FLASH
The visions are gone as soon as they had appeared, but my mind scrambles to put them together for a very long time—even for a star. As it does, I realize something. Through the countless millennia, I've always been with my sister... Both my sisters, although Terra would rather keep to herself. But even if she had, I used to feel her presence. Yet I don't feel neither her nor Luna anywhere now. Where are they?
I strain my senses to look around me. It's not easy, being a star. With no sensory perception, one can only use light and gravity to do their bidding. As the light I give off reflects off the surfaces of near and distant objects, a vision of my surroundings forms in my consciousness.
The space is filled with dust and debris, but not a piece of it comes even close to the size of Luna... Where is she? I strain the senses of my light-based perception, but I can't feel neither her nor Terra. They are both gone, and only I remain amidst the littered, lifeless space.
I feel different as well. As I search my memory, struggling to remember whether I have always felt so cold and small, a vision—as clear as if I was actually reliving it—unfolds before my inner eyes.
FLASH
"Your highness..." a pegasi guard calls as I walk down the corridors of the Canterlot V castle. I stop, looking at the young stallion. His eyes dart down as he nervously pawns the crystal floor with his armor-clad hoof. I offer a gentle smile, encouraging him to go on. He must be new, not used to the presence of royalty yet.
"Her majesty's presence is requested at the Royal Observatory," he finally utters. "Her highness, Princess Luna, awaits there, wishing for her majesty's urgent departure."
I nod at the guard, earning a salute and a nervous smile from him. I unfurl my wings and fly through the nearest window, wondering what could be so important that my sister was awoken in the middle of the day. Could it perhaps be about those strange force surges I've been feeling through my celestial body? They started a couple of centuries ago, if my memory serves, but only grew more frequent over the years.
I glide towards the enormous dome of the Observatory, enjoying the unexpected break from the monotony of the day court. Though the flight isn't long—a couple of minutes at most—I enjoy the opportunity to stretch my wings. The opportunity I wouldn't have were it not for the dome's enormous size. I have to admit, the Royal Observatory is nothing like any building I had seen in any previous civilization. Towering above the Canterlot V like a fully grown dragon over a tiny cricket, it directs its humongous lens at the sky above it.
To think I have considered building a castle on a mountain top the peak of the children architectonic skills, all those civilizations ago... And just look at the wonders they can build now.
I raise my head, trying to spot the object of the telescope's interest. It seems to follow the movement of the sun across the celestial dome. My star is being observed quite detailedly, I'd say. What ever happened to privacy, I wonder, shedding a tiny smirk under my breath.
Just before I reach the entrance to the dome, I slow down, shutting off my magic completely. The apparatuses inside the observatory are very sensitive to it, as the professors working there constantly remind me. I activate the voice carrying device near the vault entrance and introduce myself.
"Princess Celestia, we've been expecting you," metallic voice replies. Through the complicated set of levers, gears, switches, and many other various machines I will never bother to understand, the immensely heavy door moves apart. To think an ounce of magic could have the same effect... Then again, using it would make all the delicate devices inside go instantly haywire.
I step through the vault door, into the long corridor. The floor, packed with electronic sensors to the brim, immediately detects a passenger and starts moving, taking me with it. I have nothing against the walk, but maybe it would take too long? Just how important is the message?
The moving pavement takes me along the corridors, then down the spiral route around the ocular. I look down at it and it looks back, like an enormous eye of the ever watching beast. I feel a sudden urge to stretch my wings. I jump above the railing and soar down impatiently. I just saved the ponies waiting for me—and myself—a couple of minutes of a boring ride. They will be glad about it, right?
"Your highness!" the professor cries, the irritation in his voice easily detectable. "I asked you many times not to do that."
"I'm sorry." I lower my head. Displaying genuine remorse is hard, however, while watching Luna desperately trying to stifle her chuckles in her hooves behind the professors back. "More importantly, what was so urgent that you summoned both me and my sister here?"
"It is best if I just show it to you, your highnesses." The professor leads the way deeper inside the observatory.
Passing door after door of nearly identical, sterile rooms, I try to recall the stallion's name. And for the love of our Mother, I can't. It bothers me to no end, because throughout my unimaginably long life, it has never posed a problem before. I've always been able to find at least one unique trait of a pony, and assign its owner's name to it. But with the professor, I simply can't. He's neither tall, nor short; neither fat, nor slim; his coat is light gray, and besides, he always covers it with his lab coat anyway; his mane and tail could just as well not be there at all... No, this would be a perfect unique trait to remember! His eyes... I looked into them a minute ago and can't recall what color they were. His cutie mark is an eye with a deep black pupil, but even it is not enough to make his name reappear in my memory.
"Is something the matter, Celly?" I hear Luna's gentle snicker. "You seem to be eyeing dear Void Eye's flank quite vigorously."
So that's his name. I try to memorize it, but can't shake the feeling I will forget it as soon as I leave the observatory.
"Here we are." The professor clears his throat, pointing at the several-pony-high screen in front of us. An orange sphere, the size of an average swimming pool, is displayed in its center.
"Excuse me, professor –" I raise my hoof "– but isn't this the sun? I, of all the ponies, should know how it looks."
"Do forgive my bluntness, your highness, but do you?" The professor narrows his eyes.
I have to admit, the question throws me off balance a little. My eyes dart between the professor and my sister as I furrow my brow in confusion. I raise my head at the screen, straining my eyes in a valiant attempt to spot the secret my star would hide from me, to no avail. "For the sake of argument, let's assume I do not." I draw a sigh. "By all means, do enlighten me, professor."
The professor's eyes follow my gaze. "Are you familiar with Star Catcher's theory of the lifespan of a star, your highness?"
"I am," Luna interjects. "He divided the lifespan of a star into several cycles. Firstly, its birth, when a cloud of gases reaches the critical mass and collapses. The pressure increases as the gravity squishes the gasses in the star core, eventually reaching the temperature required to—to put it colloquially—set the star on fire. Once the furnace inside a star is ignited, it burns eternally, fueled by the constant process of nuclear fusion in its core.
"By eternally –" Luna makes a circle with her hoof "– I mean for as long as the reaction is fed its fuel. Which is, of course, gaseous hydrogen. Once all of it is used up, and the pressure inside the core reaches the required level, the star starts to burn helium, a by-product of the earlier fusion. Compared to burning hydrogen, the helium fusion is quite a rapid and drastic process. It generates much more energy, too, making the star heat up and expand. Scientists agree that this state could as well be called agonic. Once it is finally over, depending on the mass of the star and—consequently—of its gravitational pull, the star can blow its shell, leaving only the core—such a star is called a dwarf—or collapse under its weight and explode in a brilliant supernova. The beauty of such a rare event notwithstanding, it lasts for but a few days—a blink of an eye in the cosmic scale. Once it is over, the core of the star collapses into a very dense neutron star, or—if its gravity is high enough—into a black hole."
I look at my younger sister, my mouth hanging open. The cosmos has always fascinated her. Many millennia ago, ponies still believed it was she who had painted the night sky with stars. It was a blatant lie, and she would never take credit for Mother's work, but—in all honesty—we didn't know the truth behind the whole process either. But what gods didn't know, mortal ponies discovered with their curious and inquiring minds.
The professor allowed himself a tiny smile. "Correct." He looked back at the screen. "Princess Celestia, have you felt any force surges coming from your star recently?"
"Why, yes. In fact, I have." I take a hesitant glance at the screen. My star, formerly radiating its pleasant warmth, looks back at me, a menacing, scorching hot, burning orange eye. "Do you mean to say..."
The professor looks away, all of a sudden taking great interest in his hooves. An eternity passes before he finally looks up. "I'm afraid so. The sun has used up all the hydrogen, and entered the phase of its helium fusion."
Luna's terrified gasp escapes her lips before she is able to cover her mouth with her hooves. The professor paws the ground nervously, avoiding my eyes. I look at the image of my star on the screen. Has it always been this big and orange? I lick my lips, noticing how dry they have gotten. "But... What does it mean?"
The professor grits his teeth under Luna's terrified glare. "It m-means that..." he gulps loudly, trying to calm his breath. "It means that in a few hundred of thousands of years, the sun's corona will expand, devouring Terra and the moon."
As dreadful silence encompasses us like a suffocating cloud, I look at the screen, trying to process what the professor has just said. My beloved star, which was essentially the giver of light and life for Terra's children, will now act as its destroyer?
"No." I state simply, my hooves moving me back from the gigantic screen. Never before, throughout my whole eternal life, have I felt so small, helpless, and insignificant. "No!" I refuse to believe it. Something warm flows down my cheeks, but I have neither time nor desire to check what it is. I turn around and gallop away, my horn gathering magic despite my will. I hear Luna calling my name. I close my eyes.
An unwanted surge of magic I cannot stop, a flash and a pop, a moment of uncomfortable feeling of being squeezed through the hole the size of a single atom, and I'm no longer in the observatory. My teleportation spell must have destroyed many of the delicate electronic instruments there, but I couldn't possibly care less about them at the moment. I look up at the sun.
The great burning orange eye glares back at me, the atmospherless sky of the moon making it much more horrifying than at the observatory screen.
FLASH
"Sister, how long are you going to seclude yourself here?" Luna asks not without irritation.
Until it's all over. I think, but do not bother with a verbal answer.
"I've held an emergency meeting with the councils of every race. Everypony knows what's going to happen, and nopony blames you! They know it's not your fault!"
I remain silent.
"The ponies nowadays are very considerate and understanding. And it's mostly thanks to you teaching them the magic of harmony. Do you want to know what they decided?"
I respond with more silence, followed by Luna's grave sigh.
"They could have as well stop breeding and make Terra devoid of sentient life in two generations. But no! They intend to go on, for as long as they can."
Why should I care?
"Celestia!" Luna shouts in my face. "Do you understand me? They still want to live, even though they know Equestria will cease to exist in a couple of millennia."
I turn away from my sister. This enrages her more than I could have anticipated. She grabs me by the shoulders and forces my muzzle in the direction of the sun. It's grown significantly in the last few centuries.
"Look at it! Brave ponies see its furious red glare every single day, yet they refuse to give up! The ponykind is about to go extinct! Forever and ultimately this time. Do you not care about it?"
"I do not," I whisper quietly.
For a barely noticeable moment, Luna's eyes flash red with actual, bare fury. Her gilded hoof slams on my cheek with enough force to make me tumble backwards, making little stars and colorful planets dance before my eyes. As the crown falls on the barren lunar surface, I feel appreciative of the fact that I can still feel. Even if it's searing pain in my cheek.
"Let me make myself clear, sister," Luna forces through gritted teeth. "Ponykind can survive a couple of millennia more, but only with our help. If we do nothing, the temperature on Equestria will increase dramatically in a couple of decades. Do you understand that?!"
I look deep into my sister's beautiful teal eyes. Never before have I seen her so determined.
"I am not going to let them die just yet!" She slams her hoof against the moon's surface, and turns away.
"Is there even anything we can do?" Though my voice is barely a whisper, it manages to stop Luna in her tracks.
"Yes," she says, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "I'm going to shield Terra with my Moon."
Say what now?
"I'm going to redistribute Moon's mass a bit," Luna explains, having noticed the blank look on my face." I will make it flatter and wider, and freeze its position between Terra and the sun."
"What good will it do?" I hear my own voice. "Heat traverses obstructions."
To my surprise, my sister bursts in a hearty laugh.
"Oh, Celly, physics was never your forte." She shakes her head, a lenient smile plastered on her muzzle. "Come with me." She offers her hoof and I feel myself wrapped in her magic. A flash of her horn later, we're standing on a dark, barren surface. It's freezing here, I can feel it even through the life-sustaining spell without which my pony form would die here.
"Welcome to the dark side of the moon," Luna says cheerfully. "Do you like it?"
"It's lovely," I lie, making her chuckle.
"Heat doesn't traverse obstacles in space, because it travels in waves, like light. In fact, those are pretty much the same waves, only of different length. If you shield something from them, you will also shield it from heat. Like hiding in the shade of a tree on a sunny afternoon."
Though I feel like an ignorant foal, to which a patient teacher explains how the universe works, even I can see the wisdom in my sister's words.
"I cannot do it all alone, though." Luna sighs, her teal eyes staring deep into my soul. "I will require your help," she pleads, her voice full of worry.
I raise my head, feeling the joints crack in my neck. "What am I to do?"
Luna shrugs. "Not much. Only redirect most of the energy of the sun in a direction opposite to Terra, and lower its gravitational pull a notch." Luna smiles teasingly as I blink, feeling as though she has just ordered me to tie my own tongue in a knot.
"By every ounce of my celestial magic, I have no idea how to do what you just said." I draw a resigned sigh as she desperately tries to hide a chuckle.
"It shouldn't be hard." She winks. "Come on, I will show you."
FLASH
It took us several centuries to reshape and remold both the sun and the moon. Our magic was tested to the very extremes, but it was well worth it. According to Luna, our efforts should make Terra able to sustain life for a couple of millennia more. Not a negligible feat, considering the alternative. Which is, quoting Luna, turning the planet firstly into a giant fishbowl—when the ice caps on the poles will have melted—only to let it dry into a barren desert after all the water would have evaporated.
"But the sun will sooner or later swallow the moon," I say hesitantly, remembering the words of the professor whose name I have forgotten long ago. "What will happen then?"
"I guess this will be the end," Luna says quietly, looking through the window of the Canterlot castle. There is no sun on the sky, but Equestria is not covered in darkness. The fierce red ring of my star is clearly visible around the remolded moon—the moon-shield, as Luna calls it—giving enough light to sustain the plants' photosynthesis. Actually, dropping all those scientific names, the day looks just as bright as it has always looked, if a bit more red, like Equestria was kept in the state of perpetual evening. The nights are darker than I remember, though, as there is no moon in the sky. Before remolding its shape, Luna moved it from the gravitational pull of Terra, and anchored it closer to the sun, making it move across the sky dome in front of my star, constantly shielding the planet from its scorching rays.
I have to admit I've felt the change too. The magic that has always flown through me, from the moment Mother gave birth to us, is no longer warm, and gentle, and pleasant, like it used to be. Instead, it's hot, impatient, and burning. Not a pleasant thing to feel. My appearance has changed slightly, too. My coat turned to a shade of pale yellow, and my multicolored mane looks like an orange-and-red bonfire. Every morning, when I look at my muzzle in the mirror, I have to quench the desire to pour a pitcher of water on my head...
"The end of pony kind..." I whisper. "I can't imagine what Mother's children must feel... You know, Luna, any and all comfort I can find these days comes from the fact that I will still have you, after all this happens. You and Terra."
Luna opens her mouth as if to say something, her moist eyes glimmering in the orange light. She closes her mouth and opens it again, but still no words come out. Tears flowing freely from her teal eyes, she embraces me in the strongest hug I can remember.
"Thank you, dearest sister," she sobs into my ear, "and I'm sorry."
"For what?" I tease her gently, trying to bring her cheerful self back. I had no idea a tiny display of sisterly love could affect her that much after all those years. I offer a teasing smile, still holding her firmly in my legs. "Of turning affectionate all of a sudden?"
A flash of different feelings clashes in her eyes for an almost unregisterable moment, disappearing long before I could properly analyze it.
"Yes, sister," she says, breaking the hug and forcing a smile. "I'm simply grateful."
FLASH
"Can you hear it?" I prick my ears, discerning the notes in what other ponies would reject as mere ambient sounds of the day going by. "It's Terra."
"She feels it too. It will happen any day now, sister." I hear Luna's faint voice. I rush to her bed, offering a shoulder she could lean on in case she wanted to stand up. Every second I see her suffering so much, causes one more needle of guilt and pain to pierce my aching heart. Luna's horn has been aglow for almost a millennium non stop. The use of magic has drained nearly all of her strength.
"Why don't you give it a rest?" I ask recklessly.
"I will have plenty of rest soon enough." She offers a weak smile.
"Right," I throw casually, missing the true meaning behind her words. I smile gently. Luna doesn't like it when I treat her like a child. "I'd like to ask you not to over-extort yourself, but I see it's pointless."
"I think you should call forth the... Final Court." Luna pants, the light on her horn fluctuating slightly.
"You mean it this time." It's not a question and Luna doesn't feel the need to answer. So the time has finally come. I nod at my sister and head to the throne room immediately.
I fly through the corridors, reluctant to waste time. I look through the window at the menacing star of mine. Its red glow covers all Terra. The moon-shield is still in its place. It seems smaller now, but it's probably because of the sun's increased size. I storm into the throne room.
"Type Fast!" I call the royal secretary. Through all the years of my ruling, I have learned that remembering the name of the secretary is the bare minimum of being a respectful ruler.
"Princess..." a voice says from behind me, making me flinch. I hate it when she does that.
"Type Fast... I..." I try to tell her to call the Final Court, but words fail me. I look at the secretary blankly. What am I to say? That the time of pony civilization has come to an end? That she and all of the ponies she knows and loves will die? That the whole pony civilization will perish? That the whole planet and every life form on it is going to be burned to cinders and I can do nothing to stop it? I stare at Type Fast with my mouth open, unable to form a coherent sentence.
To my utter surprise, she just corrects her glasses with a hoof. "The time has come to call the Final Court. Am I correct, your highness?"
I feel a treacherous tingling in my eyes, but manage a faint nod.
"I see..." Type Fast whispers, studying her hooves. It lasts but a fraction of a second, and she turns back to me instantly. "The court shall be called, your highness." She bows, and with a flick of her horn, she summons a screen before her. She taps it with her both hooves and the horn with a speed only the most skilled unicorns can boast.
The Canternet. Through the centuries of its existence, it has remained beyond my understanding. Luna loves it greatly, though, and tried to introduce its wonders to me on numerous occasions, to no avail. Well, it does make communication swifter... All of a sudden, I remember letters traveling on a dragon's breath. But that particular way of exchanging information became obsolete somewhere near the end of Equestria IV. Besides, there are no more dragons on Terra's surface anyway.
I look back at Type Fast, noticing a few drops of liquid on the sparkling crystal floor. The tears, however, do not dampen the secretary's amazing typing skills as her hooves dance over the magic screen leaving a blur behind them.
I try to hold back the tears of guilt myself, as I limply straggle back to Luna's chamber.
FLASH
I look at the masses of ponies gathered in the palace garden. Canterlot is filled to the brim with Mother's children. To save space and allow more of the wingless ponies on the ground, every spare cloud in the vicinity has been gathered and reshaped into a sitting bench for Pegasi.
Countless recorders, cameras, snappers, sensory overriders, and direct-to-mind transceivers, have been set to provide coverage for those unable to gather here personally.
I rise my hoof and the buzz of the masses of ponies dies away. Canterlot, whole Equestria, and the whole planet covers in a blanket of deafening silence.
"My little..." I begin, but my voice is quiet and hoarse. I try to swallow the lump forming in my throat, to no particular effect. By the love of Mother, what am I supposed to say here?
I struggle with the desire to teleport away, when a reassuring hoof touches my back. I turn around, meeting the teary teal eyes of Luna. She gives my back a much appreciated hug.
"They know what you're about to say, Celly," she whispers. "They know what the court has been gathered for, and they are waiting to hear it. You can't run away now. It would be a shameful act of terrible disrespect."
I gulp audibly and nod. Luna is right, of course. A ruler must fulfill their duties, especially in the time of need. I raise my head, facing the crowd.
"My little ponies!" I am surprised at how clear my voice sounds. It's not the fabled Royal Canterlot Voice, which Luna had abused all those eons ago, but I trust it to carry the message.
"I am sure you all know what is the purpose of the Final Court. Several millennia ago, your ancestors have decided to continue living under this red sky..." I raise my hoof, pointing it accusatively at the overgrown sun. Even though it hasn't even been raised yet, its red ring looms over the horizon. "They knew the implication of their decision very well. They knew the day would come when their great grand children are faced with the fact of extinction. They could have stopped giving birth to foals, on account of fear or simply by cause of the lack of purpose." I take a short pause, surveying the crowd before me.
"But they have not!" I raise my voice. "Each and every one of you here is the glorious result of the decision your ancestors had made!" My voice is loud and clear as I, too, push my worries to the back of my mind, loosing myself in the heat of the moment.
The short break in my speech gives the crowd an opportunity to erupt in wild cheer. A quick glance at the crowd would fool the observer into thinking the ponies have gathered to celebrate a holiday, or a sport event of some sort. I can't stop the corners of my lips from rising... Nor would I ever want to. I'm proud of the children and of the work my two sisters and I have put into guiding them throughout the ages. As I am sure Mother would be in our stead.
Such a shame our common adventure has to come to an end. Which reminds me...
"I am and will forever remain grateful to them and to you," I continue a little calmer, "for living your lives despite knowing that doom is upon this beautiful planet you... we all call home."
I take a deep breath, trying to blink away the tears which have welled up in my eyes. I look upon the countless rows of ponies in the garden, the courtyard, and filling the capital city of the Last Equestria. Any day now it will all perish without a trace. A lump in my throat grows bigger as I struggle to force the words out. I feel the reassuring hoof on my back. Luna surely suspects what I'm going through. It helps a little, giving me strength to wipe the tears away.
"As y-you all know, the time has come, finally and irrevocably." I force with a trembling voice. "For the last couple of millennia... m-my dearest sister Luna has shielded E-Equestria... from the scorching rays of the e-expanding sun with... the moon guided by her precise and powerful magic. And she..."
I bury my face in my hooves as the guilt overcomes me. Oh, how fleeting and short lived my courage turned out to be. I just cannot force myself to say it.
"And now, standing here before you," Luna takes over, her voice carrying clearly in the air despite her fatigue, "I must admit that my magic will soon give away." As if to punctuate her words, her horn—burning furiously with celestial magic—flickers as she stumbles to a side. A collective gasp escapes from thousands of throats as I rush to support her.
I can't help but notice the change on the ponies' faces in the crowd. They all knew why they have gathered here, but the difference between suspecting and being certain of their own demise, is as vast as the red sun's disk across the sky.
"Without moon's protection," Luna continues, "the blast of sun's scorching rays will reach Terra in the matter of minutes. Once it does, the planet's atmosphere will simply be blown away." Luna lowers her head slightly. "If it's any consolation, all of us will die nearly instantly, without even realizing it."
I admire my sister's diplomatic skills—she used plural, even though she's an immortal goddess and will survive the cataclysm in her moon.
The silence which drops over the crowd of ponies could be cut with a knife. However, my dear sister continues her speech unabated.
"What I would like to ask of you, my dear ponies, is that in your final hours you wouldn't put the blame for what's to come on my sister." Luna's hoof pats my shoulder as she smiles my way. "She is not the reason her sun is expanding—thus are the laws of physics of the universe we live in. Rest assured that if she had anything to say in the matter, she would certainly protect every single one of you and the whole Terra, even at the cost of her immortal life."
As my sister speaks, I watch from the shadow of the balcony at her back. Tears of gratitude and helplessness flow down my cheeks, as I admire how much my younger sister has grown. I can still remember how much trouble she had adapting to Equestria III after her banishment, oh so many eons ago. She seemed like a tiny, helpless filly then... And now look at her—she has mastered the Canternet, excels in science, celestial magic has no secrets to her... It is I who should be taking lessons from her. And perhaps I will, once I come to terms with the destruction of Mother's children. The faint glint of happiness forces its way from underneath the veil of guilt and sadness, warming my heart ever-so-slightly.
Luna's speech nears its end and I move next to her, where the ponies can see us both.
I feel I should say something, but Luna's speech left no words unspoken. Veil of complete silence falls over Canterlot, as instead of speaking, I ignite my horn to raise the sun, for what most likely is to be the last Solstice Celebration ever. As I slowly raise my head, the weight of my star resting on my horn much heavier than usual, a lonely voice reaches my ears.
"The fire of friendship burns in our hearts..." A mare begins. Her lonely voice, which seems familiar despite the fact that I'm pretty certain I'm hearing it for the first time, carries clearly over the crowd, sounding like she was standing right next to me and Luna.
"As long as it burns, we cannot drift apart..." Several other ponies join in, but I can still hear the warm, clear voice of the progenitor.
"Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few,
Laughter and singing will see us through..." More and more ponies chant the anthem, their voices reverberating through the capital city.
"We are the circle of pony friends,
a circle of friends will be to the very end."
By the time the first verse comes to its end, several thousands of voices in the Canterlot Plaza and the whole city carry the song into the air. My blazing horn drawing a trace in the air, I unfurl my wings, the words of the ancient anthem dancing around me, filling my heart with warmth.
It's the first time I feel like this. My wings beating furiously, I slowly make my ascent above the balcony—a procedure I have completed countless of times. The feel of my star is far from pleasant, burning like it tried to scorch me from within, as I haul the heavy cinder across the sky. I ignore it, however, instead concentrating on the vibrant song, which pushes my wings from below, helping me up in my ascent.
The magic of friendship flows through our souls,
As long as it's there, our lives remain whole.
With friends all around, no problem's too grave,
By combining strengths, hardships we brave.
We are the nation of pony friends,
The nation of friends, we'll be to the very end.
I'm at the very apex of my ascent, the sun burning my back like I was submerging my wings in flowing lava. I feel its scorching energy even despite the shielding my sister provides with her moon. I crack an eye open, turning my head back a little.
Gigantic red orb fills nearly half of the sky, the rest of which is the same color because of the light. The moon is merely a speck in the orb's center. I look down at Luna, her horn blazing with a silver veil of celestial magic of the night. Where does she get her strength from? I notice her eyes following her tiny moon on the celestial dome. Is she frightened? No, more like resigned to her fate. I want to fly down to her, to comfort her, but Terra reaches her first. She lands near Luna, embracing her in a warm hug, and I'm finally able to recognize the familiar voice which has started the anthem.
I finally manage to raise the sun all the way up, and I feel exhausted, like I have lifted a mountain with my bare hooves. I float down in a hurry, landing beside my sisters. The glow around Luna's horn is barely noticeable.
The whole planet's atmosphere vibrates with the song as Terra and every pony on the planet repeats the words of the pony anthem, written down several civilizations ago, but their words barely reach my ears. Luna struggles to speak and I lean over her, straining my ears to catch her faint words.
"Looks like that's it," she whispers, the aura around her horn flickering and dying altogether. "Farewell, sister." She closes her eyes. "And... I'm sorry."
I blink in confusion. Before I am able to demand clarification for what she is sorry for, Luna gives her last breath, her mortal body blackening and crumbling, like it was made of ashes.
I raise my head, frantically searching for the tiny speck in front of the giant, menacing, red orb. There is none. As the reality slowly dawns on me, and I struggle against my sanity to accept it, I feel Terra's snout burying in my chest.
"Try not to blame yourself for it."
I briefly register the fact that it is the first time I have heard Terra speaking. I latch onto this fact, anything to avert my mind from the reality that begins to crumble beneath my hooves.
"I will soon join Luna and Mother's children," Terra whispers, her warm tears sinking in my coat, "and I don't want the last thing I see to be your devastated face... Cheer up, sis."
She puts on a brave smile which I fail miserably to reciprocate, as my mind struggles to process her words. I open my mouth to speak, but it's already too late. The last thing I feel is Terra's caring, delicate hooves wrapping around my back.
Then everything is gone in an orange flash.
As my mortal body burns in a wave of heat and fiery plasma, I cry out my Mother's name as my consciousness is forcibly pushed back into my star. The moment it reaches the sun, I feel an enormous pressure building in my core. It reaches the limit my celestial body can handle in next to no time, and I explode into countless little pieces.
FLASH