Darkness. It was all around her. For the past week, it was the only thing she had known. The silence driving her slowly insane. The misty unknown filling her with a sense of chilling uncertainty. The damp cold chilling her to the bone. Though her sister as only a few inches away, she felt more alone than ever before. How could it have come to this? Struck down by the filly she treated as a daughter. Stripped of her title and her crown. She wasn't the princess of Equestria anymore. Celestia sat, chained to a wall, a brace on her wings and an inhibitor on her horn, holding her sister close. It was cold, and the only sound that she could hear was Luna sleeping peacefully. "I'll fix this." she whispered, more to herself than Luna. "I promise." She rarely had the strength to do anything, not that she could. Her magic slowly draining as her mortality slowly approached, and she would slowly waste away, leaving her kingdom without a protector or a ruler.
She focused on her little sister's breathing, watching her chest go up and down rhythmically as she slept. She stroke a hoof through her mane, now short and cyan, having lost the brilliant constellations that always seemed to flow to an unseen wind. She brushed her own short pink hair out of her eyes and tried to focus on the keyhole on the other side of the room. It sat there, light beaming in from outside their cell, taunting her. The light cast into their cell was surely no bigger than a bit, but it was a constant reminder there was hope. A hope that she would escape with her sister and take their rightful places back at the throne.
But that hope was about to die.
Blinding light flooded the cramped room. Celestia's vision swam before her eyes and she could hardly make out the silhouette walking towards her. The small amount of sunlight coming through the keyhole was nothing compared to the relative wildfire that assaulted her vision. She held her sister close, hoping to save her from whatever punishment was about to come. Twilight Sparkle stood over her former mentor, a twisted sneer draped across her muzzle. "The almighty ruler of Equestria, renound throughout the lands as a saviour and a guardian, gone in one single, effortless stroke." Twilight gloated, strutting around the room. "One of the easiest things I've ever done in my life." she said, her voice layered with resent and disgust. Celestia looked down and brushed a hoof through Luna's mane while Twilight continued to boast. She wasn't paying any attention. This wasn't the filly she knew, the filly she raised. That young mare was gone. And Celestia wasn't sure if she would ever come back.
A hoof struck her on the side of her head. "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!?!" Twilight screamed. "You worthless excuse for an alicorn. I can't believe I looked up to you!" Celestia looked up at Twilight. "The ruler of Equestria. I doubt I've ever seen somepony so undeserving of that title. What did you do? I'm the one that settled a peace treaty with Yakyakistan, I'm the one that defeated Tirek, Nightmare moon and Discord, heck, I even saved an alternate world from certain destruction! TWICE!" Twilight walked straight up to Celestia, planting a hoof on her chest, wings flared. She leaned in close and locked eyes with her former teacher. "What did you ever do?" Celestia stared back down to the stirring Luna in her arms. Celestia held her sister close.
"I would be a much better ruler than you ever were." Twilight rambled to herself. "We would have to ditch the princess title though. High Queen Sparkle." she mused to herself. "I like the sound of that." Celestia stayed silent as Twilight turned towards her, smiling with mock sweetness. "And you." She reached down and prodded Luna violently in the chest, rousing her from her sleep in her big sister's arms. She chuckled as Luna's eyes opened and stared back at her.
"And you." She repeated. "I have something special planned for you." With that, she broke the chains holding the princess of the night to the wall with a piercing CRACK and lifted her into the air in an aura of sickly green magic. Twilight pulled Luna from Celestia's grasp, Luna struggling to get out of the young alicorn's magical hold. Celestia was frozen, terror gripping every particle of her being in place. Twilight surely wouldn't hurt her little sister, would she? Celestia desperately hoped not.
Twilight started walking slowly out the door, Luna still held in her magic, struggling with all her fading strength. Twilight rubbed her chin. "You know, there have been almost no records of alicorn biology since before even Star swirl the Bearded…" she stopped in the doorway and turned to Luna. "I bet I can learn a whole lot from dissecting you…" Celestia screamed, shocked out of her terrified stupor. Twilight laughed. "Cutting you open and letting you slowly bleed out on the operating table will be the most fun I've had in years." Celestia struggled against her chains. "NOOOOOO!!!" She tried to rush forward and grab Twilight, but her chains held her back, her horn less than an inch away from Twilight's head. Twilight grinned and walked out the door, a crying Luna in her magical grasp.
A magic wave pushed Celestia back against the wall and held her there for a second before letting her fall to her hooves. The door closed behind Twilight and Luna, leaving Celestia in the darkness once again. But this time, she was truly alone. There was nopony else there. Her sister was gone. Taken from her. And by one of her closest friends no less. Twilight had never been just a pupil to her. She had been special. And now she had found the perfect way to hurt her. Twisting the knife embedded in her chest, so to speak.
Celestia slumped to the ground, defeated. She let a tear fall from the corner of her eye, soon developing into a river of betrayal and hopelessness. She hoped everything would go back to the way it had been before, but the situation seemed so dire that even the smallest glint of hope was snuffed out by the darkness surrounding her. She sat alone, trapped in this hellhole, and sobbed under her breath, letting her tears stain the cold, hard stone floor below her, not even the tiny light filtering through the keyhole comforting her.
"I'll fix this Lulu. I promise."