The dying sun
(I own nothing relating to My Little Pony™ or anything else relating to My Little Pony™.)
Overlooking the sea on a cliff, there is a snow white, majestic Alicorn with a rainbow mane and tail looking past towards the sea and into the last, dying sunset, bleeding the last of it's radiant brightness over the land. The cliffs are a perfect place to watch the sun go down, and the sound of crashing waves is audibly heard. This was the kind of place where a lover might take another to, in Celestia's case, death was her lover. Her companion pet on this journey, a phoenix, is about to die, with an ever-growing pile of feathers from her falling off her body, but this time, she won't be returning back to life. The reason why is made apparent as the sun that looms overhead is like a guillotine is fading; soon, when it falls, it will fall for the last time, and nightfall will rule over the land by itself, forever. The Alicorn, with dried tears on her face, sighed, and spoke softly, both seemingly to no one and to her pet at the same time.
"I don’t have much time left in this world, but with what time I do have left, I shall use to converse with myself. It’s been too long since I’ve seen another pony other than Luna, and I doubt I’ll see another anytime soon, so I must speak with myself of my own lament and hope that wherever I may go next, that what I’ve done doesn’t follow me over. Philomena, my dear pet, you have been with me and stayed at my side for untold years, and now, you, too, will die, as will I, when the sun finally drops, for the last time. Such a beautiful sight, though, is it not? A beautiful death, and in the most beautiful place, if one can say so about dying."
The Alicorn casted a sad look over at the phoenix, who was looking up at her with a fierce intensity. It surprised the Alicorn, who gave a little giggle at the phoenix. Looking over at the sunset, though, her moment of cheerfulness was squashed, and she once again continued speaking, with only Philomena, her phoenix, to listen to.
"Should I have been surprised when I knew that I was going to die, when I found out that the sun was getting weaker? No, I probably shouldn't have been surprised. Not even Alicorns can escape death's grasp, and it too will clutch at me and never let go once I enter his domain. The strength in my limbs are failing; my mind grows weary at the thought of trying to stay awake just long enough to tell my own story to myself. Nevertheless, I shall attempt to remind myself a rather quickly hashed version of events that happened, from my foalhood to now."
As she spoke those words, she looked around her vantage point, and what would eventually be her final resting place. Sea-green waves crashed against the cliff she was now resting on, and there was a beautiful green forest behind her. She closed her eyes, and in her mind, she was taken back to this very spot, but long, long ago, before she was one of the princesses of Equestria. She spoke softly and slowly, as if in a dream.
"I remember how the world looked like through my eyes at the beginning. It was a world full of vivid colors and sights, smells and taste. My parents, Father Heaven and Mother Earth, breathed life into this world that is now slowly dying out. In creating life, they created me and my sister, Luna, who, unlike me, is thriving. When the sun is gone, there will be eternal darkness, just like her former persona Nightmare Moon wanted. She, however, cannot bear to think of a life without me, but I tell her to remain strong, just like her night will. She, too, will pass eventually, and join the rest of us in everlasting harmony.
"Enough of that, however. Death is too dry a subject to speak of, and I would much rather go back to the beginning, when the land was new and I was just a foal, like so many countless others who have passed on before me. My childhood (Which would last for a very long time, as Alicorns do not mature as fast as normal ponies, surprisingly enough) was one that many foals would've been jealous of. I had everything; caring parents, a sister to play with, pony servants to clean up after us, and whatever I wanted, I got, even the items that were particularly hard to obtain. I loved my childhood; who would not love to have a childhood like mine and Luna's, pampered, cared for, without (Many) restraints? Alas, it was not to last forever, as we once thought."
Celestia paused for a second, causing the phoenix to chirp weakly. The Alicorn frowned, and her voice took on a bitter tone, an uncharacteristic feature of hers that unfortunately caused her to look sinister and painful to look at.
"My mother and father then had to leave us. They had to go and create new worlds, new universes, the stuff of stars and planets, comets and meteors. I didn't understand any of it, but my sister did. She always had her head in the stars, and she understood what was happening much quicker than I was. I knew all too quickly, however, when our parents left us in charge of the world, by ourselves, on our five-hundredth birthday.
"Despite how old we were in pony terms, we were only roughly teenagers, in terms of the average pony mindset. We quickly agreed with each other that we would only rule one part of the land, as it would be quite a daunting task to rule over the entire world. So we settled here, in Equestria, and have ruled since then. Our royal duties as princesses to the sun and moon...I remember them, when we were young. I remember having to raise the sun without my parents help for the first time; it was frightening, overwhelming experience, one that threatened to crush me should I have failed, fortunately, I didn't yield to the awesome power of the sun, and managed to raise it for the ponies of the land. To this day, I know not what helped me through it, was it my perseverance, my stubbornness, or just plain luck? I have a feeling I'll never know, and that gladdens me; not all of life's mysteries can be solved."
Celestia opened her eyes; they trailed over towards the sun, and her tone of voice had the beginnings of sorrow inside.
"When Luna had to raise the moon, she very nearly failed. It was only with my help that she could successfully raise the moon, and she had a bitter mood because of it afterwards. She tried everything in her power, but in the end, I always had to help her, at least, for the first few thousand years. Eventually, however, she could raise the moon by herself, but when she was able to, I noticed changes to her behavior that were quite unsettling; she seemed more arrogant, liked to show off, and more often than not demanded things rather than asking, even from me, her older sister. I often thought about it while I was alone, but I usually wrote it off as a phase that she was going through, much like what fillies and colts go through."
A tear rolled down both eyes.
"I didn't realize she was becoming Nightmare Moon until it was far, far too late."
Philomena squawked softly, and Celestia looked down at the phoenix, an out of place frown on her face.
"Luna came to me one night, when we were alone in our castle, which was almost now completed. She wanted ponies to appreciate the night. Argued that the moon didn't receive as much attention, no, any attention at all, compared to the sun, my sun, that ponies saw everyday. She wanted ponies to gaze upon her beautiful night sky, but back then, there were few ponies who truly cared that the night was beautiful, they only took it as a sign to sleep, to rest up during the dark to awaken to a beautiful, radiant dawn; such was the pony mindset back then. She then proposed an idea that I still think is insane to this day.
"She wanted the moon to be in the sun's place for a day. A single day, to allow ponies to look around them and see that the moon and the darkness was a beautiful thing, not something to be scared of or just simply considered to be the end of a long, tiring work day. I refused. There was no way I was going to let my sister raise the moon in place of my sun. Looking back, however, could I have stopped her from becoming Nightmare Moon by giving her that one day? Twenty-Four hours seems like a mere second to me now, but back then, that was an eternity. The ramifications of such an event would have been enormous...But Luna wouldn't listen to me. There was too large of a bitter seed planted inside of her, and I only just then noticed, much, much too late. We...Spoke of things to each other better left off unsaid, and when she realized that I would not give into her one wish, she showed me the persona she had been hiding...Nightmare Moon, and demanded that I stand down.
"I was scared, not only for myself, but for my sister. How could this have happened to her? Would she ever come back from the depths of hatred and selfishness that brought her under? Then, I realized...Could this have been me, if I was the one who failed to raise my own celestial body? Such a thought caused me to realize just where Luna's bitterness came from, so many years ago. I open my mouth to say that I would, at the very least, think about it, but I never got the chance."
Celestia sighed sadly, watching the sun continue to tick down her last moments in life. Beside her, Philomena shuddered, her life-force becoming more and more fragile with each passing second, but strained to stay awake for her mistress, telling the story behind her past.
"Nightmare Moon attacked me. Although the physical scars have long since been healed and faded away, the emotional scars are the ones that hurt the most and have stayed with me throughout all these long years, and even now, they burn. We traded blows, both physical and magical; I remember a pony that just happened to be looking at the castle say that the 'light show' he saw that night was the most spectacular thing he had ever seen before in his life. How I wish it was simply that, a light show.
"We fought long and hard, with dazzling displays of magic unseen throughout Equestria, which lit up the night sky. Eventually, however, we were down to the last remnants of our magic. I had, however, one thing that Nightmare Moon didn't. The Elements of Harmony were on my side, although using them was unintentional. They were originally gems that I found that just so happened to have extreme magical power and energy inside of them; I had them mined and placed in what was later to be my throne room so that I could examine them later, they had the potential to be something amazing. How little did I realize just how amazing they would be.
"I remember being pushed back into the little wooden box that held the gems, and either by complete luck or divine intervention, when the box shattered when I struck it (Which Luna, a thousand years later, would tease me with by saying I weighed too much by being able to shatter a heavy wooden box with my weight alone), all the gems just happened to land near the tip of my horn in a semi-circle. During that point in the fight, I had one empowering, raging thought through my mind. I just wanted Nightmare Moon gone, gone, and I wanted her exiled to the very body of rock that she wanted to raise in place of my sun for a thousand years.
"At the moment my thought was complete, the absolutely unthinkable happened, as a huge surge of magical energy flowed through me. A massive rainbow ray of light shot forward from my horn, and struck Nightmare Moon; the result of doing so was an extremely bright flash of light, stronger than even my very eyes were capable of handling. I closed my eyes to avoid being blinded from the sudden dazzling array of light; when I opened them, I didn't notice anything wrong. At least, until I realized that I couldn't find Nightmare Moon anywhere. I was confused until I looked up at the moon, and I gasped at the realization that one thought...My thought actually happened, and banished Nightmare Moon, my sister, to the moon. I looked down at the gems, and saw them faintly glowing...Like a unicorn's horn might just after a spell. The gems had amplified my power beyond what I could have normally done, and ended up banishing my sister to moon. I began to gather them up when I saw a hint of a rainbow out of the corner of my eye. I was confused; the spell's effects were long gone, and there wasn't a sun for the light needed for a rainbow."
Celestia looked behind her, and saw part of her rainbow colored mane and tail, flowing freely though the wind, although the mane and tail in question looked dull and ragged, not like the former splendid sheen it had once before.
"I looked around, and realized that in using the gems, they had permanently dyed my mane and tail from my normal pink to a rainbow. I was shocked at first, but then, over time, I grew to accept this change in color. I did not, however, accept the banishment of my sister. I begged the gems to bring back my sister, tried reenacting the same circumstances that caused Nightmare Moon to be sent to the moon; nothing worked. My sister was stuck on the moon for a thousand years, and there was nothing I could do about it.
"Raising the sun the next morning was one of the hardest things to ever happen in my life; I was torn by the guilt and agony of having sending my sister to the moon, alone, in a cold and desolate place. What especially bothered me, however, was the dawning of the fact that not only would I have to raise the sun, but I would also have to raise the moon. This began a cycle of me taking brief, short intervals between meeting ponies and mealtimes to grab a few minutes of sleep. I never got a full night's rest, what with ponies constantly asking me to hold court for them, and other royal duties that consumed my time. Luna's disappearance was questioned at first, but eventually, with me refusing to answer them, they eventually forgot that there were two rulers of Equestria, and soon enough, the history books began writing that I was the one and sole ruler of Equestria, to match 'current' data.
"Raising the moon for the first time was terrifying. I had no experience with it, but I steeled myself and began the raising of moon later that day. I remember how unfamiliar it felt; it was like the sun, but smaller, and cold, so very cold, unlike the warm, inviting sun. I didn't blame the ponies who were scared of the moon, it was the polar opposite of the sun. In raising the moon, I felt...Hollow. Empty. Nothing seemed real anymore, and everyday just seemed like a chore to go through.
Celestia sighed, remembering the days and nights go by with a blur, then, when a certain memory came up, she smiled.
"I remember one particular meeting with a pony once, about a few hundred years after Luna's banishment. He went by the name of Starswirl, and he asked if he could be my student. I was intrigued by the thought of having a personal student, and so, I accepted. I never expected him to excel my expectations in magic, and the adventures we had together would've made the average unicorn jealous."
The Alicorn looked down at Philomena; the poor bird looked as if she was going to die soon, as the large pile of feathers around her was a clear indication. Celestia gently nudged Philomena with a hoof, which prompted a pathetic squawk from the phoenix.
"One of these adventures took me to an abandoned temple quite aways from Equestria, where Starswirl and I had found during one of our expeditions to search for new lands and ponies (Or non-ponies) to befriend. Upon entering the temple, I noticed that there were ashes strewn across the floor, as well as glyphs that forbade the use of fire, after spending a bit of time trying to translate them. Fortunately, Starswirl wasn't exactly the most careful of ponies, and he prefered to use torches for light rather than a spell for it. I yelled at him to put the torch out, and he did; by smashing the torch on the floor, in an attempt to smother it. He was a bit too...Practical for a unicorn, as I remember, usually doing the first thing that comes to his mind. Still, I suppose that's why he invented so many practical spells that were once taken for granted, but enough of that.
"Immediately, the sparks from the torch began to travel along the ashes, and I levitated Starswirl up towards the ceiling away from them, joining him (By flying) only after making sure he was well and safe up there. The fire threatened to consume us; I remember how ironic it was, the princess of the sun, about to die from fire. The temple entrance was too far away, and frankly, the fire spread much, much too fast. At the time, I didn't know how to teleport, so we were stuck in the temple as the raging flames started to creep towards us.
"We didn't die, obviously. What happened next, however, was nothing short of astonishing. A fiery red phoenix burst out of the ashes, and illuminated the temple with her mere presence. While Starswirl was scared silly from the phoenix, I was entranced by it. The phoenix, too, seemed to be drawn to me; it flew closer to me, and, amazingly enough, bowed. I smiled, and from then on, I took the phoenix on as a companion."
While Celestia was speaking, Philomena squawked softly, and some more feathers dropped, leaving behind only three. Celestia looked down at the phoenix sadly, and placed a hoof on top of the phoenix's head.
"Rest, Philomena, my companion, I will join you soon enough in eternal rest."
With those words, Philomena squawked for the last time, and burst into flames right before Celestia's eyes as she lost her last feather. Her ashes gathered into a small pile, where, normally, they would've burst right back into flames and into the phoenix that Celestia had grown to love so much, but now, with the sun so close to it's death, the phoenix cannot resurrect herself. Celestia smiled sadly, and looked up at the sun. It was almost her time to go as well, but she had enough time to tell the earth the last few parts of her life, even if it would be a pointless endeavor in the end, although she didn't believe that. She believed that the ghosts of ponies from the past were right next to her, listening to her tell her tale of being one of Equestria's princesses, and she knew that she couldn't leave these ponies without telling them the end of the story.
"After the events that fateful day, I had a companion that was always by my side. She eased the pain of losing Luna, but nothing would ever replace the pain of losing her. I named the phoenix Philomena, and eventually, I fell right back into the 'normal' order of things; raising the sun and moon, dodging aristocrats whenever possible, sneaking extra slices of cake whenever ponies weren't looking. Then, Starswirl came to me one day, and asked what was in that steel (I had long since upgraded the box so not to crush it with my weight again) box I kept in my quarters.
"He was interested in the gems, even more so after I told him of their origin and how they were used against my sister. He asked if he could study the gems; I complied with this, but I only allowed him to take a few gems at a time, mostly out of the hidden fear of the power of the gems. Eventually, he found out the source of the gems power; they were the physical embodiment's of the so-called 'Elements of Harmony'. They were gems that had power in such things like love and friendship. Upon hearing this, I immediately ordered the gems to be placed under severe guard, but Starswirl told me I had no reason to be alarmed. Only ponies pure of heart could use these 'Elements of Harmony', and only in the most dire of situations, such as my use of them to banish Luna to the moon. Eventually, Starswirl came to me, with information that I never thought I would ever hear.
"Starswirl gave me a prophecy; Luna would, a thousand years from the day that I banished her, would return to Equestria with the aid of the stars. He told me the only way to destroy her Nightmare Moon persona was to use the Elements of Harmony, but I would not be the one to use them. Six other ponies would, and they would bring back the sister I missed for so long. Instead of having them placed under extreme guard, as I first ordered, he told me that it would not be necessary, and gave me advice on what I should do with the Elements of Harmony. So, instead, I had master smiths craft the gems into pieces of jewelry; I then enchanted them myself to automatically adjust to the size of the next pony that would be wearing them, as over-sized and under-sized jewelry wasn't exactly comfortable to wear. I then sent the elements to the ruins of a castle; more specifically, the castle that, one night, so long ago, I fought my sister. I had abandoned the castle soon after the fight; it was just too painful to pace the halls without Luna nearby, so I had another castle built, in the location known as Canterlot.
"After the creation of the Elements, time was yet again a blur, and eventually, on the success of having Starswirl as a student, I opened up a magical school for talented and gifted unicorns, and I had many, many students. Time continued to pass on and on like running water, and the thousand year mark of my sister's return was drawing nearer. I knew the day would come eventually, and I often wondered how Luna would make her entrance.
"During this time, I was teaching a student of mine; Twilight Sparkle. She was an extremely gifted unicorn, perhaps, dare I say, even more so than Starswirl. She had a knack at magic, and would often spend hours pouring over books. When I received a letter from her about the 'mare in the moon', as my sister was so called then. I knew that it was time to once again meet my sister. However, I also knew that I had to remain calm through this, and so, I sent Twilight off to supervise the preparations for the summer sun celebration started. More importantly, however, I had sent her off in an attempt to go make some friends. The poor unicorn kept to herself far too much; she needed to know the magic of friendship!
Celestia sighed, and looked up towards the sun, which continued to lower itself down over the horizon.
"Tomorrow was the day I was going to meet my sister after a thousand years of exiling her. What would that day bring? Would she have gotten over her bitterness and anger, or would I have to fight her once more? The possibilities were endless, and not all of them were positive. I remember that raising the moon that night was much, much harder than the first time I raised it; it seemed to resist my efforts to raise it up, and mocked me for it. Eventually, though, it was in place, and I just managed to get some sleep for tomorrow, whatever it was going to bring.
"I remember that night being impossible to sleep through. Dreams (Or were they nightmares?) of being rejected by my sister constantly bombarded me, and flashbacks of what I did to her poured through my mind, clear like water. Try as I might, I could not sleep through the night. When it was time to raise the sun for the new day, I never felt more relieved and more scared in my life.
"It was the dawn of the new day, and I was about to leave the balcony that I usually summoned the sun (And for the past one thousand years, the moon) when a familiar voice sounded out. I looked around to see Nightmare Moon; she wasn't over her anger and jealousy. I tried to communicate with her, but she refused to listen to me. She entangled me in black tendrils; I could only writhe and glare at my sister, who walked off to the summer sun celebration, determined to make the moon last forever while I was stuck here, in my room.
"The cold, dark tendrils gripped at me, holding me in place, and I despaired in the depths of my mind. Luna wasn't back, her alter persona was. Although I could have broken free of those bonds, I didn't even attempt to. I had given up all hope during that moment, and would've most likely stayed like that and allowed Nightmare Moon to shroud the world in eternal darkness, had not I seen my faithful companion Philomena above me in a constricted cage of black tendrils similar, if not exactly like mine. We simply stared at each other for awhile, and then I saw one of Philomena's many feathers fall off.
"Today was going to be the day where Philomena was going to begin her rebirth again, but then I realized that without the sun, Philomena would crumble to ashes, never to return again. The thought of other ponies dying in vain attempts to fight Luna snapped me back to reality. I quickly broke free of those constricting tendrils, and smashed the tendrils holding Phiolmena in place. I quietly told her to stay here, and then I noticed how dark the skies were.
"I was about to raise the sun back up to it's former position when I realized that I had been staring at Philomena for so long that it really was dark. I laughed quietly at myself for awhile when I felt a massive surge of magical energy; I remember feeling this exact same outburst of energy, one thousand years ago. They could only be the Elements of Harmony, as I knew of no other way for that much energy to be resonating by any other ways. I quickly teleported to the site, hoping that none of the ponies who used the Elements were harmed. You could imagine my surprise when I saw that the ponies in question were Twilight Sparkle and, as I later learned, her friends. I was about to smile warmly at my student when I saw Luna."
Celestia looked down at Philomena's ashes, and knew that simply leaving them there would be an insult to the phoenix. She used what little magic she had left to make a small hole in the dirt. She then sweeped the ashes of Philomena into the hole, and patted down dirt on top.
"I was surprised by how small Luna looked like, and I wondered if the filly in front of me really was Luna, as I don't recall her being that small. There was no mistaking that cutie mark, however. I looked down upon her; I asked for her forgiveness for what I've done, and for us to rule together as sisters once again. I waited with hope and dread for the answer, and I very nearly died when Luna raced up to me, crying as she said how much she missed me.
"Eventually, life returned to normal, as I was finally able to get a full cycles worth of sleep for the first time in a thousand years. While I helped Luna get used to society today, I was also receiving 'friendship reports' from her every so often, which warmed my heart every time I read one. Life was certainly looking up at this point.
"When Twilight Sparkle and her friends had passed away, I was extremely saddened by their loss. However, just like with Starswirl, I had to cope with their deaths and continue on raising the sun for my little ponies to bask in. That doesn't, however, mean to say I didn't mourn their passing whenever I had time to. Twilight Sparkle was a good student; perhaps the best one could have asked for. It was one such morning thinking about her that I realized that something was wrong.
"I noticed the sun growing weaker and weaker; the warmth and light it once gave out so radiantly began to weaken. I was immediately concerned, and went about researching this. Every single time, though, I came up with only one conclusion; the sun was dying. There was nothing I could do about it, and this didn't bode for me well at all.
"As the years slipped on by, I noticed that ponies were becoming more aggressive, and started to attack each other for the resources that were quickly becoming sparse due to my sun failing to give plants the energy and warmth they needed to produce food. Some ponies at this time even resorted to eating meat. I tried to stop them; we weren't supposed to fight one another. But they continued fighting each other despite my intervention, and soon, things were done that were quickly regretted by everypony.
"Wars broke out. Ponies died. I tried to stop them; I wanted peace. No matter how hard I tried, though, they always kept fighting. Soon, there were only a few small colonies of ponies left. With my sun getting weaker and weaker and being unable to sustain crops, the last ponies died out.
"It was just me and Luna for the past one hundred years, and she has been taking care of me, growing stronger where I was growing weaker. It would not be long until the night would last forever on Earth, although probably not in the way that Nightmare Moon originally intended, so long, long ago. Soon, I knew that today...Today was the day I was going to forever sleep. I bade Luna farewell, and left for this cliff-side. I didn't tell her where I was going, but she should figure it out by herself soon enough, as this was one of our favorite places to go to as foals. Oh, how I miss my youth..."
Celestia, suddenly becoming extremely tired, rested her head on her hooves, and closed her eyes. She knew she was just a few seconds away from death, and while she didn't want to leave Luna to herself, she knew that there was nothing she could do about it. She smiled, and whispered softly, just as death creeped up on her.
"I'm coming, my little ponies."
All was silent, unerringly so, but in a graveyard not too far away from Ponyville, the silence would be disturbed. There was a special grave site, for those six who used the Elements of Harmony on Luna, and then Discord, so long ago, in that graveyard. One the skeletons of those six, who was a pink pony that represented the Element of Laughter was suddenly reanimated, and then, with a cold, unnerving voice, spoke.
"And that's how Equestria died."
Then, there was silence once more.