Stuck by greed
"Woo!!!" My ear twitches for the hundredth time as I hear another shout.
There`s a party being held in the main hall, for the royal sisters. Oh, wait- for Celestia.
I`m not in the main hall, so that would dislodge yet ANOTHER celebration for me, me and the night. I gaze at the bright ball of fire that my dear sister watches over.
"FOR CELESTIA!!! FOR THE SUN!!!" I grab my ears with my hooves and cling to the ground as a craze of a thousand ponies cheer for a toast in Celestia`s grace.
They haven`t noticed my absence, has Tia? Surely she`d have noticed me not in my proper place- or has she yet forgotten too?
Tears build up in my eyes, which I quickly levitate away.
Being sunset, me AND my sister would be able to be awake at the same time, though that`s still a little early for me. I`m normally up at dusk.
The sun slowly lowers as the party starts to near it`s end. It`s suppose to end so I can get to work- Pfft- they should just keep partying.
It`s not like my not being there really affects them anyways.
"CELESTIA!!! THE QUEEN OF EQUESTRIA!!!" I gasp. I do not cover my ears.
What. Did. They. Just. Say?
I clench my hooves- if that`s possible. I bite my mouth, holding back tears.
So now, now they totally throw me out of the picture? Surely Tia`ll tell them off.
I`m too tiny to do that, but she can. She can... Avenge me for that spine breaking... Cheer.
No.
She won`t do that, why would she?
She didn`t do that last time, in the marketplace.
Me and Celestia were walking through the plaza of Canterlot, accompanied by a dozen or so Pegasi guards.
We never bought anything, not after I refused the thing we had come for.
It was my birthday, and to celebrate it- me and Tia were going around Canterlot, buying and admiring stuff. I loved the idea as I had not actually gotten to know my kingdom, being so young- even though i`m still young.
I had seen Celestia come home with a diamond cut statue of her pet phoenix one day two years ago, and I fell in LOVE with the detail of it, it had a sort of... Fire to it. Like the presence of a ruby stood at it`s core.
She promised we could get one on my six birthday.
Here was that day.
She had told me the shop made things for the rich and royals, of course the princesses got their orders free.
I happily bounced up and down as we trotted down near the shop, the sign in view- reading "Cuts of passion".
I was blushing- so many ponies stopped and stared, of which Tia nodded and said hello appropriately, I instead would go 'Hi!' in a squeaky tone.
We come by a group of ponies whom seem to be having a conversation about my dear sister just as we pass by.
THEY ruined my birthday.
As one teal pony, a stallion with mid-blue bangs, sees us, he elbows his friends, and they suddenly begin to cheer for Celestia- breaking the idol chatter of other ponies.
The whole market looks at the group, who shout, "THE PRINCESS! CELESTIA, OUR PRINCESS!".
They take the drift and begin cheering on too.
I found it alright at my age, oblivious to my name never being mentioned, but hay- who cares? It`s not like they`ll ever go so far as to call Tia a- "QUEEN!!! OUR ONE TRUE RULER, OUR ONE TRUE LEADER!!! QUEEN CELESTIA!!!".
I stop hopping for a moment.
When did TIA become queen?
-wait, where does that put me?!- I think quickly.
-Am I not a princess, by the books thats only by mother and daughter, therefore stating I could not be a princess!- I panic.
Holding my breath, I shout within my head, thinking of the possibilities which in end, led to un-natural endings.
Stupid childish brain. Stupid imagination.
I stop and realize Celestia`s down the street, right by the shop.
-Oh no! don`t forget about it, Tia!- I rush, momentarily forgetting about royal positions.
But my mind cripples back to it again, as they still cheer the wretched words 'Queen' as the place of Tia.
I start to tear up.
Where am I? What about me? Why don`t I ever get to play Queen, if it`s a game?
I sift through the million questions all generated by that one word.
Celestia acts as if it`s normal though, the cheering.
That word.
I catch up to her, yet she doesn`t notice my teary eyes, or my quivering mouth, my trembling muzzle.
She nudges me to go inside, saying something about choosing what gem and cut I`d like. I walk in, head down- trying to get Tia to notice my pain.
She doesn`t.
The shop is a vibrant purple, stacked with shelves of different blocks of stones and small gems and even some cuts, like dogs and Celestia, and the sun... And no Luna. Nothing of me.
Saddening.
I look for a nice block to get my mind and thoughts away from those horrible ponies. The jade, marble, opal? No, too light.
Ruby? Too fire like, not enough cool.
What about Emerald, or Amethyst? No emerald, but maybe amethyst and... Sapphire!
I gallop up to a deep blue saphire block and levitate a mid-intensity Amethyst chunk from another shelf to the blue gem.
"Is this what you wish for, Luna?" Celestia asks, taking hold of the two gems with her golden aura.
"Y-yeah?" I reply lowly, that... That dumb word in my head.
"Well, then. What cut would you like it as?".
"Um..." I think- that`s a hard one! I never actually had a pet, my only friend is Tia, sadly... My hold is the moon.
"Luna?" Tia asks, a little worrisome.
"Y-yes, Tia?" I reply, still thinking of a design.
"Are you having trouble?" She gives me an eyebrow.
I panic - she knows? About the word? Or... Or It`s just the cut?! Yeah, the cut- just go with the cut-
"Yeah. I don`t know what to get it as" I state sadly.
"What about... Say... Your favorite, Favorite-"
"ANIMAL!!!" I cry in glee, as I put a bat into view and the crescent moon behind it, the bat being perched on it`s lower tip.
"Alright..." Celestia explains the design to a crystal coated pony.
I don`t hear the whole conversation, but I do hear the ordering rules, "Of course! Only the highest royalty gets theirs free!".
I again cripple down to the facts- the facts I know.
1) I have a serious case of Switching emotions in a snap.
2) I`m not royal. Not by the majority of our kingdom!
"No" I flatly say, loud enough to get both my sister and the shopkeeper`s attention.
Celestia stares oddly, "What is it, Luna?".
"I d-" I stop myself short. I`m about to refuse something I`ve wanted for SO LONG.
Sniffling, I continue, "I don`t deserve it".
-Why did I say that?! Stupid brain!-
"Luna. How can you say that?" Celestia lowers her face to nudge me, but I shift away.
My voice is dull, and rough.
"You heard what they said".
"Who said what?".
"Queen". I look down at my hooves, a tear streaming down my right cheek.
"Oh, Luna. Their just really involved in the politics of royal-"
"NO. Their not. They praise you as their own!" I growl, and back up towards the door.
"Luna?".
"It`s exactly what they said! Your our one true ruler!" I shout at her, making a scene.
Thankfully no guards came in with us, or I`d have a hard time right now doing anything.
"Luna, what have you gotten your mind into?!" Celestia advances towards me.
-No, No, No. Get away...-
"GET AWAY!!!" I scream, my eyes struck with tears, making Celestia look like a giant white fuzzy blob.
"Luna!!! Come back here!".
"No! *sniffle* I-I`m not a princess! N-not if y-your Queen! Then... Then-" I`m cut off.
"HALT THOU WHINING!!!" Celestia shouts in a royal yell at me.
I Stiffen. I`ve told her before, that hurts my ears. But I still need to advance.
"LUNA! they do not mean-" Now I cut her off.
"Then what of me?! If they hail to you, who are my followers? Bats?! STARS!? A STUPID COLD ROCK!?!?" I stop abruptly.
-Oh no-
It is against our order while ruling to insult the powers we contain. I attempt to hold myself together as Celestia comes closer to me.
Her expression is NOT one of forgiving, only hatred. But I need to press on- to prove something.
-Come on, Brain! Think! Use your stupid creativity and- Got it!-
"And what about YOU?! They worship you because of WHAT?! YOU BRING A GIGANTIC BALL OF FIRE INTO THE SKY EACH DAY?! SOME STUPID STAR THAT JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE CLOSE ENOUGH TO CONTROL?!?!!" I frantically run out the door.
I know it won`t be pretty tonight when she gets home, but I think I can avoid her by flying ahead.
So much for my birthday...
In the castle, for the rest of the day, I can hear that WORD ring around town, as Celestia apparently decided to go ahead through town, on my birthday.
Leaving, going ahead without me...
I bet she still went to the theater too. And on the picnic. And to the coral artistry.
I ball up on the ground, a tiny light blue mass, and begin to let it out. Tears rush down.
"W-why... Why does everypony shun my night? Why d-do they sh-shun me?!" I cry out at no pony.
By now I`m covered in wet salty, tears.
I can`t hold it in. I`m too frail to fight back, to make a difference.
"TIA!!!".
See? She never stood up for me.
She never will.
I get up and levitate my crown onto my head.
- It`s going to be a long night... Maybe the night crawlers will come and see me...But- they are kind of scary...-
I shrug off the thought.
Over by my deep blue covered bed, on my night-stand, sits a deep sapphire and amethyst statue. Celestia had went ahead and got it after I left.
she shouldn`t have.
Doing that basically took me on a guilt trip.
Sighing, I flash-back again to that night.
Sitting on the railing of Celestia`s room, I gaze out at my moon, rearranging stars into certain patterns.
Tia`s laying down In her open door room, sifting through rolls of papers and scrolls, marking some, throwing out others. She seems to be mumbling something, it sounds like a song I know...
I find myself randomly singing it, too. A bad habit of mine.
I learned it when we were in a "financial slope", heading for a cliff of nearly no bits at all.
I don`t really care about that, what is a baby to an army of bankers?
Nadda, sadda, nothing.
In my most adult like voice I have, I sing to myself the lyrics;
"Everywhere`s, freaks and hairies, dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity".
I pause, Tia is so content. As if we never even got into a fight.
"Tax the rich, Feed the poor. Til` there are, no rich no more?"
I Stop, and begin to walk up to Tia. She looks at me, and lowers her papers to listen to what I have to say, as I for some reason still sing,
"I`d love to change the world".
"But I don`t know what to do".
Celestia puts a hoof at mine, as if assuring me something.
"So i`ll leave it up to you!" I sing, carrying out the ending word.
"It`s alright, dear sister". Tia nuzzles me and we set off again in our own thing. I stop singing the song.
Back into reality, I listen to see if the 'party' is over. I don`t hear any screaming cheers...
"Oh, Luna!" Tia walks through my door, clearly happy and joyful. I don`t think she noticed my absence.
"T-Tia... What is thou doing, you should be going to bed, dear sister" I reply flatly in my equestrian voice.
"Oh, yes yes, I know. Did you enjoy the celebration? They served a feast of dishes, including my favorite!" She stands to see if I`ll respond.
"Yes" I lie.
"I loved it. It was most splendid".
"Great! I`m glad you liked it! Well, on to our duties then", She walks off, closing my spruce door silently.
I sigh.
She didn`t notice.
She didn`t notice her own sister`s absence.
I whimper softly, a few drops of salty water flowing down my cheeks.
I should perform my duty.
Walking outside, I use my power and create a seemingly endless connection to the moon and my soul.
I lift my head up to the sky, wishing for the moon to come up, and watching it slowly make it`s way up into the sky, allowing stars to begin to reveal themselves. One pattern, showing a bat- has been in the sky since I first saw them. That was ages ago.
Ages, and yet- me and Tia STILL haven`t unlocked our full potential in the sun and moon.
Her hair is pink, yet our mother`s was the literal definition of fire.
Mine isn`t even flowing, it`s just a short style that has a bland light blue, contradicting the flowing night sky of my father`s mane.
-Maybe the Night Crawlers can help me-
-No. No. Their too... Mean-
I pause, watching the moon to make sure it stays up. At our age, we still don`t have enough power to FULLY control the spheres we own.
The moon shines with an extra gleam tonight, as if it pities me. Pitying me, heh.
I walk around on my marble balcony, thinking.
-What would get the ponies attention?-
-I`ve tried parties, I went into the marketplace alone even!-
I shoot up, eyes widening at a realization. The legend waker!
He knows EVERYTHING!
-probably even that i`m thinking about actually thinking of seeing him!-
I levitate a satchel to my bed, put a few items in there, including my favorite plushy, a bat that has blue eyes.
Yeah... This great Deity that I was going to was super SUPER scary. And weird...
Once I finish, I fly out onto the balcony.
The flight to the deep cave he lives in is only a small one, near the tree of harmony actually!
-Alright. Go ask him, leave, do that task, return to fame- I recite instructions in my head.
Taking off, I fly into the starry sky. Being about an hour until I get there, I think on my past some more.
One year, during my sister`s birthday, she decided to have a party.
Some yellow mare with brown hair calling herself "Cheese bun" was the planner. She was crazy.
I had no intention of being bored during the planning though so I decided to help her. I set up balloons and lights, that sort of thing.
Apparently she knew a friend who`d be PERFECT for the music.
When asked if it was Hooftoven, she made a pfft sound and laughed, saying it wasn`t any of THAT boring junk.
I found that very odd. Classical was the popular item in music these days.
But no, she said her friend was called Disco Scratch, and that she had invented something 'Dubstep'.
When I first heard it, It was like love at first sight.
Celestia on the other hoof, wouldn`t be able to know of it til` her party started.
Clearly they did not know my dear sister.
Tia liked her songs in the classical tune of Gala`s current players, Baltimare Melody and Flute Heartstrings.
Baltimare was my favorite, to be truthful.
Flute sung this weird song a lot... Something about the.... Dovakiin? She called it The Dovakiin comes.
Eh.
On the hour before Tia`s birthday was beginning, A grey unicorn mare walked in with a bunch of speakers.
The DJ. Her hair was a mid-blue with Light pink highlights.
She was, and still is (if you believe... certain things) the live ancestor of Vynal Scratch. Her, eh, I think 100th grandmother?
Or let`s just say GREAT GREAT grandmother.
As I was, Disco set up her speakers in an orderly fashion. Larger stumpier speakers on bottom, and then five layers of other speakers eventually leading to the small square one on the top.
Disco mostly just wore Pink tinted shades, made by herself- but otherwise her eye color was a bright crimson. Or dull red, at times it seemed to change, almost by emotion and hunger, if my observations were correct.
Finally, when the hour came for Tia`s time- I found myself uncomfortably twitching in my royal marble seat.
Tia wasn`t going to like the music.
As soon as those dumb bows and letters of laws were read in turn for some political achievement, Disco began her music.
Oh thank my sister she started out slow, with a simple piano tune... for maybe 20 seconds. A light blue pegasus got on stand by a microphone. We were pretty advanced a thousand years ago.
And suddenly, just as Tia was seemingly used to the piano tempo, Disco broke out a... Well, killer beat!
I thought it was awesome, Tia was just in shock. Then the pegasus began singing, yet his voice sounded altered, making some parts inaudible, yet it went perfectly with the instrumental part of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akalsWJ6L-M
"Look in the mirror, what do you see".
"Can it see you, and who could it be".
"The empty eyes, stare back in fear".
"The hopeless gaze, the face in mirror".
The song went on as Tia seemingly kept her ears pinned to her head with her crown.
-I should have warned them-
As some rich ponies came and asked Tia about the music, I could see Tia shake her head and sigh, or give some 'Idk' sort of thing to them. As for me and the other fillies? WE LOVED IT.
"You don`t need to run my child".
"The darkness will hide us".
"We will survive my child".
"Their love will provide us".
The beat slowed, so I had taken to leave from dancing. Tia seemed to have an eyebrow raised at the last sentence...
The beat suddenly got faster again, and within no time at all... It began again, with a lot of different sounds, and I practically buried myself in the music.
The Yellow haired blue pegasus`s cutie mark seemed to represent this music, as it showed some techno symbol.
I could swear, during the non-vocal music stage, his appearance would flicker from that of a pony, to that of some insect creature, with the body of a pony, yet having a horn AND wings. Though it was too fast, these changes, and the most color difference I could see was the occasional blue eye instead of green, or fangs...
I shoved away the observations as some figure of my imagination.
The song went on, so me and the others had got back to dancing or humming the song.
"In the mirror, who could it be?".
"I can see, what isn`t me".
"What is this, that i`ve become".
"I can feel, it the need for love!".
The Dub-step only part began again, I found myself seeing what Tia was up to.
Instead of the regular conversation, though, she was whispering something to a few of her royal guards. I could barely make out the conversation, being on the other side of the room.
"That pony... Yes... Synthis... Something... Strange, I know... Please, set... Up".
She thought the stage singer seemed, 'Strange'? DUH.
-There`s got to be something else-
I watched the guards set up some mirror`s.
They were taking the song seriously.
I face-hoofed, laughing onto my back. Thank goodness no pony noticed.
Tia, went up to a button. It was made of crystal.
The lyrics started back up, and unless it was my imagination, Tia seemed to rock her head to the beat, acting as if nothing happened.
"The cold glass, shows the truth".
"I can`t hide, my heart from you!".
"And all the secrets, I held inside".
"In front of the mirror they can`t hide".
The music slowly died down, with a chorus of cheers and boos from the adults, and basically only the former with the children.
We whooped and bounced, asking for more.
I looked back at the singer, Synthis.
There was a saddening expression on his face.
-why?-
The mirrors that had stood around the room, all reflected him.
Tia waved a hoof at one her guards, who nodded and called to more guards. They would then ready their magic, at something, aiming towards the doors of which most of the ponies had originally come through. A quick glance through the side door near the stage showed there were more doors.
-Okay...-
What happened next I think surprised everypony.
Tia slid into some hostile position, and with her horn aimed at Synthis, yelled, "Show your true self, traitor!".
Synthis raised his right hoof and his ears went back, clearly showing he was frightened, and to some level confused.
"W-what do you mean?" was his response.
"You very well know what I mean".
"...".
"Guards! The mirror, now!" She ordered her gold-clad ponies, whom used their already charged horns to bring some giant mirror through the door.
Well, it wasn`t GIANT. But it was decorated and taller than a normal pony.
This came to be the mirror that Twilight Sparkle went through.
Synthis froze.
Some direct level of fear was resonating from him. I paused, wondering why. It was a darn MIRROR!
"Charge it", Tia sighed. Her guards did as she said and began pulsing magic through the big oval glass.
It gave off wisps of blue and black, and even green light.
The reflection of Synthis in the mirror wavered.
And then changed.
Into the same insectoid creature I had originally saw. Ponies gaped and screamed, but after that it seemed blurry.
It was the first time I had seen a changeling.
He shivered, and yelled out, "Leave me alone!" and ran.
Something happened, all I know is that he escaped, which i`m grateful for. I either blacked out or got knocked out.
Flying through the night sky, I smile.
Changelings are wonderful, beautiful creatures. They eat love, yet their feared as monsters.
I sigh as I pick up pace, almost at the den of the Legend Waker.