Of Love and Loss

by tom117z

6 - A Day In Canterlot

Princess Twilight Sparkle moved through the pristine hallways of Canterlot Castle, her home. The hallway she was walking through led to only one destination.

Pushing open the large set of double doors with a hoof, Twilight was met with dozens of immaculately designed windows displaying many notable events that had occurred in Equestria over the past twenty years.

The most recent was Princess Flurry Heart saving the Crystal Empire from the Wendigos while her parents were in Canterlot. She had done this by inspiring the ponies of the empire and bringing out the fires of friendship once more. This was despite them witnessing the reality of the Wendigo species, which was far more horrific than the legends alluded to.

Further down you had mages performing great magical feats, heroes saving foals from vicious monsters of the Everfree Forest and anything else of particular note.

And at the beginning two windows was what held the princess’ attention.

The first depicted a sombre scene. The old castle in Ponyville was in ruins, and a depiction of an alabaster alicorn sat in front of it, a tear running down her cheek. Two another alicorns were positioned either side, one lavender and one blue, angrily striking down a demonic goat.

That had always irked Twilight, since it was Celestia that had killed Grogar, not herself and Luna.

The second was a happier scene. It featured bright colours capturing the feeling of the warm day’s sun, and a regal alicorn rose up into the sky as if to greet it as a crowd of ponies watched below, the crystal heart in among them.

Twilight sighed as she looked upon the two scenes, a twang of pain echoing in her heart as her ethereal mane gracefully blew in the wind.

“Bit for your thoughts?” A voice called out.

“Luna,” Twilight greeted, turning to the lunar alicorn.

“Twilight, how are you this morning my friend?"

“Fine. Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“I was on my way, when I saw you enter this room, there is only one time you would ever subject yourself to these,” She motioned to the first two windows, “You’re contemplating.”

Twilight snorted, “You know me too well.”

“You and my sister are so much alike, Twilight. It took me a long time after my return to get her to stop apologising for neglecting me all those years ago. I had already forgiven her, but it took far too long for Tia to forgive herself.”

“Your point?”

Luna gave Twilight a small smile, “It’s not your fault Twilight. You may place on a mask in front of our subject but you can never fool me, just as Tia could never fool me. I know you aren’t happy, and it pains me to see you like this.”

Luna moved in and gave her counterpart a wing hug, “I care for you Twilight, and I’m always here if you need to talk.”

Twilight hid a blush, her thoughts going back to the moment they shared in the empire twenty years prior. A moment that had stayed with her all this time.

Twilight looked Luna in the eyes, them being at equal head height, and said meaningfully, “And I care you too Luna, truly. It’s just still difficult sometimes, I don’t think I was really ready for this at first.”

“Neither were we,” Luna smiled, “I don’t think you can ever be ready for this. Our first years ruling Equestria weren’t the smoothest. I mainly coped by pranking the nobility.”

Twilight laughed, “Yes, we all saw your masterwork in the old castle in Everfree.”

“Indeed. The culmination of many sleepless nights of planning and mischievousness. Sometimes I wonder if I should build something similar here.”

“You should do that, as long as I can help. I enjoy spending time with you Luna.”

“You… do?” Now it was Luna’s turn to hide a blush.

“Yeah. You're funny, you have a kind heart and-” Twilight suddenly stopped herself mid-sentence, not even trying to hide her rose-red cheeks this time around.

Both mares just stood there for a few moments, shuffling. There may have even been an awkward cough from one of them.

Luckily they were saved from the silence when Twilight’s niece decided at that moment to enter the room.

“There you ar Aunty Twilight!” Said Flurry Heart happily, “I thought I might find you- um, am I interrupting something?”

“No!” Both Twilight and Luna shouted simultaneously.

Flurry only raised an amused eyebrow before continuing, “Well, either way can I talk to you for a moment aunty?”

Leaping at a chance to escape the awkwardness, Twilight replied, “Of course! Anything for you my niece.”

“In that case then, I shall retire to my bed until it is time for the moon to rise. Farewell Twilight, Flurry Heart,” Luna nodded to the two, before hastily retreating from the room.”

A sly smile grew on Flurry’s face, “So… kissed her yet?”

Twilight eyes widened at the speed of light, “W-what?”

“Princess Luna, have you kissed her yet?” Flurry gave her aunt a knowing look.

“Flurry, we are just friends, nothing more,” Twilight deadpanned.

“Uh-huh. Sure you are.”

Twilight’s eye twitched at her niece’s tone, “What do you know of it anyway?”

“My mother is the Princess of Love, I know a thing or two.”

“Reading trashy romance novels doesn’t make you an expert!” Twilight nearly shouted in protest.

“They aren’t trashy! They are works of art!” Flurry proclaimed.

On the verge of a conniption, Twilight slowly tried to pry a regal mask back onto her features, “Dearest niece, did you just come here to tease me? Or is there something else you wanted?”

Relenting, but keeping her smile on her face, Flurry complied, “I just wanted to come and see my favourite aunt before I left.”

Twilight’s features softened, “Ah, I see. Are you sure you want to be going? It could be dangerous.”

“Aunty, you faced down so much worse when you were still a teenager. I’m sure I can handle an expedition into some dingy ruins.”

“You could be away from home for a while,” Twilight pointed out, “It’s quite a trip, and then searching the entire thing... you could be gone months.”

“I’ll be fine,” She said as she gave her aunt a light nuzzle, “It’s your fault you know. I might have never gained such a fascination with history if it wasn’t for your lectures when I was a kid.”

“They weren’t lectures, they were educational games.”

“That involved a lot of you talking for hours on end,” Flurry laughed, “Fond memories, either way.”

Twilight smiled at her niece, “Then I wish you luck Flurry. Make sure to write every now and then, you’ve still got the dragon-fire candle right?”

“Yes, it’s with the rest of my things. I promise to write whenever I can.”

“Good, I love hearing from my favourite niece,” Twilight now gave Flurry an affectionate nuzzle on the head, “Just be safe, alright?”

“I promise.”

---

Princess Luna hastily entered her chambers, her cheeks beetroot red as she though back to her encounter with Twilight a few minutes prior.

‘Does she…’ Luna began to ponder in her head, ‘No, don’t be silly Luna. She was just giving you a compliment, that’s all…’

And yet she couldn’t shake the flustered feeling from herself. Thinking some fresh air might help her, she decided to walk out onto the balcony.

The pleasant breeze immediately rolled on through her soft blue fur. The lunar alicorn gave a content sigh as she leaned against the balcony, letting her thoughts linger away from Twilight. Looking up she could see the bright sun high in the sky, smiling brilliantly on the land below. The rays of light met Luna, and in them she could feel the presence of Twilight Sparkle, and it brought her great comfort.

“Damn it…” Luna moaned as her thoughts snapped back to the lavender alicorn, to her bright eyes and her lovely lavender coat.

She could almost hear her sister’s teasing in the wind.

“This is not the time to be falling in love Luna,” She chided herself, “I can’t trust myself, I can’t get that close to… she needs a friend, that’s all.”

Luna sighed sadly, “I can’t trust myself,” She whispered, “And I will not break her heart.”

She spoke to Twilight about how she had forgiven Celestia for their feud, and how she wanted her sister to forgive herself. Luna never mentioned anything about forgiving herself for Nightmare Moon.

And despite the encouragement, the Tantabus incident and no matter how hard she tried to do so…

She still couldn’t forgive herself, even after all these years.

Comments

[PonyPawz]

Pretty good

[ValNitak Choas]

good update, and dam you flurry heart, you should wait 5 more mins and then you would have saw them kissing

[Cross Lament]

Give in to the Smoochy Side, Luna. It is your destiny...

[Lunar Justice]

i love how this is progressing, even though the chapters are on the shorter side they are still brimming with content. I love Flurry making her own mark on the world and Twilight slowly turning into Celestias demeanor. With the serene mask and cunning behind the facade. Celestia would be proud yet sad to see Twilight walking down the simmilar road that she did when she banished Luna. Luna's comment that they are very alike may hit closer to home than she wants to admit. But i like it a lot. And Luna's inner conflict with herself is really good too. But destiny is calling Twilight, sometime soon. You have to step out of your mentors shadow. Also when Twilight gets upset, does the area she's in get smoldering hot cause she channels the sun in her emotions? Anyways good chapter!