Sunspear

by Cerulean Blue

Sundering

Celestia and Luna stood in a gully before a low ridge, beyond which stood the Ravenhawk nest, a hard day’s flight from the village. It was an enormous jumble of living and dead trees jumbled together on a small hilltop plateau, surrounded by a small cliff of jumbled rocks, hidden by arcane, feral magics, an unconscious blind spot in the eye and the senses, first only found through the absence of sound, the slight twisting of the light, the faint tremor of unseen forces.

“The force commander says they’re all there as far as she can tell. I’ll go talk to her, work out a plan of attack, ensure everything is ready when we move at late tonight and they’re not expecting anything” Luna said, and then waited for a response. Celestia continued eyeing the hilltop and then nodded slightly.

Hesitating, Luna looked at Celestia and saw the tense muscles, the flattened ears, and nuzzled her. “We will get them, and stop them from ever doing this again”. A nod from Celestia and Luna turned and left.
--
Luna had almost made it back to the camp when the squawking and screaming started, and she turned, scanning the air to see if maybe a Ravenhawk or two had taken flight and seen something untoward. There was a crack of thunder, and then another, and she realized with horror that the noises were coming from the nest itself. She suddenly found herself galloping towards the noise and took flight, stealth dropped for speed. She’d barely cleared the trees when a giant shaft of light speared down from the sun and impacted distantly on the hilltop from where all the noises were coming from. Blinded despite the protective spells on her chanfron, she faltered in mid-air and then crashed to the earth, the trees breaking her fall.
--
Luna gritted her teeth and forced her way up the slope at a gallop while her battered and bruised body complained loudly about the movement she was forcing it through. Her armor had taken most of the force of the crash and thankfully nothing was broken, but she knew she’d feel this for a while. She sighed as she realized that she’d gotten soft sitting on the Throne, and knew that in the coming weeks and months she’d have to start training again if this was the sort of work she was going to do. As she crested the ridge she first saw the burning remnants of the nest, fully exposed now that the protective wards had been utterly smashed. The light itself around the crown of the hill flickered with brightness in a rod reaching up to the heavens where the sun sat, and then she saw her sister close by, off to the side, just watching.

“I thought we had agreed that we would wait until nightfall” Luna said, moving to stand beside her sister. Celestia said nothing, staring motionless into the funeral pyre.

Luna extended her wing carefully over Celestia. “Come back with me to Canterlot. Take a while to decompress and to work things through, and then you can take over the Throne for a bit again – Twilight won’t mind at all. We’ll station a wing of Day Guard at the village and ..”

“No!” Celestia shouted, and Luna jumped back at the vehemence in her voice, “Never again.”

Luna took another step back. “I don’t understand, they’ll be safe, you’ll be safe, we’ll ..”

Celestia shook her head and turned her body to face Luna. “*We* had it all, and then we fought, and I banished you to the moon, Luna. A thousand years I sat on that Throne. A thousand years of looking up at night into your face, a thousand years of ponies being subservient whatever I was doing and wherever I was. You have no idea how lonely and painful it was Luna.” Celestia shouted at Luna, her wings flared out, “I had lovers, I had children, I had confidants and I had friends, but sooner or later they’d grow old and die. Then all that would be left would be ponies that treated me as a solution to their problems and an everlasting spear and shield to deal with their enemies.”

Celestia faltered and stopped, tears streaming down her face, seeing the Pegasus and Thestrals of the Night Guard force slowly moving into a protective fan around Luna, their weapons gripped tightly. Luna noticed this and caught the eye of a nomcon, discreetly flicking her wing to tell them to back off. Turning back she quickly stripped her wings of armor and moved to Celestia, hugging her close.

“I’ve done terrible things, Luna.” whispered Celestia, “I’ve burned invading armies. I have made so many mistakes, Luna, and I’ve been so very lonely. Then Cadance came and I started slowly grooming her for the Throne, and then you came back and Twilight saved you! We ruled and I guided her and educated her and she suddenly became an alicorn, and then before I knew it she took the Throne herself. I thought I’d finally escaped all of that and could live my life as I wanted, to fly and run free with you, but you said no, that you wanted to stay and help. We had that argument and I said things that I never should have, and all the shouting reminded me of the last time we had such an argument. I ran, lulu, I ran before one of us ended up imprisoned for another thousand years. I hid and I traveled and I found this village and I was happy! No responsibilities but those I wanted, and no wants but those I chose!”.

“Then you came across the bodies and couldn’t fix it, and the only pony who might be able to help you was the same pony who you screamed at and then fled, the same pony who left you for a thousand years, who then helped you and asked for you to return to the last place you wanted to be” breathed Luna, Celestia nodding in agreement.

Luna stood silent for a moment, then gripped Celestia harder. “I’m sorry, Celly, I didn’t realize. If I’d talked to you more when I was jealous of the attention you were getting, paid more attention .. “, Luna paused, then continued, “I can’t wind back the clock, and I will never know what you went through when I was away. But I’m here now, and things are changing. Twilight is talking about making the nobles more accountable, about having some sort of council or delegates for the ponies and the others to solve their problems. I think she hates the Throne as much as you do, and with the guidance you gave her and the help she’s getting from Cadance and Spike and me and the others, she’s going to make it work Celly. It’ll take time, but it won’t be forever, and we’ll be free.”

Luna stopped talking and looked up at Celestia, and saw her just silently looking ahead.

Comments

[NaiadSagaIotaOar]

The history presented in this chapter sounds much more interesting than the rest of this story's plot, to the point where I think expanding on that would be much more worthwhile than trying to polish this. Celestia's dilemma here sounds like it'd make for a great story, but when I'm only hearing about it after everything's happened, it fell very flat for me.

Which is a shame, because I really enjoyed the first chapter. It had a kind of mythological vibe to it I thought was really fresh and unique.

Overall, I agree with what others have said. There's a great idea at the heart of this, but the implementation felt sorely lacking. I hope you keep writing.

[Cerulean Blue]

9940142
Definitely plan on continuing. I feel I can write snippets well, or a good intro, but the rest I have lots of problems with.