//------------------------------// // Shall Never Set // Story: The Solar Steward // by kissfromarose2 //------------------------------// Twilight was no scaredy pony. She had faced down terrifying creatures and evil dark ponies, even if it was only in her books. Her will was iron. However, the loud clop of hooves steadily heading up the stairs looked to change that. Though more hurried than usual, royal regalia tended to make a rather distinctive sound when it met wood, one Twilight was intimately familiar with. And since Cadance had abandoned her to attend, what was apparently a dating set up, engineered by Queen Chrysalis and her mentor, that meant there was only one pony this could possibly be. ‘What am I going to say?’ Twilight silently fretted. ‘How am I supposed to ask the Princess herself whether she really did go crazy a thousand years ago and nearly destroy the world? And how in Equus am I supposed to follow THAT up with whether her sister is going to come back crazy and try to destroy the world again.' She brought a hoof up to her stomach. ‘Remember what Cadance said. Deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. In…’ The hoofsteps grew louder. ‘Oh this is useless. Its impossible! She’ll banish me. Or even worse, fail me. Drop me as her student entirely. That is if Equestria is still standing after all this. I wont even be alive to be expelled!' Twilight looked at the window desperately. Why did this library only come with one emergency exit? That had to break some kind of fire safety law, especially for a tree, right? She sighed. It was no use now. All she could do was stand and face her imminent destruction. She cracked open an eye. Across the room stood Princess Luna herself; looking altogether worse than she had this morning. Under any other circumstances Twilight would have been altogether too concerned by the threateningly quirked eyebrow aimed her way to notice, but, considering her inevitable destruction, eyebrows suddenly appeared trivial by comparison. Looking at her mentor though, Twilight had to wonder if she’d missed something before. Bags that deep didn’t appear under a pony’s eyes overnight. And she’d seen her this morning! Even beyond that Luna looked haunted. There was a heavy shuffle to her step, one Twilight had only seen once before...the day Sunset had been lost to the mirror. Twilight remembered how her mentor had looked then; eyes bloodshot and hooves bleeding from spending weeks searching for an answer that never came. For a pony that could never return to them. But even then she hadn't looked quite like this. She'd never looked so drained...so empty. For the first time Twilight could remember, her mentor looked old. There was a long pause as the two ponies simply looked at each other, neither willing to break the heavy silence that had fallen over them. Finally Luna’s shoulders dropped in silent defeat. "So Twilight Sparkle." She said resignation filling her voice. “Thou hast made friends.” Twilight’s eyes widened in worry. “Princess?” The princess forced a smile too wide for her face. “It is nothing Twilight, truly. You have surpassed all my expectations. I don’t know what I was thinking sending you so unprepared.” Pausing for a moment Luna looked back to the door, checking it was closed before looking back all mirth gone from her face. “Twilight we need to talk. About the prophecy you found..” “Was it you? Were you the Nightmare?” Twilight burst out, still unsure which answer she was hoping to hear. Her mentor only nodded, unwilling to hear the crack in her voice that would surely come with speaking. “The boogymare who eats foals. That was you?” Princess Luna's look of fatigue turned in an instant to irritation. “I did not eat foals Twilight Sparkle. Even Nightmare Moon was not so monstrous as to do that, thank Helia. The boogymare you know of came later." Her face fell to sorrow. "My madness took a different form.” “What do you mean?” Luna sighed heavily. “My sister. The Nightmare fed on negative emotion. Over time it...twisted things. Dreams became Nightmares. Lies became Truth. My Sister...became my Enemy. I didn’t notice it at first. Small things suddenly aggravated me in a way they never had before. Whispers in corridors felt like knives at my back. Sleeping ponies turned into traitors. Every pony I passed on the street became a new poison dripping into my ear. I shut myself away. In hindsight it was the worst thing I could have done. The madness turned inward. Suddenly I was questioning myself, questioning my memories. Was I really a Princess, or was I just a puppet? Did I ever even leave that tower? Did my sister really love me? Was my entire life a life? ...I managed to fight it, for a time. But, in the end, I was too weak. The voices overpowered me. And Celestia suffered.” “And the elements?” Twilight asked. Luna’s eyes hardened. “Are something you should stay away from.” “But couldn’t they stop Celestia?” “The elements doomed Celestia.” said Luna fiercely. “And they will doom you just as surely as they ever did her. As they doom anypony who touches them. Stay away.” “But what about Celestia? Won't she..” “My sister is strong. Far stronger than I was: than I am. The Nightmare will not win. Not against her.” “And if it does?” “Then I will deal with the consequences, as I should have done a thousand years ago.” At Twilight’s frown Luna softened. "Perhaps it would help if I told you a story of her? I believe you would have gotten along quite well." As Twilight nodded eagerly the Princess unfurled a wing, allowing her student to tuckherself into her side, snuggling beneath Luna's wing, as she had countless times before, waiting silently for her mentor to begin the story. “It was one thousand and five years ago. It was the height of summer and we were travelling to Griffonstone to negotiate a new treaty with the griffon King. The recent...problems we'd had in the North had set us back almost a week, so I pushed for the quickest route through the Fangborn forest. Both our guide and Celestia were against it. The forest was home to a large and vicious pack of Timberwolves and our safety couldn’t be guaranteed. There were tales of chicks, ponies, and even full travelling parties disappearing, never to be seen again. But I was young and bull-headed. In my mind we were all powerful Goddesses and, if we of all beings couldn’t walk through a forest full of wolves, we might as well hand over our thrones to them now. In the end Celestia gave in. Any other route would have seen us arrive well after the deadline and any reason for the Griffon King to refuse to see us would be one reason too many. So we went through Fangborn Forest. For the first day or so there was nothing. Most creatures stayed away from us on instinct, and those who wouldn’t had already been chased off by the wolf pack. It looked as though we might even arrive early. That was when we saw the chick. There must have been fifty wolves surrounding it. Not even an alicorn could have gotten through in time to save the child. Any griffon who tried to get between the pack and its victim would have been torn to shreds. I froze. Everything in me screamed to save that chick. But I had to protect those who were already with us. The wolves could have turned on us at any moment. That was what I told myself. In truth, I was scared. Scared of what I might have done. So I hesitated. Celestia didn’t. In the time it took me to blink she had already thrown herself across the clearing and over the cub, shielding it with her own body. I remember she kept up her light shield for a time, but their moonsilver claws just cut through it like butter. It took me five minutes to reach her. They were the longest five minutes of my life. By the time I got to her, her shield was long gone. Her sides were torn and she was losing blood quicker than we could put it inside her. The cub didn’t have a scratch on him. Years later, I went back and counted the dead wolves in that glade. Thirty. I added twenty more before the day was out. Luckily we were less than a day’s travel from Griffonstone. I'm not sure if she would have made it all the way back to the Everfree Castle. She did save that chick though. She ended up saving the negotiations as well. That small griffon was the heir to the throne; saving him prevented war that day. If Celestia had been around I doubt we would have ever had to fight the Griffon Wars. She always was far better at diplomacy than I ever was. The King was so thankful he named her Protector of the Realm. The first and last time any outsider earned that honour. But that wasn't why she did it. She would have done it for anypony. Any being. Celestia was the most selfless pony I ever met. She would sacrifice anything for anyone no matter who or what they were. She would give everything to everyone but herself and never ask anything in return." Luna glanced back up at Twilight. "She was also excellent at chess. I have no doubt I would have lost miserably to both of you on countless occasions." "But why are you telling me me this?" "So somepony other than myself will remember that my sister is not a monster. And so you will believe me when I say Celestia will return, not the Nightmare." As if the Sun itself had heard, a bright flash lit up the sky, blinding all who looked on it. When Twilight could see again the shadow that had marred its surface for as long as she remembered was gone, replaced instead by the blinding figure of a white alicorn hovering before it. Twilight looked back at her teacher but she was frozen in horror. On the street below panic ensued. Ponies ran back and forth unsure whether to take shelter or run for the countryside. Many cowered in fear whilst others ran aimlessly in terror. Over the hill Twilight could see a small contingent of guards appearing. None of this phased the blinding figure. Golden eyes scanned the town as her fiery mane whipped around her. Eyes narrowing, she swooped down, landing on the street with a force that shook buildings and cracked stone. “Where is my sister?”