• Published 21st Jun 2016
  • 3,016 Views, 18 Comments

Proverbial Roses - Ice Star



Celestia has many titles and duties and there are always things that remind her of this. They could be ponies or objects, perhaps even something more abstract and symbolic. Today is one such reminder of one of her lesser known roles.

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May 14th

Celestia's ears prick forward to catch Luna's words. Her expression is peaceful, a pleasant smile on her face and her eyes glow with warmth. She sits out in one of Canterlot's many gardens with Luna, a cup of tea between her white hooves. Luna's blue ones drifted through the air, with her turquoise eyes looked on, shining with mirth as she went on with her amusing anecdote.

It was usually nice to have a day off, especially with Luna, who always told wonderful stories. All those stories served as a decent distraction from the ever-present nag that days off were just sloth in disguise, which was part of why Celestia rarely permitted herself any. Goodness knows that she managed to get through her whole rule alone without so much as a single new-fangled 'vacation day' so why she would need one now was... puzzling, to say the least.

Celestia paused to take a sip of her tea before Luna's tale would cause her to spit it out in surprise later on. That one of the many reactions they often provoked from her, and certainly one of the more common ones. "Luna, you really have to write down something one day. You can weave an epic of even the dullest of things."

Luna propped her cheek on her hoof, ceasing her current tale as a devilish gleam emerged in her eye. "Is that a challenge, then?"

"No, not at all. I don't think I'd be much of a competitor. I've never had your way with words."

Luna stuck her tongue out and plucked a nearby flower from its home. She twirled the blossom in her magic. "Great storytellers are so hard to come by! There certainly were quite a few I missed out on, like that charming playwright that popped up a few centuries back. Such wit he had! I would have liked to meet him myself."

She chuckled slightly and twirled the flower again, as though neither mare had lived through the age when playwrights and the ponies that brought the words life had seen as naught but low-life. "'A rose by any other name'. That has to be one of my favorites; it can be so profound when spoken by the right pony at the right time, don't you think?"

Good heavens, Celestia remembered when Luna once begged her to shelter an acting troupe in their old castle. Those poor ponies had been chased into the treacherous Everfree Forest — in mostly one piece — and the reputation of their trade alone had made Celestia ready to teleport them out of the woods altogether, be it storm or shine.

"That's not a rose, Luna," she said as the recollection faded.

Her sister shrugged and tucked the flower behind her ear. "But if I called it a rose it would not cease to be what it really is, now would it? Names have power, but wouldn't you say that the quote still retains much merit, even to this day? A name that grows into something new would rarely make anything worse off."

"I'm sure it does, Luna," mumbled Celestia between another sip of her tea. She felt a soft spring breeze roll through the garden and closed her eyes to savor it, the tea's steam tickling her muzzle. As much as she enjoyed Luna's wit, Celestia's heart wasn't in this conversation.

'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'

It really was a thoughtful line, and for Celestia, the thorns of this rose dug quite deep. Names did have power and Celestia did believe that they could change ponies — and the faces that one envisioned in their own mind. After all, it was her who, at times, had been torn between admitting that 'Nightmare Moon' was just a mask to cover Luna below, or pretending that they were two separate entities as so many had falsely believed.

She took another gulp of tea before setting the cup down. It helped hide her guilty swallow. Celestia hated this day for so many reasons all jumbled together so carelessly within her mind and heart alike. Hearts were such fickle things. In her earliest years, that heart had told the little filly with a mane of soft pink and a coat of snow that the little blue one was her sister — and that she should love her and play with her since it wasn't as if there was a time when the wide-eyed little one wasn't around. Or, if there had been, it wasn't a time that she could remember. Soon after that long-past youth, the two shadows that loomed over them vanished, but not before they made Celestia promise something.

She had to take care of Luna, and she agreed wholeheartedly, not knowing what would lie ahead. For centuries she protected the little star that was Luna. She shielded her from everything that could be with her own heart. Celestia lived for Luna, and Luna alone. She could never lose Luna and there could be nothing but Luna. As unhealthy as that was according to modern headshrinker blether, Princess Celestia could not bear the thought of changing that.

She even broke her heart for Luna. It was nothing but shards when they had found ponies once again, and because of that, she lost sight of everything.

Celestia laughed lightly as Luna acts out a flamboyant and over-emphasized battle scene from some old drama of ages past, using a chair to fence off foes only she could see. Luna knew that the mare she called her sister would laugh so, for only a former Bearer of the Element could know its intricacies so expertly. Celestia tries to ignore the lump in her throat. That lump is her heart, and it took the loss of her precious star to fix it.

Luna's words barely register to Celestia, who is lost somewhere within herself cradling the wounded pieces that still remain.

Sister.

It was such a strange term to her, only made familiar by Celestia's experience at regulating her emotions. She was so terribly used to warming every word so it sounded familiar and without any distant any rehearsed qualities that would come from most rulers.

This was the word that confused Celestia deeply. What was that word supposed to mean to her? Did it speak of envy, kinship, or something else? How was she Luna's sister of all possible relations?

She couldn't be her sister, and she didn't think of herself as such.

Princess Celestia could only think that she was Luna's mother — and she was a mother who was so proud of how far her daughter had come. She had cared for Luna more than anypony else had, and even when she didn't, there must have been some part of her that worked for Luna's well being. That was a thought she needed to clutch with every bit of strength she had.

She was Luna's mother, it was the only way to describe the benevolence and loyalty she felt toward Luna, who she had given up so much for and would protect from anything.

The sound of Celestia's clapping hooves rang out as Luna took a bow and prepared for her next 'scene' of her little display.

Names had power, and it was a power that Celestia did not dare interfere with.

Nightmare Moon or Luna?

Sister or Mother?

Could Luna's proverb really be true? Celestia was a rose who wanted so desperately to be called by another name, and it was a name that could never be that defined feelings she never dared voice — and especially not on this most dreadful day, when Luna would be imagining somepony else's face instead of Celestia's own. Celestia would never say such things to her little star, who might believe they were still coming back. Even if Luna did not — which Celestia had every reason to doubt — Luna would never do what she believed to be a lie or tarnishing the memory of a mare Celestia cared nothing for. Her little star still viewed her as a sister and would never agree with what she felt. Something would have to be broken to give Celestia what she sought, and once broken, it could never be fixed.

She was doomed to be the sister as much as she wished otherwise, a proverbial rose who just as sure as the saying suggested would be just as sweet under her true title, if not even more so.

During Luna's grand finale, Celestia insisted that the tears shining in her eyes were from laughing so hard.

Celestia could be a good actress too.


Author's Note:

Interior art source.
The story of Celestia's promise can be found here.

[Revised for printing on 8/30/2020 and 1/7/2023.]

Comments ( 18 )

For some reason, I could stare at your profile pic for ten minutes straight and not get bored. Probably.

7323553 Why, thank you! :raritywink: I hope you enjoy my stories as well. Your profile pic is very adorable if I do say so myself.

7323558
I might. I saw it in my feed because you added it in your folder for "Let's Make You Known!" (which I'm an admin for but you probably know that) and I thought, "Hmm, Ice Star sounds like a cool name." Thus, I thought I might check out the story.
Also, thank you for the compliment. Rarity enjoys them very much. Don't you, Rarity?
Of course darling! Very much so!
See?

7323594 Fashionhorse is a fabulous horse, and thank you for the praise on my name! :twilightsmile:

7323600
No problem.
Also, if I ever DO get around to reading this I can give a review for it, if you'd like. Dunno how long it'd take me, cause I have other things I need/want to do. On the bright side, this is only 1,129 words long, so it'd take me less than 2 minutes. It's just that, I have so many other things in my 'read it later' and every time I look at it I always mutter under my breath, "stop growing, dammit."

I love this idea and love to see more on it. With celly and Luna taling about it or even lune bring it up

I'm totally stealing your "Luna is a gifted storyteller" headcanon.

7326483 Out of everything in this story that's what you're taking away?:ajbemused:
Also, why?:applecry:

So. I finally got around to reading this. And, as promised, I said I would give a review. Here we go, I guess.
It starts off well enough. I'm pretty sure I caught two typos, one of which just seemed like odd wording to me. But not even a third of the way into the story and this happens.

Great storytellers are so hard to come by and there were quite a few a missed out on,

Yeah, that sentence was the typo. I'm not sure if you did it on purpose but I have no idea what you actually trying to say. Well, maybe that's taking it a bit far. I know what you're saying, but the wording is off and makes you take a look back it and think, 'wait, what?' in order for your mind to process what it just read. A lot like this, actually.

I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hari Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!

Now, that's taking it a little bit far, but you know the point I'm trying to make. It makes you look back at it and think, 'what?' It was also the funniest example I could put out there.

She could never loose Luna

Lose.*
Now, continuing on to the merits of the story. As the description says, it's about a special bond. And that's exactly what you're going to get, which is good. It's short, sweet, and touching. To those with a heart and can thus feel the emotions that you were trying to convey, which worked. With 27 likes, people obviously liked it.
My final score: 6.4 out of 10.
I dunno if that seems harsh or not, but I'm kind of hard to impress these days. Besides, that's like... my opinion, man.
reactiongifs.com/r/2013/06/opinionated.gif
Other than that, the story makes you want to read more about the Ice-Verse. You get slightly confused but in a... 'good' way I suppose, because you know this story is set within that universe. I know the description said that I don't require prior knowledge of events, and that if I read the stories I wouldn't get much out of trying to understand it. Now, however, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) but this is a tactic to get people to read your other stories. And it works. I know because I've done it (albeit, not as grand of a scale as you have done) and it works. It gets people interested.

7386519 Thanks for the review and catching that typo! :twilightblush:

7386589
Yeah, no problem. I guess.

I reviewed this story as part of Read It Now #87.

My review can be found here.

As requested. :rainbowdetermined2:

Nice feels, yo.

Never considered the relationship these two had passed the realm of stereotypical sisterhood. One of your strength of the writer is digging deep into your themes seamlessly and not being pretentious or angsty about it. Your relatability and depth enrich your work, already supplement by flowery prose.

Well done.

8671784
I'm just oozing with angst, yo. Oozing.

Interesting introspective look into Celestia's thoughts after Luna's return.

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