Author's Notes:
I don't usually like putting stories like this up, as I usually like focusing on comedy and adventure, but I had an idea that I just had to write about.
I wrote the ending extremely tired though. I stayed up late, 7:30 in the morning to be exact, just so I could finish it before leaving for Rhode Island.
I might go back and change the ending a bit after re-reading later.
Any way, enjoy and criticize
Celestia had just finished raising the moon as fireflies began to dot the luscious Equestrian landscape, reminding Lunar of the stars in her very own night sky. The cool air of an autumn night flowed through her icy-blue mane as she let out a disheartened sigh while looking out of her bed room window.
"I've been back for three months now, and she still doesn't want me raising the moon, let alone even touch my sky." The sullen goddess of the night thought to herself.
Disengaging from the beautiful vista that was painted outside, she slowly made her way to the queen sized canopy bed at the opposite side of the room. The drapes were dark blue in color with sparkly golden stars embroidered on the outside of them, with the bed sheets being a lighter shade of blue, a little darker than periwinkle. Plopping herself down on the soft mattress, she spread her legs while resting her head on the dark purple pillows.
"What to do, what to do?" Luna found herself asking no one in particular, as she used her hoof to playfully hit one of the golden tassels that was keeping the canopy bed opened back and forth, sending her into a blissful trance. It was not long at all before she was torn from that trance however, as a knocking on her room door demanded she return to reality.
Luna's ears perked up as Celestia's voice permeated the door "Hey, mind if I come in?"
"Not at all, come in." Luna jumped out of bed as Celestia entered the room, closing the door behind her.
She asked the usual question for her nightly visit "So, how was your day?" despite knowing exactly what Luna did all day, which was pretty much nothing.
"Oh, you know... the usual" Luna stated blandly, tilting her head.
Trying to coerce more conversation out of her sister, Celestia expanded upon the original question "Which is?"
"Sitting in my room, looking out the window, and leaving every once in a while to eat." she recited "Why don't we talk about your day?"
Celestia smiled while patting Luna on the head "I'm sure there's nothing that would interest you, just the normal royal duties."
"But that's where you're wrong" Luna put on a sheepish smile "I'm very interested in them."
Raising an eyebrow, Celestia looked at the princess of the night inquisitively, wondering how the tasks that seemed so dull to her would even interest anyone else. "Well, if you insist." Luna's face lit up as she started "Besides raising the sun and the moon, I have a meeting scheduled with the mayor of Cloudsdale tonight to discuss weather patterns for the next six months, and for the rest of the week I have to try and organize a new holiday about rocks." She giggled a bit "Apparently it's kind of a big deal. I think we're going to name it Rocktoberfest."
"Oh." Luna exclaimed, dejectedly "It sounds.... fun..."
"What's wrong?" the sun goddess asked with concern for her little sister.
"Nothing" Luna looked down "Maybe you were right, I wouldn't be interested." She crawled back onto her bed disregarding her sister's presence.
Frowning, Celestia walked up to her sister's bed "Would... Would you like to eat with me before my meeting tonight?" she asked softly.
Turning to her, Luna let out a drawn out sigh "No thank you sister, I'm not very hungry." Before Celestia could say anything, Luna turned her head.
Getting closer to Luna, and eventually leaning over the bed, Celestia spoke once more "Luna."
Somewhat disgruntled, she responded "Yeah?"
Celestia wrapped her arm and wing over her obviously distraught sister "I love you."
"Yeah." Luna choked out lowly.
Bowing her head, Celestia released the loving embrace she had given her sister and proceeded to the door, wiping away the water pooling in her eyes and taking a deep breath before exiting the room.
As she heard the door close, Luna picked her head up and turned to see if Celestia was gone. Confirming that her room was completely devoid of life, she started to tear up "I love you too sis." Her hoof reached towards the door, almost trying to use some magical force to open them up and pull Celestia back. Alas, nothing happened. As much as she wanted to get up and run out those doors and hug her older sister, her legs did not allow her to. Cursing her inability to display her emotions well, even to her own sister, she just lied there, full of remorse, and tried to sleep, which proved a hard task.
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Trotting down the pearly white hallways of the castle, Celestia made her way to the dining room. With a knot in her stomach, she couldn't stop thinking about Luna. Unsurprisingly she was different ever since she got back, and Celestia knew that it would take a while for her to adjust to life on Equestria again. Even though she knew that, she dearly hoped that Luna would at least open up to her, or at least have more to talk about with her. She missed all the things that they used to do, like playing and talking, but now it just seemed that Luna was interested in staying in her room and staring out her window, even after Celestia had decided to give Luna a few months of very minimal duty.
Celestia let out a sigh as she finally got to the dining room. Passing to guards at the outside of the door, she entered and took her place at the long, lonely, marble table, she used her magic to lift a glass of water to her lips, taking a swig of it. A short, brown stallion, garbed in a chef's apparel, peered out of the kitchen with a shocked expression on his face.
Scurrying over to the princess he bowed. "Princess, we weren't expecting you so soon. We apologize, but your meal is not ready yet."
Putting on a fake smile she looked down at him "Oh don't worry, I can wait here for a while. My meeting in Cloudsdale isn't for another hour, so just take your time, alright."
"Yes, Princess." The stallion bowed once more before scuttling back to the kitchen, and as he disappeared, so did the Princess' smile.
Returning to her thoughts once more, Celestia had made a startling assumption. "What if Luna hates me?" As ironic as it is, Celestia hated the idea of hating another pony, and what would make it worse is hating your own flesh and blood. She had gotten a bit dizzy out of panic at the thought of her own sister, who she still loved, hating her at all. All of these thoughts and assumptions where very out of character for Celestia, a pony who normally had the answers for every one else's problems.
Before she could fill her head with any more of the horrible thoughts, the stallion retuned, this time with a tray on his back. Trotting over to the table, he slid the plate off his back and onto the table, neatly in front of Celestia. Doing the usual routine of a bow and a disappearance, Celestia was once again left alone.
She looked down at her food, which happened to be a Traditional Canterlot Salad, and some spiced bread. Using her magic to eat a few fork-fulls of the salad, and gently nibbling on the bread, Celestia had realized that she was not very hungry and instead found it much more entertaining to play with her food. Flipping a few leafs of lettuce over, and dunking the bread into the salad bowl, she was reminded of how Luna would often mindlessly play with random objects when she was bored.
Letting out another sigh, Celestia got up from the table and walked out of the dining room. She turned to the guards standing just outside "Inform the Chariot Pegasi that I will not be traveling with them tonight, I will be flying to Cloudsdale myself."
While flying herself did not take much longer than taking her chariot, it was often a way for Celestia to clear her mind and have some alone time all at once. With about an hour left until she would have regularly left, it was evident that she would be taking the scenic route to Cloudsdale this particular night.
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While Celestia was now on her way to Cloudsdale, Luna was almost in a state of unconsciousness, about to win the battle against uncomfortable bad spots and bad thoughts. This victory, however, was taken from her in the blink of an eye as loud crash opened pulled her from her relaxed state. She looked up to see that her window was now opened, and the mirror that was next to it knocked over. Jumping out of bed, Luna assumed a battle ready stance as her eyes glowed white as she noticed a figure on the ground.
Using the traditional Canterlot voice, she demanded an answer "Name thyself now!" Stomping her hoof.
The figure scrambled to it's feet as the booming voice pierced it's soul. Letting out a frightened shout, it raised it's front hooves in the air. "Please, don't hurt me" a male voice with an English accent spoke out "It's me, Snuggles Fluff of the SAA."
Raising an eyebrow, Luna stepped closer, inspecting him. To her surprise, it was another Alicorn, one with hot pink fur, a light blue mane, and no cutie mark. "Explain thyself. Now!" She said sternly
"Well." he muttered "When an certain Alicorn Princess is in distress, such as yourself, a member of the Secret Alicorn Association, such as I, is supposed to come and cheer you up."
Luna was oddly relaxed by his presence, so much so that she even relinquished the use of the traditional Canterlot voice "Yeah, and what are you supposed to do to cheer me up?"
"Well." Snuggles looked up "I can read you a story, or play hide and seek, or we can play patty cake, or draw..."
Luna rolled her eyes at the list of things that he had recited and cut it short "I don't know about all those things. I liked all that stuff when I was a filly."
"Oh, really? Well that's fine" Snuggles said in his soothing voice "We can just talk about things than. The SAA has a lot of records on you, and your sister as well."
"That's a bit... weird, don't you think?" Luna asked.
"Not at all" Snuggles smiled "You guys are two of the few Alicorns to ever exist. Not to mention your sister practically founded this association for a situation much like the one that you're in right now."
"Oh really?" Luna exclaimed "That's not a surprise."
Snuggles looked confused "What do you mean by that?"
"Well" she sat down, Snuggles following suit "Ever since I got back, my sister has been treating my like a filly. She hasn't let me do anything at all, and I feel she doesn't trust me with anything. Needless to say, it bothers me."
"I see." Snuggles said, nodding.
"And on top of that, I can't even have any sister time with her to prove that I'm responsible. It's almost like she forgot how to be a sister.
Snuggles winced a bit at Luna's statement, almost like her words tore a bit of his heart out. "Well, I think that I have a plan. Why don't we go and have dinner with her tomorrow night? Then we can all discuss these problems and surly make everypony feel a bit better." Snuggles smiled
Shaking her head, Luna burst Snuggles' bubble "Sorry, but she's busy making some stupid holiday for the next week." She swatted her hoof angrily as she emphasized the last part.
Still smiling, Snuggles told Luna "Don't worry, she'll make time for this, I know she will. Just don't tell her about me though." He chuckled "I don't even think she remembers me to be honest with you, and she'll probably tell somepony about me and ruin the whole 'secret' part. I'll surprise her."
"What will I tell her though?"
"Just wait for her in the dining hall, I'll get there after her. I mean, she has to eat some time, right?"
"I guess so... " Luna said. "Sounds like a plan."
"Excellent, well it's time to go now. Tallyho." Snuggles spread his wings and was about to take off before Luna spoke out again
"Wait. You... you don't have to go so soon, do you?"
Turning around to face Luna again, he smiled "Of course not dear. I am your friend after all."
Luna smiled as he said that. 'Friend'.
Luna had proceeded to talk about everything she could remember until the wee hours of the morning, where she finally noted the sun rising. Seemingly exhausted, she said "Oh my, It's late, or early, depending on how you look at it. I should be getting to bed now."
Snuggles agreed, showing no signs of exhaustion however, and flew off saying good night.
Luna climbed on to her bed once more and went to sleep, which was much easier this time.
____________________________________________________________________
An exhausted Celestia returned to her room after the daily ritual of raising the sun with only one thing on her mind, sleep. Flying to Cloudsdale for a long night of discussion and a lack of sleep afterwards took a lot out of her. As eager as she was to take a nap, she knew that fantasy would never become a reality with her schedule for that morning being far too packed.
Looking into the pink framed vanity mirror that was fixed on the wall, Celestia noticed that her multicolored mane looked rather messy. With a sigh, her magical golden aura opened up a nearby drawer and retrieved a hairbrush from it to begin tidying up her appearance. The state of her mane might have been a small inconvenience to her, but she knew that as a leader, and much to her annoyance at times, she had to look pristine for the public. With one final brush stroke, and a flick of her mane, she looked good as new and even smiled at her own reflection.
Satisfied with the way she looked, Celestia placed the brush back in the drawer and started towards the door. She exited, wishing the guards outside her door good morning, and proceeded to the throne room, where she would partake in the hour long session of granting an audience with a few distressed ponies from various places in Equestria. This was one of the few daily routines that annoyed her, despite actually fixing a few genuine problems every now and again. On her way there, she was intercepted by one of her advisors, and elderly female unicorn.
"Good morning Penny, what do the masses have in store for me today?" Celestia asked the light blue mare with a smile.
"Well, despite the usual complaints about taxes and land ownership, some kid lost a potentially magical artifact down a well."
"I see." The Princess nodded while yawning "I really do wonder if we are the ponies to talk about for that kind of stuff?"
"It's beyond me Princess, but would you rather deal with the bourgeoisie complain about them 'not having enough bits', or spend your time pretending to be interested in some stupid kid's mess up."
"I see your point." They both chuckled. This whole tradition of telling your problems to the Princess was a joke between the castle staff, and while Celestia enjoyed helping others, she wished that some days she could cancel it all together, today being one of those days.
While walking down the intricate maze of hallways, the passed the one that lead to Luna's room. Penny looked down it, and back up at Celestia quickly, causing her poofy. dark purple mane into a bouncing frenzy. "Will she be joining us this morning?"
With a dejected look, Celestia shook her head "No, but I think that I'm going to check on her. I'll meet up with you in a moment."
Penny nodded and trotted off in the opposite direction as Celestia walked down the hall leading to her sister's room. As she approached the extravagantly decorated door, she smiled at the guards and wished them a good morning, the same way she did to the other ones before.
She gently knocked on the door "Mind if I come in sister?"
After a moment with no response she began to worry and poked her head through the door, spotting the dark blue Alicorn lying peacefully on her bed. Smiling, Celestia slowly walked over to Luna. gently closing the door behind her.
"Still sleeping are we?" She said in the lowest of whispers. "Consider yourself lucky little sister." Celestia sighed "I know you can't hear me now, but I'm not upset at you, and even if I was, I would still love you. You're my sister, and you always will be."
With those final words spoken, she left the room, informing the guards to make sure to let her get her sleep and to deny anyone an audience with her.
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Finally waking up, Luna stretched as she crawled out of bed. This might have been the best night of sleep that she had gotten in a while, and she definitely felt it's effect. Feeling better than ever, she trotted over to the mirror next to her window and smiled. Using her magic to grab a brush to begin fixing the monstrosity that was her mane. As she began to straighten out her bedraggled hair, she was shocked at what she saw out the window. The sun was practically setting already.
Doing some last minute touches to freshen up her appearance, she bolted out of her room. As she burst out of the doors she turned to the guards and asked why no one had waken her up.
"Well" one guard said, looking nervously at the other "Princess Celestia came to check up on you several hours ago and you were still sleeping."
"And she ordered us to allow you to sleep by denying anyone access near your room." the other guard chimed in.
"We thank thee." She stated coolly, trotting away from the two stallions, making her way to the dining room.
Although she might have played it off as a simple question, Luna was freaking out inside, fearing that she might have missed her opportunity to sit down and discuss things with Celestia and Snuggles. Slightly picking up the pace, she started to think about all of the things that she wanted to bring up. Sadly, when she tried to compile a list, her brain just completely went numb. Whether it was due to excitement or fear, she could not think straight at all.
The trip to the dining hall was rather mindless with that being said, but she managed to get there nonetheless. She peeked in to see if there was any sign of Celestia, past or present, and from what she could gather, diner had not even been served yet. With a smile, she zipped over to one of the placemats, planting her flank on the soft pillow that was on the floor for sitting, and decided to wait for Celestia and Snuggles.
While she was waiting, a short, brown stallion came out of the kitchen and bowed to her. "Good evening Princess, would you like to eat at this moment?"
"We thank thee, but nay. Prepare three meals however, we expect our sister to be here shortly, along with a special guest."
"Very well. I suppose the scheduled diner will suffice?"
Luna nodded and the stallion skittered back to the kitchen.
Time passed, and Luna continued to sit at the lonely table. She figured that if Celestia was coming, it would be after she raised the moon.
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Another long, stressful day was coming to a close for Celestia, and with the task of raising the moon completed she relished the idea of going to bed. Returning to her room, she threw herself onto her queen sized, purple bed. It was not long at all before she started to lose consciousness, that is, until a pain from her gut reminded her that she had not eaten all day.
"Oh yeah... food..." Celestia said, picking herself up off the bed.
Trotting out of her room and down the familiar, pale hallways, she once again reached the point where it branched off towards Luna's room. As always, she proceeded down the hallway to her sister's room, but to her surprise the guards stopped her.
"Good evening ma'am" One said "I'd like to inform you that Luna is currently not in her room."
Upon hearing this her face lit up, seemingly giving her a burst of energy. "Would you happen to know where she is at the moment?"
"I'm sorry, but I wouldn't be able to tell you, she left about an hour ago."
Celestia's heart sunk. "Oh, I see. Have a good night, boys."
"You too, Princess." The guards said in unison.
She turned around and began to walk away, thinking to her self "Oh my, I hope she's okay. Maybe I should find her." Celestia's stomach disagreed with the sentiment however, growling to remind her why exactly she left her room. "Well, it won't help anyone if I'm starving."
After making her way to the dining hall, Celestia was almost shocked to see Luna sitting there, playing around with some of the utensils of course.
"I'm surprised to see you out here."
Luna jumped, startled by Celestia's voice "Oh, you're here. Great. and yes, it is rather surprising to see me here." She joked "I hope you don't mind, but I've invited someone to dine with us."
Celestia looked shocked, almost as if she was talking to a completely different Luna. "Well, I don't mind at all, but who is it."
"You'll see when he gets here."
" I see..." Celestia took a seat next to her sister
Luna smiled as her sister sat down "So, how was your day?"
Celestia shook her head, trying to see if she had actually fell asleep and this was a dream, realizing rather quickly that it wasn't. "Well, for one I think my sister has been kidnapped" she joked "But really, that whole rock holiday thing has been scrapped. Apparently there was not as much public backing for it as we initially thought."
"Yeah, it kinda sounded silly any way" Luna confessed.
Before she could say anything else Celestia's stomach rumbled interrupting the two Alicorns.
Luna noted the sound, as it was quite audible from where she was sitting, and called one of the chefs to bring out some food using her Traditional Canterlot Voice, causing Celestia's ears to twitch. She never really like the use of that voice, and she would always get embarrassed when Luna would use it to address anyone else.
In the blink of an eye the same stallion from before brought out the three plates of food, placing two in front of the princess' and one across from them before disappearing back into the kitchen.
Looking down at it, Celestia realized that it's the same meal from the night before, made freshly of course. "Oh, I couldn't eat before every pony is present." she said, despite how badly she wanted to tear into it.
"Don't worry, he won't mind. As a matter of fact, he'd be upset if you didn't eat."
"Very well." Celestia quickly said before stuffing her mouth full of food. In retrospect, it was very un-princess like, than again so was starving. Taking a break between bites, she managed to ask Luna where she had met this stallion.
"Oh, he came into my window last night." Luna Smiled
It was a good thing Celestia had waited to begin eating again, because if there was food in her mouth as those words left her sister's mouth she would have choked "That's troubling sister. I can't believe the guards let an unidentified pony flew into the castle."
"Oh, don't worry" Luna stated, attempting to calm her sister's nerves "When he gets here he'll explain it all."
"Well let's pray he's not much longer." Celestia sighed, taking another bite of food.
Time passed with no signs of Snuggles, and Luna and Celestia had already finished eating. Luna grew worried, nervous that he had forgot the plans, and Celestia grew impatient.
"Please, Luna, it's been a half an hour now, tell me more about him."
Looking absolutely miserable, Luna decided that she might as well come clean with Celestia now, as she assumed that Snuggles was not going to be attending dinner with them tonight.
Luna retold her account of last night "I was about to fall asleep and he kind of just burst through the window. It startled me and I went to go investigate."
"Odd." Celestia said "Why didn't the guards come and check on you after the noise?"
"It beats me." Luna continued, glumly "when I got closer to him, he was like us, sister. He was an Alicorn."
"It's strange that I've never heard of him than. Usually I'd be notified if there was even a fake Alicorn sighting." Seeing how rare Alicorn were, the reports of sightings were something that Celestia liked to keep on record, even the fake ones.
"Well there's a reason for that, he's part of the Secret Alicorn Associa-"
Celestia cut her off mid sentence "What did you say his name was again?"
"Oh." Luna pause "It's a funny name. Snuggles Fluff."
Celestia started giggling as soon as she heard the name
"Hey, it might be a funny name, but he's a nice guy you know. After all, you were the one that started the organization and hired him."
The sun goddess continued to laugh harder as Luna continued "Sister, I believe you are pulling my leg right now." She continued laughing and smiling.
But Luna could not understand the humor, becoming confused, and almost hurt that her big sister did not believe her. The look on her face was quite the opposite of her sister's in fact.
Taking notice of Luna's disdain, Celestia stopped laughing at the moment she realized her sister was serious. "Luna... you.." She paused "You don't remember, do you?"
The expression on Luna's face went from angry and hurt, to confused and scared within a matter of seconds.
"Snuggles Fluff was the name of your old stuffed Alicorn plushie from when you were a filly. We made up the Secret Alicorn Association as a club when we were bored, and you got mad when I told someone about it." Celestia tried to remember more specifics to jog Luna's memory "Oh, and I remember how devastated you were when the cutie mark got torn off on one of our 'adventures'."
Luna's jaw was agape. It all made sense now. The reason no one stopped a lone pony flying into a princess' window, and the guards not responding to the crash, is because it never happen. The childish activities Snuggles listed were the only things he knew, besides all the information about Celestia and her , and it was only because that's all SHE knew.
Luna stood up before speaking "Well then" there was a long pause before her lip started to quiver "I think I'm ready for bed now." She darted out of the dining hall.
Celestia sighed and got up shortly after her, following the path back to Luna's room. As she approached the door to the shaken mare's room, the guards stood there, with an inquisitive look on their face. Nothing was said however, and they both left the hall connecting to Luna's room.
Entering the room, this time without knocking, Celestia saw her sister face down on her bed, making soft sobbing noises. "Luna"
Luna looked up at Celestia, trying to hide her fear, to no avail however. "I- I'm trying to s-sleep here" she sobbed "Please go away"
"I will do no such thing." Celestia said, approaching the bed and eventually getting on it with the sullen Night Goddess, tossing a wing around her. "Tell me what's on your mind."
"What is there to tell?" Luna snapped "I'm going crazy and you're going to send me to an insane asylum." She started sobbing hysterically
"I'm not going to do that." Celestia stated with a reassuring tone to her voice "Last time I sent you somewhere, it tore my heart out." She nuzzled her weeping sister in an attempt to comfort her. "There has to be more to it."
It took a moment for her to find the right words, but Luna managed to speak. "I'm useless."
Celestia was taken aback by the statement "What do you mean?"
Taking a deep breath and calming down, Luna elaborated "What do I do around here? I see you working yourself to exhaustion here on a daily basis, and you don't allow me to help at all. Don't you trust me?"
Celestia started to tear up at the question, blaming herself for the way Luna feels. "I do trust you" she said "The reason I didn't want you working yet was so you can enjoy Equestria, soak in everything you've missed over the years." She wiped her eyes "I never wanted you to feel useless. I guess I should have told you."
"I appreciate it, I really do, but if you're doing all the work, I don't get to enjoy my favorite thing in all of Equestria."
Celestia tilted her head, asking what is.
Luna smiled "My big sister."
Smiling back, Celestia hugged Luna tighter, this time she returned the embrace. "Well, since my next week has cleared up, I propose a week to us, or mostly to us at least. What do you say?"
Luna's face lit up with joy "That would be marvelous"
"Yes" Celestia yawned "And I propose a sleep over to start it off." She closed her eyes "I'm sleeping late, don't wake me."
"But who will raise the sun?" Luna asked nervously "Who will raise the sun?"
Celestia's eyes stayed closed and her mouth shut, with her only response being a smile.
