Falling.
Energy pummeled at her mind, her body, tearing at her soul. Fire. Light.
She was falling, but...
Light. It had been so dark for so long, she had forgotten the touch of light. The smell of it, if that could be believed. The taste. The sound.
Was it her, screaming obscenity to the maelstrom of light and shadow? She had felt it before, but then it had been crushing inward, caressing her, surrounding her. She had thought it a protection at first. And yet...
Silence. She had not known silence for so long that it was as a cacophony in her ears. The thundering, rushing thump of her heart, the godstuff coursing her veins roaring like fire. She could feel the heat of her flesh, the expansive pressure of breath in her lungs. The stretching tightness of her body, so confining. So small.
So vulnerable.
"We were meant to rule together, little sister."
She looked up. Up. Far up. Celestia towered across the shattered ruins of the great hall's vaulted roof, smiling benevolently when only moments before she had been wracked by terror and determination, and shame.
The falling sensation didn't leave her, though she could feel the icy cold of stone beneath her prone body. She looked about, trying to find her place, trying to understand. Ruined walls, the stink of centuries of rot and decay, the screech of wildlife. Her heart pounded. The light blinded her.
There were others here, whispering away. Orange, white, pink...
And then that mane, and those eyes, and that shy, innocent smile. Celestia was speaking again, but her words fell on ears that strained to hear other words spoken by another voice, that Luna had thought lost to her forever.