First
Beyond the existence of mere mortals, a raindrop collected upon high and fell. Miles it dropped, careening straight to earth, flying towards a path it did not know. It fell through a hyper maze of millions of other drops, and when all tension seemed on the edge of chaos, when everything would be ripped clean in half, the drop pattered softly against a cool, colorful window pane and rolled down the glass lazily, collecting others as it went. And as it looked in, it beheld, under the crystallized moonlight of grey shadows, a creature beyond any of its wishing or dreams.
There was an alicorn there, her face stoic and brilliant eyes wide. She was very much alone in the large room. As the raindrop gathered more and more weight, it saw the creature stare back at it with those wide, moonlit eyes: one final look, before it slipped off the slick surface and dropped to the solid earth far below.
____꜡____
“Tell us, remind us,” Luna whispered to herself, “why did it happen again?”
The alicorn trotted carefully forward to the long, sweeping glass fixture that adorned the north wall of her room. Through it, the whispers of moonlight flowed through the panes and bled upon the ground in oblong pools of quicksilver. Luna walked into the shafts of light and beheld the gentle waves of rain that poured across the stained glass and ran in their own little trails.
“Ah. It was a night such as this… Though We do believe there was thunder dancing among the clouds. Yes, so much thunder… We recall, it hurt our ears something awful.” Luna let out a long, patient sigh. As she looked up to behold the bright beam of the moon tucked away behind the thick, dark clouds, a smile cracked across her face: an ivory gem buried amongst a face of midnight ink. With a tiny nudge of her mind, she parted the clouds; something she hadn’t had to do in such a long time.
It seemed she was rather out of practice, though, as the swaths of wet, dark sky refused to budge under her magic’s whispered request. “Come now, clouds, We wish to see the moon, please,” she scolded through gritted teeth, a tiny sliver of anger shaving itself off in her mind and dropping itself in the pit of her gut as she tried once more to part the clouds. When the billows of precipitation simply didn’t move, Luna let out a hot, heavy sigh this time, and crept across the liquid shadows that streaked across the floor. It looked like she would need to get a better look at what she was trying to move.
Heading further along in her chambers, she stopped as she parted the star-encrusted curtains that covered the glass of her balcony doorway. She didn’t mind getting a little wet, to see her beloved Moon.
With a glimmer of midnight magic, the black handle turned slowly, and the door swung open to reveal a small court of white Canterlot stone, now the resting place of thousands of silver drops that pooled in various depression within courtyard. As Luna stepped carefully outside, a single teardrop from the sky fell upon her with a plop, and then another, another, ten more, twenty more, and before she knew it, the rain’s presence had enveloped her completely. She didn’t care, though. The cooling embrace of the night’s liquid silver was a godsend, compared to the stuffy air of her prisonlike chambers.
Inhaling sharply, she let the cool mist of the moist air envelop her being, and exhaled. Curiosity swept over her mind as she watched the mist from her breath catch on the night air, and dissipate into nothingness.
At that moment, a drop of cool water landed on her lip, and she licked it up. Closing her eyes, she smiled slightly as she let memory wash over her now, much as the rain that enveloped her body.
____꜡____
“Tia!” Luna shouted, her voice riddled with the glee that only a little filly such as herself could muster. Her older sister, attempting to brush her long mane of dawn pink light, held the brush in midair with a gentle sparkle of magic and smiled at her smaller resemblance.
“Yes, mine sister?” she said through an increasingly-widening smile. Luna bounded in, dancing about the antechamber, merely a hair’s breadth from knocking over statues of armor and hoof-painted vases filled with the day’s fresh flowers.
“Art thou excited? Tonight We get to perform our very first Winter Solstice Celebration and raise the moon! We get to do it all ourselves this time, you hath promised us! We art very much excited, sister!” Luna shouted, her speech edging into the royal Canterlot voice. Celestia held her smile tight as she flinched under her sister’s shouts.
“Well, yes, Luna, indeed, it is. Though We must warn thee first, there ist not many ponies who—” But Celestia was cut right off by Luna’s giggling. As she ran about the room, her wings folded and unfolded in excitement. A vase tipped upon its pedestal dangerously, but slowed to a safe stop on its own, much to the Sun princess’s relief. “Luna, We request you stop the giddy exaltations for one moment so We may—”
“Sister! Please, do halt with such negative thoughts. We wish to keep the moment happy! Oh, my, We have so much to take care of!” Luna exclaimed, and let out a loud gasp. “Ach! Sister, we forgot, we were going to meet Starswirl the Bearded at noon’s time for our practice!” And with that, the alicorn shot out of the room and took off hastily into the air through the nearest window, much to the very vocal surprise of the scullery maid that had been bringing up Celestia’s crown.
As Celestia watched her sister cross the grounds to the East tower, she sighed to herself and shook her head.
“We hope against hope that she is very much prepared for the reality of tonight…”
____꜡____
Luna was ready for tonight. She had run the Daimare spell over and over with Starswirl to raise the moon herself, and despite having practiced it with merely boulders, she was more than confident that she could manage to move a chunk of rock in space.
She stood now in her chambers, letting ponies dance around her as they prepared her mane, her hooves, her crown, and her crest. She glanced in the polished silver of the wall mirror, and smiled keenly to herself as she beheld her shimmering beauty captured within the reflection. Tonight would be, undoubtedly and resolutely, perfect.
It had to be.
As she became engrossed in how incredibly the delicate flowers of nightshade had been arranged in her short, azure mane, she noticed that all the maids that had been scrambling around her had stopped and bowed towards the doorway. Glancing about, she beheld her sister, clad in her usual gilded trappings of ceremonial armor as she stood in the doorway.
Luna merely stared, her mouth caught open slightly in awe at her sister’s appearance. Along with the ivory armor that now sheathed her long, strong body, the way her mane swirled and danced about her like the clouds of dawn’s first kiss caught her sister’s natural beauty in the most incredible way she had ever seen. She looked stunning.
“Art thou ready now, sister?” she inquired of Luna, who shook her head slightly and merely shrugged in response. A wave of doubt poked away at her heart for the first time as Luna glanced back at herself in the mirror. Compared to her sister, in these bland trappings, Luna looked like a little schoolfilly whose mother had tried too hard to make their daughter shine where she obviously did not. As Luna looked to herself in the polished mirror, she realized her upset was showing on her face. Deciding that she should probably mention it to her sister, she opened her mouth to reply.
“Er, Tia, dost We look… presentable enough?” she inquired quietly, uneasiness riding heavy on her voice. A tiny flush of red embarrassment stained her delicate features, and she shuffled a hoof lightly. Celestia merely chuckled amiably.
“Yes, my dear, We think you look rather striking. Now come, it is almost time.” Feeling her resolve strengthened for the moment at her sister’s compliment, Luna gave a curt nod and hopped off the pedestal to join her sister, trotting dutifully beside the Sun princess.
As the pair walked through the halls, Luna stared through the stained glass windows, captivated by the golden light that washed over everything she could see outside. It was simply stunning. The world outside was an incredible land of golden brilliance, captured in the striking light of sunset’s warm embrace. For a split second, Luna felt almost... jealous of her sister.
“Tia?” Luna spoke up as they rounded a corner.
“Hm? Yes, my sister?” Celestia replied.
“Why is it that the day can be so pretty? We doth love the night very much so, but, it often seems that the day holds far more beauty than our own night…” She ended her question with a small sigh, and stared behind her absentmindedly as she looked at a flower that had fallen off her mane and onto the soft purple runner.
It wasn’t until the pair had walked past over a hoof-full of posted guards that Luna realized that her sister had never even answered her question, so enraptured was she in the splendorous view that lay beyond the castle’s windows.
“Tia?” Luna spoke up again. At the younger sister’s question, Celestia seemed to almost cringe as if expecting a stinging rebuke. Or maybe Luna was imagining things.
“Well, my sister, you see…” She paused, licking her lips as they rounded yet another corner, “Both We and you are, by very nature, polar opposites. It cannot be helped, it seems Fate’s hoof itself has presented both of us with the gift of the Sun and Moon, respectively. Know that, despite it seeming the opposite, our own times of the course of the day hold in them their own beauty.” Celestia smiled down at her little sister now, a placating smile that Luna had seen many, many times before.
“Oh. Thank you, sister,” Luna said politely, in precise practice that her court assistant had taught her.
Celestia merely nodded back in agreement, and continued walking forward, head held high and straight ahead.
Luna tried to do the same, but the little coal of confusion was burning away now, smoldering in her mind as she tried to grasp what her sister had just explained to her. What she had said hadn’t really cleared up anything at all.
In fact, as she stared out the window to the incredible mountains, painted now not white with snow, but instead orange with liquid fire, confusion stirred resolutely and seethed in a bitter bile that felt very close to jealousy; resentment.
Second
Padding along the soft carpet, Luna struggled to catch up to her sister, who was marching along now at a rapid pace. “Tia! We doth request you slow down, please!” she gasped as she drew up the frills of her gown in her mouth to canter up to her sister’s side.
“We apologize, sister. We must make haste; the sun will not wait for the moon, so we must not tarry,” Celestia said, as she picked her helmet up in magic’s grip and slid it over her head.
As they stopped at the entrance to the balcony, Celestia held fast and adorned her helmet. Her sunrise pink mane slipped through the reave in the back, and spilled about her neck in a grand fashion. Celestia glanced over her sister, and, finally content, allowed herself a tiny smile.
“Are you ready, my dear sister?”
Luna just shuffled a hoof nervously. “We…” But she was cut off as the fanfare from outside blared away with gusto and the pair jumped slightly—it was time!
“Come now, sister, the ceremony awaits!” Celestia said quickly, and parted the long, velvet curtain that laid across the entryway. As Luna slipped her way past the gateway, she felt her eyes widen in shock at what she saw before her: hundreds of ponies had gathered, big and small, fat and thin, old and young alike. They were all here to see her raise the moon!
The sensation of giddiness tickled away inside Luna now, though the ever-present sensation of dread and doubt crept about in the back of her mind. Stuffing the nagging thought away with a small effort, she joined her sister by her side and waved a hoof slowly and in a court-like manner, the way she had been taught. Soon, the cheering slowed down to a trickle of hoofbeats and then simply tapered right off to stillness. That shook Luna just a bit- certainly they were much more eager and energetic at Celestia's Summer Solstice Celebrations? This thought she abandoned as well, and looking back out over the expansive crowd, she cracked a somewhat forced smile.
"Our fair and ever-courteous subjects," Celestia addressed the ponies below, "It is the extreme pleasure of our own that We may present unto thee my sister- Luna, the Princess of the Night, Champion of the Moon, come to raise the stars upon on this beautiful winter's eve!" The crowd rumbled and cheered to Celestia's powerful (if not somewhat melodramatic) speech. With an expected silence at the lift of her armored hoof, Celestia carried on her speech to the populace before her.
"As many of you know, tonight is a very special eve- the night of the Winter Solstice Celebration, marking the longest night of the year!" Another chorus of cheers rose up from the crowd, though these were definitely more forced than the previous ones had been. Luna was glad at that moment that the late evening twilight had stolen most of the light of day away- her cheeks flushed hot in intense embarrassment.
Who art We kidding, Luna thought, eyes slowly widening in terror, We art not here for these ponies' joy. They live by the rise of the sun, and depend on it for food and sight. All We are doing here is bringing them an immense disservice. Luna felt a sharp snap of nausea in her stomach as the startling thought stumbled its way around in her head. Was she really that much of a bother to these ponies? That they merely attended a celebration in her honor out of respect, or worse, fear of punishment?
Her stomach sank into a bed of hot needles. The world was spinning, voices were harsh on her ears, and her gut felt as though it was collapsing in on itself. It was only when she realized that Celestia had turned to her that everypony had been waiting for her to do something. Her sister's voice melted back into conscious collective, slowly but steadily.
"...Art thou ready now, my dear sister? It is time to raise the moon. We must not wait, time is of the essence." The usual, calming smile lay on Celestia's face behind the swirling boughs of armor plating her helmet. "Luna?" she asked once more, a bit of concern riding on her voice.
"We... Yes, sister, We are ready now," Luna replied, taking a quick, shallow breath to try and chase away the damnable scarlet that had been painted on her face through her entire personal dilemma. Steadying her breathing as much as possible, Luna took a step forward and recited the incantation that Starswirl had first taught her years before.
Through slightly parted lips came the whisper of ancient power. And with an oddly ethereal sensation, Luna felt her body click in with some other being, far greater than her, but even more humbling. A shimmering beam of light rained down upon her; weightlessness overtook her form. She spread her fledgling wings wide as the invisible hand lifted her up, straight into the air.
Upon the caress of the Moon's power, she felt invincible. Waves of pure, immaterial and incredible energy seeped into every tiny fiber of her being, and she felt happy- happier than she had ever felt in her entire life. Ecstasy, she decided, would be a word ill-fit in describing this unconceivable feeling.
And as soon as it had begun, the shifting sensation, the invincible feeling of incredible power, had ended. The hand that had lifted her placed her gently down, and she blinked back tears that had risen in the corners of her eyes from the effort. Luna set her ears back, her smile widening as she expected the roaring, crashing waves of applause that she would get, that she had to get. Her sister’s sun celebrations had cemented that ideal in her head.
As she approached the banister, her smile fell fast. All the ponies were just standing there, still as intently as before, but again, still unmoving. Had they not seen what she had done? Certainly they must have felt the power, the sheer, raw, and incredible power that had grabbed her body not moments ago.
Right?
Silence merely held over the assortment of ponies. It was heavy, stifling, like a blanket thrown over Luna’s head; she wanted to shake it off, throw it off in any way she could. Beside her, Celestia stirred, and spoke out to address the crowd.
“The Moon hath been raised. Hail your Princess of the Night!” she proclaimed, shattering the suffocating stillness. As the ponies recovered from the shock they had just endured from the Sun Princess’s shout, a few began beating their hooves on the ground in blind fear, while others looked about, stunned, wondering what had even happened. Others sat around, listless and vapidly bored-looking.
Eventually, the closing ceremonies proceeded, and the crowd disbanded, filing away into city streets and back to sleepy little towns on the border of Canterlot. And before she had even realized what had happened, Luna was standing alone on the platform, overlooking a completely deserted arena. As tears flowed up and the snow-white moon reflected itself in her glassy eyes, she looked up to the stars and stifled a sob.
“I did good… right?”
