Ponywatching

by ThunderTempest

Prompt #304: Distasteful

Celestia stared, impassive. She knew that she should do it, but that didn’t make it any less palatable. Of course, Celestia had a long life. She had done many things that were distasteful, but remained the correct course of action.

She had overseen the beginnings of wars, struck down generals, and signed countless treaties, some of which had been vastly unfavourable to Equestria, just so that her little ponies could enjoy the life they had now. And with every battle started, every life taken and sacrificed, she reminded herself that it was all worth it, to look out of her window into the rising sun and see her ponies waking up in a world in which they did not have to worry about invading griffons, or rampaging chaos beasts most of the time. Ponyville, as it often was, was the exception.
The Princess of the Sun narrowed her eyes at the table before her. If she truly wanted, it would take a mere thought, and the offending object would be forever banished from her sight, incinerated in a blaze of celestial fire. If she wanted to.

However, it would not solve her problem. If she burnt the problem away, she would find another replacing it just as quickly, and she would be back in the same position. She could burn that one, but the cycle would keep repeating itself. Celestia amused herself for a moment by attempting to calculate the number of repetitions it would take before she or the other party gave up.

“Hurry up, Celestia,” said Luna, from the other side of the table, “we must change the courts over soon.”

Celestia sighed, and glared at the offending object once more. She levitated her fork, and stabbed it into her salad with all the viciousness that she had once stabbed minotaurs. Luna managed to suppress a sigh, as Celestia chewed and swallowed her salad as quickly as she could.

“One would think that you were still a child, Celestia, given your table manners,” said Luna.

“As if you are in a position to critique,” said Celestia. Seemingly to illustrate her point, Luna took a long, loud slurp of her water.

Author's Note:

Written for Prompt #304: “It Takes Guts”

The prompt: Doing the right thing.