Mortality (revised (slightly))
The sun slowly crept up over the small town of Ponyville, the light reaching only the nearest houses before they blocked it off. Shadows were still abundant in the street with only a few beings awake to see them as seldom any were so early on such a morning. Only one could ever be said to always be up for the rising of the sun, as it was her duty.
Princess Celestia, ruler of all Equestria, had raised the sun into the baby blue sky. Not a cloud in sight, it was a marvellous view from her balcony. But as always, raising something that weighs over an octillion times more than you will take its toll. She took a deep breath and concentrated on relieving herself of an itch that always developed behind her left ear during the daily task of raising the Sun. She released her breath and sighed. An outburst from her sister yesterday had left her thinking. She wasn’t getting old. She could do everything her sister could do, even if one or two of those things left her more breathless than she’d ever felt before.
She wouldn’t admit it, Luna, for being only a few years younger than her, was a much younger looking mare and she was jealous. Not ‘turn into an evil monster and force the land into an eternal night’ jealous, but jealous never the less. This jealousy would curse through her veins at the mention of the word ‘old’ but it was never acted upon. But even if it was never acted upon, Luna knew something was wrong with her sister.
Every day, a little sign of Celestia’s age showed, and the small grimace that adorned her face when it did, went unnoticed by every pony else, except Luna. She knew her sister too well to have her hide her problems. She pondered whether to talk to Celestia about it, but she knew too well that asking her about age could get you sent to the moon. Or at least, using it as an insult whilst fighting and trying to usurp her throne could get you sent to the moon. She had wonder whether her sister would have been so harsh if not for the insults against her age, beauty and mother (even if they shared one). Luna was one of few ponies that had the exact numbers for her sister’s age, for it was one of the few royal secrets kept by none other but the alicorn royals and their most trusted of friends. Luna, although she had confided in ponies before, now knew the problem with telling every pony.
One thousand and seven years ago, Luna had told her friends of herself and Celestia’s ages in a drunken stupor. This information spread like wildfire until almost every pony knew. This ‘wildfire’ was replaced by rumours that Celestia was too old to rule, even if she was one thousand years younger at the time. These rumours spread to accusations that Celestia should be overthrown to allow a younger ruler, and the formation of the Lunar Republic, an organisation determined to put Luna on the throne and later, tried to reverse her banishment. They were never endorsed by Luna, nor were they mentioned by Celestia who believed it to be a phase of a sort, which would pass without any pony remembering who they were. But she was wrong and even had an attempt made on her health. If it weren’t for Luna sneaking into the kitchens at night, Celestia would have been stricken with Cutie Pox via infected cake. It was not a good night for Luna. Who in Equestria would have a special talent at creating absurd and spontaneous ideas? On the other hand, it had led to the invention of the Spork.
When the Lunar Republic went into hiding, it had already taken its toll on Celestia. She was more stressed than ever, even going as far as having a slight breakdown when working over several of the many state laws, worrying that the slightest injustice could negatively affect public opinion. As far as Luna knew, her sister had never been disliked by the public. Every pony saw her as a fair and peaceful ruler, except from a few, with no reason to harm or hurt any pony. Even the Lunar Republic had released statements mentioning that their campaigns and aims weren’t because Celestia was a bad ruler; it was because Luna would be a better one. When the rumours surfaced, Celestia had misunderstood them as the public wanting her gone. She hadn’t listened to Luna when she told her this; she dismissed it as her sister comforting her in a time of stress. Ever since, she’d always been that little bit tired. That was one of the little signs. A small yawn at midday, a casual outstretching of a hoof when walking around. Something any normal pony wouldn’t do…
Luna hasn’t said anything though? Is she really noticing it, or am I just being paranoid again? Celestia thought to herself, the outburst yesterday was the only thing that could possibly be related to those signs.
“Why do you have to keep up these charades?!”
“Because I can’t look weak. If I’m weak, the kingdom weakens.”
“Then let me relieve you of some small duty. You have enough as it is.”
“What are you implying? That I can’t handle stress and deadlines, or something else?”
“I’m not implying anything. You’ve got too much on your hooves for you to handle. Let me ease your burdens. Give me some meaningless task to do, as long as it stops you from doing it.”
“May I ask why? How have I got too much to handle? I’ve coped with double the amount before.”
“Exactly! You could handle it before…”
Luna clasped a hoof to her mouth when she realised what she was going to say. Celestia, due to the context of the situation, knew what she was going to say. She sighed. She turned from her sister’s apologetic gaze, to correct her thoughts. It was a moment of heightened emotions; she knew it wasn’t to be taken seriously. But she was correct in her intentions. She was getting old, getting tired, getting stressed easier than ever before. The first step of resolving a problem: admission.
She once again sighed, relieving the memory. She hadn’t spoke to her sister since the incident and she knew that what she had done by not resolving it with her there and then would come back to haunt her. But that was for another time, at the moment, she had royal duties to attend to…
--- Later that day ---
“You must trust your friends to know what is best for you; otherwise you might just end up not knowing yourself. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
Another Tuesday afternoon, another friendship report from her student. This one seemed a little bit to coincidental for her tastes. A lesson on trusting some pony else know what’s best for you happening to be learnt on the day after she hadn’t trusted her sister to know what’s best. Some pony must have told Twilight, more than likely her sister. She stopped herself from groaning, and left the room with the intention to complete her final duty for the day. The sunset.
As she walked through the halls of her castle, she looked around at the always familiar settings. The hall where she learnt to cast levitation and illumination spells. The garden where she learnt to fly. The bedroom that once echoed cries of joy at the birth of her baby sister, who lay under the full moon. Each room held different memories from several millennia ago.
Millennia she had lived through, gaining from her experiences, learning the ways of a ruler and alicorn princess from her mother and father, teaching Luna those same things after her parents passing. All those years passed quickly, each day becoming shorter as she went on. It is why this hallway, dedicated to time, was designed the way it was. Each room holding memories that set up a time line for the current ruler’s life. The once stone-like room that belong to her father’s memories, emptied by magic at the loss of those memories, now held memories of herself, that one in particular holding the memory of her first steps. A tear formed in the corner of her eye realising that those would be gone at her own passing, which although she acknowledged her age, would be another few millennia away. This tear sat in the corner of her eye for the rest of her short journey to the balcony.
It was already darkening outside, meaning the retirement of ponies doing another day’s work, to their own houses and beds. In Canterlot, this happened even faster because of the tall buildings blocking all solar light when the sun still had a third of the way to fall until it was officially nightfall. Ponies couldn’t work in the dark and it meant shorter working hours, except for the princess of the day, who would still have to lower the sun at the ‘official’ time for sunset, and the princess of the night, who would only just be awakening. The princesses only ever had two hours overlap when they saw each other on any normal day. An hour at sunrise and another one at sunset. It was the only time where neither one was too tired nor too busy to do anything with one another.
Celestia approached the dual doors to the balcony, opening them with her golden magical aura. The night was young and the light was gone. Standing in front of her was her sister, smiling at her. A proud grin upon her face, Celestia walked over to and nuzzled her friend and fellow ruler.
“I taught you well. You might just be able to take over from me when I’m gone…” Celestia returned her sister’s friendly smile with a joke. Luna managed only a faint chuckle as she started to pant. She had just used almost her entire magic reserves to lower the sun, something only a few ponies could ever say they succeeded in doing. She also now had to raise the moon, an equally challenging task made harder by her lack of energy. Celestia smiled as her sister, struggling with the task at hand, now sat defeated with the moon only a quarter of the way up into the sky. She continued to pant heavily as her magic reserves gradually replaced the magic she had already used.
Magic was generally treated the same as fitness. Without exercising it regularly, you lose your ability to use as much of it. Luna’s magic was still struggling from the 1000 year exile to the magic-suppressing moon. Who knew that oxygen levels affected the amount of magic you could use? It was a nasty side effect that she now had to live with. But continuing her duty to raise the moon, her magic reserves were steadily increasing. According to her sister, they had recently passed above average and were a mere illumination-level spell off of Twilight’s.
“Here, let me finish for you.” Celestia took the place of her sister, and grasped out into space to raise the white orb that was the moon. Although the sun was heavier than the moon, the moon’s ability to weaken any magical hold on it made the task as difficult as the raising the sun. Her sister certainly wasn’t weak if she could have done this every night. “You still can’t replace me yet, little sis.”
Luna looked up to her taller white sister and sighed in relief. She wanted to say something but felt the moment was best left unspoiled. The night sky looked as beautiful as it always had on such a normal night. With no special events and nothing out of the ordinary happening, the only memory Luna would have of this evening would be what she saw now. Her sister, standing tall in front of her, smiling and at peace with herself, whilst raising the moon in front of her.
