How Canterlot Was Made

Twilight blew on her tea, trying to cool it enough to drink. Why Celestia always heated the tea to such a high temperature continued to elude her to this day. She looked across the table at Celestia, watching her take a generous sip of the scorching beverage.

“So, my faithful student,” Celestia started after setting her cup of tea down. “What was it you wanted to ask me? Something to do with your studies, I believe the letter said?”

Twilight nodded, finally giving the tea up at a lost cause for the moment. “I’ve been studying the history of the Everfree; more specifically Old Canterlot. I appear to have hit a snag, however. I can’t find any reference to why the city moved here, or what happened to cause it to move. I couldn’t think of anypony else to ask. Would you mind telling me what happened?”
A strange look passed over Celestia’s face, but she quickly recomposed herself. So quickly in fact, that Twilight thought she had imagined it. Celestia was silent for a long moment. “It was destroyed. The castle was in ruins, and the town even more so. You’ve been there yourself. That was why the city moved. It was decided that a better location might be more profitable, and safer.”

Twilight made a few notes on a notepad she had pulled from her saddlebags and took the time to blow on her tea some more. She risked a sip and nearly burned her mouth. Once more giving up on the tea, Twilight hesitantly asked her next question. “The damage… was it, um, from a battle with Nightmare Moon?” The purple pony cringed as she waited for Celestia’s reaction.

The princess, however, did not react much at all, merely shaking her head. “Neigh, it wasn’t from my battle with her. That happened several years after the town was destroyed.”

Twilight blinked. “Then… what could have possibly caused such widespread destruction?”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a loud rumbling. The princess froze as everything went silent for a moment, and then cringed in her seat as the loud vibrations came again. Rising from her cushion, Celestia made for the door, eyeing the walls and pausing by the window to look at the town. As she motioned for Twilight to follow her, another rumble came, louder still than the others. “Come Twilight, we must make haste!”

The two moved at a trot out of the room, Twilight following her mentor. “What’s happening, Princess?” She asked in a worried tone.

Celestia took a moment to answer, inspecting the walls as they went. “Something I had hoped would never happen again. Ever.”

Twilight began to grow more nervous as she and Celestia moved to whatever place the princess was leading them to. The vibrations were growing more frequent and stronger. The noise that accompanied them grew louder as well, making talking hard to do. Eventually the noise grew so loud that Celestia had to shout in Twilight’s ear to be heard. “Twilight, I need you to shield yourself. Otherwise you could get hurt. Make sure to keep a kinetic shield up!”

Twilight nodded and cast the shield on herself as they came to an ornate set of doors marked with a moon symbol. Celestia directed Twilight to move behind her, and after bracing herself, threw the doors open with a mighty push. A roar of sound, akin to a fully grown dragon’s roar, assaulted them the moment the door opened. Wind buffeted at them and they were pushed back slightly, making Twilight even more frightened due to the fact that her shield should have prevented something like this from happening.

Celestia stood tall, glaring into the room before them. “BEHOLD, TWILIGHT!” The princess shouted with the Royal Canterlot Voice, though even that was nearly drowned out by the infernal roar. “THE DESTROYER OF OLD CANTERLOT! THE ROYAL CANTERLOT SNORE!”

Twilight stared in fear at the sight before her. Luna lay on her back, spread eagle on her bed. Her covers were twisted around her lower half, and that was the only thing that saved them from destruction. The canopy of her grand bed was torn to shreds, and what was still attached was tattered beyond belief. An entire bookcase of books was completely destroyed, and the pages flew around in a whirlwind. The castle itself shook, as if it were trying to come loose from the mountain. Yes, Twilight was absolutely terrified, because at the center of all of the destruction, Luna… was snoring.

As Twilight stared in terror, Celestia moved slowly forward against the typhoon, forcing her way towards the bed. Progress was slow, and she nearly lost her footing several times. Twilight did her best to help by deflecting anything flying towards her mentor with her magic, earning her a grateful glance.

Celestia finally reached the bed, and jabbed Luna hard in the ribs while shouting “WAKE UP!” in the Royal Canterlot Voice. Luna gave a great start and snapped awake. As she did, the monstrous snoring ceased, echoing off into silence as the rumbling stopped. The silence rang in their ears after being exposed to loud noise for such a long time.

“Tia?! Why hast thou awoken us so rudely?” Luna asked, looking very disgruntled and more than a little angry. Her wings ruffled as she adjusted them to settle more comfortably on her back, and her mane somehow managed to look tousled despite its nebulous state.

Celestia gestured to the utterly decimated room, and at Twilight who was still quaking and holding her shield. “You were snoring again. I thought we had talked about this.”

Luna looked sheepish and blushed as she surveyed the room. “We… Did not notice. “

Celestia gave her sister a deadpan look. “I can see that. Try not to do it again, and go to a doctor about it.”

Luna hung her head. “We shall.” Looking to Twilight, Luna spoke again. “We art sorry, Twilight Sparkle, for scaring thee. We shalt endeavor not to do so again.”

Twilight gave a nervous laugh. “Thanks, princess.” She dropped her shield, finally feeling that it was safe to do so.
Celestia gave her sister one more piercing look before walking towards the door. “I’ll see you at dinner, Sister. Good day to you.”

Luna lay back down, taking care to lay on her side this time, mumbling a soft, “Good day to thee, sister, Twilight Sparkle.” She quickly drifted back off to sleep.

The two moved back to Celestia’s room in silence, taking their seats again. Twilight picked up her cup and, after checking the temperature, smiled and took a sip of her tea. “So.” she said after composing herself. “That…”

Celestia nodded. “Yes.”

Twilight stared at her tea cup. “So she-“

Celestia nodded again. “Yes, that is why we moved Canterlot. I had the architects specifically construct the entire city to withstand it. That is also why I stopped using the Royal Canterlot Voice, in the hopes that I could break her of her habit of using it.”

Twilight cocked her head to the side and looked hard at her mentor. “Then why isn’t it in any of the history books?”
Celestia arched an eyebrow and posed a question that would haunt Twilight for days to come. “Would you want the entire world to know that your sister destroyed the capital of her own country with her snoring?”

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