Celestia was pacing nervously before the fire, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Princess Luna. It couldn’t be much longer, since they had to raise and lower the Moon and Sun respectively, but knowing that the event was inevitable only served to make her more nervous. Eager to shift her attention from the impending discussion, she focused instead on the almost ironic role reversal that had occurred between herself and her student.
In the past, it had always been Twilight who had come to her for advice and assistance. Twilight had always had complete faith in Celestia’s judgement, and perhaps this had been the true explanation for their relationship. She called Twilight her faithful student, but maybe she had underestimated just how much faith Twilight had in her. She could feel it herself, she realized, at that moment. She worried about how Luna would react, about whether or not things would turn out alright, but she no longer doubted that it was the right thing to do. She had complete faith in her student’s decision, and she felt it would be foalish not to. Twilight had, with her friends and the Magic of Friendship, protected Equestria from greater threats than anything Celestia had faced in an extremely long time, and if anypony knew how to be a good friend, then it was Twilight Sparkle.
This absolute certainty that Twilight’s decision was the right one was incredibly powerful, and she thought that it might be a better explanation for Twilight’s behavior around her. It wasn’t that Twilight was afraid of disappointing her,--although that was certainly part of it--but she had so much faith in Celestia’s wisdom and judgement, that from Twilight’s perspective, to disobey Celestia was to do something abjectly wrong. She considered some of the things that she had asked Twilight to do for her in the past. She had, over Twilight’s objections, sent her to Ponyville to make friends, which ultimately led to the defeat of Night Mare Moon and the return of Princess Luna. She had sent Twilight to convince a dragon who was threatening to blanket Equestria under a lethal cloud of smoke and ash that he needed to leave Equestria. Admittedly, this task was far less dangerous than it may have seemed to Twilight and her friends, since Celestia had been in the Dragon Kingdom reaffirming an alliance that had been in effect for centuries. When she had asked that her faithful student and her friends be the ones to approach the weary traveler, both she and the dragon himself had known that if any harm came to her subjects, there would be no escaping the Dragon King’s wrath. Twilight had again demonstrated her nearly complete faith in Celestia by agreeing, despite the apparent dangers that confronting a weary dragon in his home presented. Most impressively was her inspirational victory over the recently re-imprisoned Discord, who was one of the two greatest threats Equestria had ever known.
She was starting to believe that this was indeed the better explanation for Twilight’s behavior since it even helped to explain why she had been willing to stand up to her so recently. When she had said, at the beginning of their conversation, that she feared that she was making a mistake with Princess Luna, she had admitted that she was uncertain. By admitting that she did not have a definite answer, she had given Twilight tacit permission to disagree and to voice her views. She almost wished that she could repeat the conversation, but this time, not admit her doubts, and see if Twilight’s behavior changed. She almost hoped that this was the case, because it would be easier for her to demonstrate that she was no more infallible than anypony else than it would be to undo more than a decade of deep seated emotional damage.
This hopeful train of thought was suddenly derailed by a polite knocking on the door of the parlor. “Dearest Sister, ‘tis I, Luna, and I wish for a moment of thy time.” Celestia was pleased, since the use of old Equestrian indicated that Luna was either very excited, or very angry, and of the two, joy sounded more likely.
Celestia turned from where she had been pacing, looking past Twilight, who was seated quietly on her cushion watching Celestia as she paced, to the door. “Of course, Luna,” she said, opening the door with her magic. “I take it from thine overly flow’ry speech that thou hath enjoyed thine self,” she continued jokingly.
Luna, blushing slightly at her gentle prodding, entered the parlor and closed the door behind her. “Oh... and I had been doing so well, too,” she said regretfully. She finally seemed to take notice of the lavender cushion, and of the mare positioned atop it. “Greetings Twilight Sparkle, it is wonderful to see you again. I really must thank you for all that you have done.”
It was Twilight’s turn to blush, and she spoke modestly, saying, “thank you, Princess, but I didn’t really do that much. All I did was give you a few pointers.”
“Not true, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna replied insistently. “If it wasn’t for your willingness to believe that Night Mare Moon was indeed gone, and your willingness to help me despite my many blunders, then the ponies of Ponyville might never have accepted me, and I wouldn’t have asked ‘Tia to let me hold court.”
Twilight was visibly uncomfortable at receiving such open praise, and Celestia found it adorable. Still eager to avoid the credit, Twilight said, “I think that you underestimate the ponies of Ponyville, your Highness. I think that they would have come around if you had just kept trying.”
It was Celestia’s turn to join in piling praise on her faithful student, whether she desired it or not. “That is one of your most admirable traits, Twilight,” she said with a motherly smile. “But sometimes, I feel that perhaps you underestimate just how rare, and precious, friends such as yourself and the other Elements of Harmony are. You may be right that the ponies of Ponyville would have been convinced, but it might have taken a generation for them to forget the events of Night Mare Moon’s return.” Twilight’s blush grew even more pronounced, and she did not seem to have anything to say in rebuttal.
Luna nodded, saying firmly, “I agree with our dear sister that your actions have helped to hasten my return to society by many years at the least. And for this reason, I would appreciate it if you would call me Luna, as you did on Nightmare Night.”
Twilight nodded and continued to look uncomfortable. “Luna, are you ready to raise the Moon?” When Luna nodded, the two alicorns lit their horns in unison, and the night officially began. Once the Sun had descended below the horizon, and the Moon had begun its ascent, their auras faded, and the conversation resumed.
Celestia was starting to feel more relaxed, and was no longer nearly so worried about Luna doing something rash. “Luna? Twilight and I were wondering if you would be able to stay for a while and talk.” She was careful to keep her voice relaxed and informal, so as to avoid making it sound like an order.
“I suppose so, ‘Tia, but I was hoping to get something to eat first.” Luna sounded more apologetic than anything else.
Celestia laughed lightly, saying, “Luna, I’m disappointed. In case you didn’t notice, there is enough food here to last for several days. And even with you helping, I suspect that it will last the night.”
Luna smiled brightly, saying, “thank you ‘Tia. I didn’t want to impose, and I suppose that it wouldn’t be too difficult to leave something for the two of you. I only request that you do me the same favor so far as the doughnuts are concerned, since it appears that somepony has been eating them rather rapidly.” There was only one box left, of the four that had been purchased, and Celestia knew that Luna’s comment was aimed at her.
Jokingly, she used her wing to point at Twilight, who was smiling serenely, oblivious to Celestia’s antics. Luna just rolled her eyes at Celestia to indicate that she wouldn’t be fooled that easily. She returned her wing to her side, and as Luna began to place food on her plate, walked over to a door that led to a storage room. The room was mainly meant as a place to store extra quills, ink, parchment, and anything else that may be needed during a meeting, but for that night, it was also where the cushions that would normally be used by the visiting ponies had been stowed. One such cushion was dark blue, large enough to accommodate an alicorn, and was promptly summoned by Celestia’s magic, coming to join the others before the fire.
There was a brief silence as Luna finished preparing her plate, and came to rest on the cushion Celestia had summoned for her. “So... what is it... that you wanted to talk about ‘Tia,” Luna said between taking bites from an apple.
“Well, the first thing is that we wanted to hear how you enjoyed your first day of court.” Luna’s face lit up, and the apple was dropped unceremoniously onto the plate.
“It was amazing, ‘Tia!” Luna was positively exuberant. So much so that she sprang to her hooves, despite having just lain down moments before. “Everypony was so polite and respectful, I mean everypony is always polite, but these ponies actually seemed to mean it! And even though some of them were frightened in the morning, they still listened to me, and they didn’t try to run away!” Luna actually took to hovering in the air in her excitement. “And I wish you could have seen it when I made my decisions ‘Tia. Some of them looked disappointed if I didn’t agree with them, but even then, they remained polite and understanding. But it felt amazing, ‘Tia, to see the way that the ponies who I did side with reacted. They didn’t care that I was the Princess of the Night, or that I had been controlled by Night Mare Moon, or even that I wasn’t you! They wanted my help ‘Tia, and I was able to give it!”
Celestia had difficulty maintaining her smile when Luna said, “... or even that I wasn’t you!” She didn’t know what it was about that statement that hurt her so much, but it did, and she hated the feeling. Otherwise, she couldn’t have been any happier for Luna without joining her in flying idly around the room. This kind of response was exactly what she had both hoped for and expected, and she hoped that Luna wouldn’t choose to throw this away for the promise of greater political influence.
“I’m glad to hear that you had such a wonderful time, Luna,” she said with a sincere smile. “I take it that you are still interested in holding tomorrow’s court as well?”
“Of course,” Luna said joyfully as she returned to the ground. “Although I admit that I had kind of hoped that I would get to do something more important,” she said, face falling slightly.
Celestia felt a hint of uneasiness as Luna said that. It was exactly that sentiment that frightened her, but she hoped that Luna would be convinced to continue holding the weekend sessions, for at least a couple more weeks. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, actually,” she said with cautious neutrality. Luna’s ears perked up and she looked at Celestia curiously. “There is a good reason why none of the decisions you made today were very large.” She hurried to clarify her statement, “which isn’t to say that they weren’t important, because I am certain that your decisions had a large impact on those ponies you spoke to, but I meant on a national scale.”
Luna nodded, still interested, but resumed eating her apple. “The weekends are when we hold what I usually think of as open court. The castle is opened to any and all ponies who have something to bring before me, or you in today’s case. This means that the problems that you were asked to deal with were those of individual ponies with very specific problems. Questions of national policy, however, aren’t decided during these sessions. I only make those decisions after hours, sometimes days, of meetings between the affected parties, and those meetings are scheduled, often weeks in advance, during the normal work week.”
Luna kept looking at her inquisitively, which wasn’t what Celestia had expected. “I’m sorry that I didn’t explain this to you before, but I thought that it would be better for you to spend some more time getting to know our subjects, their needs and customs, and speech patterns, before assuming any larger responsibilities. I hope you can forgive me.”
Luna suddenly seemed confused. “Forgive you, ‘Tia? Whatever for?”
This was not the kind of response that Celestia anticipated at all. She knew that she failed to keep the surprise from her voice when she said, “for not explaining this earlier, and for failing to describe the process by which decisions are made.”
Luna actually giggled at her, with completely stunned her. “Thank you for telling me, ‘Tia, but I had kind of put that together myself.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I thought it was obvious,” Luna said with a smile. “I mean, I was shocked when you actually agreed to let me hold court. I had expected you to ask that I merely attend and watch, or do something else to prepare myself. ‘Tia, I can hardly speak with Blueblood without using the Royal Canterlot Voice, so I know I need more time to prepare for formal court duties.”
“So you aren’t upset about my misleading you?” Celestia was still having difficulty accepting that Luna was this calm about it.
“I was hardly mislead, sister. I suspect that the only pony you mislead is yourself,” she said, giggling again.
Celestia colored slightly. “Yes, well then...” she trailed off, unsure how to proceed now that she realized that all her concerns had been baseless.
Luna smiled reassuringly, saying “oh calm down ‘Tia. It isn’t like this is the first time you’ve made a mistake, and it certainly isn’t the worst.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Her tone was a mix of joviality and annoyance.
“No, you messed up, but at least it isn’t as bad as some of your other mistakes.” Luna seemed to be having a hard time controlling her mirth.
“Thank you, Luna, for your kind words,” she said sarcastically, eliciting an equally insincere bow from her sister. She turned to Twilight who was smiling at the sight of the two most powerful ponies in Equestria bickering like little fillies. “I think that I have spoken with my sister enough for one night,” she said, causing Luna to stick out her tongue mockingly. Celestia glared back, and Twilight began to giggle happily. “So perhaps you would be willing to share another one of your lessons with us, for I have to know whether or not they are all as unbelievable as that first.”
Twilight nodded eagerly, levitating the scroll that she had picked earlier before her eyes. Celestia interrupted before she could begin, however, because she saw a look of confusion on Luna’s face. “You know that Twilight has been sending me reports on the lessons she has learned about the Magic of Friendship.”
“Yes, ‘Tia. You have let me read several, if you recall,” she said neutrally.
“Well, earlier, she told me about the story behind her learning one of her lessons, the first one actually, about the Gala tickets, and I could hardly believe it. Luna, the entire town... I think that you will have to hear it from Twilight some time, but she was going to tell me about another of her lessons, and I hope that you will stay and listen.”
Luna nodded happily, saying, “any story that ‘Tia says is unbelievable must be truly something, so I would love to stay and listen, if you don’t mind, of course.”
Twilight looked almost as happy as she had been on the day she had gotten her cutie mark. Apparently, getting to tell not just Celestia, but Luna as well, about her time in Ponyville was very special to the lavender mare.
Celestia felt happier than she could ever remember being as she relaxed comfortably by her fire, surrounded by her sister and her faithful student. Content to just enjoy this moment, she settled comfortably on her cushion as Twilight began to read in an excited voice, “Dear Princess Celestia... .”