Celestia stared at her sister who continued to glare at her. For a brief moment, she saw Sunset glaring back. Luna and Sunset truly did have the same eyes when they looked angry.
Celestia sighed as she finally gave in.
"Very well, Luna."
Luna's glare vanished as she smiled at her sister.
"Thank you, sister."
Celestia motioned for her sister to take a seat next to her to which she complied. Celestia then summoned a photo album which had an image of a two-toned sun on the cover.
"It wasn't easy ruling Equestria in your absence," Celestia began. "My heart was filled with regret after I banished Nightmare Moon - you - and I wondered if there was anything I could have done differently. Maybe if I had taken the time to notice how lonely and unappreciated you felt, then perhaps I could have prevented you from becoming Nightmare Moon."
"Don't shoulder all the blame, sister. We both could've have done things differently. I could’ve reached out to talk to you, but I didn't," Luna said as she placed her left hoof on Celestia's shoulder.
Celestia placed her hoof atop Luna's, appreciating the gesture.
"Overtime, I managed to keep Equestria safe with the help of our ponies, but the emptiness I felt inside never went away. I longed for companionship and throughout the years, I dated my fair share of mares and stallions. Unfortunately, it turned out that a majority of them only dated me to improve their status among the nobles."
"I'm surprised you didn't banish them or had them removed from their positions," Luna scoffed. She remembered how the nobles tried to court her after she had returned, but she refused all their advances. They didn't take it well and tried to use her past as Nightmare Moon against her. That was their mistake.
Luna chuckled as she recalled one unfortunate noble stallion who tried to bully her into marrying him, bringing up Nightmare Moon as a reason why ponies were hesitant about her ruling alongside Celestia and that by marrying him he could improve her standing and trust amongst the ponies. He was so confident that she would accept his proposal that he didn't anticipate her glaring down at him and using the Royal Canterlot Voice as she threatened to give him endless nightmares if he dared to continue with his foolish pursuit of increasing his family's influence with such volatile methods.
Luna had never seen anypony shake their head that quickly. He ran away from her in terror with his tail between his legs and soon nopony would dare try to court her for their own selfish benefit again.
"Luna, that's not how I do things," Celestia chastised. "I simply told them that I would throw them into the sun."
"And ponies think that I'm the scary one," Luna commented, smirking at her sister. "So how did you find your special somepony?"
"I already did," Celestia said, smiling fondly.
"You still have a thing for him?" Luna asked as she rolled her eyes. "I would've thought you had moved on after so long."
"Luna, how can you say that?" Celestia said aghast. "There has been nopony like him. There will be no one else who's my special somepony," She opened the album and showed it to Luna, who immediately squealed upon seeing a baby Sunset.
"Celestia, she's the most adorable filly I have ever seen!"
Luna took hold of the photo album with her magic and began to flip through the pages, Celestia watched her sister with a warm, loving smile as she looked over the photos of Sunset.
"Sunset was the light of my life - my little sunshine. The joy she brought me filled the emptiness in my heart. I looked forward to every moment we had together," Celestia said as her sister saw pictures of Sunset taking a bath, her sleeping in her crib, her levitating objects and there was even a photo of her laughing at two unicorn guards who were covered in cake.
"She seemed to be quite the handful," Luna noted while looking at photos of nobleponies running away from flying cakes, guardponies whose armor had been turned to balloons, the fountain in the royal yard was spewing juice instead of water and there was a photo of a group of buffalo wearing pink ballerina outfits dancing in the streets of Canterlot while it was snowing. But there was something off about that snow. In the center of all this chaos was a little filly named Sunset Shimmer.
"You have no idea," Celestia said playfully. "Sunset's magic was very powerful and continued to grow stronger as she got older. Unlike Twilight Sparkle who would read up on magic, Sunset had a more hooves-on approach to magic." Celestia smiled as she looked at a very special photo. It was the day Sunset got her cutie mark.
"I'm guessing there's a story to this?" Luna asked.
"Yes, it was during the Summer Sun Celebration. Sunset had been watching me do it plenty of times in the past and asked if she could raise the sun in my place," Celestia giggled as she recalled how excited Sunset was when she asked her. "But of course I said no and my little sunshine being as stubborn as she is wouldn't take no for an answer. So as I was lowering the moon, the sun began to rise by itself. I was shocked to see this and when I tried to regain control of the sun, I felt a familiar magical signature."
"Sunset," Luna said with a smile as she listened to Celestia's story.
"I looked around for her and noticed her on top of one of the balconies. She looked like she was struggling to raise the sun and I feared that she might hurt herself," Celestia said, her tone and expression were full of concern. "As you know sister, it took five great sorcerers including Starswirl the Bearded to simply raise the sun and as a result, the sorcerers lost the use of their magic, forever. Fear gripped my heart at the possibility of Sunset losing access to her magic and I tried to discreetly tell her to stop. But she wouldn't listen and kept on pushing herself to raise the sun."
"Did...did she do it?" Luna asked, anxiously awaiting the answer.
"She did; it took her a while but she found the strength to raise it all the way," Celestia said somberly. "My ponies were not aware of what has happened and had assumed that I had raised the sun like always. I quickly excused myself and teleported to my little sunshine and what I saw I will never forget.
Princess Celestia appeared on the balcony, a look of panic on her face as she desperately looked for her daughter. She saw her sitting on the floor with her head down, panting in exhaustion at the incredible feat she had accomplished.
"Sunset!"
At hearing her mother's voice, Sunset raised her head and upon seeing the Solar Monarch she smiled widely.
"Did you see that, Mommy? I did it. I raised the sun!”
Celestia quickly closed the distance as she wrapped her hooves around her daughter and lifted her off the floor.
"Are you alright my little sunshine?" Celestia asked as she nuzzled Sunset.
"Yeah, just a little tired," Sunset responded, nuzzling her mother back.
"Can you still use your magic?" Celestia asked as she pulled away to look at Sunset.
"Yeah," Sunset lit up her horn and levitated some objects in the room. "This is all I can do now, but after I recover I'm sure I can do more complicated ones." Relief filled Celestia’s heart as her little sunshine didn't lose her magic like she feared, but she was going to wait until Sunset was fully recovered to find out for certain.
"That was a lot harder than I thought it would be and you do this everyday!" Sunset looked at her mother with adoration. "You're amazing, Mommy! I'm gonna work extra hard so that I can be as great as you!"
"I have no doubt about that," Celestia said. She knew her daughter was destined for great things. Just then a flash of light caught her eye and when she saw Sunset's flank, her eyes widened in surprise. "My little sunshine, you got your cutie mark!"
"Huh?" Sunset turned her head around to see a two-toned sun on her flank. "I got my cutie mark...I got my cutie mark!!"
"I'm so proud of you, my little sunshine!" Celestia cheered as she spun her daughter around.
"My cutie mark is just like yours, Mommy!" Sunset said amid fits of laughter. "I'm just like you!"
"That's right, my sunshine. You're just like Mommy," Celestia said, nuzzling her daughter as she held her close.
"I've heard of members of the same family having similar cutie marks, but is Sunset's special talent to become like you?" Luna asked.
"It's more than that. Sunset is meant to become somepony much greater than me," Celestia spoke with pride.
"That I would certainly love to see happen," Luna said, a smile on her lips as her niece was destined to become a great pony. "You are a very skilled and powerful pony, sister. Sunset must've taken more after you than you thought."
"Perhaps she was too much like me," Celestia said with regret. "As the years went by and Sunset was really getting into her studies, she began to see others as beneath her and didn't make any friends. I was worried that she would stray from the proper path. I thought that by showing her the mirror she could see what I always believed she would become and get back on track. I couldn't have been more wrong."
Luna wrapped her wing around her sister, she could see the regret in her eyes as tears welled up in them.
"Once again, I failed my family and repeated the same mistake I made with you." Tears spilled from Celestia's eyes as she used her magic on a nearby wall.
Luna watched as the wall began to fade, realizing that the wall was just an illusion and it revealed a painted portrait of Celestia with a much older Sunset Shimmer. Both ponies had matching smiles as they were dressed in beautiful gowns.
"I am truly like the sun. I provide light and warmth to those around me, but I burn all those who are close to me!" Celestia sobbed.
" Enough!" Luna raised her voice as she took hold of her sister with her wings, forcing the older alicorn to face her. "You can't keep putting all the blame on yourself. If Sunset were here she would agree!"
"You didn't see the look on her face when I confronted her in the restricted section of the Canterlot Royal Library. In that instant, I no longer saw myself in Sunset. But rather you," Celestia said which surprised Luna. "I ordered Sunset to be confined to her room, but she had other plans."
"The mirror," Luna muttered.
Celestia nodded, "She overpowered the guards that were escorting her and jumped into the mirror. I tried to follow after her. but the portal closed before I could and just like that, she was lost to me."
Celestia rose from her bed and walked over to the portrait, she trailed a hoof over Sunset's image as her tears continued to spill.
"I spent the next 30 moons wondering how Sunset was doing. Did she have a place to live? Was she eating well?" Celestia said as she turned to look at her sister. "I was so relieved when Twilight told me that she was alright and as much as I would have loved to see my little sunshine again, just knowing that she was in good hands and even making friends on the other side assured me that she was safe and happy."
"Have you been talking to Twilight about her?" Luna asked as she approached Celestia.
"No, the last time Twilight told me about Sunset was when she informed me about the sirens," Celestia answered. "I haven't heard anything about Sunset ever since."
"Maybe you should ask her," Luna pointed out, "I heard she is in Canterlot visiting her family with Rainbow Dash."
"I don't want to bother her when she's with her family," Celestia said.
"It doesn't hurt to ask. Does Twilight know that Sunset is your daughter?" Luna asked curiously.
"No, she doesn’t," Celestia informed her. "I mostly raised Sunset in secret until she was old enough to understand why and is able to see through the deceptions of certain ponies."
"That reminds me, sister. If you've never moved on from him, then who sired Sunset and why aren't there any pictures of them with you and Sunset?" Luna asked.
"He doesn't know about Sunset, at least not yet. As for who sired her....that should be obvious if I never moved on
from him," Celestia winked at her sister.
Luna's eyes widened as she understood who Sunset's father is, "ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT DISCORD IS SUNSET'S FATHER?!" The Royal Canterlot Voice was so loud that the room shook.
Celestia was very thankful for the soundproofing spell she had placed on her room since Sunset was born, but her ears weren't so lucky.
"Luna, please keep your voice down."
"B-but how can this; when was Sunset born?!" Luna quickly asked Celestia.
"Sunset was born 17 years ago," Celestia answered, smiling slightly as she saw the confused look on her sisters face.
"B-but how can you two conceive Sunset if we turned him to stone over a thousand years ago?!" Luna asked as she tried to wrap her mind around her niece's conception.
"It was a few days before we discovered the Elements of Harmony. Discord appeared before me and asked me to join him at his side as his Queen of Chaos," Celestia recounted.
"The nerve of him, visiting you out of the blue and asking you to be his queen!" Luna scoffed at the idea.
"Luna, this wasn't the only time he visited me. He's visited me countless times before," Celestia confessed.
"And you didn't think it was important to tell me this?!" Luna raised her voice. She was upset and hurt that her sister would keep this from her.
"I'm sorry, Luna," Celestia apologized, feeling ashamed for her past actions. " I didn't think it would be worth mentioning."
"Why would you think that?" Luna asked raising an eyebrow.
"Because he would usually show up out of the blue to tell me how beautiful I am, profess his love for me and I went along with it. He knew how I felt about him and those nights he visited me always filled me with excitement as to how he'll profess his love to me," Celestia said. "He would show up with beautiful flowers and tell me how they were the only flowers he could find that were even a fraction close to how beautiful I am. Other times our courtship was a bit more heated." A blush formed on her cheeks as she recalled one night in particular where they went a little further, but had to stop when they sensed Luna approaching.
"Stop! I don't need to hear that! Just get back to him wanting to you to be his queen," Luna said, she really didn't need to hear about that particular part of her older sister's love life.
"Very well. This was very unusual for him and as much as I loved the thought of being together with him, I couldn't just let our ponies continue to suffer under his rule while I attained my happiness." A single tear fell from Celestia's right eye. "I told him that I would love to be his queen, but I couldn't be a part of all this chaos he was spreading. I begged him to stop this and even suggested that I would throw away me being a princess and we could go live somewhere far away...together."
"I take it he refused," Luna said, her ears dropping as she observed her sister's visible pain.
"He did, but not before telling me that he would love to just run away with me. However, he said that he couldn't do it or else he would risk hurting me," Celestia wiped away a tear as an image of Discord's pain-stricken face flashed in her mind.
"What did he mean by that?" Luna asked curiously.
"He didn't elaborate, but I told him that if this was to be our last night together, then we'll make it memorable. Shortly after that night, we discovered the Elements and turned him to stone," Celestia concluded.
There was a moment of silence as Luna digested the information Celestia had shared with her. Neither sister looked at the other.
"When did you find out you were pregnant?" Luna asked, breaking the silence as she finally looked at her sister.
"It was not long after we turned Discord to stone. I was feeling a little weak and I was vomiting in the morning. It came out as bubbles, rainbows, and even apples," Celestia explained.
"That's...odd," Luna said. She didn't know much about pregnancy, but at least she understood enough that what Celestia described wasn't normal.
"I was concerned that Discord might have done something to me so I ran a diagnostic spell on myself, that's when I discovered I was pregnant with his foal," Celestia said as she looked at Luna. "I was scared. I didn't know what to do so I kept it to myself until I could come up with a plan."
"What was your plan?" Luna asked, swallowing a lump in her throat and suddenly feeling nervous.
"I decided to freeze my foal’s development until a time where I was sure I could take care of her," Celestia answered.
"Freeze your foals development?" Luna questioned.
"Yes, it's a spell that pregnant unicorn mares use to delay their own foal’s development if the situation isn't right for it to be born," Celestia explained.
"So you've waited for a thousand years and then just decided that it was the right time for you to have Sunset?" Luna asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes," Celestia answered simply.
"But why was she-?" Luna cuts herself off as she realized something very important. "You were pregnant during our battle."
"Luna-"
"I attacked you with the intent to kill you," Luna stumbled back as the full weight of her realization set in. She backed into Celestia's bed, causing the photo album to slide off the bed and on to the floor. She looked down at the album and sees it open to pictures of her niece as a tiny foal. She was so innocent and fragile. "I...I could've killed her! I could’ve killed my niece!"
"Luna!" Celestia calls out to her sister, but she was too panicked to listen.
"I struck you down! I could've caused some sort of damage to her!" Luna started hyperventilating. She grabbed her head with her hooves as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Luna, snap out of it!" Celestia yelled as she took hold of Luna's shoulders. "Sunset is fine. You did nothing as Nightmare Moon to harm her!"
Luna gazed at her sister with fearful eyes.
"But..."
"You saw the photos, Sunset was born healthy," Celestia assured her sister.
Luna was quiet for a moment but then she responded.
"Then why was she in so much pain in your dream?"
"It was because of me," Celestia answered in shame.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked as she wiped away her tears.
"As you saw from the photos, Sunset caused a lot of chaos but as she got older and her mischief got more and more out of control, I put a stop to it," Celestia began, she remembered how her daughter struggled at first to contain her chaotic impulses. "My little sunshine was miserable as she couldn’t express herself in the way she wanted, but I found a way to keep her mind occupied from her chaotic impulses by having her practice more advanced magic and promising if she mastered them, she could assist me in the next Summer Sun Celebration by raising the sun while I lowered the moon.
"She was excelling in all areas of her studies and I realized that she was a prodigy the likes of which I had never seen. Her potential in magic is only matched by one other unicorn: Twilight Sparkle. She even has a protege that has potential to surpass even herself.”
“Who?” Luna asked. She was not aware that Twilight Sparkle had taken an apprentice.
“I’ll tell you later. As I was saying, Sunset was a gifted unicorn. She stopped having any desire to create chaos and instead sought to better improve herself," Celestia said with pride, but her smile faltered at what she said next. "But then she suddenly collapsed as she was telling me how she mastered her current magic exercise. She had a high fever for three days and the doctor couldn't find out the cause."
Celestia wiped away a tear that threatened to fall. She had been terrified at the prospect of losing Sunset to an unknown illness.
"My little filly was terrified. She didn't know what was happening to her and I tried my best to comfort her, telling her that everything was going to be alright," Celestia choked up a bit, just talking about what had happened was upsetting her. But her sister needed to know. "She wanted me to hold her and I obliged. I held her close, whispered comforting words to her and I used my magic to blanket us...That's when I noticed it."
"What?" Luna asked.
"Sunset's magic equilibrium was really off. When Sunset was young, I would use my magic to blanket myself with her to help her relax," Celestia explained. "During this time I could feel Sunset's magic, which is a mixture of my celestial magic and Discord's chaotic magic. Ordinarily, they are both in perfect harmony, but it would seem that my celestial magic was more active in my little sunshine and it was throwing her body’s magical balance off."
"So your magic was hurting her?" Luna asked. She had never heard of a filly being hurt by her own magic.
"In a sense, yes. I called the doctors and informed them of this. These doctors were among the few ponies who knew of Sunset's true lineage as they were there when I gave birth to her. They asked what Sunset could have done to upset her own magic's natural balance and as I thought about it I realized what caused it," Celestia said, a look of deep regret on her face. "My efforts to reign in Sunset's chaotic tendencies was the sole cause of Sunset's illness, but the solution was simple. She needed to use her chaos magic again."
"That's all?" Luna asked. The solution couldn't be that simple.
"Yes, it is often the simplest solutions that can solve the most complicated problems," Celestia stated. "We had Sunset use her chaos magic steadily at first as to not overwhelm her, and as her condition started to improve, her use of chaos magic increased as well."
As Luna listened closely a thought occurred to her, "Sister, from what I saw in your dreams, Sunset's body was flashing and then red veins appeared throughout her body before...you know."
"What are you trying to say?" Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Did Sunset experience those symptoms in real life?" Luna asked, a serious tone in her voice.
"No, she simply had a fever that gradually got worse. It got to a point where I was the only one who could physically touch her without being burned," Celestia explained.
"Do you suppose your dream could be foretelling something?" Luna inquired.
"Perhaps, and it wouldn't be the first time," Celestia answered, remembering her dream that foretold of Tirek's return.
"Another reason to talk to Twilight," Luna suggested.
"I'll talk to her, first thing tomorrow morning," Celestia said, finally relenting to her sister's wishes.
"I'm glad to hear that, sister," Luna said with a smile. "So when do you plan on telling Discord about Sunset?"
"I plan to tell him the next time he visits," Celestia answered.
"How do you suppose he'll take it?" Luna asked, curious as to how the Lord of Chaos would react to finding out that he was a father.
"I'm honestly not sure, but I always loved his surprises so I'm looking forward to his reaction," Celestia grinned sheepishly.
"I'll be sure to be there to witness his reaction," Luna giggled.
The two sisters shared a laugh, the earlier tension melting away.
"By the way, who is this pony that you mentioned is capable of surpassing Twilight?" Luna asked.
"I never said he was a pony, but he has the heart of one," Celestia said cryptically.
"Not a pony? Then who-?" Luna's eyes widen in realization as she understood who Celestia meant. "You don't mean..." Luna trailed off, her sister's smile and nod giving her confirmation. "I would have never guessed,"
"He's been right by Twilight's side since her first day at the School For Gifted Unicorns. He was her first true friend and he helped keep Twilight grounded." Celestia explained. "She struggled at first with him but it all worked out in the end and I doubt Twilight knows this but he saved her from walking down the same path as Sunset."
"What do you mean? Twilight Sparkle doesn't look like somepony who would stray from the path she is currently on," Luna asked.
"You are correct, but Twilight is a studious mare. She loves to learn new things and often times such a desire would lead a pony astray," Celestia spoke. "But he kept her from that, even seeking help when he believes she is in over her head."
"Like the incident in Ponyville involving the ‘want it, need it’ spell," Luna pointed out, Celestia had told her about that incident when she had returned from Ponyville.
"Exactly. He was very worried that she was letting her fears get the better of her and informed me of the situation," Celestia said.
"It sounds like Twilight Sparkle is in good hooves - I mean claws," Luna commented.
"Indeed," Celestia said.
"Well, I better get going. The dreams of our ponies won't watch themselves," Luna said as she made her way towards Celestia's door.
"Lulu?" Celestia called out to her sister.
Hearing her sister say her nickname, Luna turned around to see Celestia looking hesitant.
"Yes, sister?"
"Do you....do you think you can look into Sunset's dreams?" Celestia asked.
"I don't know if I can even enter the dreams of others from a parallel world, but for you, sister, I'll give I a try," Luna said before her horn glowed and she teleported away.
Celestia went back to bed and used her magic to turn off the lights. She stared at the painting of her and Sunset, debating whether or not to cast the illusion spell on it again But she decided to keep it up.
"Goodnight, my little sunshine."
Celestia said goodnight before closing her eyes and eventually falling asleep.