Luna giggled in delight as she twirled around the dark blue room with stars elegantly painted onto the walls. They would shimmer so beautifully in the absence of light, their soft sparkle made the filly feel as if she were floating.
It was peaceful and silent, a rare moment amongst apparently war-torn kingdoms. This tranquility enough to ease the embarrassment of being dressed up as a dusty ball of rock.
"Kill me now, please." Tia groaned with bright red cheeks as she lazily floated amongst the stars dressed in a chunky ball of fluorescent light.
Luna knew her sister was fat with all the cake she consumed on a daily basis. But as they hung on the bronze bar by sturdy ropes, Tia seemed nearly ten times her normal size. Plus her chunky butt stole so much gravity, that Luna was suspended up high near the ceiling giggling.
"So girls, what have we learned?" Starswirl mused as he appeared in the middle of the room by a puff of smoke.
"That you're a nut who enjoys dressing up little fillies. '' Tia spoke sarcastically as she began to spin out of control one way and then back the opposite.
"You'll never learn if you refuse humility. " Starswirl scolded the pink-maned princess with those deep insightful eyes.
"That um if we wish to contwoll cewestial boobies, we need to become one with them?" Luna held up her hooves as she giggled at the sight of her sister now flipped upside down.
"Exactly! Magic is more than just enchantments and powerful spells, it's a part of our very soul and inner strength! " Starswirl sighed as he used a hoof to reposition Tia on the bar.
"Yeah, dressing like an idiot doesn't inspire me to do better." Tia blew a loud raspberry from across the room.
Starswirl slowly stroked his great big bushy beard."Tell me what the world would be like if the sun never lifted?" He questioned the children with much interest.
"Eternwal night!? It would be bewtiful! " Luna extended her hooves to twirl in awe as her eyes glowed like the stars above.
"No, we'd all freeze to death, dummy!" Tia flung backward to buck her sister's dumb costume sending her flying around the room like a bouncy ball.
"Destruction rises when balance isn't achieved. " Starswirl pointed to the few cracks which lined the walls of his private study.
"Balance is impossible with her!" Tia growled annoyed as her little sister gazed down at the floor with a somber attitude.
"I'm sorry, Tiwa." Luna sniffled as her hoof brushed away tears from her eyes.
"I mean you always run around, you get into trouble, and always ask questions! " Tia spun in place with a look of annoyance.
"I just want to be stwong like you." Luna began to sob softly.
Tia felt her eyes widen at the sound of those words as her heart sank."You want to be like me?" She turned to face the tiny filly with a look of warmth.
"Mm-hmm, you're my hewo." Luna locked those large blue eyes upon her sister.
Tia shifted into a poised stance as she shifted toward her little sister. The bar angled at a center position as their weights evened out, Tia pulling her sister into a long and loving hug.
"Well, I honestly want to be as passionate and inspiring as you." Tia placed a soft kiss atop the forehead of her sister, a click heard as both were released from the bar above.
Both toppled to the floor, Tia easily snatching her little sister out of the air and squeezing her lovingly. Starswirl chuckled as he walked over to the front door of the study, unlocking the wooden frame as light poured into the room.
"Today's lesson is complete! Please enjoy the day to play in the garden, or help yourself to dark chocolate cake in the kitchen." Starswirl gave a knowing wink to each child.
"Whoo-hoo, I wuv the garden! Tiwa can eat all the cake, she's more piggwy than ponwy!" Luna squealed as she darted out the front door in a midnight blur of color.
Starswirl began to take his leave as Tia sat there on the floor in silence. " She needs me to be her strength. " She let her voice echo across the room faintly.
"Mayhaps, but you need her to be your compassion. " Starswirl stood in the open doorway with a slight smirk.
"You think I'm heartless?" Tia lifted her silent gaze towards her mentor with folded back ears.
"Neigh, but you are proud and stubborn as a mule! " He turned chuckling heartedly in place as Tia felt her cheeks burn a bright red.
"Let her kindness and wonderment guide you, see through the eyes of youth and know that innocence has its own merits." Starswirl exited the room slowly as the young alicorn was left to her thoughts.
"I'll do it for her." Tia used her hoof to unclip her costume as she was freed from its confines.
With one deep breath, she walked out into the lovely sunshine of a new day. The faint sound of arrow fire and the howling of war upon the horizon. Yet for now, her attention fell upon the tiny moon rolling around the garden free of fear or anxiety about the future ahead.
Laughing aloud Tia freed her sister from the round cumbersome costume.
"Let's play something new!" Tia smiled like the sun down to her frazzled lifelong friend.
"Your games are nevwa new." Luna blew a cute little raspberry towards her older sibling.
"I know, that's why you're choosing! " Tia winked playfully as her sister squealed uncontrollably in excitement.
"Omigosh, I have this one game awbout an owl who is hungie for ideas so he eats books and…" Luna began to share a world unlike anything seen before, full of magic and friendship.
One of peace.
A gift of life, she'd hold dear to her heart always.
