Celestia ran through the halls of Canterlot castle. She didn’t expect it to happen so early; she thought she had more time, time to prepare. But the arrival of Terra signified that it was time for Luna to say her goodbyes to the world of Equestria.
The halls of the castle were covered in banners with marks from both sisters, moon and sun working together as they were meant to. The guards stood in their rows, vigilant as ever, not knowing of what was about to happen.
Celestia needed to get hold of the guard captain so he could clear the guards of the castle for the ritual to take place. Celestia could not be interrupted while absorbing the memories of her sister, and the consequences could become dire. She got hold of the guard captain outside the throne room.
She looked at him a moment while she caught her breath. He was standing proud in his golden armor with dark blue details, the armor combining bits and pieces from those of her and her sister's personal detail.
She gathered her thoughts. “Captain! I need you to take all the guards off duty for today.”
The captain looked at his princess with more than confusion in his eyes. Worry mixed alongside it. He quickly pulled himself together and bowed for his princess. “Is there a special reason for this order? Or am I not to know?”
Celestia clearly became uncomfortable by this question.
“It is not for you to know, but you and the guards do not need to worry. Take a trip to the park on this fine day. You and the guards deserve a day off.”
The captain walked over to the closest window. “Now that you mention it, it is a nice day today.”
Celestia looked over his withers, and could see the sun gleaming over the rooftops, giving life to the busy merchant quarter in Canterlot. Merchants and customers haggling over prices, bakers giving a lovely scent of freshly baked goods to the streets. The sun hit small puddles of water that had been left over from the rain the day before. It gave an illusion of little pockets of light being created around the market. The captain turned towards Celestia.
“Very well, as you wish Your Highness. I will call the guards of the castle.” With that, the captain left.
“Finally… now the ritual can begin.” She sighed. “Not that I’m looking forward to it.”
“Talking to yourself again, are we, Celestia?”
A hollow, melancholy voice called behind Celestia, she jumped around in a state of shock. In front of her she saw Luna’s servant Greymantle. For some reason the gray pony gave Celestia the chills, not that he had done something to her to deserve that reaction. It was just that he never made a noise until he talked, It was almost as if he floated above the floor, and his breath melted into the air leaving no sound of breath. Greymantle looked at her with he’s black crude eyes, he gently bowed he’s head.
“Celestia, Luna is prepared for the ritual, she wanted me to make sure you were ready to begin.”
She looked back at he’s cold black eyes, she quickly nodded towards him. As they walked towards the throne room, Celestia felt a growing unease. The ritual was something she thankfully didn’t have to do more than once every few thousand years. The stress and pain it inflicted on her was tremendous, but it had to be done. The last thing she wanted were to see her sister grow in to a corrupt monster she could become.
As they entered the throne room, Celestia could see Luna talking to Terra, Luna glaring at Terra with a furious blaze in her eyes. As they got closer Celestia could hear what they were arguing about.
“What dost thou mean, that we must be marked a villain? Is the truth not good enough for Equestria?”
Luna furiously trotted back and forth in the room. Terra, being the target for her anger, tried to calm her down. Terra stood there proud like a manticore, his black robe falling elegantly down on his sides. While his wise eyes kept track of Luna's pacing, he emitted an aura of love and warmth, although he had no reason to. Celestia trusted this alicorn with her life. Luna was still trotting furiously over the throne room, when she turned towards Terra.
“For all that we have done for Equestria, for thee to even suggest that is a royal offense!”
Terra shook he’s head smiling at Luna, who was half his size.
“Clearly, you know I have only the best interests of Equestria in mind. The commotion that will be made requires an explanation. This is a plausible explanation if we do it right. In a thousand years, some ponies will emerge to save the kingdom from the nightmare you will become, but only if their intentions are pure.”
Luna hissed against Terra and looked at him with anger, almost as she was ready to lunge at him in any second.
“Luna... my dear Princess… as much as it hurts me to say this, he is right. The kingdom will require an explanation, and from what I heard this is a plausible one.”
Greymantle’s hollow voice rang through the throne room, halting Luna’s anger. Instead of the melancholy voice he normally emitted, his voice was filled with warmth and love when addressing Luna. The little alicorn folded her ears back as soon as she heard Greymantle, soothed by his presence. Luna’s fury faded to a gentle simmer. She slumped a little.
“Very well... If Greymantle thinks it is a good idea… We will follow through with it.”
She turned towards Celestia and Greymantle, seeming proud but nervous. No wonder, thought Celestia. Who wouldn’t be at the brink of their own death?
“Very well… shall we proceed?”
Terra seemed eager to get the ritual over with, even though he did no more than to mark when it was time. Celestia was the one needing to do all the work, not him. Luna was lying down on top of a blanket, her breaths becoming ever more rapid and shallow. Celestia walked towards her and placed herself on top of Luna.
“It pains me to do this my dear sister. I will miss you while you’re gone.” Celestia tried to ignore the growing desperation in her sisters eye’s.
With that, Celestia started to chant the spell. Her horn started glowing, lighting up the whole room, giving off huge shadow off every object in the room; it was almost like a miniature sun inside the throne room. Her colorful mane grew, too, slowly engulfing the whole room, making a cocoon around them.
Luna looked frightened towards Greymantle, as if she pleaded for something. Greymantle walked over towards them, bowing down to be level with Luna. “Please, Princess, for you it is not the end. Your sister will succeed in your revival, waiting for the day she again will be with you. But I will not be here when you come back. I only hope the memories of our time together will be there when you return.”
With that he walked towards Terra, stopping next to him. From there, he shot an icy glare at Celestia. Luna seemed calmer after what Greymantle had just said.
Terra started to walk forward towards them; the ritual was nearing its end. Celestia could feel the strain on her mind and body. All of Luna’s memories and feelings connected to each one of them came surging into her wave after wave. The strain on her body suddenly felt enormous, like she was trying to carry a mountain, and she felt her legs almost give way beneath her. Celestia was on the brink of collapse. When suddenly Terra’s warm, soothing aura took a hold of her. Terra’s voice echoed in her head.
“You’re doing great, Celestia. It will be soon over.”
Terra bowed over Luna, preparing to finish the ritual. “Fulgeo!”
Luna’s body started to glow. She looked towards her sister with a faint smile.
“We will see you soon.”
An aura of purple light engulfed Luna and shot her out towards the moon.
“Quickly, Celestia. Seal the memories inside the elements!”
Terra was quick to gather the 6 stones and put them in front of Celestia. Once they were placed, Celestia started to chant again. As the elements started to levitate around Celestia, all the memories were dragged out in a violent vortex. The vortex painted the walls of the throne room with colors of all kinds. Celestia could tell at once that these were Luna's memories: most of them involved Celestia and Greymantle, little of anything else. A tear trickled down Celestia’s chin as she saw Lunas memory of her first moon rising. Celestia standing behind her cheering her on. Celestia gave her little sister a little push to manage the moon rising. As the moon rose up to complete the sky, Luna turned around towards Celestia with a proud smile. Celestia remembered how happy her little sister was, jumping around her yelling out.
“I did it! I did it!”
The sound could barely be heard through the room, but it was there. As the ritual stretched on, more memories could be seen. Luna and Celestia arguing over small, unimportant things, like sisters do. The vortex started to fade, and the images got weaker and more transparent. The last image marking the wall was of Greymantle and Luna standing side by side, giving a warm smile to each other. Greymantle leaned down and nuzzled on Luna’s neck. The image started to fade. Luna smiled towards Celestia, tilting her head and closing her eyes.
As the light faded of the ritual was over, the elements rested on the floor, faintly glowing in different colors. Terra smiled at Celestia, much like a father would smile to his daughter.
“You did great, Celestia. I am proud of you. But now I must take my leave, and you need your rest after this ordeal. The elements will be stored safe in the vault until the time that they are needed again.”
Terra and Greymantle headed out of the throne room, Celestia’s blood started to rush; she did not want to be left alone.
“Greymantle! Could you stay for a bit?”
The pony stopped in the doorway. He looked towards her, and gave her a comforting smile.
“Of course. It will be my pleasure.”
He lay down next to Celestia and for some reason, unlike before, she felt safe around him. She could not shake this feeling. Why was she so unnerved by him before? Celestia turned towards the servant and, for the first time, he smiled at her.
“Greymantle... what you meant for Luna is indescribable... But thank you for helping me taking care of my sister... Thank you so much.”
Celestia fell asleep as the fatigue from the ritual started to seep in over her. Greymantle looked towards the moon. It shone bright this night. He looked down at Celestia and muttered to himself.
“It was a pleasure.”
Like a gust of wind came into the room, the mirage Luna had created vanished into tiny specs of dust. Everpony sat around the table in awe, not being able to utter a word after what they had seen.
“O… oh… my...” Fluttershy looked around the table to see if anyone else was going to say something. Twilight, on the other hoof, had one important question.
“But what does that have to do with Terra being corrupted?”
Luna stood up and started to walk towards her throne, stopping at the spot where the ritual was performed.
“Twilight, do you remember the aura he gave off when you interrupted the ritual?”
Twilight shuddered. Of course she remembered, how could she forget it? Actually feeling death on her shoulders for a mere second was enough.
“Terra would never even think about killing somepony before, not even if they threatened everything he loved. But now he has changed a lot. It took him just a second before he thought about killing you. He is also the one who released Discord into our realm. He wanted to test your strength. We believe he is preparing to overthrow our rule and build his own kingdom from the ashes of ours.”
A gasp went through the room; no pony could believe what they heard. Rainbow Dash flew up into the air, hovering over them. With a confident smile she flailed her forelegs towards the window.
“What are we waiting for?! We need to deal with this now, we have the elements on our side!”
“I don’t know, Rainbow Dash, I dun think it’d be that easy to deal with him.” Applejack frowned as she turned towards Luna. “Is there no other way?”
Luna shook her head. “I’m afraid not, Applejack. The elements need your powers to work.”
Twilight slammed her hooves down on the table, looking around the room. “All right, girls! Our Princess just gave us an assignment, and it is our duty to save Equestria. Let’s get home and start packing. We need to be prepared for a long trip.”
Everpony looked at her with great confusion, almost as if they had no idea what she was talking about. Twilight pondered for a moment until she until a certain issue popped into her head, and a sheepish smile spread she turned towards Luna.
“Luna… where does Terra live?”
Twilight had a faint blush in her face.
Luna could not help but smile at the little unicorn.
“He lives in the depths of Everfree forest. It is almost three day’s march into the woods until you will get to his cave.”
Luna started to walk towards her room, but could barely go more than three steps before wobbling and stumbling over her hooves. She shook her head, and let out a sigh before turning to her guests.
“Please leave us. We will join you in your quest as soon as we can, but for now we need to rest and regain our strength.”
Luna left the six ponies to themselves. The doors slammed shut echoing through the empty halls of the castle. Twilight stood up and started to walk out of the castle, not sure of what she were going to do. As the six ponies walked through the halls, not a word was uttered. All of them were no doubt thinking of the task at hand.
The six ponies stood outside the castle, taking in what they had been asked to do. The day was nearing its end, and the sun was starting to go down over the horizon. It was nearing the time of twilight, the hour between day and night were all the nocturnal animals started to wake. Twilight halted her thoughts for a moment, she realized that there was no way to get more information on what they were going to do. It made Twilight a little uneasy; she had to go into a situation without any special knowledge about it. Twilight turned towards her friends.
”Right girls, our princess gave us a task, and we shall perform it to the best of our abilities. Let’s go out and get supplies, and meet at the Everfree forest in three days.”
They all nodded in agreement and headed out to each direction. All except Pinkie Pie. Twilight looked at the pink earth pony
“What is it, Pinkie?”
Pinkie looked at Twilight with big, wet eyes. “I’m sad, Twilight.”
The sentence hit Twilight like a jolt of electricity. Was it even possible for Pinkie to be sad? This was the first time she had said something like that.
“Why?”
Pinkie turned slightly away from Twilight with a tear running down her cheek.
"I just realised how... how... horrible it'd be for somepony to live forever! Think about it! When we got rid of Miss Meanie Pants and brought the good old Luna back, everypony she'd known and loved had been dead for a thousand years! She wouldn't have even got a chance to throw one last party with them or laugh one last time or even tell them how happy she was to just have met them..."
Pinkie trailed off, her lips trembling and her neck totally slumped. Twilight watched as a tear dropped. She tried to reach out a hoof to hug her friend, but a big sniff made her pull it back, and Pinkie carried on.
"But it wouldn't have been any better when she was still here. She would have been able to see and talk to and have fun with everypony, but almost everypony she knew wouldn't live as long as she would. So she'd have to watch and know she couldn't do anything as all her closest friends grow older and weaker until... until..." Pinkie wiped her eyes, and took another deep sniffle. "Until they're gone... like Granny Pie... and there's nothing but memories left..."
"Pinkie..." Twilight tried to reach over with a hoof, but everything in her body just locked. "I had no idea..."
Pinkie suddenly pulled her head up, and turned those big, wide eyes back on Twilight, as floods of tears poured out.
"But the Princesses have gone through all this for so long... and they have to carry all that heartache, and that's like an extra-extra-strong baked-bad tummyache! And nopony thinks about it..."
Her face fell again, and this time Twilight didn't hold back.
"Pinkie..." she said, wrapping her hooves around her friend, who sniffed again.
"I'm sorry, Twilight," she mumbled, and looked at Twilight. As if by magic, her tears had vanished. "I don't like to think about stuff like that. It makes me feel all empty and cold inside, and it really shouldn't, because I bet all those memories the Princesses have are happy ones, like I have of my Granny Pie, but..."
Her returning smile faltered for a second as she glanced back at the castle. "I just can't help but feel bad for Princess Luna..."
Twilight nuzzled her friend before she spoke. "I know, Pinkie. Immortality isn't a particularly good thing once you think about it. But come on. I’m sure that helping Luna with this task is a great way to thank her for what she does for us.”
Pinkie nodded in agreement as they headed down towards the merchant quarter together.