Luna's Thoughts – A Story
Lunatic festivals were a rare occasion in Equestria. In fact, there were no determined lunatic events set down in the royal calendar at all. The New Year's Market however didn't care for the borders between day and night.
Even when it was late after sunset now, the decorations of the market competed with the lunatic sea of lights above, containing an almost equal mass of breathing life in the countless streets and corners under her balcony. The throbbing noises and voices even reached up the royal walls and filled Luna's ears with childish cheer.
“It's not childish, Woona.” Even her sister stayed through the night with her to enjoy the peace of these festivities.
“Tia!” Luna said as she turned to face her sister who was standing on the edge to the balcony, “I thought you were down enjoying the company of our subjects.”
“I was,” Celestia said as she stepped outside, “but it's cold tonight.”
Luna raised an eyebrow at the odd explanation of her sister, “It's as cold as every winter-night is, dearest sister.”
Celestia sighed, “I miss the warmth of my sun.”
“It will return soon,” Luna tried to convince her.
I know,” she said, shaking her head, “that is not why I came.”
Luna threw her gaze back into the city. Its breathing was too beautiful to keep her sister's white mane blocking it.
“Why did you came here, then?”
“It's about... our talk six days ago. Have you thought about Trixie?”
Luna nodded. “I did. Your words weren't as scattered as I said back than. Maybe she could need some authoritative words. Then again, I did not see the trickster appear at the speech. She is unregistered as a Canterlot citizen, after all.”
Celestia faced Luna with a serious expression. “She's not a trickster, she's a homeless pony and possibly not even in the condition to show up at such an event. Well, that's what I think. I collected some information, and for what is known she may is living on the streets.”
“And you are sure that a pony that lives in such circumstances would be a wise choice as a protégé?”
“Didn't you say that all of our subjects are equal yourself? It is the trust that crafts the bond between ponies. And besides, you can't stay with a cold stone in the night-sky as your only friend for the rest of time.”
“Touche.” Luna snorted, facing Celestia again.
Celestia looked down at the cold floor. Arguing with a stubborn sister wasn't an easy task, especially when she was an immortal goddess.
“Please. I heard that she was seen the last time in the old theater that is located south-west. You could search for her there.”
Luna looked into the white of Celestia's eyes. It always seemed to be a bit too white, always fighting with her mane which white was cleaner.
“Thou truly want me to speak with that unicorn, don't you?”
Celestia nodded softly. “You can't stand here for the remaining time of our kingdom. The ponies won't pay you attention when you don't even try to be there for them.”
“But I can stand here for the rest of the kingdoms time!” Luna contradicted in a high-pitched voice, “I even started to write down the thoughts I make during the nights. It's fun.”
“You did what now?” Celestia asked in slight disbelieve. Luna didn't wait for a second request, and took her little leather-bound book from a little table that stood seemingly immune to time and weather in her little habitat.
Celestia grasped the book with her light-golden glowing magic as she held it to her face and opened the first site with highest curiousity. In it rested black ink, forming rather scribblings than royal notes to the nighty business of an entire nation. Celestia suddenly felt her own hoof running down her face, trying to wash away the impression she just made without triumph.
“Look,” she said stoic after several minutes of aimless research, “you go visit that mare immediately or I send you back to that gigantic stone up there.”
Luna poked her tongue out to her sister at hearing this insult, way to used to the threat after Celestia used it several times in the past months.
“Be there for the subjects, huh?” She fell into a very royal frown, “days were easier back when Discord was still member of the tribunal.”
Celestia shook her head at the still arguing sister. “That's an ancient time. We have to fulfill his duties in these days as well. And 'we' includes you, little sister.
Luna sighed at the today's stolidity of Celestia, “Fine, but I only will take a look at the old theater, and when-” before she had a chance to finish her sentence of defeat, the lunatic Princess found herself popping away from the grasp of space and time, and the environment of the domestic balcony – into a sphere of golden glowing light.
Celestia's head hung low of exhaustion by now. She let her shiny eyes lose themselves in the yearly market above as a third pony entered the scene.
“Good job, Princess,” the mare said.
The words cast a little smile into Celestia's face.
“Thank you, Twilight. I just hope that you're right about both of them.”
“It just makes sense,” the protégé confirmed as she stepped aside her mentee, “they both share similar problems, and besides Trixie could indeed need a little introduction into real magic. That may keeps her from experimenting with artifacts again.”
“Perhaps. Let's go back down to the market before everything is closed.” Celestia said despite her doubts about the two stubborn, “tomorrow is the last day, after all.”
–
“Say, dear Rarity, you are a friend to Celestia's protégé, no?” Fancypants asked his escort who sat with him in the first floor of Canterlot's finest Restaurant.
“But yes I am. I assure you that she has her silver linings,” Rarity confirmed as she sipped at her hot cup of tea.
“Oh, it's not that. Actually I like the rustic behaviour of hers. What I would love to hear about is her connection to Trixie Lulamoon.”
Rarity lightly chocked on her tea as the name of this low-life was spoken in such social circles.
“W-well,” she said, “I don't know how that pony could be necessary. She is more like a green-eyed stranger than an actual acquaintance to us.”
Fancypants nodded understanding, “I would not have expected anything different. And yet, this unicorn seems to catch royal attention.
“What do you mean?” Rarity answered almost a bit too fast as she cut off the last exhale of the high-society stallion.
“Well, it rumors that Princess Celestia herself was asking around for a trickster. There are not many such personalities with connections in Canterlot, let alone the royal palace.”
Rarity looked down into her tea. How couldn't she have heard about that yet?!
“Maybe she finally decided to imprison her. The usage of this amulet was the biggest failure this mare could have made. If Twilight wasn't that good in her magics, she would have destroyed whole Ponyville, including my freshly finished autumn collection!”
Fancypants now lifted his cup of tea to have a sip of the exotic leafs that were boiled to the most delicious kind of water. Rarity had a temper when it came to her friends. He liked that, even if he had to remember her where she was time to time.
“I wouldn't say that. If Princess Celestia would want to see her in chains she surely would have surely searched for her with more official words. Not many know about her seeking actions, after all.”
“Right,” Rarity admitted, “but I'm quiet curious what she would do want from her than. Maybe a subtle banishment from Canterlot or something.”
Fancypants set down his cup on the calmer words of his escort, causing the tableware to clatter in a muted tone.
“We'll see about that in good time. For now, would you like to tell me more about that autumn collection, my dear?”
–
Luna blink-blinked the stunning glows of solar teleportation out of her eyes as she found herself standing at the southern entrance of the royal palace.
That impatient pony didn't even gave her the opportunity to pick up her scarf!
With a snort Luna trotted into the cold streets of her royal city.
Over the years, the market that was supposed to stretch out in the north of the castle grew over it's planned size and had therefore to embrace the palace in a tight grip of magical lights and smells.
Around her, countless shops formed artificially corridors, filled with inviting smells of chocolate-fruits, mulled ciders and other things which she didn't recognized immediately.
Soon she learned that as beautiful the commotion looked from above, as annoying it also was below. All the innocents with their happiness and goods formed quiet an obstacle for lunatic princesses on a mission.
However, the ponies who recognized her seemed to have enough good behaviour inside to step aside and out of her way as they made eye-contact with the authoritative alicorn.
It was an odd feeling to see the silent air of her night filled with the warmth and energy of ponies and their occupations, but she wouldn't accuse anypony for it by all means. The fact that all of this caused Celestia tons of exertions every year didn't bother her too much, either.
She passed through several streets each filled with the same signs of happiness that comes along with another overcome year and soon spotted a side-road that laid in familiar darkness.
Compared to the plazas of the north, it was easy to reach the last stands on the southern end. It was simply the structure of Canterlot which favored the upper corners of the city for big crowds of ponies. That and, well, the high-society that lived in the shadow of the castle preferred to keep their home in silence and peace, dissociated from the folk's fete.
After turning into the darkness with a little sigh, the silence took hold of her ears after few steps and a gentle ringing sound replaced the laughs that filled her ears only moments ago. The lunatic Princess almost forgot how loud happy ponies actually could get.
She fastened up her movement at the view of the obstacle-free street. The district of question wasn't far away anymore; the signs began to point out the direction. Not that she needed them. She had been often visiting the Opera District of Canterlot, the most glamorous part of the whole town.
Beside her, the dark buildings granted her further company. In contrary to the colourful ponies with their manes and cutie-marks, their houses barely showed any difference between each other at all.
They were two floors high, used to have a cellar dusty attics and they were coloured as flawless white as the dirt of time allowed them to be. But it was one thing only that really bothered Luna.
No matter where she waved her gaze, balconies were missing at every structure she saw. She didn't understand why they bothered with grubbing cellars in addition to attics, just to make room for stowing their possessions, but then never payed any attention to the beauty of life itself.
But then again Celestia's days are coarse and the mortal subjects wouldn't probably have the time to do so anyway.
Luna reached a wider connection-road between the districts. It fascinated her that that even now some ponies crossed her path, most likely returning to the warmth of their homes after a cold stay in the decorated streets.
As she looked right, her vision lost itself between the blurry schemes of houses and the road which winded through the darkness into the direction of her palace.
To her left laid her target, the Opera District, which provided several well-known buildings, mostly operas as it's name suggested, including the skeletons of unoccupied stages.
Filling her lung with a load of fresh night-air, she went for the glorious area – and Trixie.
As she knew her guards of this circuit, they would have thrown out the trickster by now, even when she had been lurking there. But why abandon the chance of a peaceful night-walk?
Apart from taller buildings and a broader road the scenery didn't show any changes. What has changed, however, was the sky. Usually it provided her masterpieces of art, her tribute for each race that shared the joy of life beneath the same sky. But today the light of those many ponies outshone her beloved work, allowing only few stars and the moon itself to shine through an invincible filter.
“Carpe noctem, Princess Luna,” a voice rang to her head as she reached a little plaza that let to several corners of the Opera District as well as to further districts, lost in her thoughts once more.
After coming back to her mind, she quickly recognized the speaker as she turned her head into his direction.
“Carpe noctem, guard,” she greeted the dutiful stallion. “How is the night, thus far?”
The guard immediately answered with a strong voice, “”Silent and peaceful, Princess. The festivities soaked the problems away from this district as it seems.”
“What kind of problems?” Luna asked half of curiosity and half of royal authority.
“Drunken strollers, homeless ponies searching for a warm place to sleep, not-authorized demonstrations. Nothing we can't keep under control.”
Luna nodded in approval of her guard before she remembered Trixie's nature.
“Do thee remember a blue unicorn making trouble of that kind?”
“No. There is a blue unicorn, a mare, entreatingly returning here in the night, but Princess Celestia said she meant no harm, therefore we didn't bother her.”
Luna's eyes twitched at the report, “Thou come to our sister with thy problems before consulting me?!” She said angrily.
“N-no,” the guard suddenly stammered, “she came here yesterday and asked about such an unicorn just as you did, my majesty!”
“That's enough for now,” Luna simply said, “dismissed!”
“Yes, Princess!” As suddenly the stallion began to stammer under the vision of his leader, as suddenly he fell back into his military manners. He saluted to the royal alicorn before the poor guard stepped down a road with heavy steps.
Luna sighed. Celestia gad obviously done further preparations for this than she thought.
However, her description of Trifle’s whereabouts wasn't really helpful. There were more than enough unoccupied stages in this district, that barely contained anything else.
The first opera were finished decades before her schizophrenic disaster and the new building soon had started a race for the finest opera by the former investors and big businessponies. Ironically enough the Opera Synthesis that formed the middle of the shiny district now with the re-building of this are over the centuries, won the race and claims the title of the finest and largest opera of Canterlot until today.
It's name was chosen by a group of investors who believed that ponies could reach the biggest achievements by setting back the individual needs, what smoothed the way for modern corporations.
The beauty of this innovative idea can still be seen in the detailed design of the monstrous building.
Where other operas showed off the emblems of the owning families or companies, the Opera Synthesis simply left unused spots, covered in finest materials. It was a gigantic and glorious building, yet it felt simple and homely warm once you stood inside.
Trixie couldn't be there by any means.
Then again, there also were the losers of this race. Luna decided to head for the western parts for her search. Even when many operas weren't as sparkling as the “Pearl of Canterlot,” as it was lovingly called by the locals, the western were especially unpopular. Going west meant to cross paths with the Pearl.
And Luna knew how picky upper classes could be when it come to such a thing. Going past her meant to choose a performance of lower quality. Not that this was all true, but who wanted to be invited by the words, “Hey, let's go to this little opera behind the Synthesis.” ?
Luna shook her head denying as she passed its mighty entrance-doors. In the last years before her imprisonment she was once seen while visiting a performance of those lower stages.
“The last lullaby,” as it was called, was a tragic play that dealt with the fear of starvation of earth-ponies after the second war between ponies and changelings.
She liked the spectacle, even when the last lullaby appeared three times in the play, and thanked the actors personally for their efforts. But even in this old time the tabloids of Canterlot were everywhere at any time, and soon as heavy harassment of her taste in arts ended her joy.
Sometimes solitude wasn't that bad after all.
Luna walked past the Opera Synthesis and left its own plaza a smaller street that grew into the darkness of western decay.
As she reached the street, it almost seemed as if she stood in an entirely different city. To both of her sides closed doors and little operas slung together to a road that looked like a closed shopping mall, or even fancy residences still waiting for their owners to return after an fatal plaque.
She walked through the dark street for a while until she eventually came to a stop. To her right stood an opera with missing window-glasses and without any signs at the door to inform a possible interested pedestrian of the opening-times, the program or prices.
“Obvious enough even for Celestia to be recognized as closed,” she sneered and stepped closer. Behind empty windows laid dusty rooms, bereaved of their facilities and as cold as the air of the street.
She stepped to the neglected door. When there would be a single opera in Canterlot that granted admission to a low-life, this would be the one. She pushed the doorknob to enter the pity building, but neither the door nor the know itself moved. Annoyed that she was refused to enter where probably every low-life went in and out as they wished to, she blasted the door into little pieces with blue bold of energy.
Luna entered with a snort, stepping through countless pieces of wood. It didn't surprise her that the entrance hall was in a similar condition of the rooms she had seen through the windows.
“Hello?” she shouted.
There was no answer, so she decided to at least throw a look at the stage. She didn't really hope to find Trixie lurking there, but maybe the whole thing turned out to be in such a bad condition that she could impose a demolition to make room for fresher buildings.
However, the corridor that connected the entrance hall with the stage taunted her idea of demolition. Building substance was missing everywhere and even a sort of biological mass seemed to take advantage of the rotten walls. Perhaps the Wonderbolts could delete it from the surface with a proper twister.
Just as she settled her four hooves on the red carpet that was used in nearly every opera of the city, a rat crossed her path with the eeriest noise she had heard since her descend.
“Demolition,” she whispered, “demolition indeed.”
She shortly hesitated, but stepped further and observed the remaining space of the hall. Beside the little resident the hall seemed empty. The ceiling above her still carried the floods, at least that's what she suspected them to be. Their glasses were too dusty to let any light in or out and the reflectors weren't mounted, either.
Declaring the room as completely observed, Luna stepped down the stairs that didn't look as worn-out as the other parts. Even the wood of the stage was in a worse condition. She didn't trust the rotten planks to carry her weight, even when it was rather low for her size.
So she walked around the stage to a door that didn't even tried to hide from the spectator's view and entered the room laying backstage. At least it was easy to reach as the orchestra pit was missing. In Canterlot everything became possible.
What she saw behind the stage, however, was even less than she suspected. Usually, the first room behind the stage fulfilled two functions. The first was to provide space for all directly involved ponies of a running play and provided the accession to the prompt boxes under the stage itself.
The second usual utility was to fill the check boxes. The backstage-area was often sold as a special feature for Very Important Ponies, as it was often called, where few citizens could see the actors doing last preparations before the play and celebrating with them afterward. To underline this importance, the room was often decorated in the fanciest ways. And of course there was a special ticket needed, with its own special price.
This room, however, didn't look like it ever has been decorated for such a usage. It was filled with empty shelves and clothes racks, each one standing unsorted on the walls and not providing anything but the function that wasn't needed anymore.
She couldn't say exactly what motivated her, but the wooden door wasn't something she ignored this night. Luna passed the empty shelves with quick steps and opened the door, not trying to reason with herself.
Behind it, another corridor stretched in a nearly perfect 90 degree-angle to the left side and through the length of the entire building, containing several doors at each side.
“Who constructed this?” she said to herself in slight disbelieve.
But the alicorn had enough. She had agreed to search for the trickster, but it was Celestia who failed to precise how long.
“IS THERRE ANYPONY?” She screamed out with the might of the Canterlot Voice.
The might of her words shook the walls and the doors within, sending down a bit of plaster from a wall as the only response she should receive from the wannabe-opera. Annoyed from the lack of life she stamped her hoof onto the hard stone beneath her and turned around for her return the the royal castle.
To her pity this plan got crushed as a voice rang out of the corridor, as she was about to leave the stage behind.
“Who disturbs the sleep of the great and... who disturbs my sleep?”
The voice lost in strength at the last words.
Princess Luna unfolded her wings and stepped back through the pity room, into the corridor. She wasn't in the mood to deal with low-lifers anymore, if she ever was, but she wouldn't break her commitment for trying. Cruelty was a privilege of the sun.
She passed around the corner with solid steps and spotted a blue univorn's head that poked out of a left door. She stepped closer, her wings still unfolded as well as possible and waited for the head to hide behind the rotten wood before she spoke up.
“We are Luna, Princess of the Night and ruler over Equestria, and we came to speak with thee, subject.”
To her surprise Luna saw the door getting entirely closed. Silence recaptured the corridor before a low-pitched voice answered her again.
“Trixie is not in the mood of talking.”
Luna stepped a bit closer to the door.
“This was not a request!” she shouted, slightly louder than intended. But she didn't regret it this time.
Luna heard a moan behind the door before it opened and a blue unicorn-mare stepped outside, her flank carrying the portraiture of a star wand and something that looked like a trail of night-sky.
Luna cleared her thought, “Art thou Trixie Lulamoon?
As the unicorn nodded in silence, Luna continued, “ We think that thy past sins are caused by thy inability of controlling your magical potential. We are in knowledge of thy failure in controlling the Alicorn Amulet and the resulting corruption of thy mind. But despite that stupidity we think that the main reason for thy weakness is-.”
“What?” Trixie interrupted suddenly with a determined undertone in her voice, “Trixie may has done mistakes in the past, but Trixie refuses to let herself being poured with scorn.”
Don't dare to judge our words before we finished them, trickster!” Luna said in an angry, authoritative voice, “ thou art running to the attention of other ponies like mots are seeking the deadly flames of light. Either thou shut thy tongue or we leave thou to thy misery immediately. There are enough other subjects who call for my attention.”
Trixie opened her mouth to speak up, but shut it close again as she missed words that could possibly be spoken.
“Very well. As we said, we want to speak about thy failures in Ponyville. What do thou have to say for thyself?”
Trixie lowered her head and faced the rocks under her. “Trixie did not fail,” she said in a low voice, “They tricked me. The citizens, the amulet.” She eventually lifted her head back at Luna, “But Trixie will show them what she can do and teach them what real magic is!”
Luna shook her head at such a stubbornness. “The only pony who tricked thee was thyself. Thou tried to prove the strength thou art carrying under the sun and got humiliated. Without access to ponykind's knowledge thou art only blinding thyself with useless hopes.”
Trixie shook her head in denial, “Trixie does not need the help of others! She is strong and can reach the same results as others on her own. We do not need-”
“Then thou art blinded indeed,” Luna silenced her harsh. “Many scholars are researching and practicing spells of highest complexity under the vision and guidance of magisters all over Equestria and thou thinkest that thou can proof thyself by battling the protege of our sister in thy own games?”
“T-Trixie just want what she deserves,” Trixie said.
“And what is that thou deserve, subject?” Luna asked with a raised eyebrow.
Trixie seemed to be thinking for a moment before she looked up to th8e lunatic Princess once more, opening her mouth with her full will to speak up,
“The Great and Powerful Trixie deserves more than being a subject,” she said.
Luna couldn't suppress a little smile in her face at the pitiful scene before her.
“Deserve by what? Being born? Thy self-confidence and will is strong, but thou art missing the control of both in the tawdriness of life.”
Trixie couldn't follow the words of Luna anymore. She was tired and hadn't eaten something since the early afternoon,when a young stallion, who came from the market, gave a half of something to her that she didn't even remembered the taste of.
“Trixie thought this was about her magics, not her personality,” she said exhausted.
The goddess shook her head, “Thou can't even see a lesson when it interrupts thy night.”
Luna closed her eyes as her horn began to glow in a mild-blue aura before the two ponies lost their tracks in time and space in the same moment as they reappeared in front of the busted entrance-door.
As she reopened her eyes, Luna saw a rather confused Trixie move her head aimlessly around, her expression containing a sprinkle of terror.
“What?” She heard her ask, “Teleporting WITH other ponies? I have never even heard of this!”
Luna just smiled and allowed herself to face the night-sky above her, which became a bit clearer by now. It always was the most satisfying thing to watch.
“There are many things a single pony could never know without the help of others,” she said after a short while.
“I want my revenge,” Trixie said while she stared at the powerful goddess.
“It's only the jester who goes out for war,” she denied. How did she sustained so long in this den of rats?
“No!” Trixie said enthusiastically, “I will learn what I can and then I will beat Twilight Sparkle in her own games. With your help they will have no choice but to acknowledge my power. Teach me war!”
“Neigh,” Luna said drily, “I won't help you fight against my sister's protege. Either thou keep fighting for the amicability of the sun or thou leave behind what had been. You can only be with the light or me.”
Trixie felt the exhaustion creep back into her head with confusion.
“But when you didn't come with the offer of help, why did you come here then?”
Luna stepped closer to the still clueless mare.
“We do come with an offer for help, although an other kind than thou art thinking of.”
As she stood face to face with her subject, she spread out her wings and wiped out every source of light that was possibly shining onto the mare's face, immersing it into an even darker shadow than it had been already in under the nothingness of the night above her.
“We can help thee to see clear again, I can wipe of the cruel sun and I can make you burn with energy again. In return, I need thy full obedience – and sovereignty.”
Trixie looked up into the face of the lunatic goddess, unable to move or speak. She stood in pure darkness, yet she felt an eerie warmth radiating from her fur. Above her head, the stars seemed to recollect strength, shining through the night-sky again, making it look so... peaceful. After a short period she felt he mouth opening. She didn't want to say something now, to break the darkness, but something that lurked in her didn't let her make the decision.
“My sweat will form the new stars,” she heard herself saying.
Luna smiled. She knew the pain of standing in the shadow of a bright light, never able to step into to light and yet never feeling the protection of darkness. Sometimes it just was the right decision to lay down the hard surface and regain strength before standing up for a walk journey again. This wasn't her fight, but then again every fight that disturbed the nightly peace of a subject was a thing that she had to take care of. Because in darkness, there was no need to fight for a meaningful life. Sense itself turned, like her oldest friend Discord once said, meaningless.
After another pause Luna turned away from Trixie, ready to leave her for the night.
“Think about it, Trixie Lulamoon. Carpe noctem.”
“Carpe noctem?” Trixie asked in a tired voice before Luna was able to do the first wing beat.
“It means 'enjoy the night'. Who knows if you'll see the next one.”
“Trixie hopes so,” she said, her eyes lost again in the dark sky.
“Do not trust in hopes,” Luna said as she turned a last time around to the unicorn, “they give unnecessary brightness to life.”
With that, Luna beat her wings and flew off into the night in thundering silence.
–
“That went... unexpected,” Twilight said in a low voice.
“It truly did,” Celestia confirmed and dropped the golden shimmer around her horn.
The two ponies had met to follow Luna's proceeding by using one of Celestia's observer spells in a slightly modified form. It had needed some adjustments to grand vision for both ponies and even more to let them hear what's being said, but that wasn't a big challenge for the shiny mentee and her most talented scholar and personal protege. It was a good feeling for Celestia to work at the same problem with Twilight again. Her royal duty didn't allow her to see the joyful pony very often.
Twilight yawned, “Do you think Trixie will get that massage?”
Celestia nuzzled Twilight's side softly. Luna's extended walk through the city had taken quiet a bit time and the always early up mare had leaned against Celestia's soft wing to rest comfortingly in the royal's bed.
“I don't know. All I wanted her to do was to make first contact, to trade some words as at Nightmare Night. But this was even strange for her. I'll ask her tomorrow.”
Twilight looked up at her mentee, “Do you think that's a good idea? She will surely be obsessed.”
“She will be for sure,” Celestia chuckled, “that's in her nature.”
Twilight managed to gain her own balance again as Celestia began to stretch her body that became rusty from the long rest.
“But for now,” she said with a relaxed voice, “I think it's time to grasp some sleep.”
Twilight nodded in deepest agreement.
–
Celestia sat alone at the big dinner the two princesses were enjoying each evening together after Luna raised from her diurnal dreams. She was used used to wait for her sister to finish her toilets every evening, and so she chewed on a piece of apple pear while recapturing the happenings of the day in her head.
She almost had finished the freshly imported fruit from the Griffon lands as a door on the other end of the room opened and revealed the dark-blue alicorn that was known as her sister.
'Good evening, Tia,” Luna said with a still sleepy voice as she entered the room.
Celestia smiled as her company finally arrived. Being alone wasn't on her list of most favored things.
“Good evening,” Celestia greeted as Luna reached the table, “Did you sleep well?”
Luna nodded as she sat down on her armchair covered in velvet.
“As beautiful as the last nights occurred to be, thank you. What brought the day? Any unsuspected changes of events?”
Celestia swallowed the last piece of the exotic fruit to give one of the trained answers for the daily greeting.
“Nothing a little tweak couldn't fix. I still wait for this day without such an unsuspected change, though.”
“You seem to have enough such problems to serve us both, Tia,” Luna said a jokingly while placing a piece of Everfree Forest Gateau onto a silver plate.
“Maybe you're right,” Celestia said, “what happened last night?”
After a short silence Luna spoke up with swallowing the last bit of gateau. “Well, I spoke to Trixie Lulamoon, just as you wished.”
“And?” Celestia asked.
“And what? I told her that she may should come to the royal magisters to end her suffers.”
Celestia tapped at the large table with her left hoof, “That's not what I meant. What do you think about her?”
“We think you know what we think about the trickster,” Luna said drily. “She's a vindictive personality.
“You don't understand!” Celestia almost uttered, but covered her mouth regretfully with her hoof to silence herself.
“Don't understand what exactly?” Luna said with a risen eyebrow.
“I wanted you to say hello, to greet the poor think and to learn about her. You haven't even done the first,” Celestia said.
“How would you know what I have said to her? I talked to Trixie Lulamoon in a suitable way.”
It was Celestia now who shook her head in denial at the lunatic goddess, “Not every old habit is still of proper utility in this time.
I watched you Luna, with an observing spell, and you have done the entirely different from what I wanted you to. Other ponies are-”
“What do you mean, you 'observed' me?!” Luna interrupted her white-fured sister, “do you still don't trust us?” she asked angrily, laying down her food back onto the plate.
“I do trust you, sister.” Celestia tried, “all I wanted was-”
“What made you cast this security-spell than? Curiosity? I thought my millenarian absence had taught you about patience, but apparently I'm wrong.” With that, she sent her hoof down to the table, making her silver plate shaking.
Celestia stopped to eat as well, “Don't believe that this was an easy time for me! I just wanted top know that you were going to say to her exactly, how you act.”
“Why didn't you just ask then? Words can transport such information, you know? But that wasn't enough for you a it seems. You had to see it through your own eyes to make your judgment about us.”
“I didn't-”
“Do not lie to us once more!” Luna yelled above the table as she stood up in a rude movement, almost kicking over her chair.
“You may want to finish off the dinner on your own,” Luna said and left for the door she came from.
Celestia looked down at her half-finished plate. That mare was truly washpish when it came to question of trust.
“She will calm down,” Celestia said into the wides of the hall, “I will plant the insight into her face one day.”
–
Still obsessed by the actions of her sister, Luna went to her beloved balcony again. Through the door she saw that the sun was still in the sky. The horizon was immersed in the burning red that Celestia painted sometimes into the sky at the interfaces between their reigns. She was tempted to return to her chamber until the sun settled down behind the horizon, but a bird that decided to land on the railing denied that plan with a cheerful cheep.
Luna stepped out into the last light of the day and as she did so, the bird flew off with the first ringing of her movement on cold stone.
Luna quickly stepped forward to watch after the little creature. It was barely the bird she was interested in – when it didn't want her attention anymore she was fine with it. It was rather the direction it had chosen: the Royal Gardens.
She couldn't see it as the enormous castle blocked her vision to the botanic masterpiece on the eastern exits, but she remembered it well from her past visits: the countless numerous of plant varieties, the labyrinth that Discord had temporarily smashed in his last visit and, speaking of it, the world-famous Canterlot Sculpture Garden that was integrated into the gorgeous complex.
It had been a while since she saw them in the light of day, and since there were a hour or two left until her reign took place, the decision to visit them again was an easy one.
So Luna left the recently accessed balcony and walked into the direction of the linkage-corridors of the different quarters of the castle.
She preferred walking over flying or even teleporting. It was one of the few things the two sisters' had in common. It was less exhausting and let her feel the beauty of the environment by not only hasting from action to action. Time wasn't the most important thing in the role of an immortal being, as she liked to say.
Thus, it took a bit longer than necessary to reach the door that led out to the paths of the Royal Gardens, which were due to their size often also were called 'the Canterlot Gardens' despite the fact that there was more than one garden located in the royal city. Thinking about it, many private ponies had beautiful gardens. Such like Fancypants, an influential pony of the local high-society, who called a garden which had nearly the same size as his house his own.
Luna walked down small path and breathed the still day-warm air, while the last voices reached her ears from the area before the scholar guards would walk through every corner to get each visitors out before they give the responsibility to her lunatic guards. Brave amateurs, they do their part.
As she reached the bifurcation that let either to the private access or the official entrance, Luna hadn't to think long as she turned right. The royal access existed on purpose, even when her sister referred toe main-entrance somehow.
Given the fact that the gardens were built before the pitiful downsizing of the tribune, the entrance was what others would call 'simple'. It was a beaten path, leading into the exotical flower-section and guarded by the guards who had to fulfill their duties in this section anyway.
So it was no wonder that there was currently nopony around to welcome her. Luna shook her head. She hadn't to do anything about it, since the absence from a gate at the arrival of a goddess was counted as a terrible rookie-mistake in the barracks. They surely would check the entrance more frequently the next days.
The first impression of the garden wiped away her thoughts.
A bush that outgrew the height of her face and carried deep-yellow flowers all over the greens. It didn't matter how strong she tried, she didn't remember this flower. It really seemed like the gardeners didn't sleep all day. She just didn't understand the choice of colour. Perhaps they didn't know better.
They didn't know better. That seemed to be a good reason for mistakes of every dimension lately.
The flowers behind weren't smaller; hundreds of selected flowers were carried together in one city, the most of them wearing more than three colours per leaf.
Luna went further through the gardens, a sea of colours and scents surrounding her. She didn't recall to have ever had a greater obsession with flowers. She had to admit that the world of fancy scents and sweet temptations they created in the pale light of her moon was of gracile elegance.
But that didn't change the fact that they were a section laying just between her and her target.
The next section was a little more enjoyable for the Princess, what also may could has resulted from it's little size.
The morphological subdivision provided those plants who had phenomenally and acknowledged curative effects – schizophrenic psychoses excluded.
The most of them were small-grown plants without any leaves. It was usually the root that brought them here.
As she walked through the garden she came to a stop at a sign that read, “Piper longum”.
Behind it grew a rather simple looking plant that went up to her hib and carried nothing else than a bundle of green leaves. The whole thing looked more than a weed which refused to get cut than a plant worthy to be sown in a royal's garden.
“Spice plants,” she sneered and continued her walk.
As uninteresting the plants were, as easy their were to be kept alive. The next section, as it was her next waypoint, was beyond everything the other sections needed in care. And, of course, it was her burden to carry.
The tertiary-flora section carried all those plants that weren't able to survive in the atmosphere of present days. And it was just this little point of definition that made them so hard to handle. Almost each plant required its own atmospheric spell, some of them too hard for the most employees of the Royal Gardens.
Over decades she had to check the vulnerable spells each four to five months, but that routine found a surprising end in her last weeks in Equestria when she had threatened the leading botanist with complete annihilation of his family in case he didn't found a way to fix this problem.
Sadly it wasn't the success of the botanist who ended her burden. Or maybe a little. After she was visiting the moon she never had to recast a single spell down here, and she never knew whether he had completed his task or not. She thought it would be unfitting to ask Celestia while she was running around piece-drunk.
Alas, walking through the old woods summoned memories. She even recognized single plants who were her faithful listeners when she broke into lamentations and nopony listened. It's bad manners to show weakness when a whole nation relies on one's decisions; it would make others dislike your true mental limits.
Inability as deeply ingrained as the roots of the mightiest, yet weakest trees. Luna smiled.
The dazzling red in the sky told her that she would be soon needed back in the castle, and there was still one place left that waited for her visit.
Luna walked through the many paths under the heavy trees and between the enormous bushes with the weirdest forms of leaves and fruits almost without paying attention to navigation – too often had she walked through this section to reach her point of desire.
Celestia wouldn't dare to change these paths without her allowance.
With fast steps she reached her last stop – the Canterlot Sculpture Garden.
Against the common logic it truly was a separated garden that got integrated into the botanical facility after the construction plans revealed critical space-problems with the bordering housing areas.
It wasn't too hard to guess what kind of statues remained through the storms of ages.
Sculptures portraying friendship, victorious actions and artists are a rather young addition to the collection.
The oldest, the ancient statues were these who resembled their natural paragons in a supernatural way. What the most didn't know, however,was the true function that laid behind representation.
Beneath so many spiritless sculptures stood one that spoke of cruelty, of the surreality of life itself.
“Discord, draconequal representation of chaos and disharmony,” read a little plate that was attached to the statue's gray fundament.
It was a little improvement Celestia had made after the Elements of Harmony petrified their mighty opponent for a second time.
Even she couldn't deny that he made this decision almost look rational by his behaviour. The cry for order at the anvil of creation was blasphemy in his opinion. And Celestia didn't fail to give a literal meaning to it this sentence. Countless times she ran after the mind-twisting draconequus when he worked against her sparkling polished orders and principles.
“Blasphemy!” he would have shouted at Celestia, “Your fancy logic only causes problems to the ponies!”
And he would only be responded by an angrily stamp on the hard tiles made of all kind of stones, forming an own work of art beneath the two most different beings Luna ever saw.
“My decisions emerge the ponies from the immaturity you impose on them,” she would say in her angriest expression, “I give them the chance to solve their problems on they own!”
“Problems they wouldn't even have when you just would listen to me!” Luna remember him scream in a mixture of despair and boredom, “Where is the fun in letting our ponies work hard on the fields all day long just to escape the cruel faith of starvation?”
And then Celestia would give the answer that still rang out in Luna's mind as if they discussed just yesterday, “Death,” she said, “is necessary thing to provide freedom.”
Death is necessary. A sentence that blocked her sleep more effectively then the sun itself since those days between creation and recreation.
She didn't remember what Discord answered to the truly celestian statement, probably because she forced herself to stop following the wild conversation at this point to shut her eyes eventually.
Looking backwards, she regretted this decision many times.
Of the many reasons that kept her away from daily sleep, this one was the heaviest. As often she felt to have a proper answer for it, as often it got crushed with the very next idea.
She wondered whether this was what happened to Discord as well, although she didn't remember him to be caught wordless that often.
“Arguing on high seas,” he described his talk with Celestia once, “is mainly a question of draught. And ears. You can't argue without ears.”
She had been a young mare back then and didn't understood everything the two higher gods said, but thinking about it, she doubted he complained about her missing ears.
As much fun as he had with Celestia's rage, making subtle insults wasn't his sole ability. Between the mayor problems he had to solve with Celestia, Discord helped her in composing the night.
Even gods rested between their disputes.
After the responsibility went into Celestia's hooves by winning a chass-game against Discord (and after Luna refused to carry this burden as a third, neutral fraction) it was on Celestia to manage the flood of time and with that, Luna gained the power of the night.
So it came that Luna learned besides the order-loving wings of her sister Celestia the joyful thoughts of Discord the Draconequus.
She closed her eyes and ignited her horn with an intense dark-blue tone as she stepped slowly forward and touched the statue with it's peak.
–
Luna stood on a balcony that gave sight to the sky without having mountains flying through her vision, as they did in the less gravity-intensive regions of the southern lands.
It had been barely a week since Celestia won the responsibility about the time, at least when she remembered the new time-system right. After both agreed the new circumstances they asked her to take care of the night. She wasn't entirely sure if she was good enough for this, had the direct environment been the biggest response she had to care about.
And this wasn't just because she wanted. Otherwise she would have risked obliteration of her home in another contention of the higher gods. But ruling about the whole creation alone?
They lulled her with the new conception of this time. It was supposed to let the ponies rest after the hard work of day, hiding from they fears and shading the suffering around them int unrecognizable shadow-guises.
She would be more like a guide to rest than an actual ruler, and when something went really wrong, Discord assured her, they would come and help. Thus, she acquiesced their request and soon the first night appeared. And indeed, it wasn't as hard as she thought.
The sun faded and dark shadows devoured everything, just as they said. The problems seemed to fade slowly away from the surface and even the voices in the castle, Celestia's annoyed screams and Discord's joyful laughs, turned down and threw her into the all too unfamiliar situation of hearing her own thoughts. It was that first night when she firstly experienced the joy of silence.
There was noone talking, noone arguing and the only thing that filled the halls with life was the voice of her own thoughts that danced through her head without having to fight against whatever was outside.
But time carried on effortlessly as it was supposed to do now. She almost felt a little sad as the first sun-rays fought back the dark curtain and soon awakened the first yawns in Celestia's mouth. And even than time didn't stop and brought back her night after almost the equal time she had to enjoy it.
Well, the waiting felt slightly longer to her, but Celestia assured to her that both times were of equal length multiple times, so she believed her words.
As solid time was, after seven black, beautiful nights it was starting to be missing something.
She stood on the balcony, and the night just seemed to be too black and lifeless. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't name it. Before her laid the most peaceful horizon she had ever seen, yet missing something that she couldn't name.
It was, as if the lifelessness crept into her head and creating ideas which disappeared when she tried to catch them. So she stood motionless on the balcony for what felt like an eternity until she got wiped out of her trance by a familiar voice that raised behind her.
“Would you mind some company, Woona?” Discord asked through the opened door.
She didn't answer immediately. The trance to had a strong grip of her mind and she had to regain her consciousness before she was eventually, “We would like to enjoy thy company.”
She was surprised how low and eased her voice became in the silence, but what was even more surprising was the missing awareness of what she had said. The words were just.. there.
Discord, however, stepped undeterred out into her little vista of colorlessness.
“So,” he said in a much lower voice than usual, “you're ruling the night, eh?”
“Guiding,” she amended, “in fact I don't think I'm doing anything at all.”
Discord passed her emotionless before he leaned against the stone-cold railing, his face turned into the land and his body twisted further than she ever think of doing herself.
“Keeping the ball as low as usual.”
She shook her head, “No, I mean it. There is hardly anything I have done in the nights yet. Why are you here anyway?”
“Dear Celestia surely wasn't too much influenced by my psyche while working out this rest-time. You know, all the silence is quiet boring.”
“Boring? Well, I think there's something missing, too.”
Discord loosed the twist of his load at her clause to face the dark-blue goddess, “but of course there is, my dear. All the life is gone. Why should we bother with creating life when they go hide and interrupting their actions over again.”
“I don't know, she said as no explanation came to her mind, “but that's not what I'm missing, actually.”
“But I do.” Discord said louder than his previous words, immediately casting his paw over his mouth silence himself, only to speak up again, “Can't we just raise at least a view creations?”
His voice became pleading, but she knew that Celestia would be angry if she disturbed her plans.
“For that,” she said after a little thought, “we would need to fasten up time. And as you know that is only Celestia's responsibility.”
Discord turned again around to watch the darkness feasting at his source of joy and satisfaction.
“The boredom is killing me. I can't wait that long over and over again.”
She raised an eyebrow at the overly dramatic figure in front of her and stepped beside him, also observing the nothingness.
“You could help me to guide this nothingness.”
Discord waved his paw in denial, “You're the ruler of the night, not me.”
“That's not what I meant. There's something missing in the darkness, I feel it, but my mind fails me to actually name it.”
“Now, that doesn't surprise me,” he said while he unscrewed his claw, “Celestia supposed it to grasp the consciousness so you can find it again after you blacked out for far too long. Not the greatest way of resting, if you ask me.”
“What do-” she felt a sudden urge to silence herself, as she saw the draconequus drop his claw lazily down the balcony, only to have it catapulted back upwards seconds later, catching it midair with his paw and replacing it where it originally was located.
“How,” she tried again, “how do you think I could do it then? It's surely my task to retreat missing objects.”
Her guest scratched his chin before he spoke up, “Do not trust in words were thy are bereaved of their powers. There is more to the soul than we can see.
And if you'll excuse me now, I'll try to use my ears as wings.”
Luna blink-blinked at Discord in slight confusions as he began to even unscrew his head.
“I don't understand,” was everything she managed to say.
“Of course you don't.” the unscrewed head said, “understanding is powered by words.”
With that, the asymmetrical body threw off it's head into the wides of ht night.
“But- but...” she moaned as the headless body didn't seem to make any further reactions.
Understand without understanding, name the missing piece without words...
this wasn't helpful at all!
Luna forced her eyes to focus the headless body that stood next to her like as a bizarre derision of life and logic themselves. She hoped it would grand her inspiration, but for a long time it did nothing but granting her a huge headache. But the resisted the exhaustion. It was her burden now to carry the night on her shoulders and to bring back whatever got lost on the journey through the desert of time.
The words had to make sense! He was in her doubts, after all. She gave him company and he couldn't repay that with senseless words. Then again, he was a headless snake-body.
There it was again. This feeling that was absent in the past nights, when she was alone.
She stood between sides, two powers which tugged at her. Bizarre creation that begged for her action and death nothingness that wanted her to do nothing but rest. She stood against them with all her might, but what could she possibly do?
She closed her eyes.
She wouldn't get sucked into this game. When they didn't want her to understand she won't bother trying to. They said the night should be a time of resting,m where the problems of the day lose their might. And they made her the ruler of it. She wouldn't fail.
There are no values in the night.
There are no values.
The sentence echoed through her mind as if Discord's head sent it like a ball to a fatal collision through a library, knocking all the sorrows down onto the ground and out of the shelves of her consciousness.
It almost seemed as if the darkness that surrounded her was lightened up by the emptiness that grew in her every passing second. It grew, until there was nothing left to threaten her eyes with existence, and then she saw it.
A shadow or rather a flame that danced in her mind, fastly changing it's position as if it understood her mind as a habitat itself,m inviting fort a indefinite dance ignorance.
Now she had it, now it was hers.
She reached for it, grasped the idea tightly
But as soon as she grasped it, ready to throw it down to non-existence, it started moving again.
It shook widely, s if it was in terror. She wanted to destroy it, but she couldn't. So it grew in her grasp, in its strength in its might. Soon, she found herself moving in an eerie metamorphism, trapped by something that couldn't exist.
Then it took hold of her, growing up to her face and granting her a vision she never could have imagined. Beneath her, where she only expected an endless nothingness to be, laid the other ideas, shattered and buried too far beneath her to make out the single pieces.
In terror she recognized herself moving. The colourful yards grew tinier, until she could barely make out more of them than a single dot in flawless blackness. It made her lose any feeling for form and weight; she just felt the movement in it's purest substance.
After a not recallable duration of time, a string of light that passed a corner of her eyes at enormous speed made her turn the vision into the other direction. What she saw, however, was not what expectations could ever have built.
In contraction to what she suspected to be the bottom of her mind, the sphere's vapour were covered with dots of enormous quantity and variations; unimaginable intense colours and abstract forms, glimmering constantly responsively. She shot through the mass of lights with unbroken speed and into the light of creation.
She opened her eyes.
The world that surrounded her was glowing in silver shimmer of light calling for her to ascent a last time into the empty space above her.
She spread her wings and untied herself effortlessly from the spiritless ground.
Her body was burning. She didn't feel her skin being burned, it was pure energy that perched in her chest, unwilling to expand any further but still increasing in its intensity.
With pounding beats of her wings she carried herself higher, slowly passing the line of the horizon and was suddenly greeted by a ball of floating light, spreading a silver light over the world.
It ascended with her, until she fell back into the grasp of nothingness and onto the hard stone of the balcony.
–
“Luna.”
Nothing.
“Luna!”
Nothing.
“Chocolate Rain?”
“NO!”
Her head shot up in terror, bashing Discord's face merciless out of it's way.
Discord shook his head back into its natural position, already accustomed to ridiculously overdrawn reactions.
“So I take it that you're back up.”
Luna tried to get back on her hooves, but fatigue smashed this plan in its earliest stage of development.
“What happened?” She asked in a similar but weak voice as her first greet of the night.
“You tell me. I was slowly getting used to my ear-flying techniques as this... thing raised behind the horizon,” he was pointing with a talon into the sky, where a silver shimmering orb stood where usually the sun took place. However, it didn't burn one's eyes as the sun used to.
“I... this...” words were still missing in her throat.
“Just in case that you want me to tell that it's an alien battleship that comes for our souls, you may want to rethink that answer.”
Luna in response turned her head aimlessly around and eventually back to the orb.
As Discord only raised his eyebrow, she sighed and looked up to the draconequus.
“I guess you were right. Not everything requires words.”
“Until I want to know about it!”
“I'm afraid that it's just ain't that way.”
Discord stepped back into a pale shade of moonlight, placing his face in a beam of silver strings.
“Just as you get a higher responsibility you begin to sound like Celestia. You even look look her!”
“What do you mean? She asked with higher curiosity.
As Discord pointed worthlessly on her flank, her expression became suddenly petrified and a shade of ruby-red pushed through her dark-blue fur.
“I'm getting fat?!” She shouted in a all-of-a-sudden fatigue-less voice.
Discord found himself stuck in a unbelieving expression before he waved his head a wild no, “Rubbish!” he said, “Listen. I'm the god of chaos and you're getting dangerous closely to my jurisdiction. I actually meant the... whatever it is on your fur.”
Luna looked down her body. Beneath her round belly was her full-grown flank that provided enough space for something that had shape and colour similar to the thing that filled the sky with its beauty.
“I wonder where that came from, “she said with a little absence in her voice.
“Well, I certainly don't know what you've done in the time I was flying around, but what I do know,” he stopped his voice to reposition his claw into a thinking pose, “is that the naming of strange things lies in the responsibility of the god of chaos, who is particularly me. Therefore, I shall hereby degree that whatever it is that adorns your flank is called cutie-mark by now.”
“Cutie-mark? Don't you think that sounds a little.. odd? How did you even come up with this?”
Discord smiled at his neologism, “because you're the only one who wears it, just as Tia does. Therefore it's a mark.”
“And where comes the cutie from?” She asked in highest curiosity.
“Luna,” Discord said with a suddenly stoic voice.
“Because Luna?” she asked more than a little irritated.
“Luna.”
“What?” She began to feel unease.
“Luna, your leadership is required.”
“But- but I'm here!”
Without any further signs, Luna felt her self dragged down by something strange, back into a deathlike silence and into the highest spheres of the sky.
–
Luna reopened her eyes and blink-blinked her vision under the sign of the still petrified Discord awake.
“I searched you everywhere Luna,” a voice boomed in her ears, “why didn't you tell anypony where you went?”
“I,” Luna began, but failed to overcome the dizziness yet. Memory-spells of this intensity had their undesirable side-effects as well, after all.
“I didn't feel need for it.” She finally managed to say.
“Is everything okay?” Celestia asked hesitatingly.
Luna faced her visitor and nodded slowly, “It is. We were just... remembering old days.”
“Past days,” Celestia elaborated, “the kingdom needs you now,m in the presence. What's behind should be left behind. Speaking of it.. I'm sorry.”
“You're sorry? Luna couldn't stop her mind from doing a little twist, “What for?”
Celestia lowered her head and walked few steps around Luna.
“For having observed you. I should have waited for your return to hear about it.”
Luna felt a light chill run down her spine as she heard this apology.
“Oh, that,” she said, “it's fine.”
Celestia frowned, “Really? You're not angry anymore?”
“If that would have been your biggest mistake everything would have been very easy.” Luna said in a clear voice again.
Celestia said nothing for a moment, but came up with an answer eventually.
“Thank you.”
Luna nodded, “I guess it's time to get back into the castle. The night doesn't rule itself.”
“True,” her sister agreed, “but tell me, will you return to Trixie?”
Luna moved her vision into the still moonless sky above her.
“As the goddess of the night” she said, “it's my task to guide our subjects to rest. And I think I know where I will begin tonight.”
Worthlessly the two Princesses left the garden side by side.
Because sometimes a lie is easier to take.
End of Chapter One
Author's Note
Thank you soo much for taking time to read this fiction! Every kind of feedback is highly welcome. The harder the better!
