One-Shot
Before my banishment to the moon, I had always found the politics of the region simple. Any issue was often solved through the use of shall we say, the royal Canterlot voice. It was as much respect as it was fear; the ponies of Equestria trusted in my sister and me. The crux of this trust was accomplished through the defeat of Discord, and his subsequent imprisonment in stone. (Let it be known that my sister and I were both active in that. I only wielded three of the elements.) Alas, it seems my sister and I don’t hold as much sway as we did previously. I hope the future finds this an unnecessary record, but I cannot risk the story be told erroneously, as I see history has begun to change even in this short time. I suppose I should have paid more attention to what was going on around me. Though, of course, I am getting ahead of myself.
In the olden times, when both Celestia and I were governing Equestria, the regions hadn’t needed to be allotted to different governors, partly because they hadn’t developed to that point yet, and partly because both my sister and I were able to split the work. During my imprisonment on the moon, however, it was expedient for Celestia to delegate her duties to lower ranks, to keep her from being both magically and socio-politically taxed. After my release, my commanding presence was scorned, but with the help of my sister and in surrendering my pride I managed to fall in pretty well with the leaders of the different regions. They liked my assertive spirit and strong initiative. These had been stifled in my sister, due to her modern tact.
When I was restored, and Celestia heard about the dream magic I had learned from the Nyx, she was a bit jealous of my new duties. Indeed I learned much about the wonders of sleep and how dreaming ponies honored my night as much as their daytime play honored Celestia. It was quite a relief to be no longer allied through jealousy to the insidious magic that had caused me to become Nightmare Moon. Ironically, Celestia seemed almost as apologetic for not figuring out how to break the spell before Twilight Sparkle (before becoming princess) and her friends did, as I was for my actions as Nightmare Moon. A thousand years was a long time for both of us.
The seeds of uneasiness were planted when Twilight Sparkle was made a princess. It blossomed during the Equestria Games, hosted by the newly freed Crystal Empire. My sister and I should have seen the signs in the disgruntled demeanor of the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia and the nervous aspect of the delegates from Saddle Arabia whenever my sister was around. The Duke even requested that the new princess be absent from our meeting a few weeks later, though the reason was not as he had stated to Twilight. Instead, it was because it was about the new princess and her potential responsibilities. Celestia thought perhaps she could endear the new leader to the Duke by giving them the opportunity to meet, however this only made him feel pressured and poor Twilight feel useless. Then Tirek had appeared, and we got distracted. The outer regions got bitter.
Upon not being invited to the Grand Pony Summit, by way of a misplaced letter from the princess of friendship herself, they grew restless. I heard whispers of riots and general unrest in the outer regions, and the potential risk for the return of the Windigos. It was all very secretive, and I never once saw it discussed with Celestia. It eventually came down to one final diplomatic meeting. Officially it was a formal apology for the mail error, but it escalated into something far more dreadful. I now give you my full remembrance of the final meeting, when the decision was made.
I remember principally the meeting had been scheduled in the early morning. Usually Celestia did this out of kindness to me, giving me the excuse of being tired if I fell asleep. She always said that watching over the night was hard work, though both she and I knew it can be a lot of fun. The sun rose on schedule, and I lowered my beloved prison which I knew would always be tainted in my memory.
I got there late, since I was visiting my dear friend Fleur de Lis in her dreams, and she had slept in. The hall was already occupied by the delegates from Saddle Arabia, the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia, Mayor Mare, and my sister. In the corner was a light blue unicorn with a quill and ink. He had a short striped mane of the same color and a slightly darker hue. A few were absent, including most notably EUP generals from Cloudsdale and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the latter of which tended to be out of the loop due to her excessive duties in the restoration of the Crystal Empire. The Duke had requested Princess Twilight be absent from this meeting, just as he had the one in the Crystal Empire.
I felt like I was in trouble, for as soon as I walked in I was met with a barrage of angry stares, with the exception of my sister who smiled and motioned to my seat. Several gazes from those around softened towards me, primarily Mayor Mare and the Duchess. The delegates from Saddle Arabia looked nervously around the room, an aspect unbecoming of their elegantly angled faces and a starkly contrasting their normally serene demeanor. I noted this difference even then, remembering back to when we had visited before the promotion of Princess Twilight. I was rather used to hostility when entering late by now. I merely blew a bit of mane out of my face, shrugging and whispering an apology through smiling lips. It seems my jovial mood wasn’t met with complementary feelings. Mayor Mare smiled sadly, and only Celestia shared in my ignorance.
Silence fell over the room, and a thick layer of solemnity covered even my face.
“Princess, have a seat.” The Duke bellowed. His deep voice seemed to rattle the windows, and shuffled my nerves. I sat down quietly, every playful attitude disintegrated from his acid demeanor.
“We are concerned with these recent…events.”
“I’m sorry Duke,” Celestia almost whispered, “it seems Princess Twilight’s secretary mixed up the addresses. It is difficult to send mail that far by flame.”
“Ever since your sister, er, Princess Luna came back,” the duke continued, ignoring Celestia’s confession, “You have trusted the Delegates of Saddle Arabia, the Duchess, and myself with less and less information. Indeed, you have even taken duties usually entrusted to us and kept them or else found another, closer to home, to look after these responsibilities.”
Celestia straightened up, not about to be threatened by this foreign Duke in her conference hall.
“So that’s what this is about. I made it abundantly clear, when creating this federation, that if…” Celestia checked herself. “That when I was able to free my sister from the curse of shadow I would rule with her again, splitting our duties just as before.”
“Have you really, though? What about Ponyville?” The Duke looked over to Mayor Mare, who nervously glanced at Celestia.
“What about Ponyville?” My sister demanded with the same determined forcefulness she used to rebuke Discord. It was in moments like this I remembered my sister of old. I liked to see that she was just as strong as always, republic or not.
“Go ahead, Mayor.” The Duke’s voice softened as though speaking to a bullied child and the Delegates from Saddle Arabia nodded reassuringly.
“Well,” she began, “Not to sound treasonous—”
I interrupted her.
“This is a safe place, nopony doubts your loyalty.” I had mastered this soothing voice when comforting foals during their nightmares. Celestia and I liked to balance strength with tenderness. When one was strong, the other was tender.
“It’s just that when Twilight became princess, all the duties I normally had seemed to vanish, all the important things anyway, and I was only trusted with organizing events instead of executing law, and I know we haven’t really had much issue in the way of judicial law, but Pinkie Pie always did the events anyway, and…” she trailed off as though she had just run out of energy and looked around, worried. I gave her a sad nod, not knowing what else to do.
I could see my sister had been taken completely by surprise. Her eyes were wide and she was leaning back away from the table. She only managed to stammer a degenerated apology before dropping her gaze to the table.
“And what about this Princess Twilight?” The bearded Duke thundered, “Why is it that every time you appoint a new leader, higher on the ladder than us, it is from those below us? Your appointment of Princess Cadance for ruling the Crystal Empire was bad enough, but desecrating the memory of your friend Star Swirl the Bearded as a contrived way to find another princess to rule instead of seeking royalty elsewhere in the federation? Our experience clearly deserves promotion.”
I winced at the mention of Star Swirl. The duke noticed this.
“Pardon me, Princess Luna.”
I knew Star Swirl from my coronation after the defeat of Discord. He and five others had wielded the elements of harmony to raise and lower the sun and moon. As an honorary gesture this duty was passed to Celestia and me. While banished, he had been the only one powerful enough to deter Nightmare Moon while he slept, but declined to do so, believing that somewhere deep down I was still in there, and that I was probably lonely. I suppose this reminiscing is another thing that distracted me from the real agenda of that council. When I tuned back in to the conversation it had grown much more intense.
“You cannot deny that you have consistently insisted on keeping the Elements of Harmony in Equestria, no matter how many times our territories have requested assistance.”
“I have told you, Duke, the Elements of Harmony cannot be used by just anypony, you would need the ponies who manifest them to wield them effectively.” Celestia narrowed her eyes at the renegade Duke.
“We all know you just didn’t want to lose control of your super weapon. True, it saved us from Tirek, but can we really trust these six Elements to always follow what’s best for ponykind? It is obvious you tailor made this team to be specifically and only bound to you, from the very beginning.”
“Princess Twilight needed guidance to her destiny, that’s why I made her my student.” My sister was obviously growing exasperated, and somewhat exhausted.
“The destiny you invented,” the Duke said with a stone cold sneer. “Isn’t that what Star Swirl’s unfinished spell was about? You wanted to make the Element of Magic into an easily accessible superweapon for your use. After losing the civil war to the pegasi, and granting them control of the seasons, you wanted to guarantee nopony would question your rule again.” The Duke paused for a moment, letting this accusation hang in the air for a few moments before continuing. “Isn’t it true that you were waiting for the Element of Magic to show up so you could replace your sister? Even before you banished her?”
“No, it is not true.” I was surprised that after so much time, Celestia still commanded mastery of the Canterlot voice. “We never—”
“Star Swirl said you suspected somepony would appear with a cutie mark resembling the Tree of Harmony, just as yours and Luna’s appeared on the trunk.”
“You will address my sister as Princess or I will have you thrown out of this court.” Guards peaked in through the door, but I quickly waved them away. “Furthermore, nopony doubted our devotion to Equestria then. That is ancient history.”
“Perhaps, your highness, this was because of your alliance with Star Swirl. Nopony dared go against the unicorn who saved us from Scorpan and Tirek the first time.” With each ounce of anger drawn from my sister I could see the Duke growing more and more confident.
“Additionally, we are not a part of Equestria, you made sure of that with your schism in the federation. Just because you serve them doesn’t mean you serve with us.” He motioned to the cowering Delegates who seemed to grow more and more sheepish in direct proportion to the Duke’s confidence.
“We have had control of this republic for a long time, Duke.” Celestia lowered her voice a bit, but dared not falter.
“I assume you use the royal ‘we’ ironically here. After all, it was you and only you, no council, no query, not even a conversation with those involved, who decided where the government was formed. And as Star Swirl himself said, ‘He who delegates is doubly powerful.’ Isn’t that right, Princess Luna?”
I was shocked. I did not want to be a part of this conflict. I’m sure the look on my face told him so. A bit of silence made the guards peak in again, and again I waved them away. They hesitated; glancing at the Duke, then went back to the corridor.
The Duke nodded at the blue pony in the corner. A flash of light told that whatever the unicorn had been working on was just sent to some unknown recipient.
“What was that?” Celestia demanded. She pronounced every syllable clearly and precisely.
“That,” The Duchess finally spoke. “Was a recording of this meeting. We asked this scribe to record it as evidence for your trial.”
“You would commit treason against your princess?” I said in my sister’s defense, noting that the shock had thoroughly suspended any response from my sister. Then the Delegates had their say.
“It is she who commits treason against the people of this federation,” The mare delegate said, flipping her feathery headdress.
Now both my sister and I were too shocked to speak. I was more shocked that the delegate from Saddle Arabia had managed to gather the courage to speak than at what she said. Then a flurry guards rushed in, surrounding my sister. Her aghast and utterly defeated expression was similar to the moment of my transfiguration into Nightmare Moon. The only difference was that this time, instead of sadness, I detected anger. Both our horns lit up instinctively as more and more guards crowded around the conference room. I looked helplessly at my sister who shook her head and lowered her horn, the golden light fading out with her resolve. My horn faded too. The guards took Celestia out the corridor and down the hall, past lines of Saddle Arabian guards with their curved headpieces and cruel pole arms. It suddenly dawned on me why the pegasi generals were absent from this meeting. Had even two of those war heroes been present, Celestia could never have been taken. Their loyalty to the throne was set in stone when she entrusted them with the seasons. Despite what the Duke had said, the civil war was no more than a series of riots over food, and was in protest to the leaders of Cloudsdale, not Celestia. It seems the Earth Ponies were reticent to oblige food to the lofty city and as a compromise, Celestia put them in charge of the seasons to encourage collaboration. This is the truth, no matter how the schools begin to twist the past.
I think I know why the Trial of the Sun was held just after Celestia lowered the sun into night from Canterlot for the last time. I know why the jury was composed of three ponies from Canterlot, three from Saddle Arabia, three from Maretonia, and six from the Crystal Empire. I know why there was no allowance for any witnesses to vouch for the defendant, and why Princess Twilight was kept out of the loop. I know why the judge was the Duke himself. If I hadn’t been on guard for the night, and instead was allowed into the courtroom to sit beside my sister, no conviction would have been possible. If the jury had been made up mostly of those who knew how Celestia ruled, instead of the mainly the outer, self-governed provinces of the federation, no conviction would have been possible. If anypony other than the Duke himself presided, the conviction would not have had the sentence he wanted. As I wasn’t there, I can’t say for sure what happened in that courtroom. I am only aware, and painfully so, of the effects it had on Equestria.
First of all, it was apparent from the dreams I visited that night that the documentation of the confidential meeting was not solely for the purpose of evidence. Propaganda was the intended use. I learned later that it had slipped into an exclusive editorial in the Canterlot Express. The article painted my sister as cruel and overbearing, and in reading it I noticed it was much what I thought about her before my banishment. It spoke of the fact that although I returned, my position wasn’t restored to its former glory, and instead mainly run by her, even though we historically had equal footing when we ruled from the castle in the Everfree Forest. Had I been at the trial and they brought it up, I would have remarked that I was only just learning how life had changed over the past thousand years, and I don’t want to have the power to make decisions I know nothing about. I did, however let a bit of the propaganda get to me the next day when I read it for myself. I was gratified a bit by the credit given to me in controlling the greater princess’s temper. It was of course her who directed me not to resist her arrest, but I liked being the good guy for once. It had been a thousand years since I was the kind one, since I was the gracious ruler. I let it get to my head, and lost any idea of what the article actually meant. It is only now I wish I had seen, only now that I wish I had gone down with my sister, instead of being forced to walk on the royal eggshells of the federation.
My sister was found to be guilty of treason against Equestia. The main point of contention in the trial, as I have read, was over the reckless and unsupervised release of Discord on the people of Ponyville. The fact that Fluttershy was successful in convincing him to defend Equestria rather than destroy it was obviously overlooked. His reformation was, however, another point the prosecution made for the superweapon argument; they were concerned that most every magical weapon or being was kept close to Celestia, and not allowed to venture out into the lands beyond, other than the annexing of the Crystal Empire into Equestria.
As a sentence the Duke claimed to have the ability to strip Celestia of her powers, but mercifully declined to do so. As punishment, he only demanded that she be banished to Maretonia, which, along with Saddle Arabia, was to become annexed into Equestria. She would raise the sun from there.
I am delaying the last part, as it is a thing most painful to me. I know now what it was like for Celestia, to be apart from her beloved sister, with no idea how to rule on her own. It is lonely. It hurts so much, and I know not whether it is as bad as being trapped on the moon, or worse. Now everypony comes to me for their needs, and I have to rule an empire. After Celestia was vilified, the Duke presented me as a kind ruler who never deserved to be banished. He pledged his allegiance to me, impressing upon me all the responsibilities of rule. I can’t be safe though. I know for a fact that if he could take down Celestia, I am one disapproving glance from being sent back to the moon. And this time, I don’t know if Princess Twilight’s magical friendships can combat a deceitful political agenda like it did the power of Nightmare Moon.