What should I do?
Do I run or hide?
Do I do both or neither?
Should I stand by her side?
Should I speak to her?
Should I try to calm her down?
Why does she speak of herself this way?
What of this town?
Why is it my fault?
Why is she attacking me today?

-"Curse of Dusk and Dawn" by Hoof Drawn

"Miss she also requested that her friends were allowed in with her. Is something wrong?" Scroll said, there was slight worry in his tone.

"Would you like me to call Luna over from her meeting?" Scroll said, uneasily looking down at his papers.

"No. Just give me a few moments." She said once more. Scroll nodded and ponies filed out of the room. The guards left after she'd simply ordered them to. The silence in the room was chilling as she could hear her own breath. She neatly stacked the papers next to her. The door slowly opened, not making a sound other than the whispers of the ponies behind it. The blue aura around the door dissipated. The six ponies walked through and once again Celestia felt distant from them again. She could see the purple one's hoof shake but she felt far away. She shook her head and was immediately brought back. The blue pegasus opened her mouth to speak but closed it as she had nothing to say.

"Princess Celestia..." FlutterShy said softly, staring at the ugly bruise. The words danced off her lip into the air, being swatted down by the silence. Tears filled her eyes. Had they really done this? It never clicked to her that the bruise showed up several hours after she'd actually been beaten.

"Have you comeback to hit me some more?" Celestia said coldly, staring directly at them. AppleJack nervously shifted her weight.

"No ma'am." Rainbow Dash said firmly, or at least as she firmly as somepony in her position would be. Would Celestia hurt them?

"Is that so?" Celestia said, glancing at the stain glass windows. The unicorn nodded.

"What we did was super mean-- We understand if you want to banish us and then lock us up in a jail cell." Pinkie Pie said somberly, however she still held onto her light tone.

"That's what a tyrant would do, right Rainbow Dash?" Celestia said, shooting a venomous glare at the pegasus. Rainbow Dash winced. She'd almost forgotten that she'd said that. Almost.

"B-But you're not a tyrant." Rainbow Dash forced herself to say. It's not so much she didn't feel like that, more or less her throat just didn't want to seem to work with her.

"I distinctly remember that word being thrown around multiple times." Celestia said with a sigh.

"Princess. I'll be honest with you. What we did was.. horrible. It was the worst thing i've ever done in my whole life and I know it doesn't make up for what we did.. but ah'm sorry.. Please forgive us." AppleJack pleaded. Tears filled her eyes but refused to fall down.

"Yeah. We had no right to do that to you after all you've done." Rainbow Dash interjected.

"If I had another chance to make a different choice then I would." Rarity said, looking down at herself.

"If there's anyway I could make up to you and Princess Luna you bet your socks I could!" Pinkie Pie said, sounding angry with herself. But even in angry Pinkie Pie always seemed to be somewhat light.

"If anything I think we just acted like animals. We lashed out at you for no good reason." FlutterShy said, staring at the ground in front of Celestia's hooves. Twilight had been hiding behind her friends at that moment, but stepped forward after they were done sleeping.

"Princess Celestia.. please forgive me. I had no right to kick and scream at you. What I did was so horrible and disgusting if I.. If I had a another chance to make a different decision I would have. I wouldn't have dug so deep into the past and end up hitting you." Twilight said, tears rolling down her face. The six looked up at her uncomfortably as the silence stretched long. Her brain was still trying to process what had happened. Had they really apologized to her?

"After you saved Luna you... You probably were already in a shaken up state. And then you had to fight your friends which made it even worse. We didn't even help but hitting you. I'm sorry for calling you crazy." Rainbow Dash said, rubbing the back of her neck. Celestia looked carefully at Rainbow Dash, picking up on any body language to show she was lying.

"And now you've got that bruise on your shoulder. I didn't even think we could harm you in such an awful way." Rarity said, biting her lower lip. The ugly bruise stood out to her just as a bee in a wasp's nest would stand out.

"This... This isn't what you actually did." Celestia said, her mouth quivering. The six ponies stared at her. Her horn glowed it's normal cheerful yellow to lift off the makeup. Bruises and cut covered her body. Rarity lifted up her hoof to her mouth. SHe even heard AppleJack mumble something under her breath. The alicorn stood up and walked towards Twilight. The dark circles under her eyes becoming ever so clear as she was closer.

"This is what happens when you hit someone, However since I am not exactly mortal I wasn't killed." Celestia said, but it didn't come out cold. No, it came out somber a weary. Twilight nodded. A quick spell and the makeup was back on, not covering her shoulder again.

"However. I feel as though this is partially my fault." Celestia said as she turned away to face her throne. SHe could already all six ponies were confused.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Princess in all do respect we're the one who beat you to a pulp." AppleJack said confused.

"No. I had just as much to do with this. At that time.. so many years ago I was a monster. I was an evil being. I killed the innocent because according to my twisted spirit they were in my way. I almost killed my sister and my country. The only reason i'm not a stone statue is because at that time the element of magic had been split in two. Maybe if I hadn't listened to aurinko that wouldn't have happened. But it did. And.. everypony else paid the price for my mistake." Celestia said, a flicker of blood red in her iris.

"That may not warrant a beating well over a thousand years later, but what I did was evil." Celestia said softly.

"I was quite young. I was about 13." Celestia said flatly. Rarity's eyes grew wide. Who was Aurinko anyways? Whatever it was it wasn't good.

"No. It's okay. I promise all of you that... that will never happen again." Celestia said, looking at all of them with a slight smile.

"So.. are we okay now?" Pinkie Pie asked looking at all of her friends. Celestia chuckled.

"Of course. All is forgiven." Celestia said calmly. A smile grew across Twilight's face. Her very being just seemed to glow. Celestia turned back and opened up for a hug, to which Twilight did not hesitate to join, however her friends soon joined in. Thunder boomed over head of the castle. It rained even harder. But then something occurred to Celestia. She pulled back.

"Something wrong?" AppleJack asked, looking at Celestia, who seem almost shaken up.

"No. SOmething very wrong." Celestia said, standing up. Luna burst through through the door.

"Sister we need to run." Luna said, breathing heavily. Another crack of thunder. Wait a minute. That isn't thunder.

A rift had opened up in the sky. The thunder they'd been hearing was caused by the fabric between worlds opening up. The pegasi hadn't planned on having it rain at all in fact. The clouds just did it themselves.

"Luna... is.. are they..." Celestia said, the words at the tip of her tongue. Luna stared into her sister's eyes in terror. She didn't know. Were they?

Celestia ran to the window looking for the rift. Or maybe it was just thunder? But her hopes were crushed. Right where it was well over a thousand years ago, right above the hill she'd learn to fly on, was a large crack in the sky. The dark crack in the sky seemed to just pour darkness out of it. The faint roars and cries of evil beings attempting to get out. Beings she and Luna had defeated, that her parents had defeated. All the color had drained out of her face. SOme starry tendril was trying to claw it's way out but just couldn't seem to.

Celestia. I will grant you more power, But beware; Use it for it's purpose and that alone. Because after this, you will only be left with the power I granted you in the first place.

Celestia nodded and her horn glowed brightly. Wisps of magic darted about and her eyes glowed pure white. Power surged through her being, she felt totally invigorated, like she could destroy mountains. But she could not sue this power in such a fashion.The power left her and immediately she was taken off of her high point. It was a terrible feeling, one moment being so powerful the next being returned back to her normal state.

"Luna. We need to close that rift." Celestia said, breaking down a part of the wall with another spell.

"But sister, if it's who we think they are then shouldn't we let them through?" Luna said, walking closer to her sister.

"I realize that. But in their haste to get out they've opened up a crack into Tartarus. Which means any evil could come out with them." Celestia said, getting ready to fly. Luna nodded. The six ponies had been left behind

Luna flew closer to the rift, trying to get a better view. She could easily see the beats trying to climb out now. Their terrible crooked claws trying to tear away at the crack, trying to make it larger. A bright blue beam came from her horn, knocking them back into the darkness. The roared at her but to no avail. These lesser monster were some she didn't have to worry about. Eons in Tartarus had made them weak. As she and Celestia fought off more creatures luna swore she saw a golden light from within the crowds of monsters. The luminescent energy felt familiar.

"Sister, whatever you do, do not hit the golden light!" Luna called out over the hideous death screams of monsters.

Celestia carefully chose her next moves. She and Luna kept their magic away from the luminescent ball of light and energy.

Celestia immediately froze up, hovering in the air. Luna stared into the blackened rift. Wait. The rift was no longer filled with darkness, the cries of monsters turned to silence. The golden aura broke through the thin barrier so easily. Behind ita starry cloud followed behind. The dark cloud looked as if someone had painted the universe onto it. The rift closed so quickly, in fact one monster that tried to escape had it's head chopped off. The golden light shot into the sky, followed by the cloud of stars.

"Luna, we need to run. They'll know..." Celestia said quickly. Luna nodded and they both darted away back into the city. They quickly flew into the castle, too terrified to worry about what was around them. The sky turned an angry blood red. The lights went out and soon Celestia and Luna were running down the hallways of the castle, only the crimson light giving them some amount of visibility. Golden light broke through the hallway, making an angry hissing sound. It formed into the shape of a tall alicorn. It's glowing white eyes glared at them. Celestia took a wide turn and darted away, but Luna could not maneuver quite as easily. She was just about to get within the perfect distance when Celestia's magic jerked her to her side. The put on more speed, fatigue tried to grab them and pull them down but the adrenaline pumping through their veins simply slapped fatigue away. Luna's lungs felt as if their were on fire, having a tough time supplying her body with the much needed oxygen for it's muscles which were working over time. The golden figure however merely walked behind them, making no effort to catch them. The starry cloud broke through the wall, this time trying to snatch up Luna but she scurried out of the way. Celestia following just the same. The Throne room was just ahead, they'd be safe. But then a whip of water slashed Celestia across the face. An angry looking kirin standing right in front of the door.

No time. She had to keep running. Luna screamed and on instinct Celestia turned to face her sister, who was being surrounded by flames. Luna teleported herself to Celestia's side and they started to run again before a powerful gust of wind tried to push them back, but once more their magic aided in their escape. The starry cloud was right behind them, Air trying to push them back and whips of water. Fire trying to catch up to them. Luna skirted around a whip of water and fired a spell at the blue kirin. A large tree caught the spell before disappearing back into the ground. They were so close. Only a little more. A spell grabbed Luna and threw her through the doors. The four kirins hissed at Celestia. She knew that Luna had to escape.

"Sister!" Luna cried as the doors slammed shut. Luna waited but what felt like eons, but Celestia broke through the door, immediately slamming it shut.

"The spell won't last forever. Sooner or later they'll break through the blood seal." Luna said worriedly between heavy breaths. Her heart was still beating so fast.

"Celestia, Luna, what the hay's going on?!" Cadence asked, she'd just run into the Throne room after seeing what'd happened.

"You all need to get out of her as fast as you can." Luna said, looking directly at them. They nodded and ran down the hallway.

"We can't fight them all at once." Celestia said putting her hoof to her chin. Something ran against the door with a large thump, then was thrown back. They could hear muttering from the other side. Something about blood seals.

"Sister, what do they even want?" Luna asked with desperation in her eyes. She wanted, no, needed answers. It then dawned on Luna. Had Aurinko ever actually left Celestia's body? They only had 5... well 5.5 of the elements of Harmony when Celestia was cleansed. Which meant.

"She... She never left you?" Luna asked with horror in her eyes. If there was any color left in her eyes it was gone.

"For well over a thousand years Aurinko has tried to tempt me." Celestia said softly.

"There are more reasons for the sudden entrance than that. There has to be." Luna said, thinking hard. The door was slamming into again.

"That Blood Seal you made won't' last forever!" Aquarius's muffled voice hissed from behind the door. Ignis shouted something while Ventus's calm cool voice silenced them both. Then a loud crash came from behind Luna. Large tree roots held up Twilight's friends, while Cadence and Twilight had been teleported behind the sister, in front of the thrones. The hole in the wall. It was too late. The door burst open and the four kirins stood. The door just fell off it's hinges. Celestia and Luna slowly backed up.

"Thou shall speak for thy crimes against your brethren." The gold alicorn said, The cloud of stars taking the shape for a broader alicorn.

"But of course child. Who were you expecting? The tooth fairy?" The starry alicorn's voice boomed. POwer jsut seemed to ooze out of their beings.

"Ah yes. This new tongue is... quite strange." He said, looking around with two pitch black eyes. Only two white dots were used as both his iries and his pupils.

"It has been well over 2,00 years." The golden alicorn chimed in. Nebulis nodded.

"Celestia, my daughter, why have you betrayed us? Your own family?" He asked, he seem saddened by her.

"Not to mention the fact that you two killed both Me, Levier and Ignis." Aquarius hissed.

"Bu.. But we.." Luna tried to say before Ignis angrily stamped his hoof. His fiery mane and tail exploded in fury.

"Damn you Celestia! Your flames shall never be as hot as mine!" Ignis shouted. The veins in his neck bulged.

"Calm yourself my brethren." Ventus said slowly. His calm voice had the grace of a wood instrument. Ignis returned to his composure. Each kirin was slightly taller than Luna. Levier was no where to be seen as of that moment. It'd been so long since they'd seen the kirin. Aquarius was the elan one with a the Fins for wings. Her horns curved backwards longs and smooth. Her body was various shades of blue, some green, some darker. Her main was short, yet it looked like blobs of water suspended in mid air. Ignis was the polar opposite. His body was a dark, earthy red with things that almost like gills in his sides. They let out smoke and embers while her mane was a brilliant flame. His horns looked almost like a goat's except more lagged. They had the signs of battle on them. His hoofs became a darkened, ash grey. His eyes resembled that of a Dragon's. Ventus was taller than both, around Celestia's size in fact. His swirling grey coat resembled tumbling clouds while his wings were perfectly made for flying. His mane had slight streak of what looked like lightening in between grey storm clouds. His horns were bent down but then back p once more. His stormy grey eyes looked almost eternally mellow and calm.

"But those two monster murdered us!" Aquarius shouted. She pointed directly at Luna.

"I know, but that was in the past. We must move on wards. Can't you see all the good they've done?" Ventus said, his stormy grey eyes lighting up a bit. Ignis and Aquarius stared long and hard at the two sisters.

"Hmf..." Ignis huffed and a piece of his fiery mane flipped up as if it were actually hair covering a part for his face.

"We'll delay this for now. Let them speak with their parents." Ventus said carefully. Aquarius and Ignis nodded, the three kirins left the room. Celestia and Luna turned to face their parents, who took their pony forms rather than being clouds of magic.

"You disobeyed us." Galaxia said coldly. Celestia's eyes darted around the room to look at the ponies around her. The five ponies high above them were in a daze.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked. Her mind jumped to the whole thing with Aurinko.

"For starters, Celestia. You let Aurinko slip into your mind and poison you, then you almost destroyed the world in that hideous form. You stole your mother's armor AND let two kingdoms get destroyed. You let Levier die and you even tried to kill your own sister!" Nebulis said, grinding his teeth.

"And Luna, you killed Aquarius just so the Moon would pull the tides instead. In your desperation to be recognized you committed murder. You almost froze the whole planet in permanent night and just as your sister did Aurinko tainted your mind! I realize that Celestia should have noticed your suffering, but to go to such extremes is unforgivable!" Galaxia said harshly.

"And defeated by a Breyting? Celestia you're more powerful than that!" Nebulis added in.

They felt belittled. Their parents, who they held such fond memories of, were belittling them. Didn't they know why those things happened? Why didn't they understand?

"But the worst thing you have possibly have done..." Nebulis aid, biting his lip. He glared at Twilight and Cadence who were absolutely bewildered. His horn glowed and starry tendril cut clean through Cadence's head, decapitating her. The tendril turned around to stab Twilight through the chest. Blood splattered onto the floor. Twilight stared at them before her eyes became cloudy. Rarity screamed, finally 'waking up' her screams awakened her other friends.

"Don't worry mortals. They'll be fine if my theory is correct." Nebulis said, his dark tone striking fear into Celestia's heart. Did he even care if her was wrong?

But soon enough Twilight and Cadence had regenerated back to full health, Cadence gasped for air.

"What was that for?!" Twilight yelled in terror. Nebulis's face contorted into utter rage, he and Galaxia turned towards their children.

"How dare you! Making two alicorns?! You've broken the taboo, TWICE?!" Nebulis's voice boomed.

"Father! They deserved it! These two have reached enlightenment!" Luna said angrily. Nebulis's expression softened.

"Is that so? I suppose i can let this go for now. This does not excuse you for the other crimes you've committed." He said with a sigh. Galaxia nodded. Celestia didn't know what to think. She and her sister were being punished for things out of their control? How were they supposed to know Aurinko would target them?!

HOW WERE THEY GOING TO ANTICIPATE THAT THEIR LOVED ONES WOULD BETRAY THEM?!
WHY WAS IT THEIR FAULT THAT DARKNESS HAD MANAGED OT FILL THEIR HEART?!
HOW COULD THEIR PARENTS BE SO CRUEL?
WHY WERE THEY BEING PUNISHED? IT'S NOT LIKE THEY COULD ASK FOR HELP!

Anger grew inside of Luna. She wanted to hit something. Rage filled her like a bucket and then overflowed until it showed in her face. She was done acting like she perfect.

"For your crimes, you will be forced to show your true selves." Nebulis said slowly.

"Mother, Father please! You can't do this!" Celestia pleaded, tears rolled down her face.

"You do not deserve those bodies. Those gifts were to be used to help the living beings of this world and you disgraced them." Galaxia said coldly. SHe couldn't look her daughters in the eye.

"Have you ever burned yourself? Like maybe while making soup or popcorn and you touch the wrong side? Image that pain, but everywhere, and instead of that pain stinging a little, imagine that pain is excruciating and in every single muscle of your body"

That is exactly what Lunna felt. The pain was almost unbearable but her mind forced her to stay awake. The pain was like none other, almost comparable to her transformation into NightMare Moon. But this, this was worst. She didn't know if she was screaming or not. All she knew is that everything had went wrong. She barely even remembered what she truly looked like. What if it'd been changed form the last time she saw it? But that was a thousand years ago.

I could hear their screams from above them. They were in so much agony I wanted to slap their parents across the floor. But I knew I couldn't , power just... just radiated off of those two like i'd never seen before. It felt like the the whole universe would bend to Galaxia and Nebulis's wills. Was this the power of an alicorn? I this was Twilight got herself into as soon as she ascended? I knew that she was powerful. After all, i'd seen her in action plenty of times before. But not that powerful. I'd never seen that kind of power before, not from her, not from the Princesses, ever. Well, except maybe NightMare Moon. But even then, this... this was a ridiculous amount of magic. I couldn't see much from where I was but I could have sworn Celestia was on fire. I'm not sure and i doubt i'll be. All I knew is that

No.1 The room was hot and cold at the same time.
No.2 Luna and Celestia were screaming in agony

That it's it. That was all I saw. And to be honest, my heart wanted to jump out of chest in fear.

Cadence's horn became bright blue with magic,which pulsed like electricity up her horn. Her face turned red with rage.

"You're hurting the, haven't you done enough!" Twilight added in, she was none happier than Cadence. Galaxia swallowed nervously. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to immediately come back and punish them. Nebulis stepped in front of his wife,glaring at Twilight and Cadence. Twilight felt she could see the whole universe from within his eyes. This was their father? That seemed crazy.

"My children are none of your concerns." Nebulis said back, his dark voice filled the room with a crushing sensation.

"Yea they kinda are. Celestia.. saved me from myself." cadence said, the end dancing off her lips into the air. Nebulis blinked.

"Please... just go." celestia breathed out of her teeth. She was on her knees, sort of like a horse after it'd fallen over. There was a fearful look in her eyes. Luna was no better, in an attempt to get on her knees she stood shoddily up. But that only last so long and Luna fell onto the ground with her sister. A crack formed in Celestia's face, sort of like a mask. Then one went down the side of Luna's neck. Then another. Then another. Soon they had cracks all over then, dancing on the precipice of disaster.

"She said leave!' Luna said angrily, a piece of the cracked husk fell over, revealing a coat resembling NightMare Moon's. Twilight couldn't leave but she could turn away. She pulled Cadence to the other side of the room. She could see something odd from within Celestia's chest. It glowed hot and bright, like a candle in her chest. Her mouth cut off and she couldn't speak. She moved her lips but no sound came out, only this strange, other worldly gurgling sound. It was soft yet sharp at the same time, with this other hissing sound accompanying it. Celestia's eyes darted around the room before focusing on Luna. Instead of tears, steam rolled off her face. As soon as any type of water slid down in turned into steam almost immediately.

"My children. You must have realized the price for... dying so many times." Galaxia said slowly.

"We would if you ever told us!" Luna snapped, pieces of her falling off to reveal dark fur. Nebulis's eyes widened.

"No. The price is losing your form. All beings have a true form or sorts. However for most beings this form can only be seen after death. But for we alicorns for example have enough power to overwhelm our physical forms. Discord also has this problem, which is why he and other draconequuses have borrowed the limbs and bodies or other animals. Because they'd fall apart. But alicorns do not have that problem. Instead, in our physical forms we are... more or less terrifying to weaker beings. The overwhelming amount of magic you truly hold inside of you is impressive." Galaxia said solemnly.

"This 'half baked immortality' is to prevent being from seeing our true forms." Nebulis said, glancing up to see he glares he was getting from the five ponies.

"Think about it Twilight, How much magic does it take to say, make sure the fabric of space-time doesn't fall apart? Or to keep the Sun from going supernova? Or the Moon from crashing? It takes a lot. That is why alicorns exist. You and Cadence embody two things we cannot command. I may have been a bit harsh on them for allowing you to ascend. The reason they're in so much pain is because they have died hundreds of times. Who knows how many actually. The form they take on shall be based on what they've felt over the course of these last thousand years. If I were to reveal mine now, I'd think it'd resemble something of love. Or hope. Seeing as I dragged my husband out of Tartarus." Galaxia said, glancing at Nebulis, who shifted his weight nervously.

Twilight stared at her for a moment. It all made sense now. Galaxia and Nebulis weren't' evil.. they were just disappointed. They loved their children--dearly--but they couldn't stop Celestia and Luna from dying over the course of how many years they were gone. She could see they regretting every second of it. Not being able to care for their children. Their stiff posture and locked looks told Cadence all she needed to know. The two alicorns knew all too well that they loved their children. But love wasn't enough in the end.

Celestia let out a blood curdling screech, like the thousands of a thousand souls all screaming in agony at once. Luna didn't seem bothered at all by it. Maybe she could actually hear what her sister was trying to say. But... no one else could. A reassuring smile on her face as she looked down at her sister.

"It's okay sister... It's okay. I'm here." Luna mumbled. Celestia seemed to understand and then fell over, strewn across the ground awkwardly on her side. MOre cracks formed and an eerie light cme through the deeper ones.

"I'll stick by your side to the bitter end." Luna said, icy tears slid down her cheeks. Celestia gave a weak nod. Seconds seemed to slow and time just seemed to sluggishly push forward. But then it happened.

The Truth

by Blue Turtle

Meeting