Tough Love: Luna vs. Celestia
Part 8: Dust and Cider

It took Celestia all of fifteen seconds to snap out of her stupor and rush out into the hallway. That entire conversation had been wrong, she’d just seen the other side of it in a snap of horrible realization. Her most faithful student thought she was abusing her sister! What a horrible misunderstanding! She had to right this, right away. Her large hooves sent bouncing echoes off the high ceiling. Servants threw themselves out of the way of the galloping alicorn, fear in their eyes. “Twilight! Twilight Sparkle!” she called ahead of herself, following the sounds of loud wailing. “Twilight, wait!” she spread her wings and launched into the air for extra speed.

The purple unicorn could hear her mentor catching up. She tore around a corner, pressing between two statues and into an alcove. Ducking through a servant’s passage and weaving through surprised ponies, she burst into another hall just as Celestia passed it. The alicorn dive-bombed, landing hard and screeching to a halt. Her eyes locked with Celestia’s for a moment, and she fled for her life. The alicorn turned, grunted, and launched herself forward again. Twilight panted in fearful effort, ripping a carpet, bouncing off a wall in a hard turn and knocking over a decorative set of armor. She had to get away. She had to hide. But where? Where did one hide from a GOD? She whimpered, looking back and forth through the massive windows. Celestia began to catch up again. Suddenly, she spotted the astronomy tower of the palace. Her former room, Princess Luna’s current room. Perfect! Twilight feigned left, and then jumped behind a column. The white alicorn followed, then vaulted past the column, chasing the unicorn that was no longer there.

Whimpering with effort and hoping Luna was home, Twilight Sparkle concentrated and her horn ignited with magic. Pop! She vanished into thin air.

=-----=-----=-----=

Princess Luna smiled over a small, metallic wok. The white powder, which she’d come to call moon dust, was almost ready. She’d been making batch after batch since she’d returned from the moon, each more potent than the last. It burned slow, like incense, and the scent was vaguely like vanilla. But, its purpose was far more sinister.

Turning and lighting her horn, she used magic to grind a mortar and pestle with poison joke, nightshade, tiger lily, and a few other things into a fine mixture. Checking the moonlight to make sure everything was the way it was supposed to be, she turned the bowl a few times as though she were frying something. The moonlight turned the mixture white and solidified it. She mumbled incantations quietly. Powerful magic, it was, for an alicorn to be using magic words. Most magic was soundless. This required more effort. “Hahh, sister…” she whispered softly, smiling. She didn’t monologue aloud about her plans, nor giggle maniacally like some storybook villain. No no, she was much smarter, much more tactful and subtle. If any listened to her door, they would merely hear the Princess of the Night quietly working in her room, studiously mixing fine powders of magic. They didn’t need to know what it was for.

Leaning, Luna poured the white powder into a long phial. Taking it in a pair of tongs, she lowered it into a quietly boiling pot of water and held it suspended. The white powder turned gold for a few moments, then flickered… flickered… back to white. A little poof of dust came out, shaped into a skull, then vanished when Luna blew on it. Oh so carefully, the dark alicorn placed a stopper in the phial and put it over a tiny magical circle she’d scratched in her table. Touching her horn to it, she murmured quietly and injected it—neigh, saturated it, with lunar magic. Dark magic.

Celestia had already been exposed to it several times, in increasingly large doses. The first time had been on the… which night was it? The third night of their training? Luna had told her the powder was like scented candles, and she’d bought into it like a trusting foal. By some bizarre alignment of the planets the strange poison smelled like vanilla, so the story seemed legitimate to her sister. How very foolish she’d been.

Merely putting a bowl of it next to her and lighting it would expose her to its poisonous effects. Well no, perhaps ‘poison’ was too strong of a word. It was more like a… relaxant. A relaxant for the mind. Centuries ago, in the time when weddings were blessed by the royal sisters, occasionally there would be… well… problems, on the wedding night. Or anticipated problems. A stallion might question his virility, or a mare be nervous of sharing a bed with her new husband. But, with just a little pinch of Luna’s moon dust burning on the bedside table… well, many minds were put at ease and many foals were made. Stallions were less nervous, mares more happy and willing, and wedding nights more passionate. Initially, that had been the only use for the silly stuff.

But, one night long ago a Lunar Stallion accidently dropped a whole phial of the stuff on himself and (. like an idiot.) licked it off of himself before anypony saw. The next week, he quit his station and opened a bakery. Why? Because he’d always wanted to, but was afraid to leave the army for such a frilly dream. He prospered wildly, and had seventeen foals with his wife. Completely uninhibited by fear, doubt, or circumstance, the stallion pursued every little fancy, every little desire, and threw caution to the wind. He’d died after a drinking game with friends on a rooftop, in which the loser would have to leap to the next rooftop with the other losers and start the next round of the game. He didn’t leap so well while drunk. After that, Luna more strictly controlled moon dust, and quietly circulated it out of existence.

To make it work on an alicorn required far more than a pinch, though. It required gobs and gobs of the stuff, along with encouraging words, loving looks, and general know-how. Somepony as powerful as Celestia needed more than a gentle nudge. She needed a shove. Which, of course, Luna was happy to provide.

Finally finished with the phial, Luna poured the fresh contents out into the metal wok. There. Now she had enough for this evening’s training session with Celestia. Luna had to keep giving her doses to keep her… relaxed. They had their ‘aromatherapy’ sessions together once a week, now. Luna smiled devilishly, mixing the fresh batch with all the rest and putting the lid on the--!

Pop!

“Luna! Princess! You’ve got to hide me!” Twilight Sparkle cracked the parted air with her sudden presence, making Luna jump. “Celestia is chasing me!” The Princess’ eyebrows rose in delighted shock, but she quickly wiped the face off and lit her horn with magic. The room shuddered.

“There. She cannot sense you here. What happened?” Luna came forward and pulled Twilight into a loving hug. Twilight was panting, wheezing, whimpering and started talking in jibberish. “Ohh sh-sh-shhh, there now. Breathe. Breathe.” She coaxed the mare, stroking her mane. Twilight cried, pressing her muzzle into Luna’s breast and clinging to her like a frightened foal.

“I d-d-didn’t want to believe you! I called you a liar, in m-my head!” Twilight confessed her sins as Luna’s wings slowly came down to engulf her in darkness. Luna sat on her haunches, pulling Twilight into a deep an intimate hug. Aegis Shield heard the noise and poked his head in. Luna shooed him back out with a look, and he quietly shut the door. “I didn’t w-want to think--- to think---!” she drowned in her tears. “Th-they were just rumors and bad stories and oh’hohhh Luna I’m so sorry!” she wailed, trailing snot in the Princess’ pelt while tears dripped out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

“Shhhh-sh-sh-shhhh…” Luna crooned over the mare like a mother, stroking her over and over again. “It’s alright. Tell me what happened.” she asked gently. Twilight hiccupped and whimpered, resting her cheek and the side of her head on the dark alicorn’s chest. She told her everything. Quietly, Luna rested her chin atop Twilight’s head and listened. Celestia had admitted to ‘beating’ her, calling it exercise just as planned. The foolish alicorn had even told her they’d been doing it for months now. Her prized, most faithful student was shattered-- her faith in her mentor utterly broken. Now was the time to make the next move, and to be very careful about it. “It’s okay, you’re okay, shhhh-sh-sh…” Luna crooned again and again. “There there.”

“H’ohh Luna, I’m so sorry…” Twilight croaked, her face pressed into Luna’s chest. “I wanted you to be lying, planning against your sister or something.” Luna’s heart skipped a beat and she winced. “I wanted you to be evil again, if only for it not to be true-hoo!” she broke into another shuddering sob, clinging to the dark alicorn all the harder. “Please, please forgive me!”

“I forgive you, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna whispered softly, nuzzling her mane. Lighting her horn quietly, the Princess gave her a lunar blessing. Good luck would follow her around because of the alicorn ma—rejected? The spell slid off of Twilight like oil, droplets of sparkling nothing on the floor at her hooves. When she was sure the unicorn wasn’t looking, she scowled and scanned her with magic. There was some sort of… sort of… seal, on Twilight Sparkle. Concentrated solar magic. Luna had never seen such a tightly woven spell. She squinted with angry interest, wondering just what Celestia had done. The spell was old, spinning slowly around the purple mare, covered with locks and incantations. Closing her eyes, she looked at Twilight Sparkle on the ethereal plain. It was like a golden… egg, incasing her. How odd! Was Celestia-- holding back her student’s powers? Why? The night time Princess considered this information for later use, perhaps to further bring Twilight to her side. Or merely to sully her sister’s name some more. She quickly remembered the conversation and continued. “It’s so very, very hard to believe. I know… I know…” she just kept petting and crooning over the crying Twilight Sparkle, who shook and hiccupped now and then. “Shhh…” she soothed and stroked her, for a long time.

“We hafta stop her, Princess.” Twilight looked up into her face at last, her eyes big and wet. “Th-this can’t go on.”

“Oh no-no-no! You can’t do that Twilight!” Luna said, taking her shoulders roughly. “You mustn’t! My sister is a Goddess, you could do nothing to stop her!” Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Luna covered it with her hoof, worried and trying not to cry herself. “If she is content to merely abuse her sister, then I stand between her and Equestria! Suppose you stood against her, what do you think she would do to you?”

“We stopped you, didn’t we?” Twilight said quietly. Luna stopped. There was dead silence. They stared at each other for a long time. “Forgive me, but… we stopped Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony. And Discord.”

“You speak of treason! High treason against the crown!” Luna lowered her voice to a fearful whisper, drawing her close so none could hear but them. “You could be banished, or worse, executed! There are laws with dust and cobwebs on them that could put your head on a chopping block!” the night Princess pleaded with the mare.

“Think about it!” Twilight whispered. “We have to do something, and if we’re going to stop Princess Celestia, an alicorn, that’s the only tool we have!”

“And do what? Banish her? Hurt her? How?” Luna said fiercely, whispering like a snake.

“We can’t let this go on!” Twilight said, putting both her hooves on Luna’s breast and leaning up into her eye-level. “Even if she is a Princess! She’s become a monster!”

Suddenly, hooves were coming up the spiraling staircase. Much bigger hooves than any mare or stallion. “She comes!” Luna said, brow raising and bunching together. “She must’ve been searching for you, you must flee!” The Princess of the night stood, opening her wings and pushing her mane behind her ears.

“No! I won’t leave you alone with her!” Twilight said, new tears rushing over her eyes. Luna was already looking down at her with a sad smile. The hoof-steps were getting closer, louder. Luna’s horn lit up. Twilight Sparkle began to back away, shaking her head quickly.

“Think of the safest place you can, where you can be among the most dependable of ponies. Ponies you can trust.” Luna whispered quickly. “This spell will carry you there.” Twilight’s butt pressed against the work table, where all of the alchemical ingredients were strewn about. A light cloud of white dust fell over her, and she sneezed briefly.

“No! Don’t do this!” Twilight whispered desperately, rubbing her nose. “She’ll hurt you again!”

There was a short silence. In a moment of brilliance, the night Princess said the most profound thing she had ever thought of, on the spot. The perfect line to endear herself to her sister’s student for all times. Luna whispered to her, “My body as your shield, Twilight Sparkle.” The alicorn smiled with moist eyes, then leaned down and rather roughly kissed her on the mouth. The purple mare let out a strangled yelp, her eyes wide. The magic flowed between them, then into Twilight. The spell violently grabbed her, taking hold. She vanished with a quiet hiss of magic, like so much sand pressed between one’s fingers. Turning into a vaporous purple cloud, she rushed out of the window and over the horizon.
The door flew open, and Luna had half a second to fling herself in front of the alchemy table and hunch to look busy.

“Luna!” Celestia trumpeted across the room. “Have you seen Twilight Sparkle?!”

“Sister?” Luna looked at her with a confused face. “You look upset!”

=-----=-----=-----=

Clop. Clop. Clop.

What a stallion does on his private time is his own business, especially behind the closed door of his bedroom, at the end of a long work day. Big Macintosh was no different. He enjoyed the few scant hours of night at the end of each work day enjoying himself. Sure, he had a meager scattering of books, some music records, and even a tiny radio, but some days it was best to just kick back for more basic, happy things.

Clop. Clop. Clop.

He was a stallion of few words, stoic and strong, the backbone of the Apple Family household. They relied on him for everything from plowing to handy work, and he loved his simple existence there on the farm. He enjoyed the sound of trees. The innocent laughter of Applebloom and her friends in their clubhouse. Even the squawking of Granny Smith, when she often sat in her rocker and complained at no pony at all about the weather or the time of year or those darn colts down the road leaving bags of poop on their porch. Big Mac was blissfully, contentedly happy.

Clop. Clop. Clop.

Yes, life was good for the massive, barrel-chested stallion. The only thing he lacked, to be quite honest, was a marefriend. Call it piggish, but a stallion like him only had basic needs. Food, rest, good company, and eventually a companion. Who didn’t want those things? From where he lay on his bed, he flicked his eyes over to his highest shelf. Pushed between books so only its head showed, was Twilight Sparkle’s Smarty Pants doll (complete with notebook and quill!). Now there was a little mare he could really get attached to. Smart, petite, lovely haunches and a bright-eyed expression. Why, if he could rope such a prize filly, he’d count himself the luckiest Apple there ever was, darn right sure as shootin’.

Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.

He frowned over his latest… project, wondering what the problem was. Holding his tool, he turned it this way and that, furrowing his brow. It looked okay, sure, but it didn’t feel right. Was it even the right color? He wasn’t sure. He hoped so. Maybe he could ask—!

A cloud of purple suddenly filled his room and the stallion jolted upright. “Uh?!” he said plainly, eyes wide. Suddenly the smoke coalesced into a pony shape and Twilight Sparkle popped into existence! She fell out of the air and landed hard on him, knocking him onto his back when their foreheads connected with a crack.

“Ohhh, my he-eead…” Twilight moaned, rubbing her forehead and blinking a few times. Then she saw where she was. And who she was on. “Big Macintosh!” she squeaked, her face reddening. “Wh-what’re you-?!” The stallion blink-blinked up at her awkwardly. Barring that she’d somehow poof’d into his room in the dead of night, this was just too much. He cleared his throat, his face red. “I-is this your room?” she asked, quickly getting off of him.

Big Macintosh set down his hammer, nails, and the tiny dollhouse he’d been working on for Applebloom’s upcoming birthday. He clop-clopped the nail he’d been working on into the slot he’d made earlier as he did so. He rolled upright onto his hooves to stand. “Eyuup.” He said, cocking his head and sniff-sniffing at her a little suddenly. She smelled like sweat and fear and… vanilla? Odd.

“I-I’m sorry for bursting in on you!” Twilight said, casting her eyes worriedly back and forth.

There was a knock at the door. “Big Mac?” it was Applejack, who opened the door a smidgen. “You got company over? I heard… voices?” The orange earth pony saw Big Mac, saw Twilight Sparkle, saw the rumpled bedsheets where her brother had been laying--- saw how sweaty Twilight looked and how shocked Big Mac looked. “Uhhph!” Applejack slammed the door animatedly, rubbing her hooves over her eyes. “Uhhh! Sorry big brother! I ough’ta have knocked!” she made to retreat as fast as her hooves could carry her, red-faced, but the door sprang open again and Twilight dashed out.

“Applejack! Th-thank Luna!” she threw her arms around her friend and practically tackled her to the ground with affection. Big Mac poked his head out into the hallway, looking puzzled at the whole situation.

“I thought you was in Canterlot, Twilight?” Applejack cocked her head.

“I am! I mean I was!” Twilight said fretfully, “Oh Applejack you’re not going to believe it! Not a word of it!” She shuffled her hooves back and forth, doing what looked very much like an I-have-to-pee dance.

“Listen Twilight, you dun need mah permission to go out with mah brother, its just fine with m--!”

“Princess Celestia’s become a monster! A sister-beating, gardener-bullying monster!” Twilight exploded, grabbing Applejack by the shoulders and shaking her. The earth pony stilled herself, her eyes going in circles for a few moments.

“Whoa-whoa-whoa! Slow down there, Twi, what’s going on?” She looked to her brother for help, but the massive red stallion didn’t seem to have a clue. Or rather, his face looked like it normally did when he wasn’t speaking or being spoken to. A little bored. “What about the Princess?”

“She’s beating Luna! Beating her!” Twilight said, big soft eyes melting Applejack’s resolve. “She admitted it right to my face! Like it was no big deal!”

Applejack knew there had to be more to it for Twilight to make such an outrageous claim. “Big Mac? Go get some’a Granny Smith’s special stuff.” She commanded.

“Eyuup.” Big Mac turned and went downstairs, walking past Twlight as he went. He paused, smiling at her. Twilight looked fretful, but he patted her head with a massive hoof anyway. When he went down to the cellar, he went to the long rack of apple cider bottles. Last year’s kegs were still fermenting, but there was a certain kind that only got pulled for emergencies. And if Twilight was yammering like a madpony about the Princess, this was an emergency. He squinted… ah, there it was. He pulled a black bottle down that had a picture of a much, much younger Granny Smith on it. She used to be the poster mare for the brand, after all. The bottle was that old. Swishing it around a little, the stallion nodded and returned.

While he was working his way up the stairs, he saw something on his hooves and paused a moment. Something white? It looked like powder. Had that come out of Twilight’s mane? Odd. He ran his tongue briefly over it and rubbed the hoof on the stairs. There, all clean. Much better.

When Big Macintosh emerged from the cellar and closed the door, he saw Applejack easing a distressed Twilight Sparkle down the stairs and into the kitchen. “Ah, there it is. Good job, Big Mac.” The farming mare sat her unicorn friend at the kitchen table and went to the cupboard, pulling down a dusty shot glass. Running it under water, she took the bottle from Big Mac and popped the cork.

“This is no time for drinking, Applejack! We’ve gotta move! Princess Celestia is gonna come for me soon I need to go and warn Spike! She might come here looking for me, oh what if she decides to arrest your family for—GLAH!?” The red stallion had rather rudely seized the back of Twilight’s mane and tilted her head back, which forced her jaw open wide. Applejack took the opportunity and poured the shot glass. The liquid was black as Luna’s night, no-telling-what-proof cider. Twilight struggled a bit, but they poured it down her throat and he let go. The recoil made her swallow and she clutched at her throat, coughing heatedly. It burned like fire! Applejack poured the next one. They repeated until Twilight flailed out of the chair and fell over.

“Three ought’a be good. Takes the edge off.” Applejack said, putting the bottle aside. “Now breathe, Twilight. Tell us whut happened.” She coaxed her friend back into the chair. Flushed and a little cider touched (man that stuff worked fast!), she shook her head and hiccupped an apple-shaped bubble. Big Mac waited with stoic silence, smoothing Twilight’s mane a little apologetically for mare-handling her.

Twilight calmed down a little, finally able to slowly relate the story. She told the two siblings everything she’d seen. The gardener Celestia had menaced. Meeting Luna in secret. Seeing the long scar on her side. Celestia admitting to abusing her sister. That she’d been doing it for months. How she’d gone to confront Celestia and that Luna had saved her from punishment by teleporting her away.

“So how’d you end up in Big Mac’s bedroom?” Applejack wanted to know.

Twilight Sparkle blushed, and Big Mac blinked with interest. “W-well, Luna said to think of the most dependable of ponies. Where I could be safe for awhile. So, I thought of you and your family, Applejack.” She said shyly, ears turning back. “I-I guess the spell just picked one of you and delivered me to that pony. It’s a good thing I didn’t land on Applebloom or Granny Smith!”

Applejack swelled a little with Apple family pride, that Twilight had picked her and hers as a safe haven from… from what? Evil? “Twilight, it’s mighty fine of you to think of us Apples as so dependable.” She smiled gently, trying to soothe her friend. “Tell y’what. You stay the night here with us, and we’ll sort it out in the morning. Let ever’pony breathe for a minute.”

“What if the Princess comes looking for me?”

“She’ll look in the library and in town, Ah’d wager.” Applejack spoke the truth. Celestia knew she had many friends, but those friends were scattered all over town. If she did come to Sweet Apple Acres there would be plenty of time to find a safe place to hide. Slowly, Twilight nodded. “Att’a girl.” The farmer smiled comfortingly. “C’mon, you can come sleep with your big sister Applejack. Ah got a big bed anyways.”

“Could… I just have the couch or something?” Twilight asked meekly.

“Alrigh’.” Applejack said, nodding slowly. “I’mma find some fresh blankets, be right back.”

Big Macintosh stood in the kitchen with Twilight, rather awkwardly. He would be thinking about her tonight, right when she showed up during a crisis. He thought carefully, licking his lips a little. He had to think of something nice to say. Somethin’ upright and… and sophisticated. Somethin’ to impress her and make her feel at home in his home. Somethin’… somethin’… The white powder he’d licked off of his hooves had strengthened him just a little bit, and when he opened his mouth his words shocked even him. “You want company?” he said in his thick country accent. She looked up at him, her brow rising in surprise. There was a long silence, and they stared at each other.

When Applejack returned with spare blankets and pillows, she found her big brother laying on his belly on the couch in the living room. Curled up like the smaller spoon, Twilight was hiding her face in his massive chest and trying to blot out the world. Her deep breaths said she had already fallen asleep, the poor exhausted thing. The orange earth pony gave her brother a look. He stared back at her. She looked down at Twilight, who trembled a little in her sleep. “No funny stuff, Big Macintosh.” She mooshed her hoof into his muzzle.

“M’ope.” He honked a little. Twilight whimpered like a foal, tucking her head under the blanket.

“She moves, you go with ‘er. Understand?” Applejack said dangerously.

“Eyuup.” He nodded, taking the lip of the blanket in his teeth and pulling it up over Twilight a bit more. She shifted just a little, making breathy and exhausted sounds. Applejack reluctantly left her brother and friend there to return to her own room. She’d be up again in a few hours, no doubt, but for now she had to try and sleep too.

Meanwhile, under the blanket, Twilight had been feigning sleep in order to end the conversations. She needed time to think. She needed time to plan and make lists and figure out what sort of strategy one needed to stand up to a goddess. She needed-- Big Mac sure smelled nice. Her train of thought paused at handsome-studly-stallion station for a few moments, and she admired his crimson fur under the blanket where she lay hidden. The light musk of stallion smell wafted at her, and she blushed. Curling up, she tried to concentrate on the matter at hand. She peeked at him again. After a time, Big Macintosh lay his head down on the arm of the couch and closed his eyes. He didn’t dare put his arm around—yes, yes he dared. His massive hoof lifted and he mooshed the tiny mare up against himself. She squeaked like a dog’s toy, but lay still. The huge stallion’s underbelly was big and velvety and very, very warm. She didn’t mind laying there like this. Not at all. Oooh, muscles! What was the harm in a little stallion-snuggling? Just a little bit? Normally, she would’ve shot across the room, hidden, cried out in embarrassment, but… she… she just didn’t feel like it. Huh. Twilight wondered where the bravery of being pressed up against Big Macintosh had come from. She was probably just too tired…

=-----=-----=-----=

“You know, sister, you are right. I should not have chased Twilight Sparkle like that.” Celestia whispered, splayed out on her back in Luna’s room. The guards, both solar and lunar, were outside. They weren’t allowed to participate in the aromatherapy sessions the sisters shared. After all, the Princesses were also moon-bathing by the window, and it would be improper for a stallion or four to stand there oogling them. “If she was upset, she should have time to calm down and put her thoughts in order. Chasing her about was just making it worse.” Celestia reached over into the little bowl of chocolates Luna had procured for the night.

“I know you’re very worried, Tia, but don’t be too hard on yourself.” Luna smiled as smooth as black silk. “Twilight Sparkle will come around. She loves you very much. She knows you wouldn’t abuse me like that, haha! That’s silly!” Luna coaxed her to eat another before grabbing one for herself. The wok of vanilla-smelling white powder between them was burning silently. It’s slowly curling lines of white smoke drifted back and forth in the air. “She’ll realize, just as you did, how strange that conversation went and she’ll come back to you.”

Celestia sighed, inhaling deeply. Her eyes flickered from their normal purple and over to a curious golden color. The white alicorn shifted, lifting her wings so she could lay on her side comfortably. “Yes… yes you’re right. She’ll come around.” The Princess of the day smiled at her sister, who reached and plucked a new chocolate for herself. Luna smiled and stared into her sister's gold eyes, chewing lavishly. She did adore chocolate.

End of Part 8