Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
"So that is the situation," Twilight Velvet concluded as she looked around at the six remaining Directors that had come to meet her. Not all of them were pleased to be called away during their family celebrations but as Velvet had explained the matter, they all quickly understood the seriousness of it. "As such, it is even more vital that our Head Director and her sister make peace between them, so that Equestria never finds itself threatened as it has been. I realize that we had our reasons for leaving, but they are still our kin, and I do not wish to see them come under attack by outside forces simply because those other nations do not understand the situation."
Her eyes swept the room, trying to read the expressions on her fellows' faces. Steady Notes was clearly concerned, and in agreement with her. Crystal Lace also looked concerned. Well Wishes' face was unreadable, and she wasn't too sure about Clear Flow or Water Wheel either. Neighsay, on the other hoof, was just scowling like usual.
"And yet, there is nothing we can actually do about it," Crystal Lace said. "The power that Head Director Luna possesses, granting her control over the moon's orbit without burning herself out like the unicorns of old, is beyond any of our understandings."
"And I doubt that this Princess Celestia will mention this little accord to Director Luna," Clear Flow said. "She has no way of knowing about it; what if the past repeats and the two sisters hold up the the cycle of the moon and sun again? It would be a war not only against Equestria but us as well and we cannot begin to guess whether the Equestrians would side with us."
Velvet nodded. "I would like to think that their other Princess would fill our Head Director in," she said. "From what I have been told, she has been eager to meet Director Luna and get to know her."
Neighsay arched an eyebrow at that. "Another Princess?" he asked suspiciously.
Velvet nodded. "One whom Director Luna openly called her niece in my presence," she said. "And whom she seems to trust a great deal. I have faith that this Princess Cadance will do her part to prevent such a thing as a war from being created during this first meeting."
"Plus, we do have the Director of Security and our best soldiers on the surface in case the worst does arise," Neighsay said, his eyes darting towards a vial on Head Director Luna's desk. It was attached to a mate on Luna's person, one she would break in case the worst should happen and the Equestrians had turned on them and captured them. It was an unsavory solution but one that they were prepared for as best as they could, though Luna had only agreed to it from an unanimous vote forcing her to take it with her. She had said Equestria would never stoop to that level but none of them had wanted to take that chance.
Velvet had to agree with him, reluctantly. Still... "Director Onyx also spoke highly of Princess Cadance to me during the short time he was back here with us," she said. "And I trust his judgement."
Neighsay did not look convinced, but the others were nodding. "And these Equestrians, Deputy Director Shining Armor is watching them?"
"For the most part," Velvet said. "Vinyl Scratch took one of them, a fellow musician from what I've been told, to visit her family and take part in the founding day celebrations. In addition, another of the visitors, Applejack, has confirmed family up here and is likely to be spending time with him and the rest of their clan."
Velvet had expected Neighsay to object to this but instead, he was nodding his head. "That is good to hear," he said, looking towards Steady Notes. "Has your team managed to find more linking our guests to any of our populace?"
"Er, yes, actually," the mare said. "Along with Director Well Wishes' medical examination of the Equestrians, we were able to trace some familial ties for them. I was waiting for a proper time to bring it up, after the celebrations were done, but Director Velvet's information brought us together sooner, and justifiably so."
"Regardless, I think it would be suitable for all parties to meet," Neighsay said. "It would show great initiative on our part to bridge the gap between our nations if we could further your project, Director Notes. In fact, why not put it to a public vote, shall we? I shall abstain, of course."
Velvet frowned. It was so very odd for Neighsay to be so supportive and kind that she couldn't help but be suspicious, but Velvet also couldn't find any reason to vote against this idea.
One by one, her fellow Directors voted in favour of his proposal. Finally, Velvet put her own vote in, also in favor. But she had a feeling that something was up, and privately promised to keep an eye on things and to make sure her daughter's new friends knew to be careful.
Just in case.
"Whoo-ee," Applejack let out a whistle of appreciation as she observed the area where Braeburn worked. Her cousin had taken her to see the orchards that he tended in the Quartus dome, and they looked pretty spectacular to her. "Mighty fine trees ya got up here."
Braeburn beamed. "We Apples've been tendin' 'em since the beginning," he said. "Had some scares in the past, but they've pulled through."
Applejack nodded understandingly. "All orchards have their problems, no matter how hard ya try," she said. "We haven't been able to properly tend our west orchard in years; it's where a bunch of fruit bats have a colony, an' they get rowdy if ya disturb 'em - too rowdy for us to chase off." She shuddered. "'Least they aren't vampire fruit bats, them critters are even worse."
"What are them? We don't get much of any critters up here, Applejack," Braeburn said with a grin.
"Fruit bats are... well, bats that look lahk fruit," Applejack said. "An' they eat it too, so they're kind of protective of any orchard they roost in. We tolerate 'em because there aren't enough of us there year-round to keep 'em out; not happy about 'em, but not much we can do. But them Vampire Fruit Bats are a more vicious kind that suck the juice out of fruit an' leave it all rotten, so we do what we have to to keep that breed away."
"Now that sounds like a real pest of a critter," another voice with the accent of all the ponies had up here said as they walked past the tree line. She was an older looking mare, though she had a big smile on her face. "Howdy there. Ah'm Rose Splendour, this here colt's mom. Nice ta meet ya Applejack."
Applejack smiled. "Nice ta meet ya too, Rose," she said before sniffing the air. "Is that apple fritters Ah smell?"
"Yer darn tootin' it is," Rose said, pulling the stallion into a headlock. "We make the best up here; Braeburn here tries but he don't got the touch."
"Ah, ma..." Braeburn grumbled, but Applejack was chuckling.
"Some ponies are just lahk that," she said. "What's important is that you try. It took me some time, but Ah reckon Ah'm pretty decent now."
"Yah hear that?" another stallion laughed as he walked towards them. He looked like a much older version of Braeburn, with a beard and similar hat on his head. "Yah need ta keep at it, son."
"Pa," Braeburn groaned, pulling his hat downwards. "Do ya got ta do this?"
Applejack watched them interact with a smile. It was just like back home used to be.
"Ah'd be glad to show you how we do it back at the Acres," she said. "If'n yer interested."
"Ah know Ah would be," Rose said. "So come on, let's head back to the house."
Applejack let the other three lead her away from the trees and towards their home. She was pleasantly surprised, as they approached, to find that it more closely resembled her own.
"Ya surprised we don't have one of them metal homes, eh?" Braeburn's pa said with a chuckle. "We recalled how our home was back when we lived in Equestria, our ancestor. It took some time but we eventually got the go-ahead to convert our home into a proper Apple homestead." He gave a bit of a sigh, shaking his head. "Though not all of them wood is real; we've got ta be practical to safety measures and the like." He then blinked and slapped his forehead. "Where are mah manners, Ah didn't introduce mahself. Dougherty Apple, at your service." Extending a hoof, which Applejack happily accepted, he smiled at her. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Applejack."
"Same here, Dougherty," Applejack said, shaking his hoof. "And Ah get what yeah mean; tradition is fine and all but Ah've got ta admit ya got ta use yer head."
"Exactly!" Dougherty beamed. "Ya got a good head on yer shoulders, Applejack."
"Ah try," Applejack said, ducking her head. "Don't get me wrong, Ah've made mistakes... but Ah try to learn from 'em."
"Best thing to do, 'sides admittin' when ya made one," Rose replied as they headed into the house.
Once they'd gotten settled into the kitchen and Rose had served everypony, Applejack took her first bite of fritter and grinned. "Tastes just lahk how Granny makes 'em," she said.
That got her a lot of pleased looks, and all three started asking questions about the rest of the Apple family down in Equestria. Applejack answered them as best as she could, and asked some of her own in return, which got her some interesting responses.
Still though, even knowing she was on the moon instead of back at Sweet Apple Acres, she felt right at home, and privately promised to make sure the rest of her family got to see this some day.
"I gotta say, the Wonderbolts sound really cool, Dasher," the pegasus across from her said, hovering in the air. "Though I kinda wish they were like the military army we're taught about in our ancient history lessons. Those guys sounded really neat."
"I guess?" Dash shrugged. "The Wonderbolts being the best athletes is how anypony knows them now Lightning. Way I hear it, they actually started off as a way of inspiring new recruits by showing off what their troops could do, but that became so much of their focus that most ponies just see them as performers now rather than soldiers. They do handle rescue work too though."
"Eh," the light green mare shrugged. "To each their own, Dasher. I just hope that one day we can do our own airteam after-"
"Our leaders make peace, right Dust?" the grayish indigo mare next to her said so quickly that Dash could tell it was an obvious coverup. She wasn't sure what it was, only that the moon ponies must have been planning something big.
"Yeah, that's the way, Thunder," Lightning Dust said with a nervous chuckle. "Be way cool if I was on it."
Rolling Thunder rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it would," she said.
Rainbow Dash watched the two carefully as they chatted. Lightning Dust had been one of the first few to approach her, and while she seemed okay, there was just something that bugged her about the other mare. She seemed a little too casual about certain topics, for one. She knew that if there weren't any other ponies around them, Dust would have blabbed about all the secrets she knew five minutes ago with only a little pushing.
She also seemed very certain of herself for another; Rainbow Dash knew she had a great deal of self-confidence in herself, but there was a difference between confidence and cockiness. She'd spent hours, day after day, training to achieve what she wanted in between her shifts on the weather team. Dust... well, maybe most of the moon ponies had a strong work ethic, but Dust reminded her disturbingly of him. Zephyr Breeze had the same attitude issue, so confident that he could do anything but not wanting to work at it, and it was one of the things about him that drove both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy crazy.
Speaking of... She glanced around and saw Fluttershy still happily explaining things to a group of young foals, all of whom were listening to her with ears perked and awe on their faces, which brought a smile to Dash's own, before she turned back to an expectant-looking Lightning Dust.
"I think you'd have a shot at it," Dash said, shrugging her wings. "You look like you've got the wingpower and the endurance to really pull off some good moves out there."
"Really?" Dust asked, looking at her wings. "Man, it would be great to actually test them but there's not really enough open space for that."
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash agreed. "I can get why that'd be an issue up here." She looked up at the stars above. "Great view though."
"Yeah," Rolling Thunder agreed. "Me though? I can't wait to get down into some wide-open spaces, maybe fly through some lightning storms."
"They aren't as fun or safe as you might think," Dash cautioned.
"Eh." Rolling Thunder shrugged. "What's life without a little risk?"
"Risk is one thing, but what you're talking about is-" Rainbow Dash began before she heard something in the background. "What the hay?"
Then she saw the source of the noise and relaxed. "Never mind, it's just Pinkie."
Indeed, the noise she'd heard was her friend bouncing around at high speeds and angles, and the sight made her snicker a little before she raised her voice again, having figured out the cause. "Okay! Who gave Pinkie the chocolate-covered coffee beans?"
One mare raised a hoof timidly. "She said she liked chocolate," she said. "I didn't know it was going to do that to her."
Rainbow Dash went over and laid a hoof on her shoulder reassuringly. "Nah, it'll be fine," she said. "Pinkie can handle that kind of stuff no problem; it just makes her a little more hyper than usual for a while. She'll calm down in a few minutes."
The other mare looked relieved. "Okay," she said. "As long as she'll be fine."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Even at her most hyper, Pinkie can keep herself from going too wild," she said. "Assuming it's one of her good days. And this is, I made sure before we came up here."
"Oh... okay." The mare smiled, then looked back at Pinkie. "She's really..."
"Exuberant?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Yeah. But she's a great friend."
"All of you Equestrians are," Dust said as she came over and lightly punched her in the arm. "I have to admit, I kinda thought you'd be stuffy plotheads, going on about the superiority of your princess and living on the surface but you're all pretty cool ponies."
Rainbow Dash wasn't quite sure what to think of that, though the facehoof that Rolling Thunder did kinda told her she wasn't the only one to think it was pretty blunt. She finally settled on something. "Hey, your Head Director's pretty cool too," she said. "She's the one who invited us up here after she saw we were friends with the ponies she'd asked to check out our home. Besides, we're civilians, from a small town. You want stuffy plotheads, go talk to some of the rich folks in Canterlot."
Lightning Dust made a face. "I'll pass, thanks."
"Same here," Rainbow Dash told her. "But really, not all of us are stuck-up and snooty. Maybe we've got some good points, but so do you guys. This place is amazing."
Then she looked thoughtful. "Wonder if Luna'd mind making an extra round-trip or two when she can," she said. "There's somepony back home I think it'd really help if she came up here, got some of your doctors to look at her wings."
"What's wrong with her?" Rolling Thunder asked, looking more interested than Lightning Dust did.
"Can't get off the ground," Rainbow Dash said. "She can buzz her wings real fast and propel herself real good, but she just can't generate any lift, and we don't know why." She shrugged. "And it's not just her wing size, 'cause there's this one huge full-grown pegasus in town whose wings are as small as hers, and he can fly just fine. Maybe not the fastest, but he can do it."
"Huh, that's really weird," Dust said. "You think the docs up here could figure it out?"
"Lightning Dust, if they could make it so a mare with no vocal cords can speak, then I'm pretty sure they can figure out why Scoots can't fly yet," Rainbow Dash said. "I've been watching out for her for a while, and she really wants to fly like me... so if your doctors can help, it'd mean the world to her."
"I don't know, it might be something we could do though as far as I understand, only Director Luna can actually teleport to and from the moon," Rolling Thunder said. "I think I heard a rumour or something she made it so that only those she allowed to come up here could."
Rainbow Dash nodded, filing that piece of information away for later. "Well, whenever she comes back, I'll have to ask," she said. "If she and Princess Celestia can get a treaty squared away, sharing medical skills would probably one of the things that'd be part of it anyway."
"Yeah, you're probably right about that," Dust said. "Though I doubt anypony up here would agree to sharing all of our stuff to you Equestrians. I mean, no offense but didn't you mention your guards still used swords and spears, right?"
"Eh, yeah?" Rainbow Dash said, confused but before she could din out, Thunder gave Dust a very pointed look that made the mare actually stop talking.
"You'll have to pardon her," she said. "She doesn't know the meaning of the words 'sensitive information'."
Rainbow Dash was really getting suspicious now, but she decided not to comment on it. "Look," she said. "I don't have any say in any treaties. But if I did, I'd be asking for stuff to help ponies who needed it. Medical stuff, like what I've seen so far, that'd be top of the list."
"Then you're even cooler than I thought, if saving lives is your priority," Lightning Dust said. "Not everypony would think that way."
"Really? I thought everypony here was really community driven," Rainbow Dash replied.
"We are," Lightning Dust said. "I'm talking more about our ancestors from the old lands, before Equestria was formed. And no offense meant, but I doubt that kind of attitude's gone away entirely down below."
Rainbow Dash gave her the best grin she could while she saw Rolling Thunder mouth an apology to her.
This is going to be a long talk, she thought to herself.
Luna was utterly bored and desperate for a way to escape this long monotonous talk she was enduring. Unfortunately, the rest of the nobles could not be kept away for too long and all of her fellow Directors were swamped by these egotistical elites seeking to gain some sort of political foothold on them. And unfortunately, Cadance was occupied by one of her own on the other side of the room. If her body language was anything to go by, she was as distressed by this as Luna herself.
The Alicorn of the Night had never had her sister's infinite patience or tolerance to deal with such tiresome pests. She was lucky that they'd set up their society specifically to avoid such things, and that she'd had help in dealing with the egos that had still developed over the years. But it wasn't helping her now, much to her frustration.
An unwelcome stab of envy came to her over her sister's ability to handle such matters with ease before she grimaced mentally. She forced herself to stop that train of thoughts; only darkness waited for her if she traveled too far along that path. Even if she and Trojan did have an understanding, she knew her faults and weaknesses and it would do no one any good if she were to seek them out recklessly.
Fortunately, help was about to appear, as she saw another pony approaching. This one was only vaguely familiar to her, as if she'd seen him before, long ago, but she couldn't remember quite where. Still, any interruption was welcome.
"Pardon me sir," the unicorn, an elderly mustachioed individual with a pale orange-yellow coat and graying mane, said. "But Head Director Luna's presence has been desired in another room, if she does not mind."
The noble looked disappointed, but Luna gave a put-upon sigh. "If I must, I must," she said, before directing a welcoming smile at the newcomer. "Please, lead the way," she said.
As the two walked off, Luna studied him carefully. "Might I know your name?" she finally asked.
The stallion bowed. "Kibitz, Head Director," he said. "I am your sister's royal scheduling advisor."
"Ah." Luna nodded. "Well, I appreciate your arrival," she said. "But tell me, whom is desiring my presence?"
"They are in the room ahead, Madame Director," he said, sounding a little stiff and formal. "I will leave you to your talk."
Luna nodded and entered the room he had pointed out, looking about. It appeared to be an office of some type, rather like the ones she'd seen in passing before. It was quaint; small but clearly designed to be efficient. It was also properly sized in her opinion; in her experience, few things seldom were. She had enough room to walk and move around, and the ceiling was high enough that her horn wasn't scraping against it.
"Hello?" she asked cautiously, wondering who had arranged this.
"Luna." A figure stepped out of the shadows. "I've been expecting you."
Seeing them, Luna sighed in relief. "Oh, it's you, Milky Way."
The older mare nodded. She was appearing as a unicorn, though she still had the touches of ages on her. Wise lines under her eyes with streaks of white in her dark purple coat but one would only have to look into her eyes to see she was far beyond a mere unicorn. "I just came to check on you," she said. "You've done a lot of impressive work. You and your Republic have made impressive strides in my domain."
Then she looked at Luna more seriously. "But are you sure I can't talk you out of this?"
Luna nodded. "I've held my Role for thousands of years, Milky. I'm ready to pass it on, once I can talk Celestia into understanding why I've made my choice. And it's not like I'm just abandoning all my Duties. When I can find a proper successor for my other Role... well, you know my and Trojan's plans for that. My ponies will still need somepony to watch after their dreams, no matter how far away from our home we go. I'm just... going a little lower in rank, when it's time."
"Of course." Milky smiled, but she still looked worried. "But what about your sister? Do you really want to go on, knowing you'll eventually lose her all over again if you keep on this path?"
"I'm hoping I can persuade her to share that Role," Luna admitted. "It wouldn't be the first time one of her has joined or substituted for one of me in those Duties." She blushed. "And... well, I've wanted to share its wonders with her for some time. Show her our ponies as I've seen them for so long. Show her that magical world that Chaos birthed for all; that so few truly understand or get to truly experience."
Milky smiled again. "Well... as long as you're sure." She then sighed. "You know, I'd hoped that you two would have started speaking much sooner when I gave you those mirrors."
Luna nodded, doing her best to cover her snort. It seemed the Lady of Self-Centeredness owed her an apology now. "I'd have liked to have spoken to her sooner too," she said. "But... I couldn't. I didn't want to risk making things worse if I said the wrong thing. And the mood I was in half the time she called..."
"I understand, dear Luna. You two are so very much alike; your mother even had her doubts that you two would not end up in the others' Role when you were but foals," Milky laid a hoof on her shoulder, reminding Luna of those ancient and innocent days. Luna could not help but shed tears as she felt the wave of ages recede and for a moment, she could even see herself forgiving Celestia for all she had done. But the tide came back in as Luna recalled all that she had experienced under her sister's rule and felt the walls rise once more, before Milky spoke again.
"I've been watching over you both for so long, you know," she said softly. "You've done so well, and yet... it breaks my heart to see you and your sister fighting like this."
Luna nodded again. "I don't want to be fighting with her," she said, speaking honestly. "I want us to be working together again. But she's so stubborn, so convinced that she's always right..." She looked up at the mare she considered her aunt. "I'm doing the best I can to stay patient with her," she said. "But this isn't going to be easy. It's not like getting hit with a Harmony blast so all can be returned to how it should be - we have to work at it together, to settle things. And by the Five Creators, we know that patience is not one of my strengths nor is it hers to admit she was ever wrong."
"Those Six certainly do," Milky replied, a twinkle in her eye, causing Luna to do a double-take at the mention of a Sixth Creator. She chuckled, the older mare clearly enjoying having another surprise to share with her. It was her way; she was one of the Originals so she would have access to greater secrets of existence. "But I have faith in you both. And when you're ready to take that big step together, further into my domain... I'll be watching. You're so close to that frontier. Orion is nearly complete and I could not be prouder of all the work you have done to guide your people. The Lady of Technology you have taught and raised will do great and amazing things, and I see many more wonders in all of your futures; you just need to make peace with Celestia."
Luna smiled. "Thank you, Milky," she said, bowing. "I just hope we can see it all done soon."
The older mare nodded, then stepped back, her physical body shifting forms into a swirling darkness in the vague shape of a pony, its form dancing with lights. Stars and planets, streaming comets, all mixed with the spirals of interstellar gasses that together gave galaxies their distinctive visual appearances.
And then the Lady of Space, the elder Power who'd been one of her mentors since before the great War, was gone once more, leaving Luna to herself.
Taking a moment to compose herself, she looked back to where Milky Way had been standing and smiled.
"I promise," she said quietly. "I will do my best so that one day, Celestia and I can make that journey together."
It was one of the things she'd dreamed of for so long, and now, they were so close. True, here were ponies she would miss here, her niece being among them. But the mirrors Milky Way had gifted she and Celestia would aid them in keeping in contact, not to mention her own Power.
Now she just had to hope they could work things out so she could keep her promise.
Then her ears twitched as she heard an unexpected sound.
"Where did those bells come from?" she wondered aloud, before shaking it off and heading back out to the main room, hoping now that somepony she would enjoy talking to was available again.
Her sister was already talking to Director Honey Spice with the earth pony grumbling loudly. She was great at leading the agriculture dome but she made for a poor statespony otherwise. If they had run their government based off of popularity instead of skills, there would never be a chance for her to be in her current position.
Luna caught her sister's eyes, pink meeting green. Perhaps this feud of theirs had gone on for long enough, perhaps it was time for her to be the bigger sister in this damn fight and bring this chapter of their life to a close.
As she walked towards her sister, who flashed her a hopeful look, a green flame danced through the open window. Celestia's golden aura reached into the air to grab it as Luna's PCA began to vibrate, along with all those of her fellow Directors. Director Onyx's eyes widened as he began to call his soldiers to him after reading the message with Luna's eyes narrowing as she read the alarm from her nation on her PCA.
With a hum of plasma rifles being raised towards Celestia, Luna stalked over to her, her anger beginning to rise as she saw her sister's guards dare to raise their primitive weapons against her.
Luna ignored the terrified squawking of the brainless nobles who were blocking Cadance's approach to them, her focus solely on her sister.
"That letter Celestia," she spat, knowing what her sister would do when somepony dared to order her, dared to defy her. "Give it to me now."
"No," Celestia said with the same fury in her voice. "I will not, Luna."
The two sisters stared at each other, a hair's breadth from a war erupting and all thoughts of a better future fleeting fast. The next few seconds would define the future of their world forever.
Sunset could not help herself from laughing.
"Oh my gosh," she said, barely able to get the words out through her mirth. "She's just as bad as Celestia."
Twilight giggled too, leaning in close to her and resting her head on her shoulder. "I know I shouldn't laugh; I'm no better but-" Both of them laughed as Director Luna managed to kick a hole into a wall with one of her attempts to dance. They had retreated to a private gazebo, with Twilight putting up the shades so they could watch without anypony peeking in on them.
"You're better in other ways, Twilight," Sunset said with a blush, kinda-by-accident-but-not-really nuzzling the mare with Twilight returning the nuzzle. "So many other ways."
Twilight blushed at the praise. "You too Sunset," she said with rosy red cheeks. "I am so happy to have met you."
"And I'm happy I met you too, Twilight," Sunset said, smiling at the mare she found herself so fascinated with, so entranced with, so deeply -. She froze as the thought spilled into her head.
"Is everything okay Sunset?" Twilight asked immediately with Sunset nodding her head.
"Y-yeah," she said, hopefully in a convincing manner. "I just need to do something quick, I will be back, I promise."
Twilight nodded and let her go past to the door, with Sunset stepping out. As she walked, she drew a quill and parchment out of her saddlebags and began hurriedly writing a message to Cadance.
Calling over Spike to send off the letter, she was about to walk back into the gazebo when the alarms began to ring out.
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Uh oh, someone screwed up. I'm guessing it was either a noble acting like they own the place, Royal Guards attempting to arrest Lunar Ponies, or that cult that Celestia allowed to exist are making their move.
On another note, plasma weapons? I wonder if the Lunar Ponies have guns, railguns, and laser weapons stored back on the Moon.
I'm... confused. I'm pretty sure nothing like this was mentioned before. Just... what?
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It's cartoon canon that before Equestria was founded, the three tribes had a lot of jerks in them (it's part of what drew the windigos to them, after all). The Republic still studies the old histories from that time too, not just the events leading up to the Night of Departure, and Lightning Dust remembers reading about that stuff in school.
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
Celestia shoudlve just pulled a Stalin and made absolute monarchy. I'd rather just have a singular immortal god leader than a rich snob who wants to line his pockets.
Plasma rifles seem a bit advanced for a society that has very few resources but I'm gonna stop being a science nerd for a bit lol
She probably won't no, but let's hope Cadance does
Hmmm, I'm paranoid enough to be suspicious of Neighsay
Same, somethings up
Well obviously, and just like you Equestria probably wouldn't share all of their stuff with you either
But that also means you never took the chance too make things better
You say that, but much of what you've done and said to Celestia just feels like you're trying to get a rise out of her, you poke at every sour spot, you point out every flaw and you're just as stubborn
"bells"?
Cadance stop being nice and get through them right now
If you know it won't get you what you want then why would you word it like that, you could just as easily have asked what it it said and if you could read it
And if she refused you could have easily pointed out that that it was a potential breach of security since it seems like it came from the moon and probably from Sunset and that you have a right to make sure that it's not a security breach
And if she still refused then offer the compromise of having Cadance read it
Cadance get over there right now
Awww
Oh my gods, the letter for relationship advice is what set of the alarms
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It's the letter Sunset sent via Spike.
Lightning Dust mentioned earlier in the chapter how Luna had made so that only those that she chose could come and go, and while I don't think she could do that I don't doubt that she could create an alarm system that would react if something came to, or left, the moon without her say so.
We're a hair's breadth away from war because Sunset wants some relationship advice and no one bothered to tell her about the alarm system
10828314
I bet you that Sunset sent the letter to ensure that Kadence is taking care or Ray and the magic caring an unauthorized message who's contents could not be confirmed tripped the perimeter alarm. There are three people at fault here: Celestia for that reaction (I would say Luna as well but her's is justified and Tia could have simply complied); Twilight for failing to inform Sunset that communication between moon and planet is strictly prohibited; and Sunset for not thinking to run this by Twilight first to see if it's ok. Sunset's secretiveness would make me suspicious except we already know that she doesn't know nor suspect anything about Orion.
Oh boy, and things were going so well (so to speak
) Here's hoping they can still salvage the situation! 
10828514
They really weren't, though. Things were going well between the ponies who had basically zero say over the outcome while Celestia and Luna were actively hostile to one another. All that's changed is that that hostility is no longer being hidden behind a pretense of politeness. Or, to put it a different way, if things had actually been going well, it would have taken a lot more than this to get them to take up arms.
When things are going well between two nations, they don't respond to unexpected events by immediately pointing guns and/or swords at heads of state.
This is obviously a matter of opinion, but I think the authors have done a very good job of portraying a situation where there was so much mistrust and tension that, barring an outright miracle, it all breaching the surface like this was inevitable. The only real question was what would set it off, and the answer appears to be a letter that Luna never told Sunset not to send.
Y'know, I would think that a thousand years would be enough time for any familial relations to be rendered meaningless. I would expect that there would have been enough intermixing that all the ponies on the moon would be related to an extent.
10828678
Exactly, plus considering how little they said there were on the moon and how little must've survived early on they're definitely all related in some capacity
So, Lunar ponies raised weapons first (on Celestia to boot), yet Luna has the gall to be angered that the Equistrian guards are acting in defense of their own Princesses?
And while plasma weapons might be devastating to Cadance and the "normal" Equestrians, I have doubts that they'll do much to the incarnation of the sun.
At this point, the only thing that will certainly force the sisters to come together is Discord's return.
Unless if both of them realise that their feud would be disastrous for others.
Hmmmmm... Something is a mist. And.. awwww sunny Twi nuzzles.
This is my jumping off point. Too much cosmology and too many Words with Capital Letters to make them Important.
10829822
depends on what that letter is
This is fun