Luna's tasks (National Pony Writing Month Novel submission)

by EmCeeForeign

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sad, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Adventure, Shining Armor, Tragedy, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life
Length: 2980

When Celestia becomes very sick it is up to Luna to control day and night and help the mane 6

After Luna had been sent to the moon for the century a lot had changed with only Celestia in charge of Equestria. “Princess Celestia of Equestria”… she had been so used to that it annoyed her so much hearing her sisters name being in charge of day and night. All she wanted was night back. All she wanted was to control night. She just wanted a little power back, just a smidge. She wanted to be cared for again. All she really wanted to hear was “Princess Luna’s night is fantastic!” Now it’s just “Celestia has been controlling the night very well, she should permanatly be in charge of day and night” But when Celestia becomes very sick and she hasn’t the power to control day nor night it can only be up to Luna.

Published 2012-08-03 04:24:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-04 21:27:31 UTC

The beginning

The beginning

“Oh dear sister, must I control day and night, I am perfectly ok with only the night” Luna said
Celestia coughed

“Yes sister only YOU” She pointed a hoof at me and touched my muzzle lightly.

“But what of Cadence sister?” Luna said back

“She has left Canterlot for a while with Shining armour for their honeymoon, they won’t be back for weeks Luna, only you have the power now sister to control day and night” Celestia answered

Luna stated back raising her voice “Sister I’ve never controlled day, let alone day and night!”

“Luna you are the only alicorn we have with enough power to control day and night”

“But all the changes that have been made of Equestria when I was gone” Luna voice had a little whine to it “Sister I can’t It will be too difficult for me, my skill in magic is not as high as yours, I will fail!”

“Sister I believe in you, you will be capable of this task”

A guard opened a door to the room “Princess it is-”

The two princesses looked at him

“Not a good time?” He questioned.

“No it is ok, what is it that you need?” Luna had said

“Princess Luna! I didn’t see-” He had been interrupted by the princess herself

“Out with it!” He had been interrupted by the princess herself. Celestia ever so slightly touched Luna

“Sister no need to be so rude, as said times have changed since you were gone, guards have more freedom than before” Celestia told her

The guard looked afraid of the princess, he was in the corner of the room sitting holding the side of his head. Luna walked up and offered him her hoof in means of getting back up from his sitting position in the corner.

“I am greatly sorry, I was not aware of the guards rights now”

The guard smiled, Luna smiled back

“It is nice to be smiled upon” Luna thought to herself

The guard stated to Celestia. “With all respect princess” He pointed to the clock. “You should be resting Princess”

“I was not aware of the time” Luna stared at Celestia

“Sister I will let you rest, I will leave for now and be back tomorrow”

Celestia’s sleeping patern had been a little off due to her being sick, she slept through most of the day and night.

Luna was almost out the door.

“Wait, sister!” Celestia yelled to the best she could “I need you to see these mares while I am sick”

She handed Luna a piece of paper with Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy.

“Please Luna check in with all these ponies while I am gone, I do not have the power to receive letters from them, I need you to talk to them” Celestia said.

“Ok sister for you I shall”

“and Luna…”

“Yes Tia?” Luna questioned not hopeing for yet another task.

“Don’t be afraid to have fun with them, make some friends”

Luna looked at the picture while walking out from the royal Canterlot castle doors.

She whispered to herself “First up the purple pony” A name and a quick summary was wrote over top of each pony “Twilight Sparkle, in Equestria to make friends and improve her magic skill and my own personal student. A busy unicorn, working on learning new spells and having fun with friends most of the day… lives in the Treebrary”

A note was written for Luna herself by Celestia. It was rather short and to the point. “Luna please teach Twilight some spells involving the night, it was her next lesson before I got ill and you are the best pony to teach her ~ Tia”

“I have my task. Now to go see this ‘Twilight Sparkle’”

Luna took one last look at the Canterlot flags atop the castle.

A tear shed from Luna’s eye

“Get better soon sister please, for Equestria’s sake”

Tragedy

Luna knocked on the door of the Treebrary. She hollered

“Twilight! Twilight Sparkle, I must talk to you!”

Twilight opened the door

“Well hello princess Luna, it’s wonderful to see you in this lovely afternoon, Can I help you?” Twilight said cheerily

“Twilight may I speak to you inside?” Luna said

“Why, has something happened, Can you not tell me now?” Twilight was worried

“Please Twilight, I would much rather speak to you inside”

Twilight invite Luna in

“Can I get you something princess?” Twilight tried to avoid whatever the bad news was.

“Twilight, I have come to you on special notice. Celestia is gravely ill and I am instructed to-”

Twilight interrupted Princess Luna without any hesitation. “This is terrible, Who will be my teacher, who will I deliver my letters to?”
Twilight began to walk back and forth slowly. “Oh no, no, no, no. “ I can’t be tardy” Twilight began to speak faster and ramble. “If I’m tardy, you know what I’m like, we’ll you don’t but everypony else does and what if Princess Cele-”

Luna spoke softly “Twilight”

“How else can I learn about-”

Luna spoke louder” Twilight”

“Who will I-”

Luna had no choice except to use the ‘Royal canterlot voice’ “Twlight Sparkle! Listen to me!”

Twilight was startled, she spun around quickly “Yes princess?”

Luna went back to her normal voice

“Twilight sparkle, I am sorry for that but you must listen to me. As I was saying before Celestia is ill and I am to be your substitute teacher until Celestia is back to normal.”

Twilight gave Luna a look that even she couldn’t understand

They gave each other glances for a few seconds.

Twilight couldn’t help but snicker a little. “Princess what do you know about magic?”

“Um Twilight…” Luna flapped her wings and made a light type spell from her horn. “I am an alicorn after all”

Twilight was embarrassed, she rubbed the back of her mane with her hoof. “Oh sorry princess I’m used to knowing a lot more magic than my friends”

Luna had an excited tone in her voice “We are friends?”

Twilight was a little weirded out

“Yes, I assume so you are my teacher now after all”

“Twilight we will begin our first lesson tomorrow, after the night”

“I was thinking me and you could meet some of my friends tomorrow princess, Princess Celestia and I were supposed to have a fun day tomorrow until THIS happened”

Twilight started to tear up a little. Luna comforted here

“Twilight” Luna wiped the tear on her cheek “It is ok if we have some fun tomorrow with your friends tomorrow, we can do magic the day after”

Luna left the Treebrary feeling rather good about herself. This was the first time in one thousand years Luna actually had a friend. She couldn’t wait for Twilight to introduce her to her friends maybe they wouldn’t be afraid of her. The sun was in Luna’s eyes and was quickly blinded out by the Canterlot castle.

“The night must come!”

Luna was startled, she wasn’t supposed to have taken that long with Twilight. She had to get back to Celestia. Luna quickly flew to Canterlot. She opened the door very quickly and ran up to Princess Celestia’s quarters. She stopped instantly in front of the quarters. There were 8 guards in front of the door. That could only mean one thing. Something terrible had happened. Celestia she was gone. A unicorn doctor walked out and was startled by Luna’s presence. He spoke very softly to Luna.

“Princess something has happened, your sister”

Luna ran past him crying to the Canterlot balcony her hoofs dangling over the edge.

“Why now?”

She said crying to herself.

“Why?”

Luna brought the sun down and the moon up very quickly all she wanted to do was sleep through the night.

Meeting Applejack

Luna couldn’t sleep throughout the night she only had a few hours of forced sleep. She said to herself.

“Today is the day Cadance and Shining Armour come home. That will cheer me up. I also get to meet some of Twilight Sparkles friends.”

Nopony else was to speak of Celestia’s disappearance until they were ready. Until Luna said so, she was next in control under Celestia. Now she was in full control. All she ever wanted was control of the night. Now she has everything. Day, night, control of everypony. But no sister, she would trade everything for her sister.

After Luna’s sorrow it was time to meet Twilight and her friends. She couldn’t show or tell what had happened to Celestia yet. She just couldn’t she had to wait for the right time to tell. She decided to tell Twilight first when the time came after all losing her sister was losing a friend now all she had was Twilight as a friend now. She couldn’t wait to meet Twilight’s friends. Luna only had three things to remind her of her sister: Her crown, her shoes and the picture of Twilight and her friends. She preferred not to carry the crown and shoes, she didn’t want to show of Celestia’s passing yet.

Before she knew it Luna was at the Treebrary with Twilight eagerly awaiting her arrival.

“Princess Luna! Are you ready for our day together?” Twilight said

The princess’ face was down in the ground she quickly looked up at what was a failed attempt at a smile.

Twilights face began to go down with the princess’

“Is everything ok princess?”

Luna responded with “Oh yes Twilight! Everything is perfect!”

“Alright then princess, let’s get our day started, First off we are heading over to Sweet Apple Acres to help out Applejack with her Applebucking. Then to Rarity’s boutique to help with some modeling. Twilight did a pose. Then over Sugarcube corner to help pinkie pie with some baking. After that we are going to help Rainbow Dash be seen by the Wonderbolts I have a few magic tricks to help. Finally we are going to Fluttershy’s house to help out with bathing, feeding and walking some of her animals.”

Luna’s face was plain

“All that Twilight? In one day? And who are these ‘Wonderbolts’ you speak of, when I was still here in Equestria we had nothing of the sort.”

“Princess this is how we have fun, we help each other out then we can have the rest of the day off, and how has Rainbow Dash never spoke of the Wonderbolts around you?”

“Twilight I have never been one to go out much I never wanted to ‘make friends’”

“Oh princess, you will learn the wonders what it’s like to have friends, I was the same way before I came to Equestria. That’s why I’m here to learn the power of friendship” Twilight said proudly “Just wait until we see the Wonderbolts I think it will be a better experience than me simply telling you”

Luna spoke “I trust you upon those words Twilight Sparkle”

“Well off we go to Sweet Apple Acres” Twilight stated

Twilight and Luna spoke about the changes of the century, quite literally in that manner while traveling to see Applejack. When they arrived at the dirt road leading to the Apple family farm they continued walking towards the earth pony in the distance who seemed quite busy bucking her trees. When they arrived at the farm Luna and Twilight had quite the friendly greeting.

“Twilight, princess well howdy to the both of y’all” Applejack said in between applebucking

“Good morning Applejack how are you?”

“Well just dandy Twi, how about you?”

“Wonderful”

Twilight said to both Applejack and the Princess

“Princess this is Applejack, my hardworking earth pony friend”

“Greetings Applejack of Sweet Apple-” Luna was cut off by Twilight

“Just call her Applejack that’s how friends introduce themselves to each other”

“Hello Applejack” Luna reinstated

“Well nice to see you princess now let’s get to Applebucking”

Of course they had apples before Luna was sent to the moon but she had never heard of this ‘applebucking’. Unicorns were always the ones who picked apples, not earthponies. Earthponies always picked crops and planted them back. They had always found it easier for unicorns to pick them with their magic. A lot quicker.

“Well princess let’s get to it, this is how you Applebuck.” Twilight already knew how so was already working away.

“This is how you do it, look”

Applejack stood up on her front legs and hit the tree with her hind legs. Multiple apples fell to the ground in the buckets on the ground in front of Luna.

“Give it a go princess” Applejack said

Luna stood up to the tree exactly as Applejack did she hit the tree as hard as she could. Every last apple went flying through the air and completely out of sight. Applejack and Twilight stared at each other and laughed. Luna questioned them “What, what is causing this laughter?”

Applejack stopped laughing in a few seconds. “Princess you don’t hit them as hard as you can” AJ chuckled again half way through the sentence “You hit them hard enough just so the apples will fall down, watch again princess”

Applejack instructed again hitting the tree. Luna followed and all the apples landed into the buckets below. They all applebucked until every tree in the section of the farm that was needed to be bucked was clear of apples.

“Now that that’s done the next place on the list is…” Twilight checked the list again “Rarity’s boutique, come on Luna it’ll be fun. Just me, you and Applejack.

All three ponies left the farm and started walking towards the town. Luna couldn’t stop thinking about Celestia, she just wished she could have another day with her friends. Twilight started talking to Luna and Applejack

“Are you both coming with me to see my brother and Cadance in Canterlot tomorrow? I just want day to spend some time with my brother in town before he has to work again. Then maybe I can visit Princess Celestia.”

Luna thought to herself “I have to tell her at some point but not in front of other ponies, she would be heartbroken though, just like I was”

She shook the thought out of her head

“Well girls we’re here let’s get to some modeling.”

Helping Rarity

Twilight and Applejack both made poses, Luna joined in the middle of them holding both their shoulders while they walked in.

Rarity turned around in glee

“Oh it’s so nice to see you girls and, oh princess Luna you’re here too I was expecting Celestia but I can remodel the dresses to your figure, okay girls time to get on stage, oh this is going to be so much fun, just a mares day out with us”

Rarity walked into a storage closet and came back out holding remodels of the dresses they wore in to the Grand galloping gala.

“Don’t worry girls these are exact remodels of the dresses not the real ones.”

Rarity stitched up a blue and black dress of great quality to go with her mane and black moon cutie mark.

“Rartiy there is no need for such a wonderful dress…what is the occasion for such a dress to be made?”
Luna questioned

“Oh princess if you and the other girls are going to help me out with modeling dresses why wouldn’t I repay you with the dresses that you model?” Rarity answered

Luna blushed at that sentence she had never been treated like that before her punishment it seemed like everypony had a deep hatred for her and some ponies still do even after. Luna glanced her head over to Twilight making sure Applejack and Rarity talking to eachother across the room wouldn’t hear.

“Twilight, why do other ponies treat me with such hatred?” Luna asked her. “Do ponies hate me?”

Twilight seemed worried with that question. “Princess nopony hates you some of them are just” Twilight stopped to think for the word. “Confused?” Twilight questioned herself.

“What do you mean confused, I do not understand what you mean Twilight?” The princess began to tear up slightly at not knowing what this insult meant to her.

“Well princess since you left um…” Twilight scratched the back of her mane with her hoof “Other ponies never really caught on to you being changed, they still think that you want to be nightmare moon. Think about it like a butterfly after they change from a caterpillar to a butterfly they never really change back to that caterpillar do they?”

The princess nodded to that statement.

“Other ponies think of you like that butterfly, they think you can’t change back to what you were before but we” Twilight pointed to Rarity and Applejack. “We know the difference the same with Rainbow and Fluttershy, we are the only ones who know that you’re not Nightmare moon, you’re just Princess Luna controller of the night. Now then Princess we seem to be done with helping Rarity today now we’re off to sugarcube corner to help Pinkie with some baking.”

Twilight, Luna, Applejack and Rarity all left the boutique to help Pinkie they all got their dresses as promised for helping out Rarity

“Thank you Rarity for this dress it is wonderful” Twilight thanked Rarity.

“Oh not a problem dear, just stop by anytime and I can model another one” Rarity answered.

“Yes Rarity this dress really is a work of art” Applejack said.

“Oh I wouldn’t call it a work of art but thank you anyway”.

Luna stayed quiet the whole time they walked over to Sugarcube corner she couldn’t understand what Twilight meant. She couldn’t understand why nopony else wanted to be around her even after she proved that she wasn’t nightmare moon anymore, after she proved she had changed into that butterfly she couldn’t help but think.