Eclipsed Deceptions

Luna had awaken the next morning before the sunrise. She wouldn’t let her sister down today. She was determined. Putting on a smile she quickly sat up taking her head off her pillow revealing her mane in a mop. She was about to throw the smooth silk sheets off of her when she stopped. Feeling a sharp pain rush through the front of her skull she hurriedly slammed her head back on her pillow and cried out in pain.

“uh… ouch my head… Wha?... Why does it sting so bad?”, Luna could feel her pulse with each wave of pain as the blood traveled threw her arteries. Each beat of her heart bought with it another wave of agony. The blue alicorn groaned with each pulse until she finally rang a bell that lay on her desk. Shortly after small pegasus in velvet clothes walked in. Luna, still groaning, face dug into her pillow, built the strength to ask, “Could you please invite my sister in?” in which the small servant answer, “Yes Princess.” Luna than stopped her to say, and please, call me Luna.”, The pegasus just smiled and walked out the door. Moments later Celestia walked through the double doors of Luna’s bedroom.

“Is something bothering you little sister?” She asked in a trivial yet worried tone.

“Oh, sister… I have the worst migraine… Please could you get me some medicine. Not the one down in the kitchen. The one that mom used to make.”

“Of course dearest.”, and Celestia turned to a closed cabinet on the south side of the room. When she had approached the cabinet she opened it with a hoof revealing 3 items. A framed picture of the two sisters after they had gone to their first Grand Galloping Gala as the guest of honor, there was a silver and glass snow globe and finally there was a bottle of brown liquid. Tia grabbed the brown bottle and held it to her nostrils to take a whiff. The smell was bitter… yet… very strange, sweet like vanilla. She turned around to show the bottle to her sister.

“Would this be the medicine little sister?”, she asked.

“Yes, thank you so much.” The navy pegasus weakly responded. Celestia grabbed a silver spoon and poured the brown elixir in till it reached the outer ring.

“Here, this will help you feel better.” She placed the spoon in front of Luna’s face as her younger sister took a sip.

“Tia, I just need to lay down till it kicks in. When are we supposed to raise the sun?”

“About 7 minutes ago.” The white alicorn giggled. “Please lay down I have worked with both moon and sun . You are ill for today I shall take your shift.”, Luna smiled. “Thank you, sister.”

After the daily ceremony Princess Celestia gave her goodbyes to the crowd and turned to the door. “I must check on Luna. She looked dreadful this morning.”, Celestia headed down the stairs towards Luna’s corridor. She approached the large polished wood doors. They bared the shape of a crescent moon and three stars. Like the walls, the door was painted in shades of blues, purples and other cool colors. This calmed Celestia. It was always such a nice change from the usual oranges and yellows she was always surrounded by in her corridor.

The white alicorn took a deep breath before entering. She always seemed so confident at this sort of times but she would get so nervous when she needed to calm her sister. She inhaled… and exhaled, building her strength, then finally opened the door. When she entered she was greeted by the sight of a well groomed Luna, looking very prepared for the day, a smile on her face.

“Oh, good morning Tia!” Luna said happily.

“Well, sister… You look much better.” Celestia was so surprised. Luna had looked so horrid this morning and now she was better than ever. A smiling face and all.

“Yes! It was the medicine. Mom’s recipe works wonders!” Luna was very cheerful.

“I’m glad you are feeling better. Now are you ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“We have a busy day ahead of us. First we have a lunch to go to with the prime minister of Manehattan and the opening of the Canterlot Palace Labyrinth is today. We must make appearances to both.” At this point Celestia was putting away the medicine and the spoon that she neglected to put away earlier. Luna rolled her eye and gave a face showing her disgust.

“Do we have to? That sound an awful lot like work to me.” Luna gave a dramatic pose. She was clearly just over-reacting. Celestia giggled.

“Yes, dear sister. It is work. But we must do our part for Equestria.”

“Uh!... Fine!”, and with that the two sisters walked out the door towards the throne room.

Throughout the day Celestia sat on her throne answering questions that ponies had and giving advice to those in need of it. When she wasn’t sure of and answer she would turn to Luna who sat by her side. Luna always knew an answer. Aside from her stuck-up attitude, Luna was the brains of the castle. She had a overwhelming fascination for art, writing, alchemy and of course, science. She loved to learn, to know, to read, to understand. She loved the smell of chemicals mixing when she worked in her lab or the scent of copic markers as they touch the surface of paper. Yes, she was extremely intelligent. Sometimes she even wondered why she was not the one sitting on the throne answering questions yet she knew that her older sister was far more qualified for that job with her bravery to face challenges ahead or her loyalty to her kingdom. She was the true face of a leader and a role model.

Hours had passed as sis needy ponies but finally it had reached 5 in the afternoon and it was time for their dinner. Both sisters sat up and gave a bow to the knights and servants. Everypony bowed back as they made their exit.

The two made their way to the garden where a large table was set for 3. Each chair was lined with silk lining and was accompanied by a white china plate and a white tea cup, all with weaving flower patterns. To the side of each plate bore a set of shining silverware, many types of forks, spoons, knives and other utensils were present. In the middle of the table stood a rose bouquet, represented as the main décor piece. It stood front and center, in all its glory. Prime Minister, Scrolls had already arrived and taken a seat. The two sisters had walked up and taking a seat in the two remaining chairs.

“Awwe! Hello Luna and Celestia.” The prime minister greeted.

“Why hello Scrolls. Pleasure to see you again.”, Celestia turned to her younger sister. “Luna, please take a seat.”, Luna did as she was asked.

Celestia and Scrolls had long conversation about politics, their lives and business. Most the time Luna just sat silent. In mid conversation after a chuckle from Scrolls, the Prime Minister asked “So Luna, Celestia tells me you enjoy science.”, Luna quickly went wide-eyed in surprise. She didn’t think anypony would be interested in her scientific studies. She looked up to face Scrolls for her conversation but found that the massive bouquet was blocking her sight.

“Oh…um… Yes! My science is…um… very interesting to me…”, She weaved left to get a better look at who she was talking to while Scrolls weaved left as well. She continued to have the confusing conversation while trying to get a better view. “My studies have… um…well… I… might have found something the other day. It seems to be a gem of a sort.

“A gem? Why that is amazing!”, Prime Minister Scrolls seemed interested aside from both of them being visually interrupted by the pointlessly vast set of flowers.

“Yes, very… um…strange. It is a shade of pink and the shard I have been studying seems to have a sort of…uh…um… flow much like the loyalty gems.” , Luna was getting very impatient with the Roses till Celestia picked them up and placed them on the brick ground aside from her chair. Luna was very embarrassed yet tried to continue the conversation. “Yes, it possesses qualities of the element gems.”

“My, my! Luna! Could you have found a sixth element?!” Scrolls was now in full attention to Luna. Celestia looked at her younger sister.

“Why wasn’t I informed of this?”, the white alicorn glared at her sister.

“Well I doubt that it would be an element gem but I wanted to study it more to confirm if it was.”

“That is reasonable.”, Scrolls replied.

“Yes, I suppose so…” Celestia agreed.

Suddenly a waiter pony came out wearing white chef robes, pushing a cart with 3 bowls of warm, steaming soups. The waiter placed the 3 soups in front of them. Celestia and Scroll used one of the spoons on their napkins and began so slowly sip the hot broth. Luna stared down at her meal and the massive collection of silverware to its side. Four different spoons were present and she honestly couldn’t tell a difference between any of them so she picked up the first one on the left, closest the her bowl. She was just about to dip her spoon into the soup when she was spoken to.

“Oh Deary! You are such a jokester! Using a desert spoon for soup!”, Scrolls chuckled. Luna’s cheeks went a bright red color as she placed the spoon back in the row of utensils. Luna looked up at her big sister, giving her a pleading look. Without hinting that she had no proper table manners, she pointed a hoof at the second of the spoons. Celestia slowly and silently shook her head. Luna then pointed the third spoon. Again her sister shook her head. Finally she pointed to the last spoon in which Celestia gave her a facial expression probably meaning to say, “Yes, that one.” Luna picked up the spoon and dipped it into her soup and began to sip. Scrolls didn’t chuckle so she must have read her sister’s face correctly.

The dinner had ended and Scrolls gave them a fair-well as he stepped into his carriage. Both sister made a sigh of relief.
“Well, that went swimmingly…”, Celestia joked. Luna giggled. Celestia picked up the giggle and they both began to laugh.

“So what now?”, Luna asked.

“Now we head over to the opening of the new labyrinth.”

The two sisters stood on pedestals as the quest of honor. Many ponies had lined up to experience the beautiful maze of flowers and neatly trimmed bushes. A red coated pony stood inform of the crowd and began to speak.

“Welcome, everypony! We are so pleased to announce that the new Canterlot Labyrinth is now complete! You are all very welcome to roam free once our guest of honor has cut the ribbon! Princess Celestia?”, After he was finished Celestia flew down to the stage where she was greeted by the smiling faces of the crowd and a red ribbon blocking the entrance to the maze.

“When you are ready, please cut the ribbon.”, the announcer said. Celestia lowered her head and was about to cut it with her horn but she stopped, lifted her head and said, “It is such a treasure to be the one to take this honor…but … I believe my sister would be better for the job.”, Celestia looked up at Luna who was smiling. The navy alicorn than flew down to the stage and whispered, ”Thank you.” Luna lowered her head and cut the red ribbon with her horn. Everypony began to orderly walk in to explore the beautiful Labyrinth.

Luna and Celestia both walked together through the hedge maze. It was very beautiful. Roses lined the freshly trimmed hedge walls in white and red shades and were accompanied by vases holding beautiful petunias, jasmine and lilies. The two had been walking, discussing their lives and joking. There were having a fantastic time. After about an hour of walking they turned a left corner, entering the center of the Labyrinth.

“Luna, look! We made it!” The hedges were green and healthy, showing off there roses. In the center stood a great stone fountain. It’s waters flowed elegant and quietly, Shining like crystals.

“Luna! It’s so beautiful here!”, the white alicorn was in shock at the exquisiteness of this place. She galloped up to the fountain were water splashed leaving cool mist to fly into Tia’s face. The chill of the water gave Celestia a tranquil feeling and she smiled.

“Luna, this place! Isn’t it lovely?!” Celestia turned to see not her sisters smiling face but what she saw was Luna in a daze. The night princess stared blankly into a void of nothingness. She lacked motion. She just stared strait. Suddenly a bright light shot out of her eyes falloweed by streams of darkness. Luna shut her eyes and collapsed.

“Sister?!”, Celestia jumped at her sister and caught her before she collided with the dirt. Tia began screaming, “Sister what happened?... Sister?!... Luna wake up!”, Luna was unconscious .

Inside a dark void a voice called out, “Luna… My new vessel…”