//------------------------------// // Part II - Chapter 10: Sundown // Story: Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky // by PortalJumper //------------------------------// Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky Part II - Chapter 10: Sundown * * * Starlit's head felt like it had just been run over by a carriage wheel when she came around, and her surroundings didn't help one bit. She was back in Celestia's throne room, or some simulacrum of it. The walls glowed less, the dais and throne looked less opulent, and the whole room was a magnitude smaller than it had initially been. The red furred Vox member who'd knocked her out kicked her in the stomach as he noticed her stirring. It was hard enough to hurt, but not so much that it was debilitating. Taking the hint she wearily rose to a shaky stand. Celestia towered above her, the Queen's height only accentuated by the now smaller throne room. Her mane, once a pastel rainbow of flowing hair, crackled with smoke and cinder as a ring of flame encircled it. Her eyes were a florid orange color and her fur burned with the same intensity as her mane. She was clad in golden armor that bore signs of charring and fire damage, the decorative feathers on the breastplate warped by heat. As Starlit's eyes scanned the Queen she saw that the jewel that had been atop her crown was floating an inch or so off of her horn, channeling gleaming golden magic into the black stone necklace. With a flick of her horn she teleported the red stallion away before addressing Starlit. "Starlit Sky of Stone Shore," Celestia intoned, "why do you seek to depose my rule?" Starlit's head was still swimming and she was now grappling with the fact that Celestia had her necklace, so she didn't answer. Celestia didn't seem to be looking for one. "What have I done to you, specifically, that has called for this level of subterfuge?" Celestia continued. "I invite you into my home, show you the wonders of my kingdom, and I am repaid by assault, deception, and disrespect." Celestia swiveled her head around to look Starlit in the eye, her gaze burning with barely restrained fury. "Are you jealous of what I have built here? Do you want to break me down to the level that your ilk are at? Or do you simply live to sow chaos and dissension?" The pregnant pause told Starlit that it was her turn to speak, a prospect she felt would bear little fruit. "Your Majesty," Starlit replied, "you're needed back in Canterlot." Celestia stomped her hoof so hard that it cracked the marble tile of the floor, and when she spoke again it was in the voice of a god, not a pony. "You presume to tell me where I am needed?!" Celestia bellowed. "Canterlot had it's chance, and it failed! I should've burned that monument to mediocrity myself when I departed, but I was a soft ruler in the time of the war!" Starlit tried to interject, but the Queen stalked forward, driving Starlit backwards with her movements as well as the force of her voice. "It was ponies like you that led to the death of a unified Equestria," Celestia continued. "With your schemes and your disorder, always trying to upset the status quo in the name of revolution, or progress! The other Princesses constantly tried to upset the established order, and when four of five supports falter then the entire building collapses!" Celestia's furor grew and grew as she continued her speech, and the cinders rising off of her mane grew into columns of flame as her eyes changed into cat-like slits. "I did my best for Equestria all those centuries ago, and what thanks did I get?! A knife in my back and a kingdom in shambles because of the mare who owned this foul thing!" Celestia said, raising the black stone to Starlit's face. "Where did you get this damnable amulet?!" Starlit knew that Celestia was in no mood for games or tricks, and she doubted she could lie to her even if she wanted to. Swallowing the bile that had risen to her throat from fear, Starlit answered. "Twilight Sparkle gave it to me. She sent me on this quest to fetch you, and the other Princesses, because Equestria is about to die without you five to rule it!" Celestia's furious gaze faltered for a brief moment at Starlit's reply, before redoubling its intensity. "Liar!" Celestia retorted. "Twilight Sparkle died centuries ago, trying to defend her tree from Chrysalis' hordes." "Were you there to see?" Starlit pointedly asked. "Did you see her die, watch the life drain from her body?" Celestia's silence was all the answer Starlit needed. Before her headache overcame her she had to get Celestia to doubt herself, if even for a moment. Enough to plant the seeds of reason. "Why would I lie to you about this?" Starlit continued. "I'm certain you could kill me with a thought, in a way that even that necklace couldn't revive me. I have nothing to gain by deceiving you, and everything to gain by being honest. Twilight is alive and she sent me to convince you to return to your throne, your rightful throne, so you can heal this sick and twisted land." Celestia stood tall at Starlit's proclamation, her face etched with furious confusion. It was an expression that didn't suit her. The fire of her mane flickered and crackled with a little less ferocity, and her eyes returned to their normal shape if not their normal color. "But why you?" Celestia asked. "You're small, with barely a modicum of magical power to your name. You scarcely made it here alive, and even then you did not arrive unscathed." Starlit fought back the urge to laugh at Celestia's question, as she was sure it would get her immolated. "Your Majesty, I honestly don't know why she chose me. Twilight said something about my lineage making me a good fit, but that could've been nothing but sweet words for all the good it's done me out here." Celestia stared Starlit down, but Starlit felt that she wasn't looking at her. She was lost in the confines of her mind, trying to piece together an explanation for what Starlit had said. Starlit then found herself floating through a haze of golden light that faded to black. It didn't feel like death, but it certainly wasn't a living state either; Just cloying blackness for as far as she could see. * * * Setting Sun's horn ached from the overuse of complicated magic he'd just performed, and when he breathed in a dull pain stabbed through his side, no doubt from a few bruised ribs. With a few blinks to get the spots out of his vision he dragged himself up to a sitting position. He was in a small room, no bigger than the hut Starlit and he had stayed in before they found the entrance to Undersand. In fact, it looked to be that exact same hut, down to the cellar door on the far side of the single room and the destroyed bed. The only things that were off were the presence of the rabbit doll Starlit had grabbed and the lack of bloodstains from the thestral. Sun's throat caught for a moment as he thought about the thestral that Shady Grove had become. He had dug around in his body like a cadaver, not knowing that his mother was grieving for his loss a few hundred feet below ground. Sun got to his hooves and started looking around; feeling sorry for himself wouldn't help things, and he needed to know where he was. If Celestia could hide an entire city from sight then a single room was certainly not beyond her ability. The windows were covered in an opaque, gray fog that rebuffed him when he tried to push through it, as well as the doors to the outside and the cellar. For the time being he was trapped, and with his magic drained from trying to fight he wouldn't be spellcasting his way out any time soon either. "You have an interesting taste in traveling companions, Setting Sun," a chillingly familiar voice said from behind. Sun nearly jumped out of his skin when she spoke, and her presence wasn't any less upsetting. Celestia stood at the far side of the room, fitting the picture of grace. She didn't look upset, much to Sun's confusion; if anything she seemed pleased to see him. She wasn't wearing any of her regalia save for her crown, with the jewel at its apex glowing softly with dull orange light. "That Starlit Sky is a fiery one, I'll give her that," Celestia continued. "I admire tenacity, and she has it to spare if how you fought my Vox Solaris is anything to judge by. Perhaps some of it has rubbed off on you." Celestia sauntered to where Sun was standing by the window, and lowered herself to her haunches when she did. Her expression was motherly, and it deeply unsettled Sun to look at her. "What do you want from me?" Sun asked. "Other than the obvious." "And what would be the obvious, Sun?" Celestia replied. "Torture, mind-control, and indentured servitude are just a few of them, I'm sure. Considering the grief that my parents put you through by having me, I'm sure there's a special hell you've reserved just for me." Celestia's expression softened, and for a moment it looked like she was about to cry before she breathed in a calming breath. "Sun, I hold nothing against you for what your parents did," Celestia said, her tone breathy and nurturing. "You may have been a product of the mistakes committed by Crystal Gale and Thunderclap, but you had no choice in the matter. I was sad to see your family leave us, truly I was." Sun found himself lacking for words. The way Celestia was behaving was throwing him off, but he decided to play on her good humor if only to try and pump her for information. "Then why did you make them leave?" Sun asked, sitting opposite from Celestia. "If it upset you so much to send them out to the Plains, why do it at all? Their only crime was that they loved each other; enough to defy you, and enough to have me. Was that really worth sentencing them to exile?" Celestia didn't answer immediately, instead staring out the fogged over window as if there was something to see. "When I founded Sunspire all those millennia ago, I did so under an edict," Celestia said. "My people, my fellow Alicorns, sent me here to expand our rule and build a legacy, one that would stand for eons to come. The other Princesses had similar mandates, I'm sure, but I didn't know of them at the time." "When I set to work creating my kingdom, I knew that peace could only come from order, and order could only come from rules and laws that all adhered to. I tried to be lenient, bent some of my own rules to make my citizenry happy in the early years, but the more I gave the more they wanted to take." "When I left for Canterlot to form the Unified Equestrian Commonwealth alongside my sister, Luna, as well as Twilight Sparkle and Cadance, I did so because I thought it would bring stability and order not just to Sunspire, but to all of Equestria. If the country was safe, then my corner of it would be as well." "After the war," Celestia continued with a thickness in her voice, "I returned to find my city ravaged, not just by the war but by dissension from within. The governors and leaders I had set up to lead in my stead fell to stupidity and greed. They did more damage to my lands than the war did, and that was when my heart hardened." A few tears fell from Celestia's eyes as she recounted her history, and for the first time Sun felt like he was empathizing with her. He knew he was seeing her, if only briefly, for the mare she was, not the tyrant she became. "Celestia… Your Majesty," Sun said, "I'm not sure if you're aware, but your restrictive laws are doing more harm than good. Sunspire may be an oasis, but the ponies that live on the edge of the Plains are suffering. Their lands are burned by your sunlight and they live in constant fear that they're going to be summoned or kidnapped. This very room we're sitting in had a dead thestral in it, and that thestral was one of the ponies you had kidnapped!" Sun's hackles raised as he spoke, and soon he found that he couldn't control his temper. "Shady Grove was just a colt, and you tore him from his mother and dragged him away to your 'paradise!' How am I going to tell her what happened to her son by your hoof? You've been tearing families apart for centuries and forcing your citizens into borderline enslavement because you couldn't figure out how to rule with a gentle touch! Because you were afraid of failure!" Celestia rose to her full height, causing Sun to back away, worried that he'd gone too far in his accusations. Instead of counter-arguments and justifications, though, Celestia simply bowed her head to look Sun square in the eye. "I'm sorry for what happened to Shady Grove, but he was a casualty of making my kingdom safe for all. One day Sunspire will encompass all of my lands, and soon everypony will be able to enjoy its splendors." The gem on Celestia's crown began to glow brighter, and it hurt to look at for too long as Celestia weaved a spell through it. "One day all will be together under my rule, but until then there will have to be sacrifices made so that my vision can be made manifest. I hope that you can learn see things my way, in time." With a flash of light Celestia disappeared, and Sun found that the room around him was now cleaned and furnished with comfy couches, rich carpeting, and plantlife hanging from the ceiling. The rabbit doll laid on one of the cushions, its eyes bright and its cloth body immaculate. * * * Applejack awoke with a start, drawing a sharp breath as she scrambled to her hooves. She let out a cry of pain as she put weight onto her right foreleg before it collapsed underneath her with a sickening crunch. "A broken leg, well ain't that just perfect!" she hollered to nopony. Gingerly she dragged herself to a wall and propped herself up against it, taking in her surroundings. The room, for all she knew, was the room at the top of the stairs in Cherry Blossom's saloon. The bed was missing and the windows were covered by a gray fog that, when juxtaposed with the familiar setting, made her feel deeply unsettled. "Where are you, Celestia!?" Applejack called to the empty room. "I know this one of your tricks, and I'm not fallin' for it!" "Not much gets past you, does it Applejack?" an accented, baritone voice replied. Applejack turned to see the same cherry red stallion who'd kidnapped her standing in the doorway, save that the door was replaced by grey fog. He wasn't wearing his Vox robes, which allowed his straw colored mane and tail to shine in the candlelight. His apple-green eyes pierced into Applejack in a way they'd never done before. "Mac," Applejack said. Her voice was low, as speaking any higher would certainly cause it to break. "Why did you have to go and put up a fight, Applejack?" Big Mac asked. "I've been here for years now, do you see me making a fuss like you and your new friends did?" "You should know why, Mac… remember when I kicked open that water barrel 'cause Winona had gotten out and eaten up half a bushel of apples?" Applejack added. "If I recall, I'm the one that had fix that barrel," Big Mac answered. "So that's you're justification? You have a short fuse?" "That bushel," Applejack continued, her voice gaining a hard edge, "was supposed to go to the schoolhouse for all the schoolfoals, to give 'em something sweet before winter set in. That's where you and I differed, Mac. You were always focused on utility, on the function of things. I had more heart at the end of the day, even if it wasn't necessarily the most pragmatic thing to do." "And while you were playing nice with everypony," Big Mac retorted, "I was busy making sure the roof didn't cave in and that we had enough food to go around. I tried to help us survive." "Then why'd you leave, Mac!?" Applejack asked as she stood up and stalked toward her brother on her three good legs. "Why'd you abandon Apple Bloom and I? Granny Smith had already passed away, and Mom and Dad got summoned just after Apple Bloom was born! It was just the three of us, and you decided to make it two!" "Don't you talk to me like I had a choice! Nopony gets to refuse the Queen's invitation!" "Have you ever seen anypony try?!" Applejack snapped back. "Maybe if you'd had a little more backbone you've thrown that ticket away and stayed with your family! But no, you followed the rules like everypony else and forced others to suffer for it!" "I didn't abandon you! Why do you think I brought you here?" Big Mac retorted, giving Applejack pause. "Brought me? You kidnapped me, beat me within an inch of my life! You tryin' to tell me that that was for my own good?" "I had to put on a show for the others," Mac answered. "We're always sent out in trios to make sure nopony tries to break off, not that I would've." "And just why wouldn't you have tried to escape?" Applejack asked pointedly. "Is Celestia's prison really that great?" "It's better at least than a rundown town on its last legs! She's trying to build a better future for all of us here, she just needs more time. If you'd get out of your own head for a moment and saw what she's actually built here, you'd understand that." "You really are bought in, aren't you?" Applejack retorted. "I know this room's just another one of her illusions or whatever hocus-pocus she's used to brainwash you, so send her in here. I'm done with you!" "Applejack, you don't mean tha—" "How would you know whether I mean it or not?! You're no kin to me anymore, so just go!" Applejack felt something wet slide down her face, and she just noticed that she'd been crying while she was berating her older brother. Big Mac's face softened for a moment before going back to the same resolute stare he'd had when she first saw him back at the House. In a flash of golden magic he vanished, replaced by Celestia's towering frame. She wore her crown with the orange jewel, as well as a set of gilded horseshoes and a bejeweled golden collar. "That went worse than I expected," Celestia admitted, "and I didn't have particularly high hopes for that reunion." Applejack took a few hasty steps away until she was nearly to the opposite end of the room. Fear was not an emotion she was used to, but Celestia was very good at inspiring it. "Was that even Big Mac, or was it just one of your tricks?" Applejack asked. She tried to hide the quavering in her voice, but she knew that it was going to be a futile effort. "That was indeed your older brother, in the flesh," Celestia answered, "just as I am now here in the flesh. You're the one who asked for me, though I must say that your trepidation is disarming." "What else would you expect out of a pony you had beaten, kidnapped, and forcefully indoctrinated into your whackjob cult?" Celestia didn't answer, only moved over to the empty space where the bed should've been and sat down, facing the fogged over window. She patted a spot on the floor next to her, beckoning Applejack to join her. "If it matters at all to you, I'd prefer to stay here," Applejack said, retreating back towards the wall a little more. Celestia didn't offer again, only showing a momentary look of disappointment. "Applejack, what your brother told you is the truth," Celestia said. "I am trying to make Sunspire a haven for all to enjoy." "You've sure got a funny way of showing it," Applejack quipped back. "But,"Celestia continued, "to do that, Sunspire needs structure and order. The Vox Solaris are just one way of doing that, making sure that order is maintained." "And that's why you've given them free reign to kidnap ponies from their homes? That's why you've been culling the towns on the edge of the Plains to fill their numbers with your golden tickets? Because of order?" "In a manner of speaking, yes," Celestia answered. "The ponies of my kingdom are happy, but the job that the Vox Solaris undertake is a harrowing and, at times, unsightly job. I don't want my subjects to have to see that side of my rule, but it is that side that allows them the comforts they enjoy." Applejack looked at Celestia, trying to see on her face if their were any signs of doubt or regret, but nothing came through her steely visage. It barely looked like she was addressing Applejack at all for as focused as she was in the fog in the window. "Celestia, this isn't how you rule," Applejack said. "Take it from me, it just isn't. At least, it isn't if you want the ponies you rule over to actually love you." "I'm aware of your role in Appleoosa, Applejack," Celestia replied. "You fancy yourself as something of a leader to the ponies that live there, yes?" "I do, but it's more than that. Now, I don't know much about running a city like this, but I do know that an iron-hoof and an unwavering obedience to the letter of the law isn't the way to make ponies loyal to you. It just makes them obedient." "Obedience and loyalty go hoof in hoof, do they not?" Celestia asked, her tone conveying genuine curiosity. "No, they don't," Applejack answered. "When I was a little filly, my granny told me a story about the mayor of Appleoosa when she was coming up. Nopony in town liked him at all; he was stuck up, had a violent temper, and generally was only looking out for his own peace and quiet. Didn't matter if bandits were runnin' wild in town, as long as it didn't bug him he didn't intervene." "There came a breaking point when my granny was in her young marehood when the mayor let the town's grain silo go up in flames. The townsfolk tried to get water to it, but the nearest source was a mile away because of the heat. By the time the ponies had come back to put it out it was already smoldering." Applejack saw a momentary twitch of Celestia's eye when she mentioned the heat. It was a small crack in her facade, but it was a crack nonetheless, and one that let Applejack know she was getting to her. "He tried to worm his way out of it when the townsfolk came to his door with pitchforks and torches," Applejack continued, "but when it came time for his guards to prove their loyalty, it turns out that they were only obedient." "And so the guards laid their arms down," Celestia interjected, "and let the angry mob tear the mayor apart for his heinous actions. I believe that that's how this sort of story typically goes." "Almost," Applejack replied, slightly surprised that Celestia guessed that closely. "The guards joined the mob and were among the first to attack him." "You see," Applejack continued, "while the mayor may have been keeping them from starving, he didn't get any loyalty from them because he never did more than what was expected of him. The ponies in town, however, would make small talk with the guards, or help them duck out for a quick break if they looked like they needed it, and sometimes the foals would bring them little gifts to help make their day a little bit better." "That's how you lead, Celestia. You don't just do the bare minimum to make sure that your subjects are obedient and provided for; you need to go the extra mile for them, show them that you actually care about them as something other than a tally on a piece of parchment." Celestia's expression didn't change. Applejack felt a seed of worry plant in her chest, one that sprouted as Celestia stood up to her full height and turned to face Applejack. "An interesting idea, Applejack," Celestia stated. "I'll have to ponder that for a while, but for now it's time for us to rejoin the others. I've just finished up with your co-conspirators." "You mean Starlit and Su— wait, what do you mean, you're done with them?" Applejack asked. She didn't get an answer as Celestia was enveloped in golden light and vanished, leaving Applejack alone to her thoughts. * * * Starlit Sky returned from the void she'd been floating in to find herself in the throne room again. It wasn't the smaller and darker one she'd been in before, but the glistening golden one that she'd arrived in earlier that day. Standing at the top of the dais was Celestia, and Celestia again, and still a third version of herself. Starlit scampered backward, reflexively reaching for the sword she no longer had. They were each Celestia, that much was certain, but they all wore different accoutrements and held themselves differently. The fire-maned one Starlit recognized as the one that had interrogated her, with the one on her right wearing nothing but her crown and a serene smile while the one to her left wore a collar, horseshoes, a cold glare. What differentiated the center Celestia even further was the jewel floating at her horn, the same jewel that had been set into her crown beforehand, and the presence of Starlit's necklace next to it. "Why so shocked, Starlit?" the center Celestia asked. "Surely by now you know that I'm something of an illusionist, and as such this should be little surprise to you." "What is this?" Starlit demanded. "Why are there three of you?" "There aren't," the Celestia on the right answered, her voice a smooth as water. "There is but one of me, divided into three that each contain the sum total of my power." "It is a pragmatic application of my prodigious skill," the Celestia on the left continued. "It allows me to better monitor my citizenry and, in this instance, gather information in an expedited fashion." "Information from whom?" Starlit asked, fearing that she already knew the answer. With a swish their horns the two outer Celestias formed a vision contained in magic, much like Twilight had done when showing her the unicorns of Rocky Point. In the right side one sat Sun in a well-furnished room, while in the left Applejack was curled up in the corner of a room that looked suspiciously like Starlit's from Appleoosa. "Strange, how ponies have many sides to themselves that they don't show," the center Celestia said as she sashayed down the dais steps. "Some are braver than they seem, some far more fearful. Myself, I try to keep a handle on my many facets." "Is this some sort of game to you?" Starlit asked. "Toying with the lives of my companions to get me to comply or leave you be?" "Starlit, do you really take me for a torturer like that?" right side Celestia cooed. "You've proven unresponsive to that sort of coercion," left side Celestia continued. "On the whole, you seem far more receptive to reason and logic," center Celestia said. "Acts of aggression spur you to action, to try and stop said aggression for the sake of peace and order. We're quite similar in that regard." "The only exception is that I don't go for the preemptive strike," Starlit replied. The center Celestia let out a sharp peal of laughter, joined in chorus by her other selves before they shimmered into golden light and drew back into her horn by way of the jewel. The tarnish on her armor vanished during the merge, and the flames that licked across her neck and from her tailbone now shimmered with the same pastel colors as her usual hair. "Defiant to the very end! That fire in you is the only reason I'm even giving you this choice, Starlit Sky," Celestia said. With practiced ease Celestia drew the two visions she had generated closer, placing them just close enough that Starlit could see Sun and Applejack in better detail. Sun was trying to find his way out of the room despite the fog over the windows, and Applejack simply weeped in her corner. "I want you three as my councilors," Celestia said with a smile. "You all would be offered a high place in my new order alongside whatever loved ones you wished to bring along. You would be cared for all the rest of your days in return for advising me." Starlit could barely keep her jaw from falling open in shock. After all she'd gone through to get there, all the evidence she'd seen and been told of how Celestia's rule was ruining the lives of her subjects, the sheer audacity of the offer made Starlit feel faint. "And when I refuse?" Starlit replied with a chuckle of disbelief. "So quick to say no?" Celestia replied. "You're not going to think it over?" "Celestia, this isn't a choice! You have to go back, what part of that aren't you getting? Equestria is dying without your magic to sustain it, and when the point of no return comes it won't matter if you're here or not!" Celestia's forced smile quickly dropped into a steely expression of disapproval. She whisked the visions away with a flick of her horn as the light in the room grew so strong that it hurt Starlit's eyes to look anywhere. "I had hoped you would be smarter than that, Starlit Sky," Celestia replied, her horn wrapped in golden light. A spear made of rainbow-hued fire emerged from thin air by Celestia's head as she dropped the black amulet on the ground, and Starlit felt a familiar weight lay on her back, shoulders, and hips. She looked at herself to find her set of leather armor and her sword secured to her body. "It's only fair," Celestia stated, answering Starlit's question before she asked it. "Killing you won't mean much if you can't put up some kind of fight." "Celestia, this doesn't have to end in violence," Starlit said. "You can still make the right choice! You can still do your duty to Equestria!" "Maybe there was a time where I believed that, Starlit Sky, but I am so much wiser now." With a mighty flap of her wings Celestia rose into the air, a plume of multi-colored fire rising from her ascent as she twirled upwards. With a soaring backflip Celestia adjusted her course, making a dive straight for Starlit. With a cry Starlit rolled out of the way just as Celestia landed, feeling a searing heat across her back from the Princesses' spear embedding in the floor. "Celestia, please!" Starlit pleaded. Celestia made no indication that she had heard Starlit as she lept forward again to skewer Starlit. She left a trail of flames as she glided, wraith-like, across the marble. Again Starlit barely managed to dodge in time, and this time she knew that there would be no reasoning. With grim determination she drew her small sword with her magic and prepared for Celestia's next attack. A blindingly hot wound opened across Starlit's spine as one of Celestia's doppelgängers stabbed through her with her flaming spear. Starlit's magic faltered and her sword clattered to the ground, followed closely by Starlit herself falling to the polished marble. The last thing she heard was Celestia screaming something at her, followed by a dull, rhythmic beat in her chest and across her back, and the last sight she saw was a glow of grey from across the chamber. * * * There was no sharp breath when Starlit awoke this time, only a furious stomping sound as Celestia tramped across her throne room. Starlit felt the dull weight of the amulet hanging from her neck, as well as the seared hole in the back of her armor. The room was still brightly lit, but Starlit's eyes were less sensitive to it than before. Shakily, but not so much as her first death, Starlit pulled herself to her hooves. She noted, with some fear, the Celestia still had her spear summoned and twirling around her head. "And she wakes!" Celestia declared. "Truly it is a miracle!" "More of a curse with a useful side-effect, in my humble opinion," Starlit replied. "So, now you know my little secret." "I knew what your secret was when you walked in here with that thing," Celestia said. "I just didn't expect that damn necklace to still work after so long." "Lucky for me that Twilight keeps good care of her things. Now that you know that you can't kill me, what say we go back to the negotiations?" "I'd much prefer to slay you over and over again until you capitulate or use up the rest of that necklace's magic, but I simply don't have the time." Starlit could hear the sincerity in Celestia's voice, the desire to crush her like a bug, but since she wasn't directly attacking just yet Starlit decided to go for the diplomatic approach. "Why us?" Starlit asked. "Why do you want Sun, Applejack, and I to be your councilors? Surely you have ponies around to do that for you?" Celestia stared Starlit down, her orange eyes alight with anger. She didn't answer as the pair circled each other, so Starlit pressed on. "Is it because we're defiant? Did you speak with them after me, and they told you truths that you didn't want to hear? I'm sure Applejack gave you an earful, she has a bold heart and a sharp tongue. Or is it because you know, somewhere in that burnt-out husk of a conscience, that what you're doing is wrong?" Celestia planted her spear into the floor, sending a column of rainbow fire into the air with its impact. Starlit instinctively drew her sword in preparation for another attack. "All I wanted was a bit of peace and order!" Celestia answered back. "I wanted a just society where everypony followed their roles and did as they were supposed to for the benefit of all! But instead I got deception and skulduggery around every corner, from penny-pinching merchants in the cities and townships that would try to fleece every coin they could get all the way to the scheming nobility and politicians of my own court!" "And now I have you to contend with," Celestia continued, jabbing the spear in Starlit's direction. "I've been able to exile or otherwise deal with every pony who would upset my order, and then you show up on my doorstep." Celestia's gaze traveled upward slightly, no longer staring at Starlit but at a point in the middle distance. She muttered to herself, too softly for Starlit to hear, as she thought. Starlit held her sword aloft, poised to strike at the slightest provocation, but there was none. Celestia quickly whipped her head around and launched the flaming spear at Starlit. With barely a hair's breadth of room Starlit dodged the spear, but saw a sizable chunk of her mane get cut off in the process. The smell of burnt hair stung in her nostrils. A large force pressed into Starlit's chest, enveloping her body as she was lifted into the air at eye level with Celestia. Her necklace floated away from her body, the leather strap pulled taut against the back of her neck. "If I can't kill you with the amulet, then I suppose I'll have to take the amulet out of the equation," Celestia snarled. "Perhaps your friends will be more amenable to my offer when they have your head on a pike in front of them." Starlit tried to protest, but the magic holding her up had locked her jaw shut. All she could do was flick her eyes feverishly around the room to look for a way out. The magic encasing the necklace glowed brighter with its pale grey light as Celestia's eyes illuminated a solid orange. "It's a shame, really, to see such a powerful artifact go to waste," Celestia continued. "With something like this a pony could rule all of Equestria and then some." The jewel on Celestia's crown floated over the tip of its owner's horn, shining with orange light and sending a series of concentrated magical beams to the black stone amulet. Starlit could feel it hammering away as Celestia cast her spell over it. "Think, Starlit, think!" Starlit screamed inside her own head. "There's always a way out, always a third option!" Starlit scanned around the room until her gaze landed on her sword, laying useless on the ground in front of her and out of Celestia's sightline. If she could use some of her magic to break through part of Celestia's spell she might be able to reach it and distract Celestia with an attack. "Unless... Starlit thought. With a steadying breath Starlit concentrated all of her energy on her horn. Remembering how it felt when she fed a warding line, the ebb of magic leaving her and flowing into something else, she endeavored to make her horn reverse the process. Starlit saw a glimmer of blue show up above her brow, the faint bit of magic that she could manifest of her own accord. Slowly she felt the siphoning effect take hold, taking in amounts of Celestia's magic that would be too small to notice. Her head felt like it was going to crack in two from the strain. Quickly Starlit's magical reserves filled up to the highest amount she could ever remember having, and the siphon still greedily drank the magic in. Her whole body felt like she'd been struck by lightning, with the glow of her horn shining bright enough to rival the amulet's. Just as Celestia began to notice the glowing from Starlit's horn did she make her play. Throwing out all the energy she could into a single, shouted spell, Starlit's magic broke through the barrier and wrapped around her sword. With a swift strike, magnitudes faster than she had ever made a single object move, she slashed at the jewel floating over Celestia's horn. "No!" Celestia screamed, too late to stop the sword. A piercing crystalline sound echoed around the chamber. Whether it was from the sheer force of impact or the magic she'd stolen, Starlit couldn't say, but the spherical gem was now cleft into two perfectly semi-spherical halves. The small sword flew out of Starlit's magic, flying so fast that it embedded into one of the walls on the far side of the room. Starlit fell to the ground with a thud as Celestia let her go. The Queen tried to catch the remnants of her jewel, but they hit marble before she could and shattered into innumerable pieces like brittle glass. "What have you done? What have you done!?" Celestia wailed at Starlit. The Queen rose high on her wings, her fur and armor now ablaze, with at least a dozen spears prepared to pierce Starlit's hide. Not knowing if the amulet could still revive her after what had been done to it, Starlit sprinted as far and fast as she could away from the enraged alicorn. As she ran, the world changed in a flash of perfectly straight, multicolored lines of light. The throne room was suddenly much smaller and darker, and Starlit had to skid to a halt before she ran face first into a wall. Several of the walls were broken down, giving a clear view of the world outside. It was night time, and the moon above was near full, providing enough light to show Starlit that Sunspire was no more. Everywhere she looked there was the endless desert of the Searing Plains, with only two structures of note to accent the vast flatness. A few miles off to the east of the throne room stood the ruins of the House of the Rising Sun, leaning to its side in a patch of soft sand, and to the south of that were a familiar quartet of hovels in the approximate location that Windy Whistle's home had been. Starlit felt heat flow up her now bare back, and she prepared to be skewered by Celestia. When no attack came, Starlit hesitantly turned around to face her foe. Sitting in the middle of the floor was Celestia, her armor gone and her mane only slightly smoldering. She looked shocked, and given what had just happened Starlit couldn't exactly blame her. "Celestia? Your Majesty?" Starlit asked. "A lie... a grand illusion... that's all it was," Celestia muttered. "A lie? What do you mean?" "I needed time to rebuild... time to gather my subjects after the war... they needed homes, jobs, lives... and I gave those things to them." Starlit slowly approached Celestia, her amulet thumping as she did. She pulled it off of her head and tossed it to the side, lowering to her haunches in front of Celestia. "Do you mean to say that all of this, everything that you've done and everything that you've put the ponies who live here through was for a lie?" Starlit asked. Celestia didn't reply directly to Starlit, only continued to mutter in a catatonic trance. "They needed order... I had to give them order," she murmured. Knowing that this wouldn't get her any answers, Starlit mustered up the remnants of the magic she'd stolen and let off a bolt of pure energy. It cracked like thunder and made Starlit's ears ring, but it was enough at least to get Celestia's attention. "Celestia, I need you to be truthful to me," Starlit demanded. "Was all of this just an illusion?" Slowly Celestia looked down at Starlit, her purple eyes brimming with tears. For a moment Starlit could see the mare underneath the tyrant's mask, and it upset her more than being attacked by her had. "Sunspire was ravaged by the war, and I... I couldn't stand to see my people suffer through that. I used a piece of crystal that I stole from Cadance as a catalyst to turn the sun into a projector for my illusion. I made ruined homes new, spoiled food fresh, families who'd lost loved ones whole again. I did it all t—" "To bring about order and peace," Starlit finished. The pair sat in silence, save for the wind howling through the desert around them. Celestia allowed herself a few tears, but ultimately she appeared to be too shocked for emotional display. "Starlit Sky, I am no ruler," Celestia admitted. "I replaced my entire kingdom with puppets and trickery to avoid the hard lessons the war should've taught me. You do not want me back at Canterlot." Quickly Starlit stood up and turned on her hoof to make for a hole in one of the walls. She levitated her amulet back around her neck, it being the only piece of actual equipment she still had after the illusion had been broken. "Celestia, do you know where Applejack and Setting Sun would be?" Starlit asked. "In the House, or whatever remains of it," Celestia answered. "It was the only place in my illusion that was populated by the living, as a way to make the city seem more real by replacing older ponies when I couldn't remember enough about them to recall their forms." "Then come with me," Starlit ordered. "I'm going to give you a chance to be a ruler." * * *