Shifting Equilibriums

by kugetsu

Chapter 2 : Reflections

Princess Celestia held many official titles depending on where you asked across the globe. Co-ruler of Equestria. Ascended Alicorn. Solar Princess. Keeper of the Sun. All could be considered respectful in their own right, albeit not all originated in the most gentle of ways. She'd seen and experienced across her several thousand year life span enough to keep her searching the corners of her soul for thousands more.

She also represented much more personal ones depending on who you asked. Motherly. Protector. Negotiator. Tyrant... Her eyes clamped shut at the last one, as it always stung enough to hurt. It was a personal one from a thousand years before, when her hubris clouded her eyes until it was too late. A great calamity was averted, at an even greater cost. It was shortly after, as she addressed thousands of her subjects on how they should proceed, that she first heard it...

"You're nothing but a tyrant!!!" screamed an unknown Pegasi, "Princess Luna...."

"...was wondering if thy sister would entertain some company?" asked Luna, wearing none of her adornments, thankfully ripping Celestia back from where she always hated going.

"Princess Celestia," Celestia replied with a coy smile, "would enjoy that very much".

So Luna saw down on her haunches next to her sister, the brim of the burning sun setting the perfect mood for some much needed cool down from the day to night happenings for the royal sisters. While brought back together anew just recently, they could never find much time for relaxation, let alone reflection. Things had been especially turbulent these past several months with their unexpected, but over time very welcomed, addition to those they consider their subjects.

"I must say Luna," Celestia started to say, looking across the open expanse below the view of Canterlot, "you're looking quite refreshed for being up so early in the evening."

Luna slowly smiles, "You only have thyself and thy accomplice to blame". She slightly lets the smile fade as she looks over at Celestia, "Speaking of thy accomplice, is Sentinel still under the impression that I am unaware of his involvement?".

Celestia grins, "I've given him no reason to think otherwise."

"We are still unsure if it is wise to..." Luna searches for a nice way to say it, "leave him with such an impression."

"I never lied Luna," Celestia replies, "maybe just implied."

Some silence passed into the once mellow conversation, as the subject at hand while about one under their care and protection seems to easily bring out some of the more brash personality traits from either of them. The stretching of Luna's wings allows such a moment to quickly pass, however.

"Argh!" Luna exasperates, "He is just so....so...."

"Infuriating?" Celestia finishes for her while cocking an eyebrow and grin, one of her ears instinctively pivots around towards a mountain not far away, as it sounds like something slipped and caused a small rock slide.

"and selfish!" Luna almost yells in agreement as one of her ears also flickers towards the same mountain as she ignores what she thought she faintly heard as "fuck!".

"Thy does something nice..." Luna slowly goes back to her more mellow tone, "Thy should give proper courtesy to allow the receiver of such acts to return them!" she raises her tone once more for the last part.

Celestia decides not to speak, understanding that Luna rarely complains about anything, rightfully or otherwise. Generally, Celestia knew it was always best to let her sister get the entirety of it all before interruptions force her back into her proper royal shell. Besides. Secretly, she kind of enjoyed her sister's passionate tirades.

"Like the first day that thy was brought to the castle..." Luna continued;

Day One

All three princesses and one prince stood outside one of the large double doors to a bed chamber, usually reserved for Minotaur diplomats. They had been conversing about arrangements for their guest, and admitting questions that they all held on how best to approach them. They had left Sentinel in the care of the six bearers, but they were given pause when not a sound could be heard from within.

"Bearers?" Luna inquired, as she opened the double doors.

Instead of a scene of chaos like they always expected, they were instead met with an adorable one. Upon the larger than normal bed laid all six bearers, seemingly propped next to each other with the various covers and pillows arranged so none was without. Yet no sign of Sentinel could be found, causing some panic.

"Did thou think thy was a prisoner and attempt escape?" Luna asked aloud, somewhat uneasy.

Princess Celestia slowly trotted past the bearers, noting how all were placed in a manner so that all had some form of contact with another. Also, that Rainbow Dash was drooling on Applejack's hoof. Peering past and out towards the balcony, she was immediately relieved to see the silhouette of the one whose bed was now occupied. Yet it wasn't until she got closer that she swore she heard the feint sound of snoring. It was then that Celestia stopped and realized that he was standing so that nothing could get through the archway without passing close enough to awake him.

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"Then, not one week later..." Luna continued,

Day 6

Princess Luna has had enough. Every single day since this Sentinel has stayed in the castle, it has refused to take anything that they've offered. It has not once slept in it's own bed, choosing instead to sleep out in the open grass of the royal garden. Regardless of knowing he understood the invitations, he would never come to breakfast, lunch, or dinner in the royal dining halls. He kept pulling out little bread like squares from his pouch, eating them in one gulp, as if such puny helpings could sustain him.

Aside from letting the element of magic try and teach him their language, this creature has attempted to avoid any of their help. She even caught him sitting in a blasted tree during an scheduled thunderstorm, much to her screaming at the time. He helps the hired help around the castle. He tends to the landscape around the castle with other landscapers. He was even caught sneaking into the area where the invasion took place in order to help with the rebuilding.

Thanks to the plethora of witnesses during the invasion Sentinel has garnered a rather warm reception to their land. While some apprehension still exists, in the form of watching rather than try and approach him, no pony has really tried anything underhoofed.

"Today, thou is so getting paid..." Luna says with a little venomous determination as she proceeds to trot up behind Sentinel, who has his arms tucked behind him letting one hoof wrap around the opposite, admiring a painting.

Right as she gets close enough, she slaps the bit purse against the back of his head eliciting a rather loud jingling before flinging it against his chest as he quickly turns around, catching it.

She stares at him as he stares right back with rather impressive poker faces. Luna turns up her muzzle, closing her eyes in triumph before turning to trot away just as a maidpony is trotting past them, her mouth holding up quite the stack of rattling dishes.

<jingling-jingling-jingling-jingling-jingling-jingling>

Luna watched as the maidpony trots down the hallway, then back to Sentinel whose hoof once occupied, was now empty. When Sentinel merely places his open hand on her forehead between her eyes, she was about to flare up in rage before she looked into Sentinel's eyes. At first she thought he was doing this just to be difficult. Then she thought he was mocking her. But what she saw reflect back from his turquoise iris's said something else, but like the tongue, she just couldn't understand it.

"Why does thou refuse thee help..." Luna asked in a whisper as she continued to mask the real reason behind her rather brash push for him to do so. One riddled with guilt.

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"And then!" Luna lightly stomps one of her hoofs, "and then..."

Day 52

Princess Luna held many official titles depending on where you asked across the globe. Co-ruler of Equestria. Ascended Alicorn. Lunar Princess. Curator to the Dreamscape. All could be considered respectful in their own right, albeit not all originated in the most gentle of ways. She'd seen and experienced across her several thousand year life span enough to keep her searching the corners of her soul for thousands more.

She also represented much more personal ones depending on who you asked. Soothsayer. Shepard. Arbiter. Nightmare... Her eyes clamped shut at the last one, as it always stung enough to hurt. It was a personal one from a thousand years before, when her jealousy clouded her eyes until it was too late. A great calamity was averted, and the cost was felt deeper within her a thousand fold. Yet once again she is being brought down. This time however, it was not because of what others refuse to do for her but what she was suddenly unable to do for another.

But right now, most of all, she was just tired. As she struggled to keep her eyes open, she walked onto the balcony that she would share alongside her sister to transfer night and day. As she stood there, her head bobbing every few seconds, Celestia finally came trotting up and yawned earning a disapproving glare from Luna. Celestia was surely trying to mess with her as the Solar Princess always looked as revitalized as the rising sun each morning.

"Are thou re..." Luna started to say but gave pause as she looked at her sister, and especially the bags underneath her eyes. They were somewhat bloodshot, like her own, but from what she was unsure. Surely she had a restful slumber during the night.

"Long night, Tia?" Luna grasped, eliciting a slow but agreeable nod from Celestia along with another yawn.

Then, as always, both of their horns glowed and transition took place like it had each day, every day, for as long as anypony could remember. Luna bid her sister farewell before making her long rather slow trot to her royal chambers. As she approached the double doors her lunar guards seemed to look especially alert, as if anticipating something. Too tired to care, she just trotted on in to the same old room that shes always had. She used her horn to fling off all of her adornments, kicked her hooves to the same effect.

The last thing one would normally do is turn off the lights, or magical light orbs in this case, before laying down. However since Luna's bed chambers opened up to an extra wide full balcony, the incoming sunlight illuminated more than the orbs ever could. So after all of the orbs were magically dimmed so she wouldn't trip in the darkness she almost had to drag herself to the face of the balcony, peering out at the eye painful light.

"Just once..." she whispered to herself, "I'd like to sleep under the stars." she said as she magically slammed her curtains shut.

<POOMPH>

Said curtains suddenly flew open and an extremely wide eyed Luna peered out, painful or not, in confusion and shock. Turning around so she stood alongside the curtains, she quickly shut them with her magic as she looked up at her ceiling again.

"It's....my...night sky..." she said, agasp. She recognized the constellations immediately. Of course when you make them, one would hope that one's work would not be so easily hidden. Scanning, she could see even the placement of random stars that she put there just because she wanted to. It was so close to the real thing that she almost forgot that it wasn't.

"Do you like it?" Came the soothing gentle voice of her sister, Celestia, almost scaring Luna were she not already frazzled.

"Did you do this?" Luna asked, her voice pitching not only higher but also softer with each word.

Celestia had made somewhat of a promise to not allow Luna knowledge of who really did this. But when she looked into her sister's eyes, bloodshot or not, every single wall she had built up crumbled like dust.

"I helped with some supplies and then stayed up all night getting it all in place, but Sentinel" Celestia said, noticing Luna's eyes showing reaction at mention of the name, "was the one who designed and painted it after your night sky."

As Luna just stood there, Celestia decided to further elaborate. Even though in her stomach, she was unsure if what she was about to do was a good or bad thing, sometimes you have to tell the truth and let those involved decide how best to handle it.

"How did thou accomplish this in just...one night?" Luna asked, still scanning the mural.

"Three weeks," Celestia responded, getting another look from Luna in doing so, "was how long it took him to paint it."

Luna straightened her head, closed her eyes, and asked one simple thing. "Why."

"I'd just tell you, but I fear something of great importance would be lost in doing so." Celestia said, "So in place, let me show you." Celestia stated, as she pressed her horn to Luna's.

Three Weeks Prior

Celestia was trotting towards her royal chambers, ready to start a night of blissful slumber, when out of the corner of her eye she saw Sentinel approaching her. She'd been getting progress reports on him learning their language, and all were coming in positive. While not able to form common dialect perfectly, he was at the very least able to get the jest of what he wanted to say across.

"Why hello Sentinel, " Celestia said with a smile, "I hope the day has treated you well?"

"Good," Sentinel said back before looking her in the eyes to speak again, "Can..." he pointed to himself and then her, "talk?".

Celestia, since he started being able to properly communicate, hadn't the chance to converse with him. So of course, while tired, she was rather intrigued at what he might have to say that even caused him to seek her out. She did note, however, that she would have to keep the structure down to somewhat of a minimum so that he wouldn't get overwhelmed. So she merely nodded.

"Alone?" Sentinel asked, noting the royal guards that stood at the entrance of her chambers.

With another nod to both Sentinel and her guards, she lead him into her chambers, even more intrigued. When she turned around, her smile faltered when her eyes connected with his own. Whatever was to be said, it wasn't the idle kind.

"Need...help." Sentinel simply said before trying to elaborate, "L...L....Woona try help," pointing to himself,"can....no help," before finally adding, "No poohny can."

If this had been in any other context, Celestia might of been laughing her flank off. Calling Luna Woona, pony poohny. But this wasn't any other context. All she heard was help, her sister's name, and no one can, and she at the very top of her game if the lock latching on her double doors and curtains flying shut was any indication.

"Explain" she asked in the gentlest voice she could muster at the moment.

Sentinel looked somewhat frustrated. If one could look into his mind, they might be seeing an internal monologue of how the hell does he explain this better without looking utterly idiotic. But that was why he decided to talk to Princess Celestia alone, was it not? With what sounded like a sigh, before the big plunge, Sentinel began his terrible attempt at charades.

"...Woona...try help...night...." he then tilted his head, hands flat against each other, and closed his eyes for sleep of a HUMAN, before jolting his eyes open and trying to look in distress, "terror".

Celestia is able to understand now. She nods her head to show that she understands that part.

"No help...no terror." he tries to explain, "Terror fake." He points to his head, "Real".

Celestia hesitates to nod, but does so. It wasn't that she had trouble understanding, but the contrary. She wasn't truly anticipating that her sister would be fighting to stop what she thought was nightmares, when in fact, they were memories. They must be so unreal and horrific that her sister believes them to be otherwise. Such a sad notion meant that both her and Sentinel already lost.

"Woona sad," catching Celestia's attention once more, "sad sad Woona fail" as he reaches over and runs a finger where a tear could appear on Celestia's face somewhat startling her. While the touch didn't upset her, the prospect of what it meant did.

"Poohnies no save I," He tries his best to convey, being unable to find any body language to do so. "Save Woona!" Sentinel calls out, grabbing one of her fruit bowls and putting it on his head, no matter how utterly stupid he now looks.

Celestia, fighting to hold back an actual tear where an imagined one once was, "I can't..." she says looking right at Sentinel. There was absolutely nothing that she could do to bar Luna entry into her domain, nor if she could, would she.

Taking the bowl off his head, gaining 34% more dignity, he then pats his hand over his heart and holds the other downwards, letting the index and middle finger move like his legs, "I...go."

"No!" Celestia yelled, a bit too loud for the atmosphere in the room, making Sentinel raise an eyebrow.

Thinking, Celestia came up with something that might help, even if just a tiny bit.

"If you try and sleep through part of the day, and part of the night," she left it hang to see if he would understand.

"Easier, Woona" Sentinel said, receiving a soft smile from Celestia.

"Gift, Woona" Sentinel said, "Idea." as he pointed towards the closed curtains, peaking Celestia's curiosity. As Sentinel walked to the curtains, he flung them open, showing the night sky peering down upon them with the lunar glow. Sentinel then pointed to the night sky, then back inside to the ceiling of her chamber, and finally towards a painting on the wall.

"You want... to paint the night sky on Luna's chamber ceiling?" Celestia asked, but then wondering if she put too much into it. Sentinel shifted his eyes back and forth, as if trying to decipher what she said, before nodding when he looked back up.

Back to Day 52

"Afterwards, when I helped make magical paint that would be invisible during the day but absorbed light particles to illuminate at night, he inferred that he did not wish for you to know that he helped." Celestia elaborated.

A gentle sniffle and the lifting of her hoof to the underside of her eyes showed the effects the memory had on her, as Luna's eyes remained closed. Celestia wished she could remain silent, to let Luna fully absorb the moment, but while some might think underhanded she knew this was the best time to get the honest truth of what and why.

"Luna..." Celestia gently whispered, "Why did you push yourself to the edge of exhaustion?"

Luna said nothing. She wanted to say something, but she feared the truth would reopen a wound they both shared.

"Luna...?" Celestia asked again, approaching her, letting her wing drape over Luna.

"We..." Luna started to say, "We didn't..."

Celestia put a little more into her wing, embracing her sister for support.

Luna takes a gentle deep breath before slowly opening her eyes, "We didn't want to abandon somepony who couldn't be saved."

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"He really did look quite dumb with my fruit bowl on his head that night...." Celestia admitted straight faced.

Luna lets out a rather un-ladylike snort, "Tis a shame that we cannot do this longer, Tia." Luna commented, "Next time, maybe we should revisit those fabled days of Sentinel versus Prince Blueblood." shortly followed by a "oink oink".

Celestia ended up losing it, rolling over in laughter as she remembers the incident joined almost instantly by Luna. But like any amount of fun, sooner or later the moment must end and so much this one. Both Princesses stand up and stretch their wings, quite thankful for this well earned, if short, reprieve. However even that moment was disturbed as both of them instinctively pivoted their ears towards a rather unstable mountain top just a few hundred feet past their own, the sound of rocks falling echoing out.

"What...." Celestia questions, squinting her eyes to try and get a fix on something moving near the summit. Suddenly a pearly white telescope teleports right in front of her as she takes up the lens, acting not entirely happy.

"Tia?" Luna asks, slightly out of the loop.

"SENTINEL GET DOWN FROM THERE THIS INSTANT!!!!" Celestia screams in her royal canterlot voice, quickly followed by the echoes of many rocks impacting each other.