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// A Royal Confrontation 
// Story: Hidden Desires 2:  A Discovery, a Confrontation and Acceptance 
// by StormLuna 
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Once Luna was out of earshot, Twilight decided that she was going to  do something that at one time was unthinkable in her eyes, lecture  Celestia.  Twilight pointed her wing towards Celestia's bed and ordered,  "Sit down." 

Celestia did as ordered while Twilight sat down on a chair  in the bedroom.  Twilight gave her a glare and began, "Princess  Celestia, I want to know something.  I want to know why it is that you  would want to do this?  Why is it that you would want to hurt the two  ponies closest to you?"

Celestia stood up and replied, "I wanted to do  this because Luna lost a long standing bet.  I can see where you are  coming from but I do not find it very respectful to try and get out of a  bet, especially one this old." 

Twilight too stood up and protested, "But  the two of you were fillies back then and fillies sometimes make silly bets!  I made silly bets with my brother all the time and when one of us lost, we never made the other one pay up!  Granted it was simply things like the loser cleaned the winner's room but still, don't you see anything wrong with it?"

Celestia approached Twilight and  countered, "Twilight, what you and your brother did were bets between regular, non-royal unicorns and what Luna and I did was a bet between Alicorn sisters and any kind of bet Alicorn sisters make is one that  simply can not be broken.  Just as dragons have their dragon code,  Alicorn sisters have their code and trying to weasel their way out of  paying up on a lost bet is a violation of that." 

To Twilight, this was not a good reason for what she tried to do.  She again countered, "But  the bet was that she would have to make you happy in any way you wanted.   I know that cake makes you happy and wouldn't her simply baking you  cakes be sufficient?"  She flew up to where she was at eye level with  Celestia and continued, "I want to know something, what if the roles had  been reversed?  What if it were you who had developed a relationship  with somepony and Luna caught you?"  She became more intense as she  continued, "And what if Luna was going to take you away from the one you  loved?  What if Luna wanted you to engage in activities that would  amount to cheating?"

Celestia was in such a state of shock that she did  not even know what to think.  She had always thought that Twilight would  simply go with the flow over anything she would want to do but not only  was Twilight standing up to her, she was challenging her and bringing  up situations that really made her think.  After nearly five minutes of  silence and an intense glare from Twilight she replied, "Well I would  probably do what you and Luna are doing."  A tear ran down her face as  she continued, "I'm sorry Twilight, I'm sorry I tried to do this."  

Twilight was unsure as to whether she could believe her or not and  asked, "Really?  Are you really sorry or are you simply saying this to  placate me?"

This was another thing that Celestia did not expect and it  hurt her, Twilight doubting her.  She began to sob, "I'm so sorry  Twilight.  I'm going to admit, I'm jealous.  I'm jealous that Luna has a  special somepony and I don't."  She looked into Twilight's eyes and saw  the same scowl.  She continued, "I know I shouldn't have done this and  I'm going to admit, I've had crushes on mares since then but I didn't  act on them because of this, because of the bet." 

Twilight was still  having trouble believing what Celestia was saying.  She flew up to where she was nearly muzzle to muzzle with her and asked, "I know you are  jealous and wish you had a special somepony but I want to know this, I  want to know if you understand how the two of us felt when you were going to do this?"

Celestia could tell that Twilight was dead set  on getting an answer out of her and knew that she had to be honest.  She  replied, "Twilight, I'm going to be honest and you are not going to  think highly of me after this."  She took a deep breath and continued,  "I didn't even think about it, I did not think about how the two of you  would feel.  I was just dead set on making Luna pay up and I will admit, I wanted that bond back." 

This only angered Twilight further, "What,  all you wanted was that bond back?  You didn't care one bit about our feelings?"  She turned her back towards Celestia and continued, "That says a lot about you as a pony, you put some ancient bond ahead of the  feelings of the two ponies you are closest to." 

Again Celestia stood  there uncertain as to what she should say but then something crossed her  mind.  She realized that not only was she in the wrong with what she did but that old bond and the ways of those ancient days were just that,  ancient.  She realized that such things were no longer socially  acceptable and that as a princess of Equestria, such behavior was no  longer acceptable.  She tapped Twilight on the shoulder and asked,  "Twilight, could you please turn around?  I really need to tell you  something."

Twilight turned around and before she could say anything Celestia continued, "Twilight, I know what I did was wrong and I  know that you and Luna neither one will likely forgive me anytime soon.   I have come to the realization that Luna did not want this and I  should have respected that.  I also realize that those old bonds of the  past are just that, things of the past and that there is no place for  them in modern Equestria."

Twilight asked, "So, are you still going to force Luna to basically be your chef for the next month if that cake she  is making is not the best you ever had?"

Despite Celestia thinking that  this demand would be considered acceptable in modern Equestria, she  realized that the whole situation was wrong.  She replied, "No Twilight.  Looking at things now I realize that trying to control her in such a  way is very disrespectful."  

Twilight asked, "So when do you plan on  telling her this?  Do you plan on telling her before you eat the cake or are you going to keep her nervous and wait until after you take a  bite?"

Celestia initially wanted to scare her sister a bit before she  took a bite into the cake but given Twilight's scowl, she knew that she  should let her know once she returned with the cake.  She replied, "I  will tell her as soon as she returns." 

Twilight's scowl transformed to a  neutral expression as she replied, "Good.  I do hope that we can eventually put this behind us." 

The fact that Twilight's scowl  disappeared brought out a sigh of relief from Celestia but she did know that things likely would not return to how they were before between them  anytime soon.