Vivid Colour stood between two warring factions. Between the two opposites of her world, warriors who would sooner lash out than offer a hoof to each other. She stood as the last defender of order and rational thought. The only thing preventing complete chaos from reigning supreme.
She took a deep breath, and looked to the left. “You can’t wear that in court.”
The small group of worshippers who wore dark black robes and silver moons on necklaces around their necks, all wilted under her gaze.
“But it’s traditional…”
“Luna doesn’t like it. Simple clothes would be better, even if black, the necklace is fine,” Vivid interrupted the whining cultist before turning to her right, her magic straining to show her every facial twitch and color of clothes the ponies around her had, so she could properly evaluate them.
“And you,” she sighed. “The white is too jarring. Our church has many special colors, pastel red, green, and purple would do just as well and be more colorful, not just a counterpoint to Luna’s black decorations.”
“If… you believe it is best,” the priest said, looking quite put off as he examined his own clothes.
“Okay,” Vivid said as she looked between them. “Now that clothes are sorted, marching order. You will all march alongside during the ceremony, and take equal stance.”
She cringed as both sides erupted in objections and fury.
"Quiet!"
Both of the groups stopped immediately, and turned to face Vivid. She rubbed her ears as she thought about how to get these two groups to cooperate for the greater good of Equestria.
"Why... why don't you want to march alongside? Leaders only."
"You are our leader, Ms. Colour," the priest of the solar temple said softly.
"Not for this struggle. I see no reason for the sun and moon to be opposites. They can work together. Why does the Solar Temple believe that walking alongside the Lunar Temple would be anything but equality?"
"They aren't the Lunar temple!" the priest objected. "They are a cult, the temple is known and is not present here, they are a small mostly overlooked group which is largely composed of astrologers and the like, not... not this group!"
"So you see them as invalid, why? Princess Luna has acknowledged their existence and allowed them to take part in this ceremony as your counterpart, and they have agreed to abandon many of the practices which gained them the title of cult. They're being redeemed while the church of the sun rises up to meet them, this is a thing to be rejoiced, not scorned!"
The priest shrugged a little before nodding. "I... suppose."
"And you all, why don't you want to walk alongside your siblings of the sun?" she asked the Lunar group.
"Well... They worship a tyrant. Day Breaker," the lead Lunar worshiper pointed out.
That gave Vivid pause. She hadn't thought about the current state and history of her goddess. She hadn't dealt with that simple fact that Celestia was no more. The groups shuffled nervously, and Vivid cleared her throat.
"I need to think for a moment," she murmured before turning and walking away.
Vivid went to a nearby meeting room and locked the door behind her before sighing and resting her horn against the door.
After a moment she touched her hoof to a ring around her right foreleg. Within seconds Luna appeared in a beam of moonlight streaming in through a nearby window. She went to Vivid and set her chest against Vivid's back, holding her.
"You called, my love?" she whispered.
Vivid whimpered before turning to press her cheek against Luna's neck. "Tell me... what she was like."
Luna paused, before tilting her head. "There are several individuals you could be referring to. My sister, my past love, or a number of others. Which should I tell you of?"
"You had a past..." Vivid paused and shook her head. "Nevermind, your sister. I want to know about your sister."
Luna hummed softly to herself, looking out the window at the starry sky. She wanted to deflect clearly, and avoid the question. But she could not deny Vivid.
"What of her do you wish to know?" Luna asked, looking back to the mare she was cuddling.
"Was she a good pony?"
Luna couldn't help it, she chuckled and got a frown from Vivid.
"I apologize, my love, but it is... a question out of time," Luna explained as she stood and led Vivid through the castle hallways and into her own room.
She then led Vivid up a set of stairs hidden in the corner. She'd known they were there but Vivid hadn't been up them before.
"A good pony... A good pony... Back six centuries ago, she was the definition of a good pony. She was powerful, kind, and the bringer of light. In that age, an alicorn had no allowance for humility or personal interaction. If she came to this time unprepared she would seem aloof and coldly commanding. But you are asking not just of my critique of the definition of good. No, you are asking for my personal view on my sister, and I will give it to you."
They arrived at the top of the tower, and the door on which Luna's moon was depicted alongside Celestia's sun. Luna unlocked the door with a key she pulled from within her crown, and pushed the door open.
Within was a bedroom completely unlike the one below, which was royal and fine in every way. This one looked like it would fit in a cottage out in the plains near the coast of Equestria. The mattress was stuffed straw, and the linens were plain. On the walls were paintings, drawings, symbols, tapestries, all depicting either the alicorn sisters together or Celestia alone. Luna looked around for a moment before lighting an old and ordinary candle on the table to bring it a little light. Vivid realized there were no windows. The room must be as black as tar for anyone else that would come in.
"She looks so much like you," Vivid said as she examined one of the carvings that showed the two together, standing side by side. She could see the family resemblance but could still clearly see Luna's features setting her apart.
"Like the night and day, most thought of us as opposite as could be," Luna sighed. "But I suppose your perspective strips that color and the history away to see the truth. Yes, She and I were much alike. Though she took comfort in her education while I took comfort in skill. Similar enough but it led to my use as a military leader and hers as a true ruler. Our first true opposition."
"You were a military leader?" Vivid asked, smiling a little as she found a woven tapestry and enhanced her vision spell to pick out the different colors, revealing Celestia with a white halo above her brow, eyes closed as she held a scale in one forehoof and a scroll on the other.
She looked so noble, and Vivid took comfort in how similar to her young imaginings of Celestia it was. Good, pure, powerful.
"I was," Luna sighed, her embarrassment clear in her voice. "Five hundred years since my last war has not been kind to that skill however. Besides, Chrysalis took me by surprise."
"I know she did, love," Vivid said softly, trotting over to nuzzle her. "You must truly be a powerful warrior when you are prepared."
"Well..." Luna murmured. "I may need practice. It has been a long time and I have been focused on being a diplomat, being a princess. I may wish to possess fighting skill again to prevent such an attack."
"Could I train with you?" Vivid asked curiously.
Her magical gaze continued sweeping the room, finding small details. The old bed had a sun carved in the headboard. The sheets looked hand woven based on how fine the threads were. The ceiling had a massive candelabra hanging from it, unlit, clearly large enough for a grand hall. Gold and glass formed the rays of a sun spreading out from the center and down toward the floor. Luna's horn would touch the lowest ones if she reared up even a little.
"Yes. You know... It used to be standard for Court Mages to learn to fight outside of just magic. Though those requirements were changed to allow a more... relaxed position. What weapon would you use?"
Vivid paused before shrugging. "Just give me some needles, I'll hold them in my magic."
"Oh ho! I see somepony does not understand the concept of physical combat!" Luna said grandly as she picked up Vivid in her magic, a disorienting but enjoyable feeling, and dumped her on the bed. "A sword, a dagger, something you could hold in your mouth or hooves."
"Sounds barbaric," Vivid huffed. "Doesn't play to my skills either."
"That's why we grow our skills," Luna said before kissing her softly on the cheek. "Or grow our horizons. I never would have imagined showing somepony this room before I met you... Yet I feel it is a sort of growth. Showing you how much I actually miss my sister."
"While I enjoy your secrets and your intimacy, I'd prefer we not become too intimate under the eyes of your sister," Vivid replied quickly, cheeks hot.
"Are you... scared of her?" Luna asked, pausing as soon as Vivid showed her nervousness.
"No! Not at all," Vivid quickly shook her head. "I just... she's holy. Important. It feels like... I guess rude to be... close to you while images of her are watching."
Luna nodded and gently picked Vivid back up before setting her down on her hooves, standing firmly on the floor. Then, she looked up and around at the room for a few more moments, while Vivid stayed still and quiet.
"Good day, sister," Luna whispered, and then they walked out of the room.
Down the stairs and then back into Luna's bedroom, locking both doors along the way.
"You came to me asking about my sister," Luna continued. "Did you find the answers you were seeking?"
"Some of them," Vivid nodded, turning her head away. "But more than all that... Well, those were all things that I wanted to know, but what I need to know is... Daybreaker. What was daybreaker like?"
Luna sagged a bit, and so quickly she looked hurt and old and tired, and Vivid regretted asking the question.
"I'm s--"
Luna held up a hoof to stop Vivid from apologizing.
"You should know more than just our written history," Luna sighed. "You should know what happened from my point of view."
She paused, and thought for a moment. "You know that before that event, I was largely seen as a second princess, yes? The lesser?"
Vivid nodded, slowly.
"Well, while I was focused on my own pain and loneliness..." Luna grimaced. "She was running a country in it's formative years. Sleeping for only four to six hours a night, pouring every bit of energy she had into making her ponies happy and building a future for Equestria."
Tears started to roll down her cheeks, and she tilted her head up, voice wavering.
"No wonder they loved her so much. She gave them everything. She was... in so many ways... perfect. Then she broke under the pressure."
She looked back down to Vivid, and the pooled tears ran down her cheeks even faster. "She collapsed, just another troubling thing broke her resolve, and she gave into the dark anger that had been circling the both of us. She gave into the Horror of it all and she killed so many before I was able to banish her using the elements of harmony."
Vivid sat, listening to Luna breathe and thinking. Taking in the description of the goddess she'd worshiped for so long, sounding more like a harried and weary monarch than the scion of nobility and purity that Vivid had grown up picturing.
She felt Luna move closer, and leaned against her.
"What about the three miracles?" Vivid asked, dreading the answer. "The taming of the Zebras, the discovery of the tree of harmony, and the first raising of the sun?"
Luna sighed, knowing Vivid would not like the answer. "The zebra race were quite friendly when we found them. To say we tamed them would ignore the harm our ponies did to destroy their culture without our blessings. When Tia found out that some had been enslaved she nearly burned down the city responsible. The tree of harmony was known by our teacher, Starswirl the Bearded before we ever visited the Everfree forest. The sun though..."
She looked down to Vivid, smiling fondly. "It was not the first sunrise, but it held so much more meaning... before my sister and I raised the sun and moon, it took ten unicorns a day, giving up their magic forever, to do the task. But Tia and I broke that cycle. Then, with her healing magic she gave back every bit of magic those unicorns had lost. She kept the world from going dark forever."
"So, one miracle, that you both shared. For everything else, she was...a normal pony?" Vivid asked.
"Well, as normal as royalty can be. She was still a princess like myself, still revered and seen as a great leader. But from my perspective she was quite normal. She had her own fears and weaknesses like any other pony," Luna said, putting a foreleg around her.
"So she would likely be just as uncomfortable with my church as you are with your worshippers," Vivid concluded quietly, before shaking her head. "It's not just one side that is worshipping the wrong thing, it's the core idea that we should worship either of you, which is wrong."
"I suppose that you could see it that way," Luna said hesitantly, taken aback by the sudden switch in approach. "Though-"
Vivid held up a hoof and stood, forcing Luna to let go of her.
"I'm sorry, but I need to think about this. I'll be taking leave for a few days. I'll need to cancel the joint ceremony."
Luna could only gape, not knowing what to say.
"Good Twilight, your highness, I hope I'll return soon," Vivid bowed, showing a formality that felt distant and heartless to Luna after so long treating eachother as lovers.
Then Vivid was closing the doors behind her and walking down the hall. She felt like a great storm was raging in her heart, and it was destroying the firm foundations she'd built everything on. Her love, her confidence, her magic was all distantly founded in her faith and now that faith was dying.
"The court is cancelled, as are all services at the solar temple, you will report to the Castilian," she said numbly as she reached the opposing groups of worshippers.
Before they could object she lit her horn and cast out her magic far far away. She was seeking something that didn't exist and yet demanded it of her magic, forcing it to seek the one place she needed in that moment, one whispered word before she became a nimbus of magical energy and was carried to the other side of the world in a bang of released energy.
"Home."