Luna, Princess of the Night and all things beneath it. Formerly the infamous Nightmare Moon, the mythological boogeymare little foals checked under beds and inside empty closets for after the sunset. The Mare in the Moon. The guardian of dreams. Celestia’s… little sister.
Sunset was aware that these were all little more than titles and basic trivia anypony could learn these days from a pre-school history book, but it was all she had now that she found herself on the receiving end of the dark alicorn’s piercing gaze.
To say her knowledge of Equestria’s long-lost Princess was limited would be generous. The implication that the mare was more than a work of pure fiction only came from those first few weeks in the human realm. Vice Principal Luna’s mere existence raised a great many questions, but none pressing enough that they couldn’t be brushed aside in appreciation of the means to avoid unnecessary interaction with an alien world’s imitation of Celestia.
As the years went by, her relationship with both heads of the school improved, which is to say she was no longer increasing their workload by being directly responsible for any weeping students who had been publicly humiliated or rampaging she-demons that tore open the front entrance. Their interactions were generally perfectly polite and cordial on any occasion they happened. It just never developed beyond that.
Sunset was willing to accept responsibility for that. The fact was, she didn’t really want a deeper relationship with a Celestia that wasn’t… hers for lack of a better word, and Vice Principal Luna suffered the same fate by association.
Not that knowing that Luna better would have meant she knew this Luna, but it would have at least been more than what she had to go off of right now. Myths, the majority of which were almost certainly not true, crumbs of information Twilight had dropped over the years, and the one other time she had ever seen Luna in person before this very moment.
Truth be told, Sunset hardly noticed her throughout the whole memory stone affair. She was an unfamiliar presence by Celestia’s side, almost a shadow of sorts. She spoke up only one time. Sunset was honestly fuzzy on exactly what it was that she had said, but she remembered it was something that sounded horribly out of place from a voice that she had only ever heard bossing around teenagers. She’d seemed so serious and reserved. As terribly cliché and hokey as it sounded to even think, the sisters seemed like night and day.
That distinction, at the very least, still seemed to remain intact. A dark glossy coat that contrasted Celestia’s soft white fur. The mark of a crescent moon against a tar-black splotch on her flank signified her allegiance to the night. A height that could be mistaken for short compared to Celestia or Twilight but loomed imposingly above almost anypony else. Crystal clear cyan eyes that weren’t outright cold, but hard and discerning, almost daring anypony in her sight to fool her.
The only traits Sunset could remember had changed in all these years were the very same ones that now marked Celestia. The sisters had done away with nearly everything that would have once marked them as divine royalty, including their majestic flowing manes. How exactly that was possible, Sunset hadn’t the faintest idea, but Luna’s hair still clearly fell across her face and down her neck in long flowing locks that curled slightly at the ends as you would expect of any other pony. Perhaps the blue of her mane was even a shade or two lighter than before, though Sunset couldn’t remember well enough to say for certain.
Under almost any other circumstance, Luna would have been an unknown, unpredictable, downright intimidating presence to be confronted with. She still was, but compared to her sister, Sunset was almost grateful to look at a pony she could at least think around.
"H-hello. M-my name is Sunset Shimmer," Sunset managed to successfully stutter after a few seconds of Luna’s eyes running up and down her, showing no sign that she’d break the silence of her own accord.
Ok, it probably wasn’t the best introduction. It was probably the most awkward introduction she could have given, but at least it was a real sentence, which was more than she had achieved before now.
Luna’s eyes stopped to look Sunset directly into her own. "I know who you are."
"o-oh? Oh!" Sunset eloquently replied to Luna’s even-toned statement that was neither warm nor condescending. Inflection that was impossible to place. "Sorry, I wasn’t sure you’d remember. I know it’s been a while."
Luna gave her first true reaction in the form of an eyebrow lifting itself in response. "That’s putting it mildly."
Sunset blanked on an appropriate response to that and simply defaulted to doing her best awkward smile.
"You look well. Especially considering the circumstances," Luna commented, taking the lead of the gross approximation of a conversation they were having.
Sunset couldn’t tell if that was meant to be an observation or a compliment, but she chose to assume the latter. "Th-thanks. A little mirror-based space-time distortion does wonders for the complexion, heh."
There was no missing the groan of secondhand embarrassment coming from her right. "Oh jeez, when did you start taking ice-breaking tips from Aunt Twilight?" Flurry whispered beside her, though probably not quietly enough.
Sunset grunted at Flurry’s standard lack of a filter but acknowledged that it would certainly help to stop so blatantly embarrassing herself.
"Ahem, Princess Luna —"
"It’s Luna."
Sunset felt the rest of her carefully constructed thoughts scatter.
Luna took Sunset’s befuddled expression as a request for an explanation.
"I assume you’ve heard. That is a title my sister and I have not held in quite some time. Please, It’s just Luna now. It was difficult enough correcting ponies for the first twenty years," Luna nodded, a subtle upturn in the corner of her lips indicating that the last portion of the sentence was intended as a joke.
Flurry Heart scoffed, openly joining the conversation, "Well, I’ve been a Princess all my life, and I still have trouble getting anypony to attach a title to my name."
Luna’s poker face finally crumbled as she looked at her great niece with a subdued but soft smile. "It’ll catch on someday, dear. Have I ever told you how many years it took for them to stop referring to us as, 'Celestia and the other one?'"
Flurry Heart chuckled and split away from Sunset to approach Luna now that she had been acknowledged, bounding over to leap into the receptive forelegs of her Auntie Luna.
Sunset breathed a sigh of relief, grateful just to be out of her crosshairs for the moment.
"It’s great to see you again, Auntie Luna," Flurry hummed, leaning into the embrace.
"You know Tia and I always enjoy your visits, though we weren’t expecting to see you again so soon. It’s only been a couple of weeks," Luna subtly inquired once the two had separated.
Flurry glanced to the side at nothing in particular, "Well, y’know, since I pass through every time I go to Canterlot, it just seemed like it’d be a waste not to at least stop by now that I’m at Aunt Twilight’s so much."
Luna eyed Flurry warily. "Oh? Is everything alright?"
"Huh? Yeah, everything’s fine. Better than fine really," Flurry said, not following the reason for Luna’s unease.
Luna paused for a breath, choosing her words carefully, "And Cadance is doing well?"
Flurry tilted her head. "I guess so. Why… oh. Oh!" Flurry squeaked as the pieces clicked together, and she recalled why her words may be a reason for alarm. It wasn’t even that long ago, but she’d all but forgotten what her reason for running to Aunt Twilight had almost always been, for… years now if she thought about it. "No! no, things are fine between me and Mom. Or I guess as fine as they can be. Honest."
Luna relaxed whatever small signs of alarm she had allowed to show. "Then should I take that to mean you’re being entrusted some great task that the very balance of all Equestria hinges upon? It’s been a while since we’ve had one of those," Luna joked with a smirk on her face and a tinge of curiosity beneath the surface.
Flurry giggled. "No, Auntie, it’s nothing that serious… buuuuttt," Flurry sang, leaning in closer to Luna while lowering her voice as though she was about to reveal some great secret, "I do have a feeling that everypony’s about to start taking me a lot more seriously."
"Really? Just what have you been up to?" Luna inquired, perfectly willing to play along with Flurry’s budding excitement.
Flurry flipped her mane and puffed out her chest. "Weeellll, it’s nothing too special. I just may be studying to become a master sorceress under THE most powerful unicorn in Equestria."
Sunset held in a breath, content to have been forgotten, not certain she liked where this was going.
"Right, Aunt Sunset?" Flurry turned around to face her with a proud wink, dragging her back to the forefront of the situation whether she liked it or not.
As she feared, Luna once again turned her steady eyes on her, silently mouthing the word 'Aunt?'
"W-well, I don’t know about that, kiddo. I like to think I know my stuff, but I’m not so sure I’d go that far," Sunset tried to wave off.
"Come on, Aunt Sunset, are you kidding? What other unicorn could beat up a Princess?"
"Now, h-hold on! I-I wouldn’t say that’s exactly—"
"You should have seen her, Auntie Luna. I mean, I was sore for DAYS afterwards."
"Well, maybe things got a little out of hoof—"
"Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever been hit even half that hard before."
"Really, with context, it’s not as bad as—"
"Not to mention what she did to Aunt Twilight."
Sunset officially gave up. She appreciated Flurry’s obvious attempts at talking her up, but she wasn’t so certain failed student of your sister who returned to assault your friends and family was the first impression she wanted. She just hoped Luna wouldn’t get too much of the wrong idea. She was getting tired of being thrown around by alicorns if she was being honest.
Luna hummed, "Well then, it seems my sister, and I are even further out of the loop than we thought. Of course, I’ve always suspected you had the potential, but the study of magic is no small pursuit. I’m a bit surprised Cadance would entrust those studies to some pony other than Twilight."
Flurry giggled once again, this time with a noticeable tremble in her voice. "Oh, Aunt Twilight’s helping too, but you know how it is. The kingdom never rests and neither does she. I’m sure Mom will understand."
Luna’s brows raised, though there was a distinct lack of surprise in her expression. "She 'will?' You haven’t told her?"
"W-well, not yet! It’s something that just kinda happened, and it’s only been a few weeks. I-it’s not like I need to run every decision by her. I’m going to get around to it! We just need to work out how to break the news, is all. The situation miiight be a bit delicate. Mom and Aunt Sunset have… a bit of history," Flurry danced around the topic.
Sunset frowned at being used as a scapegoat. It wasn’t untrue, but she’d hardly forgotten that Flurry seemed in no rush to break the news before she knew that.
Luna, however, nodded her understanding. "I’ve heard the stories."
"Stories?" Sunset piped up, her surprise getting the better of her.
"Yes, Sunset… stories," Luna responded, full attention back on the amber mare if it had ever truly left. "I particularly remember the ones centered around Nightmare Night."
Sunset cringed.
"Wait, what about Nightmare Night?" Flurry tentatively asked, well aware she might regret knowing.
Luna brought a hoof to her chin. "Celestia probably tells it better than I do, but I’ve been told that while Sunset wasn’t fond of most holidays as a filly, she always had a soft spot for Nightmare Night."
Sunset knew where this was going. She wasn’t proud of it… at least, not anymore.
"It was the one night a year where she was actually allowed to scare the manes off the other children and get candy for it instead of grounded. And every year she always saved one trick just for Cadance."
"Like, what?" Flurry winced, an eternal victim to curiosity.
Luna feigned difficulty trying to recall the details, "If I remember correctly, Tia said that just like with most things, she was very creative. It was never the same thing twice. Let’s see, there was the headless horse, the razor-teethed piano that chased her and her tutor around the music room, the exploding pumpkin filled with gelatin—"
"Wha-? C’mon, how’s that one even scary!"
"…well, they were on sale," Sunset couldn’t help adding.
"—and Celestia was fairly certain that Cadance didn’t have a fear of clowns until after the year with the Jack in the box," Luna wrapped up.
Flurry turned to face Sunset, disbelief written on her face, though thankfully devoid of anger.
"Why is it the longer that I spend around you, the more I find you are solely responsible for all Mom’s irrational fears?"
Sunset smiled nervously. She’d nearly forgotten about some of those herself. "Well, I did tell you I…" she trailed off midsentence, her initial train of thought rammed clean off the rails by a sudden realization.
Sunset weaved past Flurry to approach the former princess of the night, apprehension and doubt shoved into the backseat by the sheer need to know.
"Hold on. Princess Celestia told you all of that?"
For the first time Sunset could ever recall seeing, Luna’s face shifted into one of transparent confusion.
"Of course. Is… that a problem?" Luna asked, her tone a genuine one, maybe even bordering on concern.
Sunset chewed on her answer. Was that a problem? There was so much to process already that she couldn’t begin to know more than just how it made her feel. And that strange stirring buzzing sensation that awoke inside her just now was nearly identical to the one she had from seeing her again, wide-eyed like she’d just seen a ghost. Sunset couldn’t tell if it was closer to good or bad, but it was there and it was only getting louder. The tales Luna had been passed on were far from flattering, but Sunset was beginning to feel that Celestia only keeping the very worst memories of her would still be worlds better than indifference.
"No, of course not, Prin-er, I mean… Luna." Sunset shook her head, trying to consciously remind herself to drop the formality. It felt awkward, but she’d manage. It wasn’t like she ever called the current princesses by their title. Not unless she wanted to ruffle a few lavender feathers from time to time.
Luna eyed her curiously but didn’t press whatever issue it was that Sunset had taken. Rather, she sighed in preparation.
"Perhaps we should cut to the chase. I know you didn’t come all this way to see me."
Sunset instinctively opened her mouth, not wanting to dismiss her, but couldn’t find a way to honestly deny what Luna had said. Coming into contact with Luna had been an afterthought, a side effect, of her self-imposed mission, and she honestly hadn’t given the former princess of the night much real thought.
Luna seized Sunset’s silence as an opportunity to push further. "So, may I ask what exactly you want from my sister? I’d hope you didn’t come here just to give her a heart attack," Luna lowered her head to stare directly at Sunset, a sternness in her face surfacing from her formerly neutral expression.
"N-No! No, I wouldn’t…. I’d never…. We-er, well, I just wanted… I want to talk to her," Sunset managed to slap together, wilting under Luna’s disapproval.
"You know, it’s rude to show up unannounced. At the very least, we would have appreciated the courtesy of a notice about your arrival," Luna asserted, not letting up.
It was looking more and more like this was another genius idea Sunset would need to file under the ever-growing list of poor decisions she had made in her life. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine Celestia could be so thrown off, so shaken by… well, anything. She was Celestia. She didn’t falter and she didn’t fumble. Such things were for ponies who could afford to.
…But maybe that wasn’t really fair of her if it ever had been. So much about Celestia had changed, there was no denying that any longer. Maybe she needed to stop approaching her like she couldn’t.
"Hey, go easy on her, Aunt Luna!" Flurry cut in, rooting herself firmly by Sunset’s side to come to her rescue as she seemed to be scrambling to untangle her thoughts. "Besides, I was the one who dragged her into it, and the whole surprise part was my dumb idea. Trust me, this has been pretty hard on her."
Sunset wanted to protest; her conscience was quick to note the half-truths that laid more blame at Flurry’s hooves than could ever be true, but she was stopped by Flurry’s glance over. The look in her eye implored her to just let her take this one.
"Look, I know we really should have run it by you first, well now I do, but I think Aunt Sunset just really wants to spend time with her," Flurry implored.
Sunset would have liked to say the uncomfortable pit in her stomach came from anything other than Flurry being more honest about it than she could be with herself.
Luna seemed taken aback at first, before she sighed, allowing all other feelings to wash off her and leave only a resigned understanding. "Believe me, dear, I understand better than most. I believe there’s much to be said, but it’s not my place to say it."
Sunset stepped up, desperate to seize whatever opportunity she could before it was gone again. She knew it was unlikely Luna’s opinion of her was particularly glowing, but she was willing to fall to her knees before her if that’s what it took.
"I know I’m probably the very last pony she ever expected to see again… I don’t know if she even ever wanted to see me again, but… I’m here… I’m home now, and even before I was, I’ve never stopped thinking about her. About us. Please, Luna, could you talk to her for me? Tell her that I just want to see her… and after that, if she doesn’t want to see me, then… I’ll go," Sunset pleaded with a warble in her voice and wide eyes that bore her very soul.
Luna appeared to resist the urge to step back in surprise, the raw desperation taking her off-guard.
“N-No!” She yelped, losing her air of control for a fraction of a second before the realization of her slip overcame her and she quickly reasserted her composed demeanor, albeit softer than it had been before. "No. That won’t be necessary. Forgive me if I had overstated our grievances, however legitimate they may be. I can’t speak for my sister, but even so, I do not believe she would wish for you to leave."
Sunset absorbed Luna’s words, that uncertain feeling that had been going wild within her, at last, revealing itself to be something that she thought she could confidently say wasn’t outright unpleasant. Anticipation perhaps. A lifetime of second-guessing herself forced her to turn the meaning of Luna’s sentiment over a dozen times more than was realistically necessary, looking for any hidden meaning or room to misinterpret it all into something more than it was meant to be.
Flurry playfully nudged her in the side to discreetly get her attention, directing her towards her protégé’s giddy smile that confirmed the conclusion she was reluctant to entertain. This… wasn’t a bad thing.
"R-really? Th-that’s… well, I’m glad to hear that," Sunset responded with a polite smile, careful to keep her emotions in check.
"So, does that mean we can come in now? I should probably apologize for giving her a panic attack," Flurry confessed with a lighthearted chuckle.
Sunset gave the youngest princess a reassuring pat with her hoof that told her to get in line.
She turned her focus forward again to find that Luna did not share their enthusiasm. On the contrary, she seemed to be attempting to fill the void of anxious energy that had been left behind.
"Yes, well, of course, you’re both welcome to come inside. Unfortunately, part of the reason I came to greet you is to tell you that you may have to wait… just a bit longer. Tia is… unavailable at the moment," Luna attempted to explain, clear embarrassment written across her face as she scrambled for the most delicate wording.
Sunset’s face scrunched in confusion, too dumbfounded to appreciate the irony of Luna shrinking under her stare.
"What do you mean she’s, 'unavailable?'"
Luna heaved a heavy sigh, throwing in the metaphorical towel as she decided to just get it over with.
"I mean she’s… not here."
Luna was right. She was getting rusty. She dreaded the guaranteed look of smug self-satisfaction she always received when she was forced to admit that. Like she wasn’t allowed to be wrong every so often.
Though, if she had to experience just how her skills had decayed, she would have greatly appreciated it if it could be at quite literally any other moment. Maybe she could have made it farther if she’d properly concentrated, but that wasn’t happening under the circumstances.
All things considered; it was a horribly undignified exit for anypony. Much more undignified for the former ruler of Equestria. She’d ended up face first in the dirt and didn’t even successfully make it clear out of her own house’s line of sight for all her trouble. She had just been lucky that Luna was keeping them occupied enough to not notice her rather conspicuous scamper over the hilltops.
Thankfully, whatever she lacked in spellcasting precision; she was able to make up for with raw adrenaline. Decades of globetrotting adventures and participation in any and every sport and athletic pursuit known to pony kind, some of which Luna described as completely unethical in their intensity, had imbued her with speed and stamina Rainbow Dash herself would sweat at. The very instant she was certain she was covered by the grassy mounds that surrounded her now compromised residence, she launched herself into a brisk trot, or a steady gallop to anypony else with shorter legs, less endurance, and more sense about them than she had at the moment.
A white and pink blur was all most ponies could take in as she raced around the outskirts of town, roughly following a route that would avoid as many ponies as possible. Of course, in such a closely knit town, completely avoiding every pony was nigh impossible.
A quick apology was all she could manage to give any unfortunate souls who were nudged out of her way as gently as she could manage as fast as she was going, leaving the poor bystanders to wonder what the mad mare was thinking as she haphazardly weaved through alleys and around posts and piers.
The answer to that question was rather simple. She wasn’t.
She needed to. Oh, she so desperately needed to. That was her entire reason for it all. To think. She needed space to think. Just a little time and a little space to get her head on straight and calm her racing heart down enough so she could at least start to figure out what to do. Someplace where she could fall apart and put herself back together again into somepony who still knew how to deal with things like this.
She was aware that this may not be the best method of handling the situation. Actually, Luna plainly told her to her face that this seemed like a terrible idea. She liked to imagine she’d convinced her sister to go along with this half-baked plan through a well-reasoned and compelling rebuttal to all her concerns as she had once been so good at. She had enough sense still about her to know that begging until her sister caved and agreed to stall for time probably didn’t qualify as that.
Still, it worked out, and she was able to put her plan of action into motion. Get away, get a grip, and think of something… Okay, so it wasn’t much of a plan, but she’d think of a better one once she got there.
And get there Celestia did, in record time, her breath slightly labored as she skid slightly along the grass and slowed her pace down to a steady gait.
The sound of the rough waves crashing against the cliffside comforted her with their sheer familiarity as Celestia made the trek to the cliff’s edge.
It was such a splendidly simple spot. Just outside of town, but of little use to anypony else. There was nothing worth coming here for, beyond the sight of an exceptionally old lighthouse a dozen yards away that had been positioned there long before the town itself had been properly developed to warn of the steep jagged cliffside below. No seafaring vessel’s well-established routes even bothered with the place these days.
However, for her, the isolation was an attraction all on its own. Celestia’s visits had once been more frequent, at a time when every pony was all too eager to associate with the former Princess of the sun. A welcome reprieve from the overbearing experience of an ancient alicorn trying her hardest to just live life.
Even now, as her hooves brushed across the grass and she took her familiar position overlooking the turbulent sea that perfectly reflected the evening sunlight, it remained the first place she would think to go when she just needed to get away from it all.
From here she could see just stay and bask in the warmth, pride, and comfort of the dusk’s light, finally able to appreciate the wonder of a day she didn’t have to hold up. There was something so unbelievably special about that. It was all still so new and wonderful.
Somedays, when the wind was gentle, and the sky was nearly cloudless, days just like this one, she would venture out here just to see the Sun… set.
Celestia’s knees gave out then and there. The air suddenly felt much heavier, and her breaths started to come in shudders as she had no choice but to collapse into a prone position, her pink ponytail spilling around her.
That face. You’d think by now she’d have forgotten some of it.
She hadn’t.
How could she? There was a time when she couldn’t so much as close her eyes without seeing it, burned into her mind like a scar that never stopped aching. Sometimes, she didn’t even need to do that much, when the days had been long, the nights were old, and out of the corners of her weary vision, she could almost catch glimpses of her wandering the castle halls like she once used to. Sleep offered her little reprieve, but when had it ever?
The pain faded as the years went by, numbed by time and healed by those close to her. It never really went away, but eventually, she felt she could live with doing the right thing and let her go. That was the end of it.
Until it wasn’t.
Brilliant crimson blended with golden streaks of yellow that were so fierce and wild yet so delicate in how precisely it all came together, right down to the adorable single curl that always fell past her horn and landed just between those bright eyes, only half a shade lighter than Luna’s and every bit as radiant. A short muzzle that still crinkled in the same way it always had when she was surprised, spotted in a small collection of faded freckles on her cheeks and along the bridge of her nose. Most ponies probably wouldn’t even notice them, but Celestia still remembered how Sunset used to loathe the imperfections for some reason she never could comprehend.
It was all still there, just as she remembered. Back to haunt her.
It shouldn’t have even been possible. She had a firm enough grasp on the mirror’s inner workings to understand how something like this could happen, but she never imagined it would. She shouldn’t have been… so young… so exactly the same. Like not one single day had gone by.
Like a dam she had forgotten even existed had just given out, one look at that face and it all just came flooding to her. That face, and every other variation of it over the course of fifteen years before she lost it.
She was drowning. She couldn’t take it. She just needed to get away and process it all.
Only now, she was away, and she still didn’t know what she was meant to be doing. Should she cry? Should she laugh? Whichever she settled on, she was confident that once she started, she might not stop.
*DING* *DING* *DING*
Celestia’s ears perked up, the sheer absurdity of the obnoxious clanging was the only thing that allowed it to steal her attention away from the hurricane of emotions that had been flinging her about.
A bell? A ship’s bell? What sort of creature would be reckless enough to bring their vessel around such treacherous terrain? You’d have to be insane to get this close to the cliffside when there was no space to dock for at least a mile.
"Ahoy there!"
…Oh. She knew that voice.
"Land ho! Batten down the hatches! All hands on the poop deck! Shiver me timbers!"
Celestia righted herself back onto her shaky hooves, both to look less disheveled and to get a better view of the wooden dinghy with an oversized bell crudely suspended on a pole, floating about the turbulent waters and being manned by a draconequus that clearly didn’t actually know what any of what he was saying meant.
Discord himself was covered in a fishermen’s yellow raincoat and hat, gazing through a telescope at her while, no doubt, not needing it.
Celestia simply stared with enlarged eyes, in no state of mind to actively conceal her bewilderment.
"Prepare to drop anchor!" he called to his nonexistent crew in a phony accent she had no idea what it was supposed to be an imitation of.
Discord dematerialized the telescope with a mere gesture and, in the same breath, snapped his eagle claws to summon a large anchor that defied gravity for half a second before plummeting straight through the hull of his boat.
Discord locked eyes with her while a fountain of seawater sprang up from his tiny seacraft, and everything on it began to slowly submerge itself into the waves. Celestia could only blink as she watched the spirit wordlessly sink out of sight.
A sparkling flash accompanied by a small puff of smoke went off practically in front of her nose.
Celestia actually yelped, uncharacteristically startled, and stumbled backward only to catch her own tail underhoof and clumsily tumble onto her haunches.
"Helllooo, Celestia," Discord grinned, wiggling his lion paw’s digits at her in mock greeting, "I always knew someday you’d ‘fall’ for me, but do try to control yourself."
She felt her face flush in mortification. She knew it hardly mattered if she wasn’t picture perfect at every moment of the day anymore, but over a thousand years of habit wasn’t easy to break. Never mind the pure misfortune that the one creature to catch her falling all over herself was the one who’d probably laugh loudest and tell anyone willing to listen.
"I must say, pink really is your color. I’d almost forgotten how well it suited you," Discord nodded, as Celestia’s face turned a shade that matched her mane. "Personally, I always found the old style a little tacky, and frankly excessive. Forming a synergetic bond with celestial bodies for a dye job was a bit much."
Irrelevant small talk. That’s how he always liked to play it when he was up to something. Celestia didn’t believe for a second that he was here by pure coincidence, but she didn’t know how he factored into any of this. Ironically, however, she was practically grateful for his presence. Discord was obnoxious. Discord was distracting. Discord was familiar. She could deal with Discord.
"Funny. And here I thought the word, 'excessive' wasn’t in your vocabulary," Celestia remarked, pulling herself up to stand tall in a front of confidence.
"Yes, well, today has been just full of surprises, hasn’t it?"
And just like that, anything even bordering on a decent mood was quashed. Ordinarily, she entertained his antics. Enjoyed them even, but if this was his idea of a game, he’d wish he played with somepony else.
"Why are you here, Discord?" She nearly hissed.
"Well, I would think that was obvious. What other reason would there be to come all the way to the edge of Equestria if not to see a good friend?" he responded without missing a beat.
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"
"What? It’s not like you stay in touch. You’ve both been quite adamant about embracing your roles as the Princess bumpkins. You never call… you never write," Discord waved, placing a slithering emphasis on the last word.
Celestia stomped straight over to the lanky trickster, prepared to squeeze answers out of him if she had to. "I don’t have the patience for your games today, Discord. Was this your doing? Is this your idea of a joke!" she snapped in his face.
Discord actually backed off in surprise at her outrage, not anticipating the raw emotion behind it. It looked like this had her more shaken than even he dared to imagine.
"Now now, settle down. Please, Celestia, do you really believe that I would orchestrate this whole elaborate emotional affair just to buy myself a few chuckles?"
Celestia’s stare only hardened.
"Ok, I admit, that does sound like something that, once upon a time, in a season far far away, I might have found the teensiest bit hilarious, but trust me when I say that I’ve learned the difference between practical jokes and debilitating traumatic experiences. Honestly, I had nothing to do with it. My paw and claws are clean, see?" Discord pleaded, waving his sparkling mitts in front of her for effect.
Celestia’s face softened as she reigned her emotions in. She realized she may have been looking for an outlet more than anything at the moment. It was the sort of mistake she thought had been lectured out of her a very very long time ago. Still, he knew something.
"Then what are you doing here?" Celestia prompted again, softer this time, but with an edge to her tone that demanded honesty.
Discord sighed, a rare sign of compliance.
"Well, if you must know, I’m here to make sure YOU don’t blow this."
"…excuse me?"
"I realize you’ve never been good at these things, Celestia, but I was expecting a little more maturity from you. You could also stand to be more considerate. I had to rethink my entire entrance after you decided to make me chase you around town."
Celestia latched onto her offense. "Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll try to maintain my composure the next time somepony I haven’t seen in eighty years just shows up at my front door! Perhaps you could have given me a warning since you seem so concerned!" She flung a foreleg out in pure exasperation. She knew she wasn’t taking this well, but how else could she be expected to take it!?
Discord outright rolled his eyes. "Oh, Celestia, sarcasm is beneath you. Though the little fireball’s approach certainly does lack tact. I really thought Twilight would talk her out of it, but they both seemed to prefer you didn’t see this one coming."
Twilight too? Okay, well… duh. Of course, Twilight was involved. She had the mirror; she had the only means of contact. But still, since when did Twilight… not tell her things? Why? How long? What now?
"She might actually be worse at this than you are. Somepony really should have raised her better."
Discord smirked upon receiving a growling snarl that would have sent Dragons and Griffons alike scampering away with their tails tucked between their legs.
"I suggest you consider what you say very carefully, Discord. You have no idea what you’re talking about," Celestia seethed through gritted teeth, a cold fury previously unknown to even herself bubbling just beneath the surface.
Most sensible beings would have headed the frigid warning.
"Is that a fact?" Discord all but sneered, lunging his neck out to meet Celestia nearly nose to nose.
Her fire was extinguished as soon as it was lit, buckling beneath the unnerving confidence Discord carried in those simple words. A subtle but suffocating shift in tone that unnerved even her.
"One thousand years, Celestia. Do you know just how long that is? You’re one of the only ponies who might. Let me tell you, it’s a loooong time… or maybe not that long at all. Honestly, it all starts to bleed together after the first century or two."
For all his rambling, the question was not without meaning. No pony knew what he meant better than she did.
"Anyway, that’s roughly how long you used me as decoration for your backyard. I don’t think you’ve ever really appreciated just what that means," Discord carried on, pausing for effect.
To be honest, she’d never really thought much of it. Discord himself gave such little gravity to it that it was easy to forget it ever happened at all.
In an instant, he was gone. Then he was back, this time behind her, leaning over her shoulder.
"Here, let me spell it out for you. I’ve… seen… it… all."
Celestia whirled around and backed up to put some distance between them, realizing all too late that she had nowhere to go now that she was the one with her back to the cliffside. She was now just as cornered physically as she’d felt inside the moment she answered her own door.
"Everything?" She asked, lacking anything resembling an adequate response.
"That’s right," He reaffirmed, "There isn’t much else to do when you’re a hunk of marble other than watch all the little moments that prove that no matter how hard you pretend to be, you’re not perfect."
"I never claimed to be," Celestia argued, suddenly feeling rather naked.
"Mhm, I suppose not, though you’ve always played the part," Discord conceded, letting any remaining shadow of levity fall from his face. "…Even when she wanted you to be something else,"
"She needed something I couldn’t give her!" Celestia spat out, a bubble inside of her bursting, spewing the words. She couldn’t truthfully say Discord had meant it the way she had heard it, but she was far beyond caring at this point. "If you’d really seen us, you should know I can’t be… I wasn’t who she needed me to be," Celestia heaved, a suffocating weight flooding her chest.
Discord's face fell into an expression that Celestia never, even in a thousand years, would have imagined he, of all creatures, would be directing at her. Pity.
"Why not, Celestia?"
Why not? Why not!? The simple question was absurd, and not in the way a lord of disharmony was meant to be. The answer was blindingly obvious, especially to anypony who’d seen her stumble through those years. She wasn’t… well, she couldn’t… she didn’t… she…
Mismatched crimson eyes patiently watched the entire show unfold. Shock arrived first and was just as quickly drowned out by indignation tinged in regret. It was practically a reflex as her mind began to wander old familiar corridors. A quirked brow, so minuscule of a shift you’d miss it completely if you weren’t looking for it, was the first sign things weren’t quite as they were meant to be. It was as though she could no longer find something that she was so certain had always been there. It happened all within a few seconds, but to Celestia, it was likely a lifetime as confusion latched hold and she scrambled to find what she knew had to be there, all while her face melted into an expression of sheer disbelief.
It was gone. Or she’d forgotten where it was. Whatever it was, she couldn’t honestly remember even that much. But how could that be possible? There was a time when she’d fed it through her brain like a mantra. A time when it clawed and scratched at her no matter how hard she tried to shut it out. And now that she looked back on it for the first time in… however long it had been… it just wasn’t there. She just didn’t remember… why not?
"Problem, Celestia? It’s not like you of all ponies to forget something important," Discord sighed. His words alone carried the same amused, borderline mocking, framing they usually did, but his tone had an undercurrent of tenderness to it. "…unless it wasn’t really as important as you liked to believe."
Maybe for the first time, that he could remember, even with their endless ancient lives, Celestia was speechless. Under any other circumstance, Discord could only imagine how tickled he’d be by the idea, but there was hardly any room for satisfaction in it now.
Maybe it was sentimentality or maybe this was just more hard evidence of just how truly soft they’d made him, but seeing the once always proud and poised immortal princess crumple into a frazzled mess that stared at him with such uncertainty, drooping with all the elegance of a wilting flower, only left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Still, it was what he was hoping for in a manner of speaking. Proof that this just might not be destined for disaster. After all, when in all these centuries had it ever been so painfully obvious what Celestia was feeling?
"I wonder, have things changed so much that it just doesn’t matter anymore, or did it ever really matter in the first place?" Discord pondered, for once not entirely certain of the answer himself.
"Please, Discord," Celestia softly all but begged, making no attempt to hide just how tired she felt. "No more riddles. Just… tell me why. Why now? I never imagined that…" she lacked the strength to even finish the thought.
Discord gave a soft sigh as he crossed his arms. She was right about one thing. Dancing around it all was exhausting. She wanted a straight answer, so he’d give them to her. Even if he thought she should already know.
"Because she loves you, Celestia."
Discord suppressed the desire to scoff as Celestia’s eyes widened.
"Why do you think she did anything she did? She felt special because YOU said she was special," Discord tapped a digit on Celestia’s nose for emphasis. "I suppose she’s hoping in some way, you still think she is."
"Of course I do!" Celestia sprung forward with the declaration forcing Discord to step back. Raw desperation that couldn’t even so much as comprehend the idea that anypony could think otherwise.
Discord blinked once or twice. "…Well, not that I don’t believe you, but I’m not really the one who needs to hear it." Discord jabbed a thumb over his shoulder.
Celestia didn’t need to be told what lay in that direction.
"She did come quite a long way just to see you, Celestia. I know the circumstances aren’t exactly ideal, but when are they ever when it comes to second chances?" Discord lamented.
Just like that, Celestia felt time finally slow down ever so slightly, her heartbeat inching closer to its normal rhythm, and she was allowed to finally think. The hurricane of confused emotions certainly didn’t vanish, but they did fade, pushed into the background of her mind, still there, but no longer quite so deafening.
Is that what this was?
"What do I do?" Celestia asked, too consumed in herself to appreciate just how alien those words were to her tongue.
Fortunately, Discord seemed plenty capable of expressing their shock for both of them. Frantically, he snapped a notepad into existence while delicately perching a pair of reading glasses on his snout, flipping through the pages of bullet points to see if he’d planned this far in advance. He did not.
"…Eh, to be honest, delicate matters like this are a little outside of my wheelhouse. I was really just kind of hoping you’d figure it out once I convinced you to stop moping."
For all the stress she’d endured in the span of just the past half hour, Celestia felt entitled to the scowl that fell over her face right then. Typical Discord. From insightful to clueless at the drop of a hat.
Still, her irritation just couldn’t last. Her world had been turned completely upside down and now that it’d stopped spinning, she was only more aware that she still didn’t know what to do or where to start.
She knew that she probably shouldn’t be standing around here. She could feel in her bones that it was a waste to be here every second longer. She had to go back. She WANTED to go back.
"… I suppose this sounds a little rich coming from me, but you could try just listening to her?" Discord hesitantly supplied, not quite certain of the words himself. "Don’t try to control the situation, just this once. Just… be there and see where it goes… That sounds like something she would say, right?" Discord asked, turning his attention towards the sky, and Celestia knew the last remark likely wasn’t meant for her.
Still, she heard the parts that were all too clearly. Just be there.
It sounded easy the way he’d said it. Maybe it was. She certainly didn’t have any better ideas, which was slightly terrifying all on its own.
The old Celestia never would have wound up in a situation as sorry as this one. Always prepared, always certain, completely unshakable… or at least so very good at pretending that she was. She… didn’t miss her if Celestia was honest, not really. She was gone, fallen apart, and scattered like dust over the years she was no longer being held together by pure necessity, and Celestia doubted she could ever find all her pieces again, even if she tried. Still, that unflinching shell of confidence might have been useful right about now.
"You’re right," Celestia sighed straightening up enough to carry some semblance of dignity with her when she walked past Discord, taking some small satisfaction in the way he scrambled out of her path with a startled look like he genuinely didn’t believe she would ever say such a thing to him. For once, she was the one taking him by surprise, and she wasn’t even trying. She might as well hit him with one more.
"Thank you. I think I needed to hear that," she confessed without pausing a step or even bothering to glance back.
"…ahem, well, what are friends for?" Discord managed to reply.
Celestia paused, halting the long steady march across the grassy fields that awaited her while a stream of wind passed by, as though it carried her thoughts along with it. Whatever she’d lost from her centuries of rule, some things were carved too deep to forget. Accepting things at face value was a luxury she was forced to learn she didn’t have. As the storm of her mind settled to less deafening turbulence, an often-indispensable clarity and perception reinserted itself.
Suspicion would have been too harsh a word, but still, a feeling itched at the back of her mind. A peculiarity that stuck out just enough that she couldn’t simply ignore it.
"It’s not like you to get so involved… even for a friend."
Discord didn’t hesitate a second upon hearing the familiar tone. "Would you believe that you’re just special?"
Celestia, at last, glanced back just enough for Discord to see just how much she believed that.
There was the Celestia he knew. You never could get anything past her.
"Fair enough. Let’s just say I’m keeping a promise… to an old friend," Discord admitted, a vulnerability that just this once asked that the answer be the end of it.
Celestia nodded and picked up where she had left off.
She’d waited long enough.