With Revelry Comes Reflection
It was an odd experience after so long to be the one on the outside looking in. Celestia sat at the near end of the banquet table, a half full wine glass held aloft in her magic, and small, proud smile on her muzzle. All around ponies ate, drank, laughed, and made merry celebrating their newly crowned High Princess of Equestria. Canterlot Palace's banquet hall easily housed over three hundred ponies, and that limit was near to be tested. Friends, family, and a massive assortment of Equestria's governing body as well as its nobility were in attendance. Seated at the head of the central table was Twilight Sparkle, surrounded by her Council of Harmony. The nervousness and embarrassment of the coronation had melted away and Celestia's former student sat red cheeked from liberal droughts of wine- courtesy of the combined efforts of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie- to get the young High Princess drunk. Possibly as their first act as advisers to their friend. Twilight's family were among the crowd around Twilight, sharing in some joke or another Luna had uttered. Celestia's smile grew upon settling on the dark blue alicorn.
Luna had opted to sit near the head of the table alongside Twilight and her friends. She'd been the loudest celebrant that night, hoisting many toasts and even leading a merry tune once or twice. More than once she dubbed the coronation feast "Mine sister and I's retirement party". Celestia was largely ignored. A few true friends and loyal confidants mingled and chatted with her, but now she was without significance, and thus mere decoration. She'd asked to be seated there, wanting to watch from afar, and not take attention away from Twilight.
"Her debut as High Princess to the nobility," Celestia had said. "Too important to allow her to detract from Twilight." While not her real reason, it was no less true.
One year ago, when Celestia had broached the subject of retiring with her sister, she expected anger or confusion from Luna, but Celestia was surprised when Luna had been open to abdicating her throne as well. Surprise was among the many emotions she experienced. After nearly two thousand years of ruling, Celestia was more than ready to hang up the crown, but Luna was newly returned. Celestia expected she wanted to rule for a good many years yet to come, but Luna quite simply wanted to see what life had to offer. In the two years since her return the world had changed in such drastic measures that she hadn't had time to experience it fully yet. Celestia felt her smile widen remembering how excited she'd been her first time in a post office. While her little sister had adapted admirably, Luna seemed out of place, and felt the same as Celestia when they first discussed Twilight's ascension. Simply put, Luna wanted to live her own life, perhaps get back into her passions; painting, music. She had always been the artist between the two of them, evidence of the beautiful night sky she crafted every evening.
With a sigh, Celestia set her glass down, finally admitting defeat after an hour of not drinking and made her quiet escape.
oOo
For perhaps the final time, she walked the halls of Canterlot Palace. Now without the constant barrage from an entourage, or the presence of the Royal Guard, she was allowed a moment of solace, privacy. Alabaster floors, and ceiling high windows of stained glass filled the halls with the pale glow of oonlight. She passed the stoic guards, each impersonating a statue, but straighten a tad when she passed, a habit. She quietly admired the place she'd called home for so long. Tapestries baring her and Luna's cutie marks and seal of office still up. Most were being taken down to be replaced with Twilight Sparkle's seal; the Seven Pointed Star they'd styled it.
Canterlot Palace was once an idea and a few scraps of paper. Its construction had taken the better part of a year and additions, and reconstructions had followed through the one thousand years Celestia spent ruling alone. Through halls, parlors, and chambers Celestia meandered, taking in the familiar stones, and saying goodbye to each as she would an old friend. It was silly, foalish even. What brought the urge on was outside Celestia's understanding. She recalled balls and parties, meetings and hearings, incidents and misunderstandings; lifetime upon lifetime that began, was lived, and eventually ended before her eyes.
In her wandering, Celestia found herself entering the Hall of Heroes. Similar to the Hall of Harmony, which marked events and triumphs of the Bearers of Harmony, the Hall of Heroes, told the tales of war and strife, and the heroes therein. The Siege of Canterlot during the Gryhpon Wars, the Umbran Uprising in the Crystal Empire before Sombra's Reign, the Peach Wars of Manehatten, the Silver-Iron Riots in Stalliongrad. They were all up there, every war, famine, blight, and significant point of hardship for Equestria immortalized in stained glass. At the very end of the hall however, one mural stood front and center, this one not a stained glass window but a tapestry. Ancient and protected by spells and enchantments.
Celestia stopped before the white alicorn stitched into the fabric.
The seamstress who'd crafted it in the mare's honor had made it so lifelike. She was clad head to hoof in heavily scarred armor, one side bearing a terrible rent, red spilling out over her side. Her wings were in taters, her horn chipped, but her expression was one of stoic determination. Her helm was held at her side, her pastel pink mane left to flow down the back of her neck and before her she held a stunning golden blade. Her violet eyes were hard, unforgiving. In this tapestry Celestia beheld no Princess who had grown fat in peacetime, but a noble lady born into war. She looked down on Celestia in derision she felt and she could only look back in shame.
She dropped from the sky, landing on the battlements amid her own soldiers. A sea of metal spread out before her. Raised banisters barring the seal of the King Without a Throne proudly displayed. Down below, Earth ponies clad in thick plates of iron bashed at the battlements. A line the length to the city walls backed and bashed the stones. Shudders and groans emanated from the walls. If this continued it wouldn't stand much longer. Pegasi and Unicorns worked in tandem, flinging spells, arrows, and stones flung from slings at the enemy below. Any struck down by magecraft or metal were dragged back by their comrades, replaced with fresh legs. On the city side, lines of Earth Ponies were pressed up against the walls. They plied their magic to strengthen the stone, reinforcing it, and pushing back against opposing force. Were it not for them, the wall would have long since fallen. She charged her horn and fired scalding blasts of super heated magic. Burnt flesh and slag answered the roar of her magic below. A moment later the screams of the dying followed. Her eye caught yet another siege weapon, a tower of wood and metal. Her magic intensified, bolts turning into a a single gold beam of pure sunlight. The tower fell, seared in two, the pieces alight. The top half fell on the soldiers below, crushing a few.
"Duchess Invictus!"
She turned to the Pegasus stallion. His blue fur sported have a dozen wounds weeping blood and staining his scarred armor. His wings were in tatters and he favored an obviously broken foreleg. Still, he managed to hold his spear in place and salute her. Little could cow New Astrie's Captain of the City Watch.
"The east gate; it means to fall! Your orders."
"Hold the line here Arcbolt I shall take a battalion and rout these traitors." With a flick of her wings, she was aloft. Her magic reached for her stalwart companion.
A glow emanated from Celestia's horn, her magic undoing centuries of protective spells and opened the case underneath the tapestry. Within lay a blade, a perfect twin of the one beheld by the tapestry. As though lifting a newborn foal, Celestia cradled the blade in her magic. Her warped reflection regarded her in the polished metal. On a whim born of nostalgia, Celestia performed a flourish. Instantly the alicorn cursed under her breath. Her technique was slow, sluggish, lacking any disciplined form. From the depths of a pride long forgotten Celestia's teeth gnashed together as drilled herself, performing flourishes, sliding in and out stances both defensive and offensive. Her hooves danced along, but every swipe lunge, parry, and riposte lacked punch and speed.
Her magic wobbled under the weight of the blade. Years of using it to lift quills, parchment, forks, spoons, teacups, reduced her magic to a sorry, sad state. Celestia grit her teeth and surged more power through her horn. If only she'd not sat on her flanks and let her magic fall into disuse. If she'd been more dedicated, less intent to stuff her muzzle, perhaps...
The blade sang through the air, carried along by a glow of golden magic slowly edging toward crimson sheen.
Blood gushed from the wound her blade opened. The Earth Pony died his hooves clawing at the spurting wound in his throat. Movement out of the corner of her eye. She whirled in a fit of acrobatic grace upon a hind hoof. Her blade sang, slicing up. Another traitor fell, his face a bloody ruin. The east gate was at her back. Soldiers firing spells at the insurgents. Since landing she and her team of unicorns- all from her House guard- held the line. They knew best to avoid hitting Celestia, not from fear but from loyalty. They each knew what was possibly at stake should they and she fail. By the stars, Celestia would sooner die than give that monster a chance to fulfill his promises over her little sister.
The air shimmered at her right. Celestia danced away before a trio of singing steel shard sunk into the stone. A lithe mare stepped out of her illusionary cloak. Her armor marked her as a mage of the King's court, and the curve of her horn as an assassin. Her green magic recalled the shards to float by her side. No words passed but an understanding was met. They moved as one. The mare's shards were batted away by her blade. She ducked a green bolt meant for her heart. Dancing to the side she swung her blade.
The blade bit deep in the fine wood of the frame. Celestia's muzzle was inches from the ornate doors of the hall. With a grunt Celestia tore the blade from the door and inspected the edge. As expected no damage had been done. For the first time in years, her lungs and legs burned from exertion, breathes coming in heaving gasps. Barely sixty yards and she was winded. Her eyes fixed on the judging glare of her clothe twin.
I traversed twice that length, my blade cleaving through metal, flesh, and bone while thou canst barely manage to slice dust bunnies and air. She seemed to say.
"Pathetic," Celestia muttered.
Celestia sucked in a mouthful of air and swing the blade angrily, her magic now bright red in the moonlight. The air warped from her corona. Each step was heavy, clumsy. Stone cracked under her hooves. The normal rainbow shimmer of her mane faded to its pastel pink, the edges tinging red and beginning to catch fire.
The air warped around her as she tore her blade from the mage's body. Half her armor was flash melted then rapidly cooled, molding to her flesh like a second skin. She'd screamed, raged even. Spouted how the Alliance was foolish, how it could allow a pair of alicai to live among its populous. How she should have had her head crushed as soon as she'd crawled out of her mother's diseased womb, the same for her sister. The mare died choking on her blade. She came to her sense upon hearing the clang of iron and the heavy steps of Earth Pony traitors.
Pyromancy danced along her horn and with a roar she whirled. Arcane fire surged after the enemy soldiers who'd foolishly tried to rush her. They screamed as they were cooked in their armor. The earth trembled and alarms went off in the back of her mind. She was forced to take wing a moment before jagged spires or rock meant to skewer her jutted skyward. A slate grey Earth Pony with a straight mane the color of coal strode through her fallen comrades. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of burnt flesh but she otherwise didn't react to the smoldering corpses.
"I'd heard an alicai ascended among the nobility. The madness of Unicornia made flesh, you are." She grinned. "Face a daughter of Mualdus Cobbler and a General of His Stalwart Highness whore of Chaos!"
She wreathed herself in fire. With a screech she fell like a white star toward the general.
Celestia's hooves cracked the stone, splintering carved rock as she landed. The blade clattered on the ground, skidding away to land in front of a pair of blue hooves.
"Sister?"
Luna stood behind her, face etched in concern. Celestia hadn't even heard her come in. She managed a smile only to have it falter and fell back on her haunches with a sigh.
"Are you alright?"
"I am fine Luna," Celestia said, more to convince herself than anything. "Merely thinking of the past. Nothing more." Celestia stood up with a groan- how her legs burned!- and went to return the blade to its pedestal. She looked back up at the tapestry.
Luna walked up to stand beside Celestia and regarded the tapestry. After a moment of silence she spoke. "This mare was- how would young Rainbow put it? Ah Yes!- a bitch." Celestia regraded her little sister with no small amount of shock. Undeterred Luna continued. "Were she with us now I've no doubt the Changeling Queen and Tirek would be dead, at her own blade if I were a betting mare. No doubt she would have just shattered Discord long ago for all the trouble he caused as well. Starlight Glimmer and Cozy Glow would have been executed as well. A fate well deserved."
Before Celestia could respond, angry and hurt that she was sorry she wasn't strong anymore Luna pulled her into a hug. "But were she here, we would be without two new Princesses, one far better suited to the crown than you or I and the other fixing the mistakes we'd made so long ago in the north. Our ponies wouldn't be enjoying a time of peace benefiting from the delights of a reformed Discord- as loath as I am to admit it. Young foals wouldn't know how good a teacher Starlight Glimmer is. The Changelings wouldn't be freed from a tyrant who starved them. Equestria would be without You and I wouldn't know all the wonderful friends that we have now. You wouldn't have been a second mother to a mare as wonderful as young Twilight Sparkle. Do not deny it Tia but you see that mare as a daughter more so than a friend." Luna's hold tightened. "I wouldn't have been given the chance to tell the most important pony in my life how utterly foolish I was, how sorry I was, and how happy I am that we have each other now."
Celestia's eyes were tinged with tears and her throat tightened. The dam broke. Years of composure, remaining stoic and holding her emotions at bay, gave way as she openly wept bittersweet tears into her sister's fur. Luna just held her, rubbing her back with a hoof. Celestia's tears soon ran dry and she looked a mess. A laugh bubbled through the sobs, happy though they were when Luna wiped away the running mascara and tears with a hoof.
"My but you are an ugly crier," Luna teased.
Celestia laughed in earnest and playfully shoved her. She rested her head on the soft blue fur of her sister's shoulder. "Thank you Luna."
"You're welcome Tia," Luna said with a smile. "Now come! There is much feasting and celebrating to do yet." Luna exclaimed. She struck a pose before looking back at Celestia with a grin. "And I am determined to show the whole of Canterlot how much you giggle when drunk!"
"Oh very well. Maybe my last act could be telling some ponies what I really think of them."
"Huzzah!" Luna bounded ahead.
Celestia got up to follow but stopped to spare one more glance at the mare in the tapestry.
Her magic pushed the doors of her ancestral Home open and instantly a flock of servants flew to her aid. She waved them off and set the head of the general in one's hooves. She paid no mind to his horrified expression.
"See to it that is sent to His Majesty as proof of New Astrie routing his enemies."
She moved on through the entrance hall toward the grand hall. Within, the young, old, infirm, were housed, tending the wounded and dying. Tables and furnature worth more than most saw in years turned to beds, makeshift and stained with all manor of ichors. A necessary sacrifice in her mind. At the hall's heart a collection of young lords and ladies sat, overlooked by a grizzled unicorn guard. A dark blue mare looked up. She bore horns and wings of her own, though she was significantly younger. A bright smile broke across her muzzle and she bounded through the hall.
"Tia!"
Like that the mask cracked and fell to pieces around her cracked hooves. She felt her muscle's relaxed and she met Luna halfway. She pulled her younger sister into a hug. Despite the dirt and blood covering her body, Luna nuzzled her, her dress ruined no doubt. She didn't have the heart to scold her but instead let the weight of Duchess Invictus fall away. Celestia pulled Luna into a deeper hug before letting her go. Luna's eyes widened when she truly saw Celestia's condition.
"Sister you're injured!" She twisted her head around. "Healer!"
A maid stood up from the wound she was dressing but Celestia shook her head. "Tis surface damage nothing more. Return to what you're doing." With a bow the healer returned to her work. She smiled down at Luna. "I'll be fine. Now come I am in need of wine and good company."
She pulled Luna under her wing and led her away, happy for the momentary peace she was allowed through all the death she lived through every day.
It could have been a trick of the light, or Celestia's own exhaustion, but for the briefest moments she swore her twin in the tapestry smiled back at her. Shaking her head and blinking, the smile was gone. So much history, so much strife, in one hall. Celestia had lingered long enough. With a faint smile curling the edges of her muzzle Celestia left it behind and followed after her sister, toward merriment and peace.