Meeting the new Yin to her Yang.
Rising early to raise the sun has always been a stable tradition since sudden defeat of the Lord of Chaos; when Celestia originally took this mantle upon herself, it wasn’t to offer a sense of stability but to assert her new control of the land and its occupants. Ever since the raising of the sun has become not only a symbol of her power, but is now considered both the ending and start of a day.
So, for the Princess of the Sun to wake to a few mischievous rays of sunlight touching her face left her feeling more than slightly confused. The grogginess of waking before she was ready left the alicorn unable to function for a few precious moments as her mind slowly woke itself up, and Celestia understood the logic ‘sunrays+ slept in= late.’
"By my glowing mane!" she shouted as she propelled herself from the bed.
Sticking the landing(badly) her forehooves slipping from their lopsided placement left the alicorn's muzzle slamming into the waxed floor.
“When did they wax the floors?” was her first thought as she picked herself from the floor.
Trying to ignore the faint impression of herself on the floor, Celestia shook the shock out of her like a dog drying themselves off. While doing this, she flapped her large wings on habit and reflex to dry off faster only to be met with some disastrous results.
For a pony of her size (especially being an alicorn), the gust created swept everything not nailed down into a mini tornado; the Celestia ceased immediately and thank herself as the tornado quickly dissipated, scattering her sheets, loose parchment, some knickknacks she didn’t even she owned, a copy of…
“How did that get out!” Celestia asked loudly, quickly scooping up the item in question and everything else displaced by the freak accident.
A knock on her bedroom door sent her panicking at the thought of being caught with it, and being the wise monarch, she is decided to hide it and everything under her bed.
“I’ll get it later.” Celestia told herself before making her way to the door.
Her magic grabbed the door handle but held as she gave herself a quick look over, fixing some feathers, patting down fur, and sending enough magic into brightening her mane before turning the handle and stepping out.
Greeting Celestia this morning were the two guards that she has come to associate as her personal guards. How the guards are selected she couldn’t say since centuries ago there would be a review process overseen by her followed by a formal ceremony, nowadays she would take notice how often certain guards follow her and assume they were her personal guards.
“Hello?” Celestia asked.
The two guards remained silent as they continued looking forward at the wall across from them.
"Gentlecolts, would any of you have the time?" she asked, hoping to get some response.
Thankfully the simple question worked, causing the two guards gave each other a quick side glance as if telling their companion to go on ahead and speak up. When neither did the stallion on her left finally raised his right forehoof, revealing the time piece it held:7:33am.
"So, I am late, but how did Luna raise the sun without my help?"
"Permission to speak?" the guard with the watch asked.
"Granted."
"Your mother did it before asking for a bowl of water."
Any further worries of her duties being late suddenly found themselves being treated like all potential dangers to her country and chucked right out of her mind.
"My mother is here?" She asked as she whipped her head toward the guard.
The guard now the center of attention began feeling the pressure to not only look his best but fulfill his duties requested of him. Quickly shifting his gaze forward to at least give off that 'ideal' guard look-still as a statue, quite, emotionless, and bored out of his mind for most of the day.
"Yes, Princess. I recognized her from her previous visit during the shift change." he paused in case Celestia wanted to say something before continuing.
"I was walking from the barracks to my shift when they found me looking for directions."
"They?" Celestia asked, tilting her head slightly.
He tried shifted slightly to adjust the armor straps riding up his barrel but quit once he noticed the alicorn's muzzle just inches from his face; if he moved to right or to the left her gaze followed, stepping away from her door resulted in Celestia simply following never breaking eye contact.
Perhaps it was from the closeness of his princess or the unblinking gaze baring down him, or the tip of Celestia's wing causally running up and down his back, but something about this situation left him feeling uncomfortable.
"Who are they?" Celestia demanded, using the primary of her wing to bristle some of his exposed fur.
"I don..you mean your mother?" he asked between the clenching of his teeth."Oh Celestia that feels good."
"You said they, who was mother with?" Celestia questioned again, dragging the primary around from the dock of his tail up.
"He should be ready to crack soon." the princess thought.
"I..sh..your father..who else. Th..I drew me map of the castle and they pointed where they wanted to go." the guard at the breaking the point manged to get out just before succumbing to the alicron's 'torture'.
Celestia retracted the wing back to her side as she raised her head to staring off down the hallway. Her two guards present...
" Uuungh..." the barer of the dread feather moaned before collapsing to the the floor.
With her loyal and onlyguard present fidgeting restlessly signaled to Celestia he might be holding it a bit too long.
"You may use my personal bath to relive yourself gentlecolt, I already went sometime this morning."
Her loyal and only guard's gaze shifted to the ground hoping he weren't standing in anything, when the princess ignited her horn and vanished in a dull pop of light.
For about four seconds there was complete silence before Celestia reappeared in another dull pop.
"Which way were they going?"
"Uh.. I think the kitchens." he barely finished before the alicorn disappeared, leaving him once again alone.
With no princess to guard and his shift nowhere near ending, he causally began taking in the hall around him before settling in his cohort sleeping on the floor. With one last look around making sure they were completely alone, shifted his curious gaze lower on his form..
"I knew he was lie.."
"They're not in the kitchens." Celestia popped back just in time to catch the lone guard in the act of examination.
There was a brief pause in the world, or at least the hall the pair were in. He tried to deny he were looking that low on his fellow guard, but just couldn't dispel what Celestia just witness. So, instead of acknowledging the guard she fired up her magic and began digging under the sleeping guard's armor before pulling out a single piece of folded paper.
"There it is." Celestia told herself as she unfolded the paper, revealing a crudely painted map of the castle.
She examined the crude map quickly before folding it again and placing it just underneath her chest piece for safe keeping. Her horn began glowing it's royal yellow color as she mimiced the guard examining sleeping guard's lower section.
"He never could lie well." she stated before once more disappearing a small flash light.
__________________________________________________________
The wait staff were expected to be on call for whenever they were needed, primarily during the meal times of the royal sisters or other important meal functions.
Today is no different with Princess Luna already partaking in her meal, a simple assortment of breakfast related items like a plate oranges, blacken toast with 3 different jam spreads, scrambled eggs, and a bowl of her name brand Luna-O's. Still not as good as Hay Crisps, but it wasn't the wait staff's place to judge.
What made this morning's shift different from the mundane were the inclusion of two 'cough' guests that for the most part looked just as lost as Princess Twilight during a surprise exam. The white, dog looking wolf seemed to be taking it all in stride while it's friend(mate?) resembled a pouting foal.
"Why won't you eat? Tis our food not to your standards?" Princess Luna asked through filtered anger.
The pouting, not so dog looking wolf raised his head to look Luna in the eye before lowering it back to the untouched bowl of Luna-O's in front him, watching the hay circles breaking down.
"Bark."
"What you mean they're inedible? I sponsor that brand personally!"
"Bark bark bark whine."
"Mother, we..I know you don't mind it, but why doesn't he mind it?"
"Bark bark snort."
"Bark!"
That one bark from the white dog silenced Luna and the wolf like dog, leaving dining room in silence once more. With much of the excitement over for now Luna slumped into her seat festering in the aftermath.
"Staff, thank you for your service. You are dismissed." she waved them off, not even bothering to make eye contact.
With their duties dismissed, the staff all gave one bow before quickly deporting the room. Luna waited until the door was closed and the three of them were the only ones in the room before speaking again.
"We are sorry. This bowl of breakfast means a lot, so much we found it insulting to not partake in it."
The wolf looked over to the princess like a certain element would do to judge a lie, before softening his posture.
"Whine, bark bark bark..whine.”
The sudden backtracking didn't go unappreciated by the two ladies at the table with the white dog/wolf leaning over to lick his cheek and Luna calming down.
"Thank you. We also shouldn't have assumed a timber wolf just eat plants. Toast?" The princess offered burned square as a willing show of good faith.
The darker wolf looked over to his lighter colored mate, who in turned growled lowly even showing a little teeth.
With such encouragement the dark wolf turned to the princess and nodded, trying his best to hide the fidgeting as the plate of blacked bread made it's way over to him. The magic hummed and sizzled the entire way over before cutting off with a sharp snap, dropping the plate of burnt bread in front of the increasingly worried wolf; the bread had been roasted thoroughly, flaking like an over night camp fire log with quite possibly ash used as the spread.
Looking between his companion and the waiting alicron, the wolf sighed and lowered his muzzle to nibble on the 'toast'.
"Is it to your liking?" Luna asked, trying to hide the hook of a smile gracing her own muzzle.
There was no faking the displeasure the wolf was experiencing, and like the harden warrior he is carried on without further complaint. The white wolf drooped her ears back and whimpered only now realizing just what she had encouraged her mate to do, while the princess's smile faded as this new wolf in her life proved himself.
"Enough. We..I am sorry to have put you through that. The chiefs feel a being of the night as myself would want everything as dark, they're either very dense or on the verge of a great discovery. Wouldn't that be something, food colored to match the time of day?"
The white wolf tilted her head slightly at the thought, following it with a small grunt; using this moment, the larger, more colorful wolf stopped his consumption of the ash covered bread and vigorously lapped up the soggy oat/alpha cereal to rid himself of the burnt taste.
"Bark!"
"He really does like my food product! A trickster he is!" Luna cried happily, adding her own laughter to the fry.
This moment was of course interrupted by a quick pop and the flash of light of a teleportation spell ending, revealing one Princess Celestia. The alicron had teleport backward leaving her facing the large, double doors that are used as the entrance and exit to the dining hall.
Turning to confront the noise Luna suddenly found the view leaving her wondering where did it all go wrong while her guest, the white wolf-dog growling at her staring mate.
Realizing this, Celestia turned around shooting off a quick 'morning' to her sister but went still once she noticed to table's other occupants. Two wolves sat in chairs looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to break the ice first to which she did.
"Hello mother. Hello..." she trailed off looking at the large, obviously male wolf.
Celestia could tell he were male was his larger and bulkier size, but how his muzzle was more squared. Instead of one color like her mother, he sported two in an interweaving design with the very dark green (almost black) covering most of his form with an ash grey marking his underbelly, and face like a mask.
"Why does he have a broken chain around his forepaw?"
"Sister, this is mother's new mate.. our adaptive-father you could say."
The sisters have always lead a long and uncertain life before the founding of their nation, especially growing up with their numerous siblings. Children of the Stars their mother called them and rightly so since each sibling grew up to take their place among the sky with their own constellation. Luna and herself had grown too attached to the earth and its inhabitants and decided to remain grounded to find a land to call their own.
Eventually they did and over many centuries of fighting dangerous wildlife and constant nurturing of the local populations to reach a level of civilization. Heartache, struggles, and joy were constant companions coming and going when they pleased but the black sheep, inaction, was the one never really around.
There's always something that was needed to be done, a command or some sort of action yet how could Celestia react let alone respond to the news of suddenly having a father?
A mother, she had like everypony always have but never in her life had there been a defining male figure she could seek out for advice or comfort like her mother.
"Hello." that's a good start[RF1] .
The wolf in question straighten himself up in his chair to give off a better impression before responding. He gave two quick but deep barks before bending his upper body in a small bow.
Celestia didn't answer right away as she processed what was just said, leaving Luna and her mother free to converse.
"Very well spoken Father of Steps." Luna congratulated " Sister is a candy for formality."
'Bark.' the white wolf responded.
"Sucker? I don’t sucker anything mother!"
"Bark, bark, growl bark." the bigger wolf added
"What does sucking have to do with candy? We grind the little sugar treats into submission, there's no suck involved!" Luna declared while slamming a hoof onto the table, accidentally destroying one of the breakfast plates.
"LUNA! Carefully, those plates are expensive to replace."
"We are the very Sun and Moon who rule over the wealthiest country, how expensive can it be?"
"It is when you're not get paid!" Celestia stomping a forehoof.
“What you mean we are not compensated?”
“Of course, not sister. I assumed it was obvious when we were never paid for anything, didn’t you find it weird everything was free?”
“I thought it was out of respect and a little flank kissing.” Luna defended.
Celestia was about to counter when their mother interrupted with two rapid sharp barks, ending the potential argument by diverting their attention elsewhere (like her). Namely by pointing out they’re both broke daughters that mooch of the kindness of others.
The stockier wolf turned to his mate in wonder of her bluntness when dealing with her daughters, not use to such acts of parenting. He gauged the slender wolf for any collapse in her defense but found none before turning to gauge her strange (magical horse) daughters and found the pair either stunned or feeling offended for being called out on the act.
All of this left the wolf finding his mate even more amazing than the five minutes ago, making him lean over to nip his love on the ear earning him a nip from her as well.
“That’s sweet isn’t it, sister?” Celestia, eager to change the topic asked.
Luna, still a little sour from the bluntness turned to eye their mother and her mate for a second, trying to contain the growing smile. Despite the banter and sometimes tactless approach to their interactions they are still a family that loved and supported each other. So, to see their mother of many centuries acting like a love-sick puppy left the nightly alicorn feeling giddy inside.
“Indeed. The act reminds me of those ducks in the gardens.”
“Bark!” the stocky wolf mimicked, earning a giggle from the two sisters.
“Bravo!”
“I thought you were really a disguised duckling!’
Keeping up the act, he leaned over the table trying to give the appearance of him bowing, in doing so reminded him of the dreadful piece of charred bread. Noticing his sudden shift in mood Luna levitated away the plate, setting it to the side of her own diminished assortment of breakfast goods.
“Sorry about, we..I forgotten about that dreaded thing. ???!” Luna gargled
“Yes, your highness?” came a disembodied voice before morphing into a hand and arm rising from Luna’s bowl of cereal.
“Rid us of the toast please?” Luna asked the hand, who completely ignored the looks of confusion, disgust, and recognition.
Doing as it were asked, the hand simply flopped onto the table and began patting around the bowl looking for the toast before Luna carefully moved it in its path, watching the appendage grab the toast and disappearing into the cereal bowl.
With the poor excuse of toast removed, Luna happily tried returning to the conversation but was left taken back when all three others were staring at her as if she were some wigged horned freak. Out of all them it was once again the large wolf that broke the silence with a questioning bark.
“NO! ??? does not come with every bowl of my cereal!” Luna denied, as the wolf pushed the half-consumed bowl in front of him away.
This act further antagonized the alicorn enough to rekindle the pair’s previous standoff over the bowl of hay circles. With Luna and the new wolf in their mother’s life once more occupied, Celestia took the opportunity to move closer to their mother, taking a seat beside the white wolf.
When told nopony can see the similarities between the two, but when sitting next to each other do resemblances between mother and daughter become clear.
The two, white furred and often revered sun avatars started their own conversation with intent to exchange some juicy hearsay.
In the comfort of the moment, the river of time passed unheeded by the interference of daily life; by now midafternoon had sneaked its way into relevance, and the little family still carried on enjoying each other’s company. Sadly, almost by some unknown influence (Discord) feeling a lack of excitement in the area decided to intervene and shake the moment up.
“Princess Celestia! Queen Chrysalis has been discovered working at a Hay BURGER in Manehattan!” a familiar purple alicorn shouted after finishing her teleport.
Both sisters and wolves turned their attention to the newest guest.
“Twilight! What a surprise!” Luna welcomed her friend, rushing to personally greet her.
Surprised by the sudden hug Twilight went limp into the embrace before remembering who were around and quickly broke the hug off.
“No Luna..later . “She quickly added “We think Chrysalis is planning a takeover of the Hay Burger franchise, but working her way up to CEO!”
“Breathe Twilight, remember to inhale.” Celestia instructed from her chair.
“PRINCESS HOW CAN I BRE… oh no.” Twilight cut off realizing who was at the table.
“You remember mother don’t you Twilight? She came by for a surprise visit.”
“Bark!” the white wolf confirmed, tail wagging happily.
“Mother remembers you! “Luna chipped in.
“Yes..a pleasure to see you again.” Twilight lied, not looking forward to dealing with another headache.
The white wolf yipped before turning to the wolf sitting quietly on her left to nip at his neck. The little display got a cheer from Luna, a small giggle from Celestia and a new groan from Twilight.
“And who is that?”
“Twilight, I want to introduce our..”
“FATHER! Our glorious out of the box father!” Luna finished for Celestia, who rolled her eyes at that last remark.
Said wolf just looked up and gave the little alicorn a nod, which earned him a ‘friendly’ growl from his mate and companion
“Bark. Bark bark.” The wolf politely introduce himself, much to his mate’s delight.
“BARK! “
“Agreed! Nicely put father.”
“That was very nice of you, wouldn’t you say Twilight?”
“I.. I think the girls and I can handle Chrysalis. We’ll..uh..er.. we’ll get jobs at a competing chain and stop her!”
“Twilight that doesn’t make sense.”
“DON’T NEED HELP BYE!” she declared before teleporting away, leaving the family alone once more.
The sisters were left stunned at the brash display of rudeness, looking to one another unsure what or how to justify the young alicorn’s actions when their father ‘spoke’ up. He barked a few times looking for an answer before asking the sisters a question that left Celestia flustered, and Luna again in a bubbly mood.
“You’re not the first father, I though the same of little Twilight during my return.”
“Why does everypony still think Twilight is my foal? We look nothing alike.” Celestia huffed.
Their mother barked her two cents, only furthering the accusation and embarrassment.
“You met Twilight last visit mother and still thought she were my daughter? Whatever gave you that idea?”
“You dot on her more than any other pony I’ve ever seen, her magic prowess is unheard off for a unicorn even more now since her ascension. That and I.. we…” Luna gestured to their parents” …don’t know much about you sister.”
“We live together!”
“Bark!”
“You too mother?”
“She’s right Celestia, we never mail her like she should.”
While the sisters fell into their banter, the two wolves took the opportunity to watch the two alicorns argue as siblings do. The white wolf watching the scene intently trying to ignore the mass of warmth snuggling up to her; the two wolves melted into each other’s tail wagging body willing enjoying the moment.
Losing themselves they began conversing among themselves, mostly about the day so far and a little of the past. This kept up long enough to forget about the two alicorns who were now listening in, the wolves were now talking [RF2] about how they met and if they would change anything to which the darker wolf licked his mate’s cheek.
This would have been a wonderful memory if Luna didn’t take the moment to point out the one unnecessary tidbit of information from their private moment.
“Mother caught him off the rebound! Mother got game!”
Celestia had the modesty to look somewhat shocked at the bluntness, their new father only whined softly trying to look away, but their mother fluffed out her chest before summoning that mysterious (and trademark) paintbrush. They watched as the paintbrush moved to his foreleg with the broken chain and then casually floated over to her right foreleg; a quick, bright light flared up leaving the three momentarily blinded before dissipating, revealing a sparkling new chain connecting the pair together.
The sisters and their new father could only stare at the length chain, following it to the white wolf who smugly stuck her tongue out.
