A thousand years rematch
Chapter 1: Oh dear…
If you are an immortal being that has literally lived for millenia, the de facto leader of an entire nation, you start to appreciate a few small things.
Peace for example.
Not the typical internal or international peace, mind you. Of course, that is also something to appreciate to the fullest.
No you start to enjoy those small moments, where you have literally nothing to do. Absolutely nothing.
When you can sit in your royal garden, alone, without royal garments or responsibilities or guards. When you can relax and drink some tea and eat some cake, or several. That was just what Princess Celestia, Princess Regent of Equestria was doing right now.
Unfortanetly for her, that moment of absolute peace wasn’t going to last very long.
“There you are, Tia!“
Unaware of the sudden end, that her peacefull moment was going to experience very soon, the pristine white alicorn smiled gently at her younger sister. “Good Morning to you, Luna. Can I help you with something or do you want to have some tea with me here?“
“Well actually, I wanted to show you something. You see, I was just wandering around the castle when I stumbled upon this room, filled with all this old junk.“
Centuries of leading a nation and holding the royal court tought Celestia, among, other things, to hold a perfect face of neutrality even when confronted with devastating news of horror.
Of course, what her dear sister had just said wasn’t THAT horrifying, but it was always good not to let ones own emotions be immediatly shown to everypony present. Just like when you’re meeting diplomats, or playing poker.
Or of course when you’re afraid that your little sister has found the room full of rare and powerfull and possibly dangerous artifacts. Everyday life occasions.
“WICH old room full of ancient junk are you talking about, dear sister?“ Celestia asked with hidden worry, already thinking about what and how many results Luna in the old artifact room could mean.
Luna blinked. “We have multiple? Huh.“ When nothing happened she realised, that it was still her turn to speak.
“Uhm, well there was some rather weird stuff, small statues, pictures, trophies and I think some dusty armour. Oh, there was a plague about a cake-eating contest. First place and even the world record, forteen cakes in under one minute.“ Luna couldn’t help but giggle. “Wonder what kind of pony could eat so many cakes so fast, must have been quite a show.
Unnoticed to her, Celestia released her long held breath. “Would have been more if they had made more cakes, but nooo…,“ she muttered to herself.
“What did you say?“
“Nothing!“
“Oh, Ok. Although now that you said it, what is in the other room? I don’t think I’ve already seen it.“
“Nothing that is important right now,“ Celestia answered. “Now, what is it you actually have come to ask me?“
“Ah, yes of course. How could I forget that.“
With that, the blue princess produced a square, colourfull box from her beautifull flowing mane, “I wanted to ask, if you know what exactly this is.“ and put it down on the small table in between them. It looked rather old, the colour and text wornout and not as bright as they once had been, but still in a overall good condition.
However this simple object still managed to shock one oft he most powerfull beings in this world to the core, causing her body to tense up and her blood to freeze. Only centuries of practise were able to hold the tea inside her mouth, and it almost failed anyway.
She swallowed hard, trying to get the tea down her throat. The reason, for so many troubles, headaches, nights that had been passed lying awake in her bed, several discussions with herself in the gardens and lots of guilt, not to mention the near loss oft hat wonderfull tea, was the content of this box.
On the cover two words (well, two and a half to be honest) proudly presented themselves, stylized in Gold and Obsidian colour:
SOLAR vs. LUNAR
Derictely underneath the title were the images of Princess Celestia and her nemesis, the terrifying Queen of the Night, Nightmare Moon. Both were clad in their war armour, wielding great swords, all in either golden or crystal blue. To their sides, the box presented soldiers, armour and weapons in the same colour of their respective leader, masses of ponies with white or dark grey coats.
And now, this box had been found by her sister, the one thing Princess Celestia had desperately tried to avoid.
Shortly after Luna’s return and reformation, Celestia had hid the game in the relics room, neatly stored in a way so it couldn’t be found so easily. The reason behind this was simply fear, fear that her little sister would feel angered or offended, that ponies made a game based upon her struggles and loss to darkness, or ashamed and guilty about the constant reminder of her actions.
As time went on and weeks turned to months, Celestia quickly forgott about the whole matter, focusing on the integration of a second alicorn that had been banished for one thousand years into a modern society. Whenever she remembered her decision however, a small voice in the back of her head tried to convince her otherwise. Especially after the last Nightmare Night, this small voice told her that Luna would understand, and that Celestia should put more trust into her younger sister.
But Celestia didn’t listen, the box remained at it’s place and the whole matter was again forgotten. But now, in the midst of summer, Luna had found it by herself and Celestia’s decision came back to bite her into her flank. Not literally of course.
“So? Do you know it?“ The spoken words snapped the white alicorn out of whatever just happened with or in her mind. Still, she had to blink several times before giving her sister an answer.
“Uh… well uhm… i-it’s a… I m-mean…“ Or to mumble an answer, apparently. Her whole body began to feel rather cold. It felt like being caught on something bad (or naughty) when she had been small. But most of those times had been her sneaking into the kitchen to get some extra cake, this was something entirely different.
“Yes, what is it dear sister?“ Luna raised an eyebrow, still wearing the same courios expression on her face.
“It’s ahm… w-well it’s a… a game. A board g-game,“ Celestia replied with a, obviously forced, smile.
Her blue sister looked down at the board game, examing the cover again, than turning it on it’s bag. While she read the inprinted text, something about experiencing the great war and controlling both the forces of the light, and the darkness or that, Celestia felt that her mouth was getting really dry. Her body as a whole seemed to constantly change between ice-cold and really hot, worst of all a headache started to form in the back of her head.
The whole room was silent. Maybe everything will be alright, Celestia thought to herself, but it’s been just about a year since she is here again. Is this to soon? Maybe I should have just locked it away for good. But, what if she found out otherwise? Oh, I can’t even tell if she is angry or not. Should I say something, maybe-
“-tia!“
“U-uhm… What? Did you say something?“ For the second time today, Celestia was snapped out of her mind.
“Are you okay Tia?“ Luna asked with a concerned look on her face. “You’re a bit pale. Maybe you should get a little more sleep.“
“W-What? But uhm… aren’t you, uh-uuh… a-angry? Or, or…“ By now, Celestia was really complementing to simply teleport to her bed chambers, lock the door and to try forgetting that this entire akward conversation had happened. Maybe she could get some of that mountain spring water from Gryphonia. What did they call it? The Woodga?
Celestia shaked her head a bitt o get her thoughts clear, she had already drifted of twice in one conversation. If this whole matter turned out to be a false worry on her part, everything would be ok. If not, royal wine cellar it shall be. Steeled with her new resolve she dared to try to speak again.
“I mean, I thought that you would be… you know, offended or… otherwise affected. Because somepony made a game, based on… what happened between us.“
Luna looked at her older sister thoughtfully for another moment, then she circled the small coffee table to move in for a hug. Both princesses lost themselves for a moment, keeping eachother in a soft embrace, before eventually breaking apart.
“Tia, it’s really nice of you, that you wanted to protect me in this case. I appreciate it, really. But I am not angry, or offended.“ Luna said with a comforting smile. Celestia gave a relieved sigh and muzzled her sister affectionally.
“I mean, yes. At first I was rather bewildered. Although I didn’t know at that point what it was exactly, I understood what theme they were aiming at. I was a little bit surprised myself, that I had no ill feelings about it. Then I became courios and decided to look after you.“ She levitated the game box back to her mane, storing it in whatever place that could be found in it. Then she faced her sister again “To be honest, dear Sister, I think you should get some rest. You look a bit pale.“
“Yes. I believe your right little sister. Though I have to ask, what are you going to do now?“
“Well, now I am interested how something like this game came to be. I think a visit to our library will give me some insight on it.“
“There are a few shops in Canterlot that specialize in selling those kinds of games. You could go there after the library.“ Celestia had to supress a chuckle as Lunas face brightened even more at this idea, bouncing a bit on the spot before giving her a small kiss on the cheek.
“Well, I’ll go then, see you at dinner.“ With that she hopped away before casting a teleport spell.
Celestia smiled to herself, lifted herself up and began making her way to her chambers. But before she left, she stopped and looked back at the table. Without a second thought, the whole remaining cake was lifted up and started to follow her, steadily held in her magic.
“When my dear sister wants me to take a break, who am I to defy her? And a good break needs cake, tea and preferably a good book. I think I will check the kitchen, maybe they still have some oft hat delightfull banana cake. After all, you never know when you get the next moment of peace and quiet. Gotta take every opportunity and enjoy it to the fullest.“