To Weep for Family

Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle stood atop the golden dais of Canterlot Castle’s throne room, her head slouching slightly. The frown creasing her face perfectly underlined her downcast eyes. Grey light spilled in through the stained-glass mosaics decorating the walls, drenching the alicorn and dulling her colours. A tense silence hung in the room around her, broken only by the faint pitter-patter of raindrops tapping softly against the windows.

“Well, Twilight?” said a voice, its tone as rigid as ice.

Twilight flinched. Her eyes were instinctively drawn up to the source of the voice. She immediately regretted the action.

Staring back at her from atop the throne were two piercing, purple eyes. Their gaze was a far cry from the warm, understanding one Twilight was so used to receiving. In its place was a cold, unyielding gaze, bearing down on her with all the empathy of a steel blade. It was a look that could turn a cockatrice to stone, and a look that Twilight had never expected to be on the receiving end of, especially when it came from the one pony she respected more than anyone in the world: Princess Celestia.

The fraction of a second in which the two ponies’ eyes had met was long enough to make Twilight’s mind wilt, forcing her gaze back to the floor in front of her. Somewhere in the distance, a thunderclap tore through the sky.

Once the echoing boom of the storm subsided, Celestia said, “You have deliberated on this decision for far too long, Twilight. Tell me your choice.”

Twilight shuffled in place. “I... uh...” Her eyes slammed shut and her muscles tensed. In a rushed voice, she asked, “C-could we go over the decision one more time please?” Carefully, Twilight reopened her eyes and turned them up to her mentor with a pleading look.

Celestia returned her look with the same rigid expression as before, making Twilight shrink back. “We have been over it more than enough times already,” Celestia said, more venom spilling into her tone. “You have a clear understanding of the situation, and you will give me your decision now, Twilight Sparkle. I expected more decisiveness from you than this.”

Twilight’s head slumped down like a dead flower, and her eyes fell to the floor once more. A slight mist filled her vision as she whispered, “But you never told me I’d have to make a decision like this.”

A terrible cracking sound detonated throughout the chamber, echoing endlessly off the walls and startling Twilight into recoiling and looking up, eyes wide as dinner plates. The floor beneath Princess Celestia’s left front hoof had shattered, and her face had morphed into a malicious scowl. It was a terror that put Nightmare Moon to shame, and Twilight couldn’t stop herself from tearing up at the sight.

“I don’t care what I did or didn’t tell you, Twilight. You are a princess now. You will have to make these kinds of decisions whether you like it or not. If you aren’t mature or responsible enough to make simple decisions like this on your own, then maybe it was a mistake to make you a princess after all. Maybe you still have more to learn than I thought.” Her words sunk into Twilight’s heart like lead daggers. Celestia closed her eyes and sighed a heavy sigh.

“I must say I am disappointed, Twilight.”

Tears rolled from Twilight’s eyes like twin waterfalls, cascading in pure silence. She wanted to say something—anything—but her mind was too broken for her to do anything more than cry and stare. Even the weak relief of sobbing was beyond her grasp. All she could do was stand there as the world crumbled around her.

Celestia’s eyes opened. None of the hot iron in her pupils had vanished; if anything it had intensified. She met Twilight’s dewy gaze and spoke in an icy, distant tone. “It is far too late to have those regrets now, though. So tell me, Twilight Sparkle, what do you choose?”

The dam in Twilight’s mind broke, and she was suddenly racked by uncontrollable sobs. She tore her eyes away from her mentor, unable to endure the torturous gaze any longer.

For a long moment, the cries of the weeping alicorn defined the scene. Celestia made no move to approach her, instead opting to observe with notable apathy. Twilight’s body shook with rapid spasms, her eyes leaking endlessly. Another thunderclap resounded, rattling the windows of the chamber.

It took far too long, but eventually Twilight managed to get her sobs under control. Still unable to meet Celestia’s stare, Twilight stifled a sniffle and said, “I’m... I’m sorry, Princess. I can’t make the decision. It’s just—” a sob cracked her voice “—t-too hard.”

In a feat of courage that would have awed even Rainbow Dash, Twilight lifted her head to look into Celestia’s eyes. She poured all the hope and desperation in the world into that one stare. “What do you think I should do, Princess?”

Celestia slanted her eyebrows inward, her eyes steeling like an executioner’s axe as she did. She practically shouted, “You know what I think you should do, Twilight?”

All the response Twilight could muster was a throaty sob. She crouched low to the ground like a filly afraid of being struck.

Then, in a voice that was familiar yet not entirely her own, Celestia cried, “Wake up!”

Despite herself, Twilight raised an eyebrow at the declaration. “W-what?”

In an instant, Celestia’s pupils shrunk to pinheads, and her eyebrows lifted. It was not with the voice of a merciless dictator but rather with a rushed, almost pleading, tone that she said, “Twilight, wake up! Please!”

Before Twilight could formulate any sort of response, she felt herself being pulled toward the back of the chamber. As she looked around feverishly, all the colours of the world seemed to bleed together before fading away entirely. She turned to look back at Princess Celestia, but the princess had vanished along with the entire front half of the room, leaving a black void in its wake.

Without a sound, the world exploded in a cacophony of light.

***

Twilight sat up in her bed, awake and breathless. She panted heavily as her eyes tried to acclimate to the room around her.

“Twilight!”

Noticing the tense claw shaking her from the left, Twilight blinked once and turned to her bedside. A little dragon’s face—dyed silver in the moonlight—looked up at her, eyes slanted in worry.

“Spike?” Twilight asked, her voice scraping harshly against the arid barrier in her throat. She wiped the sleep out of her eye with a hoof.

“Is everything okay, Twilight?” Spike said. He kept his soft eyes focused on her and her alone.

“Uh…” Twilight said, the shroud of sleep falling away rapidly. “Yeah… yeah, everything’s fine, Spike. Why would you think something was wrong?”

Spike frowned deeper. “You were crying in your sleep.”

Twilight was suddenly and intensely aware of the gentle sting surrounding her eyes. She looked down at her sheets. A little damp spot had formed near where her face would have been moments ago.

“Oh…” she said, not looking at Spike. “I… uh…” She turned back to him and smiled a brittle smile. “I was just having a bit of a nightmare. Nothing to worry about, Spike.”

Spike quirked an eyebrow. “Must’ve been some nightmare. You wanna talk about it?”

“N-no,” Twilight stammered. “No, it’s okay, Spike. W-we should really just get back to bed.”

“C’mon, Twi,” Spike said, laying a claw on her withers. “I always talk to you whenever I have a nightmare, and it usually helps me get over it. You should know better than anyone in the world that talking to a friend about your problems is a good idea.”

“I know, Spike, but—”

“You know I just wanna help, right, Twi?” He smiled sweetly up at her.

After a moment’s hesitation—a moment of staring in Spike’s warm, caring face—Twilight hung her head, closed her eyes, and sighed with the weight of the world. “It was… I was talking to Princess Celestia—in the dream, I mean—and she wanted me to make some decision. I can’t really remember what it was, but I knew it was… it was too hard to ch-choose.”

A warm sensation built behind Twilight’s eyelids. “When I told the princess I couldn’t decide, she said she was… d-disappointed in me. Sh-she said it was a mistake making me a princess and that I wasn’t mature or responsible enough to handle it. She… it was awful, Spike.”

“Aw, Twi.” Spike pulled her chin up with a claw, and Twilight’s eyes opened to meet his. “It’s okay. That was just a bad dream. You know none of that’s true. The princess totally believes in you! Everyone does! And you are ready, Twilight. You proved it!”

A small smile flashed across Twilight’s face for but a second before it drooped back into a frown. “I know, Spike, but…”

“But?”

Her eyes became rippling pools as she said, “But what if everyone’s wrong? What if I can’t do what everyone expects me to? Just because I’m a good friend doesn’t mean I have what it takes to lead an entire country! Ponies will expect me to be just as good a leader as Princess Celestia, or Luna, or Cadance, and what if I’m not? I…”

She sighed again and closed her eyes, shattering the sheets of water that had formed between her eyelids. “I just don’t know, Spike,” she said in tiny voice.

A moment passed in silence, Twilight with her head hung and Spike with a single claw laid on her shoulder.

A framed picture on Twilight’s desk across the way glinted in the moonlight.

Eventually, Spike said, “Look at me, Twi.” She opened her eyes—keeping them slanted sadly—and looked down at the gently smiling face of her best friend.

“I know it’s gotta be tough for you. You’ve only been a princess for, like, two weeks! And I know it’s not gonna be easy, but that’s why you don’t have to do it all alone! Me, your pony friends, the princesses, and your family will all be there to help you get through this. We’re never gonna be disappointed in you, Twi, and we’re sure as hay never gonna abandon you or anything.

“And don’t ever say you’re not a good leader,” Spike continued. “You’re the best I know! Who else coulda rallied a bunch of ponies she barely knew to beat Nightmare Moon, or reminded all of her friends who they really were after Discord messed ‘em up, or switched all of her friends’ destinies around only to come back and reunite ‘em again? You’re awesome, Twi! And everyone’s gonna stay by your side no matter what happens with this whole princess thing.”

He winked, smirking. “Especially me.”

Despite herself, Twilight chuckled. She smiled—genuinely smiled—and pulled Spike into a one-armed embrace, lifting him off the floor. “Thanks, Number One Assistant.” She set him back down and said, “You always know just what to say, don’t you, Spike?”

Spike grinned widely, puffing his chest and pointing a claw at himself. “That’s what I’m here for, sister!”

Twilight giggled. She turned to face her other bedside and looked out the window. The moon was several hours past its zenith in the sky.

She yawned, turning back to Spike. “Well, I don’t think I’ll be having any more nightmares tonight, so we should really get back to sleep. I’ll try not to cry and wake you up again.”

Spike nodded, turning and taking half a step towards the foot of the bed. He froze, his eyes widening as though he’d just heard a key click into a lock.

“Oh, that reminds me!” He turned back to Twilight. “Your crying wasn’t what woke me up.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at him. “It wasn’t? Then what did wake you up?”

Spike ducked down to somewhere beyond Twilight’s sight. When he popped back up, he held a scroll in one claw. He extended it towards her and said, “This.”

She took the scroll in her magic. “A letter?”

“Yeah.” Spike yawned and started towards his bed again. “Wasn’t the nicest wake-up call in the world. I think we need to remind the princess of my sleeping hours again. The Spike Postal Service is closed between the hours of 9:00 P.M. and 12:00 P.M.!”

His words fell into Twilight’s ears but half of them bounced off her brain. She was preoccupied focusing on the dark turquoise ribbon which kept the letter bound. The ribbon itself was held in place by a brass seal engraved with an insignia Twilight didn’t recognize.

“I don’t think this is from the princess, Spike.”

Already lifting his blanket and preparing to enter his basket, Spike stopped and looked at her with one raised eyebrow. “Really? But isn’t she the only one who can send letters that way?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said, regarding the seal more closely. “All I know is that this isn’t her seal. I’ve seen it enough times to know. Could you light the candle for me please, Spike?”

Spike walked over to her right bedside table and blew a tiny flame onto the candle’s wick. The green and silver lights in the room danced with each other in twisted harmony.

“Thanks.” Twilight tore the seal off and set it gently on her bedside table. She unfurled the scroll to jagged—yet somehow still elegant—cursive. With Spike hovering at her side, she read.

Princess Sparkle,

I apologize for the unseemly hour at which you’ll receive this letter, but rest assured it is not without reason. As an esteemed foreign ruler, I would only disturb you at this time with a matter of the utmost importance.

Today, Miss Sparkle, I do not write to you as a leader of a foreign nation seeking diplomatic relations or any such thing. No, today I write to you as a fellow living, breathing, sentient, and morally sound creature. I write to you as an equal in mind and conscience.

But, perhaps most importantly, I write to you as a mother.

It has recently come to my attention that my son, the as-of-yet unnamed heir to my throne, has been living in Equestria—and, to my knowledge, under your personal care—for over a decade at this point. While I greatly appreciate that no harm seems to have come to him, you are surely aware that this is a clear violation of the agreement I made with the Sun Princess Celestia not one hundred years ago. If this is, in fact, news to you, I will not waste my time or yours with the details of the agreement. You may ask Celestia about that.

Now, I have had a long and hard life, Miss Sparkle. I have borne witness to many generations of strife, death, and things beyond imagining, and I have become jaded to most emotion. This, however, touches me on a very personal level, and I must confess that I am deeply hurt by the dishonesty and disloyalty you and your people have displayed here. I cannot guarantee this will not affect the relations of our two nations in the future, but I will try to be the bigger of the two of us and fix this without conflict or repercussion.

I will arrive at your capital city in three days' time to right what has been wronged. If you do not cooperate, and if you refuse to allow my son to return with me to his rightful home, I will not hesitate to use force to reclaim what is rightfully mine. I pray it doesn’t come to that, but that is for you to decide with your actions.

I have already lost one son in my lifetime, Princess Sparkle. I will not lose another.

Sincer

This matter is not up for negotiation.

Sincerely,

Queen Dracomedon of the Dragon Empire, Draakenhelm

When Twilight reached the end of the letter, her body was ice and her heart was electric. She stared at the name marking the bottom of the page for a full minute before refocusing her eyes to the start of the letter. She read it a second time, and a third, and a fourth. Each time she hoped to find some small detail she had missed that would confound the letter’s message. And each time only served to further cement the reality of the letter’s words into her brain.

After her seventh time rereading the letter, she slowly turned her head to face Spike. He was smiling innocently up at her, rocking back and forth on his feet casually.

Twilight’s magic broke, and the letter fell from the air.

“Doesn’t usually take you that long to read a letter, Twilight!” Spike said, grinning. “So, who’s it from? What’s it say? Is it something to do with your princess-ness?”

Twilight just stared, her eyes mixed parts confusion, pain, anger, and sadness. “I…” she began, but her words fell limply back down her throat and solidified in her stomach. The words of the letter clung to her mind like leeches.

“...my son…”

Spike’s grin disappeared. “Twilight? What’s wrong? What did the letter say?”

Twilight turned her head back to the fallen letter, then back to Spike. Then to the letter. Then to Spike. She repeated the action twice more before finally settling on Spike. She closed her eyes and hung her head, sighing.

“...as a mother…”

“It was from… the queen of the Dragon Empire.” Her voice was more fragile than a snowflake.

Spike’s eyes widened and his jaw hung slack. “Whoa… really? That’s… whoa… I didn’t even know dragons had an empire. And their queen wrote to you? That’s… whoa...” After a moment of staring at nothing, Spike turned his expression up in a wide smile. “Wait, Twilight. Do you realize what this could mean?! Do you think I could meet her?! Whoa… I have so many questions I could ask her! Like, I could—”

“She said she was your mother, Spike,” Twilight said, her tone louder and colder than she had intended. She clenched her eyes more tightly shut. “She wants to come take you away.”

“...to his rightful home…”

Spike stopped cold. He stared at Twilight unblinkingly, his face betraying nothing. A frigid silence filled the room. The streak of moonlight on Twilight’s desk had moved beyond the framed picture, leaving it obscured in darkness.

Eventually he simply whispered, “What?”

“Your mother, Spike. The queen of the Dragon Empire is your mother. And she wants to take you away. Away from Ponyville, and Equestria, and…” She clenched her teeth as her voice hitched. Combatting emotions were fighting for dominance in her tone, and the number of thoughts going through her mind rivaled the number of books in her library. She settled on one.

“...Celestia…”

Twilight’s eyes shot open, her gaze stony. She hopped out the left side of her bed and, without turning to face Spike, she said, “We need to talk to the princess. Now.” She lifted the discarded letter in her magic and resealed it.

“Twilight…”

“Now, Spike!” She started towards the stairs, keeping her eyes set forward.

“Twilight…”

“What?!” She whipped around to face him, her expression steel and her mouth a razor-sharp scowl.

When her eyes fell on Spike, Twilight’s face instantly softened.

Tears were flowing down Spike’s face like little trickling streams. He didn’t sob or make any noise of any kind. He just cried, staring at his best friend in the world through watery lenses.

“Oh, Spike.” Twilight dropped the letter and ran to him, scooping him up in a full embrace. He grabbed onto her more tightly than she’d thought possible, as if afraid the wind itself would blow in and whisk her into the night.

“What’s going on, Twilight?” His voice—muffled by Twilight’s coat—was quiet and distant. “Th-that letter…”

“I don’t know, Spike,” Twilight said, hugging him tighter, “but we’re gonna find out. Don’t worry.”

“My… my mom…” Spike’s voice cracked at the last word.

“We’re gonna figure this out, Spike. I… I’m confused right now too… and… I don’t know… but we’ll figure this out. I promise.”

“I don’t w-wanna be taken away…”

Twilight pulled herself away from Spike, setting her hooves on his shoulders. “Look at me, Spike.”

Spike looked up at her, blinking rapidly. Twilight’s eyes were like stones in a riverbed—watery and glistening yet hard and certain. She didn’t blink as she said, “You’re not going to be taken away, Spike. I don’t know what’s going on right now. I don’t understand half of what that letter was talking about—and that scares me—but we’re going to talk to the princess and sort this all out right now, okay? I promise I won’t let anyone take you away. Ever. You’re too important to me, Spike. Do you understand?”

Sniffling once, Spike wiped his nose with the back of his arm and nodded diminutively. Twilight smiled down at him and squeezed him once more. When she let him go, she stepped back and turned her side to him. “Okay, hop on, Spike.”

He made his way to her in half-steps and quietly clambered up onto her back. He leaned his head against her mane and wrapped his arms around her neck. Twilight hurriedly trotted over to the stairs leading down from the loft and started towards the library below.

“The letter, Twi,” Spike mentioned, his voice a ghost of sound.

“Right.” Twilight turned on the spot and went back up, stopping beside her desk. She looked to her left, and time froze for a moment.

To her left, on the desk, sat a picture in an ornate gold frame. It depicted her in her coronation dress standing in the middle of a large group of ponies, all of whom were some of the most important ponies in the world to her. The three princesses stood in the back, and her five pony friends as well as her brother were on her either side. Everyone was smiling with varying degrees of formality, and some of them still had some puffiness in their eyes, but all were glowing with pride.

And near the center, wedged between her and her brother, stood a little purple dragon. He was almost lost in all the colours of the photograph, but his face was the brightest of anyone’s.

Twilight smiled briefly at the picture. She forced herself to look away, spotted the bound scroll on the floor, and levitated it to her side before cantering down the stairs and out of the room.

***

The flight to Canterlot was important in its uneventfulness.

Neither Twilight nor Spike spoke the entire trip. Twilight’s face had all the emotion of a rock, yet her eyes were infinitely deep as they focused on the distant mountain. Spike held his position latched around her neck and kept out of the way of her wings without really thinking about it. His eyes were half-lidded and unfocused, but the thought of falling back asleep never crossed him.

The wind didn’t seem to bother either of them.

Twilight landed with a bit of a stumble at the entrance to Canterlot Castle. She craned her head up to look the castle over, then looked over her shoulder at the baby dragon sagging on her back. Exhaling a gust of anxiety, she faced the double doors and walked forward.

The guards flanking either side of the entryway stooped into low bows and greeted, “Good evening, Your Highness,” as she approached. Twilight nodded curtly to each of them in turn before magicking the doors open. She stepped into the castle and trotted through the familiar set of corridors leading to the throne room.

Each step echoed in the midnight silence, filling the minutes with eerie gravity. Some of the corridors were decorated by stained-glass windows which mimicked those in the throne room. Twilight paid most of them no mind as she trotted past, but she chanced a glance at the final two.

The first depicted Spike as the focal point with the Crystal Heart looming large above him, the moon casting an ominous glow through it. Other than Princess Cadance depicted just at the top of the window, Spike was alone in his triumphant frame.

The second was Twilight herself, wings outstretched in front of a six-pointed magenta star. Celestia and Luna were depicted above and below her, but no one else appeared in the scene.

Twilight frowned and moved onward.

Just a minute or so later, Twilight stood before the large, gilded doors of Canterlot Castle’s throne room. She assumed that the knights guarding the door were repeating the greeting she’d already received, but she didn’t actually hear them. She was too focused on the suddenly intimidating size of the doors.

Stiffly, Twilight closed her eyes and forced herself through the motions of the breathing exercise she’d learned from her sister-in-law. When she reopened her eyes, she did the exercise again; and again; and once more.

“Twilight?”

She jumped slightly before turning to look over her shoulder. “Oh, I thought you’d fallen asleep, Spike.”

Spike sat up and stretched the exhaustion from his arms. He held a familiar letter in one hand. “I wish I could, but I can’t get this… this, out of my head. We need to find out what’s going on.”

Twilight turned back to the door and whispered, “And the princess has the answers.” She blinked once—hard—and said, “Ready, Spike?”

Spike sighed. “Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

Steeling herself, Twilight pulled the doors open with a burst of magic and walked into the room.

Princess Luna sat at the head of the room scanning one paper from a pile of official-looking documents. She looked up at the booming sound of the doors swinging open. Upon seeing Twilight, she smiled. “Ah, Twilight Sparkle.” She set the forgotten document back into her pile and stood on the dais. Walking forward to meet Twilight halfway, Luna said, “And Spike the dragon as well, I see. To what do I owe the pleasure of greeting the two of you at such an hour?”

“Good evening, Princess Luna,” Twilight said, commanding a weak smile. “I… sorry to disturb you—I know you must be busy—but we—”

“Nonsense, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, grinning slightly wider. “The matters of Canterlot’s nobility interest me little, especially compared to the company of a friend and fellow princess. Now, how may I assist you?”

Twilight had to force herself to look Luna in the eye as she said, “Uh… well… we actually came to see… uh… Princess Celestia. Could we talk to her, please?”

Luna’s smile instantly slipped into a flat line. She narrowed her eyes and said, “You know as well as I, Twilight Sparkle, that my sister is not awake at this hour, as she does not command the night. If there is something you require, it will be me who you need ask.”

Twilight frowned and broke her gaze away. “N-no offense, Princess, but this… this is something that we need to speak to Celestia about. It’s… important…” Her voice grew weaker with each word.

After regarding Twilight for a moment more, Luna’s eyes softened and she raised one eyebrow. “Truly? I cannot help?”

“In this case… I don’t think so.”

In a soft, confused voice, Luna asked, “What is the matter, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight’s mouth opened and closed uselessly a few times. It was all she could do to not fall apart on the spot. Her blinks were coming in rapid succession when a little claw grabbed her shoulder. She looked to her side and saw Spike offering her a bound scroll. She stared at it for a few seconds, sighed, and levitated it out of Spike’s grip and over to Princess Luna. “Here.”

Luna took the scroll in her magic, eyeing it oddly. “What, pray tell, is this?”

Twilight closed her eyes. “Just… read it. Please.”

Princess Luna looked to Twilight for a moment and watched Spike hold her shoulder weakly, frowning himself. She nodded sharply, unbound the letter, and read it through.

Her eyes grew wider with each passing sentence, both shock and confusion warring in her pupils. At some point her jaw fell a bit slack, and it took her a moment to catch herself and close her mouth. When she finished reading, she stared at the letter for a time before looking above it to see Twilight and Spike, heads still hung.

“Twilight Sparkle…” Luna began, “I… when did you receive this letter?”

“Earlier tonight,” Twilight muttered.

“I see.” Luna looked back to the letter, her gaze still uncertain. Suddenly, though, her eyes hardened and she dammed her scowl with a thin frown. “If you two will excuse me, I must go find my sister and inform her of this matter.” Without waiting, she vanished in a flash of silver starlight, letter in tow.

***

Princess Celestia slept soundly in her room. A thin strip of light shone from the bottom of the doorway, and the moonlight streamed in through a thin veil of clouds, but otherwise the room was dark and still as an alcove tucked deep in a mountain, far from the world. Her royal apparel sat neatly next to her bed in the same position it always did. Not a sound could be heard in the posh tranquility.

That’s when a supernova detonated at the foot of her bed.

“Celestia!”

Princess Luna’s bellow brought candlelight to the room and jolted Celestia straight up in her bed. The wide-eyed princess stared at her sister—making note of the diamond glare in her eyes—and said, “Luna? What in Equestria—”

“Twilight Sparkle and her companion Spike are currently in the throne room, distraught beyond words and undoubtedly livid with you! And rightly so!”

Celestia’s eyes only grew wider. “Twilight? What is she—”

“This!” Luna whipped a piece of parchment from her side and into the air between her and Celestia. “What is the meaning of this, Celestia?! I do not know all the specifics of the matter this letter addresses, but it is quite clear that you have done something outright foolish, and now Twilight Sparkle is being made to pay the price! Honestly! What were you thinking when you crossed the queen of dragons?! Even I—”

“Luna!” Celestia cried, raising a silencing hoof. “Enough of your shouting. Now, please, calm down and…” Both of Celestia’s eyebrows raised. “Wait… what was that about the dragon queen?”

“See for yourself!” Luna harshly shoved the letter in Celestia’s direction. Celestia took it in her magic and set her eyes moving rapidly across the page.

“Queen Dracomedon, Celestia,” Luna said, her tone sharp yet somewhat subdued. “We both know how powerful she can be! I don’t claim to understand what agreement she’s referring to in that letter, but there is little you could say to convince me that this is not your fault. Did you truly think you could deceive her and escape the consequences?! Of all the idiotic—”

“Oh, dear…” Celestia muttered just loud enough for her sister to hear it and cease her tirade. Celestia sighed, rolled the scroll back up, and closed her eyes. “I had hoped this moment would never come, but you’re right to say I was foolish for not expecting it, Luna.” She reopened her eyes and cast a defeated look at the letter. “I had hoped that just this once…”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?”

“Never mind. I’ll explain later.” Celestia rose from her bed and mechanically stepped into her golden slippers. “You say that Twilight is in the throne room? Spike, too?”

Luna straightened her neck and softened her glare a bit. “Indeed, and, as I said, more upset than they deserve to be.”

“Very well. Let’s go, then.” Celestia began towards the door, floating her crown and necklace over to her as she went.

Luna fell into step beside her and said, “What do you intend to do?”

“What I should’ve done a long time ago, Luna. Something I’ve had a lot of practice doing but have never found any easier over time.”

Luna turned her head to her sister and quirked an eyebrow.

Keeping her eyes forward, Celestia said, “Tell the truth.”