Libation

The Castle of the Two Sisters was once Equestria's most secure fortress. Riddled with traps and fortified by walls often sung to be impenetrable, it had stood for hundreds of years as Equestria's ruling power. And now, in the present day, it stood dilapidated, those traps long in ruins, those walls crumbled and strewn, the fabrics and tapestries rotting away. Equestria's most secure fortress had finally been bested by a primordial enemy — Father Time.

And in the middle of what was once that fortress, in a decomposing room that could have looked like a dining hall if you squinted just enough, the castle's namesakes sat, using an errant block of wall as a makeshift table.

Father Time had beaten down the Castle of the Two Sisters to a footnote. Celestia and Luna stood in its ruins without a scratch on them.

"We didn't think to bring chairs?" Celestia asked, shuffling her hooves a bit. "I fear Silver Shoals has spoiled me."

"It wasn't the thousands of years ruling Equestria?" Luna asked. Her horn glowed as she lifted a bottle from their makeshift "table" — a large bottle of Dom Ponyon champagne — and began to pour it into two silver cups, one for each of them. "If you'd rather be back home watching another damned founding pageant, be my guest."

"And abandon our new tradition before it starts?" Celestia replied. "I think not. Do you know how much that champagne cost me?"

"A trek by night through the Everfree Forest and the cost of the champagne is what ails you? Platinum would never."

Both Luna and Celestia lifted the drink to their lips and imbibed. Despite being bubbly, it went down smooth, and Luna savored the taste for a moment. It was a familiar one, and when she closed her eyes, she remembered it tasting much the same way in this very spot over a thousand years ago.

"Plat was drinking this here the night we met her," Luna said aloud. "She brought it with her. I can't believe she even shared it with us, given what she said after she poured it."

"Always one for first impressions, wasn't she?" Celestia replied. She took another sip, and a slight chuckle escaped her lips. "Would it have killed her to simply be polite?"

"Almost certainly," Luna replied, a ghost of a grin floating to her face. Her hooves were growing tired already — she leaned upon the slab of rock as she took another sip. "You wanted to strangle her for calling us blanks. She knew it, too. That mare was fearless. A real princess' princess."

Celestia didn't respond immediately, at first. Instead, she started to look around the room, and the orange glow of the sunset that slipped through the cracks in the strewn and shambled walls washed over her as she did. Luna knew that look — she was thinking about something, be it Princess Platinum or this dining hall or something else entirely, so the younger sister resolved to let her do it. And as it turned out, it was Plat, befitting of the sisters' new tradition.

"I think Plat was our first friendship lesson. Right in this room," she began slowly. "Our first real test as princesses — to find a way to get along with someone you truly could not stand. We'd have never known how wonderful and wise Platinum truly was if we hadn't tried after that day."

"After a few days," Luna replied. "Plat was an acquired taste. But once you got her there was nary a more loyal friend. I'd like to tell you a story, Tia, if you do not mind. Could you walk with me? Bring your drink."

Celestia raised her eyebrows — she certainly hadn't expected anything of this sort — and with a jump, she followed Luna as she walked out of the room, carefully levitating her drink in front of her as to not spill it (it wasn't quite time for that yet).

Luna exited the dining room and headed right. There was once a number of hallways here, a maze spanning endlessly in every direction not unlike the castles in Canterlot in Ponyville did to this day, but those days had long passed the castle by. Entire walls and corridors had fallen, so the path to get anywhere in these ruins became a path of least resistance, with Luna and Celestia climbing and stepping over rubble as they walked through the once-hallowed ground. It was occasionally tough work, but a perfect breeze seemed to whisper around the place, and Celestia and Luna felt an odd sort of warmth from the setting sun hit their body throughout the majority of the castle that did not have a roof.

It wasn't until the two sisters ducked around the main hall — which, in a perfect stroke of symbolism, was perhaps the only part of the castle that truly remained standing, banners and all — that Celestia knew where Luna was going. The Princess of the Night led her sister the Sun to a vast area that was mostly ruined, a wide open space where you could see out across the hill where the Everfree got thicker and thicker. Much like the rest of the castle, rubble was strewn about everywhere here, but the sheer size of the space and what little was left of the floor allowed Celestia to see this place, too, if she closed her eyes — and she did, as Luna spoke.

"I always dreaded the ballroom," Luna started. "Do you remember the first gala we ever held here, sister? Neither grand nor galloping."

Celestia looked up where there should have been a ceiling, instead pondering at a bright orange sky. After a few seconds, she looked back at her sister and shook her head.

"You know, Luna, I don't," she replied. "A few of them in here blur together, somewhat. The Grand Galloping Gala feels like it's as old as the universe itself sometimes, and not in a good way."

"I don't blame you," Luna replied. "Being here always meant exchanging pleasantries with nobles, dignitaries and bureaucrats I'd forget about in a day's time, too. But you could never forget Plat, could you? So I do remember our first gala here. It was a year or two after we'd been crowned, to cement our power to the tribes and other foreign ambassadors come to see the new Equestria. And for the dinner, everyone was sat, and then we'd come out last — you know this, of course, we still do it."

Celestia nodded. Luna couldn't help but let her lips quirk up as she began to tell a story she knew would do well with her crowd of one.

"We hadn't been princesses or royalty for very long, and I was worried about walking out. Can you believe that? I thought royals had to be dignified and proper. It was a really stupid thing to give a damn about, but we were young and suddenly princesses. I didn't know how a princess walked, so I looked in the mirror and thought about the only princess I really knew aside from you at the time. You remember how Plat used to walk? She glided across the floor with her dainty little steps and always kept her head up at just the right angle."

"Oh, no," Celestia interjected, the corners of her mouth now matching her sister's. Her eyes drew wide, astonished at herself. "Wow, Luna, I do remember this."

"Of course you do," Luna continued. "I looked in the mirror in my chambers and did it just how I remembered it. Practiced it for an hour, I swear it. And then, when it was time for Princess Luna to arrive to the masses..."

Luna began to walk down the middle of what was once the Ballroom, expertly balancing her cup with her magic while moving forward by what could only be described as stumbling like a doe that was learning to walk. Celestia tried her best not to break, but by the fourth or fifth step, it was simply too much, and she couldn't help but start to clutch her sides.

Eventually, Luna finished her affront to walking, and she raised a hoof in the air like a stage actor as she spoke.

"I looked ridiculous!" she exclaimed, Celestia's laugh infecting her, and she felt a chuckle escape her. "I got stares for the whole dinner. And since that was not punishment enough, I sat down at my seat trying to hide my face as everyone stared, and you'll never guess who was sitting right next to me."

"Her face! Oh, her face!" Celestia said, her laughter dying down as the memories came flooding back. "Did she say something to you?"

"Not then. That made it worse, honestly, like she was avoiding me for having embarrassed her," Luna replied. "But the gala went on, after that. I had a few awkward conversations, met with the ponies I was supposed to, and before long, they were clearing out and only the castle staff remained to clean everything up. I remember not what you were up to, but you weren't there — it was just me, the servants, and then Plat. She walked up to me and she told me to follow her."

Luna began walking away. Celestia eagerly followed, trailing right behind her sister as they left the ballroom behind. Luna did not walk far this time, instead stopping right outside of where they just were. Luna looked down toward the south, and Celestia immediately knew that this had once been another of the thousand hallways the Castle of the Two Sisters boasted.

"She took me out here," Luna said, "And she taught me the walk. The whole thing. How to put my hooves one in front of the other just so, how to keep your head up just slightly above eye level. She knew what I was trying to do, and she knew I was never going to learn it unless somepony taught it to me. So she did. And to this very day, Tia, I walk with her gait. She turned what should have been an awful memory into a shining example of how she was always looking out for us."

Luna's glass, which had been hovering by her side, floated just above her head. It was time, they both knew, and Celestia did the same. She looked to Luna, but Luna nodded, waiting for her queue — so Celestia looked around as the sky began to dim and spoke aloud to their old friend.

"This one is for you, Princess," Celestia said. "A wise ruler who stood by those who loved her, and a guiding light when we had been walking in the dark. Quite literally walking, in some cases, it would seem. Happy Hearth's Warming, Plat."

Luna chuckled, and at that, the two tipped their glasses down and let the remainder of the champagne spill out onto the floor. The two were silent for a beat, more memories overtaking them as they idly stared forward, but it was Luna who finally broke the silence after their toast had been completed.

"I wish you were here, Plat," Luna finally said. "So you could watch us waste this good champagne."