"Soon, my changeling army will break through. First, we take Canterlot. And then," Chrysalis said as she launched herself into the air "all of Equestria!"
"No."
Chrysalis turned back, towards the single voice of defiance.
"You won't." Celestia said, stepping forward.
"You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!"
Celestia spread her great wings and rose into the air. Her horn began to glow, brighter and brighter till it rivaled the sun itself. A beam of pure solar energy erupted forth and lanced across the room on a direct path towards the changeling queen.
Chrysalis reacted faster than Celestia had expected, summoning her own considerable power into a counter attack. The beams slammed into each other, sparks flew as the two torrents of magic vied for supremacy. Chrysalis let out a grunt of pain as the strain of fighting Celestia's magic slowly took its toll. In a few seconds she would run out of magic and her spell would collapse entirely. Desperate for more power she dug down deep into herself, calling upon the great reserve of energy she had gained over the last month as she fed on Shining Armor. Chrysalis felt a surge of power course through her veins and dumped all of that extra magic into her attack.
Celestia winced as the pain of her greatest secret climbed higher and higher until it was nearly unbearable. She watched in horror as her own spell was pushed back, inching closer and closer until the sickly green magic was about to overtake her own. Ignoring the agony in her horn, she drew upon her nearly limitless reserves, pouring more and more magic into her spell.
Celestia could feel Chrysalis's magic brush up against the tip of her horn, but her renewed effort was working. Even as the changeling used up more and more of her stolen power, Celestia was able to match and then exceed her and the progress Chrysalis had been making began to reverse. Her heart leapt forward, she was turning the tide, she was going to win.
Seconds later a massive wave of pain shot through her horn, there was a sickening crack and before Celestia could cut off the flood of magic she was channeling, her horn exploded. Shards of bone flew out in all directions, embedding themselves in anything or anypony unlucky enough to be caught in their path. She felt the sun, her eternal charge slip from her grasp and fly off into the depths of space as the magical tether she had maintained for eons came unraveled.
With nothing to stop Chrysalis's attack it slammed into her skull. She was thrown into the ground with such force that she cracked the stone tile. Celestia skidded until she impacted with the wall on the far side of the room. The last thing she heard was her crown clattering to the ground.
~~~~
Celestia's senses slowly came back into focus, as the waking dream faded away. She could hear something, a loud wailing sound, it was distant but growing closer. As her brain once again began to process reality she realized the screaming she could hear was her own. Since no guards had come running in, she assumed the noise suppression spell she had setup had kicked in automatically as it was meant to do.
Her mind quickly processed what had just happened and she turned to the glass of water on the desk in front of her. She raised it to her trembling mouth and drank greedily trying to bring her agitated body under control. The throbbing pain in her horn was a welcome reminder that the events of the past few moments had not actually occurred.
The growing number of nightmares had already lead to more than one awkward situation and she was running out of excuses. Her coat was heavy with sweat and her heart was beating so fast it felt as if it was about to explode out of her rib cage. Her chest rose and fell in unsteady heaves as she struggled to get her ragged breathing under control and bring her heart rate down.
Before Celestia could completely compose herself, the door to her study burst open. She didn't even have to look up, only one pony in all of Equestria would dare make an entrance like that.
"Hello Luna," Celestia said, hoping that her sister didn't catch the slight shake in her voice.
"Do not hello Luna me sister!" the small blue alicorn shouted. "And do not think that mask you so hastily donned can prevent me from reading you like an open book. This is the tenth nightmare this month."
Celestia chose to keep her eyes pointed down at the book in front of her. There was no way she could look her sister in the eye as she readied what she hoped was not an obvious lie.
"I don't know what you're talking about Luna," she said, as she pretended to scan though the lines of tax code. "I'll admit that our tax codes could use some revisions, but they are hardly a nightmare."
"That is not what I am talking about sister. You were dreaming and this is not the first time. I have counted ten nightmares this month and each one has been darker than the last," Luna said.
"Luna, I don't sleep. You know that." Celestia said, gently flipping a page.
"LOOK AT ME WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU!" Luna shouted out, the walls of the room shaking under the full force of her voice.
Celestia tilted her head up slowly, readying a false smile and some flowery words as she prepared to disarm Luna's temper. It would have been so easy, she had done it many times over the millennia. In fact, like most skills, Celestia had nearly perfected the art of calming down her short tempered sister. In all her long life she had only failed once.
Once.
Her eyes made contact with her sister, still trapped in the young body she had worn since the Elements had cleansed the Nightmare away. Luna looked as she did in her youth, before their true power had manifested itself. Her coat was lighter, her form smaller. A mane of light blue hair stood where a vast field of stars once flowed in an aura of magic so powerful its owner could move whole galaxies, rearranging the night sky as she saw fit.
Luna was a perfect reminder of their own innocent youth. Before they rose up to positions of power, before the many mistakes that they had made as they stumbled through their new roles in pony society.
It was the final straw. The lie had persisted too long and Celestia could no longer maintain it. Her mask shattered and the calming words she had prepared died in her throat, replaced with an unstoppable sob.
Luna, for her all her bluster, had not expected that reaction. Celestia had always been an unshakable pillar of strength. Even in their worst moments, the elder sister had always been a master at hiding her own feelings. If it weren't for the powerful bond the two ponies shared, she was sure Celestia would be as unreadable to her as she was to all other ponies. Luna rushed over to Celestia, wrapping her small wings around the much larger alicorn.
"I am sorry, I am so sorry, I did not mean to yell," Luna said, stretching up to brush her nose against Celestia's neck.
"I can't..." Celestia choked out between sobs. "I... can't do this anymore Lulu."
"Cannot do what Tia?" Luna asked softly.
"There... there's something you need to know..." Celestia said, forcing the flow of tears to stop as best she could.
Celestia bent her long neck down so Luna could get a good look at her horn.
Luna scrunched her nose in confusion. "What am I looking at?"
There was a gentle golden glow as Celestia dispelled the magical disguise that she had been keeping up for over a thousand years.
Luna let out a gasp as she watched as the gentle unbroken spiral that ran from the base of Celestia' horn to the tip fade away. The surface of Celestia's horn was pitted and fractured in multiple locations. A jagged crack surrounded by black scorch marks ran half way up the horn. The crack was deep enough that the living core of the horn was exposed.
"By the stars Tia, what happened!?" Luna asked, she was mortified, an injury this severe could only happen by channeling far too much magic. Given how much power flowed through Celestia's horn just to keep the heavens in order, Luna struggled to think of what kind of spell her sister must tried to cast to cause such a grievous wound.
"Surely this was not from your battle with Chrysalis?" Luna asked, still staring in disbelief at the sight before her.
Celestia winced at the mention of the changeling queen's name. "No Luna, this wound is much older than that." Celestia said with a sigh. "This is the price I paid for wielding the Elements on my own."
"But sister," Luna said with a gasp. "That was a millennia ago."
"I know," Celestia said, tears streaming down her face.
"How... how could you live like this?" Luna asked. But she already knew the answer to that. Celestia lived with it because she had no other choice, the two sisters were beyond the reach of death. True immortals inhabiting mortal shells, the only two known to exist. Divine beings bound to bodies of flesh and blood; while their bodies were amazingly durable they were still susceptible to damage. Like their mortal kin, their bodies healed best with rest and time. If Celestia continued to use her injured horn, say, by holding the solar system in place, the cracks would never heal. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks.
"My confrontation with you took more out of me than you knew Luna. The first cracks had already started to form before our battle drew to a close," Celestia said sadly.
"I do not remember suffering such a thing," Luna said.
"You were always the stronger Luna. While I maintain most of the solar system, the entire night sky bends to your will. You moved whole galaxies of stars with ease. It was taking all I could muster just to keep you at bay, but I knew it wouldn't last. I turned to the Elements of Harmony in desperation, knowing full well that they would not work, could not work for a single individual. But I forced them to and paid the penalty. My already weakened horn nearly shattered under the strain."
"And then you were just as trapped as I was. If you withdrew your grip on the sun to allow your body time to heal the planet would freeze as the star flew off into the depths of space," Luna said.
"Yes, for the same reason I cannot sleep until your power fully returns, I also cannot turn off the flow of magic though my horn," Celestia said, hanging her head.
"The pain, Tia, it must be unending," Luna said her eyes misting over. "I am so sorry sister, this is all my fault."
A large white wing descended and wiped the tears from Luna's eyes.
"No Lulu, I saw the signs of you slipping away from Harmony and in my hubris I made no attempt to reach out to you before it was too late. I too share blame in this. And I would endure this pain gladly for the rest of time if it meant I would never lose you again," Celestia said, hugging her sister tightly.
"I love you Tia," Luna said, struggling to hold back tears.
"And I you."
For several minutes the two sisters held each other and no more words were spoken. The tension in the room began to drop but Luna knew it would not be completely resolved without more words. Grudgingly she broke the silence.
"I do not understand then, what has changed? I may still lack the ability to assist with the heavens but I've been able to do my dream duties since my return and I did not sense any of these nightmare of yours until recently. And how are you dreaming if you do not sleep? And while I can sense your dreams I have not been able to enter them."
"It is a side effect of the spell I use to hold back my body's need for sleep. Nopony, not even us, are meant to go without rest for so long. Eventually dreams started slipping through, a way, I suspect, for my brain to deal with the lack of sleep. It is a waking dream that I slip into, losing contact with my outside senses even though I remain awake. They were infrequent in the beginning, I don't think the first one showed up until nearly 300 years after your banishment, but they've grown in both number and frequency in the last 50 years. I fear the spell may soon fail entirely and I will be forced to rest. As for the dreams themselves, you could not enter them because I was blocking you."
"Tia, I could have helped with the nightmares. It is the one thing I still can do in this useless body," Luna said, glaring down at her immature form.
"I did not want you to worry, we both know it will take time for you to regain the rest of your power and nothing we can do will speed that up," Celestia said.
"I know," Luna said with a pout, "but I still do not understand. If you had been having these nightmares for so long I would have sensed them when I returned. A happy or neutral dream I might overlook since I was not searching for them but a nightmare, they shine out like a beacon to me and they did not start till after... after Cadance's wedding," Luna said, slowly as she put the pieces together.
"It was Chrysalis's attack, was it not?" Luna asked.
Celestia's ears flattened against her head and she looked down at the floor.
"I couldn't stop her Lulu. Equestria had 1000 years of peace because there was no one left who could challenge me and the world knew it. But they didn't know that nearly every ounce of magic I could muster in my injured state was tied up holding the sun in orbit around the planet. I got by on reputation alone and it worked until that wretch of a queen called my bluff, even if she did so unknowingly. Had I not been in my current state I could have squashed her like the bug she is but when I fought back I was forced to use more magic than I had in centuries. The pain grew out of control, it was beyond words, beyond any ability to bear. I stumbled and she nearly took the kingdom."
Celestia sighed and pushed herself deeper into Luna's hug.
"The nightmares came soon after. Sometimes I am just forced to relive the events of that day, other times my horn shatters when I push through the pain. In one I pushed too far and broke the seal..."
Luna shuddered involuntarily. The price to take mortal form had been to seal away the infinite power of the gods. Access to such magic would have instantly destroyed even their enhanced mortal bodies. The seal that held that power in check existed outside the physical universe. It was normally untouchable, even beyond the reach of any form of Equestrian magic. But the sisters created the seals and could break them with enough effort. The results, if not done in a controlled and deliberate manner, would be catastrophic. Not just for Equestria, but for the planet.
"Finally, a bit of honesty between the two of you," a familiar voice stated as Discord appeared in front of the two ponies.
"Discord!" Luna hissed in annoyance. "We are having a private conversation, remove your foul presence at once."
Discord ignored the smaller alicorn and instead turned his gaze upon Celestia.
"I was wondering when you'd get around to telling her," he said. Celestia found the serious expression he wore on his face unnerving, it clashed with his normally flippant demeanor.
"You knew?" Celestia asked, trying to cover the shock in her voice.
"I had my suspicions that something was up when you summoned purple whats-her-face and her friends to deal with me. Shunting the fate of Equestria on other ponies? That was nothing like the Celestia I remembered. They were confirmed when I took the Elements, your "powerful protection spell" fell apart like a wet paper bag. I remember when your spells actually gave me trouble."
Discord snapped his claws and a small pink book appeared floating in the air in front of him.
"I still haven't been able to break the one on your diary," he said with a laugh. Bulging muscles appeared on his arm as he strained to pry the book open. He huffed and puffed but the cover didn't budge an inch.
"Put that back!" Celestia shouted in annoyance, cheeks tinting red.
"Why are you here?" Luna asked, her patience for the chaos entity rapidly diminishing.
"I merely wanted to show my sympathy for a friend in pain, and perhaps suggest a solution."
"Tia needs rest, it is the only way she will be able to heal," Luna said flatly.
"Oh I know, I know. And she deserves it too, working for years without a single day off. What she could really use is a vacation," Discord said.
"Which you know full well that she cannot take until my powers have returned. You add nothing with your statements of the obvious!" Luna shouted.
"Please Lulu, I'm sure Discord meant no offense," Celestia said. She turned to Discord. "Perhaps you have a plan, a way that I can take some much needed time off to heal?"
"He probably wishes you to turn control of the heavens over to him," Luna spat, glaring at the draconequus.
"You know my powers don't work that way. Your method of running Equestria requires far too much order. Unless you want the sun zipping across the sky at random intervals I can't help you," Discord said.
"Then you offer nothing!" Luna shouted. "Get out! My patience with you is at an end."
"Fine," Discord said before his face once again took on an unnatural seriousness. "But it would behoove your sister to get some rest. Chrysalis is not the only powerful threat to Equestria and next time Celestia might not be so lucky."
A massive pair of hedge shears appeared, floating in the air next to the draconequus. Out of nowhere, he pulled a sun bonnet and a pair of gloves. The bonnet went on first, followed by the gloves and then finally, he snagged the hedge shears out of the air.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some gardening to do."
"Wait!" Celestia said, but it was too late. Discord disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the two alicorns to consider his warning.
"As much as I hate to admit it, he may be right," Celestia said. "There must be some way I can take some time off even if only to get a little rest."
"I do not trust him. He is the only being left with the power to challenge you."
Discord had been a major reason the two sisters had chosen to take mortal forms to begin with. A powerful entity from another dimension that just eked under the bar for true godhood, he represented one of the greatest threats to Harmony in existence. Because he was not quite divine, the Creator's laws prevented them from directly countering Discord until they shed their godly forms. But once they had, he could match them as long as they played a limited game. It wouldn't do to stop Discord and destroy the planet in the process. It took a divine gift, the Elements of Harmony, to give them the edge they needed.
"Chrysalis would not dare try again and the rest who might we either destroyed or trapped in Tartarus long ago," Luna said.
"That thinking is what got me in trouble to begin with and he is right, I do need a vacation," Celestia said with a sigh.
"But who can carry your load? You ca not just dump this on your student like your previous problems..."
"Maybe not just her... but... I have an idea." Celestia said.
Twilight waited patiently as the two guards opened the large set of ornate doors to the throne room. Behind her, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash stood in silence. Even Pinkie Pie, standing over to her left, was uncharacteristically quiet. Twilight had spent the whole train ride to Canterlot worrying about what possible reason Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would have to summon her and her friends. Royal summons had a disturbing track record of being used to inform Twilight about some new danger looming over Equestria. For not only Twilight but her friends as well to be called upon in the middle of the night did not bode well.
The grand doors swung open revealing a darkened room. Surprised, Twilight turned to the guard, "Where are Princess Celestia and Luna? We're supposed to be meeting with them."
"They should arrive shortly, please wait inside," the guard replied.
The group shuffled into the throne room and the doors closed behind them with a thud.
"Ow! Somepony just stepped on my hoof," Rainbow said.
"Sorry, can't see nuthin in here," Applejack replied.
"Twilight dear, why are the lights all out?" Rarity asked.
"Oh oh oh, maybe it's a surprise party!" Pinkie exclaimed, "Is it Princess Celestia's birthday?"
"Princess Celestia invited us here, why would she throw a surprise party for us on her birthday?" Applejack asked.
"I dunno, but it certainly would be surprising," Pinkie said.
"Oh, I hope not, I don't like being surprised," Fluttershy said quietly, ducking behind her mane.
"I don't think that's why we were summoned, as for why the lights are out it's because nopony is here," Twilight said.
"That's not true," said a familiar stallion's voice in the darkness followed by a yawn, "we're here."
"Shining Armor?" Twilight asked, "Is that you?" Unwilling to wait for a reply her horn flared to life and she turned on the throne room's lighting. Everypony blinked as bright white light filled the room.
"It is you, and Cadance too... what are you doing on Celestia's throne?"
Shining Armor and a gently snoring Princess Cadance were curled up on Celestia's large golden throne. Shining Armor poked Cadance with his hoof, she lifted her head, blinked her eyes a few times.
"Are they back yet?" she mumbled in a half whisper.
"Not yet honey, but Twilight is here, along with the rest of her friends."
Cadance sat up, struggled in vain to suppress a yawn and then rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"Alright, what's going on here?" Twilight asked.
"We don't know Twily, we were both fast asleep when a messenger burst in with an urgent letter from Princess Luna. When I opened the letter a spell activated and teleported us here. The letter just said to wait in the throne room. That was at least two hours ago, we were both so tired that we fell back asleep, I woke up when I heard the door."
"You haven't seen Princess Celestia or Luna?" Twilight asked.
"No, we don't even know why we are here."
"That pretty much describes us as well; I'd just hit the hay when Twilight here came a knockin on mah door looking for me. She had a letter from the Princesses' saying we were needed in Canterlot immediately," Applejack said.
"That was almost midnight AJ, what were you still doing up, apple bucking in the dark?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Farm work doesn't end when the sun goes down Dash, I was going over the sales records with Big Mac."
"I think we need to get back on track, we were all summoned in the middle of the night, something big must be going on. Maybe Sombra is back? Or Discord has turned on us? Or it could be Chrysalis... what if it's all three of them! THEY MIGHT BE WORKING AS A TEAM!" Twilight said, getting louder as she grew more panicked over the possibilities.
"Oh Twilight, it's nothing like that."
Everypony turned around, and the room immediately went quiet. Standing behind the group stood Princess Celestia. Her royal torc was missing entirely and in its place was the gaudiest Hoofwaiian shirt Twilight had ever seen; in place of her crown a large straw hat sat upon her head. Next to her stood Princess Luna, she had a matching shirt, and was wearing a dark pair of sunglasses. Rarity took one look at the two alicorns and fainted while everypony else just stared in silence, unsure what to say.
"Buh? Bwa? Whuh?" Twilight lifted a hoof and pushed her jaw closed, "what is going on?"
Celestia smiled back at Twilight and set the two large suitcases that had been floating gently next to her down on the ground.
"We have called you here for some very important news," there was a pause and she continued, "Luna and I are going..." she paused for effect, "on vacation."
"What!?" Twilight said, her wings fluttering nervously.
"Vacation Twilight, we're taking time off, 1 year to be precise."
Twilight sat down hard and then repeated her statement, "what!?"
"We are taking a break Twilight, a break from ruling over Equestria, a break from maintaining the heavens, a break from everything. We called you here because we need your help," Celestia said.
A murmur went over the group of ponies as they tried to guess what Celestia meant.
"You can't take a break, certainly not for a year; it isn't just Equestria that needs you, what about the planet?" Twilight said loudly.
"Luna and I have discussed this at great length, this is no trivial matter, nor do we ask for your help lightly. If we do not get some much needed rest, we could cause more damage to all of Equus than any of the trials you have faced in the last two years."
"But... but... but."
"Twilight, I have not slept a single night in over a thousand years..." Celestia began, as she talked she let her the spell that held up the mask that she maintained every day fade away. Her gently flowing iridescent mane faded into a tangled, discolored, uneven mess. Her tail was split and knotted, her eyes were bloodshot and dark circles told the tale of a desperate need for sleep. "I need this. If I weren't immortal, I would have dropped dead from exhaustion centuries ago."
"Tia, show them," Luna said before turning to Twilight. "This goes beyond mere exhaustion. My sister is in desperate need for time to rest but also to heal. From a wound she has concealed from all of us."
Celestia sighed and let the disguise on her horn fade as the mask had moments ago.
A gasp went up among the crowd, Rarity who had just woken back up, looked at Celestia's horn, screamed, and then fainted again.
"By the Creator, what happened to you Auntie!?" Cadance said.
"She has carried this burden since my fall from Harmony," Luna said. "Injuries caused by going well beyond her body's limits when we clashed, compounded by forcing the Elements to work as they had never been intended to."
The group of ponies stood in muted silence, not quite grasping the full extent of Luna's explanation.
"Let me take some time to explain it," Celestia said. "But first why don't you wake up Rarity."
Applejack gently shook Rarity awake so she could hear Celestia's story.
"You know that a unicorn can injure their horn by trying to force too much magic though it. Well it is no different for us. Though our limits are far higher these physical bodies can fail. I pushed mine far beyond safe levels of magic when I fought Nightmare Moon 1000 years ago but even that was not enough. I knew if I didn't stop her the eternal night she sought would mean not only the death of Equestria but all of Equus."
"Luna, you said something about the Elements?" Twilight asked.
"The Elements of Harmony are fantastically powerful artifacts that were created to assist us in our fight against Discord. To contain a entity of pure chaos requires nothing less than the power of Harmony itself. The six Elements each represent an aspect of Harmony and they can only be used by ponies that carry those aspects within themselves. But they require something more than that, true friendship. For just as musical harmony is the combination of notes, working together to create something beautiful so the Elements require ponies working together in order to function," Luna said.
"Nightmare Moon was too strong, I knew I could not stop her, so I turned to the one thing that could. She had strayed far from Harmony so the Elements would work on her, but Luna and I had always used them together. I did not share a sufficiently strong enough friendship with anypony else that would allow me to wield them. I forced them to work without another. Such a thing is completely against the nature of the Elements, it took a phenomenal amount of magic and I was already suffering from an overuse. That final bust of magic nearly destroyed my physical body," Celestia said.
"My power was locked in the moon, sealed by the Elements. With me out of the picture, Celestia had to maintain the heavens alone," Luna said, dipping her eyes in shame.
"We've already been through this Luna, you are forgiven and I to shared in the blame," Celestia said, lifting her sister's chin up with her wing. "My horn will never heal until I am allowed to rest. I am at my limit tending to the sun and moon, it is why I was unable to fight Chrysalis. Had I expended the energy needed to beat her, I likely would have shattered my horn and doomed the planet."
"But can't Luna help out now that she's back?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Luna's current condition was not known by the public. Nopony remembered Princess Luna and so nopony knew that she still wore the body of her younger self, before she reached the age where her true power had been unlocked.
Luna bowed her head in embarrassment, "The Elements did more than free me from the Nightmare's grip. They wound the clock back, to give me a fresh start, erasing the stain of disharmony from my body. This," Luna said motioning to her body, "is how I appeared before I grew into my full power. While I have access to the dream world and can still cast nearly any spell that a unicorn could, I still lack the power to move any of the heavens."
"Luna was in affect de-aged by the Elements, if you scanned her body with a spell, it would read 24 years old instead of... Well instead of a much higher number, we'll leave it at that. We both unlocked our full powers around 25 years of age. That is why we are taking the year off. When we return, Luna will be able to resume her duties and we can rule not just over Equestria but the heavens as we were meant to, together."
"What about your horn?" Twilight asked.
"If I could relax my magic, my own wounds would heal in a few weeks," Celestia said.
"This whole thing... I had no idea Princess, why didn't you just ask for help?" Twilight asked.
"Twilight, I told nopony. Not even Luna knew until last night. As for help, well I have, and you gave it. Why do you think I set you up to deal with Nightmare Moon, with Discord and Sombra. I was too tired, too strained. I would have only made mistakes, or worse, injured myself more. Like I almost I did with Chrysalis, had I known she could must the power that she did, I would have never challenged her in my current state," Celestia replied.
Shining Armor spoke up, his tail twitching in confusion, "I don't understand though, even if you take a break from ruling Equestria, would you not still need to guide the sun and the moon?"
"That is why we have summoned you, we will need the help of everypony here for our plan to work. Twilight, Cadance and you, Shining Armor, will need to rule over Equestria in our place while we are gone."
"Me your highness? I can understand Cadance and Twilight, they're both princesses, but I'm just a unicorn."
"An alicorn you may not be, but with your time in the guard, you have more experience in leading ponies than Cadance and Twilight combined. They will both need your guidance, and do not dismiss your own position so quickly; you are married to Princess Cadance, and are brother to Princess Twilight, you are the most politically powerful unicorn alive," Celestia said.
"I never really thought about it like that before," Shining Armor said.
"Tis a good thing Shining Armor, it means you have not let that power run to your head, a lesser pony would have sought ways to use or abuse it the moment it became available," Luna said with a smile.
"That's all well and good, but you'd still have to manage the sun and the moon," Cadance said.
"Perhaps not," Celestia said with a twinkle in her eye. "And that is why you were summoned at such a late hour."
"You're going to teach us how to move the sun and moon?" Twilight perked up, "I didn't think we'd be strong enough."
"Directly no, if you attempted to channel the magic required to move either of our charges your horn would shatter into a million pieces, but we have another way," Luna said.
"Gather around my little ponies, we need to leave the castle," Celestia said.
One by one the everypony stepped forward. Celestia's horn began to glow, there was a great flash of light and the group vanished.
The ponies reappeared in a massive rocky chamber, before them was a gigantic blue gem, glowing with a faint light and larger than anything else any of them had seen before. The was a large crack running down its side and it was obvious that this was only a fragment of a much larger gem. Still, even broken as it was, Twilight could feel the power running through it.
"Where are we?" Fluttershy asked quietly.
"In a cave at the top of Canterlot Mountain, there is a tunnel system that will take you back to the castle directly," Celestia said.
"What happened to that gem? It is the most magnificent thing I have ever seen, however did it get damaged?" Rarity asked.
"It was shattered in a great war, long ago," Luna said.
"What kind of a villain would do something so horrid to such a thing of beauty?" Rarity said, aghast.
"Discord," Celestia said flatly.
"Is that?" Twilight started to say.
"Yes Twilight, it is what is left of the once great God Stone," Celestia said.
Millennia ago, long before Celestia and Luna took pony bodies, Equus was a chaotic world. It suffered from long winters and harsh summers that made life for ponies very difficult. Ponies of that day believed Equus to be the center of the universe, the poor seasons were blamed on the sun's distance from the planet which varied greatly depending on the season. To combat this, the unicorn tribe gathered their most powerful magicians to come up with a solution.
One was found in the God Stone. The largest and most pure gem ever discovered, it's ability to enhance and amplify unicorn magic was beyond compare. A unique spell was created, one that allowed the combined magic of the entire tribe to work together in harmony. That magic was then amplified by the God Stone, providing enough magic to alter the orbit of the sun. It didn't matter that before the tribe took over it was the planet that circled the sun and not the other way around. The God Stone allowed the unicorns to impose their will on the star. As long as they maintained the spell, through daily input of magic, it would circle Equus. But should the magic fail, the star would be lost, flung off into the depths of space.
"I thought it had been destroyed," Cadance said.
"What the heck is the God Stone?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"In the past, before Luna and I took over the duty of controlling the night and the day, the ancient unicorn tribe used this gem to amplify their magic, with it they could control the orbit of the sun," Celestia said.
"It was shattered by Discord somewhere during his long reign. For a long time the existence of the God Stone was hidden from him, but eventually he discovered it. He feared that the unicorns would find a spell that, when amplified by the stone, could contain him. After it was shattered, he took over the maintenance of the sun for the rest of his reign, but he obviously cared little for the orderly path the unicorns had set it upon. Once again Equus's seasons turned chaotic and they remained so until we stepped forward and defeated him. By then both the God Stone and the spell to control the sun had been lost, so we took over," Luna said, she turned to Cadance and continued, "the Crystal Heart that protects your empire was carved from a fragment of this gem."
"Will it still work?" Twilight asked.
"Not in the way it was originally used, which in truth is a good thing, the unicorn tribe would select the eight most powerful unicorns of the day to serve as a focal point for all of the tribe's magic. Those eight unicorns lived with the God Stone which eventually was moved here, to this mountain. Without their constant watch over the sun's course it would have strayed off of its unnatural path. Even with the magical boost provided by the God Stone, the strain was incredible. The average lifespan once a unicorn had been selected was ten years," Luna said.
"When Discord shattered the God Stone, it lost much of its power; even if we still had the same spell it would no longer be able to channel the magic of all the unicorns in Equestria as it once did, but the portion that remains intact is still the best focusing gem known to us and that is what we need it for," Celestia said.
Celestia stepped forward towards the gem and she placed a hoof on it, then turned back to the group of ponies before her.
"Each of you," she said looking at Twilight and her friends, "represent the best of ponykind. The Elements of Harmony chose you because of this. The God Stone, even broken as it is, can focus the power of your friendship in a way that the Elements cannot by themselves; with Twilight and Cadance guiding that power, you should be able to hold the sun and moon into a stable orbit around the planet. It will require periodic adjustments, which can be made here at this site, but for the most part it will be hoofs-off once the spell has been cast."
"Oh my gosh! Then you and Luna can take a break!" Pinkie said excitedly, "this calls for a party!"
"We were thinking a cruise," Celestia said with Luna nodding in agreement, "a one month trip out to Hoofolulu, a few months on the beach, a few more to explore the island and then one more for the return trip."
"So how exactly is this going to work?" Twilight asked.
Luna gave the group a detailed explanation on the workings of the spell, what they would require from everypony and then explained to Twilight and Cadance how to properly move the moon.
"Please do not attempt to move the stars, even when the God Stone was whole, it did not generate enough power to move the rest of the night sky, that is something only Celestia and I can do," Luna said, warning the young alicorn.
"How will we know where to position the sun and the moon?" Twilight asked.
"The moon knows her place, she requires only occasional adjustments. The sun's pull on her sometimes bring her out of alignment which can cause issues with the tides, among other things. The sun however, like all stars, has a hot temper, made worse by her close proximity compared the rest of her sisters. Celestia will show you how to reign her in before we depart."
The rest of the group had a few more questions, Celestia and Luna answered them to the best of their abilities, finally when everyone was satisfied, Celestia stepped forward.
"If everyone is ready, it is nearly dawn and we should begin. Twilight, you will find the Elements of Harmony in the trunk by the far wall.
Twilight trotted over and opened the trunk, she retrieved the Elements and passed them out one by one to her friends.
"When you are ready Twilight, provide the spark and then direct the magic of the Elements into the God Stone. Then you and Cadance should begin the spell that we showed you. The Elements will separate from the Bearers and then Luna and I will relinquish control of the sun and the moon to you," Celestia said.
Twilight's horn lit up with a bright glow, sparks of magic ignited on the tip and she began to rise in the air; one by one the Elements lit up and her friends floated up alongside her. The Elements of Harmony activated and a rainbow beam flew out from Twilight and struck the God Stone. The faint glow it had been emitting grew brighter and brighter until it became painful to look at. Cadance stepped forward and her own horn began to light up. Twilight concentrated on activating her portion of the spell. A brilliant glowing orb formed between the two ponies, connected to their horns by tendrils of magic. Luna and Celestia stepped forward, Luna touched her horn to Cadance's and Celestia to Twilight's and all four horns began to shine brightly.
The Elements of Harmony responded to the increase of magic and their glowing intensified. First Kindness, then Loyalty, Generosity, Honesty, Laughter and finally Magic detached from their owners and began to orbit the large gem.
Twilight could feel both the sun and through her shared connection with Cadance, the moon as well. She felt Celestia adjust the sun's position, and reached out to take it from her. Her magic touched the sun and she recoiled from the intense heat, it felt as if her horn was going to burst into flames, she cried out unable to take the pain. Celestia wrapped a wing around the young alicorn and delivered a burst of magic directly into Twilight's horn. The intense burning died down quickly, the heat was still there but it felt more distant.
Twilight analyzed what Celestia had done, saw her mistake and compensated. Celestia once again tried to pass the sun over to the young alicorns; this time Twilight reached out in a whole different way. The fire of the sun no longer burned her and she was able to take it from Celestia's grasp. It required a monumental amount of effort but she could make extremely minor adjustments to its path. She could feel Cadance helping her along, adding her own magic to Twilight's. When they focused their power together the strain of moving the sun went from nearly impossible to just difficult. Slowly they pushed it into orbit and it started to crest over the horizon.
For the first time in thousands of years, Celestia sat by and felt the sun rise without having directed its path. She wished that the God Stone was not buried so deep in the mountain, to see a sunrise crafted by the horn of another pony, it was a magical thought.
Next Luna took over, Celestia moved over to her sister's side, leaned up against her and whispered, "let my magic be yours my sister and show these ponies the proper way to end the night."
Luna felt strength flow into her through the bond that was unique to the two sisters and for the first time in what felt like forever, she took the moon gently into her grasp and lovingly moved it across the sky. This time Cadance and Twilight paid attention to how Luna handled the moon and when control was passed to them, they reached out in unison and gently finished lowering the moon, ending the night.
All four alicorns slowly backed away from the God Stone, each of them covered in sweat and panting from the effort of the spell.
"You did that every day for a thousand years?" Cadance asked, while swaying back and forth as she fought to stay standing. Shining Armor rushed over to her side and she slumped up against him. "By yourself?"
"Now you see why I need this vacation," Celestia said with a weak smile.
The Elements of Harmony continued to glow brightly and orbit the God Stone. Celestia showed Twilight and Cadance a spell to check on the status of the Elements and went over how to check how the God Stone was fairing.
"You and Cadance will need to come back here at least once a week to realign the orbits of the sun and the moon. After you make your adjustments, there are two more things you should check. First is how much power remains in the Elements of Harmony. Separated from the bearers they will eventually run dry and will need to be worn again to recharge them. However, by our calculations, they should easily last the entire time we are away. Still, make sure to check each time you visit the mountain. Of course should there be an emergency, you can send for us. If the strain proves too much for you, I should be able to resume control of the heavens in a few weeks time. The second thing you should look at is the state of the God Stone, it is damaged and running this much power through it will likely cause it to slowly degrade. Again, this shouldn't cause any problems in the time we will be gone, but keep an eye on it," Celestia said.
By now everypony was beginning to yawn, none of them except Celestia and Luna were used to being up all night.
"We are almost ready to depart, you can take this tunnel back, it leads straight to a hole in the mountain near the castle's western gate, there are no side tunnels so you can't get lost. When you need to come back up here, you can either teleport, or take the tunnel.
Celestia trotted back over to the trunk the Elements had been in, she opened it up and produced some scrolls.
"Shining, the spot you left vacant in the guard has yet to be filled, we would ask you to resume your duties as Captain while you are here in Canterlot. Please talk to Iron Fortress, he has been temporarily running things since you left. We have already made him aware of our plans and we've also left word with the High Council though neither know why we are taking this time off."
Celestia paused to levitate a small bag over from where the trunk with the Elements was sitting.
"These scrolls detail the transference of power. Our vacation is not meant to be a secret one, so you may inform the mayors and governors of the various cities and towns of Equestria at your leisure but please do not make my wounds public unless you feel it is necessary. One thing we ask of you is to not share our destination with anypony outside this room, we will be traveling in disguise and we want to rest and relax, not get swarmed," Celestia said as she passed out the scrolls to Twilight and Cadance.
"Are there any final questions?" Luna asked as she looked out over the group.
"I have one," a voice called out from four different directions at once, "did you completely forget about me or did my invitation get lost in the mail?"
The trunk that had held the Elements, stood up, bent over double, and flung itself open. Then it proceeded to vomit out a large wad of pink cotton candy onto a round stone slab that hadn't been there before. The trunk then stood up, let out a burp, excused itself and wandered off. Meanwhile the stone began to spin round and round and slowly the cotton candy started to rise like clay on a potter's wheel. It began to take shape until it morphed into a familiar form and Discord stepped off the spinning disk.
He wobbled back and forth for a second, clearly dizzy, his eyes still spinning in their sockets. He removed his head, gave it a shake and placed it back on his neck.
"Discord, what are you doing here?" Luna asked in annoyance.
"Why I've come to join in on the vacation. We immortals have to stick together," he said, grabbing Luna and pulling her towards him, "besides it's been ages since I've had a break myself."
Twilight raised her hoof to her forehead and muttered something under her breath.
"What was that my dear? I didn't quite catch what you said," Discord said as Twilight's words took physical form and flew across the room towards the draconequus who was now dressed to play baseball. He jumped up in the air trying to catch the flying letters in a large mitt, but he missed and they shattered on the floor.
"I said, a break from what, you don't do anything!" Twilight said louder.
"Me? Not do anything? Why Twilight, I'm hurt. I'll have you know that it isn't easy spreading chaos across Equestria, especially now that I must take such care as to not allow that chaos to harm anypony."
"ENOUGH, DISCORD YOUR PRESENCE IS UNWANTED, BEGONE!" The room shook slightly as Luna used the full Royal Canterlot Voice, Discord spun around at the sound of his name.
"Now this one knows how to enunciate," Discord said, popping across the room and patting Luna on the back. "Perhaps, Twilight, you should take lessons from her."
Celestia stepped forward and looked Discord right in the eye and placed a wing gently on his shoulder.
"Discord, please. I need this. Luna needs this. I appreciate that you helped set us on this path, but we want nothing more than to take a peaceful cruise out to Hoofolulu, would you really be satisfied laying in the sun all day?"
Discord looked back at her and opened his mouth. Then he paused, closed his mouth and scratched his forehead. He opened his mouth one more time and held up a claw. A moment passed and he lowered his arm and closed his mouth again.
"You're right, that does sound incredibly dull," he said looking glum.
"Well then, why don't you stay here, and we'll be on our way."
Suddenly Discord brightened up as he got an idea. Then he yanked on a pull chain sticking out of his ear and his head stopped glowing.
"But I know of a way to make it more exciting," he said with a snap of his fingers. "You don't want to waste your time in some 2 bit tourist trap, why settle when we could visit strange and exotic places."
"Discord," Celestia said with a sigh, "we don't want an exotic vacation, we just want to relax."
"We must hurry sister, the cruise ship leaves port very soon," Luna said.
"So focused on a ship, ship this, ship that, well if it's a ship you want let's at least hit up a good one," Discord snapped his fingers again and a red and black suit appeared over him. A second later a large oval shaped green portal opened up right next to the God Stone. He grabbed a hold of Celestia and Luna and jumped through the portal, pulling the two alicorns with him. As Discord crossed through the portal, he bumped the edge and it slowly started to tip over sideways.
Discord shouting, "Bonjour mon capitaine, how good it is to see you again!" was the last thing Twilight and the rest of her friends heard before the portal fell over completely, landing on the God Stone. The moment the portal brushed up against the side of the gem, there was a loud fizzing noise, followed by a pop as the portal exploded, shattering into hundreds of glowing shards. The shards flew out at high speed in all directions, twirling and corkscrewing in random directions, one passed in front of Twilight, curious she trapped it in a magical field and began to examine it.
A few moments later when she realized what she was holding, Twilight let out a gasp. It wasn't just remnant magic from whatever portal spell Discord had cast, this shard was a fully functional, if tiny, gateway to... somewhere. The contact with the gem, or perhaps it was merely caused by Discord's peculiar brand of magic, seemed to have caused severe instabilities in the gateway. Its quantum resonance was in constant state of flux which, if Twilight remembered correctly, meant that the other end of the portal was rapidly shifting, the other end could be anywhere on Equus or even in another dimension. She grabbed three more shards, inspected them and found the same thing each time.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a yelp coming from Fluttershy, Twilight looked up just in time to see a shard soar over her friend's head and smash into the cavern wall where it exploded into a cloud of confetti. She was so surprised she dropped the spell holding her shards in place. Free of the confines of Twilight's spell they flew off across the room. The air was starting to get thick with confetti as the illogical movements of the shards caused more of them to come into contact with the walls of the room and explode.
"These are active gateways, don't let them touch you, or you may be pulled through," Twilight shouted out, warning her friends.
Shining Armor threw up a shield around himself and Cadance; he left a section of the shield at the bottom open so more ponies could take refuge from the shards.
"Quickly, girls, get under here." he called out.
The rest of the ponies moved to get under his shield, shards bounced off the top of it, picking up speed whenever they did. One by one Twilight and her friends took cover under Shining Armor's shield. The only pony still out in the open was Rainbow Dash who had been on the far side of the room. Rainbow was making her way towards safety when Twilight spotted a shard heading directly towards the colorful pegasus.
"Rainbow look out, behind you!" Twilight shouted.
Just as the shard was just about to collide with Rainbow an unusual thing happened, scant inches from Rainbow's back it began to expand in size until it was large enough for Dash to fit through with ease. Fortunately as the shard expanded in size, it slowed down. Rainbow turned, saw the approaching portal and with a burst of speed only she could have managed dodged out of the way at the last possible second, only for the now full sized gateway to collide with the ground poofing into a giant pile of confetti.
Rainbow managed fly under Shining Armor's shield with no more close calls, he sealed up the shield and everypony stood still, watching in awe as one by one the remaining shards broke apart against the cavern walls. When the confetti finally settled down, everypony looked around the room in complete and utter shock.
"Is everypony OK?" Cadance asked.
The rest of the ponies nodded.
"What just happened?" Applejack asked.
"I think Discord just foalnapped the Princesses," Twilight said in a panic. "I don't know where he took them, this is bad, this is really bad."
"I don't think he foalnapped them, I think he was just trying to spice up their vacation," Pinkie said. "It sounds like he just took them somewhere else."
"Well what are we going to do about it?" Rainbow asked.
"I don't know if there is anything we can do," Twilight said, "I only had a few seconds to analyze those shards. They were gateways, similar in nature to the mirror portal that took me to that other world. What I couldn't determine is where they exited, it could have been here in Equestria, somewhere else on the planet or even another dimension. They were very unstable, but I'm not sure if that is because Discord's original gateway broke apart or because it was Discord who cast the spell. If I had more time to analyze one I might have been able to figure it out."
"Uh Twilight," Fluttershy whispered softly.
"Yes Fluttershy?"
"Why did that shard grow when it almost hit Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked.
"My best guess is that it was re-sizing itself so Rainbow could fit through," Twilight said.
"But I was too fast for it!" Rainbow said, pumping her hoof up and down in the air.
"So each of those tiny shards could have opened up into full sized portals?" Applejack asked.
"Well if they hadn't all turned to confetti, possibly."
Rainbow Dash scratched at her chin for a moment, then her eyes lit up.
"Twilight! I can't be sure but when those portal shards were bouncing around all over the place, I may have seen one fly down that tunnel," she said pointing at the tunnel Celestia had said would take them back to the castle.
The whole group turned and charged down the tunnel following it for twenty minutes until they came out exactly where Celestia had said they would.
"Darn, I was hoping to analyze one more of those shards, it might have helped me track down Discord."
Rainbow scratched her head with a hoof, looking confused.
"The more I think about it the more I am sure I saw one fly down that way," she asked.
"Maybe it hit the wall and broke apart like the rest of the shards," Rarity said.
"Nope!" Pinkie said bouncing up and down.
"How do you know?" Twilight asked.
"We didn't find any confetti along the tunnel, I know cause I was looking for it, I'm gonna go back and pick up the rest of it, there's enough of it there to keep my party cannon loaded for a month!"
"Well, maybe you were mistaken Rainbow" Shining said.
"I don't think so, but where could it have gone?"
High up in the sky, a single shard flew through the air, heading in a vaguely southern direction. It was already miles away and the distance only grew as it began to accelerate.