Of Kings and Pawns
There was a subtle feeling of warmness creeping through the spaces between her white feathers, a feeling that pushed some tiny buttons in her mind and said ‘good morning my dear, you are alive, as so the world’.
Celestia serenely observed as her breath created shapes in the gelid air outside the balcony, an ethereal smoke coming out of her mouth and nostrils as she gave a deep sigh, exhaling every single thought of her mind as she looked at the orange-bathed horizon, the blurry silhouette of lands far beyond her eyesight.
Although the air tasted like snow mist, down there it was summertime. The cold stillness was a consequence of living so high, up in a place where only clouds should reside.
“You do realize, don’t you?” As delicate as the wind, a voice asked her.
Like a ghost, Princess Luna appeared by her side, silently resting her bare hooves on the cold marble tiles of the floor. Her royal accessories were nowhere to be seen, as they were completely useless when no one else was present to partake in the view.
“And what is this that I should I realize, my dear sister?” She replied with a sympathetic smile, even though deep inside, in a spot between her head and her spine, Celestia felt a slight discomfort at the subjective question.
“That world we used to live is gone, the places we visited are not remembered anymore, much has passed, realities changed…” Luna said with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. Her dark wings fluttered by her side, each feather finely tuned to the vibrations in the atmosphere, each synapse sparkling in her brain tuned with the responses she could – or could not – hear from Celestia’s lips. “It’s not about us anymore.”
“And since when it used to be?”
Resting a wing over Luna’s shoulder, they both stared at each other as if the silence between two notes of a melody had extended itself around their bodies. That empty space splitting an idea apart.
There was an impression of mutual understanding floating somewhere above the alicorn sisters.
“It is a matter of time, until our presence in the world finally makes the shift between relevance and ephemerality.” The night princess said, slowly walking away and pressing her chest against the balcony wall, looking down at the golden-lined rooftops as they reflected the first sun rays of the morning, right to the back of her eyes. “I don’t want to be an anomaly, sister. Not anymore.” She turned back at Celestia, whose gaze was lost somewhere in the infinite sky.
“Tell me Luna, what in this universe is not ephemeral?” She asked.
“The possibility of life.” Luna was quick to reply, although she wasn’t done yet. “As so the possibility of death.” She added, almost in a whisper to herself.
“Unlike all the others, we were not blessed with this possibility. Creatures are born, they grow, they learn, they build relationships – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t – they love, they hate, some have children, some doesn’t. They see the world changing, and they change with the world.”
“Until they eventually leave their shells behind and move on.”
Celestia pondered every word, every detail, the shuffled wave of thoughts, deconstructed into smithereens. “Just like love, relevance, and changes – life and death are also in the eyes of the beholder, Luna.”
With that, the guardian of the stars cocked her head slightly to one side. “What do you mean by that?” She asked with genuine curiosity.
“You cannot kill a breeze, a scent, a wave. You cannot kill an ambition, or a dream. The world around us is only perceivable because of our senses.” She stopped, breathing in, and out. “Would a beautiful flower please a blind mare, if not for its scent?”
“But breezes, scents, and waves are immaterial things.” Luna stated.
“As so is life and death.” Again, Celestia rested a wing over her sister’s back, this time pulling her a little closer. “How many keep living, long after their bodies are gone? And how many minds choose to die before they actually had a chance to live?”
As the sun grew even brighter in the sky, even there, in the cold tower that stood all over the world, heat could be felt crawling through the sealed rooms, thick curtains, and wandering minds.
“Some ponies are old at 18, and some are young at 100. The nature of time is an illusion, albeit a very quirky one…” Celestia nuzzled her sister’s neck. Their manes flowed in the wind, creating a duality of night and day as they intermingled in a seemingly indistinguishable form.
With a sigh, Luna turned around to face the older alicorn.
“I still… I still think we do not belong here.” Luna muttered, almost to herself, a hint of concern in her tone. With a hoof, she moved away a strand of dark blue hair from her face, still looking puzzled, as if nothing said previously mattered.
Celestia stared into her eyes again, analyzing each one of Luna’s insecurities.
She also had hers, naturally. There was a time in the past when she’d frequently find herself thinking about the same things, chewing the same unanswered questions. Celestia had spent days and nights trying to understand the universe, only to realize that all those wasted nights, were wasted in vain.
And now she was face to face, with the same insecurities she buried so many centuries ago. Differences apart, Luna revealed herself like a mirror of her younger self.
So many questions, so many fears.
“My dear Lulu… I wish I could free your mind from all those painful worries, but I’m afraid you’ll have to find a way to get rid of them by yourself.” Celestia said, pulling her sister into a hug.
“What I can say, is that no matter the path you choose, at the end of the game, the king and the pawn always go back in the same box.”
Author's Note
Yes, some stories are intended to be short...
My apologies for any mistakes.
