“Dear Princess Celestia…” Celestia was comfortable and relaxed on her soft silk sheets as she read Twilight’s latest letter, her graceful and tall form strewn over a large golden Chaise longue. She sipped her tea delicately as she read on, but her comfort was not intended to last long, it seemed, as she was brought out of her blissful trance by a loud bang on her door. Shortly followed by a loud grumble and something sounding similar to a growl before her door swung open, revealing an apparently enraged Princess Luna.
“I have had just about ENOUGH of what Canterlot’s ‘high society’ has to offer!” Celestia was hot on her hooves with a protective wing preemptively outstretched over Luna “Luna, sister, what could frustrate you so much?” Luna quickly answered, likely without knowledge that Celestia even spoke she was so angry “These damnable snobs and their pathetic condescendence.” Luna spat as she stomped a hoof.
“There was a nice young colt selling apples in the markets, but they refused to pay him any heed for fear they would look bad. Oh the poor pony. I walked towards his stall to buy one myself, for the trouble he went through to come all the way to Canterlot, but I was not rewarded with the thanks that I had hoped: I was instead rewarded with the grand prize of stares, cowering by the young colt, and hoof kissing by Canterlot aristocracy!” Celestia understood her sister’s rage and tried her best to calm her with a rational explanation:
“Luna, you know that, as royalty, we command a certain respect. To maintain that respect we must pander-“
“Since when does royalty ‘pander’ to the money-stained masses, Tia? We are princesses, not media dependant recluses placing ourselves on pedestals above all else.” Luna said, paying extra acidity to the word ‘pander’.
Celestia continued to exercise her point in a slightly more forceful tone: “Luna, we must maintain respect.” Celestia’s steel determination was quickly broken by the look of sadness in her sister’s eyes. It was no ordinary misery; it was the misery that started a war, the misery that drove two sisters to near death, the misery that started a tale older than a millennium. That was the misery that allowed Nightmare Moon to flow freely.
Luna simply looked into her sister’s eyes and screamed a sentence that shook Celestia to the core with self-hate for not seeing it before: “What If I don’t want respect, what if…” Luna made her way out of the room before bowing her head “What If I just want to be loved…?” Celestia could feel her eyes growing moist as Luna made her way back to her chambers in tears, feeling like no one in the world could warm the cold stabbing feeling in her chest. Luna’s words were barely louder than a whisper, but for all the intensity in those words it might’ve been a Dragon’s roar.