//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Queen Nightmare Moon // by Makitk //------------------------------// Nightmare Moon passed by her sister's smaller throne again, walking between the left-and-right sides of the higher platform her own throne was on. Her hoofbeats echoed through the large throne room space, and were tracked by Celestia's ears as the Queen walked past behind her. "You are pacing, sister," the white one suggested calmly. "Where is she?" the Queen wondered in response, turning around as she reached the leftmost edge of the platform and heading back for the rightmost edge. "You only called for tea five minutes ago," Celestia reminded her. "Moondust would have had it ready within a minute," Nightmare Moon grumbled. "Something's wrong." "Like what? The mare is new to the task; it is only natural she would need some more time," her sister offered, turning her head to look back at Nightmare Moon. The dark blue Alicorn reached the edge of the platform again, turned, and paused as she saw her sister's eyes upon her. "But what if she tripped and got hot tea all over her? She is too accident-prone," Nightmare Moon sighed in clear worry. A smile spread across Celestia's lips at the genuine worry shown by the Queen. "She will be fine, trust your advisor on that. The ponies in your kingdom are tougher than they appear." "I am aware of that," Nightmare Moon sighed, breaking eye contact with Celestia and moving back to her throne. "I can't but worry about her." "If you forgive me, sister," Celestia started, turning around halfway on her own throne and looking over its low back, "but you needed somepony like Contrail in your life." The Queen sat down on her throne and took her time to settle on it first, then frowned down at her advisor. "Right, because I truly needed somepony to worry over all the time and distract me from governing my realm." "She helps remind you of what is truly important about ruling, sister," Celestia pressed. "In your first days you washed over them as if they were little more than peons; lifeless, emotionless, only there to serve your every desire." "Yes, and then I received a backlash from this gemstone buried in my skull," Nightmare Moon grumbled, tapping her crystalline eye. "And I promised you I would not bring that up after helping you weather it," Celestia agreed with a nod. "But it taught you you needed to keep their feelings in mind as well as your own desires. So too with Contrail now." "Because I was not already guilt-ridden for having destroyed her eye," the Queen snorted. "You keep calling the changed ones your children," her sister stated, "but you never displayed maternal feelings to any of them. Until now, that is; you are clearly worried sick over a single one of your children. It may help you empathize with your subjects in general and make better decisions based on that." "Remember when I said I did not question your loyalty, but worried about the way you expressed it?" Nightmare Moon sighed. "This is one such case; I am not at all sure that this is helping me in any way. It goes in against every fiber of my being." "I hope you will see the truth in my words in due time, sister. I truly wish you to rise up to your full potential," Celestia suggested softly. "In due time," the Queen mused for a moment, then lifted her head to peer out to the main entrance to the room. "It's been ten minutes now, surely?" Celestia smiled broadly and turned around to sit on her throne more properly again. "Barely eight by now." "Well, it feels like ten. I have half a mind to call for another to bring us our tea," Nightmare Moon huffed. "It is a shame you were not blessed with the Element of Patience, sister," Celestia joked. The Queen raised an eyebrow, then sent her magic out from her horn to zap the white one before her, who leapt off her throne with a yelp! "Be glad I did not singe your backside for that statement," Nightmare Moon suggested as Celestia crawled back onto her throne. "That was very 'kind' of you," the white one chuckled softly, giving a defiant glance back. The Queen's horn sparked with a new charge, but then the doors to the room opened up and she let it settle again to focus on the newcomer. Contrail, the blue-coated Lunar Pegasus with the light-grey mane and tail, walked in with her leathery wings spread out to help balance a tray on her back. The mare focused strongly on the floor in front of her with her right yellow slitted pupil and left pink gemstone eye as she walked into the room, scanning for the cracks between tiles and making sure to step over them. "There she is," Celestia stated merrily. "Ten minutes late," Nightmare Moon huffed. "What's taken you so long, my child?" Contrail stopped walking to peer up at the Alicorn sisters on their respective thrones, and offered them a wry smile. "Apparently I move my wings while talking," she stated, her wings wobbling as she did - and the tray with them. Even at the distance between them, Nightmare Moon could see some tea spilling out of the cups on the tray and she brought her right hoof up to rub at the side of her head. "Then maybe you should not speak until you get us our tea," she sighed. "Bring it up here already." The Lunar Pegasus' head tilted down again to peer at the floor, and then her legs moved to place her hooves up on the tiles in front of her again, again making sure not to step on the cracks between. "Oh stars, this is going to take forever," the Queen exclaimed, falling against the tall back of her throne. "We could help the poor dear, you know?" Celestia offered back, keeping her attention on the approaching Contrail. "We do have magic, where she does not." "The point was for her to learn to aid us, no?" Nightmare Moon snorted. "But you see how you are not making it easy on her, right?" the white sister suggested. "A Unicorn would be far better disposed to handling trays of food due to their magical ability." "She's holding it fine on her back, as far as I can see," the Queen stated as the Lunar Pegasus reached the first of the steps leading up to the thrones and stopped at it. "Ah, steps," Contrail coughed uneasily. "It helps to bend your forelegs slightly while climbing them, dear," Celestia spoke calmly. "You can't extend your back legs after all, so best to make your forelegs shorter by bending them." "That makes a surprising amount of sense, thank you princess!" the Lunar Pegasus exclaimed merrily, her wings moving as she did. The movement made the cups wobble dangerously on the tray set on Contrail's back. A faint light brightened Celestia's horn, and the cups stabilized themselves before they could spill more tea or slide off the tray. Nightmare Moon scraped her throat lightly at the act, and Celestia doused her magic again. "You tell me to trust in my subjects' abilities, yet then you help my child out when she does well enough on her own?" the Queen asked pointedly. Celestia smiled back at her. "Did you want to have tea, or an empty cup, sister?" "I should truly singe your backside for that," Nightmare Moon grumbled, watching Contrail carefully set her forehooves on the lowermost of the steps in front of her, knees bent, then bringing her back legs up to the same step without righting her forelegs with the motion... As the tray slid forward an inch to rest at the nape of the Lunar Pegasus' neck, the cups on it slid forward as well... only to stop short of spilling the hot tea over the mare as a blue light surrounded them. The pair of porcelain teacups, and contents, then went up and over Contrail's head to land in the cupholders attached to each throne. Contrail, now carrying just an empty tray on her back, looked up at her Queen in surprise to see the magic around her horn fade away. "Okay, okay, I'll find a different job for her," the Queen sighed in defeat, having reacted out of her growing maternal instincts more than anything else. Smirking at the Lunar Pegasus, she continued, "Bring that tray back to the kitchen and report back here, my child." Celestia simply took her cup from where it was placed down and brought it to her lips, keeping her thoughts to herself while watching the Pegasus attempting to turn on the small step she was on. Contrail managed the turn, but then made the mistake of applying Celestia's earlier suggestion on the way down it; bending her forelegs. The resulting position would have made lesser ponies tumble over, but the Lunar Pegasus miraculously managed to remain upright. The Alicorn sisters watched the Lunar Pegasus mare leave the room in the same way she came in; staring at the floor and avoiding stepping on any of the gaps between tiles, the guards outside closing the doors behind her again. "How did she survive training??" Nightmare Moon gasped in exasperation. "By being assigned the jobs she excelled at, and being kept from the jobs she performed poorly at," Celestia spoke over the edge of her teacup. "Considering you know her background so well, maybe you could point your Queen in the right direction?" the Queen pressed. "If the Queen would listen to her advisor more, I would," Celestia butted back. "I am all ears," Nightmare Moon grumbled, picking up her own tea with her magic and watching Celestia turn to face her in her seat. "First off; she is a Pegasus," Celestia started. "Pegasi have thin bone structures and don't do well with manual labor. They are fast and agile, and best suited in jobs like scouts, messengers, weather control, and the like." "Yes, I already know all that," Nightmare Moon huffed. "And since when is bringing us tea considered to be manual labor?" "Did you not watch her walk just now? She is obviously insecure when walking and carrying something breakable on her back," the advisor to the throne pointed out. "She excels in flying, and oftencase carried a pouch along with her in her previous job with the Royal Guards. She is confident in that role, sister. All I see now is a mare who knows she is prone to accidents, and who tries her very best to do the task given to her by her Queen by being extra careful about it." Nightmare Moon looked past her sister at the double doors opposite her throne. "She did appear very timid today, yes. Nothing like the eager mare we met yesterday." "She respects you, you know?" Celestia remarked with a wry smile. "It does not matter to her what you might have done to her yesterday, or how difficult the task you put before her today; she does her best to serve you since you are her Queen. Even without the Element of Loyalty guiding her as it does me." The Queen lowered her gaze, letting Celestia's words mull about in her mind while the white-coated, rainbow-maned advisor to her throne sat staring up at her in the hope of catching even the smallest glimmer of realization dawning. "Perhaps I should leave the teamaking to Moondust and ask Contrail to be our personal messenger; she would be expected to fly in that role, with paperwork which can handle a few accidents along the way," Nightmare Moon realized. "Thus makes a just ruler, sister; to not just bark commands, but to find the right ponies for the right jobs," Celestia spoke with a growing smile. "If you find the balance between stern and just ruling, may your reign last a thousand years and more." "With my sister the faithful advisor to the throne, hm?" the Queen chuckled. "I still intend to bring you to our side, Celestia. Sooner, rather than later." Celestia's smile faded as quickly as it had appeared, and she turned her head away at the prospect. "I already said I agreed to the transmutation, sister." "You may ask any of my children how they feel for having been altered, Celestia. Take your time," Nightmare Moon offered, lifting her teacup to her lips again. "You will see; it's really for the best."