The Princess of the sun smiled as she read and re-read the parchment before her. Her favourite pupil, Twilight Sparkle, had succeeded in the task she had been given. She and her friends, and one in particular, had finally rid Ponyville of that dangerous dragon. A relaxed sigh escaped the alicorn as she casually sipped her tea, turning her gaze upward to the city of Canterlot. From her balcony high atop her tower in the palace, she could see all the ponies down there, all going about their day, never once aware how close they came to having the skies blotted out by a dragon's smoke. Peace and quiet had returned, and Celestia was content in that. But her solitude was not to last, however, as familiar hoofsteps approached from behind her, causing yet another small smile on her part.
"Good afternoon, sister. I trust you are well?"
She turned, just a little, and in time to see that it was indeed Princess Luna, who now sat beside her at their small table on the balcony. The younger Princess smiled, and she too took a small cup of tea, one which had been pre-prepared by her elder sibling. Luna was, at this point, still as she was when she was first returned to Celestia, still unable to assume the more powerful alicorn form she would one day return to. Instead, her mane was short and light blue, and Celestia couldn't help but raise a hoof and stroke the side of it gently.
"I must say, I missed this do."
Luna smirked right back to her.
"And thou shall miss it further when our magic returns to full strength."
Celestia stifled the need to giggle at hearing the old ponish way her sister was speaking. It was one more thing she'd have to get used to as she adjusted to modern Equestrian life. But, for now, Celestia was simply happy to have her here. However, as time wore on, the younger sister now began to notice the aforementioned parchment, and her curiosity took hold.
"A message from thy student, mayhaps?"
Celestia's smile returned to full vigour, and she nodded in acknowledgement.
"Indeed. Twilight and her companions have driven the dragon from the Ponyville mountain. He will not be bothering ponies anytime soon."
Luna nodded, clearly impressed.
"Equestria owes them a debt."
She glanced away briefly.
"...Two at this stage."
Celestia nodded, looking again to the paper.
"And it would appear we have Fluttershy in particular to thank for this."
Luna looked back to her, arching an eyebrow.
"The bearer of Kindness? An odd thing, sister. The young mare did not strike me as a fighter of great beasts."
A small chuckle escaped Celestia as she regarded her younger.
"Oh, do not underestimate those who appear meek, sister. They may surprise you here and there."
Luna smiled back, taking another sip of her tea. For a time, the two sisters simply sat together, enjoying the moment, never once feeling anything other than contentment over this matter. But then, as befitting of one who was younger, curiosity again came to Luna, and she glanced back to Celestia.
"Sister...might we enquire something?"
Sipping her own tea, Celestia nodded without looking back to her.
"By all means, ask away."
Luna paused, but only for a moment.
"...In days long gone, thou would have faced such a creature thyself, never once asking ponykind to fight it."
To that, Celestia stopped before her next sip, and a slight twinge of concern came to her. Luna noticed it, despite it being a fairly subtle look, and so continued her enquiry.
"I must ask...why did thou give this task to another? Why not face the dragon thyself, as thou so often did in Equestria's past?"
Celestia looked down to Luna, and knew that her sister was not going to be sated until she got a proper answer. But there was hesitancy in Celestia now, and Luna knew it. After a time, the elder Princess sighed, glancing over her shoulder and giving a quick nod to the two guards that had been stationed at the doors of the balcony. They saluted simultaneously, retreating back inside the tower and closing the door behind them. Once she was convinced that no prying eyes and ears were present, Celestia gave Luna her full attention.
"Okay, I do have a reason, but...I warn you, it's going to take some explanation."
Luna was well and truly invested in this now, and so set her tea down, turning to look Celestia right in the eye.
"Oh? Pray tell then, sister."
Celestia took a deep breath, exhaled, then began to speak up again.
"The reason I asked Twilight and her friends to do this instead of going myself was because...well...I really, really didn't want to have to meet up with Blazer again."
Luna blinked, confused at first, but then starting to put pieces together in her mind.
"Blazer? Is...is that the dragon's name, sister? Dost thou have a prior involvement with the beast?"
Celestia looked away, almost ashamed.
"Yes...I have met him before."
Luna leaned forward.
"In battle?"
Celestia shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
"Um..no, not in battle exactly. I...er...you see...Blazer and I, we..."
Knowing that there was no getting out of this, Celestia unleashed a long and tired-sounding sigh before just coming out and saying it.
"Blazer is...my ex."
But Luna did not react to this, instead blinking with confusion.
"An...ex? Pardon my words, sister, but I am not quite caught-up with modern terms just yet. Thou will have to explain thyself."
Grunting slightly, Celestia looked over to her again.
"I mean...Blazer and I were...a couple."
Luna frowned.
"...A couple of what?"
Celestia slapped her own forehead.
"He and I were...involved."
A silence followed, but as it lingered, Luna's eyes began to slowly widen. Realisation had taken her, Celestia knew, and embarrassment became dominant in the older sister's face as she shied away from her. Luna, struggling between confusion, shock and further curiosity, finally just blurted out what she was thinking.
"Sister...Celestia...Tia...are thou trying to tell us that thou and this gargantuan fire-breather...were lovers?!"
A massive blush erupted on Celestia's cheeks.
"Oh, please don't call it that! Look, it...it was just a thing! He thought I was hot, I thought he was hot..."
Her eyes widened and she pointed an accusing hoof at Luna.
"Please don't make an obvious pun out of that!"
But Luna just titled her head slightly.
"Um...what is a 'pun', sister?"
Celestia blinked, then sighed with relief.
"Oh, thank Faust, you don't know what those are yet!"
She then took a moment to re-compose herself.
"But yes, we did have an involvement for a time. What can I say? I was just feeling lonely at the time."
Luna, as one would expect, didn't really know how to take all this. As the younger sister, it was of course in her blood to try and make fun of Celestia for this, but, from the look on her sister's face right now, she knew she was probably feeling bad enough already. So, she instead just got back to the original matter.
"So...thou asked Twilight and her friends to face this dangerous beast...because thou did not wish to meet with thy past...dalliance?"
Celestia rolled her eyes.
"You don't have to make it sound that bad, but...yes, that is more-or-less the gist of it."
Here, Luna's eyes narrowed.
"Sister...was there actually a chance that creature's smoke would blanket Equestria?"
Celestia's head snapped in her direction.
"Oh, absolutely! I wasn't lying when I said that to her. A sleeping dragon would have most definitely been a problem that far inside pony territory. It needed to be done. I just..."
Her blush returned.
"...I just didn't really want to have to deal with that myself. Ugh, I can just imagine the smug look on his face if I showed up there myself."
Then, in a move shocking to Luna, Celestia started putting on a fake-sounding deep voice, clearly mocking the dragon in question.
"Hey there, Tia! Long-time no-see! You're looking sunny today!"
Celestia buried her face in her hooves.
"Ugh! Sun-puns! Nothing but everlasting sun-puns!"
Luna made a mental note to try and find out what these "pun" things were that were causing her sister such grief, but soon afterwards, another matter took hold in her mind, and after nudging Celestia in the side to get her attention again, she asked what was, quite frankly, the obvious question in this situation.
"I do not wish to question thy choice of...partners. But, what exactly did thou see in such a dragon to begin with?"
Here, in stark contrast to how she'd been feeling before, Celestia looked out at the horizon, with a knowing smirk on her face.
"Let's just say there were some things he was quite good at."
Taking another sip of her tea, she mulled that over a bit, her face bearing just the slightest tint of amorousness.
"Very...very good at."
Luna, understandably, shivered in her chair at that thought, mumbling slightly afterwards.
"I assume this will not be information thou will part to thy student?"
Celestia gave a quick shrug.
"And spoil Fluttershy's moment of triumph? No, I think not. We will simply continue to let them see it as one mare's overcoming of her great fears. Because that is, let's be honest here, still the truth in this matter."
Luna gave a quick giggle, sipping her own tea.
"Yes, the 'adventure to rid of Equestria of Celestia's ex-lover' doesn't quite have the same ring to it."
Celestia continued to smirk.
"Besides, I really didn't want other ponies having to learn first-hoof just how annoying it is when Blazer spends all his time snoring."
