//------------------------------//
// 106 - Diarchy 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
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Luna came in for a gentle landing on a balcony before striding inside. Celestia was there, seated at a small table, a cup of tea already hovering before her and a sip being drawn even as she came in from outside. "Hello, sister." Who had said that? Perhaps both at once. It mattered little.

Celestia gestured at the table. "Join me?"

Luna raised a brow faintly. This was not an optional invitation, not by any practical means. She moved to the table, wondering what was on her sister's mind. "A fair evening. We will be called to duty shortly."

"We have time enough for a little discussion." Celestia gave a wan smile. "Lulu... You've been... busy."

Luna stiffened even as she forced herself into a seated position. "We are both called to busy lives, are we not?"

"That we are." Celestia nodded lightly before she sipped from her drink. "But not usually in this manner."

"Sister." Luna frowned faintly. "I am not one of your little ponies. Speak plainly your concerns."

"You will always be my most precious of ponies." Celestia set her tea down. "I love you, Luna, in a way I love nopony else. We are sisters, and, I think, we understand parts of each other that no other soul could hope to."

Luna relaxed a little, a touch of a curl in her lips betraying how nice it was to hear such fond words. "We--I mean I love you as well, but you didn't come here today to discuss our sisterhood."

Celestia drew out a book and set it down quietly facing Luna before her magic flipped it open.

Luna leaned forward to read it.



	When I think about that time, I still recoil. I was so close to oblivion, and, for a moment, I had wanted it, but to learn that I had never actually committed myself to it. To just slip? I almost died of slipping off a roof? It's almost enough to laugh at for days if you look at it right. It was a harsh lesson, perhaps. A wake-up call. But was it? No, it put me to sleep, or Luna did. It was only there that I began to see the true nature of my life, but also of hers. Does she really see herself that way?

I think one of the worst parts is how she views her sister--



Luna's eyes wrenched upwards from the letters. "Did he give this to you?!" Her words were full of anger and suspicion. How had she ever entertained the stallion had cared for her?

Celestia's magic gently closed the book. "I found it in his room. I'm certain he would have defended it from me, had he not been... indisposed."

Luna cringed, turning away. It was her fault, again. "I..."

"I'm told you injured him quite severely." Celestia leaned forward a little. "Does he disgust you?"

Disgust? Luna hadn't expected that word. "What a curious way to describe him."

Celestia rolled a hoof slowly. "Perhaps. He is an alien, after all. He has alien sensibilities, an alien past, and alien desires." She smiled softly. "They seem benign, but to call them anything but strange would be lying to ourselves."

Luna felt her wings flare out without her say-so. "It's not that! His... He means well..."

Celestia tapped the book with a hoof. "I want you to know, no matter how darkly you feel, I am your sister, and I do love you. You can talk to me."

Luna felt a hot ember spark inside of her. Where was this compassionate sister when she needed her last time? The heat guttered into a miserable smoke as she realized that was no way to react to a hoof extended in familial love. Luna looked up to Celestia and offered a trembling hoof back. "I..."

"I am not here to cast judgments on you this day, Luna. Speak freely." Celestia scooted around the table, coming closer.

Luna's head sank. "He won't stop chasing me."

Celestia settled in beside her, a wing wrapped warmly around Luna. "Do you want to be chased?"

No! Maybe... Luna felt her cheeks warming. "It's not proper for a princess. We both have duties that preclude romantic involvements."

Celestia nuzzled one of Luna's ears. "Oh? Perhaps we should inform Princess Cadance so she can break things off..."

Luna began to burn hotly even as the urge to shrink into nothing became overwhelming. "Don't mock me, sister!" But was she wrong? If Cadance could claim a pony as hers and still act as princess of the Crystal Empire, why not herself? "I... I'm not being mature about this. It's an immature love born of immature feelings."

"All love is." Celestia rubbed her cheek to Luna's. "I once loved a stallion enough to risk two worlds in the process. It still hurts to consider, but I don't regret living it. Love... It's an emotion we can't, and shouldn't deny."

Luna suddenly grunted. "It's too late. If he doesn't hate me, his wife certainly despises me, and she has the right to do so."

Celestia drew the book over with a sliding hoof. "He is many things, forgiving is one of them. Perhaps I should not have pried, but I did. I know he will forgive me this slight, but there are other things to discuss..."

Luna stiffened, having an idea what might be next. "We meant it with good intent, sister."

Celestia shook her head. "Sister... Are you that lonely?" She drew Luna tighter to her side. "You meet a pony that knows you as a goddess, not one to be feared or shied from, but one to be worshipped fully and embraced, and you don't know what to do." Celestia smiled a little. "You could just let him. I'm certain it wouldn't displease him."

Luna recoiled. That wasn't the direction she thought it was. "S-Sister! We..."

Celestia raised a hoof to forestall the words. "We know. He never attempted to end his life. Your lie secured your control of him." She raised a brow lightly. "It also hurt that same wife. Tell me, Lulu, are you jealous of her?"

Luna scowled. "Of course not!"

Celestia met her glare with a gentle smile and silence.

Luna gave Celestia a soft shove. "Stop staring at me so!"

Celestia unhooked her wing from Luna's side, returning it to her back. "It was by her hoof that she left him advertising an open relationship seeking another pony. Do you think, perhaps, I should avail myself?"

Luna recoiled, leaning away from Celestia. "You wouldn't!?"

Celestia smiled deviously. "I'm certain he would worship the sun, given the chance."

Luna drove a hoof down on the table, leaving the second table shattered within the week under the force. "Don't even jest!"

Celestia raised a brow. "Well then perhaps you should secure this before somepony else does. Luna, I love you, but you've been a very naughty pony." She tapped the book before it vanished. "You've wronged him in a way I would never have predicted. You owe him for several misdeeds. The least you can do is begin to be honest in your dealings."

"How much?" Luna glanced where the book once was. "What did he write, and how much did you read?"

Celestia raised a fine brow upwards. "Enough. Don't blame a pony for that, however. The repercussions of... this extend beyond what may seem obvious. I won't muddy the issue by bringing most of it up, now."

Luna rose to her hooves. "I must prepare to raise the moon, and you, to lower the sun. Our duties must be seen to."

Celestia smoothly joined her. "They must, but before, during, and after, we are sisters." She offered a hoof. "Your worries are never too big, or too small, to share." She strode out past Luna, walking but swifter than some ponies might trot and soon lost to hearing.

Luna let out a slow breath, looking to the ground. "Always perfect, sister dear..." She stepped from the small room and vanished towards her own duties and business.





Trixie frowned at Rough Draft over the new dinner table they had. "He should have responded by now."

"You only just sent the letter," argued Rough in a timid tone before he sat himself up straight. "I'm sure he'll respond soon." His tone became more confident as he spoke. "Just give him a moment. He probably has things keeping him busy."

Trixie clopped the table, though not with the shattering force of the moon princess. "Whatever business that is, it's not as important as Trixie. She raised him from a little foal to the stallion he's become. The least he can do is respond to her letters in a timely fashion!" Her expression changed suddenly. "What if he's hurt?"

"Huh?"

"Of course! That's why he hasn't responded! He must be terribly injured, or maybe he's come down with a terminal illness!" Trixie jumped free of her chair. "Well worry not! Trixie's on the way!"

Rough Draft attempted to convince her to calm down, but Trixie wasn't having any of it. She hurried him through packing and soon they were trotting side-by-side through the wilderness towards the nearest train station.

The one wild beast that dared to get in their way met with angry unicorn magic and protective earth pony hooves, sending the beast whimpering into the bushes it had sprung from and barely qualifying as a footnote in their journey. They arrived at the station as the sun set on the horizon.

"No train coming through today, I'm afraid," reported the tired keeper of the station. "You're too late for that."

Trixie snorted at the pony. "Trixie has urgent business and demands a train to Canterlot."

"You can wait here if you want. The first one should be through early in the morning."

Rough slid a leg in front of Trixie, gently nudging her back. "We'll wait for that one, how much for the tickets?"

They paid and sat beside one another in the station, waiting with various degrees of patience.