Proverbial Roses
Chapter 1: May 14th
Celestia's ears prick forward to catch Luna's words. Her expression is peaceful, a pleasant smile on her face and her eyes glow with warmth. She sits out in the one of Canterlot's many gardens with Luna, a cup of tea between her white hooves while Luna's blue ones drifted through the air, while her turquoise eyes looked on, shining with mirth as she went on with her amusing anecdote.
It was usually nice to have a day off, especially with Luna, who always told wonderful stories.
Celestia paused to take a sip of her tea before Luna's tale would cause her to spit it out in surprise later on. "Luna, you really have to write down something one day. You can weave an epic of even the dullest of things."
Luna propped her cheek on her hoof, ceasing her current tale as a devilish gleam emerged in her eye. "Is that a challenge, then?"
"No, not at all. I don't think I'd be much of a competitor."
Luna stuck her tongue out and plucked a nearby flower from its home. She twirled the blossom in her magic. "Great storytellers are so hard to come by and there were quite a few I missed out on, like that charming playwright that popped up a few centuries back. Such wit he had! I would have liked to meet him myself."
She chuckled slightly and twirled the flower again. "'A rose by any other name'. That has to be one of my favorites, it can be so profound when spoken by the right pony at the right time, don't you think?"
"That's not a rose, Luna."
Her sister shrugged and tucked the flower behind her ear. "But if I called it a rose it would not cease to be what it really is, now would it? Names have power, but wouldn't you say that the quote still retains much merit, even to this day?"
"I'm sure it does, Luna," mumbled Celestia between another sip of her tea. She felt a soft spring breeze roll through the garden and closed her eyes to savor it, the tea's steam tickling her muzzle. As much as she enjoyed Luna's wit, Celestia's heart wasn't in this conversation.
'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'
It really was a thoughtful line, and for Celestia the thorns of this rose dug quite deep. Names did have power and Celestia did believe that they could change ponies and the face you envisioned in your mind. After all, it was her who, at times, had been torn between admitting that 'Nightmare Moon' was just a mask to cover Luna below or pretending that they were two separate entities as so many falsely believed.
She took another gulp of tea before setting the cup down. It helped hide her guilty swallow. Celestia hated this day for so many reasons all jumbled together so carelessly within her mind and heart. Hearts were such fickle things, in her earliest years it told the little filly with a mane of soft pink and a coat of snow that the little blue one was her sister and that she should love her and play with her, since it wasn't as if there was a time when the wide-eyed little one wasn't around. Or at least it wasn't a time that she could remember. Soon after the two shadows that loomed over them vanished, but not before they made Celestia promise something.
She had to take care of Luna, and she agreed wholeheartedly not knowing what would lie ahead. For centuries she protected the little star that was Luna. She shielded her from everything that could be with her own heart. Celestia lived for Luna, and Luna alone. She could never lose Luna and there could be nothing but Luna, as unhealthy as that was.
She broke her heart for Luna. It was nothing but shards when they found ponies, and because of that she lost sight of everything.
Celestia laughs lightly as Luna acts out a flamboyant and over-emphasized battle scene from some drama, using a chair to fence off foes only she could see, knowing that her sister would laugh so. Celestia tries to ignore the lump in her throat. That lump is her heart, and it took the loss of her precious star to fix it.
Luna's words barely register to Celestia, who is lost somewhere within herself cradling the wounded pieces that still remain.
Sister.
It was such a strange term to her, only made familiar by Celestia's experience at regulating her emotions and warming every word so it sounded familiar and without any distant any rehearsed qualities.
This was the word that confused Celestia deeply. What was that word supposed to mean to her? Did it speak of envy, kinship, or something else? How was she Luna's sister of all possible relations?
She couldn't be her sister, and she didn't think of herself as such.
Celestia was Luna's mother, and she was a mother who was so proud of how far her daughter had come. She had cared for Luna more than anypony else had, and even when she didn't there must have been some part of her that worked for Luna's well being.
She was Luna's mother, it was the only way to describe the benevolence and loyalty she felt toward Luna who she had given up so much for and would protect from anything.
The sound of Celestia's clapping hooves rang out as Luna took a bow and prepared for her next 'scene'.
Names had power, and it was a power that Celestia did not dare interfere with.
Nightmare Moon or Luna?
Sister or Mother?
Could Luna's proverb really be true? Celestia was a rose who wanted so desperately to be called by another name, and it was a name that could never be that defined feelings she never dared voiced and especially not on this most dreadful days. Celestia would never say such things to her little star who believed they were still coming back. Her little star still viewed her as a sister and would never agree with what she felt.
She was doomed to be the sister as much as she wished otherwise, a proverbial rose who just as sure as the saying suggested would be just as sweet under her true title, if not even more so.
During Luna's grand finale, Celestia insisted that the tears shining in her eyes were from laughing so hard.
