The Princess of the Sun stood on her castle balcony, watching the stars turn slowly in the nighttime sky. Her sister’s night was beautiful. Ever since Twilight Sparkle and her five friends had saved Princess Luna from her all-consuming jealousy, Princess Celestia had devoted a few minutes of her time before every sunrise to admiring her younger sister's work, while most ponies still slept peacefully in their homes.
Here was one constellation, there another, and in some places Celestia spied glowing clouds of colorful dust. The Princess of the Night placed all of the heavenly bodies perfectly, and all of them, even the smallest and faintest of stars, were unique!
Luna's night was a beautiful thing. But now it was time for the sunrise.
"Luna!" Celestia called out. "Little sister!"
The stars above the castle rippled, and then the indigo mare appeared, drifting gracefully towards the balcony.
"Yes, Tia?"
"Ready the sky," Celestia requested. "I must raise the sun now."
"So soon?" pouted the winged equine, clicking her front hooves lightly together.
Celestia blinked, the corners of her eyes suddenly damp at the memory of her sister’s thousand-year banishment--a necessary punishment that Celestia herself had imposed. "There will be many more nights, little sister."
Luna nodded in understanding, her indigo mane billowing as she narrowed her vivid, blue eyes and turned her focus towards the spectacle above. Horn glowing, she tilted her head slightly; the sky rippled in response, a great wave of magic that originated in Luna’s starry mane, and spread to every corner of the horizon.
"Your turn, Tia", Luna said, touching down lightly on the balcony beside her elder sister.
The white mare nodded closed her eyes, and rubbed her cheek briefly against Luna's.
When she opened her eyes again, they blazed with the fires of a newborn sun.
Celestia ascended to the heavens, her body fully encompassed by a blinding corona. Aiming her horn at the eastern horizon, she sent forth a beam of pure, white energy, lighting the yellow and red and orange fires of dawn. Slowly, surely, a fiery orb rose above the eastern horizon.
The corona encompassing the her body flared brightly, and with a final flash, Princess Celestia vanished.
Below the heavenly sisters, in Canterlot Castle’s sculpture garden, a small crowd of ponies had gathered. Their murmuring voices immediately hushed at Celestia’s display, then broke into cheers as the white sun crested the horizon.
"Good morning, big sister," Luna whispered.
Many feet below, a particular statue gleamed in the morning light.
As Celestia lent her warmth and power to the world, Equestria began to awaken, and Luna knew it would be a beautiful day.
*****
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Gordon’s hand scrambled over his desk, scattering scraps of paper and nearly knocking his glasses off his nightstand as he fumbled to turn off his alarm clock.
BEEP BEEP BE--click.
The aging physicist gave a contented groan in the dark silence, then pushed aside the bedsheets as he slowly, gently sat up. He winced, a sharp pain in his lower back reminding him yet again that he was closer to fifty than forty.
Gordon carefully lowered his feet to the floor, stood, then raised his arms and stretched. He bent over, letting his fingers brush the the surface of the carpet as his vertebrae complained with a series of loud pops.
Sitting on the edge of his bed, the doctor of theoretical physics tugged on and laced a pair of gray tennis shoes. The short hissing sound of thread against fabric seemed muffled in the darkened bedroom.
Lastly, the doctor tugged open the top drawer of his nightstand and withdrew an old mp3 player, fitting the earbuds securely into his ears. The device’s internal clock read 5:35; Gordon remembered, as he did every morning, that its internal clock always ran twenty minutes fast.
With a few taps, the physicist queued up his favorite playlist, “Running 1”, and slipping the old, yet serviceable device into the front pocket of his sweatpants. Keys jingling in his other pocket, the graying man jogged down the creaky stairs of his apartment and into the early morning sunrise, humming along with the first song his playlist.
“There’s a feeling I get, when I look to the west, and my spirit is cryin’ for leaving...”
*****
Her daily task completed, Celestia touched down on the balcony just as Luna vanished into the sky. As usual, a small had gathered in the gardens below to witness the nightly ritual. As usual, the ponies clapped and pointed as Luna sent her ripple of magic across the evening sky. Tonight, however, a young foal frowned.
“What is it?” The foal’s mother asked
“The shooting stars,” the foal protested. “You promised there would be shooting stars. Where are they?”
“I said there might be shooting stars,” the young mother corrected. “Keep watching, and let me know if you see one."
At the young foal’s words, Celestia spoke to the sky. “Did you hear that, sister?”
Although she was over a thousand meters above, Luna clearly heard her sister’s voice. “We did,” she responded.
“What is one less asteroid in the heavens?” Celestia asked, tilting her head and smiling.
“An asteroid that nobody will miss, and one we can always replace,” Luna agreed. Her magic rippled again, an imperceptible fold that stretched across the fabric of space. Twenty thousand kilometers away, a boulder of rock and ice suddenly changed its trajectory and began hurtling towards Equestria’s atmosphere.
“Look east, little one,” Luna implored, materializing at the young foal’s side.
The mother gasped at the sudden appearance of her princess, but the foal gazed upwards, just in time to see a brilliant meteor streak across the sky.
“Say thank you,” the mother bid her son.
“Thanks!” The foal’s eyes were filled with wonder.
Luna merely smiled. “It is our pleasure.”
Leaping from her balcony, Celesita touched down beside her sister as the crowd began to disperse.
“You still use the royal ‘We’, I notice.”
“We... I... it is an old habit. Besides, our citizens find it endearing.”
“As do I.” The two sisters briefly touched noses, and Luna smiled again at the retreating mother and child.
“Tell us, Tia, why do we continue this facade?” Luna asked, when she was sure that she and her sister were alone.
“What do you mean?”
“This misconception that We... that I raise the stars at night, and that you raise the sun during the day, as though all of the stars in the heavens rotate around this humble planet. It is a false and antiquated notion.”
Celestia laughed, a note that echoed sun and silver clouds. “I would not have thought my younger sister, who still uses the royal ‘We’, would spurn tradition simply because it is antiquated.”
“Surely our subjects understand the true nature of night and day,” Luna pressed. “Do they not understand that they live on a planet that orbits the sun?”
“But who controls that orbit?” Celestia reminded her sister. “Who guides the paths and positions of every star and planet?”
“We... I do,” Luna allowed cautiously.
“And who lights the fires that illuminate all of those stars?” asked the Princess of the Sun.
“You do, Tia.”
“And you would tell this freely to all the teachers and scholars of Equestria?”
“If they would believe us, yes.” Luna protested. “Do our subjects not deserve to know the truth?”
Celestia sighed. “The ponies of Equestria have a pair of princesses who love and care for them, and maintain harmony in their simple, peace-loving nation. You, sister, would give them a pair of goddesses, deities with power beyond imagination, who could rend and immolate their world as easily as a unicorn strikes a match. That is not endearing, little sister. That is terrifying.”
The night princess winced. “Even Nightmare Moon did not wish for that.”
“What we may wish and what our subjects may fear are two entirely separate things,” Celestia reminded her sister. “When you finish tending the heavens, meet me in our chambers. The Summer Sun Celebration is nearly here, and we have a lot of planning to do.”
“And what of your student, Twilight Sparkle?”
Celestia paused, wings half-unfurled. “What about her?”
“Would you forever hide the true nature of magic from her?”
“Twilight respects that which she loves, and her greatest love is learning.” The white mare’s eyes shimmered with affection. “As such, I would rather she discover us on her own.”
*****
