//------------------------------// // How Time Flies // Story: How Time Flies // by Seer //------------------------------// The second time in history that the moon failed to lower on time was on the four week anniversary of the Element of Generosity's death. If the populace were in shock, neither of their princesses knew. If the castle staff ran around in panic, desperately trying to find Celestia or Luna to explain this, they didn't find them. Neither sister was in Canterlot right now, they were somewhere far older. Celestia watched as her sister entered the chamber behind her, the memories of the last time they had both been here couldn't have been easy to grapple with. The younger alicorn had still been Nightmare Moon, and it was here that she had been freed. Celestia would have gone to her, but as quickly as the trepidation appeared on Luna's face, it was replaced by an attempt at stoicism. It was brave, and utterly unconvincing. "Here we are," Celestia said. "Here we are," Luna agreed. "Why here?" "I knew it was the one place that we wouldn't be disturbed," the moon princess began, attempting to hide her trepidation by pretending to inspect the various nooks and crannies of their old home's great hall. Celestia wanted to ask why it even mattered if this timeline was going to dissolve anyway, but she held her tongue. "Lulu, Starswirl was one of the most cautious unicorns I've ever met. The spell is riddled with fail-safes, we're going to be fine." "Do you still want to do this?" Luna changed the subject and looked at her for the first time since they had entered. Celestia didn't immediately answer her sister's question, instead she looked within and felt the chasm insider her hadn't gotten the least bit shallower. The figurative porcelain around her face was only tightening though. All she wanted to do was cry, and she hadn't cried once today. What did that make her? She always tried to be honest with her sister, and the honest truth was thus. All things considered, if the option was there, she'd follow Rarity to the grave without a second's hesitation "I do," "Then so do I," Luna replied. "As long as you're making physical contact with me, the spell will bring us both back. However, I..." Celestia faltered for a second, prompting a concerned look from her, "I need you to give me some of your magic." The request remained in the tense, stale air. Luna regarded her sister cautiously, clearly wondering how best to voice her concerns. "Celly, I... I don't know if-" "I can't do this if it's just a few years Luna!" Celestia cut off the younger alicorn, "It's not enough! I need time I... I just I... I can't do it again. Not that soon. Please sister... I just can't do it again." They didn't speak for a moment as Celestia's words sank in. She sat on her haunches despondently until Luna made her way over and sat with her. "I suppose, if we're doing this, we might as well do it properly." Celestia gave her sister a teary smile, more grateful than she could describe. They rose and Luna placed her horn on her sister's chest. At once, Celestia felt her magic flow into her. It was so different to her own, an infinitely black oblivion against the sun princess' bright aether. And more than that, she felt Luna's love for her. It permeated the space they now shared, an overwhelming wave of affection. Celestia smiled down at Luna, suppressing a sob because it just wasn't enough. Her horn was illuminated blinding gold as she began to perform the spell she had learned. An intangible multicoloured aura began to surround them. It made Celestia feel sick to look at, she couldn't make sense of it. It was like something always at the corner of her eye, something not meant to be seen. It intensified as Luna finished giving her big sister her magic. She looked up at Celestia, clearly weakened but doing her best to be brave. It was a massive thing, to actually pull time back around yourself. Even if Luna thought she was about to get her wish and see her sister better, Celestia could understand her trepidation. But it had seemed to melt away when their eyes met, knowing they'd always be safe together. Celestia felt guilty about not feeling guiltier. But as she had said, it wasn't enough. Rarity's absence still split her apart. Celestia had wished and wished for longer than she could remember that Luna alone could be enough. Luna kept her hoof on her big sister's cheek, making sure they stayed in contact. She never saw it coming. Charging her horn again, Celestia quickly bowed her head and fired a telekinetic blast directly at Luna's chest. In her normal state, such a thing would've scarcely moved her. With her magic coursing through Celestia and no time to rest and regenerate it, she was thrown against the walls of the Castle of the Two Sisters. Celestia would never seriously hurt her little sister, but she couldn't have Luna just getting back up and running back over. As such, she smacked against the stone with a stomach churning whack and fell to the ground. The impossible aura strengthened, and through it Celestia could make out her sister shakily getting back to her hooves, pain clearly wracking her every movement. When she opened her eyes, they were confused for a second until she found Celestia's gaze again. For the first time since Rarity's death, Celestia thought Luna might have finally understood. If either wanted to say anything, they weren't quick enough to do so before she was wrenched away from time completely. When that awful aura finally disappeared, the sun was up and she was alone in the castle of the two sisters. Celestia collapsed suddenly, the exertion surprising even her, even now. And yet it didn't matter if it was going to kill her, she had somewhere else to be. Beating her wings, the princess reached higher and higher. She ascended through the hole which was once a ceiling and climbed until the ruin looked like a matchbox beneath her. It was hard, so very hard, but she forced herself onward towards the tiny speck of a village she could see towards the North. She hadn't been lying, all those times she wept. Every single one had been real, and it scared her because even now, it had felt just as bad each time. The first time she had gone back, Luna had come with her and they'd managed two years. Two years in which every moment not spent with Rarity was a hellish maelstrom of misery. She knew what was coming, and two years is so very short. When she'd said she meant to do it again, she wasn't surprised by how firmly and categorically Luna had forbade it. Celestia didn't even pretend to take the words on board. When Luna found her that night, surrounded in that sickening aura, the princess didn't know what was worse. The sheer look of disappointment and betrayal on Luna's face, or how quickly Celestia had stopped caring after seeing Rarity again. She'd managed five years. That time, she'd sworn that it was the last. Five years should be enough, and in total she'd gotten an extra seven. More than anyone across time and history would ever get, and it wasn't even close to being enough. It had gone like this for so long, was this the eighth or ninth time now? Sometimes Luna would be the one to propose it to her, sometimes she'd do it herself. It wasn't until the last time, when the time-stream had been different and Rarity had gotten an extra year, but Twilight somehow got even longer. It was her faithful student herself that had proposed the idea to the princess, and she had willingly offered as much of her magic as she could give. Celestia had so often wondered why she a pony who held the sanctity of magic so close to her had been willing to do something so utterly reckless. The best idea she could come up with was that Twilight had been a lot stronger that time, but she wasn't long for the world herself. Of all the ways to end your life, seeing your mentor and second mother killing herself with grief was no way to do it. She had managed thirty years, just in time to see Rarity close out her sixth decade on this world. Twilight had been so advanced, and combining two magic sources allowed for power much greater than the sum of its parts. But as Luna had said herself, natural alicorns were a different matter all together. She had dared to hope when she had felt all her sister had to give flowing through her veins. It was when Ponyville became clearer that Celestia began to cry. The little village was just that, a quaint, charming little village. With six elements of harmony living there, tourism had started to pick up exponentially. Through regeneration and development, Ponyville had become a bustling sprawl. For now though, it looked like Celestia had remembered it sixty years ago. Sixty five if she was going to be exact, but who was counting? She wiped the tears from her eyes and composed herself. Once she touched down, she ignored the various greetings from smiling ponies. When she had started visiting Rarity, the novelty of her appearance had quickly ebbed for the villagers so there was no more sudden rushes to bow for her. But she was still the princess, and they still excitedly received her each time. After decades of not seeing the village like this, she still knew the way perfectly. Before long she found herself stood again in front of Carousel Boutique. Well, she found herself in front of a Carousel Boutique. It didn't have all the various extensions that Celestia had gotten used to. It was elegant in its relative simplicity. An tasteful, two story building which for all the world looked like a merry-go-round. Celestia knew then that this was her favourite Carousel Boutique. She hoped it would never ever change. Even after all this time, she couldn't accept it was all real until she had her hooves around Rarity again. She trotted up and knocked on the door, promising herself that this would be the time she kept her composure. Still, she had promised Luna they would go back together, and every time she made the journey she promised herself it would be her last. Maybe Celestia just wasn't good at keeping promises. As soon as the unicorn opened the door, looking more youthful than Celestia had seen her in nearly two hundred years, she broke down immediately. "Darling, whatever is wrong?" she asked, the concern in her indescribably beautiful voice making Celestia cry even more. Without waiting, she scooped the unicorn up in her hooves and held her, terrified to let go. Rarity usually chastised the princess for holding her like this. With her size, she could easily cradle her like a child. But they both knew Rarity secretly loved it. It wouldn't have mattered even if Rarity had started indignantly shouting, Celestia just needed to be in contact with as much of her as possible. She didn't know when the seamstress had managed to break free and get her inside the boutique, neither could she tell when Rarity had taken off her regalia and got her into a lavender-scented bubble bath. Though the intensity was down and she was finally aware of her surroundings again, she continued to sob. Rarity massaged shampoo through her mane and gently sang to her, it had always been Celestia's favourite sound in the world. When they were done, she carried on singing while gently drying off the princess with towel's she'd magically heated up. It was like waking up after being dead. It was waking up after being dead. "So, did the summit with the Griffons really go that badly?" Rarity asked. Apparently she was supposed to be having a summit with the Griffons. Celestia couldn't think of something she cared less about at this moment. She didn't answer the question and apparently, for Rarity, that was enough. "Well that fussy old king is a tough one for sure. I know it must have been awful so you don't have to talk about it." She finished her drying and looked at the princess, seeing through all this with startling ease. "But darling... when you want to talk about the summit, I'll be here for you." She was so bright, and she didn't even know it half the time. She might have been the smartest mare in all the world. "Can... can I just hold you for a while?" Celestia's voice was raspy, and she realised it was the first thing she had said to her lover since she died. Rarity gave her a sympathetic look, gently stroking her cheek with one of those soft, heated towels. Shortly, they were both tucked into Rarity's bed. The clock read half nine, apparently Celestia had been indisposed for longer than she realised. She looked around, feeling the chasm mercifully start to fill. She had made it, she was here again. The ceiling of the room was a clean, immaculate, almost unnaturally perfect white. The bed was a bed for a normal sized unicorn, and usually Celestia's legs would spill ungracefully out of the covers. Tonight they were tucked up, wrapped around Rarity with her forelegs. She was so soft, every time she let out a little sigh of contentment was another reminder to Celestia what she'd taken when she'd gone. Neither were asleep, Rarity was a night owl and as such would probably be up long after Celestia had drifted off. Sometimes she woke in the night to hear a gentle humming harmonised with the soft whirr of the sewing machine. It was like music. She wondered if she'd sleep at all tonight though. She still remembered the smack of her sister colliding with the wall of their childhood home, as well as the teary look she shot Celestia when she'd realised what was happening. She knew she wouldn't deserve the way Luna would treat her like nothing was wrong the next time she saw her. Celestia almost wished all this didn't utterly pale in comparison with every breath Rarity took. She'd always said that there was no way she'd carry on just masking the pain. She'd not saddle Luna and realm with another Nightmare Moon. She'd do the impossible and end it before that. But sometimes, when she was all alone, she wondered if what she was becoming was any better. And she wondered why she barely cared at all. The answer was obvious, of course, she had all available limbs wrapped around the answer, but she couldn't accept it. Because even that felt like spreading some of the blame onto this beautiful, good-hearted unicorn who didn't even know how to do wrong. Celestia would end it before she ever did that, too. "No-one was expecting you back until tomorrow darling," Rarity said, her eyes closed in contentment, before adding with a musical giggle, "You certainly came a long way to see me." Even though there was no possible way, Celestia sometimes wondered whether Rarity knew. She was so perceptive and just so utterly and totally bright, maybe she could see more than even Celestia could. "It was worth it," she replied, letting the delighted little laugh she got in response fill her mind totally. The seamstress sighed again and relaxed further into the embrace, before turning around that she could see her face. Rarity nuzzled into Celestia's neck, she felt whole again. She was right, of course, she didn't sleep a wink. It was very rare that the unicorn drifted off before the princess, but Celestia wouldn't have had it any other way while she lay there. She watched Rarity's serene face and gentle breaths until she had to raise the sun again, and allowed herself the reprieve of pretending that this would be the very last time she came back.