The Truth

by Blue Turtle

First published 2nd of August, 2013

Just as dark clouds can bring rain, therefore life, they can also bring storms. Terrifying storms that rattle houses and burn forests. As is with the Truth. Not only can it open one's eyes, but it can also terrify.

Sometimes... The ponies you love are the demons you dread... But what if... what if they never wanted you to see that they are the monsters they worked so hard to seal away?

Sunny days are always seem to be much happier days, Many ponies tend to become dim during storms, Or even on cloudy days filled with Rain. It also doesn't help that everything bad seems to happen on a cloudy day. Strange right? There may or may not be a correlation. Though one thing is for certain; Sometimes it's best to stay inside on cloudy days.

______________________

The Truth may contain some parts or scenes that some of your may find appalling. One such is where somepony is beat into the ground. There is some but not a lot of curse words. Keep this in mind while you read. This story is actually quite dark at some points and i'd rather not have people yell at me for not warning them--DO NOT READ THIS IF THESE KINDS OF THINGS BOTHER YOU.

I will take down any art if the author requests this. I do NOT own anything MLP related except the story I have made. I do not own the art and like I said I WILL take it down IF the artist requests. I will now give you links to that art because I do NOT own it.

The Ancient Book- Discord vs. Celestia

Cadence Scene- No Love for the Wicked

Here have some rain sound effects for the story. Raaaaaaaaaain~

I'd also like to point out the fact that in some way or another this is tied to A Time Before. Many of the characters and plot devices show up in this. Such as the return of a certain ancient being.. or two. Or five or fifty hundred bazillion. So please I beg of you read that or you'll be VERY confused!

Hidden is the Devil

The Truth

It was so sudden... so terrifyingly sudden... I couldn't breath... It felt like everything around me crumbled... everything was just dead and gone... I don't understand... It's not fair! Why would this happen? It's not right, Nothing is right! How could this have happened?! Their eyes... those horror filled eyes... they peered into my soul... and I peered back... I don't know why, I don't know why...

-Celestia

It was a sunny day in the royal city of Canterlot. The Sun had just risen, warming the land. Luna lowered the Moon, smiling at her sister.

"Today is wonderful isn't it?" Luna said, her smile was the only warmth Celestia needed.

"Indeed, I wonder how Cadence and Twilight are faring." Celestia said, her strong yet soft voice bringing ease to Luna.

"Lets not worry about them right now sister, We have breakfast to eat." Luna said just as she turned to walk downstairs.

Celestia had a warm smile on her face, one that only Luna could bring. Celestia followed her sister down the stairs and into the kitchen. Celestia opened the window like she always did in the morning. Everyday since Luna was gone.

"Old Habits die hard, don't they Celestia?" Luna said as she watched her sister open the windows.

"I suppose so." Celestia answered. Celestia remembered when she first trudged down to the window, opening it so she could watch Luna's Moon go down. Celestia asked the chef for a bowl of oats with tea. The new chef gave her a strange look.

"Miss... why don't you want anything more... high brow like you usually get?" The chef asked, a confused look on his face.

"It's one of my favorite foods of course." Celestia said, almost like it was obvious. Luna had the same look on her face as Celestia; A mixture of confusion and slight disgust. The Chef nodded and went back to the kitchen.

"I swear ponies these days have no idea what we ate a thousands years ago." Luna said, pulling her hair over her chin like a mustache and beard. Celestia smiled and giggled. Luna pushed her hair off and laughed with her sister. The chef brought in their breakfast.

"Eh... just call if you'd like something else." The chef uncomfortably said. He backed away while the sisters began to eat.

"Maybe you and I could hang out today Luna." Celestia said, pushing her bowl away.

"That would be nice." Luna said, smiling back to her sister.

"I have a few conferences but maybe before sunset we could go back to the tree." Celestia motioned for Luna to follow her upstairs so they could wash up for the day.

"It's only proper for a princess to be clean and neat."

After some prepping Celestia and Luna were ready to tackle the busy day.

"See you in a few hours Tia." Luna said as she left for the Throne room. Celestia waved her sister goodbye and then walked out of their room and onto the balcony. Celestia lifted her wings and flew off.

_______________________________________________________________________

Twilight sat on her library floor almost all day. She was searching through some books and came across a very old and very dusty book. It had nothing on the cover except the picture of two alicorns. One was darkish blue with a purple mane, the other was a creamy color but as it ended it turned orange. It's mane was much the same except the orange turned blue. Though these features were hard to make out because time had worn away most of the book's color. Twilight remember a time spell but wasn't sure if she should use it. It took massive amounts of magic and could be dangerous if the magic circle was done incorrectly. She may also have to close the windows because, well Magic Circles had been banned. Spike closed the window as Twilight drew with chalk onto the floor. Spike looked around making sure nopony was looking, even though the windows and doors were closed and the curtains were over them. Celestia taught it to her before the ban. Twilight charged her horn and the chalk lit up. The circle had to be perfect otherwise the spell wouldn't work. Magic erupted from the circle, then tendrils of light dove into the book. Spike watched in awe as Twilight held her ground, even when a magic whip struck her hooves. Years were pulled out of the book, returning it to when it was new. The magic circle disappeared and the chalk vanished.

"There..." Twilight said in between heavy breaths. A large slash across her front hoof gushed blood, but Twilight was too busy admiring her work.

"Amazing..." Spike gasped as his eyes traveled to the book, which looked as good as new.

"AGH, Spike can you get the bandages?" Twilight said, holding her bleeding hoof.

"Right away!" Spike said, he ran off into another room in the library. Twilight sat down and waited. Though her crimson red blood was all over the floor and over her, Twilight wasn't bothered by it. Spike ran through, tangled in bandages.

"Uh I kinda-" Spike said as a purple aura surrounded the bandages and he was quickly untied. The bandages moved over to Twilight and wrapped up the bleeding hoof.

"I'll go to the doctor's later today." Twilight said as she realized that the bandage would not do the trick. Spike nodded and walked back.

"Maybe right now would be better." Spike said as the bandages turned red. Twilight nodded and walked strangely to the door. Twilight limped through the streets to the doctor. Her hooves were covered in blood, So many ponies were frightened to see her.

"Twilight are you ok?" FlutterShy said, running up to her friend.

"Eh... no not really... I scraped up my hoof pretty bad." Twilight said with a blush. FlutterShy let her friend lean on her to the Doctor's and waited outside for her while Twilight got it stitched up.

"You hurt yourself pretty badly here Princess, what in the blazes did you do?" The doctor asked as he finished her stitches. Though most of her arm was numb she could speak.

"Oh I was cutting up some carrots and I wasn't paying attention..." Twilight said, though the lie was half baked.

"I see, alright... Pay more attention next time you are cutting something alright?" The Doctor said back, His smile made her feel a little better. Though Twilight felt guilty she had to lie. Even if she is a princess that doesn't excuse her from using banned magic. Twilight got up and limped away.
Darn it I really wish these anesthetic would wear off... Twilight thought. FlutterShy waited with Angel outside.

"There you are, Angel and I got worried." FlutterShy said quietly, like always. Angel looked at her unamused. Twilight walked slowly towards her house, waving off FlutterShy.

"Spiiiiiiike I'm home." Twilight yelled. The baby dragon ran downstairs and hugged Twilight.

"Thank goodness, you're ok." Spike said as he smiled.

"It's not that bad..." Twilight said, though a bit unsure of her own words.

"Don't give me that Twilight, You could barely walk for pony's sakes." Spike said throwing his arms in the air. Twilight looked outside and watched FlutterShy walk away.

"Hey Spike, Have you felt like something was wrong one day... but you can't place your hoof on what's wrong?" Twilight said as she began to write her letter.

"No not really... well maybe when we were in the Crystal Empire the first time but..." Spike replied back, but as he finished his sentence his voice became less confident.

"Whatever, Most of the time every turns out alright." Spike shook his head and continued stacking books. Twilight continued to write.

Dear Princess Celestia,
How are you feeling today? (Though this letter is coming quite early) So far i've managed to hurt myself pretty badly (Don't tell anypony but it seems that a whip of Magic has cut my hoof) Though i'm ok. I found this book today and I was wondering if you knew what it is? It's a dark blue book with two alicorns on it, except they aren't you and Luna. One is like a creamy color that turns orange then dark blue and another that's almost black and has a dark purple mane. I wonder who they are. I read the first few pages but it just seems to be some stories. Like there were these strange creatures called Kirins and supposedly could control land. There was one called Ventus that united them. It's very interesting but i'm not really sure if it's true. I was wondering if you could clarify? I mean... I have no idea how old you actually are but if the age of the book tells me anything you must have been quite young at the time this book was made. Anyways that's all I have to say,

Your faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

"Hey Spike can you send this to Celestia?" Twilight said. Spike walked over, taking the parchment. Spike took in a deep breath and let out a blast of green fire. The fire enveloped the paper and flew out the window.

_______________________________________________________________________

Luna shuffled through papers making sure everything was stamped and read over, checking it over again.

"Alright, all the paperwork is done for today, though Celestia still has some notes for her I have left to read." Luna said to her assistant. BurningNight was a nice pony, but she was a bit shy. Luna though enjoyed the mare's company. BurningNight was nice enough but also because occasionally she'd crack a joke or two. One was about the nobility and how stuffy they were.

"I swear if those ponies were any stuffier Celestia would have to open all the windows..."

Luna shook her head and smiled at BurningNight.

"Something wrong miss?" BurningNight asked, looking up to Luna.

"Oh nothing... Thank you." Luna shook her head, though the smile wouldn't come off.

"For what?" BurningNight asked again, confused.

"Oh.. it's nothing... But I would like to ask thee- you if you'd like to come to tea with me and my sister later today." Luna said as she stepped down from the throne.

"Oh my... Princess Luna you don't have to-" BurningNight mumbled back, surprised.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to, but I would appreciate it if you would. You've been my assistant for a four days already and I know almost nothing about you. Though once again, you don't have to come." Luna said in a soft voice. BurningNight took a moment to think.

"Alright... I guess i'll go." BurningNight replied with a smile. Luna smiled back.

"Alright before that though I need you two give put these papers in the archives." Luna said as her magic aura lifted over the stack. BurningNight moved the stack over to a cart and pushed it down the long pathway. Luna smiled for a while but it faded as the loneliness in the room became apparent. There were some guards but they didn't speak nor did they move really. None of the Solar Guards would approach her really, then again Her Lunar Guard tend to stay away from Celestia, though she could not blame them. Luna sighed and took out her book. Luna read but eventually drifted off in thought. The door creaked open and Celestia walked through.

"Sister!" Luna said as she jumped up and ran to her sister.

"Oh Hello Luna, how's your day been?" Celestia said, Her Smile light.

"Good! I took care of the proposal from Emerald Feather, BurningNight left a while ago to bring them to the archives." Luna stated politely.

"I see, and what do I have to do for today?" Celestia asked her little sister.

"Oh, Well the council of nobles requested an audience with you, Quill delivered the tax and the Griffons requested a declaration of alliance." Luna recited from the checklist in her head.

"Alright. I'll get right on that, Thank you Luna." Celestia said. Celestia smiled and walked off, Her mane of color that only a rainbow could capture. Though Luna knew her sister's true color; Pink. When they were younger Celestia had wavy soft pink hair, Luna always like to hide in it when she was a filly. Luna always felt safe with Celestia, like nothing could hurt her. Luna remember the warm face that greeted her everyday... but for a thousand years it was not there. But now it was back and everyday that smile was like a gift. But Luna knew what hid behind that smile... sometimes she wished she could help her sister...

Luna shook her head

Never mind that. Luna though as her sister disappeared behind a doorway.
Celestia can handle herself just fine. She's been doing it for well over a thousand years so she can still do it now.
Luna's head snapped up as a servant walked in, humming a song. It was a familiar; One of the many Celestia had sung to her. Though it was puzzling where the servant heard it.

"Excuse me, Miss?" Luna said as she approached the pony. The pony was dark blue and looked a lot like an old friend of Luna.

Nebula?

Luna passed off the thought.

"Yes Princess?" The young mare said, standing politely.

"We were wondering where you heard that song, The tho-you were just humming?" Luna stated, Her voice carrying her normal royal tone.

"Oh.. well I may have heard Celestia singing it before you came back... She seemed upset...My deepest apologies for not doing anything, And eavesdropping..." The Mare mumbled out. Luna nodded but contained her sadness. This was one of the many things she and Celestia had learned during their rule... Putting on a mask.

"Alright, Thank you." Luna choked out. Luna turned away and walked off. The mane of stars covering her face, so no pony could see the pain in Luna's face.

Why do I feel this? It makes no sense... Tia has forgiven us... Everypony forgives us... except Levier.. or what about Mother and Father? They are disappointed... I feel it. Luna hung her head.
Luna sighed and shook her head.
It doesn't matter. Mother and Father aren't here and neither of Levier. For now I'm fine. Luna thought quietly. She lifted up her head and pulled her hair off of her face.

"There, all better." Luna smiled to herself and walked out of the throne room. Luna looked towards the clock outside. 4:24. Luna's eyes grew wide. A green kirin stood in front of the willow tree. Her mane was a dark green with lighter green streaks, Her body was grass green. The tail of dragon, almost. It was covered in long fur except on the tip, where it's more like her mane. Her eyes were bright green but lacked life. It stood over the water. A younger mare joined her, It had a pink wavy mane was hid a small blue filly. The pink maned alicorn's sunny yellow magic lifted off the other alicorn. The kirin's eyes lit up and greeted the two with openly. She hugged both of them tightly. Luna blinked and they were gone. Luna stared at the spot. Luna took only a few moments to stand only to walk back to the throne room. Luna shrugged off the memory and continued with her work. Ponies came and and left, most asking her to sign their petitions or review them. Some giving her documents to sign. One pony was lost and asked her where the courtyard was. Luna gave the confused mare the right directions. Another door creaked open and Celestia stepped through. Celestia walked forward and smiled at Luna.

"Alright, I've taken care of everything we needed to do today, now We can go to tea." Celestia's horn lit up and she became a Pegasus. Her coat was creamy white but her mane was a wavy pink. Celestia looked like she had so long ago (Except without a horn) Luna did the same and became a blue Unicorn with a light blue mane. Celestia and Luna walked out of the Throne room, though most of the guards were surprised to see two mares walk out of the throne room even though they had not walked in.

"Halt!" One guard shoved a spear in front of Celestia.

"Yes sir?" Celestia said, keeping her composure.

"State your name and State your business?" The guard stated loudly in Celestia face. Celestia blinked.

"Morning Wing, And this is my friend Night Sky, sorry but me and my friend came in from a different section of the castle." Celestia calmly said.

"Alright what were you doing in the throne room?" The guard said as his eyes darted from Celestia to Luna.

"Ah... we asked for Luna to sign a document but it turned out she wasn't there." Luna slowly pointed out. The guard shook his head and let them through. Celestia walked out of the castle with Luna next to her. They dropped by a small tea shop to meet BurningNight.

"Wow you two look different." Burning Night. The pale white mare smiled and Celestia led them to their seats. To any other pony they looked so normal. No pony knew that they were in the presence of the Rulers of Equestria.

"Good evening ladies, I will be your server for today." The creamy coated server said politely.

"Yes, thank you." Luna, Or Night Sky said. The creamy coated waiter goes on about their tea until BurningNight, Luna and Celestia come to their decision. Nothing fancy. The waiter nodded and left.

"He was nice." Celestia pointed out as she looked at the clouds overhead.

"I suppose so." Luna said, also looking up at the clouds. It was sunny on the east, but towards the west the clouds began to darken.

"I hope we get our tea before the pegasi get those clouds over there." BurningNight said, biting her lower lip.

"This tea isn't too fancy I hope... thankfully not too many ponies are here today." Luna said, her head looking around to see quite a few seats empty.

"I suppose it's because of the rain, well I guess all we can do is hope for the best." Celestia said, she sighed and looked around, a few ponies looking at the mare strangely. Though the cafe was more on the fancy side, Celestia and Luna looked pretty plain. Night Sky was pretty but nothing special and Morning Wing was somewhat plain. BurningNight however was different. She was almost pure white, but her mane contrasted so beautifully; Bright cherry red and dark blue that mixed together. A stallion made a comment about Night Sky, but was silenced by an angry glare from Celestia. Celestia sighed as shook her head. She smiled to the waiter as he came back a few moments later with their tea. Celestia took her tea and thanked the waiter. Luna and BurningNight also thanked the waiter. Luna sipped her tea, made a face and switched with Celestia.

"I guess they may have mixed up our order a bit." BurningNight said as she tasted her tea being oddly bitter (At least for what she ordered)

"Hm.. switch again." Celestia said tasting the odd flavored tea. She passed it to BurningNight who passed her original cup to Luna and Luna passed the Tea she had to Celestia.

"Ok, I think we fixed it." BurningNight said, lifting her tea up to her mouth. After everypony got their respective tea they enjoyed the decreasingly sunny day. The day felt so normal to them...

_______________________________________________________________________

Twilight sat in her bed, continuing to read.

"On the first day, oceans of fire raised smoke to the heavens, choking the pegasi and forcing them to the ground, Rivers of tears flowing down the faces of every living thing. The plants cried for their mother but she was too weak to answer. The Sun had come."

"On the second day the flowers wilted and the grass browned, all water drying up. Trees shriveled up and died. Ponies sat in the blistering heat, unable to move out of the shade, which was quickly disappearing. The draconequus laughed at the disrepair he had caused, if it was inadvertent."

"On the third day, Fire rained from the heavens, scorching the once beautiful land turned to ash. Plants cried for their mother, but she was already too weak. She could not help them anymore she could help herself. The demon searched as the draconequus laughed terribly. His puppet could only watch the land she ruled turn to dust. Charred bodies laid strewn across the land.

"The fourth day, The demon confronted Discord. The battle raged on, Luna the shepherd of the Moon and stars used as a puppet."

Twilight gasped at the picture before her. It was both terrifying and strange to see such a detailed picture in a book.

"By the fifth day the Demon fought on. It's fire burning all in it's wake. Luna cried for it to stop. But it would not. It made no sound, the roar of fire from it's wing and tail shrouding any sounds it could possibly make."

"On the sixth day, Discord retreated. Though he was not stopped, The Demon had won the fight. Luna was returned-though her body was battered and broken, none of it could amount to what was broken the most; Her heart. The Sun had lasted for a full six days. Luna forced the Sun downwards, the demon standing. The Moon rose finally."

Twilight's mouth hung open. She had no words left to speak, Silence was enough. She had read many stories but none really took her breath away.

"It is said there is a place where you can find evidence of the Battle. Only a mile of west from Canterlot a dark scar stains the earth. Some fires are still said to be burning. No pony dare go in there because of it's burning heat. All except Princess Celestia. For reasons no pony knows she can survive the heat." Twilight looked out the window.

"Spike. We're going on a field trip. First I need a spell for heat resistance." Twilight stepped out of bed as Spike ran downstairs. Twilight joined him looking for a book, any book that'd help. Though Spike found this book, Twilight's magic pulled it out of his hands before he could say anything. Though it was quite cloudy outside it was nothing compared to the clouds over Canterlot. Twilight took the book and went to her friends. Pinkie Pie went with her willingly, As well as Rainbow Dash and AppleJack. Rarity was being a bit stuffy and said she wasn't sure. But she eventually said yes. FlutterShy was also reluctant to go but with some pestering she went along with her friends back to the library. Twilight opened the magic book and sighed.

"Girls promise me you won't tell anyone about the magic circle?" Twilight said with sigh. Her friends gave her a surprised look. (Except Rarity)

"Aren't those thing illegal Twi? I mean I know you're a Princess and all but I dunno... we could get in trouble." AppleJack gave Twilight a pained look as she spoke.

"We have to see if the Six Days of Fire were actually true, if so we have to warn Celestia that's there's some Fire-Demon just flying around the world spreading Fire!" Twilight said, Rarity was surprisingly ok with using a magic circle. Rarity in fact helped Twilight with the chalk markings.

"She has a point ya know... I mean if there is some weird flaming-pony-thing just chilling out without anypony knowing than we could end up like those ponies were in the book." Rainbow Dash said, pointing to a picture of the Demon standing over a pile of charred dead ponies. Pinkie Pie nodded, FlutterShy and Rarity nodding. AppleJack sighed

"I guess we'll get this over with than." AppleJack said, her tone slightly annoyed but mostly impatient.

"Watch your hooves." Rarity said as she saw Pinkie accidentally step on one of the chalk lines. Twilight corrected it but Both Rarity and Twilight knew if the circle was even a little bit off they could be in some trouble, not wanting to scare their friends they only glanced at each other while checking the lines. Twilight charged her horn and the circle lit. Light burst out of the markings and the mares gasped, all but Twilight and Rarity.

"This is the power of a magic circle.." Rainbow Dash gasped as She watched Magic dart around the room. Twilight's eyes glowed and the magic circle glowed brighter. Bright magic lashed upwards, it touched AppleJack and suddenly she was tinted blue.

"That's one pony down.." Rarity said as Twilight put more effort into it. Rarity knew the strain of a magic circle; Twilight manipulating magic that wasn't her own. This is quite difficult which also makes it dangerous. Ponies have been known to pass out from using to much magic. Rarity's horn glowed and suddenly a great weight was lifted from Twilight's body. Rarity's eyes glowed brightly and another magic tendril lashed out, this time hitting Pinkie Pie. She was tinted blue as well. Though she was excited she stayed in place. Magic flung itself everywhere, eventually hitting Rainbow Dash and FlutterShy. Twilight allowed Rarity to let go of the weight of magic, only to be tinted blue herself. Twilight slowly let the magic return to where it came.

"Wow..." *FlutterShy said as the Magic circle disappeared. The chalk was used up as well as a great deal of Twilight and Rarity's strength.

"Thanks Rarity." Twilight said in between heavy breaths.

"No problem darling." Rarity gave Twilight a tired smile as she spoke. All six ponies were tinted blue; And a certain baby Dragon that passed out from worry when Rarity took over a portion of the magic.

"Maybe we made the circle a bit too big... That was a bit more magic than I thought would come out." Twilight said, leaning her head back.

"After we finish our breath we'll head out. It may take a little while so you guys go pack. Don't worry the tint will go away." Twilight said as she and Rarity sat down to rest. Pinkie Pie bounced out, Her friends walking out as their tinted figures slowly became normal again.

"Rarity you know that was very dangerous right?" Twilight said with a concerned tone.

"Dear you needed help, I will gladly share the full force of an over sized magic circle for my friends." Rarity said as she gave a tired smile.

"Thank you, it's appreciated." Twilight said as she fell backwards, laying on the ground. Her feather were in desperate need of preening, thankfully no magic whips sliced at her again. Twilight lifted herself up, going over to help rarity up as well. Rarity left to go get packed shortly after. Twilight shuddered at the thought of seeing the demon. Twilight shook her head and packed her saddle bag. Spike packed his own stuff a "backpack" as Rarity calls it. They headed out of the Library and waited for their friends to return. One by one everyone gathered and they were off.

Six mares walked along an old beaten path. The stones that at once time were ordered now were lodged in strange places or even missing. Stone were piled high on the side of the old road.

"Who would lay this perfectly good rocks alongside the road?" Pinkie Pie said as she moved around a stone pile. The pile had two next to it, one being smaller than the others.

"Way back when ponies would pile up stones to mark graves, they were also used for good fortune to the family." Twilight said, her tone dimming everypony's mood.

"That's depressing." Rainbow Dash pointed out. No pony said anything as more stone piles littered the roadside. As they got closer to the end of the road (Or at least Twilight hoped was the end) There was less and less vegetation. It was hot, though the six could not notice because of the spell. Though they could see the heat distorting the road a head. A stream cut through the road but it was easy to tell the water was boiling hot. Steam rose up through the air making it difficult to see the other side. Rainbow Dash flew up to see how far the jump was and came back with a disheartened look.

"Twilight you might wanna see this." Rainbow Dash choked out. Twilight lifted her wings and flew alongside her friend.
They flew up above the steam was a battle ground. Fire's littered the area, which was black with ash. Large craters were scattered over flattened region.There were scorch marks all over, as well as in the center a small pile of rusty chains. Twilight flew down slowly. FlutterShy was a bit scared of jumping over the river but eventually hopped over with the others. Rarity stared at the land with terror, The feeling of dread spread over her. The unsettling feeling spread through the air. Pinkie Pie looked towards the barren land with a mixture of disbelief and disgust. FlutterShy was mortified that the land could be so... dead. AppleJack took off her hate and put it to her chest.

"Mother, Father... how in the name of all that is good could a place like this exist?" AppleJack spoke with a tone no pony could place. AppleJack rarely spoke out loud to her parents in front of anyone. Twilight pushed her hoof into the ground, it was blisteringly hot but soft. Like a beach that'd been in siting in the sun all day.

"It's like a scar." Rarity pointed out. Fires dotted the landscape like small beacons of an ancient battle.

"What kind of monster could do this?" FlutterShy asked. No pony could give an obvious answer. Spike sat down on the hot ground.

"No wonder Discord retreated. Do you see the magic marks? It looks like something took a bite out of the mountain over there." Spike pointed to the mountain, which was miles away. It looked as though somepony had a circular cookie-cutter and sliced off part of the mountain side.

"What are all you doing here?!" A familiar voice rang out.

"Discord?!" Twilight turned to the draconequus.

"Eh.. yes..." Discord morphed from a rock.

"What is this place?" AppleJack reluctantly asked.

"This is where.. My battle too place with... Radiant Malevolence." Discord carefully said. He lowered his head in shame. The ponies stared at him.

"I see... and Luna was your... puppet." Twilight pulled out the book.

"Yes. That was at the peak of my little expose into Insanity." Discord said as he turned himself over.

"That's in the past now though. Anyway do you mind if you teleport us away? Back to Ponyville. This place is depressing..." FlutterShy politely asked her friend. Discord smiled slightly and nodded. And with the snap of his claws they were back at the library.

"Thanks Discord." Twilight said, though it looked like it slipped out rather than she intentionally said it. Whether the group liked it or not they were starting to warm up to him.

"Though I didn't get as much research as I wanted done, That place was terrifying enough." Twilight said putting the book away.

"Thank you for coming girls I guess i'll see you later." Twilight said, she waved off her friends as they left. Spike waved goodbye after blowing a kiss to Rarity. Spike blushed when Twilight looked to down to see him blowing the kiss, Rarity though, played along and caught the kiss.

Author's Notes:

Side Note;
I felt I may have to say something about literary devices;
Morning Wing and Celestia are the same ponies, as are Luna and Night Sky. I used this to show how Night Sky and Morning Wing were plain, The polar opposite of Celestia and Luna (I mean, they are possibly the tallest ponies we've seen yet AND they have ethereal-flowing-y manes that sparkle, I mean what can top THAT) It also shows how Though the stallions were making a comment about Night Sky, and not necessarily Luna, Celestia still glared at them because obviously Celestia doesn't promote that kinda of talk. Therefore when Celestia glared at them it was because well, first and foremost Celestia loves her sister to bits and pieces but also because Celestia dislikes the thought that appearances are what matter. I also used this scene as a device. Though Night Sky and Luna are the same ponies, Night Sky an act WAAAAY more differently than Luna, the same goes for Celestia. BUT their relationship is still the same- Kinda. Also how BurningNight is talking to LUNA, not Night Sky because she knows that Night Sky and Luna are one and the same (Same goes for Celestia.) OK did that help?

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Subtle

The Truth: Chapter 2

If and when the truth shoves itself at you. Do not ignore it. It will smack you down and throw you around without hesitation. If you DARE to even THINK about ignoring it, The truth will tear you apart until you have no choice to face it. Always Always stare at the truth. Stare down into it until you have no choice and you have to dive in. Everything you've set up will crumble around you if you do not.

-King Nebulis

BurningNight set down the bill and walked away with Celestia and Luna.

"That was nice." Celestia said, Looking over to BurningNight

"Yes. Maybe we can come here again some time." BurningNight said as she smiled.

"That would be quite nice." Luna said, focusing on the ground. The dark clouds moved overhead and it began to sprinkle. Celestia and Luna looked up at the sky and smiled. BurningNight waved goodbye and ran down the street. Probably going home, BurningNight did say something about getting her mane done with her wife.

"She's a nice mare you know." Celestia said, smiling to Luna.

"She is. She's a great assistant too." Luna said back. The rain began to pour. Celestia splashed rain water at Luna and giggled, Luna splashed back. A confident smirk spread across her face. Celestia splashed again until eventually the two were having an all out war. After a while a group of fillies back from school came and joined in. They splashed and played for what fealt like a short period of time, but some of their parents came and told them it was time for diner.

"Oh dear. Sister we have to do back!" Luna said, pushing Celestia towards the castle.

'It was nice playing with all of you!" Celestia called over her shoulder. Celestia chuckled and sprinted towards the castle alongside Luna. They stopped outside the gate, only to dart behind a building.

1... 2... 3.. go!" Luna said, releasing her spell. In a bright flash of light she was back to her alicorn state. Celestia did the same and she was also back to normal. They waited for the right moment and walked into the crowd. Celestia long pink mane was covered in mud. Luna was no better however, she was also sopping wet and covered in mud. Celestia and Luna walked through the thinning crowd and eventually came back to the castle. Their advisors screamed at them for being childish.

"How dare you! You're the rulers of one of the most powerful countries of the world! You can't be running around in the mud!" WillowTail yelled at Celestia. She just took it in stride.

"I'm sorry. I won't do that again." Celestia said. Though it was hard to tell if she was completely serious or not.

"Luna what were you thinking!" NightHawk yelled at Luna. But the Luna just laughed at they walked farther down the hallway.

"BurningNight was right, You two are stuffy." Luna called over her shoulder. WillowTail and NightHawk's cheeks turned bright red. The princesses were gone, disappeared behind the door.

"I swear when BurningNight gets back...!" WillowTail said, His face burning bright red. He and NightHawk stormed off in an angry huff. The rain poured outside. The rain cooled the air, but also dampened it. Celestia poked her head from the door and giggled softly.

"Alright. I suppose we've had enough fun for today. Let's go clean up." Celestia said, shaking her head; Attempting to throw off her smile. Though it stuck on. Celestia and Luna walked down the hallway, then another that led out of the Throne room, Then another hallway. And finally another.

"This building is kind of confusing" Luna said, she face contorted with confused disgust. Celestia nodded and opened the door. A magic aurora turned the bathtub lever and it began to gush warm water. Celestia closed the door and stepped into the water, which was rising quickly. Luna closed off the valve as the water neared the edge of the tub. Luna stepped in and began to wash off. Celestia washed off the mud until eventually they were sitting in soapy water.

"Alright. That should be good." Celestia said, opening the drain. The water disappeared fast and the sister got out and dried off.

"Princess-" A guard said as he walked through the door. He blushed brightly and stepped out. Luna broke out laughing. Celestia smiled at her sister. Luna finished drying off. They returned to their normal look, No longer like they were so long ago. The princesses walked out, The guard who had walked in earlier was still blushing brightly. The guard next to im looked at him strangely.

"What are you blushing at?" The guard said in an annoyed tone.

"I walked in on them... while they were taking a bath." The other guard said, His face turned red.

"Oh... Well then this is awkward..." The guard said, putting on a straight face when Celestia shot a glance at him. Celestia walked away, back to the throne room. Though it took more hallway walking. A lot more hallway walking.

____________________________________________________________________________

Twilight lazily rolled out of bed again. It was a nice nap but she wished she had slept longer. Though she had a train to catch. Twilight slapped herself.

"SPIKE! You should have woken me up earlier! I have to catch the train to Canterlot!" Twilight said, She jumped off the up floor and landed, She cringed as the wound on her hoof "yelled at her" as Spike called it. Spike ran out from another room.

"Sorry Twilight. I fell asleep." Spike said, His face turned red. Twilight sighed and lifted over a travel bag. She packed all she needed; Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Mr. Smarty Pants, Brush, anything she needed really. She got her blanket and walked out the door. Spike followed her to the station.

"Alright. FlutterShy will take care of you while I'm gone." Twilight said, The crowd was quite large for how late it was in the afternoon. Twilight raised up her umbrella as it began to rain. Spike stood close to her, snuggling up to her leg. The line to the ticket booth was pretty long.

"Miss.. can I please budge in front of you. I need to get on the next train..." An older looking stallion said. Twilight thought about it for a moment and stepped aside, letting the old stallion in front of her. She stepped behind him.

"Thank you miss. The kindness is appreciated." The stallion smiled and looked forward again. The person upfront gave the pony his ticket and he left. This caused a whole chain to step forward in the rain. This happened several times before Twilight finally got to the front of the line. The pony looked at her ID and gave her a ticket. Spike walked to the side of the train. Twilight gave him the umbrella and walked into the train.

"FlutterShy should be here any minute." Twilight said, looking around. A yellow pegasus wearing a bright yellow rain coat ran forward.

"There you two are!" FlutterShy said, a bit louder than usual. The rain made it hard to hear her though. Twilight nodded, The steam whistle blared, meaning they'd be leaving soon.

"I'll see you guys soon." Twilight said, closing the window of her seat. Spike and FlutterShy stepped away from the rail, behind the white line. A crowd waved off friends and family. FlutterShy smiled and walked off. The baby dragon walked behind her. Twilight watched them walk away before the train started to move. It started off slowly, but eventually got faster and faster until the bright lights of the train station disappeared. Twilight wrapped herself in a blanket, falling asleep again.

This section of the train isn't very full... Twilight thought as her mind drifted off to sleep. Only an hour later Twilight woke up to the sound of a cart being pushed forwards. The train was slightly more full. The attendant stopped by.

"Is there anything you'd like miss?" The pegasus asked politely. Twilight nodded and pushed off her blanket. Twilight took the hot cocoa and thanked the stallion as he left. Twilight sipped it and looked around. It was still raining outside. Twilight sighed and took out the book. She began to read more stories, Until finally reading one of a demon. The picture was of a pony like creature, Yet it was pitch black with red eyes. Underneath it were ponies, all crying. Behind it was a blood red sun. Twilight's eyes focused on the creature. Underneath it were four ponies; A kirin and three alicorns. One held onto a smaller blue one, while the tallest one cried. The kirin was angry. She flipped the page to find the kirin and tallest alicorn fighting the creature. Th kirin however was now brown, and it's eyes red in anger. The tall alicorn glowed bright as the sun, if not even brighter. The shadowy creature looked distressed. By the end of the story the they were gone. Pictured as the glowing one throwing the creature into Tartarus, then venturing in itself. The two young alicorns looked towards the portal from the hill, while the kirin stood by them. It was now green again. Twilight knew without a single doubt that the two young alicorns were Celestia and Luna, And that the pitch black figure along with the glowing alicorn were the original rulers of Equestria. Twilight felt a sudden wave of guilt. Celestia and Luna sat by for what was probably over 1,000 years without their own parents. Twilight could not imagine the heart breaking feeling to know that you're parents were suddenly just not there. The worst part was that no pony remembered them either. Most ponies thought that since Celestia knew her sister was merely just gone she kept her title princess. Twilight held her head, rubbing her temples. To think Celestia and Luna could even bear to except that the ponies who took are of them were gone made Twilight's hooves tremble. She knew that she would probably give up if her parents were just... gone. Yet Celestia and Luna were able to survive all on their own for over 1,000 years. Twilight shook her head.

Never mind... I shouldn't bring it up when I'm with them and Cadence. That's all. Twilight thought with a sigh. The time slipped away from her as she read more stories. By the time she got half way through the large book The train stopped at Canterlot Station. Twilight grabbed her things and stepped out of the train, It was raining there too.

"It's raining everywhere I go." Twilight said, half joking. The attendant chuckled and took Twilight's ticket after scanning her ID. Twilight was passed through the gates and let into Canterlot. Twilight lifted her umbrella and walked towards the castle. It was odd not having Spike around her. Her bag was pulled behind her, The purple aura surrounding it protected it from the rain. Twilight walked among the evening crowd, She felt herself disappear into the number of ponies present. They flowed like a river. Though the river branched off several times and sometimes certain parts of the river were obstructed. Twilight shook her head and walked on. Eventually, after what seemed like hours of walking (Despite the fact Twilight knew her way around Canterlot, It was still a large city) She arrived at Canterlot castle. She was welcomed in by the guards and let into the throne room after more walking. Twilight bowed respectively to Celestia and Luna (Even though there was no need for it really.) Twilight ran up and hugged Celestia.

"It's nice to see you Twilight." Celestia said, a genuine smile pulled at her face.

"Hello Twilight, How did the train ride treat you?" Luna said, rising up from her throne. She smiled lightly at Twilight.

"Not bad. I fell asleep for most of the way here. Though I read a bit too." Twilight said looking at her suitcase.

"That's wonderful. WillowTail here will show you to your room." Celestia said, gesturing for WillowTail to come over. WillowTail was mostly brown and green was a clock as his cutie mark. He wasn't very tall, maybe a bit on the short side. Twilight waved hello but the cranky old stallion just gave her an unamused look.

"Follow me Princess Twilight." WillowTail said in the flattest tone possible. The word Princess seemed to fall out of his mouth. He made it sound like a bad thing. He walked forward and out of the room, Twilight following behind. The doors closed behind Twilight as they walked onto a bridge. It was still raining however. Twilight gave him the umbrella while making a spell above her. Hopefully he wouldn't be so mad at her if she was nice to him? They got over the bridge and reached her room. It was a pretty nice room; Not too big yet enough room to be comfortable. Twilght set down her stuff.

"Thank you WillowTail." Twilight said to the old stallion. He gave her a pained look and shook his head.

"There's no need to thank me. Sorry I'm not in the best mood today. The rain makes my joints ache." WillowTail said looking outside. It was an absolute down pour.

"Why not ask the day off? Celestia probably has more assistants than just you." Twilight said, looking over at him. He took a moment to think and nodded.

"I think I just might. Thank you Twilight." He said as he walked out. He ran as fast as he could over the bridge and waved goodbye. Twilight smiled and unpacked her things. The damp air was heavy yet it felt nice. Twilight examined her room; Alabaster walls and a purple carpeted floor. The room was quite pretty. Twilight looked outside, The rain didn't seem to stop. It just continued to pour ad pour. Never ending. The pegasi were really doing it now. Ponyville never got this much rain it seemed. Twilight shook her head and crept into bed. She was quite tired for how little she did that day.

____________________________________________________________________________

"Celestia. You know... sometimes... I worry. One day I know.. the dam of lies we've made will break. The truth is going to pour out one day whether we like it or not." Luna said to her sister. Celestia looked over. Her pink mane hung loosely.

"I suppose we might as well prepare for that day sister. There is not much we can do. Though I wish we did not have to lie there is nothing we can do." Celestia said glancing to the army below.

"On that day... promise me this; We'll stay together ok?" Celestia said thoughtfully. The army below bowed respectfully as they walked through.

"The second Griffon War? I suppose that is to be expected. They've resented us since their very founding." Luna said, looking up to the darkening sky.

"I'm sorry Luna. I wish we never had to experience this again." Celestia said, letting one tear dripped down before finally descending into the ground. The dark sky thundered and the soldiers walked forward. It was a different feeling. Celestia and Luna had felt it before; The uneasy quiet. It was a terrible thing. Everypony was gathering their thoughts.

____________________________________________________________________________

Celestia's head shot up and she rubbed her temples. Bad memories came up everytime she snoozed. Everypony could tell too. There was just that look in her eye. She always shook her head words as well.

"Snoozing again?" Luna said to her sister with a pained look.

"Yes..." Celestia said looking down. For all the time in the world and all the good she'd seen, The bad seemed to force itself into her face "REMEMBER ME" Luna had experienced it but the memories didn't throw themselves at her. Celestia stared at the ground as the room turned quiet. Most of the council members had learned to shut up when that happened. Celestia shook her head again.

"Sorry. I'm fine." Celestia said with a half baked smile. The ponies continued with their work as per usual. No pony knew. Except Celestia and Luna. They knew all too well. Celestia stood and stepped off the throne.

"Come now Luna. We have to meet up with Cadence and Twilight." Celestia said slowly. She seemed tired for once. It barely ever showed.

:Miss you still have paperwork to do." One of the more annoying members of the council said. Celestia turned her head and sighed.

"I'll do that later. I want to sit with my pupil and my niece for once." Celestia said calmly. The member snickered.

"You always say that. You don't get much done do you?" The member said with another snicker.

"My sister has done mo-" Luna said before having Celestia puther hoof in front of her sister.

"No. She's right. I'll do it now. You go meet up with them Luna, i'll finish my work as soon as I can." Celestia said before walking back to her seat. The member smirked.

"Lazy Princesses don't' get to have fun, Do they Tia"

"No. They don't." Celestia said before sitting down and beginning to work. Celestia sat quietly as Luna gritted her teeth and walked away.

"Sunny Shadow don't you think that was a bit much? She hasn't seen Twilight in such a long time..." WillowTail said, looking over to Sunny Shadow.

"If she's just gonna sit around and do nothing she doesn't get to see Twilight!" Sunny Shadow snapped.

"She's been working harder than all of us! And for most of her life too! Can't we just give her this one time?" Blazing Torch said slowly.

"My plot she has! She and Luna were messing around in the mud today with some fillies for pony's sakes!" Sunny Shadow grumbled.

"At least she and Luna try to talk to their own ponies! And why can't they have a little fun? Luna was gone for a 1,000 years!" Heart Whisper shouted.

"It's her own darn fault Luna was banished!" Sunny Shadow yelled. Celestia's head shot up. Her face was calm one moment, only for the next for it to contort into rage. She walked over to Sunny Shadow. Only to punch her in the face. The mare went flying.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING! SHUT YOUR TRAP YOU ARROGANT FOOL!" Celestia basically shouted. The royal Canterlot voice was pretty loud to say the least. Sunny Shadow gulped.

"DO NOT EVEN THINK FOR ONE SECOND JUST BECAUSE OF YOUR TITLE AND JUST BECAUSE YOUR A DESCENDANT OF WIND SONG I WILL LET YOU SPEAK OF ME OR MY SISTER THAT WAY FOR JUST ONE MOMENT, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" Celestia shouted again, standing over Sunny Shadow. The cowering mare nodded as Celestia helped her up.

"Sorry for shouting." Celestia cleared her throat. She walked back, wiped off her tears and sat down. She finished her work quickly. Twilight, Luna, and Cadence all stood at the hallway and blinked.

"Somepony just have made her really mad. I don't think i've ever seen her lose her cool like that." Cadence said in disbelief. Twilight nodded.

"Sister we can go now." Luna said after motioning the alicorn over. Celestia stood up and walked with the over three.

"Two demons hide amongst the angels.

Fallen from the rest.

Waiting for the Day they can be free.

Though their time is lost.

And their hearts shattered.

They still smile.

Even for the monstrous things they've done.

They hide themselves."

Luna's head snapped up. Seven ponies stood above them. The cloaks they wore bore the emblem of the moon over the Sun. Celestia looked up wide eyed.

"What?" Twilight asked in confusion.

"Oh? So they still lie!" One pony said.

"Still lie? What do you mean!" Cadence growled.

"The two next to you." The pony said pointing at Celestia and Luna.

"What? Stop lying! Celestia and Luna would never lie!' Twilight said angrily.

"Oh? Just look at their guilty faces!" The pony laughed, pointing to them. He was right. The sisters did look guilty.

"So what? A part of being friends means not having to know every single thing about each other!" Twilight yelled as the rain ran down her face.

"Celestia and Luna are like the parents I've always wanted! You have no right to talk about them that way!" Cadence angrily shouted again.

"If you knew the truth here Princess you wouldn't be so close to them." Another pony in the group yelled down. Celestia's knees shook. She shivered violently. Luna was twitching constantly, shivering as well. It was like they were cold, except not. The rain poured down on the sisters. Twilight looked up to them.

"What's wrong? You don't want them to know?" The pony snickered.

"You know nothing about them! Shut your trap! You've got no right to talk to them this way! How dare you be so unkind to them! After all they've gone through!" Twilight screamed. Celestia glanced over at Twilight. She shook her head. Celestia chuckled, then broke out laughing. Her eyes... she looked as if she'd killed someone.

"I knew it! This is the day you were talking about Luna! The day the truth tore everything down!" Celestia laughed insanely. Twilight looked at the mare in confused horror. Then she was quiet. Celestia frowned.

"We should have prepared ourselves. I did... but after all the friendships I've made.. and all the lovely sunny days I've had with my friends.. I don't think I could have even if I tried..." Celestia said softly. Celestia lowered her head.

"Do your worst." Luna said looking up to the seven. She gritted her teeth and waited. One horn lit, then another then another until the group glowed. Twilight pulled Cadence back, before she tried to grab Luna and Celestia. But she was too late. The area turned bright, As the ponies glowed even brighter. A spell shot towards Luna, Only to be stopped. Celestia stood, firmly. Her horn was holding back the spell, but only just. But an old wound was what faltered her. Celestia felt the pain dart around her shoulder. Her collarbone felt every ounce of the magic force. It stung, It burned, It down right left her in agony. Celestia felt the magic start to push her back. iT was like the Canterlot wedding all over again.

No! I won't be defeated again! Celestia thought angrily. She ignored it best she could. She threw off the spell with ease after her second wind. But something was wrong. So very wrong. She felt her extremities numbing. Her mane turned back to pink. Celestia's eyes darted around, trying to find something to fall onto. Twilight screamed as Celestia hit the ground with a thump. She ran over and held her mentor's head up. Luna fell to her knees, repeating something over again.

"No.. They.. They... No! Celestia can't be dead! I won't let her!" Cadence screamed at the sky. But the rain just continued to pour. Cadence felt a flood of emotions hit her all at once; Celestia had saved her from her grief after her parents died. It was a rainy day just like that day. And now Celestia was dead. Cadence threw a bolt of angry magic at the seven. Within a flash of light they were all dead. They twitched a bit only to stop.

Shadow of the Day

The Truth: Chapter 3

There is no greater threat than one's apathy. If one thinks thou is mighty than thou shalt be tossed away like a stone. If thy voice wishes to be heard then one shall be consumed by silence. If one wishes to get things done in this world then one must work. Without this we become lazy. Though this shan't mean it's not ok to help one another. It is always good to help others but no free rides my little ones.

-Levier Aldona

Luna sat silent on her throne. Sunny Shadow walked up to her.

"Princess. I'd like to apologize for what I said earlier. It was wrong of me to say such awful things. I could not imagine the pain you and your sister had gone through nor how much she wanted to speak with Twilight and Cadence." The small mare said softly.

"Are you saying that because you're truly sorry or because you feel bad now that my sister is..." Luna's voice stopped.

"Well... to be honest it's both. What I said was awful. And now that she's you know... gone I can't apologize to her..." Sunny Shadow choked out.

"I'm so sorry... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.." Sunny Shadow repeated over and over again. Each time she seemed to become smaller and small, lowering her head to the ground.

"It's not your fault. Please don't blame yourself." Luna said quietly. Sun Shadow nodded slowly. The mare turned and walked away.

***

Cadence sat on a red couch with Twilight. She wouldn't stop crying. Twilight did her best to comfort Cadence but she herself wasn't feeling the best. She wanted to cry but she couldn't.

"Please Cadence you need to calm down..." Twilight tried to say.

"I can't! She was there and now she's gone and I can't take it, she can't be dead! Twilight there has to be something we can do! Please!" Cadence mumbled out. Twilight sighed.

"We have to wait for what the doctor says. For now we have to sit here and wait." Twilight said, putting a hoof onto Cadence's shoulder.

"Ok. We will." Cadence said. She wiped off the tears and looked at the door. Twilight was right. Sitting there and crying her eyes out wouldn't help. She had to wait, Then she had a reason to cry. Twilight got up and looked outside. Discord sat in the garden alone.

"I'll be right back." Twilight said before opening the window and flying out. She wasn't very good at flying just she could at least glide.

"Discord? Are you ok?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight deary you're a smart pony. You should know the answer." The draconquus said in the pouring rain.

"Sorry..." Twilight said as her voice trailed off.

"Don't be..." Discord said softly. Twilight sat next to him quietly. A few moments of silence passed between them until Discord finally spoke.

"You know... Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't known Celestia; Even though we were always enemies. She... in a way saved me from Radiant Malevolence. I guess I owe her that." Discord said before lifting his head upwards. He looked at the dark clouds as they passed by ever so slowly.

"Yea... You know Discord... I don't know why but I feel like Celestia will be fine. I don't know why but.. It just feels like everything will be ok... But listen to me. I'm just being naive" Twilight said, but scoffed at her words by the end. Giving a chuckle at the end.

"Twilight you know it's always ok to hope. You're allowed to hope. No pony or draconquus in this case is stopping you." Discord said looking over to Twilight. She took a moment to think.

"You're right. It's not naive to hope." Twilight said thoughtfully.

"Exactly. There's the smart pony I know." Discord said with a small smile.

"Hey Discord... I have a question; Who or what was Radiant Malevolence anyways?" Twilight asked. SHe figured he'd know seeing as he'd fought it and lost.

"It was the embodiment of hatred. Hatred towards me and for what I had done. Let's just say I made a big mistake taking Luna." Discord said.

"I think we should go back inside. It's gloomy out here and we need to dry off." Twilight said before getting up. Discord walked in. It was odd to see both together like that; Seeing as Twilight was the one to trap him in stone the second time. But nice nonetheless to see them finally getting along.

***

Luna stared at her sister in the infirmary bed. luna remember how when she first came back Luna had to stay in the hospital to make sure she was healthy; The cleansing had taken a lot out of her too. Celestia was so quiet, only occasionally breathing. The oxygen mask over her face condensed as she did. Luna lifted up some of the pink mane and stared at it for a moment.

"How are you feeling sister?" Celestia said as she walked in. She had a wide smile spread across her face. Luna only stared at her edb sheets.

"Sister we need to speak with thee." Luna said in a somber tone.

"Alright then... Go ahead." Celestia said, The smile disappeared.

"When we were banished.. we had a foal in us." Luna said quietly. Celestia's eyes grew wide.

"We had her on the Moon but.. it only took a few breaths before dying from lack of air." Luna said, cringing inside.

"I-I.." Celestia began to say before hitting herself. holding her hoof on her head.

"It's not your fault sister. There was nothing you could have done to know." Luna said quietly.

"No. I should have sensed something. I'm such a fool... I knew I heard somepony crying out for me to send some air.. I'm such and idiot.-" Celestia said again, raising her hoof to hit herself again. Luna however pulled it down.

"Please dear sister. Don't hurt thy self." Luna said quietly. Celestia nodded and hugged her sister tightly. She repeated the words "I'm Sorry.. I'm so so sorry..." Luna sat quietly and let her sister hug her.

Now it was Celestia in that bed. Luna stood quietly, Silence hung in the room. Teh door creaked open and a pink alicorns stepped in.

"May I come in Aunt Luna?" Cadence said softly. Luna nodded and waved her in. Cadence walked over and stood next to Luna.

"Aunt Luna.. I'm sorry. I wish.. I wish I had done something other then lose it." Cadence said, closing her eyes to think.

"It's alright. If I hadn't been so shocked myself then I would have lost my head as well." Luna said somberly. They stood there a for a while. The heavy silence broken by the soft tweet of a chickadee.

chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee

"Cadence I have a question." Luna asked.

"Go ahead." Cadence said back, cocking an eye at Luna.

chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee

"Are you afraid? Of Celestia?" Luna asked with a lump in her throat.

chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee

"No. Of course not. Why would I be? I have no reason to." Cadence said, confused at Luna's question.

"Just asking. I know some ponies are. Though to be honest my sister tries to be very kind and inviting. " Luna said looking up. Celestia took a deep breath and exhaled,fogging up the mask.

chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee

"She is. I've always loved Celestia's bravery. She'd do anything save her ponies." Cadence smiled.

"She would do anything..." Luna choked out.

chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee

"What do you mean Luna?" Cadence asked with a worried tone.

"You wouldn't understand. Forget what I said." Luna said in a half annoyed voice but truly she was afraid. No pony could know the truth. The awful terrible truth. Cadence nodded sensing Luna didn't want to speak anymore.

chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee

Though it was raining the little bird sang.

"That little bird is singing it's heart out isn't it?" Cadence chuckled.

"I suppose it has something to sing for." Luna said, feeling the conversation lighten a bit.

"I think we should give Celestia a little space. She wouldn't want us standing over her and worrying. We have work to do after all." Cadence said after thinking for a moment.

"I suppose you are right. Let's go and 'meet up' with Twilight." Luna said before turning around. Cadence walked out but Luna stopped for a moment.

"I'll catch up." Luna said before anxiously turning around. Cadence nodded and walked away. Luna looked at her sister and smiled softly.

"Our secret is safe sister." Luna said quietly. Celestia took another deep breath again and Luna walked out.

chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee

***

Twilight sipped her tea slowly as Luna and cadence joined her. The room was warm and the air light, Unlike outside where the air was damp and heavy. The captain of the guard waited patiently for them.

"So what now? Should we prepare ourselves for an invasion by their forces?" Twilight asked with a tired look on her face.

"I don't know. With Celestia being how she is she won't be able to defend herself against anyone for that matter." Cadence said putting her hoof up to her head to think

"I suggest we draw our forces round the whole castle. Equally as we can. Cadence, Twilight. This is a terrible thing to ask but.. will you fight if the forces do indeed come? Will you be able to kill someone if you must." Luna asked. Twilight closed her eyes while Cadence looked at her.

"I've already killed seven ponies today. Though I regret that... I know I will protect Canterlot if I must." Cadence said. Twilight was lost in deep thought.

"Twilight. If you're worried about what your friends would think then you may ask them yourself. I have called upon them to Canterlot for now." Luna said to the purple alicorn.

"A-Alright..." Twilight. She got up and walked away.

"Miss Twilight. I know how you must feel. Please make a wise choice. We can't have any mental breakdowns." The Captain said somberly. Twilight nodded and trotted off.

***

"They're asking you to do WHAT!?" Rarity gasped. The Throne council room grew quiet.

"B-But that'd mean you'd have to...

kill somepony?

" FlutterShy said, The clear horror of the word oozing from her being.

"That doesn't sound like fun." Pinkie Pie said, Confused disgust spreading across her face.

"Girls. Please quiet down and let Twi speak for a moment." AppleJack said with a look of remorse on her face. Rainbow Dash grumbled and crossed her arms as she hovered in mid air. FlutterShy however still stood there shaking like a leaf. Pinkie Pie looked out the window angrily. Rarity held her hoof over her mouth.

"I know.. I know that I have to protect the innocent ponies in Canterlot.. but I don't know if I can do it. I've been taught all my life that violence isn't the answer but- But what if I'm supposed to protect?" Twilight said looking up to her friends for answers.

"Maybe you could form a barrier! That would help get everypony out!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly.

"That's brilliant Pinkie!" Rarity said with a pure grin on her face.

"Alright. Then it's settled. We'll tell the Captain and Princess Luna about the plan." Twilight said confidently. Before anypony could blink the six were bursting through the door. The Captain looked up at her.

"Sir we have a plan." Twilight said.

"Go ahead then." The Captain said, listening carefully.

"Ok the plan is Twilight here will create a HUUUUGE barrier around Canterlot, The civilians will get out and BAM you guys can fight as hard and long as you want and not hurt anyone." Rainbow Dash said, hovering around. Luna blinked for a moment and looked at the guard.

"That might just work." the Captain said.

***

Twilight's horn glowed brightly and a magic aura formed around the city. Her friends stood behind her.

"Alright. barrier's up. Now we just need to get everypony out of here." Twilight said with a sigh of relief.

"Already on it!" Rainbow Dash said, speeding off. It took hours to finally get everypony out of Canterlot and into the underground bunker. Just as the last ponies were sealed in The invasion had arrived. It looked like a large black swarm. Twilight knew her spell wouldn't last forever but it did so long enough for her amor clade friends to join her.

"I guess this is it girls. We fight together as a team; No one leave each other's sides." Twilight said with a smile.

"Yes Ma'aaaaam!" Pinkie Pie said.

"I hate to say it but this is kind of exciting." Rainbow dash said, taking a moment to think. AppleJack nodded.

"You guys leave if the situation gets really bad ok?" Twilight said softly.

"I'd never! We won't leave each other's sides until we can't move a muscle remember?" Rarity said, almost disgusted by the thought of her friends leaving Twilight behind. Discord walked forward. He seemed angry at the invasion force. Twilight looked up to him from her ledge.

"Just watch each other's backs." Apple Jack said quietly. FlutterSHy had no fighting experience whatsoever so she stayed inside the Bunker trying to calm down the ponies.

"Um.. Please calm down." FlutterShy said into the microphone. The crowd looked at her like she was crazy. It grew silent, only moments before all yelling and screaming.

"I know you're all scared but.. I think if we all sit here quietly then um.. we'll all get along until the door opens up..." FlutterShy said again into the small microphone. The dark Bunker was huge; Enough to hold at least another 1,000 or so ponies. The ponies grew quiet. And so they waited

***

The first blast of magic was an accumulation of the forces. The burst of pure white magic shook and cracked the barrier. It didn't take long before it chattered. The invasion charged forward, Blasts of magic were thrown everywhere, kicking up any dust and rocks. Luna stood over the battle, waiting.

"GIVE HER TO US" A pegasus in a cloak yelled out and tried to stab Luna. Luna threw off the spear and kicked the pegasus into the ground. Luna shook teh blood off her hoof and waited. Twilight flew up to her, her face was covered in blood.

"Luna; What are you waiting for?" Twilight asked angrly.

"The leader is waiting for our forces to win. He or She plans most likely to try and cut us from another side." Luna sadi patiently.

"I take it you've had this happen to you before?" Cadence said, having to flap her wings harder in the armor.

"No but Celestia and I actually used this move before. Quite smart if I must say." Luna said. And incoming bolt of magic was thrown off by Twilight.

"So what; We'll wait for him/her and defeat them? I doubt they can take on three alicorns." Twilight said confidently.

"I suppose there's a possibility. But for now you two head back onto teh battlefield." Luna said, Cadence and Twilight nodded and dove back into the dusty city. It was easy to see the large blasts of purple and blue energy coming from them.

Mom.. Dad. If you hear me I want you to know that I love you... And i'm sorry me and Celestia kept our secrets so... I'm hoping that maybe by protecting the ponies wwe love that we can repent for our deeds. luna thought. Her deep blue eyes looked towards the battlefield.

chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee

Luna looked to the little bird. It tweeted at her then flied away as the sound of a magic blast boomed. Luna could feel it in her chest and her bones.

***

Rainbow dash reared up and kicked a cloaked soldier in the head, She had lost her spear a few moments earlier. None of her friends were in sight. The dust was everywhere and she could barely see any farther than six or seven feet. A white unicorn ran up to her.

"Rainbow Dash this is not the time to being running off." Rarity said before trying to shake the blood off her hooves.

"Sorry. One moment you guys were there and then you weren't." Rainbow Dash chuckled and looked at her friend. Rarity was cleaner than Rainbow yet was still covered in blood. It was almost pretty; The red splattered over the blue diamonds. But it was also difficult to think how it got there in the first place. To think a classy pony like Rarity killing somepony seemed ridiculous.

"Let's regroup with the others and get this over with. I hate dust." Rainbow Dash said before running off into the dust. Rarity ran behind her, The two dodges blasts of magic, spears, Any weapon really. Rarity ducked behind the side of a crumbling building. Rainbow Dash opposite of her. Charging down the street was a whole squad of cloaked soldiers. Rarity had a desperate look on her face.

"Rainbow Dash. It's been an honor being your friend." Rarity said, looking towards the blue pegasus.

"Don't talk like you're gonna die. We'll make it through this k?" Rainbow said. Before speaking another word the two charged out. Only a few blocks away Pinkie Pie and AppleJack charged through the empty streets. Bodies of cloaked ponies were strewn across the street as well as guards.

"C'mon Pinkie we gotta find Rainbow ad Rarity!" AppleJack yelled out. Pinkie Pie nodded and put on more speed. They came around the back of the same squad of ponies Rarity and Rainbow were fighting. With four more ponies to fight the lasts of the squad stood no chance. Twilight flew down from her conversation.

"Sorry for leaving you guys for a moment. Kinda had to settle things with Luna." Twilight casually said before shooting a beam of magic at a cloaked soldier. Rarity blinked and wiped some blood off of her forehead.

"You know Twilight. It'll take about a month to get all this blood off our selves." AppleJack somberly joked. It almost didn't seem real.

***

Celestia drifted through the inky blackness.

"No! It can't be! I don't want to be here again!" Celestia thought she said. Truly she screamed. Celestia turned herself up right and flew down the to the slightly lighter ground. It was a flat plane. It was so familiar. She had been there before. A long time ago. She remembered why and didn't like it. She wanted to lay down and cry. She wanted to wallow in her own self pity. She hated this place so much. This place took away her sanity. All because of it. Aurinko. The White Demon. Aurinko never meant harm but it did anyways. There was no way to defeat it and no way to get rid of it. There was nothing she could do. Celestia was utterly helpless.

"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING AGAIN. NO NO NO NO!" Celestia shouted and yelled. She angrily stomped around the black plane. She felt like a child again who had to do something they didn't want to. She hated to admit it but she felt helpless. She sat down on the ground and looked at the large tendrils of magic.

"Aurinko always shows up if I wander around these things... I guess I should stay here?" Celestia asked herself It was impossible to really think there because instead her mouth opened. Celestia shook her head and waited. But her worst fear appeared right in front of her when she blinked. Aurinko had took on some changed from last time she saw her.

"Hello Celestia." Aurinko said with a hiss in it's voice.

"Aurinko.. you've changed." Celestia said quietly.

"As have you. You abandoned the power I gave you." Aurinko said with another hiss as she circled around Celestia.

"Your power was poison. You liar" Celestia said like she spitting a bad taste out of her mouth.

"Liar!?! How dare you! You sent Discord packing and got Luna back!" Aurinko said angrily.

"I also killed Levier!" Celestia said with tears in her eyes.

"That mare stoned herself! You had nothing to do with it! It's not your fault you protected your ponies!" Aurinko shouted. Her voice boomed across the plane and the magic tendrils pulsed more magic. Celestia felt Aurinko glare at her with her glowing eyes.

"You failed Celestia! It's your fault Luna was banished and your fault Chrysalis almost won the day! You made the same mistake twice! And what about poor Sombra?! What about Mira?! You make the same mistakes over and over again! You couldn't even protect yourself against seven ponies! Cadence could take them down with one spell!" Aurinko shouted again. Celestia shrunk down.

"I-I... I'm sorry..." Celestia said. She was already turning grey.

"I failed... I let Luna down. I let Sombra and Mira down. I let Cadence and my kingdom down... I let Twilight down... I let down my own parents..." Celestia said as her own words hit her. She looked at her shaking hoofs and buried herself in them.

"Take this power Celestia! I beg of you! Without power... we are weak spineless creatures! Take this power and stand on your own four hooves!" Aurinko said proudly.

"You're right." A smirk grew across Celestia's face.

"I will take your power Aurinko. This time I won't fail." Celestia said. Her face was anger yet at the same time somber.

"Good my child. This time I will give you more than last tme. No pony will stand in your way. This time the day will be ours!" Aurinko said proudly again.

"Yes... yes! Enough power to save everypony! I can do it now! I will protect my ponies! I will protect my friends!" Celestia yelled happily. Aurinko smiled at the insane mare. Aurinko never meant harm. She just wanted to help. But her help... it was harmful really. Her power brought insanity with it. Her very words could bring a pony to breaking point. Celestia's eyes were pitch black all for her slitted pupils. Two blood red eyes peered through the infinite blackness.

sol inmortuorum
Quomodo resurgunt?
Nisi mortuus esses.
Nunc denique?
Haec essent notoria
Aut ita malum
Ego autem abscondam, et fluent
oculos vestros sanguine ostendere

The poem eased through her mind.

"Aurinko... My ponies will hide from me..." Celestia said thoughtfully.

"Their safety is more important. Do not worry about them for now. They'll understand eventually." Aurinko said calmly. Celestia nodded unwillingly. She was still unsure. Celestia's normally flowing mane hung down, like all the magic had just gone out of it.

"Do not fear my child. You will always be loved by me." Aurinko said before rubbing Celestia's head again. Celestia nodded and sat down.

"Sorry for acting like a child." Celestia said slowly.

"No need dear. I suppose we can all throw hissy fits. I apologize for yelling at you."Aurinko said. A white creese opened up in the sky.

"I suppose it's time for me to leave." Celestia said. She rose up and the blackness opened up to pure shining white light.

"The doors that way Celestia." Aurinko said, smiling to her. Aurinko gestured upwards as the blinding light began to swallow up the darkness. Celestia smiled a bit and was pulled into the doorway.

***

Twilight looked around. They had been fighting almost all day. Rainbow Dash and Rarity were starting to get tired and she could feel fatigue pulling at her muscles.

"We could use some help... all the other guards are busy fighting others too..." Twilight said in between heavy breaths.

"Darn it... When is Luna fight the leader or something? We've basically won." AppleJack said. Pinkie Pie nodded, Her deflated mane moving slowly as she did. AppleJack sighed and looked up. Rarity's eyes grew wide. Standing ontop of a ledge was an alicorn. Not just any alicorn though. Celestia. She stood over the city, Her face contorted in rage. Wind pushed away the dust, finding most of the city destroyed. The late afternoon sun was directly behind her. Her loose mane hung down. A pony charged behind her but Celestia dove under him and threw him off the building. The pony plummeted to the ground with a thump. Celestia lifted her wings and soared down. She landed right next to Twilight.

"Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, Go gather up the rest of the guard. AppleJack and Rarity come with me." Celestia said. The five nodded and went their separate ways. AppleJack seemed a little hesitant. Only hours earlier Celestia had been laying on a hospital bed. Now she was up and about like nothing had happened. They walked for a while until Rarity finaly spoke.

"Uh.. Princess shouldn't you be recovering? I mean you took quite a hit yesterday..." Rarity said quietly. Celestia shot her a glance that could send fear into anypony.

"I will protect my ponies at all costs." Celestia said coldly. But by the end she smiled and rubbed Rarity's head.

"Please understand that." Celestia said softly. She smiled lightly and walked forward. Rarity sighed in relief. She felt a bit more comfortable but AppleJack still felt something was off. Celestia's mane normally flowed but now it was loose. It was no longer just pink either. The tall alicorns also seemed to stumble every so often. Rarity shook her head and her nose twitched.

"Goodness it smells..." Rarity said, averting her eyes from the charred remains of cloaked ponies. Celestia took note of this and noticed both AppleJack and rarity were shaking their heads.

"Never avert your eyes from death my little ponies. You must look at the ones you kill." Celestia said quietly, her eyes looked directly into the skull of a dead cloaked pony. AppleJack gulped and looked into it as well. Celestia was testing them. Rarity knew this as well. She looked at it as well. Celestia stood stoic, able to stare at it. Rarity's lip quivered. AppleJack bit her lip.

"You're allowed to be afraid. Never stare at death for too long. That won't get you anywhere." Celestia said coldly and walked forward.

"So what was that test all about?' AppleJack asked.

"You know me and Luna have been around for a long, long time. In that time there have been countless fights and wars in which me and Luna had to participate in. I have stared death in the face for thousands of years. I have watched friends, teachers, students, loved ones die right before my eyes in that span of time. And not once have I looked away." Celestia said while walking forward. AppleJack blinked and felt like an idiot for asking the Princess.

Good going AJ you made her remember everypony who's died around her. Applejack said before hitting herself on the head. The armor clanged as they walked forward. Celestia stopped.

"It's ok AppleJack. There's no need to hit yourself. I can't have you hurting yourself." Celestia said with a small smile. Rarity stopped and blinked. The bunker door was hidden well. Except however most of the dirt had been blasted away.

"As soon as your other friends arrive with the guards then we will defend the bunker door. The invasion force does not have a lot of soldiers left." Celestia said. She sat down and rubbed her shoulder. It made a crack sound and Celestia sighed.

"Much better." Celestia said before getting up again. Rarity looked at her strangely.

"Are you ok?" Rarity and AppleJack asked in unison.

"Just an old wound. Nothing special. It happens every time I use quite a bit of magic at once." Celestia said thoughtfully. Rarity nodded and checked AppleJack's armor before having her own inspected. Celestia stood quietly as Rainbow Dash sprinted forward.

"There.. Luna! Trouble!" Rainbow Dash shouted. She tripped and fell over. Celestia looked at her. Her eye twitched. Rainbow Dash got up.

"The forces are still coming but.. Luna..." Rainbow Dash tried to say.

"Defend the bunker until I get back." Celestia said angrily. She walked off. Rarity and AppleJack looked at each other with worried eyes. After just hearing about how everypony around Celestia died it made them worried.

What about her own sister Luna? the only one who hadn't died of old age?

Silence

The Truth: Chapter 4

Sometimes silence is your friend. Other times you hate it. It can be awkward and comforting. Sometimes it is dull and boring other times it is bliss. Silence isn't a coin; More of a sphere. It can be anything it wants to be at one time. Whether or not you like it. Silence doesn't care that it is boring to you as long as it fills a space of time. Silence can accompany death or carry itself with sleep, or just stepping along. Silence will be what it wants to be. But sometimes silence can truly be a bad thing. Not speaking about one's darker moments can be dreadful. Secrets brought on by silence can hurt sometimes or cause some to lose trust. It is a pitiful thing really; Silence is both beauty and beast. The one certain thing about silence is this; It is always quiet.

-StarSwirl the Bearded

Celestia walked quickly. The streets were full of junk; Shrapnel, parts of building, bodies... Celestia's face clearly showed rage. But not rage like before; This time it was worse. The veins in her neck bulged as well as some in her forehead. She hadn't been this angry in a long time. She ignored the things her path. She even encountered a few cloaked soldiers.

Let's just say they didn't have a chance.

Celestia shook the blood off her hoof and continued on her way. Celestia felt the minutes trudge by until she came across exactly what she hoped not to see. Luna was fighting an all too familiar pony.

Mira...

Mira. She was the queen of the land of Phoenix ponies. She was a wonderful friend until she became corrupted. Soon after Celestia and Luna had to defeat her but not before a war went on between the two kingdoms. She was crimson red with piercing gold eyes. But Mira had always been a kind mare until she snapped. After that she sought after the destruction of Equestria. And nothing could be done to help her either. Celestia and Luna tried to reason with her but... she was too far gone. They had to trap her in stone. The bond was supposed to last forever after all that had happened in the last few thousand years there could have been plenty of factors against the notion. All in all even at the time they turned her into stone both Luna and herself were unsure if it would hold. But then again they never knew they wouldn't be able to wield the elements forever.

The red alicorn threw a bolt of fire at Luna, the blue alicorn deflected it but only barely. Celestia's eyes narrowed. Mira looked at Celestia and grinned.

"Hello dearest Friends! I'm so glad we're all together!? Oh where's your boyfriend Celestia?! Oh that's right! You had to lock him up in ice! And what about Levier?!" Mira taunted before breaking out in laughter.

"Shut your trap Mira! You don't understand anything about that!" Luna shouted. Mira cocked an eye at her.

"I can't believe you even forgive her. She sent you to the Moon for a thousand years!" Mira said in disbelief.

"It's not like she wanted to! She couldn't use the elements to their full power!" Luna said angrily. Mira chuckled.

"Why didn't she talk to you before hoof? Why didn't she care?" Mira said smoothly. The words dripped out her mouth. Luna looked at her. She herself didn't know. She had ignored it really.

"Seems I've struck another chord. Good good!Glad to see somepony finally realizing my words are truth!" Mira laughed. Celestia glared at her.

"Oh?! It seems our perfect pretty princess is angry with me?!" Mira shouted.

"Shut your mouth..." Celestia said calmly. But her voice seemed to become gruff at the end.

"Why should I?" Mira asked before a tendril of golden magic lashed at her. It sliced open her wing. Mira cried out in pain. She looked at her wing; It was torn and bleeding. Celestia took another step forward.

"You wouldn't dare kill me! I'm sorry Tia.. Lulu.." Mira yelled but then quietly said something else.

Celestia's eyes grew wide. For just one moment it seemed her friend was back. But that hope was quickly shattered as Mira growled and let loose hundreds of fiery spells. Luna flew out of the way, only able to watch. Fire engulfed the area. It was like a bomb going off. She could only watch in horror as her sister was engulfed in the flames. Twilight, AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity stood from the top of a building. It felt like everything around Twilight just crumbled. Everything except that flame and the murderous look on Mira's face. Twilight felt like a feather; Light and delicate. Like she would break. Celestia had always been so kind and strong. Kinda like a second mother to her really.

Sister...

Mira went to go and look at her prize as the fire died down. Mira looked curiously into the flames. But her eyes grew wide. Sitting there in the fire was Celestia. Half of her face was gone; regenerating. As well as other arts of her body. The fire went out after Mira blinked. Twilight stared at her teacher; sparks of magic glowed as it spread up the generated tissue and muscle. Rarity fainted. It was like watching little reddish chords come out and link together. It looked as if a permanent smile was stuck on her face really.

"That's what a pony looks like on the inside...?" Rainbow Dash asked shakily. Celestia's head was laid back, but came forward to look at Mira.

"Now now then.. You said you wanted a fight? Well then you can have it!" Celestia said. She jumped forward and knocked Mira to the ground. Mira was in utter shock.

"You shouldn't be alive and kicking What kind of monster are you!" Mira gasped. Celestia stood over her. The last bits of skin grew back and her mane unfurled.

"The kind of monster that will protect the ones she loves at any costs." Celestia said. Twilight could only stare at the two as they fought; Mira was trying to outrun Celestia but to no avail. The still regenerating alicorn kept up with her. It was especially disgusting to see the muscles in her legs stretch and pull. AppleJack thought she might throw up. After what felt like hours Mira stood there. She was cut and bruised all over in an angry huff. Celestia was perfectly fine; Except for the fact one side of her neck was regenerating. Mira had got in a few good hits but nothing spectacular. Mira stared at Celestia in confusion and disbelief.

"You can't be this powerful! I won't let you!" Mira said in between heavy breaths. She drowsily attacked Celestia over and over again. Each time losing more blood.

"This is pointless Mira. Please surrender and I will let you go." Celestia said calmly as she easily dodged Mira attacks.

"NEVER! NOT AFTER WHAT YOU AND LUNA DID!" Mira yelled. Celestia gave her old friend and pained look.

"You'll bleed to death.. please for your ponies..." Celestia said.

"Those weren't my ponies fool. Those were merely followers. Followers who were willing to help me defeat you!" Mira cried out. She gathered all her energy into one blow and threw herself at Celestia. But Celestia just caught the punch. Mira looked so shocked for a moment. She was terrified.

That was one of my strongest attacks! Why didn't it work?! Why is she still alive!?! Mira thought. Celestia gave the mare a somber but cold look.

"You monster Celestia! How could you be so heartless!" Mira cried out. Tears streamed down her face as most of her body turned to ash. Luna landed and could only look.

"You kill off my kingdom and imprison me in stone! Only for me to come back and die like this! This can't be happening!" Mira cried out in vain. The mare disintegrated into ashes; Only leaving behind a few tears. Celestia looked at her friend as the lasts of her body regenerated.

"I'm sorry friend." Celestia said. A bit of her blood dripped off of her healed neck. She turned to face Luna.

"Mira... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Mira.. Please.. I'm sorry." Luna said in between tears. A small blue aura surrounded the pile of ash. And lifted it above Luna.

Such a terrible thing death is. Not only does it hurt the deceased one but those who loved them as well. It's especially hard on young ones... or those who don't die.

-Nebula

Twilight stood from the top of the ledge and took a few steps back. It seemed no pony noticed she and her friends were there.

"What the heck was that!" AppleJack whispered loudly.

"That was so freaky Rarity passed out!" Rainbow Dash whispered no quieter than AppleJack.

"Ugh girls I'm fine. Though I do want to throw up." Rarity said tiredly. She got on her feet and looked at her friends in distress.

"What do we do?" Pinkie Pie asked. Twilight took a moment to think.

"We come clean. We'll just go up and talk to her about it." Twilight said calmly. Rarity gave her a confused look.

"Twi that's great idea but I don't know if we can just talk to them about it. " AppleJack said. She gave Twilight a almost disappointed look.

"Guys. We need to talk about this. If what Mira said was true; Which should be by what we saw then.. we need to know." Twilight said. She seemed to become a bit less confident but quickly snapped up.

"Alrighty then Twilight. Whatever we learn can't be too bad right!" Pinkie Pie said optimistically. AppleJack sighed and smiled a little bit.

"I guess Pinkie's right." AppleJack said quietly. They soon got off the crumbling building and walked back to the castle with many others. Crowds of ponies poured out the bunker and into the streets. The damage was limited for what had gone on really. Many ponies complained until Luna came out to speak.

"All of you calm down! We will begin construction soon enough! You're all lucky you're alive. So stop your complaining!" Luna snapped. She snarled and stomped out. Didn't help that quite a few places in the castle was destroyed. The crowd quieted and dispersed. Twilight, AppleJack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie trotted down the long path into the castle. FlutterShy walked out from the crowd and met up with them. The five quietly explained everything that happened that day as the Sun went down. The orange and pink sky darkened the area until the lamps turned on. FlutterShy trudges over to a bench, sat down and held her head.

"Oh guys... I'm so sorry." FlutterShy said. She looked as if she were about to cry actually. Twilight gave her a pained look. And sat down next to her. She brought her friend closer and hugged her.

"It's ok. I promise you. We're all ok right?" Twilight said with a slight smile. FlutterShy nodded as her face turned red and she held tears back. The four others joined in.

Giant hug you got there.

Twilight heard. Her eyes snapped open.

"What's wrong dear? Are you alright?" Rarity asked. They pulled away and looked at her.

"Nothing. Just tired. And hungry. And thirsty you know?" Twilight said sheepishly. She smiled shyly and got up.

"Welp. Better late than never?" Rainbow Dash said. Twilight nodded and walked with her friends into the castle.Her mane was matted with blood. At that point it didn't matter whose. They walks down the dimly lit path into the castle. The guards let them through without any hesitance. Twilight stepped before the Throne. Sitting on it was Celestia. She had a deep cold look in her eye. One she hadn't seen in her teacher before.

"Yes my faithful student?" Celestia said flatly.

"Well.. um I-I..' Twilight said. Far less confident than she was a few moments ago.

"Speak!" Celestia snapped. For one moment her eyes were almost completely black. Only her slitted pupils were red. But just for one moment.

"Sorry!" Pinkie Pie said as she jumped. Celestia sighed and rubbed her head.

"Sorry. I haven't been having a very good day and I basically just woke up." Celestia said. Her mane was still loose. Rainbow Dash sighed in relief along with Rarity and AppleJack. FlutterShy whimpered with a "yes ma'am."

"Celestia. We saw you fight Mira." Twilight said firmly. Celestia's eyes widened then narrowed. Her forehead furrowed with slight anger.

"What did you see exactly then." Celestia said coldly.

"Your regenerative properties. We saw you. It was quite disgusting actually. Now then. I have a few questions to ask you." Twilight said staring up at her teacher. Celestia leaning into her hoof.

"Fine. Ask away. I might as well spill my guts." Celestia said with a sigh.

"Guards. Leave." Celestia said calmly. The guards nodded and left. The doors creaked close.

"Alright first question; How do your healing powers work, Second; Who was Mira, Three; Why didn't you do anything Celestia to stop Luna before she even became NightMare Moon." Twilight boldly said. Her own forehead furrowing. They seemed to glare at each other but not quite. It was more like they were searching each other for something.

"Your first question; It's simple. I am the source of power for the Sun. Therefore that means If I die so does the fusion within the Sun. You would know what would happen if that ever did come to pass wouldn't you Twilight?" Celestia said calmly. She slowly got up and stepped down the stairs. Rarity tensed up. Heavy silence filled the room.

"As for your second; Mira was the Queen of one of the Phoenix Pony kingdoms. She used to be my friend till' she became corrupted. Me and Luna trapped her within stone. It must have broken." Celestia said, leaning into Twilight. She seemed to stare down in Twilight; The purple alicorn leaning backwards.

"As for your third and final... I was a fool then. I should have realized something was wrong. When I finally realized what went wrong it was too late." Celestia said. Her face became pained and she lowered her head.

"Anymore?" Celestia said backing up. She looked towards Rainbow dash.

"Yea. I got one. If alicorns are so important then what about Twilight and Cadence- Do they regen to?" Rainbow Dash asked boldly. If not a bit arrogantly.

"Yes. Though she is not 'immortal' as me and Luna have been in a way." Celestia said turning to her throne.

"How do I know that?" Twilight asked.

"I can prove it." Celestia said and a smug grin grew across her face. In a flash of light Twilight had been decapitated. Her body slumped over. Rarity gasped and fainted again while AppleJack charged at Celestia who just threw her off.

"Nullam venerunt ad nos amici. Et reversus, denuo vivere." Celestia said. Another flash of light and Twilight was there gasping.

"HOLY SUN AND MOON THAT WAS WEIRD!" Twilight yelled. Celestia laughed a bit.

"See? Why would I kill my own student?" Celestia said calmly. The six mares blinked. Rarity barely sitting up.

"B-But.. she was completely decapitated!" Rainbow Dash said, poking Twilights neck. Twilight pushed away her hoof.

"Magic can do many things." Celestia said. She was still smiling a bit.

"Bu-Bu-Bu-But HOW?!" Rainbow Dash said falling over with her hooves rubbing her temples.

"It seems I may have broken them.." Celestia said. All six mares were either rubbing their temples while rolling on the floor or smacking their own heads into the wall. She chuckled a bit.

"Come now. You all are filthy." Celestia said motioning them to follow her. after a few moments they arrived at the bathroom; Celestia and Luna's to be exact.

"Why Princess we couldn't possibly use that..." Rarity said in disbelief. Celestia chuckled a bit.

"No need to worry. It's quite alright. Go on in. I have a lot of paperwork to do." Celestia said, She seemed displeased at her last sentence. Celestia waved them off and disappeared into the murky dark hallways. The six went in. Unknowing what happened to their ruler. All except Twilight. Who had the strangest feeling something was wrong. She closed the door behind her and blinked.

"This is a bathroom?" AppleJack asked.

Her eyes looked around to see the marble floors and tub. The tub was quite large; Probably since both Luna and Celestia were tall. A small light blue aura formed around the handle and turned it. Water poured out quickly, Filling up the tub. Armor clanged as it came off. Even when it was lightly put on the floor it still made some amount of noise. It felt weird to be in somepony else's tub but it became apparent they'd be in there for a long time. After only a few minutes the water was filled with blood and dirt. They opened up the drain plug and the murky red water went down the drain. The process repeated itself until about the seventh time.

"Ah... now we can relax in some nice warm water." FlutterShy said sinking down into the water.

"Hey guys did you see Celestia's eyes?" Pinkie Pie asked. Her hair wasn't really cooperating with her at the moment.

"What do you mean Pinkie?" AppleJack asked. She tilted her head in confusion.

"They were all dark n' stuff." Pinkie Pie said before scratching her chin to think.

"Wait you saw them to?" Rainbow Dash said. Surprised by this she looked around at her friends.

"I saw them to..." Rarity said. Her eyes grew wide as she looked back on the memory.

"Maaaaan. Today is getting more and more freaky. First I had to kill ponies then Celestia showed us her insides and now she's got demon eyes! What next!" Rainbow Dash said angrily. She hit herself again.

"This is something I have to talk to her about again don't I?" Twilight asked unamused.

"I guess so. Well let's do that tomorrow. We gotta get checked up by the docs here." AppleJack said calmly. She got up and out of the water to dry off. Her friends followed behind her and the water drained out. They walked out into the hallway and down to the medical ward. They waited patiently on the bench while other guards were being treated as well as some civilians. Eventually the six were treated. FlutterShy was fine except for some bruises but other than that she was fine. Rarity hurt her knee and had to have it wrapped up but nothing else really. Rainbow Dash somehow didn't notice the laceration on the back of her head and they had to cut her mane short. Rainbow was none too happy about it. AppleJack had some laceration as well but most were around her legs. Nothing to serious but the doctor warned her and Rainbow Dash to keep them clean. Rarity looked at the doctor.

"I'm not to badly hurt am I?" Rarity asked.

"No miss you seem fine. Though you all could use something to eat probably." The doctor said calmly. Rarity sighed with relief. Twilight stepped up.

"So um they say i'm fine. I guess they don't know about alicorn's healing powers either." Twilight said,rubbing her neck.

Rarity nodded and got up. Pinkie Pie came back with her neck wrapped in bandages.

"I may or may not have pulled a mus-muscle thingy." Pinkie Pie laughed. She cringed and smiled at her friends.

"You six! Come with me! Your families are here." A clerk yelled out. Motioning over the six ponies.

Applebloom ran up to AppleJack and hugged her. She embraced her little sister with a smile. Granny Smith and Big Macintosh weren't too far behind. Shining Armor ran to to Twilight.

"Are you ok? Are there any bones broken?! Anything feel wrong or out of place?!" Shining Armor said, jumping around his sister. He lifted her wing and looked up to her.

"I'm fine Shining. Really. " Twilight said as she pulled Shining Armor into a hug.

"Don't go off worrying me again ok?" He said quietly. Twilight nodded.

Rainbow Dash sighed and sat down. Rarity walked over to her.

"What's wrong deary? Still upset about your mane?" Rarity asked Rainbow Dash looked up to her.

"I don't think anypony's coming to me. You guys all got family who can come on a dot." Rainbow dash said un-enthusiastically.

"Dear. You see her?" Rarity said pointing to a small orange pegasus. The pegasus looked their way and sped up to Rainbow Dash.

"Yes! You're ok! I knew it!" Scootaloo said excitedly. Rainbow Dash pulled Scootaloo closer.

"Yep. Do I look like somepony who'd leave everypony hanging? Course not!" Rainbow Dash said, rubbing Scootaloo's head.

"Yea. Except you're mane's cut off. What'd they do?" Scootaloo asked.

"Oh. I had a some sort of big cut on the back of my head to the had to cut it short so nothing could get in it when they put in the stitches." Rainbow Dash said.

"Woooah." Scootaloo said.

'So kid, where's Rarity's family?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh they're over there" The small orange pegasus said pointing to three odd looking ponies. They all paced around looking frantically around. A small white unicorn seemed especially distressed. Rarity ran over to them. It was like with Apple Jack's family really. Filled with a huge group hug. Twilight's parents came over and smiled at her.

"I guess you and your brother are good at protecting others." Her mother smiled. Twilight nodded and she and Shining pulled their parents into the hug. A pink alicorn walked over.

"Cadence!' Twilight said to the smiling alicorn.

It didn't take long for Cadence to join the group hug as well. After almost two hours of catching up eventually their families had to go home. The six had to stay in Canterlot for a while. Celestia requested they stayed there for a little it longer. Though Twilight smiled and waved her family goodbye just as her friends did she felt something was off that night. It was about midnight though so she was too tired to think about it.

"Sometimes we wish we were not tired. If we were not then so much more could be done. But our muscles do not care really."

-Levier Adona

Author's Notes:

HUGS EVERYWHERE YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

The Truth

The Truth: Chapter 5

Abscondo.
Currunt.
Ut procul abest a solis
Quorum ita clara luce est
Et altum mittit flammas
Quod exurit terram

- Burning By Ember

Twilight yawned and got out of bed.

Guess I overslept. Twilight thought. She quickly realized her friends were no better as she came out of her dark room.

Rainbow Dash was still asleep while Rarity and FlutterShy were in a bathroom washing up. AppleJack sat on a couch in the sunny room. The room looked like any other. It had white walls and a tall ceiling. There were three windows facing the courtyard with one in the middle being the largest. The couch faced another one opposite to it with a coffee table in between. six cups of tea had been situated with three turned right. Probably for AppleJack, FlutterShy and Rarity who had been awake. Twilight took her cup and sipped it.

"Good tea." Twilight said before putting it back down. She sat down and looked over to AppleJack.

"So. How'd you sleep Twi?" AppleJack asked.

"Good. The bed was nice. What about you?" Twilight said as she lifted her tea cup up to her mouth. She looked at AppleJack and waited for a response.

"Not bad. Pretty good room for being last second you know?" AppleJack said. Twilight nodded and sipped her tea.

Twilight looked out the window. It was odd to watch the city being rebuilt.

"I think we should help." Twilight said setting down her teacup.

"That's a great idea!" Pinkie pie excitedly said as she bounced into the room. She smiled at her friends. Rainbow Dash groggily came through the door.

"Gosh dang it. It's too early to wake up." Rainbow Dash gruffly said. Rarity looked at her.

"Dear we're going to help." Rarity said. Rainbow Dash's ears perked up.

"That's not a bad idea. Here; Let me and Pinkie eat and we'll get to work." Rainbow Dash said with a soft smile.

"That sounds like an excellent idea." Celestia said from behind them. The ponies in the room immediately looked at her.

"Oh good morning Princess. Didn't see you there." AppleJack said. She seemed surprised.

"It's quite alright. I came here to check up on all of you. You seem well rested." Celestia said looking directly at Rainbow Dash. The blue pegasus nodded with a embarrassed smile. After carrying on a small conversation the tall alicorn left. The six friends ate and left for the busy day of reconstruction. With the sun slowly beginning it's journey across the sky behind them they walked out of the castle and into the street. Eventually they split up; Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie went to the west Canterlot District while Twilight, FlutterShy and AppleJack went towards the east District. Both Districts were damaged. Twilight arrived at one building that needed to be torn down before it became "un-sound" as one pony put it. It was more difficult than it sounded however.

"We can't tear it apart with one large spell. That'd be just as bad as leaving it the way it is." Twilight heard one pony say.

With that Twilight and other unicorns carefully took off the roofing and worked their way down. Ponies moved about; hauling away wood and stone. Debris was everywhere and had to be moved as well. On the west side they weren't have any luck as well. One of the buildings had collapsed under it's own weight as it was being taken down (Luckily no pony was harmed.) but the day went forward. The sun reached it's peak at noon and it was time for a break. Some ponies grumbled they should get more done. Then again those were the ones who weren't working.

"I suggest if you are going to complain about the work going on you should be working with us." rarity said. Her tone was not quite rude but it definitely made the complainers uncomfortable.

A blue pegasus along with several other pegasi heaved up a load of wood and steadily carried it off. The ropes held firm but holding them was a different story. Thankfully there was lot a lot of wind. Then again it made it all the hotter as the sun beat down on them. The bell chimed and the pegasi set it down. Rainbow Dash glided down and landed near Pinkie. A silhouette formed in the shape of an alicorn above them. As it swiftly glided down it's wings beat against the air. Twilight landed.

"I don't ever understand how you can get tired of that." Twilight said extending her wing.

"Who said I got tired of it." Rainbow Dash confidently said with a smirk. Pinkie Pie bounced over to Twilight.

"Are we gonna eat or what? I'm starving!" Pinkie Pie said. A low gurgle came from the mare's stomach and the three burst out laughing.

A few ponies gave them odd looks but it didn't really matter. Pinkie Pie bounced over, told them a joke or three and they soon burst out in laughter as well. They all may have looked like fools but they looks like happy fools. Pinkie chatted up the two and got to know them both. A pale white earth pony and a fiery blue pegasus. The earth pony seemed very quiet but would always listen while the pegasus seemed polite but not quite quiet. Pinkie Pie seemed to like them at least. Twilight walked over with a few cups of water floating around her in a purple aura.

"I see you make friends quickly Pinkie." Twilight said as one floated over to QuickWit and BurningNight.

"Yup!" Pinkie Pie answered excitedly.

Twilight examined the two mares. QuickWit was a fiery blue pegasus with white curls in her mane. Her cutie mark resembling a book. However it could mean anything really. BurningNight was a pale white unicorn with a cherry red and blue mane. She was quite pretty actually. Though her cutie mark was a bit dis-concerning; It was a a scroll on fire. Hopefully what it meant was what Twilight hoped it wasn't. Twilight shook her head and smiled softly and the two.

"Twilight Sparkle, pleasure to meet you." Twilight said extending her hoof. QuickWit gave a firm hoof shake while BurningNight was a bit a more delicate.

"I'm QuickWit, this is my w- friend BurningNight." QuickWit said. She caught herself halfway through her sentence to glance at BurningNight then back at Twilight. Pinkie Pie smiled brightly at them as they chatted. Twilight enjoyed their company every bit as mush.

"So you're Luna's assistant?" Twilight asked as she carefully lifted the spoon full of soup to her mouth.

"Yes. Though only for five days now. Luna let me help clean up the city while she had some other things to get to." BurningNight said calmly. They sat in the shade of a building. There wasn't really a table just the dusty ground they sat on. There was a box they moved to keep their food off the ground (Dust doesn't taste very good now does it?) QuickWit set down her cup and looked upwards.

"Jeez. If today gets any hotter we're gonna have to ask Princess Celestia to turn down the sun." QuickWit joked. Pinkie Pie laughed gleefully and Twilight chuckled. BurningNight smiled and glanced at QuickWit warmly.

"So where's FlutterShy?" Pinkie asked before looking around.

"Oh yea. FlutterShy went back to the castle to look after Spike." Twilight said calmly.

"Okey-dokey!" Pinkie Pie said as she chugged her water. QuickWit giggled as she spoon dove into her soup boil. The soup wasn't amazing but it was filling.

"I heard one of the buildings collapsed on the west side. I hope everypony's ok." BurningNight said thoughtfully. Twilight looked at Pinkie with a concerned look.

"Something wrong?' QuickWit asked as she set down her spoon.

"Not yet at least. Three of our friends are helping out in the west District." Twilight said. Concern oozing from her being.

"Hm. Then let's go." BurningNight said. He got up, set down her bowl at the counter of the soup kitchen and looked back at her newly found friends. Twilight and Pinkie Pie were surprised at first but sooner rather than later they were following BurningNight.

"Don't worry guys. BurningNight knows the streets of Canterlot like her own hooves." QuickWit said confidently. Twilight nodded. They got quite far through the winding streets. But eventually they came to a part where they weren't allowed through.

"Please sir. Some of our friends are on the other side." Pinkie Pie pleaded.

"No can do miss. Sorry but their clearing up that building right now." The guard said. Pinkie Pie opened her mouth to say something but closed it.

"What do we do now?" BurningNight asked. The question hung in the air.

"Hm. This is crazy but why not fly over it?" QuickWit said as she extended her wings.

"Yea! Wait don't we need wings then." Pinkie Pie asked.

"No. Why don't me and Twilight fly you over." QuickWit said. The guard eyed her like she was crazy.

"Ma'am hate to break it you but I doubt that's possible." The guard said. Twilight thought for a moment.

"We might as well try." Twilight said.

The purple alicorn stood up and lifted Pinkie Pie over to her. The pink mare sat on her back confused for a moment. BurningNight hung on tightly as QuickWit slowly took off. Twilight was not too far behind as the four lifted off. QuickWit struggled to fly a little but soon they were passing over the toppled building. Twilight breathed heavily as she beat her wings harder in the air. QuickWit kept to gliding but that only worked so well. But once again the lack of wind brought sweet relieve. Ponies gasped as the four finally landed. QuickWit let out a sigh of relieve as her hooves hit the ground. She skidded a bit with the extra weight. Twilight hovered and then fell onto the ground. Pinkie Pie ontop of her head.

"Cafgh you gefef off of me?" Twilight's muffled voice pushed through.

"Oh yea!" Pinkie Pie said as she got off. Twilight rubbed her neck and sighed.

"Well. I won't say I'm graceful." Twilight said as she heard (and felt) her neck crack.

"What the hay are you guys doing here!" Rainbow Dash called out from the corner of the street. She ran up.

"Looking for you guys!" Pinkie Pie said with a hop. Rainbow Dash blinked.

"Oh um ok." Rainbow Dash said. She motioned for the four to follow her. Rarity and AppleJack were sitting in the shade of a building. They immediately perked up when they saw Twilight and Pinkie.

"Oh hello girls." Rarity said quietly. She motioned them over.

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie enthusiastically said.

"So who are those two?" AppleJack said pointing to QuickWit and BurningNight.

"Oh this is QuickWit and BurningNight. They helped us find you guys." Pinkie Pie said. The two came closer and all seven sat in a circle.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." BurningNight said. Her eyes traveled across the group. And so another conversation was started. Slowly but surely they got to know each other a little bit. The bell rang again.

"Well I guess we should all get back to work. See you guys later." Rainbow Dash said. She and QuickWit took off to move debris again. BurningNight and AppleJack went off to help. Twilight and Pinkie stood for a while. Pinkie Pie smiled lightly.

"They're so nice." Pinkie Pie said calmly. She glanced at Twilight.

"Yea. Anyway I guess we should get to work too." Twilight turned to Rarity who seemed puzzled.

"Hm. I suppose so." Rarity said. She shook her head and soon the three got back to work. It was a long day and hot but a peaceful one nonetheless.

__________________________________________________________________________

High above in Canterlot Castle Celestia looked over the land.

Aurinko. Have I failed yet? Celestia thought.

No my child. you have done well actually. I apologize for Mira however. She did not see reason as we hoped.

Yes... Celestia thought. Her heart felt heavy inside her chest. Was it guilt? Despair? Had she truly failed?

Do not fear Celestia. This time the power is already inside of you. You have unlocked your true power from the depths of despair that has choked you for so long. Now nothing will stand in your way.

You're right. Thank you once again. Celestia thought once more. The pitch black disappeared from her eyes and her pupils returned to normal.

I suppose you'd like a little boost to help with reconstruction?

No. I think the power you gave me will be fine. Celestia thought with a smirk.

Heh. That's the spirit. Go on. Tell your ponies you can help. You may want to ask them to move out of the way

No no. I an maneuver everything just fine. Celestia's smirk grew wider. Aurinko was a bit surprised. Celestia's horn lit up. Golden magic went around the city. Putting everything into place perfectly. No pony was hurt; Not even a little bit. The magic simply lightly pushed ponies out of the way. In about an hour the city was as good as new (Granite all the dust)

Wow. I must say I am surprised. Aurinko was truly surprised. She blinked in the inky blackness where she resided.

See? I told you I could handle it. Celestia thought. She wiped the sweat off her brow and turned to see a crowd of ponies had been watching her. At that moment Celestia was glad she hadn't said anything and that Aurinko was only a voice Celestia could hear. The tall alicorn blinked.

"That... was amazing.." One news pony said. And that was that. Within about all of five seconds Celestia was up to her knees in questions. Celestia like always was patient and listened to every one of them. She answered carefully; Making sure she did not even mention Aurinko or the sudden power increase. Aurinko giggled inside of Celestia's head.

See Celestia? They have no reason to fear you now. As long as no one breaks away this form you don't have any need to worry. Just remember... don't push yourself too hard.

Celestia nodded and answered another pony's question. After about three hours of questions, most not pertaining to the reconstruction after the first forty-five minutes, the crowd thinned and left. Luna walked around the leaving ponies and smiled at her sister.

"That was a good idea Sister. Who would have known how long it would have taken to rebuild so many buildings." Luna said. Her eyes looked around.

"I hoped no pony would get hurt. It seems everything seems alright." Celestia said thoughtfully. She took her time with each word.

"I haven't got any reports. Anyways so I was hoping after the doctor checks up on you we could have some dinner. I can imagine you're starving." Luna said. Celestia took a moment to think.

"It's not like I have anything else to do. I haven't been given anymore paperwork so I suppose we could." Celestia said with a light smile. The two walked together until they finally arrived ta the infirmary. It didn't take long seeing as the doctor found nothing wrong with her.

"You seem quite healthy for what's happened in the past few days." The doctor say, eyeing her carefully.

"Are you implying something doctor?" Luna asked. She seemed slightly offended that the doctor was notioning something.

"No. I find it odd that one day she's barely breathing and a few days after she's able to fix the whole city." The doctor said. He and Luna glared at each other for a while

"He might as well no. Luna mind demonstrating to the new doctor why I've healed so quickly. Nothing major though." Celestia said. She hopped off the bed. Luna nodded. Luna walked over to the medical tray and took a scalpel. In one movement she cut across her hoof. The doctor looked at her like she was crazy.

"What the heck are you doing!" The doctor said. He ran over to get the bandages but Celestia stopped him.

"There's no need." Celestia said. The doctor watched as a few blue tendrils moved around the cut. Flesh grew back and the tendrils dove into the cut before it closed up. He blinked and rubbed his head.

"I forgot about that. You guys heal quickly." He said.

"It's quite alright. Next time however do not question our healing process." Luna said. She walked away on the previously injured hoof as if nothing had ever happened. Celestia caught up to her as they walked through the hallways into the dining room. Celestia took a deep breath and went to each window. She closed one after another just as she had done since she'd been allowed to eat in the dining room.

"Remember when we were little and Levier would eat our alfalfa for us?" Luna asked. Celestia smiled.

"But of course. I remember 'Alfalfa monster' as well." Celestia said with a smile, closing the last window. Luna giggled at the memory.

"Oh! And that one time you and me snuck into the kitchen and stole some cookies?" Luna almost jumped when she remember this. She laughed.

"Oh yea! And the paper hats we wore!" Celestia said as she sat down.

"Do you still have it?" Luna asked. Her eyes lit up.

"I believe so. I kept them in our chambers actually." Celestia said. Luna smiled brightly.

You love your sister quite a bit don't you Celestia?

Yes. More than anypony will every know. Celestia thought. The two conversed about old memories, they felt no pain in any memory; whether it be with their parents or with Levier. Even with Mira and many other friends.

"Remember when you first raised the moon?" Celestia asked.

"But of course! I remember you watching me do so. I must say I loved the attention as well as getting my cutie mark." Luna said with pride yet her voice was not stern. More excited.

"Indeed." Celestia said. Dinner was brought in; Steamed carrots with lettuce sprouts. Beets as well as other vegetables made a delectable dinner.

"Though I do like simple food I will say I do love Canterlot's cuisine." Luna said. Her magic aura floated a fork with a carrot stuck though it to her mouth. Celestia smiled and ate with her sister. Fond memories drifted across the room comfortably. It was a nice evening to be together. Celestia finished and pushed her plate away.

"I'll be in our chambers if you need me." Celestia said. Her loose mane hung down oddly.

I suppose after all that's happened in the past few days she doesn't feel quite so well. Luna thought. She took another bite of her dinner.

After all after exerting as much magic as she did anypony would be tired. Thankfully Night Court is taken care of the council on even days. I doubt she'd be able to stay up very long. Luna thought as she ate the rest of her dinner. She sighed with relieve and pushed away her plate.

She got up and walked towards the doorway, with a small spell she was on her way up the stairs to their chambers. As she went upstairs she felt something was slightly off. She wasn't sure what but something just felt... wrong. Luna shook off the thought and rose up the stairway. Celestia was sitting in her bed writing a letter. The fire crackled. Luna always liked their room; It was nice and homey. Not too big or extravagant; It was warm and inviting. Her bed was right next to her sister's. Not too far away form the fire yet not too close. Luna let out a sigh and smiled. Celestia looked up and smiled back.

"So. Who's receiving a letter now?" Luna asked as she sat alongside her sister.

"Oh. One of the officials in Manehatten was giving me a report." Celestia said. Luna nodded

"So Sister, What exactly did happen on the day of invasion?" Celestia asked. With a quick spell the paper turned into magic and it went out the window. Luna began to explain everything; some things that had to be kept private other things she could tell anypony. Celestia listened carefully;noting everything Luna said.

Sounds like Mira had been planning the surprise for quite some time.

"It seems the invasion took quite planning. Thankfully not enough to take Canterlot." Celestia said. Luna took a moment to think and nodded. Luna sat down right next to her sister. She rested her head on the soft bed.

"I wish we could have helped Mira." Luna said. Celestia put her arm around Luna and hugged her close.

"In a way I feel I've made the same mistake too many times." Celestia let out a sigh. Luna looked at her in confusion.

"I've failed to notice the ponies I care for when they're hurt." Celestia said. She looked directly into her sister's eyes.

"You know sister, You've gotten better at seeing when they become corrupted. I remember seeing you walk right up to Mira when she first snapped." Luna said. She looked around Celestia's eyes. Her sister seemed to soften.

"And what happened with Chrysalis and the changelings wasn't your fault either; Chrysalis posed as somepony you cared about." Luna said. Celestia smiled.

"You're right. Thank you Luna." Celestia said. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief.

"I doubt we'll have an easy time in night court tomorrow though." Luna said. She seemed less than pleased about having to sit around all her beautiful night.

"Why don't we do this; Instead of both of us sitting around, I stay on the throne and you can walk around the castle." Celestia said thoughtfully. Luna's ears perked up.

"I don't suppose I have anything to lose. Alright." Luna said. Celestia pulled her hoof away and Luna rolled over.

"I suppose it's time for us to bring night forth." Celestia said. She stretched and go up, Luna rolled back over and stood up. A yellow aura opened the balcony doors. The sun hung over the western horizon waiting to be let down. The moon waited patiently. Luna's horn glowed and the silver disk rose up into the sky slowly. Celestia lowered the sun. A numb pain spread around her shoulder but she ignored it. The sun slowly went under the horizon. The orange and red sky filled with blues and purples as the sun finally disappeared behind the horizon. Celestia sighed and looked at Luna. The blue alicorn flew back down. The alicorn's eyes looked towards the moon.

"Sister, promise me this. Please do not fall into darkness." Luna asked. She closed her eyes. Celestia blinked and gave a somber look.

"I promise." Celestia said quietly.

__________________________________________________________________________

Luna yawned and stretched. She'd been sitting in her throne so long she'd remember the summer Sun Celebration was going on in Canterlot again. Two days had passed since their fight with Mira and Celestia's mane seemed to hang there. Luna sighed again. The door into the large Throne room was slightly open to let air in there without leaving them all the way open. Luna liked to sit with her sister in private in the morning after all.

At least Sister was able to use that much energy in the first place. I wouldn't be surprised if she's tired. Luna thought. She glanced over to her sister who was as busy as could be with paperwork. Celestia glanced to her sister.

"Yes?" Celestia said quietly.

"Sister... I have a question. You don't have to answer but..." Luna said slowly, planning her words carefully. She didn't want to upset Celestia but she also needed to know.

"Go ahead. Sorry I'm just a bit busy with all this work." Celestia said with a small smile at the end. Luna relaxed a little bit. Thankfully her sister was in a good mood... almost thankfully.

"Well you see... I wanted to know if... If you'd ever become Radiant again." Luna said. Her lip quivered. She remembered every single bit of that awful experience. Celestia was caught off guard however. It showed clearly in her face that was utterly mortified. Luna kept her gaze but only barely. Thankfully no pony was in the room.

"No. I would never. Please Luna I don't want to talk about this right now. Not with the Celebration tomorrow." Celestia said quietly. Though the was no calm in her voice. It itself seemed to shudder at that name. Luna nodded.

"Don't worry sister. Our secret is safe remember?" Luna said, trying to cheer up Celestia. Celestia gave Luna tired smile.

"You're right then. Let's just hope the day goes to plan. I doubt I could handle anymore stress on my shoulder. It never healed right..." Celestia let out. Luna chuckled and smiled at her sister. After a brief glance at each other they continued their work for the day. They didn't notice the pair of eyes that had been listening to them to the entire time. The eyes wer terrified of what it had heard. The owner of those eyes ran back to it's room where five other ponies sat.

"What's the matter Twi?" AppleJack asked as she had another spoonful of cereal.

"Celestia- Luna- Discord!- Radiant Malovance! Sun!" Twilight gasped in between heavy and quick breaths.

"Dear you need to sit down and calmly tell us." Rarity said. Twilight shakily moved onto the couch. Her wings trembled at the thoughts that raced through her head.

Celestia is Radiant Malovance?!
Why?
Why wouldn't she tell me?
Why would she hurt Lun?!?
Why didn't Discord tell me!
Why wouldn't she tell anypony else?
Why!

Rainbow Dash rubbed Twilight's back trying to comfort her.

"You look like you've seen a ghost or something..." Rainbow Dash said. She was worried about her friend. Last time Twilight dissolved into hysterics she made everypony want some toy. If the fear in her eyes told Rainbow Dash anything that meant it was serious. after a few minutes of sitting and waiting for Twilight to stop breathing so fast.

"Twilight...? The Princesses wanted to see you. They said it was important." FlutterShy said in her normally quiet voice as she entered the room. Twilight stared at her and she shivered and slowly got up.

"Please come with girls. I'm not sure how this will turn out." Twilight said to them. They only nodded and followed her as she quickly walked to the throne room. Celestia and Luna were busy doing work but looked up to them.

"Good morning everypony." Celestia said in her normal regal voice. The five respectively bowed to her and Luna. Twilight's knees shook.

"Something wrong Twilight? You seem scared." Celestia asked as she approached her student.

"Yes. Something is." Twilight said as she turned from Celestia. Celestia was confused.

"Did I say something?" Celestia asked in confusion. She looked to Twilight's friends who were all as confused as her.

"Don't give me that you monster." Twilight said annoyed. Celestia blinked.

"This is about the healing thing isn't it?" Celestia asked, ready to answer Twilight's questions. She loved Twilight and cared for her. To see her so angry with Celestia was unheard of. Celestia gave Twilight a pained expression.

"Stop." Twilight said.

"Just stop. You don't need to put up the act. I already know what you are freak..." Twilight said angry. SHe glared deeply into Celestia's eyes.

"Twilight I don't understand. What are you talking about?" Luna asked as she walked closer to the purple alicorn. Twilight shot an angry glance at Luna.

"Don't act like you don't know either!" Twilight snapped as she pointed directly at Luna. Her friends looked at Twilight like she was crazy. Her knees still shook and her wings trembled but she was still able to glare angrily at the two ponies who loved her so much.

"Twilight calm down. Whatever you're so freaked out about doesn't have to do with them." Rainbow Dash tried to point out.

"It has everything to do with them! If you knew who Celestia was you wouldn't be so comfortable around her either." Twilight said in anger. Celestia blinked.

"Twilight you have to tell us. We're not psychic." AppleJack said flatly. Twilight scoffed.

"If I have to then I will." Twilight shot and angry glare at Celestia and Luna who were both confused beyond what was thought to be possible. It showed in their face as well.

Celestia is Radiant Malevolence.

Her friends stared at her. Twilight glared deeply into Celestia's wide purple eyes.

"Twilight you can't be serious..." Rainbow Dash quietly said. The fear in their eyes told Twilight everything.

"Why Celestia? Why would you? I don't understand how you can live with yourself." Celestia heard them say. She could only stare at the ground. No words.

Stop it... The static blared inside her head. A long with a thumping or beating sound.

The ponies i the room yelled and screamed at her. Luna tried to defend her sister as best she could but to no avail. Celestia would never tell her what she saw that made her snap. Their voices felt distant. But she could hear it quite clearly. Almost like her ears were plugged except static and large thumps mixed in. All the color had drained out of her face, the ponies could easily see that. She would only stare at the ground.

"Answer me!" Twilight shouted in her face. She looked up though her brain was a buzz with thoughts. She couldn't hear Aurinko nor anypony else so why could she hear Twilight?

"I do not answer to static."

"What does that have to do wit anything?!" Rarity said as she slapped Celestia. Celestia turned towards her.

"I do answer to static."

The ponies stared at her as she got up.

"What the hay are you talking about?" AppleJack asked in confusion. Before she knew it Celestia was in her face.

"Shhh..." Celestia hushed. Her eyes twitched and she sat down on the ground below Twilight. The ponies stared at her, most in anger and hatred but one was somber. The ponies yelled at her again. They yelled at her and told her she a monster. Just like the others did when she first was healed.

"Why is she even here? She should be executed!"

"She could have destroyed the world!

"And Discord isn't even defeated!"

"Does she even care?"

"I doubt it. That freak wouldn't know love if it hit her in the face."

The ponies laughed and scoffed at her. She could hear them though. It was like they didn't care about her feelings. It was like they didn't even acknowledge the fact she had been controlled and it wasn't her fault. Like they didn't know that she couldn't control herself and fought the beast the whole time. Why didn't they care about her feelings? She didn't know. She just knew that her parents weren't there to comfort her. They knew all to well about the Sun. But no pony else did. Not even Luna. Luna still loved her though so that was ok. But no pony else did.

And now they were doing it to her again. It wasn't like she wanted to become a monster. She just wanted to protect those she loved. What's so wrong about that? Why wasn't she allowed to love and protect her loved ones? Did they not want her to love them? Or did they not care about her? Twilight didn't seem to. Nor did the others. They didn't care. They just saw her past and focused on that. What about all the good she'd done? Why didn't they remember that? Why didn't they care that she loved them so much? Why didn't they understand she wanted to protect them? Why did they hurt her? Was it because she couldn't die? Or because they didn't care? Her blood was on their hooves really. They hadn't hurt her too bad but it still hurt. Why did they call her a freak? They hadn't done that to Luna. Luna had been consumed by envy. Celestia had been consumed by desperation. Why was that so wrong? Why didn't they get that? Celestia could only hear the sounds they made. Not the words. Just their meanings. She heard the word "ashamed" and "monster" a lot. As well as "demon" and "freak". They don't know the definition really. Twilight slapped her again and she snapped her head up. Her tired eyes peered into Twilight's to look for any love. Sadly she found none and hung her head down again. Luna tried to pull them away but she couldn't seem to. Maybe Celestia was talking maybe she wasn't. She didn't know really. She was moving her mouth but she didn't know if any sound came out. She couldn't hear anything really. She wished she could though. She wanted to defend her actions but her mouth wouldn't make any sounds. Maybe a whisper or two but nothing anypony could hear. Celestia stared up and saw their faces. She felt tired. Maybe she didn't wake up. Maybe Luna would help her overcome her fears of losing them. But no it was reality. If it were a dream she wouldn't be able to feel the apin of their hooves hitting her. Celestia raised her hooves up to cover her ears.

"Stop." Celestia said calmly. Sadly though they did not. The static got louder than Celestia thought it could.

chika-dee-dee-dee-dee

To keep herself occupied she listened to the bird. The small bird tweeted and fluttered around, singing it's song. She smiled for the bird even as she got smacked around as the ponies yelled at her. Sparks of magic came over whenever the crimson blood came out and healed it. Celestia didn't bleed much but their hooves would tell another story. Luna tried her best to pull them back but she knew she couldn't hurt them. It seems Celestia was right. They did not care how much blood was on their hooves. Celestia knew she cried out in pain. But she couldn't really feel it. Or at least she didn't think she did. Everything felt dull. Even the cold floor under her felt as if it were softer than it was. Or maybe it wasn't. She didn't know with all the static blaring inside her head.

"Hey Tia wanna do some hoof painting? The small blue alicorn asked. She smiled up to her sister.

"Of course! Why would I turn down that?" She asked happily. Not so much confused by her sister's question.

"Oh well you've been busy with Magic training n' stuff. Mom's a good teacher isn't she?" Luna asked happily.

"Yep! Now let's go find that paint!" She said happily. She felt her sister hover onto her back and she walked off to find paint and paper.

Celestia felt another hoof bash her head. She yelped. Or at least she though she did.

"Tia wake up! It's time!" Luna said excitedly as she bounced around her sister's bed. The young alicorn grumbled and sat up.

"Oh yea! Where's our hats?" Celestia asked. Luna lifted over two newspaper sailor hats. The bigger one was for Celestia but Luna took it instead. Celestia giggled and put on the small sailor hat. Carefully they snuck down the stairs into the kitchen. There were only the dim lights of the moon to guide their way around the dark kitchen. Carefully placed on top of the ice box was a jar of cookies perfect for consumption. Luna was too small to reach it on her own but maybe if she took off form Celestia's back she could reach the jar. Luna's horn lit up and moved it downwards onto the counter top. Quietly Luna and Celestia stole a few, carefully moving around cookies to make it look like there were the right amount. They slid it back on top of the ice box and snuck back up to their room.

"Mission accomplished!" Luna said quietly yet excited. Celestia smiled and set her hat down. Luna set her's down as well then drifted off to sleep.

The six mares left the room. Still angry. Celestia did not forgive them. She loved them though. They wouldn't be held in court or anything. She wouldn't punish them. Luna's lip quivered as she stared down at her sister. Celestia looked like a broken doll. Something that got left behind after a rough kid played with it. Or group of kids i this place. She walked over to her sister as she regenerated.

"Sister? Why didn't you do anything? Why'd you just sit there and let them hurt you?" Luna asked. The static cleared quickly.

"Because. I love them. I wouldn't be where I am without them." Celestia said quietly, wiping off the blood from her forehead. She stared into the crimson red fur on her hoof.

"But shouldn't they love you too? They wouldn't be where they are either!" Luna cried out. She hated to see her sister in any pain. To see her beaten without a fight upset her.

"I realize that. But they are young. I know that is not exception but that I what I feel." Celestia said calmly. Luna yet the warm tears come down her face.

"I'd like to get some sleep please. I'm tired Luna..." Celestia said. She truly did look tired.

"Ok. I'll take care of the paperwork." Luna sniffled and rubbed her eyes.

"Don't worry Luna. I love you and that's what counts." Celestia said with a faint smile. Luna nodded as best she could and went back to her Throne. Celestia walked to their bedroom; A long walk but a walk nonetheless. SHe laid in her bed and slept.

Author's Notes:

*One does not simply give out spoilers!*

K and about the Chrysalis thing; I mean... Celestia cared about Cadence (This will be explained later) so she would of course figure that Cadence was just on edge for he wedding. Though I have a feeling you will say something about Twilight also being close but then again... I will explain how why Cadence is so close to Celestia later :3

~edited~ to be longer since I have barely enough time to make a whole new chapter--

Falling

The Truth: Chapter 6

I often find myself pondering what it means to be an alicorn. I have rarely seen what you may call a 'True alicorn' beings born as alicorns with significant magical abilities. Winged Unicorns or 'biological alicorns' that are born by, let's say a unicorn and a pegasus. They do not possess the abilities of True alicorns. However there is a third kind of alicorn. One that is born of a certain race and reaches spiritual enlightenment. This transforms the original being into an alicorn. The only 'kind' of alicorn that is 'immortal' is the 'true alicorn'. True alicorns are attached to some object. Such as the Sun or Moon. Celestia and Luna for example. I have come to the conclusion that the Sun and Moon are apart of our rulers. The Sun and Moon heal the force that keeps them 'alive'. As long as Celestia and Luna are alive the Sun shall not explode nor shall the Moon crash into the planet or get sling shotted off into space.

-Stars Swirled the Bearded

Celestia lye awake in bed. The comfortable room was dark, Celestia had put the fire out. She wanted to be alone. She was tired after all. Who wouldn't be? Honestly Celestia was surprised she hadn't given up yet. Why not just let go and get the terrible feelings off of her. Twilight had hurt her... and Luna.. Luna couldn't stop her either. It's not that Luna couldn't hurt Twilight; She very well could if need be. But she wouldn't. Luna cared too much for the purple alicorn. The pony who had saved her form an eternal nightmare. Celestia herself could not. Luna assured it wasn't her sister's fault but the cracks in her voice told Celestia everything. Luna, deep down, felt that it was Celestia's fault. And she didn't blame her. Celestia had been so careless and Luna paid the price.

It's all your fault
Your fault!
Sister you monster!
How could you?!
I despise your very being!

The tall alicorn took a deep breath. She let go of the magic in her mane and it turned pink. It helped ease her a little bit but not much. Her student, one of the ponies she'd care for so much... betrayed her. Why didn't Twilight know Celestia wasn't that... that monster anymore?

Fear

Twilight was afraid. That fear spread to her friends. And with that brought chaos. Chaos that made ponies do terrible things. It was a shame really. Twilight often spoke of facing fear but Celestia guessed that the fear had been too much for such a young mare.

Poor girls... they were probably scared out of their wits...

Maybe she was wrong maybe she was right. But either way it didn't change the fact they knew. She'd put them through so much, and now this?

Terrible.. simply terrible...

Celestia moved the damp pillow over her head. When she was little the pillow hid her so well. But back then she was more rather hiding from Mom and Dad then hiding from her fear. With an angry spike she threw the pillow ta the wall.

I bust my plot doing so much for this country for over a thousand years and I get this for thanks?! Ridiculous!

The pillow hit the wall with a thump and she let out an angry grumble. Celestia let out a sigh and wiped off her eyes. She shook her head and put on her brave face.

I've got work to do. With the Celebration coming up I better get to it and soon.

Celestia stood up and magic returned to her mane. Yet it refused to move.

Wonderful. It will take a while before it moves again won't it?

With that the alicorn sighed and looked towards the door. Her eyes fixated on it. Her feeling shifted again and again. Don't go. Go. Don't go. Go. But after a brief moment of thought she left the room. Ponies bowed respectively as always. Good to know Twilight and company hadn't blabbed out her secret to the world.

They're too smart to do that. They all know very well the anarchy that would break out...

At the very least she had that going for her. But something felt wrong. She stopped immediately in the middle of the hallway. It felt as though the walls of the room had caved in on her; Maybe they had? Maybe her eyes were lying to her? But no. She was certain that wasn't what was going on. It felt like something had punched her in the chest.

Great... this again? really? Stupid solar flares...

She swallowed and took a deep breath. This happened occasionally; large solar flares brought on by stress would come back and bite her later.

A small purple filly followed behind her. Her new student; Twilight Sparkle. She could tell this filly had great potential, however she needed to hone her skills. The small purple filly was timid and wasn't much of a talker. Though she was respectful and quite studious (At least as her grades told the alicorn) Celestia let out a sigh when it hit her. The crushing pain had spread itself across her body. She stood frozen.

"Princess are you okay?!" The small purple unicorn cried out as Celestia slowly fell to her knees. Several ponies rushed over to help their monarch.

The pain was immeasurable. As if every fiber of her being got smacked into a wall. But just as quickly as it came it stopped.

"I'm fine. Sorry for the little outburst." She spoke, trying to keep her composure. The ponies nodded and left but the small filly looked up at her with worried eyes.

"Um.. Princess are you sure? you looked like someone stabbed you or something." The unicorn said. Clear worry showed in her.

"It happens. Occasionally I just... just... You very well must know what happens when you get stressed right? You start to feel in a tight space?" Celestia answered the filly's question with a question. She obviously couldn't explain it to her.

"I guess..." The filly said, not quite certain with her words.

"Well for me it's kinda like that but worse. But don't worry I'm fine." She smiled at the filly. The filly bit her lip and nodded. And then they walked away.

However this time Twilight wasn't by her side. She was alone in a sense. The pain subsided as quickly as it came and she went on her way. Within a short amount of time she was back on her throne. Going about the afternoon as if nothing had happened. However it didn't stop Luna form glancing at her for long periods of time. Her worried face in turn depressed the sun princess.

"Luna i'm fine. I appreciate your worry; I really do. But it's okay. this will smooth itself out... eventually. We just need to be careful." Celestia said, facing her sister. Luna nodded slowly the glanced back at her papers.

"Just don't strain th-yourself. We don't' want you to go stone cold during ceremony." Luna said with a sigh. Her turned back to her work. She was slightly aggravated with her sister's response.

_____________________________________________________________________________

After several hours of random tasks being done and documents being signed Luna could finally get some rest. She loved her night but that didn't mean she didn't want to sleep. Celestia had already retired; She'd finished all her work for the day. Night court was over and done with so Luna could finally go to bed. With a short trip up the stairs Luna could finally relax. However she opened the door to find her room dark. Normally Celestia would stay up until Luna came in.

"Sister?" Luna asked. Unlike normal ponies Luna had some sense for night vision, but the inky blackness of the room made it all the harder to see.

"Ugh.. where's the fireplace when you need it.." Luna said, fumbling around in the darkness, but it just seemed like she walked on forever. Luna immediately stopped. Fear began to constrict her until she ran, faster and faster but she couldn't find anything to run into. Just darkness.

"Somepony, Help! Please..." Luna said as she came to a trot. Not after long she was just walking. Luna's eyes darted around in the darkness. She'd been here before too.

"Hello child..." Aurinko said. She looked as if she'd had taken Celestia's silhouette.

"Stay away from me!" Luna shouted. Aurinko held her hooves up in defense.

"Calm down child-" Aurinko said calmly.

"Don't try that on me again!" Luna hissed.

Aurinko blinked. For once she could not influence Luna.

Damn Elements of Harmony. Aurinko thought. With that she faded into the inky blackness and Luna's vision returned.

Luna stared into the eyes of her terrified sister.

"Luna are you alright?!" Celestia said. Luna shook her head.

"Aurinko was trying to corrupt me again. But don't worry I fended her off." Luna said with grimace. Celestia sighed with relief.

Luna stood up and walked over to her bed.

"Do you mind if I sleep in? I'm tired..." Luna said hugging her pillow close to her.

"I don't mind at all. I suppose I could lower the Moon for you." Celestia said quietly to her younger sister. Luna nodded and the magic disappeared from her body. She looked as if she'd just came back form the Moon again. It didn't take long for Celestia to do the same and resume her pink mane.

"Thank you." Luna said tiredly. She'd already put the blankets over herself and shut her eyes. A sunny yellow aura surrounded Celestia's blankets and pulled them over herself. She nestled into them comfortably.

"Goodnight sister." Luna said quietly.

"Goodnight." Celestia said as she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Though Luna was asleep she was truly dancing around other's dreams; seeking out nightmares. That'd been her job after all. She loved doing so really, helping others overcome their ears. Recalling Scootaloo's own fears it reminded her slightly of when she was a filly. Lily had been telling ghost stories and Luna freaked out. However Celestia got her to calm down about it. Luna chuckled as she flew around the vast dream space. Without any dreams the dream realm was blank and boring; This how it mostly was during the day, save a few specks of dreams. But during the glorious night it was an array of color and light. The edge of these window-like structures were colorful splatters of light. She could fly around with ease, dodging around dreams whilst being able to dive into nightmares. Nightmares were like corrupted dreams; They still had the window like structure but the rim was not a splatter of beautiful colors and light. No. It was in fact a rift or sorts; one opening into the nightmare dreamscape. This place was where demonic beings were born of hatred. The rift spit out pitch black and dark blue lashes of dark emotions. These would of course effect the waking pony. But Luna's job made her destroy these; However the only way is to get the mare or stallion to face their fear. Not simply get over and done with it but recognize it. Fear was an important aspect of life after all. Without it somepony could be blind to danger- life threatening or not. With these thoughts reminiscing in her mind Luna pushed farther across the far and wide realm. She however was careful she was also fast. She knew she could not possibly look in depth into every single dream of every single creature on the world. Hence why ponies and other creatures alike still had nightmares. Eventually she found exactly what she was hunting. The corrupted window spewed out darkness. Spastic whips of darkness threw themselves around. Luna sighed and flew through the window. It was a large sunny field under a cloudless sky. The field stretched out and on for a while until it got caught between two mountains and the only way out was a deep ravine due north and to the south east where it opened once more was a small valley so thin you'd have to walk in single file. As Luna landed with a soft thump she looked around. It didn't look like any nightmare she'd seen before. Everything was so peaceful. The dark blue alicorn looked around, walking around a bit in the grass. Luna blinked and saw exactly what she was looking for but wasn't so sure if she was correct at what she was seeing. Turned towards a small pony was Celestia, except she looked thin. Very thin. Her sister's mane was pink like it used to be. There was no green in it whatsoever. Or blue for that matter. Luna had to be careful however; After all she didn't immediately know who's dream she was in. So with a quiet spell she became invisible, And not a moment too soon either. Celestia turned to look at teh spot Luna was. The thin alicorn sighed and laid down.

If she's so thin why doesn't she just eat the grass...? There's plenty of it Luna thought in silence.

Just then Celestia's head shot up and she rose to her hooves. Walking from the soft rolling hills of the plains was Twilight. She was walking towards Celestia it seemed.

Perhaps I'm mistaken and this Twilight's dream? Luna thought. She was angry with Twilight for what'd she'd done. So for now Luna contemplated what she'd do if it was the purple alicorn's dream.

Twilight burst off into a sprint towards Celestia and as soon as she came into a few feet Celestia turned into a puff of smoke, screaming as she did. The sound sent chills up the dark alicorn's spine. Luna didn't notice before but Twilight had been crying. Twilight stood for a few moments, either in disbelief or sadness. Luna quickly dissipated her spell and came into Twilight's few. Twilight stared at her. It was all to obvious to see she was afraid of what Luna might do to her.

"Princess Luna... I-I" Twilight tried to say as she stumbled over her words.

"Twilight. Calm." Luna said, lifting up her hoof then slowly moving it downwards. Twilight nodded.

"Luna... I want to apologize..." Twilight said quietly. There was shame written all over her; Her submissive stance made her look very small.

"Is that what this nightmare was about? You want to apologize. But you're afraid to. Aren't you?" Luna said. Twilight took a moment to realize Luna had read her like a book.

"Yes...I.. I did a terrible thing a-and now I bet Celestia even cares." Twilight said with a lump in her throat.

"If you think my sister would just give up on you then you know less about her than you think." Luna said. Though her words seemed cold her tone told a different story. It held a soft warmth to it. It was reassuring but not over the top.

"But.. I... I hit her. And I yelled at her and told her she was..." Twilight's voice trailed off as the lump made it harder to speak.

"Twilight you must understand that Celestia loves you. Why do you think she didn't attack you? Or why she went head on into battle when she wasn't even done recovering?" Luna said, the warmth around her growing slightly.

"Could it be okay if you didn't tell Celestia about our.. chat here? I want to apologize truthfully." Twilight asked softly. Luna nodded.

"But of course. But next time try to keep your fearful angry to a minimum." Luna said as she flew out of the nightmare.

She could already see the darkness being thrown from it and replaced with the bright colors and light. It didn't take long for the darkness to be destroyed. With a slightly happier sigh she flew onward, searching more nightmares. Thankfully the dark rifts had been small that night. Which struck her as odd for once.

It'd seem like there'd be more tonight... Luna thought in silence. She beat her wings a bit harder to come to a hover.

Luna yawned. It was time to wake up. Luna opened up a rift back into the waking world and found her sister asleep in her bed.

"Sister. Time to wake up. The Celebration's soon." Luna said, walking over to nudge her sister. Celestia yawned and stretched. With that she rose up.

"Thank you Luna. Sorry for having you wake me I suppose I snoozed." Celestia said quietly.

"It wasn't a problem Tia." Luna said with a smile. Celestia rubbed her eye and smiled back.

Like all mornings they came down, ate and bathed. Then got ready for the day. However Celestia's mane hung down as well as Luna's oddly enough.

"That's strange.." Luna said as she held the dark blue hair on her hoof.

"Indeed." Celestia said as it struck her odd.

"Well let's not dally. We've got Celebration to attend!" Luna said with enthusiasm.

It didn't take long for them to arrive on the large circular area. With the golden pedestal like structure in the middle. Celestia would fly up and raise the Sun as she did why Luna now would lower it, diving behind Celestia before coming back up and hovering below her sister. In the winter the process would be switched on the opposite side of the city. Celestia and Luna walked forward and in front of the structure, ponies clearing out of the way. The large crowd didn't seem to mind that their rulers' manes fell . Nor that it was the crack of dawn essentially. It took no words for the ceremony to begin. Luna easily lept through the crest of the structure and dove down. Ponies gasped. Celestia quickly turned to face them all and spread her wings and took off from a stand still. Ponies gasped. Celestia's horn glowed and the Sun began to rise up behind her and then out of the literal blue of the horizon Luna flew upwards after her Moon disappeared under the horizon. Behind Celestia was the sun, perfectly outlining her silhouette as Luna's darker hovered under her. The ponies gasped in awe then erupted into cheers. The alicorn's held proud smiles on their face. For a moment in time they were in perfect harmony. Such a wonderful feeling truly. Slowly the two descended.

"That was amazing!" One small filly said with glee as he looked up to Luna and Celestia.

"Why thank you." Luna said, her blue eyes lit up.

The filly giggled happily and ran back to his mother. Luna had a small smile on her face as they walked away. Celestia couldn't help but feel happy. But something became apparent. Like something was wrong.

"Luna.I believe it's time to check the portal to Tartarus." Celestia said with grimace. Luna looked at her in confusion.

"Sister you must be mistaken. We checked the portal one moon ago." Luna said.

"Something just feels wrong..." Celestia said, her purple eyes looking around. Luna sighed.

"If it will make you feel any better then we'll go and check." Luna said, slightly irritated. Celestia nodded and they continued to walk until reaching the throne room in silence. It didn't take long to get everything in order for their journey.

"I suppose it's time to go. Luna said on top of their balcony.

"Indeed." Celestia said softly. With that they took off and into the air. It'd been forever since she'd flown.

Luna shifted her weight and veered off to the left, Celestia doing the same. No pony could follow them and it was too dangerous to be close to the entrance of the cave. As they sped past Ponyville it looked as if two pegasi had been racing., But they were going far to fast to be pegasi. With concerned faces below them the alicorns picked up speed effortlessly. They headed towards a specific place. One they rarely checked on, for Cerberus had defended it well. Though Cerberus was more for insurance rather than to keep the demonic forces from escaping. The taller alicorn dove down into a forest clearing, the blue one behind her. With a soft thump of hooves on the ground they landed. The huge cave opening before them moaned. Written across the top of the cave in golden text was a magical seal that would close off Tartarus from the world for eons. Or at least that was it was supposed to do. Normally the golden text had a soft glow to it but as of the moment it simply glimmered in the darkness.

"Sister. The incantations Mother and Father placed have weakened." Luna said with grimace. She peered into Celestia's eyes. Celestia pursed her lips and her purple eyes glanced back at the text.

"That must mean Mother..." Luna said. Or at least tried to before a knot in her throat stopped her.

"No. Mother promised." Celestia before gritting her teeth in angry.

Luna could only look somberly at the cave. Celestia however would have none of that. The tall alicorn summoned her will into her horn and forced it out into the cave. A beam of golden light shot out and into Tartarus; passing right through the seal with ease. Celestia and Luna's magic would transfer through Tartarus without opening the portal. The beam of light shone brightly even though the cave was pitch black. As it went into the invisible portal it disappeared but the last bits of light from it stayed behind. Bidding it's source goodbye before going back into the air. luna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could hear everything; The coos and cries of the forest from afar, the steady inhale and exhale of her breath as well as her sister's. It seemed as though the birds and animals of the forest had already knew not to stay around the gate. The two of them were alone.

"Sister..." Celestia said as her lip quivered. There had been no response from their mother or father even. In silence the two re sealed the gate, Aware of their parents' fates.

The two alicorns took off. Sadness and fear overwhelmed them, as their minds raced they never once saw that they were descending into the forest itself. Luna only noticed as her hoof brushed the canopy. A simple mistake. They ascended once more this time trying to pay more attention to their surroundings. It wasn't that late in the day but it felt so dark. Celestia sighed as they flew. They passed over Ponyville slowly; Or at least slowly compared to how they came. But they flew on, eventually arriving in Canterlot. The lively look in their eyes was gone. Like all the color just disappears. On top of their balcony Celestia looked over the kingdom. She didn't want to go back into the throne room. But neither did Luna. So they stood there. Neither expected the other one to go. And that was perfectly fine as of that moment. Especially with the warmth dripping down their faces. Celestia faced Luna, who was just about to head down. Celestia opened up her hooves for a hug Luna sniffled and ran into her sister's embrace, weeping. Celestia pulled her sister closer.

"It's okay..." Celestia said softly into Luna's ears. Luna's lip quivered and she looked into her sister's eyes.

"Thank you sister." Luna said, resting her head on Celestia's shoulder.

"Don't fret Luna. I'll attend court. For now you may stay up here if you please." Celestia said smoothly.

"No. I'll come with you." Luna said with a small smile up to her sister. Celestia smiled back and they stood up. Luna wiped off the warmth and they walked in silence. Sure, she was sad. But at least Celestia was there. Their hoof steps echoed down the hallways, shattering the silence. Just then three tillies ran up to Celestia and Luna. Luna remembered that a School was coming to Canterlot Castle today. She'd completely forgotten. The three fillies blinked. An orange pegasus with a dark pink mane blinked. The white unicorn's mouth hung open as her curl lavender mane danced around with her head's movement. The yellow earth pony smiled at them.

"Good afternoon Princess.. Princesses? Princesi? no that's not right..." The unicorn chirped.

"It's good afternoon Princesses!" The ornage pegasi barked. The unicorn stuck it's tongue out.

"Good afternoon to tho-you." Luna said calmly.

"Is somethin' wrong with yer manes? Don't they normally wave around." The yellow earth pony said, throwing in some hoof motions. Celestia glanced at Luna.

"Oh you see our manes are not perfect so sometimes they stop." Celestia said slowly. She didn't really know. That's when her heart lurched. Another solar flare? Celestia contriscted the muscles in her chest to prolong it as long as she could but by ten Luna and the filles noticed she was trembling slightly.

"Princess Celestia are you okay?" The ornage filly asked worridly.

"I'm fine..." She slowly said, before coming back into her composure.

In all truth she and Luna were far from fine.

Innocence.

The Truth: Chapter 7

"What we do when we're young can often seem quite petty. But upsetting nonetheless to others."

-Unknown

This part of the chapter takes place well over a thousand years ago when Luna and Celestia were still children

Celestia grumbled to herself as she ate breakfast. The pink maned alicorn ate alone for once. Normally her sister would be with her. The golden aura around her spoon set down the metal utensil. She wasn't hungry anymore, so she might as well get up rather than sit around rolling around her spoon across the table. While Celestia left to go find something to do, upstairs in their chambers Luna giggled to herself.

"Mooooom. Tia's being mean again." Luna snickered to herself in silence.

"What?" Luna said in an overly deep voice, trying to sound like a stallion.

"What are you talking about Luna?!" Luna said, mimicking her sister's voice--well trying to at least.

"No dinner for you young lady! Come here Luna. It's okay." Luna said to herself again, trying to sound like her mother. She burst out into laughter. Though her laughter faded as she realized she was alone. Sure, she had toys to play with, and she did play with them, but she played alone. Maybe she should go apologize?

No! Of course not! Celestia's a big meany! Luna shook her head.

Luna hopped down from her parents' bed and onto the marble floor.

"She's sooo good at everything! She can waltz around without a care in the world." Luna snapped.

"Makes me sick..." Luna said with a disgusted look on her face. Luna huffed and walked down the staircase.

Luna grumbled at the open windows, knowing Celestia beat her to breakfast. Sitting on the table was a cold bowl of oats--Celestia's breakfast.

"Of course she didn't take care of it." Luna sighed. She sat down in her chair and pushed away the bowl. And she sat, and sat and sat. The chef was taking an awful long time to bring her breakfast. But she waited patiently until finally the chef hastily rushed out with a bowl of warm oatmeal within his magical aura. The green aura set down the oatmeal with a small tap.

"My deepest apologies miss. We had a bit of a mix up in the kitchen." The chef bowed and left Luna alone.

The filly sighed and dug into her warm bowl of oats. The occasional strawberry was a delicious treat. A blue aura formed around her bowl and lifted it over to the kitchen before scrapping out any leftovers- Not that there was much left.

__________________________________________________________________

Celestia let out a long sigh before looking up to the lime green eyes of her companion. They sat alone, in the garden outside of the Crystal Castle. Green plants just barely tinted with blue stood up, well kept by garden workers. The garden wasn't huge like the one in Canterlot but it was just as beautiful. The sky was clear with the colorful borealis spreading across the sky. She'd always loved the Crystal Empire because it was filled with some many ponies full of love and hope. She looked back at her companion who smiled at her.

"You know Celestia I've been meaning to talk to you about something..." He said softly.

The dark unicorn was odd for a crystal pony. He did not look anything like a crystal--in fact her didn't gleam at all-but he did possess a horn. There were very few crystal pegasi and even fewer crystal unicorns. However his dark, almost shadow like, coat was quite intimidating for his somewhat lanky figure. But he was quite gentle and had his way with words. Able to clearly show what he was feeling. This made him a terrible liar.

"Yes?" She responded back quietly.

"Well you see.. I've been meaning to tell you something. It's kinda important." The nervous young stallion replied back. His cheeks slightly turned pink.

"I don't know if my father would allow thi-" The unicorn stuttered. Celestia placed her hood on his shoulder.

"It's okay Sombra, you can tell me anything." She politely said, smiling. The unicorn let out a deep sigh, like he was gathering his will power.

"I love you." Sombra said looking deeply into Celestia's eyes. Celestia took a second in a half to process what he'd just said.

"I.. I don't' what to say..." Celestia said, raising her hoof to her mouth. Sombra got a depressed look on his face. The light had shut itself off in his eyes.

"I understand." He said just about to turn away before Celestia pulled him into a kiss. She pulled away slowly after a brief moment of bliss. Sombra's face was bright red.

"You big goof I hope you weren't kidding just to get a kiss out of me." Celestia said, half joking. Though it showed up in her face.

"Aw come on Celestia I wouldn't do that." Sombra said defensively.

"I know that." Celestia said softly as she leaned forward to look directly at him. Sombra let out a sigh of relief. So they sat for a while, enjoying the peace and quiet.

Meanwhile Luna danced around with pleasure. The young alicorn hid behind a row of bushes, watching her sister and Sombra. She's finally convinced Sombra that Celestia wouldn't turn him down. Though it took a lot of 'persuasion' to get him to set up a point where he and Celestia could talk. Celestia, Luna and Sombra after all had been friends ever since their parents had come for country wide celebration. It was a huge banquet where all the leaders across the lands would come to a specific capital for 'merrymaking' as Galaxia called it. There was food and dancing and in general a great time, even for countries who in general didn't like each other. In the days coming there were huge sessions where every country would bring up something they'd like to change and see if the other leaders had a way to fix it. Of course sometimes there'd be fighting or 'aggressive discussion' s Nebulis called it. But in general it was a great time to come together and form bonds. However they were only held once a year so she and Celestia had never gotten a whole lot of time to get to know each other. But Sombra was a different story. The Crystal Empire was not as far away as some other countries so occasionally The Royal Family of the Crystal Empire would stop by to discuss. Nebulis and King Luminous got well together, they were almost like brothers except Nebulis was well over a millennia older. Nevertheless they got along well and the two countries were great allies because of this. King Luminous and Queen Dazzling had four children; Prince Sombra, Princess Rubia, Princess Quara, and Prince Topaz. Like their mother, Rubia and Quara were winged unicorns (Or biological alicorns as Nebula said) Though to be fair Topaz was kind of stuck up. He complained when he didn't get his way and seemed to over rule Sombra on just about everything. And his parents let him too. Queen Dazzling tried to polity keep Topaz from snapping at his older brother but he'd just get Sombra back later on. Luna hated it. It was so infuriating to see Topaz act so violently towards his brother in such cruel ways for what seemed like no reason.

"Luna?" Celestia said, standing over her little sister. Luna stumbled to her feet. It seemed as though while Luna was lost in thought Sombra had left and Celestia had found her.

"Were you.. watching me?" Celestia asked and her face turned bright red.

"N-NO!" Luna stuttered with a fake smile towards the end. Celestia bit her lip.

"You're a terrible liar you know that Luna." Celestia said, holding back her irritation.

"I'm sorry..." Luna said in shame. She hug her head low.

"It's okay Luna just don't go and tell everypony." Celestia said with a sigh. Luna nodded, feeling her own relief.

"I suppose it's time to go inside." Luna said, looking towards the large castle. Celestia agreed and they went in.

__________________________________________________________________

Okay switching over from over a thousand years ago to only a few

A small alicorn stood alone in the rain. Her pink, purple and yellow mane was sopping wet. Her wings were drenched in water making it impossible to fly, not that she wanted to. In front of her stood two graves.

Heart Strong
Loving Mother of Mi Amore Cadenza
and caretaker of many

Silver Storm
Protector of many,
He fought bravely.

It was impossible to see whether she was crying or not in the heavy downpour. That was why she came out there after all. She'd remembered the day well. A dark being of the Nightmare forces, a Breyting, had attacked her friend. The love sucking monster tried to drain her friend of his love but Cadence fought it off. But how you may ask? She'd realized, quite literally, the power of love. The monster look almost like at one time it'd been a pony. But it had holes in it's hooves and in it's insect-like wings. The disgusting monster had transformed into her friend's sister, Twilight Sparkle. At first Cadence had almost lost; She didn't know how to fight in the first place nor did she have any magic to fight with. At that time she was a pegasus. But in a miraculous twist of fate she realized, what better way to fight a love-sucking monster than with it's own love? Force this creature to tire itself out in trying to catch her. The Breyting had shot many bolt of green-ish magic at her but Cadence got out of the way as quickly as she could. This didn't mean she didn't get hit however. The pain spread itself around her and made sure she was crippled. But the thought of her friend being eaten or worse kept her fighting. Eventually the creature was too tired to fight anymore and in a bright flash of light the creature had been destroyed. Had she done that? In truth at the time she was extremely confused. What had been even more confusing was that only mere minutes after she'd defeated the Breyting she had been teleported to some other dimension. Then Celestia showed up. she appeared out of the vast clouds of blue magic and told Cadence she was ready to transcend into an alicorn state. She was scared, would she have to leave her family behind? But Celestia informed her that she would be fine and allowed to visit them any time she pleased. With a simple nod of the head a bright flash of magic surrounded her, radiating off of her being. She was terrified for a moment but Celestia's calm face settled her down. An enormous amount of love was all around her, all the ponies she'd cared for just seemed to give her the strength she'd needed.When she woke up she'd become an alicorn. She'd was so happy at that time. Like she'd just burst with excitement. She immediately wanted to run and tell her parents but...

The Breyting..
The one she'd fought...
Killed them

The crushing feeling of failure was like non she'd ever known of before. And now she was alone in the rain.

"Miss please.. you need to come inside." The beige unicorn said. She held the umbrella over herself.

"No!" Cadence snapped. She didn't want to go inside with the other fillies and colts. They treated her like dirt. Thunder boomed overhead as rolling clouds darkened the sky even further. The beige unicorn pursed her lips.

"They always laugh at me!" Cadence shouted again. But her hoarse voice showed no anger. Only hysteria.

Just then a taller alicorn walked from behind. The one she'd met in the Ether realm.

"You're not as different as they say Cadence." Celestia said quietly in the rain, she extended her hoof to the filly. Cadence's eyes grew wide. She didn't know why but Cadence ran into the tall alicorn's embrace, letting all her emotions out. Celestia softly spoke to her, with every sentence making her feel slightly better.

I will never forget this moment.

__________________________________________________________________

Now switching back to the present

Twilight let out a long drawn out sigh. Had Luna actually come into her dream that night or was her mind subconsciously finding a way to relieve itself? And if that was the case then does that mean she should still follow the advice given to her? What would the girls think? After all.. it was Twilight's fault they'd done that. She shouldn't have told them. She should have never shown them the terrible truth. Maybe if she'd done something differently this wouldn't have happened. Maybe her bond with Luna and Celestia would be intact and they wouldn't have been so morally wronged. Maybe if she'd asked Celestia rather than pummeling her then Celestia would still love her. The vivid scene of Celestia just turning into dust was fresh in her memory whether she liked it or not. The terrible scream of her teacher shook her up like nothing else could. She could be roared at by an Ursa Minor or taunted by a Changeling Queen and still stand her ground. She could have Discord laugh at her endlessly and still stand up to fight. It was only because her friends had been corrupted had she finally been broken. NightMare Moon could almost kill her.. and she could stand up for herself. But that scream, the blood curdling cry of pain and despair felt like no other. That was what threw her off. She'd studied dreams before. Anything in a dream was something the pony had already experienced except maybe with a little creative flair from the brain. It was fascinating actually. You could see hundreds of faces in a day and see them again in a dream even if you all you did was look at the pony. But it was all the more chilling to hear that scream again. She'd heard it when she and her friends beat down Celestia. It was such a disgusting act of violence she didn't want to think back on it but the idea just tugged on and on until she could ignore it no longer. Her hooves thrashing against the tall alicorn's skin. There was this... strange sense of delight. Some sort of satisfaction. Some primordial sense of victory that could hardly be explained with words. Though there was a slight sense of delight there was also the overwhelming feeling of fear. This fear masked itself with rage. Though her body was telling her to lock up the rage however in doing so not only did it boil over and cause her to attack Celestia it could also be seen in every fiber of her being. Every single muscle, tendon and tissue showed this rage. This unimaginable wrath. It flowed out her being and spread to her friends who could sense this wrath, and they of course were consumed by it too. Twilight took in a heavy breath of air and looked out the window of the cafe. She'd decided to sit near the window to watch it rain that morning. However a normal dose of coffee didn't make her feel any better. It felt like she was sick but she knew she was healthy. This knotted feeling in her stomach just made it harder for her to talk like a normal pony. Twilight glanced at her cup of coffee. The small white cup held a warm brown liquid inside. The heat coming from it was damp but still warm enough to be inviting. She lifted it over to her mouth to take a few sips, weary not to burn her tongue. If she was going to confront Celestia and Luna she needed to be able to speak rather then stumble over her words.

"Excuse me Miss Sparkle?" The waitress said before her.

"Yes?" Twilight said, setting down her cup.

"Would you like anything to go with your coffee?" The waitress asked once more. With a simple 'Yes, I'd like some milk' the waitress nodded and left.

Twilight sighed again and looked down at her coffee. The waitress came over to pour in a small amount of milk before leaving. With another sip of coffee Twilight had time to think once more. The bitter coffee in her mouth helped her think more clearly. Twilight hoped that she wouldn't have to remember what she did but it instead her brain kicked into hyper drive. The scene played over and over again in her mind like a broken record. The first hit was right in between Celestia's eyes. Then when Celestia became disoriented by the hit to the head somepony else kicked her to the ground. Then they just piled in on her. It was like an angry mob just beating somepony to the ground and then some. She could hear Luna screaming at them to stop but at that specific moment in time it just didn't seem to matter. It's not so much that Luna was weak or helpless it's just that she didn't want to hurt them. Twilight was sure somepony had also hit Luna. Twilight raised her hoof up to slap herself. In all of what? five, ten minutes she'd managed to devolve everypony into some raging monster that didn't care who it hurt?

Some Princess I am... Twilight thought to herself. He muttered something under her breath and took another sip of coffee.

Celestia just seemed to talk to herself as they hit her. It was so terrifying to hear her mumble to herself. And what did she say about static? What did static have to do with any of this? Celestia had just dissolved into hysterics at that point. She was laughing and crying at the same time, occasionally trying to get back to her hooves. But she just got hit back down. Twilight stomach churned.

What have I done? Twilight said, holding her head.

__________________________________________________________________

Celestia rubbed her eyes and slowly got out of bed. Luna had been kind enough to let her sleep in. Though... what time was it exactly? Celestia looked towards the clock to find out it was almost five o'clock. She ran over to the window to find that yes, it was day however her Sun was been covered by a thick blanket of clouds. The layer of clouds rumbled as it tumbled over one another. Rain pittered and pattered against the glass, the tiny little droplets either bounced off or stuck onto the glass. Celestia pushed her mane out of her face and looked towards the fireplace. The fire, thankfully, was lit and the soft warm glow lightened the whole room with the smell of burnt wood. However even with all the calm and quiet it brought little comfort. Her body ached, especially in between her eyes for some reason. Maybe she'd been hit there? But then again she'd been hit almost everywhere. Celestia rubbed her temples however winced as pain shot up her foreleg.

"Well this is just fantastic." Celestia grumbled.

She walked over to the mirror to tidy up, only to see a large, purple bruise under her eye. She slowly lifted her hoof to the bruise. The ugly purple and blue skin had faint hints of yellow. Celestia sighed and checked over the rest of herself. All non fatal wounds healed slowly to preserve the Sun's energy. Scrapes and bruises covered her body. Celestia let out a puff of air and dug through the a small case until eventually she found exactly what she was looking for, makeup. The small powder was the same color as her coat.

I thought i'd never have to use this stuff. Celestia thought quietly to herself.

Though she did use it after she got thrown to the ground by Chrysalis. That didn't hurt as much. She lightly applied it to the bruises until, for the most part, were hidden. As long as she kept her stress to a minimum she'd be fine. With a long sigh she slowly walked downstairs. Every muscle she used stung and every other one she didn't use ached. It was going to be a long day--or less than a day. When she entered the throne room it was as if all eyes were on her. Not in the normal sense anyways. Was it because they could see her cuts? Or was it the bruises? She checked herself over several times, surely she hadn't missed a- Wait a minute. She'd forgotten the large bruise on her shoulder. At least that was one she could lie about. Though Celesta didn't condone lying she couldn't possibly tell them that she'd been hit by her student.

"Oh my... Princess Celestia what happened?" Sunny Shadow asked. Celestia glanced at shoulder. Sunny Shadow only days ago treated her like dirt. She basically walked all over her.

"I'm fine. I slipped down some stairs." She said slowly. She had to plain out her words without sounding like a liar. She'd picked up on some things to do and not to do when lying.

"Oh... Well I hope you're not in too much." Sunny Shadow said quietly. It she bowed her head and Celestia continued onto her throne.

"Would you like it wrapped Princess?" Evening Eye asked carefully.

"No thank you." She answered back politely. Evening nodded her head and stepped back. Ink Well soon came over with a load of paperwork. Celestia however did not complain. Mainly because she was more or less excited. Finally something to get her mind off of the cuts and bruises hidden. Thunder boomed overhead as the rain picked up. Celestia glanced out the window from her paperwork, but turned to look down at her work again.

"Princess Celestia, Miss Twilight Sparkle has requested an audience with you." Scroll said softly. Celestia blinked and stared at the stallion.

"When?" Celestia's voice trembled slightly.

Author's Notes:

FIRE TRUCKING ROUTER DELETING MY PROGRESS RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Meeting

The Truth: Chapter 8

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

-"Curse of Dusk and Dawn" by Hoof Drawn

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

"Let her in." Celestia said. Her voice was solemn, but not cold.

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

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

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

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

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

"Then what are you doing here?" Celestia asked.

"We came to apologize." Rarity said, her normally curvy voice came out crooked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Princess Celestia.. how old were you at that time?" Twilight asked carefully.

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

"Celestia... I..." Rainbow tried to say.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What's going on?" Twilight asked, her eyes darting around the room.

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

Aurinko I need that power now. I need to close the rift.

Silence.

AURINKO. DO NOT ABANDON ME NOW.

More silence.

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

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

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

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

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

"What just happened...?" Rainbow asked, though her question hung in the air.

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

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

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

Children stop.

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

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

Aquarius?

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

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

"Sister, What do we do?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"M-Mother? Father?" Luna's voice quivered.

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

"Nebulis, speak in the new tongue." Their mother said. Nebulis nodded.

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

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

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

"I-I.." Celestia tried to say.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You two will be punished for your actions." Galaxia said with a heavy breath.

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

"You.. You wouldn't Luna said. Her rage turned to terror within an instant.

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

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

"This punishment will not last forever." Nebulis added in.

She and her sister fell to their knees.

This couldn't be happening.

Why was this happening to them?

Why were their parents being so cruel?

Why...

why....

why...

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Stop it!" Cadence shouted, glaring directly into Galaxia's eyes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"The price for this half-baked immortality crap is this?" Twilight shouted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greif

The Truth: Chapter 9

It was so... so strange. The sensation Twilight felt. It was this electrifying feeling. Like when she opened up magic circles, within a brief second, she felt the same sensation. This underlying power she could never grasp. The underlying power no being could ever grasp, one that only a magic circle could harness. Even with magic circles this power was not truly controlled, more like politely asked to be used. This was one of the reasons it was banned; It's unruly nature could be dangerous. Twilight had felt it first hoof, when the tendril sliced open her hoof like nothing. It cut through her like butter. That was why magic circles were banned. What if had hit a vital area, like her throat? Or if it's sliced open her jugular? This could happen to anypony. Though all unicorns knew the dangers of magic circles. But this sensation she felt, was that. But it didn't go away immediately. It stayed as if were supposed to be there at all times. But her eyes were still trying to recover form the blinding light. There was one orange light that came from where Celestia was, and another dark blue light coming from where Luna was. The two colors mixed together and made a vibrant purple. It was beautifully blinding. The colors of dusk and dawn mixing together in a brilliant display of power. But Twilight could feel her heart thudding inside her chest. The power was overwhelming. Almost like when a magic circle had been completed. When a magic circle closes, the magic bonds keeping it open break after it's power supply is cut off. Once this happens all the magic used pushes back into the faltering rift all at once. WIth all the magic a magic circle gathers it's amazing the fabric of space doesn't just tear apart. It felt like that, all around her. It was terrifying. Cold chills ran miles up and down her spine. Every bone in her body was telling her to run but she couldn't bring herself to. She could start to see two figures within the blinding light. The shape of two alicorns. Her heart lurched. She was going to see them. What would they look like? She doubted either of them would look anything like she knew them as. But something stuck in her mind. Galaxia and Nebulis said that all alicorns had a true form. Did that mean she and Cadence had one. But that would mean for every time they'd died they'd come closer and closer to becoming however they'd felt. And so far that'd been about four times. How many more times did they have left?

"You must all understand something." Galaxia said calmly.

"That we... we do love our children. More than i'd think anyone would ever now. I know they will resent us for leaving them. They will resent us for many things. But, we do this out of love. They must know the price for their actions. No one can truly be free from that. Not even we, supposed beings mightier than all." Nebulis said, his voice cracked like he was about to cry.

"And because that... we can never return to this country. It is not our own now. It is our children's. They've learned so much. Maybe too much for how young they were." Galaxia sighed.

"Queen Galaxia and King Nebulis. What are you even saying?" Cadence said, shielding her eyes.

"We will pass on. We are returning back to the stardust in which we came from. It is only just for two being born onto this world because they were simply needed. Just as our children where. They were born into this world because they were needed. Subconsciously we knew this. We knew all along one day there'd be one finale test for our daughters. One test to show they were worthy to control our domain. That of the universe. Just as your domain is of love and friendship. One say subconsciously you two will pass on your knowledge to another generation. That is simply how life is and will forever be for we alicorns. We alicorns that cannot do everything on our on. Please, take care of yourselves." Galaxia said with a war smile.

Twilight immediately knew why... why Luna and Celestia loved their parents so much. But why they were so confused when they were immediately persecuted. Because Galaxia and Nebulis didn't have much time left. They'd spent too much time in Tartarus. Too much time wasted on themselves, so they were cut loose of their immortality born of the stars. The main reason alicorns existed was to serve the living beings of that world, which meant when and if they focussed on themselves, they slowly lost their rights of immortality.

The King and Queen were dying.

"Why don't you just do your jobs then!" Twilight suggested worriedly, rather than coldly as her words sounded. The two alicorns chuckled darkly. There was this underlying pain in their voices.

"We've completed them. We have sacrificed ourselves one last time. The Oracle told us.

You will die a death of love,
One you will see coming
But do not act for you know it is your last
Your children shall be in agony, brought on by your selfish deeds.
But will love you just the same afterwards.

we were pretty confused at that point. After all we weren't that old at that point. Our mental age wasn't at least. Crashing into a planet will do that to you." Nebulis said , a small light tone in his voice. Like when he was a colt and didn't have a care in the world other than being happy.

"We'll say goodbye. I promise you that." Galaxia said cooly. The hint of a mother's voice showing.

How could they be so calm? They were going to die and leave their children all alone once more and they didn't seem to care. No, that wasn't the right word. They didn't seem to mind. They knew it could happen, and they wanted to make the most of their last day. She could see in their eyes they wanted to ask their children every question, to comfort every pain. To make up for the however many years they were gone. But they couldn't. She could see how much they'd wanted to but they couldn't. She wasn't angry at them anymore. She wasn't angry at anyone. She wasn't angry at herself either. She was just lost in a sea of emotions she couldn't describe as the crushing power of two alicorns showing their true forms seemed to multiply these emotion ten fold. It was this.. this feeling of being crushed. Like the feeling you've done something wrong. Or you've lied to someone you've loved. This guilt, deep down within you that makes it hard to think because it forces it's way into your mind. This feeling in your heart that you've done a terrible thing. But the feeling of anxiety still lurked within Twilight. It was so odd how the two emotions blended together. Cadence shielded herself from the blinding light, she could see the ponies above her were squeezing their eyes shut tightly from not being able to shield their eyes. A blue spell shot from her horn and sliced through the vines, letting the five ponies fall. It was a rough landing but no pony got hurt. Maybe a sprained ankle or something like that but nothing life threatening. The light began to wane, the purple light thinning.

______________________________________________________________________________

Celestia could not speak. Her words... they wouldn't come out. She felt like she was on fire. Every muscle in her body was in excruciating pain. Every fiber of her body hurt. She had an ear splitting headache which made it impossible to think clearly. She could feel this deep warmth coming from her chest but couldn't really place what it was. She knew she was crying but she didn't feel anything rolling down her cheeks. Only small clouds of steam. SHe tried over and over again to speak, then she just tried to scream. She wanted somepony, anypony to hear her. Someone to answer her at the very least. It was at that point she just fell over. This crushing hopelessness threw her onto the ground.

"This can't be happening. Luna i'm sorry. I'm sorry this happened. Please... forgive me. I shouldn't have ever made us go near that rift. I shouldn't have banished you. I shouldn't have forced us to banish Sombra or MIra. I shouldn't have let Twilight hit me like that or even get her hooves on the information in the first place. I'm... i'm such a fool. A hopeless fool that can't do anything right without somepony getting hurt." Celestia said softly. To everypony else's ears though, they heard the screech. The terrible screech that made it feel like their ears would bleed. She heard Luna mumble something, then Luna said something else no pony else could hear.

"It's okay sister. You're not a failure. You've got everyone best interests at heart. You try so hard to protect everypony." Luna said, Celestia could see the cracks in her skin growing.

"I'll stick by your side to the bitter end." Her younger sister said, A icy tear rolled down her face. The worst sound you could hear coming from someone. Not a scream or fear or pain. It's the voice crack of someone trying not to cry.

______________________________________________________________________________

The purple light was gone, more and more of the two alicorn's silhouette's appearing in their respective lights. Twilight could feel the strange emotion growing inside her heart as it beat rabidly. Her blood turned icy cold. Though she could feel cold beads of sweat form on her brow. Her brain was screaming at her to run away but where exactly? There wasn't anywhere to go. Sure she could run to another part of the castle but that wouldn't be perfect sanctuary. The cogs in her head still turned though. Why would alicorns go to such great lengths to keep their meat form? Because it seemed a lot for trouble than what it was worth. But then again, it was like if FlutterShy wore a monster mask when trying to take care of the animals. They'd be too terrified of her for her to even get close. The alicorns were essentially alive because they kept the world in balance. If they couldn't do that, they die. That was why Celestia had to banish Luna, because if the world fell out of balance then everything would die along with the alicorns. The alicorns could not survive without some kind of job or purpose. That was why Galaxia and Nebulis were slowly dying, because they were gone so long that no pony remembers them and they've also basically quit their job. The only reason why they didn't die in Tartarus is because Tartarus is where beings go like the alicorns when they become corrupt. Galaxia and Nebulis failed and the universe simply saw their journey into Tartarus a way of them dying. Luna had become corrupt so Celestia sent her to the Moon, which the universe saw as a way as punishment. When Luna came back she would probably would have died if it weren't for Nightmare Moon; because she wasn't keeping anything in balance. In fact, she was screwing up the balance. The reason why Luna hadn't had her ethereal mane was because she was literally dying. If Luna hadn't been saved any sooner she might have died. It was all clear now. The alicorn's entire purpose in life was to keep balance. If they failed at doing this, they would die. Which was why Luna and Celestia had to banish their friends; because whether or not they knew it, they would die if they didn't.

If Sombra hadn't fallen then they would have died.
If they hadn't banished Mira then they would have died.
If they had not stopped the world from falling out of balance over and over and over again
They would have died.

It made sense to Twilight that possibly all along she and Cadence had subconsciously been doing this even before they were alicorns. Or maybe Celestia had subconsciously pushed them in the right direction so the world wouldn't fall out of balance. Becoming an alicorn not only meant it was her job to protect Equestria, but also to keep the world in balance. If not she could potentially die. But her mind shifted back to what was really important. She hadn't realized it but her head was trying to get her to not pay attention to what was happening before her. The lights were starting to dim and she could see more of the figures within. The light warped and bent around them. The lights got to the point where they only outlined Celestia and Luna, but she could not see any more than two dark figures. Cadence stood by Twilight's side, her face warped with shock. The light disappeared and two alicorns took Celestia and Luna's place. One looked as though it had lava for skin, the other one bore a striking resemblance to NightMare Moon.

The dark blue alicorn was smaller in comparison to it's sister. It was still taller than Luna, about the same size as Celestia in fact. It had a inky black coat that held faintly seen stars. It had four wing, each instead of having feathers had an ethereal vision of the night sky. Much like Nebulis'. It's eyes glowed a greyish white. It's mane was nothing like Luna's however, instead it didn't flow at all. It was silver and hung down onto the ground. It's sister was much taller, drawfingall the other ponies in the room. Twilight would have to stand on her back hooves to look the giant pony in the eye, well if it had any. The tall alicorn's coat looked as though it was made out stone. It was ashy gray with numerous cracks in it.These cracked coursed with lava. It had large, fiery wings that were more dragon-like than anything. But the worst part was it's face. The alicorns looked like it was always locked in one position. Instead of eyes, there were just two pitch black sockets. Like it's eyes had been taken away. It's mouth did not open, or at least it didn't look like it would. There were two pieces of skin that connected the upper and lower lips. It's mane was fire, almost like Ignis'. The larger one had trouble getting to it's feet, which were melting the stone floor. The room was hot but cold at the same time. It seemed the smaller alicorn was like an ice cube and just took the larger one's heat like it was nothing. The tall alicorn didn't show any expression, but the smaller one wept. Tears streamed down it's face but it didn't say anything. The taller one was silent, Cadence could clearly hear a terrified moan from it's throat that never quite managed to drift off it's lips. The taller alicorn stood stiff, no pony could really tell what it was feeling. The creature lacked any facial expressions. The smaller one's glowing white eyes were no better, but at least the alicorn could make some sort of expression.

"Why...?" The smaller one's wispy voice questioned. It's voice seemed like an echo, a far offish sound.

"Luna, you know why. You could hear us." Galaxia said quietly. The colder alicorn bit it's lip. The sky outside began to turn orange as did the sun, which became and eerie blood red.

The colder alicorn's color turned from blue to orange. The same color as the moon during a lunar eclipse. As did it's expression. For being roughly it's parents size it seemed to dwarf them with visible power. The colder alicorn's inky coat became more of an underlying orange beneath a night sky. It's mane turned soft orange as well. It's glowing eyes glared at the ground with rage.

"Oh? So it's our fault you never told us?" The alicorn hissed. Galaxia and Nebulis shook their heads solemnly.

The taller alicorn buried it's hooes in it's face, trembling. It was strange to see such a powerful creature tremble in terror. It seemed to be afraid of itself. The significantly smaller alicorn reached up and put her hoof on it's shoulder.

"If we are unwanted them we'll be going. Goodbye." It spat out. The taller alicorn made another hissing sound in it's throat and the smaller one nodded. It transformed back to it's cooler colors.

The overwhelming horror or merely being around them was more than enough to bring the ponies to their knees. FlutterShy wept and the smaller alicorn took a few steps closer. But she wasn't sure why. All she knew is that she was terrified.

"I suppose even the Elements of Kindness cannot see us..." The smaller one choked out. Icy tears formed around it's glowing white eyes but didn't fall.

"Sister. It's time for us to depart. We'll come back when we're needed." Luna said coldly. She spread out all four of her wings.

The small alicorn Twilight saw, was Luna.

It was Luna.

The tall one that dwarfed even Nebulis? That was Celestia.

That was Celestia.

It shouldn't have taken that long for it to click, but she was so scared out of her skin her brain didn't seem to work. Luna was so beautiful, but the underlying fact of all the power freely moving around her was overwhelming. her mentor was the opposite. She looked almost like a skeleton, very bony and thin. It didn't help that the air around her made it feel like Twilight had been in an oven. But it wasn't the sort of ht she'd sweat in, it was the sort of hot that you ran away from. Such as a forest fire for instance. But she didn't understand why she was so overwhelmed. She'd dealt with that kind of amount of magic before--well she thought she had anyways--and she wasn't nearly as scared. It felt a lot like when Sombra had began to break into the Crystal Empire. This dark feeling of dread, like at any moment something could and would go wrong. Maybe she was so terrified because the two ponies she thought she'd known so well had becoming something they weren't? Maybe because her brain had to hold in all the new information about alicorns that her brain just couldn't process all at once. What Twilight did know is that she was scared. She didn't have an exact reason, but she knew she was.

"It's time to leave." A dark, twisted voice came from the figure of Celestia. It somehow managed to open it's mouth but Twilight hadn't figured out how. The sound was layered over a strange, soft static. Then there was Celestia's voice. But it was deeper, not in a sense that was ridiculous, it was almost like her voice just dropped.

The larger one spread out it's fiery wings and took off, followed by it's sister. They disappeared into the orange skies where wispy clouds once grey cast down shadows upon the lands. The two pushed effortlessly into the sky. They flew higher and higher up, flying through the wispy clouds in their way. The blood red sun filled back with it's normal color, but the colors of sunset still painted the horizon. Blues turned into purples with in turn turned into pinks. Then pink would turn into the orange sky.

Luna felt her icy tears stream down her cheeks. Normally ponies would feel their tears be warm but this was not the case. For the moon was a frozen place. There was no light to give warmth to the dark side of the moon. Her sister slowed until they got far above the clouds. From their vantage point they could see the clear sky, with barely visible stars. The sky, the beautiful sky, was locked at sunset.

"Sister. There's something I have to tell you..." Luna heard her sister say.

"Yes?" Luna said, turned to face her. Luna's horn glowed and soon a magical platform was underneath her hooves. Celestia landed. Luna could not meet Celestia's gaze. It was difficult to look at her sister's face.

"Well, You see... Aurinko is, or more rather has, helped me lately." She heard her sister say, rubbin the back of her neck.

Luna turned to look directly at her sister, who dwarfed her.

"Huh. I suppose that's why the city's repaired?" She replied back. She was more puzzled then shocked or afraid. Normally if anypony got Aurinko's help they went insane. Add to the fact that out of everything that had happened Celestia had been surprisingly calm. Her sister nodded slightly.

"Hm. Alright then... How do you suppose we get ourselves out of this? We...can't get near anypony without them screaming..." She said, the words dancing off in an echo off her lips.

"I-I'm not sure. I just.. I just wanted mother and father to be proud of us. That was all. And then.. they punished us." Celestia said, her voice quivering. Luna bit her lip.

"It's not fair! How could they do this to us!" She shouted at the ground. Luna morphed back to the colors of a harvest moon. Celestia shook her head.

"I just... I can't... I don't want to be like this." Luna said with a heavy sigh. Her anger disappeared and was replaced by greif. Celestia sat down. She was tired. Both physically and mentally. Her bones, if she had any, ached. Her heart felt like a stone within her chest, weighing her down. She wanted to go to bed.

"Sister, I'm tired. Can we go to sleep now?" Luna said. Tears welled up in her eyes again.

"I just want to go to sleep... and have this be over. Just for a little while." Luna said, looking into her sister's soulless eye sockets. Celestia nodded and laid down on her side, allowing Luna to use her back as a pillow or sorts.

"Thank you Tia." She said quietly before finally falling asleep.

Hydrogen

The Truth

Chapter 10: Hydrogen

The cool crisp air of morning fell into Cadence's lungs softly. She exhaled the now warm air. She stared outside into the endless rain, Discord sat next to her. She didn't know him well, all she knew if what she heard from her aunts and Twilight.

Twilight...

Cadence snapped back, her eyes wide with fear. She didn't want to remember. It'd only been a day since... since it had happened. She felt so helpless then. She was so afraid she couldn't even move.

"Princess Cadence?" Discord said softly, looking down at her. His expression was torn in between something like pity and empathy.

"I'm sorry. I'm fine." She said quietly, keeping her mane to hide her face from him.

"No one is fine right now." The draconequus said back, looking out into the rain. Cadence glanced up at him.

"Tell me Cadence, do you know why Celestia hated me so much in the first place?" Discord said solemnly.

"Isn't it because you made the ponies of Equestria miserable--something like that anyways?" Cadence said, tapping her hoof on her chin. Discord's face became pained.

"I doubt you know the full extent of what that means." Discord said, swallowing his pride. Cadence looked up, cocking an eyebrow.

"A long, long time ago before the three tribes even existed, Levier, Galaxia, Nebulis and I lived together in a way. Galaxia and Nebulis had come down to this world and soon found Levier, alone. My... father killed her mother Gaia. But Levier suffered from amnesia--just like Galaxia and Nebulis did." Discord let the nostalgia bring a soft smile onto his face. His expression softened.

"You see, they found me not too long after they found Levier. Gaia did put up a good fight after all." Discord chuckled to himself.

"So we lived together in harmony for a while. We were happy just being wanderers. I miss it sometimes, I really do; Being able to walk along a huge expanse of plains without anyone talking, just admiring the wide open beauty of the free land." Discord said with pleasure. His eyes glistened as memories flooded back to him.

"But then... one day everything took a turn for the worst. We were all just minding out own business, checking out some ruins when Levier came across some information. It told about how my father, and what he did. She was so fragile. She wouldn't stop screaming..." Discord let his voice trail off as he stared at his hands.

"I screwed up. I should have stayed there but I didn't. I ran away." Discord said, biting his lip. Cadence only listened.

"That's when Aurinko came. She told me she could help and get my friends back. I can't believe I listened to her. Sure she granted me power but that was just about it. I couldn't control myself. I got mad and attacked them. Galaxia and Nebulis weren't alicorns at this time. Because then they fell they lost their power. So Galaxia became a pegasus and Nebulis became an earth pony. There was nothing they could do. I almost killed them. Levier wouldn't... stop." Discord said, his voice trembling. He had never spoke about what had happened to him. Cadence looked up to him.

"You don't have to say more if you don't want to." Cadence said. Discord chuckled.

"Oh come on now Cadence you should know by now, I don't' stay sad for long." Discord said with a wide, mischievous smile. He teleported behind Cadence.

"And you can't either! C'mon I am one-thousand percent sure that eventually this whole thing will smooth. Maybe not by itself, but in time it will." Discord chirped. Cadence felt the draconequus push her towards the door. She pretended to be angry but couldn't help but giggle to herself.

However her giggling became silence as soon a they arrived in the throne room. Galaxia and Nebulis stared at Discord.

"Long time no see..." Discord said casually. A dark blue spell shot right above his head.

Discord ducked, his eyes wide. Nebulis glared at him, hatred that burned for over a thousand years burned into Discord's skin.

"Well that was rude." Discord said, teleporting over to Galaxia. She looked up at this with irritation.

"Silence!" Nebulis hissed, stamping his foot.

"Calm down Nebulis. We'll all on the same side now." Discord said, moving his hands like her was trying to push down something.

"That is utterly ridiculous and you know it." Galaxia snapped. Discord rolled his eyes.

"I'd think for being able to crawl out of Tartarus you two would at least be able to notice that I am certainly not evil anymore." Discord said with feigned disgust. He could never be angry at them.

"Fine. But slip up and I will send you to Sirius B!" Galaxia threatened. Discord only nodded.

"Fair enough." Discord said as she floated above Nebulis.

"I swear you two remind me of Twilight. She's sooo serious it's boring." DIscord said distastefully. HIs face was very animated; You could tell every emotion he was feeling.

"You will not compare us to that mortal." Galaxia snapped back. Discord began to laugh.

"You're no fun Galaxia." Discord pouted after trying to stop himself from laughing. Cadence 's face turned red as Nebulis began to stare at her. She couldn't read him; It was like he was stone wall. Nothing was let out and what was let in could not be seen as soon as it entered.

"Princess Mi Amore la Cadenza, I wish for us to get to know each other better. Come, we will go to tea." Nebulis said. Cadence blinked.

"A-Are you sure, I mean this is sort of on the spot..." Cadence said, her voice becoming faint as Galaxia glanced at her.

"Well, I realize this is very impromptu, but we do not have more than a few weeks left. I wish to know the ponies who will rule this country." Nebulis said calmly. Cadence nodded. She regretted not taking time to brush her mane as neatly as she would normally.

Cadence followed Nebulis and Galaxia as they walked amongst the web of hallways into a warm sun room. The sun room was quite small, only big enough for four ponies to sit comfortably. The cushioned seats were built into the wall, the table in the center of the room. Nebulis took his seat alongside Galaxia. The small, cozy room seemed to clash with their elegant posture. Cadence took her seat across from them. Two pegasi walked in, and stared at Galaxia and Nebulis. They stared into the starry, ethereal wings. Like they could see the universe within their wings. Because they could actually. The pegasi snapped back to attention and poured three cups of tea for the alicorns, then bowed before leaving the room. The fragrant tea smelled of bai mudan, earl grey, and rose chai. Cadence took in the smell with a deep breath.

"You have an excellent taste in tea." Galaxia said, her expression softened as she looked down to Cadence's cup of rose chai

"Why thank you. It's one of my favorites." Cadence said without thinking. SHe almost forgot who she was talking too. Nebulis lifted up his cup, taking a small polite sip. Cadence's face turned slightly pinker than it already was.

"I see. It is quite lovely." Galaxia simply nodded back. Cadence could see the soft, warm expression that made Galaxia feel so comfortable to be around. Cadence felt she could be trusted.

"So, Princess Cadence as I believe you prefer to be called, how did you meet my daughter?" Nebulis said,looking into Cadence once more. She hated the feeling of being looked into, but this time it seemed like he wasn't tearing her apart. He seemed to be more examining her, taking notes on her reactions.

"She... saved me I guess. When my parents died she took me in." Cadence said, looking down into her cup. Galaxia's expression changed in an instant. As if she was the one who brought it up. Nebulis nodded.

"I see. Say nothing more, I understand." He said, taking another sip of his tea. Cadence was relieved, though the anxiety of being around them still stuck to her.

"So, Princess Cadence what do you think of what it means to be an alicorn?" Galaxia said as she took a small, elegant sip.

"Well, it's... challenging to say the least. But honestly; I'm okay with that. You have to be willing to put in a lot of time and effort to take charge of a situation. But I bet you already know that." Cadence said, looking up from her cup. Nebulsi and Galaxia exchanged glances.

"Princess Cadence, i'd like to apologize for my brash behaviour earlier. It was quite rude of me to shout at such a genuinely kind ruler such as yourself." Nebulis said, closing his softened eyes. Cadence couldn't help but et a small smile creep onto her face.

"King Nebulis, I may not ever understand everything it means to be an alicorn, but I do know that you only want what's best for Equestria." She spoke quietly. Her lilting voice was soft and quiet. Nebulis looked at her for a bit, not judging or examining. Just thinking.

Cadence was a nice mare. She had a good heart and could see the good in ponies. She was calm and collected. She knew when and how to speak without being too brutal but still got her point across. It was only when she was worried she'd become urgent, which was understandable. Hopefully this good-hearted nature would last.

A purple alicorn slouched into the room. Ah yes, the other one was supposed to join them for tea as well.

"Sorry your highnesses, I-I wasn't sure where this was." Twilight stuttered. Cadence patted the seat next to her and Twilight quickly bowed and sat down.

Nebulis took a long sip of his tea, refusing to make eye contact with Twilight. This made Twilight nervous, well more than she already was.

"So, Princess Twilight; You've been my daughter's student for many years now, haven't you?" Galaxia said, staring directly into Twilight's eyes.

"Y-Yes. Princess Celestia made me her personal student after a I hatched a baby dragon." Twilight said unnervingly, her eyes darted around Galaxia's face.

"Ah, mind explaining a bit more to me then? Me and my husband's brief summary of the history of this planet within the years we've been gone are just that; A brief summary. Very vague and unreliable but the spell did give us as much information as we needed." Galaxia said, keeping her gaze locked.

"Ok-Okay. Well at first I just wanted to get into Princess Celestia's School in the first place. I spent so many hours studying and preparing. I did perfectly on the written part of the test, but when it came to show my magic, well at first I wasn't doing so well. When they presented the dragon egg and I couldn't hatch it well to say the least I was freaking out." Twilight said a little more casually.

"I see. Failure can be quite terrifying." Nebulis said, glancing at Cadence.

"Correct. I probably would have failed if it weren't for a friend of mine. Well at the time we weren't friend but anyway; Apparently what had happened was that she was in a race to protect my other friend. She went fast enough to pull off a sonic-rainboom. Most ponies at the time thought they were just a myth!" Twilight said, letting herself gush a little bit over her friends.

Galaxia and Nebulis exchanged glances.

"Well, the sound wave scared me stiff but then out of no where there was a huge surge in magic energy. And well I kinda turned everypony else in the room into potted plants. But then Celestia came in and everything went back to normal." Twilight said, letting a small smile grow on her face.

Galaxia nodded and attempted to take another sip of her tea, but then her eyes opened when she realized that the cup was empty.

"Hm, so you say my daughter stopped you?" Nebulis said as he shifted her weight.

"Yes. I don't what would have happened if she didn't." Twilight said, looking out the window to see the garden saturated with rain.

"Well then. I suppose it's time for us to leave. Until our daughters get back it seems well be ruling for a little bit now. However Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight we are going to need you help." Galaxia said while setting down her cup. Nebulis stood up and waited for Galaxia. Cadence nodded her head, grimacing a little. Twilight glanced at Cadence and agreed.

_________________________________________________________________________

"Sister?" Luna tapped her sister's shoulder. Celestia rose up to full height, groggily stretching her fiery wings but realized she didn't even need to. It's not like she could feel her wings anymore. She wanted to cry again but she didn't even have eyes to do so.

"Yes?" The taller alicorn said back, extinguishing her wings. Luna had trouble looking directly at her sister's face, mostly because there was no point trying to pick up on expressions. It was like her sister's face had been set in stone; A blank, unreadable expression that carried no describable emotion.

"I've been thinking of a way to go back... do you have any ideas?" Luna said, trying to look directly at her sister's face. But she just couldn't do it.

"No. Not really. My mind just keeps on jumping back to the Elements of Harmony and... they won't even get near us..." Her sister said, her distorted voice fading.

"There has to be some way." Luna said, trying to sound more confident than she actually was. In truth she felt hopeless.

"Luna.. I don't think there is. This is our punishment." Celestia said, that kind, hopeful voice was just gone. Luna stared at her sister in disbelief, but never her face. Would she ever see her sister's smile again? Or would that blank expression be all she ever saw anymore?

"Damn it!" Luna screamed out, stamping her hoof on the magical platform. Her colors shifted again. Tears ran down her face.

"It's not fair! I come back after a thousand years of exile and this is what I get? More misery! It's not.... it's not fair..." Luna sobbed, her body trembled. Her heart sank like a rock.

"No.. it's not." Celestia said, turning her head up towards the sun.

Celestia could not comfort her sister. She just couldn't. What could she say? that'd it get better? It wouldn't. It could be thousands of years before they returned to their old bodies, and even if that happened. And Luna had so much hope, so much hope that in the future she'd make Equestria proud to call her it's co-ruler. But that hope had been crushed, dashed away as soon as everypony around her screamed. In truth, her sister was beautiful, even in her true form. Her silvery mane and body that almost looked like a faint image of the night sky. Her four wings were elegant, and showed the stars. Luna's night had always been beautiful after all. Her bright white eyes that gleamed even in the daylight. It wasn't fair that she, such a beautiful mare, had been stripped of her hopes and dreams. Her noble aspirations to make a better future. Luna hadn't put her past behind, she faced it head on.

Celestia had always respected Luna because of this, to never back down and face challenges head on. To cry when she needed to but to put on her brave face when others needed her. She could be elegant and polite, but also decisive.

The recent events crushed this. They crushed everything that Luna stood for. So what could Celestia say? When every thing Luna strived to do was crushed?

"Sister... what do we do now?" Luna said, looking up the Celestia, still not directly at her face though.

"I.. I don't know sister. I don't know what to do." celestia said, her voice faltered at the end. She choked out her words rather then said them in that elegant voice Luna knew so well. But her expression stayed the same. Exactly the same. That blank, expressionless face. WIth those soulless eyes, that stared into void.

_________________________________________________________________________

Twilight stared into the old book. It was around midnight, however she couldn't sleep. The warm, orange light that was normally comforting fell on the pages of the ancient book harshly. She wasn't reading it, just staring at the same picture.

Such a simple picture made her almost cry. It was her fault. She should have never said anything. She shouldn't have told her friends, she shouldn't have yelled at them. There were some many mistakes she made that she wanted to take back. But she knew she couldn't. She couldn't make up with them either, after what she'd down.

Twilight threw her crown on the ground, it made a metallic clink on the tile floor. It twirled a bit and landed on it's rim, making another clink against the floor.

Twilight buried her face in her hooves, letting out soft sobs occasionally. She had failed. SHe was a failure.

"Twilight dear?" A familiar voice came through the door, which let a sliver of harsh castle lights into the semi-dark room. Twilight looked up to see Rarity, a shawl around her shoulders.

"Rarity?" Twilight said looking up. Rarity's puffy red eyes seemed surprised to see Twilight was still awake.

"Twilight..." Rarity held her hood over her her mouth, looking like she was about to cry.

She didn't know why, but she pulled her friend into a hug, folding her wings around. It just felt like the irght thing to do. Rarity let out a sob and hugged Twilight back.

"I'm sorry Twilight.. this is our fault." Rarity said, sniffly. Twilight shook her head.

"No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have dragged you into this."

"Dear, you never dragged us into it. We were the ones who should have held you back. We were supposed to protect you." Rarity put her hoof to Twilight's cheek.

"I'm such and idiot for screaming at them like that."

"Twilight, you were afraid. We were all afraid. You spoke up because you didn't know if it was in our best interests to trust her anymore. This is just as much our fault as it is yours." Her voice trembled.

And so they sat there for a while.

Smoke

The Truth
Chapter 11
By Blue Turtle

Luna felt a pang of guilt as she finished the last line.

"Sister. I know you're feel guilty, but we have to do this."

Her sister's words rang in her mind as she examined the small piece of chalk that levitated towards her.
What if this failed?

No. It wouldn't fail. She could do this, it wasn't that hard. Just draw the chalk lines from the book. Simple and easy as that. Magic circles were easy to control, if she was careful. All she had to do was summon some power, and she'd be home free.

Luna's wispy silver mane reflected the moonlight like a mirror, giving her almost a faint glow in the dark, besides her eyes of course. The stark white glow made it easy for her to know where she was going.

Luna sighed and looked around again, lowering her front wings.

"Luna?"

Her sister stepped out from behind an old wall. The rest of the structure had crumbled long ago, making and natural skylight that let in the moonlight.

Celestia lit up the area around her like a bonfire. Her wings were made out of pure fire, which she could extinguish at will. The dark maroon, almost dark grey. Fractures in between the molten skin coursed with lava, which would occasionally drip down, especially around her hooves. Luna didn't dare look directly at her sister's face, because all it held were two soulless black eyes that seemed to just swallow up any light. Her expression was blank and didn't change. Even when she sobbed uncontrollably her expression didn't change. Lava would just come from those soulless black eyes then be gone.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you." Celestia said as she stepped closer to her sister.

"No, it's fine. I know you're just worried." She answered back, the chalk bursting into powder.

"No evidence left behind." Celestia muttered under her breath. Luna pursed her lip as Celestia turned back, no longer looming over her.

"I'm sorry Tia. I really am. But this is something we need to do by ourselves, we can't risk anypony else getting hurt." Luna said quietly, shifting her weight.

"I know sister. But I have a feeling that by not being able to tell them our plans they will attempt to stop us."

"Damn Aurinko and her lies, she's been toying with this world long enough. She would dead and gone if it weren't for mother and father." Luna said with a bitter taste in her mouth.

"With our luck lately I bet they'd come here themselves to stop us. The fools don't even know." Her sister said, Luna could hear the anger and hiss in her sister's voice.

"No matter though. Once Aurinko is dead, there will be time to find a way to resume our natural bodies." Luna said with an exasperated sigh. It was bad enough that their time was already short, but with the recent complications she was having serious doubts their plan would work.

"If we even get that far." Celestia said glumly. Luna frowned, it broke her heart to see her sister lose hope. It just didn't seem like a thing Celestia could do.

"We cannot lose faith. If we screw this up, tragedy will be assured." Luna shook her head. She couldn't give up; Not when everything was riding on this.

Celestia looked at her, thinking deeply. It occurred that she couldn't give up. Luna needed her; if she gave up there was no telling what would happen.

"I'm sorry Luna. You're right. We can't give up just because of rotten luck." Celestia said, her voice a little bit more hopeful. Luna smiled slightly.

"It's understandable Tia. Now, let's secure the other magic circles."

___________________________________________________________________________

Galaxia paced back and forth nervously. Given the time left, she knew it wouldn't be long. With only two and a half weeks left, she knew that they'd have to be tracked down. Nebulis tired to assure her that they would be found, but there was no such luck. They'd run off into the Everfree, and even Levier couldn't track them down. Their energies became jumbled within the flora and fauna, which made any kind of magic search useless.

She could feel her life force slowly draining, like it was slowly dripping out of her. Every day becoming slightly fainter. She'd already noticed signs of it; decreased awareness, occasional cold fits followed by energy bursts. She knew she was dying and there wasn't enough time to fix that. If she had a hundred years left in her she might have found a way, but she only had eighteen days at most. As days passed by she felt more and more helpless, like the situation was out of her control. Because it was. She felt useless and weak for not trying hard enough. She showed on the outside she was handling it well, but in secret she'd sob to herself for as long as she could. She didn't want to die. She wanted to hug and kiss her daughters goodnight and help the creatures of the land. she wanted to feel the magic of the stars every night.

She wanted to see her precious babies and raise them again; to see them grow up because she left them behind. And then she shouted at them when she came back because they broke the rules, but really she was scared. Scared that they'd fade away like she was going to.

She felt like such a fool, and her daughters were in pain again because she was so heartless to them and when they begged and pleaded with her to stop she refused. She'd crushed any chance of getting to see them smile one last time.

She knew she couldn't watch them grow up. She left them. She knew she couldn't say goodnight because that was Luna's job now. The job she had to take because her own mother had been blind to Nebulis slowly getting worse and worse until he cracked under the pressure. And then she did it again. She insulted her daughters' pain and made them suffer even more. There wasn't an excuse in the world that could change that.

Galaxia choked back a sob as she looked out the castle window.

"Such and idiot..." She muttered under her breath.

"Dear?" Nebulis peeked his head out form the throne room door. He immediately knew something was up.

"I know something's wrong." He said as he closed the door, walking to up to her. Her mind raced trying to figure out if she should tell him or not.

Galaxia dissolved. She told him everything; Her fear of dying and not seeing her daughter again, how she had failed in protecting him. How she should have been a better mother to them and how she should have been more attentive to him.

Nebulis listened closely, never taking his eyes off of her face. Galaxia always liked that. The fumbling pegasus was still in him, even if he didn't show it.

Nebulis didn't say anything. Either it was because he didn't know what to say or how to say it.

"Galaxia..." He started to say something, but but bit his lip instead. Instead her pulled her into an embrace and held her there. At first she was stunned but let herself go.

___________________________________________________________________________

Twilight wheeled around the throne room. It was about midnight but they were dealing with a catastrophe.

"I will not believe such a thing!" One of the council members called out.

Galaxia and Nebulis sat at the front of the table, without even a hint of worry.

"Ah, but it's the truth." Galaxia said calmly, her cold eyes letting her tone sink in.

The distressed, horrified expression went through the council like a wave, ponies lifting their hooves to cover their mouths.

"I have been with Celestia and Luna for so long, don't they know the consequences?" Inkwell said with utter disbelief.

"With the recent events they've become reckless. They're taking more risks, for what reason I do not know." Cadence spoke quietly, though she was right next to Twilight, her eyes stared off into empty space.

"The question is what do we do now? Any scouting missions to attempt to locate them have come up empty, and all supposed sightings are erotic and spread over wide distances spanning hundreds of kilometers. Under normal circumstances I'd find this unsurprising, but seeing as their aura's give off such strong energy even a filly could sense them from miles away."

The council members talked amongst themselves, the chorus of jumbled mumbling was dull and quiet.

"Due to the recent events, I propose we attempt to subdue them before any major harm is done." One council member said, his tone seemed restricted.

Twilight felt her heart sink. This wasn't supposed to have had happened. She was supposed to be with her friends, laughing. Not discussing how to capture the two ponies she cared so much about. SHe cursed under her breath.

"And what do you mean by subdue? Because no pony could get near them without being mortified." She tried not to sound angry, but by speaking through her teeth it obviously came across.

"Ah yes, that's where you and Princess Cadenza come in. You are very close to the Princesses, which means they may be less reluctant to lash out at you, if they do." The stallion shifted his weight.

"You're using us?" Twilight couldn't believe this. She opened er mouth to say something, but stopped. She could see that the council was upset, maybe not how she was, but still upset nonetheless.

"It's the only way we can think of Princess. There's simply no other way we can think of without hurting them."

Twilight shook her head.

' "Fine."

She sat back down, staring at her hooves.

"We still have to find them, however." One council member said, clearing her throat.

____________________________________________________________________________________

"How cute." Staring into the crystal, It reflected exactly what Celestia wanted back to here; An image of the council meeting.

"I find it hardly cute." Luna said as she walked into the dark cave.

Besides the faintly glowing crystals on the wall and her own body, the cave was dark. The large jagged rocks jutted out of the walls like perfect perches, while one particularly large crystal was in the center. The crystal glowed a mixture of cyan blue and lime green, in the center however was an image of a large room inside Canterlot castle with dozens of ponies on the seating along the walls, and at the top of the room was a head desk where four alicorns sat.

The cave was being used by the sisters for their base, a place where their magic energy had been cloaked by the intense magic of the crystals.

"Hm? I suppose so. This is foolery; Them scrambling trying to find us. With so little time left for mother and father i'd think they'd be teaching Cadence and Twilight about alicorn magic and such " She sighed.

"Thinking we can't handle this, pfft. Aurinko has been weakened over the countless years inside it's prison. Not to mention the fact it'd escape eventually, so why should we wait? Aurinko would have time to gather up it's forces and wreak havoc" Luna sat beside her sister, tapping on hoof at the base of the crystal.

"Aurinko, so confident in her abilities yet so ignorant to our own." She let her words curl and fall out of her mouth.

Luna smiled at her, but it wasn't a kind smile. It held a sort of malice to it. Lacking sanity but not quite insane. It was a wicked grin, and Celestia liked it.

"So then, time to gather the sacrifices."

"They won't be hurt by this, correct?" Luna looked up to Celestia as she gazed into the crystal.

"A little shaken up, but no. If my memory serves correctly, then they'll be fine as long as the circles are perfect."

She spoke the truth; As long as the circles were not disturbed then everypony involved would be fine. However, if that wasn't the case, the sacrifices would be... used to fix the problem instead.

"That's good, I wouldn't want them injured." Luna said sarcastically as she laid her head on the ground.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter, but we'll need them after Aurinko is summoned."

Celestia sighed and turned away form her sister.

"I can't help but feel a pang of guilt. But this is what must be done." Luna said slowly.

"I know Luna, but something just feels wrong." She stared into the crystal, watching the meeting. It was like her heart was being torn between two sides; She was angry but she cared so much.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

They may have not realized it, but indeed they were being watched. The pony tip toed away, until they thought they were far enough away to gallop. The sharp knocks of their hooves on the cavern floor made their heart beat faster, being more and more terrified if the two heard them. It wanted to stretch out it's wing and soar off, but the cavern was too narrow and they'd banged it against a rock coming in. The cavern seemed to creak and moan just to mess with them, but they knew the truth.

The crystals seemed to be the only light source, so when they started to disappear they started to panic. Darkness seemed to snatch any light left until they were in complete darkness. Their nimble movements became slow as they crept through, feeling around carefully.

The cavern was twisted and broke off in strange ways, sometimes just dropping straight down into inky darkness. Hope became almost overwhelmed as tiny bits of crystal began to light the way and they began to trot forward in the dim light.

c-C-CRACK!

The pony stumbled, something underneath them was giving way, threatening to break under their hooves. The pony sprinted forward, extending their wings even though ti hurt, in hopes that they'd reach a safe ledge.

Touching down onto the other side of the cave, the pony turned back to see that they'd been on a narrow path, and the tiny crystals they saw were in fact on the cave walls as they descending into darkness. If they hadn't been going in a straight line, they'd dead.

The pony shivered in fear, their heart thundering inside their head. They knew they had to keep moving, but their legs felt like lead from fatigue. But there wasn't any time to take a breath and calm down, all the noise they'd been making would surely alert the sisters. The pony took a few steps backwards, then turned and galloped, jumping from rock to rock as crystals became more prominent. Soon the cave was back to full illumination and the pony could here the sharp taps of their hoofs on glowing crystals. The damp heavy air seemed to loosen their grip on their lungs, but they could still taste the moist sweetness in the back of their throats.

taking quick breaths the pony slowed down to a quick walk, eyes darting around as their ears swivelled around to pick up any sound. But the moaning and groaning of the cave made it hard for them to focus on one sound.

What did I get myself into...

The pony took off again, with determination.

No, this place, it''s evil. I have to warn everypony.

Smoke filled their lungs as they sprinted forward, fighting away tears as the smoke stung their eyes and their nose. It seemed to heighten all their sense as the wild pounding of their hooves on the cave floor became more apparent as well as the beating of their heart. It dried out their throat, distracting them as they continued to gallop onward, trying to look for the landmark they'd place din their head.

Where's the spire, c'mon I need ot get out of here!

Their mind raced, trying to focus while being alerted by any sounds.

tap tap tap tap tap

The pony turned back, their eyes wide with terror.

No one's there...

They sighed with relief and trotted forward, looking around for the crystal spire. The giant crystal stretched up to the cave ceiling, and had a story carved into it. Only know did they realize that the story had been put in place by the sisters. Tiny figures of ponies seemed to dance around two alicorns, smiling, BUt then the two alicorns became monsters, with crooked smiles and venomous eyes.

The problem was they didn't see the spire, and they were low on energy. But they had to keep going. Smoke swirled around the pony now, floating above their head. Their nose and lungs felt choked by the terrible smoke, making it harder and harder to breath, but the pony ran. That was all they could do, run. Hope glimmered in the distance, the spire! Standing tall it glowed cyan, creating a soft light that illuminated most of the cave by itself.

Their heart raced, but this time with great relief as they ran to the spire, jumping over jagged rocks with increased speed.

thwack!

They smacked into the ground, almost crying out in pain. Their hoof had caught on a rock, in their haste to get out of their they'd slipped and fell, and now their hoof was bleeding, crimson dripping onto the crystals and rocks.Getting up, they limped as quickly as they could toward the spire. It was the only way out, all they had to do was go left of the spire and they'd be home free.

It hurt, walking on what was probably a sprained hoof, but they continued forward, taking more steady breathes. They could feel their senses dulling due to the smoke. They needed more oxygen, which meant they had to take long, deep breathes.

Calm began to creep into their body. The adrenaline rush from before was gone now, and they felt every ache and pain. They were cold and drenched in sweat, shivering in the cave. Though the cave was actually quite warm, the reason why made them shiver even more.

There was no way to bandage their ankle, so they could only hold their hoof as the bleeding slowed ever so little by little. The cave ceiling was high above, so any smoke coming through the cave opening floated harmlessly up to the top. They knew it could kill them if they stuck around too long.

Getting up, they walked down to another narrow opening, relieved to get glimmers of daylight on the cave floor. Something dawned on them however as they eagerly trotted forward.

Smoke?

Author's Notes:

HEY HEY HEY
HAVE NEW CHAPTER

Counting Bodies

Author's Notes:

I think from now on the chapter's are gonna be shorter (Not under 1,000 words) but shorter. It's hard to make long chapters

The Truth
Chapter Twelve
By Blue Turtle

It felt as though they'd swallowed fire, their lungs breathed the heavy smoke like the devil's breath. They coughed trying to expel it. Fire raged around them, crystals shattering as heat expanded them to breaking point. It stung their eyes. Soot covered their hooves and faces, like another thick layer of heat, trapping them. Blood mixed into the ash and crystal shards , creating a crimson, blue shards and ash floor around their hoof.

Everything ached for sunlight, the warm gentle breeze that carried fresh air. Not this dark cave that sapped their life away bit by bit.

_________________________________________________________________________________

AppleJack paced back and forth. The alabaster walls seemed to taunt her, closing in.

This ain't right. This can't be the Princesses.

She thought to herself quietly. Princess Celestia had never shown much of an ounce of malice. She'd never lost her temper, and when she did it never wasn't for a good reason. She didn't know Luna well, but she did know she always had her heart in the right place.

Over the past few days, the sky slowly began to turn red. Even the nights were illuminated by an orange moon, casting an almost red light on the land. Around noon the days became blisteringly hot, but would quickly cool off after an hour or two. But ponies were already being rushed to hospitals from heatstroke. Ponies who got stuck outside had to hope for shade, and pegasi were working overtime to create clouds to shade the land as best they could, but that only worked so well. The cloud were sort of like blankets, and sooner or later they'd have to be kicked away. Rainbow Dash and FlutterShy were one of those pegasi, and had to leave Canterlot for that very reason.

Gods she missed them, she missed Pinkie Pie and Rarity, who'd gone back home to organize Ponyville. But she knew she had to stick by Twilight. She missed her family, but Twilight really needed someone to lean on. Rarity had confided to her earlier that Twilight had a break down and she didn't want to leave her alone. It was bad enough everything that was swirling on, like a huge thunderstorm of hysteria, but leaving Twilight alone in Canterlot would make it worse. Someone had to be there to calm her down, knowing Twilight she might freak like she did when she couldn't write a letter.

And then she walked in. her highness herself, Queen Galaxia. One reason all this happened. She bit back her anger, but she could tell the godly alicorn knew.

"Throughout my life, I have always done what I've figured is right and just..."

The queen, in her regal stature and garments, looked almost immortal. Powerful, but also in some sense, kind and motherly. Her eyes were soft, unlike King Nebulis, whose eyes were like daggers. She held herself in a way that came off as comforting, but not very opening. In some ways she was like Celestia, however Celestia had a certain air of playfulness and warmth, whereas Galaxia seemed to be a little bit more broad and restricted. It put AppleJack off.

"But.. I suppose this was my biggest mistake." Her eyes became gloomy and distant.

Such a powerful alicorn, so humbled by herself. When AppleJack had first seen Galaxia, she was tied in plant roots and in a daze. She could hear her anger though, her anger with her own children, who tried (as far as she knew) very hard not to screw up the cosmos. She really screwed up to say the least.

"Well ya know this mistake could cost hundreds their livelihood." AppleJack, adjusting her hat. The alicorn stared at her, those tired eyes seemed to light up, just the tiniest bit.

"Yes..." She hung onto the 'S' for a little.

"If Princess Celestia and Luna get what they want, there's gonna be a lot more havoc then you're telling everypony, right?" AppleJack said, her tongue like a dagger. She picked apart the Queen. Galaxia's expression sunk, and she pursed her lips.

"You hurt your daughters really bad. I don't know about alicorns or how the 'universe' works but I do know one thing; What you did, what wrong. If anything, you made it worse. Luna finally came back and she was all ready to start over again, a clean slate. But ya ruined it for her. I can't imagine how she feels." AppleJack sighed, her heart growing pained.

"You're correct. My old era ways are.. well, outdated. The universe... it feels different. Kinder, more gentle. It's filled with so many emotions I never even dreamed of. It feels so much more accepting, like.. even if you make a mistake, it will love you regardless." The queens nebulous magic enveloped her horn and crown, removing the ancient garment.

AppleJack blinked.

"The old alicorns are just that. Old! Just as the universe shifts and changes, so does life. When the kirins began to die out, I was worried. But now I see the Earth ponies and pegasi have taken their place. They've breathed in new life, different from before. Ancient magic is lost of for a reason; it's old. Energy constantly shifts and changes, so ancient spells become either useless or dangerous." A smile tugged at her lips.

"I see now I was wrong, I should have been more accepting. My mistake has caused the new dearly, and I will sacrifice everything to change it. I'm going to use my lasting strength to at least try and turn this around, for better or for worse."

The regal alicorn turned to face AppleJack.

"AppleJack, thank you, for telling me I was wrong. Because you're right." Galaxia set the crown on the ground, the elegant headgear glinting in the light. The grown, which seemed to be made from the stars itself, suddenly felt worthless.

"Well, uh... yer welcome." She lifted her hat up a bit. She'd expected a different kind of response from the Queen, but it was far better.

"Though, i'm going to need some assistance. Me and Nebulis won't be able to do this on our own, given the time being." Galaxia sighed and her form flickered, AppleJack swearing she saw a filly for just one second.

"Tell me, AppleJack, if you were trying to open a rift in the world, where would you hide the transmutation circles?"

"Well, uh I hate to break it to you Mi'lady but I don't practice magic." AppleJack knit her eyebrows, confused.

"Of course, but I'm guessing you know a thing or two about hiding magic circles." Galaxia raised an eyebrow.

Well, truth be told AppleJack had watched Twilight use them before, and Rarity on one occasion.

"Probably somewhere no pony would think. Out of sight and mind... dark too." And Idea struck her.

"The Everfree forest? Monsters scaring ponies away, and too big to find any individual spot without a massive search."

"That... that makes perfect sense. We're going to narrow down the search." She said, almost surprised.

"Come with me my dear. This information needs to be delivered."

She and Galaxia walked hastily out, not speaking a word.

_________________________________________________________________________________

They ran from the flames, deeper into the cave? Maybe. They didn't know. They didn't care either. Tiny fragments of crystal became tiny projectiles. Larger shards slicing skin and becoming bludgeoning weapons. Their mane whipped in their face, smoke becoming a thick fog and choking their lungs, It hurt to breath but hurt worse not to. It felt as though their legs had become lead, weighing them further and further. The glowing crystals were their only light source, and even then it was difficult to see.

The cave opened up again, they were back from which they came. The largest crystal standing stoic and tall, producing enough light for them to see clearly once more. Where relief once would have flooded, now terror. Standing in front of a bright cavern, was the silhouette of a pony.

"I'm sorry!" They sobbed, their voice filled with despair.

"QuickWit?" The armor glade guard ran up, holding the shivering pony.

She was so relieved, but still terrified.

"We need to go, now." She choked out. Her throat was dry and her voice cracked, dry and tasteless.

Her rescuer simply nodded and helped her up. They hobbled towards the entrance, her aching hooves making it hard to push forward. But they needed to get out of her. Her rescuer whistled, two other ponies running from the other entrances.

"It's time to leave."

"But we just got here." One said

"We need to leave." Her rescuer reiterated.

The two nodded uneasily. It couldn't be that bad? But she knew. It was bad, far worse then and farther along than the Royal Advisers thought.

_________________________________________________________________________________

His gaze into the mirror pool was unsettling. A deep glare, his brows furrowed in concentration. Twilight stood their absently, half paying attention. Her mind was in a million places at once. Scouting Squad 36C hadn't returned from the South East Valley, and it'd been four days, now on it's fifth. The South East had been voted most unlikely, because it was close to the dead zone, where Discord and Celestia's first battle took place. But the Ever Free also curled around it, hugging tightly to the intensely heated area. Hopefully the scouting squad would be back, but with the recent news, it was hard to be optimistic. She already noticed signs that Nebulis was weakening. The stars in his wings seemed agitated, swirling around even more, and his presence was more bearable than usual.

"I call for a rescue squad." Twilight said, taking a deep breath. The council members turned to her, unblinking, staring eyes.

"I agree with Miss Sparkle." A grey pegasus said, turning away to look at her fellow council members.

"Squad 36C is one of our most highly trained scouting squads in the entirety of the First Branch, they can handle themselves." Another said, the unicorn knitting his eyebrows.

"They've been gone almost five days Commander, I have faith in your Scouting Squads, however if they found something and aren't back yet, we're wasting time! Even if the mission fails we need to know what happened to them." Another pointed out. Nods of agreement started up, like a wave of yeses and nos.

"Then we have come to the conclusion that there will be a rescue squad, correct?" Nebulis said with a sigh. He looked tired.

Another chorus of yeses followed.

"We'll need the most magically acute, most experienced and well trained soldiers in the entire First Branch."

"I'll prepare a list." Shining Armor said, standing up. Twilight had taken notice of her brother's somber mood lately. He seemed eternally stoic, not his usual optimistic self.

"I'll have to see their abilities, not that I don't trust you Captain, but we're dealing with a percarious situation." Galaxia turned to face Shining Armor, who only bowed.

"Then it's settled. Council meeting dismissed." Nebulis tapped the gable to the desk and the inhabitants of the rooms dispersed. With a sigh, her brother walked out of the room. Dark circles under his eyes became more apparent as he stepped out into the brightly lit hallway. Outside, it was like it was day, with houses and stores brightly lit up. If she remember correctly, the meeting had started around noon. It was nine o'clock.

"Shining?" She asked, tapping her brother on the shoulder. He flinched, and turned to her.

"Oh, hey Twily." He yawned, a thin smile grew and his eyes lit up a tiny bit.