/pj2023/ Wrath of Compassion


                                            She set it ablaze.

                                            For a short moment the air over the glade simmered, as if above a burning kiln.The cold stillness of an autumn morning changed into a warm gust, then into a hot blast.

                                            The smashed wagon, half-eaten bloody corpses, spilled goods and guts, grass, bushes, feathers of raggedly armored griffin bandits, themselves -- all burst in flames, yellow at first, almost instantly turning blue.


                                            The griffins didn't even manage to cry out in pain, to utter any alarmed sound at all, before collapsing, where they stood or sat arguing over the loot or gnawing on the butchered merchant family, turning into disfigured scorched piles, into charred dreg-like heaps, fused with the molten remains of their armour.

                                            The air around rushed back in, to the center of the volumetric combustion, to replace the burn-out amounts, producing a loud booming blast, bringing the cold back. It blew out the flame and raised the whole cloud of ash above.

                                            After a moment the fire returned, now burning mainly around still red-hot, but cooling disfigured weapons and armor. The fire was just yellow once again. Heavy acrid smell hung over the terrifying scene; of burnt wood, burnt flesh, burnt metal.


                                            Little Luna's horn dimmed down. It didn't shine like a star anymore, as it was just a few seconds before.

                                            Her big, expressive teal eyes trembled, tears rushed down her cheeks.

                                            The soldiers of her escort stood around, dumbfounded, borderline terrified, alternating their gaze between the massacre and their ward.

                                            With evident irritation the Princess brushed tears off her face with her wingtip.

                                            "I shall not forgive that..." she muttered, glaring at the glade.


                                            It all has happened so suddenly: uneventful travelling in a wagon through the backwards woods, steady and sure hoofsteps of her escort and draught team; then the sharp turn of the road, slain ponies, griffin raiders!

                                            A shock, confusion, a cry "Protect Her Highness!", which stopped abruptly after Her Highness utterly obliterated the glade with any opposition it contained.

                                            At last, an old armored unicorn, the commander of the detachment, shook off his confusion. He turned his head away from all the destruction back to the royal wagon and bent his front legs, kneeling. Others came to their senses and hastily have done the same.

                                            "Praised be Her Royal Highness!" He said aloud, in firm and calm tone.

                                            The alicorn filly gazed into the faces of her entourage, unknowingly to them reading their true emotions.

                                            Now, after her explosive outburst, Luna felt like she was about to gasp and moan 'What have I done?!' She was wary of what she may see in minds of her devoted warriors.

                                            She saw grief, surprise, compassion. A good amount of fear as well, directed towards her personally, but, even in the youngest squires it was overshadowed by all-encompassing awe and even hope. This bright streak of hope made her enormous, massive extraplanar soul flutter and she sighed with relief.

                                            She also saw a lone regret, in the older veteran, the commander, but it felt peculiar to her, almost like it pointed out to some distant memory rather than the situation at hoof.


                                            Luna coughed.

                                            "Arise ye, Our dear subjects. Let us bury--"

                                            She stopped, stealing a glance at the black burnt-out soil of the glade.

                                            "--Whatever have left from the poor unfortunate travellers. Those other piles of filth We shall leave as an exhortation to those who would seek to do evil in our lands. Then we will continue our journey."

                                            The soldiers stood up.

                                            "As Your Highness commands!" The commander nodded.

                                            Luna looked after them, taking shovels out from their tack and wandering to the glade.

                                            "Be careful, it's still hot!" She blurted out.

                                            The whole thing took a long time. Scorched soil became like a rock, fused from the heat.

                                            After a good while, the warriors returned to their positions. The draught earth ponies pulled on, the wheels creaked and the wagon rolled on once again.


                                            ***


                                            "It was dreadful! The pain, the anguish, the-something-I-still-haven't-got-a-name for, bloodlust... It lingered there, like an aquarium without the glass! Condensed, concentrated--" Luna stammered, her ears dropped.

                                            "I felt that too. Through you." Celestia answered, soundlessly, without opening her mouth. She send her pink mane to stream back and away, moved her golden tiara into a more comfortable position.


                                            Luna exhaled sharply.

                                            "Please, actually talk to me, Tia!" She pinned her ears.

                                            The Big Sister looked up from the table, her own ears up and alert.

                                            "Very well." Her lips parted, uttering audible words.


                                            Both alicorn fillies were laying down on the royal purple pillows, playing chess. Or, at least Celestia was playing. Alone. Luna, despite laying alongside, wasn't paying the field of figures any attention. A bright thick candle was glowing near the board.

                                            Before the golden glow of the bigger alicorn's magic would touch anything on the board, she would spent several minutes thinking, darting her eyes from a field to a field. Whenever she had to take out a figure, regardless of the side, she accompanied the gesture with a deep frown.

                                            "Lulu," Celestia said slowly, "please, be careful. I understand, it is very hard at this level of perception to--"

                                            "Those are- Those were our ponies! I couldn't do any different! I didn't and I don't want to do any different!"

                                            "You ought to. Lulu, with our... mmmmm... let's call it magnitude of power, this plane can be as good as built out of glass-"

                                            "Those are our..." Luna began in a harsh tone, but paused searching for a word, "Yes, our foals basically! And those abominations, they took your gift and look what did-"


                                            "Our." Celestia's tone was calm, but her eyes flahed with anger for a very brief moment.

                                            Luna leaned away, taken aback.

                                            "Our gift." Celestia emphasized,  collected and patient again.

                                            The Little Sister winced.

                                            "Why then?" She asked, irritated.

                                            "Why?" echoed Celestia, raising her eyebrows.

                                            "They could have used it in any way. Why have they become like that, Tia?"

                                            Celestia moved the white tower up the grid. After a moment she answered:

                                            "Some didn't know better. Everyone wanted to exist."

                                            Luna flared her wings.

                                            "Was the gift that good to begin with then, eh?"

                                            Celestia sighed and took out a single piece with a visible regret.

                                            "I love this game." She said, without answering Luna.

                                            "I know. I love games too. Why-" Luna interjected, but Celestia went on.

                                            "I love that at this scale I can just pretend how something is going and then look at it from different points, contemplate on the consequences. And I find that I love when not everything I will becomes so."

                                            Luna blinked and froze for a moment. Then her face changed from irritation to a bitter smile.

                                            Celestia moved the white princess on the board, checking the black king.

                                            "We cannot undo what we had done without erasing everything that is."

                                            "So, since they share our gift, we need to teach them to build a better existence for themselves with it... And we ourselves have to learn what does it mean in given circumstances." the Big Sister summarized.


                                            Suddenly Luna stood up, approached Celestia's side and hugged her with her wing and neck.

                                            "Tia, I am afraid." Luna whispered.

                                            Celestia returned the hug, while her ears stood up and eyes wnt a bit wider.

                                            "Of what?" She asked, almost bewildered.

                                            "That since that first time we actually looked each other into the face..." Luna paused, fishing for the right words once again, "...We- We aren't one anymore."

                                            Celestia didn't answer, but simply hugged the Little Sister tighter. She held her, slowly stroking her neck with wingtip, until Luna disengaged from her.

                                            Luna looked around and then went to the window. Celestia's eyes followed her a bit, before she returned her attention back to the board.

                                            The smaller alicorn barely stood out a head above the marble sill. She inhaled the fragrance of night air and cast a long admiring gaze over the night sky.

                                            Dark purple dome above was sparkling with thousands of bright glittering dots, like diamonds on the royal mantle. The forest around the castle looked mysterious and engaging under the silvery glow of the moon.

                                            Luna's horn lit up as she adjusted the moon a bit.

                                            "It so strange..." she muttered, "so static... So different, so beautiful."

                                            Luna looked at the sky some more and suddenly beamed, remembering something.

                                            "Oh, right! Tia! Wanted to tell you, I recently found out that when I emulate rest, I can kind of... I don't know... adjust the perception between the higher plane and here but still in a much wider range. I can discern what the living are experiencing. I mean, exactly, not just faint clues!"

                                            Celestia's ears jumped up once again. She turned her head to the window, nodded slowly and smiled.

                                            "That's great find, honestly. You know what happened when I tried to."

                                            Luna sighed.

                                            "Yeah, we have learned out that sand becomes glass if it doesn't evaporate outright. And that one pony had barely survived-"

                                            "Please, Lulu, investigate as much as you can. There are still so many things we don't understand, despite knowing, even despite the fact that we caused so much to be the way it is. We need all we can get to learn more. To be able to influence the reality on this scale in a less disruptive way."

                                            "Will do. A shame I didn't knew I could do that before-"

                                            "That is why, among some other considerations, why we have manifested ourselves as foals." Celestia reminded, with a smile. "Oh, by the way," she glanced at the door, "the chambermare is nearby."

                                            "Mhm, I sense her too." Luna nodded.


                                            After a minute or so there was a polite knock on the heavy wooden double dours of the royal chambers.

                                            "You may enter." Celestia answered.

                                            The doors opened. There was, indeed, the chief chambermare. A unicorn mare, elderly, but still full of energy. She entered the room and bowed.

                                            "Your Royal Highness and Your Royal Highness. It is already late in the evening..."

                                            Celestia feigned surprise.

                                            "Yes, indeed? Oh, I think we got too immersed in the game. Thank you for reminding us."

                                            The chambermare smiled.

                                            "Would it please you to proceed to the royal bathing room?"

                                            "Certainly."

                                            Celestia beckoned Luna. The Little Sister pouted, but walked to the door and stood there, waiting.

                                            Celestia's horn blinked, rearranging the chess pieces back into their initial positions. After making sure everything is in perfect order, she blew out the candle.


                                            Author's notes, since I'm banned from /mlp/:

                                            1.Alicorns=Gods

                                            2.In my headcannon, before the War of the Sisters Celestia had a vastly different personality, much colder and more detatched.

                                            It's the experiences while living and having a body plus emotional toll of conflict with Luna made her bloom into a compassionate and warm ruler we know her as.