Short stories about ponies and whatnot

by shutaro

Things we can not talk about

Luna walked down the corridor behind the throne room. She enjoyed these moments of solitude, without the guards and hoofmaidens buzzing around. It was only a short walk from the throne to her private quarters, but it was one of her little guilty pleasures. Of course she could have teleported the small distance, but it was not the same. She felt she needed the minute to unwind from the stress and pressure of the crown. She ducked as she walked through the little portal into her official bedroom. And almost like she had expected it there sat her first case for counseling this night.

She opened the door to the little balcony. “Twilight Sparkle, why do you sit outside my door? Is something bothering you?” She had learned not to beat around the bush with her. Twilight had a tendency to hide her problems and would happily chat about everypony and her dog to do so. Just another point on Luna’s list of things that she used whenever Celestia brought up The Big Project. But Luna could not contain at least a bit of curiosity. “And how did you get on my balcony anyway?”

“Oh, I teleported from the astronomy tower to the roof of that little turret over there”, Twilight pointed her hoof to a little turret on the other end of Canterlot Castle, “and then to the protrusion next to the —”

Luna stopped Twilight with a wave of her hoof. “You’re not here to tell me about the lacking security of my bedroom. So tell me, my friend, what’s bugging you?”

Twilight looked up to the stars and took a deep breath. “I read about something today.”

Luna smiled. What else was new?

“I’ve been thinking about it all day: the truth that can be spoken is not the truth. What do you think about this, Luna?”

Now it was Luna’s turn to look at the stars. “Meditating dragon philosophy is a dangerous game, Twilight. They use words as much to trap you as to free you.” Luna turned her eyes from the sky and looked at the smaller pony beside her. “Their wisdom can hide a kernel of truth in a mountain of uncertainty."

“So here’s what I make of this: To a dragon the biggest truth is about himself, and that truth can never be shared. That’s one of the reasons why they prefer to life alone. But to us ponies the herd is just as important as the self. And while neither the truth of the self nor the herd can be expressed in words, we both know about them, and we know they are true.” Luna lifted a hoof and offered it to Twilight.

Twilight took the offered hoof, and the two ponies shared a moment of silence. Finally she broke the silence. “Thank you, Princess. I feel a lot better knowing that you came to the same results, even if I didn't know about the dragon-part. Some things just can’t be expressed, but that doesn’t make them any less true or important.” She sighed as she got up and stretched. “Do you mind if I walk the way back to my room? Teleporting all the way was a bit exhausting after all.”

“Not at all,” Luna chuckled. “And I wouldn’t have said anything, had you waited in my room in the first place. Have a good night, Twilight Sparkle.”

As the door closed, Luna walked to her desk and opened a scroll. She looked at each item on the list before she dumped the whole thing into a paper basket. “Maybe it is time to think about unspoken truths a little more.”

Author's Note:

Not terribly deep, but what do you expect at 01:00?

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The prompt: Not all truths need to be spoken.

Comments

[Valhuir]

I notice Luna did not even refer to the opposite side of that statement...

"The truth that can be spoken is not the truth."

It's possible to interpret that as meaning that it's possible to lie by telling truths, and letting the listener draw their own (false) inferences...

[shutaro]

2824793
My answer is threefold:
I) Luna is pony princess. She wouldn't use misdirection to lead you to false assumptions, and neither would she want to put those kind of ideas in Twilight's head.
II) That quote is from one of the two important books of Taoism (and practically the only thing I remember from learning about it in school), so I wasn't inclined to be actually philosophic about it.
III) That prompt came up at 01:00 (AM, just if there was any misunderstanding here), and I was really torn to write anything at all or go to bed on time for a change.
So there!