//------------------------------//
// Fear 
// Story: The Tael of Tales. 
// by TheTimberWolffe 
//------------------------------//


Standard Disclaimer:
This work is not meant to, in any way, take claim for the characters or storyline included in this fanfiction. All characters and their personalities and appearances are works of Hasbro and Lauren Faust, all rights reserved.





I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I had never been more scared in my entire life than I was at that moment. Everypony thinks that an immortal princess should have nothing to be afraid of, right? Well, immortality doesn't mean invulnerability. 

It began about 200 years ago, if I'm honest with myself. Luna and I were happily walking through the castle, and all our little ponies were rebuilding after Discord's reign of terror. I'm not sure why, but all of the ponies were thanking me, and ignoring my sister. I'd told them to be thankful to her too, seeing as she's the one who actually came up with the idea to use the Elements of Harmony on him, but they were still all thanking me.

"Sister, why doth the citizens only thankest thee?" She had asked me. I wasn't quite sure how to respond, after all, it was actually pretty nice to be thanked for something we'd done.
"I'm not sure, dear sister. All I can tell you is that you are no less deserving of their thanks than Us."
"Then why, Celestia? Why don't they share the thanks equally? Surely there must be some other reason than 'Just because they don't'!?"

I should've known then that it was eating away at Luna, but I was so absorbed in my little ponies' praise that I instead chose to ignore her, to shut her out and lead the ponies in my own way, only asking her input out of politeness rather than to help rule a nation. This continued for centuries, until Luna finally noticed that her input was going unvalidated. She confronted me that night, saying that I was being selfish, being snobbish. In retrospect i was, but I suppose the limelight does that to you, doesn't it? Makes you see things your way and only your way. You get so absorbed in yourself you don't even notice that you're hurting the ones you love.

The worst part is, I didn't even feel a thing when she got so angry at me she literally transformed. I should've noticed, should've been scared. I should've been scared for Her, but I wasn't. I actually LAUGHED! Who does that!? Laughs at their most loved one in the world, the only one who they can console in because everypony else is scared that they might invoke your wrath!? Luna exploded in a fit of rage. Her voice changed, her mane and tail became un-tameable masses of stars, nebulae and planets. She flew out the window, swearing to me that she would return, and overthrow me. Promising to end my tyranny. I should've taken her seriously, should've seen the signs that this would happen, but I didn't. i just shrugged it off as sisterly jealousy.

She did, of course, return. And with the largest army I had ever seen. If I could've counted them all I have no doubt it would've numbered in the tens of thousands. Ponies, dragons, griffons, and even the occasional human, all with their weapons and skills, all there to take me down a few rungs on the proverbial ladder. Even when Luna promised me that she would let me live, keep being my sister. Promised me that if I surrendered the punishment would be minimal, I still ignored her. I called forth my own army, and battle was done.

I deeply regret that battle now, I lost over five thousand good ponies, and exterminated all the humans. I made griffon, dragon, ursa, scorpio and minotaur all but extinct, and I finally pushed my sister over the edge. And so there I was, cowering in fear and pain, bloodied and bruised in a corner of the castle that remains off-limits to anypony save for myself and Luna, when she returns. Luna stood over me, even after all the chaos and destruction I had caused in my own self-righteous crusade, still promising that I could stay with her, as her sister. I was so foolish then to think that banishment was the right way to end it all.

I had shakily gotten up to my hooves, crying, despite how happy I was inside that I saw a way to keep my rule over Equestria and stop my sister at the same time, with the same spell. I was crying and laughing, the sort of maniacal laugh something truly evil does when they're about to use their last resort. Charging my horn, I took a shaky step forwards.

"Oh Luna, dear Luna, when will you learn? The bigger sister ALWAYS gets what she wants, dear Luna. And what I want is to end this. You have spoken out against the ruling crown of Equestria, a crime punishable by banishment. Any last words, dear Luna? No? Well, I guess this is goodbye then."

Luna was looking at me, with tears in her eyes, but she wasn't sad, at least not that I could tell. In fact, she had a sort of bittersweet smile. I'll never forget the last words she said to me as I banished her to the moon for a millennium. She looked me straight in the eye, and said just three words. Three that are burned into my memory and that haunt me and will haunt me forever.

"I forgive you."


~~~~~~~

And there we have it, the first short story in my series type thingy. I hope you liked it, and I promise that this one won't die like all the other stuff I mean to write. If you spotted any mistakes in the story, please for the love of Starswirl's beard let me know so I can fix them.

TimberWolffe, signing out.