Tough Love: Luna vs. Celestia
Part 5: Horn and Scroll
CRACK went a bolt of magic near Celestia’s head. “Six-four-two!” Barked Luna, standing to one side. Celestia tossed her head, slashed, and then parried an invisible attacker. CRACK went another spark of magic sent to her by Princess Luna. “Seven-two-five!” The white alicorn whinnied, parried again, then flailed her front hooves like a warhorse. “And lunge!” Celestia turned, flailed her wings, and split a boulder in twine with the sheer force of her pressing horn! It crumbled into pieces. The sun Princess stood there, a wry smile rising on her face. CRACK, a spark of magic pressed into her side and she yelped. Celestia suddenly turned and made an angry leap at Luna! The Princess’ tangled briefly, horns alight until Luna overpowered her. Sticking her head rudely under her sister’s undercarriage she flipped her over onto her back. Celestia landed painfully and lay there, panting. Luna’s horn poked her sibling’s soft underbelly a few times. “Fight with your head, sister, not your heart.” She offered her hoof and pulled her upright. Cracking her neck one way, then the other, Luna strode a short distance from her sunny partner. “Let’s go again.” She turned about, her horn lighting with black magicks. She was smiling.
Celestia rose, lighting her horn with fresh and powerful magic. Suddenly it was like a bizarre lightsaber duel, their horns being the only thing lighting the training grounds they stood upon. Luna’s guards looked on in awe while the alicorns danced back and forth, their horns crashing into each other like swords. Their strikes at each other sent bolts of stray magic crackling back and forth through the air, sending pain through the recipients until they were both sweaty and panting. Celestia saw she couldn’t just keep aiming at her sister’s horn, or she would never do any damage at all. In a sudden burst of speed she struck her sister in the chest with her front hooves, overpowered her with momentum and jabbed her shoulder with her glowing horn. Luna cried out and tumbled to the ground, smoking where she’d been struck. “I did it…” Celestia said, shocked at herself as her sister slowly righted herself and rubbed the sore shoulder. “I managed to hit you!”
“Yes, very good.” Luna chuckled, wiping her muzzle where dirt had gotten on her. “BUT DON’T STOP!” the night air was concussed with her Royal Canterlot Voice and Celestia dug her hooves in. The dark alicorn charged at her, and the duel continued all the more fiercely.
In the background the two Lunar Stallions, Aegis Shield and Stalwart Hide, were passing popcorn back and forth to each other from a bowl. They’d been told to relax for the evening and watch, but this was better than any coliseum or action movie they’d ever seen. This was a pair of fighting goddesses! They couldn’t keep their eyes off of them. Back and forth the alicorns danced, their horns crashing wildly against each other. They backed up, lowered their horns and made to charge—!
Pop!
A scroll appeared in front of Celestia with a flash of dragon’s flame. “Uh?” she paused. Luna blink-blinked, stopping as well. “It’s the middle of the night, why would Twilight Sparkle be writing to me now?” she mumbled. Their duel paused for a moment as the white alicorn flipped the scroll open and began to read. Luna came, wanting to see too. “Dear Princess Celestia,” though she spoke the words aloud, she could hear her faithful student’s voice. “Today I learned that its never a good idea to run away from your problems. You have to face them head on, even if it means standing up to your friends--” she read on, learning that Twilight Sparkle had gotten into an argument with one of her friends and run away crying into the EverFree Forest. There she’d gotten lost and tired and hungry, suffering until she’d been discovered and nursed back to health by a zebra named Zecora. Twilight had been councilled by the voodoo shaman, and eventually went back to Ponyville where both sides apologized. “Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia wiped the sweat from her brow that had been building up from the exercise and dueling, smiling and rolling up the scroll.
“It seems both of you are getting just a little bit stronger.” Luna smiled at her sister, wiping her brow as well. “When was the last time you saw Twilight Sparkle?” she asked suddenly, cocking her head.
Celestia thought for a moment. “Oh, goodness, I’m not sure. Not since the Royal Wedding!” she said, a little sad at the very thought. She’d been so busy training and getting back into shape, she’d not made time to visit her most precious subject. “That won’t do.” She mumbled, cocking her head.
“I agree, sister.” Luna nodded affectionately, smiling. “You should go and visit her, or have her come visit you at the palace.”
“We could have tea in the Royal Gardens.” Celestia said. “We did that often when she was just a filly.” Her eyes already saw the past and she began to start away to make arrangements, but stopped short and looked at her sister for permission. “Are we finished for the night, Luna? We did get interrupted.”
“Ah, yes, let us be done for now.” Luna smiled. “I can see you already have your heart set on this. I shan’t train you when you’re distracted.” The darker alicorn nodded her approval and Celestia was away with a crack of parted air, teleporting back to the palace. As soon as she was gone, Luna let out a shudder, coming to all four of her knees and holding her shoulder. Hissing just a little, she parted her fur while both Lunar Stallions rushed to her aid. While they nosed her and nickered with worry, she showed them the bruising under her dark fur. “Go to the training ground medical hut, Aegis Shield.” She said with a huff. “Fetch me a soothing balm.” The stallion nodded and galloped away. “Stalwart Hide.” She bade the other stallion. “See if I have anything else I’m not feeling yet.” Stalwart Hide inspected his Princess with a critical eye, pausing occasionally to brush at her fur. He found a couple of nicks, but little else to be spoken about. When he shook his head, she sighed in relief. “My sister is getting stronger. Much stronger.” She smiled a little devilishly, but looked up when Aegis Shield returned with the balm she’d asked for. Unscrewing the top with his mouth, he got a small blob and rubbed it generously into her bruised shoulder. “Hynn…” she purred softly.
“Do you think she will surpass you, your majesty?” asked Aegis Shield.
“HAH!” Luna burst into cruel laughter, shaking her head. “No no, I think not!” The stallion blushed at her, suddenly embarrassed. “I trained alone, to the point of madness, on the moon for a thousand years, my stallion. A couple of months of exercising is nothing compared to that. My sister will never be as strong as I.”
“Did you let her hit you?” Stalwart Hide wanted to know, still pawing through her fur to check for any other injuries. Luna glanced at him with a frown, her eyes cool and calculating for a long time. “Forgive me, your Majesty.” He said quickly, averting his eyes from hers.
“I shall forgive you, Stalwart Hide, if you will kiss it and make it better.” Luna said playfully to lift his spirits. The stallion chuckled affectionately, leaning around Aegis Shield and pecking her Majesty’s shoulder. Luna giggled delightedly, heaving a grunt of effort and coming back to her hooves. “Come, we still have a few hours to enjoy the night before the dawn comes.” The dark alicorn smiled at her two guards. “Fetch my chariot, we shall ride among the stars for a bit and enjoy this starry night.” With a flick of magic she summoned her travelling cloak. “My sister shall enjoy herself for tonight—and train all the harder later.” She snickered. Both stallions nodded, galloping to go and fetch her vehicle from its resting place. “She deserves the company of friends.”
=-----=-----=-----=
The next morning tea time with Twilight Sparkle was going very, very well. After the initial shock of the Princess’ pink mane, Twilight had lavished her beloved ruler with compliments about her sleek physique and rather youthful new look. This, of course, made Celestia feel even better. The training was paying off, and even her most faithful student was taking notice. Smiling more broadly than her usual bemused and neutral smile, she lifted her teacup to her lips and sipped while the conversation veered this way and that. Of course she didn’t tell Twilight Sparkle that she was participating in combat training, merely that she’d been taking better care of herself lately.
“You seem to be developing into quite the lovely mare as well, my faithful student.” Celestia complimented with a tinkling chuckle. “The stallions of Ponyville must have their work cut out for them.”
“Oh-h, w-well…” Twilight flushed red in her cheeks, looking to one side. Celestia knew that Twilight’s bookish ways usually kept her from looking at stallions at all, but it didn’t hurt to give her a little prod now and then. Maybe she would be lucky one day. “Th-there is this one stallion…” she murmured into her tea.
“Oh?” Celestia said with interest. She made a show of checking around to make sure nopony was listening. There were no guards within forty feet of them, so the white alicorn lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Do tell, Twilight.” She smiled. The purple unicorn’s ears turned back and she wilted with embarrassment, mumbling a little. Celestia cocked her ears to listen, but could barely hear her. “He’s handsome, yes?” she offered a bread crumb to get the ball rolling.
“O-oh yes.” Twilight said with a goofy smile as she saw the stallion in her mind’s eye. “And big. Very big.” She turned a bit redder, her face matching the color of the stallion in question that she was crushing on.
Reaching to salvage the conversation while her student squirmed, Celestia offered up her own thoughts. “I’ve had a coltfriend or two, through the ages, myself.” She smiled at Twilight’s shocked look. “Haha, what?” she sipped her tea. “I’m centuries old, Twilight, but I’m still a mare. It’s nice to be fussed over when I’m not on a throne.” The purple unicorn giggled a little, despite herself. “Just be sure to tell me in your reports if you do end up pairing up with anypony.” Celestia said teasingly.
“I will.” Twilight promised shyly, smiling.
Celestia’s ears turned when she heard a shrill-tuned whistling. Cocking her head, she peeked over the hedge that surrounded the picnic table where she visited with her student. Her eldest gardener, the scruffy stallion called Green Thumb, was watering a flowerbed and singing with the birds. Or rather, drowning a flower bed. He seemed to be too busy admiring his feathered friends to notice he was drowning a grouping of mums on a patch of raised earth. Those plants had been put there by the late Flower Power, a mare that had died of old age a few decades ago (and Celestia’s finest gardener to date). Unbeknownst to anypony Flower Power herself was buried a few feet under that particular patch, resting peacefully in her own garden. Celestia often mused that she still helped the flowers grow, such a beautiful mare… At the rate he was going, Green Thumb might wash the earth away and reveal the poor thing’s remains, though! The white alicorn winced a little, but wiped the expression when she turned around. “Excuse me just a moment, Twilight. I’ll be right back.” She rose from the stone picnic table, and bade her guards to stay put to watch over her student.
Working her way through the hedges, the Princess poked her head out of the picnic area and into the park-like portion of the gardens. The squirrels and other little animals gathered on branches, and she smiled to them as she always did. She did love the little woodland creatures. Green Thumb saw her coming and quickly pulled the sprig of hay from his teeth. “Why, Princess! Good mah’rnin’.” He said, chuckling at nothing at all while the hose continued to run on the poor mums.
“Hello, Green Thumb.” Celestia smiled gently. “I was having tea nearby, and noticed that you seem to be drowning Flower Power’s memorial mums just a bit.” She said in a non-scolding sort of way. “Would you mind moving on, just bit? They’re small and rather unsturdy plants in that raised patch.”
Twilight Sparkle peeked up over the hedges. She wasn’t close enough to hear the conversation, but a giant white alicorn was hard to miss so she zeroed in on the Princess with ease.
“Don’choo wuh’reh about a thing, Princess! Let the expert handle it!” Green Thumb said, returning the sprig of hay to his teeth and not moving from where he stood. A bird landed atop his patch-covered hat and he chuckled, batting it away playfully.
Celestia frowned, her brow arching just a little. “That particular patch is rather precious to me, my little pony.” She said a little less gently. “I’m sure there are other parts of the garden that need your skilled attentions.” She offered with a sweeping hoof. She watched the mud flow this way and that. Though Flower Power herself was six feet under, Celestia did NOT like the idea that her resting place was being disturbed by the daft gardener.
“Gardening is my special talent, dun’cha worry!” The rather thick Green Thumb brushed her off with a smarmy smile, whistling to the nearest birds. “This place don’t look this amazing ‘cuz you’ve got an amateur here! Heh-eh-eh!”
Was he actually defying her? “I must--” Celestia paused, scowling rather openly as magic gathered into her horn. A small crackle of magic cut the hose, way back at its source at the spicket. “Insist!” She said with a bit more force. The stallion looked up at her, then to his severed hose. He felt the limpness on the other end. Twilight Sparkle cocked her head, frowning a little. “Move to a different portion of the royal gardens, Green Thumb.” She leaned forward just a little bit aggressively. Slowly, her wings opened and a very black shadow cast itself upon the stallion. The sun behind her, it turned her into a massive black shape from his perspective. Celestia leaned, neigh, loomed over him for a few horrifying seconds. Her normally pleasant eyes flickered gold. If he’d been a lesser pony, he would’ve wet himself. It is hard to describe, dear reader, how terrifying it can be to look into the angry eyes of a GOD. Merely try to imagine it.
Green Thumb leaned back, his brow rising and sweat going down the side of his face. “Eh-h-hr… sure thing, Princess!” he coiled up his hose and quickly retreated, eager to be out of her sight. Celestia relaxed, smiling pleasantly and folding her wings. When he found the other end, he saw that it was frayed like fabric, now quite useless to ever be used as anything but makeshift rope. “Aww, dangit…” he mumbled, looking over his shoulder at Celestia. The Princess was still looking at him, the same lazy smile on her face. “Eep!” he scrambled away and out of sight.
“I’m so sorry.” Celestia whispered to the mound of earth under which Flower Power lay. Reaching with a touch of solar magic, she helped the water evaporate and flow away. The earth molded, shaped, and bent to her will until the mound of mums became perfect again. “There we are. That’s much better, don’t you think?” she smiled as though at the deceased mare herself, then quickly turned to rejoin her student.
Twilight, who’d watched the whole scene from her perch, quickly raced down and back to the picnic table. She stumbled over her own hooves, pin-wheeled a little, and crashed into it rather painfully. Rubbing her head, she’d just managed to get back up on the stone bench and lift her teacup when Celestia swept back onto the scene. “Princess!” she smiled nervously.
“Sorry about that, Twilight Sparkle. Something needed my attention.” Celestia apologized, lifting herself up onto her seat again. She reached with magic for her teacup, sipping daintily.
“N-no problem!” the purple unicorn smiled. Celestia considered her for a moment. The sudden shift in body language and tone said she’d been watching, despite her telling her to remain there at the table. Ah well. She wouldn’t worry about it for long. Interestingly enough, though, none of the ponies present had sensed the Lunar Stallion watching Celestia from shadow.
=-----=-----=-----=
After having seen Twilight to the Canterlot train station, Celestia walked briskly through the streets of her capital city. Things were going so well lately! She felt good, she looked good, her little ponies looked especially good today too. She paused when she saw a little earth pony filly trying to get her ball out of a tree. Smiling, the Princess paused and got it down for her. “Princess! Thank you!” said the little filly.
“No problem, little one.” She leaned and kissed the top of her head affectionately. Solar magic blessed the child. Good luck would follow her around for a few days, thanks to the potent alicorn magic. The filly scampered off to join her friends who were waiting for her to return with their toy. The Princess smiled to Captain Grey and her other guard, Striking Spear. They beamed at her. They did love it when their Princess was happy, and she seemed much happier lately.
Now, Princess Celestia could do something she loved doing. Even before she started training. She called it shop-lifting. Not stealing, no no. Lifting up a shop with her presence. You see, when a Princess gave her patronage to a particular business, that business’ customer numbers would shoot through the roof for months on end. After all, if you heard that a bookstore was good enough for a Princess, wouldn’t you want to go buy books there? That was how it worked. Celestia loved the concept, even though it was a little vein. After all, if it helped, what was the harm? The white alicorn strode along, smiling to her subjects as she passed shop after store after stand. “Hmm?” Captain Grey gestured, making Celestia turn her head. There on the corner was a sweet shop, and in the window on a display box was a cheesecake! The white alicorn’s face lit up, and she increased her canter to stop in front of the window.
The shop looked just a little bit run down, but there was cheesecake in the window so it could not have been that bad. Smiling grandly at her two guards, Celestia cleared her throat and arranged herself into regal posture. More than a few ponies watched her majesty step into the tiny little shop. “One chilled cheesecake, please. With lots of strawberry sauce drizzled on top.” She bade the shopkeeper, who was half-asleep in a romance novel from lack of customers.
“A whole cheesecake, just for you?” the mare said a little rudely, not looking up from her book.
Celestia frowned and shushed Captain Grey before he barked something obscene at the store owner. Reaching up with a golden horse-shoe’d hoof, she pushed the romance novel down rather firmly so the pony would look at her. “For me, and my two guards.” She smiled from under her bangs, watching the mare go as pale as a sheet.
“Y-y-your Majesty! O-of course! Right away!” she fell all over herself, staggering into the back to go into the cooler for the order. Princess Celestia smiled when she was given her desired treat, paying for it from a small golden purse hidden under her wing.
“You might try to work on your manners a little, perhaps that’s why you’ve not had too many customers lately.” Celestia smiled gently. “May we use one of your tables?” the alicorn took the box with her magic, gesturing.
“S-sure thing!” The mare darted out from behind the counter, rushing to wipe a table down and put a tiny little vase of flowers on it. Right by the window, in the sunshine. Celestia smiled her approval, seating herself and gesturing for her two guards to do the same. The armored stallions sat, peering around a little. They never got to eat with the Princess, this was new. They could see more than a few ponies peering at them curiously from the sidewalk outside, but Celestia ignored them. Forks and little plates appeared on their table while the shopkeeper laid down napkins and such.
Princess Celestia took the cheesecake out of the box and set it in the middle of the table. “This looks divine.” She smiled, eyeing the luscious strawberry drizzle, the chunks of fruit ontop, and the the shine of the flecks of ice on the side of the whole thing. “Beautiful.” She mumbled. Looking up at her two guards suddenly, she chuckled. “Oh, where are my manners?” She lifted a knife by magic and sliced the cheesecake into nine thin slices. Levitating one to each of their plates, she bade them to dig in.
Captain Grey smiled inwardly. Being the Princess’ private guard seemed to have its benefits now and then. How often did you get such a treat, and eat it with royalty? Striking Spear at a little less, not particularly fond of sweet things, but it was only polite. If the Princess was treating them, who was he to turn down such kindness? Princess Celestia opened her mouth, leaning over her cake happily, when CRASH!
Something shattered their window, smooshed her cake and bounced across the room. Captain Grey flipped the table with a roar, turning it into a shield and tackling her Majesty to the ground to cover her with his body. Striking Spear puffed his chest out and, with a cry of battle, pulled a spear from Faust-knew-where to challenge the assassin outside. Leaping forward he smashed through the remainder of the store window in a spectacular explosion of glass. He landed hard and whinnied, rearing up with his spear arm cocked!
A group of five of six foals cowered before him, and one of them was wetting himself. They whimpered and shook like leaves before the armored pony. Striking Spear looked around, then slowly lowered himself, blinking a little. “W-w-we’re sorry, mister solar stallion guard s-sir!” the bravest of the little group said. “W-we didn’t mean t-t-to lose our ball in that window! Please don’t hurt us or throw us in a dungeon!” the group of children quite literally threw themselves upon his mercy and he stood there, looking more than a little annoyed. Peering over his shoulder, he saw the hoofball still rolling across the shop floor. It didn’t take long for the shopkeeper to come boiling out of her door to yell at the foals explosively. “It was just some foals and their hoofball!” he called inside to the Princess and Captain Grey.
Back in the shop, Celestia was on her back with Captain Grey atop her. Both were breathing hard, the stallion crouched over her. Slowly, the Princess turned her head and sighed. Her precious cheesecake was all over the floor, and exactly none of it had gotten into her mouth. Turning to look up at her loyal guard when the danger was seemingly over, her eyes suddenly zeroed in on his nose. There was a fleck of cheesecake on his nose. Leaning up, she licked it right off of him. The brief and glorious flavor of cheesecake washed over her tongue and she moaned a little, happily working her mouth.
Captain Grey launched himself off of the Princess like he’d been struck by lightning, rubbing his nose furiously. “Ahem. The danger is over, your Majesty.” He said, cocking his head in an official way. “I suggest we return to the palace before the media gets ‘hold of this or something.” She could see his wings trembling.
“Very well.” The white alicorn slowly righted herself. She considered asking for another cake, but no, the mood was ruined and the shop would be full of cleaning and repair ponies soon. So much for her shop-lifting and cheesecake. Back on her hooves, she heaved a great breath and sighed. “Back we go, then.” They stopped briefly to collect Striking Spear from the gaggle of foals and the shouting shopkeeper, then headed for home.
End of Part 5
i am not sure if i like new cellestia
why luna WHYYYYY!
Now I want cheesecake.
711047
Buck you, I love new Celestia. With that grammar you don't get to have an opinion.
Can't say I like this version of Luna. I feel there's no love between the two, or if there is, it's one sided from Celestia only. If anything, I feel Luna here is in in need of some serious beating up till the point where she has no teeth left. Someone who betrayed her country by not showing up at all while their was a national crisis and enemy invasion should shut the buck up about Celestia's prowess, and do some serious self-reflecting first before she starts giving advice or any kind of training to others. Furthermore, her lack of respect for the Equestria that Celestia succeeded in creating is apalling, and her pride in her training is entirely misplaced. Especially since she didn't use that training to take down Chrysalis at all and was nowhere to be found when her subjects needed her. Please, Luna, stop bragging and start being ashamed of yourself, and give back that crown. A Princess who doesn't move to defend her subjects is not worthy of the title, no matter how much she trained. At least Celestia tried, which is more than we can say of you! If I were Celestia, I'd say :"Well, since you can obviously do it all better, DO IT YOURSELF. I spent 1000 years working my flank off to do your duties on top of my own just because pwetty wittle Luna felt jealous because ponies didn't like her pwecious night. I'm taking a well-deserved 1000 year vacation! Now if you'll excuse me, there are palm trees, sun, sea and sand waiting for me. Have fun on that throne."
That's not to say this is badly written, mind you. It's not, your writing is excellent and you have a great grasp of style, grammer and scenery painting. I just don't like the content. I guess I'm just tired of Celestia-abuse when she really doesn't deserve half of the shit she has to put up with from the fandom. I wanna see Celestia kick some flank for a change, without her having to undergo belittling and mockery and insults from Luna first. Guess I'll just have to write that myself.
Good luck with the rest of your story, though given the quality of your writing, you don't really need much luck to begin with.
Aegis, you've been writing Luna-centric stories so long, you've become stuck.
You're writing about Celestia here, but as this tale goes on she's becoming more and more like Luna.
Do yourself a favor: Write in the sunlight, not the moonlight.
I can't wait for the next chapter. I love this story.
I'd like to add that Celestia was completely unreasonable to that gardener in the latest chapter. All she had to do was *explain* why she did not want him there and why that spot was important to her. Instead, she terrorized him until he ran screaming. And that's the pony Luna wants her to become? Yeah, Celestia, do yourself a favour and tell Luna where she can shove it before you ruin your relationship with all of Equestria any further.
709186
Dude, mobile bakery? We need one of those around here! Working a graveyard shift! That's be epic!
711180 I kinda agree with you. Luna was probably having a private time with her harem/guards.
Time to show Lulu the difference between the Morning Star and a chunk of rock in the sky.
Is it just me, or is Luna a friggin' dick?
I feel Celestia reaction to Green Thumb was justified. GOD told you to knock it the fuck off in a super polite way, and you just brush her off TWICE!? Fuckin Green Thumb.
I can see Luna being brought back down to Earth sometime in the next few chapters. I hope, as she starting to get just a smidge Mary-Sue. "Oh Celestia, I'm stronger than you and all the guards loves me and your guards suck and the only way for you to be better is to be just like me." This better not end with NLR.
711178 i do apologize dear sir or madam. i was not at my finest at the time. have a mustache in repayment for having to suffer through that sentence.
.
711711
Actually that's not sueish, arrogance is a flaw within itself.
711469
It was completely justified, you're just butthurt over you're specific interpretation of Celestia not being in the story.
Are you guys trolling. Nobody can be this stupid... But seriously, stop with your inane and moronic opinions, I for one want this guy to finish the story as I very much enjoyed reading it, so much in fact that I'm willing to go into the comments and deal with children like you. And if the author is reading this, please don't change the course of the fic based upon the opinions of people who can't even capitalize there words (E.G those who should have stayed in facebook with there schoolyard chums) among other things.
712001
Yes, heaven forbid someone has an opinion that's different from your own and doesn't like something you happen to like. Of course their reasons are completely invalid and retarded and stupid, and of course they have to be trolling. How could anybody NOT agree with your amazing opinion, after all? Honestly: grow up. Not everyone's going to like this, and I have every right to say why I don't like it as you have to say you do like it. I'm even enough of a good sport to admit this story is well written, I just don't agree with the content. And I managed to say so without having to resort to petty insults, unlike you. Take some notes. Having events in your story challenged by your readers are good ways to improve, to spot holes in your plot or flaws in your reasoning. You learn a lot more from somebody telling you (politely, I might add) what he did or did not like than someone saying "OMG so gud I luv it write moar!".
And no, it wasn't justified. She bullied him, nothing more, nothing less. All she had to do was explain it, calm and nicely, and she would have gotten a much better result. Now she terrorized one of her subjects into doing her bidding. She told him off and suddenly attacked (for the lack of a better word) him and didn't even tell him why. And when he didn't obey her blindly like a mindless slave, she terrorized him into doing it. That's not justified. That's tyranny. If she had explained why she didn't want him there, he would have understood just as well, and he wouldn't actually run off screaming being terrified of her.
And I really wouldn't attack anyone's grammar or spelling when you can't even tell the difference between 'their' and 'there', or the proper use of 'you're' and 'your'.
712096
Are you insane, I would have fired that gardener as he was completely out of line, she was fully justified and was extremely lenient actually. Just the fact that you think that at all completely nullifies your argument, who the hell is that deluded.
Clearly, you just don't like the fact that Celestia has been portrayed differently then from your own interpretation.
Also, "Yes, heaven forbid someone has an opinion that's different from your own and doesn't like something you happen to like. Of course their reasons are completely invalid and retarded and stupid, and of course they have to be trolling. How could anybody NOT agree with your amazing opinion, after all?" now you're getting it, some people aren't smart enough to have an opinion.
712117
How was he out of line? He was doing his job. Out of the blue comes Celestia telling him to buck off as if he doesn't know his job. When he tries to assure her he does, she starts to yell at him, and eventually she utterly terrorizes him just because he was doing his job and she didn't even tell him why. My argument isn't disputed at all, you simply can't come up with a proper counter. You still haven't said why her doing it the way I suggested it would in any way not have worked. Oh, that's right, because it would have worked just as well as acting like a tyrant did, if not better.
Indeed, some people are better off without having an opinion, you being one of them. If you can't even accept the fact that not everybody's going to love what you love and can't stay civil about it, then you really have no place being on the internet.
712117
I'm sure that Twilight will set Celestia straight, once she knows whats going on. That's if Celestia doesn't come clean herself.
712146
You're kidding right? ....Seriously? you really can't see what he was doing wrong? I'm not even going to explain it, I am however going to accuse you of the following:
I bet you are a member of PETA, Greenpeace, The church. Because you my friends are showing levels of stupidity on the same level as Christians, which means profoundly deluded.
Shitstorm above!
Also, Luna's getting a little bit too cocky.
712188
Bravo! How long did it take you to come up with such a mature reply? You won't explain it? I know why: because you can't explain it. And because you can't explain it, you resort to petty insults because you really can't come up with anything better to say. In fact, notice how you completely avoid all the points I make? Because you can't come up with an intelligent rebutal. And because that frustrates you so much, you start insulting me to make yourself feel better. I pity you, really.
Please, try and answer this: why would her explaining the situation not have worked? What exactly did the gardener do wrong? He was doing his job. Did he know that that spot was special to Celestia? No. Did Celestia tell him it was special? No. Was he simply there because working in the garden is his job? Yes. Do you really think he wouldn't have understood if Celestia said: "Please, do not continue your work here. A dear friend of me is burried here and I fear your work might unearth her remains." There, that was all it would have taken. No threatening needed, no violence, no anger. That's not deluded, that's logic.
But please, do ignore my post again and please do insult me some more, you are truly proving your maturity here. Or you could in fact grow up and actually address the points I make instead of making poor excuses and insulting my persona because you can't come up with anything better to say. I'd be interested in hearing why Celestia had to act tyrant in this case, but you don't provide any reasoning besides "she had to! she had to! she had to!". That's all nice and dandy, but I'd like to know why. "because he did wrong! because he did wrong! because he did wrong". That's very nice, darling, but do tell what he did wrong, if you can, which I sincerely doubt.
712251
That is an excellent and valid point my good sir, let me offer a rebuttal.
The Counter Argument.
712352
Please, try and answer this: why would her explaining the situation not have worked? What exactly did the gardener do wrong? He was doing his job. Did he know that that spot was special to Celestia? No. Did Celestia tell him it was special? No. Was he simply there because working in the garden is his job? Yes. Do you really think he wouldn't have understood if Celestia said: "Please, do not continue your work here. A dear friend of me is burried here and I fear your work might unearth her remains." There, that was all it would have taken. No threatening needed, no violence, no anger. That's not deluded, that's logic.
712365
Seriously, after being told directly? very well then let me explain, the reason why the gardener was in the wrong is because he disrespected his superior and basically told her to fob off in addition to being insensitive and attempting to walk all over a god, just because he's pathetic and unfortunate does not mean he is in the right.
Also in regards to you:
i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/005/545/OpoQQ.jpg
Are you serious?
712381
I'm very much serious, yes, thank you. How did he disrespect her? He was doing his job, nothing more. Suddenly Celestia came in and told him he had watered that spot enough, implying he doesn't know his job. That's more disrespect from her side than from him. But he simply eases her fears and tells her that he knows his job. He didn't tell her to buck off, she told him to buck off. How was he being insensitive? How did he try to walk over her? He was just doing his job when Celestia came and started to question his doings for seemingly no reason (remember: HE didn't know that that spot was special to her, and she never explained). All he tried to do was to take care of the gardens as he was supposed to do. The fact that she is his princess doesn't mean he has to blindly obey her, or that he doesn't have the right to speak for himself. What, if Celestia told him to jump off a cliff, should he just obey blindly, too?
Basically, this whole situation could have been avoided if Celestia had simply explained the situation to him. "Please, do not continue your work here. A dear friend of me is burried here and I fear your work might unearth her remains." There's no indication he's a mean pony, so he surely would have understood that, said "Of course, you're highness, pardon me," and moved on.
I suggest you rewatch "Putting your hoof down", as the situation is very much the same as what Fluttershy did and what she did wrong. There is no need to be assertive when the situation can be resolved through more peaceful, easier and respectful means that will leave both sides satisfied. It's fine that Celestia wants to become stronger so that a repeat of the Chrysalis situation doesn't happen. It's fine if she puts snotty nobles who are out for their own interests in their place. But when she starts to bully her castle staff, then that is most definately not fine. I hope that once Luna finds out she won't approve and reminds Celestia of this.
712420
Are you real?
712454
Very much so. Compare the gardener scene from "Putting your hoof down" to the one we had here. Green Thumb may have been hard-ears, and he may have watered the plants too much, just like the gardener Fluttershy dealt with. So he made a mistake. Neither warranted the response they received. Not from Fluttershy and not from Celestia. Again, all Celestia had to do was say: "Please, do not continue your work here. A dear friend of me is burried here and I fear your work might unearth her remains. Please leave." Explain to him why she did not want him there. Perhaps on a somewhat firmer tone to leave no room for discussion. But there was no need to give him a heart attack by terrorizing him, just like Fluttershy's violent reaction to the gardener in "Putting your hoof down" was also unwaranted. That wasn't justified, that was tyrannical. Just like Fluttershy's behaviour wasn't her being justly assertive, she was just being a bully and a jerk.
712525
OK first of all, I disagree because the gardener was being obnoxious and Celestia respectfully asked him to stop, he ignored her and therefore rightfully incurred her wrath. Just because what fluttershy did was wrong does not mean that this is the exact same situation, get a grip on reality man.
SECONDLY, let me rephrase my question:
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/101/623/are-u-a-WIZARD0.jpg
712556
My grip on reality is quite secure, thank you. Being confident in your own abilities and being obnoxious are not the same thing. As I said, he was stubborn. It still didn't justify her reaction. If you have to rule by terrorizing your people into doing your bidding, you're on the wrong side of the moral scale. Maybe it's time you opened your eyes to reality? He earned a reprimanding, perhaps a lecture. He did not earn her wrath. Now he fears her, and what good does that do? What good a monarch will she be if she scares everypony into doing what she wants? Then she is no different from Nightmare Moon.
712586
.....Y'know what, OK, you win this argument out of pity. You're right, Celestia was a meanie and deserves to be put in tiem out. I'm sorry I doubted you and your wizard magic.
"sees argument" "MA! Get the popcorn!"
Though i agree he ignored the princess twice and thats what made her mad. She may have gone overboard
711469 dont you think thats her plan?
711272
Come away oh human child, take me by the hand,
for there is far more weeping in the world, than you could understand.
Travel through light, under trees, into shadows,
And see the sun's dead, hidden away, deep in the barrows.
712586>>712619
Goodness, I come home from a long day's work and see that my new story has tons and tons of new comments, and I look through them only to find the two of you arguing with each other. My little ponies, it's okay to have a difference of opinion. Much like the fate of the Moon Champion in "Luna's Story 2: Wrath of the Moon Champion", I wrote this part to be controversial on purpose. The fact that it inspires emotion in both of you means I'm doing my job right. But, I didn't mean to inspire such hatred between my readers. Please don't argue so hard anymore, all that energy can be spent writing other things, or analyzing what I've written, even!
Anyway, how about this? Since the two of you have spent so much time tangling with one another, perhaps you could do me a favor? I'd like both of you to write one more comment about this chapter, express your opinions and justify them. Don't argue with one another, either. I lost BOTH of your original thoughts in the verifiable shitstorm you two caused. I do care about what you have to say. Let's just return to our corners and wait for the next chapter, huhm?
Vivas Noctus!
~Aegis Shield
713970
Bahhhhhh. Big Mac and Celestia are just taking a break.
"...even though it was a little vein."
Should be vain. "Vain" is the character trait, "vein" is a part of the circulatory system, returning deoxygenated blood to the lungs. Otherwise, I like how it's coming along. Keep it up, slip in some Celestia/Luna conflict here or there, maybe bring back Nightmare Moon. My good friend Mr. Spike here says that would be a very good idea, if you know what I mean... In all seriousness, good work.
I have this feeling that Celestia's going to rip half of equestria apart by the end of this story just to get her ONE slice of cheesecake (with strawberry topping drizzled all over it)
I feel a certain amount of Pity for Luna, who's likely going to be standing in the way.
711180 The truth is that Luna is actually not strong. Lauren Faust said that Luna actually lost her powers which was why in the first episode after she was changed back her hair was just blue. In the wedding she was only strong enough to stay up nights and did not have any strength in the day. That was also why she only appeared later that night. Although the writer is amazing he didn't follow the word of god. And as much as I love the flirty luna please don't make celestia some sort of playful slut. Only our dear luna can pull that off.
713756
Well I have absolutely no criticism for this chapter, really enjoyed it personally. I think the way you've moved away from training and more into the effects of the training has added depth to the story.
The way I read things in this chapter... When Celestia reprimanded Green Thumb for blowing her off, she was likely going for 'stern' but has likely long forgotten just how intimidating a goddess is when being 'stern'. And further since ponies who could handle goddes level 'stern' are long dead and buried, didn't think to dial back her response. I would suspect that her threatening posturing wasn't even a conscious decision, but rather old instincts kicking in her body remembers, but her mind has forgotten.
In other words, Celestia made no judgement errors in her actions, just doesn't realize how much 'force' she needs to get her point across yet now that she's getting things back into gear.
Anywho, I have a critisicm to point out in the story that the Author should probably address. The way things are written, its implied that Celestia USED TO HAVE this edge she's training for, and was quite the pony badass. However, during the training scenes, she's treated as if she's a rank amateur who's never seen combat before, while Luna's got aeons of experience.
I find this dynamic 'broken'.
Celestia is 'rusty', not new. Luna shouldn't be lecturing Celestia on lessons about how combat works, Celestia's known them for centuries. She should be getting reminders of the 'you do remember-' and 'you used to be able to' variety, but not explicit lessons that explain everything to her like she's a recruit.
The other is Luna's boast. Unfortunately, while its impressive to think she's been training for a thousand years, no amount of training can be worth even five minutes of live combat experience. Luna was on the moon, by herself. There's nopony to fight. There's no way for her to test out that which she's learned, or to refine her tactics and skills in relation to an actual living, thinking opponent.
So at best, Luna would, at least in this story, be a shock-trooper. She has a strong mastery of herself, and all her moves can be pulled off FLAWLESSLY... But the moment the fighting conditions move away from her control, or in fact, the moment she has anything like a real fight with a physical equal, she becomes a glass canon. She has no real grasp of how ANY opponent is going to react to anything she's refined in the last 1000 years.
Celestia on the other hand, has been interacting with ponies for the last thousand years. While she has not been fighting, she's has experience dealing with the mechanations and manipulations of the quick-witted in the court. She's mentally conditioned to adapt to her fighting environment... She just has to realize it.
Between the two... I'd say that once Celestia gets up to speed and it clicks that she doesn't have to obey the routines and rules Luna's been using, she wipes the playing field with her little sister so hard it's not even funny. Her body remembers what it means to fight. She's rusty, but once that rust gets cleaned off, there's a steel blade hiding benieth it.
714895
Second.
Back to me, I feel as if this will end badly.
711272 That's the idea.
714895 Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
...right on all counts, I'd say. Good logic skills.
That whole insane argument Xavier and Jericho were having?
Excuse me, but Celestia is not only the RULER of Equestria, but she is also a GODDESS.
Would you talk down to the ruler of your nation? Would you disregard the words of a deity?
And when one is both at once? YOU OBEY!
If it was Princess Luna in that situation, the gardener would have been immediately arrested by the guards and thrown into the dungeon for a night and a day. Celestia is still much more tolerant than her sister in regards to proper respect for herself.
It clearly says that Green Thumb was DROWNING the mums. Clearly Celestia was right to ask him to stop, and he refused. And maybe she didn't tell anypony that Flower Power was buried there because it's MORBID.
Story's not bad and while true Celestia could have been nicer and more explanatory, the gardener was a bit out of line as well. "Oh, she won't do shit, I can just ignore her!" mentality was pretty clear and uncalled for.
I am a little surprised at the rather jarring "Suddenly I'm talking to the reader" bits. You have been doing purely IC 3rd person for the first part and suddenly you've switched to a dictation style as if you where explaining past events to someone else. Try not to draw undue attention to the narrator if you didn't start out that way. The forth wall is there for a reason and when someone suddenly breaks it several chapters into the story with no prior warning (even if it's the narrator), it can break the story focus.
714895
I have to say your opinion on her fighting makes sense though if you remember Luna's collapse after her latest fight (during the night with the power of the moon aiding her and Celestia teleporting away seemingly strong as ever), you'll see that this might already be the case. Also take into consideration she's had a one or two years to remedy some of her "shock trooper-ness" and probably was just as fierce as Celestia when she was banished so has an idea on what does and doesn't work in combat. Luna has almost as many advantages as Celestia in that regard.
714673
Not even that! She's as introverted and socially awkward as can be in the show. Personally, my fanon depicts her as an interesting mix between twilight and fluttershy in that aspect. Hides in her castle doing quite background work and slowly gaining her power back while trying to find a way to relate with her subjects. Probably why she's my favorite just ahead of twilight.
Not sure if like New (or old?) Celestia
MOLESTIA! Y U MAKE SEXUALLY AWKWARD CIRCUMSTANCES EVERY CHAPTER
Uhm, wow. Celestia's definitely starting to take the physical training to heart here. The training spars between Luna and her sister are definitely getting into more intense levels now. (Nice touch with Stalwart, Aegis, and their bowl of popcorn. I know if I had a chance for spectating that sort of event, I'd be right there with my cup-hat and a bag of peanuts, too.) I have to question how much Luna's still holding back, though. After all, she's still got ten centuries of training time on her sister, so I'm sure that she's got whole racks of moves that she hasn't pulled out yet, since there's no way Celestia's ready to defend against them. Nice touch with a friendship report serving as an unanticipated sparring break, though I'm a little surprised at Twilight for getting into a fight with one of her friends and basically running away into the Everfree over it. That seemed a little juvenile for our favorite librarian. (shrugs) Oh well, considering her reaction about Lesson Zero, we do know that Twilight does have a few trigger points where she still reacts like a young foal, so I'll just chalk this up to another of those points.
Now, when Celestia stepped away from her tea party with Twilight to have a little discussion with Green Thumb, my first thought was that she was going for another small assertiveness exercise. Frankly, if I was in an apologist mode for her, I'd accept that she was mostly in bounds with the discussion she was having with the gardner. But in this case, I'd have to say that she might benefit from going back and re-reading Fluttershy's friendship report on her incident with Iron Will, because this is starting to look like a pretty clear case of her attitude modifications starting to run away with her. Hopefully, that Lunar Stallion was stationed by Luna to monitor for just such an excess.
Moving on, I see that Celestia was still fixating on her lost cheesecake. That was a nice touch, having Celestia rescue the hoofball that ended up smashing the bakery window a little later. I was a little worried that she was going to break all "New Celestia" on the bakery owner, but that was actually a pretty decent response to a shop owner who really was a little less than attentive about her incoming customers. (Oh, and I like her definition of "shoplifting", I wonder if Luna has a similar habit that she uses for patronizing shops that catch her interest?) I liked the bit with the unintentional kiss on her Captain's muzzle. I guess he wouldn't have been quite as shocked if Celestia hadn't had such a satisfied look on her face after she finally got her little bit of cheesecake. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_rainbowkiss_flip.png
I'll be looking forward to seeing what Celestia gets into next.
(Right now, though, I'm going to catch some shuteye. It's sad when you get back from a vacation needing a vacation to recuperate. Guess I could use a bit of Luna's exercise routine myself.)
711180 You're just butthurt over Luna being better than Celestia. Admit it.
Celestia loved the concept, even though it was a little vein.
.. it was a capillary???
1046307 agreed, my only worry is that she will end up like fluttershy. A minefield.