'You? Leering over my shoulder every day of my life? And now you would pretend to dictate to me? Unacceptable. Insufferable. Impossible! We are no longer in the time of your exclusive rule! I have no notion of what causes you to suppose that you could speak to me in such a manner. I am a Princess, and I refuse to be steered!'
Celestia closed her eyes, and drew a slow breath through her muzzle. Quite as though she were trying to find the patience for the education of a moron. 'You cannot understand what it is to live as long as I have. To know all that I know. You ponies are dead in the blink of an eye, and have to be taught the same old lessons all over again. Those very same lessons I already taught a thousand years ago. It becomes extremely tiresome.'
Twilight's fury was steadily building. 'I apologise if I bore you!'
'I accept your apology.'
'I was joking!'
'Ah. Your wit is so very sharp I hardly noticed I was cut.'
'You mock me!'
'It is easily done. Every pony seems a baby to me. When you reach my age you see that history moves in circles. So many times I have guided this nation back from the brink of destruction, and on to ever greater glory. And what do I ask in return? A few little sacrifices? If you only understood the sacrifices that I have made on behalf of you cattle!'
Twilight stabbed one hoof furiously towards the window. 'And what of all those dead? What of all those who have lost everything? Those cattle, as you put it! Are they happy with their sacrifices, do you suppose? What of all those who have suffered? That still suffer? My own close friends among them!'
Celestia made no effort to deny it. 'I deal in the momentous. I cannot concern myself with the fate of every peasant. Neither can you. I have tried to teach you this, but it seems you have failed to learn the lesson.'
'You are mistaken! I refuse to learn it!' Now was her chance. Now, while she was angry enough, for Twilight to step forever from the shadow of the Princess of the Sun and stand a free mare. Celestia was poison, and she had to be cut out. 'You helped me to my throne, and for that I thank you. But I do not care for your brand of government, it smacks of tyranny!'
Celestia narrowed her eyes. 'Government is tyranny. At its best it is dressed in pretty colours.'
'Your callous disregard for the lives of my subjects! I will not stand for it! I have moved beyond you. You are no longer wanted here. No longer needed. I will find my own way from now on.' She waved Celestia away with what she hoped was a regal gesture of dismissal. 'You may leave.'
'May… I… indeed?' The Princess of the Sun stood in silence for a long time, her frown growing darker and darker. Long enough for Twilight's rage to begin to wilt, for her mouth to go dry, for her knees to feel weak. 'I perceive that I have been far too soft with you,' said Celestia, each word sharp as a razorcut. 'I have coddled you, like a favourite grandchild, and you have grown wilful. A mistake that I shall not make again. A responsible guardian should never be shy with the whip.'
'I am a Princess!' snarled Twilight, 'I will not—'
She was doubled over by a spear of pain through her guts, stunningly sudden. She tottered a step or two, scalding vomit spraying from her mouth. She crashed onto her face, scarcely able even to breathe, her crown bouncing off and rolling away into the corner of the room. She had never known agony like it. Not a fraction of it.
'I have no notion… of what causes you to suppose… that you could speak to me in such a manner. To me, the Goddess of the Sun!' Twilight heard Celestia's hoofsteps thumping slowly towards her, voice picking at her ears as she squirmed helplessly in her own sick.
'A Princess? I am disappointed, after all that we have been through together, that you would so readily believe the lies I have spread on your behalf. That nonsense about magic and friendship was meant for the idiots in the streets, but it seems that idiots in palaces are lulled by sweet slop just as easily. '
The words were painful, of course. But far, far worse was the unbearable stabbing that cut up Twilight's spine, that tore at her eyes, burned her skin, seared the very roots of her hair and made her thrash like a frog in hot water.
'I had others waiting, of course. I know better than to trust all to one throw of the dice. Other unicorns of apparently great magical talent, ready to step into the role. There was one called Sunset Shimmer, as I recall, and plenty more besides. But you floated to the top, Twilight, like a turd in a pond. As I saw you grow up, I knew you were the one. You simply looked right, and you can't teach that. You have even come to speak like royalty, which is a bonus I never expected.'
Twilight moaned and slobbered, unable even to scream. She felt Celestia's hoof slide under her and kick her over onto her back. The Princess' scowling face loomed down towards her, blurred by tears.
'But if you insist on being difficult… if you insist on going your own way… well, there are other options. Even Princesses die unexplained deaths. Run over by oxen. Choked on an olive-pit. Long falls to the hard, hard cobble-stones. Or simply found dead in the morning. Life is always short for you insects. But it can be very short for those who are not useful. I made you out of nothing. Out of air. With a word I can unmake you.' Celestia stamped her hoof, and the sound was like a sword through Twilight's stomach. 'Like that you can be replaced.'
