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// Memory: The Day She Appeared 
// Story: Celestia XVII 
// by brokenimage321 
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Nightmare Moon howled in rage as the rainbow of magic slammed into her. She dropped my Peytral, and it bounced, then rolled to a stop at the top of the stone platform. I snatched it up from where it lay, clapped it around my neck, and slid the pin into place. Instantly, I felt the power course through my body and up my wingfeathers. I planted my hooves and spread my wings—and it happened.

To this day, I’m still not entirely certain what it was. It felt… it felt a little like the Summer Sun Celebration, I guess. The Sun Stone grew hot against my chest, and its power flowed up to my horn. But instead of moving the sun, the magic shot out and combined with the rainbow, adding a blazing white streak. It shot at Nightmare Moon, and she screamed—

—and, suddenly, it was over. The light faded, and the dias before us was empty. I stared in silence for a heartbeat.

Then, I squealed.

“We did it!” I shrieked. I ran over to Twilight, who stood there, glasses askew, swaying on her hooves, her tiara with the pink stone still smoking gently. I swept her up in a hug and danced around with her; after a moment, she smiled crookedly and hugged me back. 

Soon, her friends dived in for a group hug, and we collapsed, laughing, in a heap on the floor. 

“That was awesome, Cece!” cried Pinkie Pie.

“You all were awesome,” I cried back. “If you hadn’t distracted her…”

Twilight pushed her glasses up her nose. “I don’t get it, though…” she said. “I don’t think we did it right. The prophecy said sun, moon, and stars… but all we had was sun...”

“Prophecy schmophecy,” Rainbow interrupted. “We killed her, didn’t we? That was the important part—”

Suddenly, we all stopped laughing and looked up at the ruin of the dias. In the silence, we could hear something, very clearly—a frightened, whimpering murmur. Twilight wriggled out from the bottom of the pony-pile, then tip-hoofed closer.

“Twilight, don’t—” called Fluttershy.

Twilight stopped, then turned back to look at us—look at me—with wide, frightened eyes. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy clambered off my back, and I stood. I stepped closer, and, as I walked up beside Twilight, the murmur resolved into words—a babbling stream of words.

“I do so apologize I didn’t mean to inconvenience I shan’t do it again—”

In the center of the dias, where Nightmare Moon had stood less than a minute ago, was a shallow crater, burned black. Inside the crater, lying in a small pile, were broken shards of armor and tattered, black feathers.

And, in the center of the wreckage, lay a mare, babbling like a fool.

She lay on the floor, covering her eyes with her hooves. Her mane fell about her in a steely-blue curtain, her coat a deep, inky blue. She was ancient.

“Who in Tartarus is—?” I began. 

But then I saw it: she had both wings and a horn.

Whoever she was, she was a Princess.

Twilight bowed. I looked sharply at her, then quickly bobbed my head. 

Something about the motion caught the mare’s attention. She stopped her babbling, then looked up. She looked at me first, opened her mouth, and closed it again. She stared at me with that distant, unfocused look Twi had when she couldn’t find her glasses—she must be as blind as a bat, this one. 

We locked gazes for several seconds. Her expression remained distant and frightened. Finally, she tore her gaze away from me, and turned to Twilight. As soon as she laid eyes on her, she froze. 

“Selene?” she breathed. 

Twilight and I looked at each other.

“Selene, my darling, my daughter…” she said, standing unsteadily. “What—what are you doing here?”

Twilight sucked in a gasp, then looked up at me, her eyes wide and frightened. I stared at her blankly, then turned back to the mare. She was staring at Twilight eagerly, her legs wobbling, but, as I watched her, her face began to fall. She turned to me, a question, unspoken, on her lips. I looked between the two of them, uncertain of what to say.

And, suddenly, the stranger started to cry.