It hurt. That was the first thing that Luna noticed. Being flooded with twice the magic she normally had hurt a little less than being banished to the Moon but far more than she had anticipated. Twilight, she remembered, had held twice the amount of magic than Luna herself currently had. She couldn't help but admire the younger alicorn's determination to keep Equestria safe. Not to mention, her pain tolerance.

Luna winced as another wave of pain flew through her body.

Yet, the knowledge of what Celestia had done to the ponies of Equestria was far more wounding.

On top of that, she had the audacity to lie to her about it. Years may have passed, but the fact remained that Luna was once the Bearer of Honesty. She could barely stomach the fact that she had shared the power of the Elements with someone like her, let alone that the Element of Kindness had once chosen Celestia as a Bearer.

She thought of the stories she was told by the fair Applejack and the ever-sweet Fluttershy. Would Applejack, the current Bearer of Honesty, truly go against her own nature just to support Twilight? Would Fluttershy?

She thought of the tales of how terrified Twilight had been of Celestia's disapproval. Was there more to Twilight's fear of disappointing Celestia than mere anxiety?

She thought of her own memories of Celestia. Of being left in the shadows whenever Celestia was in the room; of how, when Luna was at her lowest point Celestia's advice was "Cheer up!". Had Luna really not seen this? Or had she just not wanted to see the worst in Celestia after what she herself had done before?

All of a sudden, the pain stopped, and Luna felt the familiar embrace of her own magic. Her eyes focused back on the worried faces of the ponies around her. Even Twilight, in her less than pleasant form, looked concerned.

Luna looked around the room before she fixed her gaze upon Celestia. She couldn't help her mouth curling downwards in disgust. Luna looked back at Twilight.

"How do you feel?" Twilight asked.

"I am fine, Twilight Sparkle," Luna answered, "Please, continue."

Twilight nodded, turning back to their witnesses.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked gently.

"I... you know what she did, Twilight. I- I... how could I support her after what I heard from you and Applejack?" Fluttershy asked.

"Thank you, Fluttershy," Twilight said, as Fluttershy quietly walked to stand behind her and Applejack.

Luna returned her gaze to the remainder of the ponies in the chamber.

"Shining Armor?" Luna questioned, "Who do you choose to join?"

Shining looked between his wife and his sister.

"Twiley?" he said.

"Yes, Shining Armor?" Twilight answered.

"Are you making me choose?"

Twilight sighed, looking down at the floor beneath her hooves, "Yeah, Shiny. I am. What do you choose?"

Luna could hear the unspoken question beneath it. Who do you choose?

"Twilight... I'm sorry," Shining said.

Somepony gasped.

Shining Armor marched to his wife's side, head hanging low.

"I promised to stand by her side when I married her. I... I can't break that promise. Not even for you," he said.

"Are you crazy?" another male voice asked.

Spike marched up to Shining Armor.

"Cadence isn't the only one you swore your faith to, remember?" Spike hissed.

"I swore my loyalty to Celestia as well, when I became a Guard," Shining shot back, stomping his hoof, "So either way, I would have chosen this."

"Exactly," Dash said, "the same thing is true for any Wonderbolt."

"No. The Wonderbolts and the Guard should be swearing their loyalty to Equestria. Not a pony," Spike rebutted.

"Cadence is part of my family!" Shining Armor said.

"Is that so, Shining Armor?" Twilight asked.

The entire room fell quiet. Luna breathed in sharply. She had been so distracted by the conversation, she had failed to notice Twilight's lightly drooping ears and her saddened expression.

"Twiley...," Shining attempted to placate his sister, "you're my sister..."

Her ears snapped to place and she glared at him.

"But not your family, am I right?"

"Twilight... I-" was all Shining got out before Twilight cut him off.

She stomped her front hoof. The marble cracked under the force. The noise sent a wave of stillness once more into the room. Everypony's eyes were glued onto her.

"You made your choice," Applejack said, stepping up before Twilight acted on her anger.

Applejack stepped back, Spike following her to Twilight's side.

The only two left were Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Rarity, to Luna, looked conflicted. Still, Luna felt she was likely to stay on Celestia's side.

"Darlings... I know that the Princess has committed... mistakes...," Rarity said.

"No kidding," Spike muttered.

"But surely you can see that she has also caused a lot of good?" she continued as though she had never been interrupted.

"Like what?" came Twilight's harsh tone.

"She defeated King Sombra the first time!" Rarity said.

"I was there," Luna said, "Not to mention, the entire Empire disappeared for over a thousand years."

"Discord!"

"Again, I was there."

"Nightmare Moon!"

"While a majority of my reasoning was jealousy, a part of the reason I became Nightmare Moon was to try and stop the oppression of bat ponies and their ilk. Which, I might add, my sister ignored."

"Well, you didn't have to go all, you know, 'The Night Will Last Forever!' on everypony!" Rainbow said, shoving herself into the conversation.

"You are correct, Ms. Dash. I did not have to. That was a choice that I should not have made. I should have led a batpony rebellion instead," Luna sniped back.

"Exactl- wait, what?" Rainbow stared at Luna in disbelief.

Luna raised an eyebrow at her surprise before turning back to Rarity.

"I suppose that means you shall be staying with Celestia?" Luna asked.

"I... I suppose...," Rarity answered.

"Very well."

Although Luna burned with anger on the inside, she followed Twilight's example and strayed from expressing it. Instead, she turned to Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie?" Applejack asked from Twilight's other side.

The pink Earth Pony looked almost deflated. Her hair had lost its typical bounce. Her eyes refused to shine with mischief and fun as it usually did. Most unnerving of all, she was sitting on the ground, doing nothing except staring at some unknown object in the distance.

At the question, Pinkie startled, looking back and forth between the two groups. Then she got up and silently walked to Celestia.

Luna looked away, sighing to herself in disappointment. Yet another Element was lost to her sister's lies.

"You took all those smiles away," Pinkie said.

Luna moved so quickly that she almost felt whiplash. She stared at the party pony.

"Why? Why'd you take 'em away?" Pinkie asked.

Even Celestia seemed at a loss for what to say.

"You know what? It doesn't matter why. What matters is, you took those smiles away. I can't be on your side if you'd do something like that," Pinkie said in a dull tone.

The party pony shook her head, turning her back on Celestia and marching solemnly to the other side of the room.

She stopped near Luna, turning around and facing Celestia.

Luna reached her left wing out, wrapping it around Pinkie and pulling her in.

Author's Note

Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry I've been gone so long! I have a few things I'd like to say, so please read this...

1. An explanation to any "What took you so long?" or "Where have you been?" type of questions: The answer is, I've been out of the fandom. About a year and a half ago, I realized that there's a lot of toxicity here, and while I wanted to stay in the fandom, it was affecting my personal life too much for my tastes.

2. I'm not as big a Celestia-hater as I used to be. While I will never truly enjoy Celestia's character, recent-ish developments in the fandom (I'm looking at you, Forgotten Friendship), have allowed me to view her in a less harsh light than I used to.

3. That being said, I will be continuing this story (obviously). I like the idea of seeing how these characters would act in a situation where a well-trusted pony like Celestia was more tyrannical than she seemed. However, from now on, my writing will show a bit more hesitancy in the ponies that choose to side with Twilight.

For those who are no longer interested in this story, thanks for sticking around as long as you did!

For those of you who continue to read, I truly appreciate your patience over my break from the fandom.