The night was a cool one, but not cold beyond an occasional breeze. Celestia looked up and down the pathway. Not a single pony besides herself was out and about. Spirited as she was, Celestia was still a filly, and like most young ponies, she feared going about in the dark by herself. Trying to put her fear aside, she showed a brave face and went on her way, wherever that way would lead her. She couldn't be scared now. She was on her own.
At least, that's what she thought.
Celestia was unsure how long or how far she walked when she finally paused to rest near a grove of trees. She could no longer see her home in the distance, so she thought she had to have walked far. Were it daytime, some things may have looked familiar from the occasions she'd gone on walks or errands with her parents, but it was too hard to see at night if any of her surroundings matched her memory. Still, nothing seemed unsafe or scary, so she lied at the base of one of the trees and munched on the fruit she bought from home.
The full moon was out just like the night Luna was born. Celestia stared at it for a few moments before sticking her tongue out at it. "I hate you, Luna!" she muttered quietly, though it wasn't as angry as she wanted it to sound. "I wish I never had a sister!"
She finished her piece of fruit and walked into the grove of trees, still scared, but thinking she couldn't turn around now. She was startled for a moment when she heard a small noise, but it turned out to only be a rabbit hopping about. She chastised herself briefly for being a "baby". She continued deeper into the grove until she was in so deeply, she could see nothing around her beyond trees, bushes, and rocks. She was getting tired and her hooves were starting to ache. Eventually, she came to a dead end, unable to pass because the space between the trees was too tight and she was too tired to fly over. She looked around until she spotted something suitable: an open hole at the base of one tree.
Eyes drooping, she made a beeline for the hollow trunk. She pulled out her blanket from her saddlebag, which was large enough for her to use as a bed and a cover. She tucked herself in as much as she could and pulled out the stuffed toy she brought along. The temperature hadn't dropped, but she shivered a bit anyway as she hugged the toy close. She looked up at the sky one last time, but the view of the trees blocked the moon. With a small "hmph", she closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
"Wh... where am I?" Celestia muttered sleepily as she rubbed her eyes. It didn't seem like she slept for long. Maybe she didn't. As she slowly became more conscious, she realized she was no longer in the grove of trees. Instead, all that surrounded her were stars. What kind of place was this? She looked around curiously, but there was nowhere to go. It seemed like it was an unending void.
Up ahead, she spotted something in the distance and squinted. Something was standing far ahead of her, not moving or speaking.
"Mother? Father?" She walked closer and closer until she could clearly see those figures were indeed her parents, and the moment she did, she desperately ran as fast as her hooves could let her. But as soon as got close enough to jump into their hooves, they vanished before her eyes in an upward torrent of stars. Celestia froze, her heart crushed, as she screamed out for her parents.
"Come back! Don't leave me!"
She heard a haunting, high-pitched laughter and images of Luna began to flash around her.
"It's... it's all her fault. It's all her fault!" she screamed in her mind. "I hate you, Luna!" she screamed out loud.
The strange, starry environment faded and revealed a giant moon high above Celestia, brilliantly shining a spotlight upon her. On its surface was a shadow of a baby, seemingly playing about happily.
"Go away, Luna!" Celestia snapped. The shadow paused and seemed to gaze at her for a few seconds before finally stepping onto the trail of the spotlight. Instead of Luna, the baby was Celestia and she ran down toward the older Celestia at full speed, tackling her when she was close enough.
"Hiiiiiii, 'Lestia! Hiiiiiiiiii!"
The baby Celestia bounced on her belly, much to her annoyance, though she was a bit too stunned to say anything.
"Play with me! Play with meeeeee!"
Baby Celestia disappeared and reappeared a few feet away. "Play with me!" She disappeared and reappeared again in a different spot. "Play with me!" She continued incessantly, squealing "Play with me" every time she reappeared, all very much to older Celestia's quickly growing irritation. Finally, she vanished and reappeared one final time, perching herself on top of older Celestia's back.
"Play with meeeeeeee!"
"Go away!" older Celestia shouted as she shook her infant self off of her back. "Stop it! Go away!"
Baby Celestia matched her angry glare with a sorrowful one, seconds away from wailing. "Play?"
"No! I don't want to play with you!"
Baby Celestia's lower lip trembled. "Why not play?"
"Because you're... you're annoying!"
"You do it."
"No, I don't! I'm bigger than you!"
"You were baby."
"So? So...? I'm not a baby now!"
"Baby."
"No!"
"Baby!"
"NO!"
"Baaaaaby!"
"I am not a baby!"
Celestia jolted awake with a light shout. She darted up on her feet and looked around, but everything seemed okay. She rubbed her eyes and a little bit and opened them again. Now was when she noticed things were looked different. She wasn't in the hollow tree trunk anymore. She wasn't even in the grove. Instead, she was... she had no idea where she was.
Wherever she was, it was warmer than outside. A quick glance behind her revealed the source of the heat: a fireplace. But that was the only normal part of her surroundings. Around her were eerie masks, feathers scattered about, cobwebs, dried red stains all along the walls, and what she was certain were two dead bats, but hoped she was mistaken about. She felt as nauseous as she felt scared, and hid beneath her blanket, clutching her stuffed toy.
"It's just another bad dream. Just another bad dream. This isn't real. This isn't real."
She repeated herself several times, but when she finally dared peek from beneath her blanket, nothing changed. She was still in the creepy room.
"Ah. You have awoken."
Startled, she pulled her blanket over her again, only for it to be hovered above her in the air. Tears in her eyes out of fear, she turned toward whoever addressed her. Standing some distance in front of her was a unicorn she wasn't at all familiar with.
"Hush now. Don't cry, young one."
Celestia brushed the tears away, but more quickly formed. The unicorn released her hold on the blanket, letting it drop over Celestia. She poked out her head and stared at the pony in front of her, but held her blanket and her toy tightly to her body. The unicorn approached her and she squeezed her eyes shut, shivering and a few tears falling. At first, the unicorn circled her for a brief time, as if examining her in some way. When she stopped, she stood directly in front of Celestia, but the filly didn't dare look up.
"Yes. You'll do nicely. Come along."
The unicorn didn't give her a chance to refuse because she magically grabbed her and dragged her forward. Celestia clung to her blanket and toy for dear life. She brought Celestia to another room and set her down on a small table. She hovered the blanket in the air again to move it away from Celestia, who let out a frightened yelp as she again lost grip of her blanket. She squeezed her stuffed toy tightly, not wanting to lose that too.
Silently and slowly, the unicorn glided her hooves across Celestia's back. Celestia shivered at the touch, but only made a small whine. The unicorn repeated this twice more before moving her hooves to Celestia's sides. She repeated the same action, slowly gliding her hooves back and forth. Normally, this was something that would relax Celestia. Her parents had done it several times before Luna was born when she couldn't settle down to sleep at night. But being frightened and not knowing this unicorn, it didn't feel good at all. However, she was too afraid of what this unicorn may do to her if she resisted, so she kept her eyes closed and stayed still.
Celestia felt the unicorn's hooves move from her sides to her rump. She gasped inaudibly and blushed, but again, didn't resist as she felt those hooves gliding over her rump more than once. The unicorn even squeezed her rump twice. "Chubby, but doable," Celestia heard her mumble.
Much to her Celestia's relief, the unicorn stopped touching her and released her blanket. The next thing she did was place Celestia on the floor again and pull over a basket of food. She shoved a few stalks of celery in Celestia's mouth and walked away. Celestia spit them out as soon as the unicorn was out of view and desperately tried to rub the taste off of her tongue.