Edited by Tacotown
Ancient History
Prologue
Twilight sat across from Celestia, separated by a mahogany coffee table. Both of them were sitting in comfy couches in front of the fireplace that took up part of the wall of Celestia’s bedroom. A large roaring fire burned out of the corner of their eyes and the occasional cracking as the flames found pockets of moisture in the logs filled the air, adding a very homey feeling to the room. At the moment they both just enjoying the sensation of being close to one another for the first time in quite a while without there being some catastrophe, melodramatic or otherwise to deal with.
A cup of hot cider was sitting on the table in front of the purple mare, and a small glass of hot spiced wine was held aloft in Celestia’s golden magic. Twilight cocked her head at the alicorn, who chuckled and shook her head. Twilight rolled her eyes and took a sip of her own drink.
“Honestly Twilight, I’m more then old enough to drink a little spiced wine.” Celestia told Twilight with another chuckle.
“I know Princess; it’s just weird to see you doing it.” Twilight replied.
“Twilight, I’ve told you countless times. Please call me Celestia.” Celestia said with a wry little grin.
“Right, sorry Princ- I mean, Celestia.” Twilight said with a small blush that made Celestia let out another chuckle.
“It’s not something that you need to apologize about Twilight; I know that you don’t do it on purpose.” Celestia told her student with a tiny mirthful shake of her head.
“Thank you Princess.” Twilight said, followed almost immediately by a facehoof.
“Never mind Twilight.” Celestia said before changing topics. “So how was your day in Canterlot?”
“It was great seeing mom and dad again. Ever since I moved to Ponyville it’s been hard to stay in touch.” Twilight replied with a smile.
“That’s good, your mother and father are very good ponies. Of course they’d have to be considering their daughter.” Celestia told Twilight, with one of those wonderfully kind smiles that made Twilight’s heart swell with love for the alicorn. “And I assume that your visit with Cadence and Shining Armor went well as well?”
“Extremely, it’s always nice to see my BBBFF and Cadence.” Twilight said. “Especially when it doesn’t involve saving the fate of Equestria.” She added with a slight shrug.
“I think that I might know the feeling.” Celestia said with a wink that sent both into a tiny fit of giggles.
“So how has life in Canterlot been without me around to teach Princess? I’ve been writing you letters, but when you write back you never really say anything about how it is here.” Twilight asked curiously.
“Well things have honestly been pretty boring here Twilight.” Celestia said with a shrug before she took another sip of her wine. “Luna’s been doing well with her Night Court and she’s been patrolling dreams to make sure that everything is fine in the Realm of Dreams. I’ve… been doing paperwork.”
“That’s all?” Twilight asked in surprise.
“Essentially; for all of the resentment that Luna used to have for me I never really understood where most of it came from. She gets all the fun jobs while I get to fill out form after form as the nobility bow and scrape before me.” Celestia said with a shake of her head.
“It’s not all bad, is it Princess?” Twilight asked.
“Oh no Twilight, not at all.” Celestia said. “I get to go out and see all of my little ponies and spend time visiting my beautiful kingdom.” Celestia added with a happy smile. “Not only that, but I get to eat more cake then Luna does.” She added with a conspiratorial wink.
“And your flanks show it sister.” Luna said from the doorway.
“Hello Princess.” Twilight called from her spot on the couch.
“Oh, hello there Twilight Sparkle. I didn’t see you there at first; you were hidden behind Celly’s massive bottom.” Luna said, turning to Twilight with a smirk.
“Oh Lulu, is it your bed time already little sister?” Celestia asked in an almost sickeningly sweet voice.
“Not quite sister, I was just on my way to Night Court and I couldn’t help but overhear what I thought was you talking to yourself, again. So being the loving sister that I am I came at once to make sure that you weren’t going a bit mad.” Luna shot back with a chuckle.
“Ha ha ha.” Celestia said dryly. “Aren’t you the one with a history of madness sister?” She asked.
“No, I’m the one with a history of being possessed by evil spirits. You’re the one with a history of talking to yourself.” Luna replied.
“Don’t you have Night Court to attend?” Celestia asked pointedly. Luna’s eye softened and she nodded before giving her sister a wink and continuing on her way down the hallway.
“What was that all about Princess?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, Luna and I enjoy bringing up ancient history.” Celestia said dismissively.
“I’ve never heard of you talking to yourself before Princess.” Twilight said with a look of confusion crossing her face.
“It’s an old joke Twilight, a very, very old joke.” Celestia replied with a note of venom entering her voice.
“Oh, I see.” Twilight said quietly, afraid that she had inadvertently made Celestia angry with her.
“Don’t worry Twilight I’m not mad, it’s just… that joke is rather personal to me.” Celestia said comfortingly. “Then again, I shouldn’t have brought up Nightmare, so I suppose it’s fair.” She added with a shrug. They spent the next few minutes in silence, sipping at their drinks.
“Princess, there’s actually something that I’ve been meaning to talk to you about for a while now, but never really had the chance until now.” Twilight began.
“What is it Twilight?” Celestia asked inquisitively. “Like I’ve said before, I’m an open book, although some of the pages might be missing and I’m almost positive that someone accidentally spilled tea on the cover.” She added with a chuckle.
“Well I’ve always kind of wondered what your story is.” Twilight said shyly.
“My story?” Celestia asked.
“Umm, yes; where did you come from? How did ponies react to you being an alicorn? How did you and Luna become Princesses of Equestria? What was it like in the old days?” Twilight asked in a rush of questions before stopping herself. “What I mean is; Princess, will you tell me your life’s story?” Twilight asked as a small blush appeared on her face.
“Are you sure you want to hear it Twilight? It’s not a very happy tale at first.” Celestia asked with a tiny frown on her royal face.
“Yes Princess, I’m positive.” Twilight replied.
“Alright then, I guess the best place to start is when I was born.” Celestia said.
“You remember what it was like being born?” Twilight asked in confusion.
“No Twilight, I’m telling you what my father told me.” Celestia said with a shake of her head.
“Oh, alright then, sorry.” Twilight said with an embarrassed look.
“Not to worry Twilight, feel free to interrupt if something that I say puzzles you. It was a very long time ago and things have changed greatly.”
“Okay Princess, I’m ready.”
“Well it all began…”