“You see, Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element. The element of magic!”
A rainbow of pure magic wrapped around Nightmare Moon, who let out a scream of defeat. The magic pressed against her, invading her every pore, draining her of every bit of energy she had. She pressed her eyes together, pressure rising inside her skull.
Everything went black. Everything faded. The ponies that had defeated her, the torrent of magic around her, the castle, the world...
“What do you mean, ‘they’re gone’?”
Luna opened her eyes with a start. She was home. A white wing was wrapped around her, and a stallion in a stiff watcher uniform looked at her and her sister from above. He held his hat against his chest, a solemn expression on his face.
“Tia? What’s going on?” Luna pressed herself against her sister and wrapped her hooves around Celestia’s foreleg.
“Lady Celestia,” the stallion said with a glance at Luna. “It might not be the best of ideas to have your little sister—”
“Whatever you have to tell me you can tell her. She's not a child."
Luna didn’t like how her big sister’s voice shook, how her wing moved to tighten her grip.
“I insist.” He made an almost pleading gesture toward Luna. “My colleague is in the next room, and I’m sure he’d be pleased to offer her some sweets while she waits.”
“I’m staying.” Luna held Celestia’s leg tighter.
The stallion coughed and glanced at the room where his colleague was like he was expecting him to come and deal with the situation for him. “We found them in the river this morning.” His voice was hesitant, and he glanced at Luna again. She wasn’t wanted there, she could tell. “Accident, most likely.”
Luna’s mind ground to a stop. Accident? What accident? What did the watcher mean by that? Surely, he meant that they’d gone for a swim in the river, there was no other explanation.
“No…” Celestia trembled against her. “Please, there must be a mistake, they were just fine yesterday.”
“I’m truly sorry.” He tipped his head. “We’re to hold a ceremony for them later tonight.”
“No, you don’t understand! They said they’d always be there for us! They can’t be gone!” Celestia shook, and Luna felt she would have pounced at the watcher if not for her little sister holding her.
The watcher took a step back and looked away. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled, and put his hat back on in a way that hid his eyes. “I need to file a report, I can’t stay here.”
“Wait! Please, where are they? How did you find them? How—”
The door slammed shut, and they were alone.
“Tia, when are they coming home?”
Celestia was gazing out the window at the sky. A steaming cup of tea shook in her trembling hooves. Luna put her own hoof over her sister’s, trying to make the shaking stop. Celestia turned to face her. Luna’s heart skipped a beat. Her sister’s usually radiant face was sickly pale. Even her soft, pink mane drooped around her neck. Celestia opened and closed her mouth a few time, squirming in place, building a silent tension that weighed heavy on Luna.
“I think,” she said, her voice faint, “we’re going to be on our own for some time.”
Despite the tears welling up in her eyes, despite her chest clenching, Luna refused to believe her. “For… how long?”
Celestia draped a wing around her. A silent answer that spoke louder than words for Luna. A big sister’s comforting embrace to shield her little sister from the harsh truth, to keep Luna strong by being strong herself.
Despite this, Celestia couldn’t hide her reddened eyes. Luna held back her tears as long as she could. For Celestia. To show her she could be strong too.
“You’re shaking.”
Tremors shook Luna. She couldn’t stop herself. Stupid tears welled up in her eyes, her stupid chest heaving under barely-contained stupid sobs.
“It’s alright to cry, Lulu.” Celestia lowered her head and nuzzled her neck, passing two strong hooves around Luna’s body. “I’m still there, like the Sun will always be there for us. I’ll take care of you, don’t worry.”
“But I don’t want them to be— to be—” Luna hiccuped. The tears trailing down her face wetted her sister’s beautiful mane. “I— I—”
She stopped. Something was dripping on her neck.
“Tia…”
“I promise, Lulu.” Celestia’s voice was shaking. “I promise, I’ll take care of you like mama and papa did.”
The world melted away around her. All that remained was herself, and Celestia. Celestia who tried so hard to be strong for her little sister. Luna passed her hooves around her sister’s neck, and held her close against her.
She cried. She cried for her parents, who wouldn’t be back. She cried to ease her pain, to flush away the tears overflowing from her. But most of all, she cried for Celestia, who shook and grieved in silence, who wouldn’t show her own pain so that she could be strong for her little sister.
They held each other for what felt like hours, until the tears dried, until the erratic beating of their pained hearts steadied. Sleep crept up on Luna, and she let it take her away, taking her away from the waking world, away from the hurt.
Watching the Sun rise from her chamber didn’t feel right to Luna. Even after months had passed since she had last seen it rise from the royal theater.
It had always been a special time. Celestia and her always pretended to be up on the platform with the mages, helping them to move the Sun and Moon in the sky.
They had been luckier than most. Their parents had the privilege of having a place at the sunraising and moonraising ceremony, but this privilege didn’t extend to her sister and herself now that…
She stopped herself before she fell down a spiral of dark thoughts. The Sun was still there for her. That was all that mattered.
She made her way down the stairs, avoiding looking at the portraits hanging on the wall.
“Good morning, Lulu.”
Luna beamed at her sister, dark thoughts vanishing. “Good morning Tia!”
Celestia waved at her from a kitchen table filled to the brim with goodies. Luna gasped in delight. Pancakes and fruits waited for her to gobble them up. There was still a flour spot on Celestia’s cheek from her cooking.
Luna didn’t wait any longer, and plopped down in front of the table to eat, wolfing down the fruits and pastries one after the other.
“My, you’re a hungry one this morning.”
Halfway through devouring a pancake, Luna started as hooves touched her shoulders, only to immediately relax as Celestia started massaging her.
“You’re tense.”
Luna put her fork down, not wanting anything to take her away from the delicious touch. “I bet I’m not half as tense as you are.”
“Wisecracker.”
Luna chuckled. It was these kinds of moments that made her rise in the morning.
“I received a letter from the library,” Celestia continued, fully aware she wouldn’t be getting any more replies from Luna as long as she kept kneading her muscles like that. “They’re taking me in as scribe assistant.”
Luna made a vague celebratory sound.
“When I say scribe assistant, of course, I mean I’m probably going to be bringing tea and papers to everyone there.” She sighed. “But it pays, so we won’t have to—”
She abruptly stopped, and massaged Luna silently. Despite her sister’s heavenly touch, Luna couldn’t help but feel something was off. “We won’t have to what?”
A sigh blew through her mane, and Celestia slowed down. “We won’t have to sell the house.”
The words hung in the air. Luna turned, and broke away from Celestia’s touch. “What do you mean, ‘we won’t have to sell the house’?”
The somber look on Celestia’s face made Luna’s chest clench with worry. “I didn’t want to worry you with this, but we’ve received a lot of mail. Apparently, our parents owed a lot of money to a lot of ponies.”
“They— wait, why did you keep this from me?”
“I didn’t think it was worth having you fret over it.” Celestia waved away Luna’s indignation with a hoof. “There wasn’t anything you could have done anyway, I took care of everything. There are just some payments left that I can easily cover with what I’ll receive from the library.”
“I could have done something too! I could get a job too and—”
Celestia’s hoof on her foreleg made her words catch in her throat. Her sister shook her head. “I promised I’d take care of you.”
“I’m not a child! You’re barely—”
“Please, Lulu.” Celestia pulled her close, and gently rested Luna’s head against her shoulder. "I promised."
“Tia…”
Celestia stroked Luna’s mane. “Just do like mama did. Take care of the house while I’m gone, and all will be fine. I promise.”
Luna didn’t have the heart to protest. “Alright.”
Celestia gently pushed her back and held her at leg length. “And I’m sure that a lovely smile will make it that much easier for me.”
Luna couldn’t help but do just that.
“I’m home.”
Luna rushed to the door with a grin. “Tia!”
She practically tackled her sister in a hug. Celestia had been gone so, so long. Half a day hadn’t seemed like much in her head, but minutes had gone on and on like hours in the silence of the house.
“See, it wasn’t that bad, was it?” Celestia sat where she was and hugged Luna back.
“I missed you.”
Celestia tightened her hug around Luna. “I missed you too.”
All of Luna’s worries and hurt melted away. Celestia’s coat was ruffled by the day’s efforts, and she smelled of paper and ink. But underneath it, that ray of sunshine of hers enveloped Luna in a soft embrace.
“Did you take good care of the house while I was gone?”
Luna laughed in her sister’s neck. “I made sure to give it water and take it out on a walk.”
She could feel her sister’s eye roll even from her position.
“Alright, let me just—” Celestia tried rising, but Luna held her tight. “Uh, Lulu?”
It had come and gone suddenly. But for a second, Luna’s heart skipped a beat. Celestia, her warmth, her touch, she wouldn’t let go of them. “Can we stay like this, just for a minute?”
Celestia hesitated, and for a moment Luna tensed up, worried her sister would refuse. But she finally relaxed when Celestia’s hooves came back around her. Luna pressed herself against her sister’s chest, letting go of her fears, and listening to the slow heartbeat of the one holding her.
“Lulu, I’m worried about you.”
Luna reluctantly broke their embrace to look up at her sister in silent questioning.
“I know you miss me when I go to work, but you can’t expect me to not worry when you insist on holding me for fifteen minutes when I get back every day.”
“You didn’t seem to mind,” Luna said with a pout.
A month had gone by since Celestia had gotten her job as scribe assistant. She worked nine hours a day, six days a week. Gone with the rising Sun, back when the Moon started rising in the sky. Seeing her sister walk out the door every morning drained Luna on a level deeper than she thought possible. The world darkened around her when that door closed.
What was that emptiness that filled her during the day? Was she sick? Or was Celestia such a part of her that part of her soul left with her sister every morning?
Determined to prove to herself how strong she could be, Luna had taken to busying herself. So she found ways to keep occupied, whether it be cleaning around the house, reading, or finding random ways to entertain herself for a few minutes at a time.
But despite all her efforts, and all the miscellaneous projects started and abandoned, that emptiness kept coming back to twist her stomach in a knot, only untying once Celestia came home.
And every day, Luna waited for sister at the door, to embrace her and hold her, to revel in the presence that had followed her throughout her life, but was now rapidly becoming a luxury to her. She prepared their meal in advance, and enjoyed a short dinner with her sister, heart swelling with pride and joy when Celestia eventually complimented her cooking.
But those moments of joy were always short-lived. After she was done eating, Celestia usually went to take a bath, and then straight to bed, leaving Luna to either stay up alone and watch the Moon, or go to bed early. Luna always went to bed late. All the tiredness and sleepiness she could have felt during the day vanished when Celestia came home. When she was with her sister, Luna floated on her own little cloud, every fiber of her being wanting nothing more than bask in the light that seemed to radiate from Celestia. And when her sister vanished after their meal, the sense of longing that came crashing down on Luna kept her awake.
Sometimes, Celestia stayed with her near the hearth, in silent contemplation. They’d just lay there, shoulders touching in silent company, until a white wing draped around Luna, and she’d scoot closer to her sister, closer to a warmth hotter than the fire crackling before her. But those moments were rare, and gone too soon.
However, she had found solace in those few minutes spent in Celestia’s embrace when she came home. A dozen minutes, hooves around each other, Luna’s head resting against her sister’s shoulder.
It felt so good, so right. But Celestia… didn’t like it?
“It’s not that I don’t like it,” Celestia said like she had read her mind, “but I’m not blind. I see how you are when I go, and I see how happy you become when I get back. And I’m always happy to see you happy, but…”
Celestia looked down at her. A look of care, of worry that made Luna’s heart clench.
“Would I be wrong in saying you only feel happy when I’m around?”
Luna wanted to deny it, to assure Celestia she was just fine, to not worry. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She couldn’t lie to her sister, not when she looked at her like that.
“Lulu…”
Luna let out a long shaky breath. The very thought of Celestia stepping away, forbidding her from enjoying the rare moments they could spend together, send shivers of fear coursing through her.
A hoof lifted Luna’s chin. Celestia locked eyes with her. “I miss them too, and I understand that you don’t want me to disappear, but you have to enjoy yourself. You said it yourself, you’re not a child anymore. Young mares like you should be enjoying the coming of spring and play outside.”
“But—”
A hoof pressed against her lips. For the first time in her life, Celestia looked down at her with severity. “Lulu, please. Can you be strong for me?”
“Yes.”
The words had come out without hesitation. Celestia smiled, and Luna knew she had done the right thing.
“Thank you.” Celestia let her hoof down and nuzzled Luna’s neck. “I know these times are hard, but give it time, and all the hurt and pain will go away. I promise.”
“Honestly, I don’t know what to do with you.”
Luna could do nothing but stare at the cool wooden floor of the Stella house with a mixture of half shame, and half annoyance. Her sister considered her coldly from above. No, Luna wished Celestia would give her a cold look for once, but her sister only considered her with the same patronizing warmth she always did. Who did she think she was? Just because she was older and taller did not give her permission to speak to her like a child. Luna stood tall, refusing to be intimidated, although she still didn’t dare cross her sister’s gaze.
“You keep ignoring what I tell you,” Celestia continued. Luna looked up at her. There were frizzles in her pink mane that weren’t there that morning. “You run away in the forest, day after day, only coming back dangerously close to—”
“Oh give me a break,” Luna spat back. “There’s still hours before they pull down the sun. I had plenty of time.”
Celestia stayed silent for a moment, and Luna took it as a sign she’d at least disarmed that argument. Her sister’s words came back, however, more biting than before. “Be that as it may, there’s no reason you should have even been there in the first place.”
Luna sighed. There was no escaping it, was there? She pulled a small pouch from her saddlebag and spilled its contents on the floor. Coins rolled out of the washed-out leather. Twenty copper pieces, shiny stars of wealth. Celestia stared at them, and back at Luna in disbelief.
“Where did you get those?”
“I earned them, fair and square.”
Surprise replaced disbelief on Celestia’s face before letting way to relief. “For a second there, I thought you…”
“Stole them?”
Celestia stammered, blushing. “I didn’t know you found yourself a job.” She looked more disappointed than anything else.
“Actually, I didn’t.”
“Then how did you get those?” Celestia gestured to the copper pieces. “Don’t tell me you picked them up the ground, please.”
Luna chuckled and shook her head. “Why do you think I go in the forest? I’ve offered to help old Miss Cragwood gather up herbs and mushrooms for her concoctions.”
“The witch?” Celestia’s nose scrunched up in disapproval. “Lulu, I was relieved to hear you didn’t turn to thievery, but—”
“But what? As far as I know, those are just rumours, and—”
“You can only find those herbs in the Everfree, can’t you?”
Luna stayed silent.
Celestia picked up the copper pieces and put them back in their pouch. She stared at it for a second, hesitant. Finally, she pushed them back to Luna. “I’d like for you to thank her for offering you this task, but that you won’t be able to do it again.”
“No, I’m not!” Luna ripped the pouch from Celestia’s magic and shoved it back into her saddlebag.
“YES YOU ARE!”
Luna staggered back, shocked. Celestia’s face was red with anger and panic.
“Do you know why Miss Cragwood can’t go anymore?” Celestia pointed at her back leg. “Timber wolves ripped her leg right off. I know she often asks younger ponies like you to help her, but I’m telling you right now, you’re not going back to that forest.”
It was so unfair. She had finally found a way to help, finally thought she’d surprise Celestia with a pouch full of copper and silver so she could tell her: “Look, Tia, I can do it too!” But instead she only managed to make her mad.
Luna started as Celestia draped a blanket over her. Her sister took place by her side next to the fire, and lay down to her side. The hearth blazed with a hot orange flame already, but the blanket’s weight shielded her from the cool evening breeze. The fabric bore Celestia’s scent: flowers, sunshine, a hint of a lullaby...
“I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier.”
Luna didn’t reply. Instead, she scooted lightly over to her sister and let their shoulders touch. She didn’t need to see Celestia’s face to feel her smile at her silent acceptance.
“I promised—”
“To take care of me. I know.”
SIlence fell once again on the duo, heavy, but comforting. The fire crackled in the hearth, the night bugs sang their buzzing song, and all was well.
“I’m…” Luna let out a deep sigh. “I’m sorry I keep making you worried about me.”
Celestia stayed silent,
“Can you smile for me?”
And Luna did. Sleepiness washed over her, and she wanted nothing more than smile for Celestia, to make her sister as happy as she made her. If she could, she’d take away all of her work, all of her tiredness.
Celestia passed a hoof through Luna’s mane, gently stroking her head. “Remember when we used to pretend to raise the Sun and the Moon together?”
Luna turned her head slightly, letting her sister reach behind her ears. “I do, but why are you bringing that up all of a sudden?”
“Because your smile is brighter than the Sun.”
Luna giggled at her sister’s corniness. She could feel the embarrassed blush on Celestia’s face. “You should save that kind of thing for when you go on a date.”
“...shut up.”
After one last chuckle for good measure, Luna fell silent, enjoying her sister gently rubbing her head, scratching her ears. The Moon shone through the window, casting its soft light over them. Soothing.
“I should become a moonraiser someday,” Luna said with a yawn. “And then, we’ll be alright…”
Celestia levitated a bunch of carrots into her saddlebag and placed a few copper pieces on the merchant’s table. Mirum’s marketplace positively buzzed with activity, ponies hurrying everywhere to do their shopping. The sisters had just started their own shopping, the farmers usually giving better prices when their good stuff was gone, and they hoped to fill up their empty bags as best they could.
“I don’t know, Luna. Maybe. But moonraising? I think you’re still too young for that.”
“I am not too young, Tia.” Luna snorted.
“I don’t think I would even be old enough if I tried myself, and you’re a year younger than me, so I think you can cross that idea out for now.”
They stayed in silence while they shopped. Of course, Celestia was right. She always was so frustratingly right.
In revenge, Luna looked around the market, spotting potential stallions she could tease her sister with, thinking back to their conversation the previous day. Celestia on a date — what would that be like? She was well past the age where she should have started to have her eyes on stallions, yet Luna couldn’t remember the last time Celestia had even spoken about one.
She tried imagining it: Celestia enjoying a meal with a handsome stallion. But her mind couldn’t even do that. Would it be that one, with the sharp, brown coat and green eyes? How about that cute Pegasus? He seemed nice enough.
She shook her head and followed Celestia to the next table. No, tried as she wanted, she just couldn’t see Celestia with any of them.
In fact, she couldn’t see Celestia with anyone. She was just… Celestia. Her sister. The one who was always there with her, or who was away at work. She wasn’t the kind of pony who would have a—
Because if she did, that would mean—
She’d never be there anymore.
Luna stopped, and looked at her sister bartering with a merchant. They woke up together, they ate together, they shopped together, and when they’d get home, they’d store their groceries together, cook together, and eat dinner together, before enjoying some time before the hearth together.
But if—
Luna would be replaced by a faceless, nameless stallion, who’d spend all of his time with Celestia, who’d be the one being held in her wing while Celestia played in his mane.
And Luna… Luna wouldn’t be there.
“Thank you for your generosity.”
Luna snapped out of her thoughts. Her heart beat like a drum, her breathing was shallow. She shook her head, and cursed herself inwardly. What kind of selfish thoughts were those? Eventually, Celestia would have to settle with a nice stallion like she deserved. Luna just had to get used to the idea of not having her around all the time anymore.
It wasn’t like she was there all the time either, really. Yes, they enjoyed their mornings and evenings together, but save from one day a week, Celestia was gone most of the day. It wouldn’t change her routine that much.
Besides, Luna had promised her she would be strong, and wouldn’t depend on her big sister anymore.
And what about herself? She hadn’t really given much thought to stallions — or mares for that matter — for some reason.
Maybe she was just afraid of being alone?
Celestia levitated a full saddlebag of wheat from the merchant’s table in exchange for a single copper piece. Even though her bags where almost full already, to the point where Luna had offered to carry some of their groceries, there was no way they could pass that opportunity. They hadn’t lost their house yet, but their family’s funds could only carry them so far, and Celestia’s job as scribe assistant only paid so much. The sun had peaked hours ago, and the day was pulling into the evening, which could explain why the farmer didn’t ask for a high price, especially since his good stock was well gone.
“We’re making chewy bread again?” Luna asked with a grimace. There was only so much chewing a piece of bread should require, and the low quality of the wheat Celestia usually bought didn’t exactly make the softest loaves.
“Hopefully not. We’ve been lucky before. Maybe this batch is not as bad as it looked. We won’t be having cake, but we should be fine.”
Even so, Celestia’s dejected expression spoke louder than her words.
She remembers. She remembers when we didn’t have to eat cheap, peasant food just to have enough money to keep the house warm. She remembers when they were there.
When their parents had been there, they didn’t eat chewy bread. Their mother baked the most delicious cakes in Mirum, and prided herself in making sure her daughters had their fill. But they were now only there in the dusty portraits that hung on the walls of the Stella house. No amount of fretting and crying would bring them back, and so Celestia and Luna trudged forward as best they could.
“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Luna pressed herself against Celestia, draping her in a blue wing. “You’re the best sister ever!”
The eldest smirked. “And here I thought you couldn’t stand me.”
“That’s only true sometimes!” Luna stuck her tongue at Celestia, but the white Alicorn had already gone back to watching the mages.
Luna watched in awe as the sunraisers lowered the Sun in the sky. The massive orb moved only by the will of the circle of Unicorn mages so far beneath it. The ten sunraisers struggled and sweated atop their platform, their horn aglow with golden power shooting sparks in the air under the pressure, but they held on valiantly, pulling the Sun below the mountains on the horizon. Meanwhile, the moonraisers did the opposite to the Moon, their horns held up high in the air to make the night watcher rise over the crowd surrounding her. A silvery glow filled the night air.
Long ago, the show had been a common sight for her. She never had realized how wonderful it was until she stopped being able to go. But now, together with Celestia under a star-filled sky, it was even more magical than she remembered.
“This is so great!”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying the show.” Even as Celestia tried to insinuate she did it only for Luna, the latter caught her watching the sunraisers with envy. “I think it was worth it.”
They — Celestia — had spent a whole silver piece on front-seat places for the daily moonraising. It was a week’s worth of food, but she had assured Luna she had saved it on the side, and they could afford the spectacle without worry. They even had enough to spare for a thin slice of dry cake each, an extraordinary treat for them.
Their plates lay forgotten to the side, their treat gone fast. The sunraisers finished lowering the Sun with a flourish of their magic and a bow.
The sunraisers left through a way kept clear by a line of guards. Their horns still let out sparks of exhausted magic, but the honour — and pay — of giving themselves to the colossal task more than made up for their fatigue. They’d have to recuperate for an entire week inside their monastery, cut off from the rest of the world in silent meditation.
The moonraisers’ magic became more pressing, their ritual almost finished.
“The Sun comes down, and the Moon goes up.” Celestia looked almost lost in thoughts, unaware of her sister’s inner turmoil. “A well-oiled engine, unchanging.”
“So much hinges on them…” Luna squinted at the Moon, the massive silvery orb taking its rightful place in the night sky.
“Soon,” Celestia whispered. “Soon, I’ll be up there, and all will be better.”
Luna turned to her in shock. “You want to be a sunraiser?”
“Or a moonraiser, either is fine by me.”
“But you’re already barely able to spend time with me since you’re tired all the time! You want to be even more—”
“Lulu,” Celestia’s tone was decisive. “I won’t have us living in misery anymore. The house is falling apart, we sold half of what we had, and we can barely afford groceries. I’ve made up my mind long ago.”
“You could have just let me get a job,” Luna said with indignation. “It would have helped at least a little.”
“So we’d both be too tired to do anything? To let the house fall apart even more?”
“Then we’d sell the house and get ourselves a smaller one!”
Celestia shook her head with frustrating resolution. Why was she making everything so difficult?
“Tia, you need to stop treating me like a filly who can’t put on her own horseshoes.” Luna pawed at the ground in irritation.
“You’re still my little sister, I can’t—”
“Alright, sure,” Luna said between her teeth. “That doesn’t change the fact that most ponies my age do have a job, do make their own decisions, and a lot of them even live alone.
“Don’t we live alone?”
“I— we— “ Luna gritted her teeth. “We don’t. We live together, and I see how much everything affects you, and I know I can—”
“Lulu,” Celestia said in a too-calm voice, “we might be living together, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t see you need more time before—”
Luna elbowed her. A bit too hard. Celestia recoiled slightly and glared at her.
“I don’t need more time,” Luna spat. “I need to start doing something.”
“I made a pro—”
“Oh you can shove that promise!” Luna couldn’t stop her outburst. That cursed promise had weighed on them for too long, always giving Celestia an excuse to treat her like a child. “I just want to help! I can…”
Luna suddenly became very aware that everything around them had grown silent. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were aimed at them, the surrounding spectators considering them in quiet disapproval.
“We’re leaving.” Celestia passed a wing roughly around Luna and shot a look at a couple next to them. “Please, excuse us.”
Luna let herself be pulled. She didn’t have the strength to fight. She could have waited until they were home to ask her about her plans, but no. She could have behaved herself, but no. Celestia had spent her hard-earned money for what had been supposed to be a wonderful evening, and Luna had ruined it.
“I’m so sorry, Tia…”
Celestia stared at the hearth from the sofa. Flickering flames lit up her face in a dance of light and shadow. Luna sat on the opposite end, watching her.
What else could she do? She’d go to her and hug her, hold her for hours. But that wouldn’t help.
“I’m not mad at you.”
Luna hesitated. “You’re not?”
Celestia shook her head. “I didn’t choose the best moment to tell you, that I can say.” She gave Luna a sideway glance. “However, I didn’t expect you to be so…”
“Childish?”
“Afraid.”
They stayed in silence for a moment. In that moment, one thing became clear to Luna. Celestia knew. She knew Luna was only pretending to be strong, but that deep down, she was still leaning on her big sister too hard.
Celestia let out a long and shaky sigh. “I have a confession to make.”
Luna stayed silent, letting her sister gather her courage herself.
“Can you promise me not to be mad or… think I’m weird?”
Luna hadn’t expected that. Celestia, the most straight-laced pony she knew, asking her not to think her weird? “Of course! Why would I ever think badly of you?”
Celestia let out a forced laugh. “Thanks, Lulu.”
She took a deep breath while Luna waited anxiously. Somehow, it had been unthinkable for her to ever see Celestia nervous like that.
“So.” Celestia closed her eyes. “The truth is, I willingly took a job that would force me to be away from you.”
Luna’s heart shattered. “What?”
“It’s not like that!” Celestia snapped toward her, panicked. “It wasn’t because of you— it was because of me. When we’re together, I feel— I feel—”
“Happy?”
Pieces started to fit together in Luna’s mind. Celestia’s refusal to lighten her load, the way they always spent their days together, the way she had so suddenly pushed her away a while ago…
“Yes.”
She didn’t need to say any more. Luna understood, and Celestia knew she did.
“Why are we like that?” Celestia’s eyes were sullen.
“Because we’re sisters,” Luna said, scooting closer to Celestia. “We’re here for each other.”
Even to her, the words sounded off. Why? What was she missing?
“That’s what I realized.” Celestia draped a wing around Luna, who welcomed the familiar touch happily. “And that’s why I decided to become a sunraiser. I’d have to deal with being drained, yes, but I asked around, and the pay would be so much higher than what I do in a week that it would be entirely worth it.”
“I see…” Luna pressed herself against her sister, tears welling up in her eyes. “I… think I understand. Maybe some time apart will do us well.”
Celestia shifted against her. “Um, what are you talking about?”
Luna looked up at her sister in confusion. Apparently, Celestia was as lost as her judging from the look of puzzlement on the eldest’s face.
“I mean, it would be an even harder job than you already have, right? And people always talk about how the raisers can’t even leave their monastery because they’re so tired.”
“It’s not the only option they have. Most will be in the monastery, yes, but I’ll be home. With you.”
Luna stared at Celestia, dumbfounded. “You will? But I thought…”
Celestia shook her head. “Lulu, I like being with you. You make me happy, and I know I make you happy too. I won’t claim to understand it, but I want us to be happy. Together.”
Tears streamed down Luna’s cheeks. But not the painful tears she had cried so long ago. Those were tears of joy. Tears of relief. “You’ll be the best sunraiser the world has ever seen.”
Luna watched heart beating her sister join the circle of mages. Luna couldn’t hold back a squeal of excitement as Celestia raised her horn to the sky and let her magic course through her slender ivory. Celestia pressed her eyelids down in deep focus, and Luna cheered internally for her sister’s first evening as sunraiser. Even the cool night air couldn’t distract her from the spectacle about to begin.
The mages lowered their horns and Celestia followed suit only slightly after .
The Sun started its descent through the evening sky. The crowd stared at the celestial spectacle, everyone captivated by the slow descent of the Sun through the sky. All, but one.
Luna watched her sister work intently , dreading the moment where she would gnash her teeth and grind her hooves against the platform under the mountainous effort. However, that moment never came. Instead, one by one, the other mages opened their eyes with curiosity and let the glow of their horn die down. Luna tilted her head and glanced up at the sky. Despite nine out of the ten mages having abandoned their duty, the Sun continued its descent smoothly. Only Celestia remained with her eyes closed, and the stares of the crowd were all on her. Luna could scarcely believe what she was seeing. The most draining, exhausting duty in the land, her sister was accomplishing effortlessly.
Despite this, the moonraisers went to their duty, raising the moon with the usual struggles that accompanied their work. Soon, the soft glow of night replaced the fading rays of the sun. And the whispers began.
Celestia opened her eyes. Carefully at first, she straightened with a surprised expression mirrored by the nine other mages surrounding her.
Luna stared agape at Celestia’s backside.
On her flank, a blazing sun shone.
“Tia, that was incredible!” Luna positively bounced around a stunned Celestia who presently sat on a torn couch. “You— you lowered the Sun by yourself!”
“I… did, didn’t I?” Celestia sounded no less poised than she usually did, but years of listening to her had taught Luna all of the little inflections that changed when something surprised her, and in that moment, Celestia had never sounded more taken aback.
“And you got a Sun cutie mark! How amazing is that?!”
Celestia beamed at her. “You’re… really happy, aren’t you?”
Luna didn’t need to say anything. Her dumb grin spoke for itself.
“I’m happy,” she said, “because now everything is alright, and you’re here with me.”
The two sisters looked at each other. They were close. Closer than they’d ever been, somehow. Luna wanted nothing more than jump on Celestia and hug her, hold her for hours.
“I am.” Celestia gave her a sweet smile and patted the couch next to her. Luna climbed on and leaned against her sister, resting her head on Celestia’s shoulder. A white wing draped around her and pulled her tight against Celestia.
“Is it over?” Luna whispered, shaking.
The chewy bread, the house barely kept warm, the fears and worries, Celestia’s constant absence. Was it truly over and done?
“It is. I’ll be there for you. Always.”
The blazing hearth brought Luna no warmth. Celestia was gone again, gone to argue with the Council about the pleas of the sunraisers and moonraisers alike. And the house’s emptiness weighed on Luna like a bad omen. Luna had spent the evening reorganizing and cleaning to keep herself distracted and to prepare for the guests Celestia wanted to bring in now that she was actually someone important. She had tried baking something for them too, but had ended up with a botched, burnt mess which she had had to throw out. Not so long ago, the thought of wasting food like that would have been impossible, but now...
She turned and squirmed, and let out an exasperated “tch”. She shouldn’t just stay there, doing nothing, while her sister fought the Council. She wanted — needed — to make herself useful. She glanced up at the moon outside. Shining. Beautiful.
“I told you I’ve been trying to get them to let you try,” Celestia said with a sigh as she let herself fall on their new sofa. What would have taken months to save up only took her a few days to afford with her new job as sole sunraiser of Mirum, with plenty of silver to spare. “But the moonraisers see their work as sacred, and the fact that the sunraisers had to disband made them push hard to prevent something like that from happening.”
The dark marks under Celestia’s eyes sunk Luna’s heart. Her poor sister had been fighting for weeks now, staying up late and drafting propositions, studying laws and rhetoric to try and push the Counsel to elect Luna as moonraiser, her pleading rebuked over and over again by fear her sister may usurp the place of the entire moonraising circle. The crease in her face were made even worse by the candlelight under which she was studying, and which cast harsh shadows on her face like an eternal scowl.
Luna had thought they would be together more often, taking care of Celestia while she rested. She had been overjoyed to see how little her new work weighed on her sister, but that happiness had been swept away by the sunraisers protesting, claiming that she was usurping a holy tradition.
She sat next to her, looking over the documents laying on the table next to them. A pile of meaningless legal babble.
“Can I help?”
Celestia gave a tired chuckle. “I think you can.”
Luna lit up. “Tell me how, and I’ll give it my best!”
Celestia’s hoof touched her own. Luna stayed still for a second, and wrapped her own hoof around it.
“Just smile for me.”
And Luna smiled. Celestia smiled in turn, and her eyelids closed slowly, like a great weight was pulling on them.
“Tia?”
Celestia’s chest rose and lowered to the rhythm of her slow breathing. Her hoof loosened around Luna’s. A spike of fear seized Luna, until she realized Celestia was only sleeping.
Poor thing, you shouldn’t have to work yourself so hard.
And here I am, unable to help.
She looked out the window, at the beautiful Moon above.
No, I can help.
“May I enter?” Luna asked feebly from behind the door.
Celestia raised her head and beckoned her forward. As Luna stepped into the room, the walls melted away into nothingness. The lights of three candles extended a bit past Luna and Celestia, the only pocket of existence in the infinite.
If Luna noticed the world dissolving, she didn’t pay it any great heed. Her sister bent over her refurbished deck, parchments and quills and inks splayed everywhere around her, that she did pay heed to. She slid the plate she was carrying in a clean spot, but Celestia barely even glanced at the slice of cake her sister had brought her. Luna stepped around the desk and took place next to Celestia, who opened a wing and draped it around her in a tender caress.
“You shouldn’t work so hard, Tia, it’s killing you.” Luna pressed herself against Celestia. Warmth. So much warmth.
“I have to.” Celestia let out a snort, half-impatient, half-frightened. “They want to send you to the dungeons.”
Luna’s ears drooped low, and suddenly her sister’s warmth felt wrathful. The new mark adorning Luna’s flank had the weight of a thousand stones — a crescent moon, proof she had the same strange talent her sister had. “I just wanted to help. If they saw I could raise the moon as easily as you raise the Sun—”
“Some help you were,” Celestia spat out. The rare display of spite made Luna’s blood run cold. “I almost had them, but you had to show them you are too brash and hardheaded to be trusted with—”
She stopped herself. Celestia’s wing pulled tight against Luna, almost stopping her from breathing. The pressure left almost immediately as Celestia let her quill fall down, and buried her head in her hooves.
“Tia…”
Why do I always just make things worse?
“I’m so afraid to lose you, Lulu.” Celestia’s voice was shaking. “I don’t want them to take you away.”
“They can’t really do that, right? All I did was show them I could be useful!”
“Lulu, please, don’t.” Anger and despair mixed in Celestia’s voice as she snapped her head toward Luna. “Just let me deal with this and stay out of trouble, you’re really not helping.”
“Well I’m sorry if I want to play a part in serving Mirum!” Luna shot back like a coiled snake, her bruised ego stronger than her restraint. Red-hot shame and anger rose through her, as much from her guilt at her sister’s predicament than from her hate toward those ridiculous traditionalists.
“Why do you always do that?” Celestia said in a pleading tone. “Luna, I just want — need — you to not cause problems just for a moment!”
“What, you think it’s easy just living under your shadow?” The words escaped Luna’s mouth, full of venom, before she could stop herself.
“You don’t live—”
“I do!” Luna snapped, and the soft caress of her sister’s wing left her. “Anytime I try to do anything, or go anywhere, it’s always ‘no Lulu, don’t, I’m the older sister, I made a promise’! You’re better than me, Tia, I know that!”
“Luna…”
“You’ve always been better than me, older, stronger, taller, smarter than me!”
“I’m your older sister, I need to—”
“I just want to do something, anything, that I can be proud of!”
“I—”
“I wanted to show you I can be just like you! I just want to make you proud of me!”
The words fell deafening in the study. Darkness enveloped their pocket of candlelight, and she averted Celestia’s teary eyes in shame.
“I just—” Luna’s words lost themselves in a hiccup. Why was everything so dark? Why was everything so cold? “I—”
“Lulu…”
“Forget it. I’m sorry.” She swallowed her shame and picked herself up before turning away, trying to ignore the tearing sensation in her soul. The icy-cold tear seeping with her own harsh words.
She stood in front of the limit of the candles’ wavering light. The flame brought no heat. The light brought no sight. She couldn’t depend on her sister anymore. Not when she kept dragging Celestia down. Not when she was nothing but a burden to her.
“Lulu, wait.”
Luna stopped right before crossing the line of light.
“...Tia?”
Warmth. A touch of warmth, radiating from her sister’s hoof on her side. A feeble, useless attempt at preventing her from leaving. She just had to take one step more, and she would fade away, leaving Celestia in peace.
Like a moth drawn to a flame, she pulled away from the shadows and into her sister’s open forelegs. She buried her head in Celestia’s shoulder and cried. She cried for the trouble she brought, she cried for her parents gone too soon. She cried for herself, a desperate lash of emotions at her own uselessness. Most of all, she cried for Celestia. Her Celestia, her sister, who had to care for them both, who had to be strong for them both. And there she was, only making things so, so needlessly hard for her.
“You know, you’re the reason why I’m so strong.”
Luna sniffled and raised her head. Celestia looked down on her, not in a condescending way, but in a gentle, caring way, with the warmth only she knew how to bring. It enveloped everything, dried Luna’s tears, swelled her heart.
“W-why?”
Celestia brought a hoof to Luna’s cheek and gently caressed it. Luna smiled under the touch. So soft, so warm…
“Because of that,” Celestia said, almost like a confession. “That beautiful smile of yours. It doesn’t matter how hard things are, how much I have to fight. As long as that smile is there, I am happy. And so I can’t let them take you away. I need you right by my side, like you always are. And I want to be right there, at your side. So please—”
Something happened inside Luna’s heart. Like a dam breaking, like a cog coming unblocked, like the flow of the wind. Her body moved on her own, guided only by instinct, by what felt right.
It only lasted a second, and that second felt like the longest, and most important second of Luna’s life.
Before she knew what was happening, she found her lips pressed against her sister’s. They were warm. So warm. A hint of sunshine danced on them, the taste of flowers and good things.
She pulled back, confused. Celestia stayed still, her controlled facade shattered. She stared in wide-eyed disbelief at Luna. She could have stabbed her, for all the difference it made.
“I— I just—” Luna winced. Each word spoken only dug the knife deeper, made her bleed harder.
“Luna?” Celestia spoke like it was the first time she had said her name. Slowly, detaching both syllables. “Luna, what—”
“I’m sorry— I’m so sorry—” Luna stepped back. Back into the shadow. The candlelight disappeared. Celestia disappeared.
She buried her head in an old patched-up pillow, hugging it as tight as she could manage without ripping the fragile seams. She was cold. So cold.
Why did I do that? Why did I do that?
She kissed her sister. She kissed her sister!
“May I come in?
Celestia stood next to her bed. She couldn’t stand it. She wanted her sister to disappear, to vanish and leave her alone with her shame. You really are disgusting, Luna, I can’t believe I share blood with you.
“Do you want to talk?”
NO!
“Yes…” Luna sniffled in her pillow and turned her head to Celestia. Her sister considered her with no less warmth than usual. If she stopped thinking, she could almost imagine she was only there to wish her a good night, like she did every night.
The bed caved slightly under Celestia’s weight as the older Alicorn sat on it. Luna scooted to make her more place.
“So…”
Neither of them seemed to want to broach the subject. Celestia hesitated, sighed, while Luna stayed safe in her silence. In the end, Celestia took a deep breath, and Luna knew her thin shell of silence would soon have to crumble away.
“Your cake wasn’t bad at all.”
Luna looked back on her sister in disbelief. Celestia’s cheeks were reddened by embarrassment, her composure completely absent. Her entire body was tensed, and she clearly made a great deal of effort not to tear her gaze away from Luna.
“I… what?” Luna could only blink and stare, her mind still processing what her sister had said.
“It was pretty good. Soon you’ll make for a very good baker.”
Was she dreaming? Was that really what Celestia was going to breach the discussion with?
“I’m sorry,” Celestia’s blush deepened. “It wasn’t the most elegant thing to say.”
Through her shame, through her worries, Luna could only think one thing.
She’s… not mad?
“Nevertheless,” Celestia continued, pretending as if she still had her composure intact, “to come back to, well— I understand that, in the heat of the moment, things… happen.”
Things didn’t just happen, though. It had only happened because Luna had wanted — needed — Celestia’s warmth, her care. She needed to be held by her, told that Celestia loved her. Her heart ached, wanting so badly to say all of that, but finding its owner’s lips sewn together tightly.
A jolt coursed Luna’s body as Celestia’s hoof gently stroked her shoulder. She didn’t dare move, didn’t dare break that magical touch by inadvertance. A thousand thousand years of Celestia’s touch wouldn’t give her enough warmth, enough time.
“It’s all right,’” Celestia whispered to her, a feather-soft balm on her heart. “It’s all right. I’m not mad. I can’t be mad if you love me.”
Luna’s ears perked up, a blushing hope licking at her heart.
“Do you love me?”
Luna made a noise of confirmation in her pillow, and buried her face deeper inside it.
“I love you, Luna,” Celestia said, like a crescendo of hope, a blazing star of— “But you’re my sister. It wouldn’t be right for me to return your love like you would like me to.”
Luna made a noise like a strangled dream, and Celestia lay down next to her, drying her tears with a hoof. She passed a foreleg around Luna and pulled her close.
“It’s all right, Luna. You’re young, you’re still looking for yourself. But let’s just forget this, and continue like we always did before. All right?”
And Luna nodded.
“When did you start feeling that way toward me?”
Cherry blossoms fell around them like pink rain. The Sun shone hard around them, and they lay in the merciful shade of the Mirum cherry trees. The question had taken Luna by surprise, though she tried her best not to show it.
“I don’t know.” That was all she could say. Even if she had wanted to expose her feelings, to recite an hour-long essay on the way her sister made her feel, what was there more to say than that?
For more than a year, Luna had been madly in love with her, and she hadn’t even known herself.
“I see.” Celestia stayed pensive, almost as if she had expected that answer. Luna didn’t delude herself. She absolutely had expected that answer.
“I guess a few months after.” She didn’t need to specify what she was referring to. Celestia would know. Celestia thought their parents more than Luna did, to the youngest’s shame. “I always felt alone, abandoned. But you were always there for me, and…”
Celestia nodded.
And put a hoof on Luna’s own.
The blue mare’s heart skipped a beat. The genuine touch, the warmth she had wanted for so long was right where she had hoped it would be.
“I can’t…” Celestia trailed off. She didn’t need to say anymore. Luna understood. “But I won’t say that I don’t want to.”
Luna’s cheeks reddened, and she could do nothing but stare at Celestia wide-eyed. The older mare had the faintest hint of red on her face, a break of her cool and collected facade as glaring to Luna as if her sister had painted herself crimson.
“You… since when?”
Celestia gave a little shrug, her smirk never leaving her face. “I don’t know.”
Celestia’s eyes twinkled, amusement and uncertainty dancing in them. Finally, she turned away and whispered. “I never really considered my feelings. However, as strange it is for me to say, I can’t pretend your words have left me cold. I’ll have to examine my thoughts about this whole thing carefully. But until then...”
Before Luna could say anything, Celestia squeezed her hoof and scooted over to touch shoulders with her sister. They fell into silence once more, enjoying the warmth of midsummer.
The Moon rose. The Sun went down. The crowd around them stayed hushed in silent wonder, watching as Luna raised the Moon into the darkening sky. Celestia stood by her side, almost touching her. Her own horn was raised high, enveloped in a golden glow, pulling down a Sun half-hidden by the Lumia mountains in the distance.
“You’re doing great.” Celestia’s whisper was a soft embrace in the warm night. The blue light of the moon fell on her pink mane.
I’m making that light fall on her. Luna almost blushed at the thought, although she couldn’t tell why. The moonlight caressed Celestia’s white coat, dancing on her fur, glimmering in her eyes. The world melted around the sisters, the crowd’s breathing halting. Celestia watched the Sun go down, and Luna watched as her light glistened on Celestia’s coat.
“I knew you would be able to do it one of these days.” Celestia’s breath was hot on her ear. They were home, away from prying eyes. Celestia’s warmth pressed against Luna’s body. Her pink mane caressed her sister’s fur, a light touch one could believe unwilling if one were to ignore Celestia encroaching on Luna’s personal space, her hooves a hair’s breadth away from her sister’s, their necks touching in a quiet embrace as the white mare nuzzled Luna’s cheek.
“Thank you, Tia,” Luna said in a hushed voice. “Thank you for believing in me.”
She couldn’t focus on anything other than the feeling of her sister’s touch on her.
Hitched breaths caught in her throat. She closed her eyes, trying to keep a dizzying vertigo from stealing her balance away from her.
Celestia pulled away from her too soon, stealing her warmth from Luna, and turning away from her in subtle dismissal. “I always believed in you. You should get some rest, sister.”
With a glimmer in her eye, she disappeared into her room.
From then on, touches and feels subtle and overt accompanied Celestia and Luna’s talks. A hoof touching another softly when sliding a plate of toast, a brush of the body when they passed each other, a quick nuzzle when whispering in the other’s ear: something that once belonged only in Luna’s dreams became almost expected as Celestia played with the limits of what she allowed herself. Luna never could bring herself to have the same forwardness as her sister, and the few times she stole a nuzzle or touch, her heart pounded against her chest painfully.
How ironic, that she, who had always been the one to dive headfirst now feared to disturb the waters she was swimming in.
But for now, she was satisfied with the touch of her sister against her.
“Lulu.”
Luna took a step to the side, breaking contact with Celestia. It pained her to do so, but they had little other choice.
The looks they attracted had become more and more frequent. In public, Celestia feared even the slightest touch, and Luna couldn’t blame her.
Hard, judging pairs of eyes stared at them wherever they went. Whispers followed them. She heard the word “sister” spoken with spite too many times when walking past groups of ponies on the street.
“What’s going on, Tia?”
Celestia stayed silent for a moment. Her eyes slowly scanned around her, making sure no one was in earshot. “I think someone is spreading rumours about us.”
They spent the rest of their grocery shopping in silence.
She found herself sitting on a stiff chair with her sister by her side. Darkness surrounded them.
“Celestia and Luna Stella.”
Luna started. In front of them, six hooded ponies sat behind a large mahogany desk. It didn’t take her long to find her bearings: they were standing before the Council.
“What is it, Grandmaster Aurum?” Though Celestia kept her voice polite, there was an edge of firmness in it that sent shivers running up Luna’s spine..
The centre pony set a scroll on the desk and unrolled it with a soft cough. The others to his side straightened up to glare at the sisters beneath their hoods.
“We have received reports from several sources, many of them reputable, of... your illicit conduct toward each other.” Grandmaster Aurum narrowed his eyes at them, little more than glistening slits peering from underneath his hood. “We have ignored these accusations for a great deal of time, and simply assumed your little… stirring of the moonraisers and sunraisers had earned you some choice enemies.”
“I won’t deny that it has, Grandmaster,” Celestia spoke up. “I have had to deal with—”
“Nevertheless.” Grandmaster Aurum’s voice fell hard on them, and Celestia closed her mouth with a scowl and subtle bite of her lower lip. “Very trusted observers have reported the same to us.”
Luna started. “You mean spies, you—”
Celestia’s hoof touched Luna’s side, and the darker sister trailed off. Celestia’s eyes glimmered in the faint light, seeming to say “Don’t make this any harder than it is.”
“Lady Luna, please refrain from speaking up,” one of the hooded council members said in a raspy voice. “Your newfound rank doesn’t give you permission to speak without being allowed to.”
Luna’s blood boiled. How dared those old crumbly ponies question them and inspect their private lives without even letting them speak to defend themselves? What Celestia and her were doing was bordering on illegal, true, but they hadn’t crossed the line, and they certainly didn’t deserve the scrutiny they were under.
“Now, Lady Celestia, could you please come before the Council?”
Celestia’s hoof left Luna’s side. She rose and stepped closer to the massive desk in front of the councilponies. Even though she faced away from Luna, the younger sister had no doubts her elder showed an unshaken face to the Council.
“Celestia Stella,” Grandmaster Aurum said, “how do you answer to the accusations of lewd conduct toward the present Luna Stella directed at you?”
A heavy silence hung in the air for a moment. Luna’s heart pounded against her chest. Surely, Celestia just had to deny the accusations, right?
“Can I ask about the details of these accusations?” Celestia’s voice was soft, a ringing chime in the oppressive silence.
Grandmaster Aurum nodded to a council member to his right, who took out a scroll and started listing off the accusations. “I have here three different counts of deviant touching, five reports accusing you of ‘resting like lovers’, and more than a dozen reports of disturbing proximity— ”
“This is absurdity of the highest level.” Celestia’s words cut the council member’s listing. “At best, those are vague and insubstantial, and at worst those are slanderous accusations. ‘Disturbing proximity’? Please, should a mother holding her child against her be put behind bars?”
Grandmaster Aurum’s eyes narrowed. “The accusations might be vague, but they are plentiful.”
The Council had nothing against her and her sister. Some witnesses seeing them get too cozy together, maybe, but nothing substantial enough to do anything. This should have reassured Luna, but instead it made her sweat with anxiety. The Council would never personally summon anyone on such shaky basies. It would only prove to be a colossal waste of a time they didn’t have.
That is, expect if they wanted to handle the problem themselves.
They kept throwing accusations and slander at Celestia, which she refuted again and again, until one of the councilponies whispered something to Grandmaster Aurum, who glared at Celestia with barely-veiled irritation.
And it was over.
In the end, they walked away from the room with nothing but a warning, and the council members’ eyes stabbing daggers in their back.
But they also left with the knowledge that they wouldn’t find peace anymore.
It wouldn’t be the only time they were dragged before the law. The raisers still held positions of spiritual authority in Mirum, and their refusal to accept Celestia and Luna in their ranks had made of the two sisters enemies of their order. That wasn’t the explanation for why Mirum’s bureaucracy was after them, but it was an explanation.
However, Celestia always had their back. Letters were returned with her own, justicars were put straight, and inspectors never found a trace of wrongdoing in their home.
She faltered, she cracked, she cried. But every day, every night, Luna was by her, helping as she could, supporting her, smiling for her.
And when they had enough, they lay by the hearth, huddled together, breath on each other’s neck. And in those moments, nothing else mattered.
But still they kept coming.
“When will they stop?” Luna looked at Celestia. The elder sister’s face was pale and tired from the sleepless nights spent dealing with their unfortunate situation.
“I don’t know.” Celestia shook her head. “I just wish they’d leave us alone.”
Luna went to her sister’s side, leaned against her. Celestia leaned back against her, offered Luna her shoulder to rest her head on.
Luna put her head on Celestia’s shoulder and nuzzled her neck. Her sister smelled of tiredness, but of determination too, a sweet, fresh scent.
She rested a hoof on Celestia’s leg, soon joined by Celestia’s own hoof. They wrapped around each other.
She wanted to speak. No, she needed to speak. But what she truly wanted was to stay in silence with her head on Celestia’s shoulder, hoof in hoof.
A perfect moment that shouldn’t be broken.
But it had to be done. Luna took a deep breath and looked up at Celestia. “Maybe we should just resign.”
Celestia looked back at her. “Resign?”
“Obviously, the sunraisers and moonraisers are mad they lost their positions to us. Maybe if we gave them back what they want…”
Celestia stared at Luna for a long moment. A soft breeze rustled leaves and chimes outside, and the moonlight shone silver in their home.
“Is that what you really want?”
No. That was clear in Luna’s mind. She wouldn’t give up before crumbling nobles and aristocrats. But if it were to give her and her sister their peace back, even if they went back to having no money, having no standing, she would do it.
If it meant those moments they spent together wouldn’t be taken away from them.
“It’s what I want.” She held Celestia’s stare, determined.
“Is it what you want, of what I want?”
“It’s what would bring you peace,” Luna said, “and that is what I want.”
Surprise appeared on Celestia’s face. Immediately, she smiled, and squeezed Luna’s hoof. “The determined, driven sister I know and love would never suggest we cave in to some stuffy nobles’ demands.” She put a hoof on Luna’s shoulder and gently pulled so they faced each other. “Am I wrong?”
“And I thought my orderly, cautious sister would have given up ages ago to go back to her simple life.” Luna’s heart beat hard against her chest. She put her other hoof over Celestia’s and looked into her sister’s eyes. “Am I wrong?”
“Shows how we can change.” Celestia rested her forehead against Luna’s. Their horns touched lightly, sending pinpricks of magic and excitement coursing through Luna. Celestia’s breath was on her face, fast and shallow. “Shows how much we want to change.”
Luna took a deep breath, and let it out in a long exhale, to try and stop her drumming heart from bursting. “And do you want to change, Tia?”
“I don’t,” Celestia said with warm honesty. Her hoof left Luna’s shoulder, went up Luna’s neck, to her cheek. She was trembling. “But for you, Lulu, for you I’d change the world.”
Luna raised a hoof to Celestia’s head, gently stroked her mane, the same way she had had her mane stroken so many times before. She lightly pulled her sister’s head toward her. An invitation, subtle, pressing. “What else would you do for me?”
Celestia’s lips pressed against hers, and the world stopped. For a moment that seemed to last forever, nothing existed except each other, their bodies intertwined, their breathing mingling with each other.
Celestia broke the kiss first and pressed her forehead against Luna’s again, waiting.
“Tia,” Luna said, short of breath, “ponies are already talking…”
“Does it matter?”
No.
Luna pressed her lips against Celestia’s, wrapped her hooves around her sister, held her tight.
The hearth’s light died, leaving them in darkness, with only the silvery glow of the Moon above.
They never did give up.
But Mirum never gave up either.
The Moon vanished behind the horizon, and the Sun took his place above.
Luna started down the platform to an eerie silence. The guards lining the raisers’ alley were stiffer than usual. Even the crowd just stared at them, not one clapping noise to be heard, not one exclamation of wonder.
Celestia soon caught up to her. They walked in silence through the crowd until they reached the monastery, and made a sharp turn left to go back home. They still respected the tradition of walking the raisers’ alley to the monastery, but never dared go inside. They weren’t wanted there.
Mirum was strangely deserted. Usually, ponies would have spread out and gone back to their daily activities after the raising, but only a few dozen of them walked here and there. Luna caught them throwing quick glances at her and her sister.
“I don’t like this.” Luna pressed against Celestia, seeking the comfort of her warmth.
“I don’t either.” Celestia looked calm, but she was scanning the area. Her heart raced in her chest.
“Are you alright?”
“I’ll be alright once we get home.”
They passed a few ponies gathered in a circle.
“Have you heard?” A mare’s voice, too loud of a whisper.
“Father Cobalt told me they were laying together.” A stallion’s voice made Luna almost stop in her tracks.
“They’re devils I tell you, devils there to bring corruption to everyone.”
“They even stopped the holy raisers from doing their duties.”
“I saw how they touch, how they hold each other — it makes me shiver.”
“What are you looking at, witch?”
Luna started. The group of ponies turned to her with anger and fear.
“Come on, Lulu.” Celestia draped a wing around her and pulled her forward.
“Tia, they—”
“I know.”
It was night.
We need to go.
She couldn’t sleep, and had gone for a walk. The night air was cool, a light blanket of snow covered the streets.
They don’t like us. They don’t want us. We need to go far, far away from here.
Soft crunching noises fell around her steps. She was looking for something.
I couldn’t sleep. They won’t leave us alone. We carry the weight of the Sun and Moon by ourselves, and yet they won’t leave us alone.
Celestia’s smile appeared in her mind. Something pure, warm.
The silvery landscape around her was broken by a blast and a firespout. High flames shot out into the night.
She took flight, the city streets blurring and flashing past her.
She landed in front of their home. Their old home. The old Stella place.
The roof cracked and crumbled, a tongue of flame shooting out to lick the sky.
Ponies surrounded her, bearing torches. She ignored them, surging forward.
“TIA!”
Her shoulder hit the door hard, and the wood all but exploded under the impact. She rolled in the debris and jumped back to her hooves. Flames ravaged everything. The walls, the furniture, the paintings on the wall…
“Celestia?!” The name beat inside her skull, a primal scream of rage and terror asking to be let out. She ran through the short hallways of the ancestral home, barely aware of the flames singing her coat and mane.
Her breath was short. Smoke rose around her, strangling her. Still her eyes darted madly left and right, trying to find a sign of her sister, not even thinking about the house coming down around her.
Images became sparse, flashing in her mind’s eye. Her flying away from the burning house. Celestia in her legs, bloodied and unconscious.
They eventually landed somewhere else. Somewhere calm. Somewhere peaceful. They rebuilt their home in a small village in the middle of the forest. A place where no one knew where they were, but where ponies looked at them raising the Sun and Moon with wonder, and not anger.
Things went by too quickly. Before they even could regain their balance, ponies had flocked to them, pleading for their guidance. As they raised and lowered the sun and moon, ponies had decided to entrust themselves to them, to see them as more than regular ponies. And regular ponies they were not. Soon, they had a kingdom. A shaky one at first, but a growing one, which became more and more bountiful and pleasant.
“Look at this, Lulu.”
The Sun hung above them. They stood side by side on the balcony of their new castle — their new home — watching ponies go about their daily lives below. Smiling faces and happy laughter filled the air.
“I still can’t believe this is all happening.”
Only a few months back, they were in Mirum, caught in a hurricane of spite and deceit. Now, ponies they didn’t even know respected them and looked up to them for guidance.
Celestia’s hoof touched her own.
There were tears in Celestia’s eyes, a bright smile on her face. The Sun caught in her pink mane in shimmering stripes.
Luna’s heart raced as Celestia pressed herself against her, lowered her head, nuzzled her neck.
“I love you, Lulu.”
Luna draped a blue wing over her sister and nuzzled her back. She trembled. With love. With excitement. With fear. She closed her eyes.
Celestia was warm, so warm. Warm like a fire, a blaze ripping through their home, carried by hateful ponies who didn’t accept their love.
She shook and stepped away from Celestia. Her wing fell limp at her side.
“Lulu?” Celestia looked at her with concern. “Lulu, are you alright?”
“I’m… fine.” Luna gazed to the crowd below. No one had seem them. She hoped. “Let’s just take this inside, alright?”
They lost themselves to each other, doors locked, a fire blazing in the hearth. The sounds of ruffling feathers and short breaths filled the air. Every touch felt like a triumph of their love, their coats brushing, hooves wrapped around the other, manes falling messy over their faces.
They held each other in front of the dying hearth.
Here, they were safe, away from prying eyes. Luna could almost forget that fateful night that had forced them to leave. She breathed her sister’s scent. A hint of sunshine, a strong heart, and love.
How she wanted this moment to last for—
“Your Majesty?”
Luna jumped to her hooves with a start and snapped toward the door. A maid stood still, a look of shock on her face. Luna’s chest tightened.
“What did you see?”
“I—”
WHAT DID YOU SEE?” Luna stomped toward her. Anger and fear mixed in her heart. So much fear.
“N-nothing!”
“Luna!”
Luna looked back at Celestia. Her sister was trotting toward them.
“Tia, she—”
A hoof to her side made her stop. Celestia bowed to the maid. “I’m very sorry, Dust Swirl. My sister is very tired.”
“Oh, it’s no problem at all.” Her voice was shaking. Dust Swirl made to leave, but Celestia stopped her with a wing.
“Oh, one more thing.” Celestia smiled and hovered a heavy treaty to Dust Swirl, who caught it a a hoof. “You came here for this, to take it back to the library. When you came in, we were sitting by the hearth and invited you in, and I gave you this book. Understand?”
“Of course.” Dust Swirl was trembling, her eyes wide with fear. “I— I don’t see what else I could have seen here.”
“Good.” Celestia retracted her wing and bowed. “I am very thankful for your help. This won’t be forgotten.”
Dust Swirl walked to the end of the hallway, but the sounds of running hooves became evident as soon as she turned the corner. Celestia closed the doors and turned back to Luna.
“There is nothing to fear.”
Luna walked to her sister on wavering legs. A white wing draped around her as she buried her head in Celestia’s neck.
“It’s alright.” Celestia sat down on the floor and pulled Luna against her. “It’s alright to cry.”
Luna couldn’t hold back her tears. Fear, sadness, frustration all boiled in her heart. “It’s so unfair.”
“Nothing happened, remember?” Celestia stroked her mane. A gentle, soothing caress. “We’re together in this, and as long as we’re together, nothing can happen to us.”
“Mmhmm.”
“So let’s get to bed, we have a long day ahead of us.”
Luna couldn’t deny it. They split and made their way to their respective bedchambers.
She was warm underneath her blankets. Safe from the prying eyes of the ponies surrounding them.
“Princess Celestia!”
“Your Majesty, one question?”
“Princess Celestia, what about—”
Celestia rose a hoof, and the crowd went quiet. Luna watched in annoyance. When they had built the castle, she had convinced Celestia to split the power evenly with her, so neither of them could stand above the other. However, as soon as the day started, ponies lined up to ask Celestia for guidance, advice, news of the kingdom, while Luna stayed pointedly ignored.
She couldn’t blame her sister for that. She had the knowledge, she had the expertise.
“Princess Luna?”
Luna started out of her thoughts. In front of her, a young mare was holding a foal.
“Y-yes, what is it?”
The mare looked down at the baby and hiccuped. “It’s my little Calm Stream. Every night, he wakes up from terrible nightmares. He hasn’t slept well for a month, I don’t know what to do.” Tears streamed down her face. She held her foal tighter against herself, like she was so, so afraid to lose him. “Please, help us.”
Luna glanced at Celestia, who was busy with her own problems.
No, you’re not delegating that to her. This is your chance to truly help.
“I promise you that I’ll do anything I can to help.”
A hopeful smile appeared on the young mare’s face. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I don’t know, Lulu.”
Even she needed Celestia for guidance it seemed. After picking at her brain trying to find a way to deal with her little situation, she hadn’t ended up with any concrete idea.
“She said he had nightmares, right?” Celestia continued. “Maybe you could go see them at night, to see if you can offer them some comfort. I’m sure you can find a solution.”
“Thank you, Tia.” Luna sighed. Celestia was too tired from her day — a situation all too familiar to them — to offer anything concrete.
“I’m sorry I can’t help more, but I believe in you.”
Celestia lower her face toward her sister. Luna’s heart picked up, and their lips brushed together, only for Luna to turn her head and settle for nuzzling her sister’s neck instead.
“I didn’t think you’d be one to go over a kiss.”
“I just— After what happened yesterday…”
Celestia wrapped a hoof around her sister. “It’s okay, I understand.”
They stayed still for a moment, a small respite before Luna had to leave.
“I have to go,” she said at last, halfheartedly breaking their touch. “I’ll try to be back soon.”
“I love you Lulu.” Celestia brushed against her as she left on sleepy legs.
“I love you Tia.”
Even as they warmed her heart, the words felt dangerous.
A sleeping child lay before her, tucked comfortably under his blankets. His mother — Marigold — watched him sleep.
“When does it happen?” Luna asked to break the uncomfortable silence.
“Usually maybe an hour after he goes to sleep.” Marigold rubbed her hooves nervously. “It shouldn’t be too long now.”
Marigold whispered a silent prayer, and Luna’s ear perked up when she heard her name in it.
“I’m sorry to pry, but is this a prayer… to us?”
Marigold nodded. “Of course, why wouldn’t it be?”
That almost made sense to Luna. They had come here, raising the Sun and Moon, and the ponies had been quick to accept them as rulers. So why not dedicate a prayer to the ones who move the sky?
Calm Stream started stirring under the covers.
“Oh, stars.” Marigold buried her head in her hooves. “I can’t look.”
Luna watched intently the little colt moving under his blanket. His eyes were pressed hard, and a scowl started to appear on his face.
Something stirred inside Luna. Something called for her.
Help me.
She started. The words had rung inside her head like bells.
HELP ME!
Without thinking, she lit her horn and closed her eyes.
“Help!”
She was standing in a courtyard, surrounded by darkness and shadowy figures. In the middle of it all, a milk-white colt shivered, balled up on himself.
She took flight and landed in front of the colt. The shadowy figures surrounded them, watching them with unblinking eyes.
“What’s going on here?” Luna helped Calm Stream get back on his hooves.
“They’re mocking me!” He pointed to the shadows, and everywhere he pointed, details appeared, revealing the ponies of the town laughing.
I’m… in his nightmare?
“Why are they mocking you?”
“I don’t know! They just hate me!”
The laughing around them redoubled in intensity.
A terrified child, his mind spinning out of control.
What would Celestia do?
“They don’t hate you,” Luna said, draping a gentle wing around him.
“Yes! Everyone hates me!”
“I don’t hate you.” She smiled.
He blinked, his face softening. “You don’t?”
She shook her head. “Of course I don’t. I don’t have any reason to hate you, don’t I?”
He relaxed under her wing. “That’s true.”
“And do you think they have a reason for hating you?”
He looked at the figures around them. “No.”
“See,” Luna said, “ponies only hate you if they have a reason to hate you.”
The nightmare wavered around them.
Luna opened her eyes. Calm Stream was breathing softly in his bed. Marigold stared at him, astonished, tears in her eyes.
“You— you did it…”
I did.
“What did you do?” Marigold looked at her, almost with reverence.
“I think I went into his nightmare. He told me… everyone hated him.”
“What?” Marigold shook her head. “No, that can’t be right! Everyone loves him!”
“I told him if no one had a reason to hate him, he had no reason to think that, and I think it worked.”
Marigold passed a loving hoof through Calm Stream’s mane. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Ponies only hate you if they have a reason to hate you.
Ponies only come to burn down your house if they have a reason to hate you.
“I don’t know how to thank you.” Marigold took Luna’s hooves into her own and looked into her eyes. She was beaming, happier than any pony Luna had ever seen. “Please, it there a way I can repay you?”
Before she realized it, tears welled in Luna’s eyes. She smiled down at Marigold. “The best way you can repay me is to keep smiling.”
Luna landed on front of the castle, heart still beating.
Someone had looked up to her. Someone other than Celestia loved her.
She pushed the door to her sister’s bedroom. Celestia was sleeping tight.
Luna hesitated, stepped back, and closed the door.
Ponies only hate you if they have a reason to hate you.
Those ponies hadn’t heard the rumours. They hadn’t started to see Celestia and her as witched, devils. Yet.
Quick hoofsteps sounded behind her, stopped, and started going away. She turned, and her heart dipped when she saw who it had been.
“Dust Swirl!” Luna whisper-shouted, galloping to catch up to the maid.
Dust Swirl froze in her steps.
“Dust Swirl, I want to talk.”
The maid turned to Luna and stood still, head low. Luna took a deep breath to steady her voice.
“What did you really see the other day?”
“N-nothing.”
Luna shook her head. “I want the truth. Please, I won’t do anything to you. I just need the truth.”
Dust Swirl hesitated. “I… saw you and Lady Celestia... together.”
“Together?”
Dust Swirl trembled. “Yes.”
“And what were we doing?”
Dust Swirl opened and closed her mouth, shaking from limb to limb. “I— I— I don’t know.”
Luna looked at her with pleading eyes. “Please.”
Tears streamed down the maid’s face. “I— I saw you kissing, and touching each other, and— please, please I have a family to feed, I can’t—”
“Enough.” Luna’s heart drummed against her chest. “Thank you, Dust Swirl.”
Dust Swirl made to leave, but Luna stopped her with a wing. “One last thing, please.”
The maid was shaking, but she managed to nod.
“What do you think of me and Celestia now?”
“I— I don’t know.”
“Truthfully. Then you can go.”
Dust Swirl stayed silent for a moment. “At first I loved working here, it was an honour. And I looked up to you two so much. But now…” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to think. Part of me is disgusted, but part of me is still thankful that you kept me here, and that you treat us well.”
Part of me is disgusted.
“Thank you.” Luna removed her wing from the maid. “And… if you want to quit, go ahead. We’ll compensate you.”
Luna would have given everything for Dust Swirl to refuse, to say that even though she didn’t understand, she found their love beautiful, and wanted to keep helping as much as she could around the castle.
“Thank you,” the maid said with a sigh of relief. “I think that’d be best.”
Luna closed her eyes and breathed in. “And of course, you are forbidden from speaking of what you saw to anyone, as well as of the conversation you had with me tonight.”
“Of course.”
Dust Swirl left the castle with a heavy pouch in her bag. Enough to live well for a few years. Luna could only trust her to keep the secret she had seen.
“You WHAT?”
Luna winced at Celestia’s outburst. She had pulled her sister aside as soon as she woke up to tell her of what had happened the previous night.
“I had to, she didn’t want to be here anymore, and I feared she might have ended talking to the other servants.”
Celestia stayed silent for a second, thinking. “I can see why you would fear that.”
“Two sisters loving each other that much… ponies don’t like it.”
They were rulers now, powerful Alicorns who raised and lower the Sun and Moon. Yet, they were but ants in the face of their secret. If it were revealed again…
“I want to rule the night.” Luna said at last.
Celestia looked at her, surprised. “What?”
“When I went to help that colt I told you about, I was able to enter his nightmare and end it. I think I can use this power to watch over our subjects.”
“But Lulu, you know what that means, right?”
Luna nodded. “It’s for the best.”
Celestia shook her head. “This isn’t like you. You’re scared, and—”
“I’m scared because I love you, and that means I don’t want my love for you to put you in danger.”
Celestia looked down at her hooves “...I feel the same.”
A year apart was harsh.
Luna only saw Celestia briefly anymore. At breakfast, when she lowered the Moon and went to bed, and at dinner, when Celestia lowered the Sun and went to bed.
Every night, Luna soared through the sky, answering the calls of anxious minds and nightmare-stricken ponies.
Then, she ate with her sister and went to bed, cold and alone.
It was like living in an empty world. Everypony slept while she worked, their sleeping selves unaware of her presence.
In the day, the castle was filled with noise, with the going and coming of their subject. They all loved Celestia so much...
“Good morning, Tia.” Luna gave Celestia a quick nuzzle, gone too fast as they settled at their table to eat.
“We’re alone, you know,” Celestia said. “I understand not wanting to do anything too egregious, but…”
The doors to the kitchen opened, and a cook brought a plate of eggs before them before leaving with a bow.
“See?” Luna gestured at the leaving cook. “If he had come in—”
“Luna, you’re being paranoid.”
Luna fell silent, and shoved a forkful of eggs in her mouth. “I just want—”
“To keep me safe, I know.”
They stayed in uncomfortable silence for a moment.
“I still love them, you know?”
Celestia looked at her. “Who?”
“Our subjects.” Luna made a vague gesture around them in the empty kitchen. “I watch over them, make sure their nights are good and peaceful.”
“And they’re thankful for that.”
Luna finished a slice of toast. “How many times did you get asked where I was?”
“Lulu…”
Luna sighed. “That’s what I thought.”
Celestia wiped her mouth with a towel. “I’m the one they see during the day, and they already trust you with the night.”
“You’re right…”
Luna looked out of the window. The morning Sun shone over them, over every pony below.
A darkness seemed to peer from the sunlight, but when Luna looked at it, it vanished.
“Good night, Lulu.”
Celestia came to press herself against Luna, but the youngest avoided her touch, looking nervously at a pair of guards near them.
“Lulu, there’s nothing weird with just hugging.” Celestia snorted in irritation.
“I know, it’s just…”
“Well, good night, I need to go.”
Celestia went away to her room. A pang of guilt touched Luna’s heart. She wanted so hard to be able to hug Celestia like before, kiss her and touch her. But everytime she even thought of it, her flaming house came back to her mind.
She had checked on Dust Swirl. She was now living in a beautiful house, taking care of her foals. She had welcomed Luna with a bright smile when she had arrived.
“It was the shock, but I hope you don’t believe I think bad of you at all.”
Luna drank tea with Dust Swirl near the hearth. The family had gone to bed, but she often stayed up late. “You don’t?”
Dust Swirl shook her head. “You’d be surprised what ponies can think when they’re shocked.”
But I wouldn’t be surprised.
A house in flame appeared in her mind. A darkness swirled around it, crushing the fragile home.
“I’m sorry, Luna, but I don’t think that’d be wise.”
Luna looked down at her steaming cup of tea. “Why not?”
Celestia took a deep breath. “If I were to suddenly have you back on the day throne, ponies would ask why you abandoned your duties.”
“But I want to be by your side again.”
Celestia hesitated, her gaze hardening. “Why?”
Celestia’s look took Luna aback. “W-why? Well, because I miss you, that’s why!”
Celestia looked down and chuckled. “Oh. Right. I guess that’d make sense.”
Luna’s heart sunk. “What do you mean?”
Celestia sighed. “Lulu, listen, I’m too tired to fight with you tonight.
“Tell me! Please!” Luna pleaded.
“Very well. Our subjects are very much pleased with the arrangement we have. They can sleep well during your night, and live during my day with the assurance that I will guide them well.”
“You… don’t think I’d guide them well?”
Celestia shook her head. “Luna, you’re good at what you do, and I’m good at what I do. We have something good going on here. Ponies are happy.”
“I’m not happy.”
Celestia stared at Luna, and for a moment, something changed in her expression. “Lulu… I need to think. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, after I get some rest.”
Celestia walked away, leaving only a darkness in the empty space where she used to be.
Luna started as Celestia draped a blanket over her. Her sister stood by her side for a moment, before her hoofsteps receded, became faint and distant.
Please, come back…
The hearth only cast a feeble light on Luna, the embers already dying. The fabric felt sterile, washed and handled by their servants.
“I’m sorry I’m not as good as you.”
Tears hit the floor under Luna with a gentle drip. She gripped the blanket and pulled it closer around her.
“I’m sorry I don’t know how to rule.” Her shaky whispers echoed in the empty room. “I’m sorry…”
Under her blanket, the darkness spread again, wrapped around her in a soft embrace, like a white wing draped over her.
Silence fell once again on her. Heavy, uncomfortable silence. The embers gave their last light, the wind howled outside. The sun was obscured by clouds.
A storm was coming.
Luna stood under a darkened sky. The Moon shone by her absence in the sky, hidden under a cover of clouds.
I rule the night.
She ruled a kingdom of sleep and absence. A world where ponies locked themselves away, waiting for her sister to return so they could greet her again and again.
She took flight and surveyed the city below her. Like a shadow passing over the land, her gliding took her to the central square. She landed on the paved street without as much as the sound of a pin dropping down.
Their city was no Mirum. However, what it lacked in size, it made for in devotion. And its inhabitants made no effort to hide their love for the two sisters.
In the middle of the square, a gigantic stone statue towered over her. A grey Celestia looked down on her with a frozen face, her solar disk held aloft by the tip of two spread wings.
At her side, almost forgotten, her sister stood. She did strike an admirable pose, and the work had been careful, but for all the care this artist put into his work, the pavement was worn and cracked in front of Celestia’s statue, with nary a hoofprint in front of hers.
Of course, how could they love and worship her when she was hidden during the day, only active at night, when no one but a hoofful of ponies were awake?
Ponies only hate you if they have a reason to hate you.
Ponies only love you if they have a reason to love you.
Her calm wavered, a scowl breaking its way on her face.
So is this it then? I wouldn’t love her, and so she found love somewhere else.
No, I’m the one who refused her love.
But she didn’t stop me.
They don’t see me, and so they don’t love me.
They only see her so they love her. They hate me because I’m away, they’d spit on my statue if they could.
She would too, she hates me.
She was aware something wasn’t quite right. A darkness was pressing against her, seeping inside her mind. But she ignored it.
She spread her wings again, the delicate feathers catching in the stormwind. With a flap, she shot upward, up through the clouds and into the sky above.
The storm rumbled below her, the clouds like rolling waves. Above, always there, always watching over her, the Moon shone.
She was cold, so cold.
But even the chill in her soul was forgotten in face of the astral orb. Unlike the Sun, so harsh and brutal, the Moon shone so soft, so gentle.
“Why don’t they love you?”
The Moon didn’t answer.
“You’re so beautiful, why don’t they see it?”
Luna stayed there, suspended between ground and space, waiting for the answer of the silent watcher. Darkness filled the sky, and the Moon was the only solution.
“If they can’t see your beauty,” she decided at last, “if they’re too blinded by the Sun to see, I will show them myself.”
Darkness closed in from around her. Darkness from within. Darkness spreading from limb to limb, surging with power, fueled by the turmoil in her heart.
A nightmare enveloped Luna.
I will show them myself.
My moon will not soothe their nights anymore.
They will learn to fear it.
My nightmare moon.
Does the Moon speak sweetly tonight?
In the soft darkness of the night, her burning rays vanish.
The night is cold. The night is calm.
And who’s the fool who wears the crown?
Who thinks she stands on top of the world.
Who thinks she stands on top of me.
Who rejects me.
“Luna?!”
Here she is in her glory.
Round and soft, so soft.
If warmth won’t welcome me anymore, then no one shall know warmth.
“Luna, you need to lower the Moon!”
What’s the haze that envelops me?
It sings sweetly to me.
It numbs me to the pains and the cold.
How I want this to last forever.
How I want my night to last forever.
Alone.
So alone.
Why am I alone?
A fierce battle. A decisive blow directed at the sister she had once loved. A blow guided by rage, intent on ending her life.
What did I do?
Alone.
So, so alone…
She opened her eyes to a field of barren rock, of craters and stars.
And through years, and decades, Luna thought. Until eventually, she stopped thinking altogether.
A shock.
A shift in cosmic energy.
Her bindings loosening around her.
The darkness rising once more.
A descent through the cosmos.
A vengeance manifested.
And nothing.
…
What… happened?
“... I reckon, we do represent the elements of friendship.”
Where… am I?
“Indeed you do.”
Tia?
“Princess Luna!”
Luna started with a gasp. Celestia loomed over her, grave.
“It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister.”
Tears welled up in Luna’s eyes. Tears of disbelief. Tears of regrets. Tears of relief that everything was over.
“Will you accept my friendship?”
A radiant warmth blossomed inside Luna. Celestia was there. Finally there, after all those years.
And she had forgiven her.
“I’m so sorry!” She bounded at Celestia, pressed herself against her. A softness, a warmth that had been absent for so, so long. She rested her head on Celestia’s shoulder, like she used to do so, so long ago. “I missed you so much, big sister!”
Hot tears fell on her back as Celestia returned her embrace. “I missed you too.”
The day passed in a hurricane of colours and parties. Scenes of a new world flashed before Luna. Unknown faces, unknown places, a speech she wasn’t familiar with.
How long has it been?
The images of the day slipped out of her mind. The magic that had drained her weighed heavily on her. She felt weak, barely able to stand straight.
Soon, the day led to the evening. The Sun kept on its course, lowering on the horizon. Mercifully, after Celestia had talked to some ponies for a few minutes, they had left early aboard a golden carriage pulled by six Pegasi guards.
“We’re almost there, Lulu.” Celestia held her in her warmth. Trickles of magic washed over Luna, her sister sharing hers to keep her awake.
“Tia…”
“Sssssh. Don’t talk.”
So she kept quiet, enjoying her sister stroking her mane gently.
They landed near a great castle.
Her mind was becoming blurry. The magic of the elements had worked too well. Her magic-starved body wouldn’t be able to hold her up much longer.
She was sleepy. So, so sleepy…
Celestia brought her down a corridor, then another, then down a flight of stairs. A great basin shimmered before them.
She felt herself get submerged in water. A pool of magic. She went down, down, down…
She floated in silence. Pinpricks of magic coursed through her, revitalizing her. The numbness left her limbs, her mind awoke.
A hoof wrapped around her own and pulled her up.
“I got you.”
Luna breached the surface with a gasp, air rushing to fill her lungs. Her mane stuck to her face, heavy with water. Something pulled her close. Something warm. Luna panted breathlessly, welcoming back the sweet air of the surface.
A hoof brushed her mane away from her face. A soft touch. A familiar scent.
“I call it the moonwell. Pretty fitting, don’t you think?”
“Celestia?” Luna turned to her sister. A bright tear-filled smile lightened Celestia’s face, and she pulled Luna against her chest. “You’re… different.”
That became evident now that her mind was properly working. In all reason, she shouldn’t have been able to recognize her sister. The Celestia holding her towered over her, at least half again as big as the one she knew. Her face had taken a more powerful aspect of almost primal regality, far from the delicate, composed visage she once wore. The biggest change, however, had to be her mane. The once well-cared-for pink mane now flowed in an ethereal way around her neck, and bore the colours of a midsummer aurora, all in soft pinks, blues, and greens.
But one thing didn’t change. Her sister’s gentle touch, her warmth as she passed a hoof across her back, stroking Luna’s mane like she used to do before everything went so wrong.
“I am, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Ponies need to change sometimes.”
Luna stayed silent, afraid to break the comfort that had wrapped itself around the two of them. The water licked her barrel softly.
“I want to change too.”
Celestia’s start of surprise made Luna smile. She pressed herself deeper in her sister’s warmth. “I had a lot to think about on the moon. I want to change. I don’t want to be the jealous, petty, paranoid sister anymore.”
She looked up. Celestia looked down at her. Their gazes locked.
“I want to change, for you.”
Celestia lowered her head, nuzzled her. They stayed that way for a moment that seemed to stretch into infinity, cheeks pressed together, breath on each other’s neck.
Celestia started to pull away, but Luna moved her head as well, and when her sister broke the nuzzle, their lips brushed against each other.
The air stood still. Celestia’s eyes glimmered in the moonlight.
“There is no Council. No jealousy. No shaky kingdom,” Luna whispered.
“I know.” Celestia’s breath smelled of flowers, of sugar and sunshine.
“Then kiss me.”
And she did.
Luna welcomed Celestia’s lips like a pony dying of thirst in the desert. She drank the sweetness of her sister’s warmth slowly at first, then more insistently. She propped herself up, steadied herself with a hoof of Celestia’s chest, pressed deeper into the kiss. When they broke away from each other, it was for the space of a hitched breath, of a blink. Soon, the Sun had the Moon in its embrace, feeding her the love she had always desired. Lips pressed, separated themselves for a fraction of a moment, before coming back together again, opened for a whisper, a fragment of love given shape. Breaths became breathless, the steam of the moonwell paled next to the heat of the love blooming from the two sisters. And when a tongue pressed against Luna’s lips, she let it in easily, to let it mingle with her own, connecting herself to Celestia as she never could before.
They stayed in their embrace for what seemed like forever. The water rippled around them, licked at them gently, warm and soft. Celestia’s larger body all but enveloped Luna, who stayed nestled her chest, listening to the older Alicorn’s racing heartbeat, her controlled breathing. She smelled of the sun and a summer breeze. She smelled like her sister, like she remembered.
They didn’t need to say anything. Their presence did all the talking for them, filled the air with an understanding only they shared.
Celestia stirred, breaking the silence. The water rustled around them as she rose to her hooves and offered one to Luna to help her rise in turn. The youngest accepted the offered hoof and followed her sister up the short steps of the basin and out of the water. Despite the moonwell’s restorative magic, she shook and trembled, but not from weakness.
A soft golden glow surrounded her, accompanied by a pressing heat, and a sensation of dryness. Celestia turned her magic to herself and dried her own coat, leaving behind a slightly fluffed fur that Luna couldn’t help but snicker at.
“Let’s get you to bed, you must be exhausted.”
Luna nodded, a yawn nearly escaping her mouth. Although part of her was miffed. That was just like Celestia, all right. Get your sister back from her exile, share a passionate kiss with her — she couldn’t help but blush as she remembered Celestia’s embrace — and send her to bed like a child.
“This might be a bit destabilizing.” Celestia opened a door to a darkened hall. “This isn’t the old castle, I built a new one in Canterlot.”
Their walk through the castle proved itself to be mercifully short, as Luna’s legs started to waver again. They exited through another magically-reinforced door to a dark corridor several times the width of their old castle’s main alley. Gleams of metal and glass shone faintly in the dark, but Luna couldn’t make out what they were. She simply followed her sister through the castle, listening to their hoofsteps echoing in the hall, in the peace and quiet of the night.
“Here we are.”
With a golden glow and a push, a pair of double doors slid open. The sisters entered the newly opened room, and Luna’s eyes went wide.
“Is this my own old room?”
Diaphanous curtains filled the room, swaying in the breeze, carrying with them streams of moonlight that fell lightly upon the marble floor. A large bed occupied the centre of the room, covered in dark blue covers. She had not seen it in aeons, but looking at it, she could still feel the warmth of the heavy eiderdown blankets wrapped around her, like she had never left it in the first place. Silver globes representing the night sky, and star models rested on top of a few tables set against the walls. Glancing outside, Luna could tell the globes were outdated, the stars having moved so much in a millenium. This left little doubt in her mind: Celestia had kept her old stuff, her creations and decorations, and had imported them quietly into her new castle, waiting for her return.
Celestia stayed a few paces behind a stunned Luna. “I tried making it just like I remembered your old room being like. I know it’s not perfect, but…”
Luna couldn’t stop tears from wetting her cheeks. All of this, for her. And after all the trouble she had caused, all the resentment she thought she had created. Celestia had never given up on her.
“Go on.” Celestia nudged her forward, a gentle acceptance.
Luna stepped forward, still in disbelief. Upon closer inspection, the room wasn’t the same as her old one. It was too big, the windows too high, some of furniture she ha d placed according to the stars askew. If anything, it was a clumsy, loving replica born of her sister’s best intentions.
She couldn’t have asked for more precious a welcome gift.
“I’ll leave you to rest,” Celestia said, stepping backward. “I’ll—”
“Tia?”
“Yes?”
A heat flushed Luna’s cheeks. “Could you… stay with me tonight?”
She didn’t need to see Celestia to feel her grin. The double doors of her room closed behind her. The bed creaked under the sisters’ combined weight.
“You know,” Celestia whispered to Luna, “we should celebrate with some cake.”
Luna laughed, giggled, and fell silent. She huddled against her sister. White wings closed around her, pulling her close, and not letting go.
Warmth welcomed Luna back to a familiar place.
