Chapter 41
As scheduled, it was a clear day in Canterlot. The only clouds to be seen were sky homes that had been relocated to the clean air on the north side of the mountain. The Imperial Palace gleamed in the sun. The Solar standards flowing from its spires were joined by one which showed the moon instead. A great throng was gathered in the wide mall by the gate. Guards watched over the murmuring crowd which waited with excitement and concern. The eminent speakers were to appear any moment and give their address.
It would be uncharacteristic of Premier Luna to be late for such an event, and to prevent this she finally intruded into the resident ruler’s private quarters. She found Princess Celestia staring doubtfully into the mirror, still devoid of the vestments of her authority.
“Are you prepared?” Luna asked.
“Almost,” Celestia answered hesitantly, but remained motionless. The other alicorn matched her stillness and stood expectantly. Their manes flowed naturally by their own energy. Celestia glanced at her sister’s insistent eyes in the mirror. She acquiesced, and turned from her self-examination. She approached the pedestal which held the golden crown of her realm. She moved as if she would pick it up, but stopped. She pushed it back and looked away.
Luna observed her carefully. She tilted her own crowned head and said, “You act as though it will bite you. Unless you had it enchanted…” she waited for Celestia to shake her head. “Then what can it do? It will not turn you into a monster just to put it on.”
“Won’t it though?” Celestia returned apprehensively. “You would not appear again as Nightmare Moon.”
“That is different,” the other royal claimed. “She was a terror to all. But half of our world reveres and loves Empress Celestia, so we need her now.”
“You don’t mean that! I’m different now,” Celestia disavowed her old self. “She’s no good for anyone. I could never bear to be her again. We need her to be gone forever.”
“Of course,” Luna acknowledged understandingly. Still she urged, “Come, take up your crown. When I returned, I realized I must wear my burden and be the one to care for our citizens before myself. After all you have done, Princess, it is your responsibility to repair all that you can.”
Celestia took a deep breath. Her necklace laid itself on her shoulders and the crown of the Solar Empire rested against her horn. She stepped into her greaves—one, two, three, four—and it was finished. It was so easy and so familiar. She was relieved; her inner transformation was far more real than any ill effects of the golden ornaments. They were simply tools that would help her accomplish what was right.
The true bite came when she saw the fear in Luna’s eyes. The moon Princess tried to shake herself of the irrational reaction, but it was inevitable as she beheld the completed picture of her dreaded enemy. For so long, every time they had seen each other was horrible.
Celestia bowed away, taking a low and unintimidating stance. Luna rebuked herself and softened her unwelcoming gaze; it was only what she had asked for. Celestia asked, “Do you forgive me?”
“It seems you have been forgiven, and I am learning to accept that. What you have done cannot be undone, but Harmony will allow me to hold no hatred for you,” Luna said coolly. “If that were not so I would not have agreed to this alliance, but I know we are doing the right thing for Equestria.”
“Is that all you’re here for?” the jeweled white alicorn prodded almost wistfully. “The good of Equestria?”
It was close to the truth, but the republican Princess tactfully returned, “What do you wish that I had come for?”
“Luna, you’ve called me everything but ‘sister’.” Celestia finally asked, “Do you care about me? Do you want me?”
Luna answered thoughtfully but frankly, “I have always wanted a big sister. I felt safe when you were near—but that was a very long time ago. That trust was betrayed, and I have grown. I do not desire your protection.”
She continued more hopefully, though in an almost mournful tone, “I do desire a sister who would be the kind of friend who would understand me and stay with me. We go on so long and lose so many. I wish I could trust you to be that sister, but this is hard and will only come in time.”
“I know I don’t deserve it. It wasn’t anything I did to be better. Please, do you forgive me?” Celestia begged.
“Yes,” Luna said. “I did not deserve to be fixed either. I forgive you, Celestia my sister.”
Tears welled up in Celestia’s eyes and her feelings pulled her forward. She looked up into her little sister’s face as she approached her with the affection she had restrained. As she loomed towards Luna, the smaller Princess tensed apprehensively, but held her ground and prepared to endure the embrace like a good soldier.
Celestia shied away disappointed; she would not force herself on poor Luna. Her tears continued as she declined the emotional release. “Thank you,” she genuinely expressed. She had no right to expect more than she had received. There was still no one to whom she could show her new love without hurting them. She walked to the door of the chamber and stared into space, trying to collect herself to make her public appearance. She took deep breaths recalled the speech she had prepared, only to ward off other thoughts.
Something brushed up against her side. To her surprise, it was Luna, standing next to her and leaning against her gently. The royal blue alicorn looked up at her and reasoned, “It would take us a great deal of time to become close if we never started.” They shared a long, nervously tender gaze. Celestia made no move for fear of pressing too far; instead she gratefully absorbed the wild outburst of affection that was offered. They allowed their hearts to lighten as they enjoyed the first peace of the day.
“Now may our country heal with us,” Luna signaled, and they left together.
A great fanfare sounded in the square and the citizens fell silent. The two rulers appeared on the broad balcony of a low tower by the gate. “All hail Celestia, Empress of the Rising Sun, and Luna, Premier of the New Lunar Republic,” a herald proclaimed. All in the crowd performed a gesture of fealty before bowing, as was custom, though some were slower than usual. They had only been reintroduced to Luna in the past couple of months. The Imperial propaganda machine ran itself, and it was only with great difficulty that the stubborn media was persuaded to turn the moon Princess a favorable eye.
Celestia determined to speak her own heart, and at her direction the usual teleprompters were gone. She waved to those gathered below, and her subjects rose.
“Greetings, we have been blessed with another day,” she began. “Peace be with you. Nightmare Moon is gone; all that remains is my sister Luna,” she said, turning momentarily to add tenderly to the one beside her, “who I love.” Again in a loud voice she reassured the populace, “It was she who helped restore me to you, so the night is truly no longer to be feared.”
“I thank all who have fought for me and for you. Those who died on either side did as they knew best to save our world. Let us strive to honor their sacrifice by uniting this broken land and reconciling with our fellow ponies so that Equestria will not again be torn by magical or military turmoil. To this end, what has been split in recent years will be one again, so that “Lunar Republic” and “Solar Empire” will not be heard, but only “Equestria”. We will grow not by force but by friendship.”
“How can we be friends with those who defy you!” an upstanding unicorn called out, and those near him assented. A pegasus guard flew over their heads and held his traditional lance threateningly over the interrupting pony. It was only an empty threat by recent decree. The unicorn seemed to offer himself up to the arcane weapon in a glad acceptance of his fate. In the past, such an offense could be punished with immediate death—but the correct form of flattery could also earn rewards.
Without thinking, Celestia responded genuinely, “As Luna has forgiven me.” The whole crowd took a breath in shock before they began to murmur. “…and I have forgiven her,” she quickly “corrected”, feigning the same sincerity. She offered a silent apology to Luna, who only partially contained her irritation.
She held out a hoof to silence the crowd, and firmly continued, “In a year’s time, I and Princess Luna will preside together over the Republic of Equestria so that we will together remain strong and sensitive to the common good.”
The sun worshipers reacted with horror to the displacement of their goddess from her exclusive pedestal. As the previous outburst had gone unpunished, they brazenly shouted, “No! Celestia is all! The good of Celestia is the good of all!” Many gave a gesture that was new among the more spiritual which offered their souls to their beautiful deity.
“Cease this!” she ordered, but her voice was more regretful than commanding. “Don’t do that. I’m sorry I deceived you that way,” she almost pleaded. “Harmony is worth your praise.” She had already disavowed herself in her cathedral, but it was as if they did not hear her.
“Nightmare Moon forces her hoof! Rise for your goddess!” incited an instigator as the throng turned to an uproar.
“SILENCE!” Princess Celestia burst out in a voice that shook the mall. For a moment the sun doubled its intensity as it glared down angrily upon the crowd. Searing light poured down from the sky and out of her eyes. A heat wave swept over them. “DO NOT CONTRADICT ME!” the voice threatened. At the sunflash, the multitude reeled back in shock and strong discomfort. Startled fear quickly shifted to grim resolve on Luna’s face, and she tensed as if she might defend herself.
The light in Celestia’s eyes faded and she glanced nervously about. She backed up a few steps, retreating from her own show of force. Awestruck citizens bowed in repentance and paid homage to their deity. She was ashamed of their misplaced worship and her crown seemed painfully heavy. But there was no one else to stop them; certainly Luna could not. Celestia forced herself to repossess her heavenly authority for just a little longer as she almost desperately motioned for them to stop.
Just as they had managed to still the crowd a shot was fired from the audience. Celestia stood motionless in the path of the bullet. Luna had sensed something and reacted quickly to block the round, which proved doable. It was no special assassin’s weapon, just an average gun. Its plain-looking owner held his gun boldly above the crowd and fired another shot. The moon Princess defended her ally again.
Security rushed to take down the assailant, but before they could the crowd of fanatics had turned on him and swallowed him up in a beating, stomping mass. Only now did Celestia react; she flew out towards the spot where her attacker fell and boomed, “No!” over the riotous ponies. They dispersed as she dropped to the ground beside a very bloody and very dead colt. Security surrounded the Princess as she picked up the mangled corpse and looked into its vacant eyes.
Luna followed her to the spot and sat down beside her. “Are you alright?” She took in the expression and solitary tear from her estranged sibling before asking differently. “Sister, do you mourn for him? You really are new to me.”
“Me too.” The white one collected her thoughts and expressed, “I’m not afraid of him, I’m afraid of them.” She motioned to the crowd with Solar banners being held back at a distance. “I just thought the last one had burst already.”
Luna thought, “That must be one of those bubble references I still do not get.” This was a bad foreboding against the future stability of a united Equestria. “I am tired of these power struggles, but the ponies are not. Experience has taught them that authority comes from power.”
“You mean I taught them that,” Celestia reacted.
“Do not take it that way. You cannot put it all on yourself, you are different now,” Luna tried to reassure her.
“So what do we do?” she asked, still distraught.
“All we can do is try to show them that they should only accept authority that comes from justice.”
“But we’re not doing that right now,” Celestia countered bitterly. “We are leading now because we are the ones who can, and not because we should be the ones. I shouldn’t be. We need to have the trials. We can’t make a real government unless me and all my monsters take responsibility for what we did. The general almost followed me well enough to destroy the world, but he wasn’t the only one like him.”
“But Celestia!” her concerned sister objected. “That would mean you would have to stand trial. I know you’re not the same pony, but how can we prove that? How could you survive through HER trial?”
“I don’t know how, but I have to,” the conflicted alicorn declared. “The goddess has to die.”