“They didn’t.” Celestia said in disbelief.
“No, they did.” Splinter replied with a laugh.
The two adults were sitting on the roof of a nearby apartment building while eating their ice cream and exchanging hilarious stories from their lives. Splinter just told Celestia about the time his sons attempted to perform a skateboarding stunt inside.
“Michelangelo was about to jump over his brothers when I came in. However, he failed and crashed right into them.” He explained, spooning some vanilla ice cream into his mouth.
“But did anyone get hurt?” Celestia asked, giving her strawberry cone a lick.
“No, but I grounded all four of them for a week. Unfortunately, that did not stop them from going out while I was asleep.”
“And I assume they got into even more trouble?”
“In a way, yes. They also had to clean up the mess they made during their little escapades.”
“That story almost reminds me of something that happened in my childhood. When I was very little, Luna and I attempted to bake a cake together. But the cake itself didn’t turn out so well. It was misshapen, burned, and covered in gross frosting and scattered sprinkles. It was probably the ugliest thing I have ever seen, even if I didn’t realize it at the time. I thought it was a great accomplishment when I was about six, but looking back on it now… it still makes me laugh and feel a little sick at the same time.”
“Sick?”
“Yeah. Luna and I were either brave enough or too naïve to actually eat that cake and we both ended up bed ridden for days with terrible stomach aches.”
Splinter laughed, Celestia giggled.
“You seem to be very close with your sister.” Splinter commented.
“Yeah… but it wasn’t always like that.” Celestia admitted.
“What do you mean?”
“Well… when Luna and I were in school, it was kind of hard. We were born about three years apart, so when I was already a senior in high school, she was still a freshman. Not only was I the student-body president and valedictorian, I was also one of the most popular girls in school. But I didn’t care about popularity or status; all I wanted was to help others and I was basically friends with almost everyone… which made Luna jealous.”
Splinter froze at the word ‘jealous’. Jealousy can make people do some pretty crazy things with even worse consequences.
Celestia continued. “Being the younger sister, I guess that was to be expected from her. She felt overshadowed by me because no matter what good thing she did, she felt it was nothing compared to what I did. Some students didn't even know Luna was my own sister and that only added to the situation. So instead of earning CHS's love and attention, she pushed for it.”
“What did she do?”
“All sorts of bad things. Skipping class, bullying, loitering, picking fights; you name it, she did it. Almost overnight, Luna became the fiercest, scariest delinquent CHS had ever seen… which gave her the nickname: "Nightmare Moon". She even had a new look that matched; shorter dyed hair, dark makeup, black clothes, and even a piercing or two and a few temporary tattoos.” She shuddered. “Still gives me a shiver. Anyway, I was so busy with other things that it took a while for me to realize her behavior. I eventually confronted her about it… and we had a huge fight. The whole thing was kind of a blur, but I remember a lot of yelling, shouting, and crying. But then I remember Luna charging towards me, us falling down, and everything fading to black. The next thing I knew, I was in the hospital with a broken arm and a minor concussion. My parents told me that Luna and I had fallen down the stairs during our fight; I was knocked unconscious and was in a coma for a day or two. Luna then came to me and apologized for what she did, but I apologized to her soon after for not being there for her and I promised to help her turn her life around. And that’s exactly what we did. With a little help, Luna gained some new friends, joined a few clubs, and eventually she was pretty popular around school. And by the time I graduated, she was already planning her campaign for student-body president.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah…”
“…Is there more?”
“More what?”
“More to your story. I do not mean to pry, but you seem troubled… like at the docks the other night. Was this the past you had mentioned?”
Celestia stayed quiet for a moment before letting out a sigh. “No and yes. What happened in high school was only the first half of my story. The other half was something that happened years later… and it was probably the darkest point of my entire life.”
Splinter put his hand on her knee. “Don’t worry, I am here to listen. I will not judge, I promise.”
She reluctantly put her hand on his and gave him a smile. “Okay.” She took a deep breath and began. “It started when I met my husband in college.”
‘Husband?’ He thought, his eyes wide with surprise.
“His name was Sombra.” She explained as she took an old photo out of her purse; it was a younger version of herself and a young man with gray skin, green eyes, and blue and black hair. It was a picture of their wedding day. “We immediately hit it off when we had our first class together and as it turns out, we even shared a few other classes. We slowly started to become best friends, and then we ended up really liking each other and we became boyfriend and girlfriend… But I wasn’t the only one who loved Sombra. There was someone else competing for his attention. Her name Abacus Cinch and at the time, she was already the principal of Crystal Prep Academy, a rivaling high school of Canterlot High. Ever since we first met, Cinch and I were rivals in basically everything; academia, sports, social gatherings, anything. We even fell in love with the same man… but Sombra chose me. And Cinch refused to accept it; she was always one to hold a grudge.”
Splinter listened to every word of Celestia’s story, it reminded him so much of his own past back in Japan.
“So on our graduation day, after we got our diplomas, Sombra surprised me by proposing to me in front of everyone. I, of course, said yes; we were married and we moved into a house together. It’s weird; even after all this time, I still get the warm fuzzies thinking about it.” She went on. “A few years went by and I discovered I was pregnant. Sombra and I were so excited; I always wanted to be a mother. For the most part, my pregnancy was pretty uneventful and everything was fine. But one day while I was in my final trimester, Cinch came to my home and she started insulting me in front of Sombra. She called me so many hurtful things and she even yelled at Sombra, saying that he was a fool for marrying me and that he should’ve chose her instead. I felt I couldn’t let those insults go unanswered; I lost my temper and I started to yell back at her, telling her that if she didn’t get off my lawn at that moment then I would call the police. Sombra calmed me down and Cinch left without saying another word to either of us.” She let out a sigh. “I didn’t know where those insults came from or why she said those awful things at the time, but now I realize that her own jealousy and resentment got the better of her and she wanted what I had. She sought at which was mine. Then a few weeks after that, my son was born. He was beautiful, a spitting image of his father. We named him Eclipse. And from that moment on, everything was perfect… and then that moment ended.”
Splinter’s eyes widened; he had a feeling he knew where this was going. “…What happened?”
“It happened when Eclipse was still a baby; his first birthday was in a few days… but we never got to celebrate it. I was standing on the porch looking up at the night sky… when Cinch came back.” Celestia frowned and looked away from Splinter. “She started to shout at me again, saying that I took everything from her and that I would pay for my actions. Then I saw what she was holding in her right hand… it was a knife.” She gulped. “I was terrified; sure we were rivals, but I didn’t think she would actually try to hurt me. I tried my best to reason with her, but she wasn’t having any of it. Then she attacked me; I ran inside the house and used a fire poker to hold her off. Then as we struggled, I heard Eclipse crying. I looked and saw Sombra staring at me with wide eyes; he was holding our baby and standing in the doorway. Cinch kept on attacking me, but then when I was thrown against the wall, she smiled a deranged grin, raised her knife, and brought it down… but the blade didn’t strike me. The knife struck Sombra instead. He set Eclipse to the side and stepped in the way to save me and try to stop the fight, but it was all in vain. He fell to the floor like a marionette with its strings suddenly cut. I held Sombra’s body in my arms, hoping that he was okay… but he wasn’t okay at all.”
Splinter froze as Celestia started to cry.
“And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, the smell of smoke filled the air. I realized that during our struggle, Cinch knocked over a burning candle and one of the drapes had caught on fire. Then… she left, but not before giving me one last look. It was probably the darkest glare she had ever given me; a look of pure hatred. Then I remembered Eclipse; I ran over to my son as fast as I could and picked him up, but he wasn’t responding for some reason. Thinking fast, I ran out of my burning house with my baby in my arms. Luckily, one of our neighbors heard the commotion and saw the fire. But the police and fire department didn’t get to us fast enough. By the time they arrived, my house had already burned to the ground, Sombra was gone… and so was my son. The doctors couldn’t do anything to save him and I still don’t know how he died.”
More tears fell from Celestia’s eyes.
“I practically lost everything that day. My love, my family, my home. Then Luna arrived. I fell into her arms and told her everything that happened; I even broke down in tears right there. She was all I had left now, and I promised myself that I would never let her or anyone else go, no matter what.”
She wiped her eyes and let out a sigh.
“That’s horrible, I am so sorry.” Splinter said in shock.
“No, don’t be. You weren’t there when it happened.”
He paused. “…I had an experience just like that while I was in Japan.”
Celestia shot up and looked at Splinter with wide eyes. “You did?”
“Yes, many years ago when I was still human.”
“You mean you weren’t always like this?”
“No. I was an ordinary human being, just like everyone else. I lived in Japan with my old friend, Oroku Saki. He and I had trained in the same Ninja Clan and we were like brothers, and just like you and Cinch we were also rivals in everything. But that rivalry grew bitter when we met… Tang Shen. We both fell for her, but she chose me and Saki could not accept it. One night, when my daughter, Miwa, was only a year old, Saki came to my home and challenged me to a duel. So we fought. While he could not defeat me, my world fell and crumbled around me, as that battle took the life of my beloved Tang Shen… and in the chaos, Saki even took Miwa away from me and raised her as his own. I’ve lost many things that day, my family, my home, my name…”
Celestia’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh…”
“But that was when I decided to flee Japan and start a new life in a different country. And it was perfectly fine… until one day.”
“What happened?” Celestia scooted closer to her companion.
“One day, I was leaving the pet store with four baby turtles. While I was walking, I passed a strange man on the street. Something felt off about him, so I decided to follow… only to have my curiosity undermined. More men in suits attacked me, but in the struggle that followed, my turtles and I were exposed to a strange glowing substance, changing us forever. And that was the beginning of our life together; in a way, that substance gave birth to us all.”
‘Glowing substance? Could Yoshi’s transformation have been the work of Equestrian Magic?’ Celestia asked herself before another thought popped into her head.
She remembered an event that happened years ago, when she was still pregnant with her son. It was her very first time in New York City with her husband; but it couldn’t be. Could it? But then her thoughts were interrupted; there was a commotion coming from the hotel.
“What was that?” She asked.
She and Splinter turned their heads in the hotel’s direction; they could see silhouettes of people running away.
“It’s coming from the hotel.” She said.
“Something is wrong. Come on.” Splinter said, taking Celestia’s hand.
They made their way back down to the ground and ran back to the hotel, only to see three gigantic animals attacking. One of them was a red fish with robotic legs, another looked like a large dog made of razor blades, and the last one was an anthropomorphic tiger with one eye. Splinter and Celestia froze.
“Oh no…” Splinter muttered when the three mutants turned to face him. They grinned maliciously at him.