My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Origins: Celestia & Luna

Chapter 3: Fireflies

Celestia released her grip on her father. He smiled a rather bittersweet smile. He looked at his food, but his appetite was lost.

"Celestia," he said nervously. "Could you pack up?" Celestia nodded and began to wrap up the picnic with her hooves.

"Could you..." Red Dawn began, thinking about what to say. "You can use your magic." Celestia's eyes lit up.

"R- Really?" she asked. He nodded.

Okay, Celestia, she coached herself. Nothing fancy, just pack it up. She magically folded the blanket onto itself and placed it into the basket, followed by all the empty plates. She levitated the unfinished sandwich to her father, who was looking away from the scene.

"Dad," Celestia called. Red Dawn turned to see the sandwich floating in front of him, his eyes rather wide.

"Thank you," Red Dawn said blankly as he took it into his hooves.

"Are you okay?" Celestia inquired. Red Dawn turned towards her.

"Yes," he answered. "I can't just remove a lifetime of bias on such short terms. Don't- Please don't practice magic in front of me."

"O- Okay," Celestia accepted. She lifted the hitch onto Red Dawn's back with her mouth, then walked to the edge of the cloud. From the edge she could see a large, bustling cloud city.

"I told you we were close," Red Dawn said, strolling up beside her. "That's Nephelo, the original pegasus city." Celestia took in the view. The city was rather flat and round, not unlike a coin in the sky.

"Why is it flat?" Celestia asked. "They know they can build upwards, right?" Red Dawn's face was stricken by the question.

"I- I don't know why," He stammered. "I guess we just think two-dimensionally." He took off into the air and began gliding down to the edge of the city. Celestia, her wings of a different sort, was forced to flap while descending. A patrolling pegasus saw the two approaching and flew over to intercept them.

"Halt! Who goes there?" The patrol demanded.

"Don't you recognize me?" Red Dawn retorted. The pegasus looked him up and down.

"Red Dawn? Captain Dawn, sir! Excuse me for not recognizing you, it's been a while since you last visited," the pegasus admitted. Celestia finally reached her father. "And you are?" the pegasus asked.

"My daughter," shared Red Dawn. The pegasus looked at Celestia skeptically.

"So sorry, Luna," the patrol apologized. "You look different."

"Celestia," Celestia corrected. The guard's eyes widened.

"OH!" He exclaimed. "Welcome to Nephelo!" He nodded towards the steel gated entrance, which opened with an audible creak.

"Do steel gates even work on clouds?" Celestia wondered aloud. "Also, why did it creak? There aren't even any hinges!"

"Move along now, we haven't time for your silly questions," Red Dawn stated. He flew through the gate and landed on the cloud floor. Celestia landed behind him, wide eyed, and began to take in the city. Much of the city was made up of cloud, but certain elements had to be brought up from the ground, like glass for windows and mirrors, or stone for firestoves and fireplaces.

Funny that a race so prideful of strength should live on fluffy, white clouds. Celestia thought.

Suddenly, Celestia realized she wasn't behind her father. She twisted around and eventually saw her father standing a few paces back talking idly to a pale yellow pegasus with a pink mane. She quickly galloped over to them.

"Did you come to take part in the Grand Wind Dance?" Celestia overheard the yellow pegasus ask Red Dawn.

"Did I-? …Oh! It is almost time for that, isn't it?!" Red Dawn exclaimed. "I suppose I will, it'll be a nice gift for Hurricane. And-" Celestia stood beside him. "Celestia will get the chance to come as well."

The yellow pegasus stared for a moment at Celestia, then shouted with glee before running and hugging Celestia.

"Ohmygosh! Celestia!" She loosened her grip on Celestia. "Do you remember me?" The pegasus asked, a bit late.

Celestia nervously looked down. "Should I?" She asked. "I'm no good with remembering faces... Or names."

"I suppose it was a while ago," The yellow pegasus admitted. "I'm Private Pansy."

"Oh!" Celestia exclaimed, "My father and mother are always talking about you!" Private Pansy clapped her hooves together in excitement.

"Wait, what do they say?" Pansy inquired, putting a hoof around Celestia and turning her away from Red Dawn. Celestia glanced backward at her father, who winked at her.

"Lots of stuff, like how shy you are, and how you have lots of heart, and my dad once said that between you and my mom, you were cu-" Red Dawn stuck his head between Celestia and Pansy, nervously chuckling.

"How about that? It's almost time for your mom to leave work, let's go meet her." He pushed her towards the center of town. "Why don't you get a head start?" Celestia gave him an odd look before turning and walking slowly down the cloud lane.

"It was wonderful to see you again, Pansy," Red Dawn grabbed a flower from his cart and gave it to the mentioned pony. "Fresh from the ground as of two hours ago!" Pansy placed it into her mane.

"Thank you, Red Dawn," Pansy said softly, staring into his eyes. Red Dawn stared back.

"DAD!" Celestia yelled. Red Dawn pulled himself away from Pansy's stare and walked toward his daughter.

"Who was that?" Celestia asked.

"That," explained Red Dawn. "Was an old, good friend."

---

"The land west of Canterlot is completely uninhabited, but initial surveys show strong cloud in the area, as well as plentiful natural resources, a perfect place for a settlement!" The pegasus stallion on the floor presented an argument to the rainbow maned pegasus on a throne. An audience watched the bid unfold. Hurricane placed a hoof to her mouth and tapped repeatedly in deep thought.

"Canterlot was created to accommodate all types of ponies. Placing a pegasus-only cloud city so near to it would seem like rejecting the peace we have with the other tribes," she stated. "I'm sorry, but at this moment I cannot allow it."

The pegasus looked around, desperate for some sort of inspiration to help Hurricane change her mind.

"What if we pushed further west?" He asked desperately.

"We're having enough trouble supplying Canterlot at the moment." Hurricane shook her head. "And as I said before, we cannot risk raised tensions between tribes, especially near Canterlot! I'm sorry, but if you seek a settlement there, you will lose the support of our guards and our funding." The presenter began to speak, but Hurricane lifted a hoof to stop him.

"That is final!" she declared, putting her hoof down. Celestia sat in the audience next to her father. The presenter gave one last glare toward Hurricane, then turned and left the large hall. The audience dispersed as well, leaving nothing but scattered groups left to talk amongst themselves.

"Stay here," Red Dawn told Celestia. Celestia complied, sitting down as Red Dawn walked to the center of the hall to speak with Hurricane, who was just getting off her throne.

"Well, hello, Beautiful," Red Dawn said to her, though her thoughts were clearly on something else.

"Lay off, creep, I have a mate," she said without turning to look at Red Dawn.

"Aww, and that's after I flew for two hours to get here." Hurricane turned her gaze toward him. Her eyes widened.

"Red Dawn!" She shouted, running over to hug him. "Why are you here? Are the girls alright?"

"They're fine!" He insisted. She gave him a disbelieving look. "Honest!"

"Why are you here?" She asked firmly.

"I'm here to take you to the Grand Wind Dance," Red Dawn said. "And to show the city to our daughter."

"What are you talking about? Luna's already seen the city, Dawn," Hurricane stated. Celestia moved to stand behind her father.

"Yes," admitted Red Dawn, moving out of the way. "But Celestia hasn't." Hurricane's eyes widened as she saw her newly winged daughter.

"Celestia!" cried Hurricane, rushing over to hug her daughter. "Why... How... When... Did you do this?"

Celestia hung her head.

"A little research here and there. I was aiming for real wings, but I met somepony who could give me these. They aren't permanent, but I can visit the city for a week."

"Who?"

"His name was Chocolate Nights." Red Dawn looked up at the name, realizing he hadn't asked how she got her wings.

"Platinum and Comet's little one?" He inquired.

"Yes," admitted Celestia.

"I never did like him," Red Dawn stated bluntly. Celestia gave him a disappointed look.

"It wasn't that he was a... y'know... He just always seemed on-edge to me. Like he wanted to fight all the time."

"I think your father has stuck his hoof in his mouth enough for this conversation," said Hurricane. "Let's go to the marketplace for some food."

---

Earlie Birdie pushed himself up from his bed. He looked outside and saw the overcast skies. Having seen the weather, he turned onto his back and closed his eyes. Then flung them back open. The clouds looked a pale color. Years of weather control gave Earlie Birdie the ability to tell different cloud colors apart, and today, pale was not the color the skies should look.

Shit! Earlie thought. Red's gonna kill me when he realizes I didn't make the clouds thick enough.

He rushed to his door and flung it open. Standing on the doorstep, about to knock, was the deep blue pegasus, Luna.

"Hello, Earl," she greeted rather flatly. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

"Not now, Luna," Earlie Birdie shushed. "Do you know where your father is?" He asked as he walked past her.

"Visiting my mother," Luna explained. Earlie stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Wha- Where?"

"In Nephelo, with Celestia."

Earlie Birdie looked Luna up and down.

"Nothing you're saying is making any sense. Celestia lacks wings. Your father works today, he couldn't- neigh, he wouldn't, up and leave," Earlie Birdie corrected Luna.

"She has wings now, and he left me to take his spot," Luna made the long story short. "He said it would be an easy day, and-"

"He was wrong," Earlie stated as a smile took its place on his face. "So very wrong!" He shook the smile away.

"What?" Luna asked, a blank look on her face.

Earlie wrapped a hoof around Luna's neck and pointed toward the sky with his other one.

"See that color?" He asked. "That means an hour of rain, tops."

He took Luna's face in both his hooves and stared at her.

"Do you know what the earth ponies are expecting today?"

Luna pushed him away. "The schedule at the weather center said five hours, lasting into late afternoon."

"Right, so we have..." he trailed off for a second. "A small amount of time, to gather cloud thick enough to rain for five hours." He took off without warning and made for the sky.

Why can't anypony just be normal about their job. Luna thought, taking off after him.

---

"Who was that at the grand hall?" Celestia asked, her halfway eaten corn-on-the-cob sitting on the table in front of her.

"Oh, that was just Thundertail, he's been trying to get a cloud city around Canterlot for months. He plans on calling it Cloudsdale. I don't see it going anywhere, but he insists that it'll be big someday," sighed Hurricane. "It's just a nuisance at this point. Any settlement too far east will just leech resources from Canterlot, including food, which is hard enough to grow on the mountain. Speaking of which, how close are you to the largest successful crop of Canterlot so far?"

Red Dawn smiled proudly before speaking. "The earth ponies say that after today's rain, they'll be ready for harvest in a few weeks." Hurricane gave her mate an odd look at his choice of words.

"Did you just say... 'earth ponies'?" She asked him.

"That is what they're called, isn't it?" He questioned. She smiled inwardly at her mate's sudden maturity.

"So, Celestia, did you remember to bring a dress for the dance?" Hurricane glanced at her daughter.

"omph, yesh," Celestia answered before swallowing, then, realizing her mistake, swallowed. "I didn't know about the dance, but I packed a dress just in case, and I think it'll work."

Hurricane looked toward the setting sun.

"I think we should go get ready," she suggested.

---

Luna pushed her wings to the limit, flying outside the city limits and collecting clouds to put over the city. Every once in a while, dizziness would overtake her, and she would float in place till her head caught up with reality. Earlie Birdie easily overtook her even when she flew at top speed, grabbing as much cloud as possible and flinging it back to the city.

After a few hours of work, other pegasi flew upwards around the clouds, questioning looks upon each of their faces. Earlie doubled his pace. One of the pegasi flew over to Luna.

"Is the fluff ready?" He asked. Luna opened her mouth to answer, but then a gust of wind made her look up. Earlie was flying in tight circles, causing a wind vortex to suck up loose cloud. recognizing it as a very dangerous move, Luna flew away slightly, but Earl had it under control. Once it was large enough, Earlie slowed down and pushed it toward the rest.

"YES!" He screamed through the air. "It's ready!"

The pegasi flew over the clouds and began to push down on the mass, causing the clouds to start drizzling. Earlie Birdie flew over to Luna, breathless.

"Let's go, champ," He said. "Back to my place."

---

Hurricane opened the door to the bathroom and walked in. Red Dawn was attempting to straighten out the vest around his chest, but each time he flapped his wings to see if it was on right, the vest would move askew.

"It's too big," He lamented. "It doesn't fit my wings anymore."

"It fit three years ago," Hurricane commented. "Maybe you're slimming down for once."

"Yeah, maybe," he agreed. "Wait!"

She giggled and playfully punched him. He bumped her out of the bathroom with his rump.

"I'll just keep my wings down," He sighed. "We'll do ground dances instead."

"Umm... Mother?!" Celestia's voice came from another room. Hurricane made her way there, finding Celestia in a dress much too tight.

"When was the last time you wore that?" Hurricane asked her daughter.

"Well... Er..." Celestia's face reddened as she remembered. "A-About five years ago..." Hurricane tried to hold her grin, but found the effort futile. Celestia slid out of the dress, and gave her mother a depressed look.

"I can't go..." she sighed, defeated.

"I'm sure we can find you a dress," Hurricane explained, cheering up her daughter. "I have them in all the colors of the rainbow." She swished her mane, and pulled Celestia to her hooves. Hurricane searched through her surprisingly crowded closet as Celestia watched from the door.

As Hurricane shifted through a certain section, a color caught Celestia's eye.

"Wait!" She exclaimed. "What about that one?" She walked over and separated the clothes around it with magic. Hurricane's eyes widened slightly as she realized which dress it was; Bright, brilliant red coated with glitter.

"I wore that to the dance-" She began.

"Isn't that the dress you were wearing when we met?" Red Dawn said, walking into the closet.

Hurricane nodded. Celestia immediately backed away.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to-"

"No!" Hurricane exclaimed. "Put it on. I want to see it."

Celestia slid into the dress and nervously looked at her mother. Hurricane turned her head to Red Dawn, who nodded in approval.

"I think you're ready." Hurricane smiled and pushed Celestia out the door. "Go to the plaza, the dance is being held in the Grand Hall across from the courthouse." Hurricane closed the door as Celestia nodded in understanding. Night had fallen and the only source of light was the various streetlamps lit along the road.

Rounding her first corner, Celestia found herself on the same street where she had met Pansy. Recognizing the street, she made her way down to the first turn her dad had taken, then the second, and then the third. Celestia looked around. Something had gone wrong.

This isn't the way to the plaza, she thought to herself. I must have faced the wrong way!

She turned around and began going back the way she came. After looking around trying to recall how she got there, she realized she was lost. Her gut wrenched. Her eyes widened. Her brain frantically analyzed the situation from every angle. Finally, her cranial organ decided on a course of action.

Celestia ran through the city, taking random turns and hoping for the best. She stopped to take a rest and sat on the edge of the street, tears running down her face.

Stupid! She cursed herself. Stupid Stupid Stupid!

At that moment, a door opened with a creak. Celestia turned around to see a pegasus stallion come running out of his house, stress upon his face.

"Late!" He cried, "Latelatelate!" He turned and began running.

"WOAH!" he yelled as he tripped over Celestia and flipped into the street.

"Ow." Celestia rubbed her head where the stallion hit her. The stallion immediately stood up and turned around.

"Are you-" He began, slowing himself as he saw her. His eyes wandered over to her horn "...okay?"

Celestia looked at him. "Are you going to the dance?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Umm..." He said, nodding down at his vest. "Yeah." He smiled.

"Can you take me?!" Celestia stood up.

"Sure!" He said, taking her hoof and floating upwards using his wings. Celestia kept her other hooves planted. He landed in front of her.

"You have a problem with your wings?" He asked. Celestia twisted her neck around to see her butterfly wings.

"You've got to be kidding me!" She exclaimed. "I forgot I could fly!"

"Oh..." the stallion lamented. "So you weren't asking me to the dance." He scraped up some dirt with his hoof.

"No, I was just asking how to get there," Celestia explained, then realized her mistake. "I mean, not that I wouldn't wanna go with you, it's just- well, I mean- I don't even know you, and isn't the colt supposed to ask first and..." She trailed off.

"My name's Comet Flare," the stallion proudly stated. "But I go by Flare, and you are?"

"Celestia," she answered.

"Celestia," Flare repeated. "Would you like to go to the Grand Wind Dance with me?"

"Umm..." Celestia smiled nervously. "Sure."

Flare took her hoof and floated up. This time Celestia lightly flapped her wings and floated with him. Above the houses, in the distance, the Grand Hall was alight with orange glow from the large torches in front of it.

"I always saw it from my house, but I never went until last year," he sighed. "C'mon, let's go!"

---

Luna knocked on the door of the uptown house. It looked more like a castle, but that was pretty much expected due to its royal unicorn occupants. A small shuffling sound and a creak in the door showed Luna a familiar brown unicorn.

"LUNA!" Night yelled. He paused, ran his hoof through his wild mane, and calmly repeated himself.

"Hey, Luna," He said coolly. "What brings you around here?"

"I just worked my flank off and earned a bag of bits," Luna explained. "Wanna go see a jousting match?"

"Er- Sure..." He replied, turning around. "Mother, I'm leaving!" He called out and proceeded to go out the front door. As he got outside, a blue aura took hold of his mane and pulled him back inside.

"Not like that, you're not!" Princess Platinum scolded. A levitating hairbrush attempted to sort out his mane as he twisted and turned against the magical force.

"Honestly, you have such a pretty mane if you would just comb it!"

"I like it the way it is!" Night twisted into position and cast a spell at his mother's horn, causing the hairbrush and him to fall to the floor.

"Did you just cast a counterspell at me?!" Platinum demanded.

"No, I cast a spell-lock at you!" Night clarified.

"Why, you-" Platinum began.

"RUN!" Night dashed out the door, dragging Luna with him.

"You have to come home sometime!" Platinum screamed out the door.

After a distance was put between home and them, Chocolate Nights finally came to a stop in a park. He laid on the grass, trying to catch his breath.

"You should've just let her comb your hair," Luna nagged.

"It would've taken hours! Plus I like it this way," Night explained, running a hoof over it. He looked at Luna, his breath finally catching up to him.

"What did you do to her?" She asked.

"What, my mum? Just a spell-lock. It can only be done if the unicorn is holding you with their magic, so holding onto me like that was just asking for trouble." He elaborated. Luna looked concerned. "It's easy enough to counter. It only lasts, like, thirty minutes. And my dad knows the counterspell, so it's really no-harm-done."

Luna shrugged, then wordlessly stood up on the grass and began walking. Night got up and began trotting beside her.

---

Celestia floated down toward the brightly lit grand hall. Large balls of fire sat in giant pots on either side of the door. The flames threw their colors off the walls, painting everything a golden yellow.

"Welcome," the rather-stiff door guard said to them on approach. Flare smiled brightly and nodded his head several times as he walked past him into the hall. As Celestia stepped into the very large grand hall, she looked up at the chandelier. It appeared to be made of glass, to allow the flame inside to cast its light all around. The flame inside had no source. Flare leaned in toward her.

"A gift from the unicorns. Guaranteed to stay alight for one hundred years. It runs on magic," he told her. She flapped her wings and began to float up toward it.

"There you are!" Her father's voice, touched with worry, filled her ears. "Did you get lost?"

"Yes," She said. "I turned the wrong way on the main road where we came in and got all twisted around."

"You didn't just fly up to see the hall?"

Celestia lowered her head. "I- er, I forgot I could fly..."

Red Dawn looked at her oddly, then burst out into laughter.

"Well, at least you made it here." His eye caught Flare's. "Thanks to him?" Celestia nodded.

"Thank you," Red Dawn said to Flare. He turned back to Celestia. "Your mother will be relieved to know you're okay." He began a descent toward a group by a buffet.

"Oh!" He called back toward Celestia. "Don't go too close to the Sunspring."

"The what?"

"The big flamey orb, we don't want you to burn those wings"

"Okay!" She assured him. She landed on the topmost floor, Flare behind her.

"If I could tell you the specifics of that orb, you would be astounded," Celestia admired.

"Like what?" Flare asked. She turned to him and cast a spell, forming a small ball of fire approximately the size of his head in front of them.

"I could keep this going for about ten minutes before it went out," she said. "If I separated it from my horn, It would probably only last five minutes due to separation and mana well management. The glass could help with enchantment and so I could probably pool the magic, but we're still only looking at nine minutes or so. The amount of magic it would take to set up that Sunspring would be staggering. You know-" She cut herself off as she looked at Flare, realizing she was boring him.

"I'm sorry, I'm just fascinated with magic."

"No, really, it's okay," he assured her. "To each their own, you know? I'm sure you don't want to hear about famous pegasi battles of the past hundred years, right?"

"I guess not, well, kinda?" Celestia answered.

"Oh," he responded, "Well, uh, I'll tell you about Suntzoo, the first great pegasi warlord, from the east."

---

"Oh, man!" Chocolate Nights exclaimed. "That must've hurt."

The undefeated pony in dark armor proudly reared onto its hind legs as its opponent limped toward the medical stable. Night turned toward Luna.

"Do you know who that is?" he asked.

"Night! It's tradition for the winner to not reveal themselves until they're defeated," Luna explained. "It's all part of the fun."

"C'mon, there's gotta be some kind of hint system," he whined.

"Alright, in the program, it says their initials are C.P." Luna offered. "Happy?"

"Am I?" Night asked rhetorically. "C.P.? Cloud Prancer? Capital Punishment?" He looked at the jousting field, where a new announcer had entered.

"Will we never find the dark pony's identity?!" he asked the stands. "Can no one best the dark pony?"

Murmurs swept through the crowd, mostly excuses as to why they couldn't do it.

"If there are no more challengers," The announcer called. "Then this jousting session is ov-"

"I'll try!" a voice from the stands stated. Everypony turned toward the source of the voice, toward Night.

"Night," Luna began. "Have you ever jousted before?"

"Nope!" Night said brightly. "Never too late to begin, right?" He trotted down the stands. An escort walked him into the visitor's side's armor tent and lifted his armor on as another asked him questions.

"You know what to do?"

"I think"

"You know the liabilities?"

"I hope"

"You know the rules?"

"I believe so"

As the helmet was lifted on, Night felt numb. Not nervous, just numb. Night realized his horn's magic was being restricted.

"Is this helmet magic inhibiting?" He asked, reaching up and feeling his horn. "That's fantastic, how did you-" He was pushed out into the arena by the escort.

His final piece of equipment, the lance, was dropped onto his back as he lined up. Heavier than expected, Night stumbled a little before righting himself. He turned his head side to side, taking in what he could through the small eye openings. The announcer was speaking rather excitedly, hyping up what was probably the last joust of the night. Night felt his heart beat faster and his stomach sink. He had no idea what he was doing. He recalled seeing the other challengers limping off the battlefield, more practiced challengers than he.

The announcer took to the center stage behind the main arena. Night's body stiffened as he heard the countdown.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"GO!"

Night began running. Time seemed to slow down with each hoofbeat. Adrenaline pumped through his body, driving him forward. He lined up his lance with the dark pony.

---

"Now, Ponoleon's problem was that he was power hungry. He was a genius in combat, but he wanted to control the whole world. The target of his last campaign was Nephelo, but he decided to invade in the middle of winter, which is pretty much impossible, because of the temperature drops."

Celestia nodded, trying to process all the information Flare shared.

"Are you bored yet?" Flare asked. Celestia shook her head.

"Not really," Celestia answered. "Just intrigued. There aren't nearly as many unicorn warlords."

"Well, Unicorns aren't a bunch of hotheads like us," Flare joked. Celestia giggled.

"Now it's your turn to bore me again," Flare said. Celestia laughed.

"To the roof!" she declared. "We shall talk of constellations!"

---

Night laid on his back in the mud, dizzy and surrounded by other ponies.

"Alright, how many claps do you hear?" one pony asked him, clapping her hooves several times.

"Three," Night answered faintly.

"Great, what color is my mane?" She asked.

"Red," He confirmed.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Chocolate Nights," He stated.

"Alright, mentally fine, checking physical," she said to her assistant. She moved his back leg for him.

"Anything hurt?" She asked.

"Everything," He answered.

"Does it hurt any more when I do this?" She asked, flexing his back leg.

"No..."

"This one?"

"No"

"This o-"

"AUGH!" Night screamed in pain. The nurse nodded to her assistant. She pointed her horn toward the injury. Night felt a cooling sensation in his leg as it was scanned by magic.

"Sprain." The nurse said. "You're lucky, I've seen much worse after a fall like that." The nurse's assistant returned with a roll of gauze, which the nurse tenderly wrapped around the injured leg.

Luna waited as the nurse gave instructions to Night. Night limped toward her, a bottle in his mouth. She took it from him and placed it in her saddlebags.

"Thanks..." He said.

"Night," Luna giggled. "You know it wasn't a pole vaulting competition, right?"

"Is that what happened? Everything after the hit is just a blur..."

"You didn't even hit the dark pony... Your lance jammed into the ground three yards away from him and you pole vaulted over."

"Oh..." he responded. "That sucks."

"If it's any consolation, the dark pony did fall over... laughing," Luna revealed.

"Hey, that's better than any of the others did!" Night defended himself. He limped ahead of her toward a park bench and sat down.

"It's hard walking on three legs!" he complained. "Can we wait here?"

Luna sat down next to him. She looked at his injured leg.

"How are you gonna explain that to your mother?" she asked.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to..." Night confided. Luna gave him a funny look.

"I've actually run away from home before," he explained. "I'd spend a few nights away from home, then go back and not talk about it."

"Why?" Luna asked.

"I wonder that myself sometimes. Maybe it's the thrill of running away. I think it's because nighttime always calmed me down." He looked up at the stars. "It's hard to be mad when you're surrounded by such beauty. The stars, the cool breeze, yellow torches."

Luna twisted her head and looked at her own cutie mark, then looked back at Night. He was staring out into the field.

"Look..." He requested.

Small lights filled the air around the field, lighting it in spite of the night.

"It's beautiful," Luna responded. "Fireflies."

A firefly flew up to Night's snout and landed on it, prompting him to go cross-eyed. Luna leaned over and, ever so lightly, blew it away. Night shuddered from the sensation, then looked into Luna's eyes. The light from the fireflies reflected in them.

Celestia pointed a hoof toward one of the constellations. She and Flare had taken a spot on a cloud above the grand hall after the lights from the hall blocked their view of the stars.

"That constellation is Canis Major, not minor," She explained. "Though you shouldn't get them confused. Canis Major, as a shape, was used as a shorthand for animal-based spells by earlier unicorn texts."

"What about those?" Flare pointed toward another group.

"I... I don't know." Celestia stared, unable to identify the grouping.

"Probably because they're not stars," Flare said. "They're fireflies."

"Torchbugs!" She realized.

"Lighting-bugs!" Flare stated.

"glowbugs!" She declared.

"Flame-butts!" Flare attempted.

"Flame-butts?!" Celestia inquired.

"I was out of names and you were gonna win," he explained. Celestia giggled.

"Wait here," Flare said, taking off. He swept through the biggest groups of fireflies, scattering them. Twisting around, he flew into one of the divisions, scattering them as well. His wings pushed him up and away from the cloud and he floated up in the air for a moment, before diving steeply. As he approached the bottom of the bulk of fireflies, he pulled up and closed his wings. As he sailed through the air without the aid of his wings, he recalled an old flying lesson about the differences between flying and falling-with-style. He landed harshly on the cloud and skidded to a halt in front of Celestia.

"Wow," Celestia snarked, clapping sarcastically. "Were you just showing off?" Flare smirked a bit and walked up closer to Celestia, putting his muzzle inches from hers. She stared, rather uncomfortably, into his eyes. At that moment, he flared open his wings, sending fireflies into the space around and between them. Celestia's eyes lit up as she was bathed in yellow light. Flare stared as the fireflies hovered around Celestia. After they finally flew away, he laid down again and stared over the city.

"So, how was your first day with your wings?" He asked.

Celestia thought about it.

"Better than I ever could have hoped."