Luna was very tired from the events of the day. She just wanted to sleep and get a good rest, but she couldn't sleep. She kept tossing and turning, unable to think about anything but her sentence of even more loneliness. The Princess of Night was exhausted, but she couldn't fall asleep, no matter how comfortable her position was or how puffy the pillow was under her head.

She looked around in desperation to find anything that could help her to fall asleep. Her gaze fell on a teddy bear she faintly remembered. She liked Mr. Snuggabear when she was small. She levitated it to the bed and held the toy in her hooves, but unfortunately, as she brought it closer to herself, a golden aura surrounded it and the teddy bear landed just out of her reach.

"This is not fair!" She whined as tears were forming in her eyes. "Not even a plushie?"

Luna shifted and pulled the covers to cover almost her whole head, only her horn and forehead was visible. She then slid to one side of the bed and used her magic to curl the other side of the cover back, wrapping herself in tightly. After this act she held the 'roll' close to herself and imagined that she is hugging her big sister, who protectingly draped her wing over her.

She buried her head in the cover and started crying. Her whole body was shaking as she let her loneliness and sadness materialize into tears and flow down onto the bedsheets.

"Tia..." She whispered as she squeezed the rolled up cover close to her chest. "Tia, please..." Although she didn't raise her voice from the level of whispers, she still hoped that her sister will somehow hear or sense that she needs her and will come to comfort her.

"I need you, please, don't abandon me..." *sniff* *sniff* "I don't want to be alone..." *hic* "I don't want to sleep alone..." She felt incredible sadness engulf her, and even her chest hurt inside. She cried and hiccuped for a long time before whispering into the darkness surrounding her again.

"I don't want to wake up on the moon again, please stay with me, Tia... Please!"

"I'm scared"

The morning after

Luna raised her head from under her covers as she heard somepony knock on her door.

"Come in" She said with a weak voice. It was her sister. She was so happy she saw her. She jumped from under the covers and leapt towards her sister with front hooves extended, her whole body pushing forward to reach the neck of the older alicorn and wrap her in a hug.

Nothing happened. She was placed on the ground before Celestia by an unwanted magical force.

"Tia! No! Please let me hug you! Please!" She couldn't help but tear up at the sight of Celestia crying in front of her.

"I'm so sorry sister... It's not me who's doing this..." *hic* "I want to hold you in my hooves but this curse stops me! I spent the whole night thinking of solutions for this problem, or any way to bypass this sentence. Are you willing to test them?" Celestia's sobs slowly died down as she slowly calmed herself. Luna's ears perked up and her eyes were filled with hope.

"I would do anything! I want to try every way to-..." her words were cut off by her stomach growling. "But... can we have breakfast first?"

"It isn't a bad idea at all." The two ponies shared a laugh, both of them looking forward to the day.

They ate the breakfast in relative silence. The table was full of everything that fell under the category 'mouth-watering'. Toast, jam, peanut butter, fresh fruits and vegetables, tea, and high stacks of pancakes for both of the princesses. The pancakes were ornated with cream and berries alligned in shape of a smiley face. Luna dove in the delicious stack, cutting huge parts off and levitating it into her mouth. After swallowing a few mouthfuls, she looked up to her sister:

"These are divine, Tia! Did the culinary arts evolve so much in a thousand years?"

"I made the pancakes myself to honor this very special day. Welcome home, sister."

Luna was delighted by the taste of the pancakes, and now that she knew that her sister made them, they were even tastier. When they finished breakfast, Celestia and Luna went to the older alicorn's room to test the limits of the spell put on them.

"Okay, first test: touching and petting." Announced Celestia, and proceeded to try the act mentioned. She raised her hoof and placed it on Luna's head. She slowly started moving it in a circle, lightly rubbing her sister's head. Then she proceeded to drag her hoof down her mane, gently stroking it up and down.

"It's working, Tia!" Luna exclaimed with joy in her voice. Her happpiness was short lived. The well-known magical aura surrounded Celestia's hoof and moved it to its normal position on the ground.

"Good. So I can touch you, and until I hold my hoof still, there will be no problem. Since snuggling is not an option, we might try something else to spend the night together. It was hard for me to know that you are lonely, and I didn't sleep at all."

"What would the other option be?" Asked Luna impatiently.

"The spell might block us from being on the same bed at the same time, but if we succeed, we will try a position in which our backs are touching. If it is possible, then I will lay on my stomach instead, and try to wrap a wing over you."

The two ponies sat on the edges of the bed and laid down. Nothing happened. They shifted towards each other, and their front legs touched as they laid on their backs. Then they rolled to their sides and moved even closer to each other, followed by alligning their backs. The magic aura did not interfere.

"This is it! We can be together this way!" Exclaimed Celestia happily. "Now for the wing." She rolled to her stomach and draped her wing over Luna. The aura surrounded her wing and folded it back.

"I am still fine with our backs pressed together." Said Luna with joy overwhelming her. She wanted to squeeze her sister to herself for achieving this minor victory over the sentence, but that wasn't currently possible.

"I am fine with that position too... Well, until we can start snuggling properly." Celestia let out a small chuckle and laid her head on the pillow. "I took what's remaining of the month off, so we have two and a half weeks to be together, and all we have to do is to raise the sun and the moon. Do you want to finally get some sleep?"

"I would love to. Thank you for figuring this out, Tia. It's good to be home, and it's even better to be with you." She moved her head backwards on the pillow to make it touch the back Celestia's neck. She closed her eyes, and as she drifted off to sleep, she felt something she did not experience for a thousand years.
Happiness.

Author's Note

So, that's all, folks! I may did a few things wrong, but forgive me: this is my first time publishing on FIMfiction, and this might be weak for the ones who have standards. It will improve with time. A whole lot of time, since I have a shortage of free time.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.