//------------------------------// // The Princess's Admission, Harmony's Answer // Story: Remembering the Fallen // by vren55 //------------------------------// Princess Admission, Harmony’s Answer Canterlot... Princess Celestia of Equestria was enjoying a quiet night, over a game of chess, with her sister Luna. “Unicorn mage to A6, we declare,” said Luna, moving her obsidian piece with a hoof. “Rook to A1,” replied Celestia, shifting her marble castle to counter. It was then a scroll materialized by the princess in a bout of green fire. “Queen takes rook at A1. A letter from Twilight Sparkle?” remarked Luna. “Yes, I wonder what she has discovered this time,” said the solar princess as she unsealed the scroll and scanned through the neat handwriting. Luna waited as her sister seemed to be absorbed by the letter’s contents. “Tia? It is your move,” said Luna. There was no response from the other alicorn. The scroll was merely held in front of her, obscuring her face. Her ethereal tricolor mane still rippling slowly. “Sister is something the matter?” asked the night princess, by now getting more worried. The solar princess snapped out of her trance and smiled sheepishly. To Luna, it was as if Celestia was squirming with apprehension, and was that shame? The night princess couldn’t quite tell. “Nothing Luna... It’s just... I have to... oh look at the time! I need to get my beauty sleep. We’ll continue the game tomorrow!” said Celestia as she deposited the letter on a convenient hook by her regalia. Dumbfounded, Luna stood up and escorted her sibling to the doorway where she hugged her older sister. “Love you Tia,” said Luna. “Love you too Lu-Lu,” said Celestia, her voice tinged by a touch of sadness. With that the solar princess left the room and teleported with a flash of light. As soon as the magic aura of her sister disappeared, Luna opened the scroll she had pick pocketed from her sister’s regalia. “Sorry Tia, but we must know what is troubling you,” said Luna as she opened the scroll. Ponyville... A few minutes after the letter had been sent, there was a flash of light and Princess Celestia herself teleported into the library. She was met with the five mares she had come to call friends and her most dear student. They were all surprised at her presence and stepped back from her majestic figure. “Princess Celestia!” said Twilight, but her normal greeting was strained without some of its usual eager anticipation. “My faithful student, I came as soon as I received your letter. I hope you won’t mind my intrusion,” replied Celestia with a smile, which soon faded as she faced the grimmer visages of the rest of Twilight’s friends. “Princess, Ah don’t mean no disrespect, but was there really a war?” demanded Applejack, a hint of desperation in her voice. For once, the orange mare did not want the truth to be told to her. “Yes, Applejack, there was a war and the mare in the field was most likely a casualty of that war,” said Celestia calmly. The ponies and the dragon stared at the princess. To find the research and the books written on the war was enough, but to have it confirmed by the princess herself? That baffled them and sent their last naive hopes flying out of their heads. “But Princess, why... how... this doesn’t make sense! Why don’t we know about this? This is such an important event... and there were so many books in that archive section... why isn’t this common knowledge?” gasped Twilight. What happened next shocked those in the room senseless. “Because I covered it up,” explained Celestia. The wide-eyes and disbelieving ears of the library’s occupants listened on as the alicorn explained. “I knew Luna would return after a thousand years and after so many long years alone and without her by my side, I was determined not to lose her again. If word were to go out that Luna not only brought forth eternal night, but fought a war against all of Equestria, she would be shunned once more. Her night would be feared and what happened so long ago would be repeated. So a hundred years ago, I began the process of lessening the influence of the War of the Sun and Moon. I rewrote the textbooks, ordered many of the volumes on the subject stored into secret archives, subtly directed pony historians to different subjects. Much of the physical evidence had disappeared and many of the monuments had fallen into ruin or the reason behind them simply forgotten. Nightmare Night, once a holiday that held great symbolic meaning was made into a fun children’s night. Thus, I wiped the War of the Sun and Moon from pony memory.” The alicorn princess stopped and faced the bearers of Harmony, as if bracing herself against a coming storm. “How could you betray your soldiers like that? They stood with you loyal to the end!” roared Rainbow Dash, completely forgetting a diarch of Equestria stood before her. When she did remember, she sank in fear, but the Princess didn’t react. Her mind was filled with the beats of the drum, the cry of the horn and thousands of ponies yelling: “For the Princess! For EQUESTRIA!” Applejack stepped forward beside Rainbow Dash, a comforting hoof on the blue mare’s shoulder. “Um... ah agree with Rainbow, Princess. Coverin up the truth is no way to protect anypony. Ya must’ve knew this would ha’ come out sooner or later,” said Applejack. Celestia sighed at those wise words, remembering a piece of advice she once heard from her faithful general, Ermane Rommel. Commander, never lie to your soldiers, or to anypony, because the consequences of a lie are worse than if you tell the truth. “You are right, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. I did betray my soldiers, and I knew that someday, some smart pony would figure it out. Still, I had hoped to delay it until ponies were more receptive to Luna’s presence.” The Princess turned to face the next of the six. “Rarity, what do you think?” The fashionista gulped, gritted her teeth and tapped her hooves nervously... and sighed. “Pardon me Princess.... I can’t believe you’d want to hide how so many ponies gave their lives for Equestria! They gave up their lives, probably walked through mud and dirt to protect Equestria! They gave you so much and the least you can do is remember them!” Celestia’s heart clenched for a moment. A field hospital, with wounded ponies sprang up in her mind. She remembered the gasp of the dying and the singular thought all the ponies held, in their eyes and in their expressions. We gave everything for you Princess. “I... Pinkie Pie?” asked Celestia, unable to face Rarity. The pink pony wasn’t hopping around, but she wasn’t frowning either. A pensive expression was on her face along with her trademark smile. “I think remembering the war would have been fun! I mean not the deaths and battles, but think about the parties and ceremonies we can have relating to the war and while some of them do have to be solemn and grave... we could have had ballads and songs. I mean, I don’t think the soldiers would want us to be moping and crying all the time!” pointed out Pinkie. The pink pony’s smile drooped for a second. “I mean, they battled to let us laugh and play safely...” “That they did,” thought Celestia, recalling the stoic grins of armored ponies so long ago, the notes of a marching song filling her mind. Turning to Fluttershy, Celestia was met with a teary-eyed pegasus. “They suffered so much! They had to fight and killeach other, charging into battle, their families and friends, their comrades suffered so much and yet everypony has forgotten them.” The mare paused, blinking back the deluge, while she raised her eyes to meet Celestia’s. “But I also understand. Fighting Princess Luna... was the hardest thing you have ever done and you would do anything to protect her. Even if you had to shoulder the guilt of having to betray your soldiers’ memory,” said Fluttershy. Something broke within the princess and all the guilt she had been carrying for all the years cracked the mask she wore. The alicorn blinked and wiped her eyes with a hoof, but not before Fluttershy saw a tear fall to the boards of the library. “Tia...” The ponies spun around to a voice fragile as stained glass. The night princess stepped out from a shadowed corner of the library. Nopony had to ask how much she had heard. The tears and the astonished expression she held answered that question. Celestia faced her sister and approached her “Luna, I...” “How dare you shoulder this burden by yourself! Why did you not tell me?” demanded Luna, trotting up to meet her sister eye to eye. Celestia sighed, she seemed to be doing a lot of it recently, “You were not to blame for my mistakes.” “For the last time, the war was not only yours to blame! I should take my responsibility for it! Did you forget I am the Princess of the Night? I could have dealt with the hate,” insisted Luna. Celestia’s eyes hardened, “Would all the Bearers have saved you if they knew of your actions in the war? Have you forgotten Nightmare Night so quickly sister?” Luna paused as she considered how close she had come to alienating Ponyville, even when the only memory of her was of a childhood boogeypony. It was true that Luna had been saddened to learn that the War of the Sun and Moon had been forgotten to time, but at the same time, she had been relieved that her greatest failure was not known to Equestria. The Princess of the night was not finished though. “Tia... how... ” Luna gulped and averted her gaze from Celestia as she mumbled something. “What Lu-lu?” asked Celestia curious at her sister’s change in demeanour. “I have walked your dreams.” Celestia’s white fur became whiter as Luna returned her gaze "Shortly after I returned, I saw you apologizing to Ermane Rommel. I did not realize he had died in The Last Battle, so I thought you were merely apologizing for his death. An old guilt you had not gotten over.” As Luna slowly stepped forward, Celestia took a trembling step back. The six other ponies and the dragon stared at the confrontation, but made no move. “But many days later, I saw you asking Lord Barbican for forgiveness. Then after Discord’s return, you apologized to your Guard Captain, Burnished Shield. That’s why I tried to bake that cake for you,” said Luna. Celestia chuckled wryly as she remembered the attempt, but then swallowed slowly as she found herself backed up against a bookshelf, her escape blocked. “But I only began to suspect something different in your apology to White Tower. No, you did not ask her to forgive you, you begged her to punish you! My research revealed later that she had survived and was one of the first ponies to begin documenting the War of the Sun and Moon.” Luna bit her lip and examined her sister, still trying to hold on to her mask. However, the tears at the edge of her magenta eyes betrayed her feelings. Luna herself was close to crying as continued, the realization she had come to causing rivulets of tears to slow down her midnight blue cheeks. “Then today, when I pick-pocketed your letter. I am not sorry that I did because now I know... You were apologizing for hiding the truth of the war. You are punishing yourself for that decision... but why?” Luna’s voice broke and the strong front she had been holding fell. Throwing her legs around her sister, Luna wailed into Celestia’s shoulder. “Why do you do this to yourself Celestia? What did I do to deserve your love?” The princess of the night was sobbing and her tears came in floods as she cried into her sister’s shoulder. All memories of Nightmare Moon were banished from the six ponies and the dragon at the sight and they began to cry too. Fluttershy the loudest and even Rainbow Dash was sniffling. Celestia was sobbing herself. Less violently than Luna, but her frame quivered at the force of her mourning. “You are my sister Luna. I would do anything for you,” said Celestia. Luna only cried louder at those words and embraced her sister tighter, an embrace that Celestia returned. The two sisters, stayed like that, for a long while. Until Celestia turned to Twilight. “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student... what do you have to say?” asked Celestia softly, her voice trembling. The lavender unicorn’s mouth opened and shut, while one hoof reached up to wipe her soaked eyes. The revelations of the day had rendered the unicorn breathless, so for a moment, Twilight was paralyzed and then she spoke. “Spike, take a letter.” The dragon took a moment to comply, but was soon with paper and quill. Dear Princess Celestia, I have learnt that there was a war in Equestria. Not just any conflict. A... civil war, in which pony fought pony, tearing families apart, and ravaging all we hold dear. A civil war that by all accounts, had lasting effects for more than a hundred year. When I wrote you the letter, I was only hoping you’d answer our questions of whether there was a war in the first place and if that pony was a casualty of that war. To be honest, I was hoping you would tell me it never happened. I had hoped that this was but a fictional account, a well done hoax and that that pony died in an accident. Twilight paused and met Celestia’s eyes. The alicorn’s magenta orbs, were wet with tears, tired and exhausted and Twilight Sparkle could see one more thing, guilt, only recently assuaged. The greatest guilt she had ever seen. No wonder she kept asking for forgiveness in her dreams. For of all the ponies whom the war had affected, the one who had suffered from it the most was perhaps the only one who could not escape from its curse. That pony, was the immortal leader, who had to make the greatest sacrifices and live, knowing she would forevermore remember and regret her decisions. Of course, I was wrong, naive and thinking wishfully. War is an alien concept to us in this age of peace. In fact, conflict is rare. Holding this back was the logical choice to guarantee the successful return of your dear sister. So I don’t condemn you for your action, it was to ensure the happiness of your only sibling. But in this age of peace, I think we need to remember that this peace did not come easily to us. It was a gift, a precious gift, an invaluable gift, whose value we can only understand, by remembering, that ponies gave their lives for it. Twilight took another deep breath, remembering the fallen pony on that lonely field. Sometimes, we may wonder why we have to remember this bygone event, why we try to document this dark time in history. The dead remain dead and living should be our number one priority. Why fuss over these dusty relics? Why venerate one mare’s corpse? Why obsess on how she died? But now I know... that my life is not my own. I now realize, that our lives are never our own. They are the product of our parents, shaped by our friends and family, brought up by our mentors and role models. Now I also know, that some pony, a thousand years ago... gave her life in battle, so I may live mine in peace. It’s a paradox, but then again, the nature of sacrifice is always a paradox. Princess Celestia, I thank you the great sacrifices you have made and for this very important lesson. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle