//------------------------------// // Night And Day // Story: What's Your Story, Morning Glory? // by Bucking Nonsense //------------------------------// Sometimes Celestia wondered if maybe King Sombra had the right idea... No, not about the whole 'Crystal Slaves' thing. That was stupid. No, what she thought might be right was the fact that, while Celestia was a benevolent and much-beloved ruler of an entire kingdom, Sombra had a reputation that inspired fear in others. This meant that Sombra's word was obeyed without question, and nopony ever dared even raise their voice to him. His word was law, and even implying that you might question that word carried dire consequences, which would obviously mean that he never heard a single word of complaint. Or perhaps just a single word of complaint, one and a half if whoever was speaking was a fast talker, and then... well, then everypony received an object lesson in why it was a bad idea to raise one's voice to King Sombra. Celestia, meanwhile, being kindhearted, and always willing to listen to the criticism, both constructive and otherwise, of her subjects, had to simply stand and listen without interrupting as anypony with a complaint, no matter how petty or outright moronic it might be, rattled on and on about whatever was on their mind, or the hollow, echoing void that occupied the space between their ears, as the case may be. She was capable of turning someone to stone, curse that statue into a living shadow, then banish that shadow-statue to another planet, and have the shadow-statue thrown into into a prison, then banish that prison to the moon of that other planet, and then bury that planet under a glacier for good measure, but she was far too patient to ever be tempted to do such a thing... most of the time. It had been three centuries since somepony had tempted her to exert that sort of power from pure annoyance, but the complaining mare in question was causing Celestia to invent, in her head, penalties for raising their voice in complaint to a ruler of Equestria. Penalties involving angry badgers, and steaks tied to a pony's face... The complainer in question was here, with her son, expressing her... discontent with the nature of Luna's test... and had been for the better part of half an hour. Worse, she had a horrific, high-pitched, screechy voice that made Celestia wonder how in the world she'd ever managed to find a husband willing to tolerate her presence for more than ten seconds. Then again, her husband might be deaf... "...and I have never felt so insulted in my entire life," the mare screeched on, seeming to be able to continue on without the need to breathe. "We went through all the trouble of getting here, and wasted all of that time, and your sister..." "And I what?" Luna's voice asked softly, yet still cutting through the complainer's screech the way that a chainsaw cuts through a watermelon. The mare suddenly went very quiet, and like a character from a horror movie, she slowly turned to face Celestia's sister, standing behind her. The significantly smaller mare turned pale, an impressive feat for a mare with an already pure-white coat. Her son took a step closer to his mother, placing himself behind her, yet close enough to touch her leg. Celestia didn't miss the slight twinge that crossed Luna's features: While the ponies of Ponyville now seemed to hold Luna in high esteem, Canterlot was still another matter, and Celestia knew how much reactions like this hurt her younger sister's feelings... Celestia noticed, standing beside Luna, a small filly. An earth pony, as the reports had mentioned, small and slightly thin. However, she was no longer dirty or disheveled. It seemed that Luna had arranged for the youngster to be bathed and brushed out after the test's completion. When Celestia had heard the news about her sister's student, the solar princess couldn't help but to smile to herself: Ponies often compared the two princess differences, saying things like 'The two are as different as night and day'. At their core, however, the two of them were very much alike, in spite of what some might say about their outward differences... And so many had forgotten that Celestia's very first student was an earth pony as well. "You have a problem with my test?" Luna asked, an eyebrow raised. The mare nodded, weakly, but said nothing. After a moment, Luna sighed, then said, "Your son had his chance to pass my test. I went to great lengths to ensure that the test was fair. I even took the additional step of the first applicant being an actor, who would fail the test and show the other applicants that it was very easy to fail the test almost immediately, if they didn't pay attention. Your son, I recall, was next to last, and yet, after seeing dozens of other applicants fail the test, and all of them in under a minute, he succeeded in setting himself apart from the herd not only in failing the test faster than anypony else, but also in having nearly torn a door off of its hinges. I have given him an endorsement for my sister's school, and perhaps with time and training, he may become... worthy. But the way he is now, he does not yet meet my standards for a student." "But I did everything you said," came a small voice. Luna turned her attention towards the young colt, who, in spite of looking slightly terrified, also looked surprisingly brave and defiant for a five-year-old colt. Luna smiled, which seemed to comfort the colt slightly. Then she asked, "Did you? What, exactly, did I say?" The colt hesitated, and then said, "You said I had to open the door." The filly shook her head, and said, "No, that isn't what she said at all." The colt and the mare looked at the young filly, who said, after a moment's hesitation, "She said, 'The test ends when you open that door'. Opening the door ended the test, but you ended with a failing grade. The test wasn't opening the door, it was understanding what she meant, and asking how you were supposed to pass the test." The colt mulled that over for a moment, then mouthed a silent 'oh' of comprehension. The colt's mother, on the other hoof, seemed taken aback. "What does that have to do with magic?" she asked, incredulously. "Nothing," Luna stated, bluntly. At the mother's shocked expression, Luna added, "I am not my sister. That is something I have been reminded of, time and time again, although I doubt that most ponies realize they are doing so. I have come to accept that fact. I find it ironic that so many who came to take my test, came with the assumption that my test would be for the same qualities that my sister would. I didn't want a student who was powerful, I wanted one that actually listened. One who thought. Somepony who, if told something she did not understand, or did not agree with, she would actually stop and question it, rather than instantly try and obey what she thought I had told her in an effort to make me happy." Celestia couldn't help but chuckle inside at that: Luna might have been younger, but in many ways, she was wiser than her sister. Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's own student, was brilliant in her own right, and her magical power was prodigious to say the least, but she was so... unquestioningly obedient that the solar princess had nightmares some nights of her misinterpreting a request, and destroying half of Equestria. In truth, the young mare had spent much of her life slightly terrified of somehow failing Celestia without realizing it, to the point that she'd jump to obey any command the princess gave, or thought she'd given... The establishment of 'Code Lavender', a secret command to be given to the Equestrian guard in the case of a severe magical event unwittingly caused by Twilight Sparkle that might risk all of Equestria, had in fact been the result of a prank by a pair of young colts. They'd thought it would be funny to slip Twilight a note, indicating that Celestia had wanted her to cast a spell from one of the sealed tomes in the great library, the ones with the black covers that had far more mouths and eyes than any book should be allowed, and had ink that was... worryingly red (Celestia was still trying to find a way to dispose of those books, recovered from a deranged warlock's library centuries ago. Trying to burn those books just made them laugh, they came back together if ripped apart to shreds small enough to almost microscopic, and throwing them in a volcano... wasn't something she was prepared to try again, not after the last time). The two colts weren't laughing when Celestia took them to task, after Al'gaj'ag'ag'ag'ac'ka, Defiler of Worlds and Despoiler of the Hopes of Mortals, was banished once again to the voids beyond space and time from which Twilight Sparkle had summoned it. Since then, Celestia had taken steps to ensure that Twilight understood not to believe any 'request' given by anyone other than Celestia herself, or delivered by Spike, her young ward. Of course, with changelings being a thing... Well, thankfully, Twilight was a princess in her own right now, and was now exercising a great deal more good sense than she had before. So much so that Celestia had secretly used a scanning spell a couple of times to make certain it really was her, rather than a changeling, doppelganger, or just a pegasus with a paper-mache horn having taken her place... "Your son," Luna went on, "has plenty of magical potential. With proper guidance, he'll certainly become somepony worthy of praise. But magical power was not what I was testing for." She paused, then added, "Now, my young student and I need to be going: She traveled here all the way from Cloudsdale on her own, and I'll need to take care of a few things there before we can begin to get her settled in here at the palace." The colt's mother paused, seeming to be taken aback. She'd just commented on 'the trouble of coming all the way here', when here was a filly whose difficulty in reaching her destination was far greater. After a moment, she nodded, and said, "Very well." She turned to Celestia, and bowed, saying, "I apologize for taking up so much of your time." With that, she gathered her son and left. "That was... impressively tactful," Celestia noted with a smile. With a shrug, Luna admitted, "I expected a few complaints regarding the nature of the test. I'd had much of that rehearsed in advance." Clearing her throat, she added, "Ah, where are my manners? Sister, allow me to introduce my new student, Morning Glory." The little filly gave an adorable little bow. "Pleased to meet you, your highness."