The Alicorn Delusion

by The Fool

Chapter II

When Twilight, Luna, and Hurricane had begun gliding from Canterlot's perimeter, the Ursa Major had been visible as a translucent purple speck on the horizon, but only once they had gotten close enough to see the straw roofs of the clay buildings in the nearby village were they able to truly appreciate her colossal stature.

The star-coated Ursa Major was standing on her hind legs, roaring, and swiping her paws at passing pegasus ponies, who appeared no larger than horse flies in contrast. The surrounding trees which hadn't been toppled in the scuffle barely reached above her waist. A pegasus pony who flew too close to her mouth narrowly avoided a snap of her jaws, the stained saber-tooth fangs of which were equivalent in length to six ponies standing on each other's withers.

Another pegasus pony was less lucky. He caught a random flick of her lion-like tail and sailed into the branches of a nearby tree.

By the time two more noticed he was missing and broke away to assist, leaving only three to keep the Ursa Major occupied, Twilight, Luna, and Hurricane were struggling to stay airborne amidst the erratic air currents generated by her increasingly accurate swipes, one of which nearly clipped a pegasus pony's wing.

"What are those featherbrains doing?" Hurricane shouted over the gale-force winds.

"That's a good question," Twilight began, having noticed something very different about the spectacle. "Can't they see—"

"That they're going to get their wingponies killed?" Hurricane finished. "Apparently not! Come on, we've gotta get in there and draw the fire!" She entered a dive straight for the blue eight-pointed star on the Ursa Major's forehead.

Luna dived after her and thought to Twilight, "Forward unto battle, sister!"

Hurricane felt herself slow to a halt and watched a confused Luna swoop past her before flaring her wings and turning back to see her suspended in mid air in a shimmering golden aura. Hurricane's attempt to flip around resulted in her rolling lazily onto her back in the levitation field and staring irately at an upside down Twilight. "What are you doing?"

Twilight shouted her reply, but her words were lost to the wind. Thinking on her hooves, she opened a telepathic channel with her and the three pegasus ponies still strafing the Ursa Major and cried directly into their minds, "Retreat!"

"Are you insane?" Hurricane shouted back. "If we don't keep the pressure up, she'll go back to destroy the village." Her scratchy, high-pitched voice ricocheted around in their heads, momentarily breaking Twilight's concentration and distracting the pegasus ponies long enough for one to crash into the Ursa Major's belly at full speed.

The pegasus pony reoriented himself so he wouldn't snap his neck and impacted hooves first before bouncing off and barreling away like a drunken honeybee while the other two followed close behind.

The Ursa Major wobbled, fell to her haunches with a resounding crash that blew leaves off the surrounding trees in a shock wave of dust and splintered wood, and hunched over, clutching her paws to her distended stomach.

Hurricane, who had lunged at Twilight during the momentary lapse in the levitation field, lost control of her trajectory and would have tumbled into her were Hurricane not caught by a cerulean magical aura and gently lowered into a cluster of trees on the outskirts of the clearing.

The six pegasus ponies, including the one who had crashed into the tree, soon floated in after her in their own levitation fields. They all looked perplexed and disconcerted at the new development, but none attempted to escape. Judging from the way their legs gave out upon making contact with the ground, they had been keeping the Ursa Major occupied for quite some time.

Luna alighted next to them and looked toward the sky where Twilight was finally fluttering into their midst.

The moment Twilight's hooves touched soil, Hurricane was in Twilight's face—technically, she was glaring up from about a head below Twilight's face. "What was that all about?"

Twilight looked down at her, her ire barely buried beneath a barrier of stoicism. "I don't know, Commander." She poked her hoof into Hurricane's armor-plated chest, pushing her back to the ground and ignoring the bristling pegasus ponies circled around them. "What was that all about?"

"I briefed you on exactly that before we left, but since you must have been too busy plotting ways to get between the Princess's flanks to pay attention, I'll reiterate," Hurricane said and cast an acusatory hoof toward the clearing. "That monster out there stormed into one of our settlements early yesterday morning and started tearing the place apart. We came here to defend our territory. That's what we do, and we would have succeeded had you not interfered."

Twilight didn't respond. Instead, she gripped Hurricane's ear in her magic. Dragging her toward the tree line, Twilight heard the shuffling of shod hooves against dirt over Hurricane's wails and cast a withering look over her shoulder at the pegasus ponies before dropping her on the edge of the clearing and ordering, "Look out there, Commander, and tell me what you see."

Knowing she was outmatched, Hurricane swallowed her pride and said, "I see a monster bent on the death of innocent ponies and the destruction of their property, a threat to Equestria to be driven back into the forest from which it came."

Twilight sighed and sat beside her. "Your actions would be justified were your first impression correct, but all is not as it seems. Did you ever stop and wonder why an Ursa Major would storm out of its secluded forest home and attack one of your settlements?"

Hurricane wearily looked across at her. "Look, I get that you were literally born yesterday, but I've been a soldier for a long time, and I know a threat when I see one. I also know that asking stupid questions in the middle of a combat situation is the fastest way to get yourself and your wingponies killed."

"Contrary to what you may believe, I was paying attention to your briefing. You said the Ursa Major showed up in the middle of a festival celebrating the unification of Equestria, which is why there were no civilian casualties—the buildings she crushed were vacant."

"That's right."

"Now what if I told you that by asking stupid questions, we could end this conflict without any military casualties either?"

"I'd have no choice but to listen."

Twilight smiled and continued, "As of last night, I knew very little about Ursa Majors, so I missed a lot of sleep in favor of having the Princess direct me to the royal library. That's part of why I've been short with you." Moments like that further blurred the boundary between Twilight and Celestia's identities, as much the same scenario had unfolded after Trixie rode into Ponyville claiming to have vanquished a rampant Ursa Major. Notably, Twilight didn't remember reading about this particular incident. "There wasn't a lot of information because they're so rarely seen outside their natural habitats—places like the Everfree Forest—where most ponies are afraid to even set hoof. The only reported Ursa Majors who've gone out of their way to attack ponies are those who've felt threatened."

"How could a star spawn the size of a castle feel threatened?"

"She still has the same animal instincts we do, and I'll bet her reason for attacking wasn't so different from yours for retaliating—to defend her territory."

"How does that help us reach a peaceful resolution?"

"Leave that to me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find a way to talk to her." Twilight stood. "Stay with the others and tend to your wounded. If need be, my sister knows some medical magic." She spread her wings, and with a few powerful flaps, lifted into the sky.

She stopped and hovered a respectful distance from the Ursa Major, who was still clutching her stomach and paid her no notice. Twilight reached into the Ursa Major's mind. Finding no semblance of language to work with, she sent a wordless message conveying the meaning, "Hello."

The Ursa Major looked up, revealing its sunken tear-streaked eyes, each of which was bigger than Twilight's whole body and sparkled with lucidity. She emitting a low growl.

"What problem?" Twilight communicated. She had intended a more eloquent, nuanced question, but conveying complex meaning without words was either impossible or beyond her capability. When the time came to ask what had provoked the attack, she would have to find a more creative way.

The Ursa Major cocked her head and looked her over as if for the first time before closing her eyes, her face scrunching in concentration.

Twilight felt a foreign presence in her mind. Realizing what the Ursa Major was trying to do, Twilight closed her eyes and focused on the incoming mix of images and sensations. She saw herself from the Ursa Major's point of view when the pegasus pony had collided with the Ursa Major's stomach and felt a constricting pain in her abdomen more pronounced and drawn out than the minor impact should have inflicted. Focusing on the pain, she realized the impact hadn't been the cause so much as an exacerbating factor. She wasn't suffering internal damage; she was having a contraction.

Her sympathy must have crossed the telepathic connection, because when she opened her eyes, she found the Ursa Major giving her an imploring look. An idea struck Twilight. She closed her eyes, telepathically probed the Ursa Major's womb, found the unborn Ursa Minor's stable brain waves, and transmitted them to the Ursa Major. Whether or not the Ursa Major could understand exactly what she was experiencing, Twilight couldn't say, but it seemed to do the trick.

The Ursa Major lowered her paws from her stomach to the ground, raised her hind legs, putting herself on all fours and face to face with her—face to entire body, technically—and cast a meaningful glance toward the nearby village.

Twilight closed her eyes and scoured the Ursa Major's memory for anything related to the previous morning. She conjured up no image but distant echoes like unnatural thunder. She felt her body exit the dark cave as streams of light soared from the tree line into the sky and exploded in beautiful flashes of color and rolling cracks that outshined the rising sun and ignited a primal fear in her gut. She let out a blood-curdling roar and barreled toward the noise with wanton disregard for the trees and other obstacles. Hearing a warning growl that wasn't part of the Ursa Major's memory, she terminated the flashback, opened her eyes, and looked at her apologetically.

The Ursa Major's Ursa Minor and the village's firework display came together to paint a clear picture of why the Ursa Major attacked. The trick was finding a way to communicate the ponies' benign intent. Though Twilight had attended her share of firework displays and seen the many awestruck faces of the cheerful ponies in attendance, Celestia didn't have access to those memories. Fortunately, a highly developed imagination is a necessity for a changeling's illusion magic, so the blend of images and emotions Celestia improvised was remarkably close to the real thing and gave the Ursa Major a new perspective.

As the adrenalin clouding her thoughts and keeping her alert stopped flowing, the Ursa Major swayed slightly. Her eyelids grew heavy. She looked back in the direction of her cavern home, and before turning to go, sent one last wordless telepathic message, "Regret."

"Forgive," Twilight replied. She turned to fly back to Luna, Hurricane, and the others, but the Ursa Major's translucent purple foreleg obstructed her view and held her against the Ursa Major's chest. The Ursa Major's ethereal fur was soft and tingly like it existed midway between the physical and magical realms. Feeling the Ursa Major's snout nuzzling her as gently as could be and a toasty warmth that wasn't just the Ursa Major's body heat, she smiled and giggled.

***

When Twilight, Luna, and Hurricane returned to the castle, the sun had passed its apex and started its gradual decline back into the horizon.

Platinum met them on the front steps of the castle. As they came into view, she began to explain why Puddinghead wouldn't be joining them but lost her train of thought upon seeing Twilight's abrupt change in appearance.

Twilight had grown taller and more elegant still, putting her almost a head above Luna, who looked no different than she had earlier that morning. Rather than making her appear lanky, the change had given Twilight's body a shapely, athletic look. Even pressed against her sides, her wings betrayed their added broadness. Her coat looked a purer shade of white, rivaling Platinum's own, and her disheveled pink mane hung to her chest and fell coyly over one of her pale magenta eyes.

Hurricane nudged Twilight's ribs and whispered conspiratorily, "Look who's checking you out."

Twilight didn't need to be told. She had felt Platinum's heart palpitate, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. Worse still, she wasn't sure how Celestia felt about it. For all the minds Twilight could read, Celestia's wasn't one.

Having been within earshot, Platinum blushed, looked aside, gave a ladylike cough and paper-thin excuse, and led her, Luna, and Hurricane inside. As they walked, she explained what was keeping Puddinghead and found herself sneaking another glance at Twilight, who caught her and smiled noncommitally.

Thankfully, Hurricane was too busy recounting their triumph over the Ursa Major, if it could be called that, to call Platinum out.

By the time they reached the throne room, Platinum had enough information to draw a conclusion, "I can think of no way I'd rather that conflict have been resolved, but I'm afraid your diplomacy undermined the trial's purpose." She cast an admiring look at Twilight. "You proved your benevolence more than anything, so I'll have to come up with a new test of your strength."

Platinum began toward the nest of cushions but stopped after a few short steps and whirled around, her face glowing with inspiration like Rarity's would upon realizing the perfect dress to compliment a client's form and color palette. "I've got it!" She spoke with excitement rivalling Puddinghead's, "Moving the sun and moon across the sky is a task requiring the combined will of all my unicorn subjects, but if you two can accomplish it individually, you'll more than prove your fitness to be Equestria's new diarchs."

Luna processed the implications first and said, "Being the younger sister, I think raising the moon would be the fairest test of my ability."

Platinum turned to Twilight and said with a hint of sultriness, "I imagine raising the sun should be no trouble for a physical goddess like yourself."

"Of course," Twilight replied with false confidence.

Platinum looked unconvinced but continued, "It's settled, then. Your trials will begin at dusk and dawn, respectively. I'll inform my unicorns of the change but keep them on standby in the unlikely event that something goes wrong. You're free to do as you please in the meantime. I'll send for you when the time comes." As they turned to leave, she reached her hoof out to touch Twilight's withers and asked, "Might I have a word in private?"

Hurricane winked at Twilight and said to Luna, "I bet the Chancellor is almost done with whatever she's doing. Since you're going to be living here from now on, why don't we have her show you around?"

"That sounds delightful, Commander," Luna said. Casting a glance at Twilight, Luna thought, "Try not to pounce her the moment we close the door."

Twilight pretended she hadn't heard that.

Once the door closed behind Luna and Hurricane, Platinum began toward the nest of cushions, smiled back at Twilight, and asked, "Are you coming?"

Twilight had learned to ignore the jarring feeling of her body move of its own accord, but as she fell into step behind Platinum, it came back in full force.

"A lot has happened since you came here yesterday evening, and I wanted to give you a chance to tell me how you really feel about it. I could tell you were nervous about the prospect of raising the sun, and I wanted to help, but I knew we'd get nowhere with the others around. This way it's just you and me."

Covered as they were in Platinum's rich purple cloak, the swaying motion of the flanks Hurricane had accused Twilight of plotting to get between earlier hypnotized Twilight.

Platinum chose that moment to cast another glance back and ask, "Is that all right with you?"

Twilight looked up abruptly, a scarlet blush spreading across her cheeks and earning a demure smile from Platinum. Twilight was relieved at Platinum's apparently benign intention for the private conversation, but Celestia seemed to have other ideas. "Of course, Princess."

"You can call me Platinum." She stepped into the nest of cushions and made herself comfortable on the far side. "We're alone now, after all."

Twilight sat across from her.

Platinum tossed her amethyst-embedded-silver crown aside and shook out her curly purple mane before turning her azure eyes on her. "How do you really feel about your final trial?"

Words of assurance formed on her lips, but the look in Platinum's eyes told Twilight Platinum wouldn't buy them for a second. Instead, Twilight sighed and admitted, "I have no doubt raising the moon is within my sister's power, but raising the sun is a formidable task even for a goddess."

"Believe me, I know. The combined will of all my unicorn subjects is barely enough to make it budge, but I've been watching you grow in the short time we've known each other, and I have no doubt you'll make a great ruler if given the chance. Alas, though the trials are mostly a formality so we don't come off as giving the reigns of the nation over to just anypony, unless you pass, you'll never get the chance to genuinely prove your worth."

"I don't suppose you could teach me your method."

Platinum smiled. "I'm afraid that would be cheating, but I can think of one way I might be able to help you."

Marveling at the opportunity to learn how Celestia first raised the sun, Twilight's inner scholar ignored the many ways that sentence could be ineterpreted. "What do you have in mind?"

"As I've said, I've been watching you grow more beautiful with each passing day, and in so doing, I've noticed something: the changes are directly related to how much love you receive. I can only assume that just as my power is dependent on the will of my subjects, yours is dependent on the love you've received since you arrived in Equestria."

Twilight's heart and mind raced. Had Platinum discerned Celestia's true nature and understood Celestia's assignment, she would have had Twilight arrested, exiled, or worse. Rather, Platinum was leading up to something else entirely.

Confirming Twilight's fears, Platinum crawled over, sat up on her haunches in front of her, took Twilight's hoof, and pressed it to her chest.

Waves of warm, sweet love flowed through Twilight's leg and pooled around her heart, disrupting her thoughts like honey dripping into delicate clockwork.

Platinum traced Twilight's hoof down her belly, gazed into Twilights eyes, and whispered, "Take me that my love may give you strength, that you may earn your place as the ruler of Equestria, and that I may feel the touch of a goddess."

Twilight's heart thundered in her ears as Platinum's soft coat tickled her hoof. Love coursed through her veins and desire consumed her mind. Her last coherent thought before losing herself entirely was a prayer that her intense arousal wouldn't manifest in her real body. Her last coherent words were, "Believe me, Platinum, there's nothing I'd rather do, but isn't this rather sudden?"

Platinum draped her forelegs around Twilight's neck and gave all the convincing Twilight needed, "Your trial is less than a day away. We may not get another chance."

Twilight untied Platinum's cloak with her magic and tossed it over Platinum's crown. She wrapped her broad angelic wings around Platinum's upper back, pulled her against her chest, closed her eyes, and kissed her.

Platinum wrapped her hind legs around Twilight's lower back and sighed internally as Twilight's feathers brushed against her bare coat and Twilight's lips parted hers. Feeling Twilight's hoof nestle between her thighs, she shivered in pleasure and traced her hoof down from Twilight's neck to do the same.

The new sensations taking her to the height of euphoria, Twilight met Platinum's tongue with hers.

***

Despite Luna's efforts, dusk had persisted several minutes after night was scheduled to begin. Most ponies didn't notice. Those that did made up the sea of faces filling the castle courtyard below the balcony on which Luna stood and spilling out into the streets beyond. Hundreds had gathered from across the city to see their alleged goddess raise the moon. None doubted that she would, but the same couldn't be said for her.

Luna stood proudly on the edge of the balcony with her forelegs perched on the railing, her wings flared, her eyes clamped shut, and her horn burning in a brilliant cerulean aura. She looked for all Canterlot like the mare they needed her to be, but buried beneath her bastion of bravado was an ordinary changeling infiltrator a thousand miles from home and in way over her head. Worse still, her partner in crime was nowhere to be found.

"We would never abandon you in your time of need," a welcome voice she hadn't heard since leaving with Hurricane earlier in the afternoon spoke directly into her mind, interrupting her internal monologue of self-doubt.

Luna diverted some of her concentration from her fruitless casting to send a telepathic response, "We can't do this, sister. It's too much. It's too soon."

"You're wrong. You can do this. We can do this. They all believe in you, and I do too. Isn't that enough?"

"You need only look to the sky to find your answer."

"Then let me help you."

Luna's breath caught in her throat. Love flooded her veins, barely having time to coalesce around her heart before escaping through her horn, which flared with enough light to blind anypony looking at Luna instead of the night sky, where the moon was gradually beginning to move into view and casting its first beams across the gathered ponies, who stomped and whinnied their applause. Overcoming the moon's inertia was the hard part. With that done, that same inertia would keep the moon moving until it sunk beneath the opposite horizon to make way for the sun.

The surge of power ended as abruptly as it had begun. Having lived underground most of her life, Luna had the good fortune to have never been struck by lightning, but she imagined that's what it would feel like. She knew such an outpouring of emotional energy could only come from one source. She opened her eyes, folded her wings, turned to Twilight with a smirk, and said, "I take it you and the Princess had quite the stimulating conversation."

"That's one way to put it," Twilight said with a grin, too ecstatic about not only watching her raise the moon for the first time but having helped her do so to care that Luna knew about the unconventional manner in which Twilight had lost her virginity. Platinum had given Twilight her love to help her succeed in the final trial, but Twilight would never get the chance if Luna didn't succeed first, which probably would have been the case had Twilight not intervened.

Platinum stepped onto the balcony, wearing her cloak but not her crown and looking only slightly disheveled as she gazed into the night sky with a serene smile. When her eyes fell on Luna, Platinum gasped, "Your cutie mark has appeared!"

Luna spun her head around to look at her flank where the white profile of a crescent moon to match the one in the sky had appeared on a splotched navy-blue background. Her eyes widened. She squealed with joy and threw her forelegs around Twilight's neck before flaring her wings and soaring into the sky, using her mastery of light manipulation to give herself a moonlit silver contrail as she swooped over the hundreds of cheering ponies.

***

Throughout the night of feasting, celebration, and loving adoration in the castle and courtyard, Twilight kept one wary eye on the moon's progress toward the opposite horizon. She wore a brave face for the ponies who came to admire her sister's new cutie mark and wish her luck in earning hers, as they had no doubt raising the sun would be her special talent, but as dawn came around, she excused herself from the festivities to agonize over the task ahead in the privacy of the room behind the balcony.

There she stood alone with her thoughts, knowing the peace wouldn't last long, for there was one pony from which she couldn't hide. Sensing that pony ascending the steps behind her, she turned to the door, waited for the knock, and said, "Unless you've come to aid in my escape, leave me to my thoughts."

The door opened. Luna stepped in looking every bit as radiant as a goddess given pony form should. In the short time since they'd parted, she had grown as tall as Twilight and her mane had given way to a flowing cloud of opaque cobalt interspersed with twinkling specks of light. Luna asked, "Weren't you the one who told me self-doubt was my biggest obstacle?"

"The sun is several orders of magnitude more massive and further away than the moon, making itself a decidedly bigger obstacle. I never studied divination, but I can predict what's going to happen in a few minutes. I'll expend so much magic trying to make the sun budge that my disguise will flicker out, our nature will be revealed, and an angry mob will rend our heads from our thoraxes to mount in the throne room as a warning to any other changeling who should get the idea in her head to try playing goddess." Twilight made for the door. "We should leave while we still have a chance."

Luna put her hoof to Twilight's chest and gave her a stern look. "Sister, you're being unreasonable. Besides, we can't return to the hive."

"We're in the capital now. We don't have to return empty hooved. We can take new identities and finish our assignment."

Luna's teal eyes glowed from within and bore into Twilight. "We can't return ever. Mother would understand that we got in over our heads, but she would never understand that I lost my connection to her."

Twilight's eyes widened and a sickening feeling wormed through her stomach. "What are you saying, sister?"

Luna lowered her hoof, made for an opulent couch on the far side of the dark room, and lay down. "I spoke with the Princess after you left. As she told me about her nation's history before the unification with the pegasus and earth ponies and explained their need for rulers who could remain impartial to the petty feuds that had kept them apart all these centuries, I decided my place was here.

"In that moment, my connection severed. I became the goddess Equestria needs me to be. Among other things, the connection is a failsafe to prevent more than one changeling queen from emerging at a time. Without it, the love I'd been showered with throughout the night manifested in full, transforming my body into that of a magical being like the Ursa Major. I no longer need material sustenance. I'll only die if my subjects retract their love.

"Luck has favored us the chance to make this new nation a paradise, but Mother, her predecessors, and her successors would rather bleed it dry to feed their drones. Perhaps someday there will be enough love to go around and we'll accept her into our ranks, but that day won't be for quite some time. As free-thinking creatures of love, our duty is to protect it and help it flourish, but I can't do that without your help, which means you need to raise the sun."

Twilight wanted to give Luna a big hug, but Celestia was more subdued. "I appreciate your philosophy, sister, but the most rousing speech won't make me any stronger."

"Your weakness is your unwillingness to turn your back on the hive. I can give you the strength necessary just as you did for me, but not unless you let me sever your connection."

After a moment's deliberation, Twilight walked over to kneel before Luna and said with a wry smile, "You say that like I have any other choice."

Luna touched her horn to Twilight's forehead, snaked her magic into Twilight's mind, and dispelled the inborn enchantment that connected her to the hive and stalled her metamorphosis.

Twilight would have collapsed were she standing. Her muscles spasmed, her mind raced, and before she could process what was happening, it was over. She looked the same, felt the same, and could only describe the sensation as a fog she'd never noticed suddenly lifting from her thoughts. When she stood, she stood taller despite being the same height. When she thought about the final trial, she realized exactly how she was going to raise the sun. The sun acted in harmony with the moon—they wanted to take turns. She didn't have to force the sun around like a giant boulder; all she had to do was reach out to it, wake it from its slumber, and coax it into motion.

Luna laughed, apparently still able to read Twilight's thoughts despite their lost connection to the wider network. "Had I thought of that, I might not have needed your assistance. From the looks of things, you may not need mine, but if you do, you need only ask. The Princess wants us to share our burdens once we're rulers, so it wouldn't be cheating." She stood and ushered her toward the glass door to the balcony, from which emanated the sound of hundreds of ponies shuffling into the courtyard below. "Now get out there. They're all waiting for you."

Twilight stepped out onto the balcony, winked at Platinum, and smiled fondly at her little ponies before spreading her wings, flapping into the sky, closing her eyes, and igniting her horn with a blinding golden aura. Without siphoning an ounce of Luna's strength, she felt the sun acknowledge her wordless request and saw its rays shine through the blood cells in her eyelids.

The gathered ponies couldn't stare directly at the sun long after it appeared on the horizon, so they were all watching Twilight when a yellow sun in an orange corona appeared on her flank.

Twilight's heart resonated with their cheers. The tingling that started with her cutie mark's appearance spread throughout her body, turning her coat pure white before alighting on her mane and tail, which became gradients of pastel blue, green, and their original pink and flowed like the aurora borealis. Twilight opened her eyes to a new morning—her morning.

Comments

[Spacecowboy]

This is truly an interesting tale, and an unique methos with which to spin your own version of world building of the events leading up to current day Equestria. So far it is very well handled, and most impressive to read.

As for the Tragedy tag, is this linked to Luna's 'downfall'? Mostly curiousity driving this question, I don't typically read Tragic type material, I'm too much of a softie for it.

Regardless, another excellent chapter, please keep up the good work.

[Shader]

2015726

It certainly makes Luna's transformation much more vivid and serious. She didn't just want their love and adoration. She NEEDS it to survive. And them withholding that would make her desperate.

[The Fool]

2015726

As many as four characters are tragic heroes, all of which have appeared at least once, but Celestia and Luna are the salient ones. The story is meant to fit into canon, so you can assume everything will turn out all right in the end.

[Spacecowboy]

2015759
I would picture her 'devolution' into Nightmare Moon to be something akin to 'absorbing' hate in lieu of Love, or something similar, which ultimately ends in her thorough corruption. As far as the exacts of the war (if he makes one), and subsequent 'banishment' (who knows exactly how it will play out), this is where I am most curious now.

2015772
And that is what I figured, in terms of the tag anyways. I've started to enjoy these stories that aim to explore the what of the time leading into the current state of affairs, this is the first one I've read (so far), that uses them as changelings however. Then again, the only other origin-specific story I've read is Paradise Sundered, so don't have a large base to really draw from. I will say that this feels like it'll be one of those unforgettable ones however at the rate the story is going.

And I meant to ask this, but are you going to essentially run these memories in order? Or will we [the readers] get a chance to see Twilight talk some of this over with Celestia (and perhaps Luna) at some point? And you've also got me most interested as to how Cadance and Chrysalis work out with marrying Shining, since I am assuming (bad me!) that they are going to be different characters.

[Shader]

2015797
Could be either, yeah. Corruption from hate, or corruption from desperation of a dying mare.

And the banishment is another thing that comes to mind. The people no longer loved her, and without that love, she would die. Sealing her away in the moon could have also have been to preserve her life, and letting her go into myth to let her start anew, and a thousand years to give her time to be forgotten.

All depends on how the author takes the story, and I'm going to be watching for certain.

[The Fool]

2015797

Celestia and Twilight will get to talk as soon as Twilight recovers from reliving a thousand years of memories in an instant. I have Cadence and Chrysalis tagged separately, so your assumption is defensible.

[Westphalian_Musketeer]

Very well written, and Twi/Celestia/Changeling coaxing the sun out like she did the Ursa Major was a nice touch.

[Starcat5]

1990695
Just to clarify, in the "Changelings Everywhere" story, Celestia and Luna are the only Ponies left, but Luna herself was still on the moon. The entire Pony race had been wiped out in less that a thousand years, right under Celestia's nose. For a random comedy, that is some rather dark and grim Grimdark right there.

[The Fool]

2020432

Oh, my. I wasn't terribly inclined to actually read it before, but I am now.

[CommanderX5]

Wait a moment, but that does not explain how did Luna survive when every pony was afraid of her, or how she survived 1000 years on the Moon as Nightmare Moon if not only she had no connection to any pony, she was totally isolated, without love or positive emotion supply Luna would die from starvation in weeks, more or less surviving 1000 years on the moon.

How can you explain that plot hole ?

[The Fool]

2032963

I'm glad you caught that, as it's important foreshadowing, but calling it a plot hole before the story has time to address it is jumping the gun. The answers to both your questions are in my notes for the next two chapters.

[CommanderX5]

2033111
Maybe I jumped to the gun, but it seems like something very hard to explain in this story if not impossible, but I will look foward to next chapters to find out what you planned for us.

[ForSpite]

2032963
I pretty much agree with this, but the author claims it will be resolved. Perhaps the lack of love somehow drove her insane instead of killing her?

It is curious.

[The Fool]

2035400

When your ageless diarchs come from a species of master illusionists, few things are as they seem.

Chapter III will be publishable by the weekend.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Small issue. Ursas are bears made of stars they don't have a lion like tail.

[KvAT]

2032963
I'd imagine Celestia will always love her even for a thousand years, and maybe a thousand more.