Princess Luna's hoofsteps ricocheted off the stone walls as she walked into the medical wing of the castle in the Everfree Forest, smiling at the whine of a newborn foal bouncing around. Today was a magnificent day. WOULD be a magnificent day if it wasn't kept in secret. A new princess had been born. But she had been born in the midst of a battle. The medical wing wasn't too big to get lost in, just one hallway that had six rooms on both sides. Whenever someone got hurt, this is where they would go. Or in this case, have a foal. Princess Luna gradually grinned when she heard the foal's cries getting louder.
She stopped at a door densely guarded by Royal Guards, and where the cries were coming from, before she lifted a hoof and knocked. "Come forth, Luna." The princess smiled before she pushed the door open to reveal a sight that will be forever sketched in her memory.
Princess Celestia was lying on a pillow, cradling a cyan baby pegasus in her hooves, smiling proudly like any mother would when they see their first child. She looked up from the foal she was nuzzling to face her sister with a smile. "She's been waiting for her aunt," the brand new mother said.
Luna grinned as she walked into the room and settled down in front of Celestia, looking at the newborn foal. The child's eyes were a dark magenta, her mane the colors of the rainbow, the same with her tail. The foal cooed, reached up and pushed her hooves out towards the princess of the night, trying to get to her. Luna smiled as she reached into her sister's arms, pulling the baby out and into hers.
"She looks so much like him," Luna said aloud. "It is like somepony made an exact copy and planted it in thy womb."
Celestia chuckled as she laid still watching the scene of the daughter and aunt. The princess of the night went and nuzzled the foal's belly, making her giggle and wrap her hooves around Luna's muzzle. Luna raised an eyebrow as she tried to pull away but the child just wouldn't let go.
"She loves you already Luna," Celestia said sadly. Luna noticed her tone immediately. She shook her snout and walked over to Celestia, placing the baby back in her arms.
"I am saddened as well, sister," she said, worry written all over her face. "I do not want this either. But it is what we must do. It is your child. And she will be protected, I assure you. This is our last resort. If there was another way we would have taken it."
Celestia sighed when a small tear escaped her eye, falling down her face and off her muzzle. "I wish it did not have to come to this, dear sister," she said. "I really did not think this would happen. All three of us would have been so happy, not afraid. Then she grabbed hold of the amulet and would not let go. Our sister would still be here today...in her normal state and not corrupted." Luna nodded as they looked back down to the foal, seeing her smile on her face. It looks like she was about to go to sleep.
"It is best to do it while they are young," Luna commented. Celestia sighed and nodded before she looked up to Luna with a serious expression.
"Is the proof of the future locked away?"
"It is. In the hidden wall of the castle. It is locked away in the back, where it has always been forbidden to go. Thou servants has moved everything and set it aside for the room in the past before this all came to pass. Now it is blocked by 10 walls of stone, reinforced by runes. No one is ever getting in."
Celestia nodded approvingly, satisfied with her sister's work of hiding the foal's predetermined existence in the royal life. "Have you named her?" Luna inquired
"I have. Rainbow Dash. Because of not only her mane...but because of who she will become." Luna smiled and raised an eyebrow.
"Another sight into the future?"
Celestia nodded and nuzzled her foal. "It will forever be in my mind. This day we will never forget." The two sat in silence before an eerie breeze came through the open window slowly getting stronger. "It is time. We must work together."
Luna nodded before helping her sister stand up, feeling a little weak from the agony of childbirth. After they were up Celestia walked out of the room with little Rainbow Dash in her right hoof. When the royal sisters walked out of the room, they were waited on by a select few of the Royal Guard, positioned at the doorway, weapons at the ready.
"We await your command, Princess Celestia. Princess Luna." The princesses nodded at the captain before they gave their orders.
"Have your men positioned by the front of the castle. That is where she shall appear. Is proof of any of her royal status evident around the castle?"
"No, your highness. We took it all down last night during the birth." The princesses nodded before they gave the order.
"Go." The guards all took off towards the front of the castle, spears and crossbows on their backs as they made their way out to meet the threat at the gates while the princesses took the back way out. The two trotted out of the door guarded by two pegasi that followed them once they were out. "Escort your princesses as far as you can," Celestia instructed them. "Let your loyalty hold for the new member of the royal line."
The soldiers nodded as they all took to the air right when a whistle was heard before an explosion at the front of the castle. There was a bright rainbow colored mess of lights permeating from the ground as the being slowly stood up with aan evil grin. She glanced at the frozen guards, all pointing their weapons at her. Some were on top of the walls, walkways, and of course in front of her. "Where is Celestia?" She asked evilly. "She has what I need!"
The guards positioned at the front of of the castle backed up a little bit from her unsettling evil grin. The mare had a very long, ethereal, multi-colored mane with a black coat. Her right eye was a blue orb while the left was red. She had fangs that showed even with her muzzle closed. Her left wing was blue while the right one was red. And her horn was jagged with the color black.
"Where is my sister?" Princess Spectrum sneered again. "I can feel the power nearby, you cannot fool me!" The mad alicorn charged forward before she fired a pulse of magic, spreading it out so it hit an entire row of the guards, knocking them down.
Some other guards fired crossbows at her only for her to teleport in front of the wall, completely missing her. She quickly rotated herself and put her magic into her rear hooves before she bucked the stone structure. The wall began to crumble and fall apart, the guards screaming as they fell to the hard stone below.
"WHERE IS CELESTIA?! I WILL ASK YOU NO MORE!!" The soldiers didn't answer, their loyalty to the Princess of the Sun winning out against the mad princess of earth's demands. "Very well. You have asked for this punishment accordingly." She raised her hooves and flew into the air, igniting her horn before everything came to life.
The vines on the side of the castle shot out and grabbed soldiers, throwing into the cavern in front of the Castle, never to be seen again while the nearby trees began to topple on top of others Their screams sounded like music to her ears as she watched them all fall.
After they were all tossed over, she looked over her shoulder and flew towards the wall of the castle, harmlessly crashing through it as if it were never there. "WHERE ARE YOU CELESTIA?! COME OUT NOW AND HAND ME WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE!!" The mad princess hovered quietly, using her enhanced hearing to pick up sounds of breathing, only to hear nothing. "They are not here...they have ESCAPED!!" The princess tore through the roof and looked around, hoping to see a trail of some sort that the princess' would undoubtedly leave behind.
She stopped and grinned when she saw a glimmer coming off of Celestia's chest plate a few miles away thanks to her enhanced vision. "RETURN AT ONCE, CELESTIA!!"
"She is upon us," Luna informed sailing through the air next to Celestia and her foal, followed closely by the best guards they had. "I am afraid this is where we part, dear sister." They paused in the air, hovering as they turned to each other.
"Luna..." Celestia whispered before Luna silenced her by pressing a hoof against her mouth.
"Do not worry about me," Luna said. "I will return in eighteen years. You know of this. Keep the kingdom running, and protect the child." Luna levitated a red gemstone from out of her pouch she had brought with her, holding it in front of Celestia. "You know what to do."
Celestia sighed and nodded before grabbing hold of the gemstone and placing it in the blanket with her foal. She looked back up at her sister, a smile on her face. "I love you, Luna."
"I love you too, Celestia." The two shared a hug before reluctantly letting go upon hearing the sound of air rushing around them. Luna turned around and flew towards the rainbow light trail getting closer to them, the guards right behind her. Celestia watched her go before continuing her flight to the meeting place. Flying through the stray clouds while nuzzling her crying foal.
"Where is Celestia?!" Princess Spectrum shouted to Luna as she approached. "You are hiding something of major importance to me and I want it now!" The two sisters clashed, their horns locking together as one struggled to overpower the other. The guards flew around the pair and fired their crossbows at the evil princess, impaling her slightly, causing her to lose focus.
Luna pushed her back before lifting her back hoofs up and bucking the mismatched princess away. "You will never win, Spectrum! You must not get that power, it will destroy us all! You must let it go!" Luna flew back towards the stunned Princess only to get a face full of hoof as the princess turned around and bucked her in the muzzle. Luna yelped when she was tossed to the side. The evil queen went and grabbed Luna before she stopped flying around and threw her towards a guard who was approaching her, knocking them both to the ground below. They impacted the ground and rolled, both of them rolling into a large tree trunk.
Luna looked back up to see the tree come to life and sharpen its branches before sending its way down to the two of them. Luna rolled out of the way in time, but the guard did not. The branches impaled into his side and neck, killing him instantly. Luna growled in anger before she looked towards the sky, seeing the queen of nature approach. "You will not win, Spectrum!" Luna took off back into the sky swinging her horn angrily at the princess, making her dodge this way and that.
"Take me to Celestia and I shall let you have your freedom for eighteen years," Spectrum sneered, avoiding a jab from Luna's horn.
"NEVER!" Luna yelled, about to jab again.
"Very well." When Luna jabbed again, Spectrum caught her horn and held it, making her struggle against the power of her sister. "I shall punish you." Spectrum grabbed Luna's magic and pulled it out of her horn, making her grow weaker and weaker.
Soon, Luna was sucked dry, her energy completely wasted before Spectrum squeezed the princess of the night's portruding facial feature and bent it, snapping it off. Luna screamed in horror before Spectrum charged her horn, a bright light coming from the tip of it as she held Luna in her magic. "Your freedom has been taken, dear sister! You should have given me the power when you had the chance!"
Luna stopped her horror filled look and just let Spectrum do it. "You....shall not....win, Spectrum," she said weakly in her sister's grasp. "You...will be......stopped." Spectrum growled before she fired the blast at Luna, encasing her body in light for a second before it shot off towards the moon, making the face of a unicorn on its surface. Satisfied, Spectrum turned around and faced the last remaining guard just standing there, distracted by the moon. She bucked him back towards the castle, watching as his body made a crater in the wall, before turning forward again.
"COME, CELESTIA! GIVE ME MY RIGHTFUL PLACE!"
Celestia was almost near her destination, her teary eyes having already witnessed Luna's face on the moon. She did not belong there. If anypony did, it would be Spectrum.
She huffed and flew as fast as she could to the meeting place, located in Cloudsdale, a little ways above and near a small town called Ponyville. The princess held the bundle she was carrying with extreme caution, her face filled with desperation, determined to get it there on time.
Her small alicorn form landed on the nearest cloud before looking behind her, seeing a small rainbow light coming right behind her, following her trail.
"Shoot," she muttered before running forward again. She huffed loudly as she ran through the dark streets of the mobile city made of condensed water vapor that will never fall. Celestia looked down at the bundle in her right hoof as it began to move before looking back up again.
Soon, after mixing her trail, she arrived at the meeting place, where two ponies, a stallion and a mare, were waiting patiently. They were both wearing dark cloaks, concealing their identities.
"She is on my trail," Princess Celestia huffed as she came to a stop in front of them. "You know what you must do." The stallion nodded quickly before she continued. "Same hair color. Make it work for as long as you can, no matter what."
"Of course," he said quickly.
"All you have to do is make sure she is happy," the princess told the mare. "Make sure she lives her life and suspects nothing. I will return when she is ready for the truth of her origin and purpose."
"Yes, your highness," the mare responded. Celestia nodded before hearing the faint roar of her pursuer coming closer. She looked back down and lifted the covers to reveal a small foal asleep, snuggled against the softness of the blanket. She smiled when a tear escaped her eye, proud of her already. She leaned down and kissed the foal's forehead, nuzzling her rainbow colored mane.
"I will return, my daughter. My Rainbow Dash."
She grabbed the pendant and put a spell on it, transferring that energy over to her daughter. The rainbow light gradually came out of the gem and transferred into the foal's forehead, spreading throughout her body undetected. Once it was done, she kissed her one last time before she handed her over to the couple. "I love you, my darling."
Once the couple took the child, Celestia soared back up into the air, and sent out a burst of her energy, signalling her position to her pursuer. The stallion and mare quickly trotted back into the darkness.
"THERE YOU ARE!" Spectrum yelled, tilting up and heading straight for Celestia, who was heading up over the clouds. Once out of sight, the two stopped and stared at each other before Spectrum jabbed forward, trying to get her horn into her sister's body. "GIVE ME THE POWER!" Celestia smirked as she setup the plan. She shifted slightly, forcing the empty gem to slip out of her pocket and fall to the ground below. Spectrum noticed and gasped as she, followed closely by Celestia, attempted to grab it. Celestia purposely let Spectrum grab the gem and shoot her magic at her, stunning Celestia for a second before Spectrum stared greedily at the gem.
"YES! YES, IT IS MINE!" she yelled, before touching her horn to the jewel, expecting to grab hold onto some known energy that she absolutely knew was in there......only to feel nothing. "What?" She looked at the gem confused before trying the motion again, having the same result. "WHERE IS THE POWER?!"
She dropped the gem before turning to Celestia, gasping at what she saw. The Princess of the Sun had taken the time to call upon six very important stones that were rotating around her gathering speed. "The best distraction...is getting what you want...but not being able to have it. You are banished Spectrum!!" The light swirled up into a spiral before gathering at the top into a bright white light, then a rainbow fired out towards the mad queen.
"NOOOOO!" She yelled, trying to fly out of the hold the magic had on her. The light turned white before it shot towards the rising sun in the distance. A bright flash signalled her mission successful.
"You shall not have the power, Spectrum," Celestia muttered, facing the sun. She lightened her horn and raised her hooves, making the sun rise for the beautiful morning that Celestia created. "You shall not have the power. Even when you return, you shall have the same result. The power is gone. And so is she."