Canterlot lay the sleepy hamlet called Ponyville - a tiny town known for its curious habit of producing ponies destined to save the world.
On a certain farm in that little town, a rooster slept in.
