“I know it’s been a long day, but... could we maybe snuggle tonight, sister?” Luna asked with a hopeful grin as she trotted alongside Celestia. “I haven’t been sleeping that well these past few nights, and you know how well I sleep when we snuggle.”
“Not tonight, Luna... Forgive me, but I am not in the mood for that.” Celestia pushed the door to her bedroom open with a hoof, blinking slowly a few times as sleep tugged at her eyelids.
“Oh...” Luna’s shoulders slumped for a brief second. “Very well, then. I’ll just figure something else out then.”
Celestia noticed her sister’s eyes light up in the way they usually did when she thought of a good idea, though she was too tired to question her about it. “Goodnight, Luna.”
“Night, ‘Tia. I hope you sleep well,” she said.
“Thank you,” Celestia said, shutting her bedroom door behind her. She let out a rather large sigh of relief. It was finally the weekend, the one that she set aside each month to relax and unwind from the grueling duties of a ruling princess. Work was simply never-ending, but she had grown used to it over the centuries, though it could sometimes be a pain in the flank.
She flopped down on her bed with a groan, then kicked her regalia off of her hooves, thankful for the fact that nopony was around to see her do such a foalish thing. Celestia pushed herself under the covers, glad that she had already lowered the sun just minutes earlier. After stretching and letting loose a loud and long yawn unbecoming of a princess, she closed her eyes, praying for a long, uninterrupted night of rest. A few minutes passed in silence as she drifted ever closer to the land of dreams.
“Honk! Honk hoooooonk!”
Something dull, yet thin, nipped the back of her neck, yanking her back from the edge of falling asleep. Her eyes going wide, she pushed herself up with a hoof and glanced over her shoulder to find a beautiful white swan standing on her bed. It squawked at her again, flapping its wings a couple of times before it climbed on top of her. It settled down on her side, then tucked its head behind its wing and closed their eyes.
Celestia’s right eyebrow shot up as she simply stared at the swan, feeling her eyelids start to droop again. “Um...” Another yawn forced itself past her lips. “Hello there, little one.” She lit her horn to move the swan off of her with a quick spell, but sensed an odd magic faintly radiating from it. With her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, she pushed herself up, the swan’s eyes remaining closed. Why is it so comfortable around me already? What an odd creature... she thought, watching its chest rise and fall with each short breath it took. Licking her lips, she blinked a few times and levitated it from her body, placing it on the edge of the bed. The swan opened up its small, beady eye, staring directly at her.
If Celestia wasn’t half-asleep, she could have sworn the swan gave a sigh of annoyance.
The swan lifted its head from their wing, shook its head a few times, then stood up with a short yawn before it walked back over to her. It flapped its wings once, propelling it back up on top of her side.
Celestia rolled her eyes, letting her head unceremoniously fall back to the pillows. She closed her eyes as the swan squawked softly, the noise muffled by its wing. “Oh, if you insist...” she muttered.
“Honk! Honk!”
Celestia woke up with a start, startling the swan from her side. Its squawks grew louder and more frequent as it bobbed its head back and forth, staring right at her. “Ugh... What time is it?” she grumbled to herself. Glancing over at the clock, her heart skipped a beat when she realized that she was already twenty minutes late to raise the sun. She leapt out of bed, the swan nipping at her hooves, making quite the commotion as she trotted out onto the balcony in a hurry. The moon had already disappeared below the horizon, making her cock her head to the side as she wondered why she had slept in so late. Lighting her horn, she did her daily duty and walked back inside her bedroom. She felt well-rested, for this had been the first time in many moons that she hadn’t woken up in the middle of the night at least a couple of times.
The swan let loose a happy squawk then flew to her back, settling down near the base of her tail. It eyed the base of her tail with a curious gaze, then lunged forward, nipping at her dock. “Ouch! Okay, that is enough out of you, little one,” she said, trotting back out onto her balcony. Celestia lit her horn, picked the swan up with her magic, then held it up in the air for it to fly off. It squirmed in her grasp as it flapped its wings, trying to free itself. “Go on, go back to your friends; I am certain you can find them in the lakes of the Canterlot gardens,” she said as she let magic fade away, letting the swan fly off into the distance. Celestia sat down and watched it fly down towards the city streets before it finally disappeared from her view.
Glad that she had rid herself of the annoying bird, she turned around to head back inside and get some breakfast. Wanting to be sure that the swan couldn’t fly back inside her room, she closed her balcony door and locked it with a hoof. With a sigh of relief, she turned around to find the swan sitting on her bed. “Ugh... You have got to be kidding me,” she said, her shoulders slumping.
“Honk!” The swan flapped its wings and ran at her at full speed.
With a look of pure incredulity, Celestia lit her horn and teleported the swan all the way to Ponyville. “There, that should fix things,” she said with a rather smug smile. “Where did it come from, anyways? I’ll have to have a word with the guards about letting annoying animals into my home,” she grumbled.
Relieved that she no longer had to deal with such a pest, she trotted down the hallway, heading towards the kitchens with a gleeful pep in her step. She had every intention of eating at least two massive stacks of pancakes with some coffee before she started her weekend of relaxation, but as she rounded the final corner, the scents of delectable treats teasing her nostrils, she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes going wide in disbelief.
“Honk honk!” The swan stood in the middle of the hallway, fluffing its feathers.
“H-How?” Celestia stared at it in shock, her jaw hanging open wide. “I teleported you all the way to Ponyville! There is no way in Tartarus that you could be back here already!” She ground a hoof into the floor, plotting her next move. “If teleporting you will not work, then I shall teleport myself!” she said with a confident smirk. She lit her horn, and a moment before she disappeared, she heard the swan squawk just one more time, making her roll her eyes.
She reappeared in the small crater at the top of the mountain. A luscious landscape met her eyes, one that she and her sister had kept secret for many, many years. It had been one of the most bonding experiences she had ever experienced with her sister since her return from the moon. Nopony else knew about it, for whenever they had the chance, they would sneak off and tend to their garden, watching it grow and flourish from their tender, loving care. Many small ponds dotted the landscape, though she preferred the smallest of them all, for she had spent many long months making it the perfect spot to relax and let her worries slip away, even if it was just for a short while.
Celestia took to the skies, flying just over the tip of the mountain, praying that she wouldn’t see the swan flying up to meet her. After a few minutes of flight, she felt rather certain that she was completely alone, so as a smile finally graced her lips, she banked to the right and landed in the glade adjacent to her favorite spot in all of Equestria, aside from her comfy bed, of course. Pushing aside a small bush, she walked in between a few trees and sighed in content as her little pond fell into view, the sounds of a few birds chirping in the branches above her gracing her ears.
She walked into the water, swam into the middle, then took a deep breath. She pushed herself down below the smooth surface of the pond, opening her eyes in the crystal-clear water. Everything was so serene; not even the noise of the wildlife above could penetrate her place of peace. While she would have loved to spend more time underwater, letting her worries slowly slip away, the need to breath rose to the front of her mind, so with a couple flaps of her wings, she pushed herself back up to the surface, her eyes shut tight. Flicking her head to and fro, she flung the water from her mane and breathed a sigh of pure content as she spread her wings wide, letting them rest upon the water.
“Honk?”
Celestia froze, every muscle in her body tensing up. Hoping that her ears were playing tricks on her, she cracked open an eye to find the same blasted swan from before casually swimming towards her, a small white flower held between its beak. As it neared her, Celestia backed away, holding out a hoof to keep the odd creature from coming any closer. That odd magic that she had sensed last night pulsed from the swan a lot stronger than before, making her eyebrows furrow in confusion. “What... what are you?”
The swan grinned at her, something that Celestia had never seen a swan do in the entirety of her life. Before she could open her mouth again, a bright flash of light made her shield her eyes with a hoof.
“Ha! Got you!”
Celestia lowered her hoof in disbelief. “L-Luna? It was you the whole time?”
“It sure was!” Luna giggled, hiding her grin with a hoof. She splashed water onto her sister with her other hoof. “And that was the most fun I have had in years!”
Celestia splashed her sister back and shot her a grin. “So that is how the swa—er, you was able to get back to the castle so fast...” she said, rolling her eyes. “I have to admit that was pretty good, but did you really have to nip my dock? You know that’s a very sensitive place.”
Luna nodded as she swam around the pond. “Well, you did forget to wake up and raise the sun this morning.” She blushed as she flicked her gaze up to meet Celestia’s. “You know... I could have woken you up on time if we had snuggled last night.”
“Oh, so you nipping my dock was a sort of punishment?” Celestia asked with a giggle.
Luna’s eyes went wide. “Huh? No, of course not!” A sly grin grew on her face. “I just thought it would be funny.” She rubbed the back of her neck as she swam back to her sister. “So... any chance that we could snuggle tonight?” she asked with a hopeful smile. “Pretty please?”
“Only on one condition, sister.”
“What might that be?” Luna’s eyes lit up with glee.
“You have to promise me that you won’t honk or try to nip me again.”
Luna’s smile deepened. “I promise,” she said. Unbeknownst to Celestia, she had a couple of feathers crossed, just out of her sister’s sight.
