Civil War of Harmony

by SC_Orion

Prologue

Twilight Sparkle trotted down the hallways of Canterlot Castle in the dead of night, the only ponies awake at this time were Royal Guards on the night shift- The Night Guard. They were some of the finest soldiers ever to come out of Equestria, and they proudly served the princesses, though it was quite obvious they preferred Princess Luna. Twilight smiled at them as she trotted passed them, they stood proudly and saluted her as she passed. As she trotted on she passed one of the large stained glass windows in the castle's outer hallways, it depicted all four alicorn princesses, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and the newest, Twilight Sparkle.

The soft moonlight made the castle feel at peace, despite reality. It was the middle of the night when ponies should be asleep, yet Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were still unable to reach an agreement on the Royal Guard budget. They had started their... debate... eight hours ago, and it had taken them that long for them to finally ask for input from Twilight. She was there when they originally started discussing it. When it became apparent how it was going to go, she excused herself, calmly trotted out of the door, then teleported to her bedchambers. Before becoming an alicorn, Twilight never realized how much sibling rivalry Celestia and Luna had. Perhaps sibling rivalry wasn't quite the right way to put it. They had a very hard time agreeing on how to run Equestria.

Years ago, she had looked up to Princess Celestia, not just as her mentor, but a perfect role model. Since then, years had passed. She wasn't sure when it changed, or maybe she hadn't paid attention, but slowly she came to the realization that Celestia wasn't perfect. She always had so much faith in her, but that faith had been tested time and time again, and each time she found herself more confident in herself and her friends, even when Celestia failed. And then there was Princess Luna, Celestia's long lost, forgotten sister.

She did not want to start thinking about that, and, fortunately for her, she didn't. She had arrived at the room that Celestia and Luna were occupying. She glanced between the two guards and nodded. She ruffled her wings as they opened the doors for her. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna turned to look at her as she entered. Neither of them looked happy, both appeared more dispassionate about her arrival. She ignored the slight pain that it caused her, and suppressed a sigh at the sight. Shaking her head, she trotted inside.

Princess Celestia broke the silence first. "Twilight," she acknowledged, then glanced at Luna before continuing. "We have been unable to reach an agreement. I normally wouldn't want to bother you with this, but..." She trailed off with a sigh.

Twilight nodded while suppressing the annoyance she felt from Princess Celestia forgetting that she too was a princess, and Equestria was partly hers as well. "Of course," she said as politely as possible. She looked to Princess Luna. "What have you two talked about in my absence?"

Luna sighed. "We have been stuck, mostly restating our reasons for desired changes we want."

"What she means to say is we have been unable to reconcile our suggestions, and come to an agreement," Celestia added.

Luna turned to Celestia and glared at her. "Thou hast refused our reasonable suggestion for an increased spending for the Royal Guard."

Celestia frowned at her and berated her in such a way that only Celestia could, "We do not need to increase the budget of the Royal Guard, they are more than capable of serving our needs even at half capacity. It's not like we actually use them for anything. Twilight and her friends deal with our problems."

"Because those problems are far beyond the capacity of the Royal Guard to deal with!" Luna retorted.

"Okay, I get the picture," Twilight said, drawing the attention of both Celestia and Luna. "What have you two done to compromise?"

Celestia ruffled her wings. "My original plan was to cut the Royal Guard budget by fifty percent, I have tried compromising at twenty-five, but she refuses."

"Such a cut would gut our defense capability! Surely you do not want to put Equestria and more specifically, Twilight and her friends in more danger!" Luna replied in exasperation. "Such a thing would be foalish!"

"We would be better off spending the bits on social projects Luna." Celestia retorted.

Twilight wanted to rub her temples with her hooves. She resisted the urge. "Why don't we leave the budget as it is." She suggested, "It hasn't been a problem until now, so why don't-"

"It has not been a problem until now because she thinks we should keep peace by making every nation afraid of us," Celestia said in a very bitter tone.

Luna looked at her, the expression on her face was worthy of only one description: royally- "Is it not better to negotiate from a position of power?" She asked condescendingly. "Or would you rather be begging for mercy while the griffins crush our nation and all we have-"

"Our military easily matches the griffins! If you were a griffin strategist, wouldn't you be concerned about a nation right on your border having a military easily matching yours! And that's not even factoring in the Crystal Empire!" Celestia retorted.

"Look, you both-"

Luna cut her off. "You are forgetting that the griffins are carnivores, they would-"

Twilight sighed. They were ignoring her as normal. In all honesty, it felt like her role amounted to nothing. She knew she was capable, and both Luna and Celestia knew that. "Princess Luna, Princess Celestia." Both princesses turned to her, "I thought you wanted my advice, my help." She shook her head. "But if you two are so content to argue, I guess you don't want my help. I thought I was supposed to be a princess, not-"

"You are, Twilight..." Celestia trailed off. She pursed her lips, then looked to Luna. "Perhaps we should see what she has to say."

Luna nodded. "Perhaps indeed."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Watching two alicorns in a verbal battle was intimidating, even more so when they were sisters. That wasn't even factoring in what has happened over a thousand years ago. She looked to Luna, "You want to increase spending by... how much was it? Twenty-five percent?" Luna nodded in confirmation. "Right." She then turned to Celestia, "And you want to cut spending in half." She took a breath, then exhaled. She made her way over to the third chair at the table, then sat down. She would be an equal here, she would have equal say with either of them. It was supposed to be her right as an alicorn, even if she couldn't match either of their statures. "We can afford to increase the spending of the Royal Guard, and we can afford to increase spending on social projects." She looked between them. "Why don't we do both." She said flatly.

Celestia shook here head. "Yes, while we have the bits to do both, if we keep increasing spending without cutting something, we'll eventually run out."

"We do not need to be spending such exorbitant amounts of financial resources on social projects," Luna stated flatly. "Especially since such projects only directly affect the nobles."

"Without the support of the nobles, Equestria would collapse," Celestia stated.

Twilight looked to Celestia. "We don't know that for sure. Besides, the nobles do have enough resources on their own. If we used the bits to help ponies in more trouble, then I would be all for it."

"Welfare." Luna scoffed, "In our time such madness did not exist. You either made it on thine own, or failed according to your own merits. Ponies succeeded much more often back then. Perhaps it would work, but ninety percent of it is directed at the nobles."

"That system was barbaric Luna, and you know that." Celestia retorted, "And as for directing it at the nobles, the wealth will trickle down. It will improve the economy as a whole."

"Helping ponies is good... But if they become dependent on that help, and it is cut off, how would they survive?" Twilight pointed out.

Celestia nodded. "Exactly why we should spend more on helping them-"

"That's not what I meant..." Twilight admitted, "We could slowly decrease spending on social projects" Luna raised her head slightly and smiled, "the ones that help the nobles, redirect the rest of the funds to help the less fortunate, and keep the budget for the Royal Guard the same. After a year or two, we could revisit it and decide what to do then."

Celestia shook her head. "No, Twilight. You are young, you do not have the experience I do-"

Luna raised an eyebrow. "I?" She said with exasperation, "Don't you mean we? I am nearly as old as you, sister. We have near the same experience as you do, and I would think we would have valid experience as well."

"Luna... You were locked away on the moon for a thousand years. A lot has changed in that time, you know this. I have more experience with how things are now, you need to trust me-"

"Like I trusted you a thousand years ago," Luna spat bitterly.

"Okay, I think we're getting off topic!" Twilight said in an awkwardly high pitched voice. Both princesses looked to her. "Haha... Maybe we should call it a night and sleep on it?" She would never admit how much Celestia's previous rebuttal hurt, not even to her best friends. And to be brushed off with no consideration, 'I'm a capable leader... I've shown that time and time again!' she thought. Despite her attempts to keep positive, the more these arguments happened, she found herself feeling more and more dejected like Celestia had no faith in her. And then there was the fact that despite her status, both of them barely consulted her on these matters. In the formation of the plan anyway. They would come to her after they had agreed on something, and then get her approval or disapproval. If she didn't approve, they would go back and work out a new plan, without her input, then rinse and repeat.

Celestia could see the growing disappointment in Twilight's eyes. She looked to Luna and sighed, then looked back to Twilight. "Twilight... I know you want to help, but you are just so... Young." Celestia smiled softly. "We both appreciate your help, and how much you do help us, but... Politics is best left to us. We will ease you into it over the next century, but for now... I think this may be too much for you to-"

"You do not want her input because she does not agree with you." Luna stated.

Celestia turned to Luna, her mouth slightly open. "That's not true Luna. She is so young, she shouldn't have to worry about-"

"Then perhaps you should have waited to ascend her for a few decades." Luna shook her head, "You did not wait because you knew she was ready."

Twilight put on a brave face and hoped neither Celestia nor Luna could tell how strained it was. "Again, we're getting off topic. I vote we call it a night."

Celestia shook her head. "Twilight this is urgent, we can't just-"

"I also agree that we should call it a night, sister. A break would do us good." Luna stated.

Celestia opened her mouth to rebuke her sister, then closed it and relented. "Very well." She stood up, then looked between Twilight and Luna. She glared at the latter, the look plastered on her face was saying she wanted to have a word with her. "We shall reconvene tomorrow, at the same time."

Luna nodded, then stood up. The air was rather tense, as each princess waited for another to leave first. Twilight wasn't going to leave until Celestia and Luna had, not wanting them to start arguing again. Celestia wasn't going to leave until Twilight had left and she had spoken to Luna. And Luna wasn't going to leave until Celestia admitted defeat and left.

After a few seconds, Twilight relented, and silently left the room, then returned to her bedchambers. The door closed silently behind her by the two guards.

"You're trying to turn her against me." Celestia stated.

Luna frowned. "Sister, I am trying to do no such thing."

Celestia didn't buy it and stared at her without saying anything for a few seconds, then she left the room without another word.

---

Twilight impatiently sat in her chair, she glanced at the clock. Thirty seconds until Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were supposed to arrive so that the trio could continue the discussion of the budget they had started last night. Twilight watched the clock hand move as each second passed. The pause between movements felt like an eternity. She counted down the seconds as they passed. Finally, with four and seven-tenths of a second left, the door opened. Twilight immediately shot up to be respectful as Celestia and Luna trotted into the room.

"We went over this earlier today, Twilight. I tried to find you sooner, but I could not. We reached an agreement. Over the next decade, we will increase military spending and social spending by twenty-five percent."

Twilight deflated at that. "Oh..." She ruffled her wings "That's um... Good." She shifted her weight, "Did you um... Even consider my-"

"Leaving the military budget alone was completely unacceptable." Luna stated flatly, "We will draw the necessary funds from research and development-"

"What!?" Twilight shouted, "That's... No, that's not a good idea. Doing that is a very, very bad idea. With all due respect, but that is an absolutely stupid idea, Princess."

Celestia sighed. 'I knew you would react this way, Twilight...' "Trust us, Twilight. This is for the best. Research hasn't yielded many valuable or useful things, recently, and-"

"That's no reason to cut it in half!" Twilight shot back.

Luna shook her head. "You misunderstand. We are not cutting it in half, merely reducing it by a quarter."

"That's still a bad idea!" Twilight stated firmly, "I know you two are... Have been alive for a long, long time, but you need to look to the future. Science is vital for making the future a better place! We can afford to keep it funded as it is, along with the increases to the other-"

"Perhaps you could convince Celestia to retain science funding at one hundred percent, as it was her suggestion to cut it." Luna stated.

Twilight turned to Celestia. She opened her mouth to berate her, then paused. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then exhaled, extending her hoof in practice, it was a breathing exercise Princess Cadance had taught her to deal with stress. "Why?"

Celestia sighed. "Twilight, do not get us wrong. In our lifetimes, science has changed the world remarkable, but even you must see that the rate of progress has slowed significantly in the past one hundred years."

Twilight opened her mouth to rebuke her, but paused. Celestia was right about that. "That's no reason to think that won't change... "She sighed. "Neither of you are going to get my consent on this budget unless science funding remains the same as it is now."

Celestia shook her head. "Twilight, we shouldn't fight over this. If ponies-"

Twilight clenched her jaw to prevent herself from yelling 'hypocrite.' She sighed, "Alright, fine." She relented bitterly, though she was unhappy with how this had turned out.

Celestia sighed. 'This is why I don't think you should be involved in this yet...'

---

"This is extortion." Luna spat as she turned her ruthless gaze to Celestia, "And you agreed to this without consulting either of us."

"It required urgent action, and you two were unavailable," Celestia replied calmly. She took a sip from her tea, normally the delicious concoction would relieve her stress. Unfortunately, nothing had really been normal for the past few months.

"I do not understand why you still put up with those nobles. They should be locked away in a deep, dark dungeon, and the key thrown away for this." Luna shook her head and sighed exasperatedly.

"They're not all that bad." Twilight stated, "Fancy Pants is nice..." She trailed off when she realized she couldn't name any more nobles that were nice. Granted, she didn't know many nobles, but the point stuck in her mind.

Luna nodded. "He is a decent pony. Unlike these nobles. This is... This is practically a death sentence for the factory workers in Manehatton. And you agreed to it without consulting either of us."

"That's a gross exaggeration." Celestia set her tea down. "What would you have had me do, hmm? Completely ignore it?"

"Yes!" Luna shouted. "Show them who is boss, not them, but us! This is our country, sister!" Twilight frowned, she could tell that when Luna said 'our' she wasn't included in it. "Not theirs," Luna continued, "We rule because they could not rule themselves. They would abuse the ponies of Equestria for their own gain." She looked away, a revolted expression crossing her face. "And you side with them more often than the ponies who actually need our help."

"And you didn't embarrass the crown last week when you accused Blueblood of attempting to overthrow us and then locked him in the dungeon without so much as a word to either of us," Celestia chided.

Luna turned back to her sister. "You look favorably upon him because he is the son of your close friend. You aren't his aunt, sister, as much as he may like to claim that, everypony knows that. You should not protect him."

Twilight shook her head. "We're getting off topic." She sighed and turned to Celestia, "You shouldn't have done that without consulting us, even if it was to make up for what Luna did." She turned to Luna. "And you can't just act like a foal, Luna." Both Celestia and Luna recoiled at that but Twilight continued, "I don't mean to upset you... But... You're a full grown mare, more than that, you're an alicorn princess. You don't go around accusing ponies you don't like for trying to overthrow you, and then lock them up without proof."

Luna clenched her jaw, then looked away. She swallowed her pride if only to end this meeting. "Perhaps you are right, and I did overreact." She admitted.

"Perhaps?" Celestia asked sarcastically. "You completely overreacted. I want you to formally apologize to him for this, Luna."

"That is not happening sister," Luna stated firmly.

Twilight sighed. "Why do you two fight so much?" Both Celestia and Luna turned to her, "I know you two didn't argue this much two years ago. What happened?"

"As to whether or not we fought this much two years ago is none of your concern," Luna stated sharply.

"Luna, I'm your friend," Twilight stated. "I'm supposed to be a Princess of Equestria too. Both of you need to stop fighting so much, Equestria only suffers from it."

Celestia nodded. "She is correct, Luna."

Twilight turned to Celestia. "It would help if you would stop antagonizing her," she snapped.

"She is a grown mare, she can handle it," Celestia stated. She lifted her teacup and took another sip of tea.

"She was a grown mare one thousand years ago, Celestia. Or have you forgotten what happened?" Twilight retorted. That was a blemish on both of them, she could not, nor would she deny it. Luna wouldn't do that again, she knew it in her heart.

"Twilight Sparkle. I would never do such a thing again, and I truly hope you do not believe I would," Luna said coldly.

"No, no, I don't. I... I just..." 'This isn't working.' She realized. "Look, I consider both of you friends... And part of being friends is accepting each other's differences, working with them, and forgiving one another for their mistakes."

Luna turned to Celestia. "A thousand years ago she stood by and did nothing while I lost myself to hatred and anger, because of that I lost one thousand years of my life, trapped on the moon."

Celestia's expression softened. "I am sorry for that, Luna... I am your big sister, and I failed my job to protect you..."

Luna's expression softened briefly, then hardened again. "Whats is done is done."

Twilight sighed. They used to be so close, at least she thought so, and even a year ago she would not have pictured so much tension between them. Celestia was acting different. Like something was wrong with her, but only around Luna. Or maybe they were just that good at hiding the tension normally. She remembered having tea with her just two weeks ago, and for that brief hour, things were right. It was like back when she was her student, and they would discuss magic, or just relax and enjoy the day. She truly missed those days, but she wouldn't trade her friends to get them back. They made putting up with all this worth it. 'Perhaps it was always this way, and I only see it because they show it to me.' They always seemed so perfect to her. Well, aside from the whole Nightmare Moon thing. 'Maybe it's because I'm now a princess, that I see this side of them... That they choose to show this to me.'

---

Twilight Sparkle sat back in her chair, relaxing. Something she desperately needed. Despite her best efforts to defuse the rift between Celestia and Luna, it was getting worse. She kept telling herself that it was always dark before dawn, that things always got worse before they got better. That by them talking about their issues with to each other, they would reconcile, and things would go back to normal, or at least improve. They still cared about each other, maybe not loved each other, but...

She forced the thought aside and relaxed. "I really needed this, girls," she stated aloud.

"Oh yes darling, we could tell," Rarity replied, "Or at least I could," she mused. "Your complexion was suffering from it."

"Don't get me wrong, it's not always bad... But when it comes to policy, and how to run Equestria... They're worlds apart..." Twilight frowned. 'That's somewhat ironic, considering that for the last thousand years they really were worlds apart...' "And then they rarely listen to my suggestions." She huffed.

"Surely it cannot be all that bad... It is Canterlot after all, the finest city in Equestria!"

"Most of the time they don't even bother to consider my suggestions, saying that I'm-" She did her best Princess Celestia impersonation, "too young and too inexperienced." She sighed, 'Great, I'm supposed to be relaxing, and we're talking about this...'

"They kind of have a point though, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, "I mean, don't get me wrong, you're like... The smartest pony I know," Twilight smiled at that, "and I know your ideas are probably really, really good. But... They are a lot older and more experienced than you. I mean, they're both thousands of years old! Compared to them, you're barely two decades old!"

"True..." Twilight stated, "But because of how old they are, I think they're locked in their old ways. I'm not completely sure, but I think Celestia is used to ruling on her own, without her sister and myself. Cadance never really actually helped her run Equestria. She just taught her how to do it." Twilight paused and frowned. "I wonder if she knew the Crystal Empire was going to return, and she planned for Cadance to take over it," she mused.

After several seconds of silence, Twilight opened her eyes and sat up. "I don't think I've ever worried about them or Equestria as much as I do now... I'm sure it'll be okay, but..."

"Alright, that's enough of that now, Twilight. We're supposed to be enjoying a little relaxation today, not interrogating you about the Princesses and Equestria," Applejack looked to Rarity, "right, Rarity?"

Rarity shied away and blushed. "Oh, yes, of course."

Twilight made a mental note to thank Applejack later. She closed her eyes again, and laid back, fully intending to relax as long as she could. Which, in hindsight, she would realize was asking for problems. The telltale sound and smell of Spike's fire breath acted like a jolt of electricity. She opened her eyes and jumped out of her lawn chair. She grabbed the scroll that had just materialized with her magic and jerked it towards her. 'Celestia's seal.' She had half the mind to ignore it but chose not to. Everypony, including Spike, gathered around her. "It's from Celestia..." She broke the seal and read through the letter as quickly as she could.

"What's it say?" Rainbow asked. Unfortunately for her, Twilight had yet to finish reading the letter, and the interruption caused her to lose her place, thus forcing her to take longer.

She re-read the letter, making sure she hadn't missed anything the first time. She sighed. "I'm needed in Canterlot as soon as possible..."

"Maybe you could... Wait a few minutes before leaving?" Rarity suggested, "I know you needed this, and you certainly deserve it..."

Twilight sighed. "I can't... It's really important, and with how things have been going between them this month..."

Rarity nodded gravely. "Of course, darling. We understand."

"We'll have to reschedule I guess..." Twilight sighed dejectedly. She had been looking forward to today for over a week.

"I suppose so... Good luck, Twilight."

Twilight turned to Rarity and smiled weakly. "Thanks... I'll probably need it." She admitted. She glanced around at her friends and smiled wryly, then spread her wings and took flight, heading for Canterlot.

Author's Note:

Special thanks to Skydrake for pre-reading and pointing out the necessity of this!

And it's the Prologue that makes it over 100,000 words long!!!

Chapter 1 has had heavy revision, and I would recommend re-reading it if you have read it before.

Side Note: This story is currently going over heavy revision once more as of 3/29/2017. Special thanks goes out to KeyChain for editing! All edits by him are actually already done, I just have to get around to posting them...

Comments

[Vigriff]

"True..." Twilight stated, "But because of how old they are, I think they're locked in their old ways. I'm not completely sure, but I think Celestia is used to ruling on her own, without her sister and myself. Cadance never really actually helped her run Equestria. She just taught her how to do it." Twilight paused and frowned. "I wonder if she knew the Crystal Empire was going to return, and she planned for Cadance to take over it," she mused.

That is a good point about Cadance that I myself have noticed. As for them being "locked in their old ways", it's simply a natural problem with being incredibly old.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Considering the wedding And Tirek being loose for so long proves the guard needs better training and recruiting. And the nobles have their own money. Seriously Tia you are an idiot.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Rereading this you notice alot. Why luna may not always agree with Twilight she does consider her words. Hell Twilight got her to admit she may have overreacted. You see some respect for Twilight in her. Celestia however shows none of these. She quickly dismisses every idea Twilight has saying she isn't ready, something luna disagrees with.

[Phoenix Nebula]

The whole political aspect about this is very interesting considering for the past three months a friend of mine and I of differing political views have actually came to agreement on every topic we have discussed. So now that I'm reading this it feels very surreal. I find twilight in this story very adaptable and willing to compromise. I find this gives her a political and a logical higher ground in this situation do to her sensibility. I'm really interested in seeing how this all pans out in the end. I have a few prediction on how this will end and I'm excited to see if I'm correct.

[Nighlocktheawesome00]

8826033
Cause Celestia's a faggot and a weak ruler and everypony knows it.