CHAPTER 14: Sisters at Odds
Luna sat at the table eating her morning breakfast attentively with a warm smile on her face. Ever since she was told about General Leogle, she couldn’t be happier. Everything seemed to be going quite well for the little blue filly.
Chernalia glanced at her daughter, smiling as she sipped from her chalice. Solmidas, however, seemed a bit concerned.
“Just where is Celestia?” he asked, turning his head back to look at the nearest clock in the dining hall. “Luna did you see your sister get out of bed before you came down?”
Luna opened her eyes and put her hoof up as if to tell her father to wait while she finished chewing her food. Then she started talking.
“I knocked on her door and told her breakfast was ready. She didn’t respond so I figured she was really tired, and didn’t want to wake her up, so I didn’t.” she told her parents.
“But shouldn’t you have let one of the servants know that so they could wake her and not let her sleep in past breakfast time?” Chernalia told her daughter.
“I didn’t think of that…” Luna said cautiously.
“I best go wake her up myself.” the king said rising from his chair.
“Oh it’s quite alright, Your Highness.” said a servant coming in through the doorway. “Here she is right now.”
Everyone turned around to see a rather tired-looking Celestia with bags under her eyes and a head of uncombed mane.
“I’m here every………….OOOOOO………pony.” she said, taking a yawn.
She walked over to her seat and started to eat her food but then realized that Percy and Penny were snickering at her while Luna simply looked a bit puzzled.
“What?” she asked.
“Tia, did you sleep well last night?” the king asked.
“Not really…like only an hour or two…”
“What were you doing that caused you to lose so much sleep?” asked her mother.
“Studying…”
“Wow, Tia…” Luna said. “I didn’t think you’d take it that seriously.”
“Well I figured since Father just told us about the thing with Leogle wanting to come back and talk and stuff I figured I should……study…and stuff.” she said, flatly.
“You sound like Percy!” Penny giggled.
“Only sillier!” Percy added.
“Tia, did you remember to comb your mane?” Luna asked.
“Oh…..I…uh…….no, I forgot. Shoot.” Celestia responded.
“Perhaps you’re taking your studies a bit too far, my daughter.” Chernalia told her as she used a hair-do spell on Celestia’s mane to make it neater and more presentable.
“But Mother…..the negotiations, remember?” Celestia said, sounding a little more agitated.
“Everyone needs a break from their studies, Celestia.” the king said putting his hoof on her shoulder. “I go through a lot of paperwork every day and I take time off when I need it.”
“Yeah, I did it last night too.” Luna chimed in cheerfully. “I took out one of my textbooks and studied a bit but my eyes started getting tired at one point and I knew it was time to head to bed so I did!”
“Alright Luna, just remember to not put off any studies.” the queen reminded her daughter.
“Oh of course not, Mother.” she responded. “I’ll study hard enough to ace that discussion with the General along with Tia!”
“I just hope the General really is okay this time around.” Percy said, about to eat a spoonful of gem-shards.
“According to what I’ve heard, he wishes to make amends.” said the king. “If I know the General, he’ll right his wrongs and whatever it is he did a while ago will be in the past.”
Solmidas took a quick sip from his goblet and dabbed his lips with a napkin. He turned back to Luna with a proud look on his face.
“You two are going to do just fine in those negotiations next weekend…”
A sudden snore came from Celestia’s direction and everyone turned to see her head was laid back with her eyes closed and her mouth wide open.
The dragons continued to laugh at such a sight.
“How much do you wanna bet I can throw this grape in her mouth in one successful shot?” Percy asked taking a grape out of a nearby fruit basket.
“Now now, leave her be, Perseus.” the queen said laughing a bit.
Suddenly Celestia’s head fell downward and her face spattered into her dish of food. Almost immediately after it happened she awoke bolt-upright with her eyes wide-opened.
“AAAGGGHHH!! What happened?! How long did I sleep in?! Are the negotiations done yet?!”
Percy and Penny fell out of their seats and laughed hysterically as Luna joined in giggling.
“You were only asleep for a few moments, Sister!” she said.
Celestia’s face turned grumpy as her father started wiping it off with a napkin.
“Celestia, it’s okay.” he told her. “We all have those days; let’s just try to get a little more beauty sleep next time.”
Celestia turned her head away and smiled a little to humor herself and gave a little laugh. She continued eating her food with a smile still on her face.
Later that afternoon the smile on Celestia’s face turned into a serious deadpan expression. She was once again deep in her studies. Luna sat next to her with the same textbook, reading carefully, before suddenly lifting her head and closed the book, breathing a sigh of relief.
“All done!” she said as she walked away from her work desk.
“Already?” Celestia asked her little sister.
“Yup!” Luna replied. “One and a half hour of constant studying. Now, a break.”
“Don’t you think you should study a little more? You were a bit behind when we were doing it before the whole Grumblebog thing.”
“I wasn’t behind, Tia. I just hadn’t done it as long as you had.”
Luna walked over to a nearby bookshelf and placed her textbook in it.
“Why are you putting your book away?” Celestia asked, worried.
“Because I’m done reading it for today. I’ll do a little more tomorrow.”
“But Luna, there’s still a lot of time left today!” said Celestia putting her book down after placing a small string in it for a bookmark.
“You should take it with you to study in your room later tonight before supper or something.”
“Oh I’ll study, Tia, but I’ve practically memorized the key portions of the diplomacy part in the book. Tonight I’m going to do a little practice with my negotiating skills by using my mirror in my bedroom. Oooh, maybe I can even make a dummy that looks like the general or something!” she said, her eyes wide with excitement at the thought of creating her own replica of Leogle.
“Luna, that’s ridiculous! You’ll waste so much time making that thing when you could be studying from another textbook!”
Luna walked by her sister, completely aloof and still confident in her own study habits.
“Oh fiddlesticks, Tia, I’ll be fine.” she said. “We still have six solid days before we meet with General Leogle and there will be plenty of time to prepare. You may think I’m not doing enough studying, but I think you’re doing too much of it.”
Luna rushed out the door with her sister angrily calling after her.
“Luna!”
“Percy, Penny, where are you guys? Wanna play ‘Alicorns versus Minotaurs?!’” she called down the hallway.
Celestia rolled her eyes and groaned.
“UUUGGGHHH! This exam is going to be the death of that little filly if she keeps this up!”
A few days passed, and unfortunately, things didn’t sit well with the sisters’ differences in their study habits. Celestia stayed up too late at night and always came down late for breakfast, being half awake during the day. Luna, on the other hoof, was going to bed at a timely hour, although she didn’t spend as much time reading her textbooks as she was recommended by her teachers or parents, which worried her sister. Celestia continued to berate Luna for not following her example, but Luna remained overconfident and carefree.
The interactions between the princesses worried King Solmidas and Queen Chernalia, as well as Starswirl and the dragons. Percy and Penny actually started trying to avoid Luna, or pretended to be busy with something to make Luna bored so she would actually attempt to study from her books more, but it did no good. Celestia became more impatient not just with Luna, but with just about anything that entire week. Every time the royal sisters talked with each other, it would almost always end with some kind of argument about the negotiations they were preparing for.
One night, the king was pacing about on the balcony outside of the royal study, worried about his daughters. Chernalia watched him from inside.
“I don’t like it, Chernalia.” he told his wife. “I didn’t think it would come to this: our daughters fighting and arguing right before their big day? They will not do well in those negotiations if they continue like this!”
Chernalia walked out to her husband and put her wing around his neck.
“I understand, Love, I understand. I have already tried saying something to Luna about getting more study hours in but she always insists she’s done enough, I don’t know what else to say to her. And with Celestia it’s almost impossible to get her to ease off on her studies once she’s already into it.”
“Nothing is impossible, Chernalia.” said the king in a very serious tone. “I’m going to set thing straight with them tomorrow…”
The king walked out to the edge of the balcony and looked at the stars. He sighed and lowered his head.
“…what am I saying. If I do it I’m just going to get angry. I was pleased to hear Leogle wanting to come back here to try again with our daughters, but with them behaving this way it’s causing me so much stress. Talking to them is a bad idea…”
“Perhaps it’s not up to us, Sol.” she told him.
“She’s right, My King.”
The king and queen turned around to see Starswirl behind them on the balcony. He walked towards them while speaking.
“You two are under too much pressure right now, but there is one out there who is very good at handling disputes like this.”
“Accord.” The king said.
They all looked over to Accord’s tower towards the northeast of the study where the lights were still on.
“I don’t suppose Accord may have a little time to spare?” Chernalia asked her husband.
“I will talk to him.” Solmidas replied.
“I’ve seen how that alicorn handles disputes before. We all have.” Starswirl continued. “He’s certainly been busy these last few months with this restoration project for the Everfree town, but we are running out of time and he’s concerned greatly with the diplomacy issues.”
“Accord never fails me. I doubt he would do it this time.” the king added.
The king and queen walked back in to the study and Starswirl used his magic to close the doors for the king behind them. He stayed outside on the balcony and continued looking at the stars while deep in thought.
“Please don’t fail us, Accord.”
That next morning Solmidas walked out into the town on a street right in front of the main entrance surrounded by guards. He was looking for Accord to schedule a good time for him to talk with the girls about their arguments. Accord was meeting with the head architect who helped with some recent renovations to the royal palace.
“Final Touch, is the Eastern corridor near completion?” he asked the architect.
“There are a few little cosmetic patches needed to the buildings but we are nearing completion, Your Grace.” Final Touch responded.
“That is good news.” Accord replied contently. “With the princesses getting ready to talk with the general again, folks around here seem to be quite hopeful. Just the thought of them being blessed with these new improvements makes it twice as good.”
“Do you want me to try speeding up some of the renovations, Sir?” he asked Accord.
“No need to hurry. We don’t want to rush any of it. I am certain things will be on schedule and we’ll have everything finished soon.”
“Accord?” the king asked walking towards his old friend followed by his guards.
“Your Highness!” said Final Touch bowing down in reverence with Accord.
“Sol, it’s good to see you. Have you seen the eastern quarter of the town yet?” he asked the king.
“The Eastern Quarter?” the king asked.
“It’s nearly finished, Your Highness.” said Final Touch pointing to some nearby buildings surrounded by worker ponies.
“Oh my…” said the king marveling at the vast changes his city had been going through. He hadn’t had many opportunities to look upon the renovations lately and was already seeing many improvements.
“Yes, Sol, we’re really making progress as you can see.” Accord added.
“Accord, you’ve done so wonderfully with these renovations. It’s amazing how much of it you have gotten done in just a few months.”
“It’s been extremely tough for the workers but I’ve made sure they are all paid double the amount they would normally work for. They are going to be the builders of tomorrow as we seek to populate more of the countryside in bigger villages and cities, you can bet on that.”
“You’ve created many jobs with all of this, my friend.”
“Indeed. This is just the push that Celestia and Luna need before they are ready to take on bigger responsibilities.”
“Oh, Celestia and Luna!” the king said surprised.
“Is there a problem?” said Accord looking curiously at the king.
“Oh Accord, if you don’t mind, there’s a very urgent matter that I would really like your help with today if you are able.”
“Oh, most definitely. Final Touch, if you don’t mind taking over for now, I’ll be back.”
“Of course, Your Grace. Carry on.” said Final Touch walking away towards some workers to check on them.
“So what is it you need, Sol?” Accord asked the king.
“Well, remember when I told you the other night about Tia and Luna getting a little mad with each other after that one study hall session they had?”
“Yes?”
“Well, I haven’t really had the time to tell you because I knew you were going to be very busy but these arguments have gotten worse.”
“Oh dear…” Accord’s ears moved down and he looked worried.
“Celestia’s been studying so hard to a point where it’s driven her mad and Luna doesn’t study enough which has made Tia angrier. I would talk to them but you are so much better with these things and I’ve been so stressed out lately that I’m not sure talking to them would even help. Would you mind doing that? It has to be very soon, tonight at the latest because the negotiations are being held tomorrow. They’re ready for it but they need to work together to do it and they really need to remember how important that is…”
Accord looked down carefully and then looked back at the town where the work was being done. He turned back to face the king and closed his eyes.
“Say no more, old friend. If there’s a disagreement, I will deal with it. These are the future leaders of Equestria we are talking about after all.”
“Oh thank you so much.” said the king bowing his head to Accord.
“It’s the least I can do for the royal family, Sol.” Accord responded. “Tonight you said?”
“Tonight would be great. In fact, why don’t you eat with us in the dining hall right before you talk with them.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Well I must go now, Accord. Thank you for agreeing to this.” said Solmidas as he walked off with his guards following close behind.
“Any time, old friend. Any time.”
Accord stood waving to the king and then turned back to the architect.
“Excuse me, Final Touch?” he asked.
“Yes, Senator?” Final Touch responded.
“Would it be too much to ask if you took over for the rest of the day?”
“Not at all, Sir. There’s not much left to do for today’s schedule and I can understand if you need a break.”
“Thank you. And it’s not really a break, just very important business with the royals I must attend to.”
“Completely understandable. Go about your deeds and I will be alright here.”
Accord turned away and started walking back towards the castle.
“Hang in there, Princesses. Your senator is coming.” he said to himself.