Storms On the Horizon

by Eeveexpert

14 - Lullaby For a Princess

Celestia and Zecora had remained in the hallway for several minutes after Luna's departure, waiting for her return. After roughly five minutes, they resumed their trek. Their destination: the massive Canterlot Archives.

No sooner had the pair stepped inside than they were approached by a blue unicorn stallion. "Salutations, your Majesty. What brings you to the archives today?"

"Good morning, Crescent. We've come looking for some information."

Magic removed the stallion's monocle and held it before his muzzle. He breathed on it several times and cleaned it upon his chest, replacing it afterwards. "Naturally. What are you looking for?"

"Two things, actually. One: anything regarding sinkstones. Two: I'm looking for a spell that one can use to reverse disguising magic."

"Hmmm..." The blue pony pondered for a moment before turning away. "If you would come with me, your Majesty." He beckoned the alicorn with a flick of his brown tail. He led the sun goddess to a podium with a remarkably think tome atop it. "It sounds to me that you're looking for dispel magic." the stallion commented, leafing through the yellowed pages. "I don't believe we have much in the way of that sort of magic, but I'll do my best... What was the other thing you were looking for, your Majesty?"

"Any and all information we have regarding sinkstones."

"Ah, yes. Now that is something I know we have. There's not a lot, but I know exactly where it is. If you like, I can show you where."

Celestia nodded. "If you would be so kind." Once more, the blue unicorn turned to mark out their path.

The sheer amount of literature with this maze of shelves amazed the alicorn. She had lived over one thousand years, but even a life that long would not have permitted her enough time to read all of them, and yet... The true grandeur of this mountain of knowledge was lost to her. Celestia's mind was elsewhere at the moment. Luna should have been back in a few seconds... It's been almost ten minutes; something is wrong...

"Sinkstones...sinkstones...sinkstones... Ah-ha!"

The alicorn's train of thought jumped the tracks as Crescent presented her with a single leather-bound volume. Years of dust collected from little use coated the cover.

"Pardon the dust, your Majesty. We don't get many ponies looking for sinkstones."

"It's quite all right." the winged unicorn commented, accepting the book. She started to open it, but quickly changed her mind. "I'm sorry to come and go so quickly, Crescent, but I need to go look in on Luna for a moment." Her yellow magic returned the manuscript to the stallion. "Zecora here has agreed to help with our search, but I must excuse myself."

"Of course, your Majesty. I certainly hope your sister is well."

"As do I..." she said under her breath. Celestia departed the library in a brilliant yellow flash. An identical flash preceded her appearance outside Luna's door. Her knock upon said portal caused it to glide open in an eerie fashion. "Luna?" she whispered. "Luna, are you in here?" Celestia pushed the door wide enough to enter, taking several cautious steps inside. Her stomach dropped into her hooves when she saw what awaited her.

A giant hole blown in the outside wall of anything is hard to miss. Celestia galloped to the edge of the hole, eyes wide with shock. "Luna! Luna, where are you?"

The sound of muffled sobbing behind her grabbed the alicorn's attention faster than anything had before. Seeing her younger sister in a heap, amidst a circle blackened onto the floor, Celestia immediately assumed the worst. "LUNA! NO!"

The few steps to the far wall were far more than Celestia was willing to take at the moment. In a flash (actually two), she was at the younger pony's side. "Luna! Talk to me! Tell me you're all right!"

Silence.

Luna! Please!" Celestia was beside herself. "Tell me you're all right!"

The dark alicorn said nothing, but she did open her eyes and glance up at her sister.

Though small, this movement did not go unnoticed. The Goddess of the Sun sat her sister up and had her wrapped safely inside her wings in the blink of an eye. "D-don't you ever scare me like th-that again... I would r-rather sit through one t-thousand cold winters alone than lose you forever..."

Luna was surprised by the sudden hug, but she eventually leaned into her sister's embrace. "I-I'm sorry, 'Tia..."

"It's o-okay..." Celestia made no effort to hold back the tears falling from her eyes. "J-just t-tell me y-you're all right..." It took significant effort to understand the alicorn's words with as much as she was sobbing. "For H-Harmony's sake... p-please be all right, Luna..."

When you're upset, knowing that somepony else genuinely cares about you always makes you cry that much harder. Luna's sniffling and shaking redoubled at her sister's concern and she tightened her hold around the white alicorn.

At this, Celestia's tone adopted an air of inquiry. "L-Luna...? You...are all right... A-aren't you?"

After yet another period of tense silence, Luna slowly shook her head. "N-no... I-I'm n-n-not..."

The sisterly embrace was broken momentarily so that eye contact could be made. "Luna, what happened? Tell me what's wrong. You aren't hurt, are you?"

"No... I'm n-not hurt..."

"Then what is Equestria is the matter?"

"I...can't tell you..." Luna replied at length, tightly closing her eyes.

"Luna...please... Tell me what's wrong... I'm just-"

The younger princess shoved Celestia away. "Let it go, Celestia!" Now angry and upset, Luna spun around, presenting her sister with a frigid shoulder.

Time itself spun backwards before Celestia's eyes. One thousand years, to be precise. Once again, Luna's words rang in her ears, sounding very familiar. "Let it go, Celestia!" A hard scowl crossed Celestia's features. Not this time. Never before had Celestia raised a hoof against her sister in anger, but she was not about to let history repeat itself.

She hooked a hoof over Luna's shoulder and unmercifully whirled her around. "By the Elements, Luna! You know why I can't do that!" The Sun Goddess' eyes were a whirling torrent of sorrow, anger, and one thousand years of regret. "I love you too much to let myself do that to you again!"

The night blue alicorn had been thoroughly startled into silence. She had never before heard Celestia's voice at this volume. All Luna could do was bite her lip and uncomfortably hold her sister's gaze.

"I won't make you pay for my negligence again!" Celestia had both hooves upon Luna's shoulders and was practically shouting into her sister's face. "The last time I 'let it go,' I had to let you go, Luna! You never deserved to pay the price that I should have paid! I'm sorry, Luna! I'm so sorry..." she sobbed, hugging the younger alicorn tightly, as if trying to make up for her thousand year absence.

Held in this tight embrace, hearing the emotion in her sister's voice, Luna finally saw who Celestia was; she understood. On the outside, Celestia was beautiful, kind, and majestic; and all-around excellent ruler. But this was just a facade, a pony created to present to her subjects. Behind that mask, Celestia was old, tired, and broken from mulling over one thousand long years of regret and loneliness. She was cursed with immortality, doomed to see the passing of all she loved. All, except for the one she loved the most. "I forgive you, 'Tia... For everything; for all those years, for anything you said... I forgive you..."

"Wh-what? How could you f-forgive me so easily...?"

"Not many ponies get a second chance to completely start over, but you gave me that chance. You forgave me after what happened, and even if you hadn't, I would still forgive you, because you're my sister, and I love you, 'Tia."

Sister... I'd forgotten what that meant. Sisters are always there for each other... "Thank you, Luna..." Celestia whispered.

"Anytime, sis'..."

"Now, would you please tell me what happened?"

Luna swallowed visibly and locked eyes with her sister. She was still scared, and that fear held her tongue.

"Let me help, Luna. Tell me."

"It...it was Nightmare Moon..."

"Again?" Every time that name came out of her sister's mouth, Celestia's heart skipped a beat. "So she's to blame for this hole in the wall?"

"Uhhh...no... That was my fault... I...overreacted..."

"To what, though?" Celestia turned to look at the gaping hole. Even from the other side of the room, she could see that the edges of said hole were still smoldering and probably quite hot to the touch. "Luna...you vaporized a foot and a half of solid marble. What happened?"

"You're probably going to think I'm crazy, but...I saw Nightmare Moon again, in the mirror..."

Curious, the elder alicorn stepped away from her sister to look at the mirror shards still littering the floor. "This mirror? The same one as before?"

"Yes... At least...that's what I thought..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean... It was just a hallucination; my mind was playing tricks on me..." Luna had closed her eyes once more, replaying the events in her mind.

With all her power, Celestia was no mind reader, but she didn't need to be to see that whatever Luna was seeing wasn't pleasant. The younger alicorn had become shaky, both in tone and posture. Luna...

"I..I h-heard her, 'Tia... S-she was talking t-to me... Taunting m-me... A-and then...I...I... Aaaahh!" For one fleeting moment, as Celestia's wing gently brushed her shoulder, the visions that Luna was seeing spilled over into the real world bringing all their terror with them.

"It's all right, Luna. I can tell what happened next. These hallucinations though, how long have they been happening?"

"Just today..." she answered. "I-I think..."

A pony's eyes can say just as much as their words, and Luna's frightened eyes spoke volumes. "Luna...there's something you're not telling me..." In one thousand years, Celestia had learned how to read these signs, and she had seen anger, happiness, and nearly every emotion in between. "You're scared, Luna... You've seen these before, haven't you?"

"I...I have..." she stammered. "One thousand years ago... That's when I first heard her voice. She spoke to me, 'Tia. I had conversations with her... I-I thought I was r-rid of her.." Fresh tears found their way to Luna's eyes as she paused. "I'll n-never be r-rid of her, will I, 'Tia...?"

The truth caught in a sticky lump in the back of Celestia's throat. She knew this answer was not the most desirable, but, at the same time, it had to be said. "I...I'm afraid not, Luna..." The Sun Goddess grimaced as the words passed her lips. She had heard about the truth being bitter, but she never knew it really tasted that way.

For the umpteenth time, Luna fell back on her haunches. She was exhausted, emotional, and this truth knocked the rest of the strength from her. "I...I can't do this a-anymore... I c-can't keep fighting..."

"Luna... Don't say that..."

"What's the p-point in fighting her, 'Tia? You just told me she's going to b-be here forever... She's going to win eventually; she a-already did once..."

"Still your tongue, Luna!" Celestia snapped. "I know fighting is hard; it wouldn't be called as such if it were easy. It's what you fight for that keeps you going. Every day, for one thousand years, I woke up knowing that it would be a fight to get through it, and it always was. But, I kept going; I kept fighting, because I knew you would be coming back, and I was going to be there to greet you. I fought to see the future, and that's what we have to fight for now. Not for my future, not for your future, but for Equestria's future. Don't underestimate yourself, Luna. I know you can keep fighting, because I'll be fighting right alongside your. You're my sister, and I will always stand with you, no matter what happens."

This time, Luna was the one to embrace her sister, eyes bright with happy tears. "Thank you, 'Tia."

"You don't give yourself nearly enough credit, Luna. You're stronger than you know, and when you stand up and fight, ponies take notice. Nightmare Moon is not going to win; we will make sure of that."

"How do we make sure she doesn't?"

"Easy. We just have to make sure Nightmare Moon loses. As long as she doesn't have the Elements, there is nothing she can do."

"What about the hallucinations?"

"You said it yourself, it was just your mind playing tricks on you. How much sleep have you gotten in the past two days?"

Luna's answer was delayed in coming. "I don't know... How long was I unconscious?"

"Only a few hours, but it hardly looked restful; you were tossing and turning. You're tired, you're worried, and you're scared."

These words birthed a hard lump in the younger princess' throat. Yes, she was scared; all of this Nightmare Moon was happening so quickly, and there was so much she was learning. She was terrified, but at the same time, she was too proud to hear herself say it, and looked away. "N-no...I'm n-not scared..." she refused, her wavering voice giving her away.

"Luna..." Celestia lightly touched a hoof to her sister's shoulder. "You've always been so proud... There's nothing wrong with being scared. I was terrified when I saw you lying on the floor like that. Fear is not weakness, Luna, and I won't look down upon you for it. I'm here for you, and I always will be."

It took Luna several seconds to swallow the stubborn lump before speaking. "I...I am scared, 'Tia... I'm scared and tired..."

"As am I, Luna. As am I. I think we could both use a nap, yes?"

"But what about everything that's going on? I didn't think we had the time."

Celestia nodded slowly. "i thought that too. But, a very wise pony once told me that I had all the time in the world."

Luna smiled; she knew where this was going.

"She told me that I just had to make the time, and she was right."

"Thanks, 'Tia."

Rather than reply directly, Celestia softly began singing. Singing something that Luna had not heard in millenia.

"Mother's love, mother's love...

Little ones, let me guide you through the night.

Mother's love, mother's love...

Little ones, let me be your light.

Mother's love, mother's love...

Little ones, should anything give you fright,

Mother's love, mother's love...

Will always be there and everything will be all right."

That song... Luna blinked in surprise, her eyes suddenly much heavier. "That's the lullaby that Mother would sing us to sleep with as fillies... Where did you learn it?"

"I had her teach it to me quite some time ago."

For the first time in hundreds of years, Luna felt completely safe and free of worry. Celestia's wing around her became that of their mother and Luna became a young filly in the loving embrace. "Sing that again, 'Tia..." she murmured, now struggling to stay awake.

The elder alicorn happily obliged and began voicing the sweet notes of the lullaby once more.

"I've never heard you sing before, 'Tia..." Luna mumbled sleepily. "You should do it more often; you have a wonderful voice..."

As the last words of the lullaby floated over her ears like the soft caress of fine silk, something happened.

Seated just beyond Celestia, the younger princess saw another alicorn. Though she was ghostly and transparent, her beige coat and red mane could be seen easily enough. There was no mistaking those soft sky-blue eyes; Luna knew who this was. This alicorn opened her mouth and spoke quietly. "It's all right, my little princess. Sleep; you're safe now."

Just before she fell asleep, Luna had time to say but one thing more. "Thank you...Mother..."

"Mother?" Celestia repeated. The Sun Goddess turned, unsure of what would actually be there. As it happened, she too saw the same. "Mother...what are you doing here?" Why can I see you?" The alicorn stood, questions filing from her mouth one after the other.

"A mother knows when her little ones are troubled."

"That's...putting it mildly..." Celestia muttered. "Can you do anything to help us? Can you fix anything?"

The alicorn's sky-blue eyes became sad and she shook her head. "Regretfully, I cannot."

A pall visibly fell over Celestia at these words. "You can't help at all? There's nothing you can do?"

"I can offer my love and support to you and Luna, but that's all. Believe me, Celestia, I wish I could help; you don't know how hard it is for me to stand here and refuse my little one's request for help, but you know the ancient laws. My hooves are tied, Celestia."

With a sigh, the white alicorn turned back to the peacefully sleeping pony behind her. "If you can't help, then just answer one thing for me."

"Of course, Celestia."

"Why Luna? Why her?"

"I...I'm not sure I understand the question..."

Celestia bit her lip before answering. "W-why was she given this path in life?"

"It was her destiny, Celestia. It w-"

The Sun Goddess rounded upon the apparition, hot tears glinting off the furious light in her eyes. "Destiny!? This is a curse! Luna was cursed with this burden! Calling it anything less is an insult to her and everything she has endured!"

"Celestia..." The see-through alicorn hardly flinched in the heat of her daughter's anger, though her eyes were filled with sadness. "The truth is never something we want to hear, but it is always something we need to hear..."

"But why Luna? She never asked for this... She never deserved what I did to her..."

"The choice to raise the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon was the best possible choice. You did what Equestria needed you to do."

"What about what Luna needed me to do!? She never would have become Nightmare Moon if I had been there for her!"

"The fact of the matter is, you don't know that, Celestia. There are events in time that must happen, can happen, and will happen. Luna's becoming Nightmare Moon was one such event, and when I learned of this, believe me, I did everything in my power to change it. Some destinies cannot be changed, however, and I learned this the hard way."

Realization sparked behind the anger in Celestia's eyes. "That's why you left us...isn't it?" The red-maned alicorn said nothing in response, but she didn't need to; the look in her eyes was answer enough.

"That...is not the reason I am here, Celestia."

"If you cannot help us, and that is not the reason you are here, then what is?"

"I told you, Celestia, I came because my little ones are troubled. You are at wit's end, yes?"

"I...am... Everything is happening so quickly, and...I'm running out of answers for it all... Nightmare Moon is making attacks on Luna again, the Elements are in great danger, and I don't know who I can trust anymore..." A bout of sniffling hit Celestia, stuttering her speech. "E-everypony looks a-at me as if I have a-all the answers... Everypony always expects me t-to be p-perfect... I'm tired of this a-act... I-I don't kn-know what to do a-anymore..." The bottled-up emotions of the past two days finally breached what little self-control Celestia had left, and she dissolved into tears.

"Celestia, my dear..." Thought the red-maned alicorn was transparent, she raised a hoof to Celestia's cheek. The princess must have felt it, as she looked up into her mother's sky-blue eyes. "You do have the answers. You just just haven't found them yet."

Celestia cracked a half-hearted smile and gave a weak laugh. "T-tell me where to look then..."

"Look to the ponies closest to you, Celestia. They will show you."

"Hold on..." the alicorn sniffed. "What happened to 'my hooves are tied?'" She cast a playfully questioning eye upon her transparent parent.

The beige pony's eyes twinkled with a hint of laughter. "Even laws as old as time have loopholes." The light quickly returned to Celestia's eyes at these words.

"Thank you...Mother..." she whispered.

"That's better... Those eyes are too pretty to be filled with so much sadness. I haven't seen them this bright in hundreds of years. You've been carrying so much guilt upon your shoulders... Immortality gives a pony the time to try everything once, but all too often this time is spent worrying about things that are out of our control; you must let your guilt go and move on, Celestia."

"But, I-" Celestia was cut off by the faint touch of a hoof upon her lips.

"You forgave Luna. It's time to forgive yourself. Equestria needs both of you. Not until you cast off your chains can you shine as you were meant to, Celestia. I know it, Luna knows it, and you know it too."

"All this time, I've been holding myself back..." the white alicorn breathed, finally understanding.

"You greatest strength has always been the passion with which you care about other ponies. You are selfless beyond words, Celestia, and that is why ponies look up to you. At every turn, you put them before yourself. But, there are times in which you must ask yourself what you need. Do you understand?"

The Sun Goddess nodded. "I do. And there is something that I've needed for a while."

"And what is that?"

"A good night's sleep." she laughed. "You don't know how tired I am..."

"Now that is something I can help with." A softly glowing ball of blue magic appeared at the tip of the red-maned alicorn's horn.

Celestia's eyes grew heavier the longer she looked at this magic, until she finally fell asleep. She didn't know it, but along with Luna, she had been sent back to her own room and magically tucked into bed.

The transparent alicorn turned from this bedside and vanished...

...only to reappear in a distant corner of the Canterlot Archives. Soft blue magic selected a book from a particularly dusty shelf before the alicorn disappeared once more.

Back in Celestia's room, the red-maned pony placed the book upon the nightstand next to the ornate bed. Finally, she turned back to the two sleeping alicorns. She lightly touched her snout to each of their foreheads in turn, and quietly sang them off with the familiar lullaby.

When finished, she kissed the sisters one final time. "Remember, the night is oft darkest before the dawn, and the sun that follows is most brilliant indeed... Sleep peacefully, my little ponies... I love you."

-------------------------

For the second time that day, Rainbow Dash found herself second-guessing the decision to let Pinkie Pie share the oversized bed with her. The pink pony was constantly tossing and turning, and her overly frequent hiccups kept sending small tremors through the mattress. When she finally started mumbling nonsensically, Rainbow Dash finally grabbed her pillow and pressed it over her ears, thus blocking the unintelligible babbling. The bed remained as bouncy as the chariot ride to the palace, though. A quick rap of knocks at the door was the last straw. The pegasus rolled out of the bed, and stomped over to the entrance. Bitter from lack of sleep, she ripped the door open. "Whaddya want!?" she barked.

"I know we're all tired, but that's hardly an excuse for such volume, darling..."

"Oh...sorry, Rarity..." the pegasus muttered, blinking sleepily and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "My bad... So, what's up?"

The unicorn mare stepped to the side and motioned to have her friends join her in the hallway. "This begs explanation, Rainbow Dash. If you could step outside? I should hate to wake Pinkie."

"Yeah, we'd hate to do that, wouldn't we?" the rainbow-maned pony grumbled. Reluctantly, the Element of Loyalty met her friend in the hallway. "What's up?" she repeated.

Rarity pondered for a moment, tapping a hoof against her chin. "Where to start? Where to start? I trust you remember those pegasi from yesterday, yes?"

The cyan pony unconsciously flared her wings in anger. "How could I forget that smug face!? Boy, am I gonna buck her teeth in!"

"A simple, 'yes, I do' would've been quite sufficient, darling; but thank you for that mental picture nonetheless. Anyway, as I was, one of those pegasi has infiltrated the palace, and with the help of magic, courtesy of Twilight, is masquerading as somepony else. As such, the princesses have requested us remain in our rooms, lest they accompany us."

So much of this news failed to register with Rainbow Dash, and she quickly shook her head, as if trying to sort it all out. "Woah, woah, woah. Slow down, back up, start over. Two questions. How exactly is a pegasus using Twilight's magic, and how do you know it's her magic?"

"In order; a sinkstone, and Twilight told me."

"So Twilight is back in the palace? When exactly did that happen?"

"I believe the princess found her sometime earlier this morning, but that's not my poi-"

"Twilight's back and she didn't even bother to let us know!?"

"I was getting to that-" Rarity barely had time to get out half a sentence before the pegasus was off and ranting once more.

"I mean, come on! How long would that have taken her!?"

"Rainbow Dash, I-"

"What gives, Twilight!? I thought-"

"Rainbow Dash! If you would!" The white unicorn mare loudly rapped a hoof against the marble floor to further punctuate her shout.

"Geez, Rarity..." Rainbow Dash wiggled a hoof in her ear. "I think you broke an eardrum there or something..."

"My apologies, Rainbow Dash. That was nothing but uncalled for." The holder of Generosity pressed a hoof to the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Truthfully, I wondered the same thing. As it happens, though, Twilight had a very good reason for not telling us of her return."

"And that 'very good reason' would be...what?"

"Nightmare Moon."

The spectrum-maned pegasus waved off the threat and laughed. "Big deal. We already took care of her once. We'll just fire up the Elements again and Pow! No more Nightmare Moon!"

"There's just one problem with that. Nightmare Moon is trying to use the Elements to bring herself back to begin with. We won't have them as an option this time."

Rainbow Dash's dismissive hoof waving abruptly came to a stop, leaving said hoof held aloft, dangling loosely. "Th-the Elements can do that?" she asked, wide-eyed with surprise. "How?"

"You'll have to forgive me for not knowing the finer details, but Princess Celestia said the Elements work through separation. She also said that everything, the Elements included, have their opposites. That is what Nightmare Moon is wanting to use to return, and if she does, we can't use them to stop her." Rarity explained.

"So...what can we do?"

"Right now, the only thing we can do is keep Nightmare Moon's hooves off of the Elements. To do that, each of us needs to stay in our rooms, unless one of the princesses is with us. In the meantime, we will each have two guards at our doors. If you feel uncomfortable with either of them, ask them to fetch one of the princesses. Should they refuse, lock your door and stay put. I assume Princess Celestia will tell us when things relieve themselves a little, but, until then, we must keep the utmost caution about us."

It was unusual for Rainbow Dash to follow anything with silence, but the last few days had been anything but usual. "Sure thing, Rarity..." Something was obviously weighing upon the mind of the blue pegasus; she had done a complete about-face in personality. "Before we hunker down, d'you think we could stop by Twilight's room first?"

Rather than answer outright, Rarity turned her eyes to the pegasus stallion beside her. "Is there time enough to do that, Lieutenant?"

After a moment of silent, expressionless thought, Jet Stream nodded. "Headwind informed me that Miss Sparkle was last seen with Miss Fluttershy in her chambers, whom I was tasked with guarding until the general said otherwise. I shall have to accompany you, as per usual."

Rarity's curled mane bounced as she nodded respectfully. "I should expect nothing less, sir."

Though the trip was short, with the destination just down the hall, it was more than long enough for Rarity to begin worrying about her friend. The way she was walking, the way she was carrying her tail; something was seriously troubling her.

The cyan pegasus didn't speak until the party had reached the second room. "Ummm... This is gonna sound weird, but...could you guys wait out here? Just until I'm done..."

I'd be glad to honor your request, Miss Dash, but I'm afraid I have to leave the door ajar slightly, just to be sure of your safety."

"Yeah, that's fine..." The pegasus turned and knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. When she met with silence, she slowly pushed the door open. "Fluttershy? Twilight? Are you guys in here?"

A quick look around the room answered the pegasi's question. The sought-after ponies were indeed in the room, albeit fast asleep upon the bed, snoring softly. Fluttershy's wing was draped over Twilight's back, probably placed there from one of them shifting during slumber.

Seeing Twilight asleep caused the pegasus to hesitate, but only for a moment. I need to say this... Rainbow Dash sat down at the edge of the bed, facing Twilight's closed eyes. She spoke slowly, working around her shaky voice. "Y-you probably can't hear me, Twilight...b-but I h-have to tell you this..." The rainbow-maned pony took a deep breath before continuing. "A-about yesterday morning... I-I-I'm sorry..."

Twilight was a light sleeper, and she had awoken shortly after Rainbow Dash had begun speaking, but had elected to keep her eyes closed.

"I know I d-don't say it m-much...but you and the girls are m-my best f-friends, and if anything ever happened to one of y-you... I'd...I'd..."

Twilight chanced opening an eye to see why the pegasus had trailed off. The usually proud and headstrong Rainbow Dash had broken down into silent tears and a bowed head.

"I'm sorry I-I wasn't able to save you, T-Twilight... Th-those pegasi pr-probably put you through Tartarus...a-and it's a-all my fault... I l-let you down when you n-needed me th-the m-most... I'm s-so sorry... I-I don't d-deserve the Element of L-Loyalty..."

It wasn't ten seconds later that Rainbow Dash felt a pair of hooves yank her into a friendly embrace.

"I heard you, Rainbow Dash..." Twilight whispered, tears of her own gathering in the corners of her eyes. "Every last word... I heard you, and I forgive you..."

"Thanks, Twilight..."

Comments

[ProfCharles]

Huh, Fausticorn. Not sure how I feel about that. As long as she doesn't become a deus ex machina, I am cool with it.

Otherwise, yay update! I was actually thinking about this last night, wondering when it was going to continue.

[Lelouch Vi Britania]

Woohoo! Update!

[Eeveexpert]

1543423
Don't worry, mate. I've got all of this planned out. Fausticorn isn't going to be a deus ex machina. I used her only to spin Celestia out of her depression, so expect a different Celestia from here on out. It was for that very reason that I had Fausticorn explicitly say there is no way she can directly intervene.

As an author and fellow reader, I am not a fan of deus ex machinas any more than you would be. Such a thing ain't going to happen. Trust me.

[ProfCharles]

1544273

Oh good. I was just concerened for a moment that you were setting up a get out of jail free card. As it is at the moment, you have used her quite well- hence my uncertainty on how to feel about her inclusion.

[UseFistNotMouth]

Great chapter.

[Eeveexpert]

1545438
A simple comment, but appreciated and taken to heart all the same. Thanks for the praise!

[Sunstar]

Good work!

[Eeveexpert]

1547968

Thanks much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[Starcat5]

It's a little late for a cry of "Yay! Update!", but I've been AFK since Thursday, and short on time even before that.

However, let me say something no one else has said just yet: "Yay! Fausticorn!" dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/lolface_Celestia.png

[Eeveexpert]

1571516

A cry of "Yay! Update!" is always valid as far as I'm concerned. I'm just glad to know you're still enjoying my tale.

Also good to know that Fausticorn's inclusion was well-received. I was a little wary about adding her, for various reasons. I dunno if we'll see much more of her, but it was kinda fun to give my headcanon a spin.

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

308295

Could I have a muffin too, please?