“Sister, what is it now?!”
“Luna, I think today is the day!”
Luna sighed. “Okay, Sister. I’ll be looking at some documents if you need me for anything important.”
Celestia frowned. “This is important.”
“Sister, stop. I don’t care about windigos anymore.”
“...What? Why?”
“Because…. Because…. Isn’t this... silly?”
“Isn’t what silly?”
“Trying to capture a windigo. The lengths you’ve gone to are just… ridiculous!”
“What’s so silly about that?”
“Because..... Because we’re treating them like objects…. Like... trophies that we can just win through some simple game….”
“Luna, it’s not like that at all.”
“How?”
“Windigos aren’t objects, but it’s not like they’re ponies. They’re simple animals. Beasts.”
“How do you know that? How can you be sure?”
“Luna, face that facts: windigos don’t have a language, they don’t have a society, and they barely have any cognition at all. Their bodies are held together by pure magic. They’re practically golems made from alchemy.”
“No, Sister, they’re…. They’re more than that….”
“And how do you know this?”
“Because….”
“Hm?”
Luna blushed lightly. “Because I met a windigo, and he…. He wasn’t like that!”
Celestia gasped. “I wasn’t aware that you were—”
“Silence! You know I would never do that! What’s wrong with you?!”
“Luna, I….”
“Get out of here!”
Luna stood up from behind her desk, and her sister stepped backwards. “Okay, Luna, I’ll…. I’ll come back later.”
Luna scowled at her departing sister, holding herself back from making any snide remarks.
The door to the office shut just not forcefully enough to be a slam.
“That was intense,” the guard outside the door on the right whispered.
“Yes, it was. Let’s get back to our duty,” the guard left replied straightly.
The right guard ruffled his feathers. “Alright….”
He spoke up again. “Hey—”
“What?” the left asked, annoyed.
“Wanna have a staring contest?”
“No. I’m working. I do not want to have a ‘staring contest’.”
“You don’t look like you’re doing much work to me,” the right guard said under his breath.
The left moaned.
“What Luna doesn’t know doesn’t hurt her, Philomena.”
“Squawk?”
“Well I suppose if she didn’t know that she was on fire—” Celestia shook her head, “No, stop. Luna can only gain from this.”
“Squawk?”
“I…” Celestia thought for a moment, “It doesn’t matter what I get out of it! I’m doing this for Luna.”
“Squawk. Squawk? Squawk?”
Celestia frowned. “I’m not talking to you anymore. You’re sullying my mind.”
Philomena hung her head.
I’ll help Luna, if it’s the last thing I do! Though, dying may not be such an ingenious plan. I need to go to the archives after this meeting…. That book should prove to be rather useful. I was hoping to go with Luna, but that may be out of the question at this point. Yes, I will go alone, all the better. Luna will be so surprised!
“...And, as you can see Princess, the farmers simply cannot survive unless some more supplement is added to our pay. The recent favorable weather in the surrounding lands have made the growing conditions extremely good, and the influx of new produce has radically reduced the price of Equestrian produce.”
“Oh, uh-uhm….” Princess Celestia stared blankly at the pony in front of her.
“Princess?”
“Yes, of course, of course. Uhm… go on.”
“That is all I have to say.”
“Right. Please…. give me a moment to decide. Or… have you spoken to the Prime Minister about this?”
“Well, Princess, he doesn’t usually deal with this sort of thing….”
“Oh, right, sorry. Please…. Give me some time to think. I’ll… get back to you tomorrow.”
“Of course, Princess.”
Celestia strode through the long corridors of books, looking for a particular shelf. She would never admit that Luna’s reorganization helped her.
Coming upon the section she was looking for, she turned down the row labeled “Re-Ri”
The princess scanned the cases, and quickly found what she was looking for: a dusty, blue tome titled Revitalization by N. Mare M.
“Night Sky, would you happen to know where my sister is?”
“Oh, no, I’m afraid I don’t. I can go ask, though.”
“Very well, please do so.”
“Of course, Princess. Oh, and Princess, one more thing….”
“Yes, Night Sky?”
“Well, it seems that a new… petition has resurfaced.”
“Ah, Ms.... Lace, if I remember correctly.”
“Princess Luna, what a pleasure. What brings you to the archives today?”
“Actually, my assistant told me that my sister had been noticed in the archives, and I decided to come and ask you myself. Do you know where she went?”
“I’m afraid I do not….”
“What was she here for?”
“She took a book with her. Ah, she was quite distracted. I had to flag her down before she remembered the removal needed to be catalogued.”
“Oh. What was the book?”
“Let me check again…” she opened up the book, “It was a book called Revitalization.”
“Oh? Who is the author?”
“Let me check,” Kinky Lace flipped through some files in a nearby cabinet, “Ah, it seems it was by an…. N. Mare M.? What an unfortunate name.”
Luna’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, Ms. Lace, I need to find my sister immediately. Do you know which way she went?” she asked frantically.
“I don’t.”
Luna ran to the guard on the outside of the library, asking them a similar question. “Do you know which way my sister went?!”
Celestia opened up the book from the library.
The first chapter was only a simple introduction, which Celestia passed over.
“Aha!” she said out loud, turning to the page she wanted.
Summoning her usual thaumic chalk she made yet another magic assemblage, however, the symbols involved in this particular design were substantially more sinister. A strange set of characters circumscribed the outer ring.
Five candles sat, each equiangular on the circular arrangement.
The lights in the room were hushed with a gentle douse of magic, and the candles lit.
“Why?” the guard asked suspiciously.
“What do you mean ‘why’?!” Luna bellowed. “Tell me now!”
“Is that really what the real Princess Luna would say?”
“What do you mean, the ‘real’ Princess Luna?! I will smite thee if thou dost not tell me where my sister is!”
“Hm….”
A moment later, the guard vanished from the room in a magical flash.
Luna turned to the other guard in the room. “So, do you know where my sister is?”
He flinched. “O-of course, Princess Luna, I saw her turn down the third hallway on the right.”
The Sun Princess laid out offerings around the circle, and in center placed her apotheosis: the body of a windigo.
The windigo was one of alchemy, the very one Celestia had created with Luna.
And finally, Celestia summoned the most important piece, a simple, porcelain teacup with an elegant gold trim. With a burst of magic, the ritual flared to life.
Meanwhile, the princess heated her bland tea.
Celestia sat at the lone table in the dark room, and sipped her leafy beverage. She hummed in satisfaction as the array by her side lit up with miard of lights.
The candles at each corner burned steadily, even as the air seemed to swirl in a vortex around the body.
Luna raced through the halls, letting her horn guide her closer to the closet her sister held up in.
She took off from the ground, her legs not supplying her with enough speed. Her wings flapped almost arythmically as she hurried.
Celestia smiled as she looked back at the body. “Luna is going to be so pleased…. I can’t let anything interrupt the ritual.”
The pull on Luna’s horn increased exponentially as she neared, the suction of the magic drawing her near.
Then, Luna saw what had to have been the door. She pushed forward with a powerful stroke of her wings.
Luna burst through the door, the sight before her instantly confirming her fears. “Sister what do you think you’re doing?!”
“What?” Celestia asked innocently, setting her tea cup down.
“What?”
“What?”
“What?!”
“...What?”
“Stop! Now!” Luna yelled.
“Luna, I know you aren’t a fan of this brand of tea, but isn’t this a bit extreme?”
“You think this is a game?! Stop toying with me!”
“I’m not—”
“What spell is that?! Tell me!”
“It’s… nothing,” Celestia stammered. “It’s nothing,” she answered again, more sure.
“Nothing?! You call this nothing?! What is that... that… windigo body doing here?!”
“I was just… I….”
“Is this… is this…. Necromancy?!”
Celestia looked away.
“What are you doing?!”
“I was just—”
“Stop this spell right now!”
Celstia furrowed her brow. “Why?”
“What do you mean ‘why’?!”
“I just want you to be happy….”
“Then stop this spell!”
“But—”
“Stop the spell!”
Celestia hesitated. “I….”
“Stop this spell. Now.”
Celestia reluctantly lit up her horn, and Luna waited patiently for the ritual to stop.
The lights died down, and the process finally came to a halt.
“Sister, stop this! I can’t believe you would go to this extreme for a windigo!”
“I just… I wanted you to be happy, Luna. I saw what effect that windigo you mentioned had on you, I saw the emotion on your face, the longing. I wanted you to be happy like you were.”
“I am happy though. I’m happy with how things stand right now. I’m okay without a windigo.”
Celestia could see the fake, pained smile on her sister’s face.
“Luna, I….”
“Sister, please, stop this.”
“But….”
“I forbid you from trying to capture another windigo. This has gotten ridiculous… and somewhat disturbing.” This doesn’t mean that I’m not still trying to get your diary.
Celestia was silent for a long moment. She groaned. “If that’s what you want, I guess I’ll have to agree.”
Luna let out a quiet, but long and relieved sigh. “Thank you, Sister.”
“...Are you sure that you don’t want a windigo, Luna?”
“If… this is what it takes, then I am very sure.”
“Alright.”
“The gall of Luna. Philomena, sometimes it’s evident to me that that mare doesn’t know what’s good for her.”
“Squawk?”
“A windigo! I know she needs a windigo! I know it. I know she would be happier. I can see it in her eye’s when she smiles….”
“Squawk?”
“Do I even need to answer that, Philomena?”
“Squawk.”
She blushed. “Well… she would…. She would do…. You know... that….”
“Squawk…. Squawk?”
“I think I know what my sister would and would not do, Philomena.”
“Squawk.”
“Oh, shut up.”
Both sat silent for a moment, before Philomena spoke up. “Squawk. Squawk.”
“No. I can’t stop. It’s for Luna.”
“Squawk.”
“How did you know about that?! Who told you?!”
“Squawk.”
“Shut up! No I didn’t!”
“Squawk!”
Celestia’s eye widened in shocked anger. She squinted. “I will be the one to decide when I have gone too far, Philomena.”
“Squawk! Squawk!”
“Shut. Up.”
“Squawk!”
“I said shut up!”
“Squawk! Squawk!”
“What do you know, you dumb bird?!” Celestia chuckled hysterically to herself, “And look at me! I’m talking to a bird. I guess I have gone off the deep end.”
“Squawk…?”
“Oh, what was that? It just sounded like a bird chirping.”
Philomena squinted. “Squawk. Squawk.” She flew off.