Author's note: Hey, everyone! This is the first time I've ever written for Fanfiction. Reviews would be greatly appreciated, though no flames allowed! All flames will be deleted. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, enjoy!
Luna stares at the world outside her bedroom window. Even in Canterlot, the richest city in Equestria, you can easily see the damage of the explosion.
In the light of the just-rising sun, beyond the palace courtyard, she sees foals, some no older than six, begging for food. Far down Mane Street, she can see other, luckier foals being herded into a crumbling gray building. Luna remembers when it used to be the magnificent Canterlot Opera House, but now it's one of the many places transformed into orphanages for the foals.
Luna grabs a sack and heads down to the palace kitchen. It's supposed to be her time to get sleep, she knows, but she can do without it for a while.
She passes Celestia in the dining hall as she is having breakfast.
Don't notice me, don't notice me.
"Luna!" her sister's voice calls out sternly, "You really should be getting ready for bed. How are you supposed to raise the moon tonight if you're tired?"
Luna sighs. Celestia always manages to catch her sneaking out of the castle once in a while.
"Oh, it's alright, Tia," she says nervously, "I'm just a bit hungry." She looked at her friend (and maid) Amethyst Star and asked, "Can you go put some bread and scones in a bag or on a plate? No jam, please, it just gets messy." Amethyst nods and scurries away.
Celestia raises an eyebrow at Luna. "Luna, if you're hungry, you can always sit here and eat. Why would you need a bag?"
"Well," Luna stammers, "there's this book I got from the Canterlot Archives that I really need to finish before it's overdue and-"
"Overdue?" Celestia asks.
Luna mentally slaps herself. Celestia herself was the librarian of the Canterlot Archives. She never gives due dates to Luna for books.
Celestia calmly levitates a teaspoon of strawberry jam and puts it on her scone. "Luna, remember that if ponies starve or become homeless, they only have themselves to blame. The rich are supposed to stay rich, and poor are supposed to stay poor."
Amethyst Star arrives with the plate of food just as Luna is preparing to make a run for it. She dashes out of the dining hall, levitating the plate.
Celestia rarely allows Luna to leave the palace anymore. Now, the sisters would have one trip across Equestria a year on the anniversary of the explosion to make speeches about how everypony shouldn't worry and that the famine would end soon.
As if! Luna thinks as she quickly flies away from the heavily guarded palace courtyard, hauling her oversized sack of baked goods on her back. It has been five years after the explosion, and the famine is still there.
About a year after the defeat of Lord Teirk, Celestia had decided that she wanted to build a new city to be the capital of Equestria.
She had guards burn down the Everfree forest to make the room. Then she had all healthy mares between the age of eighteen and forty-five and all healthy stallions between the age of sixteen and fifty to come and work on building the new city.
Some lucky, very educated ponies were given the job of being supervisors and architects, as well as ponies that paid enough money to escape the physical labour. The rest of the ponies were supposed to work all spring, summer, and autumn hauling stone blocks to make the palace and the houses around it. After a small section was done, a flammable chemical was used to coat the walls so they would have a glossy look on them.
To get the stone blocks, explosives were often used. They were stored in the room next to the kitchen where food for the workers was cooked.
Luna had often tried to convince Celestia to cancel the building of the city. "We already have a marvellous capital," she would always say, "Why not just stay here?" Celestia would always shake her head and tell Luna that she didn't understand.
Now, five years after the explosion, Celestia still doesn't trust her. Luna can go wherever she wants in their palace, but that's it. No trips outside unless Celestia gives her permission. Even then, she has to be accompanied by one of Celestia's guards. Luna has always managed to sneak out, though, after Celestia said no to Luna's first request to bring food to the starving orphans that had been left by the explosion.
She lands on the roof of the orphanage she was scheduled to visit that day and quickly raps her secret code on the door of the attic that was no longer there. The code was just her name in an ancient language made of a series of taps called the Morse code. She was almost sure that Celestia didn't know it.
Tap, pause, tap, tap, tap, pause, tap, pause, tap, and pause for the time of three taps. Tap, pause, tap, pause, tap, tap, tap, and pause for the time of three taps. Tap, tap, tap, pause, tap, and pause for the time of three taps. Tap, pause, tap, tap, and tap.
A mare with a midnight blue coat and a graying mane piled up in a bun opens the door a crack. She smiles when she sees the princess of the night.
"Come in!" she says happily, opening the door wider so her guest can come in, "The foals would be so happy to see you!"
They were. Not just because of the food that Luna brought, but because of the company that she provided. Many of the orphans had not been born and many were mere babies before the famine began. They loved hearing her stories about the better past, where everypony had enough to eat, where most foals had parents, and even those who didn't were treated with respect and given a good home.
"Tell us how you saved the Crystal Empire!" an earth pony filly says excitedly after the ponies had devoured the food. The other foals cheers in agreement.
"Well, it all started more than a thousand years ago…" Luna began.
I hope that was a good read! Sorry if I don't update a lot. I get writer's block a lot.
Remember, Pinkie Pie's twitchy tail means something's gonna fall, if you meet a grumpy manticore, then take the thorn out of it's paw, and Discord likes zinnias!