//------------------------------// // 277. An Alicorn Walks Into a Bar // Story: Azure Edge // by Leaf Blade //------------------------------// Luna and Celestia didn’t talk much anymore. Luna had lost track of how long it’d been since them just not talking became the norm. Despite this, Celestia always, always, always sent Luna a note when she was finished with a mission, to let Luna know that Celestia was safe and whether she would be returning home, or heading right away to another mission. It was a courtesy that Luna appreciated more than she could express with her words. Luna was wiping down the bar in Hunter’s Haven, empty at this middle of the night hour save for Luna herself as she waited for Celestia to come home. She would need a stiff drink after a long day’s work; she always did, and Luna was happy to provide it. Celestia never asked her to, but Luna felt that it was the least she could do. Granted, it was something she started when she had more sympathy for the grueling hours Celestia put into her work, before she understood the horrible truth about Celestia’s work. Luna knew now, and yet she still stood at the bar, waiting patiently to pour Celestia a drink. Maybe it was just habit. A comforting familiarity in an uncertain and terrifying world. And that was likely part of it, but the real truth was much simpler, and yet far more complicated. Luna truly believed that her sister was a horrible person, that she was a violent bigot whose head was stuck so firmly in her hateful beliefs that she would never be able to truly see the light. But she was also the woman who always stood up for Luna when they were kids, who taught her how to fight and to use magic and even to read, who would passionately encourage Luna to follow her passions, and who shed tears of pride when Luna became her right-hand mare. Luna hated Celestia more than anything, but she couldn’t stop loving her all the same. She’d also given up trying to decide whether pouring a drink for the leader of the enemy faction was anti-insurgency, because if it was then Luna was simply going to have to bite that loss and accept she wasn’t a perfect insurgent, no matter how much she wished she was. The door creaked open, snapping Luna from her thoughts. Her heart sank as she saw Celestia miserably lumber into the bar, before plopping onto a stool and collapsing with her head face-down on the counter. It was normal for Celestia to drop her façade of constant perfection around Luna, to not put on airs and simply act as exhausted as she truly felt, but Luna had never seen her like this. She looked horrid, with the light that shone from her mane and coat dimming and flattening, her hair falling all over the place like piles of loose hay instead of shimmering around her like an aurora, and as she slightly raised her head up, Luna could see her eyes were red from crying. “So, what will you have?” Luna knew better than to ask how Celestia was doing and walk right into the rake of Celestia’s lies. “Pina colada,” Celestia groaned. “Can you make it virgin?” “Yes, I know how to make it,” Luna scoffed in mock offense, and Celestia laughed. Luna smiled as she prepared her sister’s drink, but braced herself for a grueling conversation. She knew Celestia only laughed at that lousy joke she’d heard a million times when she was exceptionally depressed. “So,” Luna said as she placed Celestia’s drink in front of her, Celestia groaning as she pushed herself off the counter and forced herself to sit upright, “how did things go with the Pristine Army today?” Celestia took a deep breath. “You might want to sit down for this one,” Celestia sighed. Luna took in a deep breath as she sat next to Celestia at the bar, her sister finishing both her drink and her tale. Luna managed to keep a smile off her lips despite how proud she was of Rarity, and of good old Rainbow Dash as well. It wasn’t surprising that Rainbow was the first of them to talk back to Celestia. “So what are you going to do now?” Luna asked. “I—I don’t know!” Celestia whimpered, folding her arms on the counter and burying her face in them as she sobbed loudly. She started crying soon into her story, and had hardly stopped since, and Luna wasn’t sure what to do either. Watching her sister weep broke her heart, but there was no part of her that believed that Celestia didn’t deserve this. Luna genuinely believed that Celestia deserved every bad thing that happened to her, but to just stand by in silence and watch her suffer was something Luna couldn’t bring herself to do, so she put her hand on her sister’s back and rubbed her gently; just a small gesture, acknowledging that Luna was there, despite everything. Maybe that made Luna weak, maybe it even made her complicit. Luna knew she had to stand against Celestia, and if push came to shove she knew she might even have to fight her sister head-on. But right now, in this moment, all she could think to do was comfort her weeping sister. “Is Rarity going to be under arrest?” Luna asked. She wouldn’t let her feelings blind her from what was important. “I don’t know,” Celestia sniffled, and she ran her hands over her face and tried to shake the tears and the exhaustion away. “There is no doubt in my mind at this point that Rarity is harboring dragons…” Celestia stood up and paced back and forth, one hand on her stomach and the other tugging at her mane. “But the idea of tracking her down and confronting her? It makes me literally nauseous to think about. “I know I can’t just let dragons roam free and do whatever they want in Equestria,” Celestia said, sweat dripping down her brow, “but I can’t— I can’t entirely bring myself to believe… that Rarity would betray me like this.” “Celestia,” Luna sighed. She knew that what she was about to say was not going to go over, but she needed to say it regardless. “If you want to believe in Rarity, then… well, if she does have a dragon friend, why not just try talking to them? No weapons, no body armor, no poison gas. Just talk.” Luna could practically hear the blood vessels popping in Celestia’s head as she looked at Luna as though the Princess had gone mad. Luna supposed that from Celestia’s point of view, she may as well have, but considering things from Celestia’s point of view quickly made Luna feel ill. “How could you even—” Celestia scoffed, her eye twitching as she stared daggers at Luna. “Are you going to betray me now, is that what this is?” “What? No!” Luna said, irritated that Celestia would take a perfectly rational statement as an indication of treachery, but she supposed that’s just the result of bigotry poisoning a woman’s mind for a thousand years. “I’m not ‘betraying’ you, but I am goddamn tired! “I’m tired of this endless war that we’ve been waging! It’s been a thousand years and NOTHING has changed, Celestia! So maybe, JUST MAYBE, we need to try something different!” “Well, on that we agree,” Celestia said coldly. “That’s where the Pristine Army comes in. I’ve been far too soft, and too lax. It’s time that Equestria truly has a zero tolerance policy for dragons. Neighsay is the perfect person to enact that policy. He’s not too soft for his own good, unlike me.” “I think you’re making a huge mistake,” Luna said desperately. “I don’t recall asking you what you think,” Celestia hissed, her venom stinging Luna’s heart. Celestia just huffed and turned to walk toward the door. “Aren’t you even going to sleep?” Luna asked, habitually trying to take care of someone suffering, and even more habitually ignoring the venom that woman just spat into her face. “No,” Celestia said brusquely. “I have work to do.”