The Castle Canterlot

by Honey Mead

Interlude

Princess Celestia Invictus looked up at Selene and the thousand-year-old shadow across her face. Sirius, Ankaa, Phad, and Antares were moving toward her.
It would not be long now.
Her gaze fell.
She stood in a clearing of clover and wildflower, just inside the Whitetail woods at the outskirts of Ponyville. It was peaceful at the moment, a faint buzzing of insects punctuated by the occasional hoot of an owl and the scampering of other nocturnal beasts. Her guards she’d left behind in the town proper to await her return. They’d not been happy about her taking a ‘private constitutional’. It had taken more than a little convincing, with just a pinch of veiled threat, but they’d eventually relented. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
Settling into the grass, Celestia stretched out, reveling in the feel of it against her coat, slipping between the hairs to scratch at her stomach and barrel. It was a sensation that she rarely had time for these days, and she intended to indulge herself.
After a moment’s thought, she rolled onto her back. Her not quite substantial mane pooled beneath her, flowing between the clover flowers like so much-dyed water. With a great ‘thwump’, her wings spread and fell, sending a cloud of daisy seeds up to dance in Selene’s silvery light.
For the first time in almost a century, she allowed herself to truly relax.
Nothing had been left to chance. One thousand years of plots and schemes were finally seeing fruition. A thousand years of subtle and overt manipulations to draw all the necessary strings into place. There had been moments of doubt alongside a few less-than-scrupulous actions that had been… necessary. She took no pride in those, only solace in the outcome they helped ensure. Despite her certainty in events, there had been moments of panic… years in fact. When the Sparkle family disappeared into the Tiaga those forty odd years ago… That had not been a pleasant decade.
There was one thing, however, that she had not been able to decide upon. She’d put very little thought into her what role she herself would play. Everything else was right where it needed to be, where was she supposed to be?
Hiding would be fairly easy—her mother had proven that well enough. Letting her mana drain away until she held no more than any unicorn would make her all but undetectable. It was the smart thing to do. Everything rested on Twilight and her soon to be friends; Celestia could only get in the way.
That didn’t make it any more palatable. It was one thing to step aside and allow another to take command, quite another to actively hide while others put their lives on the line. No. Celestia shook her head. There would be no running away this night.
Pride, she mused as the stars disappeared behind Selene, was one of the greatest sins.
Her arrival was not heralded by a flash of light or cacophony of noise. It was quiet and subtle, like a shadow moving between the stars. “I think I rather like that.”
Celestia stared up into her polar opposite. Plated in blue armour, Nightmare Moon stood not a hair shorter than Celestia herself. Turquoise and reptilian, her eyes held a mirth that was anything but pleasant. That didn’t stop Celestia from smiling. “Hello, sister.”
Circling the prone mare, Nightmare Moon carried herself with a nonchalance that screamed arrogance. “I must admit, this is not how I imagined finding you.”
Celestia continued to smile as she slowly rose and sat back on her haunches to face her sister. “Of course not. You expected me to come armed for battle, to pick up where we left off a millenia ago.”  Celestia shook her head. “I do not know how the passing of time affected you, but I have grown old, Luna. So very old.”
Without warning, Celestia’s horn flashed, golden light filling the glade for the briefest of moments. Nightmare Moon jumped back into a defensive posture, her horn igniting, ready to fend off the attack she was certain would follow. A small snap, like the breaking of a twig, was all that came.
“It’s a gift, for you,” Celestia said, her eyes trained on the crystal that now hovered between them. “If you promise to keep me company until the outcome is decided.”
While her magic faded, her posture did not. Instead, a gasp nearly tore free from Nightmare Moon’s throat when the object came into focus. Shaped like a droplet of water, the crystal was flawless and clear. “What are you playing at, Celestia?”
It floated closer. “It is your insurance against my interference. All you have to do is promise to stay here, to keep me company.”
Nightmare Moon licked her lips, her eyes glancing at the other alicorn only to snap back to the tear. “You know that this wont stop me. I will still destroy the Elements before your champions can reach them.”
The smile Celestia wore did not falter. “We shall see.”
Uncertainty played across Nightmare Moon’s features. She did not like this. For Celestia to offer up one of her tears… Something was not right. There was little doubt in her mind that her sister would honor her word, but what would happen if she did not take the tear? Grinding her teeth, she reached out with her magic.
“I promise.”
Celestia smiled and the tear changed fields, shifting out from a golden to azure aura. With far less trepidation than before, she called on her teleportation magic again. A Stones board and short table popped into existence between the sisters.
With a knowing smirk, Celestia asked, “White or black?”