//------------------------------// // Celestia's Pet // Story: Least Faithful Student // by Dexter Helix //------------------------------// Luna had pulled Twilight away from her friends, into a high tower where they could speak to one-another in private. "I witnessed your breakdown earlier, Twilight." "I'm sorry— I just— I don't know—" "Be calm, Twilight," Luna insisted, gently embracing Twilight from the side, and draping a wing around her, "I do not wish to pass judgement. Tell me, are you in pain?" Yes you are. "No, I'm okay." "It is important that you tell me," Luna insisted, her voice soft and full of concern. Tell her. "I'm okay, Luna." "Twilight, I believe in you with all my heart, but I also understand better than anyone the gravity of the task I have charged you with." She wants you to give up, just like you give up on everything else. "I'm fine!" Twilight shouted defensively. Luna sighed, and retracted her wing. "I understand that you can be... headstrong, at times. Unwilling to admit you have made a mistake. Just know that I cannot stand to see you suffer. If, at any moment, it becomes too much, you must..." She wants you to give me back to her. Let her have what she wants. You're too pathetic to handle this. "Return the Element to you?" Luna glanced to the side, before replying, "yes. If you must." Giving me back to her would hurt her. You want that, don't you, you sick freak? "Would... Would you be okay?" "I do not know for certain. It is quite possible that I would go mad again. In that case, I would expect you to do whatever you must to protect Equestria; send me to the Moon, encase me in stone..." Celestia would like that. Don't you want Celestia to be happy? Luna continued, "just know that I would do anything to protect you." "...And I, you, Luna. I can handle the Element, I will keep it under control." "Please, do not think of me. I have already lived so long— been through so much. You have much life ahead of you," she said, as she nuzzled Twilight affectionately. "Don't waste it for my sake. Don't become a monster trying to protect me. Please, take some time to think it over... Would you like a moment alone with your thoughts?" Twilight opened her mouth, inhaling sharply, as though she had much to say, but her lips sealed themselves. She looked down at the ground. "Maybe a few minutes." "I understand." Luna turned to face the window, and rested her hooves on the ledge as she stared out at the frozen ocean. That's it. Just give in. You were always going to give in to me eventually— it's better that you give up like this, and torture Luna, instead of destroying the whole wide world... I'm not going to give her back to you, because that's what you want. You know you can't win. You can't defeat me. You underestimate me, Twilight. Because there is nothing I am if not patient. I've been to the end of the universe once, I've waited so long. Do you know how hard it is to die, bound to an Element? Quite hard, I imagine. You imagine correctly. Not only are you going to scare all your friends away with your instability— you're going to outlive every last one of them, knowing that they were all terrified of you until the very end. Wretched laughter echoed through Twilight's head. I have control over you. I won't let you hurt them. They know that. You remind me of Luna... such naivety. Would you like to hear of the friends she lost to time? I won't believe a word of it. You don't even know what the word 'friend' means. What about the friends she lost to her temper? The ones whose lives she took when I became too much for her to handle... She couldn't have. She was on the Moon! Oh, Twilight. What of the bat-ponies? The kind, caring creatures who took a weakened NightMare Moon into their care. They nurtured her, even took her — my favorite toy — away from me for brief periods. But in the end, she always came crawling back to me, and she turned on them. Repeatedly. They all made the mistake of forgiving her, and she made the mistake of letting them. Anything wrong she's ever done was your fault. Luna's just... perfect... What's this about? She's so sweet... So kind... So caring... So smart... You willingly ignorant little brat... You know better than anyone that it's true. She fought you tooth and nail for a thousand years to protect us. Fought me? You pathetic little stupid filly. NightMare Moon wasn't some kind of psychotic beast from beyond the void, Twilight. It was Luna. Luna did those things. Luna wanted to do those things. No. You made her do it, just like you're trying to do to me! In the same way that NightMare Moon was Luna, I am you. That's all there is to it, Twilight. This personality you so despise... It's just you. But you aren't me! You can't be me! You can deny it all you want, Twilight, but the truth remains— Luna is a monster, and you are too. Every pony is a monster. It just takes the right motivation to get them to show it. Luna is not a monster! She cares about everyone! And she cares about me. Do you really believe she cares about you? Are you truly that deluded? Yes! She's just afraid of you. Just like everyone else is. She thinks you'll go mad and destroy her precious Equestria. That's all she's concerned with. I'm not listening to you anymore. You're sick. Just try to ignore me, I dare you. Watch me. Is it working yet? ... Hey! Hey! TWILIGHT! I know you can hear me~ What can I think about that will make her go away? Hey, stupid; you might be trying to ignore me, but I can still hear your thoughts. Twilight lowered herself to the ground and put her hooves over her head. Leave me alone! Fat chance. Hahahahaha! As the voice in her head laughed, Twilight felt herself smile. It wasn't a pleasant smile; it was a painful one— It really was her. She was alone in her head, and she was laughing at herself because she was putting herself through pain. Her eyes flashed white for just a moment as a tear ran down her muzzle. "L— Luna?" "Yes, Twilight dearest?" Luna replied, turning away from the window without hesitation. "I have... an important question to ask." "Anything, Twilight." "Am I Celestia's pet?" Luna jerked back a bit, unsure how to interpret the question. "What do you mean, Twilight?" Twilight glanced down at the ground, ashamed. "It's just that... Everything I've ever done — all I've ever accomplished — was for her." Her face wavered between a smile and a grimace, as she attempted, with little success, to look Luna in the eye. That's right, you're pathetic. Luna's sympathetic expression was enough to tell Twilight that her concerns were unfounded. "You are your own pony, Twilight; you've served Celestia because that is what you wished to do." What a joke. You only wanted to do it because Celestia wanted you to do it. "But Luna... Even my cutie mark was earned by trying to be like her... to impress her..." "I want you to examine this image, Twilight, tell me what you see." Luna insisted, dropping an open book at Twilight's hooves. "That's Celestia... sealing you in the Moon with the Elements of Harmony. Everypony knows that drawing." "Look closer. Look at the Element itself." "The Element of Magic? What about it?" "It's your cutie mark, Twilight. It has always been your cutie mark." "But this was drawn centuries ago..." "It looked that way two-thousand years before you were born," She said, gently stroking Twilight's cheek with her hoof. "Your cutie mark reflects who you are, deep inside yourself. Someone with your remarkable talents would have always settled on magic, whether her inspiration was a princess or a two-bit traveling illusionist." "Th— Thank you, Pri— Thank you, Luna." She replied, blushing as Luna retracted her hoof. "Any time, Twilight," Luna replied with a smile. Also visible was a bit of a quirky smirk that she wore whenever she knew she successfully used a bit of 'modern vernacular'. "It's a shame how my sister has kept us apart all this time, we might have been such good friends. Our brief time together has felt so very rushed, leaving little time for us to become well-acquainted." "I know what you mean... We just... We have so much in common! Not that Celestia wasn't a great mentor, but... She never really seemed to have the same passion for learning that I did. And we both love stargazing... And books!" Luna smiled warmly and nodded, "Still, in this fleeting time, our bond has grown strong. I've not had many friends for nigh over a millennium, and it was yet more centuries before that since I last had company as wonderful as yourself." The voice in Twilight's head was silent. Luna straightened herself up, as though she was trying to slough sadness off of herself and address the problem in a regal and stoic way. "Yet, you have roughly a thousand years ahead of you, and I do not believe I will be spending much more time on this Earth. Life can be even crueler than death, sometimes. I believe you're hiding your pain from me, and though it angers me... I cannot blame you. I take responsibility for the pain you must be feeling now; I convinced myself that you would be somehow immune to it, though I suppose no pony is truly strong enough for that." "It's alright, Luna, I can handle it." Luna betrayed her excitement as she continued, "I'm know you can— Your cutie mark isn't merely a pink star. There's always been a second star behind it. That's how I knew you were meant to take on a second Element." "Meant to? Are you saying my cutie mark predicted the future?" "Things don't always happen in the right order, Twilight. You don't have to believe that, if you don't wish to. However, when the Element of Magic was permanently bound to you that day in Celestia's school, it knew you could do more. It knew you could do even better. And it knew you had the purity of heart required to fight another Element." Luna looked back out the window, wistfully. "It never gave me the same complement... My cutie mark was always just the simple pink star, adjacent to five small white ones reflecting the other Element-bearers, but there never was a large white star." "Wait..." Twilight interjected, taken aback, "the Element of Magic hadn't been made until you were already a grown mare. How did your cutie mark reflect that you would come to bear it?" "As I said, Twilight, things don't always happen in the right order. A very old, and very dear, friend taught me that. He also gave me some other advice, that you may find useful..." "Yes?" Luna moved forward and wrapped her neck around Twilight's. "Never let yourself forget. Never let yourself forget that you're loved. Sometimes, the memory of your friends is all you have, and you must never let it go." Twilight leaned into the hug, pressing her ear down against Luna's ribcage, so she could hear her heartbeats. She was reminded of her childhood; of Celestia's embrace, all those years ago, and Cadence's. To most ponies, the sound of two hearts in one body would be disconcerting, but to Twilight... It was a promise of comfort. It was an intimate and secret characteristic of the most important mares in her life. It brought memories of late nights in her youth, falling asleep after hours of continuous studying and playing, collapsing into her weary-less teacher's arms. "And Twilight, I promise... after this is all over, when you no longer feel obliged to carry the Element, I will do anything and everything in my power to rid you of it." "Thank you, Luna. Just..." Twilight drew back a little bit. "What is it, Twilight?" "Is there a way to stop the voice?" "The voice, Twilight?" Twilight's own voice, from the previous day's delusions, echoed through her head. 'Merlin's beard, how am I supposed to trust a pony who's hearing voices?!' "N-Nothing, Luna." "You're certain?" Twiight scratched the back of her head. "Yes." "All right." Luna replied, nodding solemnly, as her eyes began welling up. "I am still very proud of you, Twilight. Please— go— be with the other Elements." "Are you okay, Luna?" "Yes... w-we are fine. Just go. Please." Twilight complied, taking one last look back at Luna before shutting the door behind her. The soft sounds of sobbing carried through the walls, but Twilight decided against going back in to comfort her. Luna hadn't wanted her to see it, and it would be disrespectful to invade her privacy. FWOOSH! A straw griffon went up in flames, as a crowd of unicorns broke out in applause. "Pyromancy too? Bravo!" Derpy took a bow, enjoying the accolades as she showed off the features of the transducer to a number of envious unicorn guards. Even Celestia watched out of the corner of her eye, rather impressed by what the pegasus had accomplished. There's more to that mare than meets the eye. She looks so familiar, too. Like I've seen her before, centuries ago. Disquieted, Celestia looked away from Derpy and looked down at the paperwork she was handling. Maybe that's just what happens when you live to be two-thousand; everything blends together, everypony starts to look alike. Maybe I've just run out of new experiences to have... Derpy unleashed a whirlwind of stormclouds onto another effigy, simultaneously wetting it with rain and burning it with lightning. A passing pegasus, amazed by the finely articulated weather-manipulation, gawked at her just long enough to crash into a flag-post. "Molto Bene!" she shouted over the excited hoofstamps of her audience. Celestia blinked a few times. No... No. It can't be. It can't be him. Could he even become a mare? Or perhaps she's a companion. She may be more dangerous — and much more valuable — than I thought... "Miss Hooves, a word?" Celestia requested with a sly smile, beckoning the pegasus. "Oh, of course," Derpy replied as she began walking towards the Princess, much to the dismay of her admirers.