The moonlight filled the night as it had never done before in the Northern Lands. The city rested peacefully after a day full of festivities and celebration. In the middle of everything, stood the pride of the crystalfolk: an enormous crystal palace carved from the depths of a mountain so long ago. The reflection of a thousand stars appeared on its recently polished walls. Inside everything was silent. Only the sound of steps echoed through the halls as he ascended the long staircase. He was not entirely sure that she was going to be there, but this tower’s terrace was the closest one to the bright moon outside. He considered it a good guess.

This day had been so satisfying in many ways. All of their hard work and preparations had paid off. The parade had been a huge success. Everyone had shown such passion and talent! It had downright inspired him! He needed to become stronger and wiser if he was going to keep up with his subjects.

When the parade had ended, and after a few words from him, the festival had officially begun. King Sombra had decided immediately to go congratulate the Parade Committee and all the participants he could recognize along the way. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had followed him, even after he assured them it wasn’t going to take long.

At first, he genuinely expected them to stand to the side. When he had finished talking to Lady Yellow Shards, he found the Royal sisters talking enthusiastically to the rest of the Parade Committee, as well as with the artists that had performed. It was surprising. In a good way.

Throughout the day, King Sombra had led the southern princesses through the colorful streets stands. A variety of people were eager to meet them and chat. Specially children, curious of their wings. There wasn’t a single time the princesses stared down or dismissed someone. Poor or noble. Young or old. And he respected that…No, he liked it. He was really liking his southern allies.

Everywhere they went, there was a delicious aroma of freshly baked sweets in the air. From bagels and biscuits, to crystal berry pies and brittles. All kind of food had sparkled from the stands. In certain squares, people had danced to the happy music of flugelhorns and violins.

Oh! But the gem of the day had been the archery tournament! Among all the sports, Ice Archery was the favorite among his people. During an ice archery event, special arrows were casted with an ice spell and thus given to the participants. The archers shoot their arrows consecutively, freezing whatever part of the target they managed to hit. Whoever first encases their entire target in ice, wins. In short, it’s a speed competition.

As the host, King Sombra had a special place reserved for him and their esteemed guests in the center of the coliseum. Everybody knew that. When they were about to reach the entrance that lead to their seats, a young boy had appeared out of nowhere.

King Sombra was startled as a young boy with sparkly blonde hair, crossed their path. The boy knelt on the spot before him, effectively blocking their way towards the southern entrance of the coliseum. It’s not that they couldn’t go around him. The entrance was immense after all. However, the boy seemed so serious… King Sombra ordered the pair of soldiers in the entrance to leave him be.

“Your Imperial Majesty.” The blonde boy greeted him bowing his head deeply.

King Sombra looked at him carefully. The boy was carrying an empty quiver over his shoulders and a silver bow. His name was Konan, if he remembered correctly.

“Please rise, young man. Your name is Konan, is it not?” The boy shot his head up in surprise. King Sombra knew his name?! HIS name? Wait till he told his parents!

“It seems to me you are not sixteen years old yet. Who gave you that equipment, Konan?”

The boy flinched at those words. His smile disappeared.

“N-no, my King. I’m thirteen but-” He was still kneeling on the floor. “That’s why I came to you. I was hoping to get your permission to participate in the tournament…”

“Young man.” Princess Celestia walked towards Konan. “Could it be you want to prove yourself against adult archers?” She asked looking worried.

“No! It’s not that! It’s because-” The kid peeked for a second towards Princess Luna’s direction and blushed. Oh boy, Sombra knew were this was going. “Your Highness, when I saw you three at the balcony today… She was…” The boy’s eyes sparkled. “Simply… Wow!” He sighted and Princess Celestia tilted her head confused.

“I mean I’ve never seen anyone like Princess Luna before!” He finally said. Konan clenched his fists around the silver bow next to him and his face became even redder.

“She has moved my soul deeply and-and… I want to compete to win my fairest lady's heart!”

Princess Celestia opened her eyes as wide as a plate. Speechless. That boy had left her speechless! King Sombra tried to remain calm. He coughed and looked to the side. He couldn’t laugh at his visitors now! Everyone’s work would go to waste! He took a deep breath. Nobody seemed to have noticed his struggle.

The truth is, King Sombra wasn’t as surprised as Princess Celestia. Tournaments sometimes were held to win a lady’s honour. Even when they weren’t, it was common all around the empire to use these events for declarations of love. Sombra had to admit he even felt a little proud of the boy. Declaring one’s love to a princess! Hah! He had been very brave. Even if he was too young to understand the implications.

“To win her heart and a kiss, I would defeat everyone here!” The boy assured.

Wow, wait. Sombra blinked a few times. He had to stop Konan! They were foreign dignitaries after all.

“Very well, child.” Princess Celestia interrupted whatever King Sombra was about to say. She looked past Sombra where Luna was probably standing… and smiled. Then, she returned to look again at Konan. “It will be as you wish, child. As long as you win.”

Huh? King Sombra frowned. Had he heard wrong? Or perhaps… Equestrian society might be more relaxed than what he thought. He turned to look at Princess Luna. She was petrified. Nope, they were not. Upon hearing the Princess’s words, the boy had thanked the royals quickly before sprinting towards the coliseum. He would have to run fast to arrive in time before they ran out of ice arrows.

“Sister! Wh—why?” Luna stammered finally.

Princess Celestia only chuckled “Oh shush, my sister. You didn’t want to break his heart, right?”

“WHAT?” Princess Luna stopped herself and glanced towards King Sombra. “Ehem. Care to explain yourself, my sister?” She mumbled under her breath.

“It was just a little comeback.” Princess Celestia smiled proudly at her sister. “For the thing that happened the other day.”

Princess Luna looked at her, clearly puzzled.

“You know, when I visited my old room at the castle. Remember?” Princess Celestia narrowed her eyes, but kept smiling.

“I set those ages ago, sister. It isn’t my fault… entirely.” She mumbled.

King Sombra glanced from one sister to the other. Should he ask about it or…?

“Don’t do this again, please.” Princess Luna said, with a serious expression.

Princess Celestia walked regally to stand next to her and whispered: “Huh? Were you planning to steal more hearts, my sister?”

King Sombra didn’t hear what she said but he did see Luna’s murdering glare. Oh yes, siblings, can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

“Oh Luna, don’t be angry! There’s nothing to worry about. This boy… As eager as he is to prove his love for you,” She chuckled again making Luna frown. “I’m quite sure he still has a long way to go before he can compete against professional archers.”

Princess Luna just sighted. “I suppose that’s true…”

“I apologize for the delay, King Sombra.” Princess Celestia turned to their host. “Please lead the way.”

King Sombra remained silent. It seemed they didn’t know crystalfolk very well. And the power that love can give them…

It had been good Konan had only asked for a kiss on the cheek. If the boy had asked for Princess Luna’s hand in marriage… King Sombra shook his head. Better not to think about that scenario. He looked up. Sombra had just arrived to the top floor of the castle. A terrace that overview the whole sleeping capital. He was greeted by the massive sight of the moon. It had never been this close before. And tonight, it was competing in beauty with the Northern Lights. What a strange sight it was. He shifted his eyes and saw a lone figure sitting on the balcony railing. It was the princess he had been looking for. King Sombra had decided that, as a good host, he should keep her company as she guarded the night skies. A job, he understood, she did all by herself. He walked towards her side of the terrace to greet her. Her hair could only be distinguished from the starry sky by a faint glow that surrounded it. It had intrigued him from the first time he had seen her, and at this moment, he couldn’t help but stare at it. Watching her hair at night was a completely different sight. How could it match the stars so perfectly...?

Suddenly she turned her face, and looked right into his eyes. King Sombra realized he was standing too close to her. At least, more than what was considered adequate.

"The moon is rather bright tonight, isn’t it?" he blurted out.

Yes, climate. Always a safe topic.

"I beg your pardon?" The princess frowned.

He tried to elaborate: "I was simply addressing…” He tried to order his thoughts. “How intense the moonlight is tonight. Yes, that’s it. I suggest you to dim it just a bit. That way, you will be able to see better the lights of the Aurora Borealis."

“Does the moon not deserve to be in your skies, Your Majesty?" she asked, glaring at her host. King Sombra wanted to sight. One couldn’t suggest anything to noble ladies. Everything offended them!

"I mean no offense my lady, your moon is extremely beautiful." He began to answer. She narrowed her eyes. That make him want to continue his remark. "However, when a night is blessed with the Northern Lights, it is better when they can occupy the center of the sky.” He smiled and added in a kind voice: “I can assure you, it’s an incomparable view." Princess Luna closed her eyes and answered calmly: "It seems to me that you cannot accept how glorious it is tonight that two events are occurring at the same time."

“It's seems to me that your love for sharing, does not allow you to consider other possibilities."

She opened her eyes in surprise: "Are you referring to the government system in my kingdom?"

King Sombra knew he was, perhaps, digging a hole for himself. ‘What would a noble say here?’ He wondered. But he hadn’t been trained to be a royal since birth. And his pride didn’t allow him stop defending his point of view.

“Perhaps. What if I am? What would you answer then, Your Highness?”

They both sized each other for a moment.

“Heh.” Princess Luna broke the silence with a small smile. “I hope you’re not afraid of my retort, Your Majesty.”

Thus, they began to discuss the form of government of each of their lands, the existing economic models, whether it was more efficient for Princess Luna to defend her kingdom alone against the forces of darkness versus training citizens to fight alongside her while putting them at risk.

They began to talk about their views on immortality.

In Equestria, no one asked Luna her opinion in politics since her older sister was in charge of the administrative and diplomatic duties. Celestia had explained to her that she didn’t want to overwhelm Luna with any responsibility on top of defending their kingdom every night. Luna had gladly agreed at first, but with time that sort of arrangement had… isolated her. But she shouldn’t dwell on those things right now. She was surprised of how much she was talking tonight. She admitted, King Sombra had made an awfully irritating entrance earlier, but after a while, he was proving to be a gentleman. He was listening attentively while she talked. He considered what she said before he expressed his own insight. And he was clever. She was learning so much of how another monarch thought, and about other ways to rule. Also, he was asking her many questions. Questions to understand her culture and to understand her point of view. Questions to understand her as a person.

She wanted to understand him, too.

On the other hand, Sombra couldn’t remember the last time he could speak to anyone as an equal. It had been around 10 years since he ascended the throne, and nobody seemed to remember he grew up as any normal citizen of the Empire. This amnesia happened even with the very same friends who saved the Empire with him. As a kid, he wouldn’t have believed he would miss their arguments and shenanigans. But here he was, wishing everyone didn’t behave so distant. They now thought twice or thrice before contradicting the “Soldier-King, the Restorer, the Fearless one”. It really surprised him how his ally from the south was doing the exact opposite. “I hope you’re not afraid of my retort, Your Majesty.” She had first answered. It was a welcome change of pace.

Sombra looked at Luna, who was carefully explaining how was a class with her former mentor Star Swirl the bearded. The fond memory revealed intelligent eyes filled with enthusiasm. Behind that formal front she was putting, her eyes were so bright and curious of the world.

‘Wait.’ He stopped his train of thoughts. It was better… he paid more attention to what she was saying.

Suddenly, Princess Luna froze. King Sombra followed the line of her gaze. In the distance, a figure of pale skin and minted colored hair, was passing by a window from the main tower. "It seems my sister is already awake." Luna whispered in disbelief. It took a few moments for Sombra to understand the meaning of her words.

Sometimes, dawn comes too quickly.

Author's Note

Helloooo. So this chapter was actually my first fanfic ever. I wrote it on 2017 and uploaded it to Deviantart. Since I wanted to upload it to fimction, I decided to edit it, and wooow it really needed a lot of changes XD Too many weird words and weird ways of writting. I hope you like it, but since the original has a special place in my heart, here is a link where you can read it: sta.sh/02rqjeb49lb

About the story, I just wanted to share with you my headcanon of Celestia and Luna before Luna was banished. I believe Luna would have been very uptight, trying to demostrate she was as a good as her sister. On the other hand, I think Celestia was originally very playful. It was just her personality. And since everyone loved her so much, she didn't feel the same pressure as Luna. It's just that, after she became the sole ruler of Equestria...well she had to change. Trying to uphold a perfect image so that her subjects didn't dispair. Maybe copying Luna's serious approach to her job. And in the present, thanks to Twilight and her friends, Celestia can show those playful sides of her again :3 That's my head canon and how I was trying to write this XD
Hope to see you on the next chapter!