Blue Moon

"... And that is why it would not quite be in our country's best interests to make sneezing a capital punishment," Celestia concluded. Night court was always more fun than the boring old sensible day court. All the wilder and more bizarre subjects came out at night. Of course, she wasn't about to tell Luna taking over this particular duty was enjoyable. She thought her little sister was absolutely adorable when she got flustered, and thinking that she was imposing on Celestia was a one way ticket to flusterville.

Just as she concluded that thought and the dejected subject left with a bow, Luna arrived through the side entrance to the courtroom. She courteously bowed before the currently presiding princess, before approaching the throne. Celestia almost cracked a grin, but managed to maintain her calm, motherly facade as she said, "State your name, your hometown, and what you wish to ask of your princess this night."

Luna pouted. "Not funny, Tia." She stepped closer to the throne as her sister rose and softly chuckled to herself. Luna took her place, giving a yawn and stretching before planting her royal rump on the regal seat. "My apologies for my lateness. I do not know what you might have thought when I did not raise the moon..."

Celestia rolled her eyes gracefully and simply replied, "Oh, I bet you have a pretty good idea of what I might have thought..." Luna didn't answer, merely blushing a deep scarlet. Celestia's eyes widened ever so slightly before continuing in that same calm, nurturing tone, "Oh... Ohhhh... So I was right then?"

"We knowest not what thou hath conceived in thy imagination, but we imagine it could not be further from the truth of what occurred!" Luna exclaimed, reverting back to the speech of Old Canterlot. "I mean... I simply nodded off for a moment. I have not been sleeping well of late, and so it was to be expected. My apologies once more; I shall strive to ensure it shan't happen again."

Celestia shifted her altruistic expression ever so slightly to include a knowing grin. "Well, it can't be helped with the way you've adapted your sleep schedule to mimic our- I mean, your guest." She began to walk away, that faint hint of amusement just underneath the surface. "One would wonder why somepony would go to such lengths for anypony. Or anyone, rather. As I recall, humans can easily shift to be more nocturnal. Perhaps you could ask if he'd rather spend nights with his princess? It would do you wonders, and I'm sure that alone would please him more than you stressing yourself so..."

Luna was going to return a witty retort, but her sister had a point. Perhaps it would be for the best to see if Pat would prefer chatting nights. Just as Luna was about to motion for the night guards to let in the next subject, Celestia called back, "Let me know how big he is compared to my honor guard. I find their lack of girth... disappointing."

The next petitioner had to clean his glasses before he could be sure there wasn't a red princess seated at the throne.

Nights worked for Pat. He easily slept through the day, as did Luna. She awakened him after dark, flicking on the room's magic lights with a charge of her horn. "Good evening, Pat," she said happily, now fully rested.

"Good evening, m'lady! How are you this most glorious of nights?" he asked, stretching without wincing this time. Her chipper mood was quite contagious.

At this her face broke out into a full smile, "I am quite fine, good sir. How wonderful it is to have such company as yourself to herald it in alongside!"

He paused, blinking, before unsurely saying, "You know, I don't think I can keep that up all night, if that's alright with you."

Luna laughed (what beauteous sound!) and replied, "Of course. Speak however you wish, as always." She stepped over to her cushion and seated herself. "So what will the conversation topic be today?"

Pat chewed his lip thoughtfully, before suggesting, "How about the night?"

Luna's face lit up. "Of course! I can tell you anything you could wish to know and more. Is it stars that interest you? The moon? The vastness of the universe, how it all came to be, what is it you wish for me to tell you of?"

"Huh. The night is a pretty big topic," he noted, eyebrows raised. "How about the first night? What was it like?"

Luna's eyes went wide, her face loosing tone. I should have expected this one. She ran her tongue over her lips, her mouth gone dry. "Well," she began, clearing her throat as her eyes looking straight through the wall across from her, "It was a very, very long time ago. One must know the full story to understand what exactly the first night is... Prepare yourself for a tale few know.

"Near the beginning of time, the planet was... well, it was in a state of chaos. At the time the godlike beings that would later fuze to form the draconequis Discord, as well as other less vile beings, roamed the barren dusts, doing as they pleased to whatever life attempted to take hold on the empty wastes. The sky was a constant twilight, a twilight that lasted forever. There was no sun and no moon. An event occurred that none living can remember whereupon my sister was created; perfect, young, and immortal. She was without purpose, simply contending with the gods that roamed the planet for sustenance to maintain superiority.

"Eventually, after not even she knows how long, she began to form coherent thoughts. She began to feel things other than bare survival. She discovered reason and wisdom, the first of her domains maturing. As she grew in stature from naught but a foal to a young filly, it dawned on her that light could bring life. And so she focused her power into a focal point, far from the planet, and created the sun. That day, the mark of the sun appeared on her flank. At the time, there was no word for "cutie mark". In fact, there were no spoken words. Feelings and emotions were shared telepathically.

"The Discordian constituents failed to see her way, and simply continued on their rampage. But she was correct. With a touch of magic to initiate it, from the light there came life. The planet began to turn from brown to green. The dusts settled, plant life taking hold of the soil. But then the greenery began to brown, and Celestia (which of course was not her name at the time, for non had names) feared that the old gods were trying to take the life that she had fostered.

"But it became quickly apparent that it was the glorious light that had given life that was taking it. So in a moment of brilliance, she set the planet in motion, around the sun, rotating as it went. Life was able to continue, but in the time of darkness that was not the day there was no light. Celestia wished to begin to raise up more complex life, but feared it would be lost in the darkness.

"When she had nearly lost hope, millennia after her beginning, she found a blue foal contending with the two creatures that would become the right arm and tail of Discord. The foal showed power far greater than any one thing that lived, and Celestia, seeing her likeness in this young being, adopted her as her sister, though the words to say so still did not exist.

"For the first time in existence, there was love. The love shared between two sisters. No purer a love has there been yet, untainted by carnal desires, greed, or obligation. 'Twas from then that language began to form, as a means for the sisters to communicate their love for one another, and in preparation for life that would be. For not long after, the dark blue filly focused her wishes for her sister's happiness into a single point above the planet, and so the moon was created in honor of the white alicorn.

"'Twas then that this mark appeared on my side, as a symbol of wishes, hopes, dreams, and love. So too did my domains include. These are but few of many, of course, but Celestia's pertain to warmth, life, nurturing, light, compassion, wisdom, and nature. Mine reside in darkness, hope, love, dreams, fertility, combat, sex-" she paused, glancing nervously to Pat, who up to this point had been entranced by the story. His brain then caught up to that last bit, and noticed that he had softly locked eyes with the princess, before both looked away awkwardly. "Er... Then I set the moon in motion and it set for the first time. That was the first night, the end!

"Well, not the end, more the beginning. I did not tell of how I was able to channel my vast capabilities into creating the galaxy of stars around us and then- well, nothing is ever finished. But that was indeed the first night. As I gently lowered the moon below the horizon, sister and I decided to create proper words that were for special things. Names. I called the moon Luna, and sister referred to her sun as Celestia. And so we took on those as our own names.

"Soon thereafter, the first ponies were given life. Celestia was so proud of her little ponies, created in her image. Humans appeared on their own at some point, and neither of us know from where. It was odd, yes. But as we did not know from whence we arrived, we conceded that there were some things we simply did not know. Tia charged me with watching over them, thinking it would be something of foalsitting a new breed of primates.

"However, humans showed powerful intellect and creativity, as well as ingenuity. When they had learned everything I could teach them, they began to learn from each other and invent. I was so proud... but sister's ponies had advanced far beyond them in terms of emotional and spiritual development. It was not long before the humans began to understand the value of the elements, though. But by then, Tia had already had her heart set on ponies as the inheritors of the planet.

"I was saddened by this, but understood. You see, only ponies can fully tap into the powers of the Elements of Harmony. Each pony draws a strength from it, and the energy balance flowing from the elements to them gives them their special talent and magic. The cutie mark is the physical manifestation of that energy. Humans can not achieve this, and can only perform the simplest of spells at best.

"But I doted on them all the same. You see, they loved my night. They drew creativity from it, they praised me for it, and they loved me for loving them. I love sister's ponies as well, but they did not understand the draw of the night at the time. Each species had its own faults, it would seem.

"Oh my, have I simply been rambling this whole time?" she asked, suddenly realizing Pat hadn't said a word since he asked his question. "Did you receive a satisfactory answer?"

"Yeah, that really covered it and more! Thanks. That was... wow. I tend to say 'wow' a lot when I'm around you. But really, I can't quite think of anything else to say."

Luna took a breath, smoothing her mane, "It is a story I rarely get to tell, but not for lack of interest. 'Tis more that very few think to ask about it. But I must go now." She rose, moving towards the door.

"Do you have to?" he sadly asked.

His fallen face affected her, the corners of her cheeks dropping as well. "Yes, I must. The sky is well due for some attention, and Canterlot's astronomy guild has already sent several angrily worded messages to me concerning the mishandling of the night of late. I should not say, but it is so bad that they asked if I had let Celestia take over again... Please, do not repeat that to anypony."

He snickered, agreeing to keep it between them. With that, Luna left the room, leaving Pat to think about Equestrian ancient history. I wonder if Celestia was lonely before she found Luna? Can you feel lonely if you've never had anyone to miss?

Celestia was having a midnight snack, wondering if she had gone too far with her teasing. But really, Luna's the goddess of sexy. Why won't she talk about it more? Or at least take a joke without her face turning into an adorable tomato...

The tall, slender white alicorn took another ladylike bite of a lemon meringue pie from the kitchen that had been baked on her request. The kitchen staff are such pleasant ponies. I don't thank them enough! she thought as she walked back to her room, her flanks giving off just the perfect jiggle.

Once she reached her room, she spotted Luna leaving her guest's room and decided to just ask her. "Luna, why aren't you comfortable talking or joking about mating and the activities surrounding and enhancing it?" The question startled her, as she had been facing away, rump out, to close the door gently. Celestia continued as she turned around. "I mean, you invented sex. You insisted that every pony have a mate, and that they be able to unite as one briefly to manifest love and to create life. And you used to be fun about it! I remember the orgies. Nopony else does, but I do. What happened to fun Luna?"

The night princess thought for a moment as she stepped over to Celestia's door further down the hall, deciding on the best way to put it. "You are correct. In the beginning, I was a rather wild one. But that was simply a means of perfecting every technique and method. Once I had created and mastered the art of love making, it had to be kept special. If it was out in the open and commonplace, then it would lose its value. Also remember that the population was much smaller at the time, and needed bolstering. Now is the time for modesty and virtue. Perhaps things have changed in a thousand years, but chastity is another of my creations, and I had promoted it for some time before my banishment. Do not devalue- are you paying attention?"

Celestia had resumed eating on the pie, looking at one of the stained glass windows down the hall. "No, simply pondering what you say. I understand now..." She looked back to her dark blue sister with a gentle(and crumb speckled) smile. "So, do you really have feelings for him? I've seen how you looked over him since he arrived. You've shown interest beyond a nurse."

Luna looked down, her ears back, "I do not know. Well, yes, there are feelings. And I know they are returned. OH do I know. But... I do not wish to complicate things too quickly. And I am still recovering from the loss of my little humans... I do not feel I am able to make a unswayed decision on this yet. Please, give me some time. I will answer you when I can. Until then, though, I do not know for sure." She looked up, her face inquisitive. "Do you understand?"

Celestia smiled broader, pulling her little sister into a hug. "Of course. It's so adorable seeing you with a crush on somepony- er, someone. I never could get used to that. But take your time. He seems nice, and literally ready to worship the ground you walk on."

"Hah!" Luna laughed, "I remember worship. 'Tis not as glamorous as ponies today think it."

They broke the hug and wished each other a good night. Celestia watched her sister walk down the hall, remembering the little filly that she had found frightened by the world and her own power. How such a small thing could become a proud princess-goddess, she could never have imagined. She sighed as she set the pie tin on her bedside table, removing her regalia and curling up with her blankets. You grew up so fast, she thought sarcastically, giggling to herself as her heart felt the bittersweet of nostalgia. I don't know what I'd have done without you... I love you, little sister.

I love you too, big sister, came a thought reply from the other side of the castle.