The Unwanted One

Luna was interested in looking around the Canterlot castle, noticing how much has changed. A little earlier she already could see how the city changed since the time passed: A ‘big village’, that Canterlot had once been, has turned into a majestic capital over the millennium. Wide tiled streets, stone buildings with artsy finishing, crowds of citizens. Sadly, she couldn’t see much from the carriage yesterday evening, but what she could was impressive. And now, while Celestia was giving assignments to her subordinates, that were shocked to see Luna, she was rediscovering the palace again. Yeah, now you couldn’t call this stately building just a ‘castle’ anymore, nor a ‘fortress’, as it once was. The palace grew in size, and instead of boring gray stone walls there were all kinds of ornaments, and instead of the massive stumpy towers golden spires were now stretching into the sky. But, some of the rooms, despite the new design, were still recognizable. For example, this corridor that was leading, if she wasn’t mistaken, to Celestia’s office. Luna got distracted from examining the furnishings, and caught the end of her sister’s conversation, by the looks of it, with her secretary. “…assign it to her. We already discussed this situation; I think she will be able to do it.” “As you wish, your Majesty.” “Also don’t forget to prepare what I have asked for, and please don’t disturb me unless there is a good reason! I want to spend my time with my sister.” Celestia smiled. Again, Luna was assured about how much her sister changed in the past centuries, and changed a lot. No Royal Canterlot Voice while talking to her subordinates, no harsh emotion on her face, not even a single honed, sharp order without any explanations. “And please don’t disturb me.” Luna smiled. And if you take yesterday’s celebration into a consideration… Sister participated in it with great enjoyment, even though it was a simple ponies' party, not an aristocracy’s one. Celestia had also asked Luna to stop trying to talk according to the etiquette, asking her to stop saying ‘Your Majesty’. And she asked to be softer while talking to the subjects… Tia being against strict rules of etiquette? Everything is so… unusual. “Are you okay, Luna?” Tia’s voice interrupted Luna’s thoughts. The Night Princess was surprised to see that they were alone in the corridor; the escort guards and secretary have already disappeared. “I just sank into a reverie.” Luna smiled. “Everything has changed so much: Canterlot, the castle, and… you. Especially you.” The sisters entered into the Sun Princess’s bedroom, the one that was nearby her office. “You know, I was afraid that I would meet Queen Celestia…” Consumed by her thoughts and the conversation with her sister Luna didn’t notice the new furnishing in the room, simply joining her sister on the bed. “I am sorry again, Luna. For this, and everything else. Even I didn’t notice how I was changing.” The Day Princess started remembering the past. “The further it went, the more I was concerned only with Equestria’s duties… or whatever I thought they were. And so it happened that a royal visit to some aristocrat, or a meeting with my subjects was more important for the country than a cup of tea with my sister. I tried to build a strong and stable country, with a system of governance working like a clock. So that everypony had their work, home, and there was no interracial hate and cruelty! And in the end it appeared I didn’t see further than my nose.” Celestia drooped. “Even though I called you ‘Princess’, I still thought about you as a sister. A little, silly sister that is still young and inexperienced for the real responsibilities. If I was to think about you as a Princess, my loyal associate and deputy, maybe I wouldn’t have lost you for a thousand years…” Luna silently listened to her sister’s confession, having mixed feelings. On one hoof she could feel her sorrow and remorse; she understood that Tia was sorry. But on the other hoof, she felt the anger that she thought she had left on the Moon. The anger at her sister, that didn’t understand her. The anger at herself for succumbing to those feelings. The anger at Nightmare for fueling these feelings inside her… “You acted with benign motives! And I was led by jealousy and hate. I almost killed you back then, and you were just defending yourself! No, Tia, even if you are to blame — I am to blame even more,” Luna clenched her teeth, struggling with her anger. “Tell me, what happened next after my defeat?” The Night Princess changed the subject, when she noticed that her sister was about to object. “At first, when it all happened, I felt sorry for what I had done. Not for long.” She sighed. “Then I had to sort the mess after our battle and your exile: panic because of the eclipse and all kinds of mad ponies screaming about the end of the world, displeased aristocracy, saying that I wasn’t careful to live with such a ‘monster’ in the same castle and that your plot could go worse, and external political problems on top of that. Of course, it’s impossible to hide the fact a princess disappearing, and our neighbors had tried to not miss their chance, and use the newly formed instability in Equestria. We even had a small war with the griffons, or rather a border conflict that fortunately didn’t grow into something bigger due to internal problems the griffons had. All the stability I tried to build for this long… It just fell apart like a house of cards in a few months. What do you think, whom had I started to blame for all of this?” Celestia smiled sadly and went silent. “Me, I suppose. Of course, everything was fine, and then everything went to Tartarus due to one jealous hysterical pony.” Luna finished with irony. “Don’t say those things about yourself.” Celestia scolded. “If I wasn’t ignorant, nothing would have happened!” She stopped Luna with a hoof. “Now, let’s get back on topic… It was a rhetorical question, but you are right. You do remember, that I often couldn’t afford a rest, and now, I had to also do your duties on top of that too. Alone, without your help, I had to figure out all the documents, raise and lower the Moon by myself… It was pretty exhausting by the way, and took a lot of time. I was lucky if I got as much as four hours of sleep those days. I got irritable pretty quick. Of course, I quickly found the guilty figure in this mess, and I sincerely hated you.” Celestia said with a lifeless, careless voice, but Luna saw tears in her eyes. She hugged Tia with her wing, getting a timid smile. “And I started a fanatical war with you.” She continued, having recollected her thoughts. Luna raised her brow. “I had declared you a rebel and traitor of the crown.” Celestia explained. “I stubbornly tried to find your followers, or simply sympathizers, and held loud courts against them. And finally, I maniacally started to erase you from history. There were no ‘Two Sisters’ anymore, no more Princess Luna…” Tia dropped her head. “And then I erased our Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters from all the documents and maps and abandoned it, completely moving to Canterlot. But even this isn’t the worst thing I did back then. Did I mention the pogroms?” She asked with a lifeless voice. Luna shook her head. A pause formed again, in the bedroom that had its bright decor contrasting with a heavy atmosphere of the dialog. Celestia couldn’t say a word, trying to continue her story. She was afraid to. “Don’t continue. I see how hard it is for you Tia. Don’t push yourself!” Luna quietly said. She had never seen her optimistic sister so depressed. “No, Luna. I must!” Celestia finally said something. The white alicorn was tense, and her tear-filled eyes showed the determination to finish. “Even if you exile me to the Sun, or… or kill me for what I have done… I will tell you everything. You have to know!” “What are you saying?!” Luna looked at her sister in shock. “Do you really think… I would never!” The Princess of the Night was speechless with shock. But Celestia’s voice stopped her sister’s speech. “The information about your supporters in the battle against me was a secret at first, and I tried to stop it from spreading. But then when I ‘finally realized’ who was to blame.” She grimly smiled. “I tried to make sure that everypony knew.” Luna froze. Did they really? “I see you understand now. It was the batponies.” The Lunar Princess shivered when Celestia confirmed her worst fears. “Making this information public, I made everypony rebel against the batponies. The attitude towards them already was sort of hostile, and after the news about your Night Guard consisting of batponies supporting the revolution… I could say that everything went on fire. I won’t go into great detail about what was happening back then, just simple statistics… But we know for sure that about sixty-three batponies were slain and more than ninety were wounded as a result of pogroms. How many of those who were forced to run away from the angry crowds, leaving everything behind, or died from hunger, exposure, wounds, or predators is unknown for sure. According to various sources, from three to four and a half hundred.” Celestia said, voice full of sadness. “It’s… It’s… In the worst case… Almost every tenth…” Deafened by the confession Luna watched her sister who was continuing her monologue. “The surviving batponies and a few sympathizers ran away into the mountains and organized into an enclave, led by your captain. I was happy that all the ‘traitors and rebels’ had gathered in a single place, and I was about to end them with a single strike, but they were saved by the consequences of the massacres. Unexpectedly it had struck a pretty heavy blow on the shaky unity of our ponies. When batponies were out of reach, the earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns started killing each other. It’s not a massacre level of killing, but still, the stability of the country disappeared. Having tasted the blood and the impunity — guards did not stop the massacres — many couldn’t stop anymore.” She averted her lost gaze into the window. “Again, there were racial hate and discrimination, high crime levels, as it turned out thanks to aristocracy. In response I started tightening the laws, sending armed patrols, and filled the dungeons. And finally, the griffons again, having their emperor changed half a year prior, their leader had thought that he could reinforce his power with a fast and victorious war seeing all the problems Equestria had. And the further it went, the more I started preferring simple solutions to the right ones.” Celestia sighed. “I didn’t even try to send envoys to the griffons, trying to sort out things as I used to do, but I simply led my army to their borders. And when we met them, I just drowned their vanguard in fire. I spun above the ground leaving a trail from my fiery mane, listening to the shrill screams of griffons burned alive.” Luna flinched at the thought. “And then, seeing my own soldiers flee from me, for the first time I thought about what I did and what I had become.” Celestia took a pause to breathe. Luna couldn’t, didn’t want to believe her words. But somewhere, in the bottom of her soul she knew that sister was telling her the truth. And she didn’t know or understand what to do with this grim truth. The Princess just listened. “This war had ended without ever starting in earnest, as my demonstration was too convincing. The crime was fought with harsh laws and death sentences for the most odious of the regular outlaws as well as their noble ringleaders. The riot led by the nobles and their followers against such laws was brutally suppressed, with seventeen death sentences and sixty new prisoners and exiles. I had managed to save the country and the crown… But I started noticing the details that I ignored a few months back, before the battle with the griffons: my subjects didn’t approach me with their problems, and I saw fear in their eyes, not love! The castle’s corridors became silent and empty: the few I met tried to be invisible and not breath when I approached, freezing in fear as soon I would notice them. My guards started to leave their posts, despite all the fines and reprimands, just to avoid me. I was avoided; everypony feared and hated me! I… I had turned into a monster!” She couldn’t hold any longer, Celestia sobbed, burying her face into a pillow. Luna silently looked at her sister, not knowing what to do. “Sister, how… how did you…Did you really spill that much blood because of your revenge?” The Night Princess tensely looked at her sister’s shivering wings, her faded mane, and was struck by a sudden thought. “And what would have happened if I had won that day? It would be exactly the same! Eternal night, reprisals against the dissatisfied, hunt for Celestia’s followers… I was led by hatred back then; it couldn’t have led to anything good! And her hatred grew because of my mistake in the first place! Do I have any right to blame her, if her mistakes are caused by mine?” Luna slowly turned her head and looked at her sister. I have let her down! With my deeds I had turned her into a tyrant! She went through all of this just because of me…" Hesitating for a second, the Night Princess hugged her sister with her wings. Tensing from the initial touch for a moment, Tia relaxed, deflating like a balloon, and was now crying softly into Luna’s wings. “Everything is going to be okay…” Luna said with some difficulty, and couldn’t hold her tears back.