The War for Summer

Princess Luna sat quietly, her gamecolt afloat with magic as she methodically went between mashing the A and B buttons and control pad playing her game. There was something about the sterile and eerie silence in the royal hospital ward that made her uncomfortable. The only noise in the private ward her sister had been stationed in were the occasional beeps and boops of her beloved toy, echoing lonesomely in chorus with the beeps and boops of the various medical machines attached to Celestia. (That, and the steady hum of several over sized heat lamps all shining on her sister like some wilted plant in need of artificial sunlight.) She could hear the faint sounds of conversations running from other wards, but could not discern anything concerning her in them.

The only company she had (save for her sister still out like a light), was an unknown stallion in a white-bandage full-body cast that sat in total silence. Attached to him was an IV drip that slowly emptied downward, and another dish that collected something underneath him. On occasion, the nurses would return to the ward, and switch the drips with each other so that whatever was running out of him was now running into him. Repeatedly, attentively, on the hour every hour.

She had tried striking up a conversation with him, like asking who he was or what terrible tragedy had befallen him to put him in such a state. But after no response to anything she tried (talking, poking, staring, pouting, interrogating), she had assume that he must be asleep or in a state of delusion to deal with the pain accompanying injuries that would require a full-body cast from snout to tail. She pitied him, really. And that pity was helping distract the guilt she felt from shocking her own sister into a state of unconsciousness.

She hadn't meant any harm by it. Really, she didn't.

In hindsight, it was natural that most (if not all) ponies in Equestria loved the spring and summer seasons best.

But she hadn't expected her sister to outright faint from the suggestion that summers were too hot.

...Which they were.

There was no arguing against it. Really, summers in Equestria didn't need to be as hot as they were. It was just silly! To think that there was anything in her fair kingdom that would actually need the temperature during the height of the day to be over one hundred and one degrees was...lunacy!

Luna giggled to herself over her own pun, before opening up the menu to check over her ship in her game. Her prized flagship, the Rewloola, was undergoing repairs in a nearby shop. She had just finished deadly combat with a group of Mantis slave traders, who had dared board her ship after demanding a beloved crew member (no doubt to sell into slavery) in return for safe passage. A missile to their shield generator and several burst laser shots later, her attackers were begging for mercy and even offered one of their own captives in exchange for their lives.

It was a win-win in her eyes.

She happily accepted her new crew member, before blowing slave trader's ship into space dust with a final shot from her burst lasers.

"Victory for the Federation!" shouted Luna in jubilation, watching the charred and broken remains of her adversary's ship begin to drift into the open wastes of space. "We will NEVER give in to slave trading scum! NEVER WE SAY!"

"SSSHHHHH!" shouted all of the doctors and nurses at her from a ward over.

Luna wilted in embarrassment, and she hid her face behind her gamecolt. Stupid games and their immersing depth...

"Oooh...urm...ugh." Celestia moaned in her bed, rolling from side to side.

"Sister!" Luna sprang up from her seat, and pulled a chair over with her magic to sit next to her sister's bedside. Pushing aside some of the lanterns, she leaned in closer to whisper. "Tia! Are you awake?"

Celestia groaned, rolling over in her bed once more. The pillow under her head felt as soft as a cloud, but she resisted its touch to pull her back into her dreams. "Oooh, Luna? Is that you?" Groggily she fluttered her eyes, slowly awakening and trying to take stock of the situation. She could feel from the covers draped over her to the bed she was laying on, that they were not on their artificial beach anymore.  "Where am I? I had...such a terrible dream."

"A terrible dream?" Luna tapped her chin with her hoof. "Like when press caught you in the middle of your cake feast?"

"...No."

"Like... The time you misplaced the sun among our stars, and begged for our help to find it?"

"No."

"Like... The time you were beaten by an ugly singing bug queen at our niece's wedding?"

"No." Celestia felt a nerve twitch, as she was waking up. The intense glow of the multiple heat lamps surrounding her felt nice enough to put her back into a dreamy state, but she ignored them. A certain pain in the flank needed to be taken care of first.

"Like... The time mother caught you writing smut filled--"

"ENOUGH!" shouted Celestia to get her sister to stop, with such force that the curtains in the ward blew wildly and paper periodicals flew into the air.

"SSSHHHHH!" shouted all of the doctors and nurses at them both from a ward over (again).

Both Alicorns shrank in embarrassment, watching the lighter decorations in the room all fall to the floor with a loud clatter. They glanced at each other, waiting for the other to speak first. After a few seconds Luna held up a hoof and cleared her throat, giving an apologetic look too. "We are sorry, sister. We were only teasing."

"No, it is fine Luna." Leaning up from her bed, Celestia spread her wings out for a good stretch before laying back down. "I shouldn't have raised my voice. Forgive me."

"Very well then." Placing her gamecolt aside and switching off the power, Luna placed her tiara off of her head and onto the stand next to Celestia's bed. "You were saying something about a nightmare?"

Nightmare. The very word sent a slight shiver up Celestia's spine. Despite all of the successes of the present (Luna's modernization, Cadance ruling over the Crystal Empire, and Twilight Sparkle's advancements in friendship studies) the untouchable and irreversible events of the past still weighed heavily on her mind. It was hard to kick back as a princess when your millennium of peace kept getting interrupted by violent incidents one after another. (Although letting Discord out the first time had been more entertaining than harmful, in hindsight.)

The great thing about being the most experienced princess of four, were that the three others in your shadow were always eager to prove themselves. So eager, that taking on the stupid problems Equestria faced daily was done with genuine enthusiasm and concern, as opposed to loathing and laziness.

All the more time for the best princess to eat cake and take naps under her sun.

"Yes," Celestia recalled faintly, putting a hoof on her own head. "It felt so real as well... I feel ill thinking about it."

Luna scooted herself closer, "Tell us your woes, sister. What could be so dreadful to make you uncomfortable?"

Watching her older sibling fidget in bed, it was clear that she was uncomfortable even thinking about thinking about whatever troubled her. The gears in Luna's head turned silently, mystified by the sight of her older sister who stood strong against so many challenges and horrors of different shapes and sizes, at a lack of words to describe her fear. Truly, whatever was on her mind was something of an unfathomable nature.

"Well..." Celestia finally confessed, "I had a dream that you hated summer. That you hated the greatest season of all! MY season!"

Luna stared at her older sister, whose confession had been released through trembling fears that she had somehow offended her with the most vile of accusations. Still in her bed, Celestia turned away like a foal unable to look a parent in the eyes after a guilty confession.

After a moment of confusion and shock, Luna spoke.

"We...do not hate summer."

Celestia had looked away in shame after her confession, but she whipped back around with wide eyes after hearing her.

"You... You like my summer?"

Now it was Luna's turn to fidget nervously.

"Yes... We do?"

An eternity seemed to pass between them, with Celestia's eyes only growing larger with watery tears brewing in their corners. Luna sat in awkward silence, completely failing to understand  what was going on. All around them the only noise in the private ward were the dozen heat lamps that were still projecting an obnoxious level of light and heat onto them both.

"OH LUNA!" Celestia finally cried out, throwing her forelegs and wings out. Luna jumped back in surprise, only to be caught by her elder sister's magic and pulled into a crushing hug. Like a steel trap or a cage, she felt her sister's limbs and wings wrap around her giving her no chance of escape. "I am so glad you love my summer!"

Luna let out a cry of disgust, acutely aware that she was being used as a living tissue as well as emotional relief.

"Sister! Let us go! NOW!"

"Never!" cried Celestia with tears of happiness, and Luna screamed again knowing that her elder sister's snot was probably getting in her mane as well. She flapped her wings furiously, hard enough to throw out deep blue feathers in her struggle, but failed to pry herself loose. "You have no idea how much this means to me! To think that you love my summer as much as me!"

"Argh! We never said that!" Luna protested, still unable to free herself despite beating her hooves down on her sister like a drum. Why was it that her older sister had the physical resistance of lunar titanium when it pained her?

"We only said we dislike hot summers!"

In an instant, Celestia stopped and released Luna.

Not expecting her sister's sudden release, Luna nearly flew backward and into the ceiling with how hard she had been struggling to get loose. Now aware that her sister had released her and completely ceased all of her crying and wailing in an instant, she descended with her wings and stared at her cautiously. From her bed she stared back in complete silence; a look of wide-eyed innocent confusion on her face as she processed her words. After a moment, she reached over to the table where Luna's tiara lay to take a tissue and wipe her eyes and blow her nose with.

"I'm sorry," Celestia folded up the ruined tissue with her magic and placed it in a nearby wastebasket. "I must still be under a lot of stress. What did you just say to me?"

"We said," Luna started, still not understanding the situation no better than hours ago, "that we do not like hot summers."

Again, another silence that was as thick as the triple layered carrot cake with white frosting Celestia loved. Interrupted only, again, by the continued hum of the heat lamps that brightened the bed Celestia lay in like some marker for aircraft to know where to land at midnight. Finally, after what seemed like an even longer eternity than before, Celestia spoke.

"...Get out."

Luna perked an ear up, "What?"

"I said get out." Celestia said again, thrusting a hoof toward the exit of the ward.

It took a minute for Luna to understand that her sister was being serious, as she hadn't budged an inch in the time she had spent gawking at her. Her foreleg remained pointing firmly at the private ward's exit. Determined not to stoop to her own sister's level of immaturity, Luna took her tiara and placed it on her head as regally as possible.

"Very well," she turned to leave, "we shall leave you be to brood, if our opinion offends you so much!"

"Good!" Celestia turned her nose up snobbishly, watching her go. "Get out of my castle."

Luna froze.

"What?" She turned around in a fury, and stared at her sister who still was giving her a look of snide contempt. "What did you say to us?"

"I said," Celestia repeated, sticking out her tongue as well for good measure, "get out of MY castle."

"How dare you--!" Luna snarled, turning back around and stomping her way over to her sister's bedside. She shot her sister the harshest glare she could imagine, but continued to be stared down with a return look of utter contempt. "This is not your castle, Tia! Tis' OURS to share!"

"Nope," Celestia stretched her neck out over her sister. "I'll have you know it is my castle! I paid the mortgage off while you were on the moon, you know."

"W-wha--" Luna spluttered, unable to believe her ears. "What does that matter!? Mother and father left the castle to BOTH of us! And," she blinked in thought. "If the castle has been paid for already... What have you been doing with the Bits taken out of my allowance every week!?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." Celestia chuckled to herself mirthfully. "It's been going to a good cause Woona, I promise."

Luna gasped upon hearing her dreaded pet-name. Now it was on.

Outside of the ward, a large collection of doctors, nurses, and patients had gathered after hearing Luna's squawking from Celestia's incorrect presumptions. They all stood together, mesmerized by the sight, and waiting with baiting breath for the next blow to be struck. Never mind how boring it was to be stuck in a bed all day; wouldn't you try to listen in on two perfect immortals having a heated argument if you were there?

"We cannot believe how foalish you are being over the weather! Mother and father would be ashamed!"

"Why you--!" Celestia stood up on top of her bed, knocking all of the lamps sunning her over and onto the floor with a loud crash.  She spread her wings out in their full glory, looking down at her little sister furiously. "I've sent foes to Tartarus for less!"

"W-we...!" Luna stammered, taken back by her sister's aggressive display. She struggled to muster her courage, still taken back and unsure whether her sister's behavior was all an overly elaborate joke gone horribly wrong. But when she turned and saw all of the doctors, nurses, and patients in the ward staring at them, she found inside of herself the courage to act. The courage to rebel! For too long she had taken the backseat to her older and more charismatic sister. Never again, starting with this one moment, would she back down from her sister's demands in front of their subjects!

Standing up straight to appear as regal as possible, Luna cleared her throat with all eyes on her. Still on top of her bed, Celestia looked down at her with an arrogant sneer.

"You can kiss our flank!" she turned around, and raised her lithe butt into the air at her sister.

"Because no one gives a BUCK about your DUMB summer!"

Everypony watching gasped in unison. It was the ultimate act of humiliation: being mooned by the owner of the moon.

Luna grinned with satisfaction at everypony's shocked reactions, even her older sisters. But unlike before, her older sister showed no signs of horror or fear afterward. No, quite the opposite, and she felt a cold chill run down her own spine. In front of her still standing atop her bedding, her older sister's mane had changed from its peaceful pastel colors to the fiery reds of the past. A past where problems had been solved via brutal violence, dealt out with an iron hoof that did not bother with negotiations.

The voice in her mind didn't have to tell her twice.

Luna took off sprinting. She barreled through the ponies in the royal hospital who had gathered to watch, like a wrecking ball through a plaster wall. Ponies who survived the ordeal later claimed that she might have broken the sound barrier in the process.

Behind her she heard her older sister yell something unintelligible in rage as she sprung in pursuit, smashing her bed it into a million pieces in the process.