She couldn’t sleep. As always, it would seem, but these were different circumstances.

Before, she, in the truest technical terms, could indeed sleep. But she couldn’t afford to. Celestia and Luna were meant to rule Equestria together. Each of them agreed that neither should have supreme power over the other, and splitting the monarchical duties would allow the sisters to keep each other in check, ensuring a continued reign of peace that they had worked so hard to grant to their nation. For decades this strategy worked admirably, however, it was not without its flaws. For one, it failed to take into account any sort of outside influence. Specifically, corrupting outside influence.

At least, it must have been such corrupting, heinous influence that caused her younger sister to become the tyrannical Nightmare Moon, that forced Celestia’s hand and Luna’s millennium-long banishment. The elder princess refused to believe otherwise. However, by now such musings were of little matter and summarily dismissed by nothing short of royal decree. For the first time in a thousand years, all was well and everything was safe and sound in the royal court, as Luna had returned, gladly accepting her throne and rightful place as Princess of the Night. Celestia no longer had to raise the moon; she no longer had to perform Luna’s duties as well as her own in regards to bureaucrats, representatives, lobbyists and diplomats. Everything was as they had originally planned.

It was a good system, one that should have worked for a thousand years and with any amount of luck will indeed work for a thousand years more. However, it still wasn’t without its flaws, one of them being precisely why Celestia couldn’t sleep: there were things that needed to be done. Or, at least, there were supposed to be.

Celestia had never sought out assistants to accomplish Luna’s work; this ensured that there would always be a place for her sister when or if she ever managed to return. No, not if. When. Always when. Instead, she elected to perform these duties herself, no matter how exhausting it became. Every day, every night, nary a vacation or a break. It had to be this way, as there were exactly enough hours in the day (given the sun and moon rose on time) for her to do all her paperwork, and Luna’s paperwork, and attend her various meetings, and hear the petitions of citizens (much of the time concerning things she couldn’t do a thing about if she tried, and would make the general population actively worse off if she could), and personally mentor, over the centuries, dozens of students, and perhaps have an hour or two a night to rest her eyes if fate was merciful. Celestia would never admit to anypony how close the schedule drove her to madness over the first few decades, but it was of little consequence now. The experience had galvanized her body and mind to where it was a rare moment, perhaps once every few years, that she as much as felt tired, all of which she tried to explain to Luna concerning how often she was caught observing the younger sister’s handiwork.

But no. She needed her sleep. She deserved her sleep, and to be perfectly fair, she wanted her sleep. Not that any of that meant it was going to be granted to her.

With a sigh, the alicorn finally decided to stand back up. Perhaps it was the bed. Granted, this was the third bed brought to her this month, and the second built to her exact measurements and specifications in order to ensure maximum comfort, but nothing could be perfect, she supposed. Maybe she could find the time to ask for another one. They’d do it, of course, though it did still seem like such a hassle. Not only would everypony even remotely associated with the bed profusely apologize, but even more exacting specifications would be drawn up for the new bed requiring even more of her time. It’s not their fault. It wasn’t the bed; Celestia was anything but stupid. It was a perfectly good bed- no, more than perfectly good. The quality was only short of divine due to it being built by mortal ponies. Maybe someday she’d find a way to fall asleep in it.

She could spend this time gathering an early start on the morning’s paperwork, of course. In theory, anyway. In practice, all that left was a block of time in which there was little for her to do but attempt to make small talk with the guards, where attempt is clearly the key word. While she would never doubt their diligence and most of the time greatly appreciated their professionalism and tact, she still felt that it wouldn’t hurt them to lighten up every once in a while. It wouldn’t hurt anypony, for that matter. Celestia still despised being forced for the sake of public opinion to agree when the press called last year’s Gala “the most horrible disaster to ever happen to Canterlot.” Just the thought of those words made her want to come up with something even better for this year. Sometimes she could swear the horns on the Canterlot elite were simply the end section of sticks wedged that far up their collective posterior. At least when she issued a press release stating that “the ponies whose actions caused the destruction of the Grand Ballroom will be held responsible and will get exactly what they deserve,” she didn’t have to lie. That’s exactly what happened. She paid for their donuts.

Celestia walked over to the window, gazing out at the dark sky. It was all she could ever really do at night anymore. It was dull, but at least it was pleasant, not to mention beautiful. Luna was mainly known for raising the moon, but as Celestia quickly discovered, the moon was the easy part. It was the stars that proved an impossible task. Few ponies that didn’t have a telescope adorning their flank ever noticed, but even after literally hundreds of thousands of tries she never could quite get them perfect. There was always one a bit too bright, one a bit too dim, one a bit too far to the left or the right, a constellation slightly off-model... and yet here was Luna, her powers back and affixing the stars to the sky as expertly as if she had never left. It truly was wonderful for Luna to be back, and almost as wonderful for her to be taking her duties seriously, even if that meant less for Celestia to do herself...

Celestia smiled. Perhaps that was it.

“Luna?”

The younger sister looked up from her desk, taking a short reprieve from her paperwork. Something about zoning regulations, as far as Celestia could tell from a cursory glance. “Hello, Tia. You cannot sleep again, I take it?”

“No, it’s not that. You should have seen me just a few hours ago, snoozing away as peaceful as a newborn foal! I might have even been snoring a little.”

Luna paused for a beat before replying. “Forgive me if I remain unconvinced.”

Celestia sighed, yet not without a slight smile. Among the many things she’d missed about Luna was her particular brand of wit. “You know me too well.”

“As well I believe I should. You haven’t changed much, all things considered.”

“Neither have you. I’m glad.” Celestia thought for a second, desperate for another compliment. “Your... speech has... really been improving. You don’t seem as keen on the ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ and all that as much-”

“I would have done it sooner had someone not informed me that the Royal Canterlot manner of addressing our subjects still required such vocabulary.”

“Actually, technically speaking, I didn’t tell you to speak like that as much as I specifically never told you not to speak like that...”

“Those are effectively one and the same.”

“Not really... I didn’t tell you anything. I simply didn’t tell you everything, and you did all the assuming for yourself.”

Luna lowered her eyes. “So why am I graced with your presence, Tia, when you should be getting some much-needed rest?”

“Well... have I told you how beautiful the night skies have been looking recently?”

“Not since yesterday, no.”

“Well, I mean it, Luna. Every star in perfect position... you’re doing a marvelous job. In fact, you’re doing such a good job that... why don’t you just go ahead and take the night off? I’ll cover for you.”

“With all due respect, dear sister, I’d like to decline your offer. Perhaps some other time I will be more pleased to have the time off, but as I’m still becoming acclimated to what my job entails in this day and age, it would be best if I stayed the course and-”

“Come on, Luna, don’t you think you work enough?”

“You’re saying you don’t?”

“Well... these papers you have to sort out right here. I can see you’re having trouble with them, and I’ve done these bothersome things a thousand times, so if you need the help, I’m perfectly willing to-”

“The offer’s appreciated, but these are things I need to learn how to properly do, preferably by actually doing them. Besides, I doubt I’m having as much trouble as you claim.”

Celestia grumbled. Luna was apparently cunning enough to see through her guise but not quite cunning enough to take the hint. Either that or she was just that stubborn. “Seriously, Luna. You do a great job, but you work plenty. You deserve a night off.”

“I also deserve to be able to perform my duties as intended, wouldn’t you agree?”

Celestia was silent; this was an argument she simply wasn’t going to win.

“Sister,” Luna stated, her mouth curving into a bemused smile, “you can’t possibly truly desire to work on these papers that not thirty seconds ago you declared were ‘bothersome’ and thus unfit for the Princess of the Night to handle with any sort of diligence, can you?”

Celestia shifted her eyes away, her head subconsciously angling downward as Luna’s smile grew wider.

“Admit it, Tia. You’re bored.”

“No. No, no, of course not! I don’t get bored. I don’t have the time, or the opportunity.”

“Before, perhaps. But now you do, and here we are.”

“It’s not that at all, Luna! I’m trying to be kind and assist you with your work, but you clearly don’t want the help.”

Luna chuckled to herself. It truly was a shame that Celestia had found herself with so little to do, after all. She could only imagine her sister’s plight, as it wasn’t as though Luna had ever found herself in such a lamentable state during her centuries spent banished with little but the dust and rocks to keep her company.

Oh wait.

“I would rather you find a way to sleep,” Luna said, “but there are plenty of quite entertaining hobbies out there, as I’m sure you know. I doubt it’d be difficult for you to find one that piques your interests.”

“I don’t need a hobby, Luna. Besides, I have a hobby. I teach.”

“That doesn’t feel like a hobby as much as an additional duty you managed to grant yourself.”

Luna had a point. Anyone who simply observed the classes would consider it yet another wing of Celestia’s very involved, complicated job. However, it was actually the time she most looked forward to, because for once it didn’t feel quite like work, not to mention how it allowed her to maintain a casual rapport with a unicorn who wasn’t royalty, on necessarily even upper class. Somepony per generation deserved that, for certain.  “That’s because I still take it very seriously, both the school and my private mentoring. You’ve met Twilight Sparkle, haven’t you?”

“Twilight Sparkle... you mean the unicorn that wields the Element of Magic, whose actions cleansed the corruption of Nightmare Moon from my very essence, as well as the mare who assisted me in becoming more personable toward our subjects during Nightmare Night, despite your apparently indirect intentions? No, I’ve never seen her before in my life. A shame, really.”

This time it was Celestia’s turn to lower her eyes. “You don’t have to be so sarcastic.”

“In any case, yes, I’ve indeed met her. She’s your prized student and certainly deserves the accolade. I never said you weren’t taking your duties seriously; I was merely one to suggest that you may instead wish to discover a more traditional hobby. Something in the arts... painting, perhaps? You could learn in instrument... there’s all sorts of things out there to alleviate your boredom; you should know this as well as I.”

“I’m not bored.”

Luna smirked. “Are too.”

“I am not. In fact... I know something I need to do right now. I bet you Twilight’s staying up well past midnight again studying, and she needs to be told that she needs to get more sleep herself. I mean, after all, she’s a mortal pony, unlike myself, and so she needs to worry about rest far more than I do, you understand.”

“What I understand is that you’ve brought it upon yourself to pester your student out of boredom.”

“No, I am not ‘pestering’ her; I am guiding and mentoring her. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do.”

“I believe it was your hobby? Do I once again stand corrected?”

“You keep up that acid tongue and maybe I’ll spend this time coming up with new pranks.”

“Perish the thought, dear sister.”

Celestia shook her head. “Just keep in mind,” she said, walking to the door, “you’ve spent a long time recuperating, but since now you’re perfectly healthy... I can stop going easy on you whenever I want.”

Luna gave out another light chuckle, clearly accepting the challenge in stride. Truth be told, seeing that Celestia was still a trickster after all this time was a breath of the freshest air in Equestria. Even after ten centuries apart and actions that could and quite possibly should have forced an implacable rift between them, their sisterly rivalry could continue unabated. “Perish. The. Thought. So go, tend to your student, whatever her name is; I’m afraid I’ve already forgotten. It isn’t as though she saved the world or anything...”

“Twilight Sparkle. And I’ll be sure to let her know you can’t remember it.”

Celestia sighed pleasantly as she walked out. Every conversation, no matter how bitter the apparent tone, confirmed that it indeed was a very good thing to have Luna back, even if it did mean a significantly reduced workload. Not that visiting Twilight in the middle of the night had anything to do with that, of course. This was her duty as a mentor, as well as something she honestly should have done a long time ago, given the unicorn’s propensity for reading by candlelight. Straining her eyes like that will only hurt her in the long run, so it’s best she takes preventative action now.

Besides, Celestia thought as she leaped from the balcony, taking flight, perhaps I’ll get lucky and one of the spells she’s been working on is a cure for insomnia.

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