Luna sat with a drink of scotch in her hand, leaning back in the chair she sat in with a drunken haze covering her eyes. The sun had long since gone down, nearly as fast as the contents of her scotch bottle, and she was still going over the day's events in her mind. The conference with the French ambassador, putting her signature down alongside her sister's and niece's to finally get the state government to recognize same-sex marriage in Kansas and finally the meeting at the cafe.

"Parker" she spat.

Just the use of the name left a funny taste in her mouth, gave her a conflicted feeling on how she should react to his presence and brought conflict inside her own mind about how she should feel about him. From her own personal experience with him, Parker was a very intelligent young man. He seemed to have an amazing grasp on the scientific functions of many theories and areas with a decent understanding of adult life, as good as a fifteen year old could have.

     She didn't see him as attractive, not yet at least, and she was willing to see how he blossomed in his later teen and early adult years. It wasn't impossible for her to understand why girls would see him as attractive though something she found particularly unattractive was his height.

"He's about... five seven?" she asked herself "I was about that height when I was eleven years old... though he would be the perfect height for a shorter girl like Twilight... how tall is she now? Five two? Five three?" There came a knock at the door, Luna's ears twitching at the sudden sound in the almost silent room, and the door swung open.

"Luna" Celestia said, flicking on the light and looking at her once again drunk sister.

"What?" Luna asked irritably, squinting to try and prevent the bright lights from damaging her retinas.

"I want to talk to you, about what happened today" she said quietly, walking into the room and taking a seat across from Luna. The eldest looked at the younger for a long second, analysing her sitting posture, facial expression and eye clarity before sitting up straight and speaking once more.

"What do you have against Peter?" she asked. Luna looked down at her lap for a moment, not willing to speak.

"Luna please, if you tell me what it is you don't like about him then maybe I can..." Celestia began, trailing off as a thought occurred to her "No, this isn't the way you usually act when you don't like someone"

"What are you talking about?" Luna hissed.

"I know you, we're both politicians, both leaders, we've been trained to fake emotions and reactions for longer than anyone else has been alive" Celestia continued "When you don't like someone, you usually keep it too yourself Luna, you act friendly around them but once they're gone, that's when you drop the pretence" Luna took another drink, finishing the glass and setting it down on the floor next to her.

"I still don't see your point, you're giving this speech about me pretending to like someone when I don't, yet I'm not pretending to like Parker at all" Luna said irritably "Are you just going to keep rambling or are you going to go somewhere with this?"

"My point is that when you don't like someone, you always pretend to be friendly around them, the only time you act like this is when someone has directly insulted you or-"

"And Parker hasn't insulted me?" Luna snapped angrily "The boy is disrespectful and air-headed!"

"But you were like this with him from the very beginning!" Celestia shot back "He hadn't said two words to you and you were ready to throw him to the wolves, now if you'd let me finish, I was going to say that you only ever act like this when someone directly insults you or when you don't want to give them, or yourself, the chance to become familiar and friendly with them" Luna gritted her teeth, her drunk stare locking onto a single fibre in the carpet as her temper flared up again.

"You don't have any idea what you're talking about" she growled.

"That's where you're wrong sister, I know you better than you think I do" Celestia said sternly, crossing her arms against her chest "You're not acting cold with Peter because you don't like him, you're doing it so you don't get the chance to like him, you want to push him away from you so you and he can never become friends... and it all relates back to him doesn't it?" Luna's eyes shot daggers at her sister, her breathing becoming heavy as her ears turned a shade of red, boiling with rage.

"I told you to never bring that up again" Luna snarled.

"But that's why isn't it?" Celestia asked, still pushing for answers "Because he reminds you too much of him, everything he does just brings back painful memories and whenever you look at him you can't help but feel sick"

"Leave me alone Celestia" Luna muttered.

"You have to get past this Luna, you can't spend the rest of your life feeling sorry for yourself" Celestia stated.

"Sorry for myself?" Luna asked furiously "You know that I'm entitled to feel sorry for myself, that bastard left me and ran off with someone else... I loved him"

"But he never felt the same, did he?" Celestia asked, moving over to her sister and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"He... he never knew" Luna mumbled, a lump forming in her throat "I never told him"

"And you've never let it go have you?"

"I can't... it eats away at me every time I look at Parker, the fact that the two are so alike... the fact that Parker is what I can never have" Luna said, a tear rolling down her cheek as she covered her face with her hands.

"Its OK Luna" Celestia whispered, wrapping her arms around her sister and holding her close "If that's what you really want then we can continue the research"

"No" Luna said, suddenly standing up and wiping the tears from her face "The time's passed, its too late for it and I've lost the want that I had once before, I need to forget about this and move on"

"Are you sure you can do that?" Celestia asked "Peter's going to be around a lot more, even though..."

"Even though what?" Luna asked.

"Even though... even though Peter said he doesn't want to be around you" Celestia sighed.

"See?" Luna said with a teary smile "I knew it would work"

"But it shouldn't have to Luna, I know you and Peter would be great friends if you just gave him a chance" Celestia spoke softly, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder again.

"I don't want to" Luna said with a shake of her head "I don't want to risk it ever happening again"

"If... if you're certain that's the best way" Celestia nodded.

"I am Celestia" Luna said "This is the best way"

"Alright then sister" Celestia said in a defeated tone "Good night"

"Good night Celestia" Luna said, smiling at Celestia as she left the room, leaving Luna on her own again.

As she felt she always was. Next Chapter: Photoshoot Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 16 Minutes