//------------------------------//
// Prompt #540-Comparisons 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
//------------------------------//

Every Tuesday morning, at exactly eight twenty three, Princess Celestia sat down in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing of the Royal Canterlot Archives with a pot of tea and played Tarot.  It was common knowledge among the Castle Staff that Princess Celestia was also completely happy to give a reading for anypony who went up and asked, and over time, practically all of the ponies who worked in the castle, and even a number of the Royal Guard had gone in for a reading at some point. 


Princess Celestia absently turned over another card with her hoof as the sound of hooves on stone reached her ears, along with the familiar sounds of half frantic magic babble that could only mean that Twilight Sparkle was coming in. Despite herself, Princess Celestia smiled. While she loved all of her subjects equally, she did admit to a certain fondness for her ascended student. At first, she thought that Twilight was simply coming up to this wing of the archives to study-it certainly wouldn’t be the first time she had been in here, simply reading all of the esoteric spells and incantations. Thus, she was pleasantly surprised when she heard the hooves stop on the other side of her table, and the rustle of wings on coat that signalled that Twilight had sat down opposite her.

“Hello, Twilight,” said Princess Celestia, pulling the cards back into the main deck, and shuffling them with her magic, “Are you here for a Tarot Reading?” Princess Celestia glanced up as she continued to shuffle the deck of ornate cards, and was even more pleasantly surprised when she saw the newest Princess give a nod. As Princess Celestia laid out the cards in the same manner that she had practiced for years upon years, she wondered why Twilight had yet to speak, but a closer inspection of Twilight told the elder Princess that Twilight was in ‘research’ mode – she would speak when she had gathered enough data, or once her mind had worked through to the conclusion of whatever thought she was working on.

Princess Celestia went through the motions of explaining the cards’ meanings as they applied to Twilight as she turned them over, inwardly curious as to why Twilight had come for a reading now, of all times. Everytime the Princess had offered when Twilight was younger, the unicorn had adamantly refused, stating that it was all ‘superstitious nonsense’. As the reading concluded, Twilight sighed.

“As I thought – there’s no actual magic at work. Just random chance,” Twilight turned to leave.

“Just because there is no magic that you can sense, Twilight, does not mean it is not at work,” said Princess Celestia, returning the cards to the deck and beginning to shuffle again, “You of all ponies should know that there is more than one kind of magic.” Twilight turned back around to look at her former teacher.

“And what’s at work here? Destiny?”

“No, Twilight. Belief. I know that no magic is guiding my hoof. You know that there is no magic dictating which cards are picked, but the average pony who consents to a reading does not. To them, the process is as mystical and unknowable as the moon or the sun. But yet, it works because the ponies believe that it works.”

“So it’s all just a sham? Telling ponies what they want to hear, twisting the cards’ meanings to suit them?”
Princess Celestia grimaced. This was her hobby, and while she knew that there was a degree of truth in Twilight’s words, she would not take this lightly, and had to remind herself that Twilight did not easily accept things that could not be explained through the scientific method.

“Not exactly, Twilight. It is about being vague, and the exact things you say. For instance, take my letter that sent you to Ponyville all those years ago. Not once did I say that Nightmare Moon wasn’t going to return. And yet, you took it as a dismissal of your fears. Why?”

“Because you didn’t mention it,” a spark lit up in Twilight’s eye, “And because you didn’t mention it, I thought that you thought that I was being silly, when you actually acknowledged my request, and put me in a place where I could get the one thing that could defeat Nightmare Moon!”

Princess Celestia smiled, “The job of being a Princess, and playing Tarot are very similar Twilight. The important thing to recognise with both of them is that it is not what you say, but how you say it.”