Twilight's Castle, Ponyville
Back at Twilight's castle, Twilight Sparkle was poring through several books and scrolls on the large table in the map room of the castle. Try as she might, finding information on Celestia's condition was proving relatively fruitless.
"Ughhhh..." she groaned, closing yet another book and throwing it on the pile of other books that did not produce an answer or clue. She rested her head on the table and looked dejected.
Spike walked into the map room holding a glass of juice. He set it next to Twilight's head. "Twilight...you're pushing yourself too hard," he told her.
"I know, Spike..." she admitted. "I've been working at this for the last two nights but I feel like I can't stop until I have something that can help Celestia."
"But if you don't rest you're likely to overlook something," Spike reminded her. He drew her attention to the glass of juice he had brought her. Twilight smiled at her assistant and took a sip of the juice.
As she was drinking, the doors to the map room opened and Princess Luna, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity entered, with Applejack pulling a small cart of books behind her.
"We're back from the Canterlot Castle library, Twilight," Applejack said upon entering. "We got as many books about alicorn magic as we could find."
Twilight looked over at the stack of books, which only numbered approximately ten. She frowned at the small stack.
"We...didn't find too much," Rarity sheepishly explained.
"It's fine, Rarity," Twilight told her. "Celestia said there isn't a lot of research on the history of alicorns. I just wish I knew how to proceed from here..."
The other six ponies all looked lost in thought until Starlight Glimmer entered the map room with two other unicorns in tow.
"Twilight, Star Swirl and Stygian are here," she informed Twilight as she entered. The first of the two ponies Starlight was leading into the map room was an elderly gray unicorn. He bore a bushy white beard and his white mane flowed down from beneath his dark blue wizard's cap. He was garbed in a matching dark blue magician's cloak with symbols of the stars and the moon embroidered on it. The other was a small gray unicorn with a greenish-blue mane styled in a bowl cut and wearing a simple brown cloak and carrying a pair of saddle bags.
"Star Swirl, Stygian, I'm so glad you made it," Twilight said. She walked over to the pair and hugged the older unicorn before shaking the smaller unicorn's hoof. "We really need some help with this."
"I'm glad Somnambula and Flash Magnus found us before things got too out of hand," Star Swirl agreed, returning Twilight's hug. Luna approached Star Swirl performed a small bow towards her mentor. Star Swirl gave a nod of respectful acknowledgement in response.
"Thank you for coming out, sir," Luna said. "Contemporary research into alicorns has not given us the insight we need to understand Celestia's predicament."
"Please, get us up to speed," Star Swirl requested on behalf of himself and his assistant.
The other ponies explained to the pair about the increased solar activity and Celestia's claim that she was losing consciousness and struggling with the magic that allowed her to manipulate the sun.
"...and there have been sightings of a new alicorn around the kingdom on top of that, one that seems to have some control over the sun as well," Twilight finished her explanation to Star Swirl.
"Oh dear..." Star Swirl reacted.
"What is it, Mr. Star Swirl?" his assistant Stygian asked. He ventured into his saddle bag and levitated a tablet of paper and a pencil, ready to take notes.
"This is grave," Star Swirl continued, his voice fraught with concern. He began to pace around the map room. "It is something that I had unfortunately forgotten about since returning from Limbo."
The other ponies exchanged worried expressions among themselves before collectively turning their attention towards the great sorcerer. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked on behalf of the group.
"The symptoms you ponies have described suggest that Celestia is starting to lose control of her magic," Star Swirl explained. "This is a condition that dates back...to the beginning of Celestia and Luna's rule over Equestria." His words came to a dramatic crescendo.
"Oh my..." Rarity said. The other ponies were equally as interested in what Star Swirl had to say while Stygian diligently took notes on his paper tablet. "Does that mean the evil alicorn that's appeared around Equestria and Princess Celestia...are the same being?"
"I'm afraid so," Star Swirl confirmed. "However, to fully understand the situation, we have to go back further still; back to the age of the first alicorn of Equestria."
Princess Luna stepped forward at the mention of the "first alicorn." "Do you mean...?" she began to ask.
"Yes, Luna, I am referring to Queen Nebula...your mother and the source of alicorn magic," Star Swirl confirmed without having to wait for Luna to finish. "Perhaps you would like to start us off, Luna," he indicated to the princess to establish the basics.
Luna closed her eyes and lowered her head. "Certainly, sir." She looked to the other ponies present before beginning. "If you recall, when Flurry Heart was born to Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, Celestia and I had never known of an alicorn birth in the history of Equestria. The reason for this is because alicorns must have their powers transferred to them from another alicorn, much as Celestia did when Twilight Sparkle was crowned Princess of Friendship."
She let out a low sigh before continuing. "This does not exclude Celestia or myself. At birth neither of us had wings; we were born as ordinary unicorns. Before we became the princesses of Equestria, we went by the names 'Solar Flare' and 'Lunar Phase'. The names you know us by, 'Celestia' and 'Luna', were adopted as our mother, Queen Nebula, stepped down and granted us the power of alicorn magic."
"Not many know of Queen Nebula in the modern era," Star Swirl picked up her account. "Even in my age, her name was beginning to slip into obscurity and legend. However, she is the first ruler of the unified Equestrian kingdom. Do you ponies know the origins of Equestria?" he asked to Twilight and her friends.
"Sure!" Rainbow Dash proudly proclaimed. She zealously flew above the other ponies. "Three pony tribes, the earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, came together to fight off the Windigoes and the land that they found became Equestria! We have a play about it every year at Hearth's Warming Eve!"
"Indeed, Rainbow Dash," Star Swirl told her. "However, that is only part of the story."
The six ponies took their respective seats around the map table in order to hear Star Swirl's story. Star Swirl conjured a spell that allowed him to visually project his thoughts above the map table for the other ponies to see.
"When Equestria was founded," Star Swirl began, "magic was not as well-developed as it is now. Its power was not fully understood and the effects it could have not documented. As a force magic could be seen and observed but how to harness and make it useful to ponykind was still shrouded in much mystery. As such, many ponies attempted to master it and bend it to their whim without any sort of guidance or baseline. The effects of attempting magic without establishing the basics can be dangerous and many incidents occurred as a result of this in the early years of Equestria."
The images projected by Star Swirl's horn showed a crude image of a unicorn mixing a pot of ingredients then attempting to energize it with their horn. The pot exploded out and knocked the unicorn away.
"The most noteworthy of these incidents happened when a naive unicorn attempted to control of the behavior of the sun and moon, allowing ponies to decide how long the day and night would last," Star Swirl explained. "I do not question his talent but the lack of concrete understanding of the forces he was playing with had dire consequences. The sun and moon became frozen, no longer cycling between day and night." Star Swirl's projections demonstrated this event as the other ponies watched with enthusiasm and Stygian continued taking notes. "Because of this mistake plants withered and animals were driven to confusion. This problem had to be fixed or Equestria would not survive. Try as they might, the ponies of the day simply lacked the means or comprehension to undo the crisis. The spell could not be undone and no amount of conventional magic could force the sun and moon to move naturally again. That's when it was decided that the only solution to protect the future of ponykind was to imbue the power of moving the sun and moon to a pony."
Star Swirl projected the image of a sacred site through his horn. Seven unicorns were gathered around an eighth unicorn, who was standing in the center. Starlight Glimmer recognized the images of a place they had been to once before. "Isn't that...the Temple of Ponehenge?" she asked, noticing the distinctive stone seats that surrounded the central fire pit, where the lone unicorn was standing.
"Indeed it is," Star Swirl confirmed. "The original purpose of the temple was a place where great amounts of magic could be focused and channeled. The unicorn with the most magical potential in the land was brought to the temple along with all the masters of magic in the age. There the greatest sorcerers in Equestria pooled their magical knowledge and charged the unicorn's own magic, giving her the power of all forms of pony magic known at the time. Her name was 'Nebula Borealis' and once the ceremony was complete, she had been transformed into the first alicorn, the only pony in the realm with the magic capable of manipulating the moon and sun. The citizens of Equestria were awed at this power and named her their first queen, declaring as law that the manipulation of the moon and sun confers royal authority."
"The queen reigned over Equestria for over two-thousand years," Star Swirl continued. "During that time, she decreed that ponies must learn how to manipulate and control magic so that another catastrophe would never befall the land again. The theories and rules of modern pony magic that I drafted came about during the reign of Queen Nebula and I was named the head scholar of the College of Magical Study and personal magical advisor to the queen."
Star Swirl looked over at Luna while reminiscing about his time under Queen Nebula. "Queen Nebula and I knew each other for over five-hundred years. During that time she had two daughters named 'Lunar Phase' and 'Solar Flare'. Over time it came to pass that Queen Nebula no longer wished to rule over Equestria and needed to name a successor. However, her love for both of you made it impossible for her to choose which of you should take her place. Eventually it was decided that she would split the power that originally crowned her queen, giving you the power to manipulate the moon and your sister the power of the sun, so that you would be able to rule together."
Star Swirl sighed, much as Luna had during her own explanation. "The first years of your reign had gone well. However, a darkness that we had not foreseen was impending..."
Star Swirl conjured a dark cloud over the map table to emphasize his point.