Brand New Life, It's A Glorious Day

The full moon beamed it's mild light through the windows of the castle, illuminating a room up high in the castle fit for only royalty itself from its darkness. In the corner next to a rather huge bed is the princess of the night sitting on a stool, with a neatly organized desk having a small pile of parchments, and a lit scented candle to give visual aid to the princess. The tantalizing aroma of the rose scented candle floated about as Luna levitated one more parchment onto the pile.

"Finished." Luna quietly said to herself. She looks at the clock on her nightstand as she got off the stool to stretch.

"With 5 minutes... to sssspare before... Lunarrrr courrrt!" Luna grunted loudly as she gave her rear left leg a final stretch.

"Ahh, that felt wonderful." She then gives a sigh of relief, and trots slowly over to the window, parting the curtains to observe the gardens.

Her thoughts started with how she always admired the beauty of the gardens as a filly, while running around with her beloved sister, playing a simple game of tag. As soon Celestia crossed her mind, her smile dropped slightly.

The saddened alicorn releases a heavy sigh, and gives the ground a doleful stare.

"...Oh sister... we are terribly, terribly sorry.."

She remained by the window for many minutes, in complete silence. It didn't take long for the sound of a tear drop to lightly fall onto the ground, being no louder than a pin being dropped.

"We regret it so much... and now we have to bear with watching thou struggle with emotional turmoil..." She wipes her tears, and smacks the tiled floor out of frustration, shortly followed with another heavy sigh.

"We deserve it... we deserve to suffer with her. It is what we deserve for causing such pain upon her…”

She looked upon her great creation up in the sky through the window, the moonlight reflecting off her tear-glazed eyes.

“I... was such a fool.”

An abrupt knocking on her door startled her, making her quickly reach for the edge of her bed blanket to wipe her tears with. She then swiftly sat back on the chair, and cleared her throat as she tried to regain her composure.

“Yes, come in!” She called to whoever it was on the other side of the door. It was most likely a royal guard just coming by to give her the security report for the night. The giant wooden door hinges gave a very whiny cry as it slowly swung forward.

“Princess?” A familiar voice of a mare sounded.

Luna being slightly caught off guard from the feminine voice, leans herself to a better position to see who could possibly be here at this time.

“Yes?” She replied with a hint of genuine curiosity.

A lavender colored face carefully peers beyond the side of the door, revealing Twilights unmistakable face. She held the same facial expression she would always show when greeting Celestia; innocent, humble, and precautious.

“Erm… I hope i’m not being bothersome or-“

“Nonsense! Please, take a seat.” Luna interjected as she levitated a wooden stool to just a few feet away from herself. Twilight, being humble as always, kindly thanked her and took her seat.

“So, I don’t mean to be brash, but what was it that you wanted to see me about?” Twilight asked as benevolent as possible. Luna was lost at first, not remembering her statement about wanting to see Twilight. She suddenly then closed her eyes tightly shut, lightly smacking her forehead with her hoof.

“Oh, of course of course! Yes, um… oh, hold on.” Luna quickly gave a glance to the small clock on her nightstand, and then returned her view to Twilight. Just as she was about to say her first word, her warm smile went from content, to distraught.

“Are… you alright princess?” Twilight asked with an unsure tone. Luna’s eyes were simply fixed on the wall behind Twilight; her facial expression being simply widened eyes, and a frown.

“Twilight. Are my eyes deceiving me, or is the time on that clock correct?” Luna muttered in a low tone. Twilight gave a simple look to the clock, and nodded.

“Yes princess, half past midnight-..” Twilight’s voice dropped, and soon both had the exact same facial expression.

“I cannot believe that I let a half an hour fly by me like that.” Luna stated with irritation as she shifted around her throne. Twilight simply sat on her haunches beside the dark alicorn, observing Luna's court room. The stained glass windows that she had never laid her eyes upon, the millennial year old decorations preserved perfectly as if time had not touched it ever since Luna’s banishment. The grey marble walls and floors, the blue rug that stretched from the large mahogany doors to Luna’s black marble throne, the dark blue colored satin curtains with white trim, the stained glass windows, all in mint condition. As if it all were just constructed and placed yesterday.

Her face was simply swallowed by awe. Twilight then noticed some swirls that were lightly engraved on the grey marble floor underneath her. They were so lightly engraved that they could not be noticed unless you bothered to admire the details of the large court. She carefully traced the swirls with her eye, and in a few moments, she realized that the entire room, from floor to ceiling, was engraved with these swirls.

Luna noticed the odd silence that Twilight was in, and followed her eye movements. She then grinned and chuckled warmly to herself.

“Ahh, an eye for detail. Impressive. Not many ponies even bother with details.”

Twilight snapped out of her trance-like state, and looked directly into Luna’s eyes.

“Princess, this is… magnificent. Did you design it all?”

Luna gave a more audible chuckle, and her grin grew into a smile.

“Oh, just partially. I wish I did though. But this was all pretty much designed by no one other than your mentor, Twilight. I’m surprised that you do not know of this, considering you are her star pupil?”

Twilight’s jaw just wanted to hit the ground. It would’ve fallen off if that was even possible.

“I… no… she never…” Twilight slightly shakes her head, and continues.

“No, not at all.”

Luna then chuckled even more loudly, fully being audible to all the guards that were in the large room.

“Well, she always had an amazing eye for detail, just like thou- I mean, you, in fact.” Luna rolled her eyes at her mistake, and shook her head out of annoyance.

“Really?” Twilight questioned.

“Princess Celestia never really… shared much about herself. But, I mean she’s a princess. I’m sure she’s more concerned about her royal duties, rather than to share a silly story.” Celestia never really revealed much about herself to her, but Twilight often left it as it was, common sense telling her that a ruler must always be too busy for such silly nonsense.

Luna’s smile then slightly dropped.

‘If only you knew, Twilight Sparkle..’ Luna thought to herself. ‘It’s actually… quite the opposite.’

Luna’s smile completely faded, as she slightly lowered her head.

“Twilight Sparkle. That is actually… why I wanted to see you.” She said in a low volume only loud enough for Twilight to hear.

“W-what?” She responded confused.

“Yes. You see… there is, far more to learn from my sister.” Luna continued in her low volume.

“D-do you mean as... a student?" Twilight asked with doubt. Her gut suddenly gave her a faint idea that maybe this conversation was going to steer deep into something, but maybe she was overreacting. She silently hoped for the latter.

“No… much more than that, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna deadpanned as she stared directly into Twilight’s eyes. Twilight mentally gasped. The feeling she had in her gut was right, which didn't help Twilight calm down at all.

“What do you… possibly mean?” Twilight tried to say as placidly as she could.

Luna continued to stare into her purple eyes, now feeling unsure if this was a right time to share, let alone if she should even talk about it anymore. Taking a long breath in, Luna closes her eyes and relaxes her slightly tense muscles.

“Sparkle, there is much that you do not know about…”

Twilight simply waited for her to continue, her eyes showing both curiosity, and doubt if she should further pry the conversation. Taking it as her queue to continue speaking, Luna does so.

“Celestia in a way, use to be just like you. Eye for detail, smart, diplomatic, perfectionist, and so on. She always took things too seriously, even up to points where she would stress out incredibly, leaving me to take over her duties for the rest of the day. Kind of like how you always… overreact to my sister when she summons you.”

Twilight slightly blushes, demurely smiling.

“I on the other hand, took things normally, and even wondered sometimes how she was the elder sister…” Luna placed her hoof under chin, but quickly dismissed the thought with her hoof.

“Anyway, as I took things normally, she would always somehow magnify a mere problem; sometimes exaggerating the situation to a ridiculous point where she would drown in a glass of water.” Luna chuckled. “But I guess being the younger sibling kind of gives you that sense of a lesser responsibility.” Her chuckle quickly died, as she moved on to the next sentence.

“But… there was a certain point in time where she… discovered… something. Being use to quite a few centuries of this behavior of hers, I didn’t pay much attention and passed it as another one of her overreactions. However, her perfectionism really… how do you ponies say it…” Luna thought for a moment. “Kicked in?”

Twilight nods.

“Right. Let’s just say this discovery was a theory of hers. She had the sudden urge to prove if this theory was correct. It was actually… both correct and incorrect.” Luna fixed her gaze to Twilight, hoping she would somehow understand what she was saying. Unfortunately, Twilight’s face said it all, and was struggling to comprehend.

“Oh dear… Twilight.” Luna said, sighing in frustration.

“What I am about to say will stay in these chambers, and will never be said to another ponies ears, is that clear?” She said with her most commanding tone that she could conjure without putting fear into Twilight.

Twilight immediately nodded, becoming even more worried about what she was getting herself into.

Luna thought no differently. Was it smart to even bring this up to anypony? Well, the wound was far too deep now, might aswell continue..

"Twilight Sparkle..." Luna said with a pause. "Only recently, has Celestia revealed this to me..."

Twilight nodded, completely unsure where she was heading with this.

"During those times, Celestia decided to observe our subjects more carefully. More specifically, she observed what they did with their lives during their free time." Luna looked again to Twilight's face, relieved to see that she was keeping up now. "It is a long story... but to make it short and understandable, I'll just explain this as simply as I can."

Luna shifted around her throne again, still feeling uneasy to the fact that she's sharing this to Celestia's own student. It somehow felt like she was going behind her back, but in her mind she reminded herself that it was for a good cause.

"Celestia was a mare that really took knowledge seriously. The pressure of being a ruler of an entire land never really lifted itself from her, and this was really why she always took everything with such exaggerated austerity. She always had this illusion that our subjects would go nuts if we didn't exactly show that we were..." She pauses once more, tapping her hoof on the ground. "Oh, curse your society's modern tongue..."

"The sharpest tools in the shed?" Twilight added. Luna points her hoof at Twilight, smiling.

"That's it!" She said a bit too loudly, causing her to give a nervous cough. A few guards did toss a strange look, but quickly changed it to their usual stoic expression in respect for the princess.

"That's it." She said back in the previous volume they were speaking in.

"Celestia took her observations too seriously, and from that very moment things went downhill. She never payed much attention to the activities that our subjects always did; parties, picnics, and so on. Social events and such."

"What happened afterwards... is kind of difficult to understand, but please Twilight, put yourself in her perspective for this."

Twilight nodded understandably.

"Now... she knew very well from the start why they all did those activities. They we're always happy from doing them, and that always assured Celestia that if it made them happy, there was nothing to worry about. Although, when she found the meaning behind it all was something that she never had in her entire life before, it didn't help her at all.."

Twilight's previous feeling of doubt started to transition to worry. The mood of this conversation was definitely heading for a bad direction.

"Celestia in her entire life had only sat on her throne, settled politics, managed economy... you know, the royal duties, to keep the list short."

"Celestia did try to make the best of her life, and attempted countless times do so by spending time with her subjects, creating events of amusement, festivals, and so on. But it was always, always, cut short by her royal duties. It became frustrating over the years, and as the centuries passed, it didn't help at all that it slowly became her heart's desire to atleast... taste life."

Twilight's eyes widened as she suddenly realized what those social events that Celestia always tried to attend meant. All of it made sense now. The Summer Sun Celebration, the Grand Galloping Gala, the small dinner parties, the visits to Ponyville, everything. She always took it all as nothing more than casual, but it all had more meaning than that this entire time.

"So is that why Celestia always seem to have a celebration or festival around the corner?" Twilight asked.

Luna replied with the nod of her head. Twilight on the other hand, finished processing this new information, but as if it wasn't enough, Luna then took in a heavy breathe.

"But then... when I made my ignorant decision to rebel against Celestia..."

Twilights heart sunk. Secretly, she always wanted to know what really happened, because the old tale of Luna's jealousy getting the best of her did not sound like something she would do. It was simply not like her personality to be like that. Although, now was certainly not a time to pry such a delicate subject, so she left Luna to continue.

"Once I was banished, I left her with all of the responsibilities. She had to do everything. My work on top of her work, as if it wasn't enough. For one thousand years I was banished as a punishment. But if you think about it carefully, for a thousand years, she was punished aswell, for my actions. My ignorant decision..."

"...My selfish..."

"Stupid."

"IMMATURE ACTIONS!"

All the gaurds in the large room cringed, even the ones outside of the doors heard the shout. They all felt uncomfortable when it came to hearing about it, and Twilight no different. Luna turned her face away, attempting to hold back her tears. For many moments, silence was all there was in the court.

For many minutes Twilight stood there, feeling helpless as the princess of the night cried right in front of her. It suddenly hit her, that Luna, alicorn of the night, had summoned her... for help. She may have not said it, or admit it yet, but at this point it was clear. She was asking Twilight for help. After the many moments of silence, Luna finally spoke up.

"Twilight... you have helped me once. I can never be thankful enough for that... and now I feel embarrassed to ask that... I need your help again, Twilight. This time, to help Celestia." Luna mumbled as she hung her head, eyes closed to prevent any more tears to flow. Twilight felt incredibly overwhelmed with emotion, not sure how to handle that the princess was practically begging on her knees for her help.

"I-... Luna" Twilight stuttured. Her tongue was absolutely twisted. Such a huge responsibility would drive her mad in one hour. She wanted to refuse, but she felt that it would be wrong to do so. That was not something that a friend would do. Twilight's stomach felt tight, doubt filling her mind if she was able to handle such a huge weight on her shoulders.

"Twilight... please. From what Celestia has told me, you are truly gifted, and always find a way through anything..." Luna gave her a small smile. "Show her that she was right Twilight... You can help her, I know you can."

Twilight felt a surge of confidence in herself, and instantly beamed back a smile of her own.

"O-..ok, princess. I will help."

Luna's words were simple, yet they absolutely gave confidence to her. Twilight couldn't possibly refuse. Still, there was that voice deep in her head saying that this was going to make a huge, huge, huge impact somehow.

"But, where to start. How to start?" Twilight questioned with a hint of anxiety in her voice.

Luna wiped the last of her tears, and took a breathe to relax.

"Well... try to recall on your experiences? Anything similiar to this... situation."

"I- uh... that is very difficult, princess. I'm afraid i've never caused... anypony a thousand years of emotional pain."

"No, no not that drastic Twilight..."

Twilight chuckled nervously, smacking her face with her hoof in complete embarrassment.

"R-right... of course." She said with a nervous quiver in her breathe.

"Please, relax Twilight. Perhaps, tea would help?"

The sound of tea really did seem inviting at a moment of extreme tension like this. Twilight instantly nodded her head, already tasting the tranquil flavors.

"It would, greatly."

Instantly, Luna's horn glowed, and a small bright flash made a silver tray adorned with gold appear, a large tea pot and two cups on said tray. The tea was already hot and ready to be served, and Luna's inviting smile said it all.

"Go ahead, help yourself."

In a heartbeat, Twilight levitated the pot, pouring in a humble amount of steaming hot tea into her cup, and took a well practiced sip.

"Absolutely wonderful." said Twilight, releasing a genuine sigh of relaxation.

"It always helps me when i'm stressed."

"I'm glad." Luna spoke with a gentle smile while serving her own tea.

"Well... there was this one time where I promised my good friend, Rarity, that I was going to teach her an advanced crystal detection spell. She was getting ready for a huge scavenge to find as many crystals, for she was running short in all of types of jewels. I completely forgot about it, and by the time I remembered, she already left; reason being she was in dire need of crystals for a sudden large order..."

The pot was short of tea as Luna tipped the last of it into Twilight's cup with her magic. With the glow of her horn, all the content on the tray disappeared in a small flash.

"Thank you." Twilight said gratefully.

"My pleasure." Luna smiled. "As you were?"

"Oh, right! So, after searching for Rarity for countless days, Rainbow Dash and I couldn't find her at all. When we returned to ponyville, it turned out she returned early before us because she already consumed too much time searching for crystals. Thanks to the fact that I forgot to teach her the advanced spell, she burned through half of her valuable time of two weeks, and only had one week left. To make matters worse, she didn't even find enough crystals for the large order."

"Oh dear.." Luna sounded genuinly worried.

"Indeed." Twilight agreed.

"What happened?" Luna asked before she took another sip of her tea. Twilight took a few sips aswell, savouring the pure flavor of the fantastic tea. With a sigh of bliss, she continued.

"I felt wrong. Guilty that she had to labor through an entire week of her time to find crystals, only to find little, almost nothing at all. So I did what a true friend would do. To fix my mistake, I set out myself to search for as many crystals as I could, and with my advanced crystal detection spell, I found the exact amount of crystals she needed along with enough crystals to last three more projects, all within six days. I went back to ponyville as fast as possible, the adventure taking almost an entire day alone to return; mainly because of the massive amounts of cystals that I had to pull on a wheelbarrow."

"I made it back with just about half of daylight to spare, and just in time for Rarity to finish her order which was due the next morning. Needless to say, she was extremely grateful, and after I apologized for all the chaos I stirred for my mistake, all was well, and we gathered with all of our friends for a small party the day after in Sugarcube Corner to celebrate Rarity's success in what seemed like was about to be the worst failed order of Rarity's year." Twilight finished with a nostalgic sigh and grin.

Luna levitated her finished tea cup onto the empty tray, and cleared her throat.

"A true friend you are, Twilight Sparkle... very." She said with wide eyes as she held an almost blank facial expression. There was definitely something going on in her mind.

'It has been obvious... this entire time' Luna mentally told herself.

Twilight blushed as she finished the last of her tea aswell, and levitated it onto the tray. She was oblivious to Luna's facial expression as she smacked her lips to get the aftertaste of the tea.

"Friendship is always important to me, princess. I would never fail my friends." She gave a warm smile, but then sighed.

"I just don't know... how i'm going to help you though. Don't worry, I'll find a way princess, but this might take quite a bit of time... weeks maybe."

"No... I've figured it out." Luna spoke softly as she nodded slowly.

"Already?" Twilight gave her a perplexed look. That was definitely unexpecting.

"Yes. It is settled... this is definitely my choice." Luna spoke more to herself as a sudden smile creeped upon her face.

"What?" Twilight asked, becoming more curious as to what was going on in Luna's head.

"Twilight, I thank thee very, very much!" Luna grasped Twilight in her forearms, giving her a hug.

"I'm... confused." Twilight said as she mindlessly hugged Luna.

"This will... finally end the countless nights and days of pain in my heart. The guilt will finally be gone." Luna quietly uttered.

"Luna, what are you sayi-"

Luna released her from the hug, and stared directly into her eyes. It was not in a menacing or threatening way, but one that said thanks from deep down in her heart. A giant weight was about to lifted from her heart. An unliftable weight that has been on her for far too long.

After a few moments of silence, Luna spoke softly.

"All is going to be revealed very soon, Twilight Sparkle. Do not worry.."

Twilight was still not sure what Luna had planned, but her worries faded as Luna's warm and gentle smile reassured her that it was surely going to be ok.

"Go get some well deserved rest, Twilight."

Twilight yawned as soon as she mentioned rest, and nodded sleepily.

"Thank you princess.. goodnight."

With that, she trotted down the blue rug, and as the huge mahogany doors opened, she turned around once more to see that same look Luna's eyes. Twilight felt good inside. Real good. Whatever was going to happen tomorrow morning, Twilight was going to know that it was thanks to her, that it was possible. Celestia and Luna were going to be closer than ever, and Twilight would learn another invaluable lesson on friendship.

Twilight turned back around and exited the large court into the equally large corridors, yawning as she continued to trot through the seemingly never ending corridor. The large mahogany doors slowly swung back in, as she took the next left and began walking up a spiral staircase to the room she was going to stay in. Her vision began to blur slightly as she entered her room. She fell straight onto the bed, and slid under the warm covers. A few final thoughts pondered around in her mind, thoughts about what exactly Luna had in mind. The grasp of sleep was too strong though, so she quickly sunk into the land of dreams, as a small smile crept onto her face.

If only she knew what Luna had planned in mind.