That was not enough punishment!
Why do I have to suffer even more?
It was over. Nightmare Moon was purged from her, and she was free. Her legs trembled as she stood up, but eventually she did it and saw the best sight she had seen for a thousand years.
"Tia!" Luna cried out as she galloped towards the tall, white alicorn princess. She wanted to tackle her into a hug but was suspended in the air. She felt magic surround her, and saw a golden aura enveloping her.
"I am glad to see you too, sister. Please follow me, and no physical contact." Said Celestia as she let her sister down. Luna seemed very disappointed by the fact that she didn’t get to hug Celestia. Her lower lip formed a pout and she had to muster all her strength to not to begin crying. For a moment, she thought that crying would make Celestia change her mind about the 'no physical contact' thing, but eventually she followed her in silence.
The two alicorns progressed to a carriage with four pegasus guards and entered it. The princesses sat in front of each other, but curiosity got the best out of Luna.
"Why didn’t you let me hug you, sister?"
"I will explain everything back at the castle" came the answer.
The trip to Canterlot was spent in silence, save for Luna occasionally squirming and using all the self control she had to not to jump into her sister's arms. She had been craving for the moment when she would hug her sister and finally be happy and safe in Celestia's warm embrace.
After they reached the castle and went through the main doors Celestia simply gestured for Luna to follow her. After a few minutes of walking through corridors and up many stairs, they stood before a set of doors with a familiar emblem on it. It was Luna's room. Celestia opened it and let her sister go inside first, then she entered too.
Luna was overwhelmed with joy when she saw her old room, and jumped on the bed with glee. She was so happy that the moment could even be called 'perfect'. But one thing separated this time of joy from being the best day in her life. And that thing was Celestia. More exactly the warmth of Celestia's hooves wrapped around her. She imagined it so many times during her absence, and she couldn't wait to experience it.
She invitingly held her two front hooves in the air, hoping her sister would understand what did she want, but nothing happened. Seconds passed, but they felt like hours in this awkward scene. The silence was broken by Celestia's voce.
"I'm sorry, Luna, but we cannot cuddle. Not today, not tomorrow, not this month. Not until the next Summer Sun Celebration."
Suddenly every single drop of Luna's happiness vanished. When she asked the obvious question her voice was shaking, her ears were flat against her head and she was devastated by her sister's words.
"B-but why? Why don't you want to hug me?" She gasped in shock as she couldn't think but one thing. "Don't you love me anymore? Don't you want me to be your sister?" Tears were filling here eyes and her vision became blurry.
"No, I love you more than anything, and you are dear to me. I missed you so much during all those times, but I must not cuddle with you." Celestia's voice was crackling and tears were rolling down her cheeks.
"Why? What holds you back?" Asked the smaller alicorn.
"Y-your sentence." The Princess of the Sun was openly crying now, sitting on the floor, her whole form shaking.
"What do you mean, sister?" Luna couldn't bear the sight of her sister crying in front of her and jumped from the bed to embrace and try to comfort the crying pony.
A wall of golden magic stopped her from doing what she wanted, and Celestia mustered enough strength to talk.
"The council, which is now long gone, has sentenced you to spend one year after you come back from the moon without any form of physical affection, especially not cuddles." Celestia broke down in another fit of crying before managing to continue. "They said it was meant to ensure that you will not turn on me again and you will appreciate the love of another pony. They were not right... I did not care for you enough..." She couldn't take the pain of rejecting her own sister, and started crying even more, this time even wailing loudly.
"What would happen if you hugged me?" Came the new question from Luna.
"A spell was cast on me to stop you from hugging me or any other pony. The magical connection between you and me will prevent us from showing any affection to each other. I did not want to cast any spells. Not now, and not at the Everfree Castle ruins. Also, you will not be capable of hugging anypony or a plush animal. Now excuse me, but I cannot stay here. I couldn't take the sight of you crying, and my inability to comfort you"
Celestia left the room in tears, and ran as fast as she could to reach her own chambers. When inside, she put a soundproofing spell on the room and threw herself on the bed. She hugged one of her pillows close to herself and cried bitter tears into it.
Meanwhile Luna was perplexed. She just came back from the moon and she still has to be lonely due to some stupid council. She only wanted to be with Celestia, yet she cannot achieve that goal. Being with her sister was everything she wanted, and she was dreaming of falling asleep in her comforting embrace. She laid on the bed. She wasn't strong enough to cry. She was exhausted. Tears were streaming down onto the sheets as she could only think of her sister. Why did things have to go like this? Why couldn't she just hug her sister and be happy for the first time in a millenium? Why did she have to suffer?
Author's Note
Okay. This is my first fanfic published here. Since English is not my native language, I am open to any grammar things, and story improvements.
That was not enough punishment!
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.
