Celestia moved her rook two squares forward. “Check!” she said. A smile played on her lips.

Luna scrutinized the board and grunted. She grasped one bishop and slid it all the way to the offending rook, that she took away. Celestia didn’t grant her any letup. She immediately brought her queen in.

“Checkmate!” she proclaimed with a triumphant mien. 

“Pffft…” Luna kicked the board and all the pieces fell onto the floor.

“Come on, sis!” Celestia protested. “Don’t be a sore loser. Let’s play another one, okay?”

“No,” Luna snapped.

Celestia rolled her eyes. “What’s up now?”

“I’m bored of this game. Whoever invented it was a huge retard.”

Celestia sighed. “Alright. What then?”

Luna stood up and paced around the room. “I don’t know.” She stopped and gestured with her hoof. “I feel so… jaded.”

“What about checkers?”

“We already played that yesterday.”

”Foosball?”

Luna’s mouth puckered. “Yuck! That’s a game for the rabble.”

“You’re such a killjoy. You know we can’t play leapfrog over the moon anymore!”

Luna’s eye glistened. “Or hopscotch with suns!”

“It was nice back then, wasn’t it, eh? Before all that. Before Equestria. Before ponies,” Celestia said.

Luna nodded. She seemed lost in thought for an instant, then she refocussed. “Your fault it came to an end.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “What? How dare—”

“[i]You[/i] were always fawning on dad. [i]You[/i] accepted that position because he offered it to [i]you[/i], and [i]I[/i] had to follow suit. I never had my say,” Luna cut in.

“You could have turned him down, you know.”

Luna shrugged. “And spend another fraction of eternity with him? You’re kidding, right?”

“You were so enthused, remember? This new material body. Another creation challenge. And you had a lot of fun with your moon, while I was slogging to curb that sun’s nuclear reactions.”

“Sure,” Luna replied. “But now it’s all over. This world works like clockwork. We have jailed or petrified all the villains. There’s no fun to be had anymore, just ennui. This universe has become tame. Time to move on.”

Celestia walked to a window and looked at night sky. “That’s because you never really got involved with ruling. You’ve got the cushy number. Night. Move the moon, move the stars. All sleep, nopony ever shows up to complain. Okay, it’s routine, but no responsibilities. You’re not the one they blame when something goes awry. It’s—” She broke off at the grating sound of an opening door and spun around.

“Luna? Would you stop riffling through that closet, please?” Celestia asked.

“You store potions there? You never told me.”

“Oldies,” Celestia replied. “I think those ones date back to Starswirl, I’m not even sure they’re still eff— What the heck are you doing?”

Luna had seized a few potions in her magic and was juggling them. “Just fooling with a few of them,” Luna said. She adjusted the phials into a vertical line over her head, broke them and chugged their contents down before Celestia could move a muscle.

“WHAT— ARE YOU CRAZY!?” Celestia screamed.

Luna wiped her mouth with a hoof. “De-li-ci-ous! Wonderful bouquet of strawberry,” she said, beaming to her sister.

“Are you out of your mind?” Celestia walked to Luna, glaring daggers at her. “Potions are not meant to be mixed that way! Who knows what will happen to you now? How do you feel?”

“Uh,” Luna replied. “Refreshed! I’m immune to potions anyway, you should know.”

”Who told you that and when?”

“Me. Now.” Luna chortled. “Anyway,” she said, once she’d regained a semblance of composure, “time for me to lower that good ol’ cobble, isn’t it?” She looked at the floor covered in splinters of glass. “Sorry for the mess in your room, ’Tia,” she added. “Call the front desk and request a charmare come. Charge my account for the cleanup!”

She walked out of the room into the corridor, whistling. Celestia followed her silently, stopped on the threshold and watched her recede. When Luna had disappeared beyond the nearest corner, Celestia rolled her eyes again and turned around, closing the door behind her.

She never saw the dazzling flash, nor heard the hysterical laughter that came just after.