Test of Time: Arc 1: Awakening

by NoPonysLand

Chapter 10.5

Chapter 10.5 – Luna
Monday, 24 June 1003

“What was that?!” Luna yelled incredulously at Celestia, shock in her expression and voice. “What were you trying to do!”

“I just gave a speech, Luna. No need for theatrics.” Celestia said calmly. “You're right, I should have discussed it with you before, but there really wasn't time.” She trotted to her throne, sitting down in it. She looked to Luna, a slow sadness creeping across her face when she did not follow her. “Come on, Luna. Join me. We should be together for this. I didn't mean to go over your head with this. That wasn't the-”

“That's not what I'm talking about!” Luna's horn flashed, the balcony doors flying open.

“Long rule Celestia!”

“Trust our princesses!”

“Praise the Sun!”

“Trust our goddesses!”

Cries from the ponies below wafted up from below, filling the room with the sound of one thousand ponies in rapture. “You haven't given them hope in a crisis, sister, you've given them religious objects to fixate on! You've wiped them into a fervor centered around yourself!”

“I...” Celestia paused. “Oh, I'm doing it again, aren’t I. I've had you for only three years, three years tomorrow, and I'm already driving you away again. My first opportunity to really, really give you the spotlight, and I take it again. Luna, please, forgive-”

“You really don't get it, do you?” Luna said, shock and anger in her voice. Celestia straightened. Luna never, never used contractions. This was serious. “I do not care that you have taken the limelight, sister, but that you would see it necessary to control our ponies like this in the first place! I could care less if you made Pinkie Pie the center of the fervor! I am shocked, horrified, that you see zealous fervor as being required at all!”

“Oh, come on!” Celestia said. “Seriously, now, Luna. Stop being childish. I simply reaffirmed their loyalty. You're blowing this way out of proportion.”

There was a brief pause. Luna nodded her head at the door.

“All hail the goddess of the sun!” the voices of ponies wafted up through the open door, still easily loud enough to be heard.

“...” Celestia paused.

“Oh, really?” Luna said. “You do not think that-”

“Okay, maybe I went a little too far. But, really, Luna, it's for their own good. You know what will happen if Spring convinces them to join her side.”

“Do not even start with that!” Luna said angry. “You know full well that that is not something we need to worry about. Our ponies have been instilled with morals which go against that which Spring professes. She would have to manage a cultural revolution to have a chance at that.”

“She's done it in the past. More than once.”

“Never quickly, Celestia! You know full well that these things take generations to fully settle! If this battle lasts more than two weeks, we will have much more to worry about than defecting civilians.” Luna scowled. “I know you too well. Your rhetorical tricks do not effect me anymore.”

“I know. I tested most of them on you. Heck, you came up with a fair number of them yourself.” Celestia said. “I... I... I see what you are saying. It's just... Spring, Luna. She knows nothing but the old ways. To combat her, I... I have taken a step back. Farther than I should have, perhaps. It won't happen again. I promise.”

“That is what you said last time!” Luna spat. “And yet, this still happened. I do not know if I can trust your word.”

“Luna, really! We've discussed this already! We decided that it was too much of a risk to take, to have Twilight not be at her fullest in this crisis!” Celestia said, exasperation in her voice.

“We decided no such thing!” Luna said firmly. “You decided and I was begrudgingly coerced into allowing it. Besides, the plan was weak at best! Set Twilight against Spring to show her how dangerous she was, shock her into fighting harder? Use the weak chance that the Elements of Hamony would suffice, knowing full well that they would almost certainly not? Come on! You have been taking reckless risks, Celestia, for one so concerned about winning!”

“It wasn't Twilight I wanted to-” Celestia stopped. Luna's eyes went wide. Silence fell between the two. Luna stared agape at Celestia, her expression falling from shock to anger.

“You can not be serious. I refuse to believe it.”

“I... I...” Celestia looked panicked.

“You.... were not throwing Twilight at Spring to shock her into realizing she needed to step up her game. You were not trying to use the slim chance that the Elements of Harmony would work.” Luna said slowly, Celestia looking away. “You... were trying to get her friends hurt. You put them in the line of fire so that Twilight would not have a choice but to defend them. You used her friends to make sure that there was no chance of Twilight joining up with Spring. You engineered a falling situation explicitly to make sure that Spring would be able to hurt her friends enough that there was no chance that Twilight could falter in her loyalties to us without abandoning them. You made her friends the enemies of a vengeful goddess on purpose. You...” Luna shook her head slowly, bile rising in her throat. “How... could you... even think to do something like that!”

“Well, it worked, didn't it!” Celestia yelled. “Do you think I like making decisions like this! Do you think that this is an ideal situation for me, Luna! You know exactly the kind of damages Spring is capable of! I need to make sure that all of my assets are in place! I can't be worried about losing them, any of them, for any reason! I need to do what needs to be done to make sure that, when the smoke clears, there's still a country left to rule! I have to insure that when I need somepony to give me their fullest, I don't have to question whether they will or not.”

“Your assets?!” Luna roared. “That's what your beloved student had become to you, an asset?! And I suppose, seeing as it is your assets we are talking about, I must factor somewhere as, oh, at least a champion! How could you possibly fall so low as to think of your ponies, your friends, your own sister, like that!”

“That's not what I...” She floundered. “They're our... I mean...” Celestia looked at her. Tears were welling up in her eyes. “It's war. We all... have to make... sacrifices. If what I need to do to insure the safety of my nation is jeopardizing our relationship, Luna... then...”

“Do not you dare give me that!” Luna screamed. Celestia took a step backwards, fear flickering across her face. “This is not about you this time, sister! Get your pathetic act together! Nopony is shedding a tear for you. This obvious ploy to get me to sympathize with you will not work. You are about one thousand years too late for that. The stakes are way to high for me to-”

“I'm sorry!” Celestia started crying. Luna stopped. “I'm so, so sorry!” The words were barely understandable through her gasping sobs. “I... I... Don't know... What I did... Why I did... I'm sorry!” Her body was wracked with tearful gasps. “Please, don't leave me! I need you!”

Luna paused, then sighed. “Oh, had only you not said that last line. Finally, finally did you admit fault. Finally, finally, did I see change. But then, right there, you had to make it about you, did you not? You have a problem, Celestia. A serious problem. A serious problem that it is now my obligation to counter. You have a power complex. A goddess with a power complex. How did I not see this sooner! You gather the most powerful ponies you can around you, and any you can not control, you destroy. It was thus with me, with Spring, and now with Twilight.” She sighed. “Stop crying. Go to your room and pretty yourself up. We still have a nation in peril to run, and the ponies will want to see their 'glorious leader' at her absolute best. We can talk about this later. But I am taking a stand right now, Celestia. This is the line. And I do not care how hard you cry.”

Celestia shakily got to her hooves. “How can I fix it?”

“At least twenty-four months of daily therapy. Which we really do not have the time for.” Luna said shortly. “For now? You go through me for every, every decision. If you do not, and I find out, I will tell Twilight everything you have done so far. Then you'll be fighting three of us.”

“I... don't want... to fight you.” Celestia looked down. She was shaking. “I... love you.”

“I do not care. You are a danger to the country, to those ponies closest to you, and to yourself. If I need to fight you to stop you from becoming something you are not, I will.” Luna looked deeply into Celestia's eyes. “After all, I am sure you would do the same for me.” Her tone was laced with finality, sadness, and determination.

Celestia shuddered one last time, then nodded. “I... agree. I think that this is for the best, Luna. I look on what I have done, and... I don't disagree with it. But the fact that I don't scares me.” She looked up at her sister. “If it were somepony else, I'd call them heartless. I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be the pony willing to sacrifice everything for 'the greater good'. I... I want to be the kind, benevolent ruler everypony thinks I am.”

“The first step to solving a problem is to realize you have one.” Luna said. “That is, however, only the first step.”

Celestia bowed her head, walking slowly to her chambers. Luna watched her go.

As soon as she left her sight, a tear fell down Luna's cheek. Oh, sister. I am so, so sorry. I can tell you care, your tears not false. Your actions may have been cruel, but they are justified given the pressures on you, to some extent at least. I do not wish to leave you believing that I think you lost. But there is no time now for soft words and slow building. We must suffer now, for this is war. If you must think yourself near evil to quickly negate and overcompensate for the barely more neutral you have truly become, then so be it, until this conflict is done.

Luna sighed. Why must all this be so complex? She trotted over to her throne, taking a seat. It took her only a moment to master herself. Within ten seconds, she appeared to all the world the image of the serene goddess. She had years of practice.

There was a knock on the door. Luna gave no signal to open it. Whoever it was, they could wait a minute.

End Chapter 10.5

Author's Note:

Footnotes!

...

Wait.

Comments

[NoPonysLand]

5579283 Thank you very much for your kind words! I don't beleive I deserve them, but it is kind for you to say them regardeless. Unfortunately I'm very ill right now, so I won't be able to fix this immediately, but I will try to address these issues as soon as possible!