Mental Health.
It's something that is of utmost importance to everypony and everycreature, even to alicorns like myself and my sister. After recent times of upheaval in our land of Equestria, we knew that the time would come to consider something that most of any stature would consider doing at a certain age.
It was shortly after the Pegasus filly named Cozy Glow had tried to absorb all the magic in Equestria with the help of the imprisoned Lord Tirek. Luna and I had a weekly ritual that we had set aside for ourselves and that was to meet with our counselor, Starlight Glimmer. Yes, it may sound hard to believe that we, the royal sisters of Equestria, would even have a counselor to begin with, let alone a former student of Princess Twilight Sparkle herself.
But, that was just how it is.
Standing outside Starlight's office at Twilight's school of friendship, we both considered how this meeting was going to go. Opening the door to her office, Starlight peeked her head out and beckoned us both to come in and sit down in front of her desk.
"Does Twilight know that we are here?" I asked Starlight in a whispering voice.
"No, Princess Celestia, she's been focused on taking the students on a field trip to Canterlot. You said that what you both want to talk about is of top secrecy, am I right?"
"Yes, Starlight," added Luna. "It is of utmost importance that Twilight Sparkle and her friends do not know we are even having this conversation."
"My lips are sealed," reassured Starlight. "In fact, I can see in both your eyes that this isn't going to be like any other visit we have had."
Taking a sip of hot chocolate, Starlight was reading both our minds like a book. Then again, she was an extremely powerful unicorn who had magic that rivaled Twilight's. Taking a deep sigh, I looked up at Starlight, trying to keep my composure.
"Starlight," I began, almost with hesitation in my voice. "Have you ever…how shall I say it? Ever pondered the idea of one day stopping what you are doing? Lately, we've been hearing voices in our heads."
"What kind of voices, Princess?" Starlight asked, writing down what was being said on a piece of paper. "Is it Discord's voice?"
"No, no, it's not," interjected Luna, looking up to the ceiling and twirling one of her forelegs. "It's just some random voice in our heads telling us that we need to…"
However, Luna couldn't finish her sentence.
"Need to what, Luna?"
But no matter how hard she tried, Luna couldn't finish what she was trying to say.
"What are the voices trying to tell you, Celestia?" Starlight asked, turning over to get an answer from me. "Are they telling you to do something you don't want to do?"
"Yes," I answered, finally confessing to Starlight with reluctance. "They are telling us…to step down from the throne."
Starlight's widened in shock at what had just been said. In fact, we couldn't really blame her for being shocked. To our subjects, the fact that we would step down from the throne was almost unheard of.
"But, we can't step down, not now," I continued in a panicked voice, my heart thumping loudly. Twilight still isn't ready yet. She needs more time!"
"Hold on a minute, Celestia," Starlight cried, raising her hoof to stop me from saying another word. "Step down from the throne? Have you two talked amongst yourselves about this?"
"We have been meaning to talk to each other about it," replied Luna. "But, we just…can't bring ourselves to even speak about it to one another. We've ruled Equestria for 1,000 years, well my sister has, but such a change would cause a ripple effect across our kingdom. Not to mention, we would both be filled with regret over such an action."
"What can we do, Starlight?" I asked, bending over to Starlight and clutching her hooves. "Tell us, what can we do?"
Without saying a word, Starlight motioned for me to pull my forelegs back and she placed her chin on her hooves, giving us both direct eye contact.
"From what I am hearing," she said. "It seems like you are both afraid to admit that you want to step down from the throne. Your heads are telling you to not retire and yet, your hearts are telling you that you should retire. Let me put it this way, do you remember when I switched your cutie marks that made you walk in each other's shoes?"
This made both of us stop worrying.
"You commended me for going with my gut, which is what I think you should both be doing as well. Going with our instincts is a valuable lesson to learn, isn't it?"
Starlight did have a valid point. Trusting your instincts is indeed a valuable lesson to learn. Twilight trusted her instincts when Cadence was kidnapped and replaced by Chrysalis and I did commend her for it. But, in my mind, that was different.
"To what I am hearing from both of you, you both have to consider what is important right now. I mean, even ponies and creatures of higher position do have to consider their own mental and physical well-being. If you did both decide to step down, I am sure most of your subjects will understand. Although, I can't help but wonder who would be willing to raise both the sun and the moon."
"We would still do that," I stammered, remembering that it was our sacred duty to raise and lower the sun and moon. "It doesn't take all that long."
"True, if you could just focus on raising the sun and the moon, maybe that could be a start," suggested Starlight. "But, when all is said and done, whatever you both decide to do must reflect on what is best for your mental health. If you both feel like ruling your kingdom is too much, then think about stepping down. Do something less stressful, maybe even just spend time watching Flurry Heart grow up and being there for Twilight and her friends whenever they need you, Celestia."
I then also began to think back to when Starlight, Trixie, Thorax and Discord were awarded the pink hearts of courage. Twilight tearfully made it clear that she always would need me whenever times were tough. Still, even that wasn't enough to ease our minds.
"And Luna," Starlight continued, looking at her. "There are going to still be a lot of fillies and colts who will want to meet and spend time with you. I don't think they would mind seeing you on a more personal level."
Luna then also began to think back to all the Nightmare Nights she had been a part of since being freed from her Nightmare Moon persona. Starlight also began to think back to when the school ponies were denied the chance to go on that field trip because Luna's cheeks were hurting from smiling all day.
"Luna, you know how much you care about the young ponies in Equestria. Maybe this is your chance to focus more on that, be their mentor much like you were to Twilight, Celestia."
Each word that Starlight spoke to us was indeed true and direct to the point.
"Of course, you are to be the ones to decide what you want to do," finished Starlight. "Starting today, you need to figure out what is best for both of you. What is more important: ruling Equestria and keep living the demanding lives of being a princess or stepping down and focusing on your own mental health and being around those you care about? The choices are yours and yours alone."
…
Once our meeting was over, we left the school of friendship and returned to Canterlot, reflecting on what had just been spoken between the three of us.
"Starlight Glimmer does have a point," Luna remarked as we landed on Canterlot castle. "We can't keep living the demanding lives of being a princess. I mean, I think being a mentor to young ponies might be my true calling when all is said and done. And…I think Flurry Heart will appreciate us being in her lives more."
"And I can focus on just being there for Twilight," I said. "Maybe that's what we need to do, sister. Because there is no doubt in my mind that Twilight is getting more and more closer to taking over for us. That's what we need to focus on right now…if it was that easy."
Of course, there was still a lot to do if we were to achieve that goal, but today was just the first of the baby steps…
…
THE END
