The Moon Rises

by Thunderscourge

Chapters

Night and Day
Between Ponies
Logical Diction

Night and Day

The Moon Rises

Chapter 1

"Night and Day"

Now the hour has come at last
The soft and fading light
Has crossed the west horizon
And has bidden us goodnight

-Luna, The Moon Rises

Air colored a lavender-blue, the smallest rays of light peaked over the horizon to shine towards the sprawling lands that lay over that horizon. These were the most petite of beams however, not enough to bring true light to those who it passed over but enough to signal the dawn of day. It was these lights that lightened the sky to the shade of the only one viewing them with great wonder, a being with the body of a pony, the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn while she was none of these things. If she were to take flight she could easily blend in with the air as night became morning, something she had in fact done on occasion, and lose herself to the beauty of dawn.

The unusual being that looked like a giant pony with slim but lengthy limbs stood out on the balcony of her castle admiring the sky before her. Touching the ground was a mark on her body, a mark that displayed what looked to be drops of ink and a moon to match that which still stood in the sky, well if something were to take a bite out of the one that remained in the orbit above all. The marking's moon was that of a crescent moon, like what would be found in the coming weeks as the moon changed in relation to the earth it hovered over. The 'pony' wore a warm smile as she changed her view from the sky to the dimly glowing orb she so loved.

The pale pool of light was a full moon currently, the favorite form it held from the perspective of the viewer because of how it displayed all of its regal and beautiful self. It filled the mare with a feeling of warmth to control this majestic object, the pearly silver moon reflecting the light of her sister's warm ball of fire in such a beautiful manner. The only thing that could compare for the late night viewer was to play with the other lights that were flicked across the sky forming constellations that held meaning and were a kind sight on the eyes, lights that she too held control over-

“Luna.”

-in all of their own glory. For the stars were as beautiful a piece of art as the stellar moon, and there was little that could not be enjoyed about them. Such a shame was it then that so many ponies did not view them, the mare pondered, for there was so much to appreciate. What the beauties of the sky did do was bring a calm and comfortable feeling to her subjects however, and that in turn allowed them to rest in a meaningful manner-

“Luna.”

-and if not for that very rest, nothing would ever be accomplished. Even the mare rested, albeit at different hours than many of the ponies who lived near her castle because of her nocturnal habits, and she knew that if she were a day dweller she would fully appreciate the nice comfort that came with night and the sleep that followed it-

“LUNA.”

Luna blinked rapidly and shook her head for a moment. Once she focused herself and looked around she could see that she was not alone in her balcony anymore, a large pony-pegasus-unicorn known as an Alicorn such as herself now standing beside her as she herself sat. Luna did not recoil from the loud voice, recognizing it as the traditional royal Canterlot voice she and her sister used to address their common subjects. It wasn't a yell but rather just a louder version of their own voice, and she was quite used to it at this point.

Changing her attention from the beautiful dawn before her, Luna addressed her sister briefly before turning right back and looking at the jeweled sky above them, “Oh, sister, I did not notice your presence.”

The larger and elder of the two siblings grew a coy smile and chuckled at Luna, “I could see that," nuzzling the side of Luna with her own head, the white coated sister spoke soothingly, "You should be getting your rest, sister. Dawn has passed us by and yet you stay awake.”

Luna did not glance back at her sibling but rather continued to witness the gradual change of color before her as she explained, “I wished to see the start of your beautiful day and the awakening of our subjects, Celestia. It is not often I witness their rise.”

Celestia gave a nod of understanding as she withdrew her head from her sister's side, “Well then don’t stay up too long," she stated empathetically with only the slightest amount of firmness in her voice, "I require your help late this afternoon to handle some foreign ambassadors," Celestia chuckled with mirth as she pictured her sister with baggy eyes sitting beside her in their meeting. As she thought about how that would play out she chortled," I don’t want a cranky Woona breaking down negotiations.”

The princess of the night blushed and looked away from her sister entirely in a huff, “Sister, when are you going to stop calling me that childish name?”

Now Celestia leant her whole upper body on her dear sister as she apologized in a light hearted manner, “I’m sorry Luna, it’s just that I still remember when you came up to my mid leg so many years ago.”

Luna huffed again as she thought back many, many years before when she was at the height her sister mentioned and did not like it much at all. Celestia was quite the prankster when they were younger, and with a lack of true peers Luna had spent many years beneath her dear sister's tyranny of jokes. It was odd to Luna how her sister was able to change from incessant jokes and pranks to a regal leader of fellow ponykind, but Luna passed it off as a stage in Celestia's development none would be seeing again. Thinking back about that time reminded Luna about how much she had now that she did not then, chief among these things being the castle she stood in now.

Ceasing her trip down memory lane Luna responded indignantly to her sister, “Yes, I remember too, but I am not that filly anymore," another thought popped up and Luna turned to face her sister with a serious look on her face, "I helped defeat Discord of all beings!" Flipping her nose into the air Luna continued to speak indignantly, "A name such as Woona does not befit one like me, guardian of harmony and conqueror of evil.”

Celestia chuckled at her younger sister and shook her head, “Whatever you say Woona,” Luna ignored the jab, but Celestia tried to make peace with her tired sibling. Her horn glowing with magic power, a large blanket and a gigantic pillow flew out from Luna's room and onto the balcony next to the Alicorn who controlled the night. Luna felt them bump against her and looked down at them as Celestia “Here are your things. Have nice rest, sister.”

As Celestia turned and began to leave Luna turned to her and smiled, “You have my well wishes too, Celestia, and I hope court goes well today.”

Celestia nodded to Luna before turning away completely and departing. Her balcony now occupied by one again, Luna turned back to face her stars as they began to enter their last throes of visibility. The sky was grower lighter by the minute as more and more rays of the sun poked over the horizon. The light rays mingling with her night sky made Luna smile, reminding her of the Alicorn who had just left and giving her as warm a feeling as her moon often did. As the earliest risers in Canterlot awoke from their slumber and prepared for a day under Celestia's noble sun, Luna decided that it would be best to lower her precious moon so that her sister's bright ball would not be obscured when it reached that point in the sky.

It was time to say goodnight, and with that Luna entered her bedroom with her soft bed things in tow. Her eyes had grown droopy without her knowledge and they would not function much longer. Intent on beating them to the punch, Luna shut her door to the balcony to shut out the only light entering her room. This action plunged her into complete darkness, not one candle lit within the room, but Luna was not one to be hindered by the lack of light. It actually comforted her and allowed her to find a peaceful, not to mention heavy, sleep. Without even trying the princess of the land known as Equestria navigated through the dark of her room and trotted over to her bed, a plush thing made of the softest of clouds, and she flopped down on it. Her pillow and blanket levitated over to her and the princess made herself comfortable, closing her eyes so that she could find sleep.

Tired from a night of constant vigil and work, Luna found a peaceful sleep as the dawn became dawn, not a nightmare to be found in her slumber.

After leaving her sister be, the ruler of Equestria's day and sun decided it best to start her work day. After all, she was going to have to work right up until the night with the ambassadors around so she thought getting smaller tasks out of the way this morning would be the most prudent course of action.

First manner of business? Celestia's stomach growled and she chuckled at the noise. The royal breakfast. Celestia smirked as she trotted through the Canterlot castle towards her dining hall, where her personal chefs were undoubtedly preparing a meal fit for her. Maybe, the princess thought deviously, they would be serving cake? Celestia shook her head, banishing the image of that too good for it's own good as well as yours food. She really couldn't afford to eat too much, lest she become as hefty as some of the more well off nobles.

With them in mind, Celestia sighed. She often would be 'treated' to their company at her breakfast meals, before the machine that was Equestria's political head had the willpower to kick them out and do her work. Celestia was just too kind and without enough food in her belly each morning to kick these scheming sycophants out, for they were her little ponies just like any other...she just wished she didn't have to dine with these ones in particular every morning. Maybe she should do something about that, like invite Luna to the meals, she thought. No, that would just subject her tired and sleep deprived sister to their stuffiness and that could create a scene...best let her sleep through them. That would be for the best, yes, Luna's own good.

Not having realized how fast her legs had carried her towards her destination, Celestia came face to door with the entrance of the dining hall. Opening it with magic came naturally to her, her stomach grumbling even more now as she entered it hastily. To her 'fortune' she was greeted by a colt of white coat and blonde mane who sat at the main table, “Good morning Princess Celestia, how do you fair this good day?”

Repressing a groan, Celestia decided to return his pleasantries, “I am well, Prince Blueblood. What of yourself and your family?”

The 'prince' beamed at her in a way that warmed Celestia's heart, “We fare well Princess, all thanks to your benevolent reign and the light you command.”

Celestia took a seat at the table's head, noticing a few other nobles and one oddly dressed unicorn seated at the table as well, “You need not praise me," she stated weakly, "Luna and I are only doing what we can to help ponies after the horrors Discord wreaked over this entire realm.”

This only seemed to get Blueblood more energetic in his praise of the princess, the memories of Discord's reign never fading from anypony's mind who lived through them, “All the more reason for your praise! After that madpony’s reign we never thought we could recover," he lifted a hoof and pointed around the castle dining hall and all of the elegant things to be found there. Banners, trophies, art and more could be seen by all as he waved his hoof, "and now within a few short years we have rebuilt all that he had destroyed if not more! Under your leadership ponies of all kinds have reason to hope once more, to not live every moment in fear of chaos and pain.”

There were some cheers and shouts of praise from the table in agreement and Celestia blushed lightly, still getting used to all of this attention. One of the seated ponies, the oddly dressed unicorn who went by the name Starswirl the Bearded, cleared his throat to quiet the others before motioning towards Blueblood while directing his voice towards Celestia, “He is most correct Princess, you have contributed to the reconstruction of these lands quite extensively. From the calculations I have made there would be one tenth the current population we have right now if not for your existence, and would likely go extinct in the next two or three generations if not for you with the leftovers of Discord still hanging over everypony.”

Everyone nodded to that except Celestia, who wore a grim look on her face. Thanks to Discord the Everfree forest was growing more and more dangerous by the day, and true to the chimera's own appearance nothing seemed to be of normal form. Manticores, Cockatrices and other hybrid beings existed now where they did not before and they were a harsh reminder of what the ponies had endured years before.

“I remember all too well the hydra that thought it could visit Canterlot,” a pegasus who had been standing silently behind Celestia stated in a melancholy fashion, his left eyes or rather his good eye looking at his leader as he stood firm.

Celestia looked back at the captain of the royal guard and smiled to the wounded veteran, “You and your guards fought valiantly, an example to all of ponykind of loyalty and of honor.”

Blueblood rose his hoof in a questioning manner now, “But was it not you Princess who drove the beast away in the end?” The way he said it made it more of a statement than a question, a rhetorical question to bring the conversation the way he wished it to.

The tired captain behind Celestia nodded lightly, “Yes, we were not able to subdue it. It was in fact the effort of the princesse-”

The plural nature of princesses was cut off when Blueblood gave a hearty laugh, “You are indeed the best ruler anypony could ask for, that you are Princess. You lead us through the worst of strife, you bring us life through your sun’s rays and the crops they grow, and you protect us with the divine power you hold.”

Celestia shook her head and tried to calm the praise down as more ponies got riled up to cheer her on, “You flatter me too much, Blueblood.”

Blueblood bowed his head, “I say nothing but the truth my princess.”

“Yes, nothing but the truth our dear Celestia!” Another noble called out cheerily.

Starswirl the bearded nodded his head to Celestia, his former teacher, “Their statements do in fact lean on the side of truth rather than that of falseness, and I would have to agree with them.”

At this point there was no curbing the soon to be onslaught of compliments and mounds of praise, so Celestia just gave into it. If the most backstabbing, the most ignoble, most inconsiderate and most annoying of her subjects loved her so much, then Celestia figured she at least deserved part of the praise they gave. What else could she do, ignore it? No, Celestia decided it best that she just allow them to do their thing while she quietly ate the meal served to her.

The reverse of the dawn was effecting the sky, light colors slowly having darkness creep into them as the sun drifted down and the moon began to rise. It was the point at which princesses swapped roles, Celestia retiring for the night and Luna taking her post for the dark to come. As the first stars began to show their presence Luna smiled on her balcony, taking in the beautiful phenomena known as sunset.

Minutes had passed by and colors shifted before Luna was roused from her trance, a light knock on the door of her room being what stirred her this time around. She was not as tired as when she was weathering the waning hours of the night and her ears were functioning, so she called out to the person to wait a moment despite having a good idea of whom it was. Luna took one last glance at the sky before walking over to the door and opening it with her horn. On the other side of the door stood a white haired stallion with rich blue armor covering almost his entire body, armor that signified his rank as captain of the guard. Luna nodded to the stallion with a brutal scar going across his right eye, an eye that he could barely open, and he bowed to her.

“Princess,” he stated plainly.

Luna chuckled at the display of servitude, the loyalty of her guardsmen always of the highest caliber, “Captain.”

Now that he had been addressed the stallion rose and spoke to his princess, “Are there any tasks you wish completed this night, my lady?”

The master of the night shook her head and smiled, appreciative of how everyday ponies like this wanted to help lift the burdens she held as princess despite their own duties and obligations. This captain in particular worked all night and into the morning, getting his sleep during the afternoon when his only superiors were awake so that he could direct the night guard. If he didn't take that role, instead taking a day post and leaving his current position vacant, Luna herself would have to direct it.

“Not as of this moment, captain. If something does arise I shall reach out to you and your men. Until then you should go about you regular duties,” Luna stated calmly.

He nodded and prepared to leave for no pressing matter was required to fix on his leader's behalf, “As you command, my lady.”

After he left the room Luna quickly returned to her balcony where she could inspect the coming night sky. The stars were beginning to twinkle and darkness shrouded the sky, just as she adored and she could not bear to miss this happening for one moment. As she stood in awe at the night, her one true love, Luna murmured to herself, “What constellations should I put together tonight…”

A quick wave of the hoof left the stars visible in the sky in a new position, one that reflected how she felt, “That will do nicely. I know somepony out there will enjoy this. I know I do.”

Luna trotted over to the ledge of her balcony and rose up so that her front two legs rested on it and it supported her body slightly, the princess having a full view now of the small city of Canterlot. As candlelights were flicked out and ponies readied themselves for sleep Luna spoke to nopony but herself, albeit addressing those below her, “Goodnight my subjects, sleep well. I shall make sure nothing rouses you from your peaceful sleep. Without your dear sleep, how will you ever go about tomorrow’s work? Sleep well my little ponies. A beautiful day awaits you tomorrow as my night brings sleep to you now.”

The night sky above the sleeping denizens of Canterlot was filled with stars arranged in the pattern of a large pony and a slightly smaller one standing together, leaning lovingly onto one another. In another tower of the castle, Celestia smiled up at her sister's night sky and thought of how much that pair reminded her of herself and Luna. She liked this constellation.

Fate has been cruel and order unkind
How can I have sent you away?
The blame was my own; the punishment, yours
The harmony's silent today

But into the stillness I'll bring you a song
And I will your company keep
Till your tired eyes and my lullabies
Have carried you softly to sleep
-Celestia, Lullaby For a Princess

A/N: This story is my attempt to bring the beautiful songs "The Moon Rises" and "Lullaby for a Princess" by Ponyphonic (the lyrics at the start and end belong to em, not me!) to life as well as show the fall of Luna from grace, a subject that I do know has been done in many ways by many writers so I just wish to do justice to the first songs I have shed tears over in quite some time. It will be focused on Luna rather than Celestia, for we know how Celestia feels and how she viewed the events in the series (to a degree) while we do not know much/anything about Luna's recounting of events. Here, right now, Luna is content if the slightest bit sad that she controls the night and her sister the day what with the amount of social contact that comes with each of these positions. This will be a sad story about the descent of the kind Princess Luna into Nightmare Moon, and I hope to do such a subject justice.

On another note, I will be dispensing with the language they would use a thousand years prior to the series...too hard to work on and focus on writing the story itself, and it might become distracting for some readers. Instead this will be like how someone would retell the story in modern times, so bear with me on that. Also know that I do not have the best grammar and structure to my work but I am working on that and hope you all can cope.

I hope you all enjoyed and will leave me feedback! This is my first serious, not comedy story for the series (2nd in total though) so this is new territory for me.

Between Ponies

The Moon Rises

Chapter 2

"Between Ponies"

As was the case every day, the darkness of night began to shift into a lighter color as dawn began to rise. The midnight blue became baby blue and the stars slowly drifted from the view of anypony who may have been looking at them, the marvel of-

Nudge

-the marvel of-

Nudge

Perched atop her balcony as per usual, Luna rolled her eyes before turning to face her sister, a little perturbed that her moment had been interrupted. Celestia couldn't read the annoyance on her sister's face and went right on to speaking with her now that she had Luna's attention, inadvertently ignoring her sister's mood.

"Your constellations were quite the marvel last night Luna."

The princess of the night sighed and closed her eyes, exhaustion beginning to set in to her body after having crept in the whole afternoon and night before, "Why thank you Celestia," slightly exasperated but slowly growing amused, Luna pondered why Celestia thought it so necessary to check up on her. She wasn't some small foal anymore who would fall asleep early and forget to put her moon away, but it was quite endearing to have her sister visit her like this at the end of her shift. A yawn formed on Luna's mouth and she stretched her body out as she went on speaking, "Is it really time to swap posts once more?"

Celestia nodded and affirmed her sister's statement, "Why yes, it just so happens to be that time," now a coy smile grew on the elder one's face, "You really shouldn't stay up so early that you don't even know the time."

Luna lightly pushed her sister's shoulder in a playful manner, Celetia quickly pushing her back leading to the two rulers giving hearty laughs. Luna was the first to calm down from the laughter, "Forgive me sister, I just wish to see our dear subjects as they rise from their peaceful slumber," she informed before giving another yawn.

This made the elder ruler grow a large and genuine smile, replacing the coy one she had previously and "You are quite the doting ruler, looking after them like that."

Stifling a yawn, Luna cast her head towards the soon to be bustling town beneath their castle and let out drearily, "It is the least I can do for them. Is it not the duty of a princess to do everything they can for their subjects?"

Her sister having said half of her last sentence in a yawn, Celestia responded to her with a chortle, "That it is Luna. Our little ponies do require all the help we can give them, so I am pleased that you wish to help how you can."

"Manticores, sea serpents, dragons..." Luna trailed off as she counted the various threats the ponies they reigned over faced almost daily, a part of Luna wishing to have the digits of a dragon to count all these dangers, "Our little ponies just know how to get in trouble, don't they?"

The smile on Celestia's face didn't fade as she leant on her sleepy sister and put a hoof around her, "They do seem to have a knack for it for sure," Celestia looked down from Canterlot to face Luna, who was leaning on her and about to drift off, "Now, how about that rest you should be getting?"

Luna rolled eyes again, having gotten the fact that she was tired already, and decided to retaliate on her sister by leaning her full weight on her sister. Celestia was much bigger after all in just about every way possible both due to age and cake, but one did not discuss that second part to her face, so she should have no problem supporting her sister's weight, "Ah, yes, my dear friend sleep..." just as her eyes finished closing and her mind began to drift asleep a noise caused them both to awaken. Luna looked down off of her balcony and noticed that the town was beginning to get up, ponies leaving their homes and beginning their days all throughout it, "Oh, look! The town is beginning to rise, Celestia!"

Very accustomed to the everyday movement associated with their town in the day, Celestia was nonplussed by what her sister saw as a sensational phenomena but was pleased to see her dear Luna happy. Celestia nestled her head on top of her bright eyed sibling's, "That they are, fully rested due to your quiet night."

The blue coated one rubbed her own head against the white coated one lovingly, "And able to work and make some noise in your bright day."

"Nopony could ask for a more lovely sister," Celestia stated proudly as she began to get up, the horn atop her head glowing as she opened the outside door behind her silently.

Luna looked up at Celestia and smiled at her, "Nopony but I, Celestia."

"Goodnight, sister."

"Good morning," Luna corrected in a playful tone.

Celestia was the one rolling her eyes now as she began to depart, "Fine, miss exact. Good morning."

Once quiet hoofsteps went by her and she was left alone, Luna trotted over to the edge of the balcony and placed her front hooves atop it. Her lovely ponies were starting their day and she was -yawn- ready to end hers.

"Good morning," Luna replied with a good laugh.

The theory, if one existed, of Unicorns containing some kind of precognition would seemingly be proved by Blueblood and the other sycophantic nobles in the dining hall, for no sooner had Celestia entered it than did they all turn to her. Celestia smiled at them all, accepting of their flawed nature and sense of entitlement. How could she turn away such admirers?

The chief offender, Blueblood, smiled right at the princess of the day and was the first to speak to her, as per usual, "Why fair Celestia, it is good to see you this fine morning."

Celestia took her seat at the head of the table and grinned at the plate before her, a piece of chocolate cake before her. Looking up from the cake to Blueblood, Celestia sighed for more reasons than one, "It won't be fine for long I'm afraid, the weather ponies are supposed to be bringing us rain."

The nobleman sighed in return, "That is really too bad, blocking out the lovely sky and sun like that with ugly clouds. A necessary evil I suppose."

This made Celestia's smile shrink slightly, memories of Luna stating her love of how the night rain played throughout the night like an instrument, "Rain can be soothing to some," the sun Princess murmured.

Her light statement did not go unheard and her student Starswirl nodded to that, "I find that it can be quite the good excuse to stay inside and study! When it is bright out everypony is curious about my studying and annoy me to be more social. When it rains I can be uninterrupted," he finished complaining.

Celestia grinned at her student for his support and chuckled as a recent memory came to mind, "You do quite a fine job interrupting yourself, Starswirl. We still need to fix our garden after your last experiment-"

The bearded stallion crossed his front hooves and frowned, "Exactly why I work in controlled environments! How was I to know that blasted phoenix was going to swoop in and steal my regents mid-spell cast?"

Celestia finished gulfing down her piece of cake in as much as a regal manner as she could manage and frowned as she thought about her pet bird, "Philomena didn't mean any harm, but I am glad that she is immortal. Even I was afraid that the explosion would have wiped her from existence."

"I am fine too, Princess," Starswirl added jokingly.

Celestia chuckled and closed her eyes as she shook her head, slightly amused as she continued to remember the incident and slightly amused by how more cake had appeared before her, "You weren't the one who was obliterated along with a quarter of the area nearby, Starswirl."

Starswirl pointed a hoof at his princess and scoffed loudly, "I was turned into a newt!" Everypony at the table fell silent and a pregnant pause hung in the room. A few blank blinks later, Starswirl added, "I got better."

The guard captain scowled and lightly put his front right hoof on his forehead in exasperation while Celestia finished her new piece of cake wiped her mouth again with her napkin, speaking before another piece of cake could appear, "Could you inform the guards the next time you do something like that? You almost caught one of their men in that blast as well."

The expert spellcaster nodded to her and shrugged lightly, "Wouldn't want to hurt anypony, so I suppose I could do that Princess. I am still sorry for that whole mess."

"It is quite fine, for as long as we learn from our mistakes it is okay to make them," Celestia replied wisely as another poof of magic placed a piece of pie in front of her. She quickly began to eat it before noticing the difference and frowning, teleporting the pie back to where the cooks sent it from.

Blueblood chuckled and injected himself in the conversation again, "Like how I won't be having Canterlot's finest brew again at any large gatherings. That was quite an interesting night. Why, I-"

After the royal breakfast concluded everypony went their separate ways. Celestia left to go see the chefs about something concerning future meals, Blueblood and some other nobles trotting off to the garden outside the castle, Starswirl the bearded heading to the library to continue his research while the bells on his cloack clanged each hoofstep, and the captain back to the executive office nearby. All but the last of these was able to reach their intended destination without a snare in their brief travels, but the white coated and blue armored captain encountered quite a problem of his own on his way.

Scars may have marred his body and shown through his coat in the places not covered by cerulean blue body armor, scars that indicated major conflicts, but nothing this pony had faced was quite as hard and aggravating as what he encountered.

Who or what was this foe?

"Tired?" came a demeaning voice from a sneering face, one that never failed to put a frown on the night captain's face.

His fellow captain, a unicorn who handled the day and who wore his full dress uniform around every moment he could in a show of power. The difficulty for the pegasus lay not in fighting or verbally sparring with this stallion...it lay in not crushing the green coated unicorn into the ground for his insulting manner.

The night captain scoffed as he walked past his annoying partner of sorts, "Excuse me for yawning after a twelve hour shift, 'Iki."

The captain of the daytime gave a demeaning smirk as he responded in his same condescending tone, "You are excused."

"Not in the mood," was the curt reply. Not having gotten a rise out of the night watchman, the day one huffed. Neither had an idea why their boss thought having the two of them work together was any sort of idea, the two never having gotten along in the years of knowing one another and the idea of making them share a position seeming odd. They did as they were told however but neither made an effort to become any more civil, remaining as different as the types of day they looked over.

The green coated unicorn shrugged, "Whatever, just be sure to be back here tonight. On time this time, ya brute."

The pegasus turned back to his compatriot and rose an eyebrow, looking at him through his good eye and questioning snarkily, "If I'm a brute, what does that make you?"

"The brains of course," the haughty day watchman pointed to himself proudly, "I run our day to day operations, don't I? Much harder and complex than watching over the quiet and still night."

Not even a curt response was given this time, but that was normal for the large pegasus. 'Iki was left without an angry response or any reaction to deal with actually, so he decided to be just as dismissive as he trotted away, "Fine, ignore me."

On his way away from his tired and disgruntled white coated counterpart, the day captain smiled as he came across a different white coated pony, "Good morning, Princess. How are you today, fair leader?"

"How does anypony stand this brightness?"

Normally used to sleeping heavily during the day to block out the noise associated with it, Luna had awoken in a fright at midday. She could not recall whatever ghastly image that had caused her to wake up, but Luna did not care to remember it either. She could sleep through the worst of nightmares so the thought of something actually disturbing her sleep, well, disturbed her.

Despite only receiving half the sleep she was used to Luna felt quite awake. The princess shrugged it off as being temporary and that soon her lack of sleep would rear its ugly head, but she decided that she might as well enjoy the boon of alertness while she could. Since she had no duties to perform and had absolutely no idea of what to do during the day, this being the first time in her immediate memory she was awake for one, Luna thought it best to explore her castle.

This castle by Canterlot felt new to Luna even she had resided in it for quite some time for she worked at night and slept during the day, meaning much of it lay unexplored to her. For all she knew there could be giant caverns beneath the very floor of it all where somepony could be stored away and not found by anypony else. So, to better know her own place of working, Luna thought it best to go for a stroll throughout the castle and educate herself.

After leaving her royal quarters, the night princess ran into a snag in her plan. Ponies of all sorts of shapes and kinds were racing down the hallway she found herself in, pushing past one another to reach the other end and to go around the corner and barrel down that hallway to some destination unknown to her. Curious, Luna followed after them in a leisurely manner. The crowd having completely disappeared, a single pony cleaning the corridor was left behind to mutter to himself about privileged ponies pushing their way past him rudely.

Luna caught notice of the stallion and decided to ask him where she should be going to find the source of such commotion, "Good morning good sir. If I may ask, where is everypony headed?"

The servant did not even look up from where he was cleaning, and most certainly did not recognize the voice of the one and only princess of the night, so his response was full of the same disgust he had been using in his mutterings moments before, "The Princess is holding court right now. Anypony who wishes an audience with her will be rushing there about now."

The princess understood why the pony was disgruntled and as such ignored his tone, "Thank you loyal subject. I believe I shall attend this day's session to see what Celestia has to deal with these days. The last day session I visited was a decade before now."

The custodian grumbled "You do that" and resumed his duties with all the attention not spared towards grumbling about noble ponies. Luna left him to his grumbling, glad that the place that caught the interest of her little ponies was one she knew.

It was a brief walk and the hallways had grown so crowded that the ponies did not notice her presence whatsoever, Luna not being old enough to tower over them all like her sister could, so Luna slipped in to the back of the mess of ponies who stood in a jumbled line outside the large doors leading to the location of her sister's court. Standing proudly by the door on an elevated platform was the day captain using his magic to amplify his voice for the crowd to hear, "If everypony will stand in line, the Princess will be seeing the first of you shortly," the crowd began to settle down and get in line, both figuratively and literally, but an exception at the very back caught the green pony's eye, "Hey, you two, cut it out!" The day captain groaned, knowing that he could not do much given how many ponies between him and the ponies causing a scene.

A soaking white earth pony with brown spots was pawing at the floor as a unicorn with a fresh flower on his shirt pocket stood in the place before him in line replaced a vase from where he removed it, the vase now devoid of flowers and water both. Having just witnessed a swing at the unicorn and the subsequent humiliation via water of the earth pony, Luna galloped forward to put herself between the two with her traditional Canterlot voice in full volume, "What is the meaning for this meaningless scuffle?"

The earth pony was the first to respond, the noble too shocked by Luna's sudden appearance to do so, "This noble thinks that he can get away with whatever he wants because of his rank! He cut in front of me and then insulted not only myself, but my entire family!"

Luna turned from the earth pony to the unicorn, a deep scowl only one part of her disappointed countenance, "Is this accusation correct?"

The unicorn recovered from his surprise and responded in quite the haughty manner, "Well of course it is, this ruffian thinks that it is okay for one of my rank to stand last in line. As if I should be behind a blasted pirate!"

The earth pony moved forward with a hoof raised, an angry inflection to his voice, "Just because we use ships to transport things does not make us pirates you-"

Luna stomped her hoof, stopping the earth pony in his tracks, "Stop this at once!" She turned to the unicorn again, her voice unable to sound as disappointed as she was because of the loudness of it, "You will be leaving the palace now."

This decision was as stunning to the unicorn as Luna's entrance had been, and the indignant tone he used was not at all lost on her, "What? Have you gone loonie? This insignificant colt-"

"You will be leaving now," she repeated plainly, but the effect it had on the unicorn was much more powerful. The earth pony kept quiet, not wishing to upset the princess any more and risk being on the end of her wrath as well.

Caught between confusion, fear and anger, the noble replied to Luna in a less disgruntled tone than he had before, "Yes, Princess...of course."

The noble left slowly, head lowered as he left the area as Luna and the earth pony watched him. Once he was out of sight the earth pony looked up at Luna gratefully, "Thank you for the help-"

Scowl remaining on her face, Luna looked down at him now and responded coldly, "And you, you shall not resort to such brutish methods of engaging such unscrupulous souls," the earth pony looked down in shame and shrunk a little from the indigo princess, "In future conflicts do not resort first to your hooves. If reasoning is out of the question, move on to alternate means. In this instance you could have relied on the authorities here to settle the issue, could you not?"

The earth pony looked sadly to the floor, eyes completely averted from his princess, "My apologies, Princess. I suppose I let my emotions get the better of me there."

Noticing his uncomfortableness, Luna leaned down to the poor pony and spoke in a warmer voice, "Do not worry, everypony makes mistakes. To err is pony, correct?"

The pony looked up to her and asked bashfully, his body still shrinking from her a little, "Even you Princess?"

Luna nodded to him and put a hoof on his shoulder, "Of course. Neither Celestia nor I are the gods perfect beings we're seen as by someponies."

"But without your night and your sister's sun there would be nothing!" he exclaimed, fear having found its way out of his system.

Luna grew a neutral look on her face, unsure how exactly to respond to that, "Well, yes, this is quite true, but-" she removed her hoof from his shoulder and pointed it at the door they had been waiting for before, "never mind. How about we rejoin the line so you can see Celestia about your issue?"

The earth pony looked over to the door and noticed that everypony had entered the doors during this little incident, "Oh yes!" He quickly ran to the open doors at full gallop, leaving Luna in the dust as he ran to get an audience with a different princess.

Luna yawned again as she watched him enter her sister's court, "I suppose after this I can return to my sleep. This is such an indecent hour to be up after all," another yawn found its way into her system and she lifted a hoof to her face, "How does Celestia manage this time of day?"

A/N: I was originally only going to use one side minor character, but when I thought about the ending I thought maybe having one more pony couldn't hurt. Thus we have the day captain. I didn't intend whatsoever to have him, but I think it'll be better off with him. After noticing how the night captain reminded me of one character in a movie I saw years ago I thought I might as well give him the foil of said character...bonus points to whomever can guess who this duo is extremely loosely based on. And no, they won't be getting names anytime soon. They are supposed to just be the captains serving at the time, not full characters with character arcs or anything.

I hope everyone enjoyed, and if anyone would like to leave feedback I would be very grateful! I'm still knew to writing ponies so any and all feedback (constructive criticism or praise, not flames) would be well appreciated.

Logical Diction

The Moon Rises

Chapter 3

"Logical Diction"

"And what is it that you are here for today, citizen?"

In the royal day courtroom there stood many ponies of all shapes and sizes, ranging from bulky earth ponies to slight pegasi to frail Unicorns all the way to the giant mixture of the previous three races, an Alicorn. Celestia sat on top of a regal and rich purple pillow on the side of the court away from the large doors that gave entrance to it. Next to her stood the green coated day captain, his posture rigid and his face plastered with a seemingly permanent smirk. On the other side of Celestia was her technically former student Starswirl who now spent his days acting mainly as her adviser and her chief spell maker. The rest of the courtroom was filled with various ponies who stood in various positions, some off to the side to observe while others formed a long line that reached the back of the giant and overly spacious room.

Having been through the first two sets of requests and disputes of the day Celestia felt both fully awake and a little bored. She knew it was her duty to meet with her subjects but their problems were growing more and more petty it seemed to her, not to mention the repetition of said issues. Land this, taxes that...but as the princess residing over day time she was obligated to do this. It wasn't always bad though. Sometimes she was able to dissolve issues in the role of arbiter, sometimes she was able to grant mercy on the unlucky, and other times give charity to the needy.

"Princess, this ruffian thinks that he can take my land-"

This was not turning out to be one of those days to Celestia's chagrin.

Celestia rolled her eyes and scoffed quietly to herself, "Oh great, another land dispute. Three for three...is this all anypony comes here for?" The captain and Starswirl both chuckled lightly at the statement but fell silent when she shot each of them a look.

The pony standing before Celestia and wishing for her attention in her land matter tilted her head in confusion, not having heard all of what Celestia said, "I'm sorry, what was that Princess?"

The princess of Equestria turned back to the subject she was supposed to be attending to, "Disregard whatever you may have heard. Now," clearing her throat, Celestia went back into her royal Canterlot voice, "explain your situation and why you bring it before me this day."

The mare recoiled slightly to the loud voice but otherwise shrugged it off while she complained, "You see, this stallion," she pointed her hoof to a unicorn standing next to her as she whined, "just thinks that because my family's land had been abandoned during Discord's terrible rule that he could go and claim it for his own self."

Celestia turned from the mare to the stallion and pointed a white hoof at him, "Is this true, young stallion?"

The brown coated stallion quivered where he stood, legs almost buckling as the royal hoof pointed straight in his direction, "W-why yes, it is, but my family has nowhere else to live while this lady has land all over the known bounds of Equestria. We need it, but she does not-"

The mare beside him scowled and pointed her own hoof at him, anger dripping from her voice, "Stealing is still stealing!"

Celestia lowered her hoof and nodded, voice still loud and intimidating, "I apologize sir, but this lady is correct. Stealing is not to be tolerated, and so the land rights go to her and her family," his shoulders sunk and his face could barely hold back tears as he looked to the floor right in front of him. Still using the royal Canterlot voice, Celestia did her best to console him, "Do not fret though, there is plenty of unsettled land in this nation where you may reside and call home," the two ponies stood up to leave as their matter was resolved, heading to the exit as two other ponies stepped forward, "Next."

In the very back of the room and unnoticed by the crowd in front of her, Luna frowned at the display she saw. The sight of the sad pony who walked past her through the doors and the haughty mare beside him irked the princess as she muttered to nopony in particular, "Who claimed the land first? The mare's family? They would have likely just been claiming domain over not-possessed land, land that they abandoned understandably because of Discord," Luna frowned as she continued in a disgruntled voice, "But it has been years since then and only now do they wish to take it back? The stallion did just as the mare's family did, claiming land that has no current owner. The land should go to those who need it, not those who had their egos hurt by having a less fortunate pony touch their precious land."

The next pony to step forward and bow before Celestia had an angry looking mare behind him, something that tipped Celestia off to what this might be about...again...before he even finished his first sentence, "Your majesty, I am here here to-"

Celestia once more cast a hoof towards a pony as she asked a question in her loud voice, "Is this another request regarding land, citizen?"

"Y-yes?" he replied meekly.

After a brief groan the princess shook her head, lowered her raised hoof and placed her previously lowered one on her temple, "For the love of..." her voice trailed off and she gathered her thoughts, everpony in the room silent for the oncoming cringe-worthy voice. True to habit, Celestia lifted her hoof high into the air as she loudly proclaimed, "I decree that there shall be no more issues of land seen today, so anypony who has come here for such a reason had best come back tomorrow."

The stallion and mare both turned to leave, both upset about not having their issue resolved, and many ponies from line began to do the same. Almost none noticed the blue princess in the back of the room as they left in various states of disgruntled attitude. Now that she wouldn't have to deal with the same problem over and over that day, Celestia let out a sigh of relief before announcing, "Next!"

The next pony to step forward was a familiar sight for Celestia, a white coated pony who attended more of her breakfasts than she did. Blueblood stood with a posture only matched by the self important day captain, a posture that only disappeared when he bowed before his beloved leader, "Your majesty, I am here on a more important matter than somepony infringing on my land rights. May I have permission to speak?"

Celestia chuckled at his formal manner and bid him to rise with a hoof, "You may proceed, Blueblood."

He resumed his upright and uptight way of standing and bowed his head this time around, "Thank you your majesty. I am here to discuss the matter of debt collection between the nation and some members of its populace. Taxes have been levied but not everypony has paid them as of this date, months after the mentioned levy and it is in my understanding that in reconstruction times such as this we need everypony doing their part."

The sun princess rose an eyebrow, not sure where he was going with this, "Yes, and what is it that you are here about? We are currently handling the issue you mention."

The nobleman rose his head to a normal position before continuing and responding both, "Well your highness, a study I have done with some assistance has shown that the ponies who have these problems with paying our taxes are those working in construction jobs and other day-reliant ponies," he lifted a hoof into the air as if pointing at the sky, "They are unable to work in certain conditions we have had to face in recent months, such as the heavy rain and random bouts of snow. In order to increase the time in which these ponies work and thus increase their earnings I say we should work harder on bringing the weather under our control with our pegasi so that we may go about shaping the weather to be more useful in the hours these unfortunate ponies are working."

Celestia kept quiet as she thought this over in her mind. The elements of nature were in fact impacting the reconstruction progress, but not at a rate she had deemed bad enough to warrant action. The way winter seemed not to wrap itself up without her express attention with intense sun rays was something that worried her, but again she had seen no immediate reason to change anything. But Blueblood rose an interesting point, and the Princess was interested in looking more into the matter, "This is not unreasonable. I will speak with my other advisers considering this. Is that all, Blueblood?"

The noble shook his head and bowed again, "No your highness, I was hoping to pose one more idea."

Just as he bowed again, Celestia cocked a brow again in a questioning manner, "What is this idea, and is it related to the same matter?"

Blueblood stood upright again and smiled to his leader, "Why, yes it is dear Celestia. The matter is the same, but it is merely another suggestion and that suggestion is cutting down on the-"

Quietly cutting in, Starswirl spoke solely to Celestia and captured her attention as Blueblood went on, "Your highness, are you sure changing how our very weather system works is a good idea?"

"-time in which 'night' is and increasing the time of our beautiful day. I mean, it'-" The noble unicorn speaking to the barely listening Celestia continued.

"Starswirl, this is an issue that needs fixing and I suppose if we can help our nation's economy at the same time that we would just be killing two birds with one stone, thus requiring half the effort for two genuine problems," Celestia murmured to her pupil and adviser without turning away from Blueblood.

Still not understanding that he was barely being paid attention to by his target audience, Celestia, Blueblood continued to speak his plan about cutting down on nighttime, "-s not as if the night is worth anything," the ponies in the back of the room began to murmur about this notion, thinking it odd but not many objecting outright to it, "What purpose does it serve but to hinder everypony? It makes it harder to see, to accomplish tasks and carry out our duties. It obscures the beauty to be found on our brilliant and sprawling lands-"

The one pony near Celestia who had caught sight of Luna lingering in the back of the room was the day guard, and he could tell that a storm would be brewing if he did not nip this issue in the bud. The green coated captain cleared his throat and addressed Blueblood, the throat clearing having drawn the noble's attention, "You had best choose your words wisely and cease speaking, sir."

Blueblood tried to ignore the captain and continue on, "-not to mention that the only things gained from it are some pointless stars and a glowing orb. What need of night is there when we can sleep during day hours as well? If there was only daylight we could-"

The day captain stomped a hoof and caught the attention of everypony in the room, his nasal voice also increasing in volume as he addressed the currently tactless nobleman, "I said you had best be quiet, Blueblood. This is an inappropriate subject and it should not be discussed," the captain eyed Luna in the back of the room, curious as to her feelings about this. To her credit she remained stoic and did not move, intent more on listening to Blueblood's opinions than outright squashing them. The captain did not want to give her any reason to make a scene though, something that might require a lot of paperwork on his part if things were broken by whatever lightning bolts the princess of the night might summon.

Completely unabashed, Blueblood scoffed as he turned to face the captain with his own , "Why should I stop? I am merely speaking the truth from a logical standpoint."

To this the captain narrowed his eyes, his voice threatening, "You had best leave before more ponies begin to agree with you, nobleman."

Blueblood stood with his mouth agape, partially stunned by the turn of events, "I do not think that-"

The captain stomped his hoof again and projected his voice loudly to the crowd in the room, "Today's court session is over! Everypony will depart from the palace immediately or you will be removed, there are no exceptions!"

The crowd obviously did not take well to this, the remaining few who had not been culled by the call about land disputes now being ordered to leave as well, "You can't just-" "We waited forever-" "This is an outrage-"

"You will depart immediately!" The green unicorn announced again, the princesses both silent and unmoving as he ordered their subjects' departure. Celestia had only half heard the insults and had been paying mind more to Starswirl but she trusted her captain in his decision to evict them, for whatever had been said must have been quite bad to warrant his reaction. Luna on the other hand was thinking about what had been said already more so than she was thinking about what was happening at that moment, her feelings slightly hurt but her mind trying to wrap around the allegations raised against her beautiful night.

Turning towards Celestia as the crowd began to dissipate and leave, the day captain nodded his head towards the royal guards stationed silently within the room, "We will ensure that all unwanted presences have vacated the premises, your majesty."

Celestia nodded to him wordlessly, still a bit stunned by how her court had gone to Tartarus so quickly. She was not angry over the turn of events per say, for she knew that not every day in court was to go as planned, but Celestia still was not used to this kind of thing. Usually if something happened she was a part of it, such as barking down at a rebellious and defiant pony to forsake their attitude or her being the one to stomp her hoof to gather the attention of two quarreling ponies.

Everypony had left the court room as ordered, even Starswirl due to the awkward feeling in the air he felt as the two sisters convened while in their contemplative mindsets. Luna now stood in front of Celestia, a neutral expression on her face as Blueblood's remarks rattled around in her mind. Celestia was the first to speak, ignoring the fact that Luna was awake at an odd hour to focus on what she may have heard, "Luna, forgive me for letting that outburst occur. I should have silenced-"

Luna shook off her previous countenance and replaced it with a bright one, smiling to Celestia as she came to a conclusion, "I am fine sister. For everypony in existence there will be a neighsayer, so who am I to complain about one or two ponies who dislike me? Especially when I have your respect and that of many others?"

Celestia opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out at first, her mind not sure exactly how to respond. Noticing after a moment the happy look on Luna's face, Celestia realized that her sister must not be upset at the recent events and so Celestia decided to move past the issue, "I am glad you are taking this in stride Luna, and you're right. Why even I have some who aren't exactly fond of me. Not that I am too fond of them either...," Celestia chuckled in a light manner before she continued," I find it hard to love and tolerate all these bickering ponies despite my best efforts."

The night princess tilted her head in confusion as she thought about her sister's words and what they meant, "How is it that so many ponies cannot settle their disputes? This foalish display is not befit of grown adults."

Celestia beamed at her sibling, her face both all-knowing and barely repressing another chuckle, "Well Luna, not everypony has the gift of living as long as we do. Their time to learn the lessons of civility and respect is much shorter than the time you and I have."

Luna now bore a small scowl as she decided to sit down before her sister, both front and back legs lowered to the ground, "But such insolence and intolerance should not be acceptable in the everyday pony. Is there nothing we can do to stem this tide of indecent attitude?"

The sister who harnessed the sun as if it were an extension of her own being shook her head sadly, but still a laugh threatened to break through her calm demeanor because of Luna's naive nature, "I am afraid not, sister, beyond setting a good example for our little ponies. We are still within a generation of the Discord years and there is much of that era lingering in this one. What would you have me decree, that everpony learn the value of friendship?" At this, Celestia did let out a small chuckle.

Not understanding how such an order could be a bad thing, Luna rose a brow in confusion, "And why not? What would be so wrong with such a notion?"

Celestia's voice became that of a wise mother explaining something to a small child, a type of voice she had used many times in the past for her younger sister, "Luna, nopony wants to be told how to be friends and who to be friends with. Could you imagine years, decades even, of rivalries and family feuds actually being changed for the better? I would rather exert energies towards the rebuilding than towards giving our subjects more reasons to in-fight and bicker, not to mention cause dissent."

Luna waved a hoof in the air as she responded with a question, "If one does not try to settle one's differences in a civil manner how can anypony expect to improve society as a whole? Such a thing will not happen if the bickering continues unchecked."

Nodding to Luna, Celestia responded with a reassuring smile, "I do agree Luna, but this will fade with time, I promise. We will simply have to weather the feuds for now."

Not feeling satisfied with this idea of passiveness and apathy caused Luna to retort, "One should not give in to the disputes of the past and accept them as a never changing force, right Celestia? Ponies should move on and accept one another for who each other are."

Celestia could not help but form a mocking grin on her mouth, the concept her sister had both ridiculous and impractical, "So, you think a friendship academy is in order? What would everypony do? Write friendship reports to their teachers about what they have learned?"

Luna nodded and affirmed with a serious tone, "Of course sister, friendship is magic and definitely should be more commonplace," with a slight blush the younger princess cast her gaze aside as a thought came to mind about her current count of friends, "I would not mind attending such an academy myself."

The elder sister chuckled and shook her head before she trotted right over to the night princess and sat beside her. Still chuckling, Celestia received a look of confusion from her sister while the sun princess wrapped a leg around her dear sister, "Oh Luna, you really don't need to worry about this right now," Celestia pulled Luna towards her and embraced her darker coat, "As bad as they are now, our little ponies will no doubt improve in temperament in time as the era of Discord becomes just a bad memory and Equestria is more than rubble."

Luna looked down and gave a resigned sigh as she leaned on her sister's bright, shining white coat, "If you say so sister."

A/N: Okey doki loki, got it done in a reasonable amount of time! I am happy that so many people have been enjoying this thus far and I hope you guys continue to do so. And no, I am not going to have Luna instantly flip out and become evil because of an insult to her night. Not how I roll. I like taking my time with things, meaning her suffering likely will be a bit drawn out which will in turn explain her descent...won't say much more than that however. Luna will need hugs though.

Oh, and am I the only one who thinks it weird that Discord (who pretty much wrecked the world and possibly killed ponies given the recollection shown of his reign) gets to sit in the garden while Luna gets sent to the moon for simply refusing to lower the moon because she felt under appreciated? No? Okay.

The exasperation of Celestia given the land disputes is partially my own inability to come up with other ideas mixed with the fact that I never seem to ever see any other kind of issue brought to her court in any story to my recollection, so it feels like beating a dead horse (bu-dum-bzzzzz). Sorry, that pun was actually by accident but after typing it I had to keep it. Hope everyone is doing well and I would love to hear from you all about the story and what you think! Your feedback really helps me improve it and my writing (and feedback doesn't have to be mean or critical, something that has confused some people I have run into in the past). Support and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated!