//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Parade Coverage // by McPoodle //------------------------------// Parade Coverage Chapter 6 Princesses Celestia and Luna stood before a spot a ponylength away from the second pillar in the second row, staring at a point in space that was invisible, but charged with magic. Nopony else was in the Audience Chamber. “I shall be the one to undertake this perilous journey,” Luna said, in full expectation of having to resort to volume to have her way. “Three full months didst I spend on Earth the last time, and that experience left me acquainted with a wide variety of the planet’s dangers. In addition, a mission of stealth calls for a pony of darkness, not one of—” “OK,” said Celestia. “‘OK’?” “It’s slang of relatively recent origin,” Celestia explained. “Although the exact derivation is obscure, the meaning is ‘alright’, or perhaps ‘I acknowledge’.” “O...K,” Luna sounded out slowly. “What a useful abbreviation our ponies hast devised! It is an emendation to the language I should have made long ago!” Celestia valiantly tried to retain a straight face as her sister continued to use as many words as possible to praise a change that made conversations more concise. Eventually Luna worked out what her sister had said in addition to how she had said it. “I am pleased that you agree with me!” she said with a nod. “I shall cross into the shadows, which will become my dwelling place! The wayward Bearers shall I rescue from their miserable fates, and woe be unto any humans who darest to stand in my way, for I will display not one iota of mercy to creatures that are utterly devoid of it themselves!” “‘The character of mercy is not a point to be compelled,’” Celestia recited from memory, her eyes closed. “‘It falls like the gentle rain from the sky to the place below it. Twice blessed, it is good to she who gives and she who receives. ‘Tis the highest power of the most powerful. It befits the Princess better than her enthroning crown. Her horn shows the force of temporal authority; it is the attribute of power that we revere and her majesty; but Mercy is above the dominion of the horn; She has her throne in the heart of Princesses. It is one of the attributes of the Creator Himself, and the powers of the Earth closer they to that god, when they know to season justice with mercy.’” “That...that was quite good,” Luna said after a stunned moment. “What pony are you quoting?” “No pony, Sister, but a human,” Celestia told her gravely. “Although I did not hear the speech in its intended language, and so have probably mangled it beyond recognition.” “At which point in history did the Creator become a ‘He’?” Luna asked darkly. “You can blame Voltaire for that.” “Your past human visitor?” Luna asked. “Our promised conversation will need to be twice as long as I feared to get to the bottom of this!” She looked at the spot before them, where a disk of pearlescent white light was slowly growing in intensity. “But more of this anon.” She stepped forward, mentally preparing herself for the coming journey. “Sister, the human civilization has changed greatly between the times of our two visitors,” Celestia warned over the growing sounds of the winds that whipped around the strengthening portal. “The Roman Empire has fallen!” “Good!” Luna exclaimed with a grin. “It was riddled with petty tyranny!” Her eyes were now glued to the portal. “Remember my speech!” Celestia insisted. “Show some kindness to the humans—their instincts may be cruel, but many of them have their hearts in the right place!” Luna looked back coldly at her sibling. “You forget, Tia,” she said, her eyelids hooded, “kindness is a trait I abandoned long before the Nightmare came into my life. Even now, I still do not find it in my heart. You do not know—” “And I shall never know, Sister, until the day you choose to unburden your heart to me about whatever tragedy you endured that dark day. I have waited patiently for over twelve hundred years so far for the story you so wish to tell.” “And you’ll have much longer to wait to hear it, I expect,” Luna said dully, before walking into the open portal.