An Old Mare's Tale

by realbrickwall

Chapter 6

“Luna? Luuunaaa?"

Princess Celestia's voice rang off the castle walls as she once again activated its magic. "I'm so sorry, Groza," she said, turning to the old griffon, "lately she's been so-"

"Up in the library, sis."

"Yeep!" Celestia jumped a bit at the response. "Er, pretend you didn't just see that."

Groza chuckled. "My beak is sealed."

The pair took to their wings and flew up the stairs to the library. Waiting for them at the entrance was Twilight Sage, looking incredibly exhausted. He hung his head upon seeing the princess and the ambassador.

"I can't get her to stop. At this rate she's going to hurt somepony. Probably me." Sage turned to re-enter the library, which led Celestia to notice the state of affairs. Stone bookshelves had been toppled, some of the books were flying and trying to eat each other, and the filing cabinet had turned plaid. Princess Luna was at the dead center of the chaos, her horn aglow in night-sky purple.

"Luna?! What in the world are you doing?" Celestia advanced on her sister, but stopped to try and settle things down with her own magic.

"Practicing! You gotta check this out." Luna reared up on her hind legs, kicking at the air excitedly. Her eyes widened when she faced the entrance. "Groza!" The young alicorn leapt into the air and tackled the griffon in a large hug. Groza managed to keep her footing, though.

"Hey, squirt. I was worried when you didn't catch me halfway into the city. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, I've just been busy. Do the thing!"

Groza rolled her eyes. "Aw, c'mon. Aren't you tired of that by now?" From Luna's widened, shimmering pupils, the answer was obvious.

"You might as well do it, Groza. She'll just keep bugging you."

Groza sighed, smiling. "Fine." The old griffon reared up onto her lion legs and shut her eyes in concentration. Golden shards formed around her swirling in a whirlwind until they became a necklace, which ended in a golden crown. "You know I'm only supposed to do this when I face evil, right?"

Luna giggled. "Ooh, I can be evil, if you like. A vicious monster. Graaawr!" The little goddess once again attempted to tackle the griffon, only to meet with even greater resistance. Groza didn't even move an inch, as if she were made of stone. "Or not. I guess I'm not cut out for evil."

"Wouldn't matter if you were, kid. As the Spirit of Loyalty, none can fell me when I defend others."

"But you weren't defending anyone!"

"On the contrary. I seem to have been defending the princess of Equestria from a vicious monster." Celestia giggled. The fact that the forces more ancient than the world had a sense of humor gave her strange comfort.

"So, Luna, you said you wanted us to see something?" Celestia looked over at Groza to see that the necklace was already gone.

"Oh yeah!" Luna hopped back to her hooves. "Sage found an awesome spell, and I've just about got it. It's hard to hold, though."

"What could you be-?"

"Watch!" Luna braced herself in a wide stance and channeled magic into her horn. Celestia took a step back as her younger sister grew taller, her horn longer, and her wings wider. Her short silver mane grew immensely, and became a starry umbra. Her coat darkened just a little, but it seemed purer somehow. The young goddess wore a huge grin. "Cool, huh?"

Celestia's heart raced. She recognized that spell. It was one she had tried when Luna was still very young, just after their parents had passed on. She remembered what it felt like. The power of the sun had burned in her mind, fueling an unquenchable flame. It would have destroyed her, had she not heard Luna crying in the next room. It was unrelated, of course, but she had almost lost a hold on what was truly precious to her.

"Luna. End that spell right now. You don't know what you're doing."

Luna's grin turned into a snarl. "Don't know what I'm doing? I-oh no." The young alicorn's horn burst into magic once again, filling the room with light. When the light subsided, Luna was normal again, and the floor grew a carpet that felt disturbingly like real hair. Celestia sighed.

"Luna, that spell is for mortal ponies. Goddesses like you and I are tied to the very forces of nature in a way that no other beings are. Messing with our power is very dangerous."

"You just don't like the idea of me being better than you at something."

"Luna, that's ridiculous-"

"It's not!" Luna advanced on Celestia. "I know how you love being the better sister. All the ponies adore you, you and your sun. They act like you're the only princess here, and I bet you wish you were!" Celestia noticed that Luna was glaring at her again, intensely and full of hate. Her eyes shimmered, and Celestia tried to look away. There was just something so very wrong with that look. It wasn't natural. It wasn't the look of a pony, nor of anything else in the world. It was like a beast, or something that even beasts feared.

Luna was stopped by a clawed talon. "Your sister loves you more than anything in the world, squirt." Groza's face was filled with genuine concern. "I know it can be tough sometimes, but we have to trust that those close to us have our best intentions at heart." And that was it. Luna's eyes were once again those of an emotional little filly.

"I guess you're right. Sorry, sis."

Celestia noticed that her wings had flared out, and she folded them up as she tried to regain composure. "It's alright, Luna. I owe you an explanation." Luna's eyes popped. "A long time ago, I tried that spell myself. It messed with my head. The power of the sun is too much for a mind not yet prepared for ascension. The effects were permanent. You probably don't remember much of what I was like before then, but since that time, I've been a little prone to anger."

"Wait, that was magic? I always thought that was just your time of the month." Celestia blushed, and heard Groza launch into uproarious laughter. She lowered her eyebrows and gave the griffon an even stare. It was not one of anger, nor of any emotion, but the instant she met the griffon's eyes, Groza stopped laughing immediately.

"Wow. Funny thing is, you're a lot scarier when you should be angry and you're not."

"This is serious, girls. Once I discovered the spell's deleterious effects, I hid the book away. I honestly wonder how you found it." Celestia heard a gasp from the corner. Sage had been standing there the entire time, and now appeared to be looking for a way out. His eyes lingered on the stained glass window. "Oh."

"I'm sorry, Princess! I was just doing research. I had no idea."

"I believe you, Twilight Sage. It's alright. Help me clean up after all this, and we can call it even." Sage hung his head. Since he had no magic, he would only be doing cleanup that required muscle and hoof. "Groza, why don't you go with Luna to get some more cake?"

"Ooh, cake!" Luna sprang into the air and began trotting out the door, with Groza right beside her smiling softly.

"Wait, Luna, one last thing." The alicorn stopped and turned around. "Whatever thoughts may have come into your head from the moon while that spell was on…don't listen to them. They'll do nothing but harm."

"Oh, Celestia, I didn't hear anything. Honestly, I felt as normal as ever when the spell was going on, except for being taller." Luna resumed her trot and was soon out of sight.

Celestia's stomach churned. Somehow that made her feel more nervous than ever.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Sage's eyes were filled with determination.

"You know this will change everything, don't you?" Celestia didn't show her worry, but nothing could hide that she was greatly concerned.

"It's our only choice."

"Alright." Celestia closed her eyes and levitated a great tome in front of her, followed by a quill and a vial of ink. "From now on, we put the agriculture books under administrative sciences rather than physical sciences." She began crossing out old entries. The change meant they'd have to undo a half-hour of work to get everything re-sorted properly.

"I'm sorry, Princess, but that's the only way we can compensate for the missing section of the shelf." The orange pony kicked aside some pebbles that still remained from the rubble.

"I know. I just didn't think I'd be spending the day that my oldest friend came to visit cleaning up." She levitated a number of books off the shelves and put them into a neat pile on the floor. "She has to head back tonight, and I won't see her again for months at this rate."

"I understand. Sometimes duty keeps us apart from the ones we care about." Sage pushed the books on the lower shelves so that they would be more compact. He didn't look up as he spoke, but Celestia could hear in his voice that his mind was somewhere else.

"You'll get to see her again soon, Sage. It's not like your job requires you to be here all the time, much as you act it." Sage looked back with a sad expression. Wordlessly, he went over to the main desk where his saddlebag was lying. He pulled out a tube with a lens on each end.

"It does now. This device magnifies distant objects like the heavens. The amount of research that could be done on the stars is too great to ignore. I'll be spending every night up in the observatory. Even when she's free, I'll be either working or asleep." He nudged the tube back into the bag. "Innovation can carry a hefty price."

"Even discovery should be tempered by wisdom." Celestia looked at her advisor calmly. He simply stared at the floor.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about the book. I should have gone to you first."

"Yes, you should have." The princess gave the unicorn a hug. "But I forgive you." Sage hugged her back tightly. They both stood in silence for a moment before Celestia released the hug. "Now, let's get back to work."

"Of course." Sage resumed his compression of the economics section as Celestia levitated the new section onto the shelf. The fit was very tight, and he had to put his hooves against the shelf to pull his nose out. "You know, Princess, if you want to go and talk to your friend, I'm sure I can take care of the rest of this. The magic's all undone and the heavy lifting's over."

"Twilight Sage, I will not have you doing all this work all by yourself." Celestia didn't want to mention that the workload would increase dramatically without the aid of magic. It was always a bit of a sensitive subject with her magic-less advisor.

"I have been doing library work without magic for years, Celestia. This is no different." Perhaps she had taught him too well. The boy was far too smart.

Celestia sighed. "If you're sure. But if you're not done by the time Groza leaves, I'm coming back to help you.” Sage didn't respond. He was already getting to work. Celestia slowly walked out of the room, looking back the entire time.

She whispered to herself, "Confound all these insecure ponies."

"You have to leave already?" Luna was looking up at Groza with pleading eyes. The old griffon ruffled the alicorn's mane with a single talon.

"Sorry, squirt, but I've gotta be back in Griffonmont before sunrise to preside over a marriage. It's mostly a political thing, but my claws are tied when it comes to inter-tribal stuff. I can't get out of it."

Luna grumbled, "Stupid sun, always ruining everything."

Celestia watched the scene with an even stare. Luna and Groza were acting as blithely as ever, despite the events that had happened just a few hours ago. She knew that Groza was downplaying it on purpose, but what about Luna? Did she really have no awareness of what was going on?

"Okay, Luna, we should really let Groza get going. We've all got politics to get back to." Celestia placed a hoof on her younger sister's shoulder.

"Fine," groaned Luna with a sigh. She hugged the old griffon and backed off to let Celestia do the same. With that, Groza took off, waving one talon back at the pony princesses. "You owe me a story next season, you old harpy," yelled Luna after the griffon's diminishing form.

"Come on, honey, we have work to do. You still have bills to sign."

"They only need one of us to sign them."

"Yes," Celestia said in the most "yes-but" tone she could, "but do you remember the last time you tried to exercise that little loophole?"

Luna huffed. "For all you know, the newspapers were right and I really WAS off vacationing in Maredrid sipping drinks and fooling around with poolcolts."

"We ate dinner together every night that week."

"I am a master of illusion and trickery. That's just what I wanted you to think!"

"And you hate pools."

"Another deception!"

"And every time you have to drink alcohol, you make this adorable little gagging noise." The two of them stared off for a minute. Luna's eyebrows were knitted, and Celestia's were narrowed despite the fact that her smile was not at all broad enough to force them that way.

"Just gimme a pen." A quill and inkwell levitated right next to Luna, who began signing the papers beside the throne with an exaggerated frown. "Why do we even bother with a senate?"

"Luna, we have this discussion every five years. Long before we were born it was declared that all ponies must be free. That precludes a dictatorship, even one ruled by goddesses."

"But what about other forms of government? We could do what the griffons do. A gera-…gerald-…"

"Gerontocracy."

"That thing! It's way less convoluted than a republic. Just let all the old ponies be in charge."

"The griffons have a complex tribal system. A gerontocracy doesn't necessarily preclude dictatorship, Luna, it merely changes how it's decided who's in charge."

"But the leaders aren't decided by something stupid like royal families! The ponies could still choose who's in charge by making sure the ponies they don't like never reach old age and WOW I already see what the problem with that is." Luna set aside the bills and slumped on the throne. "Guh. I am not cut out for politics."

Celestia sat next to her sister, which was quite a cozy fit on the throne. "You're better at it than I am most days, Luna. You just need to not charge ahead with every little idea before you think it out first. She leaned down to nuzzle her sister. When she opened her eyes, though, she noticed that Luna was no longer next to her, but was rather at the foot of the throne.

"Oh, yeah, 'cause I'm just the little sister, right? I don't know any better, right?!" The younger princess was glaring right at Celestia. Her pupils were shrunken, and…wrong. Celestia couldn't put her hoof on it, but she couldn't help but avert her eyes.

"Luna, I was trying to compliment you." She kept her voice calm, but Celestia felt her heart racing.

"Yeah, well-" the younger princess cut herself off and stared at the ground. "I…I have to go!" Her horn glowed, and with a loud flash, she disappeared.

"Luna!" Celestia stood and looked around. "Luna, where are you?" She spread her wings and flew out the throne room at top speed. She closed her eyes as she sped into the city of Everfree. "What is going on today?"

Comments

[coandco]

"You're better at it than I am most days, Luna. You just need to not charge ahead with every little idea before you think it out first.

You appear to be missing a quote mark at the end of this dialogue.